Chapter XXII: The Set Up

Superman and Darkseid continued to clash on Apokolips. "You are not the same person I've battled with over the years, you're darker... uninhibited... the death of your wife has changed you"-He hit him with a strong right. "NO! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER!!

He smiled, "Now this Superman I recognize. Emotional, weak, and easily manipulated. And somehow convinced that he is still a hero."

"I fight for the home that I've sworn to protect. I won't let anything get in the way of that."

"No matter how many die at your hands? We are more alike than I thought. Kindred Spirits, perhaps."

A servant of Darkseid crawled towards them, "The core is about to rupture, you must stop!"

Darkseid snarled, "You dare command Darkseid?!"

He obliterated him, and Superman heat blasted him while he looked away, "We're nothing alike! But I have changed. And if you want to know how far I am willing to go to keep you from ever interfering with Earth, ask your son Kalibak!"

Orion tackled Superman, "No more, Kal-El. No more!"

Superman threw him off, "This is not your fight, Orion. Let go!"

"Do not interfere. Or when I am finished with him, I will visit my wrath upon you!"

"No, you won't, Darkseid. I have a message from The Source.... if you continue this fight, you and billions of others will be destroyed."

"And the Kryptonian?"

"The Source was not clear."

Superman's eyes flashed red, "Then let me make this clear, Darkseid. Stay away from Earth."

In the Batcave Batgirl asked, "Now What?"

Catwoman said, "Honestly, I don't know."

Batwoman said, "I'm all for fighting the good fight, but this is above our pay grade. No offense.

"We can't sit on our hands and do nothing."

"Sure we can. I appreciate your optimism, Barb, but Batman is gone. Superman is gone. The Justice League is M.I.A., Itachi came back, but he took the Titans and Manhunter with him and is doing his own thing now. This isn't our fight.... maybe it never was."

"Of course it was. Miss Kyle," Alfred walked out of the shadows, "The Insurgency has survived for almost four years. On the strength of you all. Defying the Regime's awr inspiring powers against incalculable odds... you have been remarkable in your resolve. It would be a shame to abandon that now. And as fat as Bruce... he will return and the lot of you will set things right."

"How do you know?"

"I don't. I believe it."

Back to Itachi and Co. "A big fight is about to break out between the heroes and the Gods, while they're distracted we're going to set the rest of the plan in place. First, Starfire, I want you to get Zatanna to help us, when she agrees I want to speak to her personally. Then Wonder Girl and Superboy, the three of us will get information on every single Super villain currently living, seperate the worst of the villains from the ones likely to change. Tim, I have schematics of the prison already. I want you and Aquaman to come up with a plan on how to break in and have a safe extraction out. And Manhunter, I need you to retrieve the Green Lantern rings from the Hall Of Justice, and I also need you to put this drive in the Main Terminal so that Tim will gain access to the cameras. I will get Plastic Man to join us. His son was recently sent there so that should be good enough leverage to have him join."

They all nodded and Tim asked, "So you never told me. What is the purpose of this plan anyways?"

Itachi stared at him for a moment, 'I have their interest. Although I might not have the loyalty of all of them just yet. After just a bit more time. They'll go along with it.' "This plan will result in many things. One of the goals is to save the surviving Green Lanterns, and in there we'll find something that will help Superman become normal again. I'll tell you the rest of the details once everything is in place."

The first step was for Starfire to find Zatanna, which was not difficult. She was in Batman's current hideout in the Salt mines that Starfire learned about through other Resistance members. She walked through the doors of the bland gray metal structure and the only thing that matched the gloom of the place was Zatanna herself who was sitting at a table looking down. "Zatanna."

Zatanna looked up with raised brows, "Starfire? I had no idea you were still around."

"Itachi rescued me from the Phantom Zone along with Red Robin, Superboy, and Wonder Girl.... how come you aren't out there joining the fight?"

Zatanna gave a weak smile, "I feel like this war is over already. We've lost at every turn, and we keep losing manpower.... I want to keep on fighting, but..."

Starfire put a hand on her shoulder, "Zatanna, have faith, Itachi has found a way to take down Superman and even bring him back to our side."

She looked up at her, "You think that he'll succeed where Batman has failed for nearly 4 years?"

She nodded, "Itachi has more experience in war than any of us. There are some things I disagree with, but in this world after seeing what he can do.... I believe in him."

Zatanna put her top hat back on and smiled, "Alright I'll help. What did he need from me?"

"I'm not sure, he wanted to speak to you personally."

The Atlantis Archives computer shared information with the Watchtower, so they got all their info on villians from there. Superboy stated, "Killer Croc, he seems more misunderstood than anything else. His skin condition has made him crazed many times before, but he has helped homeless people and.... anti alcohol sponsorships before?"

They both shared a laugh at that, the idea of a big scary crocodile man preaching prohibition was so random it was humorous. Wonder Girl said, "Alright. Well Grundy, he's already dead, nothing to say there. Bane, well Bane got over his Venom addiction for a while and turned a new leaf, but he was dragged back into it."

"Mad Hatter, he suffers from insanity as a result of being a really big fan of Alice In Wonderland pretty much. And he's hypnotized people to make them do horrible things..... he probably isn't on the list of guys who can change."

"Riddler, he has killed.... his own daughter. Along with holding up all of Gotham before. His goal seems to be that he wants to get caught and he's only interested in playing a game of wits with Batman to feed his ego. He sounds too far up his own ass to change. Next is Zsasz.... nothing needs to be said there."

