Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two years ago, Superman would voluntary gave his life to stop a monster that Luthor created to cease the destructive rampage once and for all, at the cost of his own life as the whole world watches, his screams reverberating throughout after the monster impaled him on the chest since he stabbed Doomsday with the very weapon that was meant to kill him. How ironic.

Even though he was weakened by the Kryptonite spear made by Batman, Superman would nevertheless fly straight towards the Kryptonian monster and later plunged the emerald point into the heart of the beast as Wonder Woman did her best to hold it off long enough for him to finish the job.

Unfortunately, the monster screamed a loud roar in a combination of shock, rage, and pain from the mortal wound, and in retaliation, Doomsday plunged its spiked hand into Superman's chest as Superman too released a death scream of his own, reverberating throughout the city.

But the death screams continued to reverberate far beyond the three mourners at a frequency too low for the human ear to pick up and hear.

Miles away from the harbor where the battle took place, Victor Stone sat alone in his father's dark apartment in the heart of Gotham City, brooding reclusively.

It had become a regular pastime for him ever since he had been turned into this Frankenstein's creature of flesh and metal after he got into a car accident that almost killed him and took the life of his mother.

Being unable to integrate with society because of his robotic, half human appearance, he spent the majority of his days inside the cyberscape of his mind, that being processing, learning, trying to make sense of his new reality and adjusting to his appearance.

Apparently, nothing of note other than the criminal spree of an odd costumed criminal had happened recently in Gotham, across the river in Metropolis, however, it seemed everything of note was happening as of late.

The arrival of Superman years prior. The Black Zero Event. Then the explosion of the Capitol building that resulted in the loss of lives in the senate. And now some monster was terrorizing the city and bringing a lot of death and destruction.

A nuke was fired, but the monster survived it, getting even stronger in the process, and now was fighting the Man of Steel at the abandoned harbor near the city with two other heroes.

Victor could've probably helped, but he honestly didn't care. Literally did not give a fuck.

He turned around after he sensed the wave of hypersonic sound caused by Superman's screams, pass through the air. Immediately afterwards, the box that had turned him into what he was-- hidden in a closet, lit up like a Christmas tree and started vibrating.

The supersonic scream passed over the oceans, out beyond the city, and into the undersea kingdom of Atlantis, where another box, exactly just like the one in Victor Stone's apartment stands upon a marble pedestal inside a massive fortress, guarded by gold-clad elite royal sentries.

Princess Mera of Xebel, bride-to-be of King Orm Marius the Ocean Master, was the first to sense the supersonic waves reverberating through here. But when the long dormant box started vibrating, the Atlantean guards were the next to take notice.

Mera had heard the legends of the box they’d guarded for thousands of years, and never once had it done this before until recently.

No, this was something new. Something worse. Something is wrong. That could only mean one thing.

She realizes that Superman's death left the world vulnerable to invasion and attack.

Over the oceans and beyond the prying eyes of Man, sat the hidden island of Themyscira, shrouded by the magic of Zeus himself, and home to the immortal warrior woman race of the Amazons. And men were forbidden from ever setting foot in that island.

In a round stone fortress called the Pentralium, on a steep cliff overlooking the choppy seas below them, sat yet another box, which were guarded by Themyscira's finest warriors.

When the hypersonic waves hit the box, it shook violently, forming a crack along its exterior as it lit up.

As one, the Amazons pointed their deadly dory spears forward at the box. Only one made the move to approach.

A single Amazon approached cautiously and very slowly. Her gaze never wavering as she slowly crept towards the shaking box that continued to vibrate repeatedly.

A crack split along the surface of the box, causing her to stumble back a bit in surprise.

The crack glowed like a fissure. The box had awakened. It has never done this before for decades. Until now.

"Alert the Queen!" She called out.

Inside the Kryptonian ship housed in STAR Labs in Metropolis, Lex Luthor sloshed around in the waters of the ship's genesis chamber. But he didn’t hear Superman's death scream, though the sound would've certainly filled him with immense satisfaction and pleasure, knowing he rid the world of the last Son of Krypton.

No, what he did manage to hear however, was the approach of the Metropolis law enforcement rushing into the vessel of the Kryptonian ship, no doubt to arrest him for whatever "crimes" he had committed against the law. Luthor was eventually dragged out forcefully and cuffed, taken into custody for his crimes as evidence against him was later revealed that he was responsible for the Senate explosion and creation of the monster that killed Superman.

In a last ditch effort, Superman flew himself and the abomination into space in the ultimate sacrifice to save the world from further destruction, then flew right back down in a similar embrace that he did with General Zod years ago during the Black Zero Event. Except this one would result in his death.

His lover, his world, Lois Lane, watched in dismay as he flew back down to the Earth's atmosphere and burning in re-entry, keeping a super strong grip on the beast, as this was the only way to stop his rampage once and for all. This was his world, and he was going to sacrifice his life for it.

Wonder Woman, the ancient demigoddess Diana, felt a tremendous sense of relief at the defeat and death of the monster Doomsday, but felt a sense of loss at the death of a hero that reminded her painfully of another she once knew that performed a sacrificial move once before, decades ago.

Decades ago, Steve Trevor gave his life to save the world at the expense of his own life, and in a fit of rage and grief, Diana flew head first directly towards Ares, the God of War and punched the living daylights out of him during the first World War. Only to be reminded of who she was and what she stands for, she fights for the belief that she believes in the ideal of love, using her abilities to defeat the god once and for all.

