Chapter 144: Cavalry
With the departure of some of the future Justice League's squad, the battle against Darkseid was slowly gaining momentum.
The four brave heroes bravely attacked the invincible leader of the invasion, only to find themselves sealed into buildings or asphalt a few moments later. Some were unlucky enough to have to defend themselves against homing omega rays, the effects of which, as it turns out, can range from a trivial collision blast to the powerful electric shock experienced by the unlucky Lantern. Though the beams' homing ability was sometimes a plus. Thanks to his speed and inexhaustible fountain of eloquence, the Flash often managed to draw laser fire on himself and then zigzag through the streets of Gotham. The bright scarlet beams were a bit slow for a speedster, but they could take shortcuts, destroying obstacles, which, by some strange coincidence, were unsuspecting armored cyberbugs.
In the actual battle against the armored humanoid, it was the beautiful warrior who fared the best. Despite the fact that her speed was far from that shown by Barry Allen, she possessed a magic sword capable of repelling omega-rays, and she could hardly dodge ordinary attacks, thanks to centuries of combat experience. However, the outcome of the fight was still a foregone conclusion, as no even the most powerful attack was able to scratch even the exposed parts of the monster's skin, which was more like unbreakable granite in its structure.
Fighting against an invulnerable monster seems absolutely stupid, but the fact is that the bored Darkseid was clearly awakening a landscape designer, who for some reason decided that the surrounding buildings should not be higher than two floors, and put his magic eyes into action, cheerfully shortening high-rises. The heroes had to call the fire on themselves willy-nilly, preventing more damage to the city and the locals.
"S-s-s-s," Green Lantern hissed loudly as he once again slammed his entire body into the building, leaving a clear silhouette.
No sooner had the man gathered his strength than he had to hurriedly catch Diana, who had flown in, in a green chair and immediately put up a shield, protecting her from the bright scarlet rays.
"We have to do something about this or we won't last much longer," the man said as he watched Aquaman and Flash struggle to contain Darkseid.
"I have an idea," the Amazon shook her head, trying to recover from the blow. - One of Joker's attacks had nearly hit Darkseid in the eye, and he'd reacted ferociously to it. I think I can damage them, but first I need to limit his mobility or distract him.
"Hmm... Basically, the eyes could really be a vulnerable spot, otherwise we have no chance at all, - Lantern got out of the damaged wall and started to saturate his body with green energy, increasing his defense. - Okay, see how a professional handles it...
He didn't have time to say anything as the slightly pissed off warrior grabbed him by the pecs and repeatedly slammed him into the wall, leaving another stylish imprint in the concrete structure.
"Ouch. I hope you're going to give me a very passionate kiss? - A wry grin appeared on his face.
Except that the beauty was clearly not happy about this attitude.
"First of all, even the Joker has a better chance of getting me into bed. Second," she shook the hero once more, banging his head lightly against the wall, "you're a warrior, not a child. So act like one."
"Hey, I don't want to interrupt the relationship, but I could use your help here," came the tired voice of Flash, who had just made another death run with omega rays on his tail, killing a dozen parademons to keep them out of the way.
Hal looked at the Amazon carefully, then nodded gravely, deciding something for himself.
"Okay, team, Diana has offered to deprive Darkseid of his sight, but in order to do so, he needs to be securely fixed," he began to speak, turning on the small transmitter Batman had given him before he left.
"I can raise a dust curtain to reduce visibility," Barry responded immediately.
"I can hold off his right arm for a while," Aquaman, who had been thrown off by the ruler of Apokolips with a mighty blow a few seconds ago, said, rising from the pavement.
"Then I'm wearing the left one," Lantern confirmed. - Let's go!
The four heroes once again rushed into the attack, following the plan they had made.
Flash was the first to come forward. Running around Darkseid on the ground, he quickly organized a dust tornado, severely obstructing his view. In an attempt to stop the outrage, the invulnerable monster shot beams out of his eyes once, but all it accomplished was to make them burst right in front of his face because of the huge amount of dust raised, depriving him of his sight for a moment. Such a chance the company would not miss. The Atlantean immediately jumped out of the dust curtain, clutching the monster's right arm, the other limb was attacked by Lantern and, following Joker's advice, shackled it in a regular energy cube, maximizing the smooth walls. Diana, on the other hand, lunged head-on, displaying her blade in the manner of a spear.
The plan was quite good, except that the heroes did not take into account that Aquaman did not possess flight and physically could not fix himself in space. All the man could do was wrap his arms around the limb, using his trident, and rest his feet on the invulnerable humanoid's body, which wasn't enough. Darkseid tensed up a little, bent his arm at the elbow and calmly grabbed the Amazon, who had no time to react to the change of situation, as if she were an unwilling puppet.
