Hey, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the ride so far. This chapter is a bit longer and hopefully pretty good. I'll let you be the judge. Please, please, please review! Lotta views but no one wants to talk for some reason! Ah well, On with the show!

A few hours later…

Orion sat at the side of his friend and brother-in-arms Lightray. He had taken a shot in the back and had been left without proper care or treatment. The doctor said that if they showed up any later Lightray might have died.

For once the furious Titan was in quiet contemplation. His helmet lay on a table and Lightray's vital signs pinged steadily. He would recover soon, what he needed most was rest.

Orion placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Stay strong, brother."

He was about to turn and leave when he heard a light cough.

"Well, it's nice to see you too, Orion."

Orion smiled with his back turned to Lightray and it vanished as he faced his comrade. "Well, finally. I was beginning to think you weren't all that you were cracked up to be."

Lightray however grinned and chuckled with no reservation, "Nonsense. If I didn't pull through who would the fair maidens look to? It would be utter chaos."

Orion nodded solemnly, "Can't have that."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Rest brother. I will be back soon."

"If you say so. See if you can bring me any of that much vaunted chocolate the humans prattle on about."

This time Orion laughed, "Very well brother. I will be back soon." The hero donned his helmet and opened the door into the Watchtower proper.

Meanwhile, the celebration in the main hall was ongoing. The senior members had rejoined the festivities after their mysterious disappearance and participated with enthusiasm. Even Batman had the shadow of a smile on his face. A few moments later, Orion joined them as well, to much aplomb.

The party began in earnest then. There were faster songs with multiple heroes dancing in abandon. There were contests of strength and speed. They were practical jokes and pranks.

Eventually, however the party gradually winded down when Superman cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to hear. All heads turned to him.

He smiled and raised his hands in a calming gesture, "I do believe we've all had a lot of fun, even my friend the Dark Knight. But we don't want to break the Watchtower now do we?" Laughter echoed throughout the hall.

"I think it's time to wrap up. I remember this was supposed to be your vacation days already. You can all go home and relax on your own time, we'll let the robots handle the cleanup. Have a good night and see you all again soon!"

At that the League started breaking off into pairs or small groups, each heading to the transporter pad and to various destinations. Some went home to rest, others went with friends to have more fun.

Only a few stayed, those who felt they still needed something to do. Among them were the Justice League Council, the Founding Members and Aquaman, who were holding another meeting, this time in their exclusive conference room.

Superman spoke first, "What's on our agenda for the near future?"

Batman answered, "I asked Mister Terrific to have his people track down the remaining supervillains and big organizations like the Society."

"His report tells me, that Luthor's Society is almost completely done for. Their main headquarters and the majority of their assets have been neutralized. Only a few low-tier villains and some troops."

Wonder Woman said, "They should be no problem, we can send teams soon. But what of the other criminal enclaves?"

Batman said, "There are a few independent villains here and there in various cities. Groups like the League of Shadows and Intergang have been silent for a while."

"The largest group of criminals that are still active are the ones in Gotham City. Most of them didn't take part in the Secret Society and avoided capture. Right now many are laying low, but they won't for long."

Aquaman said, "This is our chance. Most of the world's villains are either dead or captured. If we can do the same to your enemies, we can rid the surface-world of supervillains for a long time."

Flash interjected, "Yeah, if we can keep them from escaping this time."

Hawkgirl said, "Wally's got a point. Every time we lock 'em up, they bust out again."

"We need a way to contain them for more than just a few weeks. "

Green Lantern said, "We need some kind of new maximum security prison. In isolation and heavily fortified."

Batman nodded, "I have a few ideas about that. I'm thinking we get our own people to choose a site and build a facility. Then we provide the staffing."

J'onn thoughtfully said, "Where would we get the manpower for that? We only have enough to staff the Watchtower, Metro Tower, and Annexes."

Batman replied, "I say it's time to expand our operations. Not just a prison. I'm talking about dramatic and sweeping growth across the board. More members in the roster for one. But there's much, much, more. We can't talk about specifics yet but I'll draw up plans for what I think we need to do."

