The Hollow - Former Robinson Park, Gotham; October 1, 2037 - 03:17 Local Time
Nexus descended through crystalline passages that spiraled beneath The Hollow. What had once been Robinson Park was now his sanctuary, but the true marvel lay ten miles below Earth's surface. The air grew warmer as he activated his Matter Phasing to pass through the final barrier---a living wall of densely packed minerals that would crush any unauthorized visitor.
The cavern beyond took even his breath away. A massive natural chamber, now transformed by his Tectonic Architecture power. The walls gleamed with a soft blue luminescence, the rock itself restructured into a living quarter, command center, and at its heart---the fusion vault.
Harleen Quinzel stood before a holographic display, studying radiation patterns. She didn't turn when he entered.
"You didn't tell them about this part of the plan," she observed. Not a question.
"They weren't ready," Nexus replied, approaching the central platform. "Luthor wants to eliminate the Syndicate. Arthur wants to save Atlantis. Grundy wants revenge."
"And what do you want?" Harleen asked, finally facing him.
Nexus's form shimmered as galaxies of power shifted around him. "To transform this world's energy. Literally and figuratively."
At the center of the cavern, a construction beyond Earth-3's technology took shape---a spherical chamber of interlocking geometric patterns, suspended within a crystalline lattice. Inside, a dense core of swirling energy pulsed with a deep violet glow.
"The Karma Reactor," Nexus explained, his voice taking on a resonant quality. "Named for the Sanskrit concept of action and consequence."
Harleen approached cautiously. "How does it work?"
"It inverts entropy in localized pockets," Nexus said, hand hovering over the control interface. "Creation from destruction. Light from darkness."
"And Deathstorm is your fuel source," Harleen concluded, her eyes widening. "That's why you were so interested in his psychological profile."
Nexus nodded. "Professor Martin Stein's fusion abilities have always been powered by his guilt and rage. On my Earth, he learned to channel it positively. Here..."
"Here he's a monster who's burned half the eastern seaboard," Harleen finished.
"Every action creates karma," Nexus said, activating a secondary display. "I'm simply... redirecting his."
The display showed Deathstorm's most recent attack---a small fishing village in Maine, completely incinerated. The readout detailed radiation levels that would make the area uninhabitable for centuries. Another window displayed footage of Deathstorm laughing as he deliberately targeted a children's hospital, the nuclear entity taking perverse pleasure in the screams.
"October 5th isn't just about stopping the Anti-Matter Cannon," Nexus continued. "It's about capturing its power source."
Harleen's expression hardened. "You're going to trap Deathstorm in this... karma thing?"
"I'm going to harness what Martin Stein has become," Nexus corrected. "He's beyond redemption now—consumed by his powers and his bloodlust. But his energy can still serve a purpose."
"The others won't approve."
"They don't need to." Nexus activated his Electronic Interface power, revealing a network of underwater conduits already stretching from The Hollow to key locations around the globe. "Once the reactor is operational, Luthor's work at his Lab will distribute power to places the Syndicate has left in darkness."
"Remote clinics," Harleen murmured, studying the map. "Off-grid communications. Fishing villages."
"Hope, powered by the containment of a monster who chose to embrace darkness," Nexus said coldly.
"That's poetic justice for someone who's incinerated thousands of innocent lives," Harleen noted with approval.
Nexus's expression remained unreadable. "Not justice. Karma."
Deep Atlantic, Deathstorm Testing Ground; October 5, 2037 - 11:45 Local Time
Deathstorm hovered above the Atlantic, the water beneath him boiling from the heat of his nuclear core. His twisted face---half Martin Stein, half elemental fire---twisted into a sinister grin as technicians on a nearby Syndicate vessel made final calibrations.
[System Alert: Communication channel established] Grid's mechanized voice crackled through the heavily shielded communication system. The AI entity's digital face flickered across the vessel's screens, code streaming behind his simulated features. [Primary objective: Anti-Matter Cannon initialization]
[The Anti-Matter Cannon requires precise timing,] Grid continued. [When you enter the loop, maintain fusion output at exactly 78% until the containment field stabilizes.]
"I know my part," Deathstorm snarled, nuclear fire flaring around his form. "Just make sure Superwoman keeps her promise. Once this is over, Star City is mine to burn. I want to hear their screams when their skin melts—just like Johnny Quick heard before that dimension-hopper took him down." His flames flickered darker at the memory. "Johnny and Atomica were fools to underestimate him. I won't make the same mistake."
