ISSUE #0 (October 2018)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Wonder Woman
Superman
Batman
|
"Sunset"White House, Washington DC - Three Weeks after the Hub City Blitz
The chisel jawed man dressed in a business suit walked through the x-ray device to where his colleagues, a man and a woman in similar attire were awaiting. Almost immediately the machine chimed an alert and the guards watching the monitors stood up. "Sir, will you please step aside, we're getting an anomaly in regards to your scan." One of the guard's stated as his colleague approached the group. "What kind of anomaly?" The woman asked in a Grecian accent as she placed her hands on her hips. "It appears we can't find his skeleton." The guard stated as the problem man smiled a smile that was impossible with normal human features, before grabbing the investigating security officer and shoving his hand down the man's throat. "I wonder why that would be?" The assailant asked as the security officer went for his gun and radio, only for a beam of energy to lance out of the other man's eyes and knock him unconscious. "A stun bolt?" The woman asked as she walked over to the dying man, his body flopping like a hooked fish until he was released, his corpse hitting the ground hard. "These guys aren't the problem." The man who'd fired the stun bolt stated. "It's their boss who I have a problem with." "No witnesses." The woman hissed as she broke the stunned man's neck. "Everyone get dressed, we want to make the news not just a statement." She added as she spun round thrice, her clothes transforming into the costume of Wonder Woman. Looking over at her teammates' she noticed the man with the energy powers had ripped off his shirt to reveal an inverted S on a shield like background. The other man was already fully changed and was dragging the dead bodies out of the immediate line of sight of anyone entering the checkpoint. "How did you change so quickly?" The man with the energy powers asked as he made sure his cape wasn't caught up in his costume. "It's because I'm Batman!" The man dressed in Kevlar armour fashioned after a bat's anatomical design growled. "We have a schedule to keep gentlemen." Wonder Woman announced as Superman walked up to the reinforced doors to the Oval Office and wrenched them off their hinges with ease. His efforts revealed five Secret Service agents already drawing their weapons ready to fire. "Draw their fire, we'll deal with them." Batman ordered Wonder Woman as she stepped forward and deflected the rounds fired at the three heroes. Snapping left Batman threw a trio of capsules at a bodyguard, the contents washing over him and chocking the life out of him. "Get down Mr President!" One of the Secret Service agents barked as the orange faced man with fake looking hair hid behind a bullet proof shutter that had raised up from his desk. "I don't think so!" Superman stated as he slammed one bodyguard through the wall, his victim's bones shattering on impact, before using his heat vision to lance through another agent and start cutting through the shutter. "Why are they doing this?!" One of the remaining agents asked as his hands were cut off with Wonder Woman's sword. "Because we can!" Batman answered as he slit the throat of the last bodyguard standing with the arm spikes of his costume. "Now Mr President..." he hissed as Superman finished cutting through the shutter, "...let's discuss your latest policies." "You want to threaten me?" The president asked as he stood proud. "Don't you know what I can do to you?" "And you dare to speak back to us!" Wonder Woman hissed as she looped her golden lasso round the President's neck, the cord chocking the flailing world leader. "Don't you know who we are?" She asked seconds before a lance of energy scythed through the lasso causing it to explode into golden mist. "All I see is a poor attempt to make a Justice League." A strong yet kind voice stated as the three would be assassins glanced over to the whole in the wall and the person silhouetted there. "Superman, if you care about Truth, Justice and the American Way you'll back off!" The fake Superman warned as he fired a blast of his own heat vision at the 'Man of Steel', his righteous facsimile firing back, the beams colliding until the imposter was forced back, the flesh round his eyes bubbling. "This isn't the right way to get anything." Superman replied as Batman leapt at him, the Dark Knight being countered with a blow that caused the vigilante to detonate into a shower of bubbling mud. "Especially those things you just mentioned." "Some of us wanted something different out of this!" The fake Wonder Woman sneered as she flicked her wrist out, the sword she was armed with leaving a shallow cut along Superman's chest. "I know what cuts you alien, I know every lie you tell." She added as the fake Superman grabbed the one he'd copied and held his arms back. "I don't want to do this." He whispered as Wonder Woman got ready to deliver a decapitating blow on her enemy. "Then don't." A voice stated, the words accompanied by a shield ricocheting around the room, striking both the villains. "Princess Diana, I was hoping you'd be here to see this." The imposter Wonder Woman as the two Supermen clashed in a physical display that rocked the Oval Office. Acknowledging each other with a nod, the two former Justice Leaguers struck out at