Clark Kent stood atop the STAR labs science tower, the cape of his Superman costume billowing in the breeze. Impulse was stood beside him in his red body suit with a yellow lightning bolt in a circle on the chest with cream gloves and boots, the outfit finished with silver goggles with yellow lenses over his eyes and a yellow belt, once again featuring the lightning bolt in a circle emblem, his short, spiked red hair moving slightly in the breeze.
Green Lantern, Hawkman and the Martian Manhunter had all contacted Clark and told him that they were running late, dealing with something. That left them waiting only for Black Canary and the final person Clark had called in; the Batman.
As Clark wondered where the last two were, he heard the roof access door opening, turning to see a blonde woman walking out of the access door. She wore a black domino mask, with points at the top edges, with black leather motorcycle trousers and boots, a black tank top and a black leather jacket, finishing the ensemble with a pair of black leather gloves.
"Well, we don't need to ask what she gets off on." Impulse said, laughing to himself and getting a raised eyebrow from Clark "Oh, come on Supes, you have to find the humour in that."
"It's your funeral if you tick her off." Clark replied, before addressing Canary "We're just waiting on one more man. Hawkman, Lantern and J'onn are all running late."
"Who are we waiting on then?" She asked him "I mean, this is the first man to stand me up in a long time."
"Sorry to disappoint." Came a rough, gravelly voice from behind Clark, causing him to turn around, facing Batman in what was apparently a new costume "I was busy following up on some leads."
Clark stared down the man for a minute, trying to decide if he should try to x-ray underneath Batman's cowl or not. He wouldn't normally even consider doing something like that, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what sort of man would dress as a giant bat.
"Don't even think about it, boy scout." Batman said, as if reading his mind "So, do you want to know what I got or not?"
"Go on then." Clark said "What is 'Apokolips?'"
"A planet." Batman said "What we need to worry about is the ruler of it, an apparent would-be ruler of the universe."
"Whose that then, Bats?" Impulse asked, super speeding next to Batman, having the arm he placed on Batman's shoulder shrugged off.
"He calls himself Darkseid." Batman replied "Personally, I think DeSaad was just trying to put fear in me."
"DeSaad?" Canary asked "As in the nightclub owner?"
"Nightclub owner, gang boss, metahuman, you name it, DeSaad is it." Batman replied "Apparently, he's working for this 'Darkseid.'"
Clark stood there for a moment. He could understand Batman's scepticism over how powerful Darkseid had apparently been made out to be, if it weren't for his own origins. Clark was long past scepticism.
"Well then, you can look into Darkseid." Clark said "We'll try digging up our own leads if we can, but we're not all the World's greatest detective."
"I'm going to be busy." Batman replied, turning and beginning to walk to the edge of the roof, Clark super speeding in front of him to cut him off "Out of the way boy scout, I've got places to be."
"Like where?" Clark asked "Listen, if this thing is as big as we think, then we all need to work together."
"I choose my partners, they don't choose me." Batman said "Besides, DeSaad said we'd need an army to fight this thing."
"So, what, you've got one on tap?" Impulse asked "That's pretty awesome."
"I don't." Batman said "But I know someone who does."
Batman didn't say anymore before jumping off the roof. Clark looked down, seeing Batman spread his arms, his cape catching a breeze as he glided down to a long, sleek, black car with fins at the back end of it in the streets below, before speeding off into the night.
...
Bruce sat in the Batmobile, driving through the streets of Metropolis. As he did, he pressed the control to contact the cave. There was a momentary delay before the image of Dick appeared on the right hand side of the windscreen.
"Hey Bruce, how's it going?" Dick asked, grinning "You find what you wanted to? I hope so, because the sooner you get back, the sooner I can be rid of this babysitter you hired me."
"Barbara's not a babysitter, she's there to help you study to help get you into college." Bruce replied, smirking "Besides, I thought you had a thing for her?"
"That was before she nearly stumbled into the cave five times in the last day." Dick replied "Seriously, she's going to think I'm retarded with how much help I've been asking for to keep her away from it."
"Your lowest grade was a B-, there's no way you could be called retarded." Bruce replied "Anyway, any calls for me in the last day?"
"Well, there was Vicki, she said you were meant to have dinner with her tonight, I told her some business came up." Dick said "Oh, and some eastern European chick called. Said she was an old friend of yours."
"Did she leave a name?" Bruce asked, hoping he was right on who it was.
"Yeah, she said her name was Talia, uh, something." Dick replied "She really an old friend or..."
"You could say that." Bruce replied "Call her back, tell her to get her father into Metropolis for a meeting in my penthouse at midnight tomorrow night."
Bruce said nothing else before cutting the line. Talia Al Ghul, that was the name of the woman who'd called, and Dick's apparent hunch about her past with Bruce was more or less on the money. Still, it was her father Bruce needed to see. He needed his old mentor's help.
...
Okay, so here we have the set up for the next stages of the fic. For those who are wondering, Wonder Woman will make an appearance, eventually. I have a very specific way in mind to introduce her. I won't say whether or not Bart Allen will be becoming the Flash in this fic for now, but I will say that it will occur somewhere down the line. Next chapter, Darkseid will actually be introduced, and his first act will show just how evil he is. R&R, please, no flames. B.