15 Moving Forward

[[Barbara Gordon]]

Studying for an upcoming test with an aching body was not something I enjoyed, but sadly it was something I had grown accustomed to. Sometimes I envy Kara, her powers and abilities nearly make her immune to physical damage, and even if she does get injured… that insane recovery speed comes to the rescue. 

But as a human, I have neither of those. 

Rubbing my forehead, I stared at the book in front of me, trying my best to understand it but the pain made it nigh impossible to do so.

"You seem a little lost and that's rare." 

The soft yet melodious voice brought me back to reality. Turning my head around, I found the librarian looking at me with a smile. 

"You alright, Ms. Gordon?" She asked.

"Ah, yes. Just a bit confused." I replied with a smile. "Been going through a lot lately."

"I can relate." She sighed, seemingly exhausted. "The library is a mess and I have to arrange this place all by myself." 

Her annoyance was understandable. The library was massive and it was quite difficult for an individual to organize such a place on their own.

"No helpers yet?" I asked. "I remember that you asked the dean to hire someone who could help you with the library." 

She didn't sound too pleased when I said that.

"I did… and he said that he will arrange something. But it's been over two months and I haven't seen him move a finger to solve the problem." She groaned as a girl dropped a pile of books. "Careful." She said.

"This can be stressful…" I commented. "But I am glad that you are back." 

She nodded.

"So how was your trip to India, Ms. Hudson?" I asked. (E/N: Shitty, literally.)

Jaina Hudson, the librarian of our institute has been a great help to me. Every time I faced difficulty in any subject, she had the best guides that helped me in solving them. Not to mention that she is great with a lot of subjects… which makes me wonder as to why she opted to be a librarian instead of a professor, since she also has the qualifications for it.

"Not bad. It's my mother's home country but I haven't been there in a long time. So it did amaze me with its development." She put on a kind smile. "It's nowhere near as developed as this place but it's developing. As long as they can solve the population problem, it might reach the level of Metropolis." (E/N: I see you complaining, author.)

I nodded, agreeing with her statement. I haven't been to India so I don't know much but she knew about the state of the country pretty well since she was born there.

We talked for a little while about the state of India, the economy, and its culture, how it compares with our own. And honestly, the cultural differences between the places were quite surprising. 

*RING*

The bell rang just as we were getting more immersed in the topic.

"Looks like that's it for today." She said. "I would love to continue the topic when I get time." 

"I feel the same." I stood up, getting ready to leave for class. But then I remembered something. "Are you going on the trip, Ms. Hudson?"

"Trip?" She was confused for a second. "Oh, the one initiated by the new professor?" She asked, making me nod in return.

"I will have to check whether I am free. If I am… Then I would love to join you guys on the trip." 

"That's great." I said, happy that she might join us. "I will see you later then, Ms. Hudson."

"Likewise."

…

…

[18:25]

[[Blake Hardy]]

"And why exactly do you want to hire me?" Said the amused woman.

That was a good question. But sadly I couldn't give her a truthful answer.

"I will be opening my company soon and while it is mostly about trading… I plan to expand it to the entertainment field as well. It will be a long and slow process but I have to start early since within a few years most of the rich men will try to hold the industry under them… considering the speed at which it is growing." 

It wasn't entirely a lie. I do want to get a hold of the entertainment industry.

"Wayne Enterprise hasn't considered the entertainment business yet… Which is a good thing because if they decide to go after it, it will pretty much be over for the rest." 

"And why exactly me?" She asked. "There are a lot of other magicians that will gladly work for such a large sum of money." She said, making me chuckle. 

"And how many of them are frauds?" I asked, making her smirk. "I came to you because you are the real deal. I don't trust those so-called magicians, if they fail then my reputation goes down with them but that won't be the case with you. You are a real sorcerer which reduces the chance of failure by a significant amount. And I trust you." This made her raise an eyebrow.

"Trust me? I am glad that you trust me, Blake… but you do remember that we met just a few weeks ago right?" She asked and I nodded. 

We met a few weeks ago and there is no sane person that would agree to such a big deal without proper information about the person. But I knew that she wouldn't try to cheat me. 

Why? Because she is a superhero. 

She might not be a part of the big league but she is definitely on their side and it's rare for a hero to betray others. 

Now… There are some superheroes that go astray and betray their companions, but it is also true that compared to the rest of society, they are most likely to have your back. The probability of a superhero betraying you is far less than the probability of a businessman betraying you. 

