Flashpoint 2: Advent Solaris

by ImperialDiamond

DCAMU. Post-Apokolis War: Contains inevitable spoilers. The war against Darkseid ended horribly, absolutely horribly. So horrible in fact, that a new timeline had to be created. Barry did not want to open his eyes at first, fearing that this new timeline would end just like the rest. He had to open them eventually though, and not long after that did he fall down the rabbit hole.

26. Dies Irae

SOLEANNA

PRESENT TIME

The scene after the battle at the Soleanna palace was quiet. A deathly silence pervaded the air in the form of that cold nightly breeze, the leaves of the many trees around the palace rustling in the wind as all of the remaining heroes who'd come to Soleanna, and Elise gathered in the expanse of the royal vineyard. There was a certain feeling of foreboding doom as the battle around them seemed to simmer down, the Paradooms of Apokolips being vanquished and the forces of Mephiles having abruptly shut off with the destruction of the ship. One would expect celebration rather than dread, however, instead it was a bitter and cold silence broken only by the occasional breeze of wind.

The scene inside the Soleanna palace was not much different from that outside; the aftermath of a truly apocalyptic battle. It was a miracle that the palace walls were still standing with how many holes and cracks were now lining them and how many columns were similarly either shattered to pieces or fallen to the floor. Speaking of which, spread out across the floor were heroes and villains alike, exhausted from a long and bitter battle.

Granny Goodness and her furies Gillotina, Stompa, Mad Harrie,t and Lashina had taken many bruises and bleeding battle scars from those they had been fighting against as a testament to the strength and ferocity of their views. However, Knuckles, Bard, and Raven stood against them with scars of their own; not a single one of them fell to the floor in defeat despite being outnumbered by mighty 'new' gods. Each of the combatants regardless of their alignment was breathing ever heavily, exhausted from what very much felt like hours of fighting

Granny Goodness (not that there was anything good about her) could not believe what was happening in this current situation. She had never imagined that one of her own former Furies would be lasting this long against her current ones. Even more so given the fact she was fighting with a mere girl and a small mutated earthling rat. To anyone else the battle should've been decided long ago with granny goodness, and her girls, standing victorious over the bruised, beaten, battered, and bloody corpses of the three who stood against them, and yet that was not what was happening they stood defiant. They stood before them just as beaten and battered as themselves showing signs that while exhausted they were still willing to continue the fight even to their last breath

Granny was anything but amused."Do you truly believe that you can stand against Barda?!" See the decrepit old hag. She did not take things like this kindly as shown by how tightly her hands were clenched into fists, to the point that her nails nearly dug directly into her palm and drew her blood.

Barda merely gave her a tired grin, by her sides Knuckles and Raven were standing by her side ready to continue their battle. "You underestimate our tenacity, Granny."

"Yeah, what's the matter? Don't tell me old age is finally starting to get to you?" mocked Knuckles, he might not be much of a smack talker but he could score a good few one-liners here and there. "Come on, we're just getting warmed up! I'll take you on with one arm tied behind my back if ya need a handicap."

"You worthless insect!" Mad Harriet snarled, her hands held out like Clawd while she had her Power-Pikes barred and ready to be used to tear into their flesh and strip it from their very bones. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart and feeding your flesh and bones to the Paradooms!" She spat, baring her teeth at them like she was a wild animal.

"You always were an animal, Harriet," Barda had her Mega-Rod ready to be used and primed for battle as she and her comrades were ready for when things went to shit. "Nice to see you're embracing the beast I always knew you were."

Harriet hissed, her gaze focused solely on Barda so much hatred could be seen in her eyes that one would believe she had suddenly gained access to Heat Vision and was attempting to vaporize the group with her glare. "Granny! Please let me kill them!" She pleaded with the elderly mad woman. "They have been thorns in our side long enough! It's time they paid for standing in our lord's way!"

Granny wanted to give Harriet the green light, she wanted to have her Furies completely and utterly destroy them.

However, there was something that at the last second prevented her from doing so.

Just as Raven, Knuckles, and Barda prepared for another charge - Barda priming her spear, Knuckles clashing his fists and Raven illuminating her hands in her purple magic, a certain darkness poured from the ceiling and onto the floor between all of them with a ghostly, sickening howl that echoed nightmarishly through the palace halls. Emerging from the pitch black clouds was none other than Mephiles himself, his back turned to the Furies and his face towards the three heroes. Slightly hunched over, his arms seemingly limp as though he were a corpse hanging on a string, though his head tilted up at his enemies.

Even without a mouth, one could tell from his silence alone that he had been particularly enraged - and his body language displayed this as just when the heroes were caught off guard by his sudden appearance he lunged towards Raven, Barda tried to stop him with her spear only to have it violently slapped away.

"Ah!" Raven let out a shrill gasp as Mephiles' cold, ice-like hands took hold of her by the neck, slamming her into the palace walls and thereafter lifting her into the air as if he were about to choke her regardless of who watched. All without saying a word. She couldn't say anything with his tight grip over her throat, though she did try with all her might to squirm from his grasp. It wasn't long before Trigon began emerging from her, the skin turning red and her two eyes becoming a set of four glowing red ones.

Perhaps this was an effort to protect his daughter, or perhaps it was simply Raven being overpowered. Regardless, Trigon's snarling emergence through his daughter's body did not last long as Mephiles swiftly and silently used his other hand to grab hold of the red gemstone holding his former self inside, and without a second thought he plucked it from her forehead; in short order, Trigon's possession left Raven's body, her skin returned to its natural coloration and her eyes returned to their usual two.

Keeping the gem firmly in his grasp, Mephiles finally uttered in a bitter tone "I should have been stricter with you."

Then without a moment of care, he simply cast her aside, tossing Raven back to her friends as if she was nothing more than yesterday's garbage to simply be tossed aside and forgotten about. "Raven!" Knuckles and Barda moved to catch their friend, with Barda managing to catch her while Knuckles stood in front of them, his hands raised and ready to attack. "What did you just do, answer me Mephlies!" Snarled the last Echidna as he was ready to unleash his anger at the dark hedgehog that was more focused on the gem in his hand than he was on the fools who were barking at him like some sort of annoying dog.

"What I've done," he drawled without even bothering to turn to face them, having no further reason to waste his time on them. "Is simply expediting my plans." he turned back towards Granny and the Furies. "This is where we depart, I have what I need, they are of no concern to us." This surprised the servants of Mephiles who were astonished to see that their lord and Master were just going to leave and not finish the three of them off with Raven now being incapacitated.

"My lord, surely you jest," Granny spoke first, still perplexed by Mephiles' command. That is, until as he looked at her with his emotionless glare, there was a certain sound coming from the distance. Specifically from the sky. A very faint buzzing sound, getting louder by the second, it becomes apparent that the beasts making said nose this time numbered in the thousands - wait, millions or perhaps even more. Without even saying it, Granny and the Furies knew what was fast approaching.

"We are finished here," Mephiles coldly hissed. "We have what I came for, and we will leave these insects to the lesser ones," he turned to face Raven and her friends and even with no mouth they knew he was giving them a mocking grin. "I thank you, Raven, for providing what I needed." He gave them a low mocking bow, bending over and bowing his head, and yet it didn't give them a sense of accomplishment, instead, it just left them with a hollow victory as Mephilies. Granny Goodness and the Furies were swallowed up by a swirl of inky blackness that rose from their shadows and swallowed them and any form of light that was around them.

When the darkness faded away, the group was gone leaving the heroes with a sense of a pyrrhic victory. "I don't like this." Knuckles frowned. "This wasn't a victory, this was just…just…grrr!" he growled, pounding a fist against one of the walls, "I don't even know what to call this!"

"Worry about it later, we need to get moving," Barda said, helping Raven stand up, as she could hear the sounds of a mighty swarm approaching and they were closing in on them. "We don't have time to stand around and talk."

It was lucky then that at that moment, the three survivors were met with the sound of a familiar blue 'wind' coming in from behind them joined by a gold-colored portal opening up. As Sonic emerged beside them with John Constantine, Zatanna, and the exorcized Elise from the portal, they failed to give them any information they hadn't already deduced.

"So we need to get the bloody hell out of here now" Constantine plainly stated in his usual blunt tone, "There's a shite ton of giant hornets headin' straight for us, and by a shite ton, I mean the buggers are blanketin' the whole bloody sky."

"Well you guys sure took long enough to get over here," Knuckles remarked, "Tell me-"

"Yeah, Iblis is gone." Constantine interrupted, though he didn't go into further details than further saying "Did it the right way this time" he then wasted no time in getting to business, "Now unless it's important, how about we just get the fuck outta here unless any of you is planning on staying."

Before Constantine opened a portal to transport everyone quickly, Zatanna did a quick headcount of everyone there and promptly asked "Wait, we're missing some people; where are Flash, Rouge, Shadow, Omega, Starfire, and Nightwing?"

"They must be still out there!" Knuckles exclaimed though Constantine was quick to be rather impatient.

"I'm sure they can take care of themselves," he said, "With how fast those things are coming, we might not have the time to go back and save them."

