Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville

Due to unforeseen circumstances I have lost my Beta, Hanabi you will be missed. I wish you well in the future with all your endeavors.

2008 – Metropolis, Kansas – Daily Planet

"What the hell do you mean you won't print this?" demanded Lois, rage fuming behind her eyes as she glared at her hopefully soon to be ex-editor.

"Where is the proof?"

"Dead body with broken neck found in Luthor Mansion, DNA under her fingernails match Lex Luthor, the hand print around her strangled neck matched his, the security footage of the whole murder. What more could ever possibly ask for?"

"And everyone one of those things could be faked by any number of Lex Luthor's enemies," replied Tess coolly.

"Wow… just… wow. You're a pathetic excuse for a human being, do you know that? Expect to be fired by the end of the day," said Lois, turning briskly and storming from the office.

Tess though followed after her. "I didn't give you permission to leave."

Lois ignored her flipping open her cellphone. "Oliver, she wouldn't print it… I know… Okay, I'll try that first." She closed her phone and walked toward the elevator.

"Miss Lane, where do you think you're going?" demanded Tess, following her.

"I have an appointment with Mr. Burns in five minutes," said Lois, pressing the call button for the elevator again.

Tess' eyes widened slightly at hearing the name of the paper's current president. "Now you wait just a minute."

"Too late for that. Ms. Luthor," said Lois, stepping into the elevator.

Tess bristled and stepped into the elevator with her. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with?" asked Tess. Her voice quavered slightly.

"I know exactly who I'm messing with. It's you who doesn't know. Clark asked me to try and play nice despite knowing you are now and will always be Lex Luthor's pet marionette. I just don't understand how you can be so deluded. I mean the man put a micro-camera in your eye for God's sake. His father dumped you in an orphanage after he personally killed your mother and yet you don't even try to find out if the information I gave you free of charge was valid. Any sane, rational person would at the very least look into it but not you. So forgive me but I'm done with you." Lois finished her rant just as the elevator door dinged open.

Tess fumed for a moment before she once again gave chase.

"Lois Lane, I have an appointment with Mr. Burns," said Lois to the receptionist.

"Go right it," she motioned to the office door.

Tess tried to follow but was stopped. "Ms. Mercer, please have a seat. Mr. Burns will speak with you next."

Tess paused and blanched slightly. Apparently this was a setup. Tess turned somewhat robotically towards the sitting area and took a seat to wait patiently. She sat fidgeting for what felt like hours. She ran her hands through her hair several times, changing it from being lose to a ponytail and back again. She checked her light makeup several times to make sure it didn't smudge. She checked her watch over and over again leaving her with a sense of dread filling her entire being.

Tess' snapped her head to her left when she heard the intercom buzz on the secretary's desk.

"Send her in," said a gruff voice.

"You can go in now Ms. Mercer," said the secretary, motioning once again to the office door.

Tess stood and smoothed her blouse and skirt once more before trying to walk into the office with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Ms. Mercer, sit," said the elderly man behind a large desk, one hand pointed firmly at the open chair next to Lois.

Tess glared at Lois and was somewhat pleased to see Lois looking somewhat less triumphant than she expected.

"Mr. Burns, sir, I can assure you-"

"Shut up and sit down," said the man harshly. "You can save your platitudes for someone who gives a damned."

Tess wisely decided to just shut up and sit down.

"Now, Ms. Mercer or is it Luthor? Never mind, don't answer that because frankly I don't really give a damned. What I do give a damned about is how Lex Luthor's personal assistant ended up as Editor in Chief of my newspaper. You aren't qualified, you aren't skilled and you don't deserve a position of any authority. Now that said, as an editor you haven't done horribly so maybe you're not a complete loss."

"Thank you-"

"Shut up," he snapped. "I wasn't done talking. I'll let you know when I am done talking and when you can talk again. Now where was I… oh yes, you're not a complete loss but I can't in good conscious allow you to remain as editor in chief of the greatest newspaper in the world. So you're demoted, you want to be editor then you can start at the bottom in the bullpen. Effective today you and Ms. Lane here are partners-"

Both women protested loudly.

