Episode Two: Threads
July 7th – GOTHAM CITY 05:23 AM EST
Trace levels of radiation in Catwoman's apartment matched only one signature known to the Justice League: the signature of a boom tube, similar to the technology Intergang employed. Although Batman couldn't glean any more information from the scene, this was enough to put his mind into gear. He connected the facts that there were no signs of egress in both Catwoman's apartment and the museums and determined that the culprit most likely used a boom tube as an escape route in both instances. He hadn't thought to look at the levels of radiation in the museums, so it was only a hunch, but it was more than nothing.
None of Intergang's forces entered Gotham, Batman was sure of it; this left the identity of the culprit still muddled. Even more muddled was the motive for the abduction, which led Batman to check Catwoman's recent thefts. Her last heist had been at Gotham National Museum, where he thwarted her as usual. But that was a month ago, and Gotham National Museum was the last crime scene for the mystery culprit.
Batman's eyes narrowed as he realized Catwoman most likely took something from the Museum without him knowing. He made his way, breaking into the Museum himself and checked the item she was going to steal: an old gun from the Midwest—the Ace of Winchesters. He slid it out of its case without raising the alarms and inspected it.
"Hn…" It was a fake. Catwoman must have exchanged it for the real one.
"Master Bruce," Alfred said over the comm. "It's nearing sunrise. I must insist that you return to the cave so I can treat your rib before the day's activities."
"No time, Alfred." Batman put the gun back in its case and made his way out of the museum. "Cancel everything for today."
"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir."
"Make it happen."
"Sir, you've been personally invited to Lex Luthor's gala and you already publicly cleared your schedule for it. You've expressed to me how important it is to keep an eye on Luthor during this time. I must insist that you put your worry for Miss Kyle on hold during the day. Please—you will do no good for her if that wound gets any worse."
"Hn… Make sure Tim gets off to school, then pick me up at Leslie's."
"And the Batmobile?"
"Already on its way back to the cave, Alfred. See you in an hour and a half," Batman said, tapping the side of his communicator, switching it to off, along with his suit's tracer. He had no intention of wasting valuable time going to Leslie—he would make do with his injury and investigate the only unknown variable still not pursued: Lady Shiva.
Batman made his way through Gotham as the populace began to awaken.
July 7th – APARTMENT OF JADE NGUYEN 5:58 AM EST
Normal one and a half year olds would be crying through the middle of the night, but Lian Harper couldn't be considered "normal." Her mother, seasoned by her League of Shadows training, had already begun to instill principles of structure and order on Lian, getting her into a schedule and routine. A miraculous feat in the eyes of some, but this was nothing compared to the true skillset of Ra's Al Ghul's personal assassins.
Jade woke up every morning at 5 AM to train while Lian continued to sleep. Keeping her body lean and fit was essential to Jade, as most of her funds came from freelance assassination and protection jobs. During days off, she watched over Lian, which in and of itself was a full time job. Although Jade had been out of the League of Shadows for some time, her senses hadn't dulled. Flipping up and grabbing a sai, she readied herself.
"Come out, slowly."
"Hn…" The Dark Knight slid out of the shadows of the apartment, having gotten in rather easily.
"What do you want?" Jade asked, reaching for a hidden sai. "I haven't done anything to warrant your attention."
"Shiva. Why was she in Gotham?"
"How am I supposed to know? I don't work for Ra's anymore."
Batman came closer, towering over the smaller woman. "You will tell me where I can find her. Now."
July 7th – METROPOLIS 6:30 AM EST
"Good morning, America! G. Gordon Godfrey here to report on the recent global politics that I'm sure the majority of citizens ignore!" Godfrey sat at his desk, almost glaring in judgment at the cameras to instill his will onto the people watching him. As a member of the New Gods, he possessed certain abilities like influencing minds of humans. Chastising those who didn't keep up with the news worked in his favor, because his viewers would feel pleased they were not among those Godfrey addressed. This would make them more receptive to his abilities.
"Later today, the General Assembly of the United Nations will be voting to induct our very own Lex Luthor to the position of Secretary General! The Security Council has already recommended him, and it appears that the first American will become the literal leader of the free world. So, to let you people know exactly what he's up to, we have Lex Luthor here, in person, to tell you about his plans and be upfront, unlike some people in the Justice League! So please, welcome Lex Luthor!"
