Justice League Axis #1
By Mike Rivera
Gotham City: 2300 Hours
"Night time is different than it used to be in Gotham. They're used to be cars driving, floods of people walking, and the crime that poisoned the city. Now it's empty. People are all at home, obeying the 8:00 curfew. Not a single soul would dare disobey that rule, not since Maxwell Lord started his reign of terror."
"Since that day, Gotham's crime rate went from Through-The-Roof numbers to zero in under a week. It's not just Gotham; it's around the world. Every person who ever had a felony has been locked up in some sort of way. They called it: Removing the contaminated from the general Populace. Other words they used were 'Improvement' and 'Society Evolving' but from everyone else's point of view, it's taking away people's rights. But now that Lord has the Justice League on his side, people are too scared to even comment about it. 'How do you hold a picket fence to Superman?'"
"Honestly, I'd rather the world be one giant Gotham, than what it is now. And while the rest of the world might be too afraid to protest, I'm not, and I think I know some people who wouldn't be afraid either."
Belle Reve Prison for Meta-Humans Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana: 300 Hours
The prison warden, Amanda Waller, was staying late. She was watching the entire prison through a camera feed on her desk. Sure there are security guards who do this as well, but as head of Belle Reve, she herself had to make sure that all prisoners are accounted for.
"Or it's my head on a silver platter." She repeated Dictator Maxwell Lord's words to herself. She was opposed to the idea of Lord as the World dictator, but she knew it was going to happen one day. She had no choice but to except the fate the humankind put itself into.
While she was observing Luthor's cell, she heard a voice from behind her.
"Hello, Amanda." The voice said, and she turned her head to get a look at the intruder. She saw a pitch-black fist fly straight at her face, and then stars. Amanda fell on the floor, unconscious.
One of the prison guards was making his daily check-in on the cells when heard: "Lex Luthor, Cheetah, and Bane, TO MY OFFICE! NOW!" Waller's angry voice screamed. A team of heavily armed guards escorted the prisoners to Waller's office. They had their hands ready to press a button that triggered the shocker on the prisoner's inhibitor collar, in case they tried anything., Well they couldn't try to do much anyway, because the collar also negates any superpowers they may have.
When the guards opened the door, they found Ms. Waller unconscious next to her desk. Before they could react someone from behind attacked them and struck each of them in the back of the head, incapacitating them. Before the prisoners could even turn to identify their rescuer, they all felt a sharp sting in the back of their necks and they began to fall unconscious. Before Lex fell, he glanced at a clock. 3:00 am. Then he passed out.
All three of the inmates woke up in an unfamiliar facility. Lex searched with his eyes for a clock. When he finally found one, he saw the time was 4:00 am. He got up with Bane and Cheetah and they all looked around.
"Where the heck are we?" Bane asked as he looked around looking for a familiar sight.
"I don't know." Cheetah answered, "but it sure isn't Belle Reve."
"You're safe." A voice that seemed to come from everywhere answered.
Lex looked up at the ceiling, trying to look for some sort of speaker, but he couldn't. Cheetah and Bane walked aimlessly around the room and called to whoever was speaking.
"Where are we?" Bane asked.
"Who are you?" Cheetah asked.
"Who I am is not important." The voice answered. "You are in Green Arrow's former Arrow Cave."
Lex Luthor looked down in silence; He remembered when Oliver Queen was killed for opposing the OWG (One World Government).
"Nobody would ever think to look for you in here." The voice said. "Even if they did, there are contingencies for that."
"Why did you break us out?" Lex finally asked. "Aren't you afraid of the OWG?"
"I'm not afraid of them, but I am against them. They have been going around and taking away people's basic human rights. They use the Justice League as a scarecrow for rebellion. I am done seeing this oppression on this planet that has been fought so hard for to protect. That's why I have liberated you guys from Belle Reve. You have the most potential to not only fight the OWG but also the Justice League."
"You want us to fight the entire Justice League?" Bane asked with sarcasm. "How are we supposed to do that?"
"If you move 20 feet to your right, you'll find a room. In that room is the answer to your question."
Bane, Cheetah, and Lex all followed the directions the voice gave and entered the room. What Lex saw inside made him speechless.
It was a ten foot armored suit inspired by Lex's past models. Bane found a canister that was labeled V.A. The canister was full of red pills. Cheetah found a Hi-Tech looking stun gun.
"What are these?" Bane asked.
"What you have just found, are things to help you fight the Justice League. Lex has a new war suit. Ten different scientists worked on it using your original design with some major upgrades. It comes equipped with a Kryptonite beam and Red Sun Cannon. These should help you fight Superman."
Lex jumped into his suit and examined it; when everything seemed fine, he gave it a test walk.
"And what are these supposed to be?" Bane asked as he shook the canister. "Vitamin A?"
"That is a modified version of your Venom. It doesn't mess with you psychologically or destroy your health. All it does is enhance you to Amazonian level strength. Since it's a pill, there are no tubes to export."
Bane popped one in his mouth and then effortlessly kicked a hole in the wall. He gave an evil smirk.
"You and I are going to be good friends, whoever you are." Bane said.
Cheetah looked disappointed with her gadget. "And how is a fancy stun gun supposed to help me?"
"That is not just a stun gun. I've managed to put the speed force in that gadget. Just shock yourself with it, and you will be able to keep up with the Flash."
"And I can kill Wonder Woman without her noticing."
