"No. Absolutely not."
Old Bruce Wayne shot to his feet, his sudden movement knocking over the coffee on his desk.
But he had no time to care about that now.
If the two Mother Boxes were truly inside the Fortress of Solitude, then it meant that the traps he had set there had already been breached.
At this very moment, Steppenwolf was most likely stationed inside the Fortress, using it as their forward base.
That explained everything.
No wonder Hawkman and Green Lantern had been unable to locate Steppenwolf. With such a large number of Parademons, hiding should have been impossible—unless their base of operations had been inside the Fortress of Solitude all along.
The Arctic.
A place nearly inaccessible to humanity. A land utterly unfit for biological life. But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that the Fortress of Solitude was a Kryptonian ship.
It housed advanced Kryptonian technology, including devices that even Bruce Wayne had failed to fully understand. If there was anyone who knew how dangerous those technologies were, it was Batman.
And now—if those weapons had fallen into Steppenwolf's hands, then Earth was already standing at the edge of annihilation.
Bruce hesitated for zero seconds.
He immediately suited up, heading toward the Batwing. But after taking only two steps, he stopped.
After a moment of contemplation, Bruce turned and strode into his lab—where he kept an arsenal of weapons, many of which he had developed in recent years.
As the threats in this world grew more dangerous, Bruce had known that his old Batman gear was no longer enough. He had been upgrading, preparing for war.
Now that he had identified the enemy stronghold, there was no way he was sitting this one out.
He quickly gathered every tool that might be useful, then stepped out of the lab—only to come face-to-face with Doctor Fate.
"You're heading out?" Kent Nelson's eyes scanned Bruce from head to toe, his expression somewhat strange.
Bruce didn't answer. Instead, his voice came out low and firm.
"Shouldn't you be standing guard over the Mother Box?"
"I am guarding the Mother Box. This is just one of my projections." Kent crossed his arms. "Your little Robin asked me to evacuate Tim and Silas. Said it was your order."
"Then you should do it. Fast."
Bruce walked past him without hesitation, continuing forward.
Watching his retreating back, Kent frowned. "I should be the one going. The Society still needs you."
Bruce paused but didn't turn around.
"What, have your visions of the future started acting up again?"
Kent took a step forward. "Something… is interfering with the future. Most timelines have become impossible to see. But as for your fate… I can still glimpse it."
He stopped in front of Bruce, looking him directly in the eyes.
"Let me go, old friend. The Justice Society needs you."
Bruce's gaze was unshaken. "You mean let you ruin my plan?"
His voice was steady, unwavering.
"That is not your battlefield, Kent. You know it as well as I do. The moment you even get close, they'll sense you." Batman tilted his head slightly. "But me? I'm just a man, remember?"
Kent's brows furrowed. "This is suicide."
Bruce's eyes darkened.
"I built the Fortress of Solitude. I was there in the last war. No one understands that place better than I do. Don't forget— Zod died by my hands. Now get out of my way."
Kent's expression hardened. "Then tell me, Bruce—where is Zod now?"
He refused to step aside. "We can come up with a better plan."
Bruce's voice was calm.
"No, Kent.
This is the plan."
Then, without another word, Bruce stepped forward—passing directly through Kent's ghostly form—his steps unyielding as he walked toward the Batwing's hangar.
Kent's projection spun around, watching Bruce leave.
Then, he shouted after him.
"Bruce."
Bruce didn't stop.
Kent's voice grew louder.
"BRUCE!"
The sound echoed through the vast halls of the Batcave.
Kent received no response.
In the heavy silence, the only thing that remained was the increasingly distant sound of Batman's footsteps.
-----------------------
Arctic, Fortress of Solitude.
The genetic bio-incubation chamber had long been abandoned.
Without Kryptonian genetic data or DNA, its systems had been rendered useless.
Zod had originally planned to eliminate Kara and reactivate the Kryptonian Codex, using it as the foundation to rebuild Krypton—with Earth as the starting point for a new Kryptonian Empire within the solar system.
But after his defeat, Old Bruce Wayne had sealed the facility, extracted all its biological data, and begun studying Krypton's lost knowledge.
Now, staring at the data inside the incubation chamber, Steppenwolf grinned wickedly.
Behind him, eight Parademons carried a massive corpse into the chamber.
