Revelation
- - - October 1st - - -
High above Metropolis, Superman was flying around in circles.
Today, Conner and Miss Martian wanted to visit the Cadmus cloning facility in Washington, DC.
Superman was glad that Conner had informed him at all about his planned excursion. He had been in no position to protest, if didn't want to drive the boy away again.
Yet he was also extremely concerned.
Batman's latest analysis of Conner's genes had confirmed beyond all doubts that Lex Luthor was involved with that facility. He knew that it was impossible to anticipate that man's plans, and that they always ended badly.
What if Conner was walking straight into a trap? What if they tried to recapture him, or mind-control him, or make even more clones out of their partially shared DNA…
Conner had promised to contact him if anything went wrong. The boy was wearing an improved League communicator, updated after the previous version had proven dysfunctional in the lower levels of the Cadmus underground facility.
Still, Superman would not rely on technology alone. He was just about to fly over to the capital himself. If he was within a mile of the facility, he'd be able to hear Conner's voice, no matter whether the boy had radio reception or not.
Surely Metropolis would survive one day without his protection…
Superman's eyes swept across his city one last time.
Wait, what was that?
"Conner, would you mind delaying your trip to Washington a bit further?"
Superboy frowned. He and Megan had just been about to step onto the Zeta platform.
He tapped his League communicator angrily. "Why?"
"I'd like to be your backup, but there is a strange mutated plant that just broke through the concrete in central Metropolis. I'll be busy for a while."
The sound of crumbling metal and human screams echoed through the radio device.
"I have to call this in with the League. Talk to you later, okay?"
The connection broke off.
Conner and Megan shared a concerned look.
"Let's call the others, maybe Robin knows what's going on?", she proposed.
"Here in the Northeast, the official highway speed limit is 65 miles per hour. As soon as you cross into Pennsylvanian or Maryland, it goes up to 70, and there are states in the South and the Midwest where you can drive 75 or 80 miles per hour legally. Now, our navigation system is running a software that monitors traffic controls. The red triangles indicate police cars or manned check points. The green dots are automatic radar stations, which can be tricked easily, so you don't have to slow down as long as you're using our…"
Robin's voice from the back seat broke off suddenly.
Mary kept her eyes on the road, both hands tightly clutching the wheel.
"Despite Master Richard's elaborations, breaking highways speed limits is generally not advised, especially not to drivers who have only just received a learner's permit", Alfred clarified from the seat beside her. "I would therefore strongly recommend you to take this upcoming exit for a quick stop at the gas station."
Mary activated the turn signal and followed her co-driver's instructions.
Only after she had safely turned off the engine did it occur to her to check the car's gas meter. The tank was still three-quarters full.
"Why did we stop here?"
"To change seats", Mr. Pennyworth replied, already unbuckling his seatbelt.
Mary obeyed wordlessly, vacating the driver's seat for her mentor.
Just after she had closed the passenger door behind her, Robin spoke up again. "I got a call from Conner and Megan, and a note from Batman", he announced. "There is a giant mutant plant wreaking havoc in Metropolis, and a second one sprouting in Gotham. We are to return to the Batcave immediately."
Mr Pennyworth was already starting the car.
"Estimated time of arrival?", Robin inquired.
Mary glanced at the navigation device. They were almost twenty-five miles out of town.
"Sixteen minutes from now", the butler replied.
Swallowing drily, Mary re-checked that she had fastened her seatbelt.
"Can't you just sit still for five minutes?"
"We've been waiting for three hours! I just want to finally head out."
Artemis rolled her eyes. "And where would we be going, Kid Genius?"
"To where we're needed!"
She had to admit, Wally was right. It was not in her nature either to sit around, while others were risking their life battling skyscraper-sized plant creatures. Couldn't they at least help with the evacuation efforts?
But Batman's orders had been clear. The team would not leave Mount Justice until the League had figured out who was behind the attack.
