Absolute Crisis by Red-Rum-18

With the invasion of Earth by the god-like Dark Side and their endless army of Parademons close at hand, and the epicenter of it being in Washington, DC, the six remaining members of the Justice League recruited a small army of metahumans who could prove a match to the malevolent forces. Recruited by Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Dr. Jones, along with Orion, Shiloh, and Barda, the new temporary League includes:

Nightwing, Oliver Queen, The Marvel, Black Adam, Vixen, The Atom, Hawkwoman and Hawkman, Vandal Savage, Guardian, Red Tornado, Smasher, and the Huntress. Not only that, Aquaman, being king of Atlantis, is amassing his military to assist, and Alex Dewitt, the Green Lantern of the JL, was able to gain the help of 5 other agents of the Spectrum Lantern Alliance: Blue Lantern Wl’Kah, Indigo Lantern Iroque, Red Lantern Laira, Orange Lantern Glomus, and Yellow Lantern Arkillo.

The initial plan is to evacuate Washington and infiltrate into the underground fortress of Algol, the Dark Side’s cult, to capture the acolytes and destroy their means to broadcast their ANTI_LIFEprogram globally, cutting off the Dark Side’s ability to feed off massive amounts of hatred and despair and escape their dimensional prison. If that failed, then Plan B is to go with an all-out assault on Algol and the Dark Side, with the aide of the Atlantean military and the Spectrum Lanterns.

When light broke that morning, the heroes began evacuating the city, including the regular citizens, the heads of the city proper, and the residing heads of the American government. Amanda Waller, Paul Westfield, and Maxwell Lord, three of Algol’s conspirators, alerted Ra’s Algol, the head of the conspiracy, to the evacuation before the FBI, CIA, and a few American soldiers surrounded them to arrest them. Lord, a secret metahuman himself, used his mind control on a soldier while Waller and Westfield escaped. Westfield and Lord escaped the city, but Waller was captured after a fist-fight with FBI official James Gordon. Gordon then informed Batman that Algol is onto the heroes. The Lanterns then dropped a giant shield that permeated the ground to encapsulate the underground fortress; not only will this prevent the rest of Algol’s escape, it will prevent them from broadcasting ANTI_LIFE any further than the radius of the shield. They also unleashed an EMP to destroy all video monitors within the shield so that ANTI_LIFE cannot be used against the heroes.

The heroes and Algol did battle within the fortress, and the heroes had the upper hand, until a new faction entered the fray! The cyborg entity known as Brainiac/Five, along with a large platoon of robot minions, flew into the battlefield to fight both the heroes and Algol, seeing them as a threat to it’s prime directive of protecting America. They broke through the Lanterns’ shield to do this, allowing Ra’s Algol and Desaad, one of the Dark Side entities, to broadcast ANTI_LIFE across the planet! Everyone within the radius of the fortress were unaffected by the program, but people all across the planet who saw the broadcast were immediately afflicted with rage, hatred, and insanity! Then, the fortress blasted from the ground, revealing a giant palace for their new leaders to reside (replete with two of the firepits Orion mentioned before). A portal opened, and out stepped Uxas, leader of the Dark Side! Following him were Kalibak, Uxas’ son, Steppenwolf, Uxas’ uncle, Goodness, the drill sergeant of Uxas’ armies, Vundabar, the head strategist, and Kanto, the head assassin. Desaad presented his master Uxas, and Uxas spoke of them “becoming the New Gods”, and that “submission to the Dark Side shalt bring salvation”.

While the other unpowered members of the Algol conspiracy escaped, Tariq Kadir remained to present his daughter, Rajya Kadir, as Uxas’ new bride. Nightwing, Rajya’s friend, was the first to attack Uxas, but his sickle weapons simply dissolved when they pierced the monster’s rocky skin and were drenched in his acid blood. Uxas swatted Nightwing away like an insect and shrugged off the magic powers of Rajya, who refused to submit to the Dark Side.

The heroes, the Lanterns, and the Atlantean military advanced upon the palace, but were attacked by the emerging swarms of Parademons, created to serve the Dark Side. The massive war between good and evil included The Marvel and Black Adam Vs. General Zod, Batman and Vandal Savage Vs. Ra’s Algol, Orion Vs. Kalibak, and Wonder Woman Vs. Uxas himself. Brainiac/Five and his robots also attacked Uxas, but were all destroyed by a wave of his acidic blood.

Uxas was about to kill Wonder Woman when a flash of light appeared in the sky. It was Superman! And he brought The Legion with him to fight the Dark Side! Superman aided the wounded Marvel and Adam against General Zod, but something happened to Zod. The half-human, half-Ilnolman genetics that made up Zod’s new body finally broke down, turning him into a savage of reduced intelligence and chalky, pale skin. Zod ended up disappearing in the chaos of the entire fight. Dr. Jones tried to kill Uxas, but the evil one washed him in his acid blood, spewed from his eyes. With Jones dead, Superman went after Uxas, but the demon overpowered him. Cosmic, the leader of the Legion, saved the life of his father, Superman, from the killing blow, but at the cost of his own life!

Meanwhile, Vandal Savage managed to kill Ra’s Algol in battle, and then Batman worked with the dying Brainiac/Five to quickly program a counter to the ANTI_LIFE. The Lanterns broadcast the antidote to ANTI_LIFE, and the waning of the global insanity weakened Uxas considerably. Superman and Uxas were beaten and bloody and finally, after all the fighting, the war ended. Orion, the time-lost son of Uxas, ripped his father’s heart out of his chest and crushed it upon the shattered pavement. With two possible futures adverted, both Orion and The Legion vanished from the timeline. Brainiac also changed, his AI now possessing Metallo instead of the Legionnaire Five. Superman collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as Uxas’ corpse shriveled and evaporated; the other Dark Side members escaped, though.

