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See No Evil: Heroes (ch. 73)
🕑 Added 2022-02-02 16:00:07 +0000 UTCTime was a fickle thing. A second could feel as if it lasted an hour while an hour could pass by in a second. It all came down to perspective. Time flies when you're having fun, and all that jazz. That saying also applied to being utterly swamped with work from every end, and with so many things going on that I barely had time to blink, much less pay attention to the time, it passed all too quickly.
A month had passed by in the blink of an eye. I honestly had no clue where the time went. It felt like I put my head down for the daily grind one day, and when I looked up, my calendar read March instead of February. In that time, everything and nothing seemed to happen.
Lex was sworn in as the President of the United States, winning the election by a landslide both because Bruce Wayne dropped out and because he was the clear best choice. Things accelerated rapidly when he was sworn in, because Lex wasted no time issuing edicts and pushing laws through the Senate. If the American people knew just how dead democracy was, then they would despair.
Since I was on the other side with dozens of senators under my control and dozens more that were in my pocket, I was in the privileged position to see exactly how dead democracy was. Lex Luthor was the second coming of Julius Caesar in practice -- he could put forth any law he wanted and it would be passed. A dictatorship with a thin veneer of democracy to make that bitter pill tolerable.
But it wasn't like I was complaining. The opposite, really. I benefited a great deal from the arrangement and the population loved Lex Luthor because he got shit done. The economy that had vanished into the night after being broken apart by the UN's disastrous conference was making a return. Part of it was various initiatives that were put into place to combat the side effects of poverty itself while the framework for a new economy was being implemented.
The key part of that new economy being Saints Quartz. I actually couldn't believe that it had worked, mostly because it was so damn dumb, but it had. The dollar bill was no more. Loose change was in practice completely worthless. Everything was now about the purely digital coinage called Saints Quartz, which was linked to my company. In practice, my company was now a part of the government because it was my currency that the American people now spent. We were America's new digital mint. On paper, we remained separate as two completely independent bodies, but that wasn't true in practice.
Something I made sure to abuse with little hesitation. People were incentivized to buy my products because you got a special discount if you used Saints Quartz rather than a hold over currency that had no real value anymore. You could be paid in Saint Quartz, or just Quartz for short, by turning in the now dead currency. Essentially, I was deciding the value of Quartz, giving something an arbitrary price, slashing it to make people think they were getting a fantastic deal, and selling the product at a nice profit.
It was so damn corrupt that it had to be illegal. But, with the President on my side, it was everything but.
When Saints Quartz went international, it was downright criminal what we did. I had done a lot of dirty deeds in my time. Murder, blackmail, extortion, brainwashing, and more -- but I don't think I felt more like a bond villain than I did when I forced my currency on the rest of the world. It was a mixture of using my agents to push forward the idea, undercutting the world's various recovery attempts to recreate what I was doing, silencing some naysayers, and within a month… Saints Quartz was the world currency and my company was beyond international. We were the economy itself.
It was something out of a cyberpunk book. Sainthood Enterprises was a mega-corporation that was so damn big that it couldn't fall without dragging the world's nations down with it. The only downside was I had to pay taxes in the various nations of the world, but I was pushing to be exempt simply because I didn't want to pay taxes. To anyone. Ever. On principle.
That alone was a huge event, but it was hardly the only one that happened. Lex Corp was up for grabs. I had brainwashed various major shareholders. Lex already had them brainwashed himself, but my method of interjecting commands into their minds held the edge over the pheromone susceptibility he used. I had my finger on the trigger for them to sell their shares to me. Jason was making his own moves to sweep the company from underneath Lex Luthor.
Mercy was the one obstacle. Combined, me and Jason held forty percent of the company through various proxies. With Lex president, Mercy who previously held ten percent, now held fifty nine percent of the company now that she held Lex's shares, who only kept one percent as a gesture of good faith. My plan was to bag her and brainwash her, but she was so close to Lex that I was apprehensive of making a move. Right now, Lex and I were the best of friends, scratching each other's backs like a couple of chimps. He was plotting against me and I was him, and we both knew that, but neither of us had officially caught the other so our 'friendship' was all smooth sailing.
