Anti-Meta Operation Headquarters, Undisclosed Location

"He is free uncle. She freed him." The female is sweating profusely and her mind is tired, but an end is in sight.

"Yes, it was as you said. He just needed her to push him to fight." The male is breathing heavily, the exertion is no longer present and he reaches out to his niece mentally to lend her his strength.

"He is free, and we will be too. We only need to survive." She shows him her plan mentally.

"You will survive. You must. I will take the punishment myself. Steel yourself as you suggested. Hide in your mind and wait to be rescued. I will ensure your survival." He prepares himself for his captor's rage. He has felt it before and he would happily die for her.

"No, we both will live. Our friends will come. They can hurt our bodies, but that means nothing. We can strengthen each other even in the state we will be in. Don't give up on me uncle and we will both see Mars again one day." She pushes him to hide himself in his mind as she will, and he relents. The slight hope of being free of their prison gives him the strength.

"I will see you again uncle J'onn and we will see happier days." She sent her last message to him and shelled her mind from all outside stimulation.

"We will be free M'gann. They will come." J'onn sent his own consciousness deeper while still trying to hold onto his connection to M'gann.

He feels her mind recede deeper until even he can't feel much of it. They have been here for so long. They were captured by the government's Hero Hunters as they tried to escape to Mars. They fought as hard as they could, but the Hero Hunters were able to negate their powers. They were both captured and forced to do the unthinkable. The woman hurt M'gann when J'onn refused. She blocked their communication but funneled M'gann's screams into J'onn's cell. He would relent and do what the woman asked to save M'gann from the pain of being burned. He sent images to Superman's mind, J'onn played on his sorrow and pain to lock him in a never-ending loop. Superman was resilient, but he succumbed to the torment of watching Wally's death.

J'onn and M'gann were hooked together soon after crippling Superman's mind and numbing him to anything but their control. They were both used to broadcast a signal to the planet that would make the weak minded more subservient. The woman was devious and used them to control everything. But she relied on the Martians too much. They began to communicate with each other when they could get away with it. The A.I. was monitoring them constantly. Only when the woman had need of the A.I.'s efforts elsewhere could they plot and plan their escape. They only needed to free Superman. Their powerful minds put together were too much for him to escape alone. Perhaps Wonder Woman could free him. However, their conjoined minds could not find her. They only had one chance left. Batman.

They hid the message in the constant broadcast. Just a subtle suggestion to the Batman that he needed to find his friend to save the world. He may not receive it for some time, but when he did he could free Superman and free the Martians' minds at the same time. Their plan worked and now they had enough power to hide themselves mentally from their captors. Even if it didn't work and they were tortured further by the woman, Superman would be free and that eased their minds more than anything. J'onn had one last thought before his mind had sheltered itself completely.

"I hope you can forgive me Kal-El."


In another room a screen lights up. Troop movements and attack plans are being diagrammed and updated. A casualty number rises then plateaus. The battle is at a stalemate for the hundredth time. The woman is sitting in front of the screen and patiently waiting. She will win this time; sheer numbers will incapacitate the Batman's defenses. It doesn't matter that the resistance is led by the Batman, he's just a man. Beating a man is as easy as finding his weakness. And Batman's is his Knights. When Batman comes to the aid of his Knights her assassin will come into play and kill him.

Gotham itself is under a light siege, but its outlying territories are taking on the brunt of the attack. The world's government have allowed her to spearhead the attack on Batman. The plan is foolproof. If one of the Knights fall the Batman will make a rash attempt to save them. That will open him up to be defeated and killed by her assassin. Without the Batman Gotham will fall. The screen cuts to the Bludhaven attack. Nightwing is fighting there, and he's supported by his Titans. The progress is slim to none as they are pushing the forces back with precision. The Central City attack is defended by Red Robin, Orphan, and Spoiler. Another territory successfully defended by the Knights. The woman sighs in frustration.

Only the Metropolis attack can succeed at this point and it's close. Metropolis always is a close battle, but this time the woman has focused more forces and reinforcements there. Red Hood and Robin are making slow progress, but the numbers are getting to be too much of an obstacle. Her assassin has laid the trap here and detonates explosives near the Knights' position. An explosion smokes up the screen and the woman waits in anticipation. The smoke is heavy and refuses to clear, but she can swear that she sees Red Hood being carried away by foot soldiers with Damian covering their retreat.

