Welcome back, everyone! ShadowMajin here with Part II of the story begun in Trinity Crisis. We're picking up right where the last one left off, so strap yourselves in, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Anonymous Void and I hope you enjoy!


The ships hovered in the air, an enormous armada that surrounded an even bigger spaceship. They loomed overhead, an ominous feeling settling down on the occupants of the beach below.

Superman stared right up at them. Of course this battle couldn't be straightforward with the defeat of the Tamaraneans. They must have had another fleet close to the planet, reinforcements to back up their Grand Ruler.

"What's this fresh hell?" John growled as his ring flared.

"I'm not certain," J'onn responded nearby. "I do not sense any malice."

"So maybe these are friendly aliens?" Flash suggested.

"Since when do friendlies come in with an invasion level of ships?" John retorted.

"A guy can dream, alright?"

Before more banter could be done, a ship appeared from underneath the massive mothership. It immediately headed in their direction, slowly descending until it came to a stop above the shore, hovering in midair. Incredibly enough, sand wasn't blown up into the air to blind them. The water from the tide rippled, but that was the full extent of disturbance.

Then a door opened, a ramp extending out and lowering to the beach, touching down. A bright light flowed through the large door, a figure standing within it. It was tough to make out any details, aside from the silhouette of what looked like wings.

"Oh, great," Blackfire grumbled from where she knelt, her dark eyes glowering at the figure. Apparently, she recognized this newcomer.

The figure then strode down the ramp, the light hiding their features slowly receding back. As it turned out, there were wings behind this alien, large and feathered. A bird-like helmet covered their head, as well as armor on their arms and legs. Their chest was bare save for a crossing of metal straps, a familiar hawk symbol resting where they intersected.

"Thanagarian?" John spoke up with surprise. "What are they doing here?"

Superman felt the same way at the realization. The more he saw of this—well, clearly this was a man—the more similarities he saw between him and Hawkgirl. In fact, where was Hawkgirl?

"Greetings," the Thanagarian greeted them as he came to stand on the beach. Shortly after, a few more Thanagarians appeared, walking down the ship's ramp to stand behind the first one. "I hope I have not disturbed your battle."

Superman shared a look with John, only giving him a nod to be their intermediary. As a Green Lantern, he had the most experience dealing with foreign planets and their governments. He could be trusted to be diplomatic. "We were just finishing up. Mind telling us what's going on with all of these ships?"

"I apologize for the intrusion, but there was little choice in the matter," the Thanagarian answered. "We are in need of assistance from the people of Earth."

John's eyes widened. "Our assistance? What for?"

"Hro?"

The voice of Hawkgirl cut through the tense atmosphere. Heads turned to the winged woman as she stood nearby; when she had arrived, it was unknown. She had seemed to want to be alone following the battle with the Tamaraneans. Now she was looking with wide eyes at her brethren, one she clearly knew.

"Shayera!" this Hro exclaimed. "Why am I not surprised to find you close to a battlefield?"

A smirk actually appeared on Hawkgirl's face. "You should have known that was the only place to find me."

The same smile appeared on Hro's face. "Indeed, I should have."

"Okay, alright, what is going on?" Flash interrupted. He held a hand out to Hawkgirl and then the other to Hro. "She knows him. He knows her. What the hell am I missing here?"

"My apologies," Hro responded. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Hro Talak of the Thanagarian Legions. I have been sent here on a mission of grave importance to consult with the leadership of your world. The sooner would be better."

"And why is that?" the speedster pressed. "I don't know about anyone else, but it's rarely a good thing when aliens show up and say, 'Take me to your leader'."

Hro Talak gazed at the red-clad man, not the least bit offended. "You are the Flash of this planet's Justice League, am I correct?"

Flash hesitated. "Uhh, yeah?"

"You are exactly as you have been described."

"What does that mean?"

A sneaking suspicion appeared in Superman's head. He had confirmation when he noticed John Stewart and J'onn turned their heads to look at Hawkgirl. "Because Shayera has been in contact with them," J'onn declared.

If there was any confirmation needed, Hro Talak gave it. "That is correct. In fact, I know who all of you are." He then pointed a finger at J'onn. "You are the last Martian." He moved his finger to Superman. "The last Kryptonian." Again and again, he moved his finger. "A woman of the Amazon culture. And you are a Green Lantern, not that I needed an intelligence report to tell me that."

