A Pain Most Wonderful (Damirae)

Chapter Seventy

The Gotham front was a bloodbath. For once, the fractured fragments of the Gothamite population were banded together.

"Get- umph- off- ugh- my... PATCH!" Harley Quinn shouted between hammered pummelling of a parademon with her bat.

She spat upon the beaten thing before swinging at another of its little friends, cackling a little as she did so.

"Whoopsie!" Harley giggled, knocking the head of one of those Apolkaplytian demons clean off. "Catch!" She said, as it fell in to the hands of another parademon. "Oh myyyy, was that one of ya friends?"

Back to back with her was Poison Ivy. She'd wanted to flee- to take Harley and run for the trees, safe forever from the violence. They'd shouted it out, at the start of the conflict. Then Batman had come and asked for their help- specifically, her help. Pamela wouldn't have to do much, he'd explained, just take people to a safe place hidden from the parademons: a sanctuary of green. Harley's eyes had pleaded ardently- this was their people, and even if Pamela didn't think so, they were Harley's people and if Pamela cared about her she would do this.

The two of them had sought the protector of the Green and Ivy had conversed with him deeply. They cared for the Earth. Yes, it's people we're destroying it, but the invaders would terraform the planet and destroy all traces of Green. And neither of them were so heartless as to allow children to perish when they could have saved them- both had still enough human in them for that empathy. More so, the task wouldn't be too hard a feat. And so it was done.

But Harley's sad eyes had beckoned her once more and summoned Pamela to the mêlée. She'd seen the relief and gratitude on Batman's eyes and for not the first time thought how nice goodness was. Catwoman was already besides him, arms folded, and enveloped her friends in a warm hug when they, together, pledged themselves to helping the fight against Darkseid. Pamela assured herself that she did this for the planet and Harley alone, for a moment she believed it.

She was not the first or the last to give up former conflicts (temporarily thought it may have been) for the sake of the larger fight. But while the likes of Lex Luther and Killer Frost accepted temporary truces, a score of poisoned parasites made themselves scarce and weren't heard of for what felt like eons.

Batman had forgotten what it was like to not think of the Joker ever day.

Of course, it was no better- perhaps much worse- what he now had to worry about.

It was a few weeks in to the combat that Darkseid finally set foot on Earth.

***

Trickles of water marked a white streak through the blood and dust that were sprayed across Hal's face. It was only later that he realised that they were tears; the man was too far gone to care.

Half-supported by Jessica, the other lantern of Earth, he stumbled through the vortex of silver fire and the two of them fell in to the Hall of Justice. Jessica, too stunned for visible emotion, was accepted in to the unexpected, warm arms of someone. Letting her head fall upon the person's shoulder, she stared to the side and only half-saw WonderWoman in conversation with another Amazon: half-saw, because her brain couldn't manage to process the visual input.

"K-kilowog and...and... God they're gone. All gone..." Hal mumbled, unsure of what to do with himself.

Cyborg steadied the man, simultaneously closing the boom tube that he'd opened.

"What the hell happened?" He asked. Neither of them answered.

With the female Lantern standing numb between her arms, Black Canary looked over to Cyborg, "They were fighting Darkseid on some other planet, weren't they?"