It’s Show time: Court of owls.

Eduard was sitting in the living room of Gwen's house with Kara while the two of them played some racing game that he himself had released months ago; it had been more than a week since both he and Kara had started school and during that time Kara and consequently he had become good friends with Gwen, he even ended up becoming friends with Flash who despite asking for help with his homework never tried to force him or anyone else into it, at least he didn't realize it and hiding something from him is definitely not easy.

- Your turn Ed!

- Right... - Eduard snapped out of his thoughts and picked up Gwen's controller and played until he lost to Kara as Gwen, looking at Kara's smile any possible irritation at losing disappeared and he just carried on playing with his girlfriend and new friend until it was dark and he and Kara had to go home.

- Is it today?

- Yes...

On the way, they were both comfortably silent, although his girlfriend was frowning slightly. Today he and his sister were going to deal with Gotham's deepest filth by putting on a show for the world to see, and the reason this upset her wasn't that it could be dangerous or that his image would be defamed on the internet again, no, for Kara it was virtually impossible for him to get hurt dealing with humans and she didn't care much about their opinion either so apart from a slight annoyance it wouldn't upset her, what really upset her was that they wouldn't be able to go out in the sun tonight; ignoring Kara's childish reason for being upset Eduard just walked home while remembering some relevant information that he and Barbara had discovered and managed to find the evidence for their "show" tonight.

The Court of Owls is an ancient society that has controlled Gotham City for centuries; according to the evidence gathered by Babara it will be easy to prove that they exist and are a violent organization that has used architecture and planned assassinations to exert political influence throughout history, and even though Gotham is their "operational center" it was very clear that their influence extended beyond and for some reason they still operated there as their focus, Barbara assumed it was because Gotham was their economic center, but if this has any relation to the comics it must be related to Batman as the last Wayne, too bad I don't remember practically anything other than that.

According to Barbara it was extremely difficult to find information about the Court of Owls if you didn't know who to hack and where to look, since the organization is basically a legend and is told only through whispers and has a lullaby named after it.

It took almost a half month for her to get the main names that we'll be exposing as well as the means of operation used by the court, they employ a race of highly trained assassins with a level similar to the league of assassins, known as Talons. The leaders of the organization, the ones we're going to focus on, seem to be humans who just wear owl masks over their faces, honestly, I don't remember if they're anything else, but I guess it doesn't matter at my current level; the rest of the court are made up of human/owl hybrids, exemplified by their distorted owl faces, long claws and animalistic mannerisms.

I honestly can't understand how they manage to hide with so many disgusting hybrids under their command, after all, in this world the technology is far superior to what it should be if only the world from DC existed here, so it's surprising that organizations like Shield or Hydra simply let the influence of such a "backward" and influential organization develop freely.

'Maybe there's someone from Hydra inside? If there is, he could lose Shield or just pretend to be their undercover agent...' Eduard pondered for a few moments before putting this aside, after all, it didn't really matter what he was going to do today.

- So, have you finished all the preparations? - Eduard, who had an anxious expression on his face at the moment, was watching his sister who was controlling everything perfectly with only minimal help from Cortana since she insisted on continuing to use her own artificial intelligence.

- Almost done! - Barbara exclaimed and then, looking at how her brother was behaving, she couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. - Can you try to calm down? If your powers are only a tenth of what you've said nothing can hurt you, then there's no reason to be so nervous!

- ... - Eduard, who was pacing back and forth, stopped for a few moments before moving again as he exclaimed. - I'm not worried about getting hurt! - Eduard stopped his movements after exclaiming to his sister and looked her in the eye before continuing. - I'm more worried about this nonsense you're forcing me to do! - Eduard looked at his sister with a hurt look, he even tried to deny this nonsense completely, but after she begged him for a whole week, he ended up giving in, mainly because Cortana also pestered him saying that it would be the most effective way.

- That's the best way, and you know it... - Barbara replied as she looked away, since even if she knew it was the best option, she had to agree that what her brother would have to do would be a bit silly.

- ... - Eduard just stared at Barbara for several moments before sighing and nodding.

- Whatever, just be prepared for when we start, and keep track of them the whole time! I don't want to have to do this shit again!

- Yes, yes... You got it, Captain! - Barbara gave a playful salute at the end that managed to get a small smile out of her brother.

