Author's Note: A note of thanks to Fate8 for scribing this chapter, bringing clarity to muddy waters. Call it a fill-in if you will. Enjoy.


Gotham City.

Wonder Woman.

Warrior.

The OMAC hovers in the air, eerily silent. Wonder Woman stands before it, her jaw set in grim determination. She is a warrior, one of the very best. But the OMAC is ruthless and relentless, unbreakable in its power. I'm not sure this is a fight the princess can win, but she'll give it her damnedest.

A tinny metallic voice issues from the OMAC. "Target: Alpha Two. Commence elimination protocol." The right arm of the OMAC elongates and forms into a pincer, long and slender. Wonder Woman attempts to use her sword to cut off the protrusion at the wrist, but the OMAC anticipated the move. The pincer traps her weapon, and the OMAC moves swiftly to grab the sword with it's free hand and throw it across the hanger.

I am mildly impressed that it could disarm the Amazon so easily, but the battle quickly draws my focus back to the combatants.

Seemingly undeterred by the loss of the sword, Wonder Woman closes in on her adversary, and using the front of the shield attached to her arm, slams the OMAC hard in the face. Its head rocks back, but the thing manages to grab onto her and hurl the Amazon to the floor hard enough to crack the concrete. As she lay there, the OMAC floats down, a long sharp blade forming from its arm. It pulls back to strike, but Wonder Woman beats it to the punch. She lashes out with a kick to the blue nano-tech covered midsection. The blow is hard enough to send the OMAC through the roof, knocking another hole in the hanger. Wonder Woman does not wait for it to gather itself. Sparing a glance at me, she crouches on one knee and then bursts upward into the sky after the OMAC. I watch her go.

My earpiece buzzes slightly. It'll be Luthor. I tap my ear lightly.

"What is it?"

"Slade. Did you get him?"

I scan the hanger. "Yes, he's coming now."

"Good," says Lex. I detect a small amount of relief in his voice.

Scandal walks toward me, twirling Batman's utility belt like a bolo. Her motion is exaggerated, with one hand on a widely swinging hip, she resembles a catwalk model. She runs her tongue over her upper lip in a display of wantonness. I begin to think she has been spending too much time around Cheshire.

I hold my hand out flat, and she drops the belt into my palm. "How did you disable the electric countermeasures?" I ask.

She gives me a demure smile. "A small battery pack on the backside of his belt," she says. "It was barely noticeable, right behind the hasp. Parademon was kind enough to wear him down, and I punctured the casing."

"What about the gas in the cowl? It didn't go off?" These rather effective gadgets are part of Batman's defensive arsenal, designed to deter any assailants that happen to get too close to the Dark Knight.

"No," says Scandal, a flat dismissive note in her voice. "Probably because we didn't try to unmask him."

Luthor has been monitoring our conversation. "No use in seeing what you already know," he says in my ear. "Have Parademon bring Batman to the Skull Ship. And keep him alive."

I wave Scandal away, and she understands enough to let Luthor and I hash out our business.

"How did you know the sword would work against the Amazon?" I ask softly.

"Intuition, Slade," replied Luthor. "We recovered it from the prototype OMAC we lost in the Phantom Zone a few months ago. It's been lying around the office, waiting for a use, you might say. I figured it was good business to return it to its source."

"Clever," I reply shortly. I hate it when Lex pats himself on the back. "You've got it all figured out then, haven't you?"

He scoffs, then changes the subject. "Keep your head on a swivel," he says. "The alien will be returning, and he may bring backup."

"And you think we can stop him?" The thought of taking on Superman with just the Six in my corner did not inflame me with confidence.

"That's why I'm sending in a surprise," says Luthor. The smugness in his voice puts me on edge.

"For us or them?"

"Them," snaps Luthor. "You'll see. I'd be lying if I said you could take the alien anyway. He's too powerful, and that's why he needs to be stopped."

"So, what did you have in mind?" I ask.

"Brainiac will be waiting," he says. "All you have to do is keep the League occupied." I stare at the sword in my hand. It seems heavier.

"Slade?"

The voice comes from behind me. I whirl around, and see Deadshot. He's clutching a wound on his neck. His costume is streaked with blood, and a major patch of the pattern on his chest has been torn away. He walks forward with a slight limp.

I tap my earpiece again. "Lex, I'll have to get back to you." I disconnect before he can reply. If he has a problem with that, he can just suck it up. I'm not in this for him.

"Hell of a fighter, that Hawke."

"Right," he mutters. "I'll kill the little bastard yet."

"You're going to have to wait on that," I say. "Orders from the top are to stand by." Even as I say it, I feel the doubt in the back of my mind. Luthor's starting to worry me. He has been spending far too much time away from the base. With Brainiac. I've heard rumors that he has been spending more and more time in that ridiculous suit of armor he built. I don't like it. At least Lex is flesh and blood. That mechanical monstrosity—Brainiac…he's as alien as Superman, and a good deal less human. Maybe I should talk to Black Adam about it.

Deadshot cocks his head at me, then glances at the beaten body of Connor Hawke lying near his feet.

"Why don't I just kill him now?" he asks. Floyd angles his arm toward Hawke's torso, sighting his wrist-mounted Colt in on the sternum. I grab his elbow, applying enough pressure to get his attention.

