Satellite imaging appeared on the large computer screen. On the monitor was a bird's eye view of the Thanagarian construction site, the outer frame clearly being completed. There was still construction equipment and supplies surrounding the so-called Defense Shield Generator, along with a heavy presence of Thanagarian spaceships surrounding it.

Batman studied the images. He had just volunteered to go into perhaps one of the most heavily guarded places in the world to extract a group of career criminals—not exactly a brilliant idea on his part. He already knew what the captured team's leader wanted and there was no reason why Waller wouldn't have activated her kill switch on the team moments after he left her.

If everyone was dead in there when he arrived…

Batman refused to think of what repercussions he would administer. It only took time away from the larger problem of getting in and getting out of the alien construction site and for the lives of the men there—and his own—spending time plotting something that may not have happened yet was a no-go.

This wasn't going to be easy. At the very least, he needed to get planet-side and figure out where Waller's task force was being kept. It was something he had done many times, just never against an alien force. Their defensive protocols would be different from Earth's, that much he was certain.

So how to go about this…

"Bats! You're here!" Before he knew it, Flash was at his side, seemingly appearing there out of thin air. "Everyone was beginning to wonder where you went off to after that Metropolis mess."

"There's been a development," Batman said, choosing not to return the speedster's greeting. "It seems Harkness has gotten in over his head."

"Huh? What happened?" the red-clad man questioned.

"It seems that black-op team you heard about is very much real and run by the U.S. government," the Dark Knight explained. "Harkness and the team were keeping tabs on the Thanagarian's construction and were captured within the last couple of hours."

"Seriously?" Flash glanced up at the screen, staring at the images of Gobi. "Why were they even out there?"

"Clearly, not every government is satisfied with the presence of the Thanagarians and their construction," Batman said. "No doubt there's plenty of spies out there trying to figure out what is going into this Defense Shield Generator. Harkness actually managed to get his hands on some intel, which is what you saw me trying to translate earlier."

"Yeah, I remember those. What did they come back with?"

"As far as I can tell, whatever is being built in Gobi is not some shield generator. It's something else."

"Like what? What could they possibly be building?"

That was the $64,000 question. Unfortunately, he did have that answer. "Regardless, Harkless' team was trying to find that out and they fell right into a trap. As of now, they're captives of the Thanagarians and if they can't be recovered, they're as good as dead."

"Alright, I can keep up with a lot of stuff, but you're going to have to explain this dead stuff to me."

Batman spared a glance at the red-clad man. "The person running Harkless' team has a kill switch option. I'm not certain how it works, but had I not been there, the entire team would be dead right now. I managed to convince them to let me extract the team out, but it's a ticking clock right now."

"I think you mean us, Bats."

The dark-clad man raised an eyebrow, which was enough for Flash to continue, "Boomerang is one of my rogues, so I can't let the guy get killed because he fell in with the wrong people. I'm going with you whether you want me to, or not."

Well, that was something. That opened quite a few possibilities for Batman now. At that moment, however, a new window suddenly appeared on the screen. Within the window was a list, records from the Watchtower logs.

"What's this now?" Flash asked.

"Before I returned here, it was brought to my attention that the World Engine wasn't detected until after it had breached the atmosphere. Something that large went unnoticed by planet-side radar, so I was running a scan on the Watchtower logs to see if it detected it."

"And according to this, it wasn't." Flash frowned. "That thing is gigantic. How does something that big go by unnoticed?"

That was an excellent question. "Some sort of advanced stealth technology," Batman murmured as he continued reading the records. In fact, there wasn't even an entry about the Tamaranean fleet save for the one ship that arrived at the Watchtower. During the battle over the World Engine, there was a defensive net formed with them, so that was an awful lot of ships that had gone undetected.

"When the Tamaraneans sent that delegate to the Watchtower, did we detect their ship first?" he asked Flash.

"I don't think so," the speedster replied. "Actually, I think we received a call from those Titan kids, then that ship arrived."

Suddenly, Flash seemed to look a little green before he shuddered. "Something wrong?" Batman inquired.

"Just a…bad memory. I really don't want to talk about it."

