Chapter 57

Metropolis

A supervillain stood on top of a building, energy crackling around his hands and his green bodysuit. He looked at the terrified people below in contempt.

"Here is where I make my stand!" he yelled, "Here is where I shall carve out the kingdom I am destined for!" He smashed his hands against the roof of the building and, with a roar, ripped a chunk of it into the air.

"Bow before the power of Mantis!" He hurled the debris at the people below, intending to crush them all.

Before the debris could strike the citizens, a bolt of blue energy vaporized it. Mantis looked around for whoever dared to interfere. When he saw who it was, his eyes widened; it was Superman, Astrodactyl, and Captain Atom, the latter of whom had fired the blast.

"Is it just me," Captain Atom asked, "or are the world-conquerors getting mouthier?"

"He's from Apokolips," explained Superman, "they're all pretty chatty there."

"Really?" said Astrodactyl, "Maybe all the supervillains from my universe came from there too, since none of them would ever shut up!"

Mantis sent another bolt of energy at the heroes, hitting Captain Atom dead-on and freezing him solid. As Astrodactyl and Superman flew back down to catch him before he hit the ground, he had to marvel at the stuff that came from Apokolips. The technology and the powers of its metahumans were all crazy. He'd once tried to figure out a piece of tech from the planet with Grey Matter, and even then, all he got was a headache; Batman later warned him not to try to think about it too hard, or he'd go insane.

Superman managed to catch Captain Atom in time, but before he or Astrodactyl could think about thawing him out, Mantis tackled Superman through the side of a building. While the Apokoliptan was busy with the Kryptonian, Astrodactyl slapped the Ultimatrix dial.

"SWAMPFIRE!" Swampfire sent a wave of fire over the ice, confident that Captain Atom would be fine; after all, it took the power of a giant, nuclear-powered robot to break his suit the last time, so a little fire wouldn't do much, if anything.

After a few seconds, the ice was melted enough for Captain Atom to break out with his own strength.

"Thanks for that," he said, "now where's Superman?"

Swampfire jerked his thumb to where bolts of energy were flying. "Three guesses where, and the first two don't count."

"Got it," said Captain Atom, "I'll go back him up."

"I'll be right behind you," said Swampfire, "it's time to go Ultimate!" He twisted the dial, then slapped it.

"ULTIMATE SWAMPFIRE!" he looked at Captain Atom. "Okay, let's go."

The two ran, or in Captain Atom's case, flew, to Superman's location, where they found their friend on the ropes. Whatever energy Mantis was hitting him with must have had magical properties, or energy blasts from Apokolips' metahumans ignored Kryptonian invulnerability, because the bolts were actually hurting him.

"Bow down before your better, Man of Steel!" Mantis gloated, before two blasts, one of nuclear energy and the other of incredibly powerful flames, sent him flying into the subway.

Ultimate Swampfire looked at Superman in concern. "You okay?"

Superman nodded. "Just needed a second; let's get him."

"What's the story on this guy?" asked Captain Atom, as they made their way into the subway.

"There's a civil war on his home planet." Explained Superman, "Guess he thought things would be easier here."

Captain Atom smirked. "Bad call."

Ultimate Swampfire nodded. "Yeah, no kidding."

As they moved into the confined space, Ultimate Swampfire realized that his enhanced powers would do as much damage to his friends, as well as Mantis, so he slapped the Ultimatrix dial, turning back into Swampfire, then slapped it again.

"FASTTRACK!" this alien was about Ben's height, with a humanoid body, blue fur and a vaguely feline face.

The three heroes found Mantis using the electricity from the third rail to charge up his own powers. A bolt of energy sent Captain Atom flying, while Fasttrack rushed forward in a blur of motion; he sent a barrage of super-fast punches into Mantis' face and, while they didn't do much damage on their own, they began to add up.

"Captain Atom?" Superman called out to his teammate, who was on his knees.

"I'm okay!" he said, "It'll just take me a second to adjust to the energy!" True enough, he stood up a moment later, looking more angry than anything else. He sent a huge blast of nuclear power at Mantis, with Fasttrack barely dodging in time.

Before Mantis could get up from that, Superman flew at him, punching him a few times, then pressing a button on the grey box on Mantis' belt. In a boom reminiscent of thunder, a white, swirling tunnel appeared behind him. Both Fasttrack and Captain Atom had to brace themselves for a moment; it felt like they were being pulled in.

