Chapter 30: Justice

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chapter 30: "Justice"

(Monday-May 19, 2014)

Harriet Chin sat at the far end of her apartment. All of the furniture was overturned and pushed against anything that could be considered an opening from someone to get through. At the center of the room was a small square portable Ghost Shield which had outlined the apartment with a green shield. Nothing was getting in or out of her apartment.

Nevertheless, the woman desperately clutched at the ectoplasmic pistol in her hand. She eyed the Ghost Shield in fear. It was now low on battery. She had only a few minutes of safety left. As soon as the battery died, those monsters would flood in here in and tear her apart. Harriet Chin wasn't going to go down without a fight, though.

Her heart jumped when a black portal opened to reveal Hotep Ra stepping into her apartment. She instantly reacted by firing her gun at the mummy. Said ghost just stood there and let the bullets of ectoplasm ram into his chest.

"Really?" Hotep Ra raised an eyebrow.

Harriet lowered the gun in defeat, "I had to try…So what now? You here to kill me?"

"And why would I waste my time coming to kill you when Nekron's monsters are waiting right outside your door to do it themselves?" Hotep Ra questioned.

"For the pleasure of it."

"Hahaha…" Hotep Ra actually chuckled at that, "No, you're thinking of a few other Black Lanterns. I'm a more pragmatic type of person."

"Then what do you want?" Harriet demanded, "Because I really don't have anything to give to you. This gun is all I have worth anything right now."

"That is where you are wrong," Hotep Ra noted, "You do have something to give. I want you to help fight Nekron."

"Fight Nekron?" Harriet looked amused despite the danger in the situation, "And why does a Black Lantern want anyone to fight Nekron?"

"I have my reasons. I'd prefer to only explain it all once, though, so I'll hold off on it," Hotep Ra explained.

"Alright…" Harriet was still shaking her head in disbelief, "And how exactly am I supposed to fight Nekron?"

"I'll explain that later too."

"So…I'm just supposed to step with you into a portal of death willingly without knowing where I'm going or why…just so I can die fighting someone that defeated the entire Justice League on his own…" Harriet scoffed, "Why would I do that?"

"It's either that, or wait two minutes until the monsters get in," Hotep Ra smirked, "The choice is yours."

Harriet's eyes danced back and forth from the Black Lantern to her Ghost Shield. It was either the choice of certain death or the risk of running with a rogue enemy. For Harriet, it was an easy choice. She stepped up to Hotep Ra.

"Let's go."

Dark Dan didn't know why he was fighting. There was no way to win. It would be smart to run and spend the time that remained doing something that he enjoyed. Maybe he could destroy a city…or slaughter some of the remaining people…anything other than this really.

A sudden punch to the gut slammed into him. The alternate Phantom went flying away and slammed into the far wall by the unconscious Jinx. Luckily, his body was far more durable than the unconscious assassins's own body. While he did feel the pain, Dark Dan did not slip into unconsciousness.

Using the wall, Dan managed to force himself to his feet. He looked on as the few people still conscious desperately tried to do something…anything really to stop the Reaper. Ra's Al Ghul and his remaining assassins swung every bladed weapon they had at the Ghost of Death. The weapons that didn't disintegrate as soon as they made contact with the black energy still didn't even manage to make it through the shield.

It was useless. Everyone had to see that.

"Move!" Lex Luthor shouted at them. The assassins obeyed his command. This allowed the billionaire to shoot a small missile from his armor.

As soon as the missile made contact, it burst into a small shower of ectoranium. Normally, ghosts would have been made powerless by this. A shower of ectoranium for ghosts was what Kryptonite was for Superman. Nekron, however, just stood there. His once amused looked was steadily moving towards boredom as his energy made the ectoranium useless.

Nothing could possibly hurt Nekron. They were wasting their time.

"Okay…" Nekron sighed, "The enjoyment of you ants trying to kill the elephant is fading. Do you have anything interesting to show me or should I just end this already?"

Luthor's response was to fire multiple gun shots at Nekron. It was pathetically useless.

"I guess not…" Nekron yawned, "Alright. I feel generous. I'll take a five minute power nap. That should let you get this outburst out of you. Then I'll end this."

With that said, the Reaper lay down and closed his eyes. His enemies took advantage and tried to attack. It was just as useless as just seconds earlier.

Dark Dan knew that the members of the Light were far from stupid. They had to realize that this was useless. Yet they didn't stop fighting either. Dark Dan didn't understand it. Even he was pushed forward to fight despite how hopeless the situation was.

Was it the desperate will to survive? Was it the pride that couldn't stand being looked down upon? Was it the hatred of someone who was humiliating them? It was hard to tell. Maybe it was all of it…maybe it was none of it. No matter what, though, they couldn't stop fighting.

Even the villains had some standards and lines that they wouldn't let people cross.

With a snarl, Dark Dan rushed forward again. It didn't matter if it was useless. Even if he could be spending his time doing something far more pleasurable, he would prefer to die trying than to give up and lie down like a dog.

Miss Martian looked on in shock as blood dripped down and onto the ground. The steady sound of the droplets echoed in her ears. Bile crawled up her throat. She suddenly felt dizzy and weak. The muffled sounds behind her made her realize that she wasn't the only one shocked and outraged by what happened.

Tears began to roll down green cheeks, "Gar…"

"Zhe little boy impresses once more," Madame Rogue noted as she retracted her fingers causing blood to spray everywhere.

"NO!" M'gann shouted out in a rage. Her psychic energy flooded out unfiltered. For years, she had suppressed her real power in fear of what happened when it was unleashed during the now infamous training session.

The amount of telekinetic force that rammed into Madame Rogue was so great that it sent the Black Lantern flying away. This forced her concentration off of Zatanna. Now freed from her gag, the magician muttered out rapid spells despite the tears rolling down her face. The spells began to tear through the surrounding monsters who remained complacent from Rogue's orders.

