Metropolis
July 7, 2019
8:50 AM EST

Usually there is nothing that can unnerve the Man of Steel, but after that meeting with Mr. Graves--about an Apokoliptian invasion--even the Batman is more on edge than usual.

As he soars over the City of Tomorrow, Superman does what he does best: he fights crime. An armed robbery here. A stolen car there. Even saving a cat in a tree.

As he sits atop the of the giant globe of the Daily Planet Building, he thinks about much has happened in just the past week alone. First, Wally comes back and then immediately after everyone is rallying and preparing for a war that is yet to come. As Clark thinks back on this, he hears something.

He hears a loud explosion and several loud screams. But he doesn't see any smoke.

He follows the loud rancor and finds the source. A giant hole has ripped open the sky high above LexCorp Tower, and it is spewing out heavily-armored and armed insect-like creatures that are destroying everything in their path.

"Parademons!" Superman exclaims, as he gets to work rescuing the people trapped in the buildings.

The Tower's private defenses come online, and missile launchers and heavy machine guns start firing on the vile creatures. Upon catching sight of the Man of Tomorrow, several of the main batteries start to open fire on Superman, as he is carrying a bus load of people as far away for the snarled traffic below--so that it can escape the city.

Typical Luthor, Superman thinks as he strains against the weight.

He gets hit in the back and nearly drops the bus. he sets it down next to a small park. The motor starts and it speeds away. He then turns his attention back to the ever growing swarm of Parademons exiting the Boom Tube. He then engages them directly, as MCPD tends to the remaining civilians.

He starts throwing punches and throwing the creatures into each other, as the Air Force arrives--no doubt from the nearby base.

Even though the base is miles away, Superman can still hear the screams of the unfortunate airmen that are not able to reach their aircraft, or get into the air. Upon hearing that the runways are blocked--and realizing that he can't hold off this swarm by himself--he goes to the base's aid. After clearing the injured from the burning fighter jets, he gives the heaps of metal a swift kick and effectively clears the runway.

"Are you okay?" Superman asks the woman he just rescued.

The jet pilot is about to respond, but instead reaches for her standard issue pistol and opens fire on the Parademon sneaking up behind Superman--killing It.

Superman nods in gratitude before he leaps into sky.

_______________________________________

Gotham
9:02 AM EST

The air around Gotham was filled with more tension than usual, as mobs of people flee the destruction of the two cities to the north.

A thick blanket of fog encircles the entire city; hiding it from view from the outside world.

While the police have their hands full, the Batman continues to wage his one man war against crime--with Robin's help, of course.

They stand perched on top of a supposedly abandoned warehouse by the docks at the easternmost point of the island city. Inside the warehouse, one of the several head mobsters that call Gotham home holds a meeting with his associates. The topic: how to exploit the chaos happening all around them.

Batman views this meeting via Robin's hologlove. As the group gets down to business, a silent alarm is triggered on the glove. The screen flashes the message 'Proximity Alert!' over and over. After a little bit of typing, Robin reveals that there are a multitude of small and large crafts approaching the city at high speeds.

Before they can even think about what to do, the crafts reveal themselves. For out of the fog, a large convoy of zodiacs, PT boats, landing craft, amphibious vehicles, helicopters, and fighter jets race toward and around the small island city. Behind them trails a group of cruisers and destroyers, breaking hard to port and starboard to avoid hitting the piers. The destroyers fire on the fog continuously, as a large cloaked vessel emerges from the fog.

That vessel is the G.S.S. Wisconsin, and she is heavily damaged.

The massive battleship continues to move forward at high speeds, under no ones command--for the crew is dead. She is listing hard to the starboard side, and her superstructure is a massive mess of twisted steel engulfed in a mountain of flames. She continues forward, heading straight toward the warehouse.

Acting quickly, the two caped crusaders grapple to nearest high rise on the other side of the street. A few seconds later, the Wisconsin crashes through the warehouse and beaches herself. The two heroes watch as the warehouse collapses, and encases the large ship in a heap of twisted tin and steel.

Then, something horrible happens. One of here twin nuclear reactors starts to go into meltdown. The heat breaches the containment unit and explodes; causing a small cavern under the warehouse to cave-in and bury the radioactive disaster. The water that manages to trickle in cools the second reactor.

The rest of the convoy sets up perimeter around the island, as the Batman seeks out the man in command of this fleet. He jumps down from the small office building and lands in front of a young colonel.

"Who's is charge here?" The Batman asks sternly.

As the Batman gets some answers from the rag-tag group of officers, the man in charge of the defense of the nation and the majority of the planet is finally informed of the situation.

