"It's a total disaster. Heavy on the dis."
This was the first thing Dick said as soon as Slade told him every single detail of the Light meeting. The former military man stared at his son, unimpressed by him butchering the English language, but finally ignored him with a grunt.
"There are so many super-villains and all of them dangerous. And apparently a good portion of them we don't even know by name." Dick pointed out with a frown.
"We'd better research them and find out as much information about them as possible. It would be very useful to know their weaknesses, if they have them." stated Slade.
His son nodded. "Research first and then I'll call aunt Talia. Come on, let's get to work!"
Slade rolled his one eye but had a slight smirk at the acrobat's enthusiasm.
Although he would never have thought of playing the role of a mole infiltrating a criminal organization to secretly help the heroes, he would be lying if he said he did not feel the rush of adrenaline and excitement in his veins.
Slade had not felt so alive, so excited about something so important in a very long time. And it was obviously thanks once again to his son.
He put his thoughts aside and began to help Dick with research on the Light members they did not know.
"I think we can end here." Slade affirmed, staring at the mess of papers that filled the floor.
He and his son spent about three hours finding out all they could about the Light super-villains and while it wasn't a ton of information it was still basic and all they could find. They gathered everything they discovered through Dick's hacking skills and combined it with information and suggestions from Slade who knew them personally since after he officially joined the Light he spent some time getting to know his new "allies."
"Let's do a brief summary on all of them." Dick suggested and his father nodded. "Let's start with the leader: Vandal Savage. He is about fifty thousand years old and was the first meta-human in history. He was basically a Homo Sapiens and saw a meteorite fall. While he was reaching for it he was attacked by a bear that left three scars on his face but he eventually managed to defeat the animal.
"Once he reached the meteorite he was attacked by an enemy tribe that left him dying. However, the meteorite's radiation transformed him into a meta-human, healed his mortal wounds and he defeated the tribe through his superhuman physical abilities. Vandal later founded many civilizations, such as Atlantis, using numerous aliases. This explains why he believes he is destined to lead humanity and why he thinks humans are destined to be the central and most important living species in the cosmos.
"In summary, he is a meta-human endowed with superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, endurance, longevity and immortality. He is a great fighter and strategist and possesses a healing factor that heals even mortal-type wounds."
"However, we do not know if his healing factor is like yours and if he is able to regrow even missing limbs." Slade pointed out and his son nodded. "Queen Bee is a dictator who rules her country, Bialya, with brutality and under an iron fist, although she describes it as a constitutional monarchy.
"She possesses no scruples and will do anything to achieve her goals. She is a true power-hungry manipulator. She has the power to control pheromones which enables her to charm people into doing her bidding. This works on all men while in the case of the women it depends on their willpower."
"Psimon works for Queen Bee to help her strengthen her hold on her country or annex other territories. He possesses psychic powers such as telekinesis and telepathy which includes mind control. He can also erase memories."
"Despite his youthful appearance and horns, Klarion has existed since the birth of the universe, about 16 billion years ago." continued Slade. "He is a Lord of Chaos opposed to their counterparts, the Lords of Order to which, for example, Dr. Fate belongs. He is consequently a real cruel psychopath who enjoys causing chaos, hurting, torturing and killing people. He is so cruel to the point of rivaling even the Joker himself.
"Despite this he also tends to behave like an immature and whiny child, even throwing tantrums when he does not get what he wants. The only living being that Klarion truly appreciates and genuinely cares about is his cat Teekl.
"Being chaos personified, Klarion seems to have no weakness. The only weakness that can be exploited is his cat but there is no telling what Klarion might do in a fit of rage if Teekl is hurt, or worse, so it is best to avoid pissing him off until we find out more about him."
"Currently Ultra-Humanite is a huge albino gorilla but originally he was a male scientist who transferred his brain into the body of an old woman. The brain was once again replaced and was implanted into an albino gorilla, thus becoming Ultra-Humanite.
"He is endowed with superhuman intelligence and is an expert in the field of medicine to the point of surgically transferring his brain from one body to another and also in technology, having invented advanced technological weapons. Ultra-Humanite is a meta-human and thus possesses superhuman strength, speed and endurance." stated Dick.
"Finally, Zviad Baazovi is a UN ambassador for Markovia and plays an important role for his country. He is a meta-human and possesses limited psionic abilities. He can subtly influence people and push them toward their worst impulses." concluded Slade.
Dick nodded and his gaze fell on several papers. "Even though there was no real need, it's always good to have researched the better-known super-villains like Lex Luthor, Brain, Ocean-Master and Black Manta and written down as much information as possible."
Slade grunted and stared at his son. "What are you going to do with this information?"
Dick smirked. "Magically a copy of them will appear in the dwelling of one of the heroes who will not notice until it returns home from work."