"That is not your objective." The voice scolded. "The Flash is a wild card. He can take any of you guys out before your brain can process a thought. If somebody on this team were to have similar powers, it could keep him occupied."
"But Wonder-"
"I'm not going to let your obsession with Wonder Woman destroy the one chance this team has at success."
"Oh, so we are a team now?" Lex asked doubtfully.
The voice was silent for a second.
"I was hoping you could put aside your differences and come together to fight for the greater good."
Bane, Cheetah, and Lex all looked at each other. Lex didn't like this idea, but he knew there was no other possible way to stop the Justice League.
"Are you guys in or not?" The voice asked impatiently. "Because if you're not, I could take you back to Belle Reve in exactly... one hour from now."
"I'm in." All three said in unison.
"So what do you want us to do?" Cheetah asked. "Attack the Watchtower?"
"No, Nothing too drastic. There is an OWG convoy that is delivering some prisoners to a penitentiary. Attack it and free the prisoners. Then record the damage you cause. I'll send the feed to the Watchtower and all over the world, so the OWG doesn't try to cover it up. I'll send you the coordinates. Don't bite off more than you can chew."
And that was the last they heard of the voice. A few minutes later, they received the coordinates to the convoy.
Lex got into his Warsuit, Bane grabbed the canister and Cheetah grabbed her stun gun. When she shocked herself, she felt the surge of strong electricity flow throughout her whole body. Lex and Bane watched as she started vibrating super fast. In the blink of an eye, she darted face first into a wall.
"Maybe we should go outside before I run." She chuckled.
They made their way to the coordinates. Cheetah was running faster than she ever could imagine. The whole world looked as if it was going in slow motion at times. With her new powers on top of the powers she already had, she felt unbeatable.
"There it is." Lex pointed at a convoy of armored trucks in the distance. "Bane, get in front of them and intercept them. I'll then get behind them and cover the prisoner's escape. Cheetah, stand by so you can disarm them."
"Disarm them?" Cheetah asked, annoyed. "Couldn't I just slice their throats?"
"No. No killing. We are supposed to be the good guys. And besides, I don't think the man that put this team together would want us to kill." Lex said.
Cheetah silently agreed to this. And then they all assumed their position.
The convoy was driving normally until they saw the "Man who broke the bat" standing in their way. Bane grabbed the truck by the front and lifted. The truck felt weightless to him.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Bane said confidently.
Several OWG soldiers got out of their vehicles and aimed their guns at Bane. They heard a huge Thud and saw the ten foot armored suit pointing a good-sized cannon at them.
"You're," Lex said.
One of the OWG soldiers had a clear shot at Bane. He was about to take it when all of a sudden; he wasn't holding his gun anymore. He looked at his arm, and it had a huge slice. Lots of other soldiers were unarmed and had huge gashes on their arms.
Cheetah was far off with an arm full of guns. She then tossed them to the ground and started attacking most of the soldiers at full speed.
"Follow me!" Lex ordered the prisoners.
"Yeah, Follow the guy with the big gun." Bane joked as he took down two soldiers with one punch.
"Cheetah, take these guys out, fast!" Lex said as a group of armed soldiers were rushing at him. He didn't want to kill use his weapons because he might kill them.
"How?" Cheetah asked. "These claws aren't exactly blunt."
"Use that tail of yours." Bane said as he tossed a soldier with one hand.
Cheetah took the advice and grabbed a soldier with her tail and spun around really fast. She used the soldier to knock out most of them.
"If you move, I'll kill her!
Lex turned around and saw the last soldier standing, holding a female prisoner hostage. Lex gave him an annoyed look and shot his Red Sun cannon directly behind them. The force of the shot made the soldier flinch. The hostage saw her chance and scrambled out of the way. Lex had an opening now, so he swatted the soldier with his cannon.
"Lex," Bane started as he looked around the destruction they have caused. "I think now is a good time to send that live feed."
The Watchtower: 500 hours
It was just another day in the Watchtower. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg and Captain Marvel were just getting in, when an alarm went off.
"Unknown transmission incoming." Cyborg alerted.
"Aww c'mon." Flash whined. "We just got here."
The League watched as the monitor buzzed and showed Lex's face.
"Luthor?" Superman questioned. "I thought he was in prison." Batman was observing from a distance.
"Hello, Justice League." Lex started. "Here is the OWG's former prisoners." The camera aimed itself on the liberated prisoners. "Emphasis on," Lex said.
"Track this down," Superman commanded Cyborg.
"Already on it. The feed is formidably encrypted." Cyborg replied.
"See this as the first of many attacks." Lex continued. "Until we take the OWG and the Maxwell Lord down."
"He's not just broadcasting to us," Cyborg informed. "He's broadcasting all over the world. I can't stop it."
"Now I have a personal message for Superman." Lex got closer to the camera. "When I first met you, I tried to destroy you because I feared you were a huge threat. I thought by trying to defeat you, I was protecting the people. But eventually I saw myself become the villain, the bad guy. I believe that is happening to you right now. It is still-"
Out of nowhere the camera disappeared from his hands. He looked around and saw Cheetah had it.
"Enough of this," Cheetah said to the camera. "Wonder Woman, I can beat you now. Here are the coordinates, come and face me."
When Bane heard this, he gave himself a hard face palm. "We're screwed." He said.
Then Cheetah turned the camera off. Looking satisfied.
"Should we try to run?" Bane asked Lex.
"There is no point in fleeing against the likes of Superman and The Flash." Lex rubbed his bald head in worry. "Looks like we are going to have to fight."