Chapter 45

"So, I take it you have some sort of plan?"

Harry answered Nora's statement with a nod. Modred and Desaad might have their attention on each other. However, that could be something which would turn around in a matter of moments.

"Sue, get us in a cloak of invisibility."

Sue put Harry, Nora, Amethyst, Perdita, Megan, Donna, Barbara, Kara, and Genesis in a cloak of invisibility. With that done, Harry prepared to think the plan.

"We're going to have to take advantage of those two going after each other. Desaad will leave when there's trouble. All we have to do is burn out that creature."

"What about Mordred?" Kara asked.

Harry performed an analysis of Modred's armor. It was souped up with the Reach's technology. However, the combination of it with Doom's armor caused some incompatibility issues which Harry could exploit.

"We're going to make sure the armor does not work against each other. He may find a way to get around us, once Desaad's been defeated."

"Still think we should wait this one out," Nora said. "But, you know best."

Harry paused for a minute to view the beams of light intersecting through the air with each other. He noticed the crystal on Desaad's belt which lingered. If only he could break Desaad's connection somehow, his security blanket what would gone. Or at least that was the idea.

"Megan, Kara, Barbara, Donna, Perdita, the five of you move around and get Desaad's attention. The rest of you are going to have to help me deal with Modred."

Amethyst could see the power this Modred character wielded, there was going to be a huge problem. Sue kept the field between the three of them. Nora, Harry, Sue, Genesis, and Amethyst moved around and circled around a little bit to get a clear shot at him.

"You're going to fall child! There's only one true power."

Modred channeled as much magical power as possible. He fired miniature rockets directly at Desaad, who put up a shield. Desaad erected a barrier. This little nuisance was beginning to get on Desaad's nerves. The only thing which stopped him from calling for further backup, was the fact the great one would punish him.

Drunk and mad with power, Modred kept firing every attack he could at Desaad.

"Your god of darkness will even bow before the power when I ascend to the throne of Camelot!"

"How arrogant could you get?" Nora asked. "Now?"

Harry responded with a nod. He interlinked to Genesis and she fired a beam of light directly at Morded. This forced the would be king to whip around just in time for Harry to hit the skies and slam him out of the air.

On the other end, Kara jolted up like a blur and caught Desaad's dragon with a vicious punch to the face. The hooded schemer had been knocked off of the dragon. With the crystal on his belt, he still maintained a little bit of protection from the assault of the heros.

Time to correct that.

"Such a nuisance," Desaad said.

"You have one more warning!" Amethyst said. "You have stolen what does not belong to you. If you surrender now, you might be able to…."

Desaad did not accept the warning. He activated the piece of the crystal with one more attempt to rush towards the entrance of the cave to the Starlight. He must secure it for the master.

Amethyst performed a death defying maneuver and ascended the back of the dragon. She withdrew a blade and blasted it off of the belt of Desaad to send him flying to the ground with a sickening thud. She had been knocked off with the impact until Harry dove under her and caught her in his arms.

The Gemworld Queen managed to readjust her footing. Harry gently placed her on feet only to find a bolt of energy delivered from Modred's hand.

"You are going to take me to the Starlight!" Modred yelled. "And you might be able to bow to me in one piece."

"You don't take a hint!" Perdita yelled.

"He never does," Nora grumbled.

Sue snuck up behind Modred and encased him in an invisible bubble. The howl coming from the depraved prince when he tried to break out and relentlessly pound on the barrier continued. He caused a cannon to blast through the barrier, the backwash sending Sue flying backwards a few feet.

Modred broke through the cave. Perdita, Amethyst, and Harry slipped through the cave right before he could seal the cave.

"We have to stop him!"

The plasma cannon caused the rocks Amethyst and Harry stood on to crumble. Debris shot out of the way. Harry needed to grab onto the Gemworld Queen and prevent her from getting crushed by the falling rocks. He swung her over to another barrier and landed fully.

Perdita stood, rigid. Superman and Amethyst had been thrown several levels down which left her to face the wicked boy sorcerer and would be king all on her own. Perdita steadied herself and faced Modred's greedy face as he reached for the Starlight.

"That does not belong to you."

Mordred stopped and he noticed the object of his obsession. The necklace which Perdita wore. The magical gem dangled from it. Despite everything having his fingertips on the source of ultimate power, the Starlight, Modred turned his attention back to it. He could not resist.

