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#1
APR 08 |
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“Control”
Chapter One
David Little
Philadelphia
“We need a cordon, Flash,” Batman roared. “Right now!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the Flash muttered as she ran to find some makeshift barriers. “How do you turn the volume down on this thing?”
“Stay focused,” Batman said, this time a little more softly.
She picked up the first set of barriers and dashed back to the crash site, swiftly placing them in the way of the first seven west-facing blocks. She paused for a split second to watch the slow procession of thousands of civilians as they made their way mindlessly down the streets and avenues.
“This is way creepy,” she sighed, staring at their lifeless eyes.
“Don’t look at them, Flash!” Batman shouted. “Not directly into their eyes, anyway.”
She shook her head violently from side to side and cleared her thoughts.
“West Side secured,” she reported, heading back to gather more barriers.
The Watchtower
Superman strode into the Monitor Womb where he found Batman huddled over the communications console.
“What’s the latest?” he asked.
“Flash is working on containment,” Batman replied without turning to face him. “Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are on the ground and in the air, trying to make some sense of all of this and Plastic Man is…well, Plastic Man just is.”
“And J’Onn?”
“Well,” Batman began, “I thought the best way to deal with mind control on this sort of scale would be to use perhaps the greatest mind on the planet to find out the source.”
“Good thinking,” Superman said, “as usual. I can’t do any more here. I’ll see what I can do to help Jesse or the others on the ground. Keep me posted when you get any more information, Bruce.”
With that Superman turned and walked out of the Monitor Womb.
“Hhh,” Batman growled.
Philadelphia
“Listen up, people,” Green Lantern groaned. “I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.”
He supported his ring arm with his other hand, but the strain of keeping the three giant ring construct fans running at the North, South and East facing blocks was etched all over his face. It was an uphill struggle, because for every hundred people the wind managed to push back up the streets, two hundred more joined the throng. To add to his troubles, the three huge ring construct beanbags used to catch the wind-propelled zombies were sapping more strength than the fans.
“Don’t worry, Green Lantern,” Wonder Woman said, ripping up a section of the road in the central of the crossroads. “I think we almost have it.”
“Where the hell are the others?” Green Lantern asked, the sweat racing down his face.
“Plastic Man went to get Aquaman,” Wonder Woman replied, tearing more concrete up. “Apparently he has an idea and needs Arthur to help out. Superman was on a mission and J’Onn is trying to find out who is behind this.”
“Well,” Green Lantern sighed, “I wish they’d hurry up.”
“That’s the East Side blocked, Lantern,” the Flash shouted, running for more barriers. “You can kill the fan there.”
Green Lantern sighed with relief and in an instant the fan and beanbag constructs covering the East Side streets vanished.
“Got it!” Wonder Woman roared as she finally revealed the thermal bomb to which all the people were being drawn.
She grabbed it and held it tightly.
“Right, I’ll dispose of th…”
Suddenly, a beam of energy smashed into the back of her head and she screamed in pain, before falling limply to the ground.
The Watchtower
“Wonder Woman!” Batman shouted.
“I wouldn’t worry about her, Batman,” a voice hissed from behind him.
The Batman spun around, just in time to see Superman’s beaten and bruised body smash into the floor. From the looks of things, he was either unconscious or dead.
“You have bigger problems.”
“You!” Batman exclaimed as the figure stepped from the darkness.
Philadelphia
“Wonder Woman!” Green Lantern called out, staring at her motionless body. “My God, Wonder Woman!”
“Kyle!” Flash shouted, rapidly changing direction and racing back to where her colleagues were. “What happened?”
“Wonder Woman,” he whispered.
“Snap out of it, Kyle!” she roared. “Flash to Watchtower! Flash to Watchtower! Batman, I think we have a situation!”
The next second she heard a scream and as she looked up, she saw a green blur carry on past the falling form of Green Lantern. She ran to try intercepting him, but it was too late. He hit the ground with incredible force.
Jesse looked up and her eyes widened in horror as she saw Wonder Woman and Green Lantern’s assailant. There, floating a few feet above her was the Martian Manhunter, grinning maniacally.
“I do hope you’ll be putting up more of a fight than your team-mates,” he hissed.
Jesse was speechless, and all she could focus on was the traces of Green Lantern’s blood dripping from J’Onn J’Onzz’s clenched right fist.
Philadelphia
“We need a cordon, Flash,” Batman roared. “Right now!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the Flash muttered as she ran to find some makeshift barriers. “How do you turn the volume down on this thing?”
“Stay focused,” Batman said, this time a little more softly.
She picked up the first set of barriers and dashed back to the crash site, swiftly placing them in the way of the first seven west-facing blocks. She paused for a split second to watch the slow procession of thousands of civilians as they made their way mindlessly down the streets and avenues.
“This is way creepy,” she sighed, staring at their lifeless eyes.
“Don’t look at them, Flash!” Batman shouted. “Not directly into their eyes, anyway.”
She shook her head violently from side to side and cleared her thoughts.
“West Side secured,” she reported, heading back to gather more barriers.
The Watchtower
Superman strode into the Monitor Womb where he found Batman huddled over the communications console.
“What’s the latest?” he asked.
“Flash is working on containment,” Batman replied without turning to face him. “Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are on the ground and in the air, trying to make some sense of all of this and Plastic Man is…well, Plastic Man just is.”
“And J’Onn?”
“Well,” Batman began, “I thought the best way to deal with mind control on this sort of scale would be to use perhaps the greatest mind on the planet to find out the source.”
“Good thinking,” Superman said, “as usual. I can’t do any more here. I’ll see what I can do to help Jesse or the others on the ground. Keep me posted when you get any more information, Bruce.”
With that Superman turned and walked out of the Monitor Womb.
“Hhh,” Batman growled.
Philadelphia
“Listen up, people,” Green Lantern groaned. “I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.”
He supported his ring arm with his other hand, but the strain of keeping the three giant ring construct fans running at the North, South and East facing blocks was etched all over his face. It was an uphill struggle, because for every hundred people the wind managed to push back up the streets, two hundred more joined the throng. To add to his troubles, the three huge ring construct beanbags used to catch the wind-propelled zombies were sapping more strength than the fans.
“Don’t worry, Green Lantern,” Wonder Woman said, ripping up a section of the road in the central of the crossroads. “I think we almost have it.”
“Where the hell are the others?” Green Lantern asked, the sweat racing down his face.
“Plastic Man went to get Aquaman,” Wonder Woman replied, tearing more concrete up. “Apparently he has an idea and needs Arthur to help out. Superman was on a mission and J’Onn is trying to find out who is behind this.”
“Well,” Green Lantern sighed, “I wish they’d hurry up.”
“That’s the East Side blocked, Lantern,” the Flash shouted, running for more barriers. “You can kill the fan there.”
Green Lantern sighed with relief and in an instant the fan and beanbag constructs covering the East Side streets vanished.
“Got it!” Wonder Woman roared as she finally revealed the thermal bomb to which all the people were being drawn.
She grabbed it and held it tightly.
“Right, I’ll dispose of th…”
Suddenly, a beam of energy smashed into the back of her head and she screamed in pain, before falling limply to the ground.
The Watchtower
“Wonder Woman!” Batman shouted.
“I wouldn’t worry about her, Batman,” a voice hissed from behind him.
The Batman spun around, just in time to see Superman’s beaten and bruised body smash into the floor. From the looks of things, he was either unconscious or dead.
“You have bigger problems.”
“You!” Batman exclaimed as the figure stepped from the darkness.
Philadelphia
“Wonder Woman!” Green Lantern called out, staring at her motionless body. “My God, Wonder Woman!”
“Kyle!” Flash shouted, rapidly changing direction and racing back to where her colleagues were. “What happened?”
“Wonder Woman,” he whispered.
“Snap out of it, Kyle!” she roared. “Flash to Watchtower! Flash to Watchtower! Batman, I think we have a situation!”
The next second she heard a scream and as she looked up, she saw a green blur carry on past the falling form of Green Lantern. She ran to try intercepting him, but it was too late. He hit the ground with incredible force.
Jesse looked up and her eyes widened in horror as she saw Wonder Woman and Green Lantern’s assailant. There, floating a few feet above her was the Martian Manhunter, grinning maniacally.
“I do hope you’ll be putting up more of a fight than your team-mates,” he hissed.
Jesse was speechless, and all she could focus on was the traces of Green Lantern’s blood dripping from J’Onn J’Onzz’s clenched right fist.
Chapter Two
David Gibson
Quick moving projectiles filled the air as Batman let loose a barrage of razor edged batarangs. He knew that they would be completely ineffective unless he was exceptionally lucky. Too bad he didn’t believe in luck. The single batarang he had actually bothered to aim sliced through the air and into the Watchtower control panel shorting it out. Sparks shot from the advanced computer and the lights blinked out.
The Watchtower became as dark as it was silent. With years of practiced ease Batman crossed the room without the slightest sound and ducked behind cover. This could be bad.
The silence was broken by a loud inhuman laugher that echoed through the dark and empty halls, “You do not really expect me to be stopped by some shadows? I will find you and then I will rip your arms out of their sockets.”
The Flash dodged the first dozen blows with ease, but the second dozen were trickier and the third were barely avoided. Jesse hadn’t spent too much time with J’Onn but she’d give him this, he was fast. Faster than she would have expected. Probably something to do with his shape-changing, or fluid body motion, she thought to herself as she ducked through a department store to shake him off.
The Martian Manhunter phased through the walls and shot right after her. Jesse swore but was already across the room before the curse could be heard. The wind from her wake scattered dresses and spun mindless (literally) shoppers about.
She changed her strategy and ran up the nearest wall and bounced off the high ceiling. She flew through the air and rammed into J’Onn and began pounding the Martian with a flurry of blows. After a hundred or so super-quick sucker punches she landed catlike on her feet and sped off before J’Onn could react.
“Owwww…” she muttered rubbing her sore knuckles. It had felt like punching a rock. J’Onn hadn’t even seemed to notice. He just flew after her.
“So, what’s going on?” Aquaman asked as he swam toward the shore.
Plastic Man’s propeller spun faster and shot the red and pink sub quickly behind the Sea King. “The entire population of Philadelphia has been possessed and are walking to a large bomb which will likely blow up making them all quite cross.”
“Hmph,” Aquaman grunted. “Any idea of who we’re up against?”
“Nope.” Plastic Man shrugged. “But if it makes you feel better we think we can safely rule out Black Manta.”
“Destroying a city and its entire population. Not something for profit or obviously world domination based. Could just be a psycho or alien.”
“Maybe Britney Spear’s breakdown just hit epic proportions.”
“…” Aquaman cast a frown back at the funny-man. “Let’s put that below Manta on the list.”
“Well, seeing ‘Crossroads’ made me want to take out a city. Imagine what starring in it could do.”
The smoke filled the room with obscuring white. Batman tossed a few more of the gas pellets just to be on the safe side. He ran across the room trying to get to the armory. He was prepared for a lot but some things just didn’t make the daily cut into the utility belt. Like an elephant gun for starters.
He gripped his dart-gun and rechecked the tranquillizer loaded inside. The dose could knock Aquaman for a loop but it still wasn’t powerful enough. It would only slow it down after making it mad.
There was loud sniffing at the air followed by a crash as a large dark shape shot through the mist at straight at Batman. It could smell him through the fog. Mental note, thought Batman. Add nasal numbing agent to smoke.
A powerful fist sped through the mist and connected with his right arm. The Dark Knight twisted and rolled with the blow as best as he could after being knocked through the air and sent spinning into the far wall. The dart gun clattered to the floor and slid just out of his reach.
Batman pushed off the wall and slid towards the weapon but he was beaten there. Large, clumsy-looking hands scooped up the projectile with careful delicate grace. It looked like a child’s play thing in the powerful fingers.
Batman looked up and his eyes narrowed. Twin yellow eyes looked down with unrestrained hatred just above a large mouth twisted into an evil sneer. The gun fired and a dart imbedded itself into Batman’s thigh.
Batman leapt to his feet with dizzying speed. He knew he only had seconds before he lost all motor control and he intended to make those seconds count. He lashed out with his good leg in a devastating kick to the face as he gambled and rammed his fingers into a nerve cluster. If he had been human, his entire arm would have been filled with stabbing pain. The foe didn’t even bat an eye; its physiology was just too different. Its nerves were in different arrangements.
There was a roar of animalistic rage and a heavy fist sent Batman flying. The Dark Knight slammed hard into the wall clutching his ribs. His fingers probed his chest; it felt like he had cracked two ribs.
There were heavy footsteps as his foe thudded up beside him. Batman was picked up like he was as light as a feather. Numbness began to take over. He was dragged back to the monitor womb and tossed heavily onto Superman’s limp frame.
The smoke cleared and Batman looked around the room and saw a large crude looking laser cannon sitting to the side. Probably a red solar radiation device he quickly deduced. It would have easily disrupted Kryptonian super abilities, if but for a minute. Then the figure returned.
“The controls should not take but a few moments to fix. Your pathetic attempts will only stall the inevitable,” the voice said sounding like rocks being ground into dust.
