It was strange seeing the large, circular, meeting table half full. In all the years Diana had been in this room, rarely had it had an empty seat, though that number had been rising because of the addition of their seventh member. If one empty seat was slowly becoming the norm though, three empty ones was a foreign concept.
Yet, here they were.
Superman and Hawkgirl were seated in their usual chairs, the same for Diana. Even Flash was in a chair and for once wasn't fidgeting. It wasn't uncommon for the Fastest Man Alive to visibly tremble in his chair, not out of fear mind you, but out of the necessity to keep moving. Had he been instilled the discipline of the Amazon Way, he would have been able to control himself better, much like herself.
In addition, he was wearing a new costume, his old one being confiscated by Batman for unknown reasons. Flash had washed himself in the decontamination unit J'onn had set up, something he said felt like taking a shower in a hurricane.
So it was a testament to how grave of a situation they were in when Flash was ramrod straight and as still as a statue. Hawkgirl was constantly glanceing at the young man, clearly showing she knew something was wrong.
As for the empty chairs, there were good reasons for them. Due to John being sedated, he was unavailable. For J'onn and Batman, the two were currently in a laboratory in the base. To further prove this, a hologram was beaming up from the center of the meeting table, the image of both heroes working in the lab being shown.
Batman took up most of the image, his profile facing them as his arms moved up and down, the man mixing what appeared to be various chemicals in glass vials and beakers. In the background was J'onn, who was performing similar tasks as well. While the Martian was solely focused on his work, Batman was the one speaking to them.
"Following further analysis, J'onn and I were able to determine that this is not a epidemic outbreak. The samples obtained from Flash and Green Lantern were absent any viral or bacterial materials. Due to the symptoms observed from Lantern, I would have to say this is close to a Joker Venom exposure. Further investigation has led me to believe this is what is also occurring in Central City," the vigilante spoke.
A strip on the left side of the image changed, small boxes appearing in the strip showing what Batman was talking about. Pictures of the riots in Central City were present along with a comparison image of a Joker Venom victim next to it. The similarities were striking in Diana's eyes.
The Amazon's attention was drawn away then as she sensed movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing to the source, she saw Hawkgirl shuddering in her seat. It took a moment for the dark-haired woman to piece together why the Thanagarian reacted so, but she remembered early on in the League's formative years that she had been affected by the toxin in question.
"So this isn't some zombie virus?" Flash spoke up then, his tone serious.
"That's right. Because of this, however, we can't assume normal viral transmission to be the reason why Central City has been exposed."
"How were these people exposed?" Superman asked then, leaning forward in his seat. "From what I understand of this Joker Venom, it's basically a poison, right? So why didn't anyone see it being unleashed?"
Batman didn't answer immediately as he appeared to be focused on measuring out a specific amount of fluid into a beaker. When he deemed he had the appropriate amount, he finally replied, "That's because we're looking at a different strain."
That perked Diana's interest. "How does this differ from the normal formula?"
"From the samples I obtained from Flash and Green Lantern, the concentration of the poison is less than the original toxin. This means that more of it had to accumulate in the affected host's body before symptoms presented themselves. That explains the spreading effect throughout Central City. It was also explain why Flash wasn't affected—his body's metabolism would've broken down the toxin long before it reached the necessary levels."
"Thank God for small mercies," Flash muttered under his breath, though Diana—and surely Superman—heard every word.
"That still doesn't explain how people were exposed though," Hawkgirl pointed out. "It's a green gas after all. Only colorblind people would've missed it."
"Maybe due to the change in formula it was made colorless," Superman suggested. "If the concentration was decreased, who knows how that would've affected the gas."
"Superman's on the right track," Batman confirmed before he slid the beaker he was working with to a side. He then disappeared from the screen, J'onn still hard at work in the background. It was several moments before the Dark Knight returned, two large glass bottles in his hands. Placing them down on the table in front him, he began unscrewing their caps before he collected a few more beakers. What the contents were, Diana didn't know due to there being a lack of a label on the glass, or even an identification tag.
Continuing from where he left off, he said, "Further investigation showed this new toxin on Flash and Green Lantern's bodies and clothes. Further analysis showed the biggest concentrations were on Flash's feet. Extrapo—"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Flash suddenly interrupted, sliding towards the front of his seat as his chest pressed into the edge of the table. "How the heck did this stuff get on my feet?"
