Disclaimer: I don't own DC

This was one of my favourite chapters I recently wrote. Because it gave me a chance to think about the new characters I was introducing, in particular the introduction of a new villain (whom will be even more important that Nihlus, and even Yggdrasil himself)

Planet of the Bravest 6

Chapter 3: Gathering

Mars obit-Fortress Omega

Yggdrasil looked at the holographic screens in front of him. Argus and Xixion stood aside, and other shadowed figures were around them. One holographic screen showed a prison bio of Andromeda, another showed a report on the Osterman incident, and a third was a set of paper files on scientists. Yggdrasil waved the images aside and turned to his Sentries.

"Nihlus has redeemed himself, this intelligence he has gained will increase our chances of purifying the Earth," the Sentry explained.

"The Magna Sentry is attempting to gather those with the intellect capable of reversing the Korwraith process," Argus said.

"Impossible," one of the shadows said.

He stepped out, revealing a Solaran in green armour, tubes running from his arm pits to his wrists. The sentry stood indignantly, crossing his arms together and huffing.

"The process cannot be reversed, it alters the very DNA of the subject," he stated.

"You're full of shit Orga," said another shadow.

He walked out, throwing up and down a metallic ball. Spikes of blue fur extended from the back of his head and elbows. A metallic tail extended from his waist, small like a cats. The shape of his boots also resembled bent paws. A diamond shaped visor covered his face, and ears extended from the top of his head.

"Must you use the human profanities Selim?" asked a third shadow.

The man was taller than everyone else, and thinner too. His black armour had a white stripe down the chest, and the armour shaped itself around the waist like a coat. On his helmet was a single eye, shaped like a monocle, with a wire on it. He removed from his belt a type of stop watch, a wire attaching it to his waist like the chain.

"And why must that man always be late?"

"Have a care Cogorth, we wouldn't know half of what we know about Earth if it wasn't for him being in deep cover," Argus said.

"Don't forget either that he can kick your ass, in a fight and in chess," spoke a much higher pitched voice.

Shorter than the others was a sentry whose armour looked more like a leather suit. She had her white gloved hands resting at the back of her head, a head covered by a purple helmet. A white scarf was wrapped around her neck, the black visor across her eyes had teeth marks like some kind of dinosaur.

"Senta," Cogorth groaned in dismay at her use of the language.

A growl nearly shook the room. Shorter, but more larger than Cogorth stepped a brown armour man with a hunched back, arms bigger than his body and a backpack with containers on them. His helmet had bull style horns on them.

"Easy Taurus," Xixion said.

"He hasn't been out in a while, you can't blame him for being like this," Senta said.

Yggdrasil raised his head and then nodded it.

"Another communication my lord?" Cogorth asked.

"Yes, it seems Sepodiro will not be joining us," the master of the Sentry's said.

"A shame, I do so enjoy his company."

"And getting ass kicked at chess," Senta added, causing Cogorth to groan.

"He'll be updated later with Andromeda and Nihlus. Xixion I want you to continue to manipulate the Olympians, we must have them fight the super heroes," Yggdrasil said.

"Great, another job that I hate!"

"Argus, look into the network of S.T.A.R. labs, see if there is a way to cripple their support of the heroes."

"I've always wanted to analyse their technology," Argus said.

"Senta, you will free Andromeda and then link up with Arisia!"

"Um sir, you know Andromeda and I don't get along right? Plus Arisia, that means you intend to use 'that' plan right?"Senta asked.

"Don't worry, she won't succeed, but she will cause enough chaos to weaken the defences of Earth," Yggdrasil stated.

"What about the rest of us?" Selim asked with Cogorth beside him.

Taurus snorted and stomped his hooves.

"You will remain where you are, until there is a use for you," Yggdrasil said, making Taurus cower with a simple look.

"You understand lord Yggdrasil, there's a good chance that at this very moment, the heroes of Earth are preparing themselves for whatever we throw at them," Orga explained.

"Oh I know they're preparing," Yggdrasil mused and turned to the view screen of Earth.

S.T.A.R labs Detroit

Cyborg retracted his portal generator as he stepped out of the boom tube. He looked at his father Silas Stone and half smiled. The older man was wearing his lab coat, and was stood alongside Professor Martin Stein, Emil Hamilton and on his wheelchair Harrison Wells.

