Chapter 4: Promises

"Speak, boy," Darkseid said in his naturally deep voice, "what is it you want?"

"It's simple," Izayoi began, "As I understand it, your plan in to send out your Elite warriors to various planets and establish some sort of control over them. Furthermore, each warrior is given a generous amount of soldiers to assist them in their conquests. Am I getting it right so far?"

Darkseid slowly nodded his head as he continued to stare at the teen, "Indeed. What is it you wish to tell me?"

"Well, actually, it's more like a request."

"Oh?" Darkseid said with a raised eyebrow, "and what is the nature of this 'request'?"

Izayoi caressed his chin in thought, "well, I ask that you NOT provide me with any soldiers."

"Are you suggesting that you are capable of conquering this planet without the aid of any soldiers? I must admit, I am surprised, boy. But you DO understand the consequences if you fail me, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah," Izayoi said as he shrugged. "Death and destruction await those who fail the 'great' Darkseid. I got it. Will you grant me my request or not?"

Darkseid fell silent for a moment as he considered the blonde warrior's plan. He stared down at the group of heroes who seemed to be confused as to what was going on, but they wouldn't dare make a move.

"Very well," Darkseid finally replied, "I shall grant you your request, but understand this: you will only be given 6 months. Once this period of time ends, I shall return. However, if I return, and you have not accomplished your task, make no mistake, I WILL kill you."

Izayoi gave him a smile, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

With that, Izayoi jumped down from the hovercraft and landed gracefully on the ground. As he turned around, he watched Darkseid and his army begin to slowly return back into the boomtube; then, in a flash of light, every last soldier was gone.

Izayoi continued to stare up at the empty sky for a few more moments before he turned to face the group of heroes. He silently watched as Wonder Woman and Green Arrow helped Superman back to his feet. The Man of Steel still clutched his shoulder in pain as he tried to regain his footing.

"How's that arm?" Izayoi said jokingly.

Superman glared daggers at him, but remained silent.

"You…" Wonder Woman growled as she slowly began to pull out her sword from its sheath, "you did this to him!"

"Look, I can understand why you may be upset-" Izayoi began before Wonder Woman pointed her sword to his neck.

"Upset?! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut your head off right now."

"I can give you three," Izayoi nonchalantly replied, "number one - I can fix Superman's shoulder, number two - I have no intention of harming any of you (at least right now), and number three - I just saved all of your lives."

"'Saved our lives?'" Wonder Woman repeated, "You tried to kill Superman! Not to mention you are allied with Darkseid."

"First of all, if I really intended to 'kill' Superman, as you put it, he would be in worse shape than he currently is. Second of all, if I refused to battle him, Darkseid would've taken matters into his own hands, and if THAT were to happen, Superman and every other hero here would either be dead or mortally wounded. Need I continue."

Wonder Woman's face twisted in rage as she listened to him speak. Everything he said was right - and she knew it. Slowly, she began to lower her sword.

Izayoi took advantage of her silence and walked past her to approach Superman who was being helped to his feet by Green Arrow.

"Let me see your shoulder," he commanded as he neared the two heroes.

Suddenly, before he could get to them, he felt something hit the back of his head. Although it didn't hurt him, he turned to see that Wonder Girl had thrown something at him.

'Stay away from him!" she yelled as she picked up a car, "or i'll make you!"

"Seriously?..." Izayoi said with an unimpressed face, "you're gonna throw a car at me?"

"If I have to," she said sternly.

"Cassandra, no!" a voice suddenly said.

Wonder Girl and Izayoi both turned to see Wonder Woman returning her sword to her sheath.

"Allow him to assist Superman's injury," she said as she stared into Izayoi's eyes.

"Wait, you trust him?" Wonder Girl said in disbelief.

"I cannot truly say that I trust him completely, but every word he has spoken thus far has been true. It is due to this fact alone that I have considered his help."

Wonder Girl stared silently at the black-haired warrior before she begrudgingly set the car back down on the ground. She sighed and crossed her arms as she leaned against a nearby rail. "Fine," she said as she eyed the blonde teen, "but if you make one wrong move, i'll make sure that you won't hurt anyone ever again."

Izayoi continued foreword and kneeled down next to the Man of Steel as he inspected his shoulder; slowly, he grabbed Superman's shoulder and the upper portion of his arm.

"Now, prepare yourself. This might hurt…..a lot," Izayoi said.

Superman man sighed in response, "just do it."

Izayoi nodded in understanding as he adjusted the positioning of his arms. He quickly applied pressure upwards and felt the top portion of the arm lock into place, much to Superman's discomfort. The man of Steel grunted from the pain, although he refused to remove his gaze from the blonde teen.

"You…"Superman said, grabbing Izayoi's attention, "Why are you helping me?"

Izayoi opened his mouth to respond, but instead he remained silent. The blonde boy quietly stood up and stared at a confused Superman; he reached his arm out to the man in blue - a gesture that almost startled him.

"Rest assured, Superman, I will answer any questions that you have, but know this - I do not intend to carry out Darkseid's orders."

Superman gave the teen a questioning look before he looked over at Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.

"Hold on a moment," Superman said as he began to approach the two Justice League members, "I'll be right back."

Izayoi watched as the man of steel joined up with his superpowered associates and started to talk to them. Although Izayoi was mostly uninterested, he continued to watch the three heroes converse with each other; he noticed that many of the other heroes started to leave, probably because there were no more threats.

He soon turned his attention to Wonder Girl, who was starting to leave with the others but was still glaring at him. A few of the other heroes seemed to shared her disdain for his existence; not like he really cared, though.

A few minutes passed until Superman finally returned; he walked up to Izayoi with a stern look on his face.

"I've talked with my colleagues, and we have agreed that it would be beneficial to question you as quickly as possible. We will take you to a secure location where you can tell us everything you know."

Izayoi gave Superman the side-eye, "Am I to understand that i'm NOT being detained?"

Superman slowly nodded, "Yes. Although you were allied with Darkseid, we have several reasons to keep you cooperative. It would be against our best interest to arrest you."

"I understand," Izayoi replied.

"Follow me," Superman said, "I'll take you to meet up with some other Justice League members."

Izayoi started to follow as he slowly looked up into the sky. The sun was starting to go down, and the sky was stained with the colors of orange and yellow. Small shapeless clouds floated overhead as Izayoi continued to gaze.

'6 months, eh?' Izayoi thought to himself with a chuckle, 'that's plenty of time.'

End of chapter 4

Author's Note: Hey guys, I know that this particular chapter was nothing special; it can basically be considered filler, but I needed some sort of plot transition to get the story I wanted. Also, this chapter was fairly short (despite how long it took me to complete). If you guys liked this chapter, please leave a comment. Thanks! :D