Author's Note: First, I'd like to say, sorry for the major delay, but I'm afraid that's how things might have to be for a little while. With classes starting back up, I've been finding that I have little if no time to write. Even with reviews, I'm not sure I'm going to get more than one chapter in per week, so bear with me. Well, anywho, I did finally get around to it, and I just did an all-nighter and finally wrote the next chapter AND revised it. If only my English teacher could see me now. Ah, well, enjoy!
"Are you stupid?" cried Luthor, bringing his tightly clenched against the wall to his left, leaving behind a bloody smudge. "Or are you just deaf?"
Lex Luthor and the group of villains from the previous battle were gathered in a different warehouse, one cluttered with rusted and useless pieces of metal scraps. This one used to house one of Amanda Waller's old underground organizations but was long since abandoned. The only good thing about the new locale was that this one at least had working electricity and water pipes.
"I told you specifically not to interfere with the Justice League, and you go and fight them, then get yourselves captured," Lex snarled, whirling on the crowd of villains. "Do you know what could happen to me if they traced your departure of Riker's to me?"
"Calm down, Lex," Metalo said, walking over to the enraged man apprehensively. "The Justice League is now safely being held in one of Waller's secret locations. We'll probably never see them again. Besides, we thought since Joker had sent us to do it, then you must have agreed with him."
Luthor rounded on Grodd, who was sitting in the corner, cross-legged and still as stone, wearing his golden telepathy helmet. The ape had been sitting that way for sometime and didn't even stir as the fifty or so people looked at him expectantly.
Finally, right on cue, Grodd opened one eye and declared, "I cannot find them, Luthor. Mentally, they are being blocked, or the seven are all dead."
"That's impossible," Star Sapphire chirped up. "I mean, if we couldn't kill them, I doubt that Amanda Waller could. She doesn't have the balls, or maybe she does, but certainly not enough to destroy those goody two-shoes."
"I agree," Sinestro said, stepping forth. "They took on all of us and suddenly, when the government gets them, they keel over and die? No way, we fought them and they can't just be dead."
"Are you so sure?" the Ultrahumanite asked from the other side of the expansive room. "Captain Atom harnesses powerful radioactive energy and it's quite possible that pure energy could've killed all of them, plus they were all nearly half dead from trying to fend our attack off. It is a great possibility, at this point."
A long silence hung over the villains. Some were exchanging doubtful stares with others who were smirking victoriously. Suddenly, a loud clang interrupted the meeting and everyone turned to see the Joker pulling up one of the metal garage doors and then let it slam down behind him. Behind his wide smile, they could all see the clear anger that was practically searing off of the clown ominously. Had his furry been directed at anyone other than Lex Luthor, perhaps they would have feared for their life or just fled right then and there.
"Lexy, I can't believe you would have a party and not invite me," Joker said in mock woe. His smile quickly twisted into the malice he'd been poorly concealing. "Did you really think you could let me rot in Arkham forever?"
Lex straightened his pearly white tie but didn't bother to respond; it was clear enough what his reply would have been anyway. From behind Joker, Harley Quinn seemed to materialize. Her blue eyes were blazing in rage as she stormed in past the clown prince of Gotham.
"Mr. J an' I almost didn't make it out without losing our necks!" she cried angrily at Lex, throwing her gloved hands up in the air. The audience of criminals all simultaneously glanced towards Lex, waiting for his response.
"I dearly apologize," Luthor sneered, monotone of insincerity, "but I didn't have the time to rescue a tasteless act and its tramp."
"Oh, Lexy, don't underestimate me," Joker said menacingly as he gave a short flourished bow. "I would strangle you, but you're so oily, I'm afraid you'd slip right between my fingers."
"Enough with the witty banter," Parasite caterwauled, "what are we going to do next?"
Lex stroked his chin thoughtfully before finally saying, "You are all going only do as I say, understood? Because of your last little escapade, we might be having more difficulty than necessary moving on with our plan. All of you will leave this place and not come back until I say so, understood? Until then, you all may carry on with your daily lives, but be warned, should you decide to change sides and alert the so-called 'authorities' I will end you."
