The Next Generation

Neal just stared at Sarah curiously for a moment as she made her case, he couldn't tell if she was holding back any information from him. "Yeah........suppose that you have a point," he said as he narrowed his eyes. He was smiling though, he wouldn't really care if Sarah knew or not. Shiva was important to Neal, he'd never hide that fact.

Neal quickly turned his head as Black Canary seemed to notice something from the window. Neal ran over and looked outside, his eyes widening at what he saw. "Wow......I guess I didn't think anyone else was here but us. The streets seemed so empty and quiet," Neal said as he leaned against a nearby wall.

At Sarah's comment Fade just gave a strong smile. "What have we if not hope right Sarah?" he asked rhetorically. She already knew the answer.

"Exactly," Sarah replied, holding a hand to his shoulder. And for the first time in five years, that hope didn't feel so much out of reach. It felt like it was really worth having.

A few moments later, her communicator began to beep. Reaching into her pocket, Sarah turned it on and spoke into it. There was only one person that was likely on the other end. "Go ahead, Kara."

"You guys are not going to believe what J'onn and I found," Power Girl said on the other line. "You know those coordinates out in the desert? Ships, Sarah, thousands of alien ships. It's like their base camp or something. We didn't dare go too close, so we don't have more than a bid's eye view, but I'd bet my ass that's where their leader is, hiding out somewhere. J'onn wanted to do a psychic sweep of the place, but I told him to wait until everyone was here. How soon can you guys be out here?"

"I'll have to check with the others," Sarah said, looking up at everyone. "But we'll be there as soon as we can. It's time we hit them hard."

Neal just held his smile as he felt Sarah's arm upon his shoulder. Despite the fact they were sharing this moment with people like The Joker and Harley Quinn, it was still nice to see that life was starting to go back to the way it was......even if it was only a small amount.

The next voice that showed up was Power Girl, who was investigating the coordinates that Neal had obtained from the prisoner. What they heard began to make Neal smile a bit. What he had done might have been brutal, but at least they were learning some information. Power Girl and J'onn both believed that the leader was there, which meant they might be able to end this war even sooner than they expected.

As Sarah looked over at them, Neal gave a small nod. "It's the best lead that we have. Once we come up with a plan of attack, I don't think there's any reason why we should wait to end this fight"

Speaking of planning, that was what the rest of the day was basically spent doing. Now that they had their biggest lead in, well, ever, they needed to prepare to make a swift strike. A hard strike. They just needed to get their equipment ready and together. Lex wanted to make a few more Thorium bombs,a s well as a few other surprises, the Joker needed to rig up some more of his toxin, Green Arrow was busy crafting more trick arrows, etc. It wouldn't take long, though. They were all easy to get this over with. The entire tide of this war could very well turn tonight.

"Everyone ready?" Sarah asked, as they headed to the rooftop for transport. With no objections, she formed a green bubble around the entire group, and then they were rocketing towards the Nevada desert, honing in on Power Girl's comm signal.

Ten minutes later, she set the group down atop a tall series of rock structures, more like miniature mountains. Power Girl and Martian Manhunter were waiting for them, lying prone against the ground and overlooking the rocky valley below, where indeed countless enemy space space ships resided, all side by side as far as they could see. This had apparently been where they decided to keep most of their population since the initial invasion.

"About time you guys got here,"Power Girl said, looking up at them. "We've been scouting the area since we last spoke. J'onn will fill you in."

Martian Manhunter stood, or rather floated, back to his feet, gazing out into the distance. "Their leader is most likely residing within the largest and most well guarded ship. I've been able to narrow it down to one of the ships in the acre in front of us. I'm working on pin pointing the correct one now, by assessing the amount of enemies on each ship with my telepathic abilities. I should have an appropriate designation within the next ten minutes."

"Let us know when you do," Lex said, taking out a small square device. "I'll scan the right ship with the three-D imaging device and get a layout of its internal structure. We can devise a way to infiltrate once we've detonated a Thorium bomb in the middle of their camp."

While everyone else was preparing by making weapons, Neal decided that it would be a good time to meditate and think about the battle ahead. He normally failed to meditate without Raven, but something made him want to meditate today. In truth it did make him feel better, as he allowed his mind to escape into his own unconscious and prepare for the coming battle.

