Justice League Axis Issue 4
By Mike Rivera
Lex, Bane, Cheetah, and Supergirl watched as Batman landed in front of their hideout, with some tough looking suit. It was all black with red eyes and a grey bat-symbol in the chest. He entered the Arrow Cave and said nothing to the team as he took his armor off.
"How did, stopping Cyborg from finding out you were behind the Justice League Axis go?" Lex asked.
"Let's just say, I will now be supervising you all full-time."
"They found out?" Bane chuckled.
"Pretty much." Batman answered.
"So they just let you fly off with this powerful looking suit of armor?" Supergirl asked.
"No, they didn't. But Superman cannot take this suit alone. None of them can."
Cheetah looked confused. "If this suit is so powerful, why do you need us?"
Batman looked at the team. "This suit was designed to take any member of the Justice League in a one-on-one fight. If they all wanted to dog-pile me, I wouldn't last long. That is why I need you all."
Batman looked at Supergirl. "Kara, it is time now."
"Oh, ok." Supergirl said, as she followed Batman into a room. The doors closed down behind her.
The Watchtower
Superman woke up and found himself on a hospital style bed. Wonder Woman was sitting on a chair next to him. When she saw he was conscious, she got up and walked to him.
"Hey Clark. You okay?"
Superman grunted. "I feel like a red sun blew up in my face."
Wonder Woman looked mad. "Bruce must have made a pretty strong suit of armor.
"Yeah." Superman tried to get up, but his entire body was in pain.
"Don't try to get up." Wonder Woman gently pushed his body back. "Bruce shot you with a small but powerful kryptonite laser. Your body is still feeling the effects."
"But, we have to take them down."
"After you recover." Wonder Woman exited the room. "Now get some rest."
JL Axis Headquarters
"Umm, I think we have an intruder." Lex said, with an unsure face. Alarms were buzzing around him
"You think?" Batman asked.
"There are no heat signatures, the motion sensors aren't picking up anything, and I can't see anyone in the cameras. But the alarms are still going."
"That can only be one person." Batman said.
The team watched as someone slipped through a wall and land in front of them. It was Martian Manhunter.
Cheetah and Bane charged at him, but J'onn used his telepathy to hold them both in the air. Lex was about to run to his War-suit when Batman stopped him.
"It's alright." Batman told the team. "J'onn was doing me a favor."
J'onn put Bane and Cheetah down, he then walked up to Batman.
"I have observed Maxwell Lord like you asked. He seems to have some psychic abilities. The whole League is under his control."
"So, the entire League are just muscles his muscles? They don't know what they are doing?"
"No, it's not that." J'onn started. "His powers are strange. He gave every member of the League thoughts. Thoughts that not only justify what Lord is doing, but they would also compel them to agree with him. They know everything they are doing. Maxwell won't let their minds tell them they are wrong."
"Is there no way to reverse it?" Batman asked, desperately.
"I tried, but once Lord has you, it's almost impossible to reverse without causing serious damage to the brain."
"And I know you don't want to try that J'onn." Batman put his hand out. "Thank you."
J'onn shook his hand and left the cave.
"There goes a pretty powerful ally." Bane said.
Batman turned to him. "J'onn has been a friend of the League for years. I respect his decision not to get involved. He would be one of the most powerful members of the team, but he doesn't want to fight former friends."
Batman walked to the Arrow-Computer. He put in a USB drive uploaded whatever was on it to the Arrow Computer.
"Is that the Bat-Computer Software?" Lex asked.
"Yes it is. I brought it here so I can download it on the Arrow Cave computer. The Bat-Cave is likely compromised."
The Arrow Computer opened up a live feed of the Bat-Cave. Superman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg could be seen searching the cave.
The Bat-Cave
"Where is he Alfred?" Superman asked the British butler, who was casually sweeping the cave as if no one was there.
"I can happily say, I don not know where Master Bruce is. He didn't tell me, and I didn't ask."
"Diana, if you could be so kind."
