Before anyone could react, Superman was taken away right from where he was standing. The ship trembled as its alarms blared when two massive holes tore through either side of the hall.
"Supergirl!" Wonder Woman snarled, sprinting toward the breach. She looked over the horizon and caught sight of two figures; blue and black streaks tearing through the sky toward the desert.
"Cyborg, take command for now. I'll back him up-" She said and was already halfway out when Sinestro's sharp voice sliced in. "Did you forget Plan B? And our main target?"
Diana stopped, visibly biting back her irritation. Cyborg spoke next, "Since Supergirl's occupied, this might be our perfect window after all."
Edged with impatience, she sighed through her nose, "Fine then… initiate Plan B." She turned to Cyborg. "As discussed, you, Nightwing, Killer Frost, and Bane, will hold this position."
Her eyes dropped to the two prisoners still on their knees, "guard the ship and the captives. Wait for Superman's orders. There is a chance that we will have to use 'that thing'."
Hawkman and Raven stepped forward, and Diana spoke with hardened tome. "Raven, your mental abilities will be essential in this fight."
Cyborg added, "Remember; his barrier isn't a simple physical or spatial wall. Any energy based, magic or even kinetic, attacks. Anything that touches it, will be rendered useless."
Sinestro spoke with a faint smirk, "then the plan is clear. Diana, Hawkman, and Black Adam will wear him down. I'll bathe him in fear and when he falters, Raven, you will strike his mind."
Raven folded her arms, saying, "No need to keep telling me, I'll just wait for my chance."
Killer Frost tilted her head and asked, "is he really worth all this effort?"
Hawkman scoffed, "Didn't you see what he is capable of? Tell me; when was the last time someone survived Diana's divine weapons, aside from Superman?
"Worse, he adapted to them mid-fight." Said Diana. She added, "that's why we will have to see this to the end, we can't allow him to become even a greater threat than he already is."
They all gave a serious nod and Raven then asked, "and where's Black Adam anyway?"
Before anyone could respond, his voice broke through the comms, "I'm already on site and I have eyes on the target."
Sinestro's yellow eyes flickered with curiosity, and he asked, "And what's he doing right now?"
There was a brief pause, then Adam's voice echoed with a calm seriousness. "Killing." Was the only word he spoke. No one said a thing after that.
Wonder Woman and Hawkman were the first to move, shooting through the hole and into the sky; Raven and Sinestro followed close behind.
A few minutes earlier:
The lanterns scattered across the region suddenly shifted their formation. One by one, their rings pulsed bright yellow as alerts flared through their network.
The Regime's ship had been compromised. And as per their secondary directive; Sinestro's contingency; they dove toward the city below, like a rain of bright yellow lights.
Each of them carried the same command etched into their minds, 'bring everything under the Lanterns' control.'
But before the lanterns could drown the city in more fear, the air suddenly shifted, as if it suddenly got dense. A pressure unlike anything mortal or divine crushed down on the world.
Every creature beneath that sky, human and Lanterns alike; felt it in their bones. A chilling stillness that turned their heads turned upward, and there he was.
Satoru floated high above, motionless against the bright blue sky, white hair brushing the light, blue eyes glinting with a serene cruelty.
His aura radiated outward in visible waves, distorting the air like heat mirages, every pulse was heavier than the one before, declaring his presence to all as the light itself bent around him.
The Yellow Lanterns froze midair. Warriors who fed on fear, who had conquered worlds through it. They now trembled beneath its true form.
For the first time in their existence, fear was no more a weapon they wielded, it took a form of a spiked collar around their throats, impeding their very ability to breathe.
Then, one of the corps' broke the mental pressure with a war cry. A massive, four-armed Yellow Lantern with stone-gray skin roared and shot forward, his ring flaring yellow constructs of jagged spears around him.
His power burned bright, just before it was snuffed out. Satoru blinked and the world around him folded. The Lantern didn't even see him move.
One second, he was charging. The next, Satoru was beside him, holding his upper left arm in an easy grip with a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Let's see how flexible you are." He said in an amused tone.
With a sharp twist and a crack later, the alien's scream split the sky. Before it could writhe further, Satoru's hand snatched the lower right arm and bent it backward; another wet snap echoing in the air.
Blood, dark grey and thick, sprayed through the sunlight as he ripped both arms free in a single, fluid motion. With a flick of his wrist, the torn limbs were hurled aside.
The Lantern's body convulsed, his howl gurgling into silence as his neck was snapped backwards, until his windpipe burst out from the front.
Satoru didn't look satisfied, not even close, he looked entertained. His head turned; another Lantern was already there, energy hammer raised, screaming through the fear.
