"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Return of the Jedi
Two lines stared each other down across the improvised battlefield. On one side stood the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. On the other, stood the Justice League of America. Heroes that could shatter governments lined both sides. And neither side seemed as though it was willing to give ground and surrender, if their exchanged words where anything to go by.
"One last chance," Captain America stated firmly as he grasped his shield. "That's what we'll give you people. This doesn't need to end in bloodshed!"
"Funny," a man with glowing green energy surrounding his body replied sternly from where he floated in mid-air. "We where about to say the exact same thing to you people," he continued as knuckles began to crack. "On your knees with your hands above your-" THUNK! Captain America tossed his shield and struck the man in the abdomen, cutting him off effectively as everything descended into absolute and utter chaos.
Steve retrieved his shield quickly, just in time to block a thrusting sword being driven his way by a woman who was dressed in a rather inappropriate manner. He buffed her away as he felt two across fly past his head. Who the shooter was, he didn't know, or care. All that he was worried about was putting a stop to this as quickly as possible. And by putting a stop to it, he meant dismantling this Justice League for good. He caught the woman's sword-arm and twisted hard, finding unexpected resistance, as she tossed him across the battle field, and into what looked like a white-coloured version of Iron Man. That didn't phase him in the slightest, as he rolled back to his feet and kicked away at a gun-slinging cowboy. Quicksilver rushed past him, trading blows with another speedster in a blur of red and blue as Steve's eyes where drawn upwards, to the overhead battle of Iron Man and Superman. Tony was wearing a heavy-duty suit made of adamantium, and seemed to be matching the so called man-of-steel blow for blow.
Something sliced into his arm, bringing Steve back to the present as beams of green energy lanced past his body, forcing him to twist and dodge as he closed the gap. He retaliated by thrusting his shield into the man's stomach and to the ground with a mighty crunch. He snapped his fist into the man's jaw, before being tossed aside by a charging gorilla with green fur. The gorilla picked him up and began to squeeze him into unconsciousness. Fortunately, Ms Marvel stuck from behind, causing the beast to fall to the ground.
"The left flank is faltering!" Carol shouted as she drove her fist into a half-man-half-machine. "And they just got another batch of reinforcements!"
"Damnit!" Steve roared as he ducked under a hail of arrows. "Where are the X-men?"
"Twenty minutes out," Carol snapped back as she struck the Iron Man wannabe in the chest. "But they won't be enough, not unless they bring the whole goddam school!"
"And Panther?" Steve said as something bounced off his shield.
"He says he can't get involved!" Carol quipped as the glowing green man shot past them. "And the Young Avengers are off the grid. So is-" She was cut off by Spider-man shooting past and making a beeline directly for the centre of the action. What was more, is that he was followed by a small group of heroes, who cut a swath directly through the action. He felt a mix of emotions upon seeing the wall-crawler. He suspected that he had been the one to release Batman, but there was nothing to confirm that. But then again, the fact that the group that he led had made their way towards the centre of the fighting spoke volumes.
"Push them back!" Steve shouted as he thrust the brim of his shield into the face of a blonde-haired woman with fishnet stockings. "Divide and conquer!"
XXX
Clark hated being superman on some days. It meant making the hard choices. Who to save. Who he couldn't save. What the difference between right and wrong was. And today was one of those days.
He slammed his fist into the chest of the armoured Avenger, trying to force him back, to end the onslaught of violence. Unfortunately, the man seemed to be wearing super-durable armour, that Clark made a mental note to study when everything was done.
"One last chance," the Avenger grunted as Clark felt a fist collide with his hip. "I don't want to do this! You've forced our hand!" Clark didn't respond with words, only with his heat vision, which struck the metal plate, but didn't damage it at all. So he resorted to a burst of super-breath, which forced the armoured man back fifty feet.
"You've got no right!" Clark snapped as he barrelled forward and drove his shoulder into the man's abdomen. "We've done nothing wrong! Nothing you haven't done!"
"Not..." the Avenger quipped as he raised his hands above his head. "Yet!" he shouted as he brought them down on Clark's back. Obviously, the armour had some strength-enhancing qualities, as the blow sent Clark to the ground. His impact forced a cloud of dust to cover the area, and several combatants, who had thee foresight to move out of the way. Re-gaining his composure, Clark managed to grab the fist of the Armoured Avenger as it descended towards his face.
"Kal!" the crystal-clear voice of his cousin called out as she flew into his peripheral vision. Clark was also relieved to see that Wonder Girl and the Bat-family followed in her wake. However, he was not pleased to see the Spider-man with them, as he shoved the Iron Avenger away. He quickly attempted to strike the arachnid hero, but found that his path was blocked by one of the only people on the planet as strong as he was. "Stop!" Kara pleaded.
"Iunngg!" he grunted as a beam of energy struck him from behind.
"Stark!" someone shouted over the din of the fighting. "Stop we have to-"
"Out of my way, Spider-man!" the Armoured Avenger growled as Clark attempted to throw his cousin off.
