Doctor Destiny flew through the chaotic mess of the emotional realm. The opening had to be somewhere. He was so close…
Finally he found it. With manic delight he went through it.
He landed on the solid ground and looked around. He was in the atrium of the legendary Metro Tower. A fitting place for his future palace. It would serve as a symbol to all the other superheroes that he, not them, was in charge now.
Doctor Destiny closed his eyes and took in the air. He could breathe again. He felt whole now. Solid. No more having to leech onto other people's psyche like a parasite. He could actually feel now.
Doctor Destiny then extended his hand out at one of the floor panels of the atrium.
Concentrating hard, the floor panel began to change its material. Pretty soon it went from steel to a more brittle iron.
He grinned and tried to think of something to conjure. Extending his hand out he thought of producing another gold medallion.
However after much concentration nothing appeared. He sighed. It was so much easier to conjure things in the emotional realm than the physical realm.
Oh well, he had plenty of time for his powers to evolve to eventually the level that he would be able to conjure anything out of nothing in the physical realm. And in the meantime he could think how he was going to redesign this place.
At that moment he heard a whistling sound.
Doctor Destiny turned around to find himself being hit in the face by a colliding fist.
"That's for Batman!" Superman yelled as he forcibly pushed a surprised Doctor Destiny against the wall. Destiny blasted him away before feeling more pain again at his side.
Doctor Destiny groaned.
"You forgot one thing about being physical; it hurts!" Diana replied and she started to repeatedly punch him in the air.
They were right. Doctor Destiny now that he could feel also felt pain now. But still he had so much power. The pain was temporary and the wounds were healed instantly.
Diana aimed another powerful punch at his face.
To her horror she felt bone crack.
Doctor Destiny grinned with her as his skull face healed instantly.
She had thought it was a mask.
He was no longer human. The skull was real.
"John Dee the human died on that satellite," Destiny grinned as he suddenly responded with a powerful blast at Superman and Diana sending them to the ground.
"Now witness the coming of your lord, Master of Death, Doctor Destiny."
Green restraints suddenly appeared around Destiny's wrists. Annoyed Destiny turned around to see the rest of the League flying out of the machine at him. Green Lantern was using his ring to restrain Destiny.
Destiny grinned.
"You never learn…"
John suddenly screamed as green light shot out of his body. The group just watched in horror as Destiny continued to absorb the green light from John's ring until John stopped glowing green and his costume disappeared. John then collapsed and began to fall to the ground. Shayera caught him just in time before he hit the ground.
The group gasped. John was no longer glowing green. His ring power was drained.
"You should have brought an extra charger!" Destiny taunted.
"Hey ugly! Watch out!"
Destiny turned around to see Lobo flying toward him. The Czarnian had climbed up a higher level of the atrium during the initial skirmishes that Destiny was engaged with.
Lobo landed on Destiny's shoulders and started pounding his temples.
"Get off!" Destiny yelled.
Lobo continued to punch violently.
The League took advantage of this and began to join in the attack. Superman and Diana were taken turns flying at him and punching him while Wally was zooming around in circles and all over the place to make the villain even more disoriented.
J'onn meanwhile was looking over an unconscious John with Shayera.
"How is he?" Shayera asked with concern.
J'onn closed his eyes.
"He's fine. He'll live. Take him to the upper level," J'onn said pointing to an upper deck that had one of the Metro's many computers on it.
"Why?"
"When I start that machine, it is going to create a field that will suck everything in its path. Up there should keep him out of range. When it's ready to go I'll tell you all to head up there so you won't be sucked in with him."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me, get him to safety!"
Shayera paused before carrying her husband up to the upper deck and gently laying him on the ground.
"I'll be back," she whispered before flying down to the join battle to give J'onn the time he needed.
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"Dick, I need you to get behind the machine and reroute the wires. I'll instruct you telepathically."
"Got it!" Dick said as he went behind the machine. He found a control panel screwed in. Good thing Batman always taught him to keep some tools handy.
