Gotham City,
Nighttime.
A rather decrepit warehouse building.
The pungent smell of Gotham slums was truly assaulting on the nostrils. A ghastly silence enveloped the atmosphere and the tension on the scene was so palpable, it could almost be cut apart with a kitchen knife.
Anyone's first impression in Gotham of what was happening in such an environment would be a classic murder. A bloody corpse sprawled on the floor with wide eyes filled with anger and fear, maybe a maniacal gangster with a butcher knife in his hand and a bunch of other creepy stuff that seemed as if it was an opening scene for a horror movie.
The reality, however, was much different from that impression.
Six Leaguers, bona fide Justice League members, all stood and floated in the air on alert. Their eyes wide open and their muscles tensed.
Surrounding a male figure who was sitting in a comfy, plush chair, reading a book without a care in the world.
In the dead silence, the flipping of pages was particularly jarring.
"Something's wrong". Hal said with narrowed eyelids. Weirdly enough, his lips didn't have any movements and remained sealed.
"I know". Bruce replied, his lips equally unmoving.
"This is not how I pictured things would turn out". Billy said with a puzzled expression. His right arm was scratching his hair and the look of confusion in his eyes were difficult to conceal.
"Agreed".
"Giovanni, is the spell working?" Bruce asked through the mind link.
"Yes it is. The spell is active right now". Zatara replied.
"Then why isn't he doing anything?" Hal's question was what they all wanted to ask. Everyone turned to look at Batman, who had a blank expression.
"..... I don't know". Another one. The familiar feeling of frustration hit Bruce again for the Nth time. Amari's reaction to their operations was not within his calculations, and it bothered him. It bothered him a lot.
Why was Amari still sitting there so calmly?
Did he really have nothing to hide? Was the Meteor truly just a Meteor? No, Bruce was sure it wasn't.
Amari's character, Bruce, could confidently say that he had a certain level of understanding.
It didn't matter whether Amari had something to hide or not, he would certainly not allow them to invade his space, even if they were mistaken in all their assumptions. So it certainly wasn't the confidence of an innocent man that made him sit down so nonchalantly.
Or was the Space blocker and Zatara's spell unable to restrain him? Meaning he had full confidence to leave here whenever he wanted.
Or was he truly certain that the other Leaguers wouldn't be able to get pass his energy shield?
Was he even really here?
"Batman to Wonder Woman, what's your status?"
"Batman? We're moving on this end".
"Where exactly are you now?"
"We're outside the Energy dome, what's wrong? Did Amari escape?" Diana's voice came from the other side of the com's.
Bruce was silent for a few moments. Just when Wonder Woman thought something had happened...
"No... He's here".
"..... He is?"
"Yes".
"Then why....?"
"He's not resisting". His tone was a bit grave.
"Explain". Diana said seriously.
"He appeared here as expected, but that's it. There was no fighting, no arguing, no threats, nothing. He's just sitting there as if it has nothing to do with him. If Hal's ring didn't tell us that he's real, I would suspect what we have is a decoy".
"Diana, something's wrong". Bruce stated.
"What are you thinking?"
"I don't know. He might have some unknown tricks up his sleeve. Who we're facing might not even be the real him".
"You suspect he has some kind of duplication ability?"
"I do. That's what I'm worried about. What's your situation?"
"A bit troubled. Getting in will be harder than we thought. The Shield's almost impenetrable, opening a portal directly on the other side didn't work. Flash couldn't phase through it either. Judging from that, J'onns density shifting wouldn't work. It might be possible if we had someone with magic on our side".
Bruce was silent. For the meantime, the only Magician the League had on their side was Zatara, and he was needed to keep up the confinement spell.
One of Bruce's true Trump cards in the magic side was currently indisposed of.
Doctor Kent Nelson, or more specifically, Doctor Fate.
A lord of order whose magic capabilities put him at the forefront within the League's top combat power.
Doctor Fate, for some reason, had suddenly gone missing. Bruce had entrusted the task of investigating his whereabouts to the Proteges, who had been rather idle recently.
"....... Then let Atom give it a try". Bruce said after a moment of silence.
"Are you sure, Bruce?" Diana's voice on the other end was a bit solemn.
"We're already here, we won't turn back because of a mere Energy shield". Bruce gave a curt nod. "Be careful when you're in there. I feel slightly uneasy about all this".
"Understood". The Com's went silent.
Bruce took his hand away from his ear and looked at Amari, who was reading leisurely with narrowed eyebrows".
