In Central City, a young man named Barry Allen walked up to a dog day care for a job interview.
"Am I late?" Barry asked himself, distressed. "I'm so late. So very late."
Barry stopped himself at a man and his dog walking out of the shop and he kneeled down to pet the dog.
"Oh, hey buddy. Hey."
He recoiled when the dog started barking at him harshly before he accidentally bumped into a woman (Iris West) on the way in.
"I'm so sorry."
Iris looked at Barry with a soft smile as he looked at her through the glass door.
"Are you, uh..." the store manager asked, catching Barry's attention.
"I'm so sorry to be late. I didn't mean to be so late. I'm me and I'm here and I'm so sorry I'm so late. Essentially, the bus didn't come, then the bus did come, but then there was this old woman counting change for the fare, like nickel, penny, nickel, penny. Like, geez Louise, let the woman on the bus. She's 107 years old, these are some of her last few moments of life."
"Resume."
"Resume."
Iris got into her car after witnessing the entire debacle between Barry and the store manager as she got into her car and put her keys into the ignition, before the engine stalled.
"Oh, come on. Come on!"
"For the French, of course," Barry said rapidly. "Resume, I believe is a past participle of..."
As these two events were going on, a large semi-truck rolled through the streets of Central City with the driver munching on a burger intently.
"Uh... wow. That's no good. It's like, what was in my pocket, right? 'Paper monster hungry.' Uh..."
The truck driver put the burger down onto the dashboard, only for it to fall to the ground. Groaning in annoyance, he leaned down to pick it up, taking his eyes off the road as the truck approached an oblivious Iris, who groaned out as her engine continued to stall.
"Come on. We're supposed to be friends now."
Finally, the engine started, much to Iris' delight as she shifted into reverse.
As the truck approached an intersection, the traffic light suddenly turned red while the driver was still not paying attention due to focusing on grabbing his burger, which led to the truck not stopping as Iris prepared to cross it.
"Central City College, I'm a criminal science major," Barry said, watching as Iris drove away.
"You said you had experience walking dogs."
Barry smiled at Iris, but then gained a stunned look as he saw the truck coming on, crashing into a hot dog cart, sending the driver stumbling back and tons of wieners and condiments flew through the air as Iris gasped and slammed the brakes as the truck barreled through the intersection as it came on and she smashed into its tail just as it was about to pass, sending her car flying.
Barry sprang into action as blue lightning formed around him and the dogs started barking in slow motion as time slowed to a crawl around him as his shoes exploded off his feet. He broke through the glass door of the day care with a single touch from his finger as he ran up to Iris' face as she flew towards the ground. He smiled at her face, brushing her hair back with a soft smile. He chuckled as he stuck a hot dog into his coat pocket.
Finally, he folded her arms to her sides and gently took her out of the air and placed her on the ground safe and sound as time resumed to normal and her car slammed into the street in the distance and went up in a fiery explosion.
Iris smiled at Barry before he panicked and zipped off in a flash of lightning as the truck skidded to a stop and the glass from the door hit the ground, leaving the interviewer stunned at what happened... before she looked down at the pen to see the dogs cuddling with Barry and licking his face.
"Oh, gosh! I hope everyone's okay!" Barry said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice and taking the hot dog out. "See, in times of crisis for dog work, I always bring a meat snack. Cause it makes them feel calm cause you never know what's gonna happen in this city. I mean, oh my gosh! Right? I start on Monday?"
Somewhere in the ocean, a group of Atlanteans grunted and thrashed in the water's surface as a few parademons dragged them towards the shore where Steppenwolf was waiting for them. The conqueror leaned down to one Atlantean, taking off his helmet and picked him up by the throat to stare him face to face.
"You have been near a Mother Box. The scent is on you. Where is it?"
"No son or daughter of Atlantis will ever tell you."
Steppenwolf grunted in annoyance as he tossed the Atlantean into a rock, splattering the rock with his blood as he walked towards him.
"Our people have guarded the Mother Box for thousands of years. I will never betray my own people."
Steppenwolf rolled his eyes as he sent out a spider drone from his armor that latched onto the Atlantean's head before projecting a hologram of the Mother Boxes location as Steppenwolf smirked, satisfied.
"You already have."
"This was taken from the deepest trench on Earth," Diana said as she and Becky stood by Bruce as he sat at the Batcomputer, looking over Lex Luthor's file of Arthur. "He must be an Atlantean. A water breather."
"He was breathing air when I was talking to him," Bruce said.
"Then he must be a hybrid," Becky said. "It's a pretty common thing where I come from. My sister and cousin are alien hybrids too. You said he'd fight with us, Bruce?"
"More or less."
"More more or more less?" Diana asked.
"Probably more less."
"He said no?" Becky asked.
"He said no."
"Atlanteans can be tricky. My people went to war with them once. I'm not sure we can trust him."
"Diana, if we're gonna do this, you're gonna need to be open to more things that we didn't..."
As Diana reached down to the mouse, she was intercepted by Bruce, which caused them both to recoil shockingly, much to Becky's amusement.
"Sorry. It's okay."
"Sorry. My fault. Don't worry about it."
"Let's..."
"It happens."
"Okay, awkward moment over," Becky said. "Moving on."
"So..." Diana said as she looked to the file on Barry.
"This is the third person," Bruce said. "He disappears for 1/30 of a second here. One frame of the video, here."
"Barry Allen. Central City," Diana nodded before pulling up the fourth file. "You two go to him. I'll work on Number Four."
"Whoa," Becky said, looking at the details of the video. "Organic and biomechatronic parts. He's a Cyborg."
Said Cyborg, Victor Stone (a different one from the Teen Titan Becky's sister met), looked out of the window of his father's apartment to see the kids playing happily in the streets below, looking depressed just to be alive.
You see, once upon a time, Vic was a star high school football player, beloved by his teammates and by Gotham City alike, not just for his football skills, but also for the kindness of his heart. He even once hacked into his school's system to change his friend's grades after she and her family lost their home.
However, when driving home from the meeting with the school's dean for what her son did, Victor and his mother were involved in a tragic car accident, which took the life of his mother and left Vic in critical condition with death an almost certainty. Hoping to save at least one member of his family, Silas used the power of the Mother Box he had to completely reconstruct Victor's body into living machinery, leaving only half his face still human.
"Victor," Silas said, walking into the apartment as Victor looked out the window at the pouring rain. "Victor, you're not stuck in here. You still have a life ahead of you. Your mother would have wanted you to live that life."
Vic only scoffed. "If you were there, Mom would still be alive."
"Alright, look, you don't have to give me a second chance. But give yourself one. If you can't stand looking at me, try listening."
Silas only left a recorder on the counter before he left the apartment again.
Victor only walked up to the recorder and pressed the button to listen to his father's message.
