Chapter 26: Interlude 3.6

Interlude 3

~/.\~

(Koriand'r aka Starfire)

 

She woke up in softness, but suddenly sat up; as she looked around herself, she realized that she was in a bed covered by purple and silver sheets and enormous pillows and little cushions spread around her. The room she was in would rival a presidential suit in the best Earth Hotels, the sheet smelled clean and felt soft against her body. Koriand’r then noticed the window… which wasn’t one, it was a panoramic bulkhead with space and a red planet as a background. 

Koriand’r was no longer on Earth it seemed. The decorations consisted of statues and painting of planetary objects or abstract geometrical form with a play on the colors. On the ground there was a midnight blue carpet and in part white metal surfaces; the furniture matched the floor’s color. Trying to move, Koriand’r felt weak, but at least she didn’t hurt anymore. That beatdown Komand’r had given her made her think about how her sister had toyed with her. This was the first time someone had harmed her so much, each fist she received hit like an asteroid launched at mach speed and further lowered her durability as it took more and more energy to stay unscathed.

Then Koriand’r realized that her sister didn’t even use her starbolt against her, maybe she would have gone down faster if Komand’r had used them. She raised her hands and looked at her palms, trying to ignite her starbolt in her hands. There were sparkles and… then nothing.

"Don't bother, Kori, you've been sucked dry of UV energy. I don’t want our tête à tête to end up in a fist fight again." A voice rang from afar and Koriand’r turned her head toward the entrance of the bedroom. 

Komand’r stood here, in traditional Tamaranean outfit, leaving most of her skin exposed to the light. As she entered the room, the ceiling changed to become a domed skylight showing space or more accurately the moon Phobos on a carpet of stars. The room changed configuration, the draperie was altered to make the space more open plan like it should be for a Tamaranean.

It made sense to Koriand’r, if she was powered up she would be fighting again. It seemed that Komand’r wanted to talk about something, but right now Koriand’r felt indisposed. "I feel so… weak."

Her sister came floating and sat at the side of the bed. "This is what I felt when I couldn't metabolize stellar energy, Kori. Don't worry, I'm going to charge you right back. But first…"

This revelation made Koriand’r feel somewhat guilty, how could her sister live like this? What about the scorn and isolation she went through? Her eyes widened. *No wonder Komand’r went over the edge.*

Staring at her sister, Koriand’r asked with hesitation, "What… do you want to do with me?"

Koriand’r hoped that her sister wasn’t going to sell her out again to slavery, that had been a horrible period of her life. 

The blank face of Komand’r softened and she crawled further inside the bed, sitting at Koriand’r’s side, initiated physical contact by wrapping an arm around her shoulder and started to purr. This reminded Koriand’r of a time when the two of them were close. Komand’r spoke after a long sigh, "I… wanted to observe you at first, see if you were like my sister back in my universe."

Face to face with Koriand’r, Komand’r continued to speak. "But you're mature, motherly and have grown to be a leader. You aren't that spoiled girl I knew back then."

With an astonished expression, Koriand’r asked, "Universe? Are you saying that you aren't my Komand’r, but a counterpart of her?"

People from the future or magical dimension she can stomach, she lived through such events as a Titan member, but someone from a parallel universe? This was new to Koriand’r, she knew the theory about parallel dimensions; a parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality. A hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse". This was word for word what she read in that science magazine she read when she was bored.

With a startled gasp, Komand’r said, "X’Hal, you’re so smart, you guessed that so fast. Yes, Kori… I'm technically not your sister."

Koriand’r remembered that they didn’t have the technology for such a thing to happen. "Impossible."

She was certain of this, but Komand’r once again shook that faith and utterly destroyed it by showing Koriand’r her memories via telepathy. She was robbed of her senses and saw her sister’s early childhood. Koriand’r saw how utterly alone Komand’r grew up, only shown love, kindness and care by her big brother Ryand'r. Her parents neglected her, the people loathed her for something she didn’t do because the enemy took advantage of how emotional their race is and after hearing of her illness, causing her to not be able to metabolize stellar energy, people choose to think that she was evil in some way. Everything changed when Koriand’r, the youngest, was born. Instead of being jealous of the attention given to the young star, Komand’r heaped a lot of love on her younger sister, spoiling her rotten. Until she started to train in combat, hunting for megafauna on Tamaran, studied the art of war and dipped her hands in politics.

She had less time for her little sister and continued to fight tooth and nail to find her place in her world; Komand’r entered the military and rose through the ranks. Their Empire was under siege by the Citadel and their allies and Komand’r didn’t understand why the King kept a weak defense. Komand’r revitalized the war effort against the Citadel by changing their strategy to total war, not just defense; they looked for all the beachheads that the Citadelians had on Tamaran and nearby outposts in the star system and crushed them, leaving only a smattering of survivors who ended up captured and interrogated.

Thanks to her Komand’r’s change, they obtained Citadel weapon technology and integrated it into a new class of warship, heavier than any they created before. They discovered Antiproton weapons, and shield technology, as well as gravitic drives; a new branch of science opened that focused solely on Quantum Physics. The pilfered research led to the study of Slipspace and it enabled the Tamaranean Empire to strike back even more swiftly against the Citadel. They could take the fight to them in their own systems and it hurt them.

The final nail in the coffin for the Citadel and its allies was when Komand’r, King Myand’r and some of his trusted generals devised a plan that only the first princess could shoulder. She pretended to betray her people and gave the locations of the fleets and outposts they secreted to be able to strike at the Citadel forces. It was a trap obviously and as a result, in a massive space battle, Komand’r and her task forces destroyed the main fleets of the Citadel, slaughtering even those people who surrendered or were in lifepods.

What surprised Koriand’r was the utter joy she saw on Komand’r’s face when she was lauded for the victory; she got it, she got the recognition she sought. But this wasn’t the end, thanks to the science and technology stolen from the Citadelians and the PSION, Komand’r dropped resonance quasar bombs near the Citadels, Psions, and Badoon core worlds and all their known colonies; that destabilized the space-time continuum, this meant that none of those species had access to FTL and were stranded on their world. Koriand’r didn’t understand yet the repercussions when she understood that Komand’r sentenced those people to death, famine and more horrors that she couldn’t imagine.

This was when she was brought out of Komand’r’s memories; the Tamaranean woman who wasn’t her sister but her counterpart looked into Koriand’r’s eyes and said, "My name is Komand’r. First Princess of Tamaran and General of the third fleet; I won a decisive battle against the Citadel and their allies, the PSION. I have confined them to their planets for the next two decades thanks to a device that affects FTL drives in their regions of space. Then… I was betrayed by my sister, Koriand’r, who asked that I be punished for breaking a nebulous treaty I didn’t know existed. Instead of being executed, I was made an Ambassador of Tamaran and to be sent away. Before leaving, I attempted to suicide, but was rescued by an entity who… gave me a new goal to strive for and healed me as you have now seen.”

Komand’r then began explaining her thought process when the being saved her. An abstract entity, with god-like power that allowed her to cross universes to do good and fixed her Stellar metabolization problem? Koriand’r wasn’t surprised that her sister from another universe jumped at the offer, and here she was now, trying to save her universe from a future of tyranny.

The redhead kept silent for a moment, while doing so, Komand’r kept caressing her hair in typical affectionate manner like a real Tamaranean who was starved of touch would. Koriand’r understood why she was sought out, observing her had been a way to cope with her loneliness, something taboo for her people. Humans couldn’t understand this deep seated feeling of wanting to be close to someone and be there at their side and wanting to be glued to them. *Dick certainly didn’t understand at first and had acted as if I was cheating on him.*

Humans can’t understand how deeply seated this instinct of wanting to cuddle is. Koriand’r didn’t know if she believed Komand’r, but the magic and telepathy she was using, her sister couldn’t do that. “I don’t know what to say… but some things are making sense, my sister isn’t a sorceress and she isn’t as powerful as you…”

Komand’r smiled, not the cocky grin she was used to, but a beautiful arc of her lips that showed that she had no wicked intention and was about to boast about something, like in their youth. “I was taught my magic by the Queen of Asgard, All-Mother Frigga, she adopted me.”

Koriand’r stared shockingly at her sister. “You switched allegiance?! But what about Tamaran?!”

Komand'r shrugged as if she didn't care much for her own home. “It’s going to create some problems with the Tamaranean Empire, I know. But I’m going to make the two polities enter into an alliance, everything will be negotiated. At worst, I will renounce my succession rights and disinherit myself and be banished to become a Princess of Asgard.”

Koriand’r couldn't understand, and started to believe this Komand’r’s story. “Why, I thought that you wanted to be recognized by everyone back home?”

With a self-derisive tone, Komand'r laughed. She shook her head and explained herself, “I tried that before, all I got for my trouble was to be called flightless, a bad omen and was shunned by everyone, even my parents; I destroyed our enemies and was celebrated for it for a time, but I was stabbed in the back by your counterpart. I don’t begrudge my Kori for doing it; she’s a spoiled and righteous little princess, she didn’t know better. But… never again, ”

“You don’t want to be Queen?” Koriand’r couldn’t fathom that her sister wasn’t ambitious.

Komand’r frowned. “As I am? No. I’m not ready yet. But if I want to rule one day, I will build my own Queendom with my own hands. What would I do with people who scorned me and fell so easily for an enemy ploy?”

The younger Tamaranean reeled in shock at the… sincerity in Komand’r’s voice. “You have no love for Tamaran.” She realized that this Komand’r didn’t care in the least for her own home world.

“Great, you understand.” Komand’r laughed and patted her sister’s arm.

Then it clicked in Koriand’r’s mind that, “You really are not her.”

Komand’r chuckled and mussed Koriand’r’s hair, who glared at her and batted the Tamaranean’s hand away. Then she was hugged while Komand’r purred in pleasure from the contact. Getting her fill of her physiological need to be in contact with her close family, Komand’r said with a relieved sigh “I still don’t understand why she did that to you. Pray that I never meet your Komand’r; for selling you out, I would kill her. Actually, I’m tempted to go there right now with you and erase her.”

Koriand’r opened her eyes wide and clung onto her sister’s counterpart and pleaded, “Please don’t. It kills me to say that, but my people need her.”

Komand’r looked rather mulishly at her, until Koriand’r kissed her cheek and said again with her ultimate technique: puppy dog eyes, “Please.”

Komand’r caved instantly and growled, “Fiiiiine, no regicide because you asked.”

They stayed glued to each other for a while, Koriand’r noticed that she was absorbing energy from somewhere and realized that it was coming from Komand’r who was using skin contact to transfer some of her energy into her. This was a power that she didn’t know her species possessed, more and more, she believed Komand’r’s stories about her being from another universe.

