When Clark arrived with the group, I knew he had expected my surprise to be some sort of warship, not what they saw marching around the walls of the fortress, a true anachronism of medieval architecture and modern warfare
His attitude was understandable, considering that he had just found out that Mars had been not just my home and a testbed for colonization, but also the forge of an army of walking tanks, a fact that I had been hiding since my arrival and of which only John, Grundy and Rachel knew about.
UAC, or rather, ARC assault mechs, modified by me, autonomous drones just a tad bigger than Grundy with enough firepower, protection (autocannons on both their arms as general purpose weapons, a ventral laser cannon for hard targets, and back RPGs to deal with airborne enemies, all under seven tons of heavy alloys) and mobility (able to run up to eighty kilometers per hour and fly a short distance) to match and even surpass most other robots made on Earth. Not the best thing in the universe, and not at all able to deal with the likes of me or Clark, but very capable nonetheless, and most importantly large in number, with seven hundred of them already out and nearly ten times that number in the caverns deep below the fortress, awaiting for a proper spearhead in Tamaran. There was also an entire wing of armed drones and more, and VEGA was thinking of building a starship just in case another mobile base with more and concentrated firepower was needed, but the mechs were the bulk of the army.
And yes, if I wanted to, I could easily manufacture the larger mecha, two hundred foot tall mechanical monsters designed to fight Hell's titans on even ground (and failed on the task, unlike their Argenta homologues), but the current legion would be enough.
"Bruce is not going to take it well, nor a good chunk of the League for that matter." Clark noted. He and the others were standing on a barrier dome I had erected outside the Fortress. One year of constant working had bore fruit, but none of them wanted to risk it after years of misinformation. As for why were we out instead of already in, I'll admit of not remembering the exact reason, but part of it was them wanting to see Mars' surface from outide the fortress, and waiting for someone Clark knew. Again, we could have done that inside. Anyway, nearly everyone that signed up for the mission was already there; all that was left was the Flash, and someone else.
"I don't particularly care what Bruce cares about at this moment." I replied "After all, they are not going to Gotham any time soon."
Clark frowned, but before he could say Komand'r, who had been standing behind us, spoke ahead of him.
"Neither do I care for this 'Bruce' reaction" Komand'r replied as she gazed upon the silent army of machines. Despite her frown, it was clear to me that she was impressed by what she was seeing.", as long as the robots help me liberate Tamaran. Of course, I haven't seen them in action, but still, an awfully good show of force from a guy living in a stone fortress."
"What about us?" Kara asked, clearly annoyed.
"They look impressive, most of you don't, as simple as that. Do you have any problem with that?" She didn't get a response. "No? Good." With that she focused on the army again.
"A bit insulting." Kara said with annoyance, folding her arms.
"Just wait until we get to Tamarin or whatever; she'll change her tune when she sees you flying and lasering and what you usually do." Grundy replied from outside the barrier.
Clark nodded at that. "And besides, she's stressed and angry given what happened to her and her people."
Kara's frown went from annoyance to worry. "Clark, are we really going to face... well, you know who?"
Clark gave her (and himself) a reassuring smile. "I doubt it. You know he hates Kalibak, and she said that only a singe ship came. It'll be a bit hard, but I think we'll be able to fight them." Or rather, he hoped we wouldn't. Despite beating him the last time, I knew Clark didn't want to face Darkseid ever again, both because of his prowess and for more personal reasons, not that he wouldn't if he had to. As for Kalibak, he still was Darkseid's son.
Finally, Wally arrived last, but he didn't come alone. He had told us he would be bringing someone new with him, a former criminal that wanted a clean slate
A gangly, yet fit man in his early thirties wearing a shirt and a speedo, strangely shaped goggles, at least until until he got close and I realized the goggles were his eyes.
Patrick O'Brian, former common crook known as 'Eel' turned metahuman the same way Joker became, well, himself, only not losing or warping his sanity... but still becoming, in John's own words, a total crank out of the Golden Age.
Better known as Plastic Man.
Who was at that moment panting like a dog because unlike Wally, he had somehow ended up outside the barrier for three seconds before Wally pulled him in. Now, there was already enough air for the average human to be on the surface for a couple minutes. That was the first sign that Patrick was, well, eccentric, to say the least.
"The gum man? That guy? Neat!" Mecha said with glee, even though he didn't even know of Plastic Man's existence until that moment. Unfortunately, he was the only one.
"This guy? Really? Some weirdo in a speedo?" Pausanias deadpanned. "Is he another speed freak like you?"
"Excuse you Centurion, but I'm a whole different freak than Flashy here!"
"He's actually an hoplite. Well, sometimes." Ayame replied.
"Centurion, hoplite, viking, swiss, I don't really-holy crap, is that the Trade Federation's droid army?!" He exclaimed when he saw the mech battalion. "You didn't tell me we'd be invading Naboo!"
This caused some to laugh, some to groan, and the rest to stare, sans Komand'r, who instead growled at the display.
"Where did you find him?" I asked Wally, ignoring the conversation.
"You might not believe it: as a car tire in a junkyard. I'm being honest, I found him literally rolled around the wheel of a clown car even. I thought he was part the hell out of me when he spoke to me."
"Why did you bring this bozo, exactly?"
Wally opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted "An awesome reason: I can turn into anything AND everything!" Patrick boasted. "Okay, not exactly turn, since I remain me, but if you asked me to take the shape of a tank, I can do it! Heck, just take a look at this!"
Naturally, the end result was more of a giant tank-shaped balloon, on with a grinning face in the turret. None of them realized he sank a little on the ground. Naturally again, none of them were terribly impressed.
"Woah, you are some kind of... dunno, living rubber gasbag?"
"Did you fall in a chemical bath with a Luffy doll or something?"
"That's supposed to be a tank?" Kara asked outloud. "Looks more like the parade's Clifford balloon had to be resewn with a giant Brawl after getting wet too many times."
"'Giant Brawl'? As in Brawl the decepticon?"
"I've seen things, okay?"
"We could use him like a decoy, make it seem like we have, dunno, a giant robot. Make them target him instead of us."
"Like the Allies did in D-Day?"
"Oh c'mon! I didn't come all the way to Mars just to be mocked! Granted, it's not like I care or anything, but still, uncool, especially from you people!" Patrick said, indignant by the treatment he was receiving from the people he wanted to join.
The fact that Patrick could alter both his size, shape and mass, however, occurred to few, me and Wally included. People underestimated what he could do if forced to. The closest thing I could think of him was a combination of Mr. Fantastic and Ant-Man, exchanging academic intelligence for book smarts and a willingess to get his entire body dirty in a fight, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally... and kill if he had to, which he already had by the time I met him.
Fortunately for the entire universe, he was haaappy being a heroic goofball wanting to be in the 'Super Friends Group' and standing right next to Doomguy.
"So, can I come and kick alien ass?"
"Consider this your probation to enter the League."
Patrick grinned at that. "Great! What exactly are we going to do in that planet... exactly?"
"Kill, maim and more or less exterminate an army of space pseudo-demons led by one of the sons of one of the most powerful beings in the universe... who incidentally is the same guy who attacked Earth three years ago."
"You men those winged freaks, eh? Kill them, too? Well, I'm more of a petty crook, and got to shoot a couple of them during the occupation, but..." Patrick raised a hand and clenched it into a fist before making it grow in size... and bigger... until it surpassed Grundy in size. A fist, which going by the fact the ground shook a bit when he slammed it down on the ground had to weigh at least a couple tons. "Will this be enough?"
"The fuck?"
"Did you just defy the laws of matter?" Rachel asked as she touched the fist. "Because whatever you are inside is not hot air. And no, it's not magic, I would know."
I decided to ignore them for the moment, focusing on Patrick. "Do you feel pain if something hits or strikes you in anwyay?"
He thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "Depends. I particularly hate pointy and sharp things, but if I see them coming they can't do much."
"And high temperatures?"
Again, he thought it over. "Well, there was this one guy who tried to melt me thinking I was an actual gum man. Does acid count as hot?"
"Corrosion and heat are not directly correlated."
"Why?"
"Because, as I have just told you, we are going to face an army armed with powerful heat-based weapons."
He thought it over before once more shrugging, this time with a smirk. "The very first thing I did after finding out my new station in life was to swan dive into a cauldron of molten metal: couldn't see anything, but that was it. Might as well been that japanese curry thing, wizaba."
"Wasabi."
"Whatever."
We had the motivation, we had the capacity, and most importantly, thanks to Komand'r, we had the perfect location to attack Apokolips' army... if Kalibak had been stupid enough to not change anything.
"This is how we'll do it..."
Yeah, I'm bringing Plastic Man into the mix, and he'll get to show just how powerful can he be when riled up. Also, the mech army was foreshadowed in the earlier chapters but there was little need for it, so I'm not pulling it out of my ass; just saying this in case.
Also, DaneNagai is finally uploading Justice: Rip and Tear here, which in turn is the sole reason Until It's Done exists, so be good chaps and read it (and comment and like too, since it and he deserve it).