"What else has she been telling you?" John questioned with suspicion.

"Only what was required of her, nothing more. Regardless, now is not the time for further introduction. If you would assemble the leaders of this world, we have an important matter that urgently needs their attention."

"Mind telling us what that matter is?" John asked. "It might make things easier for us to explain."

Hro glanced to Hawkgirl, who only gave him a nod. "Very well. Despero the Destroyer has returned."

"Yeah, we just heard that," Flash said as he nodded his head towards Blackfire. "This Tamaran chick was just telling us about it."

"Was she now?" Hro gazed at the Tamaranean Grand Ruler. "I suppose it shouldn't be surprising considering her master."

"I am no slave," Blackfire snarled in defiance. Despite kneeling, she stood as tall as she could, her pride unable to let her accept the taunting.

"Then what do you call the Citadel?" the Thanagarian challenged.

"What any sane person would: an alliance of convenience. Tamaran is not a puppet of any race."

"Then you should be overjoyed to know that the Citadel is no more."

For once, the cool facade of Blackfire slipped, a confused look appearing on her face. "No more?" she repeated.

Hro nodded. "Just last week, Despero's forces attacked the Citadel home world. He utterly smashed it."

There were shocked gasps from the Tamaranean forces, including Starfire as she raised her hands to cover her mouth. Hushed whispers were heard amongst the orange-skinned aliens.

"Question," Flash spoke then. "Who's the Citadel and why is Despero beating them such big news?"

Surprisingly, it was Hawkgirl that answered, moving right up next to the red-clad man. "The Citadel is a galactic empire that rivals Thanagar. Much of it is filled with the sworn enemies of our people, such as the Gordanians. Tamaran was another. They've existed for as long as I can remember and much longer than that. That Despero crushed them is very concerning."

"Indeed," Hro Talak agreed. "Thanagar has been at war with the Citadel for generations and neither side has been able to obtain ultimate victory. Now…now Despero and his Kalanorians have done what Thanagar has failed to do: completely and absolutely destroy their home world."

"This is terrible," Starfire gasped. "The power it must have taken."

"You are not wrong, Tamaranean Princess."

That was a new voice, one that came overhead. As Superman looked up, he was surprised to find new, yet familiar faces. Green Lanterns descended from the sky, their bodies encased in green auras. There was even a short man with a rather large head, white hair neatly groomed.

"Ganthet?" John exclaimed. "What are you doing here? What is the Corp doing here?"

"Something that the universe hasn't seen since its inception," Ganthet answered as he landed on the beach. "Uniting against a common enemy."


It had to be sand.

Amanda Waller disliked inconvenience, but she wasn't about to let something as insignificant as sand stop her. This recent battle had taken place on a beachside, a megalith of alien technology levitated over the Pacific where something very interesting could be seen. She knew for a fact that there had been no land in that area of the ocean, but lo and behold, there was a new island. There was going to need to be new recon and satellite imagery for it, but that could come later.

Her attention was for the large gathering on that beach. The Justice League and its allies stood in custody of an alien race that had been responsible for that new island over there. However, there seemed to be new arrivals according to recent intel.

Another alien species had arrived, and for once they weren't going straight for conquest or destruction—not yet, at any rate, but they were not to be trusted. The spaceships in the sky were not comforting in the slightest.

But she was here to do a job and that was exactly what she was going to do, any commanding officers ignored. They weren't going to be stopping her, so they might as well escort her for all the good that would do.

Stepping onto and then walking through sand while wearing high heels was perhaps the greatest challenge she had faced so far, and she was determined to let it be the most challenging. With an unwilling armed guard following her, Waller headed straight for where there were the most bodies gathered that were still conscious and looked to be talking.

A certain set of colors, red, blue, and yellow stood out. Green would have too, but she was noticing a lot of strange new arrivals that bore the same uniform that the Green Lantern did. So the Green Lantern Corps had returned, how nice.

Her approach began attracting attention, and the various members of the Justice League, the Green Lanterns, and these winged aliens who she now noticed bore striking similarities with Hawkgirl began turning to face her.

