#45: Time Has Come Today

Previously, in JUSTICE LEAGUE...

It’s a new day for the JUSTICE LEAGUE as the threat of the deadly KOBRA cult has finally been defeated, thanks to the combined efforts of the BIRDS OF PREY, JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, OUTSIDERS, TEEN TITANS, YOUNG JUSTICE and more--!

With the battle done, LORD NAGA was revealed by a returning HAWKMAN to be JASON BURR! Unfortunately, mere hours later it was revealed that this might not be the case, as BURR appeared outside of custody, revealing that there were two men sharing his face-- one under arrest and one roaming free!

For the time being, BURR has surrendered himself into custody, vowing to prove his innocence, and the JUSTICE LEAGUE have restructured, implementing a new membership roster that will change every mission, however necessary.

With all this in mind, please join us now for the continuing adventures of the JUSTICE LEAGUE--


On the streets of Gotham City, along the street once known as Park Row, otherworldly energy crackled from one street lamp to another. The energy flowed awkwardly, bouncing from one bulb to another, overloading the fuses and sending sparks down to the deserted sidewalks, until the energy decided to coalesce in the middle of the road, forming a bright, white globe, larger than any person had the right to be. The energy bubbled across itself, tiny globules rising up into the night sky, and then it exploded outward silently, the globe becoming nothingness after a matter of seconds.

Where the globe once floated now stood a man clad in white and black, a venetian-style mask arching down from his face, his cape fluttering in the slow winds that moved through the city.

The man checked his gauntlet, a silver device unlike the rest of his costume. A small light blinked red, and he grunted. “It’s about time.”

The man headed into the alleys, leaving the street once known as Park Row-- now known as Crime Alley-- with a dozen broken street lights and an ionised taste in the air that faded with the man’s absence.

“What the hell was that?” Leaning forward in the monitor womb of the Justice League’s island headquarters of Laputa, the Guardian watched as a massive flare displayed on the holographic map of Northern America that floated before him.

As Jim Harper watched, the map automatically zoomed in and Gotham City was fully realised in minute, holographic detail. He pressed a button on the arm of his chair, and opened up comms. “I’ve got an unknown energy surge in Gotham City.” He cleared his throat, and said the words he’d been waiting to say all week: “Justice League emergency. ”


Wonder Woman rarely felt cold, her Amazonian heritage and the gifts her gods bestowed upon her allowing her to withstand even the most ardent of low temperatures. But there was always something about Gotham City, about the Dark Knight’s domain that sent a chill up her spine. She’d rarely experienced anything positive in this place, her memories of resurrected monsters and corrupted heroes rising to the surface of her mind as she stood in the middle of the old Gotham street.

There was no police presence in the immediate vicinity, the police having erected a cordon on either side of the street. There were numerous alleys that led to Park Row, filled with darkness and shadow, and even if there were police buzzing around, locking the area down, it wouldn’t have sealed all the gaps. As if to prove the observation right, a young man, flanked by a half dozen of his friends, approached Wonder Woman.

“Hey, baby, what you doin’ in my city?” The youth, blond hair and recent tattoos, rings and necklaces, all attitude and no common sense, approached the Queen of the Amazons, a butterfly knife flicking open and closed in his right hand. Every second step was a jig, a slide, portraying a character more than a human being.

“Excuse me?” said Wonder Woman. People normally spoke to her with respect. Even the bile spat from the lips of the villains she fought was tempered by some kind of recognition of what she could do to them. The tonal dissonance from what she expected and what was delivered took her aback for a moment.

“Yeah, baby, you can’t walk these streets without payin’ the tax, y’know? So--” A black gloved hand grabbed the youth’s butterfly knife and tossed it aside, before twisting the owner’s wrist so far back that it could snap. Any pretence of bravado drained away, and the boy’s voice changed, his accent and voice transforming into that of one of Gotham’s more upper class families. “--Oh Jesus Christ I am sorry I am so sorry please don’t break my hand I didn’t know--”

Batman spun the boy around, and lifted him up by the scruff of his shirt. “Park Row is off limits to scum like you.” He threw him to the ground. “My city. My rules. All of you: Leave.”

The boy scrambled to his feet, clutching his injured arm, and vanished within seconds, along with his entourage. Batman turned to Wonder Woman, who didn’t look impressed.

“They were no threat,” said Wonder Woman.

“Monied punks, getting stupid ideas in the wrong part of town ,” said Batman.

Wonder Woman bristled against his words, something about his tone grating against her. She rarely saw him in his element, rather he was the normal man in extreme, mad circumstances, a stern look and an angry word toward Gods and Monsters. Gotham City needed the Batman, but the Batman in Gotham was a different figure than the Batman that appeared in the rest of the world.

“I don’t need the Justice League in on this,” said Batman. He crouched down and took a device from the back of his utility belt, and began to scan the most scorched area of the road, where the energy sphere landed.

