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Chapter Fifteen
"I never thought I'd see the day where Mercy Mendelssohn-Nacht would walk through the doors of the Hall of Justice…" Mercy murmured to herself as she trailed behind Batman, whose cape was billowing behind him like a black cloud of smoke, guiding Mercy- who was dressed and disguised as Eternal- towards the inner sanctum of the Hall. Not many people were there at the moment, but the two were receiving a good amount of stares as Batman entered his designation, and an override to allow Eternal into the sanctum.
Batman glanced back at her as the large air locked doors slid open, and glared slightly.
As soon as the doors closed behind the two, Batman spoke.
"Never use your real name in public. Unless you want to get yourself killed." Batman growled as the scanner looked him over, and then Eternal, who nearly jumped as she was blinded by the projected grid.
"Yeah, yeah. An army of duplicates of me after my blood. Lex Luthor is after my ass yadda, yadda." Eternal mumbled to herself. Batman shot her another glare as the second set of doors slid open, and then turned back to walk through.
Eternal smirked as she walked in the Sanctum of the Hall, and her eyes landed on each of the League members that stood before her.
The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and both Green Lanterns. And based on the shift in the mood of the air Eternal felt as soon as she stepped inside, they were all aware of exactly how dangerous Eternal was to them. Wonder Woman's hand instinctively moved towards her lasso, Flash tensed momentarily, Superman's eyes flashed, Martian Manhunter tried to invade her mind- to no avail, and the Green Lanterns rings glowed momentarily before their light dulled once again.
Eternal just shot them all a smug smirk, crossed her arms, allowed her stance to relax, and gave a soft chuckle. Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Batman narrowed their eyes at her actions, but did not voice their disapproval.
"Why so serious?" She chirped almost happily as she quirked her head to the side, causing small strands of loose hair to fall into her face. Batman gave a soft, but audible growl next to her, and her blue eyes darted towards him, and her lips fell into a frown.
"This is not the time for mockery." Wonder Woman spoke sternly as she took a step forwards, her hand still on her lasso. Eternal's eyes darted towards Wonder Woman's lasso and the back up at Wonder Woman's eyes.
Upon realizing that her hand was on her weapon, Wonder Woman allowed her hand to drop to her side, but did not allow herself to be anything less than alert.
Black Canary stepped forwards, and reached towards Eternal, who granted her a warm smile as the songbird placed both of her hands on Eternal's shoulders.
"Eternal, what you're about to see, you can never tell anyone about. Do you understand?" Black Canary said with a voice of authority. Eternal resisted the temptation to roll her eyes, and nodded at Canary as she thought about how they wouldn't have listened to her if she told them anyway.
Batman left Eternal's side, and moved towards the front of the room where a large computer resided, and began typing.
The Flash took a pensive step forwards, and Eternal's eyes instantly darted towards the movement before his foot even hit the ground again. Flash's eyes widened slightly at the movement Eternal made, but he quickly concealed it by pasting on a smile.
"So you're the famous Etty that Kid can't shut up about?" Flash smirked as he pointed at Eternal almost joyfully. His fellow teammates raised an eyebrow at him, and their eyes darted between the two as Eternal's eyebrows rose ever so slightly, and her head raised up a little.
"Kid still talks about me?" She asked, her tone thoroughly surprised. "The whole team has been a bit… stand offish lately." She muttered just loud enough for them to hear. Flash shrugged as he gave a soft chuckle.
"Still talks a mile a second about you." Flash smirked as he crossed his arms, and Eternal let her arms fall to her sides. Her sudden movement caused the League members who were not familiar with her- now excluding Flash, to tense again. Eternal shot them all a look, sighed loudly, and then looked back at Flash.
"That's… odd. We hardly speak these days." Eternal mentioned softly. Flash looked confused, but before he could say anymore, Batman cleared his throat, commanding the nine other people in the room to look at him.
"Eternal." He motioned for her to come forwards. Green Arrow followed.
"You and Green Arrow will be the first to go. The rest of us will follow. Do not touch anything, do not wander away from Green Arrow, do you understand?" Batman snarled. Eternal thought his force was unnecessary, but she didn't feel the need to start anything, and just nodded.
"Alright, kiddo. Lets go." Green Arrow chirped as he placed a hand on Eternal's shoulder, and she looked up to grin at him. Green Arrow smirked back, and then led the two of them towards the Zeta transporter, and both stepped inside.
In a flash of light, the two were gone, and in another, they appeared again, but in a much… different place.
It took Eternal a moment to process it, but as soon as she realized where she was… she couldn't help but 'wander' away from Green Arrow at the sight of space through the enormous windows ahead of her.
