[center][u][b]July 8th, 3:48 PM
Sakakah, Republic of Arabia[/b][/u]

Lady Arcana had made good time, if nothing else. Even with the Grim Jet as a passenger, she had arrived in less than three minutes just ahead of the advancing army of Basil Al-Asad. The city of [url=https://i.imgur.com/slLDIOE.jpg]Sakakah[/url], with a population of nearly 250,000 people now stood in the path of the Arab Federation's invasion, the battered and demoralized remnants of the Republic's army doing their best to dig in and fortify their position with what precious little time they had.

[color=orchid]"We're here,"[/color] Karen spoke into her earpiece, the device shielded from the harshness of friction by her mystical aura thanks to its close proximity. [color=orchid]"The Dictator guy's army should be here soon, so...um, start your engines?"[/color]

Waiting until she heard the Grim Jet hum to life, Lady Arcana released it so it could fly independently again.

Although she was still hundreds of feet above the city, she could already see that many there had noticed her. A lot of them seemed uneasy, some even a little upset. Why would they be - oh, wait. Shit, she didn't even think about that, culturally insensitive prick that she was. [color=orchid]"Alright, then, how about [i]this?"[/i][/color]

With the same magic through which she had transformed her uniform into a cute outfit during her visits with Zoey, she created a pair of light purple stockings that ran from her boots to beyond her skirt. Then, she created a likewise orchid facial covering that - when combined with the hood of her cloak - made for a rather convincing burka-like mask. [color=orchid]"There we go! Lady Arcana, Middle East mode!"[/color]

Feeling as if she'll piss off slightly less people now, she descended closer to the city. The defenders were digging in as best they could, preparing for door-to-door fighting of the most brutal and savage kind. In truth, she knew this entire city would be burning within the hour if she didn't do something fast. She could see that parts were already aflame from bombs that had been dropped by a Federation Air Force that had complete control of the skies.

[i]Had[/i] being the operative word.

Glancing up at the sky above, she quickly shot into the clouds with a thunderous crack that resonated through the area. Finding their aircraft wasn't an instant thing, nor an easy one, given the vastness of a three dimensional sky and her lack of a radar, but her speed nevertheless made it possible with a bit of searching.

It was an entire squadron of bombers, no doubt heading for the city on another run. She hadn't a clue what type they were, since the entirety of her military knowledge could be stuffed into an ashtray. Still, they had wings and engines. She could work with that! She was currently trailing them at...well, she'd guess quite a few thousand feet off the ground. Figuring out how to best pick them off without killing their pilots was the hard part. She didn't want to make them explode or anything.

Maybe ask the expert on jet design?

[color=orchid]"Erm, Grim? How do you figure I can disable a bomber without killing its pilots?"[/color] Lady Arcana spoke into her earpiece, hoping it was made to handle all the wind blasting past her right now..

Of course Lady Arcana didn't want to kill the pilots, Grim wasn't even surprised. The Grim Jet was currently hovering above the city, the black body emblazoned with the grey wolf head stark against the sky, its pilot taking in the landscape from the moment they arrived. No doubt Lady Arcana could handle the jets, and once the skies were clear it'd leave the tanks as [i]hopefully[/i] easy pickings - of course that would likely destroy them. Somehow she didn't think Arcana would appreciate that. Ah, there we go. A quick check of her computer's mapping revealed what she needed however - a nearby body of water. As the Grim Jet banked to take off towards it as the vigilante responded.

[color=IndianRed]"If they're far enough away from the city go for the engines - just make sure you don't destroy the wings. They should be able to glide well enough. If they're too close you'll probably have to make them eject - don't worry, they'll no doubt have parachutes - and then you can deal with the bomber itself."[/color]

Lady Arcana smiled in response to her friend's advice, [color=orchid]"Okay! Thanks. This hopefully won't take too long."[/color]

Setting her sights on the bombers bringing up the rear of the squadron, she quickly closed with the one nearest to her. This did not go unnoticed by the pilots inside, as they immediately began taking evasive maneuvers. They wouldn't escape her, though, not without leaving their engines behind first!

Keeping parallel with the aircraft despite it's best efforts to lose her, she was forced to blink a few times in surprise when the afterburners swept over her body. This didn't deter her, however, her left hand quickly lancing out to impale the engine pod with a knife-hand jab, before ripping herself free. Watching it glide down through the clouds, she couldn't help but smile when the pilots ejected. Success!

Shooting through the sky in a green blur was the Emerald Knight, a fire burning in his chest to quell some violence. He was thankful that the ring sets up a small field around him, allowing him to move at such high speeds without even his hair jostling in the wind. 

