CHAPTER 51: Finale "Wrath Of An Titan"

*A.R.G.U.S Mobile Command Center, Gotham City

Several blocks away from the burning GCPD Major Crimes, a A.R.G.U.S. command vehicle had taken position at one of the main sewer line openings. Agents Green and White had arrived on a undisclosed tarmac and immediately boarded a helicopter that took them deep in into the city where they met up with the local agents and the Ops team leader inside the command vehicle.

The nice thing about Amanda Waller was her insistence at competence among the rank and file. A.R.G.U.S. was an organization that only allowed the best of the intelligence community to join and had little patience for slackers. That was why as soon as they arrived the local field office already had GCPD and NSA feeds of the attack being analyzed and summarized data provided.

From the summary presented they knew Krios had engaged multiple GCPD detectives before battling Batman. From there details became a little dodgy with some reports saying Martian Manhunter appeared on the scene and possibly chased Krios off. What really stood out was a agent report who investigated the scene, Batman had lost the fight.

Agent Green blinked in surprise, 'He took out Batman?'

While lacking powers, the vigilante was marked as the 3rd most dangerous member of the League. With unlimited resources, combat skills beyond most humans, and an intelligence that could challenge even Luthor. They were given strict instructions to avoid contact with the Dark Knight unless authorized by Waller.

Looking over at Agent White who was communicating with the local field office, she could tell, he wanted to capture this meta badly. Anyone who can beat a League founder was a asset Waller wanted, and would guarantee a promotion to whoever brought them in.

"Any word about the Martian, where he is at?" Agent White asked a local agent.

"Unknown," the local agent spoke quickly, "After rescuing Batman the Martian talked with the Commissioner before flying off towards this area. Approximately 10 minutes later a gas explosion erupted 2 blocks north of here destroying most of the sewer chamber and causing severe damage to the street above. Right now the area is unstable thus the reason we are here."

Agent White watched the various feeds being shown with the majority showing satellite imagery, as well as street cams showing a destroyed cross road. And while the street cams quality were poor, technology, both domestic and alien, had allowed for advanced satellite reconnaissance to see through several layers of buildings, streets and even dirt. It was like using a form of x-ray but for Constitutional legal reasons this technology did not exist.

"You think the Martian manage to catch up to the asset?" White asked as he rewound the street camera feeds to when the explosion occurred.

The local agent grunted, "That is our working theory though with Gotham it is also possible he bumped into one of the other freaks."

Typing into one of the consoles a underground map of the sewers of Gotham displayed on the largest screen of the command vehicle.

"The destroyed chamber is fed by one of the main sewer lines that dump southward towards where we are now."

The agent pointed to another chamber and said, "We are close to this, a central sewer chamber with three large tunnels feeding into it. Luckily for us, it connects directly to the site so we will be able to investigate without local authorities getting there first."

The agent motioned to the Ops team leader who took a step forward. The man was dressed in the standard A.R.G.U.S. combat and retrieval gear. Similar to a SWAT uniform, the outfit was completely black and bolstered with a special ballistic armor that covered the knees, arms and chest. The Ops leader was wearing his helmet which covered his whole head, the top was shaped similarly to a military helmet with 2 green eye sockets and the mouth area packing a gas mask shape filtration system. He was armed like most of the squad with a carbine and a holstered side armed along with a few straps that supported grenades.

It gave an intimidating appearance, and considering these squads were often times also armed with at least one heavy tank round weapon and more recently a plasma weapon based on a recent alien invasion. These squads could and had capture and eliminated a variety of metas before in the past, earning them a fearsome reputation. Even the Justice League acknowledge the skill and danger of these teams and had repeatedly demanded their disbandment.

"Squad A has already entered the sewer below us and close to the chamber. Once they check the terrain they will begin moving towards the explosion site. Squad B is already beginning their descent down and if I am not needed any longer I will join them."

"Perfect," Agent White said, his smile growing with satisfaction.

She could tell he was happy just to work with competent people.

As the Ops leader begins to leave the command vehicle she felt the need to say, "While the asset may be hurt, incapacitated or even dead. Take extreme caution if you encounter it, this meta has wiped out entire squads and fought junior League members."

