Arsenal's voice came out loud and clear over Green Arrow's com-link. "The little shits are heading south, toward the Lost River Gorge. I would have thought they'd want to cross over at the bridge at Tubacs, but so far they're keeping a wide berth of the place."
"Keep shadowing them," Green Arrow replied. "We'll be with you soon." And then he cut the link.
"Good, we still know where they are," Batman said. "This should be a quick and easy job. But," and here Batman turned his full attention on Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Flash, "don't underestimate them."
"Don't worry, Bats," Flash smiled. "They can't escape from us. And I guarantee, we'll be back in a flash--" And with that the superspeedster became nothing more than a vanishing red blur as he streaked out of the Hall of Justice and ran toward the Portal Chamber. Wonder Woman and Green Arrow quickly followed suit, rushing back to the Arrowcar parked downstairs.
Then Batman turned toward Black Canary. "It's time for you to go to the Source. Remember, that's where the Authors are probably going. So be prepared." The black-stockinged superheroine nodded and left. "As for you two," Batman said to Green Lantern and Hawkman, "you're going to help me keep the other Supers around here completely in the dark about what's really going on. And we're going to have to keep a close eye on Luthor and the Villains as well."
Captain America scanned the data-screens at his monitor console. Two days ago there had been a huge mana spike, somewhere out at the northern end of the Penis Pines Forest. Superman and Wonder Woman were on patrol at the time and Cap had expected them to call in with a report. But he'd gotten nothing. And then, just a few hours ago, there had been a second spike. Not as large as the first, it had still been considerable. It too had taken place in the Forest, although a little more to the south. And then the mysteriously silent Wonder Woman suddenly reappeared, returning to Heroica in the company of Green Arrow. And then just as quickly she, the Flash, and the Green Arrow left Heroica and returned to the Centerlands. Officially, Wonder Woman was returning to her patrol duties, with Flash as her partner, while Green Arrow had gone out hunting for stray Orgone hoarders.
But what was really going on? Where was Superman? And why were the DC supers keeping it to themselves?
Well Cap wasn't going to wait to find out. He had already sent a team of his own to investigate. Spiderman, Storm and the Falcon. Spiderman and Storm were more than powerful enough to deal with whatever was out there, including the DC heroes, and Falcon would make sure that Cap got a complete play-by-play of everything that went down.
Behind the Captain, Quasar and Reed Richards were monitoring their own equipment. Quasar chuckled and said, "You know why they're keeping it hush-hush, don't you? They don't want us to find out about Supes. He must have got hit by those mana explosions. He's probably got bigger tits than Powergirl now."
Reed turned toward the cosmic champion and replied dryly, "I'm not concerned with Superman. I'm concerned with where those mana spikes came from. It was unlike anything we've ever seen before. If they're the precursor of some new kind of mana storm, we may have a new and powerful source of mana to exploit. Or we may just be seeing the beginning of the destruction of the entire Antipodes."
And then the Batman walked in. "I've got some news for you. And I'm sure you've been expecting me." Captain America looked at him and snorted, "Damn right. If Wonder Woman has something important to share, she should have made an official report, not go running to you."
Batman ignored Cap's ire and replied, "Superman was injured during his patrol. The nature of the injury is unimportant. Wonder Woman and Flash have been sent to assist him."
"Supe's got tits," Quasar snickered.
Batman frowned at him and Quasar's boyish grin vanished from his face. "The accident occured because of those mana spikes we monitored," Batman continued. "The team you sent out to investigate, you'd best inform them to proceed with all due caution. This may have been just a fluke, but we can't be too careful." And then, without another word, Batman left the room. And on his face was a smile. The Marvel boys had accepted his little story hook, line and sinker. Now they'd be busy exploring the Penis Pines Forest, looking for non-existent mana storms. They wouldn't have any reason for poking their noses around the Gorge, where the Authors were. And any suspicious behavior on the part of his DC team would be chalked up to embarrassment over Superman's supposed 'condition'.
Sat May 29 00:41:25 2004