Raindrops fall hard all over her body. Nobody said anything about heavy rains, especially not this time of year. She should have known better from the plants she was going to study. They grow only in the rainforest of Brazil. Of course there are going to be rains, she just didn't think it was going to be heavy.
She trudges along a makeshift path, with only a few local tribesmen as her only companions. The route is stony and muddy. Very muddy. And she could feel pinches on her soles just before and between her toes. Blisters, they have to be blisters. When she looked at her fingers, they look so wrinkled and soggy. Her feet must be the same too. What of her body? Her backpack is full of many things, quite a lot she regrets bringing along. She never expected the way to the camp would be so… What was the word? Arduous.
She feels very tired. She is counting all the sore points over her body. A hot bath and hours of sleep would be so good now. All her suffering, all the aches she is suffering, none of the men seem bothered by these same troubles. What are they made of? How much farther?
"How much farther?" she cried out asking.
"Not very far, Miss," replied the lead guide, a somewhat short man in his late thirties.
"Umm, I think I asked you the same question for the past three days?" she said back. There is no note of sarcasm in her voice; nevertheless, her message is clear.
He could only laugh back at what she said. Still smiling, he said, "Don't worry, Miss. This time, we really there. Don't worry."
"Uh, yeah," she said, dejected. When she took this assignment for Dr. Woodrue, she was actually hoping to be on some sort of adventure. An exotic faraway land, not a soggy sludge pit. She tries to shake away this thinking. She's training to be a botanist, she should get used to these kind of conditions in her chosen line of work.
Suddenly, her line of thought is broken. Her foot didn't get a proper step and she slipped. It really hurt. Getting up was difficult. Her backpack is already drenched from the rain, making it heavier. She couldn't brace herself up because the ground is slippery. Oh, dignity.
"I-I don't think I can go on," she said. Exhaustion has finally come in.
"Yes you can. The camp is right in front of us."
"It is?" she asked weakly. And there it was, the camp they have been trying to reach for days. It has to be. She is ready to crawl in a bed and die. She closed her eyes.
"Oh, come on. You can't possibly give up now. Is this your first time to go on a trip like this?" a handsome voice said and it does not belong to the lead guide. Well, they had to raise their voices in this rain but his voice was beautiful even though he had to speak louder.
She opened her eyes and there he was. Four years in Gotham University and she finds Mr. Right thousands of miles away. And to think that she thought all she was going to get in this assignment was a few brownie points with her professor. Since the moment she took a step on this journey, she gave out a smile and passed out.
Later, she wakes up and finds out she was taken in to the main cabin reserved for the researchers. It was very quiet with only the chirping of birds breaking the silence. She thanks God for stopping the rain. She takes in a deep breath and exhaled just as much, a release for the stress.
"Oh, you're awake. I was beginning to wonder when you'd be around," a man's voice said. It shook her up and she could scold herself for not even realizing there's a man in the room with her. Wincing from embarrassment, she takes a look at her guardian. A man. A very handsome man. This must certainly be heaven.
"I didn't realize you were in here with me," she said, "My name's---."
"Pamela Isley," he quickly said, "They, uh, already told me who's coming." He pours a cup of coffee and hands her one. "Want some? Looks like you could use it. The name's Thomas Baxter, by the way."
"Wow," she just randomly said out loud.
"Wow what?"
Her face turned really red. How could she have just said it for the world to hear? She could die if she embarrasses herself one more time. Apparently, he noticed it, too, and quickly changed the subject. "There's a shower stall on the other side of the camp, opposite this cabin. Uh, just in case you need to clean yourself up."
"Thank you," she meekly said.
He smiled and she smiled back. Pam now wonders what an adventure this is going to be.
***
They were all sitting around a table. Bruce, Yolanda, Raffy and Paez. Bruce has the ball.
"He called himself the Floronic Man. His mission was the complete domination of Earth by plant life. He first struck in the farmlands of Kansas. He was protesting the exploitation of plants for human consumption."
"That's crazy," remarked Yolanda.
