It is only minutes to midnight as Question stands before the controls that decide who to release and who to damn if another way cannot be found to keep both from the turns that Joker brings to them. The clues had been a misdirection all too clear by the time they had come to land atop Axis Chemicals as Shayera is almost instantly under attack by a deranged Hawkman likely the work of Mad Hatter or Doctor Destiny. It is also apparent that Wonder Woman faces her own opposition even though there is more Diana to her tonight then there is the guise of Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman faces someone calling him self Conduit and his capabilities if understood rival, maybe even surpass Metallo. This is too coordinated even for Joker so either Joker is behind this or someone is placing Joker in a position to look like the mastermind of this plan.

Another typical Nietzsche thought comes to mind as the clock ticks still only minutes from midnight.

The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.

"So if this is the Illuminati, what do they hope to gain from this?" murmurs Question.

A'Daire insists Lord is a renegade, but it would not be above them to lie or rather be masters of obfuscation. Often time mediums reflect the realities they represent though many are content to pass it off as fiction though there is often more true in fiction and more fiction in that which seems true.

"So if Lord is really a renegade then he has been playing all sides against the middle in a way Luthor could never have done though Luthor had almost done it even while sharing a body with Brainiac."

He looks to the console that controls the mechanism that suspends Batman over the acid vat while likewise he can imagine Superman upside down at the other location. Joker had put the ultimatum to Wonder Woman, but could she really be able to make the call without it becoming exceedingly personal. He knows she could not and he realizes he cannot make it either yet somebody must do something otherwise both will be no more as they were, one will become mad and the other dead.

If someone springs Batman then goes Superman into the vat of liquid Kryptonite.

If someone releases Superman then the insanity will claim Batman's mind from the inside.

If this is Maxwell Lord's doing then he had found quite the quandary for anyone especially someone like Question who at one time would only be putting his own life on the line without attachments, but his relationship with Huntress… with Helena changed everything for him.


The routes from here manifest in familiar guises inside of his thoughts about what pathway to follow from here. He can 'hear' not only the voices of Batman and Superman as they appear to shout at the same time, but so do the voices of women like Barbara, Diana, Selina, Zatanna, Lois, and Helena.

"Dick can become Batman. He is one of the best I ever trained, save Superman, he can be the hero with the face, some will hate you for it, maybe kill you, but you can make the right choice," compels Batman.

He can clearly see Batman in a straitjacket in Arkham and Bruce Wayne in a psychiatric hospital.

"I can take more physical damage then Batman, super powers don't make a superhero, Batman because of Bruce has all a hero needs to be coming from a place like Gotham, Gotham needs Batman, sure the Kryptonite could kill me, but I risk death over Batman going insane, do the right thing,"commands Superman.

There is a new S symbol monument in Metropolis and a head stone for Clark Kent in Smallville.

Question looks back forth between the within reach controls to spring Batman and the image of Superman plunging into liquid Kryptonite. Likewise the reverse turn of Superman being kept from the liquid Kryptonite is a prelude to Batman falling into the acid vat then reappearing with a Joker-esque like complexion and insanity to match it. He tries to push both scenarios out of mind then there is an undead Superman and a psychotic Batman advancing on him before Question grips his skull.

"You can't save everyone so you have to pick one or the other. I know part of me would say save Batman because of Bruce, but you can't let sentiment affect your decision," pleads Barbara.

In his mind there is an empty hospital bed and a grave in Gotham Cemetery for Bruce Wayne. Those closest to both have been visiting the hospital and the grave.

"Both can be saved if someone goes in after Superman after you release Batman. You have to rescue Batman, not just for the League, for Gotham, but for me you know we love each other. Don't condemn me to a world without him because we all need something to live for," insists Diana.

He reaches towards the release switch for Batman's restraints. He knows Diana is halfway across the city yet her presence lingers like others in his mind as he struggles to decide what should be done.

"I know you are afraid of saving one and failing the other, but you have the fear, work through it. I know you hate being in this position and recoil at the consequences. I know you worry about what Diana among others will do to you, feelings matter, but you must do something," remarks Zatanna.

Hesitation does not help him here yet it is in him so much like fear or rather indecision that could condemn both heroes and him with the knowledge that he could have done something for at least one.

