CALCULATOR BEGAN upon Luthor's instructions activating sleeper cells across the world. Lex Luthor had provided him a very long list of targets- all surprisingly with weapons and resources available for use.
One particular shipment was due to arrive at Manila. He had hacked into the Manila Airport security. Typically, radioactive material would be screened by the destination and departing country's respective nuclear safety agencies not to mention the carrier or ship. This was as per International Atomic Energy Agency policy but it also made very good sense. Calculator had bypassed it. A shipment of Cesium-137- which happens to look like sand was in bound into Philippine territory.
What makes this particular batch of Cesium-137 special is not its 30-year half-life neither the fact that this could be used to prevent such disease like graft-versus-host disease which is 99 fatal nor that it could be used in such benign and worthwhile application as self-transfused blood during surgery but the fact it could be employed in a deadly mission.
Lex Luthor had such a deadly mission in mind. Calculator was being paid millions to coordinate these attacks.
One of Calculator's computers was trying to crack the attack codes to Russia's nuclear arsenal. He did not know that Luthor had even known the stuff he was handing him. Calculator did not suspect the real source of this intelligence. Neither he nor Lex Luthor could fathom- they were mere pawns in a chess game.
In Europe, the terrorist cells he had activated were moving towards the German rail line. By tomorrow morning thousands would be deadd when the train will derail.
In the United States, David Cain had arrived with instructions from the Calculator. His order of business was to shadow the President of the United States and at the moment given, take him out.
Unknown to either the Calculator and Luthor, Nyssa's League of Assassins had taken over the international space station. They had murdered the astronauts manning it. They were anxious to get the Enterprise ready to fly. Likewise they were preparing for their part of the mission as Al Ghul commanded.
ROBIN HAD been ordered by Cyborg to take a break. He and the Titans were working nonstop for the bast 48 hours building new shelters and providing food and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Tsunami victims. They were also cross matching the missing with those in the hospitals. Not to mention the dead.
With Wonder Girl and "S" shields having returned from the Aceh Incident, their work quickened. They were in fact a bit ahead of schedule. Relief workers had relieved them. IRO had given the Titans a twenty four hour downtime.
Robin didn't know what to do with himself. Being a member of the Bat-Family meant having training others didn't. Like learning to sleep without sleeping. It took hours of training, end even years before Bruce had opened up and told him one of his secrets. Apparently, Nightwing had been convincing Bruce for months before that to teach Robin the trick.
Barbara was furious when she discovered Bruce had this technique years ago but didn't teach her.
By the time Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl had joined their family, he was already an expert at sleepless nights gig. Then he learned that Batgirl knew of it since she was twelve.
Of course, Bruce had forbidden them all to use that kind of training unless they had too. So they had to manage the usual eight hours sleep when things were not too busy.
These days, he didn't want to sleep as often. The nightmares would come back again.
Like before, he convinced himself that forgetting was the best way. Telling the Titans that his father had passed away did little to easy the pain, Robin later found out. But it didnt make it easier, he argued with himself. It didn't however make him sleep any easier at night. He was still haunted by his dad's, Darla's and Steph's deaths. They passed away days of each other.
He still resented Bruce for not telling him about Steph. He could have been there for her, at least in those final moments. Bruce refused to tell him what they spoke about. Leslie wouldn't even speak of it to him. Apparently, she wasn't in the room when Stephanie passed. Alfred confirmed Leslie's account. He could trust Alfred, even more than Bruce.
But it doesn't ease the pain.
Robin had been avoiding Raven all week. He knew she was feeling his emotions. Right now, he didn't want those emotions taken from him. That was a mistake. He didn't want the pain to go away. He wanted to feel them because somehow, he might forget they were ever alive.
Wonder Girl saw Robin leave Titan's Wing. She saw him sit by a clearing near the shadows.
There's something going on with Tim, Cassie thought. She walked towards him.
She was about to tap his shoulder when he spoke. "Yes, Cass?"
"Who'd!"
"I heard you twenty meters away".
Tim didn't even smile.
