Titans: The Resistance #49

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
Vince Lombardi

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Sun Tzu


-1-

“Your Highness!” a lowly page ran into the Royal chamber and dropped to one knee.

The Empress turned and glared at him. “What is it?” she snapped.

“The rebel attack, your majesty, it's in China!”

The Empress closed her eyes and hissed in frustration. “Of course...forcing us away from Japan, so their own navy can provide assistance....and they must have known we were about to attack America. Of course they did.”

She turned and looked at Prince Brion, already suited up in his Geo-Force battle suit. For a time her mind agonized about either sending him to lead the American invasion, or else to have him stay here to protect the throne. His own inclination, she knew, would be to lead the American expedition.

He looked back at her, saying nothing, trying to read her own thoughts in turn.

Finally, she said, “I am going to need your help when facing your traitorous sister.”

“That leaves cousin Gregor as the regent,” Brion pointed out.

“I know,” Petra sighed. Gregor Markov was a fierce patriot of the Markovian cause, no doubt....but he was not very bright. He would make a fine frontline soldier, but an Emperor? Not so much. “If it comes to the worst, and we both fall, Gregor's wife is a clever enough woman.”

Brion nodded. Duchess Soriana was certainly a wise woman. But privately, he felt that her ambitions were her own, and not for the greater good of the Empire. He did not say so aloud, of course. “But chances are that neither of us will fall,” is what he did say.

“Indeed. General Rokoshnev will lead the invasion of America. We will meet the traitor's challenge head on, with five battalions, our personal rocket men and our....additional...surprises.”

For the first time in a long time, the Empress smiled a genuine smile.

-2-

Bruce Wayne was ready.

He could not be Batman any more, of course. Not physically. Not directly. But he had heard of the Shining Dragons even before the Titans had, and while his technology wasn't as sleek as theirs, he nevertheless had some perfectly-able remote control robots battle suits.

The thing was not to release them too early, lest America's own defense—some of it as high tech as his own—decided to turn and face him as a threat.

In truth, he'd wished to send the finished battle robot and the four prototypes with Robin to aid the Resistance on the battlefield. But it was clear that the Markovians would have more than enough resources to attack America directly, as well as face whatever Terra and her crew had planned. The Titans were going to choose their own battlefield rather than meet the invasion directly, forcing Markovia to divide their forces. This was a strategy he agreed with; if they could stop the Empress, the invasion of America would founder. And if they faced the invasion, the Empress would have reinforcements she could bring into play.

So it was up to the American Republic to defend itself.....with a little help from him, of course. Him and the robots. He smiled to himself.

Dick, on the other hand, had gone with the Resistance as planned. There had been some discussion of him not wearing the Batman suit for this—there were several other spare alternative costumes in the cave, including a black one with blue stripes that Dick rather liked—but in the end they decided Batman on the field could only strengthen the Resistance's resolve.

If only Bruce hadn't gotten so old. Hadn't suffered so many injuries. Had to hand the mantle over to Dick before he was ready. But, needs must. He had planned for this day for years, and now was no time to wallow in regrets.

He turned and spoke aloud to the Batcomputer. “Activate the robots.”

-3-

The initial strike was going well; already the Titans had plowed into the Chinese coast, starting at Zhoushan.

Everyone was here, and the battle had gone fairly well so far, as expected. The Japanese fleet hadn't actively helped the Titans, but Ravager's pirate fleet had helped the Japanese clear the Markovian naval forces away from their islands.

The Shining Dragons had joined the Titans however, and helped them to clear a path into China. Markovian occupation forces had fought back, but they were easily overwhelmed. They had made a foothold at Yuyao. They did not press further forward, yet. They wanted the Empire to come to them.

Anarky was understandably daunted by the presence of Batman, while Rose was mildly excited and intrigued. Robin could tell that, under the mask, Dick was focused and determined.

“You've assembled quite the team,” he said to Robin. “And I don't just mean the Titans.”

“It was a long, ongoing process,” Robin said. “More luck than skill.”

