Hello boys, girls, and any other. Welcome to the eleventh chapter of Human Ambition. I can't believe I've been writing this story for a year now, and have more respect for those who are more consistent than myself.
This chapter will be dealing with a certain billionaire messing and observing our foreign heroes, along with a certain last son coming into the fold.
As for this chapter I hope some of you will favorite and follow if you can and enjoy the read. If you have any constructive criticism please leave one in the reviews.
New York City
Melica hurried to her new job sipping on the last ounces of coffee in her cup as she talked on the phone.
"Yeah, Mom. I'll do fine," Melica said into the screen as her mother worried over the young woman.
After a quick goodbye into the screen, Melica hung up, and looked up at JPMorgan Chase bank. One of the biggest banks in New York and pretty much in the entire country. She had managed to get a job as a bank teller with a wage of 16 dollars every hour and she would not pass that up.
After she quickly dropped her coffee in the trash Melica hurried to her spot in the bank.
Melica calmed herself down as she saw the many people in line she would have to take care of, but she soon calmed down her anxiety with slow breaths.
After an hour a man with his face shadowed by his hood came forward, asking if he could take out some cash and Melica looked down to fix a crease in her skirt, but just as she looked up her eyes widened as she looked into the barrel of a gun.
Hearing a loud gasp, Melica turned to see other bank tellers in the same situation, with high grade firearms aimed at them.
Soon a woman behind the man screamed as she realized the situation and Melica's ears rang as a gunshot went off.
Minutes Later
A number of SWAT teams came out of their armored vehicles alongside NYPD as they surrounded the building while some distance away a number of civilians looked on to the situation while being held back by officers.
Inside of the bank, people were placed on the side of a wall with zip ties keeping their arms behind their backs as gunmen threatened them to sit in place. Melica looked to the side as a little girl started to cry when a gunman looked in the girl's direction.
Scooting over Melica started to console the girl, "Hey, don't worry," Melica said, but truly she was probably just as scared.
One of the gunmen walked up to the one that was keeping them captive and whispered into his ear, Melica stayed silent and listened as best she could, hearing the word vault.
Suddenly the gunmen walked away and grabbed one of the cashiers and pointed a gun at his head, causing people around to gasp. "Please," the man begged, "I have a—"
"Shut up," the gunman said, grabbing the man by the collar and shoving him forward, "Now, please open the vault."
The man trembled as he walked forward, coming towards the vault he typed in the password, then was shoved to the ground again as other gunmen pulled the vault open, revealing stacks upon stacks of cash and rushed to put it inside their duffle bags.
One of the gunmen in the building standing near the glass of the outside glanced at the rest of the city and noticed something in his view; a… person? Then his eyes widened in realization as he aimed his gun and fired before he was thrown back into a wall, unconscious.
Some of the hostages in the floor below heard the gunshots and their whimpers stopped as they listened. One of the gunmen ran towards the hostages and grabbed the little child near Melica, causing their whimpers to erupt again and for the little girl to start screaming as the criminal put the barrel of his gun to the girl's head.
Looking around with wild eyes, the gunman yelled, "Stay back! Unless you want this girl's brain on the grou-ugh!" Suddenly the man was sent flying back, his gun to the child's head flying into the air before a blast of light ripped it apart.
As it happened the hostages looked up after the blast somewhat blinded them and their fear quickly turned to joy as they saw what was in front of them.
Standing there, holding the young girl was one of the heroes of New York, Horizon. Gasps of relief came from the hostages' throats as Videl got on a knee to look at the girl, "Don't worry. You guys will make it. I'll make sure of it," Videl said, looking at the girl and the hostages, making some shed tears of relief.
Suddenly, the little girl screamed as she turned her head, alerting Videl to another group of robbers pointing guns in their direction. Videl quickly stood and made sure to get in front of the civilians behind her and put a hand out in front of her as the men fired their weapons.
Many of those behind her screamed as a sound similar to thunder rang in their ears, but Videl decided to catch the bullets instead of simply letting them bounce off her, making sure none of the bullets ricocheted and hit anyone else. After several moments the gunmens' weapons ran out of ammo, and one of them ran while the others stood trying to quickly reload.
Videl quickly took down the gunmen with ease in a blur of speed so fast she disappeared from sight.
The one who ran grabbed a walkie talkie on his person, "Guys, they're here! Get the cash, now and let's go!" Suddenly, he fell to the ground as he ran into a green figure. Looking up he stared into the eyes of Crane, "Ahh, shit," the man said before he was punched into unconsciousness.
"Ahh, shit indeed," said Tien.
The men protecting the vault as the men filled the duffle bags with cash ran over, "Guys, we gotta go!" Though, their eyes were surprised to see Prince, calmly leaning against the vault door with his arms crossed, a smirk beneath his mask as the men who filled the bags were on the floor unconscious.
"Well, jail, or hospital first, then jail?" Vegeta asked calmly, then rolled his eyes when the men raised their guns, "Well, I tried."
