"I'm awesome, aren't I?!" Aisha placed her hands on her hips, smiling to reveal a fang. Little Bruce looked her over and said, "So, your ability is to inspire fear?"
Aisha nodded vigorously, but then shook her head just as hard. She said, "I can scare a lot of people, and I can devour their fear, and I can… well, fear!"
Little Bruce thought for a moment, deciding not to delve into it. Mostly because Aisha's logic was confusing enough to give anyone a headache. Getting to the truth from her would take too long.
Little Bruce's gaze lingered on Spiderman for a couple of seconds before moving away. Spiderman immediately dashed in front of him and said, "Hey! Don't you want to ask about my powers?"
"We're already familiar with your abilities." Helen breathed out a sigh and said, "Later on, everyone will wear earplugs. You just focus your psychic attacks on the enemy… just like you did to that freak before."
"Oh, okay."
"Ah, things are working out." Harley laughed, sweeping her gaze over the people present and said, "We have a tank, controller, physical output, magic output... And of course, how could we go without a commander in a group fight?"
At Harley's mocking gaze, Little Bruce averted his head, rolling his eyes slightly before saying, "So listen closely everyone, the commander is about to lay down the plan."
Deep within the labyrinth, at the end of a dark corridor, a figure leaned against a wall, panting heavily, muttering curses in a dialect.
Kant, leaning against the wall, looked up at another identical maze corridor in front of him and growled out in frustration, "Why does every path in this damned maze look the same? And all the marks we left are gone."
He hesitated, contemplating whether to push the rescue button on his arm or simply break through the ceiling and fly out. But that would mean total failure of his mission. If he returned to the fleet now, not to mention the ridicule from his colleagues, if Lord Desaad found out he had fled from battle, he would be doomed.
Better to achieve something, Kant thought, at least he could have something to show for his efforts, so as not to appear useless.
With this in mind, Kant took a deep breath and continued walking forward. Just then, he heard a rustling sound coming from another corridor after a turn.
"What kind of maze is this? Why are all of the marks we made gone? Are we really trapped?"
"I kept saying we should have stayed in the original room. Now we can't break through the ceiling or find the exit. Aren't we trapped?"
"Stop complaining. Staying in that room was being trapped, too."
Kant felt his breathing speed up in an instant. Could it be a sudden break of luck? Those foolish brats had actually come out of the room and he ran into them in the maze, wasn't this like a pie falling from the sky?
Kant instantly dashed ahead to block the other side of the maze corridor. As a few small figures approached, he finally heard their surprised exclamations.
"How are you here?!" Helen widened her eyes and took a few steps back, baring her teeth at Kant and taking a defensive stance.
"What a coincidence that we meet again." Harley tightened her grip on her knife and took a step forward, glaring at Kant with murderous intent.
A few seconds of silence passed before Harley had to step back slightly. She stomped on Spider Man's foot, and a pained cry escaping him before he remembered to say, "Ah...oh no! It's the enemy we ran into before, run!"
"Hahaha, trying to run?! It's already too late! You're all going to be prisoners under the Dark Elites!!!" As Kant laughed out loud, he rushed forward.
Harley and Helen rushed towards Kant from left and right with matching speeds. In the midst of their dash, Helen took the opportunity to complain to Harley in a low voice, "Why does he have to be so cliché?! I would bet that they don't have video games on his planet."
"Stop talking. I bet he doesn't even read comics." Harley, outrunning Helen by a bit, jump-kicked off a wall and sprung above Kant, landing behind him. "Even comic books don't have villains as clichéd as him. I bet his next line is 'I advise you to know what's good for you'."
"You'd all better know what's good for you! If you come with me now, you might spare yourself!"
"For the love of my grandpa! Stop talking! Shut up and fight! Otherwise, my toes are really going to cramp!" Helen roared at him.
With a "whoosh" sound, a knife flashing in the cold light skimmed past Kant's temples. He tilted his head to dodge, and a small clump of hair fluttered down like falling leaves in the wind.
Kant didn't break a sweat, eyes slightly squinting, his right hand reached behind to catch the blade, meanwhile, he swung a roundhouse kick. Just as it was about to hit Harley, a blast of wind came from his back. He quickly drew his leg back, bending over to avoid it.
Having missed her punch, Helen immediately followed it with a kick. Kant took note of the slender ankle coming his way. He sneered in disdain and took aim, catching it with the precision of a hawk.
From his point of view, he had already caught Helen by the ankle, suspending her in the air - a piece of meat ready for the butchering.
"Bam!!!"
