Justice League IC

[ChasNicollette]

The Flash

Wally had slumped down onto his butt when the fire had bellowed into the sky, and he found himself sitting bewilderedly on a kerbstone.

He was dizzy, mindbent, shuddery... he looked more than a little pale. Unnaturally pale.

But he stood, and he fired a massive, unnatural grin off at Aquaman: "'Everything's shiny, Cap'n. Not to fret.'"

The grin faded for an instant, and his footsteps were quavery as he staggered a few strides.

"I just gotta sweat this out," he commented, as he raised a hand to his forehead. "(Lord, there's men what wanna die with their boots on, and men what wanna die smiling, and I've got the chance to do both? Not like this. Not like this.) I'll be. I'll be right back."

He took a step. He took another step.

And then he was gone, launching himself off, tearing along the surface of the river and out into Gotham Harbour, Gotham Bay. Out and away and gone.

Two seconds went by.

Three seconds.

Five.

And then with a screech like angrily braking tyres he pounded to a halt not three feet from where he'd been standing before. He had a bottle of Lightspeed Brand Sports Beverage in one hand, and a multi-gallon bottle of Poland Spring under the other arm.

"Nothing sweats toxic crap out of you," The Flash recommended, "like running eight laps 'round The Mojave."

He set the glass bottle of Poland Spring down on its side and, with a booted shove, pushed it to roll over to Aquaman.

"Recharge?" he offered to The King of The Sea, a perfectly natural grin on his face.

He cracked the cap on his bottle of As Seen on TV sports drink and downed it at a gulp.

"'It'll quench ya,'" he noted, just in case there were any cameras around. (Couldn't hurt to get a little extra advertising in, right?) "Let's do this thing."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Wonder Woman had moved inside the main building, her friends having taken care of the problems outside. She had hoped to get a hold of whomever was responsible for this petty crime, bring them to justice, and move on. The inside of the bank was both upturned and orderly, owing to the notion that a criminal mastermind was behind the attack. It was not some simple plot engineered by lowly street thugs.

The outside explosions and turmoil could attest to that fact.

Her keen eyes couldn't perceive anyone moving quickly inside the bank, and so the young Amazon assumed they were either still inside the vault or had already made their escape.

For a moment she debated whether to wait for her friends or try her hand.

In the end the latter of the two choices won out, and Diana moved quickly towards the vault, unaware of the deadly surprises that lay in store for her.

What happened outside was child's play. The traps set in the vault itself were on a far more grander scale.

 

[MilkManDan007]

Bruce Wayne

Bruce stood there in the hallway as Kent walked down the hallway, gathered up his Martian friend, and left. Bruce had always been uneasy around the last son of Krypton. Not only because he had peered though the mask and uncovered Bruce’s identity before he was ready to reveal it to the Kryptonian, but he also carried about him the aura and attitude of a God, his actions seemingly not bound by the rules of mortals.

When one is nearly invincible, it is easy to fight crime, Wayne thought as the two left, It’s when you’re down in the trenches that you truly earn your dues.

His narrowed eyes widened as the two of them left, leaving him alone with the younger daughter of Krypton. Kara was still looking around the study, her eyes wide with wonder at being left alone in such a lavish room. A sly grin came to his face as he moved back down the hallway and entered the study. While her cousin was too far gone to change, she could still work with her, make sure she didn’t turn out as arrogant as her cousin had become. His smile widened as she turned to face him.

“Looks like you’re going to a party tonight,” Wayne said as he stood in several paces in front of her, his eyes wandering from head to toe over the young Kryptonian. “But you’re definitely not going in that. We need to go shopping and find you something more appropriate.”

He walked past her, reaching into his pocket and retrieving the keys to his favorite sports car as he made his way towards the garage. He glanced back over his shoulder at her.

“You coming?”

 

[AmenRa]

When The Flash rolled the bottle of water to him, Aquaman scooped it up, opened it, and poured it into his mouth. He quickly drank two-thirds of it, then poiured the rest across his forehead.

"Thanks," he said to The Flash, "I needed that!" Water, the simplest of hydrocarbons, the first in the branch chain of molecules of base elements, was to Aquaman as the air was to The Flash. For most all lifeforms, water sustained life. For Aquaman, it was life.

He then glanced around, seeing Wonder Woman enter the bank through the doors.

"I'm ready when you are," he said. "What's next?"

 

[rengadeirishman]

J'onn came and landed easily.

"The thought was appreciate Kal-el, but unnecessary, only flames of passion and psychic significance harm me now. Since i have tamed the beast Fernus."

