Alright, that's forty two hot dogs with mustard and relish, said the street vendor as he added

the last one to the massive pile in the arms of the costumed character. You want anything else? Nah, was the response, as he licked his fingers. There were only twelve hot dogs left in his arms by the time he finished the sentence. I don't have much time to eat this morning. The vendor gave a smirk, and chuckled softly. So much for being the 'fastest man a' He cut off his words at the sound of metal crumpling in on itself, and looked over the Flash's shoulder. Holy shit! Wally had already whirled around before the sound waves even touched the street vendor's ears. The traffic had been relatively light, being mid-morning on a Tuesday, so the cars had been able to get up to a reasonable speed. That is, aside from the one car that was parked in the middle of traffic several blocks away. That would have been quite an issue on its own, but even more of an issue was the fact that its front end had caved in on itself a bit. And still more of an issue was a freakishly massive anthropomorphic wolf standing there, looking rather surprised. It had to have been at least twelve feet tall, and looked to be easily half that across the shoulders. Notimetotalkgottarun! The vendor barely even had time to blink as the Flash dropped six hot dogs on his cart, getting condiments all over the place. He gave a soft sigh, and started cleaning up the five hot dogs as he watched events unfolding. Wally keyed his earpiece as he approached the scene of the accident more carefully. Guys, it's Flash! Some big-ass monster is tearing traffic apart Uptown New York! I think I'm gonna need some backup with this one. Like, everyone. Sit tight, kid, came the firm voice of the current Green Lantern assigned to Earth. I'm over Pennsylvania right now. I'll be there in a few minutes. Superman chimed in on the network next. I'm still evacuating these villages on Vanuatu. It mi-- *krzmzkl* -everal more The words were cut off by what sounded through the earpiece like some kind of explosion. Gotta go! WONDER WOMAN AND HAWKGIRL ARE DEALING WITH THE PARASITE IN CALIFORNIA, came the calm, measured tones inside their heads from J'onn J'onzz.
REPORT IN.

YOU

TWO WILL HAVE TO ASSESS THE SITUATION ON YOUR OWN, AND

Understood. Stewart out. Flash sighed softly as he approached the wolf-beast-man-thing. He always hated taking on the bricks by himself. Great. I should have brought a few more of those hot dogs with me, he muttered to himself. Oh, well. His eyes widened as he saw the perp approaching the driver, having to think quickly. He skidded to a halt, and started vibrating a manhole cover. The weight

wasn't so bad if you knew how to handle it just right. Okay gruesome, paws off the people! he shouted, before hurling the manhole cover at the wolf thing. The wolf turned to look at him just in time to take it in the face. The cover just kind of... stopped moving with a decidedly off-sounding KLANGGG, and simply fell to the ground. The wolf did not look very amused, and lunged at him. Whoa! Flash leaped backwards when it became obvious that the wolfman was a lot faster than he looked, missing by only a couple of yards. It took another swipe at Flash, then dropped to all fours to increase its speed as it continued to come at him. Man, you're pretty fast for being so big, you know that? Wally taunted, as he ran backwards. The wolf just grinned widely, showing off his fangs. The two were charging down the street, heading towards a small construction point where the workers were putting up a new street light. Once the workers realized the confrontation was headed in their direction, they promptly dropped everything and scattered as quickly as they could. Low Low bridge, bridge, growled the wolf. Wally blinked at the wolf-man. Huh? The wolf skidded to a halt as Wally collided with the arm for the street light, taking it in the back of his head. The entire construct slewed to the side from the immense impact, while Flash dropped to hands and knees. The wolf-man stood back up and shook his head a little. Rookie, Rookie, he rumbled. He then perked his large ears as he realized that someone else had said the exact same thing at the exact same time, and that someone was apparently in midair. That's enough out of you, ugly, growled John Stewart, as he fired a blast of coherent light at the wolf-man. He then shaded his eyes with his other hand, as the wolf-man seemingly exploded into rainbow light. A moment later, the rainbow light was gone, but the wolf was not. Stewart blinked a couple of times. ...okay, that's a new trick, he grumbled. He aimed his ring once more as the wolf-man crouched, probably to try jumping up at him. After seeing that little demonstration, John was not about to go underestimating the thing. Let's try this instead! The wolf-man lunged upwards, caving in the street behind him, and smacked head-on into the inside of Stewart's containment construct, promptly landing right back on the pavement. Stewart cautiously lowered himself to the ground, focusing on the wolf-man as it tapped a finger on the inside of the semisphere.

