The Justice Gang
(with the Protectors)

“Earth Under Siege” by Martin Maenza

Two weeks ago: the appropriate garbed Golden Archer sat at the monitoring consoles aboard the Earth orbiting satellite headquarters of the Justice Gang.  This equipment was some of the most sophisticated on the planet, combining technologies from a number of alien races and allowing this team of the world’s greatest heroes to keep a vigilant eye on the blue orb below.  The equipment practically ran itself.

However, based on the organization’s guidelines and operating charter, each member of the team would take 12-hour shifts in a rotation to perform monitor duty.  This allowed for human interpretation of the data and coordination of team efforts should any form of crisis arise.  

One spot of the console surface had been cleared off the Archer, allowing him to layout seven piles of playing cards in a game of solitaire.  He let out a deep sigh and said to himself, since he was the only one aboard the structure at the time, “some nights of duty can be so slow that I almost wish something would…”

Before he could even finish his thought, an audible alarm sounded from the console.  The Archer practically jumped out of his seat with surprise; the cards in his hands went flying in the air and rained down on the metal floor behind his seat.  “What the…?”  Having his attention brought back to full focus by the alert, his hands danced across the keyboard before him.  This pulled up details on the visual display consisting of latitude and longitude and other measurements relating to the specific nature of the situation.  As he quickly deciphered the information, a growing sense of seriousness hit him like a ton of bricks!  “A huge tidal wave from the Pacific is about to crash down on Caribbean Islands!  They’re going to need some major assistance and pronto!”

Switching screens, he activated the interface to his teammates’ signal devices.  Each team member, also per the guidelines, was required to carry a small device that would allow the members to stay in immediate and fairly constant communication.  One of the things that the Gang learned over the decades they had been operating was sometimes specific situations required certain skills.  With the signal devices, the team could quickly determine what pool of skills was available to apply to the problem at hand. 

Within seconds, the Golden Archer had a number of the members online to convey the gravity of the natural disaster unfolding.  “That’s the lowdown, folks!” the Archer said.

“I’m on it!” said the magenta haired Water Woman.  Her aquatic skills, great strength, and ability to breathe underwater effortlessly made her a perfect match for the problem.

“Robotman and I will join you, Geeva,” Space Lord chimed in.  No matter how serious the situation, the elder statesman of the group kept a cool head.

“I’ll be there when you all arrive,” Dr. Speed added before signing off.  The good doctor was not one to boast, and everyone knew that.  While the others might need the satellite’s teleportation system to get there, the speedster would do so under his own power and indeed arrive before most of the others.

Golden Archer relaxed slightly, knowing that his friends would have the situation well in-hand in no time at all.

However, what he failed to notice while he was responding to the crisis in the Caribbean was that a beam with a rather unique energy signature shot up from deep in the Atlantic Ocean and out into the far reaches of the solar system and beyond.  It moved at such great speed that it was enough to escape the notice of the satellite’s sensors. 

All of which, of course, was calculated exactly.

The beam traveled at the speed of light to reach a final destination – a huge space cruiser leading a fleet of smaller vessels across the cosmos.  On a platform inside the ship, the beam terminated, and a form materialized from it before a waiting group of alien beings.  Stepping down from the platform was a gray skinned, nearly rock-like in texture, being with red glowing eyes sunk back in his ominous skull.

The awaiting aliens, some reptilian in form and others shaped more like minotaur of mythology, all dropped down to one knee and bowed their heads.  “Welcome, oh great Destroyer,” one of the leaders said.  The others echoed the praise in unison.

The lone surviving member of the race known as the Destroyers looked down upon them with a resolved confidence.  It is time to begin the next phase of my plan! he thought to himself.

***

Two weeks later, in the same satellite headquarters that opened this tale, a different costumed male sat at the monitoring consoles.  Dressed in a red costume with a blue cape, the hero the world knew as Time Lord was focused on some technical specifications.  Like always, the man was constantly studying, whether it was details of history or ways to improve the performance of his temporal belt.  For a person who literally could have all the time in the world, Steven Hamlin never seemed to be caught wasting any of it.

An audible alarm sounded, breaking his deep concentration. 

 The long range space sensors, he thought to himself as he noted the source of the alert and switched over to that system for additional details.  That usually means some kind of craft is heading through our solar system towards Earth. 

Bringing up a visual view, his jaw dropped at the sight. “My God, that’s not just one craft!” he exclaimed as he saw three large space cruisers approaching.  Together, the ships moved in a perfect wedge formation as they left the planet Mars behind in their wake.  “That’s a whole fleet!”

Spinning the chair about to the right, the scientist turned hero accessed the communication system.  He worked quickly to set up the signal to transmit on all known frequencies and dialects.  When satisfied with the broadcast parameters, he input his message.  “This is Time Lord of the Justice Gang, champions of the Earth.  Approaching vessels, please respond.  What is your mission?” 

He paused for a moment to await the response.  It came thirty seconds later, but not across the communication system. 

Instead, a burst from the lead cruiser’s plasma cannon shattered across the satellite’s energy shields.  While not enough to immediately penetrate the protective barrier, the shocks caused by the blast were enough to disrupt momentarily the structure’s geocentric stabilizers.

Time Lord had to brace himself against the console to avoid being tossed to the floor.  “Ugggh,” he grunted.  “So much for hoping they were a friendly delegation.”  His fingers danced across the keyboard, putting in motion a number of requests.  “I have to contact the others.  And I have to be prepared for another attack as well.”

Aboard the lead cruiser’s bridge, the Destroyer stood confident as he watched his target on the ship’s long range monitors.  “Again,” he commanded in a cool, steady tone.

One of the reptilians at the weapons console nodded and acknowledged the order with another barrage upon the satellite.

“Increase power,” the Destroyer ordered.  “Obliterate their base of operations.”

