Notes: I'm thinking of putting a sample section from my original disaster story, Elder Dryas, into the next chapter. All you people liking and favoriting the fic, please review and tell me if you want to hear it.

Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl were searching the city for any sign of Batman and stopping at fire and police stations to find volunteers when they found the familiar blue suited, dreadlocked figure collapsed on an apartment building roof. A couple of ten year old kids were leaning over Static. One had put a pillow under his head the other was wafting a cup of tea under his nose, trying to use the smell to wake him.

"Easy there kids. Let us have a look."

"He won't wake up!"

"The lightning man won't wake up!"

"His name is Static." Wonderwoman corrected the two kids. "Now what are your names?"

"Jane, and this is my twin Joseph." The taller of the two replied. "We come up here in the morning to eat our breakfast. We saw the super hero passed out and he didn't look to comfortable."

"You're right, he doesn't, lets see if we can get him up." Hawkgirl gently started shaking Static. "Hey, Static, wake up! Get up!"

"WHA?" the boy sat up straight. "What the heck... oh noooo, how embarassing. I got downed by a bright blue bolt of lightning. Maaaaaaan... thats just not normal or right!"

"We made you some tea!" Jane exclaimed, gently pushing the cup towards Static.

"Oh... um... thanks..." Static realized the kids had actually gotten him a pillow and chuckled, taking a long sip. Now Static was a teenager, he drank soda, not tea, so he'd never had any. Still, the beverage was soothing and slowly started to wake him up a bit more.

"It probably wasn't a normal lightning bolt. We know this phenomena is connected to an interdimensional rift above the harbor." Hawkgirl told him.

"Awww maaaan." Static sighed. "So is it true? All the power's out in the city?"

"Yep!" The two kids exclaimed. "We made the tea using daddy's esbit stove! Daddy's a biker so he has teeny tiny trail gear for when he's on the road!" (1) They pointed to a slate with a tiny stove with fuel tablets burning and a kettle boiling on top. "We're gonna make a raincatch, its been raining recently and daddy said if the water's ever not running we needed to make one as fast as we could!"

"is that so, where is your father?" Wonder Woman gently touseled the children's hair.

"He's a fireman, he got up really early this morning to get to his station!" Joseph replied. "Its ten blocks that away! Not far a run at all!" He pointed.

"Static, J'on said to raise as many relief volunteers as we could. You wanna come with us?" Wonder Woman asked the young hero.

"Sure, I may have gotten the wind knocked out of me but I'm still good to go. I was supposed to do some training with Batman but..."

"Pfftt, forget Batman, I say when we're done with things here we take you up to the watchtower and see what sort of fighting moves Wildcat can beat into you." Laughed Hawkgirl, thumping the young hero on the back. "He's the one who taught Batman to box! Black Canary learned her moves from him too! But he's old now, really feeling it lately. He'd probably get a kick out of you!"

"First aid instructor?" Wildcat blinked. "Supes I'm not a medical type!" He looked wildly from Superman to Amanda Waller.

"But you /are/ a teacher type." Superman grinned. "I figured some special instruction would give you something to do."

"I've seen your lessons Wildcat." Waller smiled. "I think you'd make a great instructor. Please think it over? Surely anything you can do that will help others..."

"you know Wildcat, in ancient hunter gatherer tribes, the elder was the tribe's teacher." Hawk and Dove strode in with huge grins on their faces.

"Sorry we're early boss." Hawk grinned. "Something about a new training assignment?"

"Waller's reccomendation got you in, go ahead and tell him."

"I've got a combat medic and search and rescue program thats interested in taking you and Dove in as trainees. Its no glory assignment, you'd be training to pull injured fighters from the battlefield and get them to the nearest source of medical care. But it would help you, I think, live up to your nom de guerre a bit better."

"Anyone else going?" Dove asked curiously.

"I've got a list of league personnel reccomended for varying first aid, emergency response, and search and rescue training programs. The training would be free of charge."

"Who did the reccomending?"

"Your peers." Waller replied, a huge grin on her face. "I made some discrete inquiries around the league and asked who they thought should take this sort of training. Superman himself reccomended you two."

The man of steel blushed slightly. "Well, you asked who would be good for first aid and search and rescue training. And I thought of Hawk and Dove, and I thought the programs they train in should fit their names."

"And I got a reccomendation for teacher from whom?" Wildcat demanded.

"Two students who very much respect you."

"Damnit Canary I DON'T NEED BABYSITTING." Wildcat hissed.

"Who said it was her?" Waller asked.

"Its obvious! C'mon supes, I'm a grown man I don't want to be coddled!" (2)

"Its not coddling." Dove told him. "You are easily the best hand to hand combat teacher I've /ever/ had. You taught me that I could still learn to fight hand to hand according to my name and mission back when I was a rookie. Wildcat that was /important/ to me. I agree with whoever reccomended you for instructor training. You are a /great/ teacher and to not put you /in/ a teaching position is wasting your talent!"

"you really think so?"

"I know so! Back me up on this Superman, Waller..."

"I have found that Superman is a very good judge of character, and he was the one who suggested individual specialties for the three of you." Amanda Waller said serenely. "Remember, who was reccomended and for what was based on peer reccomendations. Not on my judgement /or/ some government bigwig."

