Chapter 53

On the outskirts of Mars, a portal opens up. A large Kree Warship blasted through the wormhole and moved it's way past Mars, and past Earth's moon to Earth. Three more smaller war ships moved past the mother ship.

Aboard the ship, the one and only Ronan the Accuser looked out. He had finally been given the all clear by the Supreme Intelligence to invade Earth. With the Justice League, and their puppet masters both on Earth, not to mention the Reach, several problems would be wiped out. But, perhaps the best of all, would be the Kryptonians.

"We will arrive on the planet in one cycle."

"Perfect," Ronan replied. "It's finally time for Earth to fall to ash. It's too corrupted, too polluted. It must be destroyed, for the good of the Kree Empire."

One chance for the humans to kneel before the Kree. Ronan still had his orders to obliterate Earth where it stood. The moment the Reach stepped foot on the planet, Earth forfeited any chance to existence. Finally, Ronan would annihilate those cockroaches.

"It's been a sanctuary for the unworthy for too long. If it is not the Reach, it is the final survivors of Krypton. It's time for that planet to go completely and utterly extinct."

The members of the Kree cheered Ronan. Ronan stood tall and proud, ready to lead the Kree. Very few understood what had to be done. Ronan had a personal score to settle.

"Are we...are we ready for this one?"

The other Kree members turned to the Kree soldier who spoke up. Ronan had no tolerance for weakness, for the most part. However, he turned his attention to the Kree soldier who spoke up, slinking in the shadows, almost terrified at any potential fall back.

"Do, I look anything but ready, soldier?"

The soldier shook his head frantically. Ronan clutched his hammer and thought about bringing it about the head of the weakling. A point needed to be proved. Ronan's finger stretched out and pointed the Kree guards out one at a time.

"Do any of them look unready."

"No, sir, it's just, it's just….."

Ronan placed the edge of the hammer against the chest of the soldier who spoke. He quivered in response and Ronan dragged him in. The soldier looked from right to left and back into Ronan's eyes before he continued in barely a whisper.

"Superman."

"Yes, I understand. But, you have nothing to fear from him. For, I will obliterate him."

The power which Ronan demonstrated shook the other Kree to a bone. From the first time Superman humiliated Ronan on his home planet, Ronan had been prepared to square off with the Man of Steel and drive him down to one knee. He would show power.

"Are there any other objections to this invasion?"

Silence. They were all on the same page. Ronan just smiled.

"Very well then. Let us gain revenge on those who have brought bloodshed to the mighty Kree empire. We are mighty And we will stand tall above all!"

The events of today replayed in Ruby's head. Bits and pieces flittered into her head. What she had been forced to do thanks to that wicked Granny Goodness woman made Ruby's stomach muscles tighten and she wanted to hurl. Despite her best attempts to force those memories down, Ruby found them rattling into her head.

Genesis scanned Ruby. She dreaded the answers.

"Your connection with Harry has put him in control. And thus you are in control. Thanks to your connection to the Collective, you won't be controlled by them again. And the Scarab will be yours to control."

'We need to work together to make this right,' Ruby thought.

'I agree,' scarab said. 'You do realize what you've done.'

"Mom," Ruby murmured. "Oh god."

"I'm really sorry," Lena said. "We'll find her. And take control."

"Why can't Harry take control and fix her as well?" Ruby asked. "I mean, isn't Mom part of the Collective as well. So, she shouldn't be this World Killer thing."

Harry thought this was a good question. He turned to Gwen and Lena, who shrugged. They had been at a loss for any answers, just as much as Harry. Ruby's shoulders slumped down. She felt guilt, a whole lot of it, now the high of being with Harry had left her.

"So find her and take her like he did me," Ruby said.

"Maybe," Harry said. "But, Sam's biology is different than yours. And we took you through the scarab, and Sam doesn't have a back door."

"But, why can't you…."

"We're going to have to bring her home first," Lena said as she cut Ruby off. "We'll find her, and then we'll fix her. I've been studying her brain chemistry and I've got an idea how I could potentially fix her. But, you're going to have to trust me."

Ruby trusted. She took a deep breath. Gwen put a hand on her. Ruby had a lot of apologies to give.

"I'm….."

Gwen silenced her.

"Don't sweat it, kid. You weren't yourself. Really. Just get some rest. Take it easy. We'll worry about Samantha."