The Ops leader scoffed, "We read the report as we prepped. We are better then some Kahndaq militia scum, and I have yet to fight a meta who can take us on."

The man walked out the back of the vehicle, her partner and the local agent were now watching the feeds coming from Squad A's helmets. The squad had dropped down into one of the large tunnels through the manhole right next to the command vehicle. Their lights illuminated the brick made tunnel which the squad trudged through, after walking for a bit the opening to the larger chamber could be seen just a maybe 100 meters away.

Despite the calm atmosphere of the Command vehicle, Agent Green felt a sense of unease. As if sensing her unease her partner glanced at her before motioning with his head to step a little further back in the Command.

"You alright?" Agent White asked, a concern look graced his face.

Agent Green glanced back to the computer screens watching as the Squad 1 trudged through the Gotham sewer.

"Something..." she said hesitantly, "Something feels off. The fact he took out Batman makes me concern."

Her partner continued to stare at her for a moment before turning his gaze to the screens she was watching.

"I get that worry, taking out a League member like Batman is no small thing. But lets be real, it is not like he took out a Wonder Woman, or Superman..."

"But he may have just taken out a Martian," She interjected.

That did made her partner pause, his black skin scrunched into a pensive look. Finally he sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Now you are getting me worried too."

He gave her shoulder a small squeeze, "Things will work out, the ops teams are trained for this. What's the worse that could happen?"

Agent White would quickly choke on his words if he could foresee what was about to befall A.R.G.U.S tonight. And they would not be the only witnesses to this event. Unbeknownst to their technicians their network and feed was being hacked and watched closely by not one but two hidden parties...

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*A.R.G.U.S. Squad A, Gotham City Sewers

Squad A of the A.R.G.U.S. Special Ops team was made up of 9 operatives. They typically served as the initial recon team with Squad B supporting them with the heavier fire power. For field ops these squads did not use names but rather numbers from 1-9 with the sergeant being given a random number, while team leaders were often given the number 10. This was to prevent any leaks of identification and operational security.

Walking through the disgusting sewer water did not bother them. They had walked in similar and worse locations before. The one comfort they could take was their boots being waterproof and not having to march with wet feet.

The two operatives in the very front had their carbines pointed straight ahead, while the rest of the squad had their weapons in a lowered position for weapon safety. They moved quietly though not as much as they usually do since intel had the subject further up north. For them speed was more important at this moment.

Squad A's sergeant (Five) had them using their flashlights and keeping radio chatter live as they walked through the tunnel in a staggered side by side line.

It had only taken a few moments before they could see the opening to the large chamber. It was there they would set up their perimeter and begin their search for the subject further north towards the destroyed chamber.

"Squad A you are approaching connecting chamber, please confirm location, over." The radio in their helmets spoke from one of the technicians topside.

Squad A's sergeant or Five responded while motioning for 4 of the team in front to move into the chamber.

"Copy, just reached chamber. Securing perimeter and waiting for B Squad to join before moving north, over."

Soon Five and the other members entered the chamber where they exited one of the three main entrances to this chamber. In the center was a river running semi rapidly and various scaffolding and walkways. Save for the moonlight and perhaps street lamps leaking in from the manholes further down in the other tunnels it was fairly dark.

The 4 operatives who had gone in first had already traverse around the perimeter of the chamber. Each one checking the corners and entrances for any sign of hostiles. Soon the sergeant heard the sound off from the operatives signaling things were good.

"Secure! One!"

"Secure Two!"

....

"Secure Four!"

The lack of response from Three immediately had the sergeant and the ops closest to him swing their weapons to the north east where Three should of responded. Their flashlights on the stocks of their weapons illuminated the area but only showed some walkways and brick/concrete walls leading into one of the other large tunnels of the chamber.

A sense of unease settle upon Squad A, the only noise besides themselves was the rushing water.

"Six, Sever, One, move up to Three's position!" Five ordered.

3 of their team immediately made their way with One taking point to where Three should be. They walked on the walkway crossing over the river below. Their lights making the pathway clear and the lights of the others illuminating the general area.

