The Throne Room of Vandal Savage was a cavern of shadows and flickering lights, a cathedral built in reverence to ambition and violence. Monitors lined the walls, each displaying the chaotic footage from the battle aboard the Watchtower: the Justice League grappling with the grotesque Lex-Amazo fusion. Again and again, Savage watched, eyes unblinking as the footage looped, savoring every frame.
But it wasn't the League that held his attention. It was the anomaly.
The boy... no, the beast cloaked in white flesh, his body a weapon of divine fury, had appeared like a harbinger of annihilation. Savage leaned forward slightly, his ancient, scarred fingers drumming against the throne's armrest, the sound sharp and deliberate.
"Is everything set and ready?" he asked, his voice low and oily, carrying the weight of centuries of malice.
From the suffocating darkness, Ultra-Humanite emerged, his monstrous form refined in a white tailored suit that strained against his mutated muscles. His yellowish eyes gleamed with disdain as he twirled his cane idly.
"Do you take me for some common thug, Savage?" he scoffed. "I always deliver on time. Unlike others… who slither and scheme behind closed doors."
Vandal smiled thinly, the expression more predatory than amused.
"Two-faced, you say? Perhaps. But only fools mourn the fall of pawns," Savage murmured, waving a dismissive hand at the looping image of Lex-Luthor's abomination crumbling. "Lex allowed his vanity to rot his intellect. He could have ruled worlds, yet he chose to play God."
Ultra-Humanite sneered but said nothing more; some truths were too bitter even for him to deny.
"And our little side quest?" Savage asked, his gaze never leaving the screen.
Ultra-Humanite tapped a small device in his hand, and a schematic of the Watchtower's systems floated before them, data streams cascading like waterfalls of corrupted code.
"The Watchtower's teleportation system is compromised," he announced with a vicious smile. "I successfully rerouted their entire teleportation systems to integrate with my own technology, which now allows me to have complete command over the destinations they can be teleported to. Additionally, I have ensured that my teleporter has access to their system, enabling me to seamlessly navigate between their locations and my own with ease."
Savage chuckled a sound like dry leaves crumbling underfoot.
"Excellent," he said.
From the swirling gloom of the throne room, others began to materialize, drawn by blood and promise.
Deathstroke was the first to emerge—a walking executioner, his armor painted in shades of death, each weapon on his person practically humming for violence. His one good eye gleamed beneath his mask, cold and calculating.
Next came Black Adam, a demigod draped in sorrow and rage. His footsteps cracked the marble floor, sparks of infernal lightning crawling across his obsidian skin, his very aura suffocating lesser beings with the sheer magnitude of his contempt.
Cheetah prowled into view, muscles rippling under her spotted fur, her claws flexing with anticipation. Her mouth twisted into a hungry smile that promised savagery and slaughter.
Finally, Sinestro descended from the air, his yellow power ring casting ghastly illumination across the room. The former Green Lantern's face was sculpted into a sneer, his disdain for all life radiating like a beacon.
Vandal Savage rose from his throne, the ancient bones in his body creaking like the groaning of a great machine stirring after eons of dormancy.
He looked at them—his hand-picked instruments of devastation.
"The Justice League has always believed they were the shepherds of mankind," Savage said, voice dark and commanding. "They have grown soft, bloated with pride and hubris. But tonight… tonight we clip the wings of these so-called gods."
Deathstroke rolled his shoulders with a metallic hiss, checking his twin swords.
Black Adam's lip curled in disdain. "I will crush them."
Cheetah purred deep in her throat, licking her blood-red lips. "I just want to taste them."
Sinestro floated silently, his ring casting grim patterns across the ceiling.
Savage's grin widened, shark-like.
"Then let us begin our little visit."
As he spoke, another figure hummed with delight in the darkness, cradling a cat in his arms and gently stroking its fur in anticipation.
"I didn't know mortals could be so much fun!"
His eyes glowed with an eerie red light, and a sickening smile graced his face. "I do love a bit of chaos every now and then."