In LexCorp headquarters, Lex Luthor was having what many therapists and psychologists could call a 'mental breakdown' after receiving news of the mercenaries he had hired days prior.
It all went so, so wrong.
Those who went to a certain farm in Smallville and led by Corben (he still refused to forgive Lex for his predicament, but only he could supply with the kryptonite he needed to function) found themselves taken out by a certain smug red speedster, who after interrogating them and dragging them around for a few miles promptly threw them to the closest high security prison, and naturally taking the kryptonite from Corben.
Those who broke into a house in Central City and armed with devices specifically tailored for speedsters found themselves on the presence of a certain kryptonian, who merely frowned in annoyance when the startled mercenaries shot lasers at him. That said, unlike Flash he actually had to fight them given that Livewire was with them.
Those instructed to go Gotham City under the leadership of Sportsmaster to take the multibillionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward hostage were intercepted en route by the Batmobile as it rammed into their transport and, while the sport-obsessed maniac did manage to match the Dark Knight, the tide of the fight turned against them when Bagirl and Robin joined Batman.
Finally, those who tried to capture Spartan and Wolf Princess found out the hard way that the two not only had the made friends in the form of Saico-Tek and Mecha Boi, but had also taken a page from Doom Slayer's book and didn't bother to hold back with them, though to be fair they did go after the latter's family first.
It was all the same, however: Lex Luthor's plan to try and take those heroes whose secret identities he had found out had failed, and thoroughly so. He had made sure that the mercenaries didn't know the real reason of their mission, and to hide anything that could trace them back to him, but the damage was done: he could not longer capitalize on his newfound advantage.
Thing was, Lex didn't remember actually hiring any of them. As a matter of fact, he didn't even remember why did his men bring that haggard englishman to his secret bunker. Hell, he didn't even remember why did he acted like an idiot after finding out the heroe's real identities instead of laying low.
He did know, however, that said man had to be an acquaintance of the only man on Earth who'd be more than willing to kill him.
The man who he had realized too late that couldn't simply be controlled.
And then that pink-haired slut that promised him aid to deal with Superman just vanished, alongside three hundred thousand dollars in metallic. He didn't really care about the money, though, not after everything that happened... and would happen.
Just where did that bitch come from, anyway? And when would Doom Slayer come?!
'C'mon you big metal brute, what are you waiting for?'
Lex breathed deeply as he washed his face on his office's bathroom for the umpteenth time. The last few days had been a nightmare, knowing that Doom Slayer could just swoop in and punch his head off, or worse, just send Grundy in to deal with him. He had done that in Atlantis, it wasn't out of the question he would rip him apart. There was also the fact that Superman, or rather Clark Kent (he still couldn't believe the alien he hated and the reporter he loathed were the same person), had yet to do his goody two shoes act and take him to prison. Sure, he might not come out this time, but at least he'd be alive!
'Easy Lex, easy. He won't kill you, he can't kill you. You're just committed a kidnap-no, the accomplice of a kidnapping, yes. Plus some torture, but you can say you were forced to. Besides, you're Lex Luthor! One of the richest and most famous men in the world! He can't even come to your doorstep if he doesn't want to... to...'
Lex began to cry. "Oh, who am I kidding? He doesn't give a damn about the public's opinion or Superman's disapproval!" Terrified as he was he didn't realize he was pounding the sink. "You're dead, Lex! Dead, dead, dead, dead! All because that whore offered you help and like the trojans didn't realize it was a trap waiting to spring! Dead!"
He continued rambling the same word for half a minute until finally calming down somewhat, having vented (some of) his fear out.
"Okay, calm down Lex, you've been in worse situations." He said as he stared down at the sink. "Maybe Clark comes here and saves me from his wrath. He's supposed to, he's Superman, he supposed to do that, he can't just leave me at the tender mercies of that space marine and his freakshow." Hope began to arise on his chest, to the point he actually smirked. "Yeah, yeah! Superman will-"
"Oh, I'm afraid Big Blue is a bit busy at the moment." He heard a voice say behind him.
