Chapter 44

The team scattered to prevent the unicorn from goring them to death. The creature turned back around. It's bloodlust was very strong. Harry grabbed the creature, but it flung Harry to the side. He landed onto his feet.

Donna whipped her lasso and wrapped it around the torso of the creature. The creature reacted badly to the lasso being wrapped around it and it flung Donna halfway across the way. The Amazon landed with a thud on the ground, the wind knocked out of her.

Kara super sped Donna out of the way. Genesis encased the creature inside of an energy bubble. It's eyes glowed and overwhelmed Genesis's sensors. She locked onto it and fired the attack.

"I guess in this case," Nora said. "Friendship is tragic."

"Seriously, you just had to go there?" Barbara asked.

Barbara threw several miniature explosives, which caused the unicorn to back off. Kara and Harry launched their heat vision at the creature. While Sue bombarded it with some hard light projectiles which caused the creature to back off and growl in response.

"You've got it on the ropes now," Kara said.

"Stand back!"

Nora beamed the creature with all of the magic possible. Harry gave her a boost and the two of them combined to blast the creature as hard as humanly possible before making it explode in front of them.

The team had unicorn guts and blood all of them. Harry siphoned the contents off of them quickly. Unfortunately, he could not do a complete job, for a black pool swirled around them. The unicorns reformed, like some kind of terminator like thing.

Unicorns, as it plural, for it went all hydra on them. It's three monster unicorns for the price of the room.

"Oh, that's just great," Donna said. "How are we going to stop such a thing?"

Nora decided to answer the question as only she could.

"Keep hitting the damn thing until it quits reforming?"

"What? And end with an entire army of them?"

Kara dodged a bolt of dark energy fired from one of the unicorn's horns. They had to figure out how to deal with these creatures. And without any knowledge on their origin, they were pretty much up a creek without a paddle so to speak. The back of Kara's head began to thump as she landed down onto the ground.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a blonde woman dropped down onto the ground. She dressed in a regal purple attire and carried a large piece of crystal. She turned the crystal in the ground and the obliterating attack struck one of the unicorns as hard as possible. The other two froze before they became one again. Then the unicorn flickered away.

A small crystal slid to the ground. Harry slipped it into his pocket.

"It will be back, and there will be more," the woman said. "Follow me."

Harry had to find answers, and he followed them. Perdita followed, with Kara, M'gann, Sue, Barbara, Donna, Genesis, and Nora all slipping in behind her through the portal.

"What in the name of Rao is going on?"

The blonde woman did not answer the question, at least at first. She ran her hands over the wall of the cave they had been transported in. When she had been satisfied with the security of the cave, she turned to the group.

"My name is Princess Amethyst."

This revelation caused surprise, especially from Nora, who found herself with her mouth wide open, unable to speak coherently for more than a few seconds.

"No way, you're...you're a myth…..but then again, so was Gem World, and yet here we are."

"Yes," Genesis said. "But my data banks indicate that this realm has been one with peace for quite some time."

"Yes," Amethyst said. "After I overthrew Dark Opal, the previous ruler of this realm, all appeared well. Until a crippling darkness showed up."

Harry flickered the crystal between his fingers.

"That might be a key to what's going on."

"Oh, who would corrupt something so beautiful though," Donna said.

"Whoever does, they will be brought down," Amethyst said. "You fought bravely, but I could barely repel the darkness and the minions can serve it. There will be more."

"Master, may I scan that?" Genesis asked.

"Of course."

Genesis scanned the crystal. There had been numerous traces of ambient and active magic, which was none too surprising given a piece of technology such as this one. However, there was one other element, which caused Genesis to stop and have great pause.

"Someone is using the crystals and corrupting with dark matter," Genesis said. "The technology used to corrupt these crystal's origins is from Apokolips."

This statement just made Harry chilled to the bone and he was not the only one. The warning of the dark presence, looming over them caused him.

"We're just visitors to this land, but there's something much stronger going on," Harry told Amethyst. "Can you think of anything they would be after?"

The ruler of Gem World put a hand on her chin and looked thoughtful.

