Bruce was counting.
Not seconds. Patterns.
Every time Superman punched forward, the alien machine retreated exactly three meters. Diana attacked left, enemies appeared on the right. The Flash hit hard, the machines regrouped elsewhere. It was too coordinated. Too perfect.
[They're guiding us. Not fighting us. Guiding.]
"Superman," Bruce said into the communicator. "Don't push forward. Stay defensive."
Superman didn't hear him. Or didn't listen. The Kryptonian was already through the next machine, moving deeper into the city.
[Damn it.]
Diana was faster to understand. She'd fought too many battles not to recognize a trap. "Something's wrong," she said. Her voice was different now—not excited. Wary. "They're falling back too easily."
"They want us to follow them," Bruce replied.
But it was too late.
The sky changed.
Not gradually. Not like clouds gathering. Just—changed. The light above darkened from gray to black. Not like sunset. Like someone closing a door on the sun.
The cloud machines descended from orbit. Hundreds of them. Massive. Organic-looking. They moved in perfect synchronization, creating a blanket of darkness that spread across the horizon.
Within seconds, Metropolis went dark.
Green Lantern's ring flickered. "What the—"
"Power source is being blocked," he said, his confidence cracking. "The ring's power level is dropping. I can't—my light won't—"
"Stay calm," Diana said. But Bruce heard the doubt in her voice.
The machines stopped retreating.
They just stood there. Waiting. Watching.
Flash vibrated harder. Not from excitement now. From fear. "Guys, I can't see. How am I supposed to fight if I can't see?"
"Heat vision," Superman said. His voice was tight. "I can still—"
"That's not the point," Flash interrupted. The nervousness in his young voice was sharp now. "The darkness doesn't matter to them. They've got thermal imaging. Radar. We've got eyesight we can't use anymore."
Bruce's mind was working faster. The pattern wasn't random. The retreat wasn't a mistake. The darkness wasn't a coincidence.
[They planned this. From the beginning. They knew we'd come. Knew we'd fight. Knew we'd win the battles.]
"Back to the compound," Bruce said. "Now. Move."
They moved.
But the machines followed. Not attacking. Just herding them like cattle toward Wayne Manor. And Bruce finally understood: The machines could have destroyed them at any point. Instead, they were guiding them somewhere.
[We're being led into the trap. And I led them there.]
The Bat Cave war room was lit by emergency lights. Red. Casting shadows everywhere.
J'onn was standing at the monitors, his green skin flickering. Not from injury. From something worse. From realization.
"The atmospheric machines," J'onn said slowly. His voice was hollow. Exhausted. "They're orbital. Creating global cloud cover. Blocking UV radiation."
"Why would they block light?" Peter asked.
J'onn's eyes closed. When he opened them again, there was something broken in them. "Because the Imperium are xenomorphic. They evolved under a red star. Blue radiation—UV—burns them. Kills them instantly."
Diana understood immediately. "They're removing the sunlight."
"Permanently," J'onn confirmed. "Once the cover is complete, they rule. The darkness stays. Humans collapse. Society fails. And they own the rubble."
Superman clenched his fists. "How long?"
"Hours," J'onn said. "Maybe less."
The monitors showed it happening in real-time. The cloud spreading. Covering North America. Then Europe. Then Asia. The world going dark.
And the machines—they didn't attack the compound. They just stood outside. Waiting.
Wade noticed it first. "They're not trying to breach. They're just... standing there."
"Pressure," Bruce said quietly. He was still processing. Still calculating. Still trying to find the angle they'd missed. [Where did we fail? What did I miss?]
"They're not trying to break in," Selina said. She was watching the same feeds Bruce was. Watching the same pattern. "They don't need to."
"Why wait?" Peter asked. His spider-sense was screaming. Bruce could see it in the way the kid was shaking.
Bruce saw it then. The massive shape descending through the darkness. The mothership. Bigger than anything they'd fought. Organic-looking. Ancient.
[Oh.]
"They're letting us think we're safe," Bruce said. His voice was steady but his hands weren't. "While they land."
The compound shook.
Not from weapons. From something massive settling onto the ground above them.
"Bruce—" Flint started.
The walls exploded inward.
Not from force. Just machines pushing through reinforced concrete like it was paper. Professional. Coordinated. Like they'd rehearsed this exact scenario.
Superman threw up his arms. "I'll hold them—"
But there were too many. Three machines grabbed him. One. Two. Three. More. His strength didn't matter when they hit from every direction at once.
Diana drew her sword. It flashed in the darkness. Alien soldiers fell. But for every one that fell, three more poured through the breach.
Flash tried to run. But the darkness slowed him. Without seeing, he was just another person running blind.
They caught him. Bound him. Dragged him toward the massive opening in the wall.
Green Lantern's ring went dark completely. Power depleted. He fell to his knees. One machine grabbed him.
Hawkgirl screamed. Her wings were powerful but they held her down anyway. Four machines. Five. She fought until her strength gave out.
Shazam released lightning in desperation. It burned through one machine. Two. But he was young. Inexperienced. A third machine hit him just right. His body went limp.
Green Arrow fired arrows from his position. Each one coated with Supremium. Each one finding targets. But arrows weren't enough. They grabbed him anyway.
Bruce was the last one standing.
He could have run. Could have hidden. Could have tried to escape into the darkness of the cave system below.
Instead, he walked forward.
Flint caught his eye for just a moment. Bruce saw the understanding there. The sand-form ready to move. Ready to escape. Ready to execute the plan Bruce had prepared before they even left the compound.
[Not captured. Pretending to be captured.]
Bruce raised his hands.
They grabbed him too.
The mothership's bay was massive. Organic metal walls. Pulsing with some kind of bio-luminescence. Not light. Something else.
The heroes were separated. Thrown into different containment cells. Bruce could hear them shouting. Fighting. Trying to find a way out.
But they wouldn't find one.
Diana in one cell. Superman in another. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Shazam, Green Arrow—all separated. All alone.
Bruce's cell was dark. Just a single glow from the walls. Enough to see that there was no way out.
[Perfect. Now the real plan begins.]
Then the Imperium Leader arrived.
It descended from the upper levels. Thirty meters tall. Armor that gleamed white and silver. Eyes that burned with intelligence and hunger.
The Conqueror.
It moved through the bay, examining each cell. Checking on each hero like a scientist examining specimens.
Then it saw J'onn.
The Leader stopped. Actually stopped. Its entire body went rigid.
"You," it said. Its voice shook the entire bay. Not rage. Recognition. "I remember you, Martian. You were there when we took your world."
J'onn tried to retreat. To use his telepathy. To escape.
The Leader was faster.
It broke open his cell and grabbed him. Lifted him like a toy.
"You thought you could hide from us," the Leader said. It didn't shout. It just spoke. And the certainty in its voice was worse than any scream. "You thought you could help this world. You thought you could save these insects."
It began to torture J'onn.
Not to kill him quickly. To break him slowly. To make him watch as the world fell.
J'onn screamed telepathically. Every hero felt it. The pain. The despair. The certainty of defeat.
Superman threw himself at his cell. The walls didn't break. He just bled.
Diana was silent. But Bruce could feel her rage through the connection.
Flash was hyperventilating. Young. Scared. Realizing that speed didn't matter here.
And Bruce—Bruce stood in the darkness of his cell and smiled.
Because Flint wasn't in a cell.
Flint was moving through the ship. Sand form. Invisible. Undetectable.
And Bruce had given him exactly one mission.