Warehouse after warehouse, Superman couldn't find a trace of the Joker. There wasn't so much as a giggle or exploding whoopee cushion to be found. Gliding through the night sky, he searched with his x-ray vision, viewing through concrete and stone inside of crate-filled buildings.
His ears could pick up the sound of sirens nearby, no doubt the MPD arriving to pick up the gunrunners he and Diana had apprehended. The Amazon had departed a few minutes before, heading back to Happy Harbor as planned. As for him, he had two to three more warehouses to investigate before he was finished.
Arriving at the next warehouse, he focused his eyes, the walls soon fading away as he began to see its insides. Much like the other buildings in the area, he could see the stacks of wooden crates and iron barrels. Pausing there, he began to sweep the building for any signs of life, finding none aside from the occasional rat and cockroach.
Once he was positive there was nothing worthy of note, Superman allowed his x-ray vision to stop, his vision returning to normal a moment later. Moving on, he angled towards another building.
In all honesty, the Kryptonian had the same doubts that Diana had been expressing. How did they even know the Joker would be in the two cities they were checking? There were too many places for the man to hide, especially if you ruled out his favorite places in Gotham. Superman was more of the mind that they should be checking there. Never mind that Batman had been keeping a close eye on the city's criminal underworld, even he could miss things from time to time.
Quickly, Superman checked out the last couple of warehouses, finding what he had been expecting all along. There was only storage containers and small pockets of pests scurrying about, no reason to be alarmed. With a sigh, he stopped in the air, letting a gentle breeze caress his body and cause his cape to ruffle.
It seemed it was time to return to—
"...oh, Suuuuuperman…"
The Man of Steel paused. It wasn't uncommon for him to hear his name spoken, especially in a city like Metropolis. From the good people that praised him to the criminals that cursed his existence, his name was spoken quite frequently. Yet, never had he heard it used in such a sickening sweet call.
"Suuuuuuperman…"
It was distant, but the Kryptonian was focusing more and more on the voice. It wasn't one he was familiar with, but a sick feeling began welling up inside his stomach.
"Can you heeear me? I hope you can. I have something you'd like to knoooooow. Or better yet, someone you know too weeeeell."
Superman turned his head to the west. That was where the voice was coming from, he was sure of it.
"Ya see, I was walking by myself, minding my own business, when this lady ran into me. Now, I was sure I had seen her from somewhere when it hit me: this is Lois Lane!"
Superman froze, the very blood in his veins freezing as his stomach dropped.
"And since I was such a fan of hers, I just had to sweep her off her feet. Now I know you two have this thing going on, so if I were you, I would listen very carefully. Come alone. If you call the police, Lois dies. If you call your buddies at the Justice Little League, Lois dies. If you do anything aside from coming here, well, I think you get the gist.
"So then, come to the Lexcorp weapons plant in the northwest part of the city. I know you know where that is. I can see where that wonderful heat vision of yours drew lines into the wall. Hope to see you soon!"
The Man of Steel knew exactly where the voice—the one he knew to be the Joker's—was coming from. He had fought another of Luthor's creations in that building not too long ago.
A part of him wanted to call this into the League. There was no way the Joker would know beforehand if he did. Yet, if even one of the others was caught on a security camera and Joker saw it, he would make good on his threat—and he had no doubt this psychopath would make good on his threat if pushed.
Superman shook his head. This was just a criminally insane man with a gun. While dangerous, he stood no chance against a man with super strength, speed, and invulnerability. He could handle the madman.
Extending his arms out in front of him, Superman took off, flying towards the Lexcorp building.
The return journey to headquarters was uneventful. In fact, Diana made the trip in record time, landing at the entrance to the complex before the top of the hour. Entering her access code into the keypad next to the door, she was granted entry as the door swung open. Passing through the threshold, she heard the door close behind her as she walked down the corridor before her.
It had been some time since she had actually entered the Justice League headquarters through the front entrance. Most times she was being transported via the teleportation system. It was a faster, more efficient mode of transportation, so actually using the front door was a strange experience.
Though it was quickly approaching the time for the rest of the League to gather in the meeting room to discuss their progress, Diana found herself heading towards the laboratory J'onn and Batman were holed up in. She was rather curious to see what progress was being made on their end.
