Coalition

Chapter Fourteen: Der Teufel

'Diverse, sheer opposite, antipodes. The one pours out a balm upon the world, the other vexes it.' John Keats

Part One

"Do you recognise this building?" queried J'onn, holding up the photograph he had recovered. It had been a long time since Superman had left and the Riddler was intent on uncovering every tiny piece of information on his enemy as possible. It did not help that every place they went was a significant landmark in the Batman's history. Some of which were landmarks that could prove devastating if the Riddler was intelligent enough to recognise them.

The Riddler looked up briefly. His eyes were glazed with boredom so profound it was virtually tangible. Glistening briefly with the self-satisfaction of recognition, his irises quickly rolled, as though the image was one so easily recognisable that anyone with a brain in between their heads should be able to recognise it. Tilting his head so that his chin once again lay in contact with his chest, he stared at his feet, bored. When the villain felt the Martian's curiosity and impatience rise, he delivered the answer.

"That's Blackgate," stated the Riddler simply, "It's a prison."

"High security?" asked J'onn, completely out of his own curiosity.

"Of course," retorted the Riddler as though it was the dumbest question the world had ever had the terrible misfortune to be exposed to, "All of the prisons in Gotham are high security."

"Interesting," stated J'onn, before explaining that he'd found the final clue and that the Riddler's incredibly useful aid, if somewhat unsparkling conversation, was no longer needed, "You can go if you want. We promised we wouldn't take you into custody, and I won't. Though, I can't guarantee that Batman won't track you down when he's safe."

"He plan on moving city then?" asked the Riddler, a distinctly smug yet somewhat tired smile sitting on his face, "He'll never be safe so long as he lives in Gotham."

J'onn paused. He looked down, examining the photo in greater detail. As he looked up, he saw the slim green figure gracefully saunter away into the darkness which the rising sun sought to obliterate. Frowning, the superhero took his time to contact the rest of the League. It was what the Riddler had said, how he had said it and the expression on his face. Perhaps the villain's were growing tired of the cat and mouse game? Perhaps they were as sick of it as Batman?

Sighing and shrugging, J'onn dismissed the idea. The very thought that the Joker was anything beyond a complete psychopath who enjoyed the chase and inflicting pain on any innocent bystanders who just so happened to be nearby, was a ridiculous concept. Bringing his attention to the matter at hand, J'onn raised his hand to cup the radio, though this made no difference to the way in which it functioned. There was some sort of link between the wide variety of locations they had uncovered, but what precisely that link was, would remain a mystery until he gave his discovered location to Alfred.

"I'm on my way back now," stated J'onn simply, his voice laced with a slightly optimistic relief that he couldn't even recognise, "I've found the final location."

Collective signals of joy, happiness and optimism rippled through the radio loudly and boisterously. They were one step closer to recovering him and suddenly, any concerns over his physical and mental condition were suppressed by powerful emotions of relief. So, wishing to not keep them waiting any longer, J'onn soared through the sky, dropping the photograph on the floor as he did.

With sunlight peering over the city's border, the terrifying city of Gotham suddenly seemed less threatening. It seemed more humane, as though it was possible to raise a family there without being victim to a psychopath. Despite this, the researchers' statistics remained at the forefront of the Martian's mind. During one of the few occasions where he was able to relax without some disaster somewhere requiring his attention, he watched the news.

It was on the BBC that he found the statistics and it grabbed his attention that foreign news was more interested in America than America in foreign countries. Perhaps it was the fact that it was where all the superheroes seemed to dwell, or perhaps it was the simpler fact that due to America's ridiculously massive size, there was simply not enough airing time in which to account for the news overseas. Either way, all of the foreign news channels had latched onto the latest study to be published solely about Gotham.

It was the twentieth study this year, and it revealed results claiming that nine in ten people in Gotham had been directly affected by the supervillains. The remaining one in ten had relatives or friends who had been directly affected. Such results, at least in the optimistic nature of sunrise, seemed to be fabricated lies as the peaceful city began to show signs of awakening. Sighing, and turning his attention to his lost teammate, J'onn sped onwards towards the Cave.

***

"J'onn!" exclaimed Flash, who sped over to greet the green alien.

"Where is it, J'onn?" asked Superman, voice laced with a concern and authority that had somehow overtaken the brief feelings of optimism, "We haven't got much time."

"Blackgate." stated J'onn, landing softly on the floor and walking over towards the terminal, where the League had gathered around the large screen.

