London's Calling: a DCAU series Anthology story

by Loki's Son

Following travelling to London, the Squire and Ravager uncover a series of interwoven plots that continually escalate into a multi-agency international crisis with the fate of the United Kingdom in the balance. As 0events cascade out of control, the Outlaws are joined by the Birds of Prey and even they prove unable to sufficiently cope with the rising tide.

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Legal disclaimer: I tend to liberally "borrow" DC adapted character profiles from the Earth-27 wiki created by Roy Westerman with principle art coming from digital artist Phil Cho. Other creators and artists are found there as well and I will specifically list any original creations with creator citations as I utilize them. In short, this is the single most comprehensive retelling of all things DC and beyond I have encountered. It's worth your time to explore.

That having been said, the properties, and their variations belong to DC Comics through WarnerMedia and its former parent, AT&T, and now the Discovery empire with notable exceptions. More on that in the footnote. I do not own DC characters or their interpretations and re-imaginings. My own characters are implied Public Domain since I have not included a copyright notice as required by the 1974 revisions of the copyright statutes and regulations. While an intellectual copyright is implied without the due symbols and language, all such considerations are generally voided under CC-BY-SA, which governs this site, unless duly noted otherwise.

Open Source attributions are listed after the story concludes to satisfy legalese requirements. And all "super" characters other than Open Source have been seen in comic books before barring any original characters coming from the Earth-27 Wiki or myself. You can look into Public Domain Superheroes Wiki and the DC Database Wiki's own vaults to verify this.

Squire cover art from New 52 World's End miniseries.

Although this is primarily set in the DCAU, I incorporate attributes of dozens of interpretations of each character, comic telling era, and medium into the telling.

Chronological Note: this story takes place directly after the Justice League Anthology story Oracle see the Light and congruently with Red Hood's Calling.

---

"Well, as fun as sightseeing is, I'm bored silly," Rose Wilson-Worth complained.

"Agreed," her life partner, Beryl Hutchinson conceded, "But it's still nice to be home and to have introduced to you to my mum."

"The highlight of the trip so far," Rose pulled Beryl in for a passionate kiss.

"Bloody queers," an older Briton complained from nearby their position in Trafalgar Square. Beryl pulled Rose back before she assaulted the man. The fierce Amerasian made the impression she'd wanted to impart because the man nearly ran into traffic to get away. Rose's anger was sight enough but she also had an eye patch covering her missing left eye and a wild mane of the purest white hair. Beryl had grown her ginger locks out over the past several months and once again required the braid she wore as the Squire. Rose's skullcap/mask mastered her tresses when she appeared as Ravager. And as Squire and Ravager, Beryl and Rose were on the hunt for the latest British heroes to emerge: the latest hero known as the Knight and his younger, decidedly female, Page.

The newest incarnation of the Knight didn't seem to be a member of the Sheldrake family. Beryl herself was the sole inheritor of the estate, as Rose had unexpectedly learned, since Cyril's death had left no living relatives to inherit and Beryl was named executor of the family fortunes and lands. But even as executor and sole inheritor of the properties and monies, the title formerly attached to said assets was not conferred. Which Rose had wanted to throttle the solicitor when she explained as such.

"We need to get back home and change into our working attire. It's time we went to the Pub," Beryl had decided after a week's long fruitless search.

"`Bout damn time," Rose concurred. Too young to legally imbibe in the United States, they were both of legal drinking age in most of the Crown Commonwealth countries. Squire and Ravager belonged to the Outlaws. A group of vigilantes recruited by Jason Todd, first as the Red Hood and now organized by him as the Arkham Knight, the group posed as contract killers who specialized in terminating "rival" criminals for a price.

Knightfall, Intergang, and the Syndicate Underground were their primary employers. The Outlaws had a special relationship with Knightfall, who as Charise Carnes, provided their living arrangements at a reasonable fee and the headquarters, dubbed the Bunker, as well as a secret garage for their purloined Batmobiles and Bat Bikes plundered from Batman, Inc. Beryl and Rose had chartered a cargo plane to fly them from Gotham City to London while bringing their bikes with them. Squire was still registered with the Sheldrake estate's biometric security and they were given complete access to the manor house and the Tunnel beneath it that contained the original Knight's Armory.

It was after signing in at the gates that the computer texted the family solicitor, who contacted Beryl's mother and arranged for a meeting to deal with the inheritance and the debts. Which Beryl, well funded from her "mercenary" work, easily paid off. Since Rose and Beryl were legally joined in a civil union, Rose inherited half of everything. The utilities and staffing were paid for by a trust. What little of the funds that remained paid Beryl a stipend derived from another blind trust. Monies she had diverted to her mother as she "hired" her mum to oversee the estate and its domestic staff.

---

Their intended destination for the evening hours was the Pub. A neutral ground for so-called heroes and so-called villains to talk shop and grab a pint. The neutrality was closely guarded by all involved, who enjoyed having a restive place to settle down and just relax with one's mates without worrying about arrests or fugitive status. The in-house character was the Jokester. He was a lineage villain for the original Knight and the next two Squires.

The Jokester had gone into retirement and watched over upcoming heroic types and mentored the seemingly worthy villains to be. The Jokester was a like a third grandfather to the Squire. The Jokester ebulliently greeted Squire's return. Even the Merry Men, the Knight's fiercest foes as Beryl grew into being the Squire, fondly embraced her being back in London Town. Squire noted, across the pub, that a new Knave had taken the role after the death of the first and Beryl's own abandoning the name when the time arose where she could reclaim being the Squire. But now she was a Squire without a Knight and the latest Knight was a stranger.

But at least the Knight and Page honored her right to her persona name by excluding usage of it from themselves. Squire and Ravager where in town to discover who the Knight and Page were, and potentially beat some sense into them to abandon their "quest", but neither actually bore the Knight and Page any ill will. The United Kingdom had lost three Knights and with them three generations of Sheldrakes. the first Knave had died and been the only boy Beryl ever dated. She found it extremely awkward and dissatisfying as she came into her homosexuality and accepted it and herself for it.

Just as Ravager hadn't fully been Rose until she embraced her bisexual identity when she and Beryl began their love affair that grew into so much more. An enduring love that earned them both a death mark in Rose's father's eye. Slade Wilson could not embrace his daughter's choice and Deathstroke was not one to provoke and live to tell about it. The past two years had proven that their love wasn't a passing "fad". Their choice to make a lifelong commitment had been well reasoned and deeply considered before Slade forced a decision from them.

"I'm glad we finally get to meet," the Knave was on his fourth pint as Squire and Ravager slowly enjoyed their first round.

"I've heard...interesting things about you," Squire allowed.

"And you've become rather infamous," the Knave replied, "How do you think your old chum, the Knight, would respond to your choices?"

Squire gently touched Ravager's arm to remind her this was a neutral space. Blowhards and malcontents would be quietly dealt with by the Pub's crowd. Squire quietly noted that the Jokester had steered the Merry Men their way.

"Take it outside, Mate," one of the Merry Men suggested.

"Why? She was a national hero before she sullied the names of both the Knave and the Squire. The Metro Constabulary constantly questions me regarding crimes she committed," the Knave complained.

"You've had a few," another Merry Men stepped in, "I suggest that you either let it go or take it elsewhere."

"I'll take it where I damn please!" the Knave shouted. All six Merry Men accosted him and tossed him outside.

The bartender warned him, "You're banned for two weeks, you blighter."

The door was then slammed shut.

"Never mind him," the Jokester counseled Squire, "He isn't in on the inside joke."

Squire knew then that the Jokester knew her real reasons for joining the Outlaws and what they were secretly accomplishing.

"Has the new Knight and Page ever shown up?" Squire asked her real question for the evening.

"No, and we're all wondering why," the Jokester shared, "It's awfully antisocial. The press is agog with the newest Knight and his Page. But they seem to simply harass the lower food chain. The Merry Men and others have pulled off fantastical heists and never a sign of the Knight or Page."

"Curious," Squire admitted.

"Maybe they're posers," Ravager suggested as she signaled for a second pint. Her enhanced healing combated inebriation as well as injury.

"Your time with the Teen Titans was inspiring. Posing as a man. You daft girl," the Jokester chuckled, "But I'm guessing this one knew all along."

"Damn straight," Ravager smirked, "Certain Justice League nosey nosers found out the hard way."

"I was found out when Beast Boy caught me in the shower," Squire shrugged, "The game was up then. But they let me stay on as Red Robin anyway."

"She was still the boss, she means," Ravager snorted.

"Then you were the Knave as dear Cyril tried out being the Knight and appointed a new Squire. Pity what happened to them. We all cheered you on when the telly announced that the Squire had been seen again operating in the Colonies with our cousins," Jokester revealed, "I was half convinced you'd don the armor and become our new Knight."

"The Knight made it plain he never wanted me to," Squire confessed, "Just as well. I prefer being the Squire. It's my role to play and I'll damn well do it."

"That's the spirit!" Jokester chucked her shoulder, "Now what will you do with that drafty old house and the Tunnel? Rent it out, I suppose?"

"The household takes care of itself and I've got my mum moved in," Squire shared, "But I'll seal the Tunnel access. No Knight will be coming for it and I'm still based out of the States."

"Pity that," Jokester said sadly.

"I've made commitments and unlike the Knight, I won't shirk my responsibilities on a whim. When we've completed our mission, I'll be back here in sweet, old London to stay," Squire pledged.

"And you're good with this?" Jokester asked Ravager.

"Where she goes, I go," Ravager vowed.

"So nice to see you finally come into your own. You were so awkward back in the day. You only came alive as the Squire," Jokester recalled, "And that disaster with the first Knave. Poor boy never got over you."

"Too bad I couldn't reciprocate," Squire pulled at her draft.

"Just as well, I suppose," Jokester relented, "I still keep my ear to the ground so to speak. I know strangers have arrived through Heathrow. Dangerous sorts. Leader calls herself 'Red Alice'."

Ravager came alert.

"Red Alice and her Wonderland Army are in London?" Squire thought she had to have misheard him.

"Arrived yesterday and are buying up information regarding the Knight and Page," Jokester advised the pair, "Lots of flash and coin of the realm involved."

"Why would Red Alice be concerned with a pair of wannabes?" Ravager was intent.

"Who can explain Red Alice's mind? Even an old bent sod like me can't fathom her motives," Jokester sadly confessed.

"Red Alice needs a reason, however twisted it may be," Squire insisted.

"I'm sorry but she's paid for discretion," Jokester warned.

"You said these two were getting air time," Ravager prompted the Jokester.

"Yes, they're the toast of the telly and of the Royals," Jokester snorted.

"Oh hell," Squire put her mug down on the counter, "We need to go. Now."

"What did I say?" Jokester was fascinated.

"Red Alice specializes in tearing down national symbols. Particularly of they're living symbols. She's initiated more than one regime change," Squire told him, "If this Knight and Page are being propped up as national figures…"

"Then they're superior targets," the Jokester caught on.

"Now we have to find them before she does," Squire decided.

"I'll put the word out amongst my chums. But don't count on anything. Like I said, Red Alice has been splashy with the pound sterling and purchased a lot of information and silence," Jokester warned her.

"What type of crimes do they typically arrive at?" Squire inquired.

"Heists mostly. Some hostage taking and a few safe crackings," Jokester replied.

"I need to know when anything happens in those areas," Squire told him.

"Just monitor the police bands," Jokester suggested, "The Knight and Page follow the Constabulary around and not the other way around."

"Amateurs," Ravager said derisively.

"Word has it New Scotland Yard has them on the mobile dial," Jokester shared.

"It looks like I'm reopening the Tunnel," Squire warned Ravager.

"Jolly good!" the Jokester literally clapped his hands.

"I'm also calling in support," Squire revealed.

---

"And I thought the Bunker could be depressing," Laurel Anne Hardy swept the cavern with her eyes. The Tunnel was a natural rock formation that had been converted as a river rail destination of the Underground when London first began digging. That lent it its name. But the project had been abandoned and the plans eventually "lost" when the Sheldrake family first began the tradition fo the Knight and Squire.

"This place will serve," Oliver Queen decided for the backup unit he'd led across the Atlantic. Like Li Harper, Ollie was a paradox left behind after the Crisis of the Multiverse. Originally, he'd lived on Earth-27. in the context of the New Universe that had been born from the destruction of the Multiverse, he was now a namesake relation to the Queen family where another Oliver Queen had been the Green Arrow and died in middle age defending others as he'd pledged to do.

Ollie was half of Oliver's age and he was simply the Arrow rather than take up the mantle Conner Hawke had been forced to abandon after his father's death. Conner had contracted HIV from Mia Deardon and both Green Arrow and Speedy had progressed into the AIDS stage of the virus. Therefore forcing their retirement.

Mia passed Queen Consolidated onto the older Oliver's biological daughter, Emiko. Who was now embattled in an inheritance suit filed by Thea Queen, Oliver's other unacknowledged daughter. Just as Emiko was the Red Arrow so too Thea was infamously known as Sin. The orphan raised and trained by Nyssa Raatko. Who served the new Ra's al Ghul as the Demon's Hand to the Demon's Head and that Head was Nyssa's wife, the former Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Drake Lance. Dinah and Nyssa had put Thea up to contesting Emiko's inheritance. Thea's primacy was established by DNA testing and the fact that she was older than Emiko. But Thea Queen was born to Moira Queen, Oliver's first wife, and an unidentified male. But Dinah and Nyssa knew him to be Malcolm Merlyn, another League assassin.

So the courts were debating the legitimacy of Thea's claim when it decended through the maternal line of an adulterous encounter. Thea's claim to be a Queen was based on maternal matrimony and not through Oliver's direct lineage. Which strengthened Emiko's case since she was a direct descendant despite Oliver never having met his own daughter. But Thea also had the direct support of Dinah Lance, Oliver's second wife before his death and the original guardian of his estate until Mia reached legal age.

Dinah had signed off her interests in Queen Consolidated to Mia who had then signed off on everything to Emiko. Yet the court entertained Thea's claims because of Dinah's interest. No one could fathom why Ra's al Ghul suddenly took active interest in a company she'd divested herself from just a year ago. It also seemed a personal slight from Nyssa after her support had helped create the Outlaws.

She'd certainly created the second Red Hood when she convinced Jason Todd to suborn the identity to mock the Joker's memory. But Nyssa's control over Jason ebbed over time and he himself had passed on the Red Hood to Li Harper, another doppelganger. This one originally from Earth-4 and fourteen years older than Lian Harper, whose parents worked alongside the Outlaws. Citing Li's reasoning, Jason had fashioned a new identity. That of the Arkham Knight in a further slight to the Joker's memory and of his holding Jason hostage there and torturing him within the ruins of the old Arkham Asylum before killing Jason.

Nyssa had used a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Jason and trained him after Batman's original rejections that led to his capture by the Joker. The Arkham Knight was a direct mockery of both the Joker and the Dark Knight all in one persona.

"Still," Emiko broke the stony silence after Oliver's assessment, "It's serviceable."

"I guess," Laurel relented.

"We need everyone to suit up," Beryl told them after settling the guests in her manor house, "I've word that the Wonderland Army is going to stage a heist to draw the Knight and Page out. Whereupon their sole goal will be to publicly execute them both."

"Still trying to figure why that's a bad thing, Babe," Rose confessed.

"The Knight is a symbol to London akin to the Batman in Gotham. It's more psychological than physical. And the Knight is seen as an inspiration rather than as a dreaded terror," Beryl told them.

"And the Queen herself and the Royal Family propping up the myth, they become a symbolic target to tear apart London's collective soul," Oliver argued for the cause.

"Precisely," Beryl agreed, "The Jokester informed me that Red Alice will be staging a massive heist at the Tower of London ostensibly to acquire the Crown Jewels. Which, are of themselves, a secondary objective. But the primary focus remains the same."

"To kill the Knight and Page," Emiko understood.

"The Jokester," Laurel snickered.

"When is the robbery to take place?" Oliver asked.

"Any second now, Bow Boy," Rose answered, "So let's suit up."

Afterwards, Arrow inspected the vehicles the Sheldrakes had acquired and left behind.

"These are workable?" he asked Squire.

"We checked them all out. They're in pristine condition," Squire promised him.

"Good. Unlike you and Ravager, we didn't have time to charter a private cargo plane," Arrow explained, "So we'll need local transport."

"Ravager and I only brought a pair of Bat Bikes. They're yours to use. I'll use my old bike and Ravager and Sparrow can share the Knight's Ride."

"It's a Bentley," Red Arrow observed.

"It's a very nice Knight's Ride. And the V-12 engine has been replaced with a scaled down V-16," Squire boasted, "The car is completely armored and the glass is all been replaced by high polymer bulletproof panes."

"Any weapons?" Sparrow was intrigued.

"It's a got a battering ram attached and it's got cup holders," Ravager remarked. Seeing everyone's stares, she shrugged, "They're optional cup holders."

"I think an airplane engine is enough to propel this thing," Arrow said dryly, "How effective is the armor?"

"It will shrug off a LAWS rocket but a Javelin will punch a hole," Squire explained.

"We found some ablative armor to help with that," Ravager reported. A nearby computer console began urgently beeping.

"It's begun," Squire informed them all.

"Then let's ride," Arrow decided. Every Bat Bike taken by the Outlaws from an abandoned Batman Incorporated depot had been modified with a handlebar rig to carry a bow. So Arrow and Red Arrow each had their bows mounted and ready as they rode in pursuit of the leading Squire on her motorcycle. The Knight had spared no expense in modifying Squire's supercharged Ducati racing bike.

Just as Batman had done with Nightwing's motorcyle when he was still Robin. Now that Dick Grayson had retired to become Bludhaven's newest Assistant District Attorney, the motorcycle and his Nightwing gear had been given to his successor, Stephanie Brown, the former Spoiler. Dick's wife, Ulla Paske, was also the former Danish Global Guardian, the Little Mermaid. But she was the proud mother of their first child and recently learned she was expecting their second. Dick had never been so happy to give up the "life". But he still resented Bruce Wayne and Batman for not only shutting him out, but for walling off and pushing Alfred Pennyworth and Barbara Gordon away but also abandoning Tim Drake after his horrific experience at the hands of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Afterwards they'd learned about Jason Todd's secret history with Batman from Alfred.

The Joker was dead. Barbara was the GCPD Police Commissioner. Alfred served Selina Kyle, who'd just birthed Bruce's third child. Talia hadn't informed Bruce of Damien's birth until after Supreme killed him. Queen Diana of Themiscyra had born him his eldest daughter, Elissa and now Selina had brought Helena into the world. But Bruce would never acknowledge any of his children as heirs. But like Dick, Barbara, Alfred and Tim, they were financially provided for.

Tim's fate was the truly tragic one. When Tim needed Bruce the most, he was shoved aside like rubbish. Leslie Thompkins had arranged for the former mob boss' daughter, Grayle Hudson to take Tim in. Batman had always treated his associates poorly but Jason Todd was the only other Robin to be a forbidden topic. he was the only Robin that Batman had rejected and thrown out back into the streets. Jason had been the Joker's prototype for what later happened to Tim. But Jason resisted to the point that after two years of inconsistent effort, the Joker finally took a crowbar and beat Jason to death. At which point, Nyssa took an active interest in Jason.

Jason had served up the original Outsiders team to the League of Assassins. Only Arsenal and Katana had survived. Roy Harper and Jade Nguyen were now fellow Outlaws as Arsenal and Cheshire. Tatsu Yamashiro had dropped her married name and become Tatsu Toro again. Katana had slain Sickle, Takeo Yamashiro, the brother of her slain husband, Mateo. Sickle had been the one to kill Mateo. With Katana's blood lust, and every other kind, satisfied before and after Sickle's death, Katana set the ghosts of the Yamashiro brothers residing within the SoulTaker aside. She and the Arkham Knight had a tense truce between them so long as he never intentionally crossed her path again.

---

Katana had been invited to join the new Justice League Outsiders team but refused to. Her only active group association these days was with the Birds of Prey. Her temperament complementing Huntress'. Many of the Outsiders also served as part-time Birds. Huntress and Katana were among five, potentially six, full-time active members. Rhosyn Forrest operated Sherwood Florist in Seattle and its basement served as the Birds' headqiuarters. Crimson Fox was actually two people. Vivian D'Aramis usually filled the role. But her sister, Constance, was beginning to fill in as needed now that LuthorCorp had purchased the publishing firm that she'd been a fashion magazine editor-in-chief for and subsequently fired her for disagreeing with Lena Luthor's "new vision" for the monthly. Dr. Cairo Jones, a famed adventurer and archaeologist, was the fifth regular member. Other members served when needed dependent upon their own availability.

Huntress didn't press and everyone else appreciated it. But the Birds of Prey continued to be a rather eclectic collective and thanks to creative financing provided by Kate Kane, Bruce Wayne's cousin and Director for the Wayne Foundation, the Birds were flush with the cash needed to operate globally. Kate Kane was also Red Alice's twin sister. So she'd alerted them to Beth Kane's whereabouts and intended targets before Squire had even known she was in the country.

---

The Metro stood down as the Knight's Ride rolled through their barricades led by Squire and trailed by Arrow and Red Arrow. Ravager, who was driving, wasted no time in smashing a parked troop transport against an SUV. She then bailed out. Sparrow went with her as Squire leapt off of her bike and into the throng of Wonderland soldiers. Arrow and Red Arrow unclipped their bows and joined the fray.

"You weren't supposed to crash our tea party," Red Alice complained, "You're wanted fugitives just like me. No one in Jolly Ol' will miss you when you die."

Red Alice reeled as Squire completed a backspin leg hook and bounded a Wonderland soldier off of Ravager's waiting fist. As she completed her turn, Squire fired off a ball bearing with her slingshot and pegged Red Alice between the eyes. With their vaunted leader temporarily incapacitated, the Wonderland soldiers began to hesitate and the Outlaws took full advantage of claiming the initiative against the Wonderlanders.

"No fair, no fair, no fair!" Red Alice tiraded, "You've spoiled the party!"

Squire bounced another ball bearing off of her head. The Knight and Page arrived at that moment. The Metro Police moved in to arrest the fallen Wonderland soldiers. thanks to a well placed round kick, Red Alice joined her soldiers.

"You lot!" Supervisor Darcy yelled, "You're under arrest!"

"He's kidding right?" Sparrow asked.

"We do have multiple outstanding Interpol warrants out fo r us," Red Arrow dutifully reminded her.

"Between them and us, I know who I choose," Ravager drew her swords.