"No," I say. "Settle your personal scores later. We've got more important matters to attend to right now."

He glances at me, back to Hawke, then across the hangar. Catman and Parademon are walking toward us, dragging Batman by his cape. Cheshire, Ragdoll and Scandal follow behind them.

"Here," I say, pointing to place on the floor near my feet. I give the Bat a quick once over. "He looks almost as bad as you, Floyd."

Deadshot gives me the middle finger salute and crouches over Batman's prone form. He presses his ear to against Wayne's chest for a moment. "He's a little worse for wear, though."

"That human was not as formidable as I was led to believe," says Parademon.

I spare a look at him. He just stands there stone-faced, arms folded over his chest. I suppose being one of Darkseid's whipping boys would give a guy a different perspective on most things. I toss him Batman's utility belt.

"Take this up to Brainiac's Skull Ship." I forget to hand over Wayne. I can't imagine what use Lex or Brainiac has for him. Luthor's paranoia wouldn't allow him to tell the others about handing Batman over to Brainiac--Lex only told me, and of course, the robot. I need a new trophy, and Bruce Wayne can fit the role quite well.

Parademon nods, then turns to Catman. "Make sure nothing happens to the clown while I am gone, feline man," he says. "I'll kill you if he dies."

Catman sighs heavily. "Right. I got it."

Ragdoll squats down by Batman. "So, this one is incapacitated, yes?" I nod, and return my sword to its sheath. "Then all that remains is to dispose of him."

"Exactly," says Deadshot. He points his wrist gun at the black bat emblem in the center of Batman's chest. He fires before I can stop him. The bullet bounces off the armored symbol, and ricochets off into space.

"Idiot," I snap, and jerk Floyd's arm to the side. "We're not going to kill him. He may still have some value to us. If I wanted him dead, I would have had Parademon break his neck."

"It would not have been a problem, I assure you," says Parademon to no one in particular.

"Uh, guys, we have another problem," says Cheshire. She points upward.

I look up and see Hawkman float down through a whole in the hangar ceiling. I curse under my breath. Someone must have been able to send off a distress signal.

The winged wonder flaps down to us.

"Hawkman," I say idly. "Where's the rest of the JSA? Out fighting Jean Loring again?" He doesn't respond to my jibe, but grips the huge mace in his hands tighter, ready to dive into battle. I draw a gun from a holster slung across my back, and point it at hideously overdone circular symbol on Hawkman's chest.

"Don't even think about it," I say.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore," says Hawkman.

"I don't see how that's up to you," says Deadshot.

I pull the trigger. Floyd fires at the same time. Carter dodges my bullet, but Deadshot grazes him in the shoulder. Hawkman growls and tenses for a hopeless fight.

Scandal flicks her wrists and the lethal blades slide into place. "He's mine," she says.

I catch Cheshire rolling her eyes when she hears the statement.

Scandal leaps forward, slashing at Hawkman with he weapons. He blocks or dodges most of the blows, and the ones that land only leave minor scratches. Scandal forces him to the ground on his back; she straddles him and aims her cutting edges at his gaudy hawk helmet. After a few close calls, Carter decides he's had enough of this upstart. He plants a foot in her gut, and shoves Scandal backward. Deadshot and I sidestep and let her land between us.

Floyd aims his guns, and I draw Lex's "magic sword". We both start for Hawkman, intent on finishing this quickly.


Wonder Woman had chased the OMAC into the upper atmosphere, hoping the intense cold would slow its functions enough for her to get an upper hand. It suddenly turned on her.

"Reconfiguring attack vectors."

A beam of energy flashed out of the red center of the OMAC's head. Diana pulled up and was able to just block the assault with her bracelets. She used the moment to sweep in and deliver a double-handed blow into the midsection of the OMAC. The nanotech shell held.

"Accessing sub-routine, Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg—Teen Titans." The OMAC backhanded Wonder Woman, sending her spiraling off for a few meters. Its arm took on a new shape. "Sound generator mimicked." A million decibels of white sound washed over Diana. She screamed at the pure force of the attack, which could have knocked her unconscious if they had not been so high in the atmosphere where the sound was muted.

"Initiate termination protocol." A thin blade forms at the end of one arm of the OMAC. Wonder Woman had recovered enough to see the strike coming, but not enough to escape unscathed. The OMAC's blade sliced into her shoulder, drawing a sharp bark of pain from the Amazon.

"Reconfiguring." The OMAC withdrew the blade, and prepared to make the kill with another thrust.

Diana shut out the pain from her shoulder wound, and concentrated on the OMAC. It plunged forward again. Wonder Woman shifted slightly to the side and caught the OMAC's arm. Without hesitation she used the momentum of the attack to drive the blade back into the OMAC, piercing its side.

Pushing her advantage, Wonder Woman grabbed the OMAC by the neck, and began to punch it in the face. After ten earth-shattering hits, the blue shell began to crack. Diana redoubled her efforts, and in another few moments, the nanotech broke apart, revealing the true face of her attacker.

Wonder Woman gasped in shock and surprise. Staring back at her with soulless, grim eyes was the face of Maxwell Lord.


Continued...