Soon, the trio started their move. As it turned out, the Joker had initially gained the upper hand only because he had taken them by surprise. Even Bruce hadn't expected his archenemy to track them down here, hence, they were caught off guard and pursued by agents in the beginning.
However, this situation lasted very briefly. Even if the Joker had cheating-like monitoring equipment, it was still tough to stand against the combined forces of Bruce, Lex and Clark.
Bruce excelled in both attack and defense, Lex possessed invincible intelligence, and Clark was invulnerable. Though all of them were much younger versions of themselves, the three of them working together proved formidable, even against ordinary agents armed with powerful weapons.
Quickly, the agents chasing them were confused by their manipulation of surveillance and communication delays, with most of them being knocked out.
Still, shaking off the agents was not their main goal. They now shared a common objective - to investigate the underground of the manor.
Bruce wanted to defeat the Joker, Clark was looking for the radiation source that might affect him and Metropolis, and Lex was hoping to find the treasure and Shiller's legacy underground. Even though their individual objectives differed, their collective goal remained the same: to head underground.
But to go underground, they first needed to find the entrance, which was definitely on the ground level, that is, the first floor.
The structure of the manor's first floor was different from the other floors. In the middle, there stood a banquet hall, with doors leading to the central courtyard on both sides. Other buildings also lay on the sides, containing rooms the trio hadn't explored yet.
The mayor's mansion's main building was massive, not something typical of private residences. To fully explore it would take a whole day, so for efficiency's sake, they decided to split up.
The basis for this was that they had dealt with most of the agents on the other floors, leaving only a few ordinary ones on the first floor, each patrolling their assigned areas, yet without specific orders to confront anyone.
Bruce and Lex both had official capacities, thus could potentially talk their way out of encounters with the agents. As for Clark, with his speed, agents might not even see him, so splitting up shouldn't pose too much of a risk.
The only issue was that Bruce and Lex didn't entirely trust each other. Before making their decision, Bruce started with, "You must promise me, if you find the entrance first, you'll notify us, instead of going down alone."
"Even if I promise, would you believe it? I don't trust you either."
Lex said, staring at Bruce. When two extreme skeptics come together, they don't trust anything about each other.
"Please! Is this the time to argue?"
"There might be a huge radiation source underground in Metropolis' largest building! If it leaks, the whole city would be in danger!" said a frustrated Clark.
The two were about to argue when Clark interjected, "Don't forget, that madman is still watching us. If we start arguing here, he'll be laughing, thrilled!"
Clark's intention was to remind them not to make a spectacle of their disagreement, yet his words struck a chord with Bruce.
After learning that the Joker might be the one behind this, Bruce was on high alert. He now had an aversion to the words "madman" and "laugh." When these words came out of Clark's mouth, Bruce could almost hear the Joker's manic laughter ringing in his ears.
He could almost picture the scene: the Joker in the control room, laughing heartily as he observed their quarrel. The thought made Bruce grimace. He swiftly proclaimed,
"We can collaborate temporarily and start moving now."
With that, he turned around and left, not willing to waste another second. Lex snorted coldly, watching Bruce leave. He then murmured to Clark with a heavy tone, "There's darkness behind him. Despite his act of righteousness, don't forget, he's from Gotham..."
"Gotham is full of lunatics."
After saying that, he too left, leaving Clark alone scratching his head. Clark shrugged, unsure about Lex's insinuation.
In fact, he wasn't good at the sophisticated interactions of smart people, nor did he bother to think about hidden meanings. Throughout communicating with Bruce and Lex, Clark always felt a bit obtuse.
After separating from them, Clark felt somewhat relaxed. He chose a different direction, crossed the banquet hall, and ventured down the corridor on the east side.
Clark reasoned that the door to the basement wouldn't be in the corridor but concealed in a room. So he decided to use the exhaustion method, checking every room one by one.
He opened the first room, a very ordinary storeroom. A gust of dust rushed out as he opened the door uninterruptedly. He went in to look around but found nothing.
The situation was the same with the next few rooms, which left Clark rather discouraged. Moreover, the dark corridor only grew eerier the deeper he went, only to be illuminated by the moonlight through a window at the end.
In an extremely quiet environment, people tend to slow down their thinking and heighten their perceptions. As Clark was going through this transformation, a piercing telephone ring echoed from a room ahead.
