Lex Luthor was sitting on a couch with a glass of bourbon in his hand as he watched the live feed his drones were transmitting to his screen.
The sight of a bloody Superman was a rare and delightful event. He couldn't help but smile as he witnessed the green light hit the Kryptonian.
"Should have done that from the beginning."
His pawn was doing a number on the man of steel and he was the one who made sure it happened.
It wasn't exactly the way he imagined, but it was good enough to enjoy the show.
They have prepared everything perfectly; the hostages were all random citizens, the bombs were untraceable and the android thought it was her idea.
Of course, the Justice League would know someone was behind it, but knowing something and proving it were two very different things.
Luthor was very satisfied with the developments. Having the android fight Superman was a test to check her capabilities and she had exceeded all his expectations.
Just that massive beam attack was enough to make her a valuable piece. If he played his cards right, he might be able to get the technology needed to create his own androids. Maybe once he improved the process and made sure it was safe, he could give himself an android body.
He toyed with the idea in the past. Metalo was a failure, losing all sensation and becoming a robot was not what he was looking for.
But a body that never gets tired and it's strong enough to fight superman whitout relaying on kryptonite or red sun energy, that also keeps all human feelings and sensations, well that sounded perfect.
He even realized that the blonde was older than her looks would suggest, making the technology even more desirable.
He got the information about her origins and knowing the process had a low success rate was the only roadblock.
He could use clones to experiment and perfect the process, but getting human subjects was cheaper and faster. He was already calculating how many people he would need to get it right when he saw what was happening on the screen.
18 was beating Superman up. He tried to get up when another green laser hit him, followed by a kick on the ribs.
Her ability to absorb energy and reuse it later was very useful. He had shot his kryptonite rays at her and she absorbed them and saved them to use later.
If she used it from the beginning, the fight would have ended long ago.
Lex wasn't blind to the danger this android represented. LexCorp was already working in secret to create a shutdown and containment chamber based on the schematics obtained by his inside man.
It was risky making him get something that was well kept and protected; it could have brought attention to the spy or even exposed him, yet it was well worth the risk.
He wasn't the only one who wanted to study that woman, or even stop her if she went out of control. Once he had the improved versions of the countermeasures, he would provoke her into a rampage and make sure that everyone saw Lexcorp stop her.
Unstable factors like this should be dealt with appropriately, despite what Savage and Ra's al Ghul think about it.
Lex let out a chuckle as he saw the events happening, just enjoying the moment and planning for the future.
Meanwhile, the entire Justice League was busy trying to find the hostages. The image of the hostages was obtained remotely from 18's cellphone, as it was a regular phone, it wasn't hard to get it.
Batman was able to find the general area where they were by noticing a certificate from a school on the outskirts of Metropolis. He didn't see the name of the student, but it looked new enough to belong to one of the children.
Checking the school records, he found two students, brother and sister, who matched the description and he got their address.
He knew the family could have moved to a different place, but this was the best clue he had so far.
He saw a van parked in front of the house. It was a cable installation company. The problem was that it didn't have any tools, no ladder, no cables, or anything visible that showed it had been used recently and there was some kind of small antenna that was poorly hidden on top of it.
He got closer and checked the inside and found it empty, except for a guy carrying an assault rifle and checking a computer.
A small anesthetic smoke bomb later batman was checking the laptop, he used the information to trace the signal and found other bombs.
"This is Batman to all members of the Justice League. I am transmitting the coordinates of 4 bombs. Find them and either disarm the explosives or move the hostages to a safe place."
The others responded and started to move. He trusted his friends to save the others, so he entered the house to take care of the bomb there.
He quietly took down the guards and reached the family, who were tied up to chairs in the living room of the house. A camera was pointed at them and the bomb was in the middle of the room.
5 people in total, 2 adults, 2 kids and an elderly woman, they were gagged and as soon as they saw him, they tried to talk.
Now he needed to disarm the explosives whitout been seen, he reached into his belt and took a small device, he carefully opened the camera, inserting it into it.
He got footage from the laptop and the device would play it for 10 minutes, instead of the real video.
Then he walked to the bomb to disarm the explosives. It took him a moment, but it was simple enough to do, then he untied the father and was about to do the same with the others when the man frantically spoke.
"She is not with us; my wife died years ago."
Too late.
Batman was hit on the back by a fist made of clay, he went through the wall as Clayface revealed himself.