"What you can do now, Victor. Your physical strength is just the tip of the iceberg. The tip of the tip. In the world of ones and zeroes, you are the absolute master. No firewall can stop you. No encryption can defy you. We're all at your mercy, Vic. From our power grids, to our telecommunications, everyone's lives are controlled and dominated by complex digital networks that will bend without effort to your will. The fate of the world will literally rest in your hands. It's entire nuclear arsenal, you could launch with a thought. The world's monetary systems and its complex interactions will seem as easy to manipulate for you as a child's plaything. The question... no, the challenge won't be doing it. It will be not doing. Not seeing. It is the burden of this responsibility that will define you and who you choose to be."
Victor then removed his hood, his forehead shot out a light that projected tons of holograms of various complex vehicles and weaponry that his mind instantly understood as it analyzed the data. In his mind, he pictured himself in his human body in the middle of a desolate landscape. Vic looked upwards to see countless nuclear missiles in the air around him that he suddenly moved with just a swipe of his hand, sending them all away into the distance.
Then, he looked to see a bank in front of him and giant mechanical statues of a bull and a bear fighting with each other, representing the monetary systems of the world. Vic then rose his arms and split them, causing the two captitalism symbols to separate.
Vic slowly walked into the bank to see countless stacks of money flying through the air into various tunnels. He looked down at a camera constantly shifting its focus to various people around the world, not knowing that someone was watching over them at all.
Focusing on a single dollar, Vic focused as it multiplied into ten bundles of money before he decided to return to reality.
Vic took his hoodie and pants off and left the apartment through the fire escape and looked up at the dark skies of Gotham. Focusing intently, he felt thrusters pop up all across his armored body, causing him to hover off the ground briefly. He then activated them again and struggled to gain his balance in midair. After gaining his balance, he shot off into the air with a stunned look on his face that slowly stretched into a smile as a helmet closed around his head, breaking through the clouds and flying off into the distance.
Landing on the ground, Vic noticed a mother and son struggling to withdraw their money from a glitching ATM for the Gotham City Bank. Then, he manipulated the bank's system to transfer $100,000 into the mother's account, causing her to squeal in shock and delight. Vic then smiled in satisfaction for his deed before turning to leave.
"Victor... Victor, these are the words and deductions of a scientist. That's how I've been speaking to you. Now... let me speak to you from my heart, not as a scientist but as a father."
Back at the apartment, Vic held the tape in his hands before sighing as he crushed it in ihs strength.
Suddenly, a parademon landed on the fire escape to the apartment with a screech, which caught some attention of some dumpster divers looting the trash, who ran up to it with a shout.
Fortunately, Vic took notice of this and morphed his left arm into a blaster, bracing himself against the wall, cradling the Mother Box in his free arm. Hearing some police sirens approaching, the parademon gave up and flew off into the distance, much to the astonishment of the hobos on the ground. Vic then gave a sigh as he powered his blaster down.
"Because you are holding yourself back," Barry's father, Henry said through the prison window as his son was visiting him. "You're going in circles, man. Holding down three dead-end jobs going on four. Where do you even find the time?"
"I make the time," Barry said. "I just need one more gig."
"Barry."
"Then I'm gonna pay for my own tuition."
"You can't."
"Like I always said I would."
"You cannot keep doing this to yourself."
"Okay, I really don't want to talk about this again. Please, we have ten minutes."
"And this is all to pay for a criminal justice degree, huh?"
"Yeah."
"For what?"
"Huh, let's see. As I talk to my father, who's still in prison for the murder of my mother, which he didn't commit. Yeah, how did I get interested in criminal justice? I can't remember?"
"Oh boy."
"This path has clearly chosen me, Dad."
"Give me your hand, man," Henry said, placing his hand on the window as Barry placed his hand up to it. "I want you to listen to me, Barry. I want you to listen to me because I mean this... I want you to give that all up. And I want you to stop coming to see me. I am a drag on your life."
"Okay, um, please don't ever say that to me again. Please?"
"Hey, you know what criminal justice would be for me? My son not wasting his life. You can be whatever you want to be. Absolute best of the best. I can't sit here and watch you run in place in Central City for some old dude who's not going anywhere."
"Dad, that's not true."
"It's time," the prison guard interrupted.
"That's not true!"
"Let's go, Allen. Allen!"
"I want you to make your own future. You're living in the past. Make your own future!"
That was the last word he got in as the guard forcibly pulled him away from the phone and took him back to his cell.
"Great," Barry said, hanging up the phone.
Later, Barry made his way to his home built out of an old shack at the Central City train yard, unlocking the doors before closing the door behind him. He then opened the home's electrical panel, putting in the battery and switching it on, powering the panel to spark to life as all of the lights and computers in his home turned on.
But as the lights turned on, Barry was met face to face with a stoic Bruce Wayne sitting in his chair with Becky standing by his side.
"Barry Allen. Bruce Wayne."
"And Becky Tennyson. I'm kind of new to this world and I'm a new associate of Mr. Wayne."
"You say that like it explains why there's two total strangers in my place sitting in the dark in my second favorite chair," a stunned Barry said.
"Tell us about this," Bruce ordered, holding out the printed paper with the footage from Lex Luthor's file to Barry, who took it and looked down at it with a nod.
"This is... a person who looks exactly like me, but who is definitely not me. Somebody... I don't know. Hippie, long hair. Very attractive Jewish boy... who drinks milk. I don't drink milk."
Bruce smiled and walked off before looking to the side as he and Becky looked to see a mannequin dressed in a red super suit with a yellow lightning bolt symbol on it.
"We know you have abilities, kid," Becky said. "We just don't know what they are."
"My special skills include viola, web design, fluent in sign language, gorilla sign language."
"Silica-based sand quartz fabric," Bruce said, gazing at the suit. "Abrasion resistant, heat resistant."
"Uh, yeah. I do competitive ice dancing."
"It's what they use on space shuttles to prevent them from burning up on re-entry."
"I do... very competitive ice dancing."
Becky rolled her eyes as her hand went to her belt.
"Look, you two. I don't know who you're looking for, but whoever it is, it's not me."
With that, in the blink of an eye, Becky suddenly whipped out her bow, strung an arrow and fired it right at Barry's head. And as usual, blue electricity surged around him as he moved to the side and looked at the arrow as it sailed past and he caught it just as he dodged a Batarang from Bruce that embedded into the wall.
"No way," he said, looking at the bat-shaped projectile. "You're the Batman?"
"So you're fast," Bruce said as Becky smirked and sheathed her bow.
"But no prey can escape the Huntress," she said with a smirk.
"That feels like an oversimplification," Barry chuckled.
"Let's cut to the chase," Bruce said. "We're putting together a team. People with special abilities. You see, we believe enemies are coming."
"Stop right there. I'm in."
"You are?" Becky asked, surprised. "Just like that?"
"Yeah, I... I need friends."
