TW: Yep.

Guest: Doubtful. As much as I love Smallville, writing long stories like this about it is rather taxing. And I'm more or less moving away from writing for the MCU outside Spider-Man.

Watchtower

Early morning

"So Darkseid and Zankou are working together and now Zankou has this Book of Shadows he's going to use to open a portal to Darkseid's army?" Tess asked horrified after Clark had finished catching her and Chloe up to speed.

"That about covers it," Clark said with a nod.

"Okay, then what is that?" Chloe asked as she pointed towards the image of Apakolips.

"Apakolips, Darkseid's home planet. He's going to send in his army first, and then he's going to occupy Earth once he's sure he can win," Clark said darkly, realizing Darkseid's plan.

Further conversation was interrupted by a loud beep from the screen. Tess turned back to it, typing at the keyboard and the image of Apakolips faded. The trio stared, horrified at images of demonic like creatures attacking various buildings as people ran in fear.

"What are those things?" Chloe asked in horror.

"If I had to guess, Darkseid's army," Clark said grimly.

"This isn't just Metropolis, Darkseid is attacking the entire world," Tess said after looking at date on the screen.

"Then we don't have time to waste. Get everyone you can on the line, tell them it's an all hands on deck situation. Chloe, you might want to call the Suicide Squad. We'll need all the help we can get," Clark said before speeding out.

Plane

Same time

Oliver and Kara were sitting silently when Kara got to her feet, looking at the window.

"Kara? What is it?" Oliver asked.

Wordlessly, Kara walked over to a window, watching in horror as several Parademons were flying towards the plane.

"We have a problem Oliver," Kara told him before the Parademons began firing at the plane, causing it to start rocking.

"I'll say," Oliver said as he got to his feet, trying to stay steady as the plane rocked. "What's going on out there?"

"We're under attack," Kara said grimly.

One of the Parademon's blasts got one of the engines, causing it to catch fire and explode. The plane rocked with the force of the explosion before Kara quickly grabbed Oliver and, at super speed, sped him out the emergency exit mere seconds before the plane exploded.

With Oliver in her arms, Kara used heat vision to return fire at the Parademons. They cried out in pain before Kara flew right through them, literally by smashing them to pieces.

"Gross," Oliver complained as they flew at super speed away from the wreckage.

"No time to be clean. We need to get to Metropolis," Kara shouted over the wind, speeding up.

Miami

Not long after

By a pier, people were running in terror, screaming as the Parademons flew down, shooting at them when something suddenly rose out of the ocean. A large tentacle suddenly wrapped around three Parademons and squeezing until their bones cracked. The tentacle then struck a few more Parademons, sending them flying. A sphere of water then came out nowhere, striking another before AC and Mera jumped out of the water, landing on the pier.

"Yeah, take that freaky demons!" AC cheered.

Central City

Same time

A group of Parademons were flying near powerlines when suddenly; they were wrapped in them, crying out in pain as they were shocked. Down below, Bart stopped, looking up at them with a grin.

"That's what you get for coming to my town," he quipped before speeding off.

Star City

Same time

Mia Dearden was running as a Parademon chased her. It took aim at her with its weapon when a sonic screech struck and threw it back. Mia whirled around, seeing Dinah standing a few feet away.

"Hey, you're-" Mia started.

"A friend of Oliver's, he told me to look out for you while he was gone. Come on, it's not safe here," Dinah said, grabbing Mia by the hand and running before the Parademon could recover.

San Francisco

Same time

It was chaos as the Parademons rained down, attacking the city. Sheridan was shooting at one, but to her disbelief, her bullets merely bounced right off the Parademon's armor. It fired at her, getting her gun and causing it to explode. Sheridan was sent flying onto her back and looked up as the Parademon loomed over her, sure this would be how she would die.

Then, the Parademon seemed to be blown apart, disappearing in moments. Sheridan stared, stupefied at Piper standing behind it, lowering her hands.

"Run," Piper told her blankly.

Sheridan stared at her dumbly for a moment before getting up and running in the opposite direction, still trying to process what she had just seen.


At the Morris residence, Shelia held her sons, frightened as they watched Darryl attempt to fight off a Parademon. However, Darryl was quickly disarmed and sent on his back. It raised its weapon when-

"Spear!"

