"The enemy's pressure is dropping."
Right beside them, Parademons were still spilling out of the Boom Tube—just a few—but compared to the opening wave, it was obvious the spawn rate had slowed.
Hal swung his glowing green construct—now a gigantic flyswatter—and smacked the latest batch of Parademons straight out of the air.
Watching the ones he'd swatted get back into formation and fly toward the coastline, Hal flashed a confident grin.
"They're scared! Guys—victory's right in front of us!"
Batman's expression tightened.
"No. They're regrouping."
Because the sky was full of them—huge numbers—funneling in the same direction like a flock answering a single call.
"Hah!"
A battle cry rang out—
A woman in fitted combat armor dropped from above, carrying a divine sword and the Lasso of Truth.
Wonder Woman landed like a spearpoint.
Her blade left her hand—one clean throw—skewering a Parademon the instant it emerged.
Then the lasso snapped out, perfectly looping another one mid-flight.
She didn't look overly bulky—her suit emphasized athletic grace more than brute mass—
—but the strength under that elegance was terrifying.
A Parademon hit her grip—
and she swung it like a hammer, smashing it into the ground again and again, left-right-left, like it weighed nothing.
Hal, helplessly honest, blurted:
"Wow. She's… incredible—"
Then he realized two things at once:
this was not the time, and
a teenager was standing right there.
He coughed hard.
"Uh—I meant her combat ability."
Heatblast's molten "mask" split into an amused grin.
"It's fine. I don't mind watching you get humbled."
Wonder Woman finished off the last few Parademons near them—
and the two nearby Boom Tubes went dead quiet.
No more heads poked through.
The enemy had paused… because they were pulling everything toward the sea.
Wonder Woman yanked her sword free, raised it high, and addressed them like fellow soldiers.
"I salute you, warriors!"
She flicked the blade—dark blood sprayed off the edge and left not a single stain.
"Ah. It feels good to be back on a battlefield."
Modern civilian life didn't suit her—especially the dull waiting before her official meeting with the President as Themyscira's representative.
But today had been… surprisingly good:
ice cream, the President, and now—real warriors at her side.
Though she couldn't help adding, with a hint of irritation—
"It would be even better if a certain 'brave warrior' hadn't left mid-fight to rescue a kitten from a tree."
"…I'm pretty sure that was me," Flash mumbled, sounding personally attacked.
"I think I'm not too late."
Superman descended from the sky and hovered down beside them, scanning the migrating swarm.
His gaze moved to the Omnitrix symbol glowing on Heatblast's chest.
"What do we do now?"
"Wait for the enemy to finally show their face."
Ben understood the reality: the Justice League wasn't formed yet.
But right now, the core pillars were effectively here:
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman—
plus the "greatest Green Lantern," and the fastest man alive.
This was the backbone.
They had the muscle to fight Darkseid.
The problem was Ben himself.
He was Heatblast right now—meaning once he timed out and reverted, he had no idea how long the Omnitrix cooldown would lock him out.
Without Grey Matter or Upgrade, he couldn't meaningfully contest Mother Box control. As a normal human? Not even close.
Then—
"BOOM!"
A heavy, ugly impact echoed from nearby.
Something slammed between buildings, ricocheted, and stumbled into their space—barely controlled.
Wonder Woman snapped her sword up instantly.
"I'll handle it."
Flash blurred forward and planted himself between them.
"Wait! He's not with those monsters."
He recognized him immediately.
"I can confirm it—he's from S.T.A.R. Labs."
The newcomer was Victor Stone—newly transformed, half-man, half-machine—still moving like he hadn't fully learned his own weight.
Before Victor could even speak—
Thunder cracked above them.
Lightning flashed.
A large, hooded figure drifted down into their circle with a quiet heaviness, like gravity had decided to personify itself.
No words. Just presence.
Everyone tensed on instinct.
Then he pulled back the hood.
And the face—despite the grown-man power—carried a boy's open, unfiltered sincerity.
"Hey! Uh… why's everyone staring? I'm Shazam. And I'm with him."
Victor looked sideways at him with immediate, exhausted disbelief.
"I'm not with him."
"Hey, Cyborg! Great to see you too!"
Ben—seeing an opening at last—snapped to business.
"Can you control the Mother Boxes and close the Boom Tubes? And, if possible… send the kidnapped people back too."
Victor, before all this, had been just an athlete.
Now his existence was fused with Mother Box tech and a lab's worth of advanced hardware.
His mind was basically a quantum computer with ports.
He could interface with systems—maybe even Mother Boxes.
He stared down at his hands.
"I don't know."
He wasn't fully in control yet.
But he remembered what it felt like when he connected to the Mother Box back at S.T.A.R. Labs—how Apokolips knowledge flooded in.
He swallowed.
"I can try to establish a link."
"Good."
Ben snapped, then laid it out cleanly.
"You handle Mother Box control—send the Parademons back to Apokolips and pull the captives home. Everyone else? We fight Darkseid. That's the whole plan."
Hal frowned hard.
"Hold up—we're putting all the rescue work on one half-robot?"
He didn't believe Victor could pull off mass returns, and he definitely didn't believe Darkseid required this many heroes.
Ben didn't flinch.
"Trust me, Hal. Our fight will be harder than Cyborg's."
As Victor raised the Mother Box he'd linked with earlier—
the sea in the distance ignited.
Ablaze.
From the ocean rose towering, Apokoliptian spires, tearing upward like a foreign city being planted into Earth by force.
And in the center—surrounded by swarming Parademons—a massive figure rose and flew toward them.
A voice rolled in like judgment.
"I am chaos."
"I am death."
"I am Darkseid."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 60)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 60)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 64)
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