"Not now," Squire murmured to her. The Knight and Page intervened and while they argued with the constabulary, the Outlaws mounted their vehicles and made a break for it as Ravager rammed her way through the barricades and encapsulating vehicles.

Squire led them through an abandoned Underground tunnel system beneath London to a riverside entrance to the Tunnel.

---

"Shit futzin' damn! That was not how I expected things to go," Ravager tore off her skullcap mask.

"None of us did," Sparrow slammed the Knight's Ride's passenger door shut.

"We all knew the risks of being labeled 'Outlaws'," Arrow was swift to remind them.

"At least Red Alice and her army have been apprehended," Red Arrow decided to voice.

"I knew some of those coppers and they still tried to arrest me," events seemed to finally weigh on Squire.

"Law enforcement is fickle," Arrow consoled her, "You may never have actually killed anyone but you associate with those that have. Guilt by association."

"The worst part is we're still no closer to determining who the Knight and Page are," Sparrow lamented.

"Red Alice had a plan that we disrupted," Squire deduced.

"Yes, we stopped her," Red Arrow agreed.

"No, she means a deeper plan," Arrow caught the scent as well, "Red Alice recently allied the Wonderland Army with the Legion of Doom. She supports Fu Manchu as leader over Lex Luthor's over-arching control."

"Meaning Red Alice is serving a larger purpose than just destroying national symbols," Ravager was aboard now as well.

"Which would mean this was just the first strike of a larger operation," Sparrow finally got with it as well.

"But we don't have a client so there's no intel and no financial backing," Red Arrow complained, "Oracle is busy with Arkham Knight and Red Hood on the West Coast."

"I left Crimson Avenger in charge while everyone's away," Arrow informed Squire and Ravager. Everyone's mobile phones pinged at once.

"That bodes ill," Squire muttered as she retrieved her personal device. The text message was simple: Crimson Avenger, Black Bison, Starling, Shieldmaiden, Street Avenger, Wild Dog, and Protector had taken an assignment from the Syndicate Underground to eliminate an independently minded Las Vegas consortium operating within the borders Intergang and the Syndicate had deemed the Syndicate's. Pirate Blue, though standing down as the Director, gave one final order to contract outside support to deal with the flagrant violation of the Syndicate Underground's supreme regional authority.

"That's that," Red Arrow frowned.

"Not quite," Squire decided. She paged Knightfall.

Though it Brains of the Gang that called her in reply, "You are aware that it's the middle of a busy dawning morning here?"

"Quite," Squire replied.

"So what is it?" Brains was testy that day. Intergang's internal civil war was concluding.

"Do have any information regarding a Legion of Doom plot here in the UK?" Squire went straight to it.

"No," Brains sounds curious, "But we aren't a clearing house. Our European operatives are feeling a tad independent these days."

"Could you text me some contact information so I can ascertain whether or not these rogue factions have called in the Legion?" Squire asked.

"If you deal with the leadership, we can even fund your little exercise," Brains offered, "It'll save everyone a trip. Inform the members of the 100 and 1000 that survive that the Intergang Director will soon be crowned and business will return to normal."

"Will do," Squire terminated the call. It'd been on speaker, "This'll prove interesting"

Her phone pinged.

"And now we have it," Squire forwarded the text to the dedicated phone system that served the Tunnel. From there she transferred it to the computer network and began sifting search engines to learn about the various members of the 100 and the lesser ranked 1000. Additional texts arrived seconds later with a list of particular rogue members of the 100 and 1000 to be dealt with. Brains furthermore sent a location where she'd have them gather.

"Sounds too easy," Ravager remarked.

"It is," Arrow agreed, "If these men and women truly are renegades, why would they meet with Intergang backed loyalists?"

"Unless they're all defectors?" Red Arrow wondered.

"Still, Intergang will be doling out some honey to attract the bees," Sparrow assessed.

"You heard Brains, they're appointing a new Director with Julia Sazia and Tobias Whale out of the way," Squire recalled, "Big Boss, the Mandarin, and the Great One have all been rejected as candidates. Knightfall has a vote but is pushing her own, separate agenda with the varied city governments."

"But she's also rolling out overseas," Ravager reminded her.

"Therein lies the honey," Arrow deduced, "They're offering the rogues a seat at Knightfall's table while remaining independent of Intergang."

"Instead they're getting us," Red Arrow finished the thought.

"And whoever takes the top slot for European Operations will be as important as the current Big Three. Making it a foursome," Sparrow concluded.

"And the name has already been drawn from the hat," Squire wrapped it up, "We're just pest control clearing the nest."

"But we can also find out if anyone has invited the Legion of Doom to the party," Ravager added, "After all, somebody cleared and equipped Red Alice's Wonderland Army."

"Why do I feel our simple chore just got incredibly complicated?" Squire groaned.

---

Rhosyn Forrest had teleported the Birds of Prey team near the Tower of London. So they were well aware of the Outlaws taking the Wonderland Army down, Red Alice's arrest, and the Outlaws' subsequent flight from justice.

"Why do I feel we just stepped on a landmine?" Dr. Cairo Jones asked her teammates as the police vehicles packed up and transported the prisoners to a central lockup to await processing. With the Huntress busy in Los Angeles with the Question, leadership fell on Dr. Jones' shoulders.

"I'll call Kate Kane and tell her her sister has been arrested," Manhunter offered.

"This isn't over," Katana predicted.

"Are you a freakin' psychic now?" Hawk snorted.

"She makes sense," Dove told her sister, "Red Alice didn't just slip into the country bearing arms. Someone cleared her and her troops through Customs and armed them."

"Which suggests organization and funding," Spy Smasher agreed. Sec. Bones and Col. Rick Flagg had cleared Katarina Armstrong's participation in anticipation of capturing Red Alice.

"So...why are we staying?" Black Cat asked.

"Because I've got a fifteen pound sledge that wants to connect to some kneecaps and this is dodgy enough to warrant our participation," April Amazing replied.

"We did come for a reason," Moon Girl allowed.

"But our reason just evaporated," Crimson Fox argued.

"The Outlaws only operate on behalf of criminal clients," the Neb added to the discussion, "So who hired them to interfere?"

"`Sides, I've never been to London before," Golden Lass twitched with excitement.

"It's wonderful in the summer!" Kitty Claus enthused. Whether every Bird believed she truly was Santa Claus' only daughter was open to debate. But Kitty had a formidable array of magical "gifts" in her bag and an unerring sense of who was "naughty or nice".

"What was your reading of the Outlaws?" Dr. Jones inquired.

"They were definitely 'nice'. But those two that showed up late dressed in armor? Really, really 'naughty' vibes coming off them," Kitty explained.

"You're off your bloody nut," Hawk decided. Holly Granger was home and she knew that London was toasting the Knight and Page.

"Calm down," Dawn Granger advised, "Kitty has never been wrong."

"Then this is the first time," Hawk insisted.

"We'll see, won't we?" the Neb was insatiably curious now. Manhunter lent her support. As Kate Spencer, she was a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. She became Manhunter to target those that were undeniably guilty but escaped conviction.

"We are here," Black Cat, as the professional stunt actress Linda Turner, was another based out of Los Angeles. Her junior partner, Black Kitten, was enrolled in the Young Justice program. As was Claire Lune's legal ward, Starlet. She shared Moon Girl's lunar based energized powers transferred via the moon rock pendants that they wore. The Moon was waxing and Moon Girl's energy reserves were built up. Peggy Shane however was burning off the Aztec magic that powered her as Golden Lass. She'd be due a recharge in two days' time if she didn't release the magical hold it had her first.

"I've a flat in the East End we can crash at," Hawk volunteered.

"If another squatter hasn't moved in," Dove clarified.

As Brenda Boyle, April Amazing was a wealthy heiress and she recoiled at the thought, "I'll make my own arrangements."

"As will I," Vivian was the D'Aramis sister playing Crimson Fox and she also had considerable wealth from a perfume empire.

"Name a rendezvous and I'll join you all at the appropriate time and place," the Neb offered. No one knew her identity and no one seemed capable of finding it out. She and the Question had a deal where neither would reveal any secrets about the other and with that said, she simply blended into the passing crowd.

"Toodles," April Amazing went out the other end of the alley they currently occupied. Crimson Fox followed her out as well.

"The rest of us can use the Underground's tunnels to get where we need to be unnoticed," Hawk explained.

"I'm calling in Savant," Cairo announced. Kenesha was one of the few Kherabim who'd remained on Earth after the Daemonites on Earth were annihilated. She was also Dr. Cairo Jones' leading competition in all things archaeological. But Savant cheated because she only excavated places she'd been alive at the time to see what treasures had been placed therefore. Savant Garde was her treasure hunting team. But Kenesha enjoyed getting into trouble so she'd help the Birds in between digs.

"We also need food and civilian clothing," Spy Smasher assessed.

"I'll make a list and have Rhosyn teleport our needs from our lockers and the kitchen rations to our eventual location," Cairo offered.

---

Three Americans and one Brit also witnessed the Wonderlander failure with some regret.

"I'll reconnect with my contacts and reschedule the timetable," Dr. Jamie Moriarty offered. In the United Kingdom she was criminal royalty. Two of the disappointed members of the Legion of Doom hadn't walked London's streets since the Victorian Age was ending. The first had loved Sherlock Holmes but had also enjoyed outwitting him on separate occasions while she used her opera diva status to move throughout the world and engage in criminal enterprises while feting high society in every city. The second had outwitted Holmes and Dr. John Watson and killed them both before enjoying equal success at "solving" their murders and framing innocent parties for it. Their respective names were Irene Adler and Ethel Boston. The third American witness was Terry Sloane, the Master Terrific from an Earth-3 that had now never existed in the New Universe's sordid history.

"I do believe our Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu will explode with rage at thos turn of events," Ethel Boston predicted.

"Let him," Master Terrific snorted.

"Still, it wreaks havoc with our schedule. London was supposed to be tearing itself apart looking for Red Alice while the Legion of Doom carried out its mission," Irene Adler reminded him.

"There's been an odd development," Moriarty interjected after concluding her call, "Knightfall has summoned the British 100 and 1000 members to meet here in London tonight. She wants to broker an independence deal."

"Before our proposed strike," Boston mused, "That could prove convenient."

"Or drive things further awry," Adler was more cautious.

"It's a trap," Master Terrific surmised, "Intergang will not relinquish control even for Knightfall. They'll even know it's a trap and spring it anyway."

"A heavy body count would work to our advantage," Moriarty further spooled the thread of reasoning out, "A city-wide manhunt for the killers rather than Red Alice."

"Which could explain the presence of the meddlesome Outlaws," Adler thought aloud, "And they're still deducing the natures of this new Knight and Page."

"Interesting that they didn't steal Squire's title despite the history of a Knight always having a Squire rather than a Page," Boston said.

"We know the Squire just reclaimed her title from the ashes of the Knight's death. Two Knights dead in as many years. And this Squire merely took back her persona rather than assume the role of the Knight for herself," Moriarty recalled the history.

"Ravager would make for a very poor Squire if she did," Master Terrific chuckled, "I think our Squire merely wanted to take back what she'd rightfully earned and the elder Knight had stripped from her."

"And she's branded a criminal now regardless," Boston was delighted by that fact.

"Yet there's no record of the Squire ever actually killing anyone despite the Outlaws' reputed purpose," Adler reminded her, "The others have flagrantly taken lives. The Squire is merely an accessory."

"Yet we know the Outlaws are merely vigilantes disguised as mercenary killers," Master Terrific did his own reminder of salient facts, "They've never killed an upstanding citizen."

"Nor will they even accept a contract to," Boston said with mild contempt.

"That's our job anyway," Moriarty chortled.

"Dr. Fu will be monitoring the press and will have learned about Red Alice's failure by now," Adler steered the conversation once again, "We should withdraw and make our report and recommendations."

"Lady Vic should've recovered from her simmering temper at being left behind on our scouting trip," Boston predicted.

"We also know our impetuous field leader would've joined in the fray regardless of our ultimate design," Adler scolded her over Boston's obvious delight over this fact.

"Still, Lady Vic should've overridden Fu Manchu's desire for the Riddles to be involved in this caper. They'll unnecessarily complicate things," Dr. Moriarty lamented.

"Must I remind you that Fu Manchu sidelined most of our heavy hitters because they were too recognizable by law enforcement?" Boston retorted, "So the Minor League players have been called into action. We being the exceptions, of course."

"Of course," Moriarty agreed good naturedly. Adler and Master Terrific kept their own counsels.

---

Alani, the South Seas Girl and ruler of the Vanishing Isles, was re-negotiating the terms by which the primary Hall of Doom remained in her island chain. A happenstance which further irritated the already enraged Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu had negotiated the original settlement that allowed the Legion of Doom to base from the Vanishing Isles. After the loss of the principle Hall of Doom, they'd engaged the last mobile secondary. Other Halls of Doom existed in otherwise remote locations but this particular location was cemented by Fu Manchu's personal relationship with the South Seas Girl. Alani was undermining his position as ad hoc chieftain of the Legion in Luthor's prolonged absences. His credibility was at stake and to make matters worse, most of the Legion's Brain Trust and industrialist supporters were holographically witnessing this disintegration.

Dr. Fu already perceived the Ultra-Humanite was his greatest rival for legitimacy. Despite the fact that Fu Manchu was even older than the brain passed down from one body to the next until the mad scientist called the Ultra-Humanite genetically modified an ape's body to contain his swelling brain. The ape was bio-engineered to produce hormones that would halt the swelling and a human brain cavity could no longer house his mind. The Ultra-Humanite had utterly refused to undergo the same incarceration that the Brain had subjected himself to. So the ape body was his option.

The attendance list was a who's who of Legionnaires: Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Mr. Mind, Dr. Clarissa Clemens, The Other (Jarvis Pennyworth), Anne Droid, Dr. Veronica Cale. Master Terrific, Dr. Moriarty, Ms. Boston and Ms. Adler represented most of the Legion's strategic leadership. And all were attending holographically from other secure locations.

The financial end of things was equally stellar: Lena Luthor, Dir. Candace Zither of Zither Security Solutions and the arms magnate, Arvell Hauser.

"Give her what she wants," Veronica Cale demanded.

"It is not your place to determine how the Legion's finances are spent," Fu Manchu snapped back at her. Cale had lost her corporation to one of Derek Powers' hostile takeovers and Dr. Fu never relented from rubbing her face in it.

"You'd best settle this before we die of advanced old age, heh heh heh," Sivana chuckled in his odd way.

"Agreed," Mr. Mind cautioned Fu Manchu, "Or Lex Luthor will appoint someone else to your position."

Fu Manchu wondered why the absent United Nations Secretary-General and only the second fully impeached POTUS still commanded such fervent loyalty from the Legion of Doom. Especially now that Luthor had committed the Legion's resources and talent to Vandal Savage's ancient organization simply called the Light. Most of the most powerful Legionnaires had just returned from the various Realms of Existence and the wide New Universe hunting down the surviving New Gods. Only a handful of the residents of Supertown on New Genesis had escaped with their lives whereas many of Darkseid's Elite were still running the Dark Circle from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy. But New Genesis and Apokolips were both barren wastes now devoid of any life except for the comatose Darkseid entombed on Apokolips where Grail had left him.

Fu Manchu's decision to strike a bargain with Red Alice and her Wonderlanders hadn't set in well with those holographically represented. But Red Alice had been eager to serve her part in Fu Manchu's twist on Luthor's latest scheme for world domination and wealth beyond measure. Lady Vic was running the London operation under Master Terrific, Boston, Moriarty, and Adler's watchful eyes.

Elaine Marsh-Morton was British nobility. Her father, and ancestors, were career military. Elaine herself had joined the British Army. But she'd been mustered out after repeated violent episodes that eventually came to a head when her volunteer transfer request to the Special Air Service 22nd Parachute Regiment was denied as much on the basis of Lady Vic's violent tendencies and the fact that SAS was still an entirely male regiment. Finding herself outside of the military, she went to work as a mercenary, assassin, and bounty hunter. Her credentials drawing Lex Luthor's attention and she'd been brought into the Legion of Doom for precisely these kind of missions.

If Lady Vic still felt any loyalty to British government or Crown, it was unknown. though, her current endeavor seemed to highlight the fact that she was about to be branded a traitor and she still didn't care after three weeks of planning. If her identity were discovered, she'd be stripped of her title and her family blacklisted. Lady Vic could hardly care less. She'd endorsed Luthor's world domineering ambitions from the start. But Luthor and Vandal Savage working together within the Light provided Lady Vic with entire worlds and worlds beyond to conquer. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Her one regret was that Nightwing seemed to have passed on his mantle. She'd always wanted a rematch. He'd been the one specific target she'd failed to kill. She also fancied a go at Bloodshot now that he and Deathstroke had an informal truce. It also seemed she'd never get her chance at Batman either. The laughable pretender called the Bat-Man being beneath her contempt. China's Bat-Man and Darknight were much more interesting and inherently challenging. Except that Darknight and Ri seemed to be infrequently leaving mainland China these days. The Bat-Man was a member of Justice League China and his allies took great offense at any threats coming at him. Super-Man and Wonder-Woman were powerhouses Lady Vic would rather avoid. Ghost Fox Killer, the last known surviving member of the Great Ten, was invariably lethal when the Party released her alongside the Justice League China. Bauhinia, the street avenging "Redbud Woman" and another legendary figure like Ghost Fox Killer was Sun Wukong the Monkey King and were both newer members of the JLC alongside Darknight and Ri. Seemingly magically resurrected from death itsef..

Put together, the JLC was a potentially lethal force of China's best meta-humans and superbly trained specialists absolutely loyal to the Communist Party and the citizens of the People's Republic of China. That at its core was meant as a countermeasure for the largely American Justice League International. But on good working terms with the Russian Federation's New People's Heroes. Who, by Lady Vic's intelligence reports, were currently staged in Los Angeles for a snatch and grab mission.

Boston, Adler, Dr. Moriarty, and Master and Terrific had delivered the observation reports of the Outlaws tearing apart the Wonderland Army. Master Terrific and Moriarty were alone with Lady Vic after the reports and recommendations had been officially given.

"You know we'll have to break Red Alice free?" Moriarty asked.

"She does know too much about our current objective," Master Terrific agreed.

"I truly believe she'd die before giving us up," Lady Vic admitted, "But common sense dictates that a massive manhunt looking for the fugitive international terrorist would distract the security apparatus from our own mission."

"I visited the Pub," Moriarty informed them all, "The Merry Men reported that the Squire was on the trail of the Knight and Page."

"More loose ends that we need to deal with," Lady Vic frowned.

"They might still prove valuable," Master Terrific countered, "They have unofficial access to our targets."

"Still, the bloody Outlaws might prove problematic," Moriarty concluded.

"Agreed," Fu Manchu conceded in his nasal tones. His fit of pique subsiding.

"We haven't finished," South Seas Girl argued.

"Leave a list of your demands and Ms. Zither and Mr. Hauser will discuss the financials with you and then you and I will personally discuss the security measures you wish to impose upon us. Agreed?" Du Manchu countered Alani's demands.

"Very well. I await your displeasure," South Seas Girl agreed.

"Then await our attention in the antechamber. These matters do not concern you or your island nation," Dr. Fu said condescendingly.

"We'll see, won't we?" Alani's eyes dangerously narrowed. Fu Manchu knew the woman would prove to be an outsized thorn in his side in the near future.

"If we're done with that matter?" Ultra-Humanite asked.

"For now at least," Mr. Mind chuckled.

"This wouldn't be an issue of Dr. Fu saw women of being of value," Dr. Clemens sniped.

"They are of outsized value. In my bedchamber," Fu Manchu sniped back at Martin Stein's ex-wife.

"You're such a pig," Veronica Cale bit back at him.

"Why not simply purchase the Outlaws' exception to interfering?" Hauser asked.

"Our running theory is that the Outlaws are secretly vigilantes in disguise," Zither reminded him, "But even if this weren't true, they never renege on a contract once it's taken. If they are here on legitimate business, they won't depart until it's concluded."

"Reach out to your contacts within Intergang and the Syndicate Underground. They are the Outlaws' principle employers after all," Adler suggested.

"Inquiries must also be made with Knightfall," Anne Droid insisted, "They seem to enjoy a special relationship outside of Intergang."

"I will do so," the Other volunteered. Owlman's former retainer had many former Court of Owls contacts inside of Gotham City, "But remain mindful that we must also inquire with Nyssa Raatko regarding the Outlaws' true nature. They seemed to have been founded as an independent extension of the League of Assassins."

"Then we proceed as planned," Fu Manchu wheezed.

"With all due caution," Boston interjected, "After you don't have your boots on this soil."

The Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu imagined all the ways he could have Ethel Boston eviscerated. She may have murdered Holmes and Watson, gotten away with it, and become famous as the one who "solved" their murders but he now regretted ever giving her and Irene Adler the formula that prolonged their lives. Making them, like himself, virtually immortal. But even his genius hadn't cracked the secret to true immortality. Even the infamous Nazi Verjüngungs-Serum, touted along with the Unsterblichkeits-Serum, failed to grant complete immortality. It merely heightened rejuvenation and regeneration capabilities to the point aging crawled by in centuries rather than years. The Nazis merely echoing Fu Manchu's own work from centuries before. But their Supersoldaten-Serum had been a true breakthrough. Granting Majestic-class, nigh Kryptonian-class, super powers to non-meta-humans.

A feat even the late John Lynch and the Legion's own Ivana Baiul had thus far failed to reproduce. Lynch and Baiul pioneered the identification and activation of latent gen factors but granting gen latents and those lacking gen factors and giving them abilities was now the purview of the LuthorCorps Everyman Project. Dr. Earnest Smalley pioneered splicing Daxamigte genetic material into a human. Thereby making Bill Dunn a self-declared second "Superman". Both Lois Lane and Lana Linda Lang had received Kryptonian DNA splices but had their abilities suppressed by Dr. Smalley's research derivatives. Smalley was dead thanks to sabotage at his Dominator constructed laboratory underneath Dangerfield, Arizona.

So far, LuthorCorp had been unable to replicate his successes nor been able to locate Dr. Caitlin Fairchild and acquire her meta-gene suppression technique. They knew Fairchild and other Gen13 actives were operating in Coral City. But it was a lawless environment even when compared to Gotham or Hub Cities. Channel M seemed to able to detect and broadcast Team Luthor and Infinity3's efforts to do so on the Everyman Project's behalf.

"Rest assured, I am well aware of your situation. But the plan continues as needed," Fu Manchu replied.

