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UNITED WE FALL
by Stu Hiatt
FIVE
"She did what?"
Kal-El was furious upon his return to the Watchtower. He and Diana found an unconscious Kara, exposed to a strategically placed piece of glowing green K. Diana safely removed the harmful substance, turning it over to a couple of techs, who placed it inside a lead container.
"Lois did this," Kara lied.
"She couldn't have," Clark said.
"She did. Not only that, she did something to J'onn. He's in sickbay."
Kara's 'personal guards' verified her story.
And she escaped...just like that?!" Kal-El snapped his fingers emphatically.
Kara weakly nodded. One glance from her put the other techs in their place. They knew all too well the prospects of being subjected to brainwashing.
"It's bad enough we had to fight off those magma monsters," Superman said. He'd been encased in quick-hardening lava spewed from the mouths of the creatures, much in the same way Godzilla exhaled atomic blasts in those Japanese kaiju films. Their strong point was in numbers; otherwise they'd been, well, pushovers. Especially after being 'drowned'.
Dangerous pushovers, he corrected himself.
"What exactly did she do to J'onn?" Diana asked.
"I'm not sure," Kara whimpered. "All I remember is after you guys returned to the surface, J'onn had some kind of seizure. I had him moved to sickbay, then after seeing if he was gonna be okay, I felt weak. Lois had that piece of kryptonite with her. She must have had one of the techs send her down to the surface. Clark, she's dangerous." Kara slid her arm around his waist.
"I have a good idea who she got it from," Clark said. "Diana, contact the Metropolis Detainment Center and see if they have anything to report. Tell them to detain her until I arrive."
"Where are you going?" Kara asked.
"Where do you think?" Kal-El replied angrily.
***********************************************************************
Ok, Lois thought. No sign of Superman. No sign of the MDC Police. This is too good to be true.
The alley she'd materialised in didn't look too promising.
"Hey, Jerry," someone said. "Lookit what we 'ave 'ere."
"It is her. Superman's sweetie. Come give us a kiss.. OWW!"
Lois' strategically placed knee brought Jerry down.
"You got sumthin' against mere mortals?" Jerry's pal asked, grabbing Lois by the wrist.
"Yeah," Jerry joined in. " Earthmen ain't good enough for ya?" As Jerry raised his hand in anticipation of slapping Lois, an arrow pierced his hand.
Jerry winced in pain as he pulled the arrow out.
"Let her go!" said the leather clad female in the shadows.
"It's Batwoman!" Jerry's pal said. Both he and Jerry began running. If the Justice Lords, especially Superman, ever heard about this...
'Batwoman' stepped out into the light.
"Helena Bertinelli," Lois said.
"You know me?" Helena said.
"Not exactly," Lois said. "The Justice Lords have a file on you and your friends back up inside their little clubhouse. I had the...privilege of having to look at it."
"I see," Helena said. "We can talk about that later. Right now, you'd better come with me if you wanna stay free."
"Do I have any choice?"
"Well, you can stay here, those guys come back with a few of their buddies, and the party really gets started," Helena said.
***********************************************************************
"I wanna know one thing," Superman said to the restrained figure. "Who brought that kryptonite aboard?"
The MDC hadn't any information at the moment. They were on the lookout.
"Don't be ridiculous," Bruce Wayne said. "You know as well as I do that the Tower's been made K-proof. If someone had brought it aboard, you would know. As far as the techs, that is."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Superman said.
"Think, Clark. Kryptonite causes cancer in humans. It can practically kill you. That leaves three suspects, and as much as you'd like to blame me, you know that I'm not responsible."
"What about your friends at Cadmus? You know we've had them under surveillance now for quite some time. "
"Then why don't you go arrest them?" Bruce said defiantly.
"Oh, I've got a better plan in mind." Superman said.
"Exile them to the Phantom Zone. Sure. Get rid of all opposition at the flick of a switch. Only you haven't done it."
"Yet," Superman said. "We're waiting for them to make their move."
"Well, someone else has made theirs," Bruce said. "And it's nothing to do with Cadmus. You've got family issues, old chum, and you'd better get your house in order."
"I can keep 'the family' under control, thank you," Superman said. He turned to exit Bruce's cell.
You're completely missing the point, Clark.
"Clark," Bruce said.
"?"
"It seems Luthor managed to acheive what he wanted after all."
Superman looked back.
"Which would be?" he asked, somewhat irritated.
"Your death. On the inside."
Touch`e.
***********************************************************************
"How are you feeling?" Diana asked. She and Kara were by J'onn's bedside.
"Still weak," J'onn said. "There has been a presence. No, presences. I can sense others like me, only that's impossible. I am the last Martian."
"Could his counterpart have crossed over?" Kara asked. "Like that 'Doomsday' monster."
"Doomsday?" Diana said.
"Well, that's good a name as any. He crossed over when we used the Phantomiser. Maybe
Alt-J'onn did, too."
"Whatever it, or they, are, is causing slow deterioration," J'onn said. "The effects are physically killing me." J'onn drifted off to sleep.
"We'll find a way to stop it," Diana said, placing a supportive hand on J'onn's shoulder. "This ends now. We're not losing anymore friends."
Wally, John, Shayera...even Bruce. Not you too, J'onn.
"Kara, see what you can find out about Cadmus. Go through whatever files are necessary."
"Starting with cloning experiments," Kara said distastefully.
"Cloning experiments?" Diana echoed.
"Professor Hamilton cloned me; he had to have cloned J'onn," Kara said. "I'll look into this; but in case I'm wrong, maybe you should remind Clark about the Phantomiser's 'side-effects'."
"Agreed," Diana said.
***********************************************************************
"Let me get this straight," Lois said. "You want me to get you access aboard the Watchtower."
The underground base took getting used to.
"We need you to create a diversion," Barbara Gordon said. "It's obvious we can't bring kryptonite aboard."
"I just escaped from that prison," Lois said. "Surely you don't expect me to.."
"Go back?" Helena said. "If Superman finds you, that's exactly what you'll do."
"Then why did Supergirl help me to escape?" Lois asked. "Not that I trust her. Far from it."
"She didn't do it out of the kindness of her heart."
Power Woman.
"It's incredible," Lois began.
"Yeah, I know, 'you look like her, only more mature, yadda yadda yadda'. Believe me, it gets old real quick," Galatea said.
"How are Downpour and Shifter?" Helena asked.
"They're resting," PW replied. "I'm worried, Helena. The doctors examined them. One of them said that these sudden telepathic surges is causing genetic instability. They're gonna die."
Galatea cried.
"We'll find a way to save them," Barbara said.
"How?" Lois said.
"Their DNA donor is aboard the Watchtower. Our contact's informed us of the Martian experiencing blackouts. These coincided with theirs." Turning to Lois, Barbara said "Now do you see the importance of going back?"
"Sign me up." Lois said.
"Your diversion will be one of several," Barbara said. She wheeled herself around to one of the many computer terminals. They were basically a scaled-down version of the ones in the former Batcave. "Galatea will create the first. She'll attempt to draw Superman and Supergirl out into the open. With them gone, you'll have to create a diversion to draw Wonder Woman's attention away from the transporter. That'll give our operative time enough to bring Helena aboard."
"So she can see if the Martian can help your friends?" Lois said
"That, and the rescue of Bruce Wayne."
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