Vandal Savage laughed. "Such arrogant words. You remind me of myself in the past, Joseph Bell. Such fascinating powers for a spawn of Luthor. I assume this is the work of your meta-gene. Is that how you survived a rocket explosion unscathed—where your mother died? Because the nanites your father unknowingly injected into you didn't have such defensive capabilities back then."
Savage was clearly trying to provoke him into killing him by bringing up his past. His wish would be granted—but his hidden schemes would not succeed.
Joseph recalled that day—the explosion that killed his mother. The doctors had called his survival miraculous. He'd been discharged from the hospital within two weeks. Maybe fate had been on his side then.
Maybe the universe had been preparing him for this day—to rid the world of a villain.
He approached Savage, who was still forced to his hands and knees under ten times Earth's gravity.
"No answer, I see," Savage said. "Then tell me—how did you find me? I had dozens of countermeasures to evade both technology and magic, and yet you bypassed them. I never expected you to be the one hunting me. In the unlikely event I was caught, I thought Batman would be the one to do it—not a young hero like you. Or perhaps 'hero' isn't the right word, considering the murders you've committed before my eyes. Did you kill Lobo as well?"
It was intriguing that Savage knew exactly who he was. That meant he'd either already deduced the League's identities or there was another mole—since Red Arrow's memories showed no record of hacking the Justice League's database.
Joseph wondered why Savage hadn't used that knowledge when the Light was exposed. But then it made sense.
Savage understood that a hero's civilian identity was irrelevant. The true power lay in their will and their abilities. Killing their alter egos wouldn't erase the threat—it would only radicalize them. Savage didn't care who they were when they slept; he cared what they did when they woke up.
The Justice League was restrained by the U.N.—proof enough that they hadn't stormed Bialya to dethrone Queen Bee when the Light was exposed.
But if Savage ever threatened people like Alfred, Lois Lane, or Steve Trevor, the heroes would abandon restraint and unleash their full fury on him. Savage was too intelligent to trigger that kind of focused destruction.
"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt," Joseph quoted, taking a sip from the bottle of fine wine on the table as Nova worked on extracting Savage's Fatherbox's soul through his nanites.
Even pure alcohol couldn't affect him anymore, but he could still appreciate the taste.
"Ah. A quote from my time as Sun Tzu," Savage mused. "Good taste."
Joseph raised an eyebrow. Savage had been Sun Tzu?
Whatever. He'd find out the rest of this ancient man's secrets soon enough.
"Let's proceed to the part where you kill me," Savage said calmly. "Or is there another reason you've kept me alive?"
"You heard me earlier. I want your apology. Then I'll kill you."
Even under crushing gravity, Savage laughed. "No. I will never apologize. I'd do it all again if I could."
Despite the pressure, he tucked one knee beneath him, then the other, struggling upright. "Fifty thousand years of life, and nothing disturbed me as much as the Justice League's formation. You and your peers preserve society's calcified status quo—protecting mankind from disaster, crime, and tragedy. Have you never heard of survival of the fittest?"
He straightened further, veins bulging. "You keep mankind from evolving. I seek to guide humanity to its next stage—until Earth stands as the dominant power in the galaxy. And I will succeed. For I am Vandal Savage—immortal master of millennia."
Joseph said nothing as Savage drew a syringe of orange liquid. He let him. He'd already locked onto his energy signature—there was no escape.
Savage injected himself and, in a blur, lunged toward the wall at Mach 2.
But Joseph's telekinesis stopped him midair just before impact. He floated helplessly as Joseph pulled him back and intensified the gravity to twenty-one Gs. Savage could barely breathe as he was pressed against the floor.
"Any last words?" Joseph asked. But Savage couldn't respond. His focus was on surviving the crushing pressure.
"Whatever." Joseph pulled him into the Dream State.
They materialized in orbit above Thanagar, floating in silent space.
"Where are we?" Savage asked, immediately calm and composed once more.
"My realm," Joseph replied. "I call it the Dream State. Here, I'll absorb your psychic energy, read your memories, and end you permanently."
Savage's expression flickered through a series of emotions before settling on resignation. "I see. I won't beg for mercy—it would change nothing." He turned toward Thanagar. "I don't like this scenery. Change it to Earth's."
Even nearing death, he was arrogant. Joseph obliged. The stars shifted, revealing the blue-green sphere of Earth below.
Savage stood quietly for a moment, deep in thought.
"What was that drug you used?" Joseph asked.
"Velocity 9," Savage replied. "A compound I developed while studying the Speed Force and other cosmic energies with Lionel Luthor and the man now called Turtle—two of the brightest minds I've met. It grants superspeed, but the side effects are severe—premature aging, exhaustion, red eyes, tremors, eventual death. I am immune, of course."
Lionel Luthor his grandfather? Joseph gave him a look to continue speaking.
"You'll see the details when you read my memories anyway," Savage said. "But in the sixties, Lionel Luthor was considered an unparalleled genius. Together, we studied a range of subjects, from extraterrestrials to the Green Lantern Corps and their control of the Emotional Spectrum. Turtle eventually left to pursue the Still Force, which he seems to have mastered.
"As for Lionel—he became obsessed with Martians. Using Saul Erdel's technology, he's the one who brought the Martian Manhunter to Earth. I couldn't convince him to stop, nor risk war with the Martians, so I erased all knowledge of his work. I broke him, turned him into a drunken wreck the world thought had never left Kansas. That, in turn, created Lex Luthor—the man who might have ruled the world had fate been kinder. And Lex created you, the one who may yet succeed where we failed."
He smiled faintly. "That's been my purpose for millennia—to protect Earth through hardship. The strong adapt, the weak perish. You'll see this proven in different periods of my life—Vandar Adg, founder of Atlantis; Varl'jat, bane of Atlantis; Marduk, Sun Tzu, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Blackbeard. If you insist on killing me, then I hope you continue guiding humanity in my stead. You can be said to be the ultimate culmination of my work."
"That's where you and I differ," Joseph said. "You believe in endless struggle, where only the ruthless survive. But humanity's greatest strength isn't violence—it's cooperation and intelligence. You've spent fifty thousand years making villains who serve only themselves instead of progress. You should've learned to control humanity's chaos, not feed it."
He looked down at the planet. "I'll grow strong enough to protect the weak without sacrificing them. Your conviction to protect Earth is admirable, Savage. Maybe in another universe, we'd be allies. But your methods are flawed. This is my world so I'll take it from here."
"I see," Savage murmured. They stood in silence for a while, watching Earth.
"Be wary of the Lords of Chaos," he finally said.
"I know. Klarion is sealed away, and I will create plans to deal with the coming Lord of Chaos."
"Good." Savage said, leading to another moment of quiet.
Joseph summoned Nova's avatar—the humanoid figure made of shifting voxels placing a hand on Savage's shoulder.
Savage turned to him solemnly. "I know this is hypocritical of me and I have no right to ask this after killing your mother, but… please, take care of my daughters."
As Nova began reading his memories and draining his psychic energy through the Speed Force, Savage's form grew fainter, his outline fading. But he didn't break eye contact until he received a response.
"Okay," Joseph said simply. He'd already planned to take care of Lady Shiva's daughter. What was a few more.
"Thank you." Savage turned back to the Earth one last time. "In the end, I was right in a way," he said quietly. "I wasn't the fittest—so I didn't survive."
And with that, Vandal Savage's form fully vanished.