Dick pulled out a screwdriver and began to unscrew the panel.
When he pulled it away, he realized it just wasn't a few wires. More like a thousand.
"Shit," Dick muttered as he waited for J'onn to tell him what to do.
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J'onn closed his eyes to ensure he was blocking Doctor Destiny from latching onto anyone's mind. Good. The villain was so relieved he didn't have to leech off of others' minds anymore he wasn't using his telepathic powers. Time to start the machine.
J'onn approached the control panel and sighed. This was going to take a while.
"J'onn I got a thousand wires here. What the hell am I supposed to do?" Dick communicated telepathically.
"Show me," J'onn said.
Immediately J'onn saw an image of the heap of tangled wires. His old friend the professor seemed to have to improvise and added more things than the standard transconscious articulator.
J'onn sighed. Between running things at the control panel, instructing Dick what to do with the wires, and blocking Destiny from telepathically reaching onto any minds nearby, it would be an understatement to say he had his hands full.
This called for some serious multitasking.
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Doctor Destiny was cornered like a wounded animal. The League was giving him all they got and then some.
They were all enraged by Batman's death and he was going to pay.
"All that power and you go down easy…" Diana said as she dangerously approached him.
However Destiny suddenly seemed to have a burst of energy again.
A powerful blue blast emerged from his body knocking the five heroes off their feet.
"Is that all ya got?" Lobo asked weakly.
Doctor Destiny with his large hands picked up Lobo and glared at him.
With his other hand green gas began to shoot out of it.
Lobo choked and gagged.
"No fair…"
Doctor Destiny smiled and tossed Lobo aside.
The bounty hunter landed on the upper deck unconscious not too far away from John. Destiny was disabling them one by one.
Superman slowly got up to his feet.
"Why do you still fight?"
"This ends here!" the Man of Steel shouted and flew at his foe.
"Yes it does. The era of the League is over. The era of Destiny has begun!"
Superman punched Destiny in the gut but Destiny seemed to have been prepared for that.
Destiny laughed and shot another blast at Superman who dodged it and flew above him.
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Wally got to his feet to see Shayera and Diana were still trying to catch their breath from that last attack. There was no sight of Lobo and Superman was pretty much fighting Doctor Destiny by himself.
Wally looked on the other side of the atrium to see J'onn frustratingly typing the computer and Dick angrily pulling wires out.
It would be only a matter of time Destiny would see them and stop them. The plan would fail…
No. Not this time. A sense of defiance grew into the speedster.
Batman had already died. He wasn't going to let anyone of his friends die. Even if that meant he had to.
With a new found purpose and anger, Wally had gotten up and started circling around Destiny again. This time a lot faster with much more violence.
"Wally no!" Superman shouted from the air realizing what Wally was doing. Wally was trying to send Destiny into the speed force. Last time he did this they almost lost him.
Wally ignored Superman's warnings. J'onn was taking too long. He wasn't going to let Destiny hurt anyone again. He was going to send him to the speed force, and he would be going with him.
Wally could feel that his speed was causing the floor panels to sink under the velocity. He could also tell Doctor Destiny was having a hard time standing straight with him speeding around.
Diana and Shayera were watching the spectacle.
"Wally!" Shayera shouted. Not again. They couldn't lose him too.
Wally heard her cries but didn't hesitate; it was the only way.
Doctor Destiny overcome by the force of Wally's speed was sitting down now groaning.
But at that moment his hand managed to touch the ground and send yellow rays of light
Wally screamed and collapsed. However due to him going so fast and suddenly stopping,he had made a big dent on the ground.
"What's the matter Flash? Too scared to move?" Destiny cackled.
"That's it!" Shayera shrieked and flew at him and began to pound him repeatedly with her mace.
He was going to pay. He was going to feel the pain he had inflicted on others.
Destiny conjured up a violet shield around him. Shayera hit it and the energy went through her mace shocking her.
She didn't fall unconscious. She was tough. But that temporary pause in pain was all the time Destiny needed to grab and slam her violently to the ground.
