Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. I write this for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.

A to Z, an Anthology
Obsidian

Though the Founders hardly ever talked about it, the encounter with the Justice Lords had shaken them all badly. What had happened with those people influenced much of their lives in the years after. The conflict with Amanda Waller and Cadmus was the most obvious consequence of the Justice Lords' rampage, for example. The Justice Lords' views inspired the Founders to recruit people like the Question and Green Arrow, men who were highly involved in politics, albeit on the opposite ends of the spectrum. They hoped that the measures set in place would help them avoid the fate they had seen with the Justice Lords.

Still, the encounter with the Lords hadn't prevented some scientists from being curious about alternate realities. The Justice Lords – specifically Lord Batman – had created a device to transport people from one reality to another. No one wanted to take a chance of that happening again, even accidentally, so the device was created for observation only, with safeguards put in place to prevent alteration for transportation.

Bruce was the first to find out about it, which didn't surprise any of the Founders. The man had his fingers in just about every scientific pie in the world. If it was being developed, he was funding it. If it was already developed, he had part or complete ownership of it. So by the time the observation device was finished, he had paid off the creators and confiscated it, putting it deep within the bowels of the Metro Tower. When questioned as to why he wanted the thing and what its practical purpose was, he said it was a chance to discover new tactics that might have been developed in the different realities that they could potentially use.

Well, that, and he didn't want the wrong people getting ideas about how to take out the Justice League.

He used it first, peering into the different realities. He did not see the one that housed to the Justice Lords, which was something of a relief. Instead he saw other realities, where things were really not all that different from his own.

That changed one day, about three weeks after he'd obtained the device. Diana had followed him into the lab, intent on seeing the device work with her own eyes.

Once Bruce turned it on though, they both came to regret it.

The way the device worked was that when it was turned on after being deactivated, it fixated on a reality different from the one it had previously been on. The last time Bruce had worked with the device, he had observed a reality where the world had developed as a matriarchal society. It had been… enlightening.

Today's reality, however, was nothing of the sort. The first thing they saw was what appeared to be some kind of inauguration. Confetti flew, the crowds were cheering behind baracades, which were guarded by police decked out in riot gear. Bruce recognized the building as Gotham City Hall, surprising enough. At the bottom of the steps, he could make out several figures that were recognizable – Gotham's current mayor, Commissioner Gordon (dressed in his dress uniform, unusually enough), Barbara, Dick, Tim, Renee Montoya, and various other public officials.

Suddenly, the doors flew open and two figures stepped out of the building. Next to him, Bruce heard Diana gasp as she too recognized their counterparts.

It was kind of disturbing, actually. Bruce watched himself walking down the stairs of city hall, dressed in a black, militaristic kind of uniform – though not one he recognized off the top of his head. Next to his counterpart, Diana's counterpart walked with him, her hand resting on his. She too was dressed head-to-toe in black, only it was a sheath dress, hooked at the neck and flowing down her chest to her ankles, leaving her back, shoulders, and arms bare. She didn't even have her bracers on, he noticed.

The two of them stopped at the podium that had been set up. Bruce's counterpart opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of gunshots. Both Bruce and Diana ducked down instinctively, while Gordon, Montoya, and their people sprang into action, seeking out the shooter. The assassin, though, made it easy for them. He was rushing toward the podium, the gun in his hand and a crazed look in his eyes.

Diana straightened up and stared down at the would-be assailant as he approached. Slowly, hypnotically, she waved her hand in his direction. The shooter froze on the spot, just a few yards away. The shooter blinked, shocked.

Slowly, everyone began to calm down as they realized that shots were no longer being fired. Bruce's counterpart slowly stood up – it seemed that Diana's other hand had kept him pressed down, and Bruce himself had personal experience as to how strong she was – and stared down at the assassin, his expression inscrutable.

The device was meant only for visual observation, not audio. Because of that fact, Bruce and Diana could not hear what their counterparts said to the assailant, nor what they said to the crowds, who were listening raptly. Bruce, could, however, imagine what was being said. His counterpart kept gesturing to the assassin as he spoke to the crowds, and they in turn seemed to be eating up his words. Diana's counterpart spoke as well, and the throngs began shouting, shaking their fists in the air. She said something else, and then raised her hand again.

Diana made a faint, choking sound when her counterpart made a throwing motion and the shooter went flying into the incensed crowd, which had transformed into a murderous mob. "Great Hera…"

Bruce, though, was watching his counterpart with the same sick feeling. The man's eyes were on his Diana, a faint, approving smile on his lips. While the mob tore the assassin to pieces, he stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She returned the smile with one of her own.

It was then that Bruce noticed something significant – their eyes were a different color. While he and Diana had their customary blue eyes, the eyes of their counterparts were cool, dark obsidian.

Bruce reached out to the device and shut it down. Neither of them could stand to watch any more.

Obsidian: n. jet-black volcanic glass.