6 Chapter 6: New Beginning
I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING, other than my created character, DC belongs to Warner Bros, and Marvel belongs to Disney, which almost owns the world.
Note: I will leave a number between [], where, at the end in the author's notes I will leave image links to help you visualize the description of the carácter or thing I was was describing, also with some curious data, and some more detailed explanations of the story that I will not mention, but I want to explain for let there be no speculation on the part of you, readers
"talking"
'thoughts'
National City, Edgar's home, December 5, 2014
"Beep, beep, beep, beep"
The sound of an alarm clock could be heard inside a room in a nice house in a suburb of National City. The house was neither too big nor too small, however, with its somewhat rudimentary design with some cabin-like features, it gave people looking at it a cozy and familiar design. If they knew that this was the home of a single man with little social life, it would make them very surprised.
'5 more minutes', a man thought as he stretched out his hand to turn off the alarm. Out of nowhere, a black blur ran into the room at a thunderous speed, the person on the bed had no chance, because when he reacted, a large ball of black fur was assaulting him with its tongue. "Enough Duke, enough, yes, I'm going to get up now, I was only going to give myself 5 more minutes", "Wof wof", "yes, I know the meeting is at 8 o'clock", "wof", "if you are very good boy for remembering", "wof?", "I knew you weren't doing it out of the goodness of your heart silly dog, you just wanted a prize cookie, okay, today I feel generous, you earned it".
Anyone watching the interaction between this human and this dog would be amazed, it would appear that they were communicating or understanding each other. Naturally, anyone with a pet would more or less know what needs your pet has and how intelligent they could become, but this dog would appear to have more intelligence than he should normally have, as he could communicate quite well. The truth is that this was not a normal dog, despite his large size, silky black coat and large ears and muzzle that gave him more wolfish characteristics than other dog breeds, Duke, as Edgar had called him, was a hellhound [1].
A hellhound, a breed created from the darkness itself, guardian spirits whose sole purpose was to safeguard the gates of each level of hell by preventing the damned spirits from leaving. When Edgar found him, he was just a puppy and he was wounded. Naturally Edgar knew he was a hellhound, his smell and soul gave him away easily, but, although Edgar had or should have sent him back to hell, he took pity on this puppy, cured him, and in token of gratitude, Duke stayed with him as his faithful companion, don't even think it's because in hell there aren't those tasty cookies that Edgar used to buy him, that didn't influence him at all.
Edgar and Duke became inseparable, besides, Duke had the ability to travel through the shadows, so he could easily go everywhere Edgar went, and their soul connection allowed them to understand each other even though they didn't speak the same language. Edgar could feel his feelings and Duke could feel the same. Edgar wouldn't admit it, but Duke was a great support to him, Edgar couldn't even think what would happen to him and how lonely he would be and feel if it wasn't for Duke. Also, as a perk of being 'blind' he could take Duke to work as his guide dog, of course Duke was not allowed in the lab, but even so, Duke followed him everywhere and endeared himself to everyone in the company even though he sometimes used his puppy dog look to get free food in the company cafeteria.
"Come on then silly dog, I'll shower, we'll have breakfast and take a cab on our way to the company", "Wof".
...…
In the kitchen of the same house you can see Edgar skillfully cutting some ingredients to prepare some homelet, although if you looked closely you could see how his eyes were not looking at any of the ingredients, he was not even looking at his hands, but still Edgar moved with the grace of an experienced chef.
"Superman did it again, the bank robbery that was thought to be going to be a big problem was easily solved with the arrival of the heroic superhero, not only did he catch all the robbers, but he prevented all the hostages from getting hurt, no doubt a great job by the Justice League member." On television, you can see a report of a bank robbery that was foiled by the superhero Superman. With the advent of the superhero era and four years after the famous invasion by Steppenwolf, many things have changed, things like this were the daily bread, and people were already used to seeing this kind of news almost daily, they just hoped that they were not the ones in that situation.
Throughout these four years, the newly created Justice League was expanding more and more, now with the permissions of the government of several countries they could be involved in police investigations, catch criminals, plus the police could use the evidence generated by the league to issue sentences more quickly. Naturally, not all was good, with the rising tide of superheroes, one would expect crime to decrease, however, this did not happen, on the contrary, many criminals who had special abilities were leaving, and for criminals who had no powers, the black market began to sell special weapons, which could seriously hurt the heroes, in short, crime evolved.