"I have already seen him almost die several times already, seen him brainwashed, met versions of him that crossed the line, and nearly witnessed him crossing the line, but you can't let him die. I need him in ways far deeper than Metropolis or greater than the world," interjects Lois.

A funeral not unlike the one given when the world thought Superman did die several years earlier summons to mind and instead Lois is pummeling him for not saving Superman. He could not blame this version of her for her emotional state because in her place he would be equally broken down or worse if it were Helena.

"You were right about me from the beginning and I kept be wrong about you in style. I know you didn't expect to fall in love with me and I never knew what living again felt like until I fell in love with you Vic. So hold on… you will know the answer… just believe you can do it like you believe in my love for you," recommends Helena.


He taps his earpiece comlink in an attempt to raise both Flash and Green Lantern. Both respond even though missions or conflicts have come to them instead of them walking into like Question had twice tonight.

"I'd like to help, but somebody with powers like mine is making a mess in Central City. He has got Linda and her news station hostage. I am going to need back up to handle the backlash if his threat about bombs tied to me using my powers is true," answers Flash.

A villain resembles Brainthor's sick of joke of a Justice Lord Flash. A Justice Lord Flash that never was because President Luthor shot Flash on the White House front lawn in what would become the Justice Lords reality. A reality which began with the assassination of President Luthor as his actions could have led to World War Three as well as a superhuman arms race. Events were recurring with variations here in this reality, but this inversion of Flash is something new. This is like so many other nights before is not his night. The response from Lantern is equally discouraging with Sinestro attacking Lantern's home city.

"If it were somebody other than Sinestro then I would leave it to somebody else, but I'm the only one who stands a chance against Sinestro's power ring. I would ask for backup here though I don't think I will need it, I just can't be in two places at once," remarks Lantern.


Timing, it all had come down to that, all this had been set in motion with a single death, but how could one more matter against all the numbers above one. A rant in his mind continues with the words of one versus dozens, one versus hundreds, one versus thousands or in today's world one against billions. Sinestro hits Lantern's home turf and someone with Flash like abilities takes hostages in Central City. A deranged Hawkman attacks Shayera and someone similar in power source to Metallo is fighting Diana. The deck is stacking against them except this all so far is only delay and deception.

He goes to the terminal finally and searches for the release command program. He had to pick one or else risk losing both. The dilemma had been wracking his mind for years though this time it is not his life on the line with the dilemma in mind. He enters the command as necessary to release Batman then begins his run to the edge of the circular platform to dive across in the hopes that he will be time it well enough to have them clear the vat before dropping below the rim. Otherwise he would risk turning him and Batman psychotic. This outcome is unacceptable so this had to work because the other outcomes he had seen were equally disdainful.

He inputs the command and makes a comlink call for someone to be ready to retrieve Superman from the liquid Kryptonite vat. He didn't feel like a hero tonight. He never felt like a hero even though others would look upon him as the hero who is perhaps one of the most human among them. He runs to the edge of the platform after entering the release command then lunges across hanging onto the notion that his jump is precise enough for him to catch the unconscious Batman. All in the timing as usual, but he always understood that much hangs the deceptively insignificant like specific timing and precision wording.

The rest that follows the lunging jump is a blur as he feels the nerves in both hands scream yet the rest of his muscle howl though assigning sounds to the strain his body feels while holding up Batman's unconscious frame is an all too brief distraction from the pain.

"Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain." – Cicero

One for Nietzsche, one for Cicero, but even so there is still the one way this could go 'wrong'.

He can feel both his grip on the rim and on Batman slipping so much for trying to do the right thing appears to be the thought to die to yet again. The last time two times he had been wrong about that and what he would not give to be wrong about dying once again. He feels a hand gripping his own and it looks more than just familiar. It could belong only to one woman, the woman that he put his life on the line for more than once since he first met her and fell in love with her. There are not enough words or too sparse to find the language to express the ways in which she kept saving him even though she insists that he had been the one to save her first. He can hear the sounds of grapplers as 'Batman' and 'Batgirl' descend rapidly from high to recover the actual Batman from Question's straining arm lock.

Huntress pulls Question the rest of the way up only to find that Catwoman had been holding Huntress up.