Her brain suddenly switched back on, and information came flooding into her consciousness.
The Watchtower. The Justice League's top secret headquarters that orbits Earth. Not weaponized, Zeta beam entry and dock with authorized entry only. Be advised, emergency protocols allow the inside of the Watchtower to shift in order to confuse and disorient enemies if necessary. The Monitor Womb-
Her thoughts stopped as if they had been paused at the feeling of weight on her shoulder, and she froze in mid step.
"Do you always disobey direct orders?" Green Arrow questioned as he took a step forwards to stand next to Eternal, his hand still secured on her shoulder. Eternal continued to gaze around the Monitor Womb, her eyes glued to the stars outside of the window and the perfect view of earth as she responded.
"Only most of the time… I follow them when I find them relevant." Eternal quipped in a almost airy tone of voice that Green Arrow dismissed as awe, when really, Eternal was wondering where the spill of information on the Watchtower had come from. Green Arrow laughed, removed his hand from her shoulder to clap her on the back, and then turned when another flash of light brought several other league members to the Watchtower.
Batman, Flash, Black Canary, and Wonder Woman arrived first, and then Superman, Martian Manhunter, and both Green Lanterns. As soon as they arrived, Eternal turned around to face them, her eyes carefully concealed to hide her 'awe', her expression now one that read something along the lines of 'uninterested'.
"So, Bats." Eternal nearly sighed as Batman and the rest of the League members moved forwards. Batman shot her a look, telling her that he disapproved of her use of his little 'pet name' she had given him in front of his fellow league members. "Why have you brought me here? Of all places?" She asked as she took a few steps towards the group of League members.
Batman did not answer right away, but Superman did take the chance to speak.
"Why did you bring her here? She's a danger to all of us and revealing this information to her-" Superman was cut of by Batman's glare, and he quickly ended his short rant.
"I brought Eternal here to show her that she is trusted among the members of the League, and based on what we've seen so far from these… duplicates, any of them could be watching the Hall. We can't take any risks." Batman growled as he strode forwards, and led the group of League members, and Eternal towards a room deeper in to the bowls of the Watchtower.
Every time Eternal tried to speak, she was cut of by a glare, or a light shove from Green Arrow. Every time Eternal tried to get a closer look at something, Flash would suddenly appear and begin to talk about something Eternal had to feign interest in. Whenever she tried to move from her position next to Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Superman would adjust their pace to prevent her from moving forwards.
And soon enough, Eternal had enough, and she finally chose to choose the less discreet route.
"Alright… I see how it is…" Eternal mumbled, causing Superman to glance back at her. "'Scuse me!" Eternal shouted as she suddenly leaped up, used Martian Manhunter's shoulders to vault over the group of heroes keeping her pent in, and landed in front of Batman, with a soft grunt, and a quick roll before bouncing back up to her feet and dusting of imaginary dirt from her arms. Black Canary hid her annoyed expression in the palm of her hand, and Batman grumbled, but did not turn to glare at Eternal as she obnoxiously placed herself on her tip toes, walked a few paces, and then gave a light laugh.
"Ah… mama's still got it." She sighed as she adjusted her mask comically. The masked Green Lantern gave a small laugh, and his fellow League members surrounding him turned to shoot him a glare. His laugh quickly transformed into a hacking cough, and then a quick clearing of his throat before he muttered something inaudible to everyone- Except Superman of course.
Soon enough, the group entered a meeting room where Eternal promptly plopped down into a random seat, and gazed around the room as a pair of heavy doors slide shut behind the League members, who filed in quietly and found their way to their own seats.
Eternal gazed around the room, and in a few moments, she realized that Batman was missing.
Someone cleared their throat behind her, and she looked up.
Batman was standing behind her, off to her left with his arms crossed over his chest, and a stern expression on his masked face.
Eternal glanced around, then towards her hands on the table, and then back to Batman, who was still glaring at her.
Eternal finally, stood, slowly, and turned the seat towards Batman with a mocking bow. Batman growled, took his seat, and turned himself back towards the table as Eternal found herself another seat towards the other end of the table, where very few of the League members where sitting, and placed her hands back on the table.
"Now," Batman spoke as a holographic panel appeared in front of him. He selected a few options, and a screen appeared in the center of the table, displaying mug shots of not two, but seven criminals bearing the crest of Eternal sew onto their black costumes with white thread.
Eternal narrowed her eyes at the pictures, and her fist pounded on the table, and motioned towards the extra mug shots violently as the League members eyes shot towards her with shocked expressions.
All of them, excluding Batman, of course.
