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See No Evil: Perjury (ch. 83)
🕑 Added 2022-04-27 14:57:33 +0000 UTCThe world lost its collective shit. It lost its absolute mind -- from people screaming in bars as they watched the case like it was a football game, to people's homes, to break rooms or cubicles at work. The ones behind this little show were just as bad -- politicians were panicking, demanding to know if I was just making shit up. The few in the know, either because they worked with the Light or they had been told by the Justice League were demanding that I shut the hell up.
The moment the words left my lips, there were a grand total of fifteen different assassination attempts. A window shattered as a bullet bounced off my barrier right at my forehead, courtesy of Deathstroke. The bombs that were primed beeped as a signal was given out. A magical spell cast on the stand was invoked the moment I said the Light, a trigger to kill whoever was sitting in the chair. Someone in the audience stood, a gun in hand as he took aim to murder me.
Everyone before me wasn't doing much better than the rest of the world. It took them a moment to notice the shattered window, or when the man's gun clicked empty, or how the bombs didn't detonate despite beeping so loudly. I used that moment to look at Mercy, who understood what just happened. Lex Luthor's fail-safes hadn't worked.
To be completely honest, I don't think I would have been able to dodge all of them. Not if it wasn't for a deal that had been made in advance. Especially that spell. My protection charms wouldn't have held up since I was still finicky with magic. Instead, all were disabled well in advance before there was even a shadow of a chance that they could actually take me out.
"Too late, Lex," I told Mercy, my words lost in a sea of noise. "You really should have killed me when you had the chance."
Mercy looked like she was about to when I stood up and took the gavel from Judge Arthur, who numbly gave it to me. He lost a kid on the day of Two Worlds. The accusation and reveal carried a lot of weight with him. Sitting back down, I banged the gavel against the stand in front of me. Unlike when Judge Arthur did it, people started to quiet down, if only to hear my next mind blowing revelation.
"That's better," I said when the courtroom returned to a much more manageable level of noise. "Now, the press -- all of you are about to get a message to shut off the cameras," I informed as those in charge were issuing out the orders to do exactly that. "I'm asking that you don't. The people of the world deserve to know what their leaders have been getting up to."
"Objection, your honor-" Mercy started, still trying to treat this like a court case instead of the circus that it was. I rapped my newly gained gavel to interrupt her.
"Take a seat, Ms. Graves. And do keep your hands where I can see them. You've already tried to kill me once in the past five minutes," I tacked on, glancing out the window. Deathstroke cut his losses the moment the bullet didn't take. The one designed to get through my barrier. The Sentinels would deal with him.
Saul Goodman seemed like he was just now realizing what he had bitten off and was deciding if it was more than he could chew. "I.. yes, please continue. I'm sure everyone will find what you have to say to be… enlightening, to say the least." He trailed off, swallowing thickly, glancing at the judge who didn't seem at all focused on the case anymore. He was listening with rapt attention, his hands clenched into fists as he waited for me to speak.
"The Light, to put it simply, is an organization of villains that have been manipulating the world behind the scenes for years now. To start with, they were the ones behind the Injustice League that attacked the world years ago and held every city hostage. Additionally, their members have been behind things such as the ice fortresses that nearly put America in a new ice age, the assassination attempt on Queen Perdita, and much more. They've been hidden in the shadows despite the name, ruthlessly leveraging their power and silencing anyone that spoke of them."
I leaned back in my seat, "Everyone in this room nearly died just now. That man, yes you, oh, he's trying to run," I remarked when the man that tried to bust a cap in my ass realized that I had, in fact, noticed him unlike anyone else, he took off but was quickly taken down. "He tried to kill me. If you'll look under your seats, some of you are going to discover a wide variety of bombs. Don't worry, I already took care of them." There was more panic at that, but it was more controlled.