On the radio, topside technician spoke into Five's ear, "Report, what is happening? Over?"

Five kept his eyes on where Three should be and responded, "Squad A Three is missing, any glimpse on the feed? Over."

"Copy that Five, please wait for report, over."

'That is weird, why are they not saying what Three's feed was? They would only do that if the feed didn't capture anything.'

While Five pondered the reason for lack of info he heard a grunt and a choked voice behind him causing him to spin around to see... nothing.

"Shit! Four or Nine did you see what happened to Eight?!?" 

Eight had been right behind Five as a standard practice to protect the rear. Both of those operatives had been facing where Three had disappeared so they responded in the negative of seeing anything.

"Squad A Eight had just disappeared Control, please report what his feed was, over!" Five's barked into his radio.

"Copy Five, we are having an issue with Three's and Eight's feed, please wait for report, over."

Four came a little closer to Five's and whispered, "We should regroup and wait for Squad B for support."

Five's nodded in agreement and gave a quick regroup command to the team, he motioned for the regroup to take place around the entrance of the tunnel they had came from as they all began to move back towards it. Every member kept their weapons pointed in front of them as they walked backwards. These were trained professionals that had fought and capture aliens and demons, but that did not immune them to a growing sense of fear amongst them.

Five as he backed towards the regroup point tapped his radio, "Control possible hostile in the chamber with us. I repeat possible hostile with us, requesting expedite on Squad B, over."

"Confirmed Five, Squad B just getting inserted into tunnel, ETA 4 minutes, over."

'Damn, we could really use some extra support right no...'

Before Five could finish his thought Six gave a shout of surprise, "WAIT WHERE IS ONE!?!"

Sure enough after the team had regrouped and taken defensive positions they found that One was not with them. At this point 3 of their Squad mates were AWOL with no sign where they had gone.

To Squad A's credit they remained professional and appeared unperturbed. The only evidence would be the slight tightening of their hands around their weapons and the minute twitches and the smallest of noise beyond that of the river.

Taking a glance over his team Five was satisfied they were now back in a group together with Squad B making their way through the tunnel at their rear.

"Squad we will maintain position here and wait for Squad B to come support, confirm?!?"

"Confirm!" The Squad said in unison.

'Good, team is looking fine and we are in a okay defensible position. Whatever is attacking will have to reveal itself eventually and then we can take it out.'

Was what Five thought was going to happen. But the next moment saw a body drop right in front of the Squad high above them from the tall ceiling.

THUD

The unmoving body to their shock was the familiar form of Three. It looked perfectly fine save that the helmet surround the head had been squashed to a pulp. It looked like a car had run over it. A small puddle was growing around the area where Three's head, or what was left of the mashed skull was.

"Jesus Christ!" Two said softly.

Steeling himself Five looked at Four and said, "With me."

The other Squad mates gave uncertain looks as Five and Four walked over to where Three laid. They kept their weapons up and constantly scanned the area.

Reaching the body, Five flipped it over. Besides the head everything else was fine and nothing else was taken from Three.

'Wait...' He thought, 'Where is his carbine and side arm?'

Above their heads they heard a few clicks and snaps. Five looked up to see floating above 3 pistols and 3 carbines pointed directly down upon him and Squad A.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG....

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*A.R.G.U.S. Mobile Command Center, Gotham City

The Command Center was deadly silent as they watch the feeds of Squad A look up towards floating firearms. The next moment saw muzzle flashes, gun fire and screams before the feeds eventually cut out.

"We lost Squad A," the Command Center Technician stated lamely.

Nearly everyone in the Command was dead silent, some wore shocked expressions while others maintained a professional decorum. Agent White was one who stayed professional, but the hints of a frown could be seen on his face.

Leaning towards the communication controls he clicked one of the buttons opening up a line to Squad B.

"Engage asset, considered hostile, weapons free over."

After that he pressed another button connecting him to the Gotham A.R.G.U.S base.

"Agent White here, requesting 3 additional squads to my location immediately."

The other end of the call gave a confirmation. Meanwhile the Command Center technicians had switched the screen camera feeds to Squad B who were half running to where Squad A was.

