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GOTHAM -
The early Gotham morning was a strange thing, still, gray, and smelling faintly of rain. The streets were quieter than they had any right to be, the skyline only half-awake.
Arthur kept an easy pace, his breath misting faintly in the chill as he jogged along the cracked sidewalk. Beside him, Raven moved in perfect rhythm, both of their hoods drawn low, though every so often he'd catch her side-eyeing him like she was measuring his endurance against hers.
"You didn't have to come with me, you know," Arthur said, glancing over with a smirk. "I'm aware this might be… a bit much for your legs. After all, all you usually do is float around."
Her head snapped toward him, voice flat but edged. "What did you just say?!"
"I'm just saying..." he gestured casually as they rounded a corner, "...you're not exactly logging miles on these streets. Not with the whole 'mystical shadow-glide through the air' thing."
She slowed just enough to give him a glare under her hood, gesturing towards her legs with her finger "You think I got these legs by doing nothing?"
Arthur pretended to think about it, humming lightly as though weighing an answer. Then his grin deepened. "Trigon's genes."
Raven stopped dead in the street. Arthur kept jogging, only glancing back when the air behind him suddenly hissed with magic. A burst of dark energy shot toward him, spiraling like an angry whip.
He laughed, sidestepping effortlessly dodging her attack without breaking stride. "Woah..careful, temper lady. Someone might see us."
Raven crossed her arms, watching him from where she stood. "Then maybe they'll see you limping home when I'm done."
Arthur was still chuckling when his pace slowed not because of her, but because a faint chime sounded in his ear. He tapped the side of his comm-link, the smile fading just enough to be noticeable.
"Owl, good to hear that you can finally speak," he said, breathing steady, "now say what you have to say."
"My king," Owl's voice came through, low and precise, "I have something to report."
Arthur raised a brow, jogging to a slower pace. "A bit too fast if it's about my earlier request."
"It is about that, my king," Owl replied without hesitation. "I have detected a number of energies of the same nature… death."
Arthur's steps slowed to a halt, his easy amusement draining into a sharper focus. "That's… quite the claim. Where exactly? Somewhere in a distant galaxy?"
"No," Owl said. "Here. On Earth."
Arthur blinked once, processing. "…What?"
"I'll send you the last known locations of what I detected to your phone, my king," Owl continued, tone even and calm.
Arthur took a slow breath, voice firm. "Please do. And good work. Keep me updated."
He ended the call. By then, Raven had walked up beside him, her earlier annoyance dulled by curiosity.
"Anything worth knowing about?" she asked, tone casual but eyes searching beneath the hood.
Arthur's gaze lingered on the skyline for a moment before shifting back to her. "Just something I have to check." He tilted his head, a ghost of a smirk returning. "Wanna come with?"
Raven studied him for a beat, like she was weighing whether his invitation meant company or trouble. "If you're going to get into something dangerous," she said finally, "I'd rather be there to say I told you so."
Arthur chuckled, already setting off toward the next street. "That's the spirit."
****
JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER -
The Watchtower shook with every impact.
Doomsday's roar reverberated through the metal walls, each guttural bellow carrying something… wrong. It wasn't just rage it was a sound that seemed to crawl under the skin, cold and hungry. The air of melted metal, the aftermath of failed energy blasts.
Wonder Woman's shield slammed into his jaw with enough force to split a mountain, but the creature barely flinched. Instead, he seized the edge of the shield and hurled her through a reinforced bulkhead. The wall bent inward with a deafening groan before snapping back, leaving Diana gasping for air in a crater of twisted steel.
"Stay on him!" Martian Manhunter's voice rang out, even as he phased through a swinging fist the size of a car. He rematerialized behind Doomsday, hands blazing with power, and drove them into the monster's back. A psychic shockwave flared but the only reaction was a louder, deeper growl, as if the pain fueled him.
From the upper deck, Green arrow and Hawkgirl peppered him with energy arrows and Nth metal strikes, but it was like swatting a hurricane with toothpicks. Shazam's lightning roared to life, his muscles swelling with the strength of Hercules as he tackled Doomsday into the deck. The collision tore open the floor… and he simply stood back up, dust and sparks cascading off his frame.