Outside of the Bank
"We gotta get in there," one of the young policemen said to the captain.
"No, son. If we go in, the hostages are their main scapegoat, you wanna risk their lives?" the older officer questioned, causing the young man to look at the ground in a rising hopelessness.
Suddenly, as the officers waited outside the building the sound of glass and gunshots echoed in their ears, causing some of the civilians a distance away on the streets to gasp in fright, some pulling out their phones to take video.
The officers ducked behind their car doors with their guns drawn. After a couple tense minutes, the doors of the building opened, revealing the faces of the now free hostages that were fleeing the bank.
The policemen stood confused for several moments until they saw three familiar figures floating dozens of feet above the ground.
The crowd started to cheer as Horizon, Crane, and Prince floated. Tien and Videl were waving to the crowd as Vegeta crossed his arms, 'Damn, this must be what Gohan felt like as Saiyaman,' thought Videl, a smile coming onto her face.
"We love you, Prince!" A group of bystanders said in the crowd, causing the heir to the Saiyan throne to twitch a bit as he looked towards them, each one of them having shirts with his royal symbol on them.
"Woah, look who got a fan club," Tien said in a snarky tone.
"Tch, shut up," said Vegeta as he looked away from them.
Near the back of the cheering crowd, however, was a figure that didn't appear completely normal. He, no more of an it, was wearing a hoodie and pants to cover it's features, though a slight green glow came from it's eyes.
After waving to the crowd the three heroes started to disperse from the area, and the strange being started to run towards a building at incredible speeds, managing to jump from the ground to a rooftop in a fast motion before anyone could see him. After jumping across a few roofs the being was joined by other disguised beings that began to watch the three Z-Fighters.
Hours Later
After spending much of the day stopping low-level crimes the three came back to their warehouse, not noticing the group tailing them, hidden from view.
That is when the strange beings made their move, and pointed their hands at the warehouse, as blasts of energy flew from their hands.
"What?" Vegeta said as he noticed them in the corner of his eyes, alerting Videl and Tien to what was coming.
Tien and Vegeta shot up into the air and deflected the blasts into the harbor near them, making sure nothing hit the streets some distance away.
"Videl! The chamber!" Tien instructed, causing Videl to nod and quickly fly into the warehouse as they the blasts.
Entering the warehouse, Videl quickly moved to a button on the outside of the gravity chamber and pressed it, causing the chamber to disappear in a puff of smoke. It landed on the ground in the form of a capsule, which Videl quickly grabbed and hid on her person.
Outside of the warehouse Vegeta and Tien looked at the now five beings flying towards them, three of them taking on Vegeta while Tien fought two of them.
What they didn't notice was that there was a sixth that had not joined the fight and instead was walking in the streets of New York near the harbor at a crosswalk. Just as it was walking across with a group of people, unknowing of it's intentions, it suddenly stopped in the middle of the crossing.
As the orange hand that signaled stop glowed on the traffic lights, horns from cars started to honk at the 'man.'
"Hey, pal. Get outta the way! Some of us have places to be!" one of the drivers berated. Then the driver was silenced as the 'man' suddenly started to float in the air. Then, after a few more moments, he pointed his hand at a building and released a blast.
As both Vegeta and Tien fought off the five assailants, they started to gain the upper hand, though they both noticed their power weakening as they fought on longer, and some of their eyes glowed a brighter green. 'Huh? I haven't felt this since–' Vegeta said in their link of telepathy as he caught a punch, replying with his own that sent one of his enemies flying back, 'The androids.'
Suddenly, an explosion caught their eye that was somewhat close to them. 'Videl!' Tien yelled in the link as he and Vegeta fought with the strange beings, causing Videl to nod as she flew through the roof opening and moved towards the explosion to stop whoever had caused it.
After arriving she noticed the destruction around her, several cars had been flipped over, parts of a building were gone with it's debris on the street below, and civilians were running away screaming. Looking around she caught sight of a slight green glow coming from one of those who had not run away, and she approached with caution.
After a few tense moments it suddenly moved at inhuman speeds towards Videl, but she managed to dodge it's hand in time, getting below it's guard and had a smirk beneath her mask as she rammed an orb of ki into it's gut, though the smirk quickly went away as she noticed the orb didn't push it back, instead the orb seemed to be absorbed into the being's body.
In a new burst of speed it grabbed Videl by her face and threw her into a car hard enough to nearly flip it over from the impact.
'Videl, whatever these things are, if you see your ki being absorbed don't attack it with blasts, it seems some of them absorb ki,' Tien warned in her mind. Gaining this new info Videl started to use physical attacks only, but noticed that she was slowly becoming weaker as the fight went on, even though she had used no more blasts.