_______________________________________

Bunker Alpha Facility 9:15 AM EST

Mr. Graves walks through a congested hallway in the heavily-fortified, underground facility, flanked by his head advisors. They update him on the status of the planet's defenses. So far, the reports are not all good, while some are not all bad.

He reads over them, learning about how each nation is dealing with the invasion. The situation is worse than his experts expected.

Most of the world's major cities are left in ruins. Taipei. New York. Star City . Metropolis. Shanghai. Many of these cities are also the seats for most of the national governments on the planet. Washington, D.C. London. Moscow. Beijing. Even Pyongyang. Each and every one of them, has just barely been reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.

With most of the largest and most powerful cities out of the way, the Hordes of Apokolips spread out from their points of origin--the Boom Tubes--, and they begin the slow and arduous task of subjugating the rest of the planet. They start with the surrounding cities. Some new Tubes open up to take out all visible military installations and the small cities that surround them.

Mr. Graves is lead to a small room where there is a large map of the country on the far wall. A large group of Generals--"The Desk Army"--plots the locations of points of contact in Red, destroyed cities and bases in Black, and failing defenses and offenses in Yellow. Green pins indicate the successful defensives.

There's not many of those.

The Grand Marshall of the Global Earth Army, Mr. Graves, takes offense that the city of Pittsburgh is marked in yellow. He becomes infuriated when the same General prematurely switches the pin out with a black one. He swears that, by the gods, he will not outlive the city of his birth.

The sight of this, combined with the non-stop stream of continuously darker and grimmer field reports, causes the usually calm, cool-headed businessman/military commander to open into a tirade of his disgust of the situation.

"Put the Yellow pin back in, General," Mr. Graves growls angrily--catching the attention of the entire room.

Everyone stares at him in both shock and confusion, for he has barely spoken more then three words the entire day.

"But, sir," the General pleads. "It is only a matter of time until--"

"Until what!?!" Mr. Graves snaps furiously. "Until The 'Burgh falls! Until the statewide defensive fails!?! Until the planet is ground under the heel of a despotic, tyrannic evil of a god!?! The time for running and hiding is over! Lieutenant Despara!"

"Yes, sir!" a middle-aged, female officer salutes.

"I need you to send everything we can spare to The Steel City," Mr. Graves orders sternly, "to reinforce Gen. Irons' armoured and troop divisions. The force will be under your command."

"Yes, sir!" the Lieutenant salutes, then quickly exits the room.

Mr. Graves grabs a marker and jogs towards the map. "We make our stand here."

He points at the Yellow pin representing Pittsburgh. He presses the marker to the paper and starts to draw some 'lines in the sand' for the enemy to not cross.

"We shall push them back to the ridgeline of the Appalachians to the East, the Allegheny and Beaver to the West, the Mason-Dixon to the South, and to the Lake in the North," he commands.

He turns around and faces the crowded room of high ranking officers. He sees that their faces show that they are doubtful that this plan will work.

"For all intents and purposes," Mr. Graves starts solemnly, "this is a last stand against the enemy. But we need to show the world, the people, that there is still a highly capable army defending and protecting them. That there is still hope."

"And how do you expect to pull this off?" one of the Generals asks.

"Tell the field commanders to use every resource at their disposal. If there are civilians willing to fight, have them act as scouts and bleed the enemy of it's resources and capabilities through guerilla tactics. If there is a storehouse full of weapons, use them. Use the enemies weapons against them, if able. If there are willing people with...unique talents, then have them serve as the vanguard to protect those that seek shelter from horror. That is how we will pull this off General," Marshall Graves proclaims proudly.

Just then, the door to the room bursts open. A young Private runs up to and salutes Mr. Graves, proclaiming to have an important call from Langley. The young man proclaims that the President would like to speak with him. Mr. Graves accepts the satphone, and the Private hastily exits the room after being dismissed.

"Hello, Mr. President," Mr. Graves states calmly.

"Hello Joe," the man on the other end replies, in a very familiar voice.

"Tom!?!" Joseph exclaims slightly confused.

He was expecting to hear the voice of a reality TV star.

Instead, he hears the voice of his twin brother.

"The defense in the Capital was a s$!$ show," the former Senator relays. "I was just sworn in, as in accordance to emergency contingencies. The previous President and his entire Cabinet are dead. Along with all of the War Dogs and Pentagon Relics. They didn't send an army. They sent human bombs! They destroyed everything within ten miles of the White House."

He takes a breath and continues, "Now....How do we take back our world?"

Joseph smirks.

And he tells him the answer.