Chapter 37
Luthor Mansion...
They were grunts. Cogs in the machine. The guards who watched over the remaining Justice Lords in essence knew what they were. They were here to do the work Lex Luthor would not dirty his hands with. Refusal was not an option.
On the off chance they thought about refusing it always came to mind the consequences of that choice. Of what Lex Luthor would do in retaliation. Luthor wouldn't kill you. He didn't need to. With his power and influence he could destroy your life utterly without ever laying a hand upon you. Worse he could destroy your family with a few keystrokes on a computer.
Therefore once you found yourself in this position you knew basically you were stuck. You did your job and never talked back.
The other downside to this job was, of course, that in the event of Luthor's enemies coming for him you were the cannon fodder in the front-line.
What enemy was coming for them now no-one could say as the guards were taken out by mysterious blurs that would appear and disappear.
Once the last guard is gone 5 figures shimmer into focus in the common area the Justice Lords hanged out in.
"Good work," Nightwing praises them, especially Gypsy whom he takes a moment to give an extra compliment too for the improvement in her power of illusion that hid them as they took the guards out.
Lord Dinah puts her fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. "Listen up!" she shouts to be heard above the chattering of her colleagues who had been as surprised as the guards at what just transpired.
"Why should we?" someone asks her back.
Lord Dinah grins reluctantly at that voice. "Dick. Stop living up to your name."
Pushing his way towards her comes a Richard Grayson.
Nightwing's eyes widen slightly at seeing himself. Only this him has a harder feel to him probably amplified by the scar over his left eye that runs down the cheek.
Richard stops and looks at Nightwing. "So we finally meet," he comments having not been one of the Lords that came through last time. He had remained on his homeworld only to be rounded up by the authorities after the Justice Lords' defeat and depowerment. He turns his attention swiftly to Dinah. "Betrayed us quick didn't you," he says, almost sounding petulant.
Dinah rolls her eyes with a slight look of disdain. "I never betrayed anyone Dick. This is folly beyond folly to do a deal with Lex Luthor of all people. I made a new deal. Your double here and his friends are sending us home."
"Just like that?" Richard questions, understandably sceptical.
"Yes," Nightwing speaks up. "We don't want you here...and I think you really don't want to be here do you?"
Richard's gaze drifts for a moment. "No," he says.
"Then what are we arguing about?" Nightwing asks.
"Diana and the others," Richard starts to say before Dinah cuts him off.
"Oh please. What did following them get us except prison," Dinah reminds Richard while trying to undermine Diana's authority and hold over the others. She raises her voice so she can be heard by everyone. "Listen to me," she demands their attention. "Is this who we are now? How we lost all sense of our code that we make deals with Lex Luthor? Coming here the first time was a mistake and, while returning here may have been necessary to escape our confinement, with the deal I have made there is no longer any reason we have to honour anything with Luthor. I can admit our original mistake. Let us not repeat it. The deal I have made will return us home but not to prison."
That stirs murmurings and debates about whether they should go home or honour the deal Wonder Woman made.
"And what of Diana?" Richard asks.
"Diana has made her bed. Let her lie in it. It was her fault in the 1st place what happened to us. It's time to stop following her blindly. It's time to stop being bound by an event that happened 5 years ago. I miss Superman too but it's time we moved on and built a world that will last this time. What say you?" Dinah asks her fellow Justice Lords as she starts to walk amongst them. "What say you?" she asks again.
"You disable the cameras right?" Starling asks Nightwing to confirm as they are in real danger of being spotted otherwise.
"No. I set them into a loop of recorded footage," Nightwing reiterates what he did before they started this. This way it should take awhile before Lex notices something is wrong.
"What say you?" Dinah asks again.
"Let us go home," a voice speaks up. One with a strong Brazilian accent belonging to Fire.
"We shouldn't be here," the white-haired woman next to her friend says in what is agreement. Ice thinks they should just go home too.