"And we'll get the job done on an adjusted schedule," Lady Vic told him, "With some appropriate due considerations."

"You'd best see that you do, Lady Vic. You're recent list of accomplishments is woefully short," Fu Manchu reminded her.

"We'll get the job done," Lady Vic terminated the London connection.

"I guess class is dismissed, heh heh heh," Sivana chuckled before closing his connection as well. Everyone else, excluding Drs. Clemens and Cale as well as Zither and Hauser shut down as well.

"Are we still on schedule?" Fu Manchi testily inquired.

"My people are merely awaiting design specifications," Hauser promised.

"And I'm conducting preliminary training," Zither announced.

"Doctors Clemens and Cale?" Fu Manchu prompted them.

"Weaponizing a Firestorm matrix isn't to be taken lightly. One mistake could create a second Deathstorm," Clemens cautioned.

"Tossing Clarissa's caution aside, the design is ready for construction and applicant testing," Cale interjected.

"Valentina Vostok was an exception, not the rule," Clemens argued, "The British and French Firestorms and Firehawks all went critical mass."

Clemens reminded everyone, "Creating powerful but short term agents isn't our long-term goal."

"My volunteers are aware that there could be fatal consequences but they're staying in the program anyway," Zither assured everyone.

"And we can't proceed to perfect the procedure until we begin human trials," Hauser added to the debate.

"Fusing Ronnie Raymond and Martin was a happy one-off event. Any other results with the Firestorm matrix will be inferior. But Vostok proved it can be viable," Clemens allowed.

"And no one can deny the original Firehawk was a happy accidental success," Cale added weight to the discussion, "And at the least we'll create a second Multiplex."

"As if one wasn't enough," Clemens grumbled.

"Bring this matter forward. That ends the discussion," Fu Manchu ordered.

"As you wish, Doctor," but Clemens still wasn't happy.

"You'll receive the design specs by the end of the day," Cale promised Hauser. Which given the ore-dawn hour of the day for Hauser's operations in Colorado, wasn't saying much quite yet.

"Now, I'll bring Queen Alani back in and we can negotiate financials," Fu Manchu summoned the South Seas Girl as Cale and Clemens signed off.

---

"This is bloody rubbish!" Lady Vic snarled.

"He does make one strong point, we've come too far to relent now," Adler voiced her assessment,

"Agreed," Boston added her support.

"With a caveat," Master Terrific interjected, "We deal with the Outlaws straightaway. Our alliance with Intergang's rogue factions here in the UK have to be protected. And it's only logical that the Outlaws have dispatched to deal with them."

"But they've been looking for the Knight and Page," Moriarty reminded them, "It's been a specific search. In fact, they learned about Red Alice's plans and intervened as a measure to bring them into a confrontation with the Knight and Page."

"It's time we make our presence felt in the Pub," Lady Vic decided, "We control the narrative fed to the Outlaws and we can set them up."

"That's not how the Pub generally works," Moriarty argued, "It's neutral ground. Everyone respects that. Red Alice is a foreigner and therefore fair game. But we are dealing with the Squire. She's a beloved figure amongst former allies and arch nemeses alike. The rest of the Outlaws gain immunity by association. It's rather like guilt that way."

"Or shit," Master Terrific snorted.

"Send in the Riddles," Adler suggested, "They may feel more inclined to speak with Josette Quelle over an American."

"She is from the Continent," Moriarty conceded, "That may buy her some grace. Despite being French/"

"Make certain Echo and Query are drilled into submission regarding the precious rules regarding the Pub," Master Terrific demanded, "Ever since E. Nygma was killed on the heels of losing the Riddler they've been unhinged."

"Quiz Miss, Tuesday, and the Baffler will keep them orderly," Boston opined, "Or at least tamed."

"I sincerely doubt that. But, Quelle is our best option other than Moriarty and myself going in. But revealing her involvement and my presence would alert the Squire and the Arrow," Lady Vic had decided.

"Even the Ravager is unarmed when she attends," Adler had listened intently to Moriarty's initial report, "We have to make certain Echo and Query observe that nicety as well."

"I'll personally oversee their pre-visit strip search," Master Terrific offered.

"Anyone but you," Boston sighed.

"I'll accept Josette's word before they leave," Lady Vic told them, "Quelle has always been honest with us."

"It'll be early evening soon. The Pub will be crowded after the work day ends," Moriarty advised them, "Most of the clientele is avoiding police scrutiny in their comings and goings. The Constabulary and New Scotland Yard respect the neutrality tradition but they'll pinch anyone caught crossing the East End trying to reach the 'safe zone'."

"Let it be known we'll pay for information provided outside of the Pub's walls," Lady Vic offered, "We'll get crank callers and wonky news but some will barter with real, tangible information we can use."

"Ravager and the one they call the Sparrow arrived in the Knight's Ride. The former title holders version of a Batmobile," Moriarty added a detail to her previous report, "This implies the Squire still has access to the lost Knight's Tunnel whose location has eluded everyone. It also implies that the Outlaws will have access to his famed Armory."

"Do you have any good news?" Master Terrific inquired snarkily.

"You haven't been emasculated today. Try to keep that record going into tomorrow," Moriarty retorted, "How's that for pleasant news?"

"It'll do for now," Master Terrific smirked. The man, unknown to his compatriots, had originated from Earth-3 before the Crisis erased the Multiverse and Zero Hour had erased its history. Terry Sloane himself retained those memories thanks to his special brand of insanity. On Earth-3, he'd been the only covert member of the Crime Syndicate.

The others had kept him at his distance, fearing his massive intellect would be pitted against them someday. It was he, using Mistress Mary as a proxy, that had seeded the idea of seizing power in Max Lord's mind after he'd convinced the Crime Syndicate to travel to Earth Prime to find more fertile ground for sating their insatiable appetites. But the unexpected participation in his scheme by the Justice League Unlimited had undermined Alexander Luthor's newly fashioned regime and his Apokoliptan backers. Leaving Lord in command of the world and Master Terrific's unwitting puppet.

It had also recreated Earth Prime's Mary Marvel as Black Mary. A development that sparked a lust for power within Mary Bromfield that had threatened her entire world before the Crisis of the Multiverse culminated. The wizard, Shazam, stripped Mary of her powers. Only Billy Batson's ascension into being Shazam had earned her chance at redemption and a partial restoration of her former power. With Freddy Freeman as the new Captain Marvel and Mary as Lady Marvel, the two only possessed a portion of Shazam's power. A limitation imposed upon Freddy as a concession to Mary's probation.

Master Terrific knew that version of Max Lord and Mistress Mary had never existed in the New Universe's history and as the sum total of the Rebirth, there wasn't now, and never was, a Multiverse since the Creation Event. Three women had been in the current year competing over the future of the 31st Century. Glorith was the architect of the Rebirth and the shaping of the New Universe. Saturn Queen wanted to use the Blue Flame of Chaos to create a Dark Multiverse through an Infinity Crisis in the past. The Emerald Empress had merely wished to undermine Glorith's victory in the future achieved through M'Onel killing Mordru.

The Lords of Chaos backed Saturn Queen in revenge over the death of one of their own. The Dominators and Khunds backed the Emerald Empress and her New Fatal Five. But a dark horse in the running was the Unseelie Fae that enabled all of these efforts by using the Genesis Point Rose to thread her own malevolence into Glorith's tapestry of history. Making it inherently unstable even in the moment of her ultimate triumph. Renfri, the Evil Queen, had ambitions stretching across the Twenty-Seven Realms of Existence. The New Universe being the only Realm that ever defeated her in an invasion attempt she personally oversaw and orchestrated. An ignominy she couldn't tolerate.

The Evil Queen still held Oz, Wonderland, Neverland, the Realm of Courts and had invaded twelve other Realms but she'd lost the Realm of Fables to its rightful heirs, Snow White and Rose Red, with assistance from the Justice League's Dark Justice unit. Renfri delighted in the development that Snow White had abandoned her Realm to travel to the New Earth to be turned by Cain, the first Vampyr. Snow's desire to kill her Fae stepmother equaled the Evil Queen's own quest to kill her formerly mortal stepdaughter.

Terry Sloane was well aware of all these salient facts. Just as he knew his Earth Prime counterpart had been the WW II era JSA member Mr. Terrific. The man that had inspired Mary Lee to become Lady Fairplay, and then reject his precepts and become a super villain. Just as his own granddaughter, Veronica Sinclair, had become the Meta-Human Brawl purveyor, Roulette. Lady Fairplay and Master Terrific enjoyed conducting an illicit affair that the major thrill for Mary Lee was having sex with a man who was physically identical to her mentor but decades younger and his complete moral antithesis.

"As you wish," Master Terrific smirked his acquiescence.

"Then I'll prep the Riddles," Dr. Moriarty reiterated. The Pub being refashioned into its present state by her ancestor Prof. Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes until their deaths. Holmes at Ethel Boston's hand and Prof. Moriarty languishing in prison after being convicted on evidence provided by Sherlock's much younger sister, Enola. An outcome even the great Sherlock Holmes had never been able to arrange for.

---

Arrow and Red Arrow chose to go out to gather intelligence on Intergang's rogue factions. Sparrow accompanied Squire and Ravager to the Pub. There, the Riddles awaited them. Josette Quelle charmed the Merry Men and the Knave. It was obvious that Quiz Miss, His Girl Tuesday, and the Baffler's sole purpose was to keep Query and Echo from coming unglued as the Outlaws made their appearance. The entire Pub crowd felt the pall that descended as the twosome grew increasingly agitated at seeing the new arrivals.

"I do believe those two miscreants give us all a bad name," the Jokester warned the Squire.

"Have the Knight and Page made an appearance today?" Squire asked straightaway.

"No," the Jokester said sadly, "If they had, I would've alerted you through the usual channel."

"What aren't telling them?" Sparrow asked as she gazed piercingly into his eyes before pulling a draught from her frothy pint.

"I…" the Jokester hesitated.

"She's never wrong about these things," the Squire warned him, "What have you withheld?"

"The Knight and Page have exclusively targeted independent gangs and blokes that haven't bent the knee to our resident breakaway faction of Intergang," the Jokester sighed.

"And you didn't think that was important?" Ravager asked accusingly.

"You think they're crooked," Squire realized.

"I think there's more to them then the public accolades," Jokester glumly admitted.

"How much more, Jokester?" Squire sharply asked. He remained in a sullen silence.

"How? Much? More?" Squire grated.

"I suggest you answer her," Ravager's voice was laced with menace. Jokester knew she was prepared to kill everyone in the room to get at him in blatant disregard to the Pub's conventions. And those that escaped the Ravager's wrath would swept up by Echo and Query's resultant mad rampage.

"The answer is obvious, Ducky. They answer to Intergang," Jokester finally revealed. through it all, no one noticed the unassuming yenta in a corner.

---

The Wapping Street warehouses had been largely renovated into housing. Formally, the criminal enclaves that had controlled the dockside buildings had simply sold out and departed. Unofficially, this was the seat of Intergang's power in Great Britain and particularly, London. Four members of the 1000 attended the special meeting called to address Lady Vic's concerns and Knightfall's proposal. Each was tasked with a territory within the United Kingdom. One each for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Finally, the UK rated one member of the 100 who also controlled Brittany, Normandy, and the Channel Islands. The European Union rated six members of the 100 and eighty-seven members of the 1000.

It wasn't that no one knew where Intergang's leaders congregated. It was simply that everyone was afraid of them. A trait Arrow and Red Arrow definitely didn't share. The archers mounted telescopic sights on their bows and watched the proceedings going on within from an adjacent rooftop. The rogues' security detail for that building was already unconscious. The darts that the pair carried were laced with a neurotoxin that would immobilize the affected trio six hours.

Arrow landed a cyber attack arrow against the window pane where a glue gel would adhere it in place while it transmitted all broadband activity back to the Tunnel's computers. Red Arrow did the same on the opposing window pane that the adhering gel also acted as an acoustic amplifier. Arrow wore the 4G mobile relay burner phone on his belt while Red Arrow wore an audio recorder.

"Hi there," a distinctly feminine voice said from behind them. Both Arrow and Red Arrow spun around, pulling arrows from their quivers, nocking them and drawing them to take aim as soon as they spotted their unannounced visitor. The woman, to Emiko's hidden delight, was also Asian. A distinctly Han Chinese woman with hair dyed pink. she also wore an insufferable smirk.

"Hi, again. I'm Jenny. Jenny Elsewhere," she announced.

"How did you get here?" Arrow grated.

"Like this," a portal appeared next to Jenny and she stepped though it to where another portal appeared next to Arrow and she'd stepped beside him. He backed away and kept his arrow trained on her.

"Oh please, like I wouldn't simply portal your arrows back at you," Jenny said diffidently.

Red Arrow eased the tension off her bowstring, "I know her, Arrow. She's Intergang."

"For now, at least," Jenny Elsewhere shrugged. Arrow backed off his bowstring, but kept the arrow nocked.

"They're getting started," Jenny nodded towards the meeting place.

"Thanks," Red Arrow primed her recorder.

"This isn't over," Arrow warned Jenny.

"Of course it is," Jenny smirked again.

---

Christine Shumaker was enjoying her Guinness as she observed the two watch parties. the Neb was unknown to any of the two competing factions and she intended for it to stay that way. Her work at a private investigation firm had led her to solving several unsolved cases that the PIs she worked for had abandoned. She did so off book and created the identity of the Neb to work freely for the absued clients that had been told their cases no longer mattered. Most PI work revolved around cheating spouses. But some wrapped around missing persons and crimes the police couldn't get a handle on.

It was illegal to interfere in active police investigations but since these had become cold cases, she felt free to "assist" law enforcement. And in most cases, it merely revolved around waiting for the criminal element involved to feel free enough to brag about their "accomplishments". Such was the case playing out before her. In an indirect manner.

Josette Quelle had the Merry Men and dozens of other British super villains enchanted. Query and Echo were obviously wanting to tear the place apart to get at the Outlaws. Ravager was quietly threatening the Jokester while Quiz Miss, His Gal Tuesday, and the Baffler desperately tried to rein in their unstable companions. The Neb was enjoying the ongoing juicy gossip while counting down the seconds until Query and Echo exploded into unprovoked action. It actually occurred three seconds before the Neb reached a zero count.

"Mother futzers!" Echo screamed as she and Query threw their table aside. Everyone, including the Riddles, froze as the pair lunged across the room at the Outlaws. Josette face palmed while Tuesday, the Baffler, and Quiz Miss desperately tried to catch their fellow Riddles. The crowd intervened just as Sparrow and the Squire bowled the pair over and onto the floor.

"Here now!" the Merry Men roared their displeasure as the Bounder took hold of Query and the Cad grabbed a hold of Echo and the Merry Men escorted everyone to the door.

"And stay out!" the Bounder and Cad advised them. Josette quietly nodded at Tuesday, Quiz Miss, and the Baffler, instructing them to insure that the unhinged Riddles didn't return. At least, not while Quelle held court.

"Well, that was fun," Sparrow took hold of her mug again to draw another pull from it.

"And you didn't answer the question yet," Ravager warned the Jokester. Before being rudely interrupted, Squire had asked the Jokester how he knew the Knight and Page were crooked.

"My dear child, how could they not be?" the Jokester laughed at the irony of his old foe's hallowed name being sullied by a criminal pretender. With the Sheldrakes/Knights, the original Knave, and Godiva all dead and the Anglo-Franco Firestorm/Firehawk Project a debacle, the UK was sadly lacking a new generation of heroes. The populace and the government were desperate to embrace anyone who seemed to rally against the resurgent super criminal element. Even if that resurgence hadn't actually dealt with said criminal element. It was the appearance of a Knight and his Page that mattered to them. the Jokester said as much.

"I'm bloody well responsible," Squire lamented.

"Hardly, dear Ducks," Jokester consoled her, "The Knight replaced you with his oafish son. Who singlehandedly failed to be a replacement Knight when the dear old chappy was killed. I miss our old games of cops and robbers. After all, what's a Knight without a Jokester?"

"Or a Jokester without a Knight?" Squire sadly smiled.

"Precisely. This itinerant pretender doesn't deserve me," the Jokester agreed.

"Do any of us?" Ravager asked.

"Now, now, be civil," Jokester chided her.

"If the Knight and Page are rubbish, who do they work for?" Squire inquired.

"Why not ask your obvious targets in the neighborhood?" Jokester asked, "After all, everyone has already guessed why you're back in your old haunts."

"Do tell," Sparrow snickered.

"You are after the cads and bounders plaguing our dear country," Jokester spotted the Cad and Bounder nearby looked startled, "Sorry, dear chaps, a more generalized sort than you."

A tear in space-time ripped open in the midst of the crowd and a youngish African-American woman emerged, armed, and she pulled the Neb from her seat, "C'mon!"

They vanished after the stranger pulled the unassuming Jewish woman through with her and the tear closed.

"Well, that was rather abrupt," the Jokester laughed as life resumed to normal within the Pub's confines.

---

Christine Schumaker had taken lodgings at a nearby boarding house. the tear opened within her room. Pulled back into it, the Neb stared at the stranger with obvious dissatisfaction, "And you are?"

"Jenny Anywhere," the woman stated.

"Why is it dawn?" the Neb angrily asked, "And why did you pull me from the Pub?"

"Sorry. I get time or place right. Not both," Jenny shrugged, "And that said, the Pub was going to be very unhealthy for you one of these nights. So I happened to arrive before it actually happened. Like I said, time or place right. Not both simultaneously."

"Who the hell are you anyway?" the Neb demanded to know.

"Anywhere. Jenny Anywhere," seeing that drew a blank, sh e explained further, "I was a fan of Shifter, or Jenny Everywhere. She existed in and across the entire Multiverse before it ended. But that Jenny never existed on Earth Prime. Just like Jenny Elsewhere never existed anywhere but there. Now we're kinda living out an elaborate cosmic dharma thing where we're opposed to one another trying to balance whatever karmic scales there are between us."

"Multiverses are impossible. Lex Luthor proved that," the Neb argued.

"They are now. Not before the Multiverse was intentionally destroyed and then replaced," Jenny argued back, "Anyway, we're off topic."

"Why me and why now? And when in the hell are we?" the Neb was flustered.

"The when is your tomorrow morning from your perspective. The why is the Birds of Prey need to be warned and you're the most approachable," Jenny explained.

"Thanks. I think," the Neb replied, "Let me call the others and set up a meet. Can I ask what this is about?"

"The Legion of Doom and their plan to take over the UK," Jenny answered.

"So, nothing major," the Neb tried to joke.

---

Back in last night, Josette Quelle watched as the Outlaws were astonished, then aggravated, and then dismayed in turn. All before Query and Echo's riotous behavior got them ejected.

They know, Josette was certain but the question remained, what will they then do about it in return?

As the Outlaws departed, Josette could only wish to an infernal deity that Query and Echo wouldn't be allowed to set some foolish ambush outside.

---

Arrow and Red Arrow sped their borrowed Bat Bikes back to the Tunnel to find Jenny Elsewhere already waiting for them.

"Do you have any boundaries?" Arrow wanted to know.

"Not really," Jenny smirked again, "But I won't tell anyone you're Oliver Queen. Or Emiko Queen."

"I guess the masks are useless after all," Red Arrow flipped back her hood and removed her color coordinated mask.

"Don't take it personally. Every Oliver Queen is a Green Arrow or just an Arrow. Or at least, that's how it used to be," Jenny confided.

"You're insane," Arrow protested.

"Fine. Don't believe me," Jenny sulked, "Get your DNA tested against the other Oliver Queen and see what happens."

Oliver and Emiko were very silent. Ollie had been swabbed and his DNA was a perfect match for the older, and very deceased, Oliver Queen. A statistical impossibility. Not improbable, impossible. No two humans shared perfectly identical genetic markers. Not even identical twins or even clones. Yet Oliver and Ollie were a genetic match down to every marker. Yet, in a New Universe where doppelgangers were supposedly impossible, that outcome couldn't be readily explained.

The Knight's Ride roared in and parked.

"The hell? Are we bringing in strays now?" Ravager snorted as she stepped out of the vehicle.

"Jenny Elsewhere, I presume?" Squire asked as Sparrow also removed herself from the vehicle's confines.

"At least someone does their homework," Jenny smirked at Oliver again.

"She knows who we all are," he complained.

"Bully for her," Rose peeled her mask off, "I can still break her."

"In your dreams," Jenny snarked.

"Easy, Luv. She's more than she appears to be" Beryl cautioned her partner.

"Love to see you try, though," Jenny gloated.

Beryl stepped in front of Rose to block her, "Why are you here?"

"Brains sent me," Jenny shrugged, "I guess I'm the insurance policy in case you get distracted by whatever originally brought you all here."

"Lucky for you everything seems to coincide," Laurel chortled.

"Meaning?" Jenny asked.

"I came to settle up with the bloke calling himself the Knight. It seems he's in your rogue faction's pockets," Beryl explained.

"Lucky for Intergang indeed, I guess," Jenny winked. Rose got very jealous very swiftly.

"Ree-lax, Cyclops. I'm not making a play for your girl," Jenny promised Rose, "Unless she wants me to."

"She doesn't," Beryl promised Rose.

"Too bad," Jenny theatrically sighed.

"Can we land on a solid point?" Oliver was testy.

"Download the audio and we can listen to that while Laurel and I peruse the raw data," Beryl requested. Emiko used the USB-C cable to plug into the computer and the download commenced.

"This level of encryption is beyond me," Beryl quickly confessed, "Perhaps Overwatch can look at it?"

"Or Felicity Smoak by any other name," Jenny tittered. Oliver hated pulling Felicity into it but Oracle was busy in Los Angeles and way from her Data Womb in the Bunker beneath Three Towers in the Cherry Heights of Gotham.

"Ask nicely," Laurel suggested.

"When aren't I nice?" Oliver asked. Everyone, including Jenny, just silently stared at him.

"To Felicity," he clarified.

"That changes things," Emiko admitted.

"I thought so," Oliver made the call.

---

The next morning…

As Brenda Boyle, April Amazing had subsequently used her inheritance to quickly reserve three adjoining signature suites at the Nobu London at Portman Square after Holly Granger found her former refuge occupied by other squatters. It was within three minutes of Oxford Street, five minutes from the Marble Arch and six minutes out from Hyde Park. The district was Marylborne and was bordered to the south by Mayfair and to the south-southeast by Soho. Each signature suite slept three. But two had to share a king bed while a third got a twin size.

