Milk_Is_My_Drug
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Chapter 81: The Incoming War
🕑 Added 2025-06-29 08:00:23 +0000 UTCIt didn’t take long for the world to learn that Ashborn and Amazo had left their dimension. Word spread first through Supergirl, who had reluctantly shared what she had learned, and then through Courtney Whitmore, who had heard about it from Ace during one of their conversations.
Slowly, the news was pieced together, and it became undeniable. Ashborn and Amazo had truly vanished from Earth, venturing somewhere unknown beyond their reality.
Despite the Justice League’s general hate and fear toward Ashborn after all, they had seen firsthand what a monster he really was, they couldn’t entirely suppress a strange mix of bafflement and curiosity about the bizarre quest the father and son had embarked upon.
To travel across different worlds in search of an android girlfriend? It sounded so absurd, so ridiculous, that many initially thought it must be a lie.
Yet what truly rattled the League was Batman's belief in the story. When asked, Batman, the most pragmatic and skeptical among them, simply said "It’s exactly because it makes no sense... that I believe it. Ashborn’s actions rarely follow logic in a way we understand."
After that, there wasn't much left to say.
As weeks turned into months, the bizarre departure of Ashborn and Amazo faded from memory. The Justice League became consumed once again with the endless battle against crime, villainy, and the eternal struggle of trying to maintain their own personal lives amidst chaos.
The world spun on, as it always did.
Until one day, when something new, and far more frightening, happened.
At the Kent Farm, peace was shattered by the sudden appearance of five visitors.
They were a strange, battered group. A man who looked almost exactly like Clark, but older, wearing tattered clothing, sporting a thick beard. His eyes were black, with eerie green pupils. Beside him stood a sickly pale Raven, her body trembling as if fighting some unseen force. A Robin whose grim demeanor matched Batman’s at his darkest. A tired and wary Lois Lane. And a disheveled, battle-scarred Harley Quinn.
The group looked broken. Exhausted. Haunted.
Kara, who had been staying at the farm, immediately called the Watchtower.
In mere minutes, the entire group was transported to the space station orbiting Earth. There, they were met by the senior members of the Justice League, all tense and ready for anything.
The new Superman, the bearded, hollow-eyed one, stepped forward. His voice was rough, strained from long battles and long suffering.
"We're from another dimension," he said. "A dimension that... fell."
He paused and, without shame, tore open the remnants of his shirt to reveal a glowing green S symbol burned into his chest. The sight made some of the League members recoil slightly, it was grotesque and painful to look at.
The other Superman continued grimly.
"Darkseid came. We fought, and we lost. Our Earth was destroyed. Our Justice League, dead, enslaved... or worse."
He looked around at the gathered heroes.
"Darkseid of my dimension is no longer content with conquering a single universe. He’s moving through dimensions now. He’s already destroyed several other Earths. And..." he said, his voice lowering even further, "...this one is next."
The Watchtower fell into heavy silence.
___________
The week that followed was a tense one aboard the Watchtower. The Justice League had started preparations, but unease hung over everyone like a heavy fog.
Then, without warning, Orion arrived. He stumbled into the Watchtower’s teleportation room, covered in wounds, his helmet broken and scorched. Blood stained his body.
The senior members rushed to him, catching him before he could collapse.
Breathing heavily, Orion delivered the grim news "A new Darkseid... appeared. Stronger than before. And he commands an army greater than anything I've ever seen."
Orion’s voice broke as he continued "New Genesis... is gone. It was destroyed. Everyone... is dead."
A heavy silence followed. Even the most stoic among them felt their hearts sink.
The grim revelation brought by the five visitors from the ruined dimension was no longer a possibility, it was a certainty. A threat unlike anything they had ever faced was barreling toward them.
Earth’s destruction wasn't a question of if anymore, it was only a matter of when.
___________
Just a few days later, the situation worsened even further.
A battered squad of Green Lanterns, led by Hal Jordan, arrived at the Watchtower.
They looked even worse than Orion. Their uniforms were torn, their bodies bruised and burnt, their faces hollow with loss.
Hal Jordan stepped forward and, in a voice laced with pain and exhaustion, gave his report.
"OA has fallen," he said bluntly. "The Guardians are gone. The Central Power Battery... destroyed."
He clenched his fists tightly.
"They came with an army... fusions between Parademons and Doomsday. Abominations... monsters beyond anything we've ever fought. They slaughtered everything."
Around him, the League members struggled to process the information. OA, the heart of the Green Lantern Corps, was one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And it had been annihilated.