Soon there are many mutterings of agreement.
Richard's eyes narrow as he looks over the group and can see that their minds are set on accepting Dinah's proposal. "Fine," he says in reluctant agreement.
"Great," Nightwing says. "But first things first. What exactly is Luthor up to?"
Richard laughs sadly. "You really think he would let us know?" he asks rhetorically.
"It was worth a try," Nightwing says. "Ok the others are securing the gateway device. Canary. Gather them together. We're going," he orders.
Dinah organises her friends and colleagues for making the trip up to the next level where the gateway device is. Hopefully Batgirl and the others have managed to secure it by now.
With a kick down to the back of the head of a bent over guard Batgirl dispatches the last of the armed henchmen. It hadn't taken her, Huntress, Misfit and Zatanna long. They've all been at this far too long to have a few hired goons slow them down much. Zatanna's magic helps obviously.
Batgirl starts to look over the gateway device and accompanying computer records. "If I'm reading this correctly it is still set to the Justice Lords' reality. Essentially we just need to turn it on."
"Uh huh," Huntress remarks sceptically as she ties the last of the guards up. "It's never that simple," she comments about situations they face.
"Maybe it is," Misfit says hopefully.
"Oh never say that!" Huntress complains.
"Why?"
The doors to this room are kicked open, guards pour in and aim their weapons at the 4 heroes as Lex, accompanied by Tala, stride in.
"That's why," Huntress says.
"Oh."
"You really did not think I would not notice you did you," Lex says, his face furrowed into a deep scowl. "Although I congratulate you in getting this far."
"We tripped a silent alarm didn't we," Batgirl assumes.
"All my computer systems require a code to be entered first," Lex informs Batgirl so the second she started accessing it was the moment Lex knew.
Tala steps forward and points at Zatanna. She's still pretending she didn't know they were here. "I've been wishing for a rematch with you," she says, eager to prove she is the superior sorceress.
"Be careful what you wish for," Zatanna cautions her.
Lex rolls his eyes. "I have no time for games," he says, grinding his teeth. With Cadmus' weapon on the loose he had no time for distractions like this. "Kill them!" he orders his men.
"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you. Because then I'd be mad."
A brief flicker of worry comes to Lex's face as he turns his head to see the Justice Lords plus the other members of the Birds of Prey at the far end of the corridor.
The Justice Lord Black Canary steps forward. She was the one who spoke. "We're pulling the plug on this deal. Now you can let us go or we can go right through you. It's your choice Luthor. Personally I would prefer you go with option 2. I'll bury you next to your double from our world," she vows.
"You'll never reach your friends in time," Lex warns them.
"Not my friends," Black Canary asserts. "So go ahead and kill them. By the time you're done we'll be on top of you. You can't get us both and remember we're the ones who do what is necessary. We make any sacrifice, kill anyone who gets in our way. We're not heroes," she states with dead cold eyes.
"This bores me," Tala states in a bored sounding tone. She raises her hands and magical energy weaves around her hands. She grins wickedly.
"Oh nuts!" Zatanna exclaims the one moment before Tala unleashes her spell and everyone vanishes.
What everyone finds is that they are suddenly in a darkened cave.
"Where are we?" Misfit asks Batgirl.
"I don't know."
"You're in my domain!" Tala announces from a ledge high above them.
"Isn't her domain in Hell?" Huntress queries.
"Correct," Tala confirms. "And none of you shall leave here!"
"Tala!" Lex fumes.
"Oh hush Lex darling. I would worry more about what happens when the residents of my domain learn you are here. The dead do not tolerate the living...and I haven't even mentioned the demons yet."
"Demons?" Misfit queries with a scared gulp.
Barbara's mothering instinct kicks in and she moves next to Misfit and places a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.
"What are you doing Tala?" Lex demands to know, furiously. This had most certainly not been part of any plan of his.
