Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Return

After getting this strong nothing was truly far away. Maybe if it were some light-years away I might have taken some time, but since it was on the same planet that was only a few times bigger than earth, I arrived after a short minute.

The other three league members, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Martian Manhunter were behind me, but I hadn't waited for the three when they were dropping off the guards. Though Green Lantern should be able to catch up to me, I guessed he was saving his energy for the trip back.

Honestly, Green Lantern was incredibly fast, but it didn't surprise me since the Green Lantern Corps were essentially the police force of the universe. One should at least expect them to be able to patrol it as well.

After arriving at the place where Mongul, Draaga, and Superman's life force was coming from I heard the sounds of battle. I just hovered over them. Superman just glanced at me for just a moment before he spoke to Draaga who in turn looked at me surprised.

My appearance was just Superman's cue to know that I succeeded in destroying the weapon, otherwise he would go through with the initial plan of intentionally losing against Mongul. He didn't mention that he would give his life if I failed since he 'trusted' me that I would succeed, but I knew what was at stake.

After Draaga saw me and listened to what Superman muttered to him he stopped fighting Superman and instead attacked Mongul. Now that he knew that the weapon was broken, Draaga could just fight it out with Mongul, I guess. Superman just let him fight Mongul alone, I imagined that it might be cathartic for Draaga.

It was fairly even, although there was a difference in strength. Draaga just had more fights under his belt and managed to even the plane field, but it didn't seem to be quite enough.

While I was spectating the lackluster slugfest, Green Lantern and the others finally arrived where Draaga and Mongul fought.

"Watch his right hooks!" Green Lantern muttered as he prevented Draaga from falling on his back. I couldn't help but agree with that advice, but I was already tired of seeing this amateurish box fight. Draaga continued to eat several heavy hooks to the face and was just trading injuries.

It was also infuriating how they ignored all their other limbs, but even if anyone told him to use his legs and sweep Mongul off his feet it would do him no good since he obviously didn't know how to effectively execute it.

They didn't even use their elbows or knees. They did use a headbutt from time to time and it didn't surprise me in the slightest. This was probably how they lost their brain cells.

"The other right! Fucking dumbass..."

He finally reacted to that and dodged underneath his right hook before he punched into Mongul's sides, making him flinch which in turn gave Draaga enough time to send Mongul to the ground with a straight right.

Mongul was on the ground shortly stunned, but it was enough time for Draaga to get on top of him and thrash him into the ground until Mongul passed out.

The fist-sized android with the lens that was recording the fight for the audience to see, came closer probably to film how Draaga ended Mongul. Draaga contemplated as he looked at the unconscious tyrant before shaking his head.

"No. He doesn't deserve the honor." He stood up again after he took off Mongul's metal headpiece.

"Then it is over." Superman said as he placed his hand on Draaga's shoulder.

"Not yet." Draaga turned towards Superman and presented Mongul's headpiece, "Here, you should wear Mongul's crown."

Superman raised his hand, denying it, "Keep it. You earned it for a chance of a whole new life."

"What's life without honor?" Draaga looked at the crown in his hands, "I am not worthy."

"Draaga. The real test of honor isn't how you die but how you live." Superman supplied and I couldn't help but snort quietly which earned me a glance from Superman.

It was just too typical Superman. All motivational, though it seemed to be what Draaga needed. Draaga stood there with the crown in his hands just looking at it as he thought.

I let them have their moment as I made my way toward the coliseum after calling out to them that I would be right back. In a blink, I almost reached my destination.

While I was flying over the city I could see how Mongul's defeat was already bringing change. It was a bit unexpected since they were very happy with Mongul's defeat, singing praise to Superman and Draaga.

I ignored the festive atmosphere and focused on my objective. The force field around the coliseum wasn't up, so I was easily able to enter it. The audience were raising their fist into the air in excitement. Even the ones that seemed close to Mongul, his advisor I presumed, looked happy about the turn of events.

Although I knew that he wasn't popular with the people of this planet, I thought there were at least some loyalists.

I quickly entered the tall building where Mongul used to stay in and directly went to the control room. At one point, I realized that I knew Mongul from somewhere. I believe it was a Youtube video showing his feats in the comics, but honestly, I couldn't really remember what it was about, just that he appeared to be formidable.