"Let's get one thing straight Mr. Paranoid… this wasn't for you!" hisses Catwoman.

"I know it was for him so let's get out of here before Joker blows this place up," murmurs Question.

The P.A. System crackles to life.

"Oh, look at the time, you see I do get so sick of last minute saves, now tonight I was so set on there not being any and I am a man of my word if nothing else… you see the joke is on you… I was only out to off Batsy or Stupidman… something told me Wonder Buns would go after Batsy, so long Stupidman… of course you went to the pull thinking you could get both by having someone pluck him out of the dip."

Timers light up at both Axis Chemicals and Gotham Opera House.

"The Kryptonite has made Stupidman weak enough to be killed and as for the lineup here the acid as well as the diesel and ammonium nitrate is enough to burn everything. Time to die with a smile!"

They all hear Joker's cackles before the P.A. abruptly cuts off.

"Wonder Woman, get Superman and the others out of the opera house!" orders Question.

There is no response except static something is jamming comlink transmissions, which again is almost too hi-tech for Joker. The air starts to smell funny, which means it is diesel, ammonium nitrate, or worse Joker's laughing gas. One could hope that 'Batman' is carrying the anti-venom for the gas and several start doubling over in fits of laughter. However the actual Batman has the 'luck' to be out cold during all this.

"Dick… hehe… the anti-venom… haha… do you have any?" snorts Huntress.

"I think so… heh… must be in one of the pouches maybe… haha," chuckles 'Batman'.

"Get it out… we have to get moving… the timers show we have less than five minutes to get out!"

Catwoman is the first to fall convulsing from uncontrollable laughter. Next to go is Huntress who is laughing into tears while 'Batgirl' makes no sound except there are signs of tears. Question starts to laugh except is intermittent as he struggles to will himself against it so he takes the anti-venom from the laughing 'Batman' then jabs himself with it then he injects some into 'Batman'. He can hear Shayera and Hawkman cracking up as they fall seemingly away from the vats luckily. He injects both Catwoman and Huntress next before going after Shayera.

"Dick… Helena… you get them out here!" commands Question.

"I am not leaving you alone in here!" yells Huntress.

"I will catch up… have to get to Shayera and Hawkman!" rebukes Question.

'Batman' and Huntress trade looks for a moment before realizing they had to put their own feelings in limbo for now because they had little over four and a half minutes left to get out.


Elsewhere at Gotham Opera House, Diana and Zatanna are having fits of laughter while Superman is unconscious yet Captain Atom is straining to concentrate on bombarding him with yellow sun radiation. As for Betty, she is fuming over Joker's bombs except the gas is already affecting her too.

Nightshade portals in with Etrigan, which again could lead to another possible last minute save that Joker had been complaining about before announcing the presence of the bombs at both locations.

Conduit is also succumbing to laughter so in an effort to escape he smashes through a wall except it causes the ceiling to cave in, which drops all of them beneath the stage yet Atom keeps Superman from falling into the dip a second time. However nobody could reach Betty so she is under the rubble.

Etrigan casts a spell meant to deflect the effects of the laughing gas, but it is only temporary as magic can only nullify, not negate science. Diana rushes to get the rubble off Betty after noticing the worried look on Atom's face. In the almost three years since she first met him, she had rarely seen him show emotions, which almost made him rival J'onn in that regard. However she could tell the worried look of a man who deeply cares about…maybe even loves the woman stuck under the rubble and debris.

The debris that had fallen onto Betty hit her in such a way that moving her could kill her even they could use a magic portal or teleport yet Nightshade is apt to try given that she can read emanations from Atom in regards to her. However not even magic can prevent death when there is not enough left in the body to save it as it had been with her mother, but her health had been failing by then. Likewise she would never really believe her brother's claims about the origins of what led to their mother's death.

She sadly regrets never mending that rift yet his behavior after her death made being around him more difficult then it had ever been. The strain was greater than she anticipated because their twin bond was made deeper by being Homo Magi. Her suspicions about his apparent death after over a decade at the psychiatric hospital in Maine, but story went that he had been using his powers to duplicate his medications in order to overdose. She found hard to believe as he was always a brim of emotions, but never suicidal in her opinion, but both her father and his psychiatrist had an almost ironclad case for him turning suicidal as he continued to refute their mother's death by disease.