"Blackgate?" asked Hawk Girl, as unknowledgeable as the rest of the group.

"It's a high security prison," explained Alfred, "They're planning to move some of the criminals there to Arkham, but it looks like they're saving that in the event that they run out of room at the other prisons."

"Why would they ever move the prisoners to Arkham?" asked the Flash intelligently, "Don't most of them work for the psychos that are locked up there?"

"That's the major argument against it," agreed Alfred, "That and the fact that they don't have the staff to deal with increased numbers. At least, not at the moment."

Tapping the name 'Blackgate' into the computer yielded a very optimistic pinging noise that proceeded to increase spirits by downloading the final section of the mysterious video file the group was so eager to view. The fact that it was a video file, and not an image, disconcerted some of the members of the League who knew Batman slightly better. For Alfred, whom had already decided that it was a bad thing, it was clearly not the location they wanted.

Lighting up cheerfully, the computer announced that the file had been downloaded successfully and that it could be viewed with a double click. Refusing to breathe, in case the file mysteriously deleted itself, Alfred double-clicked the file. The screen vanished, revealing a black, wide-screen image of darkness. It quickly lit up to show a somewhat apprehensive Bruce Wayne, surprisingly, not in his Batman costume. In fact, he looked more human and weak than ever.

"You might have worked it out by now. I'm not giving you my location. I know where it is. They're very predictable. Instead, I'm telling you: don't save me. Gotham is in trouble, again."

"What's he saying?" asked Diana, her voice practically shaking with fear.

"Unfortunately, I think he's going to explain." sighed Alfred, voice broken.

"The Joker always has an ace in the hole. This time, they're bombs. They're very big bombs, stolen from a military convoy about a year ago. If all of them go out, Gotham will almost certainly be blown off of the map. The locations you found are where the bombs are. They'll detonate at precisely six 'o' clock in the morning. Find and deactivate the bombs."

"The fourteen hours will be up by then!" exclaimed Superman, voice laced with anger, "What the hell is he playing at? He'll be killed!"

"If I'm right, they'll try to kill me at the exact same time. Frankly, for me, it's a no-brainer. Gotham comes first. If none of the bombs activate at six, my exact location will be automatically downloaded onto the computer. If any of the bombs go off, it won't."

"He wants us to save Gotham over him?!" asked Green Lantern, "One of those bombs is in a prison! We could tell them to evacuate, let the bomb detonate and use that time to find him. What was he thinking?!"

"You may have noticed I'm not wearing the costume. That's because, I'm not commanding, ordering or telling you as Batman. I'm asking you as Bruce Wayne, as a friend. Save Gotham. I can wait."

With that, the computer screen turned blank once more. The group fell silent in a collective horror as it dawned on them that the man had seemed to rule out evacuation as an option even though it was his life on the line. Though, the more the group dwelled on the facts, the more they began to realise that in his position, they'd do the same thing. Each of them would place others before themselves, particularly a city whose balance and allegiance changed daily from corruption to change.

"Okay, everyone should take the location they found," stated Superman, taking charge, "We have to do this. Alfred, you need to guide us through how to deactivate the bombs, do you-"

"I've had training in bomb disposal," assured Alfred calmly, though visibly concerned, shaken and wracked with worry, "I can deal with virtually all types."

"Sounds like a plan." declared the Flash, whacking his fist into his palm with renewed vigour.

"Okay, let's get going," snapped Diana, eager to get moving, "We only have twenty minutes until six."

Nodding in general consensus, the group (mostly) flew out of the Cave with a speed Alfred was only just able to comprehend. Frowning now that the heroes were gone, Alfred allowed his eyes to glaze over with the cursed salty liquid he had been holding in all night. Bruce was like a son. Thus, the two conflicting emotions of fury and worry fought for control within his heart. Speaking to the screen, Alfred found himself hoping that somehow, Bruce would be okay, despite knowing that the chances of such were depressingly low.

"Please," he whispered, "Just be okay."

***

Superman, squinting as the glistening solar coin rose above the horizon, flew towards one of the many hospitals in Gotham City. Gotham General wavered into view, flickering inconsistently as though it were somehow an intangible mirage. Diving towards it, the air struck his face with a ferocious temperature whose freezing nature seemed to tear at his skin. Upon landing at its entrance, Superman rubbed his cheeks that had turned pale as marble from the surprisingly sudden onslaught caused by an unexpected change in the weather.

