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in: Mike Carlin/Executive Editor, Howard Porter/Cover Artist, Drew Geraci/Cover Artist,
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JLA Vol 1 45

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"Tower of Babel, Part 3: Protected by the Cold": The world is in chaos since Ra's al Ghul scrambled the written language and the JLA have been incapacitated with help of [[Bruce Wayne (New Earth)|Batma

Quote1 I have had enough of being a pawn in my father's endless schemes. Quote2
— Talia al Ghul

JLA #45 is an issue of the series JLA (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 2000.

Synopsis for "Tower of Babel, Part 3: Protected by the Cold"

The world is in chaos since Ra's al Ghul scrambled the written language and the JLA have been incapacitated with help of Batman's own plans.

Batman has just escaped Ra's fortress and secret lair and is trying to contact his fellow teammates, but all he is able to tell them is that he is responsible for the attacks on them. Batman is about to tell them how to recover from the attacks, when Ra's starts a nullifier of language that makes people unable to understand each other by speaking. Ra's has now tampered the written and spoken language. Batman fails to deliver the message and he falls down from a cliff after being pursued by the League of Assassins.

At the Justice League Watchtower, Aquaman tries to understand Batman's message, but he has been too long outside of the water and his vital signs begin to fail and he faints. Plastic Man has bonded again and recovers just in time to help Aquaman with the help of Martian Manhunter. J'onn is still unable to get out of the aqua-suit, but despite that, he and Plastic Man are able to place Aquaman inside a water tub and in order to prevent Aquaman from being scared to death, J'onn places a delusion in Aquaman's head and makes him believe that he is in a dry desert.

Plastic Man and Martian then teleport the rest of the league from the place they were to the Watchtower. J'onn uses his X-ray vision power on Wonder Woman and learns that she has a nanobot on her brain. Plastic Man makes his finger thin enough to reach the nanobot and with J'onn's guidance, they take out the bot from inside her head. Then, they ask Superman to try and control the power overload caused by his transparent skin as a result of the exposure to Batman's Red Kryptonite. Superman is able to control his power and then they ask him to use his laser vision on Flash's spine in order to destroy the vibrating bullet that is causing his seizures. Superman is able to do it and Flash recovers, telling them that those were the most painful days of his life. However, Martian corrects him and tells him that he has been out for only twenty minutes. Lastly, Green Lantern is still blind and J'onn uses his telepathic powers to learn that Kyle has been exposed to a post-hypnotic suggestion and that his blindness must be caused as a result of him wearing the Power Ring while he was asleep and the hypnotic suggestion. J'onn takes the ring from Kyle and in a few minutes , he is able to see again. Meanwhile, Superman recovers control over his powers, slowly and what he discovers makes him sad. The Earth is in complete chaos as nobody can understand each other and the Justice League doesn't know how to help.

At that moment, in Ra's secret lair, Talia tells her father her disappointment over his latest plan and how she was used for his own interest. One of Ra's men tell him of Batman's demise and Talia is shocked in disbelief. She demands to see the body or otherwise she won't believe that her beloved is dead. The man goes out and when he is out of reach, he takes off his mask, revealing that he was Batman all along.

At the Watchtower, Aquaman is recovering and the effects of the fear toxin are wearing off, but he wouldn't be able to be in action for a while. The League discuss what Batman did and J'onn believes that Batman's actions have gone too far, even for him. Batman discovers Ra's transmission source and he communicates with the rest of the League to tell them. Flash, Plastic Man and Green Lantern are eager to help, but Superman thinks it might be another trap and stops them from going and instead he goes himself to meet Batman. Batman is on his way to Ra's tower and tells Superman everything he learned, but Superman just stares at him without saying a word.

Moments later, they arrive to Ra's transmission tower, and the rest of the league get there moments later. Ra's "Tower of Babel" is heavily fortified and the signal is strong there. J'onn links the team telepathically from the Watchtower so they can communicate without speaking. Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Plastic Man start fighting the League of Assassins while Superman and Flash get inside the tower. Superman is scared when he sees a red light flashing and he decides that it's time to destroy the tower. Flash takes everybody outside of the tower and Superman unleashes his power and blows the tower to pieces.

Superman walks out of the explosion and demands some answers from Batman, but he feels weak and falls to his knees. Batman tells them that he had his reasons to devise the plans, but at that moment Talia speaks to them through their minds and tells them that there is another source of the signal that they should destroy, but before she is able to tell them where it is located, one of Ra's men shoots her in the leg and tells the JL that they must find the place by themselves, knowing that the second relay signal is not a place but a microscopic device invisible to the naked eye and that they probably are going to fail.

Appearing in "Tower of Babel, Part 3: Protected by the Cold"

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Notes

Trivia

  • On page 12, J'onn points out that he himself once kept dossiers on his then JLA teammates, referring to the revelation at the end of JLA: Year One #8 (co-written by Mark Waid). Back then, the discovery that J'onn had been spying on them resulted in him losing the trust of his fellow Leaguers, and even a temporary expulsion from the team.


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