1 Death & Life

USA | Gotham | 4:15 AM

-Prew!

Swinging through the ghastly air was the one and only Dark Knight of Gotham. His arms extended and holding tightly the grappling hook, he looked at the predicament he was in.

Just seconds earlier he was fighting on top of the famous Gotham Hospital highrise. The extremely tall building filled to the brim with patients was actually a battle ground at the very moment. From what Batman had gathered, a prominent drug dealer found himself hospitalized and a rival cartel came to take him out.

They would have done it too if he wasn't already in the building delivering a badly burnt child to the ER. Such a fateful coincidence that probably used up the last of the drug-dealer's luck in this lifetime.

Batman glared as he looked above him. The group of gang members pointed a gun at him as he stood hanging motionless. He could see them smiling even though it was quite dark.

"Hahaha! Looks like we've got a bonus this round!" One of them hollered as he elbowed the person next to him. The man holding the rifle.

The other man, clearly annoyed from the elbow jab, growled and said, "It seems we do."

…

USA | Metropolis| 4:16 AM

-Click Click Click

Clark Kent, also known as Superman, was typing away another story of how Superman saved the day once again. This time, it happened to be a superpowered junkie wanting more money for more drugs. She tried to rob a small gas station but something went wrong and she ended up killing the cashier.

Clark frowned at this part. Even though he was famed for having all the power in the world, he still couldn't save everyone.

Long story short, she was apprehended and was chained by a top secret government group. A group that Amanda Waller seemed to be the head of. This gave the Man of Steel a headache. Everytime he has been involved with Waller, it always happens to include an alien invasion, apocalyptic superhuman societies, or something of that sort.

Clark shook his head and looked at the time.

[4:17 AM]

He was currently 4-ish hours away from the deadline for this story. Taking another sip of his coffee, he continued to type away at his laptop.

'This story isn't gonna finish itself.' He hummed to himself in his usual cheery attitude. Even all-nighters couldn't drench his good mood. Because Clark, not the Man of Steel, nabbed himself a date for later tonight.

…

USA | Washington| 4:20 AM

"Breaking News!" A woman in professional attire announced to the microphone. "A flying debris is making its way into the Earth's atmosphere!"

She leaned into the microphone to clearly look at the words that were being displayed across the screen. Her eyes were dry nowadays and had trouble seeing from afar.

"Although Meteorologists have already identified the space rock, they deemed that it was far enough from the Earth to not be affected by its gravity. A sudden change, not one that they could explain, has altered its path and it's heading towards Earth as we speak. They suspect that it will land somewhere near Metropolis or even Gotham. The flight pattern makes it diffic-"

The reporter stopped talking for a couple seconds as she looked at the moving words across the screen. She did a double take just in case she read it right.

"We have more recent news, it seems like the justice league is currently trying to solve the current issue. People of Gotham and Metropolis, don't be alarmed, the justice league have their people on site. Be sure to tune in just in case we have more news. Next up…"

…

USA | OuterSpace | 4:23 AM

"It's 4 in the morning! Can't shit hit the fan a bit later?" A man glowing in a green hue complained as he looked at the gigantic asteroid. It was super smooth and shiny and didn't look like a space rock at all.

"Tell me about it." A caped crusader with lightning on his chest agreed.

'I didn't even get to practice my part for the group project.' The man thought as he shook his head. He was just hours from having to give the biggest presentation of his 9th grade year. Instead of practicing it like he was expecting to these last hours, he was protecting the world from a ginormous floating rock.

"This asteroid seems off. I can feel that something is alive in it." A green skinned man said, completely disregarding the other one's comment.

This was naturally Green Lantern, Shazam, and Martian Manhunter. They were the few league members that were available and the few that had a chance of dealing with the situation.

"This your Martian voodoo magic or-" Green Lantern cut himself off before finishing his sentence after feeling the unapproving gaze of the man who went head to head with Superman. "Now that I look at it, there's no way it's a space-rock. Nice observation Manhunter!"

Ignoring Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter faced Shazam. "I'll attempt to make a connection with it. If it reaches the Thermosphere, do what is required to save Gotham."

Without waiting for the other's word, the Martian closed his eyes and went through with the plan.

"The - uhhh thermosphere is what now?" Shazam asked as he regretted not paying attention in Fifth grade.

To this Green Lantern face-palmed hard. "How old are you again? Even a fifth grader would know this!"

Martian Manhunter's face started perspiration with sweat. A sight that the distracted duo didn't fail to recognize. They looked at each other wondering what to do. Through the countless missions they have been together as JL members, they've never seen the Manhunter sweat from telepathy.

"Is it alive?" Green Lantern asked. Although he was impulsive, he wasn't stupid. The Martian would never spend so much time trying to reach out to a space rock.

The duo looked at each other. This changed everything. This went from an easy situation to one with too many variables to count. What if the space rock was a space-ship of extraterrestrials hoping to invade earth? What if it was an escaping alien empire looking for a new home? What if it was a case of an evil Superman?

No one would know until it happened. Until it was too late to contain the damage.

"Green Lantern to Batman. We may have a bit of a problem." Green Lantern admitted.

Although they were one of the main-members of the JL, they had no authority to deal with these types of situations. Nor did they want to deal with these types of situations. Who'd want to be responsible for an alien invasion?

"What's the situation?" A gruff voice answered. It was clear he was getting shot at from the firecracker sounds in the background.

"Sorry to interrupt your little party and everything but the asteroid coming for Gotham is communicating with Martian Manhunter. He's sweating and he's not answering our questions...so what do we do?" Green lantern asked.

There were a series of shouts that came from the other end. After a couple seconds of hearing colorful words, the guns stopped.

"I'm coming right now." The voice on the other end said before ending the call.