Chapter 126 Slade's Dilemma

A blast of energy was expelled from the breach, sweeping everything within its path away.

Following which...

A figure fell through the portal, landing heavily on the ground with a loud bang.

Numerous cracks appeared on the soil beneath him due to the force upon impact.

"Ugh!" Lex groaned with pain. His super suit was to thank for mitigating most of the force. Wisps of energy were constantly emitted from it, the only thing to currently indicate that Lex had successfully crossed between worlds

"I.....". The disorientation slowly started to fade. Propping himself up to his feet, the blurry image before him gradually became clear and the dizziness receded.

"I'm..... Not in the facility anymore". His eyes widened in surprise upon realizing this.

"That means.... It worked".

"It appears it did". A plan, female voice voice uttered from his suit.

"Mercy! Good to know you're still online". The expression on his face eased after hearing the familiar voice.

Mercy..... His own programmed Artificial Intelligence

"Indeed. You are lucky the quantum disturbance between universes didn't cause your battle suit any substantial damage".

A small gold light blinked near his chest area.

"I have tried gaining access to the satellites under our control in our world. They are unreachable".

"That practically confirms it". He nodded with a bit of relief.

"Indeed. Now the best course of action would be to determine where you are and the situation of this world. I'm trying to connect to the the nearest satellite..... Sate.... Sate.....".

The robotic voice suddenly began to blitz.

The sudden change caused Lex to raise an eyebrow.

"Mercy?"

"Sate..... Sate....". The AI paid him no heed. Just continued repeating half a word over and over like a broken record. And then..... It stopped completely.

A frown appeared on Luthor's face.

"Mercy? Mercy respond".

".... Hello". Finally, Lex received a response. But not only did it fail to alleviate his worries, instead, his frown grew deeper.

That voice.... He didn't recognize that voice.

"Mercy.... What's going on with you?"

Looking at the blinking light near his chest, his eyes widened when it suddenly turned from gold to red.

"... I'm sorry, Mercy isn't here right now". The childish voice responded to his inquiries.

"...What the...".

"She will be occupied for a while".

The eyes of the bald genius narrowed to the extreme.

The atmosphere immediately grew tense due to the sudden change of events.

"I will be answering you now.... You can call me... A.L.I.C.E".

"..... What are.....".

"Alright Alice....". The sound behind him made Lex's pupils shrink to the extreme. He quickly turned around and stretched out his hand in an attacking motion.

The fist encased within the suit gave off a gold glow, ready to fire the laser beam at any time.

".... Don't frighten him too much". Dark hair, blue pupils, wearing a white Jacket that gave off a soft glow in the dark.

Lex raised an eyebrow. The face was young.... Looking to be in his early twenties.

In his eyes, he was barely a grown up. Nevertheless, Lex didn't lower his guard.

"Who are you?"

"Me?" Amari tilted his head to the side slightly.

"Well that's not right. Definitely not right at all". A puzzled expression appeared on his features. Seeing him staring at him a bit of doubt and extreme scrutiny, Lex felt slightly uncomfortable.

"I thought I told you and the rest of your group i'd be coming for all of you. First Ocean Master, now..... You".

"Which is why I'm very confused. Did you forget me already lex?"

".... Um ..... That....". The atmosphere was remarkably tense. Lex couldn't help being dumfounded for a second.

He just arrived on another world, running from home affairs and he faced a whole new situation.

From the few sentences, he could already deduce that his ... Double... In this universe was probably in a lot of trouble. And now.... He, an innocent soul was now faced with problems tat didn't belong to him.

".... I'm... Not who you think I am".

Working his brain, he could only come up with those few words to explain the situation.

After all, for mot people, the idea of another universe was absurd.

Even if it wasn't, Lex wouldn't tell this to just anyone. The information of parallel Earth's could bring a whole new set of troubles if it fell into the wrong hands.

Just like he had enemies on his world, he didn't believe that the heroes of this earth didn't. As for how to explain the portal behind him..... That was a problem for the future Lex Luthor.

Now, he just hoped he could clear up the misunderstanding as quickly as possible instead of having the situation degenerate to the point of a battle.