"Whats wrong, Tim? You've been preoccupied lately? Is it about your dad?" She asked as she sat right beside him.
Tim didn't even look at her. He continued to stare at the night sky.
"In Gotham, we rarely see the sky as clear as this one."
"Conner told me. Dismal place, your hometown." Cassie said. Then they sat there in silence for about a minute. "I wont press you, Tim if you don't want to talk about it..."
"It's my dad and it's not my dad".
When Tim looked at Cassandra's face, she was perplexed. "I never told you that a few days before my dad died, during the gang war... I lost two people I cared about."
Cassie shook her head in reply and let him continue. "Darla my classmate was shot and killed because she was the daughter of this mobster. My girlfriend, Stephanie... she... uhh..." Tim suddenly found it difficult to speak... "She was killed while attempting to escape Black Mask".
"I'm so sorry Tim!" Was all Cassie Sandmark could reply. What do you say to something like that?
Cassandra thought how brilliant, thoughtful and all around good guy Tim was. Why were these things happening to him? She simply placed her arm around him and embraced him.
Tim didn't cry. Tim was all out of tears.
ALFRED WALKED into the Calcutta headquarters of the Batman. It was a small apartment building that Wayne Industries owned. In fact no one was sure what the top floor was used for.
Had they heard of the bogyman, they'd probably believe. It was a different sort of creature of the night.
The room, he noticed was kept untidy. Spare utility belts discarded. The bed unmade up. He was here quite recently, Alfred concluded.
Alfred had tried everything to find his lost charge. But to no avail. The Batwave receivers were all turned off. When Bruce Wayne didn't want to be found, chances are, you wouldn't.
As he was nearing completing tidying up the place, he noticed a note left for him. It was written in Bruce's handwriting using a "bat-code" only the family knew about. It was several instructions for him to do.
Alfred completed his work and rushed out to head back to the Martha.
TALIA HAD completed the buy out of the current majority stakeholders of Kord Industries. She had actually paid a premium for the company- triple its current market value.
Her shopping spree wasn't over though. She had bought several small yet promising companies doing software development, another doing artificial intelligence, another pharmaceutical company, an automotive manufacturing plant, and a defense contractor.
By the time Talia had stopped, she still had five billion dollars and change left. Of course her father's resources were still vast- there was some six billion dollars more that Nyssa didn't know. She'd keep that for a rainy day.
It was a nice winter day in Munich. Talia decided to take a walk amidst the snow, to kill time. She checked her watch. Another couple of hours left; Talia was expecting company.
JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ was a Mexican immigrant. His real name was Miguel Fuentes, from Basque, Spain who was an expert anti-virus software writer for a major American Corporation.
The Calculator had earlier provided the activation codes. He had his orders.
ICQ CHATROOMS were quiet of the events that are about to transpire. Which is a phenomena on itself.
KIRO NAKAMURA was an engineer working for A Japanese Entertainment company. The Calculator had cracked his way into his private ICQ channel. Instructions were given. Orders were confirmed to be carried out.
LEX LUTHOR had assembled the world's greatest- villain was too hard a term. Grodd. Gigantina. Mr. Freeze. Captain Boomerang. Bizarro. Fatality. Major Force.
For Lex Luthor the threat posed by Superman and his ilk was too great. There must be an opposition to that do-gooder-Kryptonian. What if one day he would just decide to take over. Who was to stop him? The Batman? He laughed at that thought.
It was probably why neither he and the Batman saw eye to eye. They were a lot alike. Nor he doubted that Gotham scum didn't had a failsafe in place just in case his buddy ever went rogue.
Lex Luthor was a man determined never to lay his destiny on any other man other than himself. The Kryptonian stood in his way. In another lifetime, he not that phony Kryptonian would be called the World's Greatest Superhero. Lex Luthor alone should be master of the Earth!
Nyssa had given him the means to destroy the Kryptonian and with the Army he would amass, Nyssa Al Ghul will never stand a chance against his Legion of Doom!
CHARLIE LI was a Major General in the People's Republic of Zek'nya Army. His computers were abuzz with intelligence reports that the South was amassing an army in the boarder ready to cross the Demilitarized Zone.