The audience burst into applause as Lex strutted out onto the stage and sat next to Gordon in his own chair. "Thank you, thank you," he said, with feigned modesty. There was no doubt in Gordon's mind that Luthor saw these people as trivial annoyances, people obviously beneath him. But Luthor had to play the game, play the people to protect the Earth he so fiercely loved. Gordon supposed only a true megalomaniac could both look down on the populace and do everything to "protect" them from the alien menace that was Superman. Of course, his methods were extreme, but Luthor wouldn't stoop so low as to kill another innocent human being outright—he had other people to do that for him. "And thank you, Mr. Godfrey."
"So, Mr. Luthor. We've invited you to my show to give you the opportunity to explain your platform and really show the public how viable a candidate you are."
"Of course," Luthor said, readjusting his tie. "In the most recent years, the Middle East and Asia has slowly evolved into what we call "The Modern Powderkeg:" Biyalia, North and South Rhelasia, and several other well-known hot spots of conflict. Now, as Secretary General of the UN, I would use my peacekeeping skills to bring the Eastern and Western hemispheres together in peace, as I did with North and South Rhelasia. We will open talks with Queen Bee to have her cease hostilities, we will show the world that we can become something better by working together as a cohesive team."
"But, Mr. Luthor—"talking" has already been done. And how will we know that Queen Bee won't put you under her thumb like other puppets in the governments she's infiltrated?"
Luthor chuckled, obviously amused, not only because Queen Bee was another member of the Light, but he believed himself above her charms. "I was not the one facilitating those talks. I have a vision of the United Nations truly becoming united—not in the sense of becoming a world government, but along the lines of a more effective UN Peacekeeping Force that works in the interest of the UN and does more for the people of the world than Interpol and the Peacekeeping Forces.
"Terrorism and insurgency will become a thing of the past—we will work with "communist" governments to adopt more democratic principles; we will educate the public on the difference between communism and democracy, as one cannot have a "communist" government. Communism is an economic principle, Mr. Godfrey, but in communist regimes, we often see dictatorship, censorship, and infringement on basic human rights."
"And what of ideological differences, Mr. Luthor? Like Russia with their homophobic legislation?"
"We will have to see, Mr. Godfrey. After all, everyone is entitled to their opinion." Luthor checked his watch.
"I'm afraid that's all we have time for, folks. Any closing remarks, Mr. Luthor?"
"Thank you for having me, Mr. Godfrey. Please, tune in later in the day as the Lex Corp Gala is televised—we will follow the voting of the United Nations General Assembly live and, in the event of my victory, will include a special, exclusive press conference with a special announcement that will change the face of international politics as we know it forever."
Godfrey continued to influence the audience both in the studio and at home. Luthor stood, and the crowd met him with thunderous applause.
July 7th – CLARK AND LOIS' APARTMENT 6:52 AM
"Can you actually believe this, Lois? Lex flippin' Luthor for UN Secretary General! Leader of the free world my butt," Clark said, watching the Godfrey show. He couldn't believe it when it was announced several days ago, and he still couldn't believe it now. If the courts hadn't taken Young Justice's evidence, Superman would have had Lex brought in on charges of treason and conspiracy with the Light. But, as always, Luthor was free to wreak havoc on the world—if he actually did succeed the UN position, the League would be in a very precarious position.
"See it, believe it, get over it. Can't do anything about it, Clark." Even though he could be Superman, Lois knew he couldn't do everything. But, that's life, and Lois had better things to do than pander to her husband's wallows when it came to Luthor. Lex was a thorn in both their sides—he knew it, she knew it, no point groaning over it every chance they got.
"Anyway, you've already made me late for my prep for the gala. You're still meeting me there, right?" Lois grabbed her sports jacket and purse. "Bruce, too?" Clark nodded and sighed in frustration at Luthor on the screen.
The door knocked. Lois rolled her eyes and opened the door, revealing the Forever People crammed in front of their apartment door. Startled, Lois gasped and backed up, eyes wide.
"Greetings, woman of Earth!" Bear said with a wide grin.
"Oh, hell no. Clark, you deal with this." And with that, Lois shoved past them and stalked down the hall, muttering something about Perry having her head.
