The angel called Zauriel opened his mouth and issued forth a voice, which only possessed a small fraction of the power of the true voice of the Presence. Yet even that fraction was enough to send sonic shockwaves through the desert battleground and the soldiers in unmarked uniforms crumpled to their knees from the pain in their ears.

One of them fought through the pain just enough so he could draw his sidearm. He tried to focus his vision on the creature hovering on feathered wings, taking careful aim and he pulled the trigger.

The bullet never found its mark. Instead, the soldier felt the area around his neck grow extremely hot. His eyes glanced down and he saw a sword forged from fire held against his throat. His head was held back by the hand of the angel, who stared down at him with glowing red eyes.

"I'm going to give you once chance to live,” he said. "Why did you attack me?"

"Scorched earth operation, no survivors," said the soldier. "Those were our orders."

"And who gave them?" asked Zauriel. "Why don't you have any markings on your uniforms?"

"Private security firm," said the soldier.

"Which one?" asked Zauriel.

"He won't tell you anything, angel."

Zauriel dropped the soldier and faced the newcomer. A dark skinned man with long, black hair and tattoos covering his body, holding a staff in his hand. "And who are you?"

The man smiled. "I'm the one who's come to help you discover your true purpose on Earth."

"What would you know about any of that?" asked Zauriel. "And what are you doing here?"

"Tala was just the beginning, wasn't she?" asked the strange man. "There are bigger threats coming. From below, from above, and from beyond this planet."

"Yes," said Zauriel. "I'm not sure what exactly is coming, my memory is muddled, but I do know that it's big. And I know I'm here to help stop it."

"Then we stop it together," said the man.

"These men, the people they work for, they need to be stopped," said Zauriel.

"And they will, by those who have the means to. But for now, we have bigger concerns of our own. The Justice League must be prepared for what's to come. As much as I hate to say it, that means we must let these men go for now."

Zauriel looked down at the soldier once more, and then the flames from his sword vanished. The angel kicked the soldier into the sand and approached his new ally.

"Okay, you obviously have some connections," said Zauriel. "Care to explain them?"

"The great spirits speak to me, that is all."

"Fine by me. You got a name, Apache chief?"

"I'm called Manitou Raven."

	The World's Greatest Superheroes! DESPAIR Part III: Awakenings
JLA #48 March, Year Seven	by Dino Pollard

THE BATMAN	MARTIAN MANHUNTER	SUPERMAN	BLACK LIGHTNING	AZTEK

THE FLASH	ATOM	ZATANNA	JADE	ZAURIEL

The married couple emerged from the movie theater with their young son in tow. He skipped along the street excitedly, mimicking the movements he just witnessed Tyrone Power acting out on the screen.

The young boy jumped forward and thrust his invisible rapier, and that's when he noticed the man who stood before his family. He wore a long trench coat and the boy looked into the man's eyes, which glowed brightly in the darkness beneath the wide brim of his hat. The man's skin was pink and he smiled with teeth that were of another world.

"Still moaning about the loss of your parents, eh Brucie?" asked the man of the child. "How long ago was this? How many decades have past? And yet, underneath all that leather and angst and training, this is who you really are, isn't it?"

The boy turned from the strange alien, running past his parents.

"Bruce? Bruce wait!" his father called after him, but Bruce continued to run in the opposite direction. He heard two gunshots ring out and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw his parents lying right by his feet as if he hadn't moved an inch.

Bruce felt a new weight. He glanced down and saw his small hand was clutching a smoking gun. He dropped it in horror and started to run, but tripped and fell in his parents' blood.

"Nothing but a frightened, little child," said the alien. "Still struggling for mommy and daddy's approval."

"This isn't real..." said Bruce.

"It's as real as I want it to be, Bruce. This is the despair in your heart, the despair that continues to dominate your life."

The ground vanished beneath the child and he found himself tumbling through a black abyss. On the way down, he passed various figures from his past—his parents, Alfred, Dick, Jason, Tim, Barbara, Clark, Jim, Selina, Talia, Vicki, Cassandra—each of them watching as he tumbled further and further.

"These are them, Bruce. The people you continue to disappoint. The ones you drive away. Your obsession marks you as an outcast, an exile. You can never truly be happy because you won't let yourself. Your despair is all-consuming. And I know a little of despair, Bruce. For I am its master."

Bruce turned himself right-side up and clasped his hands together, closing his eyes and shutting out every word the villain spoke. His eyes opened again but now, they were completely opaque. Bruce threw his arms out and in a flash, he transformed from an eight-year-old boy into a grown man dressed in a costume of black leather and kevlar with a flowing cape that served as wings.

"You're not even close, Despero," said the Batman.

