Disclaimer: I do not own either Young Justice or its related characters. Such are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Signals

Chapter Six: April Fools

Hall of Justice

April 1 – 9:45 am

Thick gray clouds hung lazily in the air over the Hall of Justice, the media-front for the Justice League of America. They dimmed the morning sun and cast a dull gloom over everything. But in spite of the bleak weather, tourists still came to see the impressive building, to take pictures with the massive statues of the founding seven, or to peek through the skylight into the public viewing lounge. There was not usually much to see in the public lounge as many of the League tended to avoid that part of the Hall, except to simply pass through on their way to the zetta-beam that would take them to Watchtower.

Today, however, when our curious tourists peer through the skylight, they see not an empty room, but rather a group of impatient and irritable looking teenagers all in garish costumes. Some of them are recognized as the sidekicks of the Flash, Aquaman and the Batman. Others are not so familiar, the blond girl in green with the quiver of arrows leaning against her chair must be Green Arrow's new sidekick since Speedy had turned eighteen and gone solo, but they had heard nothing about her on the news. The other girl was green like the Martian Manhunter and she wore his red X over her chest, but her shirt was white not black and she sported a thick mane of dark red hair on her head. They didn't know martians had hair.

Unfortunately for our tourists they can only see these young heroes. They cannot hear their conversations, nor do they know why they have been gathered here at the Hall. Many assume that it is a second attempt at inducting them (or a first attempt in the case of the girls) into the League, a less televised attempt than the first, assuming that if one of them throws another hissy-fit as Speedy had, the League would want to keep it quiet.

This was not the case.

Our wide-eyed tourist could not possibly know that back in January of this year one of the JLA's computers had been hacked by one whom they had thought was their own, nor that said person had passed on access codes that would allow an illusive enemy into their bases, or that the mole had been a dear friend to the five young heroes they now peeked in on and that they grieved his loss.

No. All they saw were five kids in garish costumes.

In actuality, the Team had been summoned to the Hall to be re-scanned into the computer's mass-recognition program and be assigned a new Justice League call sign. Since Batman had learned that Conner had passed on JLA access codes to the enemy everyone in the League had been re-scanned and assigned a new call sign. They had gone in order of priority with the founding seven being the first and then the rest of the grown-ups, not in order of when they joined, but rather in order of how vital to the League their skills were. (A number of egos had been bruised by this, but we're not gonna name names.) Now it was the kids' turn.

Robin was called first. No one made any comment about Kaldur being Team leader and therefore should have been a higher priority than Batman's little bird. They weren't really in the mood to squabble over egos like the adults pretended not to do. And besides, after the computer was done with Rob, Aqualad was the very next to be called anyway.

Kid Flash went next, then Miss Martian, and finally Artemis was last.

When it was all done they returned to their moping.

"It's been two weeks." Arty said. She pulled one knee up to her chest, draping her arms around it. Two weeks since Conner had disappeared.

"Has Bats said anything?" Wally asked.

All eyes turned to Robin.

"No. Its like Supey just disappeared into thin air." The Boy Wonder did not mention that the Batman had spent more of the past two weeks trying to console Uncle Supes than trying to unravel the puzzle of the mysterious 'Granny' and what she could want Conner for at this point. She couldn't use him as a spy, that was for sure. They hadn't gotten much from those two creatures –Parademons- Clark had captured. Just the word 'darksied', whatever that was.

…

Fortress of Solitude

April 1 – 10:00 am

Bruce reclined in a second chair that Clark had brought into his control room for the Dark Knight. He leaned back and propped his feet up on the console, careful not to touch any of the crystal-like buttons and switches there, lest he accidentally hit some sort of self-destruct and kill them both (well, kill himself for sure, there was some question as to Clark). He dug a spoon into a jar of peanut butter and suppressed the urge to moan when he placed the chunky nutty-cream in his mouth. Alfred never let him eat peanut butter strait out of the jar. He said it wasn't appropriate for a gentleman. The congenial old butler didn't seem to understand that it tasted better out of the jar.

Clark sat beside him, hands blurring over the crystal consol of his equipment, attempting to analyze the data from all the times Watchtower had detected Boom Tubes going as far back as the Team's mission to Bialya back in September. Bruce didn't know what he expected to find. The data had already been gone over by both Watchtower's main computer as well as the Dark Knight in his own cave. But then again, those were both looking at the data from an Earthling's perspective. Maybe Clark's kryptonian tech could offer a different view? The World's Greatest Detective gave a mental shrug. It gave the Superman something to do, something to take his mind at least somewhat off his son's abduction.