"These people don't take chances. They are completely without scruples. They will do anything and everything if it means that they retain full control over the Earth's political, economic, and cultural landscapes," I continued. The attempts of assassination helped sell that. It was one thing to just try to kill me, but they were willing to take a room full of collateral damage if it meant I kept quiet. "These same people separated the Earth into two dimensions, causing the death of thousands, for a singular purpose -- to distract the Justice League. Absolutely nothing is sacred to them and there are no lengths they will not go."
Lois Lane knew a set up when she saw one, "And who are the members of the Light? How are you connected to them?" The court case had become a press interview. Mercy was fuming while she got orders from Lex, but there was little that could be done. The smartest move that he could make right now was to discredit me. To prove me a liar.
But it wouldn't matter. No one cared what the truth was. And he was very mistaken about the lies that I would tell.
"Some of them, you know. That video that floated around that kicked up this whole mess? That was Ra's Al Ghul, the Demon Head, and leader of the League of Shadows -- an international group of assassins that have operated with impunity since the Crusades. Another is Queen Bee, the former dictator of Bialya, who used her ability to manipulate pheromones to brainwash people. All of which are dead," I spoke clearly before continuing on.
"This group approached me after No Man's Land in Gotham officially ended. They claimed to have similar goals for the human race as I did -- the elimination of world hunger, war, and to push to the stars," I continued and I had the entire world hanging off of every word that I said. Everyone was waiting with baited breath excluding those that were entering damage control mode. "They had connections and influence. They had the entire world in the palm of their hands."
I squared my shoulders and spoke the lie of the century, "Even still, I refused their offer. I couldn't accept it knowing what the organization had done -- how Klarion, a Lord of Chaos, had facilitated the murder of thousands of children and countless other atrocities throughout our history. However, the Light is not a group to be refused." My gaze swept over the crowd before it settled on Mercy.
The blood drained from her face because she knew exactly what I was about to say.
"It was then that I was kidnapped and a chip was implanted in the back of my neck. A chip that made me a puppet for the Light as they brainwashed me!" I exclaimed, making a big show of turning around to show the scar on the back of my neck. Mercy stood up and started shouting, but her voice was lost in a sea of absolute chaos. People were screaming at the top of their lungs. Turning back around, I grabbed the microphone and dialed the speakers to ten through my contacts. "A mind control chip that was put in me by the leader of the Light! For the sole purpose of using me as a proxy in his illegal dealings with the Reach!"
My voice echoed out in the courtroom but, for the most part, they didn't seem to hear me. The people watching from their couches or desks, however, heard me loud and clear.
"This man, who I can definitively prove is not only the leader of the Light, and who is working with the Reach in their true motivation of taking over the Earth, has brainwashed me for months. What's more, people of the world?! If you look at the back of the necks of every single member of the Jury, you will find a scar on their necks as well. Brainwashed to give a guilty verdict, no matter the evidence that is presented." The entire world seemed to rock back from that information -- from the Reach being called out, to the reveal that the Jury was brainwashed. All of it to build up to the next sentence I spoke.
"This man is named Lex. Luthor. The current president of the United States of America," I finished. I pulled up a file on my contacts and released the evidence to the world. All of which had been buried in the mountain of evidence we had dumped upon the Prosecution. Mercy was screaming for proof while Franklin and Bash rolled it out on a red carpet. Video, pictures, recordings -- all given to me courtesy of Vandal Savage.
In the end, you had to fish with the bait that you had. Vandal Savage had a massive influence on the world throughout history, but in the end, no one in the current day had any clue who he was. In this era, he wasn't Gengis Khan or Alexander the Great. He was no one.
However, the same couldn't be said for Lex Luthor. He was a public face. Everyone on the planet had at least a vague idea of who he was. He was a public figure. He was a face that people could easily put to the Light.
They were putting a face to the name alright.
The reaction the world had was astounding. People were recoiling in shock, screaming in anger, and everything in between. Even those that were sceptical, who went to verify if what I said was true rather than just believing me ended up finding the evidence that I released. Proof that it was true, by certain definitions of the word.