It took several minutes, but eventually the Amazon stood in front of the door. Part of her wanted to enter the room straight away, yet another part was holding her back. There was no telling if a cure had been developed since she and the others had departed and if she stormed in unannounced, she could interrupt a very delicate procedure.
Deciding to act on the safe side, she raised a hand to her ear and activated her comm link. "Wonder Woman to Batman, is it safe to enter the lab?"
There was a moment of silence before she heard the vigilante reply, "You can enter."
A smile appearing on her face, Diana opened the door and entered the lab. Many things had changed since the meeting earlier. What had once looked like an organized laboratory through the hologram was less so now. Bottles of chemicals, beakers and vials were scattered on multiple desks. Various other equipment was mingled in the mess, none of which, she was quick to note, were active.
Towards one end of the room stood Batman and J'onn, a glass beaker the size of a kitchen pot sitting on a desk next to them. A Bunsen burner was lit, heating up the contents of an orange fluid within the beaker, bubbles continuously bursting at the surface.
Eyes lighting up, Diana asked, "I take it you've found an antidote?"
"We believe so," J'onn answered her, his stoic voice doing nothing to dampen her spirits. "It still needs some time to cook before it is ready."
"That's wonderful news!" she praised them before her eyes returned to the beaker. Though it was truly great they had created an antidote, the Amazon couldn't help but wonder why there was only one vat being made. Considering it was believed the entirety of Central City was infected by the Joker Venom, wouldn't more of the antidote be beneficial? "Correct me if I'm wrong, but have you made enough?"
""If our calculations are correct, it may be," the Martian replied.
"Are you sure? Is that enough for over a million people?"
"You make it sound like we haven't made more," Batman retorted.
It took a moment for that comment to register, but when it did it caused the Amazon's smile to grow enormously. She should have known better than to doubt these two men.
"If we were to give the correct dosage to each and every person, then no, it wouldn't even with all that we've managed to make," the vigilante continued. His words, however, only served to make the dark-haired woman frown. "However, that's not what we're going to do."
Diana looked from Batman to J'onn and back. Obviously she was missing something here. "Then how do you intend on administering it?"
"In aerosol form," J'onn told her. "Because of the size of the outbreak—and as you mentioned the sheer number poisoned—we felt it would be more beneficial, if not more efficient, if we were to render the antidote in aerosol form over the city. Though it will act slower and will be less concentrated, the number of people exposed to it will be much greater."
That caused the dark-haired woman to light up once more. "You've thought of everything, haven't you?"
The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up in response. "We'll see."
"It should be about time for the others to arrive," J'onn spoke then. "I will continue to monitor the antidote if you will explain our plan."
The Dark Knight gave a sharp nod in agreement before he began walking towards the exit. Giving the Martian a smile, Diana followed Batman out of the room, entering the hall with him as they began heading towards the meeting room. "Flash will be pleased," she remarked.
All she received was a grunt in response. It didn't deter the Amazon in the least since she was used to such minimalistic retorts from the man. "So how do you plan on exposing Central City to your cure?" she asked.
"Patience, Princess," Batman said in reply. "I'd rather say this once and not multiple times."
"If you please." There was a pause before she continued, "Superman and I did not find a trace of the Joker in Metropolis, just so you know. Are you sure he'd be hiding in the city?"
"In all honesty, no," he answered truthfully, much to Diana's astonishment. "Without knowing the Joker's goal, it's hard to say where and how he's keeping low. All we can go on is previous experience and that tells me he's staying close to where he'll strike next. He likes to watch the chaos he creates, so there was no doubt in my mind he would've lingered in Central City following the outbreak there."
That caused the Amazon to frown. "But wouldn't that have put him at risk for falling victim to his own poison?"
"The Joker's immune to his toxins. I'm not sure how that's the case—probably constant exposure has built up a tolerance. Regardless, he could fill an entire room with his Joker Venom and not be the least bit affected."
"Oh." That was a useful piece of information. If and when the time came she cornered the man and he held a vial of his poison, she would need to expect that he would use it without a second thought.