After some time, Videl decided to use her environment to her benefit, grabbing a car and chucking it towards Green Eyes, who caught it as she predicted, allowing her to perform a dropkick that went through the car and into Green Eyes. The advantage, however, did not last long as Green Eyes was slowly starting to come up in power, while Videl felt more weakened.
After a while Videl started to show great fatigue in her movements, her blows still strong, but lacking the power she would have had earlier, 'So, these things absorb at a distance too?'
Then a sound came that was all too familiar; helicopters.
Looking above, she noticed a group of helicopters coming her way. Each with their own symbol on their exteriors that represented a certain man… Luthor.
Men quickly jumped out of the sides of the helicopter and fast roped to the ground. Bringing up their weapons, Videl noticed it was something she had never seen before. Their weapons were strange looking with a white glow coming from parts of their guns.
As they shot, glowing darts of white energy came from their gun hitting Green Eyes and tearing apart his clothing, revealing a body that was similar to that of Metallo, though much slimmer than the one Vegeta fought, and similar to Metallo it had a kryptonite core in it's chest.
Videl moved out of the way of the gunfire as the Metallo was being pushed back. One of the men came towards her, "Don't worry, kid. We got this," he said, walking back towards the fight.
Videl looked on confused at what had happened until she felt two familiar presences, Tien and Vegeta floating down towards her, "Come on, Horizon," Tien said, "They seem to be dealing with the ones we fought too."
Vegeta on the other hand had an unreadable look in his eyes as they flew to a rooftop, "What the hell was that? Their power was just like ki," the Saiyan said.
"They were absorbing our ki, even at a distance, but the absorption was weaker as we got farther away from them. Some of them were stronger than the others. I could feel it in their blows," Tien said.
"How were they able to use ki? You guys told me Android 18 could use some type of artificial ki, but didn't that Gero guy watched you for years, and yet they were made so fast?" Videl questioned.
"I don't know, but there is something strange. Don't you think those helicopters came at a bit of a convenient time?" remarked Tien.
"Yes, and they were employed by Luthor, Wonder Woman said that he was one of Superman's adversaries. You think he's behind this?" Videl asked.
After a few moments of thought Tien gained an idea, "If we're going to find out, then we'll need to head to a certain someone in Metropolis to help out. I know someone who we can stay with while we find who we need," the Crane Master said.
The three nodded in agreement as they flew off.
Metropolis, Some Time Later
They soon arrived in Metropolis in some regular clothing walking down the street to an actually nice apartment complex.
After entering Tien walked in and asked the front desk for the room of a woman named Leila Launch, to which they called the room to inform of the three guests arriving.
After entering the elevator and coming on the correct floor they came to the door of Leila Launch and knocked on the door. Opening it they came face to face with Launch, though luckily for Tien it was Launch in her blue-haired alter ego.
"Oh!? Hey, Tien. I thought you were in New York, what changed?" asked Launch.
"Well, something came up, and we were hoping we could stay with you as we try to find someone," said Tien with a hand scratching the back of his neck.
"Well, that's good. Come on i‒oh hey Clark!" Launch said, waving behind them.
Looking back in the hallway of the complex, they noticed a tall, black-haired man with glasses in formal attire, though the power they sensed from him was as familiar as the feeling of the sun on your skin.
Clark and the trio both looked at each with wide eyes as Launch simply waved, oblivious to the awkward interaction.
Vegeta gained a smirk on his face as he walked up to the reporter, putting his hand out for a handshake, "Hello, Clark," Vegeta said teasingly.
Clark took the handshake, but quickly leaned in, "What are you guys doing here?" Clark questioned in a whisper.
Tien heard the whisper and responded, "Well we were coming to find you, there's something going on and we know you're the most knowledgeable on our troubles. Well, if our assumptions are correct anyway."
Clark sighed as he agreed, "Alright. Meet me on the roof of the building in an hour."
After some time, the four heroes came to the roof. Each of them is still in their hero outfits.
"Hmph, I can't believe those humans don't see through your guise. They must be as oblivious as the ones on our Earth," Vegeta stated.
Superman let out a laugh before explaining, "Well, it's a combination of things that I do to draw attention away from any comparisons. But we should discuss what's important. It's about those Metallo clones, right?"
"Dang, guess news travels fast," Videl said.
"Well, I had my suspicions ever since that fight with Metallo weeks ago. It was a strange coincidence that Metallo, whose body was created by Luthor, steered me specifically towards New York whenever I tried to take our fight elsewhere."
"Well, we just so happened to fight some mini Metallos that could use the power we do," Videl said, talking about the fight the three heroes had earlier, "And some of them were even able to absorb our ki. Then as we fought some soldiers funded by Luthor got there at a time that was too coincidental, shooting what looked like bullets of ki."
Superman heard their past events and quickly nodded as he processed the information before speaking, "If this is true. Luthor is definitely up to something, something that he could use against you and myself. But we can't use brute force to get to Luthor, knowing him, he probably already has a scapegoat and an army of lawyers to help him if we try to put him in jail."
