See No Evil: Sweeping Up (ch. 84) (Patreon)

"Of all the things you could have shared with the Reach, it had to be how to blind me," I muttered bitterly to myself as I stood at the top of Sainthood Enterprises HQ, a building that towered over all of Gotham. Worse, I wasn't sure when it happened. I just knew that it had. After my arrest, Lex had a sharp influx of time not being recorded on my cameras. That told me that he had known about them beforehand and was keeping up appearances. Savage was always difficult to pin down, so I hadn't thought much of it. Black Manta for the same reason because my presence on the ocean floor was lacking.

"Or was it the other way around?" I wondered, watching Reach ships dart around as they took potshots at my city. After No Man's Land, Gotham was ready to evacuate or go to shelters at the drop of a hat and Lowtown proved definitively that it was the safest place to be during an emergency. While the Reach fought to take the city, they found that their energy-based weapons were having little effect on destroying buildings that housed defense systems designed for something like this. It was a battle for the skies in Gotham.

The Light didn't seem to be any the wiser about my cameras before the Reach showed up. There was never so much as a hint that they knew about them. Then the Reach shows up and a month later my house of cards starts tumbling down? That didn't seem like a coincidence. The question was how the Reach had learned about my cameras that were hidden in plain sight. The heroes didn't know about them. The Light didn't know about them. So, how did the Reach learn about them? What tech did they have? Did they pick up a signal? Did they hack my systems and I hadn't been any the wiser? Or did I somehow give the answer to them?

It might not really matter, but if they got one over me once, then they could get one over me again. Up until this point, I had been  under the impression that the Reach were effectively toothless. That I had their fleet, I knew their plans, and all that was left was to send out the evidence of their misdeeds and give them the boot. Their final fuck you would be disabled beforehand. The Justice League would arrive to see them off, then we could look to the Green Lanterns to make sure the Reach stayed fucked off. The fight was supposed to be won before either of us threw the first punch.

Closing my eyes, I sent out a command to the Reach fleet, arranging for Concerned Citizen to inform Oracle that he had gotten through. The ships should immediately cease all operations and hover in the air until they get the order to resume. I should have heard a sudden beat of silence as the battle had a lull.

I didn't hear one. Even before I opened my eyes, I knew exactly what I would see.

"Well, shit," I muttered, looking up at the sky to see a Reach drone ship flying directly towards me, prefiring and sending bright blue blasts of plasma directly at me. They peppered the rooftop before they honed in on me, letting me feel a burst of warmth from them before one of my AA guns shot the drone out of the sky. It exploded with a burst of plasma, taking one wing off and making it spin uncontrollably. It missed the rooftop, meaning it would crash into the street. Though, not before scraping along the side of my building. "That's not good."

The Reach killed my kill switch. What a bunch of bastards. How'd they do it?

Taking in a sharp breath, I let it out as a sigh, "Oh well. It's not like I kept all my eggs in one basket," I muttered as Plan B was already underway. As I stood at the top of my building, it seemed my attempt to disable the fleet hadn't gone unnoticed. I got a call that I answered without missing a beat.

"I imagine you must be very confused at the moment, Vergil St. Jude," Diplomat remarked, his tone sounding unbearably smug. He wasn't wrong there, but I didn't care for having it thrown in my face like that. "You really shouldn't rely on the same tricks too often. Upon careful examination, your next moves become painfully obvious."

It was a real struggle to not roll my eyes at that as I watched the battle for Gotham happen. Our defenses were holding strong, but the rest of the world wasn't doing anywhere near as well. Metropolis got pounded. Every major city was getting hit hard and the military was scrambling. The heroes were mobilizing, but the Justice League wasn't here yet. I could feel Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern shaped holes in the planetary defenses. How much the world relied on the League couldn't be understated.

It was bad enough that I couldn't even call this an opportunity for the Sentinels to step up and fill the void. They were, but all across the world, cities and towns and villages were being attacked. That, I knew, was my fault. I had known about the fleet, and I passed up a chance to use it against the Warworld because I thought that card in my pocket would be better served being used now.