He would remember things that she either could not remember or some part of her kept blocking it out. She could never fully tell, but she was not about to allow another woman to die if she could prevent it. She goes over to Betty and starts chanting in an effort to heal her wounds, but some of them are too deep even for magic to seal effectively. However she is not giving up on Betty, not by a long shot, but they were running out of time unless Atom mysteriously develops the ability to manipulate time though this is unlikely as she knows his powers to be strictly in regards to radiation.

"How is she?" asks Zatanna.

"It does not look good, I am doing what I can, but all this rubble cut her deep," confesses Nightshade.

"Get them out of here, I don't think I am coming back from this one," groans Betty.

"Don't you give up yet, there's still time… walk us through the disarmament," suggests Diana.

"There is no way to know which sequence to do it… I thought I had it, but Mr. Kryptonite buried us."

"Tell me what you think it is or at least tell me how to absorb the explosion!" demands Atom.

"I'm sorry Nate, but there's no time… they are rigged to go off in less than four minutes. There are dozens of them in this building if the lower auditorium is any indication. You were always better at being a hero then me. Save these people… stop whoever is behind this," implores Betty.

"I already gave you up once before I am not doing it again," retorts Atom.

"So stubborn… made me love and hate you at the same time," admits Betty.

Nightshade must now decide between teleporting out the others or continue trying to save Betty. It is transparently obvious that she hates having to make that call so she takes Zatanna and Jason out first despite their objections. She teleports them then beams back before Zatanna can shout an objection, but Zatanna finds her last meal coming up as if teleportation via magic felt worse then the League teleporters. Next she takes Diana and Superman while the latter is barely starting to regain consciousness. The Kryptonian is not nearly strong enough to do any heavy lifting despite the boost that Atom had given him to keep him alive.

Each teleport made Nightshade feel slightly weaker to be using so much magic and power for such a long span is always a strain regardless of who the Homo Magi is as well as what he or she can do with her abilities.

If anyone dares to start digging through the rubble it might worsen the collapse and possibly injure Atom in such a way that he could detonate killing everyone including his beloved Betty though without a way to extricate her from the rubble, Betty could die anyway. There is no humor in saying that this predicament had split Atom between his heart and his head.

The splitting of the atom had been one of many things to define the past century yet like its mythical counterpart the Pandora's box, the splitting of the atom could never be taken back just as Captain Atom not being able to go back just Nathaniel Adams. Likewise Plastique still casts a shadow on the fading life of Betty Sans Souci even though Atom is stubbornly refusing to allow to her die, but she had become his stake in this world once again.

Nightshade reappears to find Atom… to find Nathan holding Betty's hand. It is less then three minutes to midnight and nothing about this predicament felt fair to her though she could tell from both of them they were resenting this even though both try to put a brave front on it. She would wait as long as she could because there was nothing left to be done for Betty as much as it tears her to admit it, but moving her would kill her and a teleport might not work in this situation.

Betty deserved a better fate then to perish in an explosion set off by a crazed clown like Joker, but such are the turns that intersect lives like theirs. This is the only world they know because they could not lead lives like every man or every woman. Likewise there is in actuality perhaps no every man or every woman for that matter. It is an unnerving premise to consider that all they perceive to be so is a lie so all they have left to them is how they feel and what they believe in when facing all that encompasses their existence.


Back at Axis Chemicals, 'Batman' and 'Batgirl' shoulder Batman as they continue to run for what they hope is an exit from this stationary powder keg. As for Huntress, she is carrying Catwoman who is still showing signs of Joker gas induced giggles, but some things like that cannot be taken care of with a minimal dose shot. Huntress tries repeatedly to raise Question, but something is affecting the comlink transmitters.

Shayera had torn the helm off Hawkman's head to find somebody probably the Mad Hatter had put some mind altering hardware into it. He looks quite distraught to see her lacerations and cuts that he knows his weapon must have made on her, but she smacks him an effort to get him to focus.

"Look Carter we have to get out of here this place is going to blow in less then three minutes and we have no way to beam out!" snaps Shayera.

"Then we best get going… I suppose we owe our save to him?" remarks Carter.

"You can thank me later… just make some use of your wings and get us out of here okay!" insists Question.

