"you furry sonofabitch!" Redwing Screamed as he drifted of the roof. He Tried not to focus on his injury. He did'nt need to go feral like Fanding, not at the moment. he powered through it flying straight up unitl he could'nt get over the lack of lift. He started to spiral quickly ascending higher above gotham, the G-forces seemed to have less of an effect than he would have hoped. the clouds were getting pretty close, he decided now was as good a time as any. He flipped in the air, postioning himself downward and his prey... informant above him. Then he curled his body intt a ball bringing Fandingo's face right up to his. He flung a hand back and brought a talon across the splicer's face. "Wake up dog boy you've got some things to say!" Redwing was having a hard time maintaining control.. just a flesh wound, don't look at it, focus on the job, somethings about to happen and you need to know what.

Demon watched as Redwing flew up into the air. I'll get him when he comes down. Right now I'll shutup an annoyance. Demon thought to himself as he walked over to the cursing Cindy. "Shut up!" Demon yelled as he moved closer and closer. He had lifted his blade up, intending to cut her in half if she refused, along with anything else that might get in his way.

DeRaine was in the course of taking off his massive armor.

"Sure. Just don't touch anything, that's now a crime scene. We'll need to determine if he got out of there, or if the bunnies were all there was."

The Retirement of Superman: a short essay.
 

The little flame picked took the authority figures cue and hopped towards the nearest exit. It didn't wish to remain in the creepy store much longer. Besides, the sun might help dry him off quicker, he thought.

******
Superman's retirement had come as a shock to many. He had been with them for over 200 years, and that wasn't even counting those who held onto memories from the dimensional crisises. They always had the calm, wise, and incredibly powerful hero to count on. If the world was in danger, you'd better bet Superman'll be there. Compared to some, his powers were relatively few of course, He couldn't time travel, he held no power over shadow. His technological capablities weren't hsi genius. He had no shapeshifting abliities or telekinetic powers.

But what he did have he used well, and no matter what he was faced against, he'd overcome it. Even if he didn't do it himself, he motivated others to victory. Superman was the foundation that most heroes built themselves upon. Even the heroes before him gave him respect. His only match in the world had been Batman, and the two were close friends, closely bound by Yin and yang.

Without Superman, there wasn't the term "Supermen". Without Superman, there wasn't the chivalrous code that all Superheroes lived by. Without Superman, there wasn't the Justice League. Without Superman, the super humans who inhabited the earth might as well be vigilantes who caused chaos and discord, and ruled the world.

(In an alternate such world, this was proven, where Batman was a totalitarian leader who had destroyed the superhumans to save the planet.)

But now the world was stunned. Now there was no Superman. How could the Justice League Continue? Sure, Supes had performed less and less missions and showed up mostly for the really important missions, or for to feed the neverending desire he had to make right the world and bring justice. And J'onn and the other originals (plus some of the new heroes) did a good job of acting as leaders. But when the crap hit the fan, they knew that there was none more qualified as Superman to handle it. Now he had retired.

Few knew why, and those that did merely had an inkling other than his public statement of "I'm simply growing old and tired." It had something to do with a recent battle with a genius man who cloned famed people for a desire to take over the world. There had been a Lois Lane clone included as a ruse for superman, but since he had long since gotten over her death, he had destroyed her without hesistation before she could even attempt her backstab. But four knew that there had been use of the cloning machine with data from superman's personal computer, and that there had been a woman awaiting him when he went to the fortress of solitude to enjoy the end of his years.

Those that knew had mixed feelings. Did he know how much he was dumping on their shoulders!? But they were happy that he finally got some much needed rest. He had given 300% for years, and it was time for someone else to give his own 300%.

Pyros never thought it'd fall on him. Or that so many would want his head for it. So he decided upon the best decision he'd have to make as he became the new Leader of the Justice League. He ran the hell out of there.

He headed somewhere that they'd never suspect. And hadn't dare tread since the final memorial of the death of their greatest financial backer, Bruce wayne.

He was in Gotham.

As Echo passed the old man and looked out to the destruction that laid beyond he wondered which way he should go. Listening carefully he heard the sound of metal gears shifting down the left path. "Well I'm not going that way." Echo didn't need another wave of bunnies to make things more exciting, he needed a nap. But he also needed the bird to be a boy to return home, so he decided the best place to end up was someplace nice, quiet and sunny. They were off to the park.

********

"NEVER HAVE I BEEN TREATED SO POORLY, YOUR MANAGEMENT WE'LL SURELY HEAR OF THIS!" The wind tore over FanDingo as the earth grew steadily closer, his trademark laugh was inaudible over the torrential air. "SO YOU GOING TO WATCH AS I FALL TO MY DEATH OR CAN I HELP YOU SOMEHOW?" FanDingo covered his rage pretty well, it was a good thing he didn't hate heights, though, he might after this.

*********

Cindy smiled as she tossed a can towards Demon, it flared and roared like a tiny sun, only to burn out in a few moments. As Demon's eyes refocused Cindy was gone.

Cindy gripped the Ringo's scruff tightly as he ran down the path, "Thats a good boy, giving momma a ride, when I get you home I'm still cutting that tracer out when we get home though." Crowds seperated as Cindy and her feral companions moved through downtown at the usual getaway speeds. They entered the park, moving quickly down the beaten paths. One could only wonder if cindy believed the oversized hyena's would look more at home in a city park then the streets.

