Chapter 16: Madness 1

AN: What can I say, I felt generous. Enjoy it :)

"talking"

'thinking'

....

Watchtower, April 21, 21: 45 UTC, 2015

[00:45:38]

"Batman this meeting is a waste of time, we should be in those cities looking for those bombs!" commented Captain Atom as he paced nervously around the Watchtower boardroom. The other members were no better off, as they were facing an unprecedented crisis, one that would cost the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of innocent people, all because of the madness of a clown.

"Captain, sit down and wait, things aren't that simple" Batman said with an impassive tone. If the situation made him nervous at this moment it didn't show

"Calm down everyone, Batman will surely have a good reason for this meeting" Superman seeing the nervousness of the other heroes, did not hesitate to intervene so that the situation did not get out of control. What he least wanted is that another crisis arose within their ranks having this situation.

At Superman's words everyone calmed down and reluctantly sat down at the big meeting table. Superman was right, if anyone had the head to handle the current situation, it was Batman.

When everyone sat down they waited for Batman to start talking, but contrary to their expectations Batman remained without saying a word, like a statue, imperturbable and immovable. When a long minute passed that felt eternal, Green Arrow couldn't take it anymore and exploded.

"What is this, a fucking gam-"

"They're here" however Batman interrupted him.

 "Recognized, Flash 004, Cyborg 021" a blur so fast it couldn't be fully distinguished to the human eye headed at high speed towards the front of the meeting center. When it stopped, Batman said to Flash.

"Flash report"

"I did a quick sweep of Central City, all the public and some private places... at least 57 bombs found"

At this many of the League gasped. Many hoped it was just a bait, a ruse by the clown to cause chaos, but no, things were worse than they expected.

"Some are in places of concern, hospitals, gardens and avenues, I marked them all but didn't disconnect any bombs..."

"Why didn't you disconnect them?" Vixen interrupted him abruptly, she had a deep frown on her face. Her logic was simple, 57 disconnected bombs were better than having 100 active bombs

"I'll answer that" Cyborg stepped to the front of the meeting center, he, like Flash, had been called on a mission by Batman. Identify the bombs and create an optimal strategy for disarming them.

"I'm almost 100 percent sure the Joker wasn't responsible for this, and if he was, at least he wasn't the only one."

"Explain, now," Batman said in a firm tone, giving way to non-negotiation.

"Unless the Joker became a tech expert overnight, I don't think he was capable of putting those bombs together. Those bombs are special... I'm actually impressed, clearly whoever made it knew what they were doing, their parts are..."

"Cyborg, focus!"

"I'm sorry" said Cyborg scratching his head, he had actually been quite impressed with the cutting edge technology that such bombs handled, but it was clearly not the right time to become a fanboy of the technology.

Using his robotic eye, he projected a three-dimensional image large enough for all to see.

"This is the pump system, fortunately it doesn't have a timer, at least part of what the Joker said is true, they are manually triggered through an external device. Its components are quite simple, an explosive charge of 3 kilotons, which can result in an explosion of... about 200-300 meters. The range is not much, but still it is considerable, that is not the drawback, the drawback and what does not add up is the digital part.

First of all, your digital system is highly encrypted, and if you're wondering, yes, I can hack it, but it will take me quite some time, at least more than an hour, time that we clearly don't have, as I said, whoever did this, knew what they were doing.

Second, and what surprises me the most, is the security system, how to explain it in simple terms... it's a fucking safe.

"Ha!,he said a bad word hehehehe" said Shazam, but he was ignored by the League members present, his playful and childish behavior was already known.

"Continue Cyborg"

"First of all, the bomb has weight sensors, this is no longer a mystery, as some terrorists use these sensors to detonate phantom bombs. My guess is that they did it so that we could not move them, as soon as they register a considerable weight, the charge will detonate. But that's not out of the ordinary, as I said, it's used in terrorist tactics. The surprising thing is that it has temperature sensors, and quite powerful ones so to speak. Upon extreme external temperature change, it will also cause the bombs to detonate....

