Chapter 43: A Devilish Deal.

10 advanced chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.

::-------------------------------::

(Angel's P.O.V)

(Young Master, mission accomplished. There were a few issues, but everything has been taken care of)

This text flashed through my eye lens.

I bit down on the urge to smile. That's Shade for you. Reliable to a fault. And was that a bit of pride I sensed in the message?

If so, he deserved it. Not many would be bold enough to sneak onto the League's base and leave unnoticed.

My Right Hand man.

And now that his task is complete, there was no need to keep stalling on my end. Time to wrap this up.

Clearing my throat, I poured my whole focus into the Man of Steel.

"So...Superman, let's talk."

He blinked, without a response.

"I have everyone here under my control. That goes for Batman as well. For the last few minutes, he's been trying to twitch his muscles in a specific pattern."

Superman's lip twitched.

"If he could, that would activate a burst of electricity from his suit, frying the nanites. SORRY BATS, THE NANO'S ARE E.M.P PROOF!"

I yelled loud enough for him to hear.

The Goddamn Batman.

I definitely expected something like that.

"Same goes for your only other hope, Green Lantern."

My finger pointed above at said subject.

"I admit, The emotion of 'Will' is a powerful thing. But no amount of it 'will' get you out of my control. In fact..."

I pressed the watch, giving a command to the nanomachines on Hal's body.

For now I only had 3 settings on it. Kill, Stop and Heal.

The Green Lantern's body jerked in place before slumping. The Nanites had just induced instant death by causing a Stroke and Cardiac arrest at the same time.

All his functions shut down.

Then they restarted, as the nanites brought him back, reconnecting the severed brainstem and unclogging the arteries.

But for two seconds Green Lantern Hal Jordan had been dead.

As per the rules of the Green Lantern Corps, The ring on his finger abandoned him and flew off to find its next host.

And without it, his uniform disappeared, shifting him back to civilian clothing.

Hal, Speedy and Wally, both of whom the Lantern had been carrying, all dropped towards the ground.

A fall from that height would gurrantee broken bones if not death.

As expected, Superman launched off the Arena, only to flop weakly, stumbling to his knees in shock.

"Why can't I?...My powers...they're gone..."

He stared at his hands.

Cold air escaped the left side of my body.

And then a slide constructed from ice, appeared below Wally, Speedy and Hal, intercepting the fall.

The slide safely deposited them behind me.

The Green Lantern ring had also failed to escape me.

Before it could fly away from the Island, a cloud of mist with small flashes of blue lightning, had moved faster than the Ring and shrouded it- absorbing it's momentum.

[Unknown Energy detected)

[Analysis at 12%]

The watch sent a prompt to my eye lens.

The Ring was now visibily trembling inside the mist and leaking out too much WILL energy, trying to shake it off.

Luckily, that little problem was taken care of by the Nanites' absorption capability.

[Absorbing...]

As a result, the mist was slowly shifting colors from white to a light green as it drained the Ring.

Call me paranoid, but I had countermeasures for almost every League member in place. This was GL's.

Every Leaguer had one. All except for friggin Plastic Man and Dr. Fate.

I was doubtful if even my ice can affect the former.

And the latter was on Klarion's level. The nanites couldn't absorb Klarion's magic.

Like the Lazarus pit, any that touched his aura instantly disintegrated into nothing.

I guess some magicks didn't like anything too technologically advanced, and destroyed it at its most fundamental state.

Fortunately, Plastic Man is not a full member. And neither is Fate...yet.

"I'm sure you have a looot of questions."

I said, lowering my voice so that only Superman could hear me.

"First, the least burning one, Hal is fine. Just killed him for a bit. And now the most burning one. What have I done to your powers? The same thing I did to the Lantern Ring."

The white mist gently floated down, a completely Grayed out Lantern Ring, resting on a bright Green box made of Nanites.

"Besides controlling biological, mechanical and technological functions in all lifeforms, the nanites can also absorb energy from them."

I continued,

"Heat mostly, but they're capable of any other type of energy. Even unknowns,"

Privately, I added to myself, 'except magic.'

To Superman, I went on,

"But only on a lesser degree."

Will energy is not magic. Its only new energy for my nanites to analyse.

I licked my lip,

"And if they are unable to absorb the energy, they can at least disperse it. I couldn't get through your bio-aura, but I was able to disperse just a tiny little bit, enough to create a breach for a few nanites to slip through. And from there...I've been siphoning the solar energy stored in your cells."

The horror dawning on his face birthed a feeling of accomplishment within me.

Also, I was accelerating my brain with the speedforce to keep up with his natural mental speed.

He was using every inch of his superhuman brain to search for a solution to this whole affair. A solution to save his friends.

"And that's not even the best part Superman."

I leaned in with a chuckle,

"The best part, is that it's all your fault!"