He also took that shower that Sarah recommended for him.

Some time later, they eventually made it to the area where the enemy ships were located. Neal could hardly believe just how many of them there really were. This was definitely the main force, and that made Neal feel even better. There was no way that this was any sort of trap that the prisoner had planned for him. Neal truly believed that the leader was here.

Neal glanced over towards Batman and Lex. "So are we going to try to sneak in to the main ship unnoticed? OR because of the bombs are we just going to go in with guns blazing?" he asked. He figured that they were just going to charge, but maybe trying to sneak in would be best so they weren't overrun by numbers alone. He'd leave it up to the others, strategy was never Neal's specialty.

"It largely depends on the layout of the ship," Deathstroke replied, folding his arms. "If we can find away to get in unnoticed, then we will go that route. However, they'll realize we're there sooner or later, and we will be fighting. However, the more preferable option is that we can find two separate ways to entrance the ship. Then, we can have on group go in loudly, draw attention, get most of the ship's forces to come after them, while another team goes in the back unnoticed, facing much smaller resistance while the first team does the heavy lifting."

"We shouldn't have much difficult either way," Lex said, working on arming the bomb they'd brought with them. "Without their technology, we've seen just how little they're capable of. The only question is their leader, or leaders. They could be just as helpless as the others, or they might be an even bigger problem that we could imagine. If we had more information, we'd use it, but right now we have to go in dark. We've waited around too long as it is."

A few moments later, J'onn turned to them, his eyes losing their glow. "I believe I have it," he said. "Tenth row from where we are, third ship to the left."

Deathstroke lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes, inspecting the ship. It was almost the size of the small mountain they were standing on. "Definitely looks the biggest. Those twin cannons on top look like they could be a problem, too."

"You let me worry about that," Lex said, finishing arming his bomb. He then raised the 3-D imaging device and used it to start scanning the ship. "First, though, let's see what we're dealing with."

After three minutes, Le pulled the device back and clicked a button. A glowing hologram of the entire ship appeared before them, showing the interior structure. "Fascinating," he said, looking closely. "It's like a small city inside there."

Dick pointed at a central chamber, highlighted by the hologram. "I'll bet their leader is there, it seems to be the center of the entire ship. All these corridors go right to it."

"It is also the only room where my mind cannot enter," J'onn explained. "It is as though it is shielded against telepathic connections."

"What's this right here?" Huntress asked, pointing to a small tunnel that branched off from the top of the ship, near the cannons.

"Probably a maintenance shaft," Lex said. "It's smaller than the other corridors and runs vertical, emptying out into this larger hall here. From there, it goes straight to the central chamber."

Deathstroke held a hand to his chin, thinking. "That will be the entry point for Team B. Team A will go straight through the front door, here." He pointed at the front of the ship. "They'll go in first, draw attention, and clear up the far interior for Team B to enter unopposed, for the most part. Team B will make their way towards the central chamber, and Team A will catch up when they can."

"Power Girl, Martian, Canary, Joker, Quinn, Ra's, Talia, and myself will make up Team A," Lex said. He'd put most of the heavy hitters, as well as those with superior crowd control abilities on the distraction team, as thy'd be facing the highest opposition. "The Lantern will lead Batman, Deathstroke, Shiva, Green Arrow, Huntress, and Fade through the maintenance shaft. Hopefully that will be enough to deal with whatever is waiting in that central chamber. If not, we should catch up before long. We all understand our roles?"

Sarah held up her fist, ring glowing strongly. "Damn straight we do."

"Then let's go detonate a bomb."

Neal just stood in silence as he listened to the complete layout of the plan. All the pieces seemed to be falling together. They now had knowledge as to which ship the leader was in, thanks to J'onn's ability to detect the ship that he was located in. Lex shortly provided the layout, and that allowed for Deathstroke to come up with a plan. It was simple enough, a heavy hitter team would move through the front door and draw most of the fire while a secondary stealth team moved in to take out the leader. Hopefully, it would work.

Neal wasn't super excited about having Deathstroke on the team, but since everyone else on the team Neal trusted he decided not to complain. It was still going to be a dangerous mission, Neal just had a feeling. Whoever this leader was, something told Neal that he wasn't just another weak being. Of course, maybe he was just like the rest of the men and would be powerless without the technology? They'd have to go in and see.

