As the briefing was underway, Xiu stayed near the back of the tent, looking down at her phone.

"Hey L", she typed thoughtfully. "Change of plans. They're sending us back into the city ASAP. Besides, if the situation gets any worse, you might want to keep those guns for yourself. Hell, you might want to leave town. Better safe than dead. If everything goes according to plan, I'll see you when this is over."

She read over it one time, and hit 'send'. She'd never be able to properly thank Lawrence, for all the help he'd given her, so she decided it was best to not thank him at all. Besides, he knew. How else could an unemployed immigrant, with the social skills of a xenophobic robot, have made such a name for herself. She had the most resourceful independent weapons dealer in the country behind her.

Finishing her train of thought, she glanced up at the other heroes, each ducking out of the tent to get ready for the upcoming mission. She decided to stay behind for a moment, till everyone else had left. Standing there by herself, she drew out her pack of American Spirits and a small metal lighter. Igniting the tip of a fresh cigarette, she took a long, deep drag, and meditated on the subtle nicotine rush.

Time passed, as she calmed herself, and mentally prepared for the upcoming battle. This would be her trial, and she intended to meet it with nothing less than perfection. Tossing the smoldering butt to the ground, she made her way out of the tent, looking for a ride. Then she saw it, a bulky, green, military jeep, with a mounted machine-gun on the top. It was a match made in heaven!

"Hey, GI Joe!", she shouted to the nearest soldier. "I require the use of that vehicle, immediately. Justice League business."

With a surprised salute, the soldier ran off to fetch the keys. By the time he returned, she had already planted herself in the driver's seat, and lit up yet another cigarette.

"Hey, while you're down there, fetch a couple boxes of nine-mill, five-point-five-six, and anything else you've got laying around. Just toss 'em in the back." she commanded.

Moments later, she was burning rubber down the road, giving it a test drive while she waited for the other heroes to assemble outside the city. She took a scenic drive through the area, and waited.

Moments later, as Batman, Wonder Woman, and the other heroes assembled for their next attack, she cam screeching to a halt in front of them. Her stacks of assorted ammunition rattling and tumbling around the cab.

Batman, the Flash, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, and newer heroes Bluebird and St. William, as well as the one called Revenant all stood at the entry point. Bluebird insisted on taking her vehicle in, but Batman knew the likelihood it would be consumed by nanobots. Revenant and William both stood with their swords drawn. In a bolt of lightning three of them blurred and the powerhouses of the team gave Batman the opening he needed to get the rest of the team underground. The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Capt. Marvel quickly took down a drone generator buying the tactician more time. The Flash and Capt. Marvel stayed above ground in case more forces arrived before the others exit.

"We need to finish taking down the nearby turrets. The team got lucky we only passed three on the way in..." the Flash instructed Capt. Marvel.

Wonder Woman caught up with Batman's team which at this point consisted of two guys with swords and a girl with a lot of guns who seemed quite agitated she had to leave her ride on the surface. The group was probably forty or fifty feet below ground now and Batman seemed to be on his toes.

"It's somewhere close. There's a large corridor that leads directly to where the survivors are being held. Last time I saw the people I could see Nightwing among them." Batman began, "I could see them through a whole in the wall I'd made. It's more earth and dirt than nanobots and micro machines."

"I noticed a hole in this wall some time ago, step back." the Amazon insisted making them an opening and revealing the corridor Batman spoke of.

"I forgot to mention, last time I was here I had to deal with a compromised Black Lightning..." Batman said before another techno-zombified hero emerged.

It was Superboy.

Back at Base Camp...

The rest of the heroes who Batman insisted staying behind as well as Dr. Light were mostly trying to make best of the situation. However, Static was nervous about things getting worse before they got better. He wished he had a phone with a signal to call his family in Dakota City and was currently in the process of trying to use a pair of burner phones he'd acquired. Walking on the outer rim of the base line and cursing under his breath he noticed something move into the shadows.

"Who's there? A guy can't even take a walk now without some techno zombie trying to..." Static started to banter before a shadow seemed to come to life and stabbed him through the chest. A slight scream was muffled but the body fell to the ground with a hard thud.

"Did you guys hear something?" Superbeast asked Maxus El and Kid Flash roughly twenty yards away in a tent.

The Shadow Thief was absorbing military grade weaponry, rations and any tech Batman's squad left laying around. He was in and out of the shadows and as two dimensional as he could be before one of the kid's finally caught on to what was happening. They found Virgil's body, bloody and lifeless. Time seemed like it froze and suddenly Batman not wanting them in the inner city where the real danger was made sense. A hero as experienced as Static was taken down and it rocked them all, though Maxus El didn't seem quite as attached to what was happening. Shadow Thief ripped through a few soldiers who caught on to what was happening.

