Meanwhile, back in the Cave...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Dawn has come and gone, midmorning approaches, and Bruce is still reviewing what he might have missed during his visit to Metropolis, City of Tomorrow and Too Many Damned Glowing Things, to investigate the real estate that local business man/tycoon/slimebag Max Shreck is considering purchasing.

Yes, he should be in bed by now. He should be getting food. He should be doing something other than what he is doing now, which is going over data he recorded in Metropolis and reviewing an eye on the police reports as well. Price of taking time away from his patrols to try to contain Gotham scum within the city limits.

And his coffee's cold. Damn it.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_alfred_/]

"Welcome home, Master Bruce."

The scent of impeccably brewed coffee heralds the arrival of his impeccable butler.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Grumblemumb...

His head lifts. Coffee. "Alfred." Gratitude is injected in the name, and he turns toward the tray with a weary half-smile. "You're a godsend. Know that?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_alfred_/]

"Every Englishman knows he is a blessing on this Earth, sir." There may have been the merest twitch of his lips as he pours a generous cup.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Bruce snickers - yes, snickers, what about it? - and takes the cup readily, peeking past the edge of the tray to see what else is there. "Selina asleep?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_alfred_/]

"It is to be hoped, sir. However, I would not presume to predict what Miss Selina will do when she is not under very close observation."

He lifts the silver cover from the platter to reveal a steaming bowl of soup and a small pile of hearty sandwiches. Not even a sprig of watercress is in sight.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Nor a pastry. Can't win them all. He smiles more easily and takes a sandwich. "Any news I might need to hear that I haven't seen yet?" he asks once the first two bites are gone.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_alfred_/]

"One moment, sir." Alfred touches the appropriate keys on the control panel, then blinks at the screen as the search (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1332954.html) results (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1332644.html) begin (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1332375.html) coming in. (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1332020.html)

"Oh, my."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

First sandwich gone, second one started. Chew, chewchewchewche...

Swallow.

"What in the name of..." Bruce shoves his coffee out of the way, turns toward the keyboard, and starts typing rapidly. "Multi-pronged attack, with..." He mutters a profanity, a particularly foul one. So much for food, so much for coffee, so much for rest. Need data, need updates, need it now.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Four minutes pass as Bruce soaks in as much information as he can glean from the news and from computer feeds, then, rising, he activates the JLA comm channel and says, "Batman to Flash," while drawing his cowl back over his features.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Immediately come the sounds of static, impacts and wind resistance.

"Tell me why I've beaten up three Dr. Mid-Nites and a Flamebird in the last two seconds."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Ollie might have quipped something about Christmas coming early. Bruce did not quite share the Arrow's penchant for smart-ass comments. "Sitrep, Flash. Now."

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

"That's what I just asked you for!"

Flash isn't happy.

"Keystone's overrun with evil robot duplicates of superheroes and I've got my fingers crossed that I'm not going to have to figure out how to take down RoboSupes. Tell me why!"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

At least Wally gave him a little more detail about what he was seeing. "Three other cities are being hit with duplicates too. Heading to the Watchtower to coordinate. No version of Superman yet. If you see one, call me. You need help handling what you have now?"

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

Oh god, a worldbeater of some kind. Did NOT need this today.

"Jay and I are doing the best we can."

POW! Whooosh!

"I'm not seeing a huge variety - we've got Mid-Nites, Huntresses, " and women I'm sleeping with "Flamebirds and I'm trying to nail down a Jesse Quick."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Nothing you can't handle." Wait, was that Batman showing faith in Flash? Seriously? "Will be on standby. Need backup, contact Oracle or me. Batman out."

He looks reluctantly in Alfred's direction, says only, "Sorry, old friend," and opens the direct line to the brain center of the League. "Oracle."

[delphicgreen.livejournal.com]

"Here, Batman."

She's busy. Very busy right now but not so busy as she doesn't have a few moments for him.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Need a direct teleport to the Watchtower soon as you can manage it and direct computer feed of everything you're getting. See if I can shift some weight off you, quarterback our counterassaults while you deal with the rest."

[delphicgreen.livejournal.com]

"Teleport in two minutes on my mark."

There is a brief pause as she does something else for a brief moment, sending out information and tracking where she can. "Mark. The uplink to the Watchtower has been established."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Roger that. Any new flare-ups in other cities, I want to know immediately. Going to coordinate with the other three cities ASAP. Teleport when ready. Batman out."