"Or you can both be fired!" he shouted angrily. "In the meantime, I'm promoting your former partner, Ms. Lane, to interim editor in chief. Now he's qualified and more than capable, editor of MetU's Paper, been breaking major stories since he was fifteen. Maybe you'll both learn something from him."

Lois looked properly chastised despite the start of a chagrined smile at the corners of her mouth.

"You, Ms. Mercer… Luthor… whatever will learn about reporting from Lane, you'll shadow her at work and maybe the both of you will produce something worth reading."

"Sir, about my story?" asked Lois.

"Front page of tomorrow's paper, excellent work, Ms. Lane. Now both of you get out of my office." He tossed Lois' article light back at her and shooed them both out with a wave of hands.

"Thank you, Mr. Burns," said Lois graciously. As soon as she turn her back to the boss she glared with as much anger as she could muster at Tess.

"This isn't over," hissed Tess softly as she walked from the office next to Lois.

"Not by a long shot," replied Lois quietly.

2008 – New York, New York – New York Observatory

"Hello," called Oliver into the dark spacious room. "Anyone home?"

"Come in," said a gentle voice, straining to be heard from a distance.

Oliver entered and weaved through the maze of incomplete exhibits and boxes of materials.

"Mr. Queen, welcome," said a man in a wheelchair.

"Mr. Swann, I got your message," said Oliver.

"I assumed as much," Virgil replied. "How have you been my boy?"

"Good thanks, really good actually. I never did get the chance to thank you for that information on my parents' deaths," said Oliver.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you justice sooner," said Virgil.

"I understand why you couldn't. Clark needed to be protected."

"I'm glad you understand," said Virgil.

"Anyway, your message said it was urgent so what can I do for you?"

"My Daughter has gone missing," said Virgil simply. "I have received no ransom demands or nor have any of my investigators found her. I was hoping to ask for your assistance in locating her."

"Of course, I'm surprised you didn't ask Clark first," said Oliver, curious as to why Clark wasn't asked.

Virgil smirked slightly. "Activate Gotham file."

Oliver watched as the screen behind the doctor activated, first displaying several news articles about a mysterious vigilante. It went on to name the vigilante as Batman. Then it started displaying a lot of information about Patricia Swann and her recent trip to Gotham and her activities while she was there.

"You are considerably more subtle than our friend Clark is. This Batman also doesn't seem the type to appreciate any intrusion into his turf and make no mistake, it is his turf," said Virgil.

"No kidding, this guy is nuts," said Oliver. "I mean, I'm crazy, all of us that dress up and play hero have to be at least a little crazy. This guy though is psychotic."

Virgil chuckled a bit. "Show file Dark Knight."

The next screen over flickered active, this time it showed several short video clips of the Batman in action.

"He drives a tank?" asked Oliver. "That is so unfair. How can he even afford some of that stuff? That's all high end military grade equipment, cutting edge too."

The next image flipped to a face he knew only too well.

"Bruce Wayne is funding him?"

The image flipped again to an old newspaper clipping showing the double slaying of Wayne's parents and his having witnessed the whole thing. The next few images tracked Bruce Wayne's movements across the world until his vanished in China for a few years until he finally re-emerged back in Gotham a few years ago preceding Batman by a few months.

"He stole my shtick," griped Oliver.

"Now that you are aware of what you'll be dealing with, are you willing to help locate my daughter?"

"Done," said Oliver, grinning a bit. "I haven't seen Bruce in years. This should be fun."

"Subtlety please, Mr. Queen."

"Right, he'll never know I was there," said Oliver, clearly lying through his teeth.

2008 – Smallville, Kanas – Kent Farm

"What are you doing, Courtney?" asked Sylvester harshly. "These aren't the staff. You can't treat them like they are. Alone they don't pack the same kind of power the staff does, you need to learn to work them in conjunction."

"I'm trying," retorted Courtney with a huff of irritation. "I'm just not used to them yet."

"And you never will be if you keep falling back on old habits. That staff was always too big for you to control, the wands are more your size. You can move faster with them and still use all the same abilities but not if you don't work them in conjunction."

Courtney growled and stomped her foot.

"Ten laps, go," said Sylvester, pointing toward the barn door.

"Way harsh," said Ryan.

"Did I say you could talk, you just lowed three inches because of it," snapped Sylvester.