The weapons officer punched in a sequence, and the intensity of the outburst from the plasma cannon jumped into its upper levels.

The blast exploded around the satellite’s defenses, engulfing the large, multi-leveled structure in a ball of caustic energy.  Anyone on the planet below who might have looked up into the evening sky might have thought for a minute that the sun had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Destroyer watched patiently for the weapon to complete its cycle of output.  Finally, when the energy burst cleared, he was sufficiently satisfied with the end result.  Before them was a clear void of space.

“Target destroyed,” the weapons officer announced.

“As it should be,” the conquering alien said coldly.  He was going to let nothing stand in his way to enact his revenge.  “Proceed to the planet’s orbit and await my further instructions.”

“Yes, oh great Destroyer,” the lowly officer said.

Behind him, the highest ranking of the reptilian race turned to his counterpart from the beast-like race.  “Commander Gondar, a word please,” he requested.

“Now, Commander Creech?” Gondar asked.  “Do you not know how to savor a moment of victory?”

The Destroyer caught that part of the exchange and turned to face them.  “What is it that the two of you are prattling on about?”

Creech did his best to hide any traces of the fear and concern racing through his body.  “Nothing, great Destroyer,” he said.  “I just wanted to…discuss… …crew rotations with my counterpart here.  Details that need not concern one as great as you.”  Creech hoped that his sycophantic tone would appease the mighty cosmic conqueror.

When the Destroyer finally said, “very well,” and turned back to the main viewing portal, Creech was able to relax slightly.  He turned to Gondar then and motioned for him to follow. 

The minotaur did so.  After following Creech off of the bridge, down a long corridor, then left down another and right down a third and into a small room, Gondar lost his patience.  “Creech, what is this all about?” he boomed.

“Quiet,” the reptile commander said in a lower tone.  “I do not wish our conversation to be overheard.”

“About crew rotations?”

“No, no.  That was merely a lie so that the Destroyer would not be suspicious.”

“Then what is this about?”

“I still have fears about the deceptions we put in motion to get us to this point.”

Gondar chuckled.  “I told you before we have nothing to fear.”

“But what if someone talks?”

“They won’t.”  Gondar felt that answer was all that was needed.  But when he saw that Creech’s facial expression still had not changed, he sighed before going into a slightly longer explanation.   “The creature to whom we paid to leak the rumor of the Destroyer possibly being alive to Bolstrom has since been disposed of.” 

From the look in Gondar’s eye when he said this, Creech imagined this disposal had been in a rather violent fashion. “But what if Bolstrom says something?” the reptile asked nervously.

“He won’t.”  Gondar stopped there but again noticed his colleague’s expression.  He sighed once more.  “Unlike the rest of his kind, Bolstrom is full of greed and pride.  Even if the Omni-Lords manage to question him about his reasons for coming to Earth, he will not give them the satisfaction of having an answer.  He is a true anomaly among his people.”

Creech considered Gondar’s words for a moment.  He knew he had to trust his ally.  After all, they had together concocted this whole scenario to let the overtly curious Omni-Lord do their investigation work for them.  There were rumors circulating the cosmos for years regarding the possibility that one of the Destroyer race had yet survived the great battle against Earth and its champions.  Having been such highly ranked commanders in the once powerful empire that the Destroyers had created, Creech and Gondar hoped they could find this last Destroyer and use him as a figure-head to rebuild that crumbled empire.  When the Destroyer indeed turned up to be alive and contacted them after all this time, they knew it was time to put the plan into motion.

“But what if the Destroyer learns of our role in this?” Creech asked.

“Creech, stop worrying so,” Gondar insisted.  “As long as he is focused on the annihilation of his enemies, we have little to worry about.  They will keep him engaged and so the contrary.  Once the dust settles, the survivors of the conflict will be worn down.  If it should be the Destroyer, we will continue to use him as a figure-head while we continue our conquest to other worlds.  If he should fall, our troops can then engage the Earth champions and take their world with ease.  In either case, we have everything to gain!”

Creech nodded, though he still had his doubts.

***

The morning sun crested over the Manhattan skyline.  A sleepy eyed blonde haired male was awakened with a kiss from a beautiful red-haired female.  “The showers all yours, Scott,” Rita Mason said.  “There’s also some coffee made if you want some.”

Scott Ballard propped himself up in the bed and glanced about for the clock.  “What time is it?”   He lifted the shirt he discarded so casually on the nightstand the night before and was able to see the large digital display in red staring out from underneath.  “7 o’clock?  Are you serious?”

Rita smiled at him.  She liked the image of Scott lying beneath the patterned comforter on her bed.  “I told you before I like to get in some aerobics before work.”  Indeed, she was dressed in her pink Lycra workout clothes with short white socks and sneakers.  “Now, get up.  My exercise show’s just about to start.”  She departed the bedroom.

Scott stretched and then rolled out of bed.  He grabbed his pair of boxer shorts from the floor and slipped them on.  He contemplated putting on his shirt too but decided against it.  Rita lives alone after all.  He smiled to himself, realizing how glad he was of that fact when she asked him to stay the night eight hours ago.

He proceeded to follow her out of the bedroom and into the open area of the apartment that was made up of the kitchen, the living room and the dining area.  The smell of the fresh brewed coffee was calling to him. 

He was pleased to see Rita had already left a cup out for him by the pot.  She thinks of everything.  As he took his first sip, he glanced over at her and blinked.  She was just standing before the television.   “Rita, is that some kind of low-output workout?” he asked.  “If so, I think I could even do that.”

“Scott, come here,” she said in an urgent tone while not taking her eyes off of the screen.

The blonde male came over to her side.  “What is it?”

“Listen,” she said, pointing at the screen.