"I am guessing we have underestimated the meta?" Agent Green spoke quietly keeping a close eye on the screens.

The feeds showed Squad B slow to a complete halt as they finally reached near the end of the tunnel and could see the opening into the chamber. Standing in the opening was a ragged cloaked figure with the bodies of Squad A at its feet. Their flashlights illuminated enough of the figure to showed burnt cloth and even glimpses of skin that looked red and lightly charred. The figure's face remained hidden underneath a hood which just show a deep darkness.

Agent Green felt a chill go down her spine at the sight. It appeared the meta had caused the explosion from earlier. And considering the Martian Manhunter was nowhere to be seen it made the figure before them just a little more terrifying.

The Command Center occupants watched the feeds in horror as the Squad ordered the figure onto the ground only for the front two operatives to get blasted by some force that cut their feeds out. Switching to the next operatives they could hear and see gunfire as well as the Ops leader yelling to use the heavy ordinance. The whole Squad were soon opening fire with the feeds showing the figure either blocking the shots or dodging away from the shots. 

They heavy ordinance rifle could be seen clearly in use as large chunks of the tunnel and its resounding bang roared on the feeds. The meta though seemed to be able to handle the large rounds as even when one reached center mass it still deflected off the invisible wall the subject could wield. Some hope came when one of the operatives used the energy weapon they had which bypassed the shield and manage to graze its shoulder. The figure seemed to pause in surprise that they had a weapon that could actually hurt him.

Unfortunately the operative would not be able to fire his energy weapon again as the next moment saw them screaming then gurgling as blood erupted out of their neck in a thin line. Their feed tumbled to looking upward towards the ceiling of the tunnel.

Two more operatives began screaming, their feeds began to flicker off and on before cutting completely off. From the perspective of a different operative it was shown that their helmets had been crushed like Squad A's Three had been.

One operative charged the subject firing his weapon as he did so. He got to within a yard of the subject when his arms erupted with blood. Yelling in pain and horror the Command Center watch his arms fall off his body with him collapsing soon after.

At this point the Ops leader voice came onto their radio.

"WE NEED BACK UP NOW!"

The technicians looked to Agent White with fear and uncertainty of what to do. Agent White watching all the deaths looked grim and nervous.

He tapped the response control, "Negative Ops leader, maintain your position."

At this point several more feeds had cut off with a mixture of screams followed by deadly silence. Only the feeds from the dead energy weapon operative, the Ops leader and one other operative were still functioning.

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME! WE ARE OUTGUNNED! FALL BACK, EVERYONE FALL BA...."

The Ops leader was cut off when his last standing team member was blasted into the sewer wall partially going through it. Their limbs twisted and turned in horrifying unnatural ways.

The Command Center watched as desperately the Ops leader threw his now empty carbine at the subject and drew his sidearm firing swiftly.

The next moment the feed suffered static before going completely black. The audio feed seemed to still be working because they heard Ops leader yelled in pain followed by the sound of him falling to the ground.

They listened attentively as the audio feed fed them sounds of groaning from the Ops leader and footsteps getting closer. The footsteps seemed to stop right next to the Ops leader, a low voice could be heard.

"Who are you?"

The Ops leader responded in a kind f*&k you to the question.

"Wrong answer," the voice said softly.

A sound of cracking and squelching sounded as the Ops leader began to scream in earnest.

Agent White and Agent Green stood in quiet fear listening to the feed as the technicians around them fidgeted uncomfortably.

Finally after a moment Agent Green cleared her throat.

"How long till reinforcements?"

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*James (KRIOS), Gotham City Sewers

He kept his hand in a clawing motion that slowly turned above the mysterious black ops looking man. This was a technique he had not tried since he killed that general in Kahndaq, based on the old general's reaction it had been excruciatingly painful. Considering he was literally twisting the mans heart, he could not blame them.

Mind you he was not literally manipulating the persons organs, the barrier of being able to manipulate a persons own body was still an obstacle he had yet to overcome. But that did not mean he had not found a way to mess with a living creatures inwards, just that he had to cheat. For the old general it was grabbing hold of not his heart but rather the pacemaker he had inserted and using that to twist. For this mysterious hit squad member it was the bullets he had reflected back at him that he started to twist in his body, similar to Montoya.

