143 CHAPTER 135

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[David Lance POV]

I went back to my room to study Batman's strategy and my role in it. It seemed like Batman had not only predicted that the Green Lanterns would intervene at some point or another but that they would most likely fail in their first attempt to stop Superman because, like all others, they would underestimate him.

And he was right.

Pride was the bane of all downfalls. A curse, a blight of stupidity that made most people think that they were invulnerable, unmatched, making them bling, leading to the path of their downfall.

But that was neither here nor there.

What mattered right now was whether or not I could play the role I had been given. Much to my surprise, Batman had altered his plans beyond my wildest conjectures. After all, he didn't trust me, so I expected to play a minor part in his plan.

However, I was wrong; from a strategic point of view, I was the key to this entire plan, the lynchpin that everything rested on. This level of trust coming from him was unanticipated, to say the least, meaning that he was either desperate enough to blindly trust a stranger.

Or that he had figured out something about me that made him change his perspective of me.

Then again, I guess there was always option C, which left me as the odd one out of the crew. Meaning I was the expendable one, the one that he was willing to sacrifice in order to complete the mission.

I mulled over these possibilities as I analyzed everything that I knew about the current situation. The more I thought about it, the more I went over the plan, the more I realized that there was a high chance that I would die in this upcoming battle, Kryptonian pills or not.

The thought should have flagged a response out of me, anger, concern, or perhaps fear, it should have made me second-guess my decision to help Batman and the Insurgence, but it didn't. If anything, it had only solidified my resolve.

Because even if I was truly expendable in Batman's eyes, I had already made up my mind a few days ago that I would do whatever I could to stop Superman, no matter the cost. Be that as it may, I didn't intend on dying, not unless is of old age.

Raven would kill me if I died without coming back.

I smiled, giving the file another look. To think I would meet two Batmans in a lifetime, both so alike, yet so different from one another. The Batman of my world would never sacrifice me as a pawn, but then again, he wasn't in this Batman's situation. War changes a man.

Though, now that I think about it, his plans with the Light were eerily similar in nature to the ones this Batman had given me, as in I was in both plans an essential part of their success but a part that would be in incredible danger.

I guess the real difference here is that the Batman I know is one I consider a friend, a mentor. While this Batman is nothing but a stranger who I owe nothing to and who owes me nothing, quite a paradoxical conundrum.

Taking a deep breath, I continued reading the plan.

Batman wanted me to fight the Regime alongside Dinah, flanking their troops as the Green Lanterns corps faced them head-on taking most of their attention. However, Batman was no fool; he knew very well that our flanking would eventually get Superman's attention because of Dinah, who Superman wanted to capture in order to find and kill Batman.

In this plan.

Dinah was the shining beacon.

I was the sword.

And the Green Lanterns were the shield.

I was to battle Superman once he came for Dinah.

Batman was truly a bastard, now that I think about it. There is no doubt in my heart that he knows I have feelings for Dinah, he might think they are romantic in nature, or perhaps he already figured out they are of a familiar character.

Whatever the case may be, it's painfully evident he's using Dinah to ensure I play my part correctly. After all, abandoning my post would mean leaving Dinah to face Superman alone, or in layman's terms, would leave her to face her death.

Batman was simply leaving me with no escape here. He had seen his cards, and he was playing them all, cornering me into action.

I wasn't angry though, I didn't like him, nor I saw myself liking him anytime soon, but I could understand why Batman had come to the conclusion he needed to use an emotional pull to reach his goal; after all, the man was nothing if not a pragmatist.

One willing to do whatever it takes to win, no matter how ruthless or underhanded it may be. Be that as it may, it infuriated me he was being so unbelievably idiotic.

Sure, whatever his current idea of me was, and how he applied said idea to pull my strings into action was correct, but what if it wasn't? What if he made an error of judgment when profiling me? He was risking Dinah on unknowns, and that angered me beyond comprehension.

I didn't care this Dinah wasn't my sister, it was still her in a way, and I just couldn't stop caring.

