LOOTING DC #25. The Dark Side of the League
The lab stank of ozone and desperation.
Banks of machinery lined the obsidian walls, glowing with eerie green-blue pulses. In the center stood Professor Anthony Ivo - thin, pale, sweat-drenched - hunched over a pulsating mass of biotech wiring that resembled both a heart and a war crime.
"You listen to me, you empty-skulled parasite," the woman behind him growled, voice vibrating with venom and authority. "You finish this project. Or it's not just Arkham you're going back to. It's the Phantom Zone."
Ivo flinched. "You… You can't-"
"Oh, I can," she cut him off, eyes gleaming with tyrannical promise. "And trust me, you'll be begging for Arkham when you're freezing alone in the howling void."
She was tall, impossibly built - her suit hugging a frame made for gods. But something about her was different. Something about this project... this place... ignited her darker, most unhinged impulses.
She wasn't typical Wonder Woman any time she was here - not really. Even if she wore the look, and the lasso.
"If you can reassemble a goddamn apocalyptic android in twelve hours," she hissed, jabbing a finger at the bioweapon's pulsing container, "then what's so hard about cracking the DNA sequence on Subject One-Double-Zero?"
Ivo trembled, stammering. "It's not - it's not just - science-"
A comm crackled. A voice. Sharp, male.
"Superman to Wonder Woman."
The woman's head whipped toward the ceiling like a hawk spotting prey. "What?!"
"Uh... we've got a situation," Superman's voice hesitated. "Code seventy-two delta. Infiltration. Contact Red Tornado and Black Canary. I need you to find the others."
She seethed, growling under her breath. "Arghh - fine."
Ivo took the smallest, quietest step back.
"But this isn't over, freak," she snarled at him. "You finish working on Subject 100. Or I finish you."
She stormed off, the door hissing open as if afraid not to obey.
What she didn't notice - what she couldn't see amid her frustrations - was the red blur tucked behind a support column. Wide eyes. Bated breath. Recording every word.
Kid Flash exhaled slowly, then vanished in a streak of lightning.
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"Let me get this straight," Superboy said, arms crossed as the wind from Wally's arrival settled. "You are telling me that..."
His voice trailed. He couldn't put two and two on what Kid Flash had just blabbed.
Kid Flash was panting. "I'm telling you man... The League... Wonder Woman. She's gone psycho. Biochemical weapon..."
"Take a breath, Wally," Kaldur said with patience. "What exactly are you saying."
Kid Flash breathed, evenly distributing the adrenaline in his system with vibrations.
"Remember how the League said they took Ivo to prison?" he started.
"Yeah," Kaldur said. "They put him in Arkham."
"They didn't," Kid Flash said. "They're working with him."
Superboy's brows furrowed. "That doesn't make sense."
"Exactly!" Wally said, pointing a frantic finger. "And it gets worse. Ivo's working on something called Subject One-Double-Zero. A biological weapon. She practically threatened to warp him into the Phantom Zone if he didn't finish."
"That can't be true," Kaldur said over comms. "The League are the good guys."
"Let me break this down for you," Wally snapped. "They are not what you think. Superman's already found Robin. And they're coming for us next."
Static hissed through the comms.
"Kaldur?" Wally said. "Hello?"
No answer. Just interference.
"Damn it," Connor muttered, tightening his fists. "What now?"
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Elsewhere.
"Damian, stop!" Superman's voice echoed across the metal corridor, arms up, cape down, trying to de-escalate.
A barrage of green-tinted shuriken forced him to dodge left, his shoulder singed from the trailing edge of kryptonite dust.
"I said make this interesting," Damian snarled. He was already airborne, twin batons crackling green as he launched into a flurry of attacks.
"Damian, listen to me!" Superman blocked the blows, deflecting three, absorbing two more into his ribs. "You, more than anyone, should understand why-"
"I'm no stranger to betrayal," Damian spat, flipping mid-air and landing behind him. "Between me and you, I'm surprised it took three years to finally see what's underneath the mask."
Superman winced. Another pulse of kryptonite sizzled against his skin.
"This isn't what it looks like," Superman said, voice firm. "We're trying to prevent something worse. This is damage control."
Damian didn't answer.
Another blade sliced across Superman's chest, cutting through the S.
Enough.
In a single, lightning-fast blur, Superman closed the distance, grabbed Damian by the shoulders, and pushed him back hard against the wall - not enough to break anything, but enough to pin him.
"Enough, Damian!" he snapped - voice louder than he intended, eyes flaring with heat vision barely held in check. "No one wants any of this. Listen first."
Damian struggled, teeth clenched, still trying to raise one of his batons, but his arms were trembling.
"I'm done listening," he spat. "You're no different from them. Working on a biochemical weapon?"
He sneered. "Let me guess - Subject One-Double-Zero is younger than me."
The words hit like a slap. Superman saw it - saw the pain hiding behind the defiance. Saw the fight still burning in the boy's eyes, even as his body betrayed him. Heard the echoes of the past through his heartbeat.
"Stop," Superman said again, softer now, almost pleading. "I think it's time you learned the real truth about what happened three years ago."
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Two levels below, Kaldur and Miss Martian ran into Black Canary, while Red Tornado intercepted Kid Flash and Superboy. The League members tried to de-escalate - but things went sideways anyway.
Meanwhile, high above, Wonder Woman emerged onto the rooftop, scanning for additional threats. What she found instead stopped her cold.
A duo stood across from her. One was tall, sleek, clad in a black suit patterned with a subtle but unmistakable web motif. The other - bow drawn, stance locked - was a woman she hadn't seen in years.
Her heart sank.
"Artemis?" Wonder Woman said, voice soft with disbelief. "What - why are you here?"
"It's Tigress now," Artemis said, cold and unwavering as she took aim. "And I'm here to undo what you did two years ago."
"Straight to business," Jake said beside her, crouching low, ready for combat.
"Wait-" Wonder Woman raised a hand, trying to halt the confrontation - but the plea hit dead ears.
Jake understood why.
He'd seen it - through the Web of Life.
This world's canon had been scrambled, the deck reshuffled, but with enough focus - especially by anchoring to the image of Raven - he could amplify his Spider-Sense beyond reflexive danger detection. He could peer into the threads of past and future. Not full visions. Just glimpses - enough.
Enough to understand Artemis's pain. Her betrayal. Why she had turned away from the so-called "heroes"… and chosen Sportsmaster and Cheshire instead.
It was more than a power. It was a tactical edge - perfect for infiltration, threat assessment, and building a real-time profile of anyone he crossed paths with. A living, breathing database, enhanced with every thread he touched.
The downside? Cooldown time. The Web didn't like being yanked too hard or too often.
But it worked well enough for now. And he liked the upgrade.
Artemis fired the first arrow without warning - smoke-tipped, fast, and followed by two more in tight succession. Wonder Woman deflected the first, caught the second, and let the third explode behind her as she stepped forward.
"You don't have to do this," she said.
"I do," Artemis replied, drawing again and charging.
She moved fast, aiming low, going for the legs. A sweep, then a punch, then a quick jab with a shock arrow.
Wonder Woman blocked the punch, twisted the jab away, and shoved her back.
Artemis stayed on her feet and came again. Two arrows at close range. One meant to blind. One to bleed.
The first missed. The second was caught and snapped.
Wonder Woman advanced, grabbed Artemis's wrist mid-draw, and threw her across the rooftop. Artemis rolled and came up fast, already reloading.
Another volley.
Three arrows. One high. One mid. One for the knee.
Wonder Woman ducked under the first, knocked aside the second, and caught the third with her bracer.
Then she moved.
A lunge, a measured kick, a controlled punch to the gut that broke Artemis's stance.
The bow clattered away.
Artemis tried to spin-kick. It was caught.
She went down hard.
Before she could rise again, the lasso lashed out and wrapped around her arm.
"Stay down," Wonder Woman warned.
Artemis snarled, reaching for a hidden blade-
Thwip.
A web shot wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.
Jake dropped between them, planting himself between Artemis and the next hit.
"Okay," he said flatly, catching Artemis's glare. "You're not winning this one."
Artemis pulled at the webbing, furious.
Jake didn't budge. He stared up at Wonder Woman, posture tight.
"My turn."
May I have this one? I'm 54 minutes past my deadline but you wouldn't mind, would you? Streak: Day 2/10
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