“The old man would say that there was no such thing as luck. But I would say your luck was helped by skill and determination.” For a moment, a grin peeked out, like sun coming out from behind the clouds. Then it was gone, and once again it was Batman staring at him. “Of course, there's a good chance that here is where our luck runs out.”

“But we have to try,” Robin said.

“Indeed.”

Anarky noticed that Rose was eying Batman, but said nothing. He knew she was smart enough to realize that outside of this battlefield, Batman would view her as a criminal. And besides, he had a more pressing concern.

Not if they lost, but rather if they won.

If they really managed it, really broke the Markovian Empire's strength and reversed their path to power, what then? Without the Empire as a primary foe, both he and Rose weren't committed to the Titans as a first priority. Or each other, come to that. Oh, he enjoyed her, and she apparently enjoyed him. But she was a pirate first, and he was an Anarchist first. Without Markovia looming over them—assuming they beat Markovia back that far—would either of them help the Titans anymore? Each of them could be seen as a threat to security or justice or order, or whatever Robin and the others thought they were fighting for. Terra respected them, but respect was not the same thing as agreement.

And there, of course, was the Batman, looming over the field of battle like the grim reaper, or more accurately like the tyrant he was. To Anarky's mind, he was little better than the foe they now faced.

Anarky had been with the Resistance almost since the beginning, but he felt that, one way or another, his time with it was coming to an end.

-4-

Robin and Terra met with their various allies, the Justice Society at the last. The Society had been fighting this battle since long before the Titans ever existed.

“At last,” Alan Scott breathed. “We might actually see the end of this.”

Flash was buzzing around impatiently in the background.

“Too bad we never had one like him amongst us,” Doctor Mid-Nite said in his soft, rarely-heard voice. “I can't help feeling we should have.”

“We use what we have,” Wildcat grunted. “He's here now, but I don't think he really fits with us.”

“That girl with the red wings might,” said Alan Scott. “As might that green-eyed girl with the silver armor who can summon that spirit.”

“Anima is my charge first and foremost,” Deriven said in a somewhat diplomatic tone, “Though I've no objection to her working with you. I rather think young Miss Levine needs guidance. She seems heartbroken that the Martian will not keep her as his ward any longer.”

“Speaking of which,” Terra said, looking up.

Carrie was already flying up to meet the Martian Manhunter, who was glad to see her, but calm and distant. From what she had told the others, he had always been calm, but much more fatherly.

Supergirl had also briefly interacted with the Martian, but as with Starfire she found herself disappointed. He was not hostile as Starfire had been, but he was distant and mostly indifferent. Supergirl chastised herself for categorizing any non-human as being in accord with the Kryptonian viewpoint.

There was some chatter between the groups—Robin and Jason's vampire hunters, Batman and the Justice Society, Supergirl and the Shining Dragons—but mostly they focused on fortifying their position and awaiting the arrival of the Imperial forces. Supergirl, Lantern, and his mentor Alan Scott could detect their approach at long range; they wasted no time in getting ready.

-5-

Markovia's main invasion force, meanwhile, were slowed slightly in their approach to America by the Atlanteans, who were able to help a little more than previously thought. While they did not fight the Markovian armada directly, they did send several whales and octopi to attack it. This caused a few casualties to the Markovian fleet, destroying one submarine and two cruisers, and damaging one of their aircraft carriers. It also slowed the arrival of the fleet down by perhaps a few hours.

Resolute, the armada carried on, of course. The Empress was busy heading to the Chinese front, and would not want to be informed of problems or possible failure.

So they came on, towards New York. The strategy was to focus their entire strength against one portion of America's defenses, which they could overwhelm; then set up a beachhead at the major port city and attack the mainland from there.

America's naval forces were able to realize the Imperial target before long and started moving their forces to a concentration in the New York area. But not even half those ships would arrive.

Bruce had not made his remote control robots water capable; so he sent them scrambling up the coast. No one detected them; they may not have had aquatic capabilities, but they did have stealth mode.

