Bab 22: Where’s Harley?
While Mark knew it was hopeless he still flew back to the apartment where the Joker was, however, he was no longer there just as he expected. What was worse though was that the man he had tortured was now dead. Mark had seen a lot worse when he'd fought his Dad but it still made him feel like throwing up, it did give him some comfort that he felt that way as he didn't like how callous he felt in Central Park.
Mark slapped his face and refocused before flying out of the window and up into the air "Mark where are you going?" Wonder Woman asked as she and her younger sister intercepted him.
Mark sighed "Not that it's any of your business but I'm trying to find a friend, she took care of me after I was almost killed by Superman but now she's gone missing." He explained.
"Why did you not inform us, we could assist you in finding her." Wonder Woman said trying to brush past the comment about Superman.
Mark chuckled "No thanks, you've got a dead guy in there that you should probably report." He said before shooting off into the sky and away from the amazons.
Diana sighed as she looked at Mark fly off, she had desperately wanted to try and get closer to him but seemed to fail at every turn, she owed him a lot and wanted to repay him in any way she could.
"Sister?"
The sound of her sister's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and her gaze drifted away from where Mark had flown off to. Her sister had a sly look on her face "Are you enamoured with this man?" Donna asked in a teasing voice.
Diana sighed before flying down to the building to assess the situation "Oh you are? Just wait until I tell Mother!" Donna said as she laughed at her sister.
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Mark flew across the sky at his top speed which he found had increased in recent months 'I guess there was a benefit to getting my ass beat so often.' He thought to himself with some amusement, he quickly arrived in Kansas and then at the home that Kara had made for them. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at the poorly repaired holes that had been made when Superman had tackled him out of the house.
He walked around his house suspecting the person he wanted to see would be there rolling around in the dirt, but to his surprise, she wasn't. He did give out an appreciative whistle as he saw how well his garden was doing, it seemed like everything he had planted was grown and doing incredibly. All the fruit looked ripe and delicious and the vegetables were bountiful, even the flowers looked amazing.
Mark then saw a familiar sight sitting at a tree that had a single golden apple spouting from one of its branches "Hey... Swampy?" Mark said unsure of himself as that was most definitely not the creature's real name "I just wanted to thank you for saving me, Ivy said you fished me out of the sea and brought me to her which you didn't need to do... so thanks." He said with an awkward smile.
The green monster looked up at Mark and gave him a heartwarming smile before reaching out and patting him on the head. Mark took that as 'No Problem.' And just returned the smile before heading for his house. Before he even opened the door he heard crying and he very nearly considered not opening it and just leaving 'Please let it be a sad film.' He thought to himself before opening the door.
The image that greeted him made Mark wonder why whatever gods existed had cursed him to live a life where he countered such crazy people. In the centre of the living room, Poison Ivy lay on the ground with a dozen empty bottles of wine as she weeped, she was also naked but that wasn't too unusual when it came to Ivy.
As soon as Ivy looked up and saw Mark she scowled before leaning up on her arm and throwing a bottle of wine at him, one he deflected away with a gesture "Come to gloat!!!" She shouted before throwing another at him.
Mark pinched the bridge of his nose "I was looking for Harley has she been here?" He asked.
Ivy stood up from the ground, and a mocking smile appeared on her face "Trouble in paradise already? HA! I knew Harley would realise her new boy toy couldn't measure up to yours truly." She spouted.
Mark just looked at her with an already tired expression "Ivy... I'm going to ask you this once and if you don't answer I'm going to give up immediately and leave." He said in a serious tone.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
Ivy crossed her arms and gave him a look that Mark thought would suit a five year-old better than it did her "Harley hasn't called me in weeks, she hasn't visited, you stole her off me! But I'll get her back you'll see!" Ivy shouted.
"I haven't seen Harley either, I thought she might be here but the only one in the house was... you." He explained.
"You could at least try and cover up your disappointment!" Ivy said in a whiny tone.
"After the day I've had I really can't..." Mark replied.
"So you're saying you haven't seen Harley or spoken to her in a few weeks?" Mark tried to confirm. Ivy nodded "She isn't in her apartment, she isn't here and Joker is also currently looking for her..."