“Well that’s bad luck, Batman,” said the Guardian, as the American super soldier approached the two other heroes, along with Commissioner Gordon. “The energy surge was tremendous. I’ve seen that kind of event before, and I’m sure some of you have as well. Parallel arrival. Dimensional incursion. Time travel. Any number of things could have emerged from the portal that the energy surge caused, and now that thing is loose in Gotham City.”

Batman said nothing as Gordon nodded in acknowledgement of the Dark Knight.

“I appreciate the presence of the Justice League in Gotham. If there’s something capable of generating the kind of energy spike that you’ve shown me running wild on our streets, best we find it and contain it as soon as possible. The more bodies on the ground,” he glanced up and saw two winged figures soaring overhead, “or in the sky, the better.” He looked back at Batman, but the Caped Crusader had vanished. “…Typical. ”

Ignoring Batman’s rudeness, the Guardian pressed on. “No security footage showing what it was that arrived. Whatever landed, its arrival or presence scrambled any recording equipment in the area. Created an electronic dead zone.”

“If that equipment worked in the first place, it would have been helpful,” said Gordon. “You’ll find that infrastructure and surveillance isn’t at its best in this part of Gotham.”

The Guardian shook his head. “I remember Gotham back before I got shipped off to fight the Nazis. Beautiful city. Not that it wasn’t dirty with organised crime, but not like it is today.”

“It’s been worse,” said Gordon. “Organised crime is all but done, now we’re just left with the super crime. One battle nearly won, another we’re in the thick of.”

“Anything the Justice League can do to keep whatever arrived here from causing any trouble, we’ll do,” said Wonder Woman.


Zipping across the rooftops, Batman regretted his words in front of Diana, and he disliked himself for allowing it to impact him. Whenever Wonder Woman was on the scene, things got fuzzy, the lines blurred, and even though she was raised in a militant matriarchy on a secret island hidden by ancient magics, therefore more than accustomed to the methods the Dark Knight used, he almost felt guilty when utilising them in front of her.

Stupid, he thought. More important things to consider.

{Hawkman to Batman, do you read me?}

Batman paused, and in the distance could see Hawkman circling the reddened Gotham skies. {Go.}

{You’ll want to see this,} said Hawkman.

Batman raised his grapnel, and shot across a chasm between buildings as the Hawk Knight of Thanagar descended.


The Scarecrow’s hands held a plastic skull in each, one black and one white. He loomed over his female hostages as they wept, his mask locked into a twisted expression of fear-inducing horror.

“The choice you have is simple. You can face your fears or you can die. Do or die. I’m trying something new. Something different. I could fill your lungs with this toxin, choke your heart and brain with horrors beyond imagination. That’s this skull.” He raised his left hand, and displayed the black skull that undoubtedly contained a massive dose of his fear-inducing toxin. “But this skull,” he held up the white skull, “will fill you with horror, yes, it will make your fears real, to you, and only to you,” he sighed, “my one sadness is that I cannot share the fear with you.”

Scarecrow caressed the face of the woman closest to him, while she shuddered and shook before him.

“So make your choice, my pretty little victims,” said Scarecrow. “You have no others. No one knows you’re here. You’re gone from the face of the world, everyone assuming you’re on a plane to Australia, no one expecting to hear back from you until it will be too late.” You could barely hear his lips smacking under his mask. “Black or white? A chance to live or a promise to die?”

“JONATHAN CRANE. ”

Scarecrow spun around, and in the corner of the room stood a man clad almost entirely in white. The body armour wasn’t recognisable, but the stance, the arrogance, immediately identified the man to Scarecrow as one of Batman’s disciples.

“You shouldn’t have come here--!”

The Scarecrow was about to squeeze the black skull in the face of his hostage when a grapnel swung around his wrist and wrenched him forward. The white-clad stranger surged forward and punched him in the face, shattering his jaw on impact.

The stranger turned to the cowering hostages, and lifted his mask up, revealing a secondary cowl that showed a stubble-covered lower jaw, whilst disguising the rest of his face. “Hey, it’s all okay, guys, you’re safe now.” The man cut the ropes keeping the women in place, and then looked back at Scarecrow. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”


Scarecrow was strung up in front of Gotham Central, and as Batman arrived, Hawkman descend.

“Who did this?” said the Dark Knight.

“I don’t know,” said Hawkman. “One moment the lamppost didn’t have a masked villain attached to it and then a moment later it did.”

Batman cocked an eyebrow. “You’re developing a sense of humour?”

“Hawkgirl,” said Hawkman, as if it explained everything. He glanced up for a moment, then back down at his teammate. {We’re being watched.}

Batman didn’t look up. {Where?}

Hawkman gripped his mace and shifted his head down while keeping his eyes locked above them. {On top of the building, looking down at us. Some kind of cloaking technology, bending light. It’s advanced, I nearly didn’t notice. Nearly.}

There was a loud thud next to them, and the white-clad man who took down Scarecrow appeared, as whatever cloaking technology he utilised deactivated, revealing him to the two members of the Justice League present.