Flash looked skeptical, "I don't know, this sounds like the kind of thing that's given us grief before."

Green Lantern said, "Yeah. If we're doing any expanding it has to be in the public eye among other things."

Batman replied, "Agreed. There's going to have to be some major changes in our organization of the League."

Superman held up a hand, "We can discuss this all when you have more concrete plans Batman. What I want to hear is what you all think we should do about the Gotham Rogues?"

"The departure of most of the world's major criminal entities is going to leave a power vacuum. And where there's a power vacuum there's more violence. But if we take out all of the really dangerous folks we can deal with the small fries left over."

"I want to hear some plans for how we should do that."

Aquaman held up his hook hand, "I say we go into that city with everything we have, turn over every stone, and find those criminal scum. If they resist we eliminate them with overwhelming force."

Wonder Woman shook her head, "No. That's too overt. Not only will that tip our hand and let them escape but it'll look bad to the public."

J'onn spoke, "We can have surveillance on them and gather information. When we have enough we confront them."

Hawkgirl said, "That could take weeks. And by then, they could expand their operations considerably or some other player will complicate things. We need to get this done quickly and quietly."

Batman cleared his throat, "In that case, I have an idea. It'll take a long time to set up, so immediately all we can do is increase patrols in the area. But when we do get there…"

The other Council members paid all of their attention to Batman as he related his plan.

Hours Later…

The Question was in his room, his fingers tapping rapidly against the keyboard. Nearby, a device recorded his thoughts, "Hmm. Mission report from Aztek, leaves me suspicious."

"No mention of finding Grodd's body. Doubtless the witch Tala was vaporized, but this open thread may haunt us later."

"Doctor Destiny's behavior strange. Should not have taken so long for them to leave. Was something else at work?"

"And the biggest question of all. What happened to Braniac?" Question held tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully, "Missing something else. But can't think of it right now." Question warily looked around and reached into a drawer.

He produced his defense against mental invasion. A tinfoil hat. He lifted his own hat and placed the tinfoil product on his head. He sat still and pondered for a few more moments.

"Nothing. Hmm, not mental manipulation. Unless they're just making me think that. And toying with me. Must consult Martian." He continued tapping away at his keyboard. He likely would have been there for a while, until his phone started ringing.

He looked down and saw the caller ID as Helena

He picked up the phone and answered, "Busy."

Huntress' voice flowed over the line, "Yeah, it's good to hear from you too honey."

"What is it? I may have stumbled onto something here. Can't talk about it over the phone."

"Same old Question. Well, I didn't stumble onto anything. It tried to kill me."

Question stopped tapping, "What?!"

"I was just grabbing a snack…"

Earlier…

Helena Bertinelli, whom the world knows as Huntress needed some food. It had been quite a day helping the League fight off Darkseid's invasion. And a girl needed a recharge for the night shift.

Helena was about to pay for her coffee and donuts when she heard the sound of screaming. She turned around and then she heard gunfire. She dropped the food and took off calling back, "Sorry! I'll pay you later!"

Huntress ran towards the danger, putting on her mask and tearing her casual clothes off of her to reveal her costume. She saw that four men had large assault rifles and fired it into the floor of the nearby building. That building happened to be a bank, and a getaway car was parked in front.

"You're not getting away that easy." Huntress pulled out her crossbow and fired a bolt into car's tires facing her. The tires deflated and the car listed to one side. The would-be bank robbers showed no sign of panic and faced her instead with rifles raised.

She fired four more bolts that took the guns out of their hands and she closed distance with them. She flew into the air and kicked out two legs. Each caught a thug on the outside of the group.

While she kicked out she had her hands grab the hair of the thugs closest to her. She violently slammed their heads together and drew her legs back in. She stomped each of the thugs in the gut as they fell and slammed their heads into the concrete. Those two were out for the count.

She charged one of the dazed thugs who was collecting himself. He threw a punch at her but she caught it and flipped him, throwing him bodily to the other thug who was pulling out a pistol.

They both fell to the ground, and the robber with the pistol wrestled with his unconscious buddy, to angle his gun to point it at her. She kicked it out of his hands and broke his wrist to boot. She kicked him in the side of the head and he was knocked out.