The hotel had its own 5 star restaurant and unlimited room service. The Birds enjoyed the gym after breakfast and queued up for the twin showers in the suites. Brenda booked a conference room for the Birds of Prey gather in and strategize. Crimson Fox showed up in all her glory from the Four Seasons. The manager was thrilled to be hosting actual super heroines.

"Where the hell is the Neb?" Savant crankily asked as she arrived.

"Here!" the Neb rushed in accompanied by Jenny Anywhere.

"Who's the stray," Hawk wanted to know.

"She's good people," Kitty Claus announced.

"That's some serious hardware," Spy Catcher observed Jenny's weapons.

"You're one to talk," Jenny retorted.

"Down girl," Cairo Jones advised Spy Catcher. Katana carefully studied Jenny Anywhere while the Neb described her experience at the Pub and what she'd observed and learned. She also introduced Jenny Anywhere and her involvement skipping through space-time without mentioning her rather outlandish proposals regarding a lost Multiverse being replaced by a flawed New Universe.

"So you're saying this 'Jenny Elsewhere' works directly for Intergang's 100 and is operating inside of London?" Spy Smasher summarized.

"To bad we don't have Batwoman here with us," Savant opined, "Between you three, we'd find her rather quickly."

Kenesha was also referring to Spy Smasher and Katana, both highly experienced trackers that specialized in finding those that endeavored not to be found.

"I can sense the other Jenny by her temporal and spatial field but I can't pinpoint her fixed location well enough to jump to both her precise spatial and temporal fixed point," Jenny explained.

"What?" Golden Lass was confused.

"She can do when or where but not both," the Neb explained it, "So if she chooses a location, she can't choose the time and her target might be long gone or have not arrived yet."

"How do you get anything done?" Moon Girl had to wonder. Back in her native Samarakand, Claire Lune had a been a princess subjected to highly organized and confining duties and schedules. Discovering her lunar based powers and becoming Moon Girl had liberated her into being able to travel to America and study life abroad before returning home to become her country's principle defender as well as a potential ruler should her older sister die unexpectedly. The throne passed along the maternal line to her older brothers couldn't inherit. Moon Girl was the youngest in the family and the only one in the generation to inherit the meta-gene that made the Lune family the defenders and holders of the native monarchy.

Her aunt had died defending Samarakand. But Moon Girl had found another girl with her same powers activated the same way. Starlet had been orphaned at a young age, a bastard born to a commoner that had dared love a prince. Raised in America, Starlet had never been exposed to Samarakand's culture and barely knew that she'd been born there. The only thing she had of her birth parents was a moonstone rock mounted in a necklace. Which as she grew older had given access to her latent gen factor. When she became gen active, Moon Girl, who was barely older, made her a ward of the crown and enrolled Starlet into the Young Justice program the JSA and MLJ were offering young meta-humans.

Black Cat's protege, Black Kitten, was also a member. Golden Lass was the right age but refused to attend. Her peer, Golden Lad, also refused to enlist in the Young Justice program for reasons they refused to articulate. Kitty Claus and Kenesha both appeared to be barely into their twenties yet both had walked this Earth for centuries, or thousands of years in Savant's case. Dr. Cairo Jones was still unearthing lost temples, cities, and tombs in Egypt while Savant was a world renowned treasure hunter and tomb raider. Crimson Fox, April Amazing, and Black Cat looked bored and ready to undertake action.

Katana still studiously observed Jenny Anywhere while the Neb relayed the gossip and chatter that had permeated the Pub. The rogue Intergang faction had terrorized the costumed criminal crowd in the UK for months now. The Outlaws' arrival spelled certain doom for the faction. Something that the criminals relished. They wanted to get back to normalized relations with Intergang proper.

Additionally, Squire's inquiries into the Knight and Page had many wondering if the Outlaws weren't deviating from their core mission to handily deal a blow against London's new darlings. The advent of which was still deemed to soon to appreciate. Traditionalists were happy to have a new Knight in town. While even staid enemies of the original Knights, like the Jokester and the Merry Men, eschewed the arrival of the so-called "pretender".

The latest generation of the costumed crowd would happily see the Outlaws deal a mortal blow against a potential hindrance and his assistant. Even if the Outlaws deviations eventually led them back to the UK to deal with them personally. Each of the young upstarts assumed they could deal with the resurgent Outlaws. The Knave particularly looked forward to the Outlaws dealing with Intergang's renegades. He'd apprehend the scofflaws after they'd eliminated the terrifying Intergang rivals. Something that even the Knave's bravado faltered at when questioned regarding his lack of due diligence in doing so regarding the local 100 and 1000 members and thei legion of loyalist hoodlums.

Their henchmen and henchwenches bought and paid for with financial rewards and promises of greater riches if Intergang were to fail to reassert control over the UK. But they'd just as soon fall away and return to the fold if the 100 and 1000 insurgents were to fail in their revolution to break away from the totality that Intergang was reforming as. Word had reached even the criminal foot soldiers that a new Intergang Director had been appointed from the 100 and everyone, including the Great One, the Mandarin, and the Big Boss were aboard for this new era following Sen. Kelly's death and Julia Sazia's brief tenure as Director. The Great One had secured Intergang's continued unfettered access to Central Asia just as the Mandarin had shored up alliances with the Yakuza and the Triads. Big Boss had Intergang's half of North America and the whole of Brazil lock stepped and a new plan to destabilize and wrest territories from the Syndicate Underground and secure Canada, the US west of the Rockies, Mexico, Central America and the rest of South America was in the works. Even Las Vegas' attempt at independence was being dealt with.

Donald Trump had been brought to heel in Atlantic City and he ceded away control over its criminal enterprises in a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that he richly profited from. After all, it was only the money and name recognition that mattered. Although, with Max Lord distracted within the United Nations scheming against Lex Luthor's obvious ambitions, there was an opening to contend to be a literal king of NYC. Just as Lena Luthor was Metropolis' unofficial queen. Knightfall had Gotham sewn up tight despite Derek Powers' upstart attempts to become the major relevant force in the city. Morgan Edge was dead, Lord was focused within the UN's new Paris complex, that left Trump unfettered to attempt to declare NYC as an independent city-state with him as its absolute monarch and his family as its new monarchy. It was hardly a coincidence that his youngest child's name was Barron ie. "warrior or baron, man/noble of potency", a pretentious name if there ever was one. but the happenings in the United States, other than those directly involving Intergang, didn't mean much yet to the United Kingdom.

Olivia McKay had been reinstated as President after Luthor's impeachment and the Supreme Court reversed hers. But after Jackson Mason's ill-fated run at the Presidency, she needed to appoint a new Vice-President. Luthor, the first independent candidate to be elected POTUS had polarized Congress party against party and opened the door to third-party and independent candidates beyond the rare senator or representative. McKay's fulfilled second term and elected third-term were to be as an independent rather that a member fo the "Big 2" parties. The Republicans forgetting that prior to the conclusion fo the Civil War, they were the upstart 3rd Party candidates. The Democrats likewise forgot they were once the Republican-Democrats when first founded by Thomas Jefferson and their original "evil" rivals were Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Whig Party. The first thing to unite modern rival parties since 9/11 was Luthor's impeachment.

No one voted against impeachment but 49 bought and paid for Representatives and 13 Senators abstained. Unanimously they amended the Constitution to allow foreign born legalized residents, including extraterrestrials like the Durlan McKay, to serve as POTUS and amended the service terms to six years like senators rather than four. The second special presidential election in as many years seated McKay for a new six-year term and the Supreme Court's decision to strike down her prior impeachment regarding her alien birth in violation of the Constitution's then-current stipulations, granted her a guaranteed eight-year term. The other Amendment struck down Presidential term limits, expanding them instead to four of the elongated terms rather than a mere two. This was to appease the increasingly autocratic Republicans who wanted a literal "President-for-Life" so giving them a potential 24 years seemed a fruitful compromise. Particularly if the opposing party won the elections, they deemed.

So despite paving the way for McKay's victory, neither side actually wanted her to win. The Republicans fielded the increasingly angrily polemic Jackson Mason who at one point even demanded repealing the 14th and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Act to make Segregation and even outright slavery legal again. Mason also took a, popular amongst fellow party members, stance that corporation s and the the top tier 2% not have to pay income taxes. Everyone else would pay a 15% flat tax. If a person earned just $1 a year, they would owe the government $0.15, enforceable by thirty years in prison for delinquency of even fifteen cents. Overpayments would never be refunded again. Taxes would also be legally required to be prepared by government certified accountants. At the tax payer's expense.

So, Mason's solution to the poor was to enslave or otherwise indenture them to pay off their tax burdens. Debtor's prisons would reopen and people would be sold into contracts to repay their ever mounting debts. Multinational corporations and agribusinesses would flourish under the tax exemption and readily tax sheltering environment with literally free labor. Even food and housing would simply be tacked on to the contractual debt to be "repaid" plus interest. One exemption could be made by selling minors into work contracts in lieu of repayment. Thus the young would inherit the previous generations' debt as well as generate their own.

Despite a generational shift towards these policies, even the Republican Party itself cringed at hearing it openly articulated. Long standing plans to stack the courts to insure these policies would withstand legal challenges were being hard fought within Congress. the Far Right had seen McKay as owing them for supporting her return to office and her previous hawkish stances alongside her social liberalism, Which could be overcome in time with extreme activism. But McKay disavowed both parties and won anyway. Now both parties wanted to exact revenge by blocking and passing legislation that would never be enacted. The House and Senate each passed bills measures that the other chamber of Congress wouldn't support. And the rare bills passed were guaranteed a Presidential veto.

Thus each party sought to insure that they would be the ones to reap the benefits in the next election eight long years in the future. Meanwhile control over Congress would intermittently flip flop as the stagnation increasingly disgusted voters whose voices were represented less and less in favor of promoting ideologies so separated from the mainstream as to be unrecognizable or even supported by anyone but the most fanatical of voters.

A situation Vandal Savage and the Light wished to exploit. Beginning with the Legion of Doom's plans for the UK. The Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu actually opposed said plans. But only because they didn't originate with him. But none of the Riddles had been privy to the intricacies of the planning so all they knew for certain was that the Legion had allied itself with the rogue members of Intergang's 100 and 1000 to destabilize the British government. It was also universally known amongst the participants that Lady Vic was in tactical control of the Legion's forces. But that four operatives from the Legion's Brain Trust were in overall control over the strategy no matter how much or frequently Lady Vic protested otherwise.

"So that's the short version," the Neb wrapped up after explaining, with Jenny Anywhere's assistance, for an hour.

"Crap," Black Cat said what was on everyone's mind.

Although Crimson Fox literally said, "Merde."

"So we track the leadership and cut the head off the snake," Manhunter suggested, "Bottom up investigating. We start with Intergang and squeeze them to get to the Legion of Doom."

"But where are these Intergang bozos?" Golden Lass asked.

"Everyone knows where they're to be found," the Neb answered, "It's just that no one will move on them."

"Except for, presumably, the Outlaws," April Amazing determined.

"A very real possibility," Spy Smasher agreed.

"I keep telling you, they're good guys," Kitty Claus argued.

"Whatever the case may be, if they oppose us they must be dealt with," Katana quietly asserted.

"And we must decide how finally to deal with them, non?" Crimson Fox asked.

"I refuse to kill them," Dove protested.

"I have no problems with that," Hawk countered.

"Hopefully that isn't a recommendation," Moon Girl was adamant.

"I'd say it's up to the individual conscience," Dr. Jones tentatively argued.

"Which makes everyone else an accessory to that murder," Manhunter was still a prosecutor back home.

"Your point?" Savant snorted, "I've killed people for less reason."

"God, and I thought Golden Lad overreacted all the time," Golden Lass was disgusted.

"Let's just take killing of the table," April Amazing suggested.

"Agreed. We're all capable fems. We can deal out harsh justice without murdering people in the process," Black Cat concurred.

"I'm with them," Moon Girl stated.

"As am I," Dove agreed.

"I'm down with it," Golden Lass joined in the coalition.

"And we'll stop anyone else who disagrees," Kitty Claus verbalized the intent of the compact.

"It seems we've taken a stand," Cairo Jones allowed.

"Otherwise you're on your own," the Neb warned the silent minority.

"Dove'll be impossible to live with if we don't agree to her terms," Hawk warned everyone else.

"I can cope," Spy Smasher relented.

"As will I, apparently," Crimson Fox allowed.

"I'll agree," Katana had held out until then.

"It's your collective funerals," Savant shrugged.

"I still have to find a way to contain Jenny Elsewhere. By whatever means ultimately necessary," Jenny Anywhere warned them.

"Besides, these Intergang posers should be our targets anyway," Manhunter shifted the focus back to them, "And the food chain they begin."

"Stake out," the Neb said gleefully.

"I'll have Rhosyn teleport us some portable chemical toilets and toity paper," Dr. Jones sighed.

---

That afternoon, while the Birds of Prey staked out where Red Arrow and Arrow had already been to, the Outlaws resumed business in the Tunnel after getting some much required sleep. Felicity had eagerly assisted Oliver.

Despite it being seven hours earlier in Star City thanks to time zones, Overwatch gladly walked the Outlaws through the data she'd decrypted, "Most of it is just business ledgers I've passed on to New Scotland Yard. But these targets of yours are assisting the Legion of Doom in some plot against the British government. They're most of it word of mouth but apparently they ha e operatives that can get close to the heights government?"

"Presumably the Knight and Page, if we're correct," Beryl agreed.

"That isn't supported one way or the other by the data files. You already listened to the audio so you know they have a meet with Legion reps at your local midnight," Felicity continued, "Shake `em down to fill in the blanks is the best I can offer."

"Thank you, Felicity," Oliver was softer with her than anyone else, "We'll keep you posted"

"You'd better," Felicity warned him.

"Another late night," Laurel said aloud.

"This time, I'll get you inside so you can ask your actual questions directly," Jenny Elsewhere offered, "And then you deal with the leadership like you've contracted to."

"We will," Oliver promised, "Alongside our personal business. Just don't get in the way of either."

Jenny pointed at herself and wore her best Who me? Face. Emiko was enjoying watching Oliver spar with the irreverent Asian. An ethnicity the Outlaws didn't lack for. Emiko, Li Harper, and Rose were all Amerasian while Jade Nguyen, better known as Cheshire, was full blooded Vietnamese. No one present but Jenny Elsewhere realized Li was actually the same person as Lian Harper, Jade's precocious five-year old daughter just fourteen years older and from another Earth that had now never existed.

Emiko was the very Chinese Shado's daughter with Oliver Queen, whose relationship to the Oliver standing beside was equally unknown to everyone present except for Jenny. Nor would they easily embrace the truth, as Jenny Elsewhere had already discovered with Oliver. But Emiko could admit she didn't understand how her father and her friend shared the same DNA but were differed by 26 years and being alive or dead. Human cloning was still in its infancy despite Dr. Emil Hamilton's success with Kara In-Ze's sterner Argoan DNA that yielded Galatea. But Kryptonian derived cells in a yellow solar environment were far more resilient than human DNA. The League of Shadows had limited successes with the Ubu clones and the Heretic.

As Bill Dunn, with Daxamite DNA, Lois Lane and Lana Linda Lang, with Kryptonian DNS, had all discovered, humans could barely survive the painful splicing of the differing alien genetic components. Superboy was proof that human and Kryptonian DNA could be merged in a cloned but only one in fifty thousand specimens would survive to be force grown even into their teens. Whereas Galatea, a pure blood, had reached adulthood within months. She'd even been age skewed older than Kara. The limitation with Conner was that his force grown age arrested at seventeen and externally he would never age further while his internal components would age at human norms rather than the far slower Kryptonian half of his dual heritage. Bill Dunn and Linda Lang would each reach old age and infirmity at standard human pacing while Lois had been treated with Dominator-derived technology to achieve near-immortality. Saturn Queen wanted an ally that would survive down the ages to counter Vandal Savage.

The fact Lois was single-minded in her relentless pursuit to kill her husband, Superman, just added spice to the mix. But even Eve Aries hadn't revealed to Lois whether or not she was ultimately successful. Lois' obsession had reached the stage where she was willing to kill her own children by Clark rather than see them take up his legacy. Lois was originally the Lois Lane of Earth-2 before the Final Crisis. She'd been held captive a sexually brutalized by Lord Superman. Bearing him four children, Jonathan Lane, Laura, the twins Carol and Jane, conceived by rape. Mia Kent, forcibly adopted by Lois, was Lord Superman and Lena Luthor's daughter. Another child born of rape and murder. at least Lord Supermasn's child by the New God, Precious, had been erased from the New Universe's history. As had Superman's repeatedly forced impregnations of Mala. a stunning blow to Granny Goodness' ambitions.

All happening even throughout the Fourth World realm as a causal consequence of Lord Superman being erased from time itself as well as Earth-3 where Mala used Superman and Apokoliptan science to repeatedly incubate fertilized and ovulate again and again and again until she'd conceived twelve children with Kal-El. Only the Monitor's interference, and Glorith's subsequent laziness, had secured the survival of doppelgangers and other people from the Crisis and Zero Hour annihilations when Rebirth occurred.

---

"Our supporting players will be placed tomorrow. The ceremony is still set to proceed," Moriarty announced as she breezed in.

"As you so wished," Master Terrific smirked at Lady Vic.

"The fools have no scope of what we're about to do," Lady Vic chuckled.

"Which is when we generally need to take stock and make certain our plans aren't discovered...or revealed," Boston argued.

"Let me take a team, minus the Riddles, and visit the Pub to size up the players there. Josette's rather...enthusiastic end of the evening colors her perspective," Adler added. Quelle had spent the rest of the evening and a better part of the morning in an orgy with the six Merry Men.

"I'll set Byte and Casey to exploring where the Outlaws could be basing out of," Master Terrific offered. Byte could integrate with digital and computer networks to hack any system. Casey Krinski was the youngest member of them team. Still too young, even by British standards, to be drinking in a public house. But her gen factor was to mimic any other person's meta-ability whom she made physical contact with. Even if the person were still an unactivated gen latent, she'd mimic their dormant ability. With Byte and Atomica capable of riding carrier wave signals, Byte could trace the Outlaws' location and Atomica could arrive before the Legionnaires to scout said location out.

Lady Vic would hold Blackwing back along with a small force to act if Byte came through. Boston, Sloane, and Adler could lead the investigation at the Pub. Giving them Lady Fairplay and Fright as well would enhance their investigative ability while the Tornado Twins could serve as a rapid reaction force should one endeavor or the other go awry. Devil Ray was providing the Intergang insurgents with a much needed extraction to Belfast at midnight tonight. With the Outlaws actively, presumably, seeking out the rebels they needed to be elsewhere while events played out in London. A team of Legionnaires would be safeguarding their extraction, led by Lady Vic herself.

After her team of Legionnaires had overt control over the United Kingdom, Britain would exit from the European Union and NATO. the Bank of England and the Exchange would then be used as an international clearinghouse to launder illegal monies. with the Legion of Doom collecting transaction fees and the Light dictating the course of nations through Great Britain's continuing influence. Giving Vandal Savage a Permanent Member on the United Nations Security Council under his control. Even if Russia and China sided with the USA and France, the UK held an inviolate veto over the Council and as Secretary-General, Lex Luthor could procedurally derail any UN General Assembly motions to intervene. So unless the EU or the United States declared war on the United Kingdom, no one would interfere in the Legion's taking hold of an entire nation. Something even Savage had failed to do as CONTROL over the World Army.

"We all know our roles, people. Let's fulfill them," Lady Vic admonished everyone, "No failures tonight."

---

While Byte futilely trolled the Internet to sniff out the Outlaws and their whereabouts, Adler, Boston, Master Terrific, Jamie Moriarty, Mary Lee as Lady Fairplay, and Fright celebrated Dr, Moriarty's heritage at the Pub. The Merry Men, after a well earned snooze after cavorting with Josette Quelle, were off on a job. The Knave was trying to bring them in. The Knight and Page would actually do so. Meanwhile Fright and Lady Fairplay cornered the Jokester.

"I understand you were quite close to the original Knight as well as his Squire," Fright cooed.

"Close enough to know where he hid from the world?" Lady Fairplay bought a round for the "impromptu" threesome.

"I see what you doing, ladies. I also saw you enter in with our own Dr. Moriarty. For Jamie's dear sake, I'll say this politely: sod off," the Jokester sniffed.

"What a potty mouth," Fright went to dose him with her fear toxin when he sprayed her with his posy.

The acid immediately began eating through her mask and scarring flesh.

"Here now!" the bartender cried.

"No permanent harm done...quite yet," Jokester promised. Lady Fairplay received silent permission from Master Terrific to get Fright to Emergency.

"Friend, that was uncalled for," Master Terrific chided Jokester.

"I suppose you prefer spending the evening reliving your greatest traumas?" Jokester asked.

"Point taken," Master Terrific conceded, "Buy you another pint?"

"On a singular condition: you realize straightaway that I have no knowledge regarding the Tunnel other than its name," Jokester asserted.

"Can't blame us for trying," Master Terrific motioned for another from the barkeep.

"I can object to your methods," Jokester huffed, "And your intentions towards my country."

"You are well informed," Master Terrific allowed, "Yet, you don't know how to reach this 'Tennel'?"

"Ould son, I made it a point not to know," Jokester sniffed, "It would've ruined the game. And the Knight and I had a civilized accord. So much easier to work with than your Batman and Joker ever afforded each other."

"And the Squire?" Master Terrific asked.

"I hold the bargain with her owing to our years of association. Unlike that twerp of a son the Knight spawned in his after hours. His loss won't be felt," Jokester huffed.

"The Knight had a wife?" Master Terrific mused.

"As if Moriarty hadn't already told you," Jokesgter scoffed, "Her death is what propelled him to take up arms against the criminally inclined."

"Seems most heroes need a tragedy to catapult them into action," Master Terrific conceded.

"And which Earth were you originally from, 'Terry Sloane'? I rather doubt you'd have been tolerated on Earth-2. You're too young for Earth-4, and not old enough for Earth-27. I guess that leaves Earth-3 since Earths-5 and -16 are so haphazardly represented in the New Universe," Jokester swallowed the last dregs from his mug, "And everyone else apart from a few Pocket Universes died along with their universes."

"It seems I underestimated you," Master Terrific chuckled.

"Most do," Jokester ordered another, "Such as the fact that the barkeep and I have a longstanding arrangement. He doesn't actually serve me ale, just unhardened cider."

Master Terrific finally looked flummoxed.

