Chapter 26: Lies, Truth and (not) going as planned.

[Third Person's Point of View]

Wonder Woman and Triton are currently surrounded by a mob of ordinary citizens, outside a courthouse. The citizen's eyes were dull almost resembling that of a zombie's. Triton was currently looking at the horizon in a daze with his trident dropped on the ground.

"Give it up now Dr. Psycho or it will not end well for you."

Wonder Woman yelled as she pointed her sword at a three-foot and nine-inch tall man in an orange jumpsuit. Dr. Psycho, the man in question had been defeated by them prior to this after he had escaped prison.

He was going to be trialed for the crimes he had committed during his escapade. Wonder Woman and Triton had been sent to monitor the villain in case things went south and they did. Dr. Psycho managed to get freed from his inhibitor collar and mind-control the whole court.

He then proceeded to mind-control those who were outside of the courthouse. It is unknown how he managed to obtain it but he handed the Bind of Veils to one of his controlled victims and while her attention was placed on Dr. Psycho, the controlled victim would trap Wonder Woman with it.

Dr. Psycho's plan was solid but it did not work as he intended it. The controlled victim threw the concealed Bind of Veils toward Wonder Woman and she fell into the trap. Dr. Psycho proceeded to explain what the Bind of Veils was and to his surprise after hearing a clapping sound saw Wonder Woman and Triton trade places.

"Look around you Wonder Woman, I have an army of innocent that you would not dare harm but I can make them harm you. Plus that little fish sidekick of yours traded place with you for nothing. You are going to die all the same. The only difference is that he will have a nice view as he dies."

Dr. Psycho said as he maniacally laughed. Wonder Woman gritted her teeth as she thought.

'J'onn, how long do I have to keep up the act?'

'A few more seconds, keep him distracted. The more he focuses on you the less he will notice me probing his mind.'

J'onn said. That is right, Martian Manhunter was also there. Triton had suggested bringing a telepath with them in case Dr. Psycho managed to control civilians. He could knock them with Haoshoku Haki but they would fall to the ground and depending on where they were, they could fall onto something dangerous.

Once Dr. Psycho explained the Bind of Veils Triton told Martian Manhunter to read Dr. Psycho's mind to find out where he obtained such a thing. For Martian Manhunter to do that without being noticed, he required Dr. Psycho to be completely distracted which is why Triton swapped places with Wonder Woman, to shock the villain.

Martian Manhunter quickly brought the now-freed Wonder Woman up to speed and she acted her part. She knew what the Bind of Veils was and understood that there was no chance that Dr. Psycho could have gotten his hands on it alone.

Controlling hundreds of people took a strain on Dr. Psycho's ability thus he did not notice Martian Manhunter probing his mind. The latter was being careful not to leave his mind touch as that would defeat the purpose of his secret mental probing.

"You know what I am in a good mood so I will do this. Go on your knee and beg me to spare the little side fish and I might do it. HAHAHAHA-"

'I got everything we need.'

At Martian Manhunter's words, Wonder Woman dashed toward Dr. Psycho and gave him an uppercut that sent him to the realm of Dream. Dr. Psycho had tried to react by ordering his mind-controlled victims but they did not respond to his orders.

Martian Manhunter made himself known as the mind-controlled victims regained their free will. The two league members nodded to each other before turning to face Triton. They had intended to free him but were greeted with the sight of his shadow eating the Bind of Veils while tearing it apart.

"Didn't need help."

That was all he said as he lifted his trident with his foot. They waited for a few minutes before the police arrived. Once Dr. Psycho was taken into custody, Triton teleported all three of them away. The two league members went on to debrief what Martian Manhunter had learned while Triton went on his way.

The Bind of Veils was a lasso crafted by Hephaestus. Using an "inverted" version of the weave used to make the Lasso of Truth, it is made from the wool of sheep used by Odysseus's men to trick the Cyclops. The item has the ability to cast illusions on reality for its target.

Since his shadow had consumed it, Triton's illusion ability had improved. It was now no longer an imitation of Kyōka Suigetsu, it had become it. Now for anyone whose perception had been bent by Triton, they would always be susceptible to their senses being controlled by him.

This would not be removable as his previous illusion ability. There would be no mark on the target's mind to dispel. Once the target gets hypnotized then their control over their senses is fucked beyond the measure of a doubt.

This was not all Triton acquired from the Bind of Veils, his shadow also gained the ability of the Bind of Veils thus whoever was bound by his shadow would be under the same illusion as the Bind of Veils. Thus like a venous snake, his shadow could eat its prey with no worries once trapped in its illusion.

Now some may wonder how he could have upgraded his illusion ability while also retaining the ability of Bind of Veils since that was not an equivalent exchange. This was due to his perk of adaptation from body to mind and soul.

After so many years of performing Alchemy, his adaptation perk managed to earn what one could only count as a discount exchange, thus allowing Triton to gain more than what he offered. This adaptation would have taken millennia to be reached but the Arcane Magical Energy which enhanced it shortened the process.

