Unexpected Encounter

[Arnold POV]

I followed the talons for about an hour as they traversed through a maze of complex tunnels completely unaware of the fact that they were being followed. The court of owls was thorough, I'll give them that. If one had no prior experience of traversing this long underground labyrinth it would take a superhuman effort to find their headquarters.

Unfortunately for them, I was a superhuman. Eventually, I reached a gigantic stone gateway with an extremely elaborate image of an owl looking over the landscape carved into it. It had two gigantic statues depicting a talon holding a torch on either side. The eyes of the owl as well as the talons were accentuated with gold. And the owl's nest was adorned with diamonds. Seeing this, I thought 'Wow, these guys have horrible taste. I mean who the fuck puts diamonds on a granite door?'

The two talons stopped in front of the gate before moving towards the statue on the left side of the gate. The then proceeded to flip a hidden switch of some sort, causing the entire statue to move slightly to the right, revealing a hidden staircase underneath it. As the talons made their way into the hidden passage, I quietly followed. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairway, I heard the hidden doorway behind me close as I thought 'Looks like I'll have to get out the hard way.'

At this point, I stopped following the talons and began to explore the place on my own. Despite the hidden nature of the place, it was massive and I mean MASSIVE. It was filled with numerous hallways and rooms, all interconnected by a large network of tunnels. The rooms were well lit, as well as having at least two cameras per room. And after 30 minutes of walking around, I was lost as hell.

Currently, I was looking for one of three things. A surveillance room, from where I could figure out where to go, some sort of main power station that supplies power to this entire facility or or best of all, a hall where the court of owls conducts their meetings. It would be amazing if I walked in on them all assembled in a single room, for me to kill. These locations would allow me to cause maximum damage in the least amount of time. If the court was gathered, I could easily take care of these guys at the same time.As I walked through the tunnels, trying to find a way towards my three objectives, suddenly, a lightning fast kick came my way. Just before it could make contact with me, it came to a grinding halt.

'How the fuck?! The veil is still up! How the fuck did someone find me?' as these thoughts were running through my head, I turned to look at who or what exactly had attacked me. To my utter shock, I saw Batman, with a batarang in his hand, ready to throw it at me.

Before he could do so, I cancelled the veil and whispered, in a sharp voice "Hey! Wait, I'm friendly!"

This made Batman stop for a split second, before he asked me, in a threatening voice "Who are you?"

This made me realise that I had worn a different outfit for this occasion, and that Batman couldn't realise who I was.

I quickly explained "It's me, Mr. A Nostradamus. Y'know, from the invasion. I'm the guy that kicked Darkseid's ass. We had that really sweet moment where you injected me with Venom and I screamed a lot. Remember that guy?"

Batman seemingly bought this explanation and asked me "What are you doing here?"

I answered "Well, you can say it's complicated. One thing led to another, and now I'm in an underground cave with a man dressed as a Bat. What about you?"

After a moment of deliberation, Batman explained "I've received news of a highly sensitive matter concerning a case of trafficking that is about to take place here. As such, I'd like your assistance in taking down this operation. I assume you're aware of the court of owls?"

I replied "Super secret group of one-percenter assholes that try to secretly control the world? If that's what they are, then yes I've heard of them."

Batman replied "Good,then let's make our way to where the main gathering is to occur."

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[Batman POV]

I had recently received intel related to an auction that was to be held by the court of owls. This was nothing new, as the Court indulging in such events is commonplace, especially for them. As long as they stuck to their usual corporate bullshit or animal trafficking, it wasn't worth going out of my way to upset the balance of the planet just because someone committed tax-fraud.

But this time, it was something else, something I couldn't ignore. If true, what these guys were messing with could end up destroying the world. I couldn't allow this to happen. And so, I decided to tap phone calls, intercept any messages in frequencies I knew the Court used. I interrogated people I knew had connections to the court. It wasn't easy but, in the end, I got here. An underground base where this auction was supposed to be held.

To my surprise, Mr. Nostradamus was also here. This man was one of the only files on my work desk that I wasn't able to close despite searching repeatedly for a sign of him. After the banquet, where he declined our offer to join the justice league, he had just disappeared, almost as If he had never existed. This combined with the fact that he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives made me put his case at the bottom of my list of priorities.

But now, here he was, dressed in an all black hoodie and a blindfold that covered as much of his face as my mask covered mine. I knew for a fact that it was him, or at least someone he knew, as only the two of us knew about the fact that I had injected him with venom in order to resuscitate him, back during Earth's invasion.

I decided it would be the best to work with him for now. His strength would be an asset if the worst-case scenario ever occurred. Also, it would allow me to analyse his strengths and weaknesses to create a contingency in order to counter him.

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A/N: The plot thickens. Why do you think Batman is here? Is he finally going to meet his archnemesis Man. Are the Jonkler and Arnold going to fall in love? Find out next time on Ball Z.

PS: Imagine Arnold with this image, just blond hair, and the mask covers everything upto his nose.