The crowd of villains looked about each other curiously. Namely, Luthor didn't want Amanda Waller knowing.
"What's in it for us again?" Livewire asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Lex meandered over to her, putting an arm that was anything but comforting around her shoulders. Livewire gazed up at Luthor with fear flickering in her eyes.
"I can give you anything you want: money, a real life, power," Lex said, his voice tantalizingly smooth. "All I need from you is one tiny favor and then I could give all of your desires and so much more."
Now all the villains' eyes were trained on him, watching Lex in a sort of mystified way. He moved away from Livewire and walked toward the center of the mass, catching the stares of everyone. A slow dark smile crept onto his face as he turned to leave, just giving a small wave as he exited through a thick metal door across the room.
"I don't like it, Alfred. It's just not Bruce," Tim Drake said in growing frustration as he paced back and forth on Bruce's study. The butler just watched the teenager with a placid expression. "I mean, he's been gone for two weeks, didn't call, didn't do anything! I mean, if it was a big crisis, I think he'd tell me about it, right? He could be dead for all we know. This could've finally been it. Bruce isn't eternally young, you know, and don't think I can't see it. And even if it was just some mission, why would he just leave, without telling anyone? It doesn't add up!"
"Master Tim," Alfred said slowly and decisively, "I assure you, Bruce can handle himself in whatever situation he finds himself in. Master Dick and Miss Barbara have already been alerted and are looking into some leads."
"What if we can't find him fast enough?" he retorted loudly. Tim snatched a giant book off of the oaken desk nearby and hefted above his head like he was about to throw it. The volume itself was an old leather bound book and across the front of it, read the inscription Sherlock Holmes, a favorite of the dark knight's. Tim lowered it back down and held it in his arms, glowering at it as if it would hand over Bruce Wayne to him.
"We'll find him, young Master, but right now, you still have a city to protect," the old man murmured, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm worried too. After all, I raised Bruce ever since his tragic parent's death, but if I've learned anything from watching him all these years, it's that he can take care of himself."
"Yeah," he conceded as he set down the book. Tim tugged at his jeans as he said, "I suppose I really can't fight crime in this."
"That's my boy," Alfred said kindly, tousling Tim's shaggy black hair.
"Yeah, yeah, old man, don't get all sentimental," he said teasingly, pushing away his hand and tried to fix his hair in vain. Tim strode out of the room and over into the next room where the grandfather clock was. He pulled it aside and walked down into the dark cave, taking the steep stairs slowly. It only took him a moment get outfitted in all the normal Robin gear and, just as he was pulling on his black glove, Tim glanced over at the Batman costume wistfully.
Finally, without further delay, Tim was off, speeding out the back exit on his motorcycle. Before long, the dark cave beyond him morphed into the old Gotham subways.
"Master Tim, there's a bank robbery on 4th street but it seems the Gotham police force have dealt with it," came Alfred's voice over the audio transmitter in his bike's helmet.
"Damn," Time cursed, "anything else?'
"Language," Alfred warned but continued on, "a silent alarm was tripped over in the old Wayne Tech Labs."
"On it," he replied, kicking it into high gear. "Over and out."
Robin realized he'd reached the location faster than he had expected while hoping off of the bike. He snapped the kickstand down and placed his helmet down on the seat, hoping no one would look in a back alley for a motorcycle. Robin stepped out and winced as he stared up at the looming Gothic warehouse.
He had painful memories of the wicked place, filled with people trying to kill him or kill a hostage. Robin shivered but walked it off as he strode closer to the double doors of the structure.
The chain and lock had been cut and were lying down on the damp concrete but Robin stooped down to pick it up for a close examination.
By the looks of the single link that had been severed, it seems like steel cutters, Robin thought decisively as he ran a delicate finger over the fine edge of the cut. He got back up to his feet and pushed the doors open, grimacing as the loud clang it made disturbed the dead silence of the night.
