A/N: Hey readers! I'm sorry I have posted nothing in the past month. There were a lot of projects that needed to be finished and I just finished my exams, so I finally had the time to do at least write one chapter. I don't exactly have a clear update schedule, but I'll post stories as soon as I can. I won't abandon this fic and I will finish it to the end. Thank you for understanding.

Thank you in advance for reading and supporting this story, I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review when done!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything


"... Holy shit."

When they got contacted by the Major of the US army, they were surprised, at first, until they found out why. The Major would have reached out to the president about this matter, but with Waller and Luther in the government's business, why risk it?

When John and Clark entered the cell, they immediately saw the body. Joker was left on his bed, well bedpost. His entire body twisted in different angles, making him look like a human pretzel. His chest had a huge hole, mainly in his left area and his heart was missing. One of his legs was barely attached to his body and his gut was sliced open, causing his organs to pull out of him. Finally, his eyes got gouged out from their socket, the skin on his face was skinned off of him and the bottom half of his jaw was missing.

"Understatement of the century." John looked at the people handling this gruesome sight, taking samples and pictures of what was left of the place. The paramedics placed Joker on a stretcher, his body covered by a white blanket. The two heroes moved out of the way as paramedics wheeled him toward the prison's clinic.

Once they were out of sight the two heroes flagged one of the investigators. They walked out of the cell and stood among the halls.

"Was there any footage of them?"

"None. From the things they've seen on camera, everything looked normal."

"How about suspects who wanted his blood for a long time?" Superman asked.

"Well, right now the list toned down a bit after the uh… incident happened, but it could be any major criminals like Riddler and Bane. They've worked with the man before and it always led to betrayal. So to speak, this could be revenge on their part."

"Basically we're playing a game of wild goose chase on who killed a clown. I swear karma's biting us in the ass," John mumbled under his breath.

Superman heard arguing a few halls over. He turned to look at John, who looked at him in return.

He inclined his head, to which the latter nodded. They said goodbye to the investigator and traced the source.

As they neared the source, both came across a room where the owners of the voices were at each other's throats.

"I'm afraid you're not allowed to do this. I haven't received a call or order, and you know it. Joker isn't even a meta. He's一"

"He's a mad lunatic who destroyed most of a city and killed millions of lives without an ounce of mercy. He may not have meta-human abilities, but he is a threat to all, even if he's dead."

"Do you think I'd give him up just that easily? I know what you've been trying to do, Waller, and I will not let you continue doing that insane project of yours." He hissed. Waller's eyes narrowed as she stared at the general.

"You think you can threaten me?"

"Do you really want me to show you what I can do?"

She scoffed and dug into her pocket to grab her radio. "I've had enough of this. Trevor, I want you to take him一"

A hand gripped her wrist before she could radio him in. She glared at the hand before she set her gaze on the man who owns it. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to put a stop to your nonsense."

"It's for the greater good一"

"You mean it's good for you?"

"Don't you dare turn my words against me一,"

"But it'll still be the truth in the end一"

Superman whispered to John. "Should we stop this?"

John only shrugged and looked at the two in mild amusement. "Beats me. But the Major is doing a pretty good job of standing his ground."

"Are you two planning to stop this or…?"

The two heroes tensed and turned to look at President Adams standing behind them. His brow arched as he looked at the two muscular men.

Without saying anything, they took a step back to let the man through. Seeing that the argument would not stop anytime soon he cleared his throat and called out to the two.

"Is this a bad time? I can leave so you can keep arguing."

Both stopped and looked at the person who interrupted their heated argument. When they saw the President standing at the door with the two heroes behind him, they quickly stood at attention, the problem soon forgotten as the former entered the room.

"Eh, no. We're fine, mister president." The Major coughed as he released Waller's wrist and stood at full attention.

"Yes, we've… settled with our differences." For now. Waller thought as a bitter taste settled in her mouth.

"Great! Then would you two settle down?" He clapped his hands and gestured for them to settle down in the chairs. The two did what the man asked and sat opposite each other. The Major sent her a glare while Amanda wanted to scoff, but she settled with an eye roll instead.

