In the darkness of the night, many things can happen; robbery, assault, break-in. Well, all three of those things just happened, not in any specific order. Within a specific facility, one known to hold brand new technology in the form of a microprocessor, several guards were knocked out by a sort of shadow. The shadow receded to a known criminal, Shade.

"Tie them up," ordered Shade as he lowered his cane, the main source of his shadows. A sort of nanotech. "Make sure everything's secure."

Shade and several henchmen who he hired to help him break in split up to do their job, Shade heading for the vault for the tech he was after and his men to secure the knocked out guards and patrol the area for any other guards that might be around.

Heading through a set of sliding steel doors, Shade and three henchmen entered a large laboratory containing dozens of different pieces of equipment. Two henchmen split off left and right while the third headed straight ahead with Shade.

Unknown to the criminals, there was one guard who managed to hide in the room and was watching them from a raised platform. In his hand was a phone and he soon began dialing for some form of help. This help was a group that had a knack for taking down bad guys.

In the night sky above Central City, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter flew on patrol. That was until Lantern received a message from his communicator. He was quickly told the message and the situation, after a moment he had the full story.

"A guard over at Prime Tech is reporting a robbery in progress," informed Lantern to J'onn. "Sounds like a friend of ours is back in business."

"Shade." said J'onn as he somehow knew who it was.

"How'd you...," began Lantern, then he quickly remembered something about the Martian, "I keep forgetting."

"You're not the only one." said a voice into their comms. On the ground was Sean as he drove his charger to the Tech innovator. "I'll meet you at Prime, just give me a minute or so." The Dodge's engine roared as it sped down the streets of Central City, heading to the same address as Green Lantern and J'onn. The vehicle and driver made it to the tech company in record time seeing J'onn and Green Lantern land just outside the building. Sean stepped out of the car and ran over to his teammates.

"So how do we plan on getting?" asked Sean as he looked up at the building. J'onn's solution was to go intangible and phase through the wall. Sean looked at Lantern for a moment before creating a portal and stepping through, Lantern following behind.

Inside the building, one henchman was guarding a hallway, walking passed a corridor. Behind him, phasing through the wall, J'onn appeared and began to walk to the criminal. The criminal turned around to see J'onn and shot at him using the submachine gun in his hand. The bullets did little, actually did no harm at all to the martian as he was still intangible.

J'onn continued to walk towards him till the firearm ran out of ammo. "Finished?" asked J'onn rhetorically as he slapped the weapon out of the criminals hand then proceeded to land a brutal right to his head. Behind came another henchman, hoping to catch J'onn by surprise. A second later, and chain shot out and wrapped around the man's right hand and with a quick snapped, the chain made him slam the butt of the weapon into his temple, knocking him out. J'onn turned around to see who was responsible.

Lantern and Sean came walking in, Sean sliding his chain back up his sleeve. That's when the final two henchmen came running into the hallway, both submachine guns firing at them. Green Lantern created a shield to protect them from the barrage of bullets. From the center of the shield, a green beam shot out, creating an energy wall that slammed into the criminals, knocking them both to the ground and out.

"I'll try upstairs," suggested J'onn, floating up into the air and through the ceiling. Once on the second floor, J'onn landed back on the second floor and activated his telepathy to locate Shade. "I'm sensing him in the laboratory." reported J'onn into the comm.

Green Lantern and Sean, who was running beside Lantern as he flew to the lab. "We're close." reported Lantern as he flew ahead, Sean sighing and picking up the pace, silently wishing he could fly like half the members of the League.

Shade had just entered the main development area, the one holding the vault and tech he was after. The steel sliding doors closed behind him. Unknown to the master thief, a small camera, not like the ones used in the building, but a portable, hovering camera flew above him, watching his movements.

Heading to the three-ton, reinforced vault door, Shade raised his cane, a stream of shadow came out and entered the locking mechanism that kept the vault closed. In a matter of seconds, the vault was unlocked and slid open to reveal a specialized computer chip.

"Tiny chip, big money." murmured Shade to himself, a smug grin on his face. Still unknown, the camera hovered behind him, continuing to cover the robbery. Raising his right hand to his spectacles, he twisted the lens to left, activating a special sensor that allowed his to see invisible lasers. Now able to see the beams, he raised his cane once more, the shadows heading right for the ship, weaving their way around the beams before picking up the chip. Before he could bring the chip back, a loud crash was heard, followed by a distinct low growl.

Shade spun around to see the doors to the room be ripped open; the metal glowing orange and a burning skull was seen through the doorway as it forced its way into the room. The skull was bathed in blue flames, the person was dressed as some sort of biker in a leather jacket. Shade had heard of this dangerous being, knowing his infamous history, he couldn't help but take a step back. Right behind the Ghost Rider was Green Lantern, flying ahead of him. From the ceiling, J'onn phased through and also flew towards Shade.

"I've got him." said J'onn and Lantern at the exact same time, but before either of them caught Shade, he raised his cane at them and sent a huge burst of shadow at both of them and the Rider. Amidst the darkness, two grunts were heard and when it cleared, the Rider saw J'onn and Lantern getting up from colliding with each other, and not catch Shade.

