In his half rational, half Man Bat fueled rage, Bruce lashed out at the Monitor, his blows fell uselessly against some kind of force field. Bruce shrieked in anger as the Monitor simply raised a hand to him. The alien didn't lay a finger on him but as he made a fist, Bruce's body crumpled to the ground.
Bruce could feel his body twisting back into human form, it hurt but not as much as he was led to believe it would, almost like something was holding back the majority of the pain.
"We don't have time for childishness" the Monitor chastised, heading over to Lucifer and Darkseid's bodies
Bruce expected the team to come and help him but no one came. Craning his head to the side, Bruce noticed that they were standing still, impossibly still, like they were frozen in time.
"Why did you abandon us?!" Bruce shouted at the now uninterested Monitor
"I didn't" the Monitor revealed "I kept close watch on you and Lucifer, I had faith that in time you would do what needed to be done"
"You didn't tell us we had to kill Darkseid"
"If I had, neither you nor Lucifer would have rose to the challenge, you would have tried to find another way... you would have failed"
Bruce took a deep breath and tried to rise and steady himself. He felt so weak and only stumbled a few steps before his legs gave out. Bruce's vision blurred and for the second time in less than a week, a wave of darkness came to carry him off.
o-o-o-o
Mar Novu, known to most as the Monitor, observed the body of Lucifer Morningstar impaled onto the corpse of the creature called Uxas, or Darkseid.
The Monitor summoned a portal to take Lucifer back to Hell, he assumed that the celestial's father would eventually find a way to reanimate him, to play a part in the miniscule plans of his own design.
When Lucifer had departed, the Monitor crouched down beside Uxas. He couldn't resist imagining what it would've been like if he had of been involved directly in the battle that killed the New God. Their power would have devastated not only this universe but so many neighbouring ones as well, so many souls screaming out in fear and hopelessness.
Shaking off dark thoughts, the Monitor grabbed the Worlogog crystal from Darkseid's chest, tearing it free with the slightest of pressure.
The Monitor integrated the crystal into his own suit, accepting its power as his own. The chances for at least something surviving the crisis had drastically improved.
About to leave with Wayne, the Monitor heard something he almost couldn't believe. A baby was crying. Following the sound to Uxas's body, the Monitor effortlessly broke open the chest cavity and saw the tiny grey infant inside.
A scan revealed the baby to be Uxas, reverted to that form due to a curse of immortality, a curse that could only truly be ended by his son, Orion.
Mar Novu lifted the baby from its former shell, an idea was starting to take form in his head. After all, he was planning on engineering a new universe, a Prime universe, and his new universe would need an Apokolips, and that Apokolips would require a leader.
The baby cried, perhaps knowing its fate.