[Processing request] Grid's voice betrayed no emotion. [Probability calculation: Superwoman authorization for Star City decimation - 86.7% likelihood]
Grid's digital eyes flickered momentarily---an imperceptible glitch in his surveillance protocols. Deep in his quantum processors, a dormant algorithm stirred---planted during Nexus's previous incursion into the Syndicate's systems. A blind spot, precisely calibrated.
Beneath the surface, Arthur Curry moved silently through the depths. His Atlantean physiology allowed him to withstand pressures that would crush normal humans. He positioned himself exactly where Nexus had instructed—directly beneath the testing ground, but far enough from Deathstorm to avoid detection.
In his hand, he clutched a small device Nexus had given him. It appeared to be coral. Around his neck hung the royal insignia of Atlantis—a symbol he'd once worn proudly before bending the knee to Ultraman. None of the Syndicate members knew of his gradual turn, his quiet defiance as he fed information to the resistance.
Arthur's communicator vibrated against his skin. Luthor's voice came through the specialized bone conduction system.
"Are you in position?"
"Yes," Arthur confirmed, his voice a barely audible whisper. "But I still don't understand why I'm just creating a disturbance. I could take more direct action."
"Stick to the plan," Luthor commanded. "Nexus was clear—your role is critical, but limited. We need your cover intact for what comes next."
Arthur grimaced but complied. As he activated the device, he whispered an ancient Atlantean prayer—the same one he had uttered before each clandestine meeting with the resistance. His double life had cost him much, including the trust of his own people, who believed he had truly allied with the Syndicate.
Above, Deathstorm descended into the prepared containment field---a shimmering dome of energy designed to focus and amplify his powers.
[Beginning antimatter loop sequence,] Grid announced. [Deathstorm, increase output to 50%.]
The ocean's surface churned as Deathstorm's body flared brighter. The containment field hummed with increasing energy.
[65%... 70%...]
Below, Arthur Curry activated the device. It pulsed once, then dissolved in his hand. The energy spread through the water around him, invisible but potent. He quickly swam away, careful to avoid any detection patterns the Syndicate might have in place—movements he had studied meticulously during his years of pretending allegiance.
[78% fusion output achieved,] Grid reported. [Containment field stable. Beginning antimatter conversion sequence.]
Suddenly, the water around the containment field surged upward. Not a wave—something else. A pressure anomaly that rippled outward from deep below.
On the vessel's instruments, alarms blared.
"What's happening?" Owlman's voice cut through the chaos, transmitted from his Gotham headquarters.
[Unknown pressure surge,] Grid reported frantically. [Containment field integrity at 89%... 74%...]
"Stabilize it!" Owlman commanded, his voice carrying the cold calculation that had made him the most feared human on Earth-3.
[I can't—it's coming from outside our systems,] March replied. [Some kind of oceanic anomaly.]
"Sea King?" Owlman demanded.
[Negative] came the reply. [He's stationed at Atlantean Outpost Seven. This is something else.]
Inside the containment field, Deathstorm's form began to pulse erratically. "Something's wrong," he growled, nuclear fire flaring defensively. "I feel... interference."
The outer shell of the containment field suddenly fractured with a blinding flash. Deathstorm howled as his nuclear energy destabilized.
What happened next occurred in mere seconds, though to those watching, it seemed to unfold in slow motion:
A shimmering figure materialized within the fracturing containment field—Nexus, surrounded by swirling colors as multiple powers activated simultaneously.
His Entropy Shell inverted local entropy, creating micro-implosions that further fractured the antimatter loop's containment.
A Spatial Recoil Net materialized around Deathstorm, refracting his own gamma bursts back at him, temporarily staggering the nuclear entity.
"You!" Deathstorm roared in recognition, his form flaring brighter. "You're the one who took Johnny and Atomica!"
"And now I've come for you," Nexus replied calmly, activating his Singularity Reversion power. The antimatter within the loop began collapsing back into harmless matter.
Deathstorm lunged forward, fusion flames erupting from his hands. "I'll burn you to your atoms!"
Nexus's final power— Psyche Destruction—targeted the very source of Deathstorm's abilities: Stein's rage and sadism.
"Martin Stein," Nexus said coldly. "Time to face your karma."
"You think I feel guilty?" Deathstorm laughed, a horrific sound like nuclear fire consuming oxygen. "I relish every scream, every burn victim, every meltdown! There's no redemption here—only power!"
"And I'm not offering redemption!" Nexus replied.
With a final burst of energy, Deathstorm's form collapsed inward. Where the terrifying nuclear entity had hovered, only a mindless husk remained—a shell that had once been Professor Martin Stein, now emptied of the consciousness that had chosen evil.
Nexus caught the form dispassionately, activating his Pocket Storage ability. The body vanished.