"You should have held back. I had him." began J'onn as he stood up.

"I'm not the mind reader, am I?" retorted Lantern as he was more than a little frustrated about the collision. The Rider merely folded his arms and loudly cleared his throat, getting their attention.

"Catch criminal now, blame later." said Rider as he created a portal and walked through. Lantern and J'onn looked at each other for a moment before agreeing to go with the Rider.

Outside, Shade appeared out of the shadows in an alleyway, police sirens wailing as two police cars were seen driving down the street to his right. Walking towards the other end of the alley, Shade began his escape.

He didn't get very far as a fiery portal opened up and the Ghost Rider stepped through, chain in his right hand and blue flames burning menacingly.

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded the Rider as he stood in front of Shade, swinging his right chain and hook casually. Shade took a step back, prompting the Rider to walk forward. Before the Rider could get any closer, a pair of headlights caught his attention. Turning to the source, the Rider barely had time to react as a red SUV drove right into him and on top of him.

Shade stood there dumbfounded at who was either brave enough or dumb enough to run the Ghost Rider over. He got his answer when the passenger window rolled down to reveal a stunning red headed woman, wearing a brown trench coat, blue head scarf, and dark sunglasses.

One hand was on the steering wheel while the other rested casually on the shoulder of her seat.

"Need a ride handsome?" asked the driver coyly, looking over at Shade in a way that revealed her blue eyes.

Not sure for a moment, Shade stood there before smiling in gratitude. "Don't mind if I do." with that he opened the passenger door and got in. Closing the door, the SUV drove forward, running over the Ghost Rider completely, before driving away. The Rider merely lay on the ground, not out of pain but in surprise.

Green Lantern and J'onn landed near the Ghost Rider as he lay there, his skull in a deep scowl at what happened. From the air, the saw what happened and neither of them wanted to deal with an angry Rider.

"Not one word." ordered the Rider as he stood up and brushed himself off.

Inside the SUV, Shade looked over at his apparent savior, more than interested in the reason she would save a known criminal like him. "The name's Giganta." began the woman while looking over at Shade for a moment.

"Appropriate." responded Shade, immediately noticing her above average size. She was not fat, heck no, she had some very nice curves, but her body was larger than most woman these days.

"It's not a problem for you, is it?" asked Giganta coyly.

"Quite the opposite." replied Shade as he looked over at her. Giganta merely smirked and looked back at the road ahead of her. Soon the SUV left the city and began to ascend into the mountainous forest just outside of the city. Giganta drove towards a specific mountain, one with a beaten dirt road. "My place would have been closer." offered Shade, a silent message also within the sentence.

"But my friends are here." replied Giganta as she drove towards a mountain.

"Friends?" asked Shade as he looked at Giganta, more than curious about what she was referring to. Looking back at the road, he saw that Giganta was driving right at a stone wall. Shade grabbed ahold of the dashboard, bracing himself for an inevitable crash. Giganta was not so worried and pulled out a remote control and pressed a red button in the center. The wall of the stone pulled to the sides, creating a hole and a large tunnel. One just enough to let the SUV pass through.

Once through, the hole closed up again, hiding the tunnel once more. Once inside, the SUV came to stop and Giganta and Shade exited the vehicle. He began to follow her through the winding tunnels that were inside the mountain. Once through a specific tunnel, the two came out to see a large control room, dozens of computers and consoles littered the floor. Two Shade's right was a stone statue of Green Lantern.

Or there was until the head was sliced off by a yellow energy axe that destroyed the head, then a large energy fist went through the chest, turning the statue to rubble. The source of both energy weapons was an alien criminal who holds a particular dislike for any and all Green Lanterns: Sinestro.

Overhead, some bats flew past Shade, causing him to hold his top hat from being knocked off. He swung his cane at a few to make them disperse, but one bat was not so lucky as it was caught in the hand of a large purple villain who drained it of its energy.

"Hmm, yummy." muttered Parasite who dropped the bat on the ground before walking away, letting out a large burp after he was done with the bat. Shade looked around to see if there was anyone else in the cave, and there was. A completely pale girl wearing a skin tight navy blue suit looked up at the bats. She fired a blast of ice at one of the bats, a screech was heard a second later and a frozen bat fell to the ground.

"Now I get it," said Shade as he figured out why he was here, "You're trying to set up another Injustice Gang aren't you?" Shade turned back to Giganta, who had discarded the disguise she was previously wearing revealing her clothing underneath which was a pink short dress that had one strap on her left shoulder and a gold belt.

"We call it a Society..." began Giganta as she told Shade the new name of the group, "A Secret Society." Shade only frowned at that.

"Call it what you want. It won't work," retorted Shade as he looked at Giganta. "I know. I've tried. Twice."

"What's that old saying?" began a new voice. Shade turned around to face the source. Behind him was a very dangerous and intelligent villain: Grodd, "The third time's the charm."

For Sean, things could be better. He and Green Lantern were standing off to the side while a news crew was currently interviewing J'onn about what happened in the lab. While becoming more known to the rest of the world that the Ghost Rider was a league member, most of the reporters stayed away from Sean, not that he had a problem with that. Soon the questions from the reporters began to flood and soon became indistinct.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Sean as he folded his arms, glancing at Lantern.