That was also something Diana was interested in knowing and she looked right at the floating image, waiting for an answer. Batman didn't disappoint. "As I was saying, the toxin itself isn't in gaseous form, but solid—particularly dust particles. Pollen would be a better description even."
That was when the image changed, showing a map of Central City. There were dozens upon dozens of red squares throughout the picture, though if Diana was reading it correctly, the squares were shining on roadways. "Once J'onn and I determined the form of the toxin, J'onn used traffic footage from Central City to determine where the initial poisoning occurred. Long story short, the places indicated on the map are where the first signs of poisoning occurred."
"So traffic was used to deliver the poison?" Hawkgirl inquired, skepticism obvious in her voice.
The image disappeared then, Batman's taking its place. "Not exactly. A few experiments showed that the average speed of the cars, while they would've kicked up the pollen, would not have caused it to spread as it did. However, there was one person that was."
It was then Batman turned his head to regard the room, though it seemed as if he were looking at someone specifically. Diana frowned at this. Glancing around, she soon found herself looking to Flash, who's face was beginning to pale.
Superman appeared to be catching on as well. "You don't mean…" he trailed off.
"Flash's super speed carried enough force to scatter the pollen all over the city. And because it was clinging to his costume, he brought it to the Justice League Headquarters and incidentally poisoned Green Lantern."
If anyone could have looked as dejected as Flash did at that moment, Diana wasn't sure who it could've been. The red-clad hero had slumped back into his chair, misery hardly doing justice to describe the way he looked. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but no sounds came out.
Ultimately it was Hawkgirl that broke the silence. "Tell me you have a suspect," she demanded. "We need to catch the son of a bitch that did this."
Diana found herself straightening her posture in her seat at those words. "I believe you mentioned someone earlier," she spoke, earning her the attention of the Leaguers at the table. "The Joker, was it?"
Batman gave a sharp nod in response.
"I thought he was in jail," Hawkgirl spoke then. "When the hell did he get out?"
There was a moment of silence before the vigilante answered the Thanagarian. "About a year and a half ago, the Court of Owls launched a systematic assassination of Gotham's leadership and influential citizens. This was not contained to public servants, but business leaders, political activists, and the vigilantes. The Joker was also targeted in these assassinations."
"Not to sound unsympathetic, but I hardly see that as a bad thing," Hawkgirl remarked.
Diana was sure she saw the Dark Knight's face become stony through the image before he reached a hand off-screen. There was the sound of typing before the image was replaced with one of a hallway, two men dressed in dark clothes and what looked like owl masks.
"These were the two assassins sent to kill the Joker. Instead of succeeding, they inadvertently released him from his cell, where he proceeded to a janitor's closet and made a batch of Joker Venom out of household cleaning products. He hasn't been seen or heard from since."
As if to prove his words, the image changed, splitting right down the middle. On either side of the split showed the assassins with their masks removed, their faces twisted into horrific smiles.
"Okay, so you're telling me this poisonous gas that's wracked up a death toll equal to Agent Orange is made out of Mr. Clean and Pinesol?" Flash asked incredulously.
"As far as I can tell, it's just certain ingredients in those chemicals," Batman admitted. "I've run a number of simulations based off of the cleaning products used to determine their formula and came back empty-handed. The Joker is the only one who knows for certain what to include and how much of it to make his Joker Venom. It's obvious now that he can create different variations if he so chooses."
There was another moment of silence before Superman spoke up, "I seem to recall that you had developed an antidote for this, correct?"
"That's what J'onn and I are doing right now. It'll take us a few hours—"
"Hours?!" Flash roared as he shot up out of his chair, knocking the piece of furniture to the floor. "We don't have hours! Central City will be a pile of ashes at the rate it's going. You have to go faster!" He looked away from the hologram, looking almost desperate at the other Leaguers. "You made an antidote for this already, right? Why not use that one?"
"There are too many differences between the formulas to do that," Batman responded. "The original killed within minutes of exposure while this new strain induces mania and destructive tendencies. For all we know, using the original antidote could have undesired effects, so that's why we're making one for this new strain. We're going as fast as we can—"
"Not. Good. Enough," Flash growled.
Diana couldn't help but gawk at the red-clad hero. It was a testament to how all of this was affecting him that he would be so short. In all of her time knowing him, the Amazon had never seen him like this.
