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GOTHAM - BATCAVE
Bruce Wayne sat before the Batcomputer, cowl off, fingers moving with precise efficiency across holographic screens. Data streams reflected faintly in his eyes: alien tech signatures, magical anomalies, satellite gaps. Routine vigilance.
Then
The air shifted.
No sound or tremor.
Just pure pressure.
Bruce's fingers stopped.
He didn't turn immediately. He didn't reach for a weapon. He simply narrowed his eyes as the cave's ambient sensors spiked then failed, then went dead for half a second.
That was enough.
Behind him, the shadows near the Batmobile thickened. They folded inward.
A figure stepped out.
Tall. Armored. Silent.
Igris.
The Shadow Marshal's violet eyes burned beneath his helm as he planted his sword into the stone floor, not as a threat, but as a form of greeting. His black cape unfurled behind him… and then he grabbed it.
Opened, like a doorway.
From within that living darkness, a second presence emerged.
Arthur stepped out calmly, boots touching stone, the shadows peeled away from him and sank back into Igris's cloak, leaving him standing in simple dark clothing eyes glowing faintly violet, posture relaxed.
Igris turned, bowed once to Arthur, then dissolved into shadow and vanished as if he had never existed.
Only then did Bruce turn in his chair.
He stared at the spot where the shadow soldier had been.
Then at Arthur.
"…That's one hell of an entrance," Batman said flatly.
Arthur inclined his head just slightly. "Pardon me for it. But you did arrive in my home uninvited once."
Batman snorted quietly, already standing now, cape settling around him. "Fair."
They studied each other for a moment without moving an inch.
"So," Batman said, voice level, professional. "What do you need, Arthur?"
Arthur didn't answer right away. He walked past Bruce instead, boots echoing softly as he moved through the cave. He looked at the Batmobile. The suits. The trophies sealed behind reinforced glass. Each glance was brief, respectful, never lingering.
"It's not that I need anything," Arthur said finally. "And I'm not here to complain about your constant surveillance. Or the fact that you've been watching people close to me."
Batman's jaw tightened, but he didn't deny it.
Arthur stopped near the massive display of Earth rotating slowly above the central platform.
"I'm here," Arthur continued, "because you're one of the greatest minds on this planet. And I have something to say, call it a request if you may."
Batman crossed his arms. "I'm flattered," he said dryly.
Arthur turned back to face him.
"I may be going to attract enemies to Earth," he said plainly. "Serious ones. Unpredictable ones."
Batman didn't interrupt.
"I'll be giving you instructions," Arthur went on. "On how to fight them. What you can fight. What you must not. When to engage, and when to run."
Bruce's eyes sharpened.
"What you're saying," Batman replied, "is that you want command authority."
Arthur nodded once. "I do."
Silence stretched.
"I haven't told anyone else," Arthur added. "Not the League. Not even those close to me. Just you."
Batman studied him carefully, every micro-expression cataloged. Then
"You're not bluffing," Bruce said. "What kind of enemy are we talking about?"
Arthur's eyes glowed brighter as he answered. Not threatening. Just… distant.
"Extremely powerful. Magical. Their armies number in the millions. They don't conquer for territory or ideology, they kill. That's their purpose."
Batman frowned. "Sounds unrealistic." Then paused. "…But your tone says you've fought them before for some reason."
Arthur smirked faintly. "I can't explain this to you but, I did, more than once."
Batman turned back toward the Batcomputer, already pulling up a new encrypted file. "I'll create a contingency archive. Restricted. Off-League." He glanced over his shoulder. "I won't brief them yet. We've got a more immediate problem."
Arthur looked around. "Where's Lobo?"
"He escaped," Batman said.
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"At least," Batman continued evenly, "that's what I made him think."
Arthur turned fully toward him now. "What did you do?"
"I offered him a better contract," Bruce replied. "Drop the bounty. Track down whoever put it on you. Payment upfront." A beat. "I left the money in front of him."
Arthur chuckled softly. "He refused."
"He did, he might be an idiot but he follows a certain code." Batman agreed. "So I left a structural flaw in his containment chamber. One drop of blood was all he needed to escape." His mouth twitched. "He took the money and left anyway."