"Your efforts are pointless," he said, clearly intending to cut off Hippolyta's daughter's earthly journey once and for all.
~Poof~
Five meters away from the fight, a violet flame in the shape of a flower suddenly appeared, from which the Joker jumped out, assuming a proud pose, more suitable for some comic book superhero, and flashing a maniacal grin up to his ears.
"Ha ha ha ha, ol' JJ heard your call for help and arrived as soon as he wanted to!"
***
While most of the heroes were staring at my sudden and, what the hell, wildly spectacular and stylish appearance (there was a reason I'd made the smoke take the shape of a fire flower like a giant lily), some of them remembered their original task. I wasn't a fool to just jump out in front of Darkseid, and I was well aware of Lantern's plan, thanks to the transmitter in my ear.
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A! - The wild screaming made the windows of the houses crack, and the heroes' ears popped as they flew apart.
In the monster's eye socket protruded the splintered blade of a beautiful and incredibly savvy warrior.
"Joker, if you weren't dating Harley, I'd kiss you!"
I read Diana's lips as the ringing in my ears made it hard to hear.
"You can kiss me, she won't mind!"
I shouted back, fearing that the girl had no such skill.
"You!" A second roar of rage made my back instantly sweat and reminded me that we were in the middle of a fight.
Whoa.
"Me?!" I even point a finger at myself, seeing where the gray-skinned monster's gaze was directed.
"You will know all the torments of Apokolips!" Darkseid was clearly addressing me.
"Hey, are you a sexist?! It was Diana who took your eye!" I was extremely outraged at this injustice to a girl whose contribution to the victory was clearly underestimated.
The monster's one whole eye flashed red.
"Scutum Maximum!"
The magic shield didn't last a second, and then I was thrown back by the blast. He scattered the heroes who had rushed at the leader of the invasion in an instant, showing some unrealistic speed, and then he shot me again with an omega ray that was clearly more powerful than all the previous ones, because it was sparkling with the amount of energy he had invested.
"Huh."
I don't have time to form a new spell properly, so, covering my eyes and concentrating, in one pulse I throw out a mixture of energy with the thought to protect, forming a semblance of a dome.
A second passed, but there was no explosion, and no pain. I felt only a slight jolt in my palm, though maybe the laser had vaporized my hand, overloading my nervous system. I opened one eye warily to assess the situation.
Okay, the slightly surprised Darkseid is there, the surviving superheroes, including the sexy Amazon, are there too, hmm, but the glove on my left hand has evaporated, revealing a strange mesh structure wrapped around my palm. Damn, if I survive, I'll have to remember to thank Bats and Alfred again for the awesome Christmas present.
~I-ee-ee-ee-ee~
The sensor on his wrist began beeping quietly and flashing red, hinting that the photocell from the Kryptonian ship was basically not designed to absorb that much energy.
I just had time to pull off the rest of my glove and throw it right into the frozen monster's face.
~BAH~
The heat from the powerful explosion reached me, scorching my eyelashes a little.
"Yeah! Suck it, ha-ha-ha!"
I didn't have long to rejoice in my small victory. As soon as the fire cloud was gone, I saw Darkseid's mighty figure, wearing slightly smoked armor and scrutinizing my insolent face with his one eye.
The dark blue silhouette blurred into the air, bodyslamming Flash, only to appear a moment later right in front of me with his fist raised in a red light.
"No!"
Diana lunged forward, but she was clearly out of time, and Flash, the bastard, froze like a frightened rabbit. The monster's fist came down sharply, aiming to turn one insolent clown into a tortilla.
~Bah~
The incredibly powerful impact was accompanied by an equally powerful burst of energy, raising a pile of dust and creating a large crater across the width of the not insignificant street.
"Whew... That was close," I said, standing on shaky legs a couple meters away from the huge crater.
"You're alive!!! - The superheroes looked at my nervously smiling face in shock.
"Hey, I'm not a fool to stand still after a "successful" attack, am I? A drop of illusion, and then a quick, quick scramble to get closer to the allies."
"You managed to surprise me," came a creepy voice from the dust cloud, interrupting the explanation.
"Yeah, that's me. Just like Mr. Unexpected... No, Mr. Sudden. Right, that sounds much better," I replied, simultaneously forming new spells to help me survive the overly intrusive attentions of the ruler of Apokolips.
The dust fell abruptly, as if blown away by a gust of wind, revealing a gray-skinned humanoid hovering above the funnel, wrapped in a halo of power.
"What's your name? Not the one you heroes like to use as an alias, but your real name."
Hmm... What an interesting question. I even hovered a little, trying to figure out why he needed it. I don't really care if you can organize a little mischief for one Mudila.
"John. John Constantine," I lied without blinking an eye, which earned me a very suspicious look from Diana.