I sighed, closing the file, as I turned to my computer to check the satellite data I had stored of the fight between Superman and the Green Lantern special team. By now, the battle should have ended with Superman as the winner, but I wanted to see how it had played out.

If I was to face him and succeed in the process, I wanted to gather as much intel as I could before jumping into the most dangerous battle of my life.

Taking a deep breath, I pressed the play button and started watching how their battle had unfolded.

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"Superman, The Guardians want to talk to you in Oa," Kilowog said as Superman hovered in front of him. Behind Superman, Shazam and Hawkgirl stood, acting as bodyguards, I suppose.

On another note, were they really asking Superman to surrender? I mean. Has that ever worked on anyone before?

"Cyborg," Superman said, ignoring Kilowog as he touched his ear, probably activating a communicator, his eyes never leaving the Green Lanterns in front of him.

For a second or two after Superman had spoken, nothing happened, leaving nothing but what appeared to be a standoff between the two groups. However, even from my computer, I could tell there was an eerie feeling in the air. Moments later, that feeling was vindicated as a massive beam of red light blasted the entire area. The light was so bright that it felt like looking into the sun. Burning through everything in its path.

The attack created an explosion so powerful that it destroyed miles of terrain around its center, leaving nothing but charred remains. Superman had attacked them with a space-to-ground laser, a powerful one at that.

But as powerful as this attack had been, when the smoke cleared out, the Green Lanterns stood, seemingly unharmed.

It was honestly impressive. I had my doubts the Green Lanterns of my universe could take that hit and survive to tell the tale, but I wasn't sure as I had never seen them in action, other than some files Batman had, and well, nothing worth mentioning there.

"So be it," Kilowog spat as he looked up at Superman before he and his team blasted off towards Superman, all of them creating light constructs to fight the Kryptonian tyrant.

However, no matter how much they tried to hit Superman, he just kept on dodging. Until eventually, he spoke.

"This is stupid," Superman scoffed, effortlessly locking Kilowog in a headlock. "You can't touch me with a thought-based weapon; I move faster than thought."

Kilowog grinned in response. "Then it's a good thing we already thought of that."

Before I could wonder what Kilowog had meant by that, Superman reeled back in pain, releasing Kilowog as he fell to the ground. Above him, the smallest Green Lantern stood, arms on his sides, as he stared down at him.

At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but without a doubt, what appeared on my screen was a flying squirrel, a Green Lantern squirrel. At least three times bigger than an earth squirrel, but a squirrel still.

"You move and think faster than most, Kryptonian," The Squirrel spoke in a deep, menacing voice, once again kicking me out of the loop. The Squirrel sounded like fucking Madara from the English dub; I honestly did not expect that. "Unfortunately for you, I happen to think faster than you. Fast enough to stop the synapses in your brain with my power ring. Meaning you lost the moment we arrived. It's always the same with you all-powerful types. You're used to big things coming at you so much that you don't consider the small things. Sure. I'm small. But I can also think very small and VERY fast."

On the ground, Superman could only glare at the tiny creature with burning hatred, his body frozen in pain as he tried in vain to fight back.

"Ch'p, can you keep Superman's brain out of action until they get back to Oa?" Kilowog asked, looking as his other companions carried Shazam and Hawkgirl with light constructs, showing they had been quickly subdued soon after Superman had fallen to the ground.

So the Squirrel's name is Ch'p.

"Not to worry, Kilowog, I can easily keep the Kryptonian out of commission on our trip back. In fact, I will even promise not to permanently damage his brain," Ch'p replied, his voice carrying unyielding confidence, when all of a sudden, his head is pierced by a yellow blade construct, killing him to the horror of his fellow Lanterns.

His murderer is quickly revealed to be Sinestro.

"We can't have that, now, can we?" Sinestro said with a small smile on his face.

I sighed. Turning the PC off, it was obvious what the outcome would be now. What's worse is that I learned nearly nothing about Superman. The battle had ended in a matter of moments, two times, leaving nothing to learn besides the fact that overconfidence is the downfall most face.