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The Czarnian had fully regenerated bones, blood, ego all in place. Not a scratch left.
Batman's voice cut through.
"It doesn't matter who come after you, they will have the same fate... Superman. Then Arthur. Same kind of bounty. Same method. Same level of payout."
Lobo blinked once.
Batman stepped forward,
"Someone's playing a long game. Hiring the best killer in the galaxy… not just to assassinate Kryptonians, but now someone far more unpredictable, whoever sent you after him, he fears Arthur."
Lobo smirked, propping his chin up on his fist. "Well, you ain't wrong there about one thing, pointy. I am the best."
"Who hired you?"
A beat.
Lobo gave a slow whistle. "You're really annoying me now pointy, Straight to business, huh? You never asked me 'Do you need a beer'?'"
Batman's voice didn't shift.
"I know you don't care about the job. You care about the money. But this isn't just another paycheck. You came in straight for him. No explosions. That means even you were spooked by the contract."
Lobo's grin faltered, just a fraction.
Then it returned, sharp and deflective.
"Tch. You really are the detective. Gotta admit I am impressed, but no the one who hired me didn't mention certain things... like the monstrous shadow titan thingy."
Batman narrowed his gaze. "Tell me who it is. Or the next time Arthur meets you, I won't be there to stop him."
Lobo's amusement dropped like a stone.
"…Is that a threat, Bats?"
"It's a fact." Batman's voice dropped into something even colder than usual. "He doesn't pull punches. He doesn't stop at containment. If he'd meant to kill you, there wouldn't be a smear of you left in this solar system. You regrew from a few atoms...how many times do you think you can do that? When the person you are facing can even capture your soul?"
Silence.
Lobo slowly approached the glass.
"Listen real close, Dark Knight," he said, pointing a thick, gloved finger toward Batman's chest. "The Main Man don't snitch. Not for threats. Not for deals. And definitely not for capes."
He tapped the glass once.
"This cage? Won't hold me forever. And when I get out and I will, whoever gave the order's gonna hear that I was very polite with my target."
Batman didn't move. "No. You'll stay here. Because this isn't protection for Earth. It's protection for you dumbass."
Lobo blinked, surprised.
Batman's voice dropped lower. "You're not the apex predator this time, Lobo. You're the bait. A lamb, the sooner you give me the information I need the better."
A slow, cold silence.
Then
Lobo laughed. It started small, then rolled into a bellowing cackle that echoed off the cave's walls.
"Damn, Bats. You're colder than I thought."
He leaned closer, baring his teeth like a wolf.
"But I'll get out of here soon. Be sure of that."
Batman didn't flinch. He simply turned, cloak swirling behind him as he vanished into the cave's dark corridors.
Lobo watched him go, smirk twisting with something thoughtful now less bravado, more calculation.
"…Ain't gonna be boring, that's for sure."
****
Themyscira - Queen's Garden Terrace
The golden light of dusk bathed the marble courtyards of Themyscira in amber glow, casting long shadows from the statues of gods and Amazonian warriors of legends.
Diana, Princess of Themyscira, stood at the edge of a wide terrace, her arms crossed, her brows furrowed in a storm of thought. The crashing of waves far below could not drown the turbulence inside her.
Queen Hippolyta approached from behind,
"You are troubled, my daughter," Hippolyta said softly, "I felt it the moment you returned."
Diana turned slowly, still grappling with the words.
"I was tasked to bring someone to Olympus," she began. "By my father."
Hippolyta's face barely twitched, but something in her jaw tightened. "And what did he want?"
"To imprison that someone," Diana said bitterly. "A man. A mortal, yes but not an ordinary one. He was innocent, and yet… he was treated like a weapon waiting to be used, or feared."
Hippolyta stepped closer, her hands clasped before her.
"Zeus has always acted to prevent chaos," she said calmly. "When visions come when omens appear, he must act. Such is his burden."
Diana's eyes flared with emotion.
"And what of justice, mother? What of mercy? He tried to shackle a man based on a prophecy. A nightmare!"
