The Last Hope

(A/N: No major message this time. This AN's here mostly because it's sort of obligatory at this point. Though before I forget, JavaCuck, I DID in fact get Splatoon 2 and so far, I'm enjoying it. With that said and done, let's get to it!)

Darkness Arrives: The Terror of Goku Black

"Black!" exclaimed a seething Trunks.

The League all turned to follow Trunks' gaze and saw the dark Saiyan standing on a rock formation above them.

"Hello Trunks," Black sneered, his trademark wicked grin plastered on his face.

"So that's the guy who sent Trunks on an escape route through time?" Lanten asked.

"It is," J'onn confirmed, his eyes narrowing.

Trunks' fist clenched as he stared his latest archenemy dead in the eye. "So, you did wind up here too."

Black narrowed his gaze. "Yes. Thanks to you, I was unable to finish my mission," he began. "But no matter. What I started in your world, I will begin again in this one!" Black declared.

"Trunks, what's he talking about?" Superman asked. He got no response as Trunks clenched his fists even tighter, his entire body shaking, just seething with rage. With an angered yell, Trunks transformed to Super Saiyan and rushed to Black at full speed.

"Trunks wait!" Superman called out to him. The Man of Steel's warning fell on deaf ears as the enraged Saiyan unsheathed his sword, prepared to strike.

"I won't let you condemn another world to damnation!" Trunks yelled raising his sword. When he brought the blade down, Black channeled energy into his right hand and caught it.

"What!?"

"Disappear Saiyan." The shadowy Saiyan clone charged a black ki blast in his free hand and fired, hitting Trunks in the body and blowing him back into the rocks. With a chuckle, Black spun the Z-Sword around holding it like a spear and threw it towards Trunks.

As soon as Trunks began picking himself up, he turned to see the Z-Sword flying straight at him and he briefly froze as there was no time to avoid the weapon. Before the sword could connect with the shocked Saiyan, it hit a green-glowing dart board.

Trunks quickly turned to see Green Lantern firing a beam out of his ring, straining. "Hey, could ya do me a favor and get outta the way!?" Lantern exclaimed.

Coming back to his senses, Trunks rolled out of the way and Lantern dispelled his construct, letting the Z-Sword hit the ground. The stunned Saiyan quickly rolled over and reclaimed his weapon just as the League founders regrouped with him.

"You know, from your fight with Diana, I figured you'd know better than to go charging in headfirst like that," Batman admonished.

With a grunt, Trunks replied, "I'm sorry, but the thought of what happened to my world happening to yours just…just…." Trunks trailed off.

The founders all turned to their black clad adversary who was now hovering towards their position, his hands behind his back nonchalantly.

"Okay, Goku Black," Superman began. "You have our attention, now how about answering a simple question for us," he demanded.

"Yes?"

"You said what you started in Trunks world would happen again in ours. What exactly did you mean?" Superman asked.

With a chuckle, Black descended a few yards from our heroes and slowly walked towards them.

"It's quite simple really," Black began. Pausing, he extended his hands to his sides, and answered, "I plan to eliminate all traces of mortal life in the universe!"

The Leaguers all reacted accordingly with gasps, and eyebrows raising and narrowing.

"You plan to do what!?" exclaimed J'onn.

"That's insane!" added Lantern.

Black's expression became more serious as he replied. "What it is, is destiny. Mortal life is the virus that spreads itself throughout the worlds. I've taken it upon myself to become the vaccine."

"You speak as if you're some sort of deity," Diana noted. "Who exactly are you?" she asked reaching for her lasso.

"Hmph," Black grunted. "None of you will live long enough to find out." Black then extended both hands and fired a barrage of black ki blasts at our heroes, forcing them to scatter.

"Guess the time for talk is over," Flash quipped.

"Take him down!" ordered Superman. On that note, the League and their Saiyan companion all charged at the shadowy villain.

With a confident smile, Black took a fighting stance and prepared to defend himself. The first to attack him was the Flash who zipped up to him and threw a speedy sucker punch. Black was able to raise his forearm to deflect the blow and counter with a knife edge strike to the face, knocking the Scarlet Speedster away.

Black turned to see Superman attempt to smash him with both fists. Warping away to avoid the attack, Black reappeared in the air where he was now being pursued by Green Lantern and J'onn.

The Lantern fired a beam at Black which proceeded to wrap around him while J'onn winded up a punch.

"Useless." With a mighty yell, Black let his energy explode and he broke free of Lantern's binding in a burst of black light. As soon as he escaped, he grabbed the attacking Martian by the arm and swung him around, throwing him into his ring powered teammate.