Batman tried to move his head but his neck was just too numb, everything was beginning to get blurry as his eye muscles relaxed. If the dose had been any stronger he might have stopped breathing. He fought to talk. “We will find a way to stop you, Grodd,” he managed to mutter out, trusting the simian’s ears could easily pick it out. “Whatever your scheme is this time.”
The Gorilla known as Grodd smiled evilly, its crude eyes hiding the genius that lurked behind the ugly yellow orbs. “No, I think not. It is you that has lost. You and all of humanity.”
Quick moving projectiles filled the air as Batman let loose a barrage of razor edged batarangs. He knew that they would be completely ineffective unless he was exceptionally lucky. Too bad he didn’t believe in luck. The single batarang he had actually bothered to aim sliced through the air and into the Watchtower control panel shorting it out. Sparks shot from the advanced computer and the lights blinked out.
The Watchtower became as dark as it was silent. With years of practiced ease Batman crossed the room without the slightest sound and ducked behind cover. This could be bad.
The silence was broken by a loud inhuman laugher that echoed through the dark and empty halls, “You do not really expect me to be stopped by some shadows? I will find you and then I will rip your arms out of their sockets.”
The Flash dodged the first dozen blows with ease, but the second dozen were trickier and the third were barely avoided. Jesse hadn’t spent too much time with J’Onn but she’d give him this, he was fast. Faster than she would have expected. Probably something to do with his shape-changing, or fluid body motion, she thought to herself as she ducked through a department store to shake him off.
The Martian Manhunter phased through the walls and shot right after her. Jesse swore but was already across the room before the curse could be heard. The wind from her wake scattered dresses and spun mindless (literally) shoppers about.
She changed her strategy and ran up the nearest wall and bounced off the high ceiling. She flew through the air and rammed into J’Onn and began pounding the Martian with a flurry of blows. After a hundred or so super-quick sucker punches she landed catlike on her feet and sped off before J’Onn could react.
“Owwww…” she muttered rubbing her sore knuckles. It had felt like punching a rock. J’Onn hadn’t even seemed to notice. He just flew after her.
“So, what’s going on?” Aquaman asked as he swam toward the shore.
Plastic Man’s propeller spun faster and shot the red and pink sub quickly behind the Sea King. “The entire population of Philadelphia has been possessed and are walking to a large bomb which will likely blow up making them all quite cross.”
“Hmph,” Aquaman grunted. “Any idea of who we’re up against?”
“Nope.” Plastic Man shrugged. “But if it makes you feel better we think we can safely rule out Black Manta.”
“Destroying a city and its entire population. Not something for profit or obviously world domination based. Could just be a psycho or alien.”
“Maybe Britney Spear’s breakdown just hit epic proportions.”
“…” Aquaman cast a frown back at the funny-man. “Let’s put that below Manta on the list.”
“Well, seeing ‘Crossroads’ made me want to take out a city. Imagine what starring in it could do.”
The smoke filled the room with obscuring white. Batman tossed a few more of the gas pellets just to be on the safe side. He ran across the room trying to get to the armory. He was prepared for a lot but some things just didn’t make the daily cut into the utility belt. Like an elephant gun for starters.
He gripped his dart-gun and rechecked the tranquillizer loaded inside. The dose could knock Aquaman for a loop but it still wasn’t powerful enough. It would only slow it down after making it mad.
There was loud sniffing at the air followed by a crash as a large dark shape shot through the mist at straight at Batman. It could smell him through the fog. Mental note, thought Batman. Add nasal numbing agent to smoke.
A powerful fist sped through the mist and connected with his right arm. The Dark Knight twisted and rolled with the blow as best as he could after being knocked through the air and sent spinning into the far wall. The dart gun clattered to the floor and slid just out of his reach.
Batman pushed off the wall and slid towards the weapon but he was beaten there. Large, clumsy-looking hands scooped up the projectile with careful delicate grace. It looked like a child’s play thing in the powerful fingers.
Batman looked up and his eyes narrowed. Twin yellow eyes looked down with unrestrained hatred just above a large mouth twisted into an evil sneer. The gun fired and a dart imbedded itself into Batman’s thigh.
Batman leapt to his feet with dizzying speed. He knew he only had seconds before he lost all motor control and he intended to make those seconds count. He lashed out with his good leg in a devastating kick to the face as he gambled and rammed his fingers into a nerve cluster. If he had been human, his entire arm would have been filled with stabbing pain. The foe didn’t even bat an eye; its physiology was just too different. Its nerves were in different arrangements.
There was a roar of animalistic rage and a heavy fist sent Batman flying. The Dark Knight slammed hard into the wall clutching his ribs. His fingers probed his chest; it felt like he had cracked two ribs.
There were heavy footsteps as his foe thudded up beside him. Batman was picked up like he was as light as a feather. Numbness began to take over. He was dragged back to the monitor womb and tossed heavily onto Superman’s limp frame.
The smoke cleared and Batman looked around the room and saw a large crude looking laser cannon sitting to the side. Probably a red solar radiation device he quickly deduced. It would have easily disrupted Kryptonian super abilities, if but for a minute. Then the figure returned.
“The controls should not take but a few moments to fix. Your pathetic attempts will only stall the inevitable,” the voice said sounding like rocks being ground into dust.
Batman tried to move his head but his neck was just too numb, everything was beginning to get blurry as his eye muscles relaxed. If the dose had been any stronger he might have stopped breathing. He fought to talk. “We will find a way to stop you, Grodd,” he managed to mutter out, trusting the simian’s ears could easily pick it out. “Whatever your scheme is this time.”
The Gorilla known as Grodd smiled evilly, its crude eyes hiding the genius that lurked behind the ugly yellow orbs. “No, I think not. It is you that has lost. You and all of humanity.”
Chapter Three
Clayton Tooley
Philadelphia
The Flash was tired and ready to collapse. So when the ground before her rose up, it saved her the embarrassment of simply collapsing. She had been running away from the Martian Manhunter, hoping some of her teammates would recover in time enough to help her, but Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were still down. Being distracted, she had momentarily lost track of J’Onn, so when he materialized from the ground before her, turning solid, she couldn’t dodge.
As she lay there, looking up at the green hand of death, Jesse would not let herself show her fear. She knew she couldn’t stop him, but she’d be damned if she let whomever was controlling J’Onn beat her. “Do it,” she said.
The Manhunter smiled and his eyes glowed red. Before he could fire, however, he convulsed in pain then screamed. He fell to the ground, and Jesse managed to get herself out of the way. She saw a trio of burning arrows plunged into his back, and heard a familiar voice call out, “Get your hands off her, you damn dirty alien!”
Jesse turned, a smile on her face, to see Arsenal standing atop a bus, smiling at her. In front of the bus, Cyborg stood, cracking his knuckles. Just as she saw Troia incoming like a rocket, she felt herself picked up gently and swung to safety by Nightwing, who let go of his line, dropping them to a rooftop. “Hey, Flash, what’s J’Onn’s problem?”
“Mind control.”
“Someone’s controlling him?!” Nightwing said, surprised.
“Yep.”
Below them, Troia slammed into J’Onn, who had managed to shape shift out of the arrows. He hadn’t seen her coming, but managed to stay on his feet, regardless of the fact that she plowed him back 50 feet. Once her forward momentum was halted, J’Onn grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the ground. He then shape shifted into a gorilla, slamming his big hands into her mercilessly.
“Oh crap!” Jesse said, turning to Nightwing, but he was already gone. He landed just behind J’Onn, quiet as a mouse as he leapt onto the Martian’s shoulders, slapping the two disks against his apish head.
The sonic disruptor cycled up and drilled into J’Onn’s mind, causing him to lose his gorilla form and he instinctively reverted back to J’Onn. He screamed in agony, allowing Nightwing time to pull the bleeding Troia away.
With a satisfying crunch, the Martian Manhunter got the sonic disruptors off and destroyed them. He was, however, distracted enough that he missed the pounding footsteps charging him.
“Coming through!” Cyborg yelled as he slammed into J’Onn, knocking the unsteady Leaguer to the ground. He commenced pounding on him quickly, angered not only at Troia’s beating, but also the JLA’s and the destruction in Philly. He was going to put aside his feelings for J’Onn in order to stop the destruction. He would end this.
Arsenal had just made it to where Nightwing crouched with the dizzy Troia when Cyborg was sent crashing into and through the building Jesse was standing upon and she went down in the rubble. Dick looked at Roy, their faces grim. They pulled Troia deeper into the building, knowing that with Cyborg and Jesse down and the telepathic, shape-changing and superstrong Martian after them, a martial artist, a guy with a bow and arrow and a dizzy Amazon were in a very, very tight spot.
“Where the hell are Superman, Aquaman, Batman or, god help us, Plastic Man?” Roy asked.
1st Union Center, Philadelphia
Arthur stood outside the arena, sizing up the joint as Plastic Man would say. He had been working his way backward, following the zombies, looking for where the brainwashing was coming from. His own telepathic abilities, limited as they were, allowed him to remain free and, hopefully, undetected. He moved carefully from his shaded position, ducking quickly into the sewer and focused on getting into the arena and finding the source of the mind control.
The Martian Manhunter had just ripped through both walls before him and found the hiding forms of the remaining former Titans. Nightwing and Arsenal stepped before the recovering Troia, prepared to take the first shots.
Before the smiling Manhunter could attack, a safe fell on him. As the Martian was plowed into and through the concrete, the safe door opened, spilling hundreds of pounds of gravel. The red, pink and yellow safe then changed its form, turning into the grinning form of Plastic Man. “Safe!” he yelled, making one of his trademarked bad puns.
“Plas!” Arsenal said, happy regardless of who had saved them. “Where the hell have you been?”
Plastic Man’s formed changed instantly, turning into a red, pink and yellow Sherlock Holmes, including pipe and magnifying glass. “Why, looking for clues, my dear Watson.” He then changed again, to a man in a rumpled suit and fedora. “Just the facts, ma’am.”
“Whatever,” Nightwing said, reaching out and pulling the rubberized idiot out of the way of the returning J’Onn.
The Manhunter was seething, his fury almost palatable. “Time to die,” he said, grinning, his eyes crackling.
“Hey Moe!” said a welcome voice from far away and suddenly the Flash was there, slamming J’Onn repeatedly with a steel tire iron, hitting him a hundred times in a second.
Just as J’Onn seemed to cope with that, Jesse broke off, dodging as the green battering ram, complete with the stylized ram’s head, slammed into the stomach of J’Onn, driving him off his feet. Before he came to a rest, he was intercepted by the fists of Wonder Woman and Cyborg, propelling him back into the nearest wall hard.
“N’yuck, N’yuck,” Cyborg quipped, moving to stand with the combined elements of the JLA and the former Titans. They watched, unimpressed as the Martian Manhunter stood, brushing himself off, still smiling.
“Impressive,” he said, in a voice so familiar yet so horrible at the same time. “You have bought yourself a few minutes, but…” He seemed distracted for a moment before his smile returned. “Oh, your little fish friend tried to stop the Master. Too bad he didn’t have any backup before he fried!”
Laughing manically, the Martian Manhunter turned invisible and disappeared.
JLA Watchtower
Gorilla Grodd returned to the computer control panel, having just completely immobilized Batman and Superman. He installed a few computer programs, setting up the next phase of the plan. Flipping a few more switches, he initiated the program.
Teen Titans Headquarters
“Alert! Emergency transmission from the JLA Watchtower!” The computer alarm brought Superboy, Wonder Girl, Damage, Omni, Impulse, Risk, and Offspring to the computer room on the double. The bloody, battered image of the Batman appeared on the screen, still managing to look in control. “Titans,” he said quickly. “The JLA needs your help. Some of our systems are offline, but we’ll be bringing you up two at a time immediately, prepare yourselves.” The connection cut quickly, and before the scattered teens could gather themselves, Superboy and Impulse disappeared.
Watchtower
“This seems awfully familiar,” Impulse said as he and Superboy stepped from the teleportation tubes. “How come we only come in here when there’s trouble?” Superboy shrugged, leading the way into the next room. He never saw the fist that put him through two walls and into unconsciousness.
After the fourth teleportation and surprise take down, Gorilla Grodd smiled to himself as he initiated the next phase.
After many hours, Gorilla Grodd stood in his converted brig on the Watchtower, looking at all his captives, brought to their knees because they trusted the JLA. Aside from Batman and Superman and the Teen Titans, Changeling, Terra, Flamebird, Bumblebee, Vibe and Red Star of the Titans West were all present. In another corner lay members of the JSA, next to the JLI, Robin, Supergirl, Black Canary and Green Arrow.
“I Am Victorious!”
Philadelphia
The Flash was tired and ready to collapse. So when the ground before her rose up, it saved her the embarrassment of simply collapsing. She had been running away from the Martian Manhunter, hoping some of her teammates would recover in time enough to help her, but Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were still down. Being distracted, she had momentarily lost track of J’Onn, so when he materialized from the ground before her, turning solid, she couldn’t dodge.
As she lay there, looking up at the green hand of death, Jesse would not let herself show her fear. She knew she couldn’t stop him, but she’d be damned if she let whomever was controlling J’Onn beat her. “Do it,” she said.
