Chapter 9: Send in the Drones

Out in deep space, a giant skull shaped ship make its way through the vastness of the cosmos. Inside, a shadowy figure sat in a command chair, viewing various monitor screens. All of which were on Earth.

"Such a savage and primitive world." The figure remarked. "Still, it is not without some nuggets of worth.

He then typed a few keys on his console, activate several terrifying looking drones. They looked like skeletons with mechanical nervous systems and pulsating domes embedded in their skulls. These domes had three dots arranged into a triangle pattern, connected so they looked like a down arrow almost.

"Find the cities serving my purposes." The figure demanded. "Record everything, and annihilate anything that gets in your way."

The drones gave silent nods of affirmation, then marched off towards the launching bay. As the bay doors opened, the drones flew out one after the other.

In the DEO headquarters, Dr. Miller wandered towards her lab, stifling a yawn as she downed a venti coffee. She opened the door to her lab, finding a rather jarring sight. Sitting in front of a TV set was Jimmy Fallon, watching a rerun of his late night show. He switched the channel to a Terminator marathon, shifting into Arnold Schwarzenegger's character. He switched the channel again to Boomerang, which was playing some old Bugs Bunny cartoons. He had just transformed into the titular bunny when Kari let out a shocked gasp, dropping her coffee, and the stack of papers she was carrying.

"J'onn!" she called out. "I thought I told you to warn me if you're practicing your shapeshifting abilities!"

"Sorry, Kari." J'onn apologized, turning back into his martian form.

He walked over to help her gather up her papers. As he did, he noticed a drawing near the top of the stack. It seemed to depict J'onn, but with slightly human features and a black suit with a blue cape and a red X across the chest.

"What's this?" J'onn asked.

Kari yelped, snatching the paper.

"Nothing!" she quickly lied, hiding it under several papers before grabbing her now spilt coffee.

"You know I will not judge." he reminded her.

Kari sighed.

"I remember how you were worried about accidentally scaring someone to death, but didn't want to give up being who you are." she admitted. "I had this idea of being the best of both worlds. You still look martian, but you're not as… intimidating."

"It is certainly visually interesting." J'onn commended. "Where did you get the idea?"

"From the various heroes and Meta-Humans that have been popping up recently." Kari told him.

"Metahumans?" J'onn questioned.

"Humans with abilities far beyond the scope of natural science." Kari clarified. "They've been on the rise since… you know what, why don't I just show you?"

Kari then went to her computer and pulled up various files. The first to come up was The Flash, showing various traffic footage of a red blur streaking down the street as impossible speeds.

"This guy is The Flash, a Metahuman from Central City." Kari explained. "From what reports from S.T.A.R. Labs have told us, an accident involving their exploding particle accelerator unleashed an insane amount of what was once thought to be theoretical waves all through the city. Afterwards, Metahumans began crawling out of the woodwork. Some were evil, and some, like the Flash here, were benign."

J'onn skimmed through some of the files, a few catching his eye.

"What of this one?" J'onn pointed out. "The man from the sea?"

"That's Aquaman." Kari informed him. "We're not sure what gave him his powers, or what his story is. All we do know is that he can breath and manipulate water, he's strong, and essentially invulnerable, so long as he's wet."

"I see." J'onn replied before turning back to the screen and noticing one file in particular. "I did not know you had a Green Lantern on this planet."

Kari blinked, skinning through the files before bringing up the one J'onn had seen.

"Right, Green Lantern." Kari remembered. "Honestly, he's been a head scratcher for all of us."

"I've heard of them." J'onn explained. "They are members of a galactic peace keeping force in the universe. Their powers come from the rings they wear."

Kari brought up an image of Green Lantern, zooming in on the large ring on his right hand.

"Wow." She let out. "How did we miss that?"

"I couldn't tell you." J'onn replied.

"Well, if you liked that one, how about another mystery." Kari offered.

She filtered through some more files until she brought up Wonder Woman's file.

"She's what we're calling the first Metahuman." Kari explained. "She claims to be from Themyscira, the ancient home of the Amazons."

"I believe I remember reading about such an island." J'onn recalled. "A race of female warriors isolated from the rest of the world."