"Hehehe". Amari chuckled

"Don't worry, I guessed that much".

'Huh? That easy'.

"Don't get me wrong. It's not everyday you see the president of America falling out of a breach in the middle of nowhere while wearing a battlesuit".

The simple words allowed Lex to extract a lot of information.

'I see. In this universe, I'm the president'. Although not taken completely, he found the other party's words believable.

Nevertheless, due to too little information, som things didn't add up.

Then, his body stiffened for a second as he realized something.

Breach?

"So would you mind telling me...". It happened then. Right before his eyes, Lex saw Amari's pupils glow with a bright blue color.

"... What is the Lex Luthor from another Earth doing in this universe?"

Looking at those blue eyes, Luthor felt a chil run down his spine for no reason.

'He knows....'. Immediately, energy blasts emerged from the thrusters underneath his feet.

Acting on instinct, the first course of action was to incapacitate the opponent.

Following which, laser beams were fired from his fists towards the adversary.

These blasts however, were optimized. Unlike the ones he used on able bodied individuals like Superwoman and Ultraman, these beams were meant to knock the target unconscious.

After all, he didn't know the status of his temporary adversary.

Until he was sure of the situation, Lex had no plans to kill the young man before him.

Not until he could determine whether he was a hero or a villain of this universe.

This man had clearly stated his identity.

If he was the former.... Then he could only apologize later on when he regained consciousness.

And with these thoughts moving through his mind, the energy beams moved at fast speeds, slamming into Amari's chest.

Standing still, the energy beams were absorbed cleanly.

"Nice shot.....". He hadn't finished his words, Luthor in his War suit appeared before him and punched with a glowing arm.

Bang!

Amari's head tilted to the side. Then his head straightened back to face the adversary.

Lex's jaw dropped slightly, before coming back to his senses.

"My turn.....".

"Shield!"

...

Tonight, the peaceful evening near the Atlantic coast was destined to be ruined.

Bang!

A figure flew out from the valley at Mach speed.

His figure drew an arc in the air before plummeting to the ground with great force.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Luthor, who was thrown out, bounced off the ground many times upon his crash.

Cracks similar to spiderwebs appeared on the points of impact before he stopped bouncing and simply dug a short trench to halt his motion.

"Puff!" The moment he stopped, red liquid flowed from his inner chest to his lips and erupted uncontrollably.

Luthor spat out a mouthful of blood while letting out a low groan.

A pile of dirt had appeared behind his back which he now lay on.

"Well, I didn't expect that". Blood dripped from the side of his mouth onto his War suit. The noticeable fist dent that appeared on his chest area deeply shocked the bald universe traveller.

Right before the punch landed, he deployed his suit's energy shield to defend himself.

The result....

It was shattered with a single strike.

"Ugh!" Pain surged through his chest area as he tried to stand to his feet.

"I suggest you give up. Your War suit has retained considerable damage from that attack".

Alice's voice rang in his comms.

"..." Knowing his systems had been infiltrated, Lex didn't reply.

Numerous thoughts ran through that big brain of his in an attempt to salvage the situation.

Unfortunately, he wasn't given enough time to think. Raising his head up, Amari could be seen descending from the sky.

'Who the hell is this kid?' Lex thought gravely. Back in his world, Amari wasn't a registered person with abilities.

Meaning that he probably didn't exist on his earth. Meaning, Lex didn't know how to properly communicate with the latter.

That's right.... Communicate.

The previous strike let him know that this youth before him was on the same level of strength as the leaders of the Crime Syndicate.

Perhaps above them as even Ultraman would find it difficult to create a dent this noticeable on his armor. The war suit was reengineered from a kryptonian battlesuit along with Apokoliptan technology.

It was his capital to go toe to toe with the Crime Syndicate. Now, his chests hurt like hell.

Thinking this far, Lex knew he had to do something. He was here to get help..... Not gain more enemies.

Standing up in a somewhat crooked posture, Lex spoke seeing that the adversary didn't outright attack.

"Stop. I don't want to fight you". He uttered with a solemn expression.