"Please stop pacing, Wally", Aqualad requested. "If you need to burn energy, you could run down to the kitchen and fetch us all something to drink. Meanwhile, Robin, what's the status overseas?"
"Still only two plants in Paris and Taipei. With the three cases in Gotham, Metropolis and Star City, that's five in total. No further sprouts reported, so far, on any of the news networks I'm monitoring."
A full glass of lemonade appeared in front of Artemis. He had even added ice cubes.
"Thank you, Wally", Kaldur acknowledged his own refilled drink.
Glancing up, she noted that Wally had not topped up Conner and Megan's glasses, but had simply set the heavy beaker down at the couple's table.
"Has the Flash's lab analysis yielded any further results?", their leader continued.
"No much. Most chemists at Central City are still running their analyses on the tissue samples he brought them. One of the biologists has identified the underlying plant species as some kind of mutated tropical vine. That confirms that the thing's not alien, at least its DNA is Earth standard. We've already known for an hour that the plants have been infused with Kobra-Venom, so clearly our stunt at Santa Prisca wasn't quite as successful as we'd hoped. There are also a bunch of other weird chemicals mixed in with those samples that haven't been identified yet, some of them highly toxic. We still got no explanation of how the vines regrow so quickly – they simply reassemble themselves from air molecules, but seem to skip any normal biochemical conversion processes like photosynthesis, so it's likely a 'magical' reaction."
Aqualad nodded. "Let us know if something new comes up. Megan, did you get an update from Martian Manhunter?"
"Uncle J'onn has joined Aquaman in Paris. He confirms that the plants do not possess a mind or even the most minimalistic form of consciousness. Still, their movements are intelligent – they are barring doors, throwing items at their attackers, using tools – the one in Paris used a burning car as a makeshift torch to set fire to a gas station. It also tried to strangle a fire fighter with his own water hose. All evidence suggests that they are controlled remotely."
"Which could explain why there are three in the US, and only two in the rest of the world", Robin added. "Whoever is behind this wanted to demonstrate that they are powerful enough to launch a global attack, but if they are based somewhere in North America, I bet it costs a ton of energy to control something on the other side of either ocean."
"Do the specific targets, including Paris and Taiwan, give us any hint to the identity of our attacker?", Aqualad asked.
Artemis sighed. "Why are we still dancing around that subject? We all know that Poison Ivy must be involved." That had been clear the second Batman had mentioned the word 'plant' in his briefing.
Aqualad nodded. "As stated before, that theory is likely. However…"
"It's not just likely", Artemis interrupted. "Look, I know a bit about the Gotham underground." It still felt weird to admit that so openly, but she ploughed on regardless. "You don't mess with plants in Gotham, unless you've got Poison Ivy on your team. It's as simple as that."
She sighed. "I know you don't believe me, so I've been pulling up some numbers. There are thirty-five plant-related incidents mentioned in the Gotham Gazette's archives from the past three years. Every single one of them involved Poison Ivy. They even made up a word for her plant-controlling power, 'chlorokinesis'. Regarding the Daily Planet's national news archive from the past year, eighty percent of all first-page reports mentioning the keyword 'plant' also included her name. I've screened most of the articles on her activities outside of Gotham – every single one of them was a team-up with other criminals. That's where the Kobra-Venom and magic mumbo jumbo must come from. Her teams always include at least one other woman, given that she doesn't think much of men. From the twisted idea to strangle a firefighter with his own hose, I would bet that the Joker is also somehow involved in this – he and Harley Quinn are among Ivy's most frequent partners." She shuddered.
"Anyway, in each previous team-up, Ivy has always pursued a personal ambition or had been promised something she cares deeply about." Artemis quickly glanced at her screen, finding the relevant headline. "Today, the mutant plant that sprouted in Gotham grew right in front of the 'Hunter's Club', a hotel currently hosting an assembly of state senators. Just yesterday, those men voted in favour of building a new highway straight through one of the very few remaining nature protected areas in the vicinity of Gotham – just the type of people Ivy would hold a personal grudge against. This is one hundred percent her style."