Even he was surprised at the speeds he could reach while flying around. Intersteller travel was one thing, but when he could actually see trees and cars pass by in the blink of an eye, he knew for certain he was going pretty damn fast. 

Unfortunately, ultrasonic flight didn't mean that he could process things at an ultrasonic pace. He had ripped through something whille flying to his destination. Moving as fast as he was, he couldn't see it, but stopping as fast as he could to turn around and see, only now did he see that he had just shot through the parachute attached to an ejector seat. 

The person was still in the seat, now screaming for their lives as they entered a free fall. This wasn't how he wanted to present himself to these people, not at all. 

He bent over and flew as fast as he could to the falling pilot, and conjured a large platform to catch him and the seat with. He needed to be careful though. He had to bring down the platform at a pace that would agree with the speed of descent of the pilot, and from there slow down until they reached the ground. 

And that's exactly what he did. It took him a little time to get everything figured out just right, but he was able to catch and save the pilot whom he had endangered in the first place. 

Emerald Knight didn't know if the pilot spoke english or not, but that mattered very little with the help of his power ring. 

[color=darkgreen]"You're safe now."[/color] Emerald Knight spoke in english. He needed for the man to speak, so he knew what language to set his ring to. Time was short. As much as he wanted to stay and chat, he needed to move elsewhere.

He ascended slowly, speeding back up gradually the higher he got. Well, at least he knew that he was in the right place.

Another engine pod impaled, and another bomber falling. After the first plane had been disabled, the rest of the squadron had broken off their formation and attempted to evade her. Being bombers, she guessed they didn't really have any dogfighting abilities, since they never tried to engage her. While it made her feel a little bad to systematically hunt down a fleeing enemy like this, she figured they would just regroup and eventually continue their attack if she didn't.

Besides, it meant that the Dictator guy didn't have these planes to use against them anymore, and that could only be a good thing.

One after another she outpaced them and disabled their engines, watching them glide down into the clouds below. As she was finishing off the last one, Arcana couldn't help but notice a sudden flash of light beneath the her, one that was - oddly enough - tinted green. Her first instinct was to suspect it was one of the new weapons the Arab Federation had, a weapon they very well could be using against Zoey right now!

If that was the case, then she needed to get back there and stop it. Maybe the Grim Jet could handle itself, but Karen wasn't about to leave anything to chance.

Descending through the cloud layer, her eyes - sharp as any bird of prey - scanned the area for the source of the flash. She was expecting an aircraft, something sleek and futuristic-looking. Instead, she found a man. He was glad in what looked to be a green uniform, and he was flying...in much the same way she did! Who the hell was this-

[color=orchid]"Wait,"[/color] Karen paused. [color=orchid]"That's right, I remember the interview in the Hub City Daily! That's Emerald Knight, isn't it?"[/color]

He must have come to help stop the Federation too! Awesome! It would be nice not to be the only superpowered hero flying around, even if he did only have the strength of ten men. Raising her hand, she offered him an energetic wave as she flew closer. [color=orchid]"Heeey! You're Emerald Knight, aren'tcha?"[/color]

[color=darkgreen]"Huh?"[/color] Preston could have sworn that he heard someone calling out to him. But he was up in the air, flying around, and definitely in an area where other flying people weren't common. 

When he spun around to the direction of the voice, there she was, waving to him as she neared him. She had powered flight too, it seemed. No wings, jets, or anything keeping her up. He offered her a passive wave in response. He was surprised that she spoke english too. Maybe she were here for the same reason he was?

[color=darkgreen]"Yeah, that's me!"[/color] He smiled at her and delivered a sharp nod to reaffirm her suspicions about him. [color=darkgreen]"I'm glad my name's finally going around."[/color]

Now that he was able to get a good look at her, she seemed pretty iconic too. The purple, the lightning bolt, everything fit into the image of Hub City's very own Lady Arcana. [color=darkgreen]"And you're Lady Arcana. It's an honor to meet the most popular hero here on Earth."[/color]

Looking around, he floated casually around. [color=darkgreen]"So, what's the status here? I kind of ran through a parachute and have no idea what's going down on the ground."[/color]

[color=orchid]"Most popular hero,"[/color] she echoed him, a slight chuckle underlying her words, [color=orchid]"or most infamous vigilante, depending on who you ask...but thanks all the same!"[/color]

When he mentioned running through a parachute, she blinked and instinctively glanced at the desert far beneath them. [color=orchid]"Oh, I've been disabling bombers. They were heading for a nearby city, presumably to soften up its defenses for when the army gets here."[/color]

Not that she intended to let it arrive if she could help it. It would be much easier to fight them in the open desert than in the middle of a populated city where any stray bullet or grenade could kill a civilian. She'd yet to encounter anything she would consider magical in nature, which told her that they were probably keeping the big guns back for now, after initially using them to shatter the Republic's army.