"Yep," answered Lantern as he walked over to the news crew. "We've got an appointment."

J'onn nodded for a moment. "You'll have to excuse us." apologized J'onn as he and Lantern took off into the air. Sean whistled for his car, which came rolling up. Sean got in and left before the news teams could corner him for some statements. As Sean drove on the ground, Lantern and J'onn started a small conversation, Sean was able to hear thanks to their comms.

"I can't stand that hero worship stuff." muttered Lantern as he flew beside J'onn.

"But isn't that what we are?" asked J'onn.

"Not tonight." said Sean, picking up at what Lantern was implying.

"Not when the three of us can't stop someone like Shade." confirmed Lantern, though Sean had a comment for that.

"To be fair, I had Shade cornered till some SUV jockey ran me over." snarled Sean, more than sore about being hit by a car, then promptly being run over right after. Though Sean could not see Lantern, he could guess that the Lantern Corp member rolled his eyes at that, however, Sean had to agree on one thing with Lantern: the League was not operating as it should, as a team. So Lantern had gathered up all the League members for an emergency meeting on top of a building.

The first members there were Sean, Green Lantern, and J'onn. Soon the others, mainly Diana, Batman, and Hawkgirl arrived shortly after them. Superman and Flash were the last to arrive. Sean looked at his watch, seeing that they were slightly late, but they likely had a good explanation for their tardiness.

"What's the problem?" asked Superman when he landed on the building, addressing Green Lantern. Green Lantern kept a neutral expression as he said one word.

"Us," answered Lantern plainly as he began to elaborate why "We're not working together as well as we could." Flash, however, was not convinced that was true.

"Come on," said Flash as he ran up to enter the conversation. "We're battling close to a thousand."

"The majority of that is luck, Flash." countered Sean as he looked at the scarlet speedster, "We've taken some bad hits along the way, though I can't really say that since I'm still a greenhorn in the League, in terms of membership that is."

Diana raised an eyebrow at what Sean and Green Lantern were implying. "What are you suggesting?" Sean glanced at Lantern for a second, receiving a nod from the hero.

"We need practice," answered Sean as he turned back to the amazon. Flash groaned at that, but Sean had a way to placate the situation. "It's either training or more of what happened to us tonight, well, more of what happened to them to be precise." Sean gestured to J'onn and Green Lantern. Hawkgirl looked at Sean for a second, seeing that he was hiding something.

"And what happened to you?" Hawkgirl asked. Sean looked away at that and folded his arms.

"I don't want to talk about it." snapped Sean, Hawkgirl seemed taken back by the snap cause normally Sean was a bit more composed and polite to his friends. J'onn then went on to explain.

"Do not take it personally Hawkgirl. Sean is merely frustrated that Shade escaped him by way of an SUV running him over," explained J'onn. Flash had the grace to gawk at that, as did Diana and Superman, not sure if the person who hit him was either very brave or very stupid. "But back to the matter at hand."

The Leaguers looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the three heroes. "What do we really have to lose?" asked Hawkgirl, on board that they do need practice.

"Time," stated Batman, not really being the team player. Superman however disagreed.

"A little more teamwork wouldn't hurt any of us." countered Superman, however, Batman was still not convinced.

"Looks like you're outvoted," said Lantern as he stepped up to face the Dark Knight. Batman held his strong gaze, still defying the team till he lowered his folded arms, signaling that he would consider it. However, unknown to them, a small probe was watching the whole scene unfold, scanning the League and recording their interactions. A signal was then transmitted to a secret cave, or more precisely, the location of the Secret Society.

Secret Society's Cave

Within the cave, the society was currently doing their own form of teamwork: trust falls to be accurate. Two villains would fall towards one of their partners and they would have to trust their teammate to catch them. Parasite was the one who was about to take the fall, trusting that Sinestro would catch him. Parasite looked down at Sinestro, "You're gonna do it? You sure?" Parasite was not totally faithful in his teammate so he felt inclined to ask.

"I would you I would." answered Sinestro, slightly annoyed that Parasite was taking longer than he would like.

"You know what'll happen to you if you don't." pointed out Parasite, still not comfortable with the prospect of putting trust in the former Green Lantern corp member.

Sinestro rolled his eyes, at the end of his patience. "Just get on with it." demanded Sinestro as he looked up at Parasite. The villain grimaced as he turned around so his back was to the edge of the cliff where he stood. Spreading his arms out, Parasite fell backward, letting gravity take over as he fell. Parasite's eyes were closed, bracing himself for some sort of impact. But the impact never came, soon he felt the rush of the wind around him die down and he felt like he was slowly descending. Opening his eyes, Parasite saw that Sinestro had indeed kept his word. Sinestro lowered Parasite down to the ground, having caught him using his ring and the energy slowed down Parasite so that he could land gently on his feet.

"Yeah!" cheered Parasite, thankful that the villain he was paired with kept his word as he landed on the ground. Killer Frost had seen the whole chain of events and looked up at her partner, Giganta.

"Your turn." said Killer Frost as she looked up at Giganta. Giganta looked nervously over the edge, slightly afraid of jumping.