Arthur sighed. "No matter."
"I put a tracker in his blood," Batman added. "Mister Terrific design."
Arthur shook his head slowly. "That won't be necessary."
Bruce's eyes narrowed. "You already know."
Arthur's expression hardened violet eyes sharpening like blades.
"There are only a few beings who would want my head badly enough to hire Lobo," he said. "And only one arrogant enough to believe it would work."
Batman straightened. "I've got three suspects. None of them are Earth-based."
Arthur met his gaze.
"Darkseid."
The Batcave seemed colder suddenly.
Batman didn't speak for several seconds.
Then, quietly
"…That explains everything."
"That is the most likely suspect," Batman added, "But I anticipated he wouldn't make a move after the last time."
Arthur's brow creased slightly. Just a fraction. Enough to show interest.
"Last time?"
Batman's fingers paused over the console. For a moment, he didn't look at Arthur at all.
"A long time ago," he said. "Boom Tubes opened across the globe. Not an invasion, an incursion. Parademons. Organized, expendable, aggressive." His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Darkseid's soldiers."
The Batcomputer shifted, projecting ghostly blue images into the air, winged silhouettes screaming through fire-lit portals, cities framed in alarm and chaos.
"We beat them back," Batman continued. "Every team. Every asset. Afterward, we traced their origin. Apokolips. These were scouts Arthur, not an army. Measuring response time. Power thresholds. Psychological resistance, all in all he wanted to know how strong earth is."
Arthur folded his arms slowly, leather creaking softly. His expression darkened with realization.
"And that," he said quietly, "is how Superman made him cautious about this world."
Batman finally turned, meeting Arthur's gaze.
"Exactly."
There was no pride in his voice. Only fact.
"Shortly after," Batman went on, "Lobo showed up. Contract hit. Target was Superman. We didn't know of course who put that bounty back then." His mouth curved into something humorless. "We didn't beat him. We redirected him. Misdirection and deception. That's how we made him leave."
Arthur exhaled through his nose, a faint sound halfway between a sigh and a laugh.
"And you tried to connect it back then."
"I did," Batman said. "But there were too many variables. Intermediaries. False trails. Darkseid doesn't always pull the trigger himself." His voice hardened. "Now? With you in the equation? There's no ambiguity left."
He faced Arthur fully now, cape shifting as he turned.
"Superman made him wary," Batman said. "You clearly made him fearful as well."
Arthur's violet eyes flicked briefly across the cavern over the Batmobile resting like a predatory animal, over the suits encased in glass. Then he looked back at Bruce.
"I can deal with him," Arthur said calmly. "But that won't be the end of it."
Batman didn't interrupt. He simply waited.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"This Darkseid," Arthur said, beginning to pace, boots clicking softly against stone, "is not The Darkseid."
Batman's eyes narrowed a fraction.
"Explain."
Arthur walked slowly, hands clasped behind his back now.
"Kill him," Arthur continued, "and another will rise. It might be a different face. But be sure it will be the same will. Same tyranny. Same equation." He glanced over his shoulder. "He's an avatar, Bruce. A projection. A manifestation of something far older and far more fundamental."
Batman said nothing. His silence was heavy, analytical.
"You can burn Apokolips to ash," Arthur went on. "Shatter its forges. Break its armies. And you'll call it a victory." His smile returned, faint and knowing. "But you won't have ended him. Not really."
He stopped walking.
The shadows around him rippled.
Arthur turned fully now, violet light igniting in his eyes, blazing and deep.
"Unless," he said softly, "you destroy the source."
Batman's cape stirred as if caught by a breeze that didn't exist.
"The true Darkseid," Arthur continued. "The idea. The constant. The thing that exists beyond flesh and throne." His lips curved upward just a little more. "That's the only way to get rid of this problem."
Batman studied him, mind racing through contingencies that didn't yet have names.
"You're talking about killing a cosmic principle," he said.
Arthur shrugged lightly.
"I keep these things in mind," he replied. "The real threats. The ones that don't stop just because you punch them hard enough."
"One of my goals," Arthur said, voice calm, almost pleasant, "is to end him. Not the avatar. Not the warlord." His gaze locked onto Batman's. "The real Darkseid."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want