If I judged purely on his life force, I would only stand a chance against him when I transformed into a Super Saiyan, but like most beings in this universe, he couldn't truly harness all his raw power.

It was also the reason I didn't jump in to fight him since I knew he wouldn't be an opponent even if I weren't using my ki attacks. The skill advantage would have made a fight more annoying than something enjoyable. His little skirmish with Superman and Draaga had proved as much to me.

This little trip could have been a lot shorter if I had just gone up and killed him, but I had hoped that he had something else up his sleeve with which he was able to control an entire planet.

I guessed the world-ending weapon could be seen as a trump card, but besides that, it didn't seem he had something to contend against someone like me or Superman. I couldn't believe that he was able to rule War World with his strength. Initially, I thought since he even targeted any species to fight as his gladiator, he had to have something up in his corner.

Honestly, my disappointment was immeasurable. An entire day wasted with something that the Justice League could have done without me perfectly fine.

Though I didn't intend to go back empty-handed. I was looking for the data and the cause of why my released ki was being drained. It had to do with the coliseum. Superman, Draaga, and even Mongul himself felt somewhat stronger when they battled outside of it just now.

Draaga and Mongul could be explained by being able to control their strength, but I knew for a fact that Superman was unable to do that, so it had nothing to do with conscious effort. There was something strange about the coliseum.

Although I wasn't sure where I could get information about that or why psychic energy seemed to be suppressed, I only had to turn the coliseum upside down or find someone who should know.

...

"Seriously, we should return as soon as possible, who knows what happens while we are away. Besides my ring doesn't have infinite power. If he likes it here so much, why don't we leave him here then?" John crossed his arms as he complained.

Superman himself had only stayed here for a day but was eager to leave this planet. The entire event had made him mentally tired.

"I am sure he has his reasons." J'onn responded in good faith as the group followed Nathan's flying course.

"Maybe he wants to stock on some food. I saw him eating before my fight against Draaga."

"What? Why didn't he just free you? You two could have easily taken care of Mongul and that weapon!" Hawkgirl, like Nathan, was similar crude in approaching a problem which was why he wasn't surprised that the question came from her.

Hawkgirl was confused and she might be right in thinking of that approach, but back then they hadn't known where the weapon was. It was a good thing that Nathan wasn't as direct as usual.

Nathan had only been on some missions with the other league members, but Superman had already gathered that Nathan would usually prefer to solve a problem by brute-forcing it.

It was also the reason why Superman had intensely expressed that he was to wait until Mongul was distracted fighting him and that he should try to be sneaky on his way out.

In the end, Nathan had respected Superman's wishes and smoothly pulled everything off even if the other league members were a step faster. Nathan could be pretty stubborn about doing things his way, but maybe it was because of the implications of what would happen should he be unable to destroy the weapon in time.

Although Superman hadn't spent as much time with Nathan compared to his cousin, he could tell that Nathan was incredibly thoughtful if he wanted to be, even with things that he didn't find interesting or even useful.

Having admitted to reading John's manuals and doing his tasks at the Watchtower were proof of that. Though Superman could imagine that he did those reluctantly.

Nathan and Hawkgirl could be said to be the problematic duo of the Justice League, though that sounded more dramatic than he meant it. Their approaches were useful in different scenarios and it gave the others another perspective on things. It wasn't the only thing they had in common.

They both didn't like talking about their past too much. The league almost didn't know anything about Hawkgirl's past or her race. At least, Nathan had given them a very superficial overview of his race and culture but he never went into detail.

Superman still wasn't sure if it was because Nathan intentionally hid it from them or because he didn't know any better. According to Nathan, he was just a teenager when his planet was destroyed, after all.

He shook his head. Superman didn't think that they were plotting something. He just thought about it occasionally. No doubt a seed that was placed by Batman when they had talked about it almost a month ago after the demons had attacked Portland...

When they arrived they asked the celebrating local guards some questions and quickly found out where Nathan was. After entering the room with several screens showing all kinds of data.