[delphicgreen.livejournal.com]

"Acknowledged."

Oracle takes the representation of Batman on her console and moves it to the side, establishing links from her information to it and then linking it to the Watchtower link.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Alfred," says Batman in the seconds before the teleport is activated, "thanks for the sandwiches. I'll get the soup la..."

And he's gone.

A moment later, on the Watchtower...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"...ter."

Hrm. He miscalculated the timing by a half-second. Interesting.

The vast computer banks are what Batman needs; the Batcave is wired into almost everything he need but lacks the full resources that the Watchtower - and Oracle - can provide. He also has better access to communications and immediate access to personnel. As soon as he is standing in front of the massive array of computer and video displays on the main deck, he opens a channel to the full Justice League and patches through to the Titans, Bat family and JSA channels as well.

Oracle is just that good.

"Justice League. Justice Society. Titans." No, he doesn't identify himself. He's an ass that way. "Sitrep as follows. We have a multi-pronged assault in the following cities: New York, Philadelphia, Keystone City, San Francisco. Each attack involves replicants of Earth heroes. So far replicants are reported for these heroes: Huntress, Red Hood, Flamebird, Dr. Mid-Nite, Jesse Quick. You five, find something different and distinctive to wear ASAP.

"Priorities as follows. One, secure safety of civilian populations. Attacks are focusing on widescale injury and death. Two, Lobo, Parasite and Metallo have been spotted on the ground with the replicants. Take them out first; good chance they're coordinating the attacks. Three, someone bring me a damned replicant. I don't care of who.

"Oracle's keeping comm lines open across team channels. Superman, keep an eye on Metropolis in case this is a large-scale diversion, and contact me on a secure channel. Now. Watchtower out."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Good to know, Arrow. Will contact Beetle directly." Batman's eyes narrow as he hears the distinctive sound of the Green Arrow's favored weapon in action, and he adds, "So far they look less like robots and more like some techno-organic blend. Got my suspicions on where they came from. You got enough firepower there?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"I was talking about the whole city," growls Batman. "I know you can take care of yourself. Hourman's probably the best one to take on Metallo. Keep him the hell away from the bridges."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Queen, you are such an ass.

Metallo would be difficult to defeat with all that steel around him. Hourman might have contained him but for how long? He accesses video feeds from San Francisco while keeping an eye on the other three cities. Clark, where the hell are you?

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Steps behind him.

"Tell me where I am needed the most."

She scans the computer banks, the pictures coming in fast and furious of the destruction being visited upon the cities.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

The Batman does not turn away from the monitors and their streams of information. "Keystone City for now," he states with no hesitation. "Flash is one-manning it there, far as I can tell."

[delphicgreen.livejournal.com]

Oracle does some quick checking and directs the appropriate files toward Batman for him to overlook. There has been a conflict (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1315240.html) and research (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1316462.html) and yet another conflict (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/1323315.html).

Aww Yeah Secure Channel

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Batman." Is all that comes out. Superman's voice is indistinct, as he manages to make some impact in Keystone, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York all at once. "Each attack has a 'general', as far as I can tell, leading the replicants. I haven't been able to get further information out of them, even though their self destruct function seems to be broken."

"Lobo's in New York, Metallo's in Frisco, Parasite in Philly, and I haven't been able to identify anyone for Keystone." Superman adds, panting a little. "Out of all of them, I think Lobo's the most likely to give the name of whoever's orchestrating this."

"They took Lois, Bruce."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Silence from the Watchtower. Batman crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the displays. Eventually he growls, "Only one Jesse Quick replicant in Keystone so far, with more apparent independent action. She'd know who is in charge."

He then lowers his voice and continues, "A few days ago I said that there's always a reason why our enemies drop out of sight. Three criminals sworn to kill you are attacking three cities other than Metropolis in a coordinated assault none of those three could orchestrate. Lois was taken. This is personal. This is about you. Want to make a guess which of your sworn enemies is smart enough to have put a plan like this in motion?"

From his tone, Batman thinks he knows.

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

Ted's on the Watchtower now, in person - the robotic surrogate staying stowed away for the moment.

"I've got all my latest data on these things and the chips we recovered from the Opal City lab. A lot of them have actual biological material - some of them actually contain human brain matter. We need to let everyone know to be careful out there.."