Individuals moved out of her way, something she was used to experiencing. She kept her facial features schooled to express the absolutely minimum while giving a strict impression of professionalism. Already, she could see confusion in the eyes of the founding member of the League. They did not know who she was, which did not bother her in the slightest.

"I trust you have everything under control," Waller stated more than commented. The shortest woman here who was not underaged kept her hands behind her back.

Now, she fully expected that if anyone were to speak first, it would be the Flash. "Uhh, who are you?" Prediction confirmed. The speedster from Central City was known to be a loudmouth as well as lacking professionalism himself.

Without missing a beat, "Amanda Waller, A.R.G.U.S. I am acting as liaison for the current situation as well as coordinating efforts to resolve this latest conflict." Her dark eyes slid over to the Justice League, zeroing in on Superman. "I have been told we have another incursion of extraterrestrial life." A glance had her looking over the restrained, orange-skinned aliens, then to the newly arrived winged ones. "At minimum, two. I want a status update as well as to know whether these new invaders are dangerous and require being driven off our planet."

"We have the situation under control. The Tamaraneans are not a threat to Earth anymore," the Man of Steel spoke up, acting on the cue that she wanted him to speak for the League. "Right now, we are talking with the Thanagarians and their reasons for coming to Earth."

"And the Green Lantern Corps?" she inquired further, not even looking to those Lanterns.

"Corps business that happens to be about the same thing that brings the Thanagarians here," Green Lantern explained, talking before Superman could and earning Waller's attention as his prize.

"Is there a threat we the people of Earth need to know about?" Waller bluntly asked, raising up a single eyebrow.

"We are handling the situation, but once we have further information, we will share it with you," Wonder Woman cut in, taking her turn to answer.

Yes, share with them, like they had with Brainiac and every other threat. Waller trusted those words as much as she trusted a D.C. politician. However, getting into a full-blown argument was not why she was here, and so confrontation, especially with all these people here, native born or extraterrestrial, would be avoided unless there was no other choice.

"Very well. I would love to find out what you learn. In the meantime, we will be handling the clean-up and taking custody of…that." Now her attention was to the massive alien weapon that showed no signs of ever leaving its position.

"We will be taking custody of the World Engine."

Slowly, Waller turned her gaze to the one who had spoken. It wasn't a member of the League, and the fact that one of these Thanagarians was stepping forth clued her in to who was objecting. He was challenging her, challenging her authority. His stance, the way he looked down on her, literally, the authoritarian tone of voice he had taken, he was a leader.

"This World Engine is currently on our planet," the African American woman responded without any hesitation. "It was used in an attack in United States-controlled waters. As we are the ones victimized by it, we will be taking it into our custody to secure it and study it. It will not be used against us a second time."

"And you receive the same resolution with Thanagar taking it," the Thanagarian leader argued. "We know what we're dealing with. This weapon of the Citadel is too advanced to be left in the hands of a primitive species."

Now there was an insult if she ever heard one. A shame for him that her hide was thicker than most. What's more, he had given her ammunition.

"The Citadel? So you did not create it," she stated, raising a single eyebrow.

The Thanagarian leader became more stonefaced. "That means little."

"I beg to differ," Waller quipped, her shoulders straightening. "This weapon, the World Engine, does not originate on Thanagar, the name of your planet, correct? Thus, it does not belong to you, meaning you have no claim to it. Tell me, did this Citadel make a request of you to return it to them?"

"That is of little consequence, but no. The Citadel has bigger problems than retrieving a missing terraformer." This man did not know how to hold back, didn't he? "And even if they did, the Citadel is an enemy of both Thanagar and Earth, along with most of the galaxy."

"So you did not make it nor are you acting in the interests of ones who did. Last I recall, your government has no power on this planet, its warships notwithstanding." A pointed look to the sky emphasized her point. "I am sure you could rectify that. You could strike down Earth and take the World Engine, but I highly doubt that the Green Lanterns over there will let you do that."

She had heard the stories about A.R.G.U.S.'s first run-in with the Green Lantern Corps following the defeat of Brainiac. She hadn't been there, so everything was a secondhand account. From what she understood, the Corps were similar to a police force, one that presided over the galaxy and beyond. When jurisdiction issues had been brought up, the Corps had brought up various regulations and the like, all of which gave them the right to take Brainiac into custody.