Superman's thoughts had repeatedly gone to Gotham this morning. It was still early there. There was still time for a riot to begin over the lack of electricity and the prospect of /months/ of no power. His fingers tapped a bit on the table.

Hawk was just flabbergasted, too much so to do more than blush and splutter. "i'd be trained as a... as a... as a..."

"Combat medic, yes Hawk. It means in the eyes of the US Military you would be certified to perform emergency evacuations of soldiers on the battlefield and the combat equivalent of being a certified EMT. Its a dangerous job, but the zeal with which you support our men and women in uniform makes me think that you would be a very good protector for them, and for your fellow Justice League members, which would make up the bulk of people you'd be supporting." Waller said with a small smile. "My grandfather was a world war two fighter pilot. He was a good man. I take veteran affairs issues seriously and I take the care of military wounded seriously."

Superman grinned. "That said, its Justice League and civilian wounded you'd be training to evacuate. You wouldn't be part of the military, just certified by them that you can perform the task. Now whatever their attitude towards us, a military issued certification in any specialty is held in high respect. The purpose of training league personel in Search and Rescue related specialties is to supplement their existing skills and personalities."

Hawk was absolutely stunned. To him, any training or certification from the army was a /high/ honor.

"I warn you Hawk, your teacher will be one hell of a bitch." Waller grinned. "i know her, they give her only the most promising and she makes them bleed for what they earn."

"Bring it!" Hawk was totally fired up.

The clock on Superman's desk beeped. "And thats mess. I've got some mixed announcements today."

"Why?" Dove asked curiously.

"Notice any seniors absent?"

"Yeah, Bats, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman."

"Some stuff hit the fan last night, I'll explain when we get to the mess." It was a new tradition in the league that when there were either awards to be given out or important assignments to be given, or the League was going to be busy in general, Superman would do announcements in the morning in the mess hall.

When Amanda Waller tried to turn aside at the door and wait at the back of the hall, Superman grinned. "Nonsense, this was your idea you come to the front with me when I explain it."

Superman took the cup of coffee that he normally drank when he had an announcement. A couple of people with sharp eyes paused in their conversation, looking up when he came to the front and tapped his oatmeal spoon on the side of the coffee cup. "I have both good and bad news this morning. Now the good news is easiest to explain and it will give you something to look forward to while you deal with the missions that will result from the bad news."

"Amanda Waller had the idea to get funding for the Justice League to take emergency response classes ranging from EMT and Combat Medic certs to general disaster response and for a few of you, Veterinary EMT certifications. I managed to get reccomendations from all the seniors last night with the exception of Batman, whom as we all know is impossible to impress or please, so there may not be any point." A chuckle from the crowd. "But I want you to know that those of you who were reccomended for these classes, the choice is entirely yours and it was your peers that reccomended you. Not some government suit out in Washington who doesn't know you. Green Arrow is posting the final class offerings and how many reccomendations each person got. The exact nature of those reccomendations is to remain a secret. Though we do have some very good sleuths among us I'd hope they'd know better than to ruin the enjoyment of others by spreading whom reccomended whom for what and why."

Several people glared at Question immediately on that statement. "Yeah don't ruin it!" Vixen snickered. "Cause if the Illuminati somehow slipped their reccomendations in I don't wanna know."

"Stop teasing me please. I take that statement quite seriously." Question sighed long sufferingly.

"Anyway, if you want to take the courses you were reccomended for, please see Amanda Waller this evening. You know what table she likes for her evening tea..." Waller, on the station at least, had a few habits she liked. Coffee in the morning, green tea in the evening, the occasional sweet at the end of lunch, and a great big pile of facts and figures for her review waiting in the mess.

"So, that brings me to the bad news. You'll notice we're down three seniors this morning. Well, a case of Zatanna and Etrigan's escalated at two in the morning today and ended in an EMP going off in Gotham. An emergency advance crew has already been sent down to locate Batman, find volunteers and assess the damage. We're down one dispatcher, because Mister Terrific was on that team, and a good number of our magic using or magic conversant members are down there at the moment trying to figure out what happened.

"Here's what we know. At midnight last night, this cloud, which has a duplicate over Metropolis, descended towards the surface of Gotham harbor. At 1:45 am when it had nearly finished descending to the water's surface, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Two Face, three of Batman's rogues gallery one of whom is on parole and on our watch, but not /wanted/ list, went to investigate. I'm sure they all had their individual reasons. But when Catwoman and Poison Ivy tried to get samples of the cloud Two Face fired on them with an illegally altered high caliber beretta semi auto. Catwoman managed to disarm him and avoid serious injury, not realizing that Two Face had other weapons concealed in the boat. Poison Ivy damaged Two Face's boat and threw him 50 feet into the cloud where he then landed in the water. Two Face responded by grabbing a grenade from his about to capsize motor boat and trying to throw it at Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy flung the grenade into the cloud using a tendril of sea weed and accidentally set off an EMP pulse which then spread throughout Gotham City.

