Dark clouds blotted out the sky. The moon was barely visible as it entered a break in the clouds. Yet, the moment it was starting to be revealed, it was just as quickly disappearing as the next cloud began to cover it.

Batman was somewhere around the edge of the Eastern Time Zone, on the verge of entering the Central Time Zone. He was beginning to have second thoughts on this mode of transportation. It wasn't the first time he had used the jet for long distance travel, but never had it occurred when a mission was in progress and he needed to be at a specific location as quickly as possible. A part of him was contemplating just accessing the Watchtower transporter and beam himself to where he needed to go.

Of course, before he thought that far, he received an incoming communication. "Batman, here," he answered.

"Batman, this is J'onn J'onnz," the Martian Manhunter replied. "We have a situation."

Damn it, why hadn't he used the transporter? Goddamn pride. "What's the situation?" he asked calmly.

"We've just been informed that a series of bombs have been planted throughout the United States." That very statement caused the blood in the vigilante to freeze. "Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman are currently in route to three of the locations."

"Do we know how many there are?" the Dark Knight demanded.

"Negative. Our only intel is that they are located in buildings owned by the Sumatra company."

That caused the dark-clad man to frown. Something had happened in Elko, that much he was certain. "How did you come across this intel?" he asked then.

"It would seem the mastermind behind the Canidite shipments was watching us," J'onn answered, which only set his teeth on edge. They must have slipped up somewhere, though how he wasn't sure. It could've been from the beginning when Lantern and Hawkgirl found the first missing shipments, or it could've been when he and his team investigated Ferris Air Force Base or that shack in Nevada. There were too many possibilities to ignore.

"After Green Lantern and the others apprehended the transport vehicle, we were informed by the suspect that he had rigged multiple properties he owned with his supply of Canidite," the Martian continued, oblivious to the vigilante's thoughts, or so he thought. However, his attention was definitely earned at the mention of the Canidite being used. "I am currently on the Watchtower attempting to identify the locations we need to investigate."

That wasn't a bad idea at all. "I'm currently in Indiana, about to enter Illinois," Batman informed the Martian. "Are there any possibles in my area?"

There was silence on the line as J'onn checked the list. Then, "I believe there may be a bomb in nearby Gary. How far away are you from there?"

Immediately, Batman jerked the piloting stick to a side, the jet turning to the left as he made a U-turn. "I can be there in ten minutes," he informed his comrade. "What's the address?"

John Stewart felt his stomach drop.

The property in Carson City wasn't some warehouse, or abandoned building on the outskirts of town. It was an apartment complex that was currently undergoing renovation. There was a large white sign in front of it that proclaimed it was owned by Sumatra Inc, with a picture of what the building was going to look like once construction was complete.

Seeing as the building was right in the middle of a residential area, the explosion would be catastrophic.

Aiming his ring at the building, he projected a green light much like the one had had used to search the shack in the desert. The difference though, was this one was large enough to cover the entire building. Before his eyes, the exterior walls faded away and he saw right into the apartment complex. While it wasn't Superman's x-ray vision, it would do just fine. He could see building materials, paint cans, and power tools scattered throughout the building, but no bomb. Focusing his will, he searched deeper into the structure.

There. Towards the lower levels, he found a large device that clearly didn't fit in with the rest of the construction equipment. In fact, it was right in the basement. At first he found that curious, but then his knowledge of bombs and explosives came to him. By putting the bomb in an enclosed area, that would in effect increase the explosive power of the bomb. This apartment complex would crumble from the explosion, but not before sending large chunks of itself at its neighbors.

Not bothering with being gentle, the Green Lantern flew head first at the building, firing a green blast from his ring to create a hole in a wall. The moment he was on the inside, he came to a stop and aimed his ring at the floor beneath him. Again, he fired another blast, this one he made strong enough to go through several floors until it reached the bottom. Seeing his handiwork, he then descended through the successive holes until he arrived in the basement.

The moment he entered the mostly-dark room, he flared his green aura to brighten the area, revealing the bomb. It was a long cylinder which laid on it long side. There were stands on each side of the bomb, holding up off the floor. Conveniently, there was a small, digital clock face on it, reading 50:27. Then 50:26.

Kneeling in front of it, John noticed lines that formed a rectangle on the bomb's surface. Powering up his ring, he fired a small, thin laser beam, which slipped into the crack. He traced the rectangular shape with the small beam as sharp crackle sounds were made; once he completed that task, he then dug his fingertips into the crevice. This helped him pull the section off, revealing a small bar of Canidate with detonators inserted to it like it was a piece of C-4. There were wires connected to the detonators, forming a large, tangled mess.