Wolf, the cobra-venom enhanced predator that Conner had adopted laid behind Clark's chair. The animal had seemed to slip into a kind of doggie-depression since the Superboy had disappeared. The wolf slept most of the day, rarely left Superman's side and when he could not be in the same room as the man (such as when Clark used the bathroom) he would sit outside the door and whine. Bruce was pretty good at psychology and if the wolf had been a human he would have diagnosed it with an abandonment complex on top of the depression.

The control room door slid open and Krypto entered carrying a very chewed-up and torn looking knotted rag that appeared to be made from the same material as Clark's Superman uniform. The Superdog offered the toy to Wolf whom lifted his head, sniffed, sighed, then lowered his head back down. Krypto pawed at him and wagged his tail. Wolf rolled onto his side, effectively turning his back to the alien dog. The Superdog made a sound that wasn't quite a growl before picking his toy back up and holding it out for Clark, once again giving his tail a hopeful little wag.

"Not now, boy." The Superman didn't even glance at his dog as he said this.

Disappointed Krypto glanced at Bruce, paused, then trotted out of the control room without even bothering to coax the Dark Knight into playing. He gave a muffled "Arf." As if to say, 'You people suck!'

…

Watchtower

April 1 – (irrelevant)

Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, reclined at the bridge's main consol, his hands behind his head, his feet thrown lazily over the keyboard. He whistled a tuneless song as the Earth drifted lazily by the expansive cathedral windows to his right and the infinite blackness of space loomed to his left. It was one of those quiet Watch shifts where nothing of great interest ever seemed to happen. The most excitement he'd seen all day was when an earthquake had shook the Philippines and he'd had to dispatch Captain Atom, one of the Lanterns (Hal Jordan) and Aquaman to help the locals.

Yes, that had been the highpoint of his day (night?, it was hard to tell in space).

Wonder Woman came up beside him, a cup of coffee in one hand and one of the Percy Jackson books in the other. "Put your feet down." She said. "You know you're not supposed to do that."

Yeah, that was why everyone did it, even Superman, the obnoxiously strait-laced and rule-biting Boy Scout. Still, why argue with one hundred and thirty pounds of Amazon muscle. Oliver obediently lowered his green-booted feet from the consol. "Its just so boring up here."

"Well, then you're in luck." The Amazon princess set down her coffee and book. "I'm reliving you from manning the consol. Go find something not-boring to do."

Ollie was up and out of the chair before she'd even finished speaking. He made a B-line for the corridor that lead to the living quarters and his X-box. Fable 3, here he comes! …Or maybe he should call Dinah and see if she wanted to go out (or stay in) after his Watch duty was over? Though he would never admit it out loud, their relationship had improved a great deal after Roy had moved out. It was amazing how much easier it was to cultivate a romantic connection without a moody and abrasive teenager underfoot.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the Tower's computer announcing someone coming through the zetta-teleporter. Normally, the Green Arrow would think that was slightly odd, as he still had another day on his shift and Diana two days on hers, so it couldn't be their replacements beaming in. But since the disappearance of Superboy, Superman had started to make a habit of beaming up to the Tower unannounced to raid the computers' backlogs for data or discuss something with the Batman when he was aboard. It was actually a little annoying. The Green Arrow shrugged, not his problem, Diana was the one on main console duty now. Let her deal with him.

Oliver failed to register that the computer didn't actually announce who had beamed aboard the Watchtower.

He was almost to his room when the unmistakable sounds of an Amazonian battle cry reached his ears. Arrow turned back just in time to see Wonder Woman be thrown across his field of vision and he heard the distinct CR-THUNK of her bikini-clad body impacting a wall. Within a moment Oliver had dashed into his quarters, grabbed his quiver and bow and then was sprinting back to the bridge to see what the hell was going on!

He froze when he saw them.

At least a dozen (and counting as more began to materialize) of the same two creatures Bats and GL had brought back from the Arctic the day Superboy had been taken. Green skinned (or were those suits?) with gold-colored armor plating, large bug-like eyes and wide slobbering mouths with rows upon rows of sharp razor teeth like a shark's. Parademons!

Oliver swallowed a lump in his throat. He would never complain about Watch duty being boring again.