Clark, meanwhile, stood up, rubbing the back of his neck, unsure of what was going on. "Come in, quickly." He herded them in—as they did, he and Beautiful Dreamer caught eyes and she smiled at him. Clark blinked. "You're the Forever People that Superboy briefed us about."
"Yes," Vykin said. "Mother Box led us to you, Holder of the Superboy genes."
"Superman, please. Next time, go to the Watchtower, okay? I can't have you interrupting my civilian life."
"What's a Watchtower?" Serifan asked.
Clark went to answer him, but Vykin stopped him, saying, "We must not waste any time. We are all in grave danger. We must hurry, or all will perish beneath the might of Darkseid."
July 7th – MARS CAPITAL CITY 7:10 AM EST
On the way towards the city, Beast Boy had fallen asleep and B'aarz O'oom decided that the pleasantries could wait until the next morning. The martians were a very accommodating and gracious people—at least towards the beings they considered worthy of their good side. Green martians reveled in the Royal Family's ruling: free from poverty, disease, and a want for nothing, they spread their message across the planet. The white martians were not privy to these gifts, as their hideous appearance—reducing them to look like animals and monsters in the eyes of the green populace—and were thus treated as second class citizens.
M'gann knew that if she was discovered, terrible consequences would ensue—just by being in the Capital City, staying in the luscious accommodations, gave the Royal Family "reason" enough to detain her for the rest of her life. Being with the Royal Family and talking with them as equals… that would cause much more lethal consequences.
Which is why, when the former Green Beetle brought them to the palace, she reminded both of her companions the importance of not thinking about her too much. Remember, we're here to find the culprit and that's that. Keep your minds off me. They both nodded, Beast Boy grinning through his oxygen mask.
The palace itself was carved into the edge of the cavern, leading into an open area molded into a high chamber with an intricately decorated interior. The entire room's light drew towards the series of thrones, two large ones and one smaller one: The King, Queen, and Princess' thrones. Each of them sat in their chairs at attention, poised with a dignity befitting of royalty, only a small mark on their foreheads signifying their right to rule. Otherwise, they were exactly the same as everyone else.
Your majesties. May I present Young Justice of Earth. B'arzz bowed low. Superboy, Connor Kent; and Beastboy, Logan Garfield. Of course, this is our own M'gann M'orzz, niece of our own J'onn J'onzz.
The three bowed low as well.
Thank you for coming, the Queen said. We have much to discuss. Gar winced, trying his best to not look uncomfortable, as the Queen made him feel cold. And little time to discuss them.
July 7th – CENTRAL CITY, HOME OF BARRY ALLEN 7:46 AM EST
"Bart, you're going to be late." Iris popped her head in to her future grandson's room. Initially, the experience had been jarring—so many thoughts passed through her mind when Bart showed up on their doorstep: Oh my god, Barry and I… he looks just my father, he's got my nose, he's got Barry's face, Barry doesn't die as the Flash!, I get to have a family… I get to be happy. And then her nephew died, leaving only a time-displaced grandson and a whole range of questions he wouldn't answer.
"It's okay, really!" Bart said underneath the covers, curling up into a ball. He yawned, and then sped out from his cocoon and dressed himself, standing in front of Iris. He grinned. "See? Told ya." There was a slight pause in the conversation, and Bart knew she would try and bring up the future again, so he quickly added, "Is grandpa up yet?"
"He's having breakfast at the table. But, Bart—" and before Iris could get a word in edge-wise, Bart sped to the table, making his own plate, and ate across from Barry.
"Morning," Barry grunted. It was natural for someone to be withdrawn after a tragedy, but Bart figured this was a whole new kind of definition of mode—for all the 20th century people, that'd be "definition of bad."
"So, gramps! You know, I've been doing some thinking."
"This can't be good."
"Here me out! Alright, so… what if I told you I don't think Wally's dead?"
"I'd tell you that Captain Atom, Batman, Plastic Man, Superman, and Doctor Fate tried looking for him. You know what they came up with? A fat load of nothing." Barry put his cup of coffee down and sighed, not wanting to get into such a touchy subject.
"But gramps, I'm telling you—I don't remember—"
"Enough!" Barry glared at him and Bart fell silent. "Do you understand the meaning of the word responsibility? You shouldn't even be here, Bart. Don't manipulate the time stream any more than what you've already done—telling me about what you might or might not remember could have disastrous effects on what's to come. Worst case scenario, the world ends—or worse!" Barry wanted to add, You could cease to exist! Not be born at all! But then that might scare the kid, and Barry didn't want to do that.
