The air hung heavy with despair. The stench of brimstone, overpowering.
"Welcome to Apokolips, where Barda and I met and fell in love," Mr Miracle deadpanned as the heroes stepped out of the boom tube.
"What exactly are we looking for here?" Captain Marvel scrutinized his surroundings with wary eyes.
"Hope," said Barda.
"..." Marvel shot Barda a quizzical look.
"Hope, the antidote to despair," she elaborated.
"What my dear wife is saying is, Courtney has been poisoned with despair, a deadly poison developed by Desaad and used by Darkseid's troops. The antidote is a weed that grows in the fire pits of Apokolips," explained Mr Miracle.
"Just look for a blue-green plant with large red heart shaped leaves and small white flowers shaped like stars. Grab it, we boom tube out of here and treat Courtney with it," instructed Barda.
"Surgical strike, stealth operation. We do NOT want to attract Darkseid's attention," Mr Miracle's eyed his three tank-like companions. In particular, the huge muscular man in the bright red suit with a large glowing lightning bolt on his chest.
"On second thought, I'll sneak in to get the medicine. You three cover me," he rolled his eyes.
-------
"How is taking down an entire army of parademons low-key?" Barda faced palmed.
The two boy scouts sheepishly scrutinized the ground beneath them as they shuffled their feet.
"Er..., we were silent, and it was over in under a second?" The big boy scout in red replied.
"They were torturing children," added the big blue boy scout.
"All life is precious. They would have killed innocents if we did nothing," continued the big red.
"Hey guys, I got it!" Mr Miracle emerged from the rocks with a fistful of alien weeds. His triumphant grin stretched from one ear to another.
"Let's scram," said Barda.
As the boom tube opened, omega beams hit her back. She screamed.
Darkseid.
Instantly, Marvel hovered in front of Barda, taking the brunt of the assault, while Superman shoved Big Barda and Mr Miracle through the boom tube just before it snapped shut.
"Captain!" Superman caught the falling man. The gaping hole in his red suit exposed an angry sun burn.
A massive blue gloved fist slammed the back of Superman's head, sending both men flying.
"Kryptonian," came a deep growl as Darkseid towered over them. "You brought your friend."
Darkseid's eyes glowed as omega beams from his eyes locked on each hero.
The beams pursued the boy scouts closely as they wove around the trees and boulders.
Glancing at each other, big blue and big red crossed paths behind Darkseid, causing each Omega beam to hit its master.
Darkseid rose to his feet, unscathed. His eyes burning with fury. "Enough of this foolishness! I will feed your carcasses to my war hounds!"
-------
The beep of the heart monitor in JSA'S medical bay was accompanied by Courtney's feverish cries.
"Billy," she whispered. "No.." tears streamed down her cheeks.
She was in her room, fixing her cosmic rod when she heard tapping on her window.
It was pouring outside. Hovering in the rain was Billy, her boyfriend, in his adult hero form.
She opened the window but he stayed out in the rain. "I'm leaving JSA," he said.
"Why?" She was stunned.
"Flash says our age gap is too big. He's right," came the sad reply.
"No! Change back to Billy. Tell him," she begged.
"I can't," came the reply, as he tenderly stroked her cheek.
"Goodbye Court." He left her.
Shaking in despair, sobs wracked her body.
Despair. Overpowering. The scene replayed again and again, the emotions more overwhelming with each iteration.
The steady beep of the heart monitor went awry. Dr Mid-Nite and Mr Terrific dashed into the room. "She's going into cardiac arrest!"
"Where are they? The forty-eight hours are almost up!"