The justice league now had more than 20 skilled members, but the rate of villain per superhero was not equitable, since for every hero there were three or four villains, this did not discourage the heroes, on the contrary, it only gave them more impetus to continue doing their job, it gave them more motivation to save the world.
After breakfast, Edgar left his home with Duke for his company, the Revenger Group, a company specializing in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and biomedicine. Although Edgar was the owner, he was not known as such, even to this day no one knew who the head of this group was, only the core group was known. The core group or board of directors were the heads of every research department in the company, all of whom had the authority to use the budget as they saw fit. Edgar had selected them thoroughly, each person, although ambitious, had the best interest in growing the company, as they knew what this group could accomplish.
Edgar, despite hiding the fact that he is the boss, still had to occupy a position of power in order to keep abreast of the various issues and developments in his company, so he held the position of head of the biotechnology department, however, there were no complaints from anyone, as anyone who knew Edgar would know that he was one of the brightest and most knowledgeable people there. The other members were Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi [2], head of the biomedical department, Dr. Ray Palmer [3], head of the microbiology and microtechnology department, Dr. Samuel Jones, head of the pharmaceuticals department, and Dr. Helen Paravati, head of the crops, food and ecology department.
Edgar wanted to recruit a young researcher named Pamela Isley to be the head of the crop and ecology department, however, when he wanted to offer her a job offer, he discovered that she had suffered an accident at work and had been declared dead.
Edgar felt sad for her, she had great potential, he hoped that in her next life she would achieve all her goals (Ha, if only she knew...).
After the cab ride, Edgar and Duke got out, Edgar paid the fare and headed for the main conference room where the meeting was to be held. Although Edgar could drive, as in the eyes of the world he is totally blind, he had to pretend he needed transportation every time he went to the company, which annoyed him a bit as his motorcycle could easily go three times the speed of average cars and quickly avoid traffic, plus cars made him feel cooped up and prevented him from fully utilizing his radar ability, only on Roxy (his motorcycle) could he feel completely free.
"Hello Dr, Edgar", "How are you Dr. Edgar?". Many greeted him as he passed and Edgar politely greeted them back. Despite Edgar's whole situation he was always a person who did not like to isolate himself, he did not have many real friends, however, he always liked to look cheerful and approachable, this allowed him to meet many people in the company, so he could see if people were happy with what they had or if he should do something to improve the work environment.
"Good morning guys, sorry I'm late there was a lot of traffic," Edgar commented, he was the last to arrive and everyone was already in the conference room. "Hi Edgar, did you see the Knights game?", Samuel Jones commented comically, for some in Edgar's situation, this could be a cruel and offensive joke, but for Edgar who knew the black humor this person had it just amused him, "No Samuel, I didn't see it, but I heard it", "Ha, good one". "Ya guys we need to finish this, I need to keep working, I'm about to make some big breakthroughs," Kimiyo commented somewhat impatiently. The meeting had started and would not end for another two hours.
....
Watchtower, December 6, 2014.
"Recon, Superman 001, The Flash 004, Green Arrow 008, Doctor Fate 013."
A robotic voice came out of the Atayala's speakers, making known the people that were arriving through the boom tube, this technology was an investment of Batman's that he had developed with the help of the Kryptonian technology that Superman kindly provided him. The boom tube allowed the league to teleport to different parts of the world and vice versa, this allowed members to patrol in one place and be in the afternoon in another living their civilian life, it also allowed them to shorten the time of arrival to the various threats that originated in different corners of the world.
The Watchtower was a great space station built with the best technology known to man, its satellites allowed it to scan the situation of the world in real time, it also had other functions such as being the first line of defense of the Earth in case another invasion arose, after 2010, the heroes were prepared and this great invention built was the answer. The countries of the world did not know about it, since it had the best concealment systems in the world derived from Kryptonian, Thanagarian and magical technology.
It was not only a station to defend against invasions or to know if there are threats from the world. It practically served as a second home for the members of the league, there were quite luxurious rooms covered with all the needs that may arise, and also had recreational training centers such as simulators and specialized gyms for the various powers that each member had.
At a large round table in the center of a room, you could see the members of the Justice League sitting, some waiting patiently with their arms crossed, others chatting with each other wondering about their lives or their various recent missions, the heroes who came last were the last to start this meeting.