"Welcome back Victor," Silas said.

"Thanks, so you guys got here first?" Cyborg asked.

"Emil and I took the same car, Sarah is just coming with another one of our guests," Martin said.

The door on the far side of the room opened and Sarah Charles emerged. She was an intern for S.T.A.R. labs. She smiled warmly upon seeing Victor, who smiled back. Then his face fell when he saw that crawling behind her was Ultra-humanite. Two guards in heavy gear stood behind him, but Victor knew they didn't have a chance against the albino's strength.

"I must say, this is a very nice set up, quaint, not at all like my own lab," Humanite said. "And you've brought a hero to watch me? I've come here haven't I? What does it take to earn trust?"

"Actually Ultra-Humanite, Victor here is a child genius, his IQ was on your level before he got connected to the grid. He just makes time to be a kid and laugh with his friends too," a voice said above the group.

Humanite snarled, seeing Superman and Power girl fly through the sky light.

"So you are here to watch me then?" he asked.

"Nope, we're part of the science team," Superman said.

"People tend to forget we're really smart too," Power girl muttered.

"Doctor Stone, the convoy from Arkham has arrived, as has Mr Fox's chopper," one of Stone's assistants said.

"Very well, Sarah go and see to Mr Fox, I'll handle the transfer of the Arkham prisoners."

"Yes Doctor Stone," Sarah nodded her head before she walked out of the lab.

A few minutes passed and Silas came back with four figures in orange prison suits behind him.

"Doctor Fries, Doctor Isley, Doctor Langstrom, I regret the circumstances we are working together. I've long be an admirer of your work," Silas explained.

"Spare me your forced politeness, I am never regretful of missed opportunities nor do I care for yours, I am only here for what this Korwraith can add to my own research," Freeze explained.

"Ditto, I've heard of emotions being amplified, but to be suppressed completely, some form of hypnosis prior to mutation perhaps," Dr Crane, minus his Scarecrow mask hummed.

"Being here sickens me, S.T.A.R. labs bears responsibility for corrupting the planet with its particle accelerator," Ivy huffed.

"I regret that greatly, it created a string of metahumans and a crime wave, as well as the lives it had ruined before that," Wells said.

"Oh I care not for the lives of mere humans, the air in Central city became thin, plants struggle to grow there, one day they will have vengeance," Ivy explained, and the three other Gotham criminals shook their heads in frustration.

"I for one am honoured to be here Dr Stone, not just because of what studies into the Korwraith could do for my efforts to cure myself, but also because I too admire your work," Dr Kirk Langstrom explained.

The least violent of the criminals, Kirk was fighting a losing battle against his bestial nature. A few years ago, he was a gifted scientist studying DNA splicing. He believed a bat's ability to use echo location could be spliced with a human, regenerating defected or damaged ears to cure deafness, or using echo location itself to assist the blind. Partially deaf himself, he used himself as a test subject. Now he fought a seemingly endless battle with his bestial side, the 'Man-bat'.

"Why is Scarecrow here?" Cyborg asked.

"Though he has a Doctorate in psychology, Crane has studied emotion manipulation before, we're not quite sure how the emotions of the Korwraith's are being suppressed yet," Stein explained.

"Ivy and Langstrom have both studied mutation and transformation on a cellular level, Fries has also treated many diseases over his career," Power girl added.

"And killed quite a few people too," Lucius said bitterly as he walked into the lab.

A phone near Stein suddenly rang. The scientist picked it up, listened for a while and then nodded his head, holding the phone away. Atom suddenly jumped out of the phone, growing to his full size.

"Nice of you to come Dr Palmer," Stein said.

"Who else are we waiting for?" Lucius asked.

"The man who brought us together and who else but..." Emil never finished what he had to say, as the far door opened and in came Lex Luthor.

"Good to know you haven't started without the truly intelligent people," Lex smirked.

He walked into the room, hands behind his back and grinning as he walked past the Arkham inmates.

"Doctor Fries, your idea to use miniaturised cyrogenerators to suppress the growth of cancers from inside the body was simply genius. I'd also love to get a look at that freeze gun, I have a few ideas on how to improve that suit of yours," Lex explained.

