*A/N: Here's my newest chapter! Sorry for making you wait for almost a month, trust me, I wanted to get back to this just as much as you did! Anyway, here you go. And as always please RxR! ^_^
Alone in his cell, Superman woke with a fright in response to a series of arrhythmic booms echoing outside of his cell. Anxious and unaware of where he was, the Man of Steel rushed toward the door and struggled to catch a glimpse of whatever was making the noise. Barely able to see through the small glass window, the Kryptonian raised his fist and hurled it toward the door without a second thought, only to jerk back in reaction to the pain of his fingers crunching against the steel doors. Confused, he stepped closer to the door and ran his hands along the steel panels, tentatively examining its surface. Despite the force of his blow, he was shocked to see that, aside from the slight smudging left by his sweaty fist, he had barely left a mark on the hulking barrier! Puzzled and frustrated, Superman tried again to catch a glimpse of the scenery outside and figure out where he was and, more importantly where his friends were. Still without any visual clues as to where he was, he turned around and examined his dark, empty, silver cell. With no one else in sight, Superman was convinced that he had to get out and find out who was behind this.
Again he approached the solid steel door and took a knee; intently he focused on the large piece of metal in front of him. Staring intently, the powerful Kryptonian tried to use his x-ray vision to see into the door and locate a weak point which would allow him to break free; but try as he might, despite the stinging pain and burning of his strained eyes, he could see no more than the thick top layer of the door's steel plating. Confused, Superman, slammed his eyes shut and massaged them gently before concentrating on the door again, this time with the intent of burning his way through. After a moment, the alien's eyes began to glow a warm red, and a beam of light shot towards the door as the metal slowly began to melt. But before the powerful beams of heat could do any significant damage, Superman began to wince, and the glowing red beam started to fade. After taking a minute to refresh his eyes, he looked back to the door and prepared to get back to work, only to find that his renowned heat vision, which had just been working- though weakly- a moment ago, was no more. Growing even more anxious, the Man of Steel began to wonder why his powers had suddenly become nonexistent. Here he sat, trapped inside a steel cell- a cage. Frustrated, he sulked and tried to figure out what was going on. Normally, any steel door such as this would have been blasted open in an instant, but for some reason none of his attempts proved successful. Angrily, he rose to his feet and faced off against the door, his eyes focused and his fists clenched, ready for the next round. Aggressively, he began to punch and kick the door with all of his strength, ignoring the burning pain that shot through his limbs every time his hands and feet made contact with his steel adversary.
Finally, after what seemed like an eon of futile blows, Superman exhaustedly dropped to his knees and stared up at the various dents and dings left in the door- none of which showed any true signs of damage or freedom. Beyond the point of frustration, he slammed his eyes shut and leaned forward, propping his heavy head against the victorious door. 'What's going on?' The Man of Steel thought to himself. 'Why aren't my powers working?' he exhaled, defeated. Dismally he opened his eyes and looked down at the cement floor beneath him. Seeing the small sliver of light that managed to peek through from beneath the door, he waited in anticipation of a shadow cast by a passing stranger- possibly the one responsible for his entrapment, but no such shadow approached. As he pulled his forehead away from the door, Superman looked forward and with an intense exhale, prepared to continue his attempts to beat his way through the door; but then, as he prepared to raise his fist to the door, his attention was caught by the fluorescent glow of a mysterious object off in the corner. Suspiciously, he approached and bent down to examine the object; as he plucked the little item from the dark corner, he felt his heart jump as he immediately recognized what he held in his hand: the suspicious pink syringe he saw lodged in his arm! Stunned with realization, he almost dropped the syringe, but upon further study, he saw that the medical tool was still half full, as were several of the other needles that littered the corner of the cell.
Perplexed, Superman rolled the little needle in his hand for a moment, musing over its contents and concluding that it was responsible for his predicament. Whatever was in that solution had to be the reason his powers were no more, and why he and the others had passed out back at the jeweler's. 'It had to be some kind of tranquilizer,' Superman thought to himself, 'with neutralizing effects...' He continued to deduce the purpose of the syringes until his attention was captured by the clinking sound of metal just outside of his cell.
"Superman," called a familiar voice from outside. Immediately, he responded and ran towards the door.
"John?" he asked excitedly as he peered through the tiny window at the top of the door. Fidgeting to get a clear view to the outside, he gratefully watched as Green Lantern and Batman hurriedly tried to pick the lock to his cell. "Boy, am I glad to see you guys! I thought I was stuck here. Where have you been?"
"Picking the lock to our own cell," Batman blandly replied as he adjusted the pick at the end of his glove. "Where are Flash and Wonder Woman?"