Alright, he would just leave that well enough alone. There were more important things afoot than whatever was bothering Flash. He had even more questions now, like how the Titans had found out about the Tamaraneans and the World Engine first. As Flash had said, they contacted the League about the Tamaraneans' approach when the Watchtower hadn't even detected them. Then they informed him of the World Engine and…

Batman straightened up in his seat. His mind was going back to when he had received the transmission from Red Robin. He recalled Red Robin telling him about the World Engine, then his response. Red Robin then began to elaborate on the situation where he said…

…where he said Cyborg had detected it.

Out of every radar instrument on and around Earth, Cyborg had been the only one to detect what the Tamaraneans had been setting up. This bore a lot of consideration, not to mention a conversation with the teen in the very near future. He needed more answers and hopefully the teenage cyborg could give him them.

In the meantime…

"This can wait," he said after several moments. "Our first priority is seeing to Harkless' task force. We can look into this later."

"Roger that. We gonna tell the others about this?"

That was a good question, but considering what the objective was, a small team was preferable to a large one, especially when confronting an alien force about a secret task force. Flash had already proven himself with the infiltration of the Legion of Doom, so between the two of them, they should be able to get in and out without anyone being the wiser until it was too late.

That was assuming everything went to plan, of course.

J'onn did not require as much sleep as many of the humans he had observed. The occasional nap allowed him to go days without entering a true REM cycle. So it was usually alarming when he found himself waking up.

His body felt stiff, another indication that something was not right. With a groan, he began to open his eyes. He found himself slumped onto a steering wheel, his chest actually molding around it. A look up showed dirt piled up on a window. There was a seat next to him, a dark-skinned man restrained to it by a safety harness. He appeared unconscious.

J'onn closed his eyes. This was not a good scenario to wake up to. He thought back to his late memory to see if he couldn't make sense of what was going on.

He recalled being on a deep space mission, one to stop the resurgent Despero. He and his team had been successful and returned with the despot in tow. Upon arriving in Earth's upper atmosphere…an attack. There was an ambush that prevented them from reaching the Watchtower. Communications were down, or jammed. He had made the decision to breach the atmosphere.

They had passed through. Then they were surrounded by the enemy fighter ships. The enemy…no, the Tamaraneans. They had been the attackers. They had shot down the Javelin 7. Unable to maneuver the ship, they had crash landed. J'onn could recall trying to make the crash as least destructive as he could, but it was clear he hadn't completely succeeded. The dirt on the windshield indicated the nose of the spacecraft was buried into the ground.

Undoing his safety harness, J'onn pushed himself off of the steering wheel, his chest beginning to fill in the indention it had left in his body. There was a downward slope to the Javelin 7, making it difficult to not fall towards the nose of the ship.

As he stood up, one hand grabbing onto his seat for balance, the Martian removed himself from the pilot seat and turned to face the rest of the ship. Black Lightning was unconscious in the co-pilot seat. He soon found Vixen and Kilowog also slumped in their seats, unconscious as well.

Taking a step forward, there was a flash of color to his right. Turning his head, he saw Hawkgirl lying on the floor, she too unconscious. The last he recalled, she had been standing behind him and Black Lightning as they evaded the Tamaranean blasters. She must have dove into this seat row to brace for the crash.

Looking back up, he then saw Diana, stretched out on the aisle, her feet towards him, her head and arms towards—

Oh no.

The stasis field! It was off! And Despero was missing! Quickly, J'onn began stomping his way up the ship, grabbing onto the shoulder of the seats to help pull him forward. He had reached Diana's feet when he recalled he could have flown.

As it turned out, his stomping caused Diana to stir, the Amazon groaning much like he had previously. Shifting, she drew her arms in so that she could place her palms on the floor to help push herself up. Her head tilted up as she looked forward. "What happened?" she moaned.

J'onn floated into the air, passing over the dark-haired woman. He landed next to the stasis pad, examining it for damage. "Great Hera," he heard Diana swear when she noticed the deactivated stasis field.

"No damage," the Martian murmured to himself. Which meant that someone had turned it off. Tilting his head up, his eyes began to glow as he reached out with his mind. It would not be too difficult to locate Despero as he was a powerful telepath. In a sea of billions of minds, his would stick out as—

There! As he expected, he located Despero's mind, though it was oddly calm. The fact that he had located the tyrant so quickly meant that he was conscious. There were other minds surrounding his, meaning he was with others. They did not feel like Kalanorian minds, so…

They had been attacked by Tamaraneans. Reaching into one of the minds, he felt their thoughts. He sensed accomplishment, excitement, and an urge to return home. And home was where the leader was.