Shayera and Carter each take one of Question's arms then start flapping over in the general direction that he believes is the path the others took whilst in search of an exit from this death trap. If he were feeling even slightly humorous, he might have made a dry jest about hawks though even in jest it would be in bad taste.

He can feel the heat from the vats they fly over them as the count tumbles ever closer to zero. Question is obviously well read even for religious texts for one can never read too much except when one perhaps reads too much. Heat like fire from a dragon and flight for escape from those with wings, but right now at least tonight still had a chance to end without death or insanity.

The timers draw closer to two and a half minutes as they start to catch up to the others, but the anti-venom is starting to wear off. The dosage is just not strong enough to keep the gas from flooding their systems again so the laughter starts again. 'Batman' struggles to find more anti-venom while trying to refrain from laughter.

"Fight it… haha… keep moving… can't stop… so close… we have to be!" chuckles 'Batman'.

There is at least enough to inject only half of them, but it would have to do for now. The injections are given to Shayera, Carter, 'Batman', and Huntress. The rest would have to struggle to hold back the laughs if they could, but there is enough of the gas in here to send half of Gotham laughing to their deaths if under its sway for too long.

'Batgirl', Catwoman, and Question try to hold back the laughs, but the gas negates even the strongest of mental wills except for on occasion Batman. Batman often proves the exception to things that usually put a stopper for others yet it is his relentlessness that earns him many fear based accolades among criminals and super villains except in the case of Joker more frequently then anyone else.

"Has anyone seen an exit or something that looks like a way out yet?" quips Shayera.

"Still looking, the windows look they would not be much use though you could try smashing through with your mace," suggests Huntress.

"Carter, take Question, time to see if these windows are as shatter proof as they look!"

Shayera flaps upward then strikes it only to get a jolt through the mace as if the feedback system could counter even nth metal, which is exceptionally rare unless somebody had gotten their hands on remains of that Gordanian cruiser that crashed in DC years ago. The same cruiser that was used as part of the ruse that enabled her former lover and commander to build a Hyperspace Bypass Generator in the Gobi Desert. The shock stung her though she remains in flight fortunately so she descends back to help Carter continue to carry Question.


The timers stand at just over two minutes remaining until detonation and midnight.

Back at the buried basement of the Gotham Opera House, Atom and Plastique take a backseat to Nathan and Betty as they reminiscence about life before Project Atom.

"I remember the first time you took me up in one of your planes. Probably one of best moments of my entire life and we usually never did anything typical for dates, but nothing about us was typical. Your had your duties, your ideals, and much more that had come before you being Mr. Air Force Pilot."

"You always did enjoy flying with me. Of course for me to be using a multimillion dollar aircraft to do that certainly didn't earn me praise. However it was often worth the warnings and the occasional reprimand. I never totally got your concerns about governments, militaries, and covert agencies until this happen, but of course by then there was no way out at least to me."

"I occasionally wonder how things could have been different if we both had run away from Rockefeller, but you being you, you wouldn't have gone along with it especially not with Eiling using me as leverage to keep you around and in line because of my associations. My parents often told me stories of what went on with the scares such as committees run by politicians like Senator McCarthy."

"A decidedly dark time for the world when within a single nation that the population should be cut loose on itself and I fear for the prospect of such thing except being let loose on the League for starters. It would put all our lives at risk in ways more subtle then what happen with Cadmus."

It is less than two minutes before detonation and midnight.

"I still have that pocket watch you gave me long ago. I remember reading something written by Einstein. He was talking about the splitting of the atom of all things, but in retrospect it actually makes a lot of sense to me after what happen to me, to us."

Betty smiles weakly while Nathan holds her hand. He recites the quote to her in a moment.

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

There is barely a minute and a half left.

"Hindsight often impales us with wisdom that denials had kept us from acknowledging, but with all the nukes in the world even today, we still live in the shadow of the splitting of the atom."

"Something deceptively small is made one of the most destructive forces on the planet except humanity made it happen so it never stops. All we do to save this world collides with all that could destroy it."

"It is not always about saving the world, sometimes it is all the things that never make headline news unless somebody happen to see it transpire, but regardless of what happen to you, to us. It hasn't kept you from doing the right thing."