…

Mt. Justice

April – 11:11 am

The loud pop-pop-pop of AK-47s and the rat-ta-ta-ta-tat of semi-automatics filled the Cave's common area as Artemis and Robin played a bit of co-op on the latest Call of Duty game. The Boy Wonder rarely ever got to play shooter-games, the Batman hated guns and that contempt extended to computer generated guns too. It was the sound that bothered him.

…And it was the sound right now that was bothering M'gann (though, for much less post-traumatic reasons). It grated on her nerves as she kneaded chocolate chips into cookie dough, in much the same way nails on a chalk-board grated on the hearing of a normal human. She was about to ask them to turn the volume down when the Cave's computer announced someone arriving via the zetta-tubes.

"Who's that?" Wally used the momentary distraction to steal some cookie dough from the bowl.

"I find it odd the computer did not tell us who's arrived." Kaldur entered the kitchen and slapped M'gann's cookie dough out of the speedster's hand.

"New system's probably just buggy." The Kid Flash gave the atlantian a dirty look at having his attempts to steal food thwarted.

"It might be Batman with a mission." M'gann suggested, moving the bowl of cookie dough out of Wally's reach. She covered it with tin-foil and placed it in the refrigerator. If the Dark Knight had a mission for them then she wasn't going to get around to baking any time soon. She turned the oven she'd been pre-heating off and glanced towards the couch where Robin turned off the game so as not to offend his mentor with the sound of gun-fire.

The Team made their way to the zetta-hangar. But it wasn't Batman who was waiting for them.

Five pairs of eyes went wide, gaping at the veritable army of alien creatures that was still zetta'ing into the base. The same alien monsters that had been there when the 'Granny' had taken Conner. What had Uncle Supes called them? 'Herademons'? 'Parademons?' something like that…

"Scatter!" Robin shouted. Leaping into the air, the Boy Wonder pulled three miniaturized smoke-bombs from his belt to cover his and his Team's escape. A second letter, he'd pulled his grappling gun from a different pocket and was swinging over the thong of monster (which he then, unfortunately, learned could also fly) towards the nearest computer access terminal.

"Not this again…" Artemis' groan sounded vexed, but beneath it was a deeper level of terror at having the Cave be attacked by hostile enemies a second time. They all had nearly died when the Reds had infiltrated the base, herself included, and the fem fatal archer was none to keen on experiencing a repeat but with different bad-guys.

Her bow was in her hands the moment Robin's smoke-bombs hit the floor, one of her emerald fletched projectiles cutting through the haze that now obscured them to hit one of the monsters square in the eye. It penetrated his socket, but didn't seem to do much more than that. It certainly didn't deter the creature from rushing the Team, or even slowing it down for that matter.

The Parademons swarmed.

"Robin, shut down the zetta-tubes!" Kaldur shouted over the fray (as if it needed saying). His water-scimitars in hand, the Aqualad began cutting a path for himself to get to the terminal the Wonder Boy now crouched over, his wrist computer in hand, the Parademons bearing downwards.

Kid Flash was already there. Using the momentum from his super-speed sprint to give force to the hard shove he gave the creature closest to the little bird. The monster stumbled sideways into one of its brethren and the Kid Flash took a step back massaging his shoulder.

"It's like hitting a brick wall." He commented.

"Stay focused!"

Kaldur cut-down a Parademon as it loomed behind the young speedster, ready to pounce.

Another five of the creatures went sailing through the air in all directions, propelled by M'gann's telekinesis. They impacted the Cave walls with hard CRACKing sounds that on any normal organism on Earth would have been indicative of a broken spine. But when the monsters slid to the floor they climbed to their feet as if it were nothing. M'gann glared down at them from where she hovered over the hanger, her eyes aglow with her psychic power.

"Tubes shut-down!" Robin announced and rejoined the fray with a barrage of robinrangs that exploded upon being lodged into the Parademons closest to him.

"Great." Artemis had made her way to the spot directly beneath M'gann, which was (relatively) clear of the monsters. She continued to pelt the creatures with arrows, aiming for the eyes and foreheads as she asked, "But what are we gonna do about the ones that are already here!"

They regrouped around the archer. The earth-bound heroes forming a circle, covering each other's backs' while M'gann hovered above, covering them from the air. They reassessed their situation. It did not look to be a good one.

"Escape?" Kid Flash suggested.