“So, I’m going to keep you here for three days. We have an operation to perform, I won’t tell you what, but I’m going to give you the run of the station to meet my friends and allies.” Komand’r said as she started peeling off her and Koriand’r’s clothes.

Koriand’r noticed how aggressive she was, and decided to help her by carefully taking off her leotard; they were soon naked on the bed and the older Tamaranean put the younger one on her front and massaged her little sister’s back.

The exiled princess began purring at the contact and conversationally asked, “Let me guess… you’re against the Regime?”

Feeling warm hands slide on her skin and undoing knots in her back, Koriand’r hummed in pleasure. Komand’r rewarded her question with an answer, “You got it, if we don’t stop Superman right now, his tyranny spreads to the stars. He destroys Tamaran and our people are treated as disposable shock troops in his wars.”

Koriand’r froze.“You’re going to kill him?”

With a sigh, as if she regretted not being able to, Komand’r said, “No, I promised his biological mother that I wouldn’t.”

She slapped Koriand’r on the ass, making her squeal a bit for freezing; the exiled princess relaxed, *Good she won’t kill him but, but this was dire news… how does she know what Clark Kent will do? Time travel? Precognition?*

Then she remembered what Komand’r actually said and hefted herself up, her breast jiggling toward Komand’r as she asked, “I must have misheard…I thought he had no family from that side anymore?”

With a sigh of regret, Komand’r put her hand on Koriand’r’s breast and squeezed delicately. Koriand’r was made to orgasm on the spot, for a moment nothing was said. But Koriand’r let her sister work her magic on her. Then it stopped and she found herself transported in a blink into a bathroom with a giant roman style pool made of glowing pink rock and there were sunlamps mounted in the ceiling.

Looking around, she realized that she didn’t even feel herself move; she asked herself how fast Komand’r truly was? 

“Take a bath, recharge your Starbolt energy. And next, you’ll come with me, Kori.” Komand’r said in a… commanding tone.

“Where?” Kori asked, still reeling from the powerful orgasm her sister had given her. It was better than any Jason had given her and she wanted more. It wasn’t incest, unattached Tamaranean females always did this to each other… 

“We will go to the Command Center, where you can contact your teammates and bring them in, alright?”

Koriand’r thought about it, Terra, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl were all anti-Regime; Raven, Damian the murderer and Cyborg were pro-Regime. In the end it came down to sides, but Koriand’r refused to be on the same team as the murderer of her Mate, Dick Grayson. She had been clear with Superman, if Damian Wayne came back to the Titan tower, she would kill him. Kid or no kid.

It was an easy choice to make, to easily betray the people who hurt you. “I will, sister.”

Komand’r flew into the waters of the pool and immersed herself to her waist. “And then you’ll meet my Kryptonian allies.”

Koriand’r was about to follow her and froze yet again, surprised by the casual revelation. “Aren’t they extinct?!”

With a mighty flip of her hair, Komand’r said with a smug tone, “Oh no, Kori. You’ll find that whatever people in the cosmos are aware about Kryptonians, they are mistaken about a great many things.”

She walked dumbly into the water, joining Komand’r who started splashing her, her beautiful body glistening with water.

 

~/.\~

(Cassandra Sandsmark aka Wonder Girl)

 

Titans Tower
San Francisco Bay
California
1 day later…

 

Starfire disappeared!

It’s not like her to disappear like this for a day, as a team leader she has responsibilities. It was just after meeting that woman, Lady Miracle, was it? Cassie walked toward Koriand’r's room, stomping out as her worry weighed her down. 

She opened the door and found the apartment empty… It wasn't a surprise that the entire place was open plan, with a skylight and an impressive suspended garden on the balcony. Everywhere was a shade of pink and red. The furniture was custom made and mostly alien with the appliances made of technology beyond that of Earth.

Cassandra took her smartphone from her pocket and called Koriand’r again. The call simply didn't connect. And Cassandra became angrier, then she walked toward the wardrobe to look if anything got taken from it; maybe their leader left with a suitcase or something.

VORP! A revolving golden portal opened on Cassie’s right, smackdab in the living room; Cassandra immediately unsheathed her sword and readied herself. But it wasn’t an enemy which exited the portal. Out of it exited Kori who was speaking to someone. "Here we are, sister.”

“You got a nice place, minimal, but tastefully decorated.” Another female voice said, and Cassandra couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Starfire was speaking amicably with her older sister, Blackfire. Cassie's hand tightened on the handle of her sword as she heard Kori say, “I hope we can convince my friends to join us."

When Blackfire entered fully inside the apartment through the portal, she stared toward Cassandra. "Oh, some people are more stubborn than you think, Kori."

Koriand’r looked in the direction of Cassandra and saw her. "Cassie, why are you at my place?"

The honorary Amazon pointed her sword at Blackfire. "No, what you should be explaining is 'what are you doing with Blackfire?'"

Kori looked from blackfire to Cassandra and then said in a panicking way, "This isn't what it looks like."

Blackfire smirked and wrapped her arms around Kori's waist and said loudly, "Really, Kori? Didn't we have a night of passion yesterday and tried to mend our broken hearts together?"

Kori struck the other Tamaranean’s arms and yelled, "Sister, you're making it worse!"

Blackfire's hands groped Kori's right boob and argued in her ear loud enough for Cassandra to hear. "Worse than you cumming under my ministrations and begging for more?"

Kori's cheeks darkened and she tried to pry herself from Blackfire's embrace.  "You're having fun with those misconstrued facts!"

With a seductive tone, the other Tamaranean added victoriously, "But… I am not lying, we had sex in the bath and the bed."

"You…" Kori tried to de-escalate the situation but it seemed that Blackfire wasn't in the mood for that.

As for Cassandra she was simply mad, so much so that she attacked immediately and lunged at the two Tamaraneans targeting Blackfire. "Aaaargh!"

Blade first, Cassandra hit Blackfire but suddenly she realized that what she saw was an after image as she felt movement behind her. Like a cobra she turned and attempted to behead the Tamaranean behind her. However, she felt her sword being taken from her hand, she turned fully and saw Blackfire playing cheerleader with her weapon to then throw it at Kori who caught it sheepishly. 

Blackfire towered over Cassandra and started to talk smack. "Hmm, you're rather slow."

The honorary Amazon didn't reply to the obvious taunt and threw down a punch at Blackfire's solar plexus. Slap! Crack! However it was like hitting a ten centimeters thick sheet of metal, Cassandra heard a bone crack in her hand. "Ouch!"

Blackfire caught Cassandra's hand and flipped her over and slammed her on the carpeted ground. "And very weak physically. I think my friend, Kara, would beat you once I allow her to get under the yellow sun."

Cassandra growled and rolled upright, turning and throwing herself at Blackfire's leg to swipe them under her, but the alien simply hovered up. Like she expected, Cassandra lunged knee first at Komand’r, who caught the knee with one hand by receiving it in her palm.

She tried to pry herself from Blackfire's grip on her legs but she found that she couldn't. The Tamaranean hummed in admiration. "Good techniques, but you must know when you're fighting a vastly stronger opponent. Are you done?"

Blackfire let go of her and threw Cassandra on the ground, she used a Ukemi technique to break her fall and landed back on her haunches. Cassandra reached for her lasso. However, she wasn't given the opportunity to use it, as Blackfire was suddenly next to her and caught her hand and divested Cassandra of her weapon. She felt the powerful pressure that the Tamaranean exerted on her wrist, almost breaking it and lifted the Honorary Amazon to her eye level like a child. 

As she stared at Cassandra in the eyes she said condescendingly, "Your little anger lasso won't help you, Wonder Woman junior. I know how you fight and my reflexes and senses are beyond yours."

This strength was well beyond anything Cassandra had encountered before, even Superman or Diana had not treated her like this. She looked at Kori who looked sorry for what was happening and this Blackfire was acting completely different from the one she had thought and who wasn't as strong. 

Then it's when everything clicked, Koriand’r wouldn't forgive her sister or treat her normally after the slavery and the rapes she has gone through by the PSION and the Citadel. No, this was someone else… "You're not Blackfire."

The Tamaranean chuckled mockingly. "If you mean the false Queen currently ruling the analog of my people in this universe? No, I am not her. I promised Kori to not go after her and kill her. She should be returning to her planet and kill her traitorous sibling and bring her people under her aegis. Not playing heroes with your flawed and barbaric society."

"We spoke about this, sister." Koriand’r glared at the other Tamaranean. 

Cassandra felt the pressure on her wrist loosen and Blackfire let go of her. The alien then floated toward Koriand’r and landed before her and started arguing.  "And I still think you are idiotically refusing your destiny and wasting your time with this planet's primitives." 

Feeling rather offended by those accusations on behalf of everyone on the planet, Cassandra shouted, "Hey!"

The Titans couldn't take it anymore and demanded, "What in Hera is happening here? Who is she, Kori?"

Komand'r turned to Cassandra and rolled her eyes, then flipped her hair. "Didn't you listen, you stupid bimbo? I am a universal alternate of her sister, where our positions were reversed. I am the good Blackfire, well good is relative… It depends on whose good I am working towards."

The two women faced each other, but before another fight broke out, Koriand’r placed herself between Blackfire and Cassandta. "Will you two stop?!"

Planting her hand on her hips and puffing out her chest, Koriand’r looked at the red clad Wonder Girl. "Cassandra, apologize for your attack, it wasn't warranted." Then she looked at the counterpart of her sister. "Komand’r, you too, you're going too far! No name calling and stop dissing Earth."

The two alien women glared at each other, however Koriand’r changed tack and made puppy eyes at her… and Blackfire caved instantly. She deflated and then sighed; she floated before Cassandra and mumbled, "... Fine, I am sorry. I don't like people attacking me out of the blue like you did."

This was another difference that the Blackfire she knew would never allow herself to do. Apologize. The Queen of Tamaran was unabashed, cruel and prideful. 

"I…" Cassandra looked at Koriand’r who was waiting for her to start. "I apologize, I thought that you were the evil twisted Queen of Tamaran."

Something dangerous rose deep in those glowing alien eyes that made Cassandra step back. But it wasn't directed at her, she realized. With crackling purple starbolt energy, this Blackfire growled, "We agree that this universe's Blackfire should be killed and replaced. Such a dishonorable blight shouldn't be suffered."

Cassandra nodded, it was weird to find that another Blackfire found the acts of her counterpart disgusting. Koriand’r was too much of a softie, she should have killed the bitch after what she went through. Speaking of Kori, she said warningly, "Komand’r…"

The purple energy simply dissipated, and Blackfire turned to her sister, lover, whatever they were now. "Fine, right… no killing the traitor who would kill you for her personal gain."