"We need to focus on getting you home," Barry said.
"Um… right. Well, when you figure that out," Bart could sense he wouldn't get anywhere more with Barry, and it would just be better to keep his theories to himself, or maybe bring it to Batman… or Robin… or Nightwing… someone that could be impartial, "let me know! In the meantime, I'm going to go do that thing with Beta. Bye!"
Bart put his stuff in the sink and sped out of the house, leaving Barry to himself. Iris came up behind him and put a hand on Barry's shoulder, "It'll be okay, hun." Barry started to cry, overwhelmed with everything that had happened: sadness of Wally's death, Bart's sudden appearance that gave him hope for a future, uncertainty at how Iris was reacting to all of this, uncertainty about everything, about being a hero, about being a husband, about being a future-maybe-father… about being the Flash. So much to feel at once, and all Barry could do at the moment was bury his face in Iris' neck and let his emotions out so they didn't eat him whole.
"It'll be okay, Barry," Iris said again, hugging him tightly and rubbing his back. "We'll get through this, together."
July 7th – METROPOLIS CENTRAL PARK 7:59 AM EST
Artemis folded her arms, then checked her watch again. "He's still got a couple seconds," she said, looking up at Mal and Karen—Guardian and Bumblebee respectively.
"Oh, hell no. Eight a.m. means eight a.m.," Karen said. "He ain't gonna use his "I got superspeed" excuse anymore. If he's even one second late, I'm gonna—"
"You're gonna what?" Bart asked, coming up behind Artemis. "Am I late?"
Artemis looked at Bart, and couldn't help but see Iris' features in his face, the same features that Wally had. Bart reminded Artemis of Wally quite a bit, not that she could tell him that. Stifling her sigh—a reaction to yet another secret to keep—Artemis glanced at her watch, which read 8:00:13 AM, she lied and said, "Right on time. Let's go break into Lex's HQ."
July 7th WATCHTOWER 9:34 AM EST
Black Canary stood at the command center on the watchtower, several screens open in front of them. With Barbara in Gotham, she was alone to think—and, more importantly, to strategize. One screen held a live feed of Lex's gala being set up, with reporters coming in for the pre-show press conference; another screen showed the UN assembling for the voting procedures; the last few were several different feeds steaming from Lex Corp, so that they could track Beta Squad as they proceeded through the facility. They watched Beta because the Light was a joint League and Team priority, and Lex Luthor was not one to be taken lightly. It would do well for the Team to have extra eyes on them during their mission.
J'onn floated up from the floor, materializing beside her. "Dinah," he said in greeting.
"J'onn, thank you for coming on such short notice."
"However I may be of assistance, I would be glad to help."
"I have a dilemma," she said, turning her eyes from Beta Squad to the press conference. "I was approached last night by two heroes about what Luthor is planning. They came to me because of recent… developments." Black Canary looked at J'onn. "They were unaware you and Batman hadn't clued me in on what you were doing."
"Ah… Dinah. Those operatives are not League members. This was Batman's attempt to keep tabs on Luthor privately—he knew Luthor was interested in them and brought them to me to have their minds analyzed to ensure this wasn't a trap. Batman set them up to get in Luthor's good graces and keep him informed—with how heavily involved the Team has been in Luthor's schemes, Batman thought it prudent to create… insurance."
"Except," Dinah said, as she brought up the two superheroes in question. "They're registered in the League's database under the Leader's need-to-know access by Batman. It was made available to me last night, after they came to me—Batman sent them when they came to him with information, he said something about being too busy with Gotham."
"Then, it appears you have Batman's trust. I would not take advantage of that," J'onn said. "There must be a reason for Batman not to inform the rest of the League; I suggest you take a leap of faith and trust him."
"Mm," she replied, thinking. This kind of infiltration wasn't supposed to be a League mission, but why had Batman added them to the roster? What was he playing at? Nightwing's attempts at infiltration had some success, but it left more tears than not. The League was made up of adults and one teenager, so they might take the secrecy well enough. She sighed. "Alright."
"Might I ask, why did they come to you?"