For nearly fifty years now, his country and the foolish Democratic Republic of Zek'nya were at war. Though the last shot was fired nearly five decades ago- neither had signed a peace treaty, so technically they were still at war.
When he saw that the the Zek'nya Defense Force was gathering its forces. From where he stood, they were readying themselves for war. Was the ZDF foolish enough to engage their 5 million strong, nuclear-armed army?
If the fools wanted to fight, he would give them one, Li thought. And end this unending stalemate! They will have the separatist by the end of this campaign!
NRO WAS tasked to make a fly by of the Zek'nya theater. The computers automatically transmitted the images to Fort Meade and to Langley. When the watch officers from both operations center saw the amassing forces of the People's Republic of Zek'nya Army on the boarder of the demilitarized zone, they called their respective chiefs.
Two hours later, they both requested an intelligence meeting with the President. The Chief of Staff of the Ross White House had approved it. The CIA Zek'nya desk and his boss were in the Situation Room together with NMCC and NSA representatives.
They gave President Ross the same picture. The People's Republic of Zek'nya were making provoking postures that could cause the powder keg to blow up and eventually take the world by storm if left unchecked. It may even go Nuclear as the North and South both have stores.
President Ross looked at his watch. He had promised Lana a quiet dinner for two. It would have to wait. The world needed saving. In Lana's mind, he wouldn't be up to it. Deep down, it would be Superman who would save the world.
"Get me the Chairman of the People's Republic"
ORACLE WAS monitoring the intelligence channels. Her network still spanned the globe, even more so now that she'd left Gotham's Clock Tower.
Her server farm was tasked to index loads of information but special keywords were flashed to her. Zek'nya and nuclear in the same sentence would routinely prop up. But not this way. It had live pictures.
Oh my God! Barbara's eyes lit.
BRUCE HAD been following Talia now for an hour and a half. Incogneto as an old graying man. She had gone for a walk and after exiting an upscale fashion boutique had settled in a cafe and ordered a latte. It was her favorite.
Ducking into a corner, the world's greatest detective shed his disguise. He walked and sat beside Talia even before she could look up.
"Hello, Talia," He said quietly.
"Her stench is all over you, Beloved." She said most especially the last word bitterly, without affection.
"I thought you wouldn't call me that anymore."
"I know, Bruce." Talia said as she stared directly into his eyes. "I guess, old habits die hard."
"You wanted me to find you. Why?"
"Indeed, direct to the point. Like you did in Metropolis when you had a different stink on you." She kept eye contact then said, "Nyssa is at the Arctic Circle Base."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because she is even more insane than father and will not hesitate to make good on both their plans. You already know what she did in the Indian Ocean."
"Yes."
"Then you know she must be stopped, at all costs." She was standing very close to him now. He could smell her perfume. He could see the truth in her eyes and hear the beating of their hearts.
The two star crossed lovers kissed.
Then Oracle buzzed in his ear. Bruce! She was almost yelling. The surprised caught him off guard and this broke their kiss.
"O?"
"Thank, God B. I've intercepted satellite photos of the Zek'nya theater. The North is mobilizing its army. The South is responding. I'm getting a live feed from the White House."
Talia knew at once something was happening. What she dreaded was happening right now. She could see it in Bruce's face, even if others do not.
Oracle had funneled the hot line chatter into the encrypted comms.
Bruce heard, Pete Ross on the line. "Mr. Chairman, our satellites are seeing that your army is mobilizing."
"Yes, Mr. President. We are mobilizing as we see the south is doing the same. Order your lackeys in the South to fall back or we will respond in kind."
"Mr. Chairman, we have no authority to order the Zek'nya Defense Force to fall back- and even if we could your posturing is-"
"Mr. President, forgive me for saying. Are you calling me a lier?" At the other end of the line, Pete Ross thought, Good move Pete, you've just antagonized the b-. His thoughts were distracted when he heard the dial tone at the other end of the line.
