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The meeting room of Titans Tower felt more crowded than it had ever been. Screens along the walls flickered with grainy footage, fragments of battles fought in the void of space, green, blue and black light colliding like storms of colors. Outside, the bay was calm, but inside, it was not.
Batman stood at the head of the long table, cape draped around his frame like a shadow. His cowl reflected the pale blue glow of the monitors as his gloved hands rested against the table's edge.
"You've all seen pieces of it now," he began, voice low, controlled, but with that unmistakable gravity that pulled every eye toward him. "What we're dealing with isn't just another invasion. These are the Black Lanterns, reanimated corpses wielding a power that turns death itself into a weapon."
Kara's arms were folded, her expression shifting to concern. Beast Boy leaned back in his chair, anxiously as Jaime clicked the beetle on his back once, nervously. Starfire floated just above her seat, hands clasped together, her glow subdued.
Batman continued, his tone cutting through the room like a scalpel. "The attack on Oa confirmed what some of us already suspected. These rings don't just raise the dead they twist them. They brought Doomsday back, and that alone should tell you the scale we're talking about."
Shazam's eye flickered. "Wait, that Doomsday? You mean.."
"Yes," Batman cut him off without turning. "The one that Kara and Arthur killed." His glance flicked toward Clark for a heartbeat before returning to the briefing.
Hal Jordan crossed his arms, the faint green glow from his ring dimming as he nodded grimly. "They hit us hard. Fast. We barely mounted a defense before they pulled back. No warning, no reason we could pin down. They just… disappeared. Like smoke."
Superman straightened from where he had been standing, arms loosely folded, his cape draping over his boots. "True," he said, his deep voice calm but laced with memory. "I pursued them at first, thought I could track them, but they vanished right in front of me. One second they were there, the next...gone." His gaze turned, softening as it fell upon Raven, who stood a step apart from the rest, silent, cloak drawn around her. Beside her stood Doom, motionless, violet eyes faintly aglow.
"I headed to the Watchtower with Kara after that," Clark added, a small, proud tilt to his mouth as he looked toward the half-demon sorceress. "By the time we arrived, the situation was already… handled."
Raven didn't answer, her eyes hidden beneath the hood's shadow, but Doom's massive silhouette shifted slightly as if acknowledging the praise from the man of steel.
Robin's fingers drummed against the table, impatient. "Handled, sure, but for how long? We don't even know what their next move is, if there is any."
Martian Manhunter's voice rumbled softly from the far side of the table. "The Watchtower is damaged, heavily but its repair is secondary. We now know our enemy. And more importantly, we now know how they fight, and how we should fight them." His gaze swept the room, lingering briefly on Arthur's absence, then back to Batman. "Information is our strongest weapon. The rest can wait."
Hal exhaled slowly, frustration in the lines of his face. "Easier said than done, J'onn. They're not just hiding, they're slipping through our fingers like they know our every step, the Guardians themselves seem to know very little or they are hiding things from us even in this damned situation."
Batman finally straightened, the weight of the discussion settling on his shoulders as only he could carry it. "Then we adapt. They've already shown they're willing to target our strongest points, Oa, the Watchtower. That won't be the end of it, maybe Earth is next and it might be a big one." His eyes swept from Superman to Kara, then to the younger heroes. "We can't treat this like an invasion. This is a war of resurrection. Everybody they claim strengthens them. Every life lost becomes another weapon against us."
Starfire's hands tightened. "Then we must not let them claim another life."
"Exactly," Batman said, voice like cold iron. "Which means we start thinking ahead of them. Find the pattern. Find where they'll strike next, before they turn this planet into their graveyard."
Then the lights dimmed.
It was subtle at first, shadows stretching unnaturally across the floor, pooling like oil. Conversations faltered. Even Batman's head turned slightly.
And then the ground rippled.