Tien sighed, "Great. Is there anything we can fight him with besides brute strength?"
Superman smiled, "Well, you fight fire with fire. Clark Kent just so happens to be going to an expo that Lex Luthor will be hosting in the next few days. Something about new inventions by different corporations, and I have a certain friend who will be our main player, and he needs two bodyguards," Superman finished as he looked towards Vegeta and Tien, who quickly got the message.
"That could work. We could have Videl make her way into Lexcorp and find and destroy these androids, however, won't Luthor notice?" asked Tien.
"Don't worry, we'll be able to distract Luthor. Plus, we can get Robin to help in getting information on how to stop those androids. Robin is one of the best at fooling with security and we can gain a bit of info on where these androids are coming from."
"Alright, when is the expo?" questioned Videl.
"Should be in the next two days. We'll converse with Batman on the situation in the morning," Superman finalized.
Coming back into Launch's apartment the three heroes quickly go to sleep, though Vegeta couldn't sleep. A nagging feeling was stopping him from being able to rest, and so he stood on the roof, looking at the stars again.
"You miss your home?" Superman said floating behind Vegeta, but the prince didn't turn around, already feeling his power outside of his vision.
"You know. I was sent from my own world myself," the kryptonian said, landing beside Vegeta as they both began to look at the stars.
"I figured," Vegeta finally let out, "Your power is nothing like any humans I've felt before, you feel like the sun. I'd like to test your strength out someday as well."
"Heh, yeah well, you're in a long line. So, what's your Earth like?" Superman pondered.
"Similar, but different at the same time. Our world is far more advanced than your own, and we still have those large lizards you call dinosaurs on our world. It's not my original homeworld, but it's truly my home now," Vegeta answered, making Superman raise a brow in surprise.
"Your original homeworld? Ah, Wonder Woman told me you were called Saiyans. Warriors who fought across the cosmos, right?"
"We were one of the mightiest forces in the universe, but our sins caught up to us. And now only I and another are the pure-bloods of our kind. You remind me of him as well, always smiling and too damn happy," Vegeta said.
Superman chuckled, "Heh, you know, Batman says the same thing. You two are a little more alike than you think, but please try not to antagonize him when we see him in the morning," the taller alien pleaded.
The shorter alien smirked, "No promises."
Finally coming down to Launch's apartment Vegeta came to a rather the three others watching the news, seeing Luthor himself on the screen with the headline, LexCorp: Army of Metropolis.
As Luthor stood in front of numerous cameras and reporters holding their microphones up to his face he put on a smile that Videl quickly labeled as punchable.
"Thank you for your patience," Luthor began, "As you know a group of strange Metallo-like individuals terrorized the city of New York earlier today. I would like to say that I have endorsed a group that has been hunting these strange androids for some time now made up of veteran soldiers with years of combat experience."
"Even the great heroes of New York, Crane, Horizon, and Prince came into conflict with these androids and it was shown that even the hero, Horizon, was on the losing side of her fight with only one of them," he said, as an amateur video of Videl being pushed back by the android came on the screen.
"Mr. Luthor," many of their reporters said trying to get ending statements and Lex pointed to a young reporter who stuttered when some eyes focused on himself, "S-some of the soldiers were using strange weapons. Do you have any involvement in their firearms creation?"
"I won't be able to truly show the weapons capabilities here, which is why I have decided to show it at the new expo in the next two days. At this expo we will truly show the full range of abilities of these new firearms and maybe even some other new innovations," Luthor smoothly explained.
Soon the heroes tuned out the T.V. as Luthor began to answer other questions now about LexCorp.
Vegeta walked off to one of the guest rooms to sleep, while Tien, Launch, and Videl stayed in the living room near the kitchen.
"Huh, guess I'll just have to get stronger if I'm going to fight those androids again, huh?" Videl asked.
"Right. Also, hey Launch, where did you get the money to find such a nice place?" Tien asked, looking over his shoulder at the blue-haired Launch.
"Well, I guess the other Launch had robbed somebody, or at least that's what I think," then Launch walked into her bedroom and got a duffle bag from under her bed, coming back out, "Since I found this on myself," she said, opening the duffle bag, revealing numerous stacks of hundred dollar bills.
Tien and Videl looked at it with wide eyes, "Uh, Launch, make sure nobody sees this."
Launch rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as she laughed with a bashful look on her face, "Okay!"
Waking up early the three heroes were led by Superman into a Zeta-Tube to the Watchtower, and informed Batman of their situation.
"I was looking into Metallo's transport to Belle Reve. Some parts of his body were taken off of him, small parts you wouldn't be able to see even if you were up close to him," Batman described, "Whatever they took off Metallo somehow allowed them to create technology that could mimic ki energy, a type of artificial ki."
'Something that could be helpful,' Batman thought.
"If this is true, Lex must have some type of blueprint or a way to program the machines. With Robin's expertise we should be able to gain information on the androids and those new firearms," Superman said, seeing a perfect opportunity for Boy Wonder's involvement.
