Chapter Five: Broken Trust
"Flash! It's your turn to collect the trash!" Green Lantern shouted from across the room.
"Aw man…" Flash groaned. "At least it's something to do; there hasn't been any action in days." He shrugged.
"I guess the criminals are just a bit more afraid to come out of hiding… what with all the… disappearances." Superman's voice said.
Everyone gasped and looked up. They had not even noticed the man of steel hovering above them.
"Oh God…" Flash gasped, huffing, "Don't do that! You scared the hell out of me!"
"You should hurry and get the trash, Flash. Don't keep anyone waiting." Superman said darkly.
"Uh… okay…" Flash then zoomed out of the room and began entering everyone's rooms, grabbing their personal trash bins. He nearly bypassed J'onn's room, because J'onn never had any garbage. He didn't even need to eat.
"Flash! Be sure to check J'onn's room too, he had a few papers earlier that he's probably thrown away by now." Superman commanded.
"Um… ok." Flash shrugged, doubling back down the hallway.
"Everyone, I need to talk to you about something important. And I need to say it before J'onn gets back." Superman said bluntly.
"Ok… what is it Clark?" Hawkgirl asked.
"I think J'onn may be responsible for the disappearances and murders lately." Superman said through false sadness.
"What? J'onn?" Hawkgirl raised an eyebrow.
"No." Green Lantern said flatly.
"Why not? It makes sense." Superman started. "J'onn is a Martian, remember? Before their extinction, it was a Martian custom to sentence all criminals to death, no matter what the offense. Maybe J'onn is bringing his customs back to Earth. And then Diana… she was on her way to apprehend Trickster the night she disappeared. Maybe J'onn killed Trickster, and Wonder Woman arrived and caught him in the act, so he killed her too."
"No." Green Lantern stated bluntly.
"J'onn doesn't have any fingerprints, so that's why none were left on Trickster's body. It all makes sense." Superman explained.
"I don't know, it doesn't really seem to add up…" Hawkgirl said.
Superman was getting angry now.
"Remember J'onn before he joined us! He was a killer, remember! People died because of him! Maybe things haven't changed!"
"What about Toyman? J'onn wasn't even with you the day you fought him!" Green Lantern interjected.
"J'onn moves through solid objects. By the time I arrived inside that building, Toyman was gone; maybe J'onn came in, snatched him up, and pulled him through the floor or something." Superman quickly lied.
"I don't buy it. Not for a moment." Green Lantern said, standing his ground.
"We capture J'onn until we find evidence that points away from him. Is that clear?" Superman demanded.
"You know what I think?" Green Lantern said, standing up and looking Superman in the eyes. "I was thinking earlier, and you happened to be the one sent after all of these criminals who suddenly disappeared, and then you always said they got away. Care to explain?" Green Lantern demanded, beginning to suspect something.
"Hey guy! There's something in here you've kind of gotta see!" Flash's voice called. The heroes moved to where Flash's voice had come from, J'onn's room.
Standing there was the Flash, awestruck. He had gone snooping around in J'onn's room, just as Superman hoped he would. Flash had opened up the closet, found a little box stuffed up in the corner, pulled it down and opened it up. Inside was Wonder Woman's headband and lasso, the Toyman's modified dart gun, the Trickster's goggles, and countless other possessions of the victims of the recent disappearances.
"I- I was just looking for some money, I figured since J'onn doesn't even need to eat, he doesn't need it, you know? But… but that's not money…" Flash stammered.
"Oh my God…" Hawkgirl gasped. "Maybe J'onn did do it…"
"So it's settled then. But since he's technically still a member of the team, we'll only capture him for now. Later on we'll investigate a bit more." Superman said. He didn't want to raise any suspicions by jumping to conclusions about J'onn. The group exited back out into the main room.
"No." Green Lantern decided.
"I'm the leader and you'll do what I say!" Superman snapped, but again, Green Lantern stood defiant.
"I'm out." He said, flying off into the setting sun.
"He'll be back; he just has to blow off steam." Hawkgirl said.
Then the man of the hour arrived, J'onn came back from a solo mission. Superman grinned wickedly. J'onn immediately sensed the stress among the group.
"What is it?" He asked. Flash zoomed around back behind J'onn, and Superman and Hawkgirl began to close in on him. "What is going on?"
"Why'd you do it J'onn? Why Diana? Why kill her!" Superman demanded.
"What?"
"We know it was you, Martian."
"This is ridiculous. I promise you that I would never-"
"Then explain this!" Superman shouted, throwing down the box found in J'onn's closet, spilling out the bloodied contents.
"I've gotta admit, it doesn't look good for you man." Flash said with heavy uncertainty in his voice.
"I have never seen those objects before." J'onn insisted.
"Take him down." Superman ordered.
"Shouldn't we at least do a bit more investigation first? I mean, those could easily have been planted there." Hawkgirl said.
"And let him kill more people! No! We're taking him down now!" Superman barked. His tone made it clear that they should not argue.
"If you attack me, be warned that I will fight." J'onn stated.
"Oh, I'm prepared." Superman said, glaring the Martian in the eyes. "Get him."
Following Superman's command, Hawkgirl drew her mace and flew at J'onn, while Flash sprinted in from behind. J'onn faded out and became intangible, Flash passed through J'onn's body, and Hawkgirl accidentally struck Flash with her mace. Flash flew backward and was caught in mid air by a now solid J'onn, who clasped his hand around the Flash's throat. He then hurled the super speedster into the slightly disoriented Hawkgirl, causing them both to tumble to the ground. J'onn then abandoned his solidity and sank into the ground. The Flash began to run again, but J'onn's hands came up through the floor and grabbed the Flash's ankles, pulling him down into the floor, completely immobilizing him.
