Chapter 28

Frontline, Washington

Sensing the dread and hopelessness of the soldiers behind him, Lieutenant Price turned and attempted to rally his troops once again.

"This is the moment! This is what your grandchildren will read about in their history books. Today," He yelled, "We fight for freedom, like our ancestors before us, for the freedom of this nation!"

The short speech gave the troops a jolt of energy which was quickly diminished after the first shot was fired. An explosive the size of a cannonball came careening into the frontline, taking at least thirty soldiers with it. Pandemonium ensued. The U.N. army quickly forgot their relentless training as they attacked the enemy, weapons hot, but were turned away handedly.

Lieutenant Price watched what he believed to be the beginning of the end of his great nation. Soldiers fell in every direction, the army's numbers were diminishing quickly and the enemy was still hundreds of yards away. There truly was nobody who could stop these god-like machines.

"Look! Oh my God, look!"

"We're saved, I can't believe it!"

The battle momentarily paused as both sides looked up to the sky, with very different reactions. Superman and Martian Manhunter touched down beside Lieutenant Price, Flash arrived moments later. The U.N. army erupted in joy, overwhelmed with a new sense of hope. The three heroes intercepted all of the soldiers in danger and returned them to the front.

Price took advantage of the adrenaline rush flowing through his soldiers. "Everyone back in position." He yelled. "We do this right this time!" Price's soldiers fell back into formation, other companies followed suit.

"Let's start over, shall we?" Flash said.

"Hold this line!" Superman shouted, flying up and down the line, reminiscent of General George Washington during the American Revolution. "We only move forward! Nobody, nothing gets through this line!"

The army cheered in agreement.

"Heads up, Supes!"

Superman turned as an explosive cannon flew hi way. He caught it with both hands, then spinning to gain momentum, heaved back towards the super soldiers, like shot put. Ten super suits were sent strewn across the forest floor.

"Return to sender." Flash commentated.

Superman looked back to his army. "Get to the trees, this ends here!"

The soldiers listened to the alien, taking their positions in the forest, perfectly camouflaged by the snow and roughage.

Major Martin, leader of the super soldiers, watched as the enemy tried to hide form them in the brush of the forest.

"That may have worked two centuries ago, but it won't work today." He looked back to his army. "March onward. Burn the forest down, we'll see how well they can hide in an open field."

The super soldiers followed orders, using their flamethrowers to burn anything that would catch.

Lieutenant Price stood beside Superman as they watched Hell unfold before their eyes. "What do we do? We don't have a chance without that forest!"

"Initiate the bombardment, we'll take care of the fires."

Price nodded, then spoke into the radio that sat on his shoulder. "Call in the air strike, fire the cannons, send in the tanks, now!"

Moments later the thunderous explosions deafened the snowy forest. The shelling barely slowed the super army down; none of their weapons could damage the impeccably built machines.

Superman watched as the U.N. hurled everything they had at the super army that was closing in fast, lighting up the forest in flames on their way. In the air, six fighter jets circled above the battlefield. Twelve missiles were fired towards the enemy, connecting dead on, yet only temporarily knocking a few super soldiers off their feet. It became clear to Superman that there was no weapon aside from a nuclear bomb that could stop this powerful army.

"Looks like this is up to us." J'onn said, arriving by his side.

Superman and Flash nodded.

"This won't be as easy as it usually is, boys." Superman said, "Keep your mind sharp and your head on a swivel. Good luck"

The three heroes split up, each taking on roughly one third of the super army. Superman flew up the center like a wrecking ball, Flash worked his way down the left flank, and J'onn on the right.

Major Martin sneered as he watched the three leaguers finally engage in battle.

"Richard! Bring the radio." He yelled to his officer, who promptly complied. He grabbed the small, black device and started barking orders. "Soldier 592, Jester is streaking up the right, take care of him. Soldier 977, ghost is staying to the left, take him out." He quickly looked up to see Superman inflicting critical damage up the middle of the battlefield. "Leave Big Blue to me."

"Copy that."

Staying clear of the fire, J'onn unleashed considerable damage to his third of the super army. Phasing into ghost form, he reached into each suit, pulling out its power source and crushing it in his hand, rendering the suit useless. It was tedious but affective. Soldier 977 watched the Martian wreak havoc on his army. J'onn was too focused to notice soldier 977 jump him from behind. J'onn turned at the last second, just in time to see the enemy pull out a large metal staff.