It was about then they reached the meeting room. Pushing the doors open, they were greeted to the sight of empty chairs and a clean, polished table. "No one's here," Batman stated.
"It would seem so," Diana agreed.
"Where's Superman? He should be here."
"There was a weapons deal going down at the Metropolis Docks. Superman wished to make sure there weren't others going on before we left, so I went on ahead."
Batman turned his head to regard the dark-haired woman. "That wasn't part of the plan, Wonder Woman. It was agreed you would stay with your partner."
Diana wasn't offended by the statement. Had the vigilante said this during his admission into the League, she would have bristled at his words. However, she had come to know he was extremely task-oriented. If something didn't go to plan, his mind was working as fast as Hermes to determine what went wrong and how to remedy it if it was necessary. "He'll be here soon, if he isn't here already," she said. "We were only a few minutes apart in leaving."
Batman grunted, but said no more. It wasn't like he had a choice either as Flash suddenly burst into the room, a red blue zooming towards his chair, where he finally took form sitting in it. Hawkgirl followed him through the doorway at a much more sedate pace.
"Tell me you've got something," Flash demanded, his body trembling in his seat.
Glancing to the Dark Knight and predicting exactly what he was going to say—that he wanted to wait for Superman—Diana grinned with mirth before she replied to the speedster, "An antidote has been made. We'll be discussing logistics in a moment."
Flash cheered loudly even as Batman tilted his head to give the Amazon a look. Diana merely smiled at him in response.
"What are we waiting for then?" the red-clad man spoke then, even as Hawkgirl took her seat next to him. "Let's get this ball rolling!"
"Superman isn't here," the Thanagarian remarked, turning in her seat to look at the two standing Leaguers. "I suppose we're waiting on him?"
"That's right," Batman acknowledged.
That caused Flash to groan. "We don't have time to be waiting on the Boy Scout to show up. We need to stop the riots in Central now, not in an hour. We've got a ticking clock, people!"
Batman didn't look as if he would be budging on his decision, his face a mask of stone. Diana, however, understood where Flash's impatience was coming from. If Themiscyra had been attacked like his city, she would've been just as frantic. That was why she suggested, "I can brief Superman about our plan and anything else he'll miss."
The Dark Knight looked to her, seemingly to study the merit of her suggestion. It seemed he came in favor of it as he started to say, "We've made enough of the antidote to release it as an aerosol over Central City. We'll be unleashing it as a gas above the city so that it can cover the entire metropolitan area. To do this, we'll need to release it at key points, adjusting for wind of course."
"Sounds like we'll be needing flyers," Flash remarked. "That makes me useless."
"I'll be leading the first wave," Batman continued, ignoring the red-clad man's comment. "I have an aerosol dispenser built into my plane. I'll be doing an initial pass over the city. J'onn and I estimate that I should be able to get fifty percent of the city, again depending on wind conditions. If we're lucky, it can go up to as high as sixty. From there, the rest of the League will be covering the areas I miss with smaller canisters. The higher we use them, the more surface area we'll cover, but again, it leaves it at the mercy of—"
"We get it, we get it," Flash interrupted. "How soon can we get this done?"
"Within the hour. The last batch should be finishing the bonding process by now and J'onn will be filling the canisters."
That caused Diana to perk her head up. "You've been busy since we left."
"Of course," the vigilante replied. "In fact, I had just returned from preparing my plane when you arrived."
"And here I thought it would take you hours to create an antidote."
"It did."
"As much as I enjoy you two flirting with each other, it looks like we need to be getting ready," Hawkgirl interjected then. "We don't have time to be waiting for Superman to arrive. Someone needs to call him to see where he is and if necessary direct him to Central City instead of coming here."
"Good idea," Diana said before she raised a hand to her comm link. "Superman, come in. This is Wonder Woman, over."
There was a moment of silence, one that ended up stretching out longer than she had anticipated. "Superman? Can you read me?" she tried again.
By now Batman was fully facing her. "Something's wrong," he stated. His face hardened. "His last location was in Metropolis, correct?"
Diana nodded. "That's correct."
"Then we're going to need to send a team in. Take Flash with you to Metropolis and find Superman. J'onn, Hawkgirl, and I will administer the antidote at Central City. Neither of you leave the other's sight, okay?"