Satoru's figure blurred; then the hammer shattered into dust as his knee slammed into the alien's chest, followed by its own twisted arm crashing into its skull.
The impact burst its head like a ripe fruit and a rain of yellow sparks and blue blood misted down toward the city below.
The other few aliens, who were trying to sneak up and jump him together, were caught mid-flight as blue energy shimmered around their body.
'Limitless Amplification; Blue.' He whispered the words and their bodies imploded, drawn inward into an invisible point until nothing remained but a brief pulse of azure light.
The others screamed and charged. Dozens of them, their rings blazing with power. Constructs of blades, serpents, cannons, all aimed at the man who hadn't even broken a sweat.
Satoru didn't bother to move. All the constructs hit the infinity. Their forms shimmering and distorted by the endlessly dividing space.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," his voice echoed through the air, "I can sense the fear from you guys. Is this the pathetic state lanterns have been reduced to?"
Seemingly taunted by his words, more corps swallowed their fears, and many began flying towards him. With a smirk, he vanished again without any sound or a trace.
One Lantern's torso twisted mid-flight, his body folding backward in impossible angles before bursting apart. Another screamed as his construct shattered, his spine torn out with a blur of blue.
A third tried to flee only to find the air suddenly thickening, slowing his movement to a crawl, he turned around only to see Satoru behind him, his palm outstretched right at his face.
A pulse of crimson bloomed in his palm. "Red," he muttered in an ominous tone and the Lantern's body was hurled across the sky, the repulsive force shattered his bones, along with the few others that were in the line of that attack.
Within seconds, the sky had become a storm of broken bodies and falling rings. The yellow light that once flooded the horizon dimmed to scattered embers. From below, it looked like the heavens were bleeding gold.
Satoru hovered amidst the carnage, his breathing steady and his expression tranquil. He raised his hand and watched a single yellow ring drift before him, spinning faintly, its yellow glow flickering like a dying heartbeat.
'Choosing a new master, huh,' He thought, a bit amused and let the ring hover above his palm, but then closed his fist.
The ring cracked, snapping in pieces from sheer pressure of his cursed energy as he thought, 'power of fear… I can already do that.' He was already bored by the idea of borrowing that useless power.
On the ground:
Dust rolled through the streets like smoke from a dying fire. Amidst the chaos of the lanterns that were trying to assert their dominance on the ground, a red blur darted in between.
One heartbeat, The Flash was beside a collapsing archway, the next he was gone, reappearing with a child clutched against his chest. Even before the rubble struck the ground, they were already outside the city's edge.
He set the boy down beside a small group of survivors. "Everyone, stay here, alright?" He vanished before the boy could even nod, scarlet lightning streaming through the desert streets.
Dozens of Sinestro's Corps dove from above, their rings conjuring multiple weapons and chains. Barry was already among them before the constructs even finished forming.
His form blurred and a single red streak phased through the yellow constructs. The Lantern's body folded around the impact and shot across three buildings.
Another swung behind him; Barry ducked, his leg sweeping out in a blur of after-images, snapping the alien's knees before he upper-cut him into the air.
He darted from one point to another. Before the lanterns could even blink, they were either on the ground, unconscious or thrown into the air.
"Flash," Batman's voice crackled through his comm. "Keep doing what you're doing. Evacuate as many people as you can. Plastic Man will join you soon, the others are also on their way."
"Batman, where are you guys?" Barry asked, still mid-motion, casually weaving past the falling concrete fragments.
"I'm headed back to base; I need to prepare for something. Where's Satoru? I can't reach him on his comms." Barry slowed just long enough to look up.
The answer fell out of the sky, literally. A rain of dark-brown blood and severed limbs splattered against the streets. 'Oh God…' He thought, as his head craned upward.
High above, Satoru was still there, calm and radiant, surrounded by a halo of dismembered Lanterns. Pieces of armor, bodies torn apart mid-flight, which then fell around him like confetti at the world's cruelest celebration.
"He's…" Barry swallowed. "Ah, kinda busy. Do you want me to call him?"
"No need," Batman replied flatly. "It won't take long anyways. Your job's still the same. I'm going to lend a hand to Supergirl."
Barry's eyes widened, "are you serious?"
"As I said, I need to prepare." There was a pause, faint static buzzing over the comms. "The others will arrive soon. And Flash, do be careful."
Before Barry could respond, a fearful scream shattered the air. He turned toward the sound. A lantern stood frozen in the street, his terrified eyes fixed on the sky.