"Great. Great," Bruce said.
"Can I keep this?"
"I don't think so," Becky said, snatching the arrow out of his hand and putting it back in her quiver.
"...It's like this layer of dimensional reality and it seems to manipulate Space Time. I call it the Speed Force," Barry explained, downing a pizza slice as he, Bruce and Becky walked up to Bruce's car. "It causes me to burn a tremendous amount of calories, so I am just a black hole of snacks. I am a snack hole."
"Interesting. My cousins never had that problem in their speed forms," Becky said, walking to the door to the backseat.
"So how many people are on this special fight team?"
"Four, including you," Bruce said.
"Four? Against what?"
"We'll tell you on the plane," Becky sighed as she got into the backseat.
"Plane? What are your superpowers again?"
"I'm rich," Bruce chuckled.
And with that, the car took off into the highway.
Back at the Batcave, Diana heard a kettle go off as she got up from her seat to get it, just as Alfred perked up.
"Oh, Miss Prince. Let me do that," Alfred said, getting up from his seat.
"No, it's okay. I can do it myself," the Amazon princess insisted, preparing the tea leaves. "Would you like to have some?"
"Uh, no thank you. If you put the water in first, so we don't scald the tea."
"Of course," Diana said, pouring the hot water into her cup, taking a cup of black tea leaves. "Thanks."
"No, that's probably enough tea."
"Alright. Are you sure you don't want to have some?"
"I won't, thank you. And then leave it to mash."
"I will. I will, definitely will," Diana chuckled. "Uh... what are you working on?"
"Oh, it's a gauntlet lined with specialized polymer solar cells," Alfred said, gesturing to the unfinished gauntlet on his desk.
"Wow."
"Here, let me show you," the butler said, holding out some kind of alien blaster. "We borrowed this from the Kryptonian scout ship. Uh... maybe you should, uh... scooch over a fraction."
"Of course."
As Diana moved over, Alfred fired a blue energy blast from the weapon that charged up the gauntlet with a satisfied smile.
"Ah... let's see how that did."
With the push of a button, the gauntlet activated.
"Not to be sneezed at."
"A gauntlet that captures and dissipates energy," Diana smiled.
"It's Master Wayne's idea."
"Maybe you should work on a lasso too. In black, of course."
Alfred chuckled as Diana walked back over to the computer and typed in the commands.
"Alright, Victor Stone."
As the search results came up and Alfred poured the water into the tea, all of the computers suddenly started glitching, showing static on each monitor, much to the duo's shock.
"Something is not working."
"Hmm..."
Suddenly, a map converged onto the screen as the duo looked to see a message that said "Meet Here Now." As well as a marked location on the map.
"Looks like you have a date, Ms. Prince."
Later on, Diana left the Batcave and drove her car to the meeting spot with a determined nod to herself.
"I can only imagine how Becky would feel about this if she was here."
Diana walked down the empty streets with a soft look on her face when she looked and all of the lights in the homes and on the streets suddenly turned themselves off. Then, she heard a distant booming sound out and she looked forwards as Cyborg suddenly flew into teh scene and touched down in front of her, shutting his thrusters down with a duffel bag over his shoulder.
"Why are you looking for me, Diana?" Victor asked.
"You know who I am."
"Oh, I know more than you can possibly imagine."
"Then maybe you already know about the newcomer to this dimension. And the fact that we need your help. The world does."
"Fuck the world."
As Victor turned away, Diana walked up to him and put a hand on his mechanical shoulder.
"You've obviously been through a great deal. I can't begin to imagine what. But whatever happened to you, you have gifts as well."
"Gifts? What part of this looks like a gift to you?"
"We need you, Victor. And maybe you need us."
"I don't need anyone. Not anymore."
"I told myself the same for a long time. I lost someone I truly loved once. I shut myself off from everyone. But I had to learn to open back up again. The truth is, I'm still working on it. And if you asked to meet me... you're working on it too."
Without saying a word, Victor shot into the air again and blasted away from the scene, which caused all of the lights on the street and in the surrounding buildings to turn on again.
The truth was, Victor was visiting Gotham Cematary and looked down to see the pairing of his and his mother's gravestones. Of course, no one in the world knew that he was still alive except for our heroes and his father.
Emotions getting the best of him, Victor slammed his fists into the ground as he began digging up a large hole by the grave markers. Then, he opened the duffel bag and produced the case containing the Mother Box stored inside a protective bag that he slammed into the hole before burying it back up.
Back at STAR Laboratories, Silas and Ryan entered and walked past all the scientists at work.
"You were right about the metal sample from the Superman ship," Ryan said. "When we bombard it with X-rays from the electron laser, look what happens."
Ryan activated the electron laser, blasting at the piece of metal, which began to glow and heat up from the center.
"3.5 million kelvin," Silas said, impressed.
"The inner core of the metal becomes superheated. Hot, dense matter. You're looking at the hottest thing on Earth," Ryan said. "Exactly words I said to my prom date. She dumped me anyway."
"Yeah," Silas said as he shut down the laser.
"Hey, doc? Do you think Batman is connected to the thing the CID is looking for? You know, 6-1-9-8-2?"
"No... I don't."
After work, Silas walked into his apartment and gazed at the remnants of the destroyed tape recorder. Then, he looked to his side to see that the closet was an absolute mess. Belongings were scattered all across the floor and the door was caved in on itself.
"Oh, Victor."
Silas felt a presence beside him and looked to see a parademon menacingly snarling at his side, causing the renowed scientist to gasp as he stumbled to his side.
In the Gotham City Police Department headquarters, Commissioner James Gordon witnessed two of his officers trying to restrain one of the inmates, tossing him against a pillar.
"Commissioner Gordon?"
Gordon looked to see a cop behind him with a stack of envelopes. "Your messages."
"Don't have to see the sky to know it's a full moon," Gordon shrugged as he walked beside Detective Crispus Allen.
"Half of Gotham's reality-challenged community showed up," Allen said. "Said they saw flying monsters by the harbor."
"You were right, Ma. Police Academy. What's wrong with dental school?"
Allen then handed the files to Gordon as he flipped through them.
"Attacked by a flying vampire. Looked like a giant bat with huge fangs."
"On a possibly related note, sketch of the suspect in the abductions at the lab across the harbor."
Allen flipped the page to show the sketch of a parademon in the shadows, which looked suspiciously like Batman, causing Gordon to recoil in surprise.
"Looks like-"
"I know what it looks like Crispus. Come on, do you think he fights criminals for twenty years here and then he goes to Metropolis and kidnaps eight people? It doesn't make any sense. I'll talk to him tonight."
"How, Jim?"
"How do you think?"
The parademons chittered loudly as they lowered Silas down into Steppenwolf's lair, moving him through before dropping him down next to the rest of the kidnapped scientists.
