Author's Note: Alright, so for those of you who have seen the Justice League cartoons, I started a new story, which I will probably update regularly. This is sort of an AU but I use the word sort of pretty loosly. Anyhow, I hope you all relax, read, and then *crossing fingers* review.
Chapter 1: The Deal
Tires squealed across the paved streets of Gotham. The digital clock of the limousine read 2:16 a.m. but still the car sped onward. The city's dead silence was cut by the sound of the engine as this tinted black car wound its way through the dark, polluted streets.
Seeming to find its destination, the car stopped in a dimly lit, back alley inhabited only by one figure standing in the shadows.
Lex Luthor stepped out from the car, a gun visibly hanging from him. The tension was practically tangible in the air. The hidden man came into the light.
"Joker," Lex said apprehensively. The Joker smiled wider if it was possible and shook his head slightly, his green hair catching the light brilliantly.
"Lexy, I'm hurt. There's no need for formalities," Joker cackled, his voice edged with insanity. "Now, what brings you to my town?"
"Get in the car, Joker. No questions; just get in," Lex snapped, his cold façade finally giving way to his blistering rage.
"Easy, Lexy," Joker replied, holding his hands in mock surrender. "I just need some insurance."
From the car, right on cue, Harley Quinn emerged, clad in a gray chauffeur's dress-suit.
"Mercy was sick, but I took the wheel for her," Harley giggled wickedly. Lex dared to look beyond her to see his long-time cohort and accomplice, Mercy, bound and gagged in the passenger's seat, unconscious.
"Excellent job, Harley, bravo," Joker clapped slowly, giving Lex a pointed look. "Now, Lex, you wanted to talk about something?"
Being left with no choice, Lex Luthor got in the limo with Joker, casting an anxious glance at Quinn. Lex pulled a brief case up from the floor and set it on his lap.
"Joker, pay attention. With me I have a rare alloy that was found during a meteor landing. It is virtually indestructible and has properties unlike any of that man has seen," Lex said ominously, opening the case. There was a small glass box and suspended in the center was a metallic silver square with veins of red stretched across it.
"Oh, pretty," Joker said dully, his voice oddly solemn.
"This is compacted down to as dense and small as it could possibly get, but, once the alloy comes in contact with the compound of oxygen, it expands. We have nearly an unlimited supply of a rare indestructible metal and better yet, we have the technology to mold into whatever weapons we want. The world could be ours!" Lex cried. The beady eyes of the Joker glinted dangerously.
"What fun would that be? But, after all, it is possible, especially after what happened to the Justice League," The Joker replied, his voice tainted with bitterness and also contempt.
Clark Kent stood on his balcony already dressed for his day job at the Daily Planet that didn't even start for another hour. The sun was just beginning to break across the horizon, bathing Metropolis in warm light. A light breeze billowed Clark's hair gently.
"Has it really been four years?" he wondered aloud. So much time and the wound was still fresh and at times, Clark wondered if he would ever get over it.
"So much for being invulnerable, huh?" Cark asked the pigeon perched on the balcony's railing. It just looked at him once before returning to grooming its feathers. He sighed but suddenly, a hand was resting on his shoulder. He didn't need super powers to know who it was behind him.
"Clark, I-," Lois Lane began but quickly cut herself off. She had nothing to say that could possibly ease Superman's pain. She was still dressed in her night gown that rippled like water around her thighs.
Clark turned and kissed her briefly, but assuring. "Lois, I'm okay. Really," he lied. As she tried to stare him in the eyes, Clark broke her gaze, unable to look at her and lie.
"I don't know what to say, I'm sorry. I bet any of them would have known what to say at a time like this," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper.
Clark cupped her face in his hands and put his forehead against hers. "We all still fight for the good of people, just now in a different way. I miss them, but I have you. And that's all I need."
Of all the things to lie about, Clark thought cynically
"Hey, GL, I'm home!" Wally West called out. His arms were full of grocery bags and he was pretty sure he had dropped some of their stuff when he ran back to the apartment that he was sharing with John. He tried in vain to fix his red messy hair so John wouldn't catch on.