Batman, as he lowered his Kryptonite gas-firing weapon down after he discharged his rifle to weaken Doomsday long enough for the Man of Steel to deliver the killing blow, could only scowl in regret, as the weapon he had forged in a misguided mission to rid the world of what he had regarded as a threat ultimately resulted in the death of Superman himself: a godlike alien that he recognized too late as not only a hero, but in many ways was more human than himself.

Batman and Wonder Woman could only watch as the two gods flew back down to Earth burning in re-entry under a mortal death like embrace, and crashed right where the battle started earlier, leaving a giant crater.

The Kryptonian abomination, Doomsday, was no more, destroyed for good.

Out of the smoke and debris, Lois ran towards the cloud of debris, seeing a dying Superman emerge from the cloud and crash to the ground as he laid there dying as Lois cradled his face gently and lovingly.

"Is everyone?" Superman asked weakly, managing to muster up a bit of consciousness long enough as his body began to shut down.

"You did it, Superman. You saved us. All of us." Lois answered. Batman and Wonder Woman slowly approached the dying Kryptonian.

"That's.. thats all it.. matters.." Superman says finally, before his eyes shut, laying there as he died.

"Clark.." Lois says tearfully as droplets of tears spilled from her eyes that now grew watery. And in grief, Lois was sobbing over his dead body, as the other two stood there.

Batman was shell shocked with guilt, knowing that he contributed to the death of Superman in a sense, and it pushed him to redeem himself and certainly not kill anymore.

And that Superman had shown that justice doesn't always have to come from the darkness. Everyone will stumble, and they'll fall. In time, they will all join him in the sun. And help accomplish wonders.

It is something both he and Wonder Woman would realize in time.

Without Superman, crime rates began to skyrocket, emboldened more enemies to rise up and commit heinous acts.

Chapter Text

From the moment he had heard Lex Luthor's cryptic warning, he was adamantly certain that there's more to it than the ravings of a young man driven mad by his genius and the power afforded by vast wealth. And it might have something to do with the premonition he had.

As Batman, he visited Luthor in his prison cell, declaring that whatever he does or wherever he goes, he'd be watching him and raised his gauntlet up, intending to brand him. But he later decided against it in honor of Superman.

Luthor had indeed seen something inside that Kryptonian scout ship, that's precisely for certain, to be exact.

Bruce, as his vigilante alter ego, the Batman, had seen for himself and documented the symbols that Luthor had etched into the walls of his Arkham cell, during his visit with Luthor at the prison cell, along with a language that no earthling had ever spoke before. The language sounded otherworldly.

The most prominent of those symbols were the three cubes, arranged together, as if they were split and eventually fused, which they also precisely match the diagrams of a strange box that was procured from Luthor's files, which Luthor himself had stolen from the Department of Defense after the Black Zero Event years ago when Superman first appeared.

Indeed they were connected, the symbols and the DOD file, and Bruce was certain of that after realizing it and referring back to Luthor's information as a means to plot his next move on his plan to form an alliance.

The incarcerated Luthor had kept tabs on metahumans way before he had even challenged Superman and the Batman, and Bruce intended on gathering those metahumans to combat that threat using the files he had on the metahumans.

The first was Wonder Woman. The next one was Aquaman.

The journey was arduous and tenacious, but Bruce had traversed mountains in search of supernatural beings before-- long ago-- when he was young and idealistic In search of guidance and training. The means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. That led him to Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins. They taught him how to fight, to infiltrate, to intimidate. And to overcome his fear.

And how to kill. Bruce himself stated that he refuses to become an executioner after he was tasked to execute a common thief during his journey to becoming Batman, vowing to fight people like this but refuses to take a life, thinking this would make him no better than the monsters he fights against.

For twenty years he had held back from completely embracing the League of Assasin's lethal teachings. He would not take a life. Adamantly refuses to. It has been his one rule ever since donning the costume. Killing would betray the memories of the parents whose murders he witnessed, so he refuses to cross the line.

His greatest adversary, the Joker would make a game of trying to break him. To get him to break his one rule.

Time after time, the Joker lost his cruel game of goading Batman to break his one rule.

Even ever since the Clown Prince killed Rachel Dawes and forced Batman to tackle Harvey Dent off the building where Rachel died, but the former DA survived the incident and was put in Arkham Asylum for rehabilitation, and the Dark Knight still remained strong and resilient throughout the tragedies throughout his career, until one day, the Joker managed to break Batman into making him break his one rule.

HA! HA! HA! THE JOKE'S ON YOU, BATMAN!

He killed a Robin, torched Wayne Manor, and generations of memories, heirlooms... all burned away in a swipe fraction of a split second.

The death of Jason Todd, was the final straw.

It was the beginning of Bruce's use of excessive force as Batman, becoming a bit more brutal and violent in how he dealt with criminals. More unforgiving and vengeful in ways he had never been before. One example was Batman punching Joker's teeth so brutally, the clown lost most of his teeth.

And then the Superman came, which added salt to the unhealed wounds from the trauma of Bruce losing his son.

Dick Grayson had left to become his own hero, Nightwing, who later defends Bludhaven, a sister city to Gotham.

"Men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel."

And cruel he became. Something Alfred himself warned, noting that Bruce had gone down into a dark path of revenge and hatred.

The war on crime had escalated with the arrival of the Kryptonians, and so Batman followed suit. The criminals he once spared in his idealistic, younger years, now became collateral damage in his neverending war on crime and injustice.

A sex trafficker was a indirect casualty of it after Batman branded him, which equated to a death sentence. As a result of Batman's reappearance, he broke a criminal's leg with a violent kick, and shattered Firefly's left leg and punched him violently.

