Chapter 1: Our Only Hope

The man walked through the crowds carrying a folder as he scanned the area for his destination. Half of him demanded he get there quicker while the other half bade him to run away, quit this job and pretend he'd never heard of the news currently compiled in the files in his hands. But it was his duty as an American, and to the world, that he tell and warn everyone he could of the oncoming catastrophe. And there was no one who needed to know more than the president. Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob on the door and walked briskly inside.

"So, Mr. Jones, my secretary has said you have information of national importance to tell me. So, what has a soldier like you have to tell me?"

He gulped. The most powerful man in the world sat before him, accompanied by various members of the presidential staff. His general was also there, and the vice president was holding a phone with the voice of all the world's leaders, he was sure. Swallowing down his fear, he spoke:

"Earlier today an… alien handed me this, sir," he said. His heart was pounding.

"An alien, you say?" His left eyebrow was raised, and the president's facial expression was shifting from surprise to incredulous.

"Yes, sir. He insisted I get this to you." As he spoke he gave the folder to the general, who looked at him with no small amount of reticence. He didn't blame him.

"Ok, ok… and what did he look like? Did he say why we needed this information?"

"Um… he was in a green suit and uh… he looked a bit like a lizard with a beak… sir." He wasn't going to be asked for another term, he knew it. And if he was, then his sergeant would probably demand he spend time in the psychiatric ward for the foreseeable future.

The president looked… thoughtful? He couldn't really tell. He only knew that all other eyes were on him, wondering if he was insane.

"Thanks, son. You've done your country a service by getting this to me. You may go."

Leaving the room, he thought to himself, well that didn't go terribly.

As soon as Jones left, and most of the staff for that matter, the president flicked through the pages. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Call a meeting with the world's leaders. They have got to hear this."

"Are you sure about this, General?"

General Alan Shanks rubbed his brow in frustration. His considerable time in the army may have been the reason for it, but his patience was truly being tested now. He wondered how anybody could handle all this political crap.

He was currently surrounded by monitors with near every world leader facing him. The Prime Minister from England, the President of Russia… the list went on. And for the first time, it seemed like they were actually agreeing on something.

"This is preposterous! These… vigilantes can't be allowed to fight our own battles! The people need to see their own leaders standing up for what's right! Not these costumed gods and aliens!"

The only bad thing was that they were wrong.

The Prime Minister spoke: "I may not be completely against this, but think about what you intend to do. This… team? Justice League? Even if they were to prevail, this plan could easily backfire on us."

The general's patience was definitely leaving him now. "With all due respect, this is our best chance. Our only chance. If we don't take action now, we're doomed. We've been warned of what is coming. Do you really think assault rifles and grenades will do anything against this guy?"

The general chalked up a point for himself as they mumbled their arguments. They may have had reservations about the Justice League, but they didn't doubt that if this… brain interactive construct was truly as bad as they feared, they didn't stand a chance.

"I guess we'll put it to a vote," the Australian prime minister said.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to happen, Prime Minister. This is happening, with or without any of your consent."

That got them shouting again. Eventually, the British Prime Minister calmed then down enough so he could speak. "If you do this, then you better be prepared if it all goes pear shaped. You are asking people like Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to come together. These beings are strong enough on their own, let alone in a group. If they disagree, they could tear our world apart. If they don't, if they work too well, they may turn on us. That is the chance you're taking."

General Shanks didn't have a sharp rebuttal to that remark. Instead, he just sighed.

"We have to take this gamble. It's the only chance we've got."

He was sure the politicians would argue more, claiming it was crazy, dangerous, ridiculous etc. There was only one thought in his head though.

It's our only hope.

Lois Lane sat typing away on her computer, oblivious to the ramblings of her colleagues. She had a lot of work to do, which was why she didn't appreciate distractions. They included the two men in suits not getting the hint that she didn't want to talk.

"Miss Lane, we really do need to speak with you. The matter is of national importance."

"Of course it is." Her reply was the definition of sarcasm.

"It's about Superman."

"Already told you, I don't know who he is. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Can you leave me alone now?"

"We need his help."

That roused her curiosity, even if it was only a little bit. "He's not some mindless dog you unleash when you need help. If someone needs him, he'll be there. You should know that."

"The world is in danger. He may be one of the few that can save it."

Lois thought that she'd crack a joke at that, but she did notice how serious they were acting. Wordlessly, one of them handed her a folder with 'Confidential' stamped on it.

"If we can't get this to him, then you can. Don't trust anyone else with this, just him. All the information he needs is inside."

With that, they left.

What just happened? She thought to herself.

Her head was still reeling as Clark came up to her. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Oh, nothing. Just… thinking."

"What did those guys want? They looked pretty official, didn't they?"