New Tamaran. J'onn's face hardened as his eyes dimmed. The Tamaraneans had Despero; why they wanted him, he could not tell. Their leader, the calculating Blackfire, was clearly the mastermind behind this. While he could seek out her mind for answers, it hardly mattered. He knew where Despero was being taken, so retrieving him was the primary objective.

"J'onn!" he heard Diana say, her tone full of alarm. "Despero is missing! We must find him before he runs amok on Earth."

"I know exactly where he is heading," J'onn informed her. "We need to wake up the others and get into contact with the League. If we act now, we can stop whatever is going on here."

Diana nodded before she pushed herself the rest of the way up. Meanwhile, J'onn couldn't help his mind returning to his earlier thoughts. He did not know why the Tamaraneans ambushed them as they had and why they wanted Despero. The reason escaped him at the moment.

Though he wanted to ignore it, he knew it was at the heart of this matter. Once the League was mobilized, they would be finding out why.

It was home sweet home, or at least it was for most of them. Red Robin knew he was going to have to check back in with his parents, but first he figured he might as well crash at the Tower for the night. He could go back home in the morning.

But man, he was tired. That might have also been influenced by the disappointment he felt. Today just had not gone their way. Of course they talked with one another about the robots they had faced. Turns out there was six of them, and each had different powers. It didn't take a genius to figure out the powers had been stolen from the League and themselves.

They were all exhausted from fighting, and then it felt like, he didn't know, like he had somehow let them all down. Batman telling them to head back and stop with the LexCorp stakeout stung a bit. They had been doing so well.

Kid Flash had been doing his best to cheer them all up. "Come on, guys, we did great! I mean, we were taking on Lex Luthor! Like, he's one of biggest names around! And that's saying something since he comes up quite a bit in the twenty-fifth century and all. We took on one of the biggest bads there is and we're still here!"

"Bart. Can you shut up for more than a minute?" Raven was not being receptive about it. The masked teen also didn't like some of the looks she was throwing his way. The little talk they had some time ago came back with a vengeance.

What? This was his fault somehow? How had any of them messed this up? How did Luthor figure out they were watching him? Where had the mess up happened anyway?

"Don't be so hard," Cyborg said, coming to the speedster's defense. "We all had a tough day."

"And at least we're back home," Beast Boy added, his voice giving away his exhaustion. The lights of the rec room lit up, and the couch seemed to sing a siren song for everyone to embrace its cushions.

"Let's try to keep the chatter to a minimum," Wonder Girl spoke up as she stalked her way to the fridge. Someone was probably going to answer their thirst. "I don't know about anybody else, but I'm tired."

"You're all being spoilsports," Kid Flash pouted, crossing his arms as he trudged his way to the couch, not running for once. Was that a cause for concern because it felt like it.

The resident shapeshifter gave a big yawn, nearly stumbling, but he somehow managed to stay on his feet. "No more long days…or nights. I don't know how much longer I could take sticking around Cue Ball back there. Most of the stuff he did was boring CEO stuff."

That was a nice reminder. They had all been staying up late into the night, having to take shifts with sporadic sleep. They were still teenagers and all, and the need for zzz's was real. Hearing some clinking from the kitchenette, Red Robin had to make a correction as a lot more than just whatever they had to drink was being taken out. Annnnd he was starting to feel the hunger pangs.

Right then. "I think we all need to take the day off tomorrow. Rest up, food, sleep, and anything else, just relax. I don't think we're going to be in any shape to do anything useful."

"Preach it!" Terra called out, a fist held up in the air until her body collapsed back into the U-shaped couch.

He caught the side eye from Raven, but he was not going to make an issue of it. Not now. Right now, the team needed to take care of itself; Jump could handle one more night under the protection of the JCPD.

Ignoring the cloak-wearing girl, he made his way over to the couch, found a spot, then plopped right down on it. Days upon days of exhaustion finally caught up and his body became so loose. Oh wow, he was more tired than he thought, and these cushions were so very soft. Oh yeah, he was definitely going to crash here tonight.

