Darkness; that was all what Raven saw when she opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was diving into Satoru Gojo's mind and then, she felt nothing.
Now she was standing in an endless black space, it wasn't silent nor there was any sound. She couldn't tell if it was cold or hot, either.
But something else was different; her own mind. For the first time in years, she felt free. The constant pull of her father's control, the link to Trigon that had devoured her own sense of self since childhood, it was gone.
She took a step forward, unsure where to go or what to do; the silence was almost peaceful.
Then a voice broke through it. "Well, that was a stupid thing to do, wasn't it?" Her head snapped around.
There he was, Satoru Gojo, their supposed target. Except he looked different; dressed in a simple black-and-white kimono, calm as if this place belonged to him.
"Enamored by my handsomeness yet?" he said, grinning.
Raven blinked, clearly unsettled, as she asked, "What is this place?"
"Something called an innate domain." His voice came from behind her now. She spun around but he'd already vanished.
'An illusion? Some kind of mental defense?' she thought, eyes narrowing.
Satoru's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "Unfortunately for you, not an illusion, sorry. We're in my mind. I just pulled your consciousness in here for a moment."
The space shifted as he spoke, his voice was now bouncing from every direction.
"I wasn't planning to use my domain in this fight," he continued, "but since you decided to crawl into my head, I might as well give you a peek."
Raven froze as the black around her began to move; stretching, folding and expanding outward until the void turned into a vast expanse.
Endless stars expanding into an endless void of space surrounded her, all around one enormous center; a black hole twisting space and time itself.
But instead of a physical pull like gravity, it tugged onto her very soul. The dark void pulsed like an eye of the abyss staring straight back at her, it felt bottomless and alive.
Her thoughts were completely halted as Satoru appeared in front of the Black Hole, arms open, voice calm and terrifying at once. "Welcome to my domain; The Inner World of Limitless."
Outside, to the others, barely a few seconds had passed. Raven and Satoru stood completely still, locked in one place.
Wonder Woman didn't waste another second; she dashed forward, her sword flashing on a wide arc, aiming for his neck.
But the blade stopped a few inches from its mark, suspended as if it had hit invisible glass. Satoru's once-blank eyes shifted toward her, a smirk forming on his mouth, "tch, tch, tch… not nice, lady. Not very nice at all."
Diana jumped back, creating distance. Her eyes flicked to Raven; still frozen, her eyes wide and unblinking. "Raven?" she called, stepping closer.
Before she could reach her, the half-demon's eyes went blood-red. A lot of blood streamed from her nose, ears and eyes, then she collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Diana froze, confusion cutting through her focused mind. "Oh, don't worry about her," Satoru said lightly. "Her brain just got flooded with decades' worth of information."
He thought to himself, 'I was right, even Infinite Void's effects have been ridiculously amplified, both Space and Time, fully under my control inside the Domain.'
He'd managed to isolate her consciousness, talk to her within the domain, and then fry her brain after that, all in a single fraction of a second.
'But that presence…' He'd felt something else, for a brief moment in time, something way above his current paygrade, looking back at him before Raven's mind had collapsed.
It had felt like an hellish inferno of negative energy. He was sure that whatever or whoever it was, it had looked back at him and scoffed before it disappeared.
Suddenly, a soft gust swept across the battlefield before a red streak appeared, halting beside Satoru. "Damn, I thought you were done for," Flash said, catching his breath.
He glanced at the motionless Raven on the ground. He knew what her powers could do and what kind of danger that meant.
"Flash," Satoru said, smiling. "Glad you're still up. Nice work down here."
Barry chuckled, shrugging. "Just some light jogging, that's all." He turned, scanning the devasted battlefield, and the state of his previous allies.
From the far edge of the crater, yellow light filled the sky. Sinestro was flying in, flanked by a squad of his Yellow Lanterns, each one glowing like a small sun.
His armor was crackling with more power surging stronger than before, feeding off the fear of his corps.
"Need a hand?" Flash asked without turning back to Satoru.
Satoru smirked. "Nah, just go help Patrick. He's gonna need you more than I do. Things are just getting fun here."
Flash shook his head with a defeated smile and gave a short nod before vanishing in a blur of lightning.