Unfortunately, Batman was the wrong person to take his frustration out on. In fact, he seemed to loom closer on screen as he said, "It took me over two days to synthesize an antidote the first time Joker unleashed this. That's the only reason this will take hours and not days."
That seemed to take all of the air out of the speedster as his shoulders dropped. "Oh. Sorry."
"So now we know who we're dealing with," Hawkgirl then said, moving the conversation away from Batman's reprimand. "The question now is how do we find him. Any thoughts?"
"The Joker has a history of taking over hideouts from other criminals. If he's following this pattern, we'll need to do a systematic search for crime families or gangs that suddenly have missing leaders."
"That's our starting point," Superman declared. "Batman, you and J'onn continue working on an antidote. Meanwhile, the rest of us will split into pairs, one to search Central City and the other Gotham."
That made Hawkgirl raise an eyebrow. "Uhh, I'm pretty sure Joker won't be in Central City. The place is a war zone, so there's no reason for him to stay."
"Not to mention we would be placing ourselves at risk to be poisoned," Diana added. "It would be too dangerous if any of us were exposed."
"Agreed," Batman interjected. "As for Gotham, he's not there either. Ever since his escape I've been keeping track of all crime families and gangs and not a one of them have had mysterious disappearances."
"So where does that leave us?" Superman asked.
Again there was silence. Then, "Metropolis and Gateway City. Those have the most publicized encounters with League members, so it stands to reason he may be laying low there."
"Are you saying the Joker is actively targeting us?" Hawkgirl questioned.
"It's a possibility, but until we can prove otherwise, we'll have to assume so. The Joker's not doing this for the sake of doing it; there's always a plan despite his claims to the contrary. We all need to be vigilant more than ever. As evident by Central City, he'll be targeting cities as well."
"Then we'll have to be ready for him," Superman spoke. "I still say we stick with pairs. Diana and I will investigate Metropolis while Flash and Hawkgirl will go to Gateway."
Diana couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Considering Gateway was the city she protected, it made more sense for her to go there rather than Metropolis. However, her thoughts ended when she heard Superman whisper so lowly only she could hear him. "Flash needs support right now and Hawkgirl is the closest to him save John."
That was a fair point, the Amazon had to admit. "We rendezvous in three hours," she said then, "so we can report our findings."
When she received nods to her suggestion she knew that was the end of the meeting. For now.
"You were quite short with Flash," J'onn remarked from his station. "He does have a legitimate reason for being upset."
Batman was in agreement with the Martian's words. He had been in Flash's shoes once, so he knew the frustration the young man was feeling. Yet, all of that outrage would do nothing to remedy the situation at hand. If he had to be blunt about it, then so be it.
"You and I both know impatience is not going to solve anything," the vigilante defended, not even pausing in his work. "Flash and the others need to understand the reality of this. They going up against a man they simply can't punch into submission."
"Spoken from experience?" J'onn inquired.
That caused the Dark Knight to pause. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought the Martian Manhunter was being glib with him. In reality it was more like he was prodding for more information than being sarcastic.
So he settled for the more pragmatic reason and responded, "Yes. The Joker is wily and sharp. He's not going to stick his neck out unless he has a good reason for it. If he ever did put himself out in the open, I'd be more concerned."
A whirring sound filled the room, indicating that J'onn had activated the centrifuge. The device was spinning around in a circle, its sides a blur to the human eye. "Your knowledge aside, you could have phrased yourself better when addressing Flash. There was no reason to be short."
"Why? Because he was used by a psychopath to infect an entire city? That gives him a pass to be reckless?" Batman shook his head. "We need to keep a cool head here. This is only the beginning."
"You seem positive there will be more attempts."
The vigilante turned his head and gave a deadpanned look to the Martian, who was looking right back at him. "Considering everything that's happened today, if you were responsible and had an agenda to push, wouldn't you keep going?"
J'onn considered his words silently before he acknowledged them with a sharp nod. "I believe you are right. Where do you suppose he will strike next?"
Now that was a question. Ever since he realized what was going on, Batman had been trying to make sense of it. The Joker had never shown much interest outside of Gotham, simply satisfied with trying to get to the Dark Knight. This attack on Central City was new, something he wasn't pleased about. It meant the clown was changing his little game, his ultimate goal even more unknown than before.