Before Beast Boy could fall, Miss Martian gently grabbed hold of the boy and cradled him lovingly, "Gar…Garfield…Speak to me…"

Tired green eyes drifted to the Martian, "Did…did I save you?"

M'gann let out a sob, "Yeah…you saved me, Gar…"

"Good…I'm glad I could save one person I care about…"

"Gar, just hold on…" M'gann felt Beast Boy's warm blood run down her arms, "I can give you some of my blood, then maybe you'll get more of my powers. Wouldn't you like that? I could train you in using psychic powers too."

"Yeah…that does sound cool…" Beast Boy smiled at her, "But I don't think that's going to happen."

"Don't speak like that," M'gann pleaded.

"I kind of wish…that I could have been a real hero…" Beast Boy noted wistfully.

"You are a real hero, Gar!"

"You know what I mean…I always wanted to be like Danny…Famous…Team leader…future Justice Leaguer…Eventually bring down Queen Bee…But I was always just the mascot…" Beast Boy's words were a soft whisper at this point.

"No! You weren't!"

"But I'm glad I got to be with all of you…Tell everyone…that I'm sorry…" Beast Boy closed his eyes, "I'm going to go see Mommy now…"

"Please no…Don't leave me, little brother…" M'gann sobbed hysterically.

Tears popped out of the corner of Beast Boy's eyes, "She's smiling…I'm home, Mom."

"Damn it, Gar!" M'gann began to reach out mentally. She found nothing. He was gone, "You can't do this! Please! Come back! I need you more that her! Please!"

Her sorrowful cries were fell on deaf ears. Beast Boy was dead.

Pandora used her spears to deflect the black energy bullets fired at her by Walker's twin pistol corporeal constructions. She grunted as she was forced to surge energy through her electric spears to force the bullets away. This worked for a while, but eventually the grinning Walker grew bored of this strategy. He turned his pistols towards the downed ghosts that still lay prone across Pandora's lawn.

Cursing, Pandora spread out her electricity into arcs that burst out in front of her companions and daughter. The electricity managed to stop the bullets and protect the defenseless victims on the grass. Unfortunately, this left Pandora extremely vulnerable with her guard dropped and her focus spread out. Walker quickly took advantage of this.

One of the pistols pointed to Pandora and unleashed a thick bullet towards the blue giant. Said bullet pierced through her breastplate and lodged itself into her shoulder. Pandora hissed out in pain and flinched backwards. This was all Walker needed for his next move. The former warden dismissed his guns, rushed forward, and smashed his fake hand across Pandora's helm.

The golden helm protecting the woman's head shattered. Gold pieces lodged themselves into her skin. None of that compared to the great pain that seared from her jaw. Pandora was shocked that nothing was broken from that dangerous blow. Still, the blood in her mouth and the loose way her teeth moved when pressed by her tongue were proof that it was only good fortune and her now destroyed helmet that prevented an even worse outcome.

On instinct alone, Pandora stabbed her spears forward to her opponent. Laughing, Walker launched himself into the air before coming back down fist first. Pandora just barely managed to get out of the way and then block the follow up blasts of black ectoplasm that followed. The Controller of Chaos was ready for more, but Walker did not target her. Instead, he lunged himself to the unconscious Nyx.

Fury surged through Pandora once more. With a roar, she crafted an ectoplasm shield around Nyx to protect her from Walker. It seemed that the Black Lantern wanted that though. Before the shield even completely formed, he turned around and jammed his thumb into the bullet wound that still shone with green blood.

Pandora shouted out in pain. Although the energy bullet had disappeared, the wound was still very fresh. Despite the pain, though, Pandora recognized that the arm stabbing her was Walker's ringed hand. Snarling, she dropped the spears that she could barely control at this point anyway. Pandora then brought all of her arms up, empowered them with ectoplasm, and started beating them against the former warden's arm.

Walker let out a sound of pain himself. Showing his impressive strength and endurance, he ripped his arm free and tried to retreat. Pandora was not about to let him do that. She chased after him with the full intent of breaking his arm. That would stop his ability to use the ring.

The Black Lantern wasn't about to let her get close, however. He created thick prison walls between him and Pandora. He had hoped that would slow her down, but Pandora did not hesitate in the slightest. Her powerful arms shattered the walls with one combined punch from the arms from one side then the other.

Seeing that Pandora wasn't going to be retreating any time soon, Walker decided to continue this fight in a more personal way. He stopped his retreat and rushed forward to trade punches with Pandora. The two of them both threw punches, but Pandora's extra limbs proved to give her the edge at first. She slipped a few punches in, but they didn't cause much damage besides minor bruises.

Eventually, Walker's Kobra Venom and Black Ring upgrades proved too strong for Pandora. He slipped one massive punch past her guard and shattered what remained of Pandora's torso armor. Despite the pain of the blow and the shards of steel stabbing her, Pandora did not relent. Instead, she pushed forward once more to get even more hits in before Walker could react.

After getting a few new bruises of his own, Walker decided that this fight had gone on long enough. Using his ring, Walker created dozens of fake arms that jumped up from all around his body. They all slammed into Pandora and knocked her way. As the Controller of Chaos tumbled away, Walker combined all of his corporeal arms into one to create two massive energy arms that would tear through anything in his path.

Having righted herself once more, Pandora countered this play by creating her electrical spears once more. She surged all of her energy and prepared her next attack, but the attack never came for her. Once more, Walker turned his attention to Nyx. Quickly, Pandora tried to use electrical arcs or ectoplasmic shields to protect her daughter. Walker's energy arms tore through those defenses, though.

Pandora immediately recognized that no energy attack would stop those arms. So, she did the only thing she could. The mother threw herself in front of her daughter.

