The Watchtower's main conference chamber was rarely used for etings of this scale, the circular hall surrounding the Justice League table felt unusually crowded. Holographic displays floated overhead. Earth slowly rotated beneath the massive observation windows.
Batman stood at the head of the table.
To his right sat Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter.
Across from them sat seven people who represented a secret older than any of them realized.
Seven vessels, seven fragnts of the Rulers.
And judging by the expressions around the room, several of them already believed they were far more important than they actually were.
Batman wasn't surprised, power often did that.
Renshiro sat comfortably in his chair with one arm resting over the backrest, katana still hanging at his waist despite the fact that he was currently inside the most secure facility on Earth.
Beside him sat Elias Kruger of Germany, arms folded and posture rigid like a knight. Jean Pierre Gustave of France sat quietly, studying the League with sharp blue eyes. Mariana lo from Brazil looked relaxed. Amari Okoye from Nigeria appeared thoughtful while Ivan Petrov from Russia looked completely unimpressed by everything.
And then there was Ethan Jones.
The youngest among them, the Gotham teenager looked entirely out of place sitting beside so of the strongest hunters on Earth.
He still wore his Wayne Guild jacket and he still looked like a kid.
The room remained silent for several monts after Batman finished explaining the truth.
The Monarchs, the Rulers, the ancient war.
The vessels and the reason they had been chosen, the reason they were now targets.
Most of them looked stunned.
Renshiro did not.
Instead he leaned back and crossed his arms with a grin.
"It is true."
Several eyes turned toward him.
Renshiro nodded confidently.
"I already learned part of this myself."
Batman imdiately knew where this was going, unfortunately.
"I knew there was sothing special about us the mont I awakened."
Renshiro stood.
"As expected."
He spread his arms dramatically.
"We are the chosen of the gods!"
Flash imdiately rubbed his forehead.
'Oh no.'
Renshiro continued anyway.
"The finest warriors humanity has produced."
He pointed toward himself.
"The absolute peak."
Then toward Elias.
"The strongest swordsn."
Toward Amari.
"The greatest mages."
Toward the others.
"The elite among elites."
He grinned proudly.
"The gods themselves selected us because they recognized our greatness."
There was a long silence.
Superman slowly looked toward Batman.
Batman looked toward the ceiling.
Wonder Woman looked amused.
Flash was trying so hard not to laugh.
Martian Manhunter simply looked tired.
Finally Superman cleared his throat.
"I'm... pretty sure that's not what Batman just ant."
Renshiro blinked.
Superman leaned forward.
"What he's saying is that being chosen isn't a reward."
The smile on Superman's face faded slightly.
"It's a target... you will be hunted."
His expression beca more serious.
"The Monarchs we've fought are not sothing you should underestimate."
The room grew quieter.
Superman's gaze drifted briefly toward the observation window.
"I fought two Monarchs at the sa ti in Gotham."
A faint laugh escaped him.
Not because it was funny, because he still couldn't believe he'd survived.
"I almost died... they were very prepared for us which is sothing I didn't really expect even though we were warned by a friend that these Monarchs are not so mindless beasts."
That got their attention.
Even Elias raised an eyebrow.
Superman continued.
"And trust when I say this."
His blue eyes swept across the room.
"You don't want that experience."
Mariana the Brazilian hunter frowned.
"We saw the footage."
Several hunters nodded.
"The Monarchs didn't seem unbeatable."
Elias leaned forward.
"If what Batman says is true, then perhaps people like us are exactly what is needed against them."
His confidence never wavered.
"We could probably handle them."
He glanced toward Superman.
"More efficiently than you, perhaps."
Flash actually groaned.
"Oh boy."
Elias the German hunter continued anyway.
"I have no weaknesses after all."
His voice was more than certain.
"I am considered the strongest swordsman-type hunter in the world, for a very good reason."
He tapped a finger against the table.
"The World Hunter Organization itself listens when I speak."
Martian Manhunter's eyes briefly glowed.
His voice echoed softly inside Batman's mind.
'They are proving your concerns correct.'
'An extrely difficult group... consud by power.'
'Understatent of the century,' Batman thought back.
Outwardly he showed nothing.
Batman simply looked directly at Elias.
The room quieted.
"You seem confused about sothing."
Elias frowned slightly.
Batman continued.
"The World Hunter Organization is a facade."
That got everyone's attention.
"The organization exists to maintain order, administration, and public confidence."
Then Batman said the next words.
"What truly governs the global hunter system is sitting in this room."
For a mont nobody reacted.
Then realization hit.
Elias stared.
Gustave blinked.
Mariana nearly sat upright.
Even Renshiro looked surprised.
"You?!"
