Sara looked out over the roofs of the city. None of her abilities gave her telescopic vision. That would have put the workings of the tower in a plainer view as it rose above its own wall.

“There’s nothing tall here,” said Bob. He had taken his own spot. Dust and gravel danced around him in case he needed to fling his own style of bullets.

“The constant fighting would drop a tall building in the middle of the city like that,” said Wayne. “I’m surprised this one doesn’t have holes in it.”

“I know,” said Bob. “Maybe everyone else has been diverted or killed by the time they get this far. People have to be getting through the gates.”

“Their weapons might have allowed them to power through,” said Sheira. “I suppose we could have done the same, but I prefer this stealth over constant fighting.”

“Some of you would have been killed just by chance if we had tried to overpower everything,” said Wayne. “The odds were high against that approach. The Dark would have congregated on us the more we won. By the time we reached this point, we would have been fighting an army of monsters and been tired out.”

“The mobile fortress would have been our defense from the start,” said Bob. “But it would have been something we whipped together out of patchwork instead of planning.”

“Desperate measures,” said Wayne with a smile.

“I can’t see a gate from here,” said Sara. “I do see a bunch of movement.”

“It’s around the curve of the wall,” said Wayne. “But you’re right, there’s a lot of things moving down there.”

“They’re waiting for us?,” asked Sheira.

“It looks like it,” said Wayne. “Second line of defense to stop freelancers from getting through.”

“But we’re going to try, right?,” said Bob. “We’re halfway there.”

“I think we need something to draw their attention,” said Wayne. “Any ideas?”

Sara looked at the line of things waiting. She knew she could only see the top edge. What could they use to get that line to move out of the way?

They needed something mobile to make a certain section chase, but strong enough to avoid being captured. They needed some kind of decoy to pretend to be a freelancer. That meant it had to look human at the least.

Sara smiled at the idea that popped in her head. It would never work, but it was a thought.

“What’s so funny?,” asked Bob.

“You know what this is, Bob?,” asked Sara. She smiled at the crazy thought in her head.

“No,” said Bob. He scratched the back of his head.

“This is a job for Superman,” said Sara.

“Good luck finding him down here,” said Bob.

“We could make him,” said Sara. “We just need a statue of some kind.”

“No way,” said Bob. “A statue of Superman down here? Where would we get one?”

“I think she wants you to carve one out of rock,” said Wayne. “I don’t know who this Superman is. Would he be a good distraction?”

“I think he would be excellent for that,” said Sara. “And that should get us the time to rush the gate.”

“A statue?,” said Bob. “I don’t think I have done that with my power. Let’s see what we can do.”

Bob gathered the loose stone on the roof in an approximate human shape. Sheira added details, carving lines with her commands. It looked like a grey with brown splotches version of the real thing. Sara called on the rat last. The statue blinked to life. It looked around with its sudden awareness.

“In a spot of trouble?,” the simulacrum asked.

“I’m Sara Flowers,” said Sara. “We need your help.”

“I see that there are thousands of monsters about, some metahumans with powers, and I am not on Earth,” said the statue. “Explanation?”

“All of the metahumans are trying to get to the central tower so we can go home,” said Sara. “The monsters want to stop us. That army below is my group’s main concern and we feel that with your help as a distraction we could get through the enemy lines, reach the gate, and use the tower.”

“The other metahumans?,” said Superman.

“Our primary consideration is for our group to go home,” said Sara. “If we engage, there is a small chance that other freelancers will rally with us but we’re not sure they will.”

“I’m willing to lend a hand,” said the living statue. “It should be a breeze to get you to one of the gates. I can bring the other freelancers to the gate after you cross.”

“That would be better than I expected,” said Sara. “I think we’ll have to clear a path at least. The Dark won’t be happy that we’re trying to get out of here.”

“I think I can do that for you,” said Superman. “This should only take a few minutes.”

He took to the air in a flash of blue. He headed for the mob blockading the wall. One of the bigger Dark hunters crashed into him and sent him to the ground.

“Do you think this is a good idea?,” asked Wayne.

“It’s all we got for a distraction,” said Sara. “There’s the gate. I think we should move if we want to take advantage.”

A loud boom saw the Dark hunter fly over the inner wall. Bob whistled.

