Chapter Twenty Two

Dick grimaced. He hadn't meant to speak out loud, but the face behind the glass was a huge shock to him. Acting quickly, he knocked the lab tech out with a swift punch and approached the glass with caution.

His hair was long, but he had the same build and familiar features… there was something wrong though. His face was different slightly. The shape of the nose, the lift to the chin, and the curve of his eyes… This wasn't Conner Kent his friend for so many years. But was it another clone?

The mystery of the person in the pod was a tantalizing piece of information that Dick couldn't wait to understand but he turned his attention to the only other occupied pod in the room. The glass was frosted over and the face inside was obscured but the red and gold uniform gave Dick an inkling on who was inside.

As he wiped away the frost, Dick found that the man was older, hair completely grey and was sporting a full-fledged Santa beard but there was no doubt who he was by his features, "Barry Allen…"

Deciding that the speedster would probably be a great help at this moment, Dick ran back to the pod controls and initiated the release and wake up of the lab's two occupants. This was one of the reasons why he hated labs and hospitals, too many of his friends end up in them.

Soon the two pods depressurized and fog filtered into the room making it seem like a bad eighties movie about an experiment gone wrong.

---

Both Kara and Clark noticed when Dick left the aircraft, though she doubted anyone else would. Besides of course the Amazon, there was something about the older woman that inspired her. On Argo, society was very advanced but they still had their drawbacks when it came to the 'battle of the sexes'. There were many amazing women that shaped the way their planet ran that had notable achievements in science and technology and there were even many diplomats and dignitaries that had made great strides in her world that were all women... But not too many warriors.

Well, she guessed that wasn't entirely true, there was one woman that stood out… Faora, an infamous Kryptonian war criminal which was the second-in-command of a group called 'Sword of Rao'. A revolutionary movement founded by the war criminal General Zod. Together they nearly brought Krypton to its knees and were later banished by the council of elders, sending the criminals to the negative zone. But Diana was different. She is the living embodiment of what she wanted to become one day.

Shaken from her heroin worship by an explosion, Kara watched as a massive portal opened in the sky and a legion of creatures flew out. She had seen a portal like this before and she knew what it was called due to her education back on Argo… A Boom tube. This is an invasion from Apocalypse and that only means one thing. "Darkseid…"

She had to tell Clark!

After a few million Parademon landed on the already battle-worn earth, three women exited the portal as well. Kara recognized two of the three women that came out, she and Batman had battled them yesterday but one of the three, in particular, seemed to surprise Wonder Woman quite a lot.

"You!" Kara heard Diana's yell in outraged.

Mad Harriet smiled broadly at Wonder Woman in barely hidden glee, "Surprised to see me again… Princess? Yeah, you earthlings have shitty prison cells."

Diana had handed this green-clad woman off to the New Justice League earlier that day and was very surprised to see she hadn't even remained there twelve hours. What were they doing up there? Or had the lady in green tricked them somehow? It wasn't important. Shaking her head Diana would take her down as many times as needed.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves, I am Mad Harriet." The lady in green said doing a small curtsy.

"Lashina." The lady in black with silver outlining her breast hips and her joints said in mild boredom. While her face seemed to be bandaged like a bad 1940's mummy.

"STOMPA!" The massive lady proclaimed. She wore a yellow helmet with a skull insignia on her head. Donning a red jumpsuit and yellow gloves, as well as a yellow cape and black belt.

"We are three of Darksied's Furies and we are going to take you down!" Mad Harriet said with a sadistic gleam in her eyes.

Smirking at the literal army in front of them, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Powergirl stared back at them in derision.

Clark spoke first, "You can try." Before shooting directly into the legion, tearing apart their ranks as he went.

Quickly followed by Diana and Kara wreaking havoc in the newly formed army. They needed to take down the minions swiftly if they were going to get Bruce out of this alive. Diana was glad she had called Clark in on this.

Diana was still an Amazon warrior. She had her pride and didn't need a man or a woman to fight any of her battles. But she wouldn't turn down any help either. If Clark had stuck to his words and didn't assist them with the battle, she wouldn't have held it against him.

The most important thing was saving Bruce. The fact that this type of army stood between her and him… Finally made her come to a conclusion, she just hoped Bruce wasn't against the notion.

---

Bruce's horrified expression seemed to amuse the person wearing his son's body. With a light chuckle, he approached Bruce with steel in his eyes. If Bruce had been any other man other than himself this look might have made him shiver.

"What have you done?!" Bruce demanded.

"Do you really blame me, Detective? She betrayed you, her son, and now even me. I cannot tolerate such… Even from one of my own." Ra's said unsympathetically to the woman that was once considered his most precious person in the world.

Sneering at the man in front of him, Bruce spoke his words methodical and deliberate, "But she never actually betrayed me or my son, did she? You took possession of her and lured Damien into a trap. Then you use whatever method to convince her it was her decision."

Sighing, Ra's looked bored, "Always the detective. Regardless, these facts don't really matter, do they? Soon, I will take possession of your body and with your wealth and resources added to my own, I will be able to put my plans into place. No one will be able to stand in my way!"

"I will take that bet," Bruce said glaring daggers at the man.

"Oh, and who do you think could stand in my way? Your new protégé? Your old 'friend' Wonder Woman? Or Superman?" As Ra's spoke, screens of each individual fighting battles on Infinity Island lite up around the room.

Terry was in a room quickly filling up with greenish water, Diana in the thick of battle as one of Darkseid's Parademon bit into her neck, and Clark holding his own against two of the Furies. At least from the scenes, he was being shown they each seemed to be in a bad situation. Internally Bruce was a little anxious, but on the service, he stared at Ra's emotional unmoved.

