"Time to spread the word," says the first in a Cadmus disguise.

"And the word is end of line, nearing zero," says the second in another Cadmus tech outfit.

They join another team at supposedly secret beaming point so the others they fake out in order to steal more transponders from them. The actual technicians have no idea what is going on, but this is happening in dozens of locations across the world. Cadmus is about to experience mass infiltration in its newly 'acquired' moon base, which has under gone retrofits to use a new binary fusion weapon except it instead will use another process to convert the binary fusion energy mass into solid matter so instead of appearing to fire a space based weapon, there will appear to be asteroids of varying sizes falling towards Earth. However the size will be minimal within the determined size necessary to do maximum destruction with lowest damage threshold. However the infiltrators plan is quite different except they will not begin to act until the reprogramming of the gun is done after the first shots are off streaking towards Smallville. The manufactured security cards and other false pieces necessary to fake out the scanners are working so far as the first few teams begin entering the base. Stage one is nearing completion with the detective off balance and out of the country, which is satisfying to Ra's even though his daughter and grandchild are still missing in the field as is Kal, but he feels they are affordable wild cards for now. As for Ubu he reports that Talia got the upper hand, but almost does not surprise him as a mother in any species is more dangerous than a father in some respects.

Orm reports that siege at Atlantis is still at a deadlock as the King's loyalists are resisting at every turn, but Ra's assures Orm that he need only hold his ground because when this is over, Aquaman's reluctant friendliness with the surface dwellers will make him look like a fool as the oceans rise up throwing the oceanic ecosystems out of whack for a time. The answer will be the surface dwellers upset the balance worldwide, what further proof necessary that the king is not fit to lead anymore and some other noise about how right Orm is to take control. The renegade Atlantean had proven useful, but he knows that the detective will resist to the end and beyond as would the Amazonian. Even if the plan succeeds, if any of the Outsiders or former Lords aside from Kal survive, his island based new beginning will be in jeopardy. Cadmus whether it knew or not was playing right into his hands, which is how it become simpler to infiltrate them slowly over time as he had done before with Gotham years ago now long after Bruce Wayne had become Batman. One man had made a difference that time, but would it on this scale as well, I guess we will find out he thinks to himself.

Meanwhile planet side, the Ultimen army is on standby as are the Templars whereas Galatea is being given a suit outfitted with holo-nodes, ones that the camera recorders will superimpose Supergirl's look on in the editing room. At the predetermined time, the broadcast will follow the shot that obliterates Smallville, providing staged evidence of an alien led assault against Earth. Eiling likewise gets compliance to prepare a military cordon in several major cities as a precautionary move against an Outsiders' surgical retaliation, but of course he believes they won't make the first move thus making it simpler to frame them. The end to costumes starts here as he beams up to the former Lunar Watchtower and heads for the command sector as they filming the fake strike order. Eggs for omelets he thinks to himself not noticing how many Society operatives are among him as he passes through the various corridors. However someone not loyal to Cadmus or the Society sneaks away to a backup teleporter then beams down to the planet.

A pickup speeds through Kansas along a stretch passing close to the Kents' farm. Kara perks up hearing the noise so in disguise she zips out to intercept the vehicle at the bump in the road that had not been fixed for months now. They could organize attacks on a global scale, but they would not scratch out for a broken road, stranger things have happen yet this is just dumb she thinks as she braces against the truck. The driver tries to flee only to collide with Kyle's ring construct and Inara speed ties the driver up. The driver falls backwards into the hands of Kyle and Inara as they drag him back into the barn.

"You care to share why you were breaking the speed limit?"

"I tell you nothing!"

"Cadmus' plan will not succeed."

"I'm not from Cadmus and this world is done... the new one follows on the wake of the old one's passing!"

The driver twitches up before foaming at the mouth.

"Damn Bruce warned me about that trick," grumbles Dick.

"Nobody checked him for a fake tooth?" quips Barbara.

"They can't always think of everything, Batman was the only one to deal with the Society on a first name basis," continues Tim.

"Where is Master Bruce anyway, I mean I doubt he would have allowed himself to die by drowning," comments Alfred.

"He is a little busy down under, and I mean way down under," says a voice.

