(Kaiba is cross-examining Obelisk the Tormentor)

KAIBA: Tell me, Obelisk – how would you describe neomage?

OBELISK: He loves to send others to do his own dirty work for him.

KAIBA: And how do you know this?

OBELISK: Well, he once sent me, Slifer and Ra to destroy Barney, but we failed.

KAIBA: That was the same day he called up my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to kill Barney, wasn't it?

OBELISK: I believe so, yes.

KAIBA: And what has happened to the three of you since then?

OBELISK: (angrily glaring at neomage) Well, Ra's been committed to a mental institution, Slifer's spine and all of his limbs are broken, and I can't ever fight again or my entire system will collapse!

KAIBA: Nothing further.

(Birdman gets up to question Obelisk)

BIRDMAN: Tell us, Obelisk...on that day in question, didn't you and the other God monsters explicitly tell my client that you needed something to do because you were bored?

OBELISK: Well, yes...

BIRDMAN: And what did he say?

OBELISK: He said, "Go destroy Barney or something..."

BIRDMAN: Which was merely a suggestion, wasn't it? It wasn't a direct order to actually go and fight Barney, just a suggestion – wasn't it?!

OBELISK: Uh...uh...OO;;

KAIBA: (jumping up in a rage) Objection! Mr. Birdman is speculating, plus he's badgering the witness!

JUDGE MAN: Mr. Birdman, I advise you to be more careful in how you cross-examine, or so help me God, I will hold you in contempt of court!

BIRDMAN: Ahem...nothing further.

CHAPTER 16

TIME: 7:58 a.m.

PLACE: Rome, Italy

"There they are," said Superman as he and the others landed. "And they look like they mean business."

"Well, so do we," Flash replied matter-of-factly.

"We'll give these guys a run for their money," Green Lantern declared, his ring's energy flashing.

On the other side of the arena, Savage surveyed the Justice League. "Is that who I believe it is?" he asked, pointing at Hawkgirl. "I can't believe she's come back after all this time!"

"Neither can I," agreed Ultra-Humanite. "As I recall, she was the one who nearly caused this planet to be destroyed."

"We'll soon teach that bitch a lesson, don't worry," Zoom said bitterly. He, and the others too, remembered all too well the Thanagarian occupation of Earth. During that time, many super-villains on Earth had had to go into hiding for fear of being caught and killed by the Thanagarian forces.

In a loud voice Savage addressed the Justice League. "You were fools to come here to fight us...especially with a global traitor on your side. But no matter, because you will all be destroyed anyway."

"You're wrong about that, Savage," Superman shot back. "You, your Secret Society and your crazy scheme will be brought down right here, right now."

Savage shrugged. To his teammates he said, "Get ready." His own gauntlets began to charge up with energy.

The other villains were eager to do battle now. Volcana's body flared up, while Killer Frost's body began to emit an icy chill. Killer Croc cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Zoom readied himself to run forward, Sinestro's ring powered up, and Humanite slung the two blasters from his back.

But the Justice League was ready to fight, too. Hawkgirl had her mace in one hand, ready to use it. Wonder Woman had her hands on her lasso. Lantern's ring charged up even more. Both Superman and J'onn had their fists clenched and their bodies ready to fly forward. Batman's finger-claws unsheathed. Flash readied himself to run forward, too.

In the distance, a few miles from the coliseum, the large clock-tower in the city square was about to chime out the hour of 8:00. The commuters were now all looking toward the coliseum with some apprehension; many of them had seen the Justice League fly into the coliseum and had spread the word, and now everyone was waiting to see what would happen.

The minute hand on the face of the clock was slowly edging toward the giant number 12.

5...4...3...2...1.

With a simultaneous battle yell, the Justice League and the Secret Society charged at each other. The distance between the two teams narrowed, narrowed, narrowed...

Then the battle was on.

All seven members of each side were all over each other in a maddened fighting frenzy.

