Chapter 40: Leveling the game 2

"Talking"

'Thinking'

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Tower of Destiny, July 27, 2016

In a room in the tower of destiny, a meeting was brewing between several individuals. They were total strangers, some were not even human, but they were all there for a reason. They all had issues with The Light.

Plus Diana, Edgar, Kent and Inza. New there were:

Mera, Arthur's wife, and queen of Atlantis, but who was currently a fugitive wanted by Orm.

Vulko, Arthur's right-hand man, also wanted by Orm. 

John Constantine, powerful sorcerer expert in demology, and who was there because he owed Edgar a favor.

Orsi, Edgar's best friend, leader of the Order of St. Lucas, and senior exorcist of the Catholic Church.

Rex Mason, a 'man', if you can call him that, since at this time said person had a body composed of various materials such as sand, carbon, granite, stone, and so on. He was one of the first ones kidnapped by The Light and on whom they used one of the first serums manufactured from the Cadmus project. This serum completely undid him. They thought he had died, but he had actually transformed into this.

A rather smiling man, named Patrick O' Brian, who had also been a victim of The Light's experimentation and had turned his body into a plastic alloy capable of stretching it to indefinite limits, and who had escaped because of this power.

Kimiyo Hoshi, the Revenger Group researcher and Edgar's partner, who had suffered an accident at the exhibition and, studying a rare meteorite, it gave her light powers. When she awoke she was amazed that she now had powers, but her surprise changed to anger when Orsi told her that her parents, who were also researchers, had been captured by The Light. She only wanted to rescue them, but she needed allies, which is why she accepted Edgar's invitation.

Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein, two scientists who refused to accept The Light's invitation to those unethical experiments and who, fleeing from their captors, fell into a particle collider that merged them into one, turning them into a man who can launch nuclear energy.

A Japanese woman named Tatsu Yamashido, who was the daughter of the leader of the Yakusa and who saw her clan massacred by The Light, and wants revenge.

Beatriz da Costa, a Brazilian model who is a metahuman with fire powers who saw how The Light massacred the favelas, as they were considered a liability. She wants to defeat the group to end the oppression of her beloved people. 

Tara Olafsdotter, a metahuman with ice powers and Danish model who is Beatriz's best friend and decided to accompany her in her crusade.

And an 18-year-old Mexican-born young man named Jaime Reyes, who had gone to show his value and was labeled as useless. So was much of his family. Needless to say, his poor status declined further. However, that same day, he found an artifact that attached itself to his body and turned him into a kind of beetle-shaped killer robot.

However, the two strangest ones were the ones that were not human. On the one hand, there was a floating spirit in an acrobat's costume who at one time was called Boston Brand. And who is a friend of Kent's, and was the one who invited him.

And the other, was an English man of regal bearing, named Jason Blood, however, Edgar knew that inside the man was a powerful demon named Etrigan. The strange thing is that demons almost always forcibly take over a human body. However, this demon had made an equitable pact with the man, coexisting in harmony.

Edgar could only think it was a bad idea. These were the candidates Kent had told him. But, the group wasn't even level. They were novices in his power practically. And he wouldn't want to start talking about the demon and the floating spirit in the room. If it was any other time, he would have burned them with his fire by now.

In the end, he could only sigh in surrender. Diana, who saw the weary face of her beloved, approached while holding his hand and said.

"They are waiting for you. Tell them something. You are the leader"

"Why me, you're better at this. You practically had leadership classes with the Amazons"

"That was for ruling. And this is different. Besides, I trust you'll do well" Diana was getting closer to his ear. "Besides, if you do this, in the night you'll have a surprise waiting for you" Edgar didn't need to hear it twice anymore and quickly got up to speak to the group.

When he stood up, everyone paid attention.

"Cough, cough, Hello, emmm, my name is Edgar Bones, emm, I don't think you know me, but...uff, it's hot, isn't it?"

Everyone had only one thought from Edgar's introduction.

'How bad it is'

Edgar finally managed to calm down and became serious

"Okay, look, I know we don't know each other. We each have a different story to tell, but we all have something in common in this room. We all want those fuckers from The Light finished. All of us here, we've all suffered to a greater or lesser extent because of this group that practically rules the world in the shadows. I'll show them. Kent, please"

"Sure" Kent stood up and tapped his cane on the ground. A golden screen materialized showing various files, videos and other horrible things that had happened in the world. And that obviously the general people didn't know about. On the surface everything was fine. But underneath, massacres had been made of entire villages to 'clean up' the filth of the world.

