Details of the most threatening conflict the One Earth regime has faced yet.

Chapter 21: The Green Lantern War

The war between the One Earth regime and the Green Lanterns continued to wage on for what felt like weeks to the combatants on both sides of the battle. Most of the fighting had been forced to the planet's surface as the Green Lanterns continued to push their way towards ending the conflict Superman was going to be held accountable for. The Green Lanterns had virtually decimated the Sinestro Corps, and there had been a time when the Green Lantern's believed that victory was all but inevitable. That however was only due to Superman's well placed trap of slowly falling back and then using the Amazons to flank the Green Lanterns from one side while another group of "rehabilitated" criminals did the same from another. Superman's men along with the Amazons and the criminals were then able to keep their opposition pinned down by attacking the Lanterns from three sides simultaneously. Slowly and methodically the momentum swung into the favor of the Man of Steel from that point on. They continued to either capture or kill Green Lantern after Green Lantern, and it was a feeling of being surrounded for the Lantern Corps until Ganthet with the help of Batman's Insurgents applied a well placed attack from the air that helped to force the likes of Wonder Woman, Sinestro, and Yellow Lantern into the air in pursuit. Even Superman eventually was forced to join as the two Qwardian powered men were no match against Ganthet's powers. Ganthet had made short work of Sinestro and Yellow Lantern using his knowledge and power of will to blast them away several times. Sinestro had remained determined and unwilling to give up on taking down the Guardian even though he'd received a variety of injuries from the strikes that Ganthet connected with.

After being knocked nearly unconscious by the Guardian, Hal decided at that point to switch tactics and go after the man that had caused Carol to become involved in the first place. He wasted little time in locating Batman's jet as it streaked across the sky, firing various projectiles out against any remaining member of the Sinestro Corps that he could locate. It was when he lined up for a strike upon Sinestro that Hal finally caught up to him and floated directly in his path, with arms folded across his chest. Even though jaded by Superman's attempts at designing world peace, Bruce still held a level of respect for Hal, and he wouldn't partake in a game of chicken as he broke off into another direction to avoid the impact. Hal however was having none of that as he formed a construct just in front of Bruce's jet with razor sharp edges that sliced through the wings like a hot knife through butter as Bruce didn't have time enough to react before it was too late. He was left with no choice but to eject, even though he knew based on the demise of his transportation that he was basically a sitting duck in any way that he plummeted to the ground. He gave a quick thought into his next series of moves to make before finally hitting the eject button. Just as he'd expected, it was only seconds before he was caught in the grip of a yellow hand construct. Batman squirmed and fidgeted around, trying to get his arms free from the construct as Hal closed in. "Never thought I'd see you from this perspective Bruce." Hal commented. "But then again I never thought you'd do anything to put Carol in harm's way either."

"Ferris got involved of her own accord Hal." Batman countered. "Besides, had Clark not frozen Bruce Wayne's assets, I never would have had reason to even go to Ferris Aircraft in the first place, so if you have a problem with her being involved take it up with your boss or maybe the person responsible for shooting her down."

Hal was shocked by some of Bruce's remarks for a moment. He also quickly realized that even though with a single thought, he could squeeze the life out of Bruce, there was no fear coming from him at all. Any other day it would've made Hal smile to realize that there was literally no fear from the Batman instead of merely thinking of it as a possibility. Thoughts like that brought up more questions though. "Why are you standing against us Bruce?" He asked. "Superman only wants peace for the Earth. Why can't you see what we're trying to do for the world?"

"Seeing is the problem Hal." Bruce responded as he continued to inch his way towards freeing an arm. "I have seen what Clark is doing, and it's wrong. Peace without the freedom of choice isn't for anyone, and forcing it upon the world is not the answer."

"I'm sorry that you see it that way Bruce." Hal dejectedly stated. "Unfortunately you're too dangerous to be let go. I'm taking you in."

"Perhaps Hal." Bruce responded as he finally managed to free an arm. "But not today." As he said that, he threw the batarang that he'd grabbed from his belt before ejecting from the jet. The batarang exploded in Hal's face, the small barrier around his body offered physical protection from the explosion, but it was able to temporarily blind him for a time and that was all that Bruce needed as the hand construct disappeared around him, allowing him to once again fall towards the Earth.