In fact, he might as well crash in this spot right here…

"What the—?"

That wasn't Cyborg. That wasn't Cyborg speaking out of nowhere and very loudly. That wasn't Cyborg clopping over to the windows…it was. It was Cyborg. What now?

Starfire had placed herself by the windows, staring out into the dark night sky. The ocean was black from the lack of light, so she stood out in contrast. Now, Cyborg was coming up to her side, and the Tamaranean was back to being alert.

"What's got your metal butt in a twist?" Wonder Girl called out from the kitchenette.

Practically twisting his neck, Red Robin looked over the back of the couch, watching not only his teammates, but the view from the windows. He had turned around just in time to see fast moving pinpricks of light that really stood out from the backdrop of the ocean. There was no way those were taillights, or headlights, since the view from this room did not overlook the nearby bridge.

"Those were some of those Tamaranean ships," Cyborg reported loudly, not taking his eyes away from the windows.

"And why are they flying by our windows?" Wonder Girl demanded, her voice covering up the clinking of what might be a butter knife.

"They are flying in the direction of New Tamaran," Starfire said, her voice absent of usual kindness.

"So what are they flying away from?" Raven added her two cents.

Damn it. Damn it all to hell.

Stifling a groan, Red Robin pushed him off the too-comfortable couch, his body tensing as it was already bracing itself for a fight. "We better find out. Just because we took away her best weapon doesn't mean Blackfire isn't a threat."

Their time away in Metropolis meant they had been turning a blind eye to the enemy in their backyard. That there were so many people keeping an eye on the brand-new island had lulled him into a sense of complacency. He had stupidly assumed setting up a Tamaranena settlement would have occupied Tamaran's Grand Ruler.

He had been wrong. Blackfire had plenty of tricks still up her selves. With all the attention on New Tamaran, she had still somehow gotten some of her ships away from the island. Once again, Cyborg was sharp as usual.

"Aw man, couldn't they wait, like, a week?" Beast Boy groaned, giving voice to the masked teen's own feelings.

"Life of a Titan, BB," Kid Flash quipped as the speedster led the charge out.

"This is very risky."

Blackfire gave a sharp nod of her head. It was the only agreement she would give. Right now, she needed to project strength, and now was not a time to undermine it. Ever-loyal Galfore was at her side, doing the worrying for her, the sweet k'norfka.

"If we are to gain any advantage, we cannot take half-measures," is what she said, loudly too. Others needed to hear and bolster their own strength from it. "The loss of the World Engine means we are all on borrowed time. If the humans could get over themselves and unite, the fight that would ensue may very well drive us out."

Too many of those weak, yet cold-adapted lifeforms dominated this planet. Their differences and the stubborn refusal to forsake them were the only reason they still held New Tamaran. A bargaining chip was what they needed.

It had been simple to have one of Tamaran's espionage agents infiltrate that satellite and then sneak one of the Psion-designed spy devices. They had been able to track where that toy ship was; where it stopped would at the very least tell them where the Kalanorian fleet was. That the signal indicated that the ship was returning had been surprising.

Listening in had provided this very opportunity. The capture of the Destroyer himself—not too shabby. It was to be commended—and taken advantage of.

Any minute now, her raiders would return with their bargaining chip, and then all she had to do was wait for Earth's retaliatory forces to arrive. Then the negotiations could truly begin. Earth would want Despero, the Green Lanterns would want Despero, and of course the Thanagarians would want Despero. But she would be the one who had him, and to the best deal she could strike would the lucky winner be who got their hands on the Kalanorian.

For a moment, she reflected on the other agent she had sent out, the one that had gone behind Thanagarian lines to scope out that defense system. With the mind of the resident Psion identifying what they were building, she could only shake her head. Stupid, gullible humans.

Though, if her man was captured, he had strict instructions to play mind games with the Thanagarian command. If nothing else, it would occupy those winged weaklings with pure paranoia.

In the sky, where the stars were barely legible thanks to all the light pollution from the nearby human settlement, the blinking hailing lights of her spacecraft caught her eye. They were here, back from a job well done. With a single gesture, her troops held up their plasma rifles, getting ready to greet their guest. Only the best for Despero.

