Chapter 10
Superman soared through the sky as rapidly as he possibly could to retrieve the antidote to the Scarecrow’s fear gas. In no time, he’d made his way back to Gotham, and now, he was nearing Wayne Manor. Once overhead Wayne Manor, Superman wasted no time at all. He flew straight into the ground and created a hole in order to get to the Batcave. True, he could have gone in the long way, but Superman was in a hurry. His fellow superheroes needed him. Besides, with all of Bruce Wayne’s money, Superman was sure he could afford to have the hole covered.
Once he was inside the Batcave, Superman began to look for the antidote. In one corner of the room, there was a wall clearly labeled “antidotes.” Superman ran over to it and began to look at the various vials on the shelf of that wall.
“I sure am glad that Bruce is organized,” Superman said to himself.
Finally, he saw a vial marked “fear gas.” He picked it up, looked at it for a second, and then flew out of the Batcave.
Thanks to Superman’s super speed, it didn’t take him very long to get back to Paradise Island. The superheroes were still on the beach where he’d left them, and they were still in a state of panic and terror.
Once he landed on the beach, before even using the antidote on his friend’s, Superman looked around, using his x-ray vision to see if any of the supervillains were still there. He felt that this was a necessary precaution because he didn’t want them sneaking up on him while his back was turned. Based on what he could see, they seemed to be all gone. Even the jet that they’d used to get to Paradise Island was missing. This troubled Superman greatly because that meant that they’d gotten what they’d come for.
Since there was no reason to waste any more time, Superman then used the antidote on each of his friends. Within about ten minutes, the hallucinations had stopped. However, the four heroes still appeared to be a little groggy.
“Careful, now,” said Superman. “You’ve all inhaled the Scarecrow’s fear gas.”
“I can’t believe they outsmarted us again!” yelled Flash. “I’m starting to get very sick of these guys.”
“Where are they?” asked Green Lantern. “Just let me get my hands on them, and they’ll regret this!”
“They’re gone,” said Superman.
“And what about my mother?” asked Wonder Woman. “Did they take her with them?”
“I don’t know,” replied Superman. “If you’d like, I can fly you to your mother’s palace to check on her.”
“Yes,” said Wonder Woman. “I’d appreciate that very much.”
“Take me with you as well!” Drusilla requested.
“All right, then,” said Superman. He lifted Wonder Woman and Drusilla into his arms and then took off with them.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” Batman asked, turning to Flash and Green Lantern.
Neither of them was able to answer.
“That means that the three of us have a hike ahead of us if we’re to get to the palace,” added Batman.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” replied Green Lantern.
He then held out his fist. A great green glow came from his ring, and a helicopter appeared from this green glow.
“Care to step inside, gentlemen?” asked Green Lantern.
“No thanks,” replied Flash. “I’ll just run.”
He then disappeared from sight. Batman, however, chose to step inside the helicopter, and he and Green Lantern then took off for the palace themselves.
When they arrived, they found that Queen Hippolyta was still there, unharmed by her captives. After they’d received the Feminum that they’d come for, the supervillains had left immediately. From what Queen Hippolyta had been able to determine afterwards, none of her people had been seriously injured. However, the entire city was in ruins thanks to the work of the supervillains.
“It’ll take years to repair the damage that those fiends have done,” complained Queen Hippolyta.
“Don’t worry,” said Superman. “With our super speed, it’ll only take Flash and I a few minutes to repair your city.”
“Yeah right, slowpoke,” Flash said, a smile appearing across his face. “More like a few seconds.”
With that, Superman and Flash began running around the city and repairing the damaged buildings. Superman covered the east half of the city, and Flash covered the west half of the city. Soon, the city looked as perfect as it ever had. After they finished up, the two of them appeared back in front of the restored palace.
Batman looked at his watch and said, “Three minutes and twenty seconds.”
“Told you,” a grinning Superman said as he turned to Flash.
“Hey, I took my time!” replied Flash.
“Well, we’ve managed to undo the wrongs that were committed here, but now that our enemies have Feminum, what do we do?” asked Superman.
“There’s not much we can do, other than to wait for their next move,” replied Wonder Woman.
“There is one thing we can do,” said Batman. “We can recruit the Martian Manhunter.”
