John had seen many sights after becoming a Green Lantern. Nebulas, worlds, Oa itself. Out of everything, Earth would always hold a special place in his heart. The beautiful blue of the water and atmosphere, the greens, browns, and yellows of the land, and white of the clouds and ice held a, well, a majesty that always struck a chord.
Even when on the Watchtower it would always be a sight if you looked to either your left or your right, depending on what direction you were facing. It should have been a mundane sight by now, but no, it still managed to give him pause.
Right now it was having a run for its money in the form of a red-haired, green-eyed woman who just happened to come with a pair of wings. Not quite an angel, but to him, she would always be one. Right now, those green eyes were hidden behind a fierce mask, one that resembled that of a hawk.
It didn't matter to John that Shayera was a Thanagarian, an alien to Earth in every sense of the word. If there were people on Earth that couldn't stand the thought of people with different skin tones being together, an entire species was right out. Yet, he was drawn to her in ways he still could not describe and didn't think he would ever want to.
"And what are you looking at?" Ah, a question from lips that were so...uhh...he wasn't one for...there was a difference between describing a planet and putting into word something so...someone like...her lips were beautiful. Just like the rest of her.
"Am I not supposed to look?" is what the Sector 2814 Green Lantern responded with.
A wry smirk answered him first. "Depends on what you're looking at and where."
John never would have ever expected to think the word coy with Shayera, but this woman was full of surprises. It left a lot to the imagination of what else she was hiding. For so long, he had seen nothing but professionalism, a tendency to charge headfirst into a fight, and a stubborn bullheadedness that put his old commanding officer to shame. That she was more, well, had taken a little time to figure out.
He found he liked being surprised and liked how she was the one doing it.
"What I like to look at tends to be covered up most of the time," he replied, taking in the features of the helm she wore, how ferocious it appeared. How it covered the eyes and disguised them while letting her see everything.
"Anything I should take from those implications?" the Thanagarian teased.
"Only what you want," the Green Lantern answered.
"Should I assume any intentions coming from the gutter?" More teasing; it had taken more than enough time to figure out the subtle differences between a tease and a taunt.
"Assume what you want. Your eyes have always been the most magnetic thing about you."
Though much of that fierce helm hid it, the trained soldier in him picked up on the blush. She hadn't been expecting that answer; good, it was nice to see her surprised.
"So what about my eyes do you find...magnetic?" she inquired, slowly drawing closer.
He copied, moving closer to her. "My grandma always told me eyes are the windows into the soul and the one I see is powerful. Strong. Beautiful."
"You don't say." Chests were pressing against one another and necks were titling. "What else?"
Breath was starting to mingle. "Passion. Honesty. Well, maybe not that last one."
Eyes were lidding over. "Why not that last one?"
Noses were starting to brush against one another. "Because you hide them. You hide them behind that mask, where no one gets to see them. So all I see is something covering them. A real shame, because they're so—"
"Hey GL, was just looking for you and—WHOA! Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's—which—is that? GL, what are you doing with Hawkgirl?"
Both of the defenders of Earth jerked back, snapping their heads around to see Flash gawking at them, one arm held up and pointing straight at them.
"Ever hear of knocking?" Hawkgirl practically drawled out as she pulled herself away from the Lantern. John could feel the reluctance with letting her leave.
"But you! And GL!" A red-clad head was nearly a blur as it pointed from one hero to the other. "Since when! And how!"
Now John was rolling his eyes. "A while. It hasn't been exactly a secret."
"How long!" the speedster cried out.
Glancing at Hawkgirl, who shrugged her shoulders in reply, Green Lantern thought about his answer and decided honesty was the best policy.
"Since that business with the White House. A little before if I recall correctly."
"But that was, like, years ago! Why am I just now finding out!" Flash exclaimed, both arms extended out from his body.
The snark was a feeling he shared with the Thanagarian. "Because you're blind as a bat and only half as smart as one?"
Flash opened his mouth, a finger now pointing at the only female in the immediate area, and said nothing for several seconds. He just stood there, looking like he was going to speak, but never uttering a word. A goldfish came to mind as a good descriptor. When he did, "That's a low blow."
