The Labyrinth

Chapter 2: Catch You If I Can. And Yeah, I Can

"FLASH!" Batman yelled, watching the speedster go down, a few bullets peppered in his legs. The bright red man was on the ground, hopefully unconscious, when a wave of dark military men overtook the wounded meta.

The bat vigilante dove to the side to avoid another spray of bullets, then the wall next to where Batman landed exploded in a giant flash bang. He grunted and tugged his cape over himself, grabbing at his grappling wire to swing away. He shot through the sky, eyes blinking out the white spots and breathing heavily with the tough fight.

His escape was cut short as the structure the grapple had latched onto broke, a stray explosive from where Superman was dealing with the bazukas. Luckily he was close enough to only miss the roof by a single floor.

He latched onto a window ledge, heaving himself upwards and over the lip of the roof, landing in a heap on top of a building. Keeping crouched, he scuttled behind a smoke stack, peaking into the battlefield as he drew out his grappling wire, only to have Wonder Woman leap up next to him and offer her lasso.

"We're not getting anywhere here Batman, we need to regroup." She spoke, a few strands of her midnight hair getting in her face and her forehead sported a few scuff marks, as did the rest of her body. Batman stayed silent, not yet reaching for the offered rope and observing the battle.

The offer was retracted as they both dropped because a nearby explosion nearly offed them from the roof, showering dust and building remnants over the duo. "This doesn't seem right." She said, shaking her head that was covered in a layer of fine building dust, her back to the lip and wary eyes located on The Dark Knight.

Batman nodded in agreement, not bothering to dust off and taking a moment to look over the edge and into the war zone below. It was chaos for sure, men in dark combat suits with the acronym M.A.Z.E. stamped on their shoulders were attacking the newly formed Justice League, the League that fought to protect metahumans and their rights. Most people feared them, and they should, but they were not against humans, they just wanted the slaughter of innocent people to stop.

Green Arrow was unconscious, his bow broken beside him and already he disappeared from view just like Flash had. But Batman's quick eyes saw both a flash of green and red further away, they were taking the unconscious leaguers to the side where hidden heavy-duty meta-containment trucks awaited.

The white lenses of his cowl widened in recognition, he eased it back into a scowl as he slid back down, facing the meta before him. "It's a set up, they're here for you."

"Me?" Wonder Woman asked, genuinely confused. Another explosion broke in the sky above them, causing both to shelter for a moment.

When Batman's ears stopped ringing and his eyes stopped swimming he leaned over the edge again, taking in the tide and huffing as he slid back down. "All of you, the metahumans." He clarified, the pit in his stomach since Dick was taken two days ago increasing tenfold at the sight of his beaten teammates.

Wonder Woman was not deterred, giving the bat a slight glare. "I'm well aware of our positions in society Batman, I-"

"They just captured Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and The Flash." He interrupted with a snap. "If we don't do something fast then soon there's going to be nothing for Metahumans to look up to. Hope is a powerful thing, granted I would have thought we'd make more of a difference, but Metahumans are still oppressed and living in constant fear. We were the only buffer between Metahumans and their annihilation. If we fall then every Meta will know exactly how horrible the nature of man can be."

They were fish in a barrel down there, more than half of the Justice League was already taken. He didn't need to look to know Aquaman was down, the water no longer reached into the sky to stop explosions and the rest of the league was suffering for it. Green Arrow and Flash were already in the trucks, unconscious and battered. Martian Manhunter had his weakness to fire exploited and Superman was a vulnerable heap at the bottom of a crater, exposed to the rare green element that got past his impenetrable skin and negated his powers of flight, heat vision and strength.