So it was when the Markovian armada and the American navy clashed just off Long Island, the Bat-robots were waiting off the coast to join in, and fired a few missiles where they would do the most good while they waited.

-6-

The Markovians arrived at night, a situation that neither side wanted. With the exception of the young man David who was half-vampire, none preferred night operations. All of them could manage it of course—and the Justice Society had become skilled enough at night ops down the years—but neither Markovian nor Resistance preferred fighting in the dark. Both sides brought artificial lighting enough, of course. Petra and and Geo-Force were in the lead, naturally, and Supergirl noticed her twisted doppelganger off to one side.

As time had passed, about thirty ragged Chinese had joined the Resistance side to help defend their homeland. The Empress sneered slightly at them, but then focused on Terra. “I must say, I should have expected for you to recruit allies from amongst your....tactical strikes. And you brought the old rebel cabal as well. All the easier to kill them, of course, but still you were wise to bring them.”

“Am I supposed to be flattered by that?” Terra asked drily.

“I do not care what you--” Petra began.

She didn't finish; both Lanterns blasted her at once, bathing her in emerald pain. She screamed and went down.

Geo-Force unleashed a wave of lava, which they had to block. B. Zarro and Supergirl sought each other out, and the forces clashed in a mighty shockwave of rage.

-7-

Supergirl and B. Zarro went head to head.

Supergirl had no understanding of how she could've been cloned. Zooming in with her super vision, she could see that this was not, in fact, the case; that instead a human had been mutated whilst being exposed to kryptonite radiation. How a human had been exposed to that was anyone's guess; clearly it was radiation, and not some blood or tissue sample from herself (which, given human understanding of genetic engineering, would have done nothing but kill the subject). The poor creature was not, in the long term, sustainable; eventually it would die. But for now it was as strong as she was. However, it only had a human's understanding of her powers, and probably not the brightest human at that.

“Me am not kill you!” B. Zarro growled, and flew at her.

Supergirl met her advance with a punch to the jaw. “How unfortunate that they experimented on you.”

“Me care what you think!” B. Zarro asserted and headbutted her in the face.

Supergirl was rocked back a little, but went with the motion, kicking with both feet into B.Zarro's midrff. Her enemy made a whoofing sound, then instinctively glared at her, heat vision lancing out.

It hurt, to be sure; but Supergirl endured it and blew freezing breath into B. Zarro's face. B. Zarro gasped and stopped using her heat vision. She had Supergirl's strength and a physical resistance, but still reacted to the pain as a human would.

Supergirl flew forward, slamming her shoulder into B. Zarro's midriff. More air whooshed out of B. Zarro. Supergirl had heard the unkind term 'mouth breather', but here and now she rather thought it was a tactical description of her opponent.

She struck three uppercuts into her withered doppleganger's chin, dazing and confusing her. Then Supergirl grabbed her by the head and vibrated it at speeds far faster than any normal human could conceive. It was a power the Flash also had, as did B. Zarro too, but her engineers hadn't considered that when they had corrupted the human she had once been.

It wasn't enough to kill her, though; B. Zarro also had her resistance. But it did a fine job of incapacitating her.

Supergirl carried the creature up through the atmosphere, into the thin air, and finally out into space. Supergirl was holding her breath; the doppelganger, unconscious, did not.

Supergirl kicked the slowly dying B. Zarro away from the planet, away from the sun, out into space. She knew that B. Zarro would not regain consciousness before dying.

Supergirl felt a dim species of pity, but mostly she felt frustration that her foe's designers had been so sloppy.

She returned to Earth and, at range, destroyed a Rocket-Man with her heat vision.

-8-

The Justice Society had been waiting for this. For decades.

With Eric at his side, Alan Scott blasted away. They had lost sight of the Empress in the confusion, but Geo-Force was still present, blocking Eric's attacks with his lava.

Alan Scott was under no such restriction. His ring blasted through the lava and knocked Geo-Force back. Before he could do anything else, a Rocket Man was in his face.