Barry followed his gaze and felt his stomach drop as his jaws tightened. His eyes were on Satoru again, sunlight breaking behind his white hair like a crown.
He held what was left of another Lantern, ripped roughly in half; each piece dangling from his hands. He threw the halves on top of the nearby roof.
Around him, the remaining Lanterns hesitated mid-flight. They slowly backed off, as their glowing rings trembled in sync with their fear.
To them he was no longer a human. His impossibly blue eyes kept staring at them with that same terrifying calm and not a single drop of blood or gore stained his form.
'An angel of death.' They all muttered as they saw his shimmering white hair, contrasting the deep blue.
Barry turned away and whispered under his breath, "You're terrifying, man…" Then he vanished again. He darted through chaotic streets, plucking civilians from one danger after another.
As he was saving a woman, he hadn't noticed a lantern creeping up behind a child, with his ring raised, but then, a rubbery arm stretched out of nowhere, coiling around the alien's waist.
"Not today, banana glowstick!" Plastic Man's arm snapped back, slingshotting the Lantern straight into the clouds with enough force to vanish him from sight.
He stood there grinning; half his body twisted like a spring. Flash blinked, and spoke after a relaxed sigh, "You took your time."
"Traffic," Plastic Man quipped, extending his arm to scoop up two more civilians like groceries and deposited them near Flash. "You handle the zooming around; I'll handle the stretching. Teamwork, baby."
They didn't need any coordination; they just moved after a court nod. Flash zipped through the streets and Plastic Man intercepted any pestering Lanterns, and slapped them into walls or streets with cartoonish yet devastating force.
Black Adam stood atop a rooftop of a tall building, the desert wind tugging at his black cloak. Above him, the sky itself was bleeding.
Flashes of yellow, streaks of blue, and the intermittent rain of dismembered flesh. The so-called Yellow Lantern Corps, feared across galaxies, were now nothing but a mid-air slaughter, painting the horizon.
Adam's jaw tightened. They'd been right, this man wasn't just another threat, he was an unhinged anomaly that walked and breathed death and destruction for sport.
Satoru hovered midair, his eyes half-lidded, his expression bored yet disturbingly amused. Adam knew Satoru was aware of his presence.
That became more evident when he hovered above the rooftop and tossed the two halves of the alien that he'd just ripped apart.
The halves fell splat, just ahead of his feet, and Satoru, still smiling, descended toward the rooftop where Adam stood. His jaw tightened; Satoru was clearly mocking him.
Satoru tilted his head, saying, "pissing your pants, Mister Wizard?"
Black Adam's eyes narrowed, lightning crackling around his arms as he replied, "I will decorate my throne with your skull, human. That is a promise."
Satoru snickered, the sound almost melodic, "you'd be lucky to touch me, gremlin spawn."
He continued, "I wonder what's holding you back, right now. Fear? Or is it the fact that your pants are soaked? Don't worry; no one can tell the wet from the black. Though I'd be careful with the brown."
The faintest twitch in Adam's lip turned into a smirk, but not because he was amused. A rush of wind cut through the tension.
Something fast and silent blurred at Satoru's left, until it stopped a breath away from his cheek. A golden-bronze mace hung frozen midair, the spiked edge gleaming just shy of contact.
Hawkman grunted, both hands gripping the weapon, his wings spread wide and glinting under the sun. His strike had landed true; but the weapon refused to move, caught against an invisible barrier.
'It's automatic?' Hawkman questioned himself, as he was hoping to catch him off guard.
The air warped and an invisible pull dragged him forward. His bones creaked under the invisible pressure as he finally saw Satoru's hand glowing with that soft, humming blue light.
Before he could unleash Blue's full force, though, a golden lasso whipped through the air and coiled around Hawkman's leg, yanking him away with a powerful tug.
Satoru blinked and looked down, half amused and half disappointed. "Now, now, that wasn't nice, was it? I was just about to cook that chicken."
Below him, the Amazon stood tall on the rooftop beside Black Adam. Her armor shimmered gold beneath the desert sun, her lasso still faintly glowing in her hand. Hawkman landed beside her, panting; his wings trembling from the near-death encounter.
Satoru smirked, lowering his gaze on the woman. "Ah… the BDSM lady returns." His tone dripped mock admiration.
"How are your insides, by the way? I didn't rock them too hard last time, did I? Ah… wait-" he paused mid-sentence, raising his hand as if to diffuse what he just said, "that came out wrong, but you know what I mean, right?" He looked aside, awkwardly scratching his head.
Wonder Woman's jaw flexed, her calm expression masking her anger, but the twitch at the corner of her eye betrayed her irritation, "You will die for that," she said, coldly drawing her sword.
