Battle for Earth

[Elenaphant]

The anticipation was unbearable. There was nothing surprising in it from the faces around her in the ship, all lined up like soldiers waiting to descend upon the invaders. Most were not stoic but nervous. Koriand'r felt not fearful but a sort of impatient anxiousness to meet her former masters and rip them limb from limb. They had been the cause of her grief too long in her life. She feared for other lives who would get entangled in the mess, but she did not fear dying.

Though, should she die tonight, she made a personal vow to take with her as many as she could—and if she could have any choice in the timing, after freeing current slaves. Then she'd know the war was won, and could join the embrace of X'hal peacefully.

The ship docked; they could all feel it. Around them in space hundreds upon hundreds of drones swarmed and engaged enemy pilot ships. The sudden jolt and the sound of metal piercing metal meant they had landed on the Citadel mother-ship, and was the first sound after a long period of unnerving quiet. In space, sound did not travel after all.

While the specially designed ship; inspired by the structure of a virus, worked on delivering humanity to the cell that was the Citadel army, their general addressed them. Kory could never say that she would like Slade, as he had taken, and tried to take, dear friends to her, but he had done his role in preparing them for the task. He reminded them of such for one last time.

The heavy-hitters were to get out first, in order to engage the warriors undoubtedly who had gathered in defence of their base. Among those ranks was Starfire. Cyborg would have qualified, but he was too important as one of the squad leaders for the ones responsible for tech. In order to change the tides of the war they needed to introduce chaos into the equation for their seriously advantaged enemy. Their great portion of warrior-slaves being removed, and hopefully turning on the former masters, was their best bet. That required access to the main control.

Those who could not take a hit from class 100 aliens still had their role in support and offence, depending on their abilities. Those who could provide force-fields were highly valued in protecting those who could be easily killed from one strike. Those who did not have the strength to battle head-on with the Citadel, but still provided offensive power kept distance and aimed.

Their ship made a breakthrough. They were in and there was great, bright light. Energy beams, sonic waves, elemental power, and other such meta, magical, or technical power buffeted the Citadel back as they exited. They continued their unified assault until their was enough spread for the heavy hitters to charge.

Starfire wasted no time, rushing into the blue orgre-like alien ahead of her. They were of superior strength, but her starpower gave her the edge. Her Okaaran training kicked in as well, and so her first foe was felled with assistance from the back. Her next, to a dark indulgence within her, was a Gordanian soldier. They had been her 'closest' masters, and her planet's longstanding enemy. There was a particular satisfaction in snapping that ones back.

[Elenaphant]

Cy was no stranger to jumping into dangerous situations with little to go off of. He was a Titan. Still, it would be nice for once, with the whole world on the line and all that, if they had some blueprints or something. They landed, phew, and the initial push-back went as planned. Starfire and the big guns were pushing back against the big uglies that came to greet them, which gave his squad a chance to start spreading.

His canon readied, he gestured to his squad, indicating an opening. He may be the man most likely to interfere with their foreign technology, and failing him the lady from Gotham to take his place, but he was also capable of defending his team like the front-liners. He blasted at hostile aliens, furthering their way, and then let his arm collapse back to a hand to conserve energy.

Gadgets were a great equalizer. The suits humanity's forces were equipped with could absorb some damage, but were therefore bulky and not a martial-artists best friend in this case. For the majority of the untrained gadgeteers however, who wouldn't be going toe-to-toe with metas on earth let alone an alien empire, it was a good enough. Every soilder was given an plasma-blaster; basically, a gun that shot energy beams that went pew pew. That also helped.

His team had come up with a way to scout out the massive ship. Hundreds of tiny little drones, like oversized spiders with a big ol' red eye that swivelled 360, scurried out, avoiding the feet of the clashing armies. They were designed to collectively create a map of the area, able to climb walls, vents, and get into everywhere just like the pests they were inspired of. That didn't mean that his team was gunna sit tight. They were fast, spry things but they weren't indestructible. The team needed to cover ground too, and their enemies weren't so keen on letting them move without being attacked.

He checked the map; every person in the army had it. Like how a minecraft map became more clear the more that was explored, so did the blue screen. And... like minecraft, enemies didn't exactly give checking a map as a free-move so he had to put it back when a great big scaly arm swooped toward his head. He ducked, and like a boxer delivered an uppercut to the jowls of the lizard-alien.

