The first question came from Flash naturally. "Uhh, what the heck is Canidite?"

The entire Justice League was present at this meeting, seated around the round table. For Batman, Gotham was currently at a lull in its seasonal crime wave, so he was comfortable allowing Gotham's other vigilantes to watch over the city in his stead while he attended the meeting. That and the alarming fact that a top secret explosive had been discovered in a place where it shouldn't have been.

"Canidite is an experimental compound developed by the military," Green Lantern answered in response. He was currently standing next to his chair as he presented his findings. From the center of the table was a holographic image of said compound in the crate it was found in. He and Hawkgirl had recovered it from a building in Midway the previous night, which had begun the League's investigation. "From what I was able to obtained from the research notes, it's a pretty powerful explosive too."

"Just how powerful are we talking?" Flash inquired. "Like TNT powerful? Atom bomb powerful?"

"Let's put it this way: when demolition crews are demolishing a building, they place dynamite in certain areas of the building, usually the main supports and subsequent structures. So we're talking quite a bit. Just one pack of Canidite at the main support beam can level an entire building."

Flash's eyes widened as he gave a low whistle. "And naturally the military has other ideas for this thing."

"That's right. However, we're talking about something that's top secret; the number of people that knew about it were limited to the research team, the colonel overseeing the project, and his superior, a General Samuel Lane. According to the files, none of them would have any idea how those crates of Canidite ended up in Midway. There are some serious transport protocols they follow and there isn't so much as a note detailing a breach."

"How many did you find?" Superman asked, catching onto the Lantern's use of the plural.

"In total, sixteen crates. They were held in two other rooms, along with various automatic weapons and explosives. Not going to lie, I was starting to get a Despero deja vu."

"So you think someone's stockpiling this for an attack," the Kryptonian surmised.

"Wouldn't you?" Hawkgirl countered.

"It does seem strange the military didn't know about this missing compound," Diana pointed out.

"Didn't know, or conveniently forgot?" Batman replied. "It wouldn't be the first time the military stored questionable materials in unsecured locations."

A frown appeared on Stewart's face. "What are you getting at? You think the military purposefully stored the Canidite there?"

"It's certainly a possibility."

"Perhaps you should wait until you hear what I found," Hawkgirl interrupted, earning herself the attention of the meeting. "I checked to see who owned the building and came back with nothing. Apparently the city intends on demolishing the building in six months. They're currently negotiating a deal with the building's owner to get the rights to it."

"Who's the owner?" Flash asked.

"That's where I came across some difficulty. As far as I can tell, it's a company rather than an individual: Sumatra Inc. When I dug deeper into the company, I didn't get much. There isn't an address, website, anything that indicates what they do. I think it's a dummy corporation, honestly."

"So perhaps organized crime has a hand in this?" Superman suggested. "That might be something worth investigating."

"Doubtful," Batman said. "If organized crime is involved, there's no way they would have access to the facilities the Canidite is kept. For them to get their hands on it, they would have robbed a transport caravan, which if that was the case, everyone involved would know of the missing shipment." He then turned his attention to Green Lantern. "Did your research indicate that any shipments went missing?"

Stewart shook his head. "Negative. I'd have to speak with General Lane though, to see if he does know anything about it."

"And someone else should go inspect the storage facilities to see if it's possible for any of the Canidite to be taken directly," Batman added.

"That sounds like your area of expertise," Diana said, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"I can take care of the storage facility if there are no objections," he responded, keeping his face blank.

"And I'll talk to General Lane," Stewart volunteered. "In any case, we should have some backup available."

"Where is this storage facility in regards to General Lane?" J'onn inquired then.

Lantern looked down at the papers on the table in front of him. While he had the advanced tech the Watchtower provided for briefings, the former marine was old school when it came to his presentations. He kept physical copies with him in case he needed to review something during the meeting. For a few moments he was quiet as he read a sheet and then another.

Then, "According to this, Lane is stationed at the same location as the storage facility: Ferris Air Force Base outside of Coast City."

"I can accompany you to your meeting with the general," Diana offered then. "That way if Batman has any issues at the storage facility, both of us will be in the area to lend assistance."

Stewart nodded his acceptance. "That sounds good to me. How about you?" he then directed to the vigilante.

"I have no issue," was his succinct reply.

"So what does that leave with the rest of us?" Flash brought up then.

"I believe Hawkgirl and J'onn should try to find out more on this Samatra company," Superman said. "Between the two of them, I think they can find something. Flash, you should do a sweep of Midway City to make sure there aren't any more stashes of the Canidite."

"And what about you, Supes?"

If the dark-haired man had a necktie on, he would've been pulling at it out of nerves. "I have plans this evening."

If receiving an award was considered plans, then yes he did. Clark Kent had been nominated for a journalism ethics award and the winner was supposed to be announced tonight. Of course, Kent had sent in his RSVP weeks ago and pending an actual emergency was expected to go.

Of course, Flash didn't know this. "What are they? Something to do with that reporter friend of yours? Or have you taken that to the next level?"

Green Lantern scowled at the question. "Not the time for that, Hot Shot," he said warningly.

"Hey! I was just curious!" the red-clad man protested. "Not everyone here tells everyone what they do in their personal lives."

"For good reason: it doesn't belong during a League meeting."

"Alright, alright, chill, Mr. Fancy Pants."

If Flash was starting to make jokes, it seemed this meeting was coming to a close. "Is there anything else we should know about?" the vigilante asked, returning the meeting to its original topic.

"I don't have anything else. Do you?" the Lantern deferred to Hawkgirl.

"Nothing from me," the Thanagarian replied.

Batman then stood up out of his seat. "Then I'll be heading to the storage facility. I'll report what I find once I'm through."

"And that's our cue to go see General Lane," Diana added.

"Well, well, looks like the meeting's over," Flash remarked before turning his chair to face Superman. "So anyways, what is going on with you and that Lois chick?"

General Samuel Lane was not a happy man. To the point, he was not happy to see two superheroes in his office.

That's what the expression on his face said. His words were a different matter. "Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"We just have a few questions, General," John Stewart answered as he stood ramrod straight, arms behind his back. To Diana, it was a pose of respect given to one that was considered a superior.

General Lane's stern face didn't change one bit. "And what would those entail?" He shifted his broad shoulders as he made himself more comfortable in his chair.

"We found a military-developed explosive in a civilian setting," John replied. "About sixteen crates of it too. According to the serial number, it's called Canidite. We'd like to know how it got here."

The look on the general's face clearly showed his surprise. "I'd like to know the answer to that too," he exclaimed, moving forward in his seat as he rested his arms onto his desk, entwining fingers together. "Where did you find it?"

"As I said, in a civilian setting."

"Perhaps if you tell us how it is stored, we can come up with a theory?" Diana suggested. Just looking at the two military men, there was going to be some stubbornness between the two.

Lane's eyes switched over to her. "I'm not at liberty to go into those details," he responded. "Just know that every measure taken for development, transport, and storage is taken."

"Considering just a small amount of this can take out an entire building, maybe even a city block, I would sure hope so," the Green Lantern retorted. "Though since we found some, I believe there was a precaution failure at transport or storage."

That caused a scowl to appear on the general's face. "You have to understand, this is a top-secret matter and I cannot and will not reveal all of the specifics. It sounds to me like you've already gotten the gist of it from your research."

This was going nowhere. Diana fought back the groan she felt working its way up her throat. "Could you tell us where it is stored then? For instance, is it on this base or elsewhere?"

General Lane seemed to weigh that question in his mind before saying, "I can confirm that all of the material developed is stored right here at Ferris. There is nowhere else it is transported."

"Just from the lab to the manufacturing to the storage units," she confirmed, raising an eyebrow in response.

"That's correct."

"Then that would indicate someone on the base is leaking it out," John surmised as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Lane looked affronted by that assertion. "I'll have you know I have the finest men working on this base, Lantern. There's not a one of them that would risk the consequences of being caught selling or distributing it."

That's when John pulled out a sample of the explosive, placing it down hard on the general's desk. "Then how do you explain this?"

The man actually paled at the sight of the explosive. "The way I see it, either someone is sneaking it off the base, or there's an active order to ship it to another location. Whether it reaches that location, or is stolen in transit, is another question, but if I were you, I'd stop your stonewalling on this."