It was time to move in though, and Neal couldn't worry about what was to come. He pictured the faces of all those people that had begun emerging from the buildings. He was fighting for them, and for whatever future they had. "Let's get going than," Neal said as he stood up and moved along with the rest of his team.

"I've set the bomb to impact detonation," Lex said, holding it up to Power Girl. "Be a dear and set it off for us."

"Don't mind if I do," she replied, taking the bomb, then winding up and pitching it across the valley. The bomb struck the front door of the large ship and exploded on impact, causing the hot wave of radiation to sweep across the entire area. The resulting force of the throw itself also caused the door to save inward, exposing the ship's interior.

"Team A, move out," Lex said, beginning to fly with the rocket boosters of his battlesuit, carrying both the Joker and Harley in either hand.

"Weee!" Harley declared, giggling. "Mr. J, isn't this so much fun?"

The Joker apparently had found some pilot goggles somewhere in the city during the past day, and had now put them on, along with a 50's pilot cap. "The thrill of a lifetime! Now, let's go have some fun!"

"Team B, wait five minutes, then head for the maintenance shaft," Lex called back. "And Martian, make sure none of the other surrounding ships hear the commotion.

J'onn's eyes began to glow as he followed through the air, carrying both Ra's and Talia. "I'm drowning out their minds now. They will not hear anything beyond the boundaries of their own ships."

"Time to show these bastards what happens with you mess with our planet," Power Girl said, lifting up Black Canary and taking off. They were inside a few moments later, and if the explosions and screaming were anything to go by, they were doing their jobs well.

After five minutes, Sarah raised her ring and formed a bubble around her team. "Alright... time to get a move on," she said, zipping them across the valley to the top of the enemy ship. Once there, she looked around for the maintenance shaft entrance, and when she found it, used her ring to slice it right open. A long vertical tunnel went straight down in darkness, with the rungs of a ladder on one side. With that, she began to descend. "No turning back now."

And with that, the battle for the planet had begun. If this failed there was no telling what was to become of their team and everyone else. Luckily, they did seem to have a winning strategy this time around. The enemy wouldn't have their technology, and the Martian Manhunter was going to block everyone's mind off so they wouldn't even realize what was happening. With luck on their side, this war might end faster than anyone expected it.

"Good luck, all of you" Neal said with a nod before Team A took off in order to charge through the main entrance. Their distraction would definitely be effective, it was hard not to be when people like Lex and Joker were running with guns blazing at your front door. They would do their job, and it was time for Neal and everyone else to do theirs.

As they arrived at the top of the alien ship, Neal watched as Sarah quickly cut a hole into the ship so that they could travel down. Thankfully there was a ladder that would allow them to go down, otherwise it would be quite the long fall. "Wouldn't turn back for anything at this point anyway," Neal said before quickly getting onto the ladder after Sarah and beginning to climb down.

When they dropped down into the large corridor, Sarah looked around in wonder at the sheer size of it. The ceiling stood three stories above their heads, which was why she'd needed to use her power ring to bring them safely to the ground. Were all the hallways this large? It certainly was a massive ship... but damn. Not to mention the technology lining the walls, powering it. This was so far advanced compared to earth's technology, it wasn't even funny. Fortunately, most of the systems were sparking and hissing, a result of the Thorium radiation.

"This way," Sarah said, waving them along down the corridor. The central chamber was this way, according to the hologram they had studied. There would be a few other rooms on the way, but it was a relatively short trek regardless.

They received very light resistance along the path, running into only a handful of enemies, all of whom fell rather quickly. Without any of their technology working, they were like ants. Before long, they came up to a large metal door blocking their way. Sarah formed a giant blade with her power ring and cut it clean in two. As the door fell inwards, she waved the Team on ahead. It looked like they were about to enter one of the smaller rooms.

"Be on your guard," Deathstroke said, looking around. There were a lot of dark corners in this room, especially near the ceiling. "It's never this easy."

Almost on cue, a bright spark came raining down at them. They all were forced to jump away as the fiery plasma blast struck the floor and exploded. Coughing, Sarah quickly got back to her feet and turned around in the direction that the attack had come from, trying to find their enemy.

"Alright, who the h-" Her words only caught abruptly in her throat.

"You are trespassing," the attacker said, floating down slowly, both her hands glowing with energy. "Leave now, or suffer."