"I don't think this is such a good idea." whimpered Giganta as she looked down over the edge.

"Don't be such a girl." stated Killer Frost as she waited on the ground. Giganta was still hesitant, however.

"But, I mean, I'm a little heavier than I look." said Giganta, trying to talk her way out of it. Their interactions were not unnoticed by Shade as he watched the trust building exercise from the main control center with Grodd. Shade snorted as he watched the display.

"Trying to get them to trust each other, huh?" guessed Shade as he watched the villains try to work together. Grodd walked over to stand beside Shade as he to wanted to see how his new team was adjusting to working beside each other.

"Not the easiest thing for loners, sociopaths, and psychos." admitted Grodd. As soon as he said that, there was a loud crash that shook the cave the Society resided in. After the crash, Giganta said the most logical thing anyone would: 'ow.' Despite the impact, Grodd continued like nothing had happened. "Imagine the childhoods they must have had."

Shade had his own input on what to imagine. "Imagine what's going to happen when someone makes them a better offer." Grodd merely smirked at the proposition.

"No of us is in this for money." corrected Grodd, he then began to explain why. "Sinestro's sworn a blood oath against all Green Lanterns. Parasite simply hates Superman. Giganta is totally devoted to me." Shade noticed that Grodd left out Killer Frost.

"What about the other one?" questioned Shade. On the ground outside, Giganta was getting back to her feet, having landed pretty hard on Killer Frost, thankfully not hurting her too much. When Giganta was standing up freely she helped Frost back to her own feet.

"Killer Frost? She just likes to kill." answered Grodd simply, though Shade figured he had something on him.

"And me?" asked Shade, glancing at Grodd. "I suppose you got that figured out too." Grodd smirked at that.

"You're a master criminal, Shade. But you could be a master of the world." proposed Grodd, knowing that he had an argument to convince Shade to join, but he knew Shade would probably disagree.

"I've tried," stated Shade as Grodd began to walk away, hands folded behind his back. "I'll settle for where I am now."

"How are you going to feel in ten years, when you're still being chased around warehouses and rooftops; joints aching, lungs burning?" asked Grodd, knowing that Shade figured he had a point. Grodd turned back to look at Shade. "This is our chance to rid ourselves of the League once and for all. To see how far we can go when there's no one in our way."

"Yeah, the League's just so powerful. Even more so thanks to that monster that joined them," stated Shade, referring to the Ghost Rider and the League's might. "How do you stop them or it?" Grodd just smirked as he held up a remote and turned on a nearby monitor, the screen lighting and showing the League gathered together.

"By watching lots of television." answered Grodd with a sinister smirk, knowing he had a way to deal with both the League and the Ghost Rider.

Mid Western USA, JL private training ground

In the North American west, the League has a private training ground, one that was set up recently by Green Lantern and Sean Tanner, aka the Ghost Rider. Given the team's recent track record of teamwork, Lantern felt they all needed practice working together and not just as individuals. At the moment, Superman was going through the training field.

As he was walking through the deserted western town, he knew something was about to pop up, though he couldn't tell when or where having to be able to not rely on his powers should they be unavailable. Suddenly, in front of him, a cut out of Darkseid flipped up from the ground, acting as a target for Superman's heat vision which he used to slice the cut out in half. On his right, a cut out of Luthor wearing his regular battle armor appeared though was cut in half like the cut before. In a window, a cut out of Brainiac appeared and Superman shot the cut out.

Directly on his right, a cut out of Mr. Mxyzptlk popped up from a barrel. Superman punched through the cut out with relative ease, being made of wood and all. Superman continued through the town, on guard should another pop up emerge, which one did, right in front of him. Before he could fire his heat vision, J'onn appeared in front of him.

"Stop!" ordered J'onn, his interference was not unwelcome for Superman because when the martian stepped aside to show who Superman would have accidentally fried, it was a cut out of a little girl holding a teddy bear. On the rooftop of one of the small town's buildings, Diana and Sean were standing by Green Lantern who was holding some sort of remote.

"Not bad," commented Diana as she had her arms folded, but was still none the less impressed by how the teamwork was steadily growing. Sean nodded in agreement.

"They're improving that much is true," agreed Sean, but he knew that Lantern had something up his sleeve.

"It's not over yet," said Green Lantern. Sean and Diana looked back down at Superman and J'onn, waiting to see what Green Lantern had in mind. Back on the ground, Superman had grouped up with J'onn.

"So far, so good." said the Martian as he and Clark had been fighting alongside each other pretty well. Their momentary rest was broken when Hawkgirl flew past them.

"Behind you!" shouted Hawkgirl as she flew towards a pair of ZX training drones that were shooting at Clark and J'onn. Hawkgirl dodged the incoming fire from one and bashed her mace against one of the drones, taking it out of commission. The other drone turned it's attention to Hawkgirl and fired at her while she looped around to go for another strike.

"Don't!/Wait!" shouted Clark and J'onn as they tried to warn Hawkgirl that the drone was bobby trapped. However, she didn't hear them or did not listen because she swung her mace at the drone, causing it to explode and sending her flying into the air and crash land on the roof where Diana, Sean, and John stood.