"Silas?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Silas said worriedly as a parademon aimed its weapon at his head.
Bruce, Barry and Becky looked on as the lift lowered them and the car to the ground from the jet to see Diana waiting for them on the ground.
"Oh my goodness," Barry said, looking at the Amazon princess.
"Where's the Cyborg?" Bruce asked as Becky crossed her arms.
"His name is Victor," Diana explained. "We met, spoke. Give him time."
"He'll be there," Becky nodded, leaping down from the lift to the ground. "I can feel it in my bones."
"You must be Barry. Hi, Diana."
"Hi, Barry. I'm Diana... That's not right. Great."
"So this is us," Diana said as Becky nodded.
"Yeah, this is us," Bruce said.
"Four heroes isn't enough to take on. My team's always been six."
"Oh! Awesome!" Barry shouted and the team looked up to the Bat Signal shining in the sky. "It's the Bat Signal! That's your... Oh, sorry. That's your signal. That means we have to go now."
"Yeah. That's what that means," Bruce shrugged as Becky looked up as well and nodded.
"It's so cool."
"Let's go," Becky said as they moved out to Gotham City.
Elsewhere, in the underwater city of Atlantis, inside a chamber similar to the one on Themyscira, the Mother Box that was resting there was pulsing erratically on its pillar with several Atlanteans swimming around it with their weapons drawn.
As the camera panned to the outside, the commander of the Atlantenas, named Mera, trilled in another language to the sea life around the temple, sending them swimming away before she manipulated the water around her to form a dome of air to speak with the Atlanteans freely.
"Commander Mera," an Atlantean said. "I told the King the perimeter guards were taken. He won't send reinforcements. He says all the reserves are needed in the rebel regions."
"He's as shortsighted as he is cruel," Mera sighed.
"Alright, take what men we have left and form a phalanx around the Mother Box."
Then, Mera dropped the dome and a loud thud was heard as Mera swam back to the Mother Box as the pulsing intensified before, just like with the first one on Themyscira, it suddenly stopped. Mera then sent a guard to investigate as he swam up with a determined nod.
And that was when Steppenwolf appeared with a growl. The guard blasted his weapon at the conqueror, only for it to completely bounce off his armor. Steppenwolf shouted out as he tackled him into the wall as more laser blasts hit him in the back.
Swimming quickly to the guard, Steppenwolf swung his weapon to the head, staining the water around him red with blood as he hquickly moved to the rest of the guards, killing them all in an instant with one hit with his weapon ash e then swam to his prize.
Thinking quickly, Mera opened a pocket of air in the water, sending Steppenwolf plummeting to the ground, unable to swim to it. Mera then closed the pocket in an attempt to flush him out, only for Steppenwolf to slam his weapon into the pillar to stabilize himself before he tackled Mera into the wall, grasping her by the throat as she created another pocket of air around herself.
"You can't escape," Steppenwolf said.
"I'm not trying to."
Mera shouted out as she sent tons of water flooding into Steppenwolf's face in an attempt to drown him, blood starting to stain the water around him as the conqueror tossed her away into the wall to save himself as the pocket of air closed and Steppenwolf regained his bearings as he kicked off the ground and shouted out as he prepared to behead the Atlantean commander.
But then, out of the blue, Arthur suddenly rushed in and countered his strike with his trident, redirecting it into the ground before he looked into Mera's eyes before giving a wicked punch to Steppenwolf's chest, sending him flying away before rushing towards him with a sharp glare.
Steppenwolf tossed his weapon at Arthur, only for him to easily avoid it as it crashed into the pillar with a shout as he grabbed him by the horns, using his maneuverability to his advantage, kneeing him in the head with a shout before rushing for a strong punch, only for Steppenwolf to catch his fist before it connected.
Steppenwolf threw Arthur back as he gave him a massive punch to the head, sending him crashing into the pillar before he rushed forwards and tackled Arthur, destroying the entire pillar, which allowed him to retrieve his weapon and Steppenwolf easily caught the Mother Box as a portal opened above him as he teleported away.
Mera looked on disappointedly as she swam to Arthur as he regained consciousness, opening a pocket of air around them.
"Vulko told me you'd come," Mera said. "The firstborn of the beloved Queen Atlanna."
Arthur shrugged as he turned away.
"Wait! Please."
Arthur stopped as he looked to the Atlantean commander.
"I knew her."
"Well, that makes one of us," Arthur chuckled.
"My parents died in the wars. She took me in."
"What a saint."
"You dare speak of Queen Atlanna that way?"
"Your queen left me on my father's doorstep and never gave me another thought."
"Your mother left you to save your life. You cannot imagine how it hurt her. What it cost her. But you're not a defenseless child now. It would have been her responsibility to follow that monster to the surface and stop him. Now... it's yours."
Arthur scoffed as he stepped away back into the water before swimming off.
In Silas' apartment, Victor looked down at the destroyed closet and reached down to pick up his father's glasses. Hearing sirens wail in the distance, he looked through the window to see the Bat Signal shining in the sky.
Steppenwolf inserted the second Mother Box into the pedestal, which glowed red next to the first one.
"Yes."
The second Mother Box sent out a surge that created a pillar standing proudly above the lair that sent out an energy surge, creating a red dome around the entire area of the stronghold .
"Steppenwolf," DeSaad said, appearing on the pedestal's communication channel. "Tell me what you've learned."
"Two Boxes found and awake. With the combined power of the two Mother Boxes, I've been able to finish the stronghold's defenses."
"Where is the third Mother Box?"
"The parademons sense its presence and search for the third. They have taken prisoners who carry its scent."
"Go. Interrogate the prisoners. Find the third."
"They will tell me what they know. Or I will rip it from them."
Gordon stood on the roof of the GCPD building in the pouring rain as lightning flashed through the sky and the police commissioner stood there with a determined glare on his face. Then, he caught a glimpse behind the white cloth hanging on the clothesline and nodded as he saw Batman standing on the gargoyle with a smile.
But then, his eyes widened as he saw Huntress standing on the gargoyle next to him with a nod as both leaped off with Huntress doing some fancy flips in the air before she landed gracefully as Wonder Woman and Barry, or rather The Flash as he was now dressed up in his red superhero outfit from his hideout, stepped beside the duo with a nod.
"How many of you are there?" Gordon asked, confused.
"Not enough," Batman shrugged.
"Huntress," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm kind of new here."
"Understood. There's been dozens of witnesses all over Gotham," the commissioner said, showing the team the suspect drawing. "Description matches the suspect in the Metropolis abductions."
"Parademons," Wonder Woman confirmed.
"Okay..." the Flash winced.
"The demons must have caught the scent of a Mother Box."
"At the lab," the Flash nodded.
"They must have carried people away to find out what they know," Huntress said.
"So the eight victims must still be alive," Batman said.
