The fight with Grundy had moved into a parking garage. Instead of household and consumer goods to throw around, there were cars to use now. Superman's Heat Vision tore into the gas tank of one such vehicle as it flipped through the air in his direction, detonating it before it could get close to him.

The zombie man held a car in each hand, throwing one, then the other at the Man of Steel. Quickly, the Kryptonian knocked the first car away and caught the second, giving a heave as he threw it right back at his opponent. The pale-skinned hulk in turn caught and threw the automobile away, shoulders rising up and down with exertion.

There seemed to be no end in sight for this fight. Whatever Superman had dished out, Grundy had taken. Grundy could also throw it right back and the dark-haired man had to really use his defensive capabilities at this point. What was it going to take to take this guy down and keep him down?

Whether Grundy was capable of any kind of thinking was...something to debate later, but it could not be said that he was incapable of any kind of thought. The large zombie turned to a load-bearing pillar and tore it out from where it helped to hold up the upper level of the garage. Well, it seemed its strength knew no limit, at least not yet.

The mass of concrete was thrown, much like the cars from earlier. Tensing his muscles, Superman waited until the pillar was close enough and then threw his fist. He felt his arm tremble from the force of the blow colliding with the large projectile, but he felt no resistance as the pillar shattered, debris flying past him almost harmlessly.

Grundy had not come charging from behind the pillar, which would have shown some tactical ability. The monster was more keen on glaring at him, perhaps struggling to understand why his foe was not a bloody smear by now.

This gave Superman time to try to think of what he could do next. Brute force had done nothing. They were running out of things to throw. Heat Vision was an option, but how could he use it effectively? There had to be something he could do, something else available...wait.

It was an epiphany, but he was grateful for it all the same. There had been a conversation he had overheard some weeks ago, Jimmy in the breakroom with a few other staff members. They had been talking about zombie apocalypses, oddly enough, and one of them had brought up a very interesting point.

You want to avoid zombies, go someplace cold.

Without warning, Grundy gave a roar and began charging, seemingly not carrying what his next action was going to be. Just so long as the Kryptonian was hurt, that was all that mattered. Not today, though.

Sucking in as much air as he could, Superman blew out an arctic gale of cold. Slowly, but surely, ice crystals began to form on the monster, spreading and spreading, slowing down Grundy until he was mostly covered in ice, coming to a stop several feet away. The Man of Steel did not stop, at least not quickly, blowing more and more of his icy breath until his lungs had no more air to give.

Stopping, he observed his handiwork, noticing how Grundy's jaw was chattering and his body was frozen in place, one arm raised up, the other bent at his side, and his legs spaced apart enough to show he was in mid-step. His head had ice crystals forming on it, but not enough to encase it, so that was the only animated part of this newly icy sculpture.

Zombies had no heartbeat, he remembered overhearing. The flow of blood throughout the body created heat, which was why mammals were able to have their own body temperatures. They could keep themselves warm in cold temperatures, at least for a short amount of time. Since zombies had no heartbeat, they had no blood circulation, which meant no internal body temperature. In a cold enough climate, they would freeze in place where something warm-blooded would be able to carry on.

It seemed that was the best strategy to go with. That Planet staff member had earned the coffee the Kryptonian was going to give him the next time he came in for work.

Crackling sounds interrupted the quiet and Superman's eyes began to widen as small cracks began to form in the ice. Grundy was fighting against his icy prison and it was only a matter of time until he broke free. But...that was time enough for the Man of Steel to try and end this fight once and for all, wasn't it?

Hands balled into fists. Alright, let's do—

Everything began to dim, light cut off as darkness swallowed everything. "Sorry, but I'm afraid this dance is over, Superman. I'm going to be taking my friend now, but don't worry, there will be a next time."

Superman jerked his head up. "Shade?!" he demanded, whipping his head from side to side, for all the good that did. He couldn't see anything, not even when he fell back on his other visions. X-ray was failing him, among others. All he could see was darkness.

Then, gradually, the world began to undim. Light slowly returned, and soon enough, Superman found himself alone, no sign of Grundy, or Shade. No matter how hard he looked and with what sight he had, there were no trace of the two.

Damn it. Damn it! They got away! He was still going to try searching, but based on his past experiences with Shade, he knew what the odds of finding them nearby were.

It didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

J'onn was rather embarrassed. He had minimal contact with the Shade the last time he had been active, so his experience fighting against the man was minute. He had not expected the man to swallow him up in darkness and perpetually keep him restrained.

