บท 47: Chapter 42 Part.1: Leveling the game 4
AN: Guys, I know it won the long chapters, but I want to see how you feel reading a chapter split in half. Let me know in the comments if you found it more enjoyable.
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Note 1: In case you didn't notice, Edgar left Azarath 2 weeks before Batman went looking for Vixen and Cyborg.
Note 2: Remember, everything is happening at the same time. I will no longer put a date. Just the place, for less confusion.
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"Talking"
'Thinking'
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Metropolis
Metropolis High School, a prestigious high school that has one of the largest educational levels in the entire country. In that high school, a biology class was being taught by one of the most popular teachers in the school.
This teacher, besides being very good at the subject he taught, was well known for his attractive appearance and his kind and altruistic character. He was always trying to help all the students to do their best and get good grades, not only in his subject, but in others as well.
However, what was not known is that this was actually a facade, and that this professor was actually one of the most dangerous men in the world, as he was one of the main leaders of the group The Light.
That's right, he was Neal Emerson, or better known as Doctor Polaris, one of the most powerful metahumans today because his power allowed him to control everything that had a magnetic field.
He taught at this high school to take care of his two targets, Anissa and Jennifer Pierce, daughters of Black Lightning, 16 and 14 years old respectively. They were the bargaining chip for their father to work for them without protest. A rather useful asset if Neal could say so.
"The fungal kingdom is one of the groups into which biology classifies known life forms. It is composed of more than 144,000 different species of fungi, including yeasts, molds and mushrooms, which share fundamental characteristics such as immobility, heterotrophic feeding and certain cellular structures..."
As he did every day, Neal was cheerfully teaching classes. All the students were paying attention, as they all enjoyed his dynamic lectures and his way of explaining detailed, but without being difficult to understand.
Actually, Neal liked teaching. Not because he liked kids, far from it. But for the recognition. What Neal liked most was to be recognized.
From a young age, he worked to become a medical eminence. And he succeeded. He worked as a neurosurgeon at the hospital in New Orleans, and almost half of the hospital's income was due to Neal's complicated operations. Even rich and powerful foreigners came to be operated by him because of his reputation and his great skills.
However, in one operation that was requested by a powerful mafioso and that Neal knew was practically useless since there was no chance of achieving such an operation, he himself failed in the operation and was sued for malpractice. The hospital, instead of supporting him, abandoned him to his fate.
With rage built up, and betrayal in his heart, Neal awakened his metahuman character. His power of Magnetokinesis. Practically with said power he destroyed the hospital in his anger and killed dozens of people in the process. Obviously, he was sentenced to prison because of that.
He thought that was it, but then, The Light recruited him. That's when he felt that thrill again, that feeling he hadn't felt since he was being congratulated for his operations. He felt recognized again. They practically gave him men, a territory and power. He became powerful thanks to this group.
He had carried out several missions, and massacres for this group, but his main mission was one: to keep Black Lightning in The Light's path through his daughters. And he took that job very seriously.
"Pip, pip, pip, pip"
As he continued to talk about the lessons of the fungi-kingdom, his special group communicator began to ring.
"Excuse me guys, I have to take the call, it's urgent" Neal said with an apologetic smile to the students listening to his class.
"Don't worry professor"
"Yes, professor. Take your time"
As he left the classroom, Neal's entire pleasant demeanor changed. His friendly, approachable face was no longer visible. At this moment, he was showing a serious and disciplined mask. When he was out of prying ears, he answered.
"Thinker, I was busy. What's up?"
"Polaris. We have a problem... The League has come out of hiding" the almost robotic voice of The Thinker sounded on his special communicator. This communicator was exclusive to the core members, it wasn't hackable, and it couldn't be overridden either, at least not through normal channels like other communications.
"They finally decided to attack, huh?- but I thought your protocol was designed to take them down quickly"
"They've proven to be tougher than we thought. Plus, they're spread out all over the world. Sending troops is difficult in this situation. We need your help, whether in New York, or Sydney, where situations are more compromised"
"And why didn't you tell Killer Frost, Giganta or Liverwire - why me?"
"They've all been in Themyscira for a week. Circe invited them, I don't know what for, and I didn't ask either. Even with all my programming I can't figure out how that millennial woman's brain works. Being on that island, communications are useless. Mordru is the only one capable of communicating with her, but... I can't communicate with him either. You are the only one available besides the forces already displaced"
"I see...Well, I'm closer to New York. Send me everything I need to know, and I'll be ready, but...what about the prisoners?"
