Revenge: Act 4: Invasion Force - part 1
by BlueBard

Previously...

"self extends gratitude to units designated: alchemiss and manbot." Microwave turned suddenly. "self detecting surge of energy-x from subject designated: deja vu."

A bright aura of light surrounded the purple-clad villain. Suddenly, another DejaVu appeared. Both figures sang in unison, "I think I'm a clone, now! There's another one of me just hangin' arou-ound! Say hello to my clone, now! I'm a supervillain singin' in stereo sou-ound!"

"Ah think we'd best be ready to rumble," sighed AlcheMiss.

A brilliant light flashed as Microwave duplicated itself. The robotic doubles advanced upon the surprised clone master and his clone. "cease and desist," the Microwaves spoke in unison. "subjects designated: deja vu must surrender immediately or suffer the consequences. you have thirty seconds to comply."

The Dejas' eyes narrowed with menace. "We do not think we like your tone; prepare to fight another clone!" Another bright light flashed, and a third Deja stood next to the other two.

Immediately, another flash of light filled the room, fading to reveal a third Microwave. "fifteen seconds and counting."

Then, a double flash. Now four Deja's faced four Microwaves. "targeting original subject," all four Microwaves said emotionlessly. They each pointed their emitters at a single Deja, whose eyes grew quite wide! The unhinged supervillain was smart enough to realize that Microwave's computerized brain was easily able to track and identify him from his clones.

DejaVu looked down at an imaginary wristwatch. "Oh, look at the time! Gee, it's been really fun, but I'm late for a date. I 1really must run!" DejaVu charged up the rickety stairs while the Deja clones fired their rayguns at the Microwave duplicates. A massive firefight ensued as Microwave and his duplicates unleashed a barrage of energy upon the clones. AlcheMiss and Liberty Lad took cover behind one of the confinement cells.

"DejaVu is getting away!" Nick yelled in frustration.

"Just sit tight, Sugah," AlcheMiss ordered firmly. "That yellowbelly's the least of our problems right now. There's a lot of hard radiation flyin' around down here at the moment, an' you surely don't wanna try to fight evildoers while you're glowin' in the dark."

"You've got a point."

The Microwave duplicates gave up on trying to irradiate the resistant clones into submission and closed for hand-to-hand combat. The clones apparently had no taste for fisticuffs and retreated up the stairs after their departed original. Three of the Microwaves pursued, but it was clear that the Deja clones had a speed advantage. Microwave, the original, turned back toward his teammates.

"self failed to subdue subject: deja vu. subject has escaped. suggest confrontation with techmaster entity."

"Let's go!" Liberty Lad leaped up and ran up the stairs behind the Microwave duplicates. AlcheMiss and Microwave trailed him. The trio emerged into the warehouse in the middle of a furious battle. Deja clones and multiple Microwaves battled a small army of the android minions. Liberty Lad ducked as a Deja sailed over his head and smashed into the wall.

"self initiating defense protocols. self's duplicates outnumbered; this unit will re-duplicate itself." Energy flared around Microwave and another copy of the robotic hero appeared. It quickly stepped out into the fray. However, the energy flare caught the attention of the android host and several of them began fighting their way through to the three heroes.

"Stand back, Nick!" AlcheMiss ran out in front of Microwave to meet the advancing androids. "Remember me?" she quipped as she invoked another hurricane blast of wind to surround her. The androids were launched into the air with tremendous force and thrown out through the skylight with a shattering explosion of glass.

On the other side of the warehouse, surrounded by a personal guard of the humanoid minions, Techmaster drew his energy pistol and took aim at AlcheMiss. "I should have eliminated you when I had the opportunity, human witch!"

Thinking fast, Nick grabbed a rusty steel barrel and chucked it across the warehouse at Techmaster. The barrel hit one of the androids standing in front of him and broke open. Amber fluid splashed just as the alien scientist fired.

KA-BOOM! Techmaster's shot ignited the flammable liquid and a huge fireball engulfed him and his guards. When the flare died down, it revealed a dazed but otherwise unharmed Techmaster, protected by a glittering forcefield. His guards were not so fortunate, and lay in smoking heaps at his feet.

"What d'ya know?" muttered Liberty Lad as he charged into battle. "Gasoline and androids don't mix!" He tapped a Deja on the shoulder and dropped the clone with a mean right hook as it turned around.