"You didn't think it would be that easy rigth batman."
With a growl, the monster charged at him.
In the other locations, the heroes heard the armed guys speaking to each other.
"The Batman had found us, kill the hostages and leave the scene."
No time to lose, 4 bombs were about to be detonated, flash grabbed one and ran outside the city before leaving it explode on the ocean.
Half Jordan used his green lantern ring to contain the explosion in a bubble.
Wonder Woman used her lasso to swing the bomb and throw it into the sky, where it exploded without damaging anything.
Zatara teleported the last one away using his magic.
Flash was already coming back, running on water towards the city.
"I'm on my way to help superman"
Then, in front of him, the water became ice. He tried to stop, but he slipped and fell on his butt, then he got shot with an ice beam.
Wonder Woman was about to fly away when she got bitten on the arm by a snake and she was overcome by dizziness.
Green Lantern was tackled in the air and then struck by lightning.
Zatara was almost hit by an exploding javelin.
The only one that was free was Captain Marvel and he was going to arrive in a few minutes.
The rest of the league was dealing with a riot in the supervillain prison Belle Reve, where the impact of 18 crashing into the wall created a hole in it and caused the power to go out long enough for some of the prisoners to become free.
Back in metropolis the people saw 18 floating above as she was holding a bleeding and barely conscious Superman.
She landed and dragged him in front of the Daily Planet, throwing him like a trash bag and shooting him with another green laser.
Cameras and news crews were already there and they all saw 18 put her boot on Superman's head and pressed on the ground, creating cracks like a spider's web.
She looked at the cameras and was annoyed; the media was always a source of insufferable commentary; they hide and say things they wouldn't say to her face. Even before the androids attacked humanity, the news was just a mouthpiece for the powerful.
Still, this time she could use them.
18 raised her hand an shoot, the explosions rang around her, cars, buildings and streets were destroyed.
Superman tried to get up, just to be stomped on the neck and forced to stay down.
When she finished, the area looked like a war zone. The cameras showed the world the scene, through the smoke, you could see the cold, shining eyes of the Android.
Even the most reckless reporter stayed silent, not daring to move for fear of attracting the attention of this monster.
That was until the sound of high heels broke the silence.
"SUPERMAN."
Lois came running and tried to get close to her loved one. Her boss grabbed her shoulder, and then others stopped her from getting closer.
18 looked at her and remembered something.
"I remember now, weren't you trying to interview me, cmon what is your next question?"
Lois had tears in her eyes as she glared at the blonde.
"Why are you doing this?"
That was the question; it was what everyone alive long enough to talk to them had ever asked.
Why? In the past, she would have allowed 17 to just respond with why not?, She even answered that herself before, but that felt insufficient at the moment.
She remembered that rope that forced her to speak, the way she answered, a programmed mission, something she didn't know about, could it be that simple?
No, her actions, their actions were their own. The days of being powerless were over; her brother didn't die because of some order the old bastard left behind.
Now she needed more, something to prove that she was in control; she remembered the humiliation of having to run away from the Justice League.
She wanted to pay them back and so she used the so-called light to get what she wanted.
"To prove that I am the strongest and to show you meat puppets what happens when you get in my way."
She let go of Superman and moved a step back.
Lois took advantage of the moment of distraction to escape from the people holding her.
She kneeled on the ground and made sure Clark was ok.
He just smiled at her to reassure her and when the others saw the Android not make a move to stop Lois, they helped the superhero to get up.
18 spoke again.
"So don't forget your place."
Then she moved, her hand covered in energy, forming a sword, went straight into the back of Superman and appeared on his chest on the other side, splashing blood on Lois's face.
Then she removed it and started floating away.
Superman coughed up blood and fell to the ground, while people started screaming.
18 raised her hand and energy started gathering on her palm, as she prepared to destroy the entire city.
(Are we no better than our programming?)
The voice echoed in her head and she stopped the attack. She felt a strong headache and grabbed her head.
Then she flew away, leaving the city in chaos.
Paramedics arrived at the scene, but they didn't know what to do as Superman was bleeding out on the street. What even is Superman's blood type?
They did their best to stop the bleeding and give him as much first aid as possible.
At the same time batman was fighting Clayface, he dodged the attacks and used batarangs to distract him, finding an opening to use a taser to defeat the creature.
He used his communicator to contact the others.
"How is everyone?"
Green Lantern answered.
