At that moment, while disguising himself, Tsuki thought that no one would recognize him, so he wouldn't be approached or cornered, but he was wrong.
As far as he knew, they were projected as holograms, and were seen on all televisions, only the backs of their bodies were visible.
The Presence appeared above them, accompanied by others, such as Lucifer and Neron, and the others who appeared beside them at the bar where Tsuki Miki was drinking; he looked around.
Their images appeared like reflections in the water, above the clouds and the buildings of Gotham City, Golden Valley, Central City, Star City, and all the other superhero cities.
Astro-Star appeared above the skies and buildings of Golden Valley and tried unsuccessfully to punch The Presence in the face, but passed right through him.
"We didn't come here to fight," said Lucifer. "But to propose a deal," said the angel of the morning.
"We are messengers and gamblers," Trigon said.
"Damn it, I already said no," Tsuki said.
"At least listen to us," Lucifer said.
"Your union with the king of darkness could be beneficial," Lucifer said.
"It's beneficial, and besides, I know they didn't come just for that," Tsuki said.
"We are here to announce to all heroes a way to make money that will be worth its weight in gold," said The Presence. "You bet with us, then we try to convince you of the relationship," each of them said.
"We propose this to all heroes; they are not obligated to do it if they don't want to," said Trigon.
"What do you think we would do about it?" Astro-Star asked. "Do you think we're going to do something for you?" the Man of Steel questioned.
"You won't be forced, but if you do," Trigon said, "you will receive 700 billion dollars and 30 gold bars."
"You know, we won't leave him alone," he heard them say.
"Two innocent heroes from each of the cities, without being forced to do so, must, if they wish, kill seven innocent people within two weeks," Trigon said.
"Villains don't count; you can kill of your own free will or not," Trigon said. "Without being forced," Trigon added.
Above the clouds, a golden sky appeared, and an immense pointed tower floated, with a box of dollars floating on its tip. Opening the box, the heroes revealed the gold bars and dollars, before returning the box.
"You kill if you want to," said Trigon. "You don't have to," said the demon.
"Within two weeks, you must decide whether or not to kill," Trigon said.
"The tower is protected, and those who try will not be able to leave for at least two weeks; they will regret it," said another creature.
"While the other heroes are busy thinking about the mess of their lives, we keep them distracted. You can think more carefully about how to accept a relationship with the king of darkness," Lucifer said.
"There's no real choice there," Tsuki said.
Then, when the demons and the gods began to manipulate the population.
It was announced on the news, it went viral on the internet, it was broadcast on all television networks, and nothing else was talked about for the next two days until the end of the week.
Everyone saw and heard the story, everyone there felt the pressure and the power...
Yes, they only mentioned the heroes who could kill.
Astro-Star looked towards the sky, and saw around him the black tower with the gold at its tip on top of it.
"It can't be," said Astro-Star.
"Who would kill for money? A hero wouldn't do that," one of them said.
Astro-Star called a meeting in the watchtower at the end of that same afternoon.
The heroes gathered in the watchtower, and if that wasn't enough, Luther organized a march and a press conference about the danger of Astro-Star, which not even a Boy Scout could ignore for a sum of money like that.
Miki 's chair being occupied by another Dark-Dragon.
"What would he gain by giving us money to kill?" another person asked.
"See how low we've sunk?" Raven tried to say.
"He could see us becoming corrupted, and with that, he would have innocent souls being led to the abyss of fear," Raven said.
The Dark-Dragon looked at everyone and said, "Corrupt," he said, "at best."
"Why didn't he choose a villain?" Zatanna asked.
"Do you really think we'll make money by killing an innocent person?" Constantine asked.
"If they said anyone could kill, then someone would have killed right there in the first hour," Zatanna said.
"It's much better to see a hero become corrupt and kill than a villain. He's already corrupted, and they kill for money. Anyone could see that there would be no fun in having no rules," said Dark-Dragon.
"So," said Green Arrow. "The fun part is seeing who gives in first."
Astro-Star flew towards the bat cave. Tsuki Miki had already returned to the mansion; he was feeling weak. The alcohol and the pressure hadn't agreed with him. If he had trouble containing Astro-Star at his best, collapsing weak on the cave floor didn't seem like a good situation.
Damn, how could they pressure him into having a relationship with a dark god, the king of space vampires?
