Disclaimer: The Justice League and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics Inc., a subsidiary of the Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences division of Warner Bros. I own nothing except the plot.

Chapter 1: The Battle of Deadman's Bayou

2010 A.D.

DEADMAN'S BAYOU
SEP 21, 19:28 CDT

Night fell on the shores of Deadman's Bayou, and in the sunless caves that stood on the bayou's shoreline, a lone chamber in the heart of the neolithic maze was about to host a meeting of unimaginable danger. Within this cave was the headquarters of the Injustice League, and its members were gathering for another session concerning their plans to achieve world domination.

The first member of the Injustice League to preside over the meeting place was the last person anyone but the Justice League would suspect of being in alliance with criminals: Lex Luthor, who had been discreetly providing aid to the Injustice League and other criminal organizations through misappropriation of money and illegal sale of armaments as well as extortion, manipulation of authorities, and undercover intel theft.

Once Luthor was there, his fellow super-criminals entered the chamber through the other entrances. The first to enter were the Joker, Captain Cold, and Black Manta, followed by Cheetah, Sinestro, the Riddler, and the Scarecrow. Bizarro, Toyman, and Giganta came from the right entrance, and from the left came Grodd, Brainiac, and Solomon Grundy. Bane entered the room next with Killer Frost, Silver Banshee, Livewire, the Terror Twins, Black Adam, and Wotan.

Luthor surveyed the group and said to them, "Good evening, everyone. It gives me great pleasure to be able to host our summit tonight. I was concerned I would not be able to attend, but my absence from Metropolis has safely gone unnoticed. You know how it is with the need for public appearances."

The other villains all expressed their agreement, and then Luthor continued. "Now then, let's get down to business."

The first to speak following Luthor was Joker, who took a rubber gavel from his coat pocket and bonked himself on the head, saying, "The meeting will come to order!"

"Very amusing, Joker," Luthor deadpanned. "Now to start off, I'd like to announce that in the past week, ten million dollars have been electronically transferred from LexCorp to Santa Prisca to allow increased production of Venom. The sale of the strength-drug will hopefully provide suitable street profits in major cities throughout the United States and with some generous aid from me, allow our top members here from Gotham City to add some new recruits to their folds of gangsters."

Most members of the group of supervillains smirked greedily at that, particularly Bane. No one loved recruiting Venom addicts to their gangs more than the man responsible for its production, and the others knew it well. In their minds, more strength meant a higher tactical advantage, and this was vital to their world domination plans. However, the news prompted Cheetah to say, "Which begs the question: what's in it for you, Lex?"

Luthor smiled and replied, "Only that our Venom-enhanced gangs bring us enough crime profits to allow me to bend the American Citizen Protection Act to the breaking point."

This confused some of the other Injustice Leaguers, for most of them had no dealings with politics or social issues. In fact, it was a shock for Grodd. The super-intelligent ape wondered, "Forgive my misunderstanding, Luthor, but why should a potential government act concern you personally? Isn't your Civil Rights Movement enough to concern you and this country?"

"The Civil Rights Movement is just business, but allowing superheroes protection under American law even if they are from other planets is shameful," Luthor replied. "I won't have the people continue to praise those self-righteous imposters for showing up important people like me. If a person has power, they should be allowed to use it as they choose. You'd be surprised how many gifts and bribes allowed me to avoid seeing prison for such a long time."

Luthor went on to say, "Speaking of, I've received word that Riddler was able to fund enough money to turn the public's opinion against Mayor Hamilton Hill in Gotham City. The verdict at the hearing was overruled, but we have seen the Mayor's reputation tarnished. Congratulations, Riddler."

The Riddler grinned in response to Luthor's adulation, then said, "I've also managed to sway the public by having some members of my own crime rig impersonate officers of the law to give the impression that Mayor Hill is soft on crime. In fact, from what the public has been seeing, Gotham could be taken by an army of peasants."

The Injustice League shared cruel smiles, for they were confident that their eventual plans to achieve world domination would succeed. Though some members of the group had their doubts. Solomon Grundy was the first to speak his doubt and said, "What about the Justice League? They got more members now. More power to their group. Grundy not sure we should keep fighting them."

"Perhaps we can fight the League on our terms if we have weapons capable of giving us an advantage," said Scarecrow.

That's when Luthor said, "And I can give us all some assistance there."

He gestured with a hand, and Bizarro, Bane, and Grodd hauled several large boxes into the chamber. Sinestro used a yellow-energy crowbar to pry one of them open, and Luthor took out a two-handed blaster gun. The rest of the group looked at the device, and Joker wondered, "Well, what new and deadly laser have you come up with this time, Lex?"