"I see no difference with what we have today, but, as I was saying, he terrorized Kansas farms in the name of his campaign. The Justice League was called in to stop him. Make no mistake, he may be just a man mutated into a plant monster but he was still a scientist and he knew how to hold his ground against… the League."
"The situation had become worse and it was deemed that military intervention was a necessity. This the call from the man we know as Pebblewyrm."
Bruce pauses and he scans everyone's reactions. All mouths were agape. Indeed, they were surprised at the revelation. The first one to recover from the shock was Col. Paez, "So, I guess you two had met before then, ha?"
"I owned some properties in Kansas. It was inevitable."
***
Dr. Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, had held the Justice League at bay. He managed to poison Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman with some form of spores. The Flash was entirely tangled up with his vines. Only J'onn and Hawkgirl were left to keep his wildly growing grain plants from taking over the town of Smallville.
Near the outskirts of Smallville, an Army encampment had been set up. Long range cannons were arranged to counter the threat incendiary bombs. They would have been effective if only someone was actually going to use them. This fact did not escape the Batman, who decided to conduct his own investigation.
This was not the first time that any of the League members had encountered Woodrue before. He was put away in Stryker's Island, a maximum security prison island built especially for superpowered criminals. Somehow, he had managed to escape.
Batman flew in with his Batwing plane to Stryker's Island to talk with the warden. Prison security quickly surrounded him. Red laser dots were all over his body. He looked at his surroundings and only gritted his teeth and grunted.
Immediately, the alarm is turned off and the warden quickly called his men to stand down. With a squadron behind him, he ran to greet Batman. He sweated quite profusely, even for a man with his beefy build. He wiped his brow with his handkerchief. Batman said, "I could distinctly remember calling your office prior to my arrival."
With a worried tone in his voice, the warden replied, "I'm sorry. Ever since the escape, the whole complex is jittery with any repeat attempts." He added, "And, you don't usually show up like this."
Batman just gave an expressionless smirk. "I would like to know how exactly Woodrue escaped."
They entered Woodrue's former cell. It is a small 10x10. There are no bathroom utilities nor is there a bed. A section of the wall is torn and the entrance had its door, obviously, ripped apart.
"The walls are made of fluorescent light material that could change into any color. Woodrue has the ability to mutate any seedling, spore and the like into whatever he wants. Even with a scanner we use to detect any foreign material he might have with him in his cell, we still manually check his cell with our own eyes. The walls change color so we could contrast it with the color of any foreign object."
"And the door is airtight when it closes?" Batman asked.
"Well, yes."
"And he's still been able to bond with plant material and mutate."
"It's impossible. We sterilize everything before they go in to this cell. Besides, no one was going in when he busted out."
"If this room is airtight, how does he breathe?"
It was a question that caught the warden off guard but seems to have regained his composure. "There's still a ventilation system but I swear the air is also filtered for any foreign objects."
Batman touches the only air vent in the cell. His eyes take an intense look at it. "The reports said that the bioscan alarm still sounded. Something still came in."
They all proceeded to the ventilation's filtration system. He could hear murmurs from the guards about his pushing his way through. They definitely don't like him. Regardless, it doesn't bother him one bit. He hunches over the filtration unit and took out one of his dust sprays and shoot out a stream. The cloud is being pushed away by air coming out of a hole unseen. It confirms his suspicion. Somebody helped Woodrue out.
"Who's in charge of maintenance?" he asked.
"Thomson," replied the warden. He pointed to a small man with glasses and freckles.
Batman walks toward the little man. He gives that look in his eyes. The look that he doesn't have any patience left and he would like it over with and the answers dished out now. He gives his question, "Are you the only one solely responsible for this unit's maintenance?"
Thomson is easily intimidated, "They said no one would get hurt. I do this, he escapes, I get paid."
The warden is furious, "What? Are benefits here not up to your standard?"
Batman asks one more question, "How did you get paid?"