He kept the motion going thought the screaming from the man was starting to increase the growing migraine he had. This night had gone to shit and after being shot, fighting Batman, fighting the Martian, blowing himself up to escape and killing these 'soldiers' he felt he had pushed himself too far.

After a few moments he let up and re-asked the question.

"Who are you?"

To the man's credit he stayed silent besides the hoarse breathing, James guessed that the man was not too long for this world. So with a grunt of annoyance he started the pain again. This would be the last chance as he felt he had stayed in this area for too long. He had planned to use these tunnels to escape to the surface but now with these men here he did not trust the surface to be safe.

Letting go of torturing the man he said, "Last chance, who are you?"

To his surprise the man covered in tactical spoke brokenly, "You.... won't get.... away from us... others... will hunt you down..."

James stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head. When did things get so much more dramatic in his life. Hell, a few months ago he was working for a guy called Riddler, and almost a year now a guy named Penguin. 

"Good luck," James mockingly said before ending the man's life with a small tug of the bullets inside him.

'Now what,' he thought as he made his way back into the chamber.

He walked past the various corpses his mind partly distracted as he tried to figure out his next move when he found himself being tackled into a wall. 

"F*&k!" James wheezed out as his breath was knocked out. His back felt the bricks of the chamber digging in and bruising one of the the few parts left unbruised from his fighting tonight.

His attacker after pining him to the wall wheeled back his arm and swung straight for his head.

James instincts kicked in as he threw his head to the side, dodging the blow that saw his attacker's green fist and burnt arm crack the bricks and go through it to the elbow.

'Green arm... THE MARTIAN'

Looking at his recent opponent, he did not look well. The Martian's entire body seemed charred and it was evident he had not been lucky like James to fall immediately into the water during the explosion. Blisters cover the Martian's face and one eye was closed shut due to damage. 

Seeing that he had missed, James threw a punch into the Martian gut enhanced with concussive blast which sent him flying across the chamber into the wall. His alien body thudded heavily cracking the wall before he slumped to the ground.

Not waiting for him to gather his wits James with a growl ripped some of the metal railing nearby and flung the jagged ripped edge towards the Martian. He wasn't expecting it to do anything since the alien had shown the ability to go intangible. He just hoped it would buy him enough time to jump back into the sewer river, his escape route yet again. 

What he didn't expect was for a wail to erupt from the Martian and his metal railing striking true. The broken railing had flown through the air like a large javelin with a sharp edge, and to James shock hit the alien puncturing just below his chest near his sternum. Blood leaked from the wound and as the Martian tried to get up he found himself unable to. In part because of his wound and because the jagged railing had punched through his body into the wall perhaps a foot deep.

James stood their in shock that his attack had somehow hit the Martian Manhunter.

He couldn't help but say, "Holy shit... I actually got you?!?"

Even when he blew up the chamber earlier he did not expect it to do too much for an alien who could throw down with the heavy weights of the League. Hell, he thought at best it would distract him long enough to make a run for it. But for whatever reason the Martian ability to turn intangible, or in James mind 'cheat' had failed during the explosion and now against a common piece of metal.

The Martian said nothing but only groaned and coughed a little blood. His hands tried once and then thrice to take the railing out but soon they dropped to his sides. Whatever energy he seemed to have left spent.

'I will have to ask Slade about this sometime,' James thought as he prepared himself mentally to jump back into the rushing main waters.

Just as he was about to jump in he heard the weak voice of the Martian croak out.

"Wwwww... Whyyyyy?"

Looking back at the alien he could see the red eyes stare at him with something akin to... sadness?

No, something worse... pity.

Such a sight cause a range of uncomfortable feelings inside the young villain. Why was he doing what he was doing now? Was the pain he was causing really worth protecting his family? Was he even really protecting his dying Aunt Crystal and mother Jane, or just himself at this point.

James tried to think for a moment his answer, "I guess for money..."

"No!" The Martian coughed, his voice weakening, "Why?"

