章 6: Interlude

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Interlude: Return of the Calamity

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[The Hall of Justice, Justice League headquarters]

The Justice League was renowned for being the shining beacon of hope for the world, its members capable of feats that would astonish any ordinary man.

Coupled with their reputation and their extraordinary ability to defeat any danger they face, it is not surprising that some actually believe they are blessed by God, or the gods for that matter.

But the League had not gathered in force tonight, with its greatest members present, from Wonder Woman and Superman to Martian Manhunter and the Flash, to face an impending apocalypse or a galactic conqueror bent on taking Earth as his new game.

No, today the League faced a new and entirely unique problem, a novelty in its own right that brought a new problem...

For, in the foreground on a holographic screen, there was not an incoming alien armada or an eldritch horror that had crawled out of someone's nightmares or something, but a picture of a boy destroying a young superhero team with overwhelming force, the video in question having been recorded by a lucky camera that had survived the battle.

No one spoke, not Big Blue, not the Amazon, not the man from Mars, all content to wait for the Dark Knight to break away from his silent rest at the head of the table where he looked intently at the laptop in front of him.

All except the Crimson Speedster...

"So this is the guy who made us work so hard last week?" The fastest man alive reclined in his seat, legs kicked up on the table, and brazenly ignored Wonder Woman's reproachful look.

"Yes, that's him." Batman replied in a monotone tone.

"So he's the one who gave our 'emergency' team a good kick in the ass?"

His cheek twitched in annoyance, "If you were silent for a moment, you would have your answer."

Flash raised his hands in mock surrender. After an appropriate amount of time filled with the sound of the Dark Knight lashing out at his computer.

"Ahem, I just see an overgrown teenager here," The Flash raised a finger in question. "Can I please know what he did, because I seem to be the only one who doesn't."

"He almost killed Wonder Girl and Crush and they're still recovering from being hurt too badly," Batman replied "cheerfully."

The announcement elicited many head shakes and murmurs of disapproval from the members present. Flash remained undaunted, "The near-murder is very serious, of course the child must soon be turned over to the Justice League, but..."

"Along with two hundred and seventy other people," Batman added, interrupting his friend before he could finish speaking.

Flash slowly returned to his chair, but between the golden lightning bolts on his mask and the bright red he wore, he did a poor job of making himself invisible to the many eyes staring at him, "Oh..."

"So," Superman finally spoke, his voice demanding the attention of the room. "He's a serial killer."

"No, not exactly." To everyone's surprise, it was Batman who replied . "They were unintentional victims sprung from his struggle," he said.

"It doesn't matter! What matters is that they were people and that they were killed." Diana's frown clarified her opinion of the Dark Knight's thinking.

Wonder Woman, the heroine of Themyscira was her iconic attire, a tight-fitting red and blue dress with a prominent golden W in the center. At her side hung a rope that emitted a low golden hum, the Lasso of Truth.

"We understand, Batman, please continue. There will be no more interruptions." The Martian hunter said firmly.

"Thank you, J'onn." He pressed a button and the screen flickered to a projection of a research center. "On November 16, in a research-center cadmus that was in disguise and was destroyed, there had been a breach, along with several reports of explosions with many of its associates who found dead a few days later "

The screen changed several times, showing the ruined remains of the research center and also many safe houses and nearby stores that had gone up in flames and completely destroyed.

"This was done with all the most important members of the League engaged in several very important missions and could not participate in the mission. And so an "emergency" team was created with members free to be able to move around... During the mission a distress signal was received and as a result Power Girl, who was in the vicinity, was sent to support them...."

He paused, giving the signal for the others to speak. Superman asked the question everyone wanted to ask. "This happened almost two weeks ago, why is he not still in our custody?"

"Why, he has displayed metahuman abilities that would make his capture almost impossible under present circumstances, including but not limited to, powers similar to energy manipulation, combined with super strength and durability."

Once again Batman pressed a button and the screen flickered to a new projection showing a video of the battle in question:

"And where is it now?" he asked.

The Dark Knight simply replied, "We don't know..."

As he was with many things, whether it was confronting the Joker, or acknowledging his failures as a caregiver, Batman remained impassive to the varying level of angry outbursts and an exclamation from every person in the room.

"You're letting him walk around free?" Aqua-Man asked incredulously.

"Yes, because we found out that during the battle in question with the he a third party is a joined that helped him, to be exact from two girls, Ravager and Omen."

"Ravager?" Green Arrow asked. "Wait, if I'm not mistaken one is Slade's daughter and the other one is her protégé, right? Those two girls who were giving Nightwing's team trouble?"

"Yes, that's right. Two young mercenaries who were trained by Slade."

"After this confrontation the boy destroyed a whole part of the city with his bare hands, and then disappeared with them. Do you think it's responsible not to look for him at this time?"

"I do."

"Batman, with all due respect, this is a big error in judgment on your part." While Martian Manhunter might have spoken softly, the set of his jaw made his anger clear.

After all, his niece was on that same team and could have come face to face with this dangerous criminal. Fortunately, that did not happen. But next time -- the Martian was not sure.

"It still doesn't answer the question of why you need Diana," Superman said as he continued to watch the video that had stopped on the image of the boy in question, and as he looked at his red eyes, a feeling of familiarity overcame him for some reason.

"Why, with all this information taken together, I suspect he is not quite human." replied Batman after a moment of silence.

Flash, a man of science and principal, who unlike his peers obtained his powers through the experiment, was the first and loudest to object *Woah* "The boy has some funky powers, but we've seen crazier things than meta-humans, no need to bring the gods into this. Um, no offense, Diana."

"None taken," she replied coldly. "But Batman is right, he's not human, or at least not entirely."