"Shit/Shit."
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Batman was currently on the Watchtower, while he knew he could leave he wanted to regain the trust of his friends and comrades, something he knew would take a while. He'd also been talking with Black Canary, something he'd found exceedingly difficult but it was at the behest of the other leaguers.
He knew Dick, Tim, Barbara and Damian could handle Gotham while he was gone, but he still had trouble letting go and giving them the reigns. He still saw it as his city, something he'd only just begun to recognise. However in typical Batman fashion, he didn't allow himself to relax, something had been making waves in the underworld and the more Batman investigated it the more concerned he became. A huge event seemed to be taking place and from what Batman could theorise it was an auction, but it seemed it was a lot larger in scale than the previous black market auctions that he'd encountered before.
He'd need to investigate more, he sent Dick and Tim to investigate the usual villains in Gotham, hopefully, that would yield some answers. He didn't like being in the dark, especially when it came to something as big as this, the Justice League's heavy hitters were down and they were completely ignorant of this new upcoming threat.
Batman leaned back in his seat as he ran a search on all of his rogues in Gotham. Nearly all of them were gone, and he had no idea where they were, even the heads of crime families weren't present 'What event could be so big that it attracts such a large group of people' he thought to himself.
Batman knew about the Underground Auction that occurred a few times every decade but he discounted it, the ones in the past ten years had not attracted nearly as many criminals. But if it was another Underground Auction then Batman needed to figure out why it was attracting such a large number of clientele 'What could they possibly be selling.' He thought to himself.
On top of this he was still trying to track down Omni-Man which he had a little more luck with as there had been various sightings of two flying figures in Mexico, while this could be dismissed as just another person with the ability to fly, one of the figures had only one arm which makes the fact that it's Nolan more likely. Batman contemplated what he'd do when he found him 'Would Mark be able to fight him again.' He wondered, while his actions said yes Batman wasn't sure if things would be different this time.
"Bruce you've been working for the past two weeks nonstop, you need to take a break." Black Canary said from behind him, she had been helping around the Watchtower since the incident with Nolan as a lot of the main forces of the league were afraid something like this could happen again.
Batman didn't even look back at her "Of all the times to take a break now isn't one of them." He simply stated before going back to work.
Black Canary sighed as she walked behind Bruce and put an arm on his shoulder "You're not alone Bruce, the fact you forgot that is what led you to this situation." She said bluntly.
"I know, but with injuries affecting our founding members I can't afford to take breaks, especially not when something big is on the horizon." He replied.
"Bruce your most valuable asset to the league is your mind, how can we make use of it when you've gone days without any sleep and weeks without any real rest." She said as she spun his chair around.
"I appreciate your concern Black Canary but this isn't the therapist's office and I have work to do." He said spinning his chair back around to the screen and continuing with his work.
Black Canary breathed heavily before letting go of Batman's shoulder however before she left she turned around "Bruce... be careful, trying so hard to fix your mistakes might lead you to make even more." She said before leaving.
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(One week later)
Bruno Mannheim stood on stage in front of a huge audience, the entire space looked like an old theatre, the space in front of Bruno was filled with all kinds of ruffians and criminals, some were familiar such as Fire Fly and Clay Face. However, most were unfamiliar as they were criminals, rebels and other such scum from around the world.
They'd all come for one thing and that was the pre-auction showcase. A lot of the products that would be shown would have a starting price ranging from the thousands to the billions. This showcase would allow money to be transferred and for the buyers to be ready for the real auction. At the sides of the auction room were private boxes for the ultra-wealthy, people such as Lex Luthor, Maxwell Lord and even the Leader of Bialya himself.
Bruno smirked as he saw the large attendance in front of him, it was even more than they'd estimated.
"Welcome my Friends!" He boomed out to the audience as he opened his large arms outwards.
"It truly does bring a smile to my face to see so many criminals and degenerates in one place, though what makes me more happy is to see the money you've brought through our doors!!!" He shouted out much to the laughter of the crowd before him.
"Slaves, both male, female and other, Alien and Terrestrial technology, Magical Artefacts, Weapons both Biological and Energy based." Bruno listed off some of the items that would listed up for auction.
