Bruce was halfway done with the meeting when the League communicator in his pocket started buzzing urgently. Gritting his teeth in sudden panic, he considered the best way to slip out without irritating his board members more than necessary - it would be the third time in the last two months, after all. Fortunately, Lucius Fox caught his eye, and understood that something had come up. More easily able to come and go than Bruce, the department head excused himself, stepping out of the meeting room for a moment before returning.
Approximately two minutes later, the fire alarm went off. Hastily, everyone gathered up their papers and briefcases, hurrying out the door and in the direction of the stairs. Lucius smiled back at Bruce from the crowd, while the company owner made his own escape.
Easily making it back to his office without being seen, Bruce pulled out his communicator to hear about whatever disaster was occurring now. Hopefully, it wouldn't be Tim's fault. He caught the computerized alert of an Omega level alarm, but when directly calling the Watchtower... There was no answer. Frowning, Bruce tried contacting the under-construction Metrotower in Metropolis instead, only to have the same problem.
He was about to contact Robin directly when there came a distinctive rumbling from the street outside his building. Stomach sinking, Bruce moved to look out the picture window. As a herd of monstrous warthogs charged down the avenue, he was perfectly aware that were Tim by his side, the boy would have made some inane comment about "Haven't we done giant mutant animals already?"
With a sigh, Bruce reached for the hidden desk drawer that held one of his Batsuits.
-JKI-
"How are the first of Milo's mutants doing?"
"We have confirmed deployment in Gotham, Metropolis, New York and Boston. The next waves will be released in seven further cities on the west coast and in the heartland."
"Excellent. And they will begin the meltdown procedure in two hours, correct?"
"Yes sir. Milo's notes were very clear. Even should local law enforcement or costumed heroes outside of the League not be able to stop them, the mutants' cellular structure will start to collapse after their time limit is up, and they'll break down into non-living animal components and synthesized chemicals."
"It's a pity the man wasn't able to pull together a more impressive presentation before Waller sacked him. Though, his leftovers will serve the remnants of Cadmus well at any rate. Are the shuttles in orbit yet?"
"Almost, sir. They should be entering the upper atmosphere at this very moment, and then it will be approximately twenty six minutes until they reach the Watchtower. Once they enter with the codes Luthor stole from the League, it should only take an hour at most for the loading process, and another for them to return planetside to our cryogenic storage facility."
"Perfect. All according to plan."
-JKI-
"Batman to all League Affiliates - the Watchtower isn't responding to any hails, and we have a growing problem." The Dark Knight growled as he narrowly avoiding being run down by one of the squealing mutant animals. "I'm getting reports of attacking monsters in cities across the country, and need any available hands to go on the offensive." He pulled out an explosive batarang to launch at the warthog, only to pause as another came from above, launching out a net and capturing the massive animal.
Nightwing and Batgirl dropped down on either side of him, ready to continue the fight even as Batman himself barked out instructions to the heroes who'd responded to his call. In Metropolis, Mister Miracle and his wife Barda battled to bring down a raging herd of gazelle and tiger hybrids, while in Boston, Aquaman emerged from the sea to drown a small army of massive tarantulas. Captain Marvel took on the spiny alligators emerging from New York's sewers, his sister Mary Marvel staying in Fawcett City to handle the armored bears. In Keystone and Central, a group of heroes called the Freedom Fighters fought against a herd of acid-spewing elephants, while several super-powered teens led by Static Shock in Dakota City worked together as they fought several dozen lions who'd been fused with octopi of all things. Star City found itself protected from a swarm of giant wasps by Speedy, who was joined from the shadows by a woman in a green kimono and a grinning cat mask. Hawkman flew over the streets of Midway City, taking down the armadillos that left behind a trail of acidic slime, while Coast City was protected by a young man in a blue and black uniform, who called up the oceans' waves to snatch and drag away the large, writhing centipedes.