Like I said, whoever made this knew what they were doing, since many of us have the ability to freeze or burn the bomb, now narrow down our options. Captain Atom's energy could easily burn the bomb, but he needs to do it fast enough so the charge doesn't explode....

"It's too risky, give us other options" Batman interrupted.

"Flash's vibrations are an option, but you need to cut the right wires, otherwise the bomb will explode, using excessive force is not an option as it will explode..so, the only option left is electricity, specifically, generating a field to disrupt the digital compound so the bomb won't detonate despite the action device.

Black Lightning, your powers will be optimal for such bombs, but unfortunately because of the time it is almost impossible for you to deactivate all of them. That's why, right at this very moment I'm talking about, in the laboratory of the Watchtower are being printed more than 500 devices that will cause this phenomenon. They will be foyable and small in size, and, above all, they are very light, they will not cause problems with the sensors"

"What about my heat vision, Cyborg. Don't you think it's fast enough or accurate enough to avoid the explosion?" asked Superman

"If you could see with your x-ray vision the wires you could do it... but that's the problem Superman and why I was commenting that I feel the Joker didn't do this. The alloy in the bombs contain lead particles mixed in. Your x-ray vision won't work. Whoever did this...knew your weaknesses"

Superman opened his eyes wide in surprise at this revelation, few knew of this weakness, the consequences of villains using this information to their advantage led to unimaginable consequences. Batman's voice interrupted her surprise

"Well, we will divide the team. Those who can fly and run, will look for the bombs and defuse them with Cyborg's devices, at least 2 or 3 per city. The others will help the police to stop the riots. Also, take the people to the open and bomb free zones. The Teen Titans are already on it in New York, where the chaos is bigger trying to calm the riots" commented Batman "Go. You don't, Cyborg, you stay"

At this, the entire League left, they had little time if they wanted to achieve their goal and, although necessary, they had lost a lot of time in this meeting. Batman stayed while watching the cameras of each specific city, in the cameras you could see people running, some riots in squares, stores, everything was chaos.

The roads were also congested with cars trying to get out of the city, while the military and police were trying to avoid the chaos. On another screen there was the timer that the Joker had set, the time marked only brought despair and chaos

[00:38:13]

"What's up Batman?"

"Cyborg, were you able to get the Joker's location?"

"No, the screen is only a projection, the live feed was cut off some time ago, and it didn't give me time to get the information... However, I did manage to triangulate before he stopped, however, the range is large, more than 10 kilometers around...I'll pass the information on to you"

"That should be enough"

Batman began to quickly analyze the information given by Cyborg, his hands moved at an almost inhuman pace typing commands reducing little by little that great range he had. In the end he was left with a range of less than 5 kilometers near the port of Gotham City.

Which was not a surprise for the bat-man, since the Joker chose not to move from the city where he had more power, besides, being one of the cities that were not chosen to detonate the bomb would divert the attention of the other heroes. Smart tactics, worthy of one of the most dangerous criminal minds.

"Stay here and coordinate the whole operation" Batman said to Cyborg

"Where are you going?"

"To catch a clown"

[00:34:55]

As he made his way to his jet, Batman quickly communicated with his butler and closest confidant, Alfred

"Alfred"

"Yes, Master Wayne?"

"I sent you an encrypted file. Mark on the map the places I sent you, and geolocate them. One of those places is where the Joker is located"

"it's over 50 warehouses Master Wayne"

"then I need to be quick" he said this as he got on his Jet. His destination, Gotham City.

...

[00:24:36]

"another deactivated"

"okay, what's the status in Metropolis Superman?"

"68 bombs defused, 32 to go"

"The others, tell me your status"

"New York 40 to go, Central City 15 to go, National City 22, Washington 36, Cyborg"

'Well, we're doing well... at this rate we can make it' Cyborg thought to himself, the League had moved quickly and in a coordinated effort they were, at an alarming rate, disabling said bombs.

Unfortunately, the bombs found were in public, or easily detectable, locations. Cyborg had no doubt that the remaining bombs would be too difficult to search for, slowing the time down more and more.

"Wonder Woman, leave National City, things there are more under control, go to Washington and support Captain Atom and Red Tornado there."