They approached Nathan from behind as he stood behind a local scientist that seemed busy showing Nathan all kinds of data. Hawkgirl asked him first, "What are you looking at?"

"Do you see that graph and how that part is significantly bigger-" Nathan never seemed flustered when he was approached. Even Batman wasn't able to surprise Nathan yet which, although Batman hid it well, irked him to no ends.

Nathan calmly responded, pointing at different graphs that were labeled with an alien language that Superman didn't know. No doubt the local language of this War World.

"What did you find out?" Martian Manhunter asked as he looked over the graphs, clearly confused and interested in what Shallot had figured out.

"What I found out...?" Nathan followed a row of alien text with his fingers, "...I can't read it."

"..."

Nathan turned around with his scouter covering his left eye, "Let's return." Superman hadn't seen it beforehand, when did he take it out?

"Seriously, you were wasting time so you can look at graphs that you don't understand?" Green Lantern frowned at Nathan with crossed arms.

Nathan snorted at his snarky remark, "Getting knowledge about how they were able to suppress psychic energy is wasted time to you?"

"...Well, did you find something out?" Green Lantern sounded displeased probably by the fact that this would be indeed useful knowledge. Superman was sure that Batman would be eager to get his hands on this, though he could also see that Martian Manhunter seemed uncomfortable with the idea of that knowledge being known.

J'onn seemed to have picked up on Superman's worry, "It will be important information. I would like to know about it than stay ignorant."

Nathan nodded at that, but too bad he didn't have any good news for them, "I obviously couldn't get much from the graphs but this one kindly explained it to me."

Nathan put a hand on the scientist's shoulder who looked over his shoulder to give the other league members a wry smile before nodding hesitantly. Superman wasn't too surprised. He had already guessed it when he saw Nathan with the scientist together.

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Reading an alien language was difficult, but almost every space-faring civilization utilized the universal language translator, which could translate the most common languages around the Milky Way.

English was probably only included because earth had some Green Lanterns that spoke it, which automatically raised its importance.

"It's something about the atmosphere. A mixture of local bacteria, gases, the locals' pheromones, and some unknown factors. It's not replicable. At least Mongul wasn't able to. Not that he put much effort into trying. He looked down on psychics because they couldn't challenge him on this planet."

J'onn seemed to lose some of the tension that he held and was visibly relaxed, "Better to be safe than sorry. Let's leave, I don't like it here."

The others were eager to leave as well, so they exited the building before John enveloped them in a bubble and we flew back towards earth.

...

After we entered the Watchtower I went ahead and looted the fridge. Free stuff always tasted better.

The information on why psychics had lost their abilities on War World was indeed unimitable, but that wasn't something I was worried about in the first place. I put my scouter back into its case and stored it in the inner pocket of my battlesuit.

What truly concerned me was why my life force was drained. It hadn't only affected me but every being inside the coliseum. Superman was weaker and even the ruler of the planet wasn't exempt from the effect, which was also why I was sure that it wasn't something that Mongul had intended.

If I could replicate it, I was sure that I would find some good use for it. Not only for my training by keeping me aware of the drain, but also as an energy source. If I found a Big Gete-style way to power my gravity chamber and time-slowing device, I wouldn't have to worry about getting plutonium or another alternative.

I would have to analyze the information that I stored on the scouter once I return to my trusty gravity chamber. Couldn't be caught with all the cameras that Batman had surely installed all over the Watchtower.

After eating my fill, I headed towards the exit in the hangar before I saw Flash wave toward me. At that moment, I had already extended my ki sense to earth.

His expression and the speed at which Flash approached me turned into a crawl. I turned around and felt the floor bend from the force I put into pushing myself off of it. I burst my way through the still-opening hangar doors.

I shot to earth and directly turned towards my home, where I could sense Kara's alarmingly low life force, confirming my worries.

The air and clouds split in front of me as I accelerated to the max. Strength filled my body and the blueish aura around me took in a hue of green as I entered my Ikari state. In the distance, I could already see the aggressor in my home. The walls were blasted open and the furniture was ruined.

The surroundings were lit up in a green hue as the beam clashed against the sphere of darkness that covered Raven and my downed girlfriend.