"I will have it all. Starting with that!"

"NO!"

Two beams of light struck each other in mid-air. Perdita's eyes went bloodshot as she pushed the beam at Modred. Mordred dug his heels into the ground.

Strength and determination caused Perdita to power through Modred's attack. Three blasts of raw magic hit Mordred. Mordred had been flung into the ground by Perdita's attack.

From the depths, rose Harry. He dove in and smacked Mordred out of mid-air. The impact of Harry's hands striking Modred's armor cracked it open like a tin can and caused him to fly down to the ground. Modred had to channel all of the magic energy to just defend himself.

Amethyst rushed over and activated the crystal arrays to secure the Starlight. The golden dome appeared over it.

"It's over," Harry said. "You lost!"

Modred's eyes bugged out furiously as he could not believe this. No, he would not. He refused to. And could not. Modred rose up one more time.

"No, I won't…."

A portal ripped open and a hand grabbed Modred and forcefully yanked him through. The portal sealed before Harry could go for it.

"Genesis?" Harry asked.

"The person who took Modred appears to have scrambled the coordinates," Genesis said. "But, I'll keep looking."

Harry turned to Perdita. The energy which surrounded her caused the Queen to float above the ground. Harry offered her a hand to help get her straight down to the ground.

"I can't believe you did that. I was so close. I could have had the Starlight! I could have been King. I would have ruled over them all. Don't you understand!"

An enraged Modred threw a tantrum at his latest failure. M'comm eyed the furious blonde sorcerer before he forced Mordred to sit down and take a couple of deep breaths.

"You were not a failure. You succeeded, you are one step closer to our end game. You must be…."

"Don't tell me to be patient!" Modred howled.

"I'm not telling you that….."

"Then don't tell me this is for some end game. Because any end game that does not end up with me on the throne is not worth whatever we're playing. I've waited for way too long for this moment. I refuse to wait any longer."

"Walk out the door then," M'comm said. "You're so close to not only having your Kingdom, but more."

"More."

M'comm just smiled. He knew that would take M'comm's attention.

"Camelot was a wonder, from what I've learned, but it could be much more," M'comm said. "I have no interest in Earth. But perhaps you are not worthy of taking control of everything."

"Everything, I can have everything," Mordred said.

"You can do what even Victor Von Doom could not, no matter how much he longs for it. You can be the supreme ruler of the world."

This made Modred grow suddenly respectful and docile. He resembled a creature who had been tempted with a meal. All M'comm needed to do was string him along long enough to get what he wanted.

"You have the Earth, and I take care of the foul Green Martians," M'comm said. "For, that I need your help, or rather something your mentor has been working on."

Modred nodded. M'comm had little to do with many of the Earth expressions. Still he had a couple which pointed to the fact even the lowly humans had the right idea. One of them he was a bit fond to, was the statement about the fish being on the hook. And he could tell Modred had been on the hook.

"Anything you want," Modred said. "Just promise me I'll be king."

"Yes, everyone will know how great you are once I'm done," M'comm said.

Modred's eyes flashed with pure greed. It was time to prove his mother and Doom both wrong. He deserved to be king. Modred would rule over all.

"We'll help you with this."

Harry and Nora joined Amethyst in the chamber with the Starlight. It would have to be moved elsewhere and to do that, they would preserve it.

"We'll help you move it, if you give us something in return," Nora said. "A piece of it."

Harry raised his eyebrow for a few seconds and Nora just smiled, as if to tell Harry to let her handle this. However, Amethyst looked agreeable.

"I do owe you my life," Amethyst told Harry. "And I believe you could do great things with it. Someone of your valor could heal even the darkest souls with the Starlight."

"Especially one who is on the edge of affliction," Harry muttered. "And needs that extra nudge."

Naturally, Harry would have to run some tests. But, perhaps, this could be the ticket to help Sam. Hell, it could help the other World Killers. He was certain Sue would help him, before he went back home.

"Do you have a minute?"

Harry turned his attention to Genesis briefly.

"It's important, isn't it?" Harry asked her.

"Very," she concluded.

Amethyst gave her consent and waved Harry off.

"We'll speak later about your reward. Meet me this evening and I'll have everything ready."

