The Dark Age: Fearful Symmetry

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Years ago, Virgil Hawkins had been given an English assignment in which he was instructed to write a brief essay about what scared him the most. Virgil had penned concerns about drugs and gang warfare, gotten a B+, then forgotten about it. When he'd dug it up during a room cleaning a few years later, Virgil's life had changed considerably. One night, he'd contemplated the question anew, coming to the conclusion that the worst thing he could think of were his family and friends being harmed because of his new 'job'. Heartless 'bangers' were one thing, but a sadistic metahuman with a grudge suggested things no sane person should ever have to think about. Static did his best to keep his identity secret; any more thoughts on the matter was likely just additional stress he didn't need.

Some time later, while hanging out with the Titans, Static had jokingly asked why they let 'the weakling' Robin be their leader. Their answer had boiled down to the fact that he thought of things they never did, could, or wanted to, a lesson taught from his mentor. The serious nature of the initial conversation had swiftly snowballed into a comical debate over all the ridiculous things Batman was prepared for. Static always felt his solution for Bigfoot zombies (convince them they don't exist on two counts) had been ingenious.

Some might say that considering these experiences, Static could have been better prepared for the hell that awaited him at the Battle of Metropolis. Static would have informed those people that while the event of your friend betraying you was possible, and that them dying was also conceivable, who would consider a scenario where both events occurred?

Who would consider that there was something even worse?

"KILL ME!" The thing that had once been his best friend Gear rasped (mentally, Static had dubbed it Not-Gear, or Near), as it clawed at Static's throat. The hero dodged out of the way, gritting his teeth to fight back tears. The words were not spoken as a desperate plea from his friend, but as a brutal taunt from the entity within his body, an entity that knew just how to twist the knife and didn't know when to stop. Why would it? What was the worst thing Static could do?

"You won't win!" Static said, charging electrical energy between his fingers. He refused to believe that the situation could only be resolved in tragedy, for himself or his best friend. He also knew more about his powers than just tossing lightning around: maybe he could 'defibrillate' his best friend's systems, lock his muscles and nerves up and force the creature to abandon his body. Then he could deal with it, and maybe get Gear to a hospital. There had to be a chance, had to be…

"I WON'T LET YOU!"

Static's power blazed from his fingers with the declaration, arcing out and striking Gear's body. Near jerked about a moment, thrashing in the power's grip before hunching over.

"…ha. Nice try, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Near cackled. "The only simple here…is BLOOD SIMPLE."

A spear of shadow shot from Near's palm; Static dodged to the side and countered with another attempted stun barrage.

"That won't work! This body is mine, and you will never have what was back!" Near yelled, firing more spears of shadow at Static. "Cry! Suffer! Lament! Hell has come for your idiotic head!"

"Oh god, I don't know what's worse: you, or your taunting skill level!" Static retorted, weaving through the attacks.

"Ah, trying to battle through your grief with glib comments. How very much like you child heroes. Believing some witty banter can cover the pain of a wasted, futile life!"

"Oh for the love of, SHUT UP!" Static yelled. "I've heard this same crap from everyone from punk lowlifes to city-flattening behemoths, and you know what? I'M STILL HERE!"

"Not for long!" Near snarled, as he tossed several of Gear's concussion bombs. Dark energy glowed on them before they exploded, this time spewing forth a barrage of slashing crescent blades. Static went into another dodging frenzy, but there were simply too many projectiles to avoid. He dropped back down, hissing through his teeth at the several burning cuts that had been sliced across his body.

"If you only knew some things…" Near cackled once more. "The things this corpse sometimes thought of you, deep within. How envious and spiteful your sister would be if she knew the truth. The desire of your father for you to quit, lest you die like your IDIOT MOTHER!"

Electricity blazed in Static's eyes,.

"SHUT! UP!!!!!!!!!!!"

The electrical blast blew Near off his feet, sending him bouncing along the ground. Static came to his senses a moment later, looking in horror at what he had done.

Scorched and burning, Near slid back up his feet, snickering through twitching muscles.

"You're beginning to understand."

"…I won't give up. You're a liar, and I'm going to prove it!" Static said.

"And I am going to kill you. Then your family. Then your friends. Then anyone else I can find. Kill me, you fool."

Gear's back abruptly ripped open, as a scorpion-esque tail of shadow emerged. Near crouched down on all fours, flicking his tongue over bloody, cracked lips.

"Bear the chains your kind have hoisted. Be crushed under them. SCREAM!"

Static charged more electricity on his hands, his eyes grim and no reply given. Near cackled madly, and leapt to the attack again.

Where some battles treaded closer to a dangerous edge, others were drawing back from it.

"Superman! Me was not told that…!"

Superman crashed against Bizzaro as hard as he could, having no time to listen to his imperfect clone's nonsense.

"Ow! He not hit me!"

Kal-L followed up with his own tremendous blow immediately afterward.

"Ow! He not hit me too!" Bizzaro groaned, crashing to the ground and passing out.

"Your move Cain." Batman said, as he and Nightwing menaced one of the world's greatest assassins. Batman would have appreciated Robin being there to cover a further angle, but he wasn't, so Batman would have to make do. Even though that meant Cain had a gun for each of them.

"Oh no, I believe I am quite content how I…" Cain began.

Batarangs and 'Wing-Dings' went flying at the killer: he shot them out of the air and received a fist to the mouth for his troubles, moments before Nightwing leapt in and kicked him in the back of the head.

"Jordan! At last! I shall-ARRRGHHHHHHHHHH!" Sinestro bellowed as Hal Jordan let him have it with the mightiest force blast he could muster. "If that is all…!"

John Stewart added his own efforts to the attack, and Sinestro went crashing through a fallen building, screaming alien curses the whole way. He'd thought he was done feeling the brunt of that ring.

"RAAAOOWWW!" Cheetah hissed, as Wonder Girl wrapped her lasso around the bloodthirsty lunatic's neck before cutting loose with the destructive power of Zeus. Cheetah's hair and fur stood on end, but she hardly slowed down at all, clawing at Wonder Girl's eyes before Wonder Woman smashed her fist into the back of Cheetah's skull. It just made Cheetah switch targets, as the two Amazons battled their long-time enemy.

"It's good to fight with heroes again." Kal-L said, briefly watching Dr. Light II, The Ray, and Black Canary overwhelm the Shadow Thief with light and sound before he joined the efforts of Power Girl, Wildcat, Plastic Man, and Dr. Mid-Nite to thrash the not-finished-yet cloning villain Multiplex. "Good to fight with the Society."

"…who is that?" Wildcat said.

"Who do you think, Wildcat?" Power Girl said. Wildcat paused a moment.

"…I…I think I remember. That's him." Wildcat said, as he realized his memories were different. Old ones, once erased, had returned, of many worlds and the changes that had occurred there. He remember events, team-ups, and heroes, things once lost to existence, seemingly forever.

"Yep." Power Girl said with a note of pride. "He's OUR Superm-"

The crashing body cut Power Girl's words off. She jerked her head towards the fallen, winged form, the body covered with terrible burns.

"…Carter?" Wildcat said, as he looked at the form of his teammate Hawkman. The winged avenger struggled to get to his feet; he failed, collapsing to one knee as Dr. Mid-Nite and Wildcat ran to help him.

Power Girl was as stunned as Wildcat. Carter Hall was a warrior without peer. Whoever had done this…

The second body crashed down. Power Girl blinked in renewed surprise, and then attended to her. She did not know who it was, but from the injuries she was covered in…

"Help us…" Sparx whimpered, reaching out towards the heroine. "Help…he's…he's unstoppable…"

"What?" Power Girl said. Kal-L landed nearby, looking at the two injured.

The nearby rubble crumbled, and Abhorred surged down on the arriving heroes like a wave of choking death.

Flashes of power crackled through the midnight black clouds, as the Lord floated on the air and regarded his efforts. His enemies had gone from problematic to paltry, and that didn't seem like it would be changing any time soon. It was almost worth the downsides of the Sorceress merge, downsides he was certain would also prove troublesome later. This, however, was now.

The Lord raised his hand, rolling his bloody fingers before he brought them under his nose and inhaled softly. Ah, fresh blood. Finer than any perfume.

"Do keep coming. I am quite content to keep breaking you until you get the message." The Lord said. "Who's next?"

Black Adam hit the Lord so hard he nearly tore his head off.

"Of course, your breed do have some-" Was all the Lord got out before Black Adam floored him again.

"I am FINISHED wasting time with your rabble! I shall tear the head off the snake, and be done with it!" Black Adam bellowed, flying in to punch again. This time, the Lord dodged.

"You speak of slaying serpents, Teth-Adam? Perhaps you should remove your own head first." The Lord said. "Perhaps I have committed betrayal in my time, but I was never so weak to betray my own principles."

"SILENCE! DO NOT SPEAK ON MATTERS YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!" Black Adam bellowed, lancing towards the Lord again. The Lord once again dodged.

"Why? Do I lie?" The Lord said. "What need has a god to lie?"

"You call yourself a GOD?" Black Adam thundered, his knuckles going white as he clenched his fist. "Let me show you the power of a MULTITUDE OF GODS!"

Black Adam blazed at the Lord.

The Lord backhanded him so hard he split the cloud cover above him. Black Adam crashed down in Metropolis Bay several miles distant a few seconds later.

"It's quality, not quantity." The Lord said. "Your pantheons fled in terror before the power of the child in the dirt below. I felled him. What does that say of your so-called might, Adam?"

"That you talk too much." Looker answered. A moment later she, Steel III, Firehawk, Breach, Stargirl, and Jack Knight opened fire at the same time. The combined blast exploded against the Lord.

He didn't move an inch, even as the power surged and burned against him. Stargirl's eyes went wide: The Lord had apparently gotten rid of his 'issues' with her powers.

"Oh poopy."

"Only because you don't listen." The Lord said, raising the very arm that was engulfed in the blast.

He thrust it out, and black power surged out tenfold, consuming the combined attack and then the attackers, another detonation sounding across the sky.

"You know what is said about those who do not learn from…" The Lord began.

Firehawk lanced at him from the side, shrieking wordless defiance.

"Stop." The Lord said, gesturing at her.

Firehawk did just that.

So did the world.

Firehawk, realizing her predicament, furiously struggled for a few seconds before she realized both her range of motion and her powers were completely gone. Fear bloomed in her eyes as the Lord floated over.

Strangely though, he did not look angry, amused, or disgusted. Rather, he looked…inquisitive.

"I do not know you." The Lord said. "We have never crossed paths before…Lorraine. I have not fought your ally Firestorm. Yet you refuse to give up your focus on me. Why is that?"

"You're the BAD GUY! That's how it's SUPPOSED to happen!" Firehawk spat.

"Not like this. You are one hero among many others. I have struck you down several times already. It is within logic and reason to alter one's efforts. Instead, you continue attacking me."

"YOU MADE ME KILL A MAN YOU BASTARD…!"

"I redirected your shot. I initiated a phase-shift on its essence to bypass the man's invulnerability. I killed a man, child. You were barely a catalyst. Had I fallen by now, that is surely the ratiocination you would have used to sleep at night." The Lord said. "No…there's something else here. Something else drives you. Something…even you're not fully aware of."

Firehawk just glared at the Lord, trying to struggle free again while doing so and discovering her body was still frozen.

"…ahhhhhhh." The Lord said. "You were there. With Dibny, the night his wife was murdered and everything began to go downhill for you heroes. When all the darkness began to creep in. You saw what I did, what I am…and you subconsciously linked that darkness to me. In your heart, you see me as a manifestation of the events that killed Sue and Ronnie. The events that struck so deeply at the heart of your cause."

Firehawk had no answer. The Lord leaned down to look into her eyes.

"What if I was the reason?"

Firehawk couldn't conceal her surprise behind a mask.

"Were there not inconsistencies in the events that Loring initiated? Inexplicable turns of mind, of motive? Strange ineptitude in the preparations and efforts of the best and the brightest? Would it not make more sense if there was some guiding hand behind it all, to compensate for the failings that should have undone the whole incident far sooner?"

The ghostly smirk crossed over the Lord's face.

"Isn't the hardest crime to solve the one where the perpetrator had no connection to the victim at all?"

Firehawk found she could move again, somehow. She screamed and lashed out with a flaming hand.

The Lord wasn't there any more though. He was a dozen feet away, the world still frozen.

"Or maybe I'm lying through my teeth." The Lord said. "Myself, involved in the events that have lead to this? Maybe that's just too convenient. You tell me."

Firehawk fired another blast at the Lord. He dodged away, the world still frozen around them. Firehawk tried to cover the tears from her eyes with rage, firing blast after blast at the Lord, but none of her attacks came close to hitting him.

"Doubt. In a way, that's your cruelest cross to bear. I may have had need to re-evaluate my goals, but I have never questioned myself. That's all you heroes do when all is said and done. Question. Ponder. Torment yourself over what could have been, what might have been, what you will never know for certain. Doubt. If you had to carve one word on your cause's tombstone, it should be that."

Firehawk's latest blast phased through the Lord's shadow essence. A moment later, he was in front of her.

"Well, two words."

The Lord's finger lanced out as an extending blade, burying itself in Firehawk's abdomen. She gasped in shock.

Moments later, a numb coldness began seeping into her, an unnatural paralysis that stole her strength away before she could utilize it against her enemy.

"Doubt. And pain." The Lord said.

The world was moving again, but Firehawk barely noticed. The Lord chuckled darkly.

"Tell Ronnie there's never any end to the price you pay." The Lord said. "No fire can light the darkness."

The kick knocked Firehawk off the Lord's finger blade and sent her plummeting towards the ground.

She landed in the arms of Hyperion first.

"Get her out of here!" Hyperion yelled, as he passed her to a CESTUS unit that was accompanying him. His other reinforcements gathered around him, most of them riding on a rock platform provided by Geo-Force.

"All right punk. I'm going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild at a stepfather convention." General Havoc said, cracking his knuckles.

"Too late." The Lord said.

A beat passed.

Another passed as well.

The CESTUS unit retreated with Firehawk, as the Lord floated there. Victory Lad, who had very good eyes, noticed the shadow creature's brows were knitted in confusion.

"Oh, she's not going to explode? I thought being an attempted Firestorm clone she would explode." The Lord said. "My, how red my face is. Metaphorically speaking anyway."

"PLAN GAMMA! GET THE SHADOW DEMON!" Hyperion yelled, as the Liberty League and MSG charged in.

"Shadow GOD." The Lord replied, unable to keep the petulance out of his voice.

"Only in your dreams, madman! We-!"

"Bored now."

The Lord thrust out his hands and a thousand black dots appeared around him, each dot becoming a needle-thin blast that flew out and rained down on the attacking metahumans, consuming them in explosions that detonated across the sky and further enveloped the shattered ground.

"This really is all you have to offer." The Lord sighed, continuing to destroy everything in his line of sight. "No wonder so many villains go mad. The redundancy alone would…"

Strong arms wrapped around the Lord, yanking his hands up as Mary Marvel locked the shadow deity in a full nelson, fighting through the burning pain she felt just touching the Lord's body.

"GET HIM FREDDY!"

"TAKE THIS!" Captain Marvel Jr yelled as he dropped down and lanced towards the firmly-held Lord.

"Enough. This well is dry." The Lord said. He could have broken free of the grip, but he had a better idea.

He used it, as he lunged forward, flipping his whole body over. Mary Marvel went with him, her eyes going wide with shock.

The same look was mirrored on Captain Marvel Junior's face, as his fist slammed into his teammate's back.