Striving through the building, Superman observed the somehow alien normalcy of the building. Despite the early hours, nurses and doctors were busy moving from room to room, carrying paperwork, equipment or grave expressions. As he sauntered, with dogged determination visible on his face, through the building, the hospital workers would pause. They paused and watched the blue and red suit striding through the hospital. Their mouths would gape open, as though willing words to come out, but none stopped him. They just watched before shrugging and returning about their duties.

His x-ray vision functioned perfectly as the hospitals were some of the few buildings that had not been targeted by Batman's Superman-paranoia technology. Thus, it had taken him less than a minute to determine the location of the bomb whose size and make-up forced an expression of distinctive surprise onto his face. It was in a basement, taking up an entire office with its large and bulking mass. Though it appeared as though the panel for controlling it would be relatively easy to access, as all he would have to do would be to remove the door, the presence of several humans somehow extinguished the thought of ease.

"Found the bomb?" asked Alfred, "Given what information I have, it shouldn't be that hard."

"No, I've found it all right." replied Superman.

"Then why do you sound so concerned?" questioned Alfred.

"There are twenty humans down there," replied Superman, "At least fifteen of them have very large structures, I'd guess they are football players or something."

"I'm sure you can handle them," assured Alfred, "When you've taken care of them, tell me and we'll see what we can do about that bomb. Everyone else will be able to hear the instructions so, I'll only need give extra instructions if it's a different make or type."

"Okay." nodded Superman, who was descending down a staircase into what seemed to be complete darkness. Unusual for a hospital, he observed cautiously. Even on the stairs, dim lights had shown him where the step directly in front of him suddenly fell vertically. As such, the complete blackness he had entered into as he left the relative safety of the staircase, was all too apparent and foreboding. Darkness, in his vast experience, meant one of two things. Firstly, that it was night-time and you were being paranoid, and secondly that there was an ambush up ahead.

Discoloured skeletons warned him of the latter observation. They had seen him come down the stairs, when his blue-red suit was bathed in light, and as such, they knew he had entered. In their heads, this was a good thing. They had, in their excitement and threats of death from the Joker, forgotten that they were dealing with a superhero, not a highly-trained human being in a suit. The man in front of them had a body that could stop bullets. This was a fact they had clearly not remembered. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been stupid enough to have turned the lights on.

Rather than flickering and dimly bringing light to the room, as though awaking from sleep on a Monday morning, the lights snapped on; releasing bright and powerful rays of light. Everyone in the room, excluding Superman, whose blackened x-ray vision had acted as a protective shield over his eyes, convulsed violently as though the terrible lights were evil. Covering their eyes with their hands, as though this would somehow help, they were surprised and shocked to wake up five hours later in prison.

Superman, with ease and grace, had walked through the massive, heaving group and punched each one in the head. As they had been too busy aiding their eyes in adjusting, they had left themselves wide open to a blow from the man who had little time and patience to be honourable at that point. Thus, the group of twenty men fell on the floor and were collected by the police some time afterwards.

"Got to the bomb yet?" asked Alfred.

"Yeah," replied Superman, "And I must point out, the people who tried to ambush me need some serious lessons in ambushing. It was honestly quite a poor attempt."

"Unsurprising," agreed Alfred, "Bruce's always saying that the class of common criminal in the city has fallen quite drastically. Good for him either way."

"True," nodded Superman, "Wish they were this bad at ambushing in Metropolis."

"Hello?" admonished Wonder Woman aggressively, "We don't have time for chit-chat."

"Sorry." said Superman quietly.

"Okay," began Alfred, "You need to tell me what make of bomb it is: then we'll go from there. The make will be the code on the inside of the panel lid. It will also have the NET weight there if you're interested."

"Right!"

***

Feathered wings fluttered delicately in what little breeze blew high in the sky. Hawk Girl's sharp eyes scanned the cityscape of Gotham, observing its relative and surprising beauty. The golden orb of sunlight bathed the city in a warmth of light. Glistening like water against the glass windows of the skyscrapers, the brightness began to take the city and engulf it into a pale, beautiful landscape where it seemed as though no harm could ever befall any of its inhabitants.

Sighing and diving, she plunged towards City Hall. Suddenly, the wind turned sour, somehow disliking her change of tempo. It attacked her exposed mouth and battered at her lips until they had resigned themselves to becoming chipped and charred later that week. Though landing delicately, it felt as though a tonne weight had been placed on her shoulders. Looking upwards, she walked over to the entrance, that, she was surprised to find, was guarded.