Satoru turned his head to Black Adam was pulling himself up from the rubble, rage burning behind his eyes.
Diana stood a few meters away, her face set, and her patience clearly gone. Overhead, the Yellow Lanterns hovered closer, ready for their orders, their light slicing through the haze.
"Round two?" Satoru said, tilting his head with that familiar grin.
But before anyone could move, the sky trembled. A shockwave rippled through the clouds, spreading in all directions. Everyone's attention turned upward.
High above the great pyramid of Giza, a massive blue triangular portal had split the sky open. Its light reflected across the dunes like a second sun.
From the portal, a giant black metallic cube covered strange, shifting symbols, fell on top of the pyramid, before the portal sealed itself shut.
Diana's breath caught as she thought, 'The Phantom Zone…' Her eyes narrowed. 'Superman… he finally ordered its release.'
A while ago:
High in the sky above Giza, Supergirl and Superman tore through the air, Superman, still held forcefully by Kara.
He twisted around with enough force to break free of her hold, and drove a punch toward her. She blocked, crossing her arms, but the blow sent her crashing into one of the smaller pyramids.
Stone exploded as she tore through it, leaving a gaping hole before slamming into the desert far beyond, he rocketed after her, breaking the sound barrier multiple times.
Supergirl burst out from the sand before he could strike. She grabbed his arm, using his momentum to spin him off course, and fired her heat vision in one smooth motion.
Twin beams of red light carved through the dunes, pushing Clark down into the earth. The sand beneath him melted into glass.
With a grunt, he burst upward from the sand trench, the air cracking with the force of his ascent. The shockwave tore a circular wound into the ground.
Supergirl cut her heat vision, hovering below, "this nonsense ends today, Clark."
He floated opposite her; his eyes locked on the black-and-silver suit she wore. "Is that how choose to defy?" He asked.
"I defied you the day I walked out," she shot back. "This is just me changing my fashion."
His teeth clenched. "Is this all a joke to you?"
Her expression hardened. "No, no it's not. That is why I'll stop you."
She surged forward, fist drawn back, the air behind her warping from the force.
Superman met her halfway. "Come on!"
Their fists collided. The explosion of sound and wind tore across the sky, scattering clouds for miles. The shockwave flattened dunes, sending sandstorms racing across the desert.
The two streaks of red-blue and black shot across the horizon, crashing through mountain ranges, skimming over oceans, then tearing through a forest that went up in flames behind them.
Supergirl grabbed his cape, spun him around, and slammed him into a cliffside. The rock shattered, entire hillside caving onto itself.
He countered with a heat-vision blast that she barely dodged, the beam slicing apart the clouds far off in the sky.
They shot up again, cutting through the atmosphere, breaking through the sound barrier in rapid bursts.
Superman caught her mid-air, pinning her arms. "You've gotten stronger, Kara," he said; his voice strained. "I can feel it. But you don't understand what's at stake!"
She broke his hold with a violent twist, catching him off guard, and drove her knee into his stomach, sending him crashing back toward the clouds, below.
"No, Clark," she said, breathing hard. "You're the one who doesn't."
He recovered mid-fall, spinning back toward her. Their next collision shattered the sound barrier again, this time right above a city skyline.
Glass windows exploded, alarms blared, and people below screamed as the two Kryptonians clashed in the air, each strike shaking the sky.
Supergirl forced him upward, away from the buildings, her every move aiming to drag the fight back toward the open sky.
Even then, the collateral damage was unavoidable. Sonic booms split highways, and power grids flickered out one by one.
For every blow Clark landed, she gave one back harder and he felt it, it wasn't just her strength. Her eyes didn't have those flickers of doubts anymore, her will, conviction, everything seemed greater than his own.
For the first time in a long time, Superman wasn't sure how the fight would end.
They both tore through the sky once again. Their clash echoing in the void as they broke free of the atmosphere.
In the silence of space, each of their strikes were just a burst of light against the black. They crashed on the moon, their impacts scattering dust across miles of its surface.
The ground caved under their brawls, creating craters big enough to be seen from Earth. Every collision shook the lunar surface, throwing up clouds of gray powder.
Then, after a final exchange that sent shockwaves rippling through the satellite, both Kryptonians plummeted back toward Earth.