While feathers were certainly ruffled, Waller chose to learn from it. That the Corps were able to speak using the language that law enforcement used, as well as how other parties treated them, the Green Lanterns had to have had some standing, one strong enough that they could police other races and that they would be listened to.

This meant there were laws, laws that bound other planets, and maybe even galactic empires. Was it risky? Yes. But this was where a woman like her excelled.

"You can make any argument you wish, but here are the facts: this World Engine was crafted by another party, brought here by these Tamaraneans, of whom it has not been cleared whether they are allies to you or not. Seeing as how they remained restrained, I assume you have no connection to them. They were defeated in battle by Earth-based forces. By that logic, that means any and all weaponry and arms are forfeit to us. You took no part nor did you intervene in any of the fighting. You have no claims whatsoever other than as opportunists with no evidence backing you. You won't take it by force as you will risk making an enemy of the Green Lantern Corps, and seeing as how the Corps have not informed anyone that they have been pursuing these invaders in particular, they are not in any position to also take custody of the World Engine. By default, it goes to us, and since the Justice League does not involve itself in the kind of research that would be needed to ensure the World Engine no longer poses a threat, they too will stand aside. Have I left anything out?"

There were many expressions, all directed towards her, and quite frankly this was what she expected. The League itself looked flabbergasted, some trying to find the right words to say and failing miserably. The Thanagarian leader looked outraged, and judging by some of the noises he was making, he was also trying to fight his way out of her reasoning and not succeeding. Lastly, she could see those Green Lanterns and their much shorter leader. That small, blue-skinned alien was eyeing her, but saying nothing.

Waller may not have known what these intergalactic laws were, but she had successfully weaved a web of red tape around everyone here.

"If there are no other objections?" she said more than asked. She gave a moment of silence, waiting for anyone to speak up and taking their silence as agreement. "Very well. Men, begin preparations for impounding that machine."

Not bothering to look behind her, she knew her armed escort was retreating to follow her order. In just the space of a few minutes, she had demonstrated her dominance over at least three different powers. It was proof beyond anything that she was more than qualified to handle this.

"The intricacies of the World Engine are currently beyond the understanding of Earth-based science." Speak of the devil, someone was trying to challenge her. Waller turned her attention to the blue-skinned leader of the Green Lanterns. "Even if it is for study, whoever and whatever you have standing by to do your research are far from qualified. It would be best if you turned the World Engine over to the Corps."

"And this isn't Brainiac," Waller retorted. "This is not some fugitive you've been chasing, but the dignitary of a foreign planet wishing conflict on us. We fought, successfully, to defend ourselves and to the victor go the spoils. You too did not intervene in time, and while your jurisdiction may include Earth, it is not as broad as you think. If you want to test your luck, be my guest. However, I would consider that if you try to take it, these Thanagarians might object, and I wonder if the force of Lanterns you have with you will be able to take on that armada in the sky. If you're both here to protect Earth, how would destroying it in a fight over that weapon help you in accomplishing that? Maybe the technology is beyond us, but is it necessarily beyond them?"

The blue man's eyes were narrowed, but she saw the flicker of his gaze to the Thanagarian leader. Likewise, that Thanagarian was eyeing the Lantern leader.

However, Waller was far from finished. "Speaking of fighting, there is one other matter I need to deal with." Her eyes sought out and found the one Tamaranean that stood out like a sore thumb. Sure, the black hair was a dead giveaway, but the dress was more important. None of the others wore a cape, nor the headgear that one could describe as a crown. "I will also be taking custody of the Tamaranean who started this fight in the first place. She has committed crimes against humanity and she will answer for them."

Punishment would soon follow, and if her intel on these Tamaraneans were correct, she may just have another recruit on her hands.

Eyes that were nearly black lit up with anger, and also glowed, but the Tamaranean leader calmed herself down. Then a smirk split that orange-skinned face.

"I beg to differ," the black-haired Tamaranean simply stated.

Now multiple looks from the Justice League were directed her way, the one Tamaranean standing next to her—Starfire, according to all reports—faster than most. Waller was not thrown off, merely giving a dead look. "You don't have much of a choice."

The black-haired leader wobbled, but she stood up to her full height, now looking down on the dark-skinned human. "If my eyes do not deceive, right over there is a newly formed area of land, land that as of yet has not been claimed by any authority on Earth. As the Grand Ruler of Tamaran and administrator of its government, I hereby claim it for Tamaran, name it New Tamaran, and invoke the status of diplomatic immunity."

