Deep Space - Steppenwolf's Mother Ship
The vessel was massive, its hull plates welded in patterns that served no purpose except intimidation. Fires burned in its depths, visible through gaps in the armor and Steppenwolf stood before the main viewscreen, his arms crossed, the screen displayed a planet below, its surface cracked and barren, its atmosphere long since stripped away by forces that no longer exist. But it wasn't the planet that interested him.
It was the convoy, Shadow Lanterns moved across the surface in precise formation, their dark forms cutting across the grey waste. At the center of the convoy, protected by a phalanx of the most powerful of Shadow Lanterns, was a container.
It was small, but the energy it emitted...
Steppenwolf's eyes narrowed.
The container pulsed. Waves of yellow-black energy radiated from it in irregular intervals, each wave carrying something that had once been fear incarnate.
"There it is," Steppenwolf murmured. "Remains of Parallax, that definitely belongs to it."
His reflection stared back at him from the viewscreen, a face carved by centuries of conquest, scarred by battles that had shaped the destiny of worlds. "Something like that would be very useful in our hands."
He uncrossed his arms, stepped closer to the screen. The Shadow Lanterns continued their procession, unaware, or pretending to be unaware of the eyes upon them.
"The Shadow Monarch is from Earth," Steppenwolf continued, speaking to himself, to the void, to the absent presence of his master. "Primitive creatures, after all. He will not know how to use this. The power of fear... it requires a certain sophistication."
He paused. "Yet I am sure this is a trap."
The words hung in the air. Steppenwolf's jaw tightened.
"But we must obtain it." His fist clenched. "We have been attacking them constantly recently, with no reward. No prisoners, no prizes." He looked at the container, at the pulsing, irresistible promise of power. "This will be a nice thing to collect."
He turned from the screen, walking toward the command dais at the center of the bridge. His boots echoed against the metal floor. "It does not matter if it is a trap," he said to the empty bridge. "As long as we can snatch it."
The secondary viewscreen flickered to life.
Desaad's face appeared, his eyes burning with the particular fervor, he was seated in what appeared to be a laboratory, though the instruments around him defied conventional understanding. Things moved in the background, things that should not have moved at all.
"Yes," Desaad said, his voice a dry rasp, "it does seem like a trap, but that thing is real." His eyes fixed on the container visible behind Steppenwolf's shoulder. "Parallax's power of fear is powerful, we could use that as a weapon."
Steppenwolf's expression didn't change. "I am aware."
"You know what to do once you obtain it." Desaad's smile was thin, "Use it on Earth."
Steppenwolf was silent for a moment.
"Of course," he said. "Isn't anyone else coming?"
Desaad's smile widened, just slightly.
"One of the Elite is on the way to aid you in this."
Steppenwolf's eyes narrowed. "Which one?"
The screen went dark.
Static, then nothing.
Steppenwolf stood in silence, staring at the dead viewscreen, his jaw working beneath his helmet. His hands clad in gauntlets, curled into fists.
'Which one?'
The question burned in his chest. Not because he feared the answer, but because Desaad had denied him the answer. Had dismissed him, a general of Apokolips, with a flicker of static and a silence that spoke volumes.
He wanted to scream, he wanted to smash the viewscreen, to tear the console from the floor, to demand that Desaad answer him, that someone answer him,
But he couldn't.
He was Steppenwolf, conqueror of worlds, uncle to the prince of Apokolips. And he knew his place, he turned back to the main viewscreen.
The Shadow Lanterns had almost reached their destination, a structure of some kind primitive ship to him, the container pulsed brighter now, as if sensing the approach of conflict.
Steppenwolf pressed a control on his ship.
The bridge filled with the sound of wings.
Parademons poured from the shadows, they filled the chamber, their yellow eyes gleaming, their claws clicking against the metal floor. Hundreds of them, thousands. A tide of teeth and talons and hunger.
Behind them, through the ship's viewports, three smaller vessels detached from the mother ship's underbelly. They were sleek compared to the mother ship, sleek being a relative term, their hulls bristling with weapons, their engines burning with the orange fire of Apokolips.