"Yep." Kari nodded. "Her first appearance was in 1918 on the belgium war front. It's been a century since then and she hasn't aged a day. She's strong, fast, can fly, and her weapons are unlike anything we've ever seen before."

"An impressive warrior to be sure." J'onn commended.

"Yep." Kari nodded. "There are those who say she can give Superman a run for his money."

"Superman?" J'onn inquired.

Kari brought up Superman's file.

"Superman, the man of steel, the last son of Krypton, the hero of Metropolis." Kari listed off. "He's the first alien we ever encountered, even if the DEO has yet to pin him down for an interview. Though, considering your reception, it's probably for the best."

"Probably so." J'onn agreed. "Though it seems I am not the only one who is the last of their kind."

"No, you're not." Kari agreed. "Though I don't think that's a good thing. Still, Earth is full of strange characters, heroes of all shapes and sizes."

She chuckled slightly.

"You know, that actually reminds me of when I used to live in Gotham City." she recalled. "There's this vigilante that made a name for himself down there. He's not a Meta-human, nor an alien. He's just a normal man with some serious tools and way too much time on his hands. Criminals are terrified of him, and even a few normal citizens depending on who you ask. Then again, he's the kind of hero you'd expect for an eternally darkened city like Gotham."

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.

Kari sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Let's just say Gotham isn't exactly the place you'd want to raise your kids." Kari told him.

"Heads up, Batman!" Robin called out, whacking one of Two-Face's twin goons across the face with a bo staff.

Batman quickly dodged the blow intended for him, and punched the goon across the face. He then pulled out a batarang and threw it across the room, knocking the gun of another thug out of his hands. The thug tried to run, but a bat bola from Robin wrapped around his legs and caused him to fall to the ground.

"Don't leave yet." Robin quipped. "The fun's just getting started."

"Couldn't agree more, bird boy." a gravelly voice remarked.

Batman and Robin turned to see Two-Face himself enter the room, holding a tommy gun in one hand, and fishing out a coin with the other.

"Good heads, we leave and that's that. Bad heads, we fill you full of holes." Two-Face told them.

He gave the coin a good flip, to which Batman threw a batarang at it. It hit the coin, knocking it across the building, much to Two-Face's horror.

"NO!" Two-Face yelled, chasing after it.

Before he could though, a bat rope wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground. Robin swung up and landed on top of the villain, slapping a pair of cuffs on his hands

"Tails, you lose." Robin jeered, standing up and turning to Batman.

"Nice work." Batman commended.

Robin beamed with pride.

Later, Batman and Robin watched from an adjacent rooftop as Two-Face and his crew were carted off by the police. Robin stretched, giving a yawn.

"Another night, another crime stopped." He said as he came out of his yawn.

"And yet, you're still adjusting to working nights." Batman observed. "I told you this job would be taxing."

"Does it look like I'm quitting?" Robin questioned. "I knew what I was signing up for, and I can handle it."

He let out another yawn.

"Sure you can." Batman remarked before a device in his belt started beeping.

He took it out, revealing it to be an alarm for Wayne Tech.

"Looks like someone's broken into Wayne Tech." Batman observed.

"We better go check it out." Robin insisted.

"I'll check it out." Batman insisted. "You head back to the Batcave. You've got school in the morning anyhow."

"Right." Robin remembered. "You will call if you need back-up, right?"

Batman just wordlessly shot out a grapnel and darted off into the night. Robyn watched him go, then sighed.

"You knew what you were signing up for, Tim." He said to himself as he pulled out his own grapnel. "Just gotta be patient."

He shot out his own line, then headed for home.

At Wayne Tech, Batman landed in front of the main entrance, which had been torn open. He could see shadows moving inside the building, accompanied by the sound of mechanical servos. He moved inside the building, keeping an eye out for intruders. As he reached the server room, he saw a lone drone hooked up to one of the servers. The screens were flickering as it downloaded all the data from the Wayne Tech database. Not liking what this could mean, he took out a batarang and threw it at the cables the drone had connected to it, severing them. The drone observed this and turned towards Batman.

"Sorry, normal business hours are over." Batman told it.