He took an Oreo from his belt holder and crunched thoughtfully, old memories returning.

"Shall we continue?"

 

[Superman1496]

The fire subsided, leaving me hanging in the breeze, smoking from my flame-retartand suit.

'I'll have to remember to thank mom for that later.' I thought as I looked around. Everyone was safe. But, Diana wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Let me scope out the bank real quick. I said as I turned in air.

Using my X-Ray vision, I looked at the heavy lead-lined walls of the vault. Wires running every which way. Security probably.

'It looks as if this bank has pressure alarms as well.' I thought, noticing the wiring on the floor.

Then I saw Diana, heading inside. I suggest we don't wait too long. Wonder Woman might have all the fun without us. I said as I entered the bank.

 

[ChasNicollette]

The Flash

The Flash boggled a little bit at Wonder Woman and at Superman, strolling on into the place, bold as brass. (Man. I am never gonna be that kind of hero. I didn't think they made that kind of bravery anymore.)

But the hesitation was good. Because it gave him time to think, whereas ordinarily he would have just charged on in there after the two powerhouses.

"Seeing as some of us don't have X-Ray vision," The Flash mused, "and I left my tricorder in my other pants, could someone with a telepathic brain in their heads scan for hostages or something? If these guys are still in the building I wanna know where they're holed up so I can focus on their locus and rattle their fillings before they know what's hitting them."

"(By the way, J'onn-Luc,)" he muttered, "(sorry for underestimating you. Psychic fire only, huh? That's... a pretty sweet upgrade, considering you've already got more powers than Peter Petrelli and Calvin Rankin put together...)"

 

[AmenRa]

Aquaman listened to The Flash go on about the bad guys inside. He wasn't sure what The Flash was saying, but he caught the gist of it.

It meant kicking their asses.

He was all for that.

As he started to go into the bank, he stopped and turned back to the scene on the street.

The cars. Easily parked in front of the bank. The goons obviously never planned on getting away this way. Too obvious, too open. So, then, the only other way....

Aquaman looked to the bank's roof. Then he looked at his feet. A storm drain grate. The river was less than fifty yards away.

The King of Atlantis mustered his reserves of strength and ran towards the back of the bank, towards the river, towards water and boats.

 

[Angelus]

Joker knew that whoever was out there would be closing in on him and decided it would probably best the best time to get out there. He stopped suddenly, looked up at the closest sewer cover and looked at the group.

"Get up there, spread out and hide until all this has blown over. Wait until you are sure you can get away then go back to the alternative hide out. I'll be waiting for you there."

He knew when he looked at all of them that they could tell he was serious. They started to move quickly past him to the ladder which left him to walk down the pipe a little bit and leave a present or two behind, just in case someone decided to follow him. He knew that the ribbons wouldn't trap anyone for long when they wrapped around their bodies but it would be long enough for him to get away from there.

He turned and walked back the way they were heading, stopped and looked up the ladder with a smile before walking away from it and towards another branch in the pipe. He knew that the group of people he had picked were useful but he loved working alone and started to whistle as he pulled out the mobile from his pocket. He started to dial a number into it and as his thumb paused over the send button said, "I know they everyone is going to get a bang out of this."

He started laughing as he felt the ground rock beneath him. The small explosive devices he had planted on the vans and his vehicle hadn't been enough to destroy them, but when he had them placed near the gas tanks he knew that they would go up like a roman candle. He just wished he had been there to see the fireworks.

He started whistling again as he stopped in front of another ladder, pulled out another present and set it up.

"I wish the Bats had of been here. Oh woe is me."

He started laughing as he climbed the ladder.

 

[rengadeirishman]

J'onn scanned the area with his mind, and discovered the presence of other minds in the sewers.

<Kal-el, Princess, they've fled to the sewers> He projected to them.

He dashed over to a manhole cover and with a thought phased through it.

He'd cut them off while Kal-el and Princess Diana came from behind.

 

[Superman1496]

I hovered over the ground as J'onn spoke. I turned to Diana. J'onn says that they are in the sewers. Do you see anyway they could have went?I called, not exactly sure if she heard me.

'Where were they going? And how did they get in the sewers. And who's they' I wondered.

 

[Superman1496]

As I floated there, waiting for Diana's answer, the bank exploded. I could see everything happen in slow motion. The initial shockwave, the flames growing.

I saw Diana and knew I had to move. Quickly, and I do mean quickly, I flew over and grabbed her from the middle of two large flame columns. Instead of turning around and going back through to the front, I went straight for the back of the building.