Making a move on Mercy was overt enough that Lex would have to respond and our relationship would break down. Which was why I was hoping that Jason would make that move for me. No sign of it yet, but there was still plenty of time.
"Three… two… one…!" I pushed the red button before me before the rocket in the near distance began to take off. It wasn't accompanied by the deafening roar of a normal rocket. It rose, as if pulled up by a string, defying gravity as it lifted into the air and sailed upwards at incredible speeds. The only sound from its liftoff that rang out was the sonic boom the ship made when it shattered the sound barrier. The ship itself was a ugly brick completely devoid of any aesthetic. All to sell the image that the tech was in its first stage of development.
I felt a hand clap me on the shoulder a moment before Tifa hugged me from where she stood. "Space. You're going to build in space," Tifa breathed as she watched the ship disappear, vanishing up into the upper atmosphere. Then beyond where the ship's true speeds would be revealed.
"Yeah… we are," I agreed, tuning in on the ship with the various satellites I had, one of which was an observatory. The ugly brick sped up as it sailed to its destination in the asteroid belt. There, the boxy ship would act as a staging ground -- a station for mining operations in the sector. First, a teleportation ring would be established on the station, which would make the transfer of resources and personnel easier. Then equipment would be sent.
By this time next month, mining of the asteroid belt would be in full swing. The resources it offered were exponentially more plentiful, and once the ball got rolling, far more easily taken than the mineral wealth on Earth. With a single push of a button, I had killed the mining industry on Earth. Millions would be without a job across the globe. Millions more that relied on the industry in a supplemental manner would also be out of a job. That was accounted for. Cutting their legs out from underneath them would push many to space to seize the gold rush I was initiating by the horns.
By the end of the year, space stations that housed millions would be built across the Sol system. Each one a city in itself and all of them intrinsically linked to my company and myself.
"We're saving the planet," Tifa muttered into my shoulder, so fiercely proud. "I worried about that, you know. Every day, it felt like we were becoming another Shinra, but instead of harvesting the planet, we're saving it. Barret wouldn't know what to say. Instead of eco-terrorism, maybe we should have gone to business school," she remarked, her tone light as a feather.
I doubt it would have worked out that way, but I didn't spoil her good mood. And, in a way, she was right. I used my newfound leverage well. I started my own initiatives to clean up the planet. The islands of garbage floating in the sea were being cleaned up, and all of the plastics were being recycled. The city dumps across the globe were being devoured by my recycling plants that were operating in full swing. My energy alternatives were being pushed hard -- both in the government and by my comparatively cheap prices to undercut the competition.
Those that I didn't buyout outright, that was. With the plummet of the economy, a lot of industries needed bailouts. And I bailed them out with the intention of changing the companies from the top down. Fossils fuels were done. No ifs, ands, or buts, and because of it, stuff like fracking was pointless. The entire oil industry was another that I had killed, which made the Middle East collapse into pieces. I made sure to kill those industries in every way that I could -- cheaper alternatives for plastics, lubrication, and more were established.
For each industry I killed, I built another up. The recovery was hardly painless, but it was far smoother than it had any right to be given the timing because the renewal of the economy was linked to the success of new industries. And my company. I don't think I could stress that enough. Now, I was the largest car manufacturer in the world. I was the largest consumer product producer in the world period. I owned the industries for equipment manufacturing just as I owned the supply chain needed to make the equipment.
And Lex Luthor was still beating me when it came to numbers. It was honestly incredible and why I wanted to sweep his company out from underneath him. We were competing to be the world's leader and supplier, and the race was neck and neck. The only advantage I had was that my company wasn't publicly traded, and I was the sole proprietor. Lex Corp wasn't on account of being publicly traded before Lex inherited the company and transformed it into the titan that it was. It was his one weakness.