“All right,” said Wayne. “That’s a lot more dramatic than what I thought would

happen.”

“Let’s go,” said Sara. She ran to the end of the arm facing the direction the gate was arriving. She threw out lines to swing down to the ground. She used the rabbit to zip from cover to cover to try to get in front of the gate without being noticed.

The others joined her on a slide created out of stone. They grouped up and examined the mob blocking their path.

“I think we have a problem,” said Wayne. “Something big is running along the wall. We might not be able to get through with this distraction after all.”

“I’m not stopping now,” said Sara. “Get behind me, and I’ll drive a wedge through these goons.”

“I don’t think that’s smart,” said Wayne. “I’ll handle this. You four think of how

we’re going to stop that giant from stomping us down.”

“It’s got a hundred arms,” said Sheira. “That can’t be good.”

“Do what you can,” said Wayne. He cracked his neck and the knuckles of his hands with flexes. “I can handle the small stuff until you come up with something.”

He walked out in the street, heading for the nearest members of the Dark mob. It looked like suicide to the rest of the group as the hunters swarmed toward him. The leader of the nearest pack attacked with a glowing sword. The blade reversed direction and stabbed the swordsman so fast no one saw what happened.

“All right,” said Bob. “Maybe we’ve been holding him back.”

Ten more Dark hunters died before Bob could finish the sentence.

“How do we stop that titan?,” asked Sara. “What do we have in our bag of tricks?”

“I don’t have anything but what I can throw,” said Sheira. “I would have to touch it to use the gem on it.”

And to touch it, she would have to get through the mob. It could be done, but it would be dangerous.

“I have some spells,” said Nasser. He pulled on his helmet and his voice changed. “I’ll need time to throw them.”

“All I got is throwing rocks, Sara,” said Bob. “I don’t think I can come up with

anything to stop that.”

“I have a sketchy plan,” said Sara. She winced as Wayne straightened out the hunch in a hunchback with his hands. “Bob, you and Sheira protect Nasser. Nasser, do whatever you can from here. I’m going out to distract the titan and his minions. If you kill the thing, rush the gate.”

“If we can’t kill it?,” asked Sheira.

“Wait for your chance and plow up the ground in front of you so you can get through the line without too many problems,” said Sara.

“All right,” said Bob. “That’s a good plan b.”

“Keep an eye out,” said Sara. “I’m going.”

Sara used the rabbit to move from corner to corner. Most of the pack didn’t see her. She refrained from attacking. Her goal was to get to where she could make the titan pause long enough for Nasser to do something.

She wondered if this was the best plan.

She decided that it wasn’t. A better plan would have been to make more Supermen to help them out. Now they were in the area of winging it. And she didn’t like to wing it if she could help it.

Sara had one trick that might be handy. She didn’t know how well it would work against her giant enemy. She decided that if it worked for just a few seconds, that would have to do.

She knew she would be in the thick of it as soon as the mob decided to attack. She would have to hold their attention and defend herself. Things would be rough if Nasser didn’t succeed.

She pulled the lion sword from her gauntlet. She flicked her wrist and the blade extended to its full length. She could feel the vibration from it in her hand. It wanted to fight a lot more than she did.

Sara held the sword in both hands so the jewel in the hilt faced the monsters. She willed it to issue its summons. Red light hit the titan with a roar. The thing staggered back against the wall, crushing some of the smaller monsters unable to get out of the way in time. Part of the inner wall fell in under the impact.

The horde raced toward where she stood. She changed her grip on the sword. She took a moment to catch her breath. This was where she had to hold the line.

The wave of monsters flung blasts of energy at her as they closed. She blocked some. A few hit the walls on either side of her. Then the sword and rabbit and ox started working on the tide with electrified strokes cutting the air. Black ichor splashing around her rewarded her effort.

“Here I am,” said Tyler, appearing at her side. Twin pistols sounded like saws as bullets punched through the Dark like water from a hose. “Saving you again. I thought you were going to stay out of trouble.”

“I thought you were dead,” said Sara. She punched a monster hard enough to

rearrange its skull.

“I’m back, baby, and I brought friends,” said the gunfighter, grinning like a loon. The flat crack of a rifle from above backed up his words.