Ryan was sitting with legs crossed and his hands resting palms up on top of his knees. He was currently floating a foot above the ground… nine inches above the ground.

"Discipline, Ryan, if you ever want to really fly you can allow yourself to get distracted now, your six hour timer just reset."

Ryan wanted to protest badly but knew if he did that Sylvester would just make it worse. Ryan was surprised when a bale of hay was thrown at him hitting him in the chest and sending him sprawling.

"Next time, I expect you to catch that and throw it back at me only using telekinesis and you'd better not drop an inch while you do it," said Sylvester. "Now, back to floating."

"Sir, yes, sir," was Ryan's barely audible sarcastic reply.

He was beaned with another bale of hay for his trouble.

2008 – Gotham City, New Jersey – Wayne Enterprises

"As I live and breathe, Oliver Queen, paying me a visit," joked Lucius Fox. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"What? I can't just drop in and say hello to my competition once in a while?" asked Oliver, greeting the man with a firm handshake.

"Come now, Mr. Queen. I'm not nearly that naïve," said Lucius with a friendly enough smile.

"Fair enough," said Oliver, opening his briefcase and handing the man a file from within it.

Lucius took the offered file and began to peruse the information.

"Simply spectacular," said Lucius.

"Clean, cheap in the long term," said Oliver.

"But a very expensive prospect to start up… and not quite complete… ah, I see."

"Waynetech has made some very significant strides lately in cooling systems which is where we're coming up short. The solar collection is astounding but it burns out so fast cause we can't get the cooling right."

"But we can," said Fox. "To think, a single one foot by one foot solar panel could generate enough electricity to power an entire city block for a week with just one hour of sunlight. This crystal technology is beyond anything I've ever encountered."

"It's the future, if we can keep the damn thing from burning up after ten minutes. We've considered putting together an artic station for it but the power loss by the time it would get to a city, any city, and the infrequency of sunlight due to storms and other extremes made that moot. Same with space, it would be fine on satellites and space stations but useless to us here on the ground."

"So this would be a joint effort then?" asked Lucius.

"That's the idea," said Oliver. "Both our companies do a lot of good for the world, this is just the next step and I couldn't think of a better company to partner with on this."

"First, let's find out if it's even possible to make this work," said Lucius.

"And do that we need to have legal contract so that our guys can talk to each other," said Oliver.

"I'll get the ball rolling with my legal team, I'm sure yours is already expecting the call?"

"Ready and waiting," said Oliver with a grin. "But for now a handshake will due." He held out a hand to Lucius.

"Yes it will," said Lucius, shaking the offered hand.

"So, I'll be in town for the next few weeks while we get this all sorted out. So tonight, I expect you and the reclusive playboy to show up for dinner, I won't take no for an answer."

"I'll talk to him but with him there is no telling," said Lucius, amusement clear in his voice.

"Don't make me hunt him down and drag him out to dinner kicking and screaming," joked Oliver.

"I'll be sure to tell him you said that. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it," said Lucius.

"Right, my PA will call with the dinner confirmation," said Oliver, typing rapidly on his PDA.

"Let me walk you out," offered Lucius, leading the way.

2008 – Gotham City, New Jersey – Wayne Manor

"Good afternoon, Alfred," greeted Lucius as he entered the estate mansion.

"Mr. Fox, always a pleasure," Alfred replied with a kind smile and a hand shake.

"So where is he hiding today?"

"Believe it or not he's in the library reading a book… for fun no less," joked Alfred.

"Is he dying?"

Both men laughed at the joke.

"You know the way, I'll bring some coffee," said Alfred, taking the man's coat and hat.

Lucius walked through the vacant home toward the library. He'd met with Bruce there several times in the past in the library for various reasons.

"Lucius, did I miss a meeting today?" asked Bruce, checking his watch as the man entered.

"No, no such luck," said Lucius.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I had an interesting visitor today."

"Oh yeah, anyone I'd know?"

"Oliver Queen," he answered.

"And what did the drama Queen want?"

"To partner with us on an energy project," said Lucius.

Bruce's face instantly darkened. "How did he find out?"

"It's not your project," said Lucius. "In fact, this little project makes yours look… what's the word I'm looking for here… ah yes, junk."

Bruce had to blink several times at that news. "Run that by me again?"