Wildcat's fist came in from the side, smashing into the Rocket-Man's jaw. “More like a glass jaw!” the old man taunted. He hadn't felt so alive in years.

Alan Scott and Eric rose above the field of battle, scanning.

“Where is she?” Eric seethed.

“Calm yourself. She is probably hiding below ground. It is a trick her Earth-wielding ancestors used more than once. She'll come up eventually, just keep your guard up.

Doctor Mid-Nite and Sand were having their way with the Rocket-Men and frontline soldiers. And so many others, besides. The Society formed the largest single group here. In a way, this battle was more theirs than it was the Titans; it was just that the Titans had made it possible.

Alan had suspected it from the first, that Tara's revolt was the turning point.

Hopefully that would still hold true.

-9-

Jason and his vampire hunters moved about, dancing and spinning. For them, this was almost easy; their living opponents, Markovian soldiers mostly, went down easily enough. You didn't even have to stake them in the heart!

Only the Rocket-Men were difficult for them, and that was where David came to the fore, ripping and tearing. He did well until a stray bullet ignited a foe's rocket pack. The explosion sent him reeling, stunned but unhurt. Thankfully the foe had brought no vampire hunters of their own; rather unimaginative.

Jason, however, finally ran into a problem, a uniformed Markovian wielding a sword.; royal guard, maybe? The man wielded a long, wicked blade; not silver, but real enough and sharp enough to give any mortal man like him a hard time of it. His primary weapon was a stake, though of course he had brought guns and knives for the Markovians.

So he frantically parried the sword stroke with a knife. That was no simple kitchen knife, it held under the impact, though the sting of it nearly knocked it from his fingers. He stumbled backwards, trying to bring the blade up in one hand, and pull a gun from his holster with the other.

Slice.

Jason screamed and went down; he'd just lost his left arm.

The Markovian stood over him, blade held high, ready for the killing stroke.

Crack.

The Markovian's face frowned in puzzlement, then he fell on top of Jason, obviously dead.

Jason panicked, worried about blood loss, trying to get the dead weight off him.

The body rolled away, and Dorothy frantically tried to bandage his arm.

The shadow of Crow's powers flowed over him. “I will tend his wound,” her ethereal voice came. “Return to the battle.”

Dorothy glared at her, then nodded, getting out one of her home-brewed explosives.

-10-

The Shining Dragons had faced Markovians before, of course. The only difference was how many of them there were.

Having anticipated how significant this operation would be, the Cyborg had sent several spare fuel cells with his operatives, and they were carefully guarded under their own force field That field could be worn down, of course, but the Cyborg figured, correctly, that the enemy focus would be on their own forces. He was more worried about a stray shot.

All of which is to say that the Dragons were capable of giving their all in the field, without fear of running out of fuel.

Were the situation not so pressing, they would have noted the fact that this was the first time that all six of them had been gathered together at once. Only the new girl, Obsidian, really thought of it with any real interest or wonder; the others knew that the Cyborg was always recording their history as it went, and so a record of this event would be preserved in his databanks.

The problem was not any individual Markovian, save perhaps the royals themselves, and Supergirl had already taken her double into the upper atmosphere. No, the problem was numbers.

Emerald and Sapphire grabbed a Rocket Man each, and slammed them into each other, causing a gory explosion. Emerald blasted away at enemy troops on the ground.

Obsidian dipped low, and grabbed a sentient gorilla, created from the same experiments that had spawned B. Zarro. She lifted it up, struggling, not only because of its weight but also its strength and efforts to resist her. It was terribly strong, and its sentience only enhanced its fierceness. It battered away at her as she lifted it away from the battlefield.

Obsidian's particular specialist weapon was a close-range neural shock device, consistent with her profile as an infiltrator. She zapped the gorilla with it now, and while not as stunned as a human would be, it roared its pain and was disoriented, momentarily losing grip on its sentience. Lifting it still further, she targeted the greatest concentration of Markovian soldiers down below, and threw the beast into them with all her strength.

