Ya'll we are Back Again! Welcome to Chapter 20 of YJ: Legends Are Made! DISCLAIMER: Credit goes to the writers of the storyline for Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm for some of the dialogue that comes up in this chapter as well as the last one!(I Don't remember if I did that last chapter so this is to cover my butt.) Other than that, I'm going to keep this author note short. As Always check out the bottom for a longer note. I hope ya'll enjoy this next installment! Let's GOOOOOOOO!
THE WATCHTOWER
MAY 22ND 2008. 11:30 AM EST.
Superman POV:
The bright light of the zeta tubes particle beam faded as he appeared inside the Watchtower.
Observing the wide-open transit area, he looked to the left and saw the Earth floating within sight from the observation windows.
It never failed to amaze him…the beauty of his adopted home.
But along with the beauty of it came its own inherent fragility, and thinking on that fragility simply reminded him of why he was here in the League's true headquarters today.
He started forward, a briskness to his stride as he walked towards one of the many hallways that existed within the Watchtower; his stride causing his red cape to billow behind him.
The Leagues floating space station had been a gift, donated by the Guardians of the Universe so that the Leauge would have a place to work away from outside influences. One of their most recent inductees: John Stewart, had aided Hal Jordan his fellow Green Lantern in bringing the orbiting satellite to the Earths gravitational field to establish the operations base for the League.
The size of the former Green Lantern installation was impressive, and every day it was being reworked by a few members of the League for one reason or another. The most recent addition being observed by Superman as he traversed one of the overhanging stone walkways to the League's main conference room, the botanical forest that had been planted thanks to Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and Hal Jordan's help coming into view.
The developing lush greenery helping to bring a sense of serenity to what would have been an otherwise cold and more technological installation.
The orbiting station came equipped with many advanced systems and technologies allowing for not only comfort, but survivability as well as development.
One such system being the sliding automated doors to the conference room, that opened to reveal that the current main roster of the entire Justice League was in attendance, and said doors quickly shut behind the 'Man of Steel' as he entered the chamber.
'Well…almost full roster.' Clark thought despondently.
The room was almost completely full; with Black Canary, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Flash, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Hal Jordan and John Stewart the League's two Green Lanterns, Martian Manhunter-J'onn J'onzz, Red Tornado, Superman himself, Wonder Woman, and Giovanni Zatara all being in attendance.
The topic of their discussion… being their only missing member…
The raised voices over the very topic of their discussion pulled Superman's attention from his own thoughts, and from the information he was considering that he knew had to share with the room at large.
All his fellow members were currently assembled around their U-shaped stone table, that had recently been installed by the very man they were currently discussing.
Batman had designed the table with democracy in mind for the League, outfitting it with holographic projection technology which would allow the League at large to not only vote on the issues that they would likely discuss; but to also allow all members to be privy to any information that would be needed when actually dealing with any said issues.
'It's certainly bound to get some serious use today Bruce.' Superman thought morosely to himself as he took his seat next to Wonder Woman, who seemed to be doing her best to curb her own budding temper as the small shouting match ensued before them.
BANG
"You've Gotta Be Kidding Me! The man's been accused of Murder for god's sake! Give me leave to go down to his city, and drag him from it! Don't any of you realize how serious this situation is?! Him being implicated in this, reflects poorly upon All of us!" Captain Atom stated as he stood from his chair, his right hand coming down upon the table in a hammer fist; causing a loud clap to ring out as his gloved hand impacted it.
'Thank heavens Bruce reinforced the table with Zatara's help.' Superman thought as he locked eyes with said magician, the man's thoughts clearly aligned with his own if the small tug at the corner of his lips was anything to go by.
Captain Atom's outburst was met with rebuttal from the only other member of the League without any inherent superpowers.
"How about you take it down a notch their Skippy. Batman's one of us. Does the situation look bad? Absolutely. But you haven't fought side by side with the man before…I have. He's rough around the edges, there's no doubt about that. But to outright murder someone? No. I don't believe that. He's a goddamn hero, and We owe it to him as a part of the League to let him share his side of things with us before we try to pass judgement."
Green Arrow's words were met with a slightly mixed review, as a few members kept solid and stoic looks on their faces while others started to nod along at a slow pace.
Captain Atom, however, wouldn't be deterred and spoke out again.
"That's rich coming from you. Your past work is just as mired in controversy, if not more so than Batman's own. Don't think that I or the others haven't looked up your so called 'Good' deeds. The beginning of your career is something fit to be made into a slam dunk of a Grand Jury case. Assault with a deadly weapon, Criminal Menacing/Mischief…the list goes on for a spell. As far as I'm concerned... you're just as dangerous and unhinged as Batman is."
A small hush fell over the conference room at Captain Atom's words and Green Arrow actually edged to stand up, but a hand to the forearm with a look from Canary saw him take a deep breath before looking at his verbal attacker again.
"Ya know…if you had a problem with me... all you had to do was say 'Let's take it to the training room.' I'd be happy to knock the crap out of you, Ya platinum coated military attack dog."
Green Arrow's rebuttal saw Captain Atom's visage take on an offended edge, but both men were cut off by the Scarlet Speedster quickly interjecting into the conversation.
"Alright Guys That's Enough! Same team Remember?!"
Just like that, the atmosphere in the room settled down to a more manageable level, though Flash was far from done speaking.
"The first thing to take away from that whole exchange is that we All need to remember to keep our tempers in check. In case you all forgot? We're in a space station. We can't just go around wanting to have a superpower smack down every time one of us gets some hurt feelings. The second thing to take away from all that, is that Ollie's right. Batman is one of us. I too have fought beside him, on multiple occasions. He's helped me with detective work for my city more times than I can count, and time and again he has proven that while his methods may at times be a tad extreme…he has his heart in the right place. The beginning of his career is in fact dark…but he hasn't been like that for a looong time. What we need to be focused on is our response to the general public. I'm sure that things are only gonna be made more difficult for us until the final answer of this comes about. One way or the other." Flash said with an impassioned voice, his gaze coming to settle on Superman's at the end.