The balls, if female Tamaraneans actually had them. "No government on Earth recognizes the government of Tamaran. Your claim is rejected and you will be taken into custody, along with the rest of your race. The resolution to this is already decided, no matter what red tape you try to throw at us."

"And put the fate of an entire race in your hands?" the Tamaranean leader said, her voice quite loud. "Are you humans so enlightened that no harm will come to my people if we submit? Do you have facilities to house us? I think not. Humans tend to be responding instead of planning ahead. But I see a new little patch of land, all the better for us to take. Since you haven't claimed it, we will be. And, do teach me, do you have the authority to reject our claim?"

No. No she did not because that was a higher ranked officials', though, Congress would have that authority, and the President the one to execute whatever they chose to do. With rank pulled against her, any actions she took from here on end would be scrutinized and waste more time. There seemed to be a brain under all of that black hair. It would be worth it to break it down and make it useful, but now was not the time, it appeared.

"With no home to go to, that land would be useful in housing them," the blue-skinned Lantern leader remarked, his tone very casual. Too casual. "I would not object to their claim if you don't."

Those words had Waller seeking out the Thanagarian leader, already realizing just what the Lantern leader was trying to say. The Thanagarian only stood taller, his face a mask of stone, but his tone gave away everything when he said, "Thanagar does not object to Tamaran's claim. They can have it, for what worth it is."

Outside powers with no authority on Earth, they may be, but there had been precedent thanks to the Brainiac invasion. The matter was now being placed in the hands of politicians, internationally if these two interlopers had it their way, thus taking much power away from Congress. America would not be happy about this.

But this wasn't her monkey, was it?

"A stay of execution, but only for now," was all Waller would admit. Then to the Lantern and Thanagar representatives, "We will still be taking custody of the World Engine, and if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with our elected officials."

No one had a clean victory here, but that didn't matter. A.R.G.U.S. was now a part of the proceedings whether anyone liked it or not, and it would not be budging from its position. However, the game was only beginning and all the seasoned players knew this.

It was going to be messy, but if there was one thing Waller was confident about, it was that she would be getting these new players to commit to actions they did not want to do. That was her job, after all.


The adults were in charge now, and that was why the Titans kept themselves away, physically speaking. Oh, they had a good spot to watch it all, all the better not to be left in the dark, because you know the adults would have tried that from the offset.

Not that any of them were qualified to handle this situation. Citywide threats were in the job description, not global catastrophes. That was the Justice League, and the catastrophe part was what Blackfire had represented.

But now there were ships in the sky and Red Robin was uneasy. The last time he saw something like this, he had been part of the Batclan, and he was running through the streets with Nightwing trying their best to somehow fight against it. Not a good time, that.

"Whoa, Thanagar!" Kid Flash had exclaimed, hand on his head with the other stretched out to point.

"You know these people?" Wonder Girl asked, giving the speedster a pointed look.

"Well, kinda hard not to. I mean, look at them!" A red-gloved hand gestured to the newly arrived aliens. "They have wings! And look at their heads! Don't they remind you of Hawkgirl? Who also has wings? And that thing on her head? Is it a mask, or a helmet? I was never really clear about which it was."

"Well, when you point it out like that," Cyborg remarked, arms crossed over his chest, but one eye kept on the alleged Thanagarians.

Identifying them didn't answer what they were doing here. That a member of the Justice League looked like them only relaxed the guard slightly, but that didn't mean they were friendly. Starfire was a Tamaranean, and only recently did they get into a fight with her whole race. They could be looking at the same situation again.

"Any idea why they're here?" Red Robin asked, glancing at the speedster.

Putting both of his hands on his hips, Kid Flash straightened up and declared, "Nope!"

The sigh was so hard to resist. "Raven, do you sense anything?"

The cloak-and-hood-wearing girl's answer was prompt. "No. I'm not picking anything up."

Now this got a raised eyebrow as well as several pairs of eyes looking in Raven's direction. "Are they keeping calm, or doing some kind of mediation that blocks you?"

Dark eyes zeroed in on him. "To the contrary. It's as if I'm hitting something that won't let anything pass, in or out. The only time I have ever felt anything like that was whenever in the presence of Hawkgirl. People tend to leak their feelings and thoughts out, always unconscious, and I pick up on those. If I am to hazard a guess, they are using something else, external perhaps, to shield their minds and prevent that leakage."

Okay, how can you argue with that? Still, one of these days he was going to need to sit down with her and find out how exactly her powers worked. In the meantime, there was one last resort to turn to.

"Beast Boy?" the teen vigilante asked, glancing at the shapeshifter who had become a dog. An earflap was pulled back so as to fully expose the hearing orifice and not obstruct any sounds from going in there.

The green hound dog was silent, head rhythmically nodding until the beginnings of a report began to slip out of the muzzle. "Something about a battlefield, take me to your leader, something, something, the Destroyer is back, something about the Citadel. I think they're talking about some big stuff over there."

You think? Could have figured that out because there were a lot of spaceships in the sky. "Are they bad, or good?" Red Robin asked bluntly.

"Give me a second," the shapeshifter muttered.

Not even a second later, things suddenly got more complicated, and Kid Flash's squeal was not helping that. "The Green Lantern Corps!"

Yeah, there were quite a few of these green-glowing guys coming down from the sky, dressed the same way as their Green Lantern was, and they were being led by someone small and blue. This day was just getting crazier.

Wait, spoke too soon, because before the Green Lanterns could make themselves at home, the military decided to crash, a short black—ahem, African American—woman leading them. She came to a stop before all the other adults and then there was even more talking.

"What now?" Red Robin muttered, looking down at Beast Boy to see if the shapeshifter could enlighten them.

"New lady ain't taking shit and I'm only understanding half of what she's saying, but man she's the only one talking and none of them are getting a word in," Beast Boy eventually reported. "Anybody know something about Argus?"

Argus? Oh, he meant A.R.G.U.S. Best he knew, they were the government's attempt to clean up after the Justice League. Of course, they would show up here. Still, it didn't answer who that lady was over there and why she was outtalking all of those people and aliens.

"Tamaraneans, Thanagarians, Green Lanterns, and some nonarmed government people? Who's gonna show up next? The Functionary?!" Kid Flash exclaimed, hands pressed to his head and voice starting to reach a higher octave.

A few seconds passed, and then Wonder Girl asked, "Who and what is the Functionary?"

Kid Flash blinked a couple times, then his eyes visibly widened, the lens he wore over his eyes not hiding it. "Oh. Future stuff. They're not gonna be around for another three or four centuries. Got a bigger stick up their asses than Cosmic Boy, let me tell you."

"Cosmic Boy?" Wonder Girl just couldn't help herself, could she?

"Sorry, more future stuff."

"Then stop talking about it before you come up with some weird space-time paradox already," the armor-wearing blond ordered, folding her arms while becoming the center of attention from the rest of the Titans. Noticing this, she inquired, "What?"

"Since when do you know about space-time paradoxes?" Cyborg asked.

"What? I can't know stuff?" Wonder Girl retorted, blue eyes narrowing.

"Drop it, please," Red Robin cut in. There was no need for them to start fighting, especially not right here, right now. Too many important people and they didn't need any of them thinking less of them.

As hard as it was not to…

"So…what are we all gonna do? They're going to figure out what's going on and what they're going to do about, well, all this?" Terra finally spoke up, gesturing an arm to the Tamaraneans.

"Odds are they're going to have to coordinate with a lot of people, many who might not be here right now," Raven remarked. "I don't think anyone's going to put up much of a fight. If the League is smart, it'll pull back, head to a secure location and figure out its next move."

Smart idea. If he thought about it, the nearest place that was secure for the League would be none other than Titans Tower in Jump. It wasn't that far away and it was certainly big enough to have everyone there.

Everyone…

Red Robin's eyes suddenly widened and he whipped his head over to Cyborg. "Quick, delete the Tower's internet history! Now!"

Cyborg seemed to have reached the same conclusion because his human eye bulged. "Oh shit!"

The Justice League was most likely going to head to Titans Tower and none of them needed to know anything about what a group of teenagers did on the internet where there were no prying eyes.

There were some things that were best kept in the dark.


Earth was being invaded again, and for once it followed after a first invasion. It couldn't have come at a worse time, and Luthor was not keen to sit on his hands and wait this one out.