"Nine," a shocking voice said as they all looked behind them to see Victor, or let's just call him Cyborg for now, stepped out to join them.
"Whoa," the Flash and Huntress said, startled as they looked to see Cyborg as Wonder Woman nodded contentedly.
"The head of STAR Labs was taken tonight."
"Wow, okay," Gordon said, not phased by the new teammate whatsoever. "There's another scientist."
"So how do we find him?" Cyborg asked.
"There must be a nest nearby," Wonder Woman said.
"I plotted all the sightings in Metropolis and Gotham. No discernible pattern I can see. The lines on the map don't converge."
"On land," Cyborg corrected. "These lead back to Stryker's Island. It's between the two cities."
"These are air vents," Batman realized. "They all lead down to the tunnels to a Metropolis project that was abandoned in '29."
"The next could be there," Huntress said.
"Uh, is he gonna come with us now?" Flash asked Batman, looking to Cyborg. "Because we're all not gonna fit in your car."
"I've got something bigger."
"...Do you really think that," Gordon began, but turned around to see that the entire team had vanished... except for Flash who stood there awkwardly.
"Oh, wow, they just... They really just vanish, huh?" Flash asked awkwardly. "Wow... that's rude..."
And that was when the speedster zoomed off in a flash of blue lightning. Gordon just said nothing and walked off, used to this kind of thing by now.
As the Bat Jet touched down in front of the tunnel leading to Stryker's Island, Batman leaped out of the cargo bay as the other four heroes leaped behind him and looked down to see several discarded belongings, including a STAR Labs employee badge.
"We're close," Huntress said as she sniffed the air, trying to pick up the parademons. "I can smell the enemy."
"It's also absence," Wonder Woman said. "Darkness. Death."
"Where are we, Alfred?" Batman asked into his radio.
"Stryker's Island. You should be directly under the venting tower for the tunnel. Now look to your left, you'll see a staircase to the machine room. Thermal scans shows a cluster of people there."
The team looked up with a nod as Huntress unsheathed her spear and hoisted it over her shoulder.
"That's it," Batman nodded. "Let's go."
With that, the team entered the staircase before exiting the top floor, only to deadpan at a destroyed bridge with a several foot drop to the bottom.
"Right," Flash said. "Is there a plan? Any of you?"
"Don't engage alone," Wonder Woman said with a nod. "We do this together."
Flash nodded as he sped past the destroyed section of the bridge as Huntress and Wonder Woman spear-vaulted and leaped across with no effort.
"I heard about you," Cyborg said to Batman. "Didn't think you were real."
"I'm real when its useful."
Batman then fired his grappling line to the wall and zipped over to the other side as Cyborg flew across with no problem. The team then looked to an open door as Huntress held up a hand to shush them.
"I grow tired of your silence," Steppenwolf threatened Howard, who had the mind spider drone on his head projecting an image of the final Mother Box. "Now tell me, where is the Mother Box?"
"Please. We have families."
"Then you have weakness."
"Steppenwolf," Wonder Woman said as Huntress glared, ready to kill at this point.
"Okay, I'm guessing that's the bad guy," Flash said as Huntress and Batman nodded.
"Good guess," Huntress said.
"I'm really, really missing Superman right now."
"Circle to the other side," Wonder Woman told Batman and Huntress. "We'll surround them and surprise him."
"You have been near a Mother Box," Steppenwolf confirmed to Howard. "The scent is on you."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Where is it?!"
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Silas shouted. "He... he doesn't know!"
Steppenwolf grunted as he harshly tossed Howard into the wall, sending the spider drone flying off of him. That was when he grabbed Silas as the spider drone crawled up his body and made its way to the hostage's forehead.
"You carry the scent too, but stronger."
"I will die before I tell you," Silas swore as his son looked on concerned from the wall.
"You'll die if you don't!"
"NO!" Cyborg shouted as he tore the balcony off and formed his arm into a blaster that he used to shoot Steppenwolf's arm before he leaped down and blasted Steppenwolf back before catching his father, growing a third arm from his back that he used to destroy the mind spider drone.
"Victor."
"Kill them both."
Suddenly, a war cry was heard as Wonder Woman leaped out and smashed a parademon in the head with her shield as Huntress leaped out and fired out tons of arrows that each slammed into the heads of the parademons as she landed on the ground, gave a somersault and unsheathed her spear, giving it a mighty twirl with a glare on her face.
"Ah, an Amazon. But not like your sisters. Stronger. And I remember you, little girl."
"Oh, trust me, Steppenwolf. I'm tiny but mighty."
Wonder Woman tossed the dead parademon away with a smirk as she bared her sword and looked to Huntress, who gave a nod as Steppenwolf looked to his axe and growled as he leaped forwards, but was instantly thrwarted as Wonder Woman shouted out and gave a flying tackle out of the wall as Huntress shouted out and followed them out of the wall with surprising speed before Wonder Woman flew to her side as they both stood on the bridge as Wonder Woman bore her shield in front of her as Huntress rapped her fingers on the spear as the two warrior women looked at the parademons surrounding them.
Wonder Woman and Huntress shouted out as the parademons surrounded them and they both shouted out, giving out great leaps as Huntress leaped off Wonder Woman's shield and stabbed her daggers into a parademon's head, flying it to Wonder Woman who slashed it in two as Huntress smirked and leaped back onto the bridge, giving out several powerful slashes and stabs with her spear, beheading almost every parademon that flew near her with a growl of effort.
"Whoa, these new powers are awesome!" Huntress shouted as she gave a backhand punch to a parademon that actually went caved in a parademon's chest as she looked down and then gave a roundhouse kick to its head with a smile.
"That's nothing compared to what I can do, kid," Wonder Woman smiled as she blocked the parademons' lasers with her shield.
"Amazon," Steppenwolf growled as he leaped forwards, prompting the Wonder Woman to block his attacks. "Hold! These two will be mine."
"I belong to no one," Wonder Woman smirked. "Huntress, go help the others."
"You got it," Huntress said as she leaped off of the bridge, stabilizing herself as she stabbed her spear into the wall with a smile.
Batman leaped off of his balcony and tackled a parademon to the ground with a shout. Giving some quick hand to hand combat techniques, he smashed a parademon in the arm and then shouted out as he disarmed his laser blaster and then gave a kick to his head, sending him crashing into the ground.
"Guys!" the Flash shouted as he zoomed in as Huntress leaped down to join Batman. "This is not together!"
Realizing where he was, the Flash zipped around to avoid the blasts with a shout as he zipped behind him and gave a powerful kick to the back, sending the parademon flying through the doors.
"Help get those people out of here!" Batman ordered. "We'll make sure these things follow us!"
A parademon then suddenly shouted out as he grabbed Batman by his back and tossed him into a destroyed spotlight with a shout as Huntress leaped up and gave a mighty strike with her machete as he flew up to Batman as he ducked to avoid his attack, only for Huntress to smirk as she turned to the billionaire hero and they both gave a mighty punch to the head.
