CHAPTER 1: THE MERGE

STARK TOWER

New York City

"Reports have been coming in all across the world; several new countries, land masses, cities, organizations, & even thousands of heroes, villains, & monsters have appeared out of nowhere which has left many of the people of the world confused and somewhat scared-"

Tony Stark was going through almost every news channel (new and the ones he's used to) to try and figure out just what has happened. He doesn't know what happened or how it happened; but somehow his entire universe was merged with several others. He wondered to himself 'Someone with a great deal of power must have done this…now the only question is…who? And why?', then his phone rang, "Hello?" "Have you been watching the news?" his friend and fellow Avenger Steve Rogers asked him. "Yeah I have; and it's pretty crazy." Stark replied, as he went through his newsfeed, "There are a few new people on the earth that weren't here before, as well as dozens of new locations & buildings…but what's amazing is that we're not suffering from any kind of over-population or feeling any kinds of increased gravity due to the planet's increased mass…what have you found out?" Steve told him "Not a whole lot, but I do know this much; we need to have a meeting at the mansion. Call as many Avengers and other heroes as you can; I'll meet you there." And just like that, Rogers hung up the phone; leaving Tony to wonder 'I certainly hope this isn't some kind of calm before a storm.'

NEW YORK STREETS

Steve was wandering through the streets of New York, thinking to himself, 'all these new heroes and villains…this could be the beginning of something new; but I pray that life here on Earth won't be ruined by these monsters that have appeared as well.' At that moment, he got the feeling that he was being watched; out of the corner of his eye, he saw…well…he wasn't sure what he saw. But whatever it is, it has glowing green eyes. The super soldier turned his head and saw the eyes glowing in the darkness of the alley, hoping that it was a potential ally in whatever hardships would come, he attempted to get to know the being "You don't have to hide you know; I know you're there." The eyes widened with mild surprise and asked "How did you know I was following you?" Steve just smiled and said "Son, I know when I'm being followed. Plus, the glow from your eyes gave you away." the Avenger entered the alley to talk with his potential ally, "But I just want you to know…if you plan on attacking me you're gonna have a tough time taking me down." And with that, the being emerged from the shadows, revealing himself to Rogers ad saying "Believe me, if I wanted to kill you I would've done it by now" the creature seemed to be a man, dressed in a black and white costume with chains, spiked shin guards, spiked gauntlets, spiked knuckle dusters, & a massive red cloak "Plus, I doubt you could beat me even if you tried. My name's Al; Al Simmons, but a lot of people just call me Spawn." Steve let down his guard just a bit to extend his hand and introduced himself, "Steven Rogers; but most of the world knows me as Captain America. My friends call me Cap or Steve." Spawn shakes the fellow soldiers hand saying, "So I take it you have military training?" Cap replies "As do you, it seems. I know that things are a little strange right now, but I just want you to know that I'll be trying to get all of the heroes that I don't know together and try to figure out what happened. I would like you to be there." Spawn simply looks at the super soldier with a look of disbelief saying, "Trust me; I'm no hero." Rogers places his hand on Simmons' shoulder and says, "You may not be the kind of hero most people expect…but I can tell that you have a good heart; and that you protect those in need. To me, that makes you a hero." Al smiles under his mask, "Ok. I'll come. Just when is this gonna happen and how exactly am I supposed to find you? New York is a pretty big place." Steve reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small card w/a stylized 'A' on it, "Here's how; it's an Avengers ID Card. It was made by someone on my team; he designed it to act as a communicator and locator. I'll call you on it through my spare when it's time to meet up." The Hellspawn acknowledged this and placed the card in his belt as he returned to the shadows while Rogers left the alley and was, once again, alone with his thoughts. 'I can tell that you may have dark origins Al' he thought, 'But I know that deep down you're a good man with a good heart.'

