It had been quite a battle based off of the destruction present. There were scorch marks everywhere, especially on the walls where they surrounded holes and craters. Debris laid on the floor, scattered amongst the broken and unbroken furniture.

This was not the work of the Shade. Batman had seen the Shade's power at work, investigated the result of its use, and he knew this was not his work. For one, the shadows he was able to wield didn't leave scorch marks behind. That was the result of a high temperature burning the actual surface.

Hawkgirl was currently examining the damage done to the top of the walls. Batman, in the meantime, took the floor. He was wandering about the room, turning his head left to right as he scanned the room, capturing everything in his lens. Because of the use of meta-power, it was making figuring things out difficult. It was an unconventional way to create a crime scene and, without knowing all of the participants, it was hard to come up with any sort of hypothesis.

Going under the operating theory that the Shade wasn't alone, the scene confirmed this. While he had seen the damage Green Lantern could make, some of this was the result of his ring. Eyeing what he could of the walls, he could see similar damage throughout. Whomever was the Shade's accomplice, they had a power that caused similar damage to Green Lantern.

So what did that mean? Focused energy beams for one. Unfortunately, he didn't have a number two to help narrow things down. This was all they had. A check of the security footage had shown it went out the moment Shade arrived, so that eliminated another avenue of investigation.

"If I was a betting woman," Hawkgirl suddenly called out as she lowered herself to the floor, "I'd say there was another Lantern here."

"What makes you say that?" Batman questioned. Though he had similar thoughts, he wanted a different perspective, and Hawkgirl had just as much of an investigative mind as he had.

"The damage patterns are exactly like John's if he were to let loose. You can see his along this wall here, but the one opposite has worse damage."

Glancing at the indicated walls, Batman could make out the severity in the damage. One was more controlled, if you could call it that, while the other was worse off, indicating someone hadn't been holding back. "So we're looking at another Lantern?" he questioned.

"Maybe. You always hear rumbles of other Corps. Confirmed, there's a yellow one and a violet one. There's rumors of an orange one and a red one, but no one is for sure."

Batman knew there was a Red Lantern Corps, but there was no need to reveal that. That said, this didn't look like a Red Lantern attack. He hadn't seen any evidence of the red napalm that they spewed, so that at least eliminated them. Without knowing anything about the violet and orange ones, he couldn't make a decision on them yet.

"So what do we have here?" the Thanagarian asked point blank.

"Obviously a battle," Batman replied. "We know the Shade was here, but none of this is his handiwork; so it's possible he had someone else here with him and that is who John fought. I haven't seen any signs that the fight spilled out into the streets, so it was contained here. It also eliminates the possibility that John is still fighting them somewhere."

"Maybe Shade's friend turned tail and ran," she suggested. "And John is hunting them down."

"Possible, and the signal jammer is cutting him off our communication lines." That was a preferable outcome, but in this business, he doubted it was the case. Continuing his scanning, he came to a stop.

There was something lying on the floor, which didn't belong in a bank. Kneeling down, he picked up and studied it. It looked like a dart, a sharp needle gleaming in the light. Reaching to his belt, he opened a pouch and pulled out a small evidence bag, dropping the dart within it.

"A dart?" Standing up and turning around, Batman found Hawkgirl standing behind him, having walked up to look over his shoulder. "What's that doing here?"

"Giving us a lead," the vigilante said, which caused a smirk to appear on the Thanagarian's face. "I'll analyze it for any substances on it."

There was a moment of silence before the winged woman broke it. "In all of this destruction, doesn't this seem out of place?" At this, she gestured to the evidence bag. "It's almost sloppy in comparison."

She wasn't wrong. It stuck out like a sore thumb in all the debris. It also indicated this wasn't some random fight. There were only a few reasons for a dart to be here and none of them were good. In light of the other fights, Batman had a sneaking suspicion there was something else at work. All of this had the hallmarks of a greater plan.

Plan...someone had planned this. Somehow the League had managed to evade whatever the main objective was, save for Green Lantern. Until he had solid proof, he'd keep his thoughts to himself. No need to raise alarms just yet.