"MARY!" He cried, as the Lord slipped out of the broken clutch and surged backwards, both Marvels frozen for a second in pain or shock. A second was all he needed.

"Here's your broken crown, Jack." The Lord said, and fired a building sized blast that enveloped both Marvels, blowing them across the sky and over the horizon.

"The world's mightiest mortals. It shows."

Screaming, Black Adam lanced in.

He slammed into the Lord's hand.

"MAZAHS!"

Black lightning tore from the clouds above and struck Black Adam, who emitted another scream as he vanished in the grip of their power. When it faded, the Lord was holding a slightly smaller man in archeologist-style clothes.

"…Huh, didn't actually think that would work. Interesting." The Lord said. Teth-Adam stared at the Lord in complete astonishment, unable to grasp that the Lord had somehow manipulated magical forces great enough to reverse his transformation.

"…SHAZ-!"

The Lord rammed his fingers into Teth-Adam's throat, turning his magical transformation word into an agonized wheeze. Teth-Adam tried to draw air back into his lungs and speak anew, only to find his vocal cords were paralyzed. He was cut off from his power.

"It's never where you think it will come from, is it, mortal?" The Lord said. "Death. Pain. The end. Always from the blind spot. Maybe if you actually considered that, things would be different. Then again…"

The Lord let Adam go. He fell, silently screaming.

"Understanding the gravity of the world is never easy. Not until you're in it's grip." The Lord said. He didn't watch Adam's fall: the de-powered mortal was no longer worth his interest.

Nothing was, it seemed. With Ithlian's full power at his command, he could warp time and space to his whim. Why not just shunt all his enemies into the nearest black hole, or tweak history so that they suffered spontaneous fatal aneurysms? Wouldn't that be the easiest way to proceed? Wouldn't that be practical?

It would…

However, it would also be so…unsatisfying.

That had been what had done in Ithlian, after all. Despite all her raw power, she had always lacked a certain psychology, a certain…imagination. Even so, it went against his core creed. It deeply irritated the Lord: for all his efforts, the 'heroes' of this world had poisoned him. He couldn't just kill them. If he did, his victory would seem hollow, his indemnification lacking, and slowly but surely that fact would eat away at him and all his other accomplishments.

He had to make sure they felt it. Anything else would be a mercy.

Well, if that was how it had to go…

The giant ball of flaming metal interrupted the Lord's thoughts. He blew it out of the sky before it reached him.

Apparently, some heroes still hadn't gotten the message. Despite himself, the Lord smirked again.

Heroes.

They always answered his questions for him.

"Did we get him?" Claudio "Pyrogen" Teili said, scanning the skies.

"I can't see. We hit something…" Mitch "Outburst" Anderson replied, trying to spot specifics against the dark clouds above his team.

"The Supermen of America."

The Supermen jerked in surprise, turning towards where the Lord now stood.

"I thought the OMAC's wiped you out." The Lord said.

"You thought wrong, ass clown." Max "Maximum" Williams said as he cracked his knuckles. The Lord felt a twinge of déjà vu. If only they knew just how history was going to repeat itself…

"I can see you there." The Lord said, his black eyes glimmering. There was a pause, and then the family-based team known as the Relative Heroes emerged from the darkness cast by some wrecked buildings.

"You should have stayed in limbo." The Lord said.

"…the only way for evil to win…" Team leader Houston began.

"Is for good men to do nothing. Yes, so I've heard." The Lord said. "There is nothing you 'good men' can do."

"We'll be the judge of that." Outburst said. The Lord chuckled again.

"Supermen of America." The Lord said. "Right."

"GET HIM!"

Twin blasts of fire, a blast of electricity, and another magnetically hurled chunk of metal shot at the Lord. A dark dome encased him, and the attacks impacted impotently on it.

"Allow me to grant you some final words of wisdom. Job 12:22, in the King James Bible to be precise." The Lord said. "He discovered deep things out of darkness…"

The black glittered in his gaze.

"And bringeth out to light the shadow of death."

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

Wonder Girl didn't know what was going on any more.

She also didn't know if this was an improvement. Mere minutes ago, she would have done anything to rid herself of the deep, wrenching heartache that had consumed her…but as a certain love ballad went, she didn't know if she would have done this.

Conner, her first love. Even the heroic nature of his sacrifice didn't numb the terrible pain. When Wonder Woman had comforted her, up in the Arctic, part of Cassie had wanted to punch her face in and rail on her for her for the older heroes' failure to prevent Conner's death. They were the champions, the vanguards, and they'd dropped the ball.

The other part of Wonder Girl, which won out, knew that such an action was unnecessary. That fact, that truth, was written all over the superheroes' faces.

In a way, they'd carry a deeper burden then she would. She had loved him, and she would always have that. For many of them, all they would ever have was their failure.

When word had finally reached them of the Battle of Metropolis, her immediate actions were decided. She would go there. She would protect the world against the forces Conner had died fighting. It would be what he wanted. And if she found the hands of those who had killed her love behind this last war, then God help them.

It had seemed simple then.

Then she'd arrived, and the shadow creatures had swarmed on them.

Life. It could never be simple for them. Not even in the ways of divertissement.

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE THESE?" Lady Quark snarled, as she blasted her nuclear force bolts through the nearest Abhorred. "After all we've endured, has the Anti-Monitor returned to plague us as well?"

Wonder Girl's response was cut off as an Abhorred lashed out, slicing open a shallow wound on her stomach. She seized it in her lasso in return, blasting it apart with Zeus' lightning. Grimacing, she clutched at her injury. She remembered this touch.

"…it's not the Anti-Monitor." Wonder Girl said. "Why did he…how…why won't he STAY DEAD?"

"Keep your head, Cassandra!" Wonder Woman ordered, slicing the Abhorred that had been sneaking up on Wonder Girl in half with her sword. Wonder Girl grimaced again. All this, and the Lord as well.

Maybe that murderer Prime had been on to something. Maybe the world was hopelessly corrupt. How much longer could she fight, before her energies ran out…

NO.

Conner had died believing otherwise. She would not shame his memory. She would not join him through selfish weakness. She was an Amazon. She was a godchild. SHE WOULD FIGHT.

"Ray! RAY!" Wonder Girl yelled, leaping and kicking an Abhorred away in the process.

"WHAT?" The Ray yelled back, blazing through his own Abhorred.

"Alter your light powers to the solar wavelength! These things likely can't stand the sun!"

"Then why isn't anyone DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE CLOUDS?!" The Ray yelled, even as he did as Wonder Girl commanded and refracted his light-based blasts. The difference became clear immediately: his previous blasts had had a concussive effect, whereas his new attacks burned through the entities like a hot knife through butter. "Hey, you were right! Quark! You control radiation, try and fire it along the UV wavelength! And someone answer me WHY NO ONE IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE CLOUDS!"

"Good question!" Power Girl snarled as she tore apart the several attacking Abhorred that menaced her. She'd noticed herself that she was having an easier time handling the creatures then Wonder Woman was: Wonder Girl's orders had clarified just why. Her solar-charged powers wouldn't hold out forever though, especially with pitch-black clouds constantly dropping new hordes of the creatures in.

"I think I'll get some answers!" Power Girl said, taking to the sky and lancing towards the clouds. "Hey! Clouds! You're in my…!"

The gigantic black bolt exploded from within the seething maelstrom above Metropolis, striking down Power Girl.

"LIAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!" Power Girl screamed as she was forcibly re-introduced to the ground, the bolt of malignant energy dragging her along the shattered streets before exploding.

"KARA!" Kal-L yelled, vaporizing a group of Abhorred with heat vision before flying over to the smoking crater where Power Girl now lay. His help was unneeded though, as Power Girl was already clawing her way out, coughing on dust. Black smoke drifted off her body; Kal-L could already see burns forming on her face and exposed legs.

"That…stung, ow." Power Girl rasped. "It's magic, Kal. Damn nasty magic. Whatever's formed those clouds is seething with it."

"I thought magic was reduced to a raw state! That it was uncertain, chaotic! How did he get it to work for him?!" Wonder Girl interjected, having landed near the pair herself.

"Apparently someone didn't get the memo." Power Girl replied, as she spat black saliva on the ground. "Who's HIM?"

"…The Lord. A would-be shadow god, and one of the nastiest sons of…female dogs I've ever crossed swords with." Wonder Girl said. "If he's running around…where's Superman? I mean, our Superman?"

"…I saw him briefly, moments ago." Kal-L said. "He…"

Snarling in psychotic fury, more Abhorred surged down onto the three, cutting off Kal-L before he could finish. The three fought back furiously, their actions mirroring the sole driving force that had sent Superman off.

Save the day.

The darkness, however, would yet snuff out the dawn…

Gone…

"RAAUUUAGGGHHHHH!" Sand bellowed, his body transformed into a seething mass of silicate merged with countless tons of rock and stone. Its mass fell over the Lord, sending the tide of crushing doom down on him.

It exploded into a billion scattered pieces in mid fall, revealing the Lord now with one hand raised.

"Not quite an Imperial funeral." The Lord said.

Josiah Power slammed down his fists from behind the Lord. The Lord moved his raised hand fully up, stopping the attack with one finger.

"Not quite up to his assessment."

Powers sidestepped away from the Lord's spinning blow, lancing in with another punch.

It never reached the Lord, as he snapped his fingers and time stopped. The Lord phased in front of Powers, locked in frozen surprise, and then sighed, phasing behind Powers as a myriad of black energy spears appeared all around Powers.

The remains of the Power Company never knew what happened: one moment their leader was attacking, and the next he was consumed in an explosion as the Lord walked away.

So many dead…

Screaming, Bulleteer flew in from behind the Lord. He gestured without looking, and a column of black energy erupted from the ground and blew Bulleteer away.

"Not worth a glance."

Witchfire and Sapphire lashed out themselves, hammering the Lord with mystical flame and ultra-dense crystal projectiles. They may as well have been throwing paper airplanes.

"Not worth a try." The Lord said, turning his arm towards them. The women's eyes widened.

"CANDY!" Bork yelled, as he threw himself between the Lord and the two women.

He took the attack full to the back, as the Lord fired a giant multi-faceted blast that hurled Bork into the two women and ripped everything around and behind them apart for several dozen meters.

"Not worth much of anything." The Lord said as he walked on.

"Carl?" Candace "Sapphire" Gennaro, as she struggled out from under her teammate's weight. "Carl? Are you…?"

Sapphire's words trailed off, as she saw how little was left of Bork's back. He was gone.

In the end, all Sapphire could do was weep.

Again, and again…save one.

"WE'RE NOT DONE YET YOU…!" Hyperion bellowed as he lanced at the Lord.

"Worthless." The Lord said, lashing out a finger and slashing a bloody line across Hyperion's chest as he was sent screaming into some rubble.

"I'M GONNA…!" General Havoc roared as he charged in from the other side.

"Worthless." The Lord echoed, doing the exact same thing to Havoc. The rest of the two teams swarmed towards him regardless; irritation shot across his gaze.

"WORTHLESS!" The Lord snarled, slashing outward with both fingers and scattering the Liberty League and MSG in a storm of screams and debris. "You will learn this. YOU WILL LEARN…"

Stellar energy rained down on the Lord again. He snarled and looked to the sky, where Jack Knight and Stargirl fought desperately to prevent any more death.

"You." The Lord said, and thrust back his arm. "I owe you!"

Outburst…Mitch…

A lifetime ago, Superman had saved Mitch Anderson and his family from Doomsday's rampage. Some time later, Mitch had told Superman in shame how immature and petty he'd been before then, even mocking Superman to his friends. Superman had assured him that no one was born perfect, and that it was better to learn from your mistakes then to never make them. Mitch had learned better then most: upon the manifestation of his metahuman powers, he'd gathered a team of young people to follow in Superman's footsteps. They'd even named themselves the Supermen of America.

Dead now, like so many others.

Save Mitch.

"Sir…" Outburst whispered, blood leaking from his mouth and from the seven ugly wounds on his chest.

He would not be alone for long.

"LOOK OUT!" Jack Knight yelled as the Lord unleashed his person-sized black energy sphere. It flew towards the two, as they countered with stellar blasts.

They did nothing. Nothing at all.

Like they would soon be…

"Sir…I'm so sorry…"

"Don't talk son. Just hold on. I'll…we'll…"

"I'm sorry…I should have done more…I should have done more…"

"Save your strength, don't…"

"Save the world…" Outburst whispered.

"NO!"

STRIPE came out of nowhere, placing himself between the attack and the pair, and as Courtney's eyes filled with horror the attack consumed him, his defiant cry snuffed out a second later.

"DAD!" She screamed.

Jack barely caught Pat Dugan with his power, as the shattered remains of the armored suit that had housed a man fell backwards, the suit destroyed and Pat not looking good for it.

"Dad…!" Stargirl whispered.

"Son…"

"I understand…I…always hope…" Outburst whispered, blood bubbling from his mouth. "Do…what you have to…save the world…save the…wor…"

Gone.

Like so many, gone.

"Get my daughter out of here Jack. Go. GO!" Pat rasped.

"You're not going ANYWHERE!" The Lord snarled, greatly aggrieved by the last second save, as vicious talons elongated from his finders once more. "I'll make sure of it. WITH MY OWN HAND!"

…no more.

Like a bat out of hell, the Lord lanced upward towards the three.

NO…

He barely saw the blur.

MORE!!!!!

Not until the blur had seized his arm at the wrist, stopping him dead. The Lord stared at the hand for a second, and then looked up into Superman's eyes.

Staring, for a moment, at the immeasurable rage within.

"Oh."

The sound of the blow drowned out everything else, including Superman's bellow of rage, as the Man of Steel punched the Lord across the face: the crack of thunder from the attack nearly deafened the three heroes behind and above him as well. The Lord hit the ground like a meteor, impacting so hard he not only smashed a new crater into the ground, but forcibly displaced a massive tower of stone that stabbed into the air, pieces breaking off the protrusion and falling into the massive dust cloud at its base.

"…hey man. Thanks." Jack said. "You got here just in time."

"No." Superman said, briefly glancing towards the trio, scanning Pat Dugan. "He's seriously hurt. Get him to safety. Tell everyone to keep clear of the area."

To Jack Knight, the sound of Superman's knuckles cracking as he clenched his fist seemed as loud as the punch he'd unleashed against the Lord.

"I'll handle this from here."

In a microsecond Superman was at the impact site where the Lord had landed, scanning everywhere to find his enemy. Jack Knight and Stargirl listened, extracting Dugan from the ruins of his suit and carrying him away, as Superman played his incredible eyes over the shattered ruins around and below him. He would not escape, nor hide…

"Kryptonian!"

Of course. He was outright calling Superman to his location. That was what arrogant madmen did, as Superman looked up at the mental call, using teachings he'd learned from J'onn to try and get a general idea of the direction of the telepathy.

"How nice of you to finally show up. What kept you? You weren't eaten by a giant snake, were you? That would be strange even for…"

THERE.

A sonic boom sounded as Superman blazed across the ruins of Metropolis, lancing right towards where the Lord stood. The look of surprise and alarm on the Lord's face was quite evident.

A look mirrored on Superman's face as he flew into the altered chrono-stream field the Lord had projected around himself, turning his sub-luminal dash into a snail's crawl by comparison. Even with the field, Superman was going so fast he nearly caught the Lord anyway, as the shadow god was forced to raise one hand and manifest a glyph in the air that froze Superman completely.

Locked in place, Superman could now see precisely where the Lord was standing.