At least he knew now why the Joker had changed his formula. As he had reported to the rest of the League, he had wanted a poison that could be spread primarily by Flash. Because of the lower concentration of the new formula, that either meant Joker had to sacrifice the potency of the Joker Venom, or he purposefully didn't want to poison Flash. Was it because he thought the red-clad man would bring the toxin to the Justice League headquarters and infect the others? That was definitely in line with the madman's previous plans.
Yet, Batman wasn't sure if that was truly the case this time. What if the point of this attack was to get at Flash? To shake his confidence for something further down the road? Now that, that was definitely in line with Joker's thought process. If Flash was more concerned by what his running could do to the people around him, he would slow down a step, a vital step that would give the Joker an upper hand at the most inopportune moment.
Batman narrowed his eyes. They were playing chess with someone who had been making moves without their knowing. If anything, Central City was just to inform them they were playing.
Fine then, consider them informed.
Superman stared at the building below them, the irises of his eyes taking on a paler hue, indicating he was using his x-ray vision. Patiently, Diana hovered nearby, waiting for the Kryptonian's verdict.
"Not here either," the man eventually said, his eyes returning to their natural blue. That made the fourth potential hideout in Metropolis the two had check and found their target absent.
This was how they had been searching Metropolis ever since they arrived, determined not to give away their presence to their prey until the last possible moment. Superman would use his x-ray vision to scan known hideouts for criminal activity—the one below them belonging to a mob boss named Carlini. Two other places had been gang-related, the one before this stop belonging to a crooked mechanic as Clark described him.
Considering the grumblings she had heard from Superman and John over the years about mechanics, Diana wasn't sure if that search was necessary.
Unfortunately, the Amazon wasn't sure if this was the correct course for them. While Superman had the knowledge of the city's inner workings, they could check each and every criminal hideout and still not find the man they were searching for, even if he was here.
"Do you suppose Flash and Hawkgirl have found anything?" she asked, an attempt to slowly air her concerns.
"We would have heard from them if they had," the Kryptonian responded before he began to fly towards the seaside of the city. Diana followed him at the same pace.
"Do you think the Joker is even in Metropolis or Gateway? There are plenty of other cities for him to hide in if he wished to go undetected."
Superman responded with a shrug. "That's very possible, but that would mean having to search every single city in the country and we don't have those resources." His tone was distracted, not that that was a surprise. He was currently using his enhanced hearing to locate the Joker's voice among the constant chatter of the city. "It would help if we knew what the Joker was planning for, but until he sticks his head out, we won't know a thing."
And that was the most frustrating part of this entire excursion. They were waiting on the whim of an infamous madman. The only person that had a clue as to what he was thinking was currently locked in a laboratory trying to ferret out the secrets of a somewhat new toxin. It also didn't help that her knowledge of their target was quite lacking.
During the early days of the League, every member made sure to share their knowledge of the rogues they faced. Superman and Flash seemed to have the longer lists among them, John's enemies having more to do with the Green Lantern Corps than anything. Diana, Hawkgirl, and J'onn had very few save what Man's World referred to as mythical Greek monsters.
Batman hadn't been as forthcoming with his battles upon his admission. It was as if he didn't revel in the battles he had been through, not that Diana saw that as a bad thing. He did not partake in the story-telling the others did about their missions and pasts, instead seeming to keep them all at an arm's distance. The most open the Amazon had seen him was during their spars, where he was more willing to demonstrate his repertoire of martial art techniques.
Perhaps they should have been more insistent on learning of the Dark Knight's foes.
"Perhaps we should split up," she suggested as they reached the wharf. Superman didn't immediately respond as he was looking down at what appeared to be a warehouse, his eyes once more paling as he activated his x-ray vision. This time, however, she noticed the Man of Steel frown.
"Do you see something?" she prodded.
That was when Superman's frown became a more severe scowl. "Looks like there's a weapon's deal going on. I would have thought these guys would've learned after the Invasion, but apparently not."
"Then it would be best if we put a stop them."
Superman looked up at her, his x-ray vision deactivating as he did so. The corner of his mouth twitched up as he said, "I suppose we could use a break."
Simultaneously, the two heroes dropped from the sky, Superman leading the way as he flew headfirst, Diana choosing to lower herself feet first at a slower pace, her arms raised over her head. Like a battering ram, Superman rammed into the roof of the warehouse, creating a hole as he burst through it, sending chunks of debris falling to the floor below.
Soon after, Diana descended through the hole, just in time to see Superman standing a short distance away from a group of gun runners. "—crap, it's Superman!" one of them was just finished shouting.