"Who are they?" Eternal snarled, her eyes filling with anger similar to Batman's when he interrogated criminals. It struck a slight chord of fear in a few of the Leaguers as Batman cleared his throat.
"I found her trying to the CCPD's forensics building last night." The Flash spoke with his usual chipper tone as he pointed to a girl with platinum blonde hair and dark green eyes. Her expression was one of pure hatred as she glared daggers at the camera. Flash stroked an imaginary beard, and squinted slightly at the girl. "She was sneaky. But her hand to hand combat skills were poor. I took her out in a grand total of two moves." He stated almost smugly as he held up two fingers like a small child.
The Green Lantern with dark skin nodded towards a boy with a military cut hairstyle, and the second Green Lantern with light skin and a domino mask spoke.
"We caught him a few nights ago. Around the same time Batman alerted us to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, and right after that we spotted this guy on the roof of the Hall." He remarked. Eternal noted that his tone was very carefree.
"He wasn't stealthy or skilled in combat. Caught him with a simple pair of handcuffs from our power rings." The second Green Lantern said. Eternal finally realized how different the two were. One wore a smirk, and the other seemed to constantly frown.
Wonder Woman pointed towards a girl with long, flowing brown hair and blue eyes, her expression cross as began to speak.
"That one, tried to follow me into a Zeta tube back to Theymiscera." She nearly snarled. Eternal's eyebrows rose slightly at this. How could a copy of her be so stupid?
"Not stealthy- obviously, but she put up a better fight then most opponents. Took advantage of weaknesses and extremely cunning." Wonder Woman slowly began to sound impressed, but her expression did not change. Eternal frowned, and wondered how so many defects were being made in her copies.
Superman put a hand forward, and selected his captured minor, a scrawny looking black boy with bleached hair, and scowled.
"This one… he had kryptonite. But he wasn't smart enough to make sure I wouldn't crash land into him when he took it out. Very stealthy. I didn't see him until he was right in front of me, but he wasn't highly endowed in the intelligence department to say the least…" Superman mumbled the last part just loud enough for Eternal to hear, and she snorted quietly from her end of the table.
Martian Manhunter pulled up his captured copy of Eternal; A small girl, who from her information on the panel that had just appeared in front of Eternal stated she was only 95 pounds, and covered in battle wounds. Her hazel eyes glimmered with intelligence, but her dirty, blue, purple, and green hair said that she obviously didn't like to take a part in society, which told Eternal that she was fresh off of the press.
"She knew exactly how to block my mental attacks, and used many weapons that took advantage of my weaknesses. It was very difficult to locate her after I had to call on Black Canary for assistance, and took several days to find her hidden in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Seattle. Her hand to hand combat skills are strong, and her stealth is above average, extreamly intelligent, but ill tempered, and lost control of the battle soon after Black Canary pointed out to her that her blocking skills needed some … as she would say…work." Manhunter finished as Eternal squinted at the picture of the girl, and the gazed at the others with the same expression.
After a few moments of silence, Batman spoke.
"Do you have anything to say about this, Eternal?" Batman asked. Eternal glanced at him, her hand still placed under her chin as she inspected the photos, and then reached up to pull off her mask.
"Might as well call me by my real name, Bats. I know you all know who I am, or else I wouldn't be here helping you." She sighed as she pocketed the mask, and rubbed her eyes. "But, I do have something to say." She added quickly before Batman had the opportunity to scold her.
She removed her hand from her face, reached down towards the holographic panel in front of her, and selected the photo of the girl Wonder Woman had caught.
"Here. Perfect example. I was taught to never follow any of my targets to their home turf. It makes them stronger, gives them the upper hand, gives them a reason to fight even harder- and in Wonder Woman's case, and means she would have allies. It's a dumb, ill planned move that I would never do." Eternal quickly selected the boy the Green Lanterns had caught, and gave a disappointed sigh.
"You fell for it." She said sing song as she began typing on the panel- and after a few moments, the screen in front of all of them disappeared for a moment, and then displayed a security feed of the boy's cell. Canary began to scold Eternal for hacking the League's systems- but was cut off by the sound of rustling from the feed, and then a sudden black out. "Playing possum. Get caught; get taken to a holding cell in enemy territory." She stated as she began typing again.
In another moment, all of the League members began beeping or flashing in some sort of fashion, and Eternal quickly shut off the alerts.
"He won't be getting out of there for a while." Eternal quipped as she closed the keyboard on the panel with a swipe, and glanced up at the screen, which was now displaying the mug shots for a while.
Superman looked up from his beeping belt, and frowned at Eternal.