My words clearly baffled him, keeping him silent.

"Because of you, I was able to fully recharge my nanites. They seem to looove the energy your cells produce."

"You're like a big Buffett. That's the only reason I'm able to keep your friends as my hostages. You came here to catch me, but you unwittingly fell into another trap."

Different emotions passed through his face.

From anger to shame, to a flash of hatred my way, to guilt to...hopelessness.

The Man of Steel actually looked defeated.

Call me arrogant, but making the very symbol of hope fall to despair, even if it's just for a single split second, should merit one, the claim of Best villain right?

Right?

This is usually where the villain does the crazy laugh. But I know better than to slip into such arrogance.

Just doing the long ass monologue was pushing it. I had them beat, time to close the show.

In the meantime, the Man of Steel had regained his nerves.

That taste of despair had vanished when he looked around at his frozen teammates.

And then he was fully calm and logical again. So I decided to match the vibe,

The dance to the finish begins,

"I know what your next question is. Why do this? Why go to such lengths, right?"

I asked in a serious tone.

"Right."

He agreed, calm and unbated.

In response, I filled fresh breath into my lungs using the nanites, retaining composure, both inward and most importantly, outward.

"I don't want to live on the run from you people. It's annoying, equally as frustrating, and very inconveniencing. I have to constantly watch my back from you and Luthor's groups of Rejects. But don't worry, they got what they deserved."

His brows creased in weird concern.

I continued,

"But, you still need to be punished. My rep would suffer if I let this go."

My voice rose up, enhanced, loudly getting projected across the compound

"I know you can hear me Batman, so listen closely,"

"In EXCHANGE FOR YOUR LIVES, I WILL MAKE SUPERMAN SELL ME HIS SOUL!"

"Never!"

The Man of Steel immediately refused.

An amused laugh escaped me,

"You didn't even let me finish."

There was a sharp jerk of his head,

"Not happening. My soul is my own."

"Fair enough."

I shrugged, raised a hand and created a fist.

In response, Shiva's body moved, slashing out with her blade and instantly slicing into Batman's neck.

"Nooo!!!"

Superman howled.

Uncurling my fist was the signal that activated Heal, directing the nanites to to stitch up the Dark Knight's gaping wound.

The operation was carried out in a flash.

"Trust me Clark, you have no idea what I'm capable of. You don't have the option of saying no."

My voice was frigid. More than any ice I could create.

Superman turned my way, no longer calm. His eyes flashed red, catching me by surprise. He still had this much left in the tank?

Shit, was I too hasty?

"Don't worry about your real name. I blocked out everyone's ears when I said it."

I followed up calmly and his eyes lost the glow.

"As for Bruce, he's fine, the sword only severed his carotid, which the nanomachines have already fixed. Now sit down and let me finish."

Silently and slowly, he complied.

"Naturally, I now understand you can't just let me go. It's the good guy's job to go after the bad guy afterall. Heroes and villains, all that crap."

I stated.

He was calmer now, his breathing evening out.

"What I was really proposing was a Truce."

He didn't interrupt, so I continued,

"I let y'all go in exchange for calling a temporary truce. 5 years minimum."

I held up my hand.

"In that time, I won't attack or kill any heroes, and I expect you to do the same. Leave me, my people, the League of Shadows, and my allies alone. I promise to behave."

"You're..."

He trailed off with a headshake.

"Evil? Insane? I prefer diabolical."

I shrugged.

"I was going to say, overconfident."

He countered.

"You can't escape justice. Sooner or later, your past will catch up. But 5 years is too long."

"Too long?"

I scoffed.

"I just fought two mini-wars back to back and won. I deserve a break. Besides to the victor goes the spoils. You're not in a position to refuse."

A clench of his jaw showed his frustration.

"I regret underestimating you. If I hadn't..."

"Ah, regret is for losers."

I couldn't help shoot back.

"You attitude is deplorable. Perhaps even more than your actions."

He responded, sweeping his gaze across the compound. At the immobile bodies of his friends.

"Oh and if you planning to stall until Aquaman or someone else arrives, be informed they shall face the same fate as the rest of your friends."

I disclosed,

"There is no way out of this except the path I've shown you."

There was a long pause as he struggled with indecision.

Then finally,

"Okay...Fine."

He ran a hand across his face, caving,

"I accept. A 5 year truce right? not a day less or more."

That was the answer I wanted. And inside, I breathed out in relief.

'It's not over yet.' I reminded myself.

Reaching into the pocket of my pants, I pulled out something Shade had delivered to me the previous night.

A brown parchment made from Demon Hide. It had 2 identical circles on either side of it, drawn in a black ink.

"This is a Magic Binding Contract. By spilling a drop of blood on the center of the circle, the deal shall be sealed. If one side breaks the Truce, they shall face dire consequences."