Sarah couldn't believe it. This... was not possible. Her throat could barely even squeak her shock. "K-Kori?"

As they arrived at the ground level, Neal could only look in amazement at the technology that was used for this ship. The rooms themselves were so large, and even the walls were lined with technology that Neal would probably never grasp. It was stunning, but they still had a job to do. As they moved forward, Neal continued to keep his eyes on the lookout in case the enemy decided to launch any form of an ambush.

As they moved forward, there enemies stood in front of them and quickly fell to the attacks of the heroes who were at full strength. It was too easy, it was like Superman taking on a group of humans. They were progressing forward nicely, and they defeated all enemies before they could escape or warn anyone of their presence in the enemy ship.

As Sarah cut her way into a small room, Deathstroke mentioned that they needed to keep their guard up. Sure enough, it was only a moment later that something was fired down upon them. It looked like an energy attack, but Neal thought that none of the enemy technology was working? He looked up to see the attacker, only to have his eyes widen as Sarah's were.

Neal barely knew what to say. It was Starfire, Sarah's wife and fellow Titan! That was Starfire! But Sarah had said that she had died, what was she doing here and defending the enemy leader? "Something here is very wrong, this might be some sort of trick our enemy is using against us" Neal said as he narrowed his eyes. How was it possible that Starfire had survived?

"Starfire?" Dick uttered, equally in shock. "What are you-" He didn't get a chance to answer before he was dodging out of the way of another starbolt.

"You will all pay for your crimes against us!" Starfire said, launching another series of starbolts at the entire team.

Sarah put up a shield of green light around them, just staring in shock. For five years, Starfire had been dead, but now here she was having to defend herself against her? This was not happening, it couldn't be. "Kori, please-" she uttered, being forced to one knee as a dozen starbolts impacted her shield one after another. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Please, stop! Why are you doing this?! Kori!"

Green Arrow looked back and forth between the two. "Okay, what do we do? We got a plan here, do we attack or what?" he asked. "I know she's your friend and all, but she's about to fry us."

Huntress was equally confused. "Don't look at me," she said, shrugging.

Deathstroke, on the other hand, held no qualms. While Starfire was occupied with Sarah and the others, he raised one of his pistols, taking aim at her head. "Gotcha," he muttered, about to pull the trigger.

An incoming batarang, however, knocked the gun clean out of his hand. "No!" Dick shouted. "Don't! She's not- you can't. She's still in there, she has to be. This is... this is wrong, something isn't right, like Neal said. We can get through to her!"

"You're wasting time!" Deathstroke retorted, sharply "We have a job to do, or have you forgotten?!"

Much like Batman, Neal also leaped out of the way as the starbolts began to fire at him. Neal had never been on the receiving end of those, and he never wanted to! He saw what she had done to Black Adam, that guy looked like he was in some serious pain after Starfire was finished with him.

Neal turned and was about to launch an illusion at Starfire, but he stopped himself. This still didn't make any sense, was she alive? Was this really Starfire before them? If it was, there was no way that they could just strike her down without having a second thought about it. They had to try to free her. If this was really Starfire there was no way she was working for the enemy, which meant that she was being controlled somehow.

"Shut up Deathstroke. This is not how we do things. Unlike you we actually care about other people," Neal shouted. He wasn't going to take any of Deatstroke's shit today. They were here for a mission, but they weren't just going to kill a friend if there was any way to save her.

The starbolts were still flying at Sarah though and she wasn't doing very well. NEal launched part of his soul self outwards and formed a black shield over Sarah's green one, trying to take some of the blows for her. "Sarah you have to move! We're going to save her but you need to keep your head on! We have to find a way to make her listen to you!"

It was a good thing Neal gave her a second shield, because given the current circumstance, Sarah couldn't concentrate enough to continue forming her constructs. Within moments, her shield shattered and she rolled out of the way. She could feel her ring responding to her despair. Try as she might, she couldn't get it to work right now. The tears were forming quicker now, as she looked up at Starfire and saw only cold malice in her eyes.

"Kori, Kori please," she uttered. "It's me! It's Sarah!"

Starfire didn't respond, instead ceasing her starbolts and now flying straight at her. Sarah didn't even try to get away, she was in so much shock. Starfire's attack hit her full force and drove her back through the air into a wall. She hit with a crash and landed hard on the floor, groaning in pain.

