A/N: This is Act 3, please read Act 1 ( s/7083098/1/Justice-Lords-LIMITLESS-Act-1-ReBirth) and then Act 2 ( s/7459004/1/Justice-Lords-LIMITLESS-Act-2-EndWar ) if you haven't yet. If you use the app, and/or the link does not work, you can find Act 1 and Act 2 on my profile along with information regarding Justice Lords Limitless.

Batman settled the Javelin in the docking bay of the Watchtower. As he went through proper procedure, he heard the sound of buckles unclasping from the chairs behind him. "You're supposed to remain seated until the craft is fully docked."

Zatanna smirked behind the Dark Knight. "Thanks, 'Captain', but after tonight, I think we'll be okay to risk a little bit of a jostle." She walked to the rear ramp of the Javelin and waited to exit the craft.

Batman felt a heavy, unsure hand on his shoulder. "Almost done, Mightor," he said to the superpowered caveman wielding the magical club. "I know you're not one for enclosed spaces like this."

"No."

"Thank you for your help tonight."

"Ok."

The hydraulic hiss of the ramp lowering echoed through the Javelin and the curious caped caveman quickly rushed off the Javelin into the more open space of the docking bay, shouldering passed Zatanna.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry!" Mightor yelled back.

Zatanna shook her head as she watched him run further.

"He really doesn't like small spaces, does he, sister?" Wonder Woman exited the Javelin and stood by Zatanna.

"Must be his connection to the open spaces of the prehistoric Earth," Zatanna postulated. "Speaking of open spaces, do you know how much land in Gotham we had to cover to find you? We were this close to calling up B'wanna Beast." She held up her thumb and forefinger to measure out a minuscule amount of space. "This close!"

Wonder Woman pursed her lips in faux annoyance. "Don't you have a show to catch?"

"Oh, snap! You're right!" Zatanna put her hat on the floor upside down, and waved her wand. "emoH ot latroP!" With a flick of her wrist, magic leapt from the wand tip to the hat and a second later, the full-grown magician jumped into her hat as if it were a hole. A moment later, her hand poked out of the hat, grabbed the brim and then pulled the hat inside itself, causing it to vanish into thin air.

Wonder Woman shook her head at the mind-bending antic just as Batman descended the exit ramp.

"Food?" he asked.

"Since you asked so politely."

The two veteran heroes walked side by side to the hallway leading from the docking bay into the Watchtower proper. As they went, Batman talked with Wonder Woman about their most recent mission. He had to know just how aware she had been.

"I'm glad Circe's properly locked up again, but I wish I could have been of more help… Truthfully, it's still pretty much a blur to me," she said, shrugging as they turned a corner. "Did I miss anything?" She looked, with honest eyes, to her companion.

Batman did his best to not react to her question but felt his eyes twitch in betrayal. Even so, his response was a dismissive one. "Not really. The important thing is that you're safe." He looked back forward and mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah…" Wonder Woman also turned her attention front. "Of course, that's not the only important thing." She did her best to not smile and barely succeeded, feeling the corners of her mouth slightly curve up. In the corner of her eye, she saw Batman turn his face back to her slightly, a questioning look on his face. So she decided to answer him: she began to hum.

The first notes from Wonder Woman caught Batman off-guard, then after a few more notes, he placed it as the song. His song. She kept humming and mentally he sang the second line. Am I blue? He caught himself and had to stop walking. How could she know what he sang? Zatanna...

Batman stopped and watched Wonder Woman continue walking as she hummed the end of the stanza, rounding the corner out of his sight and heading to the cafeteria. He felt… content in watching her and afforded himself a smile.

-One Week Later-

In an empty desert in Nevada, two young climbers were making their way up the nearly vertical face of a rather large mesa. Their slow, painful process could barely be seen with the naked eye from the rocky ground, but after climbing for the better part of the morning, the two were nearly at the top.

"Remind me why we're doing this again? This specific mesa?" The young lady with her orange hair tied up in a functional ponytail sounded like she was ready to descend.

"Because," huffed her boyfriend, "Once we're up there..." He paused and reached for the next crag in the rock. Once he was sure his grip was secure, he held on and pulled himself another few inches closer to the top. "...We'll be able to see half of Nevada!"

The orange-haired girl gave him a look of disgust and halted her efforts. "That's it?" she asked, upset.