A clearly shaken newscaster was trying his best to stay composed as he spoke directly to the cameras.  “…not twenty minutes ago.  Again, for those of you just joining us, the following message was broadcast to all nations of the world simultaneously this morning.  The world governments are scrambling to determine its source and to validate its authenticity.”

The image on the screen changed to a rebroadcast from earlier in the morning.  The picture was slightly fuzzy but it was clear what the image was.  A large, stone-skinned figure with red eyes was giving an ultimatum. 

“Beings of Earth, I am the Destroyer, the last of a great race of galactic conquerors!  I have already completely obliterated the satellite headquarters of my enemies, the ones you know of collectively as the Justice Gang!  Their defenses proved to be inferior to the power I have at my disposal.  Still, I have no doubts that some of them have escaped my wrath, but only temporarily.  They have one half the rotation of this planet to surrender themselves unto me, or I will unleash my space armada on the planet itself!  The devastation it can cause is greater than any of you can imagine.” 

The broadcast image cuts to a shot of the large space cruisers just outside the Earth’s orbit, and then back to that of the Destroyer with a number of aliens behind him.  “The fate of your lives hangs in the balance.  Surrender my enemies unto me or pay the ultimate consequences!”  Then the picture went dark as the message ended.

The broadcast cut back to the newscaster, but the young couple had already turned away from the television.  “What do you make of that?” Rita asked.

“I’ve heard tell of this guy from the Omni-Lords,” Scott said with an ashen look on his face.  “He comes from a race of serious trouble.  We best forget about work and call the rest of the Protectors.”

“Where’s your costume?” she asked.

“My place,” he said.

“Then you better hustle over and get it,” Rita said as she made a bee-line for her room.  “I’ll change, call some of the others and meet you at the Village.”

Scott couldn’t help but be proud of her resolve.  Rita was a take-charge kind of gal, and that’s one of the things he liked about her.  Before getting dressed, he took her in his arms and gave her a great big kiss.

When they parted lips, she asked “what was that for?”

“Just because,” he said.

Rita smiled.  “There’ll be time for that later, after we go kick some alien butt.”

Scott smiled.  “Lady, I like how you think.”

***

A short while later, the couple arrived at the Haygner Manor in Greenwich Village, the home of their teammate Mystifier, but now they were wearing their colorful heroic attire.  “The gang should all be here,” Hydro Girl said as they approached the front door.

“They best be,” Larynx said as he turned the knob.  “We have to figure out the best way we can help…”  As they stepped into the foyer, he realized there were more people assembled here than he expected.  Besides their teammates in the Protectors, he saw a number of others “…the Justice Gang!”

User noticed their arrival and approached.  “Larynx, Hydro Girl!” he called out.  “’bout time you showed up.”

“What’s going on?” Larynx asked.

“Many of them were here by the time Night Owl and I arrived,” the dark skinned hero in green replied.  “Then as the rest of our crew filed in, so did more members of their team.”

“It’s my fault,” an older woman with long black hair, dressed in a yellow costume with a green cape and mask said.  “I hope you don’t mind.  Mystifier and I go way back, and since you all told us he was away for awhile – well I thought his home would make a good backup location for the Justice Gang to assemble.”

“Don’t worry about it, Phantom Lady,” Hydro Girl said.  “I’m sure Mystifier wouldn’t mind.  We heard what happened to the satellite on the news.”

“Yes,” the elder heroine said, and she looked off in sadness.  A tear started to form in her eye.

“You okay, Lady?” User asked.

“I..it’s just that Time Lord…,” she started to say.  “He had monitor duty last night when…”

“Oh,” Hydro Girl said as she put an arm about Phantom Lady’s shoulder to comfort her.  “We’re so sorry.”

Just then, there was a burst of light in the center of the room.  A seam in reality split apart, and a familiar red and blue costumed man fell through the opening to the floor.

“My God!” the green and red costumed Dr. Speed exclaimed.  He raced from across the room in a second to the fallen figure.  “Steven!  Are you okay?”  He quickly began to check the man’s vital signs.

“It’s Time Lord!” Phantom Lady cried out in joy.

The members of both teams were all excited to see the presumed-missing hero, and they gathered about the center of the room.

“I knew he was tougher than that!” Golden Archer remarked.  “You don’t spend a decade with a guy in ancient Greece without getting to know how resourceful they can be.”

“His pulse is weak but steady,” Dr. Speed announced after a quick examination.  “We should give him a little air, and perhaps some water.”  He put his arm underneath the armpit of his colleague and helped him rise to his feet.  “Steven, can you walk?”

“Yes, doc, thanks,” Time Lord replied.  Still, his friend helped him over to one of the chairs to sit.

The blue and red costumed Ricochet was suddenly at Time Lord’s side with a glass of water.  “Here you go, sir,” the brown haired youth said.  “I can get you some ice if you need it too.”

Time Lord coughed before taking the offered glass.  “Thanks, son,” he said wearily.  “This will do for now.”

The gray haired Space Lord approached his seated friend.  “Steven, what happened to you and the satellite?  Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, old friend,” the temporal hero said.  “And so is the old girl.  The first blast shook the place something dreadful.  I knew right then and there it wouldn’t be able to survive another.”  He paused and took a sip of water to ease his scratchy throat.  “Luckily we had been working on putting into place some special systems in the satellite.”

“You don’t mean…” Space Lord started to ask.

“Yes,” Time Lord replied, anticipating the question.  “Although we hadn’t been able to test it yet, I knew it was the only option I had.  Using the systems we’ve been developing and interfacing it with my own temporal converter belt, I was able to shift myself and the whole satellite into the time stream.”

“Wow!” Ricochet remarked.

“See?” the Golden Archer beamed as he turned to the User.  “I told you he was resourceful.”

“Never a doubt in my mind,” User replied.

