Chapter Thirty-Five

Project Ultima Facility (Formerly Project Cadmus)

Outside Bethesda – Maryland

United States

07:45 – Eastern Standard Time

March 17, 2007

J'onn J'onzz was in deep meditation when the door to his cell opened. Unlike humans, he didn't require rest in the form of sleep, at least not in the way the people of Earth understood it. Still, he was very much aware that the door was open and that the armed guards were stood outside. He was also aware that Colonel Flag was with them.

"J'onn J'onzz," came the colonel's voice.

J'onn came out of his meditation from where he was sat on the edge of the bed. He slowly stood up and faced the military men and waited for him to continue.

"Follow me," Flag said without explanation.

J'onn followed Flag cautiously, as he led him and the guards to the conference room. The military man promptly pushed the door to the room open and they stepped inside. J'onn immediately saw King Faraday and also surprisingly, Amanda Waller sat at the table, a small card folder in front of her resting on its hard surface.

"You're letting him go," Waller said pushing the folder forward.

Flag leant over and grabbed it. He opened it and pulled out two sheets of paper. He read through them both with a scowl on his face. He then looked up. "Fine, he's yours. But I feel that this is a mistake."

Flag moved over to J'onn and pulled out a small keypad device. He ran a wire to the power inhibitor that was around J'onn's neck and input a command. The lock clicked open and the Colonel removed the device, albeit rather roughly.

"He's your responsibility now," he said to Waller. He gestured to his men. "Let's go."

They left, leaving J'onn alone with Waller and Faraday. The white-haired man stood up and offered his hand. J'onn simply bowed slightly. "Thank you," the Martian said.

"No problem," Faraday said, lowering his hand awkwardly.

Waller rose up. "While this is nice and all, we should be leaving."

"Where are we going?" J'onn asked.

"To Gotham," Waller told him. "Unfortunately, they won't give up your communicator and are studying its components, so you won't be able to contact your league."

"Why are we going to Gotham?" J'onn asked, wondering whether he should trust her or not. He wasn't sure why she was even here. There was usually an angle, though he wasn't sensing any malicious surface thoughts.

"Batman is in Gotham," Waller explained. "And we both know that you know where he lives. Of course, we won't be going with you into Gotham, we will drop you off outside and will be heading up to Metropolis ready for the nineteenth when your league will be meeting with the UN."

"Do you not work for this organisation?" J'onn inquired, gesturing to the room around them. He had to admit, he was feeling confused about her presence.

"No, I don't really work for Cadmus any longer."

"This is Project Ultima, not Cadmus," J'onn pointed out.

"A wolf in different clothing is still a wolf. This is still Cadmus, regardless of what they call it now," Waller said. "Sure, officially Cadmus was dissolved, but Ultima is still the same entity. Though downsized quite considerably, I must admit."

Faraday held up a hand to stop her. "We can discuss this on the way. Now let's get out of here."

They headed out of the building, where a soldier met up with them and guided them to the parking lot. They stopped by a black Chrysler. Waller turned to J'onn. "I suggest you take on a human appearance," she said.

"Of course," J'onn agreed. His appearance changed into that of an unassuming human male, with dark hair.

"Impressive," Faraday said, looking at him closely. "I never would suspect you weren't human."

"There would be little reason to suspect I wasn't," J'onn said.

"Normally no," Faraday accepted. "But I saw you change."

It was Waller's turn to get annoyed at the small-talk. "Stop talking and get in," she commanded as she climbed into the driver's seat. Faraday got in the front right, while J'onn got in the back.

The Martian was unsure as to whether he should put any trust into Waller or not. She had never shown any reason why he should trust her in the past. Also, her involvement in him being released early was somewhat suspicious. He knew he could reach into her mind and gather that information, but he was respectful enough to not do it and right now, he had no real reason to abuse his mental powers.

Soon, the car had left the facility and was on the freeway heading towards Gotham.

Watchtower II

Earth Orbit

08:21 – Station Time (EST)

Shayera sat in the monitor nest, having relieved Terrific over eight hours ago. The two of them were doing extra time, meaning they were now doing twelve-hour shifts. Currently, Raven and her two friends were in their assigned quarters where they were to remain until Fate returned to the Watchtower. Fate, who had gone to his own tower with Zatanna, Inza and the Tamaranean Ryand'r, to retrieve some items, had told her over the communicator that they would be up here at around half-past eight, which was now less than nine minutes away.