"Entertaining myself. You mortals cannot begin to comprehend how boring immortality is. I allied myself with you, Lex, because it was an interesting diversion. Nothing more. I've seen a thousand men like you over the centuries and I'll see a thousand more long after your body has turned to dust."
Lex is now officially insulted at her saying there has been anyone like him. There has never been anyone who comes close to him. The sounds of creatures, strange growls and howls grabs his attention.
"Oh this should be good," Tala enthuses with a dark gleam in her eye at the prospect of her boredom being relieved albeit briefly.
Zatanna has heard enough and teleports up behind Tala.
Tala smiles in delight as she turns to face her. "Let me guess. You know you can only teleport yourself and your friends out of here if you beat me."
"Your will holds us here," Zatanna had observed from even a precursory assessment of their situation.
"True enough," Tala admits. "But you'll never win. This is my domain. My magic holds sway over all here. You are nought but an ant trying to fight the sun to me now."
"Fortune favours the bold."
"The man who thought that up died horribly. I think I have him chained up somewhere around here," Tala counters that assertion.
With potentially hoards of demons coming their way Zatanna has little choice. "I issue an official challenge, sorceress to sorceress, for their lives."
"And if I win you become my willing slave forever," Tala lays down her side of any bargain to be struck.
Zee has no choice if she wishes to save her friends. She agrees. "Done."
As Zee says it lighting crashes around the cave as the magical bargain is struck.
Tala's lips curl up into a happy, cruel smile. "I am going to enjoy the pleasure of thrashing you little magician," she says eager to inflict punishment upon Zatanna.
"Bring it!" Zatanna challenges her as she mentally prepares herself.
"I most certainly will," Tala assures Zatanna.
Metropolis...
Donna strides forward and stabs the spike forward, aiming to do what she can remember Titan trying to do, and that is pierce Superman's heart.
In the end her fist ends up slamming into Clark's hand as he catches it. He struggles against Donna's immense strength.
"Why won't you die?" Donna asks him. "You have nothing left. Krypton is gone. Your family is dead. You have nothing," she says, confused why he keeps fighting despite the fragments of his memories she possesses. She can feel his loss, his pain. It is almost unbearable. How and why does he go on?
"You're wrong. I do!" Clark insists that he does have something to live for.
Donna's eyes glow red and she blasts him in the face, in the eyes again, making him cry out in pain. Donna wrenches her fist back and tries to kill him again.
"No!" a voice screams out.
Donna spins round as the Justice Lord Wonder Woman leaps at her. Donna raises her hand and a choking sound escapes Lord Diana's lips as Donna skewers her though the chest. Donna lets her sister slide off the now bloody spike to the ground. "And thus ends the reign of the Justice Lords," Donna pronounces coldly as the last of them falls.
Donna hears the air split behind her and she turns only to receive a blow to her jaw from Superman sending her flying literally across the city.
Clark rubs at his eyes which are still healing. He feels a hand come to rest on his arm.
"Are you alright?"
Dinah.
"Yeah. I'll be fine," he insists.
"Better then her," Batman states as he stands over the dying Justice Lord Wonder Woman.
Dinah glares at him. "Would a little sympathy kill you," she chastises him.
"She is not worthy of sympathy," Diana states as she comes to stand over her double.
"K-Kal?" Lord Diana says, choking on her own blood.
Clark moves over and kneels next to her as Flash returns. Clark looks skyward. "She's coming back. I need a minute," he asks of someone to give it to him.
"I'll do it," Flash offers as he zips off to keep Donna occupied.
Dinah kneels down next to Clark and examines the wound. "It's through her heart isn't it?"
Clark nods to confirm Diana's assumption.
Even for Diana that's fatal, Dinah knows.
Lord Diana reaches up, the life fading from her eyes. Her hand cups Clark's cheeks. "I-I love you. T-Take...take care of-of Lara," she says with her final breath. Her eyes fall close and her body goes limp as her head lolls lifeless to the side.