Its weapon vanished in a barrage of orbs and they all turned, seeing Paige in the doorway, the weapon appearing in her hand. Paige then aimed it at the Parademon and fired, the blast hitting the demon in the head and completely disintegrating it. The body fell to the floor and Paige raced over to Darryl.

"Hey, you alright?" Paige asked as she knelt down, offering him a hand up.

"Been better," Darryl grunted as she helped him to his feet. "Paige, what's going on?"

"Long story short, the end of the world. Come on, I'm gonna get you all somewhere safe," Paige ordered.

Metropolis

Same time

People ran in the streets as Clark sped though, taking out as many Parademons as he could using his strength and heat vision. Seeing Cat running, Clark paled as he saw a Parademon aimed at her. Clark quickly sped in front of her, taking the shot from the Parademon before speeding over, striking it hard enough to break its neck before speeding off, Cat not even knowing he was there.


Elsewhere, a woman in a ponytail with glasses was running from a Parademon when she suddenly jumped in the air, twirling in the air before turning around, striking it hard enough to send it flying back.

As more Parademons surrounded her, Clark sped in, using his heat vision to either kill them or send them running in fear. Clark then got a good look at the woman in glasses, freezing as she stared at him in disbelief.

"Andrea?" Clark questioned and she waved awkwardly.

"Hey Clark. It's been a while," Andrea said, happy to see him.

"Five years," Clark agreed.

"Of all the places in all the world," Andrea joked before Clark heard his Comms go off.

"Clark, Clark can year me?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Clark said, confusing Andrea.

"Darkseid's army is retreating but I don't think it's over yet," Tess informed him.

"Knowing him and Zankou, this was just the first wave," Clark said grimly.

"I got in touch with Kara and Oliver; they're on their way back to Watchtower. You should come too; we need to coordinate our next move."

"On my way. And I'm bringing company," Clark said with a look at Andrea.

Unspecified location

Same time

"Well done, the first wave did as expected," Zankou said as he turned to the Prophets. "Now that we know what they're capable of, we can send in our full force and finish them."

"And Kal-El? He and his cousin will not be so easily defeated," Godfrey pointed out.

"You leave Kal-El to me. There's a reason Darkseid recruited me, because Kal-El is vulnerable to my magic. An energy ball that grazed him caused a wound the size of a baseball. Imagine what one that makes full contact would do," Zankou said with a smirk. "I shall kill Kal-El, and without their leader, his allies will fall."

"Indeed," Zankou turned around as Darkseid appeared behind him. "But you are mistaken on one very important thing."

Zankou then yelped as one of Darkseid's hands grabbed him by the chest before Darkseid turned into smoke, which went in through Zankou's mouth and nose. When it was all inside Zankou, Zankou's eyes briefly turned pure black before returning to normal. An impassive looked crossed his face before he turned to the Prophets.

"As Zankou said, Kal-El is vulnerable to his magic. But he is too reckless, only I can kill Kal-El," Darkseid told them. "Continue with the plan. I shall deal with Kal-El myself."

Watchtower

Afternoon

"It's good to see you Andrea," Chloe said as she, Clark, Andrea, Tess, Oliver and Kara stood in the room.

"Good to see you too. And it's nice to meet all of you," Andrea said as she looked out the room.

"I read about you in Lex's files. But he couldn't find you after you left Metropolis," Tess noted and Andrea shrugged.

"I made myself scarce when I realized I'd put myself on the Luthor's radar. Came back about a year ago," Andrea said before glancing over at Clark. "When I started hearing about this mysterious Blur, had a feeling it was you."

"I see you're still hiding behind those glasses," Clark noted and she shrugged.

"I make Andrea the mask. No one suspects the friendly receptionist as being a vigilante. Although to be on the safe side, I try to stay out of the headlines," Andrea said.

"As interesting as this game of 'catch up' is, we have bigger problems," Oliver pointed.

"Ollie's right, that was only the first wave, designed to test us. Now that Darkseid knows what we're capable of, he'll come at us full force," Chloe agreed.

"We're coordinating as best we can, but we can't keep this up," Tess added.

Clark opened his mouth to respond but before he could, Paige, Piper and Phoebe appeared in a swirl of Orbs, Paige still holding the Parademon's weapon.

"Whoa! Okay, things are getting insane over here," Andrea said at the sight of them.

"Who are – you know what, it doesn't matter. You're here, so clearly you're on the right side," Piper decided.

"Please tell me you found Zankou and this Book of Shadows thing," Oliver almost pleaded.

"We didn't get much of a chance before these demons came down. It's chaos out there, we barely got our dad, Darryl's and his family to Magic School alive," Phoebe said shaken.

"I really don't know how we can win this," Paige said uncertainly.

"A good start is to believe in yourselves."

At the sound of the unexpected voice, everyone whirled around, seeing Jonathan standing in the doorway.

"Dad," Clark called out in surprise.

"Dad, as in…" Andrea trialed off as Clark nodded.

"It's a long story. What are you doing here?" Clark said in surprise and Jonathan smiled.

"My son needed me," Jonathan said simply as he walked over. "I know you're scared son. That you're all scared."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, there's literal Hell coming down on us," Oliver pointed out.

"And you're worried you're gonna fail," Jonathan noted.

"This is unlike anything we've ever faced before. And even if it wasn't, Darkseid knows my weakness. He almost defeated me last time we fought," Clark pointed out and Jonathan smiled.

"But son, he never saw the man who's standing before me right now," Jonathan said before placing his hands on Clark's shoulders. "Clark Kent, as much as your mother and I tried to protect you from your origins, prepare you for any challenge, I'm sorry son but our guidance just isn't enough anymore. You're gonna have to let Jor-El guide you from here on out. Don't doubt yourself. The day we found you in that field, your mother called you our miracle. Well, right now the world needs you to be their miracle."

"It won't matter how much they need it if Darkseid can seep sending more of his army through that portal," Kara pointed out and Jonathan nodded as he let Clark go.

"There's a reversal spell in the Book of Shadows. Not only will it close the portal, but it will send everything that was sent through back to where it came from," Jonathan as he turned to the Halliwells. "But it won't work if the three of you doubt yourselves. That's how Zankou got the book; he made your doubt yourself. You need to believe in yourselves again."

"Easier said than done," Phoebe scoffed.

"We all have doubts. But the test of a true hero is when they are able to conquer their doubts, rise above them to do the right thing," Jonathan said as he turned to face the sisters. "Can you do that?"

"Starting to see why the Elders chose you," Piper muttered and Jonathan smiled.

"He's right though. If we're gonna do this, we can't doubt ourselves," Kara said and Clark nodded.

"No. No, we can't. So here's the plan," Clark said as they all looked at him. "Chloe, I need you to coordinate the Suicide Squad and our team so that we can stop Darkseid's army from doing too much damage. Tess, I need you to try and find Goodness and the Prophets. Zankou most likely gave them the Book of Shadows, so we find them, we find the Book."

"And what are you gonna be doing?" Oliver asked and he looked over at his friend.

"I'm going after Zankou. If he and Darkseid are working together, then I find one, I'll find the other," Clark said firmly.

"Well I guess good luck is in order. From the sounds of it, you're gonna be facing off against the Devil," Andrea said and Clark smiled tightly.

"Closest thing there is," Clark said before there was a loud roar.

"Please tell me that was someone's stomach," Oliver pleaded.

"No," Tess said as they looked out at the window overlooking the city.

They all followed her gaze, noticing the sky was getting darker. And next to the sun, they could see Apakolips.

"It's here," Kara said softly.

"Then we know what we need to do," Clark said firmly.

"It's time," Jonathan agreed.

"Then let's go everyone, we know what we gonna go," Oliver said as he grabbed his bow. "You guys do your thing, we got your back."

Clark nodded before Paige walked over to him. The two shared a kiss before Clark stepped back. Clark then shared one last look with his father, who smiled before nodding.

"Thank you," Clark told him before speeding out of the building, off in search of Zankou and Darkseid.

So, this chapter dealt with the beginning of Darkseid's invasion. Next chapter will see how it all ends, with more heroes involved as well.

Jonathan and Martha's speech from the finale never gets old.