“So it’s still there?” Dr. Speed asked.

“Yes,” Time Lord said.  “It might take a few hours before I can pull it back out, but I should be able to do so with it in one piece.”

Everyone talked amongst themselves, sufficiently impressed by the feat that Time Lord was able to pull off.

Robotman then raised his voice, getting everyone’s focus again.  “People, people!  While it is truly a wonderful miracle to see our friend is safe and sound, we have a most urgent matter pending!”

The blonde haired Amazon stood next to him.  “Yeah, we need to get down to kicking some invaders’ tail!”

The armored hero turned to her.  “While we appreciate the enthusiasm, this is Justice Gang business.  The Destroyer has been a thorn in many of our sides for quite some time - some of us longer than others.  That makes this our responsibility.”

“Hey, metal man, change the record!” Larynx exclaimed.

Robotman turned and stared at the young hero.  “Excuse me?”

“I know those aren’t Radio Shack parts in your armor, so I know you heard me,” the blonde youth said.  “We went through this before with the Octagon.  We helped to bring some of them in, and we’ll help now.”  He turned and caught the glances of his teammates around him.  All the other Protectors were silently nodding in agreement.

“We appreciate the offer,” the stretchable Rubberman said.  “Maybe they can serve as back up should the armada attack the Earth.”

“No way!” the User said.  “We can help on the front lines against old stone face and his crew!”

“It’s a nice gesture, kids, but…” Space Lord started to say.

“We’re not kids,” Hydro Girl reminded him.  “Many of us are as old if not older than some of your very own members.”  She glanced over at Mindset, Tempest and the second generation Tigerman.

The brown haired youth in red and black exchanged glances with the other two and nodded.  “Grandfather, she is right,” Mindset replied.  “And I think we can use all the help we can get.  If the Destroyer is indeed alive and behind all of this, we’re in for a major battle.”

“Like it or not,” Larynx said, “we’re coming along for the ride.”

Space Lord turned to Robotman who was currently chairman of the Justice Gang.  “Well, son, we can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Robotman conceded. “Fine,” he said gruffly, “but we’re going to need a solid plan to pull this off with minimal consequences.”  The dozen and a half heroes all prepared for an intense planning session.

***

Within six hours, the news media across the planet was buzzing with a new spin to the pending galactic invasion event they had been covering all morning.

“This just in,” one of the many network reporters said to his viewing audience, “we have just received word that the Justice Gang will surrender themselves to the alien Destroyer in exchange for a stand-down by his alien armada.  We will continue to monitor the situation as further details come in.”

***

In an apartment in Baltimore, two brothers watched the news announcement.  One of them gave a nod to the television and bolted from his chair.  The other, who sat in a wheel chair, called out.  “Steven, where do you think you’re going?”

The older African-American male returned with a costume he retrieved from his closet.  “I spent enough years in space to know how nasty these situations can get, Randy,” the man said.  “Just in case, I think Black Star needs to be ready, don’t you?”

Randy Starlin unlocked his wheels to his chair and rolled himself across the room.  “I hear you, big brother,” he said.  “I just wish…”  His voice trailed off.

The former scientist turned hero knew what his younger brother was thinking.  Back when Steven was fighting crime under the name of V-Man in a group called SURGE, his younger brother always aspired to follow in his footsteps.  Eventually, Randy did achieve that goal as the hero Night Ranger.  But the young man’s costumed career was cut short over half a decade ago, when Randy was crippled in the line of duty while the group fought the robotic Mechanon.  Steven was off in space at the time, trying to return home, and only found out about Randy’s condition long after the fact.  He always blamed himself in part for Randy’s injury.  He wasn’t there to watch his brother’s back.

Steven put his hand on Randy’s shoulder.  “I know, little brother,” he said.  And once again, Steven Hamlin vowed to himself that someday his brother would walk again.

***

A blue and brown blur whooshed through the streets of Chicago.  It passed such landmarks as Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower and zigzagged through traffic both automotive and pedestrian.  The figure only slowed down to the point that he was visible when he reached the top of the marble steps at the entrance of the famed American League Central complex, and then he disappeared inside.

Busting into the team room, his brain and mouth continued to race.  “SterlingHunkFaustusWhiteFlame,haveyouheardthenews?Ican’tbelieveitmyself.It’sso…”

A figure in red robes with a purple cape gestured at the newcomer.  “Slow down, Quickstep.  You know how I hate it when you ramble on at such high speed.  No one can understand you when you do.”

“Ah, go easy on him, Faustus,” a large muscular man in blue with brown hair replied.  “You know how he gets when he gets excited.”

“No, I don’t.  But you would know,” Faustus replied as he stroked his short black beard.

“Stop it, both of you!” a figure in armor ordered.  He turned then to the speedster.  “I assume you are referring to the recent news that the Justice Gang is turning themselves over to the aliens?”

Quickstep saw Sterling’s gaze and realized that, once again, their team leader was already on top of things.  “Yeah,” he said.  “So, what’ya think?”

“I say ‘goodbye competition’,” Sterling replied coldly.  “It is groups like that which make it hard for the rest of us to earn money while doing ‘good deeds’.”

The woman in white who had been taking in all of the conversation put her hands to her temples and started to rub them.  “Aagh,” White Flame groaned.  “All this talk is giving me a headache.”  She rose from the table.  “I need to go take something…”  She headed for the doorway which led to the hallway to the personal quarters.

“I need you to stay sober, lady!” Sterling shouted as she left.  “You never know when the American League will need to step up to the plate and show those Justice Losers how to take no prisoners!”

***

In Phoenix, AZ, a powerfully built man in a black costume sat before a video console.  On the seat next to him sat a shiny, bullet-shaped helmet.  “So, Target,” the man said to his colleague on the screen, a young man in a red costume with black concentric circle patterns across the chest, “we’re officially putting Operation: Redemption on hold?”