CHURCH ROOFTOP

After his meeting with Captain America; Spawn kept an eye on the alleys he called home, all while thinking about what Steve said to him, 'If you only knew me before this…you wouldn't be calling me a good man. Hell; you wouldn't be calling me a man at all.' "Man, what a loser. What does he think this is? 1945?" Spawn turned his head and saw Violator behind him, smiling like the monster he was. "The fuck do you want, Clown?" he asked, "don't you torture me enough on a regular basis?" The demon just chuckled, "Yeah…but the way I see it; you're living in a goddamn fantasy and I'm just tryin' to bring you into reality. You keep trying to hold on to your humanity when it's too late. You're not human anymore, you're not even Al Simmons; he's been worm-chow for years and you know it, Spawny-boy! And now you're gonna go fuckin' play superhero with someone you don't even know?! That's just sad…even for YOU." Spawn lept across the roof and grabbed the midget clown by his shirt, "You REALLY need to learn when to shut the fuck up, you fat, fucking piece of shit!" Spawn violently ripped off the demon's arm and used it like a baseball bat against his enemy's skull all while shouting "Now FUCK OFF, you little asshole; before I decide to permanently introduce your ugly face to your fuckin' colon!" The clown simply smiled as he grew a new arm, "Alright Spawn; I'll give you some time to yourself since you asked so nicely…but when I get back; you and me? We're gonna have a lil chat!" With that, Violator laughed as he left for his home in Hell.

BATCAVE

Wayne Manor, Gotham City

Batman was using the Bat-computer to learn all that he could about the heroes, villains, and organizations he had never encountered before this strange merge; S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, A.I.M., The B.P.R.D., Providence, the Plumbers, Zodiac, The Brotherhood of Mutants, The Hand, The Foot, even some heroes like The Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-men, and Defenders. He wanted to prepare himself should he ever have to come up against any one of the villains he didn't know and didn't fully trust the heroes he was learning about; he wasn't sure that he ever would, given that some of them were wanted for murder. As the Dark Knight continued his research, Alfred approached him and said "Care for some tea, Master Bruce?" as the butler poured a cup for his friend and employer, he asked, "Quite an array of colorful characters." Wayne sternly replied, "Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that the new heroes aren't exactly clean cut. Look at this one; Frank Castle. He calls himself 'The Punisher'. He's been using his military training to wage a one-man war on crime and has been using highly lethal methods. He's wanted for over two hundred murders and yet the public call him a hero." Alfred reviewed key points in the information and said "Master Bruce, you of all people should understand his reasoning for his actions…losing one's family before your very eyes is a terrible tragedy", Batman took the cup and replied, "It's no excuse. Murder is still murder." Alfred simply sighed as he brought up a page on the screen, "What of this 'Fantastic Four'? Surely you don't think that they are like this Punisher fellow", to which Batman replied to his lifelong friend, "Maybe not; but they have instigated several invasions from a race of shape shifters called The Skrull."

Nightwing came up from the training pit, "You really can't hold that against them, Bruce. From what I've read, they didn't even know about the Skrull's first attempt at invading earth." Bruce looked at one of his many partners in crime-fighting and said "That doesn't matter, Dick. They still brought on the later attacks from agents such as the Super Skrull or Paibok; even some sort of god-like entity called Galactus came and tried to consume the planet-" Tim Drake, the new Robin, interjects by saying "Whoa, whoa, whoa; there's a guy out there in space who EATS PLANETS? He must be HUGE!" Nightwing laughs and responds, "I don't think that's how it works, Tim. And besides; that guy showed up before he even knew who they were! So you really can't blame them for that." Bruce simply stares at his fellow crime fighters saying, "They were still involved and they could have saved countless lives without causing millions of dollars worth of damage to New York. And look at this; S.H.I.E.L.D. lets a monster of limitless strength that has leveled entire cities run free alongside these so called heroes. I've seen reports of a kid with ghost-like abilities over in a place called 'Amity Park' that's popped up in Minnesota; a teenager with the ability to transform into any alien over in a place called 'Bellwood' in California; a giant robot demolishing Jersey City on a regular basis-" at this point Batgirl comes in and asks her mentor, "What's your point, Bruce? Are you saying we shouldn't give any of them a chance?" Batman closes all the windows on his super computer as he tells his partners, "I'm saying we should be hesitant to give them our full trust and think of ways to take them down should some of them prove to be threats." Batgirl simply sighed as she left to go upstairs with Robin following after her; Nightwing simply shakes his head and says to his teacher and adoptive father, "Y'know Bruce; you don't always have to work alone. I learned that quite well with MY team. I just hope you realize that it's better to make the new heroes your allies instead of your enemies", and with that; he leaves his teacher alone with his thoughts until Alfred tells his friend and employer, "You know sir, Master Grayson may have a point. Just because you may not agree with their methods and they may not be living up to your standards…it doesn't make them any less heroic." With that, Bruce acknowledges what his friend said…but then went on to say "I was always taught that it's better to be safe than sorry, Alfred."

