| Gobi Desert - August 26
Dizzy adjusted the ill-fitting hardhat on her head and wiped the sweat from her brow. Disguised as a human worker, she maneuvered carefully among cranes and scaffolding surrounding the enormous generator.
The structure was a technological marvel—a massive bowl five miles in diater and fifty feet high with 4 outposts. The Thanagarians had supplied the Nth tal, engineers, and advanced construction equipnt; the U.N. had covered logistics, housing, and labor.
On paper, it was a diplomatic partnership. The first of it's kind with Earth publicly partnering with an extraterrestrial organization.
But to Dizzy, sothing felt off.
The deal was still skewed towards the human side. And no one gave without expecting a return. Growing up in gang-run streets had taught her—nothing ca for free.
According to Thanagarian commander Hro Talak's speech to the U.N., the planetary shield was to protect Earth from an imminent Gordanian invasion. He claid Hawkman and Hawkwoman were not Earth's accidental heroes, but scouts—envoys sent to prepare Earth for Thanagarian presence. Talak cited abductions, alien skirmishes, and Gordanian war cris, all backed by League confirmation.
It all sounded noble. But if what Byth Rok had said was true—that Thanagar was losing the war badly—why were they spreading their forces thin across the galaxy?
Dizzy scanned the site. The site was at all tis monitored by so mbers of the League and 400 U.N. military personnel. Today's League oversight included Green Arrow and Captain Marvel—far less intrusive than Superman.
Good.
At 7 p.m., the desert twilight began to fall. The Thanagarian Star Cruisers transporting the Nth tal returned to Thanagar with their advanced tech enabling FTL speeds, another wave estimated to arrive within the hour. Workers shuffled toward transport buses. Dizzy slipped from her station and wove through the encampnt toward Daemon Rose.
He stood guard near the periter, dressed as site security. When their eyes t, he gave the barest of nods.
Ti to begin.
He was a mystery. Dizzy wasn't even sure "Daemon Rose" was his real na. What she did know was that he was dangerously competent—skilled in acrobatics, espionage, firearms, stealth, and using his body.
During one of their more... intimate sparring sessions, he'd let slip that his father had been killed by the Leviathan organization. That loss had left a deep scar, one he channeled into a relentless pursuit of the group, working with A.R.G.U.S. to dismantle it. It turned out he and Nova had that in common.
They advanced toward the outer periter, where massive tents lood—Thanagarian command outposts, likely storing data cores or blueprints. Next to them were three Thanagarian Star Cruisers which had transported their engineers and guards.
They weren't alone. As they moved, agents from other organizations joined them. A.R.G.U.S. had looped in several international intelligence agencies, coordinating a joint effort to retrieve as much intel as possible with minimal friction.
Among the arrivals, she spotted Julia Pennyworth of Interpol—a familiar face. They'd worked together before on a takedown of a Hong Kong cri boss with ties to Carmine Falcone.
Roughly fifty Thanagarian soldiers patrolled the zone at this ti—each estimated to have the strength of Hawkman or Hawkwoman. Slipping by unnoticed would be difficult without a distraction.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The desert trembled. A cloud of sand exploded in four different directions. Workers panicked, screaming and scattering as Captain Marvel flew over and tried to calm the crowd. Fourty Thanagarians shot skyward towards the the blast sites.
Dizzy didn't flinch. That was Nova's signal.
Moving fast, she and Daemon slipped away from the confusion, cutting across the open plain toward the main Thanagarian tent.
It was ti to find out what the so-called planetary defense generator really was.
**
Joseph flew low across the sand, blending in with the landscape in a tight, sand-colored suit designed for stealth. The explosions he'd triggered earlier—courtesy of A.R.G.U.S.—had served its purpose: panic, confusion, and, most importantly, a distraction.
He refrained from using Nova Force. The League had ways of identifying unique energy signatures across the planet, and while he wasn't sure if they could trace Nova Force specifically, he wasn't about to take that chance.
Sure enough, a squad of Thanagarians had taken the bait. He could hear them behind him, the tallic hum of Nth tal weaponry slicing through the air. Joseph flew at 160 mph, carefully maintaining just enough distance to keep the chase alive. According to his research, Hawkman and Hawkwoman rarely pushed past that speed. But the lead pursuer—he clocked her at just over 200.
A bright energy beam shot past his shoulder, illuminating the dusk.
He tilted mid-air to dodge, glancing back. The lead Thanagarian—a woman—was different. Her armor was white and gold, regal compared to the standard black and bronze worn by her comrades. A lieutenant, maybe more.
And she was packing a ranged weapon, sothing rare among the Thanagarians he'd seen on Earth.
She fired again. He feigned fatigue, bobbing and weaving like he was barely staying aloft, giving her false confidence.
Then she reached him—exactly what he'd planned.
She grabbed his leg.
Joseph yanked it forward, using her montum to whip her body into his path. In the sa instant, he accelerated, bringing his fist crashing into her helt at Mach 2. Her body went limp.
Without wasting a second, he slung her over his shoulder and vanished into the desert, leaving the rest of the squad struggling in his wake.
He didn't use his anti-gravity field to carry her. Nth tal's strange properties made it unreliable—possibly even dangerous—to manipulate with gravity-based abilities. No need to risk triggering sothing unknown until he knew more.
Ti to get so answers.
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