"I. Am. The. New. God. All is one in Darkseid. This mighty body is my church. When I command your surrender, I speak with three billion voices. When I make a fist to crush your resistance. It is with three billion hands. When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams. And break your heart. It is with six billion eyes. Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you; nothing will again. I will take you to a hell without exit or end. And there I will murder your souls! And make you crawl and beg! And die! Die! DIE FOR DARKSEID!"
"Hal." Bruce said. The green lantern didn't hear him. He simply stared off into space, his mind elsewhere. It had the other Justice League members unnerved. Hal had taken the meteorite to the Guardians over a month ago, and none of them had seen him since. He had finally appeared at Wayne Manor and Bruce ordered an immediate Justice League meeting. He still hadn't spoken a word since arriving. "Hal!"
Hal finally looked at Bruce. "I'm sorry I'm so late. I gave the meteorite to the Guardians, and they analyzed it. Afterward they refused to see me or any other lanterns for weeks. It was damn near a mutiny. They finally let me see them, and all they told me is they wouldn't intervene." The other Justice Leaguers' faces fell. They had no hope without the lantern core. "They also gave this back to me. They said we should just give it to Darkseid when he got here. Then he might destroy our planet without any suffering." Hal said anger creeping into his voice. "I told them to go fuck themselves." He threw the hunk of rock onto the table.
The room was silent as they all processed their coming doom. Finally, Barry broke the silence. "We need more help."
"From who?" Bruce asked frustrated. "I'm notified every world government and hero I can find. We're as strong as we'll ever be." He slammed his fist into the table.
"There's one group we haven't gotten involved." Barry said quietly. They were all at a loss for who Barry could be talking about. He glanced at everyone around the table. "Our enemies. Captain Cold, Luthor, Cheetah, most of them. This is their home too, they'll defend it."
The opinions around the room were conflicting to say the least. "You want me to fight beside murderers? People who have tried to kill us all multiple times?" Diana asked.
"You want to let them out of prison? How do we know they'll even help us?" Orin was also angered by the suggestion. "Even if we do win, we wouldn't be to put them all back afterwards."
Barry sighed and threw up his hands. "Well what else are we gonna do? We're out of options. We'll each pick a group of villains that we think will help defend the earth. It's our only hope."
"I've seen Darkseid's might." John nodded. "We need their help."
"Agreed." Shayera and Hal both said. They all turned to look at Bruce who had remained silent on the matter so far.
"I'll make a list." Bruce said simply. "And then I'll arrange to have them released or find the ones on the run. We don't have long, so we'll need to work together on this." The other heroes nodded, even Orin and Diana who had protested. This wasn't the time for argument. They needed to be a team.
Lex Luthor relaxed in his Lexcorp office. Ever since the death of Superman, his life had been going splendidly. Very few of his schemes were ever discovered in time. He built quite the collection of extraordinary weapons and increased his fortune at the same. Simply put, life without Superman was good. "I expected you to have better security Alex." A deep voice came from behind him, and he instantly recognized it.
"What are you doing here, Bat?" Luthor said cooly. He reached for the alarm under his deck. He felt Batman grab his shoulder.
"Don't even think about it." Batman said and flipped Luthor's chair around to face. "The earth's in danger."
"That seems more like your business than mine." Luthor replied dryly.
"No Luthor, it's everyone's business. I'm not talking about the same kind of danger you put the earth in, I'm talking about the apocalypse. The end of life as we know it." Batman explained.
"The apocalypse?" Luthor laughed. "You can't expect me to believe that."
"Luthor, you think I would come to you if I had a choice?" Batman asked and Luthor was silent as he mulled over the words. "The person who killed Superman is coming for earth and he brings an army. The Justice League can't handle this alone."
"Well I suppose at the very least I owe him a handshake." Luthor muttered and was suddenly knocked out of his chair by Batman's fist. "Guess I touched a nerve." He got to his feet and stared Batman down. "I don't want the earth to be destroyed, but I wouldn't if a few of you died in the fighting."
