Justice League Cardinal Sin 20

Ulla returned to Dustin twenty minutes after leaving it. She headed for the jail but was intercepted by Luthor, "Ah, Little Mermaid, you just left us. What brings you back to our little town so swiftly?"

"Batman." Ulla complained, "He was waiting for me. He knew about Dick's capture and about Killer Croc being involved."

"We knew he'd become involved." Luthor reminded her, "Grayson is the ward of one of Gotham's leading men."

"Bruce Wayne recognized me." Ulla explained to him, "That's how Batman found me so fast. Now I can't go back to my apartment and gather my things."

"I'll have Superwoman and Galatea pick up your belongings. Will that suffice?" Luthor wondered.

"It'll have to." Ulla sighed.

"I take it you're headed for the jail" Luthor said.

Ulla nodded and he smiled, "Excellent. I'll escort you. I want to speak with Grayson and you can be a witness to my generosity."

Ulla didn't like the sound of that but she went along with him. As they entered the police station Captain Cold put a hand to his cold blaster. The Top and the Golden Glider paused their conversation to assess the potential threat. Seeing none, they relaxed once more.

Captain Cold grabbed the keys to the detention center and escorted the pair to the cells. He unlocked the first barrier and then stood by as Luthor and Ulla walked past the card game. Dick was waiting in a cell and he didn't look happy.

"So, Mata Hari returns." Dick bitterly quipped.

"Don't be too harsh on her." Luthor indulgently smiled, "She had no choice."

"Sure." Dick retorted, "And neither did you."

Luthor chuckled, "Not quite. My choice was my own but sweet little Ulla's wasn't hers to make. Let me demonstrate: Ulla, go ahead and rip the door open. I won't stop you. In fact, no Legionnaire will try to stop you or keep you from leaving town. Just remember though, I don't want you to."

Ulla defiantly grabbed hold of the cell door's bars and prepared to yank it off of its hinges. It would be easy for her to do so. Her strength was such that even more impressive feats were possible. But as she started to pull, her eyes went wide and she clutched the sides of her head and screamed. Falling to her knees, she knelt there trembling until Luthor released her.

"It's all right Little Mermaid. You can get up now. Just step away from the door and you'll be fine." He said.

She moved away from the door with fear in her eyes and she stood aside and recomposed herself while Luthor spoke to Dick, "It's quite simple you see. The Joker can have his torture and his drugs but the Crimson Queen has perfected the art of psychological conditioning. The subject is totally unaware of the process even when they've been activated. All of the Global Guardians underwent this process…even Manticore. He successfully resisted the program so he had to be eliminated."

"So, she's your prisoner." Dick surmised.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking she is." Luthor chuckled, "The best part is that she doesn't realize it. She truly believes that her choices are her own. Her mind will create its own reason for not releasing you and she will believe it completely."

"I always knew you were a twisted sonova…" Dick growled.

Luthor interrupted, "Language, Mr. Grayson, language. You wouldn't want to offend poor, fragile Ulla would you?"

"What do you want?" Dick snapped, "I'm assuming that you have me here for a reason."

"It's easy," Luthor grinned, "I want you to grant me access to Wayne Enterprises and her subsidiaries."

"You want Bruce, not me." Dick scoffed.

"Not true." Luthor smirked, "While you have less access you have enough for me to hack into the system and expand your privileges. Soon I will be able to freely surf through the entire network."

"You're insane." Dick retorted, "Why would I help you?"

"Because if you don't I'll kill Ulla." Luthor vowed.

Dick could tell that he was serious…deathly serious, "Okay. You win. When do we start?"

"Tomorrow." Luthor smiled, "We should pass relatively unnoticed in the traffic of a work day."

The problem was, Dick realized, was that Luthor was probably right.

In Gotham City, Kara had arrived at Barbara's townhouse and they were huddled around mugs of coffee and a plate of sweets. Barbara pushed the plate away, "Ugh. I really shouldn't. At least not anymore."

