Washington DC, Penthouse high rise...
A black shadow swooped down from the window of the building in the dead of night, descending rapidly like a black dot. If one looked close enough, they would be able to discern that the falling figure had a humanoid figure.
Bruce, who was falling at a rapid pace, had no expression. His face maintaining that cold, indifferent look which provided no insights to what was going on within his mind.
Yet despite that being the case, the thoughts currently roaming through his head were almost endless and the worries in his heart were even more so.
It did little to hinder his next course of actions, however. Without so much as a thought, like a conditioned reflex action, his black cape opened up and stretched out, attached to his arms to form his classic paragliding suit.
"It's time for a change of plans". Bruce thought to himself as he glided with the wind, steering himself in the direction of the Hall.
.......
Back in the building, Sam watched The Dark Knight depart with a face quite similar to the caped crusader.
His mature features showed nothing but calmness, hiding a multitude of thoughts within him.
"Was that wise, General?" Alice asked with a questioning tone.
The holographic AI looked at the open window that let in the cool evening breeze and back at the cold faced General Lane in inquiry.
"What do you mean?" Sam replied with a question of his own.
"If I didn't have enough understanding of your Earth's guardians and their characteristics, I could only deem your current display, as no different from seeking death".
Sam chuckled unceremoniously at her words. Come to think of it, were his actions suicidal? If it were powered beings other than the Justice League, then yes, his actions would be tantamount to suicide.
"You are asking if it's wise of me to provoke the Justice League". Sam said in a bland tone.
"Yes. Like I previously stated, under your orders, the League consists of the most powered individuals on your planet and beyond. Not only have they repeated stopped countless natural disasters and prevented numerous villains from causing mass destruction, they are also your planet's only defensive measure against extraterrestrial invasions and threats like Darkseid. And most importantly, your government have no measures to contain them. At this point, the Justice League are a force earth cannot do without. If they one day decide to go back to their normal lives or start taking the law into their hands due to your targeted actions, the World Council will suffer the biggest disaster since Its inception. From a normal perspective, antagonizing them is pure stupidity".
She finished all her observations in one piece.
It didn't matter if the Justice League were authorized to do what they did. The facts clearly stated that with all the world had seen in the past few years, the League had practically become indispensable.
Look at Stepphenwolf's invasion many years ago, and then look at Central City that had a new Metahuman causing some form of chaos each week.
People needed to slap their faces hard and wake up to the bitter reality. The Earth wasn't the same world it once was.
The day Zod invaded and Superman officially made his debut, it was no different from the legendary revival of spiritual aura in the fantasy novels.
Countless crazy, vengeful, ambitious superpowered villains sprung up from obscurity and mediocrity like monsters in MMORPG.
Without specially levelled up players, a.k.a. the Justice League and their associates, the rest of the world were practically newbies with trash equipment who were unable to level up.
The famous saying went thus... The poor rely on mutation and the rich rely on technology.
How many poor people could successfully undergo mutation without dying or becoming a monster in the process? Not everyone was Spider-Man who had genius parents to pave the way for him or Deathstroke who relied on his steel will and luck to successfully inject Mirakuru.
Look at Rudy Jones who became parasite, and you will know the consequences of an unsuccessful or partially successful mutation. If that wasn't enough, look at Cadmus and the list of poor subjects who were experimented on. How many came out alive?
The results were obvious. As for the rich, in the DC world, the most obvious example was The Dark Knight who burned millions of dollars every month just to keep all his equipment in check.
Batman literally said his superpower was…. "I'm Rich".
So in the literal sense, the day Bruce loses his fortune is the day the Legend of Batman comes to an end. How many people could withstand such crazy consumption?
So in simple words, not everyone could be a superhero, but almost everyone could turn into a villain.
The day the Justice League all decided to hang up their capes, cowls, and tights to live completely normal lives would mark the beginning of the villain era.
Or would you expect the regular law enforcement who were paid less than sixty grand a year and equipped with nothing but guns and batons to deal with superpowered criminals capable of exploding buildings with a finger snap?
If you want an answer, look at Gotham's law enforcement before Batman arrived.