With no time to react J'onn took the blow directly to the chest as the staff sent an electromagnetic pulse trough his body, which proved to be destructive to his anatomy. The pulse temporarily paralyzed him, just long enough for soldier 977 to slap a color around his neck that sent a continuous pulse through his body, rendering him incapacitated.

Success proved to be more difficult for the Flash, who wasn't blessed with the same strength as Superman or J'onn. He got the job done nonetheless. Although the snowy forest wasn't the best venue for a speedster, the bulky machines proved to be much too slow. Soldier 592 watched him rip through the battlefield, dodging punch after punch, allowing the machines to do more damage to themselves than he could ever inflict. He would suffer the same fate as his friend.

Superman had little trouble defeating the new machines, granted they weren't the easiest of combatants that he'd come up against, but they were, by no means, as powerful as Darkseid, Braniac, or even Mongul. He used his entire arsenal to fend off the super army as quickly as he could: heat vision, super breath, brute strength. The machines proved to be no match.

Soldier 592 switched his primary weapon to the water cannon and aimed towards the Flash, who was still toying with the super suits. Soldier 592 fired the cannon at the Flash, turning all the snow around him into solid ice. The unsuspecting speedster ran right on top of the slippery ice, losing his footing and crashing into a nearby evergreen.

Vision fuzzy, he reached inside of his mask pulling out a hand that was as red as his armor; that's a lot of blood. He could feel himself slipping out of consciousness but tried his hardest to fight it off. Looking up, he saw a figure through the falling snow approaching, it was a super suit coming to finish him off, most likely. The figure stopped ten feet away. The hatch on the machine opened and a man climbed out. Flash could barely make out a face, but he knew that he did not recognize this man—he was just a soldier, fulfilling orders.

Superman's mountain of decommissioned super soldiers was growing by the second. Major Martin, equipped in his own super suit, knew that head on combat with the Kryptonian would be a losing battle, even with his… modification. Instead he planned on exploiting Superman's true weakness.

He looked over to the U.N. army, they had been watching the leaguers beat his army and finally felt strong enough to engage in the battle again. Mistake. Martin planted his feet next to a towering evergreen. Grabbing the trunk, he used all his suit's strength to uproot the enormous tree and heave it towards the U.N. army. The soldiers scattered as the tree landed in the middle of their camp. Martin repeated the process until he got his desired result.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Superman glanced over to see six trees barreling towards his defenseless army. He quickly threw down the super soldier that he had clutched in his fist and flew over to the trees. It only took seconds to get all of the soldiers to safety, but that's all Major Martin needed. He flew up behind Superman and, using all of the suits strength, once again, he delivered a devastating blow to back of the Man of Steel.

The connection was so massive that Superman's contact with the frozen ground created a crater six feet deep. It took him only moments to slowly crawl out, only to find Major Martin standing in front of him. Gathering his strength, he threw a right hook straight to the chest of the machine.

"Ahhhh!" Superman screamed in agony, quizzically staring at his broken hand.

Major Martin removed his chest plate, revealing a glowing green rock, the size of a fingernail.

"Krypto-" Superman fell to his knees. Martin smiled devilishly as the U.N. army watched in terror as their greatest warrior fell.

The man approaching Flash reached into his jacket. Flash couldn't see what he came out with but he knew it was a pistol. The man stopped two feet in front of Flash and pointed the gun at his chest.

"Dude…why?" He tried to stall, too weak to vibrate through a bullet.

"Shut up!" The man shouted.

"I feel like I have the right to know, you're going to shoot me anyway."

"I said shut up!" He pointed the muzzle lower and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in Flash's right thigh.

Flash screamed in pain, but the battle was so loud, nobody heard.

"You heroes walk around and police the world like gods. You have no right! You don't care about the less fortunate, the non-gifted."

"We do this for you!"

"You bully us! Treat us like we're nothing but a liability, weak specimens who can't protect themselves."

Flash began to argue but all he could focus on was the blood gushing out of his leg. He must've just missed the artery.

"Prime Minister is purging the world of you self-proclaimed gods, and letting man rule once again."

"You think this guy doesn't have bigger plans?" Flash struggled. "You think he's just going to give up all that power, and let others take their fair share? He's trying to create the Fourth Reich!"

"That's enough!" The man screamed. "You're treason ends now." He lifted the pistol head high.

"Think again, fool!" John Stewart, the Green Lantern, knocked the man to the ground, placing bright green handcuffs around his wrists.

