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The tension in the air was palpable, thick like a storm about to break. Green Lantern the one who spoke tried to lessen the tension as Hawkgirl, Atom, and Red Tornado stood frozen, watching him as he continued to gaze indifferently at the rising sun. Each second that passed felt like a coiled spring, ready to snap.
He ignored them, his focus still on the horizon as the sun bathed the sky in vibrant gold and orange hues. The ocean shimmered with the light, calm and endless. As the cool breeze of the salty wind in his mouth, His fingers drifted down to the rocky shore, picking up another stone, a simple motion that somehow triggered something in the heroes behind him.
Hawkgirl, her instincts sharp as ever, reacted immediately. Misreading the gesture as a threat, she launched herself forward in an instant, her wings slicing through the air as she brought her Nth metal mace crashing down toward him. The others followed her lead, their training kicking in without hesitation.
Before the mace could land, he moved. The stone left his hand with a flick of his wrist, flying through the air with precise, unerring speed. It whizzed past Hawkgirl's head, grazing the edge of her Nth metal helmet with such force that it knocked it clean off her head, sending it spinning into the distance. The impact was enough to send a shockwave through her body, her wings faltering as the sheer force rendered her immobile in midair before crashing down the sandy beach floor.
The entire exchange had taken less than a heartbeat, and the others didn't have time to react before he was on them.
With the grace and precision of a Valorian warrior, he moved like a blur, faster than their eyes could track. Green Lantern's ring flared to life, but before he could form a proper construct, his wrist was twisted in a brutal hold, sending a surge of pain through his arm. cutting off his concentration and In one fluid motion, his ring hand was slammed into the ground, and the green energy flickered and sputtered out as he was disarmed and incapacitated in a matter of seconds.
Red Tornado launched a gust of wind toward him, trying to throw him off balance, but it was futile. His body cut through the cyclone with ease, his super speed allowing him to close the distance between them in an instant. His hand moved faster than Red Tornado could register, grabbing a critical point in the android's systems frame and sending a disabling surge of force through his mechanical body. Red Tornado collapsed to the ground, his systems temporarily scrambled.
Atom shrank down to his microscopic size, but it didn't matter. With his enhanced senses, he could track every movement, every particle. Atom's attempt to land a blow from his miniature form was met with a brutal counter as he leaned his body every time he struck dodging every attempt to hit him. His body was then swatted away like an insect, forced to return to his normal size as he was slammed into the sand, his breath knocked out of him.
It all happened so fast, a brutal symphony of motion and skill, and within the span of less than a minute, the heroes were on the ground, disarmed, incapacitated and out of breath. His training, his instincts, had taken over as a Valorian, and the fight had ended almost as soon as it had begun.
But Atom wasn't done. In a last, desperate act of defiance, he pulled a mini dagger from his belt enlarging it — its emerald glow shimmering ominously in the rising sunlight. Atom thrust it toward him, the blade cutting through the air with deadly intent.
But he saw it coming.
Without a second thought, he activated his heat vision. Twin beams of burning red light shot from his eyes, hitting the dagger dead-on in a precise, focused strike. The heat of the blade rendered his grip loose before the back of a palm stuck into his hand force sending a shockwave rippling through the air as the dagger stopped mere inches from him.
Atom's eyes widened in shock as the blade, now glowing hotter from the heat vision, wavered in midair. But the glow was unmistakable. Kryptonite.
A frown creased his face as he examined the blade. So, this was what the heroes had brought against him. an anti-Kryptonian weapon. A hint of frustration flickered inside him — not fear, not anger, just a cold annoyance and a question why?
With a flex of his fingers, he reached for the dagger, plucking it from the air effortlessly. He turned it over in his hand, feeling the poisonous energy radiating from it. Kryptonite. thanks to his radiation absorption he can feel its poison It was designed to kill someone like him, someone similar his powers. They came prepared for Superman. But I'm not him.
Without a word, he clenched his fist, and with a casual throw, he sent the dagger flying back toward the horizon. The force of his throw created a sonic boom, the air cracking with the sheer velocity. The blade disappeared into the sky, sailing miles away in the blink of an eye.
The entire exchange had taken no more than sixty seconds.
He took a deep breath, feeling the wind shift as he activated the nanotechnology of his suit. The liquid-like substance emerged from the ring on his finger, swiftly reconstructing itself around him. The sleek black armor formed once more, molding to his body like a second skin. His cloak settled behind him, billowing slightly in the wind.
The Justice League members lay incapacitated around him, unconscious or too stunned to move. He cast one last glance at them before turning his gaze upward, toward the sky. The sun was fully rising now, painting the world in gold. But he knew reinforcements would be on the way. The League didn't work alone, and it wouldn't be long before more of them arrived.
Without hesitation, he took off, launching himself into the air. The world blurred beneath him as he ascended higher, faster, breaking through the atmosphere and into the vast expanse of space. The stars glimmered around him, cold and distant, as he flew farther and farther from the planet's surface.
But even as he escaped into the void, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the beginning. The heroes would come for him again. The world would soon know of his existence. And now, there was no going back.
The Justice League would want answers.
And sooner or later, he would have to decide which side of this battle he was truly on.