"What in Sam Hill is that!?" asked Captain Atom.

"A Boom Tube." Explained Superman, after headbutting Mantis, "An extradimensional doorway back to Apokolips."

"Got it," said Captain Atom, "now duck!"

Superman did so, just as Captain Atom sent a bolt of energy into Mantis, sending him hurtling into the portal. After a few more seconds, the portal closed.

"Nice work, you two." Superman looked satisfied.

"Thanks," said Captain Atom, "but what's stopping him from coming right back?"

"You mean, besides this?" Fasttrack held out the Boom Tube generator in his hand. "I swiped it off of his belt right before you hit him."

Captain Atom looked impressed. "That was only about a second of time to react!"

Fasttrack shrugged. "I'm not called Fasttrack for nothing." He handed the generator to Superman, who crushed it effortlessly.

"Superman!" the three heroes turned to see Lois Lane jump over some debris and rush towards them. "Lois Lane, 'Daily Planet'."

Superman smiled. "Yeah, Lois, I know."

Lois smiled right back. "Would you care to comment on what just happened here? I'd like an interview… one on one."

Fasttrack and Captain Atom glanced at each other, knowing smiles on their faces.

"I'm pretty sure there's something we have to do someplace," Captain Atom said, "right, Fasttrack?"

The blue alien nodded, and they left, leaving the other alien with the reporter. After they were gone, Lois turned to Superman.

"You're late."

Superman grinned. "I was busy."

"Like I wasn't?" Lois looked down at her notepad. "But I've already written the story up and filed it, so now that we're both off the clock?"

Without a word, Superman picked her up bridal-style, and flew up through a hole, created during the battle, and off for their date.

Outside, Captain Atom and Fasttrack said their farewells; Fasttrack zoomed off, but before Captain Atom did the same, he heard a voice calling him.

"Captain Adams." Atom looked down to see General Eiling standing next to a car. "Captain Nathaniel Adams!"

Captain Atom flew down to talk to him. "General Eiling, sir, what brings you…" he trailed off as the General handed him a file, "what's this?"

"Orders." Eiling gave him a hard stare. "Your commission has been reactivated. You're back in the Air Force."

Captain Atom looked uneasy. "I'm committed to the Justice League now, sir."

"You also made a commitment to the Service, Captain." Eiling didn't even blink. "Seems to me, you've got a decision to make."

…

Unknown Location

Inside an office building, The Question was finding it hard to concentrate on downloading the file he'd found. He was slightly nervous; it wasn't the first government lair he'd broken into, but the stakes had never been this high. On top of that, there was the annoying sound of fists hitting flesh in the background, though that was only because his girlfriend, Huntress, was watching his back.

The ex-Leaguer in question kicked another security guard in the solar plexus and sent him flying. She wore a purple, skintight outfit with thigh-high boots, long gloves, and a long cape. Attached to her belt was an array of weapons and gadgets.

"You really know how to show a girl a good time, 'Q'." Her voice had a little more than its usual amount of annoyance as she drove her elbow into another guard's face. "When are we going out on a real date?"

Question finally had enough. "Shh! Trying to concentrate."

"I'm not even in the Justice League anymore," Huntress commented, as she knocked another man out with a chair, "you're lucky to have me along."

"Hardly," Question retorted, "you're drawn to my eccentric charm."

Huntress took down another guard with a flying double-kick, just as the file finished downloading. Question pulled out the flash drive.

"Finished."

Huntress dusted off her hands. "Me, too."

"Not quite." Question ripped the computer monitor out of the wall and threw it into the head of the last guard, who'd tried to sneak up on Huntress.

"You get what you came for?" asked a curious Huntress; Question had never actually told her what he'd been after here, only that it was important.

"I believe so." Question held up the flash drive. "If there's a link between Luthor and Cadmus, I'll find it here."

Huntress smiled coyly. "Which leave the rest of our evening tantalizingly free."

"There are three terabytes of date here," Question protested, "I'll be busy for days."

Huntress swiped the flash drive out of his hand and glared at him. Question sighed.

"Dinner and a movie?"

"It's a start." Huntress said while tucking the drive away in her belt.