Rolling her eyes, Hawkgirl looked back to the dark-skinned Lantern. "We'll meet up later." Matching action to words, she began to saunter away, moving around Flash and out of the room.
With the two of them left, John allowed all feelings of disgruntlement to show on his face as he glowered at the speedster. "This had better be important."
Whipping back to face the Lantern, the Scarlet Speedster said, "Oh, it's totally important. Incredibly. Um...I can't remember what it was…" a hand reached up to scratch the back of the younger man's head, "...but it was important, I swear! And...um...I...was being a cockblock here, wasn't I?"
He found he could not argue with that last sentence.
"The guards reported a woman at the prison," Batman announced as he strode into the room. "Professionally dressed, attractive, average height, brown hair, green eyes. Carried a briefcase, though when searched it only contained documents."
"Any idea what those documents were?" Superman asked, a frown on his face.
"None. The guards didn't inspect them."
"Don't the guards wear body cams now?" Hawkgirl asked as she leaned forward in her seat. They were meeting once more in the meeting room, responding to the vigilante's announcement of his return from Gotham's infamous Blackgate Prison. Unfortunately, the reason for its infamous reputation was changing and it wasn't for a good reason. "Maybe if we accessed them, we could not only get a possible look at the documents, but this woman as well."
That wasn't a bad idea; however, "The guards at Blackgate aren't required to wear body cams, not like most police precincts today. Most prisons, in fact, don't require them. So that's a dead end."
"I find that a big lapse on their end," the Thanagarian retorted, narrowing her eyes.
"Wasn't in the budget," Flash quipped. "Besides, if there were cameras, Jeff Epstein would still be in jail."
"All this means is that we're back at square one, with the Pantheon on the loose and a mysterious benefactor who set it up," John Stewert interjected. "What we need to do is figure out what the Pantheon is up to and stop them."
"I think we have overlooked something," J'onn suddenly spoke up. "How did Dr. Alchemy get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone? That seems to be what instigated this entire matter."
"The woman, most likely," Batman replied.
"What makes you think that, though?" the Green Lantern countered. "You said the only things found in this mystery woman's briefcase were documents. They would have done a search of her person as well, so she couldn't have hidden it there either."
"Most likely there was a false bottom in the briefcase," the dark-clad man explained.
"An x-ray scan would have revealed that if there was and I'd be damned if a prison wouldn't have one of those to search for contraband."
"Blackgate does have one for all visitors. It wouldn't be too difficult to fool it though; in this case, the false bottom would be lined with lead and the rest of the briefcase's contents would help disguise it. Considering the size of the stone, it wouldn't have to be that big of a space either."
"Then the x-ray would see the papers and folders and the guards wouldn't think to search much further than that," Hawkgirl surmised, slumping back in her seat with a grimace on her face.
"What about the security footage though?" Diana pointed out. "How was that taken?"
"Bribery," Batman grunted. "I've already found the offending party and they've been...dealt with."
"So we're still back where we started," Superman said, clearly not liking the revelation. Batman couldn't blame him, he didn't like it either. It wasn't often he ran into a dead end like this.
Still, all this told him was that the unknown benefactor was experienced in what they did. They moved as a ghost, covering their tracks expertly. If they were sloppy, they wouldn't have been able to pull off this prison escape. That limited the number of people it could be. So one had to ask themselves who could pull off such a scheme?
The vigilante knew he could do it. He knew many people of wealth and power could do it too. Your common man couldn't. They had neither the funds, nor the thought process to do so. Most preferred a smash-and-grab approach, get in, get out as fast as possible. Admittingly, a rich benefactor wasn't much to go on, but it was better than nothing.
Still, he wasn't going to mention that just yet. Until there was something conclusive pointing in that direction, he would keep this to himself and continue to work on it. Once he had something more substantial, he would—
An alarm suddenly went off, surprising the Leaguers, their heads jerking up to the nearest loudspeaker.
"Oh great, what now?" Flash asked sarcastically.
The doors had been torn open like paper and flung away like twigs. The zombified Solomon Grundy led the way into the bank, barely responding to security personnel who were knocked aside with little to no effort.
Felix Faust followed after, not happy with being reduced to, well, this.