They entered Giza's sky like meteors. Superman was on top, his hand gripping Kara's throat as they tore through one of the smaller pyramids.
The ancient structure crumbled in an instant, collapsing under the force of their descent. The shockwave flattened the dunes and kicked up a sandstorm that swallowed half of Giza.
Pinned to the ground, Supergirl struggled against his grip. Superman's eyes glowed red, his heat vision building to a burn.
"You don't get it, Kara!" he shouted, his voice breaking through the roar. She didn't reply and just pushed back, her own eyes flaring with her own red light.
Twin beams collided. The air between them vaporized in an instant, light spilling out like a miniature sun.
They held the deadlock, neither of them, willing to yield. But Superman's power kept pressing forward, inch by inch. Kara's voice broke through a war cry as her beam started to fade.
Then, out of nowhere, a burst of red-hot bullets rained from above, striking Superman's head and shoulders. They didn't even graze him, but they broke his rhythm long enough for Kara to slip free.
She twisted, planting both feet into his chest and launching him backward across the crater.
High above, a sleek and angular black fighter jet screamed through the sky, it was one of the Batplane. It fired again, the shots leaving trails of plasma in the air before exploding near Clark.
Superman raised his gaze, heat vision blasting through the sky. The jet exploded in a ball of fire; but his eyes narrowed. The craft was empty; he already knew Bruce wasn't inside.
Kara instantly realized what batman was planning and darted forward, slamming a low kick into Superman's knee before he could recover.
He grunted, driving a punch toward her, but she shifted aside and that was when Clark noticed the small red cylinder rolling beside his boots.
Supergirl then threw herself clear, kicking him away and then the grenade closer to him right as it went off.
The explosion bathed the area in red light. The air warped and the light washed over Kara too, leaving her dizzy, but Superman fell to one knee as he'd taken the blunt of it.
His breathing became hitched, and his strength faltered; he could physically feel himself becoming weak.
"Red sun tech…" a familiar voice said through the haze.
Batman emerged from the dust. He was in a heavy, dark metal armor, lined with glowing gray accents, faintly pulsing green where Kryptonite was built into the joints.
His fists gleamed with a pair of spiked knuckles made of pure Kryptonite. He glanced at Kara, gave a short nod and she backed off without a word.
Superman groaned, pushing himself onto his hands. His glare was pure venom. "Finally decided to show your face, huh…"
Bruce's tone was calm, but firm. "Long time no see, Clark."
Clark didn't wait. He lunged forward, still half-dazed from the red sun blast. Batman sidestepped, planting an uppercut under his jaw. The Kryptonite made the hit burn.
He grabbed the edge of Clark's cape and yanked hard, twisting, then followed up with a back kick that slammed into Superman's chest.
Clark stumbled but caught himself midair, fury blazing across his face. He threw a punch, but Bruce caught it, sliding under and landing another hit square on his ribs, then one across the face.
Each strike sparked green light against Superman's skin, and each one made him falter a little more.
"HAAH!" Superman roared, anger flooding his voice as he threw himself at Batman again. But weakened by the red sun blast and Kryptonite exposure, his strength was slipping fast.
Right now, he was barely more than human, and against Batman in full combat gear, that meant no chance.
Bruce blocked and countered with brutal and precise strikes. Every punch Clark threw was deflected, every kick intercepted.
Batman struck back with brutal but quick elbow strike, swiped a low kick then threw him hard, driving the Man of Steel a short distance through the cratered ground.
Blood dripped from Superman's mouth and nose, as he got on all his fours, trying to get up. He jumped towards Batman again.
He caught him off balance, "you never bothered to learn close-quarters combat," Batman said, grabbing his arm and flipping him over his shoulder.
Clark hit the ground hard, the impact raising a small cloud of dust beneath him. Bruce stood over him, saying, "give up, Clark. It's time for you to surrender."
Before Superman could respond, the sky cracked open.
A thunderclap like the world splitting in half echoed through the desert, followed by a blinding light far in the distance.
Even from miles away, they could tell that part of Cairo swallowed by an explosion. "Satoru…" Bruce muttered.
He tapped his comm. "Flash, Plastic Man, report. What the hell's happening over there?"
For a moment, nothing but static. Then Patrick's voice came through, calm but strained. "Yeah, we're alright. Flash just confirmed Satoru's status… he's doing just fine."