"Understood..." Diana, while not objecting, had a tone of resignation. She clearly had extra-interest due to the fact that Edgar lived in National City. However, the lines were cut and she could not communicate with him.

This was a government procedure. When a terrorist level threat was identified, the first 15 minutes there was coverage but after that time... there was no communication, at least via telephone.

'I hope he's safe' she thought as she quickly headed for the nearest boom-tube heading for Washington. Cyborg was right, Washington needed more help right now. Hawkwoman and Hawkman were enough for the time being to find the bombs.

[00:22:48]

"Cyborg, Vixen here, there's rioting in Times Square, permission to support the police in containment"

"wait..." quickly Cyborg with quick commands headed towards the government system asking for permission"Ready, permission granted, you have permission to use moderate force if the situation warrants, plus you have permission to arrest"

"Thank you Cyborg"

[00:21:15]

'Damn, I'm tired' even though he couldn't see himself, his mind was working on many things at once. The devices, analyzing each piece of information, and triangulating each bomb, identifying patterns so he could give clues to the heroes in the field to find said explosives faster.

The truth is, without him, the heroes would have taken longer to find each bomb they had dismantled.

However, his mind, though enhanced by the motherbox, was still human. All the work he was doing was giving him such powerful headaches that, were it not for his enhanced physiology, he would have passed out by now.

Allowing some time for a breather, massaging his temples, he sat back in the chair as he closed his eyes. His mind stopped for a moment from working at 1000 per hour and simply let it go blank. A memory was flashing through his mind at that moment.

His mother singing as she cooked for him when he had finished his training. His father had also arrived early and they were having one of those rare moments 'All in family', chatting, laughing, telling anecdotes. This was one of the most precious memories for Cyborg, one of the few he had left that made him feel.... human

"Cyborg, now where to" Hal Jordan's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Cyborg opened his eyes, and as if nothing had happened, his mind went back to work at full speed as he went back to analyzing every piece of information and more

"Hal, head towards the 5th avenue warehouses, search every nook and cranny, if I'm not mistaken a bomb should be there" that was based on probability and triangulation. Even though there was an irregular pattern, he found that there was no more than 8 kilometers distance between bomb and bomb. If his theory was true, Hal would confirm that for him.

[00:19:18]

"I found one, you were right" Hal commented

'well, that's good'

"Superman, head south quickly, there's some departmental buildings there, there's a chance of a bomb there... help get the people out too, just in case"

"got it"

...

[00:09:48]

"Cyborg status" Batman asked into his comms.

"Washington is clear, Metropolis is clear, New York 6 bombs left, Central City 6 left too, National City is the problem. 10 left, but we can't find them..."

"Hawkman to Cyborg, there's a strange situation..." Hawkman interrupted the communication, the line was open, so that everyone would have proper communication and better coordination in such a situation.

"Tell me Hawkman."

"I found 5 bombs, but... they're burned"

"That's impossible, unless..."

"Unless, Cyborg?" Batman asked

"As I said, it has temperature sensors, but...if it was heated from the inside, the sensors wouldn't register anything. But that's impossible, that level of control is impossible. They would have to invest almost enthalpy to do it. There's no one from the League that can achieve it"

And that was true, the only ones capable of generating such extreme heat was Captain Atom with his energy, and he was not capable of controlling it to such an expert level to achieve it.

"How many bombs did you find burned?"

"5... all in the residential area"

"Keep looking. If you find another burned bomb, let us know, meanwhile Cyborg, search residential areas and apartments, we need to do an extensive sweep"

"Okay, I will. How are you doing?"

"I've already narrowed the search to the south side. I'll keep you posted"

"Okay"

"Alfred, talk to me" Batman turned to his butler.

"That warehouse you asked for has a subway section, the possibility of the Joker being inside is quite high, Master Wayne"

"Right, Thank you, Alfred"

After searching through several warehouses, the search so far had been fruitless. The Joker, despite his madness, was a master criminal because of his great mind, in short, he was the only person who might be able to reverse Batman's elaborate plans.

On second thought, Batman may have been mistaken in his strategy, thinking that the Joker was hiding in a large or fortified place, but this was not necessarily true.

