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---Gotham City---
Date: December 20th, 2023
The city was enveloped by the nighttime darkness, only lit by the dim glow of moonlight as the city was covered by a blanket of snow. The sharp frost and jabbing cold pierced through whoever found themselves unlucky enough to be caught in it, forcing most of the city to stay indoors. Not even the criminal scumbags dared to step outside their homes, the bitter frost preventing even the most cold-hearted amongst them from taking advantage of the dim glow of the night.
Batman was watching over Gotham from a high vantage point, a knight observing his kingdom to protect it from all harm. But recently, the city was seeing an all-time low in crime, thanks to the heavy presence of the National Guard.
But now, the National Guard has been called back, leaving Batman to his devices to defend his city. More alone than before, now that most of his family was enjoying making their Christmas preparations or on holiday.
During the previous few weeks, in his investigation of the chemical weapon that the Quraci Military developed, he hasn’t been able to find much information; he was exhausting his options because all of the information he had been able to find was misleading him.
He had been unable to find out what the contents of the chemical weapon were, unable to find out where it was, unable to find out where it was being delivered, and unable to find out when and how, but he had a small clue on who was delivering it.
A part of his investigation included him travelling to Qurac to examine the bodies when they were in mortuaries, and he found no bullets inside, no spores of foreign chemicals, only slash marks from sharp weaponry, but there was a clear difference between how the female scientists were killed and how the male scientists were killed.
The male scientists were brutalised, missing body parts, and slit throats, but the female scientists were killed with what he would consider more merciful methods, mostly just being snapped necks.
This slightly narrowed down the investigation on who the perpetrators were and showed them to have a visible disdain towards men, but all of the possible rogues who’ve used sharp weapons don’t care whether their victims were male or female.
But nothing matches up; the League of Assassins wouldn’t use something as noisy as a WMD to further their goals; Deathstroke is in prison; and Cheetah was recently arrested by Wonder Woman, which has left him no options.
But another theory had revealed itself: what if Qurac hired the League of assassins to distract Batman and put him on the League trail instead of Qurac so that way they could detonate the bomb in a populated part of the United States?
When Batman attempted to interrogate high-ranking Quraci military officers or government workers, they all claimed to have no recollection of the existence of the lab. Perhaps an enclave of the Quraci government was creating the chemical weapon behind everyone’s back and intended on detonating it in Qurac while the US military is invading to either hamper their forces or put blame on America for detonating a chemical weapon, but that wouldn’t have worked because Batman would have still had evidence that Qurac developed chemical weapons.
Suddenly, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman’s father figure and butler, spoke over the communications earpiece he had and said, “Master Wayne, it appears there’s a group of intruders in the lower levels of Wayne Tower, all female.”
“Put the building on lockdown,” Batman orders as he jumps off the gargoyle he was using as a vantage point as he heads towards Wayne Tower in the middle of the city.
Batman soared through the snow-filled night, his cape billowing out behind him like dark wings as he glided silently toward the towering silhouette of Wayne Tower, a beacon in the Gotham skyline.
Diving down, he can see the front entrance on fire as he flies through one of the destroyed windows, landing as he looks at his surroundings.
He uses his grappling hook to get to a vantage point to overlook the area as he sees several women. From how they look, with some of them wearing what looks like Amazonian battle armour and especially the weapons that they are using, mostly battle axes and swords, they must be Amazons, but what do Amazons want with Wayne Enterprises?
The Amazons he’s looking at were varying in their equipment and weapons; some had assault rifles, some had swords, some were wearing their standard Amazonian battle armour, and some were wearing tactical gear to go with their guns.
They all wore much winter clothing to cope with the freezing weather that has covered Gotham City.
“Clark, get over to Wayne Tower; I’m seeing several Amazons,” Batman says as he uses his grappling hook again to swing across the area.
Apparently, they haven’t discovered him yet, so he must use the element of surprise against them.
From his vantage point, Batman's eyes caught sight of an Amazon who stood out from the rest. Her presence was commanding, with a tall figure and long blonde hair that shimmered in the dim light of the burning entrance. She moved with the grace and confidence of a seasoned warrior, her white clothing accented with gold plating and her golden tiara reflected in the firelight, marking her as important among the intruders.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Aresia, we found everything we need,” one of the Amazons said to the blonde.
Several more Amazons come up, discussing their plans with the blonde woman; it’s already clear that she is in charge of this little group.
“Her name is Aresia,” Batman thinks to himself as he tosses down a smoke pellet as he jumps down as well, utilising his martial arts against them.
All was going well for Batman as he threw several of the Amazons around before Aresia grabbed onto his cape and threw him across the facility.
He slams his back against a wall, his cape spreading out from the impact as he falls onto the ground, already knocked out.
The Amazons that were knocked out quickly woke up again and approached Batman as he lay helplessly on the ground as one of them prepared to behead him with a sword, but before they could proceed, a blue flash quickly went around the room, knocking back the approaching Amazons as the blue flash came to a halt and they all saw Superman.
Superman immediately helps his best friend up onto his feet and tells him, “Get outta here; I got this!” Confident in his strength, Batman uses a smoke pellet to once again hide in the shadows, making his escape.
Staring down the squadron of Amazons, Superman uses his superspeed to immediately disarm all of them, throwing away their swords and guns as he returns to the original position he stood in when he saved Batman.