And that was when they all pulled out futuristic-looking handguns and began firing yellow beams.
If there was one thing that annoyed Diana about the Invasion, it was the sudden rise of plasma gun technology. Metropolis and Gateway had been flooded with the weapons—though oddly enough Gotham hadn't been graced with their presence. As John once explained to her, it was the escalation effect. Criminals needed more powerful weapons to handle heroes like Superman whereas the ones in Gotham only needed armor-piercing rounds in response to the GCPD SWAT team and Batman. Everything was relative in that regard.
That still didn't stop the yellow beams from bouncing off of Superman's broad chest, the Kryptonian no worse for wear. Choosing to land behind the group of gunmen, Diana touched down facing the backs of two of the men. Reaching out, she grabbed them by a shoulder each, startling them into stopping their shooting as they jerk their heads around to look at her.
Using her strength, she cleanly lifted them right off the floor, causing both men to cry out in surprise. With a flick of her wrist and a jerk of her arms higher up, she sent both gunmen flying over her shoulders screaming as they flew through the air. Each one ended up crashing into stacks of crates, which effectively knocked them out of the fight.
Because of this, the other gunmen took notice of her, one of which even pointed his weapon at her. Instantly, Diana shot an arm up, just in time to bounce away a yellow energy beam. Over and over, the man fired his laser gun, only for the Amazon's quicker reflexes to block the blasts with her bracers.
It was then that the sound of screeching tires caught her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, a jeep slid across the floor until its back was facing in her direction, its front pointed to a large doorway. The revving of the engine was loud as the jeep sped towards the exit.
Returning her attention to the gunman in front of her, Diana suddenly took a step back and to a side, allowing her to twist her body at an angle. Because of this, she was able to get her arm into a position where she deflected the next yellow beam in a specific direction.
And as she planned, the beam made contact with the right back tire of the jeep, blowing it out and causing the vehicle to veer side to side uncontrollably. The gunman firing at her paused as he heard the commotion. All the while, Diana watched as the jeep swerved out of its path towards the exit and instead rammed at full speed into the wall next to the opening. Two men in the vehicle went flying out of their seats, one hitting the wall with his entire body while the other had the misfortune of clipping the side of the door frame, bouncing off of it like a rag doll as he sailed through the doorway.
With this proving to be a distraction for the gunman, Diana quickly reached for her lasso and pulled it away from her hip. Lashing out with it, she sent the rope streaking through the air where it made contact with her foe's extended arm, wrapping around it instantly. Pulling as hard as she could on her lasso, she caused the man to fly off the ground, hurling towards her as he screamed. With her other hand, she balled it into a fist and threw it forward, slamming it into the man's face and causing his upper body to come to a complete stop. This didn't stop his lower body from moving, however, and the gunman began flipping feet-over-head several times before he landed on the ground in a heap.
Turning her sights back to the other men, she found that Superman had dealt with them already, each man sprawled out on the ground in various states of consciousness. "Looks like we finished up pretty quickly," he remarked, a smile on his face.
"It appears so." Looking around, Diana could see no other threats and slowly began to relax. "Now that we're done blowing off some steam, where to now?"
"Well, since we're here, there's a few more warehouses that we should probably check out. I'll go do that if you make sure our friends here don't get the idea to leave without a police escort."
The Amazon nodded. "I suppose I can arrange for that."
Without another word, Superman began to raise up into the air before he stopped, a thought occurring to him. "Our three hours is almost up. Once you're finished here, head back to Happy Harbor. I'll meet you and the others there after I do a sweep."
Diana raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you sure? Weren't we supposed to stay in teams?"
"It'll only be a few minutes. Unless I find the Joker, there's no reason for us to find each other."
That sounded like good reasoning and the dark-haired woman couldn't see any fault with it. "Very well. See you at headquarters."
The Joker Venom dust was inspired by an event during the Death of the Family story line. There's a part where Kid Flash is investigating a former Joker hideout and inadvertently Jokerizes a building full of the homeless. I always did like the idea of the Joker using a hero's power against them, even anticipating how they'll act and react. Granted it was against teenagers, it still highlighted how thorough the Joker was when going on the offensive with meta-humans. So my thinking goes, if he could do that to the Teen Titans, he could certainly do it for the Justice League; he just needed to make adjustments to his plan is all.