"Well, we'll be able to see the three towns close to these mesas, too!" The young African-American looked back down to his girlfriend and smiled nervously, hoping she'd still be game. "And with last night's meteor shower, I'm wondering if something made it through the atmosphere!" He resumed his climb.

The girl sighed. "You are so dumped when we get down from here." She watched him pull himself up and disappear over the ledge with what sounded like a triumphant shout. She wasn't as sporting. As she reached for the next hand-hold up, her back leg's support crumbled and she felt herself slip against the mesa's side.

She managed to catch herself with her hands and found more stable footing. All the same, she glanced at the piton that was dug into the rocky wall for security. When she was sure the thing wouldn't be coming out anytime soon, she pushed herself a bit more and approached the next spot.

"A little help here?" she called out to her companion at the top but received no response. "Ugh, Billy?" she called out again, but when there was still no response, she pulled herself up alone to the next spot and looked for any hand hold she could use to climb up. Yep. He's dumped.

She reached up and got her chalked hands on the edge of the mesa-top. With great struggle she managed to pull herself up. "Rule numero uno of rock climbing." She made sure that vitriol and displeasure drenched each passive-aggressive word. She got one foot over the edge and pushed herself the full way up and then stood. "You never, ever leave your gi—"

The rest of her sentence was lost in her throat. Billy was nowhere to be seen on the mesa. Instead, a large metallic thing, probably a meteorite, sat on the top. It must have been at least the size of a small house but what worried the girl the most was the fact it seemed almost… engineered yet organic. There was a strange pulsing behind the purple sections of the rock.

"Billy…?" she called out a bit more quietly as she watched the thing pulse like a heart.

In response to her, she heard metallic squeaking and skittering, like insects, coming from within the 'rock'. In horror, her eyes turned down and away from the thing, only to see Billy's shoe lying discarded on the rocky ground. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. Large metal spider-like things came from pores in the rock and swarmed in her direction. As they crawled over the shoe, she backed up in preparation to cut and run, but when her foot knocked a rock off the top of the mesa, she remembered that it was a long way down.

The first spider bot stabbed its metallic appendage into her foot and the burning sensation unlocked her voice. She screamed to the morning sun.

"This is a priority alert from U. S. space command. We are requesting a rapid response, forced deployment from Ellis Air Force Base, to contain and counter an extraterrestrial landing. This is not a drill!" Superman rewound the transmission and played it again for the League.

"Ellis Air Force Base is in the middle of nowhere Nevada, isn't it?" Green Arrow asked. "Shouldn't they be able to handle this threat?"

"If by 'middle of nowhere Nevada' you mean 'near three rather large towns as well as a frequented National Park', then yes," Batman replied.

"That area had a meteor shower last night," Superman said. "Something must have made it through."

"My thoughts exactly," Batman agreed. "We need to mobilize." He turned and looked over those in attendance. "Black Canary, Green Arrow, Arsenal: you're with Wonder Woman. Fate, Superman, Mightor, you're with Robin. I'll take point in the Batplane."

"Actually." Arsenal raised his hand sheepishly. "I have a previous engagement to attend. Not really something I can put off."

Batman's eyes narrowed and Arsenal felt his confidence wither. Batman continued, leaving no further room for discussion. "It can wait. We will convene from two directions." He pointed on the holographic map to the point where the mystery rock landed. "At most two fly-overs in the Javelins before we begin our assault. Let's move."

The heroes scattered from the briefing room and quickly made their way to the Watchtower hangar. Quickly, the Batplane and two Javelins shot out of the hidden fortress and built into the mountains of Montana set on a course for Nevada.

"Containment has failed and we are taking heavy losses!" A military commander stood with her pistol in one hand shooting at a multitude of drones while her other hand held a long-range satellite phone to her ear. "I repeat: we cannot contain them!"

Superman spoke to the League. "Sounds like the commander could use a little reassurance."

Batman watched the large thing on the horizon grow closer. "Let's hope we can give it to her."

"We'll give it to her," Wonder Woman assured. "And then some." She eyed the heroes in the chairs behind her with confidence. It felt good to be part of a team again. "Strength in numbers and all that."

Robin gave the signal and Superman unlocked a rooftop hatch. The heroes Robin transported one by one flew out of his Javelin's roof, leaving him at the controls. "It's growing bigger. Somehow devouring everything around it and integrating it into itself."

"And those spider-like things swarming out of it?"