"That so? I don't suppose you could just spell it out for me how you figured out my playbook," I questioned, coordinating my defenses around the globe. My androids we're fighting. 2B was fighting with a fervor I hadn't seen before. I'm guessing that aliens invading Earth to take it over poked at some old wounds for her.

"It was quite simple, really. Your achievements are extraordinary for a primitive species. Never before has the Reach encountered a species that made such rapid progress in developments of cultural and technological evolution. All of which could largely be attributed to yourself," Diplomat continued, his tone smug but he sounded honest.

"Flatterer," I accused lightly, earning a warm chuckle from Diplomat.

"We looked into your methods and came to the conclusion that you always knew exactly what your enemies were doing. Even before they became your enemies. From there, it became obvious that you were utilizing some matter of scrying magic." Diplomat continued, sounding rather proud of himself. Scrying magic. "Klarion the Witch Boy confirmed that to be the case, and from there, it was a simple matter of feeding you false information." I really did love it when the bad guys monologued, but though that was one question answered,  it did leave me with an issue.

Klarion. I didn't know if I wanted to kiss him or smack him. He lied to the Reach and the Light. He told them it was scrying magic instead of cameras. However, that absolute prick hadn't told me that they knew, thus allowing this entire chain of events to take place.

All for entertainment.

I settled on wanting to smack him.

"I suppose you got me, but I do hope that you aren't expecting this to be the end of it?" I questioned, getting a green light from the Sentinels. "Earth isn't yours to conquer."

Diplomat gave a warm chuckle, "I would be disappointed if you rolled over so easily. How unfortunate it is that you took actions against the Reach Empire. To borrow human terminology, we backed the wrong horse between you and the Light. If only you hadn't reached for the stars, you could have ruled over Earth as one of our agents."

I smiled as I saw a glow appear before me shortly before Bejeweled appeared. In her hands was a crystal -- it honestly wasn't much to look at, really. For the most part, it looked like a football sized chunk of quartz. However, that crystal contained as much energy as there was in the entire rest of the universe -- as much as every star, as much energy as all the galaxies and their planets hurling through the void, down to every kid playing with a fidget spinner. That piece of rock was equal to all that raw energy.

I grabbed it while Diplomat continued, "However, you may still rule over Earth. All it would require is the Warworld. Give it to the Reach, to me, and I shall allow you to rule as a god-king if that is your wish."

It didn't really matter, though. My body was enveloped in a dull light as the teleportation started to warm up. When the flash of light faded, I was no longer standing on the top of my building and instead standing in the power center for the Warworld. Before me was a tube to house and protect the crystal while drawing from its near limitless energy. Pushing the crystal into the tube, it hovered there and the forcefield around the crystal solidified as the engines of the Warworld began to hum with life once again.

"What did you just do?" Diplomat questioned, a note of fear in his voice. That was pretty amusing. I'm guessing that he was trying to get his hands on the crystal. The fact that he was trying to deal with me told me that he thought that I had it. My bet was that once he knew where the crystal was, that offer to become a god-king would be rescinded. Diplomat didn't seem like the kind of guy to honor his promises.

"You're right -- you did bet on the wrong horse," I told him, teleporting to the command room in the Warworld. The throne had been tossed out and replaced, because it was way too big for my human frame. In its place was a perfect replica of my chair from back in my office. I sank into it, feeling right at home. "And I'm afraid I'll have to refuse your generous offer. I've had quite enough dealing with bosses and peers."

Closing my eyes, I activated the Warworld and I felt my mind brush against it. It was a daunting feeling, I could admit to myself. It was like a drop in the ocean realizing just how vast the ocean was and how small it was in comparison. Yet, I pulled at the still ocean to urge it in the direction I wanted. I heaved at the Warworld, demanding that it obey my commands, and the planet sized weapon sluggishly obeyed until I got used to the strain.

Opening my eyes, I saw a hologram of Earth. With a silent command, I scanned the planet for all traces of Reach technology. The scan only took a moment and the results were separated how I wanted them to be -- Reach ships, Scarabs, then other pieces of Reach technology. The scan penetrated the Earth's crust, so there was no hiding from it. Because of that, I saw that the plans that had been fed to me were false.

