[IC] Titans Together!

[OwO]

What was I thinking? Why did I charge in?

These words echoed on Hot Socks mind. The shield burst, causing it to shard into many small pieces. A few pieces flew at his head. Luckily, they didn't have enough force to penetrate his skull. He felt every single shard. They all cut through his skin. It hurt. It was painful. He felt a hot liquid run down his face. Was it his blood? Quick thoughts penetrated his mind. He didn't realize he was flying through the air.

Crtsh

A large sound rang out when he hit the wall. It hurt. It was worse. His armour could protect him from small weapons, but not full blow collisions. He felt a cracking in his chest. It hurt. It hurt more than before. His head hurt. He couldn't hear. He couldn't focus. His eyesight was blurring. It felt like everything was getting darker. He could barely see. He couldn't even see the changes in light from the alarms. He felt sick. The pain was causing his sickness. He didn't like the pain. The pain hurt. The pain was horrible. He wanted it to end. He began to cough. Not from the sickness. He coughed up blood. It didn't feel pleasant. He felt like his stomach was going to float away. His heart was like it was tearing itself up. His skin was cold and clammy. He breathed quickly. He felt like he was suffocating. He needed more air, but his lungs didn't want to work properly. Every single breath hurt. It was like someone was thrusting a knife deeper and deeper.

The rifle came flying at him. He moved his left arm to catch it. It hurt. It hurt so much. He didn't want to move. He had to move. He didn't want to die. He couldn't die here. He caught the rifle, his hearing shot, and his eyes failing him. He began to see double. It wasn't nice. He held the rifle in one hand. He couldn't use his right arm. That wouldn't move. He didn't have the strength. He pushed it in front of him. His vision was constantly moving, barely able to see. He took one deep breath. That breath felt like thousands of spears stabbing into his chest. He held it. He wanted everything to stop. For a split second, he could see. The two visions lined up, and the darkness faded into light. He fired one shot. The shot directly at the alien's head.

[Scarifar]

Press nodded. Street Dragon, eh? Bit of an odd name, but then again, his own name was rather odd. "My name's.... actually, I never gave myself a name," Press said. "Didn't think I needed to. Oh well, I'll come up with something later."

Following Street Dragon, Press went over to those trapped underneath the rubble. Placing both hands on a particularly large piece of rubble pinning a civilian, Press instructed Street Dragon, "Alright, I'll lift this up, you pull him out." He began to tense his muscles, then continued, "On 3. 1, 2, 3!" He began to push upwards, slowly but surely lifting up the boulder. Thanks to his suit, he could do things that required more strength than a typical person had, but even that had a limit.

"Quickly now, can't hold this forever," Press said, his voice slightly strained.
---
Meanwhile, Horus decided that it had gathered all that was necessary. It began flying away, looking for an exit, while at the same time trying to hack into the ship's database to see if it contained the layout of the ship.

[The Patriarch]

Bolt got even more angry when more debris totaled his car and he released a massive blast of electricity which blew away several vehicles and killed a few people. Great now he had a totaled car that pissed him off.

"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! That was my favorite car!" he shouted out loud and then grunted in pain from the laser wound he had received earlier from Press. He took out his medieval swords and looked around for more aliens to kill and he began to hack into them furiously.

[ReaptheMusic]

@SilverDawn

She was so tired... but she had to get out of here before the ship crash landed. So, with much effort, she pulls herself up and leans against a wall for support. There... a section of glass protecting a wall of buttons. She leaned over it, panting, her hands still blackened from the intense electrical burns she had just received. With a small whimper, she dove headfirst into the glass, lacking her usual amount of grace.

She fell without any sort of bravado into a different, random part of the ship. Marilyn lay there, panting and squinting, feeling weaker than ever. As she managed to take in her surroundings, she groaned and held herself up on her hands. Yelling was everywhere. It looked like there had been a fight. Just to the side of her, a great robotic form lay but it was clear that some part of him was human. Groggily, she crawled over to him, her slave skirts singed.

"H-Hey..." Her voice was weaker than normal. She attempted to shake the sleeping giant awake, but to no avail. Time was running out. Who knows how long the ship would last in the air. She couldn't just... leave him behind though, could she? She stood, after much effort and attempted to lift him. No good. No matter how many grunts and power she exerted, he wouldn't budge. She knelt down to him once more and tried to wake him again.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!!" She shook him a little harder, but still nothing. She pressed her cheek to his chest.

Heartbeat.