Ruby would try the best she could. She had to find a way to fix this. Still between Lena, Gwen, and Harry encouraging her to get some rest, perhaps she should. Get a bit of a fresh perspective.

Harry's phone buzzed to life. He saw it was Lois and wondered what was going on.

"Okay, I apologize for piling even more on your plate," Lois said. "But, Chloe's been gone since this morning and normally she checks in for now."

Harry sighed and tried to remain calm. A muscle tightened in his chest and Harry spent a second to calm down before he responded.

"Was Chloe doing something that she shouldn't be?"

"Well, yes," Lois said with a sigh. "Chloe's investigating the Godfreys and she found out they might have a connection with Lex. And you know how Chloe has tunnel vision regarding him."

Harry knew indeed.

"I'll see what I can do to track her down."

Emiko stuck her head around the corner.

"Problem?"

"Chloe's gone after the Godfreys. She wants proof they're working with Lex."

Emiko nodded in response.

"I have an idea where she might be. Do you want me to follow it?"

"Keep in touch," Harry said. "I'll call the others."

Well this was a fine mess Chloe got herself in. It was bad enough she had been trapped by Lex, captured, and tied here. But Chloe had been forced to watch that overgrown windbag, G. Gordon Godfrey rant endlessly on the television for hours which only increased her agitation.

"Did you really think it would end with that? No! It's not going to end any time soon. Ol' G. Gordon suggests we keep a close eye on it. Keep a close eye on your neighbors, your friends, even your own family. For one of them could be in the league with these monsters who will ruin the American wave of life. We must stand behind Lex Luthor to make this great nation again."

The door opened up. For a second, Chloe had jumped up in surprise. Batman, no wait, it could not be him. She could see this Bat had not shaved for a while and his eyes were sunken underneath his cowl. It was the Bogus Bat who saw better days.

"There's been a change of plans. You're too much of a liability to be left alive."

Chloe almost had her hand free. Although, she had nothing to defend herself with. That glint of pure terror in the faux Bat's eyes made her heart stammer a bit quicker.

"So, you're going to kill me?"

"Don't struggle. I know what I'm doing. Trust me, I'm a doctor."

The door blew up and almost smashed the fake Batman in the back of the head. Chloe's eyes looked up to gaze upon the archer who stepped into the room. A figure dressed in black who Chloe vaguely recognized.

"Cassandra?"

Cassandra Cain responded with a nod and sliced Chloe out of her restraints. Two more figures joined the archer and Cass. One of them looked like a female version of Deathstroke and the other who had been dressed in a black and red suit with a red hood covering their body.

Bogus Batman rose to his feet, slowly. Another arrow caught him in the back of the leg and sent him crashing down. Arsenal popped in to join the party.

"Red Hood, Ronin, Orphan, and Ravager, get Chloe out of here."

"No, I can't leave without the evidence!" Chloe yelled. "I'm so close to making Lex pay."

"Cover her!" Arsenal yelled.

Chloe rushed to the computer and made an attempt to access the system. Damn it, she should have known. The evidence which Lex had which would implicate her, had been wiped free. Thus, Chloe found herself back to stage one.

"We better leave," the archer known as Ronin said.

"Right, one exit, coming up."

Arsenal obliterated the door. Ravager and Cass took Chloe by the arms. Chloe flashed one more helpless look at the useless computer. Did Lex purposely pull the rug out from under her? Knowing that smug bastard, Chloe figured he did.

When Chloe was brought to L-Corp, she faced Harry. This new team, this had been the first Chloe saw of it. She knew Arsenal and Cass, but the rest of these people, they were an enigma to Chloe.

"Nice to see you found you way back."

Chloe was surprised how Harry looked like a stern father whose child had been out way past curfew. He looked like someone who was having a bad day, so Chloe tried to choose her next words as wisely as possible.

"So, honestly, I shouldn't be surprised you have a covert ops teams for your coverts ops team?"

"No," Harry agreed. "You shouldn't. And you shouldn't have gone in there without backup either. But what's done is done. Did you actually get anything?"

"Sorry," Chloe said. "Lex wiped the system."

"Maybe," Harry said. 'Maybe not."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. She knew by now when Harry was up for something.