As Batman touched down onto a rooftop in New York, he noticed throughout the harbor that there were quite a few battleships approaching and firing into the sky. They were all targeting the Green Lanterns, making it more than obvious that Superman's troops were aboard the ships. He took in the surroundings above him to find that there was only one jet in his eyesight. The thought of only one member of his team in the air brought a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not wanting to have that feeling if it were to be unfounded, he immediately reached up to his communicator. "Oracle, sit rep." He barked.

"Huntress and Question are down and captured." Barbara explained. "They were shaken up from the crash, and Superman's men took advantage before they could regain their bearings. Robin ejected and landed on the other side of the city. He's making his way over toward you now. Canary's still air born, and Guy is basically being her wingman."

"What about the second team at the Hall?" Batman asked.

"Last report from any of them came from Selina." Barbara answered. "Commissioner Gordon gave the go to attack the Hall, so it seems that Harleen playing the bait worked to give them their opening. Selina reported back that the Flash and Damien are down. Zee broke off with Raven when she appeared, and I haven't heard back yet."

"Have Robin break off and head to Metropolis." Batman ordered. "Something doesn't feel right here."

As Batman finished that sentence, there was a large explosion at sea which caught his attention. He used the enhanced vision of the cowl's lenses to zoom in so that he could see what had happened. It turned out that one of the battleships had been virtually ripped in half. Through the blazing inferno that remained above the surface of the bay area, he could just make out what appeared to be a few Atlantean soldiers jumping back into the water. "Oracle, see if you can patch me into Aquaman's frequency." Batman ordered. "We might just have some extra help."

"You've got it Bruce." Oracle responded. "Just give me a few seconds…and…there. You should have it."

"Arthur, are you there?" Batman asked over the communication channel.

"You never indicated that Superman would invade my seas to do battle with the Green Lanterns, Batman." Aquaman replied.

"Didn't want to state something to get you involved and be wrong Arthur." Batman answered back.

"We'll do our part from the sea." Arthur stated. "You do yours from the land and I'll meet you at the shoreline."

"I'll see you there." Batman responded before closing the connection and jumping down with his grapnel gun in hand, ready to fire off in the direction he wanted to go.

Up in the sky, Canary had acquired the target that she desired ever since the battle had commenced. Superman was in her sights, and this time she was not going to be denied. Clark was going to go down for what he'd done to Ollie, and she was going to see to that. She worked carefully as she approached, hoping that Guy would do his best to keep her protected until she was within range of a clear shot. What was taking seconds felt like hours to Dinah as she moved closer and closer until finally she had a firing solution on Superman. She wasted no time in firing her missiles at the intended target, and she watched with little patience as the missiles trailed forward until they both struck true, slamming into Superman and exploding with all the force and impact that they had been designed to supply. Superman was engulfed in a fireball, but Dinah knew that she'd merely gotten his attention after that. She didn't have much time to savor the direct hit though as two red beams of light ripped through the underbelly of her jet.

Superman flew forward and out of the fireball that was still dissipating around him to better view his counter against his attacker. He could see the explosion of the jet, and hoped that using his x-ray vision would reveal that it had been Bruce as the pilot, but just as he made out the shape of a female, he was met face first with the pelting blast of Dinah's Canary Cry. She was still above him at the time of her second attack, and the force of the sonic blast quickly slammed Superman down, creating a crater around his body upon contact with the Earth's surface. Dinah held the cry for as long as she could while gliding down with her parachute. She ran out of breath just before touching down and hitting the quick releases to detach her chute before any gust of wind could move her from where she stood. Superman rolled over onto his hands and knees as he looked up at Black Canary standing before him. He used his forearm and wiped away a small trickle of blood that had managed to escape his nose thanks in part to her attack and smiled. Seeing his own blood was a rare occurrence, especially when Kryptonite wasn't involved. As he stood to his feet, Dinah exploded forward with vicious boxing combinations. Superman did his best to block each strike, although a few did manage to slip passed his guard. "Why….are you….doing this?" He asked between attempted strikes. "Don't you…see…the bigger….picture?"

