We open to Themyscira in the middle of the night. We then see a figure in a purple cloak walking around the inside of one of the structures. As the figure walks past a lot of pillars, they eventually make it to some kind of altar.
When the figure walks up to the base of the altar, there lay multiple items. A golden tiara with a red star, a golden lasso, silver star earrings, and silver bracelets are some of the items. When the figure pulls down the hood of their cloak, it's revealed to be the black haired woman from the last chapter.
???: "Mother, forgive me." She slips off her cloak, and starts putting on the items in front of her.
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We then cut back to J'onn, Batman, Superman, and Upgrade. They are currently being approached by some black, white, and gray aliens holding blasters.
J'onn: "It's them."
Upgrade: "Kinda figured that."
The invaders then starts shooting, one of them sending Superman into a tank. Batman is able to grab J'onn and pull him to safety before he could get hit. Upgrade however, has gone on the full offense.
Upgrade: "Guess I get some target practice today." He morphs his other hand into a blade. "Now, who's first?"
One of the invaders attempts to blast him, but Upgrade is quicker. Upgrade expertly dodges multiple blasts while shooting back at them. He also slices many of them, using his blaster and blade in tandem. While this is happening, Batman also decides to help.
Batman: "Stay down." He says to J'onn.
He throws an explosive Batarang and it blows up several of the invaders. He prepares another, but one of the aliens comes up from behind Batman.
J'onn: "Behind you!"
J'onn goes through Batman and activates some kind of psychic shield around himself, blocking the blast. J'onn then falls unconscious from it as Batman throws a Batarang at the invader, knocking it out.
Batman: "J'onn, are you..?" J'onn only groans in response, so Batman wraps J'onn's arm around his neck. "Hang on!"
Superman: "Get him to safety." He is holding a tank above his head. "We'll cover you."
The invaders continue to fire at Superman, who is blocking the shots with the tank. Upgrade is also still tearing the invaders apart as Batman carries J'onn to the Batwing. Batman puts J'onn in the backseat, before getting in the pilot seat and starting the Batwing. During this, J'onn wakes up and his eyes start glowing.
Superman, now noticing Batman starting to take off, throws the tank at the remaining invaders. This explodes the remaining of them. Both Superman and Upgrade then fly, the latter extending out mechanical wings from his back, before following Batman.
Batman: "That was close."
J'onn: "We're not safe yet. Look."
As the four heroes look over, they see an entire fleet of ships. These ships then start blasting at them.
Upgrade: "We can't ever catch a break, can we?"
Superman: "I guess not."
The three fliers then start evasive maneuvers, with most of them following Batman's aircraft. Superman tears through several of them, before being shot down by one of the ships and into the mountainside. Upgrade continues to help Batman by tearing through the ships as Batman does his best to avoid their blasts.
Batman's evasive skills even help him take down a few of the ships by making them crash. However, this is not enough as one of Batman's wings is shot off. The ship spins out of control as Batman tries to regain control. Though, his efforts are fruitless, and the ship continues to plummet to the ground.
Upgrade: "Don't worry! I'm coming!" He activates boosters on his feet and flies even faster towards the plummeting ship. "Come on! Come on!"
Before he can reach it however, a green light completely engulfs the Batwing, stopping its descent.
Batman: "What happened?"
J'onn: "Help has arrived."
Upgrade, J'onn, and Batman look up to see a beam of green light hitting the Batwing. At the end of it is a man on top of the mountainside. The man, named John Stewart, is a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He also gets shot at by the ships.
That is when another figure carrying an energy mace joins the fray, this being Hawkgirl. She destroys several of the alien ships easily with her mace.
Batman: "Hawkgirl? What's she doing here?"
J'onn phases out of the Batwing as Green Lantern, now flying with a green aura around him, sets it down. The five fliers than band together.
Green Lantern: "Sorry I'm late. There was an uprising near Rigel Nine."
Upgrade: "No worries. Now the real party can get started."
The five of them start destroying more of the ships. Green Lantern uses his ring to shoot through them. Hawkgirl uses her mace to obliterate them. Superman throws and tears through them with his super strength. J'onn cleverly makes the ships shoot at each other with his intangibility. Upgrade uses his vast amount of weapons to destroy and tear apart the ships. He even uses upgraded versions of Batman's Batarang to slice apart multiple ships with one attack.
