Bruce walked through the large, metallic silver double doors, the large, clear glass windows with a stylised 'L' prominent in the centre of the doors . He wasn't a fan of this meeting; hell, he wasn't a fan of Lex Luthor, but he had appointments to keep. Besides, bats were nocturnal, so it would be silly for him to be out as Batman anyway.
As he walked through the lobby of the Luthorcorp building, signing in at the desk before walking towards the silver coloured elevator doors, there was the sound of a large amount of commotion behind him, causing him to turn on his heel, looking at the sight in front of him.
There was a young woman, in her mid twenties, with long, dark brown hair tied up into a bun, the blonde highlights visible. She was in a navy blue suit and white blouse with a short skirt of the same colour that was cut just above the knee, black high heels on her feet, putting her at maybe five foot 11, rather than around five-nine, five-ten.
Stood beside her, apparently embarrassed by her ranting and raving, was a main in a grey suit with a blue shirt and red tie. He was tall, around six-three, with black hair in a neat, if not at all styled, look. He wore dark framed glasses on his face. Bruce didn't need to ask who that was; all his background checks told him that; Clark Kent. As for the woman, he knew her from a few years back, in his college years.
"It's alright." Bruce said, moving back over to the reception desk "They're with me, I was running late so said they could conduct their interview with me en route. Isn't that right, Lois?"
"Yes, it is." Lois replied, cottoning on to what he was up to "Now, if you'll excuse me, Miss. Over-bearing-receptionist, we've got a job to do. Right this way, Mr. Wayne."
Lois began to lead the way to the elevator, waiting until they were inside before finally speaking up.
"Don't think that stunt got you out of never calling, Bruce." She said, her tone aggressive "I mean, honestly, would a call, or even a text, have hurt?"
"I lost your number." Bruce replied, nonchalantly.
Clark stood, watching the exchange. There was clear history there. Then again, Bruce and Lois did have history; they'd dated in college. Bruce was the first to admit, he had promised to call her. Then, he had, as he had just told her, lost her number. With all of Lois' bitching at Bruce, he was almost thankful when the elevator suddenly screeched to a halt, the lights cutting out.
"Great." Lois said sarcastically "The power goes out and I'm stuck alone in the dark with the biggest womaniser Metropolis University ever had and the most bumbling partner I've ever had."
"Thanks Lois, you're all heart." Bruce said, grinning in the darkness, before adding barely audibly "Kent, corner, now."
Clark stood there, not responding. How had Bruce known he'd hear that? Did he know that Clark would hear that or did he just speak more quietly than he'd meant to?
"Kent, now, before Apokolips gets here." Bruce said quietly "Yes, I know all about it and will be more than happy to fill you in after you get into that red and blue costume of yours and fly us out of here."
"But Lois…" Clark began, realising she was stood there and could hear him, causing him to catch himself, pushing his glasses up his nose and saying "Uh, surely Mr. Wayne can't be that bad."
"Men." Lois murmured before the red emergency lighting flickered on "Thank god, I was getting worried there."
"Simple EMP, caused by the planet hitting the atmosphere." Bruce muttered, Lois turning to him "I mean, it was probably just one of Lex's EMP experiments gone wrong."
"Right…" Lois said, before beginning to take her heels off and handing them to Clark "Well, you two can hang around here, but I'm getting out of here. Bruce, give me a boost up to that emergency hatch in the elevator ceiling."
"But Lois-" Clark began, being cut off by Bruce glaring at him as Lois was boosted to the ceiling and disappeared through the hatch "Okay Mr. Wayne, we need to talk."
"Not now boy scout, for now, I need you to use that super strength of yours to push the elevator to the bottom of the shaft, we can get out via the basement. Yes, I know you're Superman, there's no time for discussion now, only for you to get us down." Bruce said, putting two fingers to his left ear "Alfred, meet me at the basement vehicle access to the tower. Bring my other suit."
Clark looked at Bruce, cocking an eyebrow. So, he knew, but what else did he know? And just who was this Mr. Wayne, really? All the possibilities shot through Clark's mind, but he kept coming back to one question; could he trust the man?
"Okay, Lois is gone." Clark said, removing his glasses "Just who the hell are you?"