Batman responded from the Batplane. "The same thing. And once they're done with the debris from the army attempting to beat them back, they'll likely spread out, taking down the three towns."

"That's not good."

"Diana." Hawkman's voice came over the Watchtower's communications. "I have the communications feed from the general on the ground. I'll hack you in."

Wonder Woman waited for a moment until she heard the ping signaling the connection had been opened successfully. "General, this is Wonder Woman of the Justice League."

"Justice League?" the grizzled voice of an old but sharp-minded man crackled over the comm unit. "I don't recall sending out a distress signal."

"We go where we're needed."

"Fine. This is General Eiling, United States Air Force. We're in the process of evacuating the three nearest towns. We need those… things locked down."

"Then the first task is containment," Wonder Woman acknowledged.

"I have something on board that may buy us a little more time." Batman swooped his Batplane low and readied the bomb bay door. He soared over Fate and Mightor, both firing rays to destroy any of the self-replicating bots that came too close to evacuating military personnel on the mesa. Just as Batman flew over the extraterrestrial mass, he pressed a button and a large warhead fell from the belly of his craft. On contact with the top of the mass, the bomb exploded and a gel-like solution coated the top and began to further coat the rest of the thing. He pulled up on the yoke and brought the Batplane into a steep climb.

On her approach, Wonder Woman observed Batman's handiwork. "Batman? What was that?"

"Fermionic gas. Cools on the atomic level."

Green Arrow shook his head. "And you just casually carry that around?"

"Had to freeze the Gotham River once. Don't want to be caught unprepared."

Green Arrow rolled his eyes. "Because that's an everyday occurrence in Gotham."

"More or less, yes." Batman replied, completely missing the sarcasm.

"Knock it off, Arrow." Wonder Woman landed her Javelin and Black Canary and Arsenal rushed off to join the battle. "Green Arrow, hit that dark... heart with an EMP arrow. I want to see if we can short it out. Unless... Batman?"

"Yes." Batman banked away from the large thing as his sensors gathered more data. "In the frozen state the fermionic solution is still conductive."

"Go, Arrow!"

Green Arrow gave a quick salute and ran out of the Javelin with Wonder Woman. As he ran by Black Canary, he called out to her. "Goin' my way?"

The blonde in the fishnets smirked after him. "Never thought I'd hear you asking for help." She gave a final screech to push back a group of robots then joined Green Arrow in his pursuit of high ground. "What are you trying to do?"

He drew an arrow and fired it at two approaching drones. The arrow exploded on contact and blew the two drones apart. "Higher ground, Black Canary. Going to hit it with an EMP arrow."

"Okay, let me be more specific." Black Canary caught a drone that had leapt at her and screamed into its belly. The machine's armor ruptured and she tossed it away just as it began to repair itself. "Why did you call me to join you?"

"You didn't think I could do this alone, did you?" He fired two more explosive arrows to further keep the drones and bay then began to climb a mound of rubble.

"As a matter of fact I did." Black Canary jumped after him and quickly the two clambered to the top of the rock heap. As Green Arrow rose higher, Black Canary used her supersonic power to stem the approaching wave of malicious drones.

Once at the top of the mound and confident that Black Canary could hold off the robots, Green Arrow drew the EMP arrow and aimed for the center mass of the foreign machine generator. A breath later, he released the arrow and watched it sail over the heads of his allies and the soldiers then over the massive legion of endless drones to the thing at the center.

From his spot, Mightor fired a few more energy beams from his club, searing the internal workings of a few drones then watched the arrow hit its mark. "Hurray!"

From his vantage point above the battle, Superman observed the arrow release its charge and soon the whole thing was shuddering and sparking. However, the DarkHeart did not cease. "No dice," he reported. "The thing is still churning out bots!"

"Oh, no!" Mightor waved his club and gathered some energy on its end. He slammed it into the ground, causing the ground between his legs to split. A number of the drones fell into the pit and Mightor fired his beam into the crevasse. With the drones unable to scatter out of the way in time, they were quickly vaporized.

"Wonder Woman, can you hear me?" General Eilling's voice came over Justice League comms. "I'm in the town of Gold Hanger, two clicks from you and we're not going to get everyone out in time."

"I read you, General," Wonder Woman replied.

"Batman," Superman said. "We need to draw a perimeter around the thing. Mightor's given me an idea, but we'd need to redirect firepower."