"GL?" Flash muttered.

John ignored him. "Damn, that thing is deep. Luckily, it looks to only be a flesh wound."

"Oh if that's all." Flash tried to joke.

"Shut up, man, I need to concentrate." He knelt down and made bright green tweezers. "This is probably gonna hurt." He carefully lowered the tweezers into Flash's leg, grasping the bullet and slowly began to pull it out.

Flash grinded his teeth. "Wow, that's painful."

"It's just about out, one more pull."

Flash nodded and braced himself by grabbing a couple of roots beside him.

"One, two, three. John pulled the bullet completely out of Flash's flesh and held it up for him to see.

"Only a .22? Couldn't have hurt that bad."

"Oh, now you're the jokester?"

John laughed. "You want the souvenir?"

Superman lay in agony as he unwillingly watched the super soldiers round up the U.N. army, taking their first prisoners of war.

"Any weapons should be turned over immediately should you want to live." Major Martin addressed his new captives. "You should consider yourselves lucky, you get to choose the fate of your country. If you are subordinate and cooperative we will go easy on the ones you love. But should you choose a prideful death, your friends and families will surely suffer."

Superman relentlessly tried to break free of the chains that bound him, but the small fragment of kryptonite that was taped to his chest proved to rob him of all his strength. Instead, he was forced to watch what seemed like the beginning of a new world order. If they could take him, Flash, and J'onn down as they had, then there may be no stopping this superpower.

NO! Batman is still out there. He and Wonder Woman are taking the fight directly to the source. They're the strongest the League has to offer, as long as they're still alive the world has hope. He didn't allow himself to think of the possibility that they may already be defeated. Instead he focused on how to get this piece of kryptonite off of his chest.

Looking to the sky, he realized that it may be easier than he had thought. He looked directly into the falling snow and saw the silhouette of a large bird. A hawk.

"RRRRRAAHHHHH." Hawkgirl let out a ferocious battle cry as she swooped down from the sky, swinging her destructive mace.

Major Martin turned just as she was in mid swing, allowing her to make full contact with suit's chest. It was a devastating blow. Martin tumbled backward in a heap on the frozen tundra.

The attack on their leader sprung an immediate retaliation from his army. Dozens of super soldiers swarmed Hawkgirl and, without pausing, leaped at her in a synchronized ambush. She smiled, bracing herself, but was disappointed when the green energy shield protected her form the attack.

"How 'bout we even up the odds?"

"Lantern!" Superman shouted.

John shot the splinter of green rock well away from Superman, who broke the chains like they were made of bamboo. Superman, in turn, rushed to J'onn who lay unconscious in the snow hundreds of yards away. He ripped the collar off and allowed J'onn to catch his bearings.

"Ready for the fight of a lifetime?"

"I am."

The four heroes lined up against the hundreds of super suits that were left.

"You have one chance to surrender." John shouted. "Otherwise, brace yourselves."

There was no sign of submission from the army, who truly were an arrogant bunch.

"They always choose the hard way." John said.

"Good, I prefer the hard way." Hawgirl, readied her mace.

"I know you do."

"On three." Superman shouted. "Together."

They counted in unison. "One. Two. Three."

Chapter 29

Montreal

"Bruce!" Wonder Woman kneeled down and lifted his head up.

He was unresponsive.

"Bruce, please wake up." Tears flowed from her eyes onto his chest. She brought his head to hers, removing his cowl to reveal his face, his true flesh.

The snow began to fall harder as she heard thunder in the distance. She wiped the water off of Bruce's face and leaned in to kiss him. She kissed him for a long time, finally pulling away and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Kaff, kaff. Nobody takes off Batman's mask, Diana."

Wonder Woman lifted her head in disbelief as Batman began to regain consciousness.

It couldn't have been. There's no way. This isn't-

"It wasn't the kiss." Batman said, reading her mind. "Although it did help." He tried to smile. Pointing to the bullet hole in his chest. "Kevlar."

"But I ripped off your armor, why would you-"

"You can never be too sure." He lifted his thermal shirt revealing a large Kevlar plate encompassing his chest.

She hugged him hard, forgetting that he was still nursing two other wounds. He groaned, but accepted it.

"Let's get you to the nearest hospital." She wiped away the tears from her eyes.

He shook his head.

"We have to destroy the main circuit first…the power source of all the super suits."

"Can't it wait?" She pleaded.