"If you don't help, you'll get your wish. You can watch us die right before he comes for you." Batman said. "Metropolis is gonna be ground zero. Darkseid will come here himself. Without you, this city will be a pile of rubble, win or lose." Bruce hated flattering Luthor, but it was necessary.
Luthor frowned. "I'll think about it."
Batman walked toward the open window. "You'll be a hero, Luthor. It will do great things for your net worth." The door burst open but Batman was already gone.
"You're kidding right?" Captain Cold asked. "You want us to help you? With what?" He laughed. He was dressed in lovely prison orange as was his partner Heat Wave. He joined in on the laughter.
"Thanks kid." Heatwave said. "I needed a good laugh."
"I'm serious." Flash said. "Bunch of aliens and a big scary guy are coming to destroy the Earth and I need you guys to help defend Central City. I'll be in Metropolis so I'm counting on you guys."
Captain Cold leaned in and stared at him. "You're serious. Are we gonna have to come back?"
"I won't be here to stop you." Flash said honestly. "I know you both have family here. They're in danger and the Justice League needs all the help it can get. I'll get you guys out of here so you have time to prepare."
"When?" Captain Cold asked.
"Right now." Before either knew what was happening, they were a mile away from the prison in an empty field. "Don't try to walk for a second." Heat Wave ignored the warning and only took one step before throwing up. Captain Cold watched his partner with disgust. "You guys will have to find your own way from here, but you need to be in Central City in two days. Oh and your weapons are over there. See ya." He was gone before he finished the word.
"I hate that little punk." Heatwave said while wiping vomit off his mouth.
"Thank you for coming." Hal told a group of Lanterns, about 20, standing in front of him. "I know how much risk you're taking doing this."
"The Guardians are failing the universe." Kilowog said simply and shrugged. "It's our duty to protect planets from evil. We couldn't stand aside while Darkseid conquers the universe."
Hal nodded thankfully. "I'm glad there are still good lanterns willing to do what's right. I can't understand what the Guardians are thinking."
"Whatever you gave them has them scared." One of the other Lanterns said. "They were scared of Darkseid before, now they're terrified. They warned all of us they would deactivate our rings if we came to help you."
"Empty threat." Hal said. "After the almost mutiny, they know what side most Lanterns are on. Anyway, I'm going to spread you guys out across the country. You'll work in pairs of two. My only request is that you go to Coast City." He motioned toward Kilowog.
"No problem Hal." Kilowog said. He stuck out his hand. "We'll keep Earth safe Jordan."
Hal shook the man's hand. "I know you will, and the Justice League will take care of Darkseid."
Kilowog nodded. "Good luck, Hal. You're going to need it." He started rising into the air, as did the Lanterns next to him. "See you soon, Jordan."
"We must help the humans defend the Earth, Mother!" Diana pleaded with her mother. They were in the Themyscira throne room, surrounded by hundreds of amazons.
"What happens in man's world is none of our concern Diana." Hippolyta waved away Diana's words. "They can take care of themselves. The only reason I allow you to help them is because I promised Zues you would be a hero."
"I am a hero and that's why I will help defend the earth." Diana said. "And if none of you want to defend it, then you are cowards! Do not save the Earth for the humans, save it for us. Darkseid will not stop with the humans, he will come for us next. But he will not kill us, he will enslave us. Force us to become the monsters we believe men to be. We have no choice. We must fight!"
The crowd of amazons started to murmur, contemplating Diana's words. Some yells of support echoed from the crowd. Eventually the echoes became chants. Hippolyta grew angry. "Silence!" She demanded. She sighed. "I will not command any Amazon to go with you, but I will allow any willing amazons to go."
Diana fell to one knee. "Thank you mother. You will not regret it."
"I had better not." Hippolyta said.
The Justice League was gathered on top of one of Metropolis' many skyscrapers. They were all dressed and ready for combat. They were silently watching the sky. "How much longer?" Flash asked, breaking the silence.
"Lanterns just reported Darkseid entering the Milky Way." Green Lantern said staring at his ring. "Couple hours at the most." He turned to Batman. "Is everything ready?"