The Manhunter smiled and his eyes glowed red. Before he could fire, however, he convulsed in pain then screamed. He fell to the ground, and Jesse managed to get herself out of the way. She saw a trio of burning arrows plunged into his back, and heard a familiar voice call out, “Get your hands off her, you damn dirty alien!”
Jesse turned, a smile on her face, to see Arsenal standing atop a bus, smiling at her. In front of the bus, Cyborg stood, cracking his knuckles. Just as she saw Troia incoming like a rocket, she felt herself picked up gently and swung to safety by Nightwing, who let go of his line, dropping them to a rooftop. “Hey, Flash, what’s J’Onn’s problem?”
“Mind control.”
“Someone’s controlling him?!” Nightwing said, surprised.
“Yep.”
Below them, Troia slammed into J’Onn, who had managed to shape shift out of the arrows. He hadn’t seen her coming, but managed to stay on his feet, regardless of the fact that she plowed him back 50 feet. Once her forward momentum was halted, J’Onn grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the ground. He then shape shifted into a gorilla, slamming his big hands into her mercilessly.
“Oh crap!” Jesse said, turning to Nightwing, but he was already gone. He landed just behind J’Onn, quiet as a mouse as he leapt onto the Martian’s shoulders, slapping the two disks against his apish head.
The sonic disruptor cycled up and drilled into J’Onn’s mind, causing him to lose his gorilla form and he instinctively reverted back to J’Onn. He screamed in agony, allowing Nightwing time to pull the bleeding Troia away.
With a satisfying crunch, the Martian Manhunter got the sonic disruptors off and destroyed them. He was, however, distracted enough that he missed the pounding footsteps charging him.
“Coming through!” Cyborg yelled as he slammed into J’Onn, knocking the unsteady Leaguer to the ground. He commenced pounding on him quickly, angered not only at Troia’s beating, but also the JLA’s and the destruction in Philly. He was going to put aside his feelings for J’Onn in order to stop the destruction. He would end this.
Arsenal had just made it to where Nightwing crouched with the dizzy Troia when Cyborg was sent crashing into and through the building Jesse was standing upon and she went down in the rubble. Dick looked at Roy, their faces grim. They pulled Troia deeper into the building, knowing that with Cyborg and Jesse down and the telepathic, shape-changing and superstrong Martian after them, a martial artist, a guy with a bow and arrow and a dizzy Amazon were in a very, very tight spot.
“Where the hell are Superman, Aquaman, Batman or, god help us, Plastic Man?” Roy asked.
1st Union Center, Philadelphia
Arthur stood outside the arena, sizing up the joint as Plastic Man would say. He had been working his way backward, following the zombies, looking for where the brainwashing was coming from. His own telepathic abilities, limited as they were, allowed him to remain free and, hopefully, undetected. He moved carefully from his shaded position, ducking quickly into the sewer and focused on getting into the arena and finding the source of the mind control.
The Martian Manhunter had just ripped through both walls before him and found the hiding forms of the remaining former Titans. Nightwing and Arsenal stepped before the recovering Troia, prepared to take the first shots.
Before the smiling Manhunter could attack, a safe fell on him. As the Martian was plowed into and through the concrete, the safe door opened, spilling hundreds of pounds of gravel. The red, pink and yellow safe then changed its form, turning into the grinning form of Plastic Man. “Safe!” he yelled, making one of his trademarked bad puns.
“Plas!” Arsenal said, happy regardless of who had saved them. “Where the hell have you been?”
Plastic Man’s formed changed instantly, turning into a red, pink and yellow Sherlock Holmes, including pipe and magnifying glass. “Why, looking for clues, my dear Watson.” He then changed again, to a man in a rumpled suit and fedora. “Just the facts, ma’am.”
“Whatever,” Nightwing said, reaching out and pulling the rubberized idiot out of the way of the returning J’Onn.
The Manhunter was seething, his fury almost palatable. “Time to die,” he said, grinning, his eyes crackling.
“Hey Moe!” said a welcome voice from far away and suddenly the Flash was there, slamming J’Onn repeatedly with a steel tire iron, hitting him a hundred times in a second.
Just as J’Onn seemed to cope with that, Jesse broke off, dodging as the green battering ram, complete with the stylized ram’s head, slammed into the stomach of J’Onn, driving him off his feet. Before he came to a rest, he was intercepted by the fists of Wonder Woman and Cyborg, propelling him back into the nearest wall hard.
“N’yuck, N’yuck,” Cyborg quipped, moving to stand with the combined elements of the JLA and the former Titans. They watched, unimpressed as the Martian Manhunter stood, brushing himself off, still smiling.
“Impressive,” he said, in a voice so familiar yet so horrible at the same time. “You have bought yourself a few minutes, but…” He seemed distracted for a moment before his smile returned. “Oh, your little fish friend tried to stop the Master. Too bad he didn’t have any backup before he fried!”
Laughing manically, the Martian Manhunter turned invisible and disappeared.
JLA Watchtower
Gorilla Grodd returned to the computer control panel, having just completely immobilized Batman and Superman. He installed a few computer programs, setting up the next phase of the plan. Flipping a few more switches, he initiated the program.
Teen Titans Headquarters
“Alert! Emergency transmission from the JLA Watchtower!” The computer alarm brought Superboy, Wonder Girl, Damage, Omni, Impulse, Risk, and Offspring to the computer room on the double. The bloody, battered image of the Batman appeared on the screen, still managing to look in control. “Titans,” he said quickly. “The JLA needs your help. Some of our systems are offline, but we’ll be bringing you up two at a time immediately, prepare yourselves.” The connection cut quickly, and before the scattered teens could gather themselves, Superboy and Impulse disappeared.
Watchtower
“This seems awfully familiar,” Impulse said as he and Superboy stepped from the teleportation tubes. “How come we only come in here when there’s trouble?” Superboy shrugged, leading the way into the next room. He never saw the fist that put him through two walls and into unconsciousness.
After the fourth teleportation and surprise take down, Gorilla Grodd smiled to himself as he initiated the next phase.
After many hours, Gorilla Grodd stood in his converted brig on the Watchtower, looking at all his captives, brought to their knees because they trusted the JLA. Aside from Batman and Superman and the Teen Titans, Changeling, Terra, Flamebird, Bumblebee, Vibe and Red Star of the Titans West were all present. In another corner lay members of the JSA, next to the JLI, Robin, Supergirl, Black Canary and Green Arrow.
“I Am Victorious!”
Chapter Four
Erik Fromme
Ted Kord entered the JLI Embassy, noticing the patchwork job done to it after a recent skirmish with The Time Commander. “This place could use a few more coats of paint,” he quipped as he walked the empty and quiet corridors. He whistled as he walked to the computer room, the sounds echoed in the halls, and that’s when he noticed the silence. “Hello!” he yelled.
Silence replied.
“This is odd. I wonder where the team went without me?” Ted asked himself, hoping that his answer would somehow jump out at him. It wouldn’t until he walked into the computer room. The room like the rest of the place was empty, but the screens of the place were still active, even if they showed static.
“Computer, have we received any new messages within that past two hours?” Ted asked as he sat in a chair in front of a terminal. A list with times appeared in front of him, everything seemed rather unimportant until he saw a message from the Watchtower. “The JLA?” he asked as he pushed the replay button on the screen.
An image of an abused Superman appeared on the screen, and interference lines crossed the choppy picture.
“JLI we require your assistance. Much of our systems are offline, and we are losing power quickly. I will be taking you in pairs, so prepare for immediate teleportation. Superman out.”
Tedd looked confused, wondering how it was possible for the JLA to just bring people up. “Computer replay video surveillance of this room during the time of this transmission,” he looked as the silent camera showed the team disappearing in two’s, starting with Fire and Ice. “Just what in the hell is going on?” the last JLIer was taken up, Guy Gardner.
“Computer contact the Teen Titans,” Ted commanded the machine.
[Communication with the Teen Titans failed. Shall another attempt be made?]
“No, try contacting the JSA.”
[Communication with the JSA failed. Shall…?]
Ted stopped the computer from continuing. This may be a long shot, he thought. “This is Blue Beetle calling the Oracle. Come in Oracle.” Seconds passed before the response came through.
“This is Oracle. Ted, is that really you?” the female voice sounded concerned.
“Yeah, what is going on, Babs? We received a message from the JLA, the rest of my team is missing, and I can’t get a hold of the Teen Titans, or the JSA. I don’t dare hail the Watchtower.”
“That is odd, but it is consistent with what is coming in over the Internet. Heroes from all over the world are just disappearing for no reason.”
“Who have you tried?”
“I’ve tried the teams and I just tried the Black Canary. I’m going to try Dick right now.”
Ted sighed. “Can you patch me in when you do that?”
“Sure thing…” seconds passed. “Nightwing, are you there? Please come in,” the last part was more of a plea than an order.
“Oracle?!” a rejuvenated voice blared through the speakers of the JLI Embassy. “You won’t believe what just happened. The Martian Manhunter just attacked the JLA in Philadelphia, and us, too, when we intervened. He almost handed us our asses.”
“I am currently standing over Aquaman’s unconscious body. From what the Green Lantern can tell us is that he was brain fried, but he should pull through it considering the strength and telepathic natures of his mind,” Dick Grayson spoke into his microphone.
“Nightwing, this is Blue Beetle…who in the JLA are with you now?”
Nightwing looked around not questioning the question. “Everybody but Superman, Batman and the Martian Manhunter. He took off after giving us a grace period of mercy. Jesse mentioned that J’Onn’s mind is being controlled. If we could find away to break that control J’Onn should be all right.”
Kyle raised the Sea King’s body off of the ground. If you looked at the Green Lantern you would notice that his facemask was broken into three pieces and the whole right side of his face was swollen. “Can’t we just dump him in a YMCA pool and let the water there heal him?”
“He won’t be able to heal in the chorine. Just get him to the ocean,” replied Wonder Woman.
The Green Lantern nodded. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he shot off towards the coast.
Nightwing nodded to himself as he listened to what Ted and his girlfriend told him. “That is interesting. I would almost say that whoever is controlling J’Onn, is also behind the disappearances of the heroes.”
The Watchtower
Gorilla Grodd stood over the computer consol, not able to sit in the uncomfortable humanoid chairs. He made a mental note to change everything to accommodate his Simian features. He could smell the victory closer and closer as each minute passed. “Where are the other members of the JLA, J’Onn?”
The Martian Manhunter stepped from the shadows. “They put up too much resistance. I thought that they could be lured into a better trap where I could get the jump on them,” replied the Martian.
Grodd snarled, his teeth flashed as the light reflected off of the saliva covering them. “There’s always a setback!”
“Master Grodd, they are a small and injured group. The right setting will see to their downfall. Something that can split them apart and make their defeat quicker.”
The super smart Gorilla thought for a second. “Yes, but where?”
Philadelphia
“Then our answers should be found in the Watchtower,” stated Cyborg as he digested Nightwing’s report. “The satellite and every team HQ are unresponsive.”
“Yes, but how do we get up there and with what fire power do we go up there with? None of us aside from the Green Lantern can operate in space,” replied the Amazon Princess Wonder Woman.
A green light shown over the group as Kyle Rayner returned from the ocean. “I think I can take care of that problem,” said the Green Lantern as he landed on the ground.
“How’s Arthur?” asked Troia.
Kyle looked through his restored mask at the Amazon’s twin and instantly remembered their time together, but right now he pushed it all away. “He was in and out of consciousness. I don’t think he is fully aware about what happened to him.”
“You said you could fix a problem of ours?” asked Nightwing, hoping to speed things up.
“Oh right…I can try to contact as many heroes left with my ring. I did it once with Metron and his Mobius chair back during Zero Hour. I think I can duplicate the procedure and do it on my own,” Kyle replied.
The whole team, both the JLA and the former Titans, nodded. “Then do it.”
Kyle closed his eyes and he rose off of the ground. The ring was bright, like a small star…and around the world heroes were being called.
San Diego, California
Michael Jon Carter sat on his couch with the remote for his TV in one hand and a beer in the other. Settling on the Cartoon Network he put the remote down and ran a hand through his blonde hair. This century always had the best television, thought the hero from the 25th century.
His new home was smaller than the one he was used to living in, but after that one was destroyed by space robots a few months back he had no choice but to move. Then in front of him, from out of nowhere, came the image of the Green Lantern and the hero known as Booster Gold almost spit out his beer…
“Heroes of the world, please hear my call. Every one of us has come under attack from an unknown agent. Many of those you know may have already fallen, there are few of us left and we need every available person to meet me in Philadelphia immediately. Green Lantern out…”
“Well, if I am needed,” replied Carter as he stood from his couch and raced to put his costume on.
Ted Kord entered the JLI Embassy, noticing the patchwork job done to it after a recent skirmish with The Time Commander. “This place could use a few more coats of paint,” he quipped as he walked the empty and quiet corridors. He whistled as he walked to the computer room, the sounds echoed in the halls, and that’s when he noticed the silence. “Hello!” he yelled.
Silence replied.
“This is odd. I wonder where the team went without me?” Ted asked himself, hoping that his answer would somehow jump out at him. It wouldn’t until he walked into the computer room. The room like the rest of the place was empty, but the screens of the place were still active, even if they showed static.