"One of his subsidiaries. A Watchtower International LLC has developed a crystal technology solar panel."

"Can it be weaponized?"

"Believe it or not, I don't think so, not in this case, not unless someone makes giant strides in energy weapon technology. The energy itself is extremely stable, the only problems they've had is in cooling the converters until it can be distributed or stored. Right now it literally just ends up melting the converter because it just can keep cool," explained Lucius.

Bruce looked at him doubtfully.

"Look for yourself," said Lucius, handing him the same file he'd gotten from Oliver earlier in the day.

Bruce took the folder and read through the brief. "Is this even possible?"

"I think so," said Lucius. "It's only a brief but the theory is sound. The lawyers still have to argue through patents and all that before we can get a look behind the curtain but if this is the real deal then…"

"This would revolutionize energy overnight," said Bruce, truly astonished. "Everything could run off this, cars, planes, cities… everything."

"Which makes me cautious. This is way too good to be true," said Lucius.

"It's still worth looking into," said Bruce. "What do we know about the Watchtower subsidiary?"

"Not much yet," said Lucius. "We know they are very heavy R&D. Their base of operations is in Metropolis. They are just over a year old and Oliver Queen has pushed millions into them since he acquired them a week after they opened their doors."

"And if this tech is the real deal it will be worth trillions," said Bruce, handing the folder back to Lucius.

"Which is why we're having dinner with Mr. Queen tonight, both of us."

Bruce frowned. "I can't get out of this one can I?"

"No, but if makes you feel any better, Mr. Queen said he'd drag you out of here kicking and screaming if he had to," joked Lucius.

Bruce snorted with laughter. "I'd like to see him try."

2008 – Gotham City, New Jersey – Pinnacle Restaurant

"Bruce, old buddy, old pal, how you been," greeted Oliver, his normal grin plastered on his face.

"Oliver, good to see you, it's been too long," Bruce greeted in return. Both greeting were fake but it didn't stop the need for the niceties to be observed.

Both men took a minute to measure the other. Bruce was clearly hiding something the cane he seemed to be leaning heavily against while Oliver was way too aware of everything in the room that was going on not that either would acknowledge it as either could easily explain it away.

"Skiing or polo?" Oliver asked, motioning to the cane.

"Cartilage in my knees are shot and nerve damage in my lower back. One very nasty skiing accident about a year ago."

"Damn," said Oliver mildly impressed. For this man to have that kind of damage and still be walking was impressive. "If you want, I've got some friends that could probably fix that."

"I doubt you've got any friends I don't," said Bruce, jokingly as he pat his check book in his jacket pocket.

"You'd be surprised, it's on the real deal," said Oliver.

"I'll think about," said Bruce, finally sitting at the table.

"Lucius, good to see you again," said Oliver, finally greeting the man.

"Mr. Queen," nodded Lucius, taking his seat.

"So, who's drinking with me?" asked Bruce.

"Oh, no, no booze for me," said Oliver. "Last time I drank I woke up on a deserted island for five years."

"Fair enough," said Bruce. "I hope you don't mind if I imbibe anyway."

"Feel free," said Oliver.

"I think I'll have a scotch myself," said Lucius. "It's been a busy day thanks to you, Mr. Queen."

"I aim to please," said Oliver. "Its exciting stuff right?"

"I have a concern though," added Bruce. "This tech, it's so advanced, what's to stop someone from making this into the next atom bomb?"

"It's the crystals," said Oliver. "The energy they emit is too stable, the conductors would melt before that much energy could build up."

"And when the conductors do melt, what happens to the crystals, do they just keep storing the energy or what?"

"Once the crystal reaches capacity it stops absorbing energy and the crystals themselves are so stable you could smash them all day and not get them to explode." Oliver looked around briefly before leaning forward and whispering. "Best of off, these babies could withstand a nuclear blast and not get a scratch."

"Are you telling me these could act as shield from a nuclear attack?" asked Lucius, stunned.

"Not exactly, it's more like the nuclear energy would pass through them but leave nothing behind, no radiation or heat," said Oliver.

"My god," gasped Lucius. "I truly hope you're not blowing smoke here Mr. Queen."