Batman nodded. "Amazons and Atlanteans are in position." He nodded toward Aquaman and Wonder Woman. "World Militaries are prepared." He frowned. "Villains are ready."
"Who's protecting Gotham?" Wonder Woman asked curiously. She couldn't imagine Bruce would willingly allow any villains to run rampant in his city.
"I am." Batman replied simply. "Wayne Tech built an army."
"I know you have a lot of money, but how did you build an army?" Flash asked.
Batman was quite for a second. "I had a little help." The other heroes looked at him in surprise. "Luthor. It's too bad he's evil. We did good work."
"It is unfortunate how easily men turn to evil." Martian Manhunter frowned. "Luthor is nothing compared to what we must now face however."
"We know John." Hawkgirl rolled her eyes. John constantly reminded them of the evil they were about to face. "We all know about Darkseid now."
"No. You don't." The Martian said with an edge to his voice. It was rare to hear John's voice ever change from monotone. "You have simply heard tales of his evil, you have not experienced it. You have not seen him or felt his might. You have not had your entire race wiped out by him. You are not alone because of him." John said, making the other leaguers feel slightly guilty. "Do not tell me you understand when you could not possibly grasp what he has done to me."
The other leaguers were quiet, thinking about John's words. "I'm sorry John." Hawkgirl said. "But you aren't alone." She motioned to the other leaguers.
Martian Manhunter regarded her for a second before nodding. "You're right, Shayera. I am not alone."
John's words made all the leaguers think of the people they should be protecting. Bruce thought of Alfred and Dick in Gotham. It made him sick to leave the city without Batman in their darkest hour. Barry thought of Iris and Jay in Central. He prayed silently that Captain Cold and Heatwave would keep their promise. Hal thought of Carol and his mom in Coast City. He wanted to be with them, but he knew they were in capable hands. Diana and Orin thought of their countrymen, fighting and dying without their leaders, protecting people who were not their own. John and Shayera thought mostly about the men and women standing next to them, the only family either of them had.
"Our first priority is keeping the citizens safe." Batman suddenly said. "Flash, GL, and I will focus on crowd control until we can be sure Luthor's defenses are going to hold up. The rest of you will handle Darkseid. We'll join you when we're done." They all nodded in agreement. Now all that was left to do was wait for Darkseid.
"He's here." Hal said. The Justice League looked to the sky. Seconds later they were greeted with the sight of a huge warship. It was black and energy shot from holes in its hull, mimicking the appearance of its homeworld. Two more warships soon joined it, matching its appearance, but not its size.
All across the world, Apokolips' warships appeared in large cities. In every city they were met by well prepared militaries. That was to be expected, but Earth's defenses were far greater than Darkseid had anticipated. Amazon and Atlantean armies were forces to be reckoned with. Green Lanterns defended most of the United States. Gotham employed an army of defense robots and plenty of dangerous criminals. Darkseid's main force was in Metropolis, and it was defended by the Justice League.
Parademons began pouring out of the warships. Earth's defenses launched into action. Batman took off in his jet. The remaining league took to the skies, and wasted no time in killing parademons by the dozens. The parademons could hardly be considered sentient. They were mindless slaves bred for war. Death was mercy for them.
Flash took to the streets looking for civilians that might not be inside. The parademons that managed to reach the ground were soon splatters once Flash found them. He kept one eye on the sky, waiting for the appearance of Darkseid. Orin joined him and waited for Darkseid to arrive.
Green Lantern's ring allowed him to take out large numbers of parademons at once. Wonder Woman sliced parademons into bits. Martian Manhunter transformed into a giant beast unfamiliar to humans. Hawkgirl tore through parademons with her mace.
Across Metropolis, Lexcorp buildings lit up as their defense force launched into action. Drones by the hundreds poured from the buildings. Turrets on top of the buildings gunned down parademons.
Despite the earth's defenses, the Apokolips invasion was still fearsome. It was impossible to completely pushback the sheer number of parademons, but damage was kept to a minimum for now. However, the battle was about to shift in Metropolis.
