Chapter 7: Chapter 7- Leaving Las Vegas
It was two days since Amanda Waller's speech at the television. Aiden did his best to keep calm, but it proved to be difficult. Each day passing, the spit on his parent name grew, it was infuriating.
He was currently in a casino of Las Vegas, trying to discover what was the trap that was awaiting him. Which wasn't the idea of the century, as his photo was broadcasted on every news channel and every newspaper.
"We know nothing, Waller is a venomous snake, she trusts no-one and she act like the bitch she is!" The man he was talking to was a colonel expelled of the army recently. He came to Las Vegas for who know what. Whatever, he drunk and Aiden didn't even have to torture him to make him talk.
"Is there some backstory between you two?"
"No, but I know what type of bitch she is. She would use any way to obtain what she wants. She would put the worst criminals to shame. They nicknamed her the "Wall", to my mind the "Cerberus" would suit her better."
"I pay for the drinks." He said to the bartender before leaving. His wallet once again full, he stole a bit more than five-hundred dollars to some tugs in the streets.
Sigh (I'll have to go right into the trap if it continues like this.)
Being in Las Vegas wasn't the best idea with the sheer number of video surveillance, but that ex-colonel was his sole lead, which sounded awfully convenient. He was now in a town full of cameras and peoples, which would impede his fighting capacity. He wasn't a mindless killer.
(Fuck, why do I have the feeling that someone is playing chess with me, and that I'm being led by the nose?!)
Walking toward the train station, his precognition kicked in and showed him his death with a bullet in the forehead in the next ten seconds. Creating a telekinesis wall around him, he headed toward the biggest building around.
Bang!
The bullet came but crashed into the wall he raised around himself. Looking toward the origin of the shot, he saw a red light, but he couldn't stop, once again his precognition saves his life, he saw a man in black cloaked in a white cape appeared beside him out of nowhere to send a blast toward him.
Even before the Dr Light could appear and sent him fly, he sent a tremendous telekinetic push toward where he would be. He heard a howl and the glass wall of the hotel was destroyed and the said man appeared.
"So that was it, she created a trap, and if id don't come, she sends assassins. That guy was right, she is a bitch!"
Flying toward him, he heard a sound and was frozen when he saw the projectile.
(Boomerangs! These fuckers are attacking me with boomerangs!)
Grabbing it in midair, he sent it toward the sniper, but he dodged. He wanted to pull him from the roof toward the floor and let him fall, but a cat jumped in his way.
A cat, a human disguised as a cat! The Justice League was already strange enough, with aliens, magicians and all the others, but it was the first time he saw someone disguised like this. Even Catwoman suit wasn't like this. Did you see something with a tiger head on your head?
Strangely, the cat was an expert in martial arts. He was forced to fight him hand to hand, he was already multitasking, using precognition, detection field and blocking bullets from the sniper.
"So, what is your power? Purring?" The angered kitten ran toward him, and start his attacks with a punch in the plexus that Aiden blocked easily, and then followed with two blow to the chin that were just a lure to lend a heavy kick in the stomach.
Aiden was pretty proud of himself, since the fight with the Bat-family he became far better to a respond to the situations shown by his precognition during a fight. His movements were far more fluid than before, previously there was a lag between what he saw and the countermeasures used. Now, it was almost instinctive.
"What should I call you? Garfield? Totoro? Meowth? Snowbell? You want to eat a mouse? I can find you one."
"I'm Bronze Tiger, and I'll tear you into shred punk!" He seems pretty infuriated. While they were fighting three more boomerangs came toward him. This time he was more focused on his detection field and he found the children playing with boomerangs.
Taking control over them he sent them flying toward their new target from three different directions as he stops another shot from the sniper and a hail of bullet seemingly shot from a simple soldier from his attire.
The boomerang did the job, the guy hiding behind the building was skewered by his own weapons.
(He'll play with his boomerangs in hell!)
"Boomerang heartbeat just stopped. He is dead! Enchantress comes!" The soldier cried orders out loud.
"So, you're the leader of this bunch of assassins. it will be my pleasure to kill you, fucker!"
"No, you won't touch him!" He knew he was in deep shit, nothing but the name gave her away, a magician, a damn magician. More than ten women appeared, all identical and flighting above ground.
(Clones, so she can replicate herself. Fuck a magician it's a Russian roulette, you can't know what are their abilities.)
Suddenly, he felt oppressed as she or they raised the arm.
"Force field using telekinesis. Sorry for you, but I think I'm the best at it." Creating an omnidirectional push, he repulsed her hold and made disappear all her clones.
The Kitten calling himself Bronze Tiger jumped away before they started their attacks all at once.
The Enchantress sends a blast of green energy toward him which he evaded, he didn't want to try to block it, magic was pretty strange. The sniper and the soldier send another hail of bullets which did nothing except being reflected toward themselves.
