Injustice 3: The Might of Magic (Book 3)

Supergirl:

"You have a private city," Jason asks.

"Yes," The Man says while on his knees. "Please raise your arm. The girl, not you."

The little girl in front of The Man nods her head and raises her arm. When she does, The mean looks her in the face.

"Now this is going to hurt for a little bit. Just a little bit. Can you be brave for me?"

The little girl, despite shaking, nods her head again. Seeing this, The Man sprays a bit of ointment on her cut. She jumps a little but stays sitting. Once The Man is done spraying, he reaches into his medical kit and pulls out some bandages.

"Thank you for being brave," The Man says, "Now, I have a question for you. I have three different bandages. One with a panda on it, one with spaghetti and meatballs on it, and one with an S on it. Which one would you like?"

The little girl smiles as she points to the one with an S on it.

"Awesome choice," The Man says. He peels off the paper and applies the bandage to the little girl's cut. "Okay. You can go now."

"Thank you so much," the little girl's mother says after The Man applies the bandage.

"Don't mention it," The Man replies with a wave. With the mother and little girl leaving the room, The Man stands up and turns to face us.

"You have a private city," Jason asks again.

"Yes," The Man repeats. "Will you please stop asking me? You have asked me 36 times in the last hour, and the whole time, the answer has been the same. Yes, I do have my own private city. It's not much but---"

"Not much," Barry says, cutting The Man off. "Are you kidding me? This place is massive!"

To prove his point, Barry walks over to the window and points outside, his arm swinging from left to right.

"There are whole streets here! With dozens of houses and even apartment buildings! And some of them even have furniture in them!"

"A fridge and a stove are not furniture. They are appliances, moron. Both of which are kind of useless considering there is almost no food here."

"Not yet anyway," Leonard says, joining in. "But I think with those farms over there, those fridges and stoves won't be useless for very long."

"You have a private city," Jason asks again. "With its own farms and lakes?"

"Yes," The Man repeats. "And if you keep asking me that, I will throw a slime pellet at you. Remember these?"

"Honestly," Harleen says, "At this point, I can't even really be surprised anymore. I mean, Sunglasses has his own hidden base with thousands of rooms and an infinite amount of traps. He had a giant pirate ship/spaceship. Now, he had his own city. Okay. What's next? His own state? County? Planet?"

"Yes, yes, yes," The Man says.

"Really," Jason shouts. "You have a private--"

Before Jason can finish, Professor Stein cuts him off.

"I think what my 'other half' is trying to say is," Professor Stein starts, "Is how is all of this even possible? You building a whole secret city? Underground? Under Hub City?"

"For the record, we're underground but not underneath Hub City. The elevator we all took wasn't just an elevator. It also acted as a transporter. We're actually miles from Hub City."

"Yeah, sound better right," Professor Stein whispers.

"How on Earth do you build all of these so fast and so...hidden and out of sight," Jason yells. "I mean, seriously, who can build a whole city with farms and lakes and a hidden elevator/ transporter without anyone noticing? It's...It's not possible. Even with super strength and super speed and super smart, it's just not possible."

"Hey Jason," The Man says, snapping his fingers in front of Jason's face. "Sorry to interrupt your brain as it cracks, but I have other patients to attend to. While I stay here, can you guys help the other settle in?"

"Sure we can," I say, pushing Jason and Barry toward the door and out of the room. "Let's go, everyone. I'm sure there are a lot of people who need help adjusting to their new environment."

"Really," Leonard asks. "Before, all of these people lived in Old Gotham. An underground city. Now, they're here, in an underground city. Minus working lightbulbs, I don't see much of a difference."

"Go," The Man shouts, pointing at the door.

As all of us start to leave, someone grabs my hand and pulls me back.

"Hold on," The Man says, "I need a nurse to help me with the patient. Can you stay with me?"

"Uhh, sure I guess, but I have almost no experience in medicine."

"Neither did the Doc or Iris, but unfortunately, I only have two arms. Help me out here. Please?"

I look at The Man before looking at the others.

"Go on without me," I say, "I'll stay here and help The Man."

"Sure," Harleen says. "We'll go."

For some reason, Harleen winks at me as she and the others leave. With the others gone, it's just me and The Man.

"Hey," The Man says, "I just wanted to say a quick thank you, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry," I repeat. "For what?"

"For...everything. And thank you."

"Thank you?"

"Thank you to you and everyone else for reminding me of something important. For reminding me a lot of important thing."

"I'm confuse. What are you talking about?"

The Man doesn't answer me right away. Instead, he puts his hands together and blows into them. He does this a few times before speaking again.

"Kara, I'm not much of a people person. Quite frankly, I'm a private man who like to keep to himself. I really like my alone time."