The Daily Planet. Somehow, despite the ruination that had been brought to Metropolis, it was still standing. The Lord had positioned himself on the now-stationary globe that adorned the top of the building, Superman a mere two feet from him.

"…well met, alien. You'd have had me if I was less prepared." The Lord said, lowering his hand. "Of course, your track record hasn't been in the wins column for some time now."

Superman just glared, his defiance even fiercer then Firehawk's. The Lord wasn't much surprised.

"You don't have a chance you know. That idiot child was your better by an immense degree, AND impervious to magical harm. Now he's just another corpse, like all the others I left strewn across your city." The Lord said. "I'm sure some would criticize my efforts in regards to that, but I know better. THEY may say 'The Lord did nothing, he killed a group of has-beens and never-were's, he didn't kill anyone IMPORTANT'…but you'll know what they did. You'll know what they sacrificed. You'll never forget. Yet the people you protect will hold their deaths in disdain and contempt, if they even bother to learn the dead's names at all. This is the world you claim to protect. This is the world you will realize is lost."

Blackness began to radiate out from the Lord's feet, surging across and engulfing the trademark icon. At the same time, tendrils of black power began coursing down from the clouds, surging into the Lord.

"You are not what the world needs. I'd say this is a more than fitting metaphor for what is needed. Not that you would ever accept that." The Lord said. "So be it."

The robes on the Lord began to part, snapping off at the Lord's neck and floating just behind his head, leaving him dressed in simple black armor. All the while, Superman's gaze never faltered.

"Lay on, Macduff." The Lord said. "And damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold, ENOUGH!'"

The chrono-stasis ceased. At the same time, the clouds shifted once more, and the flow of Abhorred from them ceased in turn. Superman lanced forward.

Somehow, the Lord was faster.

The force struck Superman, sending him flying backwards across the skies in a tumble. He swiftly righted himself, only to find the Daily Planet globe being hurled at him immediately thereafter, crackling with dark energies.

"Sorry Perry." Superman whispered, and punched the giant orb. It shattered into pieces, but the energies coursing across it found a new target as they arched off and slammed into Superman. He hissed between his teeth, but he didn't budge…

Before the Lord flew through the still-scattering wreckage and crashed into Superman, and the two went tumbling down into the guts of Metropolis.

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

Static felt at least two ribs snap as he was slammed against the wall by the shadow tail of Near, the bladed end having split apart into several crushing tentacles that had seized him and pinned him against the wall like a butterfly under glass. He coughed, feeling blood trickle out from his mouth and his broken nose.

He'd tried. He'd tried to separate his best friend Richie from the abomination that now wore his body. He'd tried to fight, to find some way to save Gear, or at the least, save himself. But he couldn't. He couldn't make the proper disconnect.

Near had no such qualms. The sadistic grin on his face showed that he couldn't even comprehend the concept of qualms. Just one sole driving force: destroy. In any and all aspects.

"Last chance fool. Kill me." Near rasped.

Static's survival instincts screamed at him to cut loose and destroy Richie's body, but his heart roared back with defiance at the concept. He raised an arm despite the internal war, calling on his power…but all he mustered were a few weak arcs of electricity that Near barely seemed to notice.

"So you see the idiocy of your burden in the end!" Near cackled, as a long blade of shadow appeared on his primary finger. "It snarls even your most primal of instincts! You call yourself something higher then the norm? You are an aberration! A deviant imbecile who thinks dying instead of killing his enemy is somehow BETTER! You go against everything that should be, hero. Your breed will all die for it, like so many already have."

"…I'd rather die…then be something like you." Static coughed.

"Let us see if you still think that in a moment, hero." Near said, as barbs sprouted on his finger claw. "If you will not lead, then this dance is over. YOUR LAST DANCE!"

"…heh." Static said.

A golden energy link seized Near's wrist a second later, stopping his stab cold.

"Sorry, we're cutting in."

Savior thrust out the Shimmer, Raven's power surging along its length in turn, as the living energy slammed into Near's back and erupted through his body. Near's shadow tail dropped Static; a rock platform swiftly rose up underneath him and carried him away as Near thrashed in the Shimmer/soulself grip, screaming an inhuman wail…

That became human once more, as Savior yanked out the Shimmer holding a writhing black shrieking mass. Gear crumpled into Raven's arms as she appeared from the shadows.

"Gauntlet!" Savior yelled as he crammed the shadow mass into the teenager's awaiting energy talent, which clamped down on the entity like a vise.

"Star!" Gauntlet yelled in turn, whirling around and hurling the shadow creature away. Emerald energy flew out, striking the creature: it exploded into pieces with one final scream and vanished.

"Static? You all right?" Robin said as he checked on Static. Static's only reply was a hacking cough.

"…what took you…so long?" The black teenager eventually said.

"We had the weight of the world to deal with." Savior said as he headed over.

"Hey man…I'm not complaining."

Static's eyes widened at the voice, and he sat up to see Gear nearby, sitting near Raven as she healed him. For a moment, Static could just stare.

"Hey man, stop. You'll give me a complex." Gear tried to joke.

"Don't be so impertinent. You are VERY lucky, Mr. Foley. That possessing entity kept your body running enough that I was able to repair your injuries after expelling it. If it had just stabbed you and left, you'd be beyond help. Don't forget that." Raven said, grimacing as she finished her repairs.

"Forget? You think I'll ever forget this?" Gear said quietly.

"That's too far in the other direction. Just count your blessings, child." Scalpel said as he emerged with other Titans, some steady on their feet and others wounded and being helped, like Aqualad. "I performed my head count Robin. We are missing a few, but they are the ones we couldn't contact at all after we were all nearly buried."

"I can't raise them either." Robin said, putting away a battered communicator as Raven began work on Static's injuries.

"Wait a second, where's B?" Terra said, as she realized the green changeling was seemingly absent. "Beast Boy? BEAST BOY!"

"He was underground with us, I saw him a minute before…" Peregrine II said.

"He's alive." Raven said. "I can't pinpoint him, but he's alive."

"You sure?" Terra said, looking sick with worry.

"Surest thing you'll likely get, Terra. What's our first line of business Robin?" Savior asked. "Doomsday seems to have relocated: should we try and hunt him down?"

"No. He's done." Raven said. "I've been trying some other mental scans while looking for Beast Boy. The battlefield has shifted…"

"Should we go after Prime then?" Gauntlet said. The looks on several of the Titans' faces indicated they'd rather do anything but. Robin ignored them: he didn't have a choice.

"No…we…I…" Raven said, and fell silent.

"Well? What?" Terra said.

"…I can't read Prime's life signs. I think he's dead."

Every Titan was united in their stunned look.

"…dead?" Bumblebee squeaked.

"Who in tarnation took him out?" Scorcher said.

"You should know well, cockroaches."

The Titans jumped, their eyes jerking towards the dark figure standing nearby. Robin felt his mouth dry briefly, before he shoved his surprise back down.

"…Lord." Robin said.

"Hello Titans. Not dead again, I see. Strange, I though the Tamaranian was the one descended from felines."

Starfire immediately threw a Starbolt at the shadow being. The explosion of the attack scattered his body, but it swiftly reformed.

"Don't bother, everyone." Raven said as she stood up from Static. "It's just a projection. Not the real him."

"Ohhhhhhhhh, look. Someone finally wised up enough to be scared." Gauntlet said.

"Do be quiet, child." The 'Lord' said.

"Wait, you're right. With your long history of success, you are truly in a position to lecture us." Gauntlet said.

"Times change, children. Streaks end. Fortune eventually turns fick-"

"Blah blah blah, can we get this over with? There are new villains to fight. You know, ones that are actually relevant to the current situation and aren't shoehorned in roughly?" Gauntlet said. The Lord chuckled darkly.

"You would think, given all our experiences, you would have the sense to afford me some respect." The Lord said.

"Oh we respect you. You're just very LOW on the list of things we respect." Robin said.

"Somewhere between Paris Hilton and Keanu Reeves's acting, if I recall correctly." Gauntlet said.

"Ah, Titans. It bears repeating: always so quick with the witticism, the put-down, the dismissal. It still doesn't decrease your risk of dying horribly." The Lord said. "Practice for the moment. I have a more pressing issue."

"…what?" Scalpel blurted as the Lord turned away.

"Oh yes, and there's too many of you." The Lord said, as he raised a hand, snapping his fingers.

Abhorred appeared from nowhere, legions of them, as they swiftly surrounded the battered Titans.

"Separate the chafe, would you?" The Lord said, and disappeared.

"It's times like this that I wish our main enemy was more bumbling." Gauntlet complained.

The Abhorred charged.

"Gauntlet, Terra, Scorcher, Peregrine! Get our wounded together and protect them!" Robin yelled, as he slammed together the two remaining Birdarangs he had to form his sword before snapping out his staff. "EVERYONE ELSE, YOU KNOW THE DRILL!"

The Titans surged out, trying to force themselves past their weary frames. In the end, there was no rest for the virtuous.

The wicked, however, were not spared, as the Lord took his hand off his head in time for Superman to utterly floor him with another punch, sending him crashing into another pile of rubble.

"If I…"

Another thunderous punch to the Lord's jaw cut off his sentence, smashing him further back into the pile. Superman fired off several more rapid punches before rearing back and letting loose with a explosive right hook that both smashed the Lord through the debris and scattered it to the winds. The Lord bounced across the ground a few times before finding his feet.

"That's your game then?" The Lord said.

A blue flash zapped at him. Even with the Lord's time dilution abilities, the speed was astounding.

Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough.

"Seen. RAISED!" The Lord yelled, and slashed out with his hand. The slashing attack ripped across Superman's body and face, stopping him dead even as the wrecked buildings behind him split apart and tumbled to the ground. Superman yelled as he clutched at his face, his eyes burning, before the Lord slammed his foot into Superman's head and sent him smashing into some rubble in turn.

"Congratulations. I honestly thought that attack might rend you to bits." The Lord said. "Maybe your name…"

The rubble exploded as Superman lanced back out. The Lord dropped into a combat stance before firing a blast at where he calculated Superman would be.

He calculated wrong, as Superman abruptly switched directions. The Lord could only wonder if it had been from speed or tactical thinking before Superman's eyes blazed red.

Unlike Prime's always-piercing, always-devastating rays, Superman could vary the size and intensity of his heat vision. In this case, he didn't hold back on the intensity, as he blasted the Lord with a wide-bore beam that completely engulfed him, the solar fury burning into the Lord's form. The shadow god, however, held his ground, snarling under his breath as the heat vision tore into him.

"Anything you can do…" The Lord said, and drove his hand into the attack. Blackness spewed forth from it, cutting into the wide-range beam as it expanded in turn, meeting and gradually blocking the attack before starting to overwhelm it. The Lord smirked, and then placed his hand on his wrist and concentrated.

The blackness erupted with new overwhelming fury, beating back the heat vision before cutting it off entirely and driving into the figure behind it.

Except that figure was no longer there. While the Lord's blast was vaporizing more wreckage, Superman appeared behind him. The Lord turned around into another cracking punch, stumbling backwards before Superman blasted him in the knees with heat vision and met the Lord's falling form with a furious uppercut that smashed him into the base of another building. The usual collapse occurred.

Superman flew after the Lord, drilling through the rubble for several seconds before he realized the Lord wasn't there. A second later he flew out of the remains before a gigantic blast annihilated it from the sky.

This time, the Lord managed to turn around before Superman caught up to him. The Man of Steel's fist lashed out once more.

This time, the Lord caught it.

"So, did I finally awaken the proper anger in you? The rage you should have felt…"

Superman fired off his other fist. The Lord caught that one as well, holding both of the Kryptonian's wrists in a vice grip.

"Against these worthless sacks of flesh you hold so dear?"

Superman's heat vision surged forth again, but he wasn't the only one who could move fast. Superman's wrists were free a moment before the Lord's phase around and kick from behind sent Superman smashing into the ground. A moment after THAT, a gigantic torrent of destructive blasts rained down on him, consuming several square blocks in a series of explosions.

"You let them drag you down. You let them cripple your potential, throw away all you could do for them. You let them KEEP ON BEING WORTHLESS." The Lord said as he dropped down to the ground. He could see the figure rising in the smoke: he hadn't expected that to be it. "It's funny. Lex Luthor hates you because you supposedly hold humanity back. He doesn't seem to realize that there's nothing for you to actually HOLD BACK."

Superman stood amongst the clearing dust, his baleful eyes betraying little. The Lord smirked.

"Come on Kryptonian! You know I'm telling the truth! Admit it! How long have you been doing this? A decade? What's happened since then? How many times has the world nearly ate itself alive, for one reason or another?" The Lord said. "You aren't going to save them! They don't deserve it! You are ALONE!"

"…I wonder." Superman said. "When will the day come when squalid little toads like you find something new to say?"

The Lord's eyes narrowed.

"You just ensured it'll hurt even more."

Superman's subsequent charge demonstrated that he could care less.

"Rail cannon holding steady at 82 percent sir. The last issues are proving particularly…obstinate." The Bulwark agent reported, typing away at his scorched console.

"I want that thing ready to fire ASAP. It's our main objective." Roger Candide said. "What about our forces?"

"All fighters are down, sir." Another agent said. "CESTUS suits are at maybe 10 percent optimally functional. Another 5 percent are up to doing non combat duties. The rest…"

"Out with it."

"A wash sir. If it wasn't for the metahumans who had returned from the Arctic…our odds would have been poor, to say the least."

"Damn. What about the Hectors?"

"The one that went down has been repaired sir. The other one was utilized for your Command 55."

"Tell the repaired one to establish a perimeter around the city." Roger said. He didn't speak aloud his following thought: that was all you could do without all of you getting killed, and you might all get killed anyway.

Roger allowed himself a moment of sorrow. This was the greatest disaster BULWARK had suffered since…that incident in 1985 that everyone had a hard time remembering. Even the super geniuses of BULWARK had been unable to make sense of all the conflicting files of that incident. Now it had happened again, on a less confusing but no less tragic scale. Roger was going to have to deliver a lot of flags to a lot of families.

Not like the superhumans were exempt. The Lord and Prime had slaughtered dozens of them: the insane shadow god had been killing them right up to the arrival of the Kryptonian. They would have their own grief to deal with, provided any of them survived.

Superman. Even with all Roger knew of him, it seemed like an impossible task lay ahead for the Man of Steel. Then again, how many times had the military, himself included, written off Superman after some disaster?

Didn't he always win, no matter the odds?

"…Nathaniel…" Roger said.

"Yes, Candide…" Peregrine replied, sitting on some nearby stairs as he poked inside his combat reading device with a laser tool. "I know. In retrospect crushing my machine in a fit of outraged pique was somewhat counterproductive. I'm working on it."

"You built that, you can probably do something of its job. What would you say the situation is?"

"Well…it IS the Kryptonian. His reputation is well-earned. However, it is also known he is vulnerable to these thrice-damned mystical forces that are covering the battlefield, and his enemy seems to be commanding them at an Omega-class level." Peregrine said. "But I did not say my reading for him was his natural state for nothing. When pushed, I am not certain how high he can rise. Unfortunately, I am also not certain how deep that shadow being can sink, if you comprehend my analogy."

"Then give them plenty of room. If we learned one thing from the Doomsday incident, it was that in this sort of fight, any sort of non-meta intervention is just going to slow Superman down."

"We learned two things from that incident actually." Peregrine commented. "The other being that the Kryptonian is as mortal as you or I."

Roger stared, not sure how to answer that.