There was one last problem. She turned to face the car and as she did she twisted her body to one side and drew her crossbow. A pistol bullet flew through the car window and missed her by inches embedding itself into the bank's wall.

She fired a bolt that flew into the gun's barrel as the criminal fired the trigger. The gun's barrel exploded and the man screamed as the pieces of his weapon embedded themselves over his body.

She calmly walked to the driver's side of the car while he whimpered in pain. She elbowed the window into shards, grabbed the wounded man's head and slammed it against the dashboard. The woman opened the car door and pulled him out onto the concrete.

Huntress picked up the man and slammed the robber against the hood of his car. His agonized screaming intensified as she twisted his arm behind arm. She snarled, "That wasn't very smart now was it?"

"What made you think robbing a bank the same day dozens of heroes are flying around, was a good idea? And why is it that your guys didn't look surprised to se me at all?"

The man grunted, "Screw you, bitch!"

"Wrong answer." Huntress twisted his arm again and he screamed even louder. "What were you really after, creep?"

He started laughing and his body shuddered with hacking coughs as he did so. He said, "You." Then Huntress heard a blinking sound emanating from a bag that one of the knocked out thugs had held. It started beeping faster and faster and Huntress' eyes widened.

She hopped up, planted her feet on the man's back, and used it to springboard away from the car. The whole time she screamed, "Run! Bomb!" She had reached the height of her flip when the bomb went off.

A massive hand of air and fire grabbed Huntress and slapped her towards the café she had ran from earlier. She regained her senses before she splattered against the wall, and tucked her body in. She landed mostly on her feet a good fifteen feet away.

As Huntress stood, she saw that the car had been engulfed in flame. Along with the five thugs. Her eyes narrowed as she heard sirens approach. The owner had fled but she dropped a twenty on the counter and she sprinted away from the scene.

Presently…

Question said, "Those were no bank robbers."

Huntress replied, "No kidding. They didn't hesitate to try and kill and they planted a bomb in one of their bags."

"It seems as if we have would-be assassins."

"Duh. But why me? And how did they know my secret identity?"

"And that-" he started

"Oh God don't say-" Huntress protested

"Is the Question," he finished.

There was a noise that Question thought suspiciously sounded like that of a hand against a forehead.

He continued, "In any case, I don't know. All of your enemies either directly or by association are dead, imprisoned, or missing. I suspect your death is only part of a much bigger conspiracy."

Huntress snorted, "Gee, that makes me feel better. And why did I know you were going to say that?"

Question made a non-committal grunt, "I need to get down there. And we're going to have to bring this to the League."

"No! I don't wanna drag those-"

"Normally, I would agree with you. But this goes beyond us. Something more powerful than we think is at work here." Question paused and took a breath before saying, "And I can't lose you."

Huntress didn't say anything for a while then, "Okay, Q. If you think that's what's best."

"Of course. For now, I'll have you transported here for your safety. I'll see you in." As he jogged to the teleporter pad, his mind raced with possibilities. Who would want to kill Huntress? Why? What was their game? He groaned in frustration as he realized he had no idea.

He wracked his brain for who could have possibly ordered it and came up with nothing that made sense. His worries intensified as he approached the teleporter. He addressed the technician, "Huntress. Transport her here. Now."

The tech protested, "Look budy, I can't ju-"

Question grabbed the man and leaned in his faceless mask until their heads almost touched, "Urgent business. No time for your crap. Do it. Now!" He shoved him backward and the tech raised his hands.

"Okay, okay. Jeez!" He muttered under his breath as he tapped in commands on the console. Question knew that the League kept tabs on Huntress, even though she was dismissed.

He paced back and forth until the teleporter shimmered and the love of his life appeared before his eyes. He immediately stood still and cleared his throat, composing himself.

Huntress hugged him as he said, "Took that stupid machine long enough."

He returned the hug and said nothing. After a moment they let go and Question said, "Let's get you settled here. I think your room is still-"

Huntress grinned at him and leaned to brush her lips against his ear, "I'd feel safer if I could spend the night in your room." Question had nothing to say to that, until they heard a throat-clearing cough.