Robin produced a small flashlight from his utility belt and shone it around the dark room until finally his light found its mark. Hiding in one corner was a strange man dressed in an even odder outfit that looked like an orange snake.
The snake-man hissed at the masked teenager before launching himself forward viciously. Suddenly, something clicked in Robin's mine for he knew exactly who this new assailant was; Batman had often talked about a man named Copperhead whom he used to fight when he as still with the Justice League.
Rage found its way into his throat as he snatched the man up by the front of his spandex costume and slammed him down hard on his back on the concrete floor.
"Where the fuck is he?" Robin snarled through clenched teeth. He waited impatiently for only a few second before hauling Copperhead back up to his feet. "I'm not going to ask again!"
Robin bashed the villain once more down against the unforgiving ground but threw his body weight into it, bringing him down hard.
"Who?" Copperhead wheezed, his yellow eyes with a black cut dividing the center flicked madly over Robin's features.
He stood back up, pulling the villain up with him by the collar. The shadows bounced off just right, cast Tim into a dark sinister looking way. Robin lifted his chin just slightly, so the light glinting off his eyes cut through the darkness on his face.
"I'm going to kill you if you don't tell me where he is."
Robin pulled back his fist to punch when suddenly he felt something grab hold of his arm right at the joint where his forearm meets the upper part. That instant contact jolted the teenage boy back into reality. Instead of a blood-thirsty criminal in his clutches, all Robin had was a scared man who wished he hadn't wasted his life this way.
"Robin," came a soft cautious voice. He didn't turn around because he already knew who was there behind him, holding him back. "It's over. You won, okay? Everything's going to be fine."
He didn't turn back around but focused harder on the bad guy he had in his grasp.
"Do you plan on telling me where Batman is?"
Copperhead chuckled, blood spattering out and then dripping slowly down one side of his cruelly twisted mouth. "Don't bother, kid. The Bat's been killed."
With one last act of vengeance, Robin hurled Copperhead down, skull first this time, back into the concrete. The body he was so direly holding went limp and for one horrible brief moment, Robin briefly feared he had killed the man.
"Tim!"
Now he forcibly turned around to face the intruder. Bathed in moonlight was none other than Nightwing. His short dark hair reflected back the pale glow from the overhead skylight, making him look almost silvery.
"They – they got Bruce," Robin muttered dumbly, as if in shock. Suddenly, he ripped off the mask on his face and crumpled it up in his balled fist, feeling as though he would drown in all the hate he carried.
Nightwing hunched down slightly, placing both hands on Tim's slender shoulders while he cooed, "I know, I know, but everything's alright now. Barbra and I are here and we're going to get him back. You know Bruce, and I know Bruce, and there's no way that he could be dead."
Tim met his gaze evenly. "What if he's right?"
Nothing even registered on Nightwing's face for a long moment, not that Tim had expected anything less. From above their heads, Batgirl descended from the skylight using a wire from a bat grapple.
"Hey, guys, I took out some weirdo in a black jump suit and high heels waiting outside," she said, giving the wire a swift tug and it snapped back into the grapple. She began to giggle slightly as she tucked it back into her utility belt.
"Did you get in touch with Kara?" Nightwing asked, standing back up to his normal tall stature.
"Yeah, she says that she hasn't heard from Clark in a long time, about two weeks," Batgirl said pointedly. Robin glanced up sharply and he too got to his feet.
"Two weeks," he echoed. "Well, Bruce must be with the Justice League, and if he's with them, he ought to be just fine."
"And how do you know that, Timmy? I thought the League had been disbanded," asked Barbra.
Robin ignored the nick-name as he said, "They've been hanging around the batcave recently in the last few months. A lot. If Clark's been missing, then Bruce has to be with him."
"Okay," Batgirl said thoughtfully. "Then where do we start?"
Dick and Tim met one another's gazes and said simultaneously, "The Joker."