Tsuki Miki ignored the Warriors' calls, he turned off the computers, the cell phones, everything, he stayed in the dark, thinking of a backup plan, in case they literally wanted to kill him, but he was thinking about Astro-Star.
He alternated between using listening devices and trackers on each of his allies. Tsuki Miki supposedly spent her time drinking; he actually took a laptop and followed their movements with cameras scattered throughout the cities, tracking the steps of each hero in each city.
Tsuki Miki ran towards the bathroom, unable to hold it in any longer. It was there that he heard Astro-Star flying towards the cave. He couldn't stop vomiting. He heard more than one footstep; it was someone else...
- Tsuki Miki . – It was Dick, who had his hands on her shoulders.
Tsuki Miki finished vomiting in the toilet, he turned around.
"You've been drinking," said Astro-Star. "All week."
"Are you still thinking about traveling?" – It was a strange question asked by the Man of Steel.
"It's not the end of the month yet," said Tsuki Miki . "But I'm not feeling well," she added. "Something in the drink," Tsuki Miki said .
"A hangover, at best, isn't really a bad thing," said Astro-Star. "But that's no reason to worry about it."
"Do you intend to kill yourself from drinking so much?" Artemis asked, appearing beside them.
"What do you want here?" he asked, wiping his mouth with toilet paper and standing up. He was wearing only brown pyjama's.
"I left the Warriors, go away!" Tsuki Miki said, staggering.
"I'm no longer useful to the Warriors Society of Heroes," said Tsuki Miki . "I'm out."
"We thought you knew," said Astro-Star, accompanying him around the cave.
"That was shown in every city," said Tsuki Miki .
Some lights were out, and the computer screen was flickering; there was little lighting, and the cave and the mansion were in semi-darkness.
Tsuki Miki slumped towards the chair away from the computer on a corner table, his head aching, he was a mess, there was a large travel backpack packed in the corner, his temple was throbbing.
- God... – Tsuki Miki said . - Crap.
He had to go to the company right away, waiting for some demons to start acting as mediators and representatives, both for bets and as messengers of Darkness.
All the demons, some of them former enemies and henchmen, were conspiring to bring them together, but no matter how much Tsuki said she wasn't interested, it had no effect.
On another day, when he was approached at his mansion.
During a visit from his former associates at the Warriors Society.
"I would say yes, Tsuki Miki ," said Artemis.
Tsuki Miki looked at himself in the mirror, deep dark circles under his eyes. Luckily, Gerard was traveling; he wouldn't see him, with his beard needing a shave and his hair dishevelled.
Anyone who tried to lure Dark-Dragon out of his cave would have had a field day in Gotham, but apparently, no one could get him out of his grave.
"I'm tired," said Tsuki Miki .
"We're having problems," Artemis said.
"You can have all the problems you want, but I'm leaving the Warriors," said Tsuki Miki .
"I trained you, Dick, enough to succeed me," said Tsuki Miki .
"I'm not going to help," said Tsuki Miki .
"There's another Dark-Dragon doing the job," said Tsuki Miki .
"But not even a word of advice?" Astro-Star asked.
Tsuki Miki looked towards the Astro-Star.
"No," he said.
"I want to be left alone," said Tsuki Miki .
"There are so many heroes and vigilantes in Gotham," said Tsuki Miki .
"I trained most, if not all, of them," said Tsuki Miki . "You'll figure out what to do eventually," she added .
They looked at each other and left the cave.
Tsuki Miki stared towards a computer, he waited a few minutes, then, when he waited until no one returned, that's when he turned on a computer, which then displayed several screens, each showing one of the heroes from the cities.
- Idiots. – Said Tsuki Miki .
"Fools," he said.
Within the first week that followed, almost at the end of Friday, all the heroes are included, two heroes from each superhero city, will be able to kill seven innocents, from the first to the last, whoever they kill must be an innocent without sin.
Everyone there was on edge , constantly irritated, and there was a clock ticking away the time.
Heroes, gods, villains, and everyone there saw and heard what the gods said.
"Interesting," said Luther. "I couldn't have done better."
In a bar full of villains...
Luther was sitting there at a table, with poker cards and smoking a cigar.
Luther looked around, realizing they wanted heroes to kill, and who was he to not help, to turn Astro-Star into a villain.
"I bet Astro-Star will succumb," he said.