Considering the Martian Manhunter, James tried to think hard about what his end goal was. He no longer really needed money for Aunt Crystal. Jane was leaving Gotham and would be safe once outside the city. His identity was safe for the moment from discovery with the destruction of all evidence and death of any who would rat him out.

Should he just continue his training with Slade? But for what purpose? Living life as a mercenary sounded fine for a short period of time but not something he felt he would want to do forever. Maybe he should go become a doctor like Jane and Penguin always joked he should become. But did he want to spend so much time in school? That sounded awful.

'Why am I doing things at this point?'

James stayed quiet for a few moments longer before turning his gaze away from the Martian towards the river again.

"I... I don't know," he said quietly, not knowing the gravely injured Martian heard him.

Without another words James jumped into the fast flowing waters and was swept away. The whole while he swam hard to keep his head above the water. Ideally he would be dumped out into one of the harbors.

He had succeeded in his goals tonight and had potential paths he could follow. Yet in the back of his mind his words kept ringing in his mind. 

'I don't know.'

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*Lexcorp, Metropolis

Lex Luthor in this past year had few things that could both pleasantly surprise him and amuse him at the same time.

The criminal known formerly as the Hound and now Krios was one.

Truth be told he had known nothing about this enigma until the failed Riddler heist. Holding hostage a quarter of a police force along with Batman and the Justice Leagues junior squad had caught the attention of several groups around the world.

'Such power... truly wonders keep showing up.'

Such a display had interested the wealthiest man on earth but due to the demands of his every day business and that of the Light, he had been unable to pursue his interest in this new meta. Still he had set up alerts for when the young man would be spotted.

The first alert came from Kahndaq with the death of General Kazan. The Light had actually reached out to Black Adam for information about the incident which was curtly denied. This would be the second time he had snubbed their organization with the first being refusal to join the Injustice League.

Still the Light was determined so Luthor reached out to one of his go to associates, Death Stroke, to enquire what the deadly mercenary had heard. Curiously the mercenary had said he only heard it was a new meta. When Luthor pressed upon him the desire to hunt down this particular meta, Death Stroke turned down the offer citing other commitments. Such a statement from the world's premiere assassins was not unheard of but it did give Luthor pause. Rarely would Slade deny him, he always made sure it was worth his while. His suspicions were further raised when he looked into whatever Slade was doing the last few months. And while difficult he had a contact that reported the mercenary was off the grid, somewhere in North Africa not taking any jobs.

For the time, Luthor decided to let it be and report the lack of progress on the Light's curiosity into the new meta. Such was of little consequence to the organization. Even al Ghul who rarely liked letting prey of the Light go had stated his disinterest, and with the recent defeat of Orm and the reveal of his identity as Ocean Master, they had greater concerns.

Sitting in his office watching the feed from A.R.G.U.S. though made him question if such was the wisest choice.

"He fought Batman and critically injured the Martian..." he muttered.

The other curious aspect was his systems identifying that another source had hacked into the A.R.G.U.S. feed. To his consternation when he tried to track it he found that even his hyper advanced systems were unable to pinpoint or identify who the other hacker was. A feat only a few could accomplish. He took comfort in the fact that at the very least he doubted it was another member of the Light (he helped provide software and processors and could identify their usage). Either way, someone else was interested in this meta, someone with enough resources to try to hide from Luthor made the meta more intriguing to him.

"Should I inform the light?"

The relationship between himself and the Light was a complex partnership one built on a mixture of trust and absolute distrust. The seats of the 7 figures who ran the organization was constantly under threat from associates and their partnership. In other words, you earn your spot and maintain it on your own merits. The recent downfall of Ocean Master was a poignant reminder to the members how easily they could fall.

The only real constant rule amongst the Light was that all actions must be for the benefit of the ultimate goal, the supremacy of mankind upon the Earth and starts.

But other then that, each member was given a fair amount of autonomy in reaching said goal. Sure the Light had some collaborations but they all often had a fair amount of projects on the side they each oversaw completely. Al Ghul for instance focused entirely on culminating political power in Europe and Asia. Queen Bee, was focused on maintaining her tyrannical control of Bialya which made it a perfect location for Light experiments that the Justice League could not interfere with thanks to the UN charter. She also was working on expanding the effects of her mind control pheromones' but little success had been see. Savage acted as the organizer of their group and often settle disputes with its members, he also handled the majority of negotiation and correspondence with the extraterrestrial assets.