John walked over to Hawkgirl to help her up. "It was bobby trapped." stated John as he looked at his teammate.

"How was I supposed to-"

"Superman or J'onn could have told you that before you attacked close range." interrupted Sean as he gestured to Superman and J'onn as they landed on the roof. "Superman has x-ray vision and J'onn is telepathic."

"You're right. Good lesson," said Hawkgirl sarcastically, "Can I go now?"

"Go?" asked John as he had more ideas in mind for training, "We're just getting started." With that John walked off to prep the next exercise. Sean stepped aside mildly worried about what he had in mind.

"Anyone else slightly worried about what he is planning?" asked Sean, getting a few glances from the other Leaguers that they too were also mildly unsettled.

South Pacific Island

Above the South Pacific ocean, Grodd and his Secret Society were heading to a privately owned island where a very wealthy collector had some very unique possessions, but only one was of Grodd's interest. Flying an open roofed shuttle, he and the others flew down low to the island.

"What country is this?" asked Parasite as he saw the island.

"It's not a country," answered Grodd as he sat in his chain hands held together as he sat comfortably, "One man owns the whole island. Morgan Edge, collector."

"Of what?" asked Parasite, "Art? Jewels?-"

"And other things." said the hyper-intelligent gorilla, "He keeps it all in the main house." The shuttle lands as soon as Grodd finishes explaining who owns the island and what he does. The Secret Society get off the shuttle and land on the beach, beginning their stroll to a massive concrete wall that stood in their way.

"Allow me." said Giganta confidently as she walked forward to the wall. Standing right in front of it, she began to grow in size, reaching a height of nearly a hundred feet.

"This just gets better and better." comments Shade as he looks up. Giganta pulls her right fist and punches the wall as hard as she could, only for it to shock her and cause her to fall onto her back.

"Next time, look before you leap." suggested Grodd as Giganta held her head and groaned. "Frost." Grodd then gestures for Killer Frost to step forward. The icy villainess approaches the wall, using a different tactic and freezes a large section of the construction. "Sinestro." Next was Sinestro as he generates a massive fist of energy and prepares to punch the frozen wall with all his might. With a grunt of effort, the wall shatters and debris is thrown into the walls of the privately owned island.

"Time to let those destructive impulses loose." quipped Grodd as he and the others stepped through the wall.

Justice League training ground

The sun had set, blanketing the western town in darkness, and the Justice League members who were training there. Several dozen X3 combat trainers surrounded Sean, Diana, Flash, and Batman from all sides, arms raised to fire at them. The drones began to fire at them. Flash running fast enough to avoid the energy projectiles, then he grabbed the wooden lid of a barrel and threw it like a frisbee, decapitating several dozen drones. Sean created a wall of Hellfire that blocked a volley of shots, Diana used her bracelets to deflect some the shots heading for her.

Sean created a wall of Hellfire that blocked a volley of shots before dropping the wall and swung his chain out, slicing the drones in half. Diana used her bracelets to deflect some the shots heading for her. Batman fired a grappling hook to ascend into the air and throw three explosive pellets, destroying the drones shooting at Diana.

Flash was about the throw his lid again, but a Batarang came from the left and exploded on impact with another Drone that Flash was aiming at. "Hey, that was my bad guy." complained Flash as he looked at Batman. Green Lantern, who had been watching from a distance landed on the ground as Batman was walking away, only to stop next to Lantern. "Happy?" asked the Dark Knight incredulously as he began to leave. "Call when it's important, and not before."

The other Leaguers watched as Batman left and his Batwing arrive at the training site.

On the island, the owner's private security force was firing their automatic weapons at the Secret Society, but the group of villains seemed to be doing pretty well together, despite being just formed a little over six hours ago. Sinestro flew overhead, dodging incoming fire while firing his ring's power at a group of soldiers, generating a wall of energy that impacted against them knocking them out.

Killer Frost fired beams of ice at some soldiers, freezing them solid while Parasite grabbed two soldiers and drained them of their energy. The many villains were fighting mainly by themselves but were still holding their own against the private security force. Giganta then made her move on the mansion, swinging both her fists down, shattering the roof as well as sending a few soldiers that were stationed on top flying. Inside the mansion, the security force was held up in the main hallway preparing for whatever was to come through the doors. A few of the mansion's staff ran to find a safe place to wait out the attack.

Outside, a few helicopters, armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, flew to the scene of the action. Upon their arrival, they opened fired upon Giganta who used her arms to shield her face from the shots. One helicopter flew too close, allowing her to punch it right out of the air. The second was caught in her hand which she crushed before throwing away. Seeing the opposition failing, Grodd and the rest of the Secret Society made a beeline for the mansion, Shade making a stand against the last helicopter.

Aiming his cane at the ariel vehicle, Shade created a thick black cloud that completely blocked the pilot's vision. When his vision cleared, he was met by the fist of Giganta who punched the helicopter to the ground. Sinestro had created a shield to protect his teammates as the marched to the mansion, the security force pretty much eliminated as they used their respective powers of Killer Frost's ice beams, Parasites energy drain, and Sinestro's power ring. Sinestro reached the mansion first, intent on finishing what Giganta had started and formed a massive spiked battering ram. He flung the ram right at the main entrance, completely obliterating the wall.