"Don't blame dear Jamie. She didn't know. And I'm assuming this is my final evening on this mortal coil," Jokester laughed, "But the joke has always been on you. It would've been anyway."

He staggered and then fell to the floor, "Arsenic, dear chap. I've a belly full of it and it was taking effect long before you arrived. I just had to impart some final words of wisdom to our dear Squire before I died and my mission has been accomplished. Toodles now."

The Jokester raggedly breathed his last.

"Irene, Ethel, Moriarty! We need to go! Now!" Master Terrific shouted across the din, "We've been played all along!"

---

The Nemo surfaced to side in the Thames beside the pier that attached to Intergang's Wapping development. Devil Ray had careful circumvented detection by risking the river's shallows and the nuclear powered submarine had remained submerged for several days now as the river run was approached. Lady Vic and Devil Ray had coordinated this extraction weeks ago. The Nemo had made several appearances plaguing Med shipping before vanishing to reappear that evening. With its conventional torpedoes and its vertically launched short-range cruise missiles the submarine could hold London hostage if threatened. Even if it needed to get past a Royal Navy blockade if discovered and pursued. Lady Vic and her force were just preparing to enter the riverside entrance when the entire building unexpectedly exploded.

The charges had been expertly laid and only Intergang's headquarters collapsed under the weight if itself now lacking structural support. The Legionnaires were flattened by the blast's shockwave. Lady Vic recovered the see the Nemo diving even as her screw went into full reverse to back the sub out into the Channel.

"Bollocks!" Lady Vic snarled, "We've been had!"

Lady Lunar, Superior Girl, and Devastation represented her aerial assets and she deployed them without much hope of spotting the renegade 100 and 1000 members and their henchmen and henchwenches. As the three swept the area, Enforcer and Amazona flew to her location, sent by Blackwing after learning from Master Terrific of the Jokester's final jest.

"Bleeding sod set us up," Lady Vic angrily snarled as the last bubbles from the Nemo's departure broke the river's surface.

Sirens filled the air as Superior Girl commed in, "Lady Vic, police and military units are headed your way."

"But of course they are," Lady Vic unhappily acknowledged, "I'm sending support. Delay them long enough for Devastation to carve an exit out for us."

"Copy that," Superior Girl relished the thought of going into action. Lady Vic considered Belinda Zee a wanker but she could be a highly effective wanker. Enforcer and Amazona went to join the melee that Superior Girl was conducting in order for Lady Lunar to employ her gravitational powers to fly the Legionnaires, in their vehicles, out across the Thames where they wouldn't be sought after.

---

"Why the hell were we set up?" Lady Vic asked when everyone was in attendance.

"The Jokester obviously knew both of our plans," Master Terrific explained, "He alluded as much before he gloated his way into death's door. Bastard thought it was funny. Obviously, as well, he planted a little bug in the rogues' ears that we would betray them."

"So who all did he tell?" I, Spyder asked.

"He only mentioned the Squire," Dr. Moriarty knew from Master Terrific's hasty explanation as he tried to call off Devil Ray and Lady Vic. Byte was currently MIA as well. Which it was theoretically possible, if forewarned, to create a Faraday trap for her out of a high capacity portable drive.

"So we got toyed with," Toyman was insulted.

"Why would the Jokester even care?" Casey asked.

"He and the original Knight enjoyed a cordial relationship as protagonist and arch-nemesis," Boston explained, "Obviously, he felt some courtesy was due the Squire."

"And according to Terry, he specifically mentioned our plans for the UK as a whole," Adler added to the discussion.

"Kicking in a reflexive patriotism," Moriarty finished the explanation.

"Which means the Merry Men may have willfully compromised the intelligence I received them," Josette Quelle fretted.

"I guess you'll have to pump them again for more info," Quiz Miss snickered. Echo and Query were still whining over Quelle's rather ravished looking appearance when she'd finally reported in back at base. They'd made demands that the next super villain team in need of repeated orgasms should be serviced by experts. Tuesday and the Baffler were of the mind to send them off under any circumstance just to shut them up.

"We couldn't spot any signs of the 100 or 1000 rogues that were ostensibly our allies," Don Allen complained.

"And we searched the whole city. Twice," Dawn Allen, the other half of the 29th Century Tornado Twins, complained even more loudly. The Allen twins were dependent upon their father, Barry Allen, creating a Flashpoint Paradox in the 29th Century they were from in order to secure their present and their future. If the second Flash moved his family to the 31st Century before doing so, they would be erased from the time stream. A happenstance the newest Time Trapper was barely able to offset in Glorith's time line. Only the Evil Queen's corrupting influence gave her enough sway to prevent the Tornado Twins from simply unraveling in space-time. Even the Reverse Flash's future was threatened by the Flashpoint Paradox.

Eobard Thawne was completely unaware of this, of course, and thought it would be the masterstroke that guaranteed his final victory instead of his ultimate undoing. If Barry Allen ceased to be the Flash, then Wally West would never ascend to being the third Flash. Without the two, the legend of the Flash would end with Jay Garrick and the Flash's fame wouldn't warrant Thawne's envy and without that all consuming need to surpass, he would never become the Reverse Flash.

The other irony was that the knowledge of the failed Flashpoint would send the Tornado Twins back in time to guarantee it occurred but also its ultimate failure as well. Without knowing that Thawne had succeeded, Barry wouldn't have sent his adult children from the 31st Century to the 29th to chase the Reverse Flash down through centuries to protect a young Barry Allen from being murdered and to guarantee his mother was instead. But the Allen twins, bored with relative obscurity in a future dominated by the Legion of Superheroes, that Dawn's daughter Nora had joined as XS, and a Justice League Infinite, which boasted Don's son, Bart, as Impulse. So they remained in the 21st Century as Thawne had settled in to kill all three Flashes as well as Max Mercury, Kid Flash, Miss Quick, Kid Mercury, Lady Flash, Blue Streak, Jesse Quick, Hot Pursuit, Express, Expressman, Baroness Blitzkrieg and the Rival. He'd already successfully eliminated the Kapitalist Kouriers and Johnny Quick. A new speedster simply calling himself Mercury had also recently appeared beside the government team labeled the Americans. A team other members of the Outlaws were currently facing in Los Angeles. Another notch to be added to Reverse Flash's eventual tally.

"That still doesn't explain why these Intergang idiots bolted from us," Loady Spellbinder vociferously complained.

"Maybe they didn't," Blackwing countered, "Perhaps the Outlaws were already on to them and they fled and the Outlaws, using the Jokester's information, set the trap for them."

"That's my man," Atomica boasted as everyone recalled why Blackwing had been Owlman's favored Talon and the most successful criminal defense attorney in Bludhaven in his other life as Charles Bullock. As Rhonda Penita, Atomica was Bucllock's prized illegal investigator. Thanks to her white dwarf star powered suit, she could access anywhere and get dirt on anyone. Except for ADA Dick Grayson and his wife, the philanthropist named Ulla Paske, it seemed. But she had discovered they were the former Nightwing and Little Mermaid. Lives they'd given up when they got married and now they were beginning a family with one daughter born and a son on the way. Blackwing would've given anything to kill the reviled Nightwing but Charles Bullock frequently clashed with Grayson in and out of court. So any mysterious deaths would send the Bludhaven PD his way.

Blackwing and Atomica were more than happy to maintain their bloated lifestyles of the rich and shameless so long as Nightwing and Little Mermaid stayed retired. Blackwing and Atomica had sent a thank you note to Nanda Parbat to congratulate Black Canary, the new Ra's al Ghul, and Nyssa Raatklo at killing Owlman and decimating the Court of Owls. Which under Lincoln March's tenure as Owlman had grown to threaten the League of Shadows. So Dinah Lance did what any Ra's would do: she dispatched a League of Assassins army against the Court's worldwide operations. The fragile remnant spearheaded by Lincoln March's daughter, Helena as the Matron, scraped by as a pale shadow of its former self. Largely eking out a living in Europe's southern boundaries and even then only upon the graces of the League of Shadows, HIVE, and the Black Seven sparing them. But the Court of Owls had recently been approached by the equally neutered Order of St. Dumas and an alliance had been born under the leadersbhip of Talia al Ghul.

Who in reality hosted her father's mind rather than her own. That betrayal being the former Ra's inheritance for his daughters. Only Nyssa's inexplicable mercy had spared Ra's/Talia from death but existing in a permanent limbo of banishement from the Shadow Seven that oversaw the League of Shadows' worldwide operations. As the Demon's Hand, Nyssa now served her wife's Demon's Head in all things. She'd also gained absolute dominion over the League of Assassins. Dinah Drake and Nyssa Raatko now serving as the world's greatest power couple. Nyssa's revenge upon her father for all of his intentional slights. Nyssa had persuaded Dinah to join the Leagues' fortunes with Vandal Savage's the Light. The Shadow Seven had eagerly committed to the cause.

But Savage was well aware that Dinah's only interest was in subverting his cause. Even as prior Ra's al Ghuls had throughout history. But the Legion of Doom, under Fu Manchu's conservatorship, fared no better in Savage's eyes. Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage saw each other as necessary partners to rid the universe and Fourth World of the New Gods. But the Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu strained at his leash. It amused Luthor as greatly as it irritated Savage.

Vandal found Lena to be the pragmatic Luthor. It was she that had learned of Intergang's civil war sprouting a renegade branch in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Lena had provided the names and locations of the 100 and 1000 members trying to embark on separate venture from Intergang. Additionally, she'd been the one to uncover the newly annointed Knight and Page's ultimate loyalties and deduced the urgency of the opportunity the pair represented for the Light. The separatists and even the Knight and Page were all expendable in the Light's ambitions. They existed merely to serve.

With Deathstrroke, his Titans, and Kalea-El united in tracking down and eliminating the remaining members of Darkseid's former Elite, the remaining New Gods of New Genesis had taken to hiding on Earth. Mr. Miracle being mistaken in his assumption that his people's killers didn't realize that Scott Free was in reality Izaya the Highfather's only son or that Barda Free was formerly Big Barda, the field commander of the Female Furies from Apokolips. Granny Goodness, Glorious Godfrey, Amazing Grace, the Female Furies, and other New God cockroaches continued to defy death by commanding the legions of the interstellar Dark Circle. Grail had put down her father, Darkseid, but his worshipers on Dark Circle planets, such as Daxam, refused to believe their Master was truly "dead" and in the 31st Century, Darkseid would rise again. Only to seek the death Grail had denied him.

Grail herself was mystery, having vanished amongst the Twenty-Seven Realms of Existence after abandoning the Fourth World to its inevitable fate at the Light's hands. So amongst the stars, the Dark Circle raged everlasting wars against the Dominators and the Khunds. Out in those same stars, Almerac had finally given Earth up to its own protection after Maxima's demise. In this environment, the United Planets and the Confederacy of Worlds would arise as beacons of hope amonsgt the death and destruction. The Light against the Dark fully realized and manifest. The UP's defenders, the LSH, and the CoW's JLI blissfully unaware of the Light having guarded humanity's core worlds until such time as they could stand together and finally bend the knee to Vandal Savage.

But Savage already knew who his future competitors would be. They'd all crawled back to the 21st Century to court his favor. Glorith had used Rebirth to prepare all time and space for her advent. But in the wings, Saturn Queen and her Legion of Super Villains and Sarya the Emerald Empress and her Fatal Five also strove to dethrone Glorith and make her grovel at their feet. But for Eve Aries, this was just the beginning.

Saturn Queen followed the impulses and guidance of the Blue Flame of Chaos, the last vestige of the Lords of Chaos. Her singular goal was to splinter the New Universe into a Chaotic Dark Multiverse through an Infinity Crisis. A new Crisis that had to be seeded in the 21st Century during the rise of the Heroic Age before the Great Sundering. For that, Saturn Queen needed Vandal Savage and the Light. For Chaos to ultimately rain eternal destruction upon Order, the Light would have to imbed itself deeply into the future United Planets and Confederacy of Worlds to use the Legion of Superheroes and the Justice League Infinity against their own best interests to shatter the New Universe. Only an existential threat on the magnitude of the former Crisis of the Multiverse could do that.

The Infinity Crisis would threaten the very Realms of Existence and in order do so, Saturn Queen needed the Evil Queen to brought to heel and ultimately unleashed on that singular purpose that she'd striven for since her birth following the spark fo the First Creation that yielded up the Twenty-Seven Realms and one of those being the infinite Multiverse before the Anti Monitor wreaked havoc upon it. Of all the Realms, only Heaven, Hell, and thsu far the New Universe had the power to repel Renfri. But the Light would undermine the Universe's defenders thereby creating the very existential threat Saturn Queen coveted as the Evil Queen brought the weight and terror of Twenty-Four conquered Realms of Existence against Glorith and her New Universe.

Saturn Queen didn't desire to rule anything. She just wanted the primacy of Chaos unleashed for all eternity. Spread equally and without remorse across an infinite Dark Multiverse. An environment that the Light could control a universe and Glorith another and the Emerald Empress her own as well. But in order for this event to happen, the Evil Queen needed to finally die and that is where the heroes came in and sometime in the build up, Dorothy Gale, the immortal Wicked Witch of Oz, had to die beforehand.

So Vandal Savage and his incarnations of the Light, had a thousand years in which to prepare. But the Legion fo Doom only had now to complete their current task and the window for success was closing ever faster with this latest development.

"Find those fools and find Byte!" Lady Vic quietly raged.

"Why do we even need these Intergang pretenders again?" His Girl Tuesday inquired.

"To manage the Knight and Page for now," Ms. Ethel Boston explained.

"And to relinquish their criminal networks within the United Kingdom when the time comes," Ms. Irene Adler finished the incomplete thought.

"To which I'm the rightful heir in most eyes," Dr. Jaime Moriarty relished that particular aspect, "Since my Great-Great-Grandfather, Prof. Moriarty was the first to nationally and internationally link together British criminal interests."

"We're all well aware of your lineage," Quiz Miss theatrically yawned.

"We still need ot move on our secondary objective," Lady Spellbinder insisted, "It doesn't do us any good ot have me project imagery if the real people show up as well."

"Everybody have your kidnapping buddy assigned to them?" Master Terrific snickered.

"We need to reconsider where we're putting them all now that Devil Ray set sail," Blackwing complained.

"I could simply 'deal' with them," Bag O'Bones offered. The former Cyclotronic Man was edgier and slightly psychotic now that he'd been transformed into a radioactive skeletal freak by his powers.

"Maybe another time," Lady Vic put it in the "options bag".

"We could leave a riddle to draw our missing crooks out," the Baffler suggested.

"No!" everyone yelled at once.

"Fine," he sniffled.

"Perhaps Moriarty and I could use our local and Continental contacts to locate them?" Josette Quelle offered.

"Echo and I could offer to futz every lowlife in London to get a bead on them," Query made her own suggestion.

"No!" everyone yelled again. Even Echo.

"Fine," Query angrily snorted. The former dominatrix was used to getting her own way.

"Twins, canvass the whole of the UK...including Northern Ireland. Find our missing contacts," Lady Vic instructed, "Everyone else, prep for kidnapping nobility."

---

the British Lord Lieutenant for Belfast, one of eight Lord Lieutenants for Northern Ireland, was currently Dame Mary Elizabeth Peters, newly installed in her office as of August, 2009. just five months before the "Near Apocalypse of 2009". Peters was a national athletics champion having one multiple international awards and medals in the pentathlon, including the gold in the Munich Olympics, as well the shot put and pentathlon events for the Commonwealth Games. she was a hometown hero to the Orange Loyalists of Belfast. The Republican minority felt otherwise. But Peters was wise enough to stay apolitical in ceremonially rubber stamping Northern Ireland's power sharing structure's legislation and decrees. In practice, the Lord Lieutenant's role had becoem purely ceremonial. But legally, there was real power to be used if one chose to do so and the sole 100 and the four 1000 used the local 1000's connections to influence Peters into providing them safe harbor.

The 100 was one Sir Karl Kesel. The 1000 for the England was Mark Waid. The 1000 for Wales was a certain Scott Williams. The former 1000 member for Scotland was Nicola Scott and the local 1000 for Northern Ireland was Amanda Conner. Conner and Scott having the most sway over Lord Lieutenant Peters. Every former Intergang leader was an accomplished leader in business, trade, and the arts patron as well as Peters' own athletic scholarship programs. They were greatly lauded as humanitarians.

No one knew or cared about where their excessive wealth came from. If asked they replied, "Some investments came in." The vaguish nature of finance dissuading most questioners from inquiring further. Kesel made a point of alluding to their "joint real estate ventures" in the Wapping Dockyards. Rents and leases being far more lucrative, reliable, and legal than smuggling but yet more lucrative than drug and human trafficking. Although largely ceremonial in nature, the role of Lord Lieutenant came with an official residence. One that Peters eschewed since she had a local residence all her own.

So the renegades set up shop there with their henchmen and henchwenches setting up a security detail while others attended to local business on Conner's behalf. Scott, Williams, amd Waid's lackeys doing the same for them back in their respective territories. Kesel, who'd laid the trap for the Outlaws, had received word from wagging tongued patrons of the Pub that the Squire and Ravager were in London. Later they'd shown up with the mysterious Sparrow in tow. Having Outlaws in town when Kesel, Scott, Williams, Waid, and Conner had just officially broken faith with Intergang was far too coincidental for Kesel's overdeveloped sense of self-preservation and the Squire's blatant inquiries into the Knight and Page unsettled the group as well.

Unofficial word was that Grant Morrison, a middleman, had been promoted to the 100 and that all of the 1000 posts were likewise being filled with traditional Intergang loyalists. Which made all of these events far too convenient for the Outlaws in Kesel's opinion. The original plan, as negotiated with Lady Vic, had been to evacuate the rogues to Belfast for a few weeks while the Legion of Doom secured the UK. Afterwards, when Intergang and its new Director had been told to go to hell, the rogues would return and business would resume as normal. Without the pyramid scheme styled kickbacks that flowed to the Director and Intergang's apparatchiks.

With the Legion of Doom in control of the country, they'd have no need of Intergang's "special protections". They'd just underestimated the speed at which the Director would respond to their disloyalty or the special means he or she would employ to "solve" the leadership crisis. No one had even been able to confirm the identity of the new Director. But even such stubborn holdouts in within the 100 as Beauty, the Veiled Lady, Queenie Hart, Big Boss, the Great One, the Mandarin, and the Gang had approved the appointment. A meeting Kesel had been excluded from. An emergency session conducted over Julia Sazia's still cooling corpse. But unknowns as the Director were hardly something new. No one had realized that US Sen. Henry Ballard had been the Director for nearly two decades campaigning as a US Representative and Senator on a "get tough on crime" platform. Ballard's death at the hands of the Outlaws opened the door for the ever ambitious Sazia to attempt to seize control.

But Brains and the rest of the Gang led an opposition that broke out into open conflict. That only ended after Knightfall personally dispatched Sazia to Hell. But Knightfall abstained from voting on who Sazia's successor should be. Her role within Intergang was tied itno her control over Gotham City and the expansion of her licensing crime mechanism spreading into NYC, Metropolis, and other metro areas. The state of New Jersey had already outlawed meta-human activities and costumed vigilantes that weren't duly deputized law enforcement agents…or subsequently licensed in Gotham City under Knightfall's purview.

The former definition included the Justice League International and the Justice Society of America as well the JSA's trainee program, Young Justice, and the JLI's US-only affairs branch, the Outsiders. Other operations, such as the Young All Stars, served as federally licensed private security contractors. The law effectively re-criminalized Batman years before he retired. Now Knightfall regulated virtue and vice in Gotham City and Empress Penguin and her gang were her chief enforcers when infractions occurred.

But the Mayor kept the GCPD on payroll, including Commissioner Barbara Gordon, in case Knightfall's monopoly imploded into chaos. Rogue elements such as Punchline and her Jokerz couldn't be tamed, it seemed. No one seemed capable of predicting the Hellequin either. Other than the fact she hated Knightfall and Empress Penguin for murdering Christina Bell, the Neo Joker. Marian Drews had outlived her native Earth-2 universe. Hellequin had the patience to slowly break Knightfall's licensing system down and tear it apart. A little blood in the water and the major predators would unleash themselves and forsake the minutia of licensing with the city. Hellequin wanted Gotham to beg for Batman's return. Because she knew he wouldn't be coming. Bruce Wayne was a recluse and he wouldn't be re-emerging into Gotham society as either Wayne or Batman.

Gotham's citizens would feed on each other and Hellequin would be handing out the guns, knives, gasoline and matches to bring the city down then she'd roast a fatted pig over the embers. Empress Penguin and Intergang would lose their lock on major crimes in Gotham. Regina Swann herself would already be dead but her Penguins Gang would either join her in death or be scattered to the winds.

But Kesel saw Hellequin as an expendable asset to aim at Intergang. Although she'd mailed the rigor mortis afflicted hands of his envoy with their middle fingers extended back to him in recent days. So the negotiations weren't beginning well. Now it seemed he and his band were running out of time. Which was truer then than three seconds beforehand.

Jenny Elsewhere opened a portal in the room he occupied alone and a dagger flew from it into his throat. He barely had time to begin choking before Ravager followed her dagger through the portal and sliced his head off with a dual backhand of her swords. Jenny Elsewhere then opened a portal where Conner and Scott were drinking a nightcap. Arrow and Red Arrow fired as they bolted through the portal. Each arrow hitting its mark. They were poised and ready for another strike as the bodies slumped to the floor.

Waid laid in the Victorian age tub to discover Sparrow shared the room with him. She tossed a floor lamp into the water with him, instantly electrocuting him. The lights within the entire home went dark. Williams barely bad time to open his mouth when Jenny opened the last portal and Squire sling-shotted a ball bearing into his mouth and he choked to death on it as it lodged in his throat.

"Your first?" Jenny Elsewhere asked Squire. Squire swallowed hard and numbly nodded.

"You get used to it," Jenny promised.

"But should one?" Squire asked.

"Let's debate that at leisure elsewhere," Jenny portaled everyone back to the Tunnel.

---

"Well, my job's done. See ya!" Jenny sank into the portal she'd created underneath her within the Tunnel's walls.

"C'mere you," Ravager pulled Squire ot her and held her as she softly sobbed.

"What gives?" Sparrow asked.

"She's never taken a life until now," Red Arrow explained.

"How?" Sparrow wondered.

"Because she and Protector may be the best of us all," Arrow said grimly.

---

Several blocks from the bombed out development, Dr. Cairo Jones and the Birds of Prey viewed the scene through two high powered telescopes.