He didn't have to, as his inner-ear based private micro-communicator sounded. He turned away from Peregrine: the device worked by reading the vibrations of his vocal cords and he could speak softer than a whisper and still be heard.

"Sir, we have successfully located the source of the readings. We believe we have not been spotted. Orders sir."

"Commence Operation Faustus. Keep up the repairs too, and point as many sensors as we can spare on Superman and the asshole he's fighti-"

"Sir!" A female agent gasped as she ran into the room. "Sir, sir! We've located your son!"

"Thank God! What's his sitrep?" Roger asked.

"Um…it might be best if…not good sir." The female agent said, as she produced a small computer-esque device and pressed a button. A pyramid of light appeared above the machine, and a second later it reformed into a large hologram.

Roger stared. There was Robert, and his teammates…and countless Abhorred, the several dozen teen heroes surrounded and outnumbered at least twenty to one. No wonder the female agent had run up here.

"…I want ALL available Cestus units on their position YESTERDAY!" Roger yelled. He felt guilt for a few seconds afterward: how many other people had lost their sons today? Was it fair to purposely direct things to save his?

Roger squelched the thought after a few more seconds. The Titans were too useful to let fall…and today was no day for fairness.

"What about the other metahumans Candide? Just leave them to the wolves?" Peregrine said, playing the devil's advocate.

"Engaged Cestus units are staying where they are. That was an order for all AVAILABLE units. Plus, the Titans are clearly with at least 2/3 of the teenage-based metahuman heroes on the planet: if we lose THAT, we're done for."

"And the Kryptonian?"

"The saying was never truer, Perrier." Roger said. "This is a job for him."

The Lord charged at Superman, slashing out with a foot. Superman blocked the blow, retaliating with a penetrating punch to the Lord's torso. The Lord stepped back from the attack, feinting left before slashing out with his right foot in another roundhouse. Superman intercepted that with a chop to the ankle, knocking the Lord's foot down before he fired another punch into the Lord's face. The Lord spun off the blow and went low, slashing his foot at Superman's own ankles. Superman leapt away, doing a quick spin as the Lord regained his feet before lancing another punch at the Lord. The Lord met the punch with his own, and the grounds around the pair exploded from the shockwave that erupted from the blow, smashing the rocks and debris around the two as they were once again consumed with dust.

Marissa Mori lowered her scanner, making a minute adjustment before she returned her gaze to the site of the dust cloud. In the two seconds she'd looked away, the master and the alien were already gone. Marissa wasn't much surprised.

Taking a few seconds for other data, Marissa scanned across Metropolis, where the other heroes fought their own furious battles. She watched the Titans a bit before switching to the arrived 'Arctic Heroes', who seemed to be making fair inroads against their Abhorred. More of an inroad then she had anticipated to be precise.

Too great an inroad. There were too many Abhorred on the Titans, when it came down to it. It would be best if the master redistributed his forces. There was also the state of his battle against Superman. Superman was supposed to be vulnerable to magic, yet the fight seemed to be even instead of her master dominating.

Perhaps the master was taking his measure, like with the child. That choice had served him well. Then again, the child didn't have a lineup of people who would eagerly take his place if Superman fell: if the master took too long…

Was the Sorceress hindering him in any fashion? Marissa looked away from the Battle of Metropolis at her charge, but that told her nothing. The master had arranged things with the woman/construct beforehand in order to use her powers, but Marissa knew they were hardly friends. Would the Sorceress actually try and encumber his efforts, simply out of angry pride? Was she that tactically unsound? This was a grand guignol of epic proportions; the time for petty ego was…

A twig snapped. Marissa's eyes widened as sudden cold shot through her veins. A second later she went for her personal sidearm.

A second after that, the red dots bloomed on her head and chest.

"Drop it."

Marissa froze. Now she could see them, the flickering shimmers of disrupted light. Cloaked soldiers.

"Drop the gun or get gut shot, bitch." Another voice said. Marissa stared at the shimmering figures a moment.

Slowly, she did as she was told, removing the gun from her holster and setting it down on the ground.

"Turn around. Hands on your head."

Marissa did that, the dirt rasping beneath her twisting heel as she turned her back on her ambushers. A second later, the shimmering shapes dissolved into four men dressed in black combat gear, their faces covered with balaclavas and high-tech goggles. They kept their automatic rifles trained on the small girl as they approached her, but she did not move.

"On your knees." The Bulwark commando said. Marissa began getting to her knees.

"Her armor." Another said, noting the slightly shifting liquid metal on Marissa's frame.

"True. Disable your armor. NOW." The Bulwark commando said.

"…shun the furious bandersnatch." Marissa said. The liquid metal went inert.

"What did she call you man? Hah." One of the commandoes said, as he turned his gun onto the Sorceress. "And what's this? Miss Mummy?"

"Lieutenant Coleridge reporting in sir. Targets successfully neutral…pardon me. Sergeant Gains! Act proper!"

"%$# that man. Is this how that $#%$ing shadow THING killed all our friends?" Sergeant Gains said, as he prodded the Sorceress with his weapon.

Marissa couldn't really describe what she felt then. If pressed, she would have described it as half a sick feeling of dread and half someone probing one of her molars with a drill.

"I really wouldn't do that." Marissa said.

"Gains, stand down. What did you say?" Coleridge asked.

"I don't know her, but I wouldn't test her." Marissa said.

"You kidding me?" Gains snapped. "Here's what I think of your 'wisdom'!"

Gains' gun butt to the Sorceress's hand produced no reaction from the entity.

Save for Marissa.

She heard Ithlian's cry in her head.

The Lord stopped dead as his form shook, his being-attempted attack exploding into a burst of black dots.

"What the devil-ARRRRGGHHHH!" The Lord yelled as Superman smashed his fist into the Lord's face, driving several more blows into his torso before leveling him with another right hook. The Lord crashed through a building, Superman hot on his heels.

The Lord introduced the Man of Tomorrow to HIS heel, kicking Superman into the ground. Snarling, he swung his hands back and spun them in a half circle.

"Recognize this?" The Lord said, and unleashed a blistering ray of black force that smashed into Superman and drove him back into the ground. It didn't last long, as Superman forced himself back to his feet.

His first attempt to move by dodging to the side failed by some bizarre 'lock effect'. It was like the attack doubled as a tractor beam. Unable to break free, Superman went the only way he could, as he drove himself against the attack, gritting his teeth as it burned into him. Despite his pain, Superman quickly gained ground on the assault.

"Here's another hint." The Lord said, his eyes blazing. "OLD SCHOOL."

A pulse of force exploded down the beam, smashing into Superman. The pulse was followed by another, and another, driving the Man of Steel back into the shattered rock as he struggled to recover.

"GAINS! STOP THIS, RIGHT NOW!" Coleridge yelled. "I swear, if you just killed us, I'm getting you first! Rifle butting an unknown metahuman, what do they teach in basic these days?!"

"What's going on?" Roger Candide's voice said in Coleridge's ear.

"Sorry sir, one of the recruits got out of hand and struck one of our prisoners. You can be assured…"

"He did what?"

"Struck one of the prisoners sir."

"When?"

"Just now sir."

"I mean WHEN?"

"Um, perhaps fifteen seconds or so sir?"

"…do it again."

"Excuse me sir?"

"DO IT AGAIN."

"Sometimes, the classics have such appeal." The Lord said, as he continued pouring the double whammy of the piercing ray and the force pulses into Superman. Superman had managed to get back up, and was furiously punching at the pulses to keep from falling down again. "Now, should I crush you into paste, or just cripple you enough to-"

The shuddering lurch slammed into the Lord again. He gasped, black smoke spewing forth from his mouth. Worse, his beam cut off like someone had flicked a switch.

"Oh no."

Superman's punch nearly ripped the Lord's jaw right off, despite the Lord lacking a skeletal structure or the muscles to attach it to. Another cloud of dust plumed up as the Lord made his own crater in the ground half a mile distant.

"…miss Mori, what is going on?"

"…it worked." the Bulwark agent said. "It disrupted the shadow creature's powers."

Roger Candide stood still for a moment, wrestling with his next words.

"…Geneva accords be damned. She's a prisoner, but if she's linked to him, then she's still fighting." Roger said, and touched his ear. "Keep it up, Coleridge."

"What, sir?"

"Keep striking her! Be reasonable…but keep doing it!" Roger said, and terminated the conversation.

"That's awfully cold of you, Candide." Peregrine said.

"It's a cold day." Roger said. "She's just lucky I don't know if doing worse would activate some sort of countermeasure, or else I'd have him put a bullet in her head."

"Miss Mori, this is a VERY poor time to-AUUGGHHH!" The Lord yelled as heat vision struck him on the shoulder, blowing off one of his arms. Turning around into another punch, the Lord skipped across the ground for a bit before trying to regain his balance.

An uppercut knocked him skyward first. Before the Lord could recover again, Superman blurred above him and double-axe handled him into the ground.

"…I suppose fortune was due to-ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!" The Lord bellowed, as Superman pulled a trick from the Lord's book and bathed him in wide-range heat vision again, pinning him to the ground and trying to blast him into nothing like the Lord had been doing seconds earlier.

Marissa heard her master's umbrage, echoing in her head.

She showed not a trace of it.

"This is for Lopez!" Gains snapped, slapping the Sorceress so hard he drew blood. "This is for Greowitch!"

"This isn't what I signed up for." Coleridge said with dark regret, holding his gun on Marissa while his eyes flicked back and forth between her and the Sorceress.

"In all fairness, sir, it's allowing the alien to seize control of the fight." Private Tycho said, peering at the Battle of Metropolis in the distance.

"If he doesn't win this, though, all this cruelty will not be worth it."

"We didn't declare the war sir. They did." Corporal Pilgrim said. Coleridge had no reply, instead looking at his prisoner, who seemed transfixed by Gains' actions.

In reality, Marissa barely noticed the abuse. She was too busy with the voices in her head.

In a way, it was almost sad, as Gains once again smacked the Sorceress with his weapon. The Sorceress had once callously killed untold numbers of people, wiping them out of existence without a hint of cognizance, let alone remorse. Now she was reduced to a punching bag.

Somehow, it still didn't have a sense of justification.

The world could be strange sometimes.

The Sorceress' own cry sounded off, mirroring the Lord's.

Marissa did nothing.

She couldn't.

Rock shattered, melted, and burned beneath Superman's blazing vision, a cloud of black smoke rising up from the target zone.

The smoke twitched.

Superman cut off his heat vision and flew backwards.

The attack did not come from the smoke. It came from the ground to Superman's right, as the rock erupted and something flew forth. Superman whirled towards the approaching mass.

Before he spun back around and backhanded the Lord into the upper levels of another building. The black mass impacted on Superman's back and exploded into mist. The Lord had tried a double-bluff, and it hadn't worked.

"I guess…" The Lord said.

Superman's dashing punch smashed into the Lord's face and cut him off again. The Lord staggered from the blow.

The stagger didn't last long, because Superman didn't let it, as he grabbed the Lord, whirling him up and down into the floor. The Lord crashed through it, Superman ramming him down through all the building's levels and into the rock below. The building crumbled down into dust and debris, as impacts shook the ground beneath Metropolis and sent rock spraying and stabbing up from below.

The Lord exploded out of the earth, Superman on his heels. The Man of Steel lashed out with another punch, but this time he just hit black mist as the Lord blurred away.

A spray of blasts flew out. Superman did his own blurring disappearance, dashing behind the Lord and smashing his fist against the back of his head. The Lord tumbled through the air before blurring away again; a moment later another spray of blasts flew towards Superman. Superman met their charge with his own, lancing towards and through the blasts with insane precision before he smashed both his fists into the Lord's chest, sending him skipping along the ground.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" The Lord snarled, slamming on the brakes.

Superman tore through the air at the Lord. The Lord thrust out his hands in turn, black energy crackling between them as he began to form a sphere.

Superman hit another time-stasis barrier.

This time, he broke through with hardly any effect on him. The Lord's eyes went wide.

Superman's did as well, as he seized the Lord's wrists. The Lord's attack faded out of existence, as crimson rage exploded in Superman's gaze.

There was an expression about looks being able to kill.

Superman made it a reality as his heat vision blasted out, piercing into the Lord's own eyes. A moment later the Lord's head exploded like a bomb.

Superman slipped away from the Lord, the shadow god's headless body falling to its knees.

"I know that won't stop you, so you can't quit pretending. The S doesn't stand for stupid." Superman said.

"Can you match your name's hyperbole though?"

The voice echoed in Superman's head as pitch-black mist erupted from the Lord's body, engulfing Superman before he could retreat. Superman focused his vision, but the blackness remained absolute. A moment later, Superman realized all the ambient sound had died off too.

He was blind and deaf.

Superman dashed to the side, but he couldn't escape the darkness. The impact sensation of crashing through a building he didn't know was there swiftly put him off further motion.

"Ah Kryptonian. You are not the only one who can learn patterns. The cloud is on top of you; it goes where you go. There is no escape."

Superman cut loose with another wide-spread blast of heat vision. It parted the clouds before him, but they swiftly flowed back,

"How fortunate no one was in front of you. Shall we chance your breath next?"

Burning blades slashed across Superman's face before he could answer. Superman recoiled, clutching at his eyes as another searing blade stabbed into his side.

"No senses left that could help you. A perfect mirror to your complete LACK OF SENSE."

Blows hammered into Superman's torso, shoulders, and face. He punched in the direction of the blows and hit nothing; a moment later another burning stab slammed into the small of his back. Superman whirled around with another backhand, but he again hit nothing. Several more blows smashed into his face again, and the Man of Tomorrow felt blood beginning to flow from his nose.

"Lost."

A kick to the side of Superman's head.

"Fumbling in the dark."

Another burning slash across his chest.

"Going down, all the way to…"

Superman whirled and punched.

The Lord exploded out of the cloud he'd created, smashing another crater into the ground. The cloud broke up immediately, freeing Superman from its grasp.

Superman didn't need enhanced vision to see the furious surprise the Lord was trying to conceal as he pulled himself up from the rubble that had fallen on him.

"Like you said. Patterns." Superman said. "Apparently you're not as good at disguising them as you believe you are."

The Lord's eyes flashed with rage, and a moment later he blurred away. Superman readied himself for the following attack, but none came.

Superman gave his enemy two seconds and then began scanning the area, hunting for the Lord. He'd fought enough lunatics and maniacs to know the difference between when they were breaking and running and when they were plotting something…

…he didn't see it coming regardless.

"Hey Kryptonian! CATCH!"

Superman whirled towards the voice as the screaming form was flung towards him. Superman took a split-second to calculate variables before flying backwards and down at a slight angle. The person fell into his arms, Superman lessening the grabbing impact as much as he could.

It was a Metropolis Special Crimes Unit policeman. Superman wasn't surprised they had stuck around to defend their city. They were the best of the best.

"I got-" Was all Superman got to say before the SCU member cut him off with a scream.

A moment later he exploded.

The shockwave hurled Superman backwards, burning black energy searing Superman's form even as he reeled at what had just happened. He'd caught the man and then…

"HAVE SOME MORE!" The Lord bellowed, as he hurled two more screaming SCU members at the Man of Steel. Superman instinctively caught them, and his heart seized with ice as they screamed once before lines of darkness lit up on their bodies. The twin detonations hurled Superman through some rubble, the Man of Tomorrow desperately correcting himself as fast as he could.

Not fast enough. The Lord had another SCU member in his grip. The various non-caught members had by now thrown caution to the wind and were openly firing on the Lord. The shadow god didn't even acknowledge it.

"If you really recognize patterns, alien, you should have seen this coming!" The Lord snarled, and hurled his current SCU member at Superman.