After dusting himself off, Black raised a hand prepared to fire another attack, but was distracted by a suspiciously bat-shaped projectile heading his way. He nonchalantly swayed his head aside to avoid it, but was caught off guard by the weapon exploding in a blinding flash of light.

As Black moved to shield his eyes, he was caught in a midair tackle by Superman who flew back down to Earth and slammed the dark Saiyan into the ground.

Black stood up looking more irritated than he did hurt. Turning his attention to Superman, he let out a contemplative, "Hmmmmmm?"

Superman flew towards the new foe and threw a full-strength punch at him. Black merely raised a hand and caught Superman's fist, though he inwardly had to admit, he definitely felt the impact of the blow.

Superman quickly punched with his free hand, but was again caught by Black. Having both hands incapacitated, Superman naturally tried to break away, but Black kept a firm grip on the Man of Steel.

"You…you're not like the others here," Black began. "You're much more powerful than these humans."

"Glad you realized it," Superman sternly replied.

"But, that won't be enough to save you from my retribution."

"Retribute this!" Narrowing his eyes, Superman fired a large blast of heat vision at Black causing him to release his grip and forcing him into a pile of rubble.

Black began to steadily pick himself up, but was knocked back down by a red blur. When he stood up again the same happened. On the third time, Black lifted his arm and was able to block Flash's blow this time. Not letting up, Flash unleashed a rapid barrage of punches which Black continuously deflected.

After a moment of punching and blocking, Flash's punches seemed to be getting faster; a bit faster than Black would like to admit he could handle. Not willing to give his opponent any sort of upper hand, Black quickly dashed backwards firing of a wave of energy at the speedster that he was effortlessly able to avoid.

As flash zipped around avoiding Black's counterattack, the shadowy menace vanished from his original position and reappeared next to Flash with a 'Fssssh!'.

Caught off guard by someone (other than Superman) briefly matching his speed, Flash took the full force of a kick to the gut sending him skidding across the ground.

Black slowly approached his downed opponent, his hand glowing. Before he could get close though, he quickly found his wrists getting tied up by a black cable and a golden rope.

Turning around, he found himself face to face with the Dark Knight and the Themyscirian Wonder.

"You humans just don't learn, do you?" Summoning his strength, he threw both of his arms forward, flinging both heroes ahead.

"Hmmph. You're the one who was fighting Trunks before," Black noted, his eyes fixed on Wonder Woman. "You must have some worthwhile strength to stand against a Saiyan. Which means, you may be just what I need to truly test my power!"

As Diana picked herself up and reeled in her lasso, she replied, "This is no sparring match you lunatic, this is your defeat!"

"I second that!" added Shayera. The Amazon and the Thanagarian both flew at their spiky haired adversary, but Black simply ascended back into the sky.

"I'll end you!" came from a voice Black knew all too well. In addition to the two flying women, he was also being attacked by Trunks again. Black merely grinned as he raised his guard once again.

Both Shayera and Trunks swung their weapons at Black who easily avoided both blows. He followed up by axe kicking Trunks in the head and firing ki blasts at the girls. Both Diana and Shayera were able to deflect the blasts and they continued their assault.

Shayera continuously attacked with her mace, but Black kept dodging. Eventually, he had grown tired of this attack and decided to end it. Shayera attacked once more, but this time, Black caught it. Shayera tried to pull her mace away, but Black kept a firm grip on the weapon. He then proceeded to thrust his knee into Shayera's gut, forcing her to release the mace and followed up by whacking her upside the head with it.

As Shayera reeled back, Black threw the mace at her, nailing her right in the face, knocking her unconscious. As she fell, Black dusted his hands off, but quickly turned to deflect a kick from a visibly angered Wonder Woman, but while he had his attention fixed on her, he was knocked away by a giant green fist.

"You better hope she's alright," Lantern began. "Because if she's not, I guarantee you won't be either!" he finished with scorn in his voice.

"Hmph, bold threat. Doubt you can back it up though," Black taunted.

"If he can't, then I will!" interjected Trunks, accompanied by Superman. The Man of Steel fired another blast of heat vision just as Trunks put his hands together and shot off an energy wave. Black flew away from the two's attack just as Green Lantern began firing at him as well, Black continued to fly circles around the three heroes, avoiding red, yellow and green energy beams. Finally, he decided to strike back.

"Up here boys!" Black said, his back facing the Sun. The trio had turned towards the fake Saiyan, and Trunks and the Lantern was forced to shield his eyes. Superman however, was able to see through the blinding light and dashed at Black once again.

As Superman approached him, Black cupped his hands together and brought them behind him.