Elias finally asked.
Superman nodded.
"The Justice League."
The hunters exchanged looks.
Shock spread across the table.
It's been months and none of them had known.
Superman folded his arms.
"It was necessary, the appearance of Gates changed civilization and The League couldn't publicly manage everything, so structures were created."
"The World Hunter Organization, National Guild systems, Hunter regulations."
"Raid classifications and regulations. All of it."
Flash smiled.
"We've basically been babysitting the entire planet for so ti now."
"Flash."
"Right. Serious face."
Batman waited until the room settled again.
Then he spoke.
"This information is restricted."
His voice remained calm.
"Very few people know it."
Ethan shifted slightly in his chair.
The teenager looked far less surprised than everyone else.
Wayne Guild mbers tended to discover things sooner or later.
Batman looked around the table.
"Now do you understand?"
Nobody interrupted.
Good.
"We are not asking for your cooperation, we are informing you of reality."
Every hunter focused on him.
"You are targets."
"The remaining Monarchs will co for you, they may attack tomorrow, they may attack next year."
"But they will co."
Nobody looked quite as confident anymore.
Even Elias and Renshiro remained silent.
Batman continued.
"When that happens, the Justice League will respond and we will try to protect you and eliminate the Monarchs."
Wonder Woman nodded.
Green Lantern folded his arms.
Superman smiled slightly, because to him the statent wasn't a promise, it was a fact.
Batman leaned forward.
His eyes moved from hunter to hunter, one by one.
"You will accept that protection."
His voice hardened.
"You will keep communication channels open and you will report unusual activity you may encounter during raids."
"You will stop pretending this is so sort of a ga, because it is not."
Elias opened his mouth.
Batman spoke over him.
"And most importantly."
The room beca utterly silent.
"You will keep everything we discussed here a secret, even from your guildmbers or family mbers it doesn't matter, safety cos first."
No one argued.
Batman opened his mouth to continue, then the lights dimd.
Not because of a malfunction, because shadows suddenly began gathering near the center of the room.
And every single person present felt it, even the temperature dropped.
Darkness spread across the floor like liquid ink.
The shadows beneath chairs, the shadows beneath the table, the shadows cast by the room itself.
All of them began flowing toward a single point.
Batman sighed.
The polished floor reflected nothing anymore. Martian Manhunter turned his head slightly, sensing it first.
Hal Jordan exhaled slowly, already recognizing the pattern.
Batman didn't move at all.
Of course it was him.
From the gathering darkness ca a voice first calm, almost amused.
"Well well… leave it to Batman. I didn't even need to show up and start convincing them. This will save ti."
The shadows continued to swirl, tightening into a vortex at the center of the room. The sound of it wasn't loud and The hunters reacted imdiately.
Elias Kruger's hand went to his blade.
Mariana lo shifted her stance, eyes locked on the forming darkness.
Ivan Petrov stepped back half a pace, aura sharpening instinctively, ready for an attack.
Amari Okoye's expression hardened, and Jean-Pierre Gustave's curiosity turned into alert.
Ethan Jones froze, caught between fear and fascination.
And Renshiro,
Renshiro shot to his feet so fast his chair scraped loudly against the floor.
"That voice! It's HIM!"
His reaction broke his entire calm presence. Because whatever he had recognized in that voice made even him lose composure.
The vortex thickened, then it opened.
Arthur Blackwynd stepped out as if the shadows.
Ashen white hair stirred faintly in the air. His black coat hung still despite the unseen wind of the vortex behind him collapsing inward. Violet eyes lifted first to the room, then to the gathered hunters, and finally toward the Justice League.
The shadows behind him vanished as though they had never existed.
Arthur exhaled once, lightly.
"Sorry for intruding."
The hunters weren't just seeing a man, they were recalculating every assumption they had ever made about strength.
Elias Kruger's gaze narrowed, discipline fighting instinct. He had expected sothing overwhelming. What unsettled him was how controlled it felt. No excess aura. No visible strain.
Jean-Pierre looked almost entertained, like he had finally found sothing interesting after a lifeti of boredom.
Ethan, anwhile, looked like he had just realized legends weren't supposed to stand this close.
Renshiro recovered first, mostly out of pride.
"You… you destroyed my office! And you left on top of that mountain!"
Arthur tilted his head slightly.
"You exploded your own office."
"I did not explode anything!"
Batman let out a quiet, exhausted breath that sohow silenced both of them without a word.
A few of the League mbers visibly fought off reactions. Flash failed. Superman didn't.
Arthur's gaze moved across the hunters again, slower this ti, as if finally taking proper stock of them. The amusent in his expression faded.
"So these are all the vessels."
/-\\
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