Superman directed a small smile at Flash, thankful that he had stepped in to be the voice of reason.
'Thankfully for once it didn't have to be me.'
Superman brought his right hand up to his mouth before clearing his throat, gearing himself up for the length that this would most likely take as they went over everything.
"Thank you Flash. Listen…I understand. Truly I do. This situation is far from ideal. One of our own has been brought into question over their supposed conduct, and like it or not…that possible behavior reflects upon all of us due to association. The President has already made it quite clear through the grapevine, as well as through our liaison to the White House that he expects this situation to be resolved quickly and concisely. It's election year ladies and gentlemen. The President has always supported the League unflinchingly. With that being said…this is a serious problem for not only us; but for the President himself. With his first term coming to an end and his hopes for reelection, if this doesn't end favorably…it'll wind up being a serious battle for all of us going forward. Batman is fully aware of this, and has already sent over a briefing packet, along with what information he was able to gather from the crime scene that he inadvertently became a part of. I went ahead and gave a blanket statement to our liaison with the White House as well as our liaison with the UN disavowing Batman's involvement with the League until further notice." Superman said as he held up a flash drive, showing his intent to plug it into the holo deck.
After a moment for download time, each League members personal screen powered down before the larger projector under the bottom at the center of the 'U' table came online to project a much larger screen for all of them to witness together.
The entirety of the League remained quiet as the scene from Batman's personal cam played the events for the recording of his own work on the evening of May 20th.
Batman and Robin had been on patrol and had wound up engaged in a conflict with a newly debuted villain calling himself the "Riddler".
The timestamp for the beginning of the ordeal marked Batman and Robin engaging the newest apparent villain in Batman's rogue's gallery at 2000 or 8:00 pm EST, and the conflict carried on until just shortly after 2145 or 9:45 pm EST.
The man had been in a garishly colored two-piece green shaded suit, with a purple tie, and purple tinted glasses to match. His gimmick seemed to revolve around puzzle themed riddles, as he held a specialty shop called 'Yester Toys' hostage.
Fortunately for all the innocent people involved Batman and Robin had foiled the Riddler's plans, though the madman had slipped away in the chaos caused by one of his puzzle-based traps.
The cam footage continued with Batman dropping Robin off, before then continuing out into the night to follow a lead that Riddler had inadvertently left behind during the hold up.
Riddler had actually left a functioning PDA behind, and it had given Batman and Robin the chance to hack into it; and by doing so they had found Riddler's backer… an alleged former mobster by the name of Chuckie Sol.
Apparently, the man had been looking for anyone and everyone he could to build an off the books set of connections to eventually throw at Batman.
Batman went ahead and quickly tracked and triangulated where the gangster's phone was using the preexisting messages, and then made his way to the high rise-based casino towards the center of Gotham where the man was in the process of working on a plot to make and launder new money for his own ends.
The man hadn't been alone, and Batman had been forced to deal with a little over half a dozen men before being able to take chase after Sol as he fled the scene.
That was where things took the dark turn, and led them all to the situation that they now found themselves in.
Batman had arrived at the parking garage and found that the minor outside cement wall had been broken, and when Batman ran to the edge of the building, he found that a car had crashed through said wall and fell at least half a story into the secondary connector garage.
The car was already overturned and alight with flame by the time Batman's cam brought it into focus, before it quickly erupted into a blazing inferno of an explosion.
The body cam then showed that a few people scattered throughout the secondary levels of the neighboring garage, as well as a few from the literal ground floor had camera's trained on not only the incident as it was unfolding…but Batman himself.
Batman quickly took samples of broken glass from the scene, a scattered license plate confirming the car to be Sol's, as well as a half sliced through handgun and some bullet casings, before he turned and saw a shadowy figure at a nearby stairwell.
A brief dash forward and the view of the cam showed nothing but an already empty stairwell, minus a small trail of evaporating smoke.
Batman quickly moved to the security room stationed back on the inside of the casino floor…
Only to find the attending monitors and towers inside broken, and the guards that were meant to be watching them dead.
The feed then showed Batman's return to his base of operations (sans the actual trip there), before it got into the breakdown of what evidence was available.
Batman's voice became audible over the video feed as he went over said evidence.
"There's a chemical residue on the pieces of windshield from Sol's car. Some kind of… long-chain macromolecular polymer…adaptogenic of course. The piece of the handgun is cleaved perfectly, the edges only being cracked at the curve of the cut. My guess is that the assailant came at the swing from below at an upward angled strike, and the force of the blow threw off the last of the force. I'll have to look into something along the lines of what I use for my batarangs…as only a specific kind of material is capable of holding the necessary monomolecular edge needed to ensure it didn't leave any fragments behind. Unless of course the assailant took the scattered pieces with them. I'll have to revisit the site when possible, to further test my hypothesis. Log end of initial analysis."
The air in the room was still as the video feed came to an end, a new kind of tenseness having settled over the room in the wake of not only Batman's analytical findings, but the prior and now clearly unnecessary aggression.
"…Well…I guess that clears that right up doesn't it. Tell me again, what was it you wanted to do Atom?" Green Arrows voice rang out, the smugness clear for all of the League to hear.
Before the room could devolve into any kind of bickering Wonder Woman's voice filled the conference room.
"Enough! We will not fall back into that nonsense from earlier. Clearly Batman is not at fault, and that is something that we all should be glad for. The last thing we need is any one of us turning to that kind of path."
Diana's words settled over the room taking any developing fight out of Captain Atom while Green Arrow stood down, though Atom still looked as though he wanted to argue.
'Though I'm willing to bet that smug look Arrow has doesn't go away any time soon.' Superman thought with only a slight amount of humor before taking the reins of the conversation again.
