[IC] Alliances (VenusSTAR/Freedomliveson)

[freedomliveson]

Clark rolled his eyes at the television screen before turning the device off with a nearby remote. The celebrity gossip was tiring, but to consistently hear Lex being talked about as one of the social elite and not as the maniacal tyrant that Clark knew him to be was exasperating. How many times had he fought against Lex in the public eye? How many jail sentences had Luthor served? Of course, any sentence was commuted early into the duration and somehow, someway, Lex associated himself with the latest charity of the month, ingratiating himself into the good graces of the public once more. He had maintaining the sham for much longer this time around, going so far as to demolish some of his defense manufacturing plants and committing them to “cancer research”.

It made him sick.

Then again, Clark was grateful for the break. He was able to spend more time with Lois and Kara and actually make friends as Clark Kent instead of Superman.

Speaking of friends…

“You know I can always hear you come in.” Clark looked to his left to find one Bruce Wayne garbed in the uniform that struck fear and awe into those that saw it.
“And you didn’t have to come in costume…although with the choice of wardrobe, I assume you’re here on business.”
“Talia. What do you know about her relationship with Lex?”
“Nothing.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Lex has kept himself clean, Bruce. I’ve kept an eye on him ever since his latest ‘good guy’ façade and have found nothing.”
“You’re not digging hard enough.”
“Oh?”
“There’s a reason why Lex formed a partnership with Talia.”
“Other than love?” Clark gave Bruce a teasing smirk, to which the latter narrowed his eyes at.
“Love is something a sociopath like Lex can’t know. Talia is too committed to her own interests. Something’s not right.”
“And that’s why you’re here? To confront your former lover slash master assassin?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want my he-“
“No.”
“Figured I’d ask.”
“Your time is better served trying to figure out what Lex has up his sleeve. I’ll deal with Talia.”
“You going to tell me what you have planned?”
“I just did.”
“Right." Before Clark could utter another word, the Dark Knight had left.
"I hate it when he does that." He muttered to no one in particular, rising from the couch before headed to the fridge, opening it to find a multitude of containers that were labeled with either very precise, neat handwriting.
"Lois' fried chicken or Kara's street tacos?" When Lois had informed Kara of her two week trip to visit her parents, the duo had decided to make sure that Clark would be well fed while his wife was gone. The timing of the trip was also helpful if Bruce's suspicions were correct and Lex was plotting something with his soon to be bride. Although Lex still hadn't figured out who Superman actually was, it was still comforting to know that she was across the country in "the largest cesspool of vanity and scum there was" (Los Angeles to everyone else).

Deciding on the fried chicken, he withdrew the food container in question and was ready to heat it up when another visitor landed on his balcony, this one not nearly as much as a surprise than the first.
"Someday, I think you'll use our front door. Someday." He cast his cousin a playful smirk as he motioned to the food:
"I can't thank you enough for helping with this. I think I'll continually be in a state of 'full' for the next two weeks." Although not a mind reader, Clark thought he could feel some apprehension coming from Kara.
"What's up? Coming by to eat or..." He frowned.
"Did Bruce ambush you, too? He tends to do that once he knows you relatively well."

[VenusSTAR]

White tennis shoes touched gently against the concrete balcony and baby blue hues slid upwards as she heard her cousin's voice break the otherwise silent descent to the landing. Her lips curled into a gentle grin and finally she peered across the floor at Clark and shrugged a shoulder. "Front doors," the Kryptonian scoffed playfully, "this is like a front door. Close enough." Moving over the threshold of the balcony, Kara moved an arm back to gently slide the glass door shut behind her. She wore a light denim jacket over an oversized white t-shirt that fell off the shoulder. Black leggings were a pick of pure comfort for the day as she sighed, raking her fingers through her blonde hair as though to rake away the stress of her day. "Well, Lois said that if we didn't cook you'd just order, like, 500 pounds of Chinese food and be in a coma all week." Kara grinned at her cousin and slowly moved across the floor to the couch. First propping herself on the arm of it before gently sliding down to a cushion below.