The situation in Jump City was now mostly under control. Luckily today was a Saturday, which meant for those that had civilian day-jobs didn't have to go to work today. Unless of course, they worked Saturday, which wouldn't be pleasant for them. Working when overtired never was.

She, of course, had never really had a civilian day-job. Not here, not even back on her homeworld, Thanagar. She had gone straight from school into the military. That meant she had numerous occasions of having to perform her duty on little to no sleep.

"Shouldn't you be watching our guests?" a familiar voice asked.

Shayera lurched in her seat in surprise. She looked around to see Batman stood behind her. "You're gonna kill someone by giving them a heart attack one of these days," she told him angrily.

"You should be more vigilant," he told her in response. "Now, where are our three guests?"

"They're in their assigned room and they didn't need me to watch them sleep," she said. "Besides, Terrific was nearly dropping asleep here, so I took over so he could get some rest."

"I'll take over," Batman said. "You should go make sure they are still in their quarters."

"Haven't you been working all night?" she questioned. "You should probably be getting some rest yourself."

"I'm used to working twenty-four or even thirty-two hours straight," he responded in his usual candour.

She stood up. "Fine, go ahead. I was bored stupid anyway."

Batman took the seat and pulled up the recent reports and who was on the active duty roster and read through them, while Shayera stood and watched.

"Looking for something in particular?" she asked.

"No," he said. "Looking through the reports and the roster is standard practice when starting monitor duty."

"Yes, I know that. Just making conversation," she said with a shrug. "I'll leave you to it." She turned and headed out of the monitor nest. She could barely remember the time when she could at least have a conversation with the Dark Knight. Sure, he was never the most personable person in the universe, but there were times when he showed that he knew how to have fun and could receive and give the odd joke.

That was all in the past, though. It had been for the last several months. All the founders were starting to get worried about him. The other leaguers didn't see any difference, but those that knew him best could. The most noticeable thing was the growing hostility between him and Diana. It was something that made the rest of them uncomfortable.

They all needed to sit down sometime and talk about it. But Batman was stubborn and attempts to get him to open up about what was bothering him in the past had ended in failure. All they knew was that it involved the now former Robin and the Joker. Whatever had occurred had forced the Bat deeper into his shell, something that had always been somewhat hard to crack.

Shayera stepped onto the promenade below the nest. It was all but empty. The only ones there were Red Tornado and Orion.

Tornado was stood at one of the large windows, while Orion was sat down with his usual perpetual scowl. He reminded her in many ways of Batman. Then again, she had heard from people that she herself reminded them of Batman. She didn't quite know how to take that. In her own opinion, she was nothing like him. Well, she hoped so anyway.

A bright light caught her attention. She turned to see the familiar Ankh appear in the middle of the room meaning that the Lord of Order was arriving.

As expected, Fate was the first to emerge, followed by Inza, then Zatanna, then a rather confused looking Ryand'r.

Shayera felt a little sorry for him. He was a stranger to this world and had been pulled from one thing straight into another. They should really be sending him and his sister home, but things had been so hectic that getting them back to Tamaran had been put aside. For the time being anyway.

Fate moved swiftly over to Shayera. "Take us to Raven," he said.

"The three of them should be in their shared assigned quarters," Shayera told him.

"You will take us there."

"Sure, follow me."

Shayera led them to the elevator and they headed down to the deck where their guests were staying. Once they exited the elevator, they swiftly made their way to the shared room, where they found Omen and Shebang sat in the corridor outside.

Shayera's brow rose." Why are you out here?"

"She said she needed alone time," Shebang answered.

Shayera turned to the others. "We're here." She then noticed Zatanna had turned pale. "Are you okay?"

"Can anyone else feel that?" she asked.

"Feel what?" Shayera questioned.

Inza nodded. "I sense it as well."

"Sense what?" Shebang asked, standing up.

"Evil," Zatanna said. "It's flowing out of that room in waves. Can't you feel it?"