From his seat in a similar facility in New Jersey, the reformed criminal turned prison staff member replied.  “That’s the word, Panzershrike.  With the Justice Gang offering themselves up, the government does not feel we’ll need to proceed.”

“Good!” Panzershrike said gruffly.  “I wasn’t too keen on the idea anyway of letting some of these powerhouses out of their cages, even if it was to fight against some alien creeps.  I don’t trust most of these guys as far as I can throw them.  Once a crook, always a crook.”

The Target frowned as his Stronghold colleague.  “That’s a bit harsh…”, he started to say.

Panzershrike realized his error.  “Sorry, kid,” he apologized.  “Present company excluded, of course.”

Target furrowed his lip.  “Sure, whatever you say, PS.”

***

On a set in Hollywood’s Ultraversal Studios back lot, a number of production folks were crowded around a small television to review the latest news.  The director came on the set, saw his staff slacking off and clapped his hands loudly a number of times to get their attention.  “People, people!” he shouted.  “Movies don’t make themselves!  Time is money!”

Over in the corner, stuntman turned hero Jack Reardon contemplated the day’s events.

A lovely blonde starlet approached him.  “Hey, handsome! Penny for your thoughts?”

“Oh,” Jack said, “sorry.  I was just thinking…”

Lola Pembroke put her hands on his muscular shoulders.  “What about?”

“Maybe I should be ready to help out,” Jack said, “you know…I got all these powers months ago.  Maybe Neutron Man needs to suit up and face down this threat with the other heroes.”

The director couldn’t help but overhear the conversation, and he chimed in.  “Jack, you seriously want to risk the wrath of Mr. Theodore J. Jergens?   You know he’s mad as it is that production is behind on Neutron Man: the Movie. If we don’t wrap on filming in a few weeks so the special effects guys can do their thing, we’ll never make a Memorial Day opening next year.”

Jack Reardon shook his head.  Yeah, but what’s the point?  If the world ends tomorrow, nobody will be around to see next summer’s blockbuster.

***

At 4pm EST on a prearranged airstrip, seven costumed figures stood alone out in the open, waiting.  A few hundred yards away, military soldiers were positioned, armed, but with orders to not act unless the situation got out of control.

From above, a small craft eclipsed the bright afternoon sun as it dropped down from the clouds.  The ship was metallic in construction, but the design was clearly something more than any air force on the planet had devised.

Space Lord stood strong, unyielding as the craft drew closer.  Standing to one side were Golden Archer and Mindset.  On the other were Phantom Lady and Robotman.  Behind them were Water Woman and Dr. Speed.  The later was tugging at his costume.  The female with the magenta hair gave him a stern look and softly but firmly said, “don’t mess with it – it’s fine.”

The elder statesman of the team caught part of this just as the alien craft was touching down.  He turned to the entire group and said, “Remember, just as we rehearsed it…”

The craft opened and a group of armed alien soldiers emerged from the hatchway.

Space Lord took the lead, raising his arms into the air to show he had no concealed weapons.  He approached the craft slowly and said in a loud, clear voice, “we’re ready for transport.”

One of the soldiers turned to another, there was an exchange and then the heroes were motioned to proceed.

One by one, the other heroes raised their hands similarly and followed Space Lord into the craft.  Once all were inside, the hatch closed and sealed.  The craft then lifted off again from the air strip and traveled upward, past the clouds, past the ozone and into the dark embrace of space.

Compared to the large cruiser ship that led the rest of the fleet this shuttle was small.  The lead ship’s underside opened to take in the craft.  Once securely inside, it closed again.

In short order, under the watchful eyes of an armed escort, the seven heroes were ushered to an awaiting audience with the Destroyer, Commanders Creech and Gondar, and an assortment of soldiers from both of their races.

The stone-skinned alien conqueror examined the group assembled before him carefully.  While he did so, the other aliens remained quiet and waited for his lead.

The Golden Archer couldn’t take the silence.  “Come on, stone-face,” he said, “what’s your problem?  You wanted us, you got us.”

“Still the boisterous bowman I see,” Destroyer said in his gruff voice.  “Some things never change.”   He turned to Space Lord.  “Tell me, Xanis Calnar, where is your daughter?”

The hero did not flinch despite being reminded of his dear Morga.  “She was killed earlier this year,” he explained flatly, “in the line of duty.”

“Pity,” Destroyer said.  “It was my hope that I would have the pleasure of crushing all of my enemies.”  He did another scan of the group, and his stone brow furrowed.  “And what of the others?  Surely this is not all of you.  The time traveller?  The stretching one?”

“Gone,” Space Lord said, “by way of the satellite.”

Gondar snorted at the thought of their earlier accomplishment.

Creech was rather uneasy.  “Lord Destroyer, perhaps they deceive us…”

“Nonsense,” the Destroyer replied.  “Their kind is noble and full of honor.  Deception is not their way.”

“Look,” Golden Archer barked, “enough of this chit-chat!  We kept up our end of the bargain, so now it’s your turn.  Call off your troop of uglies and leave the Earth in peace!”

The Destroyer showed some slight amusement in that.  “Archer, surely even you are not that naïve.  I said that your kind is noble and full of honor, but I never stated that I shared those same attributes.  Once I have disposed of the lot of you, I will command my armies to take your world.  It will serve as an example to the rest of the cosmos that the Destroyer has returned to claim whatever worlds I desire.”

Space Lord gave his grandson a knowing glance, and Mindset closed his eyes.  After a moment, he opened them again and nodded.

The gray haired hero smiled.  “Somehow, I am not surprised, Destroyer,” he said.  “We never could trust your kind, and some of us have known your kind for quite a long time now.  You are certainly no different than the rest of your gone and mostly forgotten race.”