Still, he didn't like the implications.

You couldn't call it a sedan, but to simply call it a car was to underestimate its length. It was primarily white, particularly on its hood, the roof, and the doors. The rest was blue, acting as a bit of flare that encased the headlights, then stretched up and back, then alongside the sides of the vehicle. There was a transparent quality to the blue, and if you looked closely, you'd get the impression of circuitry.

Top of the line wheels held the car up, stylized hubcaps that imitated a swirl was an artistic choice. It all looked clean, meaning brand new, and the way the colors reflected light made it nearly gleam.

"So what do you all think?" Cyborg asked, struggling to hold back his enthusiasm.

There was a whistle, this one coming from Red. He could see BB transfixed, green eyes locked on in awe. Bart looked more curious than anything. It wasn't a curiosity that said "tell me all about this work of art," but was more like something you'd see from a person in a museum. He didn't like that kind of curiosity being directed at his pride and joy.

"You built this by yourself?" That came from Terra, oddly enough, and she looked like she was getting invested here.

"Every single part, every square inch, all the circuitry, all the connections, nuts and bolts, hinges, fluids, everything," he declared proudly, placing a robotic hand on the car roof gently. "All from the ground up. 120 in 2.4 seconds. Managed to work mileage up to fifty to the gallon."

"Cupholders?" the slip of a blonde asked.

"All in convenient and easy to reach locations."

"Airflow?"

"Vents strategically placed so not only the ones in front get a gentle breeze."

"Horsepower?"

Oh, she was really a girl after his own heart, it seemed. He was loving the attention and the chance to show off some of his brains.

A shame that there were a few others who weren't as awed as he had hoped they would be. Wonder Girl looked bored, Raven didn't seem to care, and Kori...well, Kori was Kori so she could be excused for not "getting it."

It had taken months and a lot of that time was spent waiting for all the right parts to show up. So much time had gone into planning and building and everything. And now, here it was. His labor of love being presented to the friends he cared the most about.

"Design choice?" That was Red managing to get a word in edgewise. Terra was doing a lot of questioning, not that he minded, but that meant others weren't getting a chance to show him their awe. Glancing at the dark-haired teen, he noticed how the shorter male's eyes were on the blues of the car.

"Figured it needed some flare," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. "So I made a personal touch up."

"This is so beautiful," Grass Stain murmured, hands held up to his chest and balled into fists, like he was struggling to contain his own emotions. Now that was the kind of reaction he was looking for!

"I don't get it," Bart said, zipping around the vehicle, checking what seemed to be every square inch. "What's so special about it? I think I saw something like this in a museum once."

He was right about that curiosity. The part of his face that was still flesh twitched. "What part don't you get?" Was it him, or did he sound strained? Naw, couldn't be. Just well controlled irritation, that's all.

"It looks nice," Bart said, "but what you said earlier, 120 in 2.4? I can go 500 in 2.4 seconds if I wanted to. Can it get to 500?"

Fortunately for the soon-to-be-dead speedster, Red spoke up first. "Unless you're using a rocket, I don't think we can get to five hundred miles per hour that quickly."

"Wait, per hour?" Oh, why was the future kid looking so confused now? "I was talking about five hundred miles in 2.4. Like distance. Not speed."

Bart was suddenly his least liked Titan here and that was even beneath the girls who looked so unimpressed with this work of art right here.

"Not everyone has that kind of ability and trying to compare superpowers to a car is unreasonable," Red explained. "For a car though, everything Victor's telling us is way impressive."

At least there was someone here who could really appreciate his work.

"Can you shoot rockets?" the cyborg instead asked as casually as he could. He removed his hand from his baby because there was no need to take any anger out on her.

"What, with a rocket launcher? Sure," Bart answered, looking up at him with wide eyes.

Cyborg shook his head. "No, without a rocket launcher. Can you shoot rockets?"

"Maybe if I spun my arm fast enough?"

Time to show off then.

He made sure he had a connection with the car. Wi-Fi connectivity was a must, the connection secured with all kinds of firewalls, all so that he could, with a thought, start up the car. The engine purred to life, a gentle hum that was far from the rumblings you'd hear from all the other garbage on the roads. The headlights then slide out of sight, revealing the stinger missiles right behind them.