Luthor grinned and replied, "This is a plasma impactor. It fires a concentrated beam of modified plasma energy a shade thinner than plasma normally is when it is superheated. The ray causes maximum dissolution of the target's structure on impact. These blasters get two thousand shots, and I can assure all of you, they'll do the job well enough."

The villains all grinned at that, and then Luthor continued. "I plan to sell the plasma impactor variants to America's military, and when they see what my new methods of protecting our shores can do, they'll pay by the millions for them. And of course, I'll be selling so much more to the right buyers for free, namely each of you. All you have to do is keep the government off my back with a couple diversions each to make your achievement seem more like a theft and a mishap than anything else, and no one will be the wiser. Any other questions from you all?"

The Injustice League remained silent, so Luthor said, "Very well, everyone. I believe tonight's assembly of the Injustice League is concluded."

All at once, another voice said, "You're right about that, Luthor. This assembly is concluded."

The sealed door on the ceiling of the cave melted away to reveal the moonlit sky outside, and hovering over the supervillains' heads with a look of utter disgust was Superman. In an instant, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Hawkgirl joined him as the Man of Steel descended to the floor, and then Aquaman and the Flash entered the room. Batman entered on a Bat-cable, followed by Doctor Fate, Plastic Man, Green Arrow and Red Arrow, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Black Lightning, and Red Tornado.

The Justice League gave cold looks to the Injustice League, but Lex Luthor simply smiled and said, "Once again, you interfere with my most private of business affairs, Superman. But it doesn't matter. Even if you do bring me in, your so-called heroism won't favor you. I'll still have the best attorneys and witnesses to exonerate me at whatever trial you plan to see me attend."

"Your money isn't going to save you this time, Lex. And neither will your witnesses," Superman replied icily. "We recorded this whole meeting the moment you and the rest of your cronies stepped into the cave. Moreover, we have the evidence that you covered up explicitly detailing that you were delivering illegal weapons and stolen intel to Black Manta and Intergang, and that intel has already been delivered to every authority figure in America from the federal to the local governments."

For the first time in his life, Lex Luthor was shocked. He had covered the evidence of his deeds so well it would be impossible to learn that he was chairing the Injustice League. His face darkened with anger and he stormed, "Why can't you ever stay out of my business?!"

"Because dealing with criminals like you is my business, Luthor," replied Superman. "In fact, the League has a federal warrant for your arrest. The others all have more than substantial records of criminal activity, but considering the severity of your actions, it's likely that you'll have a similar sentence."

Now Luthor was mad, and he said to his fellow super-criminals, "Kill them all. Superman will present the highest degree of danger, I know, but I'll deal with him personally when the rest of them are no longer a threat to us."

And with that, the Injustice League moved in to attack. But as they came on, the Justice League readied themselves and then fought back with everything they had. The Joker, the Riddler, and the Scarecrow were already having a difficult time trying to face Batman, for he dodged every shot from Joker's spear-gun and avoided Scarecrow's chemical-tainted darts with remarkable speed. He dealt lightning-fast fast punches, kicks, headlocks, and judo throws to each of his foes, and when he had the advantage, Batman bound the Joker in his Bat-straitjacket so he couldn't get away. Then he caught the Scarecrow in his Bat-web, but then the Riddler tried to make a run for it. It was a bad move, for Batman caught him by the ankles with a Bat-cable and bound him to a rock column.

Superman had his hands full taking on Bizarro, Brainiac, and Solomon Grundy, but he was handling them with little trouble if any. He moved at superhuman speed to avoid the punches from Grundy and Bizarro and gave each of his opponents a few quick blasts of heat vision, and he easily knocked the three supervillains around as though they were training dummies. Toyman was no trouble, for Martian Manhunter avoided his exploding blocks and razor-tops with relative ease. Before Toyman could use his flame-throwing hose, Martian Manhunter knocked him out with a psionic blast.

Wonder Woman and Cheetah were practically fighting tooth and nail (or in Cheetah's case, claw) when Giganta prepared to trample the Amazon princess underfoot. But as the fifty-foot-tall woman raised her giant foot to flatten Wonder Woman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl flew in to prevent her from doing so. Giganta ended up stepping on Hawkman's mace and she pricked her toes. Then Hawkgirl struck her in the ankle and the giantess collapsed to the ground. It was all the advantage Wonder Woman needed, for Cheetah pushed her away and tried to run to get Giganta back on her feet, only to be bound in Wonder Woman's lasso. With a grin, Wonder Woman said, "Rule number one of battle: Never let your opponent distract you."

Captain Cold was starting to lose his cool as he fired his freezing gun repeatedly, hoping to zap Flash. Alas, the red-clad superhero was racing around him at sub-light speed and every shot missed. Just then, Grodd was sent hurling to the ground after a blow from Superman and then he came at Flash, intending to break him. However, Flash saw him coming and the next time Captain Cold fired, Flash moved to the side and Grodd was instantly frozen and toppled to the ground. Then Flash took Captain Cold by surprise by stunning him with some repeated blows to the back and chest. With both of his archenemies down, Flash ran to help his comrades.

Green Lantern and Sinestro were engaged in a heated duel of power rings, with Sinestro using a yellow-energy battle-axe and Green Lantern using a green-energy broadsword. After a few seconds of clashing, Green Lantern formed a green-energy cannon and blasted at his arch-nemesis, only for Sinestro to block the cannonballs with another shield. Sinestro even tried to mow Green Lantern down with a yellow-energy thresher, but this time, our hero wasn't going to let his foe catch him in another trap. He created some green-energy cymbals and slammed them together, sandwiching Sinestro in-between and knocking him out.

Aquaman and Black Manta squared off as well, and the two were putting up a bitter fight. Black Manta's helmet released laser fire from the red eyes, forcing Aquaman to leap aside. The King of the Seas retaliated with his trident and the blast sent Manta fly against the wall of the cave. Half-stunned, the armor-clad sea raider activated his shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and fired several shots, which Aquaman easily evaded. Black Manta took an electro-pole and charged at Aquaman, who put up his trident to block the blow. The two of them struggled together and in the end, Aquaman hit Black Manta full in the face with the flat of his trident. It knocked Manta's helmet off and he collapsed.

While the others handled the rest of the Injustice League, Superman prevented Lex Luthor from escaping. Luthor still had his plasma impactor in hand and was aiming at the Man of Steel as he advanced. Then Luthor said to him, "I offered you the opportunity to work with me, Superman. Why did you refuse me?"

"I admit to hoping you had some humanitarian qualities, Lex," Superman answered. "In the time we've known each other, I have seen your noble side. But as long as you continue to waste your gifts on acquiring wealth and power for yourself and offer nothing to anyone but for your benefit, I will have no choice to stand against you."

Luthor grimaced and replied, "What I do is necessary. It is the way the strong have always survived: if you gather what you can, you will thrive. Expend it for those beneath your tier of strength and you throw it away, and that's the only thing you heroes do: waste what power you have in favor of the lowly and insignificant who never work as hard as we do yet are bold enough to beg for what they have never earned."

Superman couldn't believe how callously Luthor was speaking and said, "The weak are not meant to feed the strong, Luthor. The strong are meant to protect the weak."

That only made Luthor snap, "Are you saying that the common people are worthy of comfort? Worthy of living free? Of my rightful authority?!"

"Yes," replied Superman. "Yes, I do. People who can't make it in this world need people who can support them to give them what they need when they are denied it to them. They have the right to live peacefully, freely, and happily just as much as either of us. How does the difference in money, authority, or strength make us any different from them?"

Now Luthor was even more angry, and he said the most terrible thing possible. "They have no rights."

More furious with Superman's altruistic ideals than he had ever been before, Luthor began firing plasma beams at him, but the beams barely even tickled him and Superman fried the impactor with his heat vision. Luthor then picked up one of the crates containing other impactors with all the strength he could and tried throwing it at him, but Superman only knocked the crate aside like it was a rubber ball. Then he picked up a different crate and knocked Luthor twenty yards away. It was like being hit with a metal construction bar, for Luthor felt his ribs ache and his stomach and sides flared into pain.

Then Superman seized Luthor by the collar and lifted him up to look at him, and the ruthless businessman growled, "Go ahead, hero. Break me. Prove that you're better than I am."

Superman only looked at him for a moment, and then said. "You'd like me to do that, wouldn't you, Luthor? But you won't get the satisfaction of making me stoop to your level. Now you'll have to pay the consequences for what you've done."

THE WATCHTOWER
SEP 29, 13:45 UTC

The Justice League observed the news at the Watchtower and this news was the best they had seen in a year. Thanks to the evidence presented by Superman, Batman, and Captain Atom, Luthor was finally indicted for his involvement with the Injustice League. Cat Grant was on the scene at the press conference in Washington at that moment looking quite excited.

"This is Cat Grant, live from the nation's capital, where America smiles and also breathes a much-needed sigh of relief," she was saying. "After more than eight months of intense debate and voting, the American Citizen Protection Act has finally become a national law. Under this law, American citizens of all walks of life are protected against violence incurred by those trained to uphold the law and the economy is seeing more prosperity for all working Americans as job opportunities are more open and higher paying.
"In related news, the super-criminal organization known as the Injustice League has been officially broken apart with its most dangerous members in prison and the rest as well as their independent factions on the run or in hiding thanks to the Justice League. And it now seems that noted billionaire philanthropist Lex Luthor was in fact leading the Injustice League ever since its formation and is currently awaiting trial. Today, America and the world owes the League a hearty thank-you."