- All right, I think I'd better go at once; the first target is Sebastian Clark?

- Yes! Let's start big, we need to start with him since he's the current mastermind and one of the few people who are actually part of the organization that I've managed to track down; you're only going to put a few of them on trial and the rest will be exposed on the internet I think this will have a greater impact on the general public than simply destroying everything in silence and in the end some survivor of the organization or fan of a legend simply recreating it in a decade...

- I know, I know... You've already told me that the important thing is to make an impact... Sigh... - Eduard frowned, thinking about his role tonight and the fear and hope he was supposed to cause, he honestly didn't know if the show they'd come up with would work, but it's either that or become Batman and fight this organization forever according to Barbara... - I'd better go now before the shame makes me give up, just give me the special camera!

- Here! - Barbara handed over the camera they had both spent the whole week building, thanks to which it could be used for the live broadcast he would be doing and would be monitored by Barbara and Cortana; with Cortana's help they had no problem talking to each other or even programming a broadcast, but as Barbara thought a third-person view was important they needed to build these little drones, and it was a challenge to build some that could withstand at least a fraction of Eduard's speed, but in the end they managed it so it doesn't matter. - As soon as you leave, I'll start the transmission, any names in mind?

- Didn't we agree on "Public trial: Court of owls!"?

- Yes, but if you have any better suggestions, we can change it, after all, you're the only actor - Barbara said with a teasing tone.

- ... - Eduard looked at his sister with a frustrated expression for a few moments before shaking his head and smiling. - Leave that silly title behind, I don't care... I'm going, see you later!

- Take care!

Note: I'm too lazy to come up with usernames since I don't know if I'll keep doing it, so if you want me to do something like these live other times in the story let me know and I can try, and if I keep it up I'll try to come up with usernames next time.

[Public trial: Court of owls!]

[What's that?]

[I know as much as you do.]

[What does recording a flight have to do with a trial?]

[Maybe transporting the criminal?]

[What is the Court of Owls? Some new criminal organization?]

[I've never heard of them before!]

[I think I've heard something, but it's just a story to scare children].

[What story? I've never heard anything about Court of owls].

[It's a Gotham legend.]

[Gotham? Wasn't that the city where the "Superhero" broke the law recently?]

[Yes!]

[I don't see the need for quotation marks! He's certainly been doing the work of a superhero!]

[Really? No one is worried about someone like him simply applying his "Justice"? Hell, if he thinks like Akainu we're screwed!]

[Akainu?]

[An idiot from One Piece.]

[...]

The discussions stopped when Gotham City came into view and its appearance became clearer and clearer as the camera moved through the city at incredible speed.

Note: One Piece and other stories were released by the protagonist in this world; one of the reasons is simply so I can use references and the other is that this is one of his sources of income, simple as that.

The camera stopped on an old Gotham mansion that was surrounded by dozens of armed people who seemed to be looking around on full alert.

- It looks like they've noticed... Not that it matters... - Eduard's voice rang out and was picked up by the camera, and after just a few seconds he saw that the mansion's guards were pointing their guns at him, which indicated that they must be watching him too at the moment.

'I think the name is kind of explicit...'

[Ooh! You think this?]

'...'

[Forget it... Are you ready?]

'Honestly? No, but that doesn't matter... Let's see if I can be a good actor now...'

After the quick conversation between Eduard and Cortana some drones that had accompanied him as a single camera dispersed from him and started filming from several different angles.

- Let's get started! - Ignoring the gunfire, Eduard looked at everything with an indifferent gaze and declared loudly so that the cameras could pick up his words even amid the sound of gunfire.

- BOOOOMMMM!!!! - A deafening sound rang out as Eduard simply drove into the ground at a speed exceeding Mach5. That alone would have caused a huge impact on the scene, but add that to the ridiculous amount of force he applied, enough to lift a building a few stories high, and there was the psychokinetic shield that had him at its center with a circumference of hundreds of meters; the damage Eduard caused just by descending was recorded by the cameras and would cause immense panic, especially in criminals when they realized that what they saw before was nothing compared to what they would see today.

The scene that was being broadcast was unbelievable, the garden of the mansion was completely destroyed with spikes of earth rising randomly around a huge crater, there were dozens of bodies crushed in the crater along with others who were affected by the consequences; looking beyond the garden it was also possible to see a considerable part of the mansion completely destroyed while everything else was in pieces about to fall and it was obvious that if he hadn't used magic to protect the surroundings he would have caused a huge incident in the whole block and perhaps beyond.