"I won't leave you here to die. That would be wrong."

"There is nothing to stop that now. You have already saved me before, but you can't save everyone."

Betty looks to Nightshade and the look is one she could understand as it reminds her so much of the way her mother was looking at her before her death. As if telling her to look after her brother because only she could grasp the emotional sensitivity of him, of Lucas, because they were twins. In this moment however it is more like Betty telling her something else entirely. Something like you'll have to forcibly remove him before the time runs out otherwise a rupture could kill half of Gotham's population.


It is less than a minute to midnight when Shayera and Carter finish battering through several inches of titanium with their nth metal weaponry. Carter takes flight with Catwoman and 'Batgirl' while Shayera goes into the air with Huntress and 'Batman'. As for Question, he and Batman who is finally starting to come around start running away from the dilapidated Axis Chemicals plant in the hopes that they can outrun the blast since the teleporter scattering field appears to encompass to the entire complex.

"So you are telling me I was framed for murder and I have been a hostage of Joker for an unknown amount of time?" groans Batman.

"Yes and yes. I had found out after the murders that you and Sasha were replaced by a pair surgically altered to look the parts. I suspect Elliot's hand in that quarter," says Question.

"I think we can finish this discussion later when there is not a complex counting down to blow up around us," continues Batman.

"I believe you are right besides I didn't think you would be waking so soon, but then you have been continuously drugged for an unknown span of time," remarks Question.

Less than half a minute remains as those traveling by air begin to clear the skies over Axis Chemicals so they attempt to teleport back to the Metro Tower, which finally does work as they are apparently out of the scattering field.

Batman and Question are the last ones they are waiting for from that location.

Jason had to literally carry Zatanna to force her back to the Metro Tower because the gas is still in her system like several of the others. As for Diana, she brought back Superman then demands to know where Batman is presently. She is told the infirmary though of course she discovers it is only Dick who as she knew spent most of the night masquerading as Batman so she dashes back to the teleport pad only to find Huntress running away from medical staffers.

She and Diana against medical recommendations prepare to beam to the location that Huntress and the others only just come from less than a minute ago. They also had less than half a minute before the bombs at both locations went off.


At the caved-in basement of the Gotham Opera House, Nightshade attempts to grab onto Atom except he resists her then makes his hands glow as if intending to blast her.

"There is no time for this Nate… if we stay, we die… if you stay half of Gotham could perish with you when your suit ruptures. You know the dangers that are brought to the lives of others if the containment suit gets torn open," reminds Nightshade.

"I am not leaving her, not again, and nobody can make me do otherwise, not even you Eve."

Betty is aware that less than twenty five seconds on the timers now. She mouths something to Nightshade. It is with a heavy heart that Nightshade manipulates shadows to enable her to restrain Atom long enough to grab onto him to summon a teleport to get them away from the area.

The GCPD had already been put on alert to evacuate though there is still the possibly of casualties.

She can feel tears streaming down her face as he screams at her for doing this.

"Why are you doing this?" yells Atom.

"For you, but mostly her… she loves you… more then you know," murmurs Nightshade.

Less than twenty seconds remain as she regains the focus to attempt the teleport. He looks back to Betty as the countdown goes below fifteen. Part of him wishes she had not come with him here tonight, but leaving her out of things is what led to the parting of ways in the first place. Betty weakly smiles again despite having that look of knowing she will die in ten seconds.

Atom and Nightshade disappear from beneath the collapsed interior of the Gotham Opera House.

The show billing despite its faded appearance reads Pagliacci. In five seconds, the windows blow out, the building skeleton between the collapse and the explosion will crunch then crumble before the intensity of the detonations causes the opera house to erupt and rain down on Gotham City.

Nightshade collapses after the teleport then Atom flies off to the crater left behind by the destruction of the Gotham Opera House. She couldn't blame his need to see for himself despite him allowing her to save him from his innate desire to die with her rather then face a world without her. If it were Lucas, she have a hard time leaving too even when they made it sound like he had committed suicide, she wouldn't believe the story, twin intuition is what she would chalk it up to at the time.

In later years she went back to the hospital only to find it vacant of any signs of use yet the lingering magic traces of her brother did linger as if telling her that he is out there somewhere though she had no idea where to start looking until recently. His trace kept turning up wherever she went when there were League members on hand as if he was being sent to do things to further whatever is dogging them at every turn.