He has also gotten more aggressive and apprehended Deadshot not long after the Black Zero Event, refusing to fight him in front of his daughter, and let Deadshot's only child leave with the mother before dealing with the criminal alone.

And during a flashback, Bruce and Alfred had an argument over whether or not to kill Superman, something Alfred pointed out that Superman wasn't an enemy and that its suicidal to go to war with someone stronger than Batman, even if otherworldly.

When his former protégé, Dick Grayson hears about Bruce going off branding people as Batman, he was not only flabbergasted, but outright angry that his own mentor broke his own code of ethics and callously killed criminals even if indirectly, and with Oracle, who had just entered the Batcave via elevator with Dick Grayson, and she too, voiced her anger and disappointment with Bruce going against what he stood for. Dick was furious and called Bruce out on it.

"You're seriously going to go to war with Superman? He hasn't done anything wrong yet, and you're intending to kill him for it!? Are you out of your mind, Bruce? You taught us that killing is wrong and that it would make us no better than the monsters we fight against. Your pain doesn't die with Joker, it grows. So you run off into the night to find another face, and another, and another.. until you realize too late that revenge has become your whole life. Without realizing why." Snapped Dick, who was furious with his own mentor at the moment, agreeing with Alfred.

Barbara herself voiced her anger that the no kill rule was a policy that Bruce himself abided by for years and to throw it away by flat out branding people and brought up the fact that the sex trafficker that Batman interrogated and brutally tortured for information before branding him two years after the Black Zero Event in Metropolis has been killed behind bars, leading to Bruce saying callously that what happens to Cesar Santos is no longer his problem, declaring that Superman is a threat that ultimately shouldn't be taken lightly and that the matter should be addressed immediately.

"That son of a bitch brought the war to us two years ago. Jesus, Alfred, Barbara, Dick, count the dead... thousands of people. What's next? Millions? He has the power to wipe out the entire human race, and if we believe there's even a one percent chance that he is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty... and we have to destroy him."

He fought him and goaded the Man of Steel to fighting him, which he did, the two fought relentlessly, and eventually Batman had the advantage and tossed him down the lower floors of the old GCPD building like a ragdoll, then swung him around like one with his grapple gun, and he had the Kryptonite spear pointed at his heart, poised to strike after making good on his promise to make the god like man bleed.

"You were never a god, you were not even a man!"

And then a weakened Superman said the following that made a murderous Batman pause: "Martha! You're letting him kill Martha!"

"Martha..."

Mother...

Superman had a mother. A human mother. He wasn't a soulless alien monster. He was a man.

Diana herself called Bruce out on it, saying that it isn't what his parents would want from him and to remind him why he became who he was in the first place, saying that killing Superman would make his pain even worse and that he'd lose sight of who he used to be.

Even Lois pointed it out.

Die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.

Bruce was the monster after fully realizing that he had almost become the very thing he swore to oppose after Lois clarified his question as to why Superman mentioned that name.

Bruce cast aside the spear after realizing it nearly too late, his late father's words echoing in his conscience.

"Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

He'd shed the armored shell he'd put around himself. In order to atone for his actions, he promises Superman that he'll save Superman's mother the way he couldn't save his own mother.

For the first time in 20 years, the sun came out again... and then darkness fell when Doomsday came and snuffed out the light. The light being Superman.

This solitude, the time away from the hell of Gotham, gave him a rare opportunity to reflect on the man he once was in his idealistic years, the man he eventually became, and the man he hoped to be once again.

By the time it was too late, Bruce realized that he-- that the world--needed Superman, and the hope he represented.

He made a promise on his grave to honor his memory. That's precisely why the journey was so important.

It was redemption. From the darkness that drove him down a dark path, and into the light.

His journey brought him to a rinky-dink tavern in a small, poor fishing village in the one of the coldest, most remote parts of Iceland.

Currently, it was freezing and lots of ice and snow blew everywhere. He traveled to the tavern down below by horse.

He was one of the richest men in the world, and a virtual unknown in these parts in the icy, cold weather.

He came prepared, like he always does.

He made his way through a crowd of local Icelanders, who noticed him make his way towards the tavern before he walked his way inside.

"Bruce…Vayne. Bruce Wayne," said a gruff Icelandic man in rough English as he studies the business card and then Bruce himself suspiciously. Warily even.

The Icelandic man then turned to a man who was decidedly out of place among the predominantly caucasian Nordic locals.

He was Polynesian in appearance, with long dark hair streaked with blonde, a straggly beard, and striking light blue eyes.

"Storm's grounded choppers for six days. Where did he come from?" asked the Icelandic man in his language.

"He said he climbed over the mountain," replied the bearded man in the same dialect.

"Impossible!" the Icelandic man exclaimed, demanding that Arthur speaks to Bruce and start explaining himself as to why he is here.

"Talk," the bearded man demanded in English, turning around before getting directly in Bruce's face.

"I believe there is a stranger, comes to this village from the sea," Bruce explained calmly. "He comes in the winter when the people are hungry. He brings fish. He comes on the king tide... That was last night."

"You have eyes, so see -- icebergs in the harbor," the bearded man gestured to the winter scene outside the window. "It's four months since the last ship got through."

"Well, this stranger... doesn't come by ship," countered Bruce firmly.

The bearded man scoffed and translated Bruce's words to the locals.

"There are enemies coming, from far away," Bruce warned. "I need warriors. This stranger, others like him. I'm building an alliance, to defend ourselves. It's very important that I see this man."

The bearded man snorted. "If this stranger exists, I'll give him your message. Five thousand, American."

"Look, I'll give you twenty-five thousand to talk to this man right now, outside," Bruce offered.