The Secret Society entered the mansion, the final remnants of the security force making their last stand. A pair of guard stood on top of the second-floor hallway that overlooked the main hallway and fired upon the villains. While his teammates found cover with the debris from the main entrance, Sinestro hovered forward, not caring if he was shot since the weapons did no harm to him thanks to his ring. The former Green Lantern created a large scythe and sliced the supports out from under the second floor, bringing the whole second floor down, including the soldiers.

From a corner of the room, a chef had seen the Secret Society as the took out the security force, but this wasn't actually a chef, this was Morgan Edge, the owner of the mansion, hoping to disguise himself from the villains. Unfortunately, Grodd had seen him, causing te mansion owner to bolt for the nearest doorway. Morgan ran outside and slammed the door he came through shut and sprinted down to his private dock.

At the dock was his own boat which he untied and jumped on to use as his escape. At the dock's entrance, the door he slammed shut was broken off as Grodd merely shoved his hand against it. However, Morgan was already speeding away on the boat he owned, but Grodd was far from worried. On the dock, Grodd and his Secret Society stood watching Morgan attempt to escape.

"I believe it's time for another cold snap, my dear." addressed Grodd to Killer Frost who looked eagerly to get her hands dirty.

"Cool." answered Forst as she raised her hands. Grodd then lowered her hands to draw her attention.

"The water," reinformed Grodd, knowing what Frost had interpreted from his instructions, "Only the water."

"Aw." huffed Frost as she aimed her hands lower and froze the sea. A single pathway of ice formed on the surface as it raced towards the speed boat, closing the distance quickly. While the boat was fast, the ice was faster as it caught up to the speed boat, and Morgan himself in record time. The millionaire yelped as he felt a sudden jerk from the ice making contact with the boat, raising the vessel into the air, cutting off Morgan's escape. Morgan desperate tried to find a way to escape but Sinestro, who had flown over to the boat used his ring to pick up the island owner.

Taking him back to the island dock, Sinestro dropped Morgan on the dock, in front of Grodd who leered down at the little man. "I'm just a chef here."

"In alligator loafers?" deadpanned Grodd as he referred to the shoes Morgan was wearing. Morgan sweated as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Mr. Edge, he gives me his old shoes and..."

Grodd only frowned as he used his telepathy to take a hold of Morgan's mind. Morgan groaned as he grabbed his head and withered in pain from Grodd's mental attack.

"Now, where are the canisters," demanded Grodd as he stood over Morgan. "Mr. Edge?"

While the Secret Society was dealing with Morgan Edge, the Justice League was still currently training. It had been more than several hours since the sun had risen was now high in the sky. Superman was fighting against a massive energy body that Green Lantern was using to help train the League. Right now, though, it was more of Superman getting pummeled into the ground by the energy body. While in the air for only a little while, the energy construct had punched Superman had enough to send him flying into the ground. The construct landed just in front of Superman and began to punch him into the ground, cracking it as Hawkgirl and Flash had come over to provide some assistance to the Man of Steel.

The construct pulled it's fist back once more and threw it at Superman, but this time he was ready when he caught the fist and shoved it back and punched the construct in the chin. The energy construct fell onto it's back as Superman flew right up into the air and flew down as fast as he could, both fists ready to punch the artificial body. On impact, the energy body collapsed and Green Lantern ended his focus as he and the other Leaguer's joined up with Superman to review the exercise.

"Impressive." complemented Green Lantern as he approached a kneeling Superman who was taking a few breaths to regain himself after taking such a beating.

"Thanks." replied Superman as he brushed away some sweat and stood up.

"But did you really need to take all that abuse?" asked Lantern rhetorically. Sean nodded as he joined in the review.

"Yeah Superman, your invulnerability is impressive but even it has limits." As Sean finished, Hawkgirl put in her own two cents.

"I could have used my mace on it if you'd given me a chance." pointed out Hawkgirl as she did not really appreciate being left out of the fight. Flash also joined the conversation.

"And it never would have been able to lay a glove on me." said Flash proudly. Superman only rolled his eyes.

"When have I heard that before?" rhetorically asked the Man of Steel.

"Hey!" snapped Flash as he marched over to confront Superman about the comment. Sean then stepped between them, wanting to prevent an argument.

"Flash stop," said Sean as he turned his attention to Superman, his sending a warning look to him through his sunglasses.

"They're making a good point," said Green Lantern as he stood up for Hawkgirl's and Flash's case, "You've got to trust your partners."

"I do, but the fact is I'm the invulnerable one." countered Superman, but Sean only snorted.

"Lot good that invulnerability did for you when that monster you, Diana, Hawkgirl, and I fought back when the ancient ones were entering our realm." However, Superman just ignored the comment, though did look slightly bristled by it.

"Every punch I take is a punch they don't have to." to emphasize his point he gestured to both Hawkgirl and Flash. The two then glared at Superman.

"Are you saying we can't cut it?" demanded Hawkgirl as she confronted Superman, along with Flash.

