HP: god of potions

Chapter 145

"Fine, I'll cook some nice lasagna. Happy now?" Gray asked, and Rachel smiled. "Yes, but make it the way I like it," she said. Everyone just stared at them. "And here people think I'm weird," Kite Man muttered. Eventually, the leaders decided to attack two of Darkseid's machines that were draining Earth's molten core into Apokolips. They split into two teams to attack the machines, drawing the Paradooms away while the strike teams attacked LexCorp, activated the Boom Tube, and traveled to Apokolips. Once there, they would blow the generator and reverse the Boom Tubes, trapping the Paradooms and blowing up Apokolips while ensuring their safe return. Without Boom Tubes, Darkseid wouldn't be able to return to Earth. Gray already knew this plan was doomed, but he didn't say a word, especially since Rachel's presence confirmed it.

The next day, they enacted the plan, sneaking into Lex's fortress while two teams attacked the machines. But Lois wasn't getting any reports from her sleeper agent confirming the Paradooms had left Earth. So John Constantine gaslit Swamp Thing into attacking the third machine, which finally drew the Paradooms away. "You have a talent for pissing people off, Constantine," Gray remarked. John grinned. "That I do," he replied. As the attack on Lex's fortress began, everyone did their part — except Rachel and Gray, who walked along comfortably without a care in the world. "Is anyone else noticing how easy they're taking this?" Lois asked. "Just pretend they're not even here," Superman replied. They made their way through the fortress, but Shiva died along the way. When they reached the room with the Boom Tube, Lex appeared in a ridiculous-looking mech suit that made Gray burst into laughter.

"Hah! That's a ridiculous mech suit!" Gray said, clutching his stomach as Lex fired a plasma shot at him. Gray didn't even bother dodging and kept laughing. "I guess being a genius doesn't mean you've got good taste," he said. Lex, ignoring him, went for Damian, smashing him with the mech, which sent Raven into her demonic form. Manifesting her soul self, she destroyed Lex's mech and prepared to crush him. Gray clicked his teeth in annoyance and looked at Rachel. "When was the last time you got angry for my sake?" he asked. Rachel looked at him, scowling. "I am very angry," she said. Gray sighed. "Sorry," he muttered. Superman managed to talk Raven down from killing Lex. Gray mumbled under his breath, "Mercy is for those who can afford it," loud enough for everyone to hear. Just then, they learned Lex had been Lois's secret informant. Teaming up with him, they prepared to arm Superman and Damian to travel to Apokolips — with Gray and Rachel accompanying them. As they stood by the Boom Tube, Gray mused aloud, "You know, just in case any of you guys die, I plan on resetting this universe and bringing everything back to how it was. If not, I'll travel through time and kill Darkseid myself." Lex blinked. "I just noticed… there are two Ravens," he said before smiling as the Boom Tube activated.

Apokalips was a futuristic hell with gigantic factories that were alien and metal machines everywhere. It lacked greenery. Constantine broke a pair of glasses that made everyone invisible as they moved, only to be attacked by the robotized Wonder Woman, Hawk-Man, Starfire, Mera, Queen of Atlantis, and Martian Manhunter. "Interesting, the woman with the divine blood," Gray said out loud as everyone's invisibility got undone. So the fight began, and it didn't last long, as Etrigan died to Wonder Woman, who got out of brainwashing by having the Lasso of Truth force the truth on her—that she wasn't a slave to the New Gods but the Old Gods. She then held off her entire old team while the rest made it to the generator, which turned out to be Flash on a treadmill.

"Like a hamster on a wheel," Gray thought as Superman rushed to free his friend from what was essentially torture. Constantine went to put him to sleep, only to end up reading his memory and finding that Flash caused the Flashpoint, which led to Darkseid coming. If Flash was the generator, there was no generator to blow up, which meant Darkseid wouldn't stop coming to Earth. But they decided to continue, only to be ambushed by lasers on the walls. This caused Trigon to momentarily possess Raven, but it gave her the edge she needed to push past the ambush and arrive where Cyborg was held. John performed techno-magic to debug him, which subsequently debugged all of the half-robot Justice League members, just as they got Cyborg back. Batman and Darkseid returned.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the New God himself," Gray said out loud as both Batman and Darkseid looked at him. "What is this?" Darkseid asked Batman, who replied, "It seems there is an anomaly—a future version of Raven, daughter of Trigon, has appeared along with an unknown but powerful male named Gray." Gray said, "To be honest, I was expecting someone, you know, bigger—like Trigon." Gray tutted disappointedly as Darkseid fired an Omega Beam at him. Gray turned the Omega Beam into butterflies. "Slow down, will you? I'm not supposed to fight you yet, so just ignore me for now. We will fight to the fullest and with no interruptions," Gray said as he released just a slight presence of his domain, which forced all beings except Rachel and Darkseid to kneel.

"Hmm," Darkseid pondered for a second before he turned his head toward the rest and took a seat on his throne. Gray manifested two thrones for himself and Rachel while Batman and Damian fought. Batman beat the brakes off Damian while using his chair to attack the rest of the team. "Oh, this is child abuse—someone call child protective services," Gray said just to watch Batman snap out of the programming and throw the katana at Darkseid, taking out one of his eyes. "You disappoint me," Darkseid said as he fired an Omega Beam at Batman, but Damian took the hit and was nearly fried, which triggered Raven into going mad and almost freeing Trigon from his cage.

But Constantine broke the gem on Raven's forehead and summoned Trigon himself, willing to host Trigon in his body. However, Trigon had a better idea and shuffled himself into Superman's body. "At last, I am free," Trigon said as he killed John Constantine by snapping his neck. He then looked at his daughter—both of them. "We meet again, daughter," he said before looking at Rachel. "Hello, future daughter." Rachel only scoffed as she summoned a bright soul-self, much to everyone's shock. "Focus on your present, father, before I get impatient and kill you myself," she said, her terrifying voice showing how pissed she was. "Yup, she's pissed alright—so hurry up and win so I can fight them," Gray yelled, knowing how this would end. Darkseid and Trigon fought, but Darkseid was quickly stomped into the ground. A message from Lois on Earth interrupted the fight, only for her to die on screen as she said her goodbyes, causing trigon to be kicked out supermans body, eventually, john was revived and he summoned trigon while cyborg sacrificed himself to boom everyone out, everyone except gray, trigon and darkseid. 

 The air around them cracked and hissed with raw power, the very ground of Apokolips quaking beneath the force of the three titans standing against one another. Grey stood alone, his body radiating unstable, destructive energy — every breath, every subtle motion distorting the space around him. The combined effects of the Essence of Transcendent Shimmer and the Chimera Awakening Elixir had turned him into something beyond mortal comprehension. His eyes burned like stars, his every muscle coiled with boundless strength.

Darkseid moved first — a blur of indomitable force, his colossal fist driving forward with the weight to shatter mountains. Grey met it head-on, his own punch slamming into Darkseid's knuckles. The impact rippled outward, a deafening shockwave exploding across the ruined landscape. Entire spires of Apokoliptian architecture crumbled, the ground splitting into deep chasms beneath them.