Oh my God! I'm walking into the light! It's so beautiful! So bright! Hi Elvis!

The bright light began to fade, thoughts of Heaven fading away as something more droll and grey emerged. Oh, never mind. Once the light was gone, it was completely replaced by something right out of Star Trek, just without the bright colors and the gizmos.

So this is how the other half lives…

The Joker glanced around snobbishly. "Wonder what the electric bill is like in this place?" he murmured to himself. One hand behind his back, the other carrying a posh purple briefcase, he began to stroll off the weird pad thing he just happened to be standing on, his polished shoes clicking and clacking on the floor.

Stopping, Joker's eyes flickered from side to side. He took a couple more steps forward, hearing the same clacking. He then stepped back—the same sound. A grin grew on his face.

Slowly, he began to move his feet, repeatedly tapping them on the floor. There was nothing better than a quick tap dance in your enemy's house. A steady beat grew as he danced forward, weaving from side to side as he approached one of the lonely computer stations.

"Oh, I wonder just how many games they have on this," he proclaimed as he grabbed a nearby chair and shoved it up to the station. Stopping his dancing, he plopped his bum into the chair and set his briefcase down next to him on the floor. With one finger, he roughly hit one of the keys, while his other hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a small card. "Now, let's see what my good, hard-earned money bought me," he murmured. Placing a hand over the keyboard, he waiting a moment before his fingers quickly tapped into a set of letters and numbers, ending it with a flourish as he tapped the enter key.

It took a second before the computer screen lit up, revealing a lovely desktop with all sorts of different programs. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "The Boy Scout does have Scout Honor!" Oh, was that a giggle coming on? That was a giggle coming on. "Hee hee hee ha ha haaaa!"

And then he got serious. There was plenty of time to laugh later—it was business time. Getting to work, he began accessing program after program, searching for one in particular. Oh where, oh where are you? You must be here…

That was when something shiny caught his attention. "Oh, you goody two-shoes," he said. "You have a team roster and everything." Digging into the file, he was quick to note all of the data he saw, such as ID numbers, communication device transmitters, and...current whereabouts…

"So, their lovely earpieces do so much more. Join the Justice League! Get instant phone chats with boys in blue, GPS tracking of Amazon bimbos, daily attendance roll call with Marvin the Martian!"

Then the pale man frowned. What was this? According to this, six of the transmitters were in Metropolis. But one wasn't. In fact...it was here…

"Computer, computer on my desk, tell me where our absentee is…" he sang, fingers doing their business on the keyboard. It took a moment, but eventually he brought up security camera footage of some hospital room. Something in the top right corner said...med bay. And right in the center of the screen was a man lying in a bed, restrained with leather straps. Hmm, reminds me of home.

Though, it did make him rather curious and like the cat, he had to know just why the Brigade of Hall Monitors tied down one of their own—hey! He was black! Oh, there was definite racism going on in here! Just wait until he called Al Sharpton! Jesse Jackson! That one guy on MSNBC!

Oh wait, wait, who was he kidding? No one watched that last one. Maybe the hipster crowd since they were into obscure television networks. C'est la vie.

Still, there was still that question. Hmm, how did one hit rewind? Pressing a few keys, Joker eventually found the one he wanted, the time stamp in the corner spinning backwards. Aside from one of the heroes popping in and looking at the black guy, not much happened.

That all changed when suddenly he found mass chaos. Stunned, Joker watched with a critical eye until he realized just what he was seeing. "Oh...oh my…" he spoke breathlessly. It seemed his little joke on Speed Boy had a baby with the black guy and they played House. How marvelous!

But...but...wait...that was the ring guy too. Oh, and he had such plans for him too. Oh well, he just had to be flexible.

Speaking of which, he had spent too much time admiring his handiwork—another time. Again, Joker immersed himself with gobbledygook, computer numbers, and shortcuts until, that's right, he found the mother of all programs. This is what he came for.

Time to get work, Joker, Sir.


With every step he took, there was a sense of dread welling up within his body. This wasn't a decision made lightly and never should be. Batman was about to take on someone considered the most powerful person on the planet, someone with the strength to crush his head like a melon, heat vision that could melt him from space, and speed that allowed him to do just about anything before the vigilante could move.

Taking Superman down still had to be done.

It was a scenario that had kept Batman up for many nights. As powerful as Superman was, he was still vulnerable in other areas. His mind, for instance, could be corrupted, either by mind control, a drug, or even emotional manipulation. It only took one to turn the Kryptonian into a weapon of mass destruction.