Her heart rate was elevated, that much was likely apparent and it was probably true that Clark could hear it where he stood. Truthfully, Kara was debating on stopping by Clark's that evening. She had propped herself to sit upon the lip of the roof, feet dangling over the edge as she stared down at the cars that passed by one another below like tiny insects illuminated by even tinier LED lighting. The echo of horns honking and the wind in her ears was very nearly comforting until she heard folds of leather catch the wind at her back. She had turned to find the Batman. Kara didn't scare easily, and she wasn't sure she would say that Batman 'scared' her, but he was certainly an intimidating force at 6'2'' and all shoulders. The two spoke only briefly. Batman had very little to say to the twenty-something and offered a light reprimand of being very nearly hanging off of a building in civilian clothes, Kara relented (silently, she thought it rather than outwardly agreed with Batman) that perhaps if anyone were to catch her in a building adjacent, from a window or something like it, that it would be a difficult thing to explain to authorities. A headache at the very least.

Resolving to, in fact, bite the bullet and see Clark she had simply dropped the few stories to his balcony and now took up comfortable residence on a corner of his couch. "I saw him," she nodded and a fair brow arched slowly, "you know, I know I can fly into space... and I know I can shoot lasers out of my eyeballs, and I know I can play soccer with a car..." her hand canted to the side as she spoke, "but any time I see Batman, he freaks me right out. It's like... he has this super power to just creep the hell out of you." A chuckle escaped her for a moment before she brought her knees up to her chest and peered across the room at Clark. "He said something's going on with Lex Luthor. Is that true?" When her head tilted to the side out of curiosity, her blonde hair fell over one shoulder, spilling to the front of her shoulder to a point where she tucked it back behind her ear to prevent it from bothering her too much.

---

The sky was clear for dusk in early November. To a visitor, the sunset looked full of promise. Hues of gentle gold and soft pink mingled with pastel red. Wisps of orange cloud caught in the cotton blue heavens swirled like a water colour canvas painted meticulously by an aged artist. But, clawing into the skyline were greedy high rises silhouetted against the failing light of day. Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow, was brighter somehow, even in the dark. Possibility suggested that it might have been a simple removal from this city in comparison to what was typical at home. Soon, the cold chill of Metropolis's lights would pollute the sky and plunge the city into a false sense of alertness. But the bodies that would move upon the unforgiving pathways below were ushered like a disease with a hive mind.

The echo of the gas propelled grappling hook was drowned out by the wind the high rises caught and the heavy movement of leather caught the breeze as Batman propelled himself forward, landing upon the precarious ledge of a building a decent trek away from Clark Kent's. A brief conversation with Superman and an even briefer one with Supergirl offered very little in the long run, but Batman didn't need much out of them. It wasn't information out of them he needed, he just wanted to ensure they knew he was there.

Bruce drew in a long breath, steeling himself and checking in. He listened to the noise of his body. He relaxed his shoulders, his abdomen, his neck. Rolling it once, his navy blue eyes caught the horizon as the sun dipped well below, robbing the skyline of its warmer cast and replacing it with a chilled new pallet of colour. Even still, Metropolis seemed brighter. Quieter. Better. A gloved hand reached up and pressed against his cowl upon a steady exhale. "Nightwing, I need you to stop by the Bat Cave. I'm about to go by a LexCorp building and copy a surveillance video. I want to make sure the encrypted information is started before I get back to Gotham." There was no request made, only a demand. And Batman didn't seem concerned on whether or not Nightwing was even in the area. It needed to be done. And it would get done. A very unsettling feeling was stirring inside of Bruce the more he saw indications of Talia and Luthor together. It was an upset that he wanted to nip in the bud. Nothing good could come out of a union of that calibre. Nothing.

[freedomliveson]

