74: Under The Surface.

17 advance chapters in my Pat.reon.

Pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.

::------------------------------------::

(General P.O.V)

Superman tried to step forward when a wizened hand stopped him.

The Man of Steel looked behind him and saw the Flash, Jay Garrick shake his head slightly at him.

The message was clear. 'let him go.'

The former sighed, turning around and watching the young man, with so much potential it was astonishing, jump off the roof and into the air, leaping off invisible platforms before he blurred away.

'fast.'

Superman thought, dreading the conversation they were currently about to have.

"Clark?"

Wonder Woman called out and he turned around, floating to the sky.

"Not here. The authorities are on the way."

He told them, simultaneously happy that he had stalled and frustrated by himself that he had.

Then he was off, blasting away towards the general direction of Metropolis. The Themysciran princess narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wonder Woman, we still have a few Leaguers missing."

Green Arrow spoke up, his eyes narrowed.

"Also, what are we going to do about these two?"

Hawk-woman asked, pointedly staring at the two heroes from the future.

Dawnstar fidgeted slightly, uncomfortable with the attention on them. Karate Kid waved.

"Hi, I'm Karate Kid and this is Dawnstar, we are from the future. Specifically the 31st century."

Wonder Woman rubbed the sides of her head. There was so much happening it was hard to keep track of.

The priority, however was linking up with the rest.

(Elsewhere)

Dinah woke up with a gasp, knocking her forehead onto...

"Ow!"

Oliver Queen's head rocked back as he clutched his nose.

"Oh my god, Ollie are you okay?!"

She frantically asked, checking him over.

"I think you broke my nose!"

He accused.

Dinah shook her head.

"Well, what were you thinking leaning close to me like that?"

Quiet laughter could be heard from the side. That's when Dinah realized that they weren't alone.

She narrowed her eyes. What was Catwoman doing here?

"I didn't actually think kissing you was going to work!"

Green Arrow lamented.

"What happened? How long was I out? last I remember..."

Dinah said, legs swinging off the small makeshift bed.

"What do you remember?"

Green Arrow asked, dabbing at his nose with a tissue.

"A bad dream. Gotham in ruins. Fighting Aquaman."

She ran a hand down her face.

"Yeah. That's most of it. Except, it wasn't a dream."

Catwoman told her, walking closer.

"The soldiers found you. This is an emergency tent, though now that the city's back...I don't think it will be up for much longer."

The Cat themed supervillainess stopped infront of Dinah, handing her her leather jacket.

"And what are you doing here?"

Black Canary, now dressed in the jacket, pointedly asked.

"A deal."

Catwoman replied, flashing her claws.

"Oh."

Black Canary said.

"So you help him find his fiance and he helps you find Bruce?"

She guessed.

Green Arrow snorted.

"Something like that."

Catwoman smiled.

"Let's go then."

Canary told them, getting up.

(Undisclosed Location)

"Load him up."

Black Manta gave the go ahead and his men started pushing a metallic stretcher towards the hatch of the high tech Submarine.

On top of the stretcher was Aquaman, unconscious. The stretcher seemed to be constructed with thermal radiators that kept him dry and weak.

"The faster we get out of here, the faster I can get started on destroying Arthur's legacy."

The armored Supervillain said to himself.

Then a fast moving object sped through his men, knocking them all away.

"Yeah...no dice. Cant let you take the king away."

Kid Flash told him, materializing before the hatch while staring at his nails.

"You..."

Black Manta growled, his helmet's large lenses lighting up.

Scarlet beams blazed through the air headed towards Kid Flash, who sped out of the way.

The beams tore through the chassis of the Submarine, causing it to tilt and disappeared into the depths of the Gotham Harbor, the body of water connecting Gotham and the Atlantic ocean.

"Haha, tricked you."

The sidekick laughed as Manta ground his teeth underneath the helmet.

"I will destroy you!"

The supervillain promised, only for Kid Flash to point to the sky. Manta looked up and could only watch as Kaldur spun through the air, his hard water constructed hammer in hand, before he slammed it onto his helmet.

There was dust cloud right after the impact and Kaldur stood victorious.

"We're taking you in Manta. Do you surrender?"

He asked pointing a sword made out of water on the Supervillain's neck.

Black Manta merely groaned. Kaldur looked up to see Kid Flash give him a thumbs up as he and Red Arrow secured Aquaman.

(Elsewhere)

"So let me get this right, you used the Thrasher suit of armor to defend against Ninjas who were trying to access the Batcave during the chaos in the city?"

Lucius Fox enquired, fixing his long time friend with a disbelieving stare.