"John" Zatanna reprimanded, "We have to at least try!", and Constantine made no further protests to the idea. Of course, there was only one person who was even remotely fast enough to race against the swarm, and it was with a grin and a thumbs up that Sonic spoke up;

"Don't worry, I'll be back with those guys in no time!"

"Wait!" and suddenly Elise spoke up, stopping Sonic before he could head out as she got up to him in a pleading voice, placing her hands onto his shoulders as she said, "Please if you can save any of the citizens…"

"Don't worry, Elise" Sonic said as he gave her a warm and reassuring smile, "I will."

As Zatanna gently pulled Elise back and hugged her for comfort, Sonic turned around and dashed off in his usual blur of blue wind. Within seconds he was racing across the waters of the bay at his top speed, though fast as he was it still wasn't fast enough to beat the arrival of the Changeling swarm.

True to Constantine's word, the buzzing and snarling beasts blanketed the blood-red sky in black and gold, signifying they were the perfected 'warrior' class and not the red 'drones' of before. Like true insects from the bowels of Hell itself they descended upon Soleanna in a swarm numbering in the hundreds of millions if not billions; counting them all was nigh impossible. All that mattered was that once they began diving towards the streets nothing and no one was even remotely safe. It was mere moments before the terrified and blood-curdling screams of what civilians still lived began echoing through the streets, and it became soon after apparent that these beasts were not there to capture but rather to devour anyone they saw alive.

Sonic's trail of blue wind was not unnoticed by the flying horde, but it seems as though a majority of them had avoided approaching him - save for a certain subset which curiously was uniformly emerald green in color rather than gold and black. Not only did these green monstrosities dive downward toward Sonic, but upon impacting the water they seemed able to shapeshift into green-colored sharks and jettison back upwards toward him.

Sonic was almost caught in the jaws of one when it successfully emerged right under his feet just a meter or so away from the city docks, though Sonic was just able to curl into his spin dash while still in the air and remark "Nice try, big guy!" before swerving his way directly onto its head, slamming it back down into the water and gaining just enough momentum to reach the aforementioned dock.

He proved to not have much time to scan his surroundings for his missing friends however, as within seconds of him ceasing his moment two more green sharks emerged from the water in an attempt to lunge at him, "Woah!" he exclaimed, quickly spin dashing out of their way only for them to then morph into rabid wolves snarling and growling at him in fast approach. "Heh, you guys sure are determined, aren't ya?" he further remarked, dodging the pounce of one and the lunge of another. "If you don't mind, I got some people I gotta go save now!"

They only barked and hissed at him in response, though this encounter did not last much longer. Both of the beasts were zapped away by two sets of red heat beams, causing them to whimper in pain as they were propelled back into the water by the unexpected blasts. At first Sonic smiled, believing it to be Omega, only to become alarmed when they instead came from a pair of surviving Paradooms, many of them still roaming the dust-coated streets of Soleanna.

Upon laying its eyes upon Sonic, the Paradoom let out one of its shrill and truly detestable roars at him and began its charge, only to just as quickly be yanked from behind by one of the golden changelings above and lifted high into the sky as it's partner helplessly watched.

Heat beams were no use on the golden ones, nor were the Paradooms' attempts to squirm free through brute force. It all proved futile, a testament to these monsters' durability; not even their eyes were vulnerable as those of red. The Paradooms comrade watched in horror as two more changelings latched onto the captured one and in bitter irony used their superior strength to begin tearing it apart as it still lived, wailing out in utter agony. Its green blood splattered down onto the rooftops and streets, its limbs parting from its body to be either devoured or discarded to the ground, and its internal organs little more than snacks.

The surviving Paradoom was so shocked by this display of brutality and might that it actually began backing away in fear, its eyes curled in both grief and cowardice before it began a full hasty retreat back into the clouds of smoke covering the burning streets. Unfortunately for itself, it was pursued by two other changelings, and the sound of it being brought to the ground and meeting the same fate was heard mere moments after Sonic could no longer see it.

Once the Paradooms had been Darkseid's elite, and in another life had brought the world's mightiest heroes to their knees. How the mighty have fallen then, for they have since been reduced to a joke by those they once killed and thereafter into nothing more than hapless prey.

At least Soleanna could take solace in the fact that Paradooms' futile fleeing bought time for what citizens remained to seek shelter.

"Well," Sonic commented, "You don't see that every day. I should probably get going now before I'm next!"

Crouching back into a running stance, Sonic gave an excited grin as he felt his power coursing through his veins and then in less than a second he was ready. "Go!" He told himself to take off in his usual blue wind leaving a small crater where his feet were. He tore through the dust-layered streets of the once-beautiful city of Solana tearing through the town as he could still make out the horrible shrieks of the Changelings coming up from the rear.

"Ha, alright you wanna play? Then let's play!"

Two of them charged right at him only for him to dodge by leaping into the air, then he started attacking them. Putting his speed to good work, as he was a blur bouncing and jumping off them and slamming into them at speeds they couldn't keep up with. Landing on the ground, he curled up into a ball to perform his Spin-Dash technique and shot himself toward one of the Changelings before he suddenly vanished in a blur of speed.

The Changeling didn't even have time to react as he came from behind slamming into them and like a buzz saw drilled right into their back before uncurling and slamming a double kick right into the center of its back and sending it flying into a group knocking them down like so many bowling pins. "Alright! A strike!" He continued dashing through the city, jerking left and right to avoid any of the Changelings who came from above aiming to dive-bomb him, however, he was just too quick for them. "Try this on for size!"

Still running he skidded to a stop and curled into a ball as if to perform a Spin Dash, however,r he instead creates a forward-moving ground-traveling shockwave, whilst jumping backward from recoil towards several Changelings who were too slow to dodge the attack and found themselves being blasted apart and sent flying in multiple different directions as the blue blur zoomed right past them. "These guys don't know when to give up!" Sonic grunted as he performed a somersault sideways and rapidly boosted himself forward before leaping straight up into the air. He then executed a spin kick as he stuck out one leg and spun 360 degrees creating a blue aura around it, and forming several small shockwaves which travel horizontally in the direction of the Changelings.

As he sent most of the Changelings who were facing him slamming into the walls of the city buildings with painful force, he eventually could hear the tell-tale sounds of someone else fighting the beings. It was the sound of machine gun bullets, laser beams, and even grenades being thrown at them from about a mile or two away that was just audible over the sound of the swarm and its slaughtering of the remaining paradooms. Without the presence of any human military, Sonic quickly deduced that it originated from the people he had come to rescue.

Sure enough, rushing in the direction of the noise had greeted Sonic with none other than Omega, Rouge, Flash, Nightwing, and Starfire holding their own against the swarm. Omega's flamethrower, machine gun, and missile launchers kept them at bay as did Starfire's star beams, Nightwing's acrobatics and bat equipment, Flash's speed, and Rouge's supply of grenades. Happy as Sonic was to see them all alive, he couldn't find any sign of Shadow.

'Knowing him, he's either gone off on his own or he is still out there somewhere,' Knowing he couldn't leave the others to fend for themselves without some help he launched himself into the air and used his Homing Attack, striking down multiple Changelings that were attempting to attack from the air. Springboarding off one's head, he fell straight down to perform a powerful downward kick whilst midair to send the changeling crashing into the ground and landing on top of another one that had attempted to attack Rogue from behind. "Time to wrap this up!"

Taking off once more he ran around his friends at high speeds to create a small cyclone made of sharp sky-blue winds, which started to lift the Changelings into the air and they were held in place despite attempts to escape. Seeing them trapped, he chuckled as he then dove into the cyclone and unleashed a barrage of homing attacks from all directions. The Changelings were left helpless and defenseless as he attacked them, his speed overwhelming them as he blitzed them from every possible angle his speed was too much for them as they were being pummeled and gradually losing their ground and losing consciousness till they couldn't take it anymore and the cyclone collapsed scattering their bodies all over the ground leaving them in heaps of tangled limbs.

Sonic came to a stop with a skid and dusted his hands off and smirked. "And that's how you take out the trash," he smirked in his usual cocky fashion before turning to his friends. "Guys, is everyone alright?!"

"Shaken a little, but not too badly thanks to you, big blue," Rouge smiled seeing the Blue Blur coming in for the clutch, "Unfortunately we're trapped here with these things."

"Yeah, I was beginning to run low on bombs at this point," Nightwing nodded, as it was true he had been running low on ammo and they had thought for a moment he was about to be a goner.

"So," Sonic said as he turned to Rouge, "I take it these are those things from Bialya you guys were talkin' about?"

"That'd be a big fat yes," Rouge replied plainly.

Sonic also couldn't help but notice that gathered behind the group, being defended by them, was a slowly increasing number of terrified civilians. Flash was using his speed to traverse the city streets as the changelings hunted down and tore apart what few para dooms remained, gathering as many helpless citizens as he could and whisking them to safety. Men, women, children, even infants, anyone he could find who was still alive. Of course, he would sadly not be able to save everyone, but any life saved was a job well done.

Among those saved was a certain mustache accordion player, a mother with her young son & daughter, an elderly woman, and a group of small young boys.

They made short work of finding as many people as they could, thanks to being able to fly Rouge and Starfire were detrimental in locating any remaining stragglers while with their speed Sonic and Flash were able to find them in no time at all and thankfully managed to save them before any issues could come about or before the changelings could reach them. Omega with his arsenal of firearms meanwhile was vital in securing Rouge and Starfire being able to do so without getting killed.

Once they were sure that everyone had been saved they knew it was time to regroup and when they did they knew they needed to get the lead out and leave. "We've found all the people that we can, I think it's best we get out of here," Rogue said once they had finished saving the last person they had managed to find alive, one of Soleanna's many priests. "We can't stay here any longer, doing so only puts us and the people in danger!"

"Yeah, we need to find a way back to the palace!" Sonic exclaimed, "And stat!" though that was far easier said than done. With how many Changelings there were, it was only a matter of time until they were simply unable to fend them off any longer.

"This would be a good time for us to have Shadow show up," Nightwing remarked, "Where the hell is he anyway?"

"Last I saw he was fighting Mephiles" Sonic explained, "I thought he'd be with you guys now!"

"Without access to a chaos emerald there is no efficient way to transport both ourselves and the civilians to safety" Omega stated in his usual matter-of-fact manner, "This situation is unsustainable.

"Well we can't just fight our way out, we've got too many women and children; Not to mention many of them are elderly, we can barely save ourselves as it is!" Barry exclaimed, not even thinking of presenting the idea of abandoning the people to their fate; if this was going to be their last stand, then so be it.

At the Soleanna Palace, the situation for Zatanna, Constantine, Knuckles, Elise, Barda, and Raven was not much different. They had the shelter provided by the palace itself, though were still unable to prevent hundreds upon thousands of the hellish insects from finding their way through the various doors, windows, and open holes throughout the structure. They had the benefit of places to hide, though that same furniture and corridors could be used against them just as well. Raven had to keep the more vulnerable Knuckles and Elise safe along with herself by conjuring a violet barrier around the three of them while Zatanna, Barda, and Constantine aggressively fought back against the swarming beasts on the outside with all of the magic and fighting prowess that they could muster.

Even with their combined might, there were simply too many of them. Barda could use her spear to stab, slap and impale monster after monster just as Constantine and Zatanna could fire at them with magic, but still, literal hundreds would break through and begin slamming and gnawing against Raven's force field, causing increasing cracks in it as she hissed and grunted out in pain - in heightening weakness.

"Nngh, aaargh!" she would cry out, at one point even falling to the ground just barely keeping the now flickering shield up. Knuckles, alarmed, went to her side and did his best to help her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked, to which she honestly didn't think she could respond correctly.

"There are too many of these things," she said in an almost defeated tone, "Sooner or later we're going to be overwhelmed."

Knuckles looked up at the roof of her shield and indeed noticed that as it continued being battered by changeling after changeling it was increasingly weak, beginning to fade and flicker with each hit it took. Realizing the truth to Raven's words he realized this position would soon be compromised, and he promptly turned to the three fighting on the outside of it.

"The shield's not gonna hold much longer!" he exclaimed, "We're gonna need a backup plan!"

"Are you daft, mate?!" Constantine said between hurling fireballs at the demonic insects, "I can barely concentrate on what I'm doing right now let alone conjure up a plan B on the spot, I'm not bloody Batman! We should have just left instead of stickin' around waitin'!"

"We might not have a choice but to do that at this point," Barda said plainly, using her spear to keep the changelings at bay and a safe distance "They're just going to keep coming until we're too tired to fight back! There's more of these things than the entire parademon population!"

"At least someone has some sense!" John remarked that this was not met with approval from Zatanna.

"We can't just leave the others behind," she said, "they could still be out there!"

"Or they could be dead at this point and we're waiting' for nothin'!" Constantine replied, "And we'll be dead ourselves pretty soon!"

"I hate to say this" Knuckles commented with regret as he thought of Sonic and those he left to rescue, "But Constantine's probably right."

Elise was taken aback by this news, still hoping in her heart that Sonic would return safe and sound.

"But Sonic…" she whimpered, though her trailing voice and her concerns were swiftly tossed aside.

"We don't have time to mourn," John said, extending a hand to open an escape portal while Zatanna used her magic to keep any changelings at bay, "We have to go, now!"

No longer having any time left, Knuckles grabbed Elise as Raven raised her hands. Gritting her teeth as she took hold of the shield she contorted it into a violent energy shockwave that sent the attacking changelings careening into the palace walls. It only bought them a few seconds, but it was just enough seconds for the three to get moving as Barda covered them to the portal.

"Go! Go! Go!" Barda called out as Knuckles, Raven, and Elise rushed for the portal. Herself, Zatanna, and Constantine doing their best to keep the swarm at bay. Strong as her spear was, she could only smack away the horrid beasts temporarily. The hides of the elite were simply that durable.

Ultimately though the group managed to retreat without casualties, each of them evacuating through the portal which John swiftly closed before any of their foes could get through. Finding themselves on the green crashes of angel island in the dead of night, Raven fell onto said grass with the utmost exhaustion. Losing the gem containing her father and then exerting all that she could to keep the swarm from killing her and two others simply took nearly everything out of her.

As for Elise, she couldn't help but look back at the now-closing portal with the knowledge that many of her people, as well as the blue wind that did his best to save them along with her, were now doomed while she was powerless to do anything about it.

At Angel Island, it did not take long for the group to meet with the other surviving heroes. The island itself was shielded from the swarm invading the world by a translucent green shield emanating from the master emerald itself - though each time a changeling slammed into it the flash was like that of lightning. At first, it made them almost duck to the ground from the initial shock and terror of thinking the nightmarish insects had followed them here, though once they realized what was going on they were able to get their bearings and progress toward the outside shrine of Master Emerald, where everyone had gathered as a safe area away from the swarm; it had essentially become a makeshift watchtower since the original one had already met its same original fate in being destroyed by the clashing forces of Mephiles and Darkseid in the chaos of this three-way conflict.

Standing at the shrine before Master Emerald were Diana, Hal, Clark, the Flash from this timeline, Oliver, Roy, Victor, Luthor, Robotnik, Steel, Tails, Amy, Shazam, Arthur, Mera, Espio, Vector, Charmy and Chaos. Greeted by Diana who took notice of Elise's presence amongst them, she said "Escort the Duchess to the Hidden Palace, where we're housing the other rescued civilians."

Zatanna nodded and was the one who gently escorted Elise to the aforementioned place, located beyond the caves and canyons traversing the large Red Mountain in the center of the island. Far beneath said mountain was the Hidden Palace shrine, the secondary resting place of the emerald and where Elise would be kept as a refugee alongside Lois, Jimmy, Carol Ferris, Cat Grant, Big the large purple literal cat and pet Froggy, Vanilla the literal rabbit and daughter Cream with pets Cheese and Chocola, and even the rescued Silas Stone. While true Lois had experience in the army and in another world led the resistance, with the adrenaline from her earlier ordeal having worn life the injuries she sustained from how violently her vehicle had been jolted around with her inside had taken effect thus rendering her unable to actively coordinate the war effort.

As for Constantine, Barda, Raven, and Knuckles, they were headed directly for the shrine right before them where the others were gathered around the master emerald - the large green gem pulsating a bright green glow as it held up the protective barrier around the island.

"Is it done?" Clark asked, looking at Elise as Zatanna escorted her off.

"It's done" Constantine confidently assured him.

"That's a relief" and it was then that Clark noticed the absence of the others who had been sent to Soleanna, and with a concerned voice he asked, "What happened to the others?"

There was a moment of silence between the three before Constantine plainly said "We don't know. We were outnumbered by those damn things and had to fall back."

There was another moment of silence as all of the other heroes realized what that might mean. Many of them bowed their heads - and nobody looked forward to informing Bruce. Though they had been expecting to be reprimanded for abandoning them to fate, what happened instead was an interruption. Just as Victor held his head in mourning, there was a notification in his systems to an incoming message.

"Guys, I got something comin' in."

"What is it?" Diana asked, "News from survivors?"

"Hope so, but I don't think it is…it's coming from the ARK" Suddenly his cybernetic eye displayed a holographic image for all to see - and no, it was not a distress signal from Soleanna. Instead, it was a broadcast being displayed internationally from the space colony, even hijacking radio and television frequencies across the world. The reason was soon made clear.

The first video of the broadcast was a scene in the United States Capitol building, where the Vice President was holding an emergency meeting of Congress when the secret service members in attendance revealed themselves to be changeling elite along with roughly half of the Virginia national guard. The members of Congress stood no chance against these foes, and what remained of their bodies were soon strewn about the congressional chamber, their flesh, and organs a feast for the insects as they callously fought over scraps with their truly evil hisses echoing throughout. The blue carpet and wooden podiums are now stained with the dark crimson blood of those who once led the most powerful nation on earth. now stained Some of the senators and representatives had even still been alive while they were being torn apart, screaming for mercy and receiving none in return. There was no sign of the vice president nor his body. If there ever was one. The fate of the actual president remained unclear, as presumably she had long been moved to a secure bunker. However, with the secret service being compromised there was no telling what happened at this point.

The heroes had barely been able to digest that grotesque scene when another replaced it.

Disneyworld, the prized jewel of Orlando, Florida and the very symbol of the largest and most influential corporation in America lay in ruin. Entire buildings such as the once magical castle turned into towers of flame, roller coasters collapsed and in pieces, and the bodies of the costumed characters were tossed around haplessly and dismembered. The castle Even the mighty CEO now lay mangled and broken, splattered after being dropped several feet high onto the metal statue of Walt and Mickey themselves, his blood running down into the fountain waters below. All while the swarm continued flying overhead, the screams and gunfire from the innocents still echoing faintly from the distance. From the park's intercom, a voice calmly repeated "Please remain calm and evacuate in an orderly manner…"

Lex Luthor, who once dined with that powerful man many times, felt almost humbled at seeing his downfall. How little respect these beasts had for America's elite.

Yet this horror was not finished.

The fourth part of the broadcast was a scene in New York City itself. The stock market building, the center of the global economy, and the meeting place of the richest investors and businessmen around were completely unrecognizable. Its neoclassical columns have fallen over, the entire interior a massive wall of burning hot flame. Massive craters polluted the sides and ceiling of the building as it slowly melts and collapses from the heat of the flames. Dismembered limbs and discarded organs litter the floor as well as the outside streets of rich and poor alike. The broadcast in particular panned to the view of a limousine that had been unceremoniously crushed beneath several large boulders of debris from the fallen building. Its hood crunched open and engine aflame. It was Lex Luthor who drew in a breath at realizing whose limo this was - the once mighty Phillip Andre. The license plate was the giveaway that this mighty man, who had virtually all of the world's political leaders in his back pocket through his philanthropic fronts and large donations had met an end so lacking in poetry that it was as though he was just another civilian. Or perhaps that was poetic. Luthor was too busy being horrified at the world's elite being so violently Cary down to think about that aspect.

The other images displayed in the broadcast were all similar gruesome scenes showing the most powerful humans in the world being bitterly slaughtered as though they were nothing. Silicon Valley was violently ransacked, the tech leaders dragged from their offices screaming and gurgling as the changelings gnawed at their necks until they were beheaded alive. The billionaires of the world were massacred in their mansions along with their families as their bodyguards revealed themselves to be changelings all along. The European Union and United Nations met the same fate as Congress - representatives slaughtered by their own supposed protectors and their headquarters left to burn - the UN building eventually crumbling to the ground with a nightmarish roar and accompanying smoke cloud that for many New Yorkers brought back memories that they all never wanted to be living through again.

Paris and Berlin were both sacked and aflame, and government leaders were devoured.

To Constantine's gasp, London had not survived. London Bridge had fallen and Big Ben along with it. Buckingham Palace was thoroughly destroyed as the remains of officials lay scattered about. The queen's crown lay in a small puddle of fresh blood next to a tipped-over royal carriage, though nobody was visible. Parliament was similarly obliterated, the prime minister's torso visible in the mouth of a changeling warrior as the other lords and members of parliament met the same cruel and bitter fate.

"At least Winnie's not alive to see this…" was all Constantine could utter. Indeed, Churchill would have wept at this sight.

It was not just the West that was attacked, however. In Moscow, the entire country erupted into civil war when half of the entire military revealed themselves as changelings and laid waste to absolutely everyone else. The oligarchs and oil tycoons who influenced the nation were consumed where they laid their heads thinking themselves safe, with their families and heirs joining them and even the oppressive and once thought invulnerable president of r the federation lay hunched over his desk, his back torn asunder to a point his spine was clearly exposed - two changelings ravenously feasting upon his body. The dead man's hand just barely reached a certain red button before it was yanked out of its socket to lie limp towards the floor.

The cities of Ankara, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Tehran met similar fates, with their political and religious leaders having been so horrifically annihilated there was no defense for the innocent people from the swarm attacking them. Not even Pyongyang and Seoul survived, both North and South Korea effectively being left stateless as none of their leaders can be confirmed alive. The prime minister of Japan had even been killed when his helicopter was swarmed and crashed into the streets of the now also active war zone Tokyo. The fate of the emperor was unclear due to the shutdown of electric and communication services.

What wasn't unclear was the fate of China's leader. All the people of the world had a front-row seat to the man's utter destruction.

The forbidden palace and surrounding forbidden city were engulfed in flame and suffocating clouds of smoke. Beijing appeared as though it had been bombed hundreds of times, its skyline being simply gone as changelings buzzed and snarled overhead. The entire government had just been murdered, and half of its military and all security forces have been now destroying the country. Tibet and Xinjiang were taking full advantage of the chaos and declared their independence, attacking the already halved Chinese forces along with the alien invaders in righteous patriotism.

China was effectively dismantled into a return to the warlord era in less than an hour as its president lays before all at the center of the burning palace, lifting his head to let out blood-curdling screams as three changelings huddled around him, his stomach and chest torn brutally open as they worked on devouring all that was inside, bones included. His mouth oozing with blood and contorted agony, the once proud ruler of the Chinese state's cries for mercy and a quicker end were only met with snarls from the beats feasting upon him.

The heroes watching this sim on the island could only look on in abject horror at the sadistic scenes before their eyes. All of this happened so aggressively fast that not even Barry could respond to such global brutality.

Finally, the broadcast cut to a black void as a red timer counting down from 24:59:59 appeared and the voice of Mephiles himself coldly threatened "Your mortal leaders are gone, and the rest of your planet will join them if your Justice League does not unconditionally surrender within 24 hours. If they do not…."

Then, with the timer still present, the void shifted to reveal that of Apokolips itself as viewed directly from beneath the ARK. The Justice League and their associates were silently stunned as they watched the eclipse cannon charge and fire directly at the planet, drilling into its core and tearing it apart both inside and out until it was just a cluster of rock and now melted metal drifting through space. A single blast was all it took to bring the galaxy's strongest and most dreaded empire to its knees.

Within less than an hour, the only force standing between Mephiles and his victory was the Justice League and those standing with them.

As Cyborg turned off the display, all of them stood there in stunned and horrified silence for what felt like hours. In reality, it was only a few short moments. The reality of now truly being the entire universe's last hope against the greatest of evils was a heavy one but necessary to accept.

"What the hell are we gonna do?" Cyborg asked, breaking the silence, "That fuckers got a death ray that can do that pointed right at us!"

"We can't just surrender the planet to him!" Clark explained in response, "There has to be something we can do!"

"Perhaps if we try to cut some type of deal with him" Luthor had tried to finish this sentence, though was swiftly cut off.

"No!" Clark snapped at him, "We're not going to negotiate anything with him! We're not taking the coward's way out!"

"There is still reason to hope," Diana said as she placed a hand on Clark's shoulder before he became too irrational, "If we can destroy the Reach Emperor, we can disable the fleet protecting the ARK. At that time it would be wise for a full-scale assault."

"But Diana, he has that thing pointed right at us!"

"The cannon will no doubt take time to charge its way back to full strength" she replied, "We have until then to defeat him."

"Do we even have the equipment to get to that Titan planet anymore?" Shazam questioned, "We lost the watchtower, and with it all of our javelins with the equipment we'd need to travel in a hostile environment."

"Plus his ship could have moved by now" Hal pointed out, "We have no way of knowing without the tower."

"It's just a risk we're going to have to take." Diana firmly replied.

Just then, Cyborg's communication systems started pinging again. and while at first Victor was ready for it to be another threat, instead this one was something else entirely. It was a distress signal sent from a familiar robot directly from Soleanna.

"URGENT. REINFORCEMENTS REQUIRED AT SOLEANNA, POSITION NOT SUSTAINABLE. RESPOND IMMEDIATELY."

And so things go back to the streets of Soleanna, where Sonic was yet still fighting against the swarm alongside Rouge, Omega, Nightwing, Barry II, and Starfire. The swarm of changelings was relentless, even with Omega's endless reserves of firepower it was doubtful that their position would hold forever - especially with their heroic insistence on rescuing civilians. Luckily, the distress call Omega had sent out was received, though still the group had by now been backed into a corner, the heroes standing in front of the surviving civilians they could find while the endless swarm flew about all around them, lunging in random intervals, their game of attrition sure to win out eventually.

"Boys I'd hate to add to the stress, but it looks to me like we've got someone closing in!"Her urgent voice called to their attention as they moved to get into a combat stance, Omega still firing away all that he could keep the changelings at bay.

However, they didn't expect the being that came flying into the room to be none other than Superman himself with Wonder Woman and Hal Jordan by his side. The three were some really of the only other heroes able to hold off the swarm long enough to make a touchdown in front of the group holding the line.

"Well now, if that's not a sign of good luck I don't know what is!" Sonic exclaimed with a relieved sigh, thankful to no end that this wasn't his last stand after all.

"We received Omega's distress signal" Diana explained, putting up her arm to deflect a changeling's lunge with her shield while stabbing its abdomen with her sword. Beside her, Clark was using his heat beams and Hal had formed a machine gun with his ring to offer further support to Omega and Starfire's firing. "What's the situation?"

"We have civilians that need evac" Barry was quick to explain, "on top of being sitting ducks out here, of course."