"This is the state of the world," I continued. "Crooked politicians that don't just want to take your rights from you, but are taking away even your ability to think for yourselves. They want to control us like puppets for their own ends! They manipulate the truth until you can't tell what's true and what are lies that they're shoving down your throat!" No. The irony was not at all lost on me. That being said, I was just proving my own point. "Nearly a year ago, I stood in front of a clinic and told you the truth -- I would use their playbook against them. But that was a lie. I don't have it in me to do the heinous shit they're capable of doing just to bump up their bottom line."
"I've had enough! I've had enough of petty politicians that bent to the will of the Light because they were promised a seat in rigged elections. Who turned a blind eye to the murder of children and infants because they had something to gain! I've had enough of the hypocrisy and lies they shove down our throats so they can kick their feet up while families go hungry or homeless!" I continued my tirade to the world, speaking a message that reverberated with everyone. "They don't have our best interests at heart. They're selling us out to be slaves of a galactic empire while they benefit!"
I dropped the mic and hopped over the stand, striding to the cameras with a confident gait. I came to a stop directly in front of them, looking into the eyes of the world, "This is my formal declaration of war. To the Reach. To the Light. And every single piece of shit that helped them get away with everything that they've ever done."
With that, I started to leave the courtroom. Mercy tried to stop me, if only to keep her eyes on me as Lex was undoubtedly being fucked with damage control. "Someone stop him! He's on trial, for god's sake!"
"Let me know what the verdict is," I said, striding out without missing a beat. "But I can already guess what it'll be." I added, leaving the courtroom and the case was such an absolute disaster on every metric that I was allowed to just walk out despite every accusation that was lobbied against me.
Despite everything I had ever done up until this point, I don't think I had ever been more powerful than I was at this moment. Because, right now…
None of the rules applied to me.
The crowd outside of the courthouse was going fucking nuts and were about to storm the courthouse itself, only to pause when they caught sight of me. Tifa was behind me, as was 2B, as a silent and invisible shadow. "Everyone, you need to go home. Go to a place of shelter. The Reach will not take this lying down, but have faith -- the heroes will save the day. Just like they always do," I declared as I strode forward to my car that was beset from all angles. People were doing their absolute best to shove a microphone down my throat, but I reached the car all the same and we all got in.
There was no way that we could have driven without running someone over, so I activated the anti-gravity tech in the car and had it fly directly upwards.
The Reach was hiding its reaction from me. A long held suspicion was looking more and more likely as they seemed to conveniently sidestep my cameras whenever it came to issues of importance. Something I noticed since I was first arrested.
For that reason, I couldn't watch their reaction. Nor Lex Luthor's.
Seems like my cameras weren't the dirty little secret I had thought they were.
All the same, I could make a pretty good guess -- I was given an alert that the Reach gave the command for their fleet to be activated. I allowed the command to go through, the action telling me that they weren't aware that I had subverted their systems already. The commands that were given were fairly obvious: Assassinate me, attack the Sentinels to retrieve the power source for the Warworld, attack Mount Justice. All priority one targets. Following that were secondary concerns.
Such as assassinating Lex Luthor.
Seems like negotiations failed between the Reach and the Light.
As if to agree with me, my phone rang. "Vergil St. Jude speaking," I answered, leaning into my chair as I took stock of the situation. I could usurp the fleet at any time. Barbara had left that to 'Concerned Citizen' while she focused on coordinating the heroes to deal with the situation. The Justice League was still gone but they should be coming back soon. And, even then, there were members of the League still on Earth.
"I do hope that you have a plan behind this little bit of theater," Lex spoke in my ear, a snarl underneath that calm tone of his.
"Do you really think I'd take the world down with me just to ruin your day, Lex?" I questioned without missing a beat. Tifa frowned when she realized who I was talking to, but her attention was quickly stolen when my car's security systems picked up an alert. The Reach was incoming -- a good dozen drones that were being led by a black Scarab. Likely the one that I had already seen. I was going to blush -- I would have figured they would use the Scarabs on the heroes.