"If these androids are as strong as you three say, then I say we bring Superboy in as backup, the rest of the Team may compromise the mission. Artemis, Kaldur, and Kid Flash can't really damage the androids, especially the stronger ones, without damaging their surroundings, and M'gann can't manipulate machines. Superboy and Horizon will provide the necessary muscle, as they can control how much they destroy with a more focused eye, while Robin downloads the information," Batman inquired, not missing Superman's posture flinching at the mention of Superboy.
"And ever since Zatanna... you know," spoke Videl, who didn't have to finish her sentence to get the thought across all the adults.
"Alright. I'll inform Robin of the event, right now he's on a mission with the rest of The Team in Qurac," Batman said.
Vegeta was listening but suddenly his attention was taken away as he saw Wonder Woman coming towards them.
"Hello Crane, Horizon, Vegeta, I heard what happened to your former home. I'm sorry, but do not worry, I am sure you will overcome this."
Vegeta crossed his arms as he put on his signature scowl, "You don't have to worry about us. I just find this all annoying. Fighting in our world was much simpler, we didn't have to make all these roundabout ways to get over the security of a billionaire."
Superman nodded at that, "You have no idea. I can't tell you how many times I've just wanted to throw Luthor into space, but his armada of lawyers and bribes here and there keep him out of jail. Fighting guys like Metallo and others is much simpler."
"It's even worse that most of these weaklings can't handle a simple punch," Vegeta added.
"Well, I'm sure I could handle a number of blows, Vegeta," Wonder Woman said with a challenging smirk, as her hand moved to her sword.
"Oh?" Vegeta said, unhooking his arms and clenching his fists.
He and Diana tensed, but Videl quickly stood in between them, "Vegeta can we not do this right now, we've already got enough on our plate."
"Hmph." Vegeta let out as he and Diana still stared at one another, a silent challenge promised between both of them.
Superman looked away from the two, "So, do you want to stay in the Watchtower for the time being?"
"No thanks. Plus, with our new place, we might as well get to know our neighbors," Videl said with a wink towards Superman, who showed a bit of unease.
Two Days Later
The expo was in full motion.
It was late in the day when the expo opened. Many renowned scientists, military contractors, and a number of celebrities had come to the event, along with the usual paparazzi. As the event grew a black limousine came into view. Many cameras flashed as two men came out and one of them opened the middle limousine's door.
When the door opened a number of photos were taken as Bruce Wayne stepped out, "Thank you, Vegeta," he said, causing Vegeta to scowl.
Tien simply chuckled and came up beside Bruce along with Vegeta as they played their roles as bodyguards.
Entering the expo, Bruce grabbed a drink as he was greeted by many guests and he waved, laughing with those near him, an act he had long since perfected when he returned to Gotham years ago.
After several moments a bald head called his attention as he walked over to Lex Luthor, who stood near his own bodyguard, Mercy, who stared at Vegeta and Tien, and Vegeta stared right back.
The two billionaires, not noticing their respective bodyguards' actions, both smiled at each other and shook hands, "Well, Lex. You've outdone me again, but don't get too cocky," Bruce said.
A chuckle came from Luthor's throat, "Of course, Bruce. Who knows, maybe your engineers will come up with something? We can't all have such grand inventions."
"We'll see. But I'm curious, are you going to use the soldiers you funded to replace your own bodyguard soon?" said Bruce.
"Of course not, Wayne. These soldiers are the guards of Metropolis, and I hope they will guard the common people. I was actually wondering if you may want to help in funding them? After all, your resources could help in the production of these weapons needed to fight against those androids."
Bruce smiled, "I'll think about it, Lex," Bruce said, walking away.
Bruce then noticed a familiar face, "Clark," he said, greeting the reporter.
Clark turned around quickly, almost tripping someone near him in his clumsiness, the reporter smiled, "Hello, Mr. Wayne, and you two as well. I hope the trip here wasn't too bad. So much traffic."
"Hmph, combine that with this season's weather and you might almost have a city similar to Gotham," Bruce jested, then proceeded to drift away as he saw a group of some of Gotham's elite that he recognized as friendly associates of his family.
A number of blocks away were Robin, Horizon, and Superboy on a roof some distance from LexCorp, one of the tallest buildings in Metropolis. Robin pulled his gauntlet bringing up his wristwatch computer.
After several moments the Boy Wonder was in the LexCorp security and smiled, "Heh, the security here isn't too bad," said Robin.
"Can you get in?" Superboy questioned.
"Allllready done, let's go," Robin said. After Robin's assurance they quickly moved to the roof of LexCorp, with Videl carrying Robin and Superboy scaling the side.
Robin quickly overrode the window's function and opened the way into Luthor's office. Robin quickly inserted a drive from his gauntlet into Luthor's computer, then unknown to them a silent alarm went off.