But wait, there was more. Traction spikes poked through the rubber of the wheels. The rearview mirrors on either side lifted up and allowed two thin barrels to poke out, lasers to be precise. That was not to mention all the other little features, such as the oil slick, the cattails, and other gadgets designed to help stop a high-speed chase in its tracks.

"Is this a spy car, or something?" Terra asked, peeking at the small missiles formerly hidden behind the headlights.

"Better. When not acting as a smooth ride, this here is a piece of crime fighting tech just waiting to have her chance in the spotlight. Tell me the when and where, and I'll show you what my baby here can do." Even to his own ears, he could tell he was bragging, but the internal swelling in his chest made a good argument that he was totally justified. Didn't know he could still swell in that area, but hey, who was he to complain?

Like when he was one hundred percent organic and was complimented, or praised by a coach, this was that feeling. Pride. It had been so long since he had felt this way.

"I don't think a test run is out of the question," Red said, being the diplomatic one that he had become. "We could go on a drive, out of the city to really get a feel for it, and if isolated enough, see all the features you put into this thing."

Cyborg couldn't help it. The sound that came out of him was closer to a snerk than a snort. "I can promise you, some of the features I put in you are not going to see. I call it incognito mode and trust me when I say no one will ever see it coming."

He really appreciated the look being thrown his way, but could care less. In spite of some of the skepticism thrown his way, the cybernetic teen had full confidence in his baby. She was going to blow up all expectations and in more than just one way too.

By now, one of the girls who had been keeping their distance, Kori, had wandered up close to the car and was peering at it in curiosity. As if sensing there was a lull in the presentation, the Tamaranean looked up at him, and with sincerity in her voice, spoke up. "May I ask an inquiry, my friend?"

Turning to her, Cyborg responded easily with, "Sure. Ask away."

"This transportation vessel, is it capable of flight? Can it direct itself into the sky and soar much like myself ,or the avians that frequent it?"

Silence was such a heavy thing. Cyborg stared straight ahead, not really seeing anything. Kori's words ran through his head, though innocently said were damning on repeat.

I knew I forgot something!

The jammer powered down with the touch of a button. J'onn watched it as the lights from its screen vanished.

"This is J'onn," he then hailed over his comm link. This was the ultimate test to see if the frequency was still being interfered with.

He received a response almost immediately. "I read you," came Batman's voice. "What can you tell me about the jammer?"

To a detective, everything was a potential clue, a lead to solve the case. J'onn could understand the dark hero's curiosity in that light. "Military-grade," he began to describe it. "I cannot see the serial number on the machine, but I have not performed an extensive search. Before I shut it down, the signal jammer indicated it was affecting a radius of five miles."

That meant it was an area ten miles in diameter that was being affected by the jammer. It was not lost on J'onn that the three banks under attack were within that area.

"Hawkgirl and I are on our way to further investigate," Batman then said. "We may even need to take it with us to the Watchtower for further examination. In the meantime, hold your position."

"Understood," J'onn confirmed. He glanced at the machine before turning away from it.

With communications back online, there was another matter of concern he needed to attend to, that being the disappearance of John Stewart. It was time that he resumed his search, but he would do so over the psychic plane. While he was not an advocate for such a search, Batman's last communique had not indicated that their missing comrade had been found.

This would be dangerous, even for him. He would effectively be opening his mind to anyone and everyone. Unfiltered thoughts would flood his mind and if he was not careful, he could lose himself.

It was not unlike a state a young Martian would find themselves. All Martians were gifted with the ability to read minds, so social constructs had been put into place to ensure these gifts were not abused. For the older, more experienced Martians, they were able to control their gift, functioning within society well.

For children, they did not possess the training and were purposefully isolated until they were able to control their own minds. Their limited understanding of advanced thoughts had harmed many of them, leaving many with broken minds. J'onn still remembered taking his infant children and living with them in their ancestral home for many years. He and M'yri'ah were able to protect them, raise them, and instruct them in the ways of their people to protect their minds. It was seen as a coming of age when they were removed from their isolation and allowed to join Martian society.