Bumblebee had quickly gained some sympathy for the people she had stung. Her victims always yelped and danced around with curses leaving their lips. For a while, Bumblebee laughed at them. Now, feeling an unbelievable amount of electricity being forced through her body, the young woman quickly decided that laughing wasn't fair. Electricity hurt like nothing else.

"AAAHHH!" Bumblebee cried out once before letting out loud pants of exhaustion.

Vortex sneered down at her, "WELL…huff…THIS IS…huff…GETTING OLD. I'LL FINISH…huff…YOU OFF NOW. TIME…huff…TO FIND A NEW…huff…PLAYTHING—HUH?"

A long roar of a horn sounded over the sounds of the storm. This shocked the ghost as there was no normal instrument that could sound louder than his howling winds. As he looked around, Vortex felt the weight in his hand disappear. His eyes snapped to his hand. He clenched it in anger, "WHAT?"

At the edge of a storm, a portal appeared and allowed Mal to step through it and out of the rain. He held Bumblebee protectively in his arms. Now safely on the floating rock and at a safe distance from the shade of Vortex, the man addressed his girlfriend, "Karin, are you okay?"

"Mal…" Bumblebee looked at Mal's new appearance, "What happened to you?"

"I went on a journey," Mal noted mysteriously, "But that doesn't matter right now. How are you feeling?"

"A bit numb…but really glad to be away from that maniac and his storm," Bumblebee stated.

Nodding, Mal gently placed her down onto the stone below. He carefully cradled her head in his lap, "I think you should rest first before we move on."

Bumblebee eyed the nearby storm. Vortex was still wildly looking for where she went, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yes, we shouldn't go that far anyway," Mal noted, "I'd rather not come back for him after he finishes Vortex."

"Him?"

"RAW!"

To Vortex's shock, different vines and weeds grabbed onto him from the nearby floating rocks. He fought and struggled but was stopped by a large hand grabbing his head. A larger, unpopulated island from the deeper parts of the Ghost Zone had been directed towards Vortex and allowed Undergrowth to pop from the island to grab onto the ghost of the storm.

"I've heard that you call yourself the master of nature," Undergrowth snarled at him, "Well, I for one would disagree. You're just a bad memory in comparison to the real Master of Nature."

Bumblebee paled at the sight, "You found Undergrowth?"

Mal nodded, "And he's not the only one I found."

"Who?"

"It's kind of complicated. Before I tell you, just keep in mind that they're fighting for our side. Well, except Jericho. He's not fighting. He's working on a special project..."

"Jericho? Who's that?"

"It's a long story."

Doctor Fate floated over the crying Mary. Said girl clutched the babe in her arms closely and wept over the injured body of Freddy. She was begging him to hold on and to stay with her. None of this mattered to Doctor Fate, though. He had his orders. The Marvels must die. Not just the prone child version of Captain Marvel that lie on the ground. Nekron didn't want any possibility of an agent of Shazam showing up to cause trouble.

Raising a hand, the Lord of Order unleashed a blast of golden energy at the children. The golden wave covered the children's forms, but to Doctor Fate's shock, their life energy did not fade away. Stopping his attack, Doctor Fate peered down to see what had happened. A strange shield made of tiny green creatures surrounded them.

To his surprise, the tiny creatures jumped up to attack him. Doctor Fate quickly made a golden bubble to stop the annoying creatures from getting to him. Safe from the fluttering creatures, the Lord of Order tried to decide what to do next. Before he could come up with a plan, his shield was shattered by a punch that shoved its way through the golden bubble and into his stomach. In a burst of green light, Doctor Fate was sent skipping away.

Off to the side, Box Ghost and Lunch Lady were freed from their golden restraints. They both looked on in shock at the newest person to join their fight. Even Box Lunch looked up in wonder at the strange figure. The only conscious person in the area that did not look up to the new fighter was Mary. She was too busy crying over her boyfriend's form.

Lydia turned back and looked down at the girl in a mix of pity and envy, "You are lucky…to have someone who cares so much for you that he would sacrifice everything…The youngling is more of a man than many people I have met, including my own past love."

Mary finally looked up at hearing her words. Her eyes were still laced with tears, "Y-You...D-Do you have any powers that can help him?"

Lydia shook her head, "Unfortunately, no. My powers of animation cannot help here, but…There is someone that can help. Right, little one?"

Box Lunch pointed her hands at the downed Freddy. To almost everyone's shock, the skin of his back morphed back from the smoking and burnt crisp that it was into the unblemished epidermis before the attack. The recovering Freddy breathed out in relief, much to Mary's joy. Box Lunch looked happy as well, but the fatigue quickly overcame that joyful look.

"Just as the definition of 'box' can be extended, the definition of 'meat' can be extended as well, no?" Lydia turned away from the girl and looked to the recovering Doctor Fate, "Ghosts powers are strange, aren't they? You never know what situations they'll be useful in."

Mary let out a sob of joy as she hugged both Freddy and Box Lunch close.

Lydia smiled, "How about I show how my own abilities can be useful. After all, I tend to be more talented in destruction than healing."

"You…" Brother Blood smiled in a disgusting way, "Oh, I'm glad that you showed up. This will make it even better."

"Hmm…" Ace looked on distastefully at the cultists, "So you're Brother Blood. I heard rumors about you before I went to limbo for a bit. Based on what's going on here, though, it seems like those rumors were only the tip of the iceberg."

Looking to the exposed Raven, Ace frowned. With a wave of her hand, she used her telekinesis to bring the scraps of the demi-demon's clothes back up to her and melded the cloth together. With that done, she moved the girls behind her to keep them safe. She would have freed them if she had the time to focus on them, but it seemed like Brother Blood was not going to let her have that time.

Ace felt the fingers of Brother Blood's mental probes poke against her mental barriers. She had to admit that his mental probes were strong, but he was too arrogant. He expected to get the edge over her with ease. That was a stupid. Ace wouldn't fall easily.