John Stewart emerged from the back area of the apartment. The small living space wasn't much, but to the two heroes, it was home. Wally slept on the couch while John got the twin bed in the bedroom.
"You know, Flash, you shouldn't being going to the super market all the way across town. If someone knew that we had super powers, do you know how much trouble we could get into?" John chided. "And I'm sick of having mayo but no bread."
Flash smiled sheepishly. "Com'on, GL. I'm not hurting anyone; I'm an ex-super hero for crying out loud. And not all of us have a fancy ring that lets us go fight crime with a super cool corps."
John and Flash looked at each other. They had never really talked about what happened four years ago and why they didn't keep in contact to the others.
"Why did this have to happen? Why does it have to be like this, GL?" he snapped. Flash turned and slammed his fist into the stucco wall, his knuckles bleeding, but he didn't care. How could all of those people be so blind to everything?
Green Lantern didn't say anything, because after all, what had he to say? He, himself, had lost his closest friends, his right to wear his uniform proudly and worst of all, loosing the love of his life. In one fail swoop, everything that had mattered, defined him, was taken out from under his feet. But his real pity lay with Flash, because John still had the Green Lantern Corps, while all Wally ever had was the league.
"I know," John murmured, "I know.'
"We weren't ever going to end up like them!" Flash whispered scornfully. Green Lantern knew exactly to whom Flash was talking about and it killed him. The Justice Lords certainly had made their impression, on everyone.
The silence was deafening. Flash pulled back from the busted wall and looked up at John hopefully. It was that same look that was given to John four years ago, when he decided to stay with him, even if it only meant more difficulty for both of them.
"Come with me," Green Lantern said, rolling his eyes. The ring's power surged over him, outfitting him into his costume. Just as he turned around, Flash too was already dressed in his red uniform. Lantern grabbed Flash's wrist and took off out the window, flying fast into the cover of the mid-afternoon clouds. The large city below shrank, and people became like ants and buildings just became pebbles.
For a moment, they flew above the city, surrounded by clouds, neither one saying anything, too weary to break the sudden tranquility. They broke out from the clouds and were now over the ocean and some good miles away from the city. Green Lantern flew down close to the water, almost letting Flash touch the water.
"Follow me, okay?" he shouted to Flash above the rush of wind. Flash simply nodded. Green Lantern hesitantly released his friend's arm.
Flash hit the water, and at first couldn't quite begin to run, but after a second, he was running on the water as if it were like running on ground.
"Just like old times, huh GL?" Flash called out to him. Green Lantern looked down at him and felt the familiar surprise at his speed. It was one thing to be the fastest man alive, but another to impress a green lantern.
"Yeah, it is," he said to half to himself.
"Hey! GL, where in the world are we going anyhow?" The wind whipped by, almost making it near impossible to communicate, but Green Lantern didn't need to hear what he was saying to know what Flash wanted.
"Have some faith will you?" he hollered back. They pushed on, the day turning to night in a few moments. And then it came into view. An island, not much bigger than the size of a small city or town.
They reached the sandy white shores swathed in moonlight. Flash didn't even look in the least bit tired as he stood in a foot or so of the clear ocean.
"GL, you mind telling me what we're doing here? I have a job, you know," Flash said impatiently.
Green Lantern walked past his friend and sat down just farther enough from the water's edge so that he wouldn't get wet.
Flash had never seen GL like this, as though he had collapsed down on himself. As he sat on the shore, his arms around his knees, to Flash, he seemed to suddenly shrink and not be the larger than life super being as he always had been. Now, he was talking with John Stewart, the man, not John Stewart, protector of the universe.
"I always worried about what would happen in the future. What would happen to you, to the league? I never had the answers and I had always been afraid of losing you all, especially Shayera."
"GL, I-," Flash out stretched one hand toward him, but slowly pulled it back.
"After what happened, after they took the watchtower, I couldn't believe it. Our own people had turned against us. All we had ever tried to do was help, never once crossing the line, Batman made sure of that, and the only thing we ever got back was gratitude, and now we don't even have that. What are we fighting for, Flash?"
Flash felt his heart squeeze and said, "They just don't know us. All they will ever see is the masks and the capes. When the government decided to confiscate it all and when they put us on trial, I couldn't even register what was going on. We aren't the Justice Lords, so don't compare yourself to them, got that?"
