It had been five years since the fall of the Justice League, and the world was a completely different place.
Everybody remembered the day it happened. Many of the more powerful villains had gathered together in an attempt to claim the world as their own. They were strong and the entire Justice League had stepped up to try and stop the threat. The league fought battles like this all the time. What could go wrong?
This time... the villains won.
Defeated and weakened, the heroes were forced to retreat and go into hiding, lest they be destroyed. The victorious villains celebrated their retreat and took advantage of their absence to take control of their previously protected cities... and the world. Many of the villains realized they would need to be smart with this new-found power to keep it in their hands. If they tried to act the same way they usually acted in the past, against each other and only thinking of themselves, then the world would fall into chaos, with them at each other's throats all the time. With that distracting them, the Justice League or even the government could rise up and take it all back. That was the last thing the villains wanted, so they put their differences aside, and agreed to work together to keep their power and the world under their control.
The group known as The Light took charge. With leaders such as Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul, Klarion the Witch Boy, and Vandal Savage, it took no time at all to split and separate the power and territories for the other villains. While everybody wanted power and control, The Light was careful in who they chose. It was very rare when they would leave a city in the hands of just one villain, and instead chose a group of them for each area. It made it a bit difficult to find willing partners and those who could work and share their power, but the Light could be very persuasive.
Not only did these groups need to be able to work together, though, they needed to be powerful enough to keep their city under control., while at the same time, willing to submit to the will of the Light. That was the most important part.
Perfect examples of this were the twin cities of Central and Keystone, found in Missouri,. These two were being controlled by the Rogues. They were probably one of the best and well working groups of villains, since they were used to working as a team long before the take over.
Another prime example is that of Star City. This Californian Metropolis was ruled over by Sportsmaster and Icicle Sr. Both worked well together in ruling their city ruthlessly, causing great fear in their citizens... but that wasn't so much of an achievement any more. Many cities since the takeover felt the same way towards their own controlling villains.
The world had become a place of crime and fear since the fall of the League. It had changed completely in the span of just five short years.
A/N: You will notice that this first chapter was kinda (very) short. I promise, the rest of the chapters will be longer. This one was just for setting the scene, to give you an idea of just what kind of world we'll be dealing with in this story. Not to worry though, the actual plot shall begin in the next chapter.