Wonder Woman grabbed her lasso and roped it around Alfred, who did not fight back.
"Where is Batman?" Wonder Woman asked.
"I do not know." Alfred said hypnotically.
"The lasso compels you to tell the truth."
"I do not know." Alfred said again.
"He really doesn't know." Wonder Woman said as she un-roped him.
Superman got really mad. He flew up to Alfred, whose sarcastic face was replaced by a horrified look.
"Fine then, if you can't take us to Batman, we'll bring him to us."
Superman grabbed Alfred by the neck and lifted him up. His eyes started to glow red.
Captain Marvel was watching from a distance, when he felt a powerful knee to his spine. Captain Marvel fell forward and looked behind him. Bane was standing above him.
Before Cyborg could react and attack, he received a metal bat-kick to the face. Batman was squaring up in his Armor of Babel.
Superman dropped Alfred, and charged at the two, but he got blasted by a green beam. Luther was attacking him with his two effective guns.
As they were fighting, Flash was trying to knock them all out fast. He ran at Bane full speed and was about to throw a punch, when he felt his back get sliced multiple times. Tailing him was Cheetah. And she was running almost as fast as him.
When Wonder Woman saw Cheetah attacking Flash, she tried to fly after them and help Flash. Someone flew at her at high speed and smashed her out of the cave into the house, then out of the house into the Wayne Manor yard.
Captain Marvel got up. He and Bane started eyeing each other. Captain Marvel didn't know how powerful this new Bane was.
"So you were assigned to take me out?" Captain Marvel taunted. "I am offended."
"Don't be wizard boy." Bane remarked. "I'm a lot stronger than I look." He threw a punch that Billy dodged. "You have the wisdom of Solomon. You should use it now and walk away."
"I don't think so." Captain Marvel replied. He flew at Bane and punched him twice in the face.
Bane shook those two hits off and retaliated with some of his own. He punched Billy twice, and then did a flying knee to the face. That hit made Captain Marvel wobbly. Bane elbowed his jaw. The hit swung Billy around and gave Bane his back. Bane grabbed Billy and did a suplex.
Now Captain Marvel was on the floor. "I under estimated his strength." He thought to himself. "Luckily I'm not just a brawler."
He charged at Bane again, this time with electricity coming out of his hands. Bane was getting severely electrocuted. Bane mustered up enough strength to clasp his hands together and hammer them on Captain Marvels face. Captain marvel fell on his hands and knees but so did Bane. Billy continued to electrocute Bane, who was now helpless.
Cyborg saw the suit Batman used to escape Superman and looked impressed.
"Not a bad hunk of metal." He told Batman. "I'm scanning right now for a weakness."
"It has some weaknesses." Batman replied. "All of yours."
Batman round house kicked Cyborg in the forehead. The kick made Cyborg stagger backwards. He was about to use his white noise cannon when he felt a virus enter him. He checked his input drives on his forehead and found there was some sort of connector attached to it. He pulled them out as fast as he could.
"It's too late Vic." Batman said. "The super virus is already working into your system. Its main objective is to kill you."
"You wouldn't let it kill me." Cyborg said, as he got weaker.
"I know. Your firewalls should be able to stop its main objective. But it won't stop its secondary objective, which is to shut down your weapons and movement systems."
Cyborg fell on the ground. He had lost complete control of his body, and he was slowly losing consciousness.
Batman looked for Bane and saw he was getting severely electrocuted by Captain Marvel. Batman grabbed a black rope from his suit's forearm and lassoed it around Billy's neck. Batman pulled down on it, and Captain Marvel was yanked backwards. Off of Bane.
Captain Marvel tried to loosen the rope's grip, when it turned a glowing gold color.
"What is your magic word?" Batman asked.
"No, that's impossible. How did you-"
"The lasso compels you." Batman said with a smirk.
Billy tried his best to fight off the Bat-Lasso's power, but it was to know avail.
"Shazam." Billy mumbled.