"Prophecies are not mere dreams," Hippolyta replied. "You of all people know the power of fate. The gods walk a narrow path between catastrophe and control."
Diana's tone darkened.
"Control?" she echoed. "Is that what Olympus has become? A throne of tyrants reacting to fear? I stood there, mother. I saw it in their eyes. They were condemning something that didn't happen."
Hippolyta was quiet for a long moment. The rustling leaves filled the silence between them.
"You are speaking of Arthur Blackwynd, you did mention him before, another warrior that you were impressed with, just like the Kryptonian." the queen finally said. "He is the one with the shadow powers, I understand their fears."
Diana nodded. "Yes, he defended himself only after Hercules struck first. And still… even then, he held back. He could have done more. He didn't."
Hippolyta's eyes drifted to the distant horizon. "The gods are not kind, Diana. They never were. They rule by fear and order. That is how Olympus has endured for millennia."
"And maybe that is the problem," Diana whispered. "Maybe enduring isn't the same as living justly."
The words hung in the air like thunderclouds.
"I know my father is powerful," she continued, "but I also know that power wielded without accountability becomes rot. Something is coming, mother. I can feel it."
"You speak with passion," Hippolyta said, turning back to her daughter. "But be careful. You are a bridge between two worlds. Speak out too loudly, and you may find yourself exiled from both."
Diana stepped forward, her voice steady.
"Then I'll stand alone if I must. But I will not be complicit in injustice. Not even from Olympus."
The Queen of the Amazons regarded her daughter, warrior, champion, and now a woman burdened with truths no one wanted to hear.
There was pride in her gaze. And worry.
"You are your mother's daughter," Hippolyta said at last.
Then softer, almost reluctantly
"And your father's."
****
Somewhere deep in an unkown desert...
The sun hung in the sky, beating mercilessly on the cracked earth below. No life stirred for miles just waves of heat and an oppressive silence that seemed eternal. But beneath that dead, scorched crust… something moved.
The wind shifted. The sand trembled.
Then an eruption.
A colossal burst of sand and stone tore upward in a geyser of fury, sending dunes cascading outward in shockwaves. The very earth groaned.
From within the crater, surrounded by rising black smoke and licking red flames, a figure emerged slowly. Not crawling. Ascending.
A man… if he could still be called that.
His body was charred and smoldering, black as coal and cracked like volcanic glass. Molten gold pulsed beneath the surface of his skin, glowing through the cracks like veins of pure divine rage. black hair tangled with flame drifted behind him. His eyes solid, glowing red radiated something far older than madness. Older than pain. Hatred given form.
He rose from the pit.
His feet touched the edge of the crater. The wind howled.
He looked up to the sky. At the sun.
And he whispered.
"I have waited for this... for thousands of years."
He stepped forward onto solid ground, smoke coiling off his shoulders like a cloak. The desert itself backed away, heat fleeing the greater fire now walking its surface.
"They treated me… as a thing. Do you understand?"
His voice grew louder speaking to himself, each word filled with anger.
"Not as a child. Not as a son. But a curse. A prophecy."
"Left to die. Alone. Buried deep in a pit of sand and silence."
"My birth... condemned. By the very ones who created me."
He raised his head, eyes fixed on a sky far above the clouds.
"Mother... Father!"
His fists clenched, the molten gold surging under his skin with a violent pulse.
"You cast me out at birth. You feared what I might become!"
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"And now… I am what you feared."
The winds screamed louder now, spiraling around him. The clouds above darkened, even though no storm had been summoned.
"It took me millennia. Alone. Forgotten. In agony."
He stepped into the sun's full light. His body blazed a silhouette of heat and vengeance.
"But I did not die."
He extended his arms, energy surging, black and crimson, pulsing out a surge that shook the desert around him. The sky quaked.
"I was remade in flame and fury."
A twisted smirk carved itself across his charred lips.
"And now… I rise."
He launched upward with an explosion of dark energy, rocketing toward the heavens in a trail of black fire.
"I'm coming for you, Olympus. I'm coming for all of you!"
he vanished into the sky, the crater left behind smoldered in the earth. The forgotten Firstborn had returned.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want