"So you see. What you, Beatriz, experienced in Brazil, is happening in Africa, in Europe, in Asia, everywhere. Not only that. Every day, more and more people are taken by the Liberation Front to perform experiments like the ones they did to you, Patrick and Rex. The world has become chaos disguised in a false world order. And that is why you are here. To help me figure this out"

"And how do we do that?" asked Beatrice.

"At this time, The Light has gained power and has achieved much of its plan. Practically the world or countries are divided into 12 world zones. Each zone is special, because in that zone The Light has grouped things in common. For example, one of the strongest zones is the polar zone, which is the Eastern European zone. That's where all the scientists and projects that The Light has done are located. The Anubic Zone, North Africa, is where you have the biggest weapons distributors in the world. The most advanced weapons are in that zone. And the Middle East Zone, where you have practically the most valuable mines and resources in the world. Gold, Silver, Oil, Promethium, and more are found there.

Each place, needless to say, is completely guarded and protected. However, if there are two areas that are the most dangerous, in my opinion, they are Atlantis and Themyscira. They are kingdoms or cities, but they are areas since they cover an awful lot of territory. Mera, do you want to comment?" 

Mera nodded and stood up to speak. Everyone turned their attention to her.

"First of all, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Y'Mera Xebella Challa. I am the wife of the king of Atlantis, Arthur Curry, who was taken prisoner by his half-brother and current regent, Orm. Atlantis is a kingdom made up of 7 different peoples. That makes us cover practically all the confines of the ocean. Ruling Atlantis allows you, not only to get all our military and technological might, you can practically rule the oceans as a whole. And this planet, it's more ocean than land"

Edgar nodded at this.

"That's right, guys. The Light practically has these zones well laid out and established by today. Not only that, they practically support each other by sending resources making their strength even stronger. But for all this to work, the key to it all is the sea. They, who control the seas, have the authority to transport any product, asset or resource they want. That's why it's of priority to get the power of Atlantis... Now, another important town is Themyscira, Diana, please"

Diana interrupted.

"Greetings, my name is Diana, Princess of Themyscira. Unlike Atlantis, we are limited to only one island. But make no mistake. That place is quite dangerous and powerful, for in that very place are safeguarded the very gates of the Underworld. If they were to open, beasts so dangerous that they could wipe out part of the population in days would come out. Also on that island, there are powerful artifacts and resources of mystical origin. In short, that island is a total fortress"

Edgar continued the conversation

"The two ladies are right. All that and more, make it imperative to succeed in taking those places from them if further disasters are to be avoided. I am powerful. Kent is powerful. You, with your powers, are powerful. But we can't fight them alone. We have to unite. So... What do you say, Are you with me?"

Everyone looked at each other. They were all there for something. Some for hatred. Some for favors. Some for friendship. But, after hearing all this, they were now all committed to the cause. They finally said.

"I'm in"

"Count me in"

"Bloody hell, they'll kill us all, but count me in, mate"

That day a group was being created that was just as powerful as the Justice League. A group that in the future would operate in the shadows controlling the evils of the world.

That day, The Outsiders had been created.

(AN: If you have a name for the team, I'm open to suggestions)

"Well guys, why don't we introduce ourselves and tell our abilities..."

And so, the meeting continued.

----------

After that meeting everyone went to enjoy the place. Most of them had never known magic before, so they were excited to be in this magical place. The most joyful of all was Inza, who, even though she loved her husband, the truth is that she already longed for the company of more people. She was happily giving them a tour of the whole place, showing them the magical rooms and so on.

While this was going on, Edgar had stayed behind to chat with Kent. He had a lot of questions, but he knew Kent's hands were tied with the whole future thing. Edgar could only curse whoever had so flimsily configured the rules of time so that a simple change in one decision could cause the entire future to go to hell.

He couldn't even imagine what would happen if someone went back in time to save a loved one from their death....

(AN: love to the chapter for that reference)

Edgar at the time had a lot on his mind. Kent who saw this, asked him.