He was robbing a bank. A bank. Not once in all of his years...the mystical had always held his fascination, and finding interested parties that would allow him to conduct his studies and research had been preferable compared to...robbing a bank.
Shaking his head, Faust strolled around Grundy, casually observing the frightened states of the bank customers and employees. A lot of them kept their eyes on Solomon Grundy, which Faust did not blame them. However, the zombified man was not one for long, thoughtful conversation, so it was up to him to fulfill that role.
"Your attention, ladies and gentlemen," he announced, his voice projecting and booming. "My friend and I are here for a simple withdrawal and nothing more. Do cooperate and we'll be vacating these premises in no time."
It was never enough to just speak. Fortunately, Faust was adding a demonstration that Grundy was not the only threat in the room. A gesture of a hand and a portion of the teller stations disintegrated, leaving the employees with no barrier to hide behind. Like scared animals, they scrambled away from the destroyed counter, trying to not be spotted by the nefarious duo. Stalking to the nearest teller, the magician expressed the most pleasant smile he was capable of.
"Would you care to direct me to the vault?" Waiting, Faust had a thought, then added, "Please."
Behind him, Grundy loomed over the smaller man, his vacant expression staring down at the employee, a middle-aged woman who trembled uncontrollably, staring back up at the massive undead. Her eyes darted to her left, flickering almost, but it was all the cue that the master of magic needed. Faust turned his head in the direction the eyes had darted to, then strolled that way until he came towards the back of the bank.
Looking to his left, he noted the hallway he found and at the end of which was a vault door. Thick metal gave it away and he was tempted to use his magic to be rid of it. However, he had a better idea.
Glancing at his accomplice, "Grundy, if you would handle the door."
The living undead man returned the mage's request with a blank look, but then began to follow Faust's direction. Large feet stomped on the polish floor, the massive body lumbering past the magic user. As Grundy made his way down the hallway, Faust muttered a chant under his breath and gave a flourish with his hand. Flares of flame danced around the bank, causing many cries of fear and panic from the rise of seemingly randomly placed bursts of fire.
"Don't get any ideas," he warned. "The next flames I use will be to incinerate any would be heroes, or cowards. It matters not to me."
Reaching the vault door, Grundy stood before it, doing nothing for several seconds. Then, a huge hand curled into a fist, which pounded against the metal door with a powerful slam. Metal groaned, but held firm, exposing its reinforced nature. The zombie man raised his other fist and repeated the previous action. Then again with the first fist, then the second once more. Metal slowly began to warp under the feat of might, the pounding stopping only when the living undead managed to warp the door enough to slip his fingers on either side of it.
The vault door was torn out then slammed into an adjacent wall. The savagery ended just as quickly, and Grundy stomped into the vault itself, coming to a stop once inside. The walls were lined with safety deposit boxes, all locked of course, though it would not prove an obstacle for Faust. There was a rolling cart that happened to have an orderly pile of currency on it, spare cash in the chance it would be needed later in the day.
The reason why it was there was meaningless. It did draw Grundy to it, who, much to Faust's surprise, uttered words that were not a certain nursery rhyme. "Grundy like money."
Faust blinked, wondering if he heard correctly. The was...certainly odd, and it made him question more about the nature of this creature. There was so much he didn't know, which then led him to think about how someone else had been able to discover this monster's existence before him. For years, he had studied magic and mysticism and anything and everything else related. A scholar, that's what he had been before he had been approached by Zeus and Desmond.
The academic in him was dying to learn more. The more practical side declared this was not the time, or place.
By now, Grundy was grabbing any and all stacks of money he could and stuffing it into pockets. Some fell out and onto the floor, but Grundy paid it no heed.
His lips curling in amusement, the former God of Magic figured that he needed to take charge of this part of the operation. His companion here, while enthusiastic, wouldn't be able to carry everything.
A simple spell should be able to fix that.
The Monitor Room was filled with heroes, looking up at a large screen that was broadcasting live feeds of what appeared to be a bank robbery. Initial reports were of two perpetrators, one in dark blue robes and the other a lumbering giant of a man.