"Not sure," Superman replied as the three men continued to fiddle with the door. "It's just me in here. Any idea where we are, anyway?" he asked as he Green Lantern and Batman slid the door aside. "I'm not sure who's responsible, but I think I know what knocked us out," he continued as he presented his friends with one of the syringes. Observantly, Batman took the syringe and studied its contents before turning to acknowledge his friends hypothesis. "I also think it's why my powers aren't working." Listening to Superman's testimony, Batman looked down at the little syringe and compared it to the one Green Lantern had been holding. Noticing the similarities in the needles, the detective prepared to validate his friend's observation; but before he could reply, both he and Green Lantern stared at their friend in confusion. "What?" Superman asked in confusion. "What are you staring at?"
"Your powers aren't the only thing that's been affected," commented Green Lantern as he directed Superman to take a look at his reflection in the outer wall's mirror-like surface. Immediately the Kryptonian was shocked to see his hair- now an icy white- long and thick, as it covered his head in wild tufts, and ran down the sides of his face in sideburns.
"What the..." he exclaimed, exacerbated.
"Come on," directed Batman as he began to search the other cells throughout the hall. "We have to find Diana and Flash." Still examining his hair, Superman hesitantly left his reflection to catch up with his teammates, but only after grabbing another syringe that lay on the floor of his open cell.
Stealthily, the trio made their way down the hall and continued to search the remaining cells for Flash and Wonder Woman. As they passed by several empty cells Superman continued to clench the syringe in his hand, now focusing on his reflection in the silver detailing. While he hadn't noticed his hair before, now it had become impossible to ignore. Something was wrong and they had to find Wally and Diana before things got any stranger. "Any idea where they could be?" asked Green Lantern as he peeked into an empty cell. "We're almost at the end of the hall," he continued as they approached the final strip of cells.
"Do we even know who's responsible for this?" asked Superman.
"We have to find Diana and Flash first," replied Batman as he continued to scan every cell ahead of him. "We can search for culprits later." After passing a number of barren cells Green Lantern saw what appeared to be a dim light coming from one of the chambers, and through a crack in the door, shadows could be seen pacing back and forth.
"Over here," he shouted as Superman and Batman followed close behind.
"Diana? Flash?" called Batman as he bolted toward the door and looked inside the small window.
"Batman?" the Amazonian princess shouted in response as she and Flash ran to the window in response.
"Boy, are you guys a sight for sore eyes!" exclaimed Flash, relieved. "You gonna help us out of here? We've been trying for hours with no luck."
"My powers aren't working," continued Wonder Woman as she stuck her hand through the window. Looking up from his work on the lock, Batman was startled at the sight of her hand- covered in blotchy, black and brown spots.
"Diana," exclaimed Superman as he took her hand and examined what appeared to be a series of odd bruises.
"We'll get you out of there," assured Batman as he finished picking the door's lock and assisted Green Lantern and Superman as they moved the heavy blockade aside. Once the door was opened, both Flash and Wonder Woman sprung from their confinement and greeted their friends.
"Bout time you guys showed up! We were beginning to wonder," said Flash. "Any idea what's going on here? Not sure where they had you, but this cell was obviously designed to neutralize powers," he continued as he pointed back into the dark cage.
"I don't think it's the cell," commented Wonder Woman as she removed a small object from her pocket: a little syringe, filled with a fluorescent pink liquid. "We found this on the floor. And there are two other empty ones inside." Immediately, Batman took the syringe and held it up in front of his face, he then looked back to Superman and Green Lantern and compared it to the two syringes they carried with them.
"You guys got them too?" asked Flash as he took the syringe back. "Found this one in my-" he turned around and looked down at his upper thigh before embarrassedly turning back to his friends and modestly covered his rear, "hehe, never mind."
"This has to be some kind of inhibiter compound," commented Superman as he shook the neon pink contents.
"Whoa," scoffed Flash as he looked up at his teammate's face. "What happened to your hair?"
"It has to be some kind of side effect," Superman replied dismally.
"That would explain these," Wonder Woman commented, as she looked down at the various spots on her body in disgust.
"It could be an allergic reaction," suggested Green Lantern. "Some type of rash?"
"I don't think so," replied Batman as he approached Wonder Woman and examined her skin. "Whatever it is, it's spreading to your hair." He continued as he ran his fingers along the mysterious spots that littered her wavy black locks. "This is more than just some neutralizer," he concluded. "Otherwise, John and I wouldn't have received it." Validating his observation, the others began to reconsider their initial assumptions of the syringe's intent.
"Then what is it?" asked Green Lantern skeptically.
"Not sure," replied Batman as he studied the manifesting spots on Diana's face, and the increasing length of Superman's ice-white facial hair. "But we'll have to find out before things get any worse..."