He had resisted the darkness, pushed back against it, but something about it interfered with the telepathy, so he was unable to unleash a psychic attack. He would have tried becoming intangible, but the inky blackness removed all sense of touch, so he had no idea in which direction he could go. Physical resistance had proven useless as well.

Then the darkness began to lessen and soon light appeared. J'onn readily moved towards it and soon found himself standing next to one of the walls of the bank. The rest of the room was a mess, the result of a battle he had no part of.

He was not an egotistical man, but his dignity had suffered an embarrassing blow.

Looking around, J'onn saw he was alone. The Shade was nowhere in sight. It would seem he had escaped. Reaching out with his mind, he sought his foe's, trying to locate him. He searched not only within the bank, but outside of it too. As he began to pick up the throes of citizens, he soon realized the Shade was long gone. That, more than anything else, was probably the reason why his dark prison was removed.

J'onn sighed. It would seem he was in need of instruction. It had been quite some time since he had been eliminated so quickly in a fight. Steps would need to be taken to correct it. With Green Lantern taking on the surprising appearance of what he called a Star Sapphire, it had been up to him to defeat the Shade. Instead of success, the Shade had immediately swallowed him up in darkness and that had been the end.

It was then that he realized something. During his search for the Shade, he did not detect Green Lantern. Allowing his mind to cease its probing, the Martian lifted up into the air for an aerial search, scanning the room for the sight of his comrade.

He didn't see him; he couldn't see him. There was no wreckage piled anywhere that would have covered his body. Once again, he reached out with his mind, going much further afield than he had tried for the Shade. More and more minds echoed within his, but he could not locate John Stewart.

Something was wrong.

Reaching a hand to his ear, he activated the comm link. "Green Lantern," he called out. "Please locate your—"

A sharp static sound screeched into his ear, cutting him off as he winced from the frequency. It was not often the comm links were down and there were few causes for it. A frequency jammer was one such reason, along with poor connection to the communication satellites. It was also possible it was broken, but a broken comm link more often than not did not make any sounds. Considering that his current location was in the middle of a city, he rather doubted it was due to poor connectivity.

So when most options were eliminated, the ones that were left were most likely the culprit. There was an active signal jammer interfering with the comm link. While he was uncertain of the reason, he did know that it could not have been a coincidence for his current situation. He was missing a comrade following a battle and the jammer just happened to be cutting off communication in his area. There was nothing coincidental about this.

Fortunately, he was not completely reliant on the comm link. With his mind, he reached out to the others within the city. They would need to regroup quickly to avoid others going missing as well. If they were captured, they would learn soon who it was.

Finding John Stewart was a primary objective. The Shade had once murdered a man for power; he would not be against the same act again. Until found, it would be best to consider his friend was in danger.

A Javelin had been sent to Earth to retrieve the Justice League, at least for the ones that couldn't breathe in space. Superman, Hawkgirl, Flash, and Wonder Woman had been returned to the Watchtower, J'onn declining the ride and Green Lantern being strangely silent.

Apparently there had been a signal jammer in the vicinity of the bank the Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern had fought at. J'onn was currently tracking it down. That helped explain some of the interference with the comm links, though not all of it. A wider search at the other two banks would need to be performed unless this one jammer was in a location that it covered all three.

Diana was currently in the Medbay, having remained unconscious the entire journey back. According to Flash, she had taken a hypersonic attack point blank and hadn't roused since. Allowing her to rest was the best treatment at the moment. If it continued on though, steps may have to be taken.

It was worrisome though, that an Amazon could be taken out so easily. It made Batman wonder if Black Canary was capable of such a feat, but had held back. He might need to broach the subject with her and see if she knew, or had tried. Part of him felt she hadn't.

"If you ask me, there's some strange things going on," Flash was saying as he slouched in his chair, one leg over an arm rest, an arm over the back of the chair. "The entire time I fought Girder, he kept going for Wondy. I'm not certain as to why."

"A better question is where all these new faces showed up," Hawkgirl interjected. "What went from us apprehending the Pantheon ended up with reinforcements showing up, Lord knows why." She paused as a thought occured to her. "And why weren't we able to return the favor?"

"Considering we had to come back on the Javelin, I'd say there was something wrong with the teleporter," Superman surmised.

"A little convenient for that to happen, wouldn't you say?"

"It is too convenient," Batman agreed. "Along with the comm link interference. J'onn is currently investigating that end of things, so we'll have an answer soon."

It was a good point though. All of this technological failure occurred when the League was being ambushed. If J'onn found the source of the alleged signal jammer, then it was clear someone had put some planning and preparation into this.