There were several rather small warehouses that he had ignored at first, and he quickly set Alfred to analyzing them for tunnels, or subway chambers, which, although taking quite some time, had finally paid off. There was just such a warehouse in the south, which Batman had finally found.

With his tools, he quickly opened the warehouse, and could see the tunnel dug in the center. It was not large in circumference, but it was enough for an average sized person to pass through easily.

He quickly headed towards the tunnel, but his steps were halted when a green gas began to bubble up from the depths of the tunnel.

'Laughing gas' Quickly Batman put on a mask against the gas but, this was not its purpose, the only purpose was to obstruct his sight

"Batsy Batsy Batsy" one of a woman with tinges of madness came out of the depths of the gas as a silhouette materialized in full view of the bat. Harley had emerged with a large sledgehammer in her hands and a gas mask covering her nose and mouth

"You're here to stop me and my pudding from watching the fireworks. Too bad, too bad. I'll have to punish you for being a bad boy"

"Move it Harley. NOW"

"Nope, if you want to see Mr. J, you'll have to go over my head"

Batman didn't say anything anymore, he nimbly moved to deliver a strong blow to Harley to knock her out, but she easily dodged Batman, and with a backflick she wanted to deliver a kick to Batman's chin, which Batman barely managed to dodge.

Batman may have had more fighting experience, but Harley should not be underestimated. Her agility and speed of a professional gymnast coupled with her erratic and unpredictable movements made her a formidable opponent. Some would bet that she was more dangerous than the Joker himself.

In fact, in terms of fighting, she could easily subdue the Joker if she wanted to. But the thought would never cross her mind, the thought of hurting her pudding was sacrilege.

"You always mess things up you stupid Bat" said Harley as she swung her sledgehammer at Batman's head which he dodged, the blow was so hard that it had left a considerable hole in the floor.

Harley began to throw consecutive blows with the mallet, his movements contained more and more force, but lacked technique or prowess, which resulted in Batman could easily dodge it.

However, he could not go on the offensive because the blows were quite repetitive and fast, which did not give Batman time to act. He needed a distraction.

Batman threw a batarang, which Harley dodged, parrying her blows with the sledgehammer. This was what Batman wanted.

He quickly threw three more batarangs, which made Harley move and dodge nimbly. But this was what Batman expected because when she reached the point predicted by Batman, he was already throwing a direct kick to her ribs.

The kick generated such intense pain that it made her double over. Batman didn't give her time to breathe as he quickly delivered a three punch combo to her sore stomach and finally proceeded to hit her right in the woman's face, leaving her knocked out by the force of the impact.

Despite being a great fighter, she was still human and so many heavy blows had taken their toll on her.

[00:05:18]

It had taken him a long time to subdue Harley, she was a formidable opponent and the obstructed vision hadn't helped.

Finally, Batman made his way deeper into the tunnel that led to a small room. In the center was a chair and on the side was the camera that had recorded the Joker's transmission. Sitting in the chair was the clown himself, a big smile on his face

"You certainly took your time Batman. I was amazed at how good Harley is at fighting when she is motivated"

"You've lost Joker, give me the detonator and let's avoid this madness"

"Of course.... no Hahahahahaha. You take me for a fool Batman? Besides I haven't lost. I still have the device in my hand. Maybe I should just ignore the rules and push the button...."

At this tone, Batman tensed up, for all he knew there were still bombs to be defused, he couldn't afford to be careless

"hahahahaha look at your face all tense hahaha, it's a joke Bats, I won't set off the bombs, I made boy-scout promise didn't I?, but don't tempt me Batman maybe I will..."

At this Batman's tense posture relaxed. Although he still had a serious expression, the posture he had at the moment was that of a resigned person.

This puzzled the Joker. He wanted him to feel desperate, but he didn't expect his threats to go to the deaf ears of the Bat.

"What?, Just like that?, You're not going to fight? You're going to give up?"

At that moment Batman moved, at an impressive speed launching a batarang so fast towards the Joker's hand, which took him by surprise. Although he also had very good reflexes he could not avoid being hit by the device that made him drop the device he held.