He would be okay, but not if he stayed here. She sat back on her legs, looked at him, and knew what she had to do. With a determined scowl, she began stripping the man of all of his robotic parts and clothing, aside from his underwear. It was a tedious task, but once all was said and done, she was able to prop him against her, using her own body weight to counter act his. Only problem was she was slower than ever now.

"Come on," She panted, holding him against her body. "We're gonna make it..."

"We're gonna make it....!"

Her family ran for the shelter, her father holding her hand and taxi'ing her behind him as quickly as their slow bodies could manage. Her innocent grey gaze looked around, confused. Metallic blood was all around them. Some covered her face. She had never been so shocked. So confused. So scared. Her head turned as something caught the corner of her eye. A blaster gun, held by a stranger in a slick suit covering their face and bearing the mark of a caged rose on his torso, pointed right at her parents. The gun went off.

Her lip trembled. Then she gritted her teeth. With the small amount of strength left in her body, she hoisted the larger man over her petite shoulder, nearly stumbling under the weight.

"We WILL make it!"

She began to run as fast as her body could carry her down the halls of the alien space craft.

[KriticalKrab]

March 5,2020:

From what you could see beyond the dark clouds, through the tiny patches of clouds that had been pierced by outside forces, it looked like it was already night. The invasion of the one ship lasted throughout the afternoon, and into the night.

The mother-ship was still falling, however its trajectory was uncertain, it could land in the water or onto an unspecified area of the city. No matter where it lands it would still cause damage.

News helicopters still flew around, broadcasting everything they saw, and everything they didn't.

@Scarifar

As Horus attempted to interact with the ships systems it met heavy opposition in the form of firewalls and other electronic defenses. However you were able to pilfer the layouts, do with it what you will.

@ReaptheMusic

As you trudged through the ships inner hallways, you could feel the ship shake, and you knew why. The ship had it's moments of stability and seemed to be stable enough for you to make good progress as you traversed the inside, however one of it's more unstable moments caused both of you to fall, and slide down the hallway.

@philp123

The ship shook slightly, causing the aliens in front to stumble backwards onto the floor, where they struggled to get into a comfortable position. The alien you were holding down seemed to lose consciousness as you pounded his armored chest.

@SilverDawn

The rifle that had landed into your lap appeared to only have one good shot left, a shot you took without aiming, relying completely on faith. Your faith was rewarded. As the alien attempted to retrieve his trident your shot landed on his armored neck, causing him to recoil backwards, giving off a grunt of pain.

@Art of Fun

He didn't get a change to parry your kick as he had just stumbled backwards from an energy blast. Your kick landed and forced his helmet to tear off his suit, as his face was revealed it would seem he is of African descent. As his helmet launched into the air, so did he, but he had managed to land on the farther side of the room. "It appears some miscalculations were made, no matter. The mission can still succeed. Manta to all points, take what we have and withdraw, the ship is going down and I intend to satisfy the boss." With that all aliens present in Jump City began to disappear into various portals, which all opened and closed with a thundering boom. Manta himself unhooked a large rifle from his back, as opposed to the more common blue, his beams were a deathly red, and all aimed at you.

However, the problem of the alien mother ship still remained, along with the human captives within. It appears Manta intends to survive the ships crash, or has an escape attempt planned.

@t2wave

The aliens you engaged had began to stand their ground, and began to aim their weapons on you. However, before the battle could continue, the aliens had summoned large portals and disappeared into them.

[Master Crim]

Paradigm Military Research Base

A man in lab coats walked down a hallway guided by another man who was dressed in military fatigues with a patch on his arm that signified he was a Major part of a special research division. The fourth man turned his head slightly and began to speak.
"You know the Colonel won’t want to. He's going to say the same thing he did last time you asked."
"I don't care." The scientist in the lab coat said annoyed. "Circumstances have changed, and even though those kids are doing god knows what it would be better if we tried rather than watching." The man was obviously agitated at the events taking place, and that they weren't doing anything about them. The men came to an opening in the hall where a woman glanced up at them from where she sat behind a desk then back to her computer where she was watching live feed of what was happening to Jump City.

