The warehouse had become eerily quiet after Jazz's meeting with Batman and Superman.
She sat alone with her notebooks, reviewing her notes with methodical precision when a familiar blue glow announced Danny's arrival.
"So," he floated down beside her, his Blue Lantern uniform casting gentle shadows across her pages, "how'd it go with the World's Finest?"
Jazz closed her notebook carefully. "Productive. They understand our position better now."
"Which means you psychoanalyzed them until they retreated," Danny translated with a knowing grin. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
"I simply clarified certain misconceptions about our family dynamic," Jazz replied, though a small smile played at her lips.
"And established boundaries regarding their involvement in your development."
Danny whistled. "You went full protective big sister on Superman and Batman? Wish I could've seen that."
"Where's Samael?" Jazz asked, changing the subject as she gathered her materials.
"Still with Mom and Dad. They've moved from 'future of ghost hunting' to 'proper calibration of ecto-weapons.' I escaped when Dad started dismantling the Fenton Toaster."
A crimson glow suddenly filled the warehouse entrance as Samael appeared, his Red Lantern uniform fading into casual clothes as he entered.
"You weren't in the psychology classroom," he stated flatly, eyes narrowing at Jazz. "And you," he turned to Danny, "were supposed to be helping Dad with the new containment unit."
"About that-" Danny started.
"They were here," Samael cut him off, his voice carrying dangerous quiet. "Superman and Batman. I can sense the residual energy signatures."
Jazz stood, meeting her brother's gaze steadily. "I invited them. We needed to establish parameters for their involvement."
"Without telling me?" Temperature in the room began to rise slightly.
"Without you intimidating them," Jazz corrected gently. "Some conversations need to happen without rage powers in the mix."
"She's got a point," Danny floated between them. "You do tend to get a little... glowy... when discussing League oversight."
Samael's fists clenched briefly before he visibly forced himself to relax. "What did you tell them?"
"The truth," Jazz replied simply. "That we're not subjects for monitoring or potential threats to contain. We're family. And family protects its own."
Something in Samael's posture shifted at her words. "And their response?"
"They're processing," Jazz allowed a small smile. "I may have given them some philosophical homework about the foundations of their moral frameworks."
"You didn't," Danny groaned, though his blue energy pulsed with amusement.
"Oh, I did," Jazz's smile widened slightly. "Complete with comparative analysis of subjective ethical positioning versus familial protective imperatives."
"In English?" Samael requested, though his own tension was visibly easing.
"I explained that their rules are based on their experiences, not divine law," Jazz simplified. "And that your protection of family isn't something that needs 'fixing' or 'containing' - it's who you are."
The warehouse fell silent as Samael processed this. After a moment, he nodded once. "Good."
The air suddenly split with a sound like tearing metal. The temperature plummeted as both brothers' ghost senses activated simultaneously – Danny's cold mist and Samael's burning chest.
Before anyone could react, a figure crashed through the dimensional tear, rolling into a combat stance with practiced precision.
She wore a modified Batsuit, scorched and battle-damaged almost beyond recognition. Her cowl was cracked, revealing a glimpse of red hair and a face hardened by something far worse than mere combat.
In her hands, she held a weapon unlike anything they'd seen before – a fusion of technology and ghostly energy that hummed with deadly purpose.
"Target acquired," she stated coldly, the weapon trained directly at Samael's chest.
Danny's blue energy flared as he moved to shield his brother. "Who are you?"
"Doesn't matter," the woman replied, her finger tightening on the trigger. "Only the mission matters."
Samael's ring pulsed crimson as he assessed the threat. "Batman sent you?"
A bitter laugh escaped her. "Batman is dead. They're all dead. Because of you."
The weapon discharged before anyone could respond further. Instead of a conventional blast, it fired what appeared to be a specialized containment field – one that bypassed Danny's shield completely and wrapped around Samael with impossible precision.
"What the-" Samael's crimson energy flared as he fought against the confinement, but the field seemed specifically designed to counter his powers.
"Your ring can't save you," the woman stated, advancing with practiced caution. "This technology was designed to neutralize all your abilities – ghost powers, Lantern energy, and rage transformation."
Jazz moved forward, hands raised in a placating gesture. "Whatever you think Samael has done-"
"Not what he has done," the woman cut her off, her voice hollow with grief. "What he will do. What I'm here to prevent."
Danny fired a blast of combined ghost and blue energy, but the woman dodged with inhuman speed, firing a secondary device that temporarily disrupted his powers.
"I studied all your moves," she explained, her tone eerily detached. "Every technique, every strategy. I had years to prepare for this moment."
Samael's containment field constricted further as he struggled against it. "Who are you?"
"In this time? No one you know." Her finger moved to another trigger on her weapon. "In my time, I was Barbara Gordon. Batgirl. Your ally. Your friend." Something like pain flickered across her face.
"More than that, eventually. Before you destroyed everything."
The warehouse walls shuddered as Samael's rage built against his constraints. "I would never-"
"But you will," Barbara cut him off. "When everyone you love dies, when your rage fully breaks free, you become something else.
The Destroyer of Worlds. The Blindness of God.