Shebang shook her head. "All I feel is the vibrations of the station coming through the floor."

Fate stepped towards the room. "It is not Raven you are sensing," he informed her.

"Who the hell else could it be?" Zatanna demanded. "Something seriously isn't right here."

"You are sensing the influence of Trigon through her," Fate informed her.

"Influence?" Zatanna repeated in both fear and surprise. "He's influencing her?"

"Not in the way you are thinking of, no," Fate said.

"Then just how in the hell is he influencing her?" Zatanna questioned, becoming agitated. "Because to influence is to affect and if he's as bad as you say he is, then we need to cut her off from him."

"If that can be accomplished, then I will," Fate assured her.

Zatanna didn't feel very assured. "If?" she questioned. "You've got a demon in there who's being influenced by another powerful demon and you don't know you can break the connection between them?"

Fate regarded her for a few moments. "Perhaps it would be best if you separated yourself from this. Both I and Inza are more than capable of completing this task."

"Are you?" Zatanna asked not sure as to whether she believed that or not. "Because from where I'm standing, you're clearly ignoring the obvious. The feeling of evil coming from that room isn't very reassuring. In fact, my gut feeling is telling me that we've all been duped and whatever that thing is in there has pulled the wool over our eyes."

"Your instincts are incorrect," Fate informed her. "And you are coming to an erroneous conclusion because of it."

"Am I?"

"I sense the evil as well," Fate said. "However, I also can sense that its origin lies not within that room, but from beyond. Do not assume that because the father is evil, that the daughter must be also."

Shayera took a step back. "Hold on!" she almost shouted. Everyone looked at her. "Are you telling me that Raven is the daughter of Trigon?" she demanded.

"That's right," Zatanna confirmed. "And the feeling of evil coming out of that room is freaking me out."

"You can feel evil?" Shayera asked.

Fate answered for her. "In our search for Raven, we attuned ourselves to search out the evil that I could sense. She is still feeling the effects of this and does not fully understand what it is she is sensing."

"I know what I'm sensing," Zatanna shot back.

Inza rested her hand on her shoulder. "Listen to him. He knows what he is saying."

The magician looked at Inza, then to Fate, then back again. "I-" she paused as she glanced at the door. "I can't stay here, I feel like I'm suffocating."

Shayera addressed her. "Maybe you should go to the mess hall with Omen, Shebang and Ryand'r."

Zatanna looked at them and nodded. "Yeah, maybe I will. I'm feeling a little hungry."

"You three go with her," Shayera said to the two.

Zatanna turned and headed down the corridor, the three close behind. Once they were gone, Shayera stepped between Fate and the door to the room Raven was in.

"You want to tell me something?" she demanded.

"What would you like to know?" Fate responded calmly.

"Just a small thing such as you bringing the offspring of a powerful and genocidal Demon Lord onto the Watchtower."

"You knew she was a demon," Fate said.

"You still lied."

"Etrigan is a lesser Demon Lord and you are fine with him," he pointed out.

"This has nothing to do with Etrigan and everything to do with you not telling us the connection between Raven and Trigon." She stopped to think for a moment. "That explains why he needs her. She has the power to bring him here because she's of his blood. She's his connection to this universe."

"That is correct." Fate confirmed. "As to why I can feel him through her. This is because I believe he is actively making a push to come into this realm. An opportunity has presented itself to him and he is taking it. As of yet, I don't know what that opportunity is."

"So is he trying to influence her, as you said?"

"Possibly. I started to feel something a week ago. I believe that by putting herself in the guardian circle we found in Arkham caused it."

"Caused what?" Shayera asked, not following.

"His increase in influence. I believe he has a tenuous connection with her and by forcefully separating herself from him, caused him to push harder. As I said, an opportunity is close by. Either a special date or there is a weakening between our realm and the one he is in. Usually, such weakening of borders between dimensions doesn't last long, hence the push." Fate then paused. "But I am speculating."

"Is this Trigon guy really that bad?" Shayera asked sceptically. "Remember Icthultu? That was a powerful creature, but we managed well enough."

"Icthultu while powerful had a very large exploitable weakness, which you and Grundy were able to take advantage of. Regardless of all that, Raven has no intention of bringing him here, so all we might have to do is wait."