"Fight back!" Dinah shouted. "After….what you did….to Ollie….how could you….think I'd… fall in line….with you?"

Superman worked his way passed Dinah's offence long enough to allow him to shove her away and create some distance between the two of them. He was breathing hard, trying to catch his breath. "What happened with Ollie was unfortunate." Superman responded. "I went there to arrest him for his conspiracy with Bruce and he attacked me with Kryptonite. I had no choice."

"Bullshit!" Dinah screamed. "I heard it. I heard it all you son of a bitch. Don't you dare try tricking me into believing you were the victim defending himself. What you did was in cold blood Clark. You'd have a better chance of convincing me that you came here to Liberty Island to visit the Statue of Liberty you son of a bitch."

Dinah fired another Canary Cry as she charged toward Superman again. He was able to avoid the sonic blast, but not the uppercut that connected with bone cracking accuracy. Dinah looked down briefly at her throbbing and broken hand before reaching under her jacket and pulling out a small handgun. She pointed it in the direction of Superman as he once again was back to his feet and stepping away from her. "What's the gun for Dinah?" Superman asked as he mockingly held up his hands as if he were going to surrender. "Are you really planning on shooting me?"

Black Canary's response to Superman's question was another Canary Cry that Superman avoided again, which was swiftly followed by the sound of a gunshot. Superman saw the bullet as it moved into the place that Dinah had anticipated him going, and he was only able to turn enough to take the glowing green slug in his left shoulder. Superman dropped to his knees as the kryptonite bullet began to send the radioactive toxins through his coursing blood. The effects were immediate for him. He turned pale as he crawled away as quickly as his body was allowing him to. He needed to get more distance between the two of them. It was more than apparent that Dinah had more than one kryptonite bullet to fire at him. Suddenly though, Dinah stopped approaching him and lowered her arm to her side. "I'm not like you Superman." She said. "I want to kill you so much because of what you've done, what you've taken from me." Dinah lowered her head for a moment before she continued. "If I kill you, that makes me no better, and nothing I do will ever bring Ollie back. You're going to pay for your crimes, but not like this."

Superman slowly climbed back to his feet only to see Dinah point the gun back in his direction. "You'll have to kill me." He stated. "I'm not going to stop until I've perfected this world for all mankind. And I'm not going to be taken into custody, regardless of what you do."

"We'll see if you keep saying that when there's more kryptonite coursing through your veins." Dinah fired back as she pulled the trigger once again.

"SUPERMAN!"

~~ Middle of the city ~~

Batman had taken to making his way through the troops on the streets as he worked his way toward the shoreline. If he could meet up with Arthur, then perhaps they'd have a chance of ending this war. Arthur's men were well skilled, and with Arthur being almost as powerful as Superman himself, that only increased their odds of victory. While Superman's troops were extremely powerful thanks to the enhancement pill, they were certainly not yet well trained in combat. It felt no different for Bruce in fighting them than he felt when what seemed like so long ago he was doing nightly on the streets of Gotham. He was making quick work of each soldier that chose to get in his path, and each one was quickly and summarily dealt with. Batman was fighting like a man possessed as he continued marching forward. It wasn't until he was forced to stop by a spear that pierced the pavement just in front of his feet that his progress was halted in any way. He looked up to see a horde of Amazons rushing towards him. Some held swords and shields while others substituted the sword for a spear. There were certainly too many of them to take on all at once, and with the Amazons there, that could only mean that their champion was also close by. It also meant that the perceived advantage that they had gained with Arthur's forces had just been virtually nullified as well.

Even with the oncoming army of Amazons seemingly stampeding their way towards him, Batman still ran forward in the direction of the shoreline. As he continued running, Batman reached for his grapnel gun, and at the last possible moment, fired the grapple up into the sky where it latched onto a building and he retracted the line in time to lift himself just out of reach of the army of women. When the grapple had been almost fully retracted, he disengaged the latching mechanism and allowed his upward momentum to carry him the final few feet to the ledge of the rooftop. Batman pushed himself up over the ledge in a somersault motion, and landed on his feet. "Hello Bruce." A menacing female voice called out from the shadows, stopping him in his tracks.