"Whose Lara?" Dinah wonders.
Clark's face screws up in puzzlement. "My mother was called Lara."
Dinah blinks. She's been dating him for months and never got that much out of him about his biological parents.
Clark stands up straight. Deal with his failure to keep people alive later he tells himself. He has to deal with the issue that is Donna right here and now. He looks over to where Flash is keeping Donna busy but he can't keep that up.
"We're losing," Dinah makes her assessment of the situation.
Whoever Lord Diana was referring to will also have to wait. They have to stop Donna who in some twisted way Clark can see is sort of his daughter...but if she is...he wonders. "She was made from us. Her powers come from the DNA strands Cadmus stole right?"
The last remaining Wonder Woman, whose gaze briefly flickers down at her dead double with little compassion, confirms, "That seems to be the case. What are you getting at?"
"If she has our powers maybe she inherited our weaknesses...at least some of them."
Dinah wasn't fully up to speed on what Donna was but can figure out what Clark is driving at. "Then we attack her using our weaknesses as the basis. Even if she isn't vulnerable to all of them we might find some way to hurt her."
"I was going for more incapacitating rather than hurting her."
"Don't waste your compassion. She's a heartless killer," Diana dismisses Superman's concerns.
"She is what she was made to be and never given a choice. It isn't her fault and I won't condemn her for that!" he counters back.
"Superman. You already offered her the chance. She refused," Dinah reminds him.
"She said she had some of our memories. That means she has our memories of what is right and wrong. We just have to reach that side of her...and I mean that is after we stop her here and now. I'll stop her but we are not killing her," he lays down his condition.
"Perhaps I have a way to do that," Batman says as he emerges from the shadows making them all jump as he had shifted position unnoticed by them.
"Jesus. I wish you wouldn't do that!" Dinah shouts at him.
"What way?" Clark asks.
Batman raises his hand and opens it to reveal a little dart filled with a green liquid. Clark recoils instantly in pain. Kryptonite.
In response Dinah strides over to Batman and, before even he can stop her, punches him in the face. "You arrogant, pompous, paranoid asshole!" she screams. "I told you to leave him alone!" she reminds him of the talk they had when Bruce was trying to use her relationship with Clark to keep him under control and Bruce vaguely threatened that if she wouldn't do it he had the means to stop Clark. Dinah had punched Bruce that time as well when she made him tell her what he meant about what means he had to keep Clark in line.
Bruce rubs his jaw.
Clark is touched, he thinks, about Dinah's protective streak around him. "It's ok Dinah."
"It's not ok!" she fumes, glaring at Bruce, seriously thinking of how to kill the jerk.
Clark gently takes her by the shoulders. "It is. I knew he had it and I let him. It made him feel safe. It probably made them all feel safe."
"How will that tiny needle penetrate her skin?" Diana asks, remaining the pragmatic warrior and concentrating on the real threat that is her 'sister'.
"The metal's not of Earth. Hal got me a sample. I designed this to get through Superman's skin," Batman explains.
"Which would kill him!" Dinah points out, still furious.
"I tried to keep the dose down to non-lethal levels."
Clark frowns. "Except you can't know what amount is lethal to me and what is not."
"Educated guess."
"That's it! You're dead!" Dinah vows and Clark has to hold her back. "Let me go!"
"Dinah! More important things right now!" Clark reminds her.
Dinah's face is twisted in anger but Clark's right she reluctantly concedes. "Rest assured Batman this isn't the end of this," she promises him that they will continue this discussion. It made her blood boil to think Bruce would come up with something that could potentially kill Clark.
Batman shows no reaction. He stays focussed on the mission. "Since Superman's DNA is only a fraction of her genetic code in all probability this will only weaken her if it affects her at all."
"How are we going to get it in her?" Dinah asks. "She won't exactly hold still."
Clark turns his gaze to the surrounding area. "I have an idea. Wonder Woman, help Flash and keep her busy. I'll be back!" he says before he blurs off.
