The interrogation room was bare save for a small metal table and a few chairs. David Townsend sat in one of those chairs, fidgeting nervously. Occasionally he would glance to the double-sided glass window, a vain attempt to figure out who was watching him and why.

On the other side of that glass stood Batman, watching the rich man sweat metaphorical bullets. They were both residing within the Metropolis PD since this was where Hawkgirl had brought Townsend. Coincidentally, jail cells had been renovated and designed to hold super-powered criminals, which was also a big reason the alien Frenzay was also locked up here. Warrants had been put out for Dorsey and Schroeder, but as of yet, both men were still on the loose.

Tearing his eyes away from Townsend, Batman glanced to the security camera in the corner of the room. As per protocol, everything was being recorded. They were of little concern to the dark-clad man, so he returned his sights to the millionaire. The vigilante was the only person in the room, having entered the room stealthily. The last thing he wanted right now was one of the Leaguers knowing he was in the building.

Pulling out his palm pilot, Batman activated the device and began hacking into the MPD mainframe. From there, he accessed the security feeds, recording a solid minute of Townsend sitting and twitching in his chair. Once he had his video, he programed it to run on a loop and switched the security feed over. Now, if anyone were to look at the cameras from any part of the building, they would only see Townsend.

Pocketing the palm pilot, Batman moved over to a nearby door and opened it. In response, Townsend looked over to the doorway and paled instantly when he saw the vigilante emerging through the threshold. "Oh sweet Jesus," he swore, body stiffening and unconsciously leaning away.

Closing the door behind him, Batman strolled up to his target, stopping next to him and leaning over him. "I have questions, Townsend," he growled, "and it would be in your best interest to answer every one I have."

"N-no way, no way, man," Townsend stuttered. "I won't speak without my lawyer."

Batman's scowl deepened, his face drawing closer to further increase the man's discomfort. It worked. "Your lawyer won't protect you from me."

"Th-those heroes will."

"The Justice League isn't here. They left an hour ago after your friend was locked up." Townsend's already pale face whitened so much he looked like a sheet now. "It's just you and me now." One of his hands rested on the table, drawing the rich man's attention to how close it was to his own hands. No doubt he was thinking of all the horrible things that could be done to him, what with the vigilante's threats at the warehouse still fresh in his mind, not to mention the dark-clad man's reputation. "Here's your chance to talk. Tell me what I want to know and you'll walk out of here in one piece."

"And if I don't?"

"When you leave this room, it won't be under your own power."

Seeing the terror on Townsend's face reach its peak, Batman decided to press on with his interrogation. "I want to know everything you know about Frenzay."

That was when Townsend went off script. Instead of blubbering out everything he knew, he looked confused. "Frenzay? Who the Hell is that?"

No, no way was this guy playing innocent. Hand shooting up, Batman slammed it down on the table, causing it to shake from the force, the rich man flinching away. "Frenzay, the man that pays you. You were talking with him at the warehouse."

"I swear to God, I don't know anyone with that name!" Townsend pleaded, cringing as far away as he could from the vigilante. "I don't know this Frenzy guy, or a warehouse, or him paying me. I swear!"

There was no limit to the number of people that had claimed this to the Dark Knight. Every time he had heard it, he knew the person was lying to him. It helped that he usually had prior knowledge to his suspect's contacts. Unfortunately he didn't have that familiarity with the residence of Metropolis.

However, he could read body language expertly, and something was telling him that Townsend might not be lying. It went against the entire scene of him scheming with Frenzay at the warehouse, but there was signs that indicated otherwise. Townsend stared right at him, never glancing away. His fear was very real, but that was the only reason his body was trembling, not that he was attempting to hide something incriminating. There was a distinct lack of sweat as well.

All this told the Dark Knight was that Townsend believed himself to be telling the truth, not what the reality of it was. So he decided to go at a different angle. "Dorsey introduced the two of you, you've already admitted as much."

"Dorsey?" Townsend questioned. "Freddy Dorsey? Why the heck would I associate with anyone he knows? We're competitors!"

"Yet you run around in the same social circles."

"What, just because Dorsey is at the same party as I am, doesn't mean I can't go," the man protested. "Hazards of keeping the same contacts."

A growing suspicion rose into Batman's head. A theory was forming, but he needed to confirm something first. "Then can you explain to me why you have advanced military weaponry in your warehouses?"

