Prologue
HIDDEN BENEATH a manor that housed the Wayne family for over six generations, and just north of Gotham and a few kilometers shy of the county limits, the Batcave is a Fortress, Operations Center and Technology Factory to rival even the Justice League's Watchtower and Metrotower. In many respects, it was the precursor of those bases, after all they were designed and built by Bruce Wayne.
Few in the world know of the existence of such a facility much less its location. Talia of course was one of those in the know. Dark haired, beautiful and exotic--- Talia is perhaps one of the most dangerous woman in the world. Daughter of the enigmatic eccentric terrorist Ra's Al Ghul, she was gifted with his skills and intelligence, fortune and organization. And Talia is of course one of the many women, Bruce Wayne loved and even rarer, knows of his dual identity as the Dark Knight Batman.
Slipping between the shadows, stealthly advancing to a high plateau--- Talia made her way towards where the huge supercomputer lay. How many times had she visited this place? Here where her beloved kept the trophies of his success and failure, where he planned, worked, plotted, engineered, recovered and won?
In many respects, Batman and her father Ra's were similar. Both were men who sought to control the world, both driven by the demons of their past. Yet for Batman, he refused the power Ra's has offered him and and again. Had. Talia corrected herself. Her father was dead and she, her only heir was determined to keep his legacy.
Talia sat on the throne. Her Beloved's throne where he keeps watch over his precious city and where he broods the most and thinks the most. It was a Throne, his over his City, as she has come to think of this chair. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and with ease (and her father's many protocols) started to download files she knew would exist.
Then Talia noticed something as the data she was prying was busy being transferred to several portable hard drives. On a separate window, marked prototypes, and one in particular piqued her attention. It looked like software being compiled and on closer examination, certainly it was. it was labeled BM1. Batmobile-1? Talia asked herself.
This is interesting, Talia thought as she read through it. She began to copy that as well and the protocols she would need.
The world was becoming more dangerous with the power the Justice League was amassing. Only one man was capable of defeating them, Talia knew: her beloved.
"I am sorry, beloved,"Taliawhispered into the darkness and the only the Bats in the cave heard her words as she left the Batcave.
- - -
A JAVELIN flew hyperspace on autopilot. A few days ago, the Green Lantern Corps had called upon the Justice League. They needed assistance with a dispute in a far flung sector. Lanterns were preoccupied with an uprising in an adjacent sector and as the case was, the closest available Lantern was several days away, except John Stewart.
John was a Green Lantern. He was a hero of OA, a master Green Lantern. He was also the Lantern attached to the Justice League. The Green Lantern Corps needed him and so, he took a team of Leaguers--- Kara Kent (Supergirl), Star and S.T.R.I.P.E., and Red Tornado. The dispute was largely diplomatic and was resolved quickly--- surprisingly by quick thinking on Supergirl's part.
"You did good, kid" John said to Kara, who sat on the pilot's chair as they travelled hyperspace.
"Good? Thats all you're going to say?"
"Yeah, John--- that all you can say?" Courtney Whitmore asked as she stuck her tongue to Kara.
Before anybody else could respond, the Javelin shook--- and the Leaguers found themselves thrown off in every direction. Kara grabbed hold of the helm and searched franticly why they were in trouble.
The proximity indicators screamed. John, Stargirl, The Ray and S.T.R.I.P.E., found their footing and had strapped themselves to their chairs. "Will someone kill that racket? Its giving me a headache!"
"Roger that John!" Courtney said.
"Sensors show we have incoming, John."
"Roger that Red. Anybody recognize them? Because I don't." There was silence.
"Switching to manual override, John." A moment later, Kara added, "I have helm control back," as the Javelin began to level off."
"Courtney? Red? prep weapons and shields but wait for my word to activate them. Pat, think we can open a channel?"
Suddenly, Raiders from the mothership began to launch and they sent a barrage of fire on the unsuspecting Javelin.
"SHIELDS!" John yelled--- fast as they were Stargirl and The Ray raised weapons and shields but they were seconds late as the first beam hit the Javelin damaging it.
"We're going down!" Kara yelled as she tried in vain to gain control of their ship. "Watchtower--- this Javelin-220 We are going down, we are going down!"
"Everyone prep for EVAC!" John yelled. Kara reached for her breathing mask--- as did Stargirl and the Ray. John enveloped them with green energy as their ship blew up into a thousand pieces.
That didn't stop their enemy from coming. Several dozen ships were on to them, pressing the attack.
"Everyone on the count of three--- scatter! Pick your targets and engage." Everyone nodded as John flew them around, trying to escape their pursuers.
"THREE!" Red Tornado and Supergirl took to their right flank. S.T.R.I.P.E. and Stargirl took the left and John Stewart made his way forward. They scattered like a rainbow of colors flying in every direction.
Their pursuers were blowing up like flies. Then Kara saw an opportunity. Using her heat vision, she plowed her way towards the mother ship. As she breached the hull, the ship sealed itself behind her, maintaining system stability. She made her way--- not knowing where she's headed. All the droids that had been attacking them were growing in number and ferociousness.
KARA ZOR-EL found herself in a huge room battling dozens of droids. Her contact with the others would fade in and out--- comms were being jammed. But all of them were still all right.
"We need to get out of here and quick," John said. He was busy thinking of a way out.
"Roger that John," Kara said. "I'm going to find out who's running this show".
Just then a huge blast door opened before her and red beams hit her squarely in the chest and she screamed.
- - -
"KARA!" JOHN yelled through the comm. Then suddenly the huge ship before them started to fold space. Then without warning it exploded in a thousand different directions. Lantern quickly used his ring to shield everyone.
As the light from the explosion began to dissipate, John Stewart whispered something to his ring. It responded efficiently. "No Kryptonian life signatures detected... reading 0.000001 Kryptonian DNA within a twenty kilometer radius... search parameters expanded to include blast radius... no Kryptonian DNA detected."
"Kara?" Stargirl whispered as tears flowed from her eyes as John Stewart took them home.