"He can't give me orders," Diana protests.
"Oh get off your freakin high horse Diana and just do it!" Dinah snaps as she snatches the dart from Batman's hand. "I'll handle the injection."
Diana frowns clearly unhappy but takes off the ground and flies off to help Flash.
Meanwhile at superspeed Clark has been rounding up the other members of the Justice League whom he now addresses. "I know you do not know me but I ask you now for your help. I shall tell you the truth when I say that the woman you see there," he says pointing at Donna as Wonder Woman engages her once again, "was created to destroy us. She was made from us. Bits of us were stolen to create her. Now you have every right to be angry. I share that with you but this is not about revenge. She was created by people who didn't believe you were heroes and this is not about proving anything to them either because to me you are all heroes. Therefore all I ask is that you be yourselves and we are going to do more than stop her. We're going to do what heroes do best. We're going to save her. Will you help me?"
Fire takes one moment to look over Superman appreciatively. "What kind of heroes would we be if we didn't help a handsome gentleman in distress?" she says with a flirtatious smile.
"Uh...thanks," is all Clark can come up with.
"Do you have a plan of action Superman?" Captain Atom asks.
"Actually yes. We seemed to do best against her when we switch opponents on her rapidly," Clark had noticed during the fight so far.
"Ah the old rope-a-dope strategy," Blue Beetle describes it as. "What do you mean 'No it's not'?" he suddenly asks. "Yes it is. Look who knows more about earth terminology here between us? No it's not you," he argues with seemingly himself.
Clark looks totally bewildered.
"The suit's sentient and talks to him," Booster Gold covers for his friend. "So rope-a-dope?"
"Essentially yes. We believe we have something that can stop her but it needs to be injected into her which means we have to throw her off balance so she never sees it coming. We have to hit her hard and fast, constantly changing opponents and tactics, never giving her time to adjust or second guess what we are doing. So she can never guess or sense it coming when the one with the syringe comes at her."
"Any idea how to start?" Captain Atom asks and as he asks it Donna and Diana plough into the ground making it shake.
"Ever mixed Fire and Ice?" Clark asks looking at the two women. Fire smiles delightedly while Ice blushes shyly. However both get what he is asking. It's a trick they've done before.
Diana comes flying out of the crater she and Donna created after her 'sister' managed to land a clean punch. Donna comes hovering out of the crater. "Why do you keep fighting?" she asks, truly puzzled. "You can't win."
"If you need to ask then, while you may have some of our memories, you don't have any understanding of who we are," Diana replies as she wipes some blood off her lips.
Donna's head then looks up to behind Diana. "So more of my parents have come to say hello," she comments at the appearance of Fire and Ice.
Fire raises her right hand. Ice raises her left. They hold them out in front of themselves and clasp them together. They both activate their powers and what comes rushing from their joined hands is thick water vapour which fills the air like a dense fog until it is hard to see more than a few feet.
"Clever...but futile. I don't need to see anything. My telekinesis allows me to sense movement," Donna says into the mist. She spins to the left as a figure rushes by and then to the right as another does so. Another one rushes behind her and she spins round yet the attack does not come. "Stop it!" she snaps, as she starts to become on edge.
A golden energy blast seers through the mist only for Donna to deflect it away with her one remaining bracelet. She had dropped the other one when Superman punched her across the city. Unfortunately the act of deflecting has left her open to a blue energy blast that hits her in the back making her grunt in pain. She shakes her head and tries to concentrate but there are figures running around, across and behind her constantly making it difficult to be sure which one to focus on.
Better idea. She will fly above the mist. She surges upward only to run straight into the silver-skinned form of Captain Atom who sends her plummeting back to Earth with a blast of nuclear energy. She hits the ground with her black suit smoking.