Superman was using all his strength at Destiny. And yet even his mightiest of punch seemed to only send Doctor Destiny back a few inches. When he had hit Darkseid like that, the New God had traveled across Metropolis.
Destiny truly was the most powerful foe they faced.
"J'onn," Superman thought to himself. "I don't think we can distract him much longer."
"Almost there Superman," J'onn said urgently. "Do all you can."
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Diana carried Wally and Shayera up to the upper deck. J'onn had instructed her to do so. When that machine was activated, it would be best if they were out of the range of the field.
She gently lowered Shayera next to John. Lobo was not too far off in the distance passed out. She lowered Wally next to Shayera.
She looked over to see that J'onn and Dick were doing the best they could to hurry and get the machine ready. It was their last chance. Their last gamble. Superman meanwhile was fighting Destiny all by himself but he was slowly losing his strength. He was going to need her help.
With determination she flew at him.
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"There I did it!" Dick thought as he cut yet another black wire.
J'onn looked at the screen. Yes it worked. They were close. He just needed to get the program finished.
"Alright," Dick said as he came back out to the front. "Come on let's go."
"I still got to finish typing in the code," J'onn said calmly. "Have Diana carry you back to where the others are. I'll instruct Superman to back away when it is time to start the machine."
"Wait. How are you going to get out of the way?"
J'onn paused and looked at Dick right in the eyes.
"I'm not…" he said with finality.
Realization had hit Dick. J'onn was going to sacrifice himself to stop Doctor Destiny. He wouldn't be able to reverse the machine and get out of the way in time.
"You can't. You'll die…" Dick protested as he started to realize what was happening. Not after everything they could lose J'onn as well.
"I won't I'll just be trapped with him forever in the emotional plane. It is the only way."
Dick could feel a tear streaming down his face. Talk about irony. A few moments ago he wanted to kill J'onn but now he didn't want the Martian to sacrifice himself as well.
"There has to be another way!" Dick shouted. He was angry now. "We won't abandon you there!"
J'onn sighed.
"I was in charge of this mission and I failed. The least I can do is ensure that Destiny will never harm anyone again. Promise to destroy the machine once we are both sucked back in. Make sure that no one ever rebuilds it. It is the only way to ensure he will never be free."
Now Dick fully understood who J'onn really was. He was a survivor of war. He knew when it was needed to make the hard call in battle and when to make the ultimate sacrifice. He truly was a soldier. A soldier who did not deserve the fate he was going to put himself in.
More tears were streaming down Dick's face.
"I'm sorry..." he apologized as he pulled the Martian in the embrace. The guilt he was feeling was overwhelming him.
J'onn returned the embrace.
"You are a good man, Richard," J'onn said. "Bruce would be proud of you. You need to live through this. Someone needs to be around to remember Batman. Someone to keep fighting the cause for him. You and Batgirl can do that for him. Whereas someone like me…"
J'onn broke the embrace and gave a somber smile.
"Well there comes a time where everything must die. How appropriate that the Martian race goes out with what humans call a bang."
Dick sadly smiled at J'onn little joke.
"Thank you J'onn, for everything."
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"Diana," J'onn said telepathically to her.
"I'm a little busy," she thought back as she grunted trying to dodge Destiny's barrage of indigo light blasts.
"Diana I need you to get Dick up to where the rest are. I'm about to activate the machine and he's going to get pulled in if he's not out of the way of the field."
Diana sighed and flew away from the battle. Superman did not seem to mind. He was determined to break Destiny's face as much as he could.
Destiny laughed.
"Your friends have left you! How does that feel?"
Superman flew up and looked straight in the eyes of Doctor Destiny.
With sudden speed he punched right between the eyes of Doctor Destiny. Doctor Destiny howled in pain and covered his face.
"How does that feel?" Superman mocked back.
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Diana grabbed Dick and flew to the upper deck with the rest. To their relief, Wally, Shayera, and John were coming to. Lobo was still unconscious and on the other side of the deck, separated from the group.