"At the moment, any technology made after the nineteen sixties and seventies is going to be /not working/ there. That means cars, power, communication, sanitation, water, heating, food deliveries and cooking appliances. The cops have no way to get to work. The firemen have no way to put out fires. The grocers have no way to keep food from going bad. The bankers can't open their banks or register withdrawels and deposits.

"Whatever your stance on technology use or overuse, we have an entire American City blasted back to the eighteen hundreds to nineteen fourties in technology and the damage could take months to fix. Not only is an EMP over a Modern American city an /extremely/ rare event, but its a damaging one... yes Aztec?"

"You said a modern american city superman, does that mean that this has happened in the past?"

"yeah, in the eighteen hundreds an EMP pulse sparked by the sun set off a massive electrical surge. Fortunately the only technology that took a big loss was the telegraph." Hawk answered the question for Superman. "There was one modern instance of an EMP blast set off by Project Starfish Prime back during the Kennedy administration, but it primarily hit Hawaii and a few parts of California and Alaska. It didn't hit a population center as dense as Gotham. Nothing with Gotham's population density anywhere in the world has ever been hit by an EMP. Its going to be chaos down there for a bit."

"And it could happen in metropolis..." Superman cued the viewscreen. "Remember, I said there were two clouds. This one hasn't gone off because an old acquaintance of ours, the Spectre, is holding /that/ cloud back. Inside each of these clouds is an interdimensional rift. The metropolis one, as you've probably heard, sent a superpowered youth named Ichigo and his assailent Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, careening through the daily planet building. So add interdimensional monsters and the people who fight them to the list of possible crisis that could come through those rifts." There was a /lot/ of groaning. "Further, Doctor Fate managed to gleen a few details about that boy's circumstances from his mind. There is a war raging on the other side of that rift where, allegedly, there are multiple fighters on each side that fight on mine and Darkseid's level. We have to be ready for literally anything coming through those rifts.

"With a few exceptions, work in Gotham is going to be done in six hour shifts. When your shift is over, finish your business, come back, eat, rest, and make sure you don't strain yourself. If there's the possibility of more coming, we need to be ready. I don't want to hear somebody pulled a muscle, stayed up too late, or skipped a meal and their powers shorted out resulting in injury.

"now, I'm going to give out some assignments related to this incident. Atom, you're going to help analyze that cloud material. I want a physicist's take on it. Zatanna and Etrigan are already working to try to figure out what it is, a fresh perspective might help. Go out in the field, observe, then join them in the lab to work on this.

"Of course."

"Stargirl, you are going to have a very, very important duty. Keep watch over the metropolis cloud. If Spectre starts to show any sign of strain, call Doctor Fate immediately. Do not do anything to ruin his concentration, its an immense drain on Spectre's strength to hold that rift and keep it from becoming larger or more violent. It may not seem like an important job, but I /do not/ want that going off in Metropolis under any circumstances. The results could be spectacular and devastating."

"yes sir!"

"Bwannabeast, I need you to see if you can coordinate animal services on the ground. There are going to be a lot of Gotham Cops riding horses or handling dogs to help make up for the shortfall and people will very likely rent horses and carts if they can get some. Make sure that whatever animal transport people start using goes smoothly and isn't being overtaxed.

"Sure thing boss!"

"Now, we need a half a dozen people to deliver emergency supplies via the Javelins. Martian Manhunter has been asked to put together the first shift to go down and they'll be riding with the supplies. Get emergency services running first. Thats your /primary/ order. After that, get as many people food, water and warmth as you can and do your best to minimize injuries. Do NOT discourage people from evacuating. If you can, try to get evacuees to go together in groups and escort them to city limits. If they have no evacuation point then we will find something we can use to accomodate them. Rioting is unfortunately a possible consequence of this emergency, so keep alert and keep your cool."

J'on stood up. "Will the following people please report to the javelin bay." And began to rattle off names.

Waller sat down with him, cradling her coffee cup. "You know, I can get you guys some information the government has on EMPs. Though its geared towards a country wide incident, not a city, you may be able to gleen something useful from it."

"Thanks... the government actually put together a response to this?"

"not really, its more of a simulation to see what kind of damage an emp could do. We were concerned either about one from the sun or from a rogue nation. Or a supervillain. Always a possibility."

"Of course." Superman sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt, whatever you can get."

Isis purred and rubbed against Batman, clearly grateful for his presence. "Is Catwoman inside?"

The cat purred louder, which Batman took as a yes. Yoruichi hopped out of the basket on Robin's saddle and onto the larger cat's back with a soft. "mrroooww."

Isis purred harder than before, ears twitching. "mrruuup?"

"nyaaaaaaa..." Yoruichi yawned.

"Its almost like they're having a conversation." Robin giggled.

Doctor Bartholomew came running out. "oh thank goodness you're here. My, my my, Harvey did you get carried away again?"

"aw shove it up your ass and around the corner." (3)

Isis hissed at Two Face, ears laid back and teeth bared. The man glared back at her. "Hey kitty, you wanna be my throw rug keep going." He sneered.

"I won't let you do that." Batman said with a barely contained sigh of resignation. "Not only does that cat not belong to you, but she's big enough now she could probably rip your head off."

The nurses took Two Face inside, and he started making comments about their asses. Nightwing called after Two Face. "What if Grace saw you cat calling those nurses." Two Face shut his mouth and flipped Nightwing the bird, which just looked ridiculous given that he was in cuffs.