He shook his head again.

"If we don't, there will be more casualties than just me."

Diana pretended to not hear the last part of the sentence as she put his good arm over her shoulders and helped him up.

"Where is it, let's do this fast."

"We're standing on it…it's under the building." He coughed up blood and started to lose consciousness again.

"So how do we destroy it?"

"There are two ways." He struggled. "One, you can help me down to the main computer and I can hack it using the main computer interface, taking control of all the super suits."

"You're in no shape to do that. What's option two?"

"We set explosives to the foundation of the building, allowing the building to collapse onto itself, destroying the entire power source for good." He barely got the sentence out.

"Imploding the building?" She said uneasily, "How many casualties?"

"None if you do it right and get us out of here in time."

"Okay, I vote for option two." She said sternly. "How do I get it done?"

Batman tried to smile, knowing that had he been in good health he would have taken choice one, but Wonder Woman had a different philosophy.

"My utility belt."

She reached into his belt and found what he was talking about.

"That's a decent amount of explosives, but to take down a building this big you'll have to place them strategically around the foundation….around pillars and support beams."

Diana squeezed the small objects in her fist.

"Consider it done. I'll be back shortly, stay awake!" She ordered.

She walked into the center of the roof, then, spinning as fast as she can, like a drill, she dug all the way down to the foundation of the building; a trick she learned from Superman.

The basement of the building was dark and empty. Several support beams were lined up in three rows. With only six explosives, she decided to take out the beams in the middle, forcing the building would collapse into itself. She quickly placed all of the explosives on a separate beam in the middle row. Knowing that she was quick enough to fly out of a collapsing building, she set each timer for fifteen seconds; by the time she was setting the final explosives, the first few will have already gone off. With limited time she quickly started setting the explosives. While she was setting the fourth explosive, the first one had gone off, quickly followed by the second and third. She was in the midst of setting the fifth when Batman reached her on her commLink.

"Diana, it's not working, the explosives aren't powerful enough. You have to find another way."

Stressed, Wonder Woman searched the room for anything that would expedite the destruction of the building, finally stopping when she found the boiler. That's it. She rushed over to the bulky black tank and placed her two remaining explosives directly onto it, setting them both for fifteen seconds. Her exit was tougher than she had anticipated; due to all of the damage already done, the building was already falling apart and she had to avoid falling debris the entire way up to the roof.

The last thing that Batman remembered before losing consciousness was the sound of a large explosion, much bigger than anything he gave Diana. She must've improvised, using something ultra-flammable to create a larger and more destructive explosion. Atta girl.

By the time Wonder Woman made it back to the roof Batman had slipped back out of consciousness. She grabbed him tightly, holding him close to her body, and stoically flew off into the night sky. Seconds later the explosion from the boiler immersed the entire building in flames and it slowly collapsed from within.

The four leaguers charged the super army which didn't back down. Within feet of delivering one of his most massive punches, Superman felt a slight electromagnetic wave flow through the battlefield.

"Wait!" He yelled.

Hawkgirl almost pulled a muscle stopping her mace which was in mid swing. "What!?"

The battle is over." J'onn interjected, apparently also feeling the wave.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Superman approached the closest machine. "These super suits, aren't so super anymore." He flicked the machine over and watched as the man inside struggled to make it stand.

"Batman and Wonder Woman must've succeeded! The suits have no power, they're useless."

The next hour was spent rounding up the operators of the super suits and handing them over to the U.N.

"What should we do with them?" Lieutenant Price asked Superman.

"Bring them to stand trial at the U.N.—then let the U.N. decide the fate of these war criminals along with their leader. We are not the judge, nor should we be."

"Thank you, soldier." Price smiled, sticking out his hand.

Superman grabbed and shook it firmly. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Price watched as the five leaguers continued to clean the battlefield and help the fallen and the injured, giving them hope to live, to continue fighting for what they believe in. They're not gods, he thought, they're angels.

Canadian Hospital (Ottawa), 30 Minutes Later

Little Jimmy was always told by his parents that it wasn't polite to stare, but tonight he just couldn't help it. As he sat in the hospital's lobby, waiting for his new baby sister to arrive, when Wonder Woman walked in and sat down in the chair right next to him. They were basically touching. Wait 'til I tell everyone at school!

As he stared he noticed something wrong. She wasn't happy, or at least she didn't look happy. As a curious second- grader, he naturally asked the beautiful woman what was wrong.