"NO!!!!!!!" Superman screamed, as he flew towards the SCU member, lined up with her, and began spinning rapidly, attempting to form a 'vacuum cushion' to see her down to the ground without touching her.

"Nice try." The Lord said, holding up his hand. "I cheat."

The snap of the fingers rang in Superman's ears. He could only watch in horror as the SCU screamed and exploded, more black cursed power slamming into and burning the Man of Steel.

"DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Superman roared, blitzing towards the Lord and smashing him across the face with a cracking right hook. In mid-fall, the Lord chuckled, and then blurred away.

Superman raced down to the SCU, planning to get them out of the Lord's grip as fast as he possibly could.

The Lord still beat him there.

"It doesn't really matter how much you hurt me, Kryptonian." The Lord said, holding yet another SCU member. "I can hurt you far worse."

"Monster! You would hide behind…"

"Yes, Kryptonian. I would. That's the difference between you and I. There is no tact I won't take, no low I won't sink to. You may be chained to your worthless, execrable morality, but I am not. I am unfettered! You, ARE DOOMED!"

The SCU member flew at Superman. Superman floated there, trying to think of some way to save him…

The Lord didn't even give him that, as he lanced towards Superman and floored him with a kick to the chest. Superman tumbled away, as the SCU member hit the pavement with a sickening wet noise.

Superman's bellow echoed across Metropolis, as he blazed back and smashed into the Lord again, pummeling him with punches so swift they all blurred into one another.

Until two more SCU members exploded. Superman stopped his attack dead in his tracks.

"I compensate, alien. You touch them, they explode. You touch me, they explode." The Lord said. "Maybe I should just kill them all and take the decision out of your hands."

Superman kept still, his eyes on the Lord, his mind racing. There had to be…

"SORRY, TOO SLOW!" The Lord snarled, and smashed Superman backwards. Superman went with the blow, as the Lord blurred after him and began throwing his own barrage of attacks into Superman's form. Blood flew from Superman's face, burns beginning to appear on his bare skin at the same time.

"Oh, you think you can stand here and just be abused, hoping I'll forget about the living bombs I made? I don't think so." The Lord said, raising a hand.

Superman vaporized the appendage with his heat vision. The Lord paused, staring at the stump.

"Heh."

Another SCU member exploded with another scream. The Lord cocked his head, regarding the Man of Steel with dark mockery.

"…all your power, which you keep bragging about…despite every so-called advantage your sick worldview supposedly gives you…and you have to resort to this? Who's really weak here?" Superman said.

The Lord's smirking expression transformed into a black glare.

"YOU."

The piercing rays blasted from the Lord's own eyes, driving the beams into Superman's vision. Superman clutched at his burning face, before the Lord kicked him through another building.

"You would condemn me, loathe me for my choice of tactics. Don't you understand, alien? Under your hand, humanity has bred the likes who would do this simply for their own amusement." The Lord said, re-growing his hand. "You wish for that to become your world? Under YOUR so-called protection, that is all that will be left of the world! You can't do anything to stop it! This world NEEDS ME! YOUR TIME IS DONE!" Superman erupted from the wreckage again, but he did not approach the Lord. The Lord chuckled to himself again, a dark, wry laugh.

"You label me squalid. You think I'm just another lunatic cast in the mold you've faced down so many times before. Ever consider, Kryptonian, why my so-called kind will simply not stop coming? How for all those years you've positioned yourself as guardian of truth, justice, and the American Way, you're still standing in the same spot? You ever consider that I'm not the one cast under the Chinese definition of madness, but YOU are?"

"I do what I can do. That is all I can do." Superman said quietly.

"It's not GOOD ENOUGH!" The Lord snarled. "You will not poison my world beyond repair. You will not preach your pointless, hopeless delusions about how the egesta that masquerades as this planet's dominant species can ever mean anything! You will not slow my progress any more. YOU…"

The sonic boom sounded in the Lord's ears, and he whirled and tried to activate his time-dilution abilities again.

Unfortunately, they again didn't work.

Doubly unfortunate was that Power Girl could punch as hard as her cousin. The Lord crashed once more into the ground half a mile distant.

"Talk too much." Power Girl spat, and glanced at Superman. "Hey Kal. Finally managed to bring some help here."

"Much needed." Wonder Girl said, flying up to Superman. She wasn't alone: one arm supported the magician known as Zatanna.

"Sorry for the start, Superman. She went on my assessment that the curse of that shadow creature wouldn't extend to her." Zatanna said. "Go. I'll block his link and break that wretched enchantment. Take him out!"

"Music to my ears." Power Girl said, as the Lord pushed himself up from where he lay.

"Oh, recruited some help, alien? Fine!" The Lord snapped. "Send another one to die! Send two more, a dozen, a thousand! I'll turn your soul into…"

Power Girl's uppercut snapped off the Lord's words as he shot up into the sky.

Kal-L met him there with a vicious double-handed blow. The Lord blasted another hole into the ground from the impact of his landing.

"Ha…ha…managed to get away from my projections…" The Lord laughed hollowly, pulling himself from his latest crater once again. "It'll just ensure…whoever you left behind will die…you can live on with the…"

"SHUT UP!" Power Girl yelled as she floored the Lord with another punch. "YOU DON'T GET TO TALK ANY MORE YOU…"

"Neither do you!" The Lord snapped, and fired off a blast from his finger directly at Power Girl's throat.

Wonder Woman's bracelets met it first, the Amazon deflecting the attack as it exploded against a giant piece of rubble.

"Oh." The Lord said. A moment later Kal-L's fist smashed into the back of his head, sending him face-planting into the ground once more.

"Honestly, it doesn't really matter how you dress it up, son." Kal-L said, as the Lord began pushing himself to his feet once more. "There is no you and the corrupt of this world. You're one of them. Sorry to break it to you."

"It won't earn you anything except a complete six-pack of ass-whipping with a side order of pain." Wonder Girl said. Power Girl glanced at the teenage hero. "Hey, they can't all be winners."

Superman landed near the Lord, having just received a confirmation from Zatanna that she'd broken the Lord's kill-curse and would get the remains of the SCU to safety. Turpin had, in considerably cruder terms, told Superman to beat the Lord harder than he normally would. For once, Turpin had phrased Superman's intent almost perfectly.

"I'm glad you're all right, and I'm proud to stand by you all." Superman said. "Now let's make that monster pay."

"…pay? Pay?" The Lord said, and laughed softly to himself. "Maybe I should give you a real reason to render payment. Should I…CLARK?"

For a moment, there was silence.

"…if you so much as TOUCH anyone else…" Superman growled.

"You'll what? Kill me?" The Lord said. "We both know you haven't the stones for it."

"No." Superman said.

The heat vision blew twin holes through the Lord's chest a moment later.

"However, you'd be surprised what you can live through." Superman said. The Lord laughed darkly, his eyes blazing.

"You call this pain, alien?"

"No, THIS IS!"

Power Girl's fist slammed into the Lord's face, and the shadow god fell under an overwhelming rain of furious blows.

The fatal flaw.

Many nights the Lord had spoken to Marissa about his mission and his enemy, the human race. More than once, he had brought up the concept of the inherent flaw in humanity, and how it so often was the key to the failure and destruction they suffered and wrought.

They're like diamonds, I've discovered. They can be the hardest material to destroy you could naturally find…until you find the flaw. A small bit of pressure there, and all their strengths and power breaks apart, rendered useless in one moment.

The Lord had given many examples. A Spartan king known as Agesilaus II had nearly conquered all of Greece, only for an inability to temper himself to spark revolt and the complete destruction of Sparta as anything resembling a world power for the rest of time. General Custer had thrown away all his previous victories and military brilliance, instead becoming a cautionary tale of arrogance, all to feed his insatiable need for glory. Serial killer Dennis Raider, aka the BTK Killer, would have had a strong chance of getting away with his murders had he not outright stalked a reporter to get full credit for his crimes. When it came down to it, humans would tend towards their weakness, their need to salve or indulge an aspect of them, placing it above the smartest, more practical decisions. It was killing the world, and hence humanity had to go.

In the end, Marissa had recognized that it lay within her master too. He HAD put too many Abhorred on the Titans, and the other group of heroes had beaten back their under-numbered group and left The Ray and Lady Quark to clean up while they went to help Superman. He also had a bad habit of resorting to sadism instead of practicality when he was getting hurt: instead of swiftly finishing Superman, he'd drawn it out to try and torture him, and now he was being overwhelmed completely by Superman and his allies.

The fatal flaw.

Marissa Mori had never questioned it, despite these things.

After all, it didn't mean the Lord was wrong.

She should have been flat on the ground and fully restrained now, if not being returned to the giant airship (as she assumed the men had come from that) as a prisoner. Instead, she was still on her knees, her hands on her head and one gun trained on her. The other Bulwark members were watching the soldier known as Gains as he repeatedly brutalized the prone Sorceress, or observing the ripple effect it caused that had allowed her master to end up in the precarious position he was now in. Even their leader wasn't paying full attention to her.

When it came down to it, Marissa didn't know how much of a factor it had played.

She did know, however, that only the sharpest and most fortunate eyes could have recognized just how her heel had dug and twisted on the ground when she'd turned her back on the Bulwark agents.

She'd designed her trigger that way for a reason.

The Bulwark agents' eyes weren't that poor though. When the motion buzzed near them, they all immediately stopped what they were doing and aimed their weapons at it.

"FIRE!"

The small aerial drone flittered about, dodging the shots of the four commandos with it's erratic pattern. However, it did not return fire: instead, it retreated after a few seconds.

"Tycho, follow it! Make sure…!"

The second sight of motion did not prompt reactions so quickly.

"DECOY!" Coleridge yelled, as the second robot leapt to the attack.

Unlike the small flying drone, this one was human sized.

It was also armed, as a stream of black liquid fired from it's left arm that swiftly engulfed Corporal Pilgrim. He dropped his weapon, yelling and yanking at his armor as the corrosive ate into it, his gun melting in a similar fashion.

The robot landed as the Bulwark commandoes gaped at it. They were not surprised at its appearance, as they had encountered robots before. Nor was it's design shocking: it had a humanoid skeletal structure-body of hyper dense black metal wires attached to gray polymer armor that served as both 'muscles' and 'clothing', twin guns connected to the it's forearms, a 'face' full of flashing cameras and scanners, and a minimalist paint scheme that consisted of some small red and green markings. To a man on the street, it drew your attention, but it wasn't stunning when one had encountered mad scientists before, sometimes on a weekly basis.

The surprise was that they had no less than seventeen different scanning systems between all of the Bulwark agents and their base.

Which the decoy AND the attack robot had all avoided.

The Lord had commented earlier about his aide's skill in design and robotics. Sometimes he was even telling the truth.

"PILGRAM! NO!' Gains yelled, as he opened fire on the black robot. The robot returned fire, spraying a blast of purple energy shots that impacted the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke. Tycho joined Gains in blasting at the cloud, but Coleridge held his own fire.

It paid off, as the robot's follow up move was to leap into the air.

Right into Coleridge's own gun blast, sending it crashing back down to the ground. Before Gains and Tycho could focus fire, though, it was up and lurching across the ground, it's coiled body twisting and turning away from the shots.

"…shut it down!" Coleridge yelled, turning his gun towards Marissa and ramming the hot barrel into her head.

"I can't."

"SHUT IT DOWN!"

"Nothing can deactivate Alice after she's been turned on. Including any orders I could give." Marissa said quietly. Coleridge growled and re-joined his efforts to his two teammates.

The battle robot, dubbed Alice, sprayed out its black acid again. Tycho saw it coming and dodged away.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the target. The acid itself was, as Alice blasted the arcing spray in mid-air and ignited it into a sheet of flame. The fire blazed out and scorched Tycho, sending him stumbling back.

"LOOK OUT SOLDIER!" Coleridge yelled.

Coleridge's warning didn't come fast enough, as Alice dashed through the fading fire cloud at Tycho. He swung his gun towards her, but Alice was quicker; she surged around Tycho before jumping forward. Tycho couldn't escape in time, as Alice's body clamped onto Tycho's body, its coil-limbs wrapping around Tycho's own.

There was a series of sickening cracks as Alice dislocated Tycho's elbows, shoulders, and knees in three swift double-jerks. Tycho had passed out from the pain before he hit the ground.

The move cost Alice though, as she needed two seconds to untangle herself. She also needed three seconds to cross the distance between Tycho's fallen form and her next target.

Gains only needed three seconds to lock on.

Alice took the grenade blast full-force, not even making it halfway to Gains before he blew her backwards. Gains yelled a wordless cry of rage as he took a few steps forward, firing at Alice's smoking form while the robot tried to get up, scuttling around like a crab to try and get out of the way.

Coleridge cut off its escape efforts, adding his own firepower against Alice. The robot shuddered under the assault.

Before Marissa finally made the move she'd been planning since she'd been ambushed.

"Snicker-snack." Marissa whispered. Coleridge still heard her, somehow, and swung his gun back towards her as she leapt up. Too slow: Marissa closed the distance before he could pull the trigger, smacking the firearm aside as she drove the palm of her hand into his goggles.

"RAUUGGHHHH!" Coleridge yelled, but his greater size and training had not been forgotten: his retaliation was immediate. His reactionary gun-butt knocked Marissa Mori backwards, and he did not show any mercy in his follow up attack: he opened fire.

The bullets slashed through the air, several slamming against Marissa and knocking her to the ground with a muffled cry. She did not get back up or move again, blood staining the dirt beneath her limp form.

"Coleridge reporting in sir. I had to neutralize the mobile female assistant. My recording equipment should confirm I had no choice. Moving to neutralize her attack robot!" Coleridge's voice said in Roger's head.

"Acknowledged, Coleridge. Keep us posted." Roger said, turning towards his bridge. "Meyers, what's the word on the Lord of the Night?"

"Um…would the term 'curb stomping' be unprofessional sir?" Agent Meyers said.

"Screw professionalism. Bring it up on the screen. I could use some good news." Roger said. He got it, as said screen showed the Lord virtually helpless beneath the furious efforts of the five superhumans.

"Don't think it's done yet. We can't chalk up my odd readings just to the fact I broke this." Peregrine said, having almost repaired his scanning device. "You saw how he re-utilized his own powers when his magical boost was snarled."

"Then at the very least, I want to see the crap he pulls this time."

Coleridge renewed his attention to the Alice robot, joining Gains again in firing at its twisting, thrashing form to keep it away from Tycho and Pilgrim.

A second fatal flaw.

Coleridge realized too late he hadn't confirmed Marissa's surefire death or immobilization. That error had allowed her to crawl to the Sorceress' med-chair and press a hidden switch.

Specifically, the Bulwark agent realized this when the sound of metal being unsheathed rang in his ears despite the nearby battle, as Marissa drew the long, thin sword from its sheath. Coleridge jerked back towards her and opened fire again, but not before Marissa had pressed a button on the sheath itself: a faint flickering motion washed over her and the Sorceress as the force field deflected the bullets, forcing Coleridge to scramble for cover from the ricochets.

He didn't get a chance to fire a third burst.

The jian blade sliced Coleridge's gun barrel off, Marissa swinging her sword up in a smooth upward stroke before slicing it back down and slashing Coleridge deeper across his inner forearms, cutting vital tendons and making Coleridge's fingers go numb to everything except the pain that exploded through his arms. He yelled out and tried to get away, but Marissa was quicker, as she spun around and slashed low, slicing through the armor on Coleridge's boots like it was made of butter to sever the Achilles' tendons beyond. Coleridge hit the ground with another scream of agony, no longer able to move.