I've got the creature contained, he called out over the network. Might be

best if we gah! His attention was rudely interrupted by a sharp blow to the inside of his construct. He dropped his hand from his earpiece, and used it instead to help reinforce his will. The wolf-man grinned quite broadly when he saw the results of his strike, and threw another punch at the inside of the bubble. Stewart narrowed his eyes as he focused, but held firm. *WHAM* That strike was much stronger then the others. The Green Lantern gritted his teeth, but stood firm. **WHAM** That one provoked visible sweat, as Stewart struggled to maintain his focus. You guys better get here quickly! he called out over the network, using his ring to tap into it. "I can't hold this guy for much long **WHAM!** The next thing the Green Lantern heard was a calm voice inside his own head, courtesy of the Manhunter using his telepathy to help the others coordinate. DROP YOUR FIELD WHEN I TELL YOU TO, came the familiar voice of the Man of Tomorrow. NOW! John promptly released the construct, just as the wolf was swinging his fist for another strike. Caught off balance, the wolf stumbled forward, just in time to take a large fist to the face at superhuman speed. Windows shattered from the impact, as the shock wave from the concussion spread out. Superman hesitated for a split instant to assess the Lantern's condition, and then dissolved into another blurred streak as he launched himself forward once more. Something apparently detonated as Stewart dropped his arms to catch his breath, gazing at things with his glowing green eyes. He couldn't even *WHUD* track the individual **SLAM** events. But, the debris flying from the impacts was something of a vaguely decent measure of its progress. ***DA-KA-THUMM*** What the hell is going on here? asked Bruce. John startled as he realized that he hadn't noticed Batman's arrival, distracted with watching the battle unfold, and trying to figure out how he could help. Didn't you get the memo? he retorted. Some alien's tearing the shit out of Manhattan. **GHUD** You sure it was just one? Batman replied. Because I think I s He cut off as Stewart grabbed his cape, and hauled him out of the way of a collapsing building. Settled once more, he picked back up without missing a beat, two aliens tearing it up. John Stewart growled audibly. You know what I DOWN! Batman shrouded his face with his cape, as the Lantern constructed a dome barrier to protect them from even more shrapnel generated by the whatthehellisthat plowing through the airspace barely meters overhead.

We need to put an end to this before they level the entire fucking city! Batman lowered his cape, and peered at the whirlwind of chaos for several seconds. Cover me! he snapped, and loped over to where the Human Flash was, pushing up to his hands and knees. A moment later, and they were covered by yet another green bowl of light. I can keep the debris off you guys, but I'm not sure I could stop them! called out Stewart. Batman set the Lantern's warning aside, instead ducking down to slip Wally over his shoulder in a Fireman's Carry. What happened here? The Flash groaned, gently rubbing his head as he looked up. Oh, my head, he mumbled. Half the shake of a lamb's tail later he snapped his eyes open, openly staring at the clusterfuck that just crossed 3rd Street in front of them, plowing into yet another building. holy crap, he's as fast as Superman! he muttered. A moment or two later, he blinked his eyes. Okay, no. He's seriously fast, but he's not actually that fast. He's just anticipating every hit. He paused to blink yet again. That's still kind of really impressive. Focus, Flash! snarled the Batman. What. Happened. By the time he had finished saying that, the battle had moved on far enough for the sounds of massive destruction to be a little bit muted. Sort of. A bit. That thing popped up out of nowhere," he replied. "I tried to stop it when I saw it going after one of the civilians. Bruce lifted a brow, and looked over the damaged neighborhood. The combatants had moved back out into the main street, moving constantly back and forth. At this point the movement of their limbs was fast enough that Batman didn't bother trying to follow it anymore, just keeping an eye on the macro movements. Superman continued to pick up speed as he sought to overwhelm the creature's defense. Like the Flash, he could see that the wolf-thing was nowhere near as fast as he was, just really damn good at fighting. The thing that really troubled him was that even as they had knocked one another through multiple buildings, the being had taken just as much care to minimize collateral damage and casualties as he did. Popped up out of nowhere, Batman repeated, looking back at him. Did you even see it attack anything? Wally rubbed the back of his head as he sat up. Sort of, yeah. I mean, it clobbered this one car, then went after the driver. When Batman looked back at the fight, it looked like Superman had finally caught his stride, and continued to step it up. The wolf-man-thing was entirely on