The Pantheon had been the perfect bait, if that was the case. They were recent enough for the League to want to put a stop to them quickly, not to mention their first attack in Gateway. It was entirely possible that had only been a set up for this trap. Even if it had resulted in the summoning of Solomon Grundy, it smelled like a setup. He had learned long ago to trust his instincts on this.

"I'd also like to know just who it was that ambushed us too," Hawkgirl continued. "I certainly didn't recognize the robot guy that attacked me."

"Robot?" Flash questioned as he looked to the winged woman. "What did he look like?"

"Like I said, a robot, but it was like he was wearing a human skin, or something. Part of it was hanging off of him."

Superman perked up at that. "Blond hair, tall, enhanced strength?"

The Thanagarian looked at the Kryptonian. "You know him?"

"Unfortunately. His name is Metallo, another of Luthor's experiments. He was designed to kill me, but went off of the deep end. Considering he didn't like me before he was changed and he still tries to kill me every so often."

"That at least explains his strength," Hawkgirl replied. "But I doubt he would be successful if that's all he is."

"He's powered by kryptonite," Superman added. "And he can expose his power source any time. That's what makes him so dangerous."

"And he just so happened to be in the area to fight you, but instead found Wings," Flash finished for them. "That could be coincidence."

"And why was Girder looking for you?" Batman questioned the speedster.

Flash shrugged his shoulders. "Said he found a job that was going to pay him a lot. It's not the first time he's tried to earn some quick cash, no matter how shady it was."

The vigilante felt they were missing something here. This Metallo hunting down Superman, but winding up with Hawkgirl as she fought Felix Faust was one thing; Girder doing a job while he was focused on Diana rather than his usual foe in Flash was another thing entirely.

"What can you tell us about the person that incapacitated Wonder Woman?" he then asked.

The red-clad man shifted in his seat. "Weirdest woman I've ever seen. Looked like a ghost, or a ghoul; she had long white hair, good body."

"And screamed at a hypersonic level," Hawkgirl finished for him, though it sounded as if she were in thought rather than making a point. "I think I know this one: she's called Silver Banshee. I encountered her on a case some time ago. Didn't realize she was back."

"Mind sharing with the class why she looks that way?"

"A curse, mostly. She had some family drama and tried to invoke a Celtic deity to aid her. Instead, she got sucked up into Hell, or something, and came back like that. I don't recall a lot of the details because my ears still ring every so often from her Banshee Wail."

"Is that anything like Canary's Canary Cry?" Batman asked.

"Similar principal I suppose," she mused, "but there's a mystical element to it too. I've seen some of her victims and it's like their lifeforce was drained out of them. She's also stronger than she looks too. I've hit her quite a few times with my mace and she shrugged them off like it was nothing."

That was troubling. It was also a problem that they all weren't familiar with each other's foes either. There wasn't a lot of overlap between them all and the villains they fought, but it was definitely a blind spot that they weren't at least knowledgeable of who they fought against.

If the Pantheon had recruited these people for help, they weren't going to have to know more.

"It would be best if we all retrieved files on everyone we've fought," Batman then said. "If such files don't exist, we need to make them. We were caught flatfooted today, so it's imperative that we learn from this. Anyone that could be a threat, we need to know about."

"That sounds reasonable," Superman agreed.

"In the meantime, I'll head planet-side to help J'onn with his investigation, along with checking the banks for any clues."

"You aren't going to give us your files?" Hawkgirl questioned him, raising an eyebrow.

"That's a data transfer away," he replied evenly. "I'll start the upload before I leave."

"Now that's convenient." The Thanagarian sighed. "Wished I had made files. Looks like I'm going to have to make some."

"You and me both," Flash added, not looking forward to the task. "I guess we'll tell GL whenever he gets here after he finishes with whatever he's doing."

That caused Batman to frown. He hadn't recalled J'onn mentioning John's absence, nor had he been seen at the bank. It wasn't like the Martian to keep things to himself. If the Lantern had decided to return to the Watchtower, his ring would have gotten him here by now.

Something wasn't right.

Hawkgirl seemed to have noticed the same thing. "Wait, you don't know where John is?"

The speedster shrugged his shoulders. "J'onn said he wasn't around, so I figured he was still tracking down the Shade."

There was a silence. "Batman, I think I'm going with you," the redhead said. "Something about this isn't right."

Yeah, he was coming to that same conclusion too. His gut was telling him something wasn't right about this entire thing. He had too many unknowns and too many theories without much evidence to support any of them. It was about time to remedy that.

The smile on the simian face was large as Ultra Humanite gazed down on the comatose form of the Green Lantern.