"Of course not, not about something like this. Look, this is on the level, I never would have come to see you both in person if it wasn't," said Oliver sincerely, and it was true. This was tech that Clark and his AI daddy said would be a good starting point, something they could donate to the world without endangering it. But it did open the door for Oliver to partner with Wayne and save himself some funds on the cooling systems he'd have to pay to develop otherwise.

"Well, you've got my attention," said Bruce. "As soon as the lawyers finish their nonsense I hope we can make this work."

"Me too," said Oliver. "But speaking of getting attention. You're never gonna guess who called me this morning. You remember Virgil Swann."

"Oh god, I haven't heard that name in years. I remember seeing him a few times with my parents… he had a daughter right… what was her name?"

"Pasty-Patty. At least that was what I used to call her when they'd visit my parents. Patricia Swann, apparently she's quite the looker these days," said Oliver.

"How about that?"

"How is old Virgil these days?" asked Lucius.

"He seems good," said Oliver. "I guess he heard I was in Gotham and wanted me to check on Patricia. She's been here a few weeks doing something or other but apparently she hasn't checked in, in a while."

"Is she in trouble?" asked Bruce, his full attention captured.

"Don't know," said Oliver with a shrug. "I swung by her hotel, apparently she ran out on the bill which is odd but maybe daddy cut her off. Don't really care much. I'll call Virgil in the morning and let him know, see what he has to say but it's not really my problem. Or yours for that matter."

"No, definitely not our problem but make sure you contact the authorities if you need to after to talk to Virgil tomorrow. As much as we're under a microscope by the media we have to be careful," said Bruce.

"Of course," said Oliver. "Who knows, maybe she's having a tryst with that Batdude you guys have running around here these days."

"The Batman? Oh, that's a good one," said Bruce, forcing a laugh.

"I can picture it now," laughed Oliver. "Honey, do you have to wear the mask during sex?" he imitated a woman's voice as best he could.

Bruce twitched slightly but managed to force another laugh.

"Ah, to be young," said Lucius. "Why don't you young people have fun, I'm going home to my wife."

"Oh, come on, Lou, stay and have dinner with us. I promise, no more lewd Batman jokes," said Oliver. "At least, not until after dinner."

"All the same, you two have fun tonight. Go out, pick up some girls. Enjoy it," said Lucius.

"I'll stop by the office tomorrow," said Bruce, standing to shake Lucius' hand before he left.

Oliver mimicked the farewell to Lucius. "So, have you seen this Batguy?"

2008 – Metropolis, Kansas – Daily Planet

"Clark, I swear, if I have to be partnered with her for even one more minute I'll kill her," complained Lois loudly. She was pacing in front of his new temporary desk.

"Lois, she had only been your partner for an hour," said Clark calmly, but based on the glare Lois was now leveling at him was the wrong thing to say.

"That's two hours too long," said Lois.

Clark had to pause a minute to do the math on her statement but decided to let it go. "What story are you both working on?"

"Nothing yet, every time I suggest something she shoots it down," said Lois.

"Are all of your suggestions pertaining to Luthor?"

"Not the point," said Lois.

"Has she made any suggestions?"

"Only one," said Lois, almost growling. "She wants investigate corruption."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"At the state senate, specifically the corruption of one Jonathan Kent," said Lois.

Clark actually snorted a laugh. "So do it."

"What? You can't possibly think your dad is… oh… oh that's just mean. God, I love you," she said, changing her tune quickly. She gave him a quick kiss before skipping out of his office to the elevator.

Lois was almost whistling as she rode the elevator down to the bullpen to meet her new partner.

"Okay Tess, time to go," said Lois, grabbing her purse and swinging it over her shoulder.

"Go? Go where?" asked Tess, looking up from her nail file that she was moments ago using to clean up her cuticles while also contemplating using it to stab Lois in the jugular.

"Topeka, you wanted to investigate corruption in the state senate and the editor agrees it would make for a great story if it's true."

"Wait, what?" asked Tess, her eyes widening in shock.

"Yep, said it's a good idea to investigate. To really dig into the dirt of politicians and their wrong doings. This is going to be a great first time experience for you. We'll take separate cars just in case we need to split up."

"Okay," said Tess. She was slightly dazed by how quickly things were shifting and changing.

Lois couldn't help the slightly evil sounding cackle escaping her as she drove towards Topeka.