Hawkman raised his mace while Batman stood, patiently, waiting for the next move to be made. He knew, immediately, that if the man wanted to kill them, he would have tried before making his arrival. Tried being the operative word, as Hawkman spotted him before anything could come of it. But how long had he been up there, lurking, before that happened?

The man’s perfectly white hood was up, framing the Venetian mask that curved down like a beak from his face. His cape hung flat at his back, and his black and white body armour was an odd contrast against the Gotham City architecture

“I’m from the future. You’re going to want to hear what I have to say, ” said the man. He tapped his ear, and feedback rang out across the nano-radio receivers in the Justice League’s heads. He addressed his next words to Batman. {Bruce, it’s Tim. The Justice League is in danger, and if you don’t listen, then my present-- your future-- is doomed.}

Batman blinked. {Tim?} Tim Wayne-- formerly Tim Drake-- his adopted son?!


“What is it with your partners and time travel?” said Hawkman. “Last year, Red Robin dragged the Justice League of twenty years hence back, and now this one?”

Batman stood silently outside the holding area on Laputa, as the white-clad stranger stood patiently, waiting for the Justice League to make their decision on what they should do.

Wonder Woman entered the holding area, lasso in her hands. Tim Wayne was no longer wearing his mask, hood or cape, but kept the body armour on. She smiled, and handed him the lasso so he could loop it around his palm. Tim looked healthy. Tired, but healthy.

Under the influence of the lasso of truth, he began to speak. “My name is Tim Wayne, but when I’m in the costume I go by Shrike. I’m from ten years into the future. I’ve travelled back in time illegally to prevent the assassination of the Justice League by an unknown assailant hired by Vandal Savage.”

“Vandal Savage? Why?” said Wonder Woman.

Tim continued. “Vandal Savage is arrested in my timeline and sentenced to death for his numerous-- and centuries-spanning-- crimes. He has a weapon, primed in this time that he didn’t have an opportunity to use in mine. He was able to get word to a time traveller whose identity remains a mystery to me to travel back to this time, in order to release the weapon. A weapon powerful enough to destroy the Justice League and forever alter the course of the planet.”

Hawkman’s brow furrowed and activated the speakers in the holding area. “Why not kill us in our cribs?”

“You are protected,” said Tim. “There is a legion of heroes that protect you up until your debut in the public limelight, to prevent time travellers from killing you before you make your impact on the timeline. This is information you would have learned in the coming months.” Tim smiled. “Spoilers.”

“Gah, enough of this,” Hawkman exited the observation room and entered the holding area. “What is the danger you seek to protect us from? What else can you tell us? If you are who you say you are--”

“You believe you are telling the truth, after all,” said Wonder Woman.

“The lasso can be deceived,” said Batman, entering after Hawkman. “Would you mind leaving us for a moment?”

Hawkman looked over at Wonder Woman, who went to go. “Wait,” said Batman, his fingers brushing against Wonder Woman’s hand. “Take the lasso with you.”

“Batman?” said Wonder Woman. She glanced down at where he had touched her, and saw a hesitation in him, before he withdrew his hand.

“Please,” said Batman. “Trust me.”

Wonder Woman nodded, removed the lasso of truth from Tim’s hand and exited, followed swiftly by Hawkman, who gave the time traveller the side-eye as he went.

“The lasso can be tricked,” said Batman, the two men finally alone. “So tell me why I should trust you.”

“We both know there’s only one answer to that question,” said Tim. “And it’s a story, isn’t it…?”


“Shrike is telling the truth,” said Batman, leading the now-masked time traveller into the monitoring area of the Justice League. “The incursion hasn’t occurred yet, so we have time to prepare. We have a location of Vandal Savage in this time, as well as the location of his weapon.”

Tim held up the gauntlet on his wrist. “This device will go off when an incursion from my timeline occurs in this one. It will also pull me back when needed. A tether. ”

“Interesting stuff,” said the Guardian. “Batman, what’s your play?”

“Two teams, one to arrest Savage, the other to prevent the release of the weapon. Who do we have available?”

The Guardian pressed a button on the console before him, and rotating, holographic heads appeared, each representing a member of the Justice League that could be called in at a moment’s notice.

“Good,” said Batman. “Atom, Blue Beetle, Doctor Light, Shrike and I will zero in the weapon. Wonder Woman, Guardian, Hawkman-- take down Savage.”

“You’re willing to change the course of history on the word of this man?” said the Guardian. “No offence, Batman, but we only just met him--”

Batman cut him off. “I’ve known Tim Drake for years, and this version of him has known me for longer. I trust that boy-- and this man-- with my life. And yours.”

The Guardian looked over at Shrike, then back at Batman. “Good enough for me. Let’s move.”


Blue Beetle stepped through the glistening portal in front of them first, his scanner buzzing as he went. When he walked back into Laputa, he was covered in a thin layer of snow, and shivered. “Yup, Antartica, just like we thought.”

