9 Likeness

Clapping my hands together, I then spread them apart, casting a 3D, holographic projection of the Watchtower.

"My word," Professor Stein says, adjusting his glasses. "How are you doing that? That's incredible."

"Tell you later," I say, enlarging the projection and tapping on four points, red dots appearing where I tap. "These are the four structural weaknesses to the Watchtower we need to destroy. The generators room is here at the top, the binary cannon is here at the bottom, and these two rooms here on the side."

"What are the two rooms here on the side," Jason asks, typing to tap the room but his finger going right through the projection.

"This is the archive," I answer. "Before you sent it 'sky-high', please do try and get some information. We need to know more about what Superman knows. It'll give us a major advantage. This room over here is linked to the Batcave."

The Batcave," Jaime repeat, "As in the--"

"Not so secret lair of Batman anymore," I say. "Yeah, that Batcave. The Watchtower and Batcave may be linked, but the Batcave still hold Brother Eyes."

"Brother Eyes," Kara repeats.

"Yeah, the weirdo surveillance hub Bruce Wayne built shortly before Brainic's invasion. Since his fall, it has been upgraded to monitor all sorts of different communication; phone calls, text messages, emails, yada, yada, etc. After this, we're going to the Batcave. Kara, may I?"

Nodding her head after a while, she gives me the bombs from before.

"Here," I say, giving the old guy, his partner, and the bug boy each a C4 brick. "These are C4 bricks."

"C4 bricks--"

"Will you all please stop interrupting me with questions," I yell. "I am trying to tell the plan and I need all of you to be quiet! You two will go to the laser cannon, you will go to the generators, and Kara and I will go to the archive and Batcave! Move fast. When 'Hothead' and 'Undead' were 'tangoing', it caused quite a scene. They know we're here now. Instructions are on the back if you're wondering where to put the bombs."

Waving bye at the three of them, I turn and walk away, grabbing Kara's hand and pulling her alongside.

"When the job is done," I yell, turning back to them. "We'll regroup here at the batmobile and teleport the living heck out of here! Bye!"

"Come on," I whisper, "Before they start asking too many questions!"

"Wow," I say, turning the brick of C4 over. "The man is thorough. Like, really, really thorough."

"Agree," the Professor says, also examining his brick. "A color-coded map of the Watchtower along with where exactly to put the bomb to do the most damage, marked with a bright-red X. There are even codes here needed to access the rooms."

"Forgot the code," Jason says, pointing at the writing closest to the bottom. "I'm more worried about this."

"Please be cautious," the writing starts, "These are not normal C4 bombs. They have been modified to do greater damage. Be at least a thousand feet or more away when denoting. P.S, you all are suck."

"That's an odd way to end a warning," the Professor says. "Why would the man put that?"

"Because he's an asshole," Jason replies, crossing his arms.

"Whether or not he is one," I say, bright-blue wings shooting out of my back. "It's obvious he has been planning this for awhile. Come on. Let's go!"

Jumping into the air, I follow the map, leaving Jason and the Professor. Carefully following the highlighted route laid out on my map, making sure I didn't run into any more regimes or soldiers, I stop when I find what I think I am looking for.

A pair of giant, metal doors in front, I look over to see the control panel next to it.

"Omega Delta-3112," I read, typing the passcode in and the door opening. "Increible! Right on the first try!"

Readying my arm blaster, I walk in and look all over. Thankfully, the room is empty and the only sound I'm hearing right now is my footsteps against the metal floor.

"Increible," I say again as I come face-to-face with the Watchtower's massive generator. Looking exactly like a mini-sun, it is surrounded on all sides by thick metal tubings, some crackling with electricity, others looking like they're transferring the power to other parts of the Watchtower. Walking right up to the railings, computers covering most of the walkways, I check the back of the brick once more.

"According to the X," I say to myself, "I should plant the bomb right there! Lo tengo!"

Flying over to one of the tubes, the one that seems to be moving the most power, I slam the brick right onto it and return to the walkways. Walking toward the door, it opens and a group of One Earth soldiers walks in.

"This is Watchtower search party 794," one of the soldiers says into a radio on his shoulder. "The generator room is--not secure! I repeat, the generator room is not secure! Freeze Blue Beetle!"