“Computer, have we received any new messages within that past two hours?” Ted asked as he sat in a chair in front of a terminal. A list with times appeared in front of him, everything seemed rather unimportant until he saw a message from the Watchtower. “The JLA?” he asked as he pushed the replay button on the screen.
An image of an abused Superman appeared on the screen, and interference lines crossed the choppy picture.
“JLI we require your assistance. Much of our systems are offline, and we are losing power quickly. I will be taking you in pairs, so prepare for immediate teleportation. Superman out.”
Tedd looked confused, wondering how it was possible for the JLA to just bring people up. “Computer replay video surveillance of this room during the time of this transmission,” he looked as the silent camera showed the team disappearing in two’s, starting with Fire and Ice. “Just what in the hell is going on?” the last JLIer was taken up, Guy Gardner.
“Computer contact the Teen Titans,” Ted commanded the machine.
[Communication with the Teen Titans failed. Shall another attempt be made?]
“No, try contacting the JSA.”
[Communication with the JSA failed. Shall…?]
Ted stopped the computer from continuing. This may be a long shot, he thought. “This is Blue Beetle calling the Oracle. Come in Oracle.” Seconds passed before the response came through.
“This is Oracle. Ted, is that really you?” the female voice sounded concerned.
“Yeah, what is going on, Babs? We received a message from the JLA, the rest of my team is missing, and I can’t get a hold of the Teen Titans, or the JSA. I don’t dare hail the Watchtower.”
“That is odd, but it is consistent with what is coming in over the Internet. Heroes from all over the world are just disappearing for no reason.”
“Who have you tried?”
“I’ve tried the teams and I just tried the Black Canary. I’m going to try Dick right now.”
Ted sighed. “Can you patch me in when you do that?”
“Sure thing…” seconds passed. “Nightwing, are you there? Please come in,” the last part was more of a plea than an order.
“Oracle?!” a rejuvenated voice blared through the speakers of the JLI Embassy. “You won’t believe what just happened. The Martian Manhunter just attacked the JLA in Philadelphia, and us, too, when we intervened. He almost handed us our asses.”
“I am currently standing over Aquaman’s unconscious body. From what the Green Lantern can tell us is that he was brain fried, but he should pull through it considering the strength and telepathic natures of his mind,” Dick Grayson spoke into his microphone.
“Nightwing, this is Blue Beetle…who in the JLA are with you now?”
Nightwing looked around not questioning the question. “Everybody but Superman, Batman and the Martian Manhunter. He took off after giving us a grace period of mercy. Jesse mentioned that J’Onn’s mind is being controlled. If we could find away to break that control J’Onn should be all right.”
Kyle raised the Sea King’s body off of the ground. If you looked at the Green Lantern you would notice that his facemask was broken into three pieces and the whole right side of his face was swollen. “Can’t we just dump him in a YMCA pool and let the water there heal him?”
“He won’t be able to heal in the chorine. Just get him to the ocean,” replied Wonder Woman.
The Green Lantern nodded. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he shot off towards the coast.
Nightwing nodded to himself as he listened to what Ted and his girlfriend told him. “That is interesting. I would almost say that whoever is controlling J’Onn, is also behind the disappearances of the heroes.”
The Watchtower
Gorilla Grodd stood over the computer consol, not able to sit in the uncomfortable humanoid chairs. He made a mental note to change everything to accommodate his Simian features. He could smell the victory closer and closer as each minute passed. “Where are the other members of the JLA, J’Onn?”
The Martian Manhunter stepped from the shadows. “They put up too much resistance. I thought that they could be lured into a better trap where I could get the jump on them,” replied the Martian.
Grodd snarled, his teeth flashed as the light reflected off of the saliva covering them. “There’s always a setback!”
“Master Grodd, they are a small and injured group. The right setting will see to their downfall. Something that can split them apart and make their defeat quicker.”
The super smart Gorilla thought for a second. “Yes, but where?”
Philadelphia
“Then our answers should be found in the Watchtower,” stated Cyborg as he digested Nightwing’s report. “The satellite and every team HQ are unresponsive.”
“Yes, but how do we get up there and with what fire power do we go up there with? None of us aside from the Green Lantern can operate in space,” replied the Amazon Princess Wonder Woman.
A green light shown over the group as Kyle Rayner returned from the ocean. “I think I can take care of that problem,” said the Green Lantern as he landed on the ground.
“How’s Arthur?” asked Troia.
Kyle looked through his restored mask at the Amazon’s twin and instantly remembered their time together, but right now he pushed it all away. “He was in and out of consciousness. I don’t think he is fully aware about what happened to him.”
“You said you could fix a problem of ours?” asked Nightwing, hoping to speed things up.
“Oh right…I can try to contact as many heroes left with my ring. I did it once with Metron and his Mobius chair back during Zero Hour. I think I can duplicate the procedure and do it on my own,” Kyle replied.
The whole team, both the JLA and the former Titans, nodded. “Then do it.”
Kyle closed his eyes and he rose off of the ground. The ring was bright, like a small star…and around the world heroes were being called.
San Diego, California
Michael Jon Carter sat on his couch with the remote for his TV in one hand and a beer in the other. Settling on the Cartoon Network he put the remote down and ran a hand through his blonde hair. This century always had the best television, thought the hero from the 25th century.
His new home was smaller than the one he was used to living in, but after that one was destroyed by space robots a few months back he had no choice but to move. Then in front of him, from out of nowhere, came the image of the Green Lantern and the hero known as Booster Gold almost spit out his beer…
“Heroes of the world, please hear my call. Every one of us has come under attack from an unknown agent. Many of those you know may have already fallen, there are few of us left and we need every available person to meet me in Philadelphia immediately. Green Lantern out…”
“Well, if I am needed,” replied Carter as he stood from his couch and raced to put his costume on.
Chapter Five
Tobias Christopher
Around the world various heroes stood in the JLI Embassy and replied in their own way to the image and prepared for the coming moments…
“This is it?” Nightwing asked. “This is all that’s left of the world’s heroes?”
“Sorry I’m late!” Lagoon Boy said as he ran in. The others just stared at him before they all started laughing until he ran out of the room crying.
“Now, where were we?” Nightwing asked. “Oh, yeah, the JLA, JSA, most of the JLI and all of the Titans and every other team has gone missing. Some mega powerful creep has taken over Martian Manhunter’s mind and we’re the only ones left.”
“If only there was something to go on,” Green Lantern added. “If only we knew what we were up against.”
“I know exactly what we’re up against,” Blue Beetle said as he entered the headquarters, holding up a tape. “And I’ll show you.”
Ted inserted the tape into the monitor as the image played on the screen of a bruised Superman asking for help.
“Pay attention to the background as I enhance the image,” Ted said as the background came more into focus and a shadow was seen behind the Man of Steel.
“That’s not Superman’s shadow,” Booster Gold said. “It looks like...”
“A gorilla,” Nightwing said. “Having worked in a circus, I can recognize one from fifty yards.”
“Grodd,” Green Lantern said. “He’s the one who’s taken down everyone.”
“And he’s taken the Watchtower,” Beetle said, “along with all the other heroes.”
“But how do we get up there without him noticing us?” Troia asked.
“Hold on,” Wonder Woman said. “I’m getting a telepathic message from J’Onn. Grodd’s apparent control over him had a momentary lapse. He’s given me a psychic map to his location.”
“It could be a trap,” Green Lantern said. “How can we be so sure that it was really J’Onn?”
“We don’t,” Wonder Woman said, “and that’s why we’re going to --”
“The fools are on their way, Master,” J’Onn said. “Do you wish for me to face them alone?”
“No, that will not be necessary,” Grodd said. “You will have help. Remember, we have all the heroes at our disposal, once we convince them to help us.”
All of the remaining heroes, minus Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and the Flash, arrived at the abandoned circus on the outskirts of Metropolis.
“I hope this works,” Nightwing said. “This is our last chance.”
“Don’t worry,” Booster Gold replied. “Wonder Woman has it all under control.”
“Let’s split up,” Nightwing said. “Troia, Cyborg, Arsenal, come with me. Booster, take the kids and go that way.”
“Sure, stick me with the rugrats,” Booster said as Empress shot him a dirty look.
Meanwhile, outside of the Watchtower, a giant green bubble appeared from behind an invisible cloak.
“Come on, let’s get in there before someone notices us,” Lantern said.
The four heroes found their way inside, but after a few minutes, came to a realization.
“There’s no one here,” the Flash said. “Except for Grodd and Batman and Superman. Where are the other heroes?”
“This place is completely empty,” Nightwing said as his group covered their side of the circus. “I’m starting to think this is a setup.”
Suddenly, Booster and his team were dropped to the ground.
“I knew it,” Nightwing said as he prepared to fight when he saw J’Onn. But then he saw the JLI, the Teen Titans, the JSA and the rest of the captured heroes behind him, all of them under the psychic control of Gorilla Grodd and J’Onn J’Onnz.
Around the world various heroes stood in the JLI Embassy and replied in their own way to the image and prepared for the coming moments…
“This is it?” Nightwing asked. “This is all that’s left of the world’s heroes?”
“Sorry I’m late!” Lagoon Boy said as he ran in. The others just stared at him before they all started laughing until he ran out of the room crying.
“Now, where were we?” Nightwing asked. “Oh, yeah, the JLA, JSA, most of the JLI and all of the Titans and every other team has gone missing. Some mega powerful creep has taken over Martian Manhunter’s mind and we’re the only ones left.”
“If only there was something to go on,” Green Lantern added. “If only we knew what we were up against.”
“I know exactly what we’re up against,” Blue Beetle said as he entered the headquarters, holding up a tape. “And I’ll show you.”
Ted inserted the tape into the monitor as the image played on the screen of a bruised Superman asking for help.
“Pay attention to the background as I enhance the image,” Ted said as the background came more into focus and a shadow was seen behind the Man of Steel.
“That’s not Superman’s shadow,” Booster Gold said. “It looks like...”
“A gorilla,” Nightwing said. “Having worked in a circus, I can recognize one from fifty yards.”
“Grodd,” Green Lantern said. “He’s the one who’s taken down everyone.”
“And he’s taken the Watchtower,” Beetle said, “along with all the other heroes.”
“But how do we get up there without him noticing us?” Troia asked.
“Hold on,” Wonder Woman said. “I’m getting a telepathic message from J’Onn. Grodd’s apparent control over him had a momentary lapse. He’s given me a psychic map to his location.”
“It could be a trap,” Green Lantern said. “How can we be so sure that it was really J’Onn?”
“We don’t,” Wonder Woman said, “and that’s why we’re going to --”
“The fools are on their way, Master,” J’Onn said. “Do you wish for me to face them alone?”
“No, that will not be necessary,” Grodd said. “You will have help. Remember, we have all the heroes at our disposal, once we convince them to help us.”
All of the remaining heroes, minus Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and the Flash, arrived at the abandoned circus on the outskirts of Metropolis.
“I hope this works,” Nightwing said. “This is our last chance.”
“Don’t worry,” Booster Gold replied. “Wonder Woman has it all under control.”
“Let’s split up,” Nightwing said. “Troia, Cyborg, Arsenal, come with me. Booster, take the kids and go that way.”
“Sure, stick me with the rugrats,” Booster said as Empress shot him a dirty look.
Meanwhile, outside of the Watchtower, a giant green bubble appeared from behind an invisible cloak.
“Come on, let’s get in there before someone notices us,” Lantern said.
The four heroes found their way inside, but after a few minutes, came to a realization.
“There’s no one here,” the Flash said. “Except for Grodd and Batman and Superman. Where are the other heroes?”
“This place is completely empty,” Nightwing said as his group covered their side of the circus. “I’m starting to think this is a setup.”
Suddenly, Booster and his team were dropped to the ground.
“I knew it,” Nightwing said as he prepared to fight when he saw J’Onn. But then he saw the JLI, the Teen Titans, the JSA and the rest of the captured heroes behind him, all of them under the psychic control of Gorilla Grodd and J’Onn J’Onnz.
Chapter Six
Matthias Uy
In the outskirts of Metropolis
Nightwing felt the heat as three flame arrows from Arsenal’s bow shot past him, racing toward the Martian Manhunter.
“This should even the odds, at least a little bit,” Roy said as he tried to hide his fear, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him.
“Defensive stance everybody! Remember, they’re sluggish since they are under mind control!” Nightwing reminded his team, preparing himself for the worst that was yet to come.
The arrows sped towards the Manhunter, but it shot through him. Intangible, Nightwing thought. The fire did nothing to J’Onn. Nightwing could only order a retreat as the rest of the mind controlled heroes started to rush them.
Watchtower
“Everything is according to plan.” Grodd assured himself. “Little do these fools know the extent of my plans,” he added. “I think a little stroll around to check on my, hehe, prisoners is due.” A smile cracked on his face, fantasies of triumph dancing around his head as he thought of it. The JLA, the entire hero community at that, was at the mercy of a simian who had never even got past defeating the second Flash.
But his smile was quickly replaced by a surprise as he found his prisoners…
“Gone!” he half shouted as he tried to retain his composure. “Where could they be?”
From the shadows a voice answered, “Far from your reach.”
