They were gone.

All of her friends, all of the people she had come to love and cherish were dead, long since buried while she was on Tamaran. It...it was just too cruel. Even worse, Raven had only passed away mere days before her arrival.

It was heartbreaking. She could feel her heart breaking within her chest.

If only she had been there, maybe, just maybe she could have helped her friend stay alive. Better yet, she never should have left Earth. Red Robin, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, all of them would still be here and they would be laughing and joking and smiling, and...and…

A sob escaped Starfire's lips. Her cheeks were stained from tears, her eyes losing their bright glow. She was alone right now, far from detection of others. She wanted to be alone, needed to be alone.

The door in front of her opened, Cyborg standing there as light flooded around his body. "Star, you need to come out of the closet."

The Tamaranian looked up at her friend. She was seated on what she was told was called a bucket. This allowed her to rest her arms on her legs. It also made her look quite small and fragile. "I do not want to," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Cyborg sighed. "Look, Star, I know this is hard; hell, I'm still trying to make sense of Rachel. But you can't lock yourself away because it's hurts. The others wouldn't want that."

"But I want to lock myself away," she countered. "It does not hurt as much in here." In fact, it felt safe in here, comforting even. Plus, no one else had died since she had come in here and she was determined to continue that result.

Her friend looked away from her, looking around the closest. "Yeah, this does look comfy. Kinda wish I had found it earlier." He returned his gaze to her. "But right now, you're needed. How would you like to get at the people responsible for their deaths?"

That got Starfire's attention. She had not even thought of revenge. She frowned slightly. Something told her their deceased friends would not want her to. "I do not understand," she replied slowly.

"All of us are being mobilized. We have a chance to end the last line of conflict on this planet. You know that's what we've been fighting for all of this time. Just imagine a world without fighting and hurting."

A smile began to appear on her face. "I like a place without fighting and hurting."

Cyborg held a hand out to her. "Then c'mon, let's make it happen."

Reaching a hand out, Starfire place it in her friend's much larger one. A thrill went through her at the prospect of bringing peace to a world long infested by violence. She could do this; she could do this for her long lost friends.

The old Gotham Underground was bustling with activity. Whatever Ra's al Ghul had ordered them to do, they were hard at work to see it to fruition. It was fascinating to watch. There was an old, rusted section of metal railing that stood all by itself, which Batman had taken to standing behind, leaning forward on it with his forearms resting on top of it as he observed the activity.

"What do you think Ra's is planning?" Batwoman asked as she came to stand next to the Dark Knight. It had been a while since the two of them had talked since they had been investing their time to getting Jaime and Emily Sung up to speed. Their respective training was coming along, which only helped their cause.

"Whatever it is, it'll be big," Batman said resignedly. They were well past the point of making small moves, at least if he factored in his knowledge of the Demon's Head. The closer they got to the endgame, the bigger the move Ra's made. Soon, they would be in the thick of battle, fighting for the future.

The future…

This was all the world's future, or what it come be. If they were successful, he could single-handedly change it all for better or worse. There was the possibility that no matter what they did here and what he ultimately did in the past, this would all happen again.

He was familiar with many theories when it came to time travel. The most common one was that any change, no matter how big or small, could change everything. Another, less considered theory, was that time fought change, that one small difference was like a ripple in a river, which was washed away in an instant. The future was inevitable no matter the resistance to it.

It seemed Batman would be getting a front row seat as to which theory would prove itself to be true.

Yet, he found himself wondering just what was certain. For instance, his thoughts largely revolved around Cassandra. In his absence, she had become a strong, independent woman, fully invested in the crusade he had started so long ago. After all the adversity she had faced, from her upbringing until now, she still adhered to his philosophy, the biggest being his no killing rule. He had never been one to give into thoughts of heirs, but if there was anyone that had earned that right, it was her.

Except, was the woman standing next to him the same woman the one he had known would grow up to be?

"You're brooding."

Those words shook Batman out of his thoughts, causing him to look to the young woman next to him. That gave him pause. If he thought about it, Cassandra was actually older than him right now. Huh.

"I remember hearing the others say how you could out brood a gargoyle," Batwoman continued, not the least bit put off by his lack of reaction. "Of course, I heard this after you were being thrown through time. I never got the meaning of it until now."

The dark-clad man grunted in response. It wasn't the first time someone had said that about him and he doubt it would be the last. A small smile appeared on the woman's face. "What are you thinking about?" she asked patiently.

Deciding to humor her, he said, "I was wondering how much of this will change once I go back. If this is indeed the future that's destined to happen, if the people are here destined to be here."

"Ah, deep thoughts."

Batwoman crossed her arms over her chest, placing her weight on one leg with she bent the other at the knee. "For what it's worth, I hope it's better than this." She hung her head down slightly. "I know if I was in your shoes, I would be very disappointed with how everything has turned out."

"I have to admit I am in some aspects," he replied, "but in others, some things turned out better than anything I could've expected."

She snorted. "I don't see how."

"You, for one."

Batwoman paused at that before she slowly her head to look at him. "Do...do you really mean that?"

"The last time I saw you, you were a phenomenal fighter with an extreme learning deficit," he told her bluntly. "Now you're a fully functioning woman that has continued to fight in what she believes in. I couldn't be any prouder of you."

The dark-clad woman swallowed deeply. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but looked away. Then, very softly, "You don't know how much that means to me."

They were silent for a moment, right up until Queen approached them. "Hey, you two, that Ghul friend of yours is summoning us."

"We'll be right there," he told the archer, who nodded before walking back to the conference room. Looking to Batwoman, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I am," she reassured him. "I just need a minute."

They never got that minute. Before either one of them could move, one of the walls blew apart, sending large chunks flying through the air. Many of the Bat Underground went running for cover to avoid the raining debris. Smoke hid the hole from sight, but that would only last for so long.

Unfortunately, that hid the cause of the blast as well, though to be honest, there weren't too many thing that it could be that weren't good for them.

"Alert the others," Batman ordered Batwoman, not tearing his eyes from the smoke. No way would he take chances with this, not at this stage. "Order an evacuation for all members of the Bat Underground. I'm not sure what caused that, but we can't take any risks."

Batwoman didn't bother responding to him, instead turning around and running towards the conference room. Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a bat-shaped shuriken, moving around to stand in front of the rusted railing. Throughout the room, he could see the members of the Insurgency beginning to clear the area, heading for the nearest exits. Some were heading right for the main ones, which were big mistakes in his mind, but at the moment there wasn't much he could do. If this is what he thought it was, those that took the obvious ways out were going to be captured by whatever troops the Regime had brought here.

After all, that was the only people who it could be.

As the smoke began to dissipate, a green light became visible, the figure of John Stewart floating into view shortly after. He had a stern look on his face, holding his ring hand up before him, ready to use it at a moment's notice.

Behind him and to the right came Shayera, mace in hand and without her hawk mask. To the left was a young man in red and white, a cape billowing behind him. From the files that Ra's had gave him to study on the Regime, that must have been Shazam, the boy-turned-man with the strength of Superman.

Suddenly, a burst of fire emerged from the floor to the left of Lantern's group, right before a set of stacked crates. Smoke wafted up from the flames until two figures emerged, a woman in green and a blond, shirtless man. That must've been Enchantress and Aquaman respectively.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, a loud BOOM! rang out, a familiar tunnel of light appearing far to the right of the two Regime groups. Predictably, Cyborg emerged from the light, accompanied by an orange-skinned woman with flowing red hair and…

Diana.

Of the League members he personally knew, they all wore severe expressions on their faces, as if they were ready to go to war. The ones he wasn't as familiar ranged from serious to cocky to eager.

Diana moved to stand at the center of the ground, even as her three floating comrades came to land behind her. "So this is where you Insurgents have been hiding," she declared, even as her eyes fell onto him. Even from this distance, he saw her blue eyes light up with fury.

"You," she said with such venom in her voice, Batman was stunned by it. "You I will personally rip your head from your shoulders."

That was unexpected. Still, the Dark Knight didn't let it throw him off guard too much. He needed to buy as much time so the others could escape. From where he stood, he knew where he could go to escape this place.

"That's hardly the greeting I was expecting," he said dryly as he began to take a measured step towards the group. He even pocketed his shuriken, though his mind was screaming at him not to do so. Going up to these people armed would surely set them off as much as his presence seemed to.

"You're lucky you got that much," John shot back from Diana's left, his aura growing brighter around him before dimming back to its normal brightness.

"Let me guess, you would've gone for a kill shot had your showy entrance not blinded you with smoke," the vigilante responded with contempt. "That's not the Green Lantern I remember."

"Oh, great," Enchantress moaned dramatically. "He's gonna recount his fading memories to us."

Batman ignored the jab. "Mind telling me what the hell you are doing? The last I checked, killing was not part of the Justice League charter. What did you do, tear it up while I was gone?"

Some confusion appeared on Shazam's face, then concern. "Umm, guys?" he asked hesitantly. "Is there's a charter?"

"Don't let him rattle you, Shazam," Shayera told him, not even bothering to look at the young man.

"You speak as if you know us, Imposter," Diana then said. "Cease with these head games before you sully the man you pretend to be any further."

Head games, huh? He had yet to play any. Though taking off his mask would have proved who he was beyond a doubt, no way would he do so around so many others. It went against the entire purpose of the mask. He would just have to lead the three founding Leaguers to the correct conclusion. "Games?" he parroted, sounding startled. "You've caught me a little off guard here, I have to admit. I don't have the nanobots or the fear toxin for you and Lantern ready. Makes taking you down a little more difficult, but I think I can manage."

A frown appeared on Diana's face, but she remained silent. He had thrown her off at least, though John looked unfazed. So he set his sights on Hawkgirl. If there was one person he could get, it was her.

"But then, I better not be reckless," he said, directing his words to the winged woman. "I haven't found the battlefield worthy of my death just yet, kinda like that friend of yours, Hawkgirl. I'm not ready to waste my second chance after all."

Those had been words she had told him during the Kalanorian Invasion and it had been words that had stayed between them. She hadn't said a thing to the rest of the League nor had he. Because of this, he saw her eyes widen in recognition.

"Okay, all this guy is saying gibberish," Enchantress declared as she took a step forward. "Nanobots? Fear toxin? Second chances? What the hell is he even talking about?"

"Shut it, Enchantress," Hawkgirl snapped, leveling a warning look to the green-clad woman. Then she looked back to Batman. "It's really you, isn't it?" she said cautiously. "No one knows about that conversation."

"What conversation?" John questioned, directing a curious look to the redhead.

"One that Batman and I had when Despero had captured the rest of you," she told him, not returning his look. "The only way he would know about it is if that is the real Batman."

That was one down. Now onto the next one. "You know, I've always been curious," the dark-clad man spoke up, "when I gassed you at Etemenanki, Lantern, what did you see? It must have been quite frightening since you couldn't stop screaming. I had to knock you out to shut you up." He could see his words hit home for the Green Lantern, as well as the curious looks he was receiving from the other Regime members, so he focused right on Diana. "I don't need to guess about you, Princess, since I designed that virtual world for you. I was worried about the green armor might tip you off, but in the end I figured you couldn't resist a good challenge."

That clenched it, at least for the three former Justice League members. "It really is you," Diana spoke softly, unconsciously taking a step towards him. Gone was her anger and in its place was trepidation. Realization was on her lovely face, slowly being replaced by joy. "But how? How did you come to be here?"