"What's going on in your mind, my friend"

"Everything, Kent. EVERYTHING. I keep thinking that this is all wrong. That this will all go wrong"

"You must trust, Edgar. Believe me, this group is stronger than it looks"

"I know. You gave me the information on each one. They are powerful. Not as powerful as Diana, you or I, but they are powerful. But I'm worried about time, Kent. There's not much for a balanced team to form, and the longer we take to act, the more strength they get"

"I know. But here, believe me, time, is what you have the most of. Remember, I'm a specialist at that" Kent replied with a smile. He was amused that Edgar had forgotten that he had the power of a Lord of Order. 

"You're telling me...can you stop time so we can get ready?"

"No. Far from it. No one is powerful enough to do that. But I can set up time so you have more time to train. Maybe, a day in here will be, I don't know, hours outside..."

Edgar was glad for this. If Kent could do this, then there was a lot of hope for this group. He was finally seeing the light from the dark tunnel. Suddenly, a thought popped into his head.

"Hey Kent, about the League's plans-"

"I already told you, Edgar. I can't tell you anything because it would prevent us from being victorious. But I told you, don't worry about Superman, he'll escape soon"

"I know, and I don't want to know that. But I do want to know when Superman's escape will happen"

"Why?"

"Because I plan to strike on that day. Use Superman's escape and the League as bait" 

"I see... then I guess it's okay if I tell you. The day is..."

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August 14, 12:00, 2016

"Hello, people of the world, I am Batman, or Bruce Wayne, but you already know that. Today I come to bring you information that you should all be aware of. Information about a group that operates in the shadows in every government in the world. Today I come to bring you the truth"

All the people watching the broadcast turned their attention to his words. Some started shouting in insults, as the news foolishly made them believe that he was a criminal. But others, who were long-time fans of the League and who were already fed up with everything that was going on in the world, just looked hopefully at this.

"They've been told that we, The Justice League, are criminals. That We are evil. That We are the cause of many things, so much so that Superman himself decided to go with the Liberation Front, the 'real heroes'. But it's further from the truth. The truth is that their Superman, it's not even the one you believe. The world is not what they think it is"

Many videos and files started to play. Every single thing and event hidden from the world began to be played. Some things were not so horrible, just a little shocking like Superman being an impostor, but others like the killings in villages in Africa were so horrible that it made many vomit in disgust. However, this caused its target as many began to shout in protest.

"Damn government!"

"They are corrupt"

"I knew those value points were a ruse"

Soldiers from the Liberation Front quickly arrived to bring order, but there were many people. Soon the whole scene was starting to become chaotic in the big cities. And this, was what Batman wanted.

However, if anyone was having a bad time it was Vandal, who was in his chair watching this whole spectacle. He had so much rage because of this, that he had broken his glass with his favorite liquor due to the force of his hand. He quickly got through to The Thinker.

"Thinker, turn that transmission down, NOW!"

In one room, The Thinker was processing a huge database. His head, which had transmitters inserted into his brain, was working at full speed as 0's and 1's passed through his eyes. All of this was for one purpose. To cut the root of the transmission and find where The League was hiding.

However, contrary to all his predictions, he could not make any progress or find the culprit. Only one thought came to his mind

'Cyborg…. The bastard has upgraded'

He knew that no matter how many upgrades he had to become powerful. No matter how much he took his mind to become completely a computer, he could never equip himself with Cyborg and the Motherbox. They were on another level.

They were only evenly matched, or even Thinker had surpassed him because Cyborg never got the full potential that the Motherbox had. But now, with this event, he was proving that he was no longer the inexperienced youngster of a year ago. Now, he was already leveling the game.

Thinker kept searching. Every time he found a frequency where the video was being transmitted, and cut it off, another one came up. The worst part was that he couldn't track it since the transmission was jumping all over the place. There was virtually no way to find the exact location of where it was being transmitted. Thinker could not understand this. A transmission had to have a root, therefore, it had to come from a location. Unless...

'Ha, that fucker fooled me like an amateur'

In the end, he no longer chose to cut the transmission. Rather, he used the method he should have done from the beginning, and which his prognostications said was best. He quickly directed his power, and began to program a total blackout. Every city, in the world began to suffer a blackout, due to The Thinker's program.