The super soldier rotated his one eye. "I already know the hero's home where you will be breaking."
"That's definitely the least serious crime I've ever committed." the Talon pointed out, getting an amused snort from his former mentor. "Go ahead, take a guess."
"Wonder Woman."
Dick gave him a flat look. "You're never going to let it go, are you?"
Slade's smirk increased when he noticed a slight blush blossom on his son's face. "Nope." he said, snapping his tongue noisily. "It is satisfying to be able to tease you about your hero crush on her."
The acrobat groaned and ran a hand over his face. "I hate you." he murmured before suddenly straightening his back. "Did the Light want to know your identity?"
"They said I should reveal my civilian identity to them since there should be no secrets among Light members but I politely told them to fuck off." Slade smiled mimicking with the quotation marks. "So they don't know my civilian identity, don't worry."
"Good." Dick nodded and reached for his phone. "I'll call aunt Talia now and see if she can tell us anything useful."
"I don't think she can tell us anything useful but try anyway."
"Thank you anyway, Aunt Talia. See you soon. Say hello to Dami, Cass and Aunt Sandra for me."
"I will. Goodbye, Richard."
Dick interrupted the call and returned to his father with a sigh. "You were right. All Talia said was that she had a phone conversation with Vandal Savage and in the end she rejected his offer, saying that the League of Assassins would remain on neutral ground. She doesn't know anything else."
Slade grunted. "That's okay anyway. The information we possess is more than enough to build a general picture."
The last Flying Grayson nodded. "Hey, do you think it would be useful if we added the location of the Light headquarters among the information?"
"It's better not.'" the more experienced mercenary shook his head. "Vandal Savage said that the one before would be the first and last physical meeting. From then on, every meeting will take place online with special technology. So that place is completely useless, at least for now."
"Besides, it would be very suspicious if the heroes discovered it immediately." the acrobat reflected aloud. He nodded to himself. "I will now refine the information we possess, make a copy and place it in Wonder Woman's house in a few days." he saw his father open his mouth and gave him a grim look. "I suggest you shut up if you want to keep your other eye as well."
Slade did not comment and merely sent a mischievous smirk toward his son, giving him a mocking pat on the shoulders.
"Ugh. I hate you."
"The feeling is mutual, kiddo."
Diana Prince returned to her home in Washington after having a long talk with high-ranking members of the White House. She removed her glasses and placed them on the small glass table and loosened the ponytail she used in her civilian identity to get as far away from her Wonder Woman identity as possible.
She shook her head and her long hair bounced gently back, falling past her shoulders. Once her hair was back in its natural place, the Amazon headed back to her room to take a little nap that she longed for.
It was damn annoying to listen to absurd nonsense from some of her colleagues.
Even before she could reach her bedroom she suddenly froze in place. Slowly the princess of Themyscira turned her head, thinking briefly that she had seen wrong.
She didn't.
On the dining table was a series of papers placed one on top of the other in an orderly and precise manner that before Diana left the house for work surely had not been there.
"If anyone is in the house I strongly suggest you come forward, otherwise I will not be responsible for my own actions." she spoke aloud.
In response she obtained only silence.
Diana cast a brief glance at the stack of papers before darting through her entire home. Within minutes she searched her house from top to bottom and found both that no one was there and that nothing was missing.
All items were perfectly in place and nothing was missing.
The Amazon immediately guessed that whoever had entered had merely placed those papers on a place she could easily see and had left immediately afterwards, without touching a single thing.
It was not an attempt at robbery or theft at all.
And that was very strange and suspicious to Diana.
The demigoddess decided to think about it later and picked up the papers, beginning to read them. She opened her eyes wide in surprise and continued reading them frantically with growing concern and anxiety.
It took her a few minutes to read them all and as soon as she had finished she flew to grab her Justice League communicator.
The JL Trinity were going to have a very important talk.
"This is troubling." admitted Superman as soon as he and the other two members of the JL Trinity had finished listening to Wonder Woman's words and reading the stack of papers that were found in her house.
"This is all you found in your house?" asked Batman as he held up several sheets of paper.
"That's right." nodded the demigoddess. "I have no idea who could have broken into my house when I was away on work and left those papers. Whoever it is was not a thief because every item was in its place and nothing was missing."
"It might not be a thief but it sure knows your civilian identity." Batman pointed out abruptly, narrowing his eyes at her. "Have you told anyone that you are Wonder Woman?"
"What? Now you're suspecting me?" growled Wonder Woman, staring grimly at the vigilante. "It is obvious that I have not told any civilian my hero identity! How the hell can you think that-"
"Come on, no need to argue." Superman intervened, positioning himself between his friends.
He sighed when he saw the Amazon narrow her gaze in irritation and Batman give a snort. "What do you think?" he turned to the world's best detective to change the subject and defuse the tension.