The local people laughed and the crowd followed along with him. His expression then turned pissed.

"How dare this dog speak to us like children!" seethed the Icelandic man in English, already angry. "Ooh, magical man from the sea! We are poor. Not stupid. Get. Out!" He said angrily in Icelandic.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that," Bruce shook his head. "I'll leave after we've spoken."

"He said get out," growled the bearded man.

"I don't think so," Bruce said in Icelandic smugly, defiant.

In one swift motion, the already increasingly angry bearded man grabbed Bruce by the coat and shoved him against the wall and held him against the wall like he's nothing.

Bruce grunted as the air was knocked out of him, but he didn't allow himself to be intimidated. Nor did he back down.

He took out a bankroll out of his coat pocket. The bearded man snarled, but slowly let him down back on the ground.

"Arthur Curry. Also known as "Protector of the Oceans," Bruce said once his feet was on solid ground, staring unflinchingly into the bearded man's blue eyes.

A little girl ran by and snatched the bankroll out of Bruce's hands and gave it to the gruff local, who then counted the money. Bruce's eyes never left Arthur Curry's.

"The "Aquaman."

Afterwards…

"So let me get this straight... you do it dressed like a bat?" Arthur asked skeptically as they left the tavern to talk outside, birds sang our in the icy cols weather. "Like an... like an actual bat?"

Bruce shrugged as they walked past the old stone and wood cottages of the locals. "Worked for twenty years in Gotham."

"Oh. That shithole," scoffed Arthur, indignant.

Bruce ignored the insult. "When the fight comes, we'll need you."

Arthur snorted, continuing to walk towards the water. "Don't count on it, Batman."

"Why not?" asked Bruce.

"Because I don't like you coming here, digging into my business, getting into my life," Arthur glared at him. "I wanna be left alone."

"That why you do this? Help these people out here in the middle of nowhere? I read the stories, your good deeds. You think no one sees? You'll join us."

"Strong man is strongest alone. You ever heard that?" Arthur shot back, taking off his shirt on casting it aside, revealing a torso covered in Polynesian tattoos with the sleeves stylized like fish scales.

"That's not how the saying goes at all," Bruce replied with growing exasperation.

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong," shrugged Arthur as he stepped into the icy water, a large steamer docked at his right.

"You ever hear of Superman?" Bruce pressed, referring to the late fallen hero.

"He died fighting next to me."

"My point exactly," Arthur replied bluntly, wading into the icy waters.

"He believed we were stronger together. We owe it to him." implored Bruce.

"I don't owe anyone anything," snapped Arthur, turning around. He gave Bruce one final disgusted look before disappearing.

"Dressed like a bat... You're out of your mind, Bruce Wayne!"

Arthur Curry splashed backwards into the water, disappearing under the waves, leaving Bruce alone with the Icelandic locals townspeople.

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong," murmured Bruce, matter of factly.

The Icelandic locals began to sing a folk song in their dialect praising the man from the sea.

Their eyes never left the sea as Bruce turned to leave, and their voices carried on well until he made it back to the mountains, and away from the town.

In Metropolis, Lois Lane had not been to work in months since the death of Superman.

Currently, she was at a coffee shop. It was pouring a ton of rain. She was in bereavement, so going to the memorial was the least she could do.

"That's ten, please," the barista said pleasantly as Lois Lane automatically handed him the money and made her way out of the cafe with two coffees in hand.

She heard a customary "thank you" as she was opening the door and walked outside into the brisk morning air.

Across the street was the Superman Memorial at the aptly named Heroes Park. His memorial. One of many from around the world, she was sure.

It was once a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Black Zero Event with about ten marble slabs containing every one of their names.

A towering statue of Superman watching over them, but that statue was damaged and beheaded in a skirmish between Superman and the otherworldly beast that took his life, Doomsday.

In the aftermath of his death, mourners came in droves by candlelight to heap flowers at the statue's feet, spraypainting the phrase "IF YOU SEEK HIS MEMORIAL, LOOK AROUND YOU".

Lois took a deep breath as she stared at what's left of the Superman statue.

She's visited it every day since his sacrifice, and had made it a point to bring coffee to Jerry, the friendly old police officer that guarded the memorial.

It was the least she could do. It was something he would have done while he was still alive.

"Mornin', Miss Lane!" beamed a voice. It was Officer Jerry, who guarded Superman's memorial.

"Jerry, hey," Lois says with a sad smile as she handed him a coffee.

"Wow! You don't miss a day, do you?" Jerry smiled and took a sip of the drink.

Lois glanced at the Superman memorial again through the police barrier and smiled sadly. God, she missed Clark. Deeply.

"Like it here." She would say before walking away.

Back at Smallville, Kansas, Martha Kent stood before a memorial of a different sort, but for the same person. In front of the burial site.

Here the tombstone says "Clark Joseph Kent." Right next to "Jonathan Eben Kent."

Son and husband.

Both lost before their times, going out in the same way they lived their lives: laying their lives down to help others, putting others before themselves with little regard for their own safety.

It was hard enough saying goodbye to both of them once, but saying goodbye twice was too unbearable, even especially for a tough ol' Kansas girl like her.

The bank was taking the farm, the house, the land. Everything that couldn't fit in the back of her pick-up truck. All she could do was take what she could manage to fit in her truck, and make the best out of a bad situation.

She couldn't blame them, of course. Because of the fact that she fell behind on the payments, as it was her responsibility and she couldn't keep up with it.

It was what it was unfortunately. She'd move on, just like she always did. Just like Jonathan and Clark would want her to do.

