CHAPTER FOUR: INVASION

"So why are you three here?" Superman started to say. "Metropolis is my turf."

They were out of the sewers now (thankfully!!) and had made their way to an abandoned warehouse in the city, so in case the bomb exploded, there would be no casualties. At least that was their motive behind it.

"There have been reports of mysterious kidnappings across the country," Batman explained. (Or should Alex refer to him as Bruce now? A difficult choice to make)

"Yeah, I've been working on a few of these cases back home," Alex added, crossing her arms as she hovered next to Batman, well away from Green Lantern.

Superman nodded in agreement. "We had them here too. Figured that was life in the big city. You think these disappearances and these things are connected?"

"They're connected," Batman affirmed.

"So these monsters," Hal finally said. "They're..."

"They're soldiers. Expendable soldiers at that," Batman explained. "Planting these devices at all costs; that's military tactics. We might be staring down the barrel of a full-scale invasion."

'Oh we are so screwed right now,' Alex thought to herself. If there really was going to be an invasion, they would need all the help they could get. Just the four of them couldn't stop an alien army (if there was one). They would need reinforcements. 'But who...?'

"You're paranoid," Hal mocked, a sardonic smile on his face. "Let's just crack it open and see what happens!"

He raised his ring above his head, creating a giant green hammer that lit up the warehouse. Then, like an idiot, he started to bring it down, towards the direction of the box, too eager to break it open. But before he could do so, both Batman and Alex had made the moves to stop him, each grabbing one of his arms.

"Are you really so stupid?" Alex questioned with an angry glare. "Quit acting like a stuck-up moron and stop putting everybody else in danger."

"She's right," Batman said, in a somewhat irritated tone. "Without any idea what's inside, that's idiotic."

"Hmmph, I'll show you idiotic," Hal said arrogantly, hands on his hips like a total drama queen. His hammer construct had long faded, but the alien box, trapped in the green energy, started to emit white light and an eerie noise seemed to be coming for it.

"I didn't touch it!" He said defensively, raising his hands as he floated backwards.

Alex let out a long sigh as she facepalmed for probably the tenth time tonight. She had a distinct feeling that she would be doing this a lot tonight. But, she braced herself with the others as Lantern pushed the box towards a corner of the warehouse. The four heroes stood there, bracing themselves for what would come.

The box slowly morphed into something bigger, much bigger, as it broke open, splitting into a circular shape. Almost like a...portal? Huge gusts of wind erupted from the portal-like structure, knocking over everything in their vicinity. And as though things couldn't get any worse, creatures started to come out of this portal; the same exact aliens they had been fighting against tonight.

"Here we go again," Alex muttered under her breath, her fists lighting up with energy.

This time, there were too many of them. She was already locked into a fight with two of these monstrous beings, fighting them off to the best of her capabilities. She had lost track of everybody else, but out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Superman using his laser-eyes to take down a whole group. She struck one of the creatures with an energy blast, sending it flying into another one before blasting them both.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on Hal, who was surrounded by at least four of the aliens. With no warning, Alex flew into the air and shot at two of the creatures, while Hal took out the other two. He barely tilted his head in acknowledgement before another monster tackled him to the ground. She had almost gone to help him, but then the creatures surrounded her mid-air. Doing a ballet spin (a pirouette, was it?), she threw her energy blasts at all of the creatures surrounding her, taking them out more quickly than she had expected.

But there was no time to celebrate.

The fight raged on as more and more of the aliens poured out of the portal. Alex was barely keeping up with the others now; only seeing flashes of green and red, along with black metal whizzing past her. The creatures had somehow managed to push them out of the warehouse and they were back in the chilly air, still fighting.

"Lantern, plug that hole!" Batman ordered as he fought off against one of the aliens.

Alex barely had time to watch Hal seal up the hole in the wall of the warehouse because she was currently stuck fighting three of these creatures. Sending one to the ground with a furious punch, she struck the other two with more energy blasts, sending them all crashing into the ground. Tonight was turning out to be one of her most tiring nights; she had never fought an entire army like this, let alone an army of actual aliens. As tired as she felt, Alex knew there was no way she could rest, not even for a second because the monsters wouldn't stop coming and the city needed to be protected from them.

After a few moments, her attention shifted back to the other two. Batman's voice echoed through the sounds of the battle.

"Concentrate! Your constructs are fading. Your mind is scattered."

Alex looked back at the hole, only to see that the green light covering it had disappeared and Hal was dealing with a group of the creatures elsewhere. "Worry about yourself. You're the one without powers."

She rolled her eyes at his words, turning back to smash her fist through one of the creatures, letting it explode. She flew down, landing next to Batman as she shot out another cosmic blast in the general direction of the massive horde of aliens. "These things just won't stop coming!" Alex yelled, as she slid around and grabbed a creature by the neck, crushing its throat into pieces.

"We need to take a step back and regroup," Batman finally said, voice firm. "There's too many of them to barrel through."

