The Despero Intersection

"WOMAN!" Despero roared, his enormous crimson body, trembling with rage. "HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE?"  "Please surrender," Princess Diana of the  Amazons said calmly, flying down to stand half a block away from where Despero had crashed down. "Nobody else needs to be hurt."  "RAAAHHHRGH!!" Despero roared as he charged at  her, his powerful legs propelling him forward with an acceleration impossible to contemplate by any human athlete.  With cold precision, Wonder Woman stepped  forward into Despero's rush, leading with her right side, arms extending, one to grab Despero's right arm, the other to hook around his massive torso, while her hip struck his groin. With one single, fluid motion, she twisted and spun, torqueing his great mass fast around the fulcrum of her hip, to slam him hard against the floor.  Buildings all around shook with the impact.  "Please surrender."    **************************************    "Kilowog sat on me, or what?" Blue Beetle muttered, debris falling off him as he moved. He looked down and saw Fire, face up beneath him.  "Oh, boy. Another one of those dreams..."  "Beetle! Do you copy?"  "Oh, crap..." Beetle said, remembering. "Buddy,  are you ok?"  "There's wreckage all over me," Booster's voice  reported through the comlink. "I can't blast a way out. I'll be crushed if I turn off my force field. Can anyone give me a hand?"  "Damn. Fire's out cold, and J'onn was hurt  pretty bad," Beetle said, groaning as he began to get up. "We need paramedics here."  "Man, are you hurt?"  "Uh, not really. I fell over um, something  kinda soft and bouncy."  "And the big red creep?"  "Gone. Beats me why. Maybe needed to pee or  something. Hold on," Beetle said, limping towards where J'onn J'onzz lay, fallen on his side over the roofing slab. "J'onn, did you take out Big, Red and Ugl-? Jesus H. Christ! J'onn, are you ok?" he added, wincing at the state of his teammate. "Damn stupid question. You sure as hell ain't ok. What can I do?"  >>I will be fine. I can heal myself. I just  need time. Help the others.<<  "You sure? You look like Oberon's last attempt  at meatloaf -HEY! You felt that?"    **************************************    "STAND STILL, DAMN IT!" Despero roared as he jumped at Wonder Woman, his body a blur, his rage further fueled by his frustration. How could such a slip of a female dodge his wrath?  Wonder Woman ducked beneath his outstretched  arms, and grabbing his thick midsection in a close embrace, she flowed with his momentum, arching back and to a side at the waist. Redirecting Despero's impetus, she threw herself backwards into bridge position, slamming Despero face-first against the ground behind her, in a move modern wrestlers may have called a suplex.  Pushing off the ground powerfully with her  legs, she flipped backwards to land gracefully two paces away from the dazed Despero. In one fluid motion she freed from the clasp on her belt the coiled length of her golden lasso, and sent it through the air, to encircle the still dazed Despero.  "SURRENDER. NOW," Wonder Woman commanded, her  will flowing through the magical lariat. "You must not hurt anyone else."  Despero's eyes clouded for an instant, and he  stumbled back in confusion. He shook his head and raised his gaze, fire burning anew in them.  "NO!" he roared. "MY HATE MUST HAVE EXPRESSION!"  Wonder Woman's lips tightened. The lasso's  power of coercion was limited by the person's true nature. If Despero harbored no regret or guilt, the lasso was ineffective.  "DIEEEEEEARRHHHHHH!"  Despero lunged, and Wonder Woman stepped  forward. Ducking slightly to a side, she struck out with the heel of her hand against his chin, using the opposing force vectors to maximize the power of her strike. The blow shattered Despero's jaw and threw his whole torso backwards, while his feet flew up, all forward momentum neutralized in the brutal collision and resulting torque, sending the monster crashing to the floor.  "So be it," she said.    **************************************    "Booster?" Beetle whispered, adjusting the magnification of his goggles, to better watch the actions of the Amazon Princess from his position on the slab's edge.  "Yeah?"  "Remind me that from now on, I'm to always  express myself with only the outmost respect regarding Princess Diana."    **************************************    Despero's curses were now unintelligible grunts. Glowering in fury, he swung powerfully, attempting to land an Earth-shattering punch on the agile Amazon.  Wonder Woman ducked, sidestepping beneath  Despero's swing, and her booted right shin rushed up in a blur to strike at his midsection. As he doubled over, she grabbed his outstretched arm, and her foot stomped sideways with crisp precision onto the side of his right knee.  With a grunt of pain, Despero fell to his knees,  and Wonder Woman immediately spun, her left knee making powerful contact against the back of his head.  Despero flopped down face-first, unmoving.    **************************************    "HOLY SHIT! THAT'S GOTTA HURT!"  "Uh, Beetle..."  "Damn, I thought Black Canary had good moves,  but that was something else! That girl oughta be in movies!"  "Beetle, I think I'm kinda going to suffocate  here. Just thought you may want to know."  "Isn't the kinetic threshold of your force  field set to let air in?"  "Yeah, but the wreckage around me seems too  tightly packed to let much through. Look, man, I don't wanna rush you or anything, but could you please FUCKING HELP ME?"  "Jeez, don't get your panties in a bunch,  I'm going..."    **************************************    She had struck Despero hard enough to cripple many of the strongest paranormals she knew of, but Wonder Woman was still not taking any chances, and she approached the fallen creature warily. Such drastic techniques and power level were not to be used lightly since it was difficult to fight at such levels without deathly results. But Despero's strength and the brutality of his rampage had forced her to rise the intensity of her actions. It was still more consideration than what Despero had shown J'onn. Yet she felt no satisfaction at being made to use such violence.  Taking the golden lasso in hand, Wonder Woman  pressed one knee and shin against Despero's wide, overmuscled back, and prepared to bind him with the unbreakable lariat.  >>BEWARE! HE IS FAKING!<< J'onn's telepathic  voice rang in her mind.  With a roar, Despero suddenly spun, reaching  for the Amazon. But instead of attempting to flee, Wonder Woman leaned forward, blocking the hugely muscled forearm, while delivering a palm-heel strike to his face, squashing the disproportionate small nose instantly, making dark blood flood out. Turning to a side, she leaned back, pulling on his huge arm, while throwing her legs on and around him, straddling his armpit as she shifted into an arm-bar hold. Leveraging with her powerful legs against his torso, and using her own hip as fulcrum point, she pulled the arm to an angle, and with a grunt of effort, she pressed into the dislocation until the joint gave with a loud snap.  Despero's surprised howl of pain was cut short  as Wonder Woman's foot rose and the heel came down fast and hard against his face, stunning him.  Relinquishing the injured arm, Wonder Woman  moved over him, straddling his midsection in mount position, about to deliver a straight knuckle-punch to his face.  A burst of energy was released from Despero's  third eye, and Wonder Woman was thrown off, sent backwards to fall a dozen paces away.  Despero stood up slowly, nursing his damaged  arm, a growl barely held in check at the back of his throat. The Amazon's golden lasso was still tied around one of his wrists, its length falling to his side.  Wonder Woman rolled over her back to her feet,  cursing her own foolishness. Losing the lasso was a serious mistake. Even if Despero could not be coerced, the unbreakable lariat should have been able to bind him, and she should have sought to do just that, not engage him in further combat. Yet she had been angry at what the creature had done to J'onn, and she had let that anger cloud her purity of purpose.  Despero's third eye glowed balefully as he  stared with furious disbelief at the delicate-looking female who had managed to harm him. His rage was now tempered by wariness. Such power in a mere woman was not what he had expected.  "YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST COMELY FLESH, IT SEEMS,  WOMAN," Despero said. "YOU MAY HAVE DESERVED CLOSER ATTENTION."  Wonder Woman frowned. She had felt his jaw  shatter under her strike. He should have been unable to speak.  "BUT YOUR EFFORTS ARE FUTILE. YOU WILL FALL  BEFORE MY FURY. THIS WHOLE PLANET WILL," his voice boomed ominously. "AND I WILL BROOK NO MORE DELAYS."  The Amazon saw the telltale energy glow of  the third eye surge, and knowing that there would be no time to duck, she lifted her arms, the speed of Hermes at her command, crossing them in guard before her, using her bracelets as focal point for concentrating on her gifts of resilience and strength.  "DIE."    **************************************    J'onn J'onzz felt the blast in his mind as a jumble of sensory input. A numbing flash of light, a deafening roar, and a sudden wash of pain.  >>Diana! Are you-?<<  *I'll live,* he sensed her mind articulate,  and he felt a cool flood of relief run through him.    **************************************    Wincing, Wonder Woman rose to her feet.  Despero's blast had struck her with a power  she had rarely experienced. She had set her feet solidly on the ground, consciously bracing against Gaea, the power of the Earth beneath. She should have withstood anything. Yet she had been thrown off her feet, to land half a block away. The metal of her bracelets still glowed red-hot, and her whole body seemed to smoke. Most of her costume had been instantly incinerated.  She could not let him blast her again.  "YOU ARE INDEED A TASTY MORSEL, FEMALE," said  Despero, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the Amazon's mostly exposed figure. The remaining scraps of cloth and armor plate barely covered her full curves. "PERHAPS I SHOULD SPARE YOU FOR LATER."  Wonder Woman sighed. She had heard that line  before, again and again. Was such single-minded lack of originality an universal male trait?  "You should spare everyone the pain, Despero.  Including yourself. Give up now."  "GIVE UP? YOU ARE TRULY AMUSING!" Despero  answered. "I SHALL ENJOY BREAKING YOU AS MY SLAVE!"  Wonder Woman took to the air a fraction of  a second before his blast struck.    **************************************   "What? Where...?" Fire mumbled.  "You left out 'why'. Careful!" Beetle gasped,  as he struggled with Fire's weight. She was slung over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Don't move!"  "My God... J'onn? Is J'onn...?"  "Rather well-done, I'd say," Beetle replied,  trying to balance her shifting weight. "He'll consider investing heavily in sunblock next time, I suppose, but he'll live. Don't move, dammit!"  "What happened? Why are you-?"  "Haven't you always wanted to be in my arms?"  "What?"  "Believe me, this really isn't my idea of  picking up chicks. Climbing down that service ladder was no picnic. You're way heavier than what you look."  "What?"  "Booster's trapped. I need you to incinerate  some stuff off him. Feel up to walking? I think my back's about to give out."  "I'll try... God, I feel like crap... I-"  Fire groaned, as she began to slide off Beetle's back. Suddenly, she felt her stomach lurch and demand better lodgings. "I- UURP!"  "OH, CRAP! NO!"  "Uh... Sorry..." Fire said weakly, after the  nausea had passed.  "Damn it! You know how hard it is to get the  smell off this spandex stuff?"