"They don't pay me enough to deal with this shit!".... It is the standard motto of every Gotham police department staff, save for Gordon.
Lane heard her words but did not reply. Partially because he knew perfectly well that everything she said was nothing but the truth, but the main reason was because.....
"...... That isn't my concern". Sam said coldly.
"You don't have to worry about my intentions or that of the world council. Besides, no matter how much truth the subject has to it, some things will not change. The world depends on the Justice league, and that fact is as much a cancer as it is a merit".
His words ended, followed by the habitual finger tapping on the armrest of his chair whenever he found himself to be in deep thought.
Sam Lane was many things, and a kind soul definitely wasn't one of them. On the one hand, he was a man who genuinely cares about the welfare of his country, so much that he would be willing to sacrifice his life if the situation calls for it.
On the other hand, he was extremely arrogant, proud, selfish, self-righteous and in many ways, brutal and insidious.
In specific situations, he could be just as ruthless as Lex Luthor.
For such a man, he wouldn't hesitate to use whatever means necessary to bring down those he deemed enemies.
And for Sam Lane, who strongly regarded his country as his lifeblood, the fact that the United States and even the whole world was dependent on the Justice league and its members to save them at every turn was a problem on its own.
The very concept that Earth's most powerful force were a group of people capable of destroying the world anytime they wanted to and that none of these people were under their control unsettled him greatly.
The fact that there were aliens among them wasn't helping that case either.
Sam's mind drifted back to when he was young. Born in the 1950s, into a military family. When he was a child, his father used to bring Sam and his sister to the movies every Sunday. During one of these occasions, they saw "The Day The Earth Stood Still".
Sam remembered how strongly impressed and terrified he was at that movie.
It was also the catalyst which convinced Sam that; extraterrestrials were the biggest threat to both the country and the whole planet; since their technology and powers could wipe out humanity in a few moments.
The subsequent invasions and disasters did nothing more than solidify that concept.
For the old general, Sam would never tolerate anything that could be deemed a threat to the United States. Anything and everything that could do so would be deemed dangerous by him as long as it wasn't under his control.
The Justice League just so happened to fall into that category. They had powers far beyond human capabilities, they had technology capable of destroying humanity. The majority of them weren't even human.
To be honest, Sam had little opinions on the actions of the Justice League. He cared little for their heroic actions and deemed them threatening regardless of whether they were dangerous or not.
On this end, if Lane took second position, no one would dare to compete for first. This man stood on top of the list, surpassing even the paranoid Batman, Lex Luthor and Gordon Godfrey by so many levels.
Precisely because of this, Sam wouldn't care what other people think. No amount of good the league did would change that fact for him.
Not just the Justice League, but Amari as well.
Don't look at his cooperation with Amari, but when it came to the matter of aliens, Lane had already regarded The Deviant as a potential enemy who needed to be regarded with the highest level of caution.
With his elitist views and what he had seen with his own eyes, Sam very much believed that Amari was someone much more dangerous than the Justice League.
Having personal contact with him, no one in the world wanted to lock up The Deviant and throw away the key more than he did.
....... However, Sam was many things, but just as he wasn't a kind soul, he wasn't stupid either.
The Red Queen was right. Earth at his point didn't have the ability to contain the Justice League, much less Amari.
And to be honest, he was genuinely wary of the other party. It was ok to scheme against the Justice League, the chance of success was still possible and even if their motives were later discovered, the League wouldn't attack them as long as it didn't exceed their tolerance limit... But trying to scheme against the latter.... Sam's understanding of what humans called an early death was suddenly refreshed.
With his understanding of the other party, Sam was sure that he wouldn't be as tolerant as Superman or even Batman. He would rather not get killed when he still had some more years to live.
The cold evening wind was quite soothing, but Sam's face was particularly grave when a certain someone came to mind.
Seeing that the temporary boss wasn't going to say anything more, Alice spoke up.
"So are you going to do it?" Her question caused Lane to raise an eyebrow, before frowning and nodding with a cold tone.
"Do it, let him know that Batman wants to meet him in Gotham. As for what... He'll figure it out himself". Sam said with a nonchalant tone.
