章 123: Lay the straw
After a thorough account of the capabilities of the Parademons and their leader, as well as the power of the Cubes, Bats booted himself up, torturing his computer with seemingly incoherent queries. It was clear that he was trying to find Steppenwolf's trail, but according to Hippolyta, the general's mission was to collect all the Mother Boxes and summon Darkseid, so now he would proceed with caution, for fear of attracting undue attention to his person.
In principle, the reason for such a brazen attack on Themyscira was that it had always existed in isolation and never sought to maintain contact with the larger land. And having got one of the powerful artifacts in his clutches, Steppenwolf can easily build a well-fortified secret base, which even a Kryptonian will not take at a run. And despite the fact that he got only a fake, General Darkseid still managed to do something good with it. It was not for nothing that the Cube had been glowing on the island for so long, transferring huge amounts of energy to who knows where.
Following the logic, the Atlanteans will be next in line and only then humans. Of course, mankind is objectively weaker than the other two civilizations, but people have powerful defenders, and the number of weapons should not be written off.
During the story we all moved to the main platform of the batpit and now we were happily eating pastries, drinking it with divine puerh, at least that was how I, Harley and Frankie, who joined us, trying to imitate our "parents", acted, while the rest of our companions didn't touch the food and sat at the computer, thinking about the not-so-good prospects.
"Bad, I need more information on the enemies," the man frowned, staring at the screen where the enemy model I'd made from my verbal description was rotating. - Jay, when you get back to the island, see if you can get a couple of Parademon corpses. There's a chance their implants could be hacked, or some other vulnerability could be found.
"Oh, good to be reminded!
I slid the dishes aside and shoved my hand deeper into my pocket, only to pull out a pair of thick tarps under the spotlight a moment later, one of which was clearly human in outline, the other a shapeless heap, the result of a not-so-careful exploration of the rich interior.
"I was going to dispose of them in the crematorium, but since you're interested in parademon anatomy, that's your concern now.
Bats gingerly pulled back the edge of the shapeless tarp and stared at the pyramid of body parts, crowned by a monster's head with its brain removed and its eye torn out. The air was filled with the odors of decay.
"I've known you for a long time, but I'm still puzzled by the motives behind some of your actions," the superhero muttered, turning on the hood.
"Huh, just got a little carried away, it happens," I shrug indifferently.
Bats sighed and began to scrutinize the trophies, having previously transferred them to the platform with medical devices, and our trio, including Diana, he sat down at another large touch screen and ran the clips, periodically commenting on them.
The very first video sequence featured a hairy-haired man who was accidentally discovered by a deep-sea bathyscaphe exploring the sea floor. Then there was footage of a mega-fast guy. He disappeared just for a second to knock out a robber nearby, and then returned to his place in a halo of red lightning. The third video was recorded on a professional camera and it showed the process of transformation of guy into a cyborg. It should be noted that it did not look too humane, because the final stage of the procedure took place without anesthesia in order to correctly connect all the nerves to the implants.
"Aaaaahhhh!" Victor in the videotape once again screamed and passed out as his father reattached the last limb.
After that, silence finally descended on the batcave.
"I understand you've decided to put together a team? - I asked, not waiting for the continuation, although there were plenty of other active heroes.
"Yeah, you got that right," the man replied, putting aside the surgical saw, which looked like a miniature bolt saw he'd used to saw the monster's bones, and getting rid of the apron covered in dark green blood.
"Not that I'm against that sort of thing, but why did you forget about Eagle and Green Lantern? Green Arrow's supposed to be a hero, too. And where's Superman at the end of the day? He could take down Steppenwolf in one fell swoop if he lured him out of his hiding place.
"If lured out, otherwise Earth might lose its chief defender. And I have my doubts that he can handle the threat, given his actions during Doomsday's attack," Mouse scratched his chin thoughtfully, suspiciously wordy. - As for the others, Green Lantern is somewhere in space right now, and it's not clear when he'll be back. Eagle has never left the territory of Africa, and her exact location is still unknown to me. Green Arrow doesn't have any superpowers, and he has much less money than I do to spend on powerful gadgets.
Logical arguments, you can't even argue with them. However, something doesn't add up with Eagle, as she recently caused a stir in Los Angeles. There's no direct evidence, but the big feathers left at the scene of the fight and the Coliseum columns destroyed by something strong and round speak for themselves. It wasn't giant birds that rammed their heads into them, was it? Although there are stranger creatures in DC. I squint at the Venus flytrap clinging to my hand and share a small amount of mana with it, causing it to purr amusedly.