As Diana dropped Dick, she approached Shayera to make sure she was alright.
"Are you okay Shay?" Diana asked with concern.
"Wher-where's John?" she said with worry.
"I'm right here Shayera," John assured her and helped pick his wife to her feet.
"What are standing here for?" Wally asked. "Why we leaving Supes alone?"
"J'onn's about to activate the machine. He doesn't want too many of us down there, one of us might get sucked into the machine as well," Dick explained. "He's going to tell Supes when he is about to start the machine so he can get out of the way."
"But how's J'onn going to get out of the way?" Wally asked.
Dick tried to think of a response but couldn't. He couldn't lie to them.
"He isn't," Dick said with finality.
The look on the other four's faces were of mix surprise and sorrow. After everything, they weren't going to just lose Batman but J'onn as well.
"No!" Wally protested.
Shayera and John quickly grabbed him even though he could easily break free with his speed if he really wanted to.
"It's the only way Wally…"
"You guys can't let him do that!" Wally protested. "This is like Batman in the Watchtower! You are giving up on him!"
John sighed.
"We aren't giving up on him Wally! We understand he needs to do what needs to be done. He's doing it for us. For the world."
While Shayera and John were trying to calm down Wally, Dick was looking guiltily at the floor, and Diana was staring blankly at the level below.
J'onn was now going away soon. Forever in an inescapable hell. She was so close to him and he was going to be gone.
Not him. It can't be him. It shouldn't be him.
But the warrior in her understood what their job meant. Sometimes they had to make the bigger sacrifices so the innocent could live in peace. Her friends understood it. She understood it. Batman understood it especially.
Now Diana was starting to realize why Batman sometimes feared connections with others. He was afraid of the pain when it came time to make the ultimate sacrifice. He pushed people away because he didn't want to hurt him.
And that was why she loved him. He had the determination, bravery, and selfless service than any other man she met. Even Tom.
"No!"
The five looked at Doctor Destiny in horror.
He had Superman in a vise grip and was squeezing hard. Red light was shooting out of his hands as well, overcoming Superman.
"I can manipulate anything I want. How does Red Solar light feel Superman?"
Superman groaned and tried to resist but it was no use. His powers were being drained away.
"Kal!" Diana cried and flew after him to save him.
Doctor Destiny saw her coming at him and just grinned.
Black smoke was beginning to form around him. Some of that black smoke hit Diana, sending her flying back to the wall on the floor the upper deck was on. More pillars of black smoke hit the other four as well, forcing them against the wall.
They all tried to fight and resist but it was no use. By the time the smoke cleared, they realized to their horror, they had been restrained to the wall. A powerful black substance hard as diamond was restraining them by the wrists and feet. They were trapped.
Doctor Destiny then sent Superman flying onto the same wall. Like his friends, he too was overcome by a black smoke and when it cleared, he was restrained by his hands and feet by a powerful hard black substance.
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J'onn saw what was happening. He didn't have much time. Almost there. He just needed to wait for the thing to download.
Come on, come on…
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Superman thrown against where the rest were restrained.
Come on!
The control panel beeped and a message appeared across the screen.
REVERSE SEQUENCE READY TO COMMENCE
J'onn took a deep breath. It was now or never.
He went to push the button that would start the machine and send him to where he would spend the remainder of his life…
"ARRR!"
Something had clasped tightly on J'onn's shoulder and shocked him. J'onn couldn't control his limbs, the pain was too great. His fingers brushed against the button. He was so close…
"Nice try!" Doctor Destiny mocked as he motioned for the black smoke that was touching the Martian to transport him to where his friends remained imprisoned.
Soon J'onn shared the same fate of his friends and was restrained on the wall by the hard black substance.
"You all thought bravely, I salute you for that," Destiny mocked while giving a salute and shrinking down to his normal size. It was a waste of too much power trying to stay big.
"But your time has come. It is time for me to create an army and reimage this eye sore in my own vision!"