"I have what in my what?" Townsend shrieked. "I don't store weapons! Never, ever! My father would skin me alive if he were still alive!"

Batman straightened his posture out as he stood at his full height. "We'll see about that," he said before he spun around and left the interrogation room. He didn't even glance backward as the door behind him closed; he did see Townsend leaning over the metal table, arms propping his head up. Pausing long enough to deactivate his security program and restoring the feeds to their correct functions, he left the stunned millionaire to his thoughts.

Making his destination the MPD special holding area, Batman considered his suspicions. If he recalled right, during tonight's bust, Superman had been tricked by Frenzay into attacking Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter, or so they claimed. If Frenzay had such telepathic abilities, then it was entirely possible he had been using those same powers to make Townsend and the others more malleable to suggestion, if not flat out controlled their every action until they were of no more use, much like Townsend now. In fact, when Dorsey and Schroeder arrived, it wouldn't surprise him if they acted the same way as their comrade.

They were only pawns in this so it was a waste of time to consider them further. It seemed Frenzay was now the only lead left to investigate. If he wasn't mistaken, his sedative should be wearing off soon. He needed to get there before that happened.

The room was as sterile as it came, or at least that was the intended appearance. Fluorescent lights made the white walls eye-piercingly bright. In the middle of the room was a steel chair, bolted to the floor. Strapped down was Frenzay, his head bowed forward, eyes closed.

This was the Special Crimes Unit lock down unit, built to contain the strongest of criminals. Superman himself had been restrained here to make sure they worked. While he could break out of it after several seconds, he was fairly certain none of the people he had fought over the years could do the same save for the more intergalactic ones. Considering a guy dressed up as a bat had managed to take this alien down, Superman was sure the restraints would keep him contained. There was the matter of his psychic powers, but J'onn had remedied that. When asked, the Martian had merely given a small smile and said nothing.

Staring through the double-pane glass, Superman watched with a critical eye, arms crossed over his broad chest. It was because of this man that the Kryptonian had fought his friends. Neither one was blaming him and even forgave him, but that didn't make him feel any less guilty.

At his side was Diana, who looked great despite the dirt and grime at various places on her face and arms. There was even a bruise or two, but she held herself regally in spite of it. She too had her arms crossed in front of her, blue eyes focused on their suspect.

And next to her was J'onn, perhaps the most tranquil of the three. His arms dangled at his sides, not that you could see them beneath his cape. Whereas the dark-haired heroes wore hard expressions on their faces, the Martian was stoic as usual. It was as if he were unfazed by everything around him.

"So, you brought me another of your wackos," an accented voice spoke. Superman tilted his head to a side to spot a man in a blue suit, hair overly gelled to his head, yet all attention went to his bushy eyebrows. Lieutenant Dan Turpin was crass and blunt, but he was a very good police officer. His insults were just how he dealt with things.

"So tell me what this guy's deal is," the officer said as he came to a stop next to the Man of Steel. "Looks like a fish crawled out a grape jelly factory."

"He's been storing advance military guns throughout Metropolis," Superman answered him. "As far as we can tell, he has super strength and some mind control abilities, so be careful with him."

Dan looked to Superman before his eyes darted over to Diana and J'onn. "They contributing anything to this, or is this one of your solo things?"

"This is a Justice League matter," the dark-haired man answered. "J'onn's already take steps to containing his mind control powers, so that should help things. We need to talk with him to find out what he's up to and who he's working for."

"Then he's all mine," Dan summed up, hands grabbing onto his belt and pulling his pants up over his beer belly. "Take all the time you need and tell Maggie when you're through. I got a couple of smart ass junkies in booking to smack around." Turning on his heels, he strolled out of the room, leaving the Leaguers to themselves.

"I see Lieutenant Turpin is still in good spirits," J'onn remarked after a moment.

Superman nodded as he returned his attention to Frenzay. "It's time we get this guy speaking. Did Batman tell either of you how long that sedative should last?"

"Right about now," a gruff voice answered. Superman jumped where he stood, followed instantly by his head snapping to a side. On the opposite side of J'onn stood the vigilante, looking at the window as if he had been there the entire time. A glance to the glass showed the reflection of the other two heroes, both of whom had similar surprised looks as they looked tot he dark-clad man.

"How long have you been there?" the Kryptonian exclaimed.