"Yes," I say, nodding my head. "I have notice."

"However, despite that, I still need people at my side. Otherwise, I slowly turn into something else. Do you remember that time in Hub City, when we first met Black Mask and the Spectre? You saw me transform from that thing?"

"Yes," I say, memories of what The Man said running through my head. "I remember that."

"Yeah, there have been a few more 'incidents' similar to that. The time Cold and I went to find Slade and Todd. Shortly after, I locked myself in the glass box. Then, there was the time I went to fight the Lords of Order by myself during the whole time change events. And even in Old Gotham, when we had to separate. I lost control for a bit there, and I risk destroying everything."

"Destroying everything?"

"I'm a private man who like to keep to himself," The Man repeats. "I'm not much of a people person but at the same time, I need people around me. To keep me from losing control. Because if I lose control, I risk destroy everything."

As The Man says this, he plays with his sunglasses.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because again, I want to thank you and everyone else out there for helping me not lose control. The way I saw all of you fighting to protect those families as they run out of Old Gotham. All of you working together like that. Friend or foe. Hero or villains. It doesn't matter. What matter the most was getting those people out of there. You all fought here, and somehow, that calm me down."

"Well," I say, giggling a little. "Glad we could help you."

The Man giggles with me for a little bit before stopping.

"It's also why, no matter how much I wanted to kiss you again, I can't."

This time, it's me who stops laughing.

"I told you I want you to remember this version of me," The Man says. "This version of me that is somewhat human. That doesn't have fangs or claws. This version of me that rely mostly on swords and kunai and punches and kicks than 'other things'. Let me ask you this. When you look at me, what version do you see?"

When The Man asks me this, I take a hard look at him. I see his short black hair and tan skin. I see a jacket with a dozen pockets on it, a black shirt underneath it, and long brown pants. I also see a pair of black and blue sunglasses

Taking another look, I see The Man when he gave me a picture of my mother. I see The Man when he helped me break free of Darkseid's control. I see The Man when he first appeared in front of me on Styker's Island. Walking over to The Man, I grab his hands and pull him up.

"I see this version of you," I answer.

The Man smile when I answer him. Both of us, standing there, holding hands, and looking at each other, I feel my chest flutter as I lean in close. The fluttering grows as The Man leans in himself. Inch by inch, we get closer and closer until our lips are touc---

A ringing sound cuts us off and we both pull back. Letting go of each other's hands, we look around.

"What is that," I ask.

"It...uhh," The Man starts, checking his pocket. "Me."

Pulling out his phone, The Man answers it.

"Hello Higgins. What do you want?"

"Sorry about calling so suddenly," Higgin says, The Man putting the call on speaker. "Is this a bad time?"

The Man and I look at each other before looking away.

"No. It's fine. Again, what do you want?"

"I just got a call from Dr. Crane and Iris. They're asking you to prepare a portal. Dr. Crane still can't find his teleporter."

The Man shakes his head before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his teleporter. Tapping a few buttons, The Man throws it onto the ground, and a portal appears a few seconds later. A few more seconds later, someone jumps through.

"No way," I say.

"Impossible," The Man says.

Landing on his feet, with his suit on, and a bow in his hand, is Oliver.

"Hey," Oliver says, spreading out his arms. "Miss me?"

"Oliver," I say. Not wasting a second, I give the archer a hug. "Oh my god! I can't believe you're here!"

"How is that even possible," The Man asks. "It should've been months before you could even stand up again. This is too fast. You should go back to the infirmary and let me do a proper examination."

"Before you do that," I say, pushing The Man back. "Come on. Diana needs to see you. So does Barry and everyone else."

The Man:

Shaking my head as Kara drags Oliver out of the room to show off to the others, I open my mouth. About to tell the next patient to come in, I stop when I feel my hand burns.

"Ahh," I cry out. Looking down, I see my left hand shaking and smoking. Grabbing my wrist to steady my left hand, I turn it around and see something burning through my skin.

It leaves a glowing, dark-red impression. I hope I'm wrong. I crossed my fingers and hope I'm wrong but I'm not. When the burning is done, it leaves a mark. A dark-red S. It stays dark for only a few seconds before glowing again.

"The Mark of Skath," I say. "There's only one reason why I would see this again. Trigon."

The Lords of Order:

Using our magic, we push the planets and stars into the proper alignment. When they are all lined up, I wave my hands and chant the incantation. As I keep on chanting the incantation, four glowing red eyes appear before us.

"Who dare summon me," Trigon says, his voice echoing like thunder.

"We did," I answer. "We, the Lords of Order, summon you, Trigon."

"Why?"

"To destroy this world."