AVENGERS MANSION

Heroes from all over New York arrived at Avengers mansion: other Avengers, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Defenders, the New Warriors, Nick Fury with some S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents (Gabe Jones, Maria Hill, Melinda May, & Phil Coulson; specifically) Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, DareDevil, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man & his team of Avengers, Black Panther, Punisher (surprisingly), even Moon Knight was present! Cap, Thor, & Iron Man walked up to the top two steps in the mansion lobby & Cap said, "I want to thank everyone for coming here; I know we have a lot to discuss." At this point Spider-man chimes in and says "Like how we added dozens of new places, heroes, villains, aliens, & monsters on earth overnight?", Almost everyone laughs lightly and Iron Man responds, "Spider-man's right; we need to find out more about each of these new superhumans & even these giant monsters that have shown up. I've even been getting reports from Nova & the Guardians of the Galaxy that several new planets and alien races have popped up out of nowhere too. This is clearly much bigger than just our world", the Armored Avenger then activates a holographic projector from the lobby ceiling,"Now I've done a little bit of research on some of the new heroes & villains that have appeared and this is what I've found out." As the projector then shows an image of a statuesque man wearing a red & blue suit with a red cape & an "S" shield on his chest, Wolverine just scoffed as he said, "You're afraid of this over-sized boy-scout? You must be losing it, bub." General Fury responds to the X-Man by saying, "He may look like a big, blue, pushover, Logan; but this guy's a lot tougher than he looks. Go ahead, Stark." Iron Man replies, "Thanks Nick. Anyway; this is one of the heroes that I researched; the people of Metropolis call him 'Superman'...and with good reason. This guy may not look it, but he's a member of a near extinct race of aliens from a destroyed planet called Krypton. His biology allows him to absorb solar radiation and utilize it to augment his strength, speed, durability, & senses to almost god-like levels; I hate to say it, but he might be stronger than you, Thor. Maybe even stronger than Hulk."

The jade giant simply sneers and says, "Hulk strongest one there is, metal man." Coulson then walks up as he says, "What else did you find out about them?" Tony then replies, "A lot. Take a look at this one", the projector then shows an image of a woman wearing a somewhat patriotic outfit with gold highlights and a tiara, "She calls herself 'Wonder Woman' and she's from a tiny island in the atlantic called 'Themyscera'. She's almost as strong as Superman and she was raised as a warrior. There are also several reports of a bunch of super powered teenagers running around. But the only REAL issue I see is the so called 'Justice League'. They're almost like an army…an army of super humans with a space station base armed with one extremely powerful particle cannon that happens to be pointing DOWN." Thor then speaks, "It would seem that this league has amassed great power. Tell me Captain; how do you plan on dealing with these new beings?", Cap then answers his friends question by saying, "I've already met one of these new heroes here in New York, I only think that it's fair if we try to arrange some kind of meeting with each of them so that we can come to an understanding that's fair and reasonable to everyone. I think we should send certain heroes to certain locations to tell the new ones about the meeting and gain their trust. I believe that it's better to make these guys our allies rather than our enemies." Fury then says, "If it's all the same with you, Cap. I'm gonna try to do a little bit more research on the new arrivals; & I think I'm gonna start with these organizations. If any of them are anything like Project Pegasus, HYDRA, or A.I.M. then I think we may have a VERY serious problem with them."