Kori nodded and hugged her sister. "Yes, I am tired of politics. I am tired of all the death and game of thrones." Koriand’r replied.

Blackfire wrapped her arms around Kori and patted her back tenderly while purring and touching forehead with her. "I can understand that… Do you want to come back with me when I leave this reality?"

It was fascinating to Cassandra, seeing a good… Blackfire who has incestuous desire toward her own sister's counterpart. Then she registered what Blackfire said and panicked, "Wait, no! You can't leave, Kori!"

Blackfire smoothly said as she turned to Cassandra, "You can come too. Our Kid Flash and Beast Boy are alive but unpowered in my dimension."

This made Cassandra gape at the alien seductress. Because this was a good offer, she wanted to see BB and KF again… she gulped. "I won't lie… this is really tempting, but I would feel like I am replacing them."

And they were just fighting minutes ago, and now like a devil, Blackfire was already dangling juicy offers at them. She floated up to Cassandra and touched her right cheek. She was really warm, as if there was a sun running under her skin. "Think more about it, you guys deserve to have some fun and be free to do what you want. This hero stuff is really not important in the end. What you need to do is develop your society more, beating up people who in the end need help and are making bad choices is counterproductive."

The superheroine felt offended, but… she understood that this Blackfire was seeing the bigger picture. "You really don't think much of superheroes."

"I don't."

In the end Blackfire told what she came to do here, and it was to draft them into her group to stop Superman and Batman. Koriand’r was already on board, and Cassandra had had enough of being passive while their tyranny increased. She had seen the corruption of the super soldiers and the way crime had adapted to it. Something was going to break…

"I want to join."

 

~/.\~

(Bruce Wayne)

 

One day later…
Salem
Massachusetts, USA

 

Bruce was waiting in a Cafe he bought in Salem, but kept the previous owner running it for him. But it was a front, the Cafe was the entrance for an underground base and a server farm for the brother eye spy satellite in the sky. There were many such places all over the US, to keep Bruce's activities from being discovered by the Regime.

Raising from his seat, he put a twenty on the table to pay for his coffee and breakfast and turned toward the service door for employees. He passed through the door leading to the kitchen and then hollered to the boss who acknowledged him and pushed a button under the table where he was preparing food.

A hidden door opened in the rear of the storage area and Bruce passed through and descended the stairs leading into a small underground room. He then took an elevator to a space of five hundred square meters divided by six modular rooms. It went like this: Meeting room, computer room, Mess area, lab, infirmary and vehicle room.

The elevator stopped between the vehicle and the lab room where his Batsuit was stored, but… Bruce decided to not put on his costume, he had promised to retire after all. But it was hard, hard to try to convince himself that he didn't need to put the suit on. Better heroes and reformed villains seemed to band together and take on the Regime.

And that's how The Cosmic Slayers came to be, they weren't an heroically minded organization. No, they acted more like a Black Ops group, a deniable asset. Some of the people listed for the meeting worried Bruce, Harley Quinn, and Pamela Isley in particular.

Fortunately, he had his own line up, with Catwoman, Zatanna, and Black Lightning. Speaking of the devil, a golden portal opened and in the vehicle room, appeared five people. 

Bruce recognized Lady Miracle, Barbara, Poison Ivy and Harley, but the two others he didn't. It was a man and woman, and they were clothed oddly. They looked alien and yet familiar; until something struck Bruce, he had seen them before as statues in the Fortress of Solitude. *But it’s impossible! Aren’t they supposed to be dead?!*

It was all Bruce could do to not show his shock as Lady Miracle looked at him with a knowing smile. "Hello, Bruce, comment vas-tu? (Bruce, how are you?)."

The Billionaire straightened his tie and replied in French. "Très bien, Dame Miracle. (Doing fine, Lady Miracle)." 

Harley had to interrupt the scene by making a joke, "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? Omelette du fromage…"

Bruce glared at Harley, while Lady Miracle exploded in laughter. Pamela dope slapped her girlfriend. "Harley… Don't start, please, this meeting is important."

The two strangers stayed stoic and they were staring eerily at Bruce, judging him. If they were who he thought they were, they were blaming him; and he recognized that it was his fault. He should have taken care of the joker long ago, in some way but he has a code. A man always needs to have a code.

"But Pammy! They started speaking French all of a sudden!" Harley started to be overdramatic.

He still didn’t know why Lady Miracle partnered up with her. She is part of the problem, she caused this! But seeing the blonde put an arm around Harley’s waist, Bruce understood that he better not say anything.

"I really love Harley." The blonde said with a smile.

Barbara pushed Harley away from her girlfriend, "Hands off."

She was even more beautiful than before somehow, as if she’d been airbrushed; she was taller and she had forgone her glasses. The black and yellow suit she wore espoused her curves and showed how toned her body was. It wasn’t time to regret his choices…

"Hey, I don't mind the hugs." Harley complained, but Barbara glared at her, only for the crazy blonde to smile like a loon.

With an annoyed sniff, Barbara turned to the billionaire."Anyway, Bruce, can you lead us to the meeting room? We have data to give you."

Despite the state of their relationship, Bruce could appreciate Barbara’s professionalism. Harley and Poison Ivy have always been hard to work with, but if Lady Miracle can keep them under control, Bruce was willing to consider any plan they had. Bruce thought that he was the one with the advantage in this relationship. “Please follow me.”

Bruce led them to the meeting room, the light came on automatically when the security system detected their presence. Everyone found their place, but they waited for the other members to join them, however, only Black Lightning came. Black Canary and Huntress declined.

The billionaire was annoyed, their resistance movement needed to show group cohesion but the founders didn’t show up; giving a bad first contact with this new group which was rising against the Regime. Bruce sighed and said, "Let’s begin, but first could you tell me who those two people are?”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “You already know, Bruce, don’t play dumb.”

The billionaire glared at the redhead, then his eyes slid back on the couple. “I wish to hear it from them.”

Lara stared hard at Bruce, but it was the bearded man who addressed him. “I’m Jor-El, patriarch of the El family and this is my spouse, Lara-Jor El née Lor-Van.”

“Impossible!” Black Lightning looked at the two Kryptonian with Skepticism until Lara glared at the chair next to him as she turned it to cinder with her heat vision.

Jor-El turned to his wife with a long suffering expression. “Lara, was this truly necessary?”

The Kryptonian woman crossed her arms defiantly. “Now there should be no doubt that we’re Kal’s parents.”

While those two started bickering, Bruce turned his attention to Barbara and Lady Miracle who had an impish expression on her face. “What is it? How did you do it? Time Travel? Dimensional travel?”

Though it wasn’t those two who answered his questions. With a wave of Jor-El’s hands, a portable holographic projector appeared at the center of the table. Kandor, Brainiac and his ship appeared; and the videos showing the destruction of Krypton and the data collected by Kara’s ship started playing. Bruce stood transfixed as he was shown the death of a world and the heart wrenching separation of a family full of love.

The sacrifice that Jor-El, Lara and the rest of her family made wasn't light. *And you had to muck it up Bruce, you let your personal code and your trauma dictate how you engage your enemies. And now the world has lost its greatest hero as he fell under the insanity of grief.*

Jor-El stopped the holographic video and looked solemnly at Bruce and Black Lightning. “Forget anything Kal-El ever told you about Krypton. The planet is indeed gone, destroyed by the scourge, Brainiac, but Kandor, the capital city, was bottled by him and it wasn’t until Lady Miracle killed Brainiac and stole his ship that a large portion of our people were rescued.”

“So you’re telling me that there’s…” Bruce looked at Lady Miracle, the mystery about her continued to deepen, who was she? She seemed to keep bringing more miracles to the fore to fix the situation they were in… Bruce didn’t trust her at all, it was like she was twenty steps ahead of him every time he tried to do anything. It was terrifying in a sense. But for now she was aligned with his faction and against the One Earth Regime.

“Yes, there's 20 million Kryptonians still alive, we’re taking steps into getting our civilization back on its feet, better, stronger and wiser than before. But we don’t intend to stay for long in this reality…” Lara added to the conversation.

Bruce lowered his eyes and stared at his hands. This meant that lady Miracle and the Kryptonians and the ex-villains they gathered have a base somewhere that the Regime and he can’t find. Somewhere… not Earth. The moon? This also meant that they didn’t need him, at least not totally. They must be here because they wanted legitimacy after whatever they were about to do to the League succeeded.

“If you have millions of Kryptonian at your beck and call… what do you need from the resistance? What do you need from me?” And wasn’t that a scary realization? There were more than just Kal; how haven’t they taken care of the wayward Kryptonian yet?

Barbara answered, "We have a plan in place to break the League's hold on the world."

She smirked at that, and it wasn’t reassuring; Bruce asked, "Not… something permanent, I hope."

Lady Miracle said, "No killing, I promised. Whether I find it silly or not, the world needs its heroes, but the faith of the people was shattered. It needs to be restored; I also wish to re-establish the trust of humanity in the House of El.”

*That's… reassuring.* Bruce thought. But the bit about making the House of El great again made him frown.

Lara, Kal’s mother, had misty eyes as she looked at Lady miracle. “Princess… It’s not necessary, didn’t we agree that-”

*Princess?* Bruce’s frown deepened. There was something that he wasn’t seeing, was the woman royalty? It’s obvious that her identity is important.

Lady Miracle leaned forward, her hands flat on the table. “Kal-El is weak and he fell for his enemy’s psychological attack, something even I would have fallen for if I didn’t know who the true enemy was which caused the situation on Earth to deteriorate. However, the House of hope has been tarnished and we need to change that fact.”

Bruce was confused by the implication of enemy action from Lady Miracle. “What do you mean?”

Harley who had been silent since the start of the meeting chuckled at him, she licked her lips as she mockingly stared at him. “Haven’t you realized it, Batty?”

Poison Ivy nodded. “He is sharper than this normally.” She made an expression showing that she was disappointed in him.

Everyone facing him on the other side of the table looked at him with expectation. Then Bruce started reviewing what he knew without the filter of his guilt; to help him, Lady Miracle played their first fight against Darkseid and the force of Apokolips and the formation of the Justice league right after that. Bruce’s hands started trembling as he asked, “A-are you saying that someone… no, Darkseid orchestrated Lois Lane's death and the descent of this world into a tyranny?”

Lady Miracle wasn’t smiling anymore, she looked totally serious. “Tyranny is the important piece of the puzzle, which enemy of yours has a vested interest in taking the planet and a certain Equation? Who wants to see Kal-El in chains on his feet the most?”