"A new member of Luthor's plan came last night—a late addition." Black Canary brought up Catwoman's profile. "They thought it was something Batman should know. I haven't told him yet, because his communicator is down, but he'll find out soon enough, I suppose."
July 7th — CLARK AND LOIS' APARTMENT 10:16 AM EST
"Start over from the beginning. This…" Clark said, "This is a lot to process."
Vykin nodded as the rest of the Forever People congregated around the table. "We are a part of the New Gods—our Highfather, Izaya, rules with a guiding hand from New Genesis. We emulate the good nature of the Source, the overseer of all things—what you would know as "God." The Forever People, us, are an experiment of the Highfather's—all of us were taken from Earth at different points in history, as well as an artifact from our time.
"Mark Moonrider, for example," Vykin gestured towards the enigmatic man, "comes from what you would know as a Native American people. When Highfather took him from his time, Moonrider took an essence of his self—the artifact—and the artifact became imbibed with the Source's power from Highfather's staff. We all had the same process done to us."
"But why? Why you five? Why the Forever People?" Superman asked.
They looked at him, almost offended. They were all handpicked by the leader of the New Gods, the most important hand of the Source in all the universes. No one had ever questioned their right to this title and all of them looked towards each other for an answer.
Serifan spoke first, saying, "Well, alone we were all dreamin' of something back where we started, and no one understood. Just dreamin' along in life as dreamers, you see? But all the things we've done together, it's like we became the dream itself! And we followed the paths that only us dreamers could see! Riding along the invisible electron roads out in yonder space, beyond logic, beyond anything this here planet could tether us to—we were beyond forever! And that's who we are: Forever People." Serifan nodded and everyone just looked at him, pondering for a second that unique nugget of wisdom no one expected from him.
And then Superman remembered something they said about the Earth coming to an end. "What about this being, Darkseid?"
Vykin cleared his throat, getting back into the conversation. "Darkseid is the ruler of Apokalips, son of Yuga Khan and Heggra, bearer of the name Uxas, and host of the power of Omega. He is the dark to our light and seeks nothing but to become all powerful through the Source. He believes collecting these artifacts will grant him access to what we call the Anti-Life Equation—anyone who hears this equation will become an unyielding servant to the one who spoke it. It is a great and terrible weapon," Vykin said.
"But," Dreamer said, coming around the table to stand with them. "Imagine a world under one unequivocal leader, be that Darkseid, Highfather, or even you Superman—imagine how much is really at stake here: freedom, truth, love—it would all be gone under the heel of the Universe's new master."
"And nobody would want Darkseid for a master!" Big Bear said.
"Yeah, he ain't nothin' to be trifled with," Serifan added.
"It is more than just that, Superman," Vykin said, taking hold of the conversation. "We are of the Fourth World, and where there is a Fourth World, there is a fifth. Darkseid, if he attains this power he seeks, will attempt to take the Fifth World, wherever it may be. The Fifth World is the next, natural progression of the Source's work and any meddling could alter the very fabric of existence."
"With Superboy gone, you must help us, Superman," Dreamer said, taking his hand in hers. "With your help, we can get these artifacts before Darkseid does—his agents are already here on Earth; we would do it ourselves, but the last time we used our full powers, the last time we used the Infinity-Man, it almost got taken from us. We cannot allow the powers of Apokalips to taint such a powerful weapon. Which is why we need your help, Superman. Help us find these relics and ensure our safe passage back to New Genesis and all will be well."
"Well… where do we start, then?" Clark asked, preparing to change into his Superman suit. "Do you know what we're looking for?" He was met with silence and looks. "What?"
"We were given no more information than that, Superman. We know where we came from on the Earth and our essences will guide us to our objectives," Vykin said.
"And what's your essence telling you now?" Clark asked.
Dreamer giggled, smiling at him. "It doesn't really work like that."
Clark opened his mouth to say something, but Big Bear threw up his hands and yelled, "Glorious Godfrey, how did you get into that small box!" The Forever People snapped to attention at the mention of Darkseid's follower and crammed around the television, which showed Godfrey at the Gala, waiting for the news on Lex's appointment to the UN.
"Glorious Godfrey?" Clark asked.