[color=orchid]"But, um, the situation is basically that there's a huuuge army on the way and we're the only ones that can stop it,"[/color] Arcana explained. [color=orchid]"The people defending that city really don't have a chance without us."[/color]

He scratched his chin. They could push up. Between the two of them being able to fly faster than nearly any jet on the planet, it wouldn't be hard to just keep moving up until they got to the big army. On the other hand, if the bombers were to fly to other nearby areas, them being too close would make it difficult to close in on them. He supposed that them being as far back as they were was fine for now. They'd just have to wear down the planes until they ran our or decided to stop. 

[color=darkgreen]"It can't be just you and me, can it? I mean, we could get it done, but it'd be a close call if the army is as big as you say it is."[/color] He wasn't quite sure what their next move would be. He really did hope that some more heroes decided to join in, but it was probably a far cry from reality. [color=darkgreen]"If it is, then we'll have to stay on top of things. We can't give them an inch, otherwise they'll keep going."[/color]

Lady Arcana nodded in agreement. [color=orchid]"Yeah, you're right. While I don't think they can hurt me, they might decide to just keep moving past me if I can't disable them quickly enough. I've been doing my best not to kill any of them too, of course."[/color]

And that was something she had no intention of letting up on. She was no killer, and besides... [color=orchid]"Most of these guys are conscripts, right? They didn't really have a choice but to fight for that Dictator dude."[/color]

That was how conscription worked, she was pretty sure. They just grabbed you, put a gun in your hand and told you to shoot whoever they pointed you towards. It was really messed up. If it were even the slightest bit possible, she'd like to stop this war without losing any more than necessary on either side.

Gesturing for Emerald Knight to follow her, she quickly flew back down towards the city, hoping to find the Grim Jet still hanging somewhere around there. Hopefully the Republic's soldiers didn't mistake her for the enemy. [color=orchid]"...For the record, we're not alone. There's one more hero: Grim."[/color]

To be honest, an aircraft the size of the Grim Jet wasn't really the type of plane for fire fighting.

Luckily the Grim Jet wasn't a normal aircraft. It didn't take long to reach the body of water to the north west of Sakakah, an initial fly by checking for threats both visually and scanned. Finding nothing to impede it a sharp twist had the jet turning around and dipping, just barely skimming the surface of the water as a panel near the back opened and extended. The craft tipped back up and was soon making a beeline back to the city, the mechanism in the back already preparing the potent mix.

There was of course no way that the Grim Jet could ever battle an entire forest fire or anything [i]near[/i] that size, but for a city already ablaze even the emergency supply of foam concentrate in the back - specifically made to smother fires when mixed with water and air - would suffice. Only being fitted with weapons would've been a bit of a waste, after all. The first pass over of Sakakah Grim stayed higher up in the air than necessary, having no doubt the citizens were on edge and afraid from the bombers. The nozzles in the back of the Grim Jet still sufficed to mix the water and foam at that altitude to drop on one of the areas being ravaged by flames, cutting off with the flick of a switch and resuming over another. On the second fly by the vigilante risked lowering the jet slightly more, hoping the initial pass gave the flag to not shoot - if arriving with Lady Arcana didn't already.

Not that normal bullets would do much against the hull of the Grim Jet anyway, but it was such a waste of bullets. 

It took three trips zig zagging across the city to empty the supply of foam concentrate and water. There were still fires blazing inside the city, but the bigger ones had been contained for the most part. With the foam concentrate reserves on near empty the panel in the back finally closed once more as Grim checked the scanner. Finding an approaching object the jet banked to return to the initial drop off point. While she doubted Lady Arcana would allow anything past herself if she could help it Grim was still prepared, weapons systems ready.

As expected it was merely the heroine returning to the city, no doubt a few bombers less on the Arab Federation's side. What wasn't expected was who she was with, or the fact that she had apparently changed outfits - not hard considering her powers and would probably make interacting with the locals easier. Smart. Slowing the thrust of the Grim Jet and activating the hover the vigilante banked beside the two floating figures, lingering in the air only a few feet beside them.

[color=IndianRed]"In the ten minutes I've been gone you not only got pants and a mask but also picked up a stray."[/color] She commented over to the other woman's earpiece, adding on in a mutter, [color=IndianRed]"Then again I've been running around in a gas mask for over a decade so I guess I can't say much."[/color] Under said mask Grim's brows furrowed as she took in the new addition. She recognized him from some news reports, another super powered one.

