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Chapter 04: The Retreat

A single falling star streaked across the night sky, its gold tinged flight never really burning up as it sped by. The wind teased the leaves lying on the ground, spinning them lazily across the deserted road, cutting its curving path through the land, heading toward a city in the far distance.

A city that was on fire. A single clap of thunder echoed, and with it came a force of wind that brushed clean the dirt road of all of the leaves the wind had been playing with. Mice scattered for cover, attempting to reach dens in the brush nearby. A lone owl beat its wings silently as it took flight in the night sky, leaving its perch on its old tree.

A solitary fox pulled its nose back under the bush it had peaked out of when the smell of dinner had seemingly approached. A prey that had escaped as the shockwave passed through. A small disappointment.

Silence returned. On the now deserted dirt road, a light appeared as if from nothing. It was no ordinary light, however. This light was as dark as shadow, outlined by the barest of white lines. As the seconds passed, the strange light began to take form.

The fox poked his head out from under the bush again, curious of the event taking place before it. A giant black bird of some kind materialized in front of the fox, its wings folded in front of it. The fox had seen enough. With a last twitch of its tail, the fox hurried off as the black raven opened its wings, depositing a group of battered beings onto the ground before it.

The last one out was a girl, her hands glowing in the same way as the giant magical bird. Lifting her hands above her head, the bird stretched out its wings and vanished into the night sky the same way it had come.

A voice broke the silence, "Is everyone ok?"

Robin looked up from where he sat on the ground, supporting Starfire in his lap, "We should be fine," he said, his gaze returning worriedly to Starfire. "But Starfire is going to need medical attention."

Green Lantern nodded, kneeling down to help Shayera sit upright. "Are you ok?" he asked, slipping one hand around her back to help support her.

She winced as she sat up, placing a hand across her stomach. "Yeah," she said, the pain obvious in her voice. "Feels like Superman punched me."

Together, the two stood up. "If you had been punched by Superman, believe me, you would have been down for a lot longer." Green Lantern placed a finger to his ear, activating his comm., "J'onn, do you copy?"

From high above the Earth in the orbiting Watch Tower, the sole survivor of the Martian race stood tall, monitoring Earth for any potential disasters. It was mostly always accurate. Reaching forward, J'onn Jon'zz activated the comm. "Yes," he spoke, his voice deep and monotone. Even still, his relief at hearing from them again was evident. "I hear you. The Watch Tower's sensors indicate that Jump City was destroyed. What happened?"

"It was that "Golden Warrior", alright," Green Lantern said, his arm around Shayera's waist, helping to steady her. "We weren't any match for him at all." The hand around Shayera's waist balled into a fist. It was infuriating. The Green Lantern Corp was among the most powerful forces in the galaxy, policing a large section of it. He was not use to feeling powerless.

Dipping his head slightly as if reading his mind all the way up in the Watch Tower, J'onn said, "I was afraid of that. He is much more powerful than I first imagined." He sighed, a human gesture he had learned early on. "How did you survive?"

Green Lantern glanced over to where Raven was attending to Beast Boy. "Raven," he said to J'onn. "She teleported us at the last second."

From behind J'onn, the sliding door that inhabited practically every doorway in the Watch Tower opened, revealing Princess Diana of Themyscira, also known as Wonder Woman. She strode up to the console next to J'onn, speaking into the comm., "And what of the "Golden Warrior"?"

Silence from the comm. for a few seconds. J'onn and Diana exchanged a look, the silence speaking volumes on its own. "He's gone," came Lantern's voice, subdued.

Diana let out a sigh. "So, we still don't know who or where he is?" she asked, disappointment etched into her beautiful face. "And we still cannot track him because of the energy he emits. It makes him effectively invisible to our sensors."

On the ground, Green Lantern exchanged a look with Robin. "Not exactly," he said, shifting his weight slightly to his other foot. "Robin was able to land a tracker on the guy during the fight. We should be able to track that."

J'onn leaned over the balcony of the command tower, raising his voice to be heard to the crew stationed at various computers monitoring Earth and saying, "Track a PDN tracer on the frequency Green Lantern will provide and issue an evacuation warning to all cities on its projected path."

From the main deck, one of the crew members sat a bit straighter in his chair, shouting a "Yes sir" to the green man in charge. Turning back to his station as he keyed his comm. over to Green Lantern to receive the frequency.