The sniper evaded but the soldier was saved at the last second by the enchantress using her telekinesis. Behind him, Dr light fired a blast of energy toward him, but he blocked it before using telekinesis to broke his neck while the Enchantress was busied elsewhere.
"Huh, we lost light. We have to retreat! Waller you hear me?! It can't continue like this." The soldier was howling in his radio as Bronze Tiger stepped in once again.
"Enchantress, you can't take him on?" The leader of that team asked the woman.
"No, he dodges all my blast, overpower my telekinesis, and I have to protect you. You saw it yourselves, when I'm not near you, you become his target." Rick Flag knew perfectly, that young punk understood their relationship and use his weakness to keep the Enchantress at bay.
(That team is doubtful, two soldiers, a cat, a circus guy, a guy with light powers, and a magician. Furthermore, almost all of them are useless against me except the magician and the meta-human.)
What he didn't knew was that on theory, it had good chances to succeed, except that no one knew about his precognition.
Aiden didn't try to kill the soldier, the magician seemed in love with him, he didn't want to see what a magician out of control could do. His next target was the cat, kill half of their team should be a good deterrent, or an opportunity for his enemies. He wasn't sure anymore, since Waller announcement at television, he wasn't sure when he was manipulated.
"Come little kitten, I'll send you to hell. I heard that the dry cat food was delicious over there." He could break his neck without breaking a sweet but that sniper didn't let him breathe.
"Everyone falls back! Deadshot cover us!" The kitten and the soldier, seeing his uniform it was a colonel fell back toward the end of the street as the Enchantress raised a telekinetic wall and the sniper raised his firing rate.
He attacked telekinetically, but the enchantress blocked what she could and sent several blasts but these times, they seem more powerful.
(So, she has several types of blast. Interesting.)
Finally, they made it to a chopper landed in the hovering the ground. The Enchantress and the others attacked without stop so that he couldn't block the chopper.
In reality, he would let them go. He trained his power, but he neglected multitasking, using all his abilities at once and without break was tiring, and the faster that magician was out of the way, the more reassured he would feel.
Heading toward the dead body of the meta-human, he took his radio and put it to his mouth.
"I swear to you, whore. You will die, but before that you will suffer." He knew who he was talking to. Waller, he heard the soldier saying her name in the radio. The same person who spit in his parents in front of all the country.
"We'll see." Was the sole answer he got.
(Dr Light, I knew I knew him. Nightwing putted him behind bars. What is he doing here? he escaped? No, Waller is in the army. They're using prisoners to do their dirty work ?!) After what he heard about her and her methods, it wasn't really surprising.
Leaving Las Vegas would now be a problem, after a fight in the middle of the street with criminals sent by Amanda Waller. What would come next would be either the army or the Justice League.
Before, Aiden thought that this plan using his anger to lure him into a trap was created by Batman, but it seems he was wrong. It was created by a bitch overzealous and ready to do everything to attain her goal.
(I use my invisibility under their nose last time, I hope they don't know about it or leaving them behind will become difficult.)
Ready to take off the ground, he heard someone calling him from behind.
"Please wait a second, Mr. Sharp." Turning around, he saw a Caucasian female with brown eyes and light brown hair in a business suit and a short skirt. "I'm Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor assistant and bodyguard. Mr. Luthor would like to meet you to talk about your current problem."
He was a bit worried around her, first he heard about Luthor in the streets of Gotham, he hides a lot behind his media image, and more importantly, he didn't detect her arrival, she popped out of nowhere.
(It starts to become annoying, Dr Fate, I understand he isn't Earth mightiest magician for nothing. But why couldn't I detect a simple bodyguard?!)
"I heard about Lex Luthor. Why would I trust him? If I cooperate with him, I'm sure I'll become a priority for the Justice League."
"Because he is your sole chance for the time being and, in the future, you may not have to flee anymore." Her answer was calm and concise.
"Lead the way." He was pretty much out of options.
Mercy took out some strange device out of her suit. (What is that thing?)
"To the manor." Was the only thing she said, and they disappeared in a flash of light. They appeared elsewhere, in what appear to be a luxurious manor hall. The room was huge, walls were covered in large oil paintings like those in a museum, the floor was in marble and several statues were disposed here and here.
"Follow me." Passing by a huge stairway covered in a red carpet, they passed by a luxurious corridor before emerging in front of a closed door. Luthor bodyguard knocked before opening the door after being told to enter.
"Mr. Sharp, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The bald man he saw so many times on TV was here. Getting up from his desk chair, he walked to him and gave him a handshake.
"All pleasure is mine, Mr. Luthor." Aiden was on guard, he knew about Luthor. He pissed off the blue boy scout pretty badly and the integrality of the Justice League more than once, but he was still a public figure loved by the crowds. Hell, he was even elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He sat on the free chair in front of Luthor desk, as the said man took out a bottle of whisky from a wooden shelf.