"We'll have Cyborg remotely open a boom tube for extraction" Diana replied with a nod, again having to deflect beasts with sword and shield, "Green Lantern will protect the civilians, you lot will need to go through the portal as quickly as possible, we can't risk these things infesting Angel Island."

"Yeah, Knux really wouldn't like that!" Sonic remarked, just having to get that quote in it seemed.

"Now, let's go!"

The plan was quickly put into action, with Hal breaking from firing at the changelings to instead use his ring to encase the rescued civilians in a green bubble. Of course, he required support from both Starfire and Superman to protect him from the changelings while he did this.

"Now, Victor!" Diana hurriedly called out into her communication device, prompting a boom tube portal to open nearby. Hal quickly made a dash for it with the non-combatants in tow, Kori and Clark right behind him and just barely preventing the insects from getting too close while all of the others made work on their retreat. Omega's endless barrage of lasers, machine gun fire, and homing missiles proved invaluable.

With Kori, Hal, Clark and the defenseless being evacuated first the remaining Diana, Sonic, Rouge, Nightwing, Barry II, and Omega were able to expedite their escape - at least until something caught the corner of Barry's eye. There was a notable crumbling sound, and when his eyes turned he could see a feminine hand reaching out from behind a detached portion of the wall - one last civilian pleading for help. Knowing that whoever this was would have no chance or defense against the changelings buzzing and hissing all around, Barry decided against his better judgment and with super speed turned around in a b-line directly for the struggling person.

"Barry!" Diana called out, backing towards the portal carefully while slicing at the monsters with her sword. Rouge and Nightwing had just gone through, and there was only so much time for the others to do so before Cyborg would have to close it. As such, Diana's call went unanswered.

Barry was easily able to reach the trapped woman in less than a second and removed the toppled-over wall. Unbeknownst to him, the woman who had been nearly crushed behind it was Anna, one of Elise's ladies in waiting, her light blonde hair and collared white top with that long red skirt was still her outfit though it was now covered in dust and torn by bleeding scratches. Coughing, she was taken into Barry's arms as he was quick to reassure her "Don't worry, I'll bring you to safety!"

"Thank you…" she weakly replied, not having the energy for any further conversation.

Barry didn't dilly dally about, he immediately made a motion to rush back towards where Diana and Barda were guarding the portal for those still going through. Sonic himself had jumped through once he had seen what Barry was doing, and after him, Starfire herself followed. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a simple there-and-back dash taking only a few seconds, but what Barry hadn't accounted for was that some of the changelings now had his speedster abilities - or those of his nephew. These changelings were the same silver color as the young boy's suit and with true speedster and they made their presence known by two of them slamming into Barry's sides causing him to trip to the ground with an echoing thud, dropping Anna in the process.

"Barry!" Diana exclaimed though she and Barda were unable to get to him quickly due to the changeling warriors that quickly stood out in front of them, forcing them to engage in combat rather than rushing to support the fallen speedster. However, Omega with his endless supply of firepower was able to blast away a changeling with two simultaneous missile launches just as it geared up to pounce upon Anna as she lay defenseless on the ground.

"Worthless Wastes of Organic Material!" Omega remarked aloud, voicing his opinion of the hostile creatures. His weaponry proved just powerful enough to blow them to bites, though still, their sheer numbers were truly overwhelming. Omega himself could only reach where Anna lay, having to pull out his Gatling gun with one arm and continuously blast a nigh everlasting stream of the insects as they attempted to rush him now that he was in the open; while also shifting his head and torso backward, opening a barrage of homing laser shots at this who attempted to approach from that direction while his other arm handled homing missile shots.

As for Barry, the situation was not good. He would have gotten up and quickly made it to Omega's side, though his leg had been injured by a claw of one of the gray changelings, causing him to limp and even stumble over as the cut bled profusely.

"Barry Allen, retreat to safety immediately!" Omega exclaimed, "I will retrieve this civilian!"

"G-Got it, I-" his words was interrupted when more of the gray changelings attacked. This time one of them swiftly grabbed hold of him from behind while he struggled to stand up on his two feet, and Omega was unable to destroy it due to ten more arriving to rush at him and thus driving his attention as they were more capable of dodging his attacks than the comparably slower ones. Diana and Barda were also unable to help, being needed to guard the boom tube from very unwanted intruders.

Barry was on his own.

Lifted high into the air, he was able to vibrate himself free from the first changeling grasp but was just afterward approached by another as he fell. Kicking it in the face sent it off, but he was once again grabbed behind this time by a different beast, and worse he let out a scream as this one quickly bit right into his neck.

"Agh! Get off me, get off you fu-aaargh!"

The creature had little, in fact, none at all, mercy as it as well as a fellow monster used its legs to hold the speedster in place and even vibrated themselves in direct counter to him. Both Changelings feasted directly upon his neck, their mandibles, and secondary mouths destroying his neck and throat and turning it into a mess of dark red. His screams of agony turned into sickening gurgles as air escaped only through what remained of his throat.

"Barry!" Diana screamed, having just impaled one beast with her sword while Barda one coming in from behind her, the Amazon warrior was only able to watch this brutality unfold while becoming powerless to stop it.

In a bitter irony, the changeling's numbing effect caused Barry's vibrating to turn into slow, pained wriggling and writhing. Eventually, even that subsided. He was fully conscious of what was happening to him, and that this would be his end. Yet he felt none of it. He felt nothing at all. Not even the cold breeze of the wind as he was held many miles above the streets, his blood oozing down to the roads and rooftops below.

For every single bite, every single gnaw, every single inch of flesh taken from him he was aware though felt nor reacted to any of it. His body only twitched because of the beast's motions.

All he could do was witness memories of his life up to this point, all three of his lives. The long-lost original timeline that he had inadvertently discarded. To this final moment how he wished he could reverse all that he did and simply wake up in that timeline again, though perhaps once this bitter moment is over that will finally be what awaits him. To open his eyes again and live through what he had missed out on. To have his son and daughter without all of this madness around them, without them being taken and turned against him. Without all of the apocalypses, bloodshed. Without there ever having been a flashpoint. How he so deeply regretted creating that first one; he would never get an answer to whether this would happen had he never made that fateful run in the first place.

His face turned into a weak, bleeding smile as he imagined himself and Iris getting to enjoy their vacation on the Soleanna beach uninterrupted, the orange light of the setting sun washing over their lightly clad bodies while their hands embraced along the soft beige sands. He had just envisioned rubbing her pregnant belly when finally his vision faded to a bright light that he now entirely welcomed. His head fell to the streets below as the changelings released his corpse.

Like vultures, at least a dozen more of the things huddled around his body to feast upon his lifeless remains while his blood was still warm.

Knowing very well what was coming, Barda swiftly yelled "We need to get out of here, now!"

"Omega" Diana called out to the robot, "Sound off!"

"Affirmative!" Omega had to turn his homing missile launcher into its normal silver hand to grab Anna and immediately make a bad dash for the boom tube before the changelings were fully stocked on Barry's superior speed powers. It was by sheer luck of timing that Omega was able to make it through the portal and onto the grounds of Angel Island, with Barda and Diana right behind him. The boom tube was remotely closed by cyborg a mere half-a-second later, mere nanoseconds to spare before the now upgraded speedster changelings had rushed for where it had been; they angrily hissed and snarled when realizing they had just missed their mark.

On Angel Island, a wave of both relief and mourning came over all of the refugees and heroes alike. As Omega, Barda, and Diana had been welcomed by the other resistance members during their dust-off, Diana looked back with a mournful look after having seen with her own eyes the beasts gnawing at her friends' neck until they had bitten his head clean off. It was not a memory she enjoyed being given. Nor did she like having to inform the others that they had lost someone. She was even outright asked by Rouge, who had left the scene before that, who said with gentle concern "Where's our Barry?"

Her response was silent and clear, a simple closing of her eyes accompanied by a lowering of her head. Rouge, and many of the others there, shared her response. Nothing else needed to be said. In particular, this timeline's original Barry, who couldn't help but also feel that all of this was his fault. However, the original Barry couldn't help but feel a strange feeling in the back of his mind that soon manifested itself in the form of a gasping breath and a brief though still stinging headache. It was as though a swift wave had just passed over him and only him, and suddenly he had a previously unknown familiarity with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and the other anthro people there - as though he had known of their existence all along rather than having just recently learned of them. This was a similar feeling he had felt when he had first become aware of this timeline, that of his new memories fading in. Except this time it was different, not involving the destruction of his prior memories.

With a single jolt of his body accompanied by a brief spark of speed force energy, the original Barry had gained the memories of the second Barry while still also bearing all of his memories of this timeline. His actual consciousness and identity however remained at rest and his body a feast. It was confusing even to himself whether he should interpret these memories as himself or as merely being a spectator aware of them. Though for now, there were much more important things to be concerned with.

Not noticing Barry's brief jolt, Shazam spoke as though it didn't even happen as he said "What are we gonna do now? We can't reach the Bialya team, Batman dropped all contact, and we've lost a man, two including Shadow! And the world is going up in flames right now!"

"I would also like to add that he has my father now," Raven said, a grimace on her face as she gently brushed her now bare forehead with a hand, "Mephiles, I mean."