She violently knocked the probes away. Before Brother Blood could get over his surprise, she sent out an attack of her own. His arrogant shields crumbled before her unforgiving attacks. She stabbed down into his mental plane multiple times. Several of his memories flashed before her eyes before Brother Blood recovered enough to push her out of his mind.

As the cultist stumbled back clutching at his head, Ace sneered at him, "Your mind is disgusting."

"Little girl…" Black energy flared around Brother Blood, "You just made a big mistake."

"You're right," Ace nodded, "I already regret going into your mind. I feel dirty. If brainwashing had a different definition, I'd want to do that."

"Cheeky brat. I'll tear your mind apart," Blood sent a giant wave of probes to Ace's mind. The young girl had to reinforce her mental barriers to stop the attack. She hissed out in pain as the strange dark energy from Nekron empowered Blood's own attacks, "I'll make you a doll."

Ace managed to hold her shields up even as blood began to trail down from her nostril, "You wouldn't be the first to try, old man. Trying to break me isn't a smart idea, though. Those that try tend to end up dead."

Blood smirked, "Fool. I have the power of death behind me. Such a threat—"

Blood stumbled back as Ace forced his probes away. As he righted himself, he realized that the rubble of his church was shaking. The source was the young woman whose eyes were beginning to glow. She gave a smile that terrified the man to his core.

"That's the thing, Blood. Even with Nekron's power, you're still weaker than me."

Black Bat stood on the top of a roof overlooking Gotham City, "Great. More reanimated dead people."

"Geeze," Nightwing looked at that giant robot that was stepping though the city. The center of the giant robot appeared to be a giant metal brain with eight extended legs jumping out of its sides, "Shiva. David Cain. Joker. Now the Brain? Why do we get so many enemies?"

"Gotham actually didn't get the worst of it," Ravage noted as she looked down at her phone which had a list of different events that were being blogged around the world. Not even the Apocalypse seemed to stop the Internet, "Metropolis had Nekron attack it…Amity Park's got invaded by Nocturne and an army of his Sleep Walkers…Happy Harbor's got a spaceship crashed into it…Jump City has—"

"Okay, I get it," Nightwing rubbed his temples, "I don't need to hear how all my friends are screwed."

"Agreed," Black Bat nodded, "We have our own problems to deal with first. How do we get past the Brain to get to the Zeta Tube?"

"That's a good question," Nightwing stroked his chin. Without the equipment from the Batcave, they had limited options, "Maybe we can get to Bar…Batgirl and ask her for a little tech help."

"I doubt the cripple girl can help with the giant robot," Ravager noted.

"What? How…"

"You kidding me? After finding out who you are, you don't think I wouldn't figure out who Batgirl is?" Ravager rolled her eyes, "Please. Batgirl disappears the moment after the Commissioner's daughter gets shot and crippled? It's pretty obvious, especially considering the same hair color."

Black Bat spoke up before Nightwing could argue, "Then we should probably focus on another plan. Heading towards Barb will only bring attention to her anyway. Do you think that we can use stealth to get past the Brain?"

"It depends if he has heat scanners or not," A new voice surprised the trio.

Ravage turned and smirked at the new figure, "The midget has a point."

"Hey! Who you calling midget!" Gizmo snapped at her. He landed next to her and disabled his jetpack, "I may be a little short, but I'm a man dammit! Respect that, or I'll change my mind about helping you!"

"Gizmo…" Nightwing stared at him, "I thought you were dead."

Gizmo scratched the top of his head, "Truth be told, I don't know what happened. The weird trumpet guy said that I was asleep. Woke up just in time for this shit."

Black Bat tilted her head to the side, "Trumpet guy?"

"Long story," Gizmo stated, "I'll tell you about it after I take care of the Brain. I've been waiting a long time to prove that I'm better than that French has-been."

"How will you do that?"

"Easy," Gizmo pressed a button on his gear, "I'm gonna tear his robot apart with a few friends of mine."

Metal spiders about the size of dogs began to crawl up from all around the city. The metal of the drones was painted green and black. There were wide white teethed grins on the head, and the eyes were green swirls. They all let out pre-recorded messages and childish courses from Gizmo.

"Snot Brain!"

"Burger Breath!"

"Crud Flinger!"

Ravage let out a low whistle, "You hid an army of drones in Gotham? That's impressive."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm too paranoid to keep my drones only in Gotham. I keep an army at the ready in every major city," Gizmo explained.

Nightwing couldn't believe it, "How did you pull that off?"

"Toasters. I replaced toasters in department stores periodically throughout the years. People just took them home and used them without questions. No one suspects a toaster. Not even Batman."

Jester smiled. His ectoplasm jumped with his joy as he sensed the happenings of the world. The tide was turning. He couldn't help his laugh of joy.

"Why are you so happy?" Poindexter asked bitterly. Despite his questioning, he did not look away from his keyboard. He was focused on extending his control and presence to all corners of the Earth. It still irked him that he was doing this instead of saving lives. If he was just allowed to do anything, then that poor young green boy…no, best not to think of it.

"The lost have reappeared," Jester noted, "It seems that Mal has succeeded."

"Good…that's some good news…" Poindexter had to admit that, "That should help."

"It will," Jester went back to focusing on the mirror in his chest, "Soon, everything will come to a head."

"You sure?" Poindexter glared at Jester, "What's stopping the Black Lanterns from turning the tide again? Plenty of people have died, including that Black Lantern. They could resurrect them if they wanted."

"You're underestimating my ability," Jester explained, "I've already halted that little problem. There will be no more new members to Nekron's army."

"I see…" Poindexter nodded, "That's good, because I got a feeling that Beast Boy won't be the only person we lose in these next few minutes alone. You better fulfill your role in this, Jester."

"Indeed. Because if I fail, we all die," Jester did not let his smile drop despite the grimness of his message, "But we should take joy in the moment. The war is finally in our favor."