Everyone turns to stare at the almost solid apparition of the late Wally West. John runs over to his dead best friend and somehow it feels solid hugging him. Shayera hearing the voice likewise heads for him too. J'onn can hardly believe it either.

"You feel solid."

"Part of the illusion, afterlife perk, temporary pass to the land of the living, can't stay long or say much."

"What did you mean down under?"

"Trouble in Aquaman's backyard..."

He vanishes again, but at least someone was getting less touchy about him saying anything. The Fates kept nagging Persephone about letting him out, but as usual she would glare at them saying something to the effect well you can't really see the future that well anymore so either fiddle with the strands or stop bothering me.

***

Meanwhile the teleport jump from Themyscira to Atlantis is complete except it only brings them to the exact surface spot that is exactly the nearest above water position to the underwater city so they plummet several feet before splashing into the waves. Diana, Donna, and Bruce take it with some dignity as for Dinah she still remembers that time she and Ollie got a splash when following Vic who was helping Helena with tracking Mandragora. The only relief that time was Vic getting Helena to not kill the jerk despite the fact that he did kill Helena's parents. The incident almost cost Helena her position in the Outsiders, but the cell leaders agreed that Mandragora's recapture was enough for them to not take action against Helena because the numbers were too few in those days. As for Helena she remembers seeing Dinah soaked and Ollie ogling Dinah as she kept trying to dry off her jacket then her boots. The archer had a one track mind after that escapade to get Dinah out of those wet clothes or at least she did suspect that and probably his pretty bird did not mind that prospect. However she was more preoccupied with that awkward admission Vic made to her after that night and it was the reason she would always go up a notch if anyone starts ragging about his methods towards what missions he would undertake or recommend others take despite the vote weight of her, of Lance, or of Queen.

As for Zatanna, she quickly generates a magic bubble around them then tells everyone to start swimming downward as Bruce and Diana hold her hands. It would take time even with the staff augmenting her connection to magic. The staff apparently has versatile functions as if adapting to the situation on its own, but only if the user is in danger or if the staff judges the situation to demand that particular act.

A sentient magical object well if it had been around from around the Trojan War that makes it at least three thousand years old, maybe older, nobody even owns a spell book that old... at least not any magic wielding personalities I know except for maybe Fate.

She redirects her concentration to the bubble and occasionally they have to shift the path as loyalist and enemy craft are in a frenzy out there. As they finally near a permeable membrane, everyone kicks their way towards it, and they are now inside allowing Zatanna to take something a breather after concentrating for over twenty minutes trying to hold the water out even when channeling the power of the staff.

"You alright Zatanna?" asks Bruce.

"I'm fine, just need to rest, you go ahead."

"Everyone pair up, work your way to throne or royal chambers."

Elsewhere in Metropolis, Vic and Oliver are undercover in civilian garbs keep an eye on the military police presence gathering in the airport, and the other cell observers report similar incidents worldwide, but so far all they did is redistribute heavily armed units throughout the various nations. They were waiting for something, waiting for the clocks to hit zero, but something else is at work obviously Ra's Al-Ghul is moving to the next phase if he has not already. He could give the master manipulator only a singular plus as part of that engimatic cabal he had always suspected had been manipulating the world for centuries, but of course they rarely did step up except for instances like Rome, Constantinople, Kiev, Paris, and more in the past. Gotham almost joined that list if not for Batman, but now Batman seem to be missing, which does not bode well. As he looks to Oliver, but of course Queen had never seen Vic's face, few people did outside a select few including Helena otherwise he values his faceless mask, it is makes many fear, worry, and lose it for starters

Back at Atlantis, Dinah and Helena tackle or brawl their way through Orm's followers while Donna sticks close to Zatanna, which leaves Bruce and Diana to storm the throne or royal chambers where Orm has taken down Aquaman for the moment. The king held as long as he could, but Orm's men overpowered his loyalists in this room at least. Diana flies straight towards the ones closest to the Queen and her toddler then head butts them into each other. They crumple and groan at the same time while Bruce leaps at Orm who is preparing to give his fallen brother the death blow. As he grips the traitorous Orm by the neck, Aquaman stirs then kicks his brother in the one spot that any man would prefers not to have kicked with such force or hit with such a strike. The edge in one to one fighting is knowing the physical weak points of your opponent. Orm winces and falls to his knees leaving Bruce to club him in the head.

