The riot was spilling out into the bordering neighborhoods. Young men were either bunched up in groups, or were running around solo. The ones in groups were usually beating the life out of a rival gang member, or were just about even as two groups wailed on each other. The solo ones usually had guns and were streaking around, taking pop shots when they could. They were proving to be the more dangerous ones.

Following the conclusion of the meeting at the Tower of Fate, Batman and the others were bombarded by the news of a gang riot in Metropolis. With everything that was going on, it could not have picked a worse time to happen, or an even worse city to occur. Superman would be responding sooner rather than later, and if he was up at the Watchtower, he might bring some of the League members still loyal to him.

This needed to be dealt with and quickly.

With the use of Dr. Fate's magic, they were transported to Metropolis, the sorcerer opting to stay in his Tower. In the interest of keeping J'onn and Flash's involvement under wraps, they were left behind as well. Considering he had his former Network comrades behind him, this wouldn't look out of the ordinary. All of them had experience in putting down riots; this wouldn't take long.

As his team took up positions on top of the buildings surrounding the fighting, Batman keyed on one man running around with an uzi. He hadn't used it since he spotted him, but that was because he was trying not to spring friendly fire on his own gang. There was something to be said of his restraint, but that machine gun made him the most dangerous person here.

He would be going down hard.

Leaping from his perch, Batman soared towards the man, using his cape's glider mode to reach him. At the last moment, he released his hold on his cape as he swung his leg forward, his feet slamming on the man's back, and knocking him to the ground as he cried out. He hit the ground face first, but wasn't completely out of the fight. Rolling onto his back, he took aim with his uzi, only to hesitate at the sight of the Dark Knight.

That was his last mistake as Batman closed the distance between them rapidly and kicked the gun out of his hands, the young man again crying out as he grasped at his hands. Raising his extended leg up, Batman then stomped it down on the youth's face, knocking the back of his head on the ground and effectively out of consciousness.

By then, Batman noticed the surrounding gang members had spotted him and were beginning to turn their attention on him. Reaching to his belt, he pulled out two handfuls of shuriken and with the swing of both of his arms, he sent them flying in all directions. There were more screams as each bat-shaped projectile hit their target. Some took one to the head, which knocked them unconscious. Others were hit on their bodies, causing them to flinch from the blow, while others were disarmed of their weapons, be it clubs, guns, or knives.

That was when the others joined in.

From the air, he saw the other vigilantes come flying in. Green Arrow led with his infamous boxing glove arrow, hitting a gang member on the side of his head and taking him down. The moment he landed, he was using his bow to take out the legs of another gang member, nailing the youth with a follow-up backswing in midair.

Katana had landed in the middle of a group of thugs, her sword still sheathed. That didn't stop her from using it to knock out the legs under each and every one of them as she crouched low and spun around, her sheathed blade hitting each and everyone one of them at the knee and knocked their legs out from beneath them. They collapsed around her, an awkward bloom of haphazardly collapsed bodies.

Batman didn't see where Huntress and Manhunter were, but no doubt they were using their respective bo staffs to their advantage. Nearby, he spotted Nightwing with his electrified escrima, blocking a punk from hitting him with a crossbow. He quickly followed up by ramming an electrified end into the man's stomach, causing him to scream as he flinched back. That left him helpless as Nightwing pummeled him with a series of quick strikes until the man was lying on the ground, twitching from the shocks.

There was a shrill scream, brief, but one that got attention quickly. Jerking his head to his right, he saw a couple of gang members flying through the air, crashing into the side of a building. A flash of blonde hair between a group of bodies confirmed Black Canary's location.

Heading in that direction, Batman took down another punk, using an elbow strike to hit the back of his head, sending him stumbling forward. Immediately fully extending his hand, he smashed the bottom side of his fist against the side of the youth's face. Stepping forward as he did so, he brought his foot up behind the man's foot and kicked it out from beneath him. His balance all but destroyed, the man began following backwards. Finishing him off, Batman bent his extended arm at the elbow and struck the youth in midair on his face. He landed on his back, not so much as twitching.

By then, several gang members had seen the Network in action. Some of the smarter ones took off running away, which was alright. The primary objective was to stop the fighting and if turning tail and running did that, then that was acceptable.

For the ones that decided to stay and fight, they were about to learn just how wrong they were to choose that option.


The news from Metropolis was troubling, especially for one Kryptonian.