And with that Doctor Destiny turned away to concentrate. It would take a while to create that much. But he had plenty of time.
"J'onn!" Diana asked.
The Martian weakly opened his eyes.
"I…failed you…"
"No you didn't!" Dick argued. "You did all we can. There has to be something!"
J'onn shook his head.
"It's too late."
Meanwhile Superman struggled against his bonds but it was no use. Not only had he lost much of his power from Destiny's red sun light, but he couldn't apply enough muscle to break his bounds.
Diana however had an idea. Her right arm was bounded just below the bracelet. Her bracelets were supposedly one of the hardest substances in the world.
She began to attempt to rotate her wrist back and forth. She was very limited on the range of motion because of her restraints.
Nonetheless she kept rotating it hard. She could feel her skin getting raw by the wrist. She bit her lip. She wasn't going to give up. She had to break out.
Wally on the other hand was looking at Lobo's unconscious body. He had an idea. Lobo unlike the rest was not restrained because he was separated from the group.
"Hey J'onn, try waking Lobo up!" Wally suggested.
J'onn sighed.
"I have tried Wally but his vulnerability with gas makes it difficult. I can only play with his dreams."
Wally sighed so much for that.
Dick was bowing his head in shame. They had failed Bruce again. The world was going to fall and it was all his fault. He couldn't let him go. J'onn was in the right all along. He was too stubborn to see it.
Shayera was feeling anger, more rage she had ever felt. Not only did she not like Destiny killing Bruce, she was especially angry at the idea what was going to happen to Rex now. She wasn't going to let that monster harm her child.
Her husband was of likewise sentiments. He was trying all he could to break free. He knew his ring was out of power but that didn't mean he was going to give up.
He was not going to fail his son.
John closed his eyes and continued to struggle against his restraints with determination even though it was hopeless-
"John you're glowing again!" Shayera shouted. "Is your ring on emergency power?"
"What?" John asked confused and opened his eyes. What Shayera said was true he was glowing green. But he knew it wasn't his ring. This felt different. Plus he was not in his Green Lantern uniform. He was glowing green due to something else.
He looked to his side to fine red light glowing at him as well.
"So are you!" John pointed out. Shayera was glowing, but unlike her husband she was glowing deep shade of blood red. Red light was emanating from nowhere.
That caught everyone else's attention. They were staring at John and Shayera with surprise.
J'onn's eyes were wide with shock. What was going on?
But then the words of Alfred's words echoed in his head.
"Bearing an Emblem doesn't just mean literally holding it. It means understanding a little bit of Bruce's heart. And because you understand him, a little bit of Master Bruce resides in all of you. A heart is not just strengthened by the power of the emotions, but by the people in your life. Master Bruce never realized this but he was never alone."
Was that a clue to something else? He never heard of anything happening like this. But then again no one had ever attempted a journey like they did.
"Everyone, start concentrating on the emotions that you won the Emblems for!" J'onn ordered.
"What?" Superman asked confused.
"Just do it!" J'onn snapped.
"Why what happens?" Wally asked.
"I don't know but we have to try!"
Diana would have thought her slow and painful way of rotating her wrist so her bracelet would cut into the restraint around her arms was still a better plan but still she couldn't deny that John and Shayera were glowing. That had to mean something.
"Uh J'onn, what about Lobo?" Dick asked.
"Already taking care of it," J'onn remarked and he managed to find one of Lobo's sick fantasy dreams that involved a lot of naked women and violence.
Lobo's body was beginning to glow orange.
"Come on!" J'onn shouted.
Dick sighed. They didn't have a choice.
Dick thought about how truly scared he was right now. He had failed not only his parents and Bruce but the world.
What about Babs? What about Tim? What was going to happen to them?
The idea of their lives in jeopardy was terrifying him.
Wally like Dick was trying to make himself scared. He just thought of Linda. How he would never see her again and never get the chance to tell her he loved her again. The thought of her getting hurt was making his heart beat race.