"Kori... why...." she sobbed, raising her head again. Why was this happening?

"Come on, Huntress, we have to help," Green Arrow said, drawing his bow. "Non-lethal shots only."

Deathstroke, on the other hand, wasn't going to stick around for what he saw as a lost cause. "Fine, waste your time. I'm going to do what we came here for. Do try to hurry along eventually." With that, he ran away from the group and continued onward, through the doors on the opposite end of the room.

"Damn it!" Neal shouted as he saw that Sarah was still begging for Starfire to listen. He could understand why she was doing it, but now was really not a good time. Sarah's ring wasn't working for her, and now Starfire was launching at her like she truly wanted to kill Sarah. Neal couldn't allow that no matter what. As much as Neal hated it, he was going to have to hurt Starfire. He needed to make her stop attacking even if it meant breaking all of her bones..........which would be a lot harder to do in practice.

"I hope that guy gets stepped on by something huge," Neal muttered as Deathstroke ran off. God Neal hated that guy more and more every day. He would be glad for this to end so that they would stop working with one another.

Neal quickly brought his attention back to the battle at hand, quickly concentrating and firing a giant hand out of his soul-self, in order to try to punch Starfire away from Sarah. Unless Sarah got her act back together, she was just going to be a sitting target for Starfire. Sarah was tough, but so was Starfire.

"You got any brilliant suggestions Dick? If so now would be a great time to make use of it"

"I might have a few," Dick responded, pulling out a batarang from his belt. He clicked the button on it, which began to blink.

As the large shadow hands began to punch Starfire away, he threw the projectile. It hit the Tamaranian in the shoulder and caused a powerful, stunning electrical charge to surge through her body. Starfire screamed and fell from the air, hitting the ground on her hands and knees.

Green Arrow then fired one of his trick arrows the burst open and released a net composed of metal cables. The net covered Starfire and wrapped her up. Huntress then fired a bolt from her crossbow, a bolt laced with a sedative that could knock out a bull elephant. Moments later, Starfire sank closer tot he floor, seemingly out of commission

"That should hold her," Dick said, standing straighter. "We should have someone take her back, figure out what's wrong with-"

Before he finished her sentence, Starfire suddenly surged upward, yelling out and tearing the metal net apart. Apparently, she was still quite awake, and now more just pissed than anything. She threw another couple of starbolts, these ones hitting Green Arrow and Huntress, blasting them backwards into the wall, hard. Starfire then went straight for Sarah again, knocking her to the floor and pinning her there.

"Kori..." Sarah uttered, just staring up at her wife in grief.

Starfire didn't respond, merely proceeding to pummel Sarah repeatedly with punches to the body and face. Blood was starting to spray everywhere with each shot. Dick ran forward and leaped on her back, trying to restrain her, but that was a futile move. She threw him off like a rag doll.

Sarah coughed up a mouthful of blood, one of her eyes swollen shut. "Kori... stop..." Another shot to the jaw. "Please..." And another. Consciousness was beginning to fade. "K-Kor...i..." Her face was now a mess of blood and tears. "Kor... I l... I lov... plea...se... sto..."

Starfire's fist came sraight back down at her face again. But it stopped an inch from hitting. She was glaring down, still enraged and breathing hard. But her expression began to soften, until it turned to to confusion and shock. That turned to horror when she realized who she had just been beating to a pulp.

"Sarah? Oh my... Sarah!" she shouted, cradling her loved one. "No! I did not... I did not mean to... What did I do?!"

"Good, I'm willing to do anything at this point," Neal said before Dick threw the batarang which stuck into Sarah's shoulder and shocked her violently. It was only a moment later before both Huntress and Green Arrow launched their attacks in order to knock Starfire out and wrap her up. For the most part it seemed to work. Neal took a step forward, about to inspect and make sure that Starfire was really knocked out, but it became very evident that she was not only a moment later.

Neal watched as Starfire ripped out of her bonds before attacking Green Arrow and Huntress. Oh shit, she was going right for Sarah again. Neal took off towards her as fast as he could, but it was evident before he got there that he was too late. A severe amount of damage had already been done to Sarah. However, it also seemed like Starfire had realized what she had done, as she was now speaking to Sarah and cradling her like they used to.

