Shadow

1.5 Oh Great, The Old Guy's Back

Lily sat on the floor of the cave watching Aqualad and Robin spar. She felt like it had been going on for hours but they finally stopped when Conner, M'gann and Wolf walked in. She saw the two lean in to whisper to each other, and being the nosy person she was, she walked over to hear the conversation as Wally and Artemis walked into the room.

"Do we tell them?" Robin said quietly.

"It is not our place," Aqualad replied. Lily was lost and had no idea what they were talking about. Should have got here earlier. She cursed herself.

"So if Zatara's our babysitter of the week, why is he still here?" Lily looked over to see Captain Marvel eating something.

"And why is he eating my snacks?" Wally complained.

The zeta tubes announced Batman's arrival and he walked to the holocomputer without a greeting. "Computer: National News."

The screen turned to Cat Grant speaking. "The initial attack was short-lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve, and despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."

"Should we get out there?" Wally asked. Excitement grew in Lily. Finally getting to work with the League would be a dream come true for the entire team.

"No." Batman crushed their hopes with one word. "The League will soon have the situation under control, that's not why I'm here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster's supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined it with Bane's venom to create Kobra venom." They kept talking about stuff that everyone was present for, which made Lily impatient. She just wanted to get to the point of what they were doing for the mission.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars, like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary."

Did they steal the collars, or do they have someone on the inside? Considering Batman didn't bring it up, she assumed he had it under control.

"Batman, is it possible that these plant thingys' are on Kobra venom too?"

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis. Divine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra venom variant."

"These cannot be coincidences, unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide."

"Exactly, it's now clear our enemies have formed some sort of... secret society of supervillains."

"Okay, wait. So every villain you've ever faced is teaming up to presumably take us all down?"

Now that doesn't sound terrifying at all.

"Yes, and it seems the attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"You got that right," Robin said as he brought up multiple news channels showing the plants had taken over a bunch of cities over the world. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-" He stopped talking when the screens turned to static and white noise.

"What did you do?" Lily said, instantly blaming him for the awful sound.

"It's not me. Someone's cutting the satellite signal – all satellite signals."

The static disappeared and the Joker's face filled the screens. He tapped the glass with his knuckles and Lily shuddered. She hated him and was glad he didn't live in Star City.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important message, from the Injustice League."

Shadow scoffed. "Red Arrow was a more original name than that."