Miss Martian stopped her crying as she heard the crunch of dirt behind her. It wasn't Zatanna. The magician was still dealing with the monster. That left only one person, and this person was more important than crying over Garfield right now. Revenge was more important than grief in this moment. She could cry once Madame Rogue was dealt with.

"What was it that you said to me back at the Sorcerer Initiative?" Miss Martian pushed herself up to her feet. She turned around to show her glowing green eyes to the mercenary, "I need to be more brutal to beat you?"

Madame Rogue looked pissed from the surprise flight she had just been sent on, "Zhat was zhen, little girl. Now I am a Black Lantern. You don't stand a chance."

"Physically, no, but physical fighting isn't my strong suit. I prefer mental battles," With that said, Miss Martian unleashed her full mental power against Madame Rogue. Unfortunately, the mercenary was ready for it this time. While not a telepath, she did develop a few mental shields to protect her. Keeping her mind safe was important considering her powers and career.

As her shield held against Miss Martian, Madame Rogue held up her ring and sent out a blast of black energy that smashed right into the alien's chest. To Rogue's shock, though, M'gann didn't even flinch. Miss Martian ignored the pain and the charred skin and took a steady step forward toward the assassin. Madame Rogue flinched as another massive strike rocked against her mental shields. She would have tried to heal the shields, but Miss Martian took another step forward and forced Rogue to focus on the physical world first.

Desperately, she sent out another blast of energy that would kill most normal men. Miss Martian just took the hammering blow and continued to step forward to the close to panicking Rogue. Another blow to her mental shields caused her head to ache in pain. This continued again a few more times.

After a while, Madame Rogue realized that this strategy wasn't in her favor. Her next attempt was to create a shade of Beast Boy to go and stop the Martian. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work. But…that couldn't be right. She knew that Beast Boy was dead, yet there was some kind of block happening to her ring. It was like some outside force was erasing the shade before it could materialize.

Hissing out curses, she rushed forward and grabbed onto Miss Martian before the alien could do another mental attack. Madame Rogue then used her powers of elasticity to wrap herself around Miss Martian. She then began to squeeze, strangle, and crush every part of the alien's body, even at the energy burns that M'gann had previously ignored.

Finally, Miss Martian was snapped back to reality from the pain. She cried out in agony and stopped her mental attacks. Madame Rogue smirked at that. She had won.

"Your mental powers impress, little girl," Rogue complimented, "But it's not enough to beat me."

As Madame Rogue began to literally choke the life out of Miss Martian, she extended her ring arm further so that it swung up and back down to point at the alien. A long black blade of energy extended from the Black Lantern ring. With a sense of satisfaction filling her chest, Madame Rogue brought her blade ring down to impale the Martian in the head. She didn't know a lot about the alien body, but Miss Marian's brain was definitely in the head area just like everyone else's. One solid stab would end the Martian witch once and for all.

From the beginning, there was no way for the Martian to win on her own. Rogue was just too powerful with her powers and her Black Lantern ring. Unfortunately for the assassin, in her struggle with Miss Martian, she forgot something. Miss Martian wasn't alone.

"Ekam reh ydob bmun!"

Pandora shuddered in pain. She stood defiantly in between Walker and Nyx. Her own arms were a charred and burnt mess as they held Walker's own corporeal arms still. Eventually, the searing energy from the limbs burnt through one of her limbs and caused the arm to tumble to the ground. That wasn't what hurt the most. No…What really hurt most…was the fact that Walker's attack had torn through almost half of her torso.

The Controller of Chaos gasped in agony. The left side of her body was barely there anymore. She only remained standing because Walker was there to prop herself up. As blood dripped from her mouth, Pandora stared into the gloatful eyes of Walker.

"You're too predictable," Walker sneered, "All of you. Your deluded sense of justice and morality won't let you follow the rules of existence. Rule number 1: Your own life matters more than anyone else's."

Pandora gasped and spluttered out even more blood, "Wrong…You're wrong…"

"M-Mom?" Nyx's tiny whisper weighed down on Pandora's shoulders. Of course this was the time when Nyx finally came to. It couldn't be any other time. Pandora immediately wanted to tell Nyx to run, but that wouldn't help. There was no way Nyx would abandon her.

"Oh! The girly's awake!" Walker laughed in sick glee, "That makes this even better."

"No…" Nyx's voice let out the smallest of sobs, "You can't…"

Pandora refused to look at Nyx. She couldn't turn away from her enemy, and she couldn't let go of Walker. Not yet. The fight wasn't over.

Walker leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry. You won't have to see your daughter suff—AAAAHHHH!"

Pandora twisted her head around to face Walker. She had bit down on his neck and pulled away. Flesh and blood sprayed from her actions.

Walker instantly dropped his enhanced arms and stumbled away. He clutched desperately at his new wound, "You bit—AAAHHH!"

Pandora stopped his words once more with a solid kick to the groin. As Walker knelt forward in an attempt to lessen his pain, Pandora desperately grabbed at him with one of her still remaining arms. With speed and accuracy that would make most Justice League members go wide eyed, Pandora pulled Walker's ring from his finger and threw it away.

No longer empowered by his ring, Walker instantly began to stumble in fatigue and dizziness, "You…"

Pandora punched him across the face, silencing him once more.

"Silence! I grow tired of your words!"

This time, Pandora grabbed onto Walker's arm and broke it at the elbow with a vicious twist to stop any chance of him calling the ring back.

"All you ever do is go on about rules you make up and how we're all fools for not following them, well guess what, Walker! Life isn't about rules…Justice isn't about rules!"

Pandora outstretched her arms and created her electrified spears once more.

"I have always been a creature of Order, but that doesn't mean I blindly follow the rules! Always question authority! Always evolve the system! Always show compassion and love! Always stand by what you believe in! That…" Pandora raised her spears up, "That is justice!"

