Luthor chose this moment to brush past both to get to the door. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a card which he promptly swiped on the scanner located besides the door. The door opened with a hiss as the hydraulic arm located atop it pushed it. It opened to reveal an empty and long hallway with drab grey walls and another singular door located at the end. The first to exit the room was Luthor, then Goku who was given a gentle nudge by Superman who then followed in the smaller Saiyans footsteps. The walk was completed in silence with the buzzing of the electric lights in the ceiling accompanying the heavy footsteps curtsey of Luthor and his power armour.
xXx
Mary came to and as a reaction reared her head up, however she tried to do so quickly but instantly regretted it as a sharp sting of pain ran throughout the entirety of her brain. An attempt to relieve the pain by rubbing her temple failed to come to fruition as her arms failed to respond to her request. 'Huh!' she thought as a feeling of panic slowly built up. Glancing down she noticed the thick golden rope wrapped securely around her waist, 'N-No, that's not mine.' the magic she could feel from this certain rope was different from her own and as such she couldn't manipulate it to her will.
It was at this stage that she chose to look at her surroundings. The female villain noted that she was seated at the end of a long table whilst around her sat the remaining members of the group that had infiltrated the Syndicates base of operations earlier.
All were seated at the table located in the centre of the room, as they casually chatted and laughed amongst themselves. Her eyes moved over to the one supposedly called The Flash from what she heard, who was leaning back on the chair with his feet up and crossed on the table. seated across from The Flash and leaning lazily on his elbows was the counterpart to Power Ring, she had no name associate him with, whilst to his left sat Wonder Woman who had her sword out on the table.
Mary chose to continue seating in silence besides the amazon, her head bowed towards the table. Her eyes were wide as they quivered and there were a few droplets of sweat on her brow, gone was the confident smirk and aura of superiority she usually had, leaving her looking like an empty shell of herself.
"Uh guys, do you think she's ok?" commented The Flash when he noticed the beads of sweat and wide eyes of hers from the corner of his eye.
"Why should we care? She has killed many people so in my eyes she deserves what she's getting." quipped Green Lantern whilst keeping his eyes trained away from Mary. "I guess so, but no one deserves to have their memories forced out like that."
"If she had complied, that would not have been necessary." cut in Wonder Woman as she added her own thoughts to the matter. She held her sword in one hand and a rag in the other that was being used to polish the weapon. "I had to do what i deemed necessary to attain the knowledge on her male friend."
Mary's blood froze, the colour draining from her already pale face from the sudden revelation. Surely not, Goku had nothing to do with her and her past crimes 'T-They viewed my memories! B-but how, and why Goku?'
"Do you mean Goku?" questioned The Flash while inspecting his nails.
The Amazon warrior opened her mouth to respond but Hal silenced her by cutting her off "Why does it matter what he is called, we defeated him, and he is going to be put on trial for his association with her and her former crew."added Green Lantern before he pointed the motionless form of Superwoman who continued to stare at the surface of the table.
"We both know that wasn't the case Hal, remember she mentioned Goku showing up randomly at their base and triggering the intruder alarm. As far as we know Goku is innocent."
"Also, we may have defeated him, however the security system recordings show that we may have been lucky." responded Wonder Woman who had stopped polishing her sword and was now inspecting it under the electric lighting in the room. She stood up and sheathed her sword before walking to stand besides Lois, grabbing her Lasso of Truth earned her a low groan of discomfort from its wearer. She slowly unwound it from around the female villain, and once done she rolled it before securing it to her waist. Wonder Woman then walked back and took her respective seat.
"Luck or not we have the advantage in numbers, and we have already fought him so essentially we know what to expect if we have to do so once again." The Flash chuckled lightly "As much as I don't want to, I have to give the guy some credit. He challenged the Syndicate by himself and came out unharmed, and if you look back at our fight if Diana hadn't distracted him, we may not have won."
Hal opened his mouth to protest however he then decided against it and instead chose to close his mouth. It certainly was not every day that your own teammates commended the enemy for defeating them all handily, and it was only made more apparent by the overwhelming evidence that proved his case.
The sound of an electric door opening drew the attention of the trio of heroes who turned to look in the direction of said door. They watched as Luthor stepped into the room first, then the topic of their recent discussion Goku followed in Luthor's footsteps and then finally he was followed by Clark. Both Luthor and Clark moved to stand at the head of the table facing everyone, whilst Goku chose to stand at the door.