Holding Diana in my arms, I turned my body to shield her from the concrete and steel wall we were about to go through.

Suddenly we were on the outside in the sun as the building went up in flames.

 

[AmenRa]

Aquaman has stopped, quickly taking in the scene at the docks.

There were many boats tied here, as it was not uncommon for ferries and pleasure yachts to port here while their owners shopped the downtown Gotham stores. There was one, however, that looked out of place. It was sleek, black, and had a guy holding a submachine gun standing on its stern.

The King of Atlantis charged ahead, and as he got to the dock plank, he jumped high into the air. He spread his arms, straightening his body like an arrow as he flew high over the boat. Then he arched his back, arms spreading apart. He seemed to stop in mid-air, hanging there, holding there like some great manta ray in mid-breech. Then he folded like a thunderbolt, and shot straight into the water, leaving almost no splash at all.

The gunman on the boat scratched his head in wonder.

And then the bank exploded.

 

[rengadeirishman]

The explosion caught J'onn sending him flying through the air, he plunged through an SUV parked across the street before coming to stop on the concrete. He rose back up from the ground to survey the damage to the bank.

It was totaled. He flew higher scanning the area wth his mind to detect Kal-el and the Princess. They were on the other side of the bank. He flew over and then noticed the sleek black boat with a machinegun toting guard. He shot over to the boat and stood in front of the guard.

"Good afternoon." he said

 

[AmenRa]

Aquaman dove shallow, coming up beneath the speed boat at the dock. He floated there for a second, then he put his right hand in front of him, his palm flat. He began to move it in a circle, the circle tightening, his hand becoming faster and faster still.

The water in front of the Atlantean began to churn in a vortex. Aquaman extended his palm straight out with quickness, and the churning water became a spear and rose towards the underside of the boat.

The water hammer hit the boat's fiberglass underside and tore into it like a brick through glass.

On the surface, the boat rocked. Then it began to spew water from its floor.

 

[NiteCrowe]

+++Yesterday+++

The men on the docks were huddled, and from where he was sitting Green Arrow, could esily tell money was changing hands.

And with these people that could only mean that it was an illegal transaction.

He reached behind him and felt about in his quiver. Recently he had being using normal arrows, and when he had come out patrolling tonight he had felt a bit nostalgic and had grabbed some of his trick arrows as well.

He smiled, time for his favourite arrow.

He loaded, he aimed, he fired.

The first man never saw the boxing glove arrow coming, and crumpled down to the floor.

The men didn't even get a chance to react, as it was closely followed by the sleeping gas arrow.

Seconds later, Green Arrow stepped onto the boat. Checking the men were sufficiently unconscious he quickly tied them up, and rang the police.

He'd have moments to check around them.

He didn't even need to look hard.

The fact that WAYNE INDUSTRIES was written in big red letters on the nearest barrels were hints enough.

'Looks like i'm going to gotham' He muttered under his breath, 'Dinah is so going to kill me.'

He left, now deciding how he could tell his wife that he was skipping their anniversary meal to go to gotham. Damn, he'd send Mia, Roy or Connor, but they didn't know the bat like he did.

He sighed, he'd be lucky if he'd manage to leave Star City with his hearing intact.

'Women.'

 

[Angelus]

As he stepped up onto the street he felt it rock once more and looked towards the direction of the bank just to see the large fireball lifting into the air. His first reaction was to laugh but he knew that he was trying to make a get away and it would do him no good to get noticed. He turned slowly and walked over to the closest car garage.

He hated the fact that Batman had not been there but knew that it wouldn't be productive to him to ponder on what ifs. He knew that he had told his gang that he would meet them at the new hide out and he knew that he would not lie to them. Very slowly he moved into the lowest level, looking at all the cars until one seemed to jump out at him and scream out "steal me!". He could not help but let the smile come to his face as he walked towards it. He hated the fact that he had to steal a car like a common criminal but it was the only way he could get away fast enough.

As soon as he was in the car and had the alarm neutralized he started the car and pulled out of the garage. As he drove out into the street he took a look back at the bank and saw the smoke that continued to rise from it.

"Today has been a good day," he said as he put his foot down on the pedal and drove off down the street. He just wondered who was going to be at the hide out to meet him.

 

[Superman1496]

I waited there for a moment, hanging in midair, still holding Diana, when I heard a car alarm. If J'onn was right, and someone got away, they would probably have gotten a car to flee. I looked below to look at Wally.

