Chapter 237: A Necessary Evil Part 3

As panic quickly grew within Metropolis, it didn't take long for the nearby heroes to rush to the scene.

Considering what had happened to the city not long ago, many feared this was yet another attack by the HS group.

With the justice league already spread out looking for the false threat the HS group posed, not many of its members could rush to metropolis.

Some however did, in fear that the situation may be worse than they thought.

The first to arrive on the scene was Superman, followed by the Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.

All heroes who could work fast to evacuate people. Which had been become the main priority.

But they weren't the only ones trying to save people.

With a constant rise in danger, the younger generation of superhumans was now more than ever, eager to try and be heroes.

This saw the league members present in the city receive an unprecedented amount of help in the evacuating people affected by the spores.

At one of the many medical camps set up just outside the city, blood samples were taken from victims and quickly analyzed.

And although he wasn't present, Batman used his tech to hack into the very weak system housing the data. Given the circumstances, the last of the medical staff's worries were cyber security.

With the newly acquired data, all Batman needed to do was cross-reference the bio-patterns that were in the recorded in the victims and see if he could find a match or if they were dealing with something new entirely.

Much to his relief, they weren't.

As he stood in an unknown location with a holographic screen projecting out of a device on his forearm, Batman squinted his eyes as he saw the match he had been led to.

"Ivy…" he muttered with furrowed brows.

Almost immediately, Alfred's voice resonated from the bat suit's communications.

"Ivy? Are you sure? Just what possible reason would she have for sparking this madness I wonder." Alfred curiously pondered.

Batman was silent for a moment as he studied the structure of the main chemical composition being shown.

"Ivy has always been a bit unpredictable. But even then, she mostly keeps to herself and rarely attacks without reason. Something doesn't add up here…" Batman quickly concluded.

Alfred, having read Ivy's record as well many times before, could agree with Bruce's thoughts.

"Indeed. I fear we shall only attain the answers once she is apprehended." Alfred replied.

Batman gave a nod and clicked the dismissal button on the holographic screen.

"Exactly. Forward what we've found to the league and see if you can track down Ivy, she couldn't have gotten far."

…

Contrary to Batman's thoughts though, she had indeed gotten far already. Both her and Enchantress were on Arias's yacht as it made its way toward Gotham.

Even if Alfred wished to track it, Bruce's satellite couldn't breach the security that Arias's own satellites provided.

As far as Bruce or any other form of tracking was concerned, Arias's yacht was invisible.

In the same fashion, Cheshire had no choice but to put aside her mischievous ideas and leave the city with Raven.

The arrival of the league posed some danger to the plan and she wasn't willing to be the reason it fell through

…

After an hour passed, the league had more or less handled the situation, although many rescues were still in the midst of happening and people were getting accounted for.

Among the many young heroes who chose to help in the disaster, Supergirl was one of them.

In the same way Superman had helped greatly by putting out fires with his frost breath, flying citizens out of danger or simply lifting heavy debris out of the way, Supergirl help in the same manner, if not more.

While Superman had began to also work toward finding Ivy after receiving the information from Batman via Martian Manhunter, Supergirl was tirelessly helping people and emergency services handle the situation.

By the end of it all, nearly 2 hours later, countless were grateful to her and the league, along with the many other young heroes that helped.

As Supergirl hovered heroically in the air above one of the medical camps set up, she along with other heroes present, received applause for their efforts.

For the first time since trying her hand at heroics, she genuinely saw the difference she could make and took in the wonderful feeling that came with it.

But unbeknownst her, her significant jump in relevance was something Arias not only expected but looked forward to.

His plan needed the city to be in chaos and he had numerous ways of achieving this, especially with his nigh omnipotent status.

However…

He chose the route through which Supergirl would dazzle the most. How?

By ensuring that city was not only in a terrible state, but also by adding the presence of a hidden threat.

Although not certain, Arias knew the chances were high that the league would put some attention toward finding the culprit of the incident, thereby reducing the effort they put into rescuing civilians.

By that I mean, where Superman would quickly save an individual and just drop them off at the medical camp, Supergirl would show concern, ask them if anything hurt, ask about their families and even console them if they lost anyone.

For people who were suffering such a sudden disaster, this form of emotional support to their trauma was greatly welcomed, even if they didn't realize it themselves.

And although she didn't realize it herself, this experience had made Supergirl mature just a bit. Adding more confidence to her ability.

As for why Arias even bothered to do this? It was quite simple.

The only way someone's failure could be worse, was when it came about due to their own overconfidence.

This was something everyone experiences at some point in their lives.

It could be as minor as finding out you failed in an exam that you constantly boasted of passing.

Or it could be as heart breaking as finding out the spouse you so proudly introduced to your family, was cheating on you.

These type of failures were among the most humbling, and often left people feeling one of the worst times of emotional turmoil.

And for supergirl, who so deeply believed in similar principles as her cousin Superman, Arias needed to make her experience failure.

After all, one cannot build on something that's already there. As it would only lead to instability.

Leaving only one solution.

Shattering everything down to the foundation, and building up from scratch.

…

After seeing that Supergirl had gotten the attention he'd hoped she would. Arias no longer lingered in Metropolis as his figure disappeared from the applauding crowd.