[color=IndianRed]"... Cabbage Patch, right?"[/color]

[color=orchid]"Emerald Knight,"[/color] Lady Arcana corrected her friend with a slight blush of her cheeks as she settled into a float beside the Grim Jet. She always had trouble with people's names. Though really, now that she was able to size him up properly this dude was [i]really[/i] short! Like wow, he was about the same size as her in her human form!

Gesturing towards the "man" in the cockpit, she offered an apologetic smile to the other hero. [color=orchid]"This is Grim, a hero from Gotham."[/color]

[color=orchid]"I took care of the bombers by the way,"[/color] she returned her focus to Grim. [color=orchid]"There will probably be more, though."[/color]

As if to emphasize her comment, the sound of jet engines quickly approached. These ones were different, and not just in the clean tone of their jets, but that they came from the south and west. Without even pausing they gave chase to the bombers that were retreating, passing by the group of heroes. As they did the union jack on the tailfins of the F-35Cs displayed prominently that support had arrived.

"Squadron Charlie to Task Force Command, we have eyes on Federation bombers pulling away from the combat zone. Pursuing to the edge of friendly air support to execute superiority patrols." The lead fighter pushed ahead slightly, his squadron following behind. Three more joined them just as quickly, deploying from the carriers in the Red Sea and pushing their engines white hot in order to get to the front as fast as possible.

Below more NATO support was moving in as well, groups of IFVs on the road into Sakakah lead by a black and red painted command vehicle with a man standing in the open command hatch. Having been so far removed from the front lines for so long, Raymond had felt it necessary to lead the LIS detachment personally, going so far as to organize a fast assault platoon ahead of the main line infantry. It was only a dozen Stryker IFVs, but with the two big guns in the unit and a fair number of FGM-148 javelins as cargo for the troops, he was confident they could hold the line until more arrived.

Clear as it was he had a good view of the upcoming city, and the heroes hovering overhead, taking out a set of binoculars to identify them for himself. "Ah, there you are." A hand steadied himself as he leaned out of the hatch, a grin on his lips as he observed. "The battle has just begun for Sakakah, and reinforcing elements have arrived. I wonder if you will remain to help liberate Arabia, or if now that the military is here you will leave us to it?"

Preston, now floating with a jet of some sort hovering next to him, wasn't able to hear much of anything. Luckily, his eyes were still working, and that was enough to see the dots making their way over to the three flying heroes.

"Hey." The Green Lantern tapped the shoulder of the mystical mistress beside him. "There's some more on the way. We need to get moving before they get too close."

He couldn't tell if they were friendly reinforcements on their way to the town, lending their aerial aide against the forces bent on destroying everything, or if they were the destroyers themselves. He couldn't take the chance to sit around and wait. He needed to see the jets at a closer distance. 

He flew off to intercept the jets. Of course he couldn't talk to them, but he did hope that flying circles around them would allow him to identify the planes and which side of this battle they were on. If they were the good guys, then good, but if they were the enemy, then he was just that close enough to be able to force them out of the air.

He closed in on the jets in quick time, pushing his ring to carry him just a little faster, and them some to keep up with them at a steady pace. It was rather lucky that he could vaguely identify the jets as the good guys. They didn't seem to be doing much to harm him as he flew around them to see who they were, which was also a good sign. 

He decided to ride with the jets instead of returning to Lady Arcana and Grim. 

Lady Arcana turned when Emerald Knight tapped her on the shoulder, before staring up at the incoming jets. Apparently, there were more incoming already. She supposed it was too much to ask for the Dictator to cut them even a little slack. Although..they seemed to be coming from the wrong direction, considering the other bombers were clearly flying in from the north.

Staring down at the city again, she also noted about a dozen armored vehicles approaching from the south as well. It didn't seem like a very big force, and the locals weren't react with much in the way of fear or panic either.

"[color=orchid]Grim, are those guys part of the Federation or what? Do you like, have some kind of computer that can tell?"[/color] She asked her friend through her headset. The vehicles all seemed to be marked with the letters "LIS" across their sides, but who knew what the fuck that meant.

[color=IndianRed]"They're NATO,"[/color] Came the immediate reply, though Grim didn't look up from her computer to the jets. Instead her gaze had focused on the control panel the instant a small, seemingly innocent beep alerted her to something new. The vigilante's gloved fingers moved over the screen carefully before her eyes flicked upward. [color=IndianRed]"A small force, considering, more than likely an advance squad. So friendly, but be on your guard - we're fighting a common enemy but we're still technically criminals."[/color]

Grim tracked the signal on her radar as the Green Giant joined the jets, silently making sure he hadn't taken off on a mistaken crusade; people acted so hastily sometimes. Luckily both he and the NATO jets didn't attack each other, confirming her suspicions that the three of them were friendlies for now.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, but for how long? [/center]