If J'onn went even further, he could recall his own parents keeping him in that lonely house. He had taken longer than most Martian children to control his gift. As a child, it had frustrated him, but his father had been incredibly patient. It was when he had become a grown man that it had been explained to him why he had taken so much longer.

There was a group of Martians that came once a generation, with telepathy so powerful they could read the minds of those on other planets. At one time, his father had felt he was one of those Martians. Now, J'onn could say that he highly doubted he was one of those gifted Martians, but his abilities were superior to many of his neighbors.

J'onn closed his eyes, ridding his mind of a time long since forgotten by the universe. The present was of utmost importance. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing a brilliant orange.

His awareness expanded, moving out from the building the signal jammer was hidden in. He immediately heard the thoughts of nearby people, homeless, depressed, seeking food and shelter, fearful of the dangers of the streets. He paused for a moment, dulling his synapses to these voices. Soon, those desperate voices dimmed, but never truly left, a dull hum at the back of his mind.

He reached out further, more minds entering his. He went as far as he could manage and stopped, once again dulling active synapses and pushing the voices to join the first group, the hum louder now. He continued this, seeking out any number of words that could lead him to the Green Lantern. His name, a mention of the Justice League, intimate knowledge of the bank robberies and the subsequent nature of them being traps. He even sought out the very mind of John Stewert.

Soon, his awareness reached a point where he was detecting very few voices. He must have reached the outskirts of the city. He continued searching, even as a constant buzz tickled at the back of his mind. Were he impatient, the buzz of the thousands of minds constantly talking would slip out of his grasp and he would be overwhelmed by their feedback. Patience had been the lesson his father taught him during his isolated period and it was one he would never forget.

He reached out as far as he was willing before he began to bring his awareness back. There was an increase in the volume of thoughts, but they lessened as his mind returned to him. Soon, he was back in the room with the signal jammer.

Unfortunately, he had not located Green Lantern.

This did not bode well.

His head was...sore. That was the best way to describe it. There was a lack of physical pain, so that meant he hadn't been hit, but the headache, dull and distant, was enough to slowly arouse him from unconsciousness. However, he kept his body still, an old habit from his days in the Marines. He...he couldn't remember much, couldn't remember where he was last. What happened.

So Green Lantern kept still, feeling out his own body, then paying attention to what was around himself without opening his eyes once. He...he was...laying on his back. The surface he was on wasn't soft, but not too uncomfortable either. Nothing was wrapped around his wrists, or his ankles, so there were no restraints. So far nothing threatening, but that did not mean he was safe either.

There was no warm body pressed to him, so Shayera was not here, or at least close. Normally they'd be chained to the hip, a joke Flash would have…

It still hurt. Even after all these years…

Rustling. There was someone else here. Someone was moving; who was it? Friend or enemy? Was his ring—he could feel his connection to it, the power that was just a thought away ready to be unleashed.

First, he needed more information. So, he cracked his eyes open, slowly so as to not blind himself from any light. Everything was blurry, slowly coming into focus. It was made easier because the colors were drab, grays and browns. He was used to more comfortable surroundings, at least when waking up.

His ears picked up on a voice, no two voices. Someone was talking, another answering, but they were keeping themselves quiet. In a few seconds, he was able to figure out they belonged to women. However, his gut told him neither were Shayera. Diana was eliminated soon after. So who were these two?

As his vision became clearer, blue and red became colors that stood out against the drab, and recognition soon followed.

Now he opened his eyes fully, and carefully he pushed his upper body up, propping himself up on his elbows. His first attempt to speak was stopped; his throat was dry for some reason, and working up some saliva to wet it took a few seconds. By then, the two women had noticed that he was not unconscious anymore.

"Frost?" Lantern croaked out, his green eyes placing themselves first on his ally before sliding over to the other. "Volcana?"

Former bad guys turned allies. Not the best company, but there was a reason the two of them were here. In his heart, he knew he could never truly trust these two, but they had earned their place, and proven loyalty over and over again, even if there were times they pulled on their leashes.