"Actually, he might already know about it now". Sam thought to himself.
Thinking of Amari's showed ability to see the future and the Justice League planning to set up a trap.... Sam suddenly felt a bit of pity for Batman.
"You poor souls.... You have no idea what you are getting yourselves into. But what does it have to do with me?" Sam thought.
The Red Queen asked again.
"Are you really not afraid of my creator coming to settle scores with you?" Sam didn't even reply to that question.
"I wasn't the one that schemed against him. I just fulfilled a request....". Amari's arrival had given the old General some.... Ideas.
Cadmus wasn't bringing out fully productive results. The best they had ever come up with was Project Kr, that was taken away by the Justice League.
Currently, Lane needed suitable weapons to convert into playing cards against the Justice League. And Amari was the person who could make it happen.
With all of this based on mutual transactions, this was the nature of their cooperation.
But Amari himself was a wildcard that couldn't be controlled. The same way the secret identities of the League members could bring him some usable playing chips, Sam required a way to restrain Amari as well.
Of course, as previously stated, he wasn't stupid. He didn't dare to provoke this alien whose thoughts he couldn't fathom.
He didn't want to quietly disappear only to make the headlines a few weeks later as a corpse.
Not to mention, there wasn't anything he could use as leverage against the other party.
But just because he couldn't, didn't mean others were the same.
As an insidious character, Sam had a few tricks up his sleeve. The Red Queen's earlier debate was completely on his instructions.
Once the League had a thorough understanding of the Red Queen's capabilities, they would be unable to sit still.
Aside from himself, the creator, Amari would be their first target. Sam saw both sides as ideal restraints for each other.
Amari knew the true identities of each league member and could target their loved ones if he ever wanted to. The League would definitely be guarded against him.
Thereby putting their attention on Amari as much as possible, effectively making sure that the latter doesn't carry out any threatening plans on the earth.
During this time, earth could quietly develop their technology and superpowered forces.
At least in Sam's view, no matter how powerful Amari was, he couldn't defeat the entire Justice league at once…
Sam's insidious thoughts continued to ferment, not knowing in the slightest that he was being targeted by an even more insidious Luthor....
........
Gotham Outskirts.....
The sight of a planet in outer space came into view. The planet started emitting streaks of white cracks on Its surface, emitting blinding light the next second and then….
BOOM!
The blinding brightness shone everywhere.....
"No!".... The shrill scream of a female sounded in the room. Kara jolted out of bed as she yelled at the top of her lungs in native kryptonian. Her frenzied emotions from the nightmare caused her abilities to activate on their own.
Two beams of scalding hot lasers shot out of her eyes, blasting towards the nearest wall.
Feeling the heat being emitted from her eyes, Kara who was panicked quickly closed her eyes in shock and anxiety.
If she noticed, she would be surprised to find that the extremely concentrated laser beams spanning thousands of degrees failed to create a dent on the plain wall.
"I…." Kara, whose emotions were extremely chaotic presently was almost a complete mess.
She took deep breaths amidst pants of depression, and barely regained some composure several minutes later. Then, she slowly lowered her hands from her face, and only then was she able to examine her surroundings.
Blue….
The blue color of the surroundings was quite soothing at first sight. Kara looked at the surrounding area that gave off a similar futuristic vibe as Krypton, and her frenzied heart regained an unexpected sense of calm.
"Where.... Where am I?" Kara asked dazedly in Kryptonian.
"The answer to your question is rather broad if you put it like that". The childish voice sounded from everywhere in the room, causing Kara to shrink back on the bed instinctively.
"Who... Who's there?" She examined..... Everywhere in an attempt to find who had spoken.
"Me". The cheery voice sounded once again, only this time, a virtual hologram appeared a few meters away from the bed.
Kara was stunned at the sight.
AI? Kara could tell at a glance.
"You..."
"Pleased to meet you. As a special, uninvited yet very much welcome guest, my master said I should take good care of you until his return. I, am the Red Queen or, for a better reference, you can call me Alice".
"And welcome Miss Zor-El to The Axiom".