“You have the readings?” said Batman.

“Some kind of complex dug into the mountain itself, my scans can’t penetrate, looks EMP proof, some sort of shield keeping it invisible to the naked eye, and anyone who might point a scanner at it,” said Beetle. “These Doors of Harper’s sure make sneaking in and out of some place easy.”

“Our target is at the bottom of the complex, deep underground, ” said Shrike. “There’s a pit, and at the bottom is the weapon. We need to get to it, before the assassin does. ”

“The targeting array that lets us direct the Doors won’t let us step directly into the pit,” said Beetle. “But they’ll let us get inside, in a storage area, somewhere deserted.”

“Any idea how long we have?” said the Atom.

“I’m afraid not,” said Shrike. “I just know we were only able to narrow down my arrival to a matter of hours before his. I hope it’s enough.”

“Are you ready?” said Batman to the others. “Shrike and I will take the Pit, the three of you will gather intel on what we’re dealing with. We’ll meet at the bottom of the pit, and face this together, with as much information as we can find.”

The Atom, Blue Beetle, Doctor Light and Shrike nodded in agreement.

Batman cleared his throat. “Door.”


Vandal Savage sat at the foot of his bed, bored with how his day was progressing. He had fermented no civil unrest in a number of days, funded no wars, and generally felt like he was wasting his time on a half dozen long term projects that would, he hoped, result in the deaths of thousands.

The naked women sleeping behind him were no real distraction. He considered the bare leg of the brunette, and licked his lips. Not a distraction then, but maybe an appetiser later, if the feeling took him. It had been a while since he had eaten human flesh, and while he didn’t need to, sometimes you just couldn’t shake the craving.

“Vandal Savage, you are under arrest,” said the Guardian, as he walked through a portal in front of Vandal. “Please make this difficult.”

“James Harper, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” said Savage. He stood, naked, and laughed. “You seem to have caught me with my trousers down.”

Hawkman stood next to the Guardian, while Wonder Woman brought up the rear, the portal closing behind them. “I see you’ve bought friends.”

“This is Vandal Savage?” said Katar. He looked the naked immortal up and down. “I’m not impressed.”

“I’ll grow on you, I’m sure,” said Vandal.

“From what I’m seeing, I doubt that,” said Hawkman. “Are you cold? ”

Vandal Savage spat an obscenity and dove for Katar but was met with a mace to the face. Hawkman looked down at the bleeding, prone form of Savage as he knelt before them, clutching his shattered nose, and smiled. “You’re under arrest.”

“Ey dub thig so,” said Vandal, clutching his pulverised nose.

The immortal villain looked back at his concubines and with a nod of approval from him, the three women slammed their fists into their arms, shattering the sub-dermal patches they were wearing. The act caused the patches to glow blue like bands around their arms and then sent an electrifying burst of energy racing through their bodies.

Vandal Savage licked the thick, matted blood from his moustache. “Ey cull ib velocibee ayyt. Supeb speeb.”

The three women vanished in a burst of superspeed and dove at the Justice League--

“I hate speedsters,” growled Hawkman, as he swung his mace wildly.


“I’m surprised no one has cottoned on to the fact we’re down here,” said the Atom. “Ted, how goes the system download?”

“Slowly, there’s years of data stored here, and the further back we go, the bigger the file size. Guess Savage didn’t discover file compression until the rest of the world.”

“Is there anything on the weapon?” said Doctor Light. “Any clue as to its nature?”

Blue Beetle ran his finger down one of the monitors. “Apparently, this entire complex is called ‘M’, and it was built to a) keep whatever ‘M’ is locked away at the bottom of the pit this mountain is built on top of, and b) hold a record of everything Vandal Savage has learnt across the years. We just stumbled upon his blackmail library.”

“Hey, you’re not supposed to be in here,” said an armed guard, as he stumbled into the room containing the colourfully-dressed heroes. He pressed a panic button on his belt before anyone could move to stop him, then fell to the floor at the hands of a blast from Blue Beetle’s BB Gun.

As klaxons began to blare, Blue Beetle turned to Doctor Light. “I’m going to get the blame for this, aren’t I?”

The sounds of Vandal Savage’s military forces began to ring above their heads. Heavy footfalls and the deployment of heavy machinery. The Atom shrugged. “Yup.”


“--Uunf--”

Hawkman’s helm was knocked off by a punch thrown at superspeed and he fell to a knee.

“--Aaaow--”

Before another blow could land he swiped his mace at shin level, the surface of the weapon crackling with energy. The mace connected with bone, and one of the attackers fell.

“--Heh.” Katar took a breath and pushed on, taking a bola from his belt of weaponry.

Wonder Woman could see the air shift with the speedsters’ movements. When she flew she used the pulse of the earth, the winds and the thermals themselves, to know where she needed to go and when, and it was this focus, granted by the birthright given to her by the god Hermes, that allowed her to see the speedsters moving before they noticed her attention.