"Selena is upstairs. Last I checked she was passed out asleep. She's exhausted Batman, she'll need a few days rest. Harleen saw the entire fight from her cell window. Harvey fired first and anything Selena did in this case is a clear cut case of self defense. As for Pamela, she also defended herself but the intent to do harm to Harvey was clearly there. Lawfully it was self defense, but emotionally she clearly wanted to kill him."

Commissioner Gordon sighed. "I probably shouldn't go in there. Lots of folks who don't like cops."

"My advice is to hold your head up high, keep your face calm and stride steady, don't swagger, don't say anything to them, don't respond, don't wince." Batman said quietly. "its still early, odds are the prisoners in there are sleeping still. Riddler won't be."

"How'd you know?" Bartholomew chuckled. "I swear Batman, you must be a psychiatrist under that mask!"

They turned and walked in. Batman didn't make Commissioner Gordon go in, but the man followed anyway. Robin picked up Yoruichi and carried her with him. "C'mon Shadow, this place gives me the creeps. You might as well see it. Just be careful, some of the prisoners can be mean to small animals, or people."

Batgirl called after the others. "I'll tie the horses up, Doc is there a spot I can use for a hitching post?"

"Flagpole, west side."

"Gotcha!" Batgirl lead their horses off, tying them up at the flagpole. Each one got a pat, a noserub, and a reassuring word before Batgirl hurried off to join the rest of the group.

Nygma was lying awake in his cell, hands behind his head. He turned his head as they came in. "is it as bad as I think it is Batman?"

"If "as you think it is" means the entire city is tossed back to the late eighteen hundreds in terms of technology, then yes. Hope you're up to date on how to use steam power. Without the right funding Arkham is going to become very cold this winter." Batman said cooly before continuing down the cell block.

"My compliments to Catwoman on a battle well fought." Nygma said airily as they continued past his cell. He yawned hugely.

"He's pretty calm." Gordon was quite unnerved. But he did want to make sure catwoman was okay and he needed to get her statement.

"Right now we're the least of his worries. Nygma is probably trying to figure out how things will play out here at the asylum and more importantly how it effects him. He's a narcissist. I doubt he's going to care about the rest of the city." Batman said, his voice quieter than normal but no less stern. He didn't want to make a scene by waking up the inmates.

When they got up past the guard post a boy came out of the warden's office rubbing his eyes. "Dooooocc, none of the computers are working! How'm I supposed to earn my allowance if there's nothing to work on." Then he blinked and saw Batman. "oh hi! er... Mister Batman sir... I'm Bobby, my mum's the warden. I come by to do techwork since I don't charge as much as a pro." The boy yawned.

"i see... there was an EMP last night Bobby, tell me, how good are you with computers?"

"Enough to know when a motherboard is fried as an egg on sight. I'm trying to get them to let me take Comp TIA training but they won't let me cause I'm twelve." The boy replied, another huge yawn. "What's an EMP and is there any hot water for tea yet?"

"Nope... tell you what, get a nice big pile of firewood put together outside okay?" Batgirl had returned fairly quickly and she leaned down and touseled the boy cheerfully on the head. "You guys are gonna need it. There's no electricity anywhere in the city."

"Mkay." Bobby yawned. "I'll go borrow some rope and a saw from the groundskeeper's shed." The boy ran off.

As they walked down the halls towards the tower at the far end of the Asylum Doctor Bartholomew passed nurses coming in for early shifts as well as guards and made sure to hand out quick orders. "We need to secure heating, clean water, a private latine and a method of cooking." He told the head nurse. "Get it figured out so that we don't have to worry about water born diseases and sewage on top of everything else. Build a raincatch and see if you can find bottled water for now. Avoid drawing water from the bay and if you have to, filter, distill, /then/ disinfect. This is a hospital. I will /not/ have nineteenth century sanitation problems on my watch."

"Yes Doctor." The nurse replied quietly. Batman was taken in by the woman's striking appearance, but only because she was unusual. Her scrubs were white with blue trim and she wore a silver cross with a sapphire on it around her neck on a tarnished silver chain. Small silver tubes were mixed in with her pens. Her hair was deep glossy black and her expression clinical and professional despite her submissive tone of voice.

His eyes narrowed. But he said nothing. If the woman was a fellow superhero, or if she was the opposite, a supervillain, Batman betrayed none of his suspicions. Just... something about the woman set off his internal alarm bells.

Yoruichi, on the other hand, immediately recognized a Quincy when she saw one. "Oh and Robin, please ask permission before you bring animals on the ward." Was the woman's cold parting shot. The look on her face as she regarded Yoruichi was one of pure and utter hatred.

Batman saw the look as well, his eyes flickered to Yoruichi, who's hackles were up, ears laid back in a defensive posture. And it slowly came to him that Shadow may not be an ordinary housecat, just the way the nurse was not an ordinary nurse. It was nothing he could prove, just a feeling. But a strong one. Shadow didn't /feel/ like a regular cat. The nurse didn't /feel/ like a regular nurse.

Batman blinked for a moment, for that matter, since when did he have gut feelings /that/ strong?