"Excuse me, Miss Wonder Woman." He said poking her in the arm. She was startled, not even realizing that there was anyone sitting next to her. "You look sad. What's the matter?"

She looked down to the little, red -haired boy.

"That's because I am sad. One of my friends was hurt very badly and now the doctors need to see if they can fix him."

The boy's eyes widened.

"Was it the Flash?"

She shook her head, resulting in a sigh of relief from the little boy.

"He's my favorite." He pulled his Flash action figure from his backpack to show her.

Wonder Woman almost smiled. The little boy was a symbol of why they do what they do, why Bruce di- does what he does—he was so innocent.

"Well then who is it?"

"It's Batman."

Little Jimmy hid behind his Flash doll.

"He's mean, isn't he?"

"Why do you say that?"

"He doesn't smile."

She let out a small chuckle, realizing the truth in the boy's statement.

"Well he can be a little grumpy now and again, but he's not mean. In fact, he's got a bigger heart than all of us, he just doesn't let anyone know."

"Then how do you know."

Wonder Woman thought for a moment.

"I can see through his mask, I know who he really is."

"I don't think he would like that."

The little boy finally got her to laugh as she realized that she shouldn't use such complicated metaphors when speaking to a seven year old child.

"What I meant was that I know his real personality; he's actually very sweet. But don't tell him I said that."

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't want anyone to know; so you'll have to keep that a secret."

"Okay, Miss Wonder Woman." He liked the idea of having a secret with a member of the Justice League. "I'm going to take a nap, hopefully when I wake up I'll have a baby sister!" He laid his head on her arm, making himself comfortable, as he slowly fell asleep, Flash doll in arm.

Wonder Woman felt awkward at first, she didn't have a lot of experience with kids. But she liked this one, so she lifted her arm, letting his head fall into her lap as she anxiously awaited the doctor.

One Hour Later

Wonder Woman almost allowed herself to nod off until she heard the footsteps out in the corridor, waking her up as if she just drank a triple espresso. The white double doors of the ER flew open as a dark man in a long white coat stepped into the room. She held Little Jimmy's head as she stood up, placing it gently back on the seat.

"Well?" She asked eagerly.

"He still hasn't woken up, but we think he's going to be okay."

"You think?" She asked uneasily.

"He suffered a severe concussion, multiple gun shots, a bruised sternum, broken ribs, and he lost a considerable amount of blood. He's physically beat, he's got nothing left in the tank. Right now he's living on sheer will alone. Give him a few days here, let him rest, let him recover at his own pace. Here in Canada there's no charge to patients for hospital visits, so money's not an issue."

"It wouldn't have been an issue anyway." She said under her breath. "Can I stay with him?"

"Absolutely." The doctor smiled as he led her back through the double doors and into the long narrow corridor.

Diana sat over Bruce, holding his hand as she waited for him to finally wake up. She had forced them to leave his mask on; if she hadn't Bruce wouldn't let her forget it. He looked pale from all of the blood that he lost, there was a needle in his elbow trying its hardest to replenish his body with the necessary fluids.

"Diana." She heard Superman's voice in her ear, through the com-link. "How is he?"

She stood up from her seat and walked over to the window, keeping her voice down.

"He still hasn't woken up. He suffered a severe concussion and a considerable amount of damage, the doctor said that it may take some time for him to fully recover."

"Did he give a timetable?"

"No, he said it could be a few weeks, a few months, a year; it's different for everyone."

The line stayed quiet for a long moment, Batman's condition affected the entire league; none of its members were accustomed to him in such a state, forgetful of his mortality at times. But it was felt most by Wonder Woman and Superman.

"If there's anyone who can beat the odds it's Bruce. Hang in there Diana, I know this is tough on you, just be strong. Superman out."

Diana solemnly stared out the window overlooking the picturesque Canadian Capital. The snow had finally stopped falling. As its citizens popped their heads out of their houses, they realized that the storm was over, and they resumed life as usual.

Chapter 30

Gotham Cemetery, February 4th 9:44am

The chilling wind blew hard forcing the steady snow to fall horizontally. It was nothing compared to the last storm, Bruce thought. He stood in the blizzard, by himself, looking down at his parent's tombstone as he did every February 4th. He dug his bare hands deep down into the pockets of his wool overcoat and tried to duck his ears under the large collar.