Diana reached out, grabbed one of the women by the arm, and yanked her out of the slipstream she was travelling within. With one punch she was done, the only protection granted by whatever Savage had done to them was not falling apart at such great speeds.

Hawkman’s bola found a target when the ankles of the final speedster were wrapped up and she fell into a hard clothesline from the winged hero. He looked at Wonder Woman, who was surveying the scene of the battle.

“Where’s Savage?” said Hawkman.

“Better question-- where’s the Guardian?” said Wonder Woman.


Batman and Shrike moved with ease through the darkened catacombs of the mountain base, any resistance taken down silently and without issue. Even with the experience the future granted him, Tim knew better than to talk during the mission, and only spoke when his gauntlet lit up-- alerting him that someone from his timeline was entering this one!

“We’re running out of time,” said Shrike.

Batman pressed his palm against the wall and an elevator door appeared, previously hidden from view. How had he known? “Not long now.”

“He’s here.”

“We’ll make it,” said Batman. He opened the door, and punched the soldier inside in the face, knocking him out instantly. Without hesitation, he opened the panel on the bottom of the lift and looked down at the chasm below. “We need to go straight down.”

Shrike held up a line of rope. “Easy. ”

The two men descended down, deeper into the mountain range. After a few minutes, they were at the bottom of the pit, and Batman and Shrike strained to pull the elevator doors open. “You could have landed on Laputa, come to us directly. You didn’t have to arrive in Gotham. You didn’t have to go after the Scarecrow.”

Shrike glanced at Batman, and realised that his mentor could see right through him, even now. “The Scarecrow thing is a long story. It needed to be done. You’ll understand when you’re--”

“Why why why isn’t this thing working, c’mon, c’mon,” said the oddly-dressed man at the other end of the chamber. He slammed his fists into the massive door. “Open, damn you, open!”

Chronos heard the doors open and looked back at the two heroes who could see him standing in front of the largest door ever built. “Oh, no, no, no,” said the time traveller. “I need more--”

Shrike threw a batarang at Chronos and it landed in the gauntlet he used to travel through time, sparks flying up into the air and rendering it useless.

“You’re out of time,” said Shrike.


A golden shield ricocheted from one wall and then into the door Vandal Savage had hoped to open. He spun around, and saw the Guardian standing at the other end of the hallway.

“You didn’t think it was going to be as easy as that, did you?”

Vandal thumbed his broken nose into place, and growled. “I had hoped my darling Velocity Eight girls would have kept you busy while I left.”

“Didn’t even notice me leave. There are two ways this can go, Savage. Shall I list them?”

Vandal Savage roared and stormed down the corridor. Harper sprinted to meet him, and the two men exchanged blows that would have broken the bones of lesser men, but the concussive impacts only pushed the two men to throw more punches.

Savage was a brawler, that much was obvious to Harper, but he had a finesse the golden avenger hadn’t expected. At the end of the fight, it wouldn’t matter. The Guardian moved fast, punch, dodge, kick, dodge, and he knew that as much as Savage could play dirty, so could he. Harper went for sharp elbows, driving feet into joints, anything to keep Vandal off balance. He found the perfect strike, an elbow to just under Savage’s ear, and took it-- causing the immortal to cry out and topple.

“We know about your doomsday weapon,” said the Guardian. “Your contingency plan.” He punched Savage in the face. “We won’t let you hurt anyone else, Vandal. You’re done.”

Vandal looked up, blood covering his face, and began to smile.

“What’s so funny?” said the Guardian.

“You’ll never know what you’ve done,” said Vandal. He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, then bit down violently, severing the meat at the base and removing it from his mouth.

“Jesus Christ,” said the Guardian, before knocking Vandal out with a swing of his fist.


“No, you don’t understand!” Chronos wrenched the batarang out of his gauntlet, and shook his head. “Oh, oh God.” He turned to the heroes and pulled off his mask, looking desperately at the Justice League. He was matted with sweat, his face was pale, and dark rings surrounded his eyes. “Please, you don’t understand! I don’t have a choice!”

“That’s not David Clinton,” said Batman,

“Or Walker Gabriel, ” said Shrike.

“We pulled lots! Vandal Savage’s lieutenants made us! I lost and had to put this stupid costume on, and then they knocked me out! Put something inside me! I have to finish this, I have to open that door, or--”

Chronos looked down at his chest, and the two caped crusaders took a step back as something in his upper torso, just under his rib cage at the centre, began to bulge out. “I didn’t sign up for--”

The imposter Chronos screamed in pain, and before the thing inside him could exit his body, Shrike stepped in front of Batman and threw down a small sphere that expanded out, generating a shield that protected them as Chronos’ chest exploded, releasing a catastrophic explosion that was directed straight into the massive door behind him-- an explosion powerful enough to send cracks running through its structure and break the hidden seals behind it!

The shield protecting them dissipated haphazardly and Batman darted forward to where scraps of Chronos’ costume fizzled out like the dying embers of a fire, then looked up at the door.