The Amazons, frozen not only from the freezing cold but also from the speed at which Superman disarmed them, hold back from doing anything out of pure fear. Seeing how quickly Superman was able to disarm them before their leader, Aresia, threw a grenade at his feet as it promptly detonated, releasing a blue vapour of chemicals.
As Superman inhaled the chemicals, he collapsed onto the floor as sweat beads across his face, his eyes turning red in bloodshot as his nose started bleeding.
He starts coughing violently as his coughs gargle his blood and saliva, making it hard for him to breathe as his powers stop working; whatever Aresia threw at him must be very lethal, even for a normal human if it was able to bring down a Kryptonian.
Approaching the dying Kryptonian, Aresia pulls out a knife from her holster; its glowing green blade made it clear it was made from kryptonite, the only thing that can kill Superman.
She steps on his back with one foot as she lifts up his head by his hair, bending his back as she brings the knife to his neck, preparing to slit his throat and give a brutal demise to the man of steel, choking to death by his own blood.
But before she could slide the knife across his neck, the loud bang of a gun could be heard as the blade shatters, making Aresia look around to see Doomguy at the entrance of the room with his five-hundred magnum revolver at his hip, in the same fashion a gunslinger would fire.
The rest of the Amazons look on as they’re unable to make their next move until Aresia clicks a button on her utility belt as several bombs go off around the room, creating a smoke cloud that distracts Doomguy long enough for them to escape.
With the room now collapsing, Doomguy uses his dash ability to get over to Superman, lifting him up onto his arms in bridal fashion before using his dash ability again to get out of Wayne Tower as the roof of the floor collapses, revealing the floor above.
“What the hell was that?” Doomguy mutters under his breath as he watches the floor that he was on turn into a blaze; he puts Superman onto the ground as Wonder Woman arrives by his side.
“What happened to Clark?” Wonder Woman said as she knelt looking as she saw him breathe heavily, his veins bulging out of his head as his chest rose and fell like a man in the old West dying of tuberculosis with no reach of medication, forced no choice but to accept his fate.
“I don’t know; when I came in, I saw him covered in some blue gas,” Doomguy said as he turned around to look at his teammate, breathing helplessly on the floor.
“Doomguy, is your pantsuit airtight?” Batman asks, appearing near them, catching him off guard, How does that man even sneak past his primaeval senses like that?
Batman seemed very weary of being near Superman, as he remained roughly eight feet away from them.
“Yeah, why?” Doomguy asks, wondering about the urgency of knowing if his suit was pressurised or not.
“Whatever chemical affected Superman does not have any kryptonite dosage in it; it may be lethal for you and anyone who's near him. When we get back to the watchtower, we’ll thoroughly burn the suit while you’re in it to prevent infection,” Batman says as they all see the rest of the Justice League arrive.
Hal immediately uses his ring to pick up Superman, taking him to the watchtower for treatment as Batman looks over to Wonder Woman and asks her.
Doomguy looks back towards Wayne Tower as the GCPD along with firefighters arrive on the scene, running out into the cold to put down the flames that were torching the lower floors of the tower.
“Diana, the attack was done by several Amazons, but do you recognise the name, Aresia?” He asks, causing her to look at him with dread, realising who that is.
“Who the hell is Aresia?” Doomguy asks as he looks at the two.
“Doomguy, remember when I told you about a yellow-haired girl whom my mother and I saved?” Wonder Woman asked as she looked at Doomguy, breathing heavily as she turned around.
Doomguys eyes go wide open as he remembers their conversation from a few weeks back as he then asks, “So that little girl became a renegade Amazon, fucking why?” Doomguy ponders as he suddenly realises something.
“Batman, that missing chemical weapon, the dead Quraci soldiers,” Doomguy says as he slowly puts the pieces together.
“She’s using the gas they made against us,” Batman says.
“That’s the least of our worries.” Diana scrunches up her face in regret at what she’ll have to tell them.
“When Aresia first woke up, neither I nor my mother dared to say a thing about a man saving her, and so she and the rest of the Amazons spent their time training her, teaching her our ways. Our hatred towards man and all on how men were evil who could do no good.” Wonder Woman closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in as she continues telling the story. “And before I left Themyscira to fight in World War Two, Aresia asked me to kill every man I see.” Wonder Woman starts getting angry as she clenches both of her hands into fists.
To be honest with herself, Diana was tempted into doing what a little girl told her: wipe the slate clean and kill every single man that exists, but nearly three thousand years of anger towards men disappeared when she fought alongside the allied soldiers in the frontlines, every single one of those men who died unknowingly if a woman they love, whether it was their daughter, wife, or mother, would be safe.
But she remembers that the Amazons were created to teach men love and compassion, realising that she fulfilled her intended purpose as the princess of Themyscira, but Aresia doesn’t see that; she saw the worst in men when her country was attacked in World War II, losing her family and forcing her to flee.
“If she's left Themyscira with that philosophy in mind, we at least know who she might target and what her purpose is,” Batman says, understanding what Aresias goal is and what she is using to achieve that.
"Yeah, but how in the hell is she supposed to kill every man on earth?” He takes a small break to regain his breath. “Her and that little posse of Amazons might be able to kill a few dozen, even if they get the drop on us.” Doomguy argues, not seeing the danger in a small group of rogue Amazons.
“For someone who managed to get by my surveillance in Gotham, she wouldn’t bring her entire possession for one job; there has to be more.” Batman interjects, making Doomguy realise how big the situation is.