They noticed the Tech again who was giving them a strange look. Question said, "Um, yes, well that can be arranged. Definitely. Well, uh, we should uh talk to the League! Yes we should tell the League about what happened."

Question and Huntress made their way to the Monitoring station, where Mister Terrific was on duty. Mister Terrific turned toward them, "What is it Question? And why is she here?"

Question told him the gist of what had happened.

Mister Terrific shook his head, "My God. This is serious. I'll raise the Council and see what they want to do. They're mostly at home and off-duty but this is an emergency."

Later eight separate screens popped up on the Monitor terminal. Question wasted no time and he and Huntress told them everything that had happened, leaving nothing out.

Superman said, "This is bad. It looks like someone has a bone to pick with us and our friends. Mister Terrific, I want you to inform all of the Active Roster about possible danger and to remain vigilant. Place the Watchtower and Metro Tower on high alert. I want you to track down all of our non-member Associates. They could be in danger. If they found out Huntress' identity then we have to assume they know all them if not ours. "

Mister Terrific nodded, "Got it. They are not all so easy to track down. But we've got a lock on Hawkman. He's at his residence in Metropolis."

"Alright, have a response team from the Metro Tower inform him and pick him up."

Huntress piped in, "I'm going too!"

Superman sternly said, "That-"

"I don't care what you say! I'm not going to let these creeps scare me! I'm going to track them down and find out what's going on here!"

"I was going to say that that could be a good idea. Take Question with you. Maybe we can learn more about these mysterious assassins."

Huntress flushed, "Oh. Um, right. Well that's good."

Superman smiled and turned to face Question, "We want you to find out all you can about this business. But saving Hawkman comes first. Alright?"

Question nodded, "Understood."

Superman nodded, "Good luck. And remember. Do not underestimate these people just because they failed at first. Anyone who's willing to die at a chance to kill should never be dismissed." The screens went blank again and Mister Terrific faced Question and Huntress.

"The Metro Tower team has been notified and they're gearing up. I'll send you down there to meet with them. The team leader for this one is Nemesis. Follow his orders." Mister Terrific glanced sideways at Huntress, "That means you too."

"Yeah, yeah I got it."

"Good. Head on down, teleporter is ready."

A few moments later the duo was transported to the Metro Tower. Huntress looked around the Tower and arched an eyebrow, "So this is your Hall of Justice deal huh? Pretty sweet actually."

"Thanks." Said a new voice, they looked in the direction it came from to reveal a blonde man in a black jumpsuit. It was Nemesis, one the League's top infiltration specialists.

"We try. Hello Question." At his side was another blonde man wearing a gas mask and a woman in a tan jumpsuit. Sand and Crimson Fox, respectively.

Sand was silicon-based life form who could manipulate the earth. Crimson Fox had superhuman speed and agility along with pheromones that manipulated emotions. They all looked ready for a fight.

Question nodded, "Nemesis. You know the situation right?"

Nemesis nodded, "We do. Carter is in his apartment, no doubt sleeping off the big battle earlier today. We'll transport in the vicinity and split into teams. One secures the area and the other secures Carter. As soon as we have him safe, we transport out of there."

"Myself and Question should be enough to pick him up. The rest of you will keep a look out. Are we clear?"

Huntress replied, "Crystal." Question inclined his head.

"Alright then. Let's get this show on the road."

They boarded the teleporter and shimmered away.

They emerged into rain. It crept up on them suddenly and pattered steadily onto the ground. Dark clouds obscured the setting sun as the heroes walked forward. They were in an alley next to Hawkman's apartment. At this time of night, no one was around.

Nemesis spoke up, "Ok. We're a go. The three of you find good vantage points. We'll go inside." Huntress, Crimson Fox, and Sand departed each to find a shadowy place to hide while Nemesis and Question entered through the front door.

The man at the front desk started to rise. Nemesis sternly said, "Justice League business. Please let us pass." The man sat down and waved them through.

Nemesis and Question boarded an elevator and Nemesis pressed a button.

