Batman leapt from rooftop to rooftop, thinking. Something was off. Something he should have been able to place. His scowl deepened.
The Riddler. That was it. He had escaped from Arkham, and Commissioner Gordon had gotten a note saying (cryptically, of course) that something big was planned for that night. But so far…nothing. Not a flash of the criminal's garish black and green suit.
From an alley below came a low moan. Batman swung down into the street. A dark figure was tied to a lamppost. His eyes widened when he saw that it was none other than his quarry.
The Riddler lifted his head. "My god," he said. "I…it was so strange. So fast."
He seemed almost incoherent, and was definitely not in the best of shape. His costume was torn in several places and there was a strange, thin burn on his left shoulder.
Batman pulled a batarang from his belt and sawed at the rope. Whatever the material was, it was strong. "Who captured you?" he asked.
"I don't know. It…" he trailed off, suddenly realizing who exactly he was talking to.
Batman sighed. Then he noticed something he hadn't before. A white feather had been shoved through Edward Nigma's cap. A large feather, extremely so. Large enough to be one of Sheyera's, only this was a pure white, not the cream of the Thangarian's wings.
He plucked it from the hat and out it in a special compartment of his cape. He had to go up to the watchtower later in the day, anyhow, so then he'd run it through the League genetic analyzer and see what the machine came up with.
Four hours later, Batman was entering the conference room. He was the last of the seven there, having spent extra time trying to coax the DNA machine into outputting something other than "inconclusive". So far, no luck.
" Hey, before we start," Flash said, "Anybody know where this thing came from?" He took something out from under his chair. It was a feather, nearly identical to the one Batman had found.
"I was patrolling last night, just running around like usual, ya know? And then guess who I came across? Captain Boomerang! Tied up like shoelaces with this stuck through his shirt!"
"I haven't heard of any other of my kind on Earth," Sheyera said, carefully taking it from Flash. "And the shape is wrong . This is wider and tapers more gradually than mine."
"I've seen something like it," Batman broke in. Everyone stopped talking. "Nearly identical, in fact." He removed the feather he found from his cape. "Whoever left this captured the Riddler."
"A calling card, then," Superman said. "A new meta, maybe, too shy to show themselves."
"We have to figure out where these came from," Batman compared the two feathers.
"Why? It seems they're only helping us."
"I like to know what's going on in my city."
"I don't see what harm there would be in letting this go, Bruce," Wonder Woman ran a hand through her hair. "At least until we have more evidence."
Batman's eyes narrowed, but he only said, "Fine. We'll let this play out. For now."