"Long enough," Batman answered cryptically. "How strong are those power suppressors you installed?"

Though he didn't look at either of them, it was clear he was asking J'onn his question. Settling down, J'onn replied, "Frenzay should be unable to enter your mind once they're activated; as a back-up, I intend to use my own telepathic powers to keep him at bay."

"So there is a possibility he could still overcome the suppressors."

"A small one, but one all the same. From my own probings, I detected that his powers are not as developed as my own."

"Then if we're going to continue being cautious, I should be the only one to go in there."

"No, you will not," Diana immediately denied, her expression hardening as well. "You're interrogation tactics will not be used here."

"And they won't be," Batman reassured her. "But if Frenzay were to get control of you in there, there's no telling how much damage he could make you do. The same with Superman. It would be safer if I went in; that way if he gets control of me, I won't level the entire building."

It was sound reasoning, Superman had to admit, but he was on Diana's side on this. He had heard stories of Batman's methods, mostly from crooks that had fled to Metropolis from Gotham, never mind the video feeds he had seen in the fabled Batcave. Most of the MPD had pulled their hair out of their heads in collective frustration from smug thieves used to being beaten or dropped off of buildings for information. Such drastic methods made the usual "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine worthless. "I agree with Wonder Woman. We can't let you in there alone."

Batman turned his gaze from the glass and stared at the Man of Steel. The look was blank, but he could feel those white eyes boring into him. His skin began to crawl from his unease.

"Fine, then the Martian can go with me," the vigilante acquiescent. "Unlike you two, he can at least protect himself from a mental intrusion."

Again, he was right, but his delivery left something to be desired. Diana bristled at his side before responding, "Neither one of you can use the Lasso of Truth. If we are to get to the bottom of this quickly, I will have to be one the goes in there."

"We won't be needing it," Batman said, turning his head back to the window. "One of the side effects of the sedative I gave him should make him very...talkative...when he wakes up."

"Along with a splitting headache?" Superman prodded.

For once, the Man of Steel felt he had surprised the dark-clad man as his head seemed to perk up at those words. "You know of the sedative," he stated, no question apparent in his words.

"Flash found it coated on one of your batarangs," the Kryptonian informed him. "He was out for half an hour and woke up asking for aspirin." He frowned then. "Why is Frenzay still out if it only lasted a short time with Flash?"

"The Flash has an abnormally high metabolism, so he burnt through the sedative very quickly. On a normal person, such as Frenzay, it'll last a few hours."

"I didn't notice Flash being more truthful either," Diana pointed out as well.

"That's because Flash can't stop talking for more than ten seconds," Batman replied bluntly. "You wouldn't have noticed a difference to be honest."

Before they could continue, J'onn spoke up, "I agree with Batman, the two of us will be more than enough to interrogate Frenzay. Any risk at all that he takes over one of your minds is too high."

"What about the power dampeners?" Diana questioned "I thought you said those were working."

For once, the Martian appeared bashful. "I apologize for any deception I may have conveyed. While I have installed them, they need time to charge, so currently they are inactive. That is why I am personally suppressing Frenzay's powers at this time."

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence from the dark-haired heroes before Superman responded, "Oh."

"Whenever you're ready," Batman said then, striding to a nearby door. Clearly he was working on his own time rather than theirs, though J'onn wasn't put off by this, merely following calmly behind the dark-clad man. Staring through the window, Superman and Diana watched as the two men stood between the glass and Frenzay's restrained form. "Wake up," the vigilante demanded roughly.

A scowl appeared on Superman's face. Already he was regretting allowing Batman in the room. Barking orders at an unconscious suspect had to be against an interrogator's rule or something.

Yet, it seemed to work as Frenzay raised his head up, squinting his eyes as he looked at the vigilante. "It's you," he stated before glancing to J'onn.

"I'm only going to ask this once," Batman continued. "Where did you get the weapons?"

Frenzay returned his attention to the dark-clad man. If Superman wasn't mistaken, there seemed to be a sway in his movement—a possible indication of being drugged? Still, the man answered, "Kalanor."

That wasn't the name of any country or city that Superman knew of, so it had to be a planet. So far so good. "Why are you storing them of Earth?" Batman demanded.

Frenzay shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Why else, Human? Preparation."