AUTOBOT BASE

Washington Mountains

While the rest of the Autobots were getting ready for a mission, possible Decepticon attack, occupying themselves with personal projects, or just simply spending time with their human partners...Optimus Prime was scanning through all the information on every last new alien species, alien planet, superhuman, and earth location; wondering if he should even attempt to reach out to one of them. "Man, Optimus has been looking through Teletraan-1 for a while now; what do you think is going through his head, Arcee?", Jack asked his Autobot partner & she replies, "Honestly, Jack? I have no idea. He's been like this all day; ever since he found out about all of the weirdness that's been going on. I don't think anyone here knows what is going through his mind." At that point Ultra Magnus then says, "Prime merely wishes to have a greater understanding of the new world before he makes his next move. Personally, I don't blame him; I would be doing the same thing if I was in the same position", then Grimlock comes stomping in from the training room and says, "I don't see why he even bothers with learning about these new humans. I've seen some of the data; they don't need our help. So why should we?" Then Rodimus speaks up, "Because he's our leader; THAT'S why, Grimlock. And he's the leader because not only does he have the Matrix of Leadership, but he's been through more battles than any other bot here. He's the bravest, strongest, & wisest one of us; you shouldn't question him, given the number of times you two have fought together & number of times he saved your oversized skidplate." The Dinobot leader simply growls as he starts to walk away...but then Optimus then came to address his soldiers, "Autobots; I want to see all of you by the ground-bridge. Maximals, that goes for you and our human allies, as well" and with that, the Last of the Primes left for the ground-bridge. Primal, his time traveling descendant, simply looked on as his ancestor left the main room; Cheetor, the newest recruit for the Maximals, asked his friends "What do you think it's about, guys?" Rhinox, the 2nd in command for the Maximals, simply sighed, "I'm not sure, Cheetor. But I do know one thing; it's gonna be big."

All the Autobots, Dinobots, Maximals, & humans gather in the ground-bridge room to hear Optimus Prime's speech...he was silent for a few moments until he said, "I have reason to believe that the sudden appearance of several cities, landmasses, organizations, & life-forms here on Earth was the result of some sort of multiversal merge. I am unsure on how this came to pass and who is responsible, I do know that while we have allies in NEST and Sector 7, it will be more beneficial for us if we became allies with these heroes that have miraculously appeared...before they become potential enemies." The Autobots looked to their leader, some wondering what he was saying; but most knew what he was talking about. Optimus then looked to his chief medic as he handed him a small USB card and asked, "Rachet; will you be able to send me to these coordinates?", Ratchet plugged the card into a specialized port for the ground-bridges computer and noticed they were in a very populated area of New York City. So, naturally he asked his longtime friend, "Optimus; are you sure about this? At least have someone go with you as back-up!" The Prime acknowledged his old friends advice and replied, "Very well; Bumblebee, Jazz, and Ironhide. The three of you will accompany myself and Rachet to the coordinates." The old Autobot medic looked at his ally in surprise and honor the instant he finished entering the coordinates; and once the ground-bridge was powered up, Optimus shouted out, "Autobots; Transform and ROLL OUT!"

AMITY PARK

Minnesota

Danny was on the phone with his girlfriend, Sam. "I still can't believe it; now I'm not the only superhero in the world! This is great!", he said as he flew over the skyline of his hometown. "I don't know about this Danny", Sam said as she worked with Jazz & Tucker in the lab back at Fenton Works, "I mean, what if these guys are just as bad as Vlad Or WORSE? I've seen some of the news reports on them; they are seriously FUCKED UP in the head". "You definitely got a point, Sam", Danny said, "But if I can become friends with at least ONE of these guys then they could prove to be valuable allies! I mean; the whole world's forgotten about my secret identity thanks to this weird merge or whatever, so who's to say that I can't trust them?" Tucker then chimed in, "I don't know, dude; are you sure you wanna take a chance on something like this?" The ghost-hybrid responds, "Tucker; I know what I'm doing! Besides, the way I see it: it's better to make these guys my friends instead of pissing them off and having some of them try to attack me." Tucker then says, "Well, when you put it like that…you make a pretty valid point. I'm just trying to look out for you, man", Danny then responds to his best friend, "And I appreciate it, Tucker; I really do! But I really think it would be best if I find a way to contact one of these guys and talk to them. Look; I'll be back in like, 5 minutes. We'll talk about this more when I get there."