My car began evasive maneuvers as we flew over and away from Gotham City to spare it any collateral damage. The Sentinels were mobilizing as the fleet began to move to attack every major city and town on the planet. The heroes were aiming for a surgical strike. All that was left was to wait it out until they took the head off of the snake.
"At this point, yes. I think you just might," Lex responded. "You seem incapable of accepting any form of setback and insist on being as disruptive as possible when things don't go your way, like a child throwing a tantrum." Lex continued and I rolled my eyes as 2B took command of the vehicle. I didn't feel anything, but the back seat where me and Tifa sat began to move as the car began to shift into its combat mode.
It was modeled after the designs that 2B had brought with her from her world. The machines that they used to descend onto Earth mixed with a bit of inspiration from Transformers to turn my vehicle into a battle mech. I thought it would be a bumpier ride given that 2B had begun fighting the Scarabs and Reach ships, but with localized gravity in the compartment, I couldn't even tell. It wasn't any different than how it felt driving on a long stretch of road.
"Right, I'm the danger to Earth. Not you or the Light risking an alien invasion and the conquest of Earth for third-rate technology and a half-decent reputation," I responded, my voice cold. I was actually a little sad about how things turned out.
I wasn't sure when it happened exactly, but I kinda liked Lex. Not enough to not ruin his plans, reputation, and life, but I did feel a bit bad about it. I think we were just too alike where it mattered -- neither of us would accept anyone else behind the driver's wheel to the human race. That put us at odds and in a game like this, enemies could only be destroyed.
"Calculated risks," Lex responded, his tone decidedly curt.
"You're bad at math then, Lex. In the original timeline, the Light and the Earth get fucked. Humanity is enslaved for a spell then exterminated when we outlived our usefulness," I told him. That was a calculated risk. It was to make him doubt, if only for a second, if he was wrong at some point. To catch him flat footed by my chosen tactic to argue his point. "Going toe to toe with Darkseid? That was never in the cards at all."
There was a beat of silence, "You are from the future then? That would explain your fake documents," Lex remarked. Those documents that Penguin provided for me. They had been incredibly airtight for what I paid for them. I could have run for president with them and even with an extensive background check, it would have checked out. However, the Light had resources that the government didn't.
"My point is that you've lost, Luthor. Do what I couldn't -- take it on the chin and lay your ass on the mat. You're done for now. Do the smart thing and bide your time for a comeback eventually," I requested of him while 2B battled it out with the Scarab. I was locked in a battle of my own so I couldn't keep an eye on her as we effortlessly seemed to weave in and out of combat. However, I was certain that she was winning.
Luthor chuckled and my hand clenched into a fist, "Of all people, you have absolutely no right to ask that of anyone. If I tap out now, then I'll be at your mercy. I know you will show me exactly as much as I would have shown you." Meaning utterly none.
He wasn't wrong there. We are well past the point of pulling any punches or offering any mercy.
"I figured as much," I admitted. "I'm not happy about it, but I figured. You're a cornered rat -- Vandal Savage sold you out in a heartbeat. The Reach is out for your head. Your reputation is in the toilet. What cards do you have left to play?"
I could practically feel Lex bristling over the phone, not at all happy with the reminder. I had played my hand perfectly. All the evidence was there with some help from Vandal Savage and Klarion, the last two members of the Light. Everything was set up perfectly.
The story that the heroes and the public would find was that Lex made a power play. With the fall of the world economy and having me in his pocket, it would only make sense that Lex would come to the conclusion that the Light outgrew their usefulness. So, he staged things for me to fall while taking out a huge chunk of the Light -- giving him my company while destroying his enemies in one fell swoop.
From there, people would speculate about his plans with the Reach. There was enough evidence that he planned to betray them too. There was also plenty of evidence to suggest that he planned to sell the Earth out to the Light.
I suspected it would be a debate that would remain unsolved even in history books.
Right now, I had Lex exactly where I wanted him. No matter what he did or said, he looked guilty and there was no greater joke in American history than innocent until proven guilty. The world was screaming for blood, deciding that he was guilty just as they decided I was, only he didn't have a convenient get out of jail free card embedded in the back of his neck. All of my crimes, the mountain that they were, had been laid at his feet along with many many more.