A figure phases up out of the ground. It had taken J'onn some time to recover from where Donna hit him but he was recovered and aware of the plan. His hand shoots forward into Donna's head in an attempt to break into her mind. Perhaps physical contact can succeed where he couldn't before. With a lot of effort he starts to break through her mental barricades and he sees it...sees what she sees...feels what drives her...the conflicting mass of emotions from those that were used to make her...and he understands. Her drive to change the world. It comes from them only the darker impulses taken from everyone have merged to twist that desire into the dark one Donna aims for where she sweeps away the old in a orgy of blood and death if needs be.
"Get OUT!" Donna mentally screams at him and J'onn finds himself forcefully ejected from her mind. Donna screams in rage and telekinetically pushes him away.
Donna rubs her head and curses that damn Martian with many curses in many languages taken from her inherited memories. Gods her head is throbbing. She can't think straight which is why she never sees the next attack coming nor who it is that hits her nor the one after that nor the one after that.
Each attack so quick from a different direction leaving Donna spinning around hitting air. Rage builds up within her until it reaches such a height that it starts to overwhelm her psyche. "I will kill you all for this!" she screams into the mist, her voice taking on a deep throaty sound. Her head pounds worse than before until she finds herself grabbed by both arms. One by Superman, the other by Wonder Woman who force her down to her knees.
"Canary. Now!" Diana shouts as she struggles to hold on against the struggling young woman.
Dinah runs as swiftly as she can.
"NO!" Donna screams in pure rage and something starts to happen. Her skin starts to turn grey. Her suit tears as bony spikes start to appear through her skin. Her eyes snap open and are blood red in colour and suddenly she throws Superman and Wonder Woman off as if they are nothing. She spins round and backhands Black Canary who goes flying through the air, dropping the green liquid filled syringe which rolls across the ground but does not shatter.
Clark sits up as Donna spins to glare at him. She is physically increasing in size as her suit begins to tear at the strain.
"Hera. What is she becoming?" Diana asks.
"I don't think we want to find out," Clark replies. "Grab her. While we still can!"
Diana and Clark rush to their feet and rush at Donna. She sweeps Diana away with almost a lazy sweep of her arm and grabs Clark by his throat all in but an instant. She lifts him off the ground with ease and rams her fist into his gut over and over. A fist now laden with bony protrusions along the knuckles. She pulls her fist back once more and blood drips off the bony spikes. Clark's blood. "Destroy Superman," she says in that deep throaty tone that no longer sounds remotely human.
"Not in this lifetime!" Dinah yells as she leaps on the back, using the bony spikes as handholds. "I promised myself I would never do this," she says, hating what she is about to do. She gets her lips as close to Donna's ear as possible and then she screams as loud as she can.
Donna screams in agony as the hypersonic waves vibrate her brain. She drops Superman and staggers forward. A human's brain would already be mush by now. She spins round and bucks and manages to fling Dinah away. Donna...or whatever she is now staggers around, her balance completely disrupted as blood drips from her ears, eyes, nose and mouth.
A figure in back emerges from the mist as Batman, syringe in hand, leaps onto her and jabs the dart into her neck. The contents are injected into her body. The resulting spasm throws Batman away and he rolls to a stop in a crouch and watches and waits to see what happens next.
Through the grey skin discoloured green veins become visibly distended as the poison that is kryptonite ravages through her system. Donna gasps. Her blood red eyes change back to sky blue and she visibly begins to shrink. She staggers forward a few more steps before she collapses. The bony spike recede as her skin returns to normal. She lies on the ground, her body shaking as if having a fit.
Clark takes a deep breath and blows the fog away with his superbreath before he zips over to Dinah to check on her.
"I'm fine," Dinah insists. Luckily Donna only ever got a glancing blow although Dinah is pretty certain she's going to have several severe bruises by the morning.
"You're sure?" Clark asks with all the concern of an overprotective boyfriend.
"Have we not discussed your overprotective streak?"
"No."
"Oh. That's right. I'm not talking to you at the minute am I."