Then he rounded the corner and saw Catwoman sprawled out asleep on the simple medical bed. Her mask and boots were off, her cat of nine tails hanging from the bed. Her breathing was even, clearly she was asleep.

"Soon as you have that water hot, I'd like some tea doctor. I think some would be in order for the commissioner as well." Batman's manner was very contained, he kept his voice low. When he sat down next to Catwoman, she stirred in her sleep, mumbling something about Bats and 'missing a good party.'

Batman chuckled slightly, just a faint, gravely snort of a sound. "if thats what you call a party Selena, I think I'll pass."

"mmm? Batman?" Catwoman's eyes cracked open a bit. "Heeey. Took you long enough."

"I was on my way to meet a new trainee when the emp burst struck. Powers out all over the city." Batman said quietly.

ZOOOOOOOOM! Batman heard a javelin shooting over head. Then another, and another. "Heh, relief party..." Commissioner Gordon grinned.

Batman called out to Robin outside the room. "Robin, go out and signal the next league javelin to go by."

"Mkay." Robin got up and hurried away down the hall.

Yoruichi ran after him, eager to see the 'relief party.'

She rounded the corner in the entry hall and spotted a man in green with orange eyes and wearing a blue cape in the hall. "Please keep your voice down Manhunter." Bartholomew was saying. "yes, Batman is up in the tower at the back. But our patients, for the most part, are still sleeping and so is the patient he's visiting."

Yoruichi sensed very keen reiatsu from the man. She ducked behind the front guard's desk, still worrying about her number one goal, finding Ichigo. She didn't want someone who was really powerful crossing her path. The man's footsteps paused as he went by.

"Sir?" A younger male voice asked. "J'on are you alright?"

"For a moment Green Arrow, I thought I sensed someone thinking of Ichigo." OH SHIT, Yoruichi realized. The man's a telepath! She had to stay away from him no matter what!

"not me. I just hope that kid wakes up soon. He's becoming a regular topic of speculation up on the station. A boy who's neither dead nor alive and two odd clouds above two of the justice league's most beloved cities."

Yoruichi's heart began to pound. Ichigo was on a space station? How the heck was she supposed to get to him UP THERE!

"We'd better find his body soon or that kid is gonna be toast." Green Arrow grumbled. "Are you sure you couldn't have me keep searching Metropolis? Its gotta be around there somewhere!"

"no, the seniors debated this repeatedly. We placed the greater odds being that his body is in his home dimension rather than near where he fell."

Then they passed out of earshot. Yoruichi gulped, shaking slightly.

"J'on! Arrow!" Robin eagerly called out. "hey!" Yoruichi kept crouched under the desk. "Batman sent me to signal the nearest javelin, but it looks like you got here first."

"Hey, the horse in body armor was clear sign enough to us." Green Arrow grinned. "I'm just sorry Black Canary got a different shift. She'da gotten a kick out of the horse in bat armor."

Robin laughed. "yeah, I'd never ridden before. It was fun but kinda nerve wracking. I mean, this big powerful animal, and I'm sitting on its back and I'm thinking 'no way it wants me up there.'"

"Naw, the key to riding a horse is to not be afraid, because your fear is contagious to it." Green Arrow told him.

Yoruichi crept outside, spotting the small green and blue fightercraft. She darted inside, only for the pilot, another costumed man with an atom sign on his uniform's chest, to pick her up and put her out. "Now now kitty, thats Robin's mark you're wearing and I don't think the Boy Wonder would like it if his super cat ran away."

Yoruichi let out an irritated "raaaaaooooo!"

She darted off to where Robin had joined Bobby in collecting firewood and the nurse was boiling water. She rubbed herself against Robin's ankles. "Oh hey Shadow. Where were you? I wanted to introduce you to J'on, he's a telepath and he really likes kitties."

Yoruichi meowed and found a log to sit on and watch.

"oooooh, I was right she is yours." The man smiled. "Lemme give you boys a hand. Firewood isn't too hard to gather and Arkham has a nice view of the cloud out on the harbor."

"Hey Atom." Robin said with a huge grin. "I haven't seen you since you tutored me in physics."

"And how did that test go?"

"I got a B."

"Ah well, you aren't a physicist kid, Batman just thought the laws of motion would be useful to you the way you jump around all the time. And who's this?"

"My name's Bobby, mum's the warden!" The boy yawned. "Maaaan, all this work for my morning cup of tea."

"Really, you thinking of being a prison warden too when you grow up?" Atom asked the boy.

"Nope, I wanna be a computer technician. I can't wait for the scientists working on it to finish Quantum Cryptography. Anti hacking measures using that will be awesome fun to work with!"

"Oh really, so you know about the quantum cryptography experiment then..."

"I named my cat Shrodinger, what do you think?" Bobby asked with another huge yawn. "I can put a computer together from a bunch of spare parts. But when mine didn't set off my alarm this morning I started checking systems and found them all down."

"Yeah, I've got to figure out how a cloud of an unknown substance could cause an EMP, but they're more or less fried."

"Now an EMP is something I haven't heard of." Bobby grinned. "Will you explain it to me Mister Atom? I'm a big fan of yours."