Now which wire did he cut?

"Justice League, this is Lantern," he said into his comm link. "I'm at the first bomb and it's rather complicated. I've got a piece of the Canidite in it with a few detonators attached. There a hell of a lot of wires in it too."

Thankfully he received an answer quickly. "Can you tell what sort of detonators there are?" Batman asked him.

"Don't know their name, but they're long and rod-shaped. Looks like ones you'd find in a C-4 explosive."

There was a moment of silence. "Describe the wires. What colors are they?"

"Green, red, white, blue, yellow, and a yellow-and-black strip," John answered him.

"Can you tell me if you see a red handle in the bomb design?"

John frowned as his eyes searched. To the left and right, he saw something that looked like those handles the vigilante was talking about. "I see two of them, one on each side," he reported.

"Listen carefully: remove both red handles at the same time. If even one of them is pulled out faster than the other, you risk detonating the bomb."

Oh, well that was problematic. "Give me a moment," he said into the comm as he prepared himself for the task at hand. Carefully, he reached out to the handles, his fingers wrapping around them. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he slowly began to pull them up. At first the one on the right was going faster, so he stopped for a moment to let the left one catch up. Then he got a little too far with the left so he had to get the right one caught up. Faintly, John was aware of a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he managed to get both handles going at roughly the same rate.

And then they both stopped moving at the same time. Eyes darting from one handle to the other, he slowly began to realize they were both at the same height. The Green Lantern's breath blew out in relief. "Okay, I have the handles out; what's next?"

"Cut the wires in the following order: Red, blue, yellow-and-black stripe." There was a pause before Batman continued, "Green."

John frowned. That accounted for four of the six wires, and that pause he had heard made it sound like the dark-clad man was working this out in real time. "Don't tell me you're working this out at the same time," he said over the comm.

He didn't get a reply and that was all the confirmation he needed. To be honest, he was starting to wonder how the man knew what steps to take in defusing the bomb; this answered that. In fact, a couple moments later, Batman finished off his list, "White and then yellow."

"Just to confirm, the sequence is red, blue, yellow-and-black stripe, green, white, and yellow," John repeated. The last thing he wanted to do was to get the order wrong.

"That's correct."

"Well, here goes nothing." Pointing his ring at the wires, he created a wire cutter construct and lowered it to where each wire connected with a detonator. First he snipped the red wire, then the blue.

So far so good, no explosion. Next went the yellow-and-and black strip, then the green. Almost there. White was cut and lastly the yellow.

He heard a sharp beep, which caused him to freeze. Looking around the room, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Returning his attention to the bomb, he then noticed the digital clock had stopped counting. Excellent, that was another bomb down.

"I've disabled the bomb," he reported immediately, reaching into the device and grabbing the Canidite. The last thing he wanted to do was leave it behind. Removing it from the bomb, he held onto it tightly as he then lifted up into the air, flying through the hole in the ceiling. "I've recovered the Canidite too. J'onn, tell me where the next location is."

The Martian didn't answer him until he had exited the apartment complex. "I need you to head East," J'onn told him. "You'll be heading to Colorado Springs."

"Copy that, Colorado Springs," he repeated as he accelerated his speed. "Where's Batman headed? I don't want to have too many hands in one place."

"Batman is heading to Detroit." Those words caused John's stomach to drop. His free hand tightened into a fist at the thought of this madman leaving a bomb in his hometown. Yet, if there was someone that he could trust to defuse the bomb, it was definitely Batman. "I also have called Flash in. He's covering Missouri. He has already defused the bomb in Central City and is already working on the one in St. Louis."

"And the girls?"

Diana stared down at the bomb.

She was currently at the harbor in Crescent City in Northern California. Hawkgirl had gone to San Francisco to deal with the bomb there.

The Amazon had overheard the conversation between John and Batman and the instructions given to defuse the bomb. While she had no doubt that was the correct sequence to deactivate the bomb, there was a part of her that felt there was an easier way to do things.

"Hey, Diana," Hawkgirl's voice came up in her ear. "You heard that transmission, right?"

"I did," she answered, a hand pressed up against her comm link.

"Tell me, am I the only one that's thinking how convoluted it is."

That caused Diana to smile. Trust her fellow sister to follow with her line of thinking. "You are not the only one," she informed her.

"So, got any ideas how to shorten this up?"

Unfortunately, no she did not. Even now she was watching the digital timing ticking down from 48:56 to 48:55...48:54. While there was plenty of time for this bomb, the more time she spent with it was the less time she had with the others. Eyeing the ocean through the window of the harbor's control tower, she toyed with the idea of simply throwing the bomb out to sea.

"One moment, Sister," she told Hawkgirl before she addressed a different comm. "Batman, are there any motion sensors on these bombs?"

There was silence for a moment before the Gothamite replied, "As far as the one I've seen, negative."

Diana smirked right before she grabbed her bomb on its sides. Picking it up, she then dashed for the doorway, lifting off into the air. She flew up and towards the ocean, stopping when she could barely make out the buildings at the harbor. Spinning around to pick up speed, Diana then let out a yell before she throw the bomb as hard as she could towards the horizon. She watched long enough to see it splash into the water and disappear beneath its surface.

"Hawkgirl, I believe I've found another solution," she immediately informed the winged woman. "The bomb does not have a motion sensor and I've disposed of it in the ocean without triggering it."

"Diana, have I ever told you how much I like your solutions?" the Thanagarian told her.

"I believe you just have." The Amazon then switched over frequencies. "J'onn, I'm finished in Crescent City. Where's the next bomb?"

"Head north to South Bend, a city on the coast of Washington," J'onn answered her. "The bomb there will be at a ship construction business, Seavoyager's Boats and Yachts."

Which would naturally be on the coast, hopefully. If it was indeed there, she could toss that one out to sea as well. Taking off to the north, hands out in front of her, the Amazon headed for her next objective.

Flash thought he would find his next bomb in a trailer park. At least, that's what he had been informed by J'onn when he had been given the location. A quick search of the place came up empty and he told his Martian buddy about this. He was rewarded with another possible location.

"The things I do for my country," he muttered as he zoomed through the countryside. For once he thought he was going to have a quiet evening. He had even made plans! Sixteen boxes of everything-but-the-anchovies pizzas, a monster movie marathon on the tube, and he had the next day off from his day job. It had all of the elements of a perfect evening of doing nothing.

So of course as he was chowing down on his second box of pizza, he got the call from his favorite Martian that they had a situation with bombs. Very powerful, very dangerous bombs. And he was trading away his marathon for that good ol' time.

"At least I got TVoe recording Godzilla vs Mothra."

He was currently somewhere in the badlands of South Dakota, heading towards the border with North Dakota. Apparently this Sumatra company owned some oil drilling outfit and that was just asking for a bomb. Oil with high-powered explosives, that was a powder keg ready to blow.

And he found the place in seconds. Immediately, he searched the oil field, finding the bomb in a nice, long crate next to one of the oil pumps. The giant pump was at work, one end slowly rising up as the other fell before switching off. It was like a seesaw except each end pulled on a cable that did something underground. Flash wasn't too well-versed in the oil business.

Pulling off the lid to the bomb and seeing the all-too familiar sight of wires and detonators, he took his time pulling up the red handles. He was starting to get faster at it, but that was the one point where he could screw up still. Hearing a clicking sound as both handles reached the max height, he then sped up his work, his hand a blur as he pulled out the wires in the correct sequence. He watched the clock stop ticking at 41:37, a beep ringing out before the digital numbers vanished.

"That's five down," he said out loud, though there wasn't anyone around to hear him. Securing the Canidite, he then stood up and contacted J'onn. "Hey, J'onn, buddy, I got the one in the Dakotas. Where's the next one?"

"I'm going to need you in Florida, Flash," came the Martian's response. Before he even said the town, Flash was already running. Though, considering how he had been given bomb locations close to each other, he found this new one to be a little different.

"Any reason why you want me to go further than two states?" he asked.

"There are two more bombs in the Central Time Zone," J'onn told him. "However, Green Lantern can get those in a reasonable about of time. "Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are finishing the west coast and will be done shortly."

Of course they will be, Flash groused in his head. He had heard—hell, everyone had heard—their little chat about throwing the bombs into the ocean. That was a cop out if you asked him. Here he was, taking the time to disable the bombs and what do they do? Pollute the ocean with a metal canister filled with explosives. The environment was important too, ya know.

Then again, Flash did wish he could just toss the bombs he found away without having to worry about disarming it. He could just as easily dump a bomb and be done with it in a second versus taking the sixty it took him to actually deactivate it. You could say he was a little jealous.

"You are heading for Tampa. The bomb should be in a stadium there. I believe it is one that is decorated with pirates."