Satoru shrugged with a sigh, muttering, "And they say the worst she can say, is no."
Black Adam, who'd been silently watching with his arms folded, finally unfurled them. The air snapped with magical pressure as he rose from the rooftop, giving Wonder Woman and Hawkman a single nod.
Arcs of blue-yellow lightning twisted around his frame, the very air warping from the surge of plasma and energy that rolled off his body.
His eyes glowed brighter than the clouds above as he slowly levitated to match Satoru's height. For a moment, the two hung opposite each other.
The sky between them vibrating from sheer tension. Then Adam vanished in a flash of lightning. A flicker of surprise crossed Satoru's eyes.
'He's Faster than before,' he thought, smirking faintly.
A shockwave detonated in the sky. Adam's movement sent a ripple through the clouds, with a boom so violent it cracked windows across half the city below.
Blue sparks of lightning and yellow plasma intertwined like twin storms colliding. Satoru twisted his body mid-air, deflecting Adam's first strike moving his hands, directing the momentum away from him.
The rest of the energy bursting outwards, was stopped by infinity, he gracefully leaned down and kicked high, which Adam managed to block with his forearm.
But he still went flying back and up, carving through the clouds like a meteor. But before Satoru could chase, a golden streak blurred past his vision.
He ducked just as a sword slash carved through the air where his neck had been. Wonder Woman followed through, her blade humming with divine magic.
She pivoted mid-air, swinging again, Satoru leaned aside, her blade grazing the edge of his Infinity, the divine energy dissipating under the control of his barrier.
"Simply pressing with that ain't gonna work this time, sweetie…" He grinned and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to himself, their faces centimeters apart.
Diana stared at him with wide disdainful eyes, his smile grew wider as he said, "If you really wanna test your luck, put more power behind it."
His free palm suddenly struck square on her abdomen; her eyes narrowed, the old injury from his black flash, which had never really healed, rippled a new pain through her body.
But he wasn't finished; a burst of Red exploded from his palm, repelling her into the sky with enough force to bend the clouds outward like a shock ring.
Hawkman swooped in from behind, swinging his mace in a wide arc. Satoru easily twisted, parrying with one leg.
The mace was flung backwards, disorienting Hawkman's momentum. And with a small push of Blue, he was sent flying into the top floor of a building nearby.
His wings tried their hardest to flail against the momentum, but he ended up crashing through the walls anyways. "Weak. Why are you even in this fight, anyways?" He said out loud.
Satoru heard a thundering crack. Adam flew towards him with a roar, his fist covered in lightning, striking against Satoru's Infinity again and again.
The pressure warped the light around them. Each hit sent thunder rolling across the city skyline. Satoru caught his arm mid-punch. "Really," he said, almost pitying, then grinned, "you're getting rage baited this easily?"
He yanked Adam around then grabbed him by the leg, spinning him like a ragdoll before flinging him straight into another building.
The impact tore through steel and concrete like paper. Before Adam could even recover, Satoru appeared behind him, grabbed the back of his head, and drove him through every floor on the way down.
Each hit detonating like a bomb, they crashed through the final level, pulverizing the foundation. The building collapsed around them.
Adam, now fully enraged, roared, punching upward with everything he had. The uppercut, laced with divine lightning, vaporized the entire block and a blinding sphere of heat rippled outwards turning the surrounding street into glass.
When the smoke cleared, Satoru hovered behind him, completely untouched. "Was that supposed to kill me?" he asked, almost disappointed.
He disappeared then grabbed the back of Adam's neck, warped them out of the crater, taking him high into the sky and brought him down, amplifying his speed, slamming him into the ground again.
The impact shook the entire city, forming a giant crack right at the center of the crater. Immediately after, Satoru flew out of the crater.
Wonder Woman and Hawkman dove down towards him together. She swung her lasso forward, wrapping it around Satoru's arm, trying to pull him off balance while Hawkman went for a downward strike.
Satoru smirked, spun around and yanked her instead, dragging her mid-air straight into Hawkman's path. They both collided, grunting as they were thrown off course due to the resulting momentum.
Black Adam crawled out of the crack, and the other two stumbled up, shaking their heads. Satoru chuckled, saying, "You know, when you three were ready to jump me, I thought I'd have some fun."
He paused for a moment and added, "But I have to say, it's been one disappointment after another. You guys really are weak." He motioned with his hand and a devilish grin on his face.
That one really rattled their nerves. Sensing each other's movements Satoru and Black Adam disappeared and collided again midair, Diana and Hawkman flanked from behind.