"Dinah," Clark pleads with a sorrowful expression.
Dinah raises her hand. "We are not discussing this here," she states flatly.
An unhappy expression comes to Clark's face. He hates they had a fight. He hates fighting with anyone. It may seem naïve but he just prefers if everyone could get along. His hand goes to his battered torso that Donna almost tore apart with those bony spikes. It's healing but it still hurts.
"What is she doing?" Dinah suddenly asks.
"What? Who?"
She points at Wonder Woman who has picked up a sharpened pole. In an instant Clark is there and has grabbed her wrist. " I said no," he says sternly, reminding her they are not killing Donna.
"You saw what she was about to turn into. For all our sakes I must," Diana argues.
"We don't know anything about what she was turning into. Look around you. Is this the world you want? Because you kill her that is the world you will get. You'll be just like her," he says pointing at the fallen Justice Lord Wonder Woman.
"I..I..." Diana struggles to rebut that.
"Canary told me. About their world. About cities in ruin just like this."
And Donna seemed to be like a physical example of the Justice Lords if they could be represented by a single being, Dinah has to think.
Clark continues his attempt to get Diana to see what she is doing. "Is that what you want? To be like the Justice Lords? Because that is where you are heading," he warns her.
"I'm not...we're different..." Diana continues to struggle for an argument.
"Look at her," he demands Diana do at Donna. "However she came about she is your sister. Minimally she is a living person lying helpless and you would just kill her? Don't you see the slope you are on. I'm not saying she isn't dangerous. I'm saying it's time you lived up to the name of the organisation you lead. You kill her here in cold blood that is not justice and should my words fail to sway you the only way you will get to her is through me."
"Through us!"
Diana's head turns to find the Justice Leaguers standing there in a group stern, disapproving expressions on her face. Diana looks at them, at Superman and down at the helpless figure of Donna.
"Choose Diana," Dinah says. "Remember what their Zatanna said. We want to avoid becoming the Justice Lords it is as simple as we choose not to be them. She was right. It is that simple in the end."
Diana looks at her friend Dinah and can see her almost pleading to choose wisely. She throws the pole away and then looks square in Superman's eye. "Should she prove to be beyond redemption and threaten the innocent once again I will stop her and then I will hold you accountable," she promises, her tone harsh and cold. She yanks her hand free of Superman and takes off into the air.
"Yikes. PMS-ing much," Flash says which earns him a smack across the back of the head from...well everyone in smacking range.
Clark lets out a breath. She doesn't need to say that. Clark knows he has to take responsibility now for the decision he has made. He goes to Donna and bends down. Her veins are still distended and discoloured and she is sweating profusely.
J'onn bends down next to him. "She seems to be having an allergic reaction," he assesses.
"To me Kryptonite is deadly poison. We need to get her proper medical treatment and to figure out how she was made," Clark determines because figuring that out is the first step in figuring out how to try and rehabilitate Donna, to coin a phrase. Should that fail...well Clark said he would take responsibility and he will but he has to at least try and save Donna first.
"Then we'll take him with us," Batman decides as he walks over, Dr Hamilton over his shoulder. "Dr Hamilton created her. He must know the most about her and I believe he sees her as some sort of daughter and will be inclined to save her." He then looks at Superman. "Like Wonder Woman I shall hold you responsible if she kills again."
"Batman," Dinah says in a low dangerous tone. "If you want your teeth to remain in your mouth and not down your throat may I suggest you BACK OFF!"
J'onn picks Donna up. "Canary. May I request you stay here and co-ordinate the rescue efforts?" he asks Dinah since in his opinion she is the most qualified one here to undertake such a task.
Dinah nods. "Sure...oh can you have someone swing round Luthor's Mansion?"
"Luthor? Why?" Batman asks.
"Who do you think is to blame for the Justice Lords being back?" Dinah asks him rhetorically. "Anyway Batgirl was there to try and secure the Gateway device and our not so friendly duplicates from the other world."