"Don't you recognise me?" Bruce said, his voice a low, gravelly growl, one that was all too familiar "Or do I need to be wearing a cape and cowl?"
"It's you…" Clark said, before smirking "Basement, coming up."
Clark put his hands to the floor, beginning to push. There was a feeling of rapid acceleration as the elevator was pushed to the bottom of the shaft. As they reached the bottom, Clark stopped pushing, letting the emergency brakes bring them to a halt. As the elevator finally stopped, Clark ripped open his shirt, revealing the symbol on his costume, before spinning on the spot at super speed, changing fully as he did, before punching through the elevator door and gesturing to the hole where the door had been.
"After you." He said, Bruce stepping through and beginning to walk towards the exit, Clark following "So, were you planning on telling me?"
"No." Bruce said simply, his voice somewhere between the voice he'd used while talking with Lois and the deep, gravelly tone he used as Batman.
"Great, there's trust for you." Clark said sarcastically, being shot a scowl by Bruce.
"You're sounding like my 18 year old partner." Bruce said coldly "I expect that from Allen, but not from you, Kent!"
"Thanks…" Clark said, rolling his eyes "So, what's the plan?"
"How fast can you scan the skyline?" Bruce asked as they walked into a car park where a large black stretch hummer with blacked out windows was waiting, with Bruce stepping inside and closing the door behind him, the window open just a crack so he could hear Clark.
"Around thirty seconds, why?" Clark asked, unsure where Bruce was going.
"I want you to get to that. I'm getting the rest of the team together." Bruce said from inside the car "Damn… Jordan's out of contact, and right as an EMP hits the city. I think it's safe to assume Apokolips is here. Kent, get out there and see if the planet can be seen. If it is, I expect co-ordinates."
"And how am I supposed to provide them? I'm a Kryptonian super hero, not a sat nav." Clark said, as Bruce stepped out of the car, dressed in his Batman costume "You know, you'll stick out a bit, wearing that."
"Shut up and go." Bruce said, pressing a few controls on his gauntlet "I'll send a sound burst at a resonance only you can hear when I've got everyone together."
"And then what?" Clark asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"And then, Superman, I get my army and we will be going to war with Apokolips." Bruce said, his voice sombre "I won't lie to you, a lot of people could get hurt here. Our job is to keep that from happening as much as we can, and to stop anyone from being killed."
Clark looked at Bruce, gobsmacked. For a guy who was just an ordinary man in a suit, he was being surprisingly direct, up front and, frankly, demanding, of Clark. He was well aware of what Clark could do to him if he wanted to, and if Clark said he wasn't tempted to floor Bruce then, he'd be lying. Unfortunately, he needed Bruce on his side, especially since he didn't know what Bruce's army was.
"Fine, I'll go." Clark finally conceded, turning and beginning to walk away, tossing back "I'll see you soon."
Before Bruce could respond, Clark ran out of the car park at super speed, before crouching to the ground, momentum gathering below him before he shot up vertically and began to streak across the sky in a red and blue blur.
...
Twenty minutes later, Bruce stood atop the Metropolis PD building. He had hoped for somewhere more discreet, but J'onn had needed it to be there so he could claim he was just going out for a cigarette. After a moment, Bruce heard a sound of something rapidly decelerating.
"I expected you to be early, Allen." He said, not bothering to turn around "The Martian's on his way up, Hall is flying in and Superman is picking up Canary. Apparently, he bike's having engine problems."
"You know, I could go pick her up if she's running-" Bart began before Bruce picked him up by the throat, holding him in the air, choking out "Or, you know, I could wait here."
"That's what I thought." Bruce said, smirking as he lowered Bart "Now, will they just hurry up. I want to get this over with."
"Not much or a people person, huh, Bats?" Bart said, being shot a glare by Bruce "Okay, okay, I'll keep quiet, just don't, you know, throttle me again."
"I didn't throttle you, I picked you up." Bruce corrected, before looking over Bart's shoulder and seeing J'onn walking over, in his Human disguise "Nice of you to join us."
J'onn looked at Bruce for a moment, his face blank. Bruce might have been the world greatest detective, but he couldn't fathom from the Martian's expressionless face what he was thinking.