Batman un-roped him, before a huge bolt of lightning struck Captain Marvel. When the lightning cleared, Billy was just a teenage boy. Billy tried to yell Shazam again but Batman shot gas out of his suit's knuckles. The gas incapacitated Billy.
Wonder Woman crashed landed into the Wayne Manor yard. She took out the stone fountain with her landing. Wonder Woman looked up to see who it was that attacked her. She saw Supergirl floating above her, with her fists clenched.
"Kara?" Wonder Woman asked confused. "You would betray your own cousin?
"You guys are the traitors." Kara replied. "You turned your backs on the people you were supposed to be protecting; now your all just Maxwell Lord's puppets."
"Kara, listen. We are doing this to protect them." Diana tried explaining.
"By taking away their basic human rights? If that's protection well, we don't want to be protected then."
Wonder Woman rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to try to justify herself to Supergirl anymore. She started a fight, now she's going to get one.
Wonder Woman flew up to Supergirl and threw a punch. Kara blocked it. Supergirl threw one back, but Wonder Woman dodged that hit. As they were fighting, Supergirl recited in her head what Batman told her as they trained.
"You're faster than her."
Wonder Woman started throwing a lot of hits, but Kara used her speed to dodge all of them.
"You're stronger than her."
Supergirl threw a punch that Wonder Woman blocked. The force of the punch put Diana off balance.
"You have more powers than her."
Diana wrapped her arms around Supergirl's head for a clinch. She tried to force it down to her knees. Supergirl shot her knee with her heat vision. This made Wonder Woman grab her knee in pain.
"Now we have to make you a better fighter than her."
Supergirl capitalized on the opening and uppercutted Wonder Woman in the face. The force of the hit made Wonder Woman fly upwards. Supergirl sped toward her and started attacking. Wonder Woman tried to counter her but Supergirl was using her speed advantage well; attacking her at all sides. Finally Supergirl gave one big hit that sent Diana farther away. Supergirl then let out a huge heat vision blast. Wonder Woman put her bracelets in front of her and prevented them from hitting her face. Supergirl kept the blast going, but got closer and closer to Wonder Woman. Finally she was close enough and punched her down to the ground. Supergirl then flew to Wonder Woman as fast as he could and crushed her with her fists. The force of that turned the entire yard into a crater. When the dust settled you could see Wonder Woman on the ground, unconscious. Supergirl was standing over her triumphantly.
Flash's hand was still hurting from the slice Cheetah gave him. He turned around and faced Cheetah.
"When I heard you can now run fast, I had to see it for myself. It just makes you seem creepier. And that's saying a lot, considering how creepy you looked before."
"You can laugh now Flash, but remember something. I'm not just someone that can run fast. I had powers before these. My old powers mixed with this speed should give me the upper hand."
"Well I have something you don't. Which is-"
Flash ran at her with full speed. Cheetah flipped out of the way, bu her flip left her face exposed. Flash landed a solid punch that put her on her back.
"Experience."
Cheetah got up, and ran at Flash. Barry ran at her too. Flash threw a punch, but Cheetah jumped out of the way and sliced Flash's back. Flash ignored the pain and ran at her again. Cheetah ducked away from Flash's attack and sliced his leg.
"Ok, time to get serious." Flash said as he ran at Cheetah one more time.
Flash threw a punch which Cheetah jumped out of the way from. She aimed her claws at Flash's face and attacked. She felt something wrap around her hands. Flash got out of her way and Cheetah fell on her face. She looked at her hands; they had some weird looking handcuffs. She ran at Flash but the handcuffs started vibrating. She got slower and slower and soon she stopped from exhaustion.
"Like them?" Flash asked. "I found them at LexCorp when we went to arrest Luthor. He made them to stop me, but I thought you should have them. It looks so much nicer on you."
Cheetah tried to break herself free, but to no avail. Flash took advantage of Cheetah's vulnerable state and gave her punch to the jaw. Cheetah fell backwards.
"Cheetah is down." Flash said on his Com-Link. "Hello, anybody?"