In all, I was sweeping up wins. My reputation climbed to heights previously unknown -- people were calling me the Man of Tomorrow. My company was doing better than ever. My relationships were all fantastic. Which is why I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'd had it too good for too long, so I was overdue for something unexpected throwing a wrench in my plans.
The Light were a likely contender. So far, they had been fairly hands off while I enacted our shared goal. Queen Bee was planning to have me killed, but I already knew that.
The Reach was another. Their official arrival was very soon and I expected that they would change up the formula I had for success.
Concerned Citizen was keeping an eye out. With my products being everywhere, and my development projects stretching across the globe, my view was further than it ever had been before. There were increasingly fewer places that I couldn't see with my micro cameras, my monitoring of Quartz transactions, as well as my satellites that were ostensibly for my phone service and internet provision that doubled as spy satellites. Barbara Gordon expected the other shoe to drop as well, so we had been working together closely.
In short, I had reached the point that I had coveted from the start. I had all but single-handedly started the Space Age and humanity's ascension to the stars. An age that I and my company would dominate. This could be the birth of an empire that would stretch out across the stars of the entire universe.
In a way, I had accomplished my goal. That promise I made to myself as I limped battered and bloodied down Crime Alley -- I had carved my name so deep into the Earth that I would never be forgotten. Hell, there was a petition to give me my own holiday. I would go down in history as one of the greats, whose feats formed the bedrock of the modern-day. Far off in the future, a thousand years from now, people would look back at why they had what they did -- interstellar travel, advanced technology, a life free from poverty, and ask what had set it all off. The driving force for why humanity took its first steps from Earth…
And they would say my name. Just as Alexander the Great was linked to the spread of Hellenism across the Mediterranian, or Ashoka the Great for the spread of Buddism… They would credit me, for it was me that spread humanity across the stars.
Yet, as I watched the ugly ship fly towards its destination, which it would reach in as little as a week…
It wasn’t enough. I had fulfilled my promise to my past self, and it still wasn’t enough.
Cobblepot was right about me in the end. We really were birds of a feather, because despite all that I had… I was still hungry for so much more.
I was broken from my musings when I heard the sharp sound of metal on metal right next to my ear. Glancing over, I saw the white blade that 2B wielded bared for all to see. A split second later, the bullet that had struck her sword fell to the ground with a light clatter. The action didn't go unnoticed by others, either. Before me was a crow of reporters, all here to write an article about the launch of the first of many ships as humanity claimed the asteroid belt for ourselves.
"Oh, someone's trying to kill me again? Thank God, I hate speeches," I said, speaking into the microphone before me as I stood on the platform raised above the crowd. I was supposed to be giving an interview, detailing how humanity was Manifest Destinying across the Sol system and hyping up the idea of being among the first to have the exciting job of an asteroid miner. Honestly, my would-be assassin was doing me a solid. I'd given the same speech about a hundred times now and it got old fast.
In response, 2B placed herself in front of me, her blade catching another bullet that she flicked to the side. That was the cue for the reporters to begin to panic, fleeing for their lives as if the assassin was meant for them. As if. The only one that was standing her ground was Lois Lane, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she'd let herself get shot if it meant there would be a story to report. I peaked out from behind 2B, looking off in the distance at where the sniper was trying to get me.
I couldn't see them. My contacts zoomed in, shrinking the distance between us until I saw a familiar face. Deadshot. I had been looking for him for some time -- he hadn't been picked up by Bell Reeve yet, so he was working as a mercenary. He was about five miles out, the barrel of his gun pointed in the wrong direction, but still, when he pulled the trigger, the ricocheting bullet flew towards my forehead. Only to be blocked by 2B, even if there wasn't any reason for her to bother. My barrier hadn't been revealed to the public yet, because if it had, whoever hired Deadshot wouldn't have been relying on a mundane sniper rifle.
