YAMI MARIK: Now, prepare to die! (whips out the Millennium Rod) Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I'll control you now!
NARRATOR: Oh, no, you don't! I'm the only dragon-master around here!
YAMI MARIK: Stuff it, bird-brain. (reveals the Millennium Key) Now, I'll alter your personality so you'll serve me! (activates both the Rod and the Key; the narrator and Blue-Eyes immediately shift over to his side)
FLASH: Crap! We've lost our edge!
YAMI MARIK: (using the power of the Millennium Eye) Oh, Flash, I see that you're a regular contender for Master Roshi's title of "most lecherous man alive" and you're thinking that you want to screw Millia right now!
MILLIA: WHAT?! :( (death look of doom)
FLASH: RUN AWAY!!! (he speeds off as Millia chases after him)
NEOMAGE: This is getting to be too much! GET HIM!
(What's left of neomage's squad dashes at Yami Marik; he merely chuckles to himself)
CHAPTER 08
TIME: 10:42 a.m.
PLACE: Keystone City Hospital
"No...please, don't!" J'onn begged.
Volcana chuckled as she came closer to his bedside, the flame in her hand getting bigger with each step she took. "You really think I'm going to back down?" she hissed. "Not likely." With that she raised her hands, the flame getting even bigger and hotter as she prepared to strike.
Suddenly an arm locked around her throat, cutting off her breath. "What—" was all she could manage as someone flung her to the other side of the room, slamming into the wall.
J'onn was dumbfounded. "Who...who are you?" he managed to let out.
The newcomer was dressed completely in black, including a dark mask that covered his/her face, not even showing his/her eyes. As Volcana got back up, stunned, the stranger jumped forward and kicked her in the face, knocking her into the wall again. Totally disoriented, Volcana tumbled to the floor, knocking over a side-table and a lamp in the process.
Just then Lantern came back. "Boy that's a relief," he sighed. Suddenly he saw what was going on. "Hey! What's this now?" he shouted.
Turning, the masked person saw Lantern and immediately bolted for the window, jumping out. Rushing to the window, Lantern watched as the person fell two stories to the ground. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. But apparently the person had planned this fall, for as his/her body plummeted into the tree directly below the window, he/she reached out and gripped one of the branches, swung around it once, then released it and fell feet-first to the grass. He/she then jumped up and ran off into the woods beyond.
Lantern then became aware of Volcana, still stunned on the floor. "Well, well, what do we have here?" he remarked.
Suddenly snapping back to her senses, Volcana sent a blast of fire straight into Lantern's gut, knocking him back. Fortunately, Lantern was wearing his ring, so he formed a shield just in time as the fireball hit him, so that it scorched him only a little. Nonetheless, that instant was enough for Volcana to dive through the window, although she didn't grab the tree branch as the masked stranger had – instead, she blasted a huge wave of fire at the ground, slowing her descent enough to allow her to land without injury. She then ran for the woods and disappeared.
Just then Wonder Woman burst in. "What happened?" she demanded. "I heard the fighting, so I...Dear Lord, G.L.! Are you all right?"
"I will be," Lantern assured her. "Just a little burn, that's all; nothing serious."
"It was Volcana," J'onn explained, having recovered from the shock somewhat. "She came in here while you two were gone and tried to kill me – but then this masked person came in and stopped her."
"A masked person?" Wonder Woman asked. "Anyone we know?"
"He – or she – didn't stick around long enough for us to find out," Lantern admitted. "Unfortunately, Volcana escaped, too, just a while ago."
"This is bad," Wonder Woman shook her head. "J'onn, are you OK?"
"Thankfully, yes," J'onn replied. "Volcana never did get to do what she came here to do."
"But who was that masked person?" Lantern wondered aloud.
"Could it have been the same person with wings?" Wonder Woman suggested.
"No," said J'onn. "This person didn't have wings."
Lantern shook his head. "This gets stranger and stranger by the minute," he remarked. "As well as more dangerous."
TIME: 10:44 a.m.
PLACE: Suicide Slum, Metropolis
A powerful blow sent Zoom flying out the window of the building, straight across the street into the next building, an old warehouse. Superman flew out of the first hole and stopped. "What else have you got?" he demanded.
For answer, a hail of rocks suddenly flew out of the second hole. Zoom was picking up stones, bricks, dried cement pieces, anything he could grab, and throwing them at Superman at light-speed. Superman crossed his arms in front of his face and winced as the numerous projectiles stung his body. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the hail stopped – apparently Zoom had run out of projectiles to throw.
"Come out of there...or I'm coming in after you," Superman threatened.
