Arias's press conference was brief and accurate, delivering his message and answering a few mundane questions.
For formality, he even brought Terra, his meta-human adopted daughter and demi-god princess, as if to prove his stance toward creating a place that fully accepted and welcomed children with special talents.
One had to know that most abandoned children in recent years stemmed from them developing special powers or having ties to different origins.
People feared what they didn't know and shunned it. The shunned turned to crime, thereby dirtying the names of their kind for good.
Because of this, it was no surprise most were cast away to the streets or orphanages, if they were lucky. Now, a trend of weaponizing them was quickly building, and there was fear on both sides.
What Arias presented to this predicament was a solution—one in which people didn't even need to pay.
The normal people would have their homes safe, while the outcasts would get a whole new world of their own. Even if you hated metas, it was incredibly hard to put up an argument against Arias's idea, given the state of the world.
That sort of calculated planning and insight was what caused Luthor to fall—the self-proclaimed smartest man on the planet.
As if that weren't enough, by adopting a former victim of child meta-human trafficking at such a young age, people couldn't help but see him as both a saint and a fool... the perfect cover to grow under.
The people love you, but enemies don't see you as a big threat... until it's too late and the foundation is laid.
As Arias finished the press conference, he gave some final words of encouragement to those metas or aliens facing familial issues.
This went out to the few cases where parents or guardians supported their special children but were shunned too.
Employment became an issue, schools lied about available places, neighborhoods had extra police patrols in your area, and so many other signs.
A small but noteworthy point that Arias chose to add after encountering Raven and her family issues.
… and that was the gist of it.
With these points put across, Arias could now just wait. It was already too late for even the government to intervene, because if they did, they needed to bring with them a solution that was better than Arias's.
And at the time, his was perfect—not only because of its structure but also due to the funds spent, totaling billions of dollars.
With the term of office in the nation coming to an end, the budgets for that year and the following year would have already been set.
This basically meant the country was saying they had a solution, which was essentially Arias's, but they couldn't do it immediately like him. The funds would also have to come from an increase in taxes following a new tax law that took metas and aliens into consideration.
People were dumb and oblivious, yes, but even they would notice such a pointless thing.
The only option left would be for the president to not care about the people's happiness and move forward with it. But by doing so, he would be hated by the masses and lose the upcoming election.
There was no winning—not at this stage of Arias's plan. All sides were useless and could now only start to plan for the new world variable that was Arias Markovic.
…
With the conference done, Arias could now only wait and focus on the relations with his entourage for the free week.
With Slade, Rose, Terra, Diana, and even Mercy present, the only person missing was Harley, who had just slept in after drinking herself silly and causing perverse chaos and raunchy humor.
Arias looked at this setup and couldn't imagine a single scenario where this grouping would fit. Lunch? A movie? As much as Arias was good at dealing with people, dealing with them all at once was no easy task.
Before he could come up with something, though, Mercy's phone rang, and a frown appeared on her face. "…Alright, I'll get back to you," she replied before hanging up.
Arias didn't ask and just looked at her with a brow raised, as if asking if the call was meant for him. She nodded and revealed, "It was. Sounds like a team working on drilling in one of the zones has stumbled upon one of Poison Ivy's lairs, and she's pissed."
The name rang familiar to Arias for some of her stunts in the past years, but she was rather quiet and not a major threat, so not once did she come up in his mind.
"What's the damage? Isn't a squad of police enough to get her caught?" Arias asked, not seeing this as a big issue.
Given his newfound power, what passed as dangerous to him was himself. And there weren't exactly many like him…
Slade frowned upon hearing the name and comment. "They can't. Her body can make drugs that make men want to serve her. Women too, if they like cooch. And in America, most women don't mind cooch."
Arias gave a subtle nod to Slade for his rather insightful example.
"You sound like you're immune, so we can stop by and take care of it." Just like that, Arias decided to use this minor event as both a distraction and entertainment.