A few quick greetings were exchanged however the lone saiyan paid them no heed as his eyes roamed over everyone present before they settled on the form of Superwoman who was slumped cheek first on the table, and he didn't like what he was seeing. With his keen eyesight he noted her shallow breathing as evident by her chest moving slightly, he then moved his gaze up only to notice beads of sweat on her brow.
The young saiyan then scanned her Ki signature and found it be quite weak but erratic at the same time. 'What happened to her?' he mused, a frown etching itself on his features before he moved to make his way towards Lois as everybody bar Green Lantern watched in silence.
"Where do you think you're going?"questioned Hal as he glared at the tailed male, who turned to answer but was beat to it by Clark.
"Hal drop it, we have more important matters to attend to. He is showing compassion for his teammate, leave him be."said male growled lowly at being made to look like a fool but chose to drop it, Superman then cleared his throat before he continued. "I take it the interrogation went well." he commented to change the subject, with his gaze settled on the slumped form of the female villain.
"Yes, it did, and we concluded that Goku is in fact innocent and had no prior association with the Crime Syndicate." responded Wonder Woman.
Currently the martial artist was kneeling on the ground hugging Mary. His left hand rubbing her back gently, whilst the other cradled her head on his powerful shoulder. Everybody present watched in disbelief as tears rolled gently down the captured villains cheeks. Quiet sobs shook her frame as the saiyan continued to comfort her.
Goku could be seen whispering something, his words barely above a whisper. Any attempt to say anything was ruined by the fact that her voice was thick with emotion, and thus it came out weak and barely distinguishable from a croak, yet the martial artist continued to hold her close.
The clearing of a throat snapped everyone back to the present, or more specifically to the visage of Luthor who had been the only one to not stare at the crying villain. "It's best If I bring you guys back now, I wouldn't want to be held responsible for you all failing to get back in time to attend to your obligations."he commented with a small smile, receiving murmurs of agreement from the small group of costumed heroes.
They stood up and made their way to stand in a group around Luthor and Superman. However, they all failed to notice the presence of the Saiyan until he moved to stand beside The Flash, whilst he carried a sleeping Mary bridal style in his strong arms.
Her arms were wrapped securely around his neck with her head cradled into Goku's chest. She looked at peace that one would not be blamed for believing her to be innocent. Luthor opened his mouth to protest however Goku cut him off quickly, "She's coming with me."
There was a staring contest between the heroes from different backgrounds until sighing the bald hero turned to Superman to get help, and luckily for him Clark noted his silent plea, "But Goku she is a villain, she has to be punished for what she has done."
"That may be true, but I believe that people can change. Most of my friends were my former enemies but I showed them mercy and they became good friends and allies"
Wonder Woman's eyes widened ever so slightly when the young male concluded with his answer. She found herself smiling slightly at knowing the enemies who had turned into friends "Tien, Piccolo, Yamcha, Vegeta, Majin Buu..." whispered the daughter of Zeus under her breath however Green Lantern was close enough to catch some of it.
"Did you say something?" asked the green clad male,
Diana answered instantly however "N-No... I was just thinking to myself."she mentally cursed herself for stuttering as Hal raised an eyebrow before shrugging and turning away. She let out a breath she did not know she had been holding before listening once more to the conversation between the saiyan and her companions.
"Fine, she can come along but only on one condition." said Clark, sighing in defeat.
"Clark are you sure that's a good idea, she killed people before. What's to stop her from doing so again?" Superman turned to the owner of the question, and he was looking at Luthor
"That may be true but just hear me out okay." Luthor just reluctantly nodded as The Man of Steel Faced Son Goku once more. "She can come along however she has to stay in the Hall of Justice until we feel she can be trusted." Goku opened his mouth to protest but a raised hand from the caped hero silenced him.
"Let me finish first."Clark said as he chastised the orange clad martial artist to which he received a nod in return."Now as I was saying she must stay with us until she can be trusted, however you can stay with her at the Hall as a temporary member of the league. What do you say?"the caped hero concluded by stretching out his hand for Goku to shake.
There was a moment of silence as Goku mulled over the proposition. Suddenly he shifted the weight off the sleeping female to his left arm momentarily before reaching out and clasping Clark's outstretched left hand with his right hand. "We have a deal."