Katana unsheathed the Soultaker, the blade humming with a mournful, ethereal light. She didn't need a lecture on honor; she lived it. Beside her, Rex Mason shifted his molecular structure, his skin turning into a dull, heavy lead. He was tired of being a freak in a lab; he wanted to be a soldier.
"Tonight," Batman confirmed. "From this moment on, we don't exist. We are the ones who stay in the dark so others can see the light."
Jefferson Pierce stepped forward, sparks of blue electricity dancing between his fingers. "You're asking us to go rogue, Bruce. To cross borders the UN says are closed."
Batman stood in the flickering shadows of an abandoned Gotham pier, the salt air stinging his lungs. He wasn’t here for the GCPD or the Justice League. Behind him, the others gathered: Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Katana, and Geo-Force. They were the ones who didn’t fit the shiny, satellite-monitored mold of the League.
The caped crusader vanished into the fog, and one by one, the others followed. They weren't a team yet—just a collection of broken pieces and burning convictions. They were the Outsiders.
Brion Markov gripped the pier’s railing, the wood splintering under his geokinetic strength. "We go tonight?"
Should we focus the next chapter on their or explore Katana’s backstory with the Soultaker?
"Prince Brion’s family is at the center of this," Batman continued, glancing at the young Geo-Force. "The revolution in your home is being funded by powers the League is 'investigating.' We don't investigate. We intervene."