With Amazo out of commission, probably in the hands of the Justice League, this meant he needed to inventory what resources he had. There was an opportunity here, one he could use to come out on top while covering up his scheme to replace the League itself. To emerge as one of the architects of this planet's salvation was too tempting to pass up.

There was only one place he could be going to. With Mercy on his heels, he headed straight to the lab where Professor Anthony Ivo was set up. The intact security measures had to be cleared first, now a time waster more than actual security.

But protocols had to be completed, though that didn't make the business mogul any happier. Already, someone had found a way past this security, and until the breach could be determined, that meant the system was already obsolete.

Eventually, the elevator doors opened, and Luthor stalked his way into the lab, seeking out Ivo like a missile. The Professor was at a workstation, fingers typing on a keyboard. If the reedy man had heard his entrance, he did not show that he was aware.

"Ivo!" Luthor called out. "We have a problem."

Looking away from the monitor, Ivo looked over his shoulder. "This is a rather—"

"I don't have time for chit-chat right now. An emergency has come up," Luthor interrupted. "How soon can you build me another Amazo?"

"Weeks," Ivo stated flatly, the answer that Luthor did not want to hear. "Time already shaved off from the reverse engineering process, but to build something as complex as Amazo using only reverse engineered nanotech is going to take time."

"And time is what we don't have," Luthor retorted. "We're being invaded once more." Before Ivo could say anything stupid like, "already?" or "again?", Luthor pressed on, "I need another android right now."

"And I can't tell you what you want to hear," Ivo stated, fully turning around on the stool he sat on. "The phase to start mass producing this android has only begun, and that will take months, if not a year or two to complete. I have some other prototype models, but nothing near what the first one was and capable of. I can take some time, maybe a week for the more primitive—"

Answer after answer that did nothing to help him only angered the mogul. Reaching out, he seized Ivo by the straps of his suspenders and pulled him forward. "You keep mentioning time when I have already told you that we have none," Luthor growled into Ivo's face. "There is no more time! The need is now, and I see nothing!"

Ivo, eyes widening as he was pulled, had slackened into a dead expression. "What do you want me to tell you? What you want is fantasy and not reality."

Control was breaking, and a growl managed to slip out before Luthor could regain it. Pushing Ivo back, the C.E.O. stood up to his full height while straightening up his tie. "Then what do you have?"

Ivo brushed at his rolled up sleeves, as if swiping away any lint on him. "I have the database with all those powers the first android was able to obtain. Any subsequent android produced can be loaded up from the database. First, there needs to be an android."

"I am aware," Luthor snarked, but turned to his own inner counsel. The database still had worth, but how to use it? They could have all the superpowers in the universe, but it meant nothing if they couldn't pull any of it out. Just some binary code stored on a server.

Mercy stood behind him, keeping silent vigil and awaiting his next command. However, he had none to give her so she would just have to stay there. Ivo was finishing straightening himself out, his initial value starting to drop drastically. He may be a genius, but what was that genius worth if it could not produce results on demand?

The situation was getting worse by the second, but he would be damned if he allowed himself to be railroaded like this. Think, think you bastard, he silently urged himself. There had to be a way to capitalize, there just had to be.

"If immediacy is that important, might I make a recommendation," Ivo spoke, breaking the silence. Pulled out of his thoughts, Luthor focused his attention on the professor and raised an eyebrow.

"If androids are what you need right now, there's another project of yours that might meet your needs. I came across it when stepping out of the lab," Ivo continued, recognizing the prompt for what it was. "Project Metal Men. The head researcher is Will Magnus, and he and I have exchanged notes here and there. He had some thoughts about his own project, which I did incorporate into Amazo. He was likewise impressed by my own work and did some incorporating of his own. There may be some similarities between our two projects that you may be able to use his as you need."

Interesting. LexCorp had a number of projects in development, so he would need to refresh himself on this Project Metal Men. Still, if this Magnus had taken inspiration from Ivo, maybe there was a way to use Ivo's database after all.

"I'll take your recommendation into consideration," was what Luthor said, turning away from the Professor and making his way back to the elevator. "Keep working on a new android. Inform me of any developments."

In the meantime, he needed to look into and pay a visit to one Will Magnus.