"Quit your bellyaching, Batson" Diana sternly replied, taking charge of the situation before Clark had anything to pound his fist onto, "This war isn't over until the very last one of us is dead, and I promise you that we're not going to make recreating that outcome easy for him this time. No matter what he throws at us, we will find a way to keep fighting!"

Just as she worked towards restoring a sense of morale amongst the ranks, Cyborg was again abuzz with another signal, though after his "Now what?" He was greeted by a very welcoming voice, and let the others know "Guys, I think you all might need to hear this" Sure enough he placed the incoming call on speaker phone, and the remaining group was treated to the only voice of Batman.

"Angel Island, this is Batman, how did the Soleanna Operation go?"

"Bruce?" Diana replied in relieved bewilderment, though Nightwing was ultimately the one who actually had a deeper conversation.

Standing beside Starfire, he quickly asked "We're fine, and the mission succeeded. Though, we lost the other Barry…"

"I'm sorry to hear that, and for our loss," Bruce remarked in a genuinely solemn moment. Nightwing, who had once remarked 'there are always casualties in war', suddenly found himself eating his own words as he grieved a copy of his best friend, though fortunately for him Bruce was not the type to rub something like that in. He said "his sacrifice will not be in vain. Without him, we wouldn't have had this chance to set things right at all. Let's make sure we don't waste it."

All who were there agreed.

"Bruce, do you mind telling us where the hell you are?" Clark added in, speaking rather sternly in irritation, "You went completely AWOL after we cleared out Metropolis."

"I'm en route to Bialya with the rest of my family" Batman was swiftly to answer, "Rescue mission. And before you say anything more, it's personal."

"Define Personal" Clark leered, though Bruce was not any less blunt and cryptic with his response.

"Engaging hostiles, Batman out" and he simply shut off the transmission, leaving the rest to their devices, and many of them frustrated with him. Though those many weren't surprised at all.

"Well, that's just great" Dick commented ever sarcastically, "Family reunion and I wasn't invited."

"He's heading right into the hive of those things" Kori interjected, pointing out the severe danger of where Bruce was headed, "I know he's Batman, but should we just wait here hoping he'll come back?"

"We're not doing that" Diana immediately said in response to that idea, "Clark, you and I are going to Bialya as reinforcements. The rest of you, if we don't come back, don't wait for us." Clark nodded to Diana's plan, the two looking to Cyborg who with a nod of his own opened yet another Boom Tube for the two to slip through. As they walked through though, Dick walked up to follow them.

"I'm coming too," he said, speaking ever cockily "I'm not gonna let the rest of my fam have all the fun without me."

"Dick…" Kori tried to grab his hand, though he turned to her and said,

"You stay here, Kori. If anything happens to us, we'll need you around."

Kori nodded, as did Clark and Diana to the idea of Nightwing joining them. There wasn't much they could object to anyway. As the three of them walked through the boom tube that was soon afterward closed, the remainder of the resistance group simply had to wait for news and tend to the refugees - while also mourning whom they had lost. With confirmation that Bruce was alive, the only one of them still MIA was Shadow.

Rouge and even Omega had both by now started to grow concerned for Shadow's whereabouts, with Rouge saying to the robot "Omega, do you think Shadow is alright? We haven't seen him since he went off to engage Mephiles on his own."

"I have not detected any signs of Shadow in any of our recent locations, including this island" Omega replied honestly, "I can not say for certain what his current status is, but he has shown resilience against the changelings before - it is probable that he is still currently alive."

"I hope so, Omega…"

---

SPACE COLONY ARK

ECLIPSE CANNON CONTROL ROOM

Mephiles stood on the circular platform housing the controls to the magnificent cannon that itself stood mere single feet in front of him, the rest of its massive hull hidden within a deep black abyss extending far beneath him. In his hands, being menacingly glared at by his soulless eyes was the gem containing Trigon. His snarls and growls could faintly be heard from the confines of the ruby stone itself, though Mephiles offered his former self no response. The thoughts going on within Mephiles' head were nothing short of absolute evil.

Gathered behind Mephiles across the walkway were those on the Space Colony accompanying him. Granny Goodness, the Furies, and the entirety of his thralls. Neither Blackfire, Talia nor the Reach Emperor were in attendance, due to each being stationed elsewhere.

Kara and Dinah of course were the most prominent of them at this point, both silently standing at either side of him as though protecting him. However, there were more. Much more.

Kaldur'ahm, known as Jackson Hyde, was a male thrall. His already dark skin merely looked a dark gray after his enthrallment removed all of his colors. His eyes turned to mono-color pools of piercing red and his hair plain white, the would-be Aqualad was still dressed in the appropriate suit - though again, it appeared entirely black, white, and gray as an effect of Mephiles' control over him. He stood silently at the door to the cannon's control room, awaiting further orders. The son of Black Manta, he has been missing for some time.

Shayera Hol, also known as Hawk Girl or Hawkwoman, stood at the other end of the door. Another Thanagarian along with Hawkman, the slim and athletically built redhead now turned "grayhead" had her suit fully on as well - the wings, the avian face plate, the tights, everything. Her mace was gripped firmly in her hands as she stood guard at the door. Her expression, as with the other thralls, was completely devoid of emotion.

Garth was another Atlantean enthralled by Mephiles, and still greatly resembled his appearance in the second timeline - the one in which Thoma Wayne presided as Batman. He had a thick but short head of dark hair and was the same tall and lean build as Kaldur. He also had on thicker dark-colored armor - though the rest of his features were the same as all thralls, a complete lack of any color or pigmentation accompanied with shining red eyes absent any irises.

Cassandra Sandsmark, whose mother was present within the more recent timeline and very well may now be a resident of this one, was also among the enthralled. The second Wondergirl, her black shirt remained black though her red tights were gray and the yellow 'W' on her top was merely a brighter shade. Whip kept on her arms, and 'silver' wristbands on, the girl stood beside Garth on either side of the Furies and Granny Goodness as they kneeled before Mephiles.

There were four other figures gathered within the chamber - sisters Cheshire and Artemis rounding out the rest of the thralls. Artemis donned the uniform of the infamous Tigress while Cheshire was indeed donning her trademark smiling mask that complimented her head of thick black hair. The glowing red eyes only served to make the two assassins appear even more like menacing demons. The two sisters hadn't been noticed as missing by the League of Assassins and had instead been considered a casualty of the power struggle between Talia and Deathstroke, or perhaps had even been given to Mephiles in a secret act of sacrifice.

As for the other two, they were completely masked and unfamiliar faces. Both were male, sporting lean and athletic builds with one being taller and more muscular than the more teenaged one though beyond that their descriptions would only be that of what they were wearing. Both had dark, armored uniforms with a very ornate and imperial quality to them. The taller one was black complimented by red, while the shorter one was entirely dressed in black and violet. Their helmets were designed to invoke imagery of Solaris and so were modeled after the abstract head of eagles. Across their waists were utility belts, perhaps alluding to their identities.

The taller one bore the symbol of a blazing sun, in metallic gold, on the left side of his chest. The smaller one bore that of a full moon in metallic silver.

None of these people said anything. They wisely waited for Mephiles to initiate conversation, though he was still silently stirring, gazing upon the gemstone which he had so roughly obtained from Raven.

Until without warning, he broke his silence.

"How many casualties have the swarm caused, Goodness?"

"Approximately 2.2 billion, my lord" Granny responded with her head still kept low in a respectful and submissive bow, "And counting."

"My fury is still not quenched" he plainly remarked, certainly he would be snarling if he had a mouth. It was clear that even with such a massive death toll, he required even more to quell his bloodlust. Looking back at the red gemstone, he passed another question in Granny's way, "What is the status of my past self's conflict with the Source?"

"It is almost concluded, my lord" Granny Goodness answered, "May I ask, my lord, why such information is important?"

"As you know, at this moment my initial encroachment on this universe is occurring alongside our operations, stopped only by The Source's field preventing me from entirely dismantling the fabric of space and time. The only reason this universe hasn't fallen into total implosion is because of that barrier concealing that conflict between myself and all of those fighting me, effectively that conflict is literally within its bubble until it finishes. This will of course mean that the Source will be weakened, stripped of its incorporeal form, and forced to don a physical one. And completely unable to stop me."

"What of Iblis, my lord?"

"Iblis is, unfortunately, going to be in a vapor state for an unpredictable amount of time" Mephiles snarled, hissing at the mere memory of John Constantine - as many demonic forces often do, "Though we now have a new path to my perfected form…and quite possibly, to an even greater state of being than even that." he was, of course, referring to the gem containing Trigon, which now he held particularly closer to his mouthless face.

There was a sense of dread that came over all of those in the room with him at that moment. A bitter, ice-cold breeze sent a shiver down the spine of even the most hardened among them. They all knew exactly what he was intending, and they only hoped that they would still be useful to him when it was performed.

His wicked mind being decided, Mephiles spoke much more calmly as he let the gem slide down onto the center of his palm, cradling it as he said "Have any of you ever wanted a front-row seat to how I recruited our ground forces?"

"It would be a true honor for all of us, my lord."

Mephiles didn't say a word.

Instead, he simply crushed and shattered the gemstone as it lay in his hand.