"More for me." Kara said with a grin.

"Not all of us are blessed with a super metabolism and physique." Barbara reminded her friend, "Some of us have to work for it."

"Poor baby." Kara snickered.

"Watch it sister." Barbara growled, "I'm already hurting."

Kara squeezed her hand, "I know. Sorry."

"If only he weren't being such a withdrawn piece of poop about all of this." Barbara opined, "Tim needs him. I need him. I understand he's in pain. I want to be there for him but he's put up a wall. He won't let me near him and now he's insisting that Dick and I give up our costumed identities."

"Will you?" Kara softly asked.

"I don't know." Barbara admitted, "I've thought about it. My father forced Sonia Alcana's resignation from the GPD when he discovered she was one of the Batwomen. He knows my secret identity. I'd force him to compromise his principles if I kept being Batgirl once I officially join the force."

"Whoa." Kara was dumbfounded, "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't be Supergirl."

"It's not exactly that I can't." Barbara struggled to explain, "It's more like a choice. A choice which Bruce is making easy to make. Both he and my father are united in saying I should abandon Batgirl. I have to wonder if my insisting on wearing the costume has just come down to an act of rebellion against them both."

"I doubt it." Kara replied, "But you do sound serious about 'retiring'. If it's going to interfere with your plans with the GPD, and you're completely committed to them, then I'd say Batgirl has to die."

Barbara sighed, "I know. I just worked so hard and then there's Bruce. We're a wonderful team. We were made for each other."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Kara warned, "The League just got notification that Catwoman has turned into a government agent. You said your only worry was that Selina Kyle would go straight. It looks like that's finally happened."

Barbara hesitated for a long time. Finally, she spoke; "Does Bruce know?"

"All of the founders were alerted." Kara informed her, "They disseminated the info as they saw fit."

"That lying sack of…!" Barbara fumed. He composed herself but she was still livid, "He lied to me!"

"Did he actually tell you a lie?" Kara asked.

"It's a lie of omission." Barbara coldly explained, "Before we got married Bruce swore to me that Selina Kyle wouldn't come between us."

"Has she?" Kara wondered, "In any real sense?"

"Close enough." Barbara fumed. She grabbed her jacket and her car keys, "I'm going back to the manor. Are you coming?"

"Sure. Why not?" Kara sighed. She was beginning to think it was her duty in life to watch couples fight. She and Brainy might not be talking but at least they didn't fight. Although, she mused, fighting would be preferable to the long silences.

As Kara climbed into Barbara's car she realized that she was using Kyle Raynor. Recently she'd led him on and she needed to reestablish a few boundaries. Kyle was great but now she knew she wanted her academically brilliant but relational dunce of a boyfriend back.

Brainy definitely wasn't the brightest bulb on the block when it came to matters of the heart. He'd had to run a "self diagnostic" to determine that he was attracted to her. Normally she found his naiveté cute but it could also get old. All she wanted was a little consideration and affection. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, she grimly thought.

Across the street atop the opposing rooftop, Batman continued his vigil. He just knew that the Legion would send someone back for the Little Mermaid's belongings. His focus helped keep the demons back but his failure with Tim still ate at him.

He wondered, again, why he'd ever created the role of Robin. He intellectually knew it was because he'd wanted to help Dick. The boy had watched his parents die right in front of him because of a mobster. When Dick had discovered Batman and Bruce Wayne were nominally one and the same, Robin had been born.

Where Tim had been a bright and enthusiastic student, Dick had been phenomenal. An acrobat practically since birth, Dick had taken to the martial disciplines with fiery vigor. He'd been a gifted student and he'd turned into a competent and capable man.

Except for this, Batman considered.

Even Dick could fall, Batman realized as a dagger twisted in his heart yet again. Tim hadn't been ready to be Robin. He never should have been Robin, Batman decided.

Tim had begged Batman to let him be the new Robin. Batgirl had encouraged him. Both Batman and Batgirl had been wrong. If even Dick could be kidnapped by the Legion of Doom, what chance did Tim Drake have against the Joker?