The soldiers all aim their guns at me, they then advance toward me.

"Affirmative," a voice on the other end of the radio replies, the voice sounding a lot like Wonder Woman. "Your orders are to capture Jaimie Reyes. I repeat, your orders are to capture him alive. Superman will want to turn him."

Running along the wall, the man jumps right off it and kicks one of the soldiers in his head, his whole body flipping over. Landing on his knee, he then places his fist in his palm and pushes back, his elbow hitting another soldier and knocking him to the ground.

"Freeze," a third soldier yells, aiming his gun at the man. Even before I could react, the man grabs the tip of the gun and bash it into the soldier's head over and over again until he drops to the ground, the man still holding the gun.

"Anyhow," the man says, dismantling the gun and tossing the parts onto the guard. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Flash, after we're done here, the three of us are jumping into the batmobile and heading to your old hometown, Central City."

"Central City," Barry repeats, his shock voice sounding as clear as day on the man's phone.

"Yes. Central City. I would call ahead and tell the mayor you're returning, but I think that would draw a few unwanted attention. Then again, we've already been drawing a lot of unwanted attention so I don't think it really matters now."

Hearing Barry screaming, the man pulls away and hangs up.

"I should probably give the other some sort of job," he says, turning to me while walking. Shoving both his phone and his hands into his pockets, he went on. "You know, so they don't feel left out."

"Left out," I say, struggling to keep up with the man who is a very fast walker.

"Yeah," he replies. "We do have a long list of 'to-do's' and I really should hand some of them out, but I have problems. Lots and lots of problems. Watch out!"

Pushing me aside, the man rushes past me and punches out three soldiers, all of them falling down as soon as I turn away. Kicking them a few times to make sure they're unconscious, he shoves his hands back into his pocket and returns to walking.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm. Normally, I'd say no but sure, why not? I'm sure that, beside you, everyone else had questions. Let's try and knock some of them out of the way. I'll, of course, answer what I can, but I enjoy my secrets."

"Okay," I start, thinking of what questions I had. A lot of questions floating around in my mind actually, it took awhile to sort out which ones the man might answer versus the ones he wouldn't.

"I'm guessing asking what your name is is one of the questions you won't answer."

"Yup. Ask all you want, I ain't telling you or anyone that."

"So if you won't tell us your name, then what should we call you? I mean, what do you want to be called? You have to have some sort of nickname you go by. We can't just call you 'the man'."

"Why not? First name 'the', last name 'man'. Full name 'The Man'. Next question."

"Okay. What is it you can do per say?"

"You lost me," 'the man' replies.

"What can you do exactly? What 'powers' or 'skills' do you have? I mean, I just saw you take out a group of guards almost instantly! Jumping and punching and kicking and fighting like I never seen before! It's clear you can fight, but what about your powers? Back on Stryker, I remember you ripping the doors off its hinges without touching them, making parts of the fence disappear without a trace, and then, when you rescued Barry, you somehow made a glowing bow and arrows appear out of thin air."

"I think you forget to mention my 'skills' in archery, chemistry, and hotwiring. Yeah, I'll admit, I know a lot of stuff and can do a lot of stuff. For fighting, I mastered taekwondo, jiu jitsu, boxing, karate, and all other types of fighting styles. I also mastered a few 'unique' styles not widely known. Learned and incorporated all of them into my own style. As for ripping a door without touching it, making a fence vanish, and materialize a bow and arrows, well that's an entirely different story. Just know that I try not to use those kinds of 'powers' too much but every now and then, when the situation calls for it, you just have to lay low."

"Okay. One last question. Why did you save me first? Why didn't you go to the Insurgency first and then rescue me? It was a huge risk for you to try and save me by yourself. Even with all your powers and skills."

Stopping all of a sudden, the man stood still. I could tell something was off. It's like the air around us just becomes thick and hard to breath, and everything goes silent. Even with my super hearing, I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't hear the man breathing, or even his beating heart.

"Are you sure you want to know the answer to that particular question," the man asks after a while, his voice sounding different from before, his voice sounding much more quiet. "I guarantee you won't like the answer."

"Yes," I say, wondering what it is he is going to say.

"The reason I chose to rescue you first, instead of going to the Insurgency, is because I like you, and I couldn't stand to see you in prison one second more."