Lex Luthor stepped into the brightly lit laboratory where Vandal Savage was with the strange ore. They had been trying to study its unique properties but so far there was no such luck. Vandal was murmuring something softly under his breath, so inaudible even to Luthor who was standing right behind the man. Suddenly, Vandal turned in his swivel chair and eyed Lex closely.
"What do you want?" The question was filled with suspicion.
Lex smiled slightly and said in sarcastic innocence, "Me? I was only coming to check on you of course. And now that I mention it, you certainly look like something the cat dragged in."
And it was quite true indeed; Vandal Savage carried a very haggard look about him suddenly, his hair mussed and his eyes dull, wandering. The wit that swam in the depths of his dark gaze was now vacant and hollow, all but for one strange fire of passion that burned, for what, though, Lex could not decipher.
"So you did notice?" he asked dryly as he ran a rough hand across his on-coming beard. There was a strange and barely noticeable lapse in his speech pattern; Lex was only scarcely able to interpret it.
"Don't be losing focus now, Savage," Lex warned. "Not when we're so close I can taste it. You know, I've been sending them out and back again, almost trying to get them caught. If only Amanda knew."
"Is it all just a joke to you?" Vandal asked plaintively as he turned back around on the desk to play with an orb of the special metal. "Are all of us just pawns you can play in your silly game?"
"You presume too much, my friend," Lex shrugged, looking around him to see what it was he as doing. A sphere of the alloy was floating just slightly above his palm, spinning slowly, almost imperceptibly so, but just as Vandal cast a glance over his shoulder toward Lex, the sphere morphed for a moment, taking the imprint of what Lex Luthor looked like.
Vandal instantly turned back to the suspended ball and snapped, "Get out Luthor! I grow weary of you continuous hindrances."
As he was told, Lex turned on his heel and left, straightening his creamy white tie. Just as the doors behind him slid shut, severing him from Vandal's hearing, he turned to Metalo, who was standing guard outside.
"I want you to watch him, Mr. John Corbin," Lex said slowly. "And if you feel he is getting too distracted, kill him."
Superman rolled over onto his back and just breathed as he stared up hatefully at the big red light above him.
"How many days has it been?" he asked aloud painfully. Hs own muscles on top his lungs seemed to choke all the air away from him and his grisly thoughts turned over to how his once healthy muscle was now just his literal dead weight.
There's was some shuffling off to his right, seeming to come from Shayera's holding cell. Once the rustling stopped she began to call out to the man of steel.
"Maybe fifteen?" came her cracked and hoarse voice. "They don't feed us regularly so I honestly don't know."
The super-powered prisoners were only fed once a day, sometimes twice, or even not at all. Superman's head lolled to the other side, where J'onn was being held. Using the last remains of his power, he saw though the wall with his x-ray vision to see if J'onn was okay. The Martian hadn't spoken a word the whole time in captivity.
"It's been twenty-two," Batman's voice called out faintly. Superman smiled and let his oddly heavy eyelids drift shut, feeling grateful for the calming black oblivion.
"Is he out?" Batman called over to Shayera from his block.
"I think so," she hollered back. "That can't be good for him, being under such intense radiation, going in and out of consciousness."
Shayera was sitting in the back corner of her designated room, her wings brushing up against the hard walls every time she moved. Hunger clawed ravenously at her stomach but she persevered, telling herself that she'd been in worse, twice if not three times more painful situations. Though none had ever lasted this long.
In all the time the league had spent the maximum security holding cells, the only few who talked were her and Batman, Superman on occasion but that was lucky, and Batman wasn't much company as it was.
"What's something you want to do before you die, Bruce?" she called out to him. For a sad moment, Shayera figured that he wouldn't respond and receded back into some sort of sleep or daydream like the others.
"Haven't thought about it," was his faint reply.
"Yeah, I suppose I haven't really either," she said slowly. "I mean, I'm not human, so it's not like I have ever desired a family or a home. As a Thanagarian, those things were rarely provided because they were simply not needed."
"Then why fight?" Batman asked cynically.