"Two Face, he's done good in the past even after becoming Two Face. It seems like he gained a split personality after half his face burned off. Maybe surgery would reduce or fix that."

In the War room of Atlantis both Tim and Aquaman stood together. Tim pointed at the map of the place, "Alright, so for Plastic Man he has four points of entry he can go in through and when it comes to the rest of us. Only Manhunter, Itachi, and Plastic Man will be going inside. Once Plastic Man's son is safe he can distribute the rings."

Aquaman nodded with a hand on his chin, "Alright, what about the Warden though? He'll notice if anything goes wrong, and he has to check back in constantly. Manhunter should take his place and let Itachi in through the airlock since he can't slip in like Manhunter and Plastic Man. And we'll also need a plan for extraction. I will have us wait inside the Whales to extract the Lanterns and the team."

"Alright it's a plan then..... Hey Aquaman. Itachi's plan.... you know"-"I know. Separating the worst villains from redeemable ones, it's obvious what he plans on doing."

Tim's brow tensed, "And you're fine with that?"

His expression remained bland, "Yes."

Tim put both of his hands on his head and sat down, "I feel like I'm betraying Batman just by helping Itachi... but Batman's allies have been dying for four years. Soon enough he might be next, I don't want that to happen."

Aquaman patted his back, "You're a smart boy, Bruce even thinks you're smarter than him. Think of it as saving him rather than betraying him."

Tim nodded weakly, "Alright."

At The Hall Of Justice Manhunter disgusted himself as a Super Soldier and made his way to the main terminal. It was very easy since all the heroes were gone at the moment. He found the terminal and stuck the hard drive in there for a minute until he heard a beep and pulled it out. 

He also found the rack with all of the rings in it and took them. On his way out he saw a picture frame of the Justice League when Plastic Man joined. It was a spin off of one of those post hunt pictures where everyone lines up and holds the long serpent of fish they caught, with Plastic Man being the fish. "Those were happier times, Hal was still green, Canary and Green Arrow were alive, Superman was still pure.... I'll never forget those times."

At the battlefield the fight was about to conclude between the Gods and Heroes after the failed nukes and Highfather coming to face Zeus. "You've muddled in the affairs of man for long enough, Zeus... I cannot permit you to continue this folly."

"You dare talk to me about permission?! I am the All-Father of Olympus, I DO NOT SEEK PERMISSION!" His eyes glowed blue and lighting started arcing around him, "I will lay waste to this entire Island if I choose!"

Superman got ready, "Not while I'm here to stop you."

Highfather froze time, "Let's discuss this without intrusion. You have been drawn into this war against Superman through the manipulations of Hera, Ares, and the malevolent Darkseid. Exploiting your vanity, they coaxed you into disregarding your long standing tradition of ignoring the antics of the mortals, so that you could further their true agendas... to destroy Superman, Hippolyta, and you."

"I know all of this, and fear none of it."

"Yet you let this happen."

"It was intolerance, not vanity, that brought us here. I have not the patience for false God's and Mankind's apathy towards the might of Olympus. Provoked or not, this is where I stand."

"Your dominion over Man ended long ago, when you turned your back on the Old Gods and chose the survival of Olympus."

"I answer to none. Old God or New."

"I answer to The Source of all things, and that is why I am here. It has told me that your time on Earth is at its end."

"The Source.... and what if I refuse?"

"Then we fight. And the best you can hope for is that we will destroy each other, but that is precisely what Ares and Darkseid want, is it not? So the only question you need to answer is... how much longer do you wish to play their fool?"

"Fine," time unfroze, "Let us go, Wife. I have forsaken this place forever. The Gods of Olympus are never to return."

"Why?"

"SILENCE! You have tried my patience enough."

Highfather said, "Not yet. There is something that must be undone. This child's gifts were not yours to take."

Billy Batson was thrown in front of Zeus by Orion. "Agreed. Say the word, boy."

"Shazam?" 

An arc of lightning shot down and he transformed into Shazam. Superman faced the Highfather, "It was Batman. He sent you, didn't he?"

"We talked."

"Where is he?"

Highfather started teleporting himself and the three Resistance members away, "There has been enough fighting, Kal-El. Do not press this further."

A few seconds later he flew into space and grabbed Ares and took him all the way to Apokolips. "He's all yours, Darkseid. But I have one condition. You, Ares, and your underlings never step foot on Earth again. If I ever see Ares again. The responsibility will fall on you."

"You expect me to take custody of this immortal fool? What use is a fallen God of War to the great Darkseid?"

"You'll think of something, but be warned. He can't be killed."

"Excellent, his suffering will be all the sweeter. Leave me to torture war."

The leaders of the world sat around an oval wooden table and were all in panic mode, "That's what we wanted, even if the goal was accomplished a different way."

"A different way?! Forgive me for asking, Prime Minister, but are you an imbecile? Superman was very clear with his demand for total disarmament. Do you know what that means?!"

The President spoke up, "Yes. He's back, he knows that we lied to him. And we will have to answer for it."

Superman destroyed the wall, "I don't need your excuses, Mister President. I know why you did what you did. And although I don't condone it, I understand it. You made the best choices you could under the circumstances. That said, I have rounded up the remaining Nuclear weapons and dealt with the culprits who harbored them," his eyes glowed red, "Your council is hereby disbanded. All authority will be formally ceded to me. If I even perceive threatening behavior from ANY of you, you will regret it."