“Down this hall now!”

Of course there were about ten of the uglies running down to greet them. Couldn't get anywhere without a fight.

[Elenaphant]

It had been a long time since he's handled a gun. It was a mockery of the kind of artillery he was used to, but regular bullets would be ineffective anyway. The barrel of the sleek, white blaster went hot and burned into the face of his most unattractive enemy. The Citadel were beast-like and bulky. Slade wondered at their ability to conquer worlds when they seemed far intellectually inferior to many of their charges. They made up for it in brute strength and military prowess then, because they were formidable fighters.

His regenerative powers gave him something of an edge when it came to surviving, but he didn't care to experiment with the possibility of being internally shattered by one great hit. They were big, they hit hard, they were fast, and excellent with weapon and hand-to-hand combat. He watched as one managed to rip through the front line toward the back, slamming a fist into one of the more vulnerable members of his army.

The suits were designed to take some of the impact, which was why the hapless soldier didn't burst like a squirrel to a tire, but they fell back in a gasp and the second hit did more damage. A third, and it would kill him. Slade had the decision to save the fallen soldier, but observing the arm and the way they struggled to breath, if he did it would be a useless cause. The war was still early, and the wounds too great.

Instead, he focused on the really important thing, which was killing as many as he could until their objective was reached. In a moment of vulnerability, while the third blow was coming down, Slade blasted the Citadel warrior at the base of the neck. Two shots, perfectly aligned atop the other, and he had worked into the CNS enough to kill the beast. His own soldier lay gasping, looking up at him with wide eyes. Slade moved on.

They were gaining control of the room. He saw Cyborg exit down a hall with his squad, and glanced down to the map. The scouting drones had revealed there were more enemies on the way, coming from the rooms ahead. He didn't care to have the whole force of the ship concentrate on them here. They had greater numbers, and there wasn't much strategy to be had backed up in a corner.

There were members of their army that specialized in stealth. They were already following the drones lead when they gained access to vents. A voice in his ear-peice confirmed that enemy surveillance was down. Good. The ship wouldn't know where they were coming from.

Their initial foes felled, the front line would join the squads. Each would spread out, with the objective to take down their enemy where they could, and disrupt the ships functions. They were the American special-ops unit, but if they were lucky other such ships would also land and deploy their armies as well to join in the fun... provided they survived the journey to it. Slade had to function on the possibility that they would be the only force from humanity's front.

In case things went sour here, he did have a back-up plan for himself... and if he could manage, his daughter too. It was, however, in his best interest if Earth did win this war, so he moved forward with his squad in a dash. On the screen of everyone's maps was where they were to convene, while taking out and covering the areas they were going into. It was enemy territory. They couldn't be sure what waited at them at every turn, but each area gained brought them closer to central control. They took the ship; they won the war, and while they all had their guidelines, their strategies, every person had been trained to do whatever it took. On the battlefield, even one as unorthodox as this, anything could happen, and plans could unravel in an instant.

[Kenni]

It had been a bit childish, but the whole ride over, his eyes had been almost glued to the small port-windows on their massive spacecraft. Whether it was the breathtaking sight of leaving home behind for that of their aggressors', mixed with the wonder of outer space separated from touch by just a few inches of reinforced glass, the East Titan, along with the majority of the crew, was unfortunately unable to savour his first "giant step for teenkind" in the least.

He tried not to look around at too many of his friends, comrades, and even faces he knew not personally; from patrols, walks in the park, heck, volunteering at local carwashes for school, kids from studygroups, the grocer's daughter, a metahuman language teacher at Kingston, even some complete strangers. Who knew how few would make it back to Earth with them?

They were going to war. They were..he, was going to kill. Why, he wouldn't have even been able to kill in exchange for being exempt from this.

Why bother?

If they didn't suceed, the entire Earth was doomed.

"Let's go home together," the masked and deep burgundy clad Harper managed to intone with a bit of a crack in his voice, to anyone who could still hear him past the slamming thud of blood in their ears, at the prospect of this impossible mission.

In particular, he sought out the face of the dark-suited empath with his palm, knowing that where touch failed, sentiment would reach her just as warm. The comforting view of her ever-cool visage was shielded now not only by a hood, but by one of their customized suits keeping the whole company breathing.