Green Lantern looked up at Flash and felt like he was really seeing his friend for the first time.
Flash pulled his hood back, letting his mask down. His copper hair was now a silver color under the moon and his dark green eyes looked almost black. The stark contrast of the moon's light made every muscle and bone stand out in either black shadow or white radiance. Yet, in the center of his chest was still the symbol emblazoned so boldly and still worn so proudly by this ex-hero.
He's grown up so much, Green Lantern thought to himself. And it was true. The Flash wasn't the naïve and gawky kid that had enraptured the whole league. His eyes had a certain glint to them, and his jaw seemed to always be set.
"GL, why are we here? I don't mind talking with you, but did we have to come to an island in the middle of the night?" Flash said good-naturedly, trying to break the silence.
"Flash, you are my best friend. But, I came here to tell you that we can't share that apartment anymore," he replied slowly. The words hit Flash like a punch in the gut, forcing all the air out of him.
"But, I thought you said-,"
"I know what I said," Green Lantern snapped. This wasn't going to be easy, and Flash sure wasn't going to make it any easier on him. "You're practically my brother, but if the government ever found out that you and I were still in contact, do you know what they would do to us? What they would do to you? And then what if they thought that we were all conspiring and tried to kill us again? We only narrowly escaped and we can't blow what little cover we already have. I'm willing to give you the apartment because I was thinking of traversing back the corps, where I belong."
"GL, you can't do that. What will I do when you leave?" Flash said helplessly. "If you leave, then the league really can't ever get back together."
"Wally! Stop living in that stupid fantasy. We lost, end of story. We aren't needed and certainly not wanted."
"Easy for you to say! You have a place to return to, you have friends and people who have your back. I don't have anyone, not Bats, not Wonder Woman, not J'onn, and certainly not you."
Green Lantern already knew that Flash was going to say that. The hurt in his eyes was enough to make Green Lantern take it all back, but he had to be firm with this. It is in the best interest of the team, of my friends. Even that wasn't a good enough reason right then.
"Just go, GL." And then Flash was just a blur in the night.
A large waterfall roared overhead, splashing down and spilling into a crystal clear pool. All around it was white sand and beyond that lush green grass. Diana looked out on the scene of nature mildly. The gentle wind blew her long black hair across her neck. She wore a soft white robe as opposed to her old outfit. Diana hadn't been called Wonder Woman in four years, four long years of worrying about them and worrying about the rest of the world. She stared into the water dully.
What is Bruce doing right now? She wondered this often. Her heart ached when she thought of the dashing yet also calculatingly dangerous ally and close friend. Maybe they had something more than just friendship, or maybe not, but Diana often wished she could see him, just once.
She picked up a round black pebble and rolled it around in her palm before tossing it into the water. The rippling water reflected the light back in odd waves and splashes.
Her mother was probably looking for her and just as well she had training with her fellow Amazonians that she'd skipped out on.
Themyscira is my home, I belong here, Diana thought resolutely. Man's world rejected me anyway.
"Diana? Are you here?" a voice called out to her. From the underbrush a tall woman emerged with long chestnut hair that looked like fire in the sun's rays. She had knowing brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with mischief and shine with compassion. Her face had a steadfast appearance to it and she looked like more than just a woman, but a true Amazonian.
"Artemis! I was just heading over to practice but I got a little…," she trailed off lamely.
"Don't lie to me," Artemis said advised critically but then added a little more gently, "but I couldn't possibly understand how you feel."
"Just don't," Diana sighed, wrapping her arms around herself tightly.
"Diana, you will always be Wonder Woman but you are also an Amazonian of Themyscira. Making you choose between those two titles was wrong. I don't know what man's world is like and I am not like your friends, but if you ever want to talk about it, I will always listen, because I am your sister as you are mine."
The only sound was the rushing water and the rustling of the leaves in the tree tops. Diana looked at the white, beautiful clouds high above as they moved so gracefully and slowly through the sky. One tear found its way down her cheek and, like a key, it opened up her locked away emotions.