A boom was heard from the center of Metropolis. Flash immediately started running that way. He was the first to see Darkseid. Flash realized why John was so afraid of the god. Just being in his presence filled Flash with dread. His red eyes turned to Flash and fired a beam of light. Flash dodged it easily, but had to quickly dodge again when the beam switched direction. He ran up and down building, but no matter how fast or far he ran, the beams stayed right behind him. Then he got an idea. A very stupid idea.
He ran directly at Darkseid. Darkseid looked amused. Flash tried to ignore the fear in his stomach. He continued his head on attack, omegas beams hot on his tale. Darkseid lifted his hand to swat the speedster away. At the last second, Flash slid between Darkseid's legs and then jumped over the god's head. His own omega beams hit him in the chest.
Darkseid growled. He grabbed Flash's leg and launched him into a nearby building. "Are you supposed to be Earth's defender?" Darkseid voice rumbled. "You are little more than a nuisance."
Flash gasped for breath in the rubble of the building. The force on Darkseid's throw was unbelievable. He felt his ribs quickly mending themselves back together. The titan wasn't pulling any punches. Flash slowly got to his feet as Darkseid watched him indifferently. He grinned at the god. "Earth's got plenty of defenders." On que, Darkseid was blasted from behind by Green Lantern.
The god didn't budge from the attack. He turned to face the Justice League with the same indifferent look. Aquaman launch his trident at the god. Hawkeye and Wonder Woman dove in from above and Martian Manhunter flew directly at Darkseid.
Darkseid caught Aquaman's trident and broke it in half with one hand. He grabbed Wonder Woman and used her body to smack Hawkgirl out of the air. He threw a punch for Martian Manhunter, but the martian phased through the attack and landed the first hit on Darkseid. The god stumbled slightly backwards before returning the attack by smacking Martian Manhunter through the air. "It's been a long time Martian. Your brother has served me faithfully." Darkseid looked at the scattered heroes. "This is the mighty Justice League? I kill your Kryptonian and now this is all you have to offer? A god should be treated with more respect, even from insects like you."
"You will pay for killing Superman!" Hawkgirl yelled as she flew in for another attack. Darkseid rose into the air and smacked her into the pavement. He flew down to crush her skull, but Flash pulled her away in time.
"I've met the gods, Darkseid." Wonder Woman glared at him. "You aren't one."
"Flash!" Green Lantern yelled as he continued blasting away parademons. "Stick to the plan!" Without another word he flew back into the main battlefield. Flash nodded and returned to patrolling the streets, which had become overrun with parademons.
"Face me properly girl, and you shall see how godly I truly am." Darkseid challenged Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Aquaman all charged at the god. Martian Manhunter held back and began trying to enter Darkseid's mind. The three warriors attacked the god from all directions. Darkseid no longer remained still. He moved at an unbelievable speed. He dodged the heroes' attacks and gave devastating punishment in return. However, the three heroes kept up their assault. Every once in awhile, they would land a lucky strike on the god, but it was clear they were wearing down faster than he was.
Darkseid suddenly grabbed his head and all three of the heroes hit him at once. He lashed out and knocked all of them down. Darkseid turned to Martian Manhunter. "You don't want to try and enter my mind, Martian." Suddenly, Martian Manhunter grabbed his own head and screamed in pain. He began shapeshifting uncontrollably.
"John!" Hawkgirl flew over to the Martian. "John it's not real. Don't let him do this!"
In John's mind all he saw was fire. He saw his people burning, and Darkseid murdering them in cold blood. He couldn't keep himself was screaming. His fear and pain was too great. He barely registered Hawkgirl's words.
Darkseid grew tired of waiting for the heroes. He charged Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter, but was intercepted by Aquaman blindsiding him and then Wonder Woman used her lasso to swing the god into a building. Darkseid shot out of the building and smashed Woman Woman into the ground. He then darted to Aquaman and punched the Atlanten in the chest. Both heroes struggled to stand.
