With a burst of blinding yellow light, the asteroid Captain Atom had crashed into disintegrated. He reappeared moments later, suspended in space, a scowl etched across his face.
That one must've hurt.
It wasn't much of a stretch to call Captain Atom the strongest member of the Justice League in terms of raw offensive power.
His entire form flared brighter, saturated with quantum energy, before he unleashed an energy beam as wide as a truck. It closed the distance far faster than his previous attacks.
Joseph decided to return the favor.
Golden light enveloped his body, swelling outward into a radiant sphere before a massive column of Nova Force erupted from its center, slamming head-on into Captain Atom's attack.
'Maybe I should start naming my attacks,' Joseph mused. 'I'll call this one "Nova Magic: Nova Shaft of Divine Punishment."'
//…//
Joseph felt Nova silently judging him.
'What's wrong with the name?' Joseph asked indignantly.
//It sounds… chuuni.//
'Oh yeah? Then come up with something better.'
//"Shaft of Divine Punishment" alone would suffice.//
Tch. Not everyone can appreciate genius.
The beams collided in a cataclysmic clash—far more intense than their last bout in the Mojave Desert. The light was so blinding that Joseph wouldn't have been surprised if NASA's telescopes flagged Saturn as an anomaly.
Despite himself, Joseph felt the balance slowly tipping against him.
While a Father Box was now integrated into his biology, granting him access to an infinite energy source, Captain Atom was also tethered to an endless reservoir: the Quantum Realm. And unlike Joseph, he'd had decades to learn how to wield it.
Under the strain, Joseph smirked.
The magic infused into his Nova Force didn't just allow him to bend energy—
Golden orbs began to materialize around the battlefield.
—it allowed him to separate and deploy Nova Force independently of his body.
'I'll call this one "Heaven-Splitting Flash." That any better, Nova?'
//Still chuuni.//
'Whatever. It sounds cool.'
At his command, the orbs fired—multiple beams of Nova Force converging on Captain Atom from every angle.
Joseph felt the balance shift.
Captain Atom was forced to divide his focus, his concentration fractured by the omnidirectional assault. Joseph's main beam began pushing forward, inch by inch.
Victory was seconds away.
Then the orbs vanished.
At the same time, Joseph felt the magic drain out of his Shaft of Divine Punishment.
The momentary lapse cost him everything.
Captain Atom's beam surged forward, overwhelming Joseph's Nova Force. In the instant before impact, Joseph reinforced himself with the Strength Force—
—and was swallowed whole by the quantum blast.
He smashed through dozens of asteroids before finally carving a massive crater into a colossal rock miles away.
Joseph lay there for a moment.
He wasn't hurt anywhere, except for his pride.
The Strength Force had kept his suit intact, while Shockwave's tech absorbed and redirected most of the kinetic impact. The remainder was converted directly into Nova Force.
'What was that?' Joseph asked. 'Did something fail with the Nth-band runes?'
//No. The mystic cryptograms are in pristine condition,// Nova replied. //This interference is consistent with—//
'Klarion.'
Joseph slipped into the sealed inner realm of the Chaos Nth Band.
The space was dark and empty—except for Klarion, sitting cross-legged on the floor, as if he'd been waiting.
"What was that?" Joseph demanded, looming over him. "Why did you cut off the magic?"
Klarion looked up, eyes sharp despite his relaxed posture.
"You've locked me in a pitch-black prison and turned me into a free magic converter," he said flatly. "I don't get to see anything. I don't get to do anything. And every time I make the tiniest joke, you blast me with Order magic and mute me."
He stood, brushing imaginary dust from his suit.
"I only tolerated this because Child would've tortured me for eternity if she caught me. But if this is my existence? The boredom in here is worse than anything she'd do."
Joseph considered his options.
He could flood the realm with Order magic, torture Klarion, remove the Chaos Nth Band, sink it to the bottom of an ocean, and find another entity, like a demon, to act as his magic converter. Constantine would no doubt be happy to help.
But the current setup was… convenient.
And Klarion, for all his chaos, was a known quantity. Through Vandal Savage's memories, Joseph knew thousands of years' worth of Klarion's habits, tricks, and limits.
Better the devil you know.
