Everyone who was watching that fight live had their jaws hanging. Back on the Watchtower, Kara, who had silently sneaked into the observation room, saw that same guy on the screen. Her previous worry about potentially hurting him settled down a bit, when she saw him fight.
President Reagan was in the Oval Office, pinching the bridge of his nose, after Leon had melted half of Gotham's harbor.
'This kid, Jesus, I swear he'll be the death of me before my term even expires. Now who the hell is this psycho using a Kryptonian clone as a weapon?' He thought and got up from his chair.
For the next few hours, he had to work along with Gotham's administration to quarantine the entire zone where they'd fought.
The search and rescue teams had already reported some casualties. Some of the people had reported hundreds of small white rabbits, along with the three members of the Justice League, taking the few that were near that area to safety.
While being upset about the dead was normal, by keeping that fight near the harbor, a greater casualty had been avoided. And while many didn't think of it in that depth, Reagan was thankful to Leon for that.
The only problem was that the boy had disappeared somewhere right after the fight. The live telecast was seen by almost everyone, and he didn't know whether to leave it at that or do something about that whole video that was now rolling through the internet and television.
The same night, around 10:00 pm:
Lex Luthor returned to his safehouse. He was thinking about all the information that they had racked up today.
Like always, he went to his room, making a shot of whisky for himself and took a sip as he went towards the sofa.
Just then he heard a voice, "You sure took your time, Mr. Luthor." Someone was already sitting on his big chair, facing the other side.
Just the top of his head was visible, and seeing that streak of white hair, Lex already had a feeling that he knew who that might be.
He immediately grabbed the device in his pocket and pressed a button, but the guy spoke again, "Don't bother, your security system is pretty advanced, but all that won't matter if the network won't even circulate out of this room."
'How-' Lex was thinking when Leon spoke as he turned around, along with the chair, "How? Meh, don't fret over it, I'm just that good with tech."
Leon's deep blue eyes sized up Lex, a chill creeping up his spine. For the first time in a while, Lex remembered how it felt being truly afraid. Some bad memories started piling up in his head; how he'd hide from his father whenever he'd get beat up by him.
"I was wondering when you'd show up. Here to take your revenge?" Lex asked, sounding a bit confident.
Leon chuckled and got up from the chair, "You know what the most funny thing is?" He said, and Lex raised his brows.
Leon continued, "Fate, Mr. Luthor, Fate." He walked around the room, "You know, I never had enough evidence that would prove you the killer of my parents, or even responsible for it. And then I thought, 'You know what, fuck it. I'm still alive, and there's at least one more person who cares about me, who's still alive. So, I'll just think of that past as a bad dream and live a new life.' But Fate, being a comedian she is, had to put you on my path one way or another."
Lex then realized an important detail, "Deathstroke…" He muttered.
Leon, hearing that, said, "Don't blame the man. We just had a deal, and he owned up to it. Anyways, I was willing to play your fun little games as long as you wanted. But you all had to act like some third-rate villains and target the one person who was responsible for keeping you all alive. She's safe, by the way, those guys didn't even put up a fight before being torn apart and eaten alive. Ah, Night is such a good pup."
Luthor, being agitated but not showing outwards, spoke, "If you wanted me dead, you'd have done it without even being here. What do you need from me?"
Hearing that, Leon gave a hearty, mocking laugh, "Hah, hahahaha… Your tendency to give yourself too much credit is funny- borderline cute." Leon's expression became cold, his blue eyes becoming more icy, almost as if they were glowing with that hue.
Lex sighed and slowly raised his hands, "I surrender. Arrest me, and I'll accept all my crimes."
Leon now had a smirk on his face, "You know why I'm here, showing my face to you? Cause I wanted you to know before you die, that you dug your own grave, happily laid down in the pit yourself, and practically begged me to bury you alive."
Lex, cursing himself in his head, spoke, "I said I'll-" But before he could finish, a sharp and searing pain went through his chest, a shrill sound of something being sliced echoing in the room.
He lowered his hands, looking down at his chest, blood pooling out of his clothes, which, too, were cleanly cut, horizontally.
His brain began running amok with thoughts, and before his consciousness could fade away, he finally realized what his fatal mistake was. He'd always looked at Leon through the same lens as he looked at other heroes.
'Is this how I end? So pathetically-' That was his last thought. Before his sliced-up upper body could slide down, though, the shadow beneath his feet expanded, a big mouth opening below, and out came Orochi, gobbling the divided man in one go and going back into the shadow, not a single drop of blood left on the floor.
Leon looked at the empty space where Lex was standing just now, and, like he'd thought, he didn't feel a thing. No remorse, no satisfaction, maybe that was for the better.
Next day, around late morning, the situation in Gotham was finally under some control. President Reagan was back in his office, thinking about what to do next when Leon directly appeared inside the Oval Office, and they both disappeared to their secret location.
