Declaration of War

Lagoon boy swelled up as he released a roar filled with rage. But before he could launch an attack, Aquaman grabbed him by the shoulder.

"No!"

"But, my king!"

"I said no. We will stoop down to his level," Aquaman told the young creature of the deep before turning to Red Hood, "But I will make you regret it if I ever catch you."

Jason nodded indifferently before turning around and seeing Rose looking at his cards.

"Rav! Stop cheating!"

"Don't blame just me. All of us have looked at your cards."

Jason shook his head. All 3 of them were dirty cheaters at card games.

'Well, I am too but I'm trying to be mad at them.'

Jason turned back to the heroes to take his mind off of his own faults.

"So... are you guys gonna leave peacefully or do I have to call the police about a B&E charge for each of you?"

So the heroes left just like Jason said. Without making any other moves and with their tail between their legs, they left Jason and his team alone.

Jason showed the entire world, live, that he was able to force a group of heroes to leave. Not through use of force or threatening them with a hostage or negotiating and trading of secrets in order to go free. He simply took advantage of their rules, and won.

When they were gone, Jason shut off the livestream before he sat back at his table and tossed out a 10 of hearts.

"So why are we pretty much declaring war on the entire superhero community?" Velocity asked after putting down a Jack of hearts

The other girls threw out their lowest hearts since they didn't feel like competing for this round. Velocity took the round without any trouble. She then threw out a 7 of hearts which was countered by a queen of hearts from Rose.

Jason threw out a random heart card before replying.

"To stir shit up and wake people up. Most people think that others can be divided into good or evil but that's not really true. They can actually be divided into one of 5 categories based on their ambitions and what they will go through to achieve them.

Those with grand ambitions and doing whatever it takes to achieve them. These guys are usually terrorists such as Ra's or Poison Ivy. They are also usually the most dangerous because of how large their ambitions are and how little of a code they have.

Those with grand ambitions but follow rules or codes to achieve them are usually superheroes, civilains with jobs like soldiers or lawyers, or a rare breed of supervillains. Pretty tame and easy to deal with, like I dealt with the heroes before as long as you know what you're doing.

Those with minor ambitions and doing whatever it takes to achieve them are people like us, edgerunners or villains. We don't really have to do anything villainous but when we want something, we go after it.

Those with minor ambitions but follow rules or codes to achieve them are pretty much all civilians. Pretty much the most worthless group if my opinion but whatever.

And then those with no ambitions. They make decent henchmen and can be those at a tough place in life such as those going into their next phase of life.

As long as a person knows which category they fit in, it makes it much easier to live their life.

By schooling the heroes like that on live TV, I've done something no one else has. I've clearly shown a line that they won't cross. A divide between other than 'me steal and blow shit up so me bad.' And by showing this line..."

"You've both broken and reinforced other's faith in heroes," Rose caught on to Jason's plan. Rose was panting in both worry and excitement while looking at Jason.

'Shit! He really meant what he said when he wanted to stir shit up.'

Rose realized that Jason wasn't just insult the heroes by his actions. He was also praising them. He was showing that even in such a shitty situation, they still followed rules and were able to be inspiritational in their own way.

Jason wasn't just trying in inspire the next generation of villains who didn't want to follow the rules of the system or terrorists that wanted to tear down the entire system. He was also inspiring the next generation of heroes to stand up and protect what they believed in.

"Jason. Have I ever told you that you're fucking insane?"

"Hmm. You say it so often that I'm starting to think I should change my name to that."

The group laughed at the joke when Jason got a call from Talia. He walked out of the room so he could speak to her privately.

"Hey, Teacher."

[I'll get straight to the point. My father is pissed. He believes that your act has drawn unwanted attention to the League. He is sending a hit squad after you being led by David Cain in order ot make sure you don't leak any information. You have about 10 hours to prepare. I'll also be sending your 3 prisoners over there on a flight. They will arrive in a month so you can handle any matters that you need to.]

Jason smiled. He knew that doing this would piss off the League of Assassins. They were assassins after all. Big moves like this were saved for the endgame when victor was assured or there were no other messages left. Which is why he left with incomplete chips from each of his prisoners in case Talia also didn't forgive his actions.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to let the others know."

[No need to thank me. I take care of my own people.]

Talia hung up the call, leaving Jason smiling.

'I sure know how to pick em.'

Jason walked back in the room to tell the girls the good news. They had some prey that was coming to them in order to be eaten whole.