"I fight for people who cannot defend themselves, so I can make the world a safer, better place," Shayera said as she drew her legs up tight to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
"Even if they don't want us?"
She opened her mouth to retort, but the words sunk in profoundly deep, making her heart clench with sadness. "Yeah, even if."
Joker walked down a dimly lit Gotham back alley, his pale white hands stuck inside his purple pants pockets. His creepy plastered smile seemed to twitch slightly as if to make it wider, if possible.
"Three, two, one," the clown prince counted off and instantly, Nightwing had him slammed up fiercely against the brick wall. "Showtime, kiddies!"
Nightwing glared at his long-time nemesis and snapped, "No more games Joker, now where is he?"
Joker gave a mockingly confused frown – as much as Joker could frown – and shrugged in false innocence. Nightwing grit his teeth in warning.
"You know, Batman was never a killer. He thought it was wrong," Nightwing said slowly. Joker smirked triumphantly at the young man but was cut off. "I'm not like Batman, though, and I'm certainly not Robin, boy wonder, anymore."
Joker looked deep into the kid's eyes and saw exactly what he expected; unadulterated hate. Nightwing hoisted the man up from the dank street, his black leather shoes dangling limply.
"So, you want to know where Bats is, but you threaten to kill me?" Joker asked, laughing manically. "You're more of a fruit-loop than I am, kiddo."
"Maybe I'll just kill you for fun," Nightwing threatened even more passionately, but it was a hollow gesture. He doubted Joker bought the whole façade, but he hoped that if push came to shove, he could at least break some bones instead of murder.
I bet Tim could've gotten Joker to confess, Nightwing thought to himself for Tim had always been better at sounding meaner and nastier than normal, despite his sweet and fun-loving persona.
"Listen," the clown smiled treacherously. "I know you have the rest of your little bat-clan somewhere above us, but really that doesn't even matter."
"Oh yeah?"
"Indeed," he continued. "I'll tell you what I do know about your little mentor because there's a message you need to deliver to him."
Nightwing's tightening grip on the purple collar was enough of a reply for the Joker as his wicked smile seemed to split even wider.
"Amanda Waller had him, but don't worry, they'll be just fine in her care," he said deliberately. "And what I want you to tell Bats is this-."
Joker leaned forward and whispered for a moment in the hero's ear. Nightwing paused and then tensed, looking down at the clown with confusion mixed with frustration.
"Don't worry," Joker chuckled. "He'll get it."
With that said, Nightwing's slackening grip allowed the clown to smash his arm down on the hero's restraining hold. Nightwing didn't even bother to chase after him as Joker dashed around the corner, his long legs carrying him swiftly. After a moment, the sound of a car was clearly heard as it peeled away somewhere off into the night.
Amanda Waller watched her seven least favorite prisoners from the monitor room, staring curiously at the screen. There was a camera in each cell, thus giving her an opportunity to study them closely. She wheeled her chair around and over to the screen where Batman was and bit her lip as she watched him struggle for a moment and then stop, only to start thrashing around again. She wasn't worried; even if he broke the metal restraints, he couldn't get past the energy field that blocked the only exit, but worry was still worry.
"Ma'am," a soldier said from behind her. Amanda didn't bother to turn around but simply waved a hand for him to go on. "It's long past midnight, and even the Vice President needs her sleep."
Amanda Waller frowned and turned back around to look at the man intently. He was the usual guard on shift C but was somehow different, in a way that Amanda couldn't put her finger on, yet it was right on the tip over her tongue.
"I thought I told you I was not to be disturbed," she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. The man looked away and scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.
"I suppose you did, Ma'am," he conceded with a decisive nod. "Must've just slipped my mind."
He turned to leave when suddenly a bullet tore through his shoulder. The man dropped to the ground with a yelp of surprise but twisted to stare at Amanda, who was holding the gun.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" he cried, gripping his wound intensely. Amanda laughed as she got up from her chair.
"I never told you not to disturb me," she replied, "and the real guard would've known that so, what did you do with him?"