In the end, Lex was done.
That did not mean he was in any way defeated.
"You will be surprised at what I have hidden up my sleeves, St. Jude," Lex responded, his tone cold as ice. He sounded downright hateful. I thought that might happen. Lex was too smart to not have at least a few contingencies for something like this -- the complete destruction of his public persona. Worse, I was his enemy. He would never forgive this. He would never forget it.
We were enemies. I would even go as far as use the word nemesis. I knew Lex would dedicate his life solely to fucking me over in anyway that he could, just like he did with Superman. I knew that. I did. Which is why it was so easy to give the order with my contacts.
"I'm sure I would be," I responded, my tone flat. In the space before Lex could respond, I heard the sound of screeching metal echo over the speaker. "But, like I said, Lex -- Vandal Savage sold you out."
"You- initiate Alpha Protocol!" Lex shouted, his voice sounding distant.
"It's a real shame Lex. You really are too smart for your own good. The only mistake you made was working with people that weren't your equal," I told him, reading him his obituary. "Not me, not Savage, not anyone in the Light. You were in a league of your own and if you stayed in your league then this wouldn't be happening." I continued, the sounds of gunfire echoing over the speaker. The battle was short lived.
In the distance, I heard Lex shouting, "Unhand me!" He wasn't going down without a fight. "Do you really think I don't have plans for this? Go on, kill me! You won't live to regret it!" He swore and I believed him without a shadow of a doubt.
"Kill you?" I questioned, my voice sad. "No, I won't be killing you. The Reach will do that… but, until then, you're going to help me out a little, Lex."
"Never," He swore. It earned a sigh from me.
"Sad to say it, but you really don't get a choice in the matter," I told him. That made it click into place what was about to happen because his struggles resumed, this time more fiercely. However, he just wasn't a match for my androids. A team I had on standby exclusively for him. Ones equipped with a wide variety of tools to mind control Lex Luthor from technological means, to magical, to biological.
He struggled up until the very end. I saw the exact moment that he lost the battle for control over his own mind when my contacts informed me that I had full control over him. I sent him his instructions -- planting evidence to support my claims that he was the one behind my brainwashing, including secret designs for the chip that was used to mind control me. I helped myself to his rainy day fund as well as set things up so LexCorp would end up breaking up as a company. As much as I would like to get my hands on it, I also knew that wasn't likely to happen.
It only took a minute for the deed to be done. Lex had contingencies for exactly what I wanted for the sake of asset denial if anyone tried to take his company from him. With it done…
"This is goodbye, Lex," I told him. I gave the Reach Lex's position -- a bunker underneath LexCorp tower well underneath the city of Metropolis. A squad of drones broke off from the attack on the city and launched a bomb directly ontop of Luthor's bunker. The bomb itself vaporized half a city block in a burst of light, but it wasn't until the second bomb was dropped that the explosion reached far enough to reach Lex's bunker. LexCorp tower began to collapse, acting as a gravestone when his bunker was consumed and atomized.
I saw the exact moment that Luthor died.
"Asset lost, huh?" I quoted what was displayed on my contacts, letting out a long, exhausted sigh. It had to be this way. My lies required a fast resolution. I couldn't give Luthor an opportunity to slip out of the corner he was put in or let Savage rethink his position. Lex was too dangerous of an enemy to even conceive of putting him on ice and trying to use that brain of his. So, he had to die. Fast and cleanly without any evidence of my involvement.
Instead of me killing him, it was just the Reach cleaning house as they dropped all pretenses.
Tifa reached out and took my hand, "It's done?" She asked me, a frown in her voice.
I thought about it as I rested my head against the seat and gazed up at the ceiling, "Not yet," I answered slowly…
"But we're at the beginning of the end."
Comments
Kabir Kumar
Holy fucking shit
Cerber
I wonder how Tifa feels all about this deep down - a necessary evil or what?