"There's Zee," Harley interjected, and then corrected herself. - Though she's more of a mystical threat and is unlikely to agree... Oh! There's also Dick! By the way, where is he?
"Learning.
"But it's the holidays," I wondered.
"He needs to catch up with his peers. He has an inquisitive mind and a good memory, but due to constant touring he has too many gaps in his school curriculum, but that's not the point. Nightwing won't be participating because of his age, and neither will Batgirl.
"Hmm... I see," I leaned back in my chair, looking thoughtfully at the stalactite-studded ceiling of the cave. - The desire to learn how to solve Earth's problems without heavy artillery in the form of a sunny boy is commendable, but as far as I understand, you haven't communicated with our future allies yet?
"Just Aquaman. The others will be taken care of by you, and I need to find the Mother Cube, which belongs to humans. Diana, you're with Victor Stone, and you," his gaze lingered on me and the blonde, who was sweetly nuzzling a toothy plant that had crawled up to her, "are with Barry Allen.
A grin of joy appeared on my face against my will. Heh-heh-heh, what a gift of fate, the speedster is literally coming into my clutches, and if something happens to him, Bats won't suspect me.
"He's our ally, and he should be fine," Mysh said, as if he'd read my mind.
"Ha-ha-ha, don't worry, everything will be fine! You can count on us.
"All right, you can take the batwing. The sooner we form a team, the better.
***
"Master Bruce," as the heroes left the room, heading upstairs, Alfred emerged silently from the shadows of the cave. - Why didn't you tell me about your true purpose and Lex Luthor's prophecy?
"Prophecies are too vague a thing, especially coming from a criminal," the man shook his head negatively, putting his surgical apron back on.
"But you started your own action when you first got it.
"The usual foresight. Plus, as Jay correctly points out, we have a nice little trump card up our sleeve. Now, if you'd be so kind as to be my assistant. The creature's brain implant is similar to the ones the Alsteirans use to control slaves," Bruce focused his attention on the creature in front of him, for if he was right, then what he'd said about hacking the implants could become a reality.
***
In spite of my desire to get to Central City and give one runner a good time, I first had to spend some time getting rid of Diana, who was following me and asking about life on Themyscira.
We'd only been there for twenty-four hours, and most of that time had been spent either in a drunken stupor, or asleep, or in the library! But Hippolyta's daughter obviously did not plan to let our amazing tandem out of her sight for a long time, for fear of losing the only thread leading home, and once again began to specify the details of our adventures on the island and the names of the Amazons we had met.
Diana was even willing to put off talking to Cyborg for a while and come with us to visit Flash. Though it couldn't be said that this act would have made much difference in further recruitment. Victor is currently living in Gotham, or to be more precise, in his father's apartment near the S.T.A.R. Labs armory on South Burnley Island. Besides, according to Bats' data, the guy is going through an identity crisis, gradually adapting to the possibilities of the cybernetic body, and it's worth talking to him only when he calms down a bit and accepts the new self.
At any other time, I would have been very happy to chat with the beautiful warrior, but now all my thoughts were revolving around another brilliantly crazy plan that would clearly bring condemnation from our escort.
We were on our way out of the elevator leading to the main rooms of Wayne Manor when I came up with a great idea for something to distract Diana.
"Okay, I know how you feel, but why don't I just give you this? - I stop and literally shove an artifact compass into the hands of the beautiful woman walking next to me. - This thing points in the direction of the island three times a day for half an hour. Hmm, but you have to be in the Bermuda Triangle area, or the signal won't get through. Oh, and there's also a receiver for fine-tuning the portal," a light touch on one of the stones near the top activates an illusion with a lot of weaves responsible for the coordinates.
"It's..." The girl froze, staring at the piece of pebble decorated with green diamonds as if it were some priceless relic. - I've been waiting for this for so long...
"Hey, don't cry here," I gently hugged the Amazon, ready to retreat at any moment, but Harley unashamedly clutched the girl in her arms.
"Hmpf, I wasn't even going to, but to visit the island..." she gently disentangled herself from the ring of arms.
"Wait," I interrupted the princess, who was clearly in the mood to go home right now. - Your home won't run away from you now. At least, if you suddenly manage to sow or break the artifact, I can always try to find the island by the beacon, after all, it's got a lot of my mana in it. Now we should focus on the task at hand.
"Yeah, you're right, we'll deal with it later," she said, steel in her eyes. - I'm going to study Victor's psychological profile, maybe it'll help.
"What was that? - Harley asked, once we'd reached the house after a short run in disguise. - That was a missed opportunity.
