The room was deathly silent as the members of the Justice League were processing the arrival of Dr Fate.
The first to react was Captain Marvel, who got up and knocked his chair to the floor.
"You didn't."
"We have reached an understanding."
"Let him go right now."
"He is not a hostage, he is a willing vessel of my power."
Superman attempted to calm down the situation.
"I'm sure we can get to an understanding."
"This group has proven untrustworthy. You failed to keep your previous promise. If I allow this Zatara to remove the helmet, you will probably intervene and stop him from wearing it again."
Hawkgirl slammed her fist against the table, making a dent.
"We promise to talk about it and we did."
Woder Woman explained further.
"We decided the price was too high."
"Then you are fools, only Zatara was able to understand; he saw what I warned about. Had you listened to me, Hal Jordan would not have suffered the wounds that almost took his life."
Green Arrow almost grabbed his bow, while the already standing Hawkgirl and Hawkman almost jumped at him.
Only Flash, moving fast in front of his friends, stopped an all out brawl from exploding.
"Guys, calm down, fighting him won't solve anything."
Batman redirected the conversation to stop further chaos.
"Why are you here?"
"Unlike you, I keep my promises and Zatara made me promise to join your League and assist you in defeating Android 18."
He held out his open palms, and a golden glow illuminated the area.
"This is the key to completing the shutdown and the restraining chamber."
In one hand red Krtyptonite and on the other blue.
Superman stepped back, avoiding getting close to the red one as its effects on him were extremely dangerous; even knowing that the blue one should stop that from happening, he didn't want to risk it.
Dr Fate explained.
"These two cancel each other, but that is not all. With the right combination, you can create a material that can disrupt the specific energy the android uses. This existed in her world in very small amounts and her creator used it to try to control her."
Fate gave the rocks to Batman.
"Make sure they work fast, as we will need it soon."
Flash asked with curiosity.
"Why don't you magic the thing together?"
"Is not easy; the radiation created while working on it disrupts all kinds of energy, even magic, so it is better to have a scientist work on it."
Batman walked to the door.
"This meeting is adjourned. I must let Star Labs know about this and begin working on creating the shutdown."
John Jones nodded.
"The choosing of new members can wait; this is a far more important matter."
Captain Marvel almost shouted.
"You are not going to ignore how he took over Zatara's body."
The room went silent.
"We agreed that we wouldn't sacrifice a friend for an advantage and now he shows up and everyone is just cool with that?"
Flash was about to talk when John Stewart, the Green Lantern, spoke first.
"We have a situation."
The screens in the meeting room came to life and showed plants growing all over Metropolis.
The heroes were getting ready to depart when Captain Marvel stopped them.
"Hey, we can't let him get away with this."
Captain Atom responded.
"Believe me, nobody here is happy about this, but it was his decision and we can discuss this when the world is not under siege."
In Metropolis, 18 was standing in front of a building, which was a grey, generic office; she had bought it outright as she refused to rent to some human.
Having the main branch on Metropolis was a middle finger to Superman and Luthor, basically saying she can work under their noses and they can't do anything about it.
Now her company was about to start operations, in the next few weeks, she would bring equipment and personal and the place would be alive with activity.
As she smiled, thinking of the future...
As a giant plant crashed into the place, making it crumble, the building fell to pieces. 18 watched like a statue.
Her eyes wide, she took a second to react.
Then pure rage.
"WHOEVER DID THIS IS DEAD."
She took off her company outfit, changing into new clothes and throwing the wig inside the car, which she also bought with the initial investment.
After getting ready, the furious blonde grabbed the vines and flew into the air, carrying them and forcing them up in the sky.
When it was high enough, she hurled it away and followed up with a ki blast so strong that had it hit the city, half of it would have become a crater.
She knew it was overkill, but she was far from done overkilling.
A big screen attached to a nearby building showed the ones responsible: a clown, a gorilla, a green slut, a fossil, a wannabe noble, another clown and a troll, all of them already dead in her eyes.
The Justice League was surprised by her sudden appearance; they were already busy dealing with the plants and 18 showing up was the worse possible scenario.
Superman flew to confront her, knowing he was the only one who could delay her to allow the others to save the city.
"18, what are you doing here?"
She looked angrily at him.
"I don't have time for you, supersimp, I have to go break some necks."
No more words, she flew away to go find the so-called Injustice League.
The plants were already spreading all over the world, so the superheroes had their hands full with the disaster.
Batman got the call as he was reloading his special plant killing weapons.
"Superman, I am on my way back."
"Batman 18 was here."
That gave him pause.
"Is she related to what is happening?"
Thinking of the team and how they were in charge of destroying the main base of the Injustice League, he got worried.
If 18 and these villains were working together, the teenagers were walking into a death sentence.
"No, it doesn't look like it. She destroyed one of the vines and flew away."
"Did she say anything about her goal?"
"Only that she was going to hurt somebody."
As worrying as that was, they were already frantically trying to stop the vines and couldn't spare the manpower to go stop her.
Still, he decided to warn the team about her in case she somehow found the central command hub.
"Batman to Aqualad, we have a situation."
The radio only gave him static.
Should he continue with the plan or abandon it and go help the teens?
At that moment, the team was already engaging with the Injustice League, the villains had asked for ransom and released enhanced bioengineered plants all over the world.
They set up base in a swamp and now the team was trying to destroy the main vines used to control all the others.
Atomic skull, Count Vertigo, Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-humanite, Wotan and Black Adam, together they have the world on a chokehold and they needed to be stopped.
A white gorilla with its brain exposed was firing a hail of bullets at them while the vines and trees around moved, trying to grab them.
Aqualad was frantically moving and avoiding the attacks when he saw Black Adam come flying and attack Superboy.
A white wolf jumped and bit the neck of the supervillain, distracting him long enough for Superboy to hit him square in the jaw.
Artemis and Robin went ahead while the rest of the team was delaying the others.
Miss Martian was using her psychic attacks to destroy the vines, keeping them at bay and the new member of the team was engaging Wotan and holding him up with her magic.
"Retaw dna dniw wolb mih yawa."
A swamp water tornado rushed towards Wotan.
He reacted by chanting.
"fulgur exitium"
Lightning crashed into the tornado, exploding and making it disappear.
"Child, you play with magic and fumble around, your master must have been a fool or a liar if he let you come here."
Zatana was full of hatred, towards him, towards Fate and towards the world that took her father; the words cut into her like a knife.
"You don't know anything."
Golden light concentrated on her hands as she shot a magic attack that Wotan stopped with a shield.
As the battle grew more chaotic, Robin was getting closer to the base and was getting ready to set up bombs on it to destroy the root of the problem.
Before he got there, a yellow flash of light hit the building, followed by a blast that made the ground tremble.
Robin could hear Atomic Skull screaming in pain as he was still inside.
The fight stopped and they looked up as 18 came flying and landed in the middle.
"You are the ones who did it."
She looked annoyed to be here and realizing her outfit was stained with swamp water, her eyes glowed with a dangerous glint.
"You kids get out of my way. I have no interest in playing with you today."
Aqualad was hesitant to leave, but the android didn't give him time to think.
She exploded forward towards Black Adam, who crossed his arms to block a punch he saw coming at his face, 18 stopped and changed her attack spin kicking him on the ribs and following him as he flew to the side.
Before he could land, the Android grabbed his leg and slammed him against a rock like a wet towel with enough force to create a massive wave of swamp water that swept away everyone standing nearby.
Wotan shot a magic blast that 18 absorbed without looking back as she destroyed several plants that were trying to snare her.
Ultra humanite came running and got tackled by a wolf who bit his shoulder, followed by Superboy, who flew and slammed into him with his shoulder, sending the gorilla screaming into the air.
"I hate monkeys."
Before the white ape could get up, 18 landed on his stomach, causing a sickening crunching sound.
"Me too."
She aimed her hand at the exposed brain of the villain, but before she could finish him, she felt dizzy.
Looking back, a man wearing a green cape and a suit was creating some kind of wave that was actually affecting her.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Wotan used magic to tie her leg with an energy rope and then slammed her towards some vines that Ivy used to try to restrain her.
18 wasn't stopped for long, incinerating the vines and absorbing the magic.
As she was getting ready to attack again a smoke bomb exploded next to her and a green cloud of Joker Venom covered her.
"Nobody likes a party crasher, now sit and wait while we kill these meddling kids."
The smoke cleared and 18 was standing there, surrounded by a ki shield that blocked the attack.
The Joker picked up a weapon and aimed at her.
"Maybe we need something with more punch."
He fired and a missile with a happy face painted on it flew straight at her, hitting her on the face.
The explosion was stronger than anything that small should be; the others took cover and when it ended, they saw the result.
18 was standing on the same spot, her head covered in smoke, but inside the black cloud, you could see her eyes staring at the clown.
Joker was still laughing when the Android vanished in the blink of an eye.
All the ones present scanned the surroundings, trying to see where she was going to appear again.
A whisper came from behind.
"You are the most troublesome."
There was silence followed by a splash of dirty water.
Vertigo's body was still standing, blood spraying as the head fell with its eyes wide open in surprise.
18 had jumped back to avoid the mess and was now showing her ki blade with a smile.
"You are garbage and you made a big mistake."
She moved fast again, in a blink, she was in front of Joker.
"You messed with my stuff."
A leg sail through the air as the clown fell on his ass, grabbing the bleeding stump.
"Ahhhh."
He used the fake flower to spray acid, 18 calmly blocked with her arm and the sleeve of her jacket melted.
"You make me laugh, but only because it's funny how weak you are."
Black Adam tried to tackle her, 18 turned and gripped his face before slamming him against the floor and shooting a ki blast directly in his mouth, sending him underground.
She raised her hand and charged another attack that she threw inside the hole where Adam was buried.
The entire swamp was experiencing an earthquake; the floor bubbled like a balloon as the detonation happened under it.
Ultra-humanite was busy crawling in a sad attempt to get away when he heard someone walking and getting closer.
"Almost forgot about you."
She aimed a finger at his head when, suddenly, a tune interrupted her; it was an electronic metal song.
The blonde stopped and took her phone.
"What?"
Someone had called her and she wasn't happy about it.
"So what if they are your lackeys?"
The teen heroes who were getting ready to intervene were now seeing her talking like she was talking with an employee who had interrupted a meeting.
"Like I care if you pay for the damage, that isn't the point."
Ultra humanite was begging that whoever was on the other line could convince her to stand down.
Atomic Skull, Vertigo, Black Adam, Joker and Ultra humanite were down; the team was hoping no more blood would be spilled today.
Aqualad took a bold step and addressed the Android.
"18, we promise they will be put in jail for their crimes, let's leave it at this today."
She took her phone away from her ear and glanced at him.
"You are still here?"
It was an honest reaction; she was so focused on dismantling the idiots that pissed her off that she had forgotten the teens were there.
"I don't care, go away."
She signaled with her hand, dismissing him outright and going back to her call.
"I told you the only compensation I want is their heads."
"Edalb tuc ffo reh daeh."
A sword manifested in the air and flew at 18, aimed at her neck.
She used two fingers to catch it and looked at her attacker.
"I remember someone using similar powers; he was way stronger than you."
Zatana was glaring defiantly at 18.
"That was my father and because of you, I may have lost him forever."
"Ok."
18 shot a ki blast at Wotan, who was trying to teleport away. As soon as she confirmed that the sorcerer was still stuck in place, she changed her attention to the call again.
"This is your fault as well. Next time you are gonna set up something like this, how about a heads up?"
Full of hatred, Zatana prepared to fire another attack when she saw 18 staring back.
"If you attack me again, I'll kill you and then I'll kill all your friends as well."
It wasn't an idle threat; Zatana was aware of the truth of the words the android said.
She wanted to keep fighting to punish the one responsible for her father's absence, but she couldn't risk her friends because of selfishness.
Seeing the girl giving up, 18 refocused on the conversation with Savage.
He was offering favors, money, compensation and everything he could think of, and she wasn't interested.
Knowing he was going to try to manipulate her burned any chance of her considering cooperation.
Yet Vandal Savage wasn't the type to give up and he tried something different.
"You owe me one 18."
She remembered Psimon and despite the intention behind it, she indeed got a big favor from him.
If she could clean that, maybe letting these lowlifes escape alive could be worth it.
"Ok, but I don't owe you anything anymore."
She ended the call and was about to leave when.
"Android 18, stop where you are."
Superman descended together with the other members of the League, seeing the devastating aftermath of the fight, he predicted that a hard battle was coming.
"Surrender, you are outnumbered and there is no escape this time."
She smiled.
"You are assuming I want to escape."
Dr Fate spoke to her.
"Lazuli of the Red Ribbon army, your path of chaos ends today."
The others looked at him in confusion, while 18, grinding her teeth, responded.
"I told you not to use that name."
"When we saw each other last time, I was at my weakest. Now I have a proper vessel and I am ready for you."
Zatana watched as her father was puppeteered by the helmet and Arthemist, sensing her agony, got closer and put a hand on her shoulder.
18 was getting ready to battle everyone when she heard the Joker.
"You are all ruining the celebrations, now I'm popping the balloons."
The vines exploded, releasing green gas and Batman jumped and punched him on the jaw, knocking him out.
"It's Joker Venom, don't breathe."
Dr Fate could deal with it, but he was busy keeping an eye on 18.
She was focused on the lord of order as well, as the gas filled the area, the Android was thinking of her next move.
(Should I take this chance to leave or stay and fight?)
The Green Lantern used his power to create a fan and disperse the chemical cloud. 18 glanced at him, distracted long enough for Dr Fate to make his move.
A golden light appeared under the blonde and she reacted by putting her hands on it to absorb the energy, but it was solid rock.
A gate opened and a hand grabbed her, pulling her inside.
Dr Fate followed and the gate closed, leaving both the heroes and villains frozen in place.
Green Arrow was the first to break free from the confused state.
"What the hell just happened?"
(CHAPTER IMAGE.)
Sorry for not uploading a chapter last week, I was very sick.