He'd already encouraged Barbara to hang up the mantle. The world didn't need a Batgirl. If she wanted to fight crime she could do it as a cop. It's what she seemed to want anyway.

He hadn't spoken with Dick yet but he had similar advice for him. Nightwing was an indulgence, one that Dick could ill afford from now on. If the Legion had taken notice of Dick Grayson once, they would do so again in the future.

Distracted as he was, he almost missed the two shapes that flew into the building. One was dressed all in white and the other in black and gold. Galatea and Superwoman. They would be a challenge but not the kind he hadn't faced before. He'd gone head to head with both Superman and Wonder Woman before. Of course, those had been training exercises but he'd learned a lot during them.

He fired his grapple gun and swung over to the apartment's balcony. He peered in past the billowing drapes. Superwoman was stuffing clothes into a pair of duffels. Meanwhile, Galatea was collecting photos and trinkets.

Galatea suddenly stopped. Her enhanced hearing tuned into the new sounds in the background. Someone was breathing and their heartbeat was quickening. Galatea threw her items on the bed and yelled, "Batman!"

Superwoman dropped the duffel she was packing and turned as Galatea sped out of the room at super speed. The Argoan clone shoulder checked Batman sending him hurtling down five stories towards the street. His grapple gun saved him but it was still a hard landing atop a parked car.

Galatea turned to Superwoman, "Get the gear and get out of here."

"But…" Superwoman began to protest. Her Amazonian sensibilities prevented her from running from a fight.

"We're not here to fight." Galatea reminded her, "We get the brat's stuff and get back to Dustin. That's it. Period. Got it?"

"Yes." Superwoman grated, "I've got it."

"There'll be another time and place." Galatea assured her, "I promise."

"All right." Superwoman acquiesced, "Have fun."

Galatea winked, "You know it."

She then floated down to street level and came before the Bat. Batman had rolled off of the car he'd landed on and he was preparing himself for a fight.

Not that it'll do him any good, Galatea thought to herself. She watched as Batman reached into one of the pouches on his utility belt. She smugly smirked until its contents were revealed. Then she realized that he'd pulled out a chunk of kryptonite.

Galatea gasped as its radiation assaulted her. Although she was a clone of Supergirl, and Supergirl was from Argo and not Krypton, Argoans and Kryptonians shared a common ancestry and therefore common strengths and weaknesses. She flew away and returned to the Little Mermaid's discarded apartment. A minute later, an eager Superwoman came to the street.

"You may as well put that glowing rock away." Superwoman smirked, "It won't do any good against me."

Batman returned the kryptonite to its pouch but pulled out a couple of batarangs from the one next to it and he threw them in a sweeping motion. Superwoman smiled as she used her lasso to swat them aside. She quit swinging it by throwing it around Batman's wrist. She jerked hard and pulled him in.

She landed a punch in his gut. As he was trying to gather enough air to stay conscious, she threw a right cross that laid him out. He wasn't out cold but he was close.

He was dimly aware of Galatea joining Superwoman on the curb. She hefted Ulla's Mini Cooper into the air and took flight while carrying it. A duffel was draped across a shoulder and her body so that the bag was resting on the opposite hip. Superwoman put on two bags and then leapt into the air.

The pair flew above the complex and activated a boom tube as they went. They flew into it and it disappeared taking them along with it. Batman rose and caught his breath. Gawkers had come to witness Batman getting beaten. Now they looked embarrassed as he fired off his grapple gun and left the scene.

It took several minutes to traverse the multiple rooftops that separated him from the Batmobile. Once he was ensconced within its cockpit he replayed the taped transmissions from the bugs in the Little Mermaid's apartment. Listening to it he distinctly heard the name or place "Dustin."

It was likely that this Dustin was where Dick was being held as well. If it were, that would mean he wasn't in Bailya and could be rescued by the League. It was a slim hope but one worth checking out and fostering.