Judging from the stunned expressions of her team mates, she had finally brought her message across.
Aqualad bowed his head gracefully. "I apologize for dismissing your earlier remarks, Artemis. Your reasoning is sound, Poison Ivy is most certainly involved in this. Now, how do we proceed from here? Robin, you mentioned earlier that her current location is unknown?"
"PI left Gotham in the beginning of this week", the Boy Wonder confirmed. "She left no traces, no hints about her destination. Batman has contacted quite a few of his sources in the past three hours, but nobody seems to know where she was headed."
"Is there anybody else who could find her, besides Batman?", Megan asked.
Robin and Artemis shared a disconcerted look. The archer had to stop herself from checking the cave's shadowy corners, just to make sure the Bat had not overheard the Martian's sacrilegious suggestion. Luckily, the Dark Knight was still busy assisting the evacuation efforts in Gotham.
Aqualad, however, seemed thoughtful. "I have heard that Zatara is capable of casting locator spells. Maybe he could determine Poison Ivy's whereabouts?"
Artemis regarded Robin doubtfully.
Very slowly, the Boy Wonder nodded. "Well, if it's done with magic, I suppose he might allow someone else to handle that…"
"Who?", Conner asked.
The clone boy might be hot, Artemis reflected, but sometimes he wasn't overly bright.
Involuntarily, her glance shifted towards Wally. The speedster had finally stopped pacing and sat down on a chair next to his best friend, jabbing his tablet computer into Robin's side.
"Say, is this the right chemical formula for Joker venom? I want to make sure the Central City crew runs a diagnosis for that, just in case…"
Artemis quickly dropped her eyes, focussing on her own laptop. "Let me check where Zatara is currently assigned..."
"Why, yes, of course I have already tried casting a locator spell", Zatara indignantly answered the young Atlantean's question. "There is obviously…"
He dodged a flaying fragment from the botanical abomination.
"There is obviously spellcraft involved in this attack, the plants are practically radiating with thaumatic energy, every magic user in this country could sense that! Still, the source of it is well hidden from prying spells. Until I know exactly which mage is behind this, I cannot trace the magic signature…"
Another vine reached for his floating figure.
Once more, Zatara focussed his powers. "!srettuceriW", he intoned, slicing the nearest vine into a dozen pieces. "!etarenicnI"
Levitating high above the smouldering heap, the enchanter tried to catch his breath while Aqualad explained his proposal. It was not easy to breath through the heavy mask he had recently conjured. Just a few seconds before the Atlantean's call, all engaged units had been ordered to wear gas masks, because some scientists back at Central City had figured out that the plants might be able to produce venomous spores.
Zatara was glad that Aqualad's team of teens were safely sitting in their cave, doing background research. Batman had shown some rare common sense in keeping them away from this nerve-wracking battle.
"Tracing Poison Ivy instead of the magician? Well, I suppose that's not a bad idea. I'll give it a try as soon as Batman comes back with whatever chemical weed killer he's been cooking up for us..."
"Tremble before the Injustice League!"
Mary watched the TV broadcast from the central computer screen in the deserted cave.
As the camera feed revealed, Poison Ivy was indeed one of the perpetrators of the plant attack. The attractive red-haired botanist had apparently teamed up with Gotham's Joker, Wotan the magician, a white-haired gorilla keeping his brain exposed, a pointy-eared man in a colour-reversed Captain Marvel costume, a blonde aristocrat with the air of an assassin, and a potentially undead creature wearing a biker's helmet. Behind them, glowing patterns illuminated the stem of yet another giant plant.
The group of self-proclaimed super villains was currently demanding a ransom of 10 billion dollars on live TV to call off their global attack.
All had lined up neatly in front of the camera.
What a perfect opportunity…
The picture shook, as a deafening explosion ripped apart the glowing stem. Almost instantaneous, a bright flash blinded the assembled group, followed by several smaller detonations encasing them in rapidly hardening pink foam. The last thing Mary heard was Poison Ivy crying out for her mutilated plant, then the camera feed was reduced to static.
