243 Chapter 238: A Necessary Evil Part 4
In the Aftermath of the incident in Metropolis, numerous reporters gathered around and questioned victims and law-enforcement over what exactly had happened.
And for many people it was the same story out of nowhere. They felt their limbs harden while others felt like their vision blurred. It was near immediate and was completely unexpected.
The league had refused to comment on the situation and Superman who was the only league member to comment, told the people to not worry and that they would be safe and that the culprits would also be captured. As the cities hero, Superman needed to alleviate any worries the people had over the ability of the police and justice league.
But this was the exact same story the police gave the media. And civilians watching this believed that the league and the government were going to fail them yet again.
But little did they know it was only the beginning because just mere hours after the incident in Metropolis was under control. Another incident sparked in Gotham city, but with the league already on high alert, Arias had taken a different approach this time rather than letting Ivy go there directly.
The yacht she and Enchantress used to travel docked in Star city instead of Gotham, then from there Enchantress teleported them both Gotham city.
Once there, Ivy repeated the same actions she had done in Metropolis, launching a deadly spore attack. And just like with Metropolis, the people of Gotham were taken by complete surprise.
With the incident occurring only a bit later traffic was at a minimal so damages were far less than with Metropolis, which was on late rush hour during the accidents. Most young people in Gotham had also settled into their homes, so most were unaware that they were affected by the spores creeping through ventilation shafts, open windows and other forms of air entry.
In fact, if it wasn't for the incident in Metropolis, the police would've pegged the accidents that began to occur in Gotham city as just regular old crimes and/or accidents.
But the incident in Metropolis had made people very alert, so any signs of links between the two incidents were greatly followed, but with so little time having passed since the two incidents occurred, police quickly began to suspect that this was a crime by multiple individuals or a large group working together.
As for why they would think this Arias made sure that the targeted cities were the ones with the three highest superhuman populations in the US. It didn't take long for people to start suspecting and accusing the anti-superhuman HS group.
Online forums were abuzz with many speculating and many more throwing rumors around as to what exactly would be going on. But none could truly understand just what Arias was planning as the effects of the chemical attack from Ivy went into full swing.
It was Wonder woman and Harley, with the help of the Gotham police and emergency services, who got things under control. This was done because Arias knew that the league was already spread thin and that Batman wasn't present in Gotham and although not a focal point, Arias decided that Harley and Diana would be the ones to handle the incident in order to have their public approval ratings rise and have Batman's drop.
But unlike with Metropolis, who had a scattered population of superhuman teens, Gotham had its superhuman centered in the Ark academies. And according to reports from the academies, it was stated that many students showed signs of exposure and were thus isolated for immediate study, hoping to create a speedy cure.
This meant that unlike Metropolis, Gotham had no young or rogue superhumans to rely on to help alleviate the dangers that came from the attack. In response to this, commissioner Gordon was quick to request outside help, and in response to his request the league sent some members who had been at Metropolis not too far away from Gotham.
The first to arrive was Flash, but many minutes later Superman also came while Green Lantern, Dr. fate and Martian ManHunter were left looking for the culprits within Metropolis. The league also began to think that it was more than one person and that it could be a group, particularly the HS group.
Having predicted that the league would be able to figure this much out Arias had intentionally left room for speculation and guessing through the evidence he had managed to create so far. The league could only be led to one logical conclusion and that was the same conclusion the police had already reached; that it was indeed a collective terrorist attack on multiple cities possessing high population densities of superhumans.
So with this fact, it didn't take long for cities at risk of attack to be listed in and for people to be warned. This was especially true in the top 10 cities that had high populations of superhuman residents.
People were quickly advised to stay in their homes and not to move out. They were also advised to turn off any and all appliances that required focus and/or were a possible danger if not operated properly.
Many listened but of course many more did not listen. But regardless of the warning efforts, it wouldn't make any difference in Arias's grand scheme of things.
After all, the populace was never the true target only a means of directing the government in the league as he pleased for this operation.
And just 10 minutes after the attack, the league and the police had their worst fears come to fruition as spores emerged in Star city and two more cities thereafter.