Batman pressed the trigger on his Batplane controls and missiles streaked out from ports on the wings. "You're talking about creating a moat?" His missiles hit the base of the generator just as another wave of spiders flowed out, blowing them to bits.

"Yes."

"That could work for a time," Batman acknowledged. "If it is sufficiently deep enough, we could destroy them faster… and provide us more time to figure out what to do."

"Mightor and I can create this trench," Fate replied quickly. "But in that time, you will have to be extra vigilant."

Wonder Woman smashed through a few more robots then looked over her team. Robin and Arsenal were working together taking down a party of drones while Black Canary and Green Arrow were taking advantage of their high ground. "Superman?"

"I hear you, Diana." From above, Superman continued to rain down hell with his heat vision. "I'm barely through my first capsule anyway. I'll be fine."

Wonder Woman directed her attention back to Mightor and Fate. "Do it!"

Fate took to the air and gestured for Mightor to join her. "Let us go, Mightor."

"What?"

Batman gritted his teeth as he began another strafing run against the drones on the ground. "Someone fill in Mightor before he gets us all killed."

"Be nice," Wonder Woman spoke softly to Batman as she shattered another drone. "He's doing his best."

Fate led Mightor into the air and used a magical beam to carve out a half-circle through the mesa. The club-wielding hero caught on to the sorceress' goal and followed her lead, carving out the earth in the opposite direction with the beam from his club. When the two beams met, they had successfully created a one-hundred-meter deep gorge around the alien machine.

"Alright, we have it more or less contained," Green Arrow said as he fired an arrow, impaling a drone just before it could attack Black Canary. "What now?"

"Batman!" Robin called out to his mentor. "I think these things are nanotech and that's how they are repairing and modifying themselves. I think it's time Dr. Palmer considers his invitation, don't you?"

"Agreed." Batman streaked over the thing in his armored plane. "We're not putting a dent in the thing itself and its army is apparently endless. Attacking head on is getting us nowhere. Fate," He called out to the mystic woman. "You recall Dr. Raymond Palmer's location?"

"Yes," Fate replied. "Afford me some time." An ankh-shaped portal of gold opened out of thin air and Fate floated through it leaving Mightor in the air alone.

But the magical caveman did not falter. He held his club in two hands and fired an energy beam straight down at the ground. The explosion of debris carried dozens of drones up and away. As they fell to the mesa-top, Superman flew among the group and smashed through each one with his fists.

"Good work, Mightor!" Superman cheered.

Batman soared overhead and emptied out his plane's forward cannons until he got a warning notice on his heads-up display. "This is the last of my useful armaments. After this, I can't do anymore."

Wonder Woman caught a pang of disappointment in his voice. She looked up as he raced overhead and two missiles shot out from the Batplane's wings. The two missiles hit the side of the DarkHeart and exploded.

As he flew over the meteorite, the icy covering cracked open and four large tiger-like robots landed on the Batplane. Immediately, they set to work biting and tearing at the Batplane's wings. Batman hit a button in his cockpit and the hull became electrified. Even though he could see that the bots were damaged by the shock, none of them released their hold on the Batplane.

One of the robotic tigers leapt and its claws pierced the bulletproof windshield much to Batman's chagrin. He attached a chin-plate to his cowl for oxygen and pressed the button to open the canopy. The cockpit depressurized with a hiss and the canopy slid back.

The robot tiger lost its footing and tumbled from the roof to the back. Batman made a sharp left turn and hit the boosters on the Batplane. The high powered engines torched the robot to literal atoms but Batman celebrated no victory yet. He reached into his utility belt and drew out two explosive bat-a-rangs. With the flick of his wrists, the weapons were tossed out ahead at an angle and each struck a robot tiger on either wing, blowing them off.

He looked to each side to make certain that the tigers had been removed from the wing but his attention was grabbed by a metallic footstep on the fuselage before him. Batman looked forward into the metallic maw of the final robo-tiger. It opened its mouth and he saw the barrel of what seemed to be a gun among the many rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Batman reached down and pulled on his ejector lever. His seat blew out of the Batplane just as the jaws of the mechanical beast snapped shut. But the thing was not content at letting its prey escape; Batman heard, and then felt, gunfire coming from the mouth. He leaned away from the gunfire and felt the bullets plink against the back of his chair. His chair was bullet-resistant, but that only went so far against alien armaments.