"Thank you, Wonder Woman. As clearly shown, Batman is already on the move to handle bringing the true culprit of the now known multiple murders to justice. With that being said…Batman is the one who gave me the go ahead to deliver the message to our liaisons with the White House and the UN. He's asked us to continue on as normal, until such a time as he is able to provide All of the evidence and the actual culprit so that he can prove his own innocence. He has already made it explicitly clear that while Robin will remain true to his typical training schedule, he will Not be involved with any field work that Batman does for the duration of this investigation."
Every member of the League (minus Red Tornado as he was unable to emote) looked relieved to hear the final bit of the statement, some even looking like they released small sighs of relief.
Green Arrow once again spoke out after Superman delivered that bit of news.
"Well, that's good news at least. Speedy was wondering how this whole thing would be affecting Robin. I'll give him the go ahead to reach out, if that's alright?"
Superman smiled slightly at the Emerald Archer while nodding.
"I'm sure both Robin and Batman would appreciate that Arrow."
The Flash quickly kicked on to that train as well.
"I'll have Wally go ahead and do the same. Those two really hit it off on the joint fight we had in Central against Cold and Joker."
Again, a round of small smiles seemed to grace the faces of almost every Leaguer present.
'Slowly but surely the young are stepping up, getting ready to stand beside us. Thankfully that business with Speedy being taken was resolved, and with Robin being sidelined it's not likely to happen a second time. God only knows what Bruce would do if Dick was taken?' Superman thought with a small shake of his head, not willing to entertain those morbid thoughts.
Aquaman surprisingly spoke next, bringing everyone's attention onto him as he piggybacked off of the other's statements.
"I hope that the young one is understanding of this situation. My own apprentice… Kaldur'ahm…would most probably have a hard time being benched in such a manner. Especially if such a thing were to happen so recently as the beginning of his own journey has just commenced."
Superman reflected on that as many of the League shared optimistic looks with the King of Atlantis as he seemed to fall into a reflective stance as he thought about his own protégé.
The mood of the room changed back to business however, as Wonder Woman cleared her throat before speaking.
"Due to all that is happening, is it not a good idea for us to discuss possibly setting up a rotation between some of us so that we can in fact aid Batman with taking care of Gotham while he deals with this incident?"
...Let it be known that everyone in the League had a deep respect for Wonder Woman…
But the question was met with derisive snorts, and even a small amount of snickering.
Diana clearly didn't appreciate it.
"What is so funny about my question?"
Surprisingly it was Hal Jordan who took the role as the head speaker.
"With an absolute monsoon of respect Wonder Woman…I think your forgetting just exactly who we're talking about here. Mr. 'Gotham is MY city Batman'. There's absolutely zero chance that he'd be alright with anybody showing up to help out. Regardless of the situation he's in." Hal said while adding an attempt to imitate Gotham's caped crusader.
Superman felt bad as he hadn't been able to get to the next part that had also been added to the info packet that Bruce had forwarded to him.
'That and you can't be upset with Hal or even John for not knowing…since they're both routinely off world.' Superman thought as he quickly punched in a few holographic keys clearing the screen of Batman's investigative notes…
Only to replace the single viewing window with multiple smaller ones that he'd be able to digitally enhance when needed.
Superman knew for a fact that each of them not only had their own areas of responsibility along with their group duties…
'But we all also have lives of our own. So really anyone that isn't in the know can be forgiven for being out of the loop.' Superman thought as he brought up a still framed and enhanced picture of the hero called All Might, which gained a varying set of looks from everyone at the table.
'Though clearly the general look is that of confusion.' Superman noted realizing that he was probably the only one truly in the know about All Might, since Batman had asked for his own opinion on one of the videos in the data package he was about to share with the League.
"For those of you that Don't know…this is the hero that goes by the moniker of All Might. He is currently staged and works out of Gotham City."
…
…
Predictably, it was Hal that responded first by shaking his head and then followed up with a question as he faux cleaned one of his ears.
"I'm sorry. You… wanna run that by me again? Because I think I just heard you say that there's someone other than Batman working out of Gotham City. But the thing is…I know that that's bag of cats crazy; because there's literally zero chance that that's possibly happening. So, what did you really say?"
A few of the League's members (specifically those that were more disposed to being calm) leveled slight looks of disparagement upon their first Green Lantern, while some others were in the exact same place and were showing looks of complete astonishment at the news. (Or in Captain Marvel's case, a slight bit of amusement at Hal's wording.)
Said hero actually sided with Hal and immediately spoke up.
"Yeah! Everyone knows that Batman doesn't want help when it comes to Gotham! The few times anyone has helped…well… he… does the whole…glare…thing." Captain Marvel blurted out in a boisterous voice, before reining in his tone and tapering off seemingly uncomfortable with all the attention his minor outburst had attained.
'That or he thinks Bruce will find out about what he's said…'
Superman actually found himself having to suppress a shiver at the thought of it.
He may not say it out loud, but Superman knew that Batman saw him as a friend.
'Maybe? Probably. He wouldn't… Actually, spy on all of us… would he?'
Superman pulled himself out of that particular train of thought as Flash spoke up.
"I'm with Captain Marvel on this. This is a joke, right?"
Superman gestured at the floating holographic screen, which not only highlighted a relatively close shot picture of the aforementioned hero but a blue glowing typed list.
Even with how grainy the quality was for the particular photo, the glowing highlighted blue writing next to the photo was relatively clear.
Superman pressed down on another of the holo buttons, and again the conference room was filled with Batman's voice as the written words were played out as the caped crusaders dialogue once again started up.
"Subject of Study: The Hero calling himself All Might. Subject has demonstrated vastly enhanced physical capabilities, as well as a skillful array of hand-to-hand combat techniques; ranging from, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Judo, Jujitsu, and even some improvised moves that seem to originate from Pro-wrestling. Subject also carries an assortment of armaments not unlike myself, ranging from: Blasting capsules, Electrical capsules, Trap glue capsules, a line launcher with an unknown cord length, and a small carrying pack that seems to hold not only secondary methods for detaining subjects such as zip ties, but also seemingly carries an unknown amount of assorted medical supplies."
