SDC 76

I had a shower, a change of clothes, and headed towards the Zeta tubes, which apparently were a system of teleportation relays scattered throughout the world. I didn't even have it in me to be jealous. I was more surprised and impressed than anything else.

"Where are you off to?" Artemis asked, slipping out from behind the bend. She'd been watching me since I returned. Her and Robin.

She did a good enough job of hiding it, but when you know someone well enough, it isn't hard to predict what they might do next.

"Popping over to Gotham," I said. "There's a kid from my fugitive days that reached out. Needs a favor."

She gave me an expectant look, and I quirked a smile.

"What? You were expecting more?"

"You're not exactly the most honest member of the team."

"Team? I thought I was just here to be monitored and used for my skills."

"You get paid each time you heal us, don't you?" she demanded. "And besides, knowing your track record, whatever you're up to can't be good."

I raised a brow. "Oh. So it's okay when I rip and tear to ease your conscience, but when I do it for me, it's wrong? Let's not forget, they'd never have found me if I help you with Desmond, who turned out to be a jackass, by the way."

Artemis stepped forward. "I would've never asked you to help if I knew how much danger you were in."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on. You knew. The police are after me. Batman doesn't like me very much. And I probably made it onto a few bounty lists for killing Black Mask." I raised both hands. "But I get it, though. The guilt must've been pretty fierce—"

"You didn't come with me out of the goodness of your heart either," she said. "You wanted something, and you got what you wanted, one way or another."

She sounded almost bitter, and I shrugged.

"I guess we're all a bit disappointed. Suppose that's the human condition. Listen. I can't stop you from following me, and let's not even pretend like Batman didn't tell you not to, but don't expect me to make it easy for you, either," I said, turning toward the Zeta tube. "Stay out of my business, Artemis, just like I've stayed out of yours."

The hundreds of metal blades that made up the strange teleportation device began to whirl, then light exploded. I closed my eyes and stepped through, emerging in an alleyway in Gotham, across from somewhere I'd heard of—Bennie's. Some high-brow restaurant near the edge of Penguin's influence.

The telephone booth I'd arrived through clicked behind me, some sort of holographic tech rippling through to hide the Zeta tube entrance I'd just used.

I scanned the alley before I leaped onto the roof of the phone booth, leaned against it, and exploded forward with a leap. Three quick steps, and I halted on the top of a metal water tank, pulling out my phone to make a call.

"I'm in town, Slim. Tell me the coordinates."

Lex Luthor

The elevator dinged, and I stepped out onto the dead rooftop of the LexCorp building. My helicopter sat there, engine cold and unused. The surveillance cameras on the roof were set to night vision, and Mercy, my trusted android bodyguard, stayed in my office, at great protest.

At best, she'd be a hindrance, not an asset, and nobody could learn the details of this meeting, not until I was certain what came next.

The cold night air whipped through my suit, picking up my tie, kissing my scalp, and cutting through my clothes, but it was a passing discomfort—soon to be alien.

I stepped onto the helipad, eyes scanning the darkness briefly before looking down at my watch. 11:59. Three seconds from 12.

"Punctuality is a trait uncommon in humanity," a voice intoned, and I looked up to see her standing there.

A voluptuous woman who looked to be in her twenties with faint grey eyes, pink hair, and micro-scars crisscrossing her body. My heart skipped a beat, and she snapped her fingers.

Something shifted in the air. Brief enough that most wouldn't have caught it, but I did.

Some kind of silence spell?

"You speak as if we are not the same species," I said.

"We're distant relatives at best," she said, shifting her weight. She wore a woman's work clothes: open jacket, turtleneck, flexible trousers, and shoes with a slight heel. Far more conservative than I expected from someone of her stature. "Like Homo sapiens to Homo erectus."

"I suppose you think we mundane humans are the latter?" I asked.

"You said it, not I."

