"We're done here".
Batman uttered expressionlessly. At least, no one could tell what emotions he had on through the cowl as they could only see the lower half of his face.
Hearing this, The Flash from Earth -1 frowned. What the hell did Batman mean by done?
"No, hold on". Bruce paused.
"I thought we were going to tell him".
"He isn't here".
Flash frowned.
"He was".
"Do you expect us to bring up that topic under the circumstances at that time?"
The foreign speedster had his face crumple.
".... It's been more than a month. I'm running out of...".
"It will happen. You just have to be patient". Bruce cut him short.
"Besides, even if we do so, there's no guarantee he will agree. As you can see from what happened earlier, he isn't so easy to bargain with".
Flash (-1) opened his mouth but no words came out.
The sight of Amari burning Wotan to nothing but dust fell into his mind once again causing the speedster to shiver involuntarily.
In the end, he could only nod and take a step back begrudgingly.
Seeing this, Bruce nodded.
"We know your world is in danger. And we have a teammate trapped over there as well. We will help, but you know clearly that our world's situation isn't ideal to free up manpower. No matter how willing we are to help, we can't jeopardize the safety of our world for yours".
The truth was ugly but if given another chance, Bruce wouldn't put it any other way.
That was how he was. He didn't mince his sentences to make others feel better.
Flash's face was ugly. Luckily, Batman's next words eased the atmosphere.
"However, with the Super villain secret society neutralized, we can finally free up time to address certain matters".
The ugly expression was alleviated.
Then ignoring their foreign Flash, he turned towards The Team.
His eyes resting on Supergirl for a second longer than the others, although no one noticed.
"As for your performance.....".
Bruce paused for a second before continuing.
"Considering the mission was completed, it was satisfactory".
Although he praised them verbally, his tone gave off no hint of giving them praise. After all, they weren't the ones who finished the job.
"You have been through a tough mission. Head to the cave, hit the showers, then head home. Ultra Humanite, Count Vertigo and Poison Ivy will be taken care of by the league".
Wotan was dead, Black Adam was dead, Atomic skull was dead.
Bruce said before turning his attention away.
At the moment, his mind was occupied with different thoughts, as well as a few headaches.
Count Vertigo was the ringleader of this group, but strangely enough, he wouldn't be going to jail with his other teammates.
After all, he had diplomatic immunity. The Joker…. Or Jokers, also weren't going to Belle Reve but.... No surprise, Arkham.
Bruce had been trying to get that maniac within Belle Reves walls for years now.
This thought made Batman's furrowed eyebrows furrow even more.
And there was Poison Ivy. The plant Queen losing her powers wasn't what irked him.... Actually… It did irk him. But not in the way that you would expect.
Amari had once again displayed something that proved his suspicions. Amari could give abilities.
Similarly, he could take them away.
This had already been put in the file and circled in red.
Shazam's abilities had been stolen by Amari. Now, there was Poison Ivy.
At this point, Bruce was certain that even Clark would be powerless against this individual. If he could take Shazam's powers away, he could most certainly take away Clark's.
This fact unsettled him. Worse still, there was nothing he could do about it. But that wasn't the main problem.
Poison Ivy losing her abilities was something he could breathe a sigh of relief to.
What bothered him, was why exactly Amari had brought the Joker back to life.
This action..... It didn't make sense in the slightest. This ability to revive the dead didn't bring any surprises as well.
Superboy was still alive and kicking.
It was one thing for Amari to come to this place. After all, he killed Joker. Seeing him alive would definitely attract him once again to finish the job. That was understandable.
What wasn't was why he left without killing the clown. Also, why did he resurrect another Joker from death?
Was he going to return to kill them later?
Another thing didn't add up. According to the Proteges, Amari said that the second joker was a clone created by Lex Luthor.
The second Joker was a clone.... That checked out.
But why was Lex Luthor involved? Superboy was created in Cadmus Labs. Lex Luthor was its chairman, so the connection was also understandable.
But why? What would Luthor gain in doing such a thing?
So Joker could continue to create trouble to keep him busy?
No.
In less than a second, hundreds of thoughts had flown through his head.