"Why haven't they come back for me? I know we aren't allowed to see each other and I understand how dangerous it would be, I really do, so why do I feel this way?" Diana said in a strangely detached voice. "I feel so mad and hurt and so confused but I don't know why."
Artemis put her arms around her sister as she cried. In the sky, the clouds themselves seemed to darken with rain.
"Hera, help us," Artemis murmured.
All was still at the Gem Depository. The sound of breaking glass exploded in the night. The silent alarm button flashed red, bathing the store in bloody light.
A man slipped in through the broken front window that he had shattered with a brick. He smashed countless cases and shoveled the goods into his bag hurriedly.
The crook turned to leave when he ran straight into something, no – someone. Like a shadow, the Dark Knight of Gotham stood noiselessly.
The thief moved to punch, his fist barreling at Batman's jaw. The caped crusader moved out of the way easily and grabbed the thief by the collar of his shirt, throwing him into a wall like a rag doll. With in an instant, Batman was on the crook, slamming him into the wall mercilessly.
"Look, I'm sorry, man! Take the goods, please, just don't kill me," the man begged. Batman ripped the crook's ski mask off and drew his fist back to punch him in the face.
"Batman?"
The voice was like ice water on Bruce. He dropped the thief and hand-cuffed him to the water heater.
"Batman, that's you, isn't it?" Superman said tentatively. Batman stood up straight, letting his cape fall back around him as he turned slowly.
"It's been awhile," he responded calmly, coldly. Something like hope prickled in Batman's heart.
"It's been four years, you act like you haven't seen me in a few weeks," the Man of Steel pointed out. "How are you?"
Bruce looked at his old friend for a moment, lost in his thoughts. He hasn't changed a bit.
"Not here and especially not in front him," Batman warned. He once again turned his attention to the gem thief. "If they ask, you were caught by me, not him, not both of us, me. If you so much as breathe a word of whom or what you saw, I will find you."
The man nodded eagerly, his eyes swimming with fear. Batman turned and walked straight past Clark and out of the gem depository. Superman followed blithely, not bothering to question where they were going to go.
With one well aimed grapple, Batman soared off and up to the top of a tall sky-scraper. They were so far up, that the cars below seemed to just be dots of light.
"Bruce, it's good to see you," Superman said a little more warmly as he landed agilely upon the concrete roof. "How have you been doing?"
"Fine. More petty criminals keep popping up, I followed this one to Metropolis because," Batman paused. Why had he come to Metropolis? There was no way that these crimes had al been organized by the same person because they lacked consistency and aptitude to actually pull it off. Maybe he some how hoped to run into Clark and was giving him self an excuse.
Superman noticed the sudden lapse and stared at Bruce's back with sorrow. How had things become like this?
"I know, Bruce," Clark said. He turned away from Bruce and stared out at the full white moon in the cloudless blue sky. "I wish that I could change it, go back and stop this from happening, don't you?"
Once Clark turned around, the place where Bruce was standing was vacant.
He really hasn't changed.
"Master Bruce? I made some turkey roast and if you wish, I could heat you up a plate," Alfred called out as he wandered through the bat cave.
No response. Alfred turned to leave but was stopped by Robin's voice.
"Hey, Alfred, don't bother. Batman left awhile ago, all geared up," Tim hollered back to a displeased Alfred. The ex-sidekick was lounging in the bat cave, his feet resting on the deactivated super computer.
Alfred looked down at Tim condescendingly, "And you didn't stop him Mr. Tim?"
"Hell no. Would you stop Bruce when he was dressed up?" Tim gave Alfred a look.
"No, of course not."
"That's what I thought. Ugh, I hate that damn Amanda Waller and her fat a-,"
"Master Tim, language," Alfred chided. "Besides, you have school tomorrow, so off to bed."
"How can I ever possibly follow in his footsteps if you won't let me stay up past midnight?" Tim yawned back. Alfred smiled gently at the boy.
"You are more like Bruce than you know."
The two argued a couple more minutes before Tim finally relented and, after a quick hug, was off to bed. Alfred rested his hand on the back of the swivel chair and sighed.
"Ahem."
"Mr. Wayne!" the butler cried, whirling around. Batman was leaning on the wall just a few yards away, concealed by the shadows.