Fire burned in the alien conqueror’s eyes.  He spoke the next sentence slowly, punctuating each word.  “How dare you defile my race?”

“Ain’t no race if you’re the only one running in it,” the Archer quipped.

“Aaaaaaaaghhh!” the Destroyer shouted in anger.  His eyes blazed and twin bolts of energy shot forth at the group of heroes.

“Scatter!” Space Lord ordered as he grabbed Mindset and dove for cover. Robotman pulled Phantom Lady aside and protected her with his own body.  Dr. Speed grabbed Water Woman and the Golden Archer, moving them to safety.

Before the Destroyer could take aim again, one of the reptilian officers announced, “Commander, the satellite has reappeared!”

“What?” Gondar roared.  “Impossible!”

“How can that be?” Creech wondered.

“And there is more,” the officer continued.  “Scanners indicate a beam originating from that satellite has just breached the cruiser on level four.”

“Determine the nature of the beam!” Gondar ordered.

“Working on it…” the reptilian officer said.

The Destroyer glowered.  He wanted to strike down the officer where he stood for delivering this news.  Instead, he turned back to Space Lord.  “You!  What is the meaning of this?”

Space Lord smiled.  “As they say on Earth, how does it feel to have the wool pulled over your eyes?”

With that, Water Woman waved her hands.  Her appearance dissolved to reveal Rainbow.  Similarly, Phantom Lady was revealed to be Night Owl.    Dr. Speed, in a blur, removed the familiar red mask and replaced it with the blue mask of Ricochet. 

“We have concluded that nine invaders have boarded the cruiser via a transport beam,” the officer announced.

Robotman removed his face plate to reveal the masked face of the User.  “Face it, big-D,” the later said, “You’ve been had!”

“Deal with these charlatans!” the Destroyer announced.  “I want them subdued but still alive!  I will crush the final breath out of them myself!”  He turned and headed for the lift.

“W-where are you going, Lord Destroyer?” Commander Creech stuttered.

“To deal with the true threat!” And with that, the lift doors closed.

An arrow struck the doors two seconds too late, and the explosive it carried only managed to leave a scarred mark on the metal.

“Damn!” Golden Archer said as he used his free hand to pull another trick arrow from his quiver and notched it to fire.  “He’s gone!”

“I’ll stop him!” Ricochet said eagerly.

“No!” Space Lord said.  “We need you here, son!”   

“You heard the man, Protectors!” Golden Archer added as he took aim at a new target, a group of reptiles about to open fire on the heroes.  “It’s time to disarm and deport these illegal aliens and pronto!”

Ricochet couldn’t help but smile as he took off towards some of the aliens.  Here he was working side-by-side with some of his idols, fighting of an invasion force.  It was the stuff of his dreams growing up.

Night Owl, Rainbow and the User followed the lead and tore into the enemy forces using their unique abilities and powers.

Space Lord turned to the red and black clad Mindset.  “Jonah, have you…?”

“I’ve already alerted Dad,” the young mentalist replied.  “He knows they’ll have their hands full in a few moments.”

“Good,” the elder hero nodded, and he took aim with his wrist blasters.  Three well place shots knocked weapons out of the hands of the same number of enemies.  “Then let’s take care of our own end.”

The aliens were surprised by how quickly the seven heroes were driving them back.  While Gondar barked orders and tried to get the reptilians to follow his lead, Creech shook his head incessantly in hopes that this whole nightmare fiasco would just go away.

***

Tigerman squeezed the trigger on the blaster in his right hand.  The blast produced by it stunned one of the beast-like warriors, dropping him to the floor.  “Man, these babies pack a punch,” he said.  “Where’d you score these from?”

Rubberman used a similar weapon and fired on the opposing warriors.  “McQuark’s,” he replied.  “We go way back.”

“Everyone stay focused!” Robotman shouted over his shoulder as he fired blasts from his gauntlets.

Dr. Speed had raced on ahead to get the lay of the land and returned to the group who continued to fight their way through the fourth level of the cruiser. “Okay, gang, here’s the scoop.  I found the main reactor that feeds both weapons and propulsion.  Just down a ways and to the left.”

“Good work, Speed,” Robotman commended.  “You heard the man, troops!  We fight our way in and then take the systems out!  Plus, we may have to deal with the Destroyer on top of all that!”  And with that, he kicked in his boot rockets and soared down the hall.  Blaster shots ricocheted all around him as the alien forces focused their aim on him.

The speedster held back to instruct the others.  “Keep it moving, folks,” he said.

Phantom Lady was the last of the group.  “I think we could use a bit of cover, don’t you?” she said.  Aiming her wrist blasters to the hall behind them, she fire off one of her patented clouds of darkness.  The inky black swelled to fill almost all of the passageway, leaving the coming troops little to target on.

Dr. Speed smiled.  “Not bad, Lady, you’ve still got it,” he said.

The heroine smiled back.  “I’m not ready to retire just yet.”

Some blaster fire came blindly through the darkness. 

Dr. Speed grabbed his long time colleague by the hand and moved her effortlessly out of harm’s way.  “Come on,” he said.  “We need to catch up to the others.”  And with that, he whisked her up in his arms and raced down the hall.  When they reached the main reactor room, what the speedster saw stopped him in his tracks.

Robotman had already been knocked to the ground; he appeared to be struggling to repair some of the systems in his armor that might have gotten damaged.  Still, he encouraged the team he led.  “Everyone, we can take him!”

Tigerman, who was being held by his neck by the towering figure of the Destroyer, was in no position to respond.  Try as he might, he didn’t have the strength to free himself from their enemy’s grasp.

“Let him go!” Rubberman shouted as he wrapped his outstretched arms around and around the alien’s muscular forearm.  The stretchable hero hoped to be able to force some freedom for his young teammate.

