War's End ...

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

I'm called Rip Hunter. That's not my name. No one knows my true name, and I won't even record it here. Too much is at stake, and if it means I die forgotten, then so be it.

When Degaton's cat's paw, the Witch Queen, rose, Earth's heroes were destroyed. Those that survived pulled together to form The Justice Batallion, and now most of them have fallen, also.

The Witch Queen, like myself, had an identity shrouded in mystery -- untraceable by my best methods. Now, I know her name, but it may be too late.

I put my own pieces in place. The Forgotten Heroes -- champions already tossed between worlds and times. And so the shadow war began ... neither side knowing who the other's players were. But Degaton's forces grew too quickly, and his pawns caused chaos in timeline after timeline. Heroes fell. And then ... this.

Rip Hunter stops the log, and walks to Vanishing Point's observation deck. Outside, an armada thousands of starships strong stands poised to shield the chronal station. The Linear Men are dead, and his Forgotten Heroes are scattered across time. He's only had time to retrieve two of his agents.

"This is it," he says over the communicators. "If we fall here, I just want you to know it's been an honor to fight by your side."

Comments

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Dawnstar streaks through the sky, her wings spread wide, a laser rifle poised in her hands as she strikes at the encroaching ships, swerving at their retaliatory fire.

"This is war, Rip Hunter. We swore to fight to the bitter end, and we will. But I have not yet abandoned hope."

[mari-grayson.livejournal.com]

"If we die, then we die," says Nightstar, her face somehow grim and joyous at the same time. "I will not be ashamed to face my ancestors when X'hal gathers me in ... and I think we shall all take a fine honor guard with us to bear witness to what happens here and now."

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

"All right then," says Hunter, with a slight, weary chuckle. "Let's show them how The Forgotten Heroes fight."

And with the push of a button, Vanishing Points' defenses lash out, force beams tearing into a ship, obliterating it.

But there's thousands where it came from.

[mari-grayson.livejournal.com]

In space, no one can hear you scream, but Nightstar gives cry regardless, shouting ancient Tamaranean battle slogans as starbolts fly from her hands.

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

Some appear in the sky, others -- thanks to Arion's magics -- appear in the command center.

Mr. Terrific emerges from the light at Rip Hunter's side.

"You must be Hunter," he says. "What's the situation?"

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

'Desperate," says Hunter, adjusting quickly to the new situation. "Even with combined firepower, we're still facing an armada. And we don't know where Degaton himself is yet."

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

"All right then. And what happens if we lose here?"

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

"Degaton will have free access to use this point to rewrite time with impunity. He's done so much damage to the time stream already, a victory here ... he'd practically be a god."

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

The walls of the observation platform shake as a starship fires on it.

"They've got an entrance! You people move, I'll hold them back here."

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Tyler nods to Rick in passing, as he activates his time powers, sailing out into the void to fight the armada.

"It is good to see you again, Rick.."

Hourman III takes the fight to the armada, using blasts of temporal energy to spontaneously age their hulls.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

There's another explosion as one of Degaton's ships makes dock ... followed by the whirl of machines and the crackle of energy.

Degaton's foot soldiers have gained entry to Vanishing Point, and are on the march.

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Hex smiles grimly, and cocks his gun.

"Degaton's ships have a trans-door ... he'll be able to transport soldiers to the station. But that can work both ways."

He steadies his gun.

"Terrific, Hex. Take a team, get past the troops and follow that door back. The rest of us will hold the line."

[mari-grayson.livejournal.com]

She's no longer as young as she used to be. She tires more quickly than she did when she was 20, and the world was young with her.

One projectile slices along the outside of her thigh, and even though in space, no one can hear her, she screams, tumbling in space.

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Just on his way to the portal, Hex pauses, calling through their communications, "Jus' hold on out there a little longer. We'll get through this."

[mari-grayson.livejournal.com]

She doesn't answer. She's too busy dodging the latest barrage of debris.

[jla-goldenage.livejournal.com]

Suddenly, the blasts are deflected by a mystic sword.

Wielded by a knight on a flying horse. In space.

"Hark, fair one. It seems my duty to assist our warriors in combat."

[gemma-masters.livejournal.com]

She's not even sure what to do here, Gemma's sort of hoping either for inspiration or someone to punch really hard at this point.

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

Terrific stops by Gemma on his way into the ship.

"I don't know much about magic," he says as he prepares to make his move. "And I don't know exactly how powerful you are, but can you do anything to cause some chaos to cover us on the way in?"

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Rick Tyler picks up on Terrific's plan immediately.

"You want chaos, boss? You've got it!"

Tyler leaps into the crowd of soldiers, his fists colliding with skull after skull.

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," says Terrific, moving to take advantage of the growing chaos. "Anything you can do to add to the mess. Don't worry about hurting Rick, he can handle it."

He dashes off after the others.

"We've got faith in you."

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

The siege of Vanishing Point is obviously a high priority for Degaton. So much so that the only ship that's managed to breach the station's defenses has pretty much all available hands outside.

Only a skeleton crew remains inside, monitoring the trans-space door.

Terrific's elbow comes down on one guards collarbone. Over his com system, which they've patched Hex into, he hypothesizes, "They can only push so many troops in at a time. That's why we're not seeing a constant stream through this exposed point."

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

Hex has subdued two other guards, pistol whips to the back of the neck work fine, and stealth he can do. "Sounds about right. You're still the tech wiz here though, they already got enough troops through to give us worlds of trouble... we need to figure out what the grand plan is, and where Degaton's at. Head for the bridge, you think?"

[jla-goldenage.livejournal.com]

"A moment," says Occult, extending the Symbol of the Seven before him. "Yes. There are guards on the other end ... but they are tied to their monitors at the moment. I can arrange it so we will not be seen unless viewed directly."

He puts the symbol back in his pocket.

"It will buy us mere minutes."

[jla-villains.livejournal.com]

Degaton's command ship -- a warship appropriated from the Warlords of Okaara -- hovers, like the rest of Vanishing Point, in a temporal "pocket." To do so otherwise would risk sliding into the future ... into the last remaining moemnts of the universe.

Consequently, the battle outside of his window is happening entirely at one precise instant ... a moment literally frozen in time. Degaton throws back his head. Sometimes temporal mechanics leave even his head hurting.

The soldiers and engineers around him are impassive, but th eman himself is pensive, concerned at the raging war.

"How did Hutner raise an army so quickly?" he muses, but no one dares answer, nor does he expect them to. "No matter. Our forces are inside Vanishing Point, and when it is mine, we can execute the last chronal alterations ... stabilize the altered timelines into one coherent series of events. Rewrite history in my image."

HAIL DEGATON! the soldiers shout on cue. And at that, Degaton smiles.

"Yes," he says. "Hail Degaton. ... And if Hutner and his allies win."

He shrugs.

"There's always the backup plan."

There is no cheering at that. Indeed, the soldiers seem chilled to the bone.

[jsaboss.livejournal.com]

With Occult's magic in place, Terrific takes the point -- his immunity to electronic surveillance proving a useful boon. The monitor room on the other side is sparsely populated, unfortunately, the soldiers do catch a glimpse of him. He doesn't make a move on them, though. He leaps into combat to take some guards down fast, but his real target is the alarm system itself ... His own computer system is in action before he is, scanning and detecting the alarms, disabling them.

"Take them," is his only message back to the team. Four targets, this should take seconds. At most.