Sinestro and Green Lantern slammed into each other shoulder-to-shoulder, then pushed each other back and immediately started blasting at each other with their respective ring energies. Zoom and Flash were racing parallel to each other, punching at each other all the way as they raced from one side of the arena to the other. Batman and Killer Croc were going head-to-head, Batman nimbly dodging Croc's repeated strikes while Croc did his best to defend against the Dark Knight's assault. Wonder Woman was deflecting Savage's powerful blasts with her silver bracelets, waiting for an opportunity to grab her lasso. Superman and Ultra-Humanite had locked palms, one pushing his strength against that of the other and meeting with powerful resistance. Killer Frost was coasting along on her path of ice, creating the path with one hand while blasting at an airborne Hawkgirl with the other. J'onn was repeatedly changing form as he dodged Volcana's fiery blasts.

Humanite wrenched his hands free from Superman's grip and came forward with a punch that sent the Man of Steel flying. At the same moment Flash managed to knock Zoom away with his elbow and turned in time to see Superman getting hit. He dashed in that direction—but then Humanite pulled out his two blasters and started firing. Immediately the Scarlet Speedster had to dodge every bit of laser fire that came his way. "Whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" he yelled.

J'onn, meanwhile, had gotten close enough to Volcana to stretch his arm out beyond its normal capacity and grab her by the hair. Lifting her off the ground, he spun her around and let her go flying into an unsuspecting Croc, who was holding Batman by the throat. Both villains went down in a heap, and Batman, free from Croc's grip, pulled out a Batarang and flung it at the base of Frost's ice path, blowing it up. Losing her foundation, Frost lost her balance as well and went tumbling. "Ow! No fair!" she screamed.

Free from having to dodge Frost's icy blasts, Hawkgirl flew toward Savage, her mace aimed at his head as it charged with electric energy menacingly. Savage saw her coming, though, and turned one hand in her direction, firing energy from his gauntlet at her, while keeping the other trained on Wonder Woman. Hawkgirl instinctively put her mace in front of herself, and managed to block against Savage's assault.

Sinestro and Lantern had turned their ring energies into Samurai swords and were now slashing at each other. Lantern winced as the tip of the energy blade sliced the flesh of his chest, but he countered that by immediately turning his ring's energy into a giant boxing glove and firing it at Sinestro. The evil ring-bearer couldn't avoid it, so he took it in the face, sending him flying back several feet. "You'll PAY for that insult, Lantern!" he said acidly.

Suddenly Sinestro felt a hand on the crown of his head pulling him toward Earth and slamming him headfirst into the ground. Getting up, he came face-to-face with J'onn J'onzz. "You really should stay out of other people's quarrels!" Sinestro raged as he fired a blast of ring energy at the Martian. To his amazement, J'onn's stomach opened outward and the blast went straight through. Next thing he knew, a solid punch to the face sent him sprawling.

Having recovered from his earlier punch to the face from Humanite, Superman was now trading blows with Croc. "Think you're so tough, huh?" Croc growled savagely.

"I don't think I'm tough—I know I am!" Superman returned, clasping both hand together and bringing them in an upward uppercut, hitting Croc under the chin and knocking him away. The next thing Superman knew, however, he was screaming in sudden agony as a ball of flame hit him right in the back and knocked him down.

Volcana stood there, her hands smoldering harmlessly. "You okay there, Croc?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm cool," he replied, giving her the thumbs-up.

Now Lantern was fighting against Zoom, who repeatedly dodged his every ring blast. Presently he turned his ring's energy into a giant hand and sent it after the yellow speedster, who turned and ran away from it. Zoom was heading for a wall, but he had a plan in mind. At the last moment, he ran up the wall and flipped upside down just as the energy hand crashed into the wall. To Lantern's horror, Zoom started running on top of the energy beam toward him, sending a supersonic punch to his face that spun him around.

Frost was blasting ice at Batman now. "Take that!" she cried out as she cupped both hands together and fired one massive blast at the Dark Knight. It was coming at him too fast for him to dodge it, so he quickly wrapped himself in his cape and squatted, bracing himself. The next thing, he was wrapped in a solid block of ice.

Frost smiled at her handiwork. "One frozen bat, to go," she announced triumphantly.