Luthor looked over the crowd in front of him, and opened his arms as he presented his new invention, as he did this he threw a noticeable glance at Bruce, who looked back with a challenging smirk coming onto both of their faces, though Lex's smirk became bigger as his funded soldiers came into view, Bruce simply rolled his eyes, meanwhile, Clark simply took pictures of the soldiers.
"Everyone, I understand that some of you are afraid. Some days ago, the heroes of New York were taken by surprise by these androids that I, but truly, these soldiers have been hunting down. Though, you no longer need to feel fear, as we have weapons specifically made to deal with these new threats," Luthor started.
"These new weapons have been created to specifically use an artificial energy provided by a core in the gun and fire bullets of this energy that can damage these androids. Not only that, but they are much stronger than your average bullet."
To show the capabilities one of the soldiers got into firing stance and pulled the trigger of his rifle, causing some to gasp as a bullet of light raced through the air and impacted a stone wall. The stone wall then had a chunk blown out of it.
"And to show off a little we have prepared a type of shielding for our soldiers that will protect them from blasts of energy from even someone the androids and maybe even other villains as well," Luthor added. One of those in the group of soldiers then proceeded to throw down a flat device attaching to the ground and releasing a barrier around them, illuminating them in a clear but noticeable barrier.
"These are just a few of these artificial energy-based tools we are in the process of making and we ho–," Luthor suddenly looked at his wrist as Mercy gestured for him to come close, "Ah," he said, putting a hand over his mic, and gestured for another person to take over the presentation.
"What's wrong?"
"Mr. Luthor," Mercy said, "It appears someone has broken into your office. Someone skilled enough to tamper with our security, but the security quickly reset itself."
"Sigh, I'll deal with it," he said, pulling out his phone, and waited several seconds for the other line to pick up. In less than five seconds the other line picked up the phone.
"Ah, uh, Mr. Luthor," the voice stammered, "What seems to be the problem?"
"I want you to send out the androids, all of them. Make sure they try to attack the expo and whoever is in my office. Give the androids order to make it seem like my life is on the line," Luthor ordered.
"O‒of course, Mr. Luthor," then Lex disconnected from the line.
After several minutes the flash drive is still downloading everything on the androids from Luthor's computer.
"How long is this gonna take?" asked Videl.
Robin looked at her, "Don't worry. It should only take a few more minutes, there seems to be a lot of blueprints."
As Superboy stood to the side he started to hear a noise with his hearing, something moving through the air at incredible speeds. Suddenly a blast of ki came through the window and hit the floor near them, creating an explosion.
Below the street and inside of the nearby expo, gasps of shock went on as the sound of the explosion alerted them to what was happening. Robin opened his eyes feeling a bit of pain as was cut by some of the glass that had gone through the air, but when he fully opened them, he grabbed the flash drive on the ground in front of him, 'Guess we can't get all the information,' Robin thought.
Looking outside of the window, Robin, Superboy, and Horizon got into a fighting stance, finally seeing the android in all their glory. Each of the androids seem to have their own look. One of them was bulkier than the other, another had lines throughout its body with a white energy coursing through the vein-like lines, another had a kryptonite core, but the three heroes noticed something.
There were only three androids.
Inside of the expo, many gasps were heard, and screams came out as the three other androids landed in the building, aiming a hand at the crowd.
However, before it could fire, a blur of red and blue slammed into all three of them and shot them through a wall into the outside streets.
Luckily, Clark himself heard the sound of them flying through the air and changed into Superman with his speed away from any prying eyes.
Mercy made the move to get in front of Luthor as a false sign of protection.
Superman was doing quite well, tanking their blows with ease until he noticed the android with the kryptonite core raised it's hand as it let out not a white blast of ki, but a green blast that slammed into Superman's chest.
Superman groaned from the blast, feeling it's effects, after this the android then proceeded to open it's kryptonite core while simultaneously blasting Superman with numerous kryptonite blasts.
Luthor's face showed a small smile, but it was quickly dashed as Prince and Crane came to Superman's assistance, with Vegeta taking on one android while Tien took on another, leaving the three heroes in a one on one.
For the teenage heroes, things were not going well. Robin was trying his best as he threw numerous exploding batarangs that only slightly deterred white-veined android. After one of his batarangs was thrown, the android Robin faced moved at speeds Robin couldn't dodge.
It grabbed him by the neck and would have slammed him onto the ground floor had Superboy not tackled the android and started to pummel on it. Luckily, the android Superboy was pounding was one the absorbing androids, but it was draining Superboy's ki slower than he was beating it.
Videl had tried to face both the kryptonite infused android and the bulkier android, but both of their strength together overcame hers and she was blasted out of Luthor's window, though she managed to slow down her fall in time before she could taste the pavement.
"Superboy! We need backup, Superman and the others should have noticed the explosion and be here soon!" Robin shouted.
"Alright," Superboy said as he caught a punch, "I got this one! I'll be right behind you!"