~KL~

"Righty-o Speedy Gonzales!" the crimson clad hero announced as he flew off towards the nearest turret with the speed of Mercury. Billy spun his arm around in circles in a comedic fashion as he got closer to one of the turrets and hit it in the upside of the barrel. With a smirk on his face the Captain flew up in front of the turret and began doing air cartwheels "Hey ya oversized squirt gun, bet you can't hit the ground with fifty shots!" the Leaguer mocked as the turret began to try to fire at him but only succeeded at destroying it's barrel.

What didn't occur to Captain Marvel was that the destruction of the barrel didn't do as much damage as he had hoped and the turret continued to fire at him. With a surprised look Billy began taking fire and being pushed back from the turret. "Ok! Ok! Mercy!" he yelled as he tried to defend himself. Quickly he left himself open for a moment so he could summon down a bolt of lighting to strike the now exposed parts of the turret, shutting it down.

"SHAZAM!" he screamed calling forth the lightning, "Now who's laughing you... robot.. gun." Billy continued saying with shaky words, unable to think of anything witty at the moment.

The Flash ran at incredible speeds and avoided getting tagged by the energy blasts of the turrets just a few blocks from the world's mightiest mortal flying overhead. He ran up the side of a building across from a turret and talked to Cap through their communicators, tiny earbuds provided by Batman before going in. The buds worked as two way devicess for anyone within close proximity when activated.

"You know, Cap, I taught myself how to throw lightning awhile back too..." Flash bantered as he ran in circles for a few seconds before hurling a bolt of lightning at a turret taking it out of action.

Shay spent the better part of the trip into Metropolis grumbling to himself about the "name" he'd been given. "Revenant", it was about as goofy as it sounded. Hell, it made him sound like a villain for crying out loud! The name was, naturally, Sir William's idea. Of course the goodie two-shoes knight-in-shining-armor would be the one who thought of it. Shay actually protested at first, but Batman insisted that he use some kind of codename and told Shay on no uncertain terms to either take the name suggested or come up with a better one. Shay, not feeling arsed enough to argue, begrudgingly agreed to the knight's suggestion.

"We're going to hate working with that knight, aren't we?" Alastor's question pretty much reflected Shay's own irritation.

As he accompanied the team into Metropolis, Shay couldn't help but suddenly depressed at the sight. This once shining example of a modern city was basically in tatters now, buildings damaged in the invasion left in disrepair and the streets littered with abandoned cars and debris. Of course, Shay didn't stay above ground for long, as everyone except Flash and Captain Marvel followed Batman underground. Wonder Woman broke through a wall behind which Batman said the prisoners were held, but something else interrupted the rescue before the team could proceed into the opening she created. A figure that looked like a younger Superman confronted the team.

"Oh shite..." muttered Shay, Alastor's sword already appearing in his grasp in its usual fiery fashion.

"Remember what Batman said. Magic can hurt Superman, so I imagine the same can be said of this one as well."

"Only one way to find out!" Shay exclaimed, probably sounding rather sudden to the others. As he did so, he lunged full force for The Boy of Steel, bringing his fiery, demonic blade around to slice at the young Kryptonian's neck.

"Aya!", Bluebird exclaimed, realizing that she hadn't brought any kryptonite bullets with her. Superboy walked toward the group, locked in a brain-dead stare toward Wonder Woman. He was moving quite slowly, for now, but Xiu had no idea how fast the hero could become when provoked.

She rummaged through her satchels, for something that might affect the looming monstrosity. Bullets weren't likely to be effective. Neither would a knife. Plunging her hand into a pouch strapped to her leg, her fingers found the head of a frag grenade. Given how obscenely powerful Superman was, Xiu assumed the group would have similar problems with this one. She pondered that it might be better to collapse the hallway on top of the drone, and find a different path around.

"Hey Bats!", she called, whipping the grenade out of her pocket and displaying it. "How 'bout we take a different route?"

"Huh? Yeah, I think I did." Wally answered to Gar. Wally was so bored, but he might get some action.

"Something tells me we have company.."

Wally cracked his knuckles, smirking. He couldn't wait to kick the intruder's ass. He could take em.

Yet, something told Wally that this intruder was not going to be as easy as he thought, yet he shrugged it off. It was probably some bot trying to get the jump on them.

Yeah, that's what it had to be.