J'onn grimaced, his mind touching the edges of Doomsday's consciousness. There was nothing there. Not hate, not thought. Just hunger. Hunger and something deeper a suffocating, cold void. He pulled back sharply, clutching the side of his head.
"This is not Doomsday…" J'onn muttered. "Something is… different. Wilder. There is a darkness in him I do not understand."
A crackle filled his comm, Batman's voice cutting in."What's the situation, J'onn? How bad is it?"
J'onn phased to avoid a crushing foot stomp before answering. "Bad. He's stronger than before. There's a dark presence clinging to him, but I can't.." He dodged another swipe, the claws raking sparks off the wall where he'd been standing. "...can't quite identify it."
"Is there a dark ring on him?" Batman's voice was sharp now, no wasted words.
J'onn frowned, confused. "Dark ring?" He kept fighting, sidestepping a blast of debris Doomsday flung his way. Then, narrowing his gaze, he focused his Martian vision on the creature's chest. For a moment, between armored bone and jagged spikes and pulsing rotten muscles, he saw it, something small, black as a singularity, embedded deep.
His eyes widened. "…Now that you mention it… there is something. In his chest. It resembles a ring, but not like any Lantern I've seen."
Batman's tone shifted from inquiry to grim confirmation. "That's all I needed to know. I'm on my way."
Doomsday roared again, louder this time, as if he somehow heard that. The sound was so intense that even the reinforced Watchtower plating felt it.
****
ARKHAM -
The sun was still somewhere above the horizon, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Arkham. The sky over this part of Gotham was a thick, churning gray, clouds sagging low enough to smother the ruined skyline. The air was a mix of moisture and rot, the streets empty save for the occasional flicker of movement behind broken windows, thugs and lowlifes taking shelter here.
Raven's boots crunched over debris as she followed Arthur down a cracked street, her hood drawn a little tighter than usual. Her voice came low, edged with quiet distaste.
"I don't like Gotham," she said. "And I especially don't like this part of it. What exactly are we looking for here?"
Arthur didn't slow his stride, eyes scanning the outlines of buildings like he was searching for something only he could sense.
"A person. Preferably."
Raven arched a brow, even though he wasn't looking at her.
"That's… cryptic."
He smirked faintly but didn't break pace. "Owl detected something dangerous here. Energy that feels… familiar. Something that he described as energy of death much like my own."
Raven gave a short, dry laugh, the sound echoing faintly against the walls.
"Well, that's certainly dangerous."
Arthur finally turned his head just enough to glance at her, one brow raised in suspicion.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
Her eyes glimmered mischievously under the shadow of her hood, lips curling into the smallest smirk.
"Oh, nothing."
He exhaled through his nose, long-suffering. "…Okay."
Reaching into his coat, Arthur slipped on the Shadow Ring, the metal cold against his skin. The moment it settled into place, a faint pulse of darkness bled from it, curling over his fingers like smoke.
He raised his hand slightly, and the air around them shifted.
A deep hum vibrated in the air as the ring unleashed its scanning wave. The darkness raced outward in a sudden pulse, sweeping across the streets, over rooftops, through every shattered doorway. In the span of a breath, the entire city was covered in its unseen net.
A sound from the ring rang out.
[Unfamiliar lifeform detected.]
Arthur's gaze sharpened, his eyes narrowing. "Found you…" he muttered under his breath. He was about to tell Raven when something, something else slammed into his senses like a hammer.
He froze mid-step, looking sharply skyward, his jaw tightening.
"What the hell…"
Raven's head snapped toward him, reading the change in his tone. "What is it?"
He didn't answer right away. His voice, when it came, was low, taut with focus.
"All at the same time...Oa… The Watchtower, so the thing here is..."
Raven frowned. "What are you saying..."
Her comm crackled to life in that moment. Arthur as well, both feeds lighting up at once. The timing was too perfect to be coincidence.
Something was happening. In multiple places at once.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want