"Scanning…" the drone let out, a red light coming out of its eyes and passing over Batman. "Species: Human. Threat level: Minimal. Course of action: Ignore."

"Bad call." Batman told it, placing electrical gauntlets on his hands and running towards it.

He punched the robot in the face repeatedly, causing its head to spark with every blow. The drone backed away as it was hit, but was still intact regardless.

"Reevaluating assessment." the drone reported. "Threat level: Medium. Course of action: Termination."

The drone then activated a blaster from its hand and started blasting at Batman. The vigilante quickly leapt out of the way and rolled on the ground before ending up behind a server. He then pulled out two batarangs before coming out and throwing them at the drone. They each imbedded themselves in the eyes of the drone, disabling them.

"System error." the drone let out. "Prepare to rebo-"

The batarangs then exploded, blowing the drone's head clean off. The robot dropped to the ground promptly as Batman walked over to it. He picked up the remains of the head and looked it over.

"So… what are you, and who built you?" Batman questioned.

Just then, a long, mechanical spike came out of nowhere, impaling the head and knocking it out of Batman's hands. He turned to see three more drones standing in the doorway, all three with long, flexible mechanical spikes coming out of their palms. The spike then returned to one of the drones as they all scanned Batman.

"Reevaluating threat." they all let out at the same time. "Threat level: High. Course of action: immediate termination."

They all shot out their spikes at Batman, forcing him to duck under one before leaping out of the way of another. He threw another explosive batarang at the third, severing it before aiming at said drone's head. This time, one of the drones shot out a spike to detonate it before it could hit. The spike then shot towards Batman, causing him to barely dodge it before running towards the drone and replacing his shock gauntlets on his hands. He started punching one of the drones, but this time, it remained stationary and there was no sparking from the head. The drone grabbed Batman by the wrist and threw him aside. He collided with a wall, but Batman quickly sprung off and jabbed a batarang into the neck of a drone before flipping onto the ground. The drone just pulled out the batarang and crushed the batarang in its hand.

"Resistance is futile." The drone insisted. "Your termination is-"

Suddenly, a green broadsword swung through the air, cleaving the drone in half. Batman and the two other drones turned to see Green Lantern hovering in the doorway, his ring glowing brightly.

"This a private fight, or can anyone join?" he quipped.

The two drones began firing at GL, who summoned up an energy shield to protect then morphed that shield into a lance that impaled itself into one of the drones. Green Lantern than spun the drone around and flung it at the third. The third rocketed into the air to avoid the attack, but a grapnel from Batman wrapped around it's legs, preventing it from going higher and allowing GL to blast it in the chest.

With the threats neutralized, Batman landed on the ground gracefully. He straightened up, dusting himself off before turning to GL.

"So you're the Batman." Green Lantern observed. "I thought you'd be taller."

"And you're Green Lantern, the hero from Coast City." Batman added.

"Also the Guardian of Space Sector 2814, but that's not important right now." GL remarked.

"What do you know about these things?" Batman asked, gesturing to the robots.

"Not much." GL admitted. "Detected them entering earth's upper atmosphere towards this location and came to investigate."

He picked up one of the severed heads, giving it a scan with his ring.

"Maybe the Corp's archives know something about our friends here." he mused.

Green Lantern finished his scan, looking at his ring for any answers. He got a relay of information, but before he got a good look at it a different image took its place. It showed a short, balding creature in a long robe looking down at him sternly.

"Hal Jordan of Earth, Green Lantern of Sector 2814, you are to disengage with the enemy and report back to Oa immediately." the apparition insisted.

"Well the enemy's already scrapped, so I can't really disengage from it." Green Lantern reasoned.

"Do not attempt to, as you humans say, weasle your way out of this, Hal Jordan." the apparition warned. "This is a direct order from the Guardian Council and you will obey. Report back to Oa immediately."

"And what if these things are the beginning of something dangerous?" Hal countered.

"The Guardians are aware of the threat of these creatures." The apparition snapped. "Hence the order to disengage. Continue to circumvent this order, and you will face disciplinary action."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Green Lantern remarked, ending the call.

He glanced back over at Batman, who had a small device in his hand.