"GET IT BACK!" Pete Ross angrily ordered his staff as he slammed the phone down. Nuclear war was imminent. He just lost touch with the guy who would help him back off. Now the other guy might think he disconnected on purpose and there go the negotiation.
THE CHAIRMAN of the Communist Party that led the People's Republic of Zek'nya was furious! He had never heard such arrogance in his life, he thought. The American President was lying to him and Ross had the urge to call him a lier? The fool! The Chairman thought, they will all see!
OUTSIDE THE Chairman's Office, Cherry one of the Chairman's close personal secretary, who worked for him round the clock sat running through the day's email. She was a very pretty Chinese woman, with the right set of curves and white flawless skin. A real beauty queen material. She was university trained and very intelligent, thoughthe Chairman rarely used that part of her.
Cherry felt someone staring down at her and when she looked up, standing before her a very bald American. She found him to be a very handsome man in a well pressed business suit. He handed her his card.
Her eyes lit up- Cherry thought she recognized him.
It read "Lex Luthor".
"I was wondering..."
"'Cherry', Mr. Luthor"
"I was wondering, Cherry, If I could have a word with your boss? He's an old friend of mine." Luthor said with a smile.
"Yes sir, one moment sir," Blushing, the young Chinese beauty in accented English replied.
"Mr. Chairman, a Mr. Lex Luthor is hear to see you."
"LEX LUTHOR! Have him come in!"
Lex walked into the Chairman's office.
"Lex!" The Chairman said as he greeted the man and shook his hand. "That bastard former Vice President of yours, how did you ever bring him along? His nothing like you! Just called me a lier! The arrogant bastard even had the nerve to hang up on me!"
"Old Friend," Lex said as he shook the older man's hand.
"I know what you need right now."
The two men conversed for a good half hour and came into a mutual agreement.
BRUCE LOOKED at Talia and their eyes spoke volumes.
"It's starting."
"I know, Beloved. "I do not know of her exact plans- when and where she will strike. But you know the endgame is nearing. I only know that she is at the Arctic Circle base and she will use her nukes to melt the ice caps."
He kissed Talia. She whispered in his ear the coordinates to the base. After she was done with that and providing him with what she knew about the security there, he broker their hug and said, "Goodbye, Talia".
"Good Luck, my Beloved." She replied.
Talia watched him leave and melt into the crowds. Bruce Wayne was such a remarkable man. He was indeed her father's equal and more.
Talia understood his relentless pursuit. It was in his blood. She understood that more than anything in the world, Bruce Wayne could give up the cowl in an instant but then, how would he ensure that the people he loved were protected? That was at the very heart of Bruce Wayne. She did not mean the Batman because to her, unlike any other person even the man himself, Bruce Wayne is the real person- the playboy and the Crusader were but masks of the real man.
ORACLE DIDN'T mean to hear the conversation but Bruce never called the channel off as he said good bye to Talia.
Then his voice ran through her.
"O. Inform A, open WG-file thirty-five-zulu. Spread the word, Arctic Circle variation."
At once Oracle opened a channel to Alfred Pennyworth who was at the mobile Batcave in the Indian Ocean. Upon relaying instructions from Bruce, Alfred immediately opened the necessary War Game file. It was a Ra's Al Ghul Battle Scenario- Antarctica Base. It listed the necessary supplies needed.
Alfred immediately opened access to this file for Oracle, Batgirl, Nightwing to see. He also used the Batcomputer's massive database to correlate the necessary equipment for the operation with Bruce's added instructions.
Alfred discovered that a storehouse was available for use in Greenland and that the necessary equipment- bombs, weapons, fuel, etc. were in a Wayne Industries facility in Montreal Canada. Nightwing and Batgirl were tasked to transport the equipment to the rendezvous point.
BRUCE WAYNE was headed to Sweden to pickup their additional gear. Aboard the Wayne Industries G9 Business Jet, his JLA Signal device lit up.
"Bruce! Where are you?"
"On a case,"
"This is a JLA Emergency. I just got a call from Pete Ross. The PRZ is mobilizing their army- headed for the DRZ.
Just then Oracle interrupted and called for a Priority Alert!