He heard a disheartening 'dink' and immediately unbuckled himself from the chair. As he did, he felt a bullet tear through his shoulder armor and streak over his skin. The searing hot round definitely hit muscle and moving the arm in any direction caused pain. But he didn't have time to think about his injury as his chair, and thus his parachute, exploded above him, blown to shreds by the robo-tiger.

Much too high and falling too fast to glide to safety. Not to mention my shoulder wouldn't be able to hold out against that strain in its injured state. Nothing to grapnel either. His mind analyzed the situation but he wasn't happy with the only option for survival left. "Batman to all points: I could use some air support, since I can't fly. At all." He straightened out in the air and watched the rapidly approaching ground grow closer. "Now would be good."

At the last moment, he felt himself be redirected, caught under a strong arm. He looked to his rescuer and frowned at her smile.

"How does the song go?" Wonder Woman asked. "'It's raining men'?"

"The spiders are forcing us back, and the mothership is now releasing mechanical attack tigers to protect them. Where's the Atom?"

"I'm here, Batman." Ray Palmer's voice came over the radio. "Fate has brought me up to speed."

Batman looked to Wonder Woman. "We need to rendezvous with Fate and the Atom. Hurry!"

Robin and Arsenal smashed down three more of the bots and quickly regrouped to figure out a better strategy.

"I'm running out of ideas," Robin said. He threw another pair of explosive bat-a-rangs and blew another spider drone to bits. "Every time we destroy one, we risk it rebuilding itself and continuing on!"

Arsenal fired another arrow from his bow. "Tell me something I don't know. I feel worse than useless here. My trick arrows are barely cutting it!" He fired an arrow, destroying one of the bots but was tackled down by another. He braced his bow between the consuming mouth of the spider creature and himself as he struggled to push the thing off. Just when all hope seemed lost, a bat-a-rang stabbed into the head of the metal bot and an electrical discharge stunned it. Arsenal used the distraction to push off the beast and drive a timed explosive arrow into the heart of the metal spider. "Thanks, Robin."

Robin ducked below a leaping drone and stabbed up with a bat-a-rang at the same time, puncturing the drone's underbelly. "Don't mention it." He put a hand to his ear. "Batman, is that Dr. Palmer? If so, please tell me he has an idea how to stop it."

"Hey, kid, it's me."

Robin slashed through another two drones and sighed as one of them reconstituted and advanced. "Welcome to our nightmare… Can you help?"

Batman's voice came over the radio. "Dr. Palmer, tell everyone what you told me."

"It's amazing! These things build copies of themselves using whatever materials are around. It's not just about these three towns or even the desert: they'll go coast to coast. They'll use metal, rock, plastic—"

"People." Batman's sobering interjection reined the professor's awe back in.

"Yes," The Atom agreed gravely. "And destroying the replicated machines isn't enough. You have to get to the system's core control."

Black Canary screamed into an advancing group and watched the fireworks. "You mean that's a mothership?"

"You have to understand, making metal out of rock is a microscopic process. The core control is issuing commands at a microscopic scale… You can't just smash up a machine the size of an infection."

"Makes sense to me," Robin added. "Leave a crumb intact and that's enough for the whole thing to start all over again."

"If you get me to the main ship and I can get inside, I may be able to reprogram it."

"Batman to all points: we have a new plan. Green Arrow, get here and take Dr. Palmer to the machine."

"Kinda busy, Bats." Green Arrow swung his bow, knocking a few drones to the side and Black Canary screamed at the bunch, shattering them. However, the two were afforded no time to celebrate as more and more slowly swarmed and ate away at the ground they were standing on.

Batman snarled to himself. "Fine. Arsenal, get here now. The archer will fire an arrow from my position to the DarkHeart with Dr. Palmer on the arrowhead. The rest of us will remain against the trench. We draw a line here."

"Roger!" Arsenal made his way to Batman's position. "You got this side covered, Robin?"

"I'll deal."

It took a few seconds but soon Arsenal had Dr. Palmer on his hand and was drawing his bow. "This is unreal," he said. "I gotta ask, Mr. Palmer, does it hurt to shrink?"

"It's 'Doctor'." The Atom responded slightly peeved. "And no. Not anymore. Now remember, the shot has to be precise, any deviation to the flight and I could be killed!"

No pressure. Arsenal rolled his eyes behind his mask and drew his bow fully. He stilled his breathing and just before he released the string, he whispered: "Akriveia," then he released the arrow.