CHAPTER SIX: KEEP ON FIGHTING

Alex had seen some strange things in her life, but everything that was happening during this alien invasion was changing her perception of the world. Especially the way how this Darkseid had destroyed those jets in cold blood and murdered those pilots like they were just fleas on his skin. That was unnerving as hell. And here she was, fighting alongside a bunch of individuals with abilities of their own. Except for Batman. For someone without powers, he sure seemed pretty fucking strong.

Darkseid hovered only a few feet away from them, his ugly body hovering above the road. His horde of creatures hissed in the air behind, their golden-metallic armor glistening in the minimal light the moon was providing tonight.

'Think Alex, think. You're a quick thinker, so think!' Alex started to think of multiple plans in her head, hoping at least one of them would prove way as a way to somehow disable this monster in front of them. But before she could think of a proper scenario, let alone tell the others what she was thinking, Hal had already stepped forward.

"Stand back and peep the light show." He smirked arrogantly, his ring glowing a blinding green. "Green Lantern's got this."

'Oh great. He is going to get himself killed,' Alex thought, rolling her eyes. But at the same time, she was also slightly worried for him.

Hal created a construct on his fist, which was a massive spiked glove and flew at Darkseid. He raised his fist, preparing to attack the alien with full force but as soon as his construct hit the metallic armor worn by Darkseid, it shattered into pieces. Darkseid punched him harshly, sending him flying through a tree and crashing against the hard concrete of a building.

He fell to the road, letting out a grunt of pain. As soon as he landed, two of the creatures broke away from the horde and attacked him, landing punches on his back. Barry was the first to respond, running towards them in his Flash suit as Alex followed, her hands glowing a bright gold. As Alex blasted one of the monsters away, Barry punched the other one.

Taking this as their cue, the other alien creatures attacked the rest of the team (is that really what they were now?) who started fighting them off.

Alex spun around, ready to help Hal get up, but she found that he was already on his feet. As she blasted a robot that was about to hit Shazam, she flew right up to him in the sky, about to ask if he was okay.

But before she could do anything, Hal had already flown back in Darkseid's direction, arrogant words slipping from his lips. "That all you got? Not all I got."

Using a train engine construct, he flew at Darkseid; but once more, his constructs shattered as soon as he came into contact with the alien's metallic armor. As Hal recovered on the ground, Superman flew at Darkseid, eyes glowing as he shot lasers at him.

But Darkseid was strong, much stronger than they could have anticipated. He merely grabbed Superman out of the air and threw him to the ground, where he slid away, destroying the road in his path.

"Oh fuck, what do I do?" Alex looked around at everyone. They were all fighting against the monsters and all of them needed her help. "Fuck, this is some crazy ass shit!"

She twisted around and kicked one of the monsters harshly, sending it flying to the ground, armor completely crushed. She was blasting a bunch of them as though her hands itself were blasters straight out of Star Wars, and maybe they were. Another alien replaced the one she had just sent flying and she barely managed to dodge a hit from it. Alex let a great amount of energy build up inside her and without second thoughts, she blasted the monster attacking her with a cosmic beam, sending it flying into another monster which Shazam was fighting.

The hero sent her a grateful smile before he went on to help Diana, who was completely surrounded by the creatures.

Then she heard Hal's anguished cry and almost yelled in horror as she saw Darkseid breaking his right arm and throwing him to the ground like a limp doll. Immediately, worry seemed to spike in her body. Alex flew down next to him, stumbling as she crouched next to him.

"Lantern? Can you hear me?" She asked, voice full of concern. His only reply was a groan of pain. She shielded him as she sent a cosmic blast at a creature attacking them, sending it away from them.

Behind them, Alex heard Shazam flying away towards Darkseid, yelling, "Hey, Blackheart the Deatheater, or whatever your 'World of Warcraft' name is, suck on this!"

She paid half-attention to his attack; the other half was still intensely concerned about Hal. A lot more than she should be, but that was okay. She subconsciously brushed some of his curls out of his forehead, her eyes wide with worry as she did so. As Hal made a move to sit up, still clutching his right arm which was broken, she placed an arm around his back.

But Alex barely had the time to say anything else as Darkseid raised his arms (which were glowing a bright, menacing red, mind you) and smashed them onto the ground, creating a massive explosion.

The resulting shockwave caused a massive explosion, sending every single one of them flying away. Alex flew backwards, smacking into the concrete with a loud cry of pain. Hal, who barely had time to recover, managed to get up and was almost ready to fly away from the danger, but the shockwave stopped him in his path and he was blasting back, straight into Alex's arms.

She would have made a joke about it, but her heart was currently pounding so fast. She held onto Hal tightly (or he held onto her) as they braced themselves, waiting for the shockwave to end.

When the bright white light disappeared, Alex let out a sigh of relief, almost falling to her knees. She stared at Hal, still worried. He gave her a strange look, but muttered a quick thanks before he pulled away from her. He raised a hand to her forehead, brushing away the blonde hair that was sticking to it. (she didn't have a reaction to it now...but later on, she would definitely be freaking out about this)

Alex gave him a weak smile before she turned away from him, holding onto a stone slab as she got up. Around them, the ground was completely destroyed and a building right next to them had collapsed into pieces, like it was a Jenga game or something. She quickly scanned the area for the others and spotted Wonder Woman throwing off concrete on her left, Shazam a few feet down the crater with Cyborg next to him and Batman was only a few feet away from them. 'But where's Superman? He was...'