The Kryptonian leaned closer to the glass. Preparation for what? he asked in his head, sure that J'onn probably heard the thought. The Martian, however, either ignored the question, or felt it wasn't time to ask it as he took his turn to question the suspect. "You needed Frederick Dorsey, David Townsend, and others for this preparation of yours?"

The purple alien turned his head to look at the green-skinned man, the visible sway still present in his movement. "Needed, no. They were just convenient, really."

"How many weapons do you have here?" Batman suddenly questioned, his tone full of suspicion. If Superman wasn't mistaken, the vigilante sounded as if he already knew the answer.

A smirk appeared on Frenzay's face. "More than enough to render your militaries obsolete. When we come, there is no force on this measly planet that will stop us, stop him. You will know despair at his coming and feel only regret as he crushes your skulls in his hand."

The alien's body suddenly thrashed against his restraints, a bid to free himself though the straps held strong. "Do what you want with me, Human, but I have already succeeded in my mission. Your fate has been sealed!" For once, his voice lost the cool tone, becoming loud and unrestrained.

Lightning quick, Batman's hand shot out and wrapped around the man's neck. The back of Frenzay's head bashed against the headrest of the metal chair he sat in. Immediately, Superman and Diana made to head for the door when J'onn suddenly threw one of his arms up, not to stop Batman, but to gesture for the two of them to stop. That was the only thing that made them halt where they stood.

Leaning closer, Batman stared into Frenzay's eyes, letting his stony face do all the work of intimidating the alien. "What's the name of your boss?" he asked gruffly.

The smirk never left Frenzay's face, his voice returning to its neutral tone as he coolly responded to Batman's scowl with, "He is called Despero, Conqueror of a Hundred Worlds, wielder of the Flame of Py'tar. Enjoy the time you have left for they will be your last."

Suddenly, Frenzay's body stiffened before jolting flat against the back of the chair. His eyes rolled into the back of his head until only the whites of his eyes were visible. Then, out of nowhere, purple flames erupted out of his body, causing Batman to snatch his hand back at the last moment, losing his footing as he stumbled to the floor. A deafening scream rang out from Frenzay as he became a pillar of flames, his body fading into a silhouette before completely vanishing from sight.

Superman and Diana were in the room at once, the Kryptonain putting himself between the burning Frenzay and J'onn, who was cringing away from the flames. Diana was at Batman's side, kneeling next to him as she held his hand with her own, which was covered with scorch marks.

And still Frenzay burned.

There was a slight breeze atop the MPD. It had been an hour since Frenzay had burst into into flames, leaving only scorch marks in his wake. There hadn't even been ashes left of him.

Turpin was having a cow downstairs. He never liked suspects escaping his custody, even if it was by spontaneous combustion. After a debrief, the members of the Justice League had gathered on the precinct's roof. They were scattered about, all six of them staring at Batman, who returned their collected gaze with one of his own. His cape covered his body currently despite it flapping with the breeze. It just made him a vision of a wraith.

So naturally it was Flash that blurred from his spot to stand next to him. "Not bad for your first League mission, eh Bats? Busted up an arms deal, took down an alien who decided being charbroiled was in-season—what more could you ask for?"

Batman turned his head, giving him a bland look that probably said, "Are you kidding me?" At least that's what Superman hoped it said. He could easily change that to, "You're an idiot, aren't you?" or "Don't make me hurt you."

Fortunately, Hawkgirl was there to reel the red-clad man in. "Flash, get over here before you hurt yourself."

Flash gave the winged woman a confused look before he shrugged his shoulders, zipping back to where he previously had been standing. Deciding that this was a second chance for them and the dark-clad man to leave on more amicable terms, Superman stepped forward, closing the distance between them until he stood in front of Gotham's vigilante. "We appreciate all you did on this case. Thank you." He then extended a hand, offering a handshake.

Batman glanced at the offered hand before looking to the Kryptonian's face, leaving him hanging. "I'm assuming this is the end of our collaboration, correct?"

Superman dropped his hand to his side. "Yes, it is."

"Good."

The vigilante spun on his heels, turning his back on the League as he began walking towards the roof's edge. The dismissive exit sat wrong with the Man of Steel as he frowned at the leaving man's back. Because of that, he couldn't help but call out, "From what Frenzay said, there's some sort of invasion coming. All of us are going to have to deal with it, including you."

That made Batman stop, turning his head to look at the Kryptonian from the corner of his eye. "That's your jurisdiction, don't you think?"