"Move over, Dusty."

Martha shooed the dog off the driver's seat and starts the truck, taking one last glance at the farm, she then said goodbye to a lifetime of memories and drove away to a future of uncertainty.

Shortly after the unfruitful encounter with Arthur Curry, Bruce boarded a helicopter to a runway large enough to house his personal Wayne Enterprises jumbo jet.

When he stepped out of the helicopter, his longtime butler, father-figure, partner and confidante Alfred Pennyworth approached him briskly.

"My God, Master Wayne, but this is cold!" grumbled Alfred, muttering. "Maybe we could catch the next king tide in... Jamaica! Might be a metahuman or two in Fiji? Costa Rica's nice?"

"I found him," Bruce replied, sparing a small grin for his partner's complaining.

Alfred gave him a shocked glance.

"He said "no"," Bruce clarified before Alfred could say anything.

Alfred sighed wearily. "So, the draft stands at naught for two."

Bruce shook his head as they approached the jet.

"Maybe a man who broods in a cave for a living isn't cut out to be a recruiter," Alfred pointed out.

Bruce trudged up the ramp of the jet. "I've recruited for a cause before." He would say, remembering his time working with Robins, including Dick Grayson and later Jason Todd.

He once had also worked with Manhattan's own resident Bat vigilante, who was secretly Kaitlyn, also a billionaire by inheritance and a tragic victim of a mugging gone wrong.

"My point exactly," Alfred muttered.

Bruce stopped halfway up the ramp, turning to look at his butler and confidant.

Alfred cursed himself for his impudence. "Forgive me, Master Wayne. I shouldn't have-- "

"No," Bruce resumed his steps as he ascended towards the inside of the plane. "Perhaps you'd be right, Alfred, but what choice do we have?"

"Sir, I--" Alfred pointed out, before being cut off by Bruce.

"And this time, Alfred, I'm willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But it has to be mine, no one else's." He said flatly with conviction.

And with that, Bruce disappeared inside the doorway of the jet as Alfred hurried aboard behind him.

Alfred shivered. It had nothing to do with the cold. It had to do with Bruce being adamant in making up his mind to sacrifice himself to atone for his mistakes. The jet then slowly ascends into the air and making route back to Gotham City.

Chapter Text

London, England 

The crime rate had rose across the world in Superman's absence-- without the Man of Steel in the sky to keep it in check, the criminal underworld became more fearless and made bolder, more dangerous moves, causing the citizens to become more fearful.

Across the sea from Metropolis to England, one such group of criminals-- a sector of religious extremist reactionary terrorists, descended on London's Old Bailey Courthouse to enact their holy war.

Clad in a smart black suit and brandishing a briefcase, their leader stepped out of the passenger's seat of a black van and rapped the side of the vehicle with his knuckles, signaling to his associates that it was time to begin the operation.

The leader ascended confidently up onto the steps of the courthouse as his associates started to draw out their pistols and automatic rifles, taking out the advancing front guard before he had a chance to react.

Their leader was the first to enter-- quiet, ordinary, and nonchalant. Nobody would've otherwise spared him a second glance-- had his briefcase not tripped the metal detector.

Heads whipped around to the source of the alarm, and were greeted by the sight of the man's associates rushing in with their rifles aimed. 

Screams of panicked terror echoed through the courthouse's white marble walls, mingling with the rush of feet and shouts of vulgar threats.

"Line them up along the wall! Keep them quiet!" ordered the leader as his fellow terrorists cowed a group of schoolchildren and other hostages into an empty room.

The leader set his briefcase down on an empty table and picked up a phone to address the police that had gathered outside the building. "We'll be making a statement shortly. Until then, if I see any movement, you'll have a lot of dead kids on your hands."

To emphasize his point further, the leader walked to the window and smugly tipped his bowler hat to any potential snipers that likely had their sights on him. They wouldn't shoot. Not without risking the children.

The leader then strode over to the briefcase down and opened it.

The hostages screamed. Inside the briefcase was an explosive bomb, set to only less than a few minutes, then he began the countdown.

"SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" roared a terrorist as he pointed his gun, the clamor growing louder.

"Down with the modern world," the leader said with a zealotous fervor. "Back to the Dark Ages, and the safety of holy fear..."

Kaitlyn urrently in London in preparation for a tour on lecturing about paleontology. Just as she was about to head to the museum, she noticed several police vans surrounding the building up ahead far from her.

Suspicious, Kaitlyn began to investigate, as her alter ego and went to a secluded area and suited up.

Once Kaitlyn snuck inside the courthouse, she snuck behind one of the other terrorist guards and brutally slammed his head onto a brick wall to knock him out.

This alerted two others, who arrived only to notice one of their accomplices were taken out.

They didn't know that a looming figure is right behind them, and suddenly, she grasped both of their skulls and slammed them together at the same time, rendering them unconscious.

A lone terrorist guard patrolled the hallway of the Courthouse, rifle in hand. So focused was he on any potential threats from the ground, that he didn't bother to even think to look for possible threats from above.

Descending from his blind spot, a golden lasso like a coil of lightning synched around his arms and torso, brightly glowing and reeled the man effortlessly upward by a woman standing atop a ledge, dressed in red and gold Greek-style armor with a blue battle skirt.

It was the Amazonian demigoddess Diana, known to the modern world as the superheroine Wonder Woman.

"Who are you? The lasso of Hestia compels you to reveal the truth!" demanded Wonder Woman with a snarl, dangling him high in the air. "Now, who are you?!"

We're a small group of true believers," the terrorist confessed, succumbing to the magic of the lasso as it glowed brighter. "We want to turn the clock back in Europe a thousand years--."