"Agreed." Kaldur nodded.

…

Fortress of Solitude

April 1 – 11:11 am

Bruce paused in his consumption of Clark's peanut butter at the sound of a buzzer. It was the kind of obnoxious noise made by intercoms on gated apartment buildings when tenants buzzed their friends in. In fact, it sounded almost exactly like the gate-buzzer on Clark's building in Metropolis.

"What is that?" Asked the Dark Knight.

"It's the guest entrance." Clark supplied, perfectly content to ignore the sound. "I installed it back when the kids started inviting themselves over. Its probably just M'gann coming by to ask about Kon-El again."

"She's been coming here a lot since the boy was taken." It wasn't a question. The martian girl had visited the Fortress five times within the past two weeks. From far down the corridor outside the control room, Bruce's human hearing could just barely make out the sound of Krypto rapid barking. "At least the dog's got someone to play with now."

"That's not his playful-bark…" Clark pushed his chair back from the consol and peered through the door, down the corridor. "And those aren't M'gann!"

In less time than it took to blink a human eye, the Superman's chair was empty, Clark having bolted from the room before the Batman could ask, "What?"

Bruce pulled his cowl back over his head; ready to follow his friend to confront whatever intruder was encroaching on his Fortress when the kryptonian console gave an obnoxious sort of 'zeet zeet zeet' sound indicating an incoming call. The World's Greatest Detective studied the crystal buttons for a moment before pressing one with the word 'ewor' or 'talk' inscribed upon it.

Wonder Woman's face appeared on the main screen. "…rtress, Watchtower to Fortress, Clark, come in!"

"Diana!" Bruce exclaimed.

The Amazon princess looked stricken, her hair a tossed mess, a dark bruise spreading over one cheek, her tiara missing from her high forehead and a small trickle of blood falling over her brow just under her hair-line.

"Bruce!" She called back. "Where's Clark? We could use some super-powered muscle up here!"

"What's going on!"

"It's the-" She was cut off as something out of focus barreled into her in a blur of green and gold. In the moment that her form was absent from view, the Dark Knight was gifted with a wide-shot of the Watchtower's main bridge where Green Arrow was retreating for cover, his quiver empty of arrows.

"Its no good!" The hooded archer shouted to the Amazon princess. "We gotta get outta here! I'm not as durable as you are!"

The Wonder Woman had apparently overpowered the creature that had pounced on her because it was thrown down in front of the camera's view and Bruce could clearly identify it as a Parademon.

"Ollie! Diana! What happened?" He demanded.

Whether they answered him or not didn't matter because Bruce soon realized that he and Clark had problems of their own.

…

Mt. Justice

April 1 – 11:20 am

The zetta-tubes had been shut down to keep any more Parademons from coming in, but that also meant that the Team could not teleport out either. Luckily, that was not the only way out of the Cave.

"I can't believe we're doing this… again!" Artemis was growling as Robin lead the Team through the Cave's ventilations network on a steady course upwards.

"Oh, shut-up and get-"

"I swear to god, if you tell me to 'get traught' one more time…" She trailed off as the sounds of the Parademons swarming grew louder to their ears. They all held their collective breath, hands going to weapons or belts or pulling goggles over eyes in readiment for another wave, but the sound passed and everyone breathed one great unified sigh of relief.

"I believe it would be wiser for us to remain as quiet as possible until we are out of the base." Kaldur suggested with calm authority. Of the five of them, he remained the most composed, but even the atlantian's cool was slipping. His shoulders were set in a near permanent posture of tension and his eyes looked apprehensively uneasy.

Everyone nodded in agreement to maintaining as close to silence as they possibly could and refrain from bantering until they were safe outside. (Assuming, of course, that outside was safe.) Artemis bit her bottom lip to keep from saying anything more and they continued their slow, upward craw. Robin lead the Team through a series of vents that all looked the same to everyone else and they were sure none of them would be able to find their way back if they had to. He finally called a halt at a grate that, after Kaldur pulled it open for them, revealed a narrow ladder climbing up an equally narrow shaft and at the top of said shaft was a circle of gray, overcast sunlight.

"Ladies first." Kid Flash offered to M'gann.

"So that'd be you, then." Artemis snarled at the flirtatious speedster. Honestly, now of all times! Conner had been gone just two short weeks and he was already putting moves on his girl!

"What's that supposed to mean!" Wally snapped back.

