I wait patiently for him to stop.
"Rarkhakahh is the most heavily fortified world in this region! We are armoured, shielded and our weapon systems are second to none! We are ready to fight anyone, including Lanterns!" He leans closer to his camera. "And we have meat animals close at hand. Do your worst."
Well, then. I'd say that's a pretty clear 'no', then. Along with a side of 'fuck you, mammal!' for good measure.
The camera pulls back, and-.
And he pulls a clearly terrified Karaxian child into view and
Time to do your best Kenshiro, OL. "Omae wa..."
I step out, already
prepared to fire, my energy pulse striking the Strand Elder in the back of his head as my construct shield envelops the nearby-. Prisoners. The heavy combat robots lock on and open fire before the Strand Elder's body hits the ground, plasma pulses howling through the air!
"...Mou shinderu." And using heavy plasma weapons in the presence of 'people' they'd at least prefer to
not die instantly in a firefight? Talk about
excessive.
I form railguns as the other Spiders in the room blacken and burn from the heat the plasma weapons are giving off. Scan shows basic shields and heavy armour, counter with crumbler rounds, fabricate crumbler rounds because the interdiction system is still active, fire!
Shields flicker and die, chunks of armour vanish as the robots stagger back, trying to right themselves and maintain fire even while I tear them apart. I moment later as feel a momentary disorientation as some sort of mind affect device activates, but it's nothing like enough to make my constructs drop.
Well, they weren't kidding about being prepared for Lanterns... Too bad they weren't prepared for
him.
And then the robots are dead. A cold gun construct turns the air around us back to a more normal temperature, then I check on the Spiders. One heavily cooked survivor. He'll die in a few minutes if I take no action.
I glance back, and the communications system is still in one piece as it was contained inside my shield bubble.
Hard to tell the rest to surrender without the right radio codes, after all.
"One survivor, Superman. I could heal him. Thoughts?"
"Is the kid okay?"
And of course Clark's first thought is for the hostages. Good man.
I look down to where the child is curled up on the floor hugging his legs to is chest.
"Horribly traumatised and drugged, but I think he'll eventually make a full recovery."
Bet he'll be having nightmares about this situation for years to come... On the upside, he got saved by a
Lantern, that'll help him get better.
"How would you-?"
I drop my shield, energy pulse the surviving Spider in the head and connect directly to the command centre's computers. Looks like the consoles are shielded against construct intrusion, but with much of the equipment in the rest of the room melted I can get into the system that way. Ah, good design, communications but not control.
Very sensible. Presumably the Strand Elder isn't the actual
military leader, so he's limited to giving general orders like 'Kill the invaders!' or the like...
"I'd kill them all. If you're quick, I think you're fast enough to get to the surface before they kill all the hostages. Everyone else gogogo!"
This room has three exits. One goes to an emergency bunker, another to the emergency escape craft and the third back into the subterranean command facility. A transmutation ray seals the second, while a command to the computer system opens the first.
And you'll be dealign with the third exit yourself, I take it.
The boy who nearly got eaten is still out of it but the others look a little more coherent.
"Everyone! Into the bunker, please! I need you to be safe while I free the others!"
Kid's probably also in need of a change of
pants, I suspect. Assuming they allowed him any.
I shove the robot wrecks out of the way while the more focused prisoners herd the rest through the door and down the ladder.
"Don't open the door, I'll teleport in when it's clear."
And since they saw him teleport into the room and assplode the boss' head, I don't think they'll doubt him.
A couple of bent left fist affirmative gestures from the Karaxians, then they're the other side of the outer door and I slam it shut.
Right.
...And I can't help but imagine them giving him the 'fight the power' salute.
Better than the
Spaceball Salute.
Ring, open communications with Superman.
Compliance.
Opens comms, but says nothing. He wants Clark to listen in to this next bit, then?
And crumbler-ram.
The door to the rest of the facility vanishes, as do the robots lining up on the far side. No actual Spider Guilders; that isn't how they fight.
After all, why risk yourself when you have hundreds of thousands of disposable drones to do the hard work?
Ring, broadcast.
Compliance.
"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps, broadcasting from your command centre to all Spider Guilders on Rarkhakahh. You are in defiance of the surrender agreement struck with your ruling council. Stand down at once. There will be no further warnings."
Ah, that's what he wanted Clark to hear: Him giving them
one chance to not die.
I feel a vague sense of pressure as Lantern Toren shields the allied fleet as it moves into bombardment position, and I see the walls shake around me as Kal-El hits the ground at full speed. Right, nearest concentration of non-Guilders is that way.
I could maker a crumbler-borer construct and dig through the rock, but that would be entirely too slow. I can already see lights going out, though I'm not sure who they belong to. These Spiders don't appear to have any way to disrupt my exotic abilities, so
And when a Kryptonian makes a landing like
that, everyone else
knows it... And are probably finding him
not so vulnerable to plasma fire...
I step out,
blade constructs already cutting into the assembled robots, and-.
Ah, the shock and awe method. Best way to make your opponents reconsider their life choices.
I gulp as I see a Spider crush a slave's head in its mandibles, just as its leader had planned to do. The energy pulse follows a half-second later.
"EVERYONE-"
"Anyone else got something to say?" At least you avenged their victim.
Railguns form and robots begin to disintegrate.
"-ON THE GROUND!"
As if they'll be smart enough to
listen...
A shield over the surviving prisoners next, turning into a bunker construct a moment later. The Spider technicians are fleeing for the exit, so I send a brief volley there way as well.
And my targets are all gone.
Gee, and here I thought the smart guys would be
smart. High intelligence... Low Wisdom.
None of the prisoners look like they're wounded. A few are missing body parts, but the flesh beneath has been sealed. Old wounds, to make them more afraid when the time comes to eat the rest. The local civilisations have the technology to regrow the flesh or replace it with cybernetics. There's nothing else I need to attend to immediately.
"Stay here, rescue is on the way."
And no doubt the Karaxians amongst them are experiencing a minor
euphoric moment as they realised they were saved by a Lantern...
Seal the doors, sight the next prisoner compartment
and
fire at-.
No hesitation this time, huh? It's likely that the rest of the hostages are likely to be sacrificed by now...
Too late. Mark these Spiders for later execution
and move to the
next-.
...Those who aren't already
dead, anyway.
"We surrender! We surrender!"
Robots passive, Spiders on the floor.
Well, some actually smart bad guys. Amazing!
Fine.
Crumbler rams hit the robots through their central processors while I fabricate restraints, binding their arms and legs.
To quote Iron Man during his assault on Gulmira: "
He's all your's."
And if the prisoners decide not to respect their surrender, it's hardly ideal, but I'll live with it.
Next.
...Heh. I do wonder how many of said Spiders will still be in
one piece when they get to that room. I can just picture the grins on the prisoner's faces...