He threw his fist in an uppercut and it connected with Despero's jaw, causing the behemoth to rock back. The Batman was now back in the Watchtower, clad in the experimental armor he wore.

"The only thing you're a master of is your own pathetic feud," said the Batman. "You come after us, again and again. And each time, we push you back. Yet this obsession is what dominates you, what consumes your soul. Just who is part of your life, Despero?"

Metropolis

A goddess had just stepped onto the battlefield, with the power to back up her aggression. Big Barda clutched her Mega-Rod in hand as the mind-controlled members of the Justice League descended on her.

Aztek moved to strike her from behind but Barda spun on her heel, unleashing a concussive burst of energy from her Mega-Rod. A fiery streak burned through the air, landing at Barda's feet. She knelt down and saw the figure was Supergirl, now unconscious.

Barda looked up to see Superman descending from the heavens, his eyes crackling with the power of his heat vision. The red cape caught the wind perfectly, billowing behind his back as if it were his flag. The Man of Steel cast his gaze at the New God, and the energy building in his eyes erupted.

Big Barda raised her Mega-Rod, using it to deflect the burst of heat vision, an energy shield erecting around her body. She expanded the shield and it burst outward, causing Superman to reel for an instant.

That instant was all Barda needed, her aerodiscs lifting her to his position, cracking the Mega-Rod over his impenetrable skull. Barda swung again, this time aiming for Superman's jaw. When she swung for a third strike, Superman grabbed the Mega-Rod and tore it from her grip as he wrapped his fingers around her throat.

"Ursa," he said.

"Kal-El, you only wish I were some Kryptonian harlot," said Barda. She grabbed his wrist, channeling her energy into his body and generating an explosion that separated the combatants.

It took Barda a moment to steady herself on her aerodiscs and when she did, Superman was back on her, his punches moving at supersonic speed, each one striking her with enough momentum to level a mountain. She closed her eyes, sensing out the energy Superman was expanding to strike her, and seeing where his next punch would land. Her hand was there to take his fist in her grip and then she drove him to the ground, generating a massive crater with him in the center.

Just when she thought she had him, Superman executed an uppercut that sent her careening into the air and he took off after her like a rocket. The two titans continued to tangle in midair above the city of Metropolis while the remainder of Nightwing's team was forced to watch.

"Jesus..." muttered Arsenal, halting himself while he was in the middle of notching an arrow. "It's like watching Clash of the Titans. But... y'know... without the crap."

"Barda's bought us some time," said Nightwing. "You know what you need to do, Roy."

"Yeah, I know," said Arsenal. He reached into a pouch and pulled out an arrowhead that had an unearthly green glow to it. Fixing the head to one of his arrows, he looked up at Nightwing. "This feels wrong on so many levels, man."

"It's laced with trace amounts of Kryptonite," said Nightwing. "Don't worry, it won't kill him... I think."

Arsenal snapped his head to glare at his old friend. "What do you mean you think?"

"Batman's the one who made it and who knows what the hell he's up to these days," said Nightwing.

"Christ, Dick," muttered Arsenal, pulling back on the bowstring. "If I go down in history as the man who killed Superman, I am so kicking your ass."

"Yeah, you and what army?" asked Nightwing with a grin.

Arsenal released the bowstring and the arrow flew with immaculate precision. Barda disengaged her aerodiscs and plummeted just as Superman was about to throw a punch and the arrow struck him directly in the chest, in the center of the red and yellow shield he bore.

"URGH!"

The Man of Steel recoiled from the pain as the Kryptonite weakened his alien physiology. He began to plummet from the sky before Steel swooped him, grabbing hold of him by his collar and setting him gently down on the ground.

"Thanks for the help, Barda," said Nightwing. "We probably couldn't have done this without–"

The New God ignored his comment, her eyes scanning the battlefield. Nightwing just watched her in surprise before he finally spoke up again. "Umm Barda? Are you there?"

"Where's the Atom?" she asked simply.

As if on cue, Steel hurled his hammer at Barda. She sidestepped the attack, grabbing the hammer out of midair. Nightwing, Arsenal, and Red Tornado moved into position, prepared to strike back.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Arsenal.

"It's not me!" shouted Steel. "I don't know what's going on, but my armor's been compromised!"

Nightwing looked to Barda. "The Atom?"

She nodded. "The Atom. I can sense energy on the subatomic level, but Palmer can shrink beyond that."

Red Tornado generated powerful winds, hefting Steel into the air and keeping him contained as Barda flew into the heart of the storm, pummeling the hero with her Mega-Rod.

"I'm sorry about this," she said. "But we have to shut down that armor before you hurt anyone."