"Yes. And can I say, what a marvel of engineering that was."

Alfred answered sarcastically as they descended into the depths.

Lucius winced.

"The Thrasher suit was incomplete. It's cooling systems are not yet calibrated to keep the wearer safe when the suit is performing optimally."

"Yes. Trust me, I found that out the hard way."

Alfred said, as they finally managed to step into the dark cavern under Wayne Manor.

"Why did you bring us here Alfred?"

Lucius wondered.

"Master Wayne prides himself in being prepared for anything."

The butler replied, stepping towards the Batcomputer.

The lights inside the Batcave lit up, showing a slightly damaged chamber than before. There were scorch marks and grooves around the room.

"Which is why when one of his security alarms begun to go off, I needed your expertise on what the cause could be."

Alfred answered, motioning with his chin towards the line of code going up the screen.

"It started doing that right after the Shadows broke in."

Alfred answered as Lucius stepped forward.

The scientist stared at the screen for a few seconds before his eyes widened and he punched the table.

"Dammit Bruce! I told him not to continue with the project!"

Lucius shouted in exasperation.

"What project?"

Alfred wondered, a little dismayed.

"Brother Eye. An artificial intelligence meant for global monitoring of events. It was supposed to be a peace keeping venture but there were issues with the code."

He explained.

"The program could learn but gave the most extreme methods in dealing with crime, citing efficiency. Bruce promised me that he would discontinue it."

Lucius concluded, his fingers running above the keys of the batcomputer.

"If Brother Eye is let loose into the world...leave alone Gotham, the whole world will be destroyed. It would be an existential crisis."

(Elsewhere)

Two hours and they were yet to find him.

Two whole hours and Selina was getting worried. She had split up with the others and headed towards the tunnel system underneath, to try and find Bruce.

Then she started hearing voices from up ahead. She clung to the corner of the huge storm drain, as a light from below shown.

After making sure that whoever it was hadn't noticed her, she crept along the wall, getting within hearing distance but straining due to the water running down the tunnel.

She could almost make it out. The voices.

"...Lord Darkseid."

Catwoman's body tensed. That name...

Now she had to investigate.

Her fingers stabbed onto the wall as she wound her body around the corner, neatly jumping off it to land gracefully on a pipe that disappeared along the ceiling of the tunnel, incidentally looking down at the scene.

She almost sucked in a deep breath.

A large group of White Martians were busy setting up, unloading heavy machinery and hover crates of weapons from a swirling yellow portal at the side.

Standing next to the portal was a man in a grey cloak that exuded an aura of malevolence. Next to him was a White Martian that looked to be the leader.

An invasion. Not even a day later and someone was trying to take advantage of the commotion, to cause more.

The ceiling above distorted as a green skinned Martian phased through behind her.

Catwoman had no time to react before she was under the Martian's mind control.

(Later)

"Stewart to the Watchtower."

Green Lantern called out through the comms.

"Proceed Green Lantern."

Red Tornado gave the go ahead, just as the Zeta tube lit up and most of the Justice League members walked in, with a few exceptions.

"So huh, remember how we're all looking for Batman and Hal? Yeah...I have some bad news. Hal is dead."

Stewart announced through the holographic projection, his face set in a frown.

There was a moment of silence as the others gathered around the meeting table.n

"What about Batman?"

Wonder Woman questioned, arms crossed over her chest.

"Its... complicated. I'm pulling up on the Watchtower now, you will see what I mean."

With that, the transmission ended.

The League members stared at one another.

"Shayera could you please show the children to the cafeteria, I'm sure they must be hungry."

Wonder Woman ordered.

Hawk-woman gave a nod and walked out of the meeting hall, Karate kid and Dawnstar following after him.

The Zeta tube lit up just as they had left, the Flash, Jay Garrick walked in with a frown on his face.

He blinked at the quiet room.

"What happened?"

He asked.

"Hal is...gone. Green Lantern apparently found Batman as well."

Green Arrow answered, sat next to Black Canary.

The Zeta Tube lit up once more, depositing Green Arrow and something else. A green cocoon that trailed behind him.

Inside of the cocoon lay a badly burnt man, his skin was disfigured but the ring on his finger, glowing green covered him in a healing shroud. His body was slowly regenerating.

"Bruce!?"

Canary yelled, walking quickly towards the cocoon.

"That's Hal's ring. He was caught in the blast and died, his ring chose Batman as it's next wielder, saving his life. The ring seems to be different now. Somehow. Maybe due to the clash of energies...but, it's not working properly."

Stewart explained.

"I found him at the edge of the Solar System, drifting away and on a low charge. It's doing all it can to keep him alive.