"Why is Luthor here? He is an agent of industry, someone who chokes the green for profit," Ivy snarled and again the Arkham inmates shook their heads.

"Pamela Lillian Isley, you had magnificent grades, it's a shame your greatest contribution to the scientific community was being a guinea pig for that pathetic waste of a man Jason Woodrue, though from what I've heard you were actually fond of him weren't you...perhaps that explains the grades," Lex smirked as Ivy glared at him.

She yelled and lunged towards him. Suddenly, the collar around her neck clicked, and an electrical surge ran through her body, making her convulse and roll on the floor.

"Luthor stop!" Superman said.

"Just making sure the dangerous psychopaths know the pecking order Superman. Their transfer was carried out in a Lex Corp designed heavy transport vehicle, modified with tech built by a very gifted engineer, an apprentice actually. He also designed these very useful collars. In Freeze's case they keep his body temperature at the level it needs to be for him to survive, with Langstrom his DNA's mutational properties are suppressed and with Miss Ivy here her connection to the green is cut off just enough for her to not be able to manipulate any plants in her vicinity," Lex explained.

"Who built such things?" Fox asked, looking at Crane's collar.

"That intern I spoke of, they were based on a concept composed by him!"

Kara and Clark widened their eyes, seeing the pain that Ivy was in and thinking how Alex could create such a device.

"What about me, all my powers come from my gas, which I need a lab to create," Crane said.

"Oh, I just thought you'd need a shock collar in case you pissed me off," Lex said.

Crane tilted his head for a moment.

"Fair enough," he said.

When Alex woke up, he smiled at the text Kara had sent him.

"If you need anything, we'll be here!"

Everyone understood why he hadn't gone with them. They weren't going to push him to spend nights out partying. As much as Alex was sure the Titans would have enjoyed it, he wasn't one for that sort of social activity. Which was probably why he fit with the league better, in fact Alex wondered if that was why he was spending more time working with the league than the Titans. He left his hotel and began working his way to an alleyway.

"Thanks for coming over last night, we'll talk later," he sent a text to Wesley and transformed into his armour.

Flying into the air, Alex's League channel began to ring.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"Don't tell me I've been forgotten already," Chloe said.

"What do you want Sullivan?"

"The meeting is happening at Star Labs in Detroit, you're going to need to go there after you pick up your brother," she said.

"Dante's smart but I'd rather not get him involved in this," Alex said.

"Why? Like you said, he's smart, he can help us!"

"He's my brother, the last thing I want is to pull him into the craziness of this life, the difficulty with our own family is enough for him to deal with," Alex said.

"I think he could handle all of this," Chloe said.

"No he can't, he's like me Sullivan, he suppresses," Alex cut off the channel and swooped out of the clouds.

Another call came through on his phone, which Alex had linked to his helmet. The ID tagged it as Dante and Alex quickly answered it.

"Dante," Alex began.

"What did you say to Wesley Alex?"Dante demanded.

There was a fury in his voice that Alex hadn't heard before. But a fright too, he was breathing heavily.

'Could he be having a panic attack?' Alex wondered.

He altered his flight course, making his way to the Winters home. Orbiting the building, he did a quick scan for Dante's bio signature, but found nothing.

"Dante where are you right now?" Alex asked.

"I'm the one asking the questions, WHY DID WESLEY LEAVE!" Dante screamed.

"He got tired of it all Dante, of putting up with mum and dad," Alex said.

"No, he stayed that long, he stayed, watching over us for years...why the fuck would he change now?"

"Dante," Alex whispered.

It wasn't like his brother to use profanities, he sounded more like a child than he had for as long as Alex had known him. An antenna began to extend from Alex's back as he traced Dante's call.

"Dante, try to calm down, are mum and dad with you?" Alex asked.

"No of course not, they're too busy trying to fix the mess that you've made, answering to these false allegations," Dante explained.

"Why the hell are you denying this Dante? Why? When have mum and dad ever said that they loved us, when have they ever even implied that they liked us?"

"They said 'I love you' plenty of times to me...wait, that's what this is about isn't it?" Dante asked and let out an hysterical laugh.

"Dante?"

"You're jealous aren't you, jealous of all that I've done for the company," he said.

"All that you've done," Alex narrowed his eyes in fury. "ALL THAT YOU'VE DONE!"