Marissa knelt down by Coleridge, her eyes alight with a strange fire. Coleridge went rigid, knowing a fugue madness state when he saw it.

Her armor. She'd turned her damn armor back on, probably with the word she'd spoken when she'd attacked him, and the liquid metal had taken most of the bullets. The only successful shot had been a flesh wound under her armpit, where the blood had come from. He'd misjudged the situation.

"He left it dead, and with it's head, he came galumphing back." Marissa half sang, before she grabbed Coleridge by his goggle equipment and slammed his skull against the ground.

"YEAH! ^%#% OFF! I'M THE LORD OF THIS HARVEST!" Gains bellowed, having finally pinned Alice down with his gun. "I'LL BRING IT DOWN! I'LL…!"

Gains, unlike Coleridge, did not hear the small knife sliding out of the jian's hilt.

A moment later, Marissa, or rather the sanguinary drive that now commanded her, rammed it right between Gains' shoulder blades, her knife cutting through the armor there like it was a t-shirt and plunging directly into his spine.

Gains couldn't even turn around to see what had happened. He hit the ground, his eyes blinking in wide, shocked surprise, the flash of pain immediately giving way to a terrible full-body cold.

"The jaws that bite, the claws that catch." Marissa said, and stomped on Gains' head. Gains jerked once more, then lay still.

Turning away from him, she glanced at Alice as the robot stopped to cool down. The prototype had weathered the damage it had suffered quite well; she made a mental note and began walking back over to the Sorceress.

She did not see Agent Pilgrim, lying amongst hastily-sheds pieces of melted armor, lining up his shot with his sidearm as she walked in front of him.

Alice did.

The robot's foot crashed down on the Bulwark agent's wrist a second later, breaking it and sending the gun flying. Marissa jerked towards the motion and the sound of Pilgrim's scream, as Alice followed up the stomp with a downward punch. The metal-wire fingers promptly silenced Pilgrim, sending him into unconsciousness behind his three teammates.

Marissa regarded her prototype and it's swift recognition and neutralization of fresh danger, and with a small smirk walked back over to Coleridge, plucking his damaged headgear from him and attaching it to her wrist computer before pressing a few buttons.

"…hello? Report in Lieutenant! We see your signal, have you…?"

"Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" Marissa sang, and yanked the headpiece off her arm before crushing it underfoot.

"Damn." Roger said. "We have to assume Coleridge's team is down. Do we have anyone qualified to take down a Rank 5 meta?"

"Sorry sir! We're barely making progress here!" Bulwark CESTUS Pilot Walker replied as he and his fellow mech-wearing agents did everything they could to battle alongside the battered, bloody, and exhausted Teen Titans. The latest Abhorred came for Walker, roughly the seven-umpteeth wacillion to do so, only for a giant green dinosaur tail to smack it aside. Walker barely blinked an eye.

"Okay, all Cestus units in the area, try to maneuver the enemy in…"

"Sir! Sir!" Walker's voice squawked. Considering Bulwark agents were not supposed to squawk, Roger was a tad displeased.

"What agent?"

"The enemy's gone!"

"…what?"

"They all just turned into dust and blew away!"

"…okay, this can't be what I think it is." Savior said, looking around at the now-empty battlefield. The Titans were similarly confused, looking around and up for a sneak attack or ambush.

A dozen seconds ticked by. Nothing occurred.

"It's really going to suck when the next wave shows up and he laughs at us." Gauntlet said, collapsing into a sitting position.

"…okay guys, who's hurt? We…" Robin started.

It was right around then Raven fell to her knees, holding her head and screaming.

"…I do wish I hadn't repaired this device." Peregrine said.

"What Nathaniel?" Roger said, turning to look at Peregrine as he sat, staring at his scanning invention.

"I really didn't need to be reminded about Murphy's Law."

Superman felt in his teeth and bones before it happened, a deep sensation of wrenching force.

Then he was flying away, he and all his teammates, as a incomprehensibly powerful blast of force blew them all off of the Lord, sending them all crashing into the rubble and buildings beyond them.

Superman recovered first, looking at the Lord as he slowly stood up, black and white energy crackling all over him. The Lord met his gaze.

Of all the black, murderous eyes Superman had ever seen, the Lord's had to be among the worst.

A moment later, the ground began to shake.

"Raven! What the hell is going on!" Savior yelled.

"Magic surge…oh god…the SIZE…" Raven gasped.

The screen Roger was viewing was not shaking, but Roger didn't need it to. He knew what a myriad of small rocks suddenly floating up around a villain meant. The deep rumble he heard off in the distance just confirmed it.

"When did reality become that damn Dragon Sphere show?" Roger said.

"…sir…" A Bulwark agent said. "You better see this."

"What?"

"…the water sir."

The black clouds roiled and thundered once more, as the waters near Metropolis boiled and surged in turn.

Roger, and several other heroes and observers, saw it coming. The rolling tide of darkness. Those who could enhance their vision could see more clearly what it was.

Abhorred. Endless legions of them. Covering the distant waters as far as the eye could see, all of them bearing down on Metropolis.

The Lord had finally lost his temper.

Superman did not see this. All he saw was the Lord, standing on the rocking ground, fields of floating stones around him.

"DESTROY."

The mental message slammed into Superman's head like a blow in and of itself.

"DestroydestroyslowlycompletelycruellytothepointofnumbnessviolateyourliferipoffyourlimbstearopenyourribspulloutyourintestinesbiteintoyourfacechewthroughyoureyesspreadyourbrainsonthegrounddestroydestroymakeyousufferCLARK."

Superman had no words. He also had no need for them, as he blazed at the Lord in a flash of blue and red.

The Lord caught his hand in his own.

The Lord's own hand smashed into Superman's chest, nearly bending the Kryptonian completely over his fist as blood flew from Superman's mouth. As Wonder and Power Girl watched in horror, the Lord blurred around Superman and slashed his foot out, kicking Superman through the air so hard it sounded like a bomb going off.

The Lord blurred after Superman again, seizing the back of his head and smashing his face into the ground, dragging him face-first across the ruined landscape for several dozen feet before hurling him forward. Black power sparked on the Lord's hands, and he stopped before he fired two arcing angular blasts that smashed into Superman and carried him into another building. A ground-rattling detonation erupted from the attack, a blast that felt like it shook the whole state.

The Lord stood where he'd stopped after firing the energy, as he glanced back at the four remaining opponents.

They were lucky. He'd burned off a fair chunk of his anger on Superman.

If they'd only understood what they'd pushed him to.

He'd almost used the dead man's switch.

"…all right then. Now pay attention people. This is where it gets good." The Lord said, as he raised a hand. He did not form a fancy super-long sword, or a giant blade of spiked doom. He simply formed a small black energy construct, sharp at both ends.

His enemies were coming.

He welcomed it, as he whirled around.

"GOOD NIGHT!"

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

The gigantic eruptions of noise sounded in Marissa's ears, but she barely noticed it. She DID notice the shockwave knocking her over though. She lay on the ground for a moment, blinking in confusion as her mind roiled.

"…he took his vorpal sword in hand…long time the manxome foe he sought…" Marissa whispered, as she pushed herself up and staggered over to the Sorceress' med chair. "So rested he by the Tumtum tree…and stood awhile…in thought."

The Sorceress watched the mumbling girl with her lone eye. So much for the great shadow god 'fixing' her mental problems. The Lord's aid clearly needed more work.

Though based on the echoes of carnage the Sorceress felt now, the Lord clearly had higher priorities.

Cassandra Sandsmark. She'd become Wonder Girl as a way of helping her idol. Her choice had cost her a normal life, dear friends, and her first love.

It hadn't broken her. Even now, when facing down the Lord, Wonder Woman saw that she never hesitated.

"You don't impress me you…!" Wonder Girl was saying, as she flew in to punch.

The Lord smacked her blow aside, grabbed her, and smashed his knee into her torso so hard the back of her shirt split. Air and blood flew from Wonder Girl's mouth, before the Lord yanked the girl back and let her have it with a point-blank gigantic blast that engulfed her and buried her beneath rubble.

"YOU BASTARD!" Power Girl screamed before Wonder Woman could, flying in to attack. The Lord met her with his simple blade, slashing upward and knocking her into the sky, leaping up and firing a spray of homing blasts that converged on Wonder Woman and blasted her back into the ground. Power Girl tried to recover, but the Lord was faster, blazing up and slashing Power Girl across her form once more…

Before he lanced back down, just avoiding Kal-L's heat vision, and impaled his blade through Power Girl's torso. Power Girl gasped, as the Lord lanced her back down into the ground, smashing a myriad of cracks from the impact even as horrendous pain exploded through Power Girl's entire body. Strangely, there was no blood when the Lord yanked his blade free. That was mainly because the Lord had, instead of battering up against the potent Kryptonian invulnerability bio-matrix, sidestepped it with a phasing ability. The blade did far less actual damage as a result, but the Lord made up for it with agonizing energy.

"YOU WILL FACE ME CREATURE!" Kal-L bellowed, flying in.

Even he didn't see the attack, as the Lord blasted past Kal-L, slashing him with his poisonous blade. No sooner had Kal-L felt the first attack then a second ripped across him from a different angle, and then another, and then another, the Lord blurring all around the old soldier as he tried to carve him into ribbons.

Kal-L figured out the pattern despite the pain, and after several seconds of torment he lashed out with his fist.

The blow felt wrong.

That was all Kal-L was able to ascertain, as the Lord deflected himself off the punch, hit the ground, and snapped up a hand.

The gigantic black energy blades phased into existence and tore towards their target. Kal-L tried to dodge, but the attack flew with more than speed, converging and impaling themselves upon him. Even as Kal-L cried out in pain, they exploded in a massive black detonation; a moment later Kal-L's own blackened and motionless form crashed back down to earth.

"…and to think, this is what we'd have had to look forward to day and night if he hadn't messed up that spell." Roger said darkly. "I honestly don't know how the Titans did it."

"Funny you should say that…" Peregrine said, peering into his semi-repaired scanner.

"The shadow legions continue their approach sir. We…can't measure them. They might literally be endless." A Bulwark agent said.

"Wait…do we have any way to clear those clouds?"

"We sent a Cestus unit sir…it didn't come back." Another agent said. "The events suggest we'd have to have nearly twenty times our reserves to get anywhere with those clouds."

"Is there ANY way we can help them?"

"Those heroes took up the cause, Candide." Peregrine said. "It's time for them to do their job. Provided the shadow creature doesn't decide to use his current unoccupied state to yank the moon down on us or something."

"Peregrine, you're ants at a picnic."

"That's what my ex-wife always told me."

"…tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…" The Lord said, turning his energy blade over in his hand. "Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is…"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Power Girl roared as she tore through the air at the Lord.

She promptly punched the air where he was. The Lord reformed nearby, swinging back an arm as it magnified immensely in size. Power Girl turned into a bus-sized claw attack, as the Lord smashed the Kryptionian into another pile of rubble.

"…a tale told by an idiot." The Lord finished, withdrawing and shrinking his arm back to normal. He smirked to himself: this was his favorite part. "Full of sound and fury…"

The golden lengths of rope dropped over the Lord.

"Interesting." Wonder Woman said. "I have heard you talk for a good ten minutes now…"

The rope contracted, as Wonder Woman yanked on her lasso and pulled the Lord towards her.

"AND I DO NOT THINK I HAVE HEARD AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT THAT WHOLE TIME!"

The punch floored the Lord, knocking him to the ground. Wonder Woman crashed down on him and struck anew, hammering away at the shadow god with all her strength and rage. She may not have had solar based energy powers, but she wasn't going to let that hold her back…

…holding back…

Something was wrong. The Lord wasn't trying to defend himself. It wasn't some sort of feint or trick either: Wonder Woman knew enough war to see those. She had him trapped with her lasso and was beating him into the ground and he was just…

…his eyes…

By Hera, his EYES…

"RYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In the end, Wonder Woman was spared the rest of the bloodcurdling scream: her ear drums gave out after two seconds.

The rest of Metropolis wasn't so fortunate.

Everyone within ten square miles clamped their hands over their ears to block out the pain from the cry of unfathomable psychosis. It would have shattered every piece of glass and crystal in the city, except virtually all of it had already been broken. Only the Sorceress seemed unaffected, as Marissa was finally snapped back to her senses by the noise. She stared in disbelief, unable to think that her master had made that sound. The wailing scream was so intense it nearly knocked the Achilles out of the air, again. Roger Candide felt more like someone had jammed an ice-pick into both his ears instead of making a loud noise, as the computers of the bridge overloaded and erupted in yet another shower of sparks.

"…what the hell! What did she do, she…she…I have no earthly idea what the Amazon could do to him that three kryptonians couldn't." Peregrine said.

"…her lasso…" Roger said.

"What?"

"Her lasso. The Lasso of TRUTH." Roger said. "It's magical. It forces you to speak the truth. I'm not sure whether it's some sort of absolute metaphysical truth or just what you think is the truth…I think it's the former, from what I've…"

Motion on the screen cut off Roger's words, as the Lord leapt up and charged at Wonder Woman, attacking her in an out of control frenzy. Roger stared for a moment: there was no grace in the attack, no control, not even a focused point like with Superman earlier. The Lord had previously lost his temper; Roger realized he was witnessing the Lord lose it, period.

"Seen." Roger finished, as Wonder Woman tried furiously to defend herself and got nowhere: every blow she threw was utterly ignored. The Lord hadn't even removed the lasso from his body. "To speak the truth, you have to be aware of the truth. Guys like the Lord do a very good job hiding themselves from the truth. So if the lasso works on him, which it seems to, he's being confronted with something…"

Wonder Woman leapt backwards.

The Lord ripped open the ground as he blasted after her. Unlike Metatron, Wonder Woman did not get away.

The blow shook the entire city, and Roger found himself tossed to the ground once more. When he pulled himself back up, Wonder Woman was gone.

"…my god, what just happened?"

"…we managed to track her, sir…the entity just nearly knocked Wonder Woman into orbit."

Roger blinked.

"She just came down somewhere in the Florida Keys, sir."

"…dear god." Roger said, turning his eyes back on the screen. The Lord, free of opponents, had finally pulled the actual lasso off of himself. Much to Roger's astonishment, instead of tossing it aside the Lord actually threw it down on the ground and then began FIRING at it, blasting away at the magical girdle with frantic, out of control attack motions.

"…he literally can't handle the truth." Peregrine said.

With those words, Roger was hit with a feeling of helplessness. He thought he had been helpless before…but now everything was done for. His units were destroyed and the Titans now seemed…pointless, really. This man, no, this THING had a power that had just seen him tear through a group of metahumans that could have probably wiped civilization off the map in hours if they felt like it, and done it like they were nothing. A kid who could turn into a tiger, or a boy with a whip for a nervous system? Parlor tricks compared to what Roger had just seen. All that superior power…bad enough before, but now it had become horrifically clearly it was being wielded by a madman intent on destroying an inanimate object that was known for being indestructible…

No. He wasn't trying to destroy it. He was treating it like a living thing to torture and beat for its 'sins' against him. It was ultimate power welded to ultimate madness.

It was moments like this that made Roger glad he was a religious man.

Prayer was all that was left to him.

DESTROYDESTROYDESTROYDESTROYDESTROYDESTROYDESTROY…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps the darkest irony of the whole incident was the fact the Lord was so determined to keep his memories buried that they'd swiftly gone back into their depths as soon as the lasso was off, whatever the Lord had seen vanishing from his mind never to return. It didn't matter. Whatever they'd been had awoken a rage that refused to be calmed or sated. The Lord would destroy until he couldn't, everything, all things…

The world…

"LORD!"