While he knew Metropolis was far from being perfect, it was sometimes easy to forget when faced with its polish veneer. He still took pride in it, pride in being its protector. The sudden fighting happening in its streets was like taking a dagger to his heart.

It tended to happen a lot when he had to leave his city, that the small fish took the chance to make problems. He tried his best to make sure few knew about his absences so as to minimize such occurrences.

But he hadn't left Earth this time. He was close by. No, this senseless violence couldn't be coincidence. What were the odds this was another scheme from the Legion of Doom? The very thought made his hackles rise. There were going to have to be...words with Humanite about this, that was for sure.

However, this was an opportunity for him. For the future.

He put out the call and had the League gather together so that they could be informed. Superman took care to be the last entering, doing another headcount and noticing the smaller number that he was able to reach. Not everyone had heeded, and that was a problem, though one to address later.

"Everyone," he greeted, drawing all attention to him. "I know this is not what you were thinking about when you tried out to join a League. Given recent events, I feel it would be best if we settled this current incident together."

Superman kept a pleasant smile on his face, doing his best to try and disarm. There were initial seconds of silence, and inevitably, the questions started.

"Are you sure this requires the League to intervene?" That came from Captain Atom, his arms crossed. "I did not know criminal offenses of this nature was something that fell under the League's jurisdiction."

"Normally, you would be right, Atom," Superman said, agreeing. "However, the timing of this is not good. The Legion of Doom has been enacting various ambushes, and now that the three members of the Pantheon have been dealt with, they'll need new bait. That this violence is happening in Metropolis means they are trying to draw me out and we know they are capable of capturing me. To go in alone while the Legion is active is too risky."

There were many nodding heads, understanding. The Legion was proving to be a most useful tool here.

"This also can be an opportunity to show the rest of the world what the League can do with its new members," the Kryptonian continued. "This can be a show of force that shows that we are capable and worthy of the public's trust. The sooner we break up the violence, the more we gain in impressing everyone that we can handle such situations."

He saw more nodding, which was what he wanted to see. However, "Don't you think this is disproportional?" a voice spoke out.

It took less than a second to spot Black Lightning. Neutral in expression, the former thorn in his side was watching him, judging. He had to remind himself it was not too late to change this mind. Black Lightning could still be won over before he made the decision to leave.

"How so?" Superman found himself asking.

Gesturing with a hand, "Even if they are being used as bait, look at them. These aren't some super-criminals. They're kids. Wannabe gangsters. A bunch of hotheads with too much time on their hands and too easily angered for their own good. Why would a force of people with superpowers be needed to stop it?"

"Because we don't know if the Legion is lying in wait for us." Superman turned his head slightly, already recognizing John as the one to speak up. The Green Lantern continued without skipping a beat, "Yes, normally Superman would intervene by himself. He's done it before, but going alone is too risky, and the Legion has already shown that its been able to capture and hold him. Going in alone, right now, would be stupid. The more eyes we have, the better we're able to protect ourselves, not from the mob, but from the enemies just waiting for their next chance."

"But we don't know if the Legion has anything to do with this! This sounds like paranoia more than anything," Black Lightning argued.

"Is this a chance you want to take?" John demanded.

"Black Lightning is right in that we don't know if the Legion is involved," Superman cut in to forestall a growing argument. Disagreements like that could not be allowed, but taking a heavy hand now could be more disastrous. "At the same time, there is no evidence that the Legion isn't involved. Please, as a favor to me, I would appreciate it if the League would back me up in the off-chance that the Legion is waiting for me. There is no need for everyone to get involved, but I believe a perimeter should be set nonetheless. They may be wannabe gangsters, but they are breaking the law and should have to answer to it."

Black Lightning wouldn't break eye contact and thus was refusing to back down. Since when was the last time he had to face off with such insubordination? Too long, and normally it was...a task...given to others...his head was starting to ache again, but he was able to push it to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to show any kind of weakness.

"We need to make a choice now." Diana's soothing voice was good at settling tempers, the Amazon taking point. "We can either argue about this until the riot ends, or we can stop it before innocent people are hurt. Time is of the essence; so what shall we do? All in favor of acting and ending the riot, raise your hands."

There was no need to look behind himself to know that John and Shayera were raising theirs. He was raising his own and was more than pleased that Diana was doing the same. Many in the gathering were doing the same, some faster than others with a hold out here and there. One of the last was predictably Black Lighting and he begrudgingly raised his own.

