In Metropolis, within the Luthor Manor, Pikachu put down the phone, then turned to Lex and said, "They're done over there, we can set out."
Lex leaned against the wall next to him, stretching out one arm, allowing Pikachu to hop onto his shoulder. The two left the manor, crossed the courtyard, and got into a car, then headed to the gates of Metropolitan University.
Carrying a backpack, Clark had already been waiting there. As he watched a luxury car slowly approaching, he opened the car door while carrying a pet cage, he complained as he got in, "The car you're driving is too flashy. My classmates will definitely start speculating about me."
Lex looked down at his watch emotionlessly, then said, "Being friends with the Luthor Family should be an honor for anyone."
Clark snorted, he had been around Lex for quite some days and knew that Lex just had this problem. Two things that Lex loved to flaunt the most were his wisdom and his wealth. Unfortunately, Clark couldn't refute him on either, Luther was indeed smart and wealthy.
"So, are we going to explore those locations today?" Clark asked, recalling how he had been hovering over Metropolis using his X-ray vision to peer underground, searching for the secret bases that Lex mentioned.
Previously, Clark, after experiencing a break-in at his dorm room, approached Lex, hoping he could warn the agents at the Cia. Later, Lex came to him and told him that the feedback he received from the Cia suggested that neither they nor the KGB were behind the break-in.
Lex told Clark there might be another mysterious power hiding under Metropolis, ready to invade the city at any moment.
Hearing that the mysterious power wasn't agency-related, Clark felt more confident. After all, if he had annoyed the Cia or the KGB, he might have to worry about "social death", not to mention putting his family in danger.
However, if the enemy was a dark organization - one not recognized by law and lacking morality - weren't they the perfect target for his justice?
Moreover, Clark learned from Lex that not only him, but also the Cia and the KGB were planning to counter this mysterious organization. But, this so-called dark organization might possess powers beyond ordinary people, and as ordinary humans, these agents weren't capable of detecting or battling them effectively.
Upon hearing this, Clark was further motivated. Punishing evil that the law couldn't handle was exactly what he wanted to do. Thus, he followed Lex's plan and had been patrolling over Metropolis these few days, marking suspicious locations with his X-ray vision.
Now, they were heading out to explore these locations and uncover clues about the mysterious organization.
As Clark and Lex were heading towards the first location, Kira, the head of the Metropolis Central Intelligence Agency, returned to her apartment and then drove to a secret location. There, she picked up the phone, called Alfred, and said,
"...yes, out of the five bases we have identified, three of them are diversions, and our agents cannot penetrate the remaining two. If I'm not mistaken, they are probably shielded by some mysterious energy. Our technicians have collected samples of this energy, but it will take some time to decrypt."
"...exactly, I think the same. If we can harness the powers of the superpower user named Clark, maybe we could solve this faster."
"Lex, the heir of the Luthor Family, should have informed Clark about the intel I gave him. Clark should already know about the existence of this mysterious organization. Our agents have spotted him flying several times in recent days, and judging from his behavior, he's probably looking for the base of the mysterious organization."
"And, according to our investigation, this group of people seems to have come from Gotham, so I called to ask if you know about their origins and weaknesses?"
Alfred, who hung up the phone, looked towards Bruce, who was currently examining readings from an analyzer.
The analyzer looked a bit odd, shaped like a circle overall, the center being an energy storage module where the energy extracted from Dark Owl was put in, then inputted to the machine to read the energy data.
Looking at the data, Bruce furrowed his brows. The energy was completely chaotic under the analyzer's detection, the numbers were constantly fluctuating without a stable numerical range.
His plan to analyze the data for further experimentation had failed. Bruce then thought back to Professor Shearer's attitude, he seemed to hint that this energy could be utilized by the Ark Reactor.
However, to Bruce, the Ark Reactor should be a generator. If this unique energy is provided to the Ark Reactor, what could the final output be used for? What will it achieve?
Luckily, he had plenty of experimental materials. Bruce could continue his research slowly. In between his research, seeing Alfred put down the phone, Bruce paused, then said to Alfred, "Alfred, help me record the data, I'm going to check on Aisha."
Having said that, he left, left all his research findings spread out on his lab table, as if to convey a message to Alfred. Alfred watched his departing figure, laughed a little, but didn't walk over to the lab table. Instead, he picked up the phone again and said to the other end,
"Yes, Professor Shearer, they have started taking action. I think you can start preparing too..."