"Do you really think this will make me panic? I've been through situations like this before, they might be in trouble now… But that doesn't mean anything and you know it."

"Indeed, which is why I will not wait for them to break through my obstacles to save you." Ra's said operating the equipment and starting the process to get Bruce back where he was once again

Brows furrowing Bruce started undoing the bindings around his head once more. Bruce wasn't going to let Talia sacrifice be for nothing. He was going to escape if it was the last thing he did in this world.

---

They had been traveling through what seemed like a maze in the ancient tomb when they were attacked by these creatures that looked like something cross between an ape and a dog.

They had bestial like faces, eyes that seemed to light up in the darkened tomb. Short wings on their back, long ape-like arms, and they were bent over in a crouched position. Looking further down, their knees were bent and their feet were almost bird-like. Truly nightmare worthy things, if he were to call anything 'unnatural' or 'against nature' these were the only exception.

There were five of them which meant there wasn't going to be an 'I'll handle this' from either one of them. They fought together, and much like they had the entire night, their movements were in precise precision to each other. If they weren't, Terry wasn't sure if either one of them could have made it out alive. These creatures were wild, they had no set movements and that made it almost impossible for them to find an opening.

One of them jumped into the air, its claws outstretched aiming for Angela's blind spot. Making a quick decision, Terry threw his body between her and the attack. It was fortunate Wayne had made the suit as durable as he had. Because four long gashes marred the suite where the Bat symbol was showing the red and black circuits beneath.

He might have saved Angela from death and the attack might not have harmed him too much, but the force of the attack made him feel like he had been hit with a transport pod.

Terry was sure that the creature was going to follow up with another attack, they honestly only managed to hold them off for a few minutes but an attack never came. A loud screeching noise rang through the air and all five left them as they had just been called back home for dinner.

"Huh, well I kind of feel abandoned," Terry said attempting a joke.

"If they were here any longer we both would have been paste," Angela said drily.

"Good point." He said rubbing his head.

"We need to get going. We've already another ten minutes down and we still have no signs of… Grampa Bruce." She had shown a shy expression since Terry had teased her about calling the old man like that.

Terry would hate to cause a problem between them just because of a joke. Reaching out a hand she helped him back to his feet and he said, "Hey, call him whatever you want. It was just my poor attempt at humor."

Rolling her eyes, she started walking again, "Yeah I know, it's just... For as long as I can remember, it has just been, me, my father and mother. Family is something I don't have a lot of. For a long time, I didn't even know about Bruce. I don't know the story, but it seems like my Dad and Bruce had a falling out and he didn't want to talk about it. When I became Robin, he started opening up. Telling me stories about when he wore the uniform. The first time in my life I have another relative. Can you understand how that feels?"

"Well to a greater or lesser degree, I think I can relate," Terry mumbled under his breath.

Pausing in her steps, Angela turns back around facing him, "Oh yeah… I guess I was speaking to the choir there huh."

Terry tried to give her a reassuring smile but he seemed to have failed.

Fortunately, the tomb was dark. Evidently, the League of Shadows didn't want to spring for electricity in some parts of the cave so lights were never installed. It was expected such a place not to have lights and Terry had been getting used to the dark since he became Batman but what he didn't expect was having to deal with another person.

Since he had gotten to know Angela he realized she was smart, headstrong, and brave. But she was still green. Given so was he, but she hadn't had the old man's voice in her head for the last six months telling him how idiotic his decisions were. It had been a pain at the time but he also learned a ton.

He was worried for her, they had already almost died and they hadn't even found Brice yet.

Wayne would have his head if he knew he allowed such a thing to happen on a mission, but again Angela was very headstrong.

Still, he was very surprised when she turned a corner and he felt a strange trimmer beneath his feet and the floor disappeared from beneath him.

It was a stupid mistake. His reactions were dulled due to the battle earlier. As he disappeared into the floor. Terry was in a mess now.

---

Jon opened his eyes after what had seemed like many years. The smoke in the room made it very hard for him to focus on any one thing… except.

"Who are you?" Jon said to the older man with salt and pepper hair and a mask obscuring his face.

"Uh, damn. I was going to ask you the same question…" Dick hesitated a moment and continued, "I go by the name of Nightwing while wearing the mask. You look really familiar can I ask what your name is."

"Nightwing… your name I think I've heard it somewhere before." Jon said trying to remember, but his memory seemed foggy.

Shaking his head, he meets the eyes of the man in front of him again and starts to tell him his name when another voice interrupts their conversation, "Dick, is that you?"

"Uncle Bart!" Jon rushes toward the voice and once he reached the pod he began helping the older man out. Then anxiously check the man over, looking for injuries.

"Jon, thank God you're alright," Barry said cupping the boy's face affectionately, like a father to his son.

"Uh... Sorry to interrupt but Barry can you tell me what's going on?" Dick asserted regaining the pair's attention.

"Nightwing! It is you?! How did you know we were here? And where is 'here' exactly?" The older man still hadn't missed a step in asking too many questions before anyone could answer one.

"Holding up a hand to forestall any more questions and spoke," Yes, it is me, I had no clue that you two would be here, and this place is Infinity Island home of the League of Shadows. Now, answer one of mine." Dick said feeling a little annoyed, "Who exactly is he?"

Dick couldn't help be interested, the boy he guessed to be around seventeen or eighteen years old and looked very much like a certain Kryptonian.  Even if Conner was alive he wouldn't be this young. He watched the pair as recognition form in their eyes before Bard decided to speak.

Smiling broadly, Barry puts his hand on the young man's shoulder and happily exclaimed, "The little guy here is, Jonathan Samuel Kent."

"Kent?" Dick asked while he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"That's right, his father is Clark. But what you may not expect," Barry pauses for dramatic effect, "His mother is Lois Lane."