"But for now I shall be presenting to you some of what we imagine will be our most expensive and most popular items!" He said before pressing a button in his hand, the curtain behind him opened and two attendants brought something out and placed it on a pedestal. Bruno walked toward the pedestal and whipped off the cover, in a clear glass box there was a vial of grey sludge that seemed to shift between solid and liquid states.
"This is a perfected strand of the Doomsday Virus, anyone who consumes it will become the same if not stronger than the monster that was responsible for killing Superman," Bruno explained much to the awe of the crowd. The grin on his face stretched even wider seeing the greed in the eyes of everyone before him, he'd have to thank his benefactor for providing this for him. Bruno then placed the cloth back onto the glass case and signalled the attendants to take it away.
As they left two others appeared bringing another box onto the pedestal, the crowd waited in absolute anticipation, the first item was something that could turn a nobody into one of the most powerful people on the planet so what could be next. Bruno whipped off the cloth and a shiny platinum stone was in the class container, while most looked around confused there was one person in a private box that had his blood boil at the sight of the item.
"This may appear to you as nothing more than a shiny rock, but do not let looks deceive you my friends for this is much much more," Bruno said with a grin on his face.
"This is Platinum Kryptonite, however, this will not harm Superman like the regular old Green, what it will do however is give all the powers of a Kryptonian to a human!" He said shouting the last part excitedly. The crowd went absolutely wild at the item on display, so much a that the guards stationed at the foot of the stage and at the sides all unholstered their weapons.
However they calmed down when Bruno raised his hand demanding silence "So my friends if you wish for power but are too vain to turn yourself into a monster, perhaps becoming the next Superman is the way to go." He said with a grin before waving off the attendants who grabbed the box and took it off stage.
"Ahhh now this item is a mystery to even myself," Bruno said as a smaller glass container was brought on stage. Inside was what looked like a dark purple necklace that was in the shape of a face. The face had six red gemstones which were used as eyes and horns coming out the sides "The only information I was able to gather about this Magical Artefact is that if the right conditions are fulfilled the pendent will transport you to another dimension where a God will grant any single wish you may have."
The crowd wasn't nearly as impressed with this one as they all gave sceptical glances at the pendent not believing in its abilities, though that was just the non-magicals. Those who dabbled in sorcery that had come were positively giddy when they saw it.
"Now I have one last item to show you and it is by far my favourite, I wouldn't be surprised if this were to empty the bank accounts of even the richest people here. Much to everyone's surprise it wasn't an object that was brought on stage but a person, she was dressed in a red lace bra with matching underwear and stockings going up her legs. She had long ginger hair that had been freshly cleaned, she had a dead expression on her face as she was led up to the stage next to Bruno.
"This here is a girl that can manipulate matter and energy at the subatomic level, for all of you idiots in the crowd that means she could turn one thing into something else. And for those who don't understand that, she can take an apple and change it into gold. She can take a rubber ball and create a Uranium core, she is extremely gifted which was why we had to break her unfortunately, though she'll still listen to simple orders when given." Bruno explained once again exciting the crowd.
"Her name is Eve and she is going to sell for a lot of money," Bruno said while laughing almost uncontrollably.
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While Bruno spoke unbeknownst to him there was someone in the crowd watching and waiting for the right time to strike, unfortunately for Nolan he didn't find it as what he was looking for was not in the items that were being displayed. And he couldn't risk starting a fight in a room full of thousands of villains.
Nolan was wearing a dark hood as he watched the items being brought up to the stage, he had to admit some of them were indeed interesting. Especially the doomsday virus, he remembers fighting that creature with Superman, it had almost killed him and had it not been for Superman he might have died.
"Papa, do we strike now," Oliver whispered from next to him, as his young 15-year-old son looked up at him and clenched his fists.
Nolan put his hand on his son's shoulder "Not yet son, but soon..." he replied with a grin on his face.
(AN: so stuff is happening and the main event is almost here. I have been planning to add eve for a while but wanted to slide her in organically, this seemed like a pretty good way. There's no way people wouldn't try to take her for her powers. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
-- Power
stone