From below, Batman has to avoid falling debris from the raging battle in the sky. Shortly after, a stray shot explodes near Hawkgirl, making her fall to the ground. Luckily she didn't fall to far, so she's okay. The ship turns around, ready to shoot at her again. That is when yet another figure joins the battle, which is Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman: "Allow me."
As the ship starts firing at the two women, Wonder Woman is able to deflect them back at the ship with her bracelets. This causes the ship to stop operating, and starts falling towards the two. Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl brace for impact, but Green Lantern shields them with a forcefield. Green Lantern drops the forcefield after the ships explodes.
Green Lantern: "Who's the rookie in the tiara?"
Superman: "I'm not sure." He throws a ship into the mountainside, destroying it.
Upgrade: "And why is she wearing such revealing clothing?" He shoots at the last ship, making it explode on contact. "She must be freezing out here."
Hawkgirl: "Thanks." She thanks Wonder Woman, before flying off with her.
The rest of the heroes group up on the ground with Batman, with Flash arriving as well. Superman and Wonder Woman land shortly after.
Flash: "Hey, Bats!" He holds up the Batwing's wing. "I think you dropped this." He looks at Wonder Woman and gives Batman the wing. "Woah! Where have you been all my life?"
Wonder Woman: "Themyscira."
Flash: "Huh?"
That is when the rest of the heroes land.
Hawkgirl: "The home of the amazons. I always though it was merely legend."
Wonder Woman: "I assure you, it's as real as the ground on which we stand. I am Diana, princess of the Amazons."
Flash: "Pinch me. I must be dreaming." Superman jabs him with his elbow, Upgrade pinching his arm at the same time. "Ow! Watch the claws, man."
Wonder Woman: "Themyscira is protected by the Gods, but I could not stand idly by while the rest of the world was in danger."
Upgrade: "Well, it's nice to meet you Diana. Thanks for showing up to help."
Superman: "And it was lucky you showed up when you did."
J'onn: "No, not luck. I telepathically summoned them here."
Flash: "Look, I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake, but would someone please tell me what the heck is gong on here?"
Everyone looks at J'onn as he explains who he is.
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We see Upgrade merged with the Batwing, before unmerging from it. The wing, which was broken off, is now repaired. He then walks back over to the group.
Wonder Woman: "So, J'onn Jonzz, you came to Earth to warn us?"
Flash: "This is just too weird."
Green Lantern: "I've seen stranger things."
Upgrade: "Me too." He shivers. "Some things I wish I could forget."
J'onn: "We first encountered them a thousand of your earth years ago."
Upgrade: 'Damn, that is a long time ago.'
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Flashback
It shows mars, in it's former glory. It's cities are incredibly advanced, with plant life flourishing everywhere.
J'onn: "It was a golden age. Our Martian civilization was at the height of its peace and prosperity."
We see a close up of a martian man and woman, likely J'onn and his wife.
J'onn: "Then, they arrived."
J'onn and his wife look up to see numerous meteors land on the planet. The martians run and hide as the meteors start destroying the city.
J'onn: "Where they came from, no one knew, but they were determined to make our planet their own."
The same walkers emerge from the meteors and start blasting the city apart. We see a martian, with some kind of hand grenade, hiding from a walker behind some rubble. The martian activates the grenade and runs up behind the walker.
J'onn: "We martians were peaceful people and the taking of any life was abhorrent to us."
The martian throws the grenade at the walker, making it explode from the inside. A piece of the machine launches into the air, before exploding, raining down fire.
J'onn: "But we quickly learned the ways of war."
The flashback then shows numerous martians being captured and executed by the invaders, with the walkers still tearing apart the planet.
J'onn: "For centuries, the battles raged on. Every trace of our once great civilization was obliterated. We fought valiantly, but the invaders were parasites who fed on our psychic energy."
We see the invaders shoving the corpses of various Martians into red pods.
J'onn: "As we grew weaker, they grew stronger." One of the invaders puts it's hand to a martian's head, absorbing the martian's power and turning into a martian. "They even absorbed our shape-changing abilities."