"There is one thing that they might be after. But I'm unsure how they learned of it. Getting their hands on it right now could be catastrophic."

"Which is why we should secure it by any means necessarily," Sue said. She stopped short and gazed at Harry, who looked bemused. "Sorry for stepping on your toes."

"No, it's fine, you've been at this for a long time," Harry said. "And it does help that I agree with you."

Sue just smiled. Oh, that helped, a whole lot that they were on the same page and they were ready to head out there, for better or for worse.

"Are you alright there, Perdita?" Nora asked.

"Mmm," the Queen said.

Harry decided to answer in Nora's stead.

"Well, this is one of the biggest things we've ever faced."

"And if they succeed, they will take out the entire world. Which includes my kingdom. Whatever, they're after, they cannot be allowed to have it."

Significantly, Perdita fingered the necklace they used to allow them entrance into this mysterious realm. She was ready, one way or another.

Desaad hoped this plan would be accomplished soon. The hooded schemer knew full and well that his position with the great one had not been as secured. Years back, his failure to capture and contain the New Genesis sphere had set his political capital back a fair bit.

"They have destroyed another."

Desaad turned his attention to the dark unicorn. Eyes red and skin dark with jagged spikes, it was a beautiful improvement of such a disgusting creature. Desaad had a device which he could communicate with their pets.

"Princess Amethyst continues to meddle. And there's another problem."

This statement resulted in Desaad's eyebrow rising up. Oh how he loathed problems, especially in a situation like this. He could find his frustration only peaking ever so slightly.

"Superman and his friends are here."

"My master will not be pleased with this one."

"Tell me what we need to do."

Desaad pulled his hood back to look at the crystals. He had just enough for one last pass. But, he needed everything to accomplish one simple, but yet very depraved goal. He would need to secure and destroy the Starlight. That particular gem being out in the open could ruin anything.

"It's time to bring them down," Desaad said. "Yes, Master will be pleased when I bring Superman for him."

The group moved down a valley. The further Harry, Nora, and Genesis got, in front of the pack slightly, the more uneasy they felt. Amethyst stepped beside them to scout the area.

"So far, the protections hold, but they have gone close to being brought down in the past," Amethyst said. "And I…."

Several hideous creatures portaled in right in front of them. Genesis's sensors picked them up, and they were not good.

"Parademons!"

"They're after the Star Light!" Amethyst said. "They must not be allowed to pass."

Harry had heard it loud and clear. He moved through the first volley of Parademons and parted the sea with a wave of magic. Donna jumped into the battle right next to him and caught them with a flying kick to the back of the head. The creatures were not renowned for any strategy or skill, but rather brutish attacks.

Kara hammered the back of the creature's head with several punches. Out of the corner of the eye of the Girl of Steel, she saw more coming. She unleashed a loud clap which dropped them to her knees.

M'gann went intangible when two of them blasted her from either side. This caused the beams of energy to pass through and knock the creatures back.

Nora's hand whipped over and sliced one of the creatures in half.

"Okay, I'll be the one to ask," Sue said as she rushed over. "What is the Starlight?"

Amethyst stood side by side with Harry, and fought off the creatures. She wielded a sword which Harry supercharged with magic and fought them away. Sue slammed next to them with the creatures flying. Genesis turned into a ball and fired missiles which caused them to back off.

"The Starlight will purge the darkness from anything," Amethyst said. "As long as there's hope or light deep within them."

"Seems like something from a fairy tale!" Nora responded.

"So does this entire place," the Princess agreed. "But, if they destroy it, Gemworld is doomed!"

The Parademons all blasted back by several white hot beams of life. Harry turned his attention, mouth wide and he was not the only one.

Perdita's necklace lit up like a blinking beacon.

"I have to protect it," Perdita said. "AT ALL COSTS!"

She beamed one of the nearest creatures in the face.

It clicked with Harry. Of course Perdita's necklace was reacting in this way. It was made with a small piece of the Starlight. And the White Martians discovered other trace elements.

"Don't look now!" Kara called. "But, there's more on the way."

More parademons, and other more monster unicorns charged them on their way to the cave.