As he stepped out more into the light, Bruce pulled back his mask and eyed his old butler.
"How long have you been standing there?" Alfred demanded, straightening his vest and wrist cuffs.
"Long enough," Batman said calmly, giving a half shrug. His deep voice resounded soulfully throughout the cave, waking the bats somewhere in the heart of the chasm.
Bruce walked past Alfred and sat back in the chair that Tim had previously occupied. His icy blue eyes stared off into some unseen world. The silence hung between the two men like a veil.
"With all due respect sir, what happened four years ago?"
Bruce didn't look Alfred in the eyes. He couldn't. All those years ago, his life had been changed. When he actually found solid ground, friends, a family, it had been ripped away from him. He always figured that his heart had turned to stone but somehow, all of his barriers had been peeled back and he didn't even realize it.
"The US government held a United Nations meeting," Bruce began, his voice sounding detached and metallic, "in which they discussed us. After what happened with the Justice Lords everyone was afraid that we would grab power, just like they had."
He paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling. "And that's when it all happened."
"Lex began to run for president, just like what happened in the alternate reality that the Justice Lords reside in. We did our best to fight him becoming president but Luthor already it planned out. He framed the other candidates of fraudulency and he won, like you already know. Well, Amanda Waller, his cohort, was pulling strings and tried to make some recent crimes look like it was coming from our newer members of Justice League. And she succeeded.
Eventually, over a two year course, the last members were the seven of us; Me, J'onn, Diana, Flash, Clark, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. Soon after, the UN confiscated the watchtower and suddenly, we weren't superheroes, we were vigilantes.
What people don't know was that we were put on trial a few months later. They told us that we were not above the law and, while they couldn't hold in any prison, they could certainly hurt us. Amanda Waller knew everything about us, our weaknesses, our loved ones, our homes, and she used all of it against us. We were told that we would leave that court room and never speak to each other, never dawn the uniforms again, or else."
And it was out there. All the wounds from those four long years ago, of people giving up, all the doubt so many people had in them and their cause, and even the doubt in each other was so starkly fresh.
I'll always fight even if it kills me, and even if I'm not a hero anymore.
Music pulsated in a low-key club filled with dancers and drinkers, many both. The rhythm was like the beat of a heart, keeping the club alive. The air was heavy with smoke illuminated by different shades of light. The bar was active and surrounded by girls too young, girls too old and guys too drunk.
"Shayera, another round?"
This club is as shitty as it comes, but it's my shitty safe haven. Instead she just said, "One more, James."
The bartender, James, had dark cropped hair with streaks of blood red in it and he had dark mysterious eyes. He was strangely tall, broad shouldered and good looking.
Had it been another day or another time, she might have been his lover, but Shayera had no interest in love anymore. The only things she knew in these days now were the blurry feeling drunkenness and the pain of hangovers.
"You know Shayera, maybe this should be your last one," James remarked loudly over the music, but then quickly added, "but, if you want more, I will gladly fill your cup up a million times over."
She gave him a bored look with eyes gleaming sharply. Her hair was still the same light auburn color but now a little bit longer and she was clad in a silky pink dress, and over it, hiding her dappled maple wings, was a stylish tan trench coat.
"Hey, bartender, give me a beer," came an isolated voice down a ways from the bar. James shot Shayera an apologetic look before attending to his thirsty customers.
As the night wore on, the bar became a little less crowded while the dance floor's popularity also seemed to decline. James stopped occasionally to fill up Shayera's emptied glass but mostly tended to the other bar patrons.
"How're you doing?" James said, giving her a lazy smile while he had a second.
"Fine, James. But, now that you mention it, I think you've been purposely been giving me less beer tonight. How many times do I have to tell you that it takes more for me to get drunk?" she questioned, arching one perfectly plucked eye brow.
"Well, you saw right through me," James laughed dryly and ran a hand across his chin stubble thoughtfully, "and you do seem to handle your liquor better than most."
"Hey there, waiter, I'm parched over here," came another barely coherent voice over the music. James rolled his eyes.
"You absolutely wouldn't believe this guy. He comes in and drinks almost as much as you and the whole time he keeps talking about this green pal of his. I'm pretty sure he was wasted before he even came in here," James said, totally exasperated.