"A drink?" Luthor took out two glasses beautifully carved, put ice cubes in the glass before pouring the drink.
"Thanks." Taking the glass in his hand he took a sip before resuming their conversation. "Your charming assistant told me that you could help me."
"Yes, we could say that. All the country is running after you, and Amanda Waller is determined to send you to the grave. Nice job by the way, I found Waller despicable. She would be ready to void every individual right if it could help her cause. What you faced was the "Task Force X" also called "The Suicide Squad". A group of prisoners forced to do the dirty work for Waller."
"I know, seeing Dr Light and Captain Boomerang who should still be behind bars was pretty obvious. I imagine that this task force is secret. The idea of deploy super powered criminals in the country wouldn't be pleasing to the public opinion."
"Yes, you're pretty smart, I like it…"
"Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Luthor but I'm running out of time. Even if I hate Amanda Waller to the core, she isn't my main objective. I would prefer to know what is the solution you have for me." Emptying his glass in one gulp, he put it on the desk without letting Luthor out of his sight.
"This is where you're wrong. Amanda Waller is your main objective; she and the murderer of your parents are one." Luthor told him with an impassible face, even if inside he was gloating.
Aiden was in disbelief. Even if he was wary of Luthor, it was true that Waller perfectly fitted the description. Military and political power, active during the cold war, has assassins to her disposal. The only strange thing would be her age, at the time his parents were exfiltrate from the camps, she would have been 22. Pretty young to be this influent.
"Think to it, if she helped your family in the past. Why would she be hunting you down now?" Luthor gets up, glass in hand and walked toward the bay window.
"Tell me." He wasn't leaving Luthor out of his sight, eager to know more.
"At this time Waller was young but far from stupid, ready to do everything to climb higher in the hierarchy. She led experiments on your parents and other peoples, refugees saved by her and who were devoted to her. Her goal was to create super soldiers, her project was illegal, she wanted to present the final results to her superior once it would be ready.
In the end, she failed and your parents escaped during a massive breakout. She tracked all the breakaways down, except your parents, they were smarter and found a way to disappear." Turning around, he had a smirk on his face. Perfectly sure that he played him around masterfully.
Aiden was in turmoil, all the pieces were assembling perfectly, maybe too perfectly; but he had the answer he was searching for months.
"Why would have she painted a target on her forehead? All that propaganda against my parents was certain to encourage me to kill her." Looking at Luthor he asked his last interrogation.
"Because, if you attack her, and try to kill her; Whether you know the truth won't matter anymore, she would be the victim and you the aggressor. She was worried that heroes of the Justice League would be ready to help you, but in that case, there would be tied by the law. Now, 2 members of the task force X are dead, she can alter the facts to say to her superiors that she was in Las Vegas and you attacked her. You are checkmate." Emptying his glass, he put in on his desk before looking down toward Aiden.
"That's why I have an offer for you. I can protect you, even clear your name and the name of your family. If you accept to work for me." His smile seemed veritable.
"Thank you for your offer, Mr. Luthor, but when I started all this mayhem after the death of my parents, I knew that death could be a possibility. I'll conclude what I have started." Giving Luthor a handshake, he chose to refuse.
"Marcy, you can drop Mr. Sharp where he wants."
Raising an eyebrow, he asked Luthor "Where is Waller?"
"New-York." He replied a smile on his lips.
"New-York it is." He and Mercy Graves soon disappeared in a flash of light.
Seeing them leaving, Lex used his computer to contact the other members of "The Light". "Gentleman, I inform you it was a success, the timeframe we wanted to create will happen soon." His voice was gleeful, He was an expert at manipulation since childhood, but the fun it gave him never changed.
"Good, I'm ready any moment. I hope you played him well, when he'll learn the truth he will become totally nuts. The show will be interesting" Klarion answered.
"That was our goal in the first place. The more attention his confrontation with Waller and the Justice League get, will give us more liberty to act." This time it was Vandal Savage who talked.
"Yes, but I regret the fact that I didn't did it. He would have become our loyal pawn. Playing with men's minds is always so pleasing." Queen Bee said in a giggle.
"You're wrong, I may have manipulated him, but he was wary, my surveillance system showed that he encased himself in a bubble. Your Pheromones would have been useless." Luthor answer was spot on and stopped Queen bee in her speech. "We can track him down if he succeeds to escape to this fight and take control of him, I put a nano tracker in his drink, it seems the instinct we guessed him acted only in case of danger, he was oblivious to it."
"Good. Now, we have to make sure the Justice League knows that he will attempt to Waller life." This was Savage Last declaration before putting an end to the communication.
(Aiden, you should have known that Vertigo was double crossing you. He is so haughty and can't tolerate even the tiniest disrespect, that kind of man enjoy himself only when you kneel to lick his foot. You're too green for this, at least this way, you have a use.)He thought while looking out of the windows, a bright smile on his face.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone