The Despero Intersection

"J'onn has more damn powers than Superman himself, and he still got pulped," Beetle said, feeling numbness creep in. "And you're the second stringer. I'm just a guy in a costume. I don't even rate."

"Doctor Fate, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, every damn heavyweight! We need major muscle or we're all dead! OH, FUCK!"

"BOOSTER!"

Beetle could only gape as a building, whose base Despero had just blasted, toppled, sending tons of masonry falling over the surprised Booster.

"FALL, GODDAMMIT!" Fire shouted in desperation, her powers straining to the outmost against Despero's inhuman resilience.

"YOU FALL, WOMAN."

Fire gasped. A sledgehammer seemed to have struck her mind. She blanked out, her flame-form suddenly changing back to normal flesh-and-blood as she fell.

"Oh, shi-!" Beetle began as he moved forward in a futile rush to catch the falling girl, knowing that he could never get there in time. Physics just didn't give people those kinds of breaks.

"Uh?"

Beetle stood astonished as Fire's falling figure slowed down for no apparent reason and came to rest gently on the slab's surface. Almost immediately, Despero grunted, bent over, twisted to a side abruptly, and fell face down.

"WHAT-?" Despero began, starting to rise, just before his head was thrown violently to a side, and he began to clutch at his throat. His head began to twist slowly, rotating on the thick neck slowly but inexorably.

"What happened...?" mumbled a voice behind the stunned Beetle.

He turned to see the dazed Fire clumsily getting to her knees, shaking her head.

"Eh?" Fire said, as she saw Despero struggling against empty air several paces away, his head being wrenched around. "You Goddamned asshole..." she muttered as she rose her hands, aiming.

"NOOOO!" shouted Beetle, running towards Fire. "Don't you see-?"

Green fire shot from her hands towards Despero.

"-It's J'onn-!"

Two different voices cried out as her fireblast struck.

"-He's invisible..." completed Beetle, far too late, feeling his stomach sink.

"AARHHHH!" screamed the Martian Manhunter, his voice drowning Despero's roar as flames covered his now visible body, his flesh burning. His malleable Martian tissue could adapt to most damage, but burning was his greatest weakness.

"J'onn! NO!" cried Fire, in horror.

"PLAYING GAMES, MARTIAN?" asked Despero, dismissing his own fire-induced pain, as he stood up and grabbed his opponent by the neck.

"SHREWD. KEEPING YOUR PRESENCE SHIELDED FROM MY SENSES. USELESS, HOWEVER."

Despero's third eye glowed and a savage blast of energy struck the Martian hero point-blank. A second blast followed immediately, making J'onn, still in Despero's grasp, shake like a rag doll.

"J'onn, I'm sorry!" shouted Fire, stumbling towards them, not knowing what else to do. Despero turned to look at the still confused heroine and casually released an energy burst that would have killed her, had Beetle not tackled her an instant before, throwing both to the ground. The blast's shock wave caught them and sent them rolling among the debris.

Despero chuckled evilly as he saw that the two Leaguers were not moving. He turned his gaze again to the Martian Manhunter.

"THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM, EARTHLINGS SAY."

Feeling himself drowning in an ocean of pain, J'onn still looked up, wanting to look death eye to eye, without fear. He saw Despero's eye glow anew, preparing to unleash the final blast.

And then he was gone.

J'onn winced as his burned body hit the rough waterproofed concrete surface. There had been the sound of an impact, but then what? His ravaged senses reached out to find out what had happened. And found her.

She knelt over him, concern shining brightly on her mind. Her hands felt cool against his charred skin.

"Merciful Hera," Wonder Woman said, aghast at the Martian's condition. "J'onn, you need help. I must-"

>>Stop him,<< his mind said, burned lips now useless for speech. >>You must stop him.<<

"But-" Diana began.

>>I can heal myself. But Despero must be stopped, Princess. Please.<<

Blocks away, where Wonder Woman's kick had thrown him, Despero roared his fury.

"Yes," Wonder Woman said laconically, standing up.

PART EIGHT: THE FIGHT'S THE THING

"WOMAN!" Despero roared, his enormous crimson body, trembling with rage. "HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE?"

"Please surrender," Princess Diana of the Amazons said calmly, flying down to stand half a block away from where Despero had crashed down. "Nobody else needs to be hurt."

"RAAAHHHRGH!!" Despero roared as he charged at her, his powerful legs propelling him forward with an acceleration impossible to contemplate by any human athlete.