That it took so long to find agreement...no, now was not the time. Right now, it was to stop this show of aggression in Metropolis and firmly establish the League's position. This would serve as the foundation for re-establishing his One World Government and it needed to be done carefully. Any fractures in the League would need to be addressed, and quickly, and this situation would expose it all.

"Then let's get to it, and thank you," Superman declared as he turned on his heel leading the way to the teleporters.


The news had picked up the story and the first thing Luthor needed to know was how it could affect him. For the most part, there was little to worry about. There were sectors of the city he was still, shall we say, moving into. Owning a little over half of Metropolis meant just that, meaning there were parts of the city that did not belong to him.

It was pure luck that this latest spat between various gangs was happening in an area that didn't belong to him. Now, there was an opportunity to gain some much desired real estate. Depending on the damage, he might be able to expand his reach in his city more.

Other than that, it was something to ignore, another piece of breaking news that had no negative effect over him whatsoever. He had more important matters to attend to, after all.

That didn't mean he was going to completely ignore it, however. Everything was an opportunity, so he had eyes assigned to watch over it. Typically, at least in recent years, when an incident like this happened, a certain blue boy scout would show up to put an end to it.

But not this time.

This time he had to retreat to his office and oversee the latest development. Someone was interfering in the riot and gangland violence. That someone wore black and not blue and red. His green eyes narrowed, but his posture relaxed as he observed the latest images and footage being published.

From a distance, it appeared like a Halloween costume, but up close was something else altogether. The so-called Batman was taking Metropolis matters into his own hands and was actively fighting everyone that was in his way. Nor was he alone. There were other individuals, all costumed, and all of them skilled with some kind of martial art. The small-time criminals down there had never met anything like it before and were accordingly having their asses handed to them.

This, this right here was an example of what normal humans were capable of. There was a sense of pride there; mankind was rising to the occasion as it always did, always should, and without any "help" from the gods above. The business mogul kept his attention more on those who wore black and purple, red and yellow, and add a different splash of green there. That was a bow and arrow, wasn't it? Ah yes, that had to be the Green Arrow, one of the latest Justice League recruits. That also meant...there, Black Canary.

Three confirmed members of the Justice League were indeed there, but that was not how he solely saw it. It was a small fragment of the League to be sure, but there were noticeable absences. The Man of Steel was a primary one, one he noticed immediately.

What did this mean then?

That was the question. The Legion of Doom had been doing wonders for advancing his agenda. Their success had been better than what he had hoped. Had they been too successful, though? Or perhaps...perhaps it was their true purpose at work.

A notification appeared on his monitor. Another pair of his eyes had spotted activity from a different avenue. Hmm, this might be good. Good enough perhaps for another opportunity to strike.

Not with his Legion, though. No, if he were to attack now, it would need to be from a direction that neither side was expecting. It needed to be something to further expedite his plans. Something that no one on either side could ever hope to predict.

Fortunately, he happened to possess such a weapon.

Fingers tapped at his keyboard and soon enough a video file was brought up and uploaded. He took several moments to watch through it, to make sure it was up to his standards. The next part wouldn't be tricky at all. When you owned over half of the city, that meant you had access to much of its infrastructure.

Not all of a city's infrastructure was physical nowadays. Digital and cyber were growing with every day, both in its scope and importance. Naturally Lexcorp was leading that charge into the future because why shouldn't it be Lexcorp?

Now to wait and watch for the best moment.

When it arrived, it would be as simple as pressing a button.


It was slow, but the fighting was beginning to disperse. As more and more gang members hit the pavement, unable to get back up, others began to take note and lost their bravado. There were still a few that wanted to prove they were up to the challenge, only to learn very quickly just how wrong they were.

Had this been Gotham, the very sight of Batman would have sent most of them running. However, these punks were used to Superman, who did his best to minimize the damage. The Dark Knight had seen footage of the Kryptonian using his superspeed to pick the thugs out one by one, restraining them in whatever was convenient—rope, cables, even powerlines—all of which was done in mere seconds.

Metropolis' lowlifes had never gone up against someone that could and would beat them down senseless. That was a lesson they would learn when this was over.

"Fucking cowards!" one gang member was shouting, clearly a leader of his gang. He was watching his fleeing comrades with anger. That was a mistake.