The quick landing and separation was quick, and cut him, but they had to press on and beat the first rush.

Engaging the magnetized palms, knees and footpads of their suits, as well as Chrome Camo, he set off with his stealth-squad down a corridor along walls and ceiling, although loathe to leave the likes of his friends in Titans Main behind with the rush of lizard goons approaching underfoot. Swinging along much like monkeys, they were sure to kick a few towering lizard-heads in and leave them in confusion as that first wave of battle met the heavy-hitters.

The task at hand was to trail the surveillance drones and clear their path. Their despicable Commander had placed Speedy in charge of a major scout group; prowess dealing with range could be explored in different ways. One of them was scouting ahead to realize the full scope of the enemy threat, and helping along, or clearing the way for the microtechnology that had been developed for this specific function.

"Gingerscout to Mr. Slate. Blocks A through E blind. Right on schedule. Proceed with caution, over," went the seeimingly jocular but dead-serious check-in. He planted boundaries for the Blocks he'd verbally created and colour-coded them as he crawled, updating every map on the Earth team. Slade and company had been alerted, and it was time to continue towards the core.

He reset his plasma blaster from 'Neutralize' to 'Lethal', after disposing of another surveillance monitor with it. Things like TrickArrows worked differently in space, never mind the unpredictable conditions of an alien mothership. However, some serious calibrations joint-efforts with Cyborg and Batgirl, and all ranged-fighters had had their tech upgraded to fly rather true if they so wished to default to comfort while fighting for their lives.

For now, Speedy knew it not wise to get too comfortable.

In fact, according to their map, in a few more metres his squad was going to have first pick at a fresh mob of the larger than life Citadel warriors.
It looked like Cyborg and some of the other heavy-hitter squad leaders were dealing with the first set of attack back at the entrance; Speedy's would do well to lighten the load on the rest. He sent out a local message to his squad alone.

"Engaging second wave of scum in T-minus 8..7..6.."
Counting continued by finger from '5'; they were right on top of the lizardmen by then. At '1', the approaching force would have passed his squadmembers, situated upside-down on the chrome ceilings in Camo-mode, and peering from vent-tunnels at the high sides of the hall. Team Gingerscout would release a barrage of Lethal plasma shot into the backs of the lizardmen's necks.

They had tried personal weaponry of choice before when they'd come across other straggler Citadel warriors on the way through D Block...and lost a couple of good kids in a couple of bad ways.

There was nothing more comfortable than assurance, under the circumstances.

They shot to kill.

[Silv]

A boy who wore skintight spandex on a regular basis had no real room to complain about chafing armor. It didn't, however, stop him from shifting uncomfortably as they closed in on the alien space ship. He went over the plans one last time with a few of the more anxious mission heads who thought that right before battle was the best time to fret over tiny details. It was a sort of weakness their commander couldn't be bothered with, but Robin took pity on them. The Boy Wonder's tone was even, despite the look of annoyance on his masked face, as he reassured them that they knew what they had to do, and most importantly, that they could do it.

They were flying in a giant tin can, wearing awesome space armor, carrying wicked looking laser weapons, and about to battle space aliens for dominion of Earth. Hindsight maybe he should have thanked them for the distraction. He didn't have a chance to be nervous at the dull thud of the ship docking. The first wave was out before Robin dropped the com-line he had been transmitting through. He followed the squads out, making sure to keep online with the open channel, and watching as the maps filled out in front of his eyes. Good. Everything was working according to plan so far. Which, really, was unusual. As the second in command Robin was charged with making sure the Titans, who made up the majority of the front-line and specialist squads, did what they were supposed to. The Boy Wonder had total confidence in his team. They would complete their objectives.

Robin joined the lines blasting back any of the Citadel's soldiers that managed to get past the front line of heavy-hitters. His blaster was set to stun, because of course it was. At the first break in the skirmish Robin was quick to help the medical teams with pulling the wounded off the front line. He helped the soldier Slade wouldn't, grabbing an arm, and pulling him to his feet. He wasn't going to get too much attention, especially as Robin's masked eyes went back to scanning the battle.