"Hal Jordan, a pilot for Ferris Air and former member of the United States Air Force." he listed off. "Impressive."

Green Lantern was dumbstruck by Batman's deduction of his identity.

"For the most ancient beings in the galaxy, you think they'd respect the idea of a secret identity." Hal lamented.

"I'm not one to spill secrets." Batman assured him, stowing the device. "I'm assuming if those Guardians are trying to pull you out, whatever this is, it's worth concern."

"That's a fair assessment." Green Lantern agreed. "Was able to get one nugget of information before that unfortunate interruption. These things are of Kryptonian origin."

"Like Superman." Batman mused. "Perhaps he can shed some light on what these things are."

"Sounds good, but it's a long flight to Metropolis." Green Lantern remarked. "... can you fly?"

"In a plane." Batman answered, walking outside.

"... right." Green Lantern replied, flying after him.

In the skies above Metropolis, a large passenger plane had suffered a catastrophic engine failure and was going down just above the city center. As it plummeted down to the ground, Superman flew alongside the plane and tried grabbing it by the tail fin. Though he managed to slow its descent for a moment, the fin snapped off in his hand and the plane kept going down.

"Nice one, Clark." He chastised himself before flying after the plane again.

This time, he flew to the front of the plane, getting underneath it and bracing himself. He continued pushing up on the plane, trying to control it's direction of descent. This seemed to be working as the plane slowly tilted upwards, going straight instead of falling straight down. Now, he was able to safely deposit the plane safely in the middle of a baseball field, letting it skid to a stop. Once the plane was stopped, the emergency ramp inflated and the passengers disembarked safely to the ground.

"Is everyone alright?" Superman asked.

He was met with several affirmations as the passengers all got out of the plane. The last to do so was Lois Lane, who shook her head and smiled as she turned to Superman.

"You know, we've got to stop meeting like this." she remarked.

"Well, I hope this experience hasn't put you off flying, Ms. Lane." Superman told her. "Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel."

"Well, that depends on who's doing the flying." Lois told him before glancing at her watch. "Speaking of flying, mind giving me a lift? I need to get to the Planet in the next ten minutes, or I'll never make the afternoon edition."

"My pleasure." Superman agreed, scooping her up in his arms and flying off.

Once they were high enough in the air, Lois gave Superman a small smirk.

"So, did you follow me to Paris to steal my headline, or were you hoping to take advantage of the 'city of love'?" she quipped.

"Just thought I'd keep an eye on you." Superman told her. "Call me overprotective, but terrorists threatening to blow up the Eiffel Tower leave me on edge."

"Fair enough." Lois admitted. "Though didn't Perry have you covering that arms dealing ring out in Central City?"

"Yes, but I was able to type it up quick enough to pop over and keep you from getting thrown off the observation deck." He told her.

Lois sighed.

"I had the situation under control." she insisted.

"I'm sure you did." Superman reassured. "I just happen to pop by when you don't."

She lightly punched him on the arm, mostly to avoid breaking her hand, as Superman set her down in front of the Planet building. She straightened her hair a bit before sighing.

"See you soon." she told him.

"See ya." Superman called back before flying off.

On a beach off the coast of Maine, Wonder Woman lifted a large humpback whale that had been beached on the shore. She flew it out into the deeper water before dropping it safely in. It went down before coming back up, waving its tail as if to say thank you. She waved back, hovering slightly above the water.

"You beat me by 5 minutes." A voice spoke up.

Wonder Woman turned to see a man approaching her, riding on a wave of water.

"I've heard of you." Wonder Woman told him. "You're Aquaman, the son of Atlantis."

"That's me." Aquaman confirmed. "Though I've never actually been there myself."

"Pity." Wonder Woman lamented. "I have often wondered about the kingdom Poseidon sank beneath the waves."

"Yeah, my mom… she made it sound pretty cool." Aquaman replied as he and Wonder Woman touched down on the solid ground of a low cliff.

"Your mother..." Wonder Woman let out. "From your tone, it sounds like something happened to her."

"She, uh… she died." Aquaman shared hesitantly. "It was a long time ago."

"I have not seen my mother in nearly a century." Wonder Woman shared.