"What did you do to him?" He asked, his tone concerned. Eternal did not look away from the screen, but she did raise an eyebrow. "And how did you do that?"
"I activated the extra security measures." She said lightly as she waved her hand back over the panel and brought up the photo of the platinum blonde girl Flash had caught trying to break into the CCPD building. "And I hacked your security system and activated extra measures. And as far as I can tell, he won't be able to escape a… three foot wide steel door and electric floors…"
"This one… is shameful." Eternal's voice was unusually loud for the situation, but the lowered as she spoke. The Justice League members at the other end of the table all shot her a confused, or almost accusing look as she stood, placed her hands on the table, and leaned forwards.
"The first thing I learned was combat training. I was force fed tactics from heroes like," She motioned towards Batman and Black Canary "Martial arts experts like Batman and Black Canary. And even villains such as Catwoman, Riddler, Sportsmaster, you name them, I know how they operate. But this girl-" She pointed at the angry girl on the screen, and narrowed her eyes at her as if she were disgusted. "She obviously was not trained sufficiently. You cannot depend solely on stealth when going against a speedster."
"So are you saying," Wonder Woman began. "That these are not…copies of you?"
The rest of the League turned to look back at Eternal, and waited as she carefully contemplated her answer.
"No." She finally answered as she removed her hand from her chin, and set her hand down next to the holographic panel. The League members became confused again- except for Batman.
"She's right." Batman groveled. All eyes turned towards him, except for Eternal's. "Mercy was selected for her genetic background, or what was stated on her file, her 'superior genetics give her the higher potential for absorbing the information force fed to her'." He announced as Eternal nodded, confirming that his statement was correct.
"It was confirmed that I 'absorbed' all of the information I was force fed and more as I've grown over the past three and a half years." Eternal spoke with a preoccupied expression as everyone turned to look at her. Flash raised a finger, and began to speak.
"So how much information is that… exactly?" Flash asked as eyes turned to him, and then back at Eternal, who had reached back towards the holographic panel, and then glanced up at Flash.
"I absorbed 100% of the information taught to me. And then when I was allowed to run free for a while, I returned for a 'check up', and it was confirmed that I had absorbed 200% more information and tactics over a span of six months." She paused as she continued to type notes on the files of the captured copies of Eternal. "But that was when I was engaged in combat on a daily basis. I haven't been 'updated' or checked on my development for nearly a year." She grumbled. The room was silent as Eternal typed her notes, and she glanced up momentarily to look over the group of costumed heroes mulling over her words.
"Have you identified any of these kids?" She asked no one in particular. It took a moment, but Black Canary broke out of her thoughts first, and looked up at Eternal from the files she was swiping through on the panel in front of her.
"Four. The others won't even eat. We've had to force feed them and then put them on watch by a member of the League for the rest of the day afterwards." She sighed. Black Canary brought the pictures of the four duplicates that had been identified, and Eternal quickly looked up at them to memorize their faces.
"Theodore Crass, a runaway from Gotham." The black boy with the bleach blonde hair. "Cassandra Franklin. Missing daughter of Senator Cane Franklin, but she claims to have no memory of her family." The girl with brown hair and piercing blue eyes who followed Wonder Woman. "Jayce Carry declared dead by his parents two years after his disappearance." The boy with the light skin and military style haircut. Eternal could see why he had been selected- military background, strong build. He obviously had not lived up to expectations.
The photo of the girl with the purple, blue, and green hair appeared, her face still smeared with a bit of dirt and a few cuts and bruises.
"And she is Mia Byrne." Canary's tone had suddenly turned dark, and Eternal glanced at her. "It took quite a bit of effort to get anything out of her." Eternal closed her eyes, and sighed quietly as the rest of the League members began to debate with each other.
This can't be happening. She thought to herself. Not an army, Lex. Anything but an army.
Eternal rubbed her eyes with her hands, and sighed again as she fell deeper into thought. Why didn't I see this coming? Why didn't I stop this before?
Well, dear, you can't stop everything, now can you? A voice chimed in her head. Her eyes popped open behind her hands, but she kept her frame calm and cool as it had been. Her blue eyes narrowed at the table, and she suppressed a quiet growl.
Dubbilex. Eternal replied to the voice in her head. Long time no talk, my dear teacher. I heard Lex promoted you. That true? She slyly questioned as she felt Dubbilex's presence throw up a few guards against Martian Manhunter's telepathy. Eternal did not protest, or try to stop him because she wanted the conversation to be kept between herself and Dubbilex.