"Some other alien race, perhaps?" Superman hedged. "Maybe some other race that benefits from the yellow light of the sun?"

"I've been checking the last fifteen years for any reports of UFOs crash-landing on wold carrying newborn babies. They didn't make it."

"You're suggesting it has divine blood." Aqua-man rumbled, arms crossed in thought.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a DNA sample from the subject, the only one we believe has some connection to the Greek Pantheon from the strength he showed."

"Isn't there a guy named Maxie Zeus running around Gotham? Calling himself, well, Zeus? Why didn't we have him running around hitting people with lightning? If I remember my myths right, nine chances out of ten that he would be the father of the baby."

She screamed when Diana's hand crashed on the stone table.... "That mortal is not Zeus." Wonder Woman replied through clenched teeth, her eyes fluttering across the room, daring anyone to argue.

No one did....

"Okay, all right, message received. Let's say this child is the son of one of the Greek gods, which one do you think it is?"

"We can rule out any female from the bat," Batman began, impassive to the eyes of Hawkwoman and Black Canary staring back at him. "None of their domains align with his powers."

"We can also rule out Dionysus and Hades unless he can raise people from the dead or produce wine from nothing."

"He can't," Batman confirmed. "No earthquakes or water manipulation, so no Poseidon."

"I should hope so." The king of Atlantis muttered. Even for as long as he reigned, an offspring of the Sea God would pose a great danger to the stability of his lands.

Flash paused as he crossed another name off his list.

"So that leaves only a few likely suspects. Zeus, Apollo and Hermes. Diana, you're our Greek expert, what do you think?"

The Amazon hummed to herself in thought. "He didn't show flight or time manipulation, but strength is a hallmark of the sons of Zeus. But teleportation, no, it could only be Hermes."

"The Messenger God? He has never really struck me as one whose children love to keep killing." Superman said.

"He's a demigod, everyone likes to do that," Flash replied.

"Touche."

"Yet... Something is wrong. Strength, durability, almost waterproof, Hermes has never shown anything unique in those areas."

"Maybe he got them from his mother? We don't even know who she is, right? Gosh this guy is just a giant question mark."

What filled the silence afterward was what no one would have expected. As if summoned by the invocation, a faceless man emerged from the shadows like a ghost.

"What if he's not an Olympian?" Question said.

Flash gasped noisily and fidgeted in his chair as the uninvited guest materialized next to him. "... You almost gave me a heart attack. Who let you in here?"

"The door was open." Question blandly answered.

"No, it wasn't."

"Agree to disagree. Now, as I was saying, what if the father is not an Olympian?"

"He can't be any of the lesser gods, his abilities are too powerful," Wonder Woman replied with rare irritation.

"Maybe..." said the question, before continuing with her thought " You know what I mean, Superman, what if it's something else? Younger... What could be younger, but at the same time more powerful than the ancient gods? That was the question we now have to answer."

"..."

"Clark!" called Diana aloud, seeing that he companion had a confused look and away from the conversation.

Hearing his name called, Superman was roused from his thoughts and could see all the members of the Justice League looking at him with obvious concern.

Superman quickly shook his head with a hard look. "Stop this nonsense at once, or I will have you out of here immediately."

"Why do you care, question?" asked Aquaman.

"The question needs an answer, I don't care how, just that it's there."

"Sure, that makes sense." The Sea Lord turned with a wry smile on his face.

"You are treading on dangerous ground, question," warned Superman with obvious

"Sometimes you have to go to the places we don't like to get the answers we're looking for."

"What are you talking about, Clark? What's bothering you so much?" Diana asked with clear concern.

"Yes, Superman, why are you so much more nervous than usual, and it's because you in particular have discovered something from this video that was shown to us, isn't it?"

Superman remained fierce in his defiance, his jaw clenched in anger and something-other, some fear. "What you are implying is madness. Complete and utter madness..."

It was only after a few breaths, which with great reluctance that the Man of Steel began to talk about his theory or so he hoped...

"If you remember we have already faced a being who defeated each of us with overwhelming power.... And he was not a god..." said Superman with obvious difficulty remembering that fateful day.

"Doomsday" The air inside the room grew cold as the Dark Knight pronounced the name of their worst calamity ever faced, surpassing perhaps even the ruler of the Darkseid universe in his opinion.

"Impossible to forget even after all these years," Batman added. "He was a real disaster, who could not be killed.... That's why we decided to send him to the Phantom Zone, so that he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"There, that's the end of it. See, Question?"

"Wait. There's more. Isn't there?"

"Yes, yes, Doomsday," Superman paused, "Come to think of it, during that fight he had lost a lot of blood.... And when I saw the video of the boy... Even the way he fought are similar.... Annihilating the opponent with any method at hand."

"Wait a minute, are you seriously telling me that boy has the powers of that monster, but how?"

"Batman, were you ever near the boys after they woke up to see their physical condition, did they say anything? Not at all? You have to be specific!" Clark pressed for an answer.

"Clark, please calm down-" Diana tried to get her league partner to calm down with little result.

"He looked like... In their exact words, a monster who no matter how hard you hit and tried in some way to hurt him, it only made him stronger.... " Batman finally replied hesitantly.

Superman slumped in his chair, muttering something under his breath. The League exchanged glances between them with clear concern. "Oh, this is bad. This is very bad..."

Diana rushed to his side. "What is it, Clark? What are you thinking about?"

"I'm afraid that boy is not a god at all, or anything like that but a clone created from Doomsday's DNA.... And if my suspicions are correct, which I pray not to be, we are all in much greater danger than we originally thought..."

Amid the commotion inside the room, no one noticed that the Question had long since disappeared as a new storm was approaching over their world.

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