When Londyn conferred with the generals and admirals of Earth’s militaries, they came up with a simple plan.
Modern militaries and heroes are somewhat incompatible. To generalize the problem, modern militaries mostly focus on devastating their opponents at range with overwhelming firepower. Heroes, by contrast, tend to engage in close-quarters brawls. Heroes and military firepower operating in the same space therefore creates a high risk of friendly fire. With time, training, and discipline this risk could be mitigated, as in the case of Tina’s Titans. However, most of the heroes at this point did not have military backgrounds and so lacked the training and discipline required, and they obviously did not have the time to develop such things. Not to mention the coalition nature of the military forces gathered meant even the professional soldiers had differences in training, doctrine, and communication structure amongst themselves and would not be acting perfectly in sync with one another, much less the civilian heroes.
Faced with these challenges, the commanders came up with a simple plan. The military would focus on the long range engagement, utilizing the best of modern firepower at distances most heroes couldn’t operate at anyways. The heroes would be kept in reserve for if and when the enemy closed the distance. If the fight started to break down and turn into a brawl, the heroes would engage and reinforce the line, fighting at line of sight distances where friendly fire could be avoided through individual eyesight.
The fight had now started to break down.
And so, Director Green released the heroes…
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“Bogey on my six! Requesting assistance!”
“I can’t shake him!”
“They’re everywhere!”
“I’m going down!”
Earth’s fighter jets were being torn apart by the alien fighters. Logistical burden meant the alien fighters weren’t carrying long-range missiles and lasers designed for space combat had reduced range in atmospheric conditions, so humanity’s jets had done well at first.
But that was at range.
Up close, the alien laser beams and plasma cannons ripped through fighter airframes like they were made of paper. Omni-directional thrusters and alien biology meant they could perform maneuvers no human craft ever could. Powerful shields blocked bullets and missiles.
Human fighters fell from the skies in droves.
A human fighter struggled to shake off the alien craft on his tail. No matter what maneuver he pulled, the craft remained on his six. His craft entered the opponent’s crosshairs…
Suddenly the alien craft stopped, dead in its tracks.
PSI Omega floated in the sky, holding her hand out. She squeezed her hand.
The alien craft crunched as its metal hull imploded inward.
Voidspeaker flew into the air, thrusting his hands forward. A black beam surged forward, stripping the shields from a passing fighter. Master Mammoth Owl took the opportunity to barrel into the ship and smash through its cockpit.
Voidspeaker turned to face another craft. He began to chant, cycling the power of the void in the shapes of the magic circles he had previously calculated.
It turned out…
A ‘normal girl’ working tirelessly to teach him basic geometry was the breakthrough he needed.
A black disc formed in the air in the path of the fighter.
The fighter fell into two halves as it flew by the disc, its matter simply vanishing wherever it touched the void.
Voidspeaker had finally worked out the kinks in his ritual and learned to apply the void not only to energy, but matter itself.
Behind him, three pink dragons rose into the sky with Pink Star on the center dragon’s neck. They all opened their mouths and bathed an entire squadron of alien fighters with pink flames.
And then a pink girl stood up on the back of one the dragons…a girl with mechanical features.
The clone Elise fired a singularity bolt, drawing in a squadron of gunships. Their shields protected them from the ripping forces.
But not from crashing into one another.
The Gentle Gloom slowly floated in the path of an approaching fighter. It slammed right into him…
He passed right through it, firing his ghostly beam straight into the passing engine.
He emerged from the other side as the fighter began to fall from the sky.
Meanwhile explosions rang out, overwhelming an alien gunship.
Eaglesmasher carried Nitromaker in his arms, the girl tossing explosive birds that flew into the nearest alien craft.
“AHAHAHA DIE ALIEN SHIP!”
Dragontooth leapt through the sky, two leathery wings forming on her back. She pulled back a fist and crashed head on into a gunship, punching straight through both the shields and the craft itself.
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And so the heroes began to clear the skies, giving the beleaguered human fighters a chance to fall back and regroup.
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Alien gunships strafed the destroyers and cruisers in the sea. The naval vessels fired their cannons and missiles in response. But it took the work of several cruisers to overwhelm the shields of a single alien gunship. Meanwhile, a single well placed shot from an alien plasma cannon could send a human ship to the bottom of the sea.
The human cruisers couldn’t repel firepower of that magnitude.
Suddenly the ocean began to glow and rise. A massive wave rose into the sky, the water glowing with turquoise light.
It turns out, all hands on deck included cooperative incarcerated villains.
And so Londyn had secured permission to bring Dr. Iwalani to the field.
A massive wave of water rose before a squadron of alien gunships, blocking their plasma bolts before they could sink any more human ships.
And then a massive magic circle appeared in the center.
Aqua Mage arrived and swung her staff. Dr. Iwalani brought the ocean water to her circle, freeing her from having to move the water there.
Which meant she could pour all her power into the actual attack.
The wave condensed down, filling the circle, and firing forward in hyper-compressed, magic empowered jets of water.
Shields appeared around the alien craft…then flickered…then cracked and shattered.
And then the jets of magically empowered water pierced through the gunships.