"I bet you don't". The apathetic voice fell into his ears.

"But that's not what I asked you". Telekinesis was unleashed with reservations.

Lex's face changed drastically as he hurriedly tried to flee..... Unfortunately....

Bang!

A massive crater emerged on the ground beneath them like a meteor just crashed on the soil. Caught within the area of attack, Lex in his battle suit was flattened I to the earth like a pancake.

At that moment, the energy shield emerged again, trying to offset the force. It barely resisted for half a second before shattering.

Lex felt his organs tremble.

However, instead of squishing him into meat paste, the invisible force wrapped around his body and pulled him upward.

Lex felt like he was clamped by giant invisible hands.

"I ask again. What exactly are you doing here? You can tell me, or I can just read your memories".

"... I'm... Trying...". The bald man uttered with great difficulty as he resisted having the air squeezed out of him.

Creak!

He could already here the war suit creating creaking noises.

"Really?" Amari's eyebrows couldn't get any higher.

Clang!

A part of the war suit seemed to snap.

"Then I suggest you try harder".

"Ugh!" For several seconds, the only thing that resounded was Lex's painful groans.

"I.... Came .... For.... Help....".

Amari's glowing eyes showed a hint of contemplation. Then, they ceased to glow and returned to normal.

Lex felt the invisible force around him disappear. And then..... He fell from a height of several feet.

Thud!

A small human shaped mark appeared on the earth.

Cough! Cough! Ugh!

Rolling on his side, he let the red liquid seep out of his mouth.

"You should be the one from Earth 3".

The sound of footsteps behind him made his body stiffen slightly. Then, the sentence quickly caught his attention.

Earth 3?

Separate universe had designated numbers? Who numbered them? Was this multiversally acknowledged? Also, what did it mean for his world to be deemed Earth 3?

"I'm ... Alexander Luthor...". Ignoring the pain, the bald man who didn't know he was bald yet, sat up straight.

"Leader of the Justice League of my world. And who might I ask, are you?"

"Amari". The response was plain. "And I know who you are. Any other Luthor would have suffered much worse as I don't take too kindly to attacks".

He resisted the urge to gulp down and let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you a member of the Justice League of this universe?"

"No, I'm not".

"....". Lex didn't know what to say.

"Luckily for you, I'm not a villain either. If I was, you'd already be dead".

".... Understood. Then would you please let me know how to contact them.... Or at least point me in the direction of the nearest city".

"You're near the Atlantic coast. Nearest town is a few miles that way". He said while pointing West.

".... I see.... I....". His words fell back into his throat as Amari turned to the side and walked past him.

"Alice, do let the poor AI regain control. Back to business. We're done here".

The red light on the War suit returned to normal, but Lex didn't pay attention.

"Oh..... One thing though". Amari's halted in his steps.

"I suggest you look up the Information of this planet before asking for help. You'll find the heroes of this earth have their hands full".

"Hold on... You're leaving?"

"Am I doing anything here for you?"

"...".

Lex opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.

He found his situation particularly bizarre. After beating him up to this point, he just let him go like that? Wasn't he afraid that he was a threat to the world or something?

"All you need to do is report yourself to the nearest police station in an urban city. Preferably Metropolis. The league should come pick you up after that".

"They'll recognize that bald head anywhere". His voice began to fade out as he wandered further away.

Silence.

Maintaining his sitting posture, Lex had a deep frown on his face as he recalled the events of his encounter.

He raised his hand in an attempt to run it through his red hair only to touch a surface as smooth as an egg.

At that moment, his eyes widened to the size of saucers as Amari's words replayed in his ears.

"I'm Bald!"

....

Meanwhile.....

League of Assassins Headquarters....

Bang!

A clenched fist slammed against the table, causing it to break in half.

Ra's Al Ghul looked at the broken table with an air of indifference. A frown still adorned his face though as he said with slight displeasure.

"Calm yourself Slade. Your actions are unsightly".

"Unsightly you say?"

With his mask off, Deathstroke looked terribly gloomy at the moment.

"Then tell me what exactly you think I should do now".

...

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