their copies, with Superman slamming his through the windows, while Wonder Woman flying out the hole in the wall, her doppelganger in hot pursuit. Reforming from the muck on the floor, the 'Mud Batman' approached the president. "More for me I guess." He stated as he readied a batarang ready to kill the politician. "All hail the Chief!" He snorted as two more batarangs appeared, their tips embedding in his skin before detonating, his arms collapsing into sludge. Looking up he had enough time to see a boot slam into his face, the supple skin caving in as the blow connected. "You said you didn't want to do this." Superman stated as he threw his double into the Reflecting Pool. "Don't, you could be better." "I have to do this." His double stated as he fired his heat vision, only for the real Superman to intercept them. "His policies attack the media, hurt the weakest, make allies into enemies. He's a villain through and through, it's him you should be fighting!" He growled as the beams exploded in his face, his skin bubbling off to reveal a skull with glowing purple energy running off it. "Atomic Skull, you're better than this." Superman stated as Skull screamed, steam rising up from the Reflecting Pool as his anger rose. "I'm the hero they need!" Skull growled as he fired a rapid salvo of radioactive bolts at Superman. "You're the one they deserve! We are two halves of the same coin!" "Joseph you have to stop!" Superman ordered as he took a deep breath and froze the water of the pool. "You don't want this no matter how much you think you do." "You're wrong, I'm willing to do what you couldn't do, what the FBI and the courts won't do!" Atomic Skull boomed as he wrenched his way out of the Reflecting Pool. "They may hate me for it, you may hate me for it, but at least the world will be safe." "You know that won't work." Superman replied sternly as he landed in front of Atomic Skull. "And I will never hate you, not while you need help, not while you try to be a hero no matter how misguided." "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Atomic Skull snapped, only for Superman to heed his order and move out the way. "It's your choice, get help or hurt someone." "This is a good day for your enemies Princess Diana." The fake Wonder Woman stated as the pair crossed blades outside the Lincoln Memorial. "They will strike at you and your sisters, finish what Fatality started. The extermination of the Amazon's is at hand and you don't even know it." "Who are you to predict such things?" Diana stated as she disarmed her doppelganger and slipped the real Lasso of Truth round her counterpart's neck. "Your sister!" The fake Wonder Woman stated as her skin turned darker until she resembled Nubia. With a snarl Diana struck the woman with her fist, her skin transforming again, becoming lighter. "Your mother!" The fake version of Hippolyta announced as she was struck again. "Your lover!" The figure transformed once again this time into a copy of Steve Trevor. "You're the Duke of Deception." Diana stated as the figure revealed his true face, that of a man dressed in roman armour, a sneer on his face. "Why did Ares send you, to start a war?" "Ares has nothing to do with this." The Duke snorted as his skin began to fold in on itself, his powers draining away from the lasso's continuing touch. "Why wouldn't I want to be part of the greatest deception of the century?" He asked as his emaciated form, smiled a hateful sinister smile at his captor. "You're getting predictable Hagen." Batman stated as avoided a bladed punch from his clay doppelganger. "Taking the biggest score, you can in order to make more of the chemical that gives you your powers." "Bird's gotta fly and a bat's gotta die." Clayface wheezed as he fired a salvo of stone spikes at Batman, the Dark Knight zipping over him using a grapple device. Looking down Batman had enough time to see Clayface's back slit open and a field of grabbing mud tendrils to reach up and grab him. "You have one chance to stop this now!" Batman ordered as he was dragged down into his motile clay tomb, the tendrils keeping him bound as the mud washed in burying him alive. Thrashing for a bit, his blows occasionally erupted from his attacker's body until they stopped. "You stay there and be quiet." Clayface ordered as he advanced on the quivering president. "Now let’s talk, not about politics but what I can ransom you off for. See I like one thing and that's money." He announced as thick sludgy bubbles formed on his back. "I said stay in there!" Clayface hissed before exploding open to reveal Batman covered in mud and wearing a portable respirator. "And I said that you have one chance to stop, it’s a pity you didn't listen." Batman replied as he tossed a pellet over his shoulder at the reforming Clayface, the projectile exploding and freezing him solid. Stalking out through one of the many holes in the Oval Office, Batman regrouped with Superman and Wonder Woman, the later still dragging the restrained Duke of Deception behind her. "We need to talk to the press, get in front of this." Superman stated as he looked around at the approaching mob of security guards, Secret Service agents and reporters. "No, we don't." Batman replied as he turned to leave. "Diana?" Superman asked as the Amazon princess looked eastwards away from the setting sun. "As much as I'm hate to agree with him, Batman