The Maestro."
Danny recovered from the disruption, his blue energy gathering once more. "Whatever future you're from, we can change it without killing my brother!"
"I've heard that before," Barbara replied, adjusting something on her weapon. "Many times, across many shown attempts. It always ends the same way."
Jazz's analytical mind raced through possibilities. "If you've tried before, why would this time be different?"
"Because this time, I'm not just killing him," Barbara explained, her voice cold with resolve. "I'm removing him from the timeline completely."
The dimensional tear behind her pulsed with temporal energy, widening further. The containment field around Samael began to pull him toward it.
"No!" Danny shot forward, only to be repelled by another blast from Barbara's secondary weapon.
"Stay down," she ordered, though her voice carried no malice. "This ends now. It has to."
As the containment field dragged Samael inexorably toward the portal, something changed in the dimensional tear.
The swirling energies darkened, shifted, as if something on the other side had taken notice of the activity.
Barbara's eyes widened with sudden fear. "No. Not now. He can't have-"
Her words cut off as a massive green hand – impossibly large, scarred, and radiating terrible power – burst through the portal.
The hand grabbed Barbara with brutal efficiency, beginning to drag her back through the dimensional tear.
"No!" she screamed, genuine terror replacing her professional detachment. Her free hand shot out, latching onto Samael's containment field as she was pulled backward.
"Not like this!"
The force of her being dragged pulled Samael along with her, his containment field still preventing him from breaking free.
"Samael!" Danny launched himself forward, grabbing onto his brother's arm just as they reached the dimensional tear.
"Danny, don't!" Jazz cried out, rushing toward them as reality itself seemed to bend and tear.
The massive hand pulled Barbara through the portal, Samael's contained form dragged along with her, and Danny holding desperately to his brother.
Jazz's momentum carried her forward, and before she could stop herself, she too plunged into the dimensional tear.
The warehouse fell silent, empty except for the lingering scent of ozone and despair as the portal snapped shut behind them.
The journey through the temporal rift felt like being torn apart and reassembled molecule by molecule.
When consciousness returned, it came in fragments – sensations before sophisticated thoughts, pain before complete understanding.
Danny was the first to recover, his ghost form naturally more resilient to dimensional travel.
He found himself sprawled on cold stone, his blue ring pulsing weakly as it attempted to restore his energy.
Beside him, Jazz lay unconscious but breathing, her analytical mind temporarily overwhelmed by an experience it couldn't categorize.
Barbara knelt nearby, her weapon shattered beyond repair. The containment field that had held Samael had collapsed during transit, leaving him unconscious but free a few feet away.
"Where are we?" Danny managed, pushing himself to his knees.
"The future," Barbara replied, her voice hollow with defeat. "My present. Your nightmare."
As Danny's vision cleared, he began to understand her words. They were in what appeared to be a throne room, but one constructed from the ruins of multiple realities.
The walls contained fragments of buildings he recognized – the Watchtower, Wayne Manor, Fenton Works – all fused together in a grotesque monument to destruction.
The air itself felt wrong, heavy with the residue of broken dimensions.
Outside, through massive windows, he could see a landscape that defied comprehension – pieces of Earth, the Ghost Zone, and other realms he couldn't identify, all forcibly merged into a patchwork reality.
"What happened?" Danny whispered, helping Jazz as she began to stir.
"The end of everything," Barbara answered, her voice barely audible. "And the beginning of his empire."
Jazz's eyes widened as she took in their surroundings. "This can't be real."
"It's real," Barbara confirmed grimly. "What's left of reality after he broke it apart and remade it in his image."
Samael groaned, beginning to regain consciousness. His ring flickered erratically, as if struggling against some unseen force permeating this broken reality.
Heavy footsteps suddenly echoed through the throne room, each impact making the stone floor tremble.
Barbara's face drained of color as she stared past them at something approaching from the shadows.
"He's here," she whispered, terror evident in every syllable. "He knew. He always knew."
Danny turned, positioning himself protectively in front of his still-recovering siblings despite his own fear. What he saw emerging from the shadows made his blue energy flicker with instinctive horror.
It was Samael, and yet not Samael.
Towering in his Hulk form, but changed – his green skin darker, crisscrossed with scars that glowed like molten metal.
His hair hung long and wild, a black mane that framed a face both familiar and terrifyingly strange. A beard, similarly dark and wild, covered the lower half of his face.
Most disturbing was his eyes – still green, but with something ancient and terrible burning behind them.
He wore armor that seemed forged from the remains of multiple worlds – fragments of Lantern uniforms, ghost technology, and materials that defied identification.
No Red Lantern ring adorned his finger; instead, his entire being pulsed with internalized rage energy, as if he had somehow absorbed the ring's rage completely.
"Welcome home, Barbara, I see my dear wife that you've brought guests." The Maestro smiled wickedly.
----------------------------
(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter!
Do tell me how you found it.
So, we are gonna begin the Ultimate Enemy's story now.
For those who've read my Ultimatrix in DC fanfic, you probably understand the reference with Barbara.
So yeah, do tell me how you found it, and I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)