"We could use your help."

"Sorry, I don't do alien invasions."

"Smart choice," Flash quietly joked. It was a murmur, but thanks to super-hearing, Superman heard every word.

"If that's what you want, we'll respect it," the Man of Steel said to the Bat. "If you like, we can offer you a ride to your hotel."

"There's no need. I checked out before I checked out Townsend's warehouse."

That caused Superman to frown to return. "Then you're leaving town?"

"That's right."

"How?"

As if in answer, the hum of an engine filled the air. A sleek, black plane then emerged over the side of the MPD. A strong wind raged at the heroes, causing capes to fluttered about, hair to whip wildly, and a few of the Leaguers to raise their arms up to protect their faces. Even Superman had to raise a hand up to shield his face, eyes squinting at the plane.

Batman, from what he could see, just faced the plane, his cape billowing behind him. He then approached it, reaching the ledge and leaping up onto the wing. The glass canopy of the plane slid open as he walked along the wing, jumping into the cockpit without so much as a glance at the League.

As the canopy slid shut, the plane rose up higher and higher into the air, Superman following with his eyes. Getting a good luck at its bottom, he couldn't help but notice how much it looked like a bat from this angle.

Then, flames erupted out of the back and a deafening roar blasted out, the plane streaking through the sky as it headed out towards the horizon. The League was left watching as the vehicle grew smaller and smaller in the early morning sky.

"So, did anyone know Bats got himself a Bat-plane?" Flash asked after awhile.

"More like a Bat-jet," John replied, still looking out to the horizon. "But he was right, this sort of thing is over his head. It'd probably be best if he sat it out."

"It's a shame we couldn't get more information out of Frenzay," Diana lamented. "We don't know when this invasionary force will arrive, only that it's coming."

"Indeed," J'onn agreed. "If his words were any indication, there should be more of his comrades on Earth, doing the same as he was. Perhaps we can locate these individuals and question them as well."

"It's worth a shot, but we need to hurry," John said, finally turning to look at the rest of the team.

"Safe to say we've driven them out of Metropolis at least," Flash added, which earned him pointed looks from the rest of the League. "Hey, all I'm saying is who would be dumb enough to keep trying to store weapons here after what just happened? If anything, they'd be trying to get the weapons out of town."

"That's a good point, Flash," Superman admitted.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second," Hawkgirl suddenly spoke. "Did that Frenzay guy even mention why they're storing guns here?"

Superman, Diana, and J'onn looked to each other, questioning looks on their faces before the answer dawned on them. "He said something about preparation," the Kryptonian replied.

"Preparation for the invasion?" the Thanagarian pressed. "If theses guys are as advanced as we're thinking, then why even bother storing weapons on the planet? They could just as easily wipe Earth out with their own weaponry."

When she was met with silence, she continued, "The only thing I can come up with is this invasion force may not be as strong as advertised. So they bring these plasma rifles, put them all over the world. Why? So that they can infiltrate ground forces and hit us with a double-prong attack."

"Isn't that a bit contradictory?" Flash pointed out. "I mean, if they don't have enough people, why send a bunch of them here in the first place? If I were them, I'd just use my mind control powers and make a bunch of people into my own personal army."

Unfortunately, that made too much sense to Superman. "I think we're looking at this the wrong way. We don't know nearly enough about what's going on."

"Which puts us back at finding these other stashes," John said. "It would be best if we started now instead of later."

"Agreed. We split up into pairs and branch out." Superman looked at the rest of the team before he began making the pairs in his head. "I'll go with J'onn. If one of these aliens were to get control of me again, I know he'll be able to stop me.

"John, you and Diana should check out your respective cities. Hawkgirl, you and Flash do the same."

"Bad idea," Hawkgirl disagreed. "Detroit and Gateway City I can see, but not Midway or Central City."

"Huh? What's wrong with them?" Flash asked.

"For one, neither of them are big commercial cities. Metropolis and Gateway are two of the largest port cities on the Eastern seaboard, so they'll have plenty of warehouses and storage buildings for what Frenzay and his people are doing."

"So where does that leave us?" the red-clad man inquired.

"Where do you think? To check another port city like Metropolis."

"Oh. Which one is that?"

It was at that point Superman began to realize where Hawkgirl was getting at and he had a feeling someone was going to be very unhappy about it. It was a shame since they had ended things on a better note too.