is right, until things are fixed, there is no us." Diana answered as she flew away, the emaciated body of the Duke left at Superman's feet. The Man of Steel didn't even bother turning to look for Batman, he knew that the Dark Knight was already gone. Checkmate House, Langley "White Bishop, Sir." The analyst asked as he watched the grey-haired older agent watch the footage from the Whitehouse lawn. "Agent Faraday sir." "I heard you Thompson." Faraday sighed as he got up from his seat and smoothed down his wrinkled suit. "It's been three months since the aftermath of the Hub City Blitz, and the core members of the League have assembled twice since then. Once during Fatality's initial escape attempt from the Slab, and yesterday evening to stop an assassination attempt." "Your point Sir?" Thompson asked cautiously. "The point is that I'm more courteous to my ex-wife, they can't even string more than three words together when they meet!" Faraday snapped as he shook his head. "I was hoping..." "I think we were all hoping that." Thompson announced as an email warning chimed, the sound diverting Faraday's attention from the screen. Reading the message, Faraday went over to a glass case containing a notebook. Typing in a code Faraday opened the case, and removed the contents before placing them on his desk. "Wesley Dodds AKA the Sandman gave me this when I was a young agent working alongside the JSA. Told me there would be a time to open it. He's just decided that now is the time to reveal his greatest secret." "I can leave if you want Sir." Thompson suggested. "That would be appreciated Thompson." Faraday replied. Waiting for the analyst to leave, Faraday opened the book and looked at the drawn images on each page. The first showed a blood sucking bat latched onto a giant, the gargantuan androgynous figure standing before an amassed horde, facing its foes down. The next showed a tower cracked and worn with a black rope wrapped round it and a ripped coat hanging off the end. The final image showed six vines crawling towards each other, the tip twisting together to form a spire or tower. "He predicted it all." Faraday stated as he ran his hands over the notes accompanying the images. "Or at least dreamed them." He added softly as he removed a signed decree from the Department of Justice, the seal of the supreme court and Checkmate making the order official. "I was hoping the League would see sense, reform so we could forget this whole blasted project." Faraday sighed as he turned the decree over to reveal over two dozen profile pictures. "The world needs a league, and if this is the way it gets built, then so be it," Burnley, Gotham City - One Day after the attack on the Oval Office "Alfred, we have another one." Batman stated as he looked down at the body of the young man dressed in slacks and a ripped open shirt, a massive 'O' carved in his chest. "His name is or was Oscar Rojas, he had priors for armed robbery and drug trafficking. "This death was brutal Alfred, and it matches the slaying of Vanessa Oliver two days earlier in the Narrows in all but one detail." Batman stated as he grappled onto the roof of the nearby building. "The letter carved into her chest was a 'V'." Alfred sighed as he brought up a file on the HUD in the Batsuit. "The pattern resembles the VORTEX killing three months ago in Hub City, as well as the slayings in Central City, Metropolis and Star City." "If the Vortex killer has come to Gotham then I can ensure he gets a length stay in Arkham Asylum." Batman replied as an eruption of static sounded on the other end of the line. "Alfred? Alfred come in!" "Calling for your butler Bruce?" A voice barely audible through the static asked. "What have you done with Alfred!?" Batman snapped angrily as he began to head for home, dreading what might be waiting for him. "Nothing, but let this be a warning, get your pieces set up on the board before I force you to use the ones you love." The voice whispered as the static faded to be replaced with the calm reassuring voice of Alfred. "...it indicates that the killer grabs whatever he can, there's not a set murder weapon." "Alfred did you get any interference just now on your end?" Batman asked as two figures watched him, unseen from the construction site he swung past. "No sir, don't you remember, you asked me for the trace comparison from the two victims wounds." Alfred replied a little concern edging into his voice. "He's rattled." One of the watchers, a featureless figure, save for the rent where an eye should be, comprised of photons stated. "I planned to avoid Gotham when you contacted me 'Titan'." The figure standing next to him buzzed, the black stripes running along his body pulsating against his white skin. "You told me I could change the way I operate, and that Gotham would be a good test of a new system." "I did, what if I could take you out of time to stalk your victims." The Titan announced as he sent a spark running down his compatriots’ arm. "You could find all six in a second, kill all six in a night and best of all make the Batman look impotent." "What do you need from me?" The man stated as he narrowed his eyes. "Just what you've been doing Vortex." The Titan stated as both men disappeared in a shower of photons, the arch villains’ words lingering even after their disappearance. "Drop bodies and keep the Batman's focus elsewhere." |