"Yes," Vykin said. "He is one of Darkseid's most trusted henchmen, with an ability to alter perception in weaker beings. Manipulation is what he does. This "G. Gordon Godfrey" is nothing but a character Glorious Godfrey has created to assimilate easier into your world."
Clark's eyes narrowed as he watched Godfrey stand next to Lex, talking about Luthor's feelings like nothing was going on, and he wondered what connection Luthor—and, by extension, the Light—had to this minion of Darkseid.
July 7th — LUTHOR GALA 11:56 AM EST
Bruce forced himself not to rub his eyes or yawn. After talking with Cheshire, and realizing that she did, in fact, know nothing, he had to get himself ready for the Gala and over to Metropolis. Valuable time that he could have used to search for Catwoman wasted… He forced himself not to think of Selina and keep his mind on the task at hand: staying away and pretending to be the Bruce Wayne he knew he could be. But, dressed in a tuxedo, when the Batman uniform fit him much more comfortably, it was rather difficult for Bruce to get out of work mode. All he could really do was socialize with the other social elite and pretend to care about what they were saying.
"Fancy meeting you here, stranger," Lois said, coming up behind Bruce and putting her arm through his. "Can I steal him for a moment ladies? Thanks," she said, dragging Bruce off without the consent of the considerable amount of female admirers.
"Thanks," Bruce said, taking his arm back after they were a considerable distance away.
"You look out of it, Wayne. Night time activities catching up to you?" Lois and Bruce held the special positions of being the two closest people to Superman in the universe, which meant that they inevitably came to know each other very well. Bruce rather admired Lois' fiery and sincere personality, whereas Lois would put up with none of his sass or Batman-like tendencies.
"Hnn. It's almost noon," Bruce said, choosing to ignore her innuendo towards his role as Batman. He had long given up trying to control her words. "The vote should be announced soon." Bruce nodded at the large screen behind Gordon and Luthor, which showed the speaker for the UN voting process coming up to the podium.
"They can't really elect Luthor, Bruce. No one trusts that slimy, son of a—" And then the crowd burst into thunderous applause as Luthor stood up and the man on the screen informed the rest of the world that Lex Luthor would be the next Secretary General of the United Nations. "Oh, you can't be serious!"
Bruce's eyes narrowed, heading with Lois closer to Lex and Godfrey. "Better start believing it, Lois. You have to report it, after all."
"Luthor! Luthor!" Lois waved her hand, trying to get his attention after Godfrey congratulated him and opened the floor to questions from the press. Lois may have missed it, but Bruce noticed Lex eyeing her, as if he expected her to do that.
"Miss Lane, what question do you have?"
"What do you plan on doing with this newfound power of yours?" Lois made sure to sound moderately respectful, but they both knew that she was really attempting to address Luthor's past criminal deeds. Bruce noticed Lex smile, again—as if he knew she would ask that question and all the pieces of his plan fell smoothly into place.
"I'm glad you asked that, Miss Lane." Lex began to talk about the different procedures and logistic aspects he planned to implement concerning those powder kegs he mentioned earlier in the day.
Bruce became more aware of Godfrey occasionally stealing glances at Lois and turned his attention towards the talk show host There was something off about the man, something that Bruce couldn't quite put his finger on, but it was there.
"You paying attention, Wayne?" Lois asked, jabbing him lightly in the side with her elbow. Bruce grunted as her jab pushed his rib closer to his lung and he stifled a cough. "You alright? Oh, hold that thought."
"Which brings me to my most innovative and radical plan yet," Lex said, ending his monologue and bringing it back to the point. "The main reason why I brought this Gala together was in anticipation of my success. And with that success, I'd like to let you all in on the first order of business in my plan to keep the world safe. Now, I've been in talks with many different heads of governments across the globe in the UN and the first thing we realized was that we have no effective means of keeping peace. We have no Justice League of our own."
At that, the room suddenly grew silent and held onto his everyword.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that is all about to change. It's my pleasure to announce my plans—already supported by several key leaders of the free world—to create the new Justice League International!"
The lights grew dim and the screen behind Lex and Godfrey began to reel a media clip. Set to rather inspiring music, the video showcased different images of heroes with a narrator identifying each of them. The narrator said, "Bringing together heroes from all over the world, the Justice League International brings a new definition of cooperation. From Japan, Doctor Light—Kimio Hyoshi; from Russia, Rocket Red—Dimitri Pushkin; from England, Knight—Cyril Sheldrake; from Brazil, Fire—Beatriz Bonilla da Costa; from Norway, Ice—Tora Olafsdotter; from Australia, the Tasmanian Devil—Hugh Dawkins; and America's own, Catwoman!"