Shayera was thinking of everything she could to keep her light glowing. Although it seemed to be doing nothing but glowing it was still better than nothing. She thought of the words that the Justice Lord Hawkgirl said to her during her test. That was enough to make her want to hurt something.
John just kept picturing his beautiful son and how he had always been inspired to fight so he could have a better life. He was fighting for those he loved.
Superman was doing what he did best. He kept hoping. He may have been nearly powerless and there seemed no chance of stopping Doctor Destiny, but he was still going to keep hoping. Even in the face of adversary he had hope. Besides, J'onn's plan seemed to be working, even if it was just making them glow.
J'onn began to glow indigo. He was using his telepathic abilities to feel all the different emotions his friends were feeling. Between this, blocking Doctor Destiny from leeching onto other minds still, and trying to keep Lobo having fantasies so his body would glow orange, J'onn was having a hard time concentrating while bearing all the emotions in his head. But he wasn't going to give up.
Lastly Diana continued to try to free herself but that didn't stop her of thinking all those she had loved.
Her mother, her sisters, her friends, the people of Earth, Shayera, John, Wally, Dick, J'onn, and Superman. She loved them deeply.
She then thought of Tom and how much she loved him. Violet light began to emanate from her body weakly.
She then thought about her love for Bruce and despite everything that had happened, he would always still be in her heart. He loved her and she loved him. She never knew when it started, but she knew she would still love him until the end of time.
The violet began to glow even brighter, similar to all her friends' respected lights. Dick and Wally were glowing a deep shade of yellow.
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Doctor Destiny had his concentration broken by flashing lights. What was going on?
He angrily turned around to see how the League could escape from his prison but what he saw surprised
They were still restrained except now each one was glowing a different color. Hawkgirl was glowing red as her husband glowed green without his ring. Flash and Nightwing were a sinister looking yellow color.
In the distance the unconscious body of the Czarnian was glowing with orange.
Superman was glowing bright blue and the Martian a calm indigo. Lastly Wonder Woman with a look of perseverance and defiance was glowing a very deep shade of violet.
Doctor Destiny hesitated. This couldn't be happening. This was impossible.
"What are you doing?" Doctor Destiny asked for the first time showing a little fear beneath the wicked face.
The lights just kept getting brighter. Glowing against the black color.
"Stop it!" Doctor Destiny yelled with a little of uncertainty. "Stop it, I command you!"
The lights just kept increasing with intensity.
Doctor Destiny lifted his hand ready to deal a deadly blast to them.
"I command you to stop or I'll…"
But Doctor Destiny did not get to finish his threat. Beams of colored light shot out of each one of the prisoners. They all met midair between Destiny and them.
The focal point was a small sphere glowing white from the mixing of all the colors.
"No!" Doctor Destiny shouted and he shot a powerful blast at the expanding white sphere.
However upon contact the sphere suddenly exploded, knocking Doctor Destiny off his feet.
He tried to get up but he was blinded by the white light.
His prisoners were blinded the same. Due to the bright light shining in their faces, none of them noticed the little sphere of light heading toward the med bay.
Maybe if those with superhearing tried using their ears instead of the eyes, their senses might have picked up the faint sound of someone getting out of bed and putting a suit on…
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The light finally cleared. The group blinked a couple of times trying to adjust their eyes again. They could see Doctor Destiny was getting up to his feet.
However Destiny didn't have the usual arrogant evil look on his face. Instead his looked showed a mixture of awe and terror. He was looking at something else.
"That's not possible!" Destiny said with true fear.
Automatically, the seven heroes all turned their heads to the direction the villain was looking at.
What they saw made many of them gasps.
"No way!" Wally cried
"It can't…" Diana said.
Standing from the direction where the med bay was a bright source of white light. However it seemed to be emanating from someone. A figure wearing a torn batsuit and cowl.
A figure wearing a mask with white lenses that were glaring angrily at the villain in black.
The eyes were narrow slits of anger.
Batman had returned.
Up next the Battle you all have been waiting for.