"Sure..."

Yoruichi lay down on a nearby slab of pavement to listen.

Doctor Fate continued contemplating the blue fluid in the vial he'd brought with him while he worked. His magic was very useful for repairs and moving things about, and he'd put it to use putting together water filters in Gotham and to purify water from the chemicals that had polluted it.

He could mold it, he could bend it... but...

… it was immensely unstable for all the ease with which it could be collected and manipulated. For all its malleability, the substance juuuuust wouldn't take a stable form. Why?

Then the rumble of unstable machinery greeted Fate's ears. The old man that had been helping to erect the water filters had accidentally sent one off balance. It was wobbling. Fate caught the vat of sand and charcoal and mixed with silver iodide solution before it could hit the old man. "Watch your step." He carefully moved a half a dozen such vats into place. "We'll need a way for a person to carry a bucket of water up these. Hmmm..." Fate tried a couple of of the wooden bits residents had brought out for such a purpose. None of them seemed to hold their position right.

"Don't lean it." The man sighed, carefully stacking wooden crates. "You need a staircase. Just gotta secure these..." He was covered in sweat and out of breath, clearly not used to exercise.

"Not a bad idea, may I ask your name."

"He's Rupert Thorne, one sick sonuva bitch." A fat, bulky detective growled, striding over from the nearby firestation with a toolbox, a rather large one, on each shoulder. "Got the right idea though. A stair will be sturdier than a ladder. No rattling around." He extended a hand to shake. "Harvey Bullock, don't mind Thorne, we got reason to believe he's a mobster mafioso, but somehow every time we try to make an arrest he slips through our fingers when he gets to court."

"you can hold as many suspicions as you want Bullock, but the fact of the matter is, though my arrests are public record, I've never had a single conviction. Further, the only reason you got enough to arrest me is because of Batman. The supervillains call him a rat with wings. I like to think of him as a winged fox. Very spry and agile, very clever and determined."

"Just shut your god damn piehole Thorne and get building." Bullock slammed the toolboxes down. "I can't believe I got assigned to your daughter's block. You spoil the damn brat like she's some kinda princess and now I gotta listen to your slimy bullshit all day!"

Fate sighed and continued contemplating the issue of the pale blue substance that flowed with its user's will but exploded with little provocation.

"God damnit! All these chips are fried!" Booster Gold threw one of the broken motherboards at Gotham Light and Power on the ground in a fit of frustration. It joined an enormous pile of broken computer chips in the control room of the power plant.

"Youch! The hell is up with this weird blue lightning!?" Static had his head and upper body shoved into a control panel, but when sparked by the odd blue lightning he bumped his head on one of the panels and came out with a slightly singed glove and a bump on the head. "Lightning isn't supposed to hurt me! I can control it, my skill with controlling electricity is more developed than ever! WHY is this one little thing able to sting?" He stomped his foot, shaking his sore hand and rubbing the bump.

"Better than me, damn near knocked me out." Mister Terrific and Steel were busy carrying new computer hardware in from the javelin. "This entire plant's circuitry is fried. We're gonna be /days/ fixing this thing. The good news is though, the patrols found Gear and told him you were safe. He's going to pick up some tools from some hiding place at your motel room and then he's coming here to give us a hand. Just keep stripping those things Static. We got all the first aid equipment we need to take care of you if you get singed. And quite honestly, I think the only reason you're on your feet now instead of getting the wind knocked out of you like I did is /because/ you can manipulate electrcity."

Static sighed. "You guys had better have plenty of pain pills in that first aid kit..." he hissed a bit in pain. "And some burn salve. What I want to know is why I can't control this strange lightning. I feel almost like its nearly in my grasp but... just like a... a greased pig it gets away again." The young hero was getting more and more frustrated with the odd lightning that kept stinging him when he tried to handle it or came near it. "Urrggg, some chore! Isn't there some bank robbery somewhere I can handle to stretch my legs?"

"Just be glad the rioting hasn't started yet." Steel grumbled. "Folks have turned cities upside down for less than this. That said, there is a precident for a blackout in a major urban center with no rioting occuring. But it was still pretty hellish."

"Where?" Static narrowly avoided toppling the armload of fried computer parts he was carrying over, dumping them into a stray milk crate brought in for that purpose.

"New York, oh gosh about 2002ish." Steel scratched his head trying to remember the exact date. "no coffee, no access to ATMs, no air conditioning in the middle of summer, lots of people prying the caps off fire hydrants, ice cream trucks being sold out... craziness. Personally I think it was just so hot people didn't care about starting a riot." He started carefully assembling computer parts.

"There may be some reliable data on that..." Mister Terrific squinted over the mother board he was trying to assemble. "... guy awhile back did a study on crime rates and compared them to temperature data. Figured out that there was a ten degree window in which crime rates went down and after that they really went up."

Booster Gold chuckled. "I can picture a wide variety of criminals sprawled out in their hideouts whining. 'But booooosss, its too hot to rob a bank.'" The other two older heroes laughed. "Well its true! Thats what went through my head when you said that Mister Terrific."

Static sighed, letting the adults joke around. "I really want to know what that blue lightning is."