As them men entered the Major stepped forwards, saluted and stepped aside letting the scientist through then closed the door, standing in front of it. The scientist walked briskly to the desk where the Colonel sat reading reports and signing others. "What is it, Hector; do you want to send out your little toy again?"
"What would you rather do, Colonel, watch everyone die?" Hector said unabashed. The Colonel looked up at Hector from his desk.
"I give you permission to speak freely, but if you want to make remarks like that I will see that you never see that robot of yours again. Are we clear?" The Colonel showed no visible signs of being upset, but still spoke very sternly to his brother. "I understand, okay, you and I are family, but that does not mean you can walk in here and expect to get what you want. I have higher ups that I have to report to if your plans fail. There is a lot of money that has to go towards your project and cleaning up messes that it causes."
"That is a load of crap! Ironclad won’t make any mess bigger than these heroes we see now, and you don't seem too keen on stopping them."
"That is because we aren't responsible for them. What they do won't come back on us."
"But you still have to clean it up." Hector was determined to have his way this time, and would not leave with anything less than Jason being operational. "Look, Travis, I can't just sit here with a power like Ironclad and watch as Jump City is attacked and possibly destroyed. I can see you have already approved the dispatching of National Guard for safety and evacuation, and Ironclad can help with that."
Col. Travis thought for a moment looking over his papers and then to the TV that played the NEWS on mute. "Fine," He said walking to a file drawer and pulling out a file tagged League Contingency, and opened it as he put it down on his desk. "I will allow Ironclad to be active as a first responder agent until further notice. Under stood?" He said as he wrote in his command on the special orders line then signed the document.
"Yes, Colonel, I understand." Hector said taking the File that was handed to him. As he left, Col. Travis told the accompanying Major to inform the National Guard what would be happening and that Ironclad is under no squad jurisdiction, and is to be able to act freely. The Major acknowledged his orders and escorted Hector back down the hall and out to an entry area where he saw him off. Hector entered his car, started it and dialed a number on his cellphone.
“Hello, Frances… yeah I say him… yes, start the system check sequence. I will be there shortly.”

Paradigm Robotics, Ironcald Lab

“Power is stable,” A man called out from a work station, one of many in the observation cube above a room where Ironclad was held. “Accelerator core is green, Sensory readings are normal.”
“Let’s get the nanites online.” Hector said as he overlooked the group of men at their work stations. At this request a few of the people began typing in pass codes and commands that resulted in the lights along Ironclad’s exo-shell to light up a soft red.
“Nanites are online and showing operational status.”
“Start the wake-up call.” Hector said as he walked towards a door that lead to the room where Ironclad was.
“Hector, where are you going?” Frances asked.
“It would only be polite that we give him his orders in person.” Hector replied, and walked out not giving time for protest. Hector made his way down a few sets of metal grate stairs to the floor where he proceeded to approach Ironclad who was already stepping out of his, opened, containment case. “Jason, how do you feel?” Hector asked as he walked up.
“I feel fully functional.” Jason replied, his voice sounding like that of Red Tornado’s but not as modulated. “Is there need of me again?” he asked in return, looking to Hector.
“Yes,” Hector said hand Jason a small data chip. “This contains the details you will need to know for your mission.” Jason took the chip and small light trails illuminated his fingers that were in contact with the chip. It was only a second before Jason gave Hector the chip back.
“Thank you.” Jason said and turned to a hanger door that opened after Hector, who was following Jason, motioned the okay. Once at the threshold of the large open door Hector called out to Jason “I am hoping this is only a temporary assignment, and that you will be helping fight these things soon.”
“For the sake of the city,” Jason started without turning to look at Hector. “Let us hope it does not come to that.” Then he lifted up into the air and flew off with amazing speed towards Jump City.

[Art of Fun]

A... human?

Between the invaders and the ship design, Gladiator certainly was not expecting a human of all creatures to be leading this rag-tag assault - enough so that Manta's blasts went unnoticed, if only for a moment. Spinning her spear around, she whacked the blasts with the golden weapon, dispersing most of them. One got away from the New God, slipping past her guard and slamming into her shoulder. She moved with the force of the blow, spinning on the spot and recovering with little to not issue. The shoulder in question steamed, the seamless black substance covering her blue skin blown away, steaming and slowly burning from the blast. The radiation of her eyes took an aggressive turn.

"Human. You are human, correct? I suggest you run and join your allies, before you regret not taking the opportunity to do so."

She would survive the crash. It would take more than a downed craft to take her out - the explosion of said ship might be a slightly different matter, but she had no immediate concern as it was. Pressing a foot down against the floor grating, it creaked and cracked under her strength, a subtle sign that she was done playing nice with this human. She was not as nice as Superman when it came to holding back with her blows...

She lied about the letting him run part.