No, why not? I'll survive against all odds, and all I'll miss are Darkseid spies and assassins. I don't even doubt they're on Earth. Besides, John's a slippery goat who's being hunted by half of the local Hell, so just one multiverse babaik won't make any difference.
"I will honor you, John Constantine, by destroying you with my own hands."
"I don't mean to be a drag, but have you ever tried to destroy me with anything else before? Well, unless you count lasers out of your eyes."
The invulnerable monster didn't even think to answer the logical question. Instead, the aura around his body began to thicken rapidly, and it was as if a couple bags of cement had been placed on my shoulders, interfering with my concentration.
"Ha ha ha!" fun memories offset the negative impact and make you feel euphoric. "We'll see who destroys who."
Suddenly, the figures of Bats and Cyborg appeared on the opposite side of the crater and attacked Darkseid hovering over the crater. Pathos Mouse threw an explosive batarang, and the Cyborg fired a plasma cannon. Unfortunately, the angry leader of the invasion didn't even bother with the small gnats and continued to stare at me silently, concentrating energy, which by now appeared in the visible spectrum as a reddish haze.
"Ten seconds, Joker. Help is at hand," came the tense voice of Bats, who again unsuccessfully attacked the monster, throwing a couple more gadgets.
Holy shit, what the hell kind of help is that?! It's gonna take at least half the Green Lantern Corps or Superman, who's dead, to stop this monster!
One.
Darkseid disappeared from his seat and reappeared with his hand already raised to strike.
Two.
I was very lucky that this time I was surrounded by battle comrades, so the first to suffer was Diana's shield, which was covered with cracks, unable to absorb the energy of too powerful blow, and the girl herself left two long furrows in the asphalt, pulling back.
Three.
The tanned beauty tossed aside the scattered piece of metal and hovered a meter above the ground, trying to attack the monster with a broken sword with a battle cry, only to be buried in the asphalt. Hmm, I didn't realize she could fly.
Four.
The air in front of the monster turned even redder for a moment, the flickering silhouette of the Flash. Darkseid jerked his head a couple of times, from the best of his blows, and then fired an omega ray, forcing Barry to get busy saving his own skin.
Five.
Aquaman, who came out ahead, after a simple kick, just as pathologically flew into the nearest building, disappearing somewhere around the third floor.
Six.
The shield Green Lantern had put up cracked just by contact with the concentrated aura, unable to contain the approaching figure.
Seven.
Hal flies off after the Atlantean, and judging by the dim glow of the suit and the shattered green plaster around his broken arm, he did lose consciousness.
Eight.
~Bonk~
A metal baseball bat, which I had successfully pulled out of my pocket, flies into the humanoid's head.
Nine.
~Clap~
Darkseid struck hard, but I had already managed to make a spatial leap and appeared three meters to the left. But I'm standing only because I'm leaning on my cane, my eyes are blurry, my stomach is churning, my nose is wet with blood, and I'm just standing there.
"Any last words?"
"Ten seconds have passed," a crooked grin came onto my face.
He silently strikes a blow as I notice a red and blue stain with the corner of my eye.
~Boo-hoo-hum~
The clash of the two mighty creatures' fists unleashed an air wave that cut through the dark clouds over the city like a giant blade, causing the few surviving windows in the buildings on either side to fly out.
"Heh-heh-heh. Damn, I never thought I'd be so happy about a man's ass in blue tights," I said, looking at the sirloin of a familiar suit with a red cape. The piece of superhero closet managed to flutter pathetically in the absence of wind.
"You attacked the wrong planet," Superman said sternly, hovering in the air to a surprised Darkseid, choosing to ignore my words.
That's right, I might be concussed.
With these thoughts I promptly strode away from the two frozen figures, who were vainly trying to overpower each other like two stubborn rams.
As soon as I got a little farther away and sat down in one of the cafes, where I had a wonderful view of the street that looked like it had stepped off the pages of a post-apocalyptic book, the battle broke out with renewed vigor, but now with boy scout involved. This time the superheroes began to push the invulnerable monster and even deprived him of another eye, thanks to a crowbar that Barry had brought from somewhere after another run from the omega rays. However, it couldn't be said that the blind Darkseid had become an easy target. He continued to be practically invulnerable, and he reacted to Superman's dangerous blows by covering his head and occasionally snapping back.
Honestly, while slowly eating popcorn and watching the epic battle, I couldn't help but think that this freak was immortal and you couldn't kill him even if you tried hard enough. Fortunately, Cyborg didn't visit Apokolips for nothing. I didn't even realize what had happened, but suddenly a red portal funnel opened behind the monster's back, and the parademons flying in the sky rushed toward the black towers.
Not five minutes later, the blinded and furious leader of the invasion was promptly shoved into the suction portal, giving him a good kicking and hopefully discouraging him from visiting Earth this millennium.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone