Gotham City

Commissioner Gordon stood on top of the GCPD building, slowly sipping his coffee as he patiently waited. Beside him was the infamous bat-signal, shining brightly in the night sky.

"Commissioner." Gordon turned around to see Batman standing behind him.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he commented as he switched off the bat signal. "Ivy's being transferred to Bell Reve, in Metropolis," he revealed.

"Why?" Batman asked, he may not show it but he was greatly angered at this revelation.

"I'm not sure. Just know the order came from high up. But that's not the reason why I called you. He's back," Gordon revealed. Batman's hands clenched into fists as he immediately knew who Gordon was referring to. "The water in the fountain at Old Forest Park turned green. When we got there the only thing in the water was this." He held up an evidence bag with a joker playing card inside. "He's been missing almost eight months now. I hoped we'd never see him again."

"We'll stop him Jim, we always do."

"At what cost?"

Gordon's eyes suddenly went wide and a look of surprise came over his face. Batman slowly spun around to face the new arrival.

"Superman."

"Batman." Clark stuck his hand out to the Commissioner and they shook.

"What brings you to Gotham, Superman?" Gordon asked.

"I was flying by and thought I should see how our buddy Bats was doing," Clark joked. In response Batman fired a grappling hook into the air and soared into the sky.

"Have good evening sir," Clark farewelled, before flying after Batman.

"We agreed we'd help each other only when needed," Batman reminded Clark as he landed beside him.

"We did, but I figured that flying by wouldn't hurt. What did the Commissioner have to say?"

"Ivy's being transferred to Belle Reeve."

"What else?" Clark asked.

"Nothing," Batman responded as he pushed a button on his utility belt.

"You do know I have super hearing right?"

"This doesn't concern you."

"I can help." The Bat wing appeared through the clouds, hovering just above them.

"You can help by staying out of my way!" Batman snapped

Knowing Batman wasn't going to let him in on any more information Clark took to the skies, heading back to Smallville.

Later that night Batman stood on a gargoyle overlooking the city, thinking over this new information. Nearby a squad of six SHIELD agents watched through a pair of night vision goggles.

"This is Alpha leader; we have the target in sight."

"Move in," Came Black Widow's response. The team of six prepared their weapons and began to move in. Black Widow on the other side of the target, prepared her own team of six. The two teams approached the target. Alpha Leader reactivated his night vision goggles only to discover Batman was gone. A sudden force pulled him to the side and into the shadows.

Black Widow clenched her fists in anger when she realised Batman was gone.

"Alpha Leader where is he?" She demanded. No response.

"Alpha Leader?" Natasha's eye's widened in shock. As she looked at the surrounding agents she realised half were missing.

"Eye's open," she ordered. "He's got to be around here somewhere." An agent approached the edge of the roof. He peered onto the street below, nothing. He looked up just as a black boot smashed into his face. Two nearby guards were immediately taken down followed closely by another two. Natasha raced across the roof, reaching the vigilante just as he knocked out yet another guard.

"Freeze!" she shouted aiming her gun at him. Batman didn't move, he didn't even seem scared that she was holding a gun to him. "You're under arrest."

"Who's going to stop me?" Batman asked. Natasha looked around and realised she was the only conscious member of her team. As much as she hated to admit it, he was good. She looked back just as Batman swung at her. She barely managed to dodge and followed with an attack of her own. The two traded blows, each one blocking the others attacks. Finally, Natasha swept the legs out from under him and pinned him to the ground.

"Got you," she stated triumphantly.

"Not quite," Batman replied. Black Widow was suddenly launched backwards and sent crashing in an air conditioning unit. She fell to the ground unconscious as Batman picked himself up. He walked over to Natasha a collected his zip line he'd placed on her.

Ten minutes later Batman flew towards the Batcave, having done enough for one night.

"Barbara, I'm on my way to the cave." Batman reported through the radio.

"What did Dad have to say?" A female voice asked. Batman paused, his grip tightening on the jet's controls.

"He's back." In the Batcave, Barabara Gordon sat at the Bat computer, a look of horror on her face.

"Oh God."

