Chapter Text
It'd been one month—one month to the day since a calculated act of madness took so many lives. No one had set foot in the city since that day. No sound had been heard in these once-bustling streets.
Until two words—two impossible words— came out of the ruins.
"I'm alive."
"I'm telling you, it's definitely being broadcast out of Metropolis," Cyborg was telling Superman. The League was up in the Watchtower when the signal started entering every radio frequency possible. "It's just the same two words over and over again. I'd say it's a recording,"
"I'll go and take a look," Superman volunteered, and Cyborg couldn't help but shoot him a look and say, "A look? You can see radio waves?"
Victor paused, then muttered, "Of course you can...,"
"You shouldn't go," Diana protested.
"She's right. We've been pissing off a lot of powerful people," Brooklyn said, and Hal added, "Now we get a lone message of impossible hope being broadcast from your destroyed home?"
"It's the perfect lure," Diana said.
"And Metropolis is uninhabited for miles in every direction," Victor told him. "There's no better place to attack you. They could hit you with whatever they wanted without worrying about collateral damage,"
"If a citizen of Metropolis has survived, I'm not ignoring them," Superman stated.
"You shouldn't go alone," Victor told him, and Brooklyn agreed, saying, "He's right. I'd come but the radiation levels are off the charts,"
"Wonder Woman is pretty invulnerable, and the rin can protect me from radiation," Hal volunteered.
Clark glanced at Hal hesitantly, not wanting to put Hal at risk when he still had his wife, and said, "If this is a trap—,"
"Then you could use backup," Hal told him. "I'm not staying behind while someone puts a Kryptonite bullet in your head,"
Clark nodded, and Brooklyn approached her husband, giving him a brief side hug and saying, "No passing out again,"
"I promise," Hal reassured her, returning her hug and kissing her forehead.
He joined Diana and Clark on the teleporter and Victor said, "We'll monitor from the ground up here. I'll let you know if anything is coming,"
"Thanks, Victor," Clark nodded, and the three were out.
Brooklyn and Victor listened intently at their communication channel.
"Can you see any threat?" Victor asked them.
"No. There's no threat here. There's only... death," Clark told them. "Green Lantern?"
"My ring isn't picking up anything except for that radio signal," Hal said.
"Let's go slowly," Diana suggested.
There was a pause, and Brooklyn and Victor guessed that the three had flown across the city.
"The signal's coming from there," Clark said, and Diana asked, "From the building?"
"No, under it," Hal corrected.
A pause again.
"Great. A narrow, confined space that leads deep underground. This doesn't feel like a trap at all," Hal said sarcastically.
"You stand guard out here," Diana told him.
Another pause.
"What's inside?" Diana asked, and Clark answered, "I don't know. I can't see in,"
"This is where the signal's coming from," Clark said. " That transmitter attached to the door. It must have been damaged by the blast. It's a miracle it's working at all,"
"Or someone wants us to think that," Diana suggested.
There was a pause, and from the Watchtower, Brooklyn and Victor felt the eeriness of it.
"What is it?" Clark asked.
"I'm not sure...," Diana uttered. "I feel like we're being watched. Are you sure we're alone?"
"I'm not seeing anything else alive down here," Clark told her.
"Superman, can I suggest we leave this one alone?" Hal asked through the comms. "We'll find another way. Maybe via a remote or something. You know that bit in the horror movie where you're screaming at the cheerleader not to investigate the strange sound in the woods? This is that moment. You're the cheerleader,"
Brooklyn snorted, entering the comms with a push of a button and told Hal, "I think you're the only one who'd scream at a television, Glowstick,"
"Never mind. I'll shush now,"
Turned out, the signal wasn't a fraud. It was Lex Luthor, one of Superman's closest friends in Metropolis.
After Clark, Diana and Hal managed to get Lex out of Metropolis safely without radiation, he requested to meet with the Justice League. He had been monitoring their efforts from his safe house under the building, and he had some opinions and suggestions that he wanted to relay to the heroes.
Of course, being his friend, Superman agreed, and the others didn't see a reason to turn down a short meeting with him.
They were now in the Watchtower, the seven remaining members of the League up there with Luthor.
"I can see what you're attempting. I can see why," Luthor was telling the League. "You're doing it all for the right reasons, but it's too heavy-handed. You want to save lives. I understand,"
Everyone else was skeptical of the man, but Brooklyn was already agreeing with him. Luthor turned around to face the view that the Watchtower had, which was the Earth as the sun was setting. "However, there aren't enough of you. Even with your incredible abilities, you can't keep the peace. You can't cover the whole planet. If you truly want to bring about a better world, you need to stop reacting and start planning. I'd like to help,"
Wonder Woman narrowed her eyes and said, "I know you and Superman are friends, but how do we know we can trust you?"
Luthor only smirked and called her, "Diana Prince,"
The Amazon's eyes widened, and Lex only rolled from there.
He pointed at The Flash. "Barry Allen,"
And at Green Lantern. "Hal Jordan,"
Then to The Legend. "Brooklyn Wayne-Jordan,"
Then to Shazam. "Billy Batson,"
And finally, "Clark Kent,"
"I'm a very intelligent man. Your secret identities are no secret to me," Luthor told them simply. "However, I have protected your identities, and I've protected your loved ones without your knowing. You've had to trust me for a long time. You just didn't know it. Now, I'd like to join you,"
The seven heroes exchanged looks. The only other person who'd manage to figure all of them out was Bruce, but to them, it looked like he had tapped out following Dick's death. He didn't report back anymore, unlike Hal and Brooklyn.
They needed the brains again. The strategist.