If Savage had managed to leash him, Joseph figured he could too.
So he tossed the dog a bone.
"Fine," Joseph said. "You can see through my senses, and I won't mute you anymore. I'll even build you a shell so you can manifest on the mortal plane—with safeguards of course."
His eyes hardened. "But don't pull something like that again."
He extended a hand.
Klarion blinked, genuinely surprised it had worked. Then he grinned and took it.
"You have my deepest tanks," Klarion said cheerfully, very deliberately mispronouncing the phrase.
Joseph sighed. Whatever.
He exited the Chaos Nth Band realm just as Captain Atom flew over, hovering above the deep crater Joseph had carved into the asteroid. There was enough residual gas in the area for sound to carry.
"You alright?" Captain Atom asked smugly—the same line he'd used after every spar he'd won, and the same one Joseph had thrown back at him after beating him last time.
Joseph rose from the crater, brushing dust from his suit.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up," he said dryly, though he couldn't stop the smile creeping onto his face. The fight had given him a much-needed break from endless work, bleeding off tension that hadn't left his shoulders in days. "You were lucky this time."
**
| Mount Justice — October 23
Black Canary finished counseling Match and Superboy and moved on to the next member of the Team.
"Look, me dying during the exercise might've kicked things off," Artemis said, arms crossed, "but I was coma-girl. Missed out on all the fun of forgetting it wasn't real. So—no trauma. No need for the shrink wrap."
"You're too tough to need help?" Black Canary asked evenly.
"Whatever. Maybe."
"Or maybe you're too tough to admit you need help," Dinah replied, leaning in slightly. "Artemis, opening up to your friends isn't a sign of weakness."
"I know that."
"But you still keep secrets from them."
"You won't tell them. You can't!" Artemis said, panic flashing across her face.
"I won't," Dinah assured her. "But you should. You could start by admitting you're not actually Green Arrow's niece. You wouldn't be the first on the Team with villainous parents."
"Pfft. Right," Artemis scoffed. "Can you imagine what Wally would do with that?"
"Interesting," Dinah said calmly. "So the person you're most worried about is Wally."
Artemis opened her mouth—then stopped, caught.
**
"I behaved like a soldier," Kaldur said quietly, hands clasped. "I sacrificed myself. It is fortunate that Starfire is our leader, because I am not fit for command."
He didn't know yet that this might change—if Kori accepted the League's offer.
"And then," he continued, "I was unable to assist the Team because the pillars of fire would have weakened me."
"Kaldur," Dinah said gently, "you're all very young. You shouldn't have to carry life-and-death decisions or blame yourselves for things beyond your control. You are already stronger than most people your age should ever have to be."
**
"So you want me to believe that after everything you went through—including dying in a fiery explosion and waking up to an apocalypse—you're doing just fine?"
"I'm, uh, fairly certain I never used the word fine," Wally said, sitting upside down as he tossed popcorn into his mouth. "But yeah, I get your point."
Since getting faster, his insecurities had softened. He craved attention less. Still, he was a kid—and still immature.
"So you have no interest in unpacking your extreme reaction to Artemis's death?" Dinah asked.
Wally choked and snapped upright.
"Okay—maybe I do," he admitted. "I feel like there was more I could've done. In the simulation and out of it. I'm faster now. No one on the Team should've died with me there."
Dinah noted how quickly he'd tried to deflect. Still—progress. He wasn't in denial anymore.
**
"Hurt?" Robin scoffed. "Try traumatized."
He leaned forward. "After Kori and Kaldur died, I finally took command—and then I sent all my friends to their deaths. I know I did what I had to do. I still hated every second of it."
He swallowed.
"When we started this Team, I wanted to be in charge. Not anymore. And that's not even the worst part."
He looked up sharply. "You can't tell Batman."
"Nothing leaves this room," Dinah promised.
"I always thought I'd grow up to be him," Robin continued. "The hero part? I'm still all-in. But that thing inside him—the part that lets him sacrifice everything for the mission? That's not me."
He hesitated.
"Maybe Gotham made him that way. The city was cursed after all. Joseph burned most of that dark magic away with a pillar of fire. But… I don't want to become Batman."
Dinah reached out and took his hand.
"I think," she said softly, "he hopes you never do."