"Oh, that's perfect," Barbara said. "We were barely able to fight one of those things!"

"Stand back," Perdita called. "I have this one!"

Harry and Nora exchanged a nervous look, hoping the Queen did not overextend herself. They made a silent vow to back her up in any way they could.

Jennifer Pierce, Nora Kent, and Cassie Sandsmark all sat in the stands, with Gwen Stacy sitting in the row behind them to watch Ruby play in her soccer game. Although one could see that her performance is off.

"Worried about her Mom," Cassie said.

"Yeah, I can see that," Jennifer said. "Looks like we're all having a rough time."

Nora nodded in response, eyes on Ruby. Who was not having her best performance. She should have really sat this one out, but Ruby insisted on playing.

"She wanted to play," Nora said. "Because, it would keep her mind off of it."

Jennifer nodded in response, understanding where Ruby was coming from. She tried to watch this game, in an attempt to get her mind straight. The bracelets she wore, caused her powers to be held back slightly, but even then, Jennifer knew it was only a temporary fix at best.

Gwen needed some time to clear her head. She just hoped Lena was in a good state today, because Selene showing up really did a number on Lena's psyche. Gwen watched as Ruby whiffed on a goal attempt. The poor girl would be beating herself up.

Suddenly, Gwen's spider sense just started to go off.

'No, not now,' Gwen desperately thought.

"Yes, I am back, for an encore. And you will all bow before the might, and fall before the glory of the one and only, Mysterio!"

Sure enough, out of Belle Reve way too early, was Mysterio who caused a panic at the soccer game. Gwen had hoped she would never see him again, but villain encores tended to be all too common in her line of work.

"You will all bow before true might and magnificence!"

"I'll handle civilians," Nora said. "Go do your thing."

"Right," Gwen said.

Gwen and Nora slipped off. Cassie tried to take Jennifer by the hand, but there had been a spark of energy which caused Cassie to whip back. Jennifer started to light up a little bit. Thankfully, barely anyone paid attention to the glowing girl.

Cassie tried not to freak out, although it was unnerving.

"I don't understand, your cuffs are on!"

"Yeah, they are. Something's messing with them….."

Cassie tried to call out for help, but she heard nothing but static. Yes, Mysterio had something which was messing with the technology in the arena, which was not good, when they were in a situation like this. Especially with a girl, who had a power flare up in the stadium.

"Okay, okay, stay calm, I'm going to get you into a safe place," Cassie said.

The blonde heroine had enough decorum not to add "before people start trampling each other". Even Cassie knew that was the wrong thing to tell Jennifer with her powers flaring up as bad as they did.

The last monster unicorn fell to the ground. Perdita almost collapsed down to the ground.

"You overextended yourself," Nora said.

"Yes, I noticed," Perdita said. "But, they are all gone."

"No," Amethyst regretfully said. "They're….."

Desaad appeared right in front of them, on the back of a large demonic dragon.

"If you want something done right, you must do it yourself….."

Suddenly, before Desaad could attack, or Harry could do so, a portal opened up. Mordred appeared, dressed in modified Doom Armor, ramped up with Reach Technology. Not an encouraging sight.

"What are you doing here, child?" Desaad asked.

"You glorified minion, stand aside," Modred said. "And I will use the power of the Starlight to cause Camelot to rise again!"

Modred had been thinking too small. The pretty little necklace of Perdita's neck, while powerful, it would not be near enough. M'comm promised him he could be King if he secured the Starlight, and he would use it to crush anyone who opposed him.

"Return to the kid's table."

Modred responded by blasting Desaad and sending him flying off of the dragon. The creature returned to reclaim his master and Dessad's dark dragon breathed fire at Mordred.

The battle between their two enemies started. Harry motioned for the others to follow them. This could present an opportunity to get ahead of any problems, if Modred and Desaad kept each other occupied for a sufficient amount of time.

"It's too much to hope they wipe out each other, right?" Nora asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "But, they will distract each other."

No one needed to say anything. If either Mordred or Desaad got their hands on the Starlight, Gemworld was doomed and the rest of the reality would break.