Cash. Old bills but still usable. It would be difficult to trace from whom it came from now. Besides, his visit was almost a complete waste. Almost. At least he's sure somebody has an interest in Woodrue. He leaves Stryker's Island with this information. Information obtained partially with blackmail. The warden. It wasn't something he normally does but he needed to get it with little hassle.
One thing is for certain, Maj. Pebblewyrm is the man in charge of the task force ordered to stop Woodrue. If there's one person who could answer all his questions, ask the man in charge. He quickly flies back to Kansas and sneak his way to the army camp.
He had previously observed earlier in the day, a truck that was parked separately from the rest of the munitions trucks. There were only three soldiers guarding that area. All three were easily taken care of with sleeping drug-tipped darts. The trailer's lock was also a simple matter. Batman enters the trailer. The sounds of chirping were all around him.
In the Army command center, Maj. Pebblewyrm is overseeing how far the mutant plants have grown. If one could see behind his thick moustache, there would be a big smirk of satisfaction on his face. An emotion of victory he quickly shares with his fellow officers. "Gentlemen, by 0700 hours tomorrow, we will show those metahuman show-offs who are the masters of the world."
A thud sound on the war table surprised everyone. A grasshopper was lying there. The lights went out, leaving only the emergency lights on. "And a plague of locusts descended upon them," a dark voice said. Smoke bombs blew up everywhere and crashing down on the war table was the Batman with a gas mask on.
"You certainly know how to make an entrance, don't you?" the major said.
"I know what you're planning to do," Batman tells him, "I won't let you get away with it."
"Phah! You can't stop us. My men will have the command center surrounded. You don't scare me. I spent my whole life staring down the likes of you," the major said with defiance.
"You don't know me that well."
"I'm calling your bluff. Besides, the operation will proceed no matter what happens here."
BAM! Something shook up the command center. Everyone becomes more worried. All except Pebblewyrm who is trying to look tough and maintain a poker face. That didn't last long as somebody tore through the wall. Everybody fire their weapons in the direction of the tearing but bullets bounce off him. Superman. "How…?" was all Pebblewyrm could utter.
Batman tells him off, "You didn't think I came all alone did you?"
J'onn phases through the wall and renders a couple of the soldiers unconscious. His eyes glow red in the darkness but one does not need to know how more than displeased he is. "How dare you toy with people's lives? All for the sake of approving your secret weapon."
"We know what those locusts are doing in that truck," interjected Batman, "They're genetically modified to be voracious eaters. So voracious they'll eat through Woodrue's forces in moments. I can see what a perfect weapon it is against America's enemies, just let them starve and surrender."
Pebblewyrm bit his lip. His motivations were all made clear. There was just more question. "How did you figure it all out?"
"Not much. Before I got here, I checked up on your background and found some shady dealings in your young career. It didn't take long before I found the connections in this current project of yours. Does a certain entomologist by the name of Woodward Blake ring a bell to you?"
By this point, Pebblewyrm has lost his cool. The lights may have went out but the computers run on a different power line. He presses the button that would release the swarm but the monitor indicates they are still intact in their cages. "Nnnoooo!!!"
"Give it up, Major," Superman tells him, "It's all over."
"Fools! I still have my back-up!" Pebblewyrm screamed. He takes out some kind of remote switch and he presses the button from there. Batman threw a batarang at his hand and he dropped the device but it was too late. Whatever he planned, it was already set in motion.
Superman stepped on the remote control. It instantly shattered to pieces. He grabbed Pebblewyrm by the collars. There is great fury in him. His hometown is in danger and this man sealed its fate. His eyes are turning red and glowed. "What have you done, you maniac?!"
"Put him down, Superman. We'll take it from here," someone with the voice of a statesman spoke. His uniform and badges indicate he's a general. He is accompanied by several MPs. "This man has acted without our knowledge or authority."
Superman is clearly annoyed, "Oh, how so convenient! I can't believe this! An operation this big and you didn't know?!"
J'onn places his hand over his friend's shoulder. "Let him go, Superman. We have a more urgent matter to attend to."