Eyeing her nervously, the guards opened their mouths to speak, moving in front of the door to prevent her entering. Almost growling, she uttered the intolerable word, 'bomb' and raised the electrified mace that was gripped tightly by her hand. They quickly moved aside and she entered without so much as acknowledging them. She was on a mission and she was not going to let any stupid humans get in her way. Thus, she found it pleasant when she discovered that the guards at the front had radioed the building to warn them of her presence.

"Done!" exclaimed Superman happily, "That was surprisingly easy."

"We do have someone trained in bomb disposal talking us through it." added the Green Lantern, seeming to admonish Superman for the apparent naïveté he was showing.

"Why is it you and Batman know so much about bomb disposal?" asked the Flash, stupidly.

"Don't bother answering that, Alfred." stated Hawk Girl.

"Anyone else found a bomb yet?" asked Alfred, "Superman, could you fly over to everyone's building and tell them where the bomb is."

"Sure, not a problem," stated Superman. This was followed by a long period of radio silence, in which, presumably, Superman was flying over to the various buildings. He explained, once he had located all of the bombs, "City Hall, the cabinet in the reception office. Iceberg Club, in the office at the back of the club. Indoor Concert Center, storage room B in the basement. GCPD Headquarters, in the parking lot at the back in the back of one of the police vans. Blackgate prison, in cell '24AB009'. Everyone's got about twenty thugs protecting the bombs."

"Be careful everyone." ordered the Green Lantern.

A silent but consensual 'of course' seemed to burble through the radio despite the distinct lack of sound. The silence was broken by Superman being told by Alfred to go back to the Cave. Hawk Girl sighed loudly. Though not being in reception, as she had paced and gotten herself lost during the radio conference, the glistening golden signs directed her to it. Receiving odd but silent looks from the few members walking around the building who had not heard the radio message, Hawk Girl powered through the labyrinth of rooms until finding the reception with its door slightly ajar. Peeking inside, she sighed.

They really do suck at ambushing.observed Hawk Girl with a lethargic sigh. The group of thugs had dressed up as reception workers and visitors. Given the early hour, the number of workers and visitors was clearly inaccurate. It was almost laughable. That and the visible bits of rope that had been badly hidden beneath chairs behind bags with misshapen poles of metal within them, made her want to laugh. It was a preposterously bad ambush. It briefly occurred to her, that, maybe, just maybe, it was meant to be an awfully-planned ambush.

The reasons behind such a theory, she could not distinguish and so she decided not to ponder on them. After all, they only had ten minutes left and the Joker had, in the past, shown that, unless interfered with, his plans never failed. Kicking the door in, it fell and flew off its hinges, landing uncomfortably onto the backs of two thugs who promptly fell unconscious from the force of the blow. She leapt into the room and slammed the heads of two goons into each other, knocking the two into a deep sleep before they could register the missing door.

Leaping over the desk with the grace of a free-runner, she punched one into unconsciousness before electrocuting an exposed metal pipe that three thugs had physical contact with. Shocked into sleep, they collapsed to the floor. Mentally, Hawk Girl observed that the remaining eleven criminals were so surprised, that there was a small six second gap in which they would be unable to react to her. Pouncing onto two more villains, they were efficiently plunged into the realms of sleep before being used to jointly knock unconscious a criminal who was tending to the two beneath the door.

Nine left. she noticed as she rammed her mace into another man's solar plexus. Winded, he was then knocked out by a calculated punch to the head. Leaping over his body, Hawk Girl blocked a blow from a metal pole, and allowed electricity to flow freely from her mace into the man, electrocuting him to sleep. Seven left. Two charged at her carelessly, clearly so wrapped up in fear that they lost all common sense. Jumping into the air and hovering there, her feet were the instruments that knocked them unconscious as they came into range. Landing in between their sleeping bodies, she crouched and looked up fiercely at the remaining five.

Fearing naively for their lives, the five ran out of the room. Though wishing to chase them down and make sure they got locked up, Hawk Girl had more important matters to attend to. Walking over to a cabinet, which lay behind the reception desk, she untied the hostage workers and allowed them to seek out medical attention and call the police. Hawk Girl waited until they had left before opening the cabinet for inside was a large, metallic beeping machine that was of a different make to the one she had heard before.

Sighing, she observed that it was going to be a long five minutes.

***

The Flash had had no problems in dealing with his thugs as his lightening speed meant that he could knock them all unconscious whilst heading towards the bomb. The group didn't even realise that the red blur speeding away from them was the very thing that had blurred their vision and sent them unconscious. The Flash, as usual, had been quite assured by his easy victory and proceeded to open up the door to the office. Expecting a small minute thing in the centre of the room, he took a physical step back in surprise.