A second later, she got her answer. Barry zoomed into the clinic, his expression frantic. "They flew off with him! I saw it! They took Superman!"

Ignoring the pain in his arm, Hal stood up with a groan, saying, "I'll get him."

Momentarily stunned, Alex didn't even have the time to react as he started to glow green, before flying away in the direction of one of those monstrous pillars, hopefully, the one where Superman had been taken. Not even taking a second to think, she took off, following Batman. 'Is he crazy? Does he know he's gonna get himself killed like this?'

Both she and Batman jumped in front of him at the same time, blocking his path. He let out a surprised noise, before his face twisted into a glare. "Out of my way, Batman. You too, Nova."

"Your arm is broken, you idiot," Batman simply stated. Alex nodded beside him.

"Yeah, exactly. It's clearly causing you pain," She pointed out, motioning in the direction of his almost limp arm.

"I can handle this." He grunted in pain as he quickly made a construct that would work as arm support, while shifting the ring to his other arm. "Get out of my way."

Hal started walking away, but Batman stopped, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're gonna die."

"Then I die," He glared at the bat vigilante who didn't seem unnerved in the slightest.

"What the hell are you trying to prove, Lantern?" Alex questioned, angry herself. 'He's really getting on my nerves right now.'

"I'm not trying to prove anything," Hal replied with anger in his voice. "Don't act like you know me; you don't," Looking at Batman too, he added. "Neither of you do."

"The three of us are somewhat...alike," Batman replied after taking a short pause.

"We are nothing alike," Hal stated bluntly.

"We're fighting alongside an alien, an Amazon, a human lightning bolt, a cyborg and a speedster. As far as I can tell, Hal, you, Alex and I are the only normal people here," Batman finished firmly.

"You're pretty south of normal, Spooky, You know that right?" Hal said, anger gone now and instead replaced by a curious look. "So is she," He added, jabbing his thumb in Alex's direction.

She let out an annoyed "Hey!" but before she could say anything, Batman had taken off his mask. "My name is Bruce Wayne. When I was ten, my parents were murdered in front of my eyes. I've spent my life training to fight the same sort of criminals that took them from me. But this," He motioned to all the destruction around them. "This is different. This isn't about me."

"Uhh...you're telling me this why?" Hal looked at him with confusion.

Alex was staring at him in slight shock and awe. So Superman wasn't lying earlier; Bruce Wayne really was the Batman. She would have believed the Kryptonian then but seeing the actual face of the billionaire wearing his batsuit was a better confirmation. She felt her respect for him grow by a mile.

"This is bigger than I am," Batman, now Bruce Wayne, continued. "And it's bigger than you are. Get out of your own way. Focus on what's important here. Everyone else. Regroup with the others." He turned and started walking away from them, over to slab of concrete where a jacket lay, slightly muddied and torn. Bruce tied his cape around his waist, before putting the jacket on.

"And do what exactly?" Hal asked, sounding confused.

"You're loud. They'll listen to you if you got something to say. Try to at least sound smart," Bruce replied, putting on a cap he pulled out of nowhere. (Or at least that's how it appeared)

"Keep them alive," He added. "Keep Darkseid busy till I get back."

"Wait, get back from where? Where are you going?" Alex questioned, suddenly stepping forward.

"We won't win without our 'big gun'." Bruce replied, climbing up the pile of rubble. "I'm going to get Superman." He let out a whistle and before either Hal or Alex could get in another word, he whistled loudly. One of the alien creatures swooped down from the sky, grabbing Bruce in his arms before flying off in the direction of the main monstrous pillar that was standing in the middle of the ocean, like an ominous beacon of darkness.

"Bruce Wayne, huh?" Hal looked in the direction where the creature had flown away with the man in question. "Moron's crazier than I am."

"Oh, so you're admitting you are crazy?" Alex turned to look at him, arms crossed. "Finally. Something good happened today."

"That's not a very good joke, you know that?"

"Who said I was joking?"

"You're not funny, Nova. Not at all."

"Oh darling, you've seen nothing of my humor yet. Once we beat this psycho Darkseid, I'll show you how funny I can be," Alex said flirtatiously, smiling widely. She stroked Hal's cheek with her right hand, making him freeze.

Grinning at the expression on his face, she dropped her hand before turning away from him. "Now, come on. We've got an alien to beat."

Alex and Hal were totally acting like a couple in this chapter and you know what? I am here for that, fully. This was such a fun chapter to write even though I have zero capability when it comes to writing action scenes lol. But I really enjoyed writing this one because of all the Halex/NovaLantern moments in this.

Oh yeah, they have a ship name now. Halex is for their normal lives but NovaLantern (which emerged out a discussion with dinahsiance ) is my actual favorite ship name.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Let me know what you thought in the comments below!