Earth's Last Defence [DEFENDERS OF EARTH BOOK IV]

Gladiator Match

The two collided with each other, Batman slamming his knee into Sinestro's stomach. Though initially stunned by this, he quickly recovered by hitting Batman with a self-constructed baton. It struck Batman across his helmet, barely affecting the advance. Batman hit Sinestro with a fist, then followed it up with a kick. The alien was sent backwards and hit into a construction column, catching his breath. Batman took this opportunity to launch another strike at his opponent. Reaching out with his fist, he went for the tyrant, being stopped only inches away from his face by a huge yellow hand. Sinestro threw him backwards and into a mound of debris.

He got back up, aiming his right gauntlet at the bars above Sinestro. Out of the gauntlet came a grappling hook, and Batman was hoisted upwards. He fired Batarangs out of his left gauntlet, raining multiple projectiles on his enemy. Sinestro effortlessly blocked them with a shield, and flew up quickly to meet him. As he did so, Batman disengaged the hook and began descending, Sinestro's laser blast missing by inches. He landed on the ground and rolled forwards, quickly throwing a smoke grenade at the ground. As soon as Sinestro turned back to the ground below, Batman had vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"The vanishing act will not work on me." he snarled. He constructed a large machine gun which materialised on his right hand. "You have nothing but cheap tri-"

Batman hit Sinestro in the back with a shock Batarang, causing him to fall to the ground. He turned around just as Batman launched himself at him, gripping the Bat by the throat and flying backwards. He threw Batman into the side of a construction vehicle, and followed it up by constructing another, larger baton. He slammed it into Batman repeatedly, severely damaging the helmet. Batman held up a gauntlet to protect himself, and then proceeded to uppercut Sinestro.

As his enemy recovered, Batman removed the armoured helmet, exposing the face of Bruce Wayne underneath. Sinestro turned to him and smiled, firing a large laser blast towards his face. Batman attempted to block it by holding up his left gauntlet to his face, but the blast knocked his hand out of the way, damaging the gauntlet severely. Another blast came to him, which he barely dodged. Sinestro slammed a constructed fist into his chest, sending him flying backwards and into another pillar. He slowly got up, groaning.

Sinestro got ready another energy blast, but a web from behind caught Sinestro's neck, pulling him backwards. Spider-Man kicked Sinestro in the back, then jumped over him to avoid a constructed spinning blade. He flipped back towards his assailant, attempting to land a strike. Sinestro, however, caught his hand and twisted it harshly, breaking it. He blasted Spider-Man in the chest with a much smaller energy blast, sending him back a few steps, just before collapsing on the floor, groaning.

Batman charged at Sinestro again, but the alien wrapped a yellow chain around his neck, flinging him the other way. He landed slouched against a construction vehicle, beaten down.

"Your precious city is gone, just like the others I have torn down." Sinestro said smugly, raising up another blast. "My brethren will tear your friends apart. You tried to protect it- you really tried. I applaud that. But your world is now mine."

He aimed the energy blast towards Batman, drew his arm back. The energy blast was growing.

"You fought well. But you still failed, even in the end."

Suddenly, his yellow uniform vanished, being replaced by a grey one. He drew his right hand forwards to examine his power ring, to figure out what had happened.

But his ring was not there.

He turned around and found himself facing Rorschach, who was holding the yellow power ring in his right hand. Sinestro reached for it, but Rorschach grabbed his hand and twisted three of his fingers backwards. The alien let out a scream, and he drew his hand away, staggering backwards. Rorschach put the ring in his pocket, and advanced towards Sinestro. He struck Sinestro across the face once, twice, three times. He kicked him in the shin, making the alien howl in pain. He then let out one final punch, right in between Sinestro's eyes. He fell backwards, collapsing on the floor, unmoving. Bruce Wayne walked towards him, assisting Spider-Man with his arm.

"You..." Wayne began, "you got him."

"Sound shocked. In disbelief?" Rorschach put his hands in his coat pockets. 

"Would you believe us... if we said... yeah?" Parker managed to get out.

Rorschach grunted, but turned when he heard movement behind him. The six other Defenders walked towards them. Nightwing was staggering with Batgirl supporting him. Luke Cage rubbed his bruised knuckles. The Punisher clutched his burnt shoulder. The maskless Deathstroke cleaned his bloodied sword and proceeded to put it away. Spawn limped towards them, his leg wounded.

"They're all down." Spawn announced to the three. "Every single one of them. Sinestro put too much confidence in his lackeys it seems." He nodded to Sinestro. "I see the man himself is down too."

"It's over, then?" Batgirl asked. "We... we got them?"

Bruce smiled. "We got them."