"You're right." Superman loosened his grip. The MPs took Pebblewyrm. The Major is also angry. Angry at Batman. He continued staring at the Dark Knight Detective as he is led out of the command center. Superman regains his composure and grumblingly said, "Alright, let's assess the damage."
Morning. It was terrible. Woodrue and his plant forces never stood a chance. The locust swarm consumed everything in its path, the land now a wasteland. Nothing was spared, not even Woodrue. All that remained of him is a skeleton hanging on the empty corn stalks, a horrid scarecrow.
With Woodrue out of the way and Pebblewyrm off their back, the Justice League regrouped. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are still being treated for spore poisoning. The Flash made sure there was no more Kryptonite hidden among the fields. It was what weakened Superman that enabled the spores to affect even him. Now that the League is in fighting form once again, the question is what do they do?
"Bathe them in insecticide?" the Flash asked.
J'onn tells him, "They have an immunity to the poison."
"We could swat them one by one," the Flash piped up.
"You're kidding!" Superman tells him, "Why don't we just firebomb them?" A sudden second thought rushed into his mind on what he just proposed. Too late, he's said it anyway. But somehow, any idea is better than nothing.
"That's not reassuring enough. We have to get them all in one place," said Hawkgirl, "Even then, some of them may still escape."
"Well? What choice do we have?" Even having said that, it was clear he himself is uncomfortable with such a plan. Kansas was his home. J'onn gives a nod of understanding to him.
"Didn't the general say they were supposed to die after twenty-four hours? We could let the rest just expire," Hawkgirl reasoned back.
Batman makes his announcement. His face grimmer than usual. "I did some checking with Dr. Blake's notes. All tests to control their breeding have failed. Those documents were supposed to have been destroyed. We can just be thankful he has a conscience."
"Oh, just wonderful," Superman said.
"Apparently, Pebblewyrm was running out of time for his little project," Batman continued, "He went for broke as we now see. But we still have a shot at this. According to Blake's notes, he has been experimenting with ultra-high frequency waves in attempts to control the locusts. I'd say it's worth a shot."
"How long do you think you could find the right frequency?"
"It… could take a while."
"How long?"
"A very, very long while."
"Oh."
A long pause passes before the Flash chimed in again, "Hey, I got an idea. Just give me a giant tuning fork and I'll vibrate it through the entire spectrum of frequencies."
J'onn tells him, "We need to keep the swarm all together for the firebomb. The tuner must keep running."
"Relax, will you? Let me worry about that, you take care of the bomb. I'll be fine. They don't call me the Fastest Man Alive!"
"Alright, it's settled then. I'll go tell the general about this," Superman closed the meeting.
The swarm has already consumed most of the crops of the Kansas farms. The Justice League is left with one still rich enough to set as bait. A metal pillar is set in the middle and the Flash is obviously excited to get on with the action. The Batman makes his final adjustments to make sure the frequency is loud enough for the swarm to hear.
"Come on, Bats! What's taking so long?" the Flash asked.
"You can relax," the Batman pauses a moment thinking of what he just said. Now there's a word that neither he nor his teammate is familiar with. How silly but too late of him to say something else. "I'm done."
"About time," the Flash smirks and cracks his knuckles.
"They're coming!" Superman shouted as he flew over Flash and Batman.
Batman is picked up by Superman. He looks back at their scarlet teammate and tells him, "When we give the word, the bombs are coming. And you'd better…"
"I know, I know," the Flash said while motioning his hands in a way that says not to worry. "Relax, will you." He pointed his finger at Batman. He gave out a smirk and winked at him.
Batman just grunted.
"What was that all about?" Superman asked.
"Nothing."
The Flash rubbed his hands together before he placed them around the pillar. At first, he slowly stroked it with his fingers. Then, he moved his hands up and down, faster and faster until they just become a red blur. The speakers set around the pillar start emitting a humming noise which proceeded to become a high pitch noise. The pitch becomes so high it just stops being heard.
He looked up at the swarm but it's still not coming. He started getting worried. He spoke into his comlink, "Umm, I don't think this is working. It looks more like I'm driving them away."
