Author's Note: So I was browsing Youtube and happened upon clips from Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, in particular the scene where Batman threatens Darkseid with his own Hell Spores. It sort of spiralled from there into an AU meshed with my own headcanon.
For a bit of clarification, some Batclan info as of the start of the story;
Batman - Bruce Wayne (48 years old, vigilante for 23)
Nightwing - Richard Grayson-Wayne (29,vigilante for 18)
Batwoman - Katherine Kane (35, vigilante for 17)
Oracle - Barbara Gordon (27, vigilante for 14)
Red Hood - Jason Todd-Wayne (26, vigilante for 12)
Black Bat - Cassandra Cain-Wayne (23, vigilante for 10)
Red Robin - Timothy Drake-Wayne (19, vigilante for 7)
Batgirl - Stephanie Brown-Wayne (15, vigilante for 4)
Robin - Damian Wayne (10, vigilante for 2 months)
Darkseid's Citadel, Apokolips
"You are foolish to come here, boy. My Omega Beams will destroy you utterly," Darkseid sneered, eyes glowing as he prepared to vaporise the costumed hero before him.
"You could, but that won't stop your Hell Spores," Red Robin retorted, staring defiantly at the being looming over him.
His red and black armour was augmented by a few stolen pieces of golden Apokoliptan armour, the only reason he survived when Darkseid roared in anger and backhanded him across the throne room. Darkseid strode to his throne, accessing the controls for the Hell Spores. When his attempts to stop the timer failed, the grey-skinned being stormed across the room to punch Red Robin again.
"Shut them off."
"Release the girl. Release Kara Zor-El and I shut down the Spores," Red Robin bargained from his hands and knees, gasping in pain despite the Apokoliptan armour.
Darkseid roared in anger, kicking the human in the mid-section, launching him across the room. Before Red Robin had a chance to recover, Darkseid lifted him by the throat and held him out of the hole in the wall that had been created when the mind-controlled Kara Zor-El had tackled Superman out.
"Disable them. NOW!" Darkseid demanded.
"Forswear Kara Zor-El! Let her go or we all get firsthand experience of a hundred Hell Spores activating at once," Red Robin gasped around the large hand on his throat.
Darkseid sneered at the young human in his grasp a moment longer before he smirked. Almost dismissively, he tossed Red Robin into the room. Red Robin rolled before catching himself to rest on his hands and knees.
"Impressive. Had the Kryptonian or the Amazonian tried such a gamble they would have lost. They would not have the nerve to follow through."
Darkseid paused as Red Robin staggered to his feet, leaving the two stood opposite each other.
"I accept your bargain, the girl will be released and you are all free to leave Apokolips."
Red Robin nodded in acceptance before raising his gauntlet.
"Override: Martha Thomas Janet Jack. Disable," Red Robin commanded.
Darkseid glanced to his throne, the nearby screen showing that the timer was gone. With a thought, a Boom Tube opened near them.
"This will take you to your allies. I will command my forces to let you leave."
Red Robin nodded at him in thanks before moving toward the Boom Tube. The young man paused as Darkseid spoke again.
"Your actions are worthy of respect, boy, so I will grant you a boon. For five years, none from Apokolips shall interfere with your world, or those on it. After that, sooner or later, my forces will come for your world."
"We'll be waiting," Red Robin replied before stepping through.
Darkseid's Citadel, Apokolips; A few hours later
"I will destroy that Kryptonian worm! How dare he harm me!" Kalibak raged as he entered Darkseid's throne room.
His sister, Grail, sneered at him from before their father's throne while the others kept their gazes down.
"Give me your armies, Father, and I will take my revenge and give their worthless planet," Kalibak demanded.
"No, not yet," Darkseid stated.
Grail's head whipped around to stare incredulously at the Lord of Apokolips while Kalibak's remaining eye narrowed in anger.
"WHAT! WHY?" Kalibak demanded.
"Watch your tongue, boy, or the Kryptonian taking your eye will be the least of your worries," Darkseid chastised, sneering down at him.
Darkseid stood from his throne, stepping over to the hole in the wall. Parademons had already begun work to repair the damage but Darkseid simply gazed past them.
"With all respect, why would you have us wait? Surely, right now they are weakened?" Grail questioned carefully, wary of drawing her father's wrath.
"Do you know what happens when I come for something?" Darkseid asked those in the room.