The flashback shows seven Martians in crude gas masks, carrying blasters, running into the invader's base.
J'onn: "Finally, a small group of martian survivors planned one final and desperate attack."
We see one of the martians throw a grenade, blowing up two of the invaders. As the martians rub forward, they get into a fire fight with the invaders. The martians and the aliens blast at each other, with both sides losing men before the invaders are taken out. But this leaves only two martians left.
That is when reinforcements arrive, with about several dozen of the invaders shooting at the two martians. One of the martians blasts at the aliens just before hiding behind a weirdly shaped column. The other martian is also taken out, leaving only one.
Then, the last martian takes off a device from his side and activates it. He then throws the device, and it lands between the group of invaders before shooting out a pink gas.
J'onn: "Inside their underground stronghold, we unleashed a powerful nerve gas which paralyzed them."
The gas spreads throughout the groups of aliens, until all of them are paralyzed. The martian sends numerous small devices, releasing the same gas, through the ventilation system of the stronghold. The gas eventually spreads, paralyzing each of the invaders. Afterwards, the martian walks around the stronghold, in order to make sure all of them are paralyzed. When it's safe, he takes his mask off.
J'onn: "The attack was successful, but the cost was dear." The martian looks around at the fallen bodies of his group. "I was the only survivor, the last of my kind."
The Past J'onn walks through the door Carter opened, sealing it behind himself.
J'onn: "I sealed up their citadel to keep them in a constant state of suspended animation."
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Present
J'onn: "For over 500 years, I stood guard over them. But then, while I was in a hibernation cycle, astronauts from Earth unsealed the stronghold and accidentally revived the invaders."
Flash: "Wait, those astronauts never said anything about finding life on Mars."
Green Lantern: "Hmm, some pencil pusher in Washington probably decided it should be classified information."
Upgrade: "And now the entire Earth is going to pay the price."
J'onn: "With all the martians gone, the invaders had nothing left to feed upon, so they turned their sights to Earth. I narrowly escaped and came here to warn of the coming danger. While I was held against my will, the invaders sent advanced agents to disable Earth's defenses."
Upgrade: 'It's the Highbreed all over again. Except it won't be so easy to get rid of them.'
Batman: "That's why they sabotaged the deep-space monitoring network. So we couldn't detect their activities."
Green Lantern: "We've got to stop them before it's too late." He makes a fist, his eyes glowing intensely.
J'onn: "It may already be too late." He turns around and looks into the sky.
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We go back to Metropolis, where the invader's walkers are still tearing up and protecting the area around the meteor. Soldiers and tanks surround the area that the walkers are clearing out.
Snapper Carr: "This is Snapper Carr reporting live from ground zero in metropolis, where the alien walkers continue to clear the area around the impact site." He puts his microphone to General Wells. "General Wells, our military seems unable to stop them. Why?"
General Wells: "All our big missiles have been disarmed, and our self-proclaimed protector Superman has abandoned us." He walks off in a huff.
Snapper Carr: "Earlier, Senator J. Allen Carter had this to say."
It shows footage of Senator Carter making an announcement to the press.
Carter: "When I first proposed my peace initiative, no one ever imagined we would face an invasion like this. Now we must stand together and resist this aggression."
The feed goes back to Snapper Carr. The meteor has begun to shake, the ground rumbling with it.
Snapper Carr: "Uh, wait. We have a breaking development." The meteor continues to shake. "Something's moving inside the meteor."
After just a few seconds, the meteor falls apart. Green smoke fills the area around it, only allowing a small window into what is coming out of the meteor. And that is some black and white tentacles that are rising into the sky. The soldiers look up in shock and disbelief as the thing continues to grow.
General Wells: "Oh, my Lord."
The tentacles continue to rise into the sky, before forming into one large black machine. Some kind of drill extends from the bottom of it, before hitting the ground and drilling into it. It then starts going up and down while continuing to drill. Red pods near the drill expand and contract, as if the machine were breathing. The drilling causes large dark clouds to rise from the top of the machine. The clouds begin to cover the entire sky, lighting shooting out of them.