"Now that is a job well done," Savant whistled. The Legion's aerial departure had been underway when the Birds arrived on the scene. Savant had used her Seven Leagues Shoes to attempt to follow but they hadn't traveled far enough for to home in on them. Her sandals reworked as boots crossed continents in mere steps not a jaunt across the river. The others had been forced to take cover to avoid being spotted by Superior Girl, Amazona, and Devastation. Savant wanted a crack at another child of Chronos and Rhea.

Donna Troy, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon were unaware they had yet another sibling. The Kherabim had employed mythology to help hide their presence on Earth and like the "gods" they also bred hybrid children with humanity. Kenesha was the only pure blood born on Earth and even then, she'd been raised thinking her mother was her sister and her grandmother was her mother. It was little wonder Savant had nothing to do with either of them before the Kherabim returned to Khera. But Zealot had returned, ostracisized by her own people over her violation of her Coda oaths and getting preganant...even still. And even now, Savant wouldn't speak with her mother.

Even so, the WildCATs were up and running again. Void, Voodoo, Maul, and Warblade returning with Zealot to rejoin Grifter and Spartan on Earth. This time they were a part of International Operations. The security organization that had replaced Spyral in UN circles. The Pax Mundi, under Dazar the Desert Hawk, was the elite peacekeeping force deployed in situations deemed too politically sensitive for the Justice League's participation.

"Damn!" Jenny Anywhere exclaimed, "She's on the move!"

She ripped a tear in local space-time and ran through it. It sealed behind her.

"Great," Black Cat grumbled, "Reliant upon public transportation."

"Who says the Birds of Prey don't travel in style?" April Amazing snickered.

"I can have Blackhawk support within two hours," Spy Smasher revealed at long last.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Crimson Fox demanded to know.

---

The staff at the Sheldrake Manor gushed over Beryl's return and praised her up to her mum. Mrs. Hutchinson was already winning over the staff in her new role as caretaker. While some of the domestics were surprised by Beryl's formalized relationship with Rose, most had seen the early signs when she'd abortively dated the original Knave. Her discomfort went well beyond the normal teenage angst regarding a first dating relationship. But now the "Young Miss" as they referred to her seemed settled in and extremely happy at long last. For that, they profusely thanked and congratulated Rose.

Raisa, the Queen's maid, had just as warmly greeted Emiko when "she finally found her home". Mia Deardon and Conner Hawke had made certain that Emiko herself felt that welcome. Now that the pair had AIDS, Mia and Conner shared the master bedroom and received specialized medical care as they wasted away. But at least they had each other. Mia had taken the step of bringing Oliver in.

Raisa, who'd been with the Queen household since the older Oliver had been in his twenties, saw his exact duplicate in the younger Oliver and wondered how it could be. But then, Conner, Emiko and Thea Queen had all been undisclosed children that Oliver Queen had fathered over the past twenty-five years before his brief marriage to Dinah Lance. Raisa would still occasionally inquire as to Dinah's health and whereabouts. She'd been to Sherwood Florist and knew Dinah had given the shop to Rhosyn Forrest. Raisa knew, in her bones, that it all had something to do with the obviously dangerous Nyssa Raatko leading Dinah off.

Raisa was one of the few Queen domestics that had known that Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow and Dinah had been the Black Canary. Just as she knew Conner had also become the Green Arrow after his father's death. Mia had been Speedy after Roy Harper had walked out on his family. Emiko was obviously this new Red Arrow and the younger Oliver had to be the mysterious Arrow. But Thea, following family tradition, had to have another persona as well. Raisa had no idea that Thea Queen was also the League of Assassins' Sin. Whose contestation for controlling shares of Queen Consolidated, now that Mia and Conner had given theirs to Emiko, was orchestrated by Ra's al Ghul herself. Due in no small part to Shado's urging. She was still angered by Emiko's leaving the Leagues' umbrellas to ally herself with her father's other children.

Arrow presented the great mystery to everyone excluding Nyssa. who still retained her multiversal memories atop her New Universal ones. Which didn't speak well of her naturally retaining such memories. Others that had were Hellequin, the Heckler, Louse-Man, Ambush Bug, Arkham Knight, Saturn Queen, Kalea-El, Goldilocks, and Roger Hayden the original Psycho Pirate. All relative psychotics. Whether beneficial or malignant ones. Even Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy hadn't rated amongst this crowd.

"At least Felicity got as an outline of the rebel 100's plan," Oliver remarked as the Outlaws shared breakfast in the manor's expansive dining hall. Enough of the the staff had known that the Sheldrakes were the original Knights and that Beryl had been the second Squire. Most had been aggrieved that the Knight stripped Beryl of the title to pass to his son as he himself had been the original Squire. Who hadn't ever wanted it. but after the second Lady Sheldrake died of cancer, the boy was no longer protected by her wishes to leave him out of Sir Sheldrake's quest. The staff had quietly but persistently voiced their dissent. The Morris Men had killed every Knight. The third Knight had fallen to them as well, unprepared to take up the gauntlet and try to avenge his father as his own father had attempted to avenge the grandfather.

But Cyril Sheldrake had passed everything to Beryl, Despite the frictions between them. Overwatch had pilfered the 100 and renegade 1000s' hard drives to ascertain the Knight and Page were up to skullduggery. A shady affair that culminated in their presentation to the Queen, her heirs, and the noble houses of Britain as well leading members of Parliament. Including the PM. The Legion of Doom's ambitions were even murkier.

But to involve such strategists and tacticians as Lady Vic, Master Terrific, Irene Adler, Dr. Jaime Moriarty, and Ethel Boston meant that Luthor and Fu Manchu were doubling down on Great Britain. Beryl's grief had been expanded when Chief Inspector Daiglesh of New Scotland Yard had used the Knight's Hotline to inform her of the Jokester's suicide and to alert her of the mechanisms he'd put in place to pass information off to her. The CI had laid the deposit key in the Knight's secret drop box that only New Scotland Yard knew about. With it were the legal papers the Jokester had committed before he died authorizing the Squire, as the Squire, to access his deposit box at the main public branch of the BofE.

New Scotland Yard had likewise been informed there was threat to British security that only the Squire could handle. So the government, by order of the Prime Minister, was to stand down on the international arrest warrants concerning her and allow her to serve the UK's needs one more time. Rose and Beryl were going to the bank after Arrow, Sparrow, and Red Arrow set up a security cordon to alert Ravager and Squire of any attempt by the police to capture them.

But first, Beryl had promised to treat everyone to a very English Breakfast. With traditional bacon sandwiches to be served for lunch.

"That was just like they served it in Hong Kong," Emiko admitted.

"Hong Kong?" Laurel scoffed.

"Anywhere the British Empire reached," Emiko asserted, "It's always served traditionally."

"She has a point," Rose concurred, "Every member of the Commonwealth, and a few extra countries, still serve English Breakfasts the same way."

"We'd best get underway," Oliver gathered up his plate. They all took their used utensils, dishware, and cloth napkins to the kitchen rather than bother the staff. The maids fussed a bit but you could see their delight. The entrance to the Tunnel wasn't in the manor house but rather in the garage. There, biometric security allowed access to the descending ramp that lowered into the Tunnel itself. The construction company, one of Britain's most discreet, thought Sir Sheldrake had gone mental to want a lift descending into an abandoned Underground tunnel that went nowhere. They simply chalked it up to the foibles of the wealthy.

---

Once safely inside, the Outlaws used the various changing stalls in the Armory to gear up. This time, everyone but Sparrow would use a Bat Bike. Sparrow herself would use the Batmobile provided by Batman, Inc. It, like two of the bikes, were auxiliaries made available to the Knight to accommodate fellow Batman, Inc. personnel visiting the UK.

No one present yet knew that Jacob Kane had assimilated and stolen the Batman concept and militarized it. Or that the Batmen, an elite division of Crow's Security, contracted directly to Secretary for Meta-Human Affairs Amanda Waller, the literal Queen of Dirty Tricks. Deprived of Task Force X and ARGUS, Waller had sought out alternatives. Alternatives such as CADMUS II and private contractors such as ex-SpecOps Col. (Ret.) Kane. Kane had radicalized after the apparent death of his daughter Beth and her mother at the hands of the Red Claws. Kane had subsequently become THE anti-terrorist specialist and had retired from military service a broken man upon discovering that the infamous Red Alice was, in fact, his daughter Beth. Herself mentally broken by Red Claw herself.

Then Beth Kane was sculpted into Red Claw's ultimate revenge upon the world. Red Alice renamed the Red Claws the Wonderland Army after her Lewis Carroll fixation. After the fall of the Court of Owls and the splintering of Leviathan, Red Alice found willing volunteers to take the place of the corpses that had been the Red Claws' naysayers. But with competition from Meridian and the Zither Security Group's Black Bag Operations, Red Alice found most of her Wonderland Army had defected after their failure in facing the Super Buddies.

Her Army had been reduced to a Gang. As the authorities had learned upon capturing the delusional Red Alice. One member of the Wonderland Gang had avoided capture by virtue of his absence. The Door Mouse impersonated Chief Inspector Daiglesh and had the Gang released from custody utilizing a High Judge's orders obtained at knife point. The judge was now dead and would be replaced by Door Mouse in issuing the final set of legal declarations exonerating Red Alice and the Wonderland Gang later that day. By that evening, Red Alice, Door Mouse, and the Wonderland Gang would be flying in to Gotham City where Red Alice had decided to host a family reunion/tea party.

Squire presented her Power of Attorney as prepared by the Jokester. A call to the Jokester's barrister cleared the matter up. Afterwards, Squire privately removed the contents of the deposit box and subsequently closed the account. The Outlaws disabled the Yard's spotters before everyone returned to the Tunnel.

---

"Bloody futzing hell," Squire gasped as she read the Jokester's accumulated data on the Knight and Page and their last set of instructions before their operation was handed over the Legion of Doom.

"They're going to assassinate the Royals and the PM this afternoon during the ceremony," Squire revealed.

"Which Royals?" Sparrow asked.

"Everyone in attendance. And those nobles not in attendance will be dealt with on a case by case scenario as the Legion takes control of my country," Squire was dazed by the revelations.

Arrow took the papers and began reviewing them, "This is pretty comprehensive. Why didn't the Jokester go to the authorities?"

"Would you believe a career super villain was being patriotic enough to save the Queen and everyone else?" Ravager asked, "No one will listen to us either."

"I may know someone who will," Squire realized and she went to place a private phone call.

"Why the antisocial bit?" Sparrow was irked.

"Squire and I still maintain some old Teen Titans contacts," Ravager explained, "But it's unofficial to keep them clear of the charges facing us and avoid any spillover onto them."

"And they have clout with officialdom?" Red Arrow inquired.

"They'll be listened to," Arrow surmised, "Even if they're supposedly outside the system like us."

It was then that Ravager knew that Arrow had guessed that their contacts were Rachel Roth and Gar Logan. Who as Raven and Beast Boy were members of the Justice League Outsiders. Thereby trusted by the JLI's administrators.

"It seems that Arkham Knight's little exercise in Los Angeles created quite a stir. Half the JLI is is there to put down would could be described as an international conflagration," Squire sounded disappointed, "However, our contact has high hopes that Col. Trevor can still spare some manpower to assist us."

"Us?" Sparrow balked, "We're talking the Legion of futzing Doom."

"We just need to stop the assassinations and delay the Legion long enough for the Justice League to respond" Arrow analyzed the situation.

"I prefer staying alive," Sparrow retorted.

"We will," Red Arrow promised.

"This is still the futzin' Legion of Doom," Sparrow continued to balk, "We need more than over-confidence and the coming pep talk."

"The Legion isn't what used to be," Arrow countered, "And take into account the members that showed up to our targets' doorstep just to have it blow up on them."

Squire used the upgraded displays to recap footage shot from cameras that Arrow and Red Arrow had mounted around the scene with Jenny Elsewhere's assistance.

"We can clearly identify the heavy hitters," Arrow pointed out Superior Girl, Amazona, and Devastation, "And they're all minor leaguers. The most dangerous of everyone that showed are Lady Lunar, Blackwing, Atomica, and whatever the Cyclotronic Man is calling himself this week. Everyone else is rather average. Devil Ray took off so they're not getting his support. We hit them hard and fast and keep them off balance and we can hold out until the JLI shows up."

"How do we hit them? Ball bearings, swords, arrows, and my escrima sticks?" Sparrow wasn't convinced yet.

"We pit them against one another," Squire began to share Arrow's vision.

"They're all cranky egotists," Ravager recalled, "They hit one another and they'll take it personally and hit back. They'll do our work for us."

"We've got Byte caged and being delivered to New Scotland Yard," Squire mentioned, "The ablest and most dedicated Legionnaires will be the aforementioned Blackwing and Atomica. Throw in Lady Vic and Lady Fairplay in that mix and we've narrowed down our opposition to just a few key players."

"Fright, Toyman, and I'Spyder will be inconveniences but they're easily dealt with," Red Arrow added, "And Lady Spellbinder isn't a combatant and we have nothing to offer Casey Krinski."

"She's a pariah amongst the Legionnaires because no one wants to share their powers with her," Arrow concluded, "Without them, she's of little consequence."

"How will they even make an approach?" Sparrow wondered.

"Lady Spellbinder," Ravager guessed, "They'll have kidnapped a half dozen or so nobles and she'll make the Legionnaires appear to be them and they'll all be on the guest list."

"With the Knight and Page being the actual hitters that kill the Royal Family," Squire added.

"Our real problem is getting away once the Justice League shows up," Red Arrow assessed, "They consider us wanted criminals."

"Added to that will be the Legion's Brain Trust members that will covertly be attending," Squire countered, "Ms. Irene Adler, Ms. Ethel Boston. Dr. Moriarty, and Master Terrific will be nearby and acting as a failsafe. We have to locate and stop them while the JLers hand the Legion its collective ass."

"For all the attention we've drawn, neither Homeland Security nor the MLJ have paid us much official attention," Red Arrow reminded everyone.

"Hell, Bones and Latham probably want to send us Christmas bonuses," Ravager snorted.

The interior lighting switched to a red spectrum.

"What the?" Ravager wondered.

"Motion sensors have detected someone at the Tunnel's river entrance," Squire explained and switched the visual feed to live broadcasts from that sector.

"Damn," Arrow sighed at seeing who it was, "We have a problem."

---

Katana noted the sensors after she'd tripped them. Cursing herself for making a novice mistake, she began her withdrawal. Obviously something was further down the tunnel that needed guarding. That something could very well be a Legion of Doom lair. Something she couldn't handle on her own. Fortunately, the other Birds of Prey were in town with her. As she backtracked to the Thames' unfinished Underground station, the resounding, echoing din of explosions punctuated the morning's stillness. The coud on onrushing dust and dirt enveloped Katana. It seemed the secrets would be kept after all. But Katana wasn't ready to give up. Instead, on her bike, she traversed the tunnel's path above ground to scout out what building potentially hid the Legion within its confines.

---

"Bloody hell," Squire sighed as the dust settled, "It was always a possibility before but to actually trigger the charges…"

"It's okay, Babe," Ravager tried to cuddle her.

"No. we don't have time for grief. The Batmobile and the bikes are fairly unknown in London. The Knight's Ride would give us away too soon. Plus, we can fit four bikes and the Batmobile on the garage lift and exit that way. We'll just simply take them with us when we fly out," Squire was all business. Ravager could respect that. There was always time enough grief afterwards. Rose was big believer in emotional denial.

"The award ceremony is being conducted in the yards at Buckingham. We can just make it and have time to insert ourselves before the Knight and Page can strike," Squire told them all as she summoned the lift, "Well? What the deuce are we waiting for?"

---

The Outlaws deployed before Katana could track them down. But her gut told her Sheldrake Manor deserved watching. But there wasn't time enough. Red Alice had been freed on some bizarre technicality. Which meant the Wonderland Gang could strike out at the monarchy and they would all be gathered at the Knight and Page's induction ceremony at Buckingham. The other Birds of Prey were supposed to be in position there. Using her motorcycle, Katana raced through traffic to join them.

Katana joined the Birds where they were stymied at Palace gates by the British Army and Palace Security. Hawk and Dove were attempting to gain them access with a minimum of threats on Hawk's part. So far there had been little success.

---

Arrow and Red Arrow used their tranq darts rather liberally as the Outlaws breached Buckingham's grounds. A few members of the assemblage stirred as they saw the group approaching the ceremonial site. Watching the rushing security agents fall before them alerted those already cognizant of the intruders and alerted others to them. Security scrambled to secure the Queen and her present heirs. The Knight and Page tipped their hand and went into full killer bot mode. Arrow used a cable bolo arrow to secure the Knight while Red Arrow employed a taser arrow to fell the Page. The Knight's Kevlar based armor helped insulate him from a similar tactic. But Ravager putting two swords through him ended the threat. But Lady Spellbinder had dropped her illusion and the Legion of Doom stood revealed.

"Get the bloody Royals!" Lady Vic barked at them.

"Elaine? Is that you?" Lord Ashton inquired.

She shot him between the eyes, "Not anymore."

The crowd panicked and began to scatter, impeding the Legion's progress at getting at the Outlaws. The five vigilantes were giving chase to the Queen's detail. The goal was to keep her guards hyper-vigilant towards any further threats. Superior Girl, Lady Lunar, Devastation, and Amazona took to their air. A flare arrow in Superior Girl's face temporarily blinded her. Bag O'Bones nicely fulfilled the Outlaws' goal and struck Devastation with his radioactive blast.

"Cretin!" Devastation snarled and turned on him.

Ravager intercepted Amazona. The "living embodiment of Communism" was weakened since the fall of the USSR and the liberation of it s European puppet states. The treatment used to create and maintain Amazona's powers had been lost as former party member sold off or destroyed vital technologies in an effort to secure their place as oligarchs in the Russian Federation. Amazona found Ravager to be her match. And an equally bloodthirsty match.

Lady Lunar never saw Squire hit her with her slingshot vaulted ball bearing. Sparrow's charged escrima sticks finished knocking Lady Lunar out.

"Now for the foot soldiers," Squire predicted. I'Spyder began the long distance warfare with his own bow and arrows. He and Arrow began an archery contest with only one intention: kill their opponent. Blackwing utilized a pair of short swords as he engaged Sparrow. Red Arrow tased Fright before she could employ her fear toxin gas on the crowd. The fleeing crowd complicating the Birds of Prey's intended entrance into the fray. Toyman hadn't time or the inventory to place his usual brand of lethal "toys" around the palace grounds, but he did carry a personal arsenal of rigged gadgetry modeled after children's playthings. Squire never gave Jack Nimbel the chance to use a single one. Satisfied that she'd dislocated both his shoulders and broken his femur, Squire barely had time to react as Lady Vic came upon her in a rage.

Enforcer flew to pursue the Royals and their guards. Atomica was MIA. Casey Krinski was effectively useless. Devastation and Bag O'Bones were busy trying to kill one another. That left Lady Fairplay as the last Legionnaire freed to make a go at the fleeing Royal Family.

---

While the Birds waited for the crowds to disperse, Katana was already on her bike and racing for the vehicle gate where the Royals would traditionally exit. As the gates parted, she raced through to intercept the Outlaws, as yet unaware of the actual threat stemming from the Legion of Doom.

---

"Why the hell are we fighting?" Devastation finally asked Bag O'Bones.

"Because you're touchy and I missed," Bag O'Bones retorted.

Superior Girl joined them, still seeing spots, "Pull it together. The mission is going sideways."

"Everyone else is letting it get personal," Bag O'Bones complained.

"I'll deal with these idiots. You two finish the job," Superior Girl instructed.

"You can barely see," Devastation complained.

"But Casey can see just fine," Superior Girl smirked.

---

Arrow snap fired two arrows in rapid succession. The first deflected I'Spyder's shot and the second aimed for the man's heart. Only the fact that the man wore body armor saved his life. The third arrow to follow up was a cable arrow that wrapped I'Spyder up rather nicely. Arrow witnessed Red Arrow sprinting after Lady Fairplay when Superior Girl made physical contact with Casey Krinski. Now she had Belinda Zee's powers for fifteen minutes. But Majestic-class powers effects could be measured out in destructive seconds.

Ravager had just beheaded Amazona and she disincorporated while Casey attacked her. Arrow tased Bag O'Bones before he could pursue Red Arrow.

Superior Girl confronted him, "Betcha can't do that to me."

Arrow answered her with an explosive arrow that knocked her flat. But she got right back up.

---

Ravager could tell Casey wasn't used to having Majestic-class powers. So she moved half as quickly as she could, stayed to the ground, and forgot she was invulnerable to most conventional harm. At least for the fifteen minutes her power draw from Superior Girl lasted without longer contact. Ravager wondered why anyone with near-Kryptonian powers would be skittish. But it worked to her advantage so she wouldn't complain.

---

Deva had discovered she was descended to Chronos and Rhea through a chance encounter with the Harpies. Who activated her endowment from the original Titans. Devastation had great physical abilities and magical durability but was still uncertain how to use them to her maximum benefit. Red Arrow took advantage of that inexperience and frankly bluffed her way into pushing Devastation away from her intended targets through threats that may or may not have harmed Devastation. But the psychological damage was telling.

Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Donna Troy rarely agreed on anything. But they'd agreed Deva needed her power pared down so her siblings had performed magical "surgery" on her and stripped her of most of her "divine" gifts. But she still physically outclassed the very human Red Arrow. She just hadn't seemed to fully realize that quite yet. Emiko wasn't looking forward to her doing so.

---

Belinda Zee on the other hand was quite overconfident in her gifts as Superior Girl. Belinda had been a childhood rival of Linda Danvers. She'd exulted in the fact Linda hadn't gotten involved in a Satanic death cult. It's leader had even accepted Belinda's suggestion that Linda become their next human sacrifice. Somehow, Linda survived and became Supergirl. Belinda had no idea that Linda had really died but Matrix suffused her body with her protoplasmic one and they'd merged, blending physicality and memories. Belinda looked into various ways to undermine and to out Supergirl. But Linda' sister, Alex, was a former DEO agent now with Homeland Security and Task Force Z.

She'd shut Belinda's efforts down and placed Belinda on a terrorist watch list. So Belinda traveled from coast to coast, from National City to Metropolis to apply to the Everyman Project. She'd been delighted at first to learn she possessed a latent gen factor and had been even more thrilled to learn that she had the rarified Majestic meta-gene. Which meant Belinda would become even more powerful, even physically superior to Supergirl, when her gen factor was activated.