"Wait!" another female voice called out. "We-"
"Patriot," 'Captain America' shouted with a sharp gesture. "If you want to remain on the roster, stow it right now, Soldier!"
"You're all still under arrest!" Clark shouted as he freed himself from Kara's grip, and made his way towards the Captain. "Under the authority of the Justice League, you!" CRACK! A deafening noise split the air as a shock-wave rippled, effectively bringing the fighting to a halt. This allowed Batman to step forward and speak.
"Someone's been manipulating us," the brooding voice of Bruce Wayne said, cutting through the chaos like a knife through butter. All eyes fell on the Dark Knight, who continued to speak clearly. "All of us. Right from the beginning."
"Destroying our headquarters," Captain America snapped viciously. "That sounds a lot like-"
"We didn't do shit," the Flash said a he rushed to Batman's defence. "you're the ones who blew up the Hall of Justice."
"The what now?" Iron Man snapped as everybody's stance seemed to recede as far as aggression went. "We never blew up anything. You're the ones who-"
"That was my point," Bruce cut in with a steel-like tone. "Someone has been playing us. Making us turn against one another. S.T.A.R labs was broken into several weeks ago. The only thing that was stolen was a shard of Black Kryptonite-"
"So?" a woman with a lightning bolt across her black leather one-piece outfit said as her feet touched the ground. "Like that's supposed to mean anything to us."
"It should," Batman replied sternly. "Black Kryptonite can create a duplicate of any Kryptonian, only with a contrasting personality. In short," Batman continued as he gestured towards Kara. "A hero's duplicate would be extremely sadistic and violent. They would hold no inhibitions and have sociopathic tendencies. Add superpowers into the mix and you've got the perfect weapon."
"And it's not like it's hard to imagine someone hiring Super-villains to impersonate Superheroes," Spider-man offered up as he took a tentative step forward. "It's happened to me before at least. But now, it looks like their ruse succeeded."
"How?" Clark snapped.
"Because," Batman cut in, "they got us fighting one another, and not the bad guys like we're supposed to." Everybody stood in a momentary state of shock, as they took in the Batman's words. Clark realized that they definitely bore some semblance of truth that he couldn't ignore. He turned to face the man he had just been fighting with a relaxed expression.
"This...this..." Clark began to stammer.
"Is a lot bigger than any of us can imagine," Iron Man finished for him. "We'll look into it."
"No," Batman said sharply. "There's to many politics and wounds involved with the Justice League and the Avengers joining forces," he continued as he took in a sharp breath. "Nothing would get done. Not to mention, whoever is behind this would begin to panic and possibly disband," he said as he turned to face Clark. "I say we form a task-force, equal membership. Half Avenger," he paused, "Half Justice League. One founding member from each," he finished.
"I agree," Captain America said plainly as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "It should be a small, but inclusive number. Twelve?"
"Twelve," Clark said as he bowed his head, and turned away from the other heroes, towards his Cousin. Only to find that she wasn't there. Damn, he thought as he looked to the skies, lamenting about how blind he had truly been, how blind they had all been. And what it had nearly cost them all. He shot into the air, and towards the arctic circle. Within a minute, he arrived at his personal Fortress of Solitude. The doors slid open automatically, allowing him entrance to the only other place on earth he called home.
The walls where lined with a collection of artifacts and species from distant worlds that held little significance to current events. He entered the secluded chamber in which he stored and preformed experiments on Kryptonite. There was also a large computer, which he had programed to search for the substance. He turned it on, and waited, knowing that he could hopefully make up for his mistake in some fashion.
XXX
"You okay?" a tentative voice asked from behind her as she sat on the rooftop, with her legs dangling out over the sides.
"Not really," she sighed as the person sat beside her. A quick glance confirmed that it was indeed Peter Parker, still wearing his fully uniform and mask. "I just feel like a big ass disappointment to my cousin, that's all," she finished as she looked out, towards the setting sun.
"Please don't throw me into the sun for saying this," Peter said nervously as he shuffled himself closer. "But I don't think you've done anything that could be considered a disappointment. Hell, if I was him, I'd be overjoyed."
"How?" she asked as she looked at him. "I'm still the reason we're in this mess. I'm the one who shot Darkseid when he was trying to teleport away," sh huffed as she kicked her legs.
"And from the news footage I found online," Peter quipped with a shrug. "He was giving your cousin a hell of a beating. I wouldn't call that making a mistake. I'd call that thinking with your heart, and not your head. Which isn't always a bad thing," he finished as Kara felt something nudge her hand.
"It is if you nearly caused a superhuman war," she replied stiffly. "All by getting kidnapped and-"
"And I thought we went over the fact that you where lured into a trap," Peter replied with equal firmness in his voice. "And the whole 'war' thing was more a problem with conflicting egos anyway," he finished with a slight shrug. She turned her head, and was able to see both the blushing cheeks and awkward smile on his face.
"You know," she whispered into his ear. "I'll bet you'd have the ladies lining up at the door for you if they could see your smile," she finished as she rested against his body, and they both stared off into the sunset together.
A/N: And who would you put on this 'Task-force?' if it was up to you? Remember, only one founding member and six from each side.