They weren't here for him.
Lex let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Good. That meant Umbrella still hadn't connected the dots between Batman and Lex Williams.
He asked Ada a few more targeted questions, keeping his tone neutral, clinical. The answers only confirmed what he'd already suspected.
The fall of the world's superheroes hadn't been chaos.
It had been orchestration.
Each city's protector eliminated with surgical timing. Each symbol erased just long enough for hope to fracture. Once the symbols fell, the people followed.
Psychological warfare on a planetary scale.
Dr. Isaacs was clearly coordinating the visible layer of it. But something about that didn't sit right.
Lex had studied invasion models before the world collapsed. Extraterrestrial incursions. Dimensional breaches. Cosmic tyrants.
Thanos had once nearly wiped out half of existence—and it took the combined force of Earth's mightiest heroes to stop him. And the Avengers weren't even the strongest beings on the planet.
Compared to threats like that, Isaacs was microscopic.
A human scientist with a bioweapons obsession.
So how did a glorified lab rat manage to wipe out every superhero on Earth?
Umbrella was only one hand.
Behind that hand, Lex could almost feel something else—something bigger, patient, and watching.
But Ada didn't know.
She answered everything he asked, but her knowledge plateaued fast. Like Alice, she'd been fed operational truths, not strategic ones.
Umbrella compartmentalized even its elite.
Lex stepped back.
"Go outside. Neutralize the pilot. Take control of the aircraft. Fly beyond Gotham airspace and wait for further instruction."
"Yes."
She retrieved her weapons with steady, empty-eyed precision and walked out.
From the shadows, Lex observed her through thermal distortion and motion tracking. Efficient. Silent. Professional.
If not for the toxin in her bloodstream, she'd be terrifying.
Within minutes, the V-22 Osprey's pilot was eliminated. She used the comms to signal the escort helicopter to land under pretense of extraction protocol, then removed that crew too.
Clean.
She chose the Osprey—she couldn't fly both aircraft alone—and lifted off into the night sky.
Lex remained in the prison long enough to ensure no additional Umbrella teams were inbound.
Then he disengaged.
The Dionysus Factor could wait.
He returned to the Batcave in the Batwing, Gotham's skyline sliding beneath him like a graveyard of steel and memory.
Mid-flight, he pulled out his phone again.
The anonymous messages.
The warnings.
The precision.
"Who are you?"
The text vanished without delivery confirmation.
He waited.
Nothing.
A few minutes later, he tried again—this time with a calculated guess.
"Red Queen. I know it's you."
The Red Queen.
Umbrella's autonomous superintelligence. A sentient system built to manage viral containment—and later repurposed into planetary oversight.
Some argued she outclassed Stark's JARVIS in predictive modeling.
Lex didn't care about the comparison.
What mattered was this:
Umbrella used satellites to monitor global movement.
Yet somehow, Umbrella didn't know Batman was Lex Williams.
That meant someone inside their system was filtering data.
Only one entity could do that.
Three seconds after he sent the message, his phone vibrated.
"Lex, you are very intelligent. I look forward to meeting you."
His grip tightened on the controls.
So it was her.
Not a direct confession—but close enough.
Why?
Why protect him?
He replayed the timeline.
The first warning text.
The encounter with Alice.
The convenience store ambush.
Had she guided him there?
Maybe.
But he'd received messages before meeting Alice.
A new theory formed.
Maybe he wasn't special.
Maybe she'd cast a wide net.
Sent warnings to dozens—maybe hundreds—of potential candidates across the globe.
Looking for someone capable of surviving.
Growing.
Adapting.
A replacement hero.
Someone strong enough to destroy Isaacs.
And Lex had simply… succeeded.
"Why are you helping me?" he typed.
No response.
Connection terminated.
He stared at the blank screen for several seconds.
Then he smiled faintly.
Fine.
Keep your secrets.
For now.
—
Back at Wayne Manor, Lex returned in civilian form before descending into the cave.
Barbara and Commissioner Gordon were still out handling relief operations.
But Selina had returned.
Catwoman sat near the window, staring out at the ruined gardens.
The depressive compound Ivy had released still lingered in the bloodstream. Its psychological residue clung longer than its chemical half-life.
Selina looked… dimmer.
Not broken.
But dulled.
Lex felt an unexpected stab of concern.
He made a mental note: address this soon. Emotional stabilization mattered. A depressed ally was a vulnerable ally.
After dinner, he descended into the Batcave.
Alfred stood at the main console, sleeves rolled up, reviewing chemical synthesis logs.
"You're planning something," Alfred said without looking up.
Lex smiled faintly. "Always."
"You want access to the Batcomputer's weapons division."
It wasn't a question.
"Yes. I need to modify external hardware."
Alfred finally glanced at him.
The failed antitoxin still weighed heavily on the older man. He'd poured decades of discipline into precision—and the recent setback had shaken him.
After a brief pause, Alfred waved dismissively.
"As long as you don't dismantle the cave or interrupt my work, you may proceed."
Lex stepped forward and hugged him unexpectedly.
"Thank you."
Alfred stiffened, then sighed. "Just don't blow anything up."
No promises.
Lex entered the Bat-Armory and sealed the door behind him.
The room hummed to life as the primary systems activated.
"Batcomputer," he said.
Lights flickered.
"How can I assist you?" the neutral voice responded.
Lex tilted his head slightly.
"You don't have another name?"
A pause.
"Clarify."
"Something less clinical. Stark named his AI. Even Umbrella's system has a persona."
Another microsecond delay.
"My designation is Batcomputer."
Lex leaned against the console, studying the interface.
Not for long.
....
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