Robin nodded, before jumping out of the window and using his cape to glide down towards the street below. Coming down towards the street he noticed Videl was in a tough spot and threw several smoke pellets to plan a quick escape, however, the two androids switched their vision to thermal and one of them kicked Robin, sending the Boy Wonder flying into a car.
"Robin!" Videl shouted, but the distraction from her opponents allowed them to let out a barrage of ki blasts towards the young heroine, who only managed to put up a shield of ki in time.
Robin was lying on the ground as he turned his head in pain, attempting to stand and help Horizon, but his broken ribs reminded him not to. He looked at Videl as she struggled to keep the barrier up, noticing it was getting weaker as they kept assaulting her.
Robin started to feel that feeling he had felt from the mental simulation and when his family in the circus...
'No!' Robin thought and raised his hand towards one of the androids, 'Come on!'
"Come on," soon Robin began to feel a strange sensation from his core that flowed into his hands. After several moments a blast of ki launched from his hand and into the head of one of the androids.
This didn't stop them, but it made one of them lay off Videl and instead made an aim towards him. Then because of his exhaustion, Robin entered unconsciousness, but his face formed a smile before he saw darkness.
"No!" Videl shouted. Then she saw the light of a ki blast.
The next moments were loud… as the android was carried off into the air by Tien's Dodon Ray, making it explode as he finally finished off one of the androids.
The other android turned it's head to face the three-eyed warrior and went on the offensive as it tried to rain down blows onto the stronger fighter. After several hundred punches thrown at vast speeds Tien found an opening that allowed him to gain distance and conjured a Destructo-Disk, chucking it towards the android.
However, the android managed to catch the Destructo-Disk between it's palms, luckily from above came Superboy with a battle cry as he threw the absorbing android he had defeated towards the one holding back the destructive disk, this caused the android to lose its grip on the disk of ki and it, along with the android thrown at it were bisected.
Videl let out a sigh of relief and went over to help Robin along with Superboy. The Boy Wonder looked over to the Crane master, "Crane, where are Prince and Superman?"
"Don't worry," Tien said as he transferred a bit of ki to Robin, who began to feel his condition become more stable, "They're still dealing with those androids. I had to leave them as I felt your ki dropping, but don't worry. I'm sure those two can handle themselves."
Back with both Superman and Vegeta, they were doing quite well against the androids. Vegeta decided to take on the android that was powered by kryptonite and ki to save Superman from trouble, and there were no problems as the android was overpowered by Vegeta's blows.
"Come on, this can't seriously be your all," Vegeta said with a well-placed kick against the untalkative being.
Superman noticed the occurring destruction from this fight and decided to end this. Using his heat vision, he made a beam strong enough to take both the androids he was facing into the sky, then using his speed to come near them again he put more strength into his final punch.
When he shot his fist forward it impaled one of the androids through the gut releasing a shockwave in the sky, and before the other android could reach him, he grabbed it by the head, crushing it in his grip.
The final android noticed this and decided to make a last resort to escape. Aiming, the android released an energy volley towards the expo. However, one of the leading soldiers saw the motion and moved to drop the artificial ki energy shields, protecting those inside from the volley.
The other bolts of energy that may have hit other parts of the expo not protected by the shields were countered by Vegeta's own.
Before Vegeta was able to destroy the android Luthor's soldiers fired their weapons, destroying the android as ki enhanced bullets went through its shell.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes at this, now finally coming to the realization Luthor was using the androids who had come to most likely to make it seem more and more like Luthor was against the androids and wipe any doubts of his alignment with the creation of the androids.
Superman quickly noticed this as well as he flew back down to the street. Using his hearing, Superman heard Luthor's next words, "The prototypes have been useful. Make sure further production is in order. We'll make sure to give some of the equipment to Bialya."
Vegeta noticed Superman's expression and walked over to him and whispered, "What do you know?"
"These androids were simply prototypes. And he might be shipping them towards Queen Bee," Vegeta raised a brow, not knowing who that was, "The so-called democratic monarch of Bialya." Superman explained further.
"Is there any way to find where these androids are being produced?" Vegeta asked.
"If my guess is right, then there may be one in Metropolis. Come on," Superman said, gesturing to follow him.
Vegeta nodded, then used his telepathy to make a link with Tien and Horizon, informing them of the news.
Flying to a rooftop before the news helicopter arrived the six heroes made their plan. Videl and Superboy would help Robin to get back to the cave and heal, while Tien, Superman, and Vegeta were to investigate for any abnormalities in an area of Metropolis.
Videl flew away and Superboy moved Robin to a nearby Zeta-Tube that took them to the cave.
Some Time Later
Searching through Metropolis at their speeds Superman came upon an abandoned neighborhood in the slums of Metropolis.
