Justice League of America #3

Issue Details

Synopsis

WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS CHAPTER 3 - THE FOREST AND THE TREE After being injured in the field, Oliver Queen has recovered, and is looking to get back into the field, though he has been refused membership in the newly formed Justice League of America.   Courtney Whitmore, meanwhile, has also been benched - at least from field work. She is visited by Amanda Waller, who hands her a set of talking points for a press conference. Courtney is angered to learn that because of her celebrity, she has been selected as the team's cheerleader, despite being quite capable as a super-hero. The team, though, has already left on its next mission without her, and Waller warns that she will find a way to make the law catch up to her father and what he did in the past if she doesn't address the press.   Meanwhile, the JLA has been attacked in Northumberland by what appears to be a metallic Justice League. Reacting at first with confusion, they are forced to fight for their lives until Katana slices off Wonder Woman's head with her Soultaker Sword. The cut reveals that these attackers are actually advanced robots. Having learned earlier - by mistake - that he could vibrate machines into pieces, Vibe tries to do the same to these robots, though his team-mates are in the line of fire. Fortunately, the rest of the team is only shaken, and the robots are destroyed.   Catwoman congratulates him on his success, but she soon finds the Soultaker sword at her throat, as Katanna claims that her husband, whose soul resides in the weapon, does not trust her. Someone had to have tipped off the Society to their coming. Fortunately, Martian Manhunter has scanned Catwoman's mind, and explains that she is just as in the dark about the Society as the rest of them. Reluctantly, Katana releases Catwoman, and the rest of their time is spent searching the forest. Strangely, all that they find is a shingle and some broken glass. Whatever was there, it is gone now.   After returning to A.R.G.U.S., Steve Trevor reports back to Waller that the robots they fought were certainly the work of Professor Ivo - which means that the reports of his suicide were false. With this knowledge, Steve has a few ideas of how to find the Secret Society - but they involve breaking a few laws.   The plan requires that Catwoman - who is the only member of the team who hasn't gone public - stage a robbery and get caught. Unfortunately, Green Arrow didn't get the memo, and he, thinking that he is helping the JLA tries to capture her as she attempts escape. Requiring that Hawkman surreptitiously bring him down, so it can appear as if they've caught her. When Oliver realizes that the whole thing was for show, he blackmails Trevor into letting him join the team in exchange for keeping quiet about Catwoman's involvement with it.   Now that Catwoman appears to have been caught, the next stage of the plan requires that she be sent to Arkham Asylum, where she can play up the idea of wanting to join a Secret Society, escape the asylum, and then wait for the Society to recruit her. Though it takes her longer than she expects, Catwoman is out in 48 hours, and the JLA puts out a statement indicating that they are all after her.   As she runs over the city's rooftops, she is suddenly stopped in her tracks by the appearance of Signal Man and Blockbuster. After taking a heavy hit to the head, Catwoman wakes up strapped to a chair in an empty room. MISSNG PIECES Despite giving off the appearance of having kept his mental probe of Catwoman light, he went far deeper than his team mates know. He has seen that she is a woman who has lost everything, including her childhood, her hope, and her identity. He sees how she fills those gaps in her life with witticisms, and hides what she cannot fill beneath her mask. Unfortunately, masks can double as blindfolds.   Catwoman, meanwhile, is able to see into his mind just as he is into hers - but she senses that he doesn't know that she can see it all. She sees him in the past, hunting a bizarre and dangerous Martian creature. In the process of killing the creature, he takes its memories, so that it can live on in him. As she is about to watch him return to his home, the connection is severed.   He apologizes for intruding in her mind, speaking telepathically. She asks him not to do that again, thinking to him that no matter what he saw in her head, his own demons are haunting him, too.