Hearing that Kara exhaled first, relief breaking through the tension. But that pause and distraction of those few seconds, were all what Clark needed.
With a sudden burst of movement, he bolted upward, pushing through the Kryptonite's pull. Bruce turned too late.
"No!" Kara shouted. She flew toward Batman, tackling him out of the path of the oncoming heat beams. The Kryptonite-lined suit had already weakened her though.
The proximity alone burned through her strength. By the time she steadied herself, Clark was gone; stumbling through the air, rising higher from their position
Superman landed roughly atop the Great Pyramid; his breathing was ragged, and his body was trembling. He quickly contacted cyborg, "Victor…"
"Superman, are you okay?" Cyborg's voice came back immediately.
Clark didn't answer the question. "Open the Phantom Zone and release the prison hold."
There was silence on the line. Then a simple reply. "Understood."
Back on the ground, Batman stepped away from Kara, giving her space to recover. She pushed herself up, still dizzy, shaking her head.
"I really hate this feeling," she muttered.
"You alright?" Bruce asked, his voice quieter now.
"Yeah. Just… give me a few seconds," she said. She was glad that today was a bright sunny day, it was slowly burning the weakness away. Superman, though… he'd taken the full brunt of it.
Her gaze turned skyward. She could see him, flying out toward space, to soak in direct sunlight. She was about to fly towards him, when the sky rippled again.
A massive shockwave burst from above the Great Pyramid, bending clouds and tearing the air. Kara's eyes widened as she saw it; the same blue, triangular portal she'd seen once before.
"No…" She muttered.
From the rift, a massive black cube fell, slamming into the pyramid's peak. The symbols carved into it glowed faintly red.
Batman's expression hardened but Kara's heart dropped as she recognized it instantly. 'The Phantom Zone prison… Clark actually released it.'
The cube cracked, its walls bending outward. Something inside was forcing its way free.
A dark, hulking figure stepped out; it had grey skin, like stone, jagged bones jutting out across its shoulders and arms.
A glowing red "S" symbol burned from the dark metallic collar strapped around its neck, the same metal binding pulsing with unstable energy.
Its head lifted, eyes burning red. Batman's mind raced as he thought, 'Doomsday…' His jaw tightened.
"What have you done, Clark?" he muttered.
Back aboard the Regime's ship, Cyborg stood near the gaping hole ripped open along the vessel's side, the wind howling through it as the ship trembled.
Behind him, Nightwing, Bane, and Killer Frost stood guard over two kneeling captives.
"So, Doomsday was our trump card, huh?" Frost said, half-smiling.
Cyborg turned from the wreckage. "We've kept it in the Phantom Zone ever since Superman killed it the first time. Now it's completely under our control."
Nightwing frowned, about to ask something, but the ship suddenly lurched. Warning sirens blared, red lights flooding the corridors.
"Warning! Main engines compromised! Flight systems deactivated! Losing Altitude!" The deck shook violently afterwards.
"Everyone move!" Cyborg yelled, grabbing Nightwing by the shoulder. "Ship's going down! Get out, now!"
Frost didn't wait; she blasted ice from her hands, launching herself through the hole and out into open air. Cyborg followed, holding Nightwing with him.
Bane, clutching both captives by their collars, turned toward the exit, but the sound that followed made him freeze. A deep metallic groan and then a loud ripping noise.
It was already too late. The ship's engines exploded. Bane barely had time to react before the whole vessel dropped like a stone, slamming through the Cairo skyline before colliding with a skyscraper as it collapsed onto the ground.
The impact shook the city for a bit. Cyborg, still holding Nightwing in the air, thought, 'No way, this ship is reinforced with Kryptonian metal. Supergirl I understand, but-'
His thought was cut off as twin beams of red light tore through his shoulder, slicing clean through his arm. The heat melted steel like butter. His cybernetic limb burst out in flames.
Nightwing and Cyborg, both plummeted through the air. They weren't far from the ground, but it was still enough to hurt.
Nightwing hit hard, rolled, and groaned as he tried to get up. "What the hell…"
He turned back. The ship was wreck. Bane and the prisoners were probably buried somewhere in there. He doubted if the captives were still alive and honestly, he didn't have time to care.