"We need to brainwash Flash, and Diana's definitely not gonna be there. Oh, my gosh, what the hell is this? - I stared in surprise at the huge live Christmas tree in the central hall, and at the couple of colorful boxes underneath it.
"I decided that we should create a festive atmosphere," a dryad grew out of a nearby bonsai in a few moments, as if she had been waiting for us to arrive.
"Hmmm... And the boxes? - I look at the presents with interest.
"Alfred gave them to me when I visited Frankie.
"I carefully unpacked the box with my name on it while the blonde girl was busy ripping the wrapping off her gift.
"Wow! What a suit! I'll be back soon!
My faithful companion, picking up the red and blue rags, skipped off to the next room, and I stared thoughtfully at the stylish purple suit, which was in a special case. It came with a greeting card with warm wishes, as well as instructions.
Well, it looks almost like my basic clothes, but it can withstand a pistol shot from twenty meters away and has incredible tensile strength. Oh, and it also doesn't burn in fire and is inert to many acids. The gloves were a separate item. The right one could work as a shocker, giving a good discharge due to a miniature battery, but the left one was a real masterpiece, because it used polymer photocells extracted from the Kryptonian ship. According to the description, they could easily dissipate energy shots with a power of up to a hundred megawatts. Harley, by the way, also had something similar, but it protected not only both hands, but also the body. Damn, Alfred's a real saint.
"Here I am!
My favorite, dressed as a seylorfuku, burst into the hall. Except, unlike the previous white version, the costume now had a more appropriate red-purple-black coloring and was more protective. The girl's hair had also been recolored to match the outfit.
"How was that? - With a charming smile and a wink, she struck a Sailormoon pose.
"Ha ha ha, awesome!
"It suits you," the dryad remarked.
"Great, now that that's taken care of, what were you saying about Flash? He's supposed to be our ally, isn't he? I'm confused," she said, her hair fluffing up in a confused manner.
I didn't know if it was paranoia, but we put the new clothes aside and moved to the underground base, which I'd been careful to surround with normal privacy charms rather than the travesty I'd used on Leroy so recently. As a Christmas present, Swampy had grown a plant that generated natural mana in very decent quantities for me. The other flowers, of course, also supplied energy, but the amount was quite small and barely covered the cost of the signal network around the estate. There was an almost infinite source with a very decent single transmittance, and I had a suspicion that elemental flesh was used for the base.
***
Today was a typical day for Barry Allen.
Wake up, have a big breakfast, study additional materials in the forensic science department, have a snack and continue cramming. Then have another snack and visit my father in prison, to be lectured once again that the guy is wasting his life trying to get the "decrepit, useless old man" out of jail. Have a hearty lunch and go to my part-time job walking pets. Then run into a coffee shop to sharpen up a large pepperoni pizza... As for the average person, it seems he eats too much and should soon turn into something covered in fat and receiving disability benefits, but Barry's metabolism after the lightning incident became unbelievable. It was turning the young man "into a black hole for snacks" while bestowing amazing regeneration.
Even fractures could heal in just twenty-four hours, which the guy could personally verify more than once when he was mastering his main superpower. Speaking of which. The budding crime fighter was just incredibly fast, he could literally catch bullets. He could literally outrun them! Or run a thousand kilometers in less than a second.
During his movements, his body was enveloped in a kind of aura that seriously strengthened his body. Otherwise, a normal collision with air molecules would have wiped his flesh to the bone. Unfortunately, the protection didn't extend to surrounding objects, so he had to use a special fireproof and abrasion-resistant fabric for his superhero costume.
But back to the daily routine. After another snack, Barry would go to his super-secret lair, set up in a warehouse, where he was getting used to his powers and from where he would sometimes run to the city as a hero, aided by his incredible speed.
Except today, it was at this point that a glitch occurred. The young man reached the warehouse in West Central City as usual and suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders.
~Poof~
The muffled sound of a gunshot activated the budding hero's powers in an instant.
As if in slow motion, a strange translucent bullet flew past his face. The world around him was covered with lightning discharges, and Barry moved to his opponent in an instant, shoving him lightly in the chest.
Then time sped up, and an armed freak in inconspicuous black clothes and a motorcycle helmet with an opaque visor flew aside, hitting his back on a rusty container.
"Who are you and what... - the guy managed to say before he felt pain between his shoulder blades and fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Oh, I hate speedsters," the unidentified man muttered, pulling away from the container.
Panting a little, he approached the fallen hero, preparing two syringes with mysterious contents as he went.
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