"Let's hope," Shayera mused.

"Now enough talk," Fate said. "Let us go and speak with her."

Shayera stepped aside as Fate moved to the door, pressing the buzzer that lay on the right side of it.

A few moments passed before it slid open, Raven stood on the other side, her hood pulled up over her head, partially concealing her face.

Shayera realised that the few times she had seen Raven, she had worn the hood over her head. She didn't really know what she looked like under it, apart from the fact she had pale skin.

Fate spoke first. "We will be taking you to my tower," he informed her. "I have set up special magical wards and totems that should conceal your presence there."

"When will we begin our search for Brother Blood?" Raven asked in her monotone voice.

"In due time," Fate replied. "Before that, however, I must ascertain that your intentions are indeed truly benign and not negative for this realm."

"I assure you I'm peaceful," she said. "It was you who sought me out, remember. I just wanted to disappear, to be left alone."

"With Omen," Inza pointed out. "So not alone."

"We are alike," Raven responded. "She may not be the spawn of an evil psychotic demon lord, but she does know what it's like to be an outcast."

"Outcast?" Shayera asked. "Why is she an outcast?"

"It is not for me to say," Raven said. "Do you want to come in?" she asked, stepping aside.

"No," Fate said. "It would be best if you gathered your things and came with us down to my tower."

"I don't have anything with me up here," Raven said. "But I did leave a lot of my things in Arkham. Lilith went back for them when she encountered you. We had hoped she would be able to retrieve them before you showed up."

"I'll make sure they're retrieved," Shayera assured her.

Raven tipped her head. "Thank you. There are a lot of books that I have collected. Moving them between hideouts and safe places has been a reoccurring problem for me and I have lost more than two dozen over the years."

"We can recover them first ourselves," Fate said.

Shayera agreed. "That would be a better plan. Do you need help?"

"No," Fate said. "You are injured."

"My wing's injured, nothing else. I'm not completely useless without them."

Inza rested her hand on the former Hawkgirl's shoulder. "We appreciate the offer, but we can handle picking up a few books."

"I'll leave you to it then," Shayera said. "I'll see you when I come over for some tea."

Inza smiled. "I look forward to it."

New Brighton

Central City

United States

10:12 – Central Standard Time

March 17, 2007

Wally opened his eyes, before sitting up on the couch where he had slept. He checked the time, before stifling a yawn. He had come in only three or four hours ago and had crashed straight onto the couch as he hadn't wanted to bother Giganta.

After a few minutes of sitting there, he decided to see if she was awake. He moved over to the bedroom door to find it slightly ajar. He pushed it open to find the room was empty.

He turned around and scanned the apartment with his eyes, even though he already knew she wasn't in the main room. He moved over to the bathroom and knocked on the door to no response. He pushed the door open to reveal it was empty.

Wally decided she had probably gone out for a walk and sat back down on the couch. He would give her thirty minutes, then he would probably call her.

That half-hour went past rather quickly.

Wally pulled out his cell phone and checked for her number. He dialled it and waited. It sent him through to voicemail.

"Hey, it's erm Wally. Everything okay? Call me when you get this message."

He waited ten minutes with still no response.

He got up off the sofa and pulled open the drawer that he kept his rings in. He popped it open, his suit springing out and he was in it and out of his apartment within the span of half-a-second. He had a bad feeling that something was wrong, that something had happened.

First, he checked all of the police stations in both Central and Keystone City in the event that she had been recognised and arrested.

Nothing.

He then checked restaurants and even by the river where they had had a picnic just a few mere days ago. Nothing.

Flash checked everywhere he thought she could conceivably be and found nothing.

He had now gone beyond worrying and was in a panic. He didn't know what to do. Had she left him? Had she been abducted? Had she decided that she liked being a Super-villain and was planning his demise?

Flash didn't like the idea of the last one, not at all. It didn't fit with her recent actions or attitude and he truly believed she had changed for the better. That meant that something had happened to her, something bad.

The only option left that he could think was to call Shayera, who he hoped was still on duty in the monitor nest. Unfortunately, the last person he wanted to talk to picked up. "Watchtower, Batman," came the Dark Knight's voice.