THE SEWERS OF NEW YORK

"I don't understand why we're hiding down here again; we should be helping people, taking down the Kraang, & cracking some skulls!" Raphael shouted to his brothers. Donatello replied, "While I find your approach to be a tad primitive (and mildly psychotic), I do agree with what Raph's saying. We should be up there! At the very least we should try to learn more about these new heroes!" Michelangelo then chimed in from his half pipe, "Uh, they're SUPERheroes Donnie. Read a comic book much, bro?" Donatello just rolled his eyes and continued his work. & at that very moment, Leonardo asked Master Splinter, "What do you think we should do sensei?" The ninja master stroked his beard and replied, "I believe it may be best if we take our time & learn more of our new surroundings as well as the potential allies we could make before we make another move" Raphael just groaned as their father left the room but Splinter added, "...and then you get to crack some skulls." As Raphael cracks a smile, Leonardo tells his brother, "Just remember Raph; we don't make a move until Master Splinter says we can." Raph just puts up his arms and goes to his room.

SHIELD HELICARRIER

As Maria Hill entered the bridge, she called out to Deputy-Director Gabriel Jones, "Sir; I've managed to contact an organization in Japan called 'G-Force'. They've agreed to cooperate and give us all the information they have on these giant monsters that we don't know about." Gabe gave her a pat on the back saying, "Good job, Hill. Now let's try to contact some of these other organizations like Providence or the Plumbers; we need to learn about these 'EVOs' and the aliens that are living here on Earth." Hill salutes her superior saying, "Yes sir", and leaves the flight deck. "That girl's good; she might replace you as the deputy director, Gabe", Timothy 'Dum-Dum' Dugan, as he scanned through some of the information Hill gathered & Jones simply chuckles as he replies, "That's Nick's call; not yours Dugan. Besides, I've got bigger issues to worry about…like all these aliens that are living on our planet, the giant monsters that could level a city at any given moment, and how the fuck I'm supposed to get a hold of the woman in charge of this 'Project Cadmus'. Any luck getting more info on this lady, Skye?" The recruit simply said (while still staring at the screen of her computer), "I'm doing the best I can, sir; but her data is heavily encrypted; all I could get was her name: Amanda Waller. I think I'm gonna need some more time to crack this." Jones simply nods and tells the new agent, "Just do the best you can, kid; Hand, any word from our friends at the BPRD?"

Senior Agent Victoria Hand stands up and responds, "Yes sir; their founder and leader, Professor Trevor 'Broom' Bruttenholm, has agreed to meet with Director Fury. He will contact us within the hour of when and where he wishes to meet." The Deputy Director smiled with this good news, "Alright good; now make sure that we get a hold of Strange and see if he is able to join us on this one. We could use his expertise in the occult." Hand then salutes her SO and returns to her work; Fury then enters the bridge as his agents continue their work. "Gabe, Dugan; what do we have so far?" he says as he approaches the large conference table, Gabe then says "Hill got a hold of the Japanese organization known as 'G-Force', they'll be sending us all of the information they have on the giant monsters that are living on this island in the pacific", Fury replies, "Good; what else we got?" Dugan reports, "Hand got a hold of the BPRD's founder & leader who said that he's willing to meet and will contact us within the hour as to when and where" Director Fury then asks, "How long ago was this?" Dugan replies, "About 2 minutes ago; we're also gonna be sending Strange when you go to speak with him." Fury then commends his friends, "Alright, good work guys; now how close are we to learning more about Project Cadmus?" Gabe just sighed, "Not very. Even with Skye working on it, all we got so far is a name; Amanda Waller." Nick sits down and says "It may not be much, but it's a start." May then asks, "So, where are we with getting a hold of Providence or the Plumbers?" Gabe replies, "We're working on that one now, May..." And just at that very moment, Agent Hill bursts onto the Flight Deck and shouts, "SIR! I managed to find a Plumbers frequency; I think we should contact them IMMEDIATELY!"