Before him stood the Jokerized-Superman, Flash standing nearby with wide eyes. Red light bathed the two men, nearly removing any other color out of their forms. Flexing and relaxing his fingers over and over until he finally balled them into fists, Batman studied the two, trying to get an idea of what to expect next. Additional red light shined out from orbs emerging from his gauntlets, a large one on the back of his hand and smaller ones decorating each finger.

From his observations of Superman, one of two things were going to happen. He was either going to give him the first punch, or he was going to try punching the vigilante's head off. That was assuming Superman was in his right state of mind, which he wasn't. That opened up countless possibilities and he needed to be ready for all of them.

The Man of Steel bursting out in laughter only set his teeth on edge.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You have to be kidding! The most worthless guy on the team is going to fight me?" Superman roared, nearly busting a gut as he leaned over, slapping one his hands against his knee. "Ha ha! I knew you were crazy, but this is just insane! For you, I mean. Me, I might as well get a tan from all these lights!"

That's right, soak in as much as you like, Batman thought. Time was just as much an enemy as this corn-fed farm boy was. Slowly, he moved his gauntlet-covered hand to his belt, pulling out a specialized shuriken. "That's tough talk, especially from a man I've already beaten," he goaded.

That didn't stop Superman's laughter, though he did begin to calm down somewhat. "Don't know what you're talking about, Batty-man, but I'm going to make this simple, quick, and painless."

It was hard through the glare of the light, but Batman caught the sight of the Kryptonian's eyes turning red, blending in with the rest of the tunnel. Instantly, Batman was diving to his right, even as twin beams were fired at him.

However, the heat vision he expect to pass right behind him, was instead directed further to his left and down the tunnel, tearing into a wall. Faster than either man had expected, Flash had dashed in and rammed into Superman, a hand firmly pressed against the dark-haired man's head and forcing it to the side.

That had been an unexpected move on the speedster's part, but it wasn't unwelcomed. This plan would only work if he stayed alive and the dark-clad man was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As he took another step, his quickly tapped his thumb on the center of his shuriken, activating its inner workings.

Unfortunately, Superman didn't take too kindly to being shoved. Stopping his Heat Vision, he pulled his left arm across his body, bending it at the elbow before jerking it back. It wasn't a powerful blow, but did push Flash off of him; in fact, it sent the red-clad man backwards, his feet skidding across the ground until his back collided with a wall.

Drawing his arm back, Batman then sent his shuriken flying at his foe, the whirling sound immediately catching the Kryptonian's attention as he looked right at the projectile. Again his eyes glowed red as he intended on shooting the bat-shaped shuriken out of the air.

He never got the chance though, as the shuriken suddenly began splintering apart in mid-spin, a flash of bright light exploding out from within the shattering projectile. Superman cried out as his eye soaked in the light, searing them as he was blinded. Eyes squeezing shut, his arms shot up to his face to cover his burning eyeballs.

Immediately, the Dark Knight changed his course, running as fast as he could to his blinded opponent. Drawing a fist back, he sent it flying through the air the moment he was within hitting distance, slamming it against the side of Superman's face. The blow caused him to snap his head to a side, his arms flailing out in front of him even as he took a step to regain his balance.

As monumental of an achievement as that was, Batman could feel his hand throbbing within the gauntlet. It was like punching a steel wall and no amount of precautions—such as the padding and armored-reinforcement of the gauntlet—was going to stop the self-inflicted pain he would feel. That didn't stop Batman in the least as he grabbed the Kryptoninan by his shoulder with one hand and began sending punch after punch into his midsection with the other, each blow knocking the air out of the man's lungs and leaving him breathless and dazed.

With a grunt, Batman ended the pounding with a well-placed uppercut to the Man of Steel's chin, snapping his head back and sending the man flying backwards. He landed on the ground in a heap, his cape slowly floating down on top of him as he laid there.

Letting his arms fall to his side, Batman fought hard not to show the grimace that was trying to work its way onto his face. His arm was loudly protesting what he had just done, not that he blamed it. Even though each punch he landed felt less and less like he was hitting a wall, it was of small comfort at the moment.

Thankfully, Superman took his time laying on the ground, which gave the vigilante valuable time to let his own body recover. With a groan, his foe slowly stirred before he began shifting about, making his way up onto his feet. Batman felt a bubble of satisfaction when he noted Superman was moving slower than usual.

"I...actually...felt that…" the Kryptonian murmured, one of his hands rubbing his face.

"I would hope so," Batman responded, flexing his fingers again before making fists with them. "I'm sure you've noticed the gauntlets on my hands by now. I call them my Red Giants."