In one fluid, trained movement, Gladiator raised one leg up, along with her spear in one hand and launched it at Manta. Upon leaving her hands, the weapon made a 'boom' as it flew between the gap at terminal velocities

[The Patriarch]

Bolt was hacking through several aliens when he saw that most of the aliens were disappearing into portals. What a bunch of cowards, he thought to himself as he sheathed his swords. Bolt was now bored and wondered what to do next. He had fought a hero earlier and killed several aliens, he wanted to up his game and become even more infamous. He watched some of the other heroes do their work and he laughed at them going around helping people. If they had powers then why waste it on the weak? It made no sense to him.

"Now what should I do?" he said to himself and thought for moment. He could go do some more stealing or he could go fight some more heroes. Bolt wasn't sure about what to do and then it popped into his head. When you can't think of anything to do with your time then there was one thing to do.

"I'll go get some vodka" he exclaimed and then hoped onto his surfboard to take off for a bar. He could use a good drink especially after being hurt by the hero in his fight and also since he felt a little tired from using so much power to kill a lot of aliens. He would love it when his mouth would get filled by the life-nectar of his mother Russia.

[twave]

Ready to fight Angel prepared to block their fire with a barrier. Before she had the chance though they all retreated into portals. All at once she could sense a majority of the danger in the immediate area fade away. Some were injured nearby but not seriously. More important at this moment was the large ship that was falling.

Lifting off it was clear that there was no way she could stop it alone. He better option was to try and save as many people inside as possible. Flying into the ship she began to gather as many as she could find together. Surrounding them all in a small barrier she teleported them to the surface and directed them away from the impending crash site. Taking off again she brushed a bead of sweat from her brow. "This would be much easier if you would not fight me Sarah. These people need our help." The woman begrudgingly relented. They were already too deep in this already. As if a weight was lifted from her Angel took in a deep breath. "Thank you much my dear. Now let us finish our task."

A renewed drive the woman teleported back into the ship. The hallways were not as much fun to move through. It lack the space needed to fly. Even so she began to scour other parts of the ship. Her footing was shaken as the entire vessel lurched. Thankfully she managed to stabilize with a little help of her wings. Looking up two others were not so fortunate and were sliding across the floor. Leaping and flapping as best she could she grabbed hold of them both. "[color=khaki]Do not worry. Guardian Angel has you.[/b][/color]" In a flash the three (Angel, Marilyn, and Hot Socks) were teleported safely to the ground. Neither one looked like they were in good shape but the man was clearly far worse. Leaning over him Angel put her hands against him. Magical energy began to slow through his body and heal some of the more severe wounds. It didn't fix him 100% and he would still feel it later for sure, but at least he would live.

@ReaptheMusic
@SilverDawn

[VitaVitaAR]

Street Dragon didn't need to be told twice. She might not have been the strongest vigilante, but pulling someone out from under some rubble wasn't a big issue. She quickly wrapped her arms around the man, who seemed like he was probably in his early forties or so. One arm under each of his, she swiftly pulled him back and out from under the rubble. A quick glance over him confirmed that he wasn't in any external immediately-lift-threatening injury, though he seemed to have passed out. This meant that they could help others without needing someone to immediately take him to get medical attention, at least for the moment.

"Alright, it looks like he didn't get too hurt," Rei said, straightening after carefully laying the unconscious man down. "We can probably help out some of the other people around here who got hurt by the alien jackasses and he'll be okay."

[ReaptheMusic]

@t2wave
They were safe now... as the angelic figure finished healing the man that Marilyn had saved, the pale alien's fist clenched tightly...

And she slapped the person that had teleported them, sharply across the cheek. Her eyes, surprisingly, filled with rage.

"What do you want, a thank you?!" She had never been angrier before. She gripped the angel-esque beings shoulders, tight in her hands. "There are citizens of this city up there that need saving, and you try to help out the two people who don't need it?!" She turned, quickly grabbed up the man she had saved with a grunt, and ran to a store front window. She set him down and glared back at the woman, her eyes ablaze in a surprising and out of character amount of fury. Marilyn was in so much pain. She felt so weak. But god dammit, the people that were captured would not suffer, and the decision to take responsibility for that gave her strength.

She turned away from the woman, still in disbelief at her ignorance, and leapt through the glass. The alien appeared back on the ship, coming through the breakroom she was at before. She listened, calming down, a silent roar of unbending will shown in her eyes to the sounds of people. There... in the distance. People, captured perhaps. She ducked back into the glass to try to find glass or a reflective surface near where they were.

Marilyn would not let them come to harm.