"I see you brought help, but this battle is far from over even with him out cold."

"I know though for now, I suggest you announce his defeat in combat with you."

"Right, maybe that will knock some sense into those fools went to his side, but he never had any concept of fair play. I suspected he was the one that tried to kill me in the past as well as my family."

"Why let him stay if only to cause more trouble?" queries Donna.

"I had to let him believe I had no ill will towards him, but of course his acts on my recently destroyed flagship gave him away."

"I trust your people can handle this alone now."

"It seems I owe you again Batman, let us see one day if you are still as good at chess as I once believed."

"Just get your city back and then we'll talk your Highness."

"Need not be so formal, we are allies after all."

"Right well I have more pressing business with certain problematic people above the waves."

"Then get going... take one of the couriers after I make the announcement."

As Aquaman appears on the battlefield before the still fighting soldiers on either side, they halt and so the courier that Bruce is flying towards the surface is already on its way to Gotham yet his other recurring nemesis Kal is already inbound for Metropolis once hearing about a military buildup in America. All part of the plan he thinks as he pushes through the skies at supersonic speeds. The one that fled the Cadmus controlled Lunar Watchtower is calling Faraday, but is unable to finish the call thanks to a Society agent that had been following him since the beam down. However before dying he did manage to mumble something about tower takeover.. Faraday's brows perk up at those words. He tells Waller and she agrees they will have to go to the Hill or the President directly so Fate opens a portal for them to drive through, which will put them within driving distance of the White House except once emerging from said parking garage there is a whole row of tanks, hummers, APCs, and choppers there to meet them. Faraday grumbles inwardly knowing they should have found another way and then a voice comes in over a radio message being relayed from the Lunar Watchtower.

"I'd recommend surrender Amanda, I have already sent the Templars to your location in case the Cadmus soldiers are not enough to show you I mean business."

"You are a fool Eiling, you are playing into the Society's hands damn it!"

"You are wrong, the Outsiders are duping you, Ra's Al-Ghul died years ago."

"He is alive, Talia confirms this, Faraday's organization knows this..."

"They are traitors to die too so stand down or I'll have you killed along with your family for your treachery."

"You are as insane as the rest of them."

"The only way to stay sane in a mad world is to lose your mind some times."

"Wrong as I have heard, never compromise even in the face of total destruction."

"Prepare to fire on Smallville and the Templars will deal with them, Eiling out."

Faraday reverses the car and spins around trying to outrun their attackers yet it almost seems useless now. An anti-vehicle round tosses the car and giving Waller a bit of a bump on the head except Faraday is not Faraday, the Martian made the trip in his place. She almost wish she was told beforehand, but it might spoil the surprise that Faraday had set up. J'onn goes skyward carrying her, but of course she is not heavy to him, not like things used to be heavy to him before he got a substantial amount of his powers. Someone is shouting about see they do have powers again, the depowered story is a hoax, but of course they are afraid of the heroes, for the first lime she had begun to see why the costumes were afraid of seemingly ordinary yet well armed people.

"When they need you, they need you, when they don't, they are liable to hunt you."

"That would be accurate given their current behavior."

A portal appears ahead of them as a chopper fires off a missile at them so he zips through except the missile gets in before it closes so it follows them back to Smallville where Kara has to hold it in place until Inza can open another one back to its entry point as Fate is exhausted from making so many portals today to bring in supplies for additional nodes throughout the area aside from the main one not too far below the barn. The missile goes back through into the second portal and smashes into the chopper just before the pilots can see it. As they bail out they pull the cords and the flaming wreckage rains down, but of course this is quickly hidden lest things advance ahead of schedule.

As for the Templars, the vanishing of Waller and J'onn end up sending them back to Metropolis to wait for new directives except at one of them is having second thoughts. She had seen much of the Justice Lords old news reels and had come to the conclusion that they were stuck in untenable scenario that no matter how they fought it or dodged it the result would be so similar that it almost makes her believe the universe is self-correcting or is it... she wonders before resuming her stare out the window.

