| Khüiten Peak - September 24
Steel screamed as it buckled under pressure, the echo reverberating through the cavernous base. Wonder Woman's shield caught the brunt of a flaming skeleton's strike, its molten blade sparking as it crashed against Themysciran metal. She shoved back, slicing through the construct's skull with her sword. The creature burst apart in a spray of crimson flame, only for two more to lurch forward from the haze, jaws snapping in unison.
Diana moved with elegance honed over decades—shield high, blade precise, boots sliding on scorched stone as she turned aside strike after strike. But her thoughts drifted even in the chaos.
Where did it go wrong?
They had infiltrated flawlessly. Captain Atom's powers had allowed them to cut through solid rock molecule by molecule, leaving no trace. His energy-sense had guided them past every alarm, every tripwire, every hidden sensor. When they finally reached the heart of the base, only a handful of figures waited inside.
Through the wall, their enhanced hearing picked up the tail end of a conversation.
"Our leader is searching for an object. We are willing to lend you our personnel to further your goals, as long as you help us retrieve it," an older male voice said, refined yet weary.
"And how do I know your leader is competent?" came the commanding tone of who was probably Vandal Savage. "That he can stand among the Light as an equal?"
Then came the guttural sound of a gorilla's growl, primal yet… articulate.
"It seems we have guests. The perfect opportunity to demonstrate."
Their cover was blown. Diana had signaled the attack. Captain Atom blasted through the wall with a flash of yellow quantum fire, and the League burst into the chamber.
Savage stood tall at the center, a rock of calm authority. Beside him, a stocky old man in green armor with a mane of white hair. And behind them—three others. One, a gorilla of monstrous size, hide split to expose rippling cords of muscle. Another, once known as Trickster, now warped into a hulking brute with an arm of molten rock. The last, Heat Wave, his body no longer flesh but towering flame, blue fire radiating from him as red skeletons of fire twisted and clawed into form around him.
Now, back in the present, the battle raged.
Captain Marvel wrestled with the Trickster—no longer the prankster thief, but a mountain of muscle larger than Mammoth, his missing arm replaced by an appendage of smoldering stone. Trickster swung it like a wrecking ball, the sheer force of his blows cracking the cavern floor. Each strike radiated waves of seismic energy, rock spires erupting like jagged teeth to cage Billy in.
But Captain Marvel was resilient, weathering the tremors with divine endurance. He darted in between swings, lightning sparking off his fists as he hammered the giant back step by step. Trickster only grinned, his geokinetic arm reshaping itself into spiked clubs and jagged maces mid-swing.
On the far side, Captain Atom clashed with Heat Wave—though "Heat Wave" barely described what Mick Rory had become. The man was gone, replaced by a towering figure of blue fire, its form flickering and roaring like a living inferno.
The unknown Force had sharpened him, elevated him. With a gesture, crimson skeletons of flame clawed their way from the ground, their forms cackling as they joined the fray. His hands swept outward, hurling blue-white torrents of heat hotter than a sun's core, forcing Atom to redirect the energy to the quantum field to contain the blast.
Energy clashed against energy. Atom's golden radiation met Rory's azure fire, the shockwaves shaking loose stalactites from the cavern ceiling. Atom's voice strained as he kept the reaction contained. "If this flares out, the whole mountain goes with it!"
And then there was the gorilla.
It moved with unnerving intelligence, eyes glinting with something colder than animal fury. Its massive arms swung with bone-breaking force, its body bristling with unnatural strength. Its hulking frame eerily reminiscent of Kobra-Venom users with split skin all over its body exposing the corded muscle fibers underneath.
But worse than that was its aura. When it fixed its gaze on her and thrust out a hand, the world itself seemed to slow. Her legs felt heavy, as though the air had turned to stone. Even thought moved sluggishly, her heart thundering against invisible chains.
She broke free with a cry, diving aside as a fist enveloped with green energy tore through the space she had occupied.
She surged forward again, deflecting another attack and slamming her shield into Grodd's chest. The impact rattled the cavern, driving the beast back a step, but he soon got back up.
Despite their efforts, the League was locked in stalemate. Every strike they landed was countered by another surge of force or tide of fire. And looming behind it all, untouched, stood Savage and the armored old man. Watching.
"Enough," Diana growled under her breath. She met eyes with her comrades. They shared the same thought: if they couldn't break the pawns, they'd take the kings.
They moved as one. Wonder Woman blurred forward, shield raised. Captain Atom diverted his energy into propulsion, rocketing across the cavern. Marvel streaked toward Savage like a bolt of lightning.
They never reached them.
Mid-stride, the world shifted. Her limbs faltered, refusing to obey. Time itself seemed to grind down like rusted gears. In that same frozen heartbeat, the old man in green moved.
A green glow erupted around them. Chains of light lanced out, wrapping around her arms, her legs, her chest. She strained, but the harder she pushed, the weaker she felt. Energy bled from her body, leeching into the constructs.
The villains struck mercilessly. Trickster's stone-arm slammed Marvel through the cavern wall. A wave of blue flame smashed Atom to the ground. Grodd's fist hit Diana into a cluster of flaming skeletons that immediately swarmed her, their claws raking against her armor.
Then came the green light.
From the armored man's hands emerged constructs of emerald energy—thick, jagged shackles that coiled around each hero. Wonder Woman's limbs locked tight, every ounce of strength bleeding away as the constructs siphoned her energy, her vitality. She gasped, feeling the unnatural drain. Atom groaned, sparks of radiation snapping uselessly against the bonds. Marvel strained, lightning flashing, but even his power dimmed.
The armored man looked to his ally. "I trust this demonstration suffices. Should we finish them now?"
Savage's eyes narrowed slightly. "No. Not yet Turtle. Killing them would only provoke a larger response and remove their restraint. Better to let them taste defeat."
The old man inclined his head.
Savage turned to him. "I'll meet your leader. But I'll first have to look into how they found this base. It's a shame—I've lived here for millennia. Now I'll have to abandon it."
He drew a device from his pocket. Black metal, glowing with shifting red lines. A Fatherbox. With it, he summoned a yellow swirling vortex of light—a Boom Tube.
One by one, the villains entered through the portal. Trickster, Heat Wave, the gorilla. Then Savage himself. The man in green, Turtle, was last. He released the constructs, and the shackles dissolved. For a moment, Wonder Woman thought to lunge forward, to prevent their escape. But before she could rise, the man stepped into the Boom Tube and it sealed shut with a thunderclap.
Silence. Smoke. Rubble.
Failure.