Flash, go find that car. Hurry. I yelled down to him.

 

[NiteCrowe]

+++5 minutes ago+++

Green Arrow sighed, Gotham, was for all intents are purposes, one of the few places in the world he hated visiting, it simply gave him the creeps.

He was also worried...he had being here an hour and there had being no sign of Bats, usually you could only be in Gotham ten minutes without him knowing.

Then he heard the explosion.

+++Now+++

I grunted as he saw the car, and instantly gave myself two good reasons as to why the car must be stopped.

a) It was speeding.
b) It was speeding away from the explosion.

Even if I was wrong about the second, the driver still needed to be stopped, someone could get hurt.

I reach back and grab an arrow, a conventional one this time, and quickly aim.

I watch as the arrow flies through the air and misses the car tire by mere milimetres.

'Damn.'

By this time the cars gone past me, and I make a split second descision.

I choose the car, Bats can deal with the explosion, I'll stop the driver before any bystanders get hurt.

Because thats what i do.

The car swerves for a second.

And i Begin to chase it.

 

[ChasNicollette]

The Flash

Supes and Wondy had gone into the bank.

Aquaman had gone the watery route, and while J'onn had apparently briefly flirted with the notion of checking the sewers for Ninja Turtles and Rat Kings, the sudden massive explosion of the bank had apparently caused him to change his mind.

Wally's lightning heart surged up into his throat at the sight of the bank going up, and in a rare moment of indecision he found that his feet were rooted to the spot.

"DIANA!" he found himself bellowing, full of worry, full of dread, because just how invulnerable was Her Majesty anyway and ohGodohGod she just died in a fire...

Ah, but no.

It was okay. It was all good.

You'd think, working with superheroes, I'd be used to this stuff by now, The Flash pondered. But for crap's sake! Enough with the last-second saves already!

Supes'd hauled her out of there, classic fashion, like he'd meant to do this all along. The Flash sighed with relief as he sidestepped chunk after chunk of tumbling debris, allowing his friction-heat aura to absorb most of the punishment from the flames' heat.

Then: "Flash, go find that car. Hurry."

Superman's command was so pure and so full of the courage that The Man embodied that The Flash couldn't even bring himself to think twice.

"ChillBigBlueI'malloverit," Wally replied, as he whipped around and pelted off into the dark city.

It wasn't until a nanosecond and two blocks later that Wally wondered what Superman had even been talking about. Car? What car? Which car? Dude's got see-all-know-all vision and he can't even tell me what colour car I'm looking for? Gotham City's a certified megalopolis and there's a lot of fracking cars, here! (Parking must be a bitch whenever The Gotham Knights have a home game.)

But then Wally streaked by a car and he glanced at the guy in the driver's seat and recognition dawned.

Oh.

That car. My bad.

He wheeled around and he shot back towards The Joker with a grim set to his jaw...

...and in the next instant, The Joker's getaway car had been disassembled around him and the pieces were stacked neatly in the road.

The Flash stood, arms over his chest, striking a grand dramatic pose, one foot on a pile of two front tyres.

"I'm sorry sir," The Flash declared, peremptorily, "I'm going to have to cite you. There's a city ordinance against clowns driving ordinary-sized vehicles. Clowns drive tiny cars. (Haven't you ever been to the circus?)

"Anyway," Wally shook his head. "Licence and registration please."

He paused, and glanced around himself. He set both feet on the road surface and his hands on his hips as he contemplated the rubble of the improvised "Jokermobile."

"Of course, you probably had that stuff in the glove compartment. Which, hey, I'm sure I left your glove compartment around here somewhere..."

 

[Angelus]

As he stood there and looked at the hero who had disassembled his car around him Joker had only one thought going through his mind, I hate superheroes. They are always around when you don't want them to be and never around when you do want them to be.

He could not help but let a smile come to his face though when he looked at the hero that was in front of him. For all the speed that he had the Flash seemed to be the most cocky and arrogant one of them all and he knew that he could use that to his advantage. He walked forward slowly, raised his hands and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry Mr. Flash. I didn't know that I was speeding. Can you please forgive me."

He lowered his hands slowly, aiming them at Flash's feet and as he did pressed one of his cufflinks. He smiled when the high strength glue flew out and bonded with Flash's boots and the road beneath them. He smiled before he turned around slowly, looked at the Flash's boots then at the Flash and said, "Catch me if he can."

He started laughing as he started to run away. He stopped though, turned and pulled something from his jacket.

"Oh, I forgot one thing. Catch."