"Never thought of going back?" Aquaman asked, spinning his trident in his hand.

"My duties to the world seem to keep me too busy." Wonder Woman admitted. "The world of man is often rot with evil and corruption. Good men are becoming more and more scarce as the years go by."

"Yeah that's humans for ya." Aquaman remarked. "Selfish and angry jerks. If I had a nickle for the number of whalers and pirates I've taken down…"

"Still, there are a few good ones I have met over the decades." Wonder Woman admitted. "It is in their memory that I keep fighting."

"I can respect that." Aquaman allowed. "Since there isn't anyone in need of saving right now though, wanna grab a drink? I know a good bar my dad and I hit every Friday."

"Sounds delightful." Wonder Woman revealed. "Lead the way."

At the offices of the Daily Planet, Lois was at her desk typing up the events of the plane crash and Superman saving the day yet again.

"It seems… Metropolis owes its gratitude… to Superman… yet again." Lois read as she typed. "And… done."

"Not bad, Lois." Clark commented, leaning on her chair to read over her shoulder.

She sighed, glancing back at him.

"I thought I told you to stop doing that." She chastised. "I will smack you. I don't care if I break my hand again."

"You sure?" Clark asked. "Cause last time you could only type with your left hand for two weeks."

"Point made." Lois allowed. "Just quit doing that, please Smallville?"

"I'll do my best." Clark conceded.

As he went to return to his desk, something caught his eye in the window. He looked out, seeing a streak of green and a strange vessel flying through the sky.

"Hey!" Jimmy Olsen, a photographer for the paper called out. "Look at that! It's a bird!"

"It's a plane." Perry shot down.

"Nah, it's a bat." Lois insisted. "C'mon, we got more important things to worry about."

"Right." Clark agreed. "Uh, I'll be right back. I just remembered I forgot to pick up my asthma medication."

"Just hurry back, Kent!" Perry insisted. "We need that page five for the evening edition!"

Clark made his way out of the newsroom and quickly ducked into a closet before shedding his glasses and opening his shirt, revealing his Superman outfit underneath."

Not too far away, Batman's Batwing flew through the skies next to Green Lantern.

"So how do we find Superman?" GL asked. "It's not like he has a signal like you. Unless…"

"He's already on his way." Batman insisted.

"How can you be sure?" GL inquired.

"Nothing happens in Metropolis that Superman doesn't know about." Batman answered. "Just be patient."

"Fine." Green Lantern relented. "What do we do in the meantime?"

Just then, some stray blaster shots came out of nowhere and hit Lantern and the Batwing. Both Lantern and Batman turned to see more drones flying towards them.

"Again with these guys?" Lantern let out. "Come on."

Lantern swerved around and fired his ring at the drones. His blasts drew their attention, the drones immediately turning towards him.

"Threat recognized." They chanted. "Treat Level: Critical. Course of action: Immediate termination."

"Yeah, yeah, been there done that." GL muttered.

GL formed a buzzsaw and cut one drone in half. The two halves exploded in midair before GL moved onto the next one. Batman swerved the Batwing around and opened fire on the drones, taking out two of them. That's when one drone sent out one of its metal tentacles, which swiped at the Batwing and took out one of its wings. The Batwing began plummeting towards the streets, but his descent was quickly halted. Batman looked outside and saw Superman holding the aircraft.

"Today seems to be my day for catching crashing planes." Superman mused.

Superman then placed the Batwing on a rooftop, allowing Batman to open the cockpit and hop out.

"So, what brings the Batman to Metropolis?" Superman asked.

"Those." Batman answered, pointing to the drones.

Superman looked up and saw Green Lantern blasting at the drones from every angle. Superman darted upward and plowed through several of them. He then flew up next to Green Lantern and used his heat vision to cut down a few.

"Showoff." GL dismissed.

Superman just shrugged in response before turning back to the retreating drones.

"They're retreating." Superman noted.

"That or heading to their next target." GL deduced. "They were targeting Wayne Tech in Gotham, maybe they're heading somewhere similar here."

"That's gotta be Lexcorp." Superman realized. "Get Batman and meet me there."

Superman flies off leaving Gl to fly down next to Batman.