I see you haven't changed. Dubbilex retorted. Although most believed Dubbilex to be quite rigid with others, he had delved deeper into Mercy's mind than anyone else, and knew exactly now to communicate with her. Eternal scowled behind her hands, and then sat straight up, carefully disguising her discomfort.
Funny. Lex said the same thing. Eternal snarled. I know you've been listening for a while. And I figured you were the one keeping tabs on me. So spill, Dubbilex. What is Lex planning?
Something extreme. I don't even know the details of it, Mercy. But you're assumptions are close. He hinted as Eternal pretended to be listening closely to the heated debate between Black Canary and Wonder Woman. Canary slammed her fist on the table and Wonder Woman stood. Eternal just leaned back and placed her feet on the table.
Am I? So something along the lines of say… and army? She asked as she raised an eyebrow at the scene. Canary was standing now. Dubbilex made a small sound in her head, and then another sound that Eternal was not sure what it could mean.
Give me something, Dubbilex. You can't just show up in my thoughts in and not give me anything to go on. She practically snarled at him as she narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her. She could hear the League members snarling at each other, but she wasn't paying nearly enough attention to their words to know what they were yelling about.
Dubbilex paused for a while, and Eternal took the time to analyze the shouting match. Wonder Woman believed the children involved was being kidnapped from their homes, Black Canary believed they were runaways, and the Flash had meekly added that they may have volunteered. All of them could have been right.
They're all right, Mercy. These children are a mixture of kidnappings, runaways, and volunteers approached by Luthor himself. He's been trying to find another genetic miracle by picking them at random. Dubbilex stated with a grim tone to his voice. Eternal's expression grew stern, and then looked down at the panel and the faces of the failed attempts. Some of them were believed to be successes, some of them we knew would fail. But I do not know what Luthor's ultimate plan is, Mercy. My part in his plan is only to raise his copies of you.
And at that, she felt Dubbilex's presence leave her mind, and the walls he had placed in her consciousness fell.
"I think you're all right." Eternal finally spoke. It was as if she had screamed the words at the enraged members of the League, because they all became quiet, and turned their gaze towards her. It took a moment for Eternal to gather her thoughts together, and the League members stood in collective silence as they waited for her to continue.
Eternal looked up at them, and interlaced her fingers, then placed them underneath her chin.
"Runaways, Kidnapped, willing, or unwilling. I think the that whatever the plan is, and whoever is planning this, really has no plan. He's going on chance, hoping at least one of these kids will be his crown jewel, the answer to all of his problems." Eternal stated with a grim tone as she motioned towards the photos. The League Members were still silent, but now their minds were spinning with thoughts.
Superman was the first to speak.
"And who exactly is this he you speak of?" He asked. All eyes turned to him, and then towards Eternal, who almost lazily looked up towards him. Eternal almost smirked at the irony.
"You and I have a common foe, Boy Scout." She purred, causing Superman to widen his eyes, and pull his head back slightly in shock. She could feel the rest of the League members- minus those closest to her- react as well, and the smirk she had been suppressing appeared- but quietly, and shortly.
"Luthor." Eternal finally stated frankly. Superman's expression quickly became stern, and eyebrows rose on a few faces.
Eternal stood, and made a show of it by sighing loudly as she did.
"The man practically raised me, but he never thought to mention that he had altered my memories after I 'moved out'." She drawled as she rose up her fingers to imitate quotation marks.
Wonder Woman spoke first.
"So do you believe that he is attempting to create an army of duplicates?" She questioned, her posture still defensive. Eternal quickly shook her head in response.
"No, absolutely not." Eternal answered as she looked up at them, and then motioned to herself. "If Luthor is searching for another 'genetic miracle', then he wouldn't need an army of them because I was already designed to be the very best one man army." The looks she received were no surprise. The Flash raised his eyebrows as if he were shocked by her bold statement, and the Green Lantern wearing the mask crossed his arms, raised his eyebrows, and sat back in his seat. Others simply raised their eyebrows or narrowed their eyes.
"It sounds… pompous… but it is true." Green Arrow spoke as he raised an eyebrow comically and shrugged his shoulders as multiple pairs of eyes turned towards him.
After a few moments of silence, eyes began to turn back towards Eternal, who was staring down at a panel in front of her.
"So all Luthor needs is another kid with the perfect genetic structure on his side and…" Black Canary's unfinished statement was left hanging in the air as the members of the League watched Eternal, and became heavy on everyone's conscious.
Eternal didn't look up at them, because she knew they were all listening.
"The Justice League is in for a fight for their lives."
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You guys.
I suck.
Not my writing skills.
But my ABILITY TO UPDATE IN A TIMELY MATTER DOES NEED SOME WORK.