Suddenly, to her astonishment, the ice began to melt. "What in the hell?" she exclaimed as the block opened out enough for Batman to crawl out.

"Looks like my cape works well against ice," Batman chuckled. "And a good thing I grabbed that mini-blowtorch when I did, too."

Frost was livid. "I'll get you!" she screeched, charging up ice in her hands again, preparing to blast Batman one more time. But she was not prepared for when Batman suddenly fired several small shuriken at her from his gloves, forcing her to abort the attack and dive for cover.

Tired of blasting at Wonder Woman, Savage was now turning all of his attention on Hawkgirl. Wonder Woman saw this as the perfect opportunity to rope him, but a glance to her right stayed her decision. Croc was holding Superman in an iron grip while Volcana was roasting him with a steady stream of fire.

"No!" Wonder Woman screamed. Grabbing her lasso, she twirled it around her head a few times, then let it fly at Volcana. She successfully roped the surprised girl's hands, pulling her into the air. Superman quickly took advantage of this, breaking free from Croc's grip and turning to send a powerful, crushing blow to his midsection. As Croc winced and bent over, Superman sent a powerful uppercut to his face that knocked him away.

Held airborne by Wonder Woman's lasso, Volcana positioned her hands upward and fired fiery blasts at the Amazon. However, Wonder Woman deflected the fire with one bracelet while using the other hand to hold the lasso. She jerked Volcana upward, then flew toward the ground, bringing her quarry with her, slamming her headfirst into the ground. Volcana tried to get back up, then collapsed and was still.

In the meantime, J'onn had flown over to Humanite, who was still blasting at a far-too-nimble Flash, and was now dodging the blasts himself. Taking advantage of Humanite's lapse in concentration, Flash rushed up and delivered a series of punches to his face and stomach, then raced away toward Zoom. J'onn grabbed Humanite's blasters and wrenched them away from the gorilla, crushing them in his hands.

"All right, you want to play that way?" Humanite challenged. "Well, then, bring it on!"

J'onn gave him the come-here taunt. "Let's go."

Zoom saw Flash running toward him and immediately began to charge his enemy as well—only when they got close, Zoom just dashed past him. Stopping in confusion, Flash realized what Zoom was thinking too late as a massive sonic boom ripped through him and sent him flying. As Flash was about to hit the ground, Zoom dashed past him again, knocking him away with another sonic boom.

Sinestro was back up again, and this time he was firing his ring energy at Superman, who kept dodging and flying past everything the ring-bearer threw at him. Finally, in frustration, Sinestro formed a giant sphere, using it to trap Superman within. "Try breaking out of this!" he gloated.

Superman smiled. "All right."

As Superman drew his fist back, Sinestro's face twisted in disbelief, then went white with horror as the Man of Steel unleashed a massive punch that somehow broke through the barrier. The shockwave was so massive that Sinestro screamed in pain as he felt the destruction of his energy course all the way through his arm—then one well-timed punch to the face from Superman's mighty fist knocked him down, and this time he didn't get back up again.

Savage and Hawkgirl were deadlocked, their weapons pressed against each other and coursing with violent energy. "I say it's time to finish the fight we started on the Midway museum rooftop!" Hawkgirl swore.

"Yes, let's do that," agreed Savage. "Only this time I'll make sure you're properly dead!"

He managed to force her back and blasted at her with another assault from his gauntlets. She nimbly flew past that, however, and flew around him. As Savage turned to face her, she sent a spinning kick to his face that knocked him back and shook him badly; but it didn't stop the initial response. Savage immediately blasted her square in the chest, sending her flying back. Hawkgirl screamed in agony as she fell to the ground.

Getting back up after Zoom's punch, Lantern was just in time to see Hawkgirl get zapped by Savage's blast. "Hawkgirl!" he cried out, flying over to where they were. In his rage, he charged up as much energy as his ring would allow, sending it in one giant blast at Savage. The other man saw it coming and crossed his arms to block – but to his shock, a few seconds after contact was made, his gauntlets were blasted clear through and the energy beam hit him in the face, sending him flying.

