The telepathic communication returns in this chapter. As last time - [ ] – denotes a mental conversation.
Last time on Strange New World (for those too lazy to read the previous chapters):
"The scene is already nearly two hours old and we need to pursue the suspects to ascertain what their plan is. I would normally go alone, but this concerns all of you as well. Roy, you will stay behind with Tornado while the rest of the League investigates. If the situation deteriorates, we can be immediately beamed up to Watchtower at a moment's notice, but the League needs to start looking into this now in case the threat is as big as suggested by Hawkeye and Superboy. Superman and Martian Manhunter will join us in the field when they return from Mars."
With a swish of his cape, Batman strode out of the room and off towards the control center to be beamed down to Earth. After a quick exchanging of goodbyes, Roy, Connor, and Thomas found themselves alone with the rest of their unconscious teammates.
Thomas slumped back into his bed. "Been a long fucking day."
June 5th
Mount Justice
11:30 a.m.
It had indeed been a long day for Thomas. Yesterday, they'd been sent on a mission to Gotham City, facing off against Scarecrow, who'd managed to dose them with a new kind of fear gas before eluding capture when John Stewart showed up. For his part, Thomas had managed to wake up from the disturbing hallucinations on his own thanks to his altered genetic structure. Connor, owing to his Kryptonian DNA, was able to wake up soon after. While the League left to search for Scarecrow and find out his employers plans, Red Tornado and Roy were left behind to treat the rest of the team and administer an antidote derived from Thomas's immunity. Thankfully, the serum was doing its job as the team was slowly starting to regain consciousness one by one.
"Dude, my head hurts." Wally, being a speedster was the first to come out of the coma. Roy, Connor, and Thomas rushed over to his bed to see check on him.
"Yeah, totally not feeling the aster." Robin was up next, and–much to everyone's chagrin—was all too keen on using his own version of the English language.
Artemis stirred in the hospital bed before opening her eyes. Her first sight was Wally, who despite having just woke up, had sprinted to her bedside. After a brief moment, she touched her head. "God, I feel like I got punched by Superman."
"I do as well." Kaldur had also risen from his drug induced state.
All that was left was M'gann and Zatanna, though the latter was going to be quite shocked at her current predicament. The team's resident Martian was next to recover. Connor was standing over her when she awoke.
"Hi." A small smile appeared on her face as she put her hand on Connor's cheek.
Robin had made his way over to Zatanna's bed waiting for her to wake up. Looking at the casts on her legs, he felt anger rising in his chest. He turned to Thomas and Connor.
"What happened to her?"
Red Tornado stepped in, his robotic tones drawing the young acrobat's attention. "Part of the roof broke off when Superboy attempted to stop it from falling on the team. It struck Zatanna who was lying on the ground, shattering both her femur's." Everyone on the team but Connor and Thomas, who already knew, let out a gasp at that revelation. None of them had ever been so seriously injured before on a mission.
A stunned silence overtook the team until they heard a weak voice cry out. "Dad?"
"No Z, you're dad isn't here. I'm sorry." Robin hadn't left Zatanna's bedside and was the first to try to keep her calm. Holding her hand in his, he knew what she must have been seeing in her nightmare. They'd both lost their parents and he knew the hurt all too well. Robin put his head up. "Hey guys, can you give us a few minutes? I'll be out in a few."
The serum had been quite effective and each of the team was able to walk out of the med bay under their own power, though Red Tornado had tried to get them to stay for further monitoring. Together, they made their way to the training/briefing room. No one spoke for several minutes until Roy got frustrated with the silence.
"So anyone want to talk about what happened?" The team gave him various versions of a look that said, "Seriously?" so he felt the need to explain himself. "What? Canary isn't here and I thought I'd give it a shot, seeing as I'm the only human League member here right now. I know Scarecrow's stuff is pretty messed up, been dosed once myself, you know, so the option is open I guess."