---

31ST CENTURY CE

The future was lost.

Not a single planet nor civilization was spared.

The era of prosperity, unrivaled advancement, and heroism that once symbolized the 31st Century had come to a bitter and abrupt end.

The skyscrapers of the Metropolis were once again reduced to little more than large piles of rubble. The glittering spires of Gotham that Bruce no doubt dreamed of someday seeing were now towers of burning fire, the smoke churning into the sky and working to turn it from one of bright blue into a thick black shroud across the land. Trees were devoid of both leaves and life, and the grass beneath them dried of all color as it too was largely deceased. The lush parks and fields of this well-cultivated future were now forever a thing of the past, going out along with everyone's hope. Other cities had a debatable fate. Were those wiped entirely from existence unfortunate for the loss of all that they had? Or were they fortunate for their quick and relatively less painful demise? Meanwhile, not a single sign of the Legion of Superheroes, defenders of the planet and the time stream was to be found across not only Earth but every other planet within the known galaxy. They had been among the first to perish, and for the most part not a single one of their numerous members had been spared.

Some of their fates are better left unspoken.

Their headquarters in what was once Smallville had been struck first, and now rested only as a massive crater of ash and soot - a monument not to hope nor heroism, but to death and destruction. A silent reminder to all that remained of the futility of resistance against the might of Solaris.

Indeed this was all the action of Solaris himself, even if still only at a fraction of the power his perfected form has. Conjoined now with a full Trigon, Mephiles turned into a truly unholy beast and removed the threat of the Legion before it could even become one to him. When he manifested right on top of their headquarters without a single warning, accompanied by the Furies, his thralls, and also his two more mysterious servants the legion didn't stand a chance.

Most of them died within the initial hour of the assault. The rest perished over the ensuing year. So great was Solaris' destruction of all civilization that no inhabited planet had any sunlight. So thick were the skies of blackened smog clouds that the rays of the stars could not reach the ground anymore, with the actual night hours rendering anyone suffering through this hellish reality all but blind.

Far removed from the imagery of a majestic eagle, the "Imperfect" Solaris appeared to the 31st Century in his truest form - as a truly demonic entity hellbent on the eradication of life. Such was the result of Trigon's quite clearly willing merger with Mephiles. Though not truly complete, this initial stage of Solaris still completely overwhelmed the entire Legion of Superheroes effortlessly and completely dismantled their entire civilization in less than a year. He also had the appearance to match, no longer the powerful though easy to throw around Mephiles, he was now the massive and mighty Solaris who dwarfed what little remained of human cities at 120 meters in height, making even his original form of Trigon seem small in comparison. His footsteps alone were like earth-shaking roars of thunder to all those within earshot, and his bellowing roars echoed for miles as a symphony of foreboding dread and incoming death. His gargantuan bipedal form now had fully formed feet and sported an elongated whip of a tail with a forked pincer at the end. The crystalline growths that covered Mephiles' body now took the form of more hardened, dark crimson bone-like armor that covered 'Imperfect' Solaris even more extensively, giving him an almost skeletal appearance when juxtaposed with his otherwise jet-black body.

The head also only barely resembled Mephiles, aside from some bony protrusions that just vaguely resembled his ears though served no real purpose. There were no quills, the head was 'folded in' as one might say. Denoting being a transformation of Trigon, the creature possessed not four but now six eyes that had sclera of glowing red, though the complete absence of any irises. The top of the head was also host to many black demonic horns, two long ones in the middle from the top, and two thicker curved ones off the side.

Perched on its shoulders were two curious protrusions. They resembled halved versions of its head, with nothing but blackness on the inner portions while matching with the rest of its armored form on the external parts. Each featured a singular eye, on the right it was one of a red sclera with no irises, and on the left was a red sclera with one black iris.

These eyes would in random intervals be used to fire out Solaris' omega beams to dispatch singular targets while the main eyes were used to incinerate entire city blocks with fleeing pedestrians like a brutal carpet bombing using Trigon-style 'traditional' eye beams. Despite the Legion's best efforts, no strategy that worked on Darkseid or Trigon was effective against their unholy union, which only hastened the Legion's fall. Many were simply incinerated by the beams.

Others were grabbed by the gravity of lightning the beast could fire from his mouth as opposed to his claws and either pulled in to be devoured or simply slammed and jolted about until death. Larger Legion members who could stand eye level with Solaris found themselves in brutal fistfights with the beast, and judging by how their corpses were to be found disemboweled as well as dismembered while Solaris prowled the universe for any remaining resistance the victor of these matches was quite obvious.

As for the role of those he had brought with him, they were tasked with rounding up and harvesting any Solaris deemed worthy of sparing, bringing them into the realm of the past to train and modify them into being Solaris' demonic version of the legion, forging the ground forces of his heathen army during his time as Mephiles; thus many of these individuals would one day return to Metropolis, albeit in the past, and not as it's protectors.

Changelings and even Reach ships also patrolled the skies, serving as helpers in the harvesting as well as the clean-up crew for any stragglers too insignificant for their god to go out of his way to obliterate.

On the subject of survivors, while pedestrian resistance stood no chance against Solaris' systematic destruction of any and every bit of future civilization he could reach, two legionnaires had managed to survive the beasts' initial assault. Yes, only two.

Brainiac-5 and Phantom Girl.

Within the burning, ash-covered ruins of what was once the Gotham City of Batman's dreams they lay in what 1,000 years ago had been the Wayne Manor. It was now a completely abandoned and disheveled mess, a shadow of its former self. Its entire west wing was collapsed and filled only with rough, jagged debris and unstable ledges. The once pristine gardens long ago maintained by Alfred were now filled only with dried and dead grass and equally dead shrubbery completely lacking any leaves. The entire bottom floors were absent, having caved in and collapsed right on top of the bat cave, which as a result was completely both unusable and impossible to even enter. The two survivors were somewhere in the east wing of the ancient manor, in one of the dust-covered and now rotting upper-floor bedrooms of the increasingly damaged and decrepit building.

Huddled together underneath one of the old beds, they had to stay as still and silent as they possibly could avoid the patrolling of changelings that roamed what remained of the halls, flying, scurrying, and hissing about as they served a purpose that the last of the legion could not comprehend. Any sudden or poorly planned decisions and the memory and legacy of the Legion truly would be eradicated from the world.

Still traumatized were these two at witnessing the fall of the legion. The death and destruction of all they knew and loved. The big beast himself attacked with no mercy, and as more and more of his followers poured into their world there was increasingly little they could do to stand against him. They had to watch as every last hero fell to Solaris' might, the fabled destroyer showing them no quarter. His nightmarish beasts and devoted cult mopped up any who tried to avoid his rule. The only thing these two had now was each other, but they knew very well their position was unsustainable.

Eventually, they would be found, and so would end the Legion of Superheroes.

Unless…

"It's our only option…"Brainiac-5 whispered, trying desperately to not alert the nearby changelings. Without a surviving telepath, it was now a struggle to remain unheard as they stalked what remained of the manor. He was nervous about what he was talking about, still shaken and traumatized by the death of his comrades. He practically embraced Phantom Girl in a protective manner as they lay under the bed, with her returning the favor.

"That thing followed us to every single time period we tried to visit in our attempts to find and prevent its creation" Phantom Girl replied, her shoulder length black hair a disheveled mess and her light blue skin littered with dust and scratches. Her black eyes curved in anxious sorrrow, with her voice just the same "What if it just follows us there as well….what if…."

"It's the only logical option…" Brainiac-5 uttered, his head motioning down at the floor as he again thought about all that they have lost up to this bitter point. "That is a risk we will have to take…but hiding and biding our time there is much more efficient than doing so here."

They were soon flinching, pulling each other closer as a loud crumbling crash was heard within the room they were staying in. A portion of the floor above them had just collapsed into the hallway outside, alerting a small group of changelings to the vicinity to investigate the noise.

Just seeing those things brought back bitter memories of them dragging away helpless civilians, devouring parents in front of their children and vice versa, and the abject horrors that were conducted within their foul hellish hives that now dotted every planet their woeful presence was spread to. Their own comrades, their friends, gutted and used as hosts for their parasitic offspring in grotesque displays of disrespect and barbarity. It was enough to make both of the last legionnaires grimace in complete hatred of the demonic insects, wanting nothing more than the beings to be eradicated as they had been.

What was worse, their access to legionnaires such as the now-fallen Saturn Girl and her race served to only make the race that prowled the 31st Century only more terrifying. Phantom Girl and Brainiac-5 had to relocate many times due to being spotted simply by thinking, unaware that a changeling well-fed on Titanian was amongst them. As such, there was great apprehension as they watched the beasts scurrying about and communicating through their usual hisses and clicks outside.

Not a word was spoken.

Just silent, wide-eyed staring.

It didn't take long for sweat to form across their bodies as they lay there in both terror and contempt, waiting for the beasts to leave. They couldn't tell how many there were, but far as they were concerned one changeling was already too many.

As one seemed to suddenly fall quiet and stare in the direction of the door to the room they were staying in, their hearts sank.

Only then was the silence broken, as frantic whispers were mustered.