"Um… what am I supposed to do about this!" Flash screamed, looking down at his feet.
Hawkgirl was then punched by the invisible J'onn, completely catching her off guard and causing her to drop her mace. J'onn lifted the weapon and dropped it onto Flash's head, knocking him out. Hawkgirl began to stand, and was hit by more invisible punches, eventually incapacitating her, with blood streaming from her mouth and nose. J'onn was then struck by a mighty punch from Superman himself. The fist sent J'onn hurling into a wall, and he immediately came back into visibility upon impact.
"That little invisibly trick doesn't work if I can hear you J'onn." Superman said arrogantly, pointing to his ear.
J'onn showed no emotion whatsoever, as usual. He simply levitated in the air and waited for the man of steel's next attack to come. Superman grew impatient and flew directly at J'onn, who immediately became intangible, but Superman stopped in his tracks, knowing what had happened, and knowing that J'onn could not stay intangible forever. J'onn flew at Superman, and Superman charged as well. J'onn released a blast of super-breath, which Superman countered with his own, creating a wall of air pushing against air. J'onn shot into the air and fazed through the ceiling. Superman immediately began scanning the area with his x-ray vision, and caught J'onn inside a wall. He fired a blast of heat vision into the spot, blasting J'onn out of the wall. He then flew in and began hitting the Martian with a flurry of punches. J'onn sent a punch into Superman's face, rivaling his strength. The two titans clashed, pounding each other continuously, both of them bleeding.
But J'onn could heal and recover much more quickly than Superman. Superman swiftly caught onto this and doubled back, shooting more heat vision and burning off J'onn's left arm! Before the Martian could regenerate, Superman flew in and delivered a rib-crushing blow to J'onn, pummeling him into the ground below. Superman then ripped pipe out of a piece of railing and began beating J'onn mercilessly. He rolled the bloodied, bruised Martian over onto his back, used his heat vision to sharpen the pipe to a smoldering point, and jabbed down to impale him. But at the last moment, J'onn passed through the floor, and the pipe stabbed deep into the ground. J'onn then emerged out the ceiling and flew downward, shoving Superman's face into the pipe! Superman cried out and stumbled back, clutching his punctured forehead. J'onn then delivered a dislocating punch to the man of steel's jaw, then hit him in the abdomen so hard that he could feel the ribs breaking. Superman flashed his heat vision, blinding J'onn, and then took advantage of the moment. He rammed the Martian and flew straight forward, smashing him through several walls. Finally they reached the boiler room, and Superman chucked the Martian hard into the concrete floor.
He flew down to strike, but J'onn rolled out of the way and then tackled Superman. J'onn then took advantage of his shape shifting, and morphed into a colossal, monstrous, spiny beast that even Superman could not pry off. The spines began digging into Superman's flesh, killing him. The bleeding Superman struggled to reach out to the side, and ripped a hose off the boiler machine. A flammable gas began spraying from it, and Superman shot a light beam of heat vision into the gas, igniting it and creating a shroud of flame. J'onn instantly screamed in agony, his skin began to boil and bubble, and he fell to the floor dying. Fire is the weakness of all Martians, just being near fire can kill J'onn! Superman held the flame-spitting hose up to J'onn's head.
"You shouldn't have interfered. Now you're just another victim." Superman said grimly.
He then lifted the melting Martian by the cape, and rammed the hose into his chest. The hose dug easily into the weakened flesh, and J'onn began burning from the inside out! Fire erupted from his mouth and eyes, its roar nearly muffling out his screams of anguish. And Superman laughed. He laughed manically. But then his super hearing picked up footsteps nearing. Flash and Hawkgirl. Superman groaned angrily and pulled the hose out of J'onn and let it burn. Soon the flames stopped. J'onn began to solidify again, but it would be a long time before he even woke up. Superman tossed his incapacitated body down just as Flash and Hawkgirl were arriving in the room.
"Is he okay?" Flash asked.
"Get him to the infirmary, but keep candles lit in the room. We can't let this murderer escape." Superman said, walking away casually. He would have to finish the job later.
Meanwhile, At a LexCorp Research Facility…
The President arrived at the LexCorp Military Research and Technology Institution at twelve o'clock noon. He was immediately escorted to the offices of the man he had put in charge of all operations at the building, Professor Hamilton.
"President Luthor. Good to see you." The professor said kindly.
"As it is you, Dr. Hamilton." Said Lex Luthor, shaking the professor's hand. "I believe you know why I'm here?"
"Project CORRUPTION?" Asked Hamilton in a way that made it more of a statement than a question.
"Precisely. How is CORRUPTION coming along?" Lex asked.
"Quite well, phase one is now complete." Hamilton smiled.
"Good. Now the only logical thing to do is to begin phase two… I want production of the SuperDrones begun immediately."
"Already begun, Mr. Luthor."
"Excellent, then we're ahead of schedule."
"There's only one minor setback, Mr. Luthor…"
"And what would that be?" Lex asked, his voice suddenly threatening.
"The two vigilantes known as Batman and The Question. Sources in the V.O.P. tell us that they suspect something…" Hamilton said.
"Is it a problem?" Luthor asked.
"No, not yet. But it could easily become one." Hamilton responded.
"Then fix it before it does. We have plenty of agents in the V.O.P., they should be able to handle a faceless conspiracy nut and a giant bat with a utility belt. I want the two of them dead by morning. If he have to use CORRUPTION, then so be it, but only as a last resort. We shouldn't confirm their suspicions if we don't have to. Am I understood?" Lex commanded.
"Of course sir. They'll both be dead by morning, you have my word."