Frost, or Killer Frost, was the first to speak to him. "You're up. Finally. You gave us...I mean, you really had us worried you weren't going to pull through."

"Pull through what?" he demanded, though there was no real steel in his voice.

"You don't remember?" Volcana prodded.

"Remember?" the Lantern repeated, giving the fiery personality an expression of confusion. "Remember what?"

Frost gave a knowing nod. "Ah, I see. No worries. You'll remember in time. Right now, we need to know, how...are...you...feeling?"

That was a...weird way of speaking, but then again, he couldn't remember at any time when Frost had ever asked how someone was doing. She was more interested in how she could make a person's condition worse. It was why when they needed someone punished, or executed, she was the one they turned to.

The soreness in his body finally made itself known. There was an exhaustion there that he had not had in a long, long time. He felt stretched out, and his legs were just...there, and his head was...still had a headache.

"I feel like I was hit with a truck. Anyone find the driver?" he answered.

Volcana gave a snort, but nothing after that. Frost's lips twitched, also amused.

"I wish there was a driver. Not the case here, so we'll need to catch you up to speed," the icy murderess said. "A lot has happened while you were out."

The Lantern narrowed his eyes. "What happened? Is Hawkgirl all right?"

"Your bird is fine. Everything else ain't," Volcana drawled out, slouching in a sofa with her legs stretched out. "Short version? Everything has gone to crap. First there were those guys in red who came from space and they tore us a new one. The Bat Underground took advantage, and next thing any of us knew, Superman is down, so is Wonder Woman, and everyone else. Frost and me were able to get away and try to plan our next move."

Frost gave a troubled look, looking over his head as if a memory was playing. "It's been...tough. Not really used to not being in charge, you know?"

"What are you saying?" the dark-skinned man demanded, his voice barking. Now he pushed himself up so that he was sitting straight. With an effort, he moved his legs so now that dangled onto the floor. "What happened?"

"We fell. We're not in power anymore. The Bat Underground is. They were hunting everyone who was involved with the One World Government down, and well, we got desperate. Tried to take the fight to them, and things were going our way for a bit, but then…" Frost continued to explain before trailing off.

"Bitchslapped. To the ground. Hard," Volcana summed up.

No, no, that wasn't right. The Regime had fallen. Their order had fallen. Superman had fallen. No way and yet...why would he be here if it was a lie? But why was he here in the first place? This...this part here didn't make any sense.

"Hard to believe, sure. But things get crazier from here. You want to tell him?" Volcana remarked casually, eyeing her icy ally.

Frost, for her part, shot Volcana a look, then rolled her eyes. "She's not wrong. Things got weird. We had to escape many times, but we soon found out how the Underground was able to ruin everything. There's this guy, Ras al Ghoul—"

Green Lantern's head snapped to the frozen woman. "Ra's al Ghul?!"

"That's how you pronounce it?"

The Demon's Head. Should have known. He ignored the other two, recalling the man that had first brought them together, all of them, in a fight to save the world. The Justice League had formed in response and had fought to protect the world from all threats, both foreign and domestic. It had all started with Ra's al Ghul and seemingly ended as well.

"How ever you say it, this Ghoul man had a machine, a time machine—"

Once more, the Lantern stopped listening. Ra's al Ghul, time machine, that's how. Spending so much time with Shayera had rubbed off on him more than he would admit to anyone. That included the ways she thought. He was putting puzzle pieces together to form a bigger picture and here was the biggest piece of them all.

This piece brought him to that mystery, how Batman was still alive and in the prime of his youth after twenty years of absence. Getting over the fact that bastard had built a time machine, it would then be simple enough to pluck a person out of the time stream and bring them to another era. His ring informed him about some inconsistencies, such as how removing a person could have major ripple effects, but right now he was not in the frame of mind to listen.

No, now was a time for action.

"Where's this time machine?" he demanded. He was not going to ask how a man on Earth was able to build one when most alien races outside of Colu were not able to themselves, and they had mastered faster than light travel.

