Chapter 64

The League Six stepped in front of a small crowd, consisting of the founding members of the Team, Black Canary, and Power Girl, among others. Batman, Superwoman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Batman, and Hawkgirl all viewed the scene before them.

"Thank you for all coming," Superwoman started. "I know all of you have been fighting the fight for the world and saving it from the shadows, despite the fact the Justice League was founded on the principle of transparency. It was not something that I was fond of going forward."

A few seconds pause to allow her words to sink in before Superwoman continued.

"But, we must face certain facts. There are challenges out there in the world. Challenges which will change the old ways. I feel that the Justice League serves a purpose. Although perhaps we lost the way. Perhaps we allowed ourselves to be a slave of public opinion and not do what we can to serve and protect the people. There are times where the right option is not necessarily the most popular one. I know that now."

"We all know that," Wonder Woman continued. "We have moved forward with operations, and the people who have ran it have done a good job. An excellent job, in keeping the people safe, even if we cannot be that public face we once were. It reminds us what is truly important."

"We are heroes because it is the right thing to do and not accolades," Martian Manhunter said.

"Yes," Hawkgirl concluded. "We might step on some toes along the way, but it's….well we do what we need to do."

Superwoman looked around to Batman and Green Lantern who had pretty much nothing to share at the moment.

"I'm not sure what the future of the League is. But whatever it is, I am confident each and every one of you are going to be a part of it."

"And despite the incidents regarding Lex Luthor taking control of both the Star Labs and Wayne Industries satellites, we are proud to state that they are back online and back under League control," Batman said. "And more secure than ever, and they will be valuable tools which…."

"A boom tube just opened."

Genesis's statement cut through the room like a hot knife through butter. She closed her eyes.

"Multiple Boom Tubes," Genesis amended.

Power Girl edged to the computer to punch up the satellite feed and sure enough there were multiple red spots. Already in Metropolis, an army of Parademons began to march into battle. And among them, was Darkseid, who looked more hideous than ever.

"I thought you killed him," M'gann said.

"I did," Harry said. "We're going to have to split into teams, to take down Darkseid."

Everyone got their assignments. The attack seemed to be centered at four main points. Off to the side, Genesis motioned for Harry to join her.

"Come with me," Genesis said. "Now, we both know there's only one thing that's going to take him down."

"I know," Harry answered.

Genesis and Harry slipped off in the confusion of the League preparing to go out to battle. The various members of the Justice League split off, and sent out a call for any other heroes. They were going to need to take it to Darkseid who was not quite ready to stay in the crave just that.

Scenes of horror played on the television screen. Parademons marched through the street, like something out of a horror movie. Only this horror was all too real and terrifying. The members of the Team, in Impulse, Blue Beetle, Arsenal, Robin, Bumblebee, Wondergirl, and newest recruit, Lightning, viewed the scene.

"They're...they're just….." Wondergirl said at a loss for words.

"And this grisly news footage was shown just moments ago when the army attempted to take the fight to Darkseid," Cat said over the television screen.

The army walked up to Darkseid. Darkseid just stood and a disease overtook them. Birds dropped from the sky around them. Bumblebee gasped.

"Some kind of Pestilence," Bumblebee said in a low voice.

"Who can stop him?" Lightning wondered. "You can't even get close to the guy. Well maybe if you could blast him from far enough, but who can really pull that one off."

Impulse rocked back and forth. Lightning turned to her.

"You okay?"

"It's happening, it's happening, nothing we did could stop it, not even Grail and Harry killing him," Impulse murmured underneath her breath. "I'm going to have to fix this."

"Where are you…."

Robin barely got three words out before Impulse raced off. She turned to the other members of the team who just shrugged in response.

"Don't really know what that girl's up to half the time," Wondergirl said.

"So, how do we deal with this?" Blue Beetle asked.

'We quarantine and vaporize the Darkseid?' Scarab suggested.

Well, that was one solution, just one easier said than done. The entire team turned to see White Canary appear at the door.

"Alright, listen up, we need everyone out there," White Canary said. "You all are on crowd control. People are panicked, and rightfully so, as we have an evil god who turned himself into a walking disease out there."

"So, we're not fighting Darkseid?" Wondergirl asked.

"If you're lucky, but right now, we need you all out there," White Canary said.

"Are you sure I'll be any help?" Lightning asked.

"Jen, you'll be fine," White Canary said.

To be honest, they were going to need all the help they could get. Even if Jennifer did not have a one hundred percent handle on her powers, she was a lot better off since coming out of the tube.

"Where's Impulse?" Sara asked.

"Ran off, as usual, for reasons she hasn't explained to anyone, as usual," Arsenal said. "Apt name that one."

Sara sighed, she would have to contact Harry about this one. Only, Harry was out of reach, because he went off with Genesis for reasons which Sara could not figure out. Although, she was sure it was a good reason, because Harry would not leave them in a lurch at a time like this.

Impulse rushed into another known lab of Amanda Spence. The sixth one she ran into. Spence was keeping one step ahead of her. Impulse though would not be denied. She was on a mission to stop this woman before she destroyed the world.

