"The Justice League is in absolute chaos," Luthor smiled as he paced the length of the room. Only two other bodies joined him in the room. One was Ra's Al Gul, head of the league of assassins. The other was Deathstroke, Luthor's go-to personal assassin. "By now they'll have re-located their planetary base of operations to Mount Justice."

"And the Avengers?" Ra's Al Gul enquired, "they'll be quick to mount a counter-offensive. And I'm not talking about that bit of Skullduggery Osborne pulled with his hit squad. I say we should-"

"Ra's," Luthor smiled as he paced the length of the room. "We won. Let's enjoy that fact for now. All that remains for us to do is watch the heroes kill each other." he really enjoyed being the smartest man in the room sometimes. It re-assured him that he was their superior. That he was everyone's superior.

"Well I wouldn't say that's all there is to do," a female voice snickered as it's owner causally ripped the door off it's hinges. She strode in as if she owned the place, which she didn't. And all three of them knew who she was. She was the completely perfect clone of Supergirl, save for her personality. That had been changed so that she was more direct and arrogant. Not to mention aggressive, as she casually swatted away one of Ra's Al Gul's hidden bodyguards.

"What the hell are you-" Deathstroke began as he drew a sidearm.

"Put that toy away honey," she cooed as she traced a finger across the mercenary's chest. "And I'll make it worth your while," she smirked as she drew herself away from Deathstroke. Luthor frowned, he had intended to only use the Supergirl copy to attack the Avengers. But now, he found himself unable to get rid of her. Not only was she completely invulnerable to everything, save Kryptonite. But she was also to smart and wily. She had linked a self-installed heart monitor to a program that would divulge the recordings Luthor had made during the super-villain cabal to both the Justice League and the Avengers. Add that to the fact that she could kill us all without a second thought, he grimaced as he recalled his encounter with an alternate-dimension Superman, who had killed his own Lex Luthor. She's too dangerous, to smart, and yet to valuable all at once.

"What do you want?" Luthor barked.

"Well," she cooed as she floated into the air, as a simple demonstration of her power. "I think I could use a proper outfit. Maybe somewhere to call my own...I see you've got a nice penthouse that's available," she finished with a coy smile.

"Out of the question," Luthor barked, "I-"

"Oh," she smiled as she hovered directly in front of him. She was wearing a short skirt and a low-cut midriff bearing white t-shirt. Both of which did an exceptional job of showing off her Kryptonian physique. He guessed that there was a specific reason for her attire, it would serve to persuade men to listen to her. "You mean you don't want company? The two of us...all alone in that big, luxurious mansion...all alone. I'd be completely helpless and-"

"Enough!" Luthor growled bitterly. "Phase two is nearly complete. All that remains for us to do is watch the heroes kill each other off. Then we-"

"Can move in on the territory of our alternate-universe companions," the Supergirl clone smirked as she leaned back in midair. "Force them out of business. Kill them off. Make them work for you," she continued with an exhausted sigh. "But Lex, there's one little teeny tiny detail that needs to be made clear," she said as she flipped over in mid-air, so she now looked as if she was lying on her stomach.

"And what might that be?" Luthor snapped as both Deathstroke and Ra's Al Gul gave him hard glances.

"The Spider, Lex," he smirked as she put her finger on his chin. "He's mine, understand? None of your goons can touch him. And if they do... well you saw what I did to the Avengers, right?"

"I still strongly disagree with you being discharged," Aunt May said as the two of them walked into the house. He followed her closely, reserving a smile as he did so. It was in her nature to worry about him, and there was nothing he could do to change that. "You where assaulted," she said as she turned to face him. "By a...Oh, hello!" She finished, clearly talking to someone else, who Peter turned to see. His heart both leaped and sank at the sight of Kara standing in the driveway.

"I'll uh..." he muttered to his Aunt. "I'll just be a few minutes, okay?"

"Alright," she replied in a reserved tone, as he cautiously made his way to Kara.

"You've got ten seconds to explain what the hell that was," Peter snapped as he gave her a hard glare. He did his best to maintain an aggressive demeanour, but found himself somewhat drawn towards her crystal blue eyes. And he could not help but get flashbacks of being attacked, though he knew that he didn't have all the facts. He knew that if she wanted him dead, he'd be dead already.

"Black Kryptonite," she replied quickly. "It splits a kryptonian in half...one side gets all the nice qualities...the other doesn't."

"And you have proof of this?" Peter replied. He wanted to trust her, but he found himself unable to do so after all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Added to the fact that he had only known her for a few weeks, she had a lot to prove.

"I was halfway across the country!" she said in a pleading tone. "I saw it happening on television and rushed over, to make sure you where safe," she continued with a slight sigh. "My cousin and the rest of the League are ready to mount a full-scale response for what happened to the Hall of Justice. Th-"

"What happened?" Peter asked, somewhat perplexed. He had been in the meeting that immediately followed the attack on the Mansion. There had been no mention of any retaliation effort. Though it's not a stretch to think that this would be 'above my head,' he thought with a sigh.