"It's one of those" Phantom Girl whispered in her panic, "I just know it…it's going to detect us…we have to…we have to…"

"We have to go there, now!"

"We…is it right to leave the world?"

"We have no choice….no matter how many Reach vessels we disable, we're simply outnumbered by these organic beasts. To stop this beast…we need to find some way to regroup…some way…to have hope."

Looking at Brainiac-5, Phantom Girl shed a tear from her left eye. Without being told, he knew what was going through her head at this dark hour.

"I miss them too…all of them…."

To that, Phantom Girl nodded. This sentimental moment was interrupted soon, however, when a ruckus was heard from just beneath them. Phantom Girl's suspicion had proven correct, one of the beasts was a telepathic scout who had alerted all of the others to their presence and now they were swiftly closing in. One of them had pounced directly onto the bed as the rest were taking a position and slowly inching towards it, just about ready to pounce and feast upon the two defenseless heroes.

Realizing their end was impending, Brainiac-5 broke his whispering and exclaimed loudly "Phantom Girl, now! Do it now!"

She didn't respond, she just closed her eyes and did what she did best. Holding onto Querl as tightly as she could she phased them both out of this reality with all of her remaining strength and energy just as the changelings flipped over what remained of the bed and pounced upon their location. Had it not been for her abilities, they both would have perished at that moment.

The Phantom Zone was no pleasant place to be, but it was better than hiding under a rotting bed.

While Querl Dox is known to eventually become a companion to Bart, Silver, and Blaze it is unknown where Phantom Girl currently resides. No doubt should she still be active she will resurface eventually - though where or when is impossible to determine.

All that is certain is that they are the last stand for the Legion of Superheroes. The final bearers of a great legacy.

---

WILSON FAMILY HOMESTEAD

JERICHO'S MIND

ACCORDING TO MEPHILES' MAGIC

My name is Jericho. Birth name Joseph Willaim Wilson. I was born to rancher Slade Wilson and his wife Adeline. I have two siblings, a brother named Grant and a sister named Rose. I was born with the inability to hear and thus to speak. Which, for the son of a rancher living amongst a plethora of chickens, ducks, pheasants, cows, sheep, horses, geese, turkeys, pigs, and goats wasn't a good condition to be born in. But my dad, ever a hard-working and diligent man, didn't give up on me for a second. It was he who taught me how to communicate through sign language. Sometimes my mom would even watch us with a smile on her face as he stayed up with me every single night to retell the same fairy tale story through hand gestures again and again until I'd fall asleep.

That dragon never did give up.

He never did tell me how he lost that one eye of his, though. I always thought he had been some super cool government spy or a pirate, personally.

He worked tirelessly to make sure I was just as capable as my siblings and helped contribute to the ranch. I helped milk the cows and the goats, collect the eggs, tend to the crops, and every few months I would help set up the family summer barbeque out on the porch where we'd all eat our homegrown food and have a great time just laughing, playing and chatting like any ordinary American family would. I enjoyed every single game of catch, every single attempt to get me to ride a bike, and every time he taught me how to deal with the many bullies I faced at and outside of school. Every time I needed him, he was there for me. He didn't miss anything involving me, and he didn't let me take shit from anyone. I wish every single day and night that I could go back to these simpler days but unfortunately, that is outside the realm of my powers.

It was a warm spring day, and I was just like 16 years old. Still close to being an adult, but basically a miniature adult. I was just returning from harvesting some of our grain when I saw my father fall to the ground on the back porch of the house. Dropping my baskets I ran to him, only for a green-skinned beast to tackle me to the ground. Some horrible, hideous demon monster that snarled in my face and kept me pinned. The feathers from our birds flew from his mouth, each of them having just been slaughtered by this abomination. As had our dog.

Paralyzed with fear, I just looked up at this thing in abject shock and disbelief while my father did his best to stand up and fight. He was up against some buff guy with black hair, his eyes covered by a mask, and dressed only in black and white - some bird symbol on his chest. He used two batons to fight my dad, and while my dad was pretty good at fighting that guy one-on-one, he was outnumbered. Some crazy tall chick with orange skin and red hair appeared from behind and backhand slapped him in the back of the head, knocking him back down to the ground before she and that other guy started stomping and kicking on my dad while he lay there defenseless on the ground.

I can still remember when some woman in a hooded robe and some literal half-robot guy came out brandishing the severed heads of the family dogs, laying their bodies right at my eyeliner while looking down at me with grins and laughter I couldn't hear. I didn't see my siblings during any of this, and after that, I feared the worst.

I can still see the look of terror locked in my dogs' dead eyes.

Eventually, the green demon shifted into that of a giant gorilla, and the cyborg dude lifted, standing me on the ground with my hands and arms pinned roughly behind my back. The hooded chick with that black robe of hers stood beside us and forced my eyes open with her hands. They were making me watch every second of their friends beating up on my dad, and I could tell from reading their lips that they were hounding their friends to be even more brutal.

I watched powerlessly and in horror as my dad was beaten with that man's two batons, and as that redheaded bitch ignited her hands in some green energy and used it to singe half of my dad's face. She even tore open his flannel shirt just to leave 3rd degree burns all across his chest. My dad tried to punch and kick as best he could, but soon enough they broke those limbs of his by beating and stomping on them, hitting them with those batons hard enough to cause severe irreparable fractures.

Then the Gorilla stepped up, the other two backing away. By that point my dad was defenseless, and I was sobbing. Crying my eyes out. Silently begging them to just have a bit of mercy upon my family, not knowing why they had come just to do this to us. Unfortunately, they did not care. They did not listen. The Gorilla man took both of his hands and started pressing them against either side of my dad's head. I was forced to watch as his thumbs jabbed into and punctured my dad's eyes, making them erupt into streams of dark red blood my dad let out a heavy scream I couldn't hear before his head and entire skull exploded like a messy, and blood filled pumpkin when the green gorilla brought his hands together.

Their sadism accomplished, the cyborg threw me to the ground beside my father's now headless corpse as I lay there frozen in shock and terror, shaking with fear as my best friend and sole protector now lay dead before my eyes. They just laughed and laughed as they left, seemingly having no reason for what they did nor half-robot for the boy whose life they had just ruined. The only parting gift they gave was that they had set fire to both the house and the barn, leaving me not even with a home to go back to. All I could do was stare wide-eyed and mouth agape at my father's body, tears streaming down my face at what I had just witnessed.

Eventually, I lay right on top of him, sobbing as I buried my face into my arms on his dead lap. I couldn't bring myself to do anything else.

It was at the peak of my grief that I felt his hand finally touch my shoulder.

Initially expecting the gang's return, I jumped and fell to the ground in shock. Shaking with anxiety and apprehension, I was met with a peculiar sight. It was….a thing. An alien thing, with a huge head. No mouth. A muzzle of pale white skin, and fur of dark gray with gray-blue stripes. Eyes green with pupils like snakes. These thick curvy quills come out the side of his head, and a big gloved hand reaches out towards me as I stare up at this thing in bewilderment.

The backdrop of the sun's light illuminating him from behind, we - did not exchange any words, but somehow I could tell just by looking into his eyes that he was there not to hurt me, but to comfort me.

To train me for my eventual revenge against those horrid people who had taken everything away from me.

Under the tutelage of Mephiles, I would unlock my meta powers and hone them well, becoming the one and only Jericho; my purpose to chase down and get revenge upon the Teen Titans for the murder of my father and destruction of my home. Little did I know that in the end, they would win, and I would be left barely conscious as some black hedgehog and a red robot fire some fuck you death ray at me, and I couldn't do jack shit to stop it.

Fuck my life.

---

Author's Note: I was going to include the backstories for all of Mephiles' thralls and servants being captured but not only do I think it would just be repetitive, but I like to keep some mystery to how he captured them as well. Also, I got a kick out of writing Jericho's falsified memories. Yes, in the original plan of this story, he was going to be Jason, but after hearing that word from the Producers I had to change it. I'm trying to make the most out of my forced change of course.

Author's Note 2: I apologize for this chapter taking so long to write. I have been burnt out and heavily depressed these past few months. I've been hoping to work on creating my original series….but I don't know if I am capable of doing so, or of finding help in doing so. It's been a source of major stress. On top of that, the depression I feel towards Reign of the Supermen's Superboy being banned from ever appearing in anything ever again and the resulting disdain and contempt I feel for the Tomorrowverse because of that has also taken a toll on me. The Tomorrowverse's continued existence is a source of my demotivation. No, I haven't seen any of those films, and frankly, I don't want to. How I wish Reign Kon had been put in YJ: Phantoms somehow. But alas, forever deprived. Even in fan art. Anyway, I pushed through this for you guys who are still interested in the story I'm trying to tell. I will try to see this fic through to the end.

Author's Note 4:Character design clarification. Brainiac-5 is his Season 2 appearance from the Legion cartoon show except combined with YJ S3/S4 Gar. Phantom Girl is just a straight YJ S4 import. "Imperfect" Solaris is, yes, modeled after combining Monster X and Destoroyah. Enjoy your nightmare fuel imagining the details I left blank. Also I realize in the comics Trigon has probably been depicted as even bigger but I was comparing the height to the animated movie instance of Trigon.