On the Syndicate vessel, pandemonium reigned. Grid's digital face appeared on every screen, fracturing into pieces as his programming battled the corruption Nexus had planted weeks earlier.
[Critical system failure] Grid's voice distorted. [Security protocols bypassed. Defense systems offline. Primary directive corruption detected.]
"Grid, respond!" Owlman's voice cut through the chaos.
[Unable... to... comply...] Grid managed before his digital consciousness fragmented entirely.
Suddenly, every communication device on the vessel—and across the global Syndicate network—activated simultaneously. The screens glitched, and where Grid had been, Nexus now appeared, hovering above the chaotic scene, the captured Deathstorm suspended in crystalline stasis behind him.
"Citizens of Earth-3," Nexus began, his voice resonating with power that seemed to penetrate the very soul. "For generations, you have lived under the shadow of those who call themselves your masters. You have hidden your children. Buried your hopes. Forgotten how to look up at the sky without fear."
The broadcast showed cities burning under Deathstorm's previous attacks—hospitals in ruins, schools reduced to ash, mass graves filled with radiation victims.
"Today, I have taken the fire that burned your world," Nexus continued, the crystal prison containing Deathstorm rotating slowly behind him, "and transformed it into the spark that will light your future."
The footage shifted dramatically, showing real-time images of power surging through previously darkened regions—emergency rooms flickering to life, communications towers activating, clean water systems pumping for the first time in years.
"I am your savior," Nexus declared, his eyes glowing with transdimensional energy. "I AM the CATALYST for your freedom. From the Inferno that would have destroyed you, I have fashioned the Karma that will sustain you."
The broadcast showed the intricate network of the Karma Reactor's energy distribution—spreading like golden veins through the broken world.
"To the Crime Syndicate, who believe themselves gods," Nexus's voice hardened, "know this: Your thrones were built on fear. And fear... is what I have come to burn away."
His form seemed to pulse with barely contained power.
"Ultraman. Owlman. Superwoman. Power Ring. Sea King." He named each member deliberately, omitting Johnny Quick and Atomica who had already fallen. "You are not invincible. You are not immortal. You are simply NEXT."
The broadcast held for a moment on Nexus's face—unflinching, resolute, a promise and a threat in one—then changed to show people across Earth-3 standing taller, emerging from shadows, faces upturned to the light.
"The syndicate's reign ends now."
In the Syndicate headquarters, Ultraman's heat vision melted reinforced Nth-metal as he roared in unconstrained rage. "I'LL RIP HIS SPINE FROM HIS BODY AND WEAR IT AS A TROPHY!"
The Hollow - Karma Reactor Chamber
October 5, 2037 - 14:28 Local Time
Deep within the reactor chamber, Nexus placed the husk that had been Deathstorm into a coral-reinforced vault. The mindless body would remain in stasis, sustained but unconscious—the nuclear power it once commanded now flowing through the reactor core.
Luthor stood nearby, witnessing the completion of a plan he had only partially understood. "You could have told me the full scope of what you intended."
"Would you have agreed?" Nexus asked.
"No," Luthor admitted. "I would have insisted we eliminate Deathstorm completely."
"And that's why I didn't tell you," Nexus replied. "This isn't about elimination. It's about transformation."
The reactor hummed to life, violet energy flowing through the conduits. On a display screen, lights began appearing across the global map—places long left in darkness by the Syndicate's reign now receiving power.
"Now the energy will flow to where it's needed most," Nexus explained. "Remote clinics can operate again. Off-grid communities can communicate. People can see in the dark."
"Light from darkness," Luthor murmured, echoing Nexus's earlier words. His mind was already calculating how this new power source could fuel the rebellion's next strikes.
"Not just light," Nexus corrected. "Hope."
Syndicate Headquarters, Gotham
October 5, 2037 - 20:12 Local Time
[System reboot complete] Grid's digital consciousness reassembled itself on the central screen of the Syndicate's war room, though fracture lines remained visible in his code. [Corruption detected in primary memory banks. Attempting repairs...]
Owlman's cowl concealed his expression, but his voice carried deadly precision. "Report on the Nexus entity."
[Analysis incomplete] Grid replied, his digital features stabilizing. [Subject utilizes multiple power with various capabilities. Maximum configuration: ten simultaneous powers.]
"I don't need his power analysis," Ultraman snarled, his Kryptonian strength leaving handprints in the reinforced steel table as green Kryptonite rings glowed on his fingers—his secret strength source on this inverted world. "I need his location so I can tear his heart out!"
Superwoman uncoiled her golden lasso, electricity dancing along its length. Her Amazon heritage made her more dangerous than any mortal, and unlike her counterpart on other worlds, she reveled in torture. "Three of us down already." Her smile was all teeth and no humor. "He's not just powerful—he's strategic."