Steppenwolf raised his hand.
The parademons fell silent.
"Obtain that box," he commanded, his voice carrying across the bridge. "Kill everyone."
He lowered his hand.
"Use extreme force, the consequences do not matter."
The parademons screamed a unified shriek of bloodlust and obedience and launched themselves toward the launch bays. The three ships' engines flared, ready for the hunt.
.
.
.
.
The Shadow Lanterns saw them coming.
The ships descended through the thin atmosphere like blades falling, their weapons already charging, their bays already opening to release the swarm of Parademons within. The orange glow of Apokoliptean technology stained the gray sky, turning it the color of embers.
"CONTACT!" someone shouted a Lantern, young, his ring blazing. "THEY'RE HERE!"
The formation shifted. The container still pulsing, still radiating waves of yellow energy was passed to the center of the group, protected by a ring of the most experienced Lanterns. Those on the perimeter raised their rings, ready to strike.
But before the first shot was fired, something erupted from the ground.
A presence with a laugh that echoed across the dead plain like thunder.
"THE IDIOTS ARE HERE!"
Larfleeze, Shadow Larfleeze, the once-Orange Lantern, now remade in darkness rose into the air, his shadow ring blazing with violet light. His form was hunched, almost feral, but his eyes burned with an intelligence that belied his appearance and his smile was wide.
"I TASTED YOUR FEAR FROM A MILE AWAY," he shrieked, pointing at the descending ships. "DELICIOUS! BUT NOW, NOW YOU TASTE MINE!"
His ring flared and the shadows answered.
Dozens of constructs exploded from Larfleeze's ring, Shadow Lanterns, each one a perfect replica of the original former orange lanterns, the one killed by Larfleeze himself, each one armed with claws and fangs and weapons made of solidified shadow. They swarmed the first ship, clawing at its hull, tearing at its weapon emplacements, forcing it off course. The second ship received similar treatment, constructs crawling across its surface like ants, stabbing, cutting, destroying.
The third ship managed to avoid the initial assault, banking hard to the left, its weapons firing wildly at the constructs pursuing it.
Larfleeze laughed, "RUN! RUN, LITTLE PARADEMONS! IT MAKES THE HUNT MORE FUN!"
Below, the living Shadow Lanterns watched in something approaching awe.
"He just summoned an enormous amount of Lanterns as constructs," one of them breathed an alien woman, her ring glowing as she maintained her own defensive formation. "That's... that's insane power."
"Focus," another Lantern snapped, his voice sharp with authority. "Protect the container, that's our mission."
Away from the battle, The Flash stood with his arms crossed, beside him, Hal Jordan floated a few inches above the ground, his ring casting a faint green glow across the dead soil. And in front of them both, crouched low, was Batman.
The Dark Knight's cowl swept across the battlefield, the ships, the constructs, the parademons, the Lanterns and catalogued everything.
"Hal," Batman said.
"Already on it."
Hal's ring flared, and a sphere of green energy enveloped Batman and the Flash, a protective bubble, transparent but strong enough to withstand sustained fire. The Flash looked at it, then at Hal, then at Batman.
"So," Barry said, "we're doing this."
"We're doing this." Batman's voice was flat, controlled. "Take us to that ship."
He pointed.
The third ship, the one that had avoided Shadow Larfleeze's initial assault was banking around for another pass, its weapons tracking toward the Shadow Lanterns below. But it was isolated. The other two ships were occupied, swarmed by constructs, their weapons firing blind.
"Hal, Take us to that ship, the one the Shadow Lanterns are keeping relatively intact." Batman's eyes narrowed behind the cowl. "Must be Arthur's orders, not to destroy all of them. Good."
"You want to infiltrate it or?" Hal said.
"I want to hack it." Batman stood, the green sphere moving with him. "Everything Steppenwolf doesn't want us to find."
Barry cracked his knuckles. "That's why we're here, anyway."