With one last battle cry, Pandora brought her spears down on Walker. The electrified weapons stabbed deep into the former warden's flesh. He shouted out in pain as Pandora flared her energy and began to tear his body apart from the inside out. Walker desperately tried to do something, but he couldn't control his body correctly. All he could do was shake uncontrollably. To his horror, Pandora did not look like she was going to stop.

"What are you doing?!"

"Taking you with me!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Walker cried in agony as his insides were torn apart. His body quickly began dissolve. He tried to do something…anything to save himself, but he couldn't stop it if he couldn't even control his body. In seconds, the former warden's body completely gave out on him. Without ceremony or hesitation, Walker dissolved into a puddle of goo.

Off to the side, Walker's ring cracked and turned to dust. Another Black Lantern had fallen, but at a great cost…

"This is insane!" King cried out as he and his companion desperately dragged the unconscious body of Colossus through the battlefield. Green Lanterns and Nekron's monsters were fighting in one giant struggle. King had already almost been hit over a dozen times, "Why are doing this?"

"You heard the horn guy!" Jack shouted back. He whipped his helmet head over to his friend, "We need this guy to stop Nekron!"

"Yeah, but the horn guy could have stuck around for a minute to help us get out of here!" King argued, "Why couldn't he just help us first? Where did he run off to anyway!?"

"Who knows?! Just keep moving!" Jack hissed as he ducked under a blast of green willpower energy, "We need to get to Earth!"

"Geeze…" King shook his head, "Who would have thought that we would be helping a ghost like this? Life is strange, isn't it?"

"It is, and I would like to keep mine, so keep moving!"

Kid Flash could only move his eyeballs. Every other muscle in his body wouldn't respond to him. No matter what he tried, only his eyes obeyed his mental commands. As such, he could only watch as Clockwork appeared in front of his eyes. A few feet away from the speedster, the shade of the ghost looked on with a strange combination of curiosity and disappointment.

To Kid Flash's shame, his body was too tired to even let out one last quip in defiance of the situation. That was the ultimate defeat. To die without being able to get the last word out…Kid Flash couldn't think of a worse way to go. Granted, there weren't a lot of good ways to die, but he always hoped that he would eat himself to death.

Acceptance rushed through the speedster as he watched Clockwork's thumb reach up to press the button on his staff. As soon as that button was pressed, Kid Flash was dead, "Time out."

Kid Flash was expecting instant death. As soon as Clockwork touched that button to use that power, he was supposed to be able to move faster than anyone because he was literally frozen in time. Something was different this time, though. When Clockwork's thumb pressed down on the button, a small burst of energy spread out. It was probably something that happened every time, but this was the first time Kid Flash noticed it. In fact, he could literally feel it.

The burst of time energy spread out and flowed into his every pore. At first, that was all it was. Kid Flash still couldn't force himself to move. There was one odd thing that happened, though. Clockwork did not disappear.

Wally watched in confusion as Clockwork idly floated over to him. The ghost didn't seem to notice that his move had failed. Not like it mattered to the ghost. He could kill Kid Flash with ease no matter what. The time stop was only the icing on the cake. The frozen tumble weeds in the distance proved that.

…Wait…The tumble weeds were frozen? How? He thought that the time stop didn't work. If it did then, then why were his senses still working so well?

Kid Flash smiled as the realization dawned on him. He could feel his muscles regaining their vitality and movement. Electricity sparked off of him. Yes. He could work with this. It was time to show what he, and only he, could do.

As Clockwork brought his staff down at Kid Flash's head, he rolled away from the attack and jumped to his feet. He rushed forward with wide grin on his face. Before the Ghost of Time could react, Kid Flash slammed his fist across the ghost's jaw. The speedster continued this with a rapid combination that sent Clockwork reeling.

Kid Flash let out a laugh as he jumped back to avoid a swing of Clockwork's staff, "A little slow, aren't you?"

Clockwork's response was to send different blasts of ectoplasm out at Kid Flash. Said speedster dodged the attacks with ease. His speed was too great for Clockwork to match. In the blink of Clockwork's eyes, Kid Flash was in front of the ghost once more. In a blur of motion and electricity, Kid Flash hit him with a barrage of punches before knocking the ghost to the ground. Holding the ghost down with his foot, Kid Flash smiled.

"You didn't need to use that last time blast…you planned this didn't you, Clockwork?"

Clockwork let out a grin up at him, "Nekron isn't as smart as he thinks."

Spirit felt the ground collapse under her as she landed feet first onto the cement. She let out a deep breath and forced herself to ignore the long gash leading down her arm. Her Premonition screamed at her that Nocturne was following up with the next attack. She danced away from the area and got away just in time to avoid getting crushed by the ghost of sleep.

As soon as Nocturne landed, he pointed his ring at the halfa and knocked her away before she could react to her Premonition. Before he could follow up with another attack, Nocturne was stopped by Cyborg landing straight on his back. The metal man rammed his canon arm into the back of the ghost's head and unleashed a blast of sonic energy over his enemy's skull. This didn't even seem to faze the Black Lantern, though. The attack was only a minor tickle to him.

Still, Cyborg did not let up with his attack. He continued to fire his sonic canon at the ghost's head while holding on for his life with his other three injured limbs. His entire goal was to distract Nocturne long enough for Youngblood to get his sneak attack in from above them. Unfortunately, the Black Lantern wasn't going to fall for that. He reached back, grabbed ahold of Cyborg, and threw the dark skinned man at the other ghost. Luckily for Cyborg, Youngblood managed to stop his attack to catch his friend and not accidently cut him in half.

With that done, Nocturne brought his arm up to block a kick by Spirit. The halfa followed this up with several more kicks. Each attack was blocked with a single arm. This made Spirit curse. Her kicks were strong enough to break the bones of even ghosts. It was only because of that stupid ring that Nocturne was even able to endure their attacks. They had to get that ring off of Nocturne.

