Chapter 90 Where Am I
Downtown Metropolis, Lexcorp building.
The room was dim with mood lighting and a grim atmosphere that gave off a certain level of relaxation.
Once one looked through the glass wall, they would see the bright lights of the Metropolis nightlife.
[This is the Central City Gazette bringing you with the latest hit news in the city today. Earlier this afternoon reports indicate that the Fraternal Terror Twins, Tommy Terror and his sister Tuppence Terror, have successfully been apprehended by The Justice League.
The Twins reportedly attempted to rob Gemini Gems at a high-end mall in Central City but were caught in the act by two League hero sidekicks, Kidflash and Superboy. They confronted the terror twins, but the incident escalated as hostages were taken captive. Luckily, Superman and Central City's scarlet speedster, The Flash appeared on the scene and resolved the grim situation.
The Twins fled the scene while causing a rampage in their wake, and were pursued by Superman all the way to New Orleans. Eventually ending in New Orleans French quarter, they were finally apprehended by Superman and Martian Manhunter and according to the Justice League member and Central City Icon, Flash, they will be sent to Belle Reve to answer for their crimes.
In recent weeks after a short absence, The Flash has returned to Central City and made his presence more apparent than ever, stopping several thefts, robberies, and attacks for Meta human villains......]
The television was switched off with the push of a button.
“Things are going as planned”.
Standing a certain distance away from the bald billionaire, Ra's al ghul uttered without a hint of emotion.
“Precisely as expected”.
Lex said while throwing a folder onto the nearby table.
The Demon's head raised an eyebrow.
“Any reports on his whereabouts?”
“...... No”.
As soon as the topic came to this, like felt like he had a migraine.
“His location was already elusive enough. Now he hasn't made any public appearances in three weeks. Not even the Justice League can contact him. The military is also at a dead end”.
Three Weeks ago, a strange phenomenon took place that grabbed the headlines.
The mysterious base of their recent resident alien stationed outside Gotham city suddenly collapsed.
The energy shield surrounding the area disappeared, and dozens of miles of free land was returned exactly how it was.
What made it so eye-catching was the fact that the earth shook that day. Every country in the world felt it, like the planet had been tapped with a giant sledgehammer.
The disasters caused were imaginable.
Many buildings with unstable foundations came crumbling down. Ships at sea were overturned by violent waves.
A certain country even had a volcanic eruption.
Parts of the earth in many places split open......... The most devout of beliefs even took it as the sign of Armageddon. The whole world was going to be destroyed......
Thankfully, the league responded.
Superheroes everywhere joined forces to save as many lives as they could.
This incident, coupled with the disappearance of Amari's base, caused to set a craze over the internet.
Reporters and journalists first reaction was to find the government and ask what was happening.
When they couldn't give a satisfactory answer, they turned to the Justice League. And when Superman told the truth that the League had no idea, the media went crazy.
All sort of conspiracy theories surfaced from almost everywhere. The entire world felt uneasy, but when compared to the seven members of The Light, that might as well just have slight paranoia.
“Unless we have a way to stop him, his location should be the least of our worries”.
“Really? Then do you think we can?” Lex asked as his fingers tapped on the table. His gaze fixed on the man who had lived for several centuries carried a bit of irritability.
“With the abilities Amari has shown, it is only a matter of time before he discovers who we are. When he does, he can kill us off one by one before we realize it. Out of the lot of us, Perhaps only Klarion and Savage are truly safe”.
Lex wasn't in a good mood.
Although The bald billionaire wasn't a complete control freak, he never disliked having everything follow his ideals.
The stone hanging in his heart for the past three weeks was honestly suffocating.
Knowing that at any moment, someone could come for your life and there was nothing you could do to stop it.
He was rich, he was a genius, but he was still just a common man. He didn't have powerful strength or extreme capabilities.