"I was attacked by black Adam, but he suddenly stopped and left."
Wonder Woman talked next.
"Copperhead and his snakes ambushed me. I took him down, but the poison has me dizzy."
Flash talked next.
"I don't know who attacked me, but it was an ice base villain. I woke up in the middle of an iceberg."
Zatara also reported.
"The sports master attacked me; he also escaped just now."
Captain Marvel's voice came desperate and distressed.
"GUYS, WE NEED HELP."
Batman kept a cool voice.
"What is happening?"
"Superman, he got stabbed, they stopped the bleeding, but he is getting worse."
The other members were moving in a panic, yet Batman knew they wouldn't arrive on time.
"Flash take superman to his Fortress of Solitude, the automatons will help him better than any hospital."
"Got it."
Flash ran so fast he thought he would end up traveling back in time. He arrived at the fortress, and the robots welcomed him inside.
They stabilize Superman and use a machine to focus solar energy into his body, his natural Kryptonian healing factor allowing him to survive the otherwise fatal wounds.
He was getting better but would need to stay for a while before he could recover.
Days later, the entire world was still talking about it, and videos and photos of the events of that day were everywhere.
Metropolis was still recovering. The area in front of the Daily Planet was wrecked, there were no deaths despite the random attacks from the Android, there were dozens of injuries and millions in property damage.
Lex Luthor offered to pay for the damage and even wished for Superman's safety in a press conference.
Clark Kent was among the injured and absent from work; nobody actually paid much attention to his absence.
Images of the 18's attack leaving the atmosphere were already spreading online and the video of Superman getting stabbed from side to side was getting shared everywhere.
People all over the world were terrified of the possibility that the android could visit their city and go on a rampage.
Criticism bombarding the league for failing to stop the threat twice, the confidence in the heroes was on a all time low.
Vandal Savage observed the entire situation in the multitude of screens around him; multiple people were in the conference, all observing the same news.
"So our new friend accomplished her goal and is now more willing to work with us."
"Zhe important part is her volatility, can we trust her?"
"Can any of us trust the others? As long as our goals align is just a matter of not getting in each other's way."
"Well, I'd better get something out of this, this whole thing delayed my plan, and that's not fun."
"It was quite beneficial for us, even here, the news of the surface chaos is known, our enemies are more vulnerable than ever."
"Those who were in hiding are growing bolder by the minute and with the news of the super criminals who managed to escape Belle Reve, the Justice League will be busier than ever."
"Add to that ze fear of being attacked by ze android and our operations would go mostly under ze radar."
"Metropolis is in chaos, but more importantly, people are worried and that can help us grow our influence. What I want to know is, what would we ask from our friend?"
Vandal Savage, who stayed quiet so far, finally spoke.
"We can't request something too big; we must gain her trust before starting to count her amongst our ranks. For now, we can start with something simple and interesting."
"She is looking to avoid boredom, so we make sure she is entertained and we slowly make her work with us to help our goals."
The meeting went on for a while, making adjustments to current plans and creating new ones. By the end, the members were satisfied with the progress and left to work on their individual activities.
While that was happening, 18 was sitting in a luxury hotel room, she was getting her injuries checked by a few doctors; she would be fine just waiting for her injuries to heal by themselves. Her body was already almost completely recovered, but they insisted on her being checked by medical professionals to make sure she was totally ok.
They actually also sent engineers and scientists, but she refused to let those examine her.
She wasn't a naive girl; she was aware of the interest in her because of Doctor Gero's technology. They were getting blood samples and DNA, but that meant nothing without the technical details of her cybernetic implants.
And she was not going to give them that, so she played along pretending to be clueless, as long as she could use them.
Once the medical staff left the room, she took a shower and turned on the TV. It had been a few days and they were still talking about her. She didn't care all that much, but it was amusing how they blew it out of proportion.
In her original world, she destroyed entire cities, killing the people one by one; in comparison, this was just a single fight and the majority of the city was still standing.
Later on, she would make this look like a wrestling match compared to a nuclear strike; it was all a show and they all bought the tickets.
While thinking that her cellphone rang.
"What do you want?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Get to the point."
"As you wish, we are doing something, and we wanted to invite you to participate."
"I don't follow orders."
"That's fine, you don't have to, but it must be boring to stay in that hotel room, don't you want to do something interesting? I promise it would be worth your time."
"I'm listening."
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