The fake out.

"So you want me to train him?" Flash asked, sipping on his coffee.

We had stopped by in a nearby empty cafe as I explained our situation to him.

Well, an altered version that painted me in a better light than I deserved.

"Yes. Unless you'd rather have a speedster running wild and potentially hurting himself and others. Just in the past day since his powers manifested, he has broken his nose thrice."

Flash looked at Pietro then back at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Healing serum." I replied and he seemed to take it in stride.

"Pietro needs guidance." I continued, "And who better to guide him than the fastest man in the world! Maybe he can even help with your hero work while you're at your other job."

"What other job?" Flash asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know, the police work. I can elaborate further but it'd risk revealing your identity." I said.

Flash narrowed his eyes.

"Are you threatening me?"

"No. Threatening you will get me nowhere." I assured him.

"I'm just asking for your help in guiding a young man on the right path. So he doesn't misuse his new gifts."

"Hmm....I will need to consult with some of my colleagues about this ... situation. But I think I can do something about him. Yeah."

"Great. I knew you'd see it my way!" I said, finishing my coffee, "When does he start?"

"He can start now. Pietro, was it? How about you go for a run around the city. Run some laps. Be back in ten?" Flash suggested.

"Sure." Pietro said, stuffing a donut into his mouth as he nodded to me.

With a gust of wind, he disappeared out of the shop, speeding down the street.

"Damn he's fast." I whistled.

"Yeah. But not as fast as me." Flash said, getting up.

"I'll go get some more donuts. Stick around. My friends will want a chat with you. Be back in a flash!"

With that he disappeared, leaving crackling lightning in his wake.

I sighed, and continued to sip my coffee. It was good coffee, despite this being only the early 2000s in the DCAU universe.

There was a reason I chose this one too.

Not only was the DCAU safer than most other DC designations, it also had the most paragon versions of heroes. The kind I could manipulate into helping me, if need be.

Not only that, there were three easily available and amicable reality warpers who I could use to power my Scranton Reality Anchor.

All that was left was to complete the prep work.

And then, I end this scourge once and for all.

Seconds later, Flash returned with a ix of donuts and I picked off a chocolate hazelnut donut, taking a bite out of it.

"Mmmm... delicious. How is your food so good?"

"The secret ingredient is sugar. And this one additive Lexcorp adds. Improves the taste like a bomb of flavor. It's great!" He replied, stuffing himself at blinding speeds.

"When are these friends of yours coming?" I asked, checking the time.

9:38 am.

I had work to do.

"In a bit. Just wait." Flash assured me.

"Uhuh?" I said, licking my fingers clean, as I got up.

"Well, they can meet me later, when I come to pick Pietro up at lunch. I've got a craving for some pizza right about now, so I'm off to the pizza dimension. Bye!" I said, as I opened a portal to the pizza dimension, and disappeared.

"Hey wait!" Flash cried out, tryinflg to chase after me only to be stopped in place with my forcefield to make sure he didn't follow me.

"Now that their training is taken care of, I can just lounge around for next few hours..." I stretched and groaned, picking a piece of pizza from a mound beside me.

"....and then return to bring them back home in time for lunch. Another three hours. Might as well take a nap too."

I said, taking off my earring and placing it on the ground, hidden in a cover of pizza crust.

Then, I silently enchanted myself with flight and floated off the ground, and made my way a sufficient distance away before letting out a sigh of relief.

Now then, let's go on a resource gathering trip!

There was a reason I hadn't been rash with my actions against Lady Death.

I had waited and plotted.

Till I could confirm that she wasn't omniscient.

Till I knew she couldn't track me at all times without active attention.

Till I was sure I had her trapped. Because the moment she sensed the slightest threat, she would vanish and leave me to watch my back constantly for the rest of the stay in the MCU, every waking moment spent in fear of her killing me in my sleep or when I went to gather resources. Or a number of other ocassions.

That was no way to live!

No. I had to get her in one decisive blow or else I will never be safe for the next year and a half.

So I waited. I confirmed that she was indeed not omniscient.

That she could not control my actions outside of her reality.

I even checked the curse to see if she had put in some secret backdoor to my thoughts or mind control programming.

None. All she had done was put in a sloppy self destruct mechanism that would kill me if I tried to break the curse. Nothing I couldn't bypass in a heartbeat.

This meant I could do things beyond the span of her reality and she wouldn't know a thing unless it was sent over the comms channel, which she was in all possibility monitoring like a hawk.

Hence the game of charades.

To make her think that I was just here, waiting for Pietro to finish up and bring him back.

After all, she can't read my mind here.

Now that I had left the comms earring behind, I could get to my real mission today. Gather the materials for a reality anchor and make that bitch pay!

All that fake acting, implanted memories, that whole game, to make her think I had a whole different and more needlessly complicated plan instead of simply going into the multiverse and returning with a reality anchor.

But I knew. Sometimes, the simplest solution, is the best solution.

I had pulled a Rickshank Rickdemption on her.

A fake memory in another fake memory.

A plan that was for all intents and purposes made up!

I chuckled.

This was going to be fun.

I checked my armaments once more and pulled out my portal gun.

Time to do something I hadn't done ever before.

Truly push myself and my real powers - my intelligence and my portal gun.