“Pitiful!” the Destroyer concluded.  “I will crush you all as easily as I do this fool!”

“I’ve heard that song before!” Larynx cried.  “Why don’t you try this tune instead?”  He opened his throat and unleashed one of his sonic blasts directly at the Destroyer. 

Rubberman had to stretch out of range to avoid being hit with the unnerving blast.  Tigerman threw his hands to the sides of his head to try and block out the piercing sound.

The Destroyer seemed unaffected at first.  He kept his grip in place and resisted covering his ears.  I will not show signs of weakness!  I will endure this and then crush the throat of that shrill male as well!

“Sandra, stay back!” Dr. Speed advised Phantom Lady before rushing headlong into the battle.  He could tell Larynx’s song was having some effect on the enemy.  The speedster decided to add to the assault.  Five, ten, twenty, fifty – in the span of a few seconds he struck his foe with a couple hundred punches at super-speed.  He knew that the Destroyer’s hide was rather durable, perhaps near invulnerable.  In fact, his hands would most likely be aching for awhile afterwards given all that.  Still, his attack could be enough to cause enough of a distraction, enough of an annoyance.  He was counting on it. 

The alien conqueror released his grip on Tigerman and quickly grabbed for Dr. Speed.  The speedster saw this in advance and dodged.  At the same time, he called out to his teammate.  “Fredric, get Stephen!”

Rubberman acknowledged his colleague’s request, stretched over to grab the falling Tigerman before he could hit the floor and then retracted his arms, pulling the second generation hero to safety.

“You’ll pay for that with your life, speedster!” Destroyer threatened.  His massive hand nearly latched upon the red costumed arm.

“No way, rock-head!” Amazon cried as her massive hand, nearly half the size of the Destroyer’s body smacked him backwards at the last second.  The alien crashed into one of the large banks of equipment, causing the systems to short-circuit when the massive body broke through the outer casings.

The Destroyer grabbed the sides of the equipment, ignoring the electrical sparks about him, and began to haul his heavy frame back out of the wreckage.  “You will pay for that, female!”

“The others are clear!” the red and blue costumed Tempest exclaimed.  “Let’s put this creep on ice, Red!”  He thrust out his arms and a spray of ice shot forth towards the Destroyer.

“I read you, Tempest,” Hydro Girl replied.  She did the same, creating ice out of the moisture in the air.  Together, the pair began to cover the staggering form of the Destroyer with an ever-growing cocoon of ice.

“You two are doing great,” Phantom Lady called from the sidelines.

“Yeah!” Larynx joined in.  “Keep it up!”

Hydro Girl staggered a bit.  “I’ve drawn as much moisture as I can,” she said, trying to catch her breath.  “I hope it was enough.”  She started to collapse.

Larynx was at her side and supported her.  “Easy, babe, I’ve got you.”

Tempest too was slowing, but the ice around their enemy was enough to make it difficult to even see him clearly with the huge block of frozen matter about him.  “It’ll hold him…it has to!”

For a moment, the room was quiet except for the hum of the equipment.  All eyes were focused on the block of ice.

Then, there was a low rumbling sound coming from the block. 

It was followed by, at first, a slight cracking sound which got louder and louder by the second.  Then, with an explosive force, the entire ice tomb exploded outward with a single, loud boom!  Shards of ice flew in all directions.  A number of the heroes ducked and covered their faces to avoid getting hit by the shrapnel.

“Aw no…” Larynx sighed.

The Destroyer stood tall and strong amidst the shattered chunks of ice at his feet; his face wore a confident look.  “Fools!  Your puny powers are no match for my force field!” he proclaimed.  “If that is the best you can do…”

“We can do plenty!” Robotman exclaimed.  The actions of the others had bought him some time to reconfigure some of his weaponry.  He punctuated his words with a powerful blast from his gauntlet blasters.  The shot hit his enemy square in the chest, forcing him to stagger backwards slightly.  “As long as there is breath in my lungs, I will fight you!”

The heroes formed a semi-circle about their foe.  Only Rubberman remained down as he examined Tigerman’s injuries.  “Doc, Stephen needs medical attention fast!”

“Go, Fredric!” Dr. Speed called out.  “We’ll hold Destroyer until Xanis and his team arrive!”

Rubberman nodded, touched his belt and was teleported away from the cruiser and back to the Justice Gang’s satellite.

The Destroyer recovered from Robotman’s assault and laughed loudly.  “Yes, run!  Run like the insignificant fleas you are!  You cannot hope to survive long against me!  I will destroy you and your world!  You will have no where to hide!”

“Enough!” Amazon yelled.  “Let’s shut him down!”  Her enlarged form dove forward and tackled the alien, wrapping her powerful arms tightly about his form in a huge bear hug.  “Let’s see how you do against shear strength!”  She applied all that her muscles could produce in an attempt to crush him into submission.

“Female, you know not what you are up against!” the alien growled.  “Now feel the true power of a Destroyer!”  The air about his body began to glow red hot as an energy field flowed out from him.

“Aaaaaaaah!” the heroine cried out.  And yet, the Amazon did not yield her grip.  “Is that…all…you’ve…got?”

“Ha!” the Destroyer scoffed.  “No one can stand against the might of a Destroyer’s omega-energy!  It will tear your body down and leave you cowering like dog!”

Amazon gritted her teeth as the pain coursed through her entire body.  Determined, she was not about to yield to this threat.

“Everyone!  Hit him with everything you’ve got!” Robotman ordered.  He took aim with his gauntlet blasters and fired.

Larynx focused a tight sonic beam.  Tempest hurled balls of fire.  Phantom Lady added shots from her own wrist blasters.  Dr. Speed scooped up one of the energy rifles his teammates had been using before and opened fire.  Hydro Girl, her own powers spent, did the same.

