Barbara Gordon could hardly process the sheer depth of Dick's depravity.
She had known he had changed, she had spent months preparing her heart to become a stone just to deal with him. She had come here fully prepared to end him if that was what it took to stop this global hemorrhage.
She'd accepted that much. But some naive part of her, small, stubborn, and desperately stupid, had still believed there was a fragment of the man she had loved buried under the hunger.
Some trace of the hero who had once led the Titans with a smile that could outshine the sun, a man who had been the moral compass of the Bat-family when Bruce's own needle had begun to spin toward the dark.
But now that illusion was shattered the moment she saw the suit.
Her eyes were drawn to the chaos outside the window, to the towering silhouette wreathed in violent, snapping lightning as it tore through the battlefield.
It moved with a jittery, unnatural cadence, appearing and disappearing in flashes of chronal discharge as it slaughtered vampires and humans with total indifference. The armor was massive, nearly twice the height of Superman, its frame broad and tall.
Her breath caught in her throat. She knew that suit. She and Bruce had built it together, back when the world still felt like it could be saved.
The project had started after Barry Allen had told them about the so called Fraction War, a conflict that hadstarted when some aliens had invaded Earth using the power of the speedforce to capture speedsters.
He had told the League about the race that viewed the Speed Force not as a gift or a power, but as a harvestable resource. They moved from world to world like locusts, harvesting speedsters, draining them dry to power an entire civilization on stolen momentum.
An entire war had been fought on Earth, for that matter, and had been won in less than a single minute of "real time," while the League hadn't even realized they were under attack until Barry and the others told them. That revelation had terrified Bruce, she knew he had once again felt powerless, and she kind of understood. And when Bruce Wayne was afraid, he built a contingency.
The idea of the suit was to be designed as the ultimate equalizer against speedsters. It was built to conduct and stabilize Speed Force energy. It was intended to give a normal human the ability to perceive a Speedster's movements and strike back before a synapse could even fire. On paper, it was a masterpiece of kinetic engineering and chronal physics.
In reality, it had been a catastrophic failure.
The armor couldn't harness the energy on its own for some reason, it ended up as an engine without a spark. It couldn't use the speedforce on its own and required a living speedster to act as a battery.
This requirement had defeated the entire purpose. Bruce wanted a weapon he could use to stop a rogue speedster, not one that required a speedster to use in the first place. Bruce had discarded the project there as it was of no use to him.
So, the suit was sealed away in the Justice League's most secure vault, Batman had said. While it may have failed at its intended purpose, it could serve as something else. A "just in case" relic, if it was ever needed to help Barry get an edge over something.
And now, here it was, rampaging across the Blüdhaven streets, and that alone was shocking because it would need a speedster to function, and as far as she knew, all were dead, yet here it was, and just a few moments of thinking allowed her to realize who was inside the suit.
Barbara's stomach twisted into a cold, hard knot. It should have been impossible. Every speedster on Earth was supposed to be dead as far as she knew. Barry Allen was the first to fall, his death was, in fact, the spark that ignited the vampire nightmare.
Bart Allen had been torn apart in front of her eyes by the infected Wonder Girl and Superboy. There were others, but she had seen most of them die with her eyes or on video, yet just a few seconds of thinking reminded her that they had been one who hadn't been seen since the start of this whole thing, people had assumed he had died, but....she grimaced.
Wally—
Her thoughts stuttered. She had assumed Wally West was dead, simply because the world was ending and everyone else was gone, she was not the only one to think the man was gone, too.
But as she watched the suit's lightning-fast movements, she realized with a jolt of horror that she had never actually seen his body. She hadn't been curious enough. She had been too busy surviving to look for the Flash, who was always too fast to catch. When Had Dick gotten him? Was Wally trapped inside that metal coffin?
"Damn it…" she hissed, her voice trembling with a mixture of grief and fury.