"That's what it sounds like to me." agreed Flash. Sean growled as he saw the League was tearing each other apart.

"Now hold on. We're a team." intervened J'onn as he tried to remedy the situation.

"But we're not all equal." retorted Superman. At this point, Sean had enough. "You can't deny-"

"Okay stop, all of you!" shouted Sean, gaining the attention of the entire League. "While Superman is correct that we are not all equal, our differences makes us stronger! This is why the League formed! To bring together dozens of different individuals, each with their own skill set and powers to help defend this planet! If we were all the same as you Superman, we would be just as vulnerable to whatever weakness you have." Everyone looked at Sean in mild surprise at the sudden outburst, Diana mildly concerned. Sean just pushed his glasses up as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "No one is leaving until you all start learning how to work together."

Sean the stomped off, not even realizing that he was slightly on fire from his aggravation. However, despite the moment of conversation, the League then began to follow the possessed young adult, not wanting to somehow incur his wrath.

Two Hours Later...

Batman had been a little busy since he left the Justice League's training day. He was busy following up on a lead, regarding a break-in at Morgan Edge's home. While nothing was stolen, several biohazardous containers were found empty and some clay was also found at the scene. Deciding to see what else there was, he spoke with one of the guards that were left alive from the attack at the mansion. The guard was at the hospital recovering from the attack and informed Batman that Morgan actually had Clayface, one of Batman's Gotham villains, as a trophy of sorts. Batman knew that Clayface wanted to be returned back to normal, so he tracked down the clay man to a company that had the one substance capable of restoring him to normal. So Batman went to stop Clayface before he could steal the substances he needed.

The Dark Knight tracked down Clayface to the factory that held the chemicals Clayface needed, and when Batman found the clay villain, he was already one step away from the substances. But before Clayface could take what he wanted, a taser Batarang struck him in the back, causing him to melt into a withering puddle as Batman approached him.

"Always trying to find a cure, aren't you?" said Batman as he approached the Gotham villain who was groaning in pain from the electrocution.

"Can you blame me?" asked Clayface, his main goal always wanting his old life back.

"No," admitted Batman, "But's made you predictable." Clayface was morphing, trying to find a way to get that Batarang out of him. "This is the only company in the world that makes what you need."

Batman's eyes narrowed as he glared down at the villain. "Now where's Shade?"

Getting enough control over his body, Clayface was just able to morph a hand and point to his right. "Over there." Through a thick cloud of smoke that came from an exhaust pipe within the company, Shade came strolling out, along with Killer Frost, Parasite, Giganta, and Sinestro. The latter using his ring to blast the Batarang off Clayface, allowing the mud villain to gain control over his body and loom menacingly over Batman. "You didn't think I'd come here without reinforcement's, did you?"

Batman remained unfazed by the sudden change in odds. "Wish I'd thought of that," said Batman plainly, right before the main door to the company was turned to molten slag and the Justice League stood right behind him. "Oh, wait. I did." He finished with a smug grin as Sean turned into the Ghost Rider and roared at the villains.

Sinestro made the first move, swinging a spiked mace at Green Lantern who countered the attack with an energy shield. Sean and Diana both moved in to take on Giganta.

"I'll take the big one." informed Diana as she flew ahead while Ghost Rider kept pace with her on the ground.

"Mind if I join you?" asked Ghost Rider as he ran with Diana, before either of them could reach Giganta, Hawkgirl came out in front of them.

"I'll take her!" Interrupted Hawkgirl as she momentarily distracted Diana, giving Giganta the opportunity to bat them away at Ghost Rider. The Rider stopped and caught both women to prevent any injuries from hitting the ground.

Elsewhere, Superman was squaring off against Parasite, since Parasite has a huge hate for the Man of Steel, but an infectious love for his power. Parasite tried to tackle Superman but was bat away when he ripped a steel column out from the ground and used it to bash away Parasite. Shade was currently fitting against Flash, using his cane to project a thick cloud of shadows to catch him. But Flash dodged the attack and ran up the side of a wall, the shadows following behind. Once he reached a good height, Flash jumped off the wall and proceeded to slide down the shadows to a surprised Shade and punched the villain right in the face.

J'onn was facing up against Killer Frost who created a balcony of ice for herself to launch into the air and send a barrage of icicles down at J'onn. The martian only became intangible to avoid the projectiles as he flew towards the Cryokenetic. Batman was squaring off against Clayface, who molded his hands into a spiked mace and a large scythe. He swung his weapons at the caped crusader who dodged the attacks with relative ease. After dodging another swing of Clayface's mace, Batman threw an electro Batarang at Clayface's forehead, causing the villain to roar in pain and turn into a puddle.

Green Lantern and Sinestro were battling each other, the hero projected a triangular shield while the villain created a long sword. The impacts of the weapons caused a shower of sparks as the constructs brushed against each other. But the battle had one spectator, Grodd who was hidden behind a pillar watching and smirking. As Green Lantern fought the former corp member, Grodd used his telepathy to cause the hero to cry out in pain from the mental attack and fall to the ground. As Lantern landed, he groaned in pain from the assault, giving Sinestro the opening he needed to bash the hero with a massive spiked mace.

Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Ghost Rider were fighting against Giganta, the Rider using his chains to wrap around the giantess' legs while Wonder Woman punched her in the head. Hawkgirl was about to follow up on Wonder Woman's attack when she saw Green Lantern sail by and crash into a steel pipe.

"John!" cried out Hawkgirl as she flew over to her friend. Wonder Woman was busy trying to fight Giganta, but was punched into the ground by her giant fist.

"YOU!" roared Ghost Rider as he shot a fireball at Giganta's shoulder, drawing her attention away from his downed teammate.

"Yes, me." taunted Giganta as she looked down at Ghost Rider.

"YOU RAN ME OVER IN THAT TRUCK!" hissed Ghost Rider as he swung his chain around and slashed it against her cheek, causing Giganta to yelp in pain and stumble back. As the Rider fought off the giantess, Hawkgirl landed beside John to see if he was alright. Behind her, Sinestro generated a large axe, smiling sadistically as he was about to take out two birds with one stone.

Superman, who was finishing up welding a piece of metal against Parasite to pin him to a wall, noticed what Sinestro was about to do. He fired his heat vision right at the ex-lantern, stopping him just in a nick of time as he swung his ax down. The lasers sent him flying into a steel construct, causing it to crumple like tin foil. Parasite, seeing his hated enemy take down his teammate mustered enough strength to break free from his bonds and tackle Superman and begin to drain his powers.

Batman jumped up to an overhead bridge, dodging Clayface's scythe by jumping back further and tossing another Batarang. After some time, Clayface as able to use his large arms to brush away the weapons and continue his assualt. Batman kept evading the villain till he jumped behind a set of canisters that held co2 within, but Clayface did not know when he morphed around the canisters to corner Batman. Batman pulled a regular Batarang out and three it at Clayface, but the villain merely created a hole in his chest and let the projectile pass through...and strike the canisters behind him.

Before he could realize his mistake, Clayface was instantly frozen solid by the gas, leaving him as a large block of ice. Back with Superman, Parasite had his hands wrapped tightly around Superman's neck, progressively draining his powers. Ghost Rider shot another fireball at Giganta distracting her long enough for Wonder Woman to send the giant stumbling back with a two-fisted strike. The Rider saw Superman's predicament and swung his chain out, the weapon wrapping around Parasite's neck. The villain only smirked as he turned around to look at Ghost Rider, but that smirk vanished when Ghost Rider yanked the chain as hard as he could, pulling Parasite of Superman and right at him. Ghost Rider then threw a brutal punch that sent Parasite cascading across the room and into a wall.

But the fight was far from over because the ice that was holding Clayface prisoner was melting and Clayface was able to break free. Now free, the villain molded his left fist into a metal panel and slammed it into Batman, sending him into a wall. The impact was enough to knock out Batman, though only temporary.

Sinestro was battling with Hawkgirl, the hero blocking a strike with her mace, but Sinestro had an idea. He sent out another beam, just above her and slammed a mace down onto her, making the heroine crash into the floor. Superman was just abe to regain himself in time to dodge Giganta's fist and fly up to her. She clasped her hands around the Man of Steel in a brutal move that sent him crashing to the floor.

Seeing that the damage has been done. Grodd smirked as he retreated, and likely sending an invisible message to the Society to do the same. "COME ON!" yelled out Giganta, prompting the villains to escape. Parasite, who had been draining Superman of his power only scowled, his fun being cut short. The villains all ran from the battle, though Flash, who was momentarily trapped in one of Shade's shadows but broke free, raced after the villains. Killer Frost who had been sliding along her slide of ice, saw Flash running after them. She then turned the floor to a thick layer of ice, causing the speedster to slip and land on his face.

Giganta ran to a nearby wall and smashed it down, giving the villains their exit. The villains escaped and Frost created a large wall of ice that sealed their escape route. J'onn was able to phase through the ice and Ghost Rider created a portal and leaped through. When J'onn passed through, he became solid once more, only to receive a face full of Shade's shadows that sent him crashing into the ground. The Secret Society, all gathered onto their jump ship were flying off from the battle. They thought that they had managed to defeat the League, but there was still one more threat.

From behind them, a massive roar erupted over the roar of the jump ship's engine causing all of them to look behind. Trailing them, Ghost Rider, riding his Hell Dragon was in hot pursuit. Grodd only smirked from his chair and pressed a button. From the back of the jet, a large canon slid out and fired a white beam right at Ghost Rider. Now while energy attacks would not normally hurt the Ghost Rider, a weapon that utilizes Nth Metal is a whole other story. The beam slammed right into the dragon, the beast shrieked in pain and it spiraled out of control, the Rider bein thrown from his pet. The Rider was actually thrown right back towards the factory sending him through a wall and crashing down to the ground.

During the fight, Wonder Woman had been taken down by Giganta but was now regaining herself, just in time to see Sean come crashing down to the ground and slam right next to her.

"SEAN!" cried out Wonder Woman as she ran over to the youngest Leaguer. Sean groaned in pain as he rolled onto his side. The last thing he saw was Diana running over to him before he passed.

Unconsciousness is an old friend.