Batman took a specific piece of paper and placed it on the center of the table in the Watchtower meeting room. "It says here that has been formed an organization of super-villains, called Light, whose goal is to eliminate the Justice League since it would be slowing down the human evolutionary process by defending humanity from necessary catastrophic events such as wars, extreme natural phenomena, deadly diseases and more. Only in this way could humanity evolve and become the most important species in the entire cosmos."
"This is wrong on so many levels that I wouldn't even know where to start." affirmed the Man of Steel, shaking his head in disbelief.
The Caped Crusader ignored him. "The leader is Vandal Savage and the Light is composed of very dangerous super-villains such as Lex Luthor, Brain, Queen Bee, Ocean-Master, Klarion, Deathstroke The Terminator, Black Manta, Psimon, Ultra-Humanite and Zviad Baazovi."
"Most of them are completely unknown to me." Wonder Woman admitted and the hero of Metropolis nodded in agreement with her.
The slight tilt of the Gotham vigilante's head was the only indication that even he was in the same situation as they were. "Each successive sheet contains information about each of the Light super-villains: their personalities, powers, goals. Together they form a very dangerous team and pose an extreme threat to the Justice League."
"What I'm wondering is who placed those papers in Diana's house." stated the Kryptonian, his gaze frowning. "Is it possible that Light has a mole?"
"Unlikely." the Dark Knight immediately denied. "We are facing some of the world's most ruthless and cruel super-villains with no scruples who will do anything to achieve their goals."
"Perhaps someone external to them has discovered their organization and their plan." suggested the princess of Themyscira.
"Maybe." Batman grunted diffidently. "For now it is impossible to find out who did it. The papers were written on a computer and printed so that it was impossible for us to study the handwriting. Whoever carried them wore gloves since there is no fingerprint. And the cameras in Wonder Woman's area of residence were all disabled for a few hours.
"There are still many unanswered questions. It is clear that whoever brought these papers to Diana Prince's home is aware of her identity as Wonder Woman. But who did it? Why? And why did they bring them to Wonder Woman's home of all people in the League? How did they find this out? Is this information true?"
"Do you think it might be false?"
"I don't know yet." replied the vigilante to Superman's question. "Maybe it's just a way to divert our attention from some evil plan and direct it somewhere else. Maybe the Light really exists and someone outside of them has discovered its existence and anonymously decided to help us. Or maybe we are completely on the wrong path." Batman grunted, annoyed that he had numerous questions and zero answers.
"I'm sure you'll be able to solve this case too, Batman. After all, you are the best detective in the world." Superman declared with a small smile, hoping to lift his friend's mood a little.
Of course, his attempt failed miserably and Batman gave him an annoyed look before grunting again. "I will take the papers back to the cave and examine them once more." he stated, grabbing the stack of papers and then walking away without even saying goodbye.
"I will brief the others on the situation!" said Superman aloud.
He did not get any response except:
Recognized: Batman 02
"That's just rudeness." huffed Wonder Woman annoyed, crossing her arms.
"You know Bruce. He's... he's like that." the Kryptonian tried to defend him.
"Stop defending the indefensible, Clark." Diana stared at him. "You know too that Bruce is becoming a mask and Batman his true self." Clark winced as if he had been slapped but remained silent, so she continued. "Sometimes in JL missions I think Batman is trying to get himself killed."
"Diana!" shouted Superman shocked.
"What? You know it too and pretty much most of the team. It's literally a true miracle that Bruce is still alive after all these years patrolling a city like Gotham." the Amazon's gaze softened a bit. "Don't get me wrong, Clark. I love Bruce too and hope the best for him because he is one of my best friends but it is an indisputable fact that he is sinking into a darkness from which he is unlikely to rise again. And unfortunately it pains me to say that no one in the Justice League is enough to give him any form of help that he needs."
The Man of Steel's shoulders slumped in defeat and he let out a pained sigh. "I know. It's just that I hate being powerless to help a friend. I'm Superman and yet all I can do is watch my friend sink deeper and deeper into darkness, wondering each time if this will be the last time I'll see him alive."
"I hate that feeling too but there is nothing we can do to help him."
"I know." Superman sent her a sad and apologetic smile. "I have to go. I promised Lois I wouldn't stay long."
"Go to your fiancée, Superman." Diana gave a small smile and after they said their goodbyes she stood alone in the room.
The demigoddess sighed and absentmindedly drummed her fingers on the table, thinking hard.
She had no idea who the hell could have discovered her hero identity and especially who would have the courage to break into Wonder Woman's house.
She admitted that she was a little impressed by the one who was not afraid to sneak into the home of an Amazon demigoddess.
And also irritated.
Eventually she shook her head to clear her head and walked away, distractedly thinking that she and the Justice League would have their hands full from now on.