"Really? A football stadium?" Flash exclaimed, though he hadn't activated his comm link to respond. "Of all the stadiums, they had to choose Tampa? What? They couldn't get access to Foxborough? Dallas? Heck, they should've gone with Cleveland, at least it would've been considered community service."

Though, it did raise some questions. For instance, how did Sumatra get ownership of a professional football team's stadium? That question was answered shortly after. When Flash arrived, he noticed some construction was going on and wouldn't you know it, it was being done by Sumatra Inc. That at least explained how it got access.

Now let's find that bomb.

Batman clipped the yellow wire, finishing off the latest bomb at 27:00 even. With the Canidite in hand, he left the bomb behind as he left the building, heading for his jet.

Raising a hand up to his cowl, he contacted the Watchtower. "How are we doing, J'onn?"

"I would say extremely well," the Martian answered him. "The last remaining bombs are on the eastern seaboard and Flash has just arrived in Florida. The others are in route."

That was excellent. "Where's the nearest bomb from my location?"

There was a pause, which wasn't too unexpected. Whenever J'onn had relayed those directions, he usually made sure he was giving them something close by. However, as the time passed by, he was becoming concerned.

"Batman, I am not seeing anything within twenty minutes of your location," J'onn eventually informed him. "There is one you're the closest too, but the time it would take for you to arrive would only give you two, maybe three minutes to disarm the bomb."

"That's plenty of time," Batman replied confidently. He had reached his black jet and was climbing in, settling himself in the pilot's seat. Two minutes was more than enough time to disarm the bomb. "Give me the coordinates and I'll get it."

"Are you sure?" J'onn pressed. "I can have Flash take care of it."

"How many bombs are left?" the Dark Knight countered.

Again, there was silence before, "I am counting possibly ten more properties that need to be checked."

"Then nine of them Flash and the others can search. We need to disarm as many of these bombs as we can. I rather have one bomb go off versus three or four."

"Understood. Head for Erie, Pennsylvania. I believe if you cut across the lake, you should be able to reach the bomb in time."

"Copy that, Batman out."

"This is Green Lantern, I have another bomb defused."

That was another one off their list. Though the Watchtower had state of the art technology, which was most impressive when compared to the technology observed on Earth, it was traditional pen and paper that was keeping up with this situation.

J'onn crossed off the Keystone City property. Only the eastern side of the United States had any bomb threats. Flash had also reported another defused bomb only mere moments earlier, which left eight more locations. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl were in route to three of them and Flash should already be at his next destination any second now.

Glancing to a nearby clock, the Martian mentally calculated less than fourteen minutes to go on the last remaining bombs, however many there were left. He was taking no chances with all of the possible locations and he'd rather have someone check a false alarm than skip an immanent threat.

So far, the Justice League was performing admirably, even without one of their fastest members. J'onn had tried multiple times to hail Superman, but his comm link was most likely off. Strange though, that he had not heard the rest of the League with this super-hearing. Regardless, they were nearly finished with their current crisis and further attempts at contacting the Kryptonian would only delay their efforts.

"How soon can you get to Philadelphia?" he asked his colleague.

"Ten minutes, maybe? I'm already airborne," came John Stewart's response.

"Then you better hurry. We have approximately thirteen minutes left," J'onn urged him.

"Roger that. I'll make it in eight."

"Hey, J'onn!" Flash suddenly transmitted.

The Martian tiled his head up. The Flash's tone seemed urgent. "Go ahead, Flash," he said.

"I've cleared this dump you sent me to. I got bupkis. What's next?"

Immediately, J'onn crossed off another property. Looking up to a nearby computer screen, there was a map of the North American Continent, zoomed in on the United States. He could see Green Lantern over the Pennsylvania region with Batman hovering over Lake Erie. The Dark Knight wasn't as close to his destination as he would have liked, but the green-skinned man mentally calculated he would arrive just in time.

Wonder Woman had been sent to Boston and was just about there. Hawkgirl was closing in on Charlotte, which was the nearest location to Flash. Returning his attention to the list, he noticed the remaining bombs were in the New England region.

Perhaps he could cheat a little bit and get Flash to start on the northernmost properties. "Bangor, Maine," he informed Flash.

"On my way." A pause. "Are there any in my general path? I might as well get those on my way up."

Though that wasn't part of his plan, J'onn could see no fault in the request. "There's also one in Albany, New York," he added.

"Albany and then Bangor, got it."