Cyborg and his team vanished around a corner. He couldn't see Raven, or Beast Boy, or Starfire but he knew vaguely where they were and hoped they were safe. The flash of bright green starbolt certainly made that easier. His gaze was pulled then to a group of enemy fighters that seemed to be fleeing the main battle. They had dropped off by the corridor that Cyborg and his team had vanished down too quiet to be terrified for their lives like useless soldiers. Which meant they knew something.

"Cyborg!" Robin com linked directly. "Enemies on your six." And the boy in the specialized armor took off running after them.

The stunning blast hit seconds before Robin did himself. The Boy Wonder smashed into the Gordanian, keeping the alien lizard-man from taking down any of his friends from behind, and let momentum take them both down. Between the blast and the impact the enemy soldier wasn't moving, but it was unlikely that he was dead. Even though this was Earth's final stand there was no way Robin was going to kill. Screw Slade's orders, and attempt at training. The Boy Wonder bounced off the fallen soldier and into the next. He hit with force that would have stunned them both if his armor wasn't protective.

Robin wasn't entirely used to the weight of the suit, and it put extra oomph behind his martial arts he couldn't consistently predict. Even if his armor was specialized for mobility over protection and considerably lighter than what was worn by most of the other soldiers. After all, he had a better chance fighting enemies that couldn't catch him and his fighting style called for more than just a specialized weapon.

He had entered into a two-front battle, but now the Citadel soldier's that had thought to catch their tech team from behind found themselves wedged in between the earth fighting force. Robin flipped off of an enemy, squarely kicking a lizard-man in the face, as he fought his way towards his teammate. They might have had all sorts of high-tech weapons at their disposal, but of course the Boy Wonder was going to be kicking alien invaders in the face.

TAG: Elenaphant

[Elenaphant]

Cyborg advanced forward, keeping his eye to the expanding map while the other red one was on stand by to detect any enemies in his periphery. Things were going great so far. He could think that, because no one in his squad had gotten hurt yet. He hadn't witnessed any casualties to remind him. He was just going off the high of surviving the first part and gaining ground. Every step felt closer to their objective.

Nothing on the map looked like a control room; not from the lack of familiarity, since the Tower was first built with some of the alien tech from that part of the universe, but because it just wasn't there. Cyborg thought it would be that way. The main control was likely to be in the centre of the ship, not in the periphery where they still were. This was also one massive ship. There were still so many areas that hadn't been covered yet.

The voice in his ear jolted him to awareness and he swivelled around instantly. One was being handled by Robin, but there were more around. "Lock and load people!" Cyborg yelled to his team, who quickly lifted their guns and began shooting. Cyborg had to preserve his power and opted to use his fists instead of his sonic cannon. He was more heavy-hitter than graceful dancer like his fellow Titan there, but against these guys that was needed.

"Thanks for the warn--" A blare went off followed by red lights. Cyborg looked to his monitors trying to find a reason for it. The others had stopped fighting for a moment to look up and snarl something in a foreign language, and began to dash away.Something was going on...

Then his own equipment was sending out warnings. "Oxygen levels are rapidly decreasing." He needed to tell the others, quickly. Nothing would kill this army faster. "Employ helmets now. The air's gunna go from thin to zero in T minus 20 seconds starting now. GO."

He activated his own, then looked to the retreating enemies which had scattered. "I think we ought to follow them. I'm not liking this new development if it has them runnin'."

[Elenaphant]

One.

A body fell to the floor.

Two.

An inhumane snarl.

Three.

Welcome to the battleground. It was nice to be home. He just wished the stakes were a little less dire, but he intended to win after all.

As he looked to his left, an alien was about to spear a valuable member of their army: Speedy. He pulled out his promethium blade and dashed forward, then sliced through the neck in a quick flurry. The body dropped and the head rolled, with Slade looking none the more perturbed. Before the redhead could thank him for saving his life (or not, considering how ungrateful this team could be) a new development interrupted. Helmets needed on for oxygen, and there was some sort of warning sound.

That complicated things. He had an idea of what was going on when the second wave began communicating, and pushed harder against them. They wanted to keep them here. The second clue was the way walls were suddenly opening, creating one large space where there hadn't been one before.

He looked to Starfire, and she looked back. "They mean to expose us to space! We have to advance, now!"