A news crew had managed to hack into the bank's security feeds to get a visual, something the police had no doubt done as well. Unlike the police though, the news was broadcasting the footage, revealing none other than Felix Faust and his latest feat of magic, Solomon Grundy. They had headed right into the vault and that was the last anyone had seen of them. Clearly there weren't any security cameras there.
"That didn't take them long," John grunted as he stared at the screen.
"Seems kind of simplistic, don't ya think?" Hawkgirl responded. "From property damage to summoning gods, and now they're robbing a bank?"
"Everyone needs money. Maximilian Zeus had been the Pantheon's pocketbook the first go-around. Without it, they have to get money somehow."
That was a logical point, Batman had to admit. However, he did have to agree with Hawkgirl's assertion that this was out of character. Murder and robbery may have been crimes, but the two weren't mutual inclusive. There may be death at a robbery, but it wasn't a requirement. In fact, most robbers tried to avoid it because of the stiffer penalties if they were caught. Murder, on the other hand, was a tool of convenience and Faust had no such qualms over it.
There was something else afoot here.
That was when the news station announced a new development. There were other bank robberies occurring, the presence of meta-humans being reported. Deciding to not wait for whatever the news station was about to report, Batman stepped towards the computer station and began typing on the keyboard. A window appeared, that of a grid of the city, red dots appearing on it to indicate where the robberies were. There were three in total, one of which they already knew the perpetrators. Accessing the security feeds of the other banks, two more windows appeared.
The images of Dr. Alchemy and the Shade appeared in each one, the former using the Philosopher's Stone to tear down the door to the vault, the later using the darkness from his cane to subdue the security guards. There was no audio, so all they saw was the actions.
Three different banks simultaneously. Apparently the Pantheon really wanted some money.
"They're certainly dividing and conquering," Flash quipped. "So how do we want to do this? Teams again?"
"Founders only," John interjected. Receiving looks from the rest of the League, he explained, "We need to nip this in the bud. The seven of us already have experience fighting the Pantheon, so that should let us take them down quicker. The sooner we get this done, the better."
"What about the others?" Flash pointed out. "What was the point of recruiting these guys if we're just going to sideline them this early on?"
"I believe John has a point," J'onn responded. "We haven't adequately judged which members complement each other. That requires practice and time. It was an oversight on our part by sending the team that we did to Gateway."
"We also just sent a team in blind," Hawkgirl said. "Figured that whomever we sent would be just fine and then it wasn't. We know better now."
Batman glanced over his shoulder, but he wasn't looking at the original Leaguers. Instead, he was eying the new recruiters, who were watching the debate, staying silent as they waited. There were a few shared glances between them, but nothing more. Faintly he wondered if they had the same thoughts that Flash had just voiced. Each one had accepted an invitation, one that was souring fast. None voiced this however, content with allowing the original members debate. Whether that was because of they were uncertain of their role here, or they rather defer to seniority was debatable.
However, he did agree that this needed to be taken care of quickly. J'onn had a good point about them not having adequately prepared themselves for the formation of teams; the League had figured whoever they sent would fit together like a glove. That may have worked out for the League in its early days, but part of that was luck. Lightning wasn't known for striking the same place twice after all.
"I don't see that we have much of a choice," Superman finally spoke up. "Three teams, one at each bank. I'll take on Grundy and see if he can stand up to my strength."
"Then you'll need me," Hawkgirl said. "I should be able to take care of Faust's magic so that he doesn't get a clean shot at you."
"I'd like to face Dr. Alchemy once again," Diana then volunteered. "This time, I will not let him escape."
"The sooner you get that stone away from him, the sooner he'll go down," Flash added, a rare bit of insight from the red-clad man. "I think I can help you with that. I can snatch that rock right out of his hand before he gets too creative."
"Which leaves me and J'onn on Shade," Lantern finished. He then glanced to the Dark Knight. "Any preference, Batman?"
"You seem to have this handled," he responded. "I'll stay here and monitor the situation. If there's any surprises, I can send in reinforcements." At this, he looked at the other League members. "I'll just need to familiarize myself with their capabilities first."
"Then it's settled," Superman said. "We know our objectives. Now let's put an end to the Pantheon."