Superman had flown over the abandoned area many times and simply thought the reason he couldn't see through the walls of many houses were because of the lead paint lining the houses' walls. However, Superman's x-ray vision penetrated deeper this time as he looked for anything beneath the house but came to notice a large amount of lead lining something beneath the entirety of the house and spanned beneath several other houses.
"Tien, Vegeta, can you sense anything beneath the houses?" Superman asked.
"No. No one's down there," Tien said, and Vegeta nodded.
However, Superman didn't want to take any chances and raced down towards the house and tore apart it's floors as he punched through the underground lead shielding.
Coming down into it they noticed an abandoned lab, and they came upon a metal door Vegeta punched through. The room was large, and they noticed an indent on the wall of the room in the shape of a fist.
"You think the androids were created here?" Tien asked.
"It's possible, but Luthor said they were prototypes. Which means these aren't the last androids we may see, and they may even be able to someday rival even you two," Superman theorized.
"Hah, that would make it more of a challenge then, but they'll never truly rival us!" Vegeta boasted.
"You said the same thing about Eighteen, Vegeta, and you remember what happened," Tien said with a deadpan stare, causing Vegeta to scowl and rub his arms.
Suddenly, something caught Superman's ears, "Superman," he heard, recognizing the voice, and Superman immediately flew back up to street level, followed by the two ki users.
Coming up and out into the street Superman immediately noticed Lex Luthor standing in front of the house.
"Superman, it's good to see you. I thank you for protecting us at the expo and my building the androids were planning to destroy. I assume they were trying to send a message that no matter their status, no one is safe," Luthor said with a smile, reminding Vegeta of how Videl had said he had a punchable face and the Saiyan agreed even more seeing the smile in person.
"We know what you've done, Luthor," Vegeta said with fists clenched as the air around his body started to swirl.
"Oh? I have no idea what you mean, Prince. Also, please don't flaunt your strength. There's no telling how the public would react to seeing such a fine figure of heroism have such low control of his own power."
Vegeta's fists shook, but he soon calmed himself with a slow breath, "We will find where these androids are coming from.
"I hope you do," Luthor finalized, then entered his limousine as he rode away.
As the limo sped off with Mercy in the driver's seat. A screen came on in front of Luthor and opened itself revealing the figure of Vandal Savage.
"Hello, Vandal. I apologize for not leaving the heroes of New York alone, but I've made a number of disadvantages into advantages for The Light, one of them being the androids you've likely heard about. Though, it seems the heroes may have downloaded some of my blueprints, but they haven't found everything we're working on," Luthor calmly explained.
"Hmm, no worries, after all, we have the edge in developments. Your new devices are appreciated, Luthor. With this new technology we could have an even greater chance in showing the world the light, and this technology has made this path clearer than before. But I have a question. Can this technology be given and attached to those of the living?" Vandal said.
"Ah, I haven't gone that far, though, maybe I could make the technology more advanced further in time. May I ask what this is for?" Luthor questioned.
"An old friend," Vandal said with a smile.
Bat Cave
Inside of the cave was Batman looking at the large screen in front of him as he looked over the new technology Luthor had come up with.
The blueprints were simply, genius. A way to create artificial energy, but it didn't seem to have the exact level of power as Vegeta or Tien. It also seemed these androids could only use their full power for some time before their power dwindled as their cores were a battery.
Batman's eyes narrowed, but he didn't turn his head when Alfred handed him a cup of coffee, "Well, what have you found sir?" Alfred inquired.
"Luckily, it seems Luthor hasn't found infinite energy, but simply a battery for large amounts of ki energy, though it seems these prototypes can really reach a certain level of power, but it won't stay that way if Luthor is still developing them," Batman explained, "...Is Robin alright, his ribs?" The Dark Knight said, a sense of worry in his tone.
"Master Grayson will recover, though he won't be able to push himself for some time. Though, he seems to be in a good mood regardless," Alfred answered.
"Hmm. Well, at least we've found how Luthor is making these weapons and their weaknesses. This could even the playing field." Batman finalized, thinking of not only Luthor, but against the three new heroes as well, for they were a variable he couldn't always account for.
Unbeknownst to them, Robin sat up in his bed, a smile on his face as an orb of ki floated above his palm. His own ki, his power he could use to protect more than ever before.
Well, that's the end for this chapter. I'm setting a few things up in this chapter that I hope to expand upon in the future, and I'm sorry about not being able to shoot out this chapter on the fly, as I made it a bit long.
For how strong the androids are, the krypton and siphon androids are below the overloads in power, but the overloads are somewhat on par with Videl power, but you have to remember these are only the prototypes and will become stronger, but so will Videl in time.
The reason Superman struggled was only because of the krypton android who are able to weaken him and they started to weaken him even more as it opened it's kryptonite core and hit him with kryptonite infused blasts. Vegeta and Tien were only holding back to not damage the surroundings and that is why they sent the androids into the sky and finally destroyed them.
I may also be bringing back a character that has a personal grudge against Vegeta in future chapters.