Grodd turned to face the cause of this setback, as he heard the familiar hum of the teleporters kicking in.
Metropolis
“Stay back everyone! I have a plan!” Nightwing shouted to be heard over the din as the mind controlled heroes started to move forward. “Regroup! We need a shield here, Cyborg!” He let go of a disk, which hit Alan Scott squarely on the forehead.
“Will do,” Cyborg replied, starting to create a bubble shield from the Omegadrome, a weapon given to him by the Technis.
“Everyone inside the bubble right now!” Nightwing ordered as he reached inside his pockets for some gadget he prayed would buy them some time. So far he’d tried everything else: smoke pellets, stun disks…nothing worked in the long run.
“Cover your eyes, guys!” Nightwing yelled as a burst of light was let loose from his flash pellets upon impact to the ground. “Flash bombs,” he said, like a door-to-door salesman would introduce his wares. “Works every time,” he commented as he got in the bubble where Troia and Arsenal were.
“I’ll cover you!” Roy offered as he shot several arrows at the heroes who were not affected very much by the flash pellets.
“One last trick before you seal us up, Cyborg,” Nightwing said as he let go several pellets in the air. “Seal us up, pray it works and cover your ears!” he said as Cyborg closed the remaining space in his bubble. A thin piercing sound was heard after and then dead silence.
“Let us out now, Vic,” Nightwing said. “It must be safe outside.”
Cyborg did as Nightwing said and opened up the bubble. “What did you do to them?” Troia asked.
“Sonic attack meant to disrupt the inner ear, causing imbalance. They will recover in a few minutes, so I suggest we pick up the casualties and go.”
“Man, MM is still standing!” Roy pointed out as everyone turned to the direction he was looking.
“Ignore him,” Nightwing suggested.
“Ignore him? Are you daft? Did your sonic thingy get you too? How can you ignore him?”
Nightwing replied, “Ignore him. He is just an…”
Watchtower
“…illusion I created to stand in my stead. I mentally suggested you to send the rest of the heroes to Metropolis,” J’Onn concluded.
Aquaman stepped out of the teleporter and fired his wirepoon towards Grodd, ensnaring his feet. Plastic Man changed his shape to a giant rubber ball and launched himself towards Grodd, knocking him off his feet.
The rest of the JLA joined in the room. Superman and Flash, at super speed, dismantled the teleporters. “There, no one coming in, no one getting out,” Flash reported.
“Steady everyone, we are all still recovering from attacks made to us by Grodd. Telepathic link is now online. Oracle, are you there?” J’Onn said telepathically.
“Oracle?” Batman repeated.
Knowing he was outnumbered greatly, Grodd let out a telepathic burst that sent the JLA back. Aquaman shot his wirepoon toward Grodd again, but this time failed as Grodd caught the wirepoon with his hand. “Same trick won’t work twice,” he snarled.
“Foolish heroes. Know this. I still hold your world under my command,” Grodd announced as he tugged the wirepoon and slammed Aquaman across the room.
“Bananas got into your head?” Plastic Man quipped. “Philadelphia is not exactly the world,” he added with a grin.
Superman tried to fire his heat vision, but nothing happened. Batman had been trying to lift his arms but found that he was not able to. Looking around the room he saw his teammates were struggling as well. It seemed like all of them had lost their motor ability. Right beside him he observed the Martian Manhunter straining over something. The telepathic link was lost also.
“Let’s move our little conference over to the monitor womb, shall we?” Grodd suggested with a sneer on his face, as the heroes could do nothing but do as they were told. They marched across the Watchtower against their will, fighting Grodd’s mental command with little result, like ants trying to push a mountain. Beads of sweat were forming around J’Onn’s face. As the resident mentalist, he knew that the team relied on him to break Grodd’s hold over them. So far he had only managed not to let Grodd take over their will totally. Grodd had grown in power in these last few hours.
“What I want to know,” Grodd began, “is how you are able to break free.” Grodd wondered openly, addressing the question to Manhunter.
“A Martian’s mind is capable of at least 8 separate thoughts. While you used me to assault my friends, I was trying to push your mind control to a singular linear thought,” J’Onn unwillingly explained. “Arsenal’s fire arrows and Nightwing’s sonic disks temporarily pushed you from my head. That gave me an opening. I shielded the rest of my thoughts from you but allowed you to enter a little so to give you a sense of victory. Rescuing Superman and Batman was a simpler task,” he concluded, surprised that he had only been able to offer token resistance in handing out information that would help their foe.
“I see,” Grodd sighed over his oversight.
“The monitor womb,” Grodd welcomed them as if this was their first time to enter the place. “Take a look around. Look at the monitors to see my victory unbound!” Grodd exclaimed melodramatically like villains often do.
The monitors showed different parts of the world where people were either holding knives to their throats, or guns to their heads, or on the verge of jumping from high places. “The world at my hands, I told you so. Philadelphia was just the beginning. A sample of what I can do, and would do. I can make people take their lives when I want them to. I am their master.”
“I have placed a transmitter that amplifies my abilities, but don’t worry looking for that now. It’s safely hidden in space, and I will be monitoring your every move mentally. It’s made of nanomites that are virtually impossible to destroy since they are able to rebuild themselves from scratch in, oh, approximately 10 seconds.”
“In 30 minutes, I will command my pets to take their lives for their master. What I want you to do is, being the heroes that you are, go down there and try to save their lives.” His voice held more than a hint of malice and a lot of joy. “Or,” he began as he pointed at a monitor that showed the rest of the heroes on the outskirts of Metropolis now fully awake, with Nightwing and his team joining the ranks of the mind controlled heroes, “prevent them from killing each other. That, lady and gentlemen, is control.” As he could no longer contain his elation, he let out a hearty laughter that chilled the bones of the JLA.
In the outskirts of Metropolis
Nightwing felt the heat as three flame arrows from Arsenal’s bow shot past him, racing toward the Martian Manhunter.
“This should even the odds, at least a little bit,” Roy said as he tried to hide his fear, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him.
“Defensive stance everybody! Remember, they’re sluggish since they are under mind control!” Nightwing reminded his team, preparing himself for the worst that was yet to come.
The arrows sped towards the Manhunter, but it shot through him. Intangible, Nightwing thought. The fire did nothing to J’Onn. Nightwing could only order a retreat as the rest of the mind controlled heroes started to rush them.
Watchtower
“Everything is according to plan.” Grodd assured himself. “Little do these fools know the extent of my plans,” he added. “I think a little stroll around to check on my, hehe, prisoners is due.” A smile cracked on his face, fantasies of triumph dancing around his head as he thought of it. The JLA, the entire hero community at that, was at the mercy of a simian who had never even got past defeating the second Flash.
But his smile was quickly replaced by a surprise as he found his prisoners…
“Gone!” he half shouted as he tried to retain his composure. “Where could they be?”
From the shadows a voice answered, “Far from your reach.”
Grodd turned to face the cause of this setback, as he heard the familiar hum of the teleporters kicking in.
Metropolis
“Stay back everyone! I have a plan!” Nightwing shouted to be heard over the din as the mind controlled heroes started to move forward. “Regroup! We need a shield here, Cyborg!” He let go of a disk, which hit Alan Scott squarely on the forehead.
“Will do,” Cyborg replied, starting to create a bubble shield from the Omegadrome, a weapon given to him by the Technis.
“Everyone inside the bubble right now!” Nightwing ordered as he reached inside his pockets for some gadget he prayed would buy them some time. So far he’d tried everything else: smoke pellets, stun disks…nothing worked in the long run.
“Cover your eyes, guys!” Nightwing yelled as a burst of light was let loose from his flash pellets upon impact to the ground. “Flash bombs,” he said, like a door-to-door salesman would introduce his wares. “Works every time,” he commented as he got in the bubble where Troia and Arsenal were.
“I’ll cover you!” Roy offered as he shot several arrows at the heroes who were not affected very much by the flash pellets.
“One last trick before you seal us up, Cyborg,” Nightwing said as he let go several pellets in the air. “Seal us up, pray it works and cover your ears!” he said as Cyborg closed the remaining space in his bubble. A thin piercing sound was heard after and then dead silence.
“Let us out now, Vic,” Nightwing said. “It must be safe outside.”
Cyborg did as Nightwing said and opened up the bubble. “What did you do to them?” Troia asked.
“Sonic attack meant to disrupt the inner ear, causing imbalance. They will recover in a few minutes, so I suggest we pick up the casualties and go.”
“Man, MM is still standing!” Roy pointed out as everyone turned to the direction he was looking.
“Ignore him,” Nightwing suggested.
“Ignore him? Are you daft? Did your sonic thingy get you too? How can you ignore him?”
Nightwing replied, “Ignore him. He is just an…”
Watchtower
“…illusion I created to stand in my stead. I mentally suggested you to send the rest of the heroes to Metropolis,” J’Onn concluded.
Aquaman stepped out of the teleporter and fired his wirepoon towards Grodd, ensnaring his feet. Plastic Man changed his shape to a giant rubber ball and launched himself towards Grodd, knocking him off his feet.
The rest of the JLA joined in the room. Superman and Flash, at super speed, dismantled the teleporters. “There, no one coming in, no one getting out,” Flash reported.
“Steady everyone, we are all still recovering from attacks made to us by Grodd. Telepathic link is now online. Oracle, are you there?” J’Onn said telepathically.
“Oracle?” Batman repeated.
Knowing he was outnumbered greatly, Grodd let out a telepathic burst that sent the JLA back. Aquaman shot his wirepoon toward Grodd again, but this time failed as Grodd caught the wirepoon with his hand. “Same trick won’t work twice,” he snarled.
“Foolish heroes. Know this. I still hold your world under my command,” Grodd announced as he tugged the wirepoon and slammed Aquaman across the room.
“Bananas got into your head?” Plastic Man quipped. “Philadelphia is not exactly the world,” he added with a grin.
Superman tried to fire his heat vision, but nothing happened. Batman had been trying to lift his arms but found that he was not able to. Looking around the room he saw his teammates were struggling as well. It seemed like all of them had lost their motor ability. Right beside him he observed the Martian Manhunter straining over something. The telepathic link was lost also.
“Let’s move our little conference over to the monitor womb, shall we?” Grodd suggested with a sneer on his face, as the heroes could do nothing but do as they were told. They marched across the Watchtower against their will, fighting Grodd’s mental command with little result, like ants trying to push a mountain. Beads of sweat were forming around J’Onn’s face. As the resident mentalist, he knew that the team relied on him to break Grodd’s hold over them. So far he had only managed not to let Grodd take over their will totally. Grodd had grown in power in these last few hours.
“What I want to know,” Grodd began, “is how you are able to break free.” Grodd wondered openly, addressing the question to Manhunter.
“A Martian’s mind is capable of at least 8 separate thoughts. While you used me to assault my friends, I was trying to push your mind control to a singular linear thought,” J’Onn unwillingly explained. “Arsenal’s fire arrows and Nightwing’s sonic disks temporarily pushed you from my head. That gave me an opening. I shielded the rest of my thoughts from you but allowed you to enter a little so to give you a sense of victory. Rescuing Superman and Batman was a simpler task,” he concluded, surprised that he had only been able to offer token resistance in handing out information that would help their foe.
“I see,” Grodd sighed over his oversight.
“The monitor womb,” Grodd welcomed them as if this was their first time to enter the place. “Take a look around. Look at the monitors to see my victory unbound!” Grodd exclaimed melodramatically like villains often do.
The monitors showed different parts of the world where people were either holding knives to their throats, or guns to their heads, or on the verge of jumping from high places. “The world at my hands, I told you so. Philadelphia was just the beginning. A sample of what I can do, and would do. I can make people take their lives when I want them to. I am their master.”
“I have placed a transmitter that amplifies my abilities, but don’t worry looking for that now. It’s safely hidden in space, and I will be monitoring your every move mentally. It’s made of nanomites that are virtually impossible to destroy since they are able to rebuild themselves from scratch in, oh, approximately 10 seconds.”
“In 30 minutes, I will command my pets to take their lives for their master. What I want you to do is, being the heroes that you are, go down there and try to save their lives.” His voice held more than a hint of malice and a lot of joy. “Or,” he began as he pointed at a monitor that showed the rest of the heroes on the outskirts of Metropolis now fully awake, with Nightwing and his team joining the ranks of the mind controlled heroes, “prevent them from killing each other. That, lady and gentlemen, is control.” As he could no longer contain his elation, he let out a hearty laughter that chilled the bones of the JLA.
Chapter Seven
Joe Grunenwald
The Watchtower
Grodd strode casually through the halls of the Justice League Watchtower. It was quiet, save for the sounds of his massive feet meeting the metal floor. He thought it would’ve been more comfortable to walk on if it were carpeted. He considered telling Batman this before breaking his neck.
But that would have to wait for now. No heroes attacked him as he made his way from room to room. The heroes were under mind control and incapacitated. And Grodd…well, he was sightseeing. And, quite literally, nothing stood in his way. So strange, he thought, that a place like this would have no defenses. He thought that it belied the League’s arrogance.
The gorilla came to the entrance of what he surmised must be the League’s trophy room. An assortment of the most powerful weapons in this galaxy and in others sat, dormant, collecting dust. Grodd smirked. To anyone else who had orchestrated a break-in and takeover of the League’s Watchtower, this room would seem like Santa had arrived early and stayed for dinner. But to the powerful primate, the room was a joke. Souvenirs. Sentimental pieces of garbage. It wasn’t even worth his time to destroy. Besides, between his own strength and the unbridled power of a certain weapon of his own that he was saving just in case he needed it, Grodd required none of the League’s stolen weaponry. And anyway, he had already defeated the League. Now all that was left was the screaming.
Grodd walked on, taking in the sights, pondering his next move. The thought of the aforementioned screaming brought a smile to his face. Perhaps, he thought, he would just head back to the Monitor Womb to watch.
“This is ridiculous.”
Plastic Man shape-shifted at will. A garbage can. A pair of scissors. A door. A rocket. Humphrey Bogart. A brain. A lunch box. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
It was no use. Nothing he turned into allowed him to move from the spot he stood upon. Finally he changed back into his normal form and sighed. “I mean, seriously.”
“Plastic Man, calm yourself.” The Martian Manhunter’s tone was as calm and even as always. The tall green figure stood next to Plastic Man, his arms crossed over his chest.
Down the line, the rest of the Leaguers stood in a row, their feet planted, unable to move.
“Calm myself?! Were just standing here! Lined up like…I don’t even know what we’re lined up like! Lined up like stuff that you line up!”
“Ducks in a row.”
Batman’s voice caught everyone off guard. Until this point he had been standing silently, cape draped around himself, eyes closed. Now he looked across the room at Plastic Man. The pliable hero exaggerated a hard swallow. “What’s that?”
“Stuff that you line up,” the dark knight spoke flatly. “Ducks. In a row.”
Plastic Man’s expression turned to one of confusion and then out-and-out panic. “Great!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. “Batman’s cracking jokes! It’s a madhouse! A maaaaaadhooooo-”
“EEL.” Again all eyes were on Batman. “Settle.”
Plastic Man froze before putting his head down and arms at his side. He shrank - literally - and remained quiet.
Batman addressed the rest of the Leaguers. “I’ve been trying to break whatever’s holding us here,” he explained.
“We know what’s holding us,” Wonder Woman interjected. “Grodd’s mind control.”
“Not exactly. The mind control is what got us here, but it’s not what’s holding us here. Grodd is powerful, but not that powerful.”
“Of course,” J’Onn exclaimed. “Hypnotic suggestion.”
“Exactly. We all still have muscle control and we’re able to think-- ” He paused and looked at Plastic Man. “--relatively clearly, but there’s something keeping us on these spots. While he was explaining his plan to us, he was also implanting suggestions into the back of our mind. Our conscious minds want to leave.”
“But our unconscious minds refuse to let us,” the Flash said, a hint of resignation in her tone. “Great. So we’re stuck here. We knew that much, didn’t we?”
“That’s the other thing.” Batman took a step forward and turned around to look at his teammates. “I’m already out.”
“Of course you are,” Superman said with almost a laugh. “You need to get out of here, Bruce. Go get help.”
“If Grodd is to be believed,” J’Onn stated grimly, “then there is no help to be had. We are all that is left.”
Green Lantern smirked next to his Martian friend. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Most powerful weapon in the universe, most powerful telepath on the planet, world’s greatest detective. I think we can handle Curious George. I mean, as soon as we’re able to, you know, walk.”
“Which the three of us will take care of, Kyle.” Batman stepped in front of both Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern. “It would take months for me to teach you all the proper technique for getting around Grodd’s hypnotic suggestion, or I can walk you all through it at once. Everyone close your eyes. J’Onn, connect all of us.”
Done.
“Thank you. Kyle…” Batman paused for a moment. “This is…going to be hard for me. I’m counting on our combined willpower to make this work.”
The dark knight extended his hand to Kyle, who smirked slightly and returned the favor. “Whatever you say.”
Good. Batman’s mental voice seemed to boom within the heads of his fellow Leaguers. He continued. Everyone, do as I think.
Grodd was growing bored. Thirty minutes of watching people riot, hurt each other and hurt themselves was about all he could stand. Who knew that turning the human race into violent, self-hating idiots would ultimately be so boring?
At least there was still the Justice League to torment. As he made his way back through the halls of the Watchtower, to the conference room in which he had left the powerless heroes, he thought of how satisfying it would be to finally rid himself of them once and for all. Especially The Flash. He loathed The Flash above all others. He had been deprived the opportunity to destroy Barry Allen, his first and greatest foe, and Allen’s replacement had retired. But this new woman – a woman! – would do just fine. Perhaps, when he was through with her, he would hunt down her predecessor, the increasingly annoying Wally West, and rend him limb from limb in front of his family. Or maybe he would do the family first. Decisions, decisions, but he had plenty of time.
Or so he thought until he entered the conference room to find the League gone.
Composed as he could be, Grodd stepped up to one of the computers along the wall of the room. The League was surely still in the Watchtower – after all, they themselves had destroyed the teleporters – so he had to act quickly before they returned. Several dozen keystrokes and he was done. His weapon was let loose.
Grodd glanced back at the spot where he had left the heroes. The thought of how they had escaped didn’t even cross his mind. They had escaped and now that his weapon was on its way, Grodd could let loose. He raised his enormous hands over his head, bringing them down hard on the computer console, destroying it easily.
“Now come on,” a voice from behind said. Grodd turned to see nearly all of the Leaguers standing before him.
Green Lantern’s ring seemed to flare with energy. “You come into our house and you break our stuff? Didn’t they teach you any manners at filthy monkey finishing school?”
“Fools!” Grodd snarled through clenched teeth. With a thought, he unleashed a telepathic barrage against the assembled heroes. Seering pain shot through his cerebral cortex and the beast staggered backward.
“It’s no use, Grodd,” Superman stated with authority. “You may have trapped us once, but telepathic inhibitors will make sure you don’t get a second chance.”
Grodd’s nostrils flared. “Crush…you…” He hunched his back and let out a roar before charging at the heroes.
Lantern acted quickly, ringing up a wall between the League and Grodd, a wall that Grodd burst through with relative ease. Kyle clearly hadn’t estimated the ferocity of Grodd’s rage. A large swipe from the simian’s massive right arm and Kyle flew back into the wall.
The rest of the League reacted in turn. A few gas pellets from Batman slowed the rampaging gorilla, but acted mostly as a smoke screen for a frontal assault from Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash.
In the hall outside the conference room, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman stood firm, eyes closed, but ready to rush into the room if needed. They were searching for someone, J’Onn using his powers to amplify Aquaman’s own telepathy in looking for someone to teleport them out of the Watchtower. Of all the heroes that they could look for, the sea king definitely knew the one they had in mind better than most.
“Got him,” Aquaman said sharply. “Oh Gods, his mind is in chaos.”
“He is under Grodd’s control,” J’Onn explained calmly. “We will have to break him of it.”
“Wonderful. Well, if it’s a shouting match you want…just put me in his head as far as I can go without hurting either of us.”
“Done.”
GARTH! Wake up, minnow! Do me a favor and realize that you’re being mind-controlled, would you? So you can cut all this self-pity crap and get up to the Watchtower, you know, where people actually need you! You get your ass up here RIGHT NOW, or so help me I will come down there and smack you around so hard-
“Okay, I get it!”
Arthur and J’Onn opened their eyes to see a man in his mid-twenties with short black hair, wearing a red and black body suit, standing before them. A wisp of purple smoke vanished in the air behind him.
Tempest smiled. “And don’t call me ‘minnow’, old man.”
“That was easier than I thought it’d be,” Aquaman said, refusing to allow his happiness at seeing his former partner to show.
“I did realize I was being mind-controlled, thank you,” Tempest explained. “I was working on getting out of it on my own when I heard what I could swear was you yelling at me…”
Arthur finally cracked a smile. “It always used to work before. Now c’mon,” he said, motioning into the conference room where the League was pounding on Grodd.
“I believe,” J’Onn observed, “that they have the situation well in-hand.”
Fists of strength, speed and agility barraged Grodd from all sides as Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash lay on their attack. A blast of telepathic power from Martian Manhunter provided the final blow and the oversized gorilla fell to the floor, stunned but not unconscious. As he lay, catching his breath, Grodd felt himself being wrapped up from beneath. He looked to see a red form taking shape around his midsection. Finally he saw the malleable face of Plastic Man, who smiled at him and squeezed. “I love you, Dr. Zaius!”
Superman lifted Grodd by the scruff and, floating a few feet off the ground, lifted the ape into the air. “Let them go, Grodd.”
“Or…or what?” Grodd was still dazed, but he was lucid. He looked at the man of steel defiantly. “You’ll do what, put me in prison? Your human laws don’t, can’t apply to me. And besides, my little back-up plan should be arriv-“
>THOOM<
Grodd was interrupted as everyone but he turned at the sound of something slamming into the outer hull of the Watchtower. A moment passed, and the sound again. And again.
“And there he is,” Grodd snarled.
The Flash stepped curiously toward the wall from which the sound emanated. She looked back at the others. “These walls are pretty thick, right?”
“Jesse, get back!” Superman said sharply, dropping Grodd to the floor.
At that moment, the wall burst open. The air pressure gone, the vacuum lifted the Flash off of her feet and out into the cold space around the Moon. Her flailing body was met mid-space by a powerful gray fist, which slammed the fastest woman alive to the ground with a single blow.
“Jesse!” Tempest’s outburst was followed by his disappearance from the room in a burst of purple energy. Shielding himself with Atlantean magicks, the undersea hero now followed his fallen friend onto the Moon’s surface. Had he remained in the conference room with the rest of the Leaguers, he would have seen the source of the crushing blow that had felled the Flash.
Doomsday was free and he had arrived.
The Watchtower
Grodd strode casually through the halls of the Justice League Watchtower. It was quiet, save for the sounds of his massive feet meeting the metal floor. He thought it would’ve been more comfortable to walk on if it were carpeted. He considered telling Batman this before breaking his neck.
But that would have to wait for now. No heroes attacked him as he made his way from room to room. The heroes were under mind control and incapacitated. And Grodd…well, he was sightseeing. And, quite literally, nothing stood in his way. So strange, he thought, that a place like this would have no defenses. He thought that it belied the League’s arrogance.
The gorilla came to the entrance of what he surmised must be the League’s trophy room. An assortment of the most powerful weapons in this galaxy and in others sat, dormant, collecting dust. Grodd smirked. To anyone else who had orchestrated a break-in and takeover of the League’s Watchtower, this room would seem like Santa had arrived early and stayed for dinner. But to the powerful primate, the room was a joke. Souvenirs. Sentimental pieces of garbage. It wasn’t even worth his time to destroy. Besides, between his own strength and the unbridled power of a certain weapon of his own that he was saving just in case he needed it, Grodd required none of the League’s stolen weaponry. And anyway, he had already defeated the League. Now all that was left was the screaming.
Grodd walked on, taking in the sights, pondering his next move. The thought of the aforementioned screaming brought a smile to his face. Perhaps, he thought, he would just head back to the Monitor Womb to watch.
“This is ridiculous.”
Plastic Man shape-shifted at will. A garbage can. A pair of scissors. A door. A rocket. Humphrey Bogart. A brain. A lunch box. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
It was no use. Nothing he turned into allowed him to move from the spot he stood upon. Finally he changed back into his normal form and sighed. “I mean, seriously.”
“Plastic Man, calm yourself.” The Martian Manhunter’s tone was as calm and even as always. The tall green figure stood next to Plastic Man, his arms crossed over his chest.
Down the line, the rest of the Leaguers stood in a row, their feet planted, unable to move.
“Calm myself?! Were just standing here! Lined up like…I don’t even know what we’re lined up like! Lined up like stuff that you line up!”
“Ducks in a row.”
Batman’s voice caught everyone off guard. Until this point he had been standing silently, cape draped around himself, eyes closed. Now he looked across the room at Plastic Man. The pliable hero exaggerated a hard swallow. “What’s that?”
“Stuff that you line up,” the dark knight spoke flatly. “Ducks. In a row.”
Plastic Man’s expression turned to one of confusion and then out-and-out panic. “Great!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. “Batman’s cracking jokes! It’s a madhouse! A maaaaaadhooooo-”
“EEL.” Again all eyes were on Batman. “Settle.”
Plastic Man froze before putting his head down and arms at his side. He shrank - literally - and remained quiet.
Batman addressed the rest of the Leaguers. “I’ve been trying to break whatever’s holding us here,” he explained.
“We know what’s holding us,” Wonder Woman interjected. “Grodd’s mind control.”
“Not exactly. The mind control is what got us here, but it’s not what’s holding us here. Grodd is powerful, but not that powerful.”
“Of course,” J’Onn exclaimed. “Hypnotic suggestion.”
“Exactly. We all still have muscle control and we’re able to think-- ” He paused and looked at Plastic Man. “--relatively clearly, but there’s something keeping us on these spots. While he was explaining his plan to us, he was also implanting suggestions into the back of our mind. Our conscious minds want to leave.”
“But our unconscious minds refuse to let us,” the Flash said, a hint of resignation in her tone. “Great. So we’re stuck here. We knew that much, didn’t we?”
