Chapter 47: The Gathering Storm.

More advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido, where I'll be updating new chapters daily for this whole week.

(Jon's P.O.V)

As the echoes of Waller and Hugo's arrest faded into the cool evening air escorted by federal agents, I took a slow, steady breath.

Belle Reve had fallen.

The chaos I had orchestrated was now settling into eerie silence.

The prison fotress stood strong on the outside but its inner belly was tainted with broken control systems, smoldering wreckage, and shattered illusions of power.

I glanced toward Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, the so-called pillars of justice.

They had arrived on time but a little too late to stop me.

And even now, they had no idea what I had truly accomplished here.

"Jon," Pa's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I met his gaze piercing, yet filled with hesitation. He looked... conflicted.

"You planned this," he stated, more of a realization than an accusation. "From the start. It was never about Kara."

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously."

I mean Kara was a victim in all of this. Back then she'd needed help and family, not prison time. She simply provided the perfect excuse.

Batman stepped forward, eyes sharp beneath his cowl. "The riots, the mind control, the power dampener shutdown—it was all unnecessary and not what we agreed on."

"Agree to disagree. How's Batrat by the way?" I asked with a knowing smile.

Batman narrowed his eyes at me.

"You can't seriously be mad," I said, raising an eyebrow. "You were going to bring Waller down eventually, weren't you? I just did it faster. More efficiently."

Superman's expression darkened. "You endangered lives."

I sighed. "No one died even if many of them deserved it. I stayed true to the no-killing rule. And despite my methods, let's not pretend Waller's reign here was just. I gave this place back to the people she enslaved."

"By manipulating them," Wonder Woman added, arms crossed.

I smirked. "Call it what you want. We all know the truth, I brought down Hitler. And if you think I'm overexaggerating, check out Sublevel 3 where she keeps the freaks."

The living conditions in the Non-human cell block were...let's just say, a chicken coop had better sanitation.

A thick silence settled between us.

I could feel Superman struggling. He wanted to be proud. But he was also disappointed. I had crossed lines he wasn't ready to admit existed.

Batman? He was watching me like a predator watches prey, trying to decipher how deep my plan ran. Nothing new there.

Wonder Woman? She simply observed, arms crossed, her gaze unreadable.

I shrugged. "You should be thanking me. Waller's out of power, Task Force X is done, and Belle Reve is finally out of her hands. Mission accomplished."

Superman exhaled sharply, his fists clenching and unclenching. "Jon... what happens next?"

That was the million-dollar question, wasn't it? I had achieved everything I'd planned to in Belle Reve. I was stronger. Probably almost or at Dad's level of power. But it wasn't enough.

I gave him a serious look. "Next?" I turned my gaze skyward. "I prepare for the real fight."

He frowned. "Real fight?"

The winds shifted. The air hummed. A ripple in the fabric of existence itself.

I felt it with Oneness. The hairs on my skin prickling with premonition.

Something was coming.

Something big. Probably for me.

For the first time since my transformation, I felt truly seen by the universe.

Not as Jon Kent.

Not as Superboy.

Not as Dagger.

But as something more.

I turned my back on Dad, Batman, and Wonder Woman and began to walk back into Belle Reve. "You'll see soon enough."

("Raven, it's time to go.")

("Already? Aaaww but I wanted to st- ugh, I can't even finish that sentence. F*ck this place.")

My laughter answered her.

-0-

The moment Jon had awakened his Seeds of Potential—Psionics and Ki—a ripple tore through the very fabric of existence.

It wasn't a subtle shift. Though almost no one on Earth had felt it due to the high vibrational frequency of the ripple. Not even Jon knew.

It was a shockwave—an unseen force that traveled across dimensions, through space and time, shaking the foundations of reality- the Source Wall itself.

Every cosmic entity, every god, demon, and celestial being felt it.

For the first time in countless eons, something new had been born into the universe.

Something that didn't follow the rules.

Something that should not exist.

And it terrified them.

-0-

Darkseid sat upon his obsidian throne, unmoving, his burning red eyes staring into the void.

He had been meditating in silence, communing with the grand tapestry of reality when he felt it.

A presence.

A shift in the balance of power.

The sensation was… unfamiliar.

Even with his mastery over the Omega Effect, even with his knowledge of the existence of the Anti-Life Equation, even with all the divine and demonic forces he had faced—this was something else.

A pulse of power had awakened.

One that carried the chaotic energy of raw creation, yet the structured control of absolute order.

One that defied the categories of gods, mortals, and everything in between.

Darkseid's expression remained stoic, but within the depths of his mind, a singular thought formed:

"An anomaly. Weak but one that cannot be ignored."

With a slight movement, he raised his hand.

"Desaad."

At once, a swirling boomtube of gold energy formed at the base of the throne.

A withered figure emerged, draped in sickly robes, his face sunken yet filled with cruel intelligence.

"My lord," Desaad bowed deeply, his voice slithering like a serpent. "You have summoned me."

Darkseid's voice rumbled like an earthquake.

"A presence has awakened. One that is neither god nor truly mortal. It has disrupted the order of existence."

Desaad's face twisted into a mix of intrigue and caution. "An unknown power?"

Darkseid's eyes glowed brighter. "A power beyond the Universe's known unknowns."

Desaad's lips curled slightly. "And its location?"

Darkseid's fingers curled around the armrest of his throne.

"Unknown."