Her hand moved on instinct, a batarang flying toward Dick's head. He twisted aside with a casual grace, the blade missing his temple by a fraction of an inch and embedding itself in the paneling. She surged forward, trying to capitalize on the moment, but it was like fighting a shadow.
Vampire or not, Dick's combat skill hadn't dulled, if anything, the lack of human restraint and his enhanced speed had turned him into a meat grinder. They clashed, her strikes precise and laden with the weight of her training, his movements smooth, controlled, and almost lazy.
He deflected her blows with practiced ease, his fingers finally closing around her outstretched wrist. Before she could react, the world spun.
Barbara was hurled through the glass office window, the reinforced pane shattering like ice as she skidded hard across the exterior balcony. Shards of glass rained down on her like diamonds, cutting into her suit and skin.
The building shook violently. Her head snapped toward the street just in time to see the Speed Force suit engage the resistance.
Batwoman, Kate Kane, charged it, fearless as ever, her red cape a streak of defiance against the grey sky. She didn't hesitate, diving into the armor's path with her shock-gauntlets flared.
She didn't even slow the machine down. The armored fist connected with a sickening, wet crack, and Barbara watched in silent horror as Kate's head was torn clean from her shoulders. The body hadn't even hit the ground before the suit moved again, a blur of motion undetected by normal gaze.
Lightning exploded outward from the armor, expanding in a massive, shimmering dome of yellow energy. Everything touched by the energy slowed to a crawl. People froze mid-motion, their bodies dragging through the air as if they were submerged in thick, viscous syrup. Blood droplets from fallen soldiers hung in the air like red pearls, unmoving.
The suit, however, accelerated. It became a blur of yellow light, a reaper in chrome, tearing through the frozen battlefield and killing everything in its path.
She watched the Signal, Duke Thomas, leap onto the suit's back from a nearby ledge, his body flaring with solar light as he attempted a desperate suicide strike. He was the only one fast enough to even reach the machine. He detonated in a blinding burst, an explosion of light that rocked the city and shattered windows for blocks.
"Such a shame," Dick said softly, appearing behind her again on the balcony. He didn't even look at the explosion, his eyes remained fixed on her, relishing the despair on her face. "He was always such a bright light."
Rage drowned out her fear. Barbara surged to her feet, screaming a war cry as she swung at him with a hidden collapsible staff. They exchanged blows. But it was clear he was toying with her. He was dodging, redirecting her momentum, and smiling with those sharp, white fangs that caught the light of the fires below.
Her fist came close once. Too close. He smacked her hand aside and struck her square in the chest, the force sending her flying back into the stone wall of the tower with enough power to crack the masonry and steal the air from her lungs.
Nightwing stepped forward, his smile twisted and hungry. He reached out to grab her, but before he could, something hit him in the side of the head with the weight of a freight train.
Hard.
He staggered, snarling, spinning toward the source of the interruption. Harley Quinn stood there, her oversized bat still raised, her breathing heavy, and her eyes wide and wild with a manic fury.
"Oh boo-hoo," Harley snapped, her voice high, cracking with emotion. "Did that hurt, King Ding-a-ling? 'Cause I got plenty more where that came from!"
Dick didn't waste words. He vanished. He reappeared instantly in front of her, his hand closing around Harley's throat as he lifted her off the ground. With a casual flick of his arm, he hurled her across the room. Harley hit the far interior wall with a sickening thud and went limp, sliding down into an unconscious heap.
Nightwing turned back to Barbara, his eyes glowing a deep crimson. "Can't believe I forgot about her," he muttered, before smiling at her, "now why don't we enjoy this alone time?" He said as he walked towards her.
Meanwhile, in the streets below, Kenji twisted his body in mid-air as a bolt of divine lightning screamed past him, scorching the air. Shazam's rage was lighting up the darkened sky with every roar, the magical thunder vibrating through the ground.
