Darkseid Is

"LET! THEM! FIIIGGGHHHTTT!" Hal shouted in a power pose as the horde of Parademons slammed into my army of Klyntar-Demons.

The four of us followed them into battle as the numbers of Parademons continued rising, as one might expect from an army forged to conquer the multiverse. Power Girl demonstrated hax Kryptonian powers by keeping up with me while also not annihilating everything that comes into contact with her.

We were soon joined by a third bolt of pure speed, this time red joining our black and white display. Soon I had to stop when a third ridiculously fast warrior joined the fray and started slaying both the Apokolips forces and my boys. In a true display of the Speedforce that had Barry's head snapping I arrived to block a Wonder Woman sword strike with the All-Black Claymore.

Her surprise at both my appearance and the way the All-Black bit deeply into her sword didn't stop her from throwing punch with her off hand that I slipped.

"Peace, woman." I told her, "You are destroying both the invaders and the defenders of this city. The black ones are mine."

"You're… a god!" Wonder Woman gasped as Superman dropped down to separate us.

"I'm sorry, did I mishear that?" Hal asked as he and Barry neared out little clash.

Up above the Parademon's pulled back from the city.

"The enemy is reorganizing. Assembling for an even larger attack." Batman stated.

Superman looked at him and nodded, "Alright, now what?"

"Are we just going to ignore the accusation of godhood that just happened?" Hal demanded then jumped back when a blood red circle tore open a portal next to me.

"The giant hunter known as Devilance has retreated, Grandfather." Calliope emerged with a grin and her hammer slung over her shoulders, "I didn't even have to engage combat mode."

Hal screamed, "Oh God, they're multiplying!" when a third portal brought Cassiopeia back to us.

"Not God, gods." Diana corrected the man.

"Forgive me Father, the Furies escaped capture." my daughter shook her head, "Their portal technology tore my containment field to shreds."

"Who are you people?" Superman demanded in a far more aggressive tone than his usual appearances.

"I am Empress Calliope of the Neo Viltrumite Empire!" Calliope declared as she slammed the butt of her hammer on the pavement, "Goddess of luck!"

"You can be my god-empress any time!" The Flash smiled and waved at her.

"So we are just putting that information out there?" Cassiopeia asked then shrugged, "I am Empress Cassiopeia, the goddess of Victory."

"This war is already won!" Diana declared full of confidence from having goddesses of both luck and victory on our side.

"Depends." I growled.

"On what?" Superman inquired.

"On how much power he put into that avatar." I pointed at the approaching Darkseid, floating towards us at the head of a Parademon army that blocked out the stars in the night sky.

"Excuse me a moment." I told them as I reopened my third eye and opened portals to recall my forces from across the world to return for this major battle.

Thousands of Klyntar-Demons flooded the space above the city and settled in, turning their arms into powerful energy weapons.

I chose to take this threat seriously as well, donning my full armor and withdrawing the Invincible Skulls from storage. I created a blood red energy shield in my off hand, and ignited a similar aura around the All-Black to combat the Omega-Beams.

Seeing my transformation, Cass and Calli made similar changes.

"Planeswalker." the voice of Darkseid carried across the distance between us as if he spoke beside me, "You and your spawn have gained my attention."

"Hey, we're here too!" Hal shouted at the god of evil.

"Darkseid you craggy dried out fossilized scrotum." I laughed, "Earth…"

"Oh let me say it!" Calliope interrupted.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Earth isn't yours to conquer!" Calliope shouted.

"Because we are here." Cassiopeia finished.

"All will fall to Darkseid." Darkseid declared and his forces began their suicidal charge into the Klyntar-Demon's cannon fire.

"This is the true danger of teaching your kids history." I complained, "They steal all your cool lines."

"Those seemed like very basic lines." The Flash informed me.

"They are elevated by the subtext." I told him as red lighting discharged around my body, "And mean a hell of a lot more when someone like me says them."