As each point was brought up by Batman's voice, slowly still framed pictures cycled through view. Each picture detailing the remains of, and or a capture of said tool listed being used by the hero in question.
Batman's voice picked back up shortly after the cycle of the other tools, to then branch out into multiple pictures of a singular tool.
All Might's primary tool. His shield.
"Subject's primary tool/weapon seems to be this shield, of currently unknown origin. Said shield has been seen to leave gashes in concrete and even the metal of vehicles alike. Whether this is down to the strength of the wielder, the strength of the material of the shield, or just a combination of both has yet to be fully determined. Said shield has also been seen taking on a vastly different array of calibers of gun fire, as well as a case of a direct explosion; with none of it even seeming to leave a scratch upon said implement. The usage of said tool also leaves interpretation up for debate about whether said wielder possesses a kind of magnetism manipulating ability…"
The gathered League's faces were all varying between impressed, intrigued, and even slight concern.
Superman upon the still frame pictures ending pressed a new holo key and slowly over the course of a few minutes, each of the assorted small videos played. Each of them varying in degree of length and quality, showing that All Might was in fact quite active as the setting also varied via the time stamps for the videos.
All Might doing battle with a simple street mugger and handling him with ease…
All Might dealing with an assembled assortment of gang members, dismantling them in a quick if slightly brutal fashion…
All Might running into a burning building, only to come running out over a period of time as he carried survivors out…
All Might easily running alongside and also outpacing vehicles…fast moving vehicles…
An assortment of clips of All Might's fight with Solomon Grundy…
But those weren't the only videos that played either.
Video footage of All Might supplying first aid measures to injured civilians…
Footage of the young man seemingly comforting someone as they openly wept…
All coming to the final montage of clips where there was footage of All Might embracing individual officers of the GCPD via body cam footage from the officers themselves.
At the end of the assorted video files Superman hit the main holo key to bring down the main projector and took in the faces of his fellow hero's.
The looks were all set somewhere between shock, and being impressed, with only a few outliers.
The literal few being Hawkman and Hawkwoman, who even with their full headdress style masks seemed more contemplative than anything.
"As you can see, Gotham will hopefully be in good hands while Batman is unfortunately sidelined due to the publics current perception of the situation. We will continue as normal, and hopefully Batman will be able to deal with the situation without any escalation and will rejoin us quickly."
Superman went to speak again to cover other aspects of what this all meant but was cut off surprisingly by Red Tornado.
"Superman. I propose a query. Why is it that Batman has these existing files upon this seemingly young hero?"
Superman resisted the urge to pinch his nose in frustration, having spoken openly with Batman about what showing the League the video files could lead too.
'I'm not concerned. Let them ask and share my concerns with the League. When I'm finished with this, if anyone wants to speak about it further…they know where to find me.'
'You're not the one having to justify your paranoia this time Bruce.' Superman thought to himself slightly annoyed, before taking a breath to address Tornado's question.
"Batman feels…that introducing a hero with meta-abilities into Gotham's already volatile environment is a serious problem. He believes that given enough time, All Might's presence will attract even more powerful villains to Gotham's borders and cause a severe escalation of hostilities. Batman has been and is hoping to speak to All Might; to ask him to move his crime fighting career to another city. Any other city really."
Silence reined for a short time in the conference room, before the silence was broken by a small snort of amusement from Hal.
Upon realizing that everyone was looking at him, said Green Lantern spoke out.
"I'm sorry! I really am. But…it's… just, so damn funny to me. I mean c'mon! I'm not the only one that see's the morbid humor in this right? Batman's concerned that All Might's presence will make things worse in Gotham?! Sorry…no… Ya know what… Not Sorry. Gotham can't get much worse. And if it's going too, it's not because of some new hero setting up their turf. Period. Hell, I applaud the guy, I really do. He's done what one of us should have done a long time ago honestly. Looks like he's been pretty damn successful too, might I add. At least if the video footage is anything to go by."
Hal's small tirade washed over the other members of the League, but others were quick to give their own opinions on the overall subject.
The holo display lit back up, and no one could say that Batman hadn't been thorough in his investigative efforts over All Might.
Black Canary quickly brought up the registry of information from the beginning picture, and took note of what was, and what wasn't present on the sheet.
"It lists here All Might's perceived top speed and strength…but it's listed as 'at this moment'. Maybe that's why Batman is concerned, and to be frank about it if that's the case I'd honestly say that has every right to be. Most of us, even though we've never had any hands-on experience with them, know enough to say that while Batman's villains are in fact threats; theirs only a couple of them that actually have anywhere near the same kind of physicality that All Might himself seems to boast. That could lead to serious injuries if the hostilities increase as Batman thinks they will. Then there's the gear that he uses, which bears consideration. Regardless of what age he actually is, where could he possibly be getting explosives is another thing to worry about. From the information listed Batman only has a general idea of where All Might could currently be set up. With everything else, if he does in fact have magnetic powers on top of all of that…it's not so farfetched to be worried about him. While he may not know where he's stationed as of yet, it might not be such a terrible idea to find out."
This statement was quickly followed by a clearing of the throat from one of the Leagues more stoic members…Hawkman.
"I have a feeling about something…and If I'm correct, then it's a lot worse than you may be believing Canary."
The other members of the League looked upon the Thanagarian as his words settled, though his wife was quick to try and interject.
"Katar…"
Her attempted rebuttal was met with firm resistance though.
"No Shayera. They need to know. They need to understand how serious this can become."
For a moment the atmosphere in the room changed again, as the tenseness and unease in Hawkman's voice registered with all of the other members of the League.
Giovanni Zatara's cultured voice pierced the uncomfortable veil that had settled over the Leagues meeting.