[Scarifar]

Press let the boulder drop, the rubble crashing down to the ground, now unable to harm the civilian any longer. "Ok then, moving on," Press said, heading over to a van that had been partially squashed under some rubble. Press looked inside it to see if anyone was trapped inside and found 3 people, a woman and two children. It looked like the vehicle had prevented any of them from dying, but the woman was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound while the kids had a few scratches on their hands and faces. Some rubble had managed to pierce through the roof, but none of it was low enough to hurt any of the occupants. The kids were still conscious but frightened, and seeing Press's visor was enough to startle them. "Don't worry kids, help is here!" Press reassured them.

Wasting no time, he raised his right arm and brought out his energy blade from the back of his armored hand. Slicing the front and back door open, Press turned to Street Dragon and said, "You get the kids, I'll get the driver," then reached in and gently pulling the woman out of the car. Setting the woman down, Press checked her for a pulse, and was satisfied when he found one. "Alright, she's still alive. A little beaten up, but alive," Press reported to no one in particular.

---

Meanwhile, Horus had found what it was looking for and quickly abandoned its attempts to hack anything else. Using the information from the layout of the ship, it followed a path to the nearest available exit. The ship was in quite the crisis, and Horus made its primary directive to escape before the ship went down. It would be a while before Horus would escape, even after obtaining the layout of the ship, but it would escape.

[OwO]

Sven's eyes opened. It wasn't the spaceship. He was confused by this. He didn't know how he got out. He simply remembered getting slung against the wall. He didn't remember anything after that. He stood up. It was quite cold. Sven didn't know why, until he looked down. Why am I almost naked? He thought. He decided that it was too much to process, and he would figure that out when he got home. He looked around to where he was. He wasn't even close to home. He did notice something peculiar. A woman who looked like an angel. Sven, being the stalwart soul he is, completely ignored her, and began to walk towards home. It would be a long walk home. His vision still wasn't amazing. His eyes hurt. Sounds felt like knives stabbing into his ears. He just wanted to go home and sleep. His chest didn't hurt as much, which was a pretty big plus-side. Still, he just wanted to go home so he could sleep. He didn't question where any of his things went.

[twave]

Guardian Angel had not been prepared for Marilyn's reaction. Clearly she did not understand the circumstances by which she must operate. Having pretty much forgiving the girl of her outburst Angel made no effort to stop her. The man was out of danger and that was the important thing. Curiously the girl seemed to jump into a window an vanish. Not needing an examination she took off into the sky and made her way back to the ship to transport more people.

[KriticalKrab]

March 5,2020:

It seems no change has been made in the ships status, although if you were looking at a newscast you could see the reporters become slightly more optimistic at the disappearance of the aliens. They began to train their cameras on various rescue vehicles from time to time, it would seem they've been moving from place to place this entire time.

@Art of Fun

"Human? Not quite, I have received some enhancements." Manta replied, he swiftly rolled to the side as you began your attack. You yourself are well trained, but it would appear he is as well, and he seemed to be fast enough to evade your attack. "But you may be right. Staying is a futile gesture, after all, it would seem you have bigger problems." Manta spoke as he rolled into another side room, and disappeared in the familiar boom of their portals.

It seems you've won the day, Manta retreated, and the aliens have dispersed. But what of the ship and it's contents?

@VitaVitaAR

A couple of people ran up to you, or more specifically, the man you had just uncovered. "We'll help out! After all it seems those aliens are gone." The two men that had run up to you appear to have been EMTs, just without their vehicle. However, even with their dirty clothes they seemed more than happy to help, and they showed that by carrying the man off. They soon returned later to start helping uncover the smaller piles of debris, or even those lying around.

@Scarifar

Several more civilians began to show up, their clothes were dirty and even torn in some places, the majority of the group began to help other injured pedestrians off the streets and to safer areas. A couple of them split off and approached you. "We'll take care of'em, but maybe you should do something about that." A man spoke, pointing up at the slowly falling spacecraft.

[Zobozun]

Somewhere within the city, a bar stood cocooned in layers dirt and rock and bits of flaming crashed spaceship, having been untouched by the alien menace. The reason for this, of course, was that it was currently being defended by an altogether different alien menace, one that was sent to cleanse the planet of sapient life- or at least attempt to cleanse it, from the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM, local time. Currently, said alien menace was off the clock and on his eighth beer.