After the debrief with Martian Manhunter, the league had to talk to their guest while Wonder Woman went to check up on Triton who was currently training. She joined him and as they sparred she decided to engage in a conversation with him.

"Acnologia, I noticed that you seem to be getting along with the rest of the Team."

She said as she swung her sword at Acnologia's neck.

"Sure."

He responded while tilting his head and thrusting his trident toward Wonder Woman's stomach.

"You seem to lead them well in your first mission."

She smirked as she parried the Trident with her sword before bending down and delivering a swift kick toward Acnologia's left leg.

"That was the natural outcome."

He said as he jumped in the air and swung his Trident at Wonder Woman's head. She avoided the strick and put some distance between them as she stood up. Upon seeing her mildly surprised expression, Acnologia spoke.

"There was no way that I would fail at something like leading."

Her eyebrows twitched as she spoke.

"... From what I recall, the Team does not have a name yet, we keep calling it the team. Have you come up with a name for your Team?"

Acnologia nodded before continuing as he attacked Diana.

"The Team's name will be Pack."

She parried all of his attacks and she smiled before speaking.

"Oh, like a pack of wolves symbolizing a family or the closeness of the bond that brings you together."

He stopped fighting as he looked in confusion. Diana saw this and was confused as well when he spoke.

"... No, I call it Pack because as the surface world says, that is what our enemy will turn into after they face me- I mean us... a Pack."

"Hahaha!"

Diana laughed for a bit as Acnologia looked at her with confusion.

"You never change, do you Acnologia?"

"I do, I get stronger every day."

They resumed their sparring session and after a while, it ended as both had other affairs to attend to. Acnologia had to return to Atlantis due to a member of the council of Atlantis blabbing at the wrong time and exposing the secret that Queen Atlanna had ordered to remain a secret.

Acnologia had been told that he would not be of royal birth which was true, "Anon" was in the technical sense not of royal birth as he was an illegitimate child and Acnologia was so by proxy. Though the being meant that Acnologia would not be born from the current royal family, it did not mean that he would have royal blood in him.

When tests had been done on Acnologia to find his origins when he was first found, Vulko discovered that he possessed Royal blood. He hid this information at first as he thought that was a mistake then when he later reexamined the results, he was shocked to find that Acnologia indeed had Royal blood.

What shocked him, even more, was the fact that royal blood in Acnologia did indicate that the closest relative was none of the current royal family or even the previous generation but King Atlan himself.

During King Atlan's time, Atlantis had unlocked the secret of unlimited energy so it was not a far stretch for them to have researched and categorized the D.N.A.s of living beings. Upon discovering this, he informed Queen Atlanna who ordered him to hide any trace of this event while searching for the answer to the riddle that was Acnologia's identity or more precisely why he had been abandoned.

Vulko did as he was ordered and searched and searched but only managed to come up with one hypothesis. Acnologia had not been abandoned but protected. Vulko thought that Acnologia had been born during King Atlan's rule and someone protected him with magic when Atlantis fell.

When Atlantis fell, the people adapted to the harshness of the depth of the sea but they lost a huge part of their advanced technology as well as magic. It was not a far stretch for Vulko to think that an ancient Atlantean or multiple ancient Atlanteans had preserved a child with magic especially if said child had ties to their king.

His theory still had some holes but it was the best one he could come up with due to the lack of any relevant clues. Queen Atlanna decided to keep this hypothesis between them as she wanted Acnologia to live and grow as a normal child... or as normal as Acnologia could be.

Had the knowledge of Acnologia having royal blood been known to all, he would have had to undergo the same teachings as Orin and Orm did. Queen Atlanna knew Acnologia well enough to know that he did not want to rule, just learn new things and get better than he was previously.

When her days were numbered, Queen Atlanna decided to reveal the fact that Acnologia possessed royal blood to the members of the Atlantean Council as well as Orin and Mera. Naturally, some were skeptical but once Vulko showed the proof of Queen Atlanna's claim all stayed silent.

Orm had not been present due to his diplomatic voyage to the Fishermen Kingdom. He had planned to secretly bring the Fisherman Kingdom to his side but his ulterior motives were spotted by the Fishermen King and he failed in his diplomatic mission, straining Atlantis' relations with the Fishermen Kingdom.

This ironically increased Acnologia's value in the eyes of the Council of Atlantis while diminishing Orm's chance of claiming the Throne.

Queen Atlanna issued a secret decree that Acnologia's royal blood status must never be known to the public for his sake. All present obeyed her order. It would take some time before Orm discovered this and in a state of rage, he would demand help from the Light to eliminate Acnologia.

Vandal Savage agreed to this on the condition that he would keep Acnologia's body for some soon-to-be-revealed reason. Orm accepted it and Vandal sent Klarion after Acnologia. Orm suggested the perfect plan to kill Acnologia and the result of this is already known.

After the failure of eliminating Acnologia, Orm calmed down and realized that even if Acnologia had royal blood, the latter was still not a threat to Orm claiming the throne since very few people knew that he had royal blood.

Of those few people who knew of Acnologia's royal blood, more than half could be brought to his side while those that could not were already intended to be disposed for him to claim the throne. Now that the Light had planned to eliminate Acnologia, Orm decided to sink two ships with one storm.