"Five hundred pounds? We may have metabolisms that are hundreds of times faster than humans, but I don't think I could handle THAT much of Mr.Fang's infamous General Tso's." He placed the fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes(a Lois Lane-Kent specialty) and green beans onto two plates before using a cautious stream of heat that ejected from his eyes in order to heat the food up.
"Here. Dorm life isn't exactly the best when it comes to food and I'm fairly certain Mom would like to know that you're eating home cooked food instead of just making it." After retrieving utensils, he handed his cousin a plate before placing himself next to her. A bite of chicken later and Kara had revealed that not only had Bruce let her in on his suspicions of Lex, but also scared her. The Kryptonian chuckled, pointing at her with his fork as he spoke:
"Don't let him frighten you. That gruff exterior hides one of the most compassionate and loyal people I know. Just takes some time AND life threatening situations to see that." After another bite of food, Clark addressed the question:
"And I don't know. Bruce can be paranoid, but I can't think of a time when he's been wrong, especially when it comes to something this large in scope. I've gone up and down the city several times a night, every night for the past few months to see if Lex was plotting something and I haven't found anything on my end. Maybe he's just gotten really good at hiding whatever he's planning. Would make sense, considering that the public would demand the death penalty for him if he so much as jaywalked." Setting his food down on the coffee table a couple of feet in front of the couch, he added:
"Not to say that you couldn't figure something was wrong. Cause, you know, you do the whole 'superhero' thing too." Clark could remember the first time they met, how raw her powers were, how uncontrolled and unrefined she was. Now Kara could hold her own against anyone, sometimes even better than he could.
"Speaking of the 'superhero' thing, I wouldn't mind having a partner to fly around with tonight. Two sets of eyes on the city should help us see anything wrong." Clark then smirked.
"Unless, Miss University student, you have homework to do. I can handle a routine patrol on my own if you need to write a paper for that one class you've been complaining about almost all semester. What was it again? Government? Gender studies? The complaints have grown to the point where I forget what you're actually grousing about in the first place."

________

"You are SO lucky I'm here already." Dick growled into the comm unit embedded in his ear, looking at the massive display that dominated this particular wall of the cave. On said monitor were a number of emails sent to and from the mayor of BludHaven that displayed communication with two well known crime bosses in the tri-state area. The dates, of course, corresponded to the days when Mayor Lavash suddenly managed to issue new campaign ads or make public appearances at country clubs far beyond a Mayor's paygrade. Dick had been working on this for several months and had finally managed to snag an encrypted harddrive from Lavash's office yesterday, deciding to drop by the cave to use Bruce's supercomputers in order to crack the encryption. This visit was SUPPOSED to be a quick entry and exit, but of course, the Man himself had to come calling with homework.
"Let me just...ok, computer's ready to receive info and could you maybe, just maybe, explain why you're in Metropolis?" It took a few seconds for Dick to remember the news reports that had been circulating the past couple of weeks, which then prompted him to add:
"Bruce, really, do you want to confront Talia about this now? Couldn't you just, I don't know, show up at the League of Shadows' lair and wait for her there instead of breaking into her fiancee's corporate headquarters? No, dumb question, you want to know now before something else bad happens, I get it." Nightwing blew out a sigh, looking up at the now blank monitor.
"You could've asked me to come out there with you. Storming Lexcorp by yourself might not be the best idea you've ever had." Fully aware that Bruce was probably scowling, looking out into the distance with grim seriousness or both, he then confirmed:
"Yes, the computer is set up to receive higher amounts of data than normal, don't worry."

[VenusSTAR]

A gentle grin took Kara's expression and she reached out for the plate of food. Clark had been nothing if not purely family to Kara since her arrival. In the beginning, she had been apprehensive about earth, about people- humans in general and controlling her power under the eye of this planet's yellow sun had been nothing if not one of the more difficult things she had ever endured. But, not only had Kal-El been there for her, but so too had his adoptive parents. They had accepted Kara into their home without batting an eye or ever once questioning her place. She had come to love them as she had the memory of her own family and it warmed her to no end to feel not quite so alone on an otherwise potentially lonely spinning rock quite off the beaten path from her home.

"The public is starting to feel sympathetic toward Luthor..." She approached the subject very carefully as she cut into the food and chewed slowly as her baby blue eyes slid over to peer at her cousin. "Some people... think he's turning things around. That he's just 'made mistakes'," a frustrated sigh escaped the Kryptonian. She, like Clark, knew the tyrant behind the veil of charity and public press appearances. She knew the mad man behind the apologies and the empty promises. But Lexington Luthor was likeable to a great many... that worried her more than his plans.

