The Justice League Watchtower was in lockdown.
Red emergency lights bathed the metallic corridors. Alarms blared. The sensors had picked up an unauthorized breach—not from a ship docking, but from a localized thermal event inside the main hangar.
Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl stood in the Strategy Room, ready for war.
"The heat signature is off the charts," Batman warned, checking his gauntlet. "It's hotter than the sun's surface. The hull plating is melting."
"Is it Doomsday?" Superman asked, floating inches off the floor.
"No," Batman narrowed his eyes. "It's Him. But different."
The heavy blast doors to the Strategy Room began to glow cherry red. Then white. Then, they liquefied.
Molten metal dripped onto the floor, hissing.
Through the hole in the door, a figure floated in.
It wasn't the Blue Blur. It wasn't the Golden Super Sonic.
This was Burning Blaze. Or rather, Burning Elias.
He had found the Sol Emeralds. They weren't on Earth; they were in a pocket dimension connected to the Speed Force, hidden away by a Speedster from another timeline. Elias had to run sideways through time to get them.
Now, he wore their power.
His fur was a reddish-pink, glowing with the intensity of a dying star. His jacket had burned away, leaving his chest exposed to reveal the seven Sol Emeralds orbiting him like miniature suns. Flames didn't just surround him; he was flame.
His eyes were sharp, focused, and burning with a regal, imperious power.
"We need to talk," Elias said.
His voice didn't echo; it crackled like a bonfire.
"Stand down!" Green Lantern shouted, creating a construct shield around the League. "You're melting the station!"
"I can't turn it off," Elias said simply. "The Sol Emeralds are... temperamental. They don't like being calm. They like to burn."
He floated to the center of the room. The table vaporized instantly.
"I have six Chaos Emeralds," Elias stated. "I have the seven Sol Emeralds. I have the World Rings."
He looked directly at Batman.
"You have the last one. The Grey Emerald. The Emerald of Control."
Batman didn't flinch, even as the heat coming off Elias singed his cape. "And if I do?"
"Then you give it to me," Elias said. "Because Darkseid is coming."
The room went silent.
"Darkseid?" Wonder Woman stepped forward, her lasso glowing. "How do you know?"
"Because I heard the Mother Boxes singing," Elias explained. "When I fought Brainiac and the Furies... I touched the Apokoliptian tech. I saw the code. He's not sending an army this time. He's coming himself. He wants the Anti-Life Equation."
Elias pointed to his head.
"And he thinks the Chaos Energy is the key to unlocking it. If he gets the Emeralds... he rewrites free will across the multiverse."
Superman looked at Elias. He saw the exhaustion behind the fire. This wasn't a threat; it was a plea from a man holding a nuclear reactor in his bare hands.
"Why do you need the last Emerald?" Superman asked. "You have enough power to destroy a solar system right now."
"Balance," Elias said. "The Sol Emeralds are fire. The Chaos Emeralds are power. Without the Grey Emerald to stabilize them... if I try to fight Darkseid like this, I'll burn out. I'll explode. And I'll take the Earth with me."
He extended a burning hand.
"I'm not asking to keep it, Bruce. I'm asking to borrow it. For one fight. Then... I leave. I leave Earth. I leave this dimension. I go home."
Batman stared at him. The World's Greatest Detective analyzed every micro-expression.
He reached into his utility belt. He pulled out a lead-lined box.
He opened it.
Inside sat the Grey Chaos Emerald. It was dull, lifeless, almost boring compared to the others. But it was the anchor.
"If you fail," Batman said, "I have a contingency to stop you."
"I know," Elias smirked, the flames dancing around his face. "You have a freeze ray built from Mr. Freeze's tech and Captain Cold's gun. It's aimed at my head right now from the ceiling."
Batman closed the box and tossed it to Elias.
"Catch."
Elias caught the box. The moment the Grey Emerald touched his aura, the flames calmed. The intense, blinding heat receded into a warm, manageable glow.
"Thanks," Elias said.
He looked at the Justice League.
"Get your armies ready. Themyscira. Atlantis. The Lantern Corps. He's coming in T-minus ten minutes."
Elias floated up through the ceiling, melting a new exit.
"I'll meet him in space. Don't be late."
He rocketed away, a streak of fire painting the darkness of space, heading toward the Boom Tube opening near the moon.
The Final Boss had arrived.