"Alex, your heart rate has risen significantly," Rikai said.

"Mum and Dad stole my spinal implant, they never asked, they never once gave me my due or praise. It was my spinal implant that made the company, that pulled it out of bankruptcy Dante. You don't even get it do you, have you seen Winters Corporation stock, you're projects are all experimental, most never even get past the test phase. My spinal implant is the only thing keeping the company from failing, that's what you and dad don't understand," Alex explained. "Did you know that Dad came to my hotel room last night, that he actually tried to bribe me, that he never showed even one ounce of regret, or concern over how I had been feeling.

"And what about you Dante, did you ever question why I was distant, why I was so depressed, did you ever take into account that it was mum and dad, that they were the ones responsible? Wesley saw it, he saw it all the time, but he knew that if he spoke out mum and dad would ruin his life. He stayed, and he was the only source of affection either of us received, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!" Alex yelled.

"Alex," Rikai said.

Alex widened his eyes, he realised then why his brother was crying.

'Rikai, trace this call, now,' he commanded.

"As you wish, meat bag," Rikai huffed.

The map appeared on Alex's HUD, and he adjusted his course. Dante scratched his head, turning to the construct in front of him. A second rendition of the Terraforming plant. He removed a syringe filled with mutagen from a rack on the far wall.

"Dante, you should take a break, that much mutagen is also against safety protocols your father set," one of the Winters Corp scientists said.

"It doesn't matter, progress requires us to be brave and bold," Dante said.

"That's enough boy," the new lab head said.

From the observation deck, Nicholaj stood with Waller and Fracture, and additional new heroes, the silver suited and blue haired Allyce, Silver and red armoured brawler Strongarm and the gadget equipped Cyber. They watched Dante grapple with the other scientists, who tried to wrestle the Mutagen out of his hand.

"This is the Winters you seek?" Nicholaj asked.

"He's the one we can manipulate, or at least claim custody over," Waller said.

Nicholaj/Nihlus huffed and turned looked towards his AI avatar. The silver energy being cycled through a proximity alarm. Two Sentry's were within the two thousand mile mark. One was in the city right now, Nicholaj already knew who that was.

Lars had been watching the Winters Corporation building in New York for some time now. When a press conference was announced though, he knew immediately what it would be about. David and Melissa trying to salvage their reputations after the disaster that was the revelation of Alex Winters's abuse. The detective was no stranger to abuse, he had worked many assault and murder cases, seen the results of how bad such things could get. He had even been sent to suicides to determine the causes, whether anyone was at fault. Young people hanging themselves in their bedrooms, drug over doses, a split second decision to throw themselves into oncoming traffic, or a train. Even the most abusive of parents would have shock in their eyes, yet Mellissa Winters seemed so confident in her innocence.

"Whilst true my son was depressed, this 'abuse' he has suffered is an unfortunate and tragic construct of his imagination. I have many flaws as a mother, and my husband and I did not see his suicide attempt coming, a great deal of parents don't. Alex unfortunately did the same thing many whom suffer from depression do, he did not talk to anyone, even his family. Rather than seeking someone to blame, my husband and I wish to help Alex to raise awareness of mental health and the very real condition that depression can be," she explained.

He had to shake his head in dismay, then again, she wouldn't have been the first celebrity to take on a cause to cover their own failures. Melissa remained on stage, the cameras flashing around her. David was busy elsewhere, but she needed no one's help to salvage the disaster. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Wesley walking through the crowd. No doubt he had words of his own to say.

"Let me go, LET ME GO DAMN IT!" Dante yelled, kicking at the scientists.

"Jesus, kid enough, someone call his mother damn it," one of them said.

One of the men grabbed Dante by his arms, only for Dante to slam the back of his head into his nose. The new chief scientist slapped Dante, and in his fury, the boy swung his arm around. He embedded the needle in the man's shoulder. The man looked at the needle in shock as he stepped back. His veins throbbed and his arm began to expand, breaking the needle.

"Oh god, what have you done?" one of the scientists asked Dante.

Alex approached the Winter's Corporation building on foot, keeping his hood up so that the crowd of reporters wouldn't bother him. Looking at his mother trying to control the crowd further angered him. Much like his father, there was never any regret in her eyes. She had always been a good actor. Alex stopped however when Wesley came onto the stage, walking towards her with outrage in his eyes.

