The New Adventures Of The Justice League
Chapter 8: The Plan Revealed
Once the Justice League had reached the wall which had been obstructing Superman's vision it didn't take long for them to discern that there was indeed a building behind it.
"So, uh, how do we do this?" Flash asked, looking up at the twenty foot wall. "Do we try to sneak in or…"
"No doubt they've already observed us on the security cameras," Batman interrupted as he pointed to the cameras which were all facing them. "So there's no need for stealth."
"Glad to hear you say that," Superman smiled and hit the wall, causing it to begin shaking and bricks to fall.
Wonder Woman quickly caught on and began ramming into it with her powerful body. Green Lantern formed a giant battering ram and used that while Hawkgirl used her mace. J'onn and Batman simply stood back while Flash ran around the wall, trying to find a different way in. Fortunately, with all of the Justice League's powerhouses attacking at once the wall quickly gave way and soon crumbled to dust, leaving them with a clear entry.
They crossed the dusty yard and entered the warehouse. "Shouldn't there be guards or something?" Wonder Woman questioned as they turned down deserted hallways.
"Yeah," Hawkgirl chimed in. "I thought a place like this would have lots of security."
"Something's fishy," Batman frowned.
"I don't smell anything," Flash said then began laughing. "Get it? He said fishy and I said…" his voice trailed off. "You guys need to get a sense of humor," he grumbled.
"I don't get it," J'onn said simply.
"Neither do the rest of us," Green Lantern sighed.
"I think what Batman's trying to say is that he thinks it's a trap," Superman interjected as they pushed open a heavy steel door and entered a dark room.
"He's right," a familiar voice said from behind them even as the door banged shut.
"Captain Marvel?" Green Lantern frowned as he quickly created a lantern and held it up, green shadows flickering across the heroes' faces.
"How do you know it's a trap?" J'onn asked.
Captain Marvel let out a heavy sigh as he said in a low, unhappy voice, "Because I'm the bait."
Laughter rang out, grabbing the Justice League's attention. Even as they turned around the lights suddenly came on, forcing them to blink in an effort to orient themselves. Once their eyes had become accustomed to the brightness they could see three men standing on the other side of the room; Lex Luthor, Vandal Savage and Dr. Thaddeus Sivana.
"Bravo, Justice League," Luthor said, clapping his hands together. "I must admit, I didn't think you'd fall for our little trap but you did."
"Well done, Captain Marvel," Savage grinned. "You actually did what you were supposed to do, even in spite of Sivana's ineptitude," he glowered.
"It wasn't my fault!" Sivana protested.
"Yes we've been over that before," Luthor sighed. "The point is, we finally have the Justice League in our grasp, just as we've been planning for the last four years."
"That was a wasted four years, Luthor," Superman spoke up. "The only thing you're going to do now is go to prison."
"Oh I don't think so," Savage said. "In case you've forgotten we have Captain Marvel on our side and he'll do whatever we order him to do, isn't that right, Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Captain Marvel said, refusing to look up from the floor.
"But why go to all this trouble simply to get us here?" Batman frowned. "If you wanted us dead wouldn't it simply have been easier to have Captain Marvel kill us when we first met instead of luring us here?"
"We don't want to kill you," Sivana spoke up. "We want to control you with the use of these worms," he gestured towards a glass case filled with worms that were wriggling across the bottom.
"Eww," Flash made a face. "That's gross."
"And just how are worms supposed to control us?" Hawkgirl demanded.
"These aren't just any worms," Sivana said defensively. "They are the descendants, or rather clones, of a particularly intellectual and telepathic worm from another dimension named Mr. Mind. He contacted me telepathically one day in a desperate attempt to take over my mind but I beat him at his own game," Sivana chuckled. "When he came to Earth I trapped him and by dissecting him I was able to successfully recreate his telepathic abilities so that whenever I place one of these worms in the brain of someone we can control them. That's the real reason why we wanted you do-gooders alive; so we could take over your minds and make you do whatever we want you to do."
"Is that how you're able to control Captain Marvel?" Wonder Woman asked, having already decided for herself that there was no way the strong hero would be working for these villains willingly.
"Actually we control him through his programming," Savage explained.
"Programming?" now Superman looked confused. Using the worms to control Captain Marvel that much he could understand but programming? What in the world did they mean by that?
"Seriously," Lex Luthor groaned. "You mean to tell me that none of you wondered why he had the majority of your abilities and even looked like Superman?"
"Nope," Flash shook his head after a moment of consideration, noticing all the while that Captain Marvel's shoulders were slumping even more.
Luthor sighed heavily and said, "Captain Marvel is your clone."
A/N: Cliffie again! I wish I could that I was sorry about doing that but the truth is…that I'm not! I've been planning the end of this chapter since before I even started writing this story! I really hope you guys like it. I just got a little tired of the 'wizard Shazam' storyline and decided to make my own. Please review and let me know what you think!