Back in Metropolis, Lex and Clark, our dynamic duo, had already moved on to the third base. Of the first two suspicious locations, one was a diversion, and the other was completely abandoned, showing no recent signs of activity.
The third location was situated underground, beneath a sawmill. As they drove up, Clark frowned. He halted Lex, who was about to exit the car, and standing before him declared, "Something is off. In that underground room, I saw....a statue, an....owl, perhaps? There's energy interference; I can't see very clearly..."
Lex stepped out of the car as Clark opened the door to his pet cage, allowing Bat Cat to perch on his shoulder, while on Lex's shoulder peeked Pikachu. The pair, alongside their cat and mouse companions, made for a rather splendid team.
Lex and Bat Cat were in charge of the intellectual pursuits, while Pikachu and Clark were responsible for physical tasks. Although Pikachu could also be categorized as part of the intelligence team, its electric powers often proved useful.
In this setup, Pikachu's primary role was to keep the members of the intelligence team safe, while Clark led the way, exploring and protecting Lex and Bat Cat who were following him closely.
In such circumstances, Pikachu's combat readiness was just enough. More importantly, it was a long-range mage. If anything looked off, an immediate shock attack had often proved to be an effective way to nip danger in the bud.
Upon arriving at the sawmill, which was still operational, Clark sneakily dug a hole at some distance from the whole sawmill and went in first to avoid being noticed by the workers.
They tunneled their way forward, closing in on the secret room that Clark had seen with his x-ray vision. When they were still a bit far off from the room, Clark blinked hard and reported: "It should be here. That mysterious energy is interfering with my x-ray vision, so it's a bit unclear."
"You said that you saw an....Owl statue?" Bat Cat asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. I can still see it, judging from the silhouette... It's an owl... But why do I find this statue somewhat familiar?" Clark gazed intently into the distance.
Suddenly, he said, "I remember now! Isn't this the same giant owl that we saw earlier in that city full of cats? This statue is identical in form to that owl. I can't be mistaken."
The slits in Bat Cat's eyes narrowed as the crew moved forward, only to be obstructed by a large tightly shut door adorned with bizarre carvings. The thermal rays emanating from Clark's eyes had no effect on the door, its energy was blocked by a black protective shield. He was also cautious not to use brute force, for fear of disrupting the workers above.
"Can you describe the pose of that owl you saw?" Lex turned his head and asked Clark.
"It's a circular room with an altar-like structure in the middle. I heard some screams from there, but I couldn't make out what they were. In the center of the altar, there's a massive owl statue, its head is raised upward, but I can't make out its details, especially the eyes. Whenever I try to focus on the eyes, my vision starts to waiver."
"Do you think your vision is blurred due to the thick energy there?" Lex asked.
"Could be, only such energy can interfere with my vision," Clark responded.
"Let's dig a hole and go around to the back," Lex and Bat Cat quietly discussed and suggested.
Clark followed their lead. Digging was an easy task for him, even when it involved circling the entire room.
In no time, they reached the far end of the door, which was blocked by robust walls same as the front. Rays from Clark's eyes could not break through.
Lex stomped the ground with his foot and asserted, "No, we need to go further down, right beneath the eyes."
Without asking much, Clark continued digging and before long, they had reached the bottom of the room.
There were walls underneath as well, but when Clark attacked with his thermal rays, he found the walls softening and starting to crumble, unlike before.
"The energy core of this protective shield should be in the owl's head and where we are now is the farthest point from the head. The protection here is the weakest; we should strongly focus our attack here," Lex pointed to a brick in the wall and directed.
Clark was clueless about the concept, but seeing the certainty on the faces of Lex and Bat Cat, he decided to follow their lead without much questioning.
His control over his thermal rays was steadier than his physical strength; thus the pillar of light from his eyes was broader but didn't cause any more commotion.
Ensuring that no abnormalities were noticed at the factory above, Clark continued to advance the intensity. After a while, they broke through the wall with a "boom" and crawled upwards through the pile of earth they had dug out, to be greeted by a somewhat suffocating sight.
The most striking feature of the entire room was an owl statue at the center of the altar, and surrounding it were iron cages stacked as far as the eye could see.
And inside the cages...were all cats.