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We cut back to the group of eight heroes, who just heard the storm begin to form.
Wonder Woman: "What was that?"
J'onn: "It's begun."
They all move to the edge of the cliff, and see the storm starting to form in the distance. Lightning is shooting rapidly from the storm, and the thunder is booming.
Hawkgirl: "What are they doing?"
J'onn: "The invaders are nocturnal. They want to blot out the sun so they can live in perpetual darkness."
Flash & Upgrade: "Friends of yours?" They ask Batman.
Batman: "It's no joke."
Flash: "What's the big problem?" He approaches J'onn. "Can't you just whip up another batch of that nerve gas?"
J'onn: "Unfortunately, no. The gas can only be made from a rare martian plant. I brought a sample with me, but it was destroyed when I was captured."
Upgrade: "Of course it was." He mutters to himself. "Why can't things just be simple?"
Flash: "Uh, then what's plan B?"
Wonder Woman: "We'll have to take out those factories."
Green Lantern: "Lady, this is no job for amateurs."
Wonder Woman: "We Amazons are warriors born. Want to test me?"
The two size each other up, with Wonder Woman being quite a bit taller than Green Lantern.
Superman: "Let's not fight amongst ourselves." He goes up to John. "John, we're gonna need all the help we can get."
Green Lantern: "Fine. Sorry, your highness." He says to Wonder Woman before going to the center of the group. "Tactically, we'll have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams."
Flash races over next to Wonder Woman, and rests his arm around her shoulder.
Flash: "Dibs on the Amazon."
Wonder Woman just stands there, flabbergasted.
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We cut over to Flash running across water with Green Lantern flying next to him.
Flash: "You are no fun."
Green Lantern: "This isn't supposed to be fun. We've got a job to do, and we will do it better without distractions. Understood?"
Flash: "Yeah, yeah. I hear you."
The two head across the ocean, before eventually reaching a jungle. As they go deeper into the jungle, they stand on a cliff overlooking another of the large factory and several of the walkers.
Green Lantern: "That's our target. Now, listen up. Here's the plan."
Flash: "What plan? We kick their butts, right? Let's get this over with."
The Flash runs off before Green Lantern can stop him. Green Lantern sighs in annoyance. Flash then runs up behind one of the walkers.
Flash: *whistles* "Hey! Over here!"
The walker turns it's head around to look at the Flash, before shooting a laser at him. But the Flash is too fast and dodges the laser.
Flash: "Hah! Missed me!"
The walker continues to fire at Flash, with him dodging each of them. Flash then runs past the other walkers, dodging their laser blast as well. He keep avoiding the lasers, before hitting some kind of trap, I think? I'm not really sure to be honest. Anyway, he's launched into the air, screaming.
Flash: "AAAHHH!"
When he lands, he lands in some kind of sticky material and is unable to escape. Green Lantern watches from the cliff side.
Green Lantern: "Fool."
Flash struggles to free himself as one of the walkers comes closer. Luckily, Green Lantern flies down to help him.
Green Lantern: "Hang tight, hotshot."
He shoots a beam through one of the walkers legs. It begins to topple, before eventually falling to the ground with a loud thud, falling apart.
Flash: "Heh, I'm sort of stuck here."
Green Lantern: "I hope the others are having better luck than we are." He flies down to help Flash.
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We cut to Egypt. Right next to the great Sphinx is one of the factories and the walkers. Batman and Wonder Woman hiding behind a small structure.
Wonder Woman: "Hiding like cowards is not the Amazon way."
Batman: "They must have a weakness. When we find it, we'll strike."
J'onn suddenly phases up from the ground.
J'onn: "I have scouted the outer walls. There are no openings."
Wonder Woman: "Then we'll make our own."
She flies off, with J'onn about to follow her, but Batman stops him.
Batman: "Wait. Let's see what she can do."
Wonder Woman flies off to one of the walkers, avoiding laser blasts, and pulls out her lasso. She then swings the lasso around, before wrapping it around one of the walker's legs. Wonder Woman then starts flying around the walker, wrapping the rest of its legs with the lasso. She then lands on one of it's legs, and begins to pull.
Wonder Woman: "Hera, give me strength."