"...So I'm jus' standin' there and these dumb mutherfuggers keep shootin' their lighting a' me an I'm like 'Wha's wrong bisch, can' bypass a li'l lightnin' rod?'. 'Course, they couldn' unnerstan, since they were some kinda dumb fuggen elephan' things an' then I was like BAM!", he smashed a peanut, sending little bits of shell all over the bar, "Smash those bassars like they was NOTHIN. An' tha- an' tha' was how I killed th lightnin' beasts.", Cartog the Surveyor, Interstellar Exterminator, soon-to-be Scourge of Mankind, chugged the rest of his beer, "BARTENNER, ANOTHER A' YER PRIMITIVE HUMAN YEAST BEV- BEVER- DRINKS."
"Any brand, or-"
"I CARE NOT FOR THESE PUNY 'BRANDS' YOU SPEAK OF."

A cheap lager slid its way down the bar, the screw-cap undone by Cartog's PHENOMENAL PSYCHIC POWERS.
"So yeh, where was I- fuggen, right, so affer tha' I got a contrac ta kill off summa them- I think ya call 'em Mechtaleks. Now my people and the Mechtaleks, we got hissory with tha ugly terraforman' bassars..."

[VitaVitaAR]

Street Dragon didn't hesitate. Kids were in trouble, especially since their mom was out like a light. Getting in through the damaged door, she carefully wrapped her arms around the first, a young blond girl with long pigtails, and pulled her out just as carefully. Thankfully it didn't look like any body parts had gotten stuck anywhere as she helped her down onto the concrete. "Your mom's gonna be okay, alright? Just gotta get your little brother now."

The boy with short brown hair didn't seem that much younger, but he still seemed younger. Rei pulled him out quickly and carefully and set him near his sister, and they both hurried over to their mother. Rei wiped her forehead, and watched as the battered paramedics and civilians who were showing up. Whew, that would make it so they could save a lot more people a lot more quickly.

"Glad to have help," she said with a grin, "Those alien bastards sure got their asses kicked, but now we've gotta make sure everybody's okay."

[Scarifar]

Press was relieved to see other people who were able to provide assistance. He longed to help the civilians, but he was only one person, and couldn't be everywhere at once. One of the men mentioned that he should be dealing with the mothership, and Press responded, "I'd love to, but my suit's been quite damaged. It'll take a while before it'll be in functioning capacity."

Press looked at his palms, and was glad to see that his lasers were ready to be used again. As for his wings... well, those would take a bit more time. Press made a few modifications in his self-repairing feature in his armor, concentrating all its efforts on the wings. It would take only a short amount of time now.

---

Horus navigated through the hallways of the mothership, quickly reaching a door. It was locked, but that was of little consequence. By accessing the keypad near the door, it was able to hack into the door control for this one door and unlock it. With the mothership in red alert, Horus encountered little to no resistance in doing so. Flying through the opening, Horus turned and flew toward its master.

[clanjos]

Video Star, Behind the Moon

Thankfully, the alien invasion was fairly narrow. Spandez could just start his invasion elsewhere in this nation. The trick was finding a mostly-intact city. Judging by the ruins, Central City must have once been a sight to behold. However, most of the population had been murdered, burnt, frozen, violated, fried by lasers, or robbed (sometimes a combination of two or more). "Zoom Was Here" was scorched into the earth around the city. Gotham was his second choice, until he saw that it was under assault from the zombies of a criminal by the name of "Porter Vito" and a band of glowing green wrestlers the local humans called "luchadores." That'd really be distracting for the contestant. On and on down the list of major settlements he went, before sighing and going for one of the last cities not overrun by superpowered lunatics.

---

Spandez grinned for the cameras, walking out on stage to the cheers of the studio audience. Aliens from across the cosmos, ranging from Thanagarians to Martians were in the stands, cheering. The Conquest Hour was a cultural fixture for the last several millennia, and they weren't letting one weak season dampen their enthusiasm for the gladiatorial spectacle the Lord of Bloodsport provided. Thankfully, the translator software kicked in as every Satellite or Cable TV on Earth got one new channel: the Badurong Broadcasting Network.

"So, how's everyone doing this cycle? Certainly better than the savages on the planet's surface, that's for sure! Judging by those weapons, I'd say my old fri- ah, but that'd be telling! And you don't watch the Conquest Hour for politics! Remind me, just why do you watch?!" he shouted, holding his mic up to the audience.

"BIG CHALLENGES! BIG MONEY! BIG PRIZES!"

"Iiiiii love it! Now, today's contestant is a long-time favorite. He's never racked up the cash for a Lightning Round, but he's here every season to give it a go! You've got to admire that sort of determination. Please welcome, this week's contestant from the Dolgon Cluster... Pterrordactyl!"

