The Second Chapter

"That's not pretty," Commissioner Gordon commented.

Batman, the Dark Knight, examined the corpse from where he was standing. "Something doesn't seem right."

"Nothing ever seems right in this city," Gordon said. "But I see what you mean."

Batman kneeled down next it, feeling the contorted arms and legs. "No scratches, cuts or bruises…and no broken bones either."

"How is that possible?" Gordon said in disbelief. "There's no way someone's arm could bend like that without breaking."

Batman felt for a pulse. "Nothing. Could be a heart attack."

"Still doesn't explain the contortionist act," Gordon said.

Suddenly, the corpse moaned quietly. Batman jumped visibly, but regained himself quickly. "Did it just-?" Gordon said, understandably surprised.

"There's a pulse now…," Batman said.

"Where…where am I…?" it asked.

"It talked!?" Gordon yelled.

"What happened to you?" Batman asked the animated corpse.

His eyes opened, and then he saw Batman for the first time. He jumped up, backing away. "Ahh! Death has come for me again!"

"It's okay," Batman said, walking towards him slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He kept backing away, then fell over and sat down on the ground, shielding his face. "Don't come any closer! Get away from me!"

Commissioner Gordon stepped forward touching Batman on the shoulder. "Maybe I should talk to him." Batman nodded and backed away. Gordon got down on one knee and spoke calmly. "What is your name, son?"

He looked at the Commissioner and seeing that he was not a man in a giant bat costume, calmed down. "Z-Zappa, sir."

"My name is Jim Gordon, Zappa," Gordon said, shaking his hand. "I'm the commissioner of this city."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Gordon," Zappa said, standing up. "But I have to find a doctor."

"Why is that?" Gordon asked.

"I-I don't know," Zappa admitted. "Every now and again, I lose consciousness. And when I wake up…someone's always lying down in front of me and I'm covered in burns or cuts."

"That's odd…," Gordon said suspiciously. "Why don't you come with me? I'll see to getting you to a doctor."

"Thank you, sir. I-." Suddenly, electric amperage spread all over Zappa. "Gaaah!" he screamed. Then, his eyes clouded over. "HEH HEH HEH HEH," he laughed in a demonic voice. "I WILL SEE TO YOUR PERMANENT END!"

Batman was standing where he could not be seen the entire time. He jumped out of hiding and pushed Gordon out of the way just as Zappa leapt towards him. "What the hell!?" Gordon exclaimed.

"I don't know," Batman said, pulling out a batarang. "But you had better get out of the way."


Out of all the powers available to Superman, he enjoyed the ability to fly the most. With it, he could sail all over the world, admiring the wonders of creation and the people and animals that lived there.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Also, it could also allow him to quickly respond to any situation that might present itself. He flew towards the source of the scream. He hesitated for a second when he saw what it was. It did not matter right now. He dove down, catching the winged girl before she hit the ground. "Miss, are you alright?"

There was no answer. He carefully placed her down on the ground and felt for a pulse. There was one and she was breathing. Superman breathed a sigh of relief. "But where could she have fallen from. He looked up into the sky and searched until he pinpointed a ship of some kind in the air. "There!" He looked back at the girl. She was standing up, but she looked different somehow. "Glad to see you're alright," he said. "That was quite a-."

Suddenly, one of her wings covered her. There was no longer a young girl standing in front of him-now there was a tall green figure dressed in tattered green robes with a hood and bow. "GWOOOOOOOOON!!!!" it cried out. It held out the bow and fired off several fire-laced arrows.

Superman flew backwards into a wall from the explosion. Several civilians scattered. Others just stood there watching, not willing to miss another Superman fight in Metropolis. "KILL! KILL! KILL!!" it yelled with its echoing voice.

Superman stood up, sighing. "It's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" he said to himself ruefully.


Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern flew comfortably through his own space sector, 2184. This less of a casual flight but more so looking out for any universal disasters that might be occurring.

"Ring, are you detecting any foreign entities in the vicinity?" Kyle asked.

"Negative," the ring responded. "The vicinity is-error! Foreign entity detected."

Kyle was on alert. "Ring, can you tell who it is?"

"Negative," the ring said. "There are no known traces of this entity on record."

"How is that possible? The Corps was supposed to have every villain catalogued, aren't they?"

"Not if they've never seen me before, sweetie."

Kyle turned around to face the "foreign entity". He pointed his ringed fist at her. "Who are you? Ring, scan her and ell me her abilities."

"Scanning," the ring said. Then, it fell silent. Then, something seemed to be going wrong as it began screaming, "UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN! UNKNOWN!"

"What's the matter?" she asked, fondling her guitar. "Having a problem with your little decoder ring?"

The Green Lantern kept his cool. "Known or unknown, I can still take you down, whoever you are." He produced a large hand to grab the mysterious woman.

She easily dodged it with a twirl. "Is that the best your little cereal box prize can do?"

"Not at all," he replied. Suddenly, several guns of various models appeared around him. She dashed around him as he opened fire. Then, he created a large paddle and swung it in the opposite direction, catching her dead on and sending her flying.

Her tone was no longer playfully mocking. Now, it was deadly serious. "You've just made a big mistake." She readied her guitar.

"I don't think so," Kyle said, making two large clamps and enclosing the woman with them. "I don't know who you are or what you are, but I want some answers now. Let's start with this: what's your name?"

Her mouth did not move as she spoke. "I-No." Kyle looked at her hat and realized that her voice was coming from it. Distracted by the sudden surprise, the will that created the clamps disappeared. Now free to move her arms, she strummed a chord on her guitar, creating a large and loud soundwave.

Kyle covered his ears. "Error! E-rror!" the ring yelled brokenly. "This r-ing is ex-per-iencing t-o-tal system failure…"

"Ring? Ring, what's going on!?" Kyle yelled into the ring. "Ring!"

"Too bad for you," I-No said with mock sympathy. She slammed her guitar over his head, knocking him out. She sighed. "Another one for that man."


E/N: I really really really really REALLY hate it when people don't review. Whether you absolutely loved it or "super mega loathed" it, tell me that in a review! PLEASE!!!!!