[Zzt... Steppenwolf... Zzt... Apokolips authorization confirmed. Welcome.]
Standing atop a high platform, Steppenwolf looked down upon the murky genetic pool.
According to the corrupted AI of the Kryptonian ship, this was once Krypton's legendary Genesis Chamber—where Kryptonian life was engineered and born.
His gaze sharpened as the Parademons lowered the massive corpse into the dark waters.
"Kryptonian genetic engineering… not unlike our Parademon technology. Such immense power at their disposal… yet they failed to use it properly. Their destruction was nothing but their own doing."
The hulking Kryptonian corpse floated atop the liquid surface.
A massive hole gaped in its chest, as if someone had blown apart its ribcage and obliterated its heart.
This was the most pristine Kryptonian body Steppenwolf had found among the countless dead Kryptonians.
The others were either too frail or too mangled beyond repair.
This one was damaged—yes—but the Genesis Chamber's technology could restore it.
And besides…
A heartless monster would serve the The Great One far better.
[Analyzing… Zzt… Genetic sample detected… Kryptonian… Zzt... Zzt...]
Steppenwolf dismissed the Parademons with a flick of his hand and took two steps forward.
He extended his palm, then dragged a jagged spike from his armor across his own flesh, slicing open his hand.
Dark blood dripped into the pool below.
His voice was low and resolute.
"You will bear the flesh of Krypton… and the will of the New Gods."
Steppenwolf's expression remained cold and emotionless as he gazed reverently at the corpse below.
"You shall be The Great One's most loyal hound, the blade in His hand. You will cut down all who oppose Him and help Him conquer world after world."
His hand turned over, allowing his blood to drip onto the massive Kryptonian corpse, seeping into its hollow chest.
[External genetic material detected… Analyzing… Zzt...]
[Second World… Zzt… Fourth…]
[Warning… Warning… Action… Zzt...]
[Kryptonian Council…]
[Formerly…]
Steppenwolf's voice was low, deliberate.
"You now belong to Apokolips."
[Processing… Preparing bio-cocoon for life reconstruction…]
As the Kryptonian AI's mechanical voice faded, the dark waters began to stir.
Black tendrils emerged, slithering like serpents, writhing like the arms of a vast, alien octopus.
One after another, they coiled around the Kryptonian corpse, dragging it into the depths.
Steppenwolf's cold eyes remained fixed on the scene.
"New Gods… Green Lantern Corps… It doesn't matter how many of you exist or how much knowledge you have. When this abomination of war rises again… it will be your doomsday."
His gaze lingered on the churning pool, his expression shifting subtly.
Then, without another word, he turned and walked away.
-----------------------------
When Steppenwolf first learned that Earth possessed Kryptonian technology, he knew he had to come.
Long ago, he had encountered the strange, unnatural horrors created by Kryptonian science.
He could no longer recall how many millennia had passed.
He had spent an eternity waging war in Darkseid's name, conquering world after world, erasing entire civilizations, dragging them all into the dominion of the Fourth World.
But then…
On one particular campaign, Steppenwolf arrived at a world only to find it was already dead.
Its civilization had been annihilated, its cities empty and lifeless.
The cause?
A nameless horror that had slaughtered an entire world before vanishing into the void.
Steppenwolf, ever the predator, tracked it relentlessly—until, at last, he laid eyes on the monstrosity that existed only to destroy.
A creature that could not die.
A being that evolved endlessly.
It had no mind, no will, no emotion.
From the moment it was born, its sole purpose was destruction.
No one knew where it had come from.
No one knew how it had been created.
The only certainty was that every civilization it touched ceased to exist.
Some among the higher races had given it a name—
Doomsday.
------------------------------
Steppenwolf had tried to capture and convert the beast, attempting to forge it into a weapon of Apokolips—a Parademon unlike any other.
The attempt had nearly cost him his life.
Even Darkseid, upon hearing of the incident, gave no orders.
He simply told Steppenwolf to return to conquest and not waste time on this creature.
But for the first time in his existence, Steppenwolf was curious.
He spent centuries investigating the origins of this being.
And at last, he discovered something unbelievable.
This wandering terror—the slayer of countless civilizations—
Had an undeniable connection to the peaceful, enlightened world of Krypton.
Steppenwolf had buried this knowledge deep within himself, never revealing it to another soul.
But now…
Now, he could prove it with his own hands.
.....
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