"Everybody move!" Cyborg shouted as he picked up one of the hostages as he and Flash led them out of the area with a grunt.
Flash looked off as he zipped through the staircase in a blink of an eye with a nod.
"A little quicker would be nice!" he said before turning to Silas bringing up the rear. "You alright?"
"Yeah."
Flash nodded before he zipped by Cyborg.
"I got this. Keep moving."
The parademon screeched out as he tossed Huntress up to the air, only for her to right herself as she unsheathed her bow and fired an explosive arrow that hit him in the chest, blowing him to smithereens.
Batman grunted out as he was tossed by a parademon, who had tossed out his grappling hook, which the dark knight quickly caught before giving a powerful punch to the screeching parademon and he leaped forwards, firing his grappling hook in the doorway, flying forwards as he swung forwards kicking the parademon into the room where Wonder Woman and Steppenwolf were brawling and then roundhouse kicked it off of the building to its death as Huntress leaped up next to him with a nod as she unsheathed her spear.
Sensing something behind her, Huntress caught a few lasers with her spear before she gave a mighty twirl and slashed forwards, sending a powerful energy wave out that bisected the parademons that blastede at her as she smirked with a flip of her hair.
"Nice moves."
"I've been practicing a lot."
Batman and Huntress then blocked all of the incoming laser fire with Alfred's gauntlet and Huntress cuagh the blasts with her spear blades and then she fired her energy waves out that killed the parademons flying by her.
"The energy is dissipating," Alfred said on the team's comms as Batman and Huntress ducked for cover as Huntress fixed her hair. "My gauntlet worked!"
"Celebrate later, Alfred! I need the Nightcrawler!"
"Thought you'd never ask. Crawler's on the way. Initiating remote mode."
The ship outside flared to life as the Nightcrawler grew four legs and then stomped its way forwards as it crawled up the walls.
Wonder Woman shouted out as she blocked Steppenwolf's strikes as he kicked her to the ground, but the Amazon princess instantly recovered as she snarled under her breath as the Nightcrawler continued its ascent.
Batman shouted out as he leaped into the cockpit of the Nightcrawler and strapped himself in and activated the manual controls.
"Thank you, Alfred."
"Don't mention it."
A turret suddenly opened on top of the Nightcrawler as Huntress shouted out and leaped into the turret, activating its controls.
"This is gonna be sweet," she smirked as she shouted out and blasted at the parademons all around the Nightcrawler as it crawled upwards.
Steppenwolf chuckled as he tossed Wonder Woman up into the wall above, creating an indent in the wall behind her as she panted in effort. Steppenwolf leaped forwards with an axe strike, prompting Wonder Woman to avoid his strike as he smashed the wall in behind her.
Cyborg and Flash suddenly burst out of building's fire escape with the hostages in tow. But this was just as the wall was caving in above them and Flash sprung into action as he caught all of the falling rubble and set it on the ground around the scientists as fast as his speed would allow him.
But just as he stopped, a single large piece of rubble was about to fall down on top of all of the hostages.
"No!"
Thankfully, though, the rubble was blown into a billion pieces thanks to Cyborg's blaster as he nodded to the speedstser.
"They're safe. Get back to the tunnel," Cyborg ordered.
"Tunnel, right. Aliens, bad guy, sword lady, wild girl."
Wonder Woman freed herself from the wall imprint just as Steppenwolf was about to strike, only to be smashed into the wall again by a passing parademon that Huntress immediately gunned down from the turret. As the Amazon hit the bridge and some parademons were about to blast her, Batman and Huntress gunned them all down from the Nightcrawler as Huntress gave a salute as the Nightcrawler crushed the parademon standing over Wonder Woman to death.
"Our turn," Batman grunted.
"Did you think I was just arrows?" Huntress smirked as she wheeled the turret to face the rear of the Nightcrawler, opening fire on all the parademons in the back as Batman handled the ones in the front.
But before they got too comfortable, Steppenwolf shouted out, leaping down from above and striking the Nightcrawler with his axe, which caused the bridge to destabilize and Wonder Woman spotted her sword starting to fall away.
"Shit!"
Wonder Woman made a break for it as she lunged for her sword as the bridge caved in as Huntress gasped as she got out of the turret as Batman looked up from the cockpit.
That was when Flash suddenly sped in and gave a look around at his allies and Steppenwolf falling to the ground as Wonder Woman reached for her sword. Making a mad dash around the wall of the tunnel, Flash reached his hand out and gave Wonder Woman's sword a simple touch, which sent the blade flying back into her grasp as he grinned at the beautiful warrior falling towards him... which caused him to lose his focus as he tripped over a crack in the wall and fell down to the ground in a heap, groaning in pain as he sat up and Wonder Woman touched down next to him.
Steppenwolf shouted out as he stabbed at the Nightcrawler as Huntress struggled to aim her bow at him as he punched the glass of the cockpit, trying to get to Batman. Huntress then groaned out as she leaped off of the Nightcrawer and somersaulted to safety.
Flash looked up at the falling debris as he sped off into the wall as the Nightcrawler hit the ground and exploded.
"Catastrophic failure on all systems," Alfred reported. "Are you alright, Master Wayne? Are you alright?"
Steppenwolf grunted as he slid down the wall and Huntress and Wonder Woman leaped aside as he landed next to them with a grunt of fury.
"You might want to stand back," Wonder Woman suggested, positioning her Bracelets of Submission as Huntress stepped back with a nod.
"You have the blood of the Old Gods in you," Steppenwolf said.
And just as he was about to strike, Wonder Woman slammed her glowing bracelets together, which sent a massive surge of energy forwards that sent him barreling through the tunnel.
Outside, Cyborg looked down to his father with a concerned nod.
"You okay?"
Silas nodded in confirmation. "Wasn't sure you'd come."
"You're my father."
"Go. Help your friends."
Cyborg nodded as he blasted off back into the tunnel.
Just as Flash was about to speed off, he was hit by a laser blast to his knee, causing him to scream in pain as the parademons grabbed him and flew him off down the tunnel.
Huntress and Wonder Woman took notice and shouted out as Huntress sniped the parademons down with her arrows as Wonder Woman then leaped in and one of them in two with her sword.
As the second one recovered and was about to attack Huntress, a grappling line stabbed it through its chest as Batman reeled it back from the wreckage of the Nightcrawler.
Batman looked up and saw Cyborg fly down into the tunnel, closing the mask over his face as he landed in the destroyed cockpit and then morphed his arm into mechanical tendrils that hacked into the Nightcrawler's computer, causing the systems to flare back to life. The Nightcrawler then righted its position as Batman stood impressed as Cyborg glared at Steppenwolf from the cockpit.
"Relax, Alfred. I'll take it from here."