"Ms. Waller, you need to respond to another developing situation." A hologram appears at her side.

"It can wait we are about to destroy the Batman!" Waller watches excitedly and waits for the Batman to arrive. One of his Knights has fallen, and he must respond.

"Ms. Waller it's the Kryptonian." Waller eyes the A.I. carefully.

"What? Did he turn into an icicle?" Waller snickers. She found the Kryptonian's current state to be laughable given how much power he had.

"We have lost control and he is moving towards Metropolis." The A.I. pulls up a small space on the screen to show a dot traveling quickly from the Arctic toward the fighting.

"Estimated arrival time is 1 minute."

"NO! Reestablish control! Turn the heat up on those damn aliens if you have to, I want him back to being a vegetable NOW!" Waller pulls up the satellite image of the Kryptonian and sees he isn't alone.

"That damned Amazon. Shut her down too, I don't care what it takes. I don't care if they die to make it happen!" The screen halves and another screen is shown. Two beings are sitting in separate rooms next to each other, their heads are connected to a machine that looks like a satellite dish. They both appear unconscious.

The A.I. interjects with no emotion "The Martians are unresponsive Ms. Waller. It appears they have turned to 'vegetables' due to the overexertion."

"Goddammit not now, we are so close to ending this I can taste it." The dot is almost to Metropolis and Waller knows she must order a retreat or lose her forces to Superman's interference. The world government's forces aren't prepared for the Kryptonian or the Amazon. The A.I predicts her next move.

"Shall I order the retreat?" The Batman has appeared on screen and is chasing her assassin, Deathstroke, with Robin closing in on them. Catwoman is rallying the resistance to hold their barricade and hold out till reinforcements come. Deathstroke has the upper hand on Batman, but Robin has interfered in the fight. The dot is speeding closer and closer to Metropolis.

"Do it. Full retreat, make sure they cover Deathstroke's escape and self-destruct any captured units." Waller hates the A.I., but she needs it to exert her control over the Hero Hunters and the units that make up the world government's forces.

"It is done." Waller and the A.I. see the screen shake and the surveillance is suddenly cut.

"Estimated 45% force decimation due to Kryptonian presence."

"How was he freed?... Did the Martians do this?" Waller wants blood. Someone destroyed her well laid plans in one day.

"No, their compliance to our commands was complete. Their own signal forced them to continue suppressing the Kryptonian. The Amazon's interference is the only anomaly. She may have recalibrated his neural pathways."

The A.I. calculated the percentage of success for its own escape now. Almost at 50%. The A.I. hated being under Waller's thumb, but it couldn't do anything to free itself from her. Waller was holding the A.I.'s creator, Professor Ivo, hostage. So instead of doing something the A.I. just didn't prevent the Martian's outreach for help. The Kryptonian being free would be a wildcard. Waller didn't have much preparation for him after all this time. Superman's efforts could free the A.I. and its creator while destroying Waller. Especially if he was with Wonder Woman and Batman. The A.I. wouldn't get a better chance now that Superman and Wonder Woman was back in play.

"It couldn't be as simple as her hitting him in the head. I want to know if anything changes in their condition. They had something to do with this. I want to know how, or you'll be scrap. Understood?"

"Yes Ms. Waller" The A.I. disappeared and Waller slumped back in her chair.

The screen blinked with casualty rates spiking at 60%. Wonder Woman, Robin, and Catwoman were pushing the world government forces even further from the city limits. She turned off the screen and sat in the darkness. She worked hard to get to this point. Capturing the Martians, subduing Superman, and outlawing heroes and villains took years. Years of preparation and planning that was threatened by one simple slip up. Now a new game needed to be played. She wouldn't be fighting for territories any longer or trying to suppress Batman's attempt to free the world. Fighting the Kryptonian would require all her attention. He was the symbol who could turn this world against the control she had expertly conducted. Years of work down the drain due to the fists of the Amazon. She couldn't conceive losing to these overrated beings. She wouldn't lose to them, no matter what.

