Chapter 2
"You have it?" asked a worried Ray Palmer, as Batman walked into the League's laboratory.
"Indeed," he said, as he placed the safe on the table. He punched in the code, and as it opened, a bright purple light coming from the stone filled the room.
"So that's what all the fuss was about?" Dr. Palmer exclaimed as he looked at the gem in awe.
"Yes."
"And you think it can be used to do anything?" he asked.
"It most likely has limits, if it can be used for what we need it to do, but I doubt bringing back someone from the dead is not a limit," Batman thought.
"Well then, where do we start?"
They started with making a three dimensional computer model of it, rendering it onto the League's computers. The only problem, was that the computer didn't register anything physical. Batman assumed something was wrong with the laser probe they used, but when he looked it over, it was functioning completely normally.
"It's like the universe isn't recognizing the stone," Dr. Palmer said.
"Hmm." After trying for a while, the two gave up on the model, and instead began working on a way to use the stone's power. Dr. Palmer used his nanobots to probe into the stone, but they were disintegrated almost instantly upon touching the surface of the stone, to his disbelief. The nanobots were made partly of diamondoids, after all.
"Here," Batman said, as he pulled a compartment out from his utility belt, and handed it to him. "Take it."
Dr. Palmer opened it, and revealed the compartment to be filled with Nth metal.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, thinking he 'borrowed' it too.
"A favor from Hawkman," Batman responded. "That metal seems to be the only material the stone doesn't immediately destroy. It's time your nanotechnology received an upgrade."
The Atom shook his head, and immediately got to work. Batman stood back, not fully understanding the process that was taking place in front of him.
After an hour or so, the Atom had finished retrofitting his nanobots with Nth metal.
"That should have done it," he said, satisfied with his progress. "Shall we try again?"
Batman nodded once, and the doctor ordered the nanobots to land on the surface of the stone. The connection was not immediately lost, however, a surge of power rushed through the nanobots, and Dr. Palmer pulled them out, afraid they would break down from the overload. To his surprise, they were completely undamaged.
"Would you look at that," he said.
"Bring them in again," Batman ordered. "They can take it."
"Alright," Dr. Palmer said, and he maneuvered them back to the stone. This time, nothing special happened, until he tried to use the saw the nanobots formed to take a sample, and the saw broke.
"Well, can't say that was unexpected," he remarked.
He kept trying to get a sample, when Batman received a call through the comms, and had to leave, leaving the doctor alone.
The next day came around, and the Atom still kept working on it, eventually programming the nanobots to run alongside the neurons in one's body to the brain, where hopefully, the energy contained from the Power Stone in them would link up to Batman's brain. All in theory, but Batman was willing to test it on himself. When Batman arrived at the laboratory, Dr. Palmer had prepared everything for the experiment.
"It's all ready, correct?" Batman asked, as he sat in the medical recliner.
"Yes," Dr. Palmer nodded, as he turned on the nanobots. They were being held in a syringe, and he held it in his hand. "I'm going to require you to remove one of your gloves for this."
Batman removed one of his suit's gloves, and Dr. Palmer injected the contents of the syringe into Batman's blood stream.
"It shouldn't take long," he explained. "It'll take a moment for the nanobots to adjust themselves to their places. Do tell me if you feel any discomfort."
Batman grunted, showing no sign of regret.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the Atom asked as soon as the nanobots were in place.
"Just do it," he growled.
"Before we put you in," Dr. Palmer said, "I wanted to ask, is it fine if I record this? It's pretty groundbreaking stuff."
"Yes." Batman never closed his eyes in fear.
"Alright," the doctor said, and pressed a button on a console nearby. "Test One on member JL-1 consisting of Nth-Bots in the subject's bloodstream."
As he finished speaking for the recording, he pressed a button on the remote he was holding, activating the nanobots. Instantly, Batman was overcome with internal pain, almost as if something was pinching or stinging him. His mind was strong, however, and he kept on thinking of bringing back one of his former comrades. Dr. Palmer only stood in amazement, as Batman's entire body started to shake. His eyes, though already glowing from the suit, started glowing in a shade of purple light. Batman kept going, but couldn't tell if it was working, when he entered a vision.
Batman felt himself be taken from the physical world, and into what he could only describe as the Power Stone. He landed in a desolate wasteland, full of ruin, and he made out his surroundings and the far off scenery, realizing he was in Arendelle, or what it used to be. Everything was cold, void of any sign of life. Suddenly, the Caped Crusader heard footsteps behind him, and turned around, to face Barry Allen.
"Bats? Is that you?" the dead man asked, with a grin on his face.
"Allen?" Batman said cautiously. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"
"You don't," he responded. "You have to believe."
"Why am I here?" Batman asked, as he looked around.
Barry stared into the sky before responding. "She lives here, you know."
"Who?"
"Anna", he said softly, almost inaudible.
"I need an answer to my question, Allen," Batman said.
Barry sighed, and said, "You're going to need her to bring me back."
"You mean this won't revive you?" Batman asked, referring to the Power Stone.
He laughed, and replied, "Bruce Wayne thought a shiny rock could revive someone? The world has really changed while I've been away..."
The apparition of Barry Allen slowly disappeared into nothing, leaving Batman alone. When he turned around, his surroundings completely changed, and this time, he was standing on top of a rooftop, during the night. He looked below, and saw he was on the building across from the LexCorp skyscraper. Down below, there was a man in a yellow suit yelling, though the noise was not audible because of the city. As Batman enhanced his vision, he saw it was indeed the Reverse Flash. No one had seen him for a while, and it was suspicious he hadn't been spotted anywhere recently. But it was rather low on Batman's investigation list, and he hadn't touched it. So seeing Thawne again sparked some interest in him. He couldn't tell if he was seeing something that had happened, or something that was or would happen. The speedster was brought inside the building by security guards, and disappeared from Batman's vision. Before he did, however, Batman could have sworn he heard someone yell, "Find me". It was odd, and by now, he was feeling the effect of the power from the stone on his mind. He felt himself losing consciousness, and fell backwards.
Batman awoke suddenly, and felt as if a surge of energy had run through him. Dr. Palmer quickly helped him to his feet, and began taking notes.
"Did it work? Is he back?" he asked.
"No," Batman growled, angry. All of the time and effort had been for nothing.
"How do you know?" Dr. Palmer asked, confused.
"He told me," Batman said, leaving Dr. Palmer even more confused.
"What?" said the doctor, but before he could get an answer, the doors opened, and in walked the rest of the Justice League.
"Batman!" Superman boomed. "What have you been doing down here?"
"Dr Palmer and I have been researching the stone, though it's harder than it looks," Batman answered calmly.
"Then why did I hear a blood-curdling scream from you?" questioned Superman, as he raised an eyebrow. Batman looked at the Atom and gave him a Bat-glare. He didn't remember yelling during his experience.
"What were you really up to, Bruce?" Superman interrogated, and Batman knew there was no point in hiding the truth anymore.
"Dr Palmer has been assisting me in order to use the Power Stone to revive Barry Allen," he said, and the League's faces were full of shock.
"How so?" Superman asked.
"I tried to use it to 'wish' him back," Batman admitted.
"So you went behind our backs to potentially do something that could kill you?" Superman said, while shaking his head. "What happened to going to Constantine?"
"That's not the point," he hissed. "I saw Barry Allen. It's completely plausible to bring him back."
Everyone in the room except Bruce was stunned. Even the Atom was a bit confused.
"Wait, you saw him? How does that work?" Wonder Woman asked.
"In short, I hooked his mind up to the Power Stone, and he went through what looked like an exorcism," Dr. Palmer explained.
"Alright, I'm going to take the stone back to where it should be, and then we're going to have another meeting," Superman said while rubbing his forehead. He closed the safe with the gem, and grabbed it, taking it back to the vault. Everyone else, excluding the doctor, went straight to the meeting room.
"Let's start with what you did," said an exasperated Superman.
"Dr. Palmer injected nanobots into my body full of energy from the stone. They went to my brain, and gave me an experience I'll never forget." He paused, thinking of the words.
"I had a vision. I was in the ruins of Arendelle, and Barry Allen walked up to me, and told me she was the key," Batman remembered. "And once he was gone, I was taken to a new scenario that showed me the Reverse Flash. He was being taken into Lex Luthor's skyscraper in Metropolis."
"Did you see him?" asked Superman.
"No. Though I heard what I thought was Thawne yelling, 'Find me'," he recalled. "We need to find him or Luthor."
"But what about Anna?" Wonder Woman asked.
"No. It's too soon. She'll still be grieving." He made it clear. "Not yet."
"How are you planning on finding either of them?" Superman asked the obvious question.
"I have my ways," he said, and then asked, "What happened to the dome in Siberia?"
"Nothing. The rubble is still there. Are you planning on returning?" Superman asked. When no response came from the Dark Knight, he took it as a yes.
"Well then, does anyone have any questions?" Superman waited, and when everyone shook their heads, he announced, "Meeting adjourned."
Batman had returned to the Batcave to a very anxious Elsa, who had been nervously awaiting his return.
"Where have you been?" she asked, as soon as he teleported in.
"Busy, he said, as he removed his cowl, and put it on a nearby table.
"How long are you going to be here?" Batman was already working on the engine of the Batmobile.
"I'll be back tomorrow," he told her, before muttering under his breath. "Where's Alfred when you need him?"
"Would you at least tell me where you're going?" she begged.
"Remember that dome they kept you in?" he asked, and she nodded, then looked at him in horror.
"You can't go back there! Are you serious?" Now she was becoming worried, and Bruce could feel the Batcave growing colder.
"There may be information there, we need it for Allen's revival," he said.
"You mean it didn't work?" When he didn't respond, she knew it had failed.
"Elsa, look. This job asks a lot of me, which means situations like these will constantly occur. I will try my hardest to spend time with you, but I won't have many chances to do so. If you want to walk out right now, you can, and I won't blame you." She looked away. "One more thing. Though it failed, the process showed me Barry Allen. He told me your sister is the key to bringing him back. Keep her safe. Like I said, I'll be back tomorrow." By now, he had put on the cowl, and the Batmobile sped out of the cave, into Gotham.
His first stop was to a certain cat lady.
This time, he rode straight to her building, and used the ejection feature of the Batmobile to launch himself into the air, landing on her balcony. The Batmobile kept going on autopilot.
He quickly opened the door into the apartment, and went inside, when he felt the vibrations of footsteps behind him. Looking behind revealed Selina Kyle in costume, returning from her nightly prowls.
"Well, well," she purred. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"Last time I was here-" he began.
"You were here for the girl, I know." she rolled her eyes.
"While you were working for Luthor, did you ever-" he tried saying, before being cut off again.
"Hold on, I never worked for Luthor! What are you saying?"
Batman had thought that Selina had been working for Luthor, but here she was, denying it. And then it hit him: she was also under mind control the last night he had been here.
"Selina," he said slowly. "Do you remember what you were doing a week ago?"
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"I believe you were under mind control by Luthor. Tell me, do you remember anything at all?"
She thought for a moment, until she realized she couldn't remember, and shook her head.
"This trip has been for nothing," he grunted, and he walked towards the balcony. "Until next time, Selina," and he jumped off into the night.
His next move was to send the Batmobile back to the cave, and then teleport himself to the Watchtower. Once aboard the massive space station, he made his way over to the console, in order to put in the specific coordinates to travel to the dome. Satellite imagery still showed rubble on the site, so he would teleport himself a kilometer away from the dome. While he waited for the teleporter to fire up, he switched his usual suit to his snowsuit. Once he stepped onto the teleporter, he felt himself being taken elsewhere, and when he could make out his surroundings, everything was covered in snow. To his surprise, although there was no dome anymore, as he made his way closer to where it used to stand, there was a little building which had been rebuilt. He could barely make it out, but its square outline barely gave it away. He enhanced his vision, and could see there were guards in winter camouflage guarding the entrance. The problem was there were guards on every side of the building. Batman quickly came up with a plan to take them out. He had long range Batarangs, but he would throw small explosives towards another direction to send false signals to the guards. His cover would be blown anyway, even if he tried to sneak in. He readied what Alfred would call the "Pyrorangs", Batarangs filled with pyrotechnics, which would detonate when he pressed a button on his remote. He threw them as hard as he could, and luckily none of the guards noticed. Once they had flown above to the other side of the building, he detonated them, and what looked to be like fireworks went off. While the guards were distracted, he used his long range Batarangs on the guards he could see, and made quick work of them. Once inside, he could see there was an elevator at the end of the small building he was in, and once he reached it, he pressed the button to call it, but it didn't work, and instead, an automated voice said, "You are not authorized to use this." He knew the guards he hadn't taken care of would soon storm the building, so he used his hands to pry the elevator doors open. Fortunately for him, the buttons on the inside still worked, and he chose the deepest floor on the panel. As soon as the ride ended, Batman had weapons at the ready, expecting soldiers to come running up to the elevator. So he found it strange when there was absolutely no one to greet him.
He walked around the small room; there doors which were boarded up, ones that led to where the old portal factory used to be.
"Batman! What a surprise to find you here," called out a voice. Batman turned around to see Lex Luthor standing in the room. But it was impossible; there had been no sound of footsteps. His suit was built to alert him of even Superman's steps. He looked around, and finally saw what looked like an advanced projector.
"Hologram, Luthor?" he asked. Luthor laughed.
"Courtesy of Eobard Thawne. Of course, I could have designed it myself, but he brought it right to me," Luthor said. "Now, what are you here for?"
"I came to see if there was anything I could recover." Batman paused, then asked, "How did you make this place impervious to our satellites?"
"Oh, surely you can understand I can't give away LexCorp's secrets, can you?" he taunted. "However, I will hand you over one of my, 'assets'."
"What's that?" Batman growled.
"Not what, but who," Luthor's hologram corrected, and pointed at a door which had been boarded up. "That door, it does work. Use it, and you'll find him."
"Why?" Batman questioned.
"There's no point in trying to keep it a secret, you would find it anyways." Batman let out a rare smirk upon hearing this. "Oh, and you should probably know he hasn't lost his powers." The hologram of Luthor disappeared, and once again, the room was silent.
Batman cautiously moved towards the door, as his mind narrowed down a list of suspects, and he slowly opened the door, to reveal the Reverse Flash, sleeping on a bed.
Instinctively, a million thoughts raced through his mind. If this man still had his powers, he would need the League's backup immediately. He could be considered the most dangerous man on the planet.
But before he could call anyone, his eyes snapped open. Oddly enough, there was no glow coming from them. The villain looked around and found Batman in a defensive position.
"Don't worry, I can't do anything to you," Thawne sighed, as he rose from the bed. "Powers have been gone since I came back."
"From where?"
"The past. The ordeal with Barry Allen," he said. "By the way, how is the old speedster?"
"You haven't heard? Luthor hasn't told you?" Batman asked carefully. He understood Thawne had probably been locked up by Luthor.
"Heard what? Did he die or something?" Thawne responded, half joking.
"He did." Batman started to search for audio of the funeral to prove it.
"That's impossible. If he were really dead, then I wouldn't exist anymore," he explained.
Batman played audio from his suit, and the voice of Lois Lane could be heard addressing the public funeral in Central City.
Thawne shook his head. "All those tests make sense now."
"What tests?" Batman questioned, as the man sat back down on the bed.
"A few days ago, I was taken from LexCorp and put here." He looked around. "Wherever here is. Probably on Luthor's orders."
"They've been trying to figure out how you're still alive." Batman put the puzzle pieces together instantly.
Thawne nodded. "Probably. And here I was, worried his death would result in mine." He stopped, and asked, "What are you going to do to me?"
"Now it's my turn to take you apart." Batman aimed a dart gun at him and fired.
When Thawne awoke, he was in a small cell, but instead of metal bars separating him, it was a wall of reinforced glass. Not that it would have made a difference. He wouldn't be able to escape. On the other side of the glass was Batman and Superman, staring at him.
"Why were you so fast to believe me, Batman?" Thawne asked, curious. "I could have been easily lying."
"My suit's polygraph."
"Didn't account for the fact that a speedster can regulate his heartbeat and other aspects of his body, did you?" he mocked. Batman fell silent, but then spoke.
"Your head is wired with a nanovirus that will render you blind if you step foot outside of your cell without permission," he advised.
"What do you people want from me?" he asked.
"Your story," Batman glared.
"Which? I've plenty," he sneered, and then answered seriously. "The most recent Barry Allen story?" Superman kept quiet, but nodded.
"Alright then. I've already told it to Luthor, but if you insist." He glared at them before continuing.
"It all started a few months ago. Or, well, I don't really know how much time ago it was, but that's beside the point. Anyway, I had just escaped from the future, and was ready to enact my newest scheme on Barry Allen, you know how it goes. So I catch him off guard, and throw him into the past, all while drugging him to convince himself his powers were gone. One of my better plans," he gloated.
"I hid him in the past so your league would never be able to pinpoint his location. Fortunately for me, when I returned to reveal the truth to him, he had grown close to a girl. The best part was, I had brought holograms from Belle Reve, to trick him into thinking I would kill innocent people, but with the girl, it would deal double the damage. Everything was perfect, until at the last moment, I had a vision. I suspect it was from the multiverse now, with the invasion Luthor launched and all, but at the time, I saw your 'trinity' all fall, at the hands of a massive being. The craziest part of it was he defeated you with five colored rocks."
At the mention of rocks, Batman turned off the microphone, and both turned their backs to the glass.
"He's telling the truth. No one in the world except the founders know about the stones," Batman said quietly.
"Do you think he saw the future? Thanos invades, and we die?" Superman asked.
"We should let him finish his story before we do anything," Batman said, as he looked back at Thawne. Superman nodded, and Batman turned the microphone back on.
"Anything else you can tell us about your 'vision'?" Batman inquired.
"Well, right before you died, you yelled out "Barry". You sounded pretty desperate, which I didn't think was possible from you. Which led me to believe what I had done somehow killed Barry Allen, which would also kill me. So I fixed everything as well as I could, and when I returned to this time, I had no powers. I still haven't figured that out. I think you guys know the rest of the story from there. I went to Luthor for help, but he ended up taking me prisoner. After some time, he took me to that place where you found me Batman, and here we are," he finished.
Batman turned the microphone off again, and looked at Superman.
"We leave him in here until there's not a massive threat," Batman ordered.
"I agree, but we need to tell the rest of the League. They deserve to know." Superman said. As he finished, Superman received a call.
"Superman?" The voice belonged to his cousin, Supergirl. "We have a problem."
"You lost it?" Batman berated. "Wasn't she supposed to be watching it?"
"I don't know, she said she passed by today to find it was gone," Superman defended.
"Wait, hang on guys, I've been gone the past few days, catch me up?" Hal Jordan interrupted.
Everyone had met in the League's meeting room at the request of Superman, to discuss the issue at hand, except for the Green Lantern of the League, who had been away ever since they found the body.
Batman sighed while Superman explained. "The day after this man appeared," he said, while showing a picture of a man in a blue, red, and white suit on the screen, "We decided to put his body somewhere no one would suspect."
"Idiot," Batman muttered, which Superman ignored. "We put him in a Metropolis morgue."
"Hold on; you put a multiversal guest in the nearest body dump you could find?" Jordan laughed, and Batman gave him a Bat-glare, which quickly silenced him.
"My cousin, Supergirl, has been monitoring the site every day since, until today, when she reported it was missing," Superman finished.
"Does the body really matter?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Yes, it does," Batman said. "Whoever has that body has the ability to make super serums."
"What, you get super strength from them?" Jordan asked.
"Not just that," Batman said, "The ability to mutate an organism's body. It could theoretically work on someone like Superman, and enhance his strength, x-ray vision, durability, even further than what those abilities are. I sent a sample of the man's blood to STAR Labs, to see if they could engineer any cures or treatments from it, but if the whole body has been stolen, then someone could use it on, say, Parademons, or the monsters from the invasion."
"Okay, well didn't you guys put any cameras in the room? Or at least put a tracker on the body?" Jordan asked.
"We did both, but they've been disabled by whoever stole it," Superman answered.
"If they can elude us, you can be sure they can elude anyone. The culprit likely has motives which extend into an endgame we have no idea of. If put into motion, this plan could mean the end of the world." Batman put forward his thinking, and received a lot of raised eyebrows.
"All that from a stolen corpse?" Jordan said, in disbelief.
"I have a suspect in mind," Batman replied.
"Who?" Aquaman asked.
"Lex Luthor." Batman let everyone gather their thoughts before continuing. "We now know that the man behind the invasion was Luthor."
"How?" Wonder Woman asked.
"During Eobard Thawne's interrogation, he mentioned the invasion being Luthor's fault. He also mentioned a vision where, presumably, we all fall in battle, and the Earth is lost to Thanos. Which is why he did his best to save the Flash when he disappeared."
"Why do you think Luthor wants the strength drug?" Jordan asked.
"He might use it on himself, to try to finally be able to defeat me in a head to head fight," Superman thought.
"Luthor handing over Thawne would also explain why he did it. It was a roadblock, a distraction for us while he stole the body," Batman realized, angrily. They had been played by Luthor, again.
"Well, what-" Wonder Woman started, before Batman turned around to take a call. It was from Nightwing.
"Hey, Bruce. There's a situation, and you probably won't like it."
"What's wrong?" he said, in a low voice.
"Somebody broke into the STAR Labs building in Gotham, and stole one of the aliens recovered from the battle in Metropolis," he said over the comms, sounding out of breath.
"What are you doing?" Batman hissed.
"Fighting the-" Nightwing stopped talking for a moment, until a loud bang was heard, and the sound of breathing filled Batman's earpiece. "The thief. She's gone."
"Teleport to the Watchtower. Go to Hall B on Ground Floor, and enter the room with double doors." Batman turned back to the group, and excused himself. "We'll be having an update on the situation by my once protegé, Nightwing," and as if on cue, Dick Grayson entered the room, panting.
"Wow. I never thought Batman would let me be part of his little reunions-" He was interrupted by Batman clearing his throat. "Tell them what you found, Dick."
"Right. I'm sure you all know who I am," he began. The room nodded. "So, Bruce told me to keep an eye on Gotham while he left for Russia. And I'm passing by the STAR Labs skyscraper in downtown, when I see this woman breaking into one of the highest floors through a window. I get up to the top floor, where she's about to make her escape with a dead alien guy, and she sees me, so naturally I try my best to stop her, but it was dark, and I lost my footing for a moment, which she used to push me off the building," Nightwing finishes, again out of breath.
"I have a feeling Luthor's going to attempt a second invasion," Batman mumbled.
"How? All the portals were destroyed, and his only factory making those things was destroyed, right Bats?" Jordan asked, nervously.
"He probably still has blueprints for the portals somewhere. It's only a matter of time," Batman contemplated. It could be much worse this time, especially without Flash.
"Hang on a second. Has anyone else tried to reason how Luthor could sync up his portals to the mastermind's timing?" Jordan said to the room. "Seriously, did they sit down in a pub and discuss it?"
"Hal raises a good point," Wonder Woman said. "Maybe Luthor is the mastermind. It's possible he had found another universe with these stones, but was stopped by defenders of their realm from collecting them."
"It would explain why he always appears to be missing, especially in moments of crisis," Martian Manhunter spoke up.
"But it wouldn't explain why the letter mentioned a Thanos, or Thawne's vision," Batman countered.
"Besides, even if it was Luthor, he wouldn't be able to wield the stones," Superman chimed in. "At least, he wouldn't be able to wield the Power Stone."
The whole room was murmuring, while Batman's mind was forming a little plan in the back of his head.
"Our top priority now is to find Luthor and stop his attempt at creating super aliens," Batman stated. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Those in favor raise your hands."
Every hand in the room went up instantly, including Nightwing's.
"Any questions?" Superman closed. "Then this meeting adjourned."