A green-skinned alien resembling a prehistoric flying reptile walked onto the stage, waving at the audience. He was met by thunderous applause and whistles. A few of the audience members were even wearing homemade "We Love You Pterrordactyl" T-shirts. The bounce in the creature's step indicated he was quite happy to be returning to the show.

"Thank you, Mr. Spandez! It's great to be back!"

"And it's always great to see a contestant again! So, as a six-time contestant, how do you feel about your chances this time?"

"Pretty good Mr. Spandez! I'm gonna rock the challenges, no matter what they are!"

"That's the optimism we love out of ya, big guy! So spin... THE WHEELS! OF! CHALLENGE!"

A tremendous slot machine raised from a hidden platform in the stage, which Pterrordactyl reached up to spin. He continued bounding from foot to foot as the slots stopped on numerous alien symbols, leaving Spandez with two ticker tapes.

"Well now! Off to a good start, it seems! We've already got 'Scare Children' with a bonus of 'Make Children Cry!' Always makes for a solid challenge with locals trying to stop you. What are your plans this time, Pterrordactyl? How are you going to win..."

"BIG MONEY! BIG PRIZES!"

"IIIIII LOVE IT! I'm sure you know this, Pterrordactyl, but we've got some of the savages on the planet below listening in. The game starts as soon as you teleport down. You must fulfill as much of your objective as possible before locals can stop you! By doing so, you earn cash prizes AND bonus prizes from our sponsors at Badurong Corporation! Get ready... get set... Good luck!"

Coast City, 9:00 PM

Little Timmy Wilkins, age six. He was asleep, safe in his bed. His mother and father had tucked him in and assured him there was no monster in his closet. But he woke up when he heard a noise down the hall. Like someone had dropped a glass of water, then slipped on it and fell really hard. He grabbed his teddy bear and slipped out of bed. Like always, he trudged down the halls, making for his parents' room. They got mad when he was awake this late, but the glass dropping had scared him. He was kind of nervous when he called out and didn't hear any response and cracked the door open. There was blood on the floor next to the bed. Probably from where they slipped on the glass. They looked fine in bed. One giant pile under the covers like always.

"Mom? Dad? I heard a scary n-"

With that, Pterrordactyl shrieked, jumping out from under the covers, throwing them up against the wall. Timmy screamed and backed away.

"Trust me, kid, that noise was the LEAST scary thing in this house right now!"

"I... w-where's mom and dad?"

Pterrordactyl pointed behind the boy, to the closet, baring his fangs and grinning. There, bloody, unconscious, bound, and gagged, sat the boy's parents. Claw marks were all over their bodies, and they were heavily bruised. The little boy began to tear up as he looked up at the monster in terror.

"W...wh-"

The monster kneeled, smiling at the boy and putting a claw on his shoulder, his other hand grabbing the teddy bear's head.

"I'm going to let you in on a secret. Your planet's Green Lantern? He's dead. He's not going to save you. Your police can't stop me, and your parents certainly couldn't. Nobody can protect you from me, little Timmy. Not anymore."

With that, the monster ripped the teddy bear's head off, tossing it into the air and swallowing it whole as he kicked the boy to the wall. He began laughing maniacally as he made a running jump through one of the windows which wasn't broken from his forced entry, shouting behind him as he flew off into the horizon to continue this display at the other houses of Coast City, unleashing a guttural prehistoric shriek.

"PTEEEEERRRROOOOOOOOORRRRRRDDDDDAAAAAAAACCCCCCTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYLLLLLLLLL!"

Timmy cried in the closet, curled up with his decapitated bear next to his unconscious parents. Thankfully, the sounds of police and ambulance sirens drew near...

Video Star

Spandez, on the other hand, was cracking up.

"Oh, that Pterrordactyl's got a flair for this! And that's why we always look forward to his return! And THAT little personal touch there with the bear and all those tears has earned him... sixteen thousand Badurong Credits and a five thousand Credit gift certificate to Spacey's Department Store!" Spandez shouted, motioning toward the screen showing the rampage of Pterrordactyl. "Can he keep this up? Stay tuned to find out after a word from our sponsors!"

[Moonman]

A city, plagued by the crime. A city of buildings and streets. A city in need of a hero.

But who, cries the collective voices of human and skeleton-kind, will step up to the plate, and become the hero this city so dearly needs? Well, ladies, gentlemen, skeletons, and self-aware computer systems, prepare to feast thine eyes or equivalent ocular receptacles on the answer to your prayers, in the form of Earth's boniest defender: Skeleton Man! At this very moment, the planet's very own skeletal paragon of justice is on the lookout for any nefarious evildoers, who have deluded themselves into thinking they can possibly escape the reach of the long, bony arm of the law.