They waited for a long moment. Nemesis shifted while Question stared straight ahead.

Nemesis cleared his throat. Then he tried whistling a tune. He cracked his knuckles and glanced at the faceless man besides him.

"Y'know, I haven't worked a lot of ops with you before. It's good that we've got one now." Question said nothing.

"Umm… weird weather we're having huh?"

Question looked at him. His eyeless face seemed to stare into him. He nodded and said, "Indeed it is."

The elevator arrived at the floor and Question exited first with Nemesis looking at his back for a moment. He shook his head and followed, "And they think I'm hard to read."

Question waited for Nemesis to catch up and lead them to Carter Hall's apartment. They stood in front of the door and Nemesis knocked. They heard a man shout, "I'm coming! Hold on!"

A few seconds passed before a brown-haired man in casual clothing stood before him. Carter Hall, the Hawkman. Without his special apparatus, he looked like a regular man but they knew better.

Carter looked at both of them, "The Justice League. What's up guys? I'm not in trouble am I?"

Question replied, "Possibly. And if so, not from us."

"What does that mean?"

Nemesis interjected, "We should talk about this inside. Can we come in?"

Carter regarded them for a second, "Sure. Why not? Come in." He stepped to the side and the Leaguers walked into the apartment. It was of moderate size and decently decorated. It also had racks of Thanagarian weaponry within easy reach.

Nemesis whistled, "Expecting trouble, Carter?" Question pressed himself up against the walls and drew the curtains over the windows into the apartment.

"No but it never hurts to be prepared." He closed the door and said, "Now can you tell me what this is all about?"

Nemesis replied, "Someone might try to kill you Carter." Nemesis got a ping on his comm-link. It was Crimson Fox. Her French accent flew over the line, "Nemesis. I see an approaching vehicle. One of your… pizza delivery cars."

"Anyone see anything else?" All three lookouts replied in the negative.

"Probably straight, but see if you can keep an eye on him. Keep on the lookout for any other activity."

"Roger that."

Meanwhile, Carter had blinked at the news and stared blankly for a few seconds before saying, "What? Why me? Who?"

Question said, "Those are the questions, Carter. We don't know who and we don't know why. All we know is that someone tried to kill Huntress today. Except they knew her secret identity and we can't think of anyone who had the means and motive to do it."

Nemesis said, "So we thought it best to get you to safety. We think someone with pull is trying to take out Justice League associates. That's all we can say at this point."

Carter said, "What happens now?"

Nemesis replied, "We'll take you to the Watchtower where no one can get to you. Then we start getting to the bottom of this."

Carter shook his head, "I don't know. It all sounds-"

Suddenly the doorbell rung and Carter stepped forward to answer. Question held him back. Nemesis motioned to them to keep quiet. Nemesis pulled out a device and held it up to Carter's face.

It silently emitted a light that ran over it. Nemesis reached for his collar and fingered a hidden button. It sprayed a fine mist over Nemesis that he covered his whole face with.

Standing before them was the visage of Carter Hall. The real Carter's eyes widened and Question was unreadable as ever. Nemesis walked into Carter's bedroom and covered his black jumpsuit with a bathrobe. He drew his pistol and hid it behind his back.

The doorbell rang again. The apparent Carter Hall called out, "Coming!" He gave Question a significant look. Question motioned the real Carter to arm himself. Carter Hall went to a table and donned his wings and picked up an axe. Hawkman was ready.

Nemesis walked up to the door and opened it. A pizza delivery boy stood there. Though when he really looked he seemed to be in his late twenties at the youngest. He held up a paper to his face and said, "Is this Ted Hughes?"

Nemesis shook his head, "No, sorry."

"Ah, that's just great. Free pizza for the guy to be sure."

Nemesis chuckled, "Well. Might as well get going then."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, what's your name?"

Nemesis didn't hesitate. He pulled his pistol from behind and pointed it at the man. The man immediately, reached for something behind him. Nemesis shot him in the shoulder. As he screamed, he pistol whipped his face, punched him in the gut, and kicked him in the groin.