"Lies, LIES!" he barely heard the former butler yell, before the chaos started.

The building shook, and then one of the windows shattered, a flesh like bulge growing out of it. Alex looked towards the stage, where the debris from the building was going to fall. With the crowd distracted, he transformed, rushing forward and grabbing Wesley before the debris made impact. Melissa shielded herself, glass pelting her coat, she looked up and screamed as debris fell towards her. But blasts of energy slammed into the rocks, Melissa looked to the Sentry, seeing the cannon on his shoulder. He retracted the weapon and took fly up the length of the Winter's Corporation building. The growth coming out of it was human flesh, and the closer Alex got the louder the screams got. He flew into the lab, seeing Dante on the floor, the blood of several scientists around him. The boy had shock across his face. Forgetting his brother and focusing on the matter at hand, he followed the trail of the growth and widened his eyes in horror. It was coming from the arm of one of the scientists, the man was on his knees, screaming. His scream was soon muffled as his lower mouth and neck expanded.

"What happened here?" Sentry asked, looking towards Dante.

But the boy was in shock. Alex flew to one of the operating tables, scanning over the materials on there.

"Growth hormone, steroids, and a type of Mutagen, alters the cells of an organic being," Rikai summarised.

"Show me diagrams of its cellular structure," Alex commanded.

"You're an engineer not a biologist!"

"I'm trying to look at it from an engineering viewpoint, show me and contact Star Labs about the situation, tell Cyborg to boom here with Poison Ivy and Langstrom, this looks a lot similar to Isley's work at least, Langstrom will be able to apply his knowledge on human mutation to her efforts to make a cure," Alex explained.

"I am beginning the process now, also, incoming attack alert," Rikai said.

Alex flew up, dodging a mound of flesh that grew towards it. He looked to the infected scientist, he was standing on one leg now, his other leg also beginning to expand. Sentry flew down towards Dante, intending to grab him before another mound of flesh slammed into his side. He pushed against the appendage, seeing some of 'the blob' expanding around his brother. Alex pushed against the blob, getting his feet clear. He ignited the rockets in his boots, then slid out a pair of thrusters from his back.

"DANTE!" Alex yelled.

The boy looked up at the Sentry, his eyes growing for a moment as he raised his hand to accept Alex's. Suddenly, the blob expanded again and Alex had to fly upwards, hating himself when he saw the despair across Dante's face. The blob wrapped around Dante's legs, trapping him. There was a boom, and Alex looked towards the boom tube that appeared with hope. Electricity and fire suddenly flew from the portal, striking Alex and pushing him against the wall.

Nicholaj had seen Waller hit her speed dial. He knew she was planning something. He knew that deep within Belle Reve, people were being gathered. The Sentry imagined it, his former henchman the Electrocutioner being dragged out of his cell. Imagined the tattooed and pyrokinetic El Diablo walking out of his isolation unit. Deadshot and Captain Boomerang both being guided out of their cells. At least one guard would tie trying to drag Harley Quinn out of her cell, four more trying to get King Shark out. Together they made an affective group for striking regions hard and fast.

They emerged from the boom tube, Harley Quinn holding a giant hammer on her shoulder and chuckling. El Diablo and Electrocutioner's signature elements ran through their fingers tips. King Shark stomped towards Alex, he was a giant with grey skin and a fin on his head. Metallic dentures had been placed inside his mouth, which was able to expand enough to bite off heads. But he wasn't alone, there was another fish based villain beside him. Orca, she was a killer whale hybrid. Alex looked to Harley Quinn, she also had a man in a zebra coloured costume with her, and a man in a red and black coat.

"Go and earn your keep Voltaic," Captain Boomerang said, brandishing his signature weapons.

Alex flew away from Orca's grip and towards Dante. Deadshot fired at him, followed by Voltaic, whom released a surge of electricity from his hand. Alex blocked the projectiles with a shield, but was left open to one of Boomerang's explosives. It knocked him off course, flying over Dante. The Blob expanded again, and Killer Shark bit into the flesh, laughing from the enjoyment of the food.

"BEST MISSION EVER!" Shark yelled.

The Zebra man walked with Harley over the flesh, towards Dante. Another Boom Tube suddenly appeared, and Cyborg emerged with Langstrom and Ivy.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Victor asked, closing the portal behind him.

"IVY!" Quinn screamed in delight.

"Harley, why are you here?" Ivy asked.

"Spoilers babe, also sorry lol," Quinn drew a pistol from her belt.

It had a cork attached to it, making it seem benign. But when she pulled the trigger, the cork flew like a rocket into Cyborg's chest.

"My god no, we're supposed to be helping," Langstrom said.

"Forget help, this, this is my work applied to the weak human flesh," Ivy said, a smile spreading across her face.

"Um Pammy, I don't much like the look on your face, plus if this is your work you should seriously consider suing for copyright," Harley said.

Poison Ivy reached into her mouth, gagging for a moment before she removed a seed from it. Langstrom shook his head and tried to grab Ivy. But the Zebraman came up from behind him, grabbing him by his neck.

"NO DON'T!" Alex yelled.

She stabbed the seed into the blob, causing the man to scream as it imbedded itself in his expanding skin. Green veins spread across the flesh, before it began to turn green. Several explosives went off, and the walls behind Cyborg collapsed.

"Don't worry citizens, we're here to help," Fracture said.

He and the other artificial heroes rushed into the room. Cyber was about to draw a device from his belt when a bullet suddenly flew into his head. Deadshot's gauntlet rifle was smoking, the assassin then began firing at the other heroes. Strongarm took the bullets and tackled Orca and King Shark. Allyce fired yellow blasts from her eyes, trying to hit Harley Quinn and the other villains. Fracture looked towards the villains and the blob. His goggles had displays on them measuring the weight of each villain, as well as projected path. He removed an explosive from his costume and broke off into a run. Jumping over Orca, he placed a device on her back, then jumped and kneed Zebraman in the face, freeing Langstrom. Alex got up off of the floor, looking at the blob as its mutation continued.

"Pam, what have you done babe?" Quinn asked.

"Converted the weak human tissue into plant matter," Ivy said.

Cyborg blasted Electroctioner and El Diablo back with his sonic cannon, running to Langstrom and Fracture.

"Are you okay Kirk?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I'm thankful for this collar in that it suppresses my Man-Bat transformation," the scientist said.

"So at first glance doc, is there anything you can do?"

"Before Ivy maybe, but now? There may only be one way to stop this mess," Kirk said.

The infected scientist screamed, his eyeballs bursting as vines came out of them. His legs became roots, his jaw expanded like a Venus flytraps and he rose off of the floor.

'No, this is all my fault,' Alex thought.

He looked towards Dante, seeing the Electrocutioner coming up behind him.

"Come on Quinn, it's time to get out of here," he said.

"Sorry to cut the visit short Pammy, but I really don't want you where I'm going," Harley said.

"What's wrong Har? You seem uncharacteristically scared," Ivy said.

"Like I said spoilers," Quinn grinned.

Electrocutioner disabled Allyce's blast with one of his own. Just as Allyce was about to fire another blast, Orca grabbed her and bit her head off. Strongarm punched King Shark back and stampeded towards Orca. The Blob suddenly bashed the brawler into the wall. Alex flew over Electrocutioner, firing his cannon at the man. Electrocutioner pushed Dante back and went into a beam lock with Alex. Voltaic however shot at Alex's back, stunning him enough for both electric blasts to hit him.

"No," Dante cried as Electrocutioner grabbed his arm.

"You're coming with us boy," he said.

Suddenly, there was a swish across Electrocutioner's neck. The man raised his hand before he fell back, his shocked head rolling away from him. Alex and Dante looked towards the hole in the wall, and the whole room grew silent as another entered the fray. Nicholaj checked over his scanner and grinned.

'He's here,' he thought. 'Sepodiro!'

The villain squad and the heroes looked towards the new arrival. He took a step into the lab, his armoured red boots shifting slightly like blood. There were black accents on his armour, a Halo was glowing on his back, the fingers of his gauntlets were black and the wrist armour sharp, stretching out past his elbow. He had a helmet covering his face that had only two glowing slits on it. The front of it curved slightly, giving it an alien appearance whilst the top corners were wide and edged.