The voice barely penetrated.

"THIS ENDS NOW!"

Superman crashed into the Lord's side before he could turn towards him, his fist firing off and smashing across the Lord's face. Two more punches followed, as Superman ended with an uppercut that drove the Lord backwards.

He stopped, floating there. Superman's eyes shone red, as twin piercing beams of heat flew at the shadow god.

They met the Lord's hand, as he deflected them with a glowing sigil.

"…no, alien." The Lord said, as he lanced towards Superman. "It NEVER ENDS!"

Sometimes, it seems, your prayers are answered.

"Oh thank God. Superman's back. And it looks like having someone to be mad at is calming the Lord down." Roger said.

"Sir, Superman's still alive, but the gap in their strength is still…well, impossible." An agent said. Roger almost felt the roots being yanked out of his relief…

"How fitting. That's what the machine says too." Peregrine said.

"But if anyone's going to do the impossible, it's him."

"You misunderstand me Candide. I mean, the machine has told me the shadow creature CAN'T keep up that level of power."

"Explain."

"I wasn't certain about this at first due to my earlier…over-exuberance with my device, but the merge that increased the entity's power so much isn't perfect. In fact, I suspect it started dropping almost immediately after he initiated it. It's possibly spiked up and down since then, but my overall readings say the level is on a somewhat-steady downward slope. It gets better. The imperfect nature of the merge isn't just dropping his power. It might be possible for the Kryptonian to break it entirely."

"…Ermine! I want Superman…wait, where did Ermine go?"

"She collapsed when the creature re-manifested sir. She's been taken to the medical bay."

"DAMN IT!"

"There's more bad news, I'm afraid." Peregrine said. "The entity still has enough power to wipe Superman and the rest of us off the face of existence. That, and I have no real idea what could break the connection. If it was maintained through both of the creature's eruptions of rage…then again, it might be tied into his usage of power."

"…then we get on the horn to someone…"

"That last impact we took from the, er, sonic assault blew out our communication grid, sir. It also fragged our launching bays. For all intents and purposes, we are sardines in a floating can."

"…you were right about Murphy, Peregrine. So, we're down to being spectators."

"I suppose if the world is going to end, we may as well have good seats."

"Shall we order popcorn?"

"Even I think that crass, Candide."

War.

It was all in the hands.

Hands learned to wield weapons. Hands later learned a greater weapon: to point in the direction of an enemy and send many like it forward to confront it.

Then the 20th century dawned, and hands learned a greater weapon still. To push buttons and destroy cities and armies from thousand of miles away in consuming fire.

Strangely, it was in echoes of the past that hands moved on so swiftly. There had been those in the past whose hands directed superhuman efforts, or unnatural energies. In the 20th century, the past built on itself with a vengeance. Many hands rose, that could change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel, wield weapons that could shatter countries or shape into anything the wielder willed.

Yet…

They were all the same, in the end, as Superman and the Lord charged at each other again.

The hands were all closed into a fist.

Superman's punch missed the Lord. The Lord's own missed as well.

War has changed.

Superman did not miss with his second punch, smashing the Lord in the chest and driving him backwards.

War never changes.

The Lord seized on Superman's arm as he tried to punch again, flipping over his body and firing an energy wave. Superman took to the air to dodge and unleashed his breath, barraging the Lord with stone rubble. The Lord broke through it, flying into the sky and crashing into Superman. Superman hurled him off and blasted heat vision; the Lord dodged again and rocketed down, smashing his forearm into Superman's throat and impacting yet another crater into the ground. Before Superman could respond, manacles of dark energy surged up from the ground, locking his wrists and ankles down. The Lord flew back up, a ball of dark crackling energy appearing on his palm as he let Superman have it with a massive point-blank blast. The ground shook as another crevasse ripped open along the ground of Metropolis.

Superman flew out of the black smoke of the new wound and uppercutted the Lord out of his non-existent boots, blazing around and smashing him with a thunderous hook that sent him flying towards the ground again. Superman didn't get a chance to follow up with heat vision, as a lash of dark power surged out from the Lord's falling body and grabbed onto Superman, yanking him down into the chasm with his enemy as the Lord fired off his own punch. Superman smashed into the crevasse's wall and rebounded immediately, smashing into the Lord and carrying him into the other side. The Lord retaliated in turn, the two forces smashing back and forth along the chasm's length before both flew out. The Lord fired a spray of blasts, but Superman dodged them and grounded the Lord with another furious punch, the Lord hitting the shattered street and dragging a line across it.

"…well, well." The Lord said as Superman dropped down. "Looks like you work better when I'm not breaking more fragile sacks of meat, doesn't it."

Superman remembered the SCU. Their bravery, and their helpless screams.

"BURN."

The heat vision exploded from Superman's eyes, smashing into the Lord's chest and sending him dragging backwards across the ground before it ripped through the Lord's chest. The Lord hunched over from the stream before looking back up, overt hate in his eyes.

"Burn? BURN?"

Superman lanced at the Lord to cut him off.

Before time slowed to a crawl for him. The Lord gave a snarling grin and raised his hands.

"I'll show you BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Demonic black fire erupted on the Lord's hands as the shadow god proceeded to bathe Superman in it. Superman found his chrono-stasis breaking off as the fire engulfed him, and he thrashed amongst the flames.

The Lord made it worse as he charged in, slashing Superman across the face with claws before whirling and kicking him across the face from the other angle. Superman staggered, the fire still burning on him, and the Lord pounced, firing more punches into Superman's face.

Superman responded not with his fist, but his foot, stomping the ground and smashing another crater with the shockwave of the blow. Said shockwave also blew the Lord backwards, giving Superman time to punch him through another building. A quick whirling spin at incredible speed proved to be enough to dissipate the cursed fire.

The Lord erupted upward from the rubble. Superman blazed towards him in a streak of color, smashing both fists into the Lord's chest.

"Got you!"

The distortion was barely noticed even by Superman, the field sweeping over him before he could react. He began pulling away.

Another chrono-lock struck him.

The Lord used it to smash his fist into Superman's gut as hard as he could. Superman's air exploded out from his mouth…

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Superman could tell from the way his mouth started to dry instantly. He realized just what a moment later when he tried to take a breath.

There was nothing to breath.

"Nature abhors a vacuum. Guess you're not alien enough, alien!"

The Lord's voice echoed in Superman's head, as his chest began to ignite with searing pain and Lord smashed Superman backwards. Superman realized there was another dark tendril of energy connected to him before the Lord yanked him back to him. Another onslaught of blows hammered against Superman's body: Superman reeled back again, before feeling burning hands close on his throat.

"This may seem redundant, alien, but it's not. I'm going to pop your head off like a cork!"

Superman promptly punched the Lord in the face. He felt the blow hit, but the grip on his neck didn't lessen. Superman flailed at the Lord, striking him repeatedly in the face and chest, before once again firing and hitting with his heat vision at point-blank range.

"Doesn't hurt, not like you, you will learn…!"

Superman did everything but, striking again and again at the Lord. But the numbness was starting to seep in as his body screamed for air that had been magically removed. Superman could survive in a vacuum, but not for extended periods without a provided supply of oxygen. With virtually no oxygen at all…

"That's it…"

Superman clamped onto the Lord's wrists and pressing against them. For a moment, the Lord's grip slackened.

"Not good enough never good enough, you will DIE…"

The crushing hold returned, forcing down Superman's echoes of strength. A deeper blackness began to enter his mind, and Superman could swear he heard faint whispers he was unable to identify.

"It's over alien. You didn't have enough. GO."

He was hearing Kryptonian whispers…someone was waiting…

"You'll have plenty of company, all your idiot companions…!"

He could go…could…he…?

"All of them too! Just like the rest!"

What?

"Didn't run! Didn't beg for mercy! Stood and died! Idiots! A WORLD OF IDIOTS. NO MORE."

…Bruce…Diana…Kara…J'onn…so many others…so many…

…already dead…

"GO, Kryptonian."

"The last time you actually inspired anyone, Clark…"

"It's OVER."

"Was when you were dead."

No.

Superman's arms lanced back up, forcing themselves up against the Lord's wrists. The Man of Steel couldn't see it in the dark, but the shadow god's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"No! This isn't the way you can't…!"

If Superman could have spoken, he would have informed the Lord he was right. It was never over.

Instead, as the power exploded through him from his deepest reserves, he let his actions speak for him.

"No no NO……….!!!!!!!!!!!"

Superman's mouth opened in a silent scream as he forced his arms outward, ripping the Lord's terrible grasp from his neck.

"Even YOU CAN'T…!"

Superman could.

The punch boomed across the city once more, even as the Lord went flying out of his vacuum bubble and hit the ground, bouncing off of it before landing and dragging face first along the broken stone.

The field vanished with a loud popping noise. The air Superman took into his lungs might have been the sweetest visceral experience he'd ever had.

He knew he didn't have long though. He also knew what was going to come.

He welcomed it…on his terms.

Down on the ground, the Lord pushed himself back up. It took a lot to shock him, as said, but Superman had done it. How in the hell had the alien mustered such strength? He'd had no air, did his blood really have such a hyper-oxygenation quality, no, his body was shutting down…was his depth of conviction really that deep? Could the Lord even properly measure it. If he couldn't-NO. Everything had limits, the alien couldn't be far…

There was something else, nagging at the back of his mind…

"You know, with that much power, Lex would have killed me by now."

The Lord glared up at Superman, naked hate in his eyes. Superman met his eyes, his battered face not taking away from the power within them.

"Actually, that's unfair…to Lex. With that much power, TOYMAN would have killed me by now. I don't know whether you're incompetent or weak, honestly."

A pulse of force radiated off the Lord. Superman did not budge.

"Weak…WEAK!?!?!?" The Lord bellowed. "YOU…STUPID…MAN!"

The Lord smashed his fist into the ground, and an eruption of black energy exploded out from the ground, engulfing Superman. The Lord formed his black energy blade and charged upward, slashing repeatedly and slicing the cloud to pieces.

He missed. Superman didn't, his heat vision exploding on the Lord's hands and blasting his sword apart. The Lord countered with a crackling blast from his eyes: Superman dodged and smashed the Lord back into the ground. The Lord sprang back up and kicked at a downward charging Superman: Superman blurred around the Lord and axe-handled him in the back. The Lord hit the ground for a second before Superman kicked him back up and punched him across the wrecked street, the Lord bouncing a few times before he stopped.

Screaming, the Lord sprang up and fired off another myriad of blasts. Superman was consumed for a moment, before he flew out and leveled the Lord with another punch. The Lord formed claws and slashed: Superman sliced off the claws with his heat vision and slammed repeated punches into the Lord's torso at super-speed before knocking him backwards with another uppercut and then zapping up and smashing him across Metropolis with another axe handle.

"You're not proving me wrong."

Roaring incoherently, The Lord flew back at Superman. Superman dodged and punched the Lord with a devastating body blow, the attack blowing pieces of the Lord's body off from the impact. The Lord went into another barrage, but Superman dodged all of the sloppy, angry attacks, countering with several more punches before blowing the Lord backwards with heat vision. The Lord hit another building and moved to spring off, but Superman beat him to the punch, smashing him through the building and hammering him with lightning-fast fists before he smashed the Lord back into the ground.

"KILL YOU! KILL YOU!" The Lord screamed. That was all he got to do before Superman was in front of him. Another storm of blows smashed through the Lord, and he fell to one knee.

"I guess your argument has run its course." Superman said. "Strange, it tends to do that for you villains."

The Lord looked up at the Man of Steel, his eyes burning.

"Kill…you…!!!"

"So now you're going to ape Doomsday and say one thing over and over? So much for a reasoned debate."

The Lord held his burning glare for a few seconds, before snorting black mist from his nose as claws sprouted once more from his fingers. He slashed out with them…

Superman's counter-punch to the attack was grabbed out of nowhere by a shadow tendril, another one surging from the ground and seizing his other arm, yanking them apart and leaving Superman wide open. Superman began igniting his heat vision, only for another time-stasis to stop him in his tracks.

"Well done alien. You wanted to make me mad enough to focus solely on you and not fly off and target those weaker than you." The Lord said, as he placed his clawed hand on his own head. "You succeeded, but not in the way you expected. You made me so angry you actually forced a gigantic gamble."

The Lord yanked his clawed hand away from his head, pulling SOMETHING in the process. Coursing, glistening red threads that Superman noticed the Lord was pointedly refusing to look at.

"I know where I tend to falter, alien. It's why I can chant spells in the back of my mind even when I've mostly lost control, Kryptonian. You want my real closing argument? Open your eyes, alien! HAVE A LOOK!"

The Lord lashed out, and Superman felt drilling rays of cold in his skull as the Lord jammed the…

OHDEARGODOHGODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Superman broke free from the tendrils, clutching his head and screaming. What ripped through his conscious mind was so ugly and terrible that his brain completely broke down trying to process it.

Somehow, through it, he heard the Lord speaking.

"I wanted to hurt you, alien. So I did. I used a spell to carefully extract my own memories, my own past. Do you know why I had to use a spell and not telepathy, Kryptonian? Because I will not look at them. No matter what. They will remain locked away in me, forever. You claim to know what I am, Superman. I'd ask you what you're seeing, except it's written all over your face!" The Lord snarled. "You tell me I am wrong. You call me insane, evil, and weak for who I am. Take a look, alien."

The Lord grabbed Superman, ramming more of the poisonous red threads into his head. Superman's cry shook Metropolis.

"TAKE A GOOD, LONG LOOK!"

More overwhelming agony, the horror, the horror…!

"Now tell me, KAL-EL, CLARK KENT. Tell me HOW I COULD BE ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!!!"

The Lord smashed his fist across Superman's face. Superman couldn't even dodge: all he knew was pain and despair.

"Come on, hero! Save me! Save me!" The Lord snapped, as he smashed more blows into Superman. "Do what you're supposed to do! Stop evil! Make things better. It's a holy cause, a noble mission! You can do anything! So save me, alien! SAVE ME! SAVE ME, YOU STUPID MAN! SAVE ME, GOD DAMN YOU!"

The Lord's punch smashed Superman through another building. He lay where he hit the ground, shuddering. He was starting to fight through the memories, but their damage was done.

"You can't." The Lord said, as he floated up to Superman. Superman tried to push himself up. "None of you can. Never. You stupid MAN."

The Lord's eyes blazed.

"SO JUST SHUT UP AND DIE."

Spears of darkness flew through the air, and the breath flew from Superman in a wordless gasp as they impaled through his body.

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

"…we're boned." Peregrine said.

"…someone with your intelligence can't think of a better word?" Roger said quietly.

"….sir, the shadow battalions have almost reached the shorelines…efforts to count them continue to prove fruitless." A Bulwark agent also said quietly.

"What's our strength?"

"22 percent at best."

"…I wish Cyborg was here. He'd tell us just how screwed we are." Beast Boy said, looking at the approaching endless legions of Abhorred: their battle site had been fairly close to the shoreline.

"I'm good with that." Savior said.

"At least it's our villain and not whiny Emo-Boy." Gauntlet said. Savior glanced at the blonde-haired teen for a moment, then looked back at his leader.

"Well Robin?"

"…not exactly very fair." Robin said. "Maybe I should hop on one foot."

Despite themselves, the Titans grinned bleakly, and readied to fight to the end.