“And how do you propose we go about doing that?” asked Flash.
“Simple,” said Batman. “We ask Lois Lane to lead us to him.”
*****
Back in Gotham, Lois was in her hotel room trying to get a hold of Clark on the phone when Superman showed up at her window. When she saw him, Lois hung up the phone and ran over to the window.
“Superman!” she said. “I guess that Clark managed to get in touch with you. I’m glad. Were you able to save Wonder Woman’s home?”
“Sort of,” replied Superman. He stepped inside the room. “Nobody was hurt, but the people responsible for the attack got away.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lois replied.
“Even with myself, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern working together, I’m not sure we’ll be able to beat our opponents,” said Superman. “That’s why I’m here.”
“What can I do that five superheroes can’t do?” asked Lois.
“We’ve read your story about that new superhero. The one you named Martian Manhunter,” said Superman. “You knew a lot about him. You even outed his secret identity to the world.”
His tone of voice told Lois that Superman was a little disappointed in her. In fact, she wasn’t entirely unsure that he wasn’t angry with her.
“I did,” Lois replied, feeling a little ashamed about what she’d done for the first time.
“Can you tell us where to find him?” asked Superman.
“I can,” she replied.
As Lois put on a jacket, Superman asked, ”Lois? If it had been my secret identity instead of the Martian’s, would you have done the same thing?”
“That’s a different issue entirely,” she replied. “For one thing, you don’t even have a secret identity.”
“But if I did?” asked Superman.
“I don’t think I would have written about it,” she replied.
“Then, why did you do it to the Martian?” he asked.
“It was big news,” said Lois. “I admit that it may have been wrong. Maybe I made a mistake. I couldn’t just sit on something that big, though.”
“I guess I understand,” Superman replied. “I don’t completely approve, but I understand.”
“Then, you aren’t mad at me?” asked Lois.
Superman shook his head. “No, I’m not mad at you.” Then, he picked her up and said, “All right. Lead the way,” as he flew off with her.
*****
Soon after, Lois and Superman arrived at the Out of This World cookie shop that Lois and Vicki had visited before. To their surprise, the outside of the shop was crowded by photographers trying to get their own shot of the Martian. However, there was a sign in the window that said “closed,” and the Martian was nowhere in sight.
Superman sat Lois on the ground and said, “See, this is what can happen when you out the secret identity of a visitor from another planet. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
Lois frowned in response to Superman’s scolding before adding, “I have.”
Superman then x-rayed the shop to see if he could spot the Martian hiding inside. Sure enough, he was in there. Once Superman had spotted the Martian, he walked over to the window and called for him.
“Sir, I know you’re in there, and I can understand why you wouldn’t want to talk to anybody, but I’m not like the rest of the people swarming your property,” said Superman. “I’m not here to get your picture, or to ask you questions about where you’re from. I’m here, as alien to fellow alien, as superhero to fellow superhero. Please, let me inside so that I can talk to you face to face.”
For a moment, Superman just stood there in silence as the Martian debated whether or not to let him inside. He was starting to doubt that the Martian would open the door for him when the door finally swung open. He certainly had plenty of reason not to want to talk to anybody, but the Martian couldn’t resist hearing out Superman’s plea.
Unfortunately, the large group of people standing outside of the shop began pushing and shoving their way toward the door as soon as it opened, and before Superman had even had his chance to get inside, the cookie shop was loaded with people.
However, the Martian had outsmarted everybody. Once the entire crowd, everybody besides Superman and Lois, had made their way inside, the door shut closed seemingly by itself. Then, a large dumpster appeared in front of the door, and the windows became boarded up in seconds. Once the occupants within the shop were trapped, the invisible Martian became visible.
“I have to say, I’m impressed,” Superman said as he smiled in awe. “And, considering all of my powers, that’s saying something.”
“You have to think fast when there is a mob at your doorstep,” replied the Martian.
“About that,” Lois interrupted. “I’m really sorry for all of this. I wasn’t thinking. All I cared about was a big story. If I’d known all of this would happen to you, I wouldn’t have printed your secret identity.”
“It is fine,” said the Martian. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the people of this world since I came to this planet, it’s that many of them mean well, but they do not always think about the consequences of their actions. Let this be a lesson to you, Miss Lane, to always think before you act.”