At the critical moment, even Lex Luthor would feel fear
“Death is something no man can escape. Even I do not expect to truly live forever. From the looks of it, Perhaps neither does Savage”.
“Bullshit!”
Lex grabbed the glass of whiskey placed on the table and smashed it to the ground.
The attitude of the Demon's head enraged him.
For someone who had already lived for hundreds of years, Ra's al ghul no longer feared the concept of death. He had died numerous times over the centuries and was now somewhat immune to the feeling.
If Amari came to kill him, he would probably leave behind some philosophical words and wouldn't even resist.
After all, this was a man who wanted Bruce Wayne to carry his mantle and be his successor.
What was he going to do if that truly happened? Go to a beach in Hawaii and live out his retirement days?
He wasn't like Vandal Savage who sought to rule over the entire world under his singular name. The only regret he would have was the fact that he wouldn't have a proper heir to inherit his life's work and continue his mission.
To him, death was no biggie. But for Luthor, it was the exact opposite.
Ra's was an ambitious man, but compared to Savage, he was several league's behind. Apart from the fact that the world wasn't cleaned of corruption, he had already accomplished the majority of his life goals.
Lex on the other hand, was practically empty on his life achievements.
Superman still wasn't dead.
Superman's true identity was still unknown.
He hadn't left his mark in history, he hadn't defeated Superman in a battle of wits, he hadn't led the human race to conquer the universe yet, he still hadn't been regarded as the savior of humanity.......
And most of all, he didn't want to fucking die.
He had so much to accomplish. So much potential to be unearthed.
He would not accept death, much less a death like this.
“Is this the attitude of the legendary Demon's Head? Willing to go down without a fight?”
“Then stop wasting my time and tell me why you called me here, Luthor". His face didn't change in the slightest.
“........ A proposal. A team up between you and me to counter this situation”.
Lex calmed down and snapped his fingers. His bodyguard, mercy poured a drink into town glasses and brought them over.
Lex took the drink and took a sip. Savored the taste and let out a small sigh of satisfaction.
“I have been preparing myself for a plan, an idea I've had since the moment he appeared in my sights. All of my actions were made towards an unclear direction, that finally cleared up today”.
“You're talking about the news reports and the control of public opinion on the person himself?” Ra's asked as he took a seat.
“Exactly. All to push for a possibility I proposed earlier but wasn't taken seriously”.
“The possibility of an alliance”.
“An alliance?” Ra's raised his eyebrows.
“You don't mean......”.
“Exactly what you think”. Luthor affirmed with conviction.
“My time spent battling against Superman has been majorly unsuccessful. No matter what I try, he always manages to best me. This is the reason I accepted Vandal's invitation. Because I realized that no one man could defeat the Justice League on his own”.
Reaching this point, Lex's face crumpled slightly.
“....... But I've found that our supreme alliance is not as imposing as it's supposed to be”.
“The operations of the light have been progressing steadily”. Ra's uttered with a gesture.
"Our operations have been continuously interrupted by a bunch of brats. Despite the fact that it has not affected the grand scheme of things, doesn't make it any less true". He retorted solemnly.
Superboy was rescued from Cadmus, the blockbuster serum was revealed to the JL, the Cobra venom was destroyed left with only the final vial retrieved by sportsmaster, the sphere transported by their partners escaped their possession, Amazo was lost.........
Ra's thought of all these details and didn't refute.
These things wouldn't impact the final plan. But when put like this, it showed their incompetence.
And let's not even begin to mention ocean master.
“It makes me wonder, what guarantee is there that this partnership of ours against the Justice League won't end up the same way?” Lex concluded with a question.
“The road to success is never smooth”.
“True, but what if we can make it?” Lex asked with unprecedented enthusiasm.
“The power Amari possesses is just the missing key I need. I realized after fighting with Superman all this time that at the final moment, whoever has the biggest fist wins”.
His expression grew cold.
“If I could stomp Superman into meat paste, why go through all this trouble?”