With cold precision, Wonder Woman stepped forward into Despero's rush, leading with her right side, arms extending, one to grab Despero's right arm, the other to hook around his massive torso, while her hip struck his groin. With one single, fluid motion, she twisted and spun, torqueing his great mass fast around the fulcrum of her hip, to slam him hard against the floor.

Buildings all around shook with the impact.

"Please surrender."

**************************************

"Kilowog sat on me, or what?" Blue Beetle muttered, debris falling off him as he moved. He looked down and saw Fire, face up beneath him.

"Oh, boy. Another one of those dreams..."

"Beetle! Do you copy?"

"Oh, crap..." Beetle said, remembering. "Buddy, are you ok?"

"There's wreckage all over me," Booster's voice reported through the comlink. "I can't blast a way out. I'll be crushed if I turn off my force field. Can anyone give me a hand?"

"Damn. Fire's out cold, and J'onn was hurt pretty bad," Beetle said, groaning as he began to get up. "We need paramedics here."

"Man, are you hurt?"

"Uh, not really. I fell over um, something kinda soft and bouncy."

"And the big red creep?"

"Gone. Beats me why. Maybe needed to pee or something. Hold on," Beetle said, limping towards where J'onn J'onzz lay, fallen on his side over the roofing slab. "J'onn, did you take out Big, Red and Ugl-? Jesus H. Christ! J'onn, are you ok?" he added, wincing at the state of his teammate. "Damn stupid question. You sure as hell ain't ok. What can I do?"

>>I will be fine. I can heal myself. I just need time. Help the others.<<

"You sure? You look like Oberon's last attempt at meatloaf -HEY! You felt that?"

**************************************

"STAND STILL, DAMN IT!" Despero roared as he jumped at Wonder Woman, his body a blur, his rage further fueled by his frustration. How could such a slip of a female dodge his wrath?

Wonder Woman ducked beneath his outstretched arms, and grabbing his thick midsection in a close embrace, she flowed with his momentum, arching back and to a side at the waist. Redirecting Despero's impetus, she threw herself backwards into bridge position, slamming Despero face-first against the ground behind her, in a move modern wrestlers may have called a suplex.

Pushing off the ground powerfully with her legs, she flipped backwards to land gracefully two paces away from the dazed Despero. In one fluid motion she freed from the clasp on her belt the coiled length of her golden lasso, and sent it through the air, to encircle the still dazed Despero.

"SURRENDER. NOW," Wonder Woman commanded, her will flowing through the magical lariat. "You must not hurt anyone else."

Despero's eyes clouded for an instant, and he stumbled back in confusion. He shook his head and raised his gaze, fire burning anew in them.

"NO!" he roared. "MY HATE MUST HAVE EXPRESSION!"

Wonder Woman's lips tightened. The lasso's power of coercion was limited by the person's true nature. If Despero harbored no regret or guilt, the lasso was ineffective.

"DIEEEEEEARRHHHHHH!"

Despero lunged, and Wonder Woman stepped forward. Ducking slightly to a side, she struck out with the heel of her hand against his chin, using the opposing force vectors to maximize the power of her strike. The blow shattered Despero's jaw and threw his whole torso backwards, while his feet flew up, all forward momentum neutralized in the brutal collision and resulting torque, sending the monster crashing to the floor.

"So be it," she said.

**************************************

"Booster?" Beetle whispered, adjusting the magnification of his goggles, to better watch the actions of the Amazon Princess from his position on the slab's edge.

"Yeah?"

"Remind me that from now on, I'm to always express myself with only the outmost respect regarding Princess Diana."

**************************************

Despero's curses were now unintelligible grunts. Glowering in fury, he swung powerfully, attempting to land an Earth-shattering punch on the agile Amazon.

Wonder Woman ducked, sidestepping beneath Despero's swing, and her booted right shin rushed up in a blur to strike at his midsection. As he doubled over, she grabbed his outstretched arm, and her foot stomped sideways with crisp precision onto the side of his right knee.

With a grunt of pain, Despero fell to his knees, and Wonder Woman immediately spun, her left knee making powerful contact against the back of his head.

Despero flopped down face-first, unmoving.

**************************************

"HOLY SHIT! THAT'S GOTTA HURT!"

"Uh, Beetle..."

"Damn, I thought Black Canary had good moves, but that was something else! That girl oughta be in movies!"

"Beetle, I think I'm kinda going to suffocate here. Just thought you may want to know."

"Isn't the kinetic threshold of your force field set to let air in?"

"Yeah, but the wreckage around me seems too tightly packed to let much through. Look, man, I don't wanna rush you or anything, but could you please FUCKING HELP ME?"

