**
Time seemed to freeze. A circle of super-heroines with glowing red eyes, once allies, now weapons aimed at them. Their breathing was synchronized, an unnerving sound in the arena's sudden silence.
"I'll take them all," Utopian declared, his voice abnormally calm despite the storm raging inside him. "You, hunt down the Hatter and Lady Shiva. Don't let them escape."
Green Arrow looked at him, incredulous. "Wait, what? Why you and not me? Harassment is kinda my scenario!"
Utopian dodged a hypnotically fast punch from Wonder Woman, grabbing her arm and using her momentum to throw her gently but firmly into a block of empty seats.
"Because," he replied, blocking a jet of flame from Fire and a ray of ice from Ice that neutralized each other in a cloud of steam, "you already have Canary."
Oliver's arrow nearly slipped from his fingers. His eyes landed on Dinah, Black Canary, who was advancing towards him, fists clenched, an ultrasonic cry beginning to rumble in her throat.
"Oh," he breathed, the reality hitting him full force. He had to face the woman he loved.
Meanwhile, Utopian was at the heart of the storm. He was a whirlwind of controlled movement. He dodged Zatanna's magical lassos, parried Katana's katana strikes, and contained Hawkgirl's brute strength while desperately trying not to hurt them. It was a perilous balancing act: neutralize them without causing harm.
"Shayera, please, wake up," he murmured, grabbing the wrist holding her mace, forcing her to lower the weapon.
On his side, Green Arrow was leaping across the bleachers, pursuing the Mad Hatter, who was stumbling towards an emergency exit.
"My hat! I need my hat!" the psychotic man whimpered.
An arrow whistled and pierced the top hat the Hatter was clutching tightly. The device crackled and exploded in a shower of circuits and sparks.
At the same moment, in the arena, the heroines stopped dead. The red glow vanished from their eyes, replaced by confusion and disorientation. Wonder Woman looked at her hands, horrified. Hawkgirl blinked, looking at Utopian, who still held her arm.
"M-Marcus?" she stammered. "What's...?"
But the respite was short-lived. As Green Arrow turned to face Lady Shiva, he saw only a slight movement of her dark dress as she disappeared through a hidden trapdoor in the floor, eluding him once more.
"She's gone!" he shouted, frustrated.
The chaos in the arena was now replaced by a heavy sense of confusion and shame among the freed heroines. The wealthy spectators had fled, leaving behind a silent battlefield.
Utopian gently released Shayera's arm, looking into her eyes.
"Welcome back," he said simply.
The battle was won, but the victory was bitter. They had saved the heroines, but the real culprits, Lady Shiva and the benefactors of The Light, were still at large. Their allies were traumatized, and the threat remained. The price of freedom had been a fight against their own friends.