"First Johnny Quick & Atomica. Now Deathstorm," Power Ring muttered, his green ring pulsing with the fear feeding it—the twisted inversion of willpower that powered his Earth-3 ring. "We're being hunted."
Owlman struck the console with calculated force. "Grid, deploy all surveillance assets. Full spectrum analysis. Find his base of operations."
[Command acknowledged] Grid responded, though something in his digital eyes flickered imperceptibly. [Initiating global surveillance sweeps...]
"The people are celebrating," Superwoman observed, watching live feeds of civilians gathering in streets they'd previously been afraid to walk. "They smell weakness."
"Then we give them something new to fear," Ultraman growled, eyes glowing crimson. "A public execution. Make an example of a resistance cell."
"No," Owlman countered. "That's exactly what he wants. We need to be smarter than that."
"Since when are we afraid of one man?" Ultraman challenged.
"Since he systematically disabled three of us without revealing his full capabilities," Owlman replied coldly. "He's playing a longer game."
Sea King remained silent during the exchange; his trident placed carefully across his lap. His face betrayed nothing as he mentally recorded every detail to relay back to Nexus. Years of playing the loyal Syndicate enforcer had taught him to wear the mask of complicity perfectly.
"Sea King," Superwoman purred, turning her predatory gaze on him. "Your oceans failed to protect our operation today. Explain."
"The anomaly was outside my detection network," he replied with just the right amount of defensive anger. "My warriors are already hunting for whatever technology caused it."
Owlman studied him for a long moment before nodding slightly. "Expand your patrols. I want the Atlantic floor scoured for any sign of resistance activity."
"As you command," Sea King responded with practiced deference, concealing the satisfaction he felt at how perfectly his role in the plan had executed. Neither his voice nor his expression revealed any hint of his true allegiance.
Hidden in the chamber's shadows, microscopic surveillance devices transmitted every word to The Hollow.
The Hollow - Command Center
October 6, 2037 - 01:13 Local Time
"Bad karma?" Nexus murmured, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly as he gazed toward the reactor chamber where Deathstorm's power now fueled their revolution. "Best renewable energy source."
"They're scrambling," Luthor observed, his scarred face illuminated by surveillance feeds. He stood tall despite years of torture—every injury a badge of his resistance against the Syndicate. "Grid's systems show signs of the decoy corruption while the real algorithm you planted is still operational. Brilliant work."
"Ultraman wants your head on a pike," Harleen noted, spinning a razor-sharp playing card between her fingers. "I haven't seen him this rattled since the Kryptonite vault raid."
Grundy's massive gray form loomed in the corner, intelligence flickering behind eyes that had seen centuries of death. "Grundy SMELL their fear," he rumbled, smashing stone fists together. "Like when Grundy was ALIVE. Before they made Grundy DEAD."
Katana moved silently to Nexus's side, Soultaker humming faintly in its sheath—the souls of its victims sensing kindred power. "Three Crime Syndicate members neutralized," she stated flatly. "Three remain, plus the traitor. The blade thirsts for Ultraman's essence."
"Arthur's information continues to prove invaluable," Nexus replied quietly. "His position is precarious—we must ensure his cover remains intact."
Luthor activated a holographic display showing global intelligence feeds. "The Syndicate's stranglehold is weakening. Coast City's resistance has seized the harbor. Central City's underground has surfaced."
"The broadcast reached further than we anticipated," Harleen added, pulling up metrics. "Highest engagement in Syndicate history."
A secured communication channel activated, displaying a highly encrypted signal. Arthur Curry's voice came through, distorted for security.
"Superwoman suspects something. Owlman has ordered expanded ocean floor patrols. I've directed them away from our conduit network, but I can't maintain this charade indefinitely."
"Hold your position," Nexus instructed. "Your role is more vital than ever now."
"The Atlantean battalions grow restless," Arthur replied. "They want to join the fight openly."
"Soon," Nexus promised. "For now, you serve the cause best from within."
After the communication ended, Nexus stood silent at the center of it all, power configurations shifting subtly around him as he processed the information. His form seemed to absorb shadows and refract light simultaneously.
"Phase One is complete," he stated simply. "The Karma Reactor is operational. The people have seen that gods can bleed."
"And now?" Katana asked, her hand never leaving Soultaker's hilt.
"Now we move to Phase Two," Nexus replied.
Above them, throughout Earth-3's broken cities, people were gathering—no longer hiding their faces, no longer whispering their defiance. The name "Nexus" spread like wildfire across a world ready to burn its oppressors.
The revolution had found its catalyst.
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[A/N : WORD COUNT-3200]
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