"Jeez, don't get your panties in a bunch, I'm going..."

**************************************

She had struck Despero hard enough to cripple many of the strongest paranormals she knew of, but Wonder Woman was still not taking any chances, and she approached the fallen creature warily. Such drastic techniques and power level were not to be used lightly since it was difficult to fight at such levels without deathly results. But Despero's strength and the brutality of his rampage had forced her to rise the intensity of her actions. It was still more consideration than what Despero had shown J'onn. Yet she felt no satisfaction at being made to use such violence.

Taking the golden lasso in hand, Wonder Woman pressed one knee and shin against Despero's wide, overmuscled back, and prepared to bind him with the unbreakable lariat.

>>BEWARE! HE IS FAKING!<< J'onn's telepathic voice rang in her mind.

With a roar, Despero suddenly spun, reaching for the Amazon. But instead of attempting to flee, Wonder Woman leaned forward, blocking the hugely muscled forearm, while delivering a palm-heel strike to his face, squashing the disproportionate small nose instantly, making dark blood flood out. Turning to a side, she leaned back, pulling on his huge arm, while throwing her legs on and around him, straddling his armpit as she shifted into an arm-bar hold. Leveraging with her powerful legs against his torso, and using her own hip as fulcrum point, she pulled the arm to an angle, and with a grunt of effort, she pressed into the dislocation until the joint gave with a loud snap.

Despero's surprised howl of pain was cut short as Wonder Woman's foot rose and the heel came down fast and hard against his face, stunning him.

Relinquishing the injured arm, Wonder Woman moved over him, straddling his midsection in mount position, about to deliver a straight knuckle-punch to his face.

A burst of energy was released from Despero's third eye, and Wonder Woman was thrown off, sent backwards to fall a dozen paces away.

Despero stood up slowly, nursing his damaged arm, a growl barely held in check at the back of his throat. The Amazon's golden lasso was still tied around one of his wrists, its length falling to his side.

Wonder Woman rolled over her back to her feet, cursing her own foolishness. Losing the lasso was a serious mistake. Even if Despero could not be coerced, the unbreakable lariat should have been able to bind him, and she should have sought to do just that, not engage him in further combat. Yet she had been angry at what the creature had done to J'onn, and she had let that anger cloud her purity of purpose.

Despero's third eye glowed balefully as he stared with furious disbelief at the delicate-looking female who had managed to harm him. His rage was now tempered by wariness. Such power in a mere woman was not what he had expected.

"YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST COMELY FLESH, IT SEEMS, WOMAN," Despero said. "YOU MAY HAVE DESERVED CLOSER ATTENTION."

Wonder Woman frowned. She had felt his jaw shatter under her strike. He should have been unable to speak.

"BUT YOUR EFFORTS ARE FUTILE. YOU WILL FALL BEFORE MY FURY. THIS WHOLE PLANET WILL," his voice boomed ominously. "AND I WILL BROOK NO MORE DELAYS."

The Amazon saw the telltale energy glow of the third eye surge, and knowing that there would be no time to duck, she lifted her arms, the speed of Hermes at her command, crossing them in guard before her, using her bracelets as focal point for concentrating on her gifts of resilience and strength.

"DIE."

**************************************

J'onn J'onzz felt the blast in his mind as a jumble of sensory input. A numbing flash of light, a deafening roar, and a sudden wash of pain.

>>Diana! Are you-?<<

*I'll live,* he sensed her mind articulate, and he felt a cool flood of relief run through him.

**************************************

Wincing, Wonder Woman rose to her feet.

Despero's blast had struck her with a power she had rarely experienced. She had set her feet solidly on the ground, consciously bracing against Gaea, the power of the Earth beneath. She should have withstood anything. Yet she had been thrown off her feet, to land half a block away. The metal of her bracelets still glowed red-hot, and her whole body seemed to smoke. Most of her costume had been instantly incinerated.

She could not let him blast her again.

"YOU ARE INDEED A TASTY MORSEL, FEMALE," said Despero, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the Amazon's mostly exposed figure. The remaining scraps of cloth and armor plate barely covered her full curves. "PERHAPS I SHOULD SPARE YOU FOR LATER."

Wonder Woman sighed. She had heard that line before, again and again. Was such single-minded lack of originality an universal male trait?

"You should spare everyone the pain, Despero. Including yourself. Give up now."

"GIVE UP? YOU ARE TRULY AMUSING!" Despero answered. "I SHALL ENJOY BREAKING YOU AS MY SLAVE!"

