Chapter 62: New Foe

Sora and Zatanna sat at the back of a car as it drove through the city at a comfortable pace. Zatanna was dressed in stylish yet simple clothes that had no right looking that good.

"You know, even after all these years you still haven't properly explained this project of yours to me." She said, a bit frustrated.

It was more of barely restrained anticipation rather than frustration.

Sora who sat beside Zatanna was dressed rather lazily. A simple dark blue long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black pants and black dress shoes.

"You'll see." He answered vaguely as the car slowed down. Zatanna frowned with a pout as the car entered a parking lot, moving into a parking position.

What was odd was that there was nobody in the front seat. As a matter of fact, there was no driver seat in the car, only the front passenger seat was present with the back seat being modeled like the inside of a limo.

This is one of Sora's finishes but unrevealed works. The self driving car was something he made out of sheer laziness to acquire a driving skill.

In the rear passenger area, there was a small panel in front of them that allowed them to set the destination, routes and the pace at which they wanted to move at. There were other things among that but those were the main functions.

One could only imagine how Sora felt as a large violet neon beam struck the hood of the car, causing it to explode.

Sora and Zatanna appeared a few meters away from the explosion with calm looks on the girl's face. Sora on the other hand looked mildly irritated as he stared at a highly advanced alien ship descended in the parking lot.

'Do you have any idea how much work I put into that car?' He thought in irritation as the ship touched the ground.

What they could only assume to be the front part of the ship opened up as humanoid robots of alien origin walked trudged out slowly. The ship was about the same size of a truck but three times wider.

Sora and Zatanna watched with narrowed eyes as the robots trudged out in large numbers.

"This could be a problem." Zatanna said as she turned to the building across them.

'Makoto Hospital' The sign at the top of the building read.

They had initially been driving to the hospital that Sora owned and renamed before they were violently interrupted.

"Put a barrier around the building. I'll take care of this quickly." Sora said as the girl floated away towards the hospital.

She flew high into the air, now hovering over the building. She put her palms together as a blue barrier formed around the hospital.

Seeing that, Sora focused his attention to the alien machines in front of him.

'Now then…' He thought as kusanagi appeared in his palm, already unsheathed and ready to strike.

His other hand rose in a one handed seal as he called on his chakra. To increase his fighting capability, he had invested sometime in learning one handed seals.

'Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!' He thought as the solid ground below them immediately turned into muddy swampland.

The robots were stopped in their tracks as they sank into the mud, buried up to their knees. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the direction they were initially headed for before disappearing in a blur of speed.

He swung his sword as he appeared in front of the horde, swiftly incapacitating each of them as he moved. With chakra channeled under his feet to keep him above the mud, he was the only one capable of movement.

Another swing of his sword amputated an arm as he kicked at the body of another robot beside him.

With its lower body stuck and immobile, the force he used was enough to separate its upper half from its lower limbs.

He spun around quickly as he deflected a sharp mechanical tentacle that was aimed for his head. He looked towards its source to see one of the robots up ahead with the elongated weapon extending out of its palm.

Just as the tentacle began to retract, he moved in a flash, cutting through the long weapon before it could return to its owner.

A kunai flew from his hand, piercing straight through the robot's head as another one came out of the ship to replace it.

'That symbol. Don't tell me…' he thought as he noticed the V-shaped symbol with circles at its three points.

He didn't bother trying to question the robots as they lacked anything that resembled a mouth to answer him. Though, it didn't mean he wouldn't be getting information one way or another.

"Tai, I'll leave them to you." He muttered as a figure emerged from his shadow in a kneeling position.

A now teenage Tai stood to his full height, his blue hair now reaching his cheek and black cold eyes. He had a sword strapped to his back of his blue attire.

"Yes sir!" He said, quickly unsheathing his sword as lightning danced around it and got to work slicing up the robots.

As his shadow, Tai's job was to basically hover around Sora waiting for instructions unless dismissed.

'Now then, I'll deal with this.' He thought as he turned to face the large ship that hadn't stopped letting out robots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a somewhat empty room, seven monitors that hung from the ceiling showed a white screen with a shadowy figure in them, each looking different.

"Is there any particular reason you drew his attention towards Tokyo?" A deep male voice asked from the monitor at the extreme right.

"I am also curious. I thought we agreed to leave anything regarding the boy to me." A female voice spoke with slight annoyance.

"That was indeed what we agreed on but it seems the boy has grown too much for you to handle in the past three years. At least not while remaining hidden to the public eye." A wizened voice answered calmly from the second monitor.

"That is correct." An old but strong voice said from the first monitor.

"Though you would be able to handle him given time, it would be best to fully test his capabilities to avoid any hidden surprises. We'll observe his true power and then make contingencies." The voice finished as silence reigned for a few moments.

"What about the Justice league? Surely they wouldn't just sit down and watch." The female voice from earlier asked.

"Batman has been hiding the boy from the league's eyes. An attack this big will bring their attention to Tokyo and by extension, Sora. Whether they intervene or not is barely a problem at all." The wizened male voice said before continuing.

"The boy isn't too fond of the heroes. I don't doubt that he'd kick them out the moment he discovers them. Though, I could be wrong. Zatanna's father is a member of the league but there's no love lost between him and Sora."

"The problem comes from Black Canary who is seemingly close to the boy. His tolerance with her might give way for the league but I highly doubt that." The voice finished with a snort of amusement.

"What happens if ze boy can't beat brainiac?" A voice with a French accent asked.

"The boy is too prideful to let brainiac do as he pleases. He's not naive like Superman to think about reason with him. Brainiac is fighting a losing battle." The strong old voice said with confidence.