"Well, that could've gone worse," Superman quoted as John barely disguised his laugh with a cough.

"Would you two gentlemen mind if you could sit with us as well?" That caught both of the heroes' attention. John looked at Clark, waiting for his answer while the latter fumbled with words inside his head.

"Uh… no, we wouldn't mind."

"Then let's get this thing settled. Firstly…" He sat down and looked at Amanda with an arched brow. "No one within the government's ties should disobey my orders. If I discover you disobeying or making orders behind my back, I will remove you from your position and you will stand trial against your actions."

John mentally rolled his eyes. The man was clueless at what Waller was doing behind the government for years. He's not sure how that woman did it, but she got everyone who works for the government fooled well.

The president looked at the two heroes.

"Since there is a possibility of a meta involved, I suppose we must work together to find the culprit?" Superman nodded, but John was a bit hesitant to do the same.

"Now that that's settled, we must deal with the press. Once this information is out to the public, the press will do everything to get the information needed. I'll handle the questions while you keep silent on them. And lastly…"

He got up and walked a few paces away from them. His gaze was stern as he inclined his head slightly to look over his shoulder.

"Waller will not intervene in the investigation until I say a word for her to do so."

"WHAT?!" Waller in anger bursted out. The Major heaved a sigh of relief, slumping over his chair. John smirked smugly at her outburst while Superman coughed to hide a laugh.

"If you're that interested to know why I decided to remove you from it then maybe you should have been planning more carefully. Mind telling me why our government made private agreements to own thirteen nukes from North Korea?"

Waller sputtered and the three men either had their jaws or eyes widened.

He turned to look at her. His gaze was sharp. "We are going to have a long chat about the agreement you made."

"And Major Brigham?" The Major looked at him cautiously. "Expect a call from your superior. They want to talk to you."

"Major!" A private rushed in, panting.

"Waller, come with me or you might find a resignation letter on your desk tomorrow. Major, I wish you the best of luck in handling this problem. Superman, Green Lantern, have a nice day."

With that, the president walked out of the room. Waller slowly followed them. Her nails were digging into her skin painfully.

She turned to look back at the three sitting in the chair.

"You will all regret messing with me."

After they were gone, the remaining three turned their attention to the private, who was trying to catch his breath. Once he saw them staring at him, he quickly stood at full attention.

"News reporters are swarming the main gates. Several units got called for backup, but they haven't–"

He stopped short when Brigham stood from his chair and stomped out the door.

"Damn reporters," He cursed them under his breath.

Walking into the security room, he ordered one of the operators to look at the cameras on the main gates.

Through the screen, they probably saw 15-34 news vans parked outside. The crowd of reporters intercepted the main gates, and the guards were positioned right behind the said gate. Ready to take action in case they get through.

"Turn up the volume." The operator did as asked. Once the volume was on, the room got filled with shouts of different questions and voices.

"Is it true that一"

"Can you confirm一"

'Any word from the head一"

He pushed the mute button and let out a big sigh. The two heroes either grimaced or groaned, wishing they didn't need to deal with the press. "How did they even know about this?"

"Maybe it's because of a chopper landing just outside with an entourage of black SUVs following behind it," John pointed to one monitor, showing the vehicles about to leave.

'At least Lois isn't there,' Clark thought. Both may be reporters, but they don't do these kinds of news. For him, anyway. Lois would, however.

He was glad she wasn't here right now.

At that moment, J'onn contacted both through the commlink, needing their presence.

Superman cleared his throat to get the Major's attention. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but we are needed elsewhere. Are you able to handle them?"

"Hmm? Yes, yes. Don't worry about it. Everything's fine." He waved them off as he had his attention on the screen.

Superman looked at John, but all he did was shrug. With a bright light enveloping them, the two heroes were gone.

XXX

As the light dimmed down, they noticed that they were in the watchtower with J'onn standing over Joker's beaten body.

"Why are we in the lab?" John asked.