"Diana." Bruce answered as he pulled his cape around himself to hide any motion that he could from her as she revealed her position on the same rooftop.

"You sound disappointed to see me Bruce." Diana stated. "I've been waiting months for our paths to cross again."

"I can't say that our last meeting left on a very positive note, princess." Bruce responded. "Considering you've brought your sisters with you, I can't say that I have a good feeling about this meeting either."

"Perhaps this time you'll actually fight back and present somewhat of a challenge." Diana spat at him as she removed her sword from its sheath and took an aggressive fighting stance. "And don't call me princess. You lost that right when you betrayed us."

"I have no desire to fight you Diana, despite what illusions Clark has used to cloud your judgment." Bruce said as he stepped back toward the ledge he'd flipped over originally. His mind was working at the speed of a super computer, calculating all angles of attack, defense, and multiple possibilities of escape should he need to. "Whatever lies he's filling you with, you need to fight them. Fight them and find the truth Diana."

"I'll not be swayed by your version of the truth Bruce." Diana fired back as she began to stalk her prey. "I've regained my lost memories and I remember what you did. How you took advantage of my trust. It won't happen again. Of that I can assure you."

"I'm sorry princess." Bruce said with a saddened heart just before he threw a batarang at her feet. When it contacted the ground it exploded, and the force of the blast knocked Diana back a few feet as she turned to shield herself from the explosion with her shield that was still strapped to her back. She spun back around in time to see Batman had run to her and leapt into the air and once close enough he rapidly reached out for her head. She knocked his arms away to the side with her free hand before swiftly bringing her sword down in a chopping motion. Batman quickly countered, using the hardened plates on his forearm to block the strike. He then immediately moved his arm into a position where his scallops pinched onto the blade of her sword. Bruce next strategically placed an open handed strike onto Diana's chest right next to her collarbone. He then followed that up with a two fingered strike to the inside of Diana's arm that was trying to pull her sword free. He was able to hit the targeted pressure point with that, which caused her hand to relax just enough to where he was able to pull her sword from her grip. He wasted no time at all in getting rid of the weapon by tossing the sword over the ledge of the rooftop before it could be used to cause injury or worse.

Diana became visibly frustrated from having her sword taken from her by this mortal man. With warrior training or not, it didn't matter to her as she was an Amazon and he was still but just a man. She raised a knee up and made solid contact with his midsection, and then slammed her hand palm first into Batman's chest. Had he not turned ever so slightly, and without the enhancement pill increasing the tensile strength the blast would've likely left him with a hand sticking through his chest cavity. Batman managed to gain his bearings just in time to duck under the left hook that Diana threw. He followed that by spinning away to create some distance between the two of them, but Diana was having none of that. She followed in suit right with him, and continued her barrage of assault with elbows, fists, and kicks. Batman did a masterful job of dodging and blocking each attempt that Diana made against him. She was approaching him with her thoughts trained on causing maximum damage, but with that train of thought it helped in being better suited to predicting what she'd try next.

~~ Hall of Justice ~~

"You should retreat to the Watchtower." Lex hollered to Cyborg. "You're too important to the war efforts to be taken prisoner."

"And give up the Hall of Justice?" Cyborg asked incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me Lex."

"Look around you Victor." Lex continued to push forward. "We've already lost the Hall. It's a matter of containing the combination of losses. With your brain connected, the Insurgence could very well exploit every action Superman and the rest of you make into their advantage. It's not worth the risk right now over a building."

Cyborg fired another shot from his sonic cannon before ducking for cover next to Luthor and sighing in resignation. "You might be right, but…." Cyborg paused in his speech, not moving for a few moments. Lex looked directly into Cyborg's eyes, almost as if he was confirming whether or not Victor was still responsive at all.

"But what?" Lex asked as an attempt to coax Cyborg into continuing with what he'd said.

Cyborg's infrared eye blinked for a moment, and then the computer generator behind it became active, revealing a light 3D image before the two of them. It didn't take Luthor long to realize what the image was showing. "My sensors just picked up someone that's been monitoring our communications."

"Then shut it down, immediately." Luthor ordered.

