So, this is Part 2 of the 'Honour Among Thieves' story (if you haven't read part 1, you'll probably have no idea what's going on, so please read that first).

Thanks again to the people who have commented (Loki's son, lover-enthralled, that means you ). You both get extra brownie points.

Anyway, on with the story…

Batman knelt in his cell, carefully tying his broken arm into a tight elevated sling across his chest with a torn strip of his cape. Gingerly, he tested it, turning and bending to see the sling's limits. His shoulder still throbbed, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been.

Batman stood, and once again surveyed the electrified bars in front of him. Constructing the sling had taken longer than he'd anticipated, but in truth he'd been keeping himself busy, trying not to think about Superman, possibly dead, two cells over; or about Vice, and what psychotic scheme he might have stored for the rest of the world; or about Red X, fighting for their lives in a gas chamber somewhere in the compound…about Jason…

Gods…Jason…

Since Vice had left about 5 minutes ago, Batman had tried to put thoughts of his former partner to the back of his mind. Now, they rose to the surface like a cobra, the suppressed fear and shock and guilt threatening to overwhelm him.

"Batman?" Whispered J'onn, snapping Bruce out of his reverie.

"I'm still here." He replied quietly.

"Superman –"

"We won't know for sure until we get to him." Said Batman, cutting J'onn off before he could finish.

"You have a plan?"

"Always."

So saying, Batman reached into his shoe with his left arm, wincing a little as the other arm let out a burst of pain in protest. He felt around for a second, and then pulled out a long coil of thin, insulated wire with a crocodile clip at either end. Carefully, he fed one end out through a hole in the bars, shaping the wire so the metal clip settled into the metal casing of the keypad. He held the other end for a second, readying himself for movement, silently willing Red X to hold on for a little while longer, before suddenly dropping it into a pool of stagnant water at his feet.

Immediately, the crackling electricity jumped the distance, fusing the keypad and short-circuiting the electricity on the door. The immediate effect was that the bars retracted, the lights fused, and everything was plunged into darkness.

However, the wire had a greater effect than even Batman anticipated; Vice's plans for the building had initially involved complicated wiring and electricals, but the tight time scheme that he provided the builders with meant that wiring everything individually was out of the question. The upshot of this was that the whole cell system – lights, doors, ventilation grids for the entire floor – were on the same series circuit. Which meant that, when Batman fused one part of that circuit, everything else instantly flickered and died.

Bizarro slammed X1 against the wall, holding him up by his neck. Jason kicked and punched, but his struggles were about as pointless as those of the few villains still on their feet, desperately throwing themselves at the walls.

Jason tried to push himself up, to ease some of the pressure on his windpipe, but the Kryptonian clone held him too tightly. His grotesque features contorted in a smile as he drew back a chalky fist, but before he could land the punch X2 sprang up his back, bounced onto Bizarro's neck and clapped her hands over his ears. Bizarro roared in pain and loosened his hold on Jason, who took his chance and swung himself out of Bizarro's grip to kick him in the head. Bizarro roared again, and staggered back, his hands flailing about his shoulders. By pure chance, he caught hold of X2's ragged cape and swung her round to face him, leering at her with broken teeth. Again, he pulled back his hand to land a punch that would shatter her into a million little pieces –

And then the lights went out.

In the darkness that followed, there was a collective gasp, lots of scuffling and shuffling, a small yelp of pain and a metallic clattering noise.

The backup power system kicked in a few seconds later, washing the room in red light. Bizarro continued his punch, only to find that his hand was empty. A tiny noise above him caused him to look up, and saw that the grate covering the ventilation shaft was tapping against the ceiling as it swung to and fro, the shaft itself open and filled with the sound of scurrying hands and knees.