'I think I overreacted... I hope the target is still alive.

Eduard ignored the scolding he'd just received from Cortana and simply walked through the ruins he'd caused, ignoring the corpses or people who lay dying on the ground while several cameras continued to follow him. Eduard managed to ignore the bitter feeling that plagued him again, even though he had killed before he didn't feel that it got any easier, he could ignore it was obvious by the indifferent behavior he was showing to the cameras, but he was definitely sure that he would never be completely indifferent to it, and unfortunately he knew that he would need to do it on many more occasions, since whether it was Thanos or Darkseid he wouldn't let them live once he had found them.

'Just don't harm one innocent, Eduard, and everything will be fine!'

[...]

Cortana, previously stay critical of Eduard, fell silent as she observed the boy and the former policeman, who had only killed in the line of duty on the day of his death and just once since then.; Cortana had known from the moment he killed Killgrave that Eduard was averse to killing, but unlike Batman he seemed willing to do it even with discomfort if he deemed it necessary and this was being shown now, although she was sure he didn't intend to kill so many in his fall, was still obvious that he intended to kill some of them.

- Wow... That's just awful... - Eduard exclaimed as he looked at dozens of bizarre humans with an owl's head staring at him in an extremely disturbing way. - I guess at least I don't have to feel bad about getting rid of you... - Eduard commented and didn't even realize that his comment had been caught on camera, but even if he had, he wouldn't have cared much at the moment. When Eduard, who had stopped to observe these "freaks", started moving again, he was attacked from all sides, and in response his eyes simply glowed a dazzling red before a beam from his heat vision cut them in half and with them several walls and pillars; it only took Eduard a few seconds to get rid of them all and he only took that time to avoid hitting a few drones, after which he took a few moments to calm his inner turmoil before continuing walking.

[What the fuck is that thing?]

[Are they mutants?]

[Mutants aren't the same, you idiot!]

[I know a mutant, but even if she can do some cool things she definitely doesn't look like that!]

[That's disgusting!]

[That's scary!]

[Really, no one's going to comment on the massacre the guy just committed?]

[I don't particularly care.]

[They shot first!]

[So what? The guy didn't have a scratch from the shooting, what he did is just a massacre!]

[You may be right, but I still don't care!]

[Are you crazy?]

[Just look at those disgusting things on the screen, it's not natural and I doubt the freaks outside didn't know that when there are so many freaks in the mansion! They can't be good people!!!]

[You're crazy!]

The discussion continued and intensified as Eduard walked around the mansion killing some more of the organization's creations and even entering some rooms and offices and reading various random documents that he entered while allowing the camera to capture everything without bothering to check anything first, technically he was showing material that would be and will be used in future investigations and should be confidential, but he didn't care and just carried on, and the effect was simply incredible.

[What the fuck! Who was the son of a bitch who complained

him to kill that piece of shit?!]

[He killed them too quickly! Fuck, there's human trafficking in this shit!]

[Did you see the mayor's bribe? The man earns more in bribes than the city has in annual income!]

The criticism piled up as Eduard felt slightly better despite the amount of death he had caused, after all, even if he knew those men deserved it, listening to just a few messages highlighted by Cortana really did wonders for his stress; Eduard continued walking around the mansion and after making sure he had looked at all the "visible" rooms he commented.

- Where is the old man? - He began to look around slowly just so that the more intelligent people watching his show would realize what he was doing, after all, the point of all this wasn't just to expose the Court of owls, they also intended to strike fear into the criminals, and definitely an x-ray vision on someone like him should make the criminals shit themselves, at least he hopes so.

- Found you! - After deliberately waiting a minute and slowly scanning the mansion, Eduard smiled predatorily at a camera that he positioned in front of his vision while looking down.

Note: I will post the next chapter on Friday or Saturday; publish an extra chapter on Wednesday on Patreon as I already said I would do, for now there is only one extra chapter, but as I will post an extra chapter per week on Patron over time it should accumulate, anyway if you can and want support me and read the advanced chapters just become a member: patreon.com/Aedificationemmundoscumimaginatione

Na minha outra história, tive um problema com os parágrafos finais, então, por precaução, postarei isso no final de todos os capítulos.