"Problem, Batman?" J'onn asked in his typical cool, collected tone.
"No." Bruce replied "Not yet."
Before J'onn could say anymore, there was the sound of wings flapping before a large, winged figure descended on the roof. The man stood around six foot five, taller than Bruce, or even Kent, for that matter, with an extra few inches given by the wing-like protrusions that were swept back and up on the bronze coloured helmet the man wore on his head, covering the same kind of area as Bruce's cowl covered on his own head, albeit the man's helmet left his ears and sea green eyes visible.
To go with the helmet, the man wore a chest plate that was the same colour as the helmet, with brown leather straps forming an 'X' across the chest, a gold coloured circle with a hawk head symbol in the centre of it. On the man's legs, were a pair of tight, brown leather trousers, with black combat boots. He also had a Silver coloured mace attached to his black belt with gold buckle, via a brown leather strap. The outfit's hawk motif was completed by the large, white wings that were protruding from the gap in the back of the man's armour.
"Hawkman, I'm glad you could make it." J'onn said, watching as Bruce and Hawkman, or Carter Hall, as he was otherwise known, apparently sized each other up "You haven't met Batman before, have you?"
"Once." Bruce replied, smirking for once "A long time ago."
"You two know each other?" Bart said, looking between the two men who looked like they were about to try to kill each other "How the hell did that happen."
"It's a long story and we don't have time for it." Hall said, looking at Bart and narrowing his eyes before turning back to Bruce "What do we know so far."
"We'll wait for Superman and Canary before we get into that." Bruce replied.
"Then you won't be waiting anymore, Batman." Kent said from behind Bruce, slowly lowering to the rooftop, setting down the woman he was carrying.
She was wearing a black tank top with black leggings and leather, thigh high boots. Along with that, she wore a black leather jacket, as well as a black domino mask over her grey-blue eyes. Her long, wavy blonde hair fell just barely below her waistline.
"Nice of you two to join us." Bruce said, narrowing his eyes under his cowl "Kent, what did you find?"
"Apokolips is here." Kent replied "It's hovering over an uncharted island in the Atlantic. Looks like just J'onn, Hawkman and I will be going."
"Wrong." Bruce said, pressing a control on his belt "Impulse, you can run there. Canary, you're with me, I've got my own ride."
"Hate to burst your bubble, bats, but you're just a guy in a cape." Bart said, smirking before putting both hands up as Bruce turned to him, scowling "Okay, jeez, I was just kidding."
"Worse than Robin…" Bruce murmured, before turning so he was facing all of them "So, you're all going now. J'onn, Superman, once we've dealt with any ground forces, I want you two to try and push that planet out of the atmosphere. We don't want any more EMP's caused by it's presence in our atmosphere. While you're doing that, Impulse and I will take my ride from the island to the planet, so keep it in our atmosphere long enough for me to get there. Once we're there, we'll find Jordan. Canary, Hawkman, you're going to be hanging back here on Earth to make sure no one takes advantage of the situation. No need to worry about Gotham, my usual partner has it covered. Just make sure that no one acts up."
"You keep talking about this ride, but I don't see anything." Impulse said, before there was a sound of a rapidly approaching jet engine, stopping above them.
They looked up. The small, black jet was hovering there, its body shape matching the one that they had seen previously on reports about the signal that was used to call Batman in Gotham. On each of the wings four tips, was a small jet engine, keeping the jet hovering. On the back end of the jet was a large, rocket booster. After a second, a line with a handle on the end of it dropped down, which Bruce grabbed hold of.
"You coming?" He said to Canary, who paused before grabbing the other half of the handle, which pulled the pair rapidly up into the jet, Bruce pressing a few controls and grimacing at what he read, before pressing a control, his voice broadcasting through speakers on the outside of the jet "Superman, lead the way."
….
Okay, so that's that. They're on their way to go for round one with Darkseid. And yes, I do mean round one, and yes, the message Bruce read was regarding the army he wanted. But yeah, next chapter; The Justice League vs the Apokoliptan army and the introduction of Wonder Woman. R&R, please, no flames. B.