"Forgive me Hawkman, Hawkwoman. But…what specifically do we need to know?"
The two Thanagarians locked eyes for a moment before Hawkman let out a heaving sigh, before he pushed on with his explanation.
"My wife and I…we…well we are relatively sure that All Might doesn't have a magnetism related power. We believe he is able to use his shield that way…because it is made of Nth metal."
Superman saw that the vast majority of the Leagues member's eyes widened slightly upon Hawkman's admission; the only ones whose visages hadn't shifted being Captain's Atom and Marvel, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.
Though the latter two did look far more curious than the former two.
"Just great…" John Stewarts voice choked out as he brought his left hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, clearly showing his own frustration with the information.
The Green Lantern's words drew Captain Marvel's attention, and he then took that as his own chance to speak.
"Well, what's the big deal? It can't be That bad… right?"
Seeing the looks upon the other Leaguers faces, seemingly killed what optimism Captain Marvel had been trying to interject into the situation with his tone.
"Mio Dio. Captain…You may not know this, but Nth metal; is one of the strongest and most versatile substances in the Universe. The fact that Nth metal artifacts are bound to their user, and that it seems to be in the hands of someone seemingly righteous; is the only reason I am not suggesting that we go to Gotham this instant and try and take it from All Might. But with that being remarked upon, it is something that needs to be recognized as a serious note of value when considering this young man. You two obviously have the best understanding of it. Can you actually tell from looking at it that it is in fact a(n) Nth metal shield and that he doesn't in fact have a magnetism power?"
Zatara's question drew everyone's eyes towards the two Thanagarians, and while both looked slightly uncomfortable Hawkwoman was quick to answer the question.
"We're 95% certain."
The admission caused the magician and the Green Lanterns to look worried in equal measure and picking up on it Black Canary spoke out.
"Okay, well for those of us that aren't as in the know…can you tell us why All Might having a shield made of this Nth metal is so worrying?"
The Thanagarian couple exchanged a solid look for a moment, and the hesitation that they showed…however small it was actually put Superman on edge. Even if only a little.
"Nth metal is unique in that it is a 'disrupting force'. More specifically it's interaction with disrupting Gravity. Not only when forged does the metal have an extremely high durability, but the implement once bonded to a host has the potential to grant its wielder a variety of possible extra abilities. The most general of those abilities being that the wielder will be able to fly unassisted."
The tone while severe didn't have as great of an effect as the Hawk's had been hoping, as Green Arrow spoke out.
"Well, I mean hey that's great for him and all…but we've got plenty of people in here who can fly. Sooo…why are some of you acting like the guys carrying a WMD on his arm?"
Hawkman's piercing gaze locked onto Arrow's.
"I was explaining Exactly why, until you interrupted me."
"…Ah…carry on then."
Hawkman looked like he wanted to throw his mace at Green Arrow, before his wife placed her right hand on his left shoulder; seemingly calming him down and allowing him to get back on track.
"Besides unassisted flight, it is possible for Nth metal to be capable of giving its wielder a list of other abilities. To be honest even we don't know what will come of it, as it's appeared differently for every wielder, if at all. It hasn't happened in every case but the wielder gains not only the flight along with the ability to survive in the vacuum of space, but the gravity negation also in essence grants a level of super strength with no currently established upper limit. Other abilities that have manifested have ranged from energy absorption, a type of survival field that allows the wielder to survive in even the most intense kinds of varying climate, regeneration of varying degrees going so far as to even restore a lost limb, and in one case even mimetic abilities were demonstrated as we've seen Nth metal grafted to someone as use for a new limb. Those… along with the fact that Nth metal naturally disrupts magical energies."
At the last remark Superman noticed that all the other Leaguers were now laser focused on the Hawks, all with varying degrees of shock or worry on display.
Red Tornado was the next to interject into the matter, as the android brought the holo interface back up and cycled through each of the clips of All Might provided by Batman before speaking.
"Thus far, any or all of this young hero's apparent abilities can be classified as being generated by that shield then. To take it away would seemingly leave him powerless…and thus I calculate that our earlier estimation and worry are unnecessary. Removing his primary tool could very well remove any possible threat he could pose."
Many sitting at the table murmured their agreement, though both Hawks shook their heads before Hawkman spoke again.
"Even if he is physically separated from the shield, we have to assume that like any other that has had the effects appear, that he'll still have access to his abilities if we attempt a separation. That's what it means to be bound to the Nth metal. Furthermore, it would take a great distance of separation to even have that scenario come into play without outright killing the wielder, and as you can clearly see from some of the video evidence All Might already shows his connection and understanding with the way that he can summon and control the shield. My wife and I are both able to do the same with our maces…as you all well know. That...and your beliefs are not as foolproof as you think. That lightning has nothing to do with the shield. At least as far as I'm aware. It would require more study."
A round of nods or small affirmations met Hawkman's statement, until Green Arrow cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Listen. I understand being concerned and all that…but why are we talking like this guy is an enemy? As far as I'm aware there's plenty of hero's popping up out there that aren't a part of the League, and some of them thus far seem like they've got even more power than All Might does. At the end of the day, we're all on the same side, right? I'm not saying we shouldn't be aware, or even that we shouldn't be concerned. But the way we were just talking is like we're about to go to war with the guy. Maybe we should take a step back from this for a minute, and figure out a way to get a better read on him before we start making any kind of threat assessments?"
Green Arrows words drew a smile from Superman, as he had been thinking along the same lines. Black Canary clearly supported the motion as well as she too smiled at the Emerald Archer, before stepping into his role as the main speaker.
"Arrow's right. And even better I can easily do some reconnaissance on all of this without necessarily drawing Batman's attention or ire. Ted Grant is like an uncle to me, and more than that he helped train me. He's based out of Gotham, and I can pack a bag and go there for a while; work behind the scenes while I get an overdue visit in. If anyone can give me an estimation on how All Might's presence has affected the city, it'll be Ted. I may even get the chance to meet All Might, and then I can give you my own personal estimation on him. What I'm truly curious about circles back to what Tornado asked. Why is this such a big deal in the first place? Why is Batman treating All Might like he's already an enemy?"
Black Canary's final question seemed to sober the room, and the reactions were once again a very mixed bag.
Clearly the Hawks and Zatara were still hung up about All Might's shield being a part of the equation and were barely invested or worried about Batman's clear paranoia as to them it was seemingly warranted.
Captain Marvel, Flash, Green Arrow, J'onn, Red Tornado and himself were clearly focused on Canary as the air settled.
Captain Atom, The Lanterns, and Wonder Woman had all set themselves into a slightly more reserved form of countenance.
Superman did his best to withhold letting out another sigh, before hitting a few more holographic keys to bring up the next set of pages…
Clearing up why Batman had concerns about escalation.
The new assortment of digital pictures and video clips depicted not only All Might, but his partner as well. The Huntress.
The air in the conference room only stilled for a moment before Hal broke the silence with an absolute deadpan tone.
"Are you kiddin me?"
Hal was quickly cut off by Wonder Woman speaking up.
"What is there to kid about? As far as I'm concerned, it is wonderful to see another sister taking up arms against the evil that mounts in man's world. Especially in Gotham. The world can always use more heroes." Diana said with an impassioned voice.
The other female Leaguers had smiles on their faces as they nodded their own agreements to Wonder Woman's words.
Hal quickly brought both hands up palms facing out as he defended himself.
"I didn't mean anything about that! I just can't believe that this is not only happening, but that it's happening two-fold! I mean c'mon! Bats has gotta be losing his mind!" Hal said, his tone turning towards laughter as he finished his statement.
'This part of the explanation will certainly back that thought up.' Superman thought with a frown as he cycled to Batman's initial investigation page for Huntress…
…While also displaying the pictures from the medical report of the perp she chased on her first night out.
What quickly followed that would be any and all relevant video footage of Huntress, most of it showing her alongside All Might.
"Subject of Study: The vigilante taking the moniker of Huntress. Subjects first recorded night of activity still leaves me to doubt her true intentions. Clear use of lethal/deadly force noted. Subject has since been seen operating side by side with other Subject of Study: All Might. It is my belief that All Might has taken Huntress into his confidence in an attempt to curb her enthusiasm. Time will tell if that is successful. Unfortunate name aside…Huntress has displayed exceptional athleticism, as well as excellent marksman skills. Possible connection to Green Arrow? Will reach out when given more time to determine if there's any connection. Huntress has shown that amongst her array of gadgets/weapons she carries: one large repeat enabled crossbow, two small handheld repeat enabled crossbows, collapsible Bo staffs, collapsible night sticks, and an assortment of capture tools including the same capsules that All Might deploys. Only now carrying said capture tools due to partnership? Will need a chance for interrogation to determine the truth. Initial perpetrator encounter resulted in said perp being sent to Blackgate Penitently with a permanent limp, as well as permanent scarring. Will endeavor to set up a meeting with this new addition to the city as well. That and the other female. End of log."
The end of Batman's newest log saw Green Arrow speaking out.
"Ya know…just because she's using a type of bow doesn't automatically mean that I trained her…"
Black Canary touched Arrows shoulder at his words, while the others had their own reactions.
"I'm sorry wait, Another female? What?" Hal asked out loud.
Flash and Captain Marvel both snickering at both the fact that Arrow seemed to be taking Batman's thought's a bit personally, and that Hal seemed to slowly be losing his own grip on reality.
Captain Atom however made his presence known because of it, the laughter in the room setting the former military man off.
"I'm so glad that you think this is funny! Just another example of someone stepping over the line! This needs to be addressed!"
Superman saw Diana's face take on a slightly more pronounced scowl, looking as though she would tear into their atomic member.
Everyone was shocked when J'onn's deep voice reverberated around them as he spoke out.
"Peace, Captain. As is clearly shown, this young…Huntress…has yet to have truly caused any serious harm. Apparently, all in thanks to All Might. While yes, I do not condone what happened to the first man she dealt with; Huntress clearly has an example to now follow in her partner. Perhaps…that was all that she needed." J'onn said as he took a turn manipulating the holographic display.
After cycling through pictures and what available footage there was to be had, J'onn spoke again.
"It is clear to me that the young woman is passionate. You can see it in the way that she fights, the way that she moves, even in the way that she speaks. Clearly this is a young woman who has been wronged, and she has turned to this way of life to face her demons. Who are we to say that she cannot do so, when no one actually asked any of us to take up the mantle?"
J'onn's words saw small smiles developing across the faces of half the assembled League, while the others simply seemed to be thinking on said words.
Superman cleared his throat after a moment, drawing everyone's attention back to him again.
"All of the points that have been brought up are in fact good ones. For the time being we will continue on as we have. I think it goes without saying that I'm quite sure that we'll be cycling back to these conversations again in the future. For now though, all we can do is keep a weather eye on the horizon. That's our job is it not? Now…does anyone have anything that they need to report?" Superman asked as he banished the existing holograms from view.
As the meeting continued with some of the League members speaking of things to keep an eye on, Superman couldn't help but have one last thought about one of their previous topics of discussion.
'I hope that everything turns out all right…'
GOTHAM CITY – DIAMOND DISTRICT: BLACK MASKS OFFICE
May 22nd, 2008. 1420(2:20 PM) EST
Black Mask's POV:
He could only sit and laugh.
He'd reach over every once in a while, and take a sip of some bourbon while keeping his eyes trained on the papers that sat scattered across his large desk.
'Both of em' are doing all the work for me. You can't make this shit up.' Black Mask thought as he finished signing a memo that he wanted Li to make up into an email to send off to one of his contacts. His thoughts centered on the two heroes of Gotham who seemingly kept handling his business for him.
'Both of em' just up and dropping my Bat sure as hell ain't gettin a thank you though.'
He brought his eyes up and turned to the left wall of his office, hitting a button on his large desk remote to open up the hidden compartment that had six large television screens. Each one had something different on it, but he muted five of them before upping the volume on the bottom center one that displayed a live news coverage from outside the GCPD.
'Well would Ya look at that.'
The camera displayed a large crowd gathered listening to young hotshot that he'd been considering reaching out to, the young city councilman Arthur Reeves.
"I'm telling you friends, it's vigilantism at its deadliest! How many times are we gonna let the Batman cross the line?! Regardless of his association with the so called 'Justice League'?!"
'He might be a little piss ant…but his Anti-Batman agenda works perfectly fine for me.' Mask thought as he watched the events unfold before him.
Behind the young councilman Commissioner Gordon stepped up, surprisingly with Harvey Dent and one of his own plants in the department Lieutenant Billy Eckhart standing at his side.
"I'm sorry Councilman, but you can't blame the Batman for what happened to Mr. Sol!"
"Why Not?! He's a loose cannon Commissioner! That's Not Just My opinion! A Lot of people… including some of your police I might add; think Batman's as unstable as the crooks he brings in! What kind of city are we running, when we depend on the support of a potential Mad Man?!"
Arthur Reeves had been pushing this line of thinking from the moment the incident had happened, and a part of him just couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing.
'Psycho was wound too tight, and finally snapped. Who would have thought?' Roman thought sarcastically as he muted the screen as it shifted to the next portion of coverage for the afternoon.
'Maximilian Zeus wins bid to take over Gotham's Airship initiative for the GCPD. I thought we killed that stupid brainchild of an idea in its crib?'
Roman stood as he shook his head while walking over to get a refill for his drink, the sound of his double doors opening drawing his gaze.
Li was walking into his office, though she was surprisingly accompanied by a second woman…
'A pretty hot fuckin woman if I do say so….' Mask thought as he allowed his eyes to drink his visitor in.
She stood at just a bit taller than Li, putting her at somewhere around 5'8 to 5'9 in height. Her dark brown hair had deep red highlights and was pulled up into a tight bun on her head with two brightly shining silver needles holding them in place. A pair of dark tinted sunglasses sat low on her slim nose, exposing a striking green pair of eyes set behind long lashes. The tight bright red dress she had on left almost nothing to the imagination as it tightly framed her voluptuous chest, lacked any sleeves, showed her tone midriff, and had a slit going down the right exposing a very long leg with a bright green tattoo on it, her red leather boots finishing her ensemble.
'That's either a snake or a dragon…I wonder just where that tattoo goes?' Roman thought as he did his best to keep his face set in a more professional demeanor.
He locked eyes with Li before speaking.
"Well, what, or should I say "who" do we have here? I wasn't aware I had any meetings planned for right now Ms. Li."
Fortunately, Li was never one for wasting time, and immediately filled in the blank for just who was standing in front of Roman.
"Our guest is one Ms. Veronica Sinclair." Li said, her voice coming out slightly clipped.
…
"Is that name supposed to mean something to me? Because I'm gonna be honest it doesn't."
Li was cut off from answering Mask's question.
"I'm sure it doesn't mean anything to you, at the moment; Mr. Sionis. That's why I'm here. I'd like to change that."
Her tone was seductive, but it carried an ambitious edge that Roman was distinctly familiar with.
'A shark, knows a shark.'
Roman moved to sit behind his desk, reclining his chair back a bit before gesturing at both women to take a seat; though Li did as always and came around to stand behind his right side.
His unexpected guest sat down, slowly bringing her right leg up over to cross over the left leg; and in doing so exposing a serious amount of skin.
'That sinful grin on her face shows she knows what she's doing…but it's gonna take more than some bimbo to get the drop on me.' Roman thought as he kept his sight focused on the woman's face.
Mask could just feel Li behind him, radiating aggression at their visitor; and said visitors countenance shifted between disappointment and then understanding before she finally spoke again.
"I've come with an offer. I own a local Casino here in Gotham, but we've fallen on some hard times lately. My mother...God rest her soul... wasn't necessarily bad at running the place… but she made a big mistake. She broke the cardinal rule. You never sample your own merchandise. She tried to up her personal takeaway, and it's jeopardized the business. The House always wins...and a casino is an expensive house. With that being said, I like to think of myself as… a visionary. I have a plan. A plan to bring in buukoo bucks, the real deal, a big-time cash flow. Gotham's a sinful city, Mr. Sionis. I think we should use that. If you'd be willing to back me…I'd be willing to bring you in on my plans."
Roman looked at the woman and allowed a few moments to pass. He picked up his glass and slowly swirled his bourbon, allowing her to sweat it out. He was always looking for new in's, of this there was no doubt…
'But you can't look overtly interested, especially when she's the one that's coming in and asking for something.'
After knocking back the last of his drink in his glass, he interlocked his hands on his desk as he focused on Ms. Sinclair.
"Well…you were brazen enough to come in here uninvited. So, I'll at least bite. What's your Big idea Ms. Sinclair?" Mask asked, doing his best to not let any skepticism seep into his tone.
The woman went from looking as if she'd been slapped to looking as if she was sucking on a lemon…
'Clearly I didn't regulate my tone well enough.' Roman thought, even though he couldn't care less if he'd offended her.
"My plan…is to open a gladiatorial arena. The world…but more so this city specifically... is obsessed with violence! If I can get this underground fight club open…we'll make a killing on bets! Think of it! With all the new freaks and weirdos popping up all over the place...not to mention the nice little stash of them sitting in Arkham? We'll have all the attraction we could ever ask for! All I need is a loan to get a new facility up and running. Enough to cover the close out cost for the old place, and the new facility. I can relocate most of the old assets and machines, and once the arena's open? I'm willing to guarantee that within a few months we'll be making enough money to expand. We can bring in girls…drugs…whatever the clients want or need." Veronica said, her voice starting out low before the excitement built up.
