"Mr. President, we have to... Luthor!"
Amanda had just pushed open the door and hadn't finished speaking when her words turned into a gasp.
Luthor was sitting in the President's chair, while Brainiac floated behind him, and Cheetah, like a secretary in a third-rate movie, sat on the desk filing her nails, flaunting her curves.
Grud and Sinestro blocked Amanda's retreat, completely surrounding her.
Amanda exhibited a patriot's fearlessness, asking sternly, "Luthor, what do you want?!"
"You know, Amanda, thanks to a loophole in the Celestial Eye Association's intelligence system, I was able to think of the current plan. But, I know some intelligence isn't stored in any medium, it only exists in one place..."
Amanda understood what he meant, but she only had time to shout, "No!!!"
Then she was captured by Brainiac's mechanical tentacles, with two tubes like washing machine drain pipes piercing her skull.
Luthor looked at the fallen Amanda, his hands crossed on the desk, supporting his chin: "How is it?"
"We have the location of the most dangerous villains on Earth, whether they are imprisoned or hiding." Baleniak withdrew his tentacles, sparks flying against her skull: "But this isn't a human, it's an original machine."
Luthor laughed as he stood up and removed his armor, revealing the suit underneath: "Amanda isn't a pushover or she wouldn't have reached this position; she must have sensed something. This is an OMAC robot, a doppelganger specially modified by the Celestial Eye Association."
These robots come from the future, and their inventor is unknown, but they came to this era to hunt superheroes.
They appear almost human, create perilous situations for themselves, and then cry for help, waiting for heroes to rescue them.
When heroes interact with them, they use underhanded tricks, like poisoning, strangulation, and self-detonation.
Quite a few Tier Three heroes fell for this and sacrificed themselves.
So from then on, the Justice League increased patrol density, using frontline superheroes to patrol instead of Tier Three heroes, stopping the needless sacrifices.
Sporadic OMACs uncovered were all destroyed by the Justice League, but it can't be ruled out that fully disguised as humans remain lurking. It seems now, the Celestial Eye Association found some and performed modifications.
Unfortunately, they are powerful, but it depends on who they face. Playing robots and artificial intelligence before Brainiac is courting death.
Luthor didn't care about these details; the robot doppelganger retained intelligence close to the original, or it couldn't replace Amanda.
As long as he got the intelligence, it didn't matter if it was a machine or Amanda that died.
"Let's go back to Metropolis; my people will soon sound the alarm."
He used the Door Handle to teleport everyone including him back to LexCorp headquarters, while his subordinates in the White House would continue his plan, sending emergency notifications to the Pentagon and 'Langley': the President has been assassinated by Lex Luthor.
Luthor looked at the building he had built, signaled others to act according to plan, then adjusted his suit collar and walked into the building.
"Mr. Luthor."
"Mr. Luthor."
Many greeted him along the way, to which he responded with smiles.
Despite the flood the other day, his employees still came to work, such is the power of money.
His secretary quickly found him, following him to his office: "Mr. Luthor, what you said on TV earlier, was it a joke?"
"No, Lenny, it's all true. Notify everyone they've all been fired. I will settle everyone's salaries immediately, including three months of severance pay. They have five minutes to leave the building, or I'll personally kill them."
Luthor answered her question with a smile, but there was no amusement in his eyes. As his secretary, Lenny knew Luthor was utterly serious this time.
She sighed with a knowing look: "So you're really going through with it, you're going to kill Superman."
"No, Lenny." Luthor shook his head unexpectedly and entered his office: "If there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that there are more important things than Superman, something even the Joker reminded me of with his betrayal... Anyway, once you've notified them, you can leave too. To thank you for your loyal service, feel free to choose a sufficiently powerful weapon from my arsenal; you know where they are... Now leave, you have four minutes and thirty seconds left."
The secretary pursed her lips, turned, and left: "Goodbye, Mr. Luthor."
Listening to the sound of her high heels fade away, Luthor slowly walked to his desk. The spacious office, except for a small leopard specimen, was almost empty.
He unscrewed the bottle on his desk, turned on the television, and leaned back in his chair watching the absurd scenes.
It was initially broadcasting his speech in Washington; these TV stations had carefully edited the material Luthor prepared, trying to make Luthor's story clear.
But he knew Batman would soon buy all the TV stations unless the state froze Wayne Group accounts or used other means.
So he killed the President.
If he assassinated the President, then broadcasting these incidents became a political task, and even the Wayne Group couldn't withstand such pressure.
Perhaps the acquired TV stations might gloss over the story, but as long as Luthor occasionally appeared on screen, curiosity would drive people to understand the so-called 'secrets' through various means.
Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he saw the television interrupt with breaking news, reporting on his assassination attempt on the President.
The White House spokesperson stepped forward, explaining the general origin of the incident, and then called upon Luthor to surrender, hoping for leniency.
Luthor took a sip of his drink, opened his computer to check the trends on major forums. Initially, there was overwhelming support for Luthor against the Justice League, but now the tide had turned, with many jumping out to advocate for the Justice League, criticizing Luthor as worthless.
This was the outcome Luthor wanted. He waited quietly, a smile on his face.
"You seem quite pleased, my ally." Brainiac flew in, deactivating invisibility before him, "Mind sharing the pathway of hormone effects?"
Luthor tossed the Door Handle of Destruction to Brainiac, "If you're asking about my overall plan, they're right here. Run your analysis program, and the handle will tell you everything."
Brainiac extended several circuits to connect with the door handle, green light sparking from his eyes, and after a moment he said, "I see. So you've been studying every villain on Earth, tailoring equipment for them, providing financial support so they can defeat their heroic arch-enemies."
"This is just the beginning, but things have to progress step by step. Humanity is entropy, is chaos, and self-slaughter is always the main theme. A new order and society need to be built on ruins, and the neo-humans naturally have to stand on the corpses of the old humans, or they'll be eliminated. So when I see these people's thoughts on the internet, I can't help but laugh."
"The things you had me read from Amanda's mind are grandiose. Are you sure about the correctness of such actions?" the alien inquired.
"Of course, sometimes the more muddled the water, the better. Watch how our 'friends' in Gotham help us achieve our dreams in disguised forms, hahaha..."
Luthor laughed and raised his wine glass in gesture, though Brainiac did not drink, so he could only pour for himself.
"The national army will be coming for you. Our overt appearance here must've caught many people's eyes." Brainiac stated calmly but matter-of-factly.
Luthor shrugged, "If Deathstroke shows up, I'd be interested to talk to him, but it's a pity the Justice League won't appear, otherwise it would confirm their attempt to silence me."
"Yet, you're soon to confirm it yourself."
"Indeed, but I don't think the Justice League will intervene. What'll come should be Amanda's Celestial Eye armed forces. Honestly, considering my combat strength, the Suicide Squad isn't enough; they can only deploy a few."
Luthor smiled easily and shut his eyes.
"I'm ready."
........
"The matter is completed, now get out of my office and let me enjoy this dramatic silence." Luthor cursed with a smile, without the intention of opening his eyes. He already vaguely heard the sirens downstairs.
"...Then goodbye, ally."
Brainiac activated the door handle to regroup with others, while Luthor leaned in his chair as if he were asleep.
Just minutes later, an angry roar came from outside the window: "Lex Luthor! You're arrested for murdering the President, surrender! You're no match for me!"
Luthor opened his eyes to see the silver figure floating outside. He stepped to the window, speaking through a pane of glass.
"Captain Atom, looks like Amanda is furious, sending you here."
Captain Atom, originally named Adam, was a secret Air Force pilot during the Cold War, responsible for... investigations of other dimensions.
It's unknown whose scientific maniacal plan was initiated, but they modified an F15 fighter, outfitted it with various peculiar alien components, and stuffed a pilot inside to see if he could fly at maximum speed to traverse dimensions.
Whether it worked or not, they couldn't let the Fur Bears get ahead!
Adam was the pilot.
The plane, naturally, exploded; the F15 didn't seem compatible with alien parts. Adam was blasted into atoms, being transported and recombined only twenty years later.
He became a superhuman, abilities include flight, invulnerability, super power, energy absorption and discharge, time travel.
Simply put, if you shot him, he'd absorb the kinetic energy, store it internally, able to release it as beams to strike back.
The best source of energy is the sun.
Captain Atom, infused with the metallic atoms from the melted fighter back then, never has to fear getting sunburnt, always shining silver. Hence, his daily task is to absorb sunlight in the cosmos.
Charging for three hundred days, discharging in an instant.
Whenever he releases energy, Earth's destruction would take merely a blink, or by simply controlling himself, he could simulate the simultaneous explosion of several nuclear bombs.
Amanda, knowing Luthor's prowess, thus recalled and dispatched Adam, comparable to Superman, to deal with Luthor.
Captain Atom's power ceiling might not equal Superman's, but his advantage is the lack of obvious weaknesses, at least he doesn't fear Kryptonite.
He seemed well aware of this, so confidently persuaded Luthor to surrender.
Curiously, why did Luthor seem even more confident? Why did this villain have a mocking grin?
Was he not afraid?