Twenty three seconds ago…

All the way out at Axis Chemicals, Batman and Question are still running at a breakneck speed after seeing the others vanish in columns of light, meaning the teleport scattering field had a peripheral limitation so all they had to do was get out of it. However there is still quite a distance to cover and both are showing signs of fatigue though more so Batman with too much sedative still in his bloodstream.

"Have to reach the beam out… didn't risk falling into Joker making acid to have us blown to bits anyway. I'd like to avoid funerals for awhile so move it Bruce."

"If I could run any faster I would, but this sedative is hard to fight even with the fear of death in me. Then again fear has always been with me. So what are you afraid of Vic?"

"Weren't you always the one to say my head is not a nice place to be?"

"Guess you are saying I would like your fears about as much as my own."

"Doesn't take a detective for that one."

"For all the times you can be right, even a conspiracy theorist can still be wrong."

"Trust me, I wish there was plenty to be wrong about tonight or rather morning."

It is less then twenty seconds until Axis Chemicals goes up courtesy of Joker's bombs. They keep running, but one is drugged and the other is exhausted despite how both had pushed themselves in the past. Their pace slackens before both feel themselves fall to the ground as they cannot really muster more energy to push on. The ground comes up to fast for them as the remaining seconds pass by too fast though the speed of time is constant, only perception gives it the illusion of velocity.

Question strains to look over to Batman. Batman looks almost bad as he feels, but then there are the sounds of heeled boots coming towards them. There is a mixture of apprehension and relief as to whether they were about to betaken away from here or killed after the explosion almost got them. His eyes barely stay open long enough to feel someone picking him up. Perhaps the most beautiful sight in the universe to see before losing consciousness is these two dark brown irises.

If she had come then so had Diana, but that is a given with Bruce.


His eyes flutter open though he immediately puts a hand over his eyes knowing that someone had taken his mask off, but he was in the infirmary of the Metro Tower so it did not matter so much. His skull felt rather reactive to touch, but of course he had hit still winter earth in Gotham, which in his experience had some of the fiercest winters he ever saw aside from the mesmerizing effect of a blizzard. He looks to the bed next to his only to find Bruce immediately trying to get back into costume before three women arrive then drag him back to the bed.

"You need to take some time off. You were almost blown to bits last night," reminds Zatanna.

"So were the rest of you, but that didn't stop you from risking your lives," retorts Bruce.

"She has a point and besides it wasn't easy for us to get you out alive," interjects Selina.

"The last person I would expect to come after me includes you Selina," continues Bruce.

"You can't change how any of us feel about you, especially not me," sighs Diana.

Bruce settles back into bed after discarding his costume and armor for infirmary patient wear.

"They won't let you go back to Gotham with the shape you are in. You'll have to let Gotham weather time without Batman. Grayson has proven him self capable of stepping up when necessary so trust in the training you have given them if nothing else," comments Vic.

"Obviously if they thought it would take three of them to stop me from going back to Gotham. I guess I owe you one for a change for driving them as a team to defeat this oddly timed team up of villains. However I would gather this might factor into your theory about an Illuminati plot," responds Bruce.

"This was all an elaborate diversion. Everything from Ted Grant's murder to last night all a diversion, but of course Interpol and other agencies are looking to arrest you though I hope the evidence we have to clear you is enough for the government," says Vic.

"Leave it to you to recognize visual discrepancies, but in your place I would have seen the same."

Helena enters the infirmary and goes to Vic immediately. She gently hugs and kisses him.

"She looks happy to see you up Vic."

"I heard about you trying to sneak out Bruce," teases Helena.

"Right, how far is that going to get before tonight?" groans Bruce.

"It is not like it is going to be general knowledge, but they were talking about it."

Shayera drops by later that afternoon with some bandages on her from the cuts and lacerations she got from fighting with a mentally manipulated/deranged Hawkman. He for his part is spending today with J'onn as being a listener or counselor is something the Martian had proven to be quite adept at in recent years.

Dinah and Oliver arrive at the Metro Tower by evening to report that the impostors trail went cold in Venice, but they made one rather gruesome discovery that Mandragora is dead. There is no way to verify who did him except that he was shot through the head at close range.