"There. I had to forcibly cut everything off. Vandal, this is not a broadcast. It's a recorded video. They tricked us into thinking it was a live broadcast"

Vandal was angry, but quickly returned to his usual composure and replied.

"Send in the troops. I want the riots brought under control. Also send Zazzala with our collaborators, if their mental programming fails, have her repair them"

Thinker passed them the orders with a couple of buttons. "Ready, they are moving"

However, he was unable to continue when a warning came across his screen. It was a notice that a 'person of interest' had been found. The level of interest? A large level 9. And there was only one group with that level. The Justice League.

More and more notices began to show up on the screens. He quickly programmed the cameras at the locations to see everything and began to analyze the information quickly, to pass it on to Vandal.

'Even with all my upgrades I couldn't predict this' he thought. There he had realized that he had to update soon if he wanted to keep track of young Victor.

"Vandal... they've come out of hiding"

Vandal who was listening to this, stood up excitedly. "Where, where are they?"

"In... everywhere. Hawkman, Hawkwoman and Martian Manhunter are in Egypt. Black Canary, Green Arrow and Atom are in Tokyo. Hal Jordan and Flash are in Australia. Vixen, Cyborg and Zatara are in Argentina. And Batman... he's on his own. He's in New York. In fact, he's standing there, in the Empire State Building. What do we do?"

Vandal just smiled at this. He couldn't think of a more ideal situation. Yes, they had been revealed to the world, but so what, the world couldn't do anything to them. Only the League was the one capable of doing anything, and today was their undoing.

"Activate the Omega plan. Today we catch those vermin. I want no mistakes, Thinker"

"Correct. Chance of success is 87.8%. Activating Omega plan. Deploying alpha, beta, and gamma team"

Vandal who sat waiting for news had only one thought.

'Let's see what you've got planned, Batman'

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Superman Prison, Siberia, Russia, August 14, 12:10, 2016

At the Superman facility, researchers Stuart and Roger were hard at work. Vitals were relatively normal, just the pressure a little lower than normal, but this is normal when you consider how much blood is drawn daily on the man of steel.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Or so they thought, until suddenly a warning came to them. One of the control devices, which justly operated and controlled the west wing, where they kept the blood storage, started to malfunction.

'Mmm, strange' they thought.

"Hey, Roger. shall we tell Sivana?"

"...No. This could be weather trouble. It's -25° outside. The secure transmitters started to freeze. Better call security to go check it out"

"Okay. Security, please check west wing. Transmitter failures, repeat, transmitter failures"

"Copy that"

With that done, they continued working regardless of the situation. But suddenly...

"WARNING. WARNING. WARNING"

Many warnings that the transmitters were down. It wasn't one, it was all of them. Out of nowhere a big shudder was felt outside followed by an echo of a big "BOOOOOOOOM" right in the west room.

"Damn, there are intruders!"

There, it could be seen that, on the surface of the subway facility were trying to enter several... young men?, to the place.

"Call Sivana. Quickly"

However, they didn't have to go looking for him as he quickly arrived on the scene. His face could only be described as 'totally pissed off'.

"I TOLD YOU ASSHOLES TO LET ME KNOW IF PROBLEMS ARISE"

"We're sorry, sir. We were just going to look for you"

"ENOUGH. Enough excuses, I'll deal with you later. Now, tell me the situation"

But they couldn't even comment when another explosion was felt.

"Damn it, I want cameras, NOW" Sivana demanded.

Investigators set up the commandos and high definition cameras outside the site showed the image of a group of teenagers trying to enter the site. They were in special suits to camouflage themselves in the snow, but Sivana easily recognized them, as he was one of the core members of The Light.

'Damn heroes' sidekicks'

He could recognize several even in those winter suits. Especially the one who used to be Robin and Batman's adopted son.

"Call headquarters, now. Tell them to send reinforcements, metahumans preferably"

"We already did, sir. But the transmission is not coming through. They cut the communication paths with the explosions"

'Damn it'

As if this wasn't bad enough, suddenly another emergency alarm began to sound. But this alarm was different. This alarm was for the prisoner's vital signs.

"WARNING. WARNING. WARNING"

"Sir, the prisoner's pressure is dropping at an alarming rate. He is about to go into cardiac arrest"

"What, that's impossible. Unless..."