Gold spun around, unleashing arcs of plasma with her martial arts strikes, in the thick of the foe, killing Markovian soldiers, incapacitating Rocket Men, and finally facing off against one of the few actual Markovian metahumans on the field; a soldier with enhanced reflexes and strength, wielding electrified shock batons in each hand. Her own armor resisted his electricity, and she flung an arc of plasma into his face. Down he went, screaming.

Ruby was the unlucky one, being struck by Rocket-Man missiles at point blank range, as well as a bazooka blast from an ordinary soldier. Finally, a powered bayonet thrust ripped through her armor. She fell, wounded. Amethyst, the last of the Dragons, came to her rescue, slamming into the foe and knocking them away from her, then clearing the immediate area with her violet energy bolts and carrying her wounded comrade from the field, to lie beside the already-injured Jason Todd.

-11-

Deriven and his allies were all over the place. Deriven himself turning enemy soldiers into toads or ash, and convincing another Markovian metahuman, a pyrokinetic, to destroy himself.

Captain Marvel swooped hither and thither, smashing through the foe, enjoying himself.

Gnarrk, the caveman, smashed away with his club. He had wished to face the gorilla, but bashing down Rocket Men was certainly rewarding.

Kid Devil set foes on fire and bit into them, ripping and clawing.

Omen and Crow teleported around, wreaking their own kind of havoc upon the enemy, with Crow occasionally healing Jason Todd and Ruby.

The Changeling took many forms during this battle, but his preference was to become a snake and slither up Markovian boots to bite their legs.

Manwe blew his horn and caused Markovians to be chopped in half by his rifts.

The three elven soldiers perhaps startled the Markovians the most. They cut a fearsome swath through the enemy with their blades, slowly separating from each other. Finally, Petra used her powers to drag one underground and crush him to death. The other two fared well, however, unleashing Sidhe fury upon these foolish mortals.

-12-

Ravager and Anarky leapt and spun around the battlefield, swords slashing, cattleprod spinning.

They had been practicing together, coordinating their attacks as a prelude to, and extension of, their lovemaking. If you could call it that. But however one wished to phrase it, it worked well, enabling them to work together quite effectively.

Ravager did a frontward flip off Anarky's shoulders, planting her feet in a Rocket Man's throat. As soldiers closed in around them, Anarky spun low, his cattleprod knocking two down. One jumped over, and brought his gun in to fire; Anarky dodged to the side, and punched him square in the face with his free hand. The man stumbled back, but grabbed Anarky's wrist. He smiled, thinking Anarky couldn't use his cattleprod now, without harming himself. He was wrong; Anarky swung the staff at him. The man blocked with his leg, but was still electrocuted. Anarky's own suit was insulated. He'd worked that one out some time ago.

No other soldiers were close, so he pulled a flask of acid from his belt and threw it into the enemy.

Ravager, of course, was still eagerly slicing and dicing, looking for the Empress, to finish her off.

-13-

The Flash did, perhaps, the most damage of any of the Titans' allies, tearing through the enemy ranks at super speed, destroying the two light tanks and one APC they had brought.

He might have mopped up the enemy all on his own, were it not for Geo-Force, who knew he was buzzing about and threw a lava rift in front of him, guessing right. Flash got through it, but was burned, and lost his focus. He stumbled and rolled, and yelped from the scaling pain to his knees and shins. He dashed off to the nearest eatery still open, thirty miles away, and hurriedly gobbled some noodles to help his fast metabolism heal, then dashed back. He wanted a piece of Geo-Force, and ripped through four soldiers before catching a glancing blow off the prince. Stunned but not knocked out, that worthy followed his mother's example and vanished below the ground.

-14-

At first, Eric had stood with Alan, but now he soared over the battlefield, searching for either of the Markovian royals. Below, he saw Terra doing the same, but searched far and wide.