Before a second passed, Diana then spoke, "I've cleared the one in Boston,"

Excellent, they were nearly through. As he began to check the list, the Martian frowned. If he wasn't mistaken, there was another Boston location. It was the only duplicated city on the list if he wasn't mistaken. "Remain in Boston," he immediately said. "There's a property in the northernmost sector of the city. I'm sending the coordinates through your comm link."

"Understood, I'm on my way."

That seemed way too convenient. Quickly, J'onn began running through the list, ignoring his check marks at the ones that had bombs defused, or none at all. A couple minutes passed before he had completed his search and found that Boston was the only city that had two possible bombs.

He highly expected this second place would lack a bomb.

"Chalk up another bomb gone," Hawkgirl suddenly said, throwing off his concentration. "What's next?"

J'onn checked the list and found that all current properties were accounted for, with Leaguers in route, or working on the bombs themselves. Seeing as Hawkgirl was too far away to assist the others, there was no point in sending her anywhere else. "Return to the Watchtower," he told her. "You are too far out to offer assistance to the others."

"Roger that, J'onn."

J'onn found himself looking to Batman's tracer. It didn't look like it had moved at all, which was becoming alarming to him. Perhaps he should have Hawkgirl beam up to the Watchtower and then to Erie. That was the best course of action, yet, he was reluctant to upset the vigilante. In all the time they had interacted, there was a prideful streak in the man's character. Perhaps he should check for an ETA.

"Batman, what is your location?"

"Landing," Batman replied as his jet set down on the ground. He was slightly annoyed by the Martian Manhunter's call, but he couldn't fault the man's concern. They were pushing it time-wise.

As the canopy slid forward, the Dark Knight leapt out of the plane, landing on the ground. Before him was an abandoned factory, rundowned after years of disuse and lack of maintenance.

Quickly, he hurried to the building. He didn't bother using a door, mostly because he didn't see one along this side of the building. However, there were windows. Firing his grapple above them, he soared into the air, leaning backwards as he swung his feet at the last second. His feet crashed into the glass and caused it to shatter, the dark-clad man landing hard on a catwalk.

As pieces of glass scattered across the walkway and even fell over its edge, Batman surveyed the room, finding it quite large and filled with large machines. Many were rusted over, again from a lack of maintenance, which gave the place a rather haunted look. Peering down the nearby aisles the giant machines made, he saw no sign of the bomb.

Walking down the catwalk as it followed the wall, he soon spotted a doorway with something situated next to it. Seeing as he had a clear look down a pathway between machines, he eyeballed their positions to make sure they were far enough away from each other. Judging that they were, Batman then climbed onto the railing and jumped into the air. Activating the electric current in his gauntlet, he grabbed his cape and felt it stiffen into its glider mode.

He glided towards the door, passing right by the machinery with ease. However, as he drew closer, he realized there was a body seated by the doorway. Releasing his cape, his momentum carried him several feet through the air until he landed on his feet on the floor, a few feet away from his destination.

Batman's face hardened. There was a man with his back against the wall, legs sprawled out in front of him. His torso was slumped, arms hanging limply at his sides. Cautiously, he approached the person, eyeing the dark bodysuit he wore. Even more concerning was the lack of movement by the man.

By the time he reached him, Batman came to the conclusion this man was either unconscious or dead. The lack of the chest expanding and contracting hinted at the latter. The vigilante took a knee next to the man as he examined the scene.

One thing he found curious was the headgear this man wore. It was very much a mask, though there were two small horns extending upward. It was reminiscent of his own mask in some ways, though that was as far as it went. There were no lens in the eyeholes and he could just make out the whites of the man's eyeballs. Reaching a hand up, he pulled the mask off.

Immediately, he hissed at the sight. Oh yes, this man was dead. There were dark lines covering his lower face, especially concentrated around the mouth. It was a telltale sign of cyanide poisoning.

Which meant the bomb had to be close by. Pulling the mask back on the corpse, Batman then stood up and moved to the door. Grabbing the knob, he turned it and pushed the door open.

The room was small and dark, though the moonlight from the larger room's windows allowed some semblance of light in. Batman saw the bomb in plain sight, sitting on a small folding table.

He also saw the timer flashing 0:05...0:04...0:03…

"Oh—"

The bomb apparatuses are designed after the ones the Joker used in the Justice League episode, Wild Card. I needed to come up with a design and found that one to be very much available lol.

To (1st) Guest reviewer: Thanks!

To (2nd) Guest reviewer: Can't say they're getting caught up with this right now. Maybe later though.