"Kid, just go." Robin ordered.

The Kid Flash crawled into the narrow shaft where he was able to stand at his full height for the first time in several minuets and began climbing the ladder.

"Artemis, you're next." Kaldur said.

"Oh, no." Robin shook his head. "You're not making this mistake again. You're not doing this to me again. You go next."

Kaldur was about to argue the point but Robin had reminded him of the repercussions of the leader staying behind. He had made that mistake once already, luckily that had just been a dream-simulation, this was real. Aqualad conceded the point and with a nod to the Boy Wonder disappeared up the shaft.

"Arty, M'gann, you next." Robin began fishing in his belt for something. "I'll cover our escape."

The two girls exchanged twin looks; both knowing full well of the kind of 'cover' the protégé of the Batman was capable of. They disappeared up the shaft as fast as they possibly could, M'gann forgoing the formality of the ladder to just fly herself and the archer up.

They landed next to Wally and Kaldur, the latter of whom asked, "Where's Robin?"

As if in answer a grappling-hook came sailing up through the shaft, arched downwards, caught on a tree and was pulled taught. A few seconds later the Boy Wonder was pulling himself out of the hole to the unmistakable sound of an explosion echoing up from below. Rob rolled clear of the shaft just as a plum of flame erupted out from it.

"What was that?" Wally asked. "Plastique?"

"Something like that." The Boy Wonder flashed him a trollish grin. "The important thing is that they can't get out." He put a hand to his ear and tapped the ear-bud of his JLA comm.-link. "Team to Watchtower, this is Robin, come in Watchtower."

There was no response.

They Boy Wonder tired the only other person the whole Team could turn to. "Robin to Batman. Come in Batman."

…

Fortress of Solitude

April 1 – 11:30 am

Batman was a tad busy.

…As was Superman.

The World's Finest stood back to back. The Dark Knight with three sharp baterangs held between the knuckles of his fingers, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice. The Superman stood with fists at the ready and eyes aglow with the red heat of his vision waiting to be released.

These creatures… they had taken his son from him. Oh sure, they may not have been the ones that had prevented him from getting to Kon-El before he could disappear through the Boom Tube with Granny, but they were of the same ilk. They worked for the same (as of yet, still nameless) master and when Clark finally found that master he was going to show him just how formidable one pissed-off kryptonian could be!

"Why do I even hang out with you?" Bruce growled behind him.

Clark felt the man shift against this back and knew he had thrown his bladed baterangs, this assessment was confirmed by the sound of blades cutting through air and the soft thuds of the projectiles colliding with their targets. Another shift behind him indicated the Batman fishing back into his belt for more.

"Oh, hush. You know you like it!" Clark's grin was wasted as his friend couldn't see it, but that didn't matter.

Bantering with Bruce kept him grounded, kept him in the here and now. He would find the monster whom had stolen his son from him, he would rescue Kon-El and he would beat the ever-living-daylights out of the ones whom taken him from him. But right now he needed to stay focused. Needed to focus on the battle here and now, or else there was no guarantee he'd ever get to the one that was still yet to come.

The Parademons swarmed them and Clark let loose his heat-vision, searing those nearest to him and forcing the others back. They shrieked in pain, the sound shrill and unnatural, a pitch no human voice could reach. It sent a splitting plain shooting through Clark's sensitive ears, but the Superman ignored it.

Bruce's JLA comm. buzzed and Clark wondered where he had left his. (Not that is was really important at the moment.)

"Watchtower?" The Dark Knight ventured hopefully.

The Superman threw the Parademon he'd just been grappling with at one that had been about to lunch at the Caped Crusader. Didn't they know it was rude to bother someone while they were on the phone!

"Robin!" Bruce's exclamation sounded worried.

Though he did not take his attention away from the fight, Clark focused his hearing in on the voice that was coming in over the Batman's comm. channel. Dick's voice drifted to his ears, sounding agitated but with a forced calmness masking it. A skill the boy had picked up from his mentor, no doubt. Though, Bruce was markedly better at it. Apparently, the Mt. Justice base had been hit, same as Watchtower, same as they were right now.

"Call Alfred!" Batman shouted over his comm. "Tell him to put the Batcave on Security Alert Five!" The Batman equivalent to the USAF's defense readiness condition (or DEFCON) system.