"Aren't you overreacting here?" Hawkgirl asked as she stood up from her chair. "I mean, this is Superman we're talking about."
"And that's exactly what I'm afraid of."
Leaving his words to hang in front of the other Leaguers, Batman strode towards the exit. "Flash, Wonder Woman, get to Metropolis as fast as you can. I don't care how you do it, but find Superman. Hawkgirl, we're going to the lab to meet with J'onn."
And with that, he disappeared through the doorway. There was a silence between the three heroes before Flash remarked, "Well, that was pretty dramatic."
"I still think he's overreacting," Hawkgirl said, slowly making her way to the meeting room doors. "I'll be expecting to see you two in Central City shortly."
"I don't know," Flash responded, causing the winged woman to halt in her tracks. "This isn't the first time this Joker guy has put a city on lock down. You weren't there when he tried to blow Gotham up a second time, but had we not been there, there's no telling if Gotham would still be here. I think we need to trust Bats on this one."
"He does have more experience with this man," Diana added her agreement.
"We're talking about some psychopath that likes to blow things up," Hawkgirl retorted. "He can use all the explosives he wants, it's not going to do anything to Superman. If there's one person we can trust to be on their own, it's him."
Superman hovered in the air, staring down at the Lexcorp building the Joker had told him to come to. Unlike the other buildings that bore Lex Luthor's logo on it, this one was way short of the polished standard the business mogul demanded.
The Kryptonian may have had a hand in that.
A portion of the northwest corner was demolished, a pile of rubble that had yet to be cleaned up. Cracks marred the walls of the building, though they didn't touch the giant L that extended from one of the walls. There were even a few holes scattered about. All of this was the result of a ferocious battle the Kryptonian had faced mere weeks ago. It hadn't been the most difficult fight, but it had last longer than the Man of Steel had expected.
None of this interested Superman at the moment. What did was a dim glow radiating out of one of the windows in what was the storage wing of the facility. Unlike the rest of the building, there were no outward signs of damage. The inside was a different matter.
And now, the dark-haired man was about to cause a little more damage.
Flying towards the roof, Superman extended his legs out beneath him, pressing them together as he descended. The moment they hit the roof, it gave way, the concrete breaking into pieces. The sight of chemical tanks forming lines to either side of him appeared, replacing the nearby suburb.
Keeping up with the falling debris, it and him reached the ground roughly at the same time, this sound of his boots touching down being enveloped by the clattering of rock. Standing up to his full height, he was quick to note the dim lighting from the overhanging lights. Because of the light, he had a harder time noticing the scars of his previous battle here.
Before him, one of the lights poured down, creating a large circle in front of him. At the opposite side was a man, his back facing the Kryptonian. From what the light revealed, he wore purple suit pants and a jacket. Anything else was hidden in the dark.
That was until the man turn around, his hands becoming fists as they pressed into his hips. A pale face with grinning red lips revealed itself. "More powerful than a locomotive," he announced, the sound of his voice echoing throughout the room before he added, "and about as subtle."
So this was the Joker.
The last time Superman had seen him, he had been unconscious, so he hadn't looked like much. Seeing him holding himself with such confidence, the Man of Steel had to say he wasn't impressed. As far as he could tell, there were no weapons he had that could affect him; that wasn't to say there weren't weapons on the man because he had all sorts of things on him. Through X-ray Vision, the Kryptonian could see a bottle of some sort of fluid behind the flower on his lapel, a small circular device in his palm, along with a few guns and knives hidden on his person. None of those weapons would hurt him.
"You wanted my attention, Joker," Superman called back, "well, you got it. Where's Lois?"
A confused expression appeared on the green-haired man's face. "Lois? Whomever do you mean, Fly-boy? I don't know any Lois."
Superman began to march over to the man, entering into the light as he closed the distance between them. "The woman you kidnapped. Give her to me."
Again, the Joker feigned confusion. "Kidnapped? Why I haven't kidnapped anyone—" Suddenly his face lit up with realization. "OH! That Lois! Silly me, I can't believe I forgot! Well, just between you and me, I...only saw her at a distance. There wasn't any time to get an autograph or anything, but I'm—"
The Man of Steel was a blur of blue and red, his super speed closing the remaining distance between them in the blink of an eye. Grabbing a fistful of the clown's shirt and picking him up off the ground, he demanded heatedly, "Tell me where she is, now."
