On the other end of the battlefield, Fiona's armor was glowing red.
Atmospheric friction and centrifugal force made it harder and harder to control her movements.
She and Steppenwolf drifted apart. The imminent crash landing made them both abandon their temporary brawl.
Below them stretched a dim, scrubby wasteland—a barren plain bordering Cayenne, where almost nothing lived.
Of course, neither of the two beings aboard the ship gave a damn about Earth's wildlife.
The ship was falling faster. Faster. Fiona gauged her distance to the ground, then released her white-knuckled grip on the hull and *kicked* off the ship with both feet.
*FWOOSH!!!*
In the instant before impact, Fiona launched herself sideways. She tumbled across the earth—dozens of rolls—before wrenching herself into a four-point landing, skidding backward in a long, grinding slide.
Two thousand four hundred meters. That's how far she carved through the dirt before finally stopping.
She stood. Shook out her gauntlets, already cherry-red from the heat.
A quick roll of her shoulders. Then Fiona leapt.
Two thousand four hundred meters might as well have been a single step. She crossed it in a blink.
At her target: Steppenwolf clawed his way out of the crater the ship had left behind. The vessel's death throes erupted in a massive explosion behind him. He raised his axe high.
*BOOM!!!*
Fiona's left hand caught the axe blade clean. Her right fist slammed into Steppenwolf's jaw.
The armor around his head and neck caved in instantly. Steppenwolf was experiencing Earth's gravity for the first time. His adaptation was nowhere near Fiona's—she'd been here before.
The tide turned in a heartbeat. Two crisp knife-hand strikes from Fiona cracked against Steppenwolf's wrists where they gripped the axe.
Next instant, her left hand wrenched the axe free. Her right elbow drove into his wrist like a piston.
The axe was hers.
She tossed it aside without looking. Then she was *on* him—scrambling up his massive frame, locking her legs around his thick neck.
Both elbows came down. Again. Again. Again. Hammering his horned, ridged skull.
Steppenwolf's helmet shattered. Raw skin and hardened cranial plating were exposed to the air. He thrashed wildly, upper body whipping back and forth, clawing desperately at Fiona's legs.
When Bruce brought the Batwing screaming in over the horizon, this was the picture that greeted him.
Steppenwolf lay on the ground, rolling like a donkey in the dirt, springing up and slamming back down in desperate, flailing resistance. And Fiona was *riding* him, pounding the back of his skull and his horns with relentless, savage fury.
Sensing the aircraft's approach, Steppenwolf's struggles redoubled. His hardened claws punched clean through Fiona's armor.
Between blows, Fiona was equally wary of the incoming craft. She seized both of Steppenwolf's horns and *wrenched* his head sideways.
To keep his neck from snapping, Steppenwolf's entire body followed the twist. In the next instant, he was face-down in the dirt.
Fiona used the momentum to flatten herself against the back of his neck, still wrestling his head, while her eyes tracked the Batwing in the distance.
Bruce caught sight of Fiona's face. His blood went cold.
"A giant and a Kryptonian in combat. That Kryptonian was part of Zod's invasion force three months ago!"
In a flash, Bruce seemed to find his enemy. His hands flew across the weapons console. Fire-control systems armed. Ammunition loaded.
And then—the Kryptonite rounds. His last resort. Saved for exactly this.
As Batman, did he need to *choose* which one was the enemy?
No. He chose *both*.
White phosphorus incendiaries launched in a spread, draping Fiona and Steppenwolf in a curtain of blazing fire. The inferno swallowed them whole.
Concussion grenades followed, one after another, detonating against their bodies. Neither of them so much as flinched.
Bruce recalibrated. Sonic bombs.
The shriek that erupted made the very air around Fiona *vibrate*.
That one landed. Fiona's brow furrowed sharply. Her hearing was *exceptional*. That one got right in her skull.
Steppenwolf wasn't faring much better. For beings with senses this acute, weapons that struck the senses directly were almost always devastatingly effective.
So really, the best weapon against them was probably a can of surströmming…
…Ahem.
Seeing the sonic bombs still working, Bruce nodded. Just like the sonic trap he'd set for Superman once before—sonic weapons were a reliable equalizer against any heavyweight.
But then, something Bruce hadn't anticipated happened.
Fiona and Steppenwolf, locked in their ground war for what felt like an eternity, suddenly *separated*. They looked at each other.
"Kill that bastard first!"
"Good idea!"
Consensus reached in half a heartbeat. The fight could be lost. *The Bat must die.*
They launched skyward in unison, straight at the Batwing.
Bruce yanked the stick hard, rolling away—but he only dodged Fiona's initial pass. Steppenwolf, all snarling fury, slammed into the fuselage.
Two hands. One *rip*. The Batwing disintegrated. Bruce slammed the emergency eject.
Watching the tiny figure of Batman tumble away into the distance, Steppenwolf scowled. He grabbed a chunk of Batwing wreckage and hurled it at Fiona.
Fiona stomped down on the flying debris, using it as a springboard. She rocketed skyward, cutting straight toward the fleeing Bruce.
She was closing fast. Bruce didn't panic.
