Breaking Down

“These things keep getting nastier and nastier,” Gabby said as she flew alongside Gilda and Rainbow Dash through the streets of Gotham City. “Where do they come from again?”

“Some planet called Apokolips,” Rainbow Dash said as they darted in between the buildings of one of the city’s abandoned districts. “And they’re as nasty as it gets. These things worship something called ‘Darkseid’, and they don’t have any problem destroying anything in their way. That’s why we’ve been targeting their nests, but they somehow keep multiplying.”

“So we really have to kill them?”

“It’s a mercy, for them and us,” Gilda said. “You and I have only been observing them so far, but I read up on these things a bit when I was here with Joan. You’ve seen how brutal they are when they fight the humans. Trust us, when you see what these freaks do in their nests you won’t want to let them live either.”

“I came on this trip because it sounded adventurous, and I wanted to help others,” Gabby said, a bit nervously. “I’m not so sure about slaying monsters. Can’t we just talk to them?”

“By all means, give it a shot if you want,” Rainbow Dash said as they arrived at their location. They hid behind a building with a bright, sinister light shining from around the corner. “Observation time is over, anyway. Now we’re solving the problem. Go see what they want. See if you can make friends.”

“Ok,” Gabby said. She walked around the corner, a friendly smile on her face as she raised a claw in greeting. “Hello! My name is Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby. I want to be your friend and help you see that what your doing here is wrong.”
Three parademons stood next to a strange, glowing machine that hovered above the ground. Four long, black chains anchored it down. It had a low mechanical hum as if it were charging itself. It was plugged into a nearby power line that sparked and crackled as it was drained. The parademons turned to see Gabby walking forward. They growled and hefted their axes.

“It’s alright!” Gabby pleaded. “I can help you!”

“Help us conquer this planet for Darkseid?” one of the parademons said.

“No. Conquering others is wrong. Hurting others is wrong. I can help you see that and become better!”

“There is no better. Only Darkseid. Darkseid justifies our violence. Darkseid justifies our hate. Darkseid justifies your death.”

Then they charged. Gabby froze, shocked by the absolute conviction in the parademon’s voices. An energy axe came for her neck as the monsters shouted their dedication to Darkseid. As the blade reached her feathers, the holder was knocked back with a sharp kick to the chest. Its armor cracked and it skidded across the floor to crash into the opposite wall. A second kick landed on its head as it tried to rise. Another loud crack sounded, and the parademon skidded across the floor once more, its claws grasping for something to grip as it writhed in pain.

“Retreat,” cried one of the remaining parademons. “Our work is for the glory of Darkseid. We cannot be stopped here. Darkseid demands it!”
The other two parademons dashed down the street only to be pounced upon by Gilda. She tore at their armor, clawing her way through the joints to rip apart the alien steel. They managed to throw her off only to be pounced on once more. She slammed their heads to the ground so hard the pavement cracked. They stopped moving, except for the steady rhythm of their breathing.

“We shouldn’t be so violent!” Gabby yelled. “You’re the element of loyalty, Rainbow Dash! Shouldn’t you try to make friends with them first?”

“You really want to try and make these things better?” Gilda asked, incredulously. “Are you insane? Didn’t you hear them talk?”

“Actually, she has a point,” Rainbow Dash said.

“She also hasn’t seen their nests. They skin people and eat them! They use them for fuel for their machines!”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point, too.”

“Just let me try!” Gabby cried. “We can put them on leashes and take them places with us. We can show them a better way!”

“We could take them to Starlight,” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed her head uncertainly. “She’s pretty good with mind control spells. Trust me…”

“No, they have to change their minds on their own. Let me just put some chains around their necks and I can lead them like dogs.”

“Being a dog might be a big step up for these guys,” Gilda said, calming down a bit. “That’s just judging by the way they talk. There’s also the problem of whether or not they’ll try to kill you when your back is turned. This doesn’t sound very safe, Gabby.”

“I’ll be fine,” Gabby replied. “We have to at least try and change them for the better. Besides, you girls hit their heads pretty hard.”
One of the parademons was trying to drag itself across the ground, its eyes staring in different directions as it spoke gibberish. The other two were trying to rise to their feet, but their unstable legs made it hard.

“Fine, but I say we get Starlight’s advice anyway,” Rainbow Dash said as she grabbed one of the chains the parademons had used to anchor their machine. She yanked it off with one swift motion. The glowing machine began to shake violently. She broke it with a single kick and removed the other chains. “She might still have something to help us.”

Gabby and Gilda agreed. Then the three of them tied the parademons up and carried them off.