“That’s the other thing.” Batman took a step forward and turned around to look at his teammates. “I’m already out.”
“Of course you are,” Superman said with almost a laugh. “You need to get out of here, Bruce. Go get help.”
“If Grodd is to be believed,” J’Onn stated grimly, “then there is no help to be had. We are all that is left.”
Green Lantern smirked next to his Martian friend. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Most powerful weapon in the universe, most powerful telepath on the planet, world’s greatest detective. I think we can handle Curious George. I mean, as soon as we’re able to, you know, walk.”
“Which the three of us will take care of, Kyle.” Batman stepped in front of both Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern. “It would take months for me to teach you all the proper technique for getting around Grodd’s hypnotic suggestion, or I can walk you all through it at once. Everyone close your eyes. J’Onn, connect all of us.”
Done.
“Thank you. Kyle…” Batman paused for a moment. “This is…going to be hard for me. I’m counting on our combined willpower to make this work.”
The dark knight extended his hand to Kyle, who smirked slightly and returned the favor. “Whatever you say.”
Good. Batman’s mental voice seemed to boom within the heads of his fellow Leaguers. He continued. Everyone, do as I think.
Grodd was growing bored. Thirty minutes of watching people riot, hurt each other and hurt themselves was about all he could stand. Who knew that turning the human race into violent, self-hating idiots would ultimately be so boring?
At least there was still the Justice League to torment. As he made his way back through the halls of the Watchtower, to the conference room in which he had left the powerless heroes, he thought of how satisfying it would be to finally rid himself of them once and for all. Especially The Flash. He loathed The Flash above all others. He had been deprived the opportunity to destroy Barry Allen, his first and greatest foe, and Allen’s replacement had retired. But this new woman – a woman! – would do just fine. Perhaps, when he was through with her, he would hunt down her predecessor, the increasingly annoying Wally West, and rend him limb from limb in front of his family. Or maybe he would do the family first. Decisions, decisions, but he had plenty of time.
Or so he thought until he entered the conference room to find the League gone.
Composed as he could be, Grodd stepped up to one of the computers along the wall of the room. The League was surely still in the Watchtower – after all, they themselves had destroyed the teleporters – so he had to act quickly before they returned. Several dozen keystrokes and he was done. His weapon was let loose.
Grodd glanced back at the spot where he had left the heroes. The thought of how they had escaped didn’t even cross his mind. They had escaped and now that his weapon was on its way, Grodd could let loose. He raised his enormous hands over his head, bringing them down hard on the computer console, destroying it easily.
“Now come on,” a voice from behind said. Grodd turned to see nearly all of the Leaguers standing before him.
Green Lantern’s ring seemed to flare with energy. “You come into our house and you break our stuff? Didn’t they teach you any manners at filthy monkey finishing school?”
“Fools!” Grodd snarled through clenched teeth. With a thought, he unleashed a telepathic barrage against the assembled heroes. Seering pain shot through his cerebral cortex and the beast staggered backward.
“It’s no use, Grodd,” Superman stated with authority. “You may have trapped us once, but telepathic inhibitors will make sure you don’t get a second chance.”
Grodd’s nostrils flared. “Crush…you…” He hunched his back and let out a roar before charging at the heroes.
Lantern acted quickly, ringing up a wall between the League and Grodd, a wall that Grodd burst through with relative ease. Kyle clearly hadn’t estimated the ferocity of Grodd’s rage. A large swipe from the simian’s massive right arm and Kyle flew back into the wall.
The rest of the League reacted in turn. A few gas pellets from Batman slowed the rampaging gorilla, but acted mostly as a smoke screen for a frontal assault from Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash.
In the hall outside the conference room, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman stood firm, eyes closed, but ready to rush into the room if needed. They were searching for someone, J’Onn using his powers to amplify Aquaman’s own telepathy in looking for someone to teleport them out of the Watchtower. Of all the heroes that they could look for, the sea king definitely knew the one they had in mind better than most.
“Got him,” Aquaman said sharply. “Oh Gods, his mind is in chaos.”
“He is under Grodd’s control,” J’Onn explained calmly. “We will have to break him of it.”
“Wonderful. Well, if it’s a shouting match you want…just put me in his head as far as I can go without hurting either of us.”
“Done.”
GARTH! Wake up, minnow! Do me a favor and realize that you’re being mind-controlled, would you? So you can cut all this self-pity crap and get up to the Watchtower, you know, where people actually need you! You get your ass up here RIGHT NOW, or so help me I will come down there and smack you around so hard-
“Okay, I get it!”
Arthur and J’Onn opened their eyes to see a man in his mid-twenties with short black hair, wearing a red and black body suit, standing before them. A wisp of purple smoke vanished in the air behind him.
Tempest smiled. “And don’t call me ‘minnow’, old man.”
“That was easier than I thought it’d be,” Aquaman said, refusing to allow his happiness at seeing his former partner to show.
“I did realize I was being mind-controlled, thank you,” Tempest explained. “I was working on getting out of it on my own when I heard what I could swear was you yelling at me…”
Arthur finally cracked a smile. “It always used to work before. Now c’mon,” he said, motioning into the conference room where the League was pounding on Grodd.
“I believe,” J’Onn observed, “that they have the situation well in-hand.”
Fists of strength, speed and agility barraged Grodd from all sides as Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash lay on their attack. A blast of telepathic power from Martian Manhunter provided the final blow and the oversized gorilla fell to the floor, stunned but not unconscious. As he lay, catching his breath, Grodd felt himself being wrapped up from beneath. He looked to see a red form taking shape around his midsection. Finally he saw the malleable face of Plastic Man, who smiled at him and squeezed. “I love you, Dr. Zaius!”
Superman lifted Grodd by the scruff and, floating a few feet off the ground, lifted the ape into the air. “Let them go, Grodd.”
“Or…or what?” Grodd was still dazed, but he was lucid. He looked at the man of steel defiantly. “You’ll do what, put me in prison? Your human laws don’t, can’t apply to me. And besides, my little back-up plan should be arriv-“
>THOOM<
Grodd was interrupted as everyone but he turned at the sound of something slamming into the outer hull of the Watchtower. A moment passed, and the sound again. And again.
“And there he is,” Grodd snarled.
The Flash stepped curiously toward the wall from which the sound emanated. She looked back at the others. “These walls are pretty thick, right?”
“Jesse, get back!” Superman said sharply, dropping Grodd to the floor.
At that moment, the wall burst open. The air pressure gone, the vacuum lifted the Flash off of her feet and out into the cold space around the Moon. Her flailing body was met mid-space by a powerful gray fist, which slammed the fastest woman alive to the ground with a single blow.
“Jesse!” Tempest’s outburst was followed by his disappearance from the room in a burst of purple energy. Shielding himself with Atlantean magicks, the undersea hero now followed his fallen friend onto the Moon’s surface. Had he remained in the conference room with the rest of the Leaguers, he would have seen the source of the crushing blow that had felled the Flash.
Doomsday was free and he had arrived.
Chapter Eight
Jamie Primas
Jesse Quick was dying. Tempest was at an impasse as to his next move. He could help the League stop Grodd once and for all or he could save Jesse’s life. When the choice came down to it, there wasn’t really much to think about at all. He grabbed a suffocating and freezing Jesse Quick and teleported back to Earth and relative safety. As he appeared at the JLI headquarters, he immediately felt the effects of Grodd’s mind control again. He dropped Jesse to the floor and began to ponder suicide.
Grodd had so many dastardly plans for ruling the world. The League’s escape had momentarily led him to doubt his plots and ploys, until he realized his ultimate gambit. Releasing Doomsday would take care of the JLA. There was not a doubt in his head about that. While the JLA was busy being obliterated by Doomsday, Grodd would then march himself to victory.
Plastic Man had released Grodd upon Doomsday’s entrance and Grodd was steadying himself. The pressure in the room gone, he clung for stability, crumpling the metal floor between his fingers. Once reasonably under control, Grodd focused his attention on the beast that had punched a hole in the Watchtower’s wall.
Grodd reached out with the tendrils of his mind at Doomsday. He knew that controlling the ultimate killing machine would offer him limitless power. Little did he expect to find that Doomsday had no mind at all. The beast simply turned toward him, as if sensing the presence of something in his head. Grodd withdrew his mind probe in surprise as Doomsday moved towards him.
Grodd was hit with enough force to topple a building as he was unable to avoid Doomsday’s advance. The force of the blow combined with the lack of atmosphere in the recently depressurized room sent Grodd flying back at an incredible speed into the computer console he had so casually destroyed.
Grodd slumped against the wall, the impact sending him into unconsciousness. That left only Doomsday. Incapable of thought, consisting only of pure rage, he stared across the room, as if waiting for one of them to make a move. His might would bring this mighty fortress down. There was nothing to stop him.
Without Grodd’s influence, Nightwing came to his senses. As he looked around him, he discovered that the other heroes were regaining their mental faculties as well. He rallied them all together as quickly as he could.
“Anybody know what happened?” he asked to no one in particular. “Last thing I remember we were done for.”
Booster Gold was standing nearby. “Looks like somebody saved the day,” he said.
Cyborg walked through the crowd and tried to get everyone’s attention. “I just received word from the DEO that Doomsday’s loose on the moon,” he announced. “Tempest barely got out of there in time. He filled in Amanda Waller before he knocked himself unconscious with a frying pan. Gorilla Grodd had some sort of world wide mind control device that either induced suicidal tendencies or controlled the mind into mass hysteria.”
“We need to get to the moon,” Nightwing stated the obvious.
The heroes looked around them. No one present had the capability to transport them to the moon without a teleporter. “How do we get there?” Arsenal asked. “Without Tempest we don’t have a ride.”
Nightwing looked up into the sky. “The JLA is up there,” he said. “Looks like it’s up to them.”
The heroes all looked into the sky. It was almost dusk and the moon was clearly visible. There was going to be a horrific battle on the moon very soon and all but seven of the world’s greatest heroes were powerless to help stop it.
Jesse Quick was dying. Tempest was at an impasse as to his next move. He could help the League stop Grodd once and for all or he could save Jesse’s life. When the choice came down to it, there wasn’t really much to think about at all. He grabbed a suffocating and freezing Jesse Quick and teleported back to Earth and relative safety. As he appeared at the JLI headquarters, he immediately felt the effects of Grodd’s mind control again. He dropped Jesse to the floor and began to ponder suicide.
Grodd had so many dastardly plans for ruling the world. The League’s escape had momentarily led him to doubt his plots and ploys, until he realized his ultimate gambit. Releasing Doomsday would take care of the JLA. There was not a doubt in his head about that. While the JLA was busy being obliterated by Doomsday, Grodd would then march himself to victory.
Plastic Man had released Grodd upon Doomsday’s entrance and Grodd was steadying himself. The pressure in the room gone, he clung for stability, crumpling the metal floor between his fingers. Once reasonably under control, Grodd focused his attention on the beast that had punched a hole in the Watchtower’s wall.
Grodd reached out with the tendrils of his mind at Doomsday. He knew that controlling the ultimate killing machine would offer him limitless power. Little did he expect to find that Doomsday had no mind at all. The beast simply turned toward him, as if sensing the presence of something in his head. Grodd withdrew his mind probe in surprise as Doomsday moved towards him.
Grodd was hit with enough force to topple a building as he was unable to avoid Doomsday’s advance. The force of the blow combined with the lack of atmosphere in the recently depressurized room sent Grodd flying back at an incredible speed into the computer console he had so casually destroyed.
Grodd slumped against the wall, the impact sending him into unconsciousness. That left only Doomsday. Incapable of thought, consisting only of pure rage, he stared across the room, as if waiting for one of them to make a move. His might would bring this mighty fortress down. There was nothing to stop him.
Without Grodd’s influence, Nightwing came to his senses. As he looked around him, he discovered that the other heroes were regaining their mental faculties as well. He rallied them all together as quickly as he could.
“Anybody know what happened?” he asked to no one in particular. “Last thing I remember we were done for.”
Booster Gold was standing nearby. “Looks like somebody saved the day,” he said.
Cyborg walked through the crowd and tried to get everyone’s attention. “I just received word from the DEO that Doomsday’s loose on the moon,” he announced. “Tempest barely got out of there in time. He filled in Amanda Waller before he knocked himself unconscious with a frying pan. Gorilla Grodd had some sort of world wide mind control device that either induced suicidal tendencies or controlled the mind into mass hysteria.”
“We need to get to the moon,” Nightwing stated the obvious.
The heroes looked around them. No one present had the capability to transport them to the moon without a teleporter. “How do we get there?” Arsenal asked. “Without Tempest we don’t have a ride.”
Nightwing looked up into the sky. “The JLA is up there,” he said. “Looks like it’s up to them.”
The heroes all looked into the sky. It was almost dusk and the moon was clearly visible. There was going to be a horrific battle on the moon very soon and all but seven of the world’s greatest heroes were powerless to help stop it.
Chapter Nine
Clayton Tooley
The Watchtower
In the Watchtower, Superman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter stood in the depressurized room, the only three capable of surviving in space. Batman and Wonder Woman had taken Plastic Man and the unconscious Aquaman and Grodd into another part of the Watchtower. They would focus on finding the satellite Grodd had spoken of, destroying his ability to rule the world. It would be up to the three of them to stop Doomsday.