"No." Cyborg responded. "If I do that then we'll be fighting completely blind. I'm back tracing the signal now, and we should know who it is in a matter of minutes."

"In a matter of minutes, you'll be captured." Luthor added; causing Cyborg to realize that his bald companion had been right after all. "Teleport to the WatchTower, and I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"Alright, I'll go." Cyborg conceded. "But once I'm onboard, I'll use the teleporter to pull you up too."

"Don't worry about me, just go." Lex ordered and watched as Cyborg reluctantly turned and began making his way over to the teleporter. Lex then focused on using his guns to suppress the opposition long enough to allow Cyborg to escape. However just as Cyborg disappeared in the teleporter's blinding white light, Luthor found himself surrounded by members of the Insurgency. Front and center was none other than James Gordon. Sometimes it was better to be lucky, Luthor mused to himself as a small smirk spread across his face. "Commissioner, I need to have a word with you in private." He stated.

"What makes you think that you're in any position to start making demands?" Jim asked as he pulled Lex up to his feet by the collar of his shirt.

Lex didn't resist any motion that the former commissioner made against him. He didn't want to appear as hostile in his current predicament. Instead he slowly leaned in closer to one of Jim's ears where he could still be heard in a whisper. "Your daughter hacked into Superman's communications system, and Cyborg's going to find out where she's located in just a few minutes unless you listen to me now."

Jim's head snapped back in disbelief about what he'd just heard. "Prove it." He barked.

"Does the name Oracle mean anything to you?" Lex asked and watched as Jim's eyes widened for a moment before his features hardened back into an unreadable state. That was all the sign that he needed to know that he'd sufficiently made his point. Although that wouldn't have been necessary to realize since Jim then swiftly grabbed hold of Lex by one of his arms and pulled him off to the side of the room they were in.

"Alright, you've made your point." Jim said quietly. "Tell me what you have to say before we take you in."

"I can't be sure what all Oracle has divulged to the rest of you, but I'm the one that's been contacting her and providing inside information about Superman's operation. It was me that gave her the information she needed to make hacking into the One Earth regime's communications. Unfortunately that doorway was discovered by Cyborg, and now he's going to back trace her to discover where the Insurgency is based."

Jim turned away from Lex for a moment, but not far enough that he was out of a minimum of peripheral vision and enabled his communicator. "Oracle come on." He called out.

"Go ahead Commissioner." Barbara responded.

"I've got someone here that says you've been spotted hacking into Superman's communications, and Cyborg's back tracing you now." Jim replied. "You've got to kill the signal before he locates you."

Barbara began typing ferociously on her keyboard looking for any indications that she was indeed being counter hacked, and sure enough, she was able to discern that a back trace was happening. She worked diligently to stop it, but couldn't. "It's too late to stop it dad." She responded. "He's already gotten too close to just kill the feed."

"Then we'll have to stop it from here." Jim proclaimed before killing the feed and turning back to face Lex straight on again. "I don't know why you're helping us, but now you're going to help me stop Cyborg from finding out Oracle's location."

"Very well, I'll take you up to Watchtower so you can stop Cyborg, but you have to play it off as though it was against my will." Lex explained. "I can't afford to have any of them find out about my allegiance to the Insurgency or I'll end up worse off than those reporters from a few months ago that spoke out against the One Earth movement, and that brings me up to a question I have to ask of you. If they catch you, what's to keep you from talking and blowing my cover?"

"I've already been diagnosed with terminal cancer." Jim replied. "There's nothing that any of them can do that this damn disease isn't already taking care of. Besides, I'll be damned if I'm going to let them hurt my baby girl."

"Fair enough, let's go." Lex said before leading Jim over to the teleporter pads. Still feeling leery about this new ally, and watched carefully as Lex input the commands on the teleporter control console until it indicated the Watchtower as the destination. Harleen and her men had just finished gathering up the squadron of Superman's enhanced troops as Catwoman dragged a bound and gagged Nightwing over to join them. Harleen then looked up and saw that Jim had stepped onto the teleporter with Luthor.

"Hey Commish, where ya goin?" She asked.

"Going after Cyborg." Jim answered simply. "Call in that the Hall is ours to Oracle and Batman."