“Some sort of EMP,” said Batman. “Even my suit’s hardened electronics are down.”

“Yours and mine both,” said Shrike. “Why would Savage want to trigger an EMP in his own mountain fortress? ” He glanced down at the gauntlet that tethered him to his home timeline, and saw that none of the lights were currently on.

There was a tapping sound behind the immense door. One that grew louder. Batman had heard such sounds before, when Superman once punched his way out of from under a mountain…

“They didn’t expect him to make it,” said Batman. “What if whatever the weapon is, they contained it using some sort of electronic array?” He readied himself for action, raising his fists as the tapping became smashing, each blow growing louder and louder.

“So they had a contingency plan, ” said Shrike. “If he couldn’t open the door, break the door, and the systems behind it. ” He took a small rod from his utility belt and it expanded in his hand, becoming a pure white bo-staff ready to be wielded. “Vandal Savage really is mad.”

“The guy is a cannibal,” said Blue Beetle, approaching the two caped crusaders from behind. “Kuru probably rotted his brain centuries ago.” He raised his inert BB gun as the banging continued. “Trouble?”

“Big time,” said Shrike. “Where are the others?”

“Mopping up the last of the resistance down the way, they sent me ahead,” said the Beetle. “Do we know what it is yet?”

Batman grimaced. “We’re about--”

The door expanded outwards, and Beetle jumped in shock, while the two caped heroes stood their ground. The expansion was the size of a fist, and the second expansion resulted in said fist appearing, tearing the reinforced door open and allowing the owner of the first to emerge.

A man pulled himself free, and saw the three Justice Leaguers standing there, their fists raised, ready for anything. “I do not seek violence,” said the man. “Where is Vandal Savage?”

“Our teammates are taking care of him,” said Batman. “State your name and intentions.”

The man straightened up, and the Justice Leaguers noticed his red and white costume, dishevelled and torn, and his long, white hair and beard hanging wildly around his face. The man was easily seven feet tall, and his piercing blue eyes scanned the heroes intently.

“Savage cast me in that pit when I was at my lowest, using the technology on my craft to drain me of my powers. I have been a prisoner for--” The man paused. “Is this 1995?”

“No,” said Batman. “You’re a few decades off. Who are you?”

The man blinked. “Centuries. I had thought I had kept an accurate count, but time is meaningless in the pit. I have been imprisoned for centuries. What of this world? What of the Daemonites? Did the Spartans prepare this world for combat?”

“Excuse me?” said Blue Beetle. “Daemo-who?”

“We’ve met a Spartan by the name of Yon Kohl,” said Batman.

The Dark Knight raised his open hands, the abject power of the being now floating before them almost radiating off him. Even in the presence of Superman, the Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman… Bruce Wayne had never seen anything like this before.

“A cybernetic being ravaged by four extraterrestrial beings who travelled through space after arriving in our reality via some kind of deep space portal. The two surviving creatures are currently in custody, though they remain mute*.”


“These ‘extraterrestrials’, as you call them-- monstrous things, nearly twelve feet tall and glowing blue?” said the man. He floated forward, and the Justice Leaguers responded by taking a step back. “By the look on your face, I would say you have met the Daemonite scourge. You are lucky to have survived, Batman.”

“Those things that crumbled to dust on contact with a human person?” said Beetle. “Not so threatening--”

Batman held up his hand to silence Ted Kord. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours. How?”

“I heard it,” said the man. From the bottom of the pit. I hear the things Savage does. Even with my senses dulled, my strength diminished, I heard everything up here,” he gestured around him. “I am Lord Majestros of the Kherubim, regent-general of the forces of the home world.”


“Huh? Majestic?” said Blue Beetle.

“Majestros,” said the man. “You are representatives of this world, with no knowledge of the Daemonite threat. Then there is still time. I must leave this place, there is already--” He headed toward the elevator shaft the heroes had come down but before he could take a step inside, Batman’s hand was on his shoulder. “--Yes?”

“You’re not going anywhere until we get some answers,” said Batman. “Vandal Savage kept you here as a weapon to use against the world. We need to find out what his intentions were for you, before we allow you to run rampant across the globe.”

“Yeah, man,” said Beetle. “We’ve got a nice set up that’s only a short jaunt from here, great sea view, fantastic catering. We’ll sit down, have a cup of--”

Majestros clicked his fingers and the concussive blast sent the three Justice Leaguers flying backwards into the walls, rattling their heads immediately.

“I do not have time to explain. My intentions are good, my intentions are for the betterment of this world,” said Majestros. “To--” He clutched his head and screamed, the concrete walls quaking as he fell to his knees. Within moments he was rapped with a seizure, and then he was unconscious.

Batman was about to ask how, when the Atom emerged and enlarged out of Majestros’ head, wiping his hands.

“Looked like you could use a hand, Bats,” said the Atom.