.......
The Axiom.
Outside the dome.
Diana's face after cutting off Com's was slightly serious.
The Justice league's second team stood a few meters away from the pulsing energy shield.
Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern Stewart, Cyborg and Captain Atom.
"Adam, you're up". Diana said as she looked at Nathaniel who had complete silver skin save for his gloves, boots, and the emblem on his chest which were red.
Even his hair was a complete silver.
Adam didn't say a word, giving only a nod of understanding and moved forward. There were currently only two ways to get past this shield. One, bombard it with enough force to create an opening. That would be incredibly challenging to do, especially without their heaviest hitters.
And two.....
"We don't know how much power this thing can generate. As soon as it shows signs of exceeding your limit, stop immediately".
Diana said as she watched his moving back.
"Yeah, we would rather not see you disappearing in time again". Barry gave a light joke…
Captain Atom didn't reply, his gaze fixed on the barrier before him. With both palms covered in red gloves, he extended his arms out and made contact with the energy barrier and began to absorb it.
......
Gotham City,
Decrepit Warehouse.
As time passed by, the uneasiness within Bruce's heart grew.
Time passed slowly yet nothing happened. Shazam was no longer in a fighting posture but leaned on an iron barrel with one leg crossed over the other.
Hal was equally bored. His arms were crossed over each other on his chest area as he floated several inches off the ground.
Martian Manhunter frowned slightly and said through the mind link.
"Something's wrong. They've been gone too long".
Bruce's face was grim as his fists clenched even tighter.
"No response?" Hal asked.
"None". The words were heavy. Followed by the silence which, if possible, got heavier.
"Is it possible we are thinking too much? I mean, we already expected that all Com's would be down if they got through".
"Yes, but it's already been twenty minutes. If they aren't in danger, what's taking them so long?" Zatara asked in his Italian accent.
"Maybe... The place is too big?" Billy said awkwardly. At this point, even he could notice that something was off.
Soon, another ten minutes passed.
"Times up". Bruce said, with his tone taking a frosty edge. If emotional changes could be visualized, the gloominess around him would have intensified several times over.
His words brought everyone back on alert.
Batman looked at Amari coldly.
"What have you done to them?"
Everyone's attention refocused on the man on the chair.
"Bruce, Bruce, Bruce..... I have no idea what you're talking about". Amari casually replied, still flipping through a book. It wasn't the same one, however, as he had changed six different books in the short thirty minutes he sat there.
"The rest of the league are unresponsive. Wonder Woman and I agreed that they Would find a way to send out a message on their situation once inside. If they couldn't, then they would abort. If there was no news after thirty minutes, then something went wrong". His spat out with a growl.
"That...." He spoke with a drawl.
".... Is TNMP".
"What?"
"Totally Not My Problem".
".."
The silence was deafening. Several pairs of eyes bored into Amari's silhouette with hostile intent.
"Mr. Amari, please do not do anything we will all regret". J'onn spoke out as a pacifier.
"We all care about our teammates. To most of us are, they are basically family. Any rash actions that you take will leave us irreconcilable".
"A declaration of War". Martian Manhunter said with a grim tone.
The anxiety within it was obvious.
Right now, J'onn inwardly prayed that things hadn't gone too far off. If Amari had killed the others, then it wouldn't matter who was right or wrong in this matter. Their hostile relationship would instantly become irreparable.
The chaos that would come as a result would be catastrophic.
"I wasn't the one who rushed into someone else's territory without due invitation. Please tell me, Mr. J'onzz, who's declaring war on who".
The book in his hands disappeared. What replaced it was a newspaper.
Amari raised his head and looked at Batman with an indifferent expression.
".... I mean come on, you're supposed to be the brains of the Justice League Bruce. What exactly were you expecting when you allowed your teammates take on such a task. Are you expecting me to fight? So you can find a legitimate reason to convince yourself that what you're doing is right? Cause from your lineup, I'm guessing you weren't expecting anything less". He pointed at everyone present in a sweeping manner.
"Or were you expecting it to be, like the way you raided Cadmus? Or any other illegal government facility, villain organization, Lexcorp lab and whatnot? Get in, face a large encirclement of high-tech firepower, missiles, lasers, maybe giant kryptonite-powered robots made from Nth Metal, or even some futuristic shit you've never seen, crush all of it and come out unscathed?"