It was impossible for that to happen. A Kyptonian's physiology was different from human physiology and even with their superior physiology due to the yellow sun, they couldn't even get sick.

'He is not in a yellow sun'

But, the problem was that the prisoner was not in a yellow sun, but in a place that simulated a red sun. And he had spent months there. Sivana could only think that perhaps, the excess radiation from the light caused the prisoner's organs to fail. And if his theory was true... this was bad. For ALL of them.

"Okay, listen to me. I need to go to my office and get my device to communicate with The Thinker, that's connected directly to him. I want you to send half the forces to safeguard the west gate and half to the east. And I want they to use the sound and light cannons. Go in for the kill. No mercy. And you two, go revive the prisoner, NOW!"

Sivana ran quickly to his office which was on the south side. He cursed that he hadn't brought his communication device, but he never expected all this. Before leaving, he turned to look at the investigators and said VERY seriously and threateningly possible.

"Listen to me well, assholes. This prison is a fortress. Even if they get in, getting to the prisoner is almost impossible with the security protocols, understood, we just have to hold on until reinforcements arrive. But, if Superman dies, then we are ALL dead. HE is the key to this project. The Light's ultimate project, now go and make him live or I will kill you myself with my hands"

Project Cadmus was the ultimate plan in The Light's plan. If that project came to fruition, they practically won. And for that to happen, Superman was the key. The project consisted of one simple thing. Build the perfect weapon.

Nuclear bombs, The League, invading aliens. None of that would matter with the Cadmus project done. But the problem, it wasn't finished yet. If Sivana could tell, he would say there was 75 to 80% completion of the project. Good for what it was, but not good enough. 

With those final threatening words spoken, he departed, leaving the researchers trembling in fear at his last threat.

"Did you pee?" Roger asked Stuart as he smelled something weird about the place.

"A little bit"

--------

Stuart and Roger had arrived at the scene. There they saw that Superman was lying on the floor completely limp. His skin was pale, and there was no longer any movement visible in his chest, in short, he was no longer breathing.

'Damn, this is bad' they thought. They quickly arrived, and put a resuscitation device on him. There it indicated that just his vital signs were nil. Clark Kent was dying.

"Come on, charge to 200 Jules" Roger ordered. Stuart quickly did this and they put the device on.

"Ready, charge" Superman jumped due to the electric shock. But this was not enough, as he was still showing no vital signs.

"Again, charge. Ready, charge"

But again it was not enough. Superman was dead....

Stuart and Roger didn't know what to think. They didn't know what to do. They had killed their prisoner. However, just when their hope seemed dead, a "pip, pip" began to be heard from the machine.

This made them very happy, but they could not claim victory because the prisoner opened his eyes. However, his eyes were not ordinary, but glowed red, a sign of power.

Clark moved with superhuman speed and grabbed them by the neck. He lifted them up with superhuman strength as he glared menacingly at them with his red eyes.

"This... this is impossible" Stuart said weakly.

It had to be said, the frequency was still that of a red sun. For Clark to demonstrate his power was impossible as it contradicted all the research. It was not logical. However, Clark didn't care about the thoughts of these two. He quickly knocked them out and left them lying there.

After that, he finally staggered out of the place. Truth be told, that display of power was the little he could muster in all this time. He still felt very weak. He had planned all this a long time ago. Pretending to be weak as he regained his strength in those intervals of time that lowered the wave frequency. He could feel his power recovering, but it showed that nothing was happening as he built up his strength.

He wanted to recover more and manage to escape, but when he heard Miss Martian's voice, he knew it was his chance. The heart-stopping technique was derived from something Batman once told him.

Long ago, Batman had told him that divers or people who liked to dive for a long time in the water, controlled their breathing to the point where they lowered their pressure in order to withstand the high pressure of the sea. This caused someone's heartbeat to slow down which made the body work less and save energy. Superman did this every day to save his power.

However, his theory was that he could lower his breathing and pressure to the point where it would stop his heart for a brief moment. And thank goodness it had worked. It was risky, but he had succeeded.

He still felt weak. He was still gaunt and pale. But little by little he felt it. Even deep underground, he felt it. His power was returning, and at an alarming rate.

Superman... had finally escaped.