From the Ashes

By Agent Malkere

Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited.

The thing that most people didn't seem to grasp was that simply dethroning a tyrannical regime did not automatically make everything better. It did not instantly fix all the problems. It merely created a vacuum.

The Justice Lords were gone. That was fine and dandy – people no longer lived in fear of the six metahumans nobody could stop and the most Machiavellian bastard the world had ever seen. All well and good – but that didn't fix the problems. The police force was all but crippled and nonfunctional. The judicial system had practically been obliterated. The remaining governments were cracked and falling to pieces. There was almost no infrastructure to fall back on.

It had taken three days for the news to spread that across the globe that the Justice Lords were gone. A further two weeks to sink in that they really weren't coming back. After living in terror for so long, people had gone mad. There had been riots the police force had barely been capable of handling. The crime rate had rocketed to higher than even before the Justice Lords had taken over. Something needed to be done.

Huntress crouched on the rooftop and surveyed the street below her. She hadn't let her training slip while the Lords had been in power, but she also hadn't been able to do anything either. Acting out against the Lords had practically been a death sentence, even for a non-power like herself. Everyone had heard what had happened to Black Canary. Huntress hadn't wanted to be permanently crippled. Besides, Batman had known her secret identity. She would have had nowhere to hide. It had still chafed.

The police were wary of her still. They had trusted Batman and just look where that had gotten them. But Huntress didn't have fancy gadgets – just a mini crossbow, a bo staff, and a grappling line – and she was good at what she did. Under the new, clean façade Gotham was still a brutal city. The police needed all the help they could get. They had started to warm up a bit to her after the third beat cop she had saved. (Times were too desperate to be able to give the rookies adequate training.)

There was a rustle from the alley to Huntress's right. A mugger getting set up? A lot of people were desperate these days, and desperate people did desperate things. She slunk silently to the edge of the roof and peered down, careful not to let her head be outlined against the night sky.

A man appeared to be rooting through a dumpster. His back was to her. He was worn and faded around the edges. His blue trench coat had definitely seen better days. It was ragged and tattered around the bottom. The coat hung on his shoulders in a way that implied that he had lost some weight since he had first purchased it. A blue fedora was jammed down over dark hair. Another down-on-his-luck business man, who had been reduced to dumpster diving to survive. Maybe one of the many reporters who had lost their jobs after speaking out against the Lords.

Huntress was about to move on when the man turned his head like he had heard something. She paused. He didn't have a face. Now that was interesting.

It obviously had to be a mask, but why wear a mask to root through garbage? It didn't really seem like the actions of a vigilante or a criminal. Huntress leapt over the edge of the roof and landed on the fire escape below with barely a rattle. The man turned and looked up at her.

"Do you go through everybody's trash, or is that dumpster just special?" She leaned on the railing with a sharp grin, her fingers hovering by her holstered crossbow just in case.

The man tilted his head slightly to one side almost like a bird.

"Huntress. Former associate of Batman before the Lords. Currently Gotham's most visible vigilante. Wasn't expecting you tonight. Probably should have."

"That was an impressive little diatribe, but that doesn't answer my question. And I'm Gotham's only vigilante."

"No, just most visible." The man turned his attention back to the dumpster. "Some of us had to relocate."

Huntress wasn't really sure how to feel about that, but honestly, she could probably use the help. The GCPD had already lost four officers in the last two months. She couldn't be everywhere at once. Now wasn't the time for turf wars.

"Fair enough. So, you got a name, new guy? You obviously already know mine." Huntress vaulted the fire escape railing and dropped the rest of the way into the alley in a flutter of cape.

The man twisted and stared at her for a few speculative seconds. Then he touched the brim of his hat with one gloved hand.

"You can call me the Question."

"The Question, huh?" The name sounded familiar. Something Batman had mentioned once what seemed like eons ago and worlds away floated to the surface of her mind. "You're that data guy, right? The one from Hub- oh. …Sorry for your loss."

The Lords had deemed some cities beyond help. Hub City had been one of them. The city's populace had been evicted, and it had been leveled to its foundations. Gotham had only avoided a similar fate by being a center of commerce and Batman's original home.

Question dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Thank you." He turned back to the dumpster once more.

"What are you looking for?"

"Evidence. A chemistry professor is starting a meth ring with his students as dealers. Needs to be stopped before it gets out of hand."

Huntress hadn't heard about that, but the underworld contacts network she had once had had been decimated by the rise of the Lords.

"You know," Huntress commented casually, "I could always use a data expert." It wouldn't hurt. The Question was a non-power as far as she knew and unfunded. It was a risk, but catching criminals by luck and chance could only get her so far. She knew her weaknesses, and research was definitely one of them.

Question hesitated in his search and then continued.

"The Lords were born from something similar."

"No, they weren't. The Lords happened because the Flash was killed and the Kryptonian went postal. They had too much power to begin with and no one to answer to. The two of us? We are never going to have that kind of power."

"Perhaps." Question sounded doubtful.

"Think about it." Huntress shot her grappling line up towards the roofline. "I've gotta finish my patrol. See ya around, Q!" She swung away, not bothering to wait for a response.

Three days later, Huntress was sitting on another rooftop listening to her police scanner. She barely glanced up as someone settled down next to her. The Question hadn't bothered with being quiet. She'd heard him arrive. Instead of saying anything, she handed him one of the protein bars she'd brought. He took it and examined the packaging carefully.

"Ah, the kind without the nanites – good choice." The bar disappeared inside one of his coat pockets. They sat in silence for a few moments. "Your morals seem less gray than they used to be," Question finally commented.

Huntress didn't ask how he'd figured that out. It was more or less true.

"Yeah, well, the Lords changed everybody."

Question nodded. More silence.

"Professor Heightmeir is taking his product to the street tomorrow night. Between the two of us, we should be able to catch him in the act and shut down his lab."

Huntress grinned, because you didn't need two people to take down a wannabe meth distributer, but it did sound like fun.

"It's a date." She winked at Question and was amused by the uncomfortable way he rolled his shoulders at that. The police scanner crackled to life. Jewelry store robbery in progress three blocks over. "Well, I gotta fly. Meet ya on top of the Grand Station in an hour, and we can talk details."

Question nodded, and Huntress swung away into the darkness.

Before the Lords, Huntress had been a consummate loner. She'd done her thing and had no interest in working with other vigilantes. A lot had changed since then. Revenge wasn't the only thing driving her anymore, though she would still rather hit first and ask questions never. Now it was about making the world a livable place again. Huntress couldn't do it by herself, but maybe with a little extra help from Question, she could at least make a start.

A/N: The second chapter of this story is complete and will be posted, though there is a good possibility that it will be posted faster if people express an interest in reading more. Thanks for reading!