"Seriously, how did you know he was coming?" GL asked.

"I've been researching Superman since he showed up." Batman answered as GL carried him off in an energy bubble. "I've gotten a sense of what he's about and what he's capable of."

"Has anyone told you you can be a little paranoid?" Green Lantern asked.

"On occasion." Batman answered.

Meanwhile in Central City, the police were responding to a hit and run and had blocked off the area. As several officers kept curious onlookers back, Barry Allen was examining the scene and the body for evidence.

"What've you got for me, Barry?" Joe asked, walking up to him.

"Well, you can forget about the possibility of this being an accident." Barry shared. "Look at the tire tracks. They compound on one another. The driver ran our victim over, backed over him, then drove over him a second time before taking off.

"So this was murder." Joe deduced.

"Looks like." Barry concurred. "The front, driver's side tire is also badly out of alignment judging by the tilt in the treds. I'd say this isn't our killer's first vehicular manslaughter. I suggest going over similar cases and finding any connections. Start in the narcotics division."

"Narcotics?" Joe asked.

Barry picked up a small baggie filled with small white pills that he'd pulled from the victims jacket.

"Could be a customer who didn't pay up." Barry suggested. "Either way, it's a start."

"Good work, Barry." Joe commended.

Before Barry could respond, some low rumbling from overhead. He glanced up to see several drones streaking across the sky. He followed their path, realizing they were headed straight for S.T.A.R. Labs.

"What the hell?" Joe let out.

"Uh… I'm gonna get these samples back to the lab." Barry excused. "If I can find out what these drugs are, maybe we can figure out who the murderer is."

"Good call." Joe concurred as Barry ran off.

As Barry grabbed his bag and ran around the corner, he sped into an alleyway and pulled out his suit. He quickly put it on and ran after the drones.

"Guys, heads up. You're gonna have company." Flash called out over comms.

"What are you talking about?" Cisco asked.

"Something's headed to the labs." Barry explained. "I didn't get a good look at it, but it didn't look friendly. I'm on my way now."

Flash continued speeding down the street, turning corner after corner in a mad dash to get to S.T.A.R. Labs.

...

Back at the DEO, Faraday was going over some monitors screens when something caught his eye.

"What is this?" He asked, taking a closer look.

As he did so, he noticed several drones flying through the air in a V-formation. There appeared to be at least a dozen of them, something that set off every alarm bell Faraday possessed.

"Send for Kari Miller and J'onn J'onzz." he ordered over comms.

A few minutes later, J'onn and Kari walked into the room. He turned to them both, crossing his arms.

"What's the matter, Director?" Kari questioned. "I've sent you this week's reports on J'onn."

"It isn't that." Faraday answered. "We've detected several foreign objects entering Earth's atmosphere. I was hoping your 'friend' could lend a little insight."

J'onn looked up at the screens, squinting at the sight of the drones. After a minute, he shook his head.

"I am sorry, but I am afraid I have never seen these creatures before." He said apologetically. "They are not of martian make."

"I see…" Faraday replied. "Well, we best get to work finding them regardless. They're coming for us and I have a feeling they aren't friendly."

"You mean that same feeling that told you J'onn was a murderer?" Kari muttered under her breath.

"... fair enough," Faraday conceded. "Still, I'd rather not take any chances with these things. How soon can we have a tracking software together?"

"I'll talk with the IT department and see what we can do." Kari answered. "How about you, J'onn? Any ideas on how to find these things?"

"I do not believe finding them will be necessary." J'onn spoke up, pointing out one of the windows.

The two humans turned to see the drones flying towards the DEO. They stopped just in front of the building, hovering in the air menacingly.

"What are they doing?" Faraday asked.

All of the drones then held up their hands, firing into the middle of their formation. These blasts began to coalesce into a massive ball of red energy, one that kept getting bigger and bigger. Realizing what was about to happen, J'onn grabbed both Kari and Faraday.

"Look out!" he shouted.

Before he could do anything else, the blast shot out, hitting the headquarters and blowing it up. Everything was engulfed in a massive mushroom cloud of fire as the drones lowered their arms.

"Target: Eliminated." the drones announced. "Operation: Salvage Information."