Clenching his eyebrows, Clark headed over. He pushed the door open to reveal an empty room, except for a telephone ringing incessantly on a stand. Picking up the receiver, he said, "Hello…"
"Hello, good day."
The voice from the other end went silent for a while, leaving Clark confused. "Hello, who is this? Why are you calling?" he asked.
"Are you Clark?"
"Uh, yes, I am. Why?"
"Do you know Lex?"
"Who are you?" Clark asked defensively.
"I'm a resident on the 5th floor, also an invitee to this party. Listen, Clark..." The voice on the other end became grave.
"But at the same time, I am an agent, undercover for the Central Intelligence Agency. I've run into some trouble and I hope you can help me."
Upon hearing the word 'agent', Clark furrowed his brows. Just as he was about to decline, the voice said, "I know, you probably have had some friction with other agents, but we're not working together."
"I arrived in Metropolis a while back to investigate some inconsistencies with the Luther Group. We suspect that the recent serial killings in Metropolis may be linked to someone in the Luther Group."
"Previously, our investigation was at a standstill. Since Lionel Luther is hosting this party, I came here hoping to find more clues."
"After investigating the whole night, we've discovered the perpetrator's identity. He is most likely Lionel Luther's son, Lex Luther."
"Typically, he presents himself as a loner to lower people's guard, but in reality, he doesn't suffer from autism. On the contrary, he's a highly intelligent criminal, an evil genius."
Before Clark could interject, the man on the phone hastily continued, "I know you don't believe me, but we already have evidence. If you go to the washroom of the reception room now, you will find Lionel Luther's body."
"He was murdered by his own son. Moreover, Lex even dismembered his father."
"Now, I hope you can visit that washroom and retrieve some tissue fragments from Lionel as evidence to prosecute Lex for murder later."
"This can't be," Clark firmly responded in disbelief, "Why would he kill his own father and dismember him? He isn't that kind of person."
Clark really did not believe it. In his brief interactions with Lex, he found him to be somewhat arrogant, but justifiably so. Clark, who grew up in a small town, had no understanding of serial killers and always envisioned them as grotesque and monstrous characters.
But Lex was slender, with a youthful face that made him seem like a child. His speech and actions generally displayed acceptable social behavior. Clark saw no signs of evil or madness in him and did not believe he could be a serial killer.
Even more so, the person on the phone was alleging that Lex had murdered and dismembered his own father. How could such a horrific act be possible for a high school student?
"Clark, you must know that many criminals are hard to catch because of their deceiving disguises. This is what I do for a living," the voice on the other side explained.
"As I've said, if you don't believe me, you can check the scene. If things are different from what I said, feel free not to help me. I can't force you to."
The person sounded sincere. He revealed, "Heard you speaking up for ordinary people while fighting the agents, you're a hero. So, I decided to contact you within the limited time that I had."
"I've looked into your personal data. I'm aware that you're just a college student. You're under no obligation or responsibility to undertake such a dangerous task, but Clark... I'm asking you, help me."
"However, if you truly find this too risky, you can choose not to go. I won't force a child to go to war..."
"As far as I know, Lex did not commit these crimes alone. He definitely has accomplices. They may find me soon. I don't have much time left... Goodbye, Clark."
After he hung up, Clark looked utterly torn.
He had only known Lex for a brief period of time and he knew that. Therefore, he couldn't be sure if Lex was a good actor who had deceived him.
The person on the phone sounded reasonable, making Clark hesitated. If Lex was indeed a fraud, wouldn't it be dangerous to let him roam freely around the manor?
After pondering for a while, Clark finally decided to go upstairs. He thought that checking the said place wouldn't hurt—even if it was a trap, he was confident he could escape.
With this in mind, he ascended the stairs, walked through the corridor, and arrived at the reception room. The room was still in chaos and a cold wind blew in from the broken window. Amid the whistling wind, Clark reached the entrance of the washroom. He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The first thing his acute senses captured was the nauseating smell of blood. Following that, a dismembered corpse came into view, with a saw abandoned beside it.
But just as he was about to vomit, he heard footsteps coming from outside the reception room.
He turned around. There was Lex, walking into the room... and there was fresh blood on his pant legs.