Before anyone could respond to Roy's offer, the doors to the training room opened and Robin walked in. Those sitting rose to greet their teammate as he raised his hand to silence them before anyone could about Zatanna. "She's fine. RT's sedated her; she took the news about her legs pretty hard." Robin hung his head low, determined not to let any tears become visible to the team. He'd just relived his parent's death, then had to try to help Zatanna through the loss of her own. He supposed no one could blame him for crying, but it wasn't something he wanted anyone to see.
Kaldur walked over to friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. With a knowing look in his eyes, he spoke to the youngest of the team. "I understand this is hard. my friend, but we cannot let the past affect us now. Scarecrow believes we were eliminated, we should be thankful he is mistaken. Any news from Batman?"
"Not yet Kaldur, I just contacted him. They've been at the scene for a while now, taking samples of the toxin. A few tried to trace Scarecrow's getaway vehicle. Most of the League is actually on site, not that Batman likes that."
"The whole League's on this? Sweet!" Wally wasn't much for letting the past 24 hours get him down, and knowing the whole Justice League was working on the mission was more than enough to lift his spirits.
"Well then, we should return to the med bay as Red Tornado suggested and get some rest. We will help the League later when we've recovered." Kaldur was the last to leave the training room as he ushered his teammates and friends back towards the place they had just left.
Gotham City
Site of Scarecrow's encounter with the team
11:45 a.m.
Batman never liked working with others, even after forming the Justice League and expanding it twice. Each of the heroes present was capable, but their presence made him uneasy. He preferred working these kinds of missions on his own, but the team had all but become part of the League, and an attack on them had riled up the whole League. Aside from Tornado and Arsenal, all the members were investigating the incident that had happened in the Batman's own city and they were getting nowhere fast. They'd even recalled John Stewart from his search for Scarecrow's vehicle, given how cold the trail was. Things were not sitting well with Batman.
His instincts proved to be correct because at that exact moment when 18 of the 20 Justice League members were all together a Boom Tube opened up in the middle of ruins of the warehouse. The familiar sound and yellow light was soon followed by the League's old acquaintance, Vandal Savage along with several of his henchman and other various villains.
The ancient villain addressed the crowd of heroes before him. "Well, if this isn't a wonderful sight. All of Earth's heroes investigating the deaths of their young protégés. Your devotion to your fallen comrades is indeed admirable, but it is now your undoing. Goodbye, Justice League."
Flash was fed up with Savage and his gang of villains messing with his nephew and his words were laced with venom. "They aren't as dead as you believe, Savage." Flash saw Savage move towards a device on his wrist and moved quickly to stop him, but was kicked swiftly in the gut by Zoom, his long-time nemesis. Just then, Savage activated said device and a blinding light enveloped each member of the Justice League. Savage then proceeded to place his hand to his ear, activating his communicator.
"Justice League has been neutralized, release their alternates."
A voice on the other end acknowledged the order and a smile crept across Savage's face.
Mount Justice
1:00 p.m.
Recognized: Batman 02, Martian Manhunter 07
Two of the founding Justice League members emerged from the zeta tubes and walked silently to the computer. Robin and M'gann were working their way to the kitchen when they hear the computer announce their mentor's presence and the changed course to see what news they could offer.
"Uncle J'onn, you're back from Mars!" The teen Martian quickly encompassed Manhunter in a fierce hug. Seeing her uncle didn't happen often anymore, and after what she saw in her nightmare, she didn't want to waste the time they had at that very moment. In fact she was so focused on spending some time with her uncle that she failed to notice that he didn't hug her back.
"M'gann, I am glad you are well. I do not wish to offend, but Batman and I have much work to do. I will join you shortly."
"Oh, ok. I'll just wait for Robin to finish up with Batman then and we'll get out of the way."
Robin, however, did notice Manhunter's coldness and thought it odd that J'onn would be so distant from his niece after what she went through. Shrugging it off, he turned his attention to his own mentor.
"Hey, any news on Scarecrow?"
"No." The crisp response had been about what he'd expected from Batman, but somehow it seemed rushed.
