Few days passed when Alex finally received the date for his visit to the Cadmus headquarters.
With confirmation in hand, he made the trip back to Metropolis.
This time, however, his destination wasn’t the gleaming tower of LexCorp.
Instead, he found himself across town, standing before a nondescript pharmaceutical manufacturing plant…a shell company, a mask worn by Lex and his allies to hide the monster beneath.
Mercy Graves awaited him at the entrance.
Alex was alone this time.
Amunet had been left behind; she was not part of his plans.
“Mr.
Black, welcome,” spoke Mercy.
She guided him toward a scanning machine that looked more at home in a military black site than a pharmaceutical factory.
The device hummed to life, bathing him in a cold, invasive glow as it conducted a full-body scan.
X-ray, thermal, density mapping, and more.
“Is this really necessary?” spoke Alex, stepping through the machine.
“I apologize, Mr.
Black, but this is a very necessary procedure for the safety of the project and yours as well.
The subjects inside are dangerous.
They would use anything you let in against you,” spoke Mercy.
Alex rolled his eyes but didn’t complain.
He followed Mercy inside, past rows of ordinary office cubicles that felt like a thin veneer stretched over something far darker.
The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, sterile and cold, until they reached an elevator at the end of the corridor.
The building had twenty floors above ground.
But Mercy didn’t press any of those numbers.
“Please turn around, Mr.
Black,” spoke Mercy.
Alex raised an eyebrow but complied.
He heard the soft beep of buttons being pressed behind him…six distinct tones, each spaced with deliberate precision.
“You may turn back now.”
He turned to face the elevator panel.
The display showed nothing unusual, but the car began to move.
Downward.
Floor -1.
-2.
-3.
The numbers ticked past with a soft chime each time.
“So that was a password of sorts?” asked Alex.
“Yes.
The password changes on a weekly basis.
It prevents anyone unaware of what’s happening down here from accidentally stepping inside,” spoke Mercy.
“I see.
Brilliant idea.
I like it,” said Alex.
‘6-8-2-6-4-1,’ Medusa’s voice whispered in his mind.
Even with his back turned, she had been watching in her spirit form.
The code was now his.
The elevator finally reached floor -20.
The doors slid open with a soft hiss.
The view was staggering.
The facility stretched before him like an underground cathedral of science and sin.
Hundreds of scientists moved through the space below, their white coats gleaming under harsh industrial lights.
Security personnel patrolled every catwalk and corridor, their weapons advanced, military-grade….similar to the ones Alex himself sold.
The kind designed to handle high-level metahuman threats.
He was standing on a balcony overlooking the main chamber.
Below him, row after row of massive tubes stretched into the distance, each filled with a viscous, glowing liquid.
Inside them floated figures.
Men.
Women.
Creatures.
Some had rock-like skin that seemed to pulse with a dull, earthen glow.
Others had eyes that burned with unnatural colors.
One figure, barely human anymore, had a mushroom-like growth where its head should have been, tendrils drifting in the fluid like grotesque seaweed.
“All of these here on the right are metahumans,” spoke Mercy, gesturing to the endless rows.
“We identify individuals with the meta gene and forcefully activate it.
The ones on the left are regular humans with no meta gene.
We attempt to inject them with meta genes to see if we can create a metahuman artificially.
As of now, it has been unsuccessful.”
Alex studied the tubes in silence, his expression unreadable.
“But this is not why you are here, Mr.
Black.” Mercy’s voice took on a different tone.
“Mr.
Luthor made sure I show you our ultimate project.
One that he promises could completely shut down all your doubts.”
“Oh?
And what is that?” asked Alex.
She smiled.
A thin, knowing smile.
“Follow me.”
She turned and walked toward the far end of the chamber.
Alex followed, his footsteps echoing against the cold metal floor.
They passed through another security checkpoint, then another, each layer of defense more elaborate than the last.
Finally, they reached a massive door at the very end of the facility.
Two high-level scientists stood before it.
They pressed their eyes to retinal scanners in perfect synchronization, a dual-lock system that required both to be present.
Mercy placed her palm on a hand scanner beside them.
The door groaned, heavy mechanisms grinding as it slowly slid open.
“Quite the security measures,” spoke Alex.
“What’s inside requires such protection.” Mercy stepped through the threshold.
“Come…
and see why.”
Alex followed.
The room was small, intimate compared to the cavernous space outside.
Only one tube stood at its center.
But this tube was different.
It wasn’t filled with dozens of failed experiments.
It held only one figure.
And that figure was perfect.
“It’s not a hundred percent, but this is one of the closest we’ve ever gotten to creating a clone of him,” spoke Mercy.
She pressed a button on the console beside her.
The tube’s interior lit up, flooding the figure within with soft, golden light.
The man inside wore a pristine white suit, clean and unblemished.
His hair was dark, his jaw chiseled, his build powerful yet refined.
But that wasn’t what made Alex’s breath catch.
It was the symbol on his chest.
A red shape, sharp and unmistakable, with an S in the middle.
“Project Kr,” Mercy continued.
“Based on Project Match, an earlier attempt to clone Superman.
Match was deemed a failure due to incomplete DNA sequences.
A mistake we did not repeat.
For Project Kr, we filled the gaps with human DNA.”
Alex stared at the figure floating in the tube.
The face was flawless.
There was no imperfection, no disfigurement.
He looked like Superman himself, just younger.
A near-perfect copy of the Man of Steel, suspended in liquid like a sleeping god.
Alex’s mind raced, cataloging possibilities, threats, opportunities.
Then the explosion hit.
The entire facility shook.
Alarms blared, red lights flashing across every surface.
Scientists screamed.
Security personnel scrambled.
“WHAT THE HELL?” shouted Alex.
Mercy moved instantly, her prosthetic arm revealed, snapping up as holographic screens materialized before her.
She pressed a button on the wall, sealing the room with a heavy metallic clang.
The screens flickered to life, showing footage from the top levels.
“We are being attacked,” spoke Mercy.
“NOW!
Of all times!” shouted Alex.
“Who would even attack this place?”
She stared at the screens, her face pale.
The footage showed three figures descending through the facility like avenging gods.
A man in blue and red, cape flowing behind him.
A woman in golden armor, sword and shield gleaming.
And a figure draped in shadow, black cowl hiding his face, moving with terrifying precision.
“It’s…
it’s the Justice League,” said Mercy.
Alex’s eyes widened in genuine shock.
Superman.
Wonder Woman.
Batman.
They were here.
/*
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Shadow Monarch in Danmachi!