"Clark, we cannot just watch you fight this guy alone," Batman said, his voice low and serious like always. "We don't know what he can do. Our systems can't measure him. Something is very wrong here."
Superman floated a few feet off the ground, his red cape moving gently in the hot wind. He looked calm, but his eyes never left Goku. "I know, Bruce," he said quietly. "But I'm not exactly normal either, remember? Let me fight him first. While I keep him busy, all of you study him. Find out how strong he really is and how we can stop him if I lose."
Wonder Woman's voice came next, soft but worried. "Be careful, Clark."
Superman gave a small nod, even though only the people close to him could see it.
Across the sand, Goku waved one hand happily. "Hey, Superman!"
Superman smiled a little. "Yes, Son Goku?"
The smile on Goku's face suddenly disappeared. His eyes became sharp and serious. "Tell your friends to leave this desert right now. If they stay, they might not survive."
Green Lantern, floating in the air with his green ring glowing bright, lost his patience first. "Okay, that's it. I'm seriously pissed off. There's no way this guy is stronger than all of us together." A giant green hammer, taller than a skyscraper, appeared above Goku's head. "Let's end this joke."
"Lantern, stand down," Batman ordered.
"No lies in his eyes," Batman added quietly a second later, almost to himself. "But I still can't read him."
Green Lantern ignored him. "Arghhhhhh!" He slammed the huge hammer down.
BOOM!
The ground cracked open like glass. Sand flew hundreds of feet into the air. A thick cloud of dust covered everything.
"Lantern! What did I tell you?!" Batman shouted.
"Relax, Bats," Flash said with a nervous laugh. He stood with his arms crossed, trying to look cool. "Looks like the scanners just glitched again. No big deal."
From inside the dust cloud came a low, slow sound.
"Buuuuuuuuuuu…"
The earth started to shake, gently at first, then harder.
"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Superman yelled.
BOOM!
The giant green hammer exploded into a thousand sharp pieces that shot out in every direction like bullets made of emerald light.
"Lantern, turn it off NOW!" Batman roared.
Green Lantern's eyes went wide. He waved his hand quickly, and every single piece vanished into thin air just before they hit his teammates.
Flash let out a long breath. "Phew… close one."
Green Arrow looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Really?"
"What?" Flash opened his hands like he was innocent.
Goku stepped out of the dust cloud without a scratch. His orange gi was not even dirty. He looked at the heroes and smiled again, but this time it was a different kind of smile, one that said the warm-up was over.
"Well," he said cheerfully, "if you all want to fight me together, I gladly accept!"
Before anyone could blink, Goku disappeared.
BAM!
His fist sank deep into Flash's stomach. The fastest man alive did not even see it coming. Flash's eyes bulged, and then he was gone, shot away like a red rocket across the desert. Miles away, he crashed into a sand dune so hard that the impact made a crater the size of a house.
BOOM!
Everyone froze.
For one long second, no one moved. No one spoke.
Then Batman's voice cracked through the earpieces like a whip. "Justice League, restrain him! NOW!"
The fight began for real.
Green Arrow was the first to move. He pulled back his bow and fired a dozen explosive arrows all at once. They flew straight at Goku and exploded in bright orange fireballs that lit up the desert like the sun.
Goku did not dodge. He just walked forward through the flames and smoke, smiling the whole time.
Green Arrow's mouth fell open. "You've got to be kidding me…"
Goku ran at him so fast he looked like an orange blur. His hand reached out, fingers only inches from Green Arrow's neck.
Then Superman arrived.
BAM!
Superman's fist hit Goku square in the face. The Man of Steel put everything he had into that punch. Goku's head turned a little to the left, nothing more. Then he vanished again.
BOOM!
A foot slammed into Superman's back and drove him face-first into the sand. The ground split open for hundreds of yards. A cloud of dust shot up so high it looked like a brown tower reaching for the sky.
Green Lantern stared. "Who… what is this guy?"
He raised his ring and created dozens of glowing green missiles. They roared through the air and crashed into Goku one after another.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!
Each explosion was louder than the last. The desert floor turned into a crater filled with fire and smoke.
"Take THIS!" Cyborg shouted. His right arm turned into a massive cannon. A blue-white beam thick as a truck shot out, a weapon strong enough to level an entire city. "BOOYAH!"
KABOOOOOM!
The explosion was so huge that people a hundred miles away looked up and wondered if the sun had fallen out of the sky. Heat rolled over the desert like an ocean wave. Black smoke rose in a giant mushroom cloud.
Up in the air, the League watched the fire.
"Cyborg," Batman said, voice cold, "I authorized that weapon only for world-level emergencies."
"This IS a world-level emergency, Batman!" Cyborg shouted back. "Flash got punched before he even saw the guy move! Superman is in a hole! Were you waiting until Green Lantern got his butt kicked too?"
Green Lantern turned his head slowly. "Really, man? Me?"
Wonder Woman held her sword in one hand and her shield in the other. Her knuckles were white. "Let's hope that finally knocked him out… or ended him."
A soft wind blew.
Swooooosh…
All the smoke and dust flew away at once, like someone had turned on a giant fan.
Goku stood in the middle of the crater. Not a scratch. Not a tear in his clothes. His black eyes looked up at the heroes floating above him. Yellow lightning began to crackle and dance around his body, even though he had not changed his form yet.
He closed his hands into fists.
BOOM!
A wave of pure power exploded out of him. The sand for half a mile around turned to glass from the heat. The air itself seemed to scream.
Goku looked up and grinned, the same happy grin he had at the beginning, only now it sent chills down every hero's spine.
"Now," he said, his voice calm but carrying across the desert like thunder, "I'm getting serious."
Green Arrow swallowed hard and glanced at Green Lantern. "Well… at least only the weakest members will die first."
Green Lantern glared at him. "Excuse me? Look who's talking, Robin Hood!"
High above them, Superman pulled himself out of the crater, sand pouring off his cape. His eyes glowed red with heat vision ready. Wonder Woman raised her shield. Batman's hands moved over hidden controls on his wrists, calling every plan and weapon he had ever made for aliens and gods. Flash came running back, holding his stomach and coughing, but still moving faster than sound. Cyborg's cannon whined as it charged again.