"Okay, okay!" the pale man exclaimed, raising both of his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Can't you take a joke?"
Superman wasn't in the mood for jokes. In fact he was rather annoyed by the man's antics. That was the only excuse he had for forgetting the fact the Joker had something in his hand. The Joker was more than happy to remind him when he slapped his hand down on the Kryptonian's shoulder.
Intense pain seared into Superman's body at the moment of contact. Green bolts of electricity raced all over him as he screamed, his hand spasming so hard that he lost his grip on the Joker's shirt, dropping to kneel on one knee as the pale man landed on his feet.
And then the pain stopped the moment the clown pulled his hand away, Superman gasping for breath. Vaguely he was aware of Joker casually walking around him, disappearing from sight towards his back. "Oh, do I love my joy buzzer!" he declared manically. "There's just so many uses for it!"
That was when Superman felt Joker's hand slap him right on the back and he was overwhelmed by the electric shock again. Screaming, he collapsed to the floor, inadvertently moving away from the intense pain.
That shock...that was no normal shock. The dark-haired man knew when he was being hit by electricity and this was too different. There was something else going on.
"You know, I had always heard that ol' Lexy had a thing for you," the Joker remarked. "I don't mean a man-crush by any means; you would know better than I, of course." A pause. "There isn't anything going on, right? Not that I would judge, or anything."
Slowly, the Kryptonian began turning his head to a side, catching sight of the clown out of the corner of his eye. Feeling heat radiating from his eyes as he began to call upon his heat vision, a hand suddenly slapped down over his face, a rapid flashing of green and white exploding in his sights as pain screamed through his head.
And then it stopped. "Now, now, none of that," the Joker reprimanded. "I haven't finished my monologue after all. Now where was I? Oh, yes! Did you know there's an entire basement level with all sorts of goodies Lexy made? In fact, they all had your name on it too!"
That was when Joker knelt down, his lips a tight smile as he looked down on the fallen Kryptonian. Superman, in contrast, was lying on his side, unable to so much as twitch a finger. "So many toys made from that pretty green rock that I hear can kill you. Why, I almost wanted to take a few for my own collection, but then I thought, why stop there? A gun can only be so much fun; but a joy buzzer with kryptonite radiation? Why, I just had to do it! I think you can appreciate its effects."
So that's what it was. The aftereffects pained him much more than normal electricity. Unfortunately, that left him completely vulnerable and at the mercy of this lunatic.
The Joker then cocked his head to a side. "But...to be honest, that's as far as I would go. I mean, I really don't see what Lexy sees to want you dead. If you were this easy, either he's completely incompetent or just...no, actually incompetent works just fine here. I can't really think of another option to be frank."
The Joker then shocked Superman again, pressing his hand hard against his shoulder. He couldn't help but scream wildly until it was over. "Now that was just for the road. Wouldn't want you spoiling the surprise and all."
Standing up, the clown walked over somewhere. Superman couldn't bear to watch as every nerve ending in his body was screaming.
"Now, I know you hero-types are always more worried about those frail meat sacks you call people, so as a courtesy, to soothe that hard head of yours, I'll let you in on a secret: I may have been fibbing about that lovely ex of yours. You're usual damsel-in-distress ain't here, Buckaroo."
The Kryptonian only panted in response, trying to regain his breath. He heard the clown's words, let them soak in, and he couldn't help but berate himself for falling for them. Of course the psychopath wouldn't keep his hostage nearby. Lois had to be somewhere else in case Superman had successfully defeated the Joker.
Or maybe she hadn't been kidnapped at all.
That was when a loud THUMP! was made just above his head. Warily, Superman tilted his head up, seeing a chest a short distance away. Kneeling behind it, a wicked smile appeared on Joker's face. Placing a hand on either side of the chest, he slowly opened it, a menacing purple glow radiating out of it.
"Now, while I am fond of green, sometimes you need a splash of color to break up the monotony. Besides, I think you'd look ravishing in purple."