"We have to figure out how to snap the League out of this," said Nightwing. "Because a pissed off Ray Palmer could jump around all of us, enter our brains through our ears, and give us strokes without us ever knowing he was there."

"So what do we do?" asked Arsenal. "How are we going to find out what the hell's even wrong with them?"

"Sounds like you might need a miracle."

A massive boom echoed through the streets and the swirling energy signaled the arrival of another denizen of the Fourth World, hovering before them in a multi-colored costume, wearing high-end technology.

"As luck would have it, that area just happens to be my specialty," said Mr. Miracle with a grin beneath his mask.

The emaciated, naked pink alien collapsed before the feet of a burly, built man dressed up to look like a giant. In a harsh and grave voice, he spoke to the creature: "You're pathetic, Despero."

"Ughhhh..."

"Mind control is one thing, but if you want to try your hand at psychological warfare, you're better off doing it with someone who hasn't faced those demons numerous times in the past."

As the Batman circled Despero's body, his form shifted, the extra bulk vanishing into his usual figure. "Do you honestly think you're causing me trauma by exposing me to the memory of my parents? That memory lives with me every single day. It's what drives me. I don't just face and defeat those demons every time I go to sleep at night, I seek them out--I invite them in. Those demons? They're what empower me."

The Batman knelt beside Despero. "I've spent my entire life facing my demons, dealing with my failings. You continue to hide behind the Justice League, using us as a crutch for why your life is hell."

The scene changed around them and once more, they were back in the Watchtower. The Batman stood tall and defiant as he pummeled Despero with blow after blow, his strength enhanced by the armor he wore.

"You know what you really are, Despero?" he asked. "You're nothing but an unruly child fighting for attention. And me? I'm the parent who's going to give you the spanking you've been asking for. So guess what?"

He grabbed Despero by the throat and hefted him into the air.

"Daddy's home."

"Mind control," said Mr. Miracle.

"Powerful enough to take over the entire League, including J'onn?" asked Nightwing.

Mr. Miracle nodded. "That's a pretty short list and the guy right at the top is the one who's had a grudge against the League for as long as I can remember--Despero."

"Can you help them?" asked Arsenal.

"I'm the God of Escape," said Mr. Miracle. "And mind control is nothing more than a prison you can't see. And just with every prison, it has a weak spot."

Mr. Miracle moved a hand to his harness and pressed a button. Discs disengaged from it, circling around the area and generating a massive energy field, encasing several city blocks.

The possessed Leaguers felt the change almost instantly as they regained control over their bodies. The past few hours were distant, as if they were part of a half-remembered dream.

The Watchtower

Despero sat huddled in the corner of the room when the Justice League arrived, clutching his knees to his chest and slowly rocking back and forth, a distant look in his eyes. His third eye, however, was tightly shut and his arms and legs were bound by chains that restricted his movements.

"What did you do to him?" asked J'onn.

"He wanted to see what made me tick, so I let him," said the Batman. "He had no idea what he was up against."

"I find the idea that a deep probe of your psyche would reduce Despero to this extremely disturbing," said J'onn.

"Then stay out of my psyche," said the Batman.

"What I'm wondering is how did he manage to do all this?" asked the Atom. "Possessing all of us from the moon while fighting Batman? Despero's powerful, but I don't remember him being that powerful."

"It's not that great of a mystery if you think about it," said the Batman.

"He had help," said Superman. "Who could do that to Despero, though?"

"I won't know for sure until I've had a chance to run some tests on him," said the Atom. "It could be biological or technological enhancements, but the fact is someone had to have messed with him."

"Don't forget mystical," said the Flash. He jerked his thumb towards Aztek. "Let's all remember that the new guy made some sort of a deal with Neron."

"This isn't Neron's doing," said Aztek.

"And how do you know that?" asked the Flash.

"I just do," said Aztek. "Neron was more content to sit back and wait until the dust clears."

"He's a demon, you can't trust anything he said," said the Flash. He looked at his companions. "Does someone wanna back me up here?"

"Wally's right," said Zatanna. "It's very possible Neron was just lying."

"Thank you," said the Flash.

"But, it's also possible that he was telling the truth," said Zatanna. "The fact is, Neron's a pretty new player in Hell. We don't know much about him, we don't know what he's capable of, and we don't know what his plans are. If what's coming is cosmically bad--and judging by the presence of the New Gods, I'm guessing it is--then it's quite possible Neron wants to wait to see who comes out on top."

"Let your enemies destroy each other and then pick off the scraps," said J'onn.

"This whole incident has proven us one thing, though," said the Batman. "If the world's going to survive what's coming, it's going to need the Justice League to protect it."

NEXT: A new Justice League rises from the ashes of the old. The big question is, who will stay and who will go?