New Hampshire, Mount Washington:
Inside a secure facility built amidst the remote snowy peaks.
Leon looked at the President, who was seated in front of him with a glass of rum in his hand. They were inside a big and cozy room, the big window on the side overlooking the snowstorm that was happening outside.
Leon finally spoke, "I'll cut to the chase. We're ready to move to the next step of our plan."
The president replied in a sarcastic tone, "Kid, I don't know if you've seen what happened in Gotham last night, but our biggest evidence has already been turned into dust. I wonder who did that?"
Leon replied, "What, the clone? Come on, they would deny even having anything remotely to do with its making. I have other proofs, solid proofs."
"And what makes you think Luthor will just walk into the very obvious trap?"
Leon replied, "He won't. I guess he won't even attend the meeting."
"What? Did he suddenly resign from the UN or what?"
Leon didn't reply but just gave a smirk. The president didn't need any explaining to do. In fact, he, too, wanted that man gone, but this was too soon.
"Please tell me you're joking," he said, almost in a pleading tone.
"Why would I be?" Leon replied, and, seeing the president's face, he continued, "Tell me, Mr. Reagan, how long have you been wishing that that Baldy would just disappear and along with it, all the nonsensical problems he keeps on bringing?"
Reagan took some time, and, whether he liked it or not, even if they turned the whole world against Luthor and then locked him up for good, he'd still manage to come out, stronger, more angry, and probably with more problems.
Leon continued, "And besides, they'd already sealed their fate when they targeted my aunt."
"Is she okay?" he asked.
"She's fine. My summon did his job. I did find out where the League of Shadows hide themselves. Although, with the state I left them in, they'll be out of commission for a while."
"You didn't finish them all off?"
"Their leader, Ra's al Ghul, made a deal with me. I spared him and his few remaining people. And he told me who's the one responsible for all the nonsense that's been going around for a while. You know, Cadmus, the Kryptonian clones, and the recent increase in metahuman terrors."
"Who?" The president asked.
"An organization called The Light and their leader, Vandal Savage. I'll need to find more about him before I can say anything. That guy didn't say anything else."
Reagan thought for a while, the absence of Lex Luthor could really tip the argument in their favor in the upcoming UN meeting.
He then said, "A UN representative already visited me this morning, they wanted to know why I've been backing up such a 'dangerous person.' You know UN, they don't like seeing a supe acting on his own."
Leon added with a chuckle, "Well, they do ignore whatever the fuck villains do, so that's that." Reagan shook his head too; it was, after all, a human nature to be a hypocrite.
"Are you sure this will work?" Reagan asked, and Leon just gave a smile, he wasn't just sure, he believed it. The world just needed to know what Luthor was up to, and the UN, who acted like they kept things in check, needed a reality check for themselves.
A few minutes later, the president was back in his office, no one even knowing what just happened, and Leon went back to do his own thing.
Infinity Island, Somewhere in the Indian Ocean:
The League of Shadows hideout was torn apart. Ra's al Ghul and Shiva, including a few other assassins, were the only ones who were alive. Inside a broken-down room, Ra's was treating the wounds of one of his best assassins, Shiva.
The memories of the night before flashed in his head. Only Shiva had returned from their latest job. She was close to death but before she could explain anything, a giant tiger ripped out of her shadow and tore everything apart.
Before it could kill him, though, the boy, Leon Blade, appeared there himself. He seemed different from what they knew of him. At that time, strange tattoos were on his face, his white hair slicked back, radiating a presence so evil and vile that he almost puked.
He couldn't forget what he saw that time: death, an ocean of blood, a throne made out of bones and carcasses, and a sky encompassed by the endless void and darkness, with the presence of an entity he couldn't comprehend.
Fear and pain were the expressions that he'd forgotten for the longest time, but at that time his façade of being emotionally neutral broke off, sweat streaming down his forehead.
As he was reminiscing, a portal opened in the same room where he was, and in walked a tall, muscular man with long dark hair pulled back, with three prominent scars on his face and brown eyes; he was wearing a long dark-blue coat with red stripes.
"I told you to be careful," he spoke as the portal closed behind him.
Ra's didn't say anything; he just took out the communicator that Vandal had given him before and threw it towards his feet.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, a bit more serious now.
Ra's replied, "I'm- We're no longer part of the Light now. There is nothing more to discuss, you may take your leave."
Vandal just grumbled silently, stepping on the device, crushing it beneath his feet. He was here to inform Ra's that Lex had disappeared somewhere and maybe ask him about it. But seeing him in this state, he was getting more frustrated, he asked, "Is that all it took? A mere child made you- turned you into this? A coward?"
Ra's clicked his tongue, 'what part of 'there is nothing more to discuss' did this old monkey not understand?' He thought, but he still stayed silent.