Mercy Graves 2.0 herself recommended Superior Girl to Lex Luthor as a candidate to the Legion of Doom. Superior Girl was a Luthor loyalist even as Fu Manchu overtly courted the Legion's loyalties. She'd also been amongst the first to endorse Luthor's plan to ally the Legion with the Light. With Vandal Savage and the ancient order of the Light, Superior Girl saw literal worlds of opportunity open up before her as the Legion had been among those scouring the New Universe hunting down and killing New Gods. Which was why she found her inability to kill Arrow so insultingly infuriating. But even given all of her powers, she still couldn't get a hold of him to crush him like a cockroach.

---

Blackwing, like his intended rival in the original Nightwing, had taken up escrima sticks as his weapon of choice. Seeing Sparrow identically armed, he saw her as a passing nuisance to dispose of with his short swords. Instead, she'd been grinding away at his defenses and blocking his best offensive moves, for minutes now. Blackwing, even as Talon, had never dealt with an average foe for more than two minutes before. He'd been fighting Sparrow for over seven minute s now with no clear victory in sight.

Owlman had always beaten Talon within an inch of his life if Blackwing allowed his anger to overwhelm his intellect in combat. Because he invariably lost following those moments and even now he was swiftly losing his temper. The more Sparrow took advantage of his increasing sloppiness the angrier he got and the sloppier he became. He slowly began to realize he was now fighting for his very life against a foe he'd never heard before she burst onto the scene with the Outlaws.

A brief perusal into the Legion's files on Sparrow had revealed she was an unchecked vigilante from the American Southwest, roaming from county to county, eliminating criminals as she went. As much as the Sheriffs and their departments complained, a great many of them applauded her results of not her methods. So, under mysterious circumstances, Arkham Knight, still the second Red Hood back then, recruited her to the Outlaws and now this unknown assailant was fighting Blackwing, the greatest Talon of the Court of Owls, in a protracted fight to the death.

Back when Batman, Incorporated was still a viable entity, before the Knight sent Beryl packing and she became the first Red Robin and joined the Teen Titans, she'd looked up Batman's list of master assassins and mercenary soldiers. The usual names topped out the list: Deathstroke, Deathblow, Deadshot, Nyssa Raatko, Phantasm, the entire celebratory cast of the League of Assassins, Darkwing, Owlman, the Court of Owls' Talons, Black Spider, the Jackal, Meridian and her units, the Red Claws before and after their leader's death and replacement by the mysterious Red Alice, Bloodsport, the membership of the Cabal, and Lady Vic had ranked there as well. Batman Inc. shut down before the Outlaws ever solidified into being. Afterwards, Squire was dependent upon Oracle and Arkham Knight's connection to Nyssa Raatko to get adequate intelligence.

But thanks to the hacktivist collective made up of Oracle, Cypher (Chloe Sullivan), Overwatch (Felicity Smoak) the Commish (Barbara Gordon), and their stringers, the Outalws had a presence on the Dark Web. Vengeance Moth (Drew Fisher) also made herself and Channel M agt home there. The Question and the newcomer, the Neb, also seemed to have a series of aliases they operated under. Other notables were the MLJ's KitCat (Elizabeth Fleischman) and Kenny Wisdom. Like Oracle, they made their living in hacking criminal accounts and providing cyber security. Unlike Oracle, they were government agents. Their ties to law enforcement frequently put them at odds with their peer group. Even the Commish was beginning to pull back as her role as GCPD Police Commissioner became more embattled and adherence to legal standards became increasingly important to the GCPD and Gotham's DA. Every case, no matter how trivial, was now a test of state and federal laws and constitutions trumping Knightfall's programs. Despite the Mayor and City Council's unbridled support for Knightfall's ambitions yet the Mayor refused to acquiesce to Knightfall and permanently suspend Barbara since the DA frankly refused to investigate or prosecute her.

---

Squire was well aware of Lady Vic's propensity to utilize throwing knives to deadly effect. But Lady Vic's obvious surprise showed that she'd never encountered a foe that knock her thrown knives out of the air with nothing but a slingshot. Lady Vic was down to her last two knives and Squire had already cart wheeled into a kneeling position, having fired off her ball bearing in mid-tumble, to have her shot drawn and ready to unleash.

"Bloody hell, girl. Where did they find you?" Lady Vic had to ask.

"The library," Squire confessed.

"Holy hell," Lady Vic breathed before tensing and throwing both of her knives. Squire fired on the move. Her shot passing between the tumbling knives. Her acrobatic evasion saved her from being skewered and her own shot struck Lady Vic between the eyes. Squire pocketed her slingshot as she drew her unextended bo staff from the sling on her back and extended it as she rushed forward to engage the dazed Lady Vic.

---

Katana laid her stolen bike down before the advance units of the Queen's escort could deploy. The entire convoy ground to halt and security agents exited vehicles. Yet conspicuously didn't emerge from Charles and Camilla's limo. Nor from Elizabeth II's. The agents at first called in to check in with those missing personnel before they turned their weapons on the coaches themselves. Master Terrific and Dr. Moriarty emerged from the Queen's and Boston and Adler exited the Prince and Duchess' vehicle. Master Terrific and Boston each held dead men's switches. The agents grimly realized that Moriarty and Adler had exited the actual cabins.

"Go ahead, shoot me," Master Terrific gloated. Lady Fairplay caught up and leaned onto her knees to catch her breath. Enforcer came a landing as well. Her armored shell able to withstand even standard armor piercing bullets. Which the agents sorely lacked.

"Go away," her modulated voice demanded, "Or your Queen and her heir apparent die here and now before they can abdicate."

"Allow me," Katana offered as she drew the SoulTaker from its sheath on her back.

"We'll take it from here," Dove promised the agents as she alighted next to Katana. Hawk led the Birds of Prey's rush to meet up with Katana.

---

Casey suddenly perked up and sped away from Ravager.

"The hell?" Rose inquired. Then a shadow passed over her.

"Just futzin' great," she groaned.

---

Red Arrow saw the mechanism of her salvation and her doom simultaneously.

---

"Dammit!" Superior Girl snarled as she shifted attention from Arrow to an even more annoying threat.

---

"Shit!" Sparrow backed off from Blackwing. At first he was happy that he'd finally intimidated her. Until with a passing, looming shadow and the roar of jet engines, he finally realized what actually had,

---

Squire knocked Lady Vic out with a single backhanded stroke with her staff. Lady Spellbinder, Lady Lunar, Fright, I'Spyder, Bag O'Bones were all awakening to realize what had just come upon them. Joining Devastation, Superior Girl, Casey Krinski and Blackwing they made their stand.

---

The Riddles and the Tornado Twins joined the standoff at the convoy's line up. Don Allen couldn't get at Katana even faster than a bullet. But he realized she was fighting a holding action. So he shifted into Flash Time to find out why.

Dawn Allen was equally stymied by Dove. Who also seemed less concerned with overcoming her than keeping her busy so she joined Don in Flash Time and saw why. But even for the Tornado Twins, it was too late and they'd been too slow.

Atomica's size changing attacks kept Hawk angry but relatively unharmed at the speeds within which she healed and Atomica knew better than to let Hawk ever get a taloned hand on her. Crimson Fox was fighting Echo and Query to standstill but neither side could gain an advantage.

Manhunter's energy staff kept Josette Quelle, the Baffler, Tuesday, and Quiz Miss scrambling but Quiz Miss the first to realize it was simply a delaying tactic. Moon Girl enjoyed challenges and Enforcer was proving to be one. Enforcer was equal to any Team Luthor agent, Rocket Red, or even Tank Man . But Moon Girl's powers were fully charged so she could exchange power blast for energy blast and super strength for strength and both could fly and were nearly invulnerable. But Enforcer was the only one to detect the jamming signal overlapping Buckingham Palace but couldn't get free of Moon Girl to warn Master Terrific and Boston.

Neither Irene nor Ethel were combatants and Black Cat excelled at being one. Boston released her dead man's switch and awaited the inevitable explosion but nothing happened. So while Adler briefly distracted Black Cat, Boston threw open the sedan door and screamed in rage at what she saw.t

Master Terrific also dropped his swich as April Amazing unabashedly tried to crack him and Moriarty in the head with her sledgehammer. When no explosion knocked them to the ground, he began to panic for the first time in years.

Golden Lass' Aztec powers were fading but she was still match for Lady Fairplay then Lady Fairplay saw what was occurring and she tried to bolt but Golden Lass prevented her escape.

Spy Smasher observed the situation from an elevated position through her rifle's scope. Dr. Cairo Jones operated the radio jammer from the woods beneath her. Kitty Claus and Savant had reached the sedans and gotten the Queen, Crown Prince, and the Duchess intro Kitty's ever expanding bag. She accompanied them inside. Savant seemingly impossibly slung the now demure bag over her shoulder and with a step was in Scotland. whereupon, she opened the bag and Kitty led the family out to meet their northern castle's security detail.

---

Natalie Reed hovered the B1A-A1X over Buckingham Palace and the grounds and disgorged a team of angry JLers. The team split apart to deal with the various threats. Only two members went to assist the already capable Birds of Prey. But the others marshaled to capture the Legion of Doom and Outlaws.

---

With Simon Baz handling their assigned Sector duties right now, Jessica Cruz was the designated Green Lantern on Earth. With former Green Lanterns turned Fear Lanterns, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner also elsewhere on Earth, Guy had gone into bartending and Hal joined the Legion of Doom, Jessica never knew when she'd encounter either of them. Spencer Hawke had gone from Power Ring Corpsman to Red Lantern and also joined the Legion. She was rather grateful neither Jordan nor Hawke were present . But Superior Girl giddily chose Jess as her opponent of choice. As Belinda Zee hammered away at Jessica's defensive constructs, she could easily determine why Supergirl considered Superior Girl her arch nemesis.

Since Matrix's powers were primarily psionic in nature rather physical, Superior Girl had naturally "superior" strength. But she still required oxygen. So Jessica focused all of her considerable willpower on trapping Superior Girl's head in a literal, airtight, bowl. Belinda panicked as her head began to swim and black spots littered her vision. She couldn't even streak off or near Jessica to threaten Green Lantern. Jess made certain Superior Girl really was unconscious and not dead before releasing her.

---

Remoni-Notra had assumed Carol Ferris' identity upon arriving on Earth. But that had proven untenable as Remoni-Notra's English sounded French accented. Carol herself provided her would-be rival with h new human identity as Deborah Camille Darnell. She also provided Deborah with her majority share in Ferris Air and Ferris Manor in the UK and her condo in Coast City. Only keeping the London flat for herself, her husband Kyle Rayner, and their wife Kara In-Ze. Kyle was raising up a new Green Lantern Corps alongside Kilowog and Kara, the original Supergirl, was raising up a new Darkstar Corps. Carol herself had finally accepted being the Sapphire Queen of the Star Sapphire Corps.

Debi had also finally accepted "just" being the Star Sapphire assigned to Earth and the Justice League. And she'd never been happier. She'd learned why Carol was the first and greatest Star Sapphire of them and she'd come to love humanity. She also found it her greatest reward to find her redemption of defending humans against all threats, native born and extraterrestrial.

The threat Star Sapphire faced today was Devastation. Deborah loved Deva enough to look past the hatred she felt eking out Devastation. She blanekted the young goddess in the Emotional Spectrum of Love and Devastation fled rather than confront the strange feelings that were awash in her that she thought she'd killed and buried. Star Sapphire was gratified to see that the local Green Lantern had also overcome her foe.

Deborah found daily courage in Jessica's example. Traumatized as a teenager, Jessica had social anxiety issues that she overcame every day to be a Green Lantern. She wasn't fearless because eshe didn't feel fear. She simply refused to let it cripple her. As Remoni-Notra had facing the Khunds and Dominators. She'd fled to Earth rather than face them. But Jessica was a beacon shining in the dark to show how it could be rightly done.

---

Like Red Hood, the former Bat-Man, Selina Wayne, and the current Robin, Victor Stone had originated on Earth-4 before the Crisis ended in Rebirth. He found it strange that the New Earth's history contained three Victor Stones all who'd become a hero named Cyborg. He was the oldest, fourteen years older than Earth Prime's Cyborg had been before he died in service to the Justice League Unlimited making Victor in his early fifties. Vic Stone was teenager and unlike Victor, who'd become Cyborg by his father designing and creating his cybernetics, Vic was the result of a Father Box transforming him. Vic Stone was from Earth-27, like Arrow, and half of the 38 year-old Earth Prime Cyborg's age at nineteen. But every Victor Stone, regardless of age or Earth of ultimate origin, had been near-fatally wounded in accidents that required life changing interventions. Interventions that eventually bred heroes.

Cyborg faced Lady Lunar. And as disrupting as he found her gravity manipulating powers, she found his white sonic cannon debilitating. She finally fled by holding relatively in position as the Earth rotated beneath her at 460 meters per second or roughly 1,000 miles an hour. She simply held position until the Alps loomed before her and then she broke her hold and headed to the South Pacific and the Vanishing Isles.

---

Amazona reincorporated merely to became besieged by the Silver Sorceress. The Russian was too weak to fight a protracted battle so she also fled rather than be captured. She teleported to North Korea. A true bastion of Communist belief. At least for the hedonistic elites. Also standing as a friendly neighbor to the Russian Federation.

---

Col. Cameron Scott had become the very first Captain Atom during the Vietnam conflict. Unlike USAF Capt. Nate Hale, he wasn't transformed into an energy being or required a containment suit to house that energy matrix. Col. Scott simply transformed into Capt. Atom when he wished to manifest his powers. Unlike Captain Atom, Capt. Atom was vastly less powerful. But he could easily absorb Bag O'Bones radiation blasts and redirect them as quantum energy at the former Cyclotronic Man thereby knocking him out. Casey Krinski tried mimicking Bag O'Bones' power but it was too much for her to contain and only Capt. Atom drawing it off from her saved her life. She still passed out from the ordeal anyway.

---

Fire faced the recalcitrant Fright, who refused to surrender. Fire burned away Fright's fear toxin cloud and then ringed the woman herself in flames. The crippled Toyman lamented being caught with her and Fight herself knocked him out rather than listen to him bitch about it.

"Thank you," Fire smirked. Fright flipped her off.

---

Ice faced Blackwing and I'Spyder. Her ice barriers forced I'Spyder to reposition whereupon she simply surrounded him with a ring of ice. Blackwing was more circumspect. His escrima stiocks, electrified or not, were useless. As were his throwing knives, swords, and Talon claws. So he retreated in search of Atomica.

---

"Um…what'cha doin'?" Trajectory asked the Tornado Twins.

"She's in Flash Time!" Dawn yelped.

"But how?" Don exclaimed.

"This is about the Flashpoint, isn't it?" Trajectory asked, "I warned your dad about that."

"She knows!" Dawn yelped.

"But how?" Don exclaimed.

"You two are very repetitive in the worst possible way. And I mean that throughout the centuries," Trajectory offered.

"She knows when we're from!" Dawn yelped.

"But how?" Don exclaimed. Trajectory sighed as the twins bolted. Thanks to her time in the Speed Force, Eliza Harmon knew the Tornado Twins weren't just going away.

---

Blue Jay grew from bird size to knock Josette Quelle out. Manhunter did the same for the Baffler and Quiz Miss.

"Uh…parlay?" Tuesday inquired. Manhunter stunned her anyway.

"Thanks," she offered Blue Jay.

"Not that you really needed it," Blue Jay grinned.

"I didn't say it," Kate Spencer reminded him.

---

Hawk, joined by the hyperaware Dove, was one foe too many for Atomica. So she retreated to the rally point and met up with Blackwing.

"This op is screwed," she lamented.

"Time to meet with the Other and discuss our real options here," he suggested.

"Scary old bastard," she complained but complied.

---

Katana knocked Query out with the pommel of her sword. Crimson Fox obliged Echo with the same abuse.

"Surprisingly merciful for you," Crimson Fox commented.

"The same applied ot you," Katana retorted.

Crimson Fox shrugged, "It's difficult to properly wash blood out on the road."

"That and we're being monitored," Katana warned her.

"That too," Crimson Fox conceded.

---

Moon Girl channeled all of her remaining lunar energy into blowing Enforcer's armor apart at the seams. The former mercenary passed out in her smoking wreckage.

Claire Lune wiped the sweat from her brow, "That took too long."

Lady Fairplay knocked Golden Lass out and would've killed the teen but Moon Girl rushed to her side and Mary Lee retreated. But she did come to assist Terry Sloane.

Black Cat easily subdued Ethel Boston but lost track of Irene Adler in the process. Adler, on the other hand, knocked Black Cat out with a pair of brass knuckles she'd carried since the Thirties.

"Let's get out of here," she helped Boston back onto her feet.

"Nothing left to stay for," Boston admitted.

Lady Fairplay blindsided April Amazing.

"Let's go!" she shouted at Moriarty and Master Terrific. They happily obliged.

---

The Immortal Dr. Fu Manchu hadn't trusted in Lex Luthor's plan even with the Brain Trust's endorsement as well as Vandal Savage's. So with Lady Spellbinder's participation she'd brought in a hidden ally from the Light. Iron Knife was a super powered African warlord. He'd brought with him a unique weapon that had cost Vandal Savage dearly. That weapon was a living entity from another planet dubbed the Nihilist. The Nihilist was essentially a skull that surrounded itself with an energy nimbus. It was also a psychic vampire that generated the fear that heightened the life energy it needed to feed off of to thrive. Fu Manchu's intention was to have Fright dose the crowd with fear toxin and unleash the Nihilist to kill the assembled nobility and ministers of state.

Fright's failure to do so had stymied Lady Spellbinder as well as Iron Knife. The original plan was having the Nihilist also consume the Legionnaires in its wake. Leaving Iron Knife poised to claim the United Kingdom in the name of his own African nation and serve in an alliance with Fu Manchu's rather than with Luthor and Savage. Thus setting up Iron Knife's revenge for the British Empire colonizing his country at one-time and enslaving his own tribal ancestors for the Caribbean and American plantations. Parliament would be forced to acquiesce or face the Nihilist's untamed feeding frenzy. The Commons being all that was left of the centralized government. Devolutionist allies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were awaiting word that it was time to strike and declare independence. After looting the Bank of England, he'd leave England's crumbling corpse to the ravens. But as the Nihilist went on a feeding frenzy, Iron Knife entreated Lady Spellbinder to disguise them as British soldiers and they made their escape with the JLI and Birds if Prey rallied to confront and contain the Nihilist.

"What the hell is that?" Hawk asked as the JLI regrouped, joined by the Birds of Prey. Moon Girl and a returned Kitty Claus were tending to the fallen Black Cat and April Amazing while Savant ferried Spy Smasher and Dr. Jones to the scene.

"It is a psychic vampire," Katana informed everyone after consulting Maseo and Takeo Yashimiro's spirits within the SoulTaker's blade.

"How do we kill it?" Crimson Fox asked.

"We don't," Cyborg insisted, "We contain it."

"And if we can't?" Cairo Jones asked.

"There's always ways of containing something, even on the psychic plane," Dove backed Cyborg's decision.

"Exactly," Ice agreed.

"You're too soft hearted, Tora," Fire complained.

"Damn straight," Hawk snorted.

"It's no longer driving towards the crowd," Spy Smasher warned everyone, "It's headed for us."

"We'll take care of it," Cyborg decided, "Birds, you're on crowd control to insure no soldiers interfere and become lunch."

"Like hell!" Hawk raged.

"Hawk…" Dove used the tone.

"Bloody futzing hell," Hawk relented.

"Green Lantern and Star Sapphire, set up a containment perimeter," Cyborg directing the JLers, "Silver Sorceress, you're on point with attempting to deal with this on a more permanent basis."

"No pressure," Silver Sorceress grumbled.

"You've got this, Laura," Blue Jay enthused.

"Capt. Atom, Ice, and Fire, get its attention," Cyborg directed. The three accomplished their task and the Nihilist began its encroachment towards the Justice League.

"Any time now, Sorceress," Cyborg urged.

"I can't," Silver Sorceress complained, "It's alive."

"So you can't trap it?" Cyborg was incredulous.

"My powers aren't far different from the Enchantress' restrictions," Silver Sorceress explained, "She can't negatively affect living things and neither can my magic."

"Uh…I've seen the Enchantress affect living things. Ever since we went to the Realm of Fables," Blue Jay countered.

"She's was freed from her restriction by the Three Graces of Wonderland. I still have it," Silver Sorceress explained further, "It's a condition that was part of my using the White Light of Life. It was never lifted after the Light was taken from me for abusing it."

"Your penance is going to get Britain killed," Cyborg complained.

"Take it up with the avatar of the Emotional Spectrum's Light of Life," Silver Sorceress demanded.

"Oh hell," Cyborg began running analyses on the Nihilist, "Except for the skull it doesn't even register on my systems."

"I told the Lanterns about the problem," Trajectory announced.

"When did you have time?" Blue Jay wondered.

"I'm fast. Not stupid. I saw this coming a minute ago when she first started explaining," Trajectory lectured Blue Jay. Jessica and Deborah focused their attention on the skull, isolating it from the psychic cloud it manifested.

"This thing is a global threat on the scale of the Shaggy Man," Capt. Atom advised Cyborg. A golden ankh appeared and Dr. Fate and Anna Fortune stepped through it.

"You were right," Dr. Fate conceded to Anna. She knew Nabu's new, feminine host had a hard time admitting her limitations.

"The scrying stone never lies," Anna said smugly.

"We'll need more than your usual brand of magic," Dr. Fate sniffed.

Anna pulled a very specific casing from her bandolier, "Nabu prepped this one for just an occasion. It's mate has already been used to end a dark god's threat."

"Braggart," Dr. Fate accused.

"Hypocrite," Ann retorted.

"Ladies, our Lanterns are wearing down," Silver Sorceress warned them both.

"I'll fire, you enhance," Anna directed.

"I am the Lady of Order. I will direct our action as befits my status as Nabu's host," Fate said haughtily.

"Then, pray tell, how should we proceed?" Anna asked.

"You fire. I will enhance the casing," Dr. Fate sighed.

"Just so," Anna loaded the casing into her arm mounted mini cannon, took aim, and fired. The effect was immediate. The skull was isolated but the casing's prepared spell was threatened. Dr. Fate quickly bolstered it.

Then she retrieved the bound skull, "I will store this in Fate's Tower where no one will reach it again."

Anna knew the Tower had been breached on several occasions but refrained from reminding everyone.