"Who the fuck is that?" Voltaic asked.

Sepodiro took a few more steps into the room, before he clicked his finger. The Halo on his back pulsed and he rushed forward. An energy blade appeared in his hand and he dragged it across the side of the hybrid blob. Then he flew into the air and dived at the infected scientist, tearing his sword right down the middle of the creature it had become. Blood sprayed across the blob's arm, and its main body fell apart.

"MURDERER!" Ivy yelled.

She grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at Sepodiro, but he simply walked through the projectile.

"WE NEED TO MOVE NOW!" Deadshot yelled.

He fired a few bullets at Sepodiro and ran to Dante. Sepodiro span, cutting Zebraman in half and flying at Dante. Alex flew towards Dante, intercepting Sepodiro before the man could grab him. He tried to punch the armoured man across the face, but Sepodiro weaved around his arm, countering with a cross that threw Alex back. Deadshot grabbed Dante and began to drag him towards the boom tube that appeared on the far side of the room. Alex rushed past Sepodiro, only to be clothes lined by King Shark. The man opened his jaws wide, but a chain and blade burst through his jaw. With a yank, Sepodiro tore off King Shark's head and flew at Deadshot, swinging the chain towards him. Lawton dived to the side, putting his hand over Dante's mouth.

"Get away from him," Cyborg hit Orca with one of his sonic blasts and Alex quickly rose.

The Sentry flew at his counterpart, attempting to tackle him from behind. But the man turned, scraping his sword across Alex's back. His legs became numb and he fell to the floor. Sepodiro turned to the boom tube, just as the squad of villains ran through it with Dante.

"Dante no," Alex whispered.

Sepodiro's hand squeezed into a fist. He turned around and began floating back to the entrance he had made. Two shadows blocked his way, Power Girl and Superman.

"Who are you, what have you done here?" Superman demanded.

"It was not my actions that created the tragedy today," Sepodiro said, gesturing to the blood around him. "It was his," he pointed with his head towards Alex.

"Dante, no, don't take him," Alex grit his teeth together underneath the armour, before letting out a hellish scream.

"You're one of the Sentries creating the Korwraith's aren't you?" Power girl asked.

"Nihlus and Andromeda failed to carry out their own plans, but now that our leader is instructing us this time, our chances of success against you have increased. If I were to fight you both now and kill you, our chances would further increase," Sepodiro explained.

'Is he that confident he could take us, or just arrogant?' Superman wondered.

"Or we could take you in," Power girl however maintained her confidence.

"Perhaps, but you have bigger things to worry about," Sepodiro looked over his shoulder at Alex.

Power girl flew to his side, supporting his body.

"Alex, he targeted your spinal implant," Rikai said.

"Alex," Kara whispered.

"Damn it, Dante, Dante," tears leaked from Alex's eyes.

"I can't just let you walk away," Superman said, getting in Sepodiro's way.

Sepodiro nodded his head. Suddenly, he slammed his fist into Clark's stomach, drawing the breath out of him. He grabbed Superman's foot and threw him through the wall. The joints and knuckles of Sepodiro's armour glowed a green colour, green for Kryptonite. The Halo on his back glowed and he disappeared. Kara put Alex's head to her shoulder, wrapping her arms around him and letting him cry. He felt as if he had failed, both the league and more importantly his little brother.

Nihlus smirked, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Amanda. Their car was already driving away from the scene.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Your desperation, your little Squad kidnapping the kid, what's the end game here Waller? Imprisoning him too? Brainwashing?" Nihlus asked.

"Nothing as cliché as that, I already have Flag putting a team together to track and liberate Winters from the Squad, we'll take them into custody, and no one will question it," Waller explained.

"You seem to have worked out all the angles, our home made super humans though have been slaughtered," Nihlus said, balling his fist in frustration.

"They were never meant to succeed as anything more than prototypes, I have Luthor already working on the next phase of the project anyway."

"Alexander Luthor...I'm surprised you didn't put a bomb in his head, what's the next phase then?" Nihlus asked.

"Retaliation, against the Justice league," a smirk spread across Waller's lips as she looked at headline that came up on her phone.

"Do we need the Justice League?"

Next Chapter 4: Belief

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, Sepodiro is the 'rival' type character for Alex.