Diana was in total agreement. When General Lane had mentioned transportation and then said none of the explosive compound left the base, she had known the man was lying. What was the point of transporting the explosive if it was not leaving the base? Whether it was because of the general's job, or just to keep a secret, it did not matter. John had caught onto that as well.

It took a moment before General Lane's shoulders sagged. "Alright, I'll tell you. But this does not go beyond these office walls, understand?"

Upon seeing their nods of acceptance, he continued, "We initially stored the Canidite on Ferris, that much is true. Every other month we send out a shipment of four crates—that's all anyone is willing to take at a time as recommended by the research team. It's supposed to go to Edwards Air Force Base and from there I'm not sure. The first order was about a training simulation if I remember correctly."

"How many shipments have you made so far?" Diana asked.

"Eight, so thirty two crates in total."

"Sixteen of which ended up in Midway City instead," John finished for him.

"Midway?" Lane looked at the Lantern in disbelief. "What the hell was it doing there?"

"Waiting from the looks of it. Someone was storing it there," the Amazon was quick to inform. "However, that leaves sixteen crates unaccounted for. Do you know for certain that they reached Edwards?"

Lane immediately had his office phone in hand. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

The warehouse was filled with crates, barrels, and pallets of military supplies. Body armor, ammunition, guns, explosives, even transport vehicles were housed here. Each was meticulously placed throughout the building, organized for efficiency and order.

That only made Batman's job easier.

While Diana and Green Lantern had entered the base though the front door, he had taken a less direct approach. Considering the recurrence of patrols in the area, it had taken a little time to figure out the patrol pattern and exploit it. That had been the easy part.

Once he found his way into the building, he had done just that. How he had done just that was best left unsaid. One never knew when they'd need to use such an entrance—or convenient exit—again. Tricks of the trade.

The lighting was dim at best. Either someone had turned on the lights recently, or were powering them down. In either case, there was minimal light, not that he was complaining. This created more shadows for him so if someone did a routine check, he could take cover quite easily.

Most of the crates were sealed shut from what he could tell. Walking down the cement path, the vigilante looked left to right and back, examining his surroundings. He ended up coming to a stop when he noticed one of the wooden box's lid was open, haphazardly turned in a poor attempt to close it. Staring at it for a moment, he then walked over to the box, coming to a stop in front of it as he lifted the lid up.

Inside were ball bearings, filling up the box nearly to the top. It seemed someone wanted a few for some reason. Batman carried a few in his belt should he need to create a distraction, or divert attention elsewhere. Why someone in the Air Force wanted them was something else entirely and didn't warrant further investigation.

Moving on, he headed further down the aisle reaching the end, which presented him with two choices. To his left he could see the word AMMO painted in bright yellow letters on the floor. To the right were just more shelving and boxes. Knowing what lay to the left, he made a right, his cape sweeping behind him.

Eventually he found wire fencing, which cordoned off a small area from the rest of the room. Peering through the holes formed by the fencing, he saw pallets loaded with green wooden boxes. The vigilante knew he had found what he was looking for.

It probably helped that there was a sign that said DANGER! HIGHLY DANGEROUS MATERIALS attached to the fence.

He found a gate shortly after, which was secured to the fence by a lock and chain. It was a pretty large lock, absurdly so. Grabbing it, he held up the lock, studied it before he pulled out his lock pick set. Pulling out one, he placed the pick inside of the lock and searched for the tumbler inside. Finding it, he forced it out of position, which caused the lock's body to disengage from the bar.

Unwrapping the chain from the metal post, he then pushed the gate open and entered the restricted area. Approaching the crates, he spotted the serial number and saw they were a match for the ones Green Lantern and Hawkgirl found. There were two pallets present, ten crates to each.

Turning around, he saw a clipboard hanging on the fence. Walking to it, he grabbed the clipboard and held it closer to his face. It became apparent it was an inventory list and according to it, there were supposed to be twenty crates present. That matched what he saw.

However, there were previous counts. Adding them up, there were thirty two crates that had been shipped out over the last few months. Considering sixteen were now in the possession of the Justice League, that left sixteen unaccounted for.

Placing the clipboard back in place, he left the restricted area, locking it up as he had found it. He made his way towards the front of the warehouse, finding a small office with a couple of guards visible through a large window.

Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a small pellet. Creeping up on the office, he cracked the door open and tossed the pellet in, making sure to close the door soon after. It would take a couple of seconds, but an odorless gas would be released, which should render the guards unconscious in the next…

He heard something hit the floor, prompting the dark-clad man to peek through the window. One of the guards had dropped to the floor, lying on his stomach with his arms spread out. The other guard slouched in his chair, his head tilted at a rather uncomfortable-looking angle.

Batman didn't immediately enter the office. Though potent, the gas would slowly dilute itself in the next minute, ensuring that he didn't fall victim to its effects. Patiently he waited until the desired time came, the dark-clad man opening the door and walking in when he was certain it was safe.

As expected, the gas had dissipated. Walking up to the computer terminal, he accessed its records, typing in the serial number for the Canidite. It took a moment for the desired record to appear, but it did as commanded. Reading the results, he found the computer had put up the digitally scanned forms of the transfer orders. Eight shipments had been sent out by truck, heading for a series of coordinates.

Pulling out his palm pilot, he opened a GPS program, entering the indicated coordinates. It only took a couple of seconds before the image of the United States appeared. The screen then zoomed in towards the western side of the U.S., a dot appearing in a remote area of Nevada.

Raising a hand to the side of his cowl, he activated his comm link and said, "Lantern, Wonder Woman, come in."

"We read you, Batman," Diana's voice answered him immediately. They must have finished with their meeting with General Lane.

"I'm sending you a set of coordinates. I'll meet you at that location."

"Understood. Wonder Woman, out."

With that done, Batman then pulled out an external hard drive and inserted it into USB port. He transferred all of the data on the Canidite onto the drive, even going so far as to have the computer search for anything mentioning the explosive compound. Satisfied that he had everything, he then shut all the program windows down and pulled out the thumb drive. It was time to go meet up with his comrades.

There was something to be said about an abandoned shack in the middle of the desert.

Cliche for one; when had there not been a time an investigation led to some small shed out in the middle of nowhere? It made sense since no one went snooping around those places.

Pushing the door open as the hinges squealed in protest, John Stewart stared into the rather empty structure. Due to the poor construction of the shack, there were small gaps between the wooden boards that comprised the walls, which allowed sand to blow in every time the wind picked up. That resulted in the floor and walls being coated in a layer of sand and grime.

It wasn't completely unfurnished though. On the wall to the right was a rusted stove that had seen better days probably around the 1950s. Next to it was a cast iron furnace that was in better shape, but the open metal door showed no one had used it in quite some time. There was the odd picture hanging from the wall, but otherwise it was empty.

"So why is it Batman wanted us to come here?" the Lantern asked as he entered the wooden building. Diana was right behind him, looking about the place much like he was.

"He must have a reason," she answered him as she moved to one of the pictures, this one being of a sailboat.

"He usually does," the dark-skinned man grunted. Pointing his ring at the floor, he cast a light, searching for any anomalies. He was hoping for some sort of evidence to show, like footprints, or leftover DNA, be it fluid or hair. He steadily moved his arm, making sure his ring's light touched everything, including Diana.

He came up with nothing. That wasn't too surprising honestly. Due to the shoddiness of the construction, the weather here would've made sure any evidence of use would be wiped out after some time. If this place was being used, whoever used it hadn't been here in a long time.

That was when the wind picked up, the sound of a loud engine roaring. The door banged repeatedly against the wall as it was hit over and over with bursts of wind. From where he stood, John couldn't see what was outside through the open doorway, but he could see sand being blown away by something.

And then the engine stopped. Diana stared towards the entrance, her eyes glazed over. Then, "I believe Batman has arrived."

The Green Lantern had to hold back a retort as to how she knew that. It wasn't that much of a secret that the two heroes had been spending quite a bit of time in each other's company. Though it was usually on monitor duty, their weekly spars, or whatever mission happened to be in progress, it still didn't take away some of their meetings outside of the League. They seemed to be more attuned to each other's presence from what he noticed.

Either that, or Diana had simply been using her super-hearing and determined that it was the vigilante. That was a possibility too.

As proclaimed, Gotham's Dark Knight appeared in the doorway. He stopped right there, his head slowly moving from one side to the other, and then back. It had been odd the first time the Lantern had seen him do that, but he was reminded soon after that the lens in his mask had video recording functions. All that head turning was so that he could get a full picture of his environment should he need to review it at a later time.