"Some things are best left unsaid," he replied as he allowed his cape to slip down his shoulders and cover his body. "Besides, it's a long story and I don't think your new friends will let me get through it."

"I've heard enough!" the blond Aquaman declared as he shoved his way past Enchantress and moved to stand before Diana, incidentally proving the Dark Knight right. "You are an enemy of the Regime and that has sealed your fate."

Fury returned to Diana's eyes and she shot a hand up, the back of her hand making a dull thud against the marine man's chest. There must have been some strength behind it as the man actually backed up a step, turning to look at the Amazon with surprise. "You will not—" she began.

Only to be interrupted as a green arrow flew right over Batman's shoulder, curving downward through the air until it embedded its head into the floor at two Regime members' feet. There was a long cylinder attached to the shaft, a series of glowing red numbers that changed rapidly. It only took Batman a moment to realize what it was.

A timer.

Suddenly, the arrow exploded, sending the entire Regime flying backwards through the air from the blast. Batman instinctively went into a crouch, leaning backwards as he held his cape up in front of him in case pieces of debris flew at him. The meta-humans hit the ground throughout the room, some having crashed into the crates and barrels scattered throughout before landing.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have some unwanted visitors," Queen called out as he came walking up to the vigilante's side. Turning to look, the dark-clad man saw the rest of the Insurgents following suit. He couldn't see Ra's or Mr. Terrific, but that was probably because they were towards the back of the group.

Why the hell hadn't they escaped?

"Bruce!" Diana shouted, causing him to snap back around. The dark-haired woman was pushing herself onto her feet, a look of hurt and disbelief on her face. "You would align yourself with our enemies?" she demanded incredulously. "How could you?"

"I could ask you the same thing?" he shot back sternly. "Just how many people have you killed? Whose blood still drips from your hands?"

"You are mistaken," she declared defiantly, even as the rest of her comrades got to their feet. "You do not know the full story. You have been blinded by lies."

That was when Shazam flew by her, racing right towards the Dark Knight. Apparently, diplomacy was over as the dark-haired man's hardened face indicated.

That was when Batwoman stepped in front of the Dark Knight, holding an arm up. To his amazement, a handle emerged out of her gauntlet and moved in front of her palm, where she grabbed onto it. A small missile then emerged from a compartment on top of her gauntlet, firing a moment later right for the approaching Shazam. There was no time for him to avoid the missile as it hit him head on, another explosion erupting, causing multiple people to cry out. Smoke blocked the Insurgency's view of the Regime and vice versa.

That was until a blast of green energy flew through the cloud, much to the surprise of the Insurgents. It wasn't the smooth beam of a Lantern ring, but a more of a fireball. The blast hit Batwoman in the chest, blasting her backwards and into Batman, causing the both of them to sail through the air and knock down the railing, flying until they hit the wall far behind them.

Wincing as they hit the ground, Batman had his arms wrapped around the redhead pressed against him. With his eyes cracked open, he saw the orange-skinned woman come flying through the cloud, crackling green energy surrounding her both of her hands. Drawing a hand back, she threw one of the blasts at the rest of the Insurgents.

"Ooooh, I got this!" Sung exclaimed as she suddenly moved in front of the approaching blast. Holding both of her hands in front of her, they stretched forward and melded into each other, then exploding outward. Steel formed until a large shield covered the shape-shifter, Queen, and the others. The energy blast hit the shield, allowing it to detonate in a wave of green fire, but caused no further harm.

"Good job!" Queen shouted in congratulations even as he pulled an arrow from his quiver. Before he could notch it though, Jaime was suddenly at his side forming one of his arms into a rather large blaster, blue energy blowing from it. Shouting, he fired a large blue beam, one that caught the orange-skinned woman off guard. She threw her other green blast at the approaching beam, but it did nothing but disintegrate as Jaime's attack blew through it, then slammed into her. She screamed as she was blasted away.

"Nice save, Kid," the archer complimented the boy before he raised his notched bow, taking aim with his arrow. "Now it's my turn."