“I’ll try to remember that in the future,” answered Lois.
Then, the Martian turned to Superman and asked, “So, what is it that you want of me?”
“A great number of the most powerful villains known to this planet have escaped from prison. Two men with ice-based weapons, a man with a gas that causes hallucinations of your worst fears, a man with enormous strength, a woman with the ability to grow to a gigantic size, and a man with a ring that can do practically anything,” Superman explained. “A group of earth’s heroes, including me, have banded together to stop them. However, we’ll need all of the help we can get.”
“I understand,” replied the Martian. “I will help you and your allies. Take me to your base of operations so that we may prepare for battle.”
*****
After dropping Lois off at her hotel room, Superman and the Martian flew to Batman’s secret headquarters, the Batcave. By the time they arrived, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash were already there.
“I see that you’ve brought us a new teammate,” Batman greeted them when they entered the Batcave. “While you were out recruiting him, I’ve been stocking us up on the weapons we’ll need the next time we face our enemies.”
“Such as?” asked Superman.
Batman pointed at a table full of gadgets and began to explain. “We’ll all need to carry these heating devices to fight against Captain Cold and Mr. Freeze. I know the two of you have heat vision, but if they manage to freeze the two of you, this will be the only way we can save you.” He then picked up a gas mask. “We’ll all also need to wear these to protect us from the Scarecrow’s fear gas.” He sat down the gas mask and picked up a vial. “This is the antidote that you used to save us from our hallucinations. I’ve taken the liberty of making dozens of vials of the same formula just in case somebody loses a gas mask. We’ll keep them in the Batmobile, which my butler, Alfred, will control from the Batcave.”
“Wow,” Superman said in admiration. “You’re really prepared this time.”
“Considering what happened to us the last couple of times we went up against our enemies, I feel that I have to be,” replied Batman. “I’ve also taken it upon myself to outline each of our enemies weaknesses so that we can be better prepared for battle this time. The first people that we should eliminate from our next battle are Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, and the Scarecrow.”
“Why them?” asked Flash.
“Because they’re going to be the easiest ones to beat,” answered Batman. “Superman and Martian Manhunter should immediately use their heat vision to destroy their freeze guns. Without those weapons, they’ll be just like ordinary people.”
“What about the Scarecrow?” asked Wonder Woman.
“Hopefully, with the aid of our gas masks, he’ll be relatively easy to defeat,” said Batman. “I’ll take care of him.”
“What about the others?” asked Green Lantern.
“Bane, Giganta, and Sinestro will be tougher,” Batman replied. “Several of us should fight Bane at once as a diversion while somebody else takes care of breaking the tube that pumps the steroid that gives him his super strength. Without it, he’ll be as weak as an ordinary person.”
“I’ll take care of Bane,” Wonder Woman volunteered.
“Good,” Batman replied. “Now, as for Sinestro, I think it would be best for Green Lantern to handle him.”
“I agree,” said Green Lantern.
“And that leaves Giganta,” Batman continued. “She might be the hardest one of all of them to deal with.”
“We might have to use all of our powers at once to defeat her,” Superman agreed.
The superheroes’ powwow was then interrupted when Alfred came rushing down to the Batcave. “Sir!” he shouted. “It’s happening! I just turned on the radio, and they’re reporting that the escaped criminals are demolishing Metropolis!”
*****
True to what the news reports were saying, the supervillains were attacking Metropolis. Captain Cold and Mr. Freeze were freezing cars, buildings, people, and anything else in their way. Giganta was punching at buildings as she passed by. Bane was using his super strength to attack random people on the street. Sinestro was using his power ring to create a machine gun, which he used to shoot at the Metropolis police officers who were doing their best to stop the attack. To top it all off, the Scarecrow had used his fear gas, causing a mass panic among the people who were there. Among these people was Lois, who’d immediately hopped on a plane to Metropolis when she’d heard about what was happening. Finally, in the midst of all of this destruction, the superheroes arrived.
“Flash, use the heating devices to start unfreezing people!” Batman ordered. “I’m going to try to use the fear gas antidote on those affected.”
Flash began running throughout the city and planting the heating devices where needed, and Batman began using the antidote on the civilians, starting with Lois. As they were doing this, Superman and Martian Manhunter followed the plan Batman had developed earlier by using their heat vision to destroy the freeze guns being carried by Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold. By the time they’d done this, Flash had returned from planting the heating devices.