"What did General Lane say?" he asked once he was inside, closing the door behind him.

"Not a very trustworthy guy," John answered, crossing his arms over his chest. That meeting had gotten under his skin and for good reason. It may have been some time since he last wore a military uniform, but back then officers of all stripes had hidden intelligence from the foot soldiers. Most of it was under the guise of top secret and need-to-know basis, but John was certain that many deaths on the battlefield could have been avoided had that information been shared. He had picked up immediately that Lane was keeping things from them and that did not sit well with him. "He tried to stonewall us until we hinted at some corruption on the base."

Batman nodded. "Did he know about the Midway shipment?"

"He didn't and that was the only time I believed him. He first said that the Canidite was only stored at Ferris, only to mention later that some had been transported to Edwards Air Force Base. He was still following up on those shipments when we left his office."

"He was right about there being shipments at least," the vigilante remarked. "However, none of them were going to Edwards."

John scowled. Even when the guy was admitting the truth, he had to wrap it up in a lie. "Looks like we need to do a more intense interrogation of the general," he growled.

"I wouldn't waste my breath," Batman told him. "He'll just run you around like he did this time."

That was when Diana joined the conversation. "I'm assuming you found something relevant to the case?"

The dark-clad man nodded. "I found a record of the Canidite shipments. There were eight transports in total and all were sent to this location."

Well, at least there was some proof about the shipments. At this point, John was certain more had been sent than the eight he was told. Then again, this was the military, which was run by the government. If more was sent off base, that record would be somewhere else."

"Do you think General Lane knows they were sent here?" the Amazon continued.

"It's certainly possible. It's also possible he didn't know where the shipments were actually going. He could've been told to send them to Edwards, but they were instead routed here. I'll have to analyze the data I recovered to make sure none of it was doctored."

"So the Canidite was loaded into a truck, which was then taken here. It was either stored here until a contact picked it up, or the contact was here to received it. From there, sixteen crates of the compound found their way to Midway." John paused to take a breath. "Which means we have sixteen that are unaccounted for."

Batman began moving about the room, the other two heroes watching him as he moved. He came to a stop along the far wall, where he knelt down. He seemed to be inspecting something, going so far as to pick something off the floor and bring up to eye level. "I think it's safe to say the Canidite was stored here for a time."

"What makes you say that?" John asked him.

"There's scuff marks on the floor here," he pointed out. "And they're green, the same shade as the crates."

That made John blink owlishly. How had his ring not picked up on that? Moving over to the vigilante, he noticed some of the sand on the floor was swept aside by Batman's foot, indicating that he had cleaned it himself. While he found it hard to believe his ring could've been fooled by a layer of sand, that seemed to be exactly what happened.

"It's a shame this place is in the middle of nowhere," Diana spoke then, coming to stand behind Batman. "It won't be easy to keep surveillance up without alerting our suspects to our presence."

That was a good point too. It wasn't like there was a CCTV camera conveniently placed here. They would have to station somewhere here to keep an eye on it and that wasn't entirely feasible. If only they could place a satellite…

"What about a satellite?" John suggested. "Could we assign one to this location?"

"It's an option," Batman responded. "We should also look into how many satellites, if any, were in orbit over this location for the last few months. Perhaps we might get lucky and one has footage of our suspects."

"Perhaps we could time our surveillance as well," Diana added. "Does the shipping records show anymore shipments to be made?"

"That's not a bad idea at all," John commended her, earning himself a smile from the Amazon. "It looks to me like we need to go through the records Batman obtained and to check on the satellites."

"I'll leave you two to the satellites," Batman said. "I'm heading back to the Cave to analyze the records. I'll let you know what I find out."

"And we'll do the same. We'll also get an update from Hawkgirl and J'onn on their side of the investigation."

After that, the three left, Batman leaving for Gotham in his jet while Diana and John contacted the Watchtower for transport. They had work to be done, but they had made some good headway on the case.

For the record, Canidite is not an actual substance. It's been completely made up for this story, so don't expect to find it in comic lore. If there was such a comic book substance, I would've used that instead.

To Guest: You're welcome. Though, things have yet to get too serious yet.