A small sigh escaped me, "What a dick." I decided, summarizing my thoughts, making sure that the microphone picked up my words. It was the cultivation of an image that I had started back in No Man's Land -- so damn calm that there was ice in my veins, and carrying myself with a gangster swagger. People seemed to love it. It was a perfect blend of an unfiltered grounded type of personality, and a generous helping of badassery.
As if my would-be assassin had heard me, my contacts flagged the approach of three others. Clayface, Parasite, and Black Adam. Three relative powerhouses, though the latter two were more so than Clayface. Black Adam approached from above, while the former entered through the exits, creating a pincer with me in the middle.
I stood where I was, my heart beating calmly in my chest as the three villains made their approach. The red flag alerted my team, and they moved to respond. And respond they did. It was a rather unique feeling, I could admit to myself. Knowing that I was such a force in the world that the likes of villains that had fought Superman to a standstill no longer terrified me.
Instead, I was cooler than a cucumber. I straightened my tie and let the backdrop of the stage I was on fall away into nothing, the hard light deactivating. Behind me, the two opposing forces clashed as my team intercepted them.
An Android slammed into Black Adam, sending him into the ground with thunderous force that I felt travel through me as I took my place before the podium. The Android wasn't based on anyone in particular, but she ended up looking a great deal like Jill Valentine from Resident Evil -- short hair, pretty face that was set in a scowl, and a lean but muscular body. Though, it was pretty difficult to tell that given that she was currently encased in a special brand of Power armor.
It was mounted around her, making her closer to seven feet tall with the armor on. I called it a Gundam Frame, because I wasn't orgional and the trademark was missing here -- her arms and legs controlled the frame, leaving her completely encased, while the thick and heavy armor was used to hold the fuck off big weapons that she carried. Her hero name was Juggernaut.
Which she proved by the shoulder bazooka on her shoulder flipping into place, a faint pink glow emitting from the barrel before it shot down and slammed into Black Adam with an explosion of light.
"I know what you're thinking," I spoke to Lois Lane since she was the only reporter that lacked sufficient self preservation instincts and chose to stay. "And yes. I absolutely did hire them to kill me," I admitted to her and the world. I think it said a lot about me that Lois Lane didn't so much as bat an eye at the revelation. "As much as I would like to give another speech about space, I'm not really feeling it. Instead, this speech is the introduction of a new team of heroes in the troubled times that we find ourselves in."
As the light faded, another hero revealed herself, holding up a crystal jewel that shattered as it levitated above her palm. In response, shards of light raced towards Parasite, skewering his purple sludge like body with the beams of blue light. Then, he was lifted into the air. A magic user. My progress in making magical items was stunted by a lack of time, but the production of jewels that carried magic spells was a simple thing to make. To the point I had managed to remove myself from the process entirely.
She wore a super suit -- skintight to reveal her generously curved form. It was blue and white in coloration with segmented plates adorning it for armor. Her face was shaped like a heart, and she had long brown hair. She had fined tuned her own appearance, but I thought she ended up looking a lot like Wiz from Konosuba. Her hero name was Bejeweled.
Lastly, there was the third hero who attacked Clayface, who was a mixture of the two. Lightly armored, but hanging around her legs was an armored skirt that housed ten drones that were currently bombarding Clayface with an elemental barrage -- ice rays, heat lasers, arcs of electricity, and so on. All the while she wielded katana that glowed white and trailed after her swings as she cut Clayface to pieces. Beneath her whited out helmet was another familiar face -- Laura Kinney from Marvel. Only instead of indestructible bones, she wielded magitech. Her hero name was Elemental.
None of them were particularly like their other worldly counterparts. They were INO, completely different people that wore familiar faces.
"For too long heroes have been on the backfoot, forced to react simply because for every hero there's a dozen villains and even more petty crime. Today, the likes of the Justice League gain new allies -- The Sentinels!" I continued, being bombarded by wind as the fight raged behind me. I imagine it was quite a sight. Especially considering that 2B was still blocking the occasional potshot from Deadshot. "The first of many to come. It's my hope that the super villains of the world get a taste of their own medicine -- a dozen heroes for every one of them."