This was the proof that the operation had worked. Had his Legion been able to capture the others, it would have been even more fortunate, but he would content himself with this success. Really, all that had been needed was one. Perhaps that could be changed in the future.

"He looks so helpless," a sultry voice commented. Volcana looming over the Lantern, eyes blazing with anticipation. "So ripe."

"I would love to put him on ice," Killer Frost contributed, a malicious twinkle in her eyes.

"While I am sure you ladies have a multitude of ideas to inflict on our captive here, I need for you to restrain yourselves for the time being," Humanite addressed the pair of women. "He is more valuable alive and in one piece. Once he has outlasted his usefulness, then you may do what you want to him."

"Alright, King Kong, so what's all this trouble about?" the fiery fatale all but demanded. Her tone of voice was casual, but there was steel embedded in it. She pulled away from the unconscious man to face the albino ape.

"The trouble we have engaged in is only a means to create more trouble for the League," Humanite remarked as he began moving about the spacious room. Everything here was set up to resemble a place of treatment, medical or otherwise, and failing that, one of respite. Spartan was another word to describe it as all necessities were in here, such as the cushion surface their captive rested on, but little in amenities were present. On a far wall was a table, one with a standard computer set up, though the monitor was turned off for the time being.

A large case was placed next to the computer and this was what the Ultra Humanite was venturing towards. "Our ranks may build overtime, but for the time being, we are outnumbered and outmatched by the League's ranks. What we need to do next is level the playing field."

"Just like we did today?" Frost inquired.

Humanite nodded. "Allow them to think numbers are on their side, lure them in with bait, then shut down all avenues of reinforcement. Alchemy, Faust, and Shade were too tempting targets for the core members of the League to resist. The initial failure to capture them before weighs on their minds; they desire to ensure the matter is concluded by using those six to apprehend four criminals, and blind themselves to the ambush lying in wait. However, in spite of being on the defensive, we all saw how resourceful and improvisation they can be. Even with our superior numbers, only one was successfully captured."

"You talk a lot," Volcana drawled, already bored.

"So I have been told." Coming up to the computer set up, Humanite reached for the case and opened it up. His prize within was lifted up and held gingerly. Naturally, this attracted attention from his cohorts.

"And what is that?" the icy Frost remarked.

It was a headset, black in color and sleek in design. Goggles built into the front were designed to cover the eyes and held together by a headband and semispherical ear rests. If anyone were to look at it, they would remark how it resembled a VR headset. In fact, it resembled a very certain headset that had been in the news months ago.

"This, Ms. Frost, is the next step," Ultra Humanite explained as he began moving towards the Lantern. "I have been told it is called the Omnicron 2.0, an uninspired name for a device that is truly revolutionary."

"That doesn't tell me about what it does," the cold-blooded killer retorted. She approached the albino ape, a hand reaching out to touch the headset. Quickly, Humanite turned his body, as if trying to protect it.

"Let us not have too many chefs in the kitchen," the ape said idly. "And I hope you can appreciate that this dish is best served cold. If you will excuse me…" The ape body forced its way past the villainess and drew closer to the Lantern.

Carefully shuffling the headset into one hand, Ultra Humanite used his newly freed hand to raise the Green Lantern's head off the cushioned surface it rested on. Deftly, he placed the VR headset over the man's head, securing it and making sure it was placed on correctly. Once done, the Lantern's head was lowered and Humanite backed away.

Watching this, Frost asked, "So what's it supposed to do?"

"From what I've been told, it will be re-educating him," the ape answered as he pressed a button in the headband. A blue ring of light flashed on, declaring that the Omnicron was on.

"Re-educating him for what?" Frost's curiosity would not be deterred.

"That's where you pair of ladies will be instrumental." Back to the case that had once held the headset, a pair of clipped sheets of paper were pulled out. One was tossed to Frost and the other to Volcana. "Memorize those scripts. Ad lib when necessary. Your performances will be integral to what happens next."

A raised eyebrow from the frozen killer and a snort from the fiery thrill seeker were their responses, but two pairs of eyes lowered to the scripts. Patiently, Humanite eyed the pair, then found his attention diverted to the Lantern. With his hearing, he was picking an increase in breathing, and there, small twitches in the body.

Somebody was starting to wake up.

Reaching back into the container, he removed a small remote and aimed it at the Omnicron. Waiting a few seconds, allowing the captive to rouse further, a leathery finger pressed onto a button. The blue rings of light turned into a crimson red, and the signs of arousal in the dark-skinned male came to an abrupt stop.

"It begins. Time is of the essence, ladies," the leader of the Legion declared. "Get ready for your parts. We will be beginning shortly."