Hal Jordan flew through the space between Earth and the nearest inhabited world within his sector. There had been a disturbance on the planet, so Hal had had to leave Earth, despite what was currently going on there. However, he had been able to check with the natives what they knew of 'Apokolips.' Their reactions had not been promising.
He'd been told of a large, volcanic world, ruled over by a being who was described as 'the new god of darkness,' or 'Darkseid,' who would sadistically torture his enemies, making them beg him to kill them before he'd even consider doing so. The being was said to be the strongest in the universe, with near limitless power at his disposal, and an army numbering in the millions.
It had made Hal wonder if even Superman would stand a chance against Darkseid. After all, in Hal's experience as Green Lantern over the last three years, the people of the world he had just visited had never exaggerated anything to him. There was absolutely no reason they would start now.
As he continued thinking of the matter while flying through space, he felt a blast of concussive force hit him, knocking him spinning off course. As he re-composed himself, stopping the spin he'd been sent into, he faced the origin of the blast.
It was a large, extremely muscular being, around seven and a half feet tall, with his left hand outstretched and glowing. He had skin that was grey and cracked, with glowing red eyes. On his body, was a black bodysuit, covering the entirety of his legs and torso, leaving his arms exposed, with matching black boots and fingerless gloves, glowing red omega symbols on the backs of the gloves. Finally, on his head, was what looked like a large, open, stone helmet, and a locked shackle around his neck.
"You are the Green Lantern for this sector." The figure spoke, his voice extremely deep "I expected a superior being than a Human."
"Sorry to disappoint." Hal replied, raising his right hand, his ring glowing with energy, and pointing it at the figure "Darkseid, I presume?"
"Indeed, Human." Darkseid replied, flying rapidly to Hal's position and grabbing him by the throat, squeezing tightly "You will tell me of your world, now. Is it true?"
"Is what true?" Hal replied, feeling Darkseid constricting the airflow that Hal's ring was providing him with "You'll really have to be more specific."
"The Kryptonian." Darkseid said "Is he on your world?"
"Kryptonian?" Hal said, smirking "Never heard of him."
"You're useless to me." Darkseid said "However, I believe I'll keep you. I require a means to entertain myself over the remaining day required to reach your world. And destroy it."
That was the last thing Hal heard before Darkseid punched him in the face, hard, knocking him out with the single blow.
...
Bruce sat in his penthouse, working on some design drawings. Sure, they weren't as good as what an actual designer would come up with, but Bruce's mind was inventive, and he needed to kill time. He'd had five minutes until Ra's Al Ghul was meant to be arriving for his meeting with Bruce when he'd started the designs.
That had been an hour ago.
Bruce finally stopped, looking at his work. The design was feasible, even if it would cost him a few hundred million. Then there'd be the cost of putting it in orbit...
As Bruce pondered on that, he heard the faint sound of a window being opened and closed elsewhere in the penthouse. He opened his desk drawer, pulling a batarang out and flicking it open before standing up and moving in the direction the sound had came from, ascending the stairs.
As he reached the top, there was another sound, the sound of boots on the wooden flooring in the bedroom, followed by what sounded like a leather jacket being tossed on the floor. As he slowly walked towards the bedroom, he heard what sounded like more clothes being tossed onto the flooring.
Finally, he reached the door, opening it and stepping inside, the batarang ready to throw. After taking a second to look at the person lying under the silk sheets in the bed, he flipped the batarang closed, deciding the woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties with a tanned complexion, dark eyes and long, dark brown hair, who was apparently laying naked in his bed, couldn't be any real threat to him.
"Wise choice, beloved." She said, cocking an eyebrow "I trust you remember what happened the last time we were in this position?"
"How could I forget, Talia." Bruce said, trying to hide the smirk he could feel forming, before saying in an authoritative tone "Where's Ra's?"
"My father couldn't make it." She said, sitting round and wrapping the sheet round her as she walked over to him "So he sent me. Personally, I'm very grateful that he did that."
As Talia reached him, Bruce felt her arms slowly beginning to curl themselves round his neck. After a half seconds pause, his own arms snapped up, his hands grabbing her wrists, stopping her from trying to get them any further around him before bringing them back into a position in front of him. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he just felt more comfortable having her hands where she could see them.
"So, what, you're supposed to seduce me?" He asked "Tell Ra's he needs to do better than that, I don't fall for the same trick twice."
Bruce didn't let her respond, instead moving over to Talia's crumpled outfit on the floor, picking them up and tossing them to her before turning and facing away from her.
"Oh please, beloved, we both know it's nothing you haven't seen before." Talia said, her smirk evident in her tone.
"You've got 30 seconds, then I expect you to be gone." Bruce said "And tell Ra's, unless he comes himself, every other one of his lackeys he sends will be coming back to him with half the bones in their bodies pulverised."
"Very well, beloved." Talia said "I can't promise your request won't fall on deaf ears."
"You've got my number if it does." Bruce replied "And tell Ra's that if it does, I'll be coming to him, and he'll be going along with my request, or I'll be picking his league of assassins, piece by piece."
Bruce didn't hear any response, instead hearing the sound of the window opening quietly and someone slipping out. He turned around, seeing a note left on the table. He picked it up, skim reading it before folding it neatly and tucking it in his shirt breast pocket. After a moment, he closed the window, locking it before returning to the desk with the design drawings.
...
Okay, so here we go, we have Darkseid's introduction. Talia's appearance is more of a lead in for her and Ra's' presence in volume two of my Batman fic, though Ra's and his league of assassins do play a role in this fic. Yes, the content of the note will eventually be addressed, but not until volume two of "The Bat." Next chapter, we're going to be seeing a few more of Darkseid's minions that are already on Earth. Also, I'd like to say now, I guarantee not all of the Justice League will survive this fic, and I have decided who does already. R&R, please, no flames. B.