"Kaaaaa…meeeeeee…haaaaaaaaaa…meeeeeeeeee…."

Trunks' willed himself to turn back to Black when he heard his voice and before he was forced to avert his eyes again, he took notice of Black's stance and briefly shuddered.

'Wait…he's not doing THAT is he?' "Quick Superman, get out of there!" Trunks hastily warned.

Superman quickly turned his attention to Trunks, then back to Black whose face was contorted into a twisted grin as a burst of black light crackled between his hands

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Black thrust his hands forward and fired a black colored version of the Turtle School's Signature attack at an unsuspecting Superman who took the blast full on.

"Grrraaaaaaahhhh!"

The Man of Steel was forced back as Black continued firing his devastating blast. Once the light died down and the smoke cleared, everyone turned their attention to a large crater in the ground; a crater containing the unmoving form of this Earth's Greatest Hero.

"Superman!"

J'onn, Flash and Batman all hopped into the crater to check on Superman but were blown back by a red and blue blur bursting out of the ground and back into the air. Superman's costume was torn in numerous places, burn marks across various parts of his body, and he himself was panting a great deal.

Black eyed Superman with a look of interest. "So, you survived that attack," he stated. "So it's true. You are much stronger than the others on this world." Black added slightly impressed.

"You haven't seen a thing yet!" Superman said dangerously. Black's face twisted into an anticipated smile as he dropped back into a fighting stance, prepared for Superman's next attack. Instead of Superman however, the one to attack Black was Trunks.

Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Trunks launched a flying side kick at Black that was very easily avoided. Unsheathing his sword, Trunks followed up with a rapid barrage of sword slashes. Black continued to avoid Trunks' assault and managed to kick him away. Before Trunks could recover, Black charged energy into his hand and formed his trademark Hand Blade. Wanting to catch the Super Saiyan off guard, Black rushed Trunks and thrust his blade forward attempting to stab him.

Trunks quickly dashed backwards and retaliated by thrusting his sword at Black. The dark clone parried Trunks' blow and countered with a slash from his energy weapon. The two continued to attack and parry each other's attack when the barrage abruptly ended with the two clashing blades.

"I swear…I will make you pay for all the atrocities you've committed!" Trunks strained.

"That's my line, Saiyan," Black replied. "Don't think you're absolved of sin either."

"What're you talking about!?"

"You'll find out in the next world!"

With grunts of effort, the two slashed their blades against each other, creating a small spark and blowing both of them away from each other.

"Speaking of worlds, once you're out of the way, I must find a way back to our own dimension and finish my business on your Earth," Black stated.

Hearing this was more than enough to make Trunks snap. With an enraged yell, Trunks let his energy burst. Summoning all his strength, he threw a single punch at Goku Black. Unfortunately, it failed to make contact. When Trunks' fist was mere centimeters away from Black's face, the young Saiyan froze as a sharp pain filled his senses. Looking down, Trunks saw Black's bladed hand pierce through his midsection.

"Darn. I missed your vital organs," Black said mockingly. The Leaguers were all shocked stunned as they saw their new ally, who'd been able to fight Diana, freaking Wonder Woman, to a draw get beaten almost effortlessly.

Black forcefully pulled his hand out of Trunks' body letting a small stream of blood leak out. As Trunks grasped at his wound, Black lowly said. "This is the end of you." Black extended his hand and fired a single explosive shot at Trunks, blasting him out of the sky.

As Trunks fell back down Earth, he was quickly scooped up and gently placed onto the ground by J'onn.

"Trunks! Trunks!" J'onn exclaimed.

"T-t-that…bastard!" Trunks strained out, his hand over his wound. Trunks attempted to get back to his feet, but was quickly stopped.

"Don't try to sit up!" J'onn ordered.

"B-but B-Black!"

The Saiyan, the Martian and the others all turned back to Goku Black who was now preparing to fire another Black Kamehameha wave.

"I must admit, this has been a rather enjoyable battle. I never expected to find any beings this powerful in other worlds, but alas. All good things must come to an end."

The black light in the villain's hand grew ever brighter, his attack ready to be unleashed. Not wasting any time, Superman and Wonder Woman flew at Black to attempt to stop him from firing, but were too late.

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As the dark colored beam flew at the two heroes, Diana quickly flew in front of Superman and crossed her bracelets in front of them. Once the blast hit the Amazon, she was immediately forced back. To Black's surprise though, she was able to defend against the blast. Surprising him even more was when she started floating towards him. Slowly, but surely she was inching her way there, the blast dissolving against the mystical, unbreakable metal.

"Diana!" Superman exclaimed.

"Don't worry about me! J-just…get him!" Diana managed to get out.