Twisting her body at an odd angle to dodge a blast of black ectoplasm, Spirit created three duplicates to distract the Black Lantern. Usually, the halfa girl didn't use this ability a lot. With how her mind worked, getting three other versions of herself to work in unison was a difficult task. As such, she saved the power for extreme emergencies where she could avoid dividing her power.

With Nocturne effectively distracted, she grabbed her friends and pulled them back to regroup, "Let's make this fast. My duplicates won't last long."

"Not to mention the Sleep Walkers. It's only a matter of time before they're done with the defense system," Cyborg reasoned.

"All the more reason to work fast," Youngblood agreed, "What do you got, Dani? How do we take him down?"

"It's kind of a weird thought and a bit of a long shot…" Spirit admitted.

"How many of our plans aren't long shots?" Youngblood argued.

"…Good point. None of our attacks are going to work as long as he's focusing that ring of his as a defense," Spirit held up a single finger and activated the Spectral Claw around it, "I got an idea of how to fix that, but I'm going to need you two to distract him long enough for me to get the jump on him. I'm going to make sure the ring isn't an issue."

Cyborg saw where she was going with this, "You'll only get one shot with this. If this fails…"

"It won't," Youngblood gained a determined look, "Don't worry, Dani, I trust you. Do what you have to do. I'll make sure that you get a clear shot."

Dusk placed a thick piece of bark into his mouth and pressed his back against the tree. He then pressed a glowing green hand against his bleeding side. His body was too exhausted to keep up his normal automatic Numbing ability. As such, he felt every one of his nerves flare in pain as he burned his wound shut.

He hissed through the bark. The wood cracked under the force of his teeth. After a few seconds of this, Dusk spit out the bark and removed his bloody hand away from the burn. Truth be told, he didn't really know the point of doing that. A quick look at his hand showed that his skin was dissolving. His stability had ran out with that last burst of ectoplasm. All he did was chose one death over another, but he couldn't stop himself from trying at least.

"Little halfa…" Aragon's voice sounded through the forest, "I know that you're dying. Why keep hiding? I'll give you a quick death instead of the slow burn you're feeling right now."

That was true. It would probably be smarter to choose the quicker death. Dusk just couldn't find it in himself to give himself up. It just wasn't in it him give up.

"Oh? Still some fight in you? Interesting. I thought you would have lost your will upon seeing your dead loved ones."

Aragon was wrong on that. Dusk was happy to see them again before he died. Having Greta so close again…feeling Cujo in his arms…Well, part of him wished that he went without knowing that Fright Knight was dead. Seeing the fake dissolve into a black blob was painful. The halfa wished that his last memory of the knight was more endearing than that.

"Hehehehe…" Aragon's smugness was clear, "Maybe one last push then?"

"Joel?" A woman's voice sounded from Aragon's location. Dusk didn't have a memory of ever hearing that voice, but he instantly knew who it was, "Son…It's time. Let's go. We can go together."

Dusk let out a hiss of anger. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles popped. The ectoplasm dissolving from his hand dripped down his fingers. This was pathetic. How dare Aragon use his mother!? If he could move, Duck would have punched Aragon in his arrogant face.

It was all fruitless, though. Aragon just wanted the satisfaction of killing him personally. Dusk wasn't going to give the dragon that. He would prefer just to dissolve here and now.

"Thou…thou DARES?!" Troia's voice sounded out. Dusk heard a roar of outrage as Troia did something to distract the dragon, "To use his deceased mother against him in such a way…it's an unforgivable sin!"

"Insolent little girl!" Aragon roared, "You dare lay your filthy hands on me?!"

The sounds of fighting broke out once more. Dusk took a shuddered breath. Troia's outrage for him was a nice farewell gift, "Thank you, Donna…"

Is that it? You're just giving up?

What? It was the voice again? Dusk thought that it was just Aragon trying to trick him back when he was fighting. Was it real, or was he hallucinating?

This is very real, young knight.

Dusk's eyes widened. Only one person called him that.

You are my successor. I will not let you die here. Reach forward.

Shaking, Dusk reached his half dissolved arm forward. He felt something weigh in the palm of his hand. It felt so familiar.

No pull. Unsheathe my gift to you.

Dusk did as instructed. In a blaze of green fire, Soul Shredder appeared in his hand. Just as this happened, a surge of energy rushed through his body. The ectoplasm from the blade reached into him and began to piece everything back together. In an instant, Dusk was stable once more.

"How…"

Did you not notice it before? How Soul Shredder reacted to you back during your previous battles against the demon cat and Trigon? The sword fills the user with power. You are its new master, and as long as you command the blade, it will not let you fall so easily.

Dusk's eyes filled with tears, "I…I won't dissolve? I'm…stable?"

Yes, young one. You are complete. A blurry image of the Fright Knight appeared before the halfa.

"Thank you…" Dusk whispered, "I just wish…I just wish this didn't have to come from your death."

I am content, young…Joel. I am happy for what I have accomplished…for what I have done with my life. Fright Knight raised his hands in joy. For I have had the honor to serve the greatest royal family in history! What more could I wish for?!

"More time…I have so much more to learn…" Dusk wiped the tears from his eyes.

And you will, with me by your side. Fright Knight explained. As long as Soul Shredder is with you, I'm with you. Even if only in spirit.

"Thank you…Thank you so much…"

You're welcome. Goodbye, my friend. Fright Knight knelt in front of Dusk and hugged the halfa. Now go. You have a dragon to slay.

With that said, the Fright Knight faded away for the final time. Soul Shredder burned in Dusk's hands. It lusted for battle and vengeance. Dusk was inclined to give it just that. With a roar, he took off to the sky. He soared to Aragon's location and swung the blade down on the dragon, drawing the ex-king's attention away from Troia.

"You can still fight?!" Aragon shouted in shock.