Bruce rolled forward out of the way of one of the Parademon's clawed arms. Laying on his back, the Dark Knight kicked upwards, slamming his foot into the creatures groin (a spot that was almost universally sensitive no matter what planet you came from). It seemed Parademons were no exception to the rule as the creature let out a pained whimper and sank to its knees.

"If the Batcave's still safe take the Team there." He continued. "I trust you remember the appropriate guest protocols."

Superman offered him a hand up.

"Clark, I've got to get home."

The Man of Steel looked around them. "We're cut off from your plane."

Bruce threw three more baterangs at just as many Parademons, the sharp bat-shaped projectiles detonating upon impact. "I know."

Their eyes met. Clark looked around at his Fortress one more time. He liked this place, it was a little piece of Krypton on Earth.

"We'll come back." His friend promised.

Clark nodded. "Krypto!" He shouted. "Grab Wolf and head for the front door. Get!"

The Superman picked up the Dark Knight, ignoring his muttered remark of "I hate it when you carry me like this", and zoomed to the exit.

…

Happy Harbor

April 1 – 11:45 am

The bio-ship had, unfortunately, been left abandoned in the hangar of Mt. Justice along with Conner's pet Sphere. The Team was left with no means of actually getting from Happy Harbor, Rhode Island to Gotham City short of walking on their own feet, and that would take all of them but Wally days to get there. But, as always, Robin had a plan.

It was this plan that brought them to a humble and unassuming looking apartment building not far from M'gann's school. It was one of those small complexes, the kind that only had two stories, curled around a pool that no one ever swam in and had the worst possible security a gated building could have. The Team entered the gate just as someone else was exiting it, bold as you please, and the most that happened was they all got a very strange look from the woman as she passed them. No one stopped them. No one asked if they lived there. Worst. Security. Ever.

Robin lead them to an apartment on the second floor and knocked on the door just as Kaldur asked who it was they were coming to see.

The door opened and M'gann exclaimed, "Mr. Carr!"

Lucas "Snapper" Carr gapped at the five teenagers that stood on his doorstep.

"Don't just stand there gawking like an idiot. Let us in!" Robin snapped in his best 'I'm the Goddamn Batman's goddamn partner' voice.

"Uh, uh, sure." He stood aside for the Team to enter.

The apartment was a mess. Dirty dishes in the sink, laundry on the floor, magazines of an illicit nature out in plain sight –it was a bachelor's apartment. Snapper quickly set about straitening things as best he could, picking up his laundry, hiding magazines, etc.

"Who is this guy?" Artemis asked as they watched him rush about.

"He's my history teacher!" M'gann all but shouted.

At that declaration the man paused and gave the Team a sheepish grin. "I used to be a bit more than that."

"Snapper was an associate of the League, and had full access to Mt. Justice. His carelessness was what led to the discovery of the Cave by the Joker four years ago." Robin explained quickly. They were pressed for time and he didn't have the patience for long and drawn-out exposition. Addressing Lucas directly, he said, "Snapper, we need a car. Give me your keys!"

…

Watchtower

April 1 – (irrelevant)

Wonder Woman carried Green Arrow to the Javelin that rested in the Watchtower's hangar. She threw the Emerald Archer down on a narrow med-cot none to gently and then rushed to slam the ship's hatch shut after them. She muttered a hurried apology to Oliver for the rough treatment as she passed him a second time on her way to the cockpit. Hopping in the pilot's seat, Diana skipped all the safety checks of the start-up sequence and kicked up the engines.

The Javelin shot out of Watchtower's hangar bound for Earth.

Perhaps if they had stayed they might have gotten to meet the Parademons' commander.

The hoard of Parademons that had overrun Watchtower all went to their knees as their Brigadier General teleported onto the bridge.

The man never spoke, and so had not taken a name for himself. Those whom he worked with called him things like 'Silence', 'Quiet', 'Mute'. But none of them were his name. Of course, on Apakolips names were not all that important, it was the man behind the name that mattered. The Brigadier General had been a member of Darksied's Elite for only two short weeks and yet had distinguished himself in battle as well as seasoned veterans like Steppenwolf. Truly, he was one of the finest young Apakoliptan warriors to come through Granny Goodness' training.

He stepped off the zetta-pad and watched the Earth's hero's escape in their pitiful excuse for a space ship. He waved off the Parademons who tried to follow it. Let them run. There was nowhere they could go.

Soon this whole planet would belong to Mighty Darksied!

…