Then he shot him in both kneecaps as he collapsed. Nemesis ducked back into the room and shut the door. He fingered a button on his collar. It shot out another mist and the mask was gone. He ripped of the bathrobe and shouted into the radio, "We've got contact! Cover us out of the building!"

Then Huntress came on the line, the sound of a struggle reaching them, "RPGs! Get out!"

Nemesis pushed a bookcase in front of the door followed by a couch and table. He pointed at Hawkman, "Is there a way out of here?"

Hawkman replied, "Yeah! Follow me!" He flew to the back of the room. Question said, "Hidden passageway?"

"Not quite!" Hawkman swung his axe and the wall collapsed.

Question said, "Oh."

The three of them dove out of the room just as a rocket fired. However the room did not explode into a fireball. The rocket had missed the apartment and hit the parked pizza delivery car.

Hawkman glided above Nemeis and Question who had landed in a dumpster. He set down and pulled them both into the alley. Huntress said, "That was close. Ok you don't have to jump anymore."

Nemesis and Question looked at their trash-covered clothes. At the same time they both said, "Thanks!"

They heard something slam with against the door to the apartment above. They took off out of the alley and onto the street. They saw a van approaching them at high speed. Suddenly a column on sand burst from a rooftop and slammed in the front of the van.

It was blown end over end into the air and landed on it's roof ahead on them on the street. The van was crumpled and the glass shattered. There was no way anyone in there could stop them. Nemesis radioed, "Good work, Sand!"

"I aim to please."

Hawkman shouted, "This is kind of overkill isn't it?"

Question said, "Evidently not!"

Hawkman said, "We're not going to run away are we?"

Nemesis replied, "No. We're fighting them on our own terms." He commed the three other Leaguers, "Get ready for a fight. See if you can leave conscious for questioning when it starts." He turned to Question and Hawkman, "Well we have the bait set up already. Let's set up."

A minute or so later around more than a dozen men filed out of the apartment building. Half had finally broken through the barricade and emerged from the alley, while others had ran through the front door.

They had assault rifles out and advanced on the van steadily. They looked around the area but saw no sign of the Justice League. They took positions around the van and one man said, "Check our men inside."

He reached for a radio, "Gaines do you copy?" No answer. The man tried again, "Gaines, come in over! Gaines!" He turned to his comrades, "Looks like they got our fire support. Probably bugged out already."

"Anyone alive in there?" His men had opened the door and dragged out two men. They were dazed but not too hurt. The apparent leader had them propped up to their knees and he asked, "What happened?"

One of them, a red haired man said, "I don't know. We were driving along, about to hit those guys when out of nowhere our van flipped over!"

The other man said, "Yeah. Next thing we know you're here."

The leader of the hitmen said, "So you didn't see where the Justice League went."

Suddenly a female voice called, "Actually we're right here." Huntress and Crimson Fox stood side by side on the rooftop of the building in front of the men.

The ringleader raised his rifle, "Get them!" Suddenly, the red-haired man threw a small object and the whole area around them was clouded by gas. It dissipated in a few seconds but by then, they saw Question and Nemesis in their midst and three men were already down.

A nearby garbage bin exploded in a shower of dust that blew three men into a wall. It resolved itself into the form of Sand. Hawkman dropped from the sky and hit the ground with his axe, creating a shockwave that knocked out four more. Crimson Fox and Huntress dropped from the rooftop and started sprinting towards them. The whole affair had taken four seconds maximum.

The ringleader only said, "Oh cra-" before Nemesis punched him into a light pole. In this close quarters, the men couldn't angle their guns to shoot the pair of Leaguers. But that was quite convenient for our heroes. Nemesis and Question dealt with the thugs closest to them while Hawkman and Sand made quite a distraction.'

And the two heroines went quite unnoticed. Until they closed with the criminals. Huntress whipped out her combat staff and swung it into one man's gut, sending him flying into another. Then she flipped forward and used her staff as a balance to kick another man's jaw into oblivion. She landed on her feet and stabbed the staff forward knocking the wind out of one man. As he stumbled toward her she kicked him in the back onto the ground.