Some fared better in their battles than others, though everyone was holding their own enough that Batman was willing to ignore all the attackers in favor of investigating what had happened to the League. His gut was telling him this was a larger plot, possibly someone striking while they thought they could get away with their scheme as the heroes still recovered from the battles the month before with Cadmus and Luthor/Brainiac.
Leaving the last of Gotham's pig problem to his partners, Batman retrieved his jet and set off for the Metrotower.
What he found there shocked even the usually unflappable crimefighter.
-JKI-
High over Earth, the Watchtower continued to move steadily through its orbit. The sirens were still blaring over the Omega alert, added to by the proximity alarms as three cobbled-together shape shuttles approached. But there was no movement, no response to these things.
J'onn J'onzz stood over the central communications array, arms outstretched over the controls, perfectly frozen in place. His mind reeled at the sheer oddness of it, especially as his telepathic powers were rendered nearly useless. Down below, several heroes were halted in the motion of running towards the teleporter pad, civilian workers also frozen in various positions around them. Dimly, J'onn could sense everyone throughout the Watchtower similarly stranded - workers throughout various levels at their stations, heroes who'd been moving either to the teleporters of Javelin bays, and somewhere in the vents, one very startled and worried boy frozen where he couldn't see what had happened to anyone else.
The Martian could feel, very faintly, the panic Robin was trying to suppress. He attempted extending a telepathic link to the boy in order to explain or at the very least calm him down. As it was, the slightest expansion of his mind was beyond him. J'onn could only hope that the shuttles approaching them were coming to help fix the situation.
Somehow, though, he knew such a thing was likely too good to be true.
-JKI-
The Marvels were the first to join Batman at the Metrotower, where Superman, Hawkgirl, Obsidian, Rocket Red, and Doctor Light were frozen in place on the teleporter pad. It had been one of the first things installed in the new base, and the five heroes looked like they'd been beamed down ready for action before becoming stuck.
Batman was growling to himself as he fiddled with the mechanics inside the pad, where he removed one of the external panels. Mary started checking for reactions from any of the frozen heroes by waving her hands in front of their faces, while her brother cautiously approached the Gotham crimefighter.
"Um, sir? What's wrong with them?" Captain Marvel asked, sounding for all the world like the ten year old he really was behind the transformative magic.
"Someone sabotaged the teleporters, so that when used, they would emit a wave of zeta beam radiation that would freeze all nearby beings in place." Batman growled. "They must have set all those mutants on the civilian population so as to trigger the Watchtower's alerts."
"And when the League tried to respond, they all got stuck like this." Mary Marvel frowned. "Why?"
"I'm going to find out." Despite wielding the power of the gods, both the Marvel's stepped back at the venom in Batman's voice. They exchanged nervous glances, before Mary prompted her brother to ask something they'd discussed on the flight over.
"So, uh, are Robin and the others holding down the fort in Gotham?"
The Dark Knight's hands tightened reflexively. "...Batgirl and Nightwing are. Robin was aboard the Watchtower this morning." Eyes widening, Captain Marvel gaped for a moment, his sister wearing the same shocked and fearful expression. "Can either of you survive the vacuum of space long enough to head up there and make sure everything's alright?" He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something in Batman's tone had Captain Marvel know that the hero was very worried about his youngest partner.
"I've never tried it before, but we've got the same powers..." Mary was looking questioningly at her brother.
"Yeah. Yeah, we could make it to the Watchtower. I don't have a clearance to enter anymore, though-"
"Here." Batman pulled out his League membership card, thrusting it at the two of them without looking away from his work on the teleporter. "As far as I can tell, those affected by the zeta wave may not be able to move, but they still have all their senses and mental faculties."
"Got it." The siblings nodded to each other, then took off through the openings in the walls of the new building, heading upwards. Batman waited until he was sure they were gone before pausing in his work to lean an aching head against the cool metal structure before him.
Please be alright, Tim...