17. The Plan Revealed
"The plan to retake our planet"
"Retake….our….planet…." Flash repeated softly.
"Yes, Flash," Batman was all business.
He had spent years in getting every minute detail in place. The plan was his, Shayera's and J'onn's brain-child. They had first thought of it about ten years ago and through all the vicissitudes they had to face, including losing Shayera, the plan had progressed, continuously being modified and perfected to include the new information they had been gathering on their enemy. To compensate with that, they had increased their own force requirements and had made efforts to do so, until the present. Now was the perfect time for them to attack and wrest control of their planet back from their tormentors.
"Before I go any further, I have one last announcement," Batman spanned his gaze over the entire table. "You will have to go all out in this, all of you. That means you may have to take lives, you will have to kill. As far as our intelligence on the invaders goes, they do not have any humans among their ranks. The only humans they use are as slaves, test subjects for their experiments or as raw templates for their own soldiers."
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At the nod of every head on the table, he proceeded further. He had had years to perfect this speech and could rattle it off even in his sleep.
"It also may happen that some one among us might not make it to the end. If we fail, then it will be a good thing, because if we are captured then what awaits us will make us wish that we were dead. Most of us have already witnessed the atrocities they commit on their prisoners." This time everyone except Diana nodded her head. She had been away from anything remotely related to civilization for almost fifteen years. Although, what she saw on her way to Gotham City, did not make her feel any better about the situation.
"Now we can begin," with that he lifted what looked like a remote from the table and switched on the projector, a pale glow appearing on the screen a few feet away.
Another press of a button and a model of the earth appeared on the blank screen. It was a complete 3-Dimensional model, with certain points blinking on its surface. The blinking points spanned the whole globe.
"The earth is our final goal and the blinking dots are the points we have to hit and destroy," Batman started as he pressed another button and the camera closed into a blinking bat over what was clearly was supposed to define the current location of the 'new' Bat-cave. However, it was nowhere near, where the original cave had stood.
It even wasn't in on American soil anymore. It was somewhere in the Canadian Rockies, in what was one of the coldest regions on the planet.
"This is where we are," Batman explained. "I had started getting his complex built after we faced the Justice Lords," he added as an explanation, making it clear that he had suspected that this earth's league might go the same route as the one on that earth.
"No one apart from me knew about this," he continued with his explanation. "Not even Alfred, although I had left the information for him to transport himself and anyone else he could manage to rescue here, in case there was any untoward development and I was captured or killed."
"All of you have had a basic tour of the complex, including the living quarters upstairs. We are two hundred feet deep under one of the many peaks in this range. Even then you don't feel the effects, because the design is such that rather than getting a feel of being so deep under the earth, you just feel as if you are a couple of dozen feet here and once you are upstairs, its like being on the surface. It is completely self sufficient, with its own underground greenhouse. The water is extracted from the snow and ice covering the mountain sides and peak."
Turning towards Diana, he added. "Only Wonder Woman can feel the altitude differences on a conscious level. That is because of her affinity with the earth." Diana just nodded her head softly. It was true, that she had felt the difference in their elevation from one which was being projected by the 'house' around her and from her contact with the earth goddess, Gaea.
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Pressing another button, Batman moved his presentation forward. The camera zoomed out and panned over the entire North American continent, finally coming to rest at some point in South 'Central' America, over what they guessed was Mexico.
"This is our second complex," Batman stated, his words startling the newest member of he group, namely Diana. Flash seemed to know about the existence of the second facility, even if he had no idea as to where it was located or what went on there. "This is our training facility."
"Training facility?" both Diana and Flash spoke in unison. "What type of training facility?" Diana questioned further.
"I will explain that," Batman answered her. "….in due time."
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Anther button press brought the complete 'planet' into view, flattening it out like a map. There were four 'unknown' lights flashing on various points on the surface.
"These are the four points which we have to hit, simultaneously. The reason for that will be explained later," Batman started explaining. "Each light is one of the four 'creation' complexes. The first one is in North America, USA, in what used to be New York state. The second is in Asia, in South Central China. The third one is in the water, inside what at one time used to be Atlantis." Diana flinched at the mention of her last sanctuary. If only she had not gone to Themiscyra, or come back earlier rather than wallowing her loss.
Noting her reaction, but not voicing anything about it, Batman revealed the final position of the final enemy complex. "The last one is in the Africa, inside the country of Nigeria."
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"Any questions?" Batman halted the projector feed and turned to the table.
"Yes," Flash raised his head. "Why do we have to hit them simultaneously? Why can't we take them out one by one?"
Taking his words in, Batman turned to the other raised hand.
"How do you propose attacking and if I presume, destroying all these facilities at the same time?" Diana asked.
"Before I answer those questions, I want you to know what you are going up against," Batman assuaged them.
"As we neutralize those four locations, we also have to hit them at the final and most important target," suddenly the earth faded away and its place appeared the model of the moon. Zooming in closer, another complex was revealed. It was similar to the other four complexes, except that it looked smaller and more heavily guarded.
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"What's that?" Diana asked curiously.
"That is where the most difficult battle will be fought," Batman explained. "That's where we will find him."
"That's where we will find the Dark Sovereign."
Note: Also posting next chapter ofthe JLU-JLA Crossover 'Symmetry' and the Elseworlds fic. 'JLA: Riddle of the Beast.'
Pls. R&R!