"Keep going. Try every range you can," Batman tells him.
Before long, the swarm is starting to be attracted to the pitch. The locusts start flying around the pillar and surrounding it. They fly and buzz about. Some of them are hitting the Flash. "Ow! I think I finally found it. Ow!"
Overhead, a couple of bomber planes fly at a low altitude. Hawkgirl is flying beside them. "You'd better start running out of there. They're about to start dropping the bombs."
"I can't stop now! If I do, the sound stops and they fly away before we incinerate them."
Hawkgirl grits her teeth and gives out that grunt she makes when she's frustrated. She shouts to him, "Get out of there!" The bombers open their holding bays and the bombs start dropping. "Hey! They're coming at you!"
The bombs were moments from ground zero when the Flash stops what he's doing and sprints away. The explosions start. It consumes everything in its path. The swarm and the wheat crops are incinerated by an ever expanding wall of fire. He looks back for a second just to see how near the wall is coming to him. It wasn't far. He's outrun things faster than it but the corn stalks were getting in his way.
The bombers finish their run and flew away heading back to base. The farmland is now a sea of fire. Hawkgirl is irritated by the heat, smoke and smell. She covers her nose to avoid breathing the fumes. There is no sign of the Flash, not even a peep of sarcastic remark. She panics. "Flash! Flash!"
A crackle from the comlink gives out a familiar sounding voice, "Ah, I knew I'd get you to say my name."
"Grr, you had me worried!"
"Aha! Another admittance!"
"Keep that up and you'll wish you would rather be burned alive!"
Superman looks sadly at the burning farmland. As he scanned the area for any escaping locust, he makes this remark, "What a waste. I'm sure we'll recover in time but still…"
"I know," Batman said rather tightlipped.
"I just want to thank you. If you didn't find about Pebblewyrm's plans…"
"You don't have to. We do what we always do. We do what we have to do. That's it."
Superman nods in agreement and they watched the fires continue to blaze about. Both of them are hoping that the nightmare is really over.
***
"How much we wanted to believe that, but the truth is there were a few infestation outbreaks the next few years," Bruce finishes his story. "My people have traced those swarms to the first outbreak. Of course, the military denied any connection."
"And now you think Pebblewyrm is here to test out his pet project? Here in my country?" Paez asked him.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he ever tried again. We did bump into each other a few times after that incident."
"And…?"
Bruce smirked, "And they'll be stories for another time."
There was one question bugging Yolanda. "Okay, so now that we know the general is hiding something, what do we do now? I mean, we can't just go in and point a finger at him"
Yes, what to do?
***
"Why can't we take his mask off and find out who he is?" Terry is still groggy but that voice definitely sounded like Madrigal.
"I said no. Let him keep it to his grave." Another familiar voice. This time it was Lt. Lukic's. "Look, he's coming round."
His head still hurts but Terry finally managed to regain his senses. And regain them he did. His hands are tied to his back and his feet are bound, too. He's also completely surrounded by the US Special Team. He takes a keen-eyed look at everyone and said, "So which of you clowns thought he was a boy scout?" He surprised everyone he was able to free himself so quickly. He's surprised himself too.
Caulfield looked very annoyed and aims his gun at him. Batman just looked on defiantly. Caulfield was about to pull the trigger when a hand blocked his sight. Lukic.
"Don't even think about it."
"But…"
"You pull that trigger and I will shoot you myself."
Batman is finally back on his feet. "So, what's this? There some rank pulling while I took a nap?"
Lukic faced him. "Look, we have the same objective here. I figure that we could work together. What do you say?" His hand extended for a shake.
"Feels like I'm going to shake hands with the devil."
"Come on. We have the hardware to do the job; you have knowledge of the enemy. We get this mission over with we can go back to hating each other."
The truth was there is very little insight he has on Poison Ivy but he catches Lukic's drift. It was something the other soldiers didn't get quickly. They continue to fight, they get the attention of the brainwashed Brazilians again. Or maybe Lukic is smarter than he thought. Still, does he have any choice?