He wanted to use his ring to scan, but then found literally dozens of Markovian soldiers taking aim at him. He shielded himself from their bullets, then turned that shield into a wall and smashed them flat with it. He went to scan for Petra again, but three Rocket Men came at him, firing missiles He blocked, then swatted them away like flies.

-15-

Wonder Woman and Don-Na had also originally stood with the Justice Society, and the elder Themysciran thought perhaps that she might work with that group in future, if they survived. But for now the two of them, along with their five shield maidens, carved a wedge through their enemies.

Another sword-wielding royal guard came for Wonder Woman; she blocked his blade with her bracelets, and before he could withdraw, Don-Na stabbed him with her spear, through his ceremonial armor and into his ribs. He grunted and went down.

“Carve a path through the foe!” Wonder Woman shouted. “Let none stand before us!”

Grumbling angry assent, the shield maidens moved on, holding their spiked shields before them. Each was also armed with a sword with a saw-toothed blade. Two of those blades also dripped poison.

“The Titans are admirable,” Don-Na said as they advanced.

“Yes,” Wonder Woman smiled, “I thought you might feel that way. Remember, however, your first duty is always to Themyscira.”

-16-

Meanwhile, on the American front, Bruce's remote control robots had fired at the enemy ships until they had run out of bullets and missiles. They still had lasers, however, and the brute strength of their forms. But they could use neither unless the Markovians made landfall.

Bruce was hoping it wouldn't come to that. The American navy was holding so far, in a thunderous flurry of cannon exchanges, but they were outnumbered three to one. It was only a matter of time. The question was not if they would lose, but when; and how weakened the Markovian invasion force would be when that finally occurred.

Bruce had one eye on the naval battle, the other on Tim and Dick's vital signs. They were both excited, adrenaline at max, but neither had been injured yet. His view of the Chinese battlefield through spy satellites was spotty at best.

The old man was stern, but full of fear. Win or lose, he didn't want to see his proteges fall. Such was the risk of war, of course. He knew that well. But it didn't make him feel any better about it.

-17-

Wintergreen and the pirate fleet had only cursory mop up efforts against what was left of the Markovian ships around Japan, most had been withdrawn anyway, and the Japanese would handle what was left.

So he turned his cannons to the coast. As per Ravager's instructions, they would not land and send sailors into the fighting. And the battle was too far inland for even the most selective and careful cannon shots to do any good.

But he could not leave his charge undefended.

“Lieutenant Perez, you're in charge. I'm going ashore.”

-18-

Starfire and Argent soared over the battlefield, blasting the foe.

It was, ironically, Argent that Starfire felt the most kinship with, though the feeling was not fully reciprocated. Starfire admired Argent because she did what needed to be done with efficiency. Argent, for her part, found Starfire a little frightening. But they worked together well enough.

“I will not be caged again!” Starfire shrieked, blasting the enemy with her starbolts. “I will not be controlled! Know this as you die, ever pathetic, ever fools!”

Two missiles almost struck her; each time, it was Argent's silver power which shielded her. Starfire smiled her gratitude, then returned to blasting the enemy.

Argent sighed and added her own silver shards. In her own quiet way, she was still taking vengeance against the Markovians who had ruined her life.

-19-

Anima prowled along the ground, using her armored form and the Animus to tear the foe apart. Above her, Carrie and the Martian Manhunter flew.

Carrie quickly ran out of explosives, and the Manhunter advised her to aid Anima on the ground. Like many others, he searched for the Markovian overlords as his targets, but did not find them.

But he did find the last Markovian metahuman, a tall, bald, burly man of enhanced strength. Not as strong as himself, though.

The man ripped up a chunk of ground and threw it at him. If the Manhunter had been human, he would have smiled; as it was he simply let the rock impact on him without effect. He flew down, grabbed the man, and hurled him straight up into the air.

The man screamed but quickly regained his composure, confident his strength and endurance would enable him to survive the impact.

Which was why the Manhunter flew up and punched him hard enough to send him into the upper atmosphere.

