Injustice 3: Rings War (Book 2)

Chapter 52: Upgrade

Wonder Woman:

I raise my shield just as a parademon slams into it. Pushing it back, I slice the beast in half. It snarls as it falls to the ground. Watching as it falls, I hear something coming up from behind me. I turn around only to be hit with an intense fire.

Shielding myself and flying back, I look past the flame to see some sort of war machine attacking it. Black as the sky and strangely dragon-shaped, the war machine is only one out of a whole army of them. As the war machines come, all position themselves side by side with each other and breathe fire. Even with my shield, the flame becomes too much for me to handle.

Captain Cold:

Screaming as one of the parademon blows me away, I only stop when my back hits the railing. I can feel my back break as the wind is knocked out of me.

Out of breath, I look up to see the parademon charging toward me. Before it can hit me, I change the dial on my cold gun and fire. The parademon turns into a block of ice while still charging. Pushing and crawling out of the way, I watch as the parademon hits the railing. The ice shatters but the parademons didn't.

"Seriously," I pant, pushing myself up. "We can't even take down Superman. How are we supposed to take down super parademons?"

The thing growls as it gets up. It stares me down, like some animal stalking its prey. As it prepares to pounce, I fire again and freeze it. Once more, trapped in ice, I look around and see Harleen.

"She's doing worst than me," I think, seeing Harleen back up as her bullet deflects off a parademon. Thinking fast, I change the dial once more and aim it at the frozen parademon. Shooting my cold gun, I fire a burst of wind that knocks the frozen parademon into the one Harleen is facing.

The two of them fall off the Rusted and I shoot Harleen a nod while switching the dial. As I run around, I hear someone screaming. I look around and pinpoint the person screaming. It's Wonder Woman.

These weird, dragon-shaped tanks are shooting flames at her. The flames are pushing her back. Seeing this, I rise my cold gun but I couldn't squeeze the trigger. Instead, I switch targets and shoot at the fire. An ice bomb burst and temporary stop the fire. In that short time, Wonder Woman drops before flying toward the tanks. Black Adam joins her as they tear through the tanks. While they work on these tanks, I return to defending the Rusted.

The Man:

The parademon snarls as it lunges for me. I jump back, the parademon missing me completely. It stumbles forward and with this, I run forward and swing my swords. As the parademon falls to the ground, I hear screaming coming from the Rusted. Looking back, I see the Rusted getting attacked from every angle. Aside from the parademons charging in, there are war machines surrounding her. The machines are shooting fire so hot at the Rusted that despite how far I am, I can feel the heat.

"The others won't last long without some extra help," I think, looking at the distance between myself and the Rusted. "They need V2. I have to reach them, but how? There are too many parademons in the way."

Hearing another parademon snarl, I rise my sword before swinging it back. The parademon's snarl fades while I look up.

"Superman," I yell, rising my hand. Superman burning a parademon with his laser vision, look down and see me. He dives down and grabs my hand.

"Take me back to the Rusted," I say. "Hurry."

"The what," Superman asks.

"The Rusted. It's the name of my spaceship. Don't ask. Just get me to the Rusted as fast as you can."

Superman nods and flies me back to the Rusted. Dropping me off, we make quick work of the parademons that are already onboard. The second the final parademon falls, I run up to the bridge and re-activate the shield. The shield is shaking as the parademons and war machines continue their assault.

"Is everyone okay," I yell, jumping off the bridge.

The only replies are moans and groans.

"We can barely handle Superman," Flash pants. Sweat is pouring from his head like a waterfall. "How are we supposed to take down an army of super parademons?"

As much as I hate to think this, Flash is right. His face is not the only one with a waterfall of sweat. Even Cyborg seems to be leaking a little bit of oil.

"How can you take down so many super parademons so far with just a pair of swords," Oliver asks, wiping his forehead.

"I'm stronger than I look," I answer. "Speaking of stronger."

I pull some excellneno discs from my pockets and turn toward Superman.

"Here," I say, handing him one.

"Wait," Flash screams. "Don't."

I ignore him and give Superman and his crew a disc each. Once I explain to them how they worked, I turn back toward the others.

"Voice key activation," I shout. As soon as I said those words, everyone's suit come to life and there is one massive beep. "Passcodes: Barry Allen sucks."

"Hey," Flash says.

Once more, I ignore Flash and watch as everyone's suit starts to change. They light up, a combination of blue and green lights traveling throughout them.

"What the hell is this," Black Adam screams, grabbing and trying to pull the suit off.

I step forward and hit Adam on the side of his head.

"Don't swear," I say, pointing a finger at Adam.

"Seriously though," Cyborg says, examining his own suit. "What are these?"

Everyone looks at their arms and legs as the suits finish their transformations.

"It's my own invention. These are excellneno-suits. Sorry to be rude but you three will need to ask the others what they are. Superman and I will be going. Come on. We need to find Kara."

Superman nods his head and the two of us prepare to leave. Reaching the railings, I scan the area. Far, far away, I can see the dark silhouette of a building. I recognize the building immediately and nudge my head.

"There," I say, "If Kara is anywhere here on Apokolips, it will be right there."

"How can you possibly know that," Superman asks. "What is that?"

"It's Darkseid's palace."