Dinah knows from experience her subsonic cry did nothing to him other than shredding his jacket and shirt. Oliver remembers the ineffectiveness of his arrows against the bulk of Mandragora. Question had not been trying to do anything except slow Mandragora down, but didn't work either. Huntress made a pile of I-Beams fall on him, which only did enough to knock him out. Nobody have ever been able to shoot him, let alone kill him, not until recently anyway, and Huntress remembers the warning she had given Mandragora back in Montenegro.

Her parents' murderer chose to ignore it at the cost of his life and loss of a father for his only son.


Captain Atom is holding a faded photograph of himself and Betty from years ago taken near one of his personal planes off base. All he had left of her now were memories and photographs, which disconnect all of it from time. Something Vic Sage told him once after his second reunion with Betty had come to mind now only countless hours after her death at the opera house. Vic is famous or infamous for quoting from countless literary personalities that characteristically fit the situation in retrospect.

His out of costume name befit his sparse wisdom even though he would never try to impress it on others. He merely spoke his mind when necessary and undertook actions that never make sense when he does them yet afterward the purpose is clearer.

"Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward."- Soren Kierkegaard

He felt adrift without her despite having once held on so tightly to the ingrained training of being an Air Force pilot. He also felt bad for his treatment of Eve because she did try to do the right thing despite the personal consequences it brought for him. She did her best to try to save Betty, but eventually Eve had to decide between Nathan's feelings for Betty and the livelihood of Gotham's civilian populace. He only wonders how he could apologize to her even if he had known where to find her.

She appears from shadows only moments after his thoughts seem to latch onto her. She hands him a timepiece she found in the ruins of the Gotham Opera House. It is mechanically broken and the jewels have lost most of their shine, but it is not beyond repair so he would have it fixed somehow even when its wearer would not be around to wear it.

"I did it because she asked it of me with her eyes. I had already been bound to a promise like that once before and it never gets any easier when having to decide in those situations," says Nightshade.

"I know, but like I told you long ago she and I have more than just history," reminds Atom.

"It is hard not to notice yet while also trying to heal her I could feel what she felt. Feelings can be as potent as any magic and as corny it would sound love can be a very powerful magic in its own right."

"So why are you here besides to return her watch to me?"

"Thought you could use the company even if you were angry and upset with me."

"You did what you thought you had to do to save lives including mine even when it meant losing her though I will never truly lose her at least not in my memories. I am tired of being caught up in the mess of other people's lives. I simply sought to live my own again."

"I wouldn't say I know, but you are not the only one who feels this way. No I am not trying to belittle you or lessen what this lifestyle we are in does to personal lives yet here we are. It all comes and goes, but now and again it has its moments."

She didn't bother to ask so she just kisses him without warning. It is too quick for him to block and too short for him to make any sort of response. As quickly as she had come she is again gone except she left a note. He almost smiles again.

If you need me, just think me, and I will be there for you somehow. – Eve.


A/N 1: This isn't the first version of this chapter. A headache and writer's block definitely left me in a creative void. So it begins more like a mental struggle for Question and ends up leaving them all almost as clueless as they were before.

A/N 2: This is also the first chapter where the POV doesn't stick to the two main characters of the story. Bits of Captain Atom and Nightshade tend to crop up periodically because she's coming more into the story now. More on her back story is brought up.

A/N 3: As for Nightshade's back story, I changed the brother's name Larry to Lucas and I also made them twins. Not sure if they were that already. What happens to Lucas is similar to what happens to Byron Lewis aka Mothman from Watchmen.

A/N 4: Enter Conduit, a Superman rogue from the comics who wears a Kryptonite augmented suit. Enter a new-old Flash rogue, he's basically this story's version of Zoom. Zoom and Sinestro are keeping Flash and Green Lantern busy elsewhere.

A/N 5: Betty's death was not originally part of this chapter. The same goes for Mandragora except he got an 'off-screen' death. Likewise what happens with Carter Hall aka Hawkman, not initially there either. I try to stick as few characters as possible, but this chapter was hard to hammer out.

A/N 6: In the midst of writer's block however I got fragments of ideas for chapters to follow this one... haven't run out of Watchmen nods either.