Suddenly, from behind him, Superman could hear Jimmy screaming, "Big guy, look out behind you!" But he was too late to do anything as suddenly something hit him in the back with great force. He screamed out in agony as his brain realized what it was – a large beam laced with Kryptonite energy!
Groaning, Superman fell to the street below, making a large impact in the pavement as he landed. Above, the Ultra-Humanite stood at the window, holding a giant ray gun in one hand and a struggling Jimmy Olsen in the other. "A gallant attempt, young friend, but an instant too late, I'm afraid," he remarked.
Zoom emerged from the other building. "About time you got here, big brain," he snorted.
"Is that sarcasm I hear from you?" Humanite shook his head. "For now, I'll ignore it. Right now, let's just be glad that my Krypto-blaster has done its work."
"What a name for such a powerful weapon," said Zoom. "Can we kill them now?"
Humanite looked down at Superman, then at Jimmy, and shrugged. "Why not? We have no use for either of them being around, anyway."
Suddenly something flew from the sky and hit Humanite on the hand, forcing him to drop the Krypto-blaster. Taking his chance, Jimmy twisted himself out of the gorilla's grasp and escaped.
"What in the – who's there?!" Humanite yelled, furious.
"That, I believe, would be me," Batman's voice came through. Looking up, Humanite was just in time to see the Dark Knight swooping down on his grappling line to kick him in the face, knocking him back. Seeing this, Zoom's eyes narrowed.
"Yo, flying rat!" he cried. "I think we have a score to settle, don't you?"
Batman was undaunted. "I'm not going to waste my time talking to a slouch-brain," he replied.
Zoom was taken aback. Then, furious, he speeded toward the other building, running up the wall toward Batman. The other man, however, saw him coming and took a small object from his utility belt, throwing it at the Reverse-Flash. To Zoom's horror, the object opened out into a net, enclosing him and causing him to lose his footing, falling all the way back to the ground.
Batman swooped down and ran over to Superman's still body, where Jimmy was already kneeling. "Please help him," Jimmy pleaded. "He's hurt bad!"
Batman touched a button on one of his gauntlets, and immediately the Batplane landed close by. "Help me get him in," Batman ordered, taking Superman's shoulders. In turn, Jimmy grabbed the Man of Steel's legs, and together they hoisted him into the Batplane.
TIME: 11:00 a.m.
PLACE: A castle outside Metropolis
"What?!" Savage exploded. "You didn't kill the Martian?!"
"It wasn't my fault – honest!" Volcana protested. "Some guy in a mask grabbed me from behind and knocked me out! What was I supposed to do?"
"All right. All right." Savage took a deep breath and calmed down. "Okay, I'm sorry. Was it somebody you could recognize in any way?"
"No," Volcana sighed. "I'm not even sure if it was a man or a woman – the person was wearing black from head to toe."
Now Sinestro came into the room. "Savage, I don't like this," he said. "Somehow the Justice League keeps getting wind of what we're planning – almost as if they know what we're going to do before we do it." His eyes narrowed. "I'm starting to think there's a traitor in our ranks."
Savage glared at him. "Have you considered, Sinestro, that there IS a spy – only, it may not be inside our group?"
"What do you mean?" Sinestro asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Do you know the rules of shadow espionage?" Savage asked. "If you want to scout information from an enemy but you don't want to risk capture at the same time, use bugs. The metal ones. They've become quite convenient in this modern day and age; the authorities use them every time they want a criminal to give himself away by his words."
"Are you saying this whole place may have been wired?" Volcana asked in alarm.
"Very likely," Savage nodded his head. "When I picked this castle as my base of operations, I wired the entire place with security cameras. I'm guessing that our unwelcome guest planted the bug sometime in between then and the time I assembled all of you, which was when I had the cameras turned on for the first time."
Sinestro's eyes widened in a sudden realization. "Then what are we still talking for? If what you're saying is true, then whoever's got us bugged might be listening to everything we're saying at this very moment!"
"A bug is only one possibility," Savage reasoned. "There is something else: When I installed the cameras, there was one place I didn't wire – the roof right above us. Chances are, somebody could easily listen in to our conversations without fear of detection."
"But there are cameras everywhere else," Sinestro protested.
"That's right," Volcana agreed. "The only way somebody could escape from there without being caught by any of the cameras...is if they could fly..."
The three of them pondered this for a moment. "The person who attacked us in Keystone City could fly, right? And that person had wings!" Sinestro voiced their thought.
"Yeah – but the person who attacked me in the hospital DIDN'T have any wings," Volcana said. "And he – or she – couldn't fly!"