Neal was asking about Black Lightning's daughters, he didn't have classes with them today so he hadn't been able to check their status. He had hoped to do it at lunchtime, but with this, it was impossible now.
"Relax. The prisoners are still in their classroom. My cameras tell me so. And Black Lightning, he went to the bathroom... although he already lasted a little while. But I guess when the urge is too much, you have to go"
"Okay, I'll be on my way"
Neal hurried out of the school. It didn't matter if he didn't warn as the principal, because actually the principal had the mental programming to let him do whatever he wanted. Just a few commands and he would cover Neal.
"Set up the nearest boom-tube to go to New York" requested Neal.
"Ready. Configured and ready to use"
After the Justice League disbanded, The Light took advantage and expropriated the Boom-Tube technology to teleport faster to cities.
This technology followed the principle of warp, where the tube detached the molecules and reassembled them in a completely different place. The problem is that if many people or heavy objects were teleported, this technology failed and could cause accidents, that's why The Light used ships or airplanes to teleport its merchandise.
Neal was about to fly with his power using the Earth's magnetic fields, but before he did, a thought came to him.
"Hey, Thinker, I have a question"
"Ask me, Polaris"
"What is The League doing?"
"My processor doesn't understand your question, Polaris. Be more specific"
"I'm talking about what is The League doing, I mean, why did it attack. Did it attack our weapons, or the Cadmus project, or something important about us, that's what I'm wondering"
"Negative, my sensors don't indicate any danger in the important zones. They are just attacking and defending themselves from our members"
"...I see" Neal was beginning to have a lot of doubts about this.
He didn't understand why the League was attacking today, and why in those territories or why separate. If they really wanted to show some real power, they should attack in larger groups or major areas. They practically attacked part of The Light's territory, but where there was nothing important or noteworthy.
"Hey, Thinker... What's the probability that it's a trap?"
"19.87%, low odds, due to the League not having the infrastructure or weapons to..... wait, don't move, I forgot to consider other factors, I need to recalculate the odds"
..
..
..
"My analysis above is mainly due to analyzing Batman and the low risk factor he uses when carrying out his plans. But, if we consider extreme factors and that risk factor is high... there is a 96.74% chance that it is a trap. I'll alert Vandal to my findings, stay put"
Neal understood this. Thinker was right that The League had minimal men to make any meaningful plan, but a trap... there was a chance. Neal was still close to the school, so he'd better turn around.
"Thinker, I'd better go check on the prisoners-"
However, he was unable to continue his communication, because he was thrown hard towards a nearby building, which was under construction. When he collided with the building, part of its structure collapsed.
The cause of all this, a man who had a red and white suit and emitted white rays from his body. It was Billy Batson or Shazam, who had moved to the Teen Titans group.
He was on the lookout in case Neal didn't eat the trap. If it looked like he wasn't going to help the havoc The Justice League was wreaking, then Shazam had the job of stopping him. At least, until they got Black Lightning's daughters out.
He'd thrown Neal pretty hard against that building. But Billy knew that a core member of The Light wouldn't be so easily defeated by that. And as he thought, metal debris from the collapsed building quickly began to float away.
From there, out came Neal in his purple and gray suit, made of Promethium and equipped with The Thinker's nanotechnology. When he came out, he addressed Shazam.
"That was rude, hero boy" placing a hand on his communicator, Polaris communicated with Thinker, "Thinker, it was a trap. Send reinforcements to secure the prisoners"
"...Roger that. Reinforcements moving in"
Shazam wasn't idle as he listened to this either. He quickly turned upwards where a green peregrine falcon was flying circles and watching over said spectacle. He was Beast Boy, who was keeping an eye on the situation and warned Shazam to move when he knew the plan hadn't worked.
"Go away, Beast Boy, warn that plan A didn't work, and that reinforcements are coming"
"No, no. You're wrong. Reinforcements are not coming, Hero Boy, reinforcements are already there. Or did you really think I was the only one watching Black Lightning and his daughters… how foolish of you"
"Go!, go now and give notice"
With that Beast Boy departed, flying off at full speed to warn the others who were already getting his daughters and Black Lightning out of the place.
"You know, hero boy. I've never used my power to its fullest. I've been waiting to fight one of the old heroes to test my abilities...I guess I have to settle for you"
With that Polaris summoned his power. Thousands of metal beams, cars and other metallic things began to float in the sky. At this moment, a cloud of metal covered the sun, darkening the place.
"Don't die, hero boy" Polaris threw everything at Shazam's humanity.
