Ghost Star Domain, Steel Bone Squad.
After leaving Earth, he, Starfire, and Batman's dispatched 'Military Inspector' Death Angel, along with the Green Lantern Jessica they encountered by chance, arrived here together.
This was originally where Kro planet was located, but after the Omega Four Gods devoured Kro planet, the planets that Brainiac kept in jars as specimens were also released into this cosmos.
Thus, within a not-so-large star domain, hundreds to thousands of planets suddenly appeared, resulting from mutual gravitational effects and a special reaction from some Origin Wall fragmentation.
After some planets self-destructed and collided with each other, they formed a very bizarre state of equilibrium.
Simply put, within an area the size of the Solar System, thousands of planets larger than Earth suddenly appeared, and they remain eerily still, relying on the energy provided by the original fixed star of Kro Star System.
The incident began because Steel Bone's Mother Box received a vague message, telling him that here he could find the truth of the Totality.
So, at that time, without any clues, the Justice League voted to approve his action.
Honestly, this was Steel Bone's first action as a leader. Because he couldn't command the other big shots, only second-line heroes were dispatched to accompany him.
Starfire, no need to mention, a beautiful alien princess, former Titan member, with wheat-colored skin, red hair, likes to fly around wearing a lavender bikini.
She was one of Nightwing's ex-girlfriends, and she also holds the long-distance sniping record of mobile targets by Old Deathstroke, and her mother star Tamaran is one of Brainiac's collectibles; it's now a situation she wants to investigate.
Death Angel, also known as Agent Bat, has a style different from Batman, he always wears a golden high-tech armor with a glowing red Bat Lamp on his chest.
His martial arts are quite good, he habitually uses a Powerful Giant Sword emitting blue light, skilled at slicing enemies in half, while also proficient with various hot weapons, from Earth's gunpowder firearms to alien energy weapons, he can use almost anything expertly.
He is an anti-hero, his identity is a mystery, said to be backed by a mysterious organization called the 'Saint Dumas Arbitration Council,' a large force advocating anti-hero behavior.
His sense of justice is fervent and strong; justice and evil are his creed, and he is a fanatic who sometimes hears 'Sacred Sounds' directing him.
Batman believes it might be auditory hallucinations, common among schizophrenics. Perhaps sharing similar issues, he once substituted for Batman for several days when Bruce was absent.
But he acts too harshly.
Not only does he use machine guns and rocket launchers to shoot at gangsters on Gotham streets, he also chants the name of the holy, using all sorts of tortures to kill criminals, throwing their broken bodies into the homes of residents along the roads, painting bat symbols with blood on every wall...
Not even Batman, even Gordon couldn't bear it.
Therefore, Death Angel was quickly fired by Batman, now only considered a marginal figure in the Bat Clan.
His financial sources are mysterious, seemingly with endless money; he has no cover identity, nor does he need a job. After being fired, he adhered strictly to Batman's requirements to stay home confined.
Every day besides eating and sleeping, he recites his 'Bat Scripture.'
For some reason, he regards Batman as a holy son of justice, loves Batman with almost a Joker-like pathological zeal, albeit expressed differently.
This time, Bruce, having insufficient manpower and Steel Bone leading a team for the first time, was a bit uneasy, thus sent the out-of-work Death Angel.
After all, even if his methods are ruthless, killing aliens doesn't count as murder.
As for the Green Lantern Jessica picked up halfway, she was just an ordinary Earth Green Lantern Hero, formerly a Host of the Ring of Power, later switched to a Green Lantern Ring through her willpower.
Personality, combat prowess, achievements, age, appearance, basically fall into the excellent category, she once dated Barry and was considered one of the previous girlfriends of Lightning.
The four of them crash-landed together in the Ghost Star Domain and inexplicably encountered Darkseid there.
No need to say, the cosmic overlord almost killed them just by using eye contact, Omega Beams were really beyond their ability to withstand.
However, Darkseid did not kill them, instead provided them with some intelligence, telling them that besides Jessica, the other three were worshiped here as gods.
Darkseid also knew about the Totality and the Origin Wall, and generously shared the intelligence with Steel Bone and the others.
Then Darkseid suggested that since they were trapped here, why not join forces to figure out how to escape?
Steel Bone agreed in order to bring the intelligence back to the Justice League, even though Darkseid is one of the most dangerous villains in the cosmos, whose words almost are all lies.
But under the current circumstances, they are like five mice trapped on an isolated island, none of them can escape.
Fixing the spaceship is easy, but leaving the Ghost Star Domain is impossible as it seems like an invisible dome trapping everyone inside.
Thus, the four-person squad and Darkseid split up to look for ways to leave the place among the various planets.
But indeed, just as Darkseid said, they were revered as gods here, these aliens have worshipped them since millions of years ago.