The imposter glared at the gun and then at her before smiling, a mean hateful one. He stood up, letting his arm that was covering the wound fall back to his side. There was no blood on him; in fact the hole where the bullet had gone all the way through was gone, vanished.
"Amanda," said a strange and new voice. It didn't belong to the soldier for it was too dark, too deep. "That silly gun isn't going to work on me."
With that said, she opened fire on him, the bullets slamming into him and the traces they left closing up right before her eyes. He leaned forward, only inches away from her and she tensed, her heart pounding from behind her ribs. The man reached inside her coat pocket and felt around until removing his now balled up hand. He had taken the Green Lantern's power ring. The imposter turned with a dark chuckle and ripped the sealing doors off of their hinges and headed to the cells where the Justice League members were being held.
Things had happened so fast, Amanda almost wasn't sure what really had occurred. She sank down to her knees and felt everything around her become just numb, as if nothing was real. It was only a nightmare, it had to be yet, little did she know, it was just beginning.
Flash struggled for a moment to sit up and instantly regretted it once he was successful. In his high gravitational cell, it was like have fifty pounds pressing down everywhere.
It was the first time in a long while he was actually able to stay awake. Most of the time, Flash slept in order to get away from the annoying fact that he could hardly move and even when he did move, it was slower than Granny Flash.
There was a loud band from his right, at the end of corridor. Flash tried to wiggle forward to see what it was but couldn't quite move far enough to see.
"Hey GL, what was that?" Flash called out to his friend. Before the Green Lantern could reply, Flash knew what it was. Looming in front of his cell was strange blob thing from that fight a long while back. Its metallic skin glimmered brightly and the geometric red veins pulsated noticeably. It put one fat undulating arm up against the key pad just outside the energy wall and smashed it. The weight holding the Flash down was gone, along with the field keeping him in.
The same limb stretched out to him and then wrapped around his torso, none too gently. It yanked him out and then moved over to the next holding cell, Flash still in its grasp. It shook him in front of the next keypad, and Flash was sure it was going to use his skull to break this one, when it abruptly set him down on his shaky feet.
Flash stared up at the huge alien blob in awe, for the thing towered above his head by a good measure. As he stared at the hapless thing, understanding seemed to bloom in his mind. He turned to face the pad right ahead of him and smashed a fist into the supple plastic, adding a touch of vibration to tear all of the wires.
Meanwhile, the alien thing moved back to the entrance where it had originated from just in time to take on a swarm of armed humans. Flash didn't waste anytime as he moved onto the next cell and finally, after a few moments, all of the energy fields that were closing them in had disappeared.
Flash first moved in to help Shayera, using friction to weaken the restraints, which she quickly ripped apart. He didn't have time to explain or even help her up as he moved on to Superman. Just as Flash pulled the man of steel from his red cell, he was stopped by a very familiar voice calling out to him.
"Stop right there," Amanda Waller snarled, a slight gun poised in her hand. "Put the Kryptonian down, and I won't have to shoot."
Flash smirked triumphantly at her and replied with, "You really think you can hit me with that?"
Amanda's outstretched limb swung over to the cell where J'onn was and she smiled back at him. "Yeah, actually I did, but now either way I can't miss."
Flash set Superman back down on the cold metal floor and put his hands up in surrender. Behind Ms. Waller, a fierce battle raged between some soldiers and that strange beast.
Wonder Woman looked out from her cell, where Flash was actually standing right outside of. For a moment, the Amazonian struggled against her lasso of truth.
Time seemed to slow as Amanda whipped her gun back toward Flash and Superman, pulling the trigger.
"No!"
Diana's scream ripped through her throat as she strained again her bindings. Suddenly, the rope around her snapped, falling down to her knees but she didn't even notice as she flew forward.
Just as Wonder Woman had reached Superman to move, Flash had made it to where Amanda was standing but much too late to keep her from firing. Diana twisted in the air, pulling the man of steel away from bullet but winced as it embedded itself in her left shoulder.