The green glow coming from the rock inside the robot's open chest was enough to let me know why Kara's life force seemed to leave her.

Raven was under a lot of pressure and I knew she wouldn't be able to hold on any longer. Before that could happen I shoulder-checked him sending him towards my waterfall in the backyard. The loud crash indicated that he blasted right into the depth of the small hill.

Raven looked startled before she realized what happened. She dropped her barrier and slumped to the ground. Her body was covered in bruises and cuts and looked even more banged up than Kara. I propped the two up against the overturned couch.

"Are you fine??" I asked them, feeling Kara's life force climbing up slowly.

She gave me a weak smile, "I'm fine- Rae. S-she took the brunt of the ambush."

"I am fine as well. J-just a bit winded." She huffed slightly. I looked at Raven and heaved a sigh after noticing that she didn't sustain any lethal wounds.

Both of them were injured, but they weren't any serious injuries from what I could see and their life force indicated that they were at least stable.

"Raven, Kara should be fine soon, but teleport into the gravity chamber and wait there for me. I still have to deal with that asshole."

She nodded, "Stay safe!" She shouted after me as I flew towards the waterfall. I barely sensed him but I could hear his metal joints move, his engine thrum quietly inside his body as he struggled to crawl out of the hole his descent had created.

I raised my hand, and Metallo rose with the rubble into the air. His torso formed cracks all over his body where I had crashed into him. With a wave of my hand, he was sent flying towards an empty patch of dunes near Portland. His distorted voice sounded out screaming as he tumbled through the air.

He slowly fell to the ground, but before he could reach it, I caught up and punched him in the face, sending him even further across the dunes with water on the other side. This repeated two times before I had enough and just intercepted him with a hammer fist, sending him into a dune. The sand exploded into a huge spout, letting sand rain over the place.

I slowly landed next to the little pit his descent had caused with my arms crossed, while Ikari filled my body with tension and strength. The sand filled the hole his landing had caused. I heard his mechanic groan before it turned into panic as he realized that he was being buried in the sand.

It seemed in his panic he had forgotten that he should be able to force himself out of it. I watched as he slowly crawled out of the pit of sand. He had some difficulties doing so since he had only his right arm and half a leg left after letting him fly for a bit.

After watching him try to climb out for a good ten seconds, I telekinetically pulled him out of the sand and turned him towards me. The moment he saw me, he released a green energy beam originating from the Kryptonite inside his chest.

With my hand raised, I stopped the beam in its track, fracturing the beam into several smaller ones that shot into the sand around us. The sand was whirled up as the beams exploded after impacting the ground.

I ignored all of this as I pulled on the power source of Metallo. I could hear the cords that were intertwined with the rock being torn apart as the rock was slowly lifted out of his chest. Metallo's angry and desperate screams sounded out as he slowly lost his lifeline.

The beam scattered even before the rock was out. I probably ripped something out that was essential for his attack to work. I prolonged this for too long, I thought, before I swiftly pulled out the rock.

I dropped the robot to the side like the scrap he now was. The Kryptonite landed in my hands. Metallo was running on fumes as he raggedly turned around, trying to reach the rock while his functions were slowly being turned off because of insufficient energy.

He struggled for a bit and was almost able to touch my combat boots with his remaining arm. He looked at me with what I assumed had to be desperation as he reached for the rock. The emotions of non-organic eyes were hard to assume, especially if its entire face was just metal as well.

I raised my foot and stomped on his torso. My feet sunk through his metal torso as if it was made of paper, impaling him to the ground before I flung it into the air

I pointed my hand at whatever was left of him and was about to vaporize the scraps with my ki before someone placed themselves between my hand and the flying scrap.

"Shallot, don't!" Superman shouted out with his hands in a placating manner as he hovered in between me and the metal freak that had attacked Kara and Raven in my home. He was a good distance away otherwise the kryptonite would have weakened him too much.

I didn't say anything while the broken robot plummeted back into the sand.

"Shallot- Nathan, please. He is already beaten. Let's just hand him over to the police. You are not an executor." Superman said as he slowly floated down to stand before me. His words were annoying but it gave me enough to think about it. My arm that was about to fire a ki blast at Metallo dropped to my side.