Lex rose his head to look at the mirror, to see who would be stupid enough to trespass into Lex Luthor's personal bathroom...
"Hello there!"
And found the leering face of the man those demons had given him days prior, the grinning face of a giant of a living corpse that could match Superman, so bing he could only fit his head through the door of the room... and the expresionless faceplate of Doom Slayer.
Standing just a few feet behind him.
'No, wait, I can see his eyes' He morosely thought. 'He's angry'
How the hell didn't he realize they'd been right behind him?!
"G'day there." The raggedy man greeted with the typical accent from someone that had been raised in the slums of London. Despite the jolly tone he used, though, it was clear by the sinister smile and the frowing brow that the man was not jolly at all.
Given that Lex had ordered his torture, he had every reason to not be happy.
For several seconds Lex stood there, frozen by fear and not knowing what to do, but eventually he worked up the courage to turn around and press the alarm button he had hidden on the sink's wall. The fact that neither Mercy nor his security personnel had no real way to deal with the intruders didn't occur to his fear-adled mind.
He was promptly slammed against the sink by a spectral hand, but the alarm sirens were already blaring throughout the entire building.
"Oh, cute, the little baldy who had me tortured for three days straight thinks his goons will save his ass. Still, it'll get annoying if they come."
Doom Slayer turned around and spoke to the giant.
"Grundy, deal with them. But don't kill them, or even cripple them. Don't want to paint him as the victim."
"You really think they're going to side with Luthor after what we did?" The smoker asked before shoving Lex against the wall. "And no, you shit, you don't get to know what we did."
"You'd be surprised. Besides they have yet to be fully downloaded." Doom Slayer replied.
They? Downloaded? Just what the thell did they mean with that?
The giant (who now he knew was Solomon Grundy) made a sound akin to a sigh of annoyance before nodding and pulling his head out of the bathroom. Lex heard and felt his lumbering footsteps as the brute made it's way across his office, breaking stuff along the way, before hearing the sound of glass breaking.
"He'll keep them busy for a good while." Doom Slayer noted. Just then, they heard the thundering roar of Grundy and the screams of terror of LexCorp's security army, peppered by shots and even artillery. "Of course Luthor would equip his security with military hardware, and in a city to boot."
"Just 'busy'?" His companion parroted, skeptical.
Doom Slayer shrugged. "As long as he doesn't kill them." He then turned back to Lex. "Now, it's time to talk, and trust me, you do not want to lie to us."
"I know nothing, I swear it!" No use to lying, else they might just murder him straight.
"The fuck you know nothing, your witch pried inside my head!" The man shouted at him before punching his face. "Had to fucking struggle just to keep her away from the important bits! I bet you still 'remember' that the Batman is also your company's biggest competition's CEO!"
"It was a-" Another punch shutted Luthor up, this one to the jaw.
"You talk when I say you talk!"
"John..."
"I know, I know we are not killing him, but c'mon, let me enjoy this! He fucking attached a car battery to my nipples!"
Mercy chose that moment to enter his office, kicking down the door with a rifle raised, several men behind her.
"Mr. Luthor-" That was the only thing she managed to shout out before Doom Slayer pulled out a pistol and shot her in the head, then the surprised security after.
"Mercy!" Screamed Lex in horror. Even though he saw everyone that was not him as more tools than people, Mercy was the only person he could really trust, if only to some point. They had also gone through several 'adventures', if they could be considered such. Seeing her being shot like some animal, just like that...
'John' smacked him in the head "She's not dead, you twat! Hell, despite really wanting to pay you back in kind, we're not going to kill either of you. Unless..." He looked at Doom Slayer with a hopeful look, but groaned when he received negatory shake of his head. "Just saying."
They were not there to kill him? Then maybe, just maybe, he could take advangate of this! He might come out alive after all!