That word alone sent a ripple of unease through the chamber.

Darkseid always knew. His Omega Effect had seen the fall of empires, the rise of gods, the inevitable decay of all things.

But this?

This was hidden from him.

A puzzle. A threat. A key.

"The search begins now," Darkseid commanded. "Find this anomaly. Bring me its name, its location, its purpose."

Desaad bowed again. "As you command, Lord Darkseid."

Darkseid's eyes flared with cosmic fire.

If this being was what he suspected—if this anomaly could be molded into a key that would finally unlock the ultimate secret- the Anti-Life Equation would finally be within his grasp.

But if it could not…

Then it would be eradicated before it became a worthy enemy.

-0-

Across the far reaches of space, Apokolips moved.

Three of Darkseid's Generals, Desaad, Granny Goodness and her furies, and Steppenwolf the commander of the inexhaustible army of Elite Parademons, were unleashed onto the Cosmic.

They scoured the universe, hunting, searching, following the ripple of power left behind by Jon's awakening.

And with them came war.

Planets that had nothing to do with Jon burned.

The first invasion struck Thanagar.

A world of warriors, home to the mighty Hawkmen and Hawkwomen, Thanagar was no stranger to battle.

But when the skies darkened with thousands of Boomtubes emptying out Parademons, when the warships of Apokolips descended like gods of death, the Thanagarians realized they were facing something different.

The skies were torn apart by fire.

Entire cities crumbled under the might of Apokoliptian forces.

Thanagarian warriors fought back fiercely, their Nth metal weapons slicing through the invaders—but for every one they felled, a hundred more replaced them.

The world was on the brink of falling.

And Thanagar was just the beginning.

The next target were their long term neighbors and enemy, Rann.

The technologically advanced home of Adam Strange and the Zeta Beam.

Their energy signatures had unknowingly drawn the attention of Apokolips, mistaken as remnants of the anomaly's power.

When the Parademon horde descended, Rann's defense systems struggled to hold the line.

But even with their greatest warriors, the tide was overwhelming.

The Green Lantern Corps received the first distress signals.

Kilowog, John Stewart, and an entire fleet of Lanterns responded—only to find themselves in the middle of an intergalactic war.

The battle had begun.

---

Far beyond the physical plane, in the domain of the Lords of Order, a great disturbance was felt.

The ethereal beings, ancient and eternal, gathered in a space beyond mortal comprehension.

Nabu, and the other guardians of order convened.

"Something has changed," one of them spoke.

"The threads of fate shift," another whispered.

"An anomaly walks the path of gods, yet is no god. And now the EVIL that Is, hunts, disrupting the balance once more."

They turned their collective gaze toward Earth.

Toward a single name.

Jon Kent.

"The fabric of order is fraying. We must choose a side or watch on as Chaos reigns."

A decision was made.

One that would soon place Jon on the path of fate he could not escape.

-0-

Deep beneath the darkest realms of existence, within the abyss of Hell itself, something stirred in a palace made of sins and tormented souls trapped within it's boney enclaves.

A presence vast and unfathomable opened its eyes.

Trigon, the Devourer of Worlds, the Great Corrupter, felt it.

His throne of suffering trembled witha trillion screams as his consciousness expanded, stretching beyond the barriers of his realm.

His eyes, like pools of endless fire, turned toward a single point in existence.

Earth.

More specifically—his daughter.

And beside her…

Him.

The boy.

The one who had taken Raven from him.

The one whose presence corrupted her allegiance and True self.

The one whose existence defied Trigon's will.

The boy had grown strong enough for Trigon to entertain his demonic vassals by crushing him.

The Interdimensional Evil curled it's red lips into a cruel, jagged smile.

"Ah, Ant of light…" he rumbled, his voice shaking the very walls of his infernal domain.

"You dare stand between me and what is mine?"

The shadows around him twisted, taking shape, his demonic legions kneeling in submission.

"Then you will suffer."

Trigon's power boiled, seeping through the cracks of reality and feeding into the red gem on Raven's forehead through their familial bond. Preparations for a gateway he would soon force open.

Jon Kent had made another enemy of another Evil.

And Trigon was soon coming.

-0-

Across dimensions, realms, and galaxies, beings of unimaginable power turned their gaze toward the unknown name.

A force that did not belong to any existing structure of power.

A catalyst for something far greater.

Something that could either save or destroy the entire universe.

In the distant Overvoid, unseen by all, a figure cloaked in shadow observed the multitude of universal spheres from the outside.

It had no face.

No form.

Only knowledge and a book made from the hide of a beast that had never existed.

This figure was one of the most Undeniable pillars of Life and Creation.

Destiny of the Endless, had watched the rise and fall of countless gods, civilizations, universal cycles and Omni-Empires.

But this?

This was different.

For the first time in existence, true uncertainty had been born. One that had rewritten it's own fate in the book of Destiny.

"Stay your hand. Not the time to destroy just yet, don't you think?" Destiny asked it's companion, a gigantic cyborg Superman with red and green eyes whose sole purpose was to guard the DC Multiverse from external threats.

Destiny had just stopped Cosmic Superman from erasing Jon's entire universe, deeming it a threat to the rest.

"Besides, he is your son. And a good parent trusts in their children to do the right thing. Who knows, Jon Kent might surprise us all."

-0-

In the aftermath of Belle Reve, one inmate Icicle Jr was marked as the only escapee. No one knew where he'd gone.