the defensive now, and had shifted to choosing which hits he blocked and which ones he took. Frustratingly for the Kryptonian, however, none of those hits were taking him off of his feet; he was still rolling with every punch. Okay, I'm having as much fun as you are, but it's past time to put an end to this, Clark growled. In the same instant as he said the last word, he lashed out with a focused blast of heat vision at the thing's apparently only working eye. He started to work on a frown when he saw the thing drop some kind of third eyelid in place, something so dark in color that it seemed to reduce the intensity of the beams. Being unable to see as clearly as otherwise while using his heat vision, this gave the wolf the opportunity to slam his hands over both of Superman's ears at supernatural speed. Nearby trees shuddered from the impact, and Superman had to take a step back as he reeled from the blow. A split instant later, the wolf creature followed up with one of the strangest sounds Superman had ever heard in his entire life. It seemed to his (briefly dulled) ears to have three harmonic frequencies that resonated with one another, and struck with physical force. A large USPS mailbox behind him caved in before being ripped from the ground, while every window on the wall of the building behind him that wasn't already broken shattered. Superman growled as he struck the wall himself, barely able to use his flight to reduce the damage done to the building. Both ears were bleeding. Yeah, I'm done here, said the Kryptonian as he dropped to the ground, and sucked in a massive amount of air. The wolf-thing was still blinking its one eye, though Superman wasn't certain if the thing could see out of it at all yet. It seemed to be able to track his movements, in either case, and opened its muzzle to suck in a massive amount of air himself. Superman gave a slight smirk, before unleashing his cold breath. This was countered at the exact same time by a blast of fire from the creature; while it couldn't counter the the wind from the cold breath attack, it did bring the temperature up several hundred degrees, while also bracing himself against the wind. You have got to be kidding me. The wolf blinked another couple of times, then looked at him with his one good eye clear once more. The concrete under his feet shredded and crumbled as he launched himself at the Kryptonian. Superman still couldn't see inside the thing - he couldn't even look inside the cells on the thing's surface (How is that even possible in something organic?), so he simply stood there, arms spread wide. Come at me, bro. Flash watched as Superman vibrated himself out of phase an instant before the wolf-thing's fist struck him. Unfortunately for the man of steel, no one had

thought to explain that to the wolf - his strike was apparently just a jab, but it was enough to break Superman's concentration as it somehow managed to strike him anyway. This was followed up with a harder strike, the wolf going back on the offensive as he tried to carry his advantage. That advantage lasted exactly three more hits, until Superman stepped inside the next strike and planted a rather spectacular punch to the thing's abdomen. **BWHOOOOOMNGH ** **BWHOOOOOMNGH** The resulting detonation was bright and loud enough to cause all other observers to recoil and try to shield themselves. One-Eye reeled backwards, feet shattering the pavement as he tried to stay on them, and ended up crumpling a car behind him as he plowed through it. Superman was knocked directly backwards, demolishing the facing wall of the building behind him - and instantly came flying right back out in a barelydiscernible streak of motion. He caught the beowolf by the throat just before it hit the building behind itself, and finished that particular task for it, with extreme prejudice. Knowing that he had only moments to spare before the thing recovered its senses, he immediately pulled his fist back for another strike, that fist shuddering and vibrating violently. He then paused just a split moment before he threw that punch as Batman called out as loudly as he could. Everyone! he called out. Stand down! Now! The wolf-thing looked over at Batman, as Superman glared at its face. Then the beowolf did something that completely confused him. Aww, Aww, growled the wolf-thing-man. It It was just getting fun! fun! Batman hesitated for a second or three. I think there's been a misunderstanding here. We're actually the good guys. We misunderstood what was going on when you showed up. Both Superman and the wolf-man looked at him, then back at each other. I've I've got this weird trans-dimensional teleport hex thing, I thing, growled the wolf. I can't control it, nor can I predict the next shift any more than twenty four hours in advance. advance. Superman lifted both brows, and carefully set the wolf-thing back on its feet. What are you saying? he asked. Basically, Basically, I never wanted this to happen, One moment I'm happen, said One-Eye. One in a castle; the next moment, I'm in the middle of traffic in upper Manhattan. I was trying to help the driver when that fast boy over there, there, the wolf nodded his head towards Flash, decided decided to stop me. me.