AlcheMiss pointed an accusing finger at the alien. "Ah think we'll put you on ice, Techmaster." Before the evil gadgeteer could raise his pistol to shoot again, an eldritch burst of crimson flared around her, then around him. Suddenly, Techmaster was encased in a block of ice, quick frozen by AlcheMiss' alteration power. "Ah didn't think your little ol' forcefield could block my mystic powers! Score one for the good guys!"

Microwave suddenly stepped in front of AlcheMiss and shoved her to the floor. Before she could open her mouth to protest, a burst of radiation from one of the Deja's hit her metallic protector square in the chestplate. Moments later, one of Liberty Lad's stun grenades tumbled through the air and rolled to the clone's feet, releasing a dazzling burst of energy and sending the Deja reeling.

"Hey!" Nick called out. "There's more clones than there were a minute ago! That rhyming lunatic must still be around here somewhere!"

"Hey!" a chorus of clones objected in indignation. "What did you say?"

Nick thought a little ventriloquism might be appropriate. "He said you're a lunatic, you lunatic." a Deja's voice said.

"A lunatic you say I am?! Listen to my fist say, ‘wham!'" One Deja turned and punched his double in the face. The two began a shoving match that abruptly ended when one of Liberty Lad's stun grenades exploded at their feet. Nick raced over and lashed out with powerful kicks that knocked them to the ground. He picked up one of the Deja's by the shirt and punched him hard.

"Deja... Uhh." he groaned as he lapsed into unconsciousness. Immediately all of the other Dejas collapsed and began to dissolve into purple mist.

Meanwhile, Microwave was busily engaged in blasting smoking holes in android bodies, along with his duplicates. "analysis: inferior artificial constructs are not resistant to energy."

"They don't hold up too well against mystic bolts, either," replied AlcheMiss, blasting the last of the androids. "Now let's thaw out this alien creep and find out what ol' Dominion's plannin'" The three heroes quickly extracted a shivering Techmaster from his icy prison and took away his gadgets.

Microwave covered the evil scientist with fully charged emitters. "entity designated: techmaster. self requires full disclosure of information or techmaster entity will face the consequences. query: what is the next sequential event in strategy of hostile alien intelligences?"

"You're too late to stop it," sneered Techmaster. "Lord Dominion has called in the battle fleet and is even now teleporting in warriors through portals all over the city. His fiercest warriors are streaming through a portal located right outside your base." He looked into AlcheMiss' eyes evilly. "You can't possibly get there in time to close the portal before Mentor and the others are overwhelmed. You may have defeated me, but Lord Dominion will have his revenge!"

Bullet, Minuteman, El Diablo and Mentor raced outside the Freedom Fortress to find six alien warriors standing in front of a shimmering, glowing portal hanging in midair.

"Freedom Force!" shouted one of the aliens. "Attack!"

Without hesitation, Minuteman launched a Minute Missile at the invaders. The screaming eagle ricocheted off of one bulbous grey skull and hurled into another, stunning two of the aliens. Bullet rushed up and knocked them both out before the aliens could react.

"Shields!" another alien cried. The four remaining aliens cloaked themselves in glowing red energy shields. At that moment, the portal flared and three more aliens stepped out. Immediately, they took cover behind the shielded aliens and fired bursts of radiation at Bullet, nearly catching him in a crossfire and forcing him to withdraw.

"Team," Minuteman spoke to the three heroes through a telepathic link established by Mentor, subvocalizing so that he could not be overheard, "Hit and Run!" Hit and Run was the codename for one of the tactics he had insisted that the team memorize and practice. The idea was for the team to spread out and use individual tactics to hit fast and hard and then evade, making them harder to hit and keeping their foes off-balance. None of the four present had any real defenses against the aliens' radiation weapons, so avoiding the deadly beams was critical. Minuteman knew that their only advantage was that the aliens would be forced to defend the portal. Otherwise the heroes could pick off the invaders as they emerged from the teleportational gate.

The aliens, expecting a frontal assault, were astonished to see the four heroes scatter. "Cowards! Stand and fight!" the ranking alien called out.

"Upset!" At Minuteman's signal, Mentor reached out to the mind of one of the invaders and induced a ferocious, mindless rage.

"Aargh!" it screamed violently. The alien dropped its shields and began shooting at the nearest target- which happened to be another alien soldier! The surprised alien turned to defend itself while Mentor ran for the cover of a nearby tree.

"Bombard!" Minuteman hefted one of the decorative rocks strategically placed around the landscape and hurled it at the defending alien with great force. SMACK! The rock bashed the alien in its' side, knocking it roughly to the ground. The enraged alien turned on another of its' fellows still standing.