Cyborg was down too; sparks shot out from the melted side of his shoulder. The techno-organic plates on his body were already trying to rebuild, but the heat damage was slowing them down.
Then they hear a low, mechanical hum. Nightwing looked up and froze. Floating above the thin cloud of dust was a shape.
A metallic humanoid with a skull-like face, eyes burning neon green. It's body was sleek but bulky, dark-red armor lined with glowing blue circuits pulsing like veins.
Cyborg's good eye widened. "Amazo?" he muttered, scanning it automatically. "How…?" He muttered. They had destroyed every trace of Professor Ivo's work years ago.
He turned toward Nightwing. "Damian… run-" But the warning came too late. A flash of blue lightning ripped through the air, and Amazo was suddenly behind Nightwing.
Damian barely turned before the android's arm came swinging. The hit landed with a sickening crunch, bending his body mid-air before flinging him across the field. He crashed into a concrete barrier, his blood streaking across it as he fell limp.
"NO!" Cyborg shouted, as he'd been trying to override the android's systems, his mind conducting rapid commands across his own system.
Lines of code flickered on his cybernetic eye; then collapsed. Amazo was already interfacing with him, hijacking his network, rewriting his commands in real time.
Someone else was controlling it. Someone with access they never accounted for. His processors overloaded as static filled his vision.
Cyborg tried one last time to open his comms, but all he got was a short, broken sound; then silence.
A blast of icy mist cut across the wreckage, coating Amazo in a thick layer of frost. In seconds, the android was frozen solid; encased in a jagged block of ice.
For a heartbeat, it seemed to work. Then blue lightning began to crackle, wrapping around the robot's body.
The frozen shell remained still as Amazo started vibrating, turning into a blur and it casually stepped out like nothing had happened.
'It already has Superman's and Flash's abilities,' Cyborg realized, horror creeping into him.
It turned its glowing green eyes across the ruined street; then vanished. A sharp sonic boom shattered the air as it reappeared again.
Its massive hand, held Frost's head in a vice grip, lifting her clean off the ground. Frost kicked, claws of ice forming on her fingertips as she clawed at its arm.
"Let- go!" she screamed, ice spreading across its forearm, and instantly cracking under its force. The robot simply squeezed, harder.
Her scream cut short as her skull burst like fruit, blood, bone fragments and brains splattering across the dirt. Her headless body fell limp, collapsing right beside its feet.
Cyborg froze for half a second, his systems racing. Before he could back away, Amazo turned, its eyes glowing red. Twin beams of heat tore through his torso, melting his plating and circuits. His power systems failed one by one, leaving only his life support active.
Sparks flew from his chest as the android grabbed him by the leg and dragged him across the sand, pulling him toward the wreckage.
Inside the crashed ship, Bane stirred. His body was slightly battered but he was unharmed altogether. He glanced toward the pile of twisted metal nearby.
'Did they get crushed?' he thought, scanning the debris.
A coughing sound answered him. He turned, and there they were; Ra's al Ghul and Athanasia. Both bleeding and struggling to move, but still somehow alive.
Before they could reach each other, a massive shadow fell over them. A mutated human, twice their size, wearing an oversized blue hospital gown and a white faceless porcelain mask, grabbed both by the back and slammed them into the floor.
Athanasia gasped, her body barely holding together. Ra's groaned under the pressure, his wounds screaming with more pain.
Bane stood up, confused and angry. 'Is that thing what brought the ship down?' he thought, sizing it up.
He took a step forward; then two beams of red light shot in from outside, cutting clean through his left arm and leg in one clean sweep; his limbs hit the ground before he did.
"AARRGH!" His scream echoed through the wreck, his body twisting in agony.
A calm voice followed after that, "Hmm. So much potential… all wasted on futile endeavors." Ra's and Athanasia froze. They recognized that voice.
Out of the smoke came another figure; human-sized, wearing the same porcelain mask and a long blue gown, but moving like a puppet.
In its hand, it held a small device projecting a holographic image: a middle-aged man in a dark-grey suit, black hair slicked back, square glasses catching the light.
"Lazlo…" Athanasia spat, her voice shaking with anger.
The hologram smiled faintly. "I thought you preferred 'Professor Pyg.'"