Something was wrong, definitely wrong. Bruce was sure of this. His intuition was usually never wrong, and right now, it was telling him that this whole thing wasn't as simple as it seemed.
There was a scheme afoot.
Now Joker was alive. Worse still, there were two of em.
To be honest, Batman wasn't too fond of Amari. He didn't hate him, he didn't even dislike him.
All of that was earlier on when his mind wasn't his own.
He was wary of him, however. And that probably wouldn't change, no matter what happened.
He also didn't like Amari's character. The actions of a man with so much power was typically wanton.
Amari wasn't human and didn't have a trace of humanity. It would be weird if Bruce could treat him like Clark.
Saying he didn't like Amari was debatable. But what wasn't was that he hated the Joker more than anyone else in this world.
Joker had a psychotic obsession with him, but he felt nothing more for the clown than unquenchable rage.
He loathed him, he despised him. On multiple occasions, he had contemplated killing this scourge and being done with it.
But ultimately, his reasoning won over his anger each time.
He wouldn't kill Joker. Not unless he was left in a situation where he didn't have any other choice.
[Joker harmed people, but it had never come down to the point where killing him would ensure that an immediate disaster would be averted. Either the disaster had already happened, or it was going to happen and killing the clown wouldn't stop it. Under these circumstances, Batman wouldn't kill the Joker in order to maintain that voice that told him he wasn't a monster. And on occasions where he thought Joker was dead, the clown wasn't in the end. Talk about cheating death]
When push comes to shove, even a mouse will fight. After all, Batman was stubborn, not stupid to the point of no redemption.
When J'onn and Doctor Fate healed his mind and he discovered that Joker was killed, he didn't feel joy or happiness, but he did feel relief.
Relief that this burden was finally off his shoulders.
He didn't want to become a coldhearted killer, but he wanted the clown to die more than anyone else.
Well.... Now he was back. Worse still, there were two of em.
For the first time ever, Bruce felt like his mind was about to collapse.
He didn't feel this way when his mind was actually about to collapse after battling Amari.
"How will we deal with Khandaq?" Superman couldn't help but as with a frown.
"Even if it doesn't get to the point of full-blown war, its enemies will attack".
Ever since his return, Black Adam was particularly unscrupulous in doing things.
He even wanted to take over the world less than a week after he appeared, but had to change his mind with the appearance of Superman and Shazam.
Without Black Adam. Khandaq would be in for a lot of trouble.
"About that. We'll...".
His words were interrupted as he received an incoming call.
"Batman here.... I see".
Bruce frowned, put away his fingers from his left ear and made a holographic screen appear from his gauntlet, similar to what Robin usually did.
"What's wrong".
Seeing the change in expression, Clark couldn't help but ask.
Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter couldn't help but look over.
"Someone's hijacking the satellite signals. All satellite signals".
"Again?"
....
Near the Atlantic Ocean.....
East coast.....
Splash!
The ocean roared, and the waves battered against the rocks before retreating ..... and returning a moment later.
The sky was dark, and the nighttime was setting in quickly.
At that moment, the ocean seemed to spit something out as a figure was thrown from the water depths.
Smashing against the rocks surfaces, causing the rocks to shatter and finally coming to a stop with a pained groan.
He left a long trench along the way.
Orm's face was bloodied.
His attire was in ruins and his body was filled with bruises and cut marks.
Blood flowed from the wounded areas continuously.
He looked like he had been dragged through the ocean floor.
"You know... It was never going to work".
The sound of footsteps overshadowed the rushing waves.
Amari walked towards him and the words were heard clearly.
"Ugh!" The prince didn't respond. Only groaned.
Amari didn't care either. And continued to speak without stopping.
"I mean your plan. Your experiments on the trench monsters will bear no fruit. You would spend months, maybe years on that project, trying to find a way to control them so they could serve as your most powerful army, only to eventually fail".
Orm clenched his fist with a look of fury.
"This isn't speculation, but your fate. Those monsters can be controlled..... But you don't have the means to do so".
"Enough!" The wounded Atlantean finally mustered enough strength to let out a roar.
"Oh..... Are you finally ready to be chatty?"