Lilika ventured a little closer, trying to see what was going on. She was so focused that she didn't see the police officer until his voice was right near her ear. "Hey, lady. This place isn't safe for civilians. You really must step away."
"Hunh?" Lilika looked towards the officer, then turned around. "Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, I'm out of here."
Lilika made it a few steps before she heard a gun click. She slowly turned around to see the office aiming his gun at her. "Hey! You're that psycho bitch! Hands in the air or I start firing!"
"Aw, shit." Lilika said as the police reached for his walkie talkie. Using the split second of time she had, she forced the chamber of the revolver to the side, preventing the gun from firing. Then she knocked the radio out of his hand and, in a quick movement, telekinetically hurled the police roughly ten yards back which threw the rounds out of his gun. "Shit. Gotta move." Lilika breathed, then hurried away as the officer fumbled with his stun baton.

Back on Echo's shoulder, The little flame enjoyed the trip through the city in the day. He wondered how the cars flew like in Back to the Future, how people had clothes that hardly tired to cover everything except the naughty parts, how paper thin TV screen seemed to be everywhere showing everything from advertisements to the news.

There was already a report on the state of affairs of the toy store they had just left, and a mentioning of the still mysterious fire magic that had destroyed the outbreak. The police man in heavy armor wasn't shown, but the report did neglect to mention much about who exactly the hero was. There was a clip of a red blur going into the building, but when slowed down all it revealed was fire and some feet. They were attempting to see if they could remove the flames to see the hero, but it didn't seem to be working.

Well, the flame hadn't any cares for fame so he was happy about it. He hoped he'd dry off soon though. He had questions for this batman to answer.

Redwing folded his arms, still falling head first to the ground, and stared seriously at Fandingo. "There is no way a jackass like you broke himself out of Arkham, What precisely happened last night? quickly or you'll learn that Gravity's a bitch"

Back in his car, DeRaine was setting off back to the station. They were trying to track down some of the felons who escaped from Arkhum in the interests of finding out who it was that masterminded the whole thing.

What they had established was that it wasn't an inmate that used that acid to melt the essential parts of the security system. They didn't know who, but from the little surviving camera footage it was an employee off duty, with a baseball cap. This person had also not stayed around to watch the break-out itself.

Yeah it's long but I had to catch up two chapters
 

Last Night: There was noise. for the past month, there was nothing but noise, but this was different. Something was happening in little old GSP. Something serious enough to even affect the meta-Human holding center they kept him and others like him in. He heard the familiar sound of his door opening, he raised his head towards it, an empty gesture. The human rights activists had fought to keep them from just burning his eyes out and won, but the special visor that left him completely blind had the same effect. A shivering voice spoke "Master?" Jericho smirked. Where else would Gotham place his "followers"? It seemed that one of the smarter members of his group had attacked a guard and retreived the key that unlocked his visor. Light seared into his endless, voidlike swirling eyes. He rubbed them and shook his head, blinked, blinked again. The minion had been smart enough to bring his gear. He slipped on the familiar heavy goggles. And the black clothes and shoes that had been so kindly volunteered from the lost and found. His brown long coat completed the ensemble. The Mindbender was back in business, almost. He raced down the hallways. Elbowing through the assorted freaks and psychos. To a door that was wide open to reveal the sad, pitiful creature that loved him so dearly. "Juno" a tear formed inmindbenders infamous eyes and slid down and pooled at the base of his huge lensed eyeware. "Let's get you outta there boy." he mustered up a smile. He scowled at the meek man in the prison inmate jumpsuit. "Well?!" the man jumped in fear, even though he outsized him by a considerable amount. He quickly unlocked the hampered creature. Slash immediately ran, on all fours to his master, his tongue lolled out of his mouth and he grinned a stupid grin. If he had a tail it would be wagging with great force. Jericho could hardly stand it. He turned to the other man "Where are the others?" The other man flinched "All of them are waiting for you outside sir." It wasn't that hard to get into town and find a nice temporary hideout . As he "recruited" some of the crackheads lingering around, he walked in, It was'nt a very glamorus house, even before it fell into disrepair. soon all twenty of his henchmen and women were assembeled in the decrepit building. He looked around... at all the purple and black Prison jumpsuits. "What the hell?! none of you were smart enough to change clothes?" he raised his staff over his head and brought it down on a rotted table across from the couch, a good place for a T.V. it was probably stolen at some point. He brought it down hard.. it didnt break. Jericho was no stronger than the average man, and his limited exercsie stay at GPS did'nt help things. He growled " God dammit people! we don't have any guns, I can't build up our numbers because we can't sneak around the city because of those MUTHAFUCKNG UNIFORMS!!!!. " The entirety of his tirade was acompanied by Slash's angry barking, he did'nt know why he was barking, only that the master was angry. Mindbender gritted his teeth, "Shut up Slash" Slash shut up instantly. Mindbender paced back and forth ''we need equipment, we can't sneak around so we need hostages, we need all the supplies we want in one place. And it would'nt hurt if the place was somewhat dirty to begin with.
Next morning: " Attention wal-Mart shoppers" at that moment a moving van crashed backwards through the back door of the super center. Mindbender leapt out of the passenger side, Slash by him as always. "I want someone covering every door." He handed a slip of paper to a passing hencmen. Take ten guys, gather the hostages. and get the stuff on this list."