So many different goals and assets moved under the Light that even Luthor did not every aspect. But it all fed into the main goals and objectives.

Reaching over he tapped a button on his desk which gave a responding beep. Leaning back into his leather chair he continued to watch the feeds showing Krios fighting.

The doors of his office opened and inside stepped his most trusted confidant and agent, Mercy Graves. A thin but tall Caucasian woman with brown hair tied neatly into a bow tie. She wore a simple dark suit with a skirt that was professional enough for corporate meetings, but still functional if need be. To the public she was his silent assistant always near him during press tours. In private she served as his advisor, body guard and if need be, assassin.

Mercy walked right up to the side of his desk ignoring the typical social faux she displayed as an obedient assistant in public and joined watching the videos of Krios. She was one of the few people in existence Luthor permitted to be more... 'personable' with him due to her unfailing loyalty.

"I want you to put a team together to contact this meta, Krios."

She tilted her head slightly, "You don't want to use your other 'friends' to do so?"

Luthor smiled, he had never told Mercy about the Light, but the woman was incredibly sharp and knew him well. She probably did not know the specifics but enough that he was working with some other individuals.

"This is a project unrelated to them," he said warmly.

Her nodding in understanding made his smile widen. It was nice for him to work with competent individuals who didn't need every detail explained. That by saying that one line Mercy understood this was something he wanted kept quietly and away from the Light.

Mercy raised her eyebrows as she watched the destruction Krios wrought and asked, "Is this another one of your cloning experiments?"

Luthor leaned forward and tapped the pause button on screen. He then had the computer zoom in on the hooded and masked visage of Krios. Many thoughts and strategies played in his mind at the sight of this meta, most of which calculated to bring a positive net income to his plans.

"This will be a recruitment offer my dear," Luthor said, the smile growing wider on his face.

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*G7 Private Jet, Over the North Atlantic

Watching the feed from the hacked A.R.G.U.S feed made Felix chuckle.

Krios was getting stronger at an alarming rate if he was able to take out a police station, Batman, Martian Manhunter and then two hit squads. John and Sarah's kid was on his way to becoming a greater menace then they ever were.

Sitting in the incredibly comfortable seat of the private jet he had hired, he was on his way to Gotham to investigate Krios when he appeared and went on a rampage. Certainly good fortune, but based on what little they had on him he was bound to disappear from Gotham as soon as the night was done making the effort of capturing him when he arrived somewhat moot.

Still, he reasoned that he would still launch his investigation and see what he dug up, he still had time.

"You do not have time."

The voice of the Commandant spoke from his laptop speakers, the gravely accented tone which usually was monotoned had a impatient inflection.

In a rare move the Commandant had contacted Felix while he was flying and ordered him to check out some A.R.G.U.S. feeds in Gotham. The fact that the Commandant had been paying close attention to the world news and security services was a little strange. The man rarely bothered with keeping up to date with anything. But with the emergence of Krios it seemed the Order's master was slowly stepping back into day to day operations. A fact that thrilled Felix but also made a bead of sweat go down his back, the Commandant was not known to be patient or forgiving of failure.

His voice speaking had seemingly read Felix's mind, and while not there he could feel a tightness around his neck as a gentle reminder: you will never be far enough to not feel my wrath.

"Of course sir," he hastily agreed.

The line went quiet for a moment before the Commandant spoke again.

"Krios is yet to have his first awakening... he has already shown an impressive level of power for someone so young with the bloodline. Should he awaken before you catch him, you will lack sufficient power to do so."

The Commandant voice became very quiet, "I would be most displeased if I was forced to reveal myself early due to your incompetence."

At that moment the scars across his face and body became inflamed in agony, it was just like when he first received them from John's explosion. Unlike when it occured though, the pain somehow was increasing. Blood began to spew from Felix's nose, ears and eyes, he tried to scream but the trauma was so great no sound came out. He felt his whole body seize up and he began to twitch and shake from the torment. It felt like hours past with no end in sight when just as abruptly as the torture started it vanished.