Sahara Desert

Two blurs sped across the Sahara Desert, racing against each other. One blur was red and blue whilst the other was surrounded by golden lightning. Clark Kent and Bart Allen smiled at each other as they pushed themselves to go even faster. Just to tease him Bart spun around and began to run backwards. With a smile Clark broke free of gravity and began to race forwards as he flew. However, not matter how fast he raced, Clark could never outrun the fastest man alive. A look of surprise came over Clark's face as he began to catch up to Bart. He had to be joking with him. As Clark flew closer he realized the lighting around Bart was glitching on and off. Bart too had noticed and was looking at himself in concern. The duo came to a stop and Bart looked over himself.

"What was that?" Clark asked.

"Not sure," Bart replied. "I was whoopin your ass like usual and then I just slowed down. I couldn't control it."

"Do you feel alright?"

"I feel fine."

"We should have you checked out. You know we really need a place where we can test our powers, a place to train. Perhaps I'll talk to Tony about it."

"Sounds good, race you to Stark Tower," Bart suggested eagerly.

"You sure it's a good idea for you to be running?" Bart Began to vibrate his hands. "Good as new," he smiled.

"Fine," Clark conceded. "But if your powers freak out halfway there I will carry you." Bart looked at him in horror.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I would," Clark smiled.

"In that case…readysetgo!" Bart blurted out before running off in his usual streak of lightning.

Gotham City

"He got away sir," Natasha reported to Fury over her radio. From the helicarrier Fury pinched his nose in annoyance.

"You've been after him for two weeks now, how is it that you still haven't caught him?" Fury asked.

"Whoever this Batman is he's well trained. He's the best fighter I've ever come across," Natasha admitted.

"A forceful approach isn't working. I've sent a file to you with instructions. You are to follow these precisely upon your next meeting with the Bat. Fury out." Natasha opened said file and read through her new orders.

Manhattan

Oliver Queen stood next to Tony Stark in front of a large crowd of reporters.

"…and it is because of the tragic events that took place in this great city that together Mr Stark and myself are donating a combined one hundred million dollars for the purpose of its repair. And we're not the only ones. The wealthiest people from across the world are funding the campaign to rebuild this great city. Are there any questions?" The sea of reporters in front of them shot up their hands, desperately attempting to get their questions answered.

From Stark Tower, Victor Stone watched the speech live on T.V. He looked back at the hologram in front of him which was displaying what appeared to be a suit of Iron Man armour. A smile came to his face as an idea came to his head. 'Sonic Cannon.'

"I still got it!" Exclaimed a voice. He turned around to see Impulse with his hands above his head and a smile from ear to ear. A few seconds later Superman flew into the building landing beside the young speedster.

"I thought you were going to take it easy."

"I was."

"Hey Vic," Clark greeted the cyborg as he took off his red jacket. "Where's Tony?" he wandered, noticing the billionaire wasn't around.

"Press conference," Vic replied, shutting down the hologram he was working on. "What's up?"

"We were thinking, we really need a place where we can test and train our powers. Someplace that isn't run by SHIELD. Our own, base of operations."

"Sounds like a good idea," Victor agreed. "Did you have anything particular in mind?"

Half an hour later Tony and Oliver walked into Stark tower.

"And a hot tub." They heard a voice in the distance. They entered a room to find Clark, Bart and Victor surrounded around a hologram.

"What's going on?" Tony asked as he and Oliver made their way to the bar.

"We've got something to show you," Bart stated excitedly. A hologram of a building appeared in the centre of the room.

"Avengers Tower!" Bart exclaimed.

"Avenger's Tower?" Oliver queried.

"Yeah. You know a place where we can train, meet up, assign missions, have party's," Bart blurted out.

"A base of operations," Clark explained. Tony looked over the hologram, impressed with the concept and design of the building.

"Just one problem," he realised. "There's no hot tub."

Author's Note:

With this chapter I wanted to go with something showing where a lot of the characters were at right now before getting into a specific story arc.

The results for my pole on who Clark should be paired with ended in a tie between Barbara and Sif. However, I've decided to go with Barbara as out of the two that one interests me the most and I think will be the most fun to write.

In reference to mmat's question, Personally it would be a very tough battle especially with each being as powerful as they are but if I had to pick one I would have to go with Doomsday.