Minuteman dashed toward another cache of rocks and sent another telepathic signal. "Hellfire!" El Diablo gracefully launched himself into the air, dodged a raybeam, and launched his most powerful attack at the pack of invaders. A seething fireball detonated in their midst with a blast of flame, knocking three unprotected aliens unconscious. Just as the portal flared and three more aliens stepped through, the hellfire's secondary explosions caught them by surprise, along with one of the aliens whose shield had dropped.

"Perfect timing!" crowed El Diablo as he blasted away at an angle to gain time to recharge his power. Two of the aliens fell to the ground, and two more were badly injured.

"Bullet, Cleanup!" Bullet tore into the invaders in a silver flash, striking with punches too fast for the eye to see and bashing the two injured invaders out cold. As he passed through their midst, the confused aliens dropped their shields and shot at him- only to catch each other in a wild crossfire as Bullet zipped away.

"Ten down, two to go!" Bullet yelled. "Uh, oh! Better make that five!" he exclaimed as three more aliens emerged from the portal, their shields already raised in defense.

"A second portal is opening!" warned Mentor as a burst of light and power flashed some distance away. Three more alien warriors emerged from the new portal, activated their shields, and took positions.

Minuteman realized with dismay that the heroes would soon be overwhelmed. There was no way the four of them could cover both of the dimensional gates. There was no hope of reinforcement against the seemingly endless supply of soldiers at Lord Dominion's disposal. The rest of Freedom Force was either caught in desperate battle against the aliens or missing in action. He briefly wondered if Liberty Lad and AlcheMiss were even still alive as he threw another small boulder at one of the invaders.

John was struck by a beam of radiation fired at him by a flying alien warrior. Fortunately, his insect-like physiology was able to absorb and metabolize the energy. The hero known as The Ant picked up a truck and knocked his alien pursuer out of the sky.

In the distance, he saw Order pinned under a crossfire of the lethal beams. Order couldn't hold out much longer against the assault. Ant wanted desperately to charge to the rescue, but he had his own problems. A small squadron of flying invaders was heading his way. Some of them had Plasma Rockets instead of the radiation beam weapons. John didn't think he'd have much luck metabolizing hot plasma.

He didn't really know what to do. First the androids, now this. There were just too many of them. Ant sighed in resignation as he turned back to help his friend. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't try. At least he'd go down fighting.

Blackbird swooped through the trees, followed closely by a flying warrior. She emerged from the other side, leaves swirling behind her. The alien didn't.

Hidden among the bushes, Eve nodded in grim satisfaction. All over the park, more than a dozen invaders squirmed in the grip of trees, roots, and weeds that rose up to bind them. She and Blackbird had worked together to great effect, first destroying the android abominations, then subduing the alien soldiers.

But they couldn't close the unnatural dimensional portal, now guarded by several alert and wary warriors. Another trio of alien soldiers would arrive at any moment. She winced at the memory of the canny aliens razing all of the vegetation within range, having felt the flora wither and die in her mind. The invaders had finally realized that any and every plant nearby was a potential enemy, and had dealt with that threat decisively.

Inevitably, they'd burn the whole park to the ground. Eve's powers weren't as effective out in the concrete jungle of the city. She'd have to rely on Blackbird when the time came to retreat into the alleyways.

POW! An alien invader sailed through the air, bounced off an open sail, and splashed into the harbor.

"Was that enough, or do ye want another?!" growled Man O'War. The alien sank below the waves. "I didna think so, landlubber." He called out to Sea Urchin, "How're ye farin', lassie?"

Merry dodged an alien raybeam and fired a burst of acid bubbles at her attacker. "I can handle it!" she replied with asperity.

Man O'War wasn't so sure either of them could ‘handle it'. So far, the aliens had been at a disadvantage on the waterfront. He and the lass had plenty of cover among the crates, under the docks, and in the water itself. But unless Dominion was running out of cannon-fodder, which he doubted, the glowing portal hanging over the boardwalk would soon spew out more invaders than they could take on.

That was bad enough. Worse yet, Merry insisted on using herself to bait the aliens, getting close enough so that he could bounce a lightning bolt off her and fry ‘em where they stood. She was so determined to prove herself and taking so many reckless chances, it was only a matter of time before she got them both killed. Now there's a cheery thought, he mused darkly.

To Be Continued...