Swallowing quickly, Kara shook her head quickly,"mm!" A hand moved over her mouth as she tried to rid herself of the food in her mouth too quickly, "no, I can come!" her homework was already a mound that she didn't want to think about. Getting out in the costume again would be a great relief and she refused to admit that she did have some work she could be doing instead. "Physics," Kara laughed, "it's just physics I'm having trouble with. I guess breaking a few of those laws leaves me lacking the essential theory behind it. I'm looking for a tutor, it's no big deal. I'll get it eventually."

---

Bruce was quiet as he approached the building. The gate was a simple enough scale, it was subsequently the cameras he didn't want to see him that he worried about. As Dick went on in his ear, Batman pulled out a batarang as he stayed one with the shadows of the building. The first camera went dark on the security side and he waited a moment, only giving himself enough time to respond to Nightwing, "I don't need to break in."

Adjustments were made on one of the flat screens that the security guard tapped on. His ginger brow was knit together inside of the small surveillance room and he sighed taking up the walkie talkie on his belt, "Frank, camera 4b just went down outside I-" a short pause as he watched another camera fade to black, "and... 5b... Frank? Come back?"

It was camera 6b that the Guard stared at in awe for a long moment. Not believing his eyes he stared at the leather clad Dark Knight as he seemed to peer right into the camera before it too went black, "oh, shit!!" The red haired Guard bolted from his seat leaving it spinning as he dreww his weapon and made a beeline for the side exit nearest the post that Frank was manning. He came around the dark corner to find pieces of the 4b littering the ground and Frank tied up and unconscious. The Guard felt his hands shake as his heart leapt to his chest and he tried to stay calm. The gun was eventually pointed right in front of him and he clicked the safety off as he took aim near yet another corner. The sound of something heavier than a gun pierced the air and the heavy movement of fabric resounded as the Guard rounded and took quick aim. Letting out a panicked gasp he looked about finding nothing... the 6b was cracked but the most notable thing about it was that it had been opened up, part of the computer exposed where information could be retrieved. "Oh...shit..." The Guard moaned dejectedly as he realized he was now alone.

The reply would come to Nightwing after a few moments of silence, "I'm on my way back. That information should be there momentarily. Don't go anywhere. I may need you." as per usual there was no utterance of a request, but beneath the chilled demands was a deeper appreciation for Nightwing's cooperation and quick response than he would likely ever know.

[freedomliveson]

"I'm sure you will." A proud smile formed on Clark's lips. For someone who had come to Earth just a few years ago, his cousin had adopted rather well to the lifestyle. There were times when he almost forgot that Kara hadn't been raised with him as a child. His parents didn't do very much to dispel the notion that the duo had been separated for so long, instead choosing to adopt Kara as their own, which made Kara almost like a younger sister instead of a cousin. He had always wanted a sibling growing up and thankfully the house of El managed to give him that kind of relationship. He would treasure it for as long as he lived.

Brushing aside the momentary sentimental tangent, he set down his food and motioned to the window.
"Well, you do have your costume on, don't you? Let's fly." Within a matter of moments, the duo had sprung out of the apartment window. Those who bothered to look up towards the sky at that particular moment would see two flashes of light darting across the night sky. Those flashes would eventually slow down as they flew towards the outskirts of the city, Clark holding out a hand as a sign for Kara to stop before telling her:
"I've got a feeling that if Lex is trying to do anything under the table, he'd want somewhere discreet and accessible." They hovered over the diminished range of skyscrapers, highways leading to various parts of the Tri-State area as the Kryptonian thought for a few moments.
"A few weeks ago, I remember that there were reports being made by homeless squatting near the old docks that there were, as they put it, 'shadows with guns' moving around. They were dismissed as the ramblings of the unfortunate, but now I have a feeling there might be something to do that. Let's head in that direction." The "old docks" that Clark referred to was the main shipping and receiving port for Metropolis, used until around 1970 when the city created more up-to-date facilities on the southern tip of the city, seeing as most imports and exports were easier to distribute. It was the northern point of the city where the ruins of the old docks lay, the Kryptonians descending onto one of the abandoned piers to find the area eerily quiet. Brick facades stood with grimy windows, open shipping containers rusted in the moonlight and garbage of all sorts littered the area.

Perfect for Lex.

"You hear anyt-" There was something. It was deathly quiet, but he could hear it. Fabric rustling against wooden planks, then concrete...he spun to their left to find four ebony-clad forms a few hundred feet away, their faces obscured by masks. In their hands were steel blades that formed a protective barrier around two rather large crates. Both the forms and the crates had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, which, when put all together implicated-
"The League of Shadows, Bruce was right." He looked to Kara before telling her:
"They can do some serious damage with their swords. Take them out as fast you can." Clark engaged the attackers by flying towards them, scattering the group of Shadows who deftly rolled out of the way, two charging the Man of Steel head on. With a quick blast of icy cold breath, one fell to the ground, blood nearly frozen in place. The other made a few quick attempts at slashing the Man of Steel to pieces, Clark dodging the blows before grabbing his assailant by the neck and slamming him to the ground, rendering him unconscious.

Has the League gotten weaker? Or...

More shadows emerged from alleyways and crevices, ten in total.
"Kara! Watch it! We've got more!"

[VenusSTAR]

Regardless of the circumstances, there was no feeling quite like flight. Above the line of high rises and dipping below to pass windows as the wind flooded past, there was no similarity in any other action that could be performed through the day. The wind, however damp, was never uncomfortable despite the speed Kara flew to keep up with Clark. She still managed enough time to glance about the city and drink in the detail of the rising lights as the natural faded away with the sinking of the sun beneath the distant horizon.

The pier, at ground level, was dingy at the very best. An abandoned waste, there seemed to be little to appreciate of the once bustling corner of Metropolis. Vastly unused save for shady traffic, the docks were an unsettling sight from the ground, but hovering above in what remained of the sparse orange lamplight, this darkly lit piece of Metropolis's underworld looked hauntingly beautiful in its own mess. It certainly had a twisted sort of discordant aesthetic to it as Kara peered around and slowly descended, a red boot touching the ground first as her hair settled about her shoulders. Taking a step forward, Kara was aware of the various noise. A shuffle here; small, probably produced by rats or perhaps even raccoons. The gentle lapping of dark water against rusting docks. A loose chain tapping against a metallic post, and somewhere in the distance, the bell of a buoy long forgotten in this unused harbour. "Hey, Kal..." she murmured, "what do you think about journalism... for me?" She wondered about the occupation and had been for some time, head canting to the side before he was interrupted himself by the surprise of company.

A look of disbelief crossed her face as Clark warned her about their swords. Swords? Seemed unlikely. When bullets did little more than cause a light bruise, it seemed foolish to be worried about blades. When the first of three rushed Kara at very nearly lightning speed, she was momentarily intimidated; surprised! Typically, people didn't move that fast. It was impressive, to say the least. Three short glares of a red hot, laser vision took two out at the shoulder (inopportune for a swordsman), and one at the knee, which didn't seem to make things any easier. When the called warning came, Kara turned to view the ten other soldiers that had emerged. "Oh, great," she grumbled, "abandoned piers can never just be abandoned piers anymore, can they? They have to be riddled with.... what are you guys? Ninjas?" A metallic hissing cut through the air and Kara, being too busy with quips, wasn't quick enough to move out of the way of six metal stars. Four were dodged, the fifth was batted away (but that wasn't to say she didn't feel the speed upon the weapon impacting) and the sixth embedded through the shoulder of her costume and stuck. "Ow! Damn!" She stared at it eyes wide before ripping the blade out. It would leave little more than a mark, but that much was impressive. Tossing the small blade aside she glared, her feet lifting off of the ground by just an inch before she propelled herself through the air at the line of the league.

[freedomliveson]

Half of the group targeted Kara while the others glided through the air to intercept Clark from aiding his cousin, three launching themselves with blades pointed at the Man of Steels chest while two threw star like projectiles that were aimed at his neck. He ducked underneath the stars and thrust his arm upwards, connecting with the gut of one of the attackers, forcing the now limp body into the air. Speeding up and grabbing the body mid flight, he threw the unconscious attacker at his squad mates, nailing another with the surprise projectile while the others dodged and regrouped as Clarks feet connected with the ground.
"There's no way I can talk you out of trying to keep this battle going, huh?" The Shadows heads snapped to Karas situation in unison before hastily grabbing smokebombs situated on their hips and throwing them to the ground a millisecond too soon for Clark to react. Cursing vehemently, Superman charged into the smoke and grabbed at nothing but vapor, gliding out of the fog and noting that the Shadows had pulled the same party trick with his cousin.
"You alright?" He noted the cuts on her suit and wanted to ask how she felt, but knew that she would brush off the question, so instead he pointed at the crate the Shadows were so intent on guarding.
"Why don't we see what the League was trying to get into Metropolis?" Moving to the crate, he attempted to see inside only to shake his head.
"Lead lined. Shocker." Instinctively he thrust his arm in front of Kara, looking down with a chuckle.
"Can you blame me for being protective?" Dropping the arm, he refocused its effort to ripping off one side of the crate, aluminum canisters tumbling out, all of which had no markings. Peering inside the can with gifted eyes, he frowned.
"Nothing. At all." He levitated a few inches above the ground before circling the container, frown growing even more.
"Not even a clue as to where it was headed." Sighing, he glanced at Kara with grim certainty.
"Bruce could probably figure out why Shadows would be guarding something as seemingly innocent as this. We're headed to the cave." Clark grabbed the side of the crate he tore off and sealed it back with a few concentrated blasts of heat vision.
"You've never been to the cave, have you? Just...don't touch anything. Hopefully he won't be too grouchy that I brought you along without his authorization." Before Kara could comment, he quickly added:
"Yes, he IS that paranoid. One of the many reasons we love him."

-------

"Bruce, where's the footage? It's-" The computer chimed that it was ready to go and was primed to playback on Bruce's say so.
"Never mind. It's here, does that mean I can go now?" A sudden gust of wind blew through the cave, nearly bowling Dick over.
"That's one way to enter. Didn't even hear the car." He turned to find a shipping container sitting in the middle of the cave flanked by Superman and a very, very attractive young woman in an outfit that was...flattering.
"Didn't think you hung out here anymore."
"I don't, but when the Man calls, it's hard to turn down. Kinda feel indebted to him for, you know, raising me." He walked to the young woman, extending a hand.
"You must be the Supergirl I've heard about. Dick Grayson or, if you're feeling formal, Nightwing." He offered his best smile, chest puffing out just enough for her to maybe see certain details about his physique.
"Dick..." Clarks tone was admonishing, which made the Grayson boy want to pursue the assumed Kryptonian even more.
"We need his help, maybe yours too."
"Right. Tell me what you've got."

[VenusSTAR]

The buggers were fast, Kara had to give them that. Throwing a punch into the sternum of one seemed to have three more near her by the time she was finished and Kara had considered herself decently fast when it came to fighting. The yellow sun of Earth certainly helped in that department and while she was still technically getting used to her powers, it was usually holding back that was the problem, not dishing it out. Kara had argued with Kal-El in the beginning, "I don't get it, if you just let me let loose I could do everything you tell me to do!" But the ability to complete the task wasn't the challenge, she had swiftly learned, it was the ability to complete the challenge without killing anyone. No matter how much the other guy wanted you dead, no matter how easy it would be to punch a hole through a rib cage or glance in a man's direction to cut him down with laser vision... that wasn't the goal. That goal was to protect. And to blindly act just as your enemies did, that made you no better in the end of things.

The last soldier was incapacitated by a quick exhale of icy breath and where his knees locked in place, he tripped. Kara swept herself over to him, plucked him from the unforgiving concrete floor and tossed him in a large garbage bin where he was motionless from there on. Whether unconscious or just knowing when to finish a fight, Kara didn't pause to determine which.

Kara approached the large containment unit and her brow knit together slowly. Head canting to the side as she too attempted to peer through the lined container, she shrugged, "I could blame you for being overprotective," she assured him with a small nod, "maybe," she offered with slow consideration, "it was just a diversion for something else?" Glancing up to her cousin, Kara's lips cocked into a light grin and she blinked, "the batcave?" Her baby blue eyes lit with excitement and she couldn't help but produce a wider grin. "I won't touch anything!" She promised, pulling her hands up and shaking them as though to assure Clark she could be trusted.

The flight had been short. Gotham seemed so very far away when a highway was involved, but when wearing the red and blue; when the openness of the skies were available to them, nothing took much time. Kara slowed to careful consideration as she kept behind her cousin on their way into the cave. She took quiet note of how they got there and while she was very sure Batman would have appreciated that she forget altogether, she committed the entryway to memory in case she ever needed it again.

Kara was too busy looking around at the vastness of the cave. Somehow, she had expected it to be much, much smaller. And less packed with souvenirs. Pads for various vehicles, both capable of flight and grounded, a water way beneath the already subterranean set up, and memorabilia like a giant lincoln penny, large playing card, various preserved costumes of both Batman himself and the multitude of Robins who had been around, an animatronic tyrannosaurus. A freaking dinosaur! It was only then that she realized Nightwing had addressed her. She knew him, of course, and heaved a self-conscious chuckle when she noticed herself gawking at everything. "Sorry," she breathed, "uh, Kara!" She introduced, fairly oblivious to the attempt at flirtatious introductions. "This is so cool," she added, shaking her head and grinning like an idiot.

The gentle hum of an engine came to a pause and the hiss of the Batmobile's canopy opened. The caped crusader bounded from the seat and made his way up the aisle to the gathering of others. "League assassins," he answered for either of them, "in Metropolis." Pausing to stand next to Clark Bruce's brow arched beneath the dark cowl and he stared a moment. "Nice to know you're comfortable bringing your family here,"

"Oh," Kara shook her head, "I won't say anything to anyone. About anything," Kara promised, making a motion of a zipper across her lips.

"How many did you take out?" Batman asked as he slipped by the Kryptonians and Nightwing. Stopping at the gargantuan screen he tapped a few buttons, sifting through the footage he had sent back.

"Mmh," Kara glaned at Clark, "ten? About ten..."

"About?"

Kara felt a prickle of self-consciousness when the demand for clarification was barked. She felt like she was back in class. "Definitely ten." She said with more confidence as well as a nod.

[freedomliveson]

"Bruce, what does the number matter? There were a lot of them and the Shadows were just as powerful as they were when we took them on a year ago."
"No, Bruce has got a point. Talia doesn't normally spare the numbers unless there's something important going down. The fact that there were THAT many of them in such a small concentration of space is alarming." Dick shot Kara an admiring look.
"And you handled them all? That's pretty amazing, considering that you've never faced them down before." The computer monitor began to put on display what the Dark Knight had apprehended from Lexcorp headquarters.
"So what are we looking at?" Clark glided alongside the seat Bruce had taken, the latter not responding, instead focusing on the footage playing.
"Yeeaaaahhh, what is this? Just looks like people walking up and down a hallway." The footage was marked as being from two weeks ago, jumping ahead to various points in the day with employees and security guards gracing the screen in differing quantities.
"So...you're hunting for someone?" Dick was now next to his mentor, eyes scanning the video for anything unusual. The computer fast forwarded to a few days later and a gleaming bald head was visible down the hall talking to a couple of the guards.
"Lex associating with the common man. Seems to be his new gameplan for courting favor." Clark commented, brow squinting.
"Don't see anything odd with Lex's appearance." Another fast forward two days later and Lex appeared again, this time alone and talking on a cell phone.
"No audio on this." Dick frowned, Clark smirking as he focused in on Lex's lips.
"'Make sure to seal off the delivery area. Have the package shipped to our agreed upon location.'"
"Show-off." The duo exchanged teasing smirks before examining the tape once again.
"Could have been talking about what we found at the docks."
"But also could be talking about something else entirely. Not like Lex doesn't receive ominous deliveries all the time."
"Fair enough. Let's see some more." They cycled through even more and found nothing out of the ordinary like the previous scene, but the footage marked two days before the present day featured something of note.
"Stop it there." Flitting down the hallway in a blur was a woman garbed in jet black, her ebony colored hair slicked back, eyes intent on something down the hallway. The camera couldn't pick up on what the woman was looking at, but the glare she was giving to whoever was down the hall could cut through glass. In her hand was a silver, cylindrical object that looked awfully familiar...
"Well...there it is." Clark looked back at the crate, then down to Bruce.
"Other than the obvious League of Shadow assassin dashing down a Lexcorp hallway being odd, we have a number of those same cylinders the woman is holding. We need to figure out what exactly is in those things. I scanned them and found nothing, so I figured that you could find something."
"Can we talk about the fact that there's a LEAGUE OF SHADOW assassin in Lex's building?! Does Lex know that he's got Shadows running around his headquarters?"