I chuckled. "How do you explain the meta-humans then? They've been around for thousands of years, as evidenced by Savage, and DNA we've gathered from millions of ancient humans," I said. "Your specific mutation seems contained to a chosen few." I slipped my hands into my pockets. "How did your so-called sorcerers really come about? Genetic manipulation of some sort, perhaps through the biological markers you have your agents collect?"

"Come on, Luthor," she said. "You can do better than that."

I narrowed my eyes. "Both. Children with potential for magic mixed with select manipulations."

"Almost unheard of in nature," she said with a wide smile, "but repeatable with further research into the matter, which brings us to the subject of our august meeting. You've analyzed the DNA sample, yes?"

I nodded. "The boy's meta-gene is unlike anything I've ever seen. Regeneration at rates nearly unheard of with rapid adaptations to stimuli."

"He might be the key to creating the perfect Kryptonian hybrid," she said, "that is, if you can get the meta-DNA to play nice with Kryptonian biology."

My brow creased. "You're proposing an alliance?"

"My assistance should help you create that which you failed to accomplish with Superboy," she said, "a true rival to Superman, loyal to you."

"Not the Light?" I questioned.

"We're all allies of convenience, whether we'd like to admit it or not," she said, looking into the night sky. "Ra's al Ghul is more concerned with balance than progress, Klarion wants to see the world burn, Queen Bee is power-obsessed, and you crave adulation and fame, almost as much as you do the destruction of your foe, Superman."

I smiled. Her insights were accurate and piercing, but not at all surprising.

"Savage would take great offense to your comment."

"Savage thinks and plans in decades, not years," she responded. "I'm not as patient, and neither are you."

She was right, of course. But I tried not to give anything away.

She was the most outwardly dangerous member of the Light. Savage might have the military might and skill of a demigod, but Artisan only needed one touch to deform you, adding a significant layer of danger to this already fraught meeting. But I had to come. There was far too much to gain, but I couldn't let my ambition rule me.

"You want me to clone something for you, alter it?" I asked. "The boy, perhaps, or one of your sorcerers."

"All that and more," she said. "Creating an alien hybrid is just scratching the surface of what we could accomplish with enough time. We could create more soldiers like Julius. Meta-humans armed with sorcery, true rivals to the rest of the League, enforcers we control and replenish in months."

My eyes widened. "That's certainly an exciting prospect."

"Yes, it is. Isn't it?" she said. "And we already have the path laid out for us. There are no shortages of exceptional meta-humans thanks to our program, and we have a resilient template to work off of."

The boy.

"You'd have to capture the boy first," I pointed out.

"I have some of my best people on it," she said.

"You know they'll try to kill us for this," I said. This went against our accepted timeline for integration and domination. Not to mention, it also ran a substantial risk of discovery by the League.

"I'd certainly hope so. It's been a good while since I've had a proper fight," her perpetual grin turning feral, "but if we succeed, it won't matter, will it? Savage will come to the table, as will Ra's, Queen Bee, and the rest. We'll have enough sacrifices to satisfy Apokolips' demands, all while we usher humanity towards a new age."

I tilted my head slightly. I hadn't taken her for a true believer, but it was hard to miss that reverent look in her eyes.

"Why not bring this to all of the members?" I asked. "Why single me out?" I was as self-interested as the next member of the Light, but even I understood the benefits of cooperation on a project as large as this. It wasn't too different from the plan we already had in motion with the Blockbusters. Why risk it?

"Isn't it obvious?" She raised a brow. "It is as I said, we are all allies of convenience."

She was preparing for war, hungry for it even. And she seemed determined to make everyone a subordinate, bound slave, enemy, or loyalist.

Narcissism and megalomania weren't exactly novel in our circle, but it was rarely paired with tangible power and cunning.

She knew me well enough to know I was going to say yes to her proposition. I certainly couldn't counter her or report her to the Light—the former was suicide and the latter just bad business.

"I have conditions."

"You'll have to agree to a Binding Vow. I can't have you revealing anything we discussed."

"One thing at a time…"

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