The Last Mother Box, Victor's Choice!

In an undersea Sanctuary in Atlantis, Link toyed with the Mother Box he had just acquired, sensing the spatial information within it, intricate as a map of the universe.

Another piece of the puzzle was his.

Collecting these things was far more thrilling than saving up for limited-edition sneakers in his previous life. Each one embodied a fundamental law of the universe.

He had just "invested" Aquaman, Arthur Curry, as his "Deep-Sea Vassal" and generously used the Power Stone to give Arthur's ancestral Neptune's Trident a "paid upgrade." Once merely a symbol of royal authority over the seas, the weapon was now a lesser divine artifact capable of stirring the ocean currents.

The price? Arthur's soul now bore Link's energy brand, etched into its depths forever.

A bargain.

Link was about to return to the Chaos Direction headquarters in Metropolis and admire the complicated expression on his newly appointed "ocean vassal's" face when an urgent communication request exploded through the quantum channel in his mind.

It was Victor Stone.

"Mr. Link... Help... help me! It... it's devouring me!"

Victor's voice was full of pain and terror unlike anything Link had heard from him before. Electrical static nearly drowned out his words.

Link raised an eyebrow.

Interesting.

With a thought, he sent a tiny ripple through space before him, and a holographic display sprang to life. It showed Victor's vital signs and data streams.

Red alerts covered almost the entire screen.

The vital-sign curve representing Victor's human half was visibly being overwritten and absorbed by another data stream, one far more forceful and ancient. Its source was the third Mother Box, the one that existed in symbiosis with him.

"Motherfucker. It's formatting the hard drive and physically destroying it too?"

Link saw what was happening at a glance.

When he had