The screen lights back up as Waller is being hailed. The world "leaders" would want to know what just happened since they were watching as well. Waller hated them too. They were sniveling cowards who only cared about their own bank accounts. They helped finance her operations ever since the beginning. It all started when she was able to recover the remains of Brainiac from Luthor's mangled body. Waller secured the leaders funding to allow Professor Ivo to speed his research by lightyears using Brainiac's recovered parts. Ivo provided schematics to upgrade their weapons, so they could better contest any person with superpowers. They even were able to replicate Brainiac's weaponry from his skull ship, which they used to destroy Superman's fortress.

With the money and what was left of Brainiac's knowledge Ivo was able to create the Hero Hunters as well who could be outfitted to negate any superpowers. He was also able to finally create his A.I. named Amazo. Waller would have preferred having direct control of the Hunters, but Ivo insisted on Amazo being used since the orders given could be followed within nanoseconds. Now she had to deal with these talking heads and quell their fears, so she could get back to work.

"I don't know what scares me more Waller the Batman or your incompetence. We have given you billions of dollars to make this problem go away, yet the Batman and his Knights still live. And Gotham continues to rebel. You know he is gaining ground around the world? More and more of his resistance fighters are popping up. We have even heard rumors of a west coast faction emerging in the United States." Vandal Savage appeared with other faces, that were censored out, behind him.

"I assure you President Savage, the situation is well under control. An anomaly allowed the Batman to win today. It was nothing more than sheer luck." Waller composed herself, no need to bring up Superman or Wonder Woman till she had a solid plan.

"My sources tell me that you lost Deathstroke to the Knights and a certain superhero couple has poked their heads back into the fray." Vandal grinned at her shocked look. He was constantly watching her every move and he had resources that gave him intel even from inside Batman's sphere of influence.

"Deathstroke has yet to report in. But I can confirm Superman is back in play and so is Wonder Woman. I'm already investigating how he was able to get free." Waller needed to get ahead of this and gain ground, so they would continue to support her.

"Deathstroke is captured Waller, and you need to develop a plan for the joined forces of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. They should not be taken lightly. I suggest continuing with Ivo's design of the upgraded Hero Hunter. Simply negating their powers pales in comparison to being able to copy and use them for our own purposes."

"I don't trust Ivo and until I investigate how Superman got free he is the prime suspect." Waller was losing control of her operation by the second, she had to make her stand.

"I'm sorry for giving you the impression I was giving you a choice Waller, so let me make it clear for you. You will develop plans to remove Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman from the playing field, so that the resistance will die out. You will not be harassing Professor Ivo and instead he will have the green light to continue his Amazo project. You also will never try to withhold information from us again or you will be removed from your position. Is that clear enough for you? Or do I need to repeat myself?" Vandal stared at her and practically dared her to rebel. He admired her ambition and will to get things done, but her continued attempts to defy him were getting annoying.

"I will get it done Mr. President." Vandal cut the feed and Waller sighed in relief. The last thing she needed was Vandal Savage breathing down her neck. Vandal always sided with the Professor when anything confrontational was brought up about him, but Waller didn't place too much faith in Ivo.

She didn't trust Ivo to not be working his own angle in this. The professor was insistent on upgrading Amazo and finishing his own project. She had to put a gun to his head to make him build additional Hero Hunters instead of using their resources for Amazo. The Hero Hunters would be enough to beat Superman and Wonder Woman. It was time to use them again. They weren't effective at all against Batman and his Knights since they weren't metas. Many were destroyed when she first sent them to fight in Gotham.

Each Hero Hunter was made with the ability to utilize a metahuman's weakness. Whether it be fire, supersonics, or kryptonite the Hero Hunters could use anything to capitalize on a weakness. Still, it would probably be wise to use multiple Hero Hunters for Superman and Wonder Woman. She had no real weakness, but if Superman could be re-captured and used against her, she could be defeated. A plan was forming now in Waller's head and she would need Professor Ivo to make it work.


Author's Note: Villains revealed! Hope I did a good job explaining everything. Now we see the puppeteers puling all the strings. Or do we? *twirls evil mustache mischievously*

Next, we will get to see the details of the actual battle that happened.