“My group just finished burning down a parademon nest,” Starlight Glimmer said as she brushed some dirt and ash off of her mail armor. “I used a fire spell. My changeling friends killed the runners and wrapped them up for transport to God’s Breath for dissection. Now you want me to help you make friends with these things?”

“Please?” Gabby said. “You’re the student of the Princess of Friendship! You have to know how important this is!”

“Twilight might agree with you, but I’m not sure I do. That nest was full of bones and…”

Starlight Glimmer shook her head as if trying to shake the memory out. She sighed and lifted the chains still holding the parademons. A bright light shone from her horn and the chains lit up in response. A moment later the parademons were on the ground, crouching like dogs with their chains tied around their necks like leashes.

“That oughta do it,” Starlight Glimmer said as she rubbed her head. “There’s some sort of power controlling these things, though. It’s as if the parademons are united under some signal that’s broadcasting directly into their minds. My spell overrides it, but I had to forcefully suppress whatever was tying them together. They shouldn’t be as aggressive unless you tell them to be, Gabby. Other than that, nothing has changed about them. Any personalities they might have are fully intact. Just be careful.”

“Thank you,” Gabby asked as she took hold of the chains. “Why’d you agree to do it all of a sudden?”

“Even though I think this is foolish, we do have a duty to try and spread friendship to others that need it. I’m also kinda curious. I mean, it might work. It probably won’t, but it could work theoretically. I think.”

“Awesome!” Gabby shouted as she hugged Starlight Glimmer. “I promise I’ll do my best. I just really want to try and help these guys see the light.”

“Just be careful, Ok?” Gilda said. “And keep those things on a tight leash.”

One of the parademons grunted while another scratched its chin. The third was humming something in a guttural voice.

“We’ve got one more nest to hit before the night is up,” Starlight Glimmer said. “It’s a big one, too. Do you girls wanna join us?”

“I’m in!” Rainbow Dash said in excitement.

“Me too!” Gilda added, her claws stretching eagerly.

“I think I’m gonna go find a nice quite place and think up names for these guys,” Gabby said. The others wished her well and they parted ways. Gabby took her new charges and led them down the street, encouraging them to follow her to the best of her abilities. The rest traveled through the shadows in the opposite direction, in search of the next parademon nest.

Certain parts of Gotham were completely deserted. Several thousand people had left the city to escape the escalating gang war and the threat of alien abduction. Now that the aliens were actively avoiding Earth and the threat of abduction had vanished some people were beginning to return, but not many.

The gang war hadn’t died down. With the new weapons the gang leaders had gained in their dealings with the alien threat the war hadn’t even fully begun, yet. The police were desperately trying to shut it down before the crime lords finished drawing up their battle strategies, but the threat of parademons in the sewers was taking up their time and manpower.

The abandoned parts of the city were closed off to make the job of patrolling the streets easier. The government had sent in small squads of soldiers to help the police keep these areas secure, but that didn’t scare the criminals who were newly armed and armored. The forces of Equestria and God’s Breath had no trouble hiding from both sides in these abandoned areas. There were plenty of places that the criminals didn’t want to go, and the soldiers would just barely patrol. The ponies and Pokémon found places where neither side wanted to be, which put them close to the parademons more often than not.

Gabby lay on the ground in a blown out building, carving letters into pieces of wood she had torn off of the exposed structure of a wall. This place had been the sight of a gang battle that had escalated from guns to explosives. Rumor on the street was that a group of parademons had made a nest in a neighboring building, but Welshi’s forces had wiped them out the day before. The military had picked up on it first and had set regular patrols on these streets, though they wouldn’t do more than confirm the death of the parademons. The military were primarily observers here, sent by the government but not entirely trusted by Commissioner Gordon. Footsteps sounded outside, echoing into the distance as another patrol left the area. Gabby relit her lamp and held her work up to the light.

“I’ve decided,” she told her parademon pets. “I’m gonna name you Dio, Leo, and Mio. Do you like that?”

The parademons didn’t respond. One of them scratched his head, another was drooling while looking in the direction that the humans had gone, and the third was looking up at the night sky.

“Here you go, Dio,” Gabby said as she ran some wire through a hole she had made in the wood and tied it to his chain collar. “This way we call tell you apart easier, and names are good to have. You’re the one with the L shaped birth mark on your head.”

“Not a birth mark,” Dio replied.

“What is it then?”

“Master Kalibak gave it to me. It stand for ‘loser’. He was bored.”

Gabby frowned, but Dio only continued to stare at the sky.

“That’s so sad,” she said after a moment. “How cruel.”

