Chapter 195: The Unseen Strings Tighten, A Symphony of Strain and the Beast's Awakening Tremors

The weeks following the unholy trinity broadcast cast the world into a dizzying whirlpool of perplexity and escalating hostility. **Lex Luthor's** masterfully constructed tale, supplemented by **Vandal Savage's** cold-blooded exhortations for bold leadership and **Klarion's** wrecking havoc, started to unravel the international fabric at a greater rate than the **Justice League** could repair it. The orchestra of tension swelled, resonating with the discord of fear and suspicion.

In the Watchtower, the primary screen showed a kaleidoscope of disturbing statistics: riots breaking out over minor disagreements, critical infrastructure succumbing to inexplicable malfunctions, and a frisson of polarization of web discourse where rational debate descended into abusive ranting. "It's not the big cities anymore," **Robin** said, scanning a quickly updating global hot map. "The strife is seeping even into the most isolated communities. Mordru's not only attacking major cities; he's infecting society's capillaries."

**Zatanna**, her face white from constant spellcasting, leaned back in her console. "The psychic dampener is holding, but it's like trying to stop a tsunami with a sieve. His influence is evolving, making new channels around my wards. He's getting smarter about our defenses."

**Michael** monitored the energy levels of the **emerald beast** in Gotham. "And he's channeling all that worldwide turmoil directly into it. The power signature of the beast is off the charts. It's no longer a contained threat, Superman. It's a living battery for Mordru's final ritual."

**Superman's** face clenched. "We have to drive harder, expose them overtly."

"Easier said than done," **Wally** interrupted, phasing through a wall in a frustrated exhale. "I attempted to hack into a dozen of Luthor's broadcast satellites, but his security is tighter than a drumhead. And Klarion? Smoke. I prevent him from turning a national monument into a giant jester hat, and he reappears five minutes later instigating an instant, localized panic attack in a shopping mall. Unpredictable."

**Aqualad**, his words resolute, cut through the growing anger. "We have to keep going. Every little bit of order, every saved community, is a rebellion against Mordru's plan. We have to be seen, we have to be heard. We have to be the hope that they're trying to put out." 

The **Young Justice** team found themselves in a state of constant deployment, a last-ditch campaign of damage control.

* In one case, **Artemis** and Aqualad broke up a small town melee where a town hall meeting had turned into a virtual riot over a seemingly trivial zoning issue. Artemis disarmed several upset citizens who somehow found themselves in the process of brandishing weapons, and Aqualad, exercising his Atlantean diplomacy, calmed hot heads and re-established communication, head-on challenging Savage's rhetoric of inevitability of conflict.

* **M'Gann** spent hours in telepathic contact, contacting those most touched by the widespread fear and paranoia, gently reminding them of shared ground and shared humanity, attempting to calm the unseen psychic barbs of discord. She would come back to the Cave exhausted but determined, her mind a temporary refuge from the world's disintegration.

* **Robin**, operating from the Watchtower for nearly all of his efforts, was a counter-propaganda master. He and Michael collaborated, utilizing Michael's **Libriomancy** to create subtle counternarratives hidden within legitimate news feeds or social media trending stories, as Robin's algorithms unmasked the false flag operations and manufactured evidence promoted by Luthor's media giant. It was a drawn-out, tedious process, akin to attempting to drain an ocean using a teaspoon.

The increasing tension came out in flashes of strained nerves. "This isn't happening soon enough!" Wally exploded in an impromptu debrief. "Folks are losing confidence! Whenever we turn on the news, Luthor's smiling, vowing to clean up the mess *he's* creating!"

"Patience, Wally," Michael said, but a weariness steeped deep within him. "Mordru's game is a game of slow wearing away. Our counter-narrative has to take time to get into people's heads. We're engaged in a war of ideas, not fists."

Then, a fresh, ominous alarm shrieked from the Gotham quadrant. The seismic waves across the **emerald beast's** seal site amped up manifold. Weblike fissures started to spread across the shield energy field, and a low, raw growl shook the Watchtower's very foundations.

"It's a full awakening!" Zatanna screamed, her voice thin. "Mordru is drawing it to him! The convergence is beginning!"

The unholy trinity's faces crowded the international screens again, their faces exultant. Luthor's voice, now dripping with thinly disguised malevolence, announced, "The truth, my friends, is revealed! The League's monstrous shortcomings are getting out of their hands! Mankind requires real leadership, now, before chaos engulfs this world!"

The **emerald beast** of Gotham flailed, the earth shaking. The containment field rippled, creaked, and started to rip. The song of stress was building toward its horrifying crescendo, ringing out with the awakening quakes of the beast. Mordru's final bet was unfolding, and the Justice League and Young Justice knew that the moment for nuanced counter-narratives was passing. The inevitable showdown for Conner, and for the very future of Earth, was now at hand.

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