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CHAPTER 25 – THE RISE OF JUSTICE (OCT-2016)

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It is nearly Halloween at the Wayne estate, and the world's worst Trick-or-Treaters have come knocking. Lying limp and helpless, Batman's associates are falling to the unstoppable might of the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro and Lyssa Drak have cornered Batman, and his fear of failure and defeat is palpable in the flaring of the yellow energy of the Yellow Lantern's power.

Batman, seeing only wall and rubble behind him, and his faithful servant blocked from helping, fins himself cornered and alone. He steels himself, scowls with all his rage and fury and reaches for his belt for anything he can think of to reclaim the battle. He grasps a smoke grenade – his only remaining viable option, but a fatal mistake – Sinestro will not be fooled by such a cheap diversionary tactic.

But Sinestro and Lyssa Drak simply stop and stare in his direction, then begin to back up.

Batman keeps his pose, unsure of what is going on.

There is a yell and a boom behind him, and K'li flies limp past Batman and into a wall, its weakened structure collapsing over top of her into a pile of broken bricks and support beams.

Batman turns to see Superman, Supergirl, The Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman floating behind him. Already, his friends are being attended to and only Sinestro and Lyssa Drak are left standing.

Superman moves forward and addresses Sinestro. "Sorry for crashing your little house party, but that's just how we roll here on Earth!"

Supergirl rolls her eyes. "We really need to work on your quips, hon. You're just not convincing trying to 'talk street'." She then starts to power up her laser eyes. "Let's just blast them."

Sinestro sees the turn of events, and calls a retreat. He quickly gathers his broken team and flies off, swearing revenge.

Wonder Woman smiles as she settles to the ground. "Batman – sorry for taking so long, but we've changed our minds. I hope you don't mind if we join you against the evil scourge of Infinity. Will you accept our help?"

Batman is too exhausted, both physically and mentally, to smile or give comment, but nods in approval. Within minutes, the team vacates the ruined house. Alfred stays behind to coordinate the police response to the house and the cleanup of the second house-wrecking.

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In a hidden base under the ocean surface, the friends of Batman and Superman finally unite. For the first time, everyone of significance in the war against Infinity is finally assembling into one location. Their stories are myriad, but their purpose and goals are one – the elimination of Infinity, and putting an end to Alex Luthor's reign of terror on Earth.

"So, what's the game plan?" Catwoman looks at Batman and Superman for ideas.

"Good question," Batman replies. "I guess the first thing we need is intel on what we're dealing with. What is that spaceship hovering above Lexcorp tower?"

Green Lantern is the first to reply. "It is a Green Lantern Corps prison barge. The Green Lantern Corps serve as a kind of galactic police force, but that prison barge fell to Earth and went into standby mode. Alex Luthor seems to have reactivated the systems, including the ship's Mind Controller that keeps the prisoners from revolting. All of the prisoners aboard that transport follow his orders now."

The Flash follows up with another question. "So, what was that yellow power wielded by Sinestro? Is it the same kind of power as yours, Green Lantern?"

Green Lantern nods. "Yes. Theirs is based on the element of Fear, where mine is based on Willpower. But otherwise the Yellow Lantern power core has the same effects as the Green Lantern. Unfortunately, my powers cannot affect them because of an elemental weakness of mine against anything yellow-based. I am not aware of their powers having the same limitation."

"Are you kidding me!?" Green Arrow steps up. "That's certainly inconvenient."

"We each have our Achilles' Heel, Green Arrow," Superman interjects. "My race is susceptible to the radiation given off by Kryptonite, a green rock that doesn't occur naturally on Earth. You can only find it on such places as Krypton stars or space debris that contains Kryptonite. But how they got access to so much Kryptonite, I am at a loss."

"Lexcorp has had exclusive access to a number of extra-terrestrial finds throughout the years," The Atom replies. "That's how I got access to this shrinking suit. I stole the tech from Lexcorp labs while I was still working there. Perhaps they got access to it through a special government contract."

"No, it was given to them by the Kroloteans," booms a new voice from behind everyone.

Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian, and a man known by the name Doctor Fate approach, with a young Brazilian girl in tow and a young buff man still unconscious in Miss Martian's arms. The guards, cowed by Doctor Fate's power and magic, let them enter without incident.

"We raided one of Lexcorp's new office buildings not far from here," Miss Martian speaks, kind of out of turn. "We had to basically raze the building, but we were able to rescue these two." She nods to the girl beside her, then lovingly looks at her sleeping Adonis in her arms. Supergirl senses something – familiar – about the young man. Superman can sense it, too – the boy is half Kryptonian! Superman and Supergirl look at each other for a long time as they sort out the possibilities on how this child came to be.

Wonder Woman starts to approach the teenage girl, and quickly recognizes her by the power exuding from her every pore. "By Hera, you're an Amazonian! A sister, alive!" Wonder Woman gives the confused young Amazonian a strong bear-hug and starts to greet her in Portuguese.

The girl is unsure of her surroundings or her own abilities. She was simply a teenage girl living in a small town near São Paulo with her grandmother when she was arrested and taken out of the country by operatives in black. There were plans to torture her for information, but she was fatefully rescued just in time. The teenage boy was in a nearby cell – all she knows is that he was a test-tube baby, grown in a vat and has never been awake in the time she has been in captivity.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl approach Doctor Fate, their dim memories of their past lives slowly stirred by the helmet he wears. They smile and finally greet each other, Doctor Fate still in full possession of his supernatural memories of his two old friends from ancient days.

After a few moments of fellowship between old friends, Doctor Fate regathers everyone's focus onto one conversation.

"Everyone – I'd like to present to all you the last piece of the puzzle." Doctor Fate places an odd, dusty, curvy bottle on a nearby table and a lady's voice emanates from it.

"Greetings and Salutations, do-gooders. My name is Fazz, and you have been assembled by the power of my magic under the command of Alex Luthor. There is much to explain, but very little time. I had weaved into Alex Luthor's three wishes a caveat – no matter how hard he tried, he could not eradicate the Justice Alliance of America. You twelve: Batman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Supergirl, The Atom, and The Green Lantern – you twelve were the backbone of the original Justice Alliance that stood up against the Anti-Monitor's minions and saved many lives before your world was wiped out from existence a long time ago.

"Fate has restored you from absolute oblivion, but not without cost. A sinister force you know of as Infinity seeks to dominate your world into bondage and fire, and Alex Luthor will stop at nothing to fulfill his quest to feed the dark and evil demon Trigon ten billion souls in exchange for his freedom from Hell's grip.

"With my three wishes expended, I am now powerless to help you. Your fates are now in your own hands – I am sorry I could not do more for you."

"So, our lives alone were spared..." Batman broods, thinking of his lost family. Catwoman puts a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as he puts a hand on Robin's.

"And others of us were able to be reborn in this day and age..." Hawkman adds, looking at Hawkgirl.

"Or brought here to Earth to be sleepers for a future time." adds Superman, looking at Supergirl, The Green Lantern and the two Martians.

"What about the rest of us? How were we able to be here?" Miss Martian asks.

"That was Fate – not exactly of Fazz's doing," Doctor Fate answers.

"So, we need to stop Alex Luthor to save not only our homelands..." Hawkgirl says, looking to her sworn brother Hawkman.

"But, for all Humanity," The Flash completes the statement for her.

"For all Earthlings," Aquaman corrects, then puts his hand out in between his new friends as a symbol of unity and cooperation.

"Yes," Batman agrees, placing his hand on Aquaman's.

"For the Earth," Wonder Woman adds, placing her hand on Batman's hand.

"And for all who call it Home," Martian Manhunter says as he places a green hand on top.

"FOR EARTH!" Robin, The Atom, The Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Superman, and Supergirl say together as they each add their hands one upon another, forging the beginning of an alliance between Earth's greatest champions. An alliance for Good, For Truth, and for Justice to All.

And Justice will have her day.

TO BE CONTINUED!

(COMING IN NOVEMBER 2016 – CHAPTER 26: RISE OF THE ALLIANCE PART 1)