“No, please. Don’t tell me everything was a Darkseid plot?” Bruce closed his eyes.

He held onto his chest, his heart broke at that moment; if everything they said was true, they’ve been played… Lady Miracle then outlined what the plan might have been for Earth. “If I can't win and if I can't kill my enemy, I would use precise strikes to disrupt their concentration and their morals. Everyone here had their weaknesses exposed and there’s also the fact that you have the dumb idea to keep the crazies and insane alive… the result was to be expected." 

It wasn’t quite an accusation, but Bruce felt his heart being stabbed by her words. “Then, what do you want us to do?”

“What you should have done since the beginning. Take away the means of your enemies to wage war and bring them to the negotiation table forcefully and make them an offer they can’t refuse.” Lady Miracle stood up, then the giant screen on the wall came alive; showing the Watchtower in all its glory.

“How?” Bruce squinted his eyes, worried about what the woman who clearly wasn’t truly human said.

“Simple, I’m going to take the Watchtower and bring Luthor to our side, then resurrect Lois Lane and Kal’s kid, right out of the time streams. Oh and I’m going to kick some hero’s asses while I’m at it.”

Bruce didn’t know what to say…

 

~/.\~

(Clark Kent/Kal-El)

 

The Court of Owls, a secret organization that rules Gotham City from the shadows. From the data that Velocity (bless her pacifist and inquisitive heart) brought to the League. It was people like her that were needed, she brought forward a problem that they had ignored and now it came to the upper echelon of the Justice League to fix it. No wonder Gotham City never got better if those people (and he used the word only for form) always made it worse for the citizens.

Clark looked at the seats at the table filling with trepidation, it started with Cyborg and Hawkgirl. Hal Jordan, Nightingale aka Damian Wayne and the Flash followed. He lamented the fact that Diana was still asleep, there was also the fact that Shazam had disappeared. Which worried him.

His family and adoptive sibling have completely disappeared; Raven had scanned the house and discovered powerful defensive wards on the abode. She hadn't been able to breach them at all. 

Clark sat at the long table and watched each of the people here. "I see that everyone is here."

A dissenting voice was the only one to answer him. "Yeah, Mate… and not all of us are here of our own volition."

Everyone looked at the redhead in a green and gold costume at the foot of the table. Clark sighed, the young woman has been snippy and recalcitrant since she was teleported in the Watchtower. "Velocity, are you still holding a grudge? I invited you to join us…"

With a cold chuckle, the Australian woman added, "I sure am, and you basically blackmailed me into coming."

Clark decided to ignore her for now, but the others didn’t seem to like the fact that they forced the young woman to come. He was sure that they would approach him to hear more about that story; Flash put a hand on Velocity’s shoulder and spoke with her at super speed, making her relax but she kept glaring at the Kryptonian. 

She whispered, "Asshole."

The heroes around Velocity frowned at her irreverent behavior. He shook his head and decided to start the meeting. "Anyway, let’s move on to why we're here."

Clark looked stern as he said, “Through an informal investigation, Velocity, one of Flash’s friends, found out who provided the nuclear device which was used on Metropolis.”

He wasn’t used to seeking revenge like this, but now he understood some of the people he had stopped on this path. Since he learned of the Court’s involvement, an icy hatred was starting to consume him.

“Who?” Hawkgirl demanded, her rapacious gaze focused onto Clark.

Taking on a grim voice, the Kryptonian disclosed, “The Court of Owls, a criminal organization in control of Gotham’s underworld.”

A holographic window appeared before everyone individually showing the announcement for a galla. “They are currently going to gather for one of their meeting gallas and I want to get them all in one fell swoop. After cross searching we discovered that most of the people who received an invite are all part of this secret society.”

Cyborg slapped the table, his face scrunched into a sneer. “They need to pay! They helped kill Beast Boy and everyone in Metropolis!”

The other heroes acquiesced as well, only Hal Jordan, Velocity and the Flash not saying anything or agreeing. Clark still soldiered on, "I will leave Velocity to tell us all about them."

"Argh." The girl groaned as she slowly stood up under the scrutiny of the more veteran heroes.

"You can do it, V." Flash cheered her up.

Breathing in and out, the young heroine said, "Okay… okay. G'day everyone, I am Velocity. I am working with Flash, for now."

Like a kicked puppy, The Flash said in a sad voice, "I can understand why, V, I don't blame you."

Clark felt a bit of guilt for having forced the girl to come here; and now that he knew her secret identity, he intended to get her to join them eventually. He crushed that bit of guilt, he justified his choice by telling himself, *We need more heroes. The losses of some of the titans and the others in Metropolis were not good for us.*

Someone had to interrupt Velocity though, it was the playboy lantern. Hal Jordan tried to put on the charm. "Hello there, beautiful you-” 

Only to be mercilessly shot down. "Not interested in losers, can the shit.”

“Wooooooh, she got you there, Hal!” The Flash quipped.

Clark wanted to smile at his friend being shot down, it reminded him of brighter times when the League formed. The atmosphere became serious again and Velocity addressed everyone. "Have you asked yourself why people have always tried to stop you from sniffing around and fixing stuff?”

Multiple data points appeared on screen, the time Clark tried to help the world with pollution and give them green energy akin to fusion, or Hawk Girl trying to arrest a certain politician; Velocity went through a fine comb over the career of every active hero since the inception of the Justice League. 

Clark was impressed. It was Cyborg who spoke first as he was surely going over the New Hero's data. “Well yes…”

She nodded to young Victor and then her gaze turned on Hal Jordan. “In particular you, Green Lantern. You represent an Alien power, and your fancy green bling is actually rather dangerous and you could do more stuff than beat up people with it like building a fusion reactor or recycle all the plastic belts in the ocean.”

Hal flushed, not liking to be put upon like this. But he answered the obvious question. “Politics?”

“Not just that, but it's one of the main points.” Velocity said as she opened a new window and typed something at high speed on the computer. “Ladies and gents, here we have the Court of Owls on our hands, which is a worldwide conspiracy; they are a cabal of rich and affluent people controlling their interests and the political and economical climate of the world."

Hal laughed at the girl’s assertions. "Get out, are you speaking of the Illuminati?"

Velocity chuckled, then flexed her knowledge and showed him that she knew some Illuminati members, going from Elon Musk to Bill Doors. "The Illuminati wish they had as much power and influence as them. But what concerns us for now is the Gotham branch of our Owlish friends, as you might have guessed they have gone rogue."

Raven reacted to that, "Of course they did, our luck is always like this."

She has been more than silent since the beginning, Clark was worried for her; she has been spending less and less time with her friends in San Francisco. 

Velocity’s research showed multiple rich individuals' actions, bribery, weapon trafficking and assassinations perpetrated in the last 150 years and life in Gotham getting steadily worse than the average American city. Clark discovered that those people have been there for a long time, manipulating and killing their way to power and creating a climate of fear and despair in the city.

The female speedster continued to speak."So I discovered that those drongo are the source of Gotham’s ill. They thrive mostly by parasitizing the insurance system, health, goods and properties. They pressured the judicial system to not allow the monsters like Joker and Victor Zsasz to be executed and declare them crazy, you'll notice on the data I provided that they are the major funders of institutions such as Arkham, Black Gates, Cadmus and other such places. Most of the prison breaks happening over the years can be attributed to their manipulations. 

They are mostly after money, technology and power; they often fund initiatives to research immortality to keep themselves healthy and beautiful, and continue to enrich themselves. They don't care about the misery and horror they spread. As an example, Metropolis' nuking is the least of the atrocities they committed. Dark magic and soul stealing rituals, and zombie raising, taint the city and permeate the place. Have you ever asked yourself why magic users avoid Gotham like the plague?"

The rest of the heroes looked at each other when they heard Velocity’s explanation; some of them asked themselves why they haven’t forced the issue?

"This makes sense…" The Kryptonian realized. Clark asked himself why they never looked deeper into what affected Gotham, but he remembered Bruce kicking out anyone from intervening in 'his' city. How come Bruce could have missed all this? He is a native after all.

Raven looked skeptical, she asked, "Do you have proof?"

Velocity seemed to love being challenged, multiple keyboards appeared at her left and right and her fore; and with super speed she began to type and… hack into multiple databases; Clark could follow what she was doing, and in real time he saw her breakthrough the encryption of the National Archive. She cross-referenced multiple families of settlers coming from Europe.

When she finished, she presented her research to everyone, mainly to Raven to shut her up. “The proof of my assertion is the fact that Gotham was built on a North American Indian Tribe’s cemetery.”

Trigon’s daughter’s eyes widened at that revelation. “Please tell me that’s not true.”

*Desecration.* Clark thought, something that’s been a thorn in the side of the Justice Society and their successor, the League. Finding cursed objects or religious sites should be reported to the authorities for them to process; what if someone unleashed a mystical plague on a town? *And Gotham was built on one? How unlucky can we get?*

The redheaded speedster sadly confirmed her finding. “Unfortunately, it’s true. It all stemmed from these settlers who built a town where Gotham is now standing. Like you can imagine, they were cursed and punished and as a result twisted to make the city uninhabitable. However, humans are stubborn I guess. The descendants of those twisted and manipulated settlers are the members of the Court of Owls.”

Clark sat down, crossing his arms on his chest and lowering his head as he thought that he now understood how things kept escalating for Bruce, how he never made a dent in the organized crime of Gotham. The other heroes who were present were now seeing how daunting the task of fighting against the Court might be.

Velocity reminded them that this might be one of their toughest fights coming. “As you can see, there are forces conspiring to keep the city the way it is and the Court is just one of them.”

The Green Lantern intoned sadly, "Can it be any worse?"

"Shut up Hal! Don't tempt Murphy!" Hawkgirl shouted while standing up.

Clark stared at Velocity who had an evil smile on her face as she said, “But that’s not all, I had the misfortune to discover the Talon training facility. Oh yeah, the Talons are a breed of deadly assassins with absolute loyalty to the Court. Experts at murder, they are responsible for securing and maintaining the Court's interests with an iron fist whenever their services are needed for an execution. Let me tell you, those blokes don't play around! Don't expect mercy from them, think of them as the League of Shadow's assassins but on steroids, and as skilled as Batman in Martial Arts."

"Well fuck." Hal spoke for everyone present at this tidbit.

After those revelations, the meeting then devolved into pointing out who was involved and who to take out first. Clark was about to conclude the meeting by saying, “We start the operation in one day. I’ve already mobilized the super soldiers, we will get them and they will face justice for what they’ve done.”