Superman's eyes narrowed. "That's a stupid name."

"Perhaps, but it is a fitting name. As you've probably noticed, the orbs on them are emitting a red light; more specifically, it's red sunlight."

Though Superman couldn't see it, the Dark Knight glanced around to the rods around them. The same technology creating the sunlight from his gauntlets were also shining from the rods. This is what he meant when he was fighting a fight with time. It was common knowledge that Superman obtained his power from this solar system's sunlight. So, the vigilante theorized, if the Kryptonian was exposed to a different source of sunlight, he could conceivably lose those powers. Red sunlight just happened to be the easiest spectrum shift he could create.

And so far the theory was holding up. The longer Superman was exposed to the red sunlight, the more his powers would fade and make him mortal. It was a big reason why he had told the Justice League not to crash the Kryptonian through the street. Limiting access to yellow sunlight would only help matters; creating an access point for normal sunlight just defeated the purpose.

So now all he had to do was make sure Superman didn't kill him before the red sunlight completely drained his powers away.

Superman snorted then. "Red, blue, pink, I don't care what you do." He then snorted again for a different reason though. "Heh, pink."

Suddenly, the man launched himself into the air, charging at the Dark Knight. Setting himself into a defensive stance, Batman waited until he saw his foe drawing a fist back, throwing it at the last second.

Ducking, Batman dodged the blow, the fist sailing over his head harmlessly. In response, Batman shot both of his fists up, ramming them both into Superman's stomach. The Kryptonian gasped as his body flinched.

However, his extended arm immediately bent, dropping down on the vigilante's shoulder and causing an explosion of pain to erupt throughout his arm and chest. Crying out, the force of the hit caused Batman to drop to the ground, helpless and dazed.

That's when Superman's leg pulled back and then swung forward, his kick picking the vigilante up off the floor and sent him flipping head over feet through the air. Over and over his world spun from ceiling to floor to ceiling to floor. Unable to do anything, his chaotic flight came to an end when he landed roughly on his stomach on the ground, the air in his lungs being forced out. Gasping, Batman tried to recover from the blows as quickly as possible; unfortunately, he didn't have the same endurance as a Kryptonian, which made it much longer to do.

However, he was able to look up and see he was clearly outside the circle of red sunlight. Superman was still within the circle, but he had landed on the ground, taking his time by walking towards the fallen vigilante. That sickening smile on his face was obvious even from where he lay, which only added to the Dark Knight's fury.

"I could cook me a mean bat stew from here," Superman jested with glee then. "But right now, I think I'd rather put you on ice." He then began sucking in air, his chest expanding out as he held his breath.

Get up! Batman's mind roared, even though it was a futile effort. Even if he could get on his feet, there was nothing he could hide behind to avoid Superman's Ice Breath.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. Before Superman could blow, multiple rocks suddenly hit him in the side of his body and head, exploding into clouds of dust upon contact. Though they must have felt more like a nuisance than anything, they did enough to stop the Kryptonian as he shot an arm up in an attempt to protect himself, releasing his breath not as a gale, but a gasp of air.

Looking to the source of the rock barrage, Batman spotted Flash moving as a blur. From what he could make out, the red-clad man was grabbing pieces of rock and stone that laid on the ground and was firing them off at the speed of a bullet, if not faster. A cloud of dust was covering the entire upper body of Superman in moments, the man unable to move due to the onslaught.

Unfortunately, there was an immanent problem, mainly there was a slowly vanishing supply of rocks. Grunting, Batman forced himself back onto his feet. By the time he was standing though, Flash was kneeling on the ground, his hands grasping against the smooth floor as he searched for a rock. "Uh oh," he spoke softly, his voice echoing off the walls.

The cloud around Superman dissipated then, revealing a still-smiling Kryptonian. "My turn," he jeered before he charged at the speedster. In response, Flash shot back up to stand, jerking to a side as Superman threw a punch at him.

Back and forth he dodged, seeming to pose with his arms across his chest. "C'mon, Supes, I know you're faster than that," he taunted as he sped from side to side.

Well, that was a welcoming sign. Seeing how Superman was solely focused on hitting Flash, Batman say a big opportunity. Holding his left arm up, he bend it at the elbow so that he could get a good look at his armored-covered forearm. Hitting a button on the gauntlet, the red light from the orbs grew more brighter. Keeping his hand as a fist, he then extended his arm out in front of him, aiming his hand right at the Man of Steel.

A second later, a large red beam fired from his fist, burning through the air until it collided with the side of Superman, knocking him clear off his feet and sending him flying through the air. "Whoa!" Flash cried out as he backed off a step, his head following the length of the beam and ultimately the airborne Kryptonian.

