Disclaimer: I don't own yj
Superman was the first one at the scene.
Everything living in an eleven mile radius was dead. Unconscious villains were strewn across the clearing around Belle Reve. Genomorphs and genomorph pieces were condensed around the edge of a massive crater. The attacks were never for the money, the power, the freedom. They were meant to be a distraction. A chance to fight Rogue Shadow without the league or the team interfering and by the looks of it, they brought everything that they could.
And despite all of that, Rogue Shadow still defeated them. He prevented the cons from escaping Belle Reve. He defeated the genomorph army sent to destroy him. He destroyed the barrier separating the two worlds. But Rogue Shadow didn't stop there, every villain, every monster, every criminal, all of them were blasted into unconsciousness and their locations sent to every electronic device in the world but at a price.
There in the still smoking glass crater Maxwell laid there amongst the shattered fragments of what was once his impenetrable armor. His body was covered in second and third degree burns. His legs were missing below the kneecap on his right and midway down his thigh. His left arm was missing altogether while his right arm looked like more like a shredded piece of rope thrown over a skeleton. The left side of his jaw was missing. Covering his right eye, his nose hung by a thread. Several ribs were sticking out of his chest and exposing his organs and there plain for Superman to see was Maxwell's heart punctured by a fragment of his armor.
It was still beating.
It defied all logic, all sense. Superman did not believe what his eyes were telling him but as the heart continued beating with every beat gaining strength he realized that Maxwell was still alive, if only just and he needed help.
Superman rushed down to him at a speed Flash would envy. He lifted Maxwell's ruined form the best he could while keeping the shards in place and flew as fast as he could to the nearest Zeta-tube.
"It's been six months you know." Artemis said. "Six months since you broke your promise to me." Maxwell's dead body laid only inches away from her by a thick pane of glass. "A lot has changed. North Rhelasia is at war with South Rhelasia. Bialya and Atlantis under Black Manta are the other two superpowers joining the war against the U.N. They are using Apokalypse weaponry. The criminal underworld that you took out when you died cam back. Your statue is almost finished a-"
Her com went off. "We have a mission."
"I am coming." Artemis replied. "Bye Maxwell." She turned on her heel and left.
"Recognized Tigress B07." A flash of light later the Shadow Platform was silent but not empty.
"When a Rogue Shadow makes a promise, we keep it." The air crackled with electricity. "And to help you keep your's." Maxwell's body glowed. "We are giving you a second chance." For a brief moment time stopped. "You will not be getting another chance from me."
Maxwell's eyes opened.
This is going to be a trilogy.