Or, to put it in layman's terms, Skeleton Man was currently seated upon the rooftop of a building, utilizing the immeasurable power of his Skeleton Vision to observe the city streets, waiting patiently for a crook to show themselves. "Any moment now, I'll have a chance to finally dispense justice, the Skeleton Man way!" So said the man of bony construction himself, shivering all the while. He'd been up there for several hours, and it was starting to get rather chilly. Despite his skeletal heritage, the magnificent Skeleton Man was still susceptible to cold, unfortunately.

Luckily, for both our Calcium-rich Champion and the good citizens of Jump City, an opportunity finally presented itself. This opportunity took the form of a classic case of "a random mugger deciding to rob a lady of her purse, presumably for the money contained within." Well, Skeleton Man couldn't simply stand by and watch this grave injustice go unchallenged, something had to be done.

Anyway, Skeleton Man had to move quickly, lest the robber escape unpunished. But first, he had to make a proper entrance. Rising to his actually quite impressive height of two metres, he proceeded to assume a suitably stylish pose, to better intimidate the miscreant. "Halt, evildoer, justice has a bone to pick with you!" In a bizarre coincidence, at the exact moment this was said, the moon moved into just the right position, shining its pale light upon both the criminal and the soon-to-be esteemed ally of justice. Suffice to say, the effect was quite substantial, at least in Skeleton Man's opinion.

The robber, while certainly halted by the display, didn't appear to be frightened in the slightest. Instead, the criminal responded by verbally launching a flurry of expletives that I shall neglect to inscribe for the sake of decency. "Very well, criminal scum. You have left me with no other choice." Skeleton Man broke from his pose, and proceeded to back up several paces. After taking a deep breath, Earth's boniest defender broke into a run, and leaped off the building. For reference, the structure in question was an astounding one story in height. As he fell, Skeleton Man aimed his boot at the evildoer, whilst calling out a simple, but effective phrase: "Skele-kick!" Note to self: hiring a consultant to seek possible alternative names for special moves might be worthwhile in the future.

The kick struck true, mostly due to a great deal of practice on Skeleton Man's part, and not at all due to luck. The impact, unlike the prior speech, had a much more significant effect on the crook, as it floored the evildoer. Unfortunately for our hero, however, the strike had a seemingly profound impact on him as well, which became apparently fairly quickly. "Ah cripes, I think I broke my femur." Skeleton Man, likely in great pain from the damage to his skeletal frame, gripped the injured (?) limb with one arm, thus cutting the number of appendages at his disposal in half.

While our intrepid hero was busy hobbling about, the evildoer he'd confronted lifted himself off the ground. The vile miscreant withdrew a knife, presumably with the intent of harming the great Skeleton Man. As he approached the bony vigilante, however, it quickly became apparent that all was not as it seemed. "Luckily for me, I always carry a spare," said Skeleton Man, as he promptly swung a thigh bone at the criminal. Simultaneously, the masked hero released his supposedly damaged leg from his grip, revealing that it did, in fact, work perfectly. It had been a ruse of the highest order, for Skeleton Man's Calcium Strength made his bones marginally more resistant to harm than any normal man.

The criminal was visibly rattled by the display of Skeleton Man's durability, or maybe it was the femur hitting him in the face. It was difficult to tell which, really. Despite this, he didn't falter, and continued in his attempt to strike down Jump City's boniest defender. Said attempt came to fruition when, despite the best efforts of our Calcium-rich Champion, the evildoer managed to drive their knife into Skeleton Man's chest. Unsurprisingly, Calcium Strength didn't do much against most stab wounds. Yet, much like his opponent, Charles Osso was not one to give up, and proceeded to once again strike the evildoer with his femur club. Before the robber could recover his wits, Skeleton Man did so again, and repeated the process until the evildoer was finally subdued.

Ignoring the knife that was still in his chest for the time being, Earth's boniest defender picked up the stolen purse, and handed it back to the original owner, who'd remained stock still for the entirety of the incident. "No need to thank me, citizen, I am merely doing my duty as an ally of justice. Now, I must be off, for a hero's duty is never done. Skeleton Man, away!" He saluted the lady, and proceeded to simply stroll off, heading in the general direction of the local clinic. He had yet to notice the alien invasion going on, but it was only a matter of time. For no injustice can evade the vigilant skeleton eyes of Skeleton Man for long!