“Now that you two worked your magic, I’ll take these clowns back to jail,” Flash said as he grabbed Mr. Freeze and Mr. Freeze. He then ran off and disappeared with them.
By this time, Batman had begun fighting the Scarecrow. Unaffected by his fear gas, this was a fairly easy fight for Batman. With just a few hits, he’d managed to knock Scarecrow out. Suddenly, Flash reappeared and grabbed the unconscious Scarecrow.
“Another clown for me to deliver to prison?” he said before he disappeared again.
Giganta, Sinestro, and Bane were stunned by how easily and quickly their associates had been dealt with. It was already clear that this battle wasn’t going to go as easily as their last battle had gone.
Once Flash had returned, Martian Manhunter and Superman tag-teamed Giganta by flying simultaneously into her gut and knocking her over. Using his power ring, Green Lantern created a giant shield and began blocking the bullets being shot by Sinestro. Batman and Flash began attacking Bane as Wonder Woman snuck up behind him and pulled out the tube that gave him the steroid responsible for his super strength.
Through all of this, Lex and Nigel watched on in disgust. He really hadn’t expected to see his army so easily defeated by the combined forces of the superheroes. He’d convinced himself that he’d managed to create an army more powerful than even Superman. He was wrong.
“The idiots,” Lex muttered under his breath. “They were supposed to take care of Superman’s allies so that I could come in and finish Superman off myself while wearing my armor made out of Feminum.”
“You could always try to battle Superman and the others by yourself,” suggested Nigel. “You do have armor made out of a bulletproof material as well as Wonder Woman’s golden lasso at your disposal.”
“Don’t be foolish, Nigel. Even with those tools in my hands, I wouldn’t stand a chance against the combined forces of six superheroes. No, I’ll take what I have and give up while my enemies have no proof of my involvement.”
“But what if your cohorts talk to the police?” asked Nigel.
“They won’t,” said Lex. “They know just how far my power reaches. I took the precaution of threatening them with death should any of them reveal my involvement in this just in case something like this happened. They’ll take the fall, and I will wait until another opportunity arises to use the Feminum armor and Wonder Woman’s golden lasso.”
*****
Later, back at the Daily Planet, Perry called Lois and Clark back into his office after having read Lois’ story on the recent battle in Metropolis.
“This just might be the most incredible story I’ve ever read since Superman made his first appearance,” said Perry.
“You like it?” Lois asked.
“I love it!” exclaimed Perry. “I do have a couple of questions – like – where was Clark during all of this.”
“I was still in Gotham, sir,” replied Clark. “Sick.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Kent,” said Perry. “I hope you’re feeling better.”
“A lot better, sir,” answered Clark.
“Good,” said Perry. “But, whatever happened to exposing Batman. Certainly my two best reporters didn’t run into a dead end?”
“I learned a valuable lesson after I exposed the Martian,” said Lois. “There are repercussions that come with exposing a superhero’s secret identity. You can see for yourself just from reading my story that Batman is a hero. I no longer feel comfortable making his secret identity public knowledge.”
“I understand,” said Perry. “Well, there’s not much more I can do but print this beauty of a story. There is one last thing, though. You named Superman and his team the Super Friends. That just doesn’t sound quite right to me for some reason. What do you think, Clark?”
“It sounds a little silly to me,” replied Clark. “Like the name of a Saturday morning cartoon or something.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “And just what would you name them?”
“I don’t know, Lois,” answered Clark. “Maybe something that tells you what Superman and the rest of these guys stand for. Like Truth. Or Justice. Or American ideals. What about the Justice League of America?”
“I like it!” Perry said excitedly.
*****
Later that day, Lois approached Clark and asked him, “Do you think you can give Superman a message for me?”
“I might be able to,” Clark replied.
“Give him this,” Lois said as she slipped a note into his hand.
As Lois walked away, Clark looked at the note. It asked Superman to tell Martian Manhunter that Lois would like to meet him in her apartment later tonight. Clark wasn’t quite sure what Lois had planned, but he figured that it was probably an apology of some sort.