Batman closed in on the man in seconds. As the youth turned around angrily, he was met with the sight of the vigilante in midair, cape billowing out behind him. He barely got out a scream before Batman's fist slammed into his face, silencing him instantly. As he stumbled backwards, the dark-clad man shot both of his hands towards him, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt and yanking him back. He rammed his knee into the youth's stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs, leaving him breathless. Raising up an arm, he then swung it down, his elbow colliding with the back of the gang member's head. He dropped to the ground the moment Batman lowered his leg, lying in a drooling heap.

A few nearby gang members saw this and terror appeared on their faces. "Fuck me!" one of them exclaimed before they all began running away, practically pushing against each other to get as far away as they could.

Searching around him, Batman could see the riot was effectively breaking up. He could see clear to the surrounding buildings now, instead of a mob of bodies. In fact, he could see the rest of the Network putting down their own opponents, but not making a move to go after others.

Suddenly, there was a blur. Batman nearly missed it the first time, but then he caught sight of it again, a mixture of red and blue. Fleeing men were suddenly thrown to their feet, lying there groaning from whatever hits they had taken.

As sudden as it appeared, it stopped. Batman stood his ground, staring straight ahead. There were only so many things that could have been and he would be greeting that person soon enough.

The sound of a cape flapping in the wind came from behind him. Turning around, Batman found Superman floating in midair, arms crossed over his chest. That wasn't surprising. What was concerning was that there were members of the Justice League with him, many of whom were hovering behind the Kryptonian.

He immediately spotted Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, each one just behind the Man of Steel's shoulders, one on each side. Diana was just beyond Hawkgirl, perhaps the friendliest of the faces here. Firestorm and Captain Atom were here too, as well as Fire in her green flame mode, and Steel. There were one or two others, but the Dark Knight couldn't see them from this angle.

As if in response, the Network began to drawing in around Batman, Black Canary and Green Arrow appearing on either side of him. He hadn't told them to do so, but they seemed to instinctively gather by him.

The look on Superman's face wasn't welcoming. It wasn't outwardly scowling, but it was clearly disapproving of what had happened here. Batman couldn't fault the dark-haired man that, but he had the feeling it wasn't just the riot he was disapproving of.

"You're in my city," the Kryptonian announced. "Mind telling me what you're doing here, Batman?"

"Stopping a riot," he replied.

"Without my consent?"

Batman's expression hardened. However, it wasn't him that responded to that. "We weren't aware we needed passports," Green Arrow said. "Not that I recall you ever asking for them."

"Careful, Arrow," Lantern warned.

"Or you'll what? Drill my head in with your ring?" Arrow shot the Lantern a pointed look. "Aren't you supposed to be on reserve duty anyway? What are you doing here?"

Lantern glowered at the jab, but he wisely held his tongue. Perhaps that was in part to Hawkgirl reaching an arm behind Superman to grab the dark-skinned man by his shoulder. Other heroes seemed to perk up at the archer's point, giving questioning looks to the Green Lantern's back.

"There is no need for bickering," Diana then spoke up, ever the diplomat. "I'm certain Batman was only responding to your call to action, Superman. Green Arrow and Black Canary as well, the only difference being they arrived before us."

The Man of Steel slowly nodded his acceptance of this, but then he focused his attention on something else. "That doesn't explain the presence of most of Gotham's vigilante community."

"Not that it's any of your business," Huntress replied as she took a step forward, "but the rest of us were working on a case nearby and Canary contacted us for backup. Since we were close, we agreed. We could have always said no."

The look on Superman's face said that was probably the preferable choice, he just didn't voice it. That wasn't the behavior of the Superman he knew, but it was of one that wanted all aspects of life controlled, preferably by his will.

"We'll be taking our leave now," Batman declared then. "You and the others can perform clean up."

Pulling out his grapple, he fired it towards a nearby building, repelling away. There were quite a few more grapples used, and soon his team was on top of a building, striding across the roof.

Of course, Superman couldn't just leave it alone at that.

In an instant, the Kryptonian was right in front of them, arms still crossed over his chest. "Let me make one thing clear," he said lowly. "While I appreciate your...assistance, Metropolis is my city, like Gotham is yours. You want to have your own little kingdom with little interference from the League, fine, but you're going to respect my authority here. Don't come here without asking me first."

That wasn't an unreasonable request, but Superman wasn't asking. Batman did not like the tone at all. He was aware of the hypocrisy in that he would probably act the same way Superman was and had, but he didn't put up with such behavior.

"The same way you asked me when you sent the League into Gotham after the Pantheon?" he responded rhetorically. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Superman's face darkened. "Careful what you say."