She begins to pull harder, bunching up the three legs of the walker. It begins to topple, before falling and hitting the side of the factory, leaving a massive hole in the side of it.
Wonder Woman: "There's your opening." She flies in the hole.
Batman: "Not bad."
J'onn flies into the side of the factory, while Batman uses his grappling gun. When they make it inside, they see Wonder Woman deflecting the blasts that the invaders are shooting at her. The invaders begin to retreat, with one of them stopping and moving over, before running again. The reason it did this was to avoid the sunlight pouring in from the hole.
Wonder Woman: "They run like cowards. What are you waiting for?"
Both Wonder Woman and J'onn go off to follow the invaders. But Batman stays behind and looks up outside, before quickly following behind them.
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We're back in Metropolis, and we see Hawkgirl beating down on one of the walkers. Ben, in his Four Arms form, is also smashing another one to bits.
Superman then karate chops a part of one the legs off. He picks it up and flies over to the factory, before throwing the leg piece into the side of the factory, leaving a decent sized hole in the side.
Superman: "Hawkgirl, Arsenal, follow me!"
Both Superman and Hawkgirl fly in the hope, while Four Arms jumps through into hole. The three heroes land on the ground and start walking around.
Superman: "Keep a sharp eye out."
Hawkgirl: "I always do."
Four Arms: "Then keep a sharper one out."
As they continue to walk through the factory, several of the invaders begin shooting at them. Superman, instinctively, holds his arm out protectively in front of Hawkgirl.
Superman: "Stay back! I'll-!"
Hawkgirl & Four Arms: "RAAAH!" They both charge the invaders and start pounding them.
During their onslaught, one of the invaders is thrown at Superman, which he ducks to avoid. The invader hits the wall and turns to goop, which Superman turns around and sees.
Superman: "Whoa."
He looks back and Hawkgirl and Four Arms and sees that all the invaders have been taken care of. Four Arms is currently trying to wipe some alien goop off of himself.
Hawkgirl: "What?" She and Four Arms start walking towards Superman. "There's a time for words and a time for action."
Four Arms: "And I'd say that these things aren't interested in talking."
The three begin to go through the factory again, pulverizing any of the invaders that they come across.
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We cut back to Green Lantern and Flash. Green Lantern is still helping free Flash from his sticky prison with a laser.
Green Lantern: "Of all the idiotic, boneheaded, glory-grabbing moves! Haven't you ever heard of teamwork?"
The other walkers are still firing at the two, and one lands just a few feet from them.
Flash: "Uh, maybe we'd better save the motivational speeches till later."
Green Lantern finishes freeing Flash, and he flies back off to the walkers. Flash just narrowly avoids another laser, while Green Lantern shields himself with a bubble.
The lasers are unable to make it through, but some kind of projectile gets through it and releases some kind of yellow gas. Green Lantern begins to cough violently, before falling to the ground unconscious.
Flash quickly runs over and spins his arms around, making enough wind to disperse the gas from Green Lantern. He is still unconscious however.
Flash: "G.L.!" Two walkers approach them and start shooting. "Uh oh! Gotta run!"
Flash picks up Green Lantern and runs off, avoiding the lasers from the walkers.
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We go back to Superman, Hawkgirl, and Four Arms. The first two fly onto a platform, while Four Arms just jumps onto it.
Hawkgirl: "They're close by. I can almost smell them."
Superman: "Are you always so eager to fight?"
Hawkgirl: "My home Thanagar is a warlike world. There, one must strike first, or die."
Four Arms: "Doesn't sound like the best way to live a life, having to constantly watch your back."
Hawkgirl: "Well, it's how I've lived my entire life. It's made me who I am today. So I'm fine with that."
Suddenly, a shot from an invader hits Four Arms in the chest, making him take a few steps back. He recovers quickly, but smoke is coming off of where the shot hit.
Hawkgirl and Superman attempt to chase the invaders, but a door closes before they can reach them. Then, the door behind them also closes, trapping Superman and Hawkgirl in, and locking out Four Arms.
Four Arms: "Shit!" He punches the door, but it shocks him and knocks him back. "Agh! That hurt like a bitch!"