J'onn looked over at Diana. "Now, we wait," he said.

Diana's delicate looking hands balled into fists but she knew it to be true. She touched the comm. "G. L., we will teleport you up to the Watch Tower and have a medical team meet you there."

"Thanks," Green Lantern said. Releasing the comm., he turned to inform the others.

J'onn Jon'zz walked toward Green Lantern as John watched a medic lead Shayera away. Starfire was on a stretcher heading in the same direction with Robin following close behind. Behind him, the rest of the Titans and Captain Atom followed.

"Are you certain you do not need to go with them?" J'onn asked, taking in the battered cloths of someone who had just had a really rough day. He had seen most of the battle via the Watch Towers advanced sensors and was surprised that John was even standing, much less caring for the others.

"Later," was the man's reply as he lifted his right arm slightly. A green ring appeared around his boots and moved its way upward to above his head, replacing his torn clothing with new ones. "J'onn, we got taken apart down there."

J'onn began walking down the corridor, John following next to him. "He was much more powerful than I imagined. I am sorry. I suspected he might target that carnival but I thought the three of you could have handled him." In truth, he couldn't understand how the humans had convinced those in power to allow that carnival in the first place. It was very much an open invitation for the "Golden Warrior" to attack. Which is why he had sent some of the best in the League over there.

"Yeah," Green Lantern said, grief thick in his voice as he thought of all the lives lost. "Well, don't worry about it. We know now what we're dealing with. We'll be ready next time."

"Yes. Once we get through the debriefing, we will have a much better idea as to how to deal with him." J'onn stopped pointedly at the door to the medical ward.

Green Lantern stopped as well, looking around as if not sure where exactly he was. He saw the door with the words "MEDICAL" printed in big bold white letters and grimaced. Turning back to look at J'onn with a look of defeat on his face, Green Lantern asked, "What's Superman's ETA?"

J'onn's Martian expressions were always hard to read, this one looked like something between concentration and one like he was about to spit up. "Last transmission I received from him said he was still working with High Father with the effects of Darkseid's return to Apokolips. He did not give an estimate."

Green Lantern turned serious, "You might want to give him an update on the situation. You might also want to suggest that he cut his mission short."

"Do you believe it is that serious?"

"Worse, J'onn," John said as he turned and walked into the medical ward. "Much worse."

The water parted beneath him as the Saiyan flew above it. He smiled down at his reflection, pleased beyond words at the extent of his new found abilities. The Saiyan sped onward towards his space pod, unaware of the softly blinking light on the back of his armor.

He looked to his left, then his right. Nothing but water and greenery on either side. This planet would fetch a fine price. He just had to wait until he heard from his home planet for instructions on how to return home afterwards. A wait that had lasted for three years now...

The Saiyan's smile turned to a grimace in annoyance and sped onward.

J'onn stood as motionless as ever, gazing at a large hologram of the Earth as a little red pin-prick moved across it at a pretty decent clip. He wasn't all that impressed by the speed, there were a few in the League that could move much faster. Flash for example.

"Now we will have at least a general idea as to where he will be," J'onn said to the red clad speed demon.

"So then, what are we waiting for?" Flash said to the resolute Martian. "Why not just send a team down there and do whatever?"

The Martian turned his head slightly to look at Flash. "For one thing, he is still moving. I would like to know where it is that he goes in the event that he escapes again, Wally," he told Flash. Flash was gifted, certainly, but moving at speeds nearing the speed of light, he didn't always take the time to think things through.

Flash turned to look over his shoulder as the Dark Knight entered the stretch of walkway to the command bridge. "Bats is here," Flash informed J'onn.

"I know."

Flash looked at him, surprised, and then banged his palm against his forehead. "Right, psychic. Duh."

J'onn turned slightly to his left to greet Batman as the Dark Knight took in the red dot moving across the U. S. "What have we found out?" he queried, all business as usual.

"I have filed a report as you requested after speaking with Green Lantern..."

"I've read the report," Batman interrupted. "Where is he going?"

"We are still unsure," J'onn said as Batman adjusted the hologram, zooming in on the red dot representing the tracker that was placed on the Saiyan. "We have issued an evacuation warning along his projected path. But at the speed he is moving, I doubt that we could get everyone out in time should he choose to attack again."