Down in the sea, seven otters surged through the waves, dancing among the ships. They hopped onto Dr. Iwalani’s wave and leapt into the air. They swung their heads, releasing the spears in their jaws.
Barbed spears suddenly surged to life and shot into the nearest alien craft.
The spearheads exploded into barbs, tearing the crafts to shreds.
The barbs came back together into spears, falling towards the sea. The otters swam forward to retrieve their spears, then circled back for yet another pass…
And so the heroes fought to rule the waves.
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And on the land…
A wave of chitin approached the lines. The human soldiers began to sweat and back up, their bullets seeming to make no impact on the approaching swarm. They cried out as the giant bugs leapt towards them.
A huge wave of fire appeared, burning the insectoids at the front.
And a massive blizzard rained huge blocks of hail on the ones streaming in from behind.
Captain Hot Devil and Icy Falcon had arrived.
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An alien walker rose above the battlefield, preparing to fire on a group of tanks when two lightning bolts shot through the sky, shattering its shields. The war machine began to sway and smoke as the lighting surged.
Tesla Titan and Teslida walked forward together, both their arms raised.
Team Tesla fried the walkers.
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A yellow flash surged through the battlefield where alien beasts had made contact with a company of soldiers. Chronolock ran to the nearest beast.
She lifted a yellow pistol in her hand, specially designed for her to have the shortest possible firing time.
She put the barrel right by the head of some sort of six-legged panther and pulled the trigger, waiting just long enough for the projectile to clear the barrel. She then ran to the next beast and repeated the process, again and again.
In normal time, a yellow flash passed through the company and then bullet holes appeared in all the beasts simultaneously.
Another walker rose above the company, preparing to fire at their assailant…
Wonder Knight leapt into the sky and dealt a drop kick to the machine, knocking it off balance and crashing into the ground. A group of alien infantry moved to engage the boy when a cold wind from Icy Rose blew past them, freezing them solid.
To their side, Dark Rose hoisted a grav-cannon in his hand, firing a singularity to pull a bunch of insectoids together. Crystal Guardian and El Mantis stood next to him, firing crystal bolts and shockwaves into the mass, taking them all down at once.
A new generation rose to fight.
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Master Elegant Katana exhaled a breath with his eyes closed, standing before a beetle-like insect the size of an elephant.
He drew his blade, slowly moving it above his head. He grabbed it with both hands.
An arc of light flashed through the sky.
And the giant insectoid was cut in two.
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A squad of four armed aliens pinned down a group of soldiers with plasma mini-guns, the soldiers laying flat against the dirt to avoid the hail of plasma. Suddenly something flickered through and past the aliens.
Chiyeko made a sign with her hand.
And the explosive seals she had placed on the aliens detonated.
A scene that played out all across the battlefield as the shinobi leapt into action. Puffs of smoke rose across the field as clones and logs took the blows for soldiers about to die. Kunai soared through the air, targeting gaps in armor and insectoid eyes. Elemental blasts surged out as hand signs flashed.
The shinobi ruled the battlefield from the shadows.
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Starbright, Major General Tina, and the Gray Slayer arrived to relieve a platoon. Starbright began to glow as he extended his empowerment not only to his own gun, but to the two heroes and the soldiers around him. Suddenly all the guns in the area began firing glowing bullets that tore straight through shields and power armor.
The alien assault faltered in the face of the overwhelming firepower.
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A group of witches flew across the sky on brooms, tossing potions filled with green liquid. Dark green clouds rose wherever the bottles landed, aliens and insectoids vanishing in the smoke. Once the smoke cleared, tiny frogs, chickens, and squirrels milled about in confusion.
The witches cackled and continued on their way.
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A full battalion of aliens rushed forward to join the battle when they stopped, wheeling to the side. They raised their weapons as energy signatures approached.
A single man in silk robes approached them. He held a sword in front of him with both hands, pointing the tip of the blade towards the sky. His eyes were closed as he walked forward.
The aliens opened fire.
He opened his mouth.
“I am one with the Earth…and the Earth is with me.”
Wu Zhengkang walked forward.
The plasma bolts missed him.
He leaned to the side.
They missed him still.
He leisurely walked forward, stepping this way and that, seeming not to move at all, yet moving out of the way of each and every bolt fired his way.
He didn’t open his eyes even once as he walked through the battalion.
He began to swing his blade in graceful arcs, more like a dance than a battle.
He reached the end of the battalion.
And then all the alien soldiers dropped dead, their supporting war machines exploding.
Wu Zhengkang let out a sigh and resumed his chant, walking towards the next group.
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Whether by air, by land, or by sea, heroes rushed to the assistance of the soldiers. Alien soldiers stopped in their tracks and began to back up. Even the insect swarms pulled back for a moment. The armies of Earth gained a moment to breathe.
And yet…
Londyn frowned.
Coalition forces were taking casualties at an alarming rate. Londyn’s drone reserves were already strained, soon the troops would lose their shielding entirely.
And from the command deck of the ILS Mobile HQ, she could see the sheer number of enemies approaching.
Even with the heroes, they had hardly made a dent. They had barely repelled the first wave.
The Earth Coalition had already committed nearly everything they had.
And their opponents were just getting started.
“...Bob, your plan better be quick.”