Together, the group fired upon the Destroyer while Amazon valiantly held him at bay.

But then, the young woman cried out again loudly.  “Aaaaaaaahhhh!  I can’t…much….”  The assault on her body from the omega-energy was too much to bear any longer.  She released her grip and stumbled backwards, her size and mass decreasing from its maximum height back down to her normal stature.  She staggered and started to fall.

“Alan!” Phantom Lady cried out.  “Help her!”

“On it!” the speedster replied as he threw his weapon aside and raced across the room to retrieve their fallen warrior.

“Everyone, force him back!” Robotman ordered.  “He’ll be spent after discharging so much power!  This is our opening – we have to make the most of it!”

Amazon almost hit the floor when Dr. Speed was there to catch her.  “Easy, miss!  I have you!”  He scooped her up and carried her quickly to a safer part of the room.

“I…I failed…” she said.  She winced as she felt pain all over her body.  Amazon could only imagine what kind of injuries she had sustained.

“Hush, child,” the speedster said in a comforting, parental manner.  “You did fine.”  Dr. Speed turned just as some other costumed figures burst into the room.  “The cavalry has arrived.” 

Space Lord and Rainbow added to the blasting assault on the Destroyer.  Behind them,  Mindset was focusing all of his mental abilities to take the battle to another level.  Their enemy stumbled backwards, no doubt due to a psychic assault from the Justice Gang’s youngest member.  A barrage of explosive arrows shot across the way to force villain back even more.

Dr. Speed looked back at Amazon whose eyes were fluttering.  He put a finger to her throat and felt for a pulse.  It was there but a little week.  “Hold on, Amazon, hold on…”

***

When Amazon awoke again, she was no longer on the space cruiser.  Instead, she was lying in some kind of bed with a number of monitors and tubes hooked to her body.   “Ugggh…” she groaned as she tried to sit up.  She found she had little strength to do so and slumped back down.

“Hey, girl,” a voice familiar to her called out.  “Take it easy there.  You don’t want to get these monitors all crazy by disconnecting somethin’, do you?”

She strained her eyes to make out the image.  A smiling face looked down upon her.  “User…?”

Her teammate smiled back.  “Yeah, girl, it’s me.  How you feeling?”

“Like a truck ran me over…”

User nodded.  “Yeah, that’s pretty much about the size of it.  You took on that nasty alien creep, and I’m happy to say you’ve lived to tell about it.”

“Where… where are we?”

“The J-Gang satellite,” he replied, “their medical bay to be exact.  You and Tigerman got banged up pretty good.”  He motioned over to the other bed across the way where the Justice Gang member was resting soundly.

“But…the battle…”  Amazon started to rise again.

“Easy, girl,” User said as he held her back for support.  He reached behind and grabbed a pillow to help prop her up a bit.  “Doc hasn’t given you the okay for getting up and around yet.  You need to stay put.”

“But the battle…?” she said more firmly.

“Over,” he replied.  “I should’ve told you that you’ve been out of it for quite a few hours.  Had us all worried.”

“The Destroyer?  The invaders?”

“Gone,” another voice said.  Dr. Speed approached with a small chart in his hands.  “It was a pretty rough fight, but our old enemy was on the ropes.  He over-extended his powers trying to beat us back and then something happened.”

“Yeah,” User chimed in.  “The big baddie went boom!  His powers must’ve ate him up from the inside or somethin’!”

“We all managed to get out of there just in time, before that whole cruiser went up,” Dr. Speed added.  “With their leader out of the way, the other two cruisers full of the Taurusians and the Ptilians decided to turn tail and run.  They cleared Pluto in no time flat and kept right on going.”

“So, the good guys won,” she said with a smile.

“Sure did,” User said.  “Hey, I’m gonna go tell the others you’re awake.  They’ll want to see you before we head back home.”  He moved towards the doorway.

“User, she’ll need to rest a bit more before I can discharge her,” Dr. Speed said.  “Give us a few minutes and then I’ll let the others in to visit, two at a time.”  User nodded and left the room.

Dr. Speed turned back to Amazon and his cheery disposition faded slightly.  “Amazon, you’re healing pretty well, considering you took on Destroyer’s power head on,” he said.  “Not a lot of people can say that.”  He paused for a moment.

Amazon turned down her eyes.  “I have a feeling there’s a ‘but’ coming.”

The doctor nodded.  “You are as smart as you are brace.  Yes, there is a ‘but’.  I ran some tests and I’m afraid the initial outlook isn’t good.”

Amazon’s eyes grew wide.  “What is it?  Am I dying or something?” 

“No, not that.  You appear to be healing fine.  A few days rest and you’ll be back up on your feet.  No, I’m afraid it has to do with your powers. Now, I don’t have a before sample of your DNA to compare it to, so I can’t say for sure what changes are occurring.  However, clearly that alien’s energy output in the large amount you were exposed to is causing some changes on your cellular level.”

Amazon was speechless for a moment.  Her brain raced with the news.  What has happened?  What’ll that mean to my heroic career…my life?

Dr. Speed could see the news was sinking in and fast.  In his professional life as a medical doctor, he knew at times like this that there were very few things he could say to comfort her.   It was better to not even try at this point.  She needed time.  “If you have any questions, I can try to answer them?”

Amazon shook her head and closed her eyes.

“Would you like me to send some of your friends back, dear?” he asked.

She shook her head again as tears started to form in her eyes.  “No…” she said as she turned her head away.  She couldn’t bear the thought of facing anyone right this moment.  “Can…can I just be alone for a little bit?”

He nodded.  “Of course.  You just call when you’re ready.”  And with that, Dr. Speed turned and left her alone to handle the news the way she wanted.

Over the sound of beeping monitors could be heard the soft cries of a once mighty female warrior.