"Diana!" Batman shouted. The Amazonian's blood spilled out on the silvery ground, pooling around her and blending darkly with her splayed back hair.
Across from the horrific scene, Flash turned his glowering hate down on the Vice President. Amanda didn't even have time to react as his fist came barreling down on her jaw, sending her into the pillar of concrete on the side of the Martian's cell. She bounced off, after slamming her head, and fell down, limp.
In an instant, Flash was hovering over the unconscious Superman and the injured Wonder Woman. He picked her up, not caring how she was coating him in her blood and held her in his lap. Flash watched her intently as she took in a few shaky breaths.
He set her down on her back and got to his feet, her blood dripping off of his hands. Flash looked back up at Batman and said helplessly, "What do I do?"
"I can save her, Flash, I just need you to get me out of this," Batman replied calmly, although on the inside turmoil raged rampant. He hoped dearly that Wally couldn't read the panic he felt.
Flash was by his side in a blur, vibrating his hand and he slammed it down on the shackles and waist restraint. It only took a moment and then the dark knight was free, wasting no time at getting to Diana's side.
Shayera limped over to the Batman, Green Lantern draped around her shoulder. She glanced over at Amanda lying unconscious, her gun a few feet away and already could guess what had happened.
While Shayera set Lantern down to go get J'onn, Batman tried to assess the damage done to Wonder Woman.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Flash asked, leaning over to see what Batman was doing. Batman put two fingers against her neck for a pulse and then nodded slowly.
"We need to get out of here, and fast," Batman said, half to himself. He looked around and realized that their chances were not good. Superman was too weak from the extreme radiation he was submitted to, being more like a starved human than any sort of powerful Krptonian, Wonder Woman was bleeding profusely, Shayera and Flash couldn't carry all of them fast enough, J'onn wasn't even in his human form or speaking English for that matter, and John didn't have his power ring.
"Batman, you've got an idea, don't you?" Flash asked, not taking his eyes off of Diana. For a moment, the dark knight didn't say a word as he too stared down on Wonder Woman's face gravely. He glanced over at the strange alien that was standing now at the end of the corridor, all of the soldiers unconscious and scatted around it.
"Flash, stay with Diana for a moment," he said, walking past Flash. He strode over to the strange creature.
"Batman," Green Lantern warned. He was leaning on a wall nearby for support, holding his bruised ribs.
"Listen," Batman called out to the thing. "Obviously you freed us for a reason. If you want all of alive, though, then we need to leave this place. Now."
A strange tentacle protruded out from the main core of it and outstretched it to Batman. Lying on the creature's strange and mutated hand was the Lantern's ring, glowing a bright green. Without any sign of hesitation, the dark knight took simply took it and walked back over to John.
"You need to get us out of here," Batman said, placing the ring on his friend's palm. Lantern put on the ring and instantly the green energy exploded over him, crackling over his skin with power. Any holes or tears that had been inflicted upon the suit had vanished, repaired by the energy in the ring.
GL looked up at Batman with doubt in his eyes. "What if I don't have enough power?"
Batman just glared at the Lantern with annoyance riddled across his features and snarled, "You once told me it wasn't the ring, that it was the man, and now I'm telling you that. You'll do it."
Lantern nodded and walked over to where the rest were assembled. J'onn was draped over Shayera, still in his thin and unfamiliar Martian form and Flash was cradling Diana in his arms while Superman was only barely coming to. Lantern made a bubble of the energy around the six and stared back at the alien creature, unsure what to do about it for he wasn't sure he could carry that too.
"What are you waiting for? Go!" Flash cried, pounding his fist against the green barrier. That was all it took, and Lantern carried up higher until finally smashing through the roof and reaching the outside. Surprisingly, it was dark out, not even a moon to light their way.
The alien creature was running below, and had taken the form like the android, yet oddly sloppier, and was now running on the forested ground below. Lantern frowned over at his team mates, wondering where on earth they actually were.
Below on the ground was Amanda Waller, now standing up and watched as they escaped into the night.