"Is Shayera there?" Flash asked, trying to not sound panicked.

"Not at the moment," came the unwanted reply. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, nothingswrongwhatsoever," Flash said, almost tripping over his own words.

"You sound like you're in distress. Do you need back-up?"

"Nononono, I don't need back-up, I need to talk to Shay, like right now."

"Flash, if you're in trouble, then just tell me."

"Nope, no trouble here. I'll talktoyalater." Flash ended the call and decided to contact Shayera directly.

"Flash to Shayera," he said, his hand to his ear. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Batman was in the nest, he was able to intercept the call.

"Flash, something is clearly wrong," Batman said to him. "Just tell me what it is and we can sort it out."

"Nothingswrongspeaktoyalaterbye," Flash said as he ended the call once more.

It was entirely possible that he was overreacting, that she had just gone out somewhere, not expecting him to be worried. But then why not answer her phone?

He decided to head back home in case she had called him. He didn't have his cell on him simply because there was nowhere to put it on his costume.

Moments later he was back in his apartment, phone in hand. There was still no callback or even a text.

That's when he noticed a sticky note on the refrigerator. He walked over to it and read it.

Hey, since you're still up at your space station, I went out for a walk. I wrote this in case you came back and was worried I wasn't here. G. X X

Still at the space station? That meant she had gone out yesterday. Something had definitely happened to her and he was worried it wasn't something good.

With the phone still in hand, he hit dial on her number and rushed out of the door. Every time he heard a ringtone he stopped, or what sounded like a possible phone ringing he stopped. Time after time it was just a civilian receiving a call. He kept re-dialling every time it put him on voicemail, up until he found an older phone ringing in an alleyway, its polyphonic tone beeping away.

Flash picked it up off of the ground and saw a voicemail message. He listened to it, hearing his own voice on the other side.

Something had happened to her and it wasn't anything good. Had someone recognised her while she was with him as the Flash? She did draw attention to herself just a few days ago when she had carried him part way through the city. It appeared that not all the attention had been good.

He moved swiftly out of the alleyway and took a quick look around. It took him a few seconds for him to get his bearings, but he knew where he was and he knew there was a diner just around the corner. Maybe she had been in there.

It took him all but a fraction of a second to be at the doors. He pushed them open and stepped inside, moving up to the counter.

"Hey Flash," the woman greeted cheerfully from behind the till. "Glad they didn't arrest you too."

"What do you mean?" he asked, wondering if she had indeed been arrested.

"On the news, it said a load of the Justice League was arrested just after dealing with those aliens."

"Right, that," he said, feeling a bit like an idiot for not realising what she was talking about. It had completely slipped his mind and he had completely forgotten that that had even happened.

"You okay, Flash?" she asked, concerned.

"listen, Suzy, did a tall red-head come in here yesterday?"

The woman started jumping up and down behind the counter. "You remember my name!" she squealed.

"Sure," he said, not wanting to tell her that he had simply read her nametag. He went to nearly every place that sold food in the entire twin-cities, so he tended to forget a lot of the faces and names. "Now about that really tall red-head?"

"Red-head?"

"Did a really tall red-head come in yesterday?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.

"Yeah, there was this really tall girl with red hair. She came in and sat alone. Until that other girl came in."

"Other girl?"

"Yeah, she sat at the table and then the tall red-head asked for her bill and left, the other one followed soon after."

"tell me about the other one?" he asked hopefully.

"She was blonde, had a southern accent and had these really big arms, like abnormally big. She might have been a bodybuilder or something."

Flash's hopes fell. He was hoping it was someone he would recognise, but it didn't ring any bells, none whatsoever.

"Thanks, Suzy," he said a little down.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Potential abduction," he told her.

"Oh no, that's terrible."

"It is," he agreed solemnly. "You've been a great help."

She hadn't been, not really, but he didn't want her to know that. He stepped out of the diner and stared up at the sky. He needed help and with Batman at the nest, it would be hard to get in contact with Shayera, especially since he had piqued the Dark Knight's interest.

He decided, at least for now, he would head back home and think. Maybe there was something he had missed, something that would come to him if he stopped for a minute.

With both his and Giganta's phone in hand, he ran back home.

Updated December 2017