The three worked together in perfect harmony, one that transcended vocal communication. Bejeweled sent Parasite up, letting Juggernaut take a shot at him with a good half dozen micro missiles before slamming him with another shot of her bazooka. At the same time, Bejeweled helped Elemental pick apart Clayface, destroying parts of his body until she broke another jewel that imprisoned what was left of him.
"I understand that trust is something that has to be earned, which is why I arranged for this little display to happen. Because I trust the Sentinels with my life, and not just because I'm paying for their equipment, either. They're an elite squad capable of dealing with any threat, and in the coming months, they'll only have more allies in the fight against evil," I finished. It wasn't my strongest speech, I could admit, but I was letting actions speak for themselves.
Black Adam rose up, moving to attack Juggernaut, only to be smacked down by Bejeweled, and beset by Elemental's drones. It was enough of a distraction that Juggernaut fired off another missile at him, only this time when Black Adam was hit, not even attempting to dodge because he knew he could take the shot, an explosion of foam covered him. It was the containment foam I had used on Kid Flash.
Black Adam fell, restrained by the magically enhanced foam that was designed to bind whoever it clung to. All that was left was Parasite, and between the three of them, he was no match. In moments, he was restrained and captured and all three of them would find themselves in Bell Reeve, where I would have complete access to them.
Clayface was a known quantity, but the real prize was Parasite. I had a team of scientists on standby to study him to learn how he drained the energy from others to empower himself. I needed to know for a special project of mine that I had on the back burner.
I took in a deep breath as all three of them secured the villains in a containment case not too dissimilar from the ghost traps in Ghostbusters. Activating their antigravity shoes, they flew over to land on the stage with me. Deadshot was allowed to leave while being tracked. I was letting him loose because I knew I could use him at a later date.
Lois Lane looked at us all, having watched the entire fight unfold. Witnessing how the three had completely folded three fairly powerful foes, even if it was because the fight had been tailor made for their skill sets. "Are the Sentinels an independent team from Sainthood Enterprises? Have you arranged for a Charter from the UN by Secretary General Donna Troy?" she asked me without missing a beat, notepad in hand as she was already scratching down notes.
Unsurprisingly, given all that had been going on, Tseng Dangun hadn't been reinstated as the UN President. Not when his replacement by an alien had kicked up such a fuss. However, in a surprising move and almost in response to Lex Luthor becoming President of the United States, Donna Troy was chosen as the new Secretary General of the UN. It was too early to really tell, but she had spoken of initiatives to open up Themyscira to the world, but it had failed to actually happen yet.
"Of course," I responded easily. Being on the side of the angels helped in that regard. It had all been a part of Batman's plan, so the draft for my charter with the UN was already ready before I could even try to use the opportunity to gain some leverage. All that was left was to sign my name on the dotted line. "For now, the Sentinels shall be based out of Bludhaven, but they are an internationally recognized team. But, I think it would be best to let them speak for themselves." I said, offering Bejeweled the microphone and stepping back.
Answers for the questions were all prepared in advance. The fact that they were androids was a secret, so backstories had been fabricated for all three of them. They spoke a bit about their powers, their tech, and motivation for stopping crime. As well as my initiatives to start unfucking Bludhaven just like I had Gotham. Lois Lane seemed to be eating it up, not quite surprised by the turn of events. She dug a little, trying to see where the Sentinels began and my influence ended. And they told the truth that if I was found committing unacceptable crimes, then they'd haul me in by my ear.
It was going well, I reflected as I stood back, letting my new hero team take the spotlight. People were eating it up to the point that the Daily Planet site crashed because so many people were watching the live broadcast. The people loved it and the promise that more heroes were on the way, all wielding Sainthood Enterprise technology only made them more excited for the future.
So damn well that when I got a notification from Vandal Savage himself, it was almost expected.
The Reach was at our doorstep, knocking at the door and waiting to be let inside.