This pissed him off. How could he fall for such a simple tactic. With an angry expression he said to it.

"Damn Bat-" but he couldn't continue his sentence when Batman, who didn't stand idle, moved and hit him with a strong kick in the ribs. Even though that same kick was the cause of Harley's defeat for the Joker who looked like he felt no pain, it was nothing, and he got up as if nothing had happened.

"Let's see how you handle this Bats"

Grabbing a purple pistol he began firing at the bat which caused him to move into a corner away from the clown and the detonating device, while dodging said projectiles. Batman continued to dodge as he made his way to the corner of the room.

The room was not very big, which left Batman with no possibility of manageable mobility, but that was what he wanted at the moment. With the speed he had, he was able to generate enough momentum so that, with the help of the wall he could roll towards the Joker's direction.

This technique took the Joker puzzled, but he quickly redirected his gun in his direction. However, that time of doubt was enough for Batman to get up and with a strong blow to the chin he sent the clown flying.

The Joker took a short time to come to his senses, but when he came to, he was already being subdued on the floor by handcuffs that were used on super-strong villains. Normally Batman wouldn't need this, but the Joker wasn't normal, there was always a chance that he would do something crazy at the end.

Batman headed for the detonator, but when he picked it up he knew something was wrong. It lacked weight, indicating a lack of electrical circuits.

[00:01:45]

The device was a fake, this was simply a bait. Angrily he turned to the subdued clown, lifting him by the shirt.

"Where's the real device?" Batman yelled at him. Normally he didn't lose his cool, but this was not a normal situation.

"Hahahahahahahahaha is the device fake?, he told me it was real, hahahahahahahaha What a good joke"

"Who told you?" batman tightened his grip more "Tell me who gave this to you!" but the joker just smiled and laughed

"hahahahaha, that desperation Bats, hahahahahaha, that was the face I wanted to see, what a funny game"

"Damn it" sharply throwing the Joker off, quickly Batman headed towards the League.

"Batman to the League. The Joker is not the person with the detonator, I repeat, the Joker does not have the detonator"

[00:01:10]

"Batman, there are 3 bombs left in Central City and 3 bombs left in National City but we failed to locate them, we already searched the entire city, and Flash did a quick sweep of the entire area"

[00:01:08]

Batman stood there thinking for a moment. From what Cyborg said they had already searched all the public places.

'But what about private institutions?'

'What if it was all a trap?' if there is an outsider, then this was not something random. This was something meticulously planned for the purpose of something specific. To generate chaos, to distract us from the real threat. Central City and National City, there are only two major institutions there…

[00:01:04]

"Cyborg, were you able to reach your father?"

"Yes, they issued contingency protocols and have the facility on lockdown"

[00:01:03]

"Hawkman, have you searched the Revenger Group?"

"We have not. The Revenger Group has the doors closed for such a threat, a contingency protocol like Star Labs most likely"

[00:01:00]

'They do this to avoid external threats, but, what if the threat was internally?'

At this revelation Batman's eyes widened. This is it. This was their plan. The two largest research centers in the entire world, full of inventions and the most advanced technology of the time.

[00:00:58]

"To all Justice League, the bombs are inside Star Labs, and Revenger Group, I repeat the bombs are inside, all available units move in"

[00:00:54]

Quickly all heroes with the ability to mobilize fast acted, Superman who until recently was helping out in Metropolis moved, flying towards Central City at supersonic speed

[00:00:49]

Wonder Woman also did not hesitate to act and with a speed similar to that of Superman headed for National City.

[00:00:38]

Cyborg, thinking the worst for his father opened a portal near Star Labs. However, having helped in the security of that center, he had an anti-teleportation technology, so he could only get about 500 meters near the place, which, for Cyborg, who was scared for the life of his father, became an eternal distance.

[00:00:32]

Hawkman and Hawkwoman who were in National City, but on the other side of the city quickly headed towards the research center.

When they arrived at the research center, they were surprised to find that all the scientists were coming out of an opening on the east side.

The opening through which they were passing was not large, but rather an irregular hole that looked like it had been made with the purpose of letting people out, since the main doors were still closed and secured by the emergency protocol.