Every month these mandatory meetings were established to monitor the progress of the league, assign missions or analyze various problematic situations that have arisen. All members had a set work schedule where they had to patrol as the league at certain times, naturally the work groups were rotated every few weeks. When you completed your schedule you were free to go about your day to day life as you pleased, either working on a project or patrolling a city on your own.
In addition to the heroes who had arrived at the last minute, it could be seen that the other heroes were already seated or standing near the table in the hall. Currently the League had 21 able members, the members that made up the current Justice League were: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkwoman, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Captain Atom, Black Lightning, Green Lantern John Stewar, Zatara, Shazam, Atom, Red Tornado, Vixen and Cyborg. [4]
When Superman came to the front of the table, they all sat down, there was no leader of the league, but the founding members carried more weight at these meetings because of their seniority, and Superman, being seen as the most powerful of all and the first established superhero, was recognized as the unofficial leader of this group. Perhaps only Batman had the same weight, but many did not have the same respect for him as they did for Superman, as many times this bat-clad hero made some members feel somewhat intimidated or reproached, however, everyone knew that he was perhaps the smartest person in the room and that was something that everyone respected and admired.
"Let's start the meeting with some cheery news, Cyborg, how are you getting on with setting up your task force," Superman asked the youngest member of the Justice League (Shazam doesn't count, since only Batman knows he's a kid, the other members don't), at only 21 he was barely old enough to be considered a member even though his help with the invasion was invaluable. Naturally, when the Justice League was founded and Cyborg was not yet 18 years old, his joining the League was put on hold and it was decided that he should patrol with the other heroes to gain experience, which he gratefully appreciated. Despite having such modern technology as his comrade-in-arms, Victor knew that he had no experience to be a superhero, and would only get in the eye of the hurricane if he made a mistake on patrol or fighting a criminal. Despite what many people think, the league had a lot of rules to follow and Victor, even as a teenager, was afraid of failing.
"Everything is already established, I just need your signatures and the Junior division will be officially created, as a name, I will follow Flash's advice and call it Teen Titans [5], how do you see it?". This new group was an idea that had come to Victor, many heroes were starting to train 'successors' and although some sidekicks were starting to become widely recognized like Superman's cousin Supergirl or Batman's vigilante sidekick Robin, more and more youngsters were emerging with various skills and Victor wanted to establish a group for these youngsters, so they could work on their hero training and in the future be able to join the justice league with enough experience.
...….
Metropolis, Luthor Mansion, December 10, 2014.
On the outskirts of Metropolis, a huge mansion could be found. This mansion had furniture and the most luxurious decorations, some full of modernity and technology, others were simply relics dating back to the 16th century or less. In the middle of a hall, one could see a table with a tablecloth that could only be considered as luxurious, on top of it was full of exquisite delicacies that had been cooked by one of the best chefs in the country. At the table sat only one man, the man had a dignified countenance, as if nothing was disturbing or distressing him, his green eyes were piercing, as if looking at you they could see your soul, he was tall, about 6'1 tall with a slim but muscular build, however, the most enigmatic feature of this person was his bald head, which, if one looked closely, was gleaming. This person was Alexander "Lex" Luthor, owner of the multinational Luthor, and one of the most intelligent people in the world.
Curiously, in spite of being alone at the table, there was a place for another person to eat. Who was this person for? Well, it didn't take long to answer this question, because out of nowhere the lights went out in the mansion and in less than 10 seconds when they were turned on again, there was already another person standing in the room.
This person was dressed in a black and orange military suit, he had at least three holsters with pistols, besides that on his back hung a large double-edged sword, he had a helmet, with only a slot in his vision that was red, he was also quite tall, muscular for all his combat training and the murderous aura that emanated from his body, could make any weak-minded person faint. Lex Luthor was unaffected by this however, as his countenance didn't change one bit, he was still totally calm despite the situation.
"Sit down Slade, join me at the table, please," Luthor commented kindly, the manners this billionaire had were worthy of a king. Slade did not answer, however, with quick steps he made his way to the other seat, sat down and removed his helmet. He had a face that denoted no more than 40 years of age, with sharp, handsome features, yet his fully graying hair betrayed that his youth was long gone. There was a black patch covering his right eye, although a long scar could be seen protruding from the patch, clearly he had suffered an accident that caused him to lose that eye, however, do not doubt his capabilities because of this, who knew him or rather, anyone who heard the name he holds, would know that he was a guy who should not be messed with, indeed, when it came to this guy there was only one destiny, death.