…
Arriving at the site, Arias and the group found a blockade around a tunnel. Approaching it closer, they saw some officers who quickly explained the situation in detail.
The summary of it being, while mapping the structures below, the team stumbled into one of Ivy's lairs and, for whatever reason, a conflict broke loose, with a few injured coming out and the rest being held hostage.
Because it was happening on Arias's property and the police present were under his payroll, the public was unaware of the transpiring events.
With the brief explanation done, no plan was even made as the group entered the tunnels. With Wonder Woman present, it was practically a surety that they were safe.
Slade only solidified that.
It didn't take long for them to come across cocoons of sorts mounted to the walls, each of them having a humanoid shape.
The women all looked at the sight with disgust, while Slade was unfazed and Arias curious.
"Well, well, isn't this an interesting bunch."
The sound of leaves flapping loudly echoed in the tunnel as the ground began to shake ever so slightly.
Soon, a large set of vines with incredibly large flowers and spores appeared all around. The voice emanated from the largest flower, which looked like it hadn't even bloomed.
That same flower came forward and opened slowly to reveal the slender, green figure of an alluring woman. She had a sort of seductive and mischievous look on her face as she gazed at Arias's odd group, recognizing a few faces.
The first being Wonder Woman, then Mercy. "Wow, two of the women on my 'to get intimate with' list have come to see moi? I'm flattered."
Wonder Woman gave Ivy a cautious look, while Mercy looked ready to throw hands. But the one to respond to Ivy was Slade, who looked very irritated.
"Just let me deal with her quick so we don't waste our time. I mean, she's literally just a horny woman who thinks trees are alive and we should eat oxygen. Only, she has green skin and is a meta. In other words, a vegetarian gay feminist with superpowers."
Ivy frowned at Slade's comment. She knew exactly who he was and how dangerous he could be. Provoking him wasn't a good idea, but she was stubborn, with her own set of confidence.
So she clapped back. "Says the glorified bodyguard working for the cliché billionaire rich boy with a tiny cock. Move an inch, and I'll bring the place down on you and him. Then you can say bye-bye to your sugar daddy."
Slade wasn't amused as he reached for his sword. "Lady, you're green, you live underground, and you drug women into eating your cooch. You're not a villain, you're just a really homey tree with a gender crisis."
Before Slade could attack, though, Diana took the liberty of charging into Ivy and bashing her with a frontal attack. She got sent flying back into the concrete, causing a minor quake.
"I'm unsure of your odd requests, but you dared lie about my dear friend and his large, well-shaped manhood. I cannot allow such bold provocation and disrespect to go unpunished."
Mercy and Rose, the two most grounded people, looked at this scene as if it were a pointless hassle, while Terra looked worried for Arias as she spoke.
"If the walls come down, uh, just stay close and I'll protect you. Okay?... uh, Dad." She offered awkwardly, trying to avoid looking in his direction.
Arias smiled at the gesture and didn't make things awkward for her. He just gave her hair a gentle pat. "That's sweet of you to offer. I'll do that."
Following his words, Ivy pushed her figure out of the debris Wonder Woman had caused and threatened, "Okay, princess. Wanna play rough? I'll show you rough."
Those words were short-lived, as an energetic Wonder Woman fighting with a sense of justice was not something Ivy could match.
In a short exchange, the fight was concluded, with Wonder Woman emerging victorious and Ivy ending up bound and struggling in the hold of her lasso.
"Friend Arias, how do you wish to deal with her? It's your name that she lied upon," Wonder Woman asked while holding a blade toward Ivy's neck.
Arias approached the struggling Ivy with Slade by his side, who wore a mocking grin. "Damn, all that hype and show for nothing. You see, why are you gae?"
Ivy didn't appreciate Slade's mocking and bit back. "Don't look so smug when you big boys let the woman do the heavy lifting for you. And you call yourselves men?"
Slade was unfazed by her words—he won, and she lost, simple. So his reply to her words was, "Yes. But, you, are gae."