“Good work,” said Batman. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“Here.” Doctor Light floated down the elevator shaft, and looked around the large chamber they found themselves within. “I have contained Savage’s militia in constructs above ground. The facility is empty, ready to be thoroughly examined. Is this man the weapon we came to disable?”

“Yes,” said Batman. “I believe so. Shrike?”

“I had no clue it was a man, ” said Shrike. “And all this stuff about ‘Daemonites’ and ‘Kherubim’, that’s not ringing any bells from my timeline.”

“Perhaps we were too late,” said Doctor Light. “Perhaps with this man’s release, events are now set in motion.”

“Maybe,” said Batman. “We need to get him out of here and out of the way. Let’s get back to Laputa and figure out a containment protocol.” He put a finger to his ear. {Green Lantern-- John-- I need a Green Lantern for a consult on Laputa ASAP-- are you or your partner available?}

{We’ll take Gardner if necessary,} added Blue Beetle. {I'm joking, we won't.}

After a moment’s silence, John Stewart’s voice rang into their brains. {I’m on my way. I'll Guy you say 'hey', Ted.}

Batman turned back and was confused to see Shrike fade in and out of view. “What’s happening?”

“I’m being pulled back,” said Tim, holding up his reactivated gauntlet. “I can’t stay any longer. I don’t know if what I’ve done has helped anybody, but I hope-- I can only hope-- Dad, it was good to--”

Batman reached out but Shrike was gone. Returned to his own timeline.


Majestros awoke with a start, and sitting in front of him was the Guardian, his helmet and shield resting on the floor next to him. Majestros looked down and saw that he was restrained by emerald constructs, grounding him with an immense weight, while a golden lasso was wrapped around his body.

“My name is James Harper. You can call me Jim,” said the Guardian. “I apologise for the circumstances, but you have to understand, Vandal Savage had plans for you, and your release was some sort of doomsday scenario for humanity.”

Behind the two-way glass behind the Guardian stood The Atom, Batman and Green Lantern. John Stewart aimed his ring through the glass, restraining Majestros, while Batman watched their visitor’s body language.

“My ring tells me his skull is a mess of barely-healed fractures,” said Green Lantern. “Looks like he’s been through a lot. Who knows how long he’s been down in that hole.”

“Hopefully we can find out soon enough,” said the Atom. “The powerset of this guy-- I wonder what kind of punch could do that kind of damage?”

“Quiet,” said Batman.

“I mean no ill will toward your species,” said Majestros. He looked confused. “I am being forced to tell the truth, is that correct? I can feel the tingle of sorcery from the ropes that bind me.”

“That is correct,” said Harper. “Let’s start by--”

Majestros stood, and then flexed, sending cracks through the energy constructs containing him. “I do not have time for this. If I have been imprisoned for any amount of time, then the Daemonites have had time to infiltrate your societies. Their presence on this world will bring about its end.” He shook off the fragments of emerald energy, and the Guardian stood. Majestros flexed again, but couldn’t break the grip of the lasso. “Interesting. Unbreakable?”

Before the Guardian could say another word, Majestros leaped through the ceiling, and vanished from sight, taking the lasso of truth with him. Batman, supporting John Stewart as blood ran down from his nose, arrived in the room, and looked at the Guardian. “That shouldn’t have been possible.”

“That construct should have held Superman,” said Green Lantern. “The feedback from his shrug. It’s like being punched in the brain. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

Batman looked at the Guardian, then at the hole in the ceiling. {Wonder Woman?}

{By the Gods, he’s fast,} said Wonder Woman, tracking his trajectory with the eyes of an expect hunter. {I won’t lose him. Leave it to me.} She shot out of the room through the already-repairing hole in the ceiling.

{I don’t think we can do that, Diana,} said Harper, {I’m calling in Superman. Hopefully he--}

{Thank you, Wonder Woman. Call us if you need assistance,} said Batman. He turned to the Guardian. “You need to learn to trust us, Harper. Like we’re trusting you.”

“The man’s a damn powerhouse,” said Harper. “Even Wonder Woman--”

“I trust her,” said Batman. “And so should you. We have work to do. We need to look into the HALO Corporation.”


“It’s… I think… it should be…” Majestros slipped the lasso off his body and allowed it to fall to the floor. He dropped to his knees on the wet sands and then slammed his fists ineffectually against the ground, sending seismic quakes out into the trees, disturbing the birds that flew up and away from the action.

After landing softly, Wonder Woman stood on the other side of the beach, and looked on, confused.

“Majestros, my name is Diana. Please, help me understand what’s happening here,” said Wonder Woman. She took a seat next to him, and turned to face the sea. “I’m only here to talk.”

“This is yours?” said Majestros, handing the lasso to her. “I can see the same vibrations that it holds upon your body. Inextricably linked.”

“You can see--?” said Diana. “No one has ever mentioned that before.”