"Why don't you go find Doctor Fate. He, Zatanna and Etrigan are supposed to be studying those clouds above Gotham and Metropolis harbors. I think Fate was on the East side." Mister Terrific suggested.

"I thought I had stuff to do here..."

"Naw, Gear should be here in about half an hour. He'll take over your chore. Don't worry about it." Steel grinned. "Go on Static, go nurse your singed fingers."

"hahaha." The boy strode out of the plant and got out his saucer. A blue and gold coated figure lifted off into the sky soon after.

On Static's way to the east side, he passed easily one of the most interesting sights he'd seen today, Batman riding a horse. He was at a good hard canter with another horse in tow behind him on a lead line. The enormous black stallion he had with him was graceful enough to make Static's breath catch in his throat. He'd never seen a horse up close. This was a powerful animal, and yet he, and his herdmate behind him, were almost like an extension of Batman's body, like an extra arm or a leg.

Static paused, watching Batman handle the two creatures. Only the Dark Knight pulled up short, looking up and spotting Static in the sky. "Yo Bats! Just coming from the power company, going to see Doctor fate." Static called down.

"You haven't seen a horse before have you?"

"Me? Never been this close to one ever. I've only ever seen one on TV. Batman that is easily one of the most beautiful animals I've ever seen in my life. How'd you get them to obey you like that?" Static lowered himself down more. No need to hurry, Fate was probably busy anyway.

"Its not a relationship of master and slave Static. When I ride Duke, its a matter of teamwork. Not only do I ride him solely by his consent, but our hearts move and work as one. Horsemanship is an art of empathy, surly as I am, I can still feel empathy, sometimes too much of it." Batman rubbed Duke's neck. "Its a calming experience, and if a case has gone poorly, it can be a comforting one as well. Tell you what, I'll come find you later tonight, or you can have Fate warp you to whereever I am, and I'll teach you how to ride. Gear too if he's not busy. How's the power station?" (4)

"its a mess!" Static shook his head. "Every computer there is fried. Mister Terrific is starting with the easy stuff and he'll check the turbines last. Steel thinks he may be able to get some discounted parts that will work for it. Maaaaan, I've never seen so many fried computer chips!"

"An EMP is a dangerous phenomenon to have in a crowded city. Gotham is facing being forced back to the eighteen hundreds in technology level for months and economic losses are sure to be in the billions. Water born and food born illnesses will surely rise." Batman sighed and shook his head. "I'm a crimefighter, not a doctor, best I can do is make sure EMS can do their job safely."

"Steel said folks are vulnerable to rioting after something like this."

"Maybe not at first, give it a week or two when there's no microwaves, refrigeration or air conditioning."

"ouch." Static muttered.

"Good afternoon Batman..." Doctor Fate floated in.

"Ah, Doctor Fate, Static was just coming to see you. Static, this is Doctor Fate, Doctor Fate, this is Static."

"er, nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I've heard about you from the other League members." Doctor Fate indicated that Static should fly beside him. Batman urged Duke back into a canter, the empty gotham streets making high speed horse travel easy. He had to return the borrowed mount Batgirl was using to the police stables. The horse Batman had borrowed had been snapped up by a newly transferred detective from salt lake city. The man had been riding since the age of 5, or so he'd said, but his ease in the saddle had been obvious and so Batman hadn't worried.

Static quickly explained the mystery. "So this weird blue lightning, its actually able to burn me. I'm normally immune to electrical burns. To hurt me lightning would have to be wielded by a much, much stronger lightning user."

Doctor Fate hmmed for a moment. "Lets go have a look back at the power station." He opened an ankh warp and moved them both back to the power station Static had just left.

Gear was unpacking his toolkit. "Heeeey, Static."

"Yo buddy, sup?"

"Nothing much, I /am/ impressed at your company though."

"I came to have a look at a thorny problem Static encountered working here, that blue lightning."

"Oh yeah that stuff." Booster Gold had an ice pack on a very, very sore looking ungloved hand. "Look what it did to my hand Fate! How can that kid still be using his hand, I can't even grip the damn screwdriver right now."

"Static has a reputation of being a very flexible electricity user, I suspect this gave him partial resistance to the sparks giving you three trouble. Lets see your wounds and then I'll go out onto the turbine floor and see if I can catch sight of some of this lightning." Doctor Fate quickly managed to heal all three tech heroes' wounds and then motioned for the group to follow. He opened the reinforced door to the turbine's enormous floor. "Stand back..."

"Noooo... kidding." Gear's jaw hit the floor.

Everything that could be was sparking with long, thin, nasty looking bolts of pale blue lightning.

Fate sighed. "I have a containment field set up back at the tower for interesting energy samples. I should be able to channel this energy out of here to make it safe to work in. Let me have a good look." He floated out into the lightning storm and began to meditate.

Gear had to dodge one of the lightning bolts, as it was his boot got a nasty black singe mark on it.

The bolts of lightning seemed to bounce off of Doctor Fate's still form, as if he were a solid object.

"Ahah." Suddenly he came out of the trance. "This is not solely electricity, rather, natural lightning formed and then picked up the cloud energy flowing into this world which created a run away effect. Static, think you can pull the natural electricity out and funnel it out of the plant and into the sky?"

