Back on the Satellite, Batman was still waiting for the database to identify the power surge. Marvel was there as well, keeping an eye out for any more suspicious activity in Chicago on the news stations and police bands. Dealer was also nearby, watching. He had said nothing since Batman had come back, and he wasn't sure if that was good, or bad; good that he finally shut his mouth, bad because that meant he still had no answers.
Finally, the computer came back with a positive match. "Marvel, you better take a look at this."
The other man frowned, coming to the console and leaning over the back of the chair. "What did you find?"
"The energy signature that we registered a couple hours ago was finally identified," he said. "It's Apokoliptian."
Marvel looked at him for a moment, then back at the screen. "Are you certain?"
Batman nodded. "I'm running a search of the database for anything that the former League had on Apokolips. I can't say I'm too familiar with it; there was no need to pass down that information, not when we thought the threat was neutralized."
"Neutralized how?" Marvel asked.
Batman shrugged. "I just know it was thought to be neutralized. Ah, here we go," he interjected, as the results came up on his screen. He looked over the information quickly, feeling a sour knot in his gut as he did. "Now, if Apokolips is so evil, and has such power, why would they go to Chicago and kill a single homeless man in an alley?"
Marvel shook his head. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see what this killer's next action is. That should explain his real motives," he said. "However, if this energy signature is Apokoliptian, then we should be able to scan for more of the same energy, right?"
Batman nodded. "Theoretically. Unfortunately, we don't know what creates this energy. And according to this, there's an Apokoliptian already on earth. A Scott Free in Kentucky, also known as Mr. Miracle. He owns an amusement park there."
"So, we have a comparable bio signature to work with."
"The problem is our computers aren't designed to pinpoint something that specific," Batman explained. "If it were maybe a dozen of them moving together it would be different. As it is, we can't even find Free if we wanted to, and we know where to look. Chicago is a big city, and the radiations from not only the nuclear power plants nearby, but the office building electronics and the wireless systems would make it all but impossible."
"I'd only believe that if you said it," Marvel muttered. "Then we go back to doing it the old fashioned way. Batman, I need you to keep at the computer. See if you can find out why Darkseid would be interested in Chicago, of all places. See if there's anything hiding there that's worth stealing or destroying."
"Off the top of my head, I can think of one thing," he said. "The nuclear power plants I mentioned earlier."
Marvel nodded. "I'll have the Flash patrol them. I'll be down in the city proper."
Batman was about to argue, but then shrugged. "Flash? All right. He's already spawned, anyway." He felt the glare from Marvel and smiled somewhat. He went back to the computer, until Marvel stepped up onto the teleporter pad and disappeared. As soon as he did, batman reached to his belt, removing a rather bulky square object. Quickly, he linked in to the Bat computer and began to run his own search on both Apokolips and Darkseid. What he found was even more disturbing.
The records on the Satellite had been generalized, even spotty, but his father's records were impeccable. They mentioned a quest for the Anti-Life equation, rumored to be on earth, and that twenty years ago, Darkseid had come to earth in an attempt to steal his father's history. Other than that, they merely filled in the holes left in the League's computers. Sighing to himself, he went back to working with the League's computers, hoping to find a lead before anyone else was killed.