"Yeah."

Clark may not have been the smartest person when it came to understanding Lois, but he could easily tell there was something wrong. Her usual sarcastic and quick-witted responses were nowhere to be seen. That in itself was really worrying.

"Lois, what happened?"

She looked at him. She'd been told not to say anything to anyone, but this was Clark. If she couldn't trust him, then she couldn't trust herself.

"Meet me on the roof in fifteen minutes."

"God… and they gave that to you?"

Clark couldn't believe it. His super hearing had picked up most of the conversation, but he was surprised nevertheless. He would definitely need to go over the info again when he changed identities.

She picked up on his disbelief. "Think about it. I've been seen talking to him, getting rescued by him… it makes sense."

"I guess, but… Jesus, this is big. You think the big man is up to it?"

He saw belief and… maybe a little pride in her eyes as she answered. "If anyone can do it, it's him. I can tell he'd give everything to keep Earth safe."

Clark felt his chest bloom with pride. She believes in me.

"Um, Clark? Kent? Anybody home?"

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he responded: "So, how're you going to get this to him?"

She smiled a bit. "Oh, I'll yell loud enough and he'll come. He always does."

He nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Want to meet him?" she asked. A knowing smile was on her lips.

"Uh, no. I got to finish my work. I'll… talk to you later."

"Alright. Goodbye, Clark."

As he walked back down the stairs and to his desk, he thought to himself:

She knows. Of course she knows.

And for some reason, he wasn't too bothered about that.

After switching identities and talking to Lois for a bit, Superman scanned the contents of the files currently in his hands. Although she'd shown him a few of them before when he was Clark, the information before him now was mind-blowing. He saw pictures of a woman wielding a sword and shield with a lasso attached to her side, a man in a green suit making constructs out of thin air and a… man in black, seemingly with bat ears on a cowl obstructing his face. The contents of that particular file were noticeably less detailed than the others.

But even they paled in comparison to the next page. It detailed something with the faint outline of a man. He couldn't tell if it was an alien or a machine or both. Perusing the info, he read:

This individual has apparently wasted planets and destroyed whole civilisations. Not much is known about him, however we speculate he is an alien machine of some sort, with drones being the equivalent of soldiers in his army. Whatever the case, we do know he is highly dangerous. A squad of fifty of our best men were sent to flush him out in his base of operations on our planet. Only one returned, with a message.

Superman's eyes widened as he read on. For once, it seemed the American government were right. They did need him. He kept going:

He said: "I am the brain interactive construct. I will bring Earth to it's knees and I will raze it to the ground." When we tried to question him further, he started babbling incoherently about his unit being swatted like bugs, and of a gigantic ship. We have since given this monster a name.

Brainiac.

Superman slowly closed the folder as he tried to process what his mind had just absorbed. They were right. Bullets and missiles weren't enough. They would need a team of extraordinary people just to stand a chance.

They would need a Justice League.

Hey there! I'm pretty new on fanfiction (This is my first fanfic) however I had an idea for a story and decided to give it a try. I'll try to upload frequently (Maybe weekly or bi-weekly) however I make no promises. What I do promise are longer chapters. From what I have read, unless it's a one-shot or a really short story,(I mean really short. Like two or three chapters short) you need to put in more words to properly describe and flesh out the characters. All my chapters, besides this one, will have at least 4k or 5k words in them. And I may increase that.

Anyway, this is basically how I envision the Justice League forming. I narrowed it down to six characters and unfortunately some didn't make it, Hawkgirl being an example. However, if some characters don't appear in this story, odds are they will be included in the next. I don't plan on doing just one story and leaving it there. I hope to continue it, if people want me to.

Another thing I wish to address are the events that have happened before this story. You have your standard backstory (Kal-El's ship leaving Krypton, Bruce Wayne watching his parents die, etc) and then certain events that have happened. Barbara Gordon being Oracle is an example. I'll keep you up to date on any other events.

And lastly, I take most of the characters costumes from the videogame Injustice: Gods Among Us. I would highly recommend it, as it is the best new thing DC have got at the moment bar the Man of Steel film (The New 52 is just awful.) Although feel free to picture them however you want in your head. (And no, Wonder Woman will not look like a man. I don't personally think she's that bad, although some people would disagree)

And if you're still here and haven't been bored to death by my rambling, it would do me the world of good if you'd leave a review. I'd like to know what you think.

Goodbye!

*Update: I decided on the pairing for this story. Or, more truthfully, I decided to display it. It is BMWW and in reality is was never going to be anything but. Certainly not SMWW. I can't stand that ship. I really just don't like it. Anyway, it won't necessarily be love at first sight for these two, it will be gradual, but I won't drag it out too long. Enjoy!