"I was given the ok from the President to take his body here. He doesn't trust Waller not to have a plan and take him." J'onn answered. His eyes focused on the reports.

"This is Waller we're talking about. She'll do anything to at least gain control or get rid of us. By the way, did you find anything useful to find the culprit? Maybe some fingerprints they left behind?"

"None so far, but the person who did this was beyond angry for whatever reason Joker did to them." He indicated the chest wounds. The marine snorted.

"As if that wasn't obvious enough."

"But who would go to such lengths to do this?" Superman expressed.

"It's anyone's guess," J'onn stated. "There is the Riddler, Two face, Bane…"

"There's also Deathstroke, Mr. Freeze… Selina."

"Selina? Why would Selina be involved in this?" Superman questioned.

"She might be a neutral ally and a beneficial member of the league, but hearing the death of Batman may result in her lashing out in anger or grief. The person she'd possibly target is the person who killed him; Joker." J'onn stated, turning his red glowing eyes to the two.

"But how would she even know about that? We never released a statement about Bru一Batman's… passing. No one saw what happened after the feed got cut off, only the fight."

"She can have ways, remember? It's Selina." John reminded him. "Now that you think about it, how can we explain Batman disappearing in action? People are going to notice, eventually."

The three stood silently over this information. If word got out that Batman was dead, how would people react? Sure, he wasn't exactly popular, as they knew him as the terrifying, dark knight. Some liked him, but the majority were afraid of him.

And what of the enemies? Many of the villains held a grudge against the dark knight, especially those that lived in Gotham. Although they weren't sure if they were alive at this point as most of Gotham got destroyed.

"... I don't know. We'll come up with a plan but not today. We have other things we need to worry about other than that." The other two agreed.

"There is also another thing you should look at." The martian revealed.

He grabbed a file beside him, giving it to John, who began looking at them with Clark looking over his shoulder.

Clark's face paled after scanning each photo, while John gripped the folder tightly with his fingers. Each picture contained x-rays and bruises taken from his body.

"There's no way a person can snap that many bones off someone!"

"This takes Selna off of our list, then." Clark looked away from the photo, trying his best to hold his stomach together after seeing the gruesome state Joker had to endure with the person who massacred him.

"Don't be so sure about that. Rage can be very powerful to fuel you."

When his eyes moved to Joker's jaw, he saw something odd within his throat. "Hey, J'onn? Have you checked the inside of his throat yet?"

"I have not. Why?"

"I think there's something in there."

"Why don't you use your x-ray vision to look into it?" John questioned, looking at Clark with a brow raised. In return, he crossed his arms, giving him a deadpan look.

"If you have the same power as I have, would you have checked it by now?"

"... Touché."

The martian moved to check what was inside, but there was a problem; metal pieces were shoved down there.

"It appears someone was trying to see what was I there."

"Ok, this person doesn't want us to find out what's hidden under there. Supes, let's just use your x-ray. We're wasting our time here."

"Why can't J'onn do it? He can do the same thing as me. Better yet, he can phase in and grab it." Both looked at the martian, who looked at them stoically in return. With a nod, he turned to look at the dead man before phasing his hand on his throat.

For a few moments, it was thoroughly silent. It made the man of steel fidget and the marine tap his fingers against his arm. Their jaws slowly dropped when the martian pulled out the thing.

"Oh god…" The former forced the words out of his mouth.

"...I think I'll skip lunch."

Never in their life would they encounter a murder like this. Their job was to beat criminals, make them pay with justice, and keep the citizens safe. Sure, they've seen people die. Criminals and people alike because of accidents or killings for selfish gain, but they never expected one of the most infamous villains to die in such a horrendous death.

They heard the clock setting off, indicating it was lunchtime. Clark sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I have to go. Lois is waiting for me."

"Same here. Shayera will hunt me down if I don't show up for more than a minute." John agreed.

"You two go ahead. I need to discuss a few more questions with the man." J'onn stated as he turned back to focus and find any more clues.

As they walked out, they heard the door closing. Clark's heart sank as he realized the nearly impossible task they were facing.

Attending Bruce's funeral