Ra's and Ubu teleport to Lunar Watchtower than go into hiding, security is too lax around here, but it made the task smoother once they finish firing at the former Superman's hometown. As for the detective, there is still no world from Atlantis so what was really going on down below, on one hand he didn't care and on the other it was about victory. His victory to bring about a world without all the trouble that has brought this world, but how do you know where to look or what to do when its found. At the same time, there is enough about this life to make the world worth saving in Bruce's mind before reappearing in Gotham with the other five. However someone unexpected is leading an army of Ultimen here that being the assassin turn government mercenary Deadshot.

"Hello Batman should I say Bruce Wayne?"

"You forget all the defeats I gave you in the past."

"Lost count, but you are going down as are these lovely ladies though I may keep one for my..."

Donna slams him into the pavement and he weakly flaps a dark piece of cloth.

"You are going to have try harder than that... ."

"Ultimen attack pattern omega now!" he shouts before getting

Donna and Diana take the first wave. Dinah does the occasional subsonic call at them while Helena just goes martial arts master on them Zatanna starts turning them into pets or inanimate objects while Bruce pulls out of a spare costume from a backpack that Zatanna had brought with her courtesy of Alfred packing it. As he finishes pulling down the cowl then Deadshot comes to engage him as absolution for that past defeat at his own game of target practice. Their fight staggers towards the stairs of the monorail and so continues for awhile until Batman slashes Deadshot's wrist mounted gun in half with his gauntlet. Ra's and Cadmus kept pulling out all the stops to slow him down and he was growing tired of it, but he had to keep going to make it to the other side, to a world where this could hopefully never happen again though for now it was about staying alive and ahead of the curve.

In the distance there are aftershocks as the binary fusion created asteroids descend and smash into the terrain surround Smallville and as for the Kents' farmland it was up to the team at the generators to judge the activation time now, too soon that they would risk tipping their hand, too late, they would be ashes. Tim aims the cameras skyward and keeps them there. It is getting closer, closer to zero hour, and even he had to admit he was afraid of what was coming next.

"Throw the switches now," orders a tired Shayera.

"You heard the lady, throw 'em," barks John.

"Not so loud, I'm right next to you," whispers Kyle

"He is right, relax Stewart," jests Inara.

"I told people before they always react like an old married couple," chuckles Wally.

"Wally, oh you little," laughs Shayera.

"West, you are going to wish you didn't," says John with a slight laugh.

"Shields online, the asteroids are disintegrating on impact, but the rest are still coming through though into the shield barriers, they are hitting the landscape."

"Did we beam everyone in time?"

"One problem though, someone read the beams and the shield activations, the Ultimen are on the move worldwide according to Sage."

"Darn it!"

"Remember, stick together," whispers Wally before he disappears again.

"When he was still alive he was never so enigmatic."

"Probably a catch on letting him see us up here."

"Probably...."

However the second time the binary fusion gun fires, its not firing asteroid fakes anymore... zero hour passes into simply reset to zero.


A/N 1: The idea with the Society infiltrating the Cadmus takeover operation of the Lunar Watchtower is loosely based on JLU episode Task Force X where a Cadmus assembled team is sent to steal the Annihilator after it was stored away there after its appearance in Kasnia courtesy of Ares. However in this case the Society operatives are still impersonating Cadmus technicians and so forth, but waiting for the time to takeover after the first shot.

A/N 2: As for the dialogue between the pair of Society operatives at the start that's based of Ra's Al-Ghul's dialogue before using the monorail in Batman Begins to move the microwave emitter through Gotham to trigger the toxin in the water mains.

A/N 3: Waller's fore warning gave them time to prepare in secret aside from the one off encounter with Eiling's troops in D.C. when she tries to meet with the President to alert him to what Eiling is up to, but she and J'onn previously disguised as Faraday are forced to retreat.

A/N 4: The situation at Atlantis like Themyscira is a relative deadlock but in both cases the attacked side is holding ground. The five including Bruce and Diana then move on to Gotham where they are met by a detachment of Ultimen led by Deadshot. Deadshot out of costume was part of Task Force X, but here is he is put in charge of directing the new generation of Ultimen in this region.