A presence crept across the ground like a living thing, stretching unnaturally, coiling toward them. From the deepest fold of darkness, a figure began to take shape, first the outline, then the glint of violet eyes that pierced through their souls. His voice followed, low and calm.
"I'm afraid," he said, his tone a quiet promise, "it's not that simple."
Heads snapped toward him. Superman's smiled, his cape brushing against the ground as he subtly stepped forward. Wonder Woman's hand instinctively hovered near her lasso. The Titans stiffened, Robin tensed, Beast Boy's ears perked, Flash's eyes narrowed.
Kara smirked despite herself. "Show off," she muttered under her breath, a faint blush touching her cheeks.
From the shifting dark, Arthur emerged in full, the shadows peeling away from his frame like they had always been part of him. His coat brushed his knees, faint traces of violet energy humming around him."Sorry for being late," Arthur said casually, his voice steady. "I've been tracking someone… someone who I believe might be the key to all of this."
"Tracking?" Batman's tone was ice. "You mean you already found something."
Arthur ignored the challenge in his words and addressed them all, his gaze sweeping over the League, the Titans, then lingering for a brief heartbeat on Raven before moving on. "You're looking at this the wrong way. You shouldn't treat these things as an army… as 'them.' If you do, you'll fight an endless battle. It'll wear you down, bleed you dry. And that," his voice dipped lower, colder, "will be the end of you. Death is inevitable when you fight shadows as if they have souls."
He lifted his hand, his black-violet ring flaring to life. Energy spilled outward and wove itself into a projection, a construct of light and shadow, swirling like a mirage until it resolved into a scene.
A single figure stood in the center of a battlefield, tendrils of dark energy stretching from his body into the hearts of countless soldiers. They moved like puppets on strings, their eyes hollow. And then, a blade fell, severing the figure's head from his shoulders.
Instantly, the army collapsed into dust.
The construct shattered, and Arthur lowered his hand, his gaze sweeping across the silent gathering.
"I think you understand now," he continued, his voice even but not unkind. "These Black Lanterns are not like the others. They are constructs, shells. The rings wear them, not the other way around. And the one pulling the strings is Nekron, the embodiment of death itself. A concept made flesh… or close enough."
At that name, some shifted uneasily. Robin's fingers twitched near his stick. Wonder Woman's lips pressed into a thin line.
Arthur's tone darkened further. "He wishes to eradicate life itself. He's nothing like someone I know… but he's formidable all the same. We can't face him directly he doesn't belong to this plane, and this plane would reject him if he came in full. That's why I've been tracking someone."
His eyes glowing faintly violet now found each of them in turn, lingering on Raven a fraction longer than the rest.
"His Herald," Arthur said finally. "The link between the living plane and the dead. Cut that link, and the rest will crumble before it grows into something worse."
The words settled over the group like falling ash. No one moved. No one spoke.
Kara's smirk faltered for a heartbeat, her eyes tracing the sharp lines of his face, the quiet confidence in his stance. Heat crept up her cheeks, faint but undeniable. 'He's too cool...' she thought, biting back the instinct to say it aloud.
Raven said nothing, her expression was calm but, her silence came from the fact that she had known about this already.
Hal Jordan brash even in the wake of revelation let out a humorless chuckle. "Well, look at that," he muttered. "The Guardians tried to lock up the only guy who actually had a clue what was going on."
Superman finally spoke, his voice steady but laced with a frown. "You said you've been tracking this herald. How?"
Arthur's lips twitched almost, but not quite, a smirk as his hand rose to scratch the back of his neck. "It's… complicated," he admitted. "Their energy is close to mine. Similar enough that I can sense it, but not exact. It's like trying to follow a shadow in a storm. I can't find him easily. Not yet."
Batman's gaze sharpened at that but he said nothing in return.
Arthur continued, the weight of his words falling on everyone. "But there is another way. If I can't find the Herald myself… there are methods to shut them down. Messier methods, but they would work...at a cost."
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If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
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You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want