InsaneJournal

Redbird and Leatherwing fight it out aboard the Justice League Satellite. The Nazis have their own Batman. This isn't a fact that should really surprise her, but damn. Fighting him isn't like her previous experience fighting a Batman. Leatherwing is older, stronger, more skilled. She is fighting a master -- not a student.

It's kind of a new feeling for Redbird not to be sure she's the best fighter in the room.

She would like to know where he came from and how the hell he got up here. But that is pretty low on her list of concerns at the moment. He breaks one of her ribs with a move she's never even seen. Thankfully, he doesn't seem familiar with some of her moves either. It keeps her able to give as good as she gets, but that's no way to win a fight. That way leads only to who beats who to death first by one blow.

"YAH!"

...Oh god, it's Huntress to the rescue.

Huntress jumps Leatherwing from the side, but it doesn't go in her favor at all. He beats the holy hell out of her in three hits. He'd kill her in four, but Redbird attacks to prevent that fourth hit from coming. It isn't only about saving Huntress either. Lagoon Boy, G'Fyn and Wonder Woman are on the Satellite and vulnerable too. Then there's whatever Leatherwing would be able to do to the rest of the Justice League if he gets his way.

Leatherwing steps back and clenches a bladed Batarang in one of his fists. He's going to fight dirty.

...It's Nazi Batman. Of course he was going to fight dirty.

For the sake of the planet, the Justice League clashes with the SS. The SS has to be stopped here in Washington, D.C. or they will go from here and crush the rest of Earth's defenders. This SS is not some band of supervillains. They are the powerful, unrivaled heroes of their world. Like the Justice League, they have always defeated opposition. Their defeat is far from a foregone conclusions. In fact, odds favor their victory. They fight a diminished Justice League, lacking in full numbers and suffering injuries from previous battles.

Superman and Overman do battle in the sky. Shockwaves from their strikes ripple through the air. Neither man is giving up an inch.

In an exhibition of agility, Nightstar flies and flips circles around the Shining Knight, doing her best to avoid the woman's sword. The close-ranged blasts of her starbolts aren't enough to penetrate Shining Knight's arm. Not in one shot, at least. The Nazi simply too well protected. Their fight will come down to which occurs first -- Nightstar being caught by Shining Knight's blade or Shining Knights armor finally giving way to Nightstar's starbolts. In a close call, Nightstar's arm takes a grazing slice from the blade. Expectations may not be in her favor.

Green and yellow light flashes all over the field of battle as Green Lantern and Draupnir fight. She knows exactly what his ring is. It's the equivalent of a Sinestro Corps power ring. If she doesn't keep a level head, Draupnir will be able to pierce her defenses with his yellow energy. He seems to prefer a medieval style of fighting. She's dueling with constructs of swords, shields, axes and dragons. In fact, she's having to cover herself from the yellow fire of a dragon construct with a green riot shield.

The fight between Flash and Blitzkrieg goes largely unseen in part due to the speed of the movements and in another part due to them not staying in Washington, D.C. The whole world is their racetrack. Blitzkrieg is finding this Flash more difficult that others of speed he has fought. This one utterly comfortable in the speed they are traveling. Blitzkrief vibrates improperly through a small building, causing it to explode in a spray of shrapnel intended to injured or at least slow Flash down. He doubles back to take advantage of this, but he finds no such advantage. Flash plows through the shrapnel cloud using a detached car door as a shield and rams into Blitzkrieg with it.

With hands that have morphed into vicious claws, Tier hacks his way through a forest of attacking vines, trying to get to Jade. It's a battle of nature vs. nature. Plant vs. animal.

Aquagirl and Valkyrie fight in the destroyed remains of a reflecting pool. Armed with Lagoon Boy's spear, Aquagirl is able to attack through and defend against Valkyrie's sword. There is a substantial strength difference here, but Aquagirl is doing her best to compensate for that with her speed and agility. Perhaps the most uncomfortable thing about this is that the woman she is fighting is the direct otherworld counterpart of Starman's mother, Donna.

Though it may not appear to be much, the magical duel happening between the Zataras is a powderkeg threatening to explode the moment one of them slips up. It is a constant back and forth of spells and counterspells neutralizing each other. Hauptmann Zatara is the more disciplined of the two. Her spells are cast with ruthless efficiency. Z is more often than not improvising with his spells, trying to find something that will surprise her and throw her off her game.