Batman didn't respond, just stared at the Kryptonian. If he thought he could bully him, then he was sorely mistaken. Seconds passed by, the two men just staring each other down.

Right until Diana landed next to Superman. "The authorities are on the way," she informed him, placing a hand on his arm. "You should let them go. Batman and the others do not have the same status in Metropolis as you do."

The dark-haired man nodded before he floated away. It was Diana's turn to share a look with Batman, one less hostile. Then she too left.

"Well, that was tense," Arrow remarked after a moment. As if that were a signal, the Network began moving again, heading to the other side of the roof. "I wasn't expecting that, but then again, I feel like I should have."

"Is this what you were talking about? The new aggression in the League?" Black Canary asked.

Batman nodded. As they reached the other end of the roof, he leaped over the alleyway, the others following his lead. "Things are only going to become more tense," he warned them as they continued to walk. "If this is too much, now is your chance to leave."

"You don't see any of us leaving," Huntress said.

"Except from here," Manhunter added. "But you're going to have to explain to me why we're walking instead of...well, getting out of here faster?"

"We need to put some distance between us and Superman before we—" he began.

"After that, the League led by Superman put the whole world on notice."

Batman came to an abrupt stop. Eyes widened, the very blood in his veins went cold. That voice…

"They went from being reactive to proactive. Military hot spots, politically tense regions, crime-ridden cities, they went into all of them and began systematically stopping all conflict. At first, everyone was praising them."

Turning his head, the vigilante spotted a large monitor on a nearby skyscraper. It was most likely an electronic billboard for displaying advertisements, but the image on it was not selling soda. Instead, he saw the face of future Cassandra, a POV shot of her as she spoke.

No…

Images of Green Lantern firing his ring, the green beam becoming a hand that tried to grab the viewer. Cassandra's transparent face was faded, but still visible as a scene of Hawkgirl smashing through a wall with her mace took prominence.

"But then they found out problems in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions weren't just limited to those areas. They realized Western governments were involved and began going after them too. The ones most hit were the ones that were on the U.N. Security Council: the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China."

Immediately, Batman dropped to one knee, his palm pilot in one hand. He was already accessing the Cave's computer, putting in a command to isolate the signal while simultaneously enacting a jamming program.

"Shortly after that, they formed the One Earth Government and forced the world's governments to join it."

Superman sat upon a throne, an emperor, a king, or perhaps a dictator with delusions of grandeur, all of that could be used to describe him in that moment. Sure enough, Superman was replaced with images of armored men policing the streets, harassing the citizens of Erie, Metropolis, and of course Gotham. How people cowered before the men and women in that black body armor, begging pleading, and then being beaten under merciless fists and feet. Batons, tasers, and even the butts of firearms were used until the unlucky victims were dragged into armored vans, never to be seen again.

C'mon, c'mon, Batman urged the device. It was taking too long, way too long.

"It was there that people began to have some reservations about what the League was doing. Tensions began to well up in the superhero community and lines were drawn."

Jaime Reyes, newly bonded to the Scarab struck at a much larger and bulkier Cyborg, who fired blast after blast from his arm cannon. Diana breaking through the floor of the Cave and then was rammed into by his black car, each scene followed one after the other, ending as green light blasted through another wall, though cutting off the arrival of the alien he would learn later to be Starfire.

There was a sharp bing! and the device indicated the frequency had been identified. Much to Batman's chagrin, this wasn't an isolated frequency, but one that was being broadcasted to multiple media outlets. It was almost as if a mass audience was being targeted.

Regardless, he was shutting it down.

"The League then declared that anyone that wasn't serving justice on their side were outlaws and would be thrown in jail."

The Bat Underground was under attack, bodies flew through the air, and debris struck those unable to get out of the way.

The jamming program was loading. 25%...50...65… The entire time, Batman willed it to go faster. 75%...84...92...95...

"That meant heroes would be placed in the same jails and prisons as the people they had personally arrest"

Abruptly, the screen cut off, the image of future Cassandra being replaced by static. Finally, the jamming program kicked in. Unfortunately, it was not in time to stop the sight of Diana snapping his daughter's neck.

The vigilante could still hear the snapping of bone and vertebrae, even after all this time. The horror, the rage, and grief briefly flashed through his mind. Then he pushed it aside because now was not the time. He needed to take control of this situation, now, and before any damage could happen.

Unfortunately, Batman feared, the damage was already done.