This was Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke "The Terminator", the best mercenary in the world, it is said that his fulfillment rate is 100% and that he never failed an assignment. Skillfully Slade, picked up his fork and began to eat, Lex just stared at him with an amused countenance.
"You're not afraid I put poison in the food", "I'm immune to most poisons, and if you had poisoned me you'd already have a bullet in your bald head, besides I know I serve you better alive than dead Lex", "smart as ever Slade", Lex liked talking to this assassin, not only was he dangerous with his weapons, he was also dangerous with his words, he didn't flinch when talking to anyone and that was something Lex appreciated.
"I have an assignment Slade," grabbing a briefcase, Lex activated a series of combinations and opened it, in it were several files. In the files you could see a series of profiles of various people, all of them belonging to the Revenger group, more specifically members of the grand council, that's right, there was also a file on our beloved Edgar. "I'll take a guess, you want me to get the information on the mysterious owner and kill him," Slade commented, "No, I don't want that," Lex commented with a frown, for the first time a big change could be seen in this billionaire's expression, and it was one of frustration and anger.
"I've already spent a lot of money and resources getting that information and it's been useless, giving me a conclusion that there is no lead investor, maybe it was just an old man who left an inheritance to research and created the Revenger group and the others in the group grew it, that's my best guess, so save it Slade, what I want from you is something simpler, these," he said pointing to the files. "These are the heads of the Revenger group board, the top brass of the company and the ones who make all the decisions, what I want from you, is to kidnap one, don't kill him, I just want you to bring him in." "Any of them?" "Yes, any of them, however, I recommend these three here," he said pointing to Edgar, Samuel and Helen.
"Dr. Hiroshi and Dr. Palmer come from prominent families, Palmer's father was a politician and Dr. Hiroshi's parents are also well-known astronomy researchers and own the largest observatory in Tokyo. The other three are simpler, two from normal families, and the other is a blind orphan." He said this last with some disdain, he still didn't know how such a person could be on the board of this prominent company.
"Give me two weeks, it will be done," Slade got up and with another blackout of lights from the mansion he disappeared as if he had never been there, Lex also got up as he finished his meal and looking out the window he could see the beautiful city of Metropolis.
'Soon Revenger group, soon I will unravel all your mysteries and you will become my possession.'
......
Author's note:
1-. Duke's description is based on the Calupoh dog breed,
https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/calupoh-10-1024x680.jpg
A hellhound (at least in this fic) will not be a Cerberus as in Greek mythology, the Cerberus will be only linked to the Greek hell or underworld and hellhounds will be linked to the Christian hell, the difference is that hellhounds do not have three heads.
2-. Kimiyo Hoshi, is better known in the comics, as the Japanese superheroine Doctor Light, who gained her powers when a cosmic stele fell on her, here in this story she still does not become a heroine and she is not an astronomer but a doctor in biomedicine and I do not know if I will introduce her as a superheroine, however, I left the story open with her parents being researchers in astronomy in case I decide to use it in the future to become a heroine.
https://preview.redd.it/discussion-so-how-would-you-make-a-kimiyo-hoshi-book-v0-4skcz68tmju91.jpg?auto=webp&s=7d26490508dd5977a2bd15a4fdefa8387a6f3100
3-. Ray Palmer is the superhero known as Atom, he is already part of the Justice League, and Batman will see this as an opportunity to get information inside the Revenger group.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/heroes-and-villain/images/2/24/Ray_Palmer.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20220117043939
4-. Use the idea of the boom tubes from the Young Justice series, as well as list them in the order they will be announced in the future when they go through this transport.
5-. In this fic, Teen Titans will be like in Young Justice, where the sidekicks will get together in a group, they will be assigned light missions and they will be able to train and mature.
Although Cyborg was one of the founding members in both New 52 and Rebirth, I always had a particular liking for the original assignment with Martian Manhunter as a founding member, however, when starting the invasion with Apokolyps, Cyborg had to fit in, which is why I denigrated him. due to his age not to hold a foundation position. This isn't entirely wrong, as Cyborg has always been one of the youngest heroes in the Justice League.