"Y-you can't touch me."
Or maybe not. Why, just why couldn't he think before opening his mouth more?
'John' laughed. It was not a happy laugh. "First, I AM touching you. Second, you're going to wish I just touched you."
"Indeed."
Lex whimpered due to the simple fact that Doom Slayer agreed with this psycopath
"Fire everything we've got!"
"Already doing that, it's doing jack to him!"
"Keep firing! Luthor will have our heads if we don't fix this mess!"
'Little man, please, the mess is already unfixable. You're just prolonguing the inevitable' Grundy thought with a smile as he backhanded the first guy and stomped on the other, not killing them but still making them wish he had.
As he fought Luthor's priave army, Grundy had to remind himself that Slayer had told him to not kill nor main any of the idiots that worked for the billionaire.
That didn't mean he couldn't have his fun with them. After all, they willingly obeyed a man whose ego and ambitions had ruined the lives of many, and some even being happy doing that. They deserved some punishment for that.
And Grundy, after killing those people back in Atlantis, had grown fond of beating stuff up and scaring the hell out of someone for a good cause.
The facts they had battle suits and tanks, and that due to LexCorp's positioning in Metropolis there wouldn't be collateral damage, were pretty damn good bonuses in his book. He wasn't a masochist, he was simply annoyed by the lack of opposition given who owned the place.
Grundy, hearing the unmistakeable sound of rotors above him, looked up to see a news helicopter, obviously recording the battle below. Smirking, he raised a hand and waved, pretty sure that the people were enjoying the spectacle, or at least those not present. Indeed, there were a few dozens of people watching the event from nearby streets and buildings, not counting several police squads sent there to cordon off the area and hoping that Sperman could come.
They had yet to see what VEGA had done on... well, practically anything with a screen and connected to Internet. And indeed, Clark WOULD come, obviously... but Grundy wouldn't fight him.
One of the battle suits that had managed to survive until that moment shot its particle beam cannon at his back, doing nothing little more than stinging a bit and drawing his attention to it.
"Hmm, mech." He grunted. His grammar was getting better by the day thanks to being around people he could talk to, but it'll still be some time before he could talk normally if VEGA was right.
"Direct hit! No effect!" Just the fact he could heard the men inside the armor spoke volumes of their terror.
"No effect my ass, you took its attention!"
Grundy began walking at the mech in a slow manner, having not decided if either rip it open and throw them out or slam the entire thing against the ground. He grunted when he realized he had run out of imaginative ways that didn't involve death or permanent crippling. True, those that did were not that imaginative by themselves, but still.
As he debated with himself about what to do, Grundy didn't feel the ground beneath him shaking over it, not from his weight, but from something moving under it.
Just as he was about to reach the thing, something came out of the ground and coiled itself around the machine, causing its occupants to scream even more. At first Grundy thought it was some sort of tentacle and prepared to fight it, but then he took a closer look, and his eyes widened.
It wasn't a tentacle, or a snake, or anything like it.
It was a root.
Hearing the sound of something cracking behind him, Grundy turned to see a tree of all things standing behind him. It was one of those trees planted by the city to make the streets look prettier, he didn't really know, nor the species of tree. What he did know, though, was that the damn plant was actually standing out of the soil like a person, standing on several roots, one of which was underground and, by the distance and where it was aimed, had to be the one that trapped the battle suit.
Trying to test something, Grundy thought of raising the machine. Sure enough, the root did so, elevating the thing a couple feet due to its limitations. Still, it proved it could do it.
Grundy immediatly realized what did just happen and looked at his hands, astonished. Now of all times? Both John and VEGA did tell him that eventually he would manifest some kind of power given his status with the Green, but still, he didn't expect it to happen that way. Maybe he didn't do it before before because there weren't plants in Mars, and because the last place on Earth he had visited was underwater? No way to know without the wizard's help.