Wonder Woman took to the air a fraction of a second before his blast struck.

**************************************

"What? Where...?" Fire mumbled.

"You left out 'why'. Careful!" Beetle gasped, as he struggled with Fire's weight. She was slung over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Don't move!"

"My God... J'onn? Is J'onn...?"

"Rather well-done, I'd say," Beetle replied, trying to balance her shifting weight. "He'll consider investing heavily in sunblock next time, I suppose, but he'll live. Don't move, dammit!"

"What happened? Why are you-?"

"Haven't you always wanted to be in my arms?"

"What?"

"Believe me, this really isn't my idea of picking up chicks. Climbing down that service ladder was no picnic. You're way heavier than what you look."

"What?"

"Booster's trapped. I need you to incinerate some stuff off him. Feel up to walking? I think my back's about to give out."

"I'll try... God, I feel like crap... I-" Fire groaned, as she began to slide off Beetle's back. Suddenly, she felt her stomach lurch and demand better lodgings. "I- UURP!"

"OH, CRAP! NO!"

"Uh... Sorry..." Fire said weakly, after the nausea had passed.

"Damn it! You know how hard it is to get the smell off this spandex stuff?"

PART NINE: WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU

Gritting her teeth, as she focused on her power of endurance, Wonder Woman crashed into the tenth story of an evacuated building, steel and concrete giving in like paper before the impact.

After frantic aerial maneuvering to dodge Despero's eyeblasts, he had finally struck her in mid-air just as she had attempted to dive head-on towards him again. She could not attempt that again. While her Amazon combat skills allowed her to match his physical strength, he had clear advantage in a long-range match. She had to get back into close range.

Shrugging off the debris, Wonder Woman reached down to thrust slender fingers into the slab beneath her, reaching the iron rods inside. With a single pull, she tore off a massive chunk of the reinforced concrete mass, and with effortless accuracy, she threw it at Despero with the speed of a rocket.

Despero's eye glowed, and the improvised projectile shattered into dust and a myriad scattered fragments.

Despero looked up, again seeking the Amazon, and was suddenly jerked back and up.

Wonder Woman rose fast into the air, holding Despero in a rear choke, her arms wrapped tightly around the thick neck, one forearm at his trachea, another pressing the skull forward, while her long legs cinched around his torso. She had used the instant of distraction to reach his back, behind his blasting range. In mid-air, with no true outside leverage, his enormous strength was neutralized, and her tightening grip depended only on internal leverage.

Despero began to struggle wildly, his arms flailing, trying in vain to reach her, his own massive frame working against him. His curses came as jumbled gasps.

The arm she had injured instants before now seemed unharmed, Wonder Woman noticed, frowning. She also could recover from most physical damage, but not at such a rate. Was any attack on him ultimately pointless, then?

Without warning a sudden shock hit her senses, a merciless pressure that seemed about to make her head explode. She clenched her teeth, and endured, while every fabric of her being begged for oblivion.

>>Resist, Diana,<< J'onn's voice said inside her mind. >>I'll help shield you.<<

*Just what is this creature's power?* she thought, as the attack relented, and Despero's struggles again become only physical. *How can I stop him?*

>>I fear we never understood the true extent of Despero's power,<< J'onn mindspoke. >>He seems capable of mentally manipulating both matter and energy. His very body may be just a manifestation of this.<<

*Can you attack his mind while I restrain him?*

>>I tried to before. He brushed my attack aside and tore through my shields with ease. He violated my memories, Diana. Ravaged my very sense of self. I could never break through such power...<<

*Then I must find a way!* she thought, already feeling her arms beginning to ache with the tension. The rear choke should had rendered Despero unconscious by now, but perhaps he did not even need to truly breathe. She had been forced to escalate her level of power and the brutality of her attacks in the face of his might, yet it seemed that Despero could withstand anything she could do. Any effort to restrain or relocate him may only delay the ultimate result.

Wonder Woman breathed deeply. She knew that if she applied enough strength in her current position, she could dislocate the neck vertebrae, but she was loath to kill. It was almost as much a failure as an actual defeat. Yet could she risk the death of untold innocents by further prolonging such a confrontation? Despite her reluctance, she seemed to have little choice.

A sudden pain hit her leg, and Wonder Woman cried out in surprise. Despero had grabbed one of the heroine's legs wrapped around his chest and had squeezed the ankle with his inhuman strength. She clenched her eyes shut, focusing on her resilience, trying to shut off the pain, even as she tightened her hold even more.