Any ideas? Kyle Rayner asked over their restored mental link as the three of them watched Doomsday wander towards them.
He can’t fly, Superman thought, his blue eyes narrowed. Suddenly they blazed red and, invisible to their eyesight, twin beams of heat passed unimpeded through the vacuum, slamming into Doomsday’s chest, instantly boiling it. In the vacuum, Doomsday’s mouth opened in a scream of wordlessness, his bone-encrusted eyes locking on his old foe.
Superman, Batman’s voice came over the link suddenly. The teleportation system used to cage Doomsday is still active. If you can get him into his cage again, and hold him there for three seconds, then it will reactivate, rendering him immobile again.
Problem is: how to get him to hold still. If it’s going to take three seconds for the field to stabilize, that’s 2.5 seconds too long. Doomsday will tear the main cage to pieces before that. Superman’s mental voice was grim…and maybe a little fearful.
I can do it, Kyle said, his mental voice firm. If you and J’Onn can get him into the cage, I can hold him immobile that long, I know it.
Superman looked at his young, but powerful, friend, his face hard. Are you sure, Kyle? We’ll only get one shot at this, and Doomsday is the most powerful being ever created. Are you absolutely sure?
Yes. The Green Lantern of Earth set his jaw, his ring flaring its readiness.
All right then, the Manhunter said, rising into the vacuum. Let’s do it. Follow my lead, Superman. He blazed out of the room and hit Doomsday like a bullet.
Inside the Watchtower, Plastic Man formed his body into a replica of a box of Band Aids. “Holy Splintered Arm Batman, what a nasty break!”
“Shut up,” Batman said, forcing himself not to watch the fight with Doomsday, instead focusing on the sensors. “Diana, I think I have located the source of Grodd’s control. It’s in low Earth orbit over North America. It is broadcasting, fortunately, only downward, so approaching it from this side is doable. I can use the emergency teleporter to get you close enough to get to it under your own power. Can you take it out?”
“Of course,” Wonder Woman said, pulling the air mask over her face, attaching a mini-tank to her belt. “Keep this comm line open and guide me in.”
Superman pulled his head out of the moon’s surface, spitting out the mouthful of ash and dirt he had involuntarily taken in when Doomsday had stepped on the back of his head. He watched as J’Onn, having reverted to his full-Martian appearance, traded blows with Doomsday, losing ground quickly. It was a losing battle all the way around, but as he finished backing out of the hole he had been put in, Superman had a strike of inspiration.
Spinning around at superspeed, he plunged into the moon’s surface, digging easily through the dead ground in an arcing path that brought him out beneath Doomsday. He came up beneath the monster’s back, picking him up like a bale of hay and used his momentum to bring them close to the transporter cage. Before he could get Doomsday inside, however, the monster elbowed him in the head, forcing him into the ground.
Undeterred, Superman was on his feet instantly, landing unimaginably powerful blows across Doomsday’s head, following the combination up with a crunching kick to the abdomen, bending Doomsday over. With the last of his solar-spawned strength, Superman flipped Doomsday into the air with a double-fisted uppercut, snapping him into the air and over backwards.
It was then that the Martian Manhunter hit Doomsday at full flight speed, neatly sinking the monster into the open cage. NOW KYLE! GO BATMAN!
From behind the cage, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner rested his hands against the tube and filled the space within with a suffocating amount of emerald energy, wrapping Doomsday from his bald head to his stony feet with energy. Instead of trying to bind Doomsday, Kyle used pressure against him, by taking away all the room in the tube, robbing Doomsday of leverage.
Within six seconds, Doomsday’s unbridled strength would have overcome the mind of Kyle Rayner, and he would have been free forever. He didn’t get six seconds, however, as Batman got the ingenious system on-line, ripping Doomsday into his component parts, and spreading them across the moon to other teleportation cages.
The threat of Doomsday was over. Kneeling on the moon’s surface, the tears of the Kryptonian hero instantly crystallized. His grief and fear spent, the exhausted champion picked up his moaning Green Lantern ally and supported his Martian friend as they made the airless trek to their headquarters.
It had been six hours since Wonder Woman had destroyed the satellite in orbit over North America, scattering the burning debris into re-entry, where it safely disintegrated. Back in their respective headquarters, or as guests, all of the heroes accosted by Grodd or his minions were in on a feed from the Watchtower. The JLA, minus the Flash who was still receiving medical attention with her former Titan teammates, were saying their thank yous to their friends and allies.
“We apologize for allowing Grodd to abuse your trust in us to lure so many of you here to be captured, and we regret our actions against the Titans in Philadelphia, especially my own,” the Martian Manhunter was saying. “As a telepath, it disturbs me greatly to be used and I can only promise to do better.”
“J’Onn, please,” Nightwing said from the Teen Titans headquarters, where he and the original Titans had joined the new team. “You guys were the real heroes here today, regardless of the outstanding work of the rest of us.” He grinned sideways at Arsenal. “If you hadn’t stopped Doomsday and that satellite, we’d all be the servants of a bunch of apes. And we all know how bad movies like those turn out.”
Plastic Man, who had changed his appearance to look like Mark Wahlberg, added, “Damned Dirty Apes!”
“Still,” Superman continued, pushing Plastic Man out of the picture. “The JLA owes all of you a debt of gratitude and thanks. You are true friends and we are ever at your service. All you have to do is call.”
“Yeah, because we all know how well THAT works,” Omni added at the Titan’s headquarters.
“Yeah, don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Superboy said, smiling at his mentor.
Batman reached forward, his face as full of expression as ever. “And here I thought the danger had passed.” He then cut the transmission.
The Titans looked around at each other in shock. “Did Batman just make a joke?” Impulse asked.
Everyone sort of nodded but wisely said nothing more.
The End...
Read more from this fine crop of DCA’s writers.
Here’s where to find them…
David Little was the regular writer for the Reservists before the relaunch.
David Gibson wrote Martian Manhunter and Aquaman before the relaunch.
Clayton Tooley writes Supergirl and the tales of the Ageless Stranger.
Erik Fromme is the writer for Special Crimes Unit and Superboy as well as Superman.
Tobias Christopher writes Teen Titans.
Matthis Uy wrote the Doom Patrol mini-series and the ongoing Legion of Super-Heroes.
Joe Grunenwald is the regular writer for the Flash and Justice League.
Jamie Primas writes Dr. Fate and the Outsiders.
Previous Issue | Next Issue
The Watchtower
In the Watchtower, Superman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter stood in the depressurized room, the only three capable of surviving in space. Batman and Wonder Woman had taken Plastic Man and the unconscious Aquaman and Grodd into another part of the Watchtower. They would focus on finding the satellite Grodd had spoken of, destroying his ability to rule the world. It would be up to the three of them to stop Doomsday.
Any ideas? Kyle Rayner asked over their restored mental link as the three of them watched Doomsday wander towards them.
He can’t fly, Superman thought, his blue eyes narrowed. Suddenly they blazed red and, invisible to their eyesight, twin beams of heat passed unimpeded through the vacuum, slamming into Doomsday’s chest, instantly boiling it. In the vacuum, Doomsday’s mouth opened in a scream of wordlessness, his bone-encrusted eyes locking on his old foe.
Superman, Batman’s voice came over the link suddenly. The teleportation system used to cage Doomsday is still active. If you can get him into his cage again, and hold him there for three seconds, then it will reactivate, rendering him immobile again.
Problem is: how to get him to hold still. If it’s going to take three seconds for the field to stabilize, that’s 2.5 seconds too long. Doomsday will tear the main cage to pieces before that. Superman’s mental voice was grim…and maybe a little fearful.
I can do it, Kyle said, his mental voice firm. If you and J’Onn can get him into the cage, I can hold him immobile that long, I know it.
Superman looked at his young, but powerful, friend, his face hard. Are you sure, Kyle? We’ll only get one shot at this, and Doomsday is the most powerful being ever created. Are you absolutely sure?
Yes. The Green Lantern of Earth set his jaw, his ring flaring its readiness.
All right then, the Manhunter said, rising into the vacuum. Let’s do it. Follow my lead, Superman. He blazed out of the room and hit Doomsday like a bullet.
Inside the Watchtower, Plastic Man formed his body into a replica of a box of Band Aids. “Holy Splintered Arm Batman, what a nasty break!”
“Shut up,” Batman said, forcing himself not to watch the fight with Doomsday, instead focusing on the sensors. “Diana, I think I have located the source of Grodd’s control. It’s in low Earth orbit over North America. It is broadcasting, fortunately, only downward, so approaching it from this side is doable. I can use the emergency teleporter to get you close enough to get to it under your own power. Can you take it out?”
“Of course,” Wonder Woman said, pulling the air mask over her face, attaching a mini-tank to her belt. “Keep this comm line open and guide me in.”
Superman pulled his head out of the moon’s surface, spitting out the mouthful of ash and dirt he had involuntarily taken in when Doomsday had stepped on the back of his head. He watched as J’Onn, having reverted to his full-Martian appearance, traded blows with Doomsday, losing ground quickly. It was a losing battle all the way around, but as he finished backing out of the hole he had been put in, Superman had a strike of inspiration.
Spinning around at superspeed, he plunged into the moon’s surface, digging easily through the dead ground in an arcing path that brought him out beneath Doomsday. He came up beneath the monster’s back, picking him up like a bale of hay and used his momentum to bring them close to the transporter cage. Before he could get Doomsday inside, however, the monster elbowed him in the head, forcing him into the ground.
Undeterred, Superman was on his feet instantly, landing unimaginably powerful blows across Doomsday’s head, following the combination up with a crunching kick to the abdomen, bending Doomsday over. With the last of his solar-spawned strength, Superman flipped Doomsday into the air with a double-fisted uppercut, snapping him into the air and over backwards.
It was then that the Martian Manhunter hit Doomsday at full flight speed, neatly sinking the monster into the open cage. NOW KYLE! GO BATMAN!
From behind the cage, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner rested his hands against the tube and filled the space within with a suffocating amount of emerald energy, wrapping Doomsday from his bald head to his stony feet with energy. Instead of trying to bind Doomsday, Kyle used pressure against him, by taking away all the room in the tube, robbing Doomsday of leverage.
Within six seconds, Doomsday’s unbridled strength would have overcome the mind of Kyle Rayner, and he would have been free forever. He didn’t get six seconds, however, as Batman got the ingenious system on-line, ripping Doomsday into his component parts, and spreading them across the moon to other teleportation cages.
The threat of Doomsday was over. Kneeling on the moon’s surface, the tears of the Kryptonian hero instantly crystallized. His grief and fear spent, the exhausted champion picked up his moaning Green Lantern ally and supported his Martian friend as they made the airless trek to their headquarters.
It had been six hours since Wonder Woman had destroyed the satellite in orbit over North America, scattering the burning debris into re-entry, where it safely disintegrated. Back in their respective headquarters, or as guests, all of the heroes accosted by Grodd or his minions were in on a feed from the Watchtower. The JLA, minus the Flash who was still receiving medical attention with her former Titan teammates, were saying their thank yous to their friends and allies.
“We apologize for allowing Grodd to abuse your trust in us to lure so many of you here to be captured, and we regret our actions against the Titans in Philadelphia, especially my own,” the Martian Manhunter was saying. “As a telepath, it disturbs me greatly to be used and I can only promise to do better.”
“J’Onn, please,” Nightwing said from the Teen Titans headquarters, where he and the original Titans had joined the new team. “You guys were the real heroes here today, regardless of the outstanding work of the rest of us.” He grinned sideways at Arsenal. “If you hadn’t stopped Doomsday and that satellite, we’d all be the servants of a bunch of apes. And we all know how bad movies like those turn out.”
Plastic Man, who had changed his appearance to look like Mark Wahlberg, added, “Damned Dirty Apes!”
“Still,” Superman continued, pushing Plastic Man out of the picture. “The JLA owes all of you a debt of gratitude and thanks. You are true friends and we are ever at your service. All you have to do is call.”
“Yeah, because we all know how well THAT works,” Omni added at the Titan’s headquarters.
“Yeah, don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Superboy said, smiling at his mentor.
Batman reached forward, his face as full of expression as ever. “And here I thought the danger had passed.” He then cut the transmission.
The Titans looked around at each other in shock. “Did Batman just make a joke?” Impulse asked.
Everyone sort of nodded but wisely said nothing more.
The End...
Read more from this fine crop of DCA’s writers.
Here’s where to find them…
David Little was the regular writer for the Reservists before the relaunch.
David Gibson wrote Martian Manhunter and Aquaman before the relaunch.
Clayton Tooley writes Supergirl and the tales of the Ageless Stranger.
Erik Fromme is the writer for Special Crimes Unit and Superboy as well as Superman.
Tobias Christopher writes Teen Titans.
Matthis Uy wrote the Doom Patrol mini-series and the ongoing Legion of Super-Heroes.
Joe Grunenwald is the regular writer for the Flash and Justice League.
Jamie Primas writes Dr. Fate and the Outsiders.
Previous Issue | Next Issue