“Not matter. Darkseid justifies my failure,” Dio looked down at the ground, suddenly appearing ashamed. “He doesn’t like it, though.”

“It does too matter! You’re people and you should be treated like it.”

Gabby took the next piece of wood and attached it to the parademon who was drooling.

“Your name is Leo. You’re the hungry one, aren’t you? Maybe we can find you some food around here.”

“We not people,” Leo said as he licked his lips. “We are canon fodder. We die by millions every time Darkseid sends us out.”

“That’s just wrong.”

“Nope. It’s right. Darkseid justifies our slaughter, just as Darkseid justifies the slaughter we commit.”

Gabby was afraid to ask if these particular parademons had taken part in any slaughters as she attached the third nametag.

“Your Mio,” she said to the parademon who had been scratching his head. “And you need to stop that. You shouldn’t pick at your wounds.”

The parademon froze, as if he had suddenly become aware of the griffon.

“Darkseid justifies my self harm,” Mio said. He was the smallest, and his face was twisted as if it had been broken and allowed to heal without treatment. “I got captured. I got chained by someone other than a new god of Apokolips. And there is smell of living human nearby.”

Gabby was the one to freeze this time. She had been so distracted by her care of the parademons that she had failed to notice the scent. There was the unmistakable smell of human very close by, mixed with the smell of perfume and heavy make up.

“I found you,” came an insane, childish voice from the shadows of the building. “You got some new pets doncha, little birdie?”

“I’m a griffon,” Gabby said as she hung the leashes from an exposed nail in the wall. “I’m part eagle, so it’s not like that name is inaccurate. But I’m trying to make friends with these three. I want to help them be better, to break free of this hold Darkseid has on them.”

“Wow, your crazy,” the woman laughed. “Those things are monsters. They can’t be changed. Trust me, I know.”

“You don’t know!”

“Oh, but I do. ‘Cuz I’m a monster too.”

Harley Quinn jumped from the shadows, bringing her hammer down hard to hit Gabby’s back. Gabby had seen the woman coming and she sidestepped to avoid being hit. The hammer crashed to the floor, splintering the wooden tiles.

“You three stay there!” Gabby shouted to her parademons.

“Darkseid justifies it,” Dio responded.

Gabby took to the air, avoiding another swing of the mallet.

“Your small and fast,” Harley said as she swung again and again. Gabby continued to dodge, darting about in the air just out of the woman’s reach. “And cute! Too bad I gotta break your neck and take you in for dissection. They said they’d let me watch though, so it’s an even trade off. I give up a potential pet, and I get to see its insides spilled out on a table!”

Gabby dodged another vicious swing, this time grabbing the shaft of the hammer with one claw. She ripped it out of Harley’s grip and held it tightly.

“No offense, but you creatures aren’t that strong compared to us. Though this is a bit heavier than I expected.”

“It’s got lead weights in it!” Harley exclaimed proudly. “Wanna see?”

She pushed a button on her wristwatch and the head of the hammer popped open. A large boxing glove shot out, hitting Gabby in the face with bone shattering force. Harley broke down laughing as Gabby fell. She tried to pull herself to her feet, but couldn’t. Her head was throbbing, blood was dripping down her face, and she couldn’t see strait.

“Hurting others is never funny!” shouted a familiar voice from nearby. “Sometimes it’s necessary, and sometimes it can be fun when you’re fighting bad guys. But Gabby is good! And a friend! Don’t laugh!”

Gabby saw a pink shape appear out of the shadows to charge Harley. The clown threw a punch, but it was easily dodged. The earth pony kicked at Harley with her front legs, forcing the clown to back flip out of the way.

“I think I oughta teach you a thing or two about what’s good for a laugh and what’s not, pink horsey!” Harley yelled a she grabbed her hammer. “For instance, do ya’ see ‘em Deadshot?”

A gunshot fired through the night in response to Harley’s question. It was aimed at Pinkie Pie, but it hit a magical shield raised by one of the unicorns with her instead.

“We’ve got eyes in the skies,” Pinkie Pie said, her voice a mixture of pride in her friends and anger at Harley. “And you can’t teach me about laughter. I am laughter!”

The street erupted as more members of the Suicide Squad entered the fray. The soldiers that had patrolled by earlier were now attacking the ponies from across the street. Unicorns exchanged fire with the soldiers, launching beams of destructive magic while raising shields to hide behind. Earth ponies entered close quarters combat with King Shark and Killer Croc as they rushed the broken structure. Gabby and her parademons were pulled further into the house by a pair of unicorns where they cast healing spells on the fallen griffon. Gabby fell in and out of consciousness as she reached out to her friends. She wanted to help, but all she could do was watch.