COOP'S HOUSE

Jersey City

Coop was busy working on the engine of his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda when Kiva enters the garage and says, "OK, so I've done some research and-" She stops to see that Coop was mucking around with his muscle car, Coop then just looks at her and says "What? I wanted to give the car a tune-up." She angrily responds, "How can you be working on your car like nothing's happened when we're dealing with a multi-versal merge?!" Jaime also says, "I gotta agree with Kiva, Coop; I don't get how you can be so calm about this." Coop then tells his best friends, "Look, would you guys relax? If we can take on the Glorft, we can handle anything these 'superhumans' can throw at us; plus I doubt any of 'em know how to take on Megas." Kiva just gives him an angry glare as she says, "Coop; they've fought giant robots before. Some of them do that on a regular basis!" Coop just stared at his friend/teacher with a calm expression on his fat face. "Kiva; you worry too much! I can & will kick anybody's ass into next week." Kiva just shakes her head.

BELLWOOD

California

Ben Tennyson was riding shotgun in his partner's Proto-TRUK as he expressed his excitement to be working with other superheroes, "Man; superheroes, super villains, extra-dimensional conquerors, gods, giant monsters? This is SO COOL! I feel like I'm living in a comic book!" Rook then voices his concerns, "While I too look forward to working with some of these 'superheroes' as you call them, I cannot but think that we should still express a great deal of caution when dealing with any of them. Some of them possess exstensive criminal records! And a great deal of these 'super villains' are extremely dangerous!" Ben just waves his hand "-pfft!- You worry too much Rook; even IF some of them end up being half as bad as Vilgax, I can take 'em!" Rook just keeps on driving as he thinks 'I certainly hope so, Ben.'

PLUMBER HQ

A young plumber technician shouts out, "Magister Tennyson; we have an incoming transmission from the organization called 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'!" The elderly Max Tennyson then tells the technician "Bring it up on the main screen, son." The massive screen lights up and an image of a middle aged, half-black man wearing an eye-patch appeared on the screen "This is General Nicolas Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Plumber HQ; anybody read me?" Max then approaches the screen saying, "This is Max Tennyson, Magister of Earth & we read you loud and clear Director Fury." The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. then explains the situation to the Plumber commander "As I'm sure you're aware; several new organizations, land masses, countries, & life forms have appeared on Earth. We need access to all the information in your database; including data on the alien races that are associated with your organization as well as the species that are considered hostile to earth." Magister Tennyson responds, "With all due respect, Director Fury; I would have to ask for information on the super villains in YOUR database as well as any information you have on the races our organization is unfamiliar with in return for our cooperation." Fury cracked a smile & said, "I think that can be arranged. I'll have one of my top agents deliver a copy of our data to a location of your choosing." Max could tell that he's earned the super spy's respect as he replied, "Alright then; I'll have my grandson & his partner bring a copy of our data to exchange within three hours at these coordinates. Sound fair?" Fury reviews the information, nods his head, then his image vanishes from the screen. Pateliday asks his fellow veteran Plumber, "I'm not doubting you, Max...but are you sure it's a good idea to give that Fury guy a copy of our data?" Max smiles and responds, "Not to worry, Pateliday; I could tell that Fury is ex-military like me. I can trust him."

STATIC & GEAR'S HQ

Dakota

Static grabs himself a couple of sodas using electromagnetism while Gear scans through the internet to learn about the new superhumans that have miraculously appeared. "Yo Rich; you still lookin' up all these new heroes and villains, man?" Static asked his best friend, who replied "Yeah. I gotta say: some of them are pretty cool! Check out this guy." Virgil walks over to the computer and begins reading what Richie has on the screen. It was an article about how a young superhero with arachnid powers managed to defeat 6 supervillains at once. "Spider-Man? I'll give him points for originality...and the fact he managed to beat six villains at one time. But what about the others?" Virgil asked. Richie then replied, "Bro, you won't BELIEVE what else I've found out. Some of these guys are an offshoot of humanity called 'Mutants', some are aliens like Superman or Starfire, and some of them are literally Gods!" Virgil stares at the screen in awe, "Damn. You think we can trust any of them, Rich?" Richie looks at his friend and replies, "To tell you the truth: I'm not sure. But we won't know unless we take that leap of faith."