"What the…" Lois looked at Bruce. "You don't look surprised."
"Because I'm not." He knew about Lex's plans to bring together an international team of superheroes, but he didn't know about Catwoman. Perhaps that was what his two infiltrators came to warn him about.
Bruce's eyes narrowed as the image of Catwoman appearing on screen. She would never let them do that, let alone join an international team of superheroes. That wasn't her style; Luthor was up to something. And Bruce would find out what.
July 7th — TIBET 1:16 PM EST
Although it was only it was July 7th back on the East Coast, in Tibet it was already July 8th and a little after 2 o'clock in the morning. Only Aqualad was awake, tending to the fire and making sure his companions rested without disturbance. Cassie slept soundly next to the fire, while Jamie tossed and turned a bit. Kaldur knew he should wake Jamie for his shift of the watch, but the day had been trying on them all. Climbing the steep terrain of Tibet's most remote regions, while simultaneously coming up with nothing, was admittedly a frustrating experience. But, there would be time tomorrow.
Kaldur yawned and knew he needed more rest. He shook Jamie awake. "It is your turn to keep watch."
"Huh?" Jamie asked, rubbing his eyes. "Oh… right. Good night, er—morning." Kaldur nodded and laid down, quickly falling asleep. "Oh man…"
Jamie Reyes, make sure you stay awake. My sensors can only do so much when you are fatigued, the scarab said into his mind.
"I know, I know," Jamie replied. He sat next to the fire, even though his Blue Beetle suit kept him considerably warm on its own. Jamie sat, tapping his foot, and then his finger, and then constantly started to glance left and right. He couldn't sit still, no matter what he did, and listening to the rhythmic breathing of his teammates only served to wish more sleep upon him. "Argh!" He paused. "I'm gonna go take a leak," he said to no one in particular.
Jamie went a little ways away from the campsite, not wanting to have the smell or sound of his urine to wake up his teammates. He let out a sigh as he released his bladder and leaned his head back, almost falling asleep again. He was so close to falling asleep, Jamie hadn't heard the noises of someone's footsteps coming closer.
Jamie Reyes, behind you!
Jamie's eyes snapped open and his armor went back to its standard positioning. Using the scarab's technology, Jamie located the person and tackled him to the ground. "Who are you!?" Jamie asked, pinning the intruder.
It was a boy, about Jamie's age. He was white and looked very out of place with the indigenous people of Tibet. He had on strange cloth clothing, almost like what one would expect an old-time ninja to wear. The boy had strong features, dark brown hair with bangs on either side of his forehead, and penetrating deep-brown eyes. He struggled against Jamie's grip, and tried to knee Jamie in the groin, but it the armor protected Jamie from the boy's struggles.
Jamie tightened his grip. "Who are you!?"
The boy let out a grunt. "My name is Jason Todd!"
A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for bearing with me with this late update. I've been writing as often as I can, and I want to turn out a quality product, so that means updates may be as sparse as every 14 to 18 days at most! I'll try not to exceed update times past that, but no guarantees! As you can see, I'm trying to develop the plot and expand the DC Universe here in Young Justice, so if anything gets confusing, please drop me a line in the review box or PM and I'll see about addressing that confusion (if I can answer it!) so that everything is clearer in the future!
Another reason why this episode was so late is because I wrote this article for Emertainment Monthly, Emerson College's unofficial entertainment magazine! I wrote an article called "Why "Man of Steel" Isn't a Superman Movie"-it's gotten over 2,500 views and was featured on ! Check it out if you'd like-it'd really mean a lot! /2013/06/15/why-man-of-steel-isnt-a-superman-movie /
Also, I've secured an interview with MARCUS TO, the artist behind "Red Robin" and "Huntress" and the new "Cyborg 009". If you have a question you'd like to ask him, feel free to submit it to r/comicbookart/comments/1gimnv/interview_with_marc us_to_on_his_career_and_cyborg/
Sorry for all that shameless self-promotion, but it really does mean a lot to me! I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of "Young Justice: Ressurection"!