Savage smiled. "Then it would seem that we're dealing with more than one person," he reasoned. "I'm starting to have my own suspicions about the person with wings, but I'd like to hold onto them for a while until I have more proof. For the time being, let's act with a little caution."
"What do you suggest?" Volcana asked.
Savage put a finger to his lips. He whispered his plan into Sinestro's ear, then Volcana's. When they heard it, both of them nodded with understanding, then left. Savage smiled and then said aloud, "If you can hear this, invisible friend, then know that very soon, you will be caught. Oh, yes, you will..."
TIME: 11:17 a.m.
PLACE: The outskirts of Central City
"So that's what happened, basically," Wonder Woman said to Flash.
"No kidding...are they all right?" Flash asked.
"Yes. J'onn and G.L. are none the worse for the experience; in fact, they should be leaving the hospital in another hour. But that's not all – a few minutes ago I got a call from Batman, saying that Zoom and the Ultra-Humanite ambushed Superman in Metropolis. Of course, Superman's all right, but this is starting to become even more suspicious by the moment."
"What is?" asked Flash.
"Once again, our mystery caller contacted one of us – this time Batman – and told him of what the Secret Society was planning, and once again the information was right." Wonder Woman shook her head. "I'm beginning to believe that there may be a traitor in the Society. Call it intuition. Of course, I could be wrong..."
"Or maybe not," Flash shrugged. "But as Superman says, we can't assume anything too early. We just have to keep absorbing the information as it comes along."
Wonder Woman then noticed something sticking out of Flash's pocket. "What's that?"
"Oh, this..." Sheepishly Flash pulled it out and showed it to her. It was a poster advertising a new exhibit at the Midway City Museum, inviting one and all to come and view it. "It's for today only," Flash explained. "I want to see that exhibit while there's still time."
Wonder Woman looked at the poster. "Not to kill your enthusiasm, but...in light of what's been happening recently, are you certain it's an appropriate time?"
"Well...in all honesty, there's another reason I'm going there," said Flash. "There's something about the reports of winged people that's been nagging at me for a while now."
"What's that?" asked Wonder Woman.
"Well...the first couple of reports started in Midway City, and from there they spread to the other cities," Flash explained. "I want to go investigate where they all started. Maybe we can pick up a few clues there."
"Well, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," said Wonder Woman. "Come to think of it, Batman was telling me that he wanted to go investigate these sightings, but then the Secret Society came along and put a damper on his plans. I think you should call him and ask if it's OK for you to go ahead."
"All right." Flash dialed in the frequency for Batman's communicator. "Yo, Bats, it's Flash."
"What is it?"
"I'm thinking of going to Midway City. I want to investigate the first few sightings of winged people that started there. Don't worry – if you guys need me, I'll be back in a hurry."
"Very well," the Dark Knight replied. "Just make sure to take someone with you, in case the Secret Society decides to attack."
"Gotcha." Flash switched off his receiver, then turned to Wonder Woman. "You up for a little museum viewing?"
She smiled. "Of course."
(neomage and co. are still battling Yami Marik)
DARKSEID: WAAAAAHHH!!! He's too powerful!
YAMI MARIK: (brandishing the Millennium Scales) Hey, Darkseid, have you ever killed anybody?
DARKSEID: Uh...no...
YAMI MARIK: Liar! Be consumed by your sin!
DARKSEID: OO;;;
(A dark and mysterious monster emerges from the earth and swallows Darkseid in one gulp)
MIRAI TRUNKS: NO! (he goes to chop the monster, but it sinks back into the ground before he can reach it)
(The Millennium Necklace around Yami Marik's neck begins to shine)
YAMI MARIK: Ah, I predict that neomage will finish his fanfic very soon...
NEOMAGE: Oh, thanks...HEY! Don't change the subject here!
(Yami Marik brandishes the Millennium Ring)
YAMI MARIK: Now, Yusuke Urameshi, Mirai Trunks and Gene Starwind – be sealed into those rocks over there! (immediately the three of them are trapped in the indicated rocks)
YUSUKE, GENE & MIRAI TRUNKS: Let us out of here!!!
NEOMAGE: Oo;; Uh-oh...now I'm the only one left...
YAMI MARIK: Now what're you gonna do? I have your Blue-Eyes White Dragon and your narrator, and the rest of your team's been dispelled.
NEOMAGE: Only one thing left to do...I challenge you to a Shadow Game!
YAMI MARIK: (laughing) How grand! Very well, then! (he reveals the Millennium Puzzle) With this, I can't lose! Let us duel, then!
NEOMAGE: :( (death look of doom) Let's go, then! Prepare your cards!