She moved down the hallway before literally running into Galatea. Impulse flew back, skidded down onto the ground, and landed her ass. She almost stood up until Galatea put a boot on her chest and pinned her down.

"I've done more than a few stupidly impulsive things in my time, but this takes the cake."

Something prevented Impulse from just vibrating out and getting up. The boot of her, well technically her half-sister, drove down onto her chest and made Nora Kent just gasp underneath the attack.

"I need her notes. I need to know how to fix it."

"I wiped the notes. And her work in studying Grace Parker."

Horror visited Impulse. She had been struck dumb beyond all words. She shook like mad underneath Galatea's boot as she pressed her further into the ground.

"W-why would you do that? I could have...that was our last hope. Maybe I could have created some kind of formula, or found a way top….."

"Stop."

Nora stopped, struck dumb. Galatea's green eyes peered into hers, not blinking. Finally, Galatea let Nora up to her feet.

"We both made mistakes coming back in time. At least we got to see Harry in his prime before...it all happened."

Galatea folded her arms under her chest. Hopefully, Nora would not run. Hopefully Nora would finally listen, finally listen, because she had been stubborn and headstrong the entire time.

"To you, he disappeared three years before you came here. But, he came back. And he was a ruthless overlord. Not because he wanted to, but he had to be. He realized at the end of his time, many, many centuries from now, he made some mistakes. So, he sent me back so I could live in a timeline where that reality never came to take place. I second guessed myself and I second guessed him, and….I tried to fix things. But, my fixes ended up causing things to happen. Ruby for instance, she became the Blue Beetle much earlier. And my actions sent off a chain of events which gave Darkseid the powers which he is terrorizing the people of his planet with."

Nora tried to say something, but Galatea was not done with.

"Perhaps, we should stop trying to fix things. Perhaps we should let Harry do what he does best. He must have done something right, sometime. "

"I don't….I saw the future, and it was bad."

"And I came from even further on and it was worse," Galatea said. "Relax, kid. Just relax, and breath. I took care of Spence, she won't be a problem at the least."

"What do you mean?"

Galatea's lips curled into the smallest fraction of a smile.

"Ask me no questions. I tell you no lies."

Oh, something about that, made Nora both morbidly curious and also not wanting to know a damn thing. Perhaps in a case like this, ignorance was in fact bliss. And Nora hoped to be blissful, as possible.

Everyone feared Darkseid. As it should be. Darkseid waited for him to appear. It almost disappointed him that Superman did not show up. Given the fight Superman gave Darkseid on Apokolips, and he even turned his own daughter against Darkseid. Darkseid almost was proud of him, but now he was filled with nothing but disappointment.

"It's time to start killing them all."

A blast of green energy in the form of a wrecking ball hit Darkseid as hard as possible. Darkseid only staggered a few feet before a crazed wing warrior woman blasted herself through the skies and swung a mace, and slammed extremely wildly at Darkseid.

The shots with the Nth metal mace struck and cracked against Darkseid's flesh. A few seconds later and Darkseid almost dropped to a knee before he shot up completely. Only to get the Martian Manhunter grabbing him.

"Everyone stand clear."

From the skies, Batman, in the Batwing, fired missiles down onto Darkseid. Darkseid whipped his Omega Beam up and shot the Batwing out of the sky. Thankfully, Batman ejected himself before there was a hideous crash.

"You were almost under my thumb."

Wonder Woman nailed Darkseid with a glancing blow. Hit and run tactics were important because he would overwhelm them with the disease.

Superwoman brought down a large piece of a building on top of Darkseid which almost buried him down. Darkseid popped up and grabbed Superwoman before he sent her flying across the streets.

"You will serve as an example for his cowardice."

A green energy bubble wrapped around Darkseid. Darkseid blasted the bubble as hard as he could. Green Lantern struggled to keep him encased in the bubble. The disease slowly seeped through the power of the ring and made John cough loudly as sweat rolled down his cheeks.

"Not sure how much longer I can hold this."

Parademons came in for the attack. Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman teamed up to make sure they stayed off of Green Lantern's back.

"He should be here, soon, right?" Hawkgirl asked.

"He'll be here," Wonder Woman said. "We're just going to have to hold this time."

Green Lantern collapsed, shaking and weak. Superwoman sped her teammate out of the way. Darkseid fired an Omega Beam at her and at the last second, Superwoman deflected it with heat vision. The two sides locked into a heated war of beams.

The disease slowly, but surely began to cripple the various League members. But, as long as they were still there and still fighting, it was not over, not by a longshot.

Genesis took Harry out into the vastness of space, towards a wall of several figures carved into it.

"You have not been able to tap into the power, because you are missing one key," Genesis said.

"And it's on the other side of the wall?"

"Right," she agreed. "Within this wall, contains an item liberated by the Mad Titan. One of the few forces who might top Darkseid in menace. It was sealed away some time ago."

Genesis grew a bit somber and put her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Few can control one of the stones without madness, never mind all of them. And you may not survive the trip."

"I have to."

He would return from the item and finally take down Darkseid. Once and for all.

With one more step, Hadrian Kent entered the Source Wall. The screams of death and the cry of a strangled Phoenix echoed through his mind as everything around him faded to black.