Down below, Anima was putting aside her guilt at killing these bad men. Deriven kept a wary eye on her, but both he and the Manhunter could tell, telepathically, that she wasn't getting drunk on power or enjoying the deaths. The Animus, of course, was another matter.

Carrie kicked and struck with the occasional wing buffet. Mostly she was trying to avoid being injured. But the Markovians felt the impact of her presence, to be sure.

-20-

The Russians were the second largest group after the Justice Society, and the only actual soldiers on the field to match the Markovians. Leonid was in front, of course, using his own super strength to pound down the foe. His father was at his side, wielding a plasma gun. They caught glimpse of Geo-Force once, but that worthy threw a wave of lava at them and dissappeared.

Neither of them liked the fact that Princess Anna was here, also wielding her sword and shield; but they could not command her to stay behind for safety, not when Tara was here, standing against her mother and brother, who had also taken the field. It was a risk, and all risks must be taken in war.

The Markovian soldiery did not seem to realize who she was, and while they fought her, they paid her no special attention. She found this amusing, and used her blade to rip through the fuel lines of a Rocket Man, bringing him down.

-21-

Task Force X and Green Arrow were in the fray. Parasite had no powered enemies to feed on, but ordinary people would do just fine. He enjoyed himself.

Bolt, who wanted to be a hero even if he wasn't one at heart, was enjoying himself even more. Plus, he understood what Markovian dominion would mean. He enjoyed most taking down Rocket Men and the ground troops who were similarly armored.

Clayface was actually somewhat concerned; he was afraid that Petra or Geo-Force could use their powers to literally tear him apart. But he fought enemy soldiers no problem; turning into a thick pool of mud to drown them, then creating blunt instruments to bash them to death.

Green Arrow was doing better than he had thought. For the first time he felt real confidence in himself. He fought alongside Robin a few times, but mostly he shot arrows down the barrels of enemy guns. At best, this caused them to explode; at worst, it rendered them useless.

Bumblebee had some strength and of course she could fly, but mostly she relied on her sonic attacks to shatter enemy armor and scramble their nerves until they could fight no more. One Markovian tried to charge her and fell to his knees, blind and bleeding from the ears.

The dwarf called “Gizmo”, flying along on his jet pack and blasting rocket men with his personal laser pistol, however, was out of luck. Three Rocket Men fired on him at once, destroying his own jetpack in a fireball that consumed him. There wasn't enough left of him for Crow to try to heal, sadly. It was a tragic, unnecessary death, but also of a man deserving of such.

-22-

Robin, Terra, and Batman fought together at first, trying to remain a unit, watching for Petra and Geo-Force. They saw Geo-Force some, but Petra hardly at all; and they supposed they knew why. Petra wanted to kill Terra, and was hiding underground, waiting for her chance.

Any minute Terra expected to feel herself pulled under, or her powers blocked so an enemy soldier could kill her. But it had not yet happened. Supergirl flew overhead, but Terra barely paid attention, hurling rocks every which way, entombing soldiers in stone, helping the Chinese rebels where she could. Princess Anna stalked past, blade whirling, and nodded to her; Terra nodded back, but stayed focused.

Robin and Batman were united on the field, keeping an eye on Terra but mostly beating down the foe. It occurred to both of them that this was the most time they'd spent together on the field for months. It felt good to be fighting side by side again, even if it was against Markovians rather than Gotham street toughs.

They were dimly aware of Wintergreen joining the fray, but paid him not much heed. Robin was glad to see him, but he had his own concerns.

Robin was worried for Terra, knowing as she did that the Empress would rise to strike sooner or later. Batman just kept fighting, dodging enemy gunfire and blades, taking down as many as he could. Batman got more use out of the various grenades and gadgets in his utility belt in this one fight than he had in sixteen months previous.

Robin somersaulted over Terra and planted his feet in a Markovian soldier's back.

Terra smiled at him; but it was at that moment that Petra and Geo-Force erupted out of the ground before her.....

Next: THE FINAL END



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