Seeing the focus was gone from him, Batman took that moment to look down to the woman in his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

He saw Batwoman wince as she shifted against him. "Yeah, I will be," she grunted back. "That blast packed a punch, though."

"That's it!" someone roared angrily, causing both of them to return their attention to the battlefield. The smoke from Queen's exploding arrow from earlier had finally cleared, revealing Enchantress with a look of rage on her face. She had her arms raised to shoulder height, bent at the elbow so that her forearms and hands hung down. Green energy began to spark and crackle from her palms similar to the girl with the red hair, but unlike hers, this energy felt more sinister and malevolent.

"Umm, I hope that arrow can handle a really angry woman," Jaime told Queen.

The blond man paused even as he kept his bowstring drawn back. "I think I might need a different arrow."

"I hope you're all ready to be charbroiled," she threatened then as she moved her glowing hands up and behind her head. "Because you all will be burn by hellfire!" Throwing her hands forward, she sent the green blast flying towards them.

That was when the most unexpected thing occurred. Right between the two groups, a golden light appeared, growing brighter until a large symbol of an ankh appeared, radiating a soft glow around it. Enchantress' attack flew right into it, seeming to disintegrate before it even touched the ankh.

Then, right in the middle of the symbol, Dr. Fate emerged, cape ruffling behind him as he held his arms out at shoulder height. "That is enough," he declared, his voice seeming to will everyone into submission.

Enchantress seemed to visibly tremble at the sight of him. "Dr. Fate," she whispered in disbelief. "You...you've come out."

"You threaten to plunge the world into chaos with this skirmish," the sorcerer warned, keeping himself hovering in midair. "And it is not time for this fight. Begone from this arena."

"I don't think so, pal," John retorted heatedly. "We're going to finish this fight once and for all."

There was a short silence before Fate replied coolly, "So be it. If you will not leave, then they will."

Suddenly, another ankh appeared below Fate's hovering feet, then stretched itself along the floor until it was beneath all of the Insurgents. Batman stared at it curiously before the light the symbol gave off became brighter. It became so bright in fact, he had to shut his eyes due to the burning pain he felt through his eyeballs.

By the time he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the Gotham Underground.

Diana felt numb.

For the last twenty years, a man she had thought long dead had returned from the grave. Her heart had actually stopped beating in her chest when she had come to this realization. She had cycled through Hera knows how many different scenarios that would explain why he was there. Suspended animation, evil clone, alternate dimension—there were just so many possibilities, no matter how outlandish some of them could be. Though he had only given small details, they were details only a small handful would know, so that limited some potential options.

But why was Bruce against them?

If there was anyone that would've appreciated their efforts, it would be him. They had struck fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere. They enforced the law, allowing ordinary citizens to not fear leaving their homes. It was everything he had done in Gotham, yet on a larger scale.

Yet, he stood defiantly before her and the others.

That was the one part that baffled her, at least until she saw the leaders of the Insurgency appear behind him. Batwoman and Oliver Queen had gone out of their way to interrupt their conversation, making sure Diana could not tell him how things had come to be. It made sense that they had told Bruce a twisted version of what the Regime had accomplished, offering enough evidence to make whatever lies they told sound plausible.

She needed to get him alone, away from the poisoning influence of the Insurgency, so she could tell him how things truly were. He would see it her way, she just knew it.

"I still can't believe it," Enchantress said for what felt like the tenth time. The green-clad woman had been trembling ever since the appearance of that Dr. Fate person. "That was really him, Fate. Fate actually left his tower."

"You're going to have to be clearer than that," John grumbled towards the sorceress, arms crossed over his chest. He, like the others, had been less than thrilled that this Dr. Fate had spirited the Insurgency away right before their eyes. He had summoned the symbol of the ankh and when it was gone, so were Batman and the others.

Enchantress sighed loudly. "Dr. Fate is one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever live. With his power, he could create countless worlds while destroying others simultaneously. Yet, he hasn't done this because he has opted for neutrality. The only time he acts is when to ensure order."

"He didn't seem all that neutral to me," the Green Lantern growled lowly. "If he's for order like you say he is, he should've kept that stupid helmet of his out of our way. This should have ended today."

"You're assuming we would've won though," the sorceress retorted. "Sure, we had numbers, but if having greater numbers worked, then you hero types would've been defeated a long time ago. How long is your list of super villains again? I'm willing to bet if all of them joined forces, they could've killed each and every one of you by sheer numbers alone. I mean, look at Shazam! He's lost his muscle and has a pizza face!"

That was something worth considering. The missile Batwoman had fired at the boy-turned-man had been powerful enough to throw him to the other side of the room, along with cancelling out his magic, which reverted him back to Billy Batson. He was still lying unconscious on the floor, Cyborg's friend kneeling next to him to wake him up.

"She's got a point," Shayera agreed. "I didn't see that one coming and I have to admit it was partly because of Batman. He distracted us enough to make us drop our guard. I mean, he admitted not having his countermeasures against us on his person; it never occurred to me his friends would have them."

"Hold on, what do you mean countermeasures?" Cyborg demanded as he entered the conversation.

The Thanagarian turned to the mechanical man. "A long time ago, Batman, this man you fought in El Paso, had developed strategies to take down the entire Justice League. Long story short, they worked."

There was a silence before Enchantress surmised, "So what you're saying is that there's a man that knows how to take all of us down and we let him get away."

"We just have to find him again," John replied then. "He was caught once, it can happen again."

"Except he knows we will be after him," Shayera pointed out. "I'm betting he wasn't expecting you to attack him when you first met, right? This isn't going to be some cakewalk."

That was true enough. Whenever Bruce didn't want to be found, you were not going to find him, be it Gotham, the Watchtower, or just about anywhere. You had to out-think him, predict where he would be going, and wait for him to arrive. The problem came in was that he was on the run now, his starting point unknown thanks to Dr. Fate. They had effectively lost him.

Except, Diana had gotten to know him before he disappeared again. She understood his thinking better than anyone, or so she thought. Right now, Bruce believed they, his friends, were in the wrong. So he would prepare himself for their next confrontation.

The best place for him to prepare was, of course, the Batcave.

Unfortunately, the only people she trusted to watch that location was John and Shayera, and she needed them in the immediate future. It would be only an hour or two, but by then she could do it herself.

No, this needed to be done now.

"Shayera," she said, getting the Thanagarian's attention. "Can you take Arthur to the Batcave? If Bruce is going to go anywhere, it will be there."

"Are you sure?" she questioned. "I mean, he knows we know he's out there. That would be the last place I would go if I were him."

"That's very possible, yet, if he's desperate, he will return there. There is more than one way into that cave system and he probably has a few of them in mind. We need eyes there."

"Got it."

"And once you're done, come to the Hall of Justice. We need to inform Superman."

"How about the rest of us?" Enchantress asked as she placed a hand on her hip. "Do you need all of us there?"

Diana shook her head. "No. For the time being you are free. Cyborg, I'll need you to work on that project of yours. No more interruptions."

"Roger that," Cyborg responded.

"As for the rest of you, I'll need someone to check to see if any of the Bat Underground was captured. Interrogate them to see what they know."

Enchantress' eyes lit up. "Oh, I'll do that! Pick me, pick me, pick me!"

Diana rolled her eyes. "Very well, I leave that responsibility to you."

"Oh, Wondy, I knew there was a reason why I joined you guys. You know how to delegate so well."

"Just get it done," the Amazon snapped. "If anyone wants to join Enchantress, do so; otherwise, you're on reserve." She then turned away from the others, walking towards the exit. "You all have your assignments. See to them."

To Guest: By this point, I'm pretty sure you've found out lol