"Do stop by the Brownstone. Albert and I would love to entertain. Courtney and Billy also eagerly look forward to any socializing made by their former teammates," Anna offered. Stargirl, Shazam, Atom Smasher, and Anna Fortune, along with Dr. Fate and some of the JSA Founders, had once been members of the Justice League Unlimited once upon a time. The divisions that drove them back to the Justice Society not being held against the current Justice League International.

Anna and Al had even weathered the crises that stole away the bulk of their wedding guests with aplomb. Anna knew her Southern Baptist parents circa 1869 would've rolled in their graves knowing Anna's wedding had been officiated by the groom's rabbi. Or that she'd had officially converted in order to have the ceremony performed. Not that an Agent of Order doubted the Divine, just religious practices in general. The Lords of Order being one step below the angelic hosts.

"TTFN!" Anna acronymed, having just discovered Winnie the Pooh.

"What did she mean?" Blue Jay asked as the second ankh vanished.

"Ta Ta For Now," Ice answered.

"How do you know?" Fire inquired.

"I want to be a Tigger too," Ice snickered.

"Where the hell did the Outlaws get off too?" Dr. Jones asked as the Birds of Prey were released from crowd control duty.

"Damn," Cyborg sighed.

"At least April Amazing and Golden Lass made full recoveries," Kitty offered.

"I am so gone," Savant stepped away. All the way to Chicago.

"Wish I could do that," Dr. Jones sighed, "I'd save a fortune in air fare."

"Travel by bag. I always do," Kitty deployed her said bag and it vanished as she drew it shut.

"I so hate her," Crimson Fox decided.

"Let's collect the Neb and get out back to the States," Dove suggested.

"Rhosyn reported already teleporting her back to NYC," Spy Smasher informed them.

"So we're simply next," Dr., Jones announced, "It's been real but not real fun."

The teleporter snatched them away upon request. Cyborg called in the Invisible Jet and the Lanterns got everyone aboard. As the modified former bomber flew away, the Outlaws were tracking Blackwing, Atomica, Adler, Moriarty, Lady Fairplay, Boston, and Master Terrific to the Legion's temporary headquarters in London.

---

"I'd say someone's pissy," Ravager reported viewing the unfolding scene in a large loft space from the opposing rooftop using her telescopic eyepiece. Master Terrific, now unmasked as Terry Sloane, was definitely going off about something.

"Wait for it," Red Arrow fired her remaining acoustic arrows into a window frame.

"And for part two," Arrow fired another data trap arrow. Everyone's comms began to pick up the running conversation even as Squire began the data tap from the computer network tower located within the loft space. The Tunnel's computers, always active, locked onto the relay and began their download.

"Jesus, he is pissed off," Sparrow whistled.

---

Inside the space, Sloane was ranting, "And the bastard used his diplomatic immunity as the sovereign head of a foreign state to get Lady Spellbinder out of Britain but left our asses behind."

"It's not as though we don't have the resources to manage an escape on our own," Moriarty was blasé about their prospects.

"How long until Toyman or Casey cracks under interrogation?" Mary Lee wanted to know, "And let's not forget the woebegone Page"

Intercepted police traffic had revealeed to the Outlaws that the Knight had been, in reality, a certain Stanley Clements and the Page was his sister, Erica. The Clements being born into a professionally criminal clan and embittered after their parents, aunts, uncles, and several cousins had been prosecuted and imprisoned.

"And we still don't know Byte's disposition," Boston fretted.

"She was captured by the Outlaws and surrendered to the police," Blackwing reported as he and Atomica returned from a conference call with Jarvis Pennyworth, Thomas Wayne Jr.'s faithful butler. Thomas, of course, being both Lincoln March and Owlman and Pennyworth being the criminal mastermind only called the Other. In the New Earth, Jarvis Jr. and Alfred Pennyworth were estranged brothers serving brothers nearly separated at Thomas Jr.'s birth after Martha Wayne's near fatal car accident arranged by the Court of Owls.

"Lady Lunar made it back to the Hall of Doom," Rhonda Penita informed them, "No sign yet of Amazona or Devastation."

Blackwing unmasked to be Charles Bullock again. On Earth-3, he'd been Richard Grayson. An acrobat chosen and orphaned by the Court of Owls to become Owlman's personal disciple Talon. In the New Earth history, Dick Grayson had been orphaned by the Court through Boss Zucco but Batman intervened as both himself and Bruce Wayne to take Dick in and make him Robin, and eventually evolve his identity first into Nightwing, and now as an Assistant District Attorney for Bludhaven.

Bullock also became a lawyer. The defense attorney every criminal came to to win an unwinnable case. Bullock generally succeeded too. Dick was one of the few prosecutors he hadn't beaten on a regular basis. In fact, Dick had only lost a single case out of a dozen facing Bullock as the defense attorney. Despite Atomica uncovering Dick and Ulla's previous associations and identities, outing them would only lead to questions on how Bullock and Rhonda came by the information.

Blackwing had always known Bruce Wayne was Batman. The Court of Owls had deduced that fact long ago. Owlman thought it exceptionally fitting his opposite was also his brother. As Talon, Charles Bullock had also suspected Dick of being Robin. A truth that seemed self evident after Dick moved to Bludhaven and magically Nightwing did too. It was Dick Grayson the brainwashed Little Mermaid had captured on behalf of the Legion of Doom under the Crimson Queen's control. But it was Ulla Paske that had fallen in love with him and eventually broke her conditioning enough to escape with him.

Conditioning that later reasserted itself in a tragic way. Fortunately, the Justice League's confrontation with the Crimson Queen liberated every Global Guardian from her control. It also ended her nuclear terrorism, being the first ruler to launch nuclear weapons against opposing targets. Black Adam had temporarily dethroned the Crimson Queen before he set his sights on restoring his ancient homeland, the long vanished Kahndaq.

The Black Marvels carved the land out of eastern Libya and western Egypt. Securing Libyan desert and the west bank of the Nile. Only Black Adam, Isis, and Horus kept Kahndaq from further invasion from national militaries seeking to reclaim their lost territories. Black Adam and Isis ruled while Horus toured the world in support of Deathstroke's Titans team. It was Adrianna Tomaz's brother that had convinced the Lords of Chaos to re-empower the Black Marvels when the Egyptian "gods" were returned to Hell.

Likewise, the wizard persuaded the Lords of Order to allow Shazam to pass on his name and power to young Billy Batson and the new Shazam could grant powers to those chosen by Billy. Thus, the Marvel Family became the Shazam Family. The original Shazam explained to Billy he had the power to grant his same powers to up to six other people. Seven Marvels to replace the seven Wizards on the Council who'd ascended to being Lords and Ladies of Order. So far Billy had only created a new Captain Marvel from Captain Marvel Jr. and a Lady Marvel from the disgraced Mary Marvel/Black Mary. But that left four others awaiting empowerment.

It also left the Black Marvels opposing the Shazam Family once again. Their rivalry reignited by the Lords of Chaos and Order. Much to Isis' regret. But the Lords of Order threatened her son, Osiris. Osiris being the first being conceived by Marvels and born a Black Marvel rather than made one through a grant of power. Osiris was predicted to be the doom of the world. Yet no one had a time frame since Marvels were effectively immortal in their magical state.

The new Shazam refused to kill Osiris just because of what he could become. Captain Marvel and Lady Marvel weren't so circumspect. They'd promised to watch Osiris develop and intervene if he went bad or mad. But neither would commit to just stripping Osiris of his powers. Whatever they may be.

Osiris was born of the Egyptian deities' power grant through Shazam. Those deities truly being high ranking demons using the darkest of magicks. Just as the Greek Pantheon had proven themselves to be demons as well. Their departure from side Realms leaving the Marvel and Black Marvel Families powerless for a time. Except for baby Osiris. Whose power was a part of his very nature. To remove it was to remove his life.

Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman recognized this fact but Billy clung to the hope that he could strip away Osiris' power and not traumatize or kill him. To remove Osiris' very nature would be to do both. Yet, while all of these things factored into Vandal Savage's plans to enlist Black Adam and Isis into the Light, Savage knew Black Adam would never relinquish control over Kahndaq and make a client state to the Light. Just as LuthorCorp refused to so in Bailya and the Queen Bee likewise retained independence of the neighboring state of Balyia.

Despite the political pressures facing them from fellow Caspian Sea countries and particularly the Islamic Revolutionary State of Iran. Only LuthorCorp inheriting the Crimson Queen's nuclear stockpiles kept the `Stans and Iran from invading. That and Iran's continually failed attempts to do so. The Queen Bee was rumored to have acquired and reverse engineered nuclear capabilities so the Iranians had yet to dare cross her borders. Lex Luthor kept the UN's nuclear watchdogs out of both countries, falsely assuring the United Nations that his corporation, of which he'd formally divested "any" interest in in lieu of Lena's control as CEO and Chairwoman, had dismantled the Crimson Queen's arsenal that even Black Adam had kept intact during his brief tenure as ruler.

The NATO nations, SEATO nations, concerned African nations and Middle Eastern nations all put forth motions to deploy the Justice League to make inspections to guarantee that the nuclear arsenal was indeed inert. South Africa, the only nation to ever develop nuclear weapons and willfully dismantle them afterwards, was especially loud voice in this movement. But the motions were always denied a vote through procedural wrangling made by Luthor himself. Iran in particular aided Luthor's intransigent attitude because they feared their own progress towards developing nuclear arms and delivery systems would come under inspection.

"The Tornado Twins have simply vanished," Adler further explained.

"I have some assets staged in country," Moriarty told them, "I've reached out across the aisle and made some allies within the Secret Society of Super Villains. Major Disaster and the new Libnra have been very accommodating as of late. Cluemaster and the other former members of the Legion of Annoyance have proven to be an occasional irritant regarding cooperative efforts but Luthor and Fu Manchu did wrong them. Disaster and Libra have brought them under the fold as equal partners."

"I've also arranged for an alternate exit should the Legion of Annoyance fail…us usual," Adler stated.

"Nadya Burnett has brought a new level of competence to them," Boston added, "As only befits a woman of genius."

"You're feminine genius didn't salvage this afternoon," Terry Sloane complained.

"Neither did your masculine ass," Boston shot back.

"I think we're all getting off track," Mary Lee sighed, "Besides, our guests have arrived."

---

A shadow passed over the Outlaws.

"The futzin' Kite Man?" Ravager groaned, "You have to be shitting me."

"And he's not alone," the Eradicator told them from the stairwell access. Gem Girl nervously fondled her power gem. Skull primed his electron gun while the Polka Dot Bandit became unhinged as he twirled his baseball bat. The Grasshopper came to a landing from where he'd bounded from the street curb.

"Bloody hell," Squire lamented.

---

"We need to go. Now," Cluemaster urged as Arthur Brown. While Brown could clean up as a civilian, Nadya's face could hardly be disguised. One half was as ravaged with scars. But Brown and Burnett were madly in love, her "ruined" visage hardly mattering to him so it reassured her frayed self doubts regarding her appearance.

"Dr. Doom has a ship in port. Mighty Bruce has us cleared us to depart and navigate the Thames in half an hour. Tiger Shark is securing the dock. That leaves Multi Man and Kite Man securing our route while the others deal with your observers across the street," Nadya informed them.

"But we need to go. Now," Cluemaster repeated.

"Mighty Bruce has already scrubbed your network clean. You just have to bring the drives to destroy them," Nadya added. The five Legionnaires pulled the detachable drives free, forsook any luggage, and exited with the former Annoyances.

---

Eradicator used her heat vision to melt part of the concrete and steel outer framework of the roof.

"Who the hell is she?" Sparrow complained.

"I don't know," Red Arrow confessed, "She looks like Lois Lane."

"Without the scar!" Ravager called out from where she was battling Eradicator. Gem Girl was taking issue with the Squire. Arrow had caused Grasshopper and the Skull to flee or face mortal injuries atop the flesh wounds he'd delivered. Oliver believing the Legion's Brain Trust members that were fleeing were far more valuable than the Annoyances.

"Red Arrow, on me!" he called out. The archers used cable arrows to descend to the street below to pursue the fleeing Legionnaires on their bikes. Kite Man reported the progress from the air and Multi Man, in his angry personality, was displaying molten powers. Cluemaster, driving the purloined taxi, adjusted their route to intersect with Multi Man's current position.

"What kinda freak are you anyway?" Sparrow inquired.

"A pissed off one for having to come here!" Polka Dot Bandit yelled as he swung his bat again. Squire disarmed Gem Girl of her power gem.

"Shit!" she protested and made for the stairs to retrieve her gem on the street. Once there she discovered it was cracked, "Futz!"

Squire intervened by braining Polka Dot Bandit, "We need to help Rose!"

"On it," Sparrow agreed. Eradicator's eyes lit up as she angrily confronted Ravager, Squire, and Sparrow together.

Then she shook it off and looked panicked, "Please! Help me! I don't know where I am or even who I am. Please, there's something inside of me that gave me these powers."

"And a creepy 'Death of Superman' vibe," Ravager retorted looking at the dripping House of El sigil Eradicator wore.

"It calls itself the Eradicator. I know all about Krypton but this isn't it," she pleaded, "Krypton is destroyed. But where am I now?"

"She's genuine," Squire surmised.

"Damn," Ravager sheathed her swords, "All her physiological signs say the same thing."

"So...that's it?" Sparrow still hadn't sheathed her escrima sticks even as Squire collapsed her bo staff.

"I believe she actually does need our help," Squire told her.

"We're hardly a charity, Babe," Ravager reminded her.

"But we have tools that she won't find elsewhere," Squire rebutted her, "Miss? If you could follow us? We'll help however we can."

Eradicator looked relieved.

"Hurry. Sirens are a'comin'," Sparrow warned them all.

---

Multi Man slagged the intersection with his Hate Vision. Arrow and Red Arrow simply mounted the curb and sped past him.

"Tool," Kite Man chided him.

"You try and stop them then," a newly discovered and weepy personality of Multi Man's bawled. Kite Man wondered what power this one would display. Hopefully it was profound silence.

---

"They're headed for the river," Arrow advised Red Arrow.

"Obviously," she said with scorn only a teenager could muster.

"If they're on a boat our options could get limited," Arrow tried again. Grenades detonated around them. Kite Man cursed as his last one had no effect other than to pockmark the road. The bikes were too maneuverable to get bogged down. But between Multi Man and Kite Man, London traffic would be snarled for months.

---

Tiger Shark armed the 20mm Vulcan cannon on Dr. Doom's freighter's prow. He opened fire and managed to divert Arrow and Red Arrow long enough to get the Legionnaires and Annoyances aboard. The freighter's engines engaged and ripped away a pylon as it steamed downriver. Arrow and Red Arrow tried following but the roads turned away from the Thames as they departed London.

"Arrow, we're diverting to the airport. Our plane is prepping for an immediate departure," Squire alerted him.

"New plan. Head for Heathrow. Cargo hangars," Arrow gunned his engine to stay a head of the police trying to mount a pursuit.

---

Aboard the SS Askance, the Legionnaires celebrated their narrow escape.

"But what about your fellows?" Moriarty asked Nadya.

"They'll rendezvous with us at Liverpool," she shrugged, "This was always the plan."

"Gem Girl and Kite Man reported Multi Man is still despondent and Eradicator is MIA," Cluemaster said as he came to the deck from the bridge, "Grasshopper and the Skull already bugged out. Polka Dot Bandit was arrested."

"Mighty Bruce will see to his release," Nadya snickered.

"The man is marvel with computers," Cluemaster conceded, "Spineless but a technical marvel."

"Mr. Terrible will meet us in Liverpool with plane tickets so you can fly out of Cardiff. We'll sail on to Amsterdam," Nadya explained further.

"At least this Dr. Doom has a full wardrobe," Boston remarked.

"You're hardly his first fugitive passenger," Cluemaster explained, "Tiger Shark will get you to shore unseen with the launch and Mr. Terrible will join us after passing you off onto the train."

"I was wondering how we were to reach Cardiff," Master Terrific admitted.

"You'll all have Brit Rail passes and cash," Nadya promised, "Luthor is generously reimbursing us for our time and our expenses."

"I rather doubted Fu Manchu would be spring for this," Adler confessed.

"What about our teammates?" Lady Fairplay inquired sharply.

"Same treatment as ours," Cluemaster promised, "Luthor is flying them out to rejoin your Lady Spellbinder in Africa. Apparently, Vandal Savage has a message for Iron Knife he wants personally delivered regarding wasting the usage of the Nihilist without permission."

"You're awfully well informed," Master Terrific noted.

"Luthor has reached a working arrangement with Major Disaster and Libra. We'll be conjoining certain efforts from now on," Nadya revealed.

But despite the mention of Vandal Savage, no mention had been made regarding the Light. So apparently the former Annoyances were still in the proverbial dark regarding it.

---

The cargo plane lifted as soon as Arrow and Red Arrow were securely aboard, purloined Bat Bikes and all. Squire and Ravager had their own bikes and Sparrow wasn't about to leave without the highly modified sports car Batmobile they'd taken.

Arrow apprehensive about bringing Eradicator with them, "What do we know about her anyway?"

"Nothing more than she knows about herself," Squire argued, "I've reached out. Knightfall has contacted Commissioner Gordon in Gotham. She'll take custody of this 'Eradicator' after we land. She'll be handed off to Superman from there."

"And Gordon will simply let us disappear in Gotham?" Arrow was skeptical.

"That's the deal or she doesn't get custody at all," Squire replied, "Besides we'll be gone by the time Gordon gets informed of the time and hangar to arrive at," Squire promised.

"Legally she is required to arrest us. And she already knows too much about our operations," Arrow fumed.

"She also knows who Batman is and isn't arresting him," Squire shrugged.

"Why does this woman look like Lois Lane anyway?" Arrow wouldn't relent just yet.

"Why do you look like a younger Oliver Queen?" Squire asked, "Why do you share his name and DNA?"

"Please report to the cabin," a speaker requested.

"They'll be asking for me," Squire had chartered the flight.

"Mind if I come with?" Arrow inquired.

"Knock yourself silly," Squire shrugged. They entered the cockpit and if the crew had any qualms about costumed people, they kept it to themselves. The Outlaws had already noted the cargo crews blasé handling of their vehicles the arrival of so-called villains. The pilots were indifferent as well.

"Ma'am, Gotham airspace was just restricted. We're diverting to Metropolis," the pilot told them.

"Any particular reason why?" Squire asked.

"The Pax Mundi made the declaration," the co-pilot told her, "That's all we know so far. The news coming through is that the UN deployed the peacekeeping force but they haven't announced why or for how long."

"Luthor," Arrow growled his disgust.

"I rather doubt we're the targets. We haven't crossed paths with the Legion of Doom until today and even then, the Knight and Page were our principal targets. This is unrelated, I'd wager. Someone has set off something in Gotham and we're just bystanders at this point," Squire summarized.

"We'll be landing in sixty minutes," the pilot told them, "We'll alert the cargo area when we're on approach"

"Thanks much," Squire told the cabin crew.

"I have to wonder how this will affect our getting back into town," Arrow admitted as they made their back to the others.

"Even if they set up checkpoints, they're ways around them. As we are experts at knowing them. Still, I'm calling Oracle and checking in to see if they're back from Los Angeles yet," Squire told him.

"I'll explain to everyone what is up," Arrow offered.

"Much appreciated," Squire dug her burner phone from her utility pouches. After the business with the corrupted Knight and Page, Squire had decided to keep the name but ditch the traditional costume. She had something else in mind. To her surprise, Oracle and Red Hood bad been unaware of the Pax Mundi's imminent arrival since they were still in Pennsylvania when the news broke. Oracle had been in touch with Arkham Knight and Knightfall both and it seemed neither had been prepared for this twisting of events. All of which were as great of rarities as Oracle being caught unawares.

Oracle floated Arkham Knight's news from his return to Gotham ahead of the pair. The Phantasm was in town and had asked Jason Todd to stand down regarding her presence and persuade Knightfall to look the other way. Andrea Beaumont was many things but unprovoked wasn't one of them. After Phantasm's original killing spree, she'd avoided the USA for years afterwards. But Amanda Waller had personally recruited the Phantasm as an ARGUS agent. One that Homeland Security inherited when ARGUS collapsed under congressional scrutiny.

Dir. Bones utilized Phantasm as an agent at large and rarely interfered in her agendas or dictated them. So whatever business had brought Phantasm back to Gotham likely had drawn in the Pax Mundi as well. Dagar the Desert Hawk led the Pax Mundi and by all accounts was steadfast but ruthless in his approach to accomplishing his missions. Squire and Oracle were mutually convinced two things would occur before the Pax Mundi withdrew from Gotham City. Their ultimate mission would be accomplished. Secondly, the body count would stack up beforehand. Something Knightfall might take issue with. But how far would she go to contravene the UN's supposed mission on US soil? Squire supposed everyone was about to find out.

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Afterward: The following attributions fulfill the legalese of utilizing Open Source Characters. All Open Source characters as well as a comprehensive listing of superhero and comic characters that have entered Public Domain can be found at the Public Domain Super Heroes Wiki wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes

The Neb

Real Name

Christine Schumaker

First Appearance

November 9, 2011

Created by

Vito Delsante

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April Amazing

Real Name

Brenda Boyle

First Appearance

PDSH wiki 2014

Created By

Brandon Longstreth

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Pax Mundi

Real Name

Unknown

First Appearance

November 5, 2010

Created by

Vito Delsante & Uriel Duran

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Jenny Anywhere

Real Name

Jenny Anywhere

First Appearance

PDSH website - April 2013

Original Publisher

Public Domain Heroes

Created by

Carter-Ethan Rankin

Jenny Elsewhere

Real Name

Jenny Elsewhere

First Appearance

PDSH website - April 2013

Original Publisher

Public Domain Heroes

Created by

Carter-Ethan Rankin

"The character of Jenny Elsewhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Elsewhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

"The character of Jenny Anywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Anywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

"The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

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Express

Real Name

Mark Murphy

First Appearance

OSSH (Sept. 14, 2017)

Created by

Dustin Smith

"The character of Express is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Express, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

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The Nihilist

Real Name

Unknown

First Appearance

Open Source Characters Facebook Page (November 21, 2015)

Created by

Dustin Smith

The character of The Nihilist is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving The Nihilist, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.

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Iron Knife

Real Name

Unknown

Alias

Mbeli Ebedende

First Appearance 2014

PDSH wiki

Created By

Brandon Longstreth

Notes

Iron Knife is an open source character created specifically for use by anyone. Feel free to use it any way you wish