"Maybe even myself. You probably thought what was sitting in front of you wasn't my real body but some kind of duplicate. Then, you'd all converge together to fight me back at The Axiom all at once. Make a big splash about it".
Amari chuckled.
Batman clenched his teeth audibly. If he were holding something sharp, his palms under the gloves would be bleeding from squeezing too hard.
".... I underestimated you".
"No". Amari shook his head. "You didn't underestimate me. You overestimated yourself. See, I don't wanna say something like, "You haven't seen anything yet" Or "You don't know what true power is". It'll make me sound like a boss level bad guy you're used to fighting every now and then. But here's the thing..... I literally didn't do anything......"
A smile appeared on his face. The smile was filled with ridicule, and his eyes practically radiated mockery.
This was probably the first time that Amari revealed such human like expressions.
"... You did".
Everyone's faces twisted to form different expressions. Mainly surprise, doubt, and disbelief.
"Don't understand? Then let's simplify it, shall we?" His voice had a somewhat upbeat tone.
"Now, what do you think is the best way to hide something?"
Silence answered him.
"No thoughts? Then I'll answer myself. You see, in my opinion, the best way is to make sure the hiding place is somewhere that can't be reached by anyone but yourself".
"So when I built The Axiom a month ago, I knew that eventually, someone was going to come snooping around. It might be the Joker, or Luthor, Vandal Savage, Reverse Flash, you guys... You get my point. So I thought of the perfect security measure. Instead of installing countless weapons of mass destruction to eliminate intruders, I could just skip all that trouble and build The Axiom in a place incapable of being reached. To be specific, another dimensional space".
His casual words were equivalent to a bomb in their ears. People like Shazam, Martian Manhunter and Hal Jordan had incredulous looks on their faces, while Zatara had a thoughtful expression.
"Impossible". Red Tornado, who had been quiet all this time finally, uttered a word.
"We have observed your base and the area surrounding it at all times. There were no abnormalities detected".
"Plus how can it be in another dimension if we can see it?" Batman agreed with Tornado darkly.
"What you're seeing is a virtual projection across dimensions. It looks life-like, but it's not really there. And the Energy shield surrounding it is not just to prevent anything from going in, it also serves as a sort of trigger. The moment anything goes through it, a hole is torn open in the fabric of space, pulling anything close with tremendous force. When Captain Atom disrupted the energy barrier, there was a crack in the space fabric. My guess, your teammates, were unfortunately sucked in with no resistance".
He shrugged his shoulders.
"So you see Bruce? I didn't lift a finger. You all agreed on your operation, so this was all your doing".
Bruce's face was gloomy. The rest of the league also had unsightly expressions.
"Tornado, Go". Batman said to Red Tornado, who took off immediately without a word, heading back to the Watchtower.
"Where are they?" Hal asked with urgency. As a space cop, he knew that transversing space was extremely dangerous.
"Why are you asking me? I don't know".
Amari didn't even look at the agitated Lantern. His attention was fully focused on the newspaper, as if he had found something much more interesting than their present conversation.
Too bad, Hal didn't have the mood to care about that now.
"Don't give me that shit. You set this all up". He growled with anger. His mood was understandable as his friends were in possible danger.
"Yes…. And you guys are the unlucky ones who walked into it. You decided to break in by force, so the repercussions are your problem". Yet, what did that have to do with Amari? He literally couldn't care less.
"Don't go too far". At that moment, Bruce spoke coldly. His eyes had narrowed to form a sharp, penetrating glare.
"I admit that we were wrong in our handling. But the lives of the League aren't joking matters. You've made your point".
Amari looked at Batman with the expression of looking at a fool.
"You don't seem to understand. This was never about making a point. I don't have your teammates captured somewhere because I don't control the Spatial tear. Wherever it takes them to is not in my knowledge. They could appear in places as close by as Aquaman's bedroom, or as far as an unknown space sector on the other side of the universe. If they're unlucky, they might just fall into Apokolips, a parallel dimension or even a black hole. Some might get ripped to pieces in the Spatial tears. The moment they got sucked in, their life and death had nothing to do with me". Amari said with an equally cold tone.
"What kind of fool do you take me for?" He ground out.
The mood instantly plummeted even lower than it already had. Apparently, Batman didn't like the answer he had given.
"Like I said, not my problem. Are we done here? Cause if we are, I'm leaving". Amari stood up from his chair, which disappeared.
"That is not an answer that we can accept".
Zatara said while chanting an incantation.
"Rehtag eht citsym rewop".