Amari raised an eyebrow.... Then shrugged.
"I just felt it was important to let you know that your actions... No matter what you do..... Will end up fruitless. I thought it would fit for a nice parting gift".
He uttered.
'Telekinesis'
Orm's face grew even more unsightly, yet before he could react, he found himself hoisted into the air by an invisible force, like he was within the grasp of two giant hands.
Following which.... It squeezed.
The sound of cracking bones were loud and clear.
"Arghhhhh!" Orm screamed in pain. Never before had he felt this much torture in his life.
"As I was saying, any last words?" Amari asked nonchalantly as the telekinetic pressure tightened.
Orm's screams increased ever so slightly.
"No?"
Amari tilted his head in amusement.
"I thought this was the part where the villains portrayed their cowardly behavior and begged for mercy in the face of death".
"Or maybe the pain is too much to process, so I'll throw out the offer".
The pressure loosened and Orm finally stopped screaming. Then, it disappeared completely and Orm fell to the floor with a thud.
"Better? I've decided to kill you today. But…. if you tell me who else is among your group of seven, kneel down and beg for your life, I'll spare you the torture and I just might change my mind. After all, you are Aquaman's brother. For that alone, you should get some privileges".
Pain!
Currently, all Orm felt was pain.
The pain that assaulted his nerves at this point was unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Nevertheless, the Atlantean prince struggled to raise his head, allowing his eyes to meet Amari's.
The latter was a little stunned. He could see the anger, the hatred, but most of all, the unwillingness and defiance shining within them.
".... I.... Am Prince Orm".
He struggled and placed one hand against the ground.
"I.... Am the Ocean Master".
He placed the other hand and slowly pushed himself upward.
"And I.... Am an Atlantean... Of royal birth".
With these few words, Orm managed to push himself off the ground and stand on his feet.
His body was bloody, his legs were shaky, and his posture looked crooked and unstable.
It looked like a stronger gust of wind could push him over. Yet, the unyielding fire within his eyes was equally eye catching.
"..... Go ahead... Do it. But I..... The rightful heir to the throne of Atlantis, Will never kneel to anyone and beg for mercy….".
"..... My only regret, is that I never regained what was rightfully mine, from that fool of a Halfling they call my brother".
Orm snarled through gritted teeth.
"I would rather die..... Than go on my knees to the likes of you. Much less hold on to my life, at his expense".
And then, he closed his eyes, waiting for the silence of death.
Only....
Clap! Clap! Clap!
What answered to him wasn't death but the sound of clapping.
He opened his eyes and saw Amari looking at him with a smile and clapping lightly.
"The guts... The conviction". The smile on his face was particularly bright.
"To utter such words, even in the face of death..... I feel moved. Almost to the point of letting you go. After all, such conviction is rare in these days".
Amari stopped clapping.
"So..... Why don't we play a game?". Amari grinned, showing off a handsome set of pure white teeth.
"You said you'd rather die than kneel. Then let's base the rules on that. If I can make you voluntarily kneel and beg for your life, I win. If not, then I'll let you go, heal your wounds and rewind time so none of this ever happened".
Amari raised his hand, and it lit up with black fire.
The Atlantean prince was taken aback.
"You.... What?"
"Surprised?" Amari asked with amusement.
"Take it as a special offer. Your speech just put me in a good mood. Of course, it will all mean nothing if you can't keep to your word". At this point, his smile took a rather eerie twist.
"Just so you know.... I hate liars the most".
The wounded orm was dumbfounded. Why were things turning out like this?
"Touche?"
Seeing that he was actually serious, Orm's eyes narrowed. He had already readied himself to die, but.... If he could live, why would he refuse?
Seeing his expression, Amari spoke.
"I'll take that as a yes". And so, he raised his hand, put his two fingers together and... Snapped.
The next moment, blood and flesh bits flew in all directions as Orm was blown into bits.
Silence enveloped the atmosphere.
"Hehehehe oops. I almost forgot how fragile you guys really are".
He chuckled while looking at the scattered blood.
"At this rate, I might actually lose. Can't have that".
His eyes glowed and a portal appeared on the floor before him.
Following which, a figure rose from it.
....
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