And then the blast cut off, Superman collapsing onto the ground, thankfully still within the red-lit circle, though he was practically at its edge. Slowly, Batman began trudging back to the circle, coming to a stop next to one of the rods. A glance to his left gauntlet revealed the orbs no longer glowed with red sunlight, instead appearing as mere domes of glass, empty and lifeless.

Returning his attention to Superman, the dark-haired man was getting back onto his feet, but even slower than before. No longer was there any humor on his pale face, instead replaced with a frown. "Copy Bat, Copy Bat," he spoke with undisguised disgust. "Let me show you how it's really done."

Once again, Superman's eyes began to glow red, but this time they faded back to their normal hue just as quickly. That didn't deter the man as his face began to twist with strain, his eyes flickering red and back. If anything, it looked as if his Heat Vision was shorting out.

The corner of Batman's mouth twitched up. So that blast of red sunlight robbed the man of his Heat Vision. Terrific.

Raising his left hand up, he placed his palm on top of the rod next to him. Due to a pad on the palm of the gauntlet, it began absorbing the light, the orbs on the gauntlet beginning to light up with light again.

Superman caught sight of this immediately. "So that's why you have these things," he exclaimed before he looked right at a nearby rod. Immediately, he dashed to it, shooting a hand out to grab the rod's head and subsequently the light source. Though he was losing his powers, he hadn't lost all of his strength, slowly crushing the light fixture until it shattered in his hand, effectively destroying it.

"Flash!" Batman barked as he pointed a finger at the Man of Steel. "Stop him!"

Immediately, Flash raced at the man, ramming his left fist into the side of the Kryptonian's face, causing his head to snap to a side as his body followed. As a red blur, Flash shot towards the wall before suddenly spinning around and darting right back towards his foe, punching him again as he made another pass.

Back and forth, the speedster dashed from side to side, always delivering a blow to the side of Superman's head, causing him to jerk in the same direction the red-clad hero was running. In the meantime, Batman took off running, closing the distance between him and the other two heroes.

As Flash made another pass and landed yet another hit, Batman leaped the last few feet, bringing both of his hands up over his head, making fists with them. As gravity began bringing him back down to earth, he swung both fists down, slamming them on top of Superman's head. The blow immediately knocked the man down, causing him to shoot his hands out to catch himself, his palms pressing into the ground.

A shifting of his legs, though, told Batman that Superman was preparing to rush him. Springing off his feet, the Dark Knight leaped over the man, flipping as he did so to land on his feet. Spinning around, he caught sight of Superman diving forward, his arms shooting out in a failed attempt to wrap around the dark-clad man and tackle him.

Flash then reappeared, his red blur rushing up behind the man and ramming his shoulder into his back. Knocked off balance, Superman let out a cry of surprise as he stumbled forward, collapsing onto the floor and sliding over it a short distance.

Again, Superman was slow to get up, even slower than the last. His face was feral-looking, though his mouth was fighting to smile. His frustration was obvious.

However, his head suddenly jerked to aside, his eyes staring right at the approaching blur that was Flash. Crossing an arm over his chest, he swung it out in an attempt to swat the speedster. Expectedly, Flash dodged it easily, twirling around it before he jumped into the air, swinging one of his legs out. His foot landed a solid kick to the side of the Kryptonian's face, knocking him off his feet again and crashing to the floor.

"Hey, that didn't hurt this time!" Flash exclaimed he moment he landed on both feet.

In the meantime, Batman had pulled out another shuriken, this one he spoke into. "Verbal Code: X-1-7-5-R-5, initiate." Pulling his arm back, he then swung it forward, sending the bat-shaped shuriken flying.

As expected, Superman was getting back onto his feet. However, he immediately noticed the incoming shuriken and jerked to a side, the projectile flying by his head harmlessly. Turning his attention to the Dark Knight, he growled, "I've just about had enough of you."

Unbeknownst to him, the shuriken wasn't finished with its flight. Several feet behind him, the shuriken slowed down, making a u-turn, and flew right back at the Kryptonian. Due to the bulky gauntlets he wore, Batman was unable to enter the activation code into the shuriken like he normally would, thus the verbal command: one target, seven feet away, five additional feet, return five.

And just as he expected, the shuriken plowed into the back of Superman's head, knocking him forward as he cried out in surprise and pain. Immediately Batman ran at him, drawing a fist back. The moment he was within hitting distance, he swung his fist, slamming his punch down on the back of Superman's head and dropping him back onto the ground.

