168 Chapter 168: A Diabolical Mind Part 1

The stages had been set as Arias's plans took complete motion. With the final piece of the puzzle he was creating coming in the form of a phone call from Barbara Gordon.

It was early morning when Arias received the call, just as he was lounging in his bedroom, further finalizing his plans.

Upon picking up, he heard the complex tone of Barbara as she revealed, [ Uhm, Bruce… Batman called me late yesterday and asked me to join the junior justice league team. He said he won't interfere in my personal matters like going to your school and all but… I don't know if he's planning something.]

From her tone, Arias could see that Barbara was clearly shaken by Bruce's call and that his initial suspicions of her still harboring feelings toward him were true.

How could he not know this? How many times had he witnessed women stay and even defend their abusive or toxic partners, simply because they loved them.

A woman's love was strong, many times blinding her to the plain truth. And in this case, Barbara had time to get over her initial hate towards Bruce, all it took was a phone call with him expressing he actually cared and would train her better to have her consider the offer.

Arias could tell that the only real reason she called to tell him this was because she trusted him more, similar to how a female would ask their best friend for advice, even if they weren't going to listen to it.

The only difference in this case was that Barbara was smart and completely moved by emotions.

Such emotions would only ever fade when one was truly hurt by their partner, often breaking them and leaving them a shell of their former self. It is then that they try to turn over a new leaf and in most cases, become hypocrites.

So for Barbara to lose these feelings she still held toward Batman, Arias had to break her, making her grow to down herself and trust in him further. Such was trauma…

Thus his response was reflective of this line of thought.

"I'm not surprised, like I said, you're incredibly talented and have lots of latent potential Barbara. Though I don't trust Bruce, he's one of the few that can best teach you to fully utilize your abilities and fulfill your dream, so if you want to join then I have no qualms with that." Arias spoke in understanding but cautious tone, especially when he mentioned Bruce's name, making it clear that he didn't trust him.

On the other side, Barbara's mind was in turmoil as she tried to reach a decision. She had called Arias in hopes of him telling her not to do it and reminding her that Bruce was bad, and he knew this.

But if he did that, then the feelings would remain, growing more potent over time and making her a liability.

Leaving the decision to her showed his trust within her, but also meant she could only blame herself if things went wrong as Arias provided a warning.

Barbara didn't even go as far as to think this way, her thoughts were more grounded and simplistic, fearing she may not prove good enough in the junior team and make Batman regret inviting her.

Truly, a woman governed by her emotions was a pitiful and weak creature. In the same way a man governed by his emotions, was dangerous.

After a brief moment of silence, Barbara finally sorted her thoughts and came to a decision. "I'll accept his offer and see for myself, I really want to be the best I can be." She reassured, but to Arias these were nothing but empty words that lacked any semblance of value.

Their only purpose was to reassure Barbara herself that she was doing this for a greater reason and not her buried feelings for Bruce.

But Arias played along and acknowledged her decision. "I'm sure you'll do great, I look forward to seeing what you accomplish."

The rest of call was focused on Barbara revealing what little she had discovered about the spies within the Ark Institutions but Arias had little concern in this regard.

The real purpose of the institutions had yet to even begin so anything that was being reported was simply what Arias wanted to be known.

As for how far he was willing to go to make his plans a reality and still secure his image, the world could only wait to be shocked.

…

In the coming days, the human supremacy group more infamous with their actions, quickly climbing to the position of most wanted terrorist organization in the world.

They actions were violent and brutal, even targeting innocent non meta families who harbored or had relations with meta humans, calling them "tainted."

It was almost a cult like organization with numerous resources, but it's rise boggled the minds of the world superpowers.

Some wondered if the worlds elite were secretly funding the organization to remove the threat that meta-humans brought to the economical and political balance of the world.

Others felt that the organization had been operating for a long time, giving it ties to organizations that were against superhumans even as early as the 16th century.

All these rumors were of corset started via Arias and his purpose was to create a controlled scenario of chaos to fool the world as a whole.

Because of the many elites suspected of having a hand in the organization, Arias wasn't present and was instead seen as a savior, making him one of the terrorist organization's biggest target, along with any elite that supported meta-humans.

Why the organization run amok, the light was funneling a great number of meta humans into Markovia, reaching hundreds by the day.

Within a month, this now became a global issue that needed to be delt with. Thankfully, with so many intelligence organizations working to find and uproot this group, it didn't take long for stations, depos and bunkers to be discovered or suspected in various regions around the world.

This was of course kept secret from the public as operations were now in the midst of planning.

Come early the next month, Arias received the call he had been waiting for from Bruce.

[ I think we found the human supremacy group, it was among one of six suspected you gave us, the others are depos and bunkers.] Bruce revealed in ever straightforward manner.

Over the days Arias had played a reluctant role in providing some information, making it clear to Batman that he was only providing it because Arias lacked the freedom and funds to investigate fully himself.

Which was believable considering the government paid a very close eye to the assets and wealth he left Terra.

"Good, so when do we act?" He asked, showing some minor relief in his otherwise cold tone.

Bruce could only believe this act, seeing no break in his character as he replied. [ In 48 hours, I'll communicate to you the plans, just be ready.]

"Of course." Arias replied before cutting the call, and thinking to himself, 'Time to give my enemies what they so desperately want to see.'

A/N: My service provider is being a bitch hence the lack of chapters yesterday so I dunno if I'll be able to do a bonus once I get home, I'm on public WiFi right now. Anyway, enjoy the chap