"Uh, do I know you?"
Cyborg grew a gatling gun from the top of the Nightcrawler, pelting Steppenwolf with the bullets as the conqueror stood his ground, holding his axe in front of him to take the many impacts. Cyborg then fired a missile, which Steppenwolf merely swatted aside as it exploded. He fired another missile that Steppenwolf simply caught in mid flight. He then redirected it towards the wall as it detonated, creating a large hole in the wall before he suddenly teleported away, much to the shock of the heroes.
"Uh, what are we under right now?" Flash asked worriedly.
"Gotham Harbor," Batman answered.
"Oh, gods," Huntress said worriedly.
True to Batman's word, a massive surge of water burst from the hole as Batman helped Flash hobble towards the Nightcrawler as Huntress and Wonder Woman stood in shock... but then looked carefully as a figure appeared in the water.
"Let's go," Wonder Woman said as the two rushed away from the flood as Wonder Woman picked up her shield on the way.
The figure then revealed himself as Arthur, or Aquaman now as he was dressed golden and green scale mail armor as he wielded his mother's trident in his hand and leaped in front of the flood before slamming the trident down into the ground, which created a surge of energy that held the water back.
Everyone looked behind them to see Aquaman holding back the flood.
"Who is that?" Flash asked.
"Come on!" Batman shouted as he and Flash ran back to the Nightcrawler and got onto the top as Aquaman's feet slid back from the force of the flood before the water washed over him.
"Come on," Cyborg said under his breath
Wonder Woman and Huntress looked in shock at the flood rushing towards them.
"Diana, Becky, get on!"
Wonder Woman and Huntress got onto the top of the Nightcrawler and grasped onto the grips as the flood washed it down the tunnel and slammed its legs into the top. The team then stabbed their blades into the metal frame as the machine crawled up the tunnel as far as it could before it stopped and the four heroes looked on in shock at the rushing water below them.
Cyborg got out of the cockpit and fired up his rocket boots to fly upwards out of the tunnel.
Steppenwolf teleported back to his stronghold and glanced at the stone and the two Mother Boxes inside.
"What is it?" he asked. "Show me."
Steppenwolf reached out and touched the second Mother Box as electricity surged around his arm before he clutched his eyes closed before opening them to reveal a lush green landscape around him. He reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt, letting it fall between his fingers.
"It is here. On this world."
Steppenwolf slammed his axe into the ground, creating a massive surge of energy as a volcanic crater opened beneath him in the shape of a very peculiar sigil as he roared in fury.
Back at Gotham Harbor, the team stood by as the hostages, including Silas, looked on as they were being examined by the paramedics who were wearing hazmat suits.
"Sir, you're gonna be in quarantine for possible alien microbes," a paramedic told Silas. "U.S. government protocols require that-"
"I know the requirements. I wrote them."
"It called to him," Wonder Woman told the team as they looked on at the scene from the rocks. "The Mother Box. The one he already has."
"He has two," Aquaman informed. "He took the Mother Box from Atlantis.
"All he needs now is the lost Box of Men," Huntress said.
"If he doesn't already have it," Batman nodded.
That was when Cyborg suddenly touched down, holding the final Mother Box in a large square-shaped briefcase.
"He doesn't have it," he said. "I do."
Back at Steppenwolf's stronghold, the image of DeSaad appeared above the stone pedestal again.
"Have you finished the conquest?" DeSaad asked.
"Not yet, DeSaad."
"Then why do you summon me?"
"I bring news. Before mighty Darkseid came to the throne, he searched the universe for the ultimate weapon: The Anti-Life Equation. The key to controlling all life and all will throughout the multiverse. He found it hidden on a primitive planet, but before-"
"The story of the defiance is well known."
"I have found the primitive planet," Steppenwolf said, slamming the axe down. "The world that fought back. It is Earth. The Anti-Life Equation is carved into the surface of this very world."
"Are you certain?"
"I have seen it. I have looked with my own eyes. An Anti-Life."
DeSaad closed his eyes and began chanting in an alien language before his image faded from the pedestal.
Steppenwolf looked beside him as the parademons landed beside him and gave a bow... and then he looked to the pedestal again as a very different image appeared of a giant hulking figure that just emanated evil in his presence.
"My lord," a shocked Steppenwolf said as he hit his knees and bowed as well, taking his armor off.
"Oh, Steppenwolf," Darkseid said, disappointed.
"My lord, I am but your humble servant."
"Can it be true that you have found it?"
"I have, great one. The lost world is Earth. Anti-Life is here."
"If it is redemption you seek, find the third box, synchronize the Unity and when this world is scorched, I will come for my great prize."
"You will come to Earth?"
"I have turned 100,000 worlds to dust looking for Anti-Life. Looking for those who robbed me of my glory. I will stride across their bones and bask in the glow of Anti-Life. And all of existence shall be mine."
"It shall be so, my master," Steppenwolf said, bowing his head.
The team stepped out of Batman's ship and looked around at Bruce's secret hanger, everyone but Diana and Becky looking impressed at the sight.
"Wow," Arthur said.
"So cool," Barry agreed. "From the outside, it looked like this building was abandoned."
"That's kind of the point," Becky said as she walked over to a table and set down her pack and took out its contents.
"That's quite the collection you've amassed," Barry said as Becky laid all her weaponry on the table and picked up her beloved spear and smiled as she felt at the bladed tip.
"I'm always having the Plumbers work on these," Becky said as she put the spear down and tested the strength of her bow and crossbow's strings with a smile. "When most people see weaponry like this, they see only carnage and chaos. But I'm a true huntress. I see each and every one of my weapons like works of art. You have to take care of them. You have to understand them. And that's why despite the fact that I'm only sixteen, I have a great reputation throughout my universe as a great huntress. Because I see my weaponry as an extension of myself."
"Just like a true warrior," Diana smiled. "Mother would have loved to have trained you herself."
"I know," Becky said. "Michelangelo could not be the greatest painter who ever lived without his paint brush. It's the same thing with warriors. They need the best weapons to achieve the best results on the battlefield and it's what I try to collect."
"Do you used refurbished weapons or new weapons? Or a combination of both?" Arthur asked.
"Pretty much all of them are used," Becky explained. "I take a lot of weapons that I can collect from my enemies and use them to upgrade my own."
"You could definitely learn a few things from us while you're here," Bruce said.
"You have no idea. I may be the youngest one here, but I am definitely not the underdog," Becky said to Bruce with a nod. "I have the strength, the skills and the experience it takes to win the battle even in this new environment."
"I may not have known anything about you before, but you definitely mean business," Arthur said.
"Helping you guys beat Steppenwolf and saving this world would change my entire career as a hero and a hunter. I need to prove that I'm just as good of a hero without the Omni-Team as I am with them," Becky said as Diana nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder with a smile. "I've struggled with my confidence in the past, but I'm not gonna let anything or anybody stand in my way of the goal. This is my time."