With that out of the way, Harry slipped out of the room, to join Genesis. Genesis wasted little time in telling him what was up.

"There were a few small clues Desaad left behind. And I fear the League six has been brought to Apokolips."

Harry sighed. Once the League Six did not return, he did fear something like this happened. Although, this was one of the worst case scenarios and even one which did not enter Harry's mind.

"It makes sense," Harry concluded grimly. "But, we're going to have to learn more."

"Of course. And going to Apokolips without a plan will be suicide. Especially in this current environment. And with Darkseid able to leverage the captured League members over us, this has a potential for disaster if we go in there without a plan."

Yes, as much as Harry wanted to save them immediately, it would be a bad idea. It did really make him question what Darkseid's final end game was.

"Find out more," Harry said.

"I will, don't worry."

Oh, Harry did worry, that was the problem. Regardless though, he allowed Genesis to slip into the shadows and go about her business. They would formulate a plan and a coordinated strike. Harry eyed the landscape. So much could have been lost.

What was Darkseid's plan anyway? Harry would find out and bring them home safely. It may take some time before Genesis went through the destruction which Desaad left behind to search for more clues. And until they had a clearer picture, suicide without a plan.

"Yes, yes, yes you will all stand in awe before my might."

"Actually, they're standing in awe about how you can keep that fat head of yours crammed underneath that fishbowl."

Mysterio's eyes turned towards Spider-Girl. She webbed a pair of civilians out of the way and dropped down onto the ground, and faced Mysterio.

"So once again, you get in my spotlight! But, I can assure you, web slinger, this will be your final curtain."

"Heard it b…."

Spider-Girl stopped in mid sentence with her spider sense going off. Several attack drones came into the area and began to fire her. Spider-Girl webbed onto one of them and used her momentum of the whip to kick one drone into the other. One fired erratically into the crowd.

Thankfully, Impulse had been there to get them out of harm's way. Which allowed Gwen to jump onto the drone's back and smash it down to the ground.

She performed a flipping motion and landed down onto the drone which crushed underneath her hands when it slammed down to the ground.

"You can't stop me!"

"Watch me!"

Gwen whipped herself down and slammed onto Mysterio to drop him to the ground. Only for the menace to have sparks fly out of him when Gwen connected.

"Of course you're a robot, but why?"

"Did you really think I would not have a stunt double for such a low level performance?"

The robot began to tick and Gwen figured out rather quickly the robot it question was also a bomb. She webbed onto the robot and launched it high into the air to a safe velocity. It exploded and Spider-Girl caught the debris before it fell down to the ground.

Breathing heavily, Spider-Girl wondered what the motive was. A booming sound synced into place with her spider sense going off like mad.

Grail led the three Female Furies, and several Reach soldiers into the battle. Ruby went to armor up, but Grail jumped behind her and applied a device to the back of her neck which sent sparks through Ruby.

"NO!"

Impulse rushed through the battle. The Reach soldiers fired onto her. Impulse threw lightning at one of them. Another caught her with a gun which fired cords out and wrapped around her neck. Cassie dove into the battle and Grail blocked her. Grail punched Cassie in the stomach and whipped her down to the ground with a thunderous impact which knocked all of the wind out of her.

"Don't feel bad, Wondergirl," Grail said. "Even your best is not good enough to beat my worst."

Ruby had been snapped in some kind of stasis field device. Impulse crawled for her. Stompa lived up to her name by driving her foot down onto the back of Impulse's head.

"Have to fight," Ruby grumbled.

She almost powered through until someone injected something into the girl's neck and made her go docile. The Boom Tube portal opened up.

Spider-Girl dove over the Reach Soldiers and tripped them up with her webbing. She shot a line of webbing to snatch Ruby out of their grip, but Grail sliced the webbing out of the way and then the portal opened. A glowing red dagger shot out of Grail's hand and struck Spider-Girl in the chest to knock her back. Not wounded, but winded.

She was not the target after all.

The Furies, the Reach, and Grail all disappeared, with Ruby. Spider-Girl pulled herself up and almost collapsed down once again.

"No, this can't be happening!" Impulse yelled. "Why didn't…..ughhh!"

She ran as fast she could into the opposite direction before Gwen could say anything. The race was on to capture Ruby before the Reach turned Blue Beetle into the ultimate weapon.