"That worked surprisingly well", Artemis commented. Through the bioship's windows, she watched Captain Marvel and Superman shackle the last of the unconscious super-criminals with inhibitor collars, suppressing their powers. Once the glowing antenna stem had been destroyed, the other five mutated plants had reverted to harmless greenery. Freed from their plant-control duties, half of the Justice League had joined up with the team within minutes.
"The combination of hard foam and knockout-gas was quite potent", Aqualad confirmed.
"Don't forget the flash grenades and the electric shockers", Wally added. "They were too confused to even notice the gas until the first of them fell over."
"The remote triggers were not perfectly tuned though", Robin admitted. "The explosives on the stem blew up a full second before the foam capsules. By the way, great job on distributing them, Miss M!"
The Martian blushed. "I had to concentrate hard to levitate all of those mines at once. A month ago, I wouldn't have been able to do it at all. Not at this distance."
"I'm glad we stayed so far away though", Artemis admitted. "I did not expect so many power-houses to be involved in this..."
"Who's the guy in the black dress, next to the monkey?", Conner wanted to know.
"That's Black Adam", Robin answered. "He's almost as fast and strong as Captain Marvel. The gorilla is known as Ultra-Humanoid – gorillas are apes, by the way, not monkeys. The blond guy is Count Vertigo, a member of the royal family from Vlatava, who owns a device that can incapacitate you with some kind of psychic waves. At his feet lies Atomic Skull, who can shoot energy rays out of his helmet. Next to him sits Wotan, one of the world's most powerful magicians."
He shot Aqualad an appreciative smile. "Good call, not trying to engage."
Artemis was well aware of the one man Robin had not needed to introduce. The Joker. She would rather arm-wrestle Black Adam then ever facing that broken, twisted man alone…
"Why would a royal aristocrat publicly team up with that group of villains?" Megan asked. "What's his role in this?"
Robin could only shrug.
"Maybe he's the one who brought in the Kobra-Venom?", Aqualad guessed. "Someone had to finance all that manufacturing business..."
Artemis shook her head. "Sportsmaster and Ra's al Ghul's League of Shadows were responsible for shipping the Venom off Santa Prisca. For all I know, they've never worked for Vertigo. There is actually a bit of a rivalry going on between the Shadows and the Vlatavian Special Forces, as far as I know."
Come to think of it, none of the other captured criminals were known clients of the League of Shadows either.
"You know what else is weird?", Wally asked. He did not await a response. "There was not a single other woman involved beside Poison Ivy."
Artemis nodded thoughtfully, looking back down at the captured members of the strangely mixed assembly, the self-announced 'Injustice League'.
Back in the cave, Aqualad very carefully placed the Helmet of Fate back on Wally's souvenir shelf.
"I'm glad we didn't have to use plan B", he muttered to himself.
Still, Zatara's words echoed in his ears. Every magic user in the country had sensed Wotan's spells today.
Could Nabu have noticed that he had been left out of an important fight once more?
Aftermath
- - - Monday, October 4th - - -
"Please dad, please can I come with you? Didn't you say they were all very responsible and careful last weekend, and didn't even engage in the fighting? I'm sure I could learn so much from them – pretty, pretty, please?"
- - - Tuesday, October 5th - - -
"Look dad, I got an A for my history essay! I promise it wouldn't hurt my school work to spend a few evenings there with you, just this one week..."
- - - Wednesday, October 6th - - -
Please dad, can't I come with you? I won't even train with them or anything, I would just love to meet that archer girl and Martian Manhunter's niece… You know I don't have anyone at school with whom I can really talk about these things…
- - - Thursday, October 7th - - -
"Just for the weekend? Just a visit? Please, dad, it would make me so happy… Pleeeease?"
- - - Friday, October 8th - - -
"Recognized: Zatara, 11. Recognized: Zatanna Zatara, A03."