"So we're down to crumbs when it comes to forces, this ship can float and not much else, we're facing down a possibly-stronger than ever army immeasurable in its scope, and the shadow creature just broke our best hope with the sheer depths of his own black hatred." Peregrine said.

"…that seems to be the assessment." Roger said.

"I do have a better word. We're f-"

Superman, for all his invincibility, had been stabbed before. This didn't feel the same. The blades felt…off, softer. Not much damage…but the pain. So much pain, in his body, mind, and soul.

"How to say it…'let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings.'" The Lord said, having finally calmed back down. "Do you know the truest sorrow of all this, alien? This is all your fault." The Lord said, before snapping his hands towards Superman and sending burning, ripping arcs of black energy into him. Superman writhed under the attack, gasping air through clenched teeth.

Déjà vu…what was the Lord missing, something still dancing in his head.

"You chose to be a hero. You chose to set the standard. You chose the burden that you can't save everyone. Look at what that burden is, alien. Look at what you can't stop. That's what you make, in the end. All your good deeds and kindness and altruism, all nothing in the face of what YOU FAILED TO STOP!" The Lord said, sending more burning arcs into Superman. "That's what you'll end up with. Your failures will consume everything. You will never be rid of me, or my lesser ilk. Your foolishness breeds us. You better damn well learn to LIVE WITH US, or let someone who knows how you've failed clean away ALL YOUR DAMN WASTE."

More burning energy, this time sending Superman dragging across the ground, his body still impaled by the phased darkness blades.

"Even those you inspired failed. So many heroes, acting like anything but. Further corrupting others like Alexander and that child. Your standard is aberrant. It must be removed." The Lord said, sending more energy into Superman. "And those you did truly inspire? Who took after you? Who took up arms in the battle against 'evil'? Well, you saw what that got them. You made them, Superman. You killed them as well. I was only the catalyst."

Superman's whole body went rigid. The Lord made a dismissive noise and let Superman have it with twice the power of before. Superman was driven into the ground, unable to rise.

"When it comes to being broken, not everyone can be a man of steel." The Lord said. "It's time for a man of tomorrow. And it's not you. Join the failures of yesterday. DIE."

The energy exploded through Superman, arcing in a constant, uninterrupted storm from the Lord's hands. Superman felt it burning through him. So much pain…so much pain.

Then he began to stand up. The Lord's eyes narrowed.

"No, not this time. YOU'RE DONE!" The Lord snarled, as he increased the destroying energy even more.

Superman did not fall back to his knees. Instead, he seized one of the black spears impaled through him and, with a snarling cry, ripped it free.

"No. This isn't how it works! THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT WORKS!" The Lord yelled, increasing the energy even more. The ground began to melt around Superman, but he did not stop, as he pulled each spear from his body with a gasp of agony.

"DAMN YOU!" The Lord yelled, as Superman began to walk. "No! Damn you, die! You're just mortal flesh! EVERYTHING DIES!" The Lord snarled, as his floating cape behind him shifting and snapped open, fanning out into a network of blades that fired forth its own burning energy. Superman was driven backwards from the renewed attack, his feet dragging on the ground for a bit before he stopped.

He began to walk again, moving forward.

"Damn it, DIE! YOU WILL DIE!" The Lord yelled, hammering Superman with everything he had, arcing energy erupting off of him and turning the area into a windstorm of debris.

Superman pressed forward.

"You can't…even you…it doesn't…even…if…DAMN IT DIE!!!!!!!!!"

"No." Superman said.

With that, the energy finally cut off, as the Lord's arms slumped down. Even he couldn't keep up that kind of energy barrage forever.

"…I never claimed to save everyone. Anyone who does is a god or a madman." Superman said quietly. "It's disingenuous to blame us for whatever shaped you and those like you; do you know how often I face costumed lunatics killing people and blaming me for it? They have free will. How often do they blame Lex Luthor, or Darkseid? Never. Why? Because they know that, unlike their kind, we are willing to uphold what is good, and take responsibility for protecting it. Blaming Lex Luthor gives no satisfaction, because the fallen of the world would say 'So?' You inherently want to take advantage of our better natures for your pity party. You'd get nothing from the fallen of the world. Not even an origin. I hear people blaming Batman for the maniacs running around Gotham all the time. It's not true. Heroes don't create villains. It's the other way around. People like you, who have abandoned the pretense of the right, force us to protect the right. And we will."

"…then suffer the consequences." The Lord snarled, as crackling black power exploded on the Lord's hands.

Superman's punch stopped him before he could fire once more. The Lord flipped a few times before pistoning back at Superman.

"YOU AND ALL THOSE WHO DIED IN VAIN FOR IT!"

"It's a hard fight!" Superman yelled, blocking the Lord's blow. "Some people BREAK!"

The punch smashed the Lord through another building.

"Should they have never been heroes? That's a ridiculous thing to say!" Superman said. "You think all the good done by those who have been unable to shoulder the burden is undone when they retire? It's an insult to their sacrifice!"

"THEY DIED FOR NOTHING!" The Lord yelled back, flying in as he furiously slashed at the Lord with rapid strikes. "WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT!?"

"It's the same thing I said before! I can't claim to save everyone!" Superman said, dodging the attacks. "All I can do is what I can do! If a young hero wants my help, I'll give it! If they can't hack it, I'll be the first to say that they should retire or take a breather! This whole argument is all wasted, in the end. I know your type!"

The Lord kicked Superman in the side. Superman grabbed his leg and swung the Lord away, hurling him into the air and blasting him with more heat vision.

"The Darkseids of the world, the Lex Luthors, even the Toymen. You try and argue against the good, but the only way you can do so is to redefine the good on your own terms."

The Lord fell upon Superman, slashing and kicking. Superman did not yield. He refused to yield another step. He wasn't even breathing hard. Questions slashed through the Lord's mind: it kept digging at him, what was he not getting, what did his finger keep missing…

"The good becomes weakness, or a hindrance, or a lie, instead of being the only thing that makes human life possible! But you can't see it that way! Hell, I doubt you're even paying serious attention…"

The Lord flew backwards, energy erupting on his hands. Superman did not give chase, speaking instead.

"Which is fine."

The Lord slammed his hands together and blasted Superman with a building-sized blast.

When the energy cleared, Superman had not moved.

"…it's been a bad time for us all. You're making it worse." Superman said, closing a fist.

"…what the devil are you?" The Lord said.

"You know."

The Lord screamed, as a massive storm of black and white energy began crackling and surging all around him, the clouds thundering above and the still-intact buildings of the surrounding square miles beginning to crumble from the force coming off of him.

"You know, for all your talk of humanity as though you aren't part of us, as though you were guiltless of the same cruelty and shortsightedness that afflicts us!" Superman said over the rising cacophony. "You know! I will show no shame in it! I will say it proudly!"

"DIE ALIEN!!!!!!!!!!!" The Lord screamed, lancing at Superman.

"Alien? No."

Superman charged in turn, as he fully opened himself to his power, and the crusade it would never abandon.

"I-AM-A MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Lord lashed out.

Superman's blow flew truer.

Every single crumbling building in the surrounding three square miles shattered to pieces, the shockwave of the blow smashing another massive crater into the ground below Superman. Every hero and villain in Metropolis was nearly deafened once more. On the Achilles, Peregrine's scanner exploded in his hands.

The Lord smashed into the ground so hard it registered on seismometers in California. A massive line of rapid-burst smoke eruptions ripped across Metropolis and into its bay, the dirt and stone explosions transforming into fountaining water geysers, the path ripping through the middle of the Abhorred and continuing on for another mile before it smashed into an underwater mountain and shattered it in a gigantic plume of earth and liquid.

A moment later, the Abhorred all vanished, the endless army exploding into a cloud of black mist and disappearing into nothing.

Superman lowered his arm, floating on the air.

"That is all."

Then he fell to earth, unable to fly any more.

"…he did it. He broke the connection."

Peregrine and Roger broke from their stunned observation to look at Ermine Chalk, who gingerly stepped forward onto the bridge, holding her head lightly.

"The shadow creature has been separated from his magical power source." Chalk continued after neither Roger or Peregrine spoke. "If he's not destroyed already, he can't have much strength left."

"Good of you to join us." Peregrine blurted out after a few seconds of silence.

"Sorry, next time I'll just ignore the horrific dark magic pulse that could have easily fried my brain, herr doctor." Chalk said.

"Not now you two. Chalk, you knew what was needed?"

"I am psychic, oh captain my captain."

"…well. It's finally over then…" Peregrine said. "…we may not have been in such a bad spot, after all. From the way his army vaporized, I now theorize the creature may have stretched his power so thin that the entities would have likely crumbled after one or two hits. Considering the reputation the heroes of this world have, I…er…" Peregrine trailed off: the whole bridge was giving him dirty looks. "…so. The alien lived up to his reputation despite it all."

"He's never let us down before. Despite the fact we tend to forget that at times." Roger said. "Dispatch someone to retrieve him and take him…well, there's nowhere safe really. But the Achilles wouldn't be such a bad spot."

"What about the shadow creature?" Peregrine said.

"I haven't forgotten Murphy yet." Roger said, as he touched his hand to his communicator. "All remaining CESTUS units, move towards enemy impact zone and finish him off! He probably has some power left, so show caution!"

"…what just happened?" Argent said, lowering her arms as her glowing energy talent vanished.

"…the best and the brightest took out the bottom of the barrel." Gauntlet said, as he lowered his own arm, grinning. "Man, sometimes I love this business."

"…aw man." Beast Boy said. Before he could continue, Terra flew into his arms.

"WHERE DID YOU GO YOU JACKASS?!" Terra yelled through blooming tears.

"Sorry Terra. Remember when we were talking underground, with Raven's mental link, and we were debating plans to keep ourselves from panicking about the situation? Well, I had an idea, and I was going to tell Robin when I dug myself out, but our communication was broken and…"

"Save it for the debriefing Beast Boy. Let's get our wounded to help and then see if there's anything left to do. Then, we take a nice long nap." Robin said.

"Agreed Robin. Raven, do you think you have enough in the tank to help some of them out?" Savior said.

"It was never a matter of not enough energy, Savior. It was…was…"

Savior looked up as Raven trailed off. To his shock, she had gone nearly as white as his hair.

"Raven? What's wrong?!"

"…I was scanning…to see if…oh no." Raven whispered. "No…"

Death was a strange thing.

In the simplest terms, death occurred for a sentient creature when its brain ceased function. This could be done by damaging the brain itself, or robbing it of what it needed to stay alive, and what the brain needed most was air. In tetrapod respiratory systems, air was taken in by the lungs, and then absorbed by the bloodstream while the lungs expelled the carbon dioxide waste products created by the process. The bloodstream then cycled the oxygen through the body, driven by the efforts of the pumps of the heart, giving it to all the body's cells including the brain. If the human body lost too much blood, if the lungs were too severely damaged, or if the heart was damaged or suffered a trauma strong enough to make it cease operation, the brain stopped getting oxygen, and shortly died, a condition known as cerebral hypoxia.

There were, of course, exceptions…

Rapid inhalation and exhalation of air, known as hyperventilation, could flood the body with excess oxygen: this unbalanced the oxygen/carbon dioxide equilibrium the body contained, which could lead to problems, but it also could allow a person to go without air for longer periods of time than if they simply ceased breathing voluntarily outright…

Submersion in ice-cold water while drowning allowed hypothermia to occur at the same time, a condition that significantly lowered metabolism and restricted energy loss, which had, in certain cases, led to a delayed condition of hypoxia that human beings had been revived from considerably longer than if they'd stopped breathing on land. It worked far better with the underdeveloped brains of children though, as the brain was still hardwiring itself…

In the case of an alien organism, which had demonstrated the capacity for its bloodstream to hold far more oxygen than the norm, combined with a body capable of withstanding the vacuum of space travel for periods of time…

Cardiac arrest may occur in such a creature. Said condition may also induce unconsciousness and respiratory arrest as it would in known 'normal' tetrapods. With limited blood oxygenation, brain death will occur shortly afterward.

Death, however, was often anything but normal, as Superboy-Prime opened his eyes.

So cold…

Prime didn't know what was wrong. He'd been fighting the bastard shadow creature, and then there was darkness. Terrified, he'd fought his way back, fought with all his might…now he was awake again, wasn't he?

His muscles felt like weights, his body barely able to move. His chest, something was wrong with his chest. There was no sensation within, no motion. He could barely inhale, and yet he didn't feel like he was suffocating, he just felt numb…so cold…

Fear exploded through his body. He couldn't go back into the darkness.

Somehow, he moved. Somehow, the last traces of oxygen in Superboy-Prime's muscles let him stand up. A normal creature could have never done it, but Prime possessed a strength beyond any concept of normal.

A strength that was almost gone.

If but for one move, as with a ragged, breathless scream, Prime lifted one arm and punched himself in the chest as hard as he could.

"…sir, we just got a strange force ripple on screen while scanning for the shadow entity. It's not coming from the direction of the impact crater though…" A Bulwark agent said.

"…Chalk, scan in that direction, it would really suck if someone ELSE decided to crash the party." Roger said.

"Sir, we've reached the impact site. Scanning for the shadow creature's signature…" Roger's communicator said.

"Make sure all frequencies are scanned. We aren't going in blind. And someone tell me the rail gun's sta-"

Chalk's gasp of shock cut the order off as Roger whirled towards her. She was a strong, grounded woman. She was not easy to scare.

"What happened?"

"…how…"

"Careful men. This bastard's killed a lot of good people, let's not…" Bulwark Sergeant Scottfield Roderick was saying when the black hand exploded out from the small rocky island.

A second later, black energy exploded from it, arcing out towards all the CESTUS units. They had no time to react.

As the units collapsed, a ragged whisper issued from the ground, half seething hate and half grudging admiration.

"Turns all his weaknesses into strengths…heh heh heh heh ha…"

"What, Chalk, what is it?"

"Sir, we-AAAUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" The voice in Roger's ear cried out before shorting out completely.

"Sergeant Roderick! Report in!" Roger said, but only hissing static answered him.

"…the Kryptonian child…" Chalk said.

"…Superboy?" Peregrine said.

"No. PRIME."

"…ah…ah ha…ha…" Prime breathlessly laughed. He could feel it again, the slow throbbing beat.

He'd re-started his own heart.

The numbness began to fade away, as Prime found he could breath again, as his lungs now had fresh blood to deliver oxygen too. He took a few breaths before laughing again, a soft mirth that built to a roaring madness.

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME, STUPID! YOU CAN'T KILL ME!"

"You can't kill me." The Lord hissed as he pulled himself up from below. Damn that alien. He'd hit the Lord so hard he'd overwhelmed the Lord's concentration and broken his link to the Sorceress, a process so complicated the preparatory spells had taken nearly ten hours. He wouldn't be able to merge again, and by himself he had hardly any power left…

HE HAD ENOUGH!

They would pay. THEY WOULD ALL PAY.

"…oh no." Raven said.

"What? What NOW?" Terra cried.

"…The Lord's not down either."

"…you just had to ask, didn't you baka?" Kurai said.

"I'm beginning to long for the good old days of April 2006 back in Chapter 10." Roger said quietly.

"Haha…hahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Prime laughed, as he floated back up. "Here I come, you false heroes!"

"Here I come, you bastards." The Lord snarled, willing himself into the air. "This world…"

"THIS WORLD…!"

"IS MINE!"

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Beast Boy did not hear the twin voices speaking in union. It didn't really matter, as he turned towards the group.

"All right guys. Who wants to save the world?"