Justice League of America - Batman: The Stone King by Alan Grant (best books to read for self development .TXT) 📕

control. Somewhere deep inside his own mind, Peter Glaston's consciousness began to break apart. Stray thoughts and memories seemed to explode into oblivion as Peter Glaston was finally obliterated.

Forever.

The Stone King regarded the women as if they were laboratory animals. His eyes burned deep into them, seeming to strip away all the layers of civilization until their souls were laid bare before him.

Then he turned away. They no longer mattered. They were insignificant specks, not worth killing.

Waiting to face him was the Justice League.

CHAPTER 15

Puzzle Pieces

Don't look into his eyes!

Batman shot the urgent warning into the minds of his comrades, followed closely by: The women!

Green Lantern received the message and acted a nanosecond later. The beam from his ring formed itself into a gruesome emerald figure, with stumpy, jagged wings on its back. It swooped down and swept up Cassandra and Jenny, one under each arm.

Batman and J'onn J'onzz exchanged a puzzled look, but neither spoke.

Almost instantaneously, Lantern's demonic green figure deposited the two women back where they'd parked Jenny's car, leaving them standing confused and bewildered.

Outside the Stone King's sphere of influence, the pyramid and everything it contained had become invisible to them again. They were alone with the moon and the windswept grass, backed by the rushing waters of the nearby Gotham River.

Sorry about the demonic imagery, Lantern apologized to no one in particular, as his creation disappeared again. Didn't have time to think of a more suitable alternative.

The others were standing in a loose semicircle, almost filling the chamber with their presence.

The Stone King faced them, immobile but alert, jagged balls of plasmoid lightning darting around his fingertips. Every now and again his entire body pulsed slightly, as if he was receiving an unseen electric shock.

He's sizing us up, Superman thought.

The Man of Steel did a little sizing up of his own as he scrutinized the motionless shaman. My heat vision could take him down. Or I could use my speed and strength to capture him before he's aware of what's happening.

We have already tried, Martian Manhunter pointed out He's protected by a force field. We don't know the full extent of his powers, only that he can somehow tap into the energies of the planet itself.

Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern all broadcast the same thought. How could he possibly siphon off Earth's energies?

Believe it, Batman informed them. Since the Stone King captured you four, there have been major incidents at dozens of sites across the globe. A lot of deaths, a lot of damage. I've called up all of the League's reserve members to handle the crisis, but unless we configure out how to defeat the Stone King, it'll all be to no avail. As far as J'onn and I can tell, he finished grimly, his aim is to destroy the world in precisely–Batman depressed a stud on the wrist of his gauntlet, and the HUD display inside his cowl lit up briefly–Twenty-three minutes. Midnight, local time.

And that's what he's waiting for? The Flash was outraged. More to the point, what are we waiting for? I could create an instant vacuum at super speed, deny him all oxygen–

Your idea might work, Batman admitted. So might Superman's. Our problem is: what happens if they don't?

He waited, but no one answered him.

The Stone King is obviously preparing himself now, J'onn J'onzz thought. Even though the pieces of this puzzle have yet to fall together, we must act before it is too late.

Galvanized by Manhunter's solemn finality, Batman turned to Green Lantern. Is there anything more your ring can tell us?

The Emerald Warrior shook his head. No. I tried, but I just can't make sense of it at all.

Batman frowned. He hadn't seen Green Lantern use the power ring. But, keeping the rest of his thoughts to himself, Batman came to a sudden decision. Flash, try to penetrate his force field. If you can negate it, we'll attack en masse.

Instantly, the Flash's body began to vibrate, disappearing from the others' vision. Every molecule acted in unison as the Scarlet Speedster swiftly ranged through the spectrum, from subsonic to ultrahigh frequency, seeking the exact wavelength of the Stone King's protection.

Suddenly he saw it–a shifting, sinuous pattern of energy that danced around the shaman.

Got it! he announced triumphantly. It's in the electromagnetic band. I'm going in!

The Flash fine-tuned the speed of his vibration, until it perfectly matched the force field's energy configuration. He stretched out a hand, which should have moved through the barrier like water running through a sieve.

Instead, there was an explosion of blinding light that blasted the Flash back into normal mode. He stared in astonishment.

The Stone King remained standing immobile. But now, surrounding him like guardian demons, another five Stone Kings had appeared.

Before any of the super heroes could react, the doppelgangers rushed to the attack.

"C'mon, everybody. It's party night!"

The man in the Dracula mask and blood-red cloak capered among the crowd on Finger Avenue, urging them to join in his alcohol-fueled dance.

The mood of the partygoers in downtown Gotham was relatively subdued. Pumpkin lanterns adorned every streetlight, but the flotilla of colorful floats that drove slowly through the city center in the famous Night Parade was only half the size of previous years. On the floats, people dressed in a dazzling array of Halloween costumes sang and cavorted. Despite the grim events of recent days, thousands of spectators had turned out to line the route.

Several street bands filled the night with music, and the smell of a hundred different fast foods mingled in the air.

"Look, Mommy!" A laughing child in a wizard's costume pointed up between the walls of the concrete canyons. "The Man in the Moon has come to our party!"

His mother gazed up at the almost-full moon that hung over the city, its pale light given a faint orange tinge by the pollutants in the air. A huge face had appeared on its