"It wants to fly," Vic said, looking up at the large ship above the team.
"You talk to machines?" Arthur asked.
"I talk to intelligence. This one's saying she can't fly because of a software issue, but I could fix it with a little time."
Vic then laid the case with the Mother Box on the table as Bruce looked on with a nod as the six heroes gathered around it.
"There's a dark spot in my data stream," Vic said. "I could feel the other two boxes. I know they're awake, but I can't see where they are."
"Well, we can't attack Steppenwolf unless we know where the base is," Arthur said.
"Even if we knew, I've never seen a being as strong as Steppenwolf," Diana said with her arms crossed. "Maybe one."
"Hmm... Superman," Barry nodded as Becky rose an eyebrow.
"As long as the third box is asleep, they can't see it," Vic said. "Only sense it. We need to keep moving so they don't catch up."
"No," Bruce said as Becky nodded.
"That's just a strategy to lose more slowly," Becky agreed. "Not to win."
"Remind me," Barry said. "Are flamethrowers not a thing? Why don't we just destroy it?"
"Fire doesn't destroy the boxes," Vic said. "They're an unknown form of matter. Oh, they love heat. They absorb it, hold it in their cores."
"Well, you know a lot about these boxes," Arthur said. "Makes you think."
"Where'd you find the box, Victor?" Bruce asked.
"Are you trying to say something?"
"Oh, I'm saying it. How do we know you're not working for them?" Arthur asked.
"It's a long story."
"You got somewhere else to be?"
Vic then projected the image of a Nazi fortress, prompting the rest of the team to look down at it.
"The Nazis found the box at the end of the second World War, buried under an Italian monastary. The Allies intercepted it on its way to Hitler. They brought it back to the States in '44. Unknown object 6-1-9-8-2. It collected dust in the Pentagon archives for seventy years until DoD began to study the Superman ship. A researcher at S.T.A.R. Labs made a connection between the ship and 6-1-9-8-2. He understood that they were both alien technologies. Different civilizations, similar properties. And though the box had slept for thousands of years, the researcher formulated a theory on how to awaken it. And so did. Then... I had an accident that should've killed me. But in an act of desperation or madness, the researcher harnessed the power of the Mother Box. He unleashed an alien technology he didn't fully understand. He used that power to keep me alive. Alive... but turned into this."
"Whoa," Becky said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I can't imagine any of my team ever even willing to think of doing something like that. And I've seen them try to hack the Omnitrixes. Long story."
"The box went back to sleep and he never returned it. That researcher was Silas Stone. My father."
"Wait, your father saved your life with one of these things?" Barry asked. "Aren't they psycho murder machines?"
"They're change machines. The boxes don't think in terms of healing or killing, alive or dead. They rearrange matter at the will of their masters, regenerate, reinstate."
"Reinstate?" Diana asked, curious.
"A box has the power to reinstate anterior particle relationships."
"So you mean in the way that particles of matter can't be created or destroyed," Becky guessed. "Their relations just transform."
"Burn down a house, the particles still exist. Particles of house become particles of smoke."
"Anybody with a match can turn a house to smoke," Diana said.
"But a Mother Box..." Arthur started.
"...turns smoke back into a house," Bruce realized.
The team looked among themselves as Becky smirked and put a hand on her hip with a nod.
"...I know we're all thinking the same thing right now," Barry said. "Who's gonna say it? I'm not gonna say it."
Cyborg then projected an image of Superman onto the box as Becky nodded.
"We can use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman," she said.
In Metropolis at Lois' apartment, someone knocked on the reporter's door, prompting her to walk in.
"Who is it?" Lois asked.
"Martha," Superman's mother said from behind the door, which immediately cause Lois to open it to see her.
"Hi," Lois said, teary eyed as she wrapped Martha into a hug.
Lois then brought up some coffee for her guest as they sat at the table.
"I went to the Daily Planet to finally pick up Clark's thing," Martha said. "I don't know why. Nowhere to put them now. I lost the farm. I've been behind on the payments for a while. Truth is the house is too big for me to live in by myself anyway."
"Well, you know you're welcome to stay here any time for as long as you need."
"Thank you, Lois. That's very kind. But I found a little place that that suits me just fine right by the diner. I'm not here for help. I'm here because when I saw Mr. Perry, he told me that you haven't been to work since Clark died."
"I can't."
"The whole world is mourning. Grieving over a symbol. Everywhere I go, everywhere I look, I see that S. I hear what people say. They talk like they knew him. But they didn't know Clark. And I can't stop them and look at them and tell them how proud I am of my son. You're the only one who knows. Who feels what I do. Burdened by a secret on top of grief. I came all this way because I wanted... because I wanted to see you. Tell you... I understand."
"I..." Lois began, her eyes filled with tears. "Will never love anybody the way I loved your son. And I just miss him. I miss him so much."
"So do I, sweetheart."
"Martha, you know if there's anything else you need, I'm here."
"There is something you can do for me, honey. Come back to the living."
After that heartfelt conversation, Martha left the apartment to face the readers... and once she was sure she was alone, her eyes suddenly glowed red as her form morphed into a green-skinned alien with a blue suit and cape before shifting again into an African American man.
"The world needs you too, Lois," the alien said as he left the complex.
"The dead are dead," Arthur said as the team continued to argue.
"You sure about that?" Becky asked. "The box brought Victor back."
"Victor wasn't dead. Life is either one or zero. It's to be or not to be. Not both."
"Can you operate this box, Victor?" Bruce asked.
"Of course. But we don't know enough about Kryptonian biology. There's no telling what's going to happen."
"Okay," Barry said as Diana sighed. "But we have to try, don't we? We have to try."
"I agree," Becky said. "What do we have to lose?"
"We cannot try unless we activate the box," Diana reminded. "As soon as it wakes up..."
"...the enemy sees it, comes, activates the Unity. Game over," Bruce said.
"So what we have to lose is the entire planet to a bunch of genocidal aliens," Barry said. "Good to know."
"Or as me and the rest of the Omni-Team like to call it, Tuesday," Becky chuckled.
"Even if Superman could return, who's to say that he could defeat them?" Arthur asked.
"The Mother Box did," Bruce said. "Victor's father activated a Mother Box more than a year ago when Superman was still alive. But it didn't call out to Steppenwolf. None of the boxes did. Not until..."
"Not until Superman died," Diana realized.
"Not until Superman died."
"It's like they were afraid of him?" Barry asked.
"Yeah," Becky realized. "They were afraid of him. Which means that this is the only way we even stand a fraction of a chance of beating Steppenwolf."
"There are seven, not six," Bruce nodded to Becky. "There is no us without him."
And with that, the team's mind was made up. They were going to try to achieve the impossible.
They were going to raise the Man of Steel from the grave.