[VenusSTAR]

The room slipped away as Bruce's eyes settled upon the screen. He drank in every detail, every motion, every tiny movement. He hadn't had much time to study Lex Luthor, certainly not on a recording. This was helpful for regarding facial cues, various idiosyncrasies in expression, things that people wouldn't necessarily be interested in. But, Bruce was. A good portion of his life had been devoted to a fight he had no intention of winning. It was simply a fight that he knew he had to engage in. It was right. People who knew him; Clark, Diana, they came to understand that his life was often rooted in training, martial arts, inventing... but sometimes they tended to forget how much of his 'training' was people watching. Psychology. Movement. There was so much tell in movement.

It was the shrouded figure that Batman settled on then. He felt his eyes narrow beneath the mask as he watched the feminine shifts and focused for only a split second on the cylinder itself. His body temperature rose the longer he watched, anger replaced the blood in his veins and as he drew in a slow breath, giving a small chant of calm to steel himself he pressed his index and middle finger against the base of the machine and rose to stand. "Not just any assassin." He slipped past Clark and moved to a small station where he could run various diagnostics. But if about 10 different types of vision from a Kryptonian didn't help, Bruce was sceptical if he would come to a conclusion. Of course, attached to the vision of a man was human error (alien error, technically, but it was just as probable). "It's her," Bruce finished.

"I'm sorry," Kara chimed in, glancing between the three men in the area, "'Her'?" She repeated, a brow arching. Batman was silent, not one for elaborating, Kara noted, so, she set her sights to Dick who seemed to be a better translator than what her own mind could follow of him. The Batman was cold and that chill brought a type of intimidation she wasn't sure she liked. If someone had told her he had the same powers as half of the Justice League, Kara would find that believable. What was difficult to believe was that this man was just that. A man. It seemed very nearly impossible.

"Let's say," Kara continued without an answer, "that we can figure out what all of this is." Her gaze moved from Dick to Clark and her shoulder shrugged, "what do we do? We can't just walk up to Luthor and expect he'll admit it. I mean, he has shady deals all over and the cops can't touch him. I don't know if punching him in the back of the head will really go over so well..."

[freedomliveson]

Dick met Kara's gaze and said quietly:
"He and Talia have a history. That's all I can say without keeping you up the entire night with the craziest stories about old guys coming back from the dead, a resurrection pit and ninjas. Ninjas." He could practically feel Bruce's anger about the situation threatening to strangle him if he said another word about Talia, so he remained silent, allowing Kara to make an observation that he himself had made a number of times while serving as ward to the Dark Knight. The impossible was never out of reach with him, though. Ever.
"Charging into Lexcorp and demanding answers would be stupid, yes." Clark commented, rubbing his chin with his hand as he scanned the frozen image on screen for any discrepancies he could notice before shrugging.
"I say that we do some more homework before we make any large moves. I don't know very much about the League of Shadows, but I do know Lex and if he's in bed with them, he's more than likely using them to subdue threats to his power, the docks being a small example of that. I can rummage around in my contacts, see if I can pull anything in street clothes. Worst case scenario involves me flying through the seedier areas of Metropolis and shaking down gang leaders for information. In any case, I can get info about Lex and the League's movements in Metropolis."
"I doubt BludHaven is going to provide anything of interest, so once I get Lavash thrown in jail, I'll do what I can to help. Haven't been to Metropolis in a while. Might be nice to not have to live in the shadow of creepy mansions and smoggy refineries."
"The help would be appreciated." He turned to Kara, worry creasing his brow.
"The League is something you don't have experience with, but telling you to stay out of this would just make you want to help even more, so you and Dick find out what you can while I'm being Clark Kent the dutiful reporter." He then gave a look at Bruce:
"You know, Lex wouldn't turn down an opportunity to repair his image and one of your fundraising campaigns might be just the event to flush him out." Knowing that the Dark Knight probably had his own set of plans churning, Clark added:
"Unless you've got something else you'd like to share."