Backing off a step, Batman then raised a foot up, letting it hover for a moment before he dropped it down right on the back of Superman's skull. There was a flinching of the Man of Steel's body, but Batman didn't miss the fact that the man had gone limp.

The only sound that was made then was the Dark Knight taking and releasing a deep breath. At long last the fight was over, or so he hoped. Just to make sure, he knelt down next to Superman, pushing his body to a side.

"Is he out?" Flash suddenly asked him, appearing next to the men.

Looking up to him, Batman responded, "Check his pulse."

Obeying, Flash also took a knee next to their comrade, pressing two of his fingers against Superman's neck in search of his carotid artery. After a moment, he announced, "I've got it. Going on strong."

Good. The vigilante refrained from sighing out loud. One was enough for the time being. Eyes looking down at Superman, he soon found his attention moving down to the purple rock that hung from the neck. Frowning, he leaned his head down and forward to get a better look. "Flash, how long has Superman been wearing this?" he asked.

Flash leaned forward to get a better look. "I think he had it when we first ran into him. Can't really say for sure since the others got into a fight with him before I got there."

Pushing Superman completely onto his back, Batman then reached up and began removing one of his gauntlets. The sound of pressurized air hissing was made and he slid the gauntlet off, placing it on the floor. With his uncovered hand, he reached to the purple rock and with a sharp tug snapped the necklace cord.

Holding the rock up, Batman stared at its glowing light, dimmed by the multiple red sunlamps around them. A sickening feeling settled in his stomach the longer he looked at it. "I'll examine this when we get back to HQ," he spoke out loud as he moved to shove the stone in one of his pouches.

Flash didn't seem concerned about the stone though. "So where did you get those big glove things? Not going to lie, but I was hoping for some giant, robot suit, or something."

Glancing to the speedster, the vigilante debated whether to answer before he decided to tell the truth. "These are part of a suit I kept in a storage center. The suit itself is too heavy though, and I felt I needed more speed over defense; that's why I only wore the gauntlets."

"Make sense I guess." Then a thought struck the red-clad man. "Wait, you kept this thing in Metropolis?!"

"Where else was I supposed to keep it?"

"I don't know, Gotham? In that cave of yours? Just imagine if Big Blue actually found this before our fight!"

You make it sound like I only have one. Batman refrained from saying that out loud. Some things were best left unsaid. In fact, he had multiple containers throughout the country, each one with a different countermeasure. While a majority were in the cave, the vigilante had felt that he couldn't keep everything in one place. If the League ever went rogue, it would be best to have other countermeasures in different facilities.

"Wait, is there one in Central City? Like, one that has something to stop me?" Flash pressed then.

"If I answer, is that going to stop you from looking anyways?" Batman answered.

For once the speedster was speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. It really was a sight to behold.

In all honesty, the Dark Knight hadn't stopped making countermeasures. Though his original ones were made with dubious intentions, it didn't mean they weren't necessary. Superman attacking Metropolis was proof enough of that. Telling the others, however, would be a bad decision. Again, if they ever went rogue, one of the first things they would do is remove any threat, or obstacle to their rule and a man who held plans to defeat each and every one of them was just such an obstacle. He might as well put a target on his back and let them come kill him.

After all, what was the use of a countermeasure if you were unable to use it?

Grabbing his gauntlet and standing up, Batman began to walk a short distance away from the other Leaguers, feeling that their conversation had come to an effective end. Reaching up to his cowl, he activated his League comm link and spoke, "This is Batman, Superman has been neutralized. I repeat, Superman is neutralized. All points report to my location."

Upon receiving affirmatives from Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl—though curiously not from J'onn, he continued walking down the tunnel.

"Hey, where are you going?" Flash called after him.

Turning his head to a side so that he could answer over his shoulder, he responded, "Just checking on a guest."

A most likely irate, reporter guest at that.


To Guest: These are heroes that are used to handling their own fights. Out of all of them, Batman is the most vulnerable, so they're not going to actively put him on the front lines, or even use his contingency plan right off the bat. Though you are right they should've brought some sort of kryptonite weapon. They didn't really think this fighting thing through lol.

The Red Giants, as Batman so affectionately calls them, are based off of the ones in the Endgame story line of the New 52. They looked awesome when they were first shown, though of course Batman stupidly knocks Superman out into sunlight the moment he uses them. So much for that fabled tactical genius, eh? I was debating on whether to put Batman in a mechanized suit, or not, and with everything I wanted to do in the fight required a more mobile fighter, the suit had to be scrapped. I do rather like how the fight came out.