If New Genesis and OA, mighty bastions of hope and power, could fall so easily… what chance did Earth truly have?
___________
Faced with the devastating reality, the Justice League made a decision. They knew they could not stand against this threat alone.
There was no more room for pride. No more room for old grudges.
The League reached out, not just to heroes, but to villains as well. Black Adam, Cheetah, Deathstroke, and many others received the call.
This wasn’t a battle of heroes versus villains anymore. It was life versus death.
And if Earth was to survive, they would need every hand they could get.
Victory was their only option. Defeat meant total annihilation.
And so, for the first time in history, Earth's greatest heroes and deadliest villains would fight side by side.
Against a darkness that had already consumed countless worlds.
___________
In the Black Villa, Ace, Tea, and Rex were lazily sprawled across the sofas, half-watching the television when the doorbell rang.
Rex groaned, pushing himself up to answer it, while Ace and Tea didn't bother to move, both comfortably sunk into the cushions.
Moments later, Rex returned to the living room, his face slightly pale.
"It’s Batman and Superman," he announced.
At that, both Ace and Tea immediately sat up, curiosity flashing across their faces. It wasn’t every day the two greatest heroes in the world came knocking on their door, especially at night.
Without waiting for an invitation, Superman and Batman strode into the living room, their expressions grave.
Superman didn’t waste any time.
"This is urgent," he said, his voice firm. "We need your help. We need Ashborn and Amazo's help."
Tea crossed her arms and asked, "What's going on?"
Superman quickly filled them in, the destruction of New Genesis, the fall of OA, the unstoppable army approaching Earth and the desperate need for every powerful being available to defend the planet.
"Ashborn and Amazo are the strongest beings we know," Superman stressed. "We need them."
Tea frowned, glancing at Ace.
Ace shook his head "Dad and brother aren’t back yet," he said simply. "We don't know where they are or when they’ll come back."
Superman's frown deepened. For the first time, it was clear that even he felt fear, the kind of fear that came from realizing the most powerful force Earth has to offer was simply gone.
Ace asked, "When is Darkseid coming?"
Batman, standing silently beside Superman, answered in his usual stoic tone "We don't know. It could be any moment."
Batman then asked, "Is there any way to contact them?"
Ace shook his head again. "No. We don’t have one."
There was a moment of heavy silence. Then Ace’s gaze moved toward Tea. "This is urgent, right?"
Tea met Ace’s gaze and nodded.
She turned back to Superman and Batman.
"Let's go outside," she said. "We have a backup plan even without Ashborn and Amazo being around."
The group, now more tense than before, followed Tea outside into the open courtyard under the night sky.
Outside, Ace stepped forward first "Beru, I need you and your friends' help," she called out calmly.
At her words, Ace’s shadow on the ground shifted and then began to expand. From it, rising up like summoned spirits, emerged hundreds of giant ants, towering and menacing.
And at the forefront stood a monstrous, familiar figure, the same black, horrifying beast that had nearly killed Superman years ago.
The creature knelt before Ace, its voice thick with fevered loyalty "It would be our honor to serve you. Please just give us the order."
Superman and Batman could only stare, stunned at the sight.
But Tea wasn’t about to be overshadowed.
"Igris, Doom… we can’t let Ace out do us," she said smugly.
Her shadow stretched outward next, birthing dozens of knights clad in black armor and leading them was Igris himself, a powerful knight they had once met. Beside him stood another towering figure, a shadow version of Doomsday himself, recognizable and equally terrifying.
Rex gaped, stuttering, "W-where did these things come from?"
Tea turned to him with a smirk "You have them too. Tusk, Iron, will you come out?"
Without hesitation, Rex’s shadow expanded, and from it emerged even more creatures: hulking demons in black and red, a giant shield-wielding knight, and a red-skinned demon with blazing eyes.
Within moments, Superman and Batman found themselves surrounded by nearly a thousand monstrous soldiers of different races, all kneeling reverently toward Ace, Tea, and Rex.
Each creature radiated a terrifying power, a dark loyalty that made even the two seasoned heroes feel the weight of their presence.
Ace smiled at the stunned looks on their faces "This," he said simply, "is the backup plan in case dad and brother weren’t around. The Shadow Monarch’s soldiers."
Superman and Batman exchanged a quick, grim glance.
There was no longer any doubt. There was a direct connection between Ashborn and the fabled Shadow Monarch. Ashborn had played them the whole time.
But right now, it didn’t matter.
Because these monsters... were now Earth’s greatest and most frightening allies.