TWO SPEED boats were racing out of the Manila Yacht club. Aboard them were shoulder mounted rockets filled with Cesium-137. They changed coarse at once and headed for the United States Embassy that faced Manila Bay.
Outside the embassy, a black, gasoline-TNT-filled-to-capacity SUV parked right outside the US Embassy. It was not unusual, the stop light lit "red". A five kiloton uranium bomb was also hidden inside it.
The road in front of the US mission in the Philippines was a busy highway. Right across the street was a hotel filled with tourists that had just arrived from Korea.
The driver of the SUV when the green light lit stopped the SUV right in between the Embassy and the hotel. He walked out of the vehicle and immediately boarded a taxi that was a few meters away.
As the taxi sped away, the driver of the SUV activated dialed a number on his mobile phone. A marine corps team standing watch over the US consulate walked over to the park SUV to have the driver move it. They assumed that there was a driver because the engine was still running. A Police Car patrolling the area saw it and decided to lend a hand to the marines as a mobile phone in the SUV began to ring.
A timer sequence was initiated by the call. It started to countdown.
Rockets from the shoulder mounted launchers flew over Manila Bay and hit the embassy! The radiation was spreading unknown to embassy staff.
As the first Marine was about to knock on the SUV's driver side window to talk to the driver, several explosions then a column of smoke lifted up the Embassy's bay side view. The alert sounded in their ears and his team turned away from the SUV, the 5 kiloton bomb hidden deep within it blew up.
They and several hundred people in the blast radius didn't know what hit them. Glass shattered, trees, pavement, vehicles and human flesh melted away.
"SUPERMAN, ASSEMBLE the League! Now! I'll brief you when you've gathered." Bruce said. He switched his plan's systems to auto pilot and made his way aft the plane to put on his uniform.
He had a shrewed idea on what Nyssa was up to. Of course, he couldn't tell the Justice League the whole plan, even if he wanted to. He needed them focused. Either of them should fail, then the Human Race would fall. He could already imagine meeting his mentor Ra's Al Ghul in the afterlife, laughing at his defeat.
Bruce Wayne vanished these thoughts from his mind as he waited for Superman's confirmation that The League was ready.
Reaching for a flash recorder in his utility belt, he added some field notes and plugged it on the desktop computer aboard his plane, his rsync program ran. The file would later be sent encrypted, of course to the Batcave and relayed to the right set of people at the appropriate time.
NYSSA LOOKED up at the globe before her. It was like one huge chess piece. She knew the Justice League's next moves- they were after all, so very predictable. All her enemies were.
She figured out that by this time that traitorous sister of hers would have already contacted the Detective. No- it would be the detective seeking her out after deducing that very obvious ambush at the watchtower. He was predictable that way.
Nyssa's father had left detailed files and scores of case notes on the Batman, the Great Detective, the man who had betrayed her father.
Bruce Wayne she discovered was one of her father's prized pupils. He had trained him. Bruce Wayne, she learned from Ra's had travelled the world, lost after his parents' murderer was left fee. Heartbroken by Gotham's betrayal, he left his beloved city and scoured the globe. Ra's Al Ghul had found him in a Chinese prison. He had purposely tried to steel a Wayne Industries vault. He recruited Wayne and brought him to the Himalayan retreat.
Ra's Al Ghul tested him. Trained him in the ways of the League of Assassins. Wayne had by that time already learned many martial arts skills. He was already a scientist, a detective- having studied with the best in the world. But Wayne was lost. Unable to find a purpose.
Ra's Al Ghul channeled it all! Channeled Wayne's rage, gave his fury direction and thought him the powerful weapons of theatricality and deception!
What did the fool do when Ra's offered him the chance to lead his legion against the world? The ungrateful bastard had shun the Demon's Head's most generous offer! He did the unspeakable, defied the Demon's Head, battled her father, destroyed their mountain retreat and escaped. The second time they met, defied all expectation and won!
Ra's Al Ghul will cleanse the Earth of the human filth! She would avenge her father. The Batman will fall and with his passing, the rest of the world will join him in the afterlife.