Neal hoped that he wasn't the only one that was confused out of his mind.

"Starfire........do you have any idea what just happened?" Neal finally asked. No one else had any idea how she was still alive, but maybe Starfire had some guess.

"I... no.. I do not know anything," Starfire uttered, through her sobs. Sarah was barely conscious, but she was smiling. They had each other again... granted, it could have been under better circumstances. "I feel like... like I am waking up from a very long dream. A dream that I can't remember. I... I am so sorry, Sarah, I... I never wanted to hurt you."

Sarah used the little strength left that she had to sit up and hug Starfire. "It... is okay," she uttered, breathing in deeply. "I'm just... so happy... to see you again."

"We'll try to figure this out later," Dick said, referring to Starfire being alive and the whole being controlled thing apparently. "Right now, we have a job to finish."

Neal just listened as Starfire explained that she had no idea what had just happened to her. Neal supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised, things would have been too easy if they had known. All the same, it was good to see that Starfire was still alive despite however it had happened. After all, Neal couldn't explain how he got here either.

Neal turned and looked at Dick. "Sarah looks terrible, it might be a good idea to have Starfire get her out of here and to safety. Just in case"

Dick nodded. "That might be a good idea. The other team should be catching up with us shortly, anyway."

Starfire looked back at him, then at Sarah and smiled. "Come on... let me get you home."

That would never happen, however. The moment she finished her words, an explosion of pain ripped through her, eliciting a horrifying scream of agony as a yellow glow surrounded her. The light grew, engulfing her entirely, and then in a flash of heat, her body vaporized into nothing but ash and smoke.

"K...Kori?" Sarah blinked stupidly, her arms now empty. Her mind was in so much shock that she could barely even register what had just happened. Starfire... had been right there.... they were together again... and then... then she was gone again... just like that. Gone. Dead. Finally, her mind seemed to comprehend it. "KORI!!!"

"I do so hate it when my toys break," a voice spoke from across the room. A tall, menacing figure stepped through the doors at the opposite end of the room, his eyes still glowing a sickly yellow, the same yellow that had torched Starfire. He was also carrying an apparently unconscious or possibly dead Deathstroke in one hand. "Intruders. You will regret entering my home."

Dick's eyes went wide, his heart dropping like a stone. He'd never met this being face to face before, but he knew the image. And he knew just how screwed they were. "Oh my god..."

"No god can save you now," Darkseid said. "Only the embrace of death will free you."

Neal gave a simple nod as Dick agreed that it would be a good idea for Starfire to get Sarah out of here. She would only be a liability with her injuries, but there was no way that they were going to just leave her there. Of course, it was only a moment later when a bright yellow light seemed to engulf Starfire completely before causing her to vanish and only leave some ash behind. Neal hated days like these, nothing was making any sense.

Neal just stared in shock. Despite the fact that he knew Starfire and so many others were dead, this was the first time that one of his close and personal friends had been destroyed right before his very eyes. Starfire was here once second and just gone the next. Was she really dead this time?

Neal was broken out of his thoughts as he turned to see a huge figure approaching through the doorway, carrying Deathstroke in his hand. Wow, the guy had defeated Deathstroke? And he didn't even look tired at all! Just who was this guy? Neal glanced over at Dick as he seemed to have some sort of idea. His expression made Neal nervous, he had never seen Dick look at anyone like that before.

"Dick...........who is this?" he finally asked as the nervousness was apparent in his voice.

"That's... that's Darkseid," Dick uttered. "The ruler of the planet Apokolips... one of the most powerful enemies our world has ever seen. He's tried to take our world before, but... but we defeated him. He was dead. he's supposed to be-"

Before he could utter another word, yellow beams shot from Darkseid's eyes straight at him. Dick evade to the left, but the beams turned sharply in midair. He tried to duck, but the beams doubled back again, coming straight down and hitting him square in the back. Just like Starfire, he was gone in a flash of light and ash.

"Pitiful," Darkseid muttered. He then threw the limp Deathstroke to the ground.

Huntress started to get back up to her feet, still not aware of what was going on yet, as the starbolt had really knocked her for a loop. "What... happ-" Another beam struck her, an in an instant she was gone.