Hal looked at him, with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah? Tell that to Superman."

Alex snapped around so fast that she almost got whiplash. All three of them stared at Superman as hundreds of these creatures descended on him, surrounding him like a monstrous cage. They started piling on top of him, but with an angry shout, he blasted them all away with his lasers. Even as more creatures came after him, he flew back and picked up a large semi-truck, like it weighed nothing.

Alex felt slightly jealous. Super strength seemed easy for Superman, but when she used it, she immediately got drained. (a reason why this power was her hidden card, something to pull out when things were getting a little too much)

"Come on," Superman said. "Smile for me!"

With another grunt, he threw the truck at the monsters, disintegrating them in a fiery explosion. Alex frowned, still feeling jealous.

But once more, she spun around and slammed a glowing fist straight into the metallic jaw of one of the creatures, sending it flying just centimetres away from Hal. Her lips curled up into a smirk at his awed expression and she almost bowed like she was on a talent show stage.

Before Hal could say anything to her, a blur of blue and red flew past them, leaving them all alone as the creatures kept on coming through the portal. Behind her, Hal groaned in frustration.

"And there goes our big gun," He sighed. "Fantastico."

It was an invasion. A full scale, almost Hollywood-esque, alien invasion. But it was real.

These aliens were nothing like Alex had ever seen in a movie. They were monstrous, almost like somebody had opened a portal to hell and let out a bunch of demons. She, Batman and Green Lantern were still fighting them off, crashing into cars and crushing the concrete of the roads. Even in the middle of the fight, Alex kept on cringing.

'Oh, people are going to hate us even more after this.'

She was on the ground, a few feet away from Batman and was surrounded by a whole group. Raising her arms like she was a traffic cop guiding cars on a street, she let the cosmic energy build up inside her. With one quick movement, she'd unleashed a massive golden-blue blast, destroying all six of the creatures in an instant.

Hal flew to the ground, just as Batman kicked one of the creatures away. For someone who didn't have powers, he was fighting pretty fucking well and Alex felt her respect for him grow even more.

Hal turned to look at them with a smirk. "That wasn't so hard."

Another explosion sounded through the night and they turned their attention to a building. More monsters broke through, flying into the city from what appeared to be another portal. Alex looked at Hal, glaring. He himself was facepalming, letting out another frustrated sigh. A creature landed behind him, ready to kill him while he was distracted.

But before Alex could call out a warning, a red and gold blur came out of nowhere and started punching the creature. The blur solidified into a person, who then proceeded to punch the creature, sending it straight to the ground.

He turned to them, a grin on his face. "Looks like you could use a hand."

"Flash! My boy!" Hal greeted enthusiastically. "Great to see you!" He and Flash (who looked a little reluctant) did a weird bro-handshake. Alex chuckled to herself, brushing her hair backwards.

"Hey Red," Alex greeted him, using the nickname she had given him in one of their previous meetings. "Nice to finally see you in the battle."

"Hey Nova," Barry grinned at her before he walked over to her, giving her a one-armed hug. Hal made a small noise of protest behind him.

"So he can call you Nova, but I can't?" He muttered quietly, pouting beneath his mask, just like a child. But a smile appeared on his face as he motioned behind them. "Oh yeah, and that's Batman."

Barry looked at them both in surprise. "Batman's real?!"

"Yeah he's over there," Hal motioned towards the Dark Knight who was currently crouching near one of the fallen creatures, studying and analysing it carefully.

"Wait, what?" Barry sounded even more surprised. He sped past them suddenly, sending Alex's hair flying over her mask and into her eyelids. She brushed it away, watching in amusement as Barry awkwardly fanboyed over Batman.

"It is a real honor to meet you, sir, Batman. Sir. Batman Sir." Barry held out his hand as Batman got up from the ground, looking his way.

"Don't bother, the guy's a total tool," Hal said, rolling his eyes.

And as though to prove Hal wrong, Batman shook hands with Barry. "I followed your efforts in Central City, Flash. You do tight, efficient work."

Barry seemed quite in awe as Batman turned away, taking in the fact that he had just been complimented by the World's Greatest Detective.

"Hey Barry, you, uh," Hal suddenly spoke, sounding somewhat jealous. "Got a little something on your nose."

Flash snapped out of his funk and turned to glare at him. Alex burst out into laughter, before patting Hal's arms. Hal narrowed his eyes at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at him like a mature person. So mature.

"Get ready," Batman told them, getting into a fighting stance. "Here they come."

FLASH IS FINALLY HERE!!!

I'm so excited to be finally writing Barry into the story. He and Alex and Hal are gonna be so amazing together, plus he and Alex have such a sibling-esque relationship which I am so excited to include. We're also coming up to the part where the other members (Wonder Woman, Shazam and Cyborg) join the fight too. And if there's one thing I can say about that, it's that Alex will definitely have a little bit of a crush on Diana (I mean...who doesn't?)

I really hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!