Something I hadn't done even against Scion. No. Him, I had tried to mostly brute force to death.

But Lady Death wasn't going to get that mercy.

A quick painless end was a mercy I intend not to afford her.

I grinned wide and cracked my knuckles.

Let's do this.

I opened a portal on an adjacent pizza crag, and jumped in.

First stop, CADMUS!

To save a little girl from cruel, cruel government scientists.

And get my hands on some of her reality warping flesh.

.

"Hey! You! Hands in the air! How did y-"

A laser beam tore through the man's head, continuing past him, melting four other conrades of his, leaving their headless corpses to fall to the floor with a sickening squelch, smoking and charred.

I blew at my gun's barrel, twirling it back into the holster as I whistled happily and reached out with my technokinesis into the CADMUS systems.

With a thought, the security systems of the entire facility shut down, and all personnel were locked into their respective departments by emergency shutters falling in place.

Even as I made my way to the particular cell I was looking for, I could hear the agents blow up their doors, making their way out of captivity.

Now I could just massacre them all, but....nah.

Too much work.

I scanned through their prisoner catalog and smiled.

Connecting to their prisoner pens, I sorted out a specific group of cells and came on through the speakers.

"Hey there champs. How would you like to escape captivity today?"

"Aw geez mister, I sure would like to be free!" Harley Quinn pleaded.

"If you free me I might even have a little gift for you!" She swayed her hips seductively at the camera.

I chuckled.

"No need. I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, after all!"

The gates to their cells slowly creaked open, and they all stepped out hesitantly.

"Mate, you're joking right? He's joking right?" Captain Boomerang excalimed in disbelief poking his head out of his cell.

"This has to be a trap." Deadshot scoffed.

"Your tricks won't work on us Waller."

"I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Thank you stranger. I owe you one." Plastique said, swinging out of her cell.

"Thank. Speaker man." Killer Croc echoed her sentiment.

"You're welcome. Waller's on level 3 with 4 guards if you wanted to do her in before you leave. I've deactivated the bombs in your head so go nuts. And have some fun while you are at it! Ciao!" I said as the bombs in their heads chimed on cue.

"Wait, he's serious-" I could hear Deadshot, blurt out as I cut off the feed.

That should be distraction enough.

Now then.

"Hands in the air, intruder. You're under arrest fo-"

I sighed and twisted on the balls of my feet, slamming a roundhouse kick straight to his head

The man's helmet cracked and bent, his skull caving in before his head itself tore off his torso, splattered all over the wall.

I looked down at the man.

Peacemaker, apparently.

A man in an officer's suit stepped into view and scowled as he looked at the remains of Peacemaker.

He reached into his pocket and pulked out a tube of some serum.

Blockbuster probably.

I could tell from a glance.

General Eiling then.

"I'm General Eiling, and I will not allow you to get away with-"

"You hear that?" I interrupted him, tilting my head.

"Wha-"

A laser turned his head to mush as I walked past him, grabbing the serum from his hands before his body fell to the floor.

"Must have been the wind...." I smiled, and went on my way.

Getting down to the lower floors, I could hear soldiers rushing down adjacent corridors, looking for the escapees, and through the surveillance, I could not only avoid the soldiers, but also check up on the rest of the facility.

Including the now very dead corpse of Waller that was being brutally raped by Croc.

Oh boy, Oh goodness...no.

That was sickening.

I almost puked.

Have you ever seen that image of a squirrel trying to fit a banana in her mouth.

Well, imagine that, but.....well you know, woth the strength of Superboy.

Suffice to say .... it was deeply unsettling.

I'm going to need eye bleach after that shit.

I turned off the feed and came up to my destination.

A thickly padded, wrought iron door, thrice locked.

It wouldn't be out of place to see an SCP logo on such a thing.

I grabbed the door, my fingers digging deep into the metal, scrunching it up like clay and pulled at it.

The 4 ton door ripped off the wall, tearing up chucks of the cement and brick hold with it revealing an aggressively normal room.

Too normal. As if they had taken pictures of what young girls rooms looked like and averaged all of them to make it.

Minus any sharp edges or pointy corners.

Everything was rounded out.

It was like a mental ward.

Yeah, it was straight out of an SCP case file.

I could almost see the teenage Gaia living in it.

I chuckled, upping the filters on my anti mind control earpiece as I walked in, and saw a girl.

Sitting on the floor, at the center of the room, wearing a straitjacket, she turned to look up at me with dead, glassy eyes, the sort I had seen many times before.

The type that induced pity even in my cold dead heart.

"Are you real? Or am I imagining things again? Please.... talk to me.... someone.... anyone!"

She cried, trying to inch closer, but her body gave up before she could even start.

I didn't wait for her to try again.

I walked up to her, closer and knelt by her side, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Hello there....Ace."

____________________

Next extra chapter at 400 powerstones!

MC gets Pietro an internship.

And pulls off his plans.

Saves a little girl.

Another daughter?

Find out in the next chaoter of Dragonbal- ITCOTM!

How did you like this chappy?

Tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Donate your powerstones please! Let's get this fic to top 20!

Also if you want to support me buy me a cup of coffee or read ahead go to,

www.pat.reon.com/goldenfingers