His arms are filled with disks and printouts in a disordered jumble as he makes his way to a console.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Most of them." Superman points out, after what sounds like a small explosion rocks the com system. "Sorry, had to eat a grenade. Luthor, Toyman, Darksied..."

Who was he just talking about? Who swore, as he hurled Chemo into the sun itself, that he was just beginning to hurt Superman?

"...Brainiac." Clark concludes, sounding still for the first time tonight. "Brainiac has my wife."

[plazmania.livejournal.com]

(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v631/modok47/plaz/?action=view&current=plastic-bat.jpg)

"What about me, Coach?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Not convinced of it, but considering the last month and what we know, good damned place to start. Question is where. I'm working on it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Batman looks away from all of the computer displays to glance at Ted and his disorganized data. A corner of his mouth twitches, then he goes back to surveying the various battles. "Clones?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Bruce's teeth grate. He's been mocked by the best and the worst, he's been laughed at and humiliated and always come back for more, pride intact, but something about Eel O'Brian gets under his skin at the first syllable. "San Francisco. Hourman's with Metallo on the Golden Gate."

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

"Nothing to indicate that so far."

Ted shakes his head as he takes a seat, unburdening his arms onto a part of the console.

"I suspect Brainiac thinks one organic is as good as another. The organic parts in the one I fought in Opal City were harvested from a dying man. Of course, this has all the hallmarks of a randomized parameter experiment - Brainiac may have thought to use cloned matter in some of them."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"If we go on the assumption it's Brainiac, agreed." Batman's expression hardens even more than usual when he adds, "I need a complete composite breakdown of one of them. See if anything can be traced or established as a weakness. And make sure these replicants are inhuman. Otherwise...."

He grunts, stares angrily at the screens. Hate bleeds from him.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." The thought that Bruce might, say, take a little longer than usual in order to keep Superman fighting the invasion is one of those third tier thoughts that your lizard brain spits into your head just to keep you guessing, but Superman doesn't have the energy to give it the time of day. Even if Batman, his brother in arms, would do something like that, he's not the one hurting Lois. Never allow the enormity of the evil you see distract you from the need to confront it directly.

"I'll need a launch vector from the Fortress, too, when you have a second." There's some skittering on the back, like Superman is melting delicate circuitry with the power of Earth's yellow sun. "There are a few things I want to pick up."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Acknowledged. Be careful. She'll be fine; she's a tough girl."

[plazmania.livejournal.com]

"Rodger Dodger, you grizzled codger! Consider him pop art!" Aka junk.

Eel doesn't stick around when there's heavy stuff to do. Otherwise he'd revel in aggravating Ol' Spooky.

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

"Here are my notes from the one we captured in Opal City, and the Toyman replicant."

The schematics are made available on Batman's monitor.

"It's hard to project a plan of attack that will work on all of them. Some of them are partly organic, some of them aren't. Many of them make use of small pieces of human brain matter. I had good luck with sonics against the one in Opal, but Brainiac may have compensated for it. See if you can isolate a communication signal that he's using to coordinate the replicants.."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"So far that route hasn't provided any firm data. The source isn't easy to track. I've been reprogramming the tracer to track on a cross-band spectrum with variable signal alterations to compensate. Anything else?"

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

"One of the Green Lanterns should be able to isolate the signal - the rings are better detection devices than anything we can build here. Brainiac is certain to have overrides that he can use on the replicants - if we can stumble on the communications frequency, Oracle and I can start working on hacking our way in.."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"I'll see if one can be spared. Good thinking."

Yes, that was Batman saying something nice about someone else. Don't get used to it.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"She'd better be." Superman's voice is a little shaky, but it could just be because he's traveling at a couple hundred miles an hour.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

"Do your job. I'll do mine." And this is why heroes shouldn't be married. "I'll be in touch soon as I know something. Watchtower out."

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

A sizzle of static.

"Brainiac's out." Superman sounds tired, distracted, and a little nauseous. Tell tale signs of low-level Kryptonite exposure. "Phantom Zone should hold him for a while. Lois is okay." Bruce'd care, even if he never admits it. "Is there anywhere I'm needed...?"

One thing about this next generation of metahumans stuff? Makes taking the occasional night off with the wife sooo much easier.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darkknight_/]

Nope. He really doesn't care. But he does say back, "No. Go take care of her. You're off-duty for the rest of the week. This new Supergirl can handle it."

He cuts off the comm, rubs his face, closes his eyes tiredly.

Then gets back to work.