The giant metallic monster took up the space of the entire room. How they had gotten the damn thing in there was a question that probed the Flash's mind until he realised that it was counting down and he only had ten minutes in which to deactivate it. Lifting the machine's surprisingly light and delicate flimsy panel lid, he examined that it was in fact the same make as the one Superman had seen. Smiling, and contacting Superman only to make sure that his information was accurate, he set about deactivating the bomb.

However, fate had other plans. Over-confidence had made Flash inaccurate and the final thug he had apparently knocked out, had awoken from his pretend nap. Silently, the black-clad villain picked up the weapon he had dropped. The electrified pole thrilled and purred excitedly. Glistening and pulsating with blue and yellow sparks, the machine urged the villain to attack the brightly coloured superhero. Needing no further encouragement, the thug approached the hero silently, if moving somewhat drunkenly.

A sharp, surprising pain coursed through the Flash's body. Held paralyzed by its power, he was frozen until the electrical current ceased its flow. His body crumpled to the floor, sizzling slightly. Within, his body felt as though it were on fire with pins and needles. Glaring upwards, he observed the villain he had not knocked out properly. Frowning he tried to speed to a distance, but found that his legs buckled and became unresponsive, unwilling to proceed at such speeds after an electrical shock of such sudden magnitude.

Approaching with a victorious smile, the thug approached once again. Flash, frustrated at the embarrassment the electrocution had caused, swept the feet from under the man. The man fell ungracefully to the floor and whacked his head off a conveniently placed stool. Though the Flash was about to walk away, assured the villain was safely unconscious. He punched the man in the head to make sure. He did not want to be electrocuted again.

"You nearly done, Flash?" asked Superman.

"Yeah," replied Flash, "Okay, what was the last bit?"

"Cut the red one." stated Superman simply.

"The red one?" asked Flash nervously, "All the wires are black!"

"I know," retorted Superman, "One of the wires has a red ring around it at the far left hand side where it connects to the rest of the machine. You cut that one. All the other rings should be blue or yellow. Only cut the red one."

"Oh, right," said Flash, "Deactivating bombs makes you feel like a real hero."

"…" began Superman, "Not really. Get back here when you're done."

"Miserable sod."

"You left your radio on, Flash."

"Aha, ha, whoops."

"Yup."

***

Diana had very little patience with the alarm system in the Indoor Concert Center. So she broke it. Her fist took great satisfaction at seeing the little sensors explode beneath it. Running through the deserted, blacked out building, she launched herself down the stairs with inhuman speed. At the bottom, a large collection of incredibly stupid men sat around tables playing card games. She frowned distinctly. Had she not been slightly reserved, a threatening growl would have echoed from her throat.

The man closest to her on her right was about to say something undeniably sexist and suggestive but his lower jaw, she was happy to report, had been dislodged and harshly removed from its joint sockets. That particular fool collapsed to the floor unconscious, finding time to look surprised and grasp his abused lower jaw. Shocked and stunned, the other men ran forwards all at once to try and take down the superwoman. It was a stupid and incredibly poorly thought out move.

There were five men who ran faster than the others, and so reached her at a much faster rate. These five also running at different speeds and so she could punch each one into unconsciousness before the others arrived anywhere near her. Six down, fourteen to go. Three men had not run over but were instead trying to load unfriendly guns. Smiling slightly, Diana launched the golden loop at them, snagging them as though they were fish. Pulling the glistening line with all of her strength, she walloped them into the two men running to the far left of the group. Eleven down.

Releasing the golden thread, she resorted to simple hand to hand combat to finish off the remaining nine. They were poorly trained and she found that she had taken out two with virtually no effort as the men behind them had been punching them in the back to get them to move. Though one fist managed to hit her left cheek, it was met with immediate and unnecessarily violent response. The man flew into the far wall and the remaining men shortly followed him, only into different walls. Recovering her golden thread, she kicked the face of one man who had briefly recovered from unconsciousness to try and grab her boot.

She jogged lightly over to the room that was marked 'Storage Room B' through use of a golden plaque. Sighing, the pulled open the door. Again, she took a step back. She wasn't expecting the bomb to take up the entire room. She frowned, supposing that perhaps Bruce was justified in his concern for Gotham. Given the size of the bombs, it would have been unsurprising if they would have been able to take out the entire city. Lifting the flimsy panel, she observed it was the same make that Flash had discovered.