He then threw the grenade at the Flash, turned and started to run again.

 

[ChasNicollette]

I never did get this Joker guy. How the Hell does he give someone as bad-ass as Bats so hardcore of a runaround?

Joker's just some lunatic Tim Curry fan what had some good luck with a chemistry set.

At least with Clayface, you've got a guy with some kind of credible superpowers and--

Oh, ew, there's goo on my shoe.

Wait, what?

The Flash blinked. He had just looked away for a second, trash-talking The Joker by pretending to hunt out that glove box. He had had this James O'Barr reject dead on second and Wally'd been perfectly well within his rights to trash-talk the fellow. It was in the by-laws!

But then The Joker had fired off these web-shooters or whatever and now The Flash was stuck to the pavement!

And! And he was scampering!

Agh! I could... I could vibrate... vibrate through the glue...

(No, no good, I haven't tried vibrating through solid matter since my sixteenth birthday and I almost caused Aunt Iris' apartment to undergo critical mass...)

The Joker turned, and suggested that Wally "catch."

The Flash's eye twitched.

Well, crap. FIRE IN THE HOLE!

The hand-lobbed bomb hit Wally in the chest and the explosion blew him clean out of his boots.

He landed on his back ten yards away, his chest heaving, his head spinning...

The lightning-bolt symbol on his front had been replaced by a smouldering crater, tiny bits of shrapnel lodged in his flesh.

He'd started vibrating the very last possible instant before the detonation had gone off, and this had barely saved him.

He sat up, and he held his head in one hand as he shook it from side to side.

"Ow," he whimpered. "Seriously! Ow."

Punked like a first-year rookie. What am I, a member of Young Justice?

How many times did Max Mercury and 'Grandpa' Jay and Uncle Barry tell you, stupid, stupid Wally? Superspeed don't count for much when you're standing still!

 

[Superman1496]

Apokolips

A being looked upon his creation. His metal helmet was removed from his large head.

Darkseid looked at everyone in front of him. His creature moving underneath his green cloak. Huge, strong, and with only one thing on his mind.

Doom.

Leave us. I must finish up with it. Darkseid said. This was his way. Fill the creature's mind with only doom, destruction, and death.

The multiverse would be his to control. And his creature would ensure that. No power could stop it.

Nothing could stop this Doom.

 

[Superman1496]

I heard it. I wasn't sure what I had heard, and I hoped that my mind was wrong. But I heard it.

Boom. Instantly I knew where it was. I set Diana out of my arms, and instantly arrived to see Wally lying on the groung, a hole in his chest.

Here you go my friend. I said, extending a hand. What happened, and where did he go? I asked, looking around.

Before Wally could answer, I could see the man running. Green hair, white skin, purple suit.

One man in my entire career as a hero had ever strucken fear in the heart of Gotham City.

The Joker.

I left Wally, and flew, fists in the air, straight towards the Joker. I flew by him and stopped a few meters in front of him. His smile made me sick.

I've been Superman for years now, and I've seen people who have made my stomach turn. But Joker was the only human that made me sick with anger. The only creature that stood next to Darkseid.

Where are you going so soon. You left your party in a hurry. What's wrong, missing Batman?

 

[Angelus]

The Joker looked at Superman but couldn't wipe the grin off his face. He knew for a fact that he didn't like him, in fact he hated the Joker with a fiery passion but his mind was on other things, especially the fact that he had just blown the Flash right out of his boots.

"Excuse me for a second, but that was; that was-"

He raised his head to the sky and started laughing.

"Did you see, hahahahahaha, what I just, hahahaha, did; he just got blown clean out of his hahahahaha boots!"

He knew by the expression on Superman's face that there was no way he was going to get the joke and let out an annoyed sound. These superheroes never seem to get that I am trying to bring fun back into this world. He also realized that he still had to get out of here and because of what the Flash had done to his car he had to find another way to get out. He looked down at the bag that he was holding in his hand and knew that he was running out of tricks to play but there was still one thing that he could use to get away from Superman.

He dropped his bag to the ground and dropped to one knee, looking up at Superman as he did so.

"I have something for you Superman. It isn't much but I thought that you could use a little something to brighten up your day."

As he slowly stood back up he slipped the dark glasses over his eyes and dropped the high intensity flash grenades at Superman's feet. All he wanted to do was blind Superman long enough to get away and when they went off he said, "Give the Bats a little message from me. I wish that he was here."

With that he turned and ran, hoping that he would get far enough away before Superman could see again.