Crimson Fox dashed through another trio. She kicked one man to his knees and hopped onto his shoulders. She reached her hands back and grabbed him by the neck , flipped him over her head, and slammed him into the ground. She jumped from him into another man, crashing into his gut. Then she swept the leg of his friend and kicked him in mid-air into the ruined van.

Question dodged one man's punch and caught his arm. He grabbed the man, so that his face blocked a rifle butt from his friend. He punched that one in the gut and an uppercut put him on the ground. One man charged forward and Question dodged to the side. He grabbed the man by his neck and punched him repeatedly in the face and sent the thug into his knee.

Nemesis caught a man's punch and followed it with a chop to his neck. He rolled forward and behind the next thug. He wrapped his arms around that thug's neck and as he was choking pushed his head onto the ground. He jumped into the air and kicked a man in the chest then the head. He landed on that thug's gut and sprinted forward, then he slid on the ground and took another man's feet from under him. The man fell into a punch from Nemesis that knocked him on his back and out cold.

Sand had a whirlwind of dust around him that carried a group of thugs in the air. Another cluster of hitmen was held back by a separate torrent of sand. He released the sand storm and let the thugs in the air collapse onto the other group.

Hawkman flew towards a trio of men. He flew into ones gut at the same time he held out an arm and it clotheslined a thug in the face. He turned around and headbutted the last thug. He flew up and dropped down into the last cluster of guards with his axe in front. They flew in multiple directions in a heap.

At this point all of the hostiles were incapacitated and the whole affair took perhaps four minutes. Suddenly Hawkman saw their leader prop himself up and aim a pistol at Nemesis' back. Hawkman shouted, "Gun!" at the same time he flew forward to tackle Nemesis to the ground. He shut his eyes and anticipated the bullet tearing through him.

It never came, Hawkman opened his eyes and saw that Huntress had fired an arrow that knocked the gun out of his hands. She stood over him with her staff leveled. All of the other Leaguers joined her in standing over the man.

Nemesis said, "Tell us everything you know and this won't be difficult."

The man spat on the ground, "Go to hell!"

Huntress raised her staff, "Wrong answer, bub." Nemesis held up his hand and she paused. Nemesis said, "Vivian." Crimson Fox nodded and stepped forward. She crouched down and stroked the man's face. He backed away but then she said, "Look into my eyes. Let me see the real you."

He looked and something changed. His eyes widened, his mouth hung open, he broke out in a cold sweat, and he started shaking. Crimson Fox leaned in to his ear and whispered, "Now that's no so bad is it?"

"N-no."

"Good. Will you please answer our questions, my sweet?"

"O-okay."

"Excellent." She pronounced every syllable in a low, sultry voice that sounded like she was savoring them. She continued and the man's eyes had a glazed quality to them, his words possessed a dazed wonder.

"First, who ordered this?"

"I don't know."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Completely anonymous, through proxies, never seen him before."

"How did he find out their secret identities."

"I have no idea, he was a mysterious fuck. He seemed to know everything though. Had stuff on us, that we would have taken to the grave.

"Hmm. Did he say why?"

"No, just another job. We were supposed to take care of Huntress, then Hawkman, then-" Suddenly the man started shaking. He convulsed and foam started leaking out his mouth. Crimson Fox shouted, "What's wrong with him?"

Nemesis ran forward and crouched near him, "I don't know but he's not looking to good, worse than any seizure I've ever seen. There's nothing I can do." Moments later the man sighed and he was gone. Question looked thoughtful, "Poisoned. Remote capsules inside his body, probably. Prevented from answering the wrong Questions." Huntress took her eyes off of the dead body long enough to roll them.

Hawkman spoke up, "So what do we do now?"

Nemesis looked back at him, "We'll get you back to the Watchtower, it's best that you stay safe. I'd wager they'll stop gunning for us after this for a while, but it doesn't pay to assume We keep an eye out and that's about all we can do right now."

Sand sighs, "It's been one hell of a day."

Question nodded, "And there'll be worse to come."

I enjoy smaller teams because it allows much more in-depth fight narration. And I hope all of those plot threads leave you thinking furiously. Until next time!