"Well, I'm going to head to the kitchen. Keep me posted, I'll see you later."
"Why?"
"Why, what?"
"Why would you see me later?"
"Oh I don't know, for patrol?"
"Right, sorry, forgot about that. See you later then." Batman never once looked up from the computer during his quick exchange with Robin.
Robin turned to leave when all of a sudden a dark and terrible though hit him. He mentally called. [M'gann!]
[Yeah Robin?]
[Do a full mind read on Batman, now!]
[But I thought you said I shouldn't do that?]
[Doesn't matter, right now I need to know what's wrong with Batman. He never forgets about patrol, ever.]
[Aren't you overreacting a bit?]
[Trust me M'gann, just do it. I know Batman, and something is wrong here.]
[Fine.] M'gann stopped and focused on Batman who they had left in the other room with Martian Manhunter. Her eyes widen as she felt something odd and relayed it to Robin. [I'm detecting some form of mind control, but without knowing the source I can't break it. Who would control them like that?]
Robin visibly blanched at M'gann's report of the situation. As they were about to turn to subdue their mentors the zeta tubes whirred to life.
Recognized: Superman 01, Aquaman 04, Wonder Woman 03
[M'gann, what about them?]
Concentrating yet again M'gann gasped in shock as she felt the same telepathic presence.
[Robin, this is bad.]
[Call the team over the mental link. We need to leave the cave now!]
M'gann nodded before focuses on sending a team-wide message. [TEAM! Evacuate the cave now!]
[Damn M'gann, what the hell is going on?] Thomas had never quite gotten used to the mental link and recovering from fear gas exposure wasn't making it any more pleasant.
Robin quickly cut in, trying to expedite their escape. [The League is under mind control. We need to go now before they realize we know and attack.]
[Again? Didn't we stop the same thing a few months ago?] Artemis was certainly none too pleased about cleaning up another of the Leagues messes.
[This feels different; something is simply subduing their minds telepathically. I can't disconnect them without knowing what the source is without running the risk of killing them.]
[Oh, well then, yeah. I guess we should go. Connor, get Zatanna to the bio ship and bring a wheelchair. M'gann, try to get what information you can out of Batman's mind without giving yourself away. Probing your uncle is out of the question. Everyone else meet me in the cargo bay. If there's time, we'll bring the extra armory from the truck with us on the bio-ship. Move!] No one objected to Thomas's quick orders as they went about their tasks. In no time, the supplies had been placed aboard the bio-ship and the team was ready to go. M'gann, who been concentrating on reading Batman, let out a startled gasp.
Kaldur looked to the team's telepath. "What is it?"
M'gann looked shaken and confused. "Robin, isn't Batman really Bruce Wayne?"
"Yeah, you found that out a few months back, why?" The Boy Wonder couldn't believe that M'gann would forget something that big.
"Because that man wasn't Bruce Wayne."
"Who was he?"
"Thomas Wayne, Jr."
In the Mount Justice control room the League members had assembled in front of the monitors as Vandal Savage's visage appeared on screen. "Ultraman, Report."
"The team is alive as you believed. What are your orders?" An alarm sounded just after the Kryptonian finished speaking. After assessing the situation he turned to the monitor again. "It appears the team has left the mountain, though we do not believe they are aware of the situation."
"Very well, pursue and dispose of them."
After Vandal Savage cut communications, Martain Manhunter's eyes glowed bright red. Hovering off the ground several inches he began to visibly shake. As this happened, each of the others screamed out in agony with their hands pressed against their temples. Slumping to the ground they each were pushed to the edge of unconsciousness, but Manhunter recovered in time to stop that from happening. Helping each member to their feet, they shared a knowing glance. Superwoman looked at each member and smirked.
"The Crime Syndicate has found a new playground, gentlemen. Let's get started."
If you're feeling a little confused, I would suggest looking up the Crime Syndicate on Wikipedia. I explain a little of their origins, but if you have no frame of reference then things might get a little weird.