Still, he just found out he could control plants. Slayer would be pleased.
As he pondered over this, Grundy saw a shadow over him. It was Clark, who was looking down at him with a frown and his arms folded over his chest. This wasn't just because of Grundy, though, but also the fact that the man that hated him the most knew who he was. Still, it was obvious he wouldn't tolerate any deaths.
Fortunately, no one would die that day, not even Lex despite the dangers of leaving him alive, if Doom Slayer was being sincere.
Luthor's reputation, career and respect, on the other hand? Yeah, those were already dead.
"Grundy." Clark said as he laid down in front of him.
Grundy greeted him back. "Hello Superman. Here for big reveal?"
He saw Clark raise an eyebrow at his response. "Big reveal?" In truth he actually knew, but those behind him weren't. Grundy was asking just to keep up appearances.
The appearance of the Man of Steel was all the police needed to regain their bravery, and soon Grundy saw himself surrounded by several dozen officers. He merely gave them a nonchalant stare as they pointed their guns at him and the tree obeying him.
"Freeze Grundy, you're under arrest! Put back that... tree."
Grundy had to stop himself from huffing. Pretty sure they only did that little show of force of theirs with crooks they though they could take, what with Superman being nearly always within earshot. But he wasn't there to criticize them.
"Don't you have screens?"
"What?"
At their confusion, Grundy shrugged. "Luthor evil, Doom Slayer punishing him." He explained. In truth neither Slayer nor John had explained him what exactly would they do to him. "Oh, and revealed sins to entire world. TV, computer, anything, watch those."
The officers looked at each other, confused by Grundy's words. The one in charge, a tough-looking blonde, turned to look at Superman. "Dou you have any idea of what he's talking about?"
"Commisioner." They heard someone call. Looking back, they saw it was a youthful officer, probably a rookie. On his had he had one of those laptop things Grundy had heard about, very small computers. He was also very nervous about something. "I think you gotta see this."
Every crime that Lext Luthor had committed, paid someone to committ, or otherwise had been involved in. As in, every last single one of them: murder, fraud, human experimentation, forgery, perjury obstruction of justice... And a good deal of them related to Superman in some form.
And it was being broadcasted to every device with an Internet connection.
"Sweet merciful crap..." The woman breathed out. The others didn't voice their thoughts, but it was clear that all of them believed the same thing: they had been living with a veritable monster, one that managed to trick the entire world. Not that Lex Luthor was known as a kind, selfless person, but this?
Clark was about to reply when a by now familiar blue portal opened behind Grundy. Everyone looked in trepidation, knowing what this meant, and given what they had just seen...
From the portal came Doom Slayer, followed by Luthor. Grundy wasn't surprised by John's absence, the guy just hated being on the limelight given his career and antisociality. He was, however, confused by Luthor's expression. He expected the villain to blame Superman, call for his lawyer, scream for mercy, or something like that.
Luthor, however, didn't seem to be scared out of his wits, either because he had just met Doom Slayer face to face or because his life had been utterly and thorougly ruined. As a matter of fact, he seemed... ashamed, for lack of a better word to describe it.
And, if Grundy', shamed of himself.
Lex Luthor's following words would shake the world.
"Take me to a cell and throw the key away."
So, it seems that Lex's 'plan' might not have been fully his after all AND Grundy's long anticipated powere over plant life has finally surfaced. And what is the 'it' that VEGA downloaded?
A thing that came to my head after hearing the opening songs of animated Batman and Superman:
-Batman: supenseful, yet somewhat heroic (yes, THIS Batman is Arkham's, but the game is basically an adult adaptation of the cartoon).
-Superman: heroic, bombastic, lifting.
Doom Slayer's though? The PS1 port/DOOM 64 theme, because, in my personal opinion, I think it actually fits the SI more: darker than Batman's, sounds like a military march, and overall it's what you'd consider the theme/leitmotif of a space marine that kills demons. Also electric guitars.