But someone slapped the table, interrupting his speech. “Okay, can someone tell me if this bloke is real?” Velocity interrupted Kal with a voice full of mockery.

The Kryptonian frowned, he liked less and less when the new heroine was being so undermining. “Do you still have grievances, Velocity?”

She stood up, leaning forward with her hands on the table. “Yeah, mate… I’m concerned by you being so idiotic.”

Cyborg stood up, to defend his idol; he has been less enthused to have to work with such a disrespectful and intolerant woman. “Show some respect-”

There was a flash of pink lightning and a slapping sound, then Clark saw that Cyborg's mouth was duct taped shut. “Shut your pie hole tin can, let me speak.”

Clark put on a frown, he hadn't even seen Velocity move; this implies that she's faster than she let on…

With a grave expression on her face, Velocity said, “So, I’ve just told you that those wankers in Gotham infiltrated all levels of society in the USA and your alien dumbarse mobilized your easily infiltrated mob of super soldiers?” She pointed her index finger at Clark.

Clark realized that she was right, he made a mistake. “Oh no.”

The speedster shook her head, sending a gaze full of disappointment at Clark. “I see that Batman was the real brain here, and I don’t even like him. Do you always make such obvious mistakes? I mean you’re a fucking Kryptonian, your brain is like a quantum computer, couldn’t you think of that?”

This… this actually hurt to hear; they've been depending on Bruce for so long that they had left all the decision making and planning to him. Clark couldn't deny that his friend wouldn't have made such an obvious mistake like he did. Relaxing his shoulders, Clark let his arms fall alongside him and his hands formed into fists. “Change of plan everyone, we’re going in now in 30 minutes.”

"In so little time?" Flash asked.

Clark started to float. "Yes, no choice. They will be ready for us. First we need to come up with a strategy on how we will handle their forces. Apparently they have a standing army called the -get that- Talons. They are all peak human and skilled in martial arts."

Velocity clapped. “Way better, mate.”

For once she approved of his action it seemed. “Prepare for a ready foe, maybe you guys should armor up for this fight oh and Supes?”

Everyone stood up and swiftly left the room. 

“Yes, Velocity…” Human speedster and Kryptonian looked at each other.

*What does she want now?* The Kryptonian asked himself; but he saw her smile impishly at him. As if she knew something that he didn't.  

“Hmmm, nevermind. Ciao, Kala I’m going back home!” She moved so fast that she created an aperture in the space time continuum and jumped running inside.

"What was that? My name is Kal."

 

~/.\~

(???)

 

1 week earlier
Gotham City

 

He was on the tallest building’s floor, sipping on his blood-like wine in the penthouse that he was paying for. The area where he was located was well away from the crime’s zone and it was really near the best hospital in the city. Prices here were downright gouging; a failure of the authorities to address the inequality and corruption issues plaguing the uppercrust of this city.

He breathed in and out; there was war on the horizon. He could taste it in the air, someone was about to unleash warfare never seen before upon Gaea. He wanted in on the action, he had grown tired of men's nonsensical conflicts, and it didn't help that those damned nosey heroes have been stomping them out.

All they did was put a lid on the war and forcefully keep peace; he knew that it never worked, that sooner or later, the base instinct of humanity would burst forth and swallow those heroes and demonize them.

It had all started here in the rotting corpse of this city reeking of dark magic and despair. This twisted place had fermented, twisted and spread its evil so much so that it had affected the world beyond its borders. The Joker, it wasn’t a being but more of a concept; that creature was simply unkillable otherwise. Killing it through violence wasn’t the solution at all.

Even if you killed it, someone or something else would take on the mantle; what truly needed to be done was to erase him as a concept in this world. However, the heroes of today are too soft and easily led astray by their rulers; take this country as an example, it was slowly turning into a tyranny with the rich on top and the creation of a poor workforce which couldn’t even feed itself or attain healthcare. Their freedom and rights slowly took away and eroded each generation as they were turned into sheeps.

What this country needed was a good old revolution and a culling of the rich who held reign of the economy; a storm of blood which was needed to engulf this country and…. The man stiffened as he felt a presence behind him, a familiar one. He turned, only to see beauty and grace personified. "Mother? What can I do for you?" 

"Ares, my son. I am in need of your services." With regal splendor, Hera, Queen of the Greek Pantheon demanded.

She never asked, but as a good son he was willing to listen to her; maybe she can stave off his boredom for a day or two. With his eyes burning with divinity, the man… no, the God of War, Ares asked, “Who do I need to kill this time, Mother?”

The Queen of the Gods grinned. “Oh no, there won’t be any murder today. You see, I received a pretty intriguing prayer today and I wish for you to help me fulfill it, my son.”

He averted his eyes from his mother; he recognized the tells of her mania; Zeus fucked someone else and knocked her up, his mother only asked for his help in these cases. Hera looked furious at the King, his father walking all over their marriage vows. The God of War sighed, “I pity the fool who crossed you, mother.”

The Goddess walked to him and slapped her hand on his pauldron, and they disappeared in a shower of light and peacock feathers.

 

~/.\~

(Ares)

 

The next hour
Bermuda triangle
Themyscira
Palace

 

As a matter of fact, the fool was a familiar person. Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, the mother of one of Ares biggest Nemesis, Diana of Themyscira. How he had been thirsty for this woman in ancient times, but it seems that his father already went there. Ares was reluctant to try to get his father's sloppy seconds.

The two gods appeared in the bedchambers of the Queen and looked as the woman was tending to a sleeping Diana. Hippolyta was brushing her daughter's hair while a servant was passing a wet towel over Diana's body. The two Gods had the decency to wait for the Queen to finish the care for her comatose daughter. 

It was when they finished that the two deities manifested. This caused the Queen of the Amazons to freeze, and kneel immediately with her head down.

Ares thought how much of the current situation was Zeus’ fault. Hippolyta has always been a staunch supporter of Olympus, and punishing her for his father's wanton disgusting ways was suboptimal and risked much of their base power and believer’s pool. Contrary to what Gods thought, they needed mortals.

"My lord Ares? Queen Hera?" The Queen had tears in her eyes.

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Hera slowly walked up to the Queen of the Amazons. "I heard your prayers, Queen Hippolyta. And I've come to help you awaken your daughter."

Queen Hippolyta sniffled, she wiped a tear from her left eyes. "My Queen, I am grateful to you."

When Hera stopped before the Amazon, she smiled innocently and said, "But on one condition."

“My Goddess?” Hippolyta became frightened as she saw Hera's expression and stepped back.

Hera caught Hippolyta by the neck and said with rage and fury in her eyes, "Let me slap you. You whore, you slept with my husband."

Ares stopped this from getting ugly and made his mother stop by catching her hand and making her let go of Queen Hippolyta. The Amazon fell on the ground, heaving as she had her windpipe almost crushed by the Queen of the Gods.

After a moment, Hippolyta finished massaging her throat; but it was with a raw voice she looked at Hera and said, "Agh. I-I won't lie to you my Goddess. I did what you're accusing me of, but not of my own volition."

Ares was seeing where this was going, his father's Modus Operandi was always to… drug up a woman if she shunned his advances.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Goddess Hera demanded, ready to smite Hippolyta at any moment.

The Amazon Queen started to tear up and she said, "He… he forced himself on me while I was drunk and at his mercy, Queen Hera. If there is fault to be had, it is with Lord Zeus."

Ares was afraid of that, Queen Hippolyta would never betray one of the Goddess responsible for her creation. 

"You…" Before Hera could take offense, Ares stopped her.

"No wait mother, she's right. Father is a lout and scum." He held onto his mother Goddess and restrained her by holding onto her waist. She struggled until she calmed down.

Then he let go of her, but as a precaution placed himself between the Olympian Queen and Hippolyta. "Mother, why do you wish to punish Hippolyta?  Even after she told you that father attacked her and that she couldn't defend herself and was impregnated through rape? How can you expect a mortal to fight against the King of Olympus? Haven't you yourself decried the actions of Father's own mistake, a certain Herakles who attacked that very woman before."

Hera seemed to relent for a moment before blind hatred reared its head again. "She should have-"

But Ares interrupted her again. "Mother, don't be so stubborn… What if Father assaulted  your other daughters, Hebe and Eileithyia? Would you punish them as well? Haven't you punished women for being deceived and assaulted by that man too many times? Mother, because of your jealousy you were deprived of a great many followers and your pool of faith has decreased. Mother, my Queen, if you punish Hippolyta for something she had no power over, you'll lose even more followers and might fall into a divine sleep and fade into oblivion. The Amazons are our only lasting pool of believers, so please control yourself and Think, mother, Think. Who should you be angry at? The victim or the perpetrator?"

Ares appealed to his mother's survival instinct and forced her to recognize Zeus' faults. It has been a long time coming… the woman simply fell on her knees and started tearing up and whimpering. "You… You may be right, my son. But it hurts; why am I not enough? Why would your father stray and hurt me so?"

Hippolyta seized this moment to intervene and encourage her Goddess. She walked up to her and kneeled at her side and hugged her.  "My Queen, this may be blasphemy on my part but no woman should suffer such betrayal even from a divine husband."

After this, Hera decided to help Diana free of charge, after Hippolyta offered to shelter the Queen of Olympus on Themyscira. Ares was happy that his mother wouldn't stay near his toxic old man any longer, so he asked himself why she never divorced him.

One hour later, Ares was watching as Hera helped awaken his Nemesis, his half-sister. She opened her eyes, then she sat up suddenly and shouted, "Kal no! Don't go, my love!

The God of War smiled, *How interesting, the sleep she was in was completely artificial and induced a false life that she lived in her dreams. A dream of the man she loves. The Kryptonian.*

Hippolyta threw herself at her daughter and enfolded her into her embrace. “Diana, my little eagle! You’re awake!”

Diana's clouded eyes suddenly cleared and she realized where she was. "Mother?" 

Hippolyta smiled and took her daughter's head between her hands and said, "Diana, so much has happened… I have many things to tell you."

Hera looked at the scene and then turned on her heel and left the room. Ares followed her out of the Royal bedchambers and then he asked aloud, "Mother, are you aware of what a Divorce is? I think you might need it."

The Queen of Olympus stopped her sad walk and asked her son. "Divorce? What's that?"

This floored Ares and now he understood his father's duplicity. He thinks that the old man has messed with his mother's domain. "Oh I understand why you're in this situation now… listen to me mother…"

 

~/.\~

(Intergang HQ)

 

It was in a flurry of activity that Intergang started its works. Orders were passed from on high recently, the plan was to give an opportunity to the big poobah to take revenge on the earthbound Kryptonian. Something was brewing and the leaders in Intergang wanted to make their sponsor happy.