"Three Avengers went and demolished the place," Kara replied somewhat stiffly. "Luckily no one was inside. But a couple where still outside, and they barely escaped."

"Then why are you still talking with me?" Peter replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I-" she began to say, before pausing, and turning her head slightly as she did so. He watched as she pricked her ears slightly, as if she was tuning into a sound. "I have to go," she sighed with defeat. "I swear, I didn't have anything to do with what happened." She finished before she slipped away, and he turned back towards the house, where Aunt May was standing in the doorway. He slipped past her and into the living room. She followed him, and they both sat down, adjacent from one another. He let out a sigh, as he prepared himself to have the conversation that he had known was coming for a long time. Not that that made it any easier.

"Where have you been?" Clark snapped as her feet touched down on the Kansas soil. She tried to ignore him, but that was made impossible as he blocked her path. "I paged you three hours ago."

"No," she replied briskly, "you paged all 'active' members. I'm not an active member," she finished as she felt her arm being grabbed, something that would be impossible if Clark wasn't a Kryptonian as well. A fact which annoyed her to no end. "Remember?"

"You're the reason that we're in this mess," Clark said firmly as he maintained his grip, despite her struggling. "Remember that? Remember that because you got kidnapped, and didn't trust me enough to help?" He said as Kara finally pulled out of his grip.

"I had no way of getting in contact," she replied with a snap as she circled around her cousin. She did her best to maintain a civil tone, but that wasn't going to last for long. She could feel the rage building up inside herself. And it was all aimed at her cousin, who stood on the spot with his mightier-than-thou posture. "I didn't know if there where any League members in the area, so I had to improvise."

"And you chose wrong, evidently," Clark snapped. "Because now we're-"

"We?" Kara replied with a huff. "Who's the one who let those 'meetings' turn into a finger-pointing contest?"

"We're in the right," Clark said as the light in the house turned on. "They're in the wrong. Hunt-and-kill reams? Government liaison? A powder keg if there ever was one," he continued mercilessly as the front door to the house opened, and Ma Kent walked out onto the porch.

"Tell me," Kara muttered as she began to walk away. "Have you talked with anyone, other than those so called shouting matches?"

"There's no need to-" Clark began to shout.

"Maybe you should start with that," Kara said firmly as she made her way to the house. "Seeing as-" something hit her across the cheek. Much harder than any human could hit her. Which only left her cousin. She turned hard, and struck him in the face, with a closed fist. The impact created a sonic boom, which sent him flying back across the field. His body made a deep trench in the ground as he landed, but she knew he was unharmed. It would take a lot more than that to hurt him. So that was why she took off into the sky without a second thought. She needed someone to talk to. She was confused. She couldn't talk to her family, and she wasn't sure if she should talk to Peter Parker. That left her options severely limited. To one person, in fact.

"Barbra," Dick barked from where he sat in the batcomputer's main chair. "E.T.A on a secure line to Tim?" He finished as numbers flashed across the screen, and the Batman's first sidekick absorbed all the information. Including the feed which showed an intense sonic disturbance, which was usually caused by fighter jets. He did the math in his head, and could tell that whatever it was, it was heading right for them. "Alfred," he snapped as he clicked the mansion's P.A system on, "brace for impact. It looks as though we've got a jet coming our way."

"Dick, look!" Barbara said from where she sat, in an adjacent chair. She was pointing at a smaller screen, which was used for security outside the mansion. It showed a blonde-haired figure touching down just outside the door.

"How the hell-" Dick began to mutter as he recognized Supergirl.

"She's got X-ray vision," Barbara replied with a quip. "She probably just took a peek."

"The whole cave is lined with lead," Dick said as Supergirl walked towards the entrance of Wayne Manor. "It'd be impossible to-"

"Not notice?" Barbara replied as she got up from the chair. "It pretty much says 'don't look here. Batman isn't right here in this cave underneath the house of the one person in Gotham who can afford to be Batman'," she finished as the door opened, and Supergirl was let inside by Alfred.

"Well she'd better have some good news at least," Dick said as the feed from New York came in, showing Tim Drake and Donna Troy in a secluded motel room. "How about you two?"

"We've reconnoitred the Baxter Building, but nothing's turned up yet," Tim said over the feed. "Nothing's gone in or out. So unless they can teleport from one place to another, I don't think Batman's inside."

"So we're back to square one," Barbara muttered as Supergirl floated down the steps, and joined them. Even without looking, Dick could tell that she was distraught. He could almost smell the tears. And he could definitely hear the sobs. Coupled with the smell of cow manure, he guessed that she had just flown from the Kent farm in Kansas.

"Not quite," Donna said as she pushed Tim out of the way in a playful manner. "According to a quick internet search, there's an entire apartment building owned by the Rand corporation, who's CEO is also a founding member of the Heroes for Hire," she continued with a slight smirk. "And the boy wonder here managed to hack their security system. Guess who we saw coming in through a secret entrance? None other than the rich-and-powerful Iron Man himself."

