Parademons And Desaad

Once upon a time, far across the stars, on a scorched world called Apokolips, there sat a tyrant on a throne of black stone. His name was Darkseid, and tonight, he was impatient.

"Bring me something useful from that little blue planet," Darkseid rumbled, his voice low and heavy, like a mountain settling after a long, long day.

Bowing at his feet was a small, hunched figure named Desaad. Desaad was not big like Darkseid. He was not made of stone, and his eyes did not glow with terrible fire. Desaad was clever instead — sneaky, whispery, quick with a plan — and he had been watching Earth through a crackling viewscreen, waiting for exactly this moment.

"I know just the thing, my lord," Desaad said, rubbing his hands together with a thin little smile.

Far away, in a city called Central City, there was a laboratory called S.T.A.R. Labs. And inside that laboratory, locked behind glass, there glowed a power core — a bright, humming treasure strong enough to keep a hundred Boom Tubes open and steady all at once. If Desaad could bring that core home to Apokolips, Darkseid's swirling orange portals would never wobble or misfire again. And Desaad, for once, would not be scolded. He would be praised.

So Desaad made a plan. A sneaky, clever, whispery little plan.

First, he would send a false signal out across the stars — one shaped to look exactly like a real distress call from a Mother Box. That signal would go straight to a hero named Cyborg, who always answered when his own Mother Box called for help. While Cyborg raced off to chase a Boom Tube that did not really need him at all, a squad of Parademons would slip quietly through a second portal and carry the real power core home.

Now, Parademons are not clever, not really. They are loyal, and they are strong, with armored wings and rattling claws, and they do exactly what they are told without ever stopping to ask questions. That, Desaad thought happily, made them the perfect soldiers for a sneaky little job like this one.

And so, on a quiet evening, the plan began.

A Boom Tube flared open with a soft, orange WHOOSH near the Central City riverfront. Far away, Cyborg's Mother Box lit up with a beeping alarm, and Cyborg — brave and quick to help — raced off toward the signal at once. At that very same moment, a second Boom Tube opened silently at the loading dock behind S.T.A.R. Labs, and a dozen Parademons poured through, wings beating softly in the dark, claws reaching for the glowing case they had come to steal.

But here is the thing about heroes, little one — the best ones are always watching, even when nobody else can see them.

Batman had been keeping an eye on the laboratory's sensors all the way from Gotham City, just in case something like this ever happened. And Cyborg's own Mother Box — which could think for itself, the way Mother Boxes sometimes do — realized something was wrong with the signal before Cyborg had even gotten halfway to the river. It was not real. It was a trick.

Cyborg turned around at once and raced straight back toward S.T.A.R. Labs.

Meanwhile, the Parademons reached the glass case, cracked it open, and lifted out the glowing power core with great care, ready to carry their prize home to Apokolips. But it was not the real core at all. It was a decoy — heavy, useless, and carefully placed there that very morning by Batman himself. The true power core sat safe and sound, locked three floors below, exactly where it belonged.

Just then, Cyborg burst through the doors. With a bright flash and a steady hum, he fired a sonic blast that sent the Parademons scattering in every direction, wings flapping in surprise. One by one, they dove back through their Boom Tube, clutching nothing but a heavy, worthless hunk of metal, and the swirling orange portal snapped shut behind them.

Far away on Apokolips, Desaad shuffled forward and bowed low before the throne, holding out the useless decoy with trembling hands.

Darkseid looked down at it. His eyes glowed, unimpressed, the way a mountain looks at a single dropped pebble.

"Try again," he growled.

Desaad scurried backward, already muttering to himself about his next clever scheme, already dreaming up some new sneaky plan for tomorrow.

And back on Earth, in the quiet after the Parademons had gone, Cyborg and Batman stood together outside S.T.A.R. Labs, watching the last orange sparks fade from the night sky.

"They'll try again," Batman said.

"Good," said Cyborg, with a small, steady smile. "We'll be ready."

And so, under a sky full of ordinary stars, Earth slept safely once more — watched over, as always, by heroes who were paying attention, even when the danger came sneaking in through the back door.

The end.