They were to support a certain group in Gotham to bring them the Kryptonian’s head and this would be what they will do. It is a shame that their stock of weapons in the US disappeared when Metropolis was nuked; it wasn’t the only assets they lost, Galaxy Communications was one of their bread winners as the world's leading telecommunications companies and a major economic engine of both and the United States. 

But they still had a way to fulfill their directives, they gathered energy weapons, and certain lead boxes filled with alien radioactive gems of different colors. They then delivered them to Gotham with an escort made up of their most trusted agents.

All Hail Darkseid!

~/.\~

(???)

The white haired man received a video-call on his smartphone, the head of a familiar villain appeared, Morgan Edge. He was smiling as he said, “Heard you’re in a tight spot?”

“Yes, the League is about to raid us. I’m busy organizing our escape.” The white haired man said, irritated.

Edge smirked. “You can flee or stand your ground.”

“I don’t think we can win this.”

The leader of Intergang leaned on his chair, took a silver box and placed it on the table. After opening it, he showed the Grandmaster of the court a pink crystal that he put on his desk. “I have a plan, or at least, my patrons have a plan. Would you cooperate?”

The Grandmaster didn’t know what to think, but he understood that Intergang seemed to want Superman and his friends gone as much as him. “What does it entail?”

Edge grinned. “Superman will have a sudden change of perspective once he is hit with this and my patron comes to collect him.”

 

~/.\~

(Gotham city resident)

 

Gotham

The grand gala of Gotham was supposed to happen today. However, there was an oppressive atmosphere over the city on this day; they couldn’t put their finger on what was going to happen. The Anti-Regime Force present still passed the word to the normal civilians that they should stay away from Downtown Gotham. It was strange to see so many people fleeing the center of the city calmly; but it was easier since crime now was non-existent in Gotham because of the action of the Justice League emptying Arkham and Black Gates of their inmates, the crime families were also laying low, slowly adapting to work around Superman’s super soldiers contingent in the city.

Batman’s agents in all the levels of the city made sure that everyone was going to be safe. Huntress evacuated the homeless from the area, while Black Lightning hacked the hotel the Court of Owls was using as a front for their activities. As for Catwoman, she wore a magic stealth belt provided by Lady Miracle to allow her to scout the hotel and place some packages which will help when the Justice League raid the venue.

Oracle, Barbara Gordon, was monitoring the movement of the Court, knowing that the League was going to have to give everything to fight these wily enemies.

 

~/.\~

(Barry Allen)

 

The Fastest Man Alive they called him, he didn’t think that was true any longer; he had tried to find Velocity again, but when he caught up to her after the meeting she completely outpaced him and disappeared. It seemed that she really didn’t like how forcefully Superman had brought her into the Watchtower. This was still a severe growth of her powers, it was as if she knew the speed force more intricately than him.

Barry needed to warn Velocity about not messing with time; it was one of the cardinal rules for speedsters. Why? Because Clark told Barry about how Velocity was already using the Speed Force Dimension as a shortcut to move. He would do that, but after he solved their rich people problems in Gotham!

His role today was to scout the hotel where the Court’s gala would take place. Barry was doing just that, phasing through walls and escaping detection by becoming invisible thanks to his super speed. Barry swept through the hotel from top to bottom and discovered that there were many people there already.

There were men in full black bodysuits in the basement with owl masks armed to the teeth distributing weapons to each other, boxes of familiar glowing green gems in the form of bullets being opened. *They have kryptonite?!* 

Barry decided to cut his bout of espionage short and to leave the hotel; he sped through the floors, exited the building and ran toward the super soldier’s HQ East of the city. He phased through the wall and arrived in the CIC where all the active heroes of the JL were working. He stopped before Clark who was sitting at the holo-table and had seen him arrive and spoke at super speed, “Velocity was right, there’s a mole in our force! The court is ready for us, they have Kryptonite and a whole bunch of weapons!”

Clark's face darkened. “I thought that I got rid of it all after my last sweep of the planet.”

“Clearly, you didn’t get it all, Clark.” Hal walked up next to them.

The Kryptonian massaged his temples, and said between his teeth. “There must be caches all over the planet that my sensors didn't pick up.”

“Are we still going in?” Barry asked with uncertainty clear in his blue eyes.

Superman turned to the right in the direction of the Lance Hotel, where the Court seems to have laid a trap for them. It was completely obscured by lead in the walls of the building. Like Barry had found out earlier.

Clark turned to the other league members and said, “Yes, I guess that I will try to not get hit by any random kryptonite bullet.”

Hawkgirl raised her maul in anticipation, Green Lantern's eyes glowed with emerald light and Clark said, "Be on your guard, everyone. We're still going to attack. I authorize the use of lethal force."

Barry closed his eyes at this, but he felt they should have anticipated it.

 

~/.\~

(The Court of Owls)

 

The bait was set and Sebastian Clark the Grandmaster of the Court was waiting for the trap to be sprung. Their lucrative business ventures in Gotham had completely halted since Superman had gone off the deep end; if they knew that selling a nuke and a submarine to the Joker would cause such global upheaval, they would have told him to take a hike and leave them alone. No, they would have terminated and replaced him; they knew how the Joker was expandable as his curse spread, they created it after all.

Walking out of his penthouse, Sebastian found a Talon to his right who handed him a small silvery briefcase; he took it and then turned toward the elevator which would take him down to the hotel’s middle floor. The Court has reached a conclusion, they cannot continue to operate in Gotham if their activities are suspended. The black magic permeating the city demanded constant sacrifice of innocents and criminals or… something bad would happen to the souls of the Court members.

The Court knew the rules of the demonic contract their ancestors had signed, and understood what they needed to do. *Get rid of the Justice League.*

The elevator stopped and pinged open, the doors giving way to let Sebastian gaze upon the controlled chaos of the reception area. He passed a hand through his white hair to slick them back on his head and adjusted his smoking and put his white Owl mask on that he fished from his breast pocket. He then moved toward the front desk agent and asked without greeting him, “Is everything ready?”

“Yes Grandmaster.” The man wearing a mask slightly bowed his head. 

The Grandmaster nodded and walked out, until he reached the hall which was filled with tables laden with food of all kinds; caterer and server arranging the food and beverage, everyone was wearing masks. Sebastian walked up to a lounge with sofas and tables; then he sat, seeing the shaded panoramic window treated to opaque even to Kryptonian X-ray vision.

Putting the silver suitcase on the low table, Sebastian opened it, on a red velvet cushion was a black and silver pistol with red glowing lines, it was a of special make; the manual said that it was a 10mm non-particle pistol, a specially designed automatic pistol that uses the annihilation of anti-hydrogen and hydrogen to propel a bullet at hypersonic speeds.

His eyes fell on the transparent cartridge next to the pistol filled with green glowing bullets inside. Sebastian took one of them and inspected the straight jacketed round. “With this we will get rid of Superman, his cronies and consign the man of steel to a fate worse than death.”

Sebastian smiled devilishly as he thought about what was going to happen. Time passed, and he waited as the current members willing to take risks slowly filtered in the hall. At least one hundred of them had come, and it was enough to bait those heroes.

A valet came toward Sebastian and informed him that, “Sir, they’re here. They’ve cordoned off the hotel.”

The Grandmaster loaded the cartridge inside the butt of the pistol, secured it and then stood up. “Excellent, please start the welcome party.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

~/.\~

(Hawkgirl aka Shiera Sanders Hall ) 

 

Shiera flew overhead, aware that she was taking a risk by showing herself so boldly to the enemy. But she was bait in this situation. Her morning star tight in her hands, Shiera was thinking about what they were about to do. Lethal force has been authorized, it didn’t sit well with her but she wasn’t about to argue with Superman. People who do tend to get a private chat with him.

The heroine had had her turn and she doesn’t want to be alone with Kal-El again; she didn’t feel safe, despite how calm he may look, the man was damaged and still grieving despite three years having passed. He needed to go see someone to help him mentally. He turned against him a powerful speedster on par with the Flash who was content helping people without having to fight, Kal-El would have never done that before. He was blackmailing the girl; Shiera knew that the League as she knew it was truly gone.

She wanted to leave but couldn't, but sooner or later someone will allow her to get free.

“Hawkgirl, report.” Cyborg’s voice demanded.

Shiera pushed her throat mic.“There’s no one on the roof or around the building. But I can hear music and people are having a party there; they’re eating and talking or dancing.”

As she glided toward the left side of the building, Hawkgirl saw multiple black suited men with owl masks looking at her.

“We’re attacking in five minutes.” Cyborg declared.

Deep down she knew that this was a trap, but they still acted as if the enemy was ready for them. Which was idiotic… “I’m seeing movement now, people are all converging into one room.”

Suddenly, all the windows of the hotels stopped being see-through, no light escaped and showed that there was anyone inside. Then… countless beams of energy were fired at hawkgirl.

Shiera went low and veered right, dodging cold beams of energy, she knew exactly what they were firing at her. Those were Citadelians disruptor guns and she didn't want to get disintegrated. “I’m being attacked!”

“Disengage, we’re coming in!” Cyborg said quickly.

“Impossible.” Shiera said on the tactical network.

She started to get tired as she evaded all the disintegration beams. “Just fucking attack and let me do my job, Cyborg!”

All of a sudden, Shiera found herself surrounded by a green bubble field of force, and when she turned her head, she saw Hal Jordan using his Power Ring to protect her. “Thanks Hal!”

 

~/.\~

(Hal Jordan)

 

And it was going so well, they had hoped that they could take the criminals without casualties, but already there was collateral damage all around the hotel and the streets. They were lucky that they had evacuated everyone living around the place. Hal really had had enough of being shot at, so he created a forcefield around the entire building with his ring; the forcefield had the effect of taking the energy from the disintegration beam and reflecting it back at the shooter.

This kind of construct is normally banned, but thanks to Cyborg, Hal has cracked some of the security and safety protocols of his power ring. All of a sudden, Superman surged from the clouds and landed on the roof, and used heat vision on each of the three Talons on the roof, vaporizing them completely. Hal made a disgusted expression, but hid it well, he wished that they were still back on the no-kill priority of the League.

He created a point of entry in the green forcefield for his land bound teammates and they started entering the hotel… It was time to take on an army of assassins.

 

~/.\~

(Courtney Whitmore aka Stargirl) 

 

The Watchtower 

Meanwhile, Team Alpha teleported into the restrooms of deck 10 of the Watchtower. The team was composed of Cassandra Cain, Jinx, Stargirl and STRIPE. A well balanced team, led by a veteran to infiltrate a high tech base in orbit of Earth.