Not even bothering to look at J'onn, Batman said, "Call off the evacuation warnings."

Flash actually took a step back in surprise at that. "Call it off?" he repeated. Was the Bats losing it or what? "If he attacks again, those people won't have a chance."

Batman turned his penetrating gaze on Flash. "If he attacks again right now, those people will die anyway," he said. "Best let them lay peacefully. No use waking them up for something they cannot stop." His gaze returning to the hologram, he continued, "But he isn't going to attack again."

J'onn looked hard at Batman, resisting the urge to enter the man's mind and see what exactly he was thinking. "How can you be so sure?" the Martian asked. Despite his somewhat cold exterior, Batman was probably the one man in the League who cared for humanity down to the individual more so than Superman.

Batman's eyes narrowed behind his cowl. "I've been studying his patterns," he said. "He is not as random as he seems. He never attacks a city within two hundred miles of each other and never within twelve hours of his last attack except for rare occasions. Usually longer."

"What's the significance of that?" J'onn asked as Flash nodded beside him.

Batman returned his gaze to his two teammates. "According to both your report and the follow up reports filed by Green Lantern and Captain Atom, the "Golden Warrior" said he enjoyed killing." Batman let the silence hang for a moment, allowing J'onn at least to fall onto his line of reasoning. Flash would probably follow as it was laid out.

"Meaning he might not want to destroy everyone all at once," J'onn said, looking in concentration at Batman.

"Which leaves two possibilities as to his motives," Batman fostered.

"Either he is merely testing our strengths for the invasion yet to come," J'onn hazarded.

"Or he's just prolonging it for fun," Flash finished, his attitude going serious as he grew angry.

"Exactly," Batman said, surprised that Flash caught on so quickly. He leaned forward, typing something into the computer. On the hologram, the red dot representing the Saiyan was suddenly accompanied by a large number of blue, green, and purple dots space around the holographic Earth as it zoomed back out. "These dots represent the major places the "Golden Warrior" has hit in the last three years. They are color coded by year. Notice any patterns?"

J'onn studied the map for a moment, seeing exactly where the detective was going with this. "They are very spread out," he said. "As if he does not want to concentrate on one area."

"Right," Batman said. "He's not interested in eliminating us all at once and I doubt there is an invasion on the way. Otherwise I would have expected it to be here by now."

Flash spoke up, his usual cheerfulness still somewhat subdued, "I don't know. I can think of one or two invasions in our past that have taken nearly that long. I don't think that theory is necessarily true."

Batman looked over at Flash, mildly irritated that his deduction was being pegged as wrong. "In both of those cases, the Mars invasion and the Thanagarian invasion, heavy emphasis was placed on political infiltration long before the invading armies showed up. From as far as I can tell, there has been no political manipulation."

"Which, if drawn to the logical conclusion, means he is working alone," J'onn finished. He looked back at the map hovering in front of him, considering.

"So he's taking his time," Flash said.

"Not just taking his time," Batman said, shifting his gaze to Wally. "Purposely prolonging it."

"But why?" asked Flash.

"That is indeed the question."

From down below on the main floor of the bridge, one of the workers shouted up to them, "The "Golden Warrior" has stopped, sir."

"Bring it up on the main screen," Batman ordered.

One of the bridge's transparent windows abruptly changed from a view of deep space to a visual of the Vermont, United States. Zooming in, the visual showed the "Golden Warrior" standing on a cliff, his hair back to jet black, completely unaware of the fact that he was being watched from above.

The sound of footsteps drew J'onn's attention. Turning, he saw Batman walking towards the sliding door. J'onn opened his mouth, about to ask where he was going but Batman beat him to it. "J'onn, I'm taking a team down before sunrise to look around. Flash, I want you to come along." Obediently, Flash followed after Batman. Batman continued, "I want you have Green Arrow and the Atom to meet us in the hanger bay. Make sure they understand this is a reconnaissance mission only."

J'onn nodded, understanding. "Understood," he said. "Javelin 14 will be ready on pad 8."

Batman and Flash walked through the sliding door. "Got it," Batman said. The door slid shut behind them.

To be continued...

Hopefully this chapter will explain a few things and add a little more depth to the story. Hope you like it!

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