"I'm a friend of Kryptonian Elder Heisenberg!"
The words landed like a slap. Fiona's expression sharpened.
"You *know* the Elder!"
"Of course. I just parted ways with Heisenberg. We're close!"
"Then stop pelting me with your pathetic little weapons and get out of the way! This is between me and the Apokoliptian!"
Fiona gritted her teeth, grabbed him mid-flight, and *chucked* him even further away.
But Fiona letting go didn't mean Steppenwolf was done with the buzzing bat-mosquito.
He landed, glanced up at the Bruce-shaped speck Fiona had launched into the sky, and in the next instant tore himself off the ground, rocketing toward Bruce's trajectory.
Bruce felt the massive hand closing around him. He bit down and *roared*:
"Darkseid would not want you doing this!"
"*HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT NAME!!!*"
Steppenwolf's bellow shook the air. Then—hesitation. His hand stopped. He let the tiny human drift further and further away.
Watching himself escape *both* of them, Batman drew a long, shuddering breath.
"Confirmed. Kryptonian and Apokoliptian. The Kryptonians genuinely revere Heisenberg. Then I need to temporarily assist the Kryptonian in defeating the Apokoliptian."
He muttered the assessment to himself, detached his survival harness, and banked his cape into a glide back toward the battlefield.
There, Fiona and Steppenwolf had collided once more.
Steppenwolf had adapted to Earth's gravity by now. Fiona no longer found easy openings. Every blow was meat on meat, bone on bone. Each impact sent shockwaves rippling through the surrounding air.
Bruce watched the epicenter of their clash. Then he reached to his belt, unclipped three modules, and hurled them skyward.
Three mechanical bats shot out, orbiting Fiona and Steppenwolf in tight circles.
Every time Steppenwolf faced one, a searing laser bolt nailed him square in the chest.
Then came the swarm. Over forty micro-drones poured out—some no bigger than a thumb, others too small for the naked eye to track.
All of them targeted Steppenwolf.
In the span of seconds, his body erupted with tiny sonic bursts and miniature plasma jets. A pinpoint laser even fired *inside his ear canal*.
The harassment was relentless. Steppenwolf was driven back—two thousand steps and counting.
Feeling the ceaseless buzzing, stinging, shrieking annoyances all over his body, Steppenwolf ground his teeth and *snarled*.
"Filthy lowborn creature! Using *his* name to deceive me!!!"
"Heh. He didn't deceive *me*." Fiona's lips curled into a cold smile. "Looks like the little black bug and I really *are* on the same side."
With Batman's support tipping the scales, Fiona's strikes flowed like water. She pressed forward, relentless, driving Steppenwolf back with every exchange.
A moment later, her right foot planted squarely in Steppenwolf's face and *shoved*. He launched skyward like a cannonball.
Fiona coiled to pursue—
—and a blinding arc of rainbow light erupted at her side.
The sudden radiance snapped her into a defensive stance, arms up, muscles locked.
The next instant, the light vanished.
Heisenberg stood at the head of the Justice League, fully assembled.
Fiona's eyes locked onto the Superman across from her. Instinct seized her legs. She *charged*.
Two steps. That's all she got.
Then her body simply… stopped. Every muscle locked. Some invisible force pinned her in place, absolute and total. She couldn't move a finger.
Before her, Heisenberg smiled. With a casual gesture, he pulled Fiona to his side.
Seeing his face—*truly* seeing it—Fiona's eyes went wide. She understood now. She knew whose power had frozen her.
The God-blooded Elder's strength. She'd been suppressed in a *single instant*.
*Wonderful.* Krypton's future was in worthy hands. With power like this alone, Krypton would have few rivals in this universe!
A moment passed. Heisenberg smiled at her.
And just like that, her body was hers again.
Fiona dropped to one knee before him, bowing her head.
"Your Grace. I have sinned. I allowed the vile Apokoliptian to set foot upon your domain!"
"I welcome them here. And I welcome them to *die* here. This is no sin of yours, my kin."
Heisenberg's voice was soft. He swept his right hand through the air, and Fiona rose to her feet, compelled by a force she couldn't resist.
Before she could continue listing her failures, she watched the Elder she revered clench his right fist.
"There are still countless Apokoliptian creatures across the universe. Since they've sent their vanguard, I'll simply bring them *all* here. Let you see for yourselves what enemy you'll be facing."
With that, Heisenberg's clenched fist tapped down. Lightly.
A colossal Rainbow Bridge descended upon the wasteland.
The next instant, tens of thousands of Parademons—mid-slaughter—materialized on Earth.
At the center of the swarm's encirclement, thirty-seven Kryptonians showed no disorientation from the teleportation.
Their professionalism was absolute. Even *during* the transit, they'd continued tearing Parademons apart.
And now, with open ground and room to maneuver, they said nothing. They simply kept ripping Parademons in half. Endlessly. Silently.
Meanwhile, Heisenberg glanced up at Steppenwolf, still plummeting from the sky.
"Friends. The weak little Parademons are my people's problem. As for *your* target—"
He pointed at the falling Steppenwolf. Smiled.
"Go. Make him kneel before me."
/-\
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