It was about this point that Sarah forgot the pain in her body. The only thing that surged through her now was rage. Pure rage. Screaming in fury, she suddenly began to glow green her ring activating once again. Flying from her spot on the ground, she sped straight at Darkseid, who shot another of his omega beams at her. But Sarah formed a shield that absorbed their energy. In the same action, she formed a spiked fist that came around the shield and beat Darkseid across the face.

"You killed her!" Sarah screamed. "You killed them all! Everyone!" With another thought, a thick band of green energy circled around Darkseid's eyes, blinding him and preventing his eye beams from firing again. She continued her assault, unrelenting. She wanted nothing more than to destroy this being in front of her.

She didn't intend on his hand finding her neck and squeezing. With a loud snap, it twisted and broke, causing her to fall in a motionless heap as he let her go. The band over his eyes vanished instantly.

Darkseid? Neal had never heard of this buy before, but he was the ruler of an alien planet and had tried to take over the earth before? Where had Neal been that day, that kind of thing was normally covered in the news!

Neal's mind stopped making jokes though after what happened next. Within just two minutes of each other three of his friends had been killed. Dick, Huntress, and Sarah were all dead without their enemy even appearing to try. Neal just stared in horror as Sarah landed with a crash onto the ground. Neal felt like he was going to be sick. That just couldn't be right! They all couldn't have died that easily!

Neal took a step back as his gaze returned back to Darkseid. How......how could he be this strong!? He had just killed three, maybe four people! Neal wasn't sure if Deathstroke was still alive at this point or not. "Green Arrow.......no chance you have a plan? Because I'm not coming up with any that sound good in my head," he admitted. After speaking though he tried to cast an illusion on Darkseid, aiming to make his vision merely turn to blackness.

He could not kill them if he could not see them right? Somehow Neal knew this wasn't going to work for long, it at all though.

Indeed, Darkseid didn't even flinch at the illusion. His mind dispersed it in under a second. "You know you cannot win, and yet you still continue to fight. I will never understand human resolve."

Green Arrow just sort of stared in disbelief, glancing back and forth between Darkseid and Neal. "Uh... I might. But no chance of pulling it off without a distraction. He'll be on us in a second."

A gunshot rang out, answering his need for a distraction. Deathstroke had fired from the ground, apparently not dead as they had assumed. The bullet hit Darkseid square in the left eye, causing him to real back in pain and surprise.

"Well, nice of you join the fight, have a nice nap?" Green Arrow asked.

"Ever heard of playing possum?" Deathstroke shot back. "I'd be a fool to think I could have defeated him on my own. Whatever your plan is, do it quickly. I'll keep him busy."

Green Arrow reached into his quiver and pulled out...another bow, though collapsed to make it more portable. he tossed it over to Neal, along with a blue colored arrow. "Please tell me you know how to shoot one of these, kid. When I say now, fire it on his left side. You don't need to be anymore accurate than that."

Taking out another blue arrow, Green Arrow nocked it and aimed at Darkseid's right side. "Now!" And with that, he let his arrow fly. When Neal fired his, they would connect with a band of electricity, and wrap around Darkseid a few times, before coming in to strike his body and erupt in a massive explosion of quantum energy.

Well...........crap. Even Doomsday hadn't been able to dispel Neal's illusions that quickly. Just what was this guy!? He didn't respond to anything, he was the closest thing to invincible that Neal had ever seen, how on earth had the League defeated him before? It was a question Neal would hopefully be able to live and find out.

As Neal heard that Green Arrow had a plan, a shot rang out. Seriously? Out of everyone Deathstroke was the person that Darkseid didn't make sure was dead? Well that was just great, the guy that Neal hated more than anyone else was now alive. Deathstroke probably fell down to number two now though, this Darkseid guy wasn't Neal's favorite either.

Neal grabbed the bow as it was tossed to him. "Yeah I've received training actually. I doubt I'm as good as you but I'll be good enough," Neal said as he unfolded the bow and set the arrow in the proper placement. Thankfully Talia had trained Neal to be a master with almost any weapon, bows included.

Neal quickly moved, maneuvering to make sure that his arrow would be closer to Darkseid's left. As Green Arrow gave the signal Neal fired the arrow, watching as the two arrows reacted to one another and released a huge explosion that wrapped around Darkseid. Neal just stared for a moment in silence. "No chance that killed him?"