ROSHI'S ISLAND

sea of Japan

'The world is so different now' Goku wondered as he stared up into the sky, 'The creatures we knew are gone & there are some new ones in their place. There are even new, strong beings out there. & somehow me, my family, my friends; we're still relatively the same but we're different somehow. I can only imagine what life has in store for us now.'

WATCH TOWER

Earth Orbit

"I want to thank you all for coming so that we can discuss what's happened here." Batman said as he sat in the briefing room with Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan of the Green Lantern corps, Hawkgirl, & Martian Manhunter. Hal broke the ice by saying "I gotta say, Batman; I'm surprised that you of all people called a meeting." J'onn then asked his friend, "Exactly why did you call this meeting?" Batman replied, "As I'm sure you're all aware; several cities, landmasses, countries, organizations, and life forms have appeared on Earth overnight. As well as a great deal of new metahumans." as The Dark Knight entered a usb drive into the briefing room computer table, a hologram of a man wearing red and gold armor appears and he says, "This is billionaire industrialist Tony Stark but he likes to call himself Iron Man. His armor is very powerful and has several dozen weapons built into it." Flash lets out a whistle and says "Impressive." Batman sternly replies, "That's just the STANDARD armor; he has dozens, possibly hundreds more. Each one designed for a unique purpose. And they can all be operated remotely." Then Hal Jordan proclaims "Effectively making him a one man army. That's just a little uneasing." "Unfortunately, it only gets worse" Batman said as the armored avenger changes into a muscular blonde haired man wearing armor and holding a large hammer, "This one is named Thor; he CLAIMS to be the God of Thunder from Norse mythology. His hammer, Mjolnir, is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I don't know what it's made of or how it works, but with it; he's able to create bursts of wind that rival F5 tornadoes, earthquakes, and massive lightning storms." Wonder Woman carefully examined the supposed Asgardian and said, "He seems very much like Thor...but he's different from the one Superman and I fought alongside with. But I can tell that he's a warrior at heart." Flash curiously asked, "So what? Are you worried about this guy being a threat to us?" "Not us necessarily, but to the Earth." Batman responded coldly, "& Thor isn't one of the metahumans that really bothers me." And with the push of a button, the Norse warrior dissappeared and in his place was a massive, green skinned goliath wearing only torn purple pants. Superman asks in shock, "What the hell is THAT?" Batman replies, "What you're looking at is a monster that people call 'The Hulk'. He's the product of Dr. Bruce Banner's overexposure to gamma radiation. When he's in this form, Banner's intelligence is greatly diminished while his strength and durability skyrocket; he's managed to take on the U.S. military after leveling an entire city block." Jordan askes hs fellow League member, "Just how strong is he?" Batman bluntly said "I have no idea. According to the reports I've read, his strength is somehow linked to his anger; so to make it simple-" "The madder he gets, the stronger he gets." the Man of Steel interjected. Batman nods & says, "He might be stronger than you, Superman." Martian Manhunter finally speaks up and says, "This creature seems quite powerful & yet I can sense that he lives a very tortured existence. I feel genuinely sorry for it." The Lantern simply mocks the creature by saying, "boo hoo; I'm being hunted for destroying entire cities. Gimme a break, J'onn. I say we take this thing down before he ends up being recruited by the Red Lantern corps!" "I'm with Hal on this one!" Flash says, "Who's to say that Atrocitus wouldn't recruit this monster?" Batman counters his friends point by saying, "It's very unlikely that Atrocitus would be able to control the Hulk once he's been given a ring. Plus, I doubt that he'd know how to use it." The jade giant dissappears as Batman stands up and says "I think it's best if we start preparing for a possible fight with these new metahumans." Wonder Woman turns to Superman and asks him, "What do you think we should do, Superman?" The Man of Steel stands up from his seat & replied, "I don't think we should write them off as threats just yet...but I do agree with Batman and that we should keep our guard up, just in case. Meeting adjourned." As his friends left the room, Superman stared down at the his adoptive home from a window and began to wonder, 'I want to believe that these new heroes can be great allies...but with all the information that Bruce has brought to light I can't help but wonder if we should trust them.'