“My vision, my senses, are more advanced than those of Homo sapiens. But you are not Homo sapiens, are you? Not human, even though you wear the trappings of humanity. You are a being of magic.” Majestros sighed. “This world… I don’t know it… it’s not mine… I remember… flashes of events. Snippets. But the truth… the entirety of it…” He waved his hand around in a small circle in front him. “…Absent.”

“You have been locked up for quite some time,” said Diana. “I cannot imagine how that must have felt for you.”

“I am the last of my kind,” said Majestros. “That much is clear to me. We left Khera for a safe haven… I believed this Earth was to be it. The Daemonites had swarmed across my home world and we left the planet, hoping to find somewhere to lick our wounds, repopulate and prepare for the next battle of the millennia-long blood war. I don’t know how I ended up in Savage’s pit, there are gaps…”

“We found fractures across your skull, your amnesia could have been caused by some severe trauma you have yet to heal fully from,” said Wonder Woman. “Why did you come here?”

“I thought… this place…” Majestros paused. “…I am alone.”

“You are not alone, Majestros,” said Diana. “There is a place in this world for you, if you seek it. You said it yourself, while wearing my lasso, that you mean us no harm. With your insight, your experience, perhaps there is a place for you with us on the Justice League?”

“I am a stranger to Earth, and you would invite me into your ranks?” said Majestros. “I know nothing of this place, I would not want to… inflict my sorrow upon you…”

“Let’s find out together then,” said Wonder Woman. She stood, and offered her hand. “No more prisons. No more pits. Let’s head back to Laputa, and talk as peers should.”

Majestros took Wonder Woman’s hand, and pulled himself up. “I think I would like that.”


“Bit his own tongue off to what end? To not talk?” said Shilo Norman, warden of the Slab. “Well, duh.”

The warden’s office was unlike any prison warden’s office that Blue Beetle and Hawkman had ever been inside. Ted fiddled with the knobs on the Turtle Boy II pinball machine, but refused to be pulled into the allure of playing it, while Katar watched the security feeds of all the cells as Shilo paced the floor.

“We don’t know,” said Hawkman. “The Martian Manhunter isn’t here to scan his mind, and if he refuses to cooperate, then we won’t discover his plans.”

Shilo nodded in acknowledgement. “What happened to the tongue? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“We preserved it, in case it could be reattached, but the cellular damage was immense. It pretty much turned to dust in storage,” said Ted. “I blame that on the fact he’s irradiated to the point of immortality by a meteorite.” He pulled the lever that would propel the ball into the vast array of bumpers and flippers, and knew what he would be doing when he got back home. “It can’t be healthy.”

“It might grow back,” said Katar. “This man is a survivor. He comes back from anything.”

“These people are capable of anything,” said Shilo. “Anyway. I put him in our ‘undying’ block. It’s an exclusive guest list.”

“Anyone we know?” said Blue Beetle, turning his attention away from the machine and back to more pressing matters.

“The guy you were here to see last time. Wonder Woman and the Flash, at least. Kenyan*. I’ve designed cells for Immortus, Ra’s Al Ghul. Anyone we expect to host in the future. And for these guys, the future is a long time.”


“You know where to find us if his condition changes,” said Katar.

“Yeah, if he grows his tongue back or something,” said Ted.

Deep down in the Slab, past the cells for the metahumans, for the monsters, past the block where normal criminals are kept, down a stairway, through a half dozen special doors, there is a collection of small rooms, and inside two of them, are two men. Vandal Savage, his face swollen and cut-- but already healing-- sits in one, while Kenyan, his thin black lips curled into a smile, stands in another.

Placing his hand against the wall that separated them, Kenyan smiled. “Hello, Vandal. It’s been a while.”

Vandal Savage said nothing, but began to smile. Everything was going to according to plan.


Tim Wayne emerged from the ramshackle time sphere in the Bat Cave, breathing heavily as chrono-energy drifted off his scorched costume.

Julia Pennyworth darted toward him, helping him to remove his battered costume. “Are you okay, kid?”

Pulling off his cowl, Tim nodded, and wiped his brow. “Yeah, thanks, Jules. I don’t know what good it did. The weapon still got out.”

“You stopped the Scarecrow,” said the man in the shadows, who rose from his chair and approached his young charge. “And thanks to that, his experimentation on those girls didn’t lead to the Fear Plague that struck Gotham City last year and killed thousands.”

“What?” said Tim. “I thought I was only going back to save the Justice League.”

Ten years later, and Bruce Wayne still had that wicked smile when a plan came together. “You did that. Now we just let the cards fall where they may.”

“And Majestros?” said Tim. “What about him?”

Bruce arched an eyebrow. “…Who?”

NEXT MONTH: The mysterious new member of the Justice League, Lord Majestros, meets the mysterious CEO of the HALO Corporation, Jack Marlowe! Stormwatch’s enigmatic Weatherman, Henry Bendix, reveals a secret that may destroy the Justice League! All this, plus the return of the greatest threat to the world’s greatest heroes, one you never saw coming! Because it’s a mystery!