Zoom towered over Flash as the Scarlet Speedster struggled to get back up. "You...are...pathetic!" Zoom said scornfully as he raised his fist to deliver the finishing blow. But as he brought it down, Flash dodged out of the way in time. Looking about him wildly, Zoom suddenly felt a boot in the back of his right leg. As he grimaced and fell forward on one knee, he felt an arm-lock around his neck, then felt himself being violent propelled forward at super-speed – right toward the wall.

Vainly trying to break free, there was nothing Zoom could do as Flash rammed him face-first into the wall. Dazed by the severity of the crash, Zoom wobbled on his feet, the image of Flash in front of him splitting into several as a massive headache came on. "You're...one despicable...son of a..." and that was as far as he could go before he blacked out and collapsed.

Getting back up, wincing as she felt the burn on her chest, Hawkgirl looked around and spied Killer Croc nearby, grabbing a loose block from the wall with the intention of crushing her with it. Immediately she flew over to him; seeing her approach, Croc flung the block in her direction. However, she smashed it with her mace, then came back for another attack directed straight at Croc's head. He slammed violently into the wall, then slowly sank to the ground, unconscious.

Humanite tried to grab J'onn in a bear hug, but J'onn turned into water and slipped out of his grasp. Maddened, Humanite flung a punch in J'onn's direction—and J'onn turned into a stone statue, causing Humanite to hurt his own hand. As the albino gorilla cried out in pain and grabbed his hand, J'onn smiled. "Let me show you how it's done," he said, and with that he flung a fist into Humanite's face, knocking him down and out.

Frost slowly got back up to face Batman again. "You're a royal pain in the ass," she hissed.

Batman smirked. "Want to try one more time?" he quipped.

Now very angry, Frost summoned cold moisture to surround her body, then fired it all off into one giant blast at Batman. He ducked and dodged to the left at the last moment, however, and at the same time he did two things: he reached into his utility belt with one hand and flung several pellets at Frost. From the glove on the other hand he fired a cable that wrapped around Frost's wrists.

Immediately the pellets burst on contact with Frost—but they were filled with water, splashing all over her. "Are you mocking me?" Frost demanded, in a rage.

Batman grinned. "No...I'll just be shocking you."

Suddenly a surge of electricity flashed along the wire from Batman's glove. Before Frost could react, she let out a yowl as several volts of electricity coursed through her body. The fact that the water from the pellets covered her body, plus the fact that there was moisture in the immediate area where she stood as a result of her powers, plus the fact that electricity runs through water, combined to cause Frost a world of agony. Finally she passed out from the pain, slumping to the ground.

Batman retrieved the wire, then turned to join the other heroes as they gathered around the fallen Vandal Savage, who was on one knee by this time. "Looks like we've beaten you, Savage," he declared. "You'd better give up. Your goons have all been defeated now."

Savage chuckled maliciously. "I beg to differ. You see, there's one thing you're all forgetting." And as he spoke, he pulled back his sleeve, revealing a watch-like contraption on which there was a big white button, which he now pushed. "You're forgetting about my cannon!"

As Savage spoke, there was a loud rumbling as, to the Justice League's surprise, a large cannon erupted from the ground behind Savage. Next to the cannon was the stolen meteorite. "Witness the beginning of your destruction!" Savage bellowed.

(The Judge Man pounds his gavel)

JUDGE MAN: Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Birdman, do you have any more witnesses to call?

BIRDMAN: The defense does, your Honor. I'd like to call Seto Kaiba to the stand!

(Everyone gasps collectively)

KAIBA: WHAT?!?!?!?!

JUDGE MAN: It's not against the law, Mr. Kaiba. You said yourself that you'd be representing yourself, so that makes you both a lawyer and a witness for the prosecution. Please, go to the stand.

KAIBA: (as he makes his way to the stand) Just what do you think you're trying to pull here, Birdman?

BIRDMAN: You'll see...

NARRATOR: Indeed, what is Birdman trying to pull? And what about the Justice League, now that Savage's cannon has been revealed?

JUDGE MAN: ORDER IN THE COURT! (bangs his gavel)

NARRATOR: OO;;; Sorry.