*****
After Superman passed his message on to Martian Manhunter, he decided to pay Lex a visit. He heavily suspected Lex’s involvement in the recent events that took place. He had no proof, but for some reason, he felt the need to confront Lex about his suspicions. When he arrived at Lex’s office, he hovered in front of the window for a moment as Lex sat at his desk until he saw Superman.
Lex got up, walked to the window, and said, “I was just reading about you. The Justice League of America. Sounds very patriotic to me. Tell me, Superman, are you the leader of the team?”
“Only if you tell me you were the leader of your team,” he replied.
“My team,” Lex replied, faking confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Somebody organized the breakouts of those criminals,” said Superman. “Yet none of them would tell us who did it. For some reason, I have a sneaky feeling that it was you.”
“Superman, I’m surprised at you,” said Lex. “No evidence, and yet you’ve come to my office to accuse me of wrongdoing. If I didn’t respect you so much, I’d sue you for harassment.”
Superman decided that this was getting him nowhere, so he began to x-ray the room. When he looked towards Lex’s desk, he saw what he was looking for: Wonder Woman’s golden lasso. He then flew over to the desk, opened the drawer, and removed the golden lasso.
“That is mine, Superman,” Lex said, not even fazed by the superhero’s discovery.
“Actually, it belongs to a friend of mine,” said Superman. “It was stolen, and the fact that you have it proves your involvement.”
“My possession of that lovely rope proves nothing,” replied Lex. “You know that I am a collector of a variety of rare objects. I recently purchased that golden lasso.”
“Sure you did,” Superman replied, not sounding convinced.
“And even if I didn’t, you’ve made the discovery of the stolen golden lasso inadmissible,” Lex added. “You performed an illegal search without a warrant.”
“I’m not an officer of the law,” replied Superman.
“Yes, but the rules still apply to you,” said Lex. “And don’t think that my expensive lawyers won’t argue for its dismissal if this goes to a trial. Now, since I’m in a generous mood, I’ll let you have that golden lasso as a gift. If you’re wise, you’ll take it to your friend, and we can all move past this mess. If you’re unwise, you’ll try to publicly accuse me of something that you won’t be able to prove. I’d advise you not to go to war against me unless you can win.”
Superman stared at Lex for a moment and then flew away. He knew he didn’t have enough proof to prove what Lex had done, but he’d accomplished one thing. He’d managed to regain Wonder Woman’s golden lasso.
*****
Around 10 pm, Lois was still waiting around for the Martian. She sat there sipping a cup of tea, starting to wonder if the Martian had told Superman he wasn’t interested. She thought to herself that she really couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to talk to her, but she hoped that this wasn’t the case.
It was as Lois was in deep thought that she heard a knock at her door. She sat her tea down, got up, and answered it. At first, Lois didn’t recognize the person on the other side of the door, a tall, bald African American man. When he said hello, though, she knew exactly who it was. It was the Martian in a shape shifted form.
“I’m a little surprised you decided to use the door,” said Lois. “Superman usually uses the window.”
“I figured that using the door would cause less of a scene,” the Martian explained. “Part of the trick of avoiding the press is to act like a normal person.”
“Again, I’m really sorry about that,” said Lois.
“You already apologized,” said the Martian. “No need to do it again. Besides, my shape shifting ability will make it easy enough for me to create a new identity.”
“This will make it even easier,” Lois said as she ran to the table and picked something up.
As she handed the item to the Martian, he looked down at it and remarked, “A fake ID with my picture and the name John Jones?”
“I thought it might help to make up for what I did to you,” Lois replied.
“I appreciate it,” said the Martian. “Really. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” said Lois.
“How did you get a hold of something like this?” asked the Martian.
“A source who’s given me a few tips for stories in the past made it for me,” answered Lois. “There’s also a social security number and a complete work history that goes along with it. If anybody ever does a background check on you, they’ll find out that you used to be a police officer. I figured since you like to help people that it would make the perfect cover.”
“It would,” the Martian agreed.
He then hugged Lois and thanked her for what she’d done for him before leaving. As Lois closed the door shut behind him, though, she noticed a figure floating by her window.
“Superman!” she called out as she rushed over to him. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough to remind me of the fact that you’re the sweetest reporter I know,” Superman replied with a smile on his face.
THE END