Not wanting to keep Alfred waiting in the car too long, he knelt down beside the grave and said a small prayer. Shoveling the snow away to the side, he placed two red roses on the grave. The contrast between the white snow and the dark red roses was truly beautiful. Before leaving he stood above the grave and thought. The setting proved to be a fantastic place for meditation, he found that out years ago, and he never liked to leave until he spent a few minutes in deep thought.

This year, though, something was different. Usually he thought about his parents, how his life would've been should they have never been killed. Would he be happier? Would Gotham still be a slum or did his parents have that much effect on the city? Would he be the same man? Would Batman have ever been needed? Those were the usual questions he pondered while standing at the top of the hill, but today, instead of thinking about his past, he found himself thinking of his future.

The new questions that filled his head were: Will I ever be happy? Will I ever allow myself to be? Have I lost my chance? Should I tell her how I feel? Does she already know?

The unanswered questions flooded his brain as he shook his head trying to bring himself back together. Then, suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and watched as the two roses he left for his parents doubled to four.

"How'd you find out?"

"I think some of your detective skills have been rubbing off on me these past few days."

He looked at her earnestly.

She realized that this was no place to joke with him.

"Clark told me."

"I never could trust him."

"You should've told me."

"I couldn't-"

"You couldn't what, Bruce? Open up, let someone in? Did you ever think that maybe if you told anyone about all the things that go on in your head, instead of hoarding them all inside, you may feel better about yourself?"

Bruce stared into the snowy abyss.

"Do you even want to feel happy, or are you just so used to being miserable that you enjoy feeling bad for yourself now?"

Diana's words stung Bruce worse than the frigid wind did to his ears. She realized it and took a softer tone.

"Bruce." She looked him straight in his icy blue eyes. "You can't keep living like this, the closest relationship you've had with anyone in your life is with your butler; what happens when he's gone?"

Bruce didn't want to think about that, Alfred was like his surrogate father.

"You don't understand, I-"

"No, Bruce, I don't. I cannot imagine what it must've felt like that night, what it feels like every night, every time you're reminded of it. But you can't live cold and alone because of something that happened decades ago. It's not fair to you…and whoever is missing out on the chance of being with you."

Picking his head up, Bruce met Diana's stare.

"I promised them."

"I'm not asking you to break that promise, I'm asking you to let somebody, me, help you fulfill it." She took her hand out of the pocket of her pea coat and offered it to Bruce, never breaking her stare.

Bruce gazed at her small hand for a long moment. The icy snow pelted the side of his face, rendering it numb, but he wouldn't have been able to feel even if it was eighty degrees out. He knew what he wanted to do, he just wasn't sure if it was what he should do.

Diana's hand began trembling as she kept it held out in midair. A tear began to well in her eye after a minute went by without a response. She withdrew her offer and began to put her frozen hand back in her pocket when Bruce finally made his decision. He reached over and took her hand in his, bringing her in for a long hug. Although the thermometer said that it was under twenty degrees, Bruce and Diana felt as warm as they had in years.

"C'mon, let's go home." He said, taking one last glance at his parents' grave.

Diana took his good arm in hers and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked through the falling snow and back to the car.

"So how long did the doctor tell you to keep that thing on for?" She pointed to his right shoulder which was still in a sling.

"Six more weeks, I believe."

"Any chance it'll stay on for that long?"

"None whatsoever."

Epilogue

Key West, Florida

February 27th

The everyday patrons of the bar, which looked out over the Atlantic, couldn't believe who they were seeing. Did he really just walk in? His watch was worth more than most of the men who frequented the establishment.

A young waitress, blonde hair, realized who he was and tried to make her best impression. "Good evening, sir. Can I help you with anything?"

"No." The man said, coldly. "I know exactly who I'm looking for."

Everyone watched as he threaded through the tables and made his way to the far back corner of the dark room. He slid into a booth across from a bearded man, the only one who hadn't glanced at him yet.

"Help you?" The man asked, his gaze out the window. He was wearing a dirty Cubs hat and looked as if he hadn't showered in days.

"Actually you can." The wealthy man said. "You see, I'm a big fan of your work."

"Sorry, I'm retired."

"Of course you are." The mysterious man laughed. "I'll make it worth your while." He pulled out a pen and wrote a seven figure digit on a napkin, preceded by a dollar sign and slid it across the table. "That's just to get started."

"You serious?"

"Completely. What do you say, Dr. Proctor?"

The doctor nodded.

"I look forward to doing business with you, Mr. Luthor."