Before Darkseid could continue his assault, a red and yellow blur swirled around him, peppering him with punches. Flash was gone before Darkseid could retaliate. A green beam blasted into his back and rockets exploded at his feet. Batman dropped down from his jet. This only served to make the god angry, but it gave Martian Manhunter time to recover.
When the dust settled, all seven members of the Justice League stood to face down Darkseid. Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman were already beat up and tired, but they continued to fight all the same. Flash had recovered mostly, but even his speedster powers could only do so much. Green Lantern and Batman were fresh and ready to go.
Unfortunately, Darkseid still hardly looked phased. If he was damaged, the heroes couldn't tell. "Show me the full might of the Justice League, and I will show you how insignificant you really are." Darkseid's eyes blazed and he fired beams at Flash that he easily dodged, or at least Flash thought he did. Instead the beams hit Wonder Woman standing behind him. She was swallowed in a huge explosion.
"Diana!" Hawkgirl yelled. The others charged before Darkseid could do the same to them. Darkseid was proactive in destroying the Justice League. He stomped Aquaman into the ground. Martian Manhunter tried to phase through Darkseid again but the god was ready. He grabbed the Martian by the throat when he appeared. "You cannot trick me, Martian." He choked the breath out of the Martian's throat. "You won't escape my wrath a second time." His eyes blazed again, but Green Lantern flew in surrounded by energy and tackled Darkseid. Darkseid dropped the Martian and tried to grab the Lantern, but Hal flew away before the god could grab him.
Two batarangs dug into Darkseid's skin and exploded. Hawkgirl tried to take advantage of the confusion by smacking the back of Darkseid's head. Instead the god grabbed her mace and pulled her down into his fist. She was knocked almost unconscious, and couldn't resist Darkseid. He grabbed the top of head and raised her face to meet his. "Thanagarian. I haven't killed one of you in centuries."
Flash once again snatched Hawkgirl from Darkseid's grasp. Darkseid fired his omega beams at the speedster to keep his busy. While Flash ran from Darkseid's omega beams, Darkseid turned to Batman. "What's special about you?" He asked dryly.
Batman regarded Darkseid with equal indifference. "What's special about you?"
"Another arrogant mortal." Darkseid said. "I have ways of changing that." He didn't use his omega beams and instead was next to Batman in an instant. He "lightly" hit the Caped Crusader and Batman smacked hard against a wall. The hero's breath was knocked out of him and his head rang.
"GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!" Darkseid was completely engulfed in green energy. Green Lantern poured everything left in his ring into the attack. By the time his attack was finished, he could no longer fly. He fell to the earth and hit the ground with a thud. "Goddammit." Hal said quietly. He was mad his ring had run out of energy already. The battle wasn't close to being finished, and he was useless now.
Darkseid looked at the defeated heroes. "Pathetic. All of you. Even if your defenses succeed everywhere else, I shall simply go and destroy them myself. Your planet is finished. As are all of you."
"No, we're not done." Flash said. He was out of breath. "Those beams are tricky. Where'd you get them?" Darkseid shot forward to grab the speedster but only got air. "Do they have them at Costco?" Flash asked from behind the god. Darkseid turned to fire his omega beams but stopped when he saw the Justice League minus Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were standing and ready to fight again.
Darkseid began to laugh. It was a horrible, deep, dark laugh that echoed throughout the war torn city. "You heroes just don't know when all hope is lost. I thought some of you might be able to serve me, it appears I will just have to kill you all."
"That's the thing about heroes, Darkseid," Flash grinned. "We never give up, and there's always hope." Darkseid's response was never heard because in the sky above them, two of the Apokolips' warships exploded in giant balls of fire.
"Luthor?" Bruce thought. "No he doesn't have anything that powerful, but then what…" Suddenly, a red and blue blur flew past Darkseid so fast only Flash could see it. He broke out in a grin. The blur flew by again and again, landing real blows to Darkseid. Finally the figure fully appeared and landed one last shot right into Darkseid's chest, sending the god to the dirt.
"I wanted to make sure you had an escape route, Darkseid." Superman said as he lowered himself to the ground. "Now get the hell off my planet." The Justice League felt hope again. The Man of Steel had returned.