TRUST

[Location: Underground base]

Selina and Ivy explained everything to Bruce and Diana about what they found at the hidden laboratory. They even brought back Lisa's body, files and everything they thought could provide a clue about this shitty mess. Bruce spent the entire day examining them and scribbling something in his little diary, something he does for analyzing anything he thinks useful.

Finally, Bruce concluded after hours of thorough study of Lisa's mutated body, and all the files.

"Lex Luthor is eliminating everyone related to this new artificial organ transplant project," He pulled out the dead victims so far who were killed, lynched, severed, and sewn together again and began to explain, "All of them at some point in their life had come in contact with each other and the personnel related to the artificial organ project. The victims knew about this and they tried to prevent or blackmail Luthor from doing human experiments, but Luthor had been paying them for almost two years as part of a blackmail to silence them. But since he killed all the targets, there are few reasons."

Bruce opened Lisa's body's scans on the holographic projection as he spoke, "He has perfected the procedure and is ready to make it public, but the protesters might try to squeeze more money out of him, hence his urgency to kill all those people. Or, he doesn't want to keep any stranglers who can link him to illegal human experiments, or, someone might have refused the money, knowing the fatal side-effects of such transplantation, and tried to leak the information out so he was forced to kill all the targets before anyone else tried to do something funny..."

He pointed out the side-effects of planting artificial organs in a human body with red dots on Lisa's hologram.

"You will need to replant new artificial organs every year or two depending on the quality of the implant. The cost is ridiculously high, and it can get you bankrupt, plus once you replace an organ, for example, a lung, the transplanted organ might get rejected by the other organs or it might reject other organs. Right now, they are using a serum to suppress the side-effect, a temporary solution. But the one with the transplant will have to take that serum as long as they live, which again, is very costly. If they fail to take it, baaam!" Bruce punched his palm.

"Instant organ failure and death within minutes," Pamela completed his sentence.

"Exactly!" Bruce nodded. "Now, the question you might be asking is- Why did Luthor want to steal the mutated Ivy plant?"

"Although it's poisonous, its flowers and fruits can be used to synthesize a permanent cure for the side effects, which might just stop Luthor from making money, right?" Ivy answered Bruce's question.

"Precisely!" He nodded, "And it's in my company. The Wayne Enterprise. How could Luthor sit still after knowing that his rival company holds the poison to destroy his years of research and stop him from making money? He knew the moment the side effects become public and a couple of deaths happen, we will step in with the permanent cure. Then, he will lose big time. Hence his attempt to steal the plant and eliminate the ones who know most about the plant, fucker even killed his own spy who tried to keep an eye on Pam. And I bet he has a good share of politicians in his back pocket, too, to keep the new project safe even if it were to become public."

There was a moment of pause as everyone tried to process the truth.

"So, the H.I.V.E. and all... Fuck! He wants to eliminate everything in a single go now that he has support from both H.I.V.E. and probably, Waller too," Selina summarized, "First, get rid of the links between the dead project staff and the project and second, get rid of any potential threats."

"Exactly!" Bruce closed the hologram and leaned back on the chair, "He will try to drag down the Wayne Enterprise, next, now that he has gotten rid of all those pesky links, and with Waller's help, he will accomplish that. We're just his next targets. The puppeteer will come after my family and the thugs with those power pills with come after Batman. Hahahah! Lex Luthor really played it big this time."

"What's the plan?" Diana asked. "That vile man must die, painfully."

"Trust me, he will die. Painfully. We will make our move in two days. Right now, I need some help," Bruce stood up and walked over to his desk, "There's only so much my human body can endure. Without my armor and tech, I am just a regular guy. That's why..."

He pulled out a box of synthesized Super Solder Serum that he had perfected with a couple of improvements like nanites in the bloodstream that are capable of eliminating all the side effects plus he will be able to turn his body into armor or weapon with just a mere thought without losing his humanity. The nanites are also capable of reconstructing and repairing a wounded body at fast speed. The most amazing thing about the nanites is, that they can adapt to any condition, climate, or environment and they can even survive in the vacuum of space for a limited time. As for the power source to fuel them, well, Bruce's Lightning Right is enough to power them up. But he went a step further to make the nanites self-sustaining so even in the worst-case scenario, he won't die easily.

"What are those?" Diana's eyes widened as she looked at the glowing blue liquid.

"Super-Soldier Serum. It will either turn me into an almost unkillable man or I might die or lose my mind and turn into a mad man. Well, I have run the simulation a couple hundred times for the last few months... 97% chance for success," Bruce shrugged.

"3% chance it might kill you," Selina whispered, feeling concerned about Bruce's current decision. She nearly gasped at the thought of Bruce dying a painful death right in front of her. How could she stay still and watch her love die in front of her? Even though the chance is as low as 3%, she didn't trust those numbers at all.

"You... You sure you want to do this?" Ivy looked worried. The little time they spent was precious to her. She loved that man with all her heart and could not fathom the thought of losing him. 'If he dies... No, no, no, no... I won't allow it.'

"I will go first," Selina stepped forward. "It's my duty to protect you, keep you safe... That's our deal, remember. I won't take that 3% chance, you hear me, Bruce."

"Let me go first," Ivy grabbed Selina's shoulder, "With my mutated body, I have the best chance of survival."

"Wow, wow, wow!" Bruce clasped his hands to get their attention. "Calm down. I'm not dying."

"You can't just drop a bomb like this out of nowhere and decide everything on your own. If something happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself and how the hell am I going to explain it to everyone at home?" Selina said angrily, grabbing his collars with teary eyes.

He put the box on the desk and pulled her into a hug. His hand caressed her hair and whispered softly, "And you think I will be able to forgive myself if something happens to you, Pamela, or Ivy? You think mom, dad, Alfred, and Maggie will just forgive me and move on? No, that's not happening. Just trust me as you always have. I have been working on these serums since forever... Trust me. Everything will be fine. And I have prepared everything in case, you know... I have been stalling it for days in fear, but... then I realized, it's something I must do... I just want you and her to stay by my side, yeah?"

It took some time to calm them down, then Bruce called Diana to the side room...

"Here..." He gave her a remote.

"This is?" She looked at the rectangular box made out of silverish-white metal, and a big red button in the center.

"Well, I am putting my life in your hands. If the process is unsuccessful, that red button will light up. All you have to do is push that," He gestured, "This is just a backup in case something goes wrong." He took her right hand and placed the remote in it.

"You can't expect me to kill you? I..." She stuttered.

"Selina and Ivy love me. I can't let them bear the burden... As my teammate and as my friend, I'm entrusting my life to you, Diana. Press the button the moment it turns red or I might just kill everyone losing my mind. Understand?"

"..." She remained silent. She clenched the remote tightly, looking down at it, her fist trembled slightly. She had never felt a heavy burden on her shoulder like this, nor had she ever met any human like Bruce Wayne. She had fought many wars and met many people, but not like this man standing right before her, right now. His conviction is so strong and his mind is frightening. The weight and value of trust he was giving her was humongous.

"Ok."

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Next Chapter: SSS Protocol