He clasped his hands behind his back. "Oh, forgive me. I suppose you're more familiar with the crazy version of me."
Behind him, Amazo stepped closer, dragging the half-dead Cyborg like a discarded doll. It kicked Bane's unconscious body out of the way and stood silently beside the masked puppet.
Ra's al Ghul's face was gone still, a deep frown on his brows, "Who are you?" he asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer.
The holographic man smiled, feigning offense. "You'll break an old man's heart, Ra's. It's me, Lazlo Valentin. Professor Pyg? Come on, you can't tell me you've forgotten your old partner in crime that easily."
His tone shifted from mock hurt to amusement. "What Wonder Woman killed was just one of my puppets-"
"Stop wasting time with useless words," Ra's interrupted sharply. "You're not the Pyg we know."
Lazlo chuckled, low and calm. "You're not wrong about that. But honestly; haven't you ever heard of 'acting?' You think I didn't know you were watching every move I make, listening to every word I speak?"
"|The easiest way to manipulate someone," he said, smiling faintly, "is to make them think they're the ones manipulating you."
Ra's stayed silent, his eyes locked on the hologram. "When you pulled me from the Lazarus Pit," Lazlo continued, "you didn't just give me my life back. You gave me perspective, an enlightenment so to speak."
"I wasn't reborn a monster, I was awakened. I became aware of the lust I was trapped in." He paused, letting the words hang. "And yes, I kept killing, I chose to do so. The difference is, I now knew why."
Athanasia glared at him. "We had the same goal once; don't pretend otherwise."
"Did we?" Lazlo asked, tilting his head. "Your goal was revenge. Mine? Curiosity. I just wanted to see how far I could go. I only had to wait for the right pieces to fall into place."
His hologram turned toward Cyborg, who was still lying on the floor, half-melted but conscious.
Cyborg's voice came weak and static-filled. "But how? All of this… Elaborate mess… The timing… H- How did you even know when we'd be here?"
Lazlo's smirk widened. "Funny question, coming from the man who led the Regime right into my lap."
Cyborg's eyes flickered. "What?" He muttered, weak.
"You were the one who picked up the trail of the League's activity in Egypt," Lazlo said. "The one who found evidence of a deranged scientist's return. The one who gave Superman the final push to come here. You didn't need my manipulation, Victor; you were the manipulation."
Cyborg's damaged systems whirred, his expression sinking into confusion.
Lazlo continued smoothly, "And as for the Insurgency… I left a trail for them too. Slightly different yes, but to the same destination. If not by Poison Ivy, Batman himself would've taken the bait sooner or later."
The Dollotron holding the holographic device turned toward the gaping hole in the ship's hull. Lazlo's projection looked skyward.
"My plan was simple at first. Let the Regime and Insurgency naturally destroy each other. Sit back, wait for the right moment. But then, two beautiful variables forced the game to move faster." He paused.
Cyborg finished for him, voice rasping. "Satoru Gojo, then Supergirl and Flash leaving the Regime."
Lazlo's grin sharpened, "Exactly."
The Dollotron turned back, Lazlo's hologram leaned in, his tone suddenly lighter. "It's been fun, really. But I think we're done playing."
The larger mutated Dollotron obeyed the signal instantly, pressing down on Ra's and Athanasia. The sound of cracking bones filled the air.
Ra's didn't scream, his eyes stayed open, resigned and defeated. Athanasia roared one last time, her voice shaking the air, "FUCK YOU!"
The creature's grip tightened, crushing them both into pulp. Blood, Flesh and bone splattered across the floor.
Amazo stepped forward, dragging Cyborg closer. The android lifted him by the head, bringing his face up to its own. For a second, Victor's single organic eye met its glowing green ones.
Then Amazo drove its hand through his chest. It tore out his heart, the semi-organic, beating core that kept him alive, and crushed it in its palm.
Lazlo's projection watched, expression calm, even pleased. "We've got ourselves a bigger prize now, Amazo," he said. "Let's wait for a little longer/"
The Dollotron stepped to the ship's broken edge, the holographic image flickering against the sky. Lazlo turned his gaze toward the horizon; toward the place where Doomsday had fallen.
A small smile formed on his lips.
...… To be continued!