Using the Speedforce and my own natural Divine Super Viltrumite speed I closed distance between me and Darkseid in an instant, destroying every Parademon between us. My sword descended on Darkseid's neck faster than he could react, then slowed to a stop before making contact, stopped by a constant thwumbing of telekinetic force.

"Darkseid deems the strength of your arm…lacking." He stated with his hands still clasped behind his back, "Now begone!"

Two red beams of bioelectrical energy bearing the might of the Omega Effect burst from Darkseid's eyes and I put my shield between us with the full might of my energy absorption behind them.

"Oh that has zip!" I shouted in ecstasy as the excess energy formed a blazing shroud over me.

"You deem me lacking?" I asked the surprised New God, "This hurts you."

The next slash of my sword tore through Darkseid's hands free attempt at telekinesis and carved open his chest, forcing a howl out of the ancient being. He got his hands between the return stroke and stopped the strike, then tried to hold me down with his matter manipulation.

He failed and I breathed a sea of fire that drove him back from me. The god of evil protected himself, but the army behind him pouring out of Apokolips fared far worse, facing complete annihilation in the conflagration. With my load blown, Darkseid and I returned to a stalemate of me attacking and him attempting to both defend and crush me with telekinesis.

But unfortunately for the god of evil, I'd spent the evening gathering a quirky yet highly competent team. We may not be True Companions yet, but when Power Girl came in out of left field and delivered the first in a synchronized sequence of mollywhoppings that proceeded from Superman, Calliope, Green Lantern, then Wonder Woman and Cassiopeia at once, I don't think the big guy cared that we'd not even finished introducing ourselves yet. The coup de grace came when I cycled in for my turn and I pointed the All-Black at him with the Invincible Skulls circling around the hilt.

"We are Invincible!" I declared as the mouths of my Invincible Skulls opened and together with my sword fired a spiraling red beam of power Dragon Ball Z style at the New God Tyrant.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Darkseid roared as he poured his power into his eyes and the beams clashed, his quickly lost in the river of blood red power I launched at him constantly.

My attack cut off when the the golden arc reactors cut out from overuse, leaving my form illuminated only by the glowing red symbol of the Viltrumite Empire. A symbol as burnt into Darkseid's mind as violently as his charred flesh after that lost collision.

The burn husk hung in the sky then growled, "Revel in this moment, Planeswalker. For soon you shall learn, as all shall learn: Darkseid is."

With that ominous line, Darkseid left the building, or in this case the planet. The man can in fact teleport with just a thought, and he fully shredded the rather minor magical moorings I'd set up during the team's first official Moment of Awesome.

"Darkseid is what?" Hal shouted, "Why'd he just leave us hanging like that?"

"Darkseid is." I stated as we hung in the air over the Atlantic Ocean and my Arc Reactors came back to life, once again ready to flush my system with power, "The death cry of many a powerful beings that have given into the despair of Darkseid. He basically told us that we will all experience such horror that we will only find relief in death, if he permits it."

"Oh, that really puts a damper on this win." Hal sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck and rolled it to produce a few loud cracks, "Kinda a lot of confidence from a guy they are going to have to pull dental to ID."

"He can come back as often as he likes, we shall throw him back every time!" Dianna of Themyscira proclaimed with her bloody sword in the air.

"That's the spirit!" I laughed, "And in the meantime you should all pray to whatever you hold faith in that he never gets the opportunity to show you exactly how creatively evil he can be. You can pray to me if you so choose. My religion comes with… pamphlets."

From my bag I pulled out a series of folded paper advertisements for the worship of me, featuring me on the cover with two thumbs up and a winning smile.

"As for you…" I turned to Power Girl and stared silently.

The Kryptonian and I engaged in a quiet war of wills while the others tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Some would find the pause awkward, but to those truly verse in the arts it is a chance to perfectly project confidence during the rapidly rising tension. And then, as it becomes unbearable, finally, finally you just say:

"How about it, then?"