"We met trying to stop those hellspawns from sullying our lands and if you were uncaring of the lives of others, you would have left them to be killed by those hellspawns. And before you say that you cleared them because they were being a nuisance… you wouldn't have gone there every night to make sure that the people were safe." I smiled. "You even stopped those robbers from taking away the money from the old pub owner. Again… you could have just let them be and not care but you are not like that, Zatara. That's why I trust you enough to make you part of this business. Join me and you won't regret it."

"That last bit sounded like something a villain would say." Zatara chuckled, making me frown at myself. 

No matter how good you are at acting, some habits never leave you. And having been a villain for so long, it won't be easy to get rid of them.

"Sorry about that. But yeah… I mean it." 

She stared at me for a while. "I need some time to think about it. It's quite a big deal and I don't want to regret the decision later… no matter what that decision will be."

At least she didn't outright reject it. That's good enough for now.

"Sure. I am glad that you at least decided to think about it." It would be great if she decided to take the offer but it wouldn't make much difference. The only difference will be the speed...

"Well enough about business. You said that we were meeting for dinner. So you better treat me to something good, mister." She said with a smirk. 

"Well, I guess spending some time with a beautiful woman won't hurt."

…

…

[00:28]

I sat near the balcony of my apartment as I gazed at the documents in my hand. It's been a while since I moved here as staying at Selina's place wasn't suitable for what I had planned for the upcoming future. 

Going through the files one by one, I sighed. 

The situation of Gotham was worsening with each passing day. Villains were filling up every sewage hole while the heroes turned a blind eye to the situation. 

Why did they do that? Because of Bruce. 

Bruce's weakness was his arrogance. He was a genius, a great fighter… but when it came to being a superhero, he fell short because of his arrogance. Many would say that his arrogance was justifiable since he was 'The Batman.' One of the smartest… if not the smartest superhero. 

And there was a lot of truth in that. Batman with enough time to prepare himself could take down an entire army of supervillains but sadly, there were also enough villains who knew that. They have previously made the jump on Bruce when he was the least prepared and it would have cost Bruce his life... if not for the other members of the League. 

He has had quite good luck till now. But there is this thing about luck… No one knows when it might flip and not even the Bat can run from it.

Throwing the file on Bruce on the table, I picked up the file about another superhero. The hero of hope… Superman. 

Honestly, this person's identity still boggles my mind. 

Clark Joseph Kent, son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. Grew up in Smallville, Kansas, and later joined the Daily Planet as a reporter. 

But how in the seven hells do people not recognize that he is Superman? The only difference between them is the glasses. Clark wears them while Superman doesn't.

Does he use some sort of illusion to keep his identity hidden and it didn't work on me because I am immune to all mind-based techniques? Or are the people that stupid?

I felt a headache while trying to figure out the reason. 

But besides that… he is one of the strongest members of the Justice League and many claim that he is the strongest… which I kinda agree with. 

He is definitely the strongest member of the league when it comes to brute strength. But there are definitely people with stronger skills.

I picked up another file with the name and picture of a young League member.

Barry Allen… The Flash. It would cause a riot if these identities were revealed. But good for them, I have no reason to do that. 

But Barry Allen huh… This guy is honestly scary. His speed is faster than the man of steel and that is worrisome on its own. Not to mention that the reports say his top speed can surpass the speed of light. Which… is a problem. (E/N: Fucker outran death.)

His light speed and my power… if they clash, it will cause quite a lot of destruction. But fortunately, he is unable to control time. This makes dealing with him far easier.

The next member would have been quite troublesome if not for my mental defenses and that member is the Martian Manhunter. Shape-shift, telepathy, invisibility, phasing, flight, super-strength. That's a wide array of abilities. If I would have fought him before my travels, I would have lost. His telepathy is said to be the strongest amongst every known telepath. 

But that's it for the Justice League. The rest of them are not that troublesome. 

Wonder Woman… Her weapons are a bit troublesome to deal with but her powers are nothing special. She is far weaker than superman.

Next are the hawks… those two are fairly easy to deal with as well. 

Red Tornado… again his powers can be easily countered.

Green Lantern, strong but not enough. I am mostly immune to his abilities and if I can remove that ring, which I can do with a snap, he is useless.

Throwing the files in the table, I decided to take a break.

I also have to plan the trip for the students. 

Students… *Sigh* The Superhero sidekicks, Teen Titans, and the Young Justice. They are going to be difficult…

But I will worry about them later. For now, I need a drink.

___________________________________________________________

[[Edited By The Almighty Lasagna, Love you fam.]]

[[A/N: What happened to me? Nothing much other than the shit I already talked about. Was taking a break.

PS: I forgot the plot, gotta give it a quick read.]]

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