2008 – Gotham City, New Jersey – Des Par Hotel

Oliver perched in his Green Arrow costume on a ledge across from Patricia Swann's hotel room, hidden in the shadows waiting for Bruce, aka Batman to show up and start investigating.

It was late when the Batman finally showed up, scaling down the building from the roof. Oliver watch through his binoculars and was slightly impressed considering the damage to the man's knees and back. He pushed a button on the binoculars that flipped the image to x-ray. He was shocked to see a very high tech motorized brace on Batman's legs and back, strapped so tightly to his body it was cutting into his skin. Oliver knew the man wouldn't be able to wear that for long but it would do to get his mission done.

"Now how does he get all those cool toys? I'm going to have words with Chloe when I get home about this."

"I heard that Oliver. You do know you're transmitting right?"

"Sorry, thought Lois was on duty tonight," said Oliver.

"She got assigned a new partner at the Planet today," explained Chloe, through barely restrained peals of laughter.

"Oh, do tell," said Oliver, curious now.

"Tess Mercer," she squeaked out, still laughing.

"That could be considered cruel and unusual punishment in some countries," joked Oliver.

"It gets better, Clark was made editor temporarily right. So Tess and Lois were fighting over what story to pursue and Tess' only suggestion was corruption in the state senate, specifically of Jonathan Kent."

"I can't imagine Clark or Lois liked that," said Oliver, he was using his binoculars to watch the Batman going through Patricia's room for evidence. Eventually the man found a number of hairs and some kind of gel that he bottled up and left with.

"Just the opposite. Lois and Clark know he's not corrupt so they basically sent Lois and Tess on a wild goose chase with Lois leading the way. You'll have to watch the camera footage so far. Lois had Tess going through the trash at the Senator's office where she met ass first with the staff's Chinese take-out."

"Nice," said Oliver, with a chuckle. "You'll have to show me later. Right now the Bat is on the move."

"Good luck and stay safe. We'll monitor from here. If you get into trouble Girl Scout is on stand-bye."

"Roger that, Watchtower." Oliver used a ripcord to traverse to yet another roof a few buildings away from where Batman had climbed inside some kind of hover-jet once again making Oliver feel slightly jealous. Oliver fired up the Javelin and followed at a distance, barely tracking him even with its advanced systems.

Oliver followed him to the roof of a police station where he watched a meeting between the Batman and man Watchtower identified as Chief of Police Gordon. It was slightly surprising considering the man was wanted for a murder he didn't commit.

"I'm gonna go say hi," said Oliver.

"Ollie, that's not a good idea and you're not even listening to," said Chloe into his ear even as he repelled to the roof.

"Sorry for crashing the party," said Oliver, enjoying the look of surprise from the Chief and anger on Batman's face.

"You won't take me so easy," said Batman, stepping back defensive.

"Relax rodent boy," said Oliver. "I'm not here for you, not to mention you're innocent."

"So what do you want?" asked Gordon, regaining some of his baring.

"I'm looking for someone. Patricia Swann, your rat with wings here got to her hotel room before I could. So I'm gonna try this the friendly way, see if we can't work together to recover this young woman," explained Oliver, his bow was collapsed at his hip within easy reach.

"Do you know why she was in Gotham?" asked Gordon.

"It's unclear. The only thing I know about her is that she has a penchant for sticking her nose into places a rich princess shouldn't. In this case, something to do with Gotham Orphanage and their lost funding."

"Dangerous place for anyone these days," said Gordon.

"Why would she be looking into something like that? Doesn't the Wayne foundation fund it already?"

"You've been out of touch for too long, Batman. The Wayne Foundation stopped funding the orphanages almost a year ago," said Gordon.

"Could this be tied to the other issue?' asked Batman, his voice intentionally gravelly.

"What other issue?"

"We've been getting reports about a lot of underground movement. We've picked up a few kids with wads of cash coming out of the sewers and underground tunnels. They aren't talking of course but it does concern me," explained Gordon.

"I see," said Oliver. He remained silent for a minute as he contemplated.

"Ollie, this is big," said Chloe. "Our satellite is picking up a lot of activity underground. Hundreds of people, explosives wired all over the city. This is really bad. You need to get the full team there now."