"Great," Dick said as he stood up for the first time in hours. "Tim, put out a call to the Titans. Donna, same with the Justice League. We'll be taking the Batplane, and will rendezvous in three hours," he said before turning his head away from the screens. "Barbara, Supergirl. I want everything packed away in ten minutes. We're going in heavy. If you think we might need it, we will. I'm going to get in contact with Black Bat, and tell her the plan."

XXXXXX

"Okay, you don't just drop in like this," Barbara Gordon said as she loaded several satchels of smoke pellets and batarangs into a crate. "It's the least like you thing imaginable. What happened?"

"I uh..." Kara began as she wiped her eyes. "Kal and I...had a bit of a fight. I sort of...knocked him across the field."

"Good," Barbara said with a shrug as she loaded the crate into the plane. "Honestly, he's kind of a dick sometimes. I can't tell you how often he's underestimated one of us non-powered heroes. What was the fight about, anyway?"

"Hmph," Kara sighed as she loaded another crate. "He was yelling at me for putting us in this mess. I told him off for letting those shouting matches go even more sour than they should have. He then told me off for not calling him during that truck incident."

"Ouch," Barbara shrugged. "That's the time you called in that super-cute Spider-guy, right?"

"Batgirl!" she replied with a gasp.

"What?" Barbara said with an innocent shrug. "I'm the one who looked up his information, remember? He's super-cute, I'm just saying. But lemmie guess, Big-Blue's forbidden you from even looking at him?" she continued as Dick approached, "Or maybe he's just afraid you'll wind up getting hurt, and is doing his best to protect a member of his family. Just a suggestion. Take it or leave it."

"I've gotta go Aunt May," was what he had said as he rushed out the door. That had been two hours ago, when he had started to swing through the streets. He had just gotten a message from Captain America, giving him the location of the new, secret base. Which happened to be an apartment building owned by the Rand corporation. In less than twenty minutes, he had walked through the secret entrance and down the halls. He had turned a corner and entered a room full of Superheroes.

A long and dreery discussion had followed, with each and every person taking their turn in talking. Eventually, he managed to speak up.

"Who was sent on the retaliation attack?" Peter asked, and all he received was a series of glances.

"There wasn't one," Captain America said as he put his hands down on the table. "We've been to busy with our recovery effort. And interrogating our prisoner. He's, well..." the Captain sighed, "a tough one to crack. I..." His voice trailed off in Peter's mind as he began to think hard. The fact that there had been no retaliation effort by the Avengers worried him. It allowed Peter to come to one conclusion only. And it was a conclusion that he knew none of the Avengers where going to like, or agree with. He knew that there was only one person in the building who might be willing to help him. Which was why he headed for where he had been told the Batman was being held.

He walked into the room, thankful that there where no security cameras, due to the fact that the building was still under construction. On one side there was a long table, with the man's equipment all laid out. Apparently Tony Stark had tried too remove the man's armour, but had been electrocuted in the process. So that had been left alone, still on the man who it belonged to, who sat on a small makeshift bench inside a smaller room that was locked from the outside, with a concrete ceiling. He entered said room silently.

"Why did you send the Supergirl to demolish our headquarters?" Peter asked as a test for the man, who watched him with a statue-like posture.

"We didn't," the Batman said with a voice like cold steel.

"And that's what I needed to hear," Peter said as he sat down. "A mutu-"

"Kara talked to you, then?" the Batman cut in. "She's told you that we weren't responsible?"

"I figured it out myself," Peter shrugged as the two of them stared each other down. "Unfortunately, I don't think the Avengers will even hear me out."

"They have good reason not to," the Batman said coldly. "You are the one speaking with the enemy, after all."

"And the only other member of the Justice League who might believe me could very well be on the other side of the planet," Peter said as he braced his elbows against his knees.

"Which means you need something from me," the Batman scowled. "But I can't help you from in here. I'd need to be out of here to help stop the coming war."

"Forgive me if I'm a little uneasy about what I think you're getting at," Peter replied. "Breaking you out won't exactly be good P.R. Not to mention nearly impossible," Peter finished as he got to his feet, mimicking the motion of heading for the door.

"It will take less than a day for the Justice League to properly re-organize," the Batman said coldly, forcing Peter to turn around and face him. "Maybe another day and they'll launch a retaliation. And I don't think either side will pull their punches."

"On that," Peter sighed, "we agree." He finished as he did something he prayed he wouldn't regret. He opened the door, and let the Batman walk out on his own free will. Oh god i hope this is worth it, Peter thought as he watched the man disappear into the hall, after he had grabbed his gear.

Well, things are at their boiling point! I'd love to hear your feedback!

What do you think Batman has planned?

What do you think Dark Supergirl has in mind for Peter?