Beyond the Limit (DC)

Nova tasted blood as he pushed himself up, head still spinning and jaw aching. Was that Superman? Whoever hit him, they hit like a truck.

His vision finally stopped swimming, just enough to recognize the figure descending from the sky with arms crossed, staring him down.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Captain Marvel demanded.

"Fuck. Do you always hit first and ask questions later? It's me, Nova," he snapped, still wincing. His body might be highly durable, but it wasn't invulnerable—and Captain Marvel was easily in Superman's strength class, and maybe even faster. 

Using Mount Justice's specialized gym equipment, he struggled to lift over 10 tons while Superboy could lift 50 tons. And he was missing half Superman's powers. So assuming Superboy had half the strength of Superman, Joseph estimated he was less than 10% as strong as them, physically. With his Nth metal armor, it might be closer to 20%. But those were just his estimates. He wasn't completely sure of their limits.

"Nova?" Captain Marvel blinked, his expression shifting from stern to surprised, then sheepish. "Oh, oops—sorry about that. The League said you were on a break. And your costume... it's different. What are you doing here?" he asked, tone growing more serious.

Despite the sting in his jaw, Nova let go of the irritation. Captain Marvel sounded genuinely apologetic—his boyish sincerity difficult to stay mad at—and there were more urgent matters at hand.

"The Thanagarians lied," Nova said, voice hardening. "They're not building a planetary defense generator. It's a hyperspace bypass generator. Once activated, it'll open a route straight into the heart of the Gordanian Empire—by blowing up Earth. I came with international spy agencies and told them to alert the League since I didn't bring my comm. But now that you're here, call them. We need to take these guys down and find a way to permanently shut that generator off."

Captain Marvel stared at him for a moment, then gave a firm nod and began making the call. The fact that he didn't hesitate, that he trusted Nova's word without question, hit Nova somewhere deep. Captain Marvel was now his second favorite League member.

Sixteen Thanagarian warriors still fit for combat saw the two no longer fighting and immediately fled. They must've realized the jig was up.

Nova took off after them, leaving Marvel to continue the call. He'd been rudely interrupted and was eager to finish the job.

Overhead, he spotted a Thanagarian Star Cruiser. Just as he was about to pursue, a voice crackled into his comm—one he hadn't heard in a long time.

"We have escaped using one of the Thanagarian spacecraft. Do not pursue," came a crisp British accent.

"Julia Pennyworth?" Nova replied, not slowing down as he closed in on the fleeing Thanagarians.

"Have we met before?"

"I tagged along with Catwoman during your Leviathan raid. Why do you have Dizzy's comm? Is she okay?" he asked, knocking three warriors unconscious with a sweeping kick.

"Agent Cordova is piloting the craft with Agent Daemon Rose. The mission is complete. Thank you for your assistance, Flux. And good work."

"You're welcome. And thanks," he said, taking down the last of the fleeing Thanagarians with brutal efficiency.

Nova might just take Norman McCay up on that offer to visit his church—because there had to be intelligent design at work. How else did so many alien species evolve to look human? Thanagarians were practically indistinguishable under the helmet, and a solid hit to the head was as effective on them as on any Earth-born species. Convergent evolution or not, it was eerie.

He swooped toward the largest tent, where the sound of a firefight echoed. Bursting through the canvas, he found Green Arrow crouched behind a terminal, holding the line. He fired high-tech arrows at a group of ten Thanagarians who returned fire with energy blasters like the one Paran Dul used.

Two Thanagarians already lay unconscious with arrows stuck on their clothes. Clearly, they'd tried to escape through the air and learned that was a bad idea when facing a master archer with high tech arrows.

None of these wore Nth metal armor—likely the engineers.

Time to end this.

Without Nth metal shielding them, Nova easily seized control of their bodies with his anti-gravity field, slamming them together and knocking most out cold, the rest groaning in agony.

Green Arrow glanced up and gave him a nod. The archer wasn't fond of him, due to how he'd spoken to Speedy last time, but he was professional.

They got to work securing the bodies.

Minutes later, the distant hum of a jet reached Nova's ears. He stepped outside to see the Javelin—ironically, a Thanagarian craft gifted to the League by Hawkman and Hawkwoman—descending onto the sand.

Out stepped the Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Zatara, Captain Atom, Black Canary, Icon, Atom, and Plastic Man. Captain Marvel flew over to join them.

It was most of the League—minus the Hawks, who were off-world fighting the Gordanians. Whether they were complicit in Thanagar's plot was still uncertain. The Green Lanterns were also absent, no doubt busy trying to keep peace amid the interstellar conflict.

Green Arrow stepped out behind Nova and headed straight for Superman and Wonder Woman to give a more detailed report.

Nova hadn't actually spoken to Superman before. His avoidance of Superboy had turned into avoidance of the whole Team. And though he couldn't really blame Superman's reaction to the whole genetic theft situation, it had changed how Nova viewed him. He wasn't some infallible god. He was... very human.

And Wonder Woman? Still clearly pissed about the Silver Swan incident. Nova could sense it in her body language. But frankly, he didn't care. If she wanted it handled differently, she should've handled it sooner. In the end, Vanessa was cured, and key members of the Light were exposed—better outcomes than she'd have achieved.

Flash and Atom zipped off toward the tents to inspect the generator. The others spread out to secure the fallen Thanagarians.

Nova spotted Batman and Captain Atom heading his way. He held back a sigh, bracing himself for an unskippable cutscene from Batman.

"Nova," Batman said curtly. "We'll talk later." Then he walked off, joining Flash and Atom.

Captain Atom put a hand on Nova's shoulder. "Good work, kid. We'll take it from here," he said before leaving as well.

Nova watched them go. He felt a familiar mix of irritation and resignation. Being treated like a kid again grated on him—but to be fair, cleanup duty was boring.

He turned, preparing to head toward the rendezvous point he'd set with the spy agencies. But something gnawed at the back of his mind.

'What was I forgetting...?'

"Oh yeah—Paran Dul."