"Right, contact General Lane, mobilize everyone," said Oliver, confusing both Batman and Gordon.

"Already reaching out," said Chloe.

"Thanks, Watchtower," said Oliver. He then focused in on Gordon and Batman. "Sorry gentlemen. That was our command center Watchtower. She did a massive satellite scan of the city and it's bad. Worse than either of you can imagine. There are hundreds of people under the city, most of it focused under Wayne's R&D and the Gotham Stadium. You've also got thousands of pounds of explosives wired all over the city."

"Oh dear god," gasped Gordon.

"So, I've got a full team mobilized and on their way." He paused for a moment as Clark landed next to him followed a second later by Kara. Clark wore his blue body suit with the El symbol and pair of blue jeans while Kara now wore a skin tight blue and red body sue trench dress with knee high boots and the El symbol emblazoned proudly across her chest.

"Eager much?" asked Oliver, "I thought I'd have more time to explain.

"Dude, this better be important, I was in the middle of a burrito binge," said Bart, blurring in a moment later.

"Stop thinking with your stomach," snapped Kara. "We have been called in for a reason."

"And my stomach is a reason unto itself, chica," said Bart.

"Impulse, enough," said Clark firmly. "Sorry, we're your first response team. General Sam Lane will be contacting you in a moment Chief Gordon." No sooner had the words left Clark's mouth and the man's phone began to ring.

Gordon blinked in surprise as he retrieved his phone from his coat pocket. "Hello, this Gordon… General Lane, sir, I was told… yeah… I understand… I see… Thank you sir." He hung up.

"The General is sending one of his aids, a Major Wes Keenan should be here in a few hours."

"The rest of our team should arrive here around the same time," said Clark.

"What, uh, should I call you?"

"I operate by code name Boy Scout, she's Girl Scout, that's Impulse and you've already met Green Arrow," said Clark introducing the team.

"What are you?" asked Batman, finally chipping in his own question.

"What I am isn't important. That I am here to help is important," said Clark. "You have your secrets and so do I so let's agree to leave it at that."

"Fine, so what's the plan?" asked Batman.

"First, we need intelligence. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to orchestrate a massive disaster," began Oliver. "Impulse, go for a run down there. Make sure your vid is set to ultrahigh speed, we don't need any blurry images."

"Back in a flash," said Bart, vanishing in a blur of speed a moment later.

Clark held out two communication ear buds to each Batman and Gordon. "This will allow you to keep in touch with the team and our command center Watchtower."

Batman took on reluctantly but fit it into his ear all the same. Gordon was less hesitant taking the ear bud and putting it in his ear.

Bart returned just then.

"That was fast, even for you," said Oliver.

"Yeah, I'm not getting into that place without a howitzer or Boy Scout. Pressure sensitive plates, sonic motion sensors, defensive auto turrets, and big doors. Someone really doesn't want anyone down there," explained Bart.

"Who could afford to put all that in place?" asked Kara.

"Watchtower, chase the money," ordered Oliver.

"The money trail is a mess but it looks like it originated with one man, Ra's Al Ghul, wait… no, his daughter. Talia Al Ghul, running facial recognition now."

"Ra's Al Ghul," whispered Batman.

"You know him?"

"Once," said Batman. "A long time ago, then I found out his true motives. He's dead and has been for a while now."

"Did you kill him?" asked Oliver.

"No, but I didn't save him either."

"So Talia wants payback?" asked Oliver.

"Maybe," said Bruce.

"Found her. She is currently using an alias right there in Gotham. One Miranda Tate, she currently sits on the board of Wayne Enterprises as a major shareholder."

"This is bad," said Batman, turning quickly and running to his Wraith.

"Where is he going in such a rush?" asked Oliver.

"Girl Scout, go with him," ordered Clark.

Kara nodded then floated up off the roof and flew after Batman.

"We need to get a lot more information. Boy Scout, see what you can find on Miranda Tate aka Talia Al Ghul and see what you can dig up on any known associates. Impulse, Watchtower is going to guide you through the city to start disarming some of the explosives, the ones least likely to be noticed at least. Gordon, you and I are going to start planning a city wide evacuation just in case it becomes necessary."

"Err, are you going to be able to get into my office looking like that?"

"I'll see you in there in a few minutes," said Oliver.