The astonishing phenomenon leaves them completely puzzled; however, everything on these planets' temples, sculptures, cultures, all relate back to them.
There's even a planet where the aliens don't greet each other with 'Hi', but start with 'Praise the Almighty Steel Bone Great God' before they can communicate.
There are billions of such people on that planet.
Steel Bone had never seen such a scene before, so at the request of these followers, he really considered himself the Savior and started researching how to save these planets.
Starfire and Death Angels were similar, with planets that worship them numbering as many as Steel Bone's; each responsible for hundreds of planets and tens of billions of people, quite busy indeed.
Since the Totality landed on Earth and up to now, because the time flow in the Ghost Star Domain is different from outside, they've spent these months responding to the prayers of believers, helping solve various problems.
While they were playing gods, Darkseid wasn't idle; he went to the similarly trapped Tamaran planet and reached a deal with the current Queen 'Black Fire', finally obtaining a treasure he needed.
Black Fire is Starfire's sister, and their relationship is just like between Sea Queen Mera and her sister 'Siren'.
Simply put, they all hate their righteous sisters to death, and given the opportunity, they'd surely pluck their sisters' heads off and savor the moment while placing them on their throne's armrest...
Darkseid took advantage of Steel Bone and their kindness, distracted them, and obtained what he wanted right under their noses without any resistance.
Actually, with the Origin Wall breaking, his power rapidly declined as outside time elapsed, now he's only as strong as an ordinary alien.
Through schemes and bluffs, the treasure he obtained is called the 'Anomaly Box'. If the Mother Box is the cosmos' supercomputer, the Anomaly Box is its antimatter version.
He needed the Anomaly Box to fulfill his plan.
Yet almost at the last moment, he still failed; a sudden antimatter monster attacked him, almost killing him.
The Steel Bone Squad arrived just in time, destroyed the monster, but also realized they'd been tricked by Darkseid and interrogated him.
This is what's happening now.
The severely wounded Darkseid was fixed to the ground by Steel Bone's transformed metal, hands and feet bound, yet he wasn't worried, still carrying the demeanor of King of Apocalypse Star.
"You're wasting productivity here, Steel Bone."
"I don't see it that way; you've been deceiving and using us all along, you're now weak like a chicken, and we won't trust you anymore."
Steel Bone was quite proud now, the once oppressive King of Apocalypse that forced Justice League to take so much pressure, was now taken down by him with just a pinky.
The satisfaction felt like drinking several bottles of cold cola in a hot summer.
Though after being modified by the Mother Box, Steel Bone's mouth was just for show; he had no esophagus nor stomach, yet it didn't prevent him from reminiscing the past sensation.
Darkseid's gray face showed a sarcastic smile, one corner of his mouth lifted: "Yeah, you're the Justice League, what do you see me as again? That inaccurate term.... Oh, 'Super Villain', you've 'heroes' never believed me."
Steel Bone looked a bit awkward; Batman indeed never trusted Darkseid, but Steel Bone himself somewhat did, or else he wouldn't have been busy playing 'god' these months.
To cover his embarrassment and avoid the disdainful gazes from Starfire and Jessica, he leaned in close to Darkseid.
"The Ghost Star Zone contains all the materials needed for you to build a 'New Apocalypse Star'; that's why Brainiac hid them, to prevent..."
Darkseid looked at him with a gaze as if seeing the least intelligent metal insect in the cosmos.
The gaze was filled with disdain, disbelief, and much sympathy, as if saying: 'You don't have Batman's brain and yet try to reason like him, isn't this self-humiliation?'
Steel Bone's reasoning and reality were worlds apart, a complete mismatch.
While interrogating, if one guesses the opponent's criminal motive correctly, it hugely shakes their confidence, while guessing wrong is like pretending to be clever but really foolish....
Darkseid couldn't listen to such a poor guess anymore, he interrupted Steel Bone: "Your intelligence analysis is totally wrong; I embarked on this plan to save the Multiverse."
Steel Bone looked dumbfounded: "Huh?"
"I admit I want to regain power and become Darkseid again, but simply because I ought to! I'm not a 'villain'; not something you humans can describe with your insufficient language and simplistic view of good and evil; I'm order within chaos and the power of the universe!"
Darkseid spoke a barrage of words, and Steel Bone's confusion grew; he could feel his Mother Box overheating but couldn't comprehend what Darkseid meant.
He chose the simplest method, showing a mocking expression and proudly replying, as if the spirits of all Earth's superheroes possessed him at that moment!
"I don't believe!"
Darkseid: "...."
He was speechless, just looking at Steel Bone eerily silently, thinking isn't this one indeed a fool?
Not trusting what should be trusted, insisting on trusting what shouldn't be; lacking the ability to discern right from wrong—how did the Justice League let this character into the cosmos?