Kenji raised his hand, his Gravity Manipulation snapping into place as a dense, high-pressure barrier formed just in time for Superman to slam into it at Mach speed. The impact boomed like a sonic crack, creating a shockwave that leveled the nearby area.
Kenji pushed the barrirer outward, using the repelling force to blast the Man of Steel back through a brick wall. Before Clark could fully rise, Kenji summoned a kryptonite mace, its green glow illuminating the ash. He tossed it, smashing it into Superman's face, weakening the vampire instantly and causing his flesh to hiss.
Kenji yanked the weapon back with a gravity tether, crossing the mace with the Yamato just as Shazam brought down a massive column of magical lightning. The blast was so powerful it drove Kenji to one knee, the pavement beneath him turning to molten glass.
He roared, his power flaring as he punched forward with a gravity shockwave, a concentrated "gravity blast" that hurled the vampire champion back into a collapsed parking garage.
Shazam recovered almost instantly, rocketing out of the rubble to spear Kenji. They grappled in mid-air, before Kenji spun the vampire and brought them both crashing down into the street with the force of a meteor.
Pain flared through Kenji's ribs as he was kicked square in the chest, sent flying backward, only for Superman to catch his leg mid-air. Clark spun him violently, his strength still immense despite the kryptonite nearby, and slammed him into the ground again and again, a brutal, Hulk-style thrashing that threatened to rattle his brain out of his skull.
The last impact nearly knocked him unconscious, the world turning into a haze of grey and red. Kenji snarled, forcing his eyes to stay open, twisting his body with a burst of energy, and bringing the Nith metal kryptonite mace up hard into Superman's skull. Clark released him with a growl of pain, sending Kenji tumbling across the jagged pavement.
Kenji spat out a mouthful of blood and pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the Yamato. Across from him, Superman and Shazam stood ready, their wounds healing at a visible rate. All three of them were bleeding, their costumes shredded.
Kenji couldn't help but chuckle, a dark, wheezing sound. "Better than the first time," he muttered.
He wasn't winning, not yet, but the gap was closing. The kills, the experience, and the growth from his previous battles were showing. He was becoming a monster in his own right.
Then, yellow lightning tore across the battlefield.
A suit appeared. It blitzed through the crowd, killing vampires and humans indiscriminately. Kenji barely had time to blink before the machine was in his face.
His Danger Sense screamed a warning in the back of his mind. He ducked just as a massive, armored arm swung over his head, missing by inches. The displaced air felt like a physical slap that nearly pushed him back.
Kenji flipped back and rolled, barely escaping as the ground where he had been standing cratered into dust.
Fast. Too fast.
The suit turned its attention to Shazam and Superman. Clark managed to dodge, Shazam, however, wasn't as lucky. The armored fist caught the champion in the chest, sending him flying.
Kenji shifted his stance, his fingers tightening on the grip of the Yamato. He prepared to engage—
The suit vanished. It reappeared directly in front of him again, the yellow lightning blindingly bright, the static smell of ozone filling his lungs.
"Shit—!"
He barely avoided the next strike, using gravity to put distance between them. He looked at the suit. This thing wasn't in any comic he remembered reading.
Kenji spun the Yamato and slammed the tip into the ground, his eyes narrowing behind his mask as he poured his will into his ability.
"Law: Mach One Limit."
He lunged forward. At the same moment, Superman and Shazam attacked the suit from the flanks, a temporary and unspoken truce forming against the new intruder.
Lightning erupted from the armor again, surging in a massive, blinding dome. The Time-Dilation Field expanded once more.
Everything slowed. Kenji's eyes widened as his movements began to drag. His body felt heavy, his thoughts sluggish, trapped in forced stillness.
A flash of yellow filled his vision.
Impact.
The force hit him like a falling moon, sending him hurtling across the battlefield as the world exploded into white noise around him. He felt his ribs snap, the breath leaving him as he skipped across the concrete like a stone across a pond.
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