As they clashed further, Hawkman could barely keep up and could see himself falling behind. In his haze he mistook one of Satoru's sidestep, a casual dodge against Diana's sword, as an opening, and he lunged forward.
Satoru's head turned slightly, his expression flattening from amusement to cold irritation. In a single motion, he blasted Wonder Woman and Black Adam away with a burst of Red
Their bodies were thrown apart by a wave of red burst that cracked the very air. Hawkman froze mid-flight, realizing too late that he was the only one left in Satoru's sights.
Blue flared around Satoru's hands. "You're a bit too mismatched in this fight, aren't you?" He said, his grin stretching unnaturally wide.
Hawkman didn't even have time to struggle. Blue pulsed brighter, and both of his wings twisted violently. The sound of bone shattering tore through the air, a sickening, wet crunch that echoed across the streets below
Hawkman screamed, his mace falling from his hand, as Satoru grabbed the broken wings, twisted them around and shoved them inwards.
The jagged bones burst through Hawkman's armor and flesh alike, impaling his chest from the inside, ripping out from the front through his heart and lungs.
His body convulsed, blood spraying through the air like a crimson mist, and when Satoru let go, what fell onto the streets below was just a lifeless corpse.
He hovered there, his eyes glinting with a dangerous malice, "One down," he muttered. "Next?"
Wonder Woman's jaw clenched, rage flashing behind her battle calm. But more than that, she was calm in order to use an advantage that she'd been searching for, until now.
And she'd already realized something crucial. Just like before, her divine magic, unlike Adam's raw lightning, could press against his barrier, not outright breaking it, but it faltered nonetheless.
She exhaled slowly, tightening her grip on her shield. Her lasso glowed brighter, divine light rippling through the golden strands.
She waited; her eyes were locked on to his timing and her mind visualizing the way he manipulated his barrier.
Satoru turned, still basking in his own carnage, that was her cue. She hurled her shield, the divine weapon bursting with amplified magic, while the lasso circled around him mid-motion, binding his left arm.
The divine pressure warped the around the Infinity, just enough to rattle his control. Satoru's grin faltered. "Oh?" He raised his eyebrows, surprised.
Diana didn't reply. She poured her magic through the rope, her entire body glowing with divine radiance, pressing against the cursed barrier. "Now, Adam!" she roared.
Black Adam appeared behind Satoru, arms locking him in an iron grip. "Let's see how you like this, mortal," he growled, and screamed the word-
"SHAZAM!"
The sky exploded and a pillar of divine lightning crashed down, swallowing them both. The blast ripped through the air, a storm of blinding plasma and raw magic flattening everything within seven to eight hundred meters.
The ground shattered, buildings folded in on themselves, and the heat warped glass and metal into liquid.
For several long minutes, there was only the hiss of vapor and the roar of the dying storm. Then it was complete silence.
At the center of the crater; eight hundred meters wide and still smoking , Black Adam knelt on all fours, his breathing ragged.
Using the divine lightning this way, always drained him dry. His body trembled from the recoil. But the effort to direct all that energy to someone else?
'Always worth it,' he thought as he forced a grin through his exhaustion. But when he looked up, his eyes widened in shock as he froze still; of course, Satoru was still standing.
Half of his face was charred, a part of his skull, visible from the outside. His left arm was burnt to a blackened bone, yet the smile remained on the remaining half of his face, albeit disheveled.
Then, before Adam's eyes, the burnt flesh began to steam, muscle and skin regrowing like time itself was reversing. Nerves threaded back into place, veins pulsed, and within seconds, he was whole again.
'He can heal, even from that? Is he really just a human?' He thought, doubting their analysis of him, right from the start.
"All that theatrics," Satoru said, voice hoarse but laced with amusement, "just for a scratch? If that's all you can do-" He stopped mid-sentence, as his eyes narrowed.
Something tugged at his consciousness, subtle presence but extremely dense. A familiar presence that resonated with the energy of those yellow lanterns, but way heavier.
'Sinestro,' he thought, a bit intrigued at what the lantern leader was aiming for. 'Trying to mess with my head, huh?' he thought, but then felt a movement.
A faint flutter of shadows rippled behind him. Before Satoru could turn, a dark figure slipped out of a tear in the air.
A hooded silhouette with glowing violet eyes and hands wreathed in violet chaotic energy. 'Raven.' He recognized the girl from Insurgency's list.
Raven thrust her hands forward, and Satoru's vision went black. "Got you," she whispered with a smirk, her voice cutting through his mind, that was now invaded.
... To be continued!