"That's the thing. We snuck it away, then tried to see about freeing everyone else. Figured if we could go back in time with some reinforcement, we could have stopped our loss," Frost took over explaining again and this time the Lantern listened to and hung off her every word. "We were only able to get to you, and we had to use the machine, fast. Volcana made sure that they wouldn't be able to follow us, so this is a one-way trip. Right now, we aren't in our time."

He was starting to figure out what she was telling him. "Are you saying...we're in the past? Now?"

"That's right, my mean, green flashlight," Volcana confirmed.

He could feel it, dawning horror. The past, stuck here, no way back. The implications of Volcana making sure no one could follow them meant having to destroy the machine. This was bad, real bad. The ring was already trying to inform him of Lantern Corp protocols involving such a situation, the big one being not to interfere with anything.

"However," Volcana continued, "things aren't...the same."

The dread, the fear, knowing that one mistake could be catastrophic, those were taking up most of his attention, but not enough to stop him from asking a half-hearted, "How?"

"We're not the only ones to go back to the past," Volcana answered, slightly smirking. "Batman has come back too."

That stopped his thought process and his dread. "What?!"

"Chill. Listen," Frost cautioned, holding out a hand as if to say calm down. "The Bat has already started to change things, making sure our world doesn't exist. It's working. So much has changed. But it's not over yet. We can stop him and restore our world. We have time. I mean, we've already used a time machine. We know what we need to do to get the future back on track, right? We just have to get things back to the way they were the first time, right?"

"We can go back to old...new...whatever times," Volcana picked up, flaring a flame in the palm of her hand before smothering it out by making a fist. "The future is not set in stone. We aren't trying to change it, but restore it. Batman's gone behind your back, right? Gone behind your back and made some changes himself. I think it's fair play is to give him a taste of his own medicine. Go behind his back and make the right changes."

"She's right," Frost agreed. "But we gotta be smart. I don't know if the rest of the League knows, so we gotta feel them out first. Find someone willing to listen. To understand where we're coming from."

"A shame we can't do it," Volcana added.

Green eyes ping-ponged between the two women, always watching the one speaking before switching to the other. His brow furrowed as he considered the fiery one's last words. "Where are you going with this? What are you trying to tell me?"

Shayera may have rubbed off on him, but there were some things that needed to be said plainly, or not at all.

"You sneak your way into the League and find out where they stand," Frost stated. "See if you can't win over their hearts."

Ah, an obvious plan. "Problem: what about my current self? There will be questions if someone sees two of the same Lanterns."

"Got it already figured out." Frost gave a smirk. "Your old self, we've managed to make him go missing."

At those words, the Green Lantern frowned, starting to glower. "You hurt him."

"He's you. We're not gonna kill him. Then you wouldn't be, well, here." Volcana gestured with an arm at him, still slumping back into her seat on the couch. "We recruited a Star Sapphire to make sure he goes nowhere. Right now, the League thinks you're missing. That's not going to last for long."

"So now's your chance to slip in, the sooner the better," Frost concluded. Staring at him with an intensity that he knew she only gave to would-be victims, which was very nearly everyone, she added, "We only get one shot at this. If we don't take it now, we don't save the future, our future. Please. We need your help."

There was a lot going on he didn't know about and John knew this. So much was not being told to him, yet if they were telling the truth…

They had been bad guys, former if you wanted to get technical, but they had seen the light and joined the right side. They agreed to work with the League, with Superman, with them all, and even if they needed to be reined in here and there, they knew how to get the job done.

For a second, Killer Frost had looked vulnerable during her plea. He knew for a fact she was a stone-cold killer, so it would have to be something huge to get her to break down to that extent, to beg for help.

His help.

There was a part of him that didn't like this. Infiltrating the League, pretend to be a younger him, fish for anyone that might be willing to listen? It was so indirect and not his style. He preferred to be upfront, none of this cloak and dagger business.

Army life, however, had taught him how important intelligence was, and right now he only had what Killer Frost and Volcana had told him. He needed more if he was to make a move, any move. Once he knew what the whole situation was, then he could take action.

Taking in both of his allies, perhaps the only ones he had right now, Green Lantern asked, "What do you need me to do?