“How many did we lose this time?” J’Onn asked.
The raid against the Mexican North desert research base of Lex corp. had gone badly. This time Cyborg was severely damaged when a League of Shadows team intercepted them as they made their approach to the base.
“Cyborg is off line for a while,” Hawkgirl said, “The warning from Oracle was spot on, but they still got the drop on us.”
“Make way!” Black Canary shouted.
Lois rushed to help out however she could. She returned supporting Green Arrow’s right side, while Black Canary support him from the left.
“It’s just a flesh wound,” Black Canary smiled, “But he won’t be walking for a week.”
“What happened?” Lois asked.
“Roy got cocky,” Canary sighed, “Ollie couldn’t let the kid get killed when he decided to take on the prototype tank Oracle warned us about.”
“And the kid?” Lois asked concerned?
“Sent him home,” Canary joked, “grounded and no dinner!”
“The report from the joint operation in the PRC is coming in,” J’Onn read a message, “People’s Armed Police, Russian Police Spetznz, India’s commandos, the Amazon Artemis Cult huntresses and the Navy Seal team took heavy losses but cleared out the League
of Shadow Base.”
“This is getting drawn out an it’s grinding us to dust!” Garfield “Beastboy” Logan whimpered as he exited the teleporter.
“What happened to you?” Lois asked.
“We were tracking Luthor and got hit with,” Beast Boy stumbled and slammed a bleeding arm against the wall, “OWWWW! SON OF A!!!!!! Injustice Gang came down on us like a ton of bricks. Grodd tried to rip my arm off and then tried to chop it off.”
“Are you?” Canary asked.
“Yeah, just a graze. Just skinned only enough to bleed,” Logan grimaced.
Clocktower, Gotham
“Hello,” Barbara called.
“You know it’s me?” Raven asked.
“I figured,” Barbara smiled, “How are you liking Gotham?”
“It is different. But I could to call it my home.”
There was an akward pause.
“He still loves you,” Raven said finally, “You know that right?”
“I know,” Barbara whispered.
“I have to talk to you about us,” Raven changed tones, “there are two ideas about how to help you. Both are risky.”
“Every doctor keeps telling me that nothing with in fifty years would be even close to safe enough to fix my back,” Barbara acknowledged.
“One option is a dip in a lazarus pit. We both know what that does to people,” Raven looked away, “The other is to use nanite machines to trace the neural paths of my spine and then turn them loose on your spine.”
“They sound rather extreme,” Barbara agreed.
Cassie’s apartment, Gotham
Cassie was enjoying this. Both Steph and Tim were enjoying it as well. Two nights ago, Bruce had given Steph and Tim final orders in private before telling them all to go home to Cassie. Turns out that those orders were to serve Cassie as obedient minions
in bed. They were working better as a team despite this or maybe because of this.
“Steph Brown,” Steph answered her phone, “Don’t think so.”
Steph killed her cell phone and picked up a comm link and opened a channel to Oracle.
“Oracle, this is Batgirl,” Steph started.
“Go ahead,” the comm returned.
“Trace the call to my cellphone from just now. League of Shadows tried to use a subliminal trigger on me. I think it was to make me a sucide bomber,” Steph was way calmer then she should have been.
Cassie’s cell phone rang next.
“The League orders,” the voice on the other side told her, “Take our revenge.”
Cassie knew what was happening instantly. She remembered the kidnapping and brainwashing the League had done in silence two summers ago.
“No,” she said and hung up the phone.
Tim waited for a call but nothing happened.
“Bruce was right. We were compromised,” Steph said once she had silenced the line to Oracle, “He knew and we were better for accepting his plan.”
Watchtower
“Lois Lane,” Lois answered her cell expecting it to be Perry asking about the reports from embedding with the Justice League.
Lois dropped the cellphone, grabbed a needle from the plate next to the Ollie’s gurney and started stabbing herself in the middle of the chest. She was oblivious as everyone shouted at her to stop. Ollie, Gar, and Hawkgirl’s shouts were silent to her.
Only J’Onn’s slap brought her out of it.
“What the hell happened?” Lois shouted.
“They tried to use you aginst us,” J’Onn said sadly, “Just like Batman warned us.”
“What?” Gar was speechless.
“Zatanna and Batman had been working together to divine some of the League’s more arcane methods,” J’Onn sighed, “And coupled black market purchases of Luthor’s stable liquid explosives and Oracle sent us a list of potential victims.”
“But?” Ollie shouted.
“The explosives were hidden in ladies bosoms,” J’Onn breathed, “Yours was screened out when you teleported up to the Watchtower Lois.”
Lois was speechless. Mouth a gasp she started checking her boobs.
“I thought my bras were a little loose since we came up here,” she finally managed.