"On it then," Hal said.
The sphere lifted off the ground, carrying the three of them toward the ship.
The parademons saw them coming.
A swarm broke off from the main assault, yellow eyes gleaming, claws extended, screeching their rage at the interlopers. They flew through the construct-swarmed sky, dodging shadow-blasts and violet energy, focused entirely on the green sphere and its occupants.
But the Shadow Lanterns were faster.
A wall of darkness rose between the parademons and the sphere, a barrier woven from a dozen rings, each Lantern contributing to its construction. The parademons slammed into it, stuck, dissolved.
The sphere passed through the gap.
"We've got you," a Lantern called up to them, the one with the sharp voice. "Go!"
Hal pushed the sphere harder.
.
.
.
.
On Steppenwolf's Mother Ship, Steppenwolf watched the battle unfold on his viewscreen.
The constructs. The Lanterns. The green sphere carrying two figures toward the isolated ship.
'Three figures from the Justice League.'
His eyes narrowed.
A Green Lantern. The human one, Jordan, if he remembered correctly. The one with the ring that refused to know its limits.
And two others.
The sphere's passengers disembarked on the hull of the targeted ship one in red, one in black. The red one moved so fast that Steppenwolf's sensors could barely track him. The black one... the black one... Steppenwolf recognized that silhouette.
"Batman," he growled.
The Dark Knight. The one with no powers, no ring, no weapon beyond his mind and his will. The one who had plans within plans within plans.
"A trap," Steppenwolf said to himself. "Just as I expected. A Green Lantern... Of course they are together."
He watched the three heroes fight through the parademons on the ship's hull, Batman with his brutal attacks, the Flash with his impossible speed, the Lantern with his constructs.
"I wonder," Steppenwolf mused, "if Oa allies itself with these Shadow Lanterns. Not likely, considering what the Guardians are like." His eyes tracked the three men as they carved a path toward the ship's interior. "What are they planning?"
He leaned forward.
"Focus on the Green Lantern," he ordered, "They are planning something."
The viewscreen showed the Flash obliterating parademons within the ship's corridors, moving so fast that the creatures didn't even have time to counter attack. Batman followed in his wake, untouched, untouchable.
Steppenwolf's eyes swept the battlefield again.
'No sign of the Shadow Monarch yet.'
He searched the ridges, the shadows, the spaces between the constructs. Nothing.
'He still doesn't show himself.'
Steppenwolf's jaw tightened.
'Where are you?'
The Flash moved like a living hurricane.
Parademons exploded in his wake, thrown through walls, embedded in ceilings, wrapped in their own wings. "I'll clear the way, Bats," Barry called out, his voice a Doppler-shifted blur. "You just follow me. I mean... do your thing."
Batman ran through the corridor, his eyes scanned everything: the layout of the ship, the positioning of the parademons.
"Go," Batman said.
Barry went.
The remaining parademons in the corridor didn't even have time to register his movement. One moment they were there, claws raised, weapons aimed. The next moment they were embedded in the walls, their armor cracked, their limbs at impossible angles.
Batman walked past them without looking.
"Efficient as usual," he said.
Hal Jordan appeared beside him, flying down from a side passage, his ring still glowing.
"I'll make sure to help the Shadow Lanterns outside," Hal said. "I swear I just noticed Larfleeze outside..." He shook his head, his expression a mixture of awe and concern.
"Focus," Batman said.
"I'm focused." Hal rose into the air, his ring flaring. "Get what you need and get out, I'll keep the Shadow Lanterns alive... well the living ones.."
He shot back the way he came, green energy trailing behind him like a comet.
Batman continued forward.
The doors ahead were sealed, armored, guarded by a final contingent of parademons who had apparently decided that running wasn't an option. They charged.
Batman moved and three minutes later, he stood before the ship's main console, the parademons unconscious at his feet. His fingers found the interface, Apokoliptean technology, alien and hostile, but understandable to him.
"There you are," Batman murmured and then the screen flickered and data began to flow.
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