Arctic Tundra – Four Weeks Later
A helicopter's flying overhead as it nears its destination somewhere in the Arctic Tundra. In the distance a small camp can be seen as it prepares itself ready to land. A pair of black boots crunches against the snow as they head into the largest tent in the camp and stop, their owner taking a good look at the operation that's obviously going on. The tent's filled with scientific equipment and researchers to match as a strong, feminine voice bellows for their attention, "Who's Regan?"
A man on the other side of the tent hears his name and immediately looks in the direction of the voice, not knowing what to expect. Walking towards the mysterious woman, hidden behind dark glasses and her hood, she also approaches him asking another question, "What have you been doing all this time? Building snowmen?" Her voice focused and straight to the point.
"Who do you think you are? This site is off-limits." Regan replies, taking a good look at his intruder as she takes off her glasses and pulls down her hood to reveal herself to be quite a beautiful woman, complete with stunning red hair and sharp, aqua eyes.
"Tess Mercer. My access is unrestricted." She says with such confidence in her voice, giving off a smirk, "Under Lex's strict written instructions, I am now acting CEO of Luthorcorp and all its projects." She then passes by him, leaving him in a stupor of what just happened. Coming to his senses, he again attempts to confront Tess, "You're nothing but an obscure regional VP, you actually think you're qualified?"
Not turning round to face him Tess smiles, "Lex believes it. That's all that matters." Turning on the spot she faces Regan again, "I want a complete inventory of what you've found," Tess demands, her eyes never moving away from his, "Footprints, snowmobile tracks, any sign of an escape."
"Escape?" Regan interjects, confused on how someone could escape from such a cold and unpredictable environment.
Tess laughs at his noticeable confusion, "Trust me, Lex didn't meet his end on a dwindling ice-cap."
From the tension of their conversation, a voice from one of the sonar researchers speaks out, "Sonar's picking something up."
The man's voice turns their attention away from their heated conversation leaving Tess a little surprised that they've actually found something, "6.4 metres deep," the man replies again as Regan approaches his side.
"What is it?" Tess asks sternly, still standing in the same spot.
"I don't know but from the images on the screen, it may well be human remains."
Regan picks up the printout and observes what it might be as Tess walks slowly towards him, wanting to know as much as he does. Yet unbeknownst to them, they're going to have quite a surprise visit from Green Arrow and the Justice League as he watches from a distance through his glasses which is scanning the area for a good spot to hit. Finding it above the hole the researchers are excavating from, Green Arrow takes out one of his trusted arrows, aims it at a metal railing that holds the lights and fires at it. It hits perfectly, setting off sparks and eventually collapsing to the ground. In the mayhem Regan and Tess are frantically looking around, wondering what's causing this disturbance until her eyes fix on a costumed figure from afar, continuing to fire his arrows at their equipment. Meanwhile an ultrasonic scream can be heard as Black Canary unleashes her powers on the remaining men as they scramble and cry out on their way to the exit. She notices a man approaching her from behind and immediately throws one of her daggers at him, hitting the guy in the shoulder before she knocks him out with a hard kick to the face. Green Arrow then rolls into action, pulling out his small crossbow as he rolls, before firing it upon another researcher (who's about to pull a gun on him) jolting him into unconsciousness. Martian Manhunter enters the fray, phasing through a barrage of bullets before using his superhuman strength to knock his enemies out cold. With the henchman dealt with, Green Arrow comes up to the computer screen to see a message flashing "Object Located: 6.4 metres" before the sound of the helicopter lifting off distracts him from the screen. He turns to find Regan pointing a gun to his head, "There's your reason why cowboys won in the West...playing with bows and arrows can only get you so far," but before he can shoot, he's interrupted by Aquaman who crashes up through the floor, grabs Regan by the shoulders and throws him, with the boost of his superhuman strength, into several wooden boxes.
"Nice toss, for a fish out of water!" Green Arrow teases in which Aquaman replies, "Thanks," before Black Canary interjects, "Are you two boys done stroking each other or are we going to look for your Clark?" The last two words obviously meant for Green Arrow, who then remembers why they've come here in the first place.
"It looks like they've found something in that trench, check it out." The four of them then make their way to the trench, amongst the wreckage of their handiwork, before Martian Manhunter volunteers to go down and retrieve it. Phasing through the very ground it takes him only a second before he's back to the surface, revealing what was hiding down there...Clark's red jacket.
"Oh no," Black Canary replies, distraught by the fact that he might have disappeared like Lex or, worse.
Holding onto his jacket Green Arrow and his team leave the tent and stop outside, looking up into the bright sky, with worry on his face as he replies, "Clark, where are you?"
Black Canary then puts a comforting arm around his shoulders following his gaze towards the sky.
Author's Notes: I know you're probably thinking "Why doesn't Martian Manhunter just use his telepathy to scan the planet for Clark?" but I think that'll be too easy and strip most of the story out. Please, just read and enjoy and don't think too hard about it. Cheers!