Geo-Force finds his stone body shattering under the sonic attack of Pied Piper. Rather than delay the uncomfortable inevitability, he breaks apart willingly and sinks into the ground. Pied Piper stands at the ready with his flute to his lips, expecting that Geo-Force will reappear somewhere nearby and attack. He is correct, but not ready. Geo-Force's hands grab him by the ankles and pulls in into the ground. This isn't enough to completely put Pied Piper down, and the man blasts out a crater with his flute to free himself.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Starman is having great difficulty with Zeitgeist. The Nazi is phasing in and out of time. This prevents Starman from being able to lock onto Zeitgeist with his powers. It has put him on the defensive, having to move quick to defend himself from Zeitgeist's almost endless surprise attacks.

It could be worse, and it is worse for Supergirl. She is being overwhelmed by two Nazi opponents -- Human Atom and Black Beetle. Human Atom is a powerhouse of strength and energy in that suit of armor. Black Beetle is powerful as well, but the real problem from him is that some of his weapons are able to hit her even when she becomes intangible. A solution to her dilemma comes in the form of a new arrival. Warhawk swoops in, grabbing and throwing Black Beetle head-first into a stone wall. Yeah, Warhawk's still alive.

"Ran out of Nazis back home."

Redbird and Leatherwing continue the long process of beating each other to death in the teleport bay.

Redbird has more than just one broken rib now. One of her wrists has been injured too. She will be amazed if it turns out later that she hasn't suffered some major head trauma, and she also has a feeling she might have some internal bleeding.

On the other hand, she's positive she has broken some of Leatherwing's ribs in return. His left shoulder is definitely hurt. She can't be sure what kind of head trauma and internal bleeding he might be suffering from though.

Redbird presses her attack while she's still able to stay standing. They fight their way onto the teleport platform and are stuck trading blows there for a moment. Redbird manages to disable one of his legs and bring him down to one knee, but she doesn't get to push that advantage. He counters here with a hard, straight punch to her broken ribs. She goes flying back and tumbles from the platform, landing near the control console and Huntress.

Leatherwing rises to his feet again as both Huntress and Redbird are trying to do the same. Both look at where Leatherwing is and apparently get the same idea, because their each have a hand slap onto the teleporter controls. Leatherwing glows and dematerializes.

Now that he's gone, Redbird is just not going to bother to stand up now. She would like to know where they just sent him. Huntress checks and... doesn't answer right away. The controls must have been tampered with or something, because there's no destination. Maybe that was what he was doing up here? He was going to teleport the whole Justice League off of Earth and... not have them appear anywhere.

Huntress is pretty sure they totally just disinegrated Nazi Batman.

The flagship Nazi battlecruiser leading the invasion of this Earth remains in the Bleed -- the strange space between the 52 multiple realities. From here, the general in command can safely observe and coordinate their forces.

However, he is receiving some unfortunate news.

He has just been informed that the invasion is crossing the red line. The red line is the predetermined maximum allowance of acceptable losses in taking this Earth. It was not expected they would even come close to it -- much less pass it. This is the fault of the battle with the Justice League. Too many of the SS had to be rerouted from other battles to face them, and now those other fronts are suffering because of the lack of SS support. The supreme general must make a decision on this. There is a protocol to follow, if he is willing.

His subordinates ask for his order.

"...Ragnarok."

After a moment's hesitation, the crew gets right to work preparing the launch of the doomsday weapon. It is the final option for taking this Earth. The weapon will wreak havoc on this world, killing millions. Even at full strength, the heroes would be unlikely to stop it. Weakened and exhausted as they must be, they will die. The supreme general will take his forces back to the homeworld, and they will wait. When an acceptable amount of time has passed, they will return to this world and claim what remains of it. It will be much less than what they originally wished for, but the keystone of the 52 will still belong to them.

The missile is launched from the battlecruiser, firing through the glowing red space of the Bleed and breaching the dimension of Earth.

The doomsday weapon launched by the Nazis crashes down in the desert. There is no detonation, no release of deadly chemical weapon or viral weapon. The capsule merely rests in a smoking crater for several moments, and then it begins to move.

A huge fists of gray flash and jagged bone protrusions bursts through the hull. The creature kept inside rips its way free and steps into the desert of this new world. It is Ragnorak -- killer of the original Overman, creator of the graveyard expanse of East Asia, unkillable creature bred only to destroy. Its every impulse is to seek out life and murder what it finds.

All it must do now is find where to start.

The doomsday creature turns sharply towards a nearby presence, roaring and ready to attack and kill. Shazam hovers just barely over the ground nearby, facing the creature.

"Hey."