"Hmmm, I dunno. I haven't meditated or anything like that and its not like I have a sixth sense for lightning."

"No issue, I can use telepathy to coordinate our efforts. It would be a bit intrusive, but it could get the job done. After which, I will have to teach you. But that can wait for another time. Come." Fate shielded Static from the odd blue lightning as he floated out to meet him on his saucer.

Static took a sitting position on the saucer and closed his eyes. As did Fate.

Now, try to see what I do... Static was trying very, very hard to focus just on Fate's telepathic voice. But it was soooooo hard. He could see into Fate's thoughts and see bits and pieces of his life in the tower but... FOCUS! Static the one image... accessing magic is primarily feel but is directed by visualization.

Sooooo mannnnyyy imaggeeesss... . Static was finding it /extremely/ hard to focus. The telepathic link was dizzying! Disorienting!

Fate sighed to himself and realized that Static may not have the training to do what was needed. He took a slightly firmer hand, almost like a sleepy dog rolled over on its back. Fate carefully nudged Static's mind, the mental equivalent of gently gripping his head and turning it in the direction he wanted, the image of what he sensed, two energies merged to one. Is that better?

YES VERY! Static's mental tone was one of relief. How do you stay /sane/ doing this?

Practice. Do you see what I sensed?

Yeah, this blue lightning has two components, both fairly painful. I think...

Now imagine an invisible hand reaching out to grip the lightning. When he sensed Static had a grip, Fate opened an ankh warp You must either hold the lightning still while I pull or you must pull the lightning free while I hold the energy still.

I'll pull, Static grumbled. Electricity doesn't like holding still.

The burst of electricity shot skywards and down underground sewer pipes. Though it knocked Killer Croc out far below and melted a weapons cache Two Face had abandoned months ago, few people not /at/ the power plant were effected physically. The blue energy was funneled through the ankh into the containment field Fate had set up at his tower.

Far off, Batman watched the burst of lightning go up into the sky, but as it seemed Static had the burst under control said nothing.

Static broke out of the telepathic rapport with a gasp. Everything seemed bright and crisp around the edges. "my head hurts." he grumbled.

"You did well, I could tell you hadn't manipulated energy that subtle before. I can help you a little with finely tuned control. Massive shows of strength aren't typically my style however, you'd be coming to me for learning the most subtle uses of your element." Fate helped Static, who was wobbling wildly on his saucer in fatigue, back to the control room.

"Like what...?" Static was sooooo tired. The telepathic link, combined with the exposure to a type of power he couldn't control, magic and that odd blue stuff, all took their tool to render him /exhausted./

"get a cot from the javelin, set it up in the control room..." Fate was telling someone distantly. Given the colored blur and the small gold blur hovering behind it, he guessed it was Booster.

"Sure, man Fate what did you do that kid looks wasted!"

"Stretched his skills too far it seems." Static was carefully lowered to a cot, he could hear Gear's exclamation of surprise at his exhaustion. "Let him rest, Gear wasn't it? Static just pushed his control a bit too far. A good night's sleep should do it."

Static only roused when he felt the cot being levitated, his eyes cracked open, but it was only Fate moving him to the watchtower's infirmary.

1. I have one and a mess kit in my camping gear. An esbit stove is the size and about the weight of a small novel.

2. I can't stand thinking of the late Dennis Farina playing wildcat in this fic. I'm using partially his voice but mostly R. Lee Ermy's, who played Wildcat in "Batman the Brave and the Bold." Sorry Justice League fans, but I was a law and order fangirl long before I was a justice league one. I'm just missing detective Fontana (another of Farina's characters) far too much. When I write for a character, I "think" in their voice. Hence my writing like I really can hear the lines, because in my head I can. Please see the link below to see his full acting credits and excuse the switch in writing as the wording and accent will be adjusted to fit a different voice actor. wiki/Dennis_Farina

3. Unlike the Pansies that censor American television, I have no issue whatsoever with Batman villains or any other DC character cussing like a drunken sailor who can't find a decent whore to suck him off.

4. I've handled a lot of animals the twenty six years I've been alive, and I've had basic lessons in horsemanship and seen what a skilled horseman with decades in the saddle can do. The relationship between horse and rider is an oddly spiritual one and unique in the amount of rapport required. Handling any animal takes empathy and attunement to its body language. But horses require calm immediacy, a sense of living in the moment and a very strong sense of attunement. This is a creature that could quite literally use you as a kick boxing heavy bag but can be startled by a trick as simple as stretching barbed wire across their path. They can be defiant demons or quiet angelic comforters depending on how they are treated by you, the rider. Horsemanship is almost certainly a skill Batman would develop. Although in "Once and future thing" he, John Stewart and Wonder Woman all were shown riding horses, I suspect that in practicality, really only Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman would possibly know how. The amazons have been depicted riding horses on occasion and they're a primative, magic based society. Batman is rich, and given the trauma of his parents death its likely Alfred would have tried to get him interested in horsemanship to try and soothe his anguish. Superman is a farm boy, and while farms mostly use machines for plowing and harvesting, many farmers still use horses and dogs for herding because machines aren't able to react with the immediacy that another animal would and messing up while herding cattle can get you killed.