Disclaimer: DC Comics owns all rights to the characters within. They are used without permission and not meant to infringe on copyrights or meant to generate income.
Also, if you have not read my other stories, it would be helpful to do so before reading this one. The chronology goes: Brothers in Arms, Where Do We Go From Here, Tragedies of the Past, Betrayal From Within, Future Sins, Reestablishing Bonds, Parents and Children, New Allies, Rivals or Friends, Public Enemy Number One, Double Date, Mind Games, Solar Complications, Mentors and Pupils, Brother Against Brother, Calm Before the Storm, and Opening Moves.
Isolated—Match, chapter 1
Location: A secret, underground lair
Desaad checked the settings for the device. They were correct. He smiled the sinister smile that had chilled the blood of millions on Apokalyps.
"I hope you appreciate this, Match," he said out loud. "I have high expectations for you. I hope you live up to them."
Location: The skies between Gotham and Smallville
Match noted the dark clouds in front of him. They matched his current mood.
There wasn't anything wrong with his most recent session with Batman, but he had to adjust his schedule for the weekend, and it was slightly irritating to have to do. It left him a little unsettled, and he had left after he intended to, putting him further off his intended schedule.
'Dan and Conner would make fun of me for being so regimented,' he thought. 'It's because there are so many times that events in the field do not go according to plan that I like structure for the rest of my life.'
Deviating around the storm was the safest choice, but it would delay him further. Match decided to chance going through the storm; the risks were minimal.
Flying through the storm was a little disorienting, but he made it through and landed at the Kent's farm, making sure no one saw him.
He opened the front door and called out, "I'm back!"
A moment later, he was flying out the front door, courtesy of a punch from Conner.
"What are you doing here?" Conner demanded. "I'm going to haul you off to the Slab!"
Match's eyes narrowed. Conner had struck him with his full strength; he barely managed to get any defenses up. This was no joke, and Match drew the conclusion that his brother was mind-controlled. He wasn't sure he could disable Conner without putting the Kents in danger, so he decided to withdraw and get reinforcements. He sped off, leaving an angry Conner behind him.
Location: Gotham
He knew that Batman wasn't under mind control the last time he saw him, so he called Wayne Manor. Unfortunately, Batman was already on patrol, but Tim was there. He seemed a bit confused by the call and thought he was Conner. A few questions led Match to believe that he wasn't under outside influences, and they arranged to meet in a fast-food restaurant; Tim did not want him coming to the manor for some reason.
Max had telekinetically peeled off the blue S-shield he wore from his shirt to disguise his identity. He didn't think it was a thorough job, but it was the best disguise he could do at the moment without any supplies.
Tim entered the restaurant and his eyes widened as the sight of Max. Max thought that was a strange reaction and filed it away to inquire about at a later time; he wasn't going to let it distract him from the issue at hand.
"Thanks for coming, Tim," he said as the other teen sat down across from him. "I believe that Conner is under the control of external forces. Did anything happen this weekend?"
"How do you know who I am?" Tim asked.
Max frowned. "We don't have time for games. The longer he remains under control, the greater the chance of disaster there is."
"Answer me! Do you know about anyone else?"
Max grit his teeth over the waste of time. "I've seen you and matched your face. I know about you, Bruce, Richard, and Barbara. I need you to focus on the issue at hand."
Tim's eyes widened and he took off. Cursing, Max left to find Bruce.
Thanks to his finely honed combat reflexes, he was able to sense and dodge a batarang thrown at him. He traced the trajectory and saw Batman. It appeared that he had been taken over as well.
Max realized that something was very wrong. While he had no doubts that he could handle Batman and Robin, he needed to get an idea of how widespread the situation was and what other heroes were being controlled.
A thrown smoke bomb reversed its course and caught Batman unaware. When the smoke cleared, Match had vanished.
Location: Lexcorp offices, New York branch
Max briefly thought that such valuable computer equipment should be guarded by better security, but, considering the circumstances, he was glad it wasn't.
Accessing the system, Max brought up the events of the weekend. If he could figure out what happened to the Titans, then he could trace down its source and deal with whatever was controlling them. To his surprise, the system registered nothing. It did not appear as if the Titans had any encounters over the last few days.
Max then used the Lexcorp computers to tap into Oracle's system. He was sure that Barbara kept everything up to date, and he knew her system's security. It also registered no events happening to the Titans.
At a loss for what to do next, Max looked to see the current situation she was managing. His eyes widened when he saw that it was an order to capture and deal with him. An attached background file was present, and he opened it.
His eyes widened in shock again at the sight of its contents. It didn't have anything about his work after the Agenda, and it listed him as currently working with Deathstroke.
"What's going on?" he asked aloud.
Location: A secret underground lair
Desaad smiled at the monitor showing Match's confusion. The technology from Apokalyps had allowed him to not only transport Match to another dimension, but it also allowed him to view into that dimension for a brief time.
Match's file indicated that while he was very capable in the field, he had some difficulties when cut off from any support. He would find no such support in the dimension that Desaad had placed him.
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