"You get it, Lord Darkseid," Granny Goodness practically simpered.
"Indeed and even the Gods of New Genesis cower before me. Not even their precious Highfather will challenge me. So when a mere human, one by my estimations barely grown, has the bravery to look me in the eye? When he has the nerve to threaten me even as I hold his life in my hand? That is worthy of a reprieve," Darkseid told them, stunning the room.
Kalibak recovered first.
"But-"
"But nothing, Kalibak! Any who so much as look at that world for the next five years will suffer. My. WRATH! IS THAT CLEAR?"
Metropolis; One year later
Kalibak chuckled in glee as he raised his axe to kill Superman. Superman had destroyed his eye when Kara Zor-El had been taken by Apokolips and now, Kalibak would take his life in repayment. The majority of the humans' so-called Justice League lay scattered in the street around them, beaten and battered. Before he could bring the axe down, there were dual clicks. Kalibak paused to look at the blade of his axe. He had just enough time to catch a glimpse of two oddly shaped discs before they exploded in a flash of light causing him to stagger back, temporarily blinded.
When his vision cleared, it was to find a human girl perched on some nearby debris. She was clad in a combination of grey, black and purple, with a cape and what looked to resemble two pointy ears on the top of her head. A somewhat jagged emblem was visible on her chest, the black emblem barely visible against the black uniform.
"'Sup?" the girl greeted casually.
"This is the best your planet can do? When your powerful Justice League is beaten, you vermin send a girl to face me?"Kalibak mocked.
"Oh, I'm not here to fight you. I'm just here to chat," the girl disagreed.
Kalibak, son of Darkseid, one of the most powerful and feared beings in the universe, stared in shock at the cheery human.
"I'm Batgirl by the way. Nice to meet you. Kalibak, right?"
"Enough of this. I will kill you just the same as the rest," Kalibak sneered, getting over his shock.
"Daddy-dearest doesn't know you're here, does he?" Batgirl asked.
"Of course not. I will deliver this worthless rock to him and he will reward me nonetheless," Kalibak grinned.
"Really? I don't think that's going to happen," Batgirl commented casually.
"I suppose you intend to stop me?" Kalibak laughed.
"Nope, all I'm gonna do is this."
A flick of the wrist sent a small weapon of some kind at Kalibak. The New God mockingly pulled it from where it had embedded itself, not even reaching his skin. A glance told him that the weapon resembled the symbol on her chest, made of sharpened metal but incapable of harming him.
"Is that all you can do? You're toys are useless against a New God such as I!" Kalibak mocked.
"Yup. But then, I've seen images of you from when you fought Earth's defenders a year ago. I know what you looked like, I know what you were wearing. So I know what's new. In conclusion, unless I'm much mistaken, that box on you're hip was keeping you hidden from dear old Dad," Batgirl explained.
Kalibak looked down. Sure enough, it had embedded itself in the device at his waist, the device that was hiding him from Darkseid's sight. Kalibak let out a roar of rage as he charged the girl still calmly crouched on the debris.
He never reached her.
A large hand grasped his head and lifted him from the ground before turning him to face it's owner. Darkseid glared at his son, four parademons flanking him.
"I believe my orders were clear, Kalibak."
Kalibak struggled against his lord and father's hold as Darkseid's eyes began to glow.
"If you value your eyes so much over my orders then let this be a fitting start to your punishment," Darkseid snarled before unleashing his Omega Beams.
Kalibak screamed as Darkseid's power burned his remaining eye beyond even Apokolips's abilities to repair. Darkseid dropped the whimpering New God to the ground before gesturing to the parademons.
"Take him to Apokolips, we will continue his… punishment there."
The four parademons scurried forward and began to drag Kalibak back to the Boom Tube they arrived through. Darkseid turned to look at Batgirl, still perched on the rubble.
"Glad you keep your word or that could've been awkward," the child joked.
"You do not fear me," Darkseid stated, confused.
"Nope, not really," Batgirl responded, cheerful as ever.
"You are the second such human. Are you all so courageous?" Darkseid asked, genuinely beginning to wonder if he had missed something with this species.
"Most would probably call this stupid. Red Robin and I are pretty special as humans go," Batgirl told the God of Evil.
"Is that so?"
"Yup. We were trained by the same guy, taught to cause fear not show it," the girl explained brightly.
"Interesting. Until next time, child."
Darkseid stepped through the Boom Tube, disappearing back to Apokolips.
Outside the Hall of Justice, Washington D.C.; Eight years and four months later
Superman batted another parademon aside, trying to push through to Darkseid. Shazam got there first, landing a titanic blow to the New God, causing a cloud of smoke and dust. When it cleared, Darkseid held Billy Batson's alter-ego by the neck before twitching his fingers and allowing the now-dead hero to fall to the ground.
There was a crash beside him as Wonder Woman stabbed a parademon attempting to flank him.
"Where in the name of Gods are Batman and his allies? We need all the help we can get!" Diana demanded.
"I don't know! We'll have to make do!" Kal-El responded, blasting a parademon back with his heat vision.
Darkseid merely watched as the League fought his parademons, only acting himself whenever one of the heroes attacked him. As no more parademons came, the League managed to make some headway against them. Eventually, the last one fell leaving Darkseid the only foe to defeat. Darkseid merely gazed around at the haggard heroes and beaten parademons without care.
"It's over, Darkseid, take your army and leave," Superman demanded.
Darkseid smirked, unmoving.
"You know, when I took Kara Zor-El over nine years ago now, I believed I was dealing with the greatest threat to my conquest of this world. I soon learned I was wrong. When you retrieved her from Apokolips, I realised that she was not the greatest threat. This fact was only cemented a year later when Kalibak disobeyed me," Darkseid commented.
The Justice League stopped, confused as to why their enemy, surrounded and outnumbered, was so casually talking with them.
"Of course, I had granted a reprieve to your planet and so for another four years I did nothing. Once that time was up, I studied the threat for six months before making my move. I captured the threat and replaced it so that none would notice. And then, I handed the threat to Granny Goodness that she might break them."
"So what took you? If you broke this threat almost three years ago, why wait until now? Scared?" Supergirl snarled.
"On the contrary, Kara Zor-El. They did not break. Their willpower was most impressive. Even with my assistance, Granny Goodness could not break them quickly. Until seven months ago, they still resisted but once one broke, the others followed. I must say, they do make for excellent commanders, especially since their… improvement," Darkseid continued.
His cryptic exposition was interrupted by Donna Troy, Wonder Woman's sister, crash-landing next to her. Wonder Woman immediately crouched down to help her up and in the silence, everyone heard Troia's words.
"Themyscira has fallen."
"Impossible, Themyscira would never fall to these beasts. Mother would-" Diana argued, disbelieving.
"Mother is dead! Killed by… by-" Donna wailed before dissolving into tears.
Diana was stunned. To her, it was incomprehensible that her mother, Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons, had fallen. Her mother was one of the best warriors she knew, for her to fall in battle.
"Batman! Finally, where have you guys been?" Flash exclaimed.
The two Amazons looked up to see the Bats step up next to Barry. Diana barely had a chance to be relieved before Donna acted.
"You!" Donna snarled, leaping up, glare fixed on the uncaring Batwoman.
Diana distantly noticed that their costumes appeared different, simultaneously bulkier and sleeker, with more sharp edges. She couldn't perform a more detailed analysis as most of her concentration was focused on restraining her sister.
"Donna, calm down!" Diana grunted.
"No! She's responsible! It's all her fault!" Donna raged, struggling against her sister.
The rest of the League looked between the two while Darkseid still stood in the middle of the circle of heroes, cruel smirk on his lips as he watched calmly.
"What are you talking about, Donna? What's Batwoman's fault?" Superman questioned.
"The fall of Themyscira! It's her fault! She needs to pay!" Donna yelled before dissolving into sobs.
"Donna, I don't know why you think that but-" Diana began, soothingly, before Donna interrupted.
"I saw her! She was leading these creatures! She slaughtered dozens of our sisters! She killed our mother!" Donna roared, anger returning full force.
The entire area went silent. Even the circling news helicopters seemed to quiet in response to the declaration. The silence did not last long.
Darkseid began to clap.
"I had intended to draw it out but I suppose the secret is out. General, Commanders, stand with me."
To horror of the Justice League, Batman and his allies all stepped up to Darkseid's side, forming a circle around the New God.
"It took two years and three months to break them, to control them, but now? I could hardly ask for better commanders or advisors."
"We can break your control of them," Superman declared.
"We will see," Darkseid retorted.
A Boom Tube opened behind him as Darkseid turned to leave. Before he stepped through, he delivered one final statement to his newest commanders.
"You have your orders. Kane, you may complete the set."
The group in the middle adjusted positions, leaving Batwoman facing Wonder Woman and Troia, as the Boom Tube vanished.
"Batman, stand down. We don't want to hurt you," Superman tried to appeal.
"So you surrender for execution then, Clark?" Batman responded.
"That is not an option," Martian Manhunter argued.
"In that case…"
Whatever Batman was about to say was cut off when Donna leapt at Batwoman with a roar, throwing a rage-fuelled punch powerful enough to shatter mountains. Batwoman didn't so much as twitch as Donna Troy approached. There was a massive thud as the punch impacted, releasing a shockwave that cracked the ground between them.
Kate Kane held Donna Troy's fist clutched in her hand.
As the other Leaguers shared a moment's shock at the display of superhuman strength, the other Bats darted forward and battle was joined.
Darkseid's Citadel, Apokolips; Ten years later
Darkseid sat on his throne pondering arguably his most useful conquest. Planet Earth was his, its people were his, what remained of its defenders were his. Ultimately, this conquest would have been far less productive without his first Human commanders.
The actions of the humans known then as Red Robin and Batgirl almost a decade ago had been a revelation. The Kryptonians were not the greatest threat, nor were the Amazons. With two students willing and able to look him in the eyes and show no fear whilst outmanoeuvring their enemy, the Batman and his allies had shown themselves to be a threat. It had taken time to break them, true, but it was worth it. A little physical augmentation and they were perfect.
Their knowledge of Earth and its inhabitants had been invaluable. Few knew half as much as they did. Even the data he had had access to from their primitive computers while he waited for them to break had been interesting but their minds had been, as humans might say, a gold mine.
At their suggestion, he had taken others from their world as his servants, each of them useful. Kara Zor-El had been broken once more and had assumed control of his Female Furies as originally planned. Dinah Lance (also known as Black Canary), Shayera Hol (a.k.a. Hawkgirl) and the augmented Artemis Crock and Pamela Isley (alias Poison Ivy) were among those who had been forced into his Furies under the former Supergirl.
At the suggestion Commander Jason Todd, he had also formed a group known as Task Force X. Under Todd's command, it was formed as a covert force for when obvious Apokoliptan intervention was undesirable. Consisting currently of mainly humans, Darkseid believed that the former Red Hood's idea had merit and thus was willing to allow it.
Commander Barbara Gordon, still going by the pseudonym Oracle, had been an interesting case. Dismissed by many on Apokolips as even more pathetic than a normal human, Darkseid had broken her out of curiosity more than anything else. When he learned that, given how long ago the injury had occurred, even Apokolitan technologies and abilities would not grant her use of her legs, he had almost simply killed her. Now he was grateful he had not. Since he had broken her, the Oracle had proven that her mind was what made her valuable, as demonstrated when she warned him of three separate assassination plans inside of a week. All had been doomed to failure anyway but the warnings had nonetheless impressed Darkseid enough that he had her placed in charge of a new intelligence group that answered only to him.
Even their former servant, Alfred Pennyworth, had been broken. Indeed, he had been the first to break, if only by scant hours. He had since managed to assume control of the servants in Darkseid's Citadel and managed to run the entire thing more efficiently than ever.
The Batman himself, Bruce Wayne, was now one of Darkseid's top Generals. Few could match his skill and cunning and fewer yet could see through his endless tricks and deceptions. As a commander and advisor, he had proven as useful as Darkseid could have dreamed.
Indeed, all of them were useful. Commander Richard Grayson was cunning, quick and favoured attacking from above. Commander Katherine Kane was brutal, direct and utterly devastating for it. Commander Cassandra Cain preferred to use small, stealthy, efficient forces to wipe out her enemies unnoticed. Commander Timothy Drake was a strategist of the highest order, sometimes outmanoeuvring his enemies through the sheer complexity of his plan. Commander Stephanie Brown favoured apparently simple plans which actually masked the true complexity. Commander Damian Wayne's strategies were cold, efficient and lightning fast.
Yes, Darkseid mused as a message from Gordon warned him of Kalibak's latest assassination plot, breaking my Knights first was definitely my best decision in a long time.