“You're trying to lure Amari into the same boat with you”. The Demon's head dropped the glass.
“Ambitious, but it can backfire tremendously, lex. You know nothing of the kind of person this Deviant truly is. What's stopping him from killing you even after you make your pitch?”
“If we can't solve this, I will still die, will I not?”
Amari said he would come for them. Apart from Klarion, no one took this threat lightly.
Not even Ra's Al Ghul.
“So how do you plan to achieve this?” Ra's finally asked after a moment of thought.
The Demon's Head was several hundred years old. He still hadn't achieved his purpose of bringing perfect balance to the world.
If he could live a little longer, why should he refuse?
“That is still in formation”. Lex said and slid his fingers against the glass table.
A holographic screen emerged.
“But through my many years of success in business, I've learned that if you want to successfully strike a deal, the most important elements are Information, and communication”.
“Which in our situation, would prove difficult. Forgive me, but not even your most skilled shadows have the capability to track down his whereabouts”.
Ra's didn't object.
It was a simple fact.
“In that case, since we can't identify his whereabouts, then we might as well keep a lock on the people he comes in contact with”.
Several pictures appeared in thin air.
“His only known contacts are Sam Lane, Wade Eiling and Amanda Waller, alongside the Justice League, their Proteges and one especially........ Super girl".
A second later, Waller was crossed off the list.
“We can get to him using The General and The Supergirl as both are under our control”.
“As for Eiling......... Since Psimon is dead, we'll need a telepath”.
..........
Amari POV
Location: ..........
September 28, Time:........
I don't remember what happened exactly. Where I was, or how I came to be here.
It was dark...... Like really dark. I couldn't feel my arms, or legs, or body. I was unable to breathe at all.
So........ I'm concluding I have no body.
Splendid.
The Axiom was gone. My Dimensional space was gone as well.
Try as I might, I couldn't access it. The occasional inserts of my AI was gone too.
Sucks really....... The silence all of it was strangely familiar and greatly unsettling.
Have I been here before? Oh yeah, that's right. This was the same feeling I had before I awakened.
The nothingness....... I was swimming in the void..... I think. Confusing really, having to go back to the time before I entered the DC world.
All the way back to square one. But why? Did I fail? I mean, I shouldn't have.
I felt the power, and I used it. Technically speaking, the possibility of failure was almost non-existent.
So why? Why was I back here?
Was the opponent that strong? So, strong that even that much energy wasn't enough to offset one question?
Makes me even more curious about who was responsible.
Was it Trigon? Nah, I doubt he'd be the one responsible. Or was it one of the endless?
Could it be the actual Darkseid? I'm talking about his true body, not his incarnations that appear all over the multiverse.
Or was something wrong with the source power itself? Or maybe it was one of the old Gods.
Strange........ The last thing I remember was a shattering sound. Like something smashed on a mirror and the glass pieces fell to the ground.
Was it an attack?
What was that?
I didn't know how long I stayed like this. Thankfully, my indifference didn't actually let me care.
And so I stayed, and stayed, and stayed....... Until it came.
I saw something. A bright blue light coming out in the distance.
My only thoughts were.......... About time.
The closer I got, the clearer it was.
It was still that same pitch-black darkness. But the place where the light emanated from........ Was a crack?
Oh! So that's where the cracking sound came from.
Strange, though. What the hell is this?
Why the hell was there a crack in the darkness?
It didn't take me long to find out as I was eventually pulled into it. Then that dazzling light returned for the second time.
A few moments later ........ It all returned to normal.
The light was gone and I could feel again. I could feel my arms, legs, I could breathe again..... Only...... Why did it feel ...... weird?
Why couldn't I move?
“Ah! Ah! Yes! Shit Fuck yeah!”
My now small eyes couldn't help but widen.
“Fuck! Hehehe! You bitch! I didn't even know you already had a baby for him. Yet, you still do this”.
Ok. Where in The Presences Name was I?