'Well…I'll say this much she's a hell of a promoter. And she is ambitious.' Mask thought to himself as he turned his chair sideways so that he could keep the woman in his line of sight while also taking in the sight of the cityscape.
He sat thinking it over for a few minutes.
He had plenty of capital to spare, and from the way she'd presented it; it almost sounded like it couldn't fail.
'But nothing's perfect…and I'm in a city with two super scumbags. Not to mention she essentially said she's expecting me to get her the gladiators.'
Roman could see that as the time stretched out the woman seemed to be getting antsy and was primed to speak again.
He quickly cut across her before she was able to get a new word out.
"I'll tell Ya what. You name the price, and I'll Anty up the dough. No problem. We'll see your grand vision put together. Buuut…here's the caveat. We're doing this as partners. It's gonna be 50/50, that's non-negotiable. And there's another part that's gonna be non-negotiable too…your gonna owe me forty percent back on top of every single red cent of that loan."
Roman watched the woman's slightly brown skinned complexion fade to almost a light white, before she quickly turned slightly red.
"Forty percent?! That's highway robbery!"
Roman locked eyes with the woman…and just let her sit again as a few moments went by while she took deep breaths.
He could see his watch, and after a literal two-minute span passed she seemed to shrink in on herself and averted her eyes from his.
"Let's be crystal... fuckin clear here. You…came to Me. You need what I got. Not the other way around. You don't like that tutz? You can walk your tight ass right out the door you barged your way in through. But if you do that, remember this…your still gonna wind up kicking up to me anyway. It'll just be a matter of time. But if and when that happens? I'm not just gonna take fifty percent…I'm gonna take about ninety percent. And then? I may just take you too."
At the end of his speech, he watched her face carefully, waiting for the moment that he knew she'd break. Was he being heavy handed? Absolutely. Did he give a rat's ass? Fuck no.
'Heavy is the head that wears the crown. And rest assured that I'm gonna be the fuckin King of this city.' Roman thought as he watched the woman.
A few more moments passed by…
Until finally she folded just as he knew she would.
"Deal. All together I'll need about twelve million."
Roman allowed a small grin to grace his face, before he stood up with his glass and filled another alongside it before walking over to Ms. Sinclair. She stood and he handed her the second glass before he toasted her.
Clink
"Don't you worry... little Ms. Roulette. This is going to be the start of a beautiful partnership."
AND Fin! Well, another one bites the dust, Ya'll! Upon finishing writing this before the editing process I realized that we just recently passed this fic's two-year Birthday/Anniversary! Can't believe it. I once again must thank all of you for taking an interest in this story. It really warms my heart to see the number of faves, follows, and All of the reviews I've gotten. (Except the straight up hate mail, Which I blatantly ignore.) I really hope that I have improved as a writer thus far and will do my best to continue to do so. I have sooo many plans, and it often hurts my brain to think about Lol. I have a question for Ya'll as my audience and please let me know what you think. I'm going to go ahead and spoil right now that there will be changes to season 1 canon of Young Justice when that applies, but with that being said I wanna clarify now that while Jack will be a part of the story it will remain mostly intact. I'm doing my best to do a believable Variant story, and in My personal opinion Variant stories don't always have to be completely off the rails to be good. In fact, I enjoy when stories remain close to canon, but are capable of telling a compelling and excellent addition. Jack's story will always intertwine with the Canon (as I'm trying to do now with all the buildup), but of that same token eventually this story will be focused upon him in the sense that he has His adventures that aren't actual canon for the show. I hope that I'm making sense. The most recent season of YJ was good in my opinion though there were things I personally would have done differently (as I'm sure most would say), but more importantly there were things that happened that forced me to evaluate some of my Own plans going forward. Some things that may have happened will now happen as according to the shows Canon, or at least as close to it as I can to make it believable. That is unless the Next season comes out and I hate what happens. At which case you may see my initial plans, and if that's the case there will be a note about it much like this one. This was more of a filler/buildup chapter, and while it wasn't what I initially had in mind I can't lie I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. I hope that I represented the characters well, and that you can see them acting as I portrayed them. For an example: When Hal Jordan speaks all I hear in my head is Nathan Fillion doing the lines and it makes me smile. Another point to make is that I hope you can hang on with all of the buildup. I know its ambitious to be going from where I'm at in the timeline to Canon timeline's beginning, but I'm pretty confident I can do this. That being said that's also another reason why this chapter happened, as a small affirmation that Yes; this is in fact the Young Justice verse. I've gotten a lot of private and Guest hate mail about how "This isn't Young Justice; I'm not seeing Any of the Characters from the Team!" A small reminder: This is in fact Fanfiction! If you haven't been looking at the date logs that have been in the story for a bit now...then I can't help you. Timestamp for Canon is 2010 which is Team Year Zero. So, Canon isn't for a smidge bit longer. There are some planned interactions, but they are small. Jack is one dude. Is he powerful? Sorta. Is he gonna be OP? Eventually. Massively so even. Especially if I can go forward with my plans. But Jack is not just gonna save the entire world right this moment...and he's not gonna singlehandedly save Gotham "forever" right now either...so for everyone who has been asking about That as well; please stop. The next couple of chapters may be a big change from my norm, as thus far this story has had chapters that are typically around 7,000 or words being the main body of the story. The next few chapters may be smaller as to space out this story ark, as it's gonna be very touch and go. I was Not planning on shoving the entirety of the MOTP storyline dawn ya'lls throats. If you haven't seen the movie, go to YouTube and you can literally watch pretty much the whole thing for free. Personally, it's one of my fave's. I hope everyone has been safe, happy, and healthy. Please don't forget that any serious questions comments or concerns are appreciated, and I will get back to you as soon as I can about them. Until next time Ya'll! This is Sojiro: Singing Off.