They used the TACNET to speak and Courtney scanned the entire restroom with her omni-tool, a little hand-held device which combined a computer microframe, sensor analysis pack, and mini manufacturing fabricator. On her HUD, the device projected an hologram of the room; the sensors didn't detect any life sign in the booths.

"Clear." Courtney declared as she let her left arm fall alongside her body. 

Her stepfather seemed to have made his own diagnosis on their location as he said, "The frequency scrambler stopping us from teleporting inside the Watchtower is under maintenance. Strange coincidence…"

Courtney snorted, there's no such things as coincidence in this line of work. She turned to Jinx, a villain who signed up with Komand’r after seeing an ad targeted at her on Reddit. Similar to Courtney and Cassandra she was wearing a combat-skin in her color and fashion that made her look like a goth astronaut.

Her hairstyle still was left to be desired though… "Jinx, is there any magi or sorcerer on the station?"

If there was a thing she hated was chaos, and adding magical users to the equation was always fraught with risk. Fortunately, Jinx was learning from Lady Miracle, her form of magic in which she was slowly getting proficient. From what the magic-using former villain girl had told Courtney there was almost no cost compared to the local magic system she was using, confirming yet again the extra-universal origin of their new boss.

Jinx conjured a white ball of white light hovering her hand, palms up. And with a snap of her fingers it expanded until it became invisible; Jinx closed her eyes and said with certainty, "None, Stargirl. But we still need to be prudent, Raven might have installed magic alarms on the station." 

Courtney nodded. "Okay, great."

Cassandra looked between the two of them from under the black hood covering her head. Courtney was still on the fence about her, but Komand’r liked her a lot and seemed to have taken her under her wing. The ninja girl pulled a tanto out of its sheath and readied herself for anything. Courtney once again admired her combat skin; it was basically just a full coverage outfit.

Cassandra smiled at Courtney, nodded and then she disappeared from view as she engaged her stealth. Courtney was mildly jealous as the ninja girl’s unit could phase through walls. Pat must have finished checking whatever he was checking because he said, "Get the slicer, we might need to get MACHINA to-"

I am already here. Dang, Cyborg is really distracted by their current operation. I hacked right through the firewalls. The Smart AI commented with a giggle.

“You should have told us.” Pat said gruffly.

Courtney's stepfather was wearing his brand new and more compact STRIPE armor. From the schematics and what her stepfather has told her, the STRIPE MKII’s armor composition was a mix of special alloyed metals called Vibranium and Adamantium while the rest of the suit’s structure used Kryptium, a near indestructible Kryptonian metal. It now possessed sustainable flight capabilities thanks to a technology called repulsor, self contained life-support system and environmental protection, collapsible plating to allow Pat to enter or exit the armor easily, it was armed with missile launchers, machine guns, bomb dispensers and it a slurry of other gadgets and weapons.

The suit was powered by its own fusion reactors, all mounted on the back of the suit and at its waist.There were battery packs in the elbow to use as backup power.

It was thanks to the technology from Komand’r's universe that Pat Dugan upgraded his design with alien technology and metallurgy. Courtney was happy for him, she was even more happy when MACHINA and the techie villain upgraded her conveyor belt and cosmic staff which was now attuned to her and couldn’t be stolen from her anymore that she could just put it away into her body thanks to nanotechnology in the form of a symbiote. The big con was that she weighed more than a normal girl now.

Pat walked toward the restroom' exit, then turned to the three young women. “There’s no one on this level, what are we waiting for?”

I’ve finished contacting my plant, he is aware that you are on the station, please follow the map that I’ve uploaded to your HUD. MACHINA replied.

The door swished open and the small team was inside the corridor of deck 110. It was confirmed that Cassandra was no longer with them as she was given a separate mission by MACHINA; on the map they are supposed to go to deck 20, meanwhile MACHINA would obscure their presence inside the space station from Cyborg. The team walked unchallenged from deck to deck for over thirty minutes, the robots and camera completely ignoring them.

“This operation is quite boring…” Jinx complained. 

Courtney agreed, and she nodded at that. “When you have the edge technologically, these things tend to happen.”

Jinx pouted and said, “Well, at least we’re getting out of Odyssey, I love the place but I feel so cooped up most of the time.”

“Girl focus, someone is coming toward us.” Reprimanded the veteran, then he stopped before a door and put his hand on the palm scanner of section L-01. It looked like the entrance to one of the labs as the number and letter indicated.

“Aye sir!” Jinx smiled and mock-saluted toward Pat.

“Who is coming?” Courtney asked as she floated next to him with her cosmic staff.

“The contact.” Pat said cryptically.

The door suddenly swished open and a familiar bald man with a green business suit and black mocassin shoes appeared. Courtney's eyes widened as she said, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?!”

Jinx giggled, as if she was already aware of who they were meeting. “Well… Hello there, Mister Luthor.”

The man glared at Jinx who stepped behind Courtney to hide herself, then Luthor looked at Pat. “You are late, STRIPE!”

Courtney's stepfather coughed, it sounded electronic through his external speakers though. “Sorry, it was hard to get past the frequency scrambler around the Watchtower, we found it difficult to home in and teleport.”

Luthor rolled his eyes and said as if it was super obvious, “I know, that’s why I put it under maintenance…”

*Oh, we succeeded because we had help.* Courtney thought sadly.

“Ah, thank you for your timely help.” Pat didn't know how to handle the businessman, it was clear to see.

"More importantly… Do you have the package?" Pat asked, seeing that, Mister Luthor had nothing on him.

Straightening his outfit, and his tie, Luthor asked. "She's in the lab… are you sure that you can help her?"

MACHINA used Pat's holo-projector on his vambrace to manifest a small avatar of herself. Long blue hair, killer body, I was jealous… Don't worry, Mister Luthor, the facilities are ready to receive her. She will be well taken care of.

Then she showed him a hologram of Space Station Odyssey and of Mars. This seemed to convince the man as he sighed in relief. "Thank you, like we talked about through email, I am going to guide you to the Vault…"

He turned heel and walked up to the lab's door, his feet echoing on the metallic plate of the corridors. Courtney took Jinx's arm into hers and pulled her toward the small lab. "Let’s go."

This mission was more a rescue than a heist, and it didn't sit well with Courtney. 

 

~/.\~

(Cyborg)

 

Meanwhile, In the Watchtower' CIC… 

 

He switched between screens, focusing between the pov of different members of the League. Hawkgirl was smashing walls in the hotel to discover the cache of kryptonite ammunition the Talons were using with their weapons. Hal Jordan was busy killing swaths of assassins attacking him from all angles.

Surveillance mode.

Raven and the Flash breached the panic room where the important members of the Court of Owls had hidden themselves. There were still a great number of Talons who somehow got their hands on stocks of the 5-U-93-R nanotechnology pills. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't enough to save them from a Kryptonian who wasn't holding back, it just meant that they were just more resilient.

Super Soldiers deployed to lower levels of the building. 

When they shot their weapons, Superman was just not there and disarmed them, literally. It took a while, but the League was winning and Raven and the Flash moved or teleported the rich assholes into the armored prisoner transports. Some of the super soldiers tried to help them, but Cyborg quickly discovered them; just like Velocity had said, there were plants in the Regime’s force.

So far, the operation was going well. Superman and the League were killing Talons left and right, and Viktor was regretting the fact that he couldn't be down there with them. The Titans categorically refused to come help, Starfire refused to come work with Damian Wayne; Velocity, the new speedster, had dropped from the Earth, literally as she was now reported to be able to open portals into the Speed Force. This capability boosted her threat ratings and recruiting her became a priority.

Looking for subject: Velocity…

No data found.

Viktor couldn’t understand why, having a second speedster as fast as the Flash right now would have made the work against the League even easier. Superman finished killing the Talons protecting the last man with the owl mask. Through the cam Superman was wearing, Cyborg saw the man holding onto a futuristic gun and pointing it at the Kryptonian. 

Cyborg looked at the gun and started a bit of analysis through the camera, searching its make, and how powerful it was.

No Match Found.

Advise Caution.

Viktor agreed, but this was Superman! Whatever gun this was shouldn't be able to kill him or harm him.

“Sebastian Clark, you’re under arrest.” The Kryptonian said with a firm voice as he floated toward the masked man.

Cyborg smiled smugly, the men and women who were responsible for giving the nuke to the Joker were finally going to be dealt with. The Court of Owls was going to be no more in Gotham, and once again… Superman cleaned up after Batman. However, what happened next introduced a paradigm shift in Cyborg's view of the world.

Sebastian Clark raised the pistol in his hand and pulled the trigger. Zip! Zip! Zip! He shot three times and at the speed of light, two of the bullets pierced Superman’s suit. The Kryptonian was shot in the right arm and his left thigh.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Superman held onto his arm and then his body started glowing pink.

"What the fuck was in that gun?!" Cyborg stood up mystified by the man laughing.

Zap! Hal Jordan appeared and zapped Sebastian Clark's hand and made him lose the high tech gun. The Owl masked man fell and cried out as Flash appeared and threw him against a wall. 

"Supes!" Hal started seeing what was wrong with the Kryptonian and crouched next to him and jerked away from him.

Cyborg could only see the glowing pink light because of the camera, but he noticed that Superman was shrinking (?) And his hair became longer. Hawkgirl was finally arriving because Hal had contacted her and she asked, "What happened to him?"

Hal looked between the high tech gun and Superman. "He got shot two times, I already extracted the bullets but his body is still in this state."

"Ring! Analysis!" Hal pointed his power ring at the Kryptonian and a cone of green light struck Superman.

[Scanning…]

[Scanning complete. Kryptonian subject is affected by K radiation altering his DNA and molecular structure. The body and inner organs of the Kryptonian have been changed to female. Kal-el is now permanently Kala-el of Krypton. No known cure is recorded in the Oan archive to change her back to gender Male form.]

"Omg! Did he turn into a chick?" The Green Lantern looked at the downed form of the Kryptonian…. Female.

Cyborg didn’t know what to think of this ridiculous situation, he shouted on the tacnet, “Hal! Be more tactful!”

“Ah, sorry Cyborg.” The Green Lantern looked a bit sheepish.

The Flash added his two cents. “Fuck, Superman is female now… Damn, when Diana wakes up she’s going to blow a gasket.”

The heroes started panicking when Clark started to wake up, when he -or was it better to use ‘she’- opened her eyes, only to see everyone looking at her with worried gaze. Cyborg himself couldn’t stop looking at the pretty raven haired woman Superman has become, she looked to be in her late twenties, had attractive doe eyes. She also had large breasts and a perfect hourglass figure.