The Light's new partner would kill Acnologia while Orm would set the stage for Orin to lose credibility in front of the people of Atlantis. After all, would the people of Atlantis forgive their King when he let a monster rampage around his kingdom and kill the Atlantean with newly found ties to King Atlan himself?

That is right, Orm had secretly influenced a member of the Council of Atlantis to divulge by accident Acnologia's royal blood status. Rumors spread and when King Orin was at a loss for what to do, his dear younger half-brother advised him that Atlantis and Acnologia deserved the truth.

Still, to attain the maximum results, more mornachy of the aquatic civilizations had to be present at that moment. This meant that they could not attempt to Kill Acnologia at any moment, they first had to organize a gathering of the royal family of the other aquatic kingdom in Atlantis.

This would take some time but it would be worth it as Orm would be able to leave a better impression on the other Kingdom's royal family while tragedy struck. Orm had no doubt about this plan since King Atlan's potential blood relative was enough to cause all aquatic kingdoms to gather one way or another.

As they went their separate ways, Acnologia and Diana stopped when they heard Superman scream in pain.

----

A few days ago in Gotham City, Michael Carter can be seen standing up on one of the dark city's many buildings, and next to him is his robotic companion Skeets. He sports a goofy smile while looking over the city, he speaks with a cheerful tone.

"Well Skeets, today is the day I become a hero."

After looking around and doing some area scanning that confuses Michael, Skeets while hovering above his shoulder utters two words that cause Michael Carter to have a migraine.

"Dragon Slayer."

Upon hearing those words, Michael grabs his head with his hands while kneeling down and screams for a bit until he stands back up but his demeanor has completely changed, it is now a one-eighty compared to a few minutes ago.

"Skeets, Remove any and all devices and viruses Batman has put in my suit and yourself."

Skeets stays silent for a bit before speaking.

"It is done!"

"And you already downloaded Batman's contingency plans correct?"

"Affirmative!"

"Create a copy and send it to the designated location. Return as soon as possible and erase all trace of this, both in real life as well as in our memories."

"Understood!"

He reviewed the contingency plans for half an hour alone, Skeets had returned after just thirty minutes and had erased all trace of his actions. To Michael himself, Skeets had been there the whole time. It was only after half an hour that he spoke.

"Good. I have come to the right era in this universe where the contingencies are still applicable but even though he has yet to be crowned the target is still dangerous at this time. It is too bad all records of his history were stricken from our annals.

It will take some time to get ready and I will have to play the role of the fool if I want to keep fooling even Batman but..."

He stops as a hologram of a painting appears before him. The painting details an ancient city, a black dragon spewing flames upward toward a silhouette-like man blocking those flames. The flames seem to contort to form a sort of sun-like background around him.

His hair seems to be made of fire, his mouth is wide open and from the looks of it, one would think that man is laughing while holding a sword and a spear. On the left side, the side of the dragon, the city is in ruin and full of skeletons while on the right side, the side of the man, the city is full of people cheering and laughing while dancing around and pointing their hands towards the man.

"... It will be worth it if I can kill you, Ocean Emperor."

As he said those words, a wave of light washed over him and Skeets before the latter fell on the floor with several sparks dancing from its body.

"Skeets!"

Michael said as multiple small explosions occurred around him before smoke came out of it, he tried to use his suit's technology but it was fried. Michael understood that the wave of light was a small-range EMP.

As the smoke covered his surroundings, Michael only had time to see a fist coming before everything went dark. When the smoke is dispelled, Batman can be seen looming over an unconscious Michael.

'Michael' had planned for Batman to place the virus and tracker in his suit as well as Skeets but he did not plan for the trackers to send a signal to the Batcave in case of its destruction the same mechanism applied to the virus.

Since Michael ordered Skeets to simply remove them, the robot helper did not perform a thorough search. Michael viewing the contingency plan for half an hour allowed Batman the time to sneak up on him and realize that his plans had been compromised just like what a certain butler had warned him would happen if he ever made them.

Sadly Batman had not arrived before Skeets had returned thus he was unaware of his contingency had futher being leaked. To him, he had somewhat contained the leakage of his contingency plans albeit at a close call. He greeted his teeth as he thought of something.

'Alfred will never let me live this one down. He was against filing the contingency plans but I insisted since they might be of use in the event that I am incapacitated. Still, a subliminal-induced self-mind control, he hid it well. I almost let him go with the plans to take down the league.

He seemed to be planning on using it on one target, Ocean Emperor, he only looked at Acnologia's contingency file. If what he said about being the future is still true, does that mean Acnologia goes rogue or... regardless of that I must secure this threat first.'

[AN: I think most of you were wondering why Klarion attacked Acnologia. I figured it was time to let you know why.

Also, I want to convey a sense of realness in this fic. Just because you have a plan does not mean that everything will go according to it. Also, it might be confusing right now but that is because it was meant to be like that in a way, I'm trying to build a sense of mystery that will be unraveled later on.

Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!!]