Hugo Strange stepped out of the limo, carrying yet another sacrifice over his shoulder. This time it was one of his own allies, it was Professor Pyg . He was chosen out of simple convenience.

As he began to make the relatively short trip down to the shoreline, the his driver did something he had never done previously: he called out to Hugo.

"I'm not doing this anymore."

Hugo stopped in his tracks, not sure if he had just heard what he thought he heard. He turned back to look at the car.

"What?"

"I'm not going to play along any longer."

Embers of anger started to flicker within Hugo. He let go of the unconscious Pyg. The man fell to the sand as Hugo marched back up to where the driver sat.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me the first time! I'm not continuing to be a party to whatever sick things you're doing down here!"

Hugo was furious. He got into the passenger's seat and grabbed the driver by the collar of his shirt.

"Listen here! I am the mayor and I comma-"

"You're not the mayor, you're a psychopath!"

The driver shoved him off of the seat and out of the limo. Hugo fell and landed face-first on the ground. The beach's sand cushioned the impact, but it did nothing to prevent his ego from being bruised. He rose back to his feet, spitting sand from his mouth.

"How dare you! Disobey me-,

"I really don't give a damn anymore about following your orders. And once I go back into town and tell the people exactly what you've been up to here, neither will they."

"You can't just-"

"I can, and I will. Now piss off."

The driver started the limo and headed back to town.

"I'll have your head for this, do you hear me?! I'll have your damned head!"

If the driver was still close enough to hear Hugo's threats, he didn't seem to care; he made no effort to stop the car.

Hugo turned back to the man he had left lying on the ground and bent down to grab one of his arms, swearing under his breath all the while. Then, he started dragging him across the sand, down to the sea.

Once he was done here, he was going to deal with that insubordinate driver of his.

Hugo heard the familiar splash of water as Aquaman came up from under the waves. When he saw it, he gestured to the body he still grasped.

"Here, I have another one for you. Just give me my gold, I'm in a bit of a hurry tonight."

"Don't need it."

"You don't...need it? What does that mean?"

"Im done with you."

"What?! We had an agreement! I give you victims, you give me gold! That's how it works, and that's how it's going to stay!"

Hugo grunted as he picked up the man in his arms and shoved him at Aquaman.

"Here, take it! Now give me what's rightfully mine!"

The king of Atlantis took the unconscious Pyg in one hand, and with the other, casually snapped his neck and tossed him aside like he weighed nothing.

"No more gold for you. The deal is off

Aquaman started to walk closer to Hugo, his trident silhouetted against the moonlight. He was always nervous around the king, but now that it was actually approaching him, he started backing away in apprehension. But as he did, he bumped into something behind him.

He turned around, and his heart skipped a beat as he saw the court of Owls just visible in the surrounding darkness.

"You are just in time for the final ceremony."

The high priest's voice was somehow even deeper and harsher than it had been before.

"Final...final ceremony? What's going on here?"

"Don't feel so bad. You have been an invaluable servant, and our vision would not have been possible without you. But I'm afraid you have outlived your usefulness."

Hugo's eyes were wide with fright. In desperation, he ran forward and managed to push past the group, then sprinted as fast as the soft, grainy beach would allow.

Any dreams of escape were quickly snuffed out as he felt a large hand seize him by his ankle, tripping him.

"NO! PLEASE! DEAR GOD, SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

But his pleas for mercy went unheard. There was no one else around, just the Duke and the aquatic horrors that surrounded him.

Gotham had become one large bloodbath.

No one in Gotham had ever seen anything like it: Atlantean fish-people, sprinting with inhuman speed through the streets of Gotham, chasing down their human prey and slaughtering them on the spot with grim efficiency. By the time Gotham's police force had discovered what was going on and had properly assembled, many citizens were already dead and they soon found themselves overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

There was nowhere left for him to run now; he was surrounded on all sides. In desperation, Commissioner Gordon reached to his side for the last weapon he had left: his combat knife.

"Come on, you fish bastards! Come on!"

Eight rushed at him. Commissioner Gordon wasn't able to kill even one of them. His knife was swiped aside, skittering across the ground uselessly before they forced him down to the hard ground.

Right before the Atlantean' were about to pull him apart, they stopped and looked back to the ocean. As it moved past the trees, Gordon saw that it was Aquaman, as he approached, they moved aside.

Aquaman looked down at Gordon with its cold eyes, viewing him as a human might regard an insect. Then, he slowly raised his trident.

Gordon resigned himself to his fate. He shut his eyes and thought of that day he had spent with his late wife in Star City, almost twenty years before. That was the vision he wanted to have in his head, before he died.

Aquaman brought his trident down on him. However Gordon never felt the impact, he opened his eyes to see the trident had been stopped by Superman. Aquaman's cold eyes stared at superman, even after he was launched back into the ocean, his eyes never broke contact. It didn't take long for the Justice league to push the Atlantans back, saving who was left in the city.

A couple of days later Hugo Strange's body was found on the beach where he last was. And a month later Bruce Wayne was the new Mayor of Gotham and had immediately reestablished connections with Metropolis.

Hernan, Bekka and Kirk were sitting in the lounge area of the league's tower watching the news report on the two cities reunion " Do you think we will see Aquaman again?" Bekka asked " Of course " Kirk answered " He's going to want revenge for us defeating him i expect " Hernan said not really seeming like he cared about Aquaman at all. Lex sat in the highest point of the league's tower, he had computers up there and was monitoring everything in Metropolis.