"No, you dragon bastard," Dusk smirked at him, "I can still win!"

Dark Dan fell face first onto the ground. He tried to force himself up, but he was stopped by a solid punch to the back of the head. His head instantly began spinning as a result.

"Time's up," Nekron breathed out a chuckled, "For you and everyone else…"

Nekron turned around so quickly that the Flash would have done a double take. He took his scythe and instantly cut through the armor protecting Lex Luthor. The Reaper then grabbed unto the billionaire and threw him into a wall like the others. Luthor did not rise again.

Dark Dan, however, did…or at least he tried. Another punch by Nekron pushed the alternate Phantom down once more, "Come on, Danny. I know you're smarter than this. Just give up, and your death will be painless."

"Idiot…You don't know anything…" Dark Dan spat out blood, "There is no such thing as 'give up' for me. Just lying down and letting you win…I'd rather lick the bottom of your foot."

"That can be arranged," Nekron finished off Dark Dan with a vicious stomp to the head. The solid crack that followed showed that Dark Dan would not be getting up this time, "You're more like your other self than you realize. Neither of you lose with grace."

A quick look around revealed that Nekron had finally taken care of everyone. There was no one left to stand in his way…Oh wait. He forgot. There was one more thing he had to do before he could finally end the farce known as Life. Turning to the large man that was kneeling by a wall, Nekron smiled.

"Hello again, father."

"Ekam reh ydob bmun!"

The effect of Zatanna's spell was instantaneous. Every muscle in Madame's Rogue went numb. The blade coming down at Miss Martian's head veered off to the side, leaving the alien unstabbed. In addition, Madame Rogue's hold on M'gann went slack for a brief second. Rogue's Black Power Ring instantly worked to undo the spell. It only took a moment for the magic to be undone.

That second was all Miss Martian needed. Now free of Rogue's agonizing grip, she turned her glowing eyes back at the mercenary's head. In one final push, M'gann shattered Rogue's shields. Then, she entered the other woman's mindscape without hesitation.

What M'gann saw was a trash covered Paris, France. Flashes of past experiences flashed before the alien's eyes. A tiny little girl living on the streets. She used her special powers to silently steal what she needed to live until she learned her extra special power of copying how other people look. From there, Miss Martian saw how an innocent little girl who was just struggling to survive turned into a ruthless woman who would do anything to come out on top.

It was an odd thing to know the past of an enemy. After all, very few people were just plain evil. Everyone has a past, and the villain's past might just be tragic enough to explain so many things. For most people, a feeling of pity and sympathy would come out at seeing Madame Rogue's slow and steady descent into selfishness.

All M'gann saw was her brother's killer.

Miss Martian only needed one single strike to the mental plane to break Madame Rogue's mind. She wasn't about to let the villain get off that easily, though. She followed up with several more blows that shattered everything in Madame Rogue's mind. In a split second in real time, Miss Martian took everything that was Madame Rogue and turned it all into dust and ash. She left nothing left to even suggest a hope that the villain could recover.

As she exited the mindset, M'gann realized that she was holding Madame Rogue up by the neck. Rogue's still extended body lie uselessly below them like tangled rope. Blank eyes stared back at M'gann. Drool dripped down the side of the beautiful woman's mouth.

"Was that brutal enough for you, bitch?" Miss Martian hissed and dropped Madame Rogue onto the ground. The comatose woman did not move after that, even as the ring on her finger turned to dust.

Miss Martian turned and floated over to the cooling body of Garfield Logan. She passed a shocked Zatanna, "M'gann…what did you do?"

"I got justice for Gar…"

Zatanna looked over to the shell that was once Madame Rogue, "That doesn't look like justice."

Miss Martian didn't respond to that. She no longer cared about that. Instead, she gave into the injuries that she had ignored until now and collapsed onto Beast Boy's bloody chest. Unable to move anymore, M'gann just sobbed into the boy's chest and mourned the innocence that was lost.

Pandora collapsed forward. She would have landed straight onto the ground if Nyx wasn't there to catch her and hold her up. As this happened, the black dome around them dropped to reveal that two people had been trying to get into the battle area. Upon seeing that they were too late, though, Ten and Queen froze and could only look on in horror.

"Mommy…" Nyx refused to let her mother hit the ground. Her mom was too great to be allowed to fall like that.

Pandora felt the tears run down from Nyx's face and onto her chest. She weakly raised a hand and gently petted her daughter's head lovingly, "My baby…"

"Y-You were amazing…" Nyx sobbed, "You beat a Black Lantern by yourself! You're the greatest, mom!"

"No…I only did so well because of you…" Pandora felt tears of her own run down her face, "You are my strength…You are my everything, baby girl…Thank you so much for being in my life…"

"Don't die!" Nyx demanded, "You're too strong to die!"

"No one is too strong to die, my precious child," Pandora quietly comforted her baby, "We all must continue our journey into the next world. Now is my time to move on…"

"But I need you!" Nyx cried out in protest, "Who is going keep me in order?! Who is going to encourage me to be my best?! Who…who's going to keep me from turning into another Klarion!?"

"You will, my love," Pandora kissed the top of Nyx's head, "You have your mother's strength of will. No one can overcome that. But don't try to blindly follow in my footsteps. You are not Order…you are not Chaos…You are Nyx. Be you, and you will always find your way through the dark times."

"Mommy…" Nyx clutched her mom tightly, "I love you…I love you so much!"

"And I love you, baby girl. More than anything."

Nyx's loud sobs and cries continued to sound out through the area as Pandora dissolved in her arms. Once the Controller of Chaos was nothing but a puddle, Nyx finally allowed herself to collapse. She bowed her head to the ground and cried in mourning of her beloved mother. Even as Nekron's monsters appeared and the two nearby Royal Flush Gang members tried to fight them off, Nyx did not raise her head from the puddle of goo. Her grief was too strong for her to do anything else.