Superman studied the parchment skeptically.

"What kind?"

He cautiously asked.

"Oh nothing much, just that demons from the deepest darkest pits of hell, will torment your dreams until you go insane and die...A little dark magic father used to employ in the old days."

He didn't seem all that concerned.

"And my blood?"

He frowned.

My shoulders went up in a shrug,

"Hey, you're the one who said, 'My soul is my own.' If it's not a soul it has to be blood."

"How do I know this isn't one of your tricks? You could be planning something bad with it."

He questioned.

I grinned.

"Let me guess, you're afraid, I might clone you, copy your powers, curse you to grow bunny ears or something equally nasty? Don't make me laugh."

I scoffed.

"That's more of Luthor's M.O. I don't need a Superman, I'm already one."

"Is a Binding Contract necessary though?"

He asked exasperated.

"My bad. I totally expect Batman to keep our end of the bargain because you asked nicely."

Sarcasm aside, I got the point across by the resigned sigh he gave.

"I don't understand how someone so young can be so Jaded and distrusting."

He muttered.

"Heh, have you met Robin?"

I snickered.

"Touche'."

He acquisced.

"let's seal the Truce. But getting my blood may be difficult withou..."

Before he could finish, I created a sharp ice shard and threw it his way.

"With your cells drained, you skin is not as hard to pierce."

I told him.

Without a word, he held the shard with one hand and pressed the tip on a finger, producing a red drop of pure grade kryptonian blood.

Hiding my excitement, I sent the parchment over by controlling the mist.

With a brief hesitation where he looked at his friends with concern etched on his face, the Man of Steel pressed the tip of his bleeding finger on the parchment.

He then looked my way.

"I guess it's my turn."

I muttered as the parchment returned.

I pricked my finger on a similar ice shard, and pressed it on the opposite face of the parchment. Both identical sides now spotted red markings.

I cleared my throat.

"Just to officially seal the truce, I Angel Savage, of sound mind, shall leave the Justice League and their associates alone for the designated period of 5 years. No hostilities to them and theirs, as long as they don't come for me and mine."

One of the circles lit up in red as my blood soaked into the ink.

I looked his way expectantly.

"I, Superman with The Justice and it's associates, pledge to not pursue Angel Savage and his allies for a period of 5 years, as long as he or his allies do not break the law."

He stated stiffly.

The second circle lit up and the parchment split into two similar copies.

One stayed with me(the one with his blood), while the other flew to his hands.

"Whew!"

I got up and stretched.

"Glad that's over. For a minute there, I thought it would end badly."

"Just keep your end of the bargain and let the League go."

Superman stated, also getting up.

"Okay."

I agreed, clapping my hands together and removing my nanites from everyone. Almost everyone.

Ra's Al Ghul, his Shadows and my friends found that they could move again.

"Guys. To me."

I called out to my 4 allies.

Despite the anger and indignation I knew they carried at being controlled like puppets, they had the grace and patience not to refuse the order, and immediately ran to my side.

Superman looked around and noticed something off.

The League were yet to be released from the hold of my nanites.

"What is the meaning of this? We had a deal."

He glared my way.

"Hey hey, don't worry big guy, I will keep my end. The second we're gone, they will be able to move."

I told him, before looking towards Ra's Al Ghul with a smile.

"However, You will find yourselves powerless and at the mercy of the Leader of an Organization of Assassins. What he choses to do with you is up to him. Oh and here..."

I threw the now grey lantern ring his way.

I no longer had a use for it. The nanites had a sample of it collected in the form of a small green box.

With a thought, the box deconstructed and unravelled into an emerald mist that combined with the watch on my wrist, turning it green.

It looked like a slim version of the Omnitrix. I think I'm gonna have fun with this.

As for the rest of the nanites fused into the mist, I had every bit return to me, forming into clothes. But they didn't come empty handed, I felt a small bulge on the pocket of my jacket.

The Demon's Head ring.

Unfortunately, I would have to give up on the Nano's inside the Justice League.

They had a range after all, and any that were cut off from the network, simply self destructed and dissolved into harmless dust.

"Time to go."

I told my team, rolling up the Binding contract with Superman's blood.

"Angel!"

Superman spoke up.

I turned his way, the two of us sharing a look.

"Expect me in 5 years."

He promised with undeniable belief.

"See you then."

I grinned.

[Klarion...?]

I purposefully called out in my mind, knowing that the Chaos Lord had been waiting for my signal.

A red portal swallowed my allies and I, my eyes never leaving the Man of Steel until the surroundings changed.

I found myself standing on the open yard of my mansion. The plan was successful.

My face split up with a self satisfied smile as I stared down at the yellow parchment in my hand.

Superman's blood. I finally got it.

And with the data Shade stole, I now had everything I needed.