[00:00:29]

"What's going on here?" asked Hawkwoman to one of the scientists who was leaving.

"bomb threat, they asked us to leave, but there are still many missing, there were more than 100 people inside and there are only 30 of us here"

[00:00:22]

"You stay here and keep them away from the blast radius. I'll go in for the others" Hawkman commented to Hawkgirl, as he flew towards the hole. With a strong blow of his sledgehammer, he made the hole bigger, so that more people could get out.

[00:00:18]

Cyborg had reached the gates of Star Labs, at this point, he regretted helping with said defenses as the gates were made of a special alloy so hard that not even Superman's blows could easily destroy it.

He quickly employed cannons on his two arms that launched three beams of energy, the beam was very powerful, but it only gave the main door a burn. The advantage is that more heroes had arrived and began to help him open the door.

[00:00:16]

"Superman, make a hole in the wall"

"Understood" Superman opened another gap through the wall, which, although hard, was not enough for his strength

"Everyone get out now, it's an emergency. Move!" unfortunately the scientists who had never been informed of such a threat were quietly oblivious to the situation and threat they were in.

Superman with his speed began to pull them out one by one quickly. Flash also began to help, however, they had to take them more than 300 meters away if they wanted to avoid the blast radius.

Cyborg ignored everything as he ran towards his father's office...

[00:00:13]

When he arrived, he saw something that left him blank. His worst nightmare came true.

At least five bodies of scientists were lying on the floor, a lot of blood was scattered all over the place. However, the most horrifying thing was the body nailed to the wall. He had his arm was bent at an irregular angle, and blood, derived from a wound on his neck was scattered all over his shirt. One thing was clear. His death had not been pretty.

Dr. Silas Stone, one of the most renowned scientists in the world, and father of Cyborg himself, lay dead. Cyborg was in shock

[00:00:10]

Cyborg did not understand the image in front of him 'My father is dead. That's impossible', his entire robotic quality mind stopped working. Even his robotic eye had shut down, as if his system simply forced a shutdown. Cyborg also had a dead look on his face, only his chest rising and falling due to breathing indicated that he was still alive.

[00:00:08]

"Cyborg, why do you last so long-" Flash was horrified at the sight, he couldn't believe it either. The brutality of the scene was beyond description.

When he saw the body pinned to the wall his mind had almost gone blank as well, but he quickly pulled himself together, there was little time left and he had to get Cyborg out of there.

With his speedforce, he moved at unimaginable speeds, carrying the young hero to safety from the blast radius.

 Unfortunately, he was unlikely to return for the murdered bodies. Although, it was evidence and they needed it to search for the culprits, there were still other people on the upper floors who hadn't come out.

He hoped, at least he would have time to take Cyborg's father's body, but right now, and as rude as it may sound, his priority was the living.

'Run, Barry, Run. You can do it'

[00:00:06]

Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Red Tornado and Green Lantern were helping to get each person out of the Revenger Group.

Despite the short time they were quiet enough, Hawkman got three more people down from the third floor, as the stairs were quite extensive and at the rate the people were going they weren't going to make it.

[00:00:05]

The last scientist, who was an old lady, had been the last to be pulled from the third floor

"cough cough cough, help them" said the old lady.

"Help who ma'am?"

[00:00:04]

"Dr. Bones is still inside. He warned us of the threat, however, he went back for Dr. Hoshi, who was on the fourth floor, the executive floor, and they have not returned"

[00:00:03]

Diana did not take up any more words, with renewed momentum she set out to rush back for Edgar, but was stopped by a large green hand

"Leave me, Hal, I can save them!"

[00:00:02]

 "There's no more time"

"I swear if you don't let go of me this instant I'll shove my sword up your ass..."

[00:00:01]

'Time's up. I'm sorry, Diana' thought Hal.

[00:00:00]

"BOOOOOOOOOOOM"

....

AN: 

Next: Madness 2

Next Next: Repercussions

Next Next Next: Justice League vs Ghost Rider 1

Oh. On sad notes, RIP Matthew Perry. I was a big fan of Friends. It's a sad day friends