Felix felt himself collapse out of his chair into the ground of the plane, the soft carpet becoming stained with his blood but also provided a slight soothing comfort to what he just experienced.

Breathing heavily with his voice cracking Felix said, "I will... not fail you... Commandant."

"See that you don't Felix, I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in."

A click sounded confirming the end of the call with his master. Felix laid on the ground for a few minutes as he tried to collect himself. Finally he was able to grip his chair and pull himself back up where he slumped into his chair trying to calm his heart and breathing.

Felix laid there with his eyes closed and his mind raced with his orders. He could only hope that he would luck out and Krios would stay in Gotham long enough.

---------------------------------------

*Miller Harbor, Gotham City

"Hurry up! The boss will be back in a moment, we need to get this stuff loaded."

Miller Harbor was primarily parkland with various trails and fishing spots being the most popular locations. East of the Narrows it was for the most part a pleasant area, in part thanks to the Fashion district being directly next door to it to the south. Criminals also avoided it in part due to the Penguin mob headquarters being just right across the bridge, and GCPD headquarters only a few minutes away made it a hot zone for both enforcers. The only downside was that several of the cities sewers dumped its contents on the outer edges, this was still after all Gotham and even the pleasant spots had something wrong with them.

But tonight was different as a group of men dressed in sweatshirts and jeans were loading crates from a small motor boat into the back of a moving truck.

One of the crew hearing that said, "Oh shut up, we are working as fast as we can!"

Staying quiet was not a major concern for the men, Miller Harbor was almost always empty, and the nearby sewer pipe deafened noise around the area with it dumping its rushing water into the sea.

Which was why it came as a surprise when they heard a hacking cough come fairly close to where they were. A few of the men drew their pistols and bats before shining lights up to where the sewer opening was. Collapsed near the shore it looked like a man drenched and faced down.

"Shit! Who is that?"

"Is it a cop?"

"Don't be stupid, that guy looks like he just came out of the sewer."

"Probs a bum that got caught in the sewer."

The crew continued talking before the ringleader motioned for another man to join him and walked over to where the mysterious man laid.

At this point the man's coughing had turned into heaving breaths and he seemed to have not noticed them. The ringleader pointed his gun to the man before motioning for the other crewmember with a bat to get close.

After another moment the man seemed to have caught his breath and managed to prop himself a little with his arm. 

The man's voice was hoarse but could be heard saying, "Huff, huff, I swear... Huff, Huff, I am never using the sewer... Huff, Huff, to escape..."

It was at that moment the man turn to look at them and narrowed his eyes at the gun pointed at him. He seemed to be raising his hand when in a panic the crewmember next to him bashed the back of his head in with the bat making him collapse back onto the ground unconscious.

The ringleader looked at the man with the bat in surprise, "Dude, what the hell did you bash his skull in for?!?"

The man with the bat sheepishly shot back, "He was lifting his arm! I though he had a piece!"

Before the men could argue further a voice interrupted them.

"Now now boys, no need to argue, we are all friends here."

The entire crew got deadly quiet with some who were lifting the crates stopping dead in their tracks. The boss' distinct almost amused sing song voice put everyone on edge.

Walking over the boss passed both the ringleader and bat wielding crewmember and knelt down to examine the man they had just knocked out.

Taking a look over the cloak and hood the boss cackled, "Costume's a bit theatrical, but hey, who am I to talk?"

Turning the man over it could be seen that the man's skull bad been bashed badly by the crewmember with a clear amount of blood leaking from the hood.

"Sorry boss, I didn't mean to kill him!" The crewmember stutteringly said.

To the creeps to all around the boss' perpetual smile got even bigger.

"Oh nonsense, I doubt for someone like him this is much of a problem to heal from."

The boss stood up with a giggle and motioned to the figure.

"Tie him up and throw him in the truck, I have such sights to show him!"

Then the boss threw his head back and laughed his dreadful and iconic laugh, he laughed until he was practically screaming.

"Hee hee hee Euhehaheheaha HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"