Kant was booted into a nearby wall, the armor on one side of his hand completely shattered. Helen slowly withdrew her leg, spreading her hands on either side of her body, "Even a tiny fraction of my original power is enough."
Looking back at the wall, Kant's figure had disappeared. A series of metallic clashes echoed from where Harley was standing. Kant's punch came rushing out, the afterimages of his fist swinging mid-air like blooming flowers.
Harley blocked continuously with her boning knife while taking small steps back to neutralize the impact of the punch. But then a sneer flashed past Kant's lips—he found an opening.
He pretended to strike with two fists to the sides, and while the flying knife moved defensively to his side, he lunged a heavy punch directly at Harley's face.
However, the scream and blood that he expected didn't come. Harley simply leaned slightly to the side ahead of time. After dodging the punch, the knife blade swiftly spun back, "swish swish swish"— the armor on his other hand and arm slowly fell to the ground like shavings from a whittled pencil.
"How is that possible?!! Can you predict my moves in advance and dodge them?!! Do you have precognitive abilities?!!"
"Can you stop adding unnecessary drama?" Harley said with a disgusted expression, "Isn't it your own fault for feeling the need to smirk before changing your attack?"
Kant froze for a moment, then subconsciously touched his face. Helen said from behind him: "If you can't control your facial expressions, get a full-face mask. Don't pretend to have a helmet on like you have some super mind-reader archenemy to defend against!"
"You!!! You little bastards!!!"
Kant had already been subjected to Spider Man's mental attack. The unsuccessful execution of his previously devised lure plan infuriated him more. Wandering aimlessly in the maze and not being able to find his way out made him question his intelligence. Having his armor smashed by two kids incensed him. Now, although he didn't understand the opponent's words, he clearly sensed that he was being ridiculed, which burnt his last shred of rationality.
There was no so-called "Galaxy's Top Fighter", only a fighter under the universe's first tyrant.
Blind with rage, Kant charged at Helen. Not to be outdone, Helen also sprinted at full speed. Their bodies collided, causing Kant's legs to buckle. Seeing this, Harley immediately swung her knife, instantly embroiling the three of them in a melee.
Little Bruce stood by watching, waiting until Kant due to a mistake advanced too aggressively and tried to kick Helen away with a straight leg. Only then did he nod at Spider Man, "Get ready!"
Helen emotionlessly dodged the kick, seized Kant's ankle, and spun him on the spot three times before tossing him away with a "whoosh."
Kant, as befitting his reputation as a fighter, adjusted his posture in mid-air and aimed for the closest wall to bump against and take off the force.
However, during his mid-air flip, he saw a slightly younger girl struggling to break free from her companions and trying to cross the hallway with waving arms. Her companion looked panicked, as if trying to pull her back.
Good opportunity!
It didn't matter which one of Batman's children he captured, taking one back would be enough. This wouldn't be too embarrassing for him, and he would have something to hand in. Even if getting his old position back was out of the question, at least saving face would be possible. If he were beaten into a sorry state by a group of kids, even if Lord Desaad spared him, he would never be able to hold his head up in front of his peers again.
Thinking this, Kant landed steadily, then promptly jumped up again, rolling to Aisha's side and reaching for the little girl's shoulder.
Kant had already planned his escape route. It wouldn't be wise to rush at those two crazy women again. After grabbing the hostage, he would immediately turn and run back the way he came. The maze was complicated; after making several turns, they certainly wouldn't be able to find him. By the time he called for backup, he could be confident.
Kant's hand was already on Aisha's shoulder. In the next moment, Aisha turned her head back, the yellow glow in her vertical pupils dazzling like the sun.
Almost instantly, Kant felt as though his throat was being strangled, an insurmountable terror engulfing his heart.
In the split second he lost focus, a blade infused with powerful dark energy slit across his neck.
Blood sprayed out, and as the head fell, Harley, who was holding the boning knife, looked at the decapitated Kant and remarked, "It seems this armor's defense has its limits. Or maybe he's just a small pawn, and doesn't get any good stuff."
Helen approached, looked at Kant's body, arms crossed, and said, "He isn't very strong, but he sure is pretentious. Is this the legendary mental damage?"
"Alright, the first step of the plan is successfully completed. The other side should already know that Kant is dead. If I am not mistaken, Kant was just a sacrificial pawn to test Batman's strength. We have passed the test for Batman; the attitude of the other side towards us should change."
In the control room of the fleet assembly, Weiman looked at the disappearing red dot on the screen and smiled, "Kant is dead. His Majesty Darkseid truly has farsighted vision, Batman was on guard against us from the start."
"Go, activate the sonic explosion channel trap on Kant's helmet and invite his descendants over for a nice chat!"