The wind picked up as the spacecraft lowered themselves to the virgin ground, tiny bits of particles dislodged and pushed away. Loose fabric whipped about, including her cape. Engines hummed at a decibel that was barely detectable as landing gear extended from the underbelly. Touchdown could not be heard, the marvels of Psion engineering plain for all to see.

The hissing of depressurization followed as the spacecraft powered down. From the side, a hatched opened, and the first of the crew stepped out. None fell, proud Tamaraneans hovering in the air as they turned and kept vigil over those still inside, plasma rifles aimed and ready to be fired.

Blackfire felt it, the giddiness. It was one thing to be told of success, but another to see its fruits. There he stood at the threshold, standing taller than any of her people, his skin a vibrant pink and thus giving him away. An impassive face stared straight ahead, not deigning to look around or at those who aimed their deadly firepower at him. To think, this was him, the Destroyer, Despero in the flesh.

And at her mercy.

Two guards took the Kalanorian from either side, grabbing onto his large arms, and lifting him up between themselves. descending down to the ground below. The barrels of multiple plasma rifles followed the large, pink form, and once Despero stood on New Tamaranean soil, he was prodded to move forward.

It was barely there, a twitch in the brow, but it was so small and easy to miss. Still, the leader of Kalanor obeyed the prods for what they were and allowed himself to be marched toward the Grand Ruler. Behind her, she could sense Galfore readying himself, cudgel in hand. Everyone here was ready for a fight, not trusting their guest.

With confidence, Blackfire took step forward, followed by another as she made her way to meet her fellow ruler halfway. A respectable distance was allowed when both of them came to a stop, Blackfire by choice and Despero at the behest of his Tamaranean entourage.

If there was a miscalculation, it was that Blackfire underestimated how tall her adversary was. She had to tilt her head back, an annoyance to be sure. Two dead eyes stared right back at her, the fabled third shut.

"And here I was hoping to go to you. Now, you've come to me," Blackfire greeted.

Nothing, no response or retort. How boring. It almost made the smirk the Tamaranean Grand Ruler wore feel stretched out and thin.

"There are a lot of people here who would like nothing more than to do unspeakable things to you," the black-haired Tamaranean continued. "There are no friends here. No allies. No armies. Just you and us. So consider yourself lucky that you are more valuable alive than dead.

"Oh, I myself would love nothing more than to crack your skull open and disembowel you for what you did to our world, our home. I'm sorely tempted to keep a blind eye while you have a less than pleasant time here, but I don't think we have the time for that kind of fun." Her eyes lowered to the cuffs that covered the lower arms. Peculiar. She didn't recognize the design. Certainly not Kalanorian to be sure. "Embrace your fortune then. We'll be having more visitors, and you will be the guest of honor. We'll try to make you presentable."

There was finally a reaction from Despero, but it was not the one she had been hoping for. It was snort, and there was only one way to interpret it. The dead look, the utter calm, and now this snort. The Kalarnorian bastard was not taking any of this seriously.

Come now, where was the fire? The fury? The rage? Despero had a reputation, and by all accounts he was not one to allow himself to be humbled or held against his will. The indignity itself would be too much for one for whom power was synonymous. Yet there he stood without even a grimace.

It really was taking a lot of the fun out of this.

Having enough of this one-sided back and forth, The Grand Ruler made a gesture. "Show him to his lodgings, as sparse as they are. I want armed guards at all times; no one take their eyes off of him, and whatever you do, don't let him into your heads. You've all heard the stories. Don't underestimate him."

Despero was nudged and then the Kalanorian allowed himself to be led away. The lack of a fight was really getting on Blackfire's nerves, and had she not been watching carefully, she would have missed it. X'hal, she would have missed it even if watching carefully, but that was not the case.

It could have been a trick of her eyes, but she could have sworn that the Kalanorian menace had…rolled his eyes.

Blinking hers, she wondered if she had even seen it. No, no she was just seeing things. The whole lack of anything from the Destroyer was making her mind create that which wasn't there. There were more important things now, and that was to await their next guests.

They were coming, humans, Green Lanterns, Thanagarians, and who knew what else. Of course they were. She held the advantage once more, and this time it would not slip through her fingers.