"Wait, what?" Shayera asked. This suddenly perked her curiosity and her concern. No one, except maybe the Amazonians of Themyscira, could consume so much alcohol and live.
It's not my problem. It's not my problem. It's not my problem, she repeated to herself, but the part of her that was still Hawkgirl was practically screaming at her to do something.
"Maybe I ought to get him out of here," she offered. James gave her a skeptical look.
"You think that I'm going to just let you traipse out of my bar, hand in hand, with some drunken idiot, especially when you've had nearly as much as he has?" James snapped.
"Yes," she sighed, feeling irritation prickle at the base of neck.
"Well, girlie, you are so wro-," Shayera flung herself forward and grabbed James by the front of his shirt balled up in her fists. She lifted him easily up and over the wooden bar, sending her beer mug to the floor, shattering it.
"Listen to me. I'm not some helpless woman, and I am certainly not about to let you tell me what to do, got that, little man?" she spat. He nodded slightly, and she released him, permitting him to scramble backwards. "Now, where is he?"
"The young guy at the very end of the bar," James relied, pointing a shaky finger in the general direction.
Shayera tramped over as best as she could in high heels to the last figure at the end of the long ingot. Sure enough, slumped over a shot whiskey, was a man. Shayera tried to lift him to get a good look at his face, but again the man slumped back down.
She noted with a slight blush in her cheeks how toned the body of the guy was as she lifted him under her arm and carried him out. Cold night air hit her hard, and sweet frozen oxygen filled Shayera's lungs. She finally laid down this mystery man on his back, kneeling in front of him and felt her heart jump to her throat.
Lying on the icy sidewalk was the face of Wally West, his red hair splayed out behind him.
"Flash?" Shayera cried, falling backward. "Flash, wake up. Com'on, Wally, I need you to get up."
At first, she feared the worst, and crouched on the slick concrete sidewalk with one of her closest friends passed out drunk, Shayera felt completely lost.
Wally, you fool. What were you doing drinking so much? She put one hand one his flushed cheek, feeling tears spring to her eyes. Slowly, his eyelids lifted, exposing his forest green eyes.
"Hawkgirl? Whoa, I must really be drunk," he slurred. His eyelids slid shut again and like that, he was out.
She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him up from the ground and breathed in his old familiar scent washed in alcohol. It had been four long years, and fate had dropped her friend into her lap, literally.
Shayera gently rested Flash's head back down and stood up in the still night air, her breath coming out in steamy swirls. She was thankful for the late time and sudden deadness of the city as she shrugged off her trench coat, letting her wings out. Shayera struggled with Flash for a moment to get his arms into the holes of the jacket and then searched him for some ID or anything to point her in the right direction.
After her search came up empty, she felt even more alone. Where could she possibly go to that would be safe for her and Flash? Shayera glanced around weakly.
"Gotham City Limit" – Thirty-Two Miles
That will have to do, she thought, I just hope Bats is up for some company.
The moon was just beginning to rise over a wide mountain range somewhere in Russia. A rock jutted out, hanging over a shallow chasm filled with a small river. The black water rushed by, like a snake in the night.
"Will I ever truly be free?" J'onn thought disparagingly. At least in the remote lands of Russia, he was safe. The last of his kind and the one time he was accepted, he had been forced to never see them again.
The man-hunter stood up, suddenly furious as he slammed his fist into a tree hanging helplessly on the rock face. The gnarled miracle sapling dropped to its doom and fell into the black canal below.
Instantly J'onn regretted what he had done. That tree wasn't hurting him and he took out his senseless rage on an innocent life. He retreated from his perch and, becoming intangible, flew right through the mountains around him until he reached a big field. Spring was just coming to a close in the region where J'onn was and small white native flowers seemed to spring up in clusters everywhere.
"Who am I?" he disparaged. The green hands unfurled in front of him seemed so foreign. With a flicker in his mind, his hands morphed into the callused peach hands of the farmer he had been masquerading as.
J'onn quickly faded back, collapsing on the tall grass below. He felt his thoughts churn over inside him, going back to his friends.