The lizard-men looked terrified. They tried to retreat, but the collars were stopping them--shocking them until they picked up and began driving them back. The second wave had been sent to keep them put, making it harder for the enemy to advance. The difference in pressure would suck them out into the vacuum of space. It was a clever solution, but not one they hadn't considered. What strategist wouldn't think of space in a space war.

"Activate boosters. In trying to deter us they've cleared a path."

They'd be vulnerable in gravity, and there was only so much fuel in each suit to propel their army forward. Those who could fly had an advantage, but a majority relied on gravity. Gravity also gave them traction to fight back. At least space would destroy the enemies in this room as well... Unless they could fly and survive space. Not much was known about the powers of the Citadelians.

Thanagarians, however.

It spoke to the might of the Citadel empire when a squad of them came out, visibly collared, to greet them with their warhammers and wings. In that moment, the walls behind them opened to the darkness of space, and the entire room was being pulled back. Enemy and human soldiers alike who were unprepared fell over and were thrown back. Others had activated the rockets on their boots and were actively pushing foward against the flow out. Their battleground turned to battlefield, and they were airborne.

The Thanagaians, with their massive wings beating forcefully to keep them in place, used the suction of space to their advantage, tilting toward an enemy, closing their wings and gaining momentum. Anyone who didn't avoid quickly enough was smashed back and sent tumbling backwards.

Blasts, scrapes, grunts and impact noises were all removed. The only sounds were over the radio, where the ocassional static of a scream or cry would come in directly through the ear. "Raven, teleport the essentials to the other side. We need the doors open to advance. Robin, in the meantime avoid the enemy and find any vents or openings that can be squeezed through." He was tiny enough for the job, along with gizmo and a few others that would join him in the search. If there were ways of getting in now they ought to take it. They didn't have time on their side.

From then, he continued to fight against the pull and against the enemy, acting as commander and telling each how to move if there was opportunity. Though really, it was just about surviving the purge. He estimated they were going to lose over quarter of the army at least within the next five minutes. So, tick tock.

[Elenaphant]

Starfire watched as the humans around her became airborne, firing their guns or using the powers that weren't reliant on oxygen. The arrival of the Thanagarian assault had her stomach sinking. Every one of them was worth thirty of them in this situation. Their army had become even more vulnerable, just the way Complex-Complex wanted. They were going to exhaust all their resources here, just fighting to stay within the ship and not die.

Slade gave his orders, but Starfire couldn't believe either Cyborg or Robin were going to do anything in time. They had to try, but something else had to be done. The battlefield gave no time to think, but Starfire knew this situation well--back when she was Koriand'r. Back when she was a slave, trying to escape to space. Now, she was trying to escape space, and break in.

She flew forward. The Thanagarians were exceptional in the air, but so was she, capable of moving around them in streaks of light in any way while they contended with their wings. Fighting fellow slaves felt awful, unless they were Gordanians, and she knew they had no quarrel with them. She had been in their position, but she couldn't afford sympathy. She blasted any out of the way when she could.

Space was a different environment. The radiation levels were far higher, and her body absorbed it. So much of the energy went into keeping her alive, from internal temperatures to the anaerobic processes of her physiology. Even so, she felt more powerful. Her blasts were larger, hotter, giving her the ability to push through toward the other wall.

Her fingers buried into the tough metal. Her teeth grit as she tried to tear through it, the metal growing hotter and hotter until a bright, liquid line formed a seam. Her whole body strained. By X'hal, she was going to create an opening. She couldn't let so many people die needlessly here.

A few others who had seen what she was trying to were coming in closer to help. By that time, her whole body was glowing and the green of her eyes were washed out in light. "No," she said over the radio link. "Stay away from me. Keep them away from me."

She was going to become to hot for anyone to get near. The wall was melting around her hands, and she just kept becoming brighter and brighter until she was a flaming point against the background. Then, a bright, blinding flash of light and a soundless bang, the wall had an opening. The edges were glowing, but in space the heat was rapidly decreasing. The army had something to move through. She went to the other side, not even catching her breath, to tear another sheet of metal off. Once they were through she intended to close it up, but here there were enough walls and spaces to get behind. Here, once she plugged it up, they could get back on the ground and keep advancing. This was the beginning of the centre of the ship, and there'd be no exposing it to space.