Overhearing the instructions being given to the Flash, she followed them precisely, disarming the bomb a minute before the Flash did. Though, that was entirely due to the Flash arguing with Superman. Looking wistfully at the device, she quickly distracted herself and made her way out of the building, pausing by the reception desk to ring the police and inform them of the situation. No doubt they were already on route, but an early warning of the devastation in the basement would be warmly received, so they could request ambulances.

***

The Green Lantern had no issue whatsoever with entering the parking lot of GCPD. They had seen he was a superhero, recognising him from the news and let him in. They told him to help himself to the vending machine, giving him some change, and that Commissioner Gordon would be down shortly. Within that 'shortly' two minutes had passed and the Flash had requested Superman's aide in dealing with a bomb.

From the stairs, an exhausted, glass-wearing man emerged. Wearing a plain suit, he stumbled down the stairs drunkenly, as though just having woken up. He appeared to be moving towards the latter part of middle-aged but it was difficult to be accurate as his exhaustion aged him significantly. Behind the glasses, despite the lethargy, bright, intelligent and powerful eyes burned with energy and youthful vitality. Extending a hand, the man introduced himself as Commissioner Gordon.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," explained the Green Lantern, accepting the handshake, "Batman praises your work quite highly."

"Really?" scoffed Gordon, "Wouldn't kill him to say it to my face once in a while. Why're you here? I take it this isn't a social visit."

"You're sharp." complimented GL.

"Have to be if you want to survive in Gotham," came the response, "Have you heard anything off him? It'll be the main headline today, it got leaked at about one."

"Yes and no," explained GL, "It's complicated but we have more important matters. There's a bomb in one of the police vans at the back, there should be some criminals out there as well. We have to deal with them before we find Batman."

"There's a bomb!?" asked Jim Gordon, surprised, "We've dealt with the criminals, dealt with them about two hours ago when the guys on CCTV spotted them. I'll get bomb disposal down there."

"I know how to disarm it," offered GL, "I've got instructions."

"Yes well," refused Gordon, "We've had our fair share of bombs in Gotham and, trust me, our bomb squad can deactivate it in two minutes."

"Impressive."

"Unfortunately, they get a lot of practice," stated Gordon as he signalled for someone to send the bomb squad to deactivate the bomb whose location they had only just established. He then returned his attention to the Green Lantern, "How's he doing? Any idea?"

"Not well," replied GL, feeling as though Gordon deserved to be told the truth, "He's pretty roughed up and from what J'onn can gather, he could have a collapsed lung. He'll be alright if we can get to him in the ten minutes but we can't say after that."

"You better get going then." stated Gordon with a perfectly straight face, only his eyes betrayed deep concern and worry. Nodding, GL shook his hand once more and left the building, hovering into the sky surrounded by a green light.

***

J'onn was the last to find the bomb, and he was thankfully unharmed after his battle with the thugs who were very easy to knock unconscious. It was clear that they had never dealt with a superhero before as they had frozen in fear as he phased through the floor. Blackgate being a prison, it was very easy to find an empty cell in which to throw all twenty of them into. Finding the cell with the bomb in though, was a slightly more difficult task.

It was only when he decided to ask a prison guard that he found the cell. Within it was a massive bomb, and how it got there without anyone noticing would be a mystery for the proceeding inquiry to solve. Frowning, he took a mere minute to disarm the bomb and required no instructions or advice on how to do so. His phasing ability made the process much cleaner and smoother than it would have been for some of the other heroes within the League.

He then, as with the rest of the League members, signalled that he had completed his task and headed back to the Cave with the speed of a demon. Once reassembled, the group crowded around the terminal and were surprised to find that when none of the bombs went off, rather than an image or location being give, a video message was downloaded. Frowning distinctly, Alfred opened up the video file and the League watched, curious and concerned.

"Thanks for doing as I asked. Now, I can already tell you're not going to like this, but listen. The fourteen hours which I had ran out fifty minutes ago. I lied. The location is at the end of this video and you've saved Gotham," a rare smile passed on his face, "But, please, be prepared for the worst. Just in case."

The group fell silent, praying that the devil had not won.

A/N: Happy Easter!

Part Two will be much much shorter in comparison to this chapter. I only split it because the word count was getting ridiculous.

Part Two will be up as quickly as possible. And another thanks to everyone who reads, reviews and favourites and stuff.

Also, due to constant questioning, there will be an explanation as to the lack of the Bat family. In the last chapter (which is not the next one).