It was Friday evening and all of the team had gathered in front of the Zeta portal. They had been thrilled to hear that their current cave-sitter's daughter would be spending the weekend with them as a visitor.
Artemis watched closely as the girl finally materialized.
Zatanna was pretty. A slender figure, lush black hair, bright blue eyes sparkling with excitement. She was dressed in a classy costume resembling her father's, a combination of a black blazer and matching skirt, a yellow vest, a white shirt and a trendy white bow tie. She looked just a bit younger than Artemis herself.
"May I introduce to you my daughter, Zatanna", the magician announced, one of his hands resting protectively on the girl's shoulder. There was a wary look in his eyes, his posture even more reserved than usually.
"Call me Tanna", the girl offered with a wide, open smile.
"Enchanté", Robin replied mirthfully. He and Kaldur were standing in the front row, the other team mates closely behind them.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tanna", Aqualad greeted their guest gracefully, shaking her hand.
Artemis watched Zatara relax slightly. In the past five days, Kaldur had managed to build quite a good rapport with the older magician, probably due to his impeccable manners.
Of course Kid Flash had to ruin the moment immediately.
"Welcome to the team!" The speedster appeared right in front of the magician's daughter, grinning a bit too widely. "As you see, we've got two knights, an archer, a rouge, an illusionist and a speedster in our party so far – we totally still need a mage!"
Zatara's grip on his daughter's shoulder stiffened, his eyes ablaze with a dark fury. "Tanna is not joining the team!"
Artemis winced. The magician looked ready to send his daughter straight back to New York City.
"She is here as a visitor, just for one single weekend, nothing more."
Even Aqualad looked helpless, unsure how to placate the agitated father.
"She will not join any missions, or participate in any…"
Zatara's outburst was cut off mid-sentence by a hug from his daughter.
"I know, dad", she murmured into his chest. "He's just joking around. I'm not getting hurt, dad, I promise. I'm just so glad to be here. Please don't worry?"
Artemis watched with amazement as Zatara's scorn dissolved into a subdued smile. "All right, cuore mio. Be careful, okay? I'm right here if you need anything."
"Thanks, dad. I know."
The magician's daughter turned back towards the team, looking slightly embarrassed.
"We could give you a tour of the cave!", Megan readily proposed. "Hello, Megan! We haven't even introduced ourselves! I'm M'gann M'orzz, but please call me Megan. Conner and I live here. Aqualad sometimes stays for a week, the others only stop by after school or on weekends. Oh, and Mary lives here too, of course. It's Friday night, so it's her turn to make dinner, which means we're up for a treat. Are you hungry? Would you like something to drink?"
The team followed as the Martian skilfully manoeuvred Tanna down the stairs and out of her father's reach. Robin managed to stay right at their visitor's side, followed by Kaldur and Conner. Wally and Artemis ended up in the back of the little progression, followed only by Sphere and Wolf. As soon as they were out of sight from Zatara, she used the opportunity to drive her elbow into her team mate's side.
"Ouch! I'm sorry, okay?"
"Speedster is not even an RPG class name, Kid Mouth", she retorted.
"It totally should be", he smirked. "Protective parents, huh?"
Artemis glanced at the other teens in front of her. Conner was a parentless clone, Robin never spoke about family, and Megan had hinted to her in private that she'd been raised by a quite neglectful mother in what sounded like a rather abusive step-family.
She thought about her own father's twisted training regime and how happy she was that her mother had finally returned home from jail, despite being bound to a wheelchair and deeply traumatized.
Looking back up at Wally, she noticed that the speedster's head had turned almost as red as his hair.
"Yeah, I really should try thinking before I talk, right?"
"Glad you noticed", she replied drily, shaking her head.
Author's note:
I don't really care much about that Injustice League. Why would the team possibly try to engage?
By now, I've changed and re-shuffled quite a bit of the original series. I would really like to know what you think about my many adaptations!
Please review: Which changes do you approve of? What would you have liked to go differently?
(Bonus points if anybody guesses why J'onn temporarily turned into a Blue Martian!)