Mother Box Out of Control

Heavy metal boots struck something solid.

With each step came the harsh scrape of a heavy weapon dragging across the ground.

"Scrape... scrape..."

An enormous, suffocating shadow flickered in and out of the darkness beyond the rift.

The monster stood over three meters tall, its body covered in thick, spiked metal armor.

A pair of curved horns rose from its head. It dragged a massive energy battle axe in one hand.

It had not even fully crossed over, yet the pressure from its shadow alone made it hard for Diana to breathe.

This was no tyrant who conquered through brute force. It was pure malice, as though destruction itself had taken form.

Steppenwolf.

Apokolips's vanguard commander.

"For Darkseid..."

The low, raspy whisper sounded like two slabs of raw iron grinding together. It exploded directly inside Diana's and Artemis's minds.

Artemis dropped to one knee and clutched her head in agony. Her battle axe fell to the floor with a clang.

Diana did not retreat.

She pulled her short sword from the ground, then reached behind her with her left hand and took up the round shield inscribed with divine runes.

Step by step, she walked toward the spatial rift.

Bearing pressure that would have crushed an ordinary person to pulp, Diana stopped less than five meters from it.

She gripped the edges of the Aegis with both hands, raised the heavy shield high, and slammed it into the ground!

Clang!

A deep metallic blast erupted through the chamber.

A visible ring of golden divine power burst from the shield and crashed into the rift.

"This is Amazon territory!" Diana raised her head and glared at the horned monster deep within the rift. Her battle cry shook the chamber. "Get out of my world!"

The golden shock wave struck the edge of the rift.

The force seemed to awaken Earth's spatial laws and their instinct to protect themselves.

The rift, which had been torn open by force, began to shake violently. Spatial turbulence along its edges sliced wildly at the shadow.

Steppenwolf's shadow roared in frustration and swung his battle axe, trying to cleave the space open by force.

But the rift closed faster than he could move.

Bang.

The spatial rift sealed completely and vanished without a trace.

Gravity returned to normal. Floating stones and debris crashed to the floor in a clatter.

Artemis rose, panting and drenched in cold sweat.

"Is it over?" she asked.

"No." Diana stared into the air.

The rift had closed, but the Mother Box had not gone quiet.

The floating metal cube suddenly stopped spinning.

Then three dazzling beams shot from three of the Mother Box's faces at once.

The beams passed through the Divine Temple's thick rock and pierced Themyscira's magical barrier, shooting high into the sky.

Diana followed their paths with her eyes.

One beam rose straight up and hung over Themyscira, forming a huge red marker.

The second bent east, pointing deep into the ocean, toward Atlantis.

The third bent west, crossing vast stretches of sea toward the human world.

They were sending location signals.

The Mother Box was calling Apokolips's army.

Diana's face went pale. Themyscira's box had gone out of control. That meant something had almost certainly happened to the other two as well.

She immediately raised her left hand, pressed the miniature computer on her wrist, and connected to the Batcave's encrypted channel.

"Bruce! Answer me now!" Diana spoke rapidly, urgency ringing in her voice. "Where is humanity's Mother Box hidden? It's broadcasting coordinates into space! Alien monsters are coming!"

Alfred's voice came through the communicator.

"Princess Diana, Master Bruce is flying the jet back. He's bringing a gravely wounded visitor from another world."

Alfred paused, apparently struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"As for the Mother Box... Wayne Enterprises' intelligence network has just intercepted classified military data."

"Half an hour ago, a supernatural energy explosion occurred at S.T.A.R. Labs outside Central City."

In an underground bunker at S.T.A.R. Labs, outside Central City.

The air reeked of char and concentrated disinfectant.

Red Level One alarm lights flashed frantically across the ceiling. Every sweep of red illuminated the shattered glass and twisted metal wreckage strewn across the floor.

Behind the blast-resistant glass of the main control room.

Dr. Silas Stone gripped the edge of the Control Console with both hands, tears streaming down his face.

Dark red blood stained his white lab coat. His eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles around them twitched uncontrollably.

Ten meters away, his son, Victor Stone, lay on the operating table.

All that remained was the ruined right half of his head and a small portion of his torso, with several broken ribs still attached.

A horrifying cavity lay where Victor's left eye had been. Severed blood vessels and nerve fibers were exposed beneath the surgical light.

The green line on the heart monitor had gone nearly flat, accompanied by a continuous, piercing tone.

"Don't die. Please don't die. Hold on, Victor." Silas swallowed, his voice cracked beyond recognition.

He spun around and strode toward the separate containment platform in the corner of the control room.

"Doctor! What are you doing?" His assistant Thomas scrambled up from the floor, lunged over, and wrapped his arms around Silas's waist.

Silas ignored Thomas. He kicked his assistant away and clamped both hands onto the thick lead panel covering the containment case.

His arms strained as he tore away the panel, which weighed dozens of pounds.

It hit the floor with a dull thud.

Inside the case, a dark silver metal cube lay exposed to the air.

Complex geometric patterns unlike anything on Earth covered its surface. It emitted a strange, high-pitched hum, while a red glow flickered within it.

"Doctor, you can't touch that!" Thomas struggled to his feet and seized Silas's arm again, shouting desperately. "It's an unknown alien artifact! The military sent it here for analysis under the highest classification! It's extremely unstable. It caused the explosion!"

Silas backhanded Thomas across the face.

Thomas staggered into a bank of instruments.

"Are you blind to what that monster Chu Men has done to Earth?" Silas pointed at a wall monitor, which was still looping footage of the massacre in Gotham's East End. "The military's hiding like cowards. They don't even dare launch a nuclear missile. Earth is already in hell. Why would I care what other disaster I might bring down on us?"

Silas's eyes were red as he turned toward the broken body on the operating table.

"He's all I have left. I have to save him."