In Superman’s unconscious sight, he beheld visions of his two departed wives, Lara-El and Martha Kent. The women said to him that, if not for his intervention, the Dark Side would have won. So God, or ‘something close to that’, wants to grant Superman a boon for his work. Superman asked for Dr. Jones to be alive and free from the alien parasite inside him, but they said that’s already happened. In the waking world, Wonder Woman found Dr. Jones alive and without his parasite, even though he’s been mutilated by the acid. Back with Superman, he told them what he also wanted, and embraced his wives as the unconscious faded…

About a few months later, John Kent had moved into a well-furnished apartment in New York City with his children, Clark, Kara… and Connor. See, John had asked for the chance at life to raise his lost son Rokk-El, aka Cosmic, as his own child, rewriting history so that he had come to Earth from his dying world with Rokk and Kara in hand. Other than that, the history following that had remained the same, except for the non-existence of The Legion. Rokk now also possesses the human identity of Connor Kent, older sibling of Clark and Kara. As John contemplated when or how the Earth he knows will be sundered and lead to the rise of the world he will be born in, all those years into the future, he decided, until then, to serve not only as a defender of the weak and fixer of disasters, but as as an inspiration to all of the people of the world that they can all be heroes.

The scene transitions to 1000 years into the future, still eons off from the disaster that will change Earth. Uxas and his new Dark Side have returned, but a new version of The Legion, now heroes instead of mercenaries, arrive to defeat them.

Notes:

* Poor Zod is basically the Absolute version of Bizarro, now.

* Uxas’ acidic blood, which he primarily fires from his eyes, is a substitute for Darkseid's Omega Beams.

* The crimson vortex at Uxas’ chest is his heart, which is the conduit for his powers.

* Goodness’ skin is marked with Omega symbol-shaped scars.

* Steppenwolf, confined to his chair, has massive telekinetic power.

* The foot soldiers of Algol vanished with the corpse of their master, Ra’s Algol…

Epilogue:

* Superman and his children, aged 15-17, now live in NYC. John makes his living as a agricultural expert, advising the science columns of many newspapers, including the New York Times. His elder son, Connor, is considering life as a superhero, himself…

* Batman had finally exposed the crimes of The Joker, who was sentenced to interment at the Arkham Institute. The disillusioned people who once loved the Joker now see Batman as their true hero, and the city of Pittsburg, PA, the protectorate of The Bat, built a landmark in his honor. The Batsignal is a shining light in the middle of the city that projects the symbol of the Bat to the dark night skies. Batman and his accomplices recently hacked the signal so now it’s a communication relay between Batman and Captain James Gordon of the PPD, a former officer of the FBI. Gordon is serving as a liaison between the city’s police and Batman.

** Barbara Gordon may no longer be able to walk, and may no longer be the Batgirl, but she won’t stop fighting evil as the all-seeing Oracle, computer-hacker supreme.

* Wonder Woman’s research into Tzu Chang’s genetic meddling for Algol allowed her to cure the other girls of asexual-reproduction. It was too late for her, so she had her tubes tied. She’s still living happily with her husband and two children.

* Flash and Green Lantern are still living their normal lives happily, as well.

* Aquaman is currently engaged to marry Mera, the love of his life.

* Dr. Jones, no longer afflicted with the Martian parasite, was happily reunited with his wife and daughter.

* Nightwing’s friends were able to find happy new lives with the help of Bruce Wayne, the rich alter-ego of Batman, with foster parents. With her father gone, Rajya and her mother moved to the Miami, FL, area, becoming neighbors with the new family of Logan, her friend from back when they were slaves of Slade Wilson.

** Nightwing also moved to Miami and formed a new hero team with Wally West, now Kid Flash, Roy Harper, now Arsenal, and Garth of Atlantis, now Tempest. Rajya later joined them as Raven. Their team is called the Teen Titans.

** Slade Wilson was later found in a hospital in Africa. He was arrested for his crimes and deported back to the US.

* Oliver Queen was pardoned for the crimes he committed under the brainwashing of CADMUS and the crimes he committed while escaping the manhunt. He’ll join the Justice League full-time as the Green Arrow.

** CADMUS is permanently disbanded and Amanda Waller is behind bars.

* Black Adam, out of pity for the young soul he enslaved, decided to free Billy Batson from the power of SHAZAM. Bruce Wayne helped Billy get his abusive parents arrested and he and his sister Mary into a fit foster home. Billy and Mary are currently living with the Freeman family.

** Adam took up the mission of fighting evil himself, once again, and now calls himself The Marvel.

* Lionel Luthor is still in prison. His son, Alex, is doing well with his cancer treatment, but talks constantly about how much he hates Superman…

* Harley Quinn was arrested and tried at bedside in a hospital due to injuries she sustained fighting the Joker in a fit of rage. She has recently escaped, somehow…

* The Flash’s Rogues Gallery are no longer in prison due to their testimony against the man who hired them to commit crimes for him.

* Raymond Palmer is back to publicly practicing medicine with the help of his ATOM suit.

* After gaining control of her powers, Mari Jiwe, aka Vixen, returned to her modeling career.

* After the defeat of the Dark Side, the demon knight Etrigan picked up a piece of Kalibak’s broken armor from the site of the battle and made off with it…

* Some time ago, after a villain named Hush aka Thomas Wayne Jr. was nearly stabbed to death by the girl he was manipulating. His dying body was found in the sewers by a man with mysterious powers. The man used that power to fully heal Thomas. He introduced himself as Dr. Eiji Tsuburaya, and asked for his help…