From the other side of the door, he can hear gas filling the room. He quickly gets up and hits the Omnitrix, transforming into Big Chill. He then tries to go through the door.
However, the door shocks him when he makes contact and sends him back again.
Before he can try anything else, several dozen of the invaders show up and try to shoot at him. Big Chill quickly goes intangible and flees while freezing several of the invaders. All the while, Big Chill is blaming himself for what happened.
Big Chill: 'Not again.' His fist tightens. 'No! I don't even know if they're dead! I just have to hope.'
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We go back to Batman, Wonder Woman, and J'onn. They are currently fighting against numerous of the invaders, which have blocked their path. Wonder Woman is blocking shots while packing away to cover.
Wonder Woman: "They've blocked us off again."
Batman: "It's almost as if they know what we're thinking."
He takes out an explosive Batarang and throws it between the groups of invaders. It detonates and makes them flee down the two hallways.
Batman: "Any ideas, J'onn?" He looks back at J'onn, his eyes glowing. "J'onn!"
J'onn's eyes go back to normal, and he has a solemn look on his face.
J'onn: "Superman and Hawkgirl are down, and Arsenal was just barely able to escape. They have failed."
Wonder Woman: "What? Are you sure?"
J'onn: "I can sense it." He points to his left. "This way. Hurry."
Batman and Wonder Woman follow J'onn as a door closes behind him. As they continue through the corridors, another door behind them opens and several invaders shoot at the three heroes. They are luckily able to avoid the shots.
J'onn and Wonder Woman fly up to a hole, while Batman grapples up, still being shot at. They continue to go down the hallway before stopping, with Wonder Woman looking back where they came.
Wonder Woman: "We lost them."
Batman: "For the moment." He equips an electric knuckle duster.
J'onn: "Look." Batman and Wonder Womab walk over. "It's the central core."
We see numerous, very advanced technology in the room. Numerous invaders are working on the machinery. There is also a gas-like barrier with a red crystal inside it.
Batman: "How can we shut it down?"
J'onn: "The ion matrix crystal." He points at the crystal in the pod. "If we can remove that, we'll shut down the whole plant. I'll need a diversion."
Batman: "You've got it."
He throws a Batarang through a tube, releasing a reddish black tar liquid onto two invaders. Wonder Woman also pulls out a tube, releasing gas onto two other invaders. The gas also makes a small cover that hides the ion matrix crystal.
J'onn goes intangible and goes through the floor as Batman and Wonder Woman get shot at. Wonder Woman deflects the shots while Batman jumps down at one and punches it with the electric knuckle duster.
J'onn then rises up next to an invader near the crystal. J'onn grabs the invader and tosses him to the side, over the edge. He then grabs the crystal and pulls it out. A couple parts of the factory explode as a result. J'onn is then shot by an invader and is sent to the ground far below, unconscious, with the crystal.
Wonder Woman: "J'onn!"
She hits two invaders at the same time and then flies through another, which regenerates. Wonder Woman goes over to J'onn and starts helping him up.
Batman: "Get him out, now!"
Batman throws an invader over his head from behind at another invader, knocking them both down. Wonder Woman then picks up J'onn and starts flying him to the exit, knocking down invaders as well. One of the invaders activates the door, making it start to close.
Batman uses his grapple gun to swing away from some invaders and grab the crystal at the same time. Batman and Wonder Woman rush to the door, but it closes before Batman can get through. He punches the door repeatedly with the knuckle duster, but it has no affect. Batman is then surrounded by half a dozen invaders.
Wonder Woman: "Batman!" She rushes to the door on her side.
Batman throws the crystal to the side as the invaders prepare to fire. On the other side of the door, we see the door warp out towards Wonder Woman as it's shot at.
Wonder Woman: "No!" She begins to approach the door.
J'onn: "Wait." He stops her by placing his hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing more we can do for him."
Wonder Woman: "You don't mean he's..?"
J'onn: "Gone."
Wonder Woman shocked by this, and looks up, sadness in her eyes.
Wonder Woman: "Hera, help us."
They stand there, quietly mourning the apparent death of one of their allies.
To be continued.
That's the end of the chapter . See you in the next one!