In the 1920s, Cyrus Gold was an infamous gangster known for brutal robberies and the use of hostages to ensure his escapes. At the height of his reign, a $20,000 bounty was placed on his head—dead or alive.
After a successful bullion robbery, Gold was betrayed by his own associates and gunned down. They cursed his corpse with a powerful gris-gris—a Voodoo charm—and dumped it into a swamp imbued with its own mystical properties. Over time, the magics intertwined. Gold rose again as a soulless zombie.
From his former life, only fragments remained: an instinctive lust for wealth, which he continued to hoard despite having no use for it, and a faint memory that he had been "born on a Monday." From that half-remembered rhyme, the creature became known as Solomon Grundy.
Grundy frequently clashed with law enforcement and the Justice Society of America, until he was eventually sealed away by Dr. Fate and Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, decades ago.
That seal broke when a massive pulse of Chaos magic swept the world. Chaotic energy possessed Grundy, reanimating him once more. What little personality remained was erased, replaced by raw rage and a singular instinct: to protect the island of Roanoke.
**
| Mount Justice - October 16
J'onn J'onzz focused intently on reclaiming control of the psychic simulation from his niece. In terms of raw power, her telepathy surpassed anything he had ever encountered—including his own.
Most of the Justice League had already departed the Cave to address the devastation Child was unleashing worldwide, though there was little a Martian could do against towers of magical fire. Joseph, however, had reportedly been instrumental in countering Child's magic. J'onn held no strong opinions on Captain Atom's former sidekick, beyond a quiet respect for his terrifyingly rapid growth in the psychic arts.
Resolving to enter the simulation and shock M'gann awake—by killing her within it if necessary—J'onn prepared himself. Before he could act, everyone except Starfire vanished in a flash of red light.
Stunned, he barely registered Koriand'r awakening moments later.
"Ugh, my head," she groaned. "What just happened? I thought I died protecting the Team."
"You were trapped in a psychic simulation when events spiraled out of control—both there and in reality," J'onn replied mechanically, still shaken. He activated his League comm at once.
"Where's the rest of the Team?" Kori asked, noticing the empty tables.
"They've disappeared," he said as Batman appeared on a nearby monitor.
"The Team aren't the only ones," Batman added grimly. "Everyone under the age of eighteen has vanished."
**
| Happy Harbor - October 16
A man screamed as his car slammed into a pole, his son gone from the backseat. Similar scenes unfolded everywhere as parents poured from vehicles, calling desperately for children who no longer existed.
**
| Fawcett City - October 16
Dudley stared in horror at the television.
Cat Grant reported on GBS News. "Amid reports of unnatural disasters and pillars of fire, worldwide reports are all the same. Every child under the age of 18 has disappeared. Parents are desperate for answers. From secular and religious leaders, from the heroes of the Justice League, and from scientists from facilities like S.T.A.R. Labs."
**
| Gotham City - October 16
In front of a S.T.A.R. Labs facility, a crowd had grown dangerously agitated.
"Those eggheads in there know what happened to our kids," a man shouted. "For all we know, they're responsible. Make them tell us the truth!"
The crowd surged forward, slamming against the police barricades. Commissioner James Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department struggled to hold the line when the ground suddenly shook. An earthquake rippled through the city, and several blocks away a massive pillar of fire erupted, sending everyone scattering in terror.
**
| Salem - October 16
With a pillar of fire burning nearby and screams and smoke filling the air, Kent Nelson stared solemnly at the helmet in his hands.
The rest of the Justice League Dark had been deployed across the globe, desperately attempting to contain the endless infernos. This was a crisis unlike any Earth had ever faced.
"Let me wear the helmet, Kent," Zatara said. "I will do anything to get my daughter back."
"But we both know there are many ways for you to lose her," Kent replied quietly. "I've put this off for too long. The world needs Doctor Fate right now."
"Are you sure?" Zatara asked. Kent could tell Zatara was secretly relieved—no one wanted to surrender control of their body for decades. Kent couldn't blame him.
Kent chuckled softly. "I may lose what little remains of my old life, and my wife will give me an earful when we meet again—but that's the gift of eternity. I'll have the rest of it to spend with her. Please make sure Rachel is cared for in my absence. She hasn't told me yet, but I can tell she's carrying a heavy burden."
With that, the old man placed the helmet over his head.
Doctor Fate returned.
**
| Fawcett City - October 16
Billy Batson was about to climb a fence and sneak into an airfield, still riding the adrenaline from Joseph's speech.
"'For I am Nova,'" he muttered. "That was seriously so cool."
He wasn't Captain Marvel right now, but there had to be something he could do as Billy Batson. With all the adults gone—maybe even dead—the world needed every bit of help it could get.
He hadn't thought much about a plan. He was hoping to find an open plane and just wing it to Mount Justice—literally. They couldn't be that hard to fly. He'd flown planes in games all the time.
As he dropped down after climbing the fence, light suddenly flared behind him. A shadow stretched across the ground.
Billy spun, ready to ignore the risks and shout Shazam—until he recognized the figure.
"Nova! You're here! It's me, Captain—"
"I know," Joseph interrupted.
"You know?" Billy asked, surprised. He'd thought it would be a bigger deal, considering he'd even hidden it from the Justice League—well, except for Batman, who had figured it out.
"Yeah, but that's not important right now," Joseph said. "You're the bridge between dimensions, Billy. I need you to deliver a message to the adult side. Tell them the spell's location is Roanoke. Tell them to break through the barrier and destroy the entire island to merge the dimensions back together."
"You weren't just saying that to give everyone hope?" Billy asked, fear creeping into his voice. He didn't want to disappear forever. He was just a ten-year-old kid—without the Courage of Achilles.
Joseph tilted his head, as if sensing something far away, then looked back at him. "I don't have time. Just trust me. Believe in yourself. Say the words."
Billy closed his eyes and summoned every ounce of courage he had.
"SHAZAM!"
Lightning crashed down from the sky—and Nova vanished.
**
| Gotham City - October 16
Joseph stabilized the earthquake Child had unleashed on the city he once called home, using Red Volcano's geokinesis tech enhanced by the Strength Force.
As he prepared to extinguish the pillar of fire, he noticed something wrong.
This one was different.
The pillar was four times larger than any he had dealt with before, nearly four hundred feet in diameter. It wasn't drawing power solely from Child's magic—it was positioned on top of a ley line and feeding on Gotham itself. Ambient magic saturated the city, fueling the inferno.
He hadn't sensed it before. He hadn't returned to Gotham since upgrading his Nth Bands and becoming more attuned to magic, but now it was obvious.
The city was cursed—deeply, fundamentally so.
Through Vandal Savage's memories, Joseph knew some theories as to why.
One claimed that millennia ago, an evil warlock was buried alive beneath what would one day become Gotham's central island. As the warlock lay in torpor, his corrupt essence seeped into the land, poisoning the soil itself.
Another spoke of an eighteenth-century cult of demon worshippers—Thomas Jefferson included, for some reason—who summoned a Bat-demon and sealed it beneath Gotham for centuries.
Savage himself believed that clusters of Lazarus Pits lay deep beneath the city, their chemicals slowly seeping into Gotham's water and soil, their psychotic properties shaping the city's particular brand of madness.
Whatever the truth, the pillar of fire was absorbing that dark energy and burning it away.
Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
This cursed city was where his mother had been taken from him.
He would use this moment to cleanse it.