Flash spread his hands when he realized that he had just acquired the undivided attention of the strongest warrior in the galaxy, and also the wielder of its most powerful weaponry. Well, he popped up out of nowhere, he repeated himself, much less certainly than before. I heard the crash and by the time I looked, it looked like he had been playing Hammer Time with the engine block. He gestured at the wolf, whose details everyone else could see more clearly, now that he was no longer brawling with Superman. Despite having had several concrete and brick structures dropped on his head without apparent effect, the massive lupine bore an entire book's worth of battle damage. One of his eyes had apparently been rendered useless, with a trio of scars that burned through the fur, running diagonally from just below his eye socket to continue right on through his ear, rendering it several ribbons. The ear opposite that one was gone entirely, with just a stump where it had once been. His very broad snout and blunt jaws bore a number of other scars, all of them a jumble of apparent age and source, and this pattern continued itself all over his entire body, at least as far as was visible outside of the odd one-piece tunic that he wore. And looking like that, well Hey! Flash held up his hands defensively as Stewart visibly growled at him. Okay, okay! I acted hastily, alright? This act of haste just cost the League over fifty million dollars, pointed out the Dark Knight. And you don't have an allowance we can take it out of. Flash rubbed the back of his head, this time in mental pain rather than physical, then blinked as the massive wolf-man spoke up again. Naw, Naw, I got this, this, he growled, digging into what was apparently a cleverlyconcealed pouch near the waist of his garment. Y'all Y'all still take precious metals and stones, right? right? he asked as he pulled out a rather impressive-looking ruby. It It isn't from around here literally, so I bet it would fetch a pretty price on the markets. markets. He glanced at the assembled heroes, then tossed it to Batman, who caught it neatly with one hand. I I can pull my weight with the cleanup, too. too. Bruce Wayne lifted a cowled brow as he examined the striking, and very unusual gemstone. Thank you, mister Th' Th' names Logan! Or ye can just call me Logan! was the gregarious response. Or 'One-Eye'. Most everyone does, really. really. Right, said Batman. And thank you, One-Eye, but we He cut off as Superman stepped forward, speaking over his words, and held out a hand in greeting. We accept your generosity, mister Logan, he said as the wolf shook his hand, once. One-Eye then folded his arms over his chest and grinned, as Batman

tugged lightly on the Kryptonian's cape to get his attention. One moment, he said, before turning aside and walking a few steps away. Are you certain about this? growled Wayne in Kryptonian. We don't know anything about him, other than that he have you a pretty solid fight. Well, let me put it this way, said the man of Steel in his native tongue, when we were knocking each other through the buildings, I saw him taking actions to protect the lives of those who got caught in the way. I don't think he can fly, but he can sure as hell move and bend, like nothing I've ever seen. He smirked down at the look Batman gave him at that. No, not like Plastic Man. He just He turned to look back at One-Eye, who remained standing where he had been. His one good ear was perked forward, but if he could understand the ancient language, he gave no sign of comprehension. There's a lot about him I can't figure out, but I do know that he was holding back, just as I was. That's good enough for me.