Luthor. Batman should have known. He hands over Hamilton to Superman. "I'll go," he declares and presses a switch on his belt. The Bat-wing swoops in overhead and a line drops down. Batman grabs hold and climbs up into the aircraft which is soon roaring away towards the Luthor Mansion.
J'onn activates his communicator and has himself, Superman, Donna and Hamilton beamed up to the Watchtower.
Dinah turns to the Justice Leaguers. "I know there are questions but there are innocent lives that need to be saved first. Answers later. Flash, find Aquaman. We know he was hurt," she orders first off.
Flash salutes with a cheeky wink and vanishes.
Dinah has to smile a little at that. She would never admit it but after leaving the League she found she missed even Wally's terrible humour. She returns to the task at hand. "Lets spread out in teams. I will co-ordinate with the local search and rescue assets. Lets move people!"
That is all it takes and the Justice League spreads out to save who they can.
Tala's Domain...
Legions of demons and damned souls had by now fallen upon the Birds of Prey, the depowered Justice Lords, Lex and his guards. They had been forced to band together and for now were holding their own but they could only do that so long before the numbers overwhelmed them.
Therefore it all hinged on Zatanna defeating Tala high above them on a ledge where the two sorceress were fighting. Only once Tala is out the picture could they possibly escape.
Unfortunately that fight was not going the heroes' way. A fact Zatanna can testify to rather painfully as she slams into the stone wall after being on the receiving end of a spell bolt from Tala.
Tala strides elegantly towards Zatanna hardly looking as if she is trying at all. "Yield," she demands. "Yield and your friends' suffering shall be short."
If Zatanna yields she will become Tala's slave and she really doubts Tala means it about her friends. Zatanna pushes herself off the wall, her cheek stinging. That's going to be sore in the morning. She summons up her magical energies.
Tala rolls her eyes at the foolish display of heroics. "Very well. If you wish to suffer than so be it." She unleashes an attack which Zatanna deflects before retaliating with a ball of energy.
Tala casts a spell and turns it to smoke.
Zatanna makes the ground rise up mimicking the shape of her hands and they grab hold of Tala following Zatanna's movements.
"Oh please. This is the best you can do?" Tala says dismissively wholly unimpressed. She closes her eyes and moments later the hands shatters into pieces which circle around and around in twister before she sends the debris at Zatanna who raises a shield to deflect them.
Energy falls from above Zatanna like rain and her shield starts to dissolve. She cries out as the energy drops break through and burn her skin.
Tala summons up sparkling purple energy between her hands and unleashes what resembles an energy whip at Zatanna. It strikes her face, slicing it open. Tala strikes Zatanna's middle, tearing her clothes and slicing her skin open underneath. She then throws the whip and it wraps around Zatanna imprisoning her.
Tala strides forward and grabs Zatanna by her chin. "Foolish child," she chides Zatanna. "I am an immortal. I know spells in languages that no longer exist. Did you really think you could beat me? In this place I am all powerful!" she declares in arrogant tones.
Next thing anyone knows is that a black crackling energy ball smacks into Tala and she tumbles almost off the ledge upon which she and Zatanna have been fighting.
Tala groans before she looks as to where that came from.
Zatanna is looking in shock at who it is. It's...well it's her. The Justice Lord double of her who strides forward wearing an odd smile on her face. "All powerful huh?" she questions that not sounding very impressed at that claim before she lays down the challenge. "I would like to test that theory!"
Author's Note: Now I wonder what was Donna possibly turning into? Grey skin, bony protrusion, blood red eyes, tends to bring 'Doom' wherever it shows up. I'm pretty certain you can guess. Tala's little escapade seems random I know but I thought she's a bored immortal; random, impulsive decisions are a consequence of her trying to alleviate that boredom. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; It's up to the Justice Lord Zatanna to save the day for those trapped down in Tala's domain...uh they could be doomed.