Darkness, it was where he felt most at home. Ever since a madman had taken his parents away, Bruce Wayne had lived in the darkness. He might have an image as a playboy and as a frivolous playboy, but really deep down he knew where he really was. The darkness was him and he was the darkness. Bruce walked through the alleyway, stopped and opened the covering hole, he attached a rope to it, and then climbed down. Once he'd reached half way, he pulled on the rope and waited till the covering hole was back in place. Then he pulled down on the rope and fixed it back to his belt. He continued the climb down, the only people who knew where he was were Alfred and Dick, he didn't trust Selina with this information. He cared for her, and knew she cared for him, but she was a thief, and thieves could betray you.

Bruce jumped down and rolled his shoulders, he was getting too old for this. One day he'd retire, and enjoy retirement. He laughed to himself, he didn't think that day would ever come. He turned and walked down the tunnel, the darkness inviting him to stay. He pushed the thoughts away and kept going. Bruce knew what he was looking for, it was something he should've thought of a long time ago. But he'd never thought that it would come down to this. He hadn't believed the Prince when he'd predicted that the war would come. He'd been naïve and foolish, just like Lois had. He sighed and kept going, there was no point thinking about the past. It was dead and gone. He kept going, walking, turning left, then right, then left again. He had memorised the map, found long ago, when he had been training with Ra's, before Damian, before Talia, before any of this.

There was a door in front of him, he bent down and removed a rock, picking up the key, and placing it in the keyhole, he turned it to the right and it opened. The simple things, that's what it was. Someone had said that to him once, who had it been? His mother? Or Kate? He couldn't remember, but it made sense. The door opened, he removed the key and pocketed it and he walked through the doorway, he turned, closed the door behind him, then kept walking. It would take some more time before he had reached his final destination. There were more twists and turns here, and he fought hard to stop the dizziness from getting to him. He needed to be alert. He blinked then pushed on. His cloak billowed behind him. Another door, this one was open, he walked through the doorway, then took the steps down, there were drawings on the walls. He shone the light on them and admired them for a time.

Drawings of men fighting, of men preparing the feast, men and women dancing, celebrating. These were some of the oldest drawings in North America, dating to before Jesus, before Alexander, perhaps as old as the time of the Mahabharata, before the Greek Gods certainly. Bruce turned away and walked further on, stopping as he got to the cave. He took a breath and said the words. "I have come from far and wide, I have come to seek what I might find." It was a foolish riddle that Purushamriga had given him once long ago. He briefly wondered how that old rogue was. The boulder moved, and he stepped in, he was hit by light almost immediately. And there and then he said. "I have come for what I seek, so that I might find the answers to the problems that riddle me."

The light dimmed, allowing him to keep moving. Bruce knew that he had limited time to get this sorted, there would be things that needed to be discussed and then dissected, but he was not sure whether he would be able to get to them before his time ran out. No doubt someone in the league had a tracker on him, if not him then certainly on his movements. And that was a problem. A problem he hoped to fix. He kept going, holding onto rocks as he did so, the formations were changing, some were hard, others were soft, more were just plain bold. Eventually though they stopped, and so he too stopped. He took a moment then said. "I have come, as we agreed."

A blaze of light was accompanied by the image of a ram, then a heavily accented voice spoke. "Good. You are alone?"

"Yes." Bruce said, feeling a pressure on his head.

"Then you know what must be done. Tell me, why you are here?" the voice replied.

"Because there is trouble stirring and I must meet it. I cannot allow Superman to continue down this path, not with Diana advising him. she must be removed." Bruce said, he didn't like the thought of what that would mean, but if it meant stability he would go forward with it.

"Very well. I shall show you to him." the figure replied, clicking their fingers, he thought that was what it was anyway, and before Bruce knew it he was sat inside a laboratory with what looked like a professor and some students. They couldn't see him but he could hear them.

"When man meets God, what happens? The world spins on its axis, and the world of man crashes with reality. The gods often tried to stop meeting with men as time grew. For they knew that worship was better than understanding. There was mystery there, and when that mystery was removed, then Man would try to usurp God. For Man is nothing if not sinful. The age of reckoning is coming."

"Aye, I thought that much, but nobody thought it was right. They told me I was scaring the children." Clifford Devoe said.

"Devoe." Bruce said. "What did you mean? What age of reckoning?"

"There was a time when I thought that the Gods would come down and challenge all that man had built. I had seen Zeus's wrath, I had spoken with Hades, I had seen Jupiter in his glory, I had seen Shiva and Vishnu and that hellion Kali. And I thought that they would be done with our false pretence to superiority, that they would say enough of what we were doing. I was wrong. The gods were fine with what we were doing, that Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, that you were there fighting for humanity, and protecting us, they were fine with that. And so I stopped talking of such things, but then during my research I found something else, something much more terrifying." Devoe said.

"And what was that?" Bruce asked, innately aware that at any moment the people tracking him could turn up here.

"A being more powerful than anything the League has ever faced before. A being so powerful he destroyed Krypton and his own home planet. A being so powerful that when he came face to face with Darkseid on Apokolips the beast was forced to negotiate with it." Devoe responded, shivering slightly.

"I need a name." Bruce said, his patience beginning to run thin.

"I cannot give you a name, if I give you its name, it will come early, and the world is not prepared for it. Not yet." Devoe responded.

"What do you mean?" Bruce demanded.

Devoe sighed. "Mr Wayne, you must surely know by now that Lois Lane was the thing that reminded Clark Kent of his humanity, more so than his son, who is half Kryptonian. Consequently, when one removes a tether like that, one can ensure that Clark Kent would do whatever it takes to protect the last remnant of Lois Lane that he has left on this world. Why do you think he spent so much time away from everyone immediately after he was done with Conduit? He was trying to gather his thoughts and decide his next course of action."

"So, you had Conduit murder Lois so that Clark would become this thing that he is today? Why, so that you can have the world prepared for something that might not even be coming?" Bruce asked.

Devoe laughed. "Mr Wayne, you cannot be so naïve as to think that someone such as this thing would not come? When they have destroyed Krypton, but know that the last son of Krypton is alive and well, and has had a family? They are sure to come. They will bring their army with them, and then they will ensure that anything else that prevents them from getting what they want is destroyed. They will destroy the Earth. The Earth is still too weak, too fragile, the nations of this planet fight one another, without realising the greatest threats are coming from without. Superman must take complete control, and he must do so immediately." The man laughed again. "But you already knew that didn't you? So, tell me, why do you want Diana of Themiscyra gone?"

Bruce didn't answer that, instead he said. "So, this being that is coming, this thing that has you so terrified, where does it come from? What is its purpose, and why is it coming here?"

Devoe sighed. "The thing comes from the planet Colu, where it rules as an autocratic despot. It collects knowledge, and it collects worlds. It studies them, tortures the civilians and it ensures that nobody can ever resist it. For eons, it has travelled the galaxies, the universes looking for answers to the greatest question of all. The Life equation. It came to Krypton eons ago, searching for it, when it found that it was not there, it destroyed the planet and killed all of Krypton. Yet now it knows that one being has gotten away, that one Kryptonian survived. It will come here to search and destroy Kal El. That is something that cannot be allowed. Earth cannot fall."

Bruce sighed. "Very well." He knew what he needed to do now. "So, how might I remove Diana?"

Devoe laughed. "I think you know that already, and I think you are coming to me so that you might have someone to blame when this all goes horribly wrong for you."

Bruce didn't respond, instead he turned and left. As he did so, he took out whatever system was inside his suit and placed it on the rocks, if they wanted to find Devoe, they could find him now. He followed the path back, knowing as he did that everything would have to follow the exact path he'd set out. He closed his eyes briefly, fighting back the pain. How many of his friends would have to die for this to work? He sighed, there was no point thinking about that now.

He left the tunnel, and came out into the open air, as expected the Guardian was waiting for him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes." Bruce answered.

"Then you know why we must come?"

"Yes."

"Will you stop us?"

"No."

"Very well." The guardian disappeared, Bruce stood for a moment thinking of how it had come to this, how had he allowed it to come to this? He got into the bat mobile and dialled the number.

"Have you figured how to do it yet?"

"Not yet, I need access to Star Labs."

"We'll get it for you."

"Be careful, I think Wells might be up to something."

"I know." Bruce replied he hung up, it was time to meet the man who'd murdered Barry's mother all those years ago, and put an end to this farce. He started the car and drove off, knowing as he did so, that having struck the deal, that Diana would have to die, otherwise he would be a dead man. "The thing you love most, Diana, you could have made it harder for me to figure out." He looked at the picture on the dashboard and sighed, yes, he was definitely a dead man.