"...Metallo, I don't know if you can hear me, but you are lucky that Superman came to your rescue" and that the bit of brain that you had left was enough for me to exert my control over you. Of course, that last bit was left unsaid as I looked at Superman, "There won't be a second time." I would make sure of it.

Superman who had visibly relaxed, tensed at my response again before giving me a hard nod. He was conflicted, I noted, but my telepathic ability suggested that he mostly felt relieved. I didn't bother with him anymore and just pushed myself off the ground before disappearing towards my home.

Mind control was something delicate and the stronger something was anchored in someone's personality, the harder it was to change. Changing his personality in the brief encounter I had with him just now would be impossible, but a little tweak that wouldn't go against his grudge against Superman was easy to do.

A moment later, the now ruined house stood before me with Batman looking through the remains as he stepped over the debris. Kara stood to the side, idly watching Batman before she looked at me with a relieved expression.

I could still sense Raven inside the Gravity/Hyperbolic Time Chamber. It was probably for the best. The league wouldn't like her living with me, but I also guessed that Batman already knew she was here.

Kara walked up to me and hugged me. She looked a bit shaken from the encounter, and I couldn't blame her. Being attacked at home didn't feel good at all. I always thought of this as my little safe haven to which I return when I was done fighting criminals or facing world-threatening events.

Now I- we lost that feeling of being safe. Although my identity as a fighter was pretty open and one could connect that identity with my hero persona, it wasn't that easy to find my home.

They would need the necessary connections to pull it off. Like Lady Shiva had by being friends with the owner that organized the underground cage fights, whose secrecy I could swear on. Had I taken a closer look at his memories, I would have known that he was fiercely loyal to Shiva, but I digress.

I also took care of my routes so that my home couldn't be triangulated, but I should have known that it was only a matter of time until I was found out.

Maybe it should be something to be expected that Metallo would find trouble with Kara. What I didn't expect was that he was able to ambush her at my house. There weren't many that knew where I lived, my relationship with her, or that she was staying at my place more often than not.

I somehow doubted that Metallo had investigated Supergirl as much to find out where she stayed. It would be easier to find out her secret identity and ambush her at the farm in Kansas than take the fight to Portland, where I was patrolling. Someone obviously had tipped him off, and I intended to find out who.

Approaching Batman, who was going through the open wall into the living room of my home as if he had owned it, "You can leave, there isn't anything for you to do here." I was surprised that he was already here, but if he had observed my home, he probably knew the attack was going on before anyone else.

Batman turned around before his white lenses narrowed slightly. He was about to speak but stopped himself. I could hear Superman's voice coming from his ear. No doubt explaining the situation to the league.

"You would have killed him." It didn't sound accusatory, but he seemed tenser than usual.

"And I would do it, given another chance." I said firmly. He had to be delusional if he thought I wouldn't consider 'killing' a man that was more machine than man. A man that was stuck inside a metal body without being able to feel anything and with a massive unreasonable grudge against Superman.

Batman just stared at me without saying anything. I didn't need to explain why I would want someone like Metallo dead. One did not simply attack my home and my loved ones and walk away with their life. Metallo got too close to succeeding, so he would eventually have to go after I was done with whoever set him up against me.

I got the feeling that Batman understood I wouldn't budge on that and that it was already a miracle that I decided to let Metall go.

Batman grunted before walking past me. He stepped towards the cockpit of his suddenly appearing Batwing before jumping into it. He took off shortly afterward. I was sure that wasn't the last time that I would be confronted with this topic, but Batman gave me some time to cool down.

I easily slipped out of my Ikari state before turning towards the pile of bricks and paper, "Did you notice something?"

I asked Kara, who shook her head. She knew of my 'irrational' fear of having my house bugged, "Are you sure you are alright?"

My hand found her shoulder to pull her into a side-hug, "I am fine, really." Her hand encouragingly squeezed my hand on her shoulder.

"That's all that matters. We can rebuild it." I wouldn't move away from here. I had already invested too much in this place, financially and emotionally.

What kind of signal would I send if I decided to move after being attacked once? Instead, I would remain here and show whoever was behind this attack that I wouldn't leave with my tail between my legs.

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