"I could always reach out to them," he mused aloud. J'onn slipped into the recesses of his thoughts, feeling back into the part of him that was subconsciously linked to them. He pressed down mentally on this link, and felt vaguely all six of them. Alive, well and miserable.
"Lexy, why are we ringing the doorbell of a super villain?" Joker smiled, putting his head to one side. Luthor cast Joker a tired look.
"And to think I've actually been stuck with this repulsive moronic clown for days," Lex sneered. They were standing on the front doorstep of a large modern mansion with long glass walls and a sleek metallic structure in New Zealand. The private plane ride out to the island had been hell for Luthor, especially since he had to share it with the one person on the whole planet that he hated more than Superman.
"Joker, please try to control yourself around this man. He is very important to the next stage of our plan," Lex said slowly, willing him to understand. Joker continued to smile and shook his head.
"Hehehe, you sure you are a joker, Lex. Why you could even be a comedian, though I might have to kill you for stealing my act," Joker said jocularly. Even the hair on Luthor's neck stood up; Joker was menacing and insane no matter how you play the cards.
The heavy oak door creaked open, and, standing in the doorway, was none other than Vandal Savage. A man of few and meaningful words, Savage stood, staring at the odd pair with a bemused look in his withered eyes. Savage had been around not just for years, but eons. After a freak meteor hit the earth during an ice age, Savage had been granted with immortality.
"Well, well, well. Two clowns, but only one of them is funny," Savage remarked with his deep booming voice. "To what do I owe this very displeasing eyesore?"
"Ha ha," Lex snapped gruffly. "Listen well, Vandal, I have an offer for you. And not just any offer, but one that will finally help you accomplish what you've been trying and failing to do your whole life."
Savage's face became somber instantly. His eyes darted back then forth once, and in that small window of consideration, Vandal opened the door wider to his house.
"Hurry, get inside," he instructed swiftly. The interior of the estate was warm, lit with a large fire place that cast an orange glow, and over it, a large bear skin, much larger than any bear that was alive today. Black leather furniture sat on maple wood floors and electric lights were oddly scarce.
"Way to step into the day and age, Savage," Joker said intentionally. He sat down on the couch, looking around decisively.
Luthor shot his hindrance a look and continued on with what he had been saying. "I am interested in your technological help."
Vandal Savage sat down and crossed his legs thoughtfully, suddenly intrigued. He aligned all of his fingertips and stretched his palm apart and close together again.
"I will help," he said slowly, his Romanian accent beginning to shine through, "but perhaps you would like to tell me what I will be assisting on, yes?"
Lex gestured to the silver brief case he had carried in with him. With a quick movement, Lex set the case down on the coffee table and lifted out the rare alloy. Joker's eyes shone deviously as it came back into view and even Savage seemed to be oddly drawn in the by the metal.
"May I?" Vandal asked, taking the glass cube in his hands. He twirled it around leisurely, examining its surface with a probing gaze.
A long silence descended upon the room, only the sound of the fire crackling and breathing was to be heard. Luthor shifted impatiently on his part of the sofa, whilst Joker sat perfectly still, his eyes anticipating Vandals every twitch. Joker looked like a cat, tensed and ready to spring, plus a smile plastered on its face.
"What do you – exactly – want, Luthor?" Savage asked, sounding very tired. Lex felt a smile begin to tug at the corners of his mouth.
That damn Joker is getting to me, he thought good-naturedly.
"I want you to help be build weapons, suits, androids, that could help us take over the world. My term as president is slowly coming to a close, and I would like to think of world-dictatorship as my coronation. When my dear Amanda unwittingly dispatched the Justice League for good, it now gives us the perfect opportunity," Luthor explained.
Vandal looked at Luthor and then looked at the high ceiling above, thinking. For no apparent reason, Savage let out a laugh, deep and hearty.
"Tell you what, Luthor, I will help you. I will help you build weapons of mass destruction but," Savage said, holding up one long finger.
"But…?" pressed Luthor.
"I want the Justice League gone," Savage said easily. "When you die, I don't want any of them still around."
"That could easily be arranged." Luthor and Savage stared at each other levelly, neither one breaking eye contact.
"So," Savage said with a deadly smile, "when do we start?"