Seeing the firm, yet broken look in Ra's' eyes, Vandal just gave a long sigh and opened the portal again, disappearing into it.
'Good luck, old friend… You're going to need it,' Ra's thought, relaxing a bit. Centuries of his life's work and experience almost, almost went completely down the drain. He was sensible enough to know that it was their own arrogance that led to this.
He could warn his ex-ally, but, as far as he knew Vandal, he would just ignore those words. For some reason, Vandal was hell-bent on either eliminating the sorcerer or getting him to his side.
Leon went back to his home, but his aunt wasn't there. The night before, when he brought her back from the place where Night had kept her safe, she had said she was fine and just wanted to rest. But he knew something was off; maybe she was thinking about something else.
But today, now that he could sense where Night was, along with her, he realized that she was just missing her sister.
Leon disappeared from his room and reappeared in the middle of a cemetery, his parents and his sister were buried here. He usually came here once in three to five months to visit their graves, but Kate brought flowers and cleaned the gravestones almost every other month.
Right now, she was seated on a patch of grass beside his mother's grave and Night, in his small form, slept peacefully on her lap as she caressed his fur.
Her expression was brighter than yesterday, so he just decided to leave her alone for now, and, before Night or Kate could notice him, he disappeared from the place.
When he returned to his block, the people around the place greeted him like always, some even recounting how badass he was in that fight the night before.
"Say cheese!" said a woman as she clicked some pictures of her boyfriend posing with Leon. The guy, after giving the most generic pose of a thumbs up, said, "Hey, man. If you're up for, you know, hiring any sidekicks… Just to let you know, I'm a blackbelt in karate."
He then started doing some barely passable katas, probably to impress Leon, who just gave a smirk and replied, "Nah, man, I'm more of a lone-wolf kind of guy. Don't go fighting crimes all on your own, though."
He waved a goodbye, walking towards his home. And right in front of the building entrance he saw a familiar face; waiting for him? It was the same blonde-haired Kryptonian girl from that day.
She was wearing a light blue hoodie and dark-grey shorts with black and white sport shoes, her hair slightly shorter than before, tied up in a high ponytail.
She had a warm smile on her face as she waved at him, her light-blue eyes shining brightly as she did so.
"Ah, you're that laser girl who was speaking gibberish," Leon pointed at her, remembering what happened before he'd knocked her out.
"It was Kryptonian," she muttered looking to the side, then added in a louder voice, "Hi, I came here to thank you for that day. I'm Kara Zor-, just Kara."
'Why is Batman giving out people's addresses- Well, not like it's a big secret, where I live,' Leon thought, then replied, "I'm Leon Blade. And, well, you're welcome, Just Kara."
'Did she come here alone? Probably not,' he thought, expanding his senses, 'There he is.' He finally found the man. It was Superman himself, now in his regular outfit, wearing a pair of glasses, reading a newspaper, sitting in the café nearby.
'Wow, dude really does look completely different. Humm… I think it's more of how confidently he presents himself as Superman, and how timid he looks right now,' Leon thought to himself.
"No, no, just Kara as in Kara, not the-" The girl tried to explain, the sarcasm flying over her head.
He chuckled, saying, "I'm just pulling your leg. So, already learnt English, huh?"
She was confused what he meant when he said pulling her leg. But she replied to his question anyways, "I had some help," and tapped the device that was attached behind her ear. She added, "Again, thank you. Also, I hope I didn't hurt you."
"Meh, don't fret over it. It'll take a lot more than a juvenile Kryptonian to hurt me. Now, if that's out of the way, I've my pretty sleep scheduled ahead." He pointed towards the building, asking her to give him way.
Her eyes twitched, hearing herself being called a juvenile, not even a kid, and that too from someone younger than herself.
Just then, Kara spoke again, "Hey, uh, I heard people here offer food as a thanks. Why don't I treat you to something, then? Please, I'll be a lot at ease if you accept."
Kara had been bored all morning in that place, Wonder Woman, who was the one teaching her several things about Earth, was busy right now.
And Batman was practically grumpy, even allowing her to go out this soon. What she hadn't expected was her cousin agreeing to come along with her.
But she still had to promise Batman that she wouldn't cause any trouble and just return after thanking Leon.
Kara still had a hard time understanding why so many strong guys were, kind of scared around Batman. Even Kal-El followed his orders. As far as she could tell, Batman was just a normal human.
Leon, hearing Kara's offer, replied, "Humm… I was feeling hungry. You know what, let's go to that cafe, they've the best doughnuts." He pointed back at the one where Superman was.
Kara widened her eyes, slightly awkward, "Are you sure you want to go there?"
"Why? Is there a problem with that place?" he asked, feigning confusion.
"No, nothing, let's just go there then," she replied, shrugging in defeat.
Leon smirked; like hell would he miss a chance to troll the Man of Steel.
... To be continued!