“Kal… don’t be alarmed, but you should check yourself.” The Flash said soothingly, helping the Kryptonian up.

“What do- what in Rao’s name happened to my voice?!” The Kryptonian held onto her delicate throat and this must have been the moment Superman felt different as she looked down at her chest and shouted in fright.

"Wait what?! What the hell happened to me?" Kala held onto her chest.

Right away, a crow made of shadows and with blood red glowing eyes surged from the ground. Green Lantern was happy to see her, so much so that he exclaimed, "Oh thank God, Raven, please do something!" 

Raven looked at Superman and saw how changed he was, then she looked back at the space police guy. “What do you want me to do? I know no gender swapping spell!”

"Shit!" Hal passed his hand in his hair.

Cyborg was distraught as well, but then he focused on Sebastian Clark who was holding a familiar box. "Oh no! Stop the Grandmaster!"

Bleed energy detected!

Boom tube opening…

Warning: Hail Darkseid!

But it was too late, a boom tube opened and out of its golden aperture exited Darkseid. The God of Evil, Darkness and Tyranny; the ruler of the nightmare world Apokolips.

"Oh no." Cyborg stood up and was preparing to go assist Superman. He accessed the Fatherbox inside his body and-

Stab! Shink!

He looked down at his belly and saw a blade passing through his abdomen. An electronic sounding voice said in his human ear, "You're going nowhere."

Warning: left lung perforated!

Warning: Nanites intrusion detected!

The black blade suddenly coated with a silver metallic gel and Viktor's machine side felt something invade its mechanical side. "Aaahkzzzztttthhhhzzz!"

"And this is how the hero, Cyborg, dies." The feminine voice added.

And Viktor believed her as he felt his machine side scream and slowly wither. Viktor fell heavily into his chair and he felt himself losing consciousness.

 

~/.\~

(Cassandra Cain)

 

Cassandra never regretted joining her new Guardian, Lady Miracle or should she say, Komand’r? She had many personas and it was difficult to read her as she was completely alien; even more so than Starfire. For once in her life, Cassandra felt as if she belonged, and Komand’r wasn’t a taskmaster like David, her sperm donor. She hated the man and knowing that Lady Miracle took “care” of him didn’t even phase her. That’s how much she didn’t care about him.

Training as an enhanced person in the Danger Room had changed her, even more so when sparring with Komand’r and Lara Jor-El. Those two were merciless and beyond master level in the strange martial arts they used. When Cassandra volunteered for this operation, she didn’t expect much combat; everything was going smoothly, and it was scary. Cassandra feared that they might hit a snag somewhere…

On the tactical net, she said, "I have neutralized Cyborg, requesting transport for two." 

MACHINA appeared on the screen and she looked terribly happy, as if she was the cat that ate the canary.

Very good, Cassie! 

Taking control of Watchtower…

10%...

40%...

80%...

100%!

I have control over the space station!

Suborning Zeta teleporter network…

Success!

Cassandra shook her head, the AI was peculiar to work with. "Gratz."

 

~/.\~

(Superman/Kal-El)

 

At the same time, in Gotham… 

 

“All of this…. All of this had been a Darkseid plot all along?” Kala-El asked herself.

And more importantly, was Darkseid responsible for the Joker killing his wife and kid and the bombing of Metropolis? Forming a fist with her hands, her knuckles popped. “Is this all your fault?!”

The New God flew slowly toward the Kryptonian, a stoic face not revealing anything; his arms were behind him as he continued to float toward her. The stony face looked rather smug as Darkseid landed before her. "You killed Kalabak, Superman or should I call you Superwoman, now? You killed my son."

Quick like lightning, he caught Kala by the neck and lifted her into the air. He stared at her meaningfully. "Now you'll be giving me a new one."

All the women present understood what was going on and Kala was the first to punch Darkseid in the face. "NO!!"

However, something on his arm flared, it was a technological bracelet which lit up with a familiar green glow. It was Kryptonite, Kala felt herself losing strength. "In this state you are weaker and thanks to my new little accessories you are as weak as a normal human."

Raven fired an eldritch bolt at Darkseid's arm, making him let go of Kala and Hawkgirl lunged at him and hit him in the face with her Morningstar. The New God must have felt that one as he stumbled back, then he looked at the winged woman and fired Omega Beams at her.

Shiera was shielded by Green Lantern who used his ring to create a forcefield; then he used another construct to create a giant boxing glove to punch Darkseid away. The New God punched the construct and destroyed it, creating a shockwave which destroyed the furniture inside the panic room.

"Parademons, stall his friends." Darkseid said in an annoyed tone.

Multiple boom tubes opened and from them surged the parademons, throwing themselves at the heroes, who were instantly overwhelmed by numbers. Kala immediately exited the hotel and found herself pursued by the New God. Kala stopped and moved at supersonic speed toward Darkseid and used her heat vision to fry his face, staying at distance to avoid being made weak again.

"How useless, your body is still in Flux, your cells are still mutating. You're only delaying the inevitable, Kryptonian."

She didn't listen to him, but for once she should have as she started losing speed. Darkseid caught Kala's cape and punched her in the face and the Kryptonian crashed in the streets of downtown Gotham. Kala was embedded in the ground and had a hard time getting out.

Then a gravelly voice said, "Your defeat was inevitable, Kryptonian. After so many of our duels, I have taken steps to weaken you mentally and physically. It put a smile on my face to see you brought low and to your rightful place; on your knees. Once we return to my court, it will be your favorite position." Darkseid said as he picked up Kala by the hair.

On his right, a boom tube opened and Darkseid continued speaking. "Come, your destiny has finally arrived. And once it is realized, I shall conquer this planet and place the son that you'll give me as a governor. It should be your legacy."

Kala punched him again, but there was no strength to it. She punched and kicked, but nothing she did worked. The New God floated toward the boom tube while she struggled until, Slice! Darkseid found himself missing a right hand. "Aaaah!"

Kala fell on the ground and looked at Darkseid holding onto his stump. Between Kala and Darkseid stood a woman in a blue sundress and a hat. She was holding onto a crystal sword with a purple blade.

"Wh-who dares?!" Darkseid's eyes glimmered with Omega Beams and he shot them at the woman who simply opened a portal and another opened behind Darkseid who shot himself. He fell on the ground, the omega beams creating a huge crater.

The woman made the hand that she had sliced up float and flew toward the New God and said by throwing the hand next to Darkseid's face, "Sorry, let me give you a hand with your burden, Darkseid."

The New God free hand raised to take the hand but the woman in blue pointed her sword at it and…  ZAP!

She incinerated the hand before Darkseid's eyes, the God of Tyranny looked at it agape.

"Oh sorry, it burned." She landed and looked at the New God with disdain.

Darkseid stood up and demanded, "Who are you!?"

She pointed her sword at the New God and with purple light glowing around her, her sundress turned into a black tight fitting suit with golden pieces of armor. There was a circlet around her head as she said, "I am Lady Miracle, contractor and Sorceress, I heal, enchant and can act as a trouble shooter and also take out the trash. And I also kill self-entitled impudent new gods like yourself."

Kala didn't see when she moved, one moment she was standing before Darkseid and the next she was next to him and slapped him on the face. SLAP!

She let go of her sword then lunged at the God of evil and inflicted a haymaker that simply destroyed even more of the crater around them and the surrounding building crumbled thanks to the shockwave, destroying part of downtown Gotham.

Kala found the strength to float and escape into the air as the woman started working on Darkseid. And it frightened her to see the takedown, she was stronger, faster and merciless.

SLAM. BAM. CRACK. Those were all killing blows descending on the New God who tried to protect himself. The Kryptonian saw as the sword from earlier teleported into the woman's hand and she plunged it into the New God. STAB!

Multiple swords, a dagger and greatsword floated over her head as she channeled energy into the main sword and… BOOOOOOM! Kala protected herself with her arms but thankfully, the explosion seemed to be contained by some kind of force field emitting white light. 

Downtown was turned into a glassed expanse, but the hotel she had been in was still standing somehow. Green Lantern then came flying toward her, they must have taken steps to close the boom tubes and killed the parademons. Hal landed next to her and he asked, “Are you alright, did you do this?” He pointed at the destruction of Downtown.

“No, it’s someone that I didn’t think was that strong…” Kala found herself saying.

Raven and the Flash arrived right next to Hal who asked, “Huh, who?”

The Kryptonian pointed at the teleporting woman who had her sword floating next to her while pulling the ruler of Apokolips by the leg. There were multiple scars on his body and he was bleeding ichor on the ground while being soiled by dust. “Her!”

Hal gave a glance to the woman, Lady Miracle and he said, “Another hottie? And… is that Darkseid that she’s pulling by the leg?”

She landed next to them and took the Fatherbox from Darkseid’s belt; started fiddling with it and then it opened a boomtube. Darkseid who finally woke up from the punishment she had given him looked at her with fear. This was a new expression on the tyrant that disturbed Kala. She caught the monster by his lapel and stared him in the eyes. "Don't ever come back here again or you won't ever be going back to your hell pit." 

She then threw him into the boom tube and closed it with the fatherbox. Right next to her, a familiar woman zoomed in, it was Velocity. "Yo guys, I see that I missed the party."

Velocity, wasn’t she supposed to not participate? She smiled at Kala and said, “Yo Kala, I love the new look.”

“You knew?!” Kala stared angrily at the speedster. 

Velocity shrugged and her grin unnerved him. “Well yeah, I pretty much went to the future to know what would happen in it. You got taken by Darkseid. I had to get Lady Miracle here to save your booty. She’s the only one with the oomph to take down a God on the planet.”

Kala’s anger cooled and… he could accept that, despite him being turned into a woman. “I… thank you.”

The speedster nodded. “You’re welcome. By the way, you better pay the bill, I hope you’re ready for it.”

Hal frowned. “What bill?”

Lady Miracle made a large piece of paper appear and threw it at Hal. “This one.”

The Green Lantern looked at what was essentially a quote and then looked from it to Lady Miracle. “Two billion dollars for helping the League?! Are you crazy?!”

The woman smiled. “Miracles aren’t free, Green Lantern, and I added taking care of Darkseid to it… Hmm, actually, I am going to have to do something about him…"

Kala felt bad about the destruction of Gotham, but suddenly she felt faint and felt a wet sensation on her nose. She passed her hand under it and looked at it, it was blood; her vision went double and blurry and as she looked at Lady Miracle, her vision went dark.

 

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A/N: Next chapter is the end of that particular interlude then we get back to Kom's universe and her confrontation with Hela.

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