When Cheetah saw that nobody was going to back him up, she retracted one of her claws and started picking at the cuffs' lock.
Superman backed up into the Cave wall. He was getting overwhelmed by Lex's firepower. Lex continued to shoot at him.
"It's no use." Superman thought to himself. "His weapons are too powerful, there's only one way to stop all of them."
Superman shot up into the sky. He broke through the cave, into the mansion, then outside and continued speeding upwards. He was going to the sun.
Lex saw this and tried to shoot him from a distance, but to know avail.
"Batman, we have a problem." Lex said on his communicator. "Superman's heading to the sun."
"I'm in range, I can stop him." Supergirl said.
"No, you won't be able to stop him if he absorbs enough of the sun's radiation." Batman said. "And if you absorb enough, the fight between you two would kill us all. Help me evacuate everyone. Get Wonder Woman to safety."
Supergirl listened and sped to where Wonder Woman's unconscious body was. Bane picked up Cyborg and Batman grabbed Billy.
Superman was near the sun. He waited until he felt super strong, then he sped to where Batman and the others where regrouping.
When Batman saw Superman coming, he ordered Lex to aim his Red Sun cannon at Superman. If they shot him enough times, they should be able to weaken him. Batman aimed his suit's Red Sun cannon as well and opened fire on Superman.
They missed some shots, some Superman dodged. Eventually they were able to hit him over and over. When Superman got close enough, he was already in his normal power level. When he was in range, Batman socked him in the face with his kryptonite glove. Superman went flying and landed unconscious fairly far away from them.
"Ok, all we need is Cheetah and we can extract from here." Batman called on his communicator. "Cheetah, are you there?"
"Weeellll, not exactly Cheetah, but hey Bats." Flash spoke into Cheetah's communicator.
Batman rolled his eyes.
"She was one tough cookie, but I was able to take her down. Courtesy of Lex's vibrating handcuffs."
Lex gave himself a face palm.
"So how about you guys surrender or I shave the ca-" Slash!
"Flash?" Batman asked. Nobody answered.
"Barry, what happened?" There was still no answer.
"Flash is down, permanently." Cheetah said on her communicator.
"What!" Batman said in a surprised voice. "Lex leave the League safe here, I need to take Flash to the cave."
"Batman, Cheetah killed him, he was the enemy."
"He was my friend!" Batman said, enraged
Batman rushed over to Flash's position and shoved Cheetah away from his motionless body. He had four slashes on his neck. Cheetah had his blood all over her hand. Batman grabbed Flash's body and lifted it up. Flash was going to die, and he was running out of time.
"Here take him and run to the Arrow-Cave." He said to Cheetah.
"You can't be seriou-"
"Now!" Batman yelled.
Cheetah obeyed and ran to the Arrow-Cave. Batman turned on his suit's flight systems and rushed over there with the team as fast as he could.
The Watchtower
Superman was the last one to wake up. He found himself on a hospital styled bed again. The rest of the Leaguers where there as well, except Flash.
"Where's Flash?" he asked Wonder Woman, who had bruises all over her face.
She looked down in sadness and did not answer him.
"Superman." Cyborg said. "We found a lot of blood at the Wayne manor. I scanned it, it was Barry's. No one could survive that much blood loss."
When Superman heard this, he was immediately enraged. He left the Watchtower without saying a word to anyone.
Diana grabbed a green phone with a Green Lantern symbol on in. She turned it on and Hal Jordan's face appeared.
"Hey guys." Hal said. "How's utopia?" He immediately noticed her bruises. "Whoa, who beat the crap out of you?"
Diana sighed. "We need your help."
Outside of Belle Reve
Superman flew in front of the prison. He thought about Barry, how all he wanted to do was help people. How he was such a good man. He then looked at the prison. Full of evil men whom Batman is fighting for.
"If you care so much about these lunatic's rights, you would even murder your friend."
He let out a huge heat vision blast. The building glowed red, then turned black. Finally it was nothing but ashes.
"That was for Barry." He said, then he flew away.