"Boring," Wonder Woman snapped. Her eyes blazed with anger. "Why the hostages?!"

"We have no demands," laughed the terrorist. "We're just stalling the police while we do it."

"While you do what?!" Wonder Woman demanded.

"You're too late. The countdown's already begun. In a few minutes, four city blocks..." he puffed out his cheeks and mimicked an explosion in exaggeration. "While the world watches."

Time is running out.

Twenty four seconds.... Twenty three seconds... Twenty two sec-- 

Suddenly, Wonder Woman had burst through the door in an explosion of splintered wood and shattered glass. There was no time to knock. Only that there is the time for action.

She took only a single second to gauge and analyze her surroundings only to realize that there were a row of hostages with guns trained on them. Her eyes widened at the sight of the bomb. Only no less than fourteen seconds left and had to act fast. It's now, or never.

A terrorist shot at her multiple times. And without taking her eyes off the shooter, she moved her head to the side to avoid the bullet as it hit the wall behind her.

The terrorist fired his gun at her again. 

She lunged forward at him, faster than the eye can see. Before he even hit the wall, Wonder Woman sidestepped to her left and rushed two more terrorists, knocking them away in opposite directions.

Another aimed a pistol at her, and in retaliation, she hit him with the force of a mack truck, sending him flying into the far wall.

A terrorist that's standing by the hostages unloaded his entire clip at her, but the Amazon deflected every single bullet with her indestructible Bracelets of Submission before she aims a low spinning kick to send the shooter into the wall opposite of her direction.

She glanced at the countdown. Only seconds left!

A terrorist blocked her path, rifle aimed. She disarms him of his weapon and flung his flailing body at the wall to join his fellow and turned again to the opposite wall, facing down four more terrorists.

 She threw the rifle weapon at the first terrorist like a high speed lawn dart as she aimed a front kick at the second, knocking him into a third terrorist that had been firing at her from behind a desk.

The fourth advanced towards her, and began spraying her rapidly with bullets. By instinct, Wonder Woman lunged forward and backhanded the terrorist away like a ragdoll, but she sent him flying towards the hostages!

She corrected herself in time at the last second, then she zoomed over quickly to him before he could hit the children and caught him before she flung him like a grenade at the wall across from her and hits the wall with a sickening crunch, but her attention was already refocused on the briefcase bomb.

Now it's only less than seven seconds left!

In a single stride she was at the desk, brushing aside the terrorist futilely trying to grab the briefcase before she could get to it.

 She shut the briefcase closed and immediately leapt straight through the ceiling, soaring as high as she could by the strength of her powerful legs, and tossed the briefcase as high as she could.

3 seconds left!

The last second stretched for infinity as Wonder Woman and the briefcase bomb hung in the air, and then the bomb exploded, its shockwave blowing her back towards the building as onlookers watched from below.

The terrorist leader grunted as the sound of the explosion woke him up from unconsciousness. 

She had only brushed him aside, too focused on the bomb to pay him any more mind. If she had used her full strength, he'd have ended up broken like his fellow believers laid around him.

'Another demon from the sky,' he supposed. 

No matter. The bomb took care of her. Perhaps her death could prove to send a better message than simply blowing up London to smithereens.

Or it could make a martyr out of her like it did Superman years before. It had angered him so much to see the symbol of that creature instead of the holy symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ emblazoned everywhere across the world.

No. The message must still be sent.

Suffer the little children. 

The fanatic leader stood up and drew his pistol. The hostages screamed, huddled up in fear.

'Let them be an example', he thought to himself.

The leader had then scrutinized the weapon before discarding it. Too few bullets for way too many hostages, and too slow a firing speed.

He cast aside the pistol and reached instead for an automatic rifle amongst the bodies of his fellow believers.

"Like lambs to the slaughter..."

The leader aimed... and then he fired.

Suddenly: she burst through the ceiling once again from which she came, kneeling and blocking the bullet with her bracelets before it found its mark.

Wonder Woman glared at the terrorist leader, cold fury in her eyes.

Undaunted, the leader unloaded his rifle along the row of hostages.

In a flash, Wonder Woman blocked and deflected every single one, even taking a shot herself before she spins at the last second and blocks the last bullet.

"I don't believe it..." the terrorist leader gasped, lowering his weapon in fear and awe of the demigoddess that had risen to her feet before him, standing straight with a glare.

Wonder Woman snarled, expressions growing furious. He wanted a boom? She'll give him a boom, all right!

"Believe it," She stepped forward and spread her arms before clanking her bracelets together, unleashing a powerful blast.

Within no more than 2 seconds, a flash of brilliant light, an explosion, and the terrorist leader-- and the wall behind him-- were gone.

The only thing left of him-- his bowler hat-- had fluttered out into the open air and down to the police and onlookers below.

Thankfully, no hostages were hurt.

Outside, the masked figure had tied the remaining unconscious terrorists up and left them for the police to take into custody before vanishing off into the distance.

Wonder Woman turned and started to help the hostages to their feet, reassuring them that they were saved and that everything will be fine.

The hostages were shaken up but otherwise relieved that they were all right, but a young girl caught Wonder Woman's attention, one who hadn't responded or stood up like her classmates and chaperones.

Wonder Woman knelt before her with a kind smile. "Are you alright, princess?"

The girl nodded and smiled at her. "Can I be like you some day?" She asked.

Wonder Woman offered a smile back and extended her hand to her. "You can be anything you want to be."

The young girl took her hand and they stood up together.

The young girl beamed brightly as Wonder Woman held her hand as she escorted the students and chaperones safely out of the building.

Superman may be gone, but at least there were still heroes in the world willing to make a difference and protecting those that cannot protect themselves.

Kaitlyn was watching from a tall building across, her cape fluttering in the wind before she briefly disappeared before she was almost caught by Wonder Woman herself.

The only thing the Amazon could make out of the mysterious figure was a cape before she saw it disappear. 

Hm, she may have to investigate into finding out who this figure is some other time.

Chapter Text

The Penetralium, Themyscira 

Over at Themyscira, Diana's mother, arrived at the fortress having been told that the Mother Box had unfortunately awakened.

"Any changes today?" asked Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons as she entered the Penetraluim fortress, escorted by her Royal Amazon guard, a look of concern etched on her face as she watched the Box continue to shake and its crack glow as brightly as ever.

"No, my Queen," a dark-skinned guard replied upon being asked.

"The Mother Box has awoken, yet nothing has happened since," a brunette named Menalippe added, one of Queen Hippolyta's most trusted warriors.

The Queen's escorts fell in with the temple guard, weapons at the ready in case if anything bad happened as Queen Hippolyta cautiously approached the mother box, not liking it at all.

"It has slept for thousands of years, since the First Age," pondered Queen Hippolyta. "Why did it wake at all?" She asked.

Suddenly, the Box went silent and still. This doesn't sound good.

"This is the first time it's gone quiet since the crack appeared," said Menalippe cautiously.

"Maybe it's going back to sleep," said the dark-skinned guard, almost hopefully.

"Evil does not sleep," Queen Hippolyta advised gravely. "It waits." She answered with finality.

Just then, the Box suddenly had stopped shaking and its light went out. 

"Something is coming..." warned Menalippe, readying her dory. This was not good.

Then there was trouble.

Suddenly, a very bright cylindrical tube-like portal burst materialized from the ceiling, knocking the Amazons back with its powerful shockwave and blinding them with its brilliant bluish light.

Sooner than later, creatures had began to fly out of the portal-- biomechanical and hideously terrifying in appearance-- as if they were like a cross hybrid between man and insect.

The Amazons recovered quickly and drew their bows, and readied their dorys and xiphos swords to attack and defend.

Behind them, an enormous being emerged from the portal, crouching down as he landed.

At about eight foot tall at full height, the giant resembled the Minotaur of the Ancient Times, but covered in an intricate silver armor that looked like thousands of shifting blades that covered every inch of the invader except for his alien, grey face and seven-fingered hands.

In those hands he carried a deadly axe-- his lightning generating Electro Axe-- that was at least the height of an Amazon. He was almost scary looking and terrifying as if he was here for the box.

Soon enough, Queen Hippolyta quickly deduced that she had once seen this being before, long ago. The situation was more dire than she imagined, realizing what this meant.

She drew her xiphos sword. "Prepare for battle!"

The other Amazons did the same, drawing their swords as well.

"Amazons..." snarled Steppenwolf as he stood up to his considerably full height, deep voice booming throughout the fortress. "I have come to enlighten you to the Great Darkness! I will bathe in your fear!" said Steppenwolf sneeringly.

Queen Hippolyta called to her Amazons. "Daughters of Themyscira... Show him your fear!"

As one, they all declared in defiance, "WE HAVE NO FEAR!"

At once, the battle immediately erupted. As the Amazons let their arrows loose, and the Steppenwolf's creatures-- the parademons-- traded fire ans retaliated with guns that fired bolts of golden plasma at the Amazons.

Gather the Legions!" ordered Queen Hippolyta to Menalippe and another Amazon. " Go with her!"

"We must seal the cage!" countered Menalippe.

However, Hippolyta stayed firm. "No!" She said firmly.

Menalippe nodded and urged the few nearest Amazons to her, ready to act.

"To the masts!" she cried, and then she retreated from the temple to the hills to call forth the Horseriders.

As this went on, Steppenwolf advanced towards the Box, batting away the attacking Amazons with his gigantic axe as they all tried their hardest to hold him off and slow him down.

"He must not be allowed to take the box!" cried Queen Hippolyta as she quickly defended herself from a parademon, striking one after the other as the battle continued fiercely.

The Amazons all swarmed Steppenwolf, leaping on top of him, pulling against his body, and stabbing at him with their xiphos swords and dory spears like lionesses on a wildebeest, yet still he advanced and kept going with all his might.

One of Steppenwolf's frying pan-sized hands reached for the Box in an attempt to get it. Reacting and thanks to her quick thinking, the Queen lassoed the Box to her, and caught it in midair.

"NO!" roared Steppenwolf, angered.

To the Queen's right, a warrior named Epione was unfortunately struck in the shoulder by a parademon's plasma bolt, causing her to fall back and crash against a wall, and Hippolyta retaliated by running towards and flipped backwards off a wall to come down with a deadly strike, crumpling the parademon and killing it.

"Epione!" lamented Queen Hippolyta, coming to her side.

"Honor us," implored Epione. "It's right. Seal it."

Queen Hippolyta nodded, resolved to her grave task.

With the box in hand, she charged down the long stone tunnel where six powerful-looking Amazons with large sledgehammers standing before thick wood pillars that held up thick stone walls waited for her

"Ready the hammers!" ordered Queen Hippolyta.

"Seal it now!" She roared, and the Amazons swung the sledgehammers round fiercely, striking the pillars of wood on either side of the tunnel in half.

The first one fell, and the Queen advanced. The next pair swung their hammers, and again the Queen passed.

Just one more and daylight. The thick stone slab that the pillars were holding up began to descend quickly: the Queen would not make it in time.

Seeing this, the Amazons-- Trigona and Pentesilla-- threw down their hammers and dove under the slab to hold it up as if it felt like Atlas carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The Queen had managed to slide under the slab and out of the circular fortress of the Penetralium, immediately leaping to her feet to escape the cataclysm of the crumbling structure and the collapse of the cliff into the seas.

Turning around, a small force of Amazonian Horseriders were waiting for her, waiting further for Hippolyta's orders. The Queen had wearily approached towards them, and looking back at the cloud of dust where the fortress used to be, which crashed and collapsed into the waters.

"Guard it with your life," Queen Hippolyta ordered as she passed the Box to Venelia, a rider.

"Yes, my Queen," replied Venelia.

"Keep it moving!" urged Queen Hippolyta firmly. 

"Yes, my Queen. Go!" cried Venelia, and the riders thundered off.

Queen Hippolyta turned to the sea, mourning the brave Amazon warriors that gave their lives to stop Steppenwolf's pursuit of the box and held him off long enough to get the mother box out.

Their memories would be greatly honored and will not be for nothing.

Unfortunately, much to her dismay, Steppenwolf and his remaining parademons burst forth from the sea, leaping high over her head to bring his axe down on a retreating Horserider.

Another came behind him, and the giant swung his axe around to slay another rider, dismounting her with the momentum.

The Amazons fought back against their monstrous pursuer with everything they got: they even fired arrows, which were connected to ropes at him, piercing the shifting segments of his armor, but Steppenwolf was undaunted, undeterred. Even more so, determined. He moved to attack, but the riders pulled on the ropes, tripping him up like a drawn bull by cattle ranchers catching a runaway animal.

They tried everything to slow him down and contain him, but nothing worked.

Enraged, Steppenwolf pulled against the ropes, cutting down an Amazon with a swing of his axe.

With a swing off his left arm, he heaved a pair of riders-- horses and all-- over his head like it's nothing, and later cut the ropes from the arrows, breaking himself free. They were no match for him.

As the riders retreated, Steppenwolf flexed his entire body, and the segments of his armor snapped and purged the arrows away, the shafts and arrowheads falling harmlessly away like twigs as if it didn't do much damage.

The parademons swarmed overhead, and one swooped down and tried to snatch the box from a rider, which held tight, and the pair struggled in midair over the mother box as the skirmish continued between the other parademons and the other Horseriders.

Venelia aimed an arrow at the parademon thief and struck him with it, causing the parademon to drop the mother box, which tumbled to the ground. She then leapt from her horse to retrieve it, but Steppenwolf was rapidly approaching.

In a last ditch attempt, Venelia then swiftly tied a rope around an arrow and the box and drew her bow as the invader came down with his axe, decapitating her and killing her. With a surge of energy, Venelia was no more.

Her last act was fortunately not in vain, however, for Euoba had intercepted the arrow and leapt onto the Queen's horse, reeling the Box in before Steppenwolf could seize it.

"GOT IT!" Euoba cried once she had the Box hugged in her arms. "GO!"

Unfortunately for them, it was all for naught, once the mighty Steppenwolf charged forth, he then shoulder tackles the Queen's horse, knocking Hippolyta off.

Queen Hippolyta flew from her mount, but Euoba's legs were crushed beneath the equine.

As Steppenwolf stooped to pick up the Box, Queen Hippolyta crawled over to Euoba's bow and arrow and aimed the weapon at the silver devil.

"Oh, noble Queen... Why do you fight? You can't save her. You can't save any of them," taunted Steppenwolf menacingly as he approached the Queen and fallen Euobea.

However, the sounds of hundreds of Amazon horseriders thundered across the distant plains and over the high hillside. They were coming for Steppenwolf and charging towards him.

Menalippe did it! She summoned the Legion!

Steppenwolf glanced at the riders with a look of irritation rather than fear, and the Queen took advantage of his momentary distraction to fire an arrow at him, immediately readying an another arrow behind it.

Steppenwolf caught it the arrow in midair and casually snapped it in half like it's nothing, dropping the arrow halves harmless away.

"The Great Darkness begins anew," Steppenwolf said menacingly as he summoned the same sort of portal he arrived in earlier: a Boom Tube.

"Amazons!" called Menalippe, leading the charge and all of them drew their bows, and let loose a rain of arrows at their opponent.

"Yes, we will find the others," Steppenwolf declared with determination, and he beamed into the tube, disappearing as the Amazonian arrows pincushioned the ground where he just stood seconds earlier.

The battle was over, at least for now.

As the Legionnaires had begun to survey the carnage, tending to the dead and wounded, the Queen had lowered her weapon and tended to Euoba. Unfortunately, it was far was too late for her.

All the Queen could do is ease her passage to the afterlife. Euoba looked up at her Queen with the light flickering in her half-moon eyes, and a moment later or two, she was unfortunately no more. She was gone.

Queen Hippolyta caressed Euoba's cheek, wearily rising to her feet as Menalippe approached atop her horse.

"He's gone back to his universe," Menalippe speculated, stepping off her horse towards the Queen. Hippolyta doubted it, realizing what Steppenwolf planned to do.

"No. He's gone to the Lands of Men to find the other two boxes," Queen Hippolyta deduced, knowing what Steppenwolf was after. "We have to light the ancient warning fire.."

"The fire hasn't burned for five thousand years," Menalippe pointed out firmly. "Men won't know what it means."

"Men won't," Queen Hippolyta said, knowing someone who can. Someone who has lived among the world of man for a long time. "She will." She finished, referring to her daughter, Diana.