[Silv]

Robin grit his teeth at the order, more-so the voice that had given him the order, but responded, "Yes, sir." like a good little soldier. His glance then shot to Cyborg, and he gave his friend a little nod. "I'll keep you updated," he said. Robin expecting the reverse was also implied. Not that there was much time for words when he had to go shove his scrawny butt down some alien hole. Wait, that sounded wrong.

The Boy Wonder pulled at a panel that looked vaguely like it might have been the entrance to a Jeffery's Tube. It would probably have helped if Robin could read the foreign symbols scrawled across the ship. They had a translator, sort of, in Starfire but she had better things to do than list the accesses in the Go menu. Which meant this was going to be a game of trying to use complex machinery without first reading the manual. It was a good thing the majority of the Titans had been born into the tech generation.

A hissing sound told him that things were either going spectacularly well...or really badly. When a panel slid open he decided it was the first and clambered inside. It shut behind him almost instantly and Robin found himself surrounded by inky blackness for maybe a fraction of a second. His eyes adjusted, and so did his visor, to the glowing panels around him. He was in some sort of wire conduit, the type that existed to make repair jobs easier, but there wasn't much space to fight off anyone else. Hopefully none of the Citadel's people were in here. The boy hit a command for the map on his arm to log where he was going. Others would follow, but first he had to see if he could find any more.

Crawling forward on his knees and elbows wasn't the most comfortable form of locomotion in the world. Robin crawled through the alien ship, pausing when he came across a small opening with a ladder leading down. It reminded him of the sewers back home. Which, obviously, meant the best thing to do was go down the ladder.

It wasn't much of a ladder. Five feet down and he realized that he'd gone from an offshoot service tunnel into one of the main ones. He could stand up straight in here with the walls pressing in close on either side. Robin often hated how small he was. This was one of the rare instances where it was pretty useful. A tunnel this large could easily fit some of the more robust members of their army. Uncomfortably, of course, but comfort and war so rarely went together. He searched for another entrance to log.

[Kenni]

A few things happened simultaneously.
In full-scale war, though, you couldn’t compartmentalize.

Their commander had just spared Speedy an automatic K.O., as he and his squad swung upside down from their ceiling perches, their foes in the sights of their gunbarrels. Slade’s efforts seemed effortless; he rained death upon the masses far more quickly than the ceiling-squad could with the lasers, but it sure wasn’t much fun to watch. He tried to keep calm and not think about almost getting a spear to the knee, or otherwise.

“No..way,” gasped the archer, partially from the sudden escaping oxygen about him, mostly from watching people barrel out the ship like so much rubbish. He almost dropped his blaster as their whole environment suddenly became the enemy. Then, he almost switched off his receivers at the influx of pained and defeated cries issuing from those they were losing by the second into space, crackling in over intercom. The warning signals were not lost on him, however and all around him as well were the clinks of helmets being engaged to keep them breathing under this new development.

Then, the Thanagarians moved in. As the entire ship to this point seemed to have opened up, the walls melting into the high tech surroundings, he could see Starfire was already working on a solution. However, Slade’s calculations were dead-on; Speedy looked away and focused on blasting and bludgeoning any lizardmen he could towards the emptiness of space. His squad had the advantage of the magnetic stealth tech to keep them from flailing out to their demise like so many poor souls already had.

“HANG ON!!” It was too late; the middle-aged metahuman’s grasp had slipped from his, and she hurtled back towards the far-away image of the planet she called home. She was able to get tangled in the wings of a Thanagarian and take him with her, but…

Speedy grit his teeth and kept forward. Starfire had completed her objective, and it was now a mad dash to her forcibly created save point. Some of his squad panicked and began to rely on their rocket boots instead of the perfectly sound method of clunking over with the magnetic gear...to their detriment. The winged ones picked off more than a few before Speedy’s dwindled team made it behind the new safe-point. He knew better than to pat her shoulder or get anywhere near her during her cooldown period. Speedy simply sent Star a grateful, but grim grin through his visor, before flipping the opacity to cry in solitary silence.

That metahuman had had two baby girls and an elder son, and had asked him if he’d like to babysit sometime.
They had to get back soon, so he could tell them how cool she looked smashing Citadel warriors in the face with her bare hands, right until the end.