A single thought came to Billy's mind when he saw everything what Polaris had thrown at him.
'Crap'
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While Shazam was entertaining Polaris, in an alley near the school a group of heroes were gathering.
They were Batgirl, Static, Zatanna, Aqualad and Red Arrow who was in the building, keeping watch with his bow in case there was any strange movement.
Zatanna was catching her breath, and looked quite pale because she had used so much power in summoning Jefferson's daughters. Batgirl was helping her catch her breath.
"Are you all right, Zatanna?"
"Sigh, I'll be, sigh, fine, just, sigh, I used a lot of power"
"Just wait for Beast Boy and Shazam get here and we'll quickly get out of here, so you can rest" Batgirl told her with a smile, said smile was returned by Zatanna.
However, this was oblivious to Jefferson who was lovingly hugging his daughters. His daughters were confused when they were in class, and, magically, they were suddenly here. However, they still hugged their father back.
"Dad, what is all this?"
"Daughters, it's a long story, and I'll tell you all about it, I promise, but for the moment, trust your father. And do what I tell you, understand?"
"Okay, dad"
Black Lightning let go of his hug and turned to look at the young heroes standing there.
"We're ready, we have to go before they notice something is wrong and reinforcements arrive"
In the note that Jefferson had written, where he mentioned in detail the people who were watching them, there was Thinker with his cameras, Neal being close by, either in the classrooms or in the suburbs, since he lived nearby. And Captain Atom, who had changed his superhero name to Major Force and who covered for Doctor Polaris whenever the latter had a meeting with The Light. However, Jefferson knew that he was on duty at Cadmus most of the time and wouldn't leave his post unless he was told to.
However, Jefferson knew that. There was another person or thing watching him and his daughters. His instincts were telling him. But, he didn't know who it was, nor had he found anything suspicious. That was all he cared about at the moment.
"Let Shazam and Beast Boy get here, and we'll be on our way. We only have one chance, and we won't leave anyone behind" said Aqualad, who was the leader of this operation.
Lian Yu was very well protected, both technologically and magically. To get in, they had a single-use device to activate a portal like the ones Cyborg made. They just needed to wait for Shazam and Beast Boy, and the operation would be complete.
"Red Arrow, tell me if you see movement" requested Aqualad.
"I see a green hawk, it's Beast Boy. But I don't see Shazam"
A pressing feeling was beginning to form in the young Atlantean. Beast Boy, arrived as fast as he could and quickly dropped his hawk transformation and returned to being a young man of almost 15 years old with the green skin.
"Guys, the plan didn't work. Polaris and Shazam are fighting!"
This sentence brought despair to the group. They knew the operation couldn't be that easy. But this situation was the last one they wanted.
"We must help them" said Static. He had become close friends with Billy in the group. And he was worried about his friend fighting someone as powerful as Doctor Polaris.
"Hold on. Reinforcements are on their way. NO, the reinforcements are already here-" Beast Boy tried to say quickly, but was interrupted when they felt a great tremor.
"POOM, POOM" Said tremor began to feel stronger and stronger as the seconds passed.
"Guys, there's movement.... Something big is coming" Red Arrow's voice was heard. Said hero began to prepare his arrows.
"POOM, POOM"
"POOM, POOM"
"POOM, POOM"
Finally, they saw him. A giant, muscular 'man' over 8 feet tall, if you can call man to someone who has decomposed, gray skin like a zombie. Every step this zombie took made the earth rumble and generated small tremors. As he walked along, he recited a poem loudly in a raspy, monstrous voice.
"Solomon Grundy, born on Monday"
step right
"baptized on Tuesday, married on Wednesday"
step left
"got sick on Thursday, got worse on Friday"
Step right
"died on Saturday, buried on Sunday"
Step left
"And this was the end of Solomon Grundy" he finally said as he came within a few feet of where the young heroes stood. They were all numb to the sight.
Solomon just looked at them, and said.
"Grundy, protect girls. Grundy stop them from being taken"
That was enough. Red Arrow who was watching everything from the roof, launched 3 explosive arrows that exploded right in Grundy's face. A cloud of smoke came out due to this explosion. However, when the cloud dissipated, Solomon was as good as gone. He simply sniffed loudly and shouted
"RAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!"
With that great shout, he moved.....
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AN: My P@treon (10 chapters ahead)
TioIroh99
Give me Power Stones if you want the next chapter to be released more soon
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Tio_Iroh99
Tio_Iroh99 Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
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