With a nod, Superman flew above the blast and prepared to throw a punch at him.

"Not today!" Black exclaimed.

With a yell, Black let out a burst of energy blowing Superman away and increasing the volume of his Kamehameha against Diana.

The amazon was at her wits end. She couldn't keep struggling against the blast like this. Sooner or later, one of them was bound to give, and she had the sinking feeling it'd be her. Not one to be overcome by dismay however, Diana stayed strong and continued trying to push the blast back.

"I think it's time to end this!" Black said sternly. Before he could make his next move though, he took notice of a shining object approaching him. Stealing a glance to the side, he saw that it was Shayera's mace.

Back on the ground, a now conscious Shayera fell back to her knees, holding her head. "Karma, bitch."

Before Black could react, the spiked weapon struck him in the hand, forcing him to cease his attack, and causing Wonder Woman to land on the ground visibly exhausted.

Black was more irritated than hurt at the Thanagarian's last attack and was prepared to rectify that little situation. Before he could move though, his ring started crackling.

"What the-!? What's going on?" Black asked.

His question went unanswered as his body was bathed in a green glow, followed by the crackle of lightning.

Black placed a ki charged hand over his ring in an attempt to stop the crazy light show. It proved futile as lightning continued to spew from the ring until the bolts all conjoined at a single point and opened up a familiar black vortex.

"What!?"

"What's happening?" Flash asked.

"I don't know, but I think we should get away from him!" Superman suggested. Taking their teammate's advice, the group all proceeded to find some cover behind the various rock formations as the vortex began sucking in anything around it.

"W-why!? H-how!?" Black exclaimed.

"T-that…black hole…!" an injured Trunks said weakly.

"You've seen that before?" Batman asked.

"Before…I wound up…here!" Trunks managed to answer.

The Dark Saiyan attempted to fly away from the vortex, but the pull was much too great. Nigh instantly, he was pulled to the very edge of the shadowy hole.

"Dammit!" Black swore. "Don't think this is the end humans!" he continued. "We'll meet again, and you will all be eradicated! You hear me Saiyan!? You and every other pathetic mortal in all the worlds will be wiped out!" With a sadistic laugh, Black finally disappeared into the vortex as it closed behind him and dissipated.

Our heroes were now the only ones who stood in the empty canyon. So much had happened in so little time. Sure, the threat was gone for now, but this hardly felt like a satisfying victory, or any kind of win to be honest. A foe stronger than any they'd ever faced before had appeared and nigh systematically defeated each of them, and not just them, a visitor who'd shown off strength and skill to tango with the best of their own had also been taken down with seemingly little effort.

Speaking of which, that same visitor needed medical treatment (again), and fast.

"Mr. Terrific," Batman called into his comm. "Eight to the Watchtower, and have a medical staff ready." He ordered.

"What happened? The new guy bite off more than he could chew?" Terrific replied.

"I'm afraid it's much worse than that."

[Elsewhere]

A familiar black vortex appeared in a strange dimension unknown by most, and in said dimension floated a man garbed in black and grey.

"Where is this?" Black asked. Looking around, Black found himself surrounded by various crystals. Within those crystals lay images featuring figures he recognized and many he didn't. What caught his eye was the fact that some of them showed scenes featuring Son Goku and his friends, while others showed the fighters who he just faced that stood alongside Trunks.

"Hmmmmm…" Curiously, Black floated to a crystal showing Son Goku on Planet Namek. Placing his hand against it, he saw the scene play out: Freeza striking down the Namekian Piccolo, Freeza killing the bald earthling and Goku transforming into his Super Saiyan form.

The rush of the vision was more intense than Black had anticipated, and he forcibly pulled his hand away, panting.

"I don't know where I am," Black stated. "But something tells me that this place holds some very vital answers for me."

His familiar grin finding its way onto his face once again, Black flew off to begin his…research.

(To Be Continued)

(A/N: And so, The Justice League has had their first run in with Goku Black and have just gotten a taste of what Trunks has had to deal with until now. As for Black himself, where is he? Fans of a certain Dragon Ball game may have a clue *wink* *wink*. On a side note, I REALLY need to get better at writing group fights, at least when it involves more than two people versus a single opponent. I feel like I could've done a few things better, but I do like the end result. Speaking of the end, for those of you wondering about why the vortex appeared, well, that'll be revealed in due time. Until next time).

PS. Special shout out to Dude64 and Sierra117, and a thanks to everyone who's stuck to the story thus far. Again, if you don't like the story, you're more than free to leave. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but no more arguments in the reviews. If you have an issue, take it up with me personally in a PM and we can discuss it like civilized people.