"I know Lex didn't just delete that information outright," Harry said. "He's not going to get into bed with people like Godfrey, not without any insurance. While he might have moved the information, he still kept it accessible somewhere."

"Right, right, of course," Chloe said. "For insurance purposes, the sneaky bastard."

"Right," Harry replied. "There's always shadows, and backups. And Lex, when he put that backdoor in Star Labs, before we shut down, I let Genesis slip something into his system which will allow us to comb it. Because, he thinks he's always the smartest person in the room."

"One would think that you let Lex get control, so you could screw him over later."

Chloe almost said this in an absent minded way. Harry turned to Genesis, who was scanning the system. Lex would not delete anything, not without any backup.

"So, how's your day been going?" Chloe asked. "Other than having to pull me out of trouble again."

"That's a long story," Harry said. "Fortunate that we have time to go through it while Genesis is combing the system. And Genesis...when you're done, I need you to access Godfrey's live feed.

With G. Gordon Godfrey having a face to face live on television with his sister, the entire world was watching. Which played into Harry's hands quite nicely.

"I'm downloading the shadow files. And once they're done, I feed the video live on the air."

"And once again, when an alien runs amuck, the people suffer. Case in point, Superman. Do you really think he's some kind of hero? Remember just a few weeks ago he went on a rampage unchecked in Gotham City. For most of you, there's no reminder. But given that some of you are turning in for the first time, a reminder is needed to show just how dangerous man."

The footage G. Gordon Godfrey intended to put on the screen shifts into a meeting with him and Grace and a man in shadows.

"Yes, it's a pleasure doing business with you. Our mutual friend agrees what needs to be done. We need to ramp up the people's distrust in the Justice League and divide them. It leaves them properly open on both sides, so we can all get what they want."

"Given how tribal the United States could get, we can rile them up by dividing public opinion. And then party lines will be divided."

"Yes, but Glorious won't be able to do this alone," Grace said. "It appears that women on this Earth, many of them are insecure."

"One may say that, yes. It may be something you can exploit, by giving them a cause to rally behind. Stir them up against men, pinning all of their problems on the entire male gender."

"Yes, yes, of course, they can't take any responsibility for themselves," Grace said.

"And when the time is right, I want you to champion the Reach. I have faith that once they sufficiently weaken the Earth's defenses, your master will be ready."

"Of course," Godfrey said. "The Reach would damage Earth and their resistance. And for those who rebel, perhaps their minds will be broken sufficiently to welcome great Darkseid as a liberator. He will have it all. He will have the Anti-Life Equation."

"Just one more thing. When the time is right, we will ensure Superman's reputation is damaged. LexCorp is currently working on a chemical which will increase the potency of the fear toxin created by Doctor Jonathan Crane."

"And then he'll go on a rampage," Godfrey said. "Fear, fear is a powerful weapon, yes."

The footage faded to another meeting, where the members of the Reach met with the Godfreys.

'So, you get the resources you want, and I give you the publicity," Gordon said. "But, when the time is right, you surrender this planet to Darkseid."

"I don't like this," Black Beetle said.

"You will," the Ambassador said. "The Reach cannot hope to stand up to the force of Apokolips. But, what of the heroes. What of the Justice League?"

"A small amount of Kree will arrive to threaten an invasion for what my partners caused them to do," Gordon said. "They will go off for the Kree. Do not worry about them."

The camera cut to black and then faded back into the studio. G. Gordon Godfrey's mouth widened up and Grace looked about ready to spit.

"This is a fabrication, a lie to spread misinformation," Gordon said.

The studio crowd go very restless and start booing the Godfreys. Some of them hurled food and drink at the stage.

"Did you know they were recording us?" Grace hissed.

"You should have known, this was your...that scumbag, that was….This is your fault, Grace."

"Typical, blaming me, Glorious, for this one…."

The squabble would mercifully cut short as the studio doors burst open. The information had reached the ears of the DEO, and thus their agents had probable cause to nail the Godfreys. As the DEO swarmed them, footage cut to a large blue man above a war ship.

"My name is Ronan. I represent the Kree Empire. I regret to inform you that Earth has become a breeding ground for filth. You have one opportunity to surrender. If not, we will obliterate everything that stands in our way."

The war ships locked onto Earth. Regardless of what the humans were going to do or say, invasion was coming.