Destroying the planet was Plan C for the Reach. It was to cover their tracks in case the Green Lanterns came snooping around. Right now, they were in the middle of Plan B -- using force to take over the Earth when mind control failed. From there, they would subjugate humanity while propping up proxy rulers that would fabricate reasons why the use of force was used. That way they wouldn't technically be breaking the letter of the treaty they signed with the Green Lanterns, even if they sure we're breaking the spirit of it.

Plan C called for strategic placement of Reach seismic manipulators to shift the titanic plates of Earth until the planet shook itself apart. I already knew about that and had those locations scouted out beforehand. The show covered them, but it didn't mention that Plan D was for some of those manipulator's to be so damn powerful that even if every single other one of them failed, they could do the job alone. The Reach was taking my approach when it came to redundancy.

"Even with the Warworld, you don't stand a chance against the full might of the Reach Empire," Diplomat quickly changed tactics, realizing that I had the Warworld under my control. It was one hell of a gun to whip out in the middle of a fight.

"Don't need to deal with the Reach Empire. I fully intend to go tattling to the Green Lanterns as soon as I kick your asses off of my planet," I informed as I took stock of the Warworld's weapons. Planet-busting super laser? Not needed. A variety of missiles that ranged from planet-busting nukes, to regular sized nukes, to cruiser missiles. All not needed. Leaving… trillions upon trillions of drones.

The continental sized metal plates of the Warworld began to shift, allowing for the mass deployment of the drones. Each equipped with their own FTL drive, letting them rapidly approach Earth's atmosphere. The Reach responded, breaking off their attack on Earth for the most part, but what they didn't divert, they used to dig in.

Diplomat scoffed, "I expected a better bluff from you. The Green Lanterns will never allow you to keep the Warworld." And that's why he didn't expect the tactic. The Warworld was a planet-sized gun. Several planets worth of materials went into its construction. More than that, despite being absolutely ancient, the moment the clash between our drones began, it was absolutely no contest. The Warworld's were more fragile, but they were completely disposable. In the initial wave of losses, I had the foundries produce more than the losses twice over in the time the Reach took to destroy them.

"I could say the same thing back at you -- you're showing a hell of a lack of imagination," I said, overwhelming the Reach with pure numbers. I took ten losses for every one of theirs, but it didn't matter because fifty replaced everyone I lost. "Just because you wouldn't do something doesn't mean I won't. You, Savage, and Luthor all put far too much value on this oversized gun. Give it a few years and I'll have ten of them," I told Diplomat, and I think he saw it.

The only value the Warworld had to me was the leverage it offered. Leverage I already used to defeat an enemy.

So, this was just me wrangling the last few drops of worth from the Warworld before I turned it into something far more valuable to me. Crushing the Reach on Earth, leaving me with one less enemy.

"You're insane," Diplomat declared, sounding downright horrified at my announcement. Any trace of diplomatic training he had was thrown right out the window, openly regarding me with uncomprehending horror that I was just going to throw the Warworld away once I was done with it. "Do you even understand what you have in your hands? There is nothing like it in the universe -- the Reach have tried and failed for centuries to…" he caught himself and I just chuckled.

"One man's treasure is another's trash, Diplomat," I told him in no uncertain terms. "The Warworld doesn't mean a damn thing to me, so it won't matter at all if the Green Lanterns take it back. So, do you really think I won't go and tell them how naughty the Reach have been?" I questioned, and there was a telling pause on the other end of the call. "You were so generous with your own offer, I suppose it would only be fair for me to extend one as well -- Leave Earth and never come back here again."

The command structure of the Reach was something I largely was in the dark about. I didn't even know if Diplomat had that kind of influence in the Reach Empire. However, I didn't really need to know if he had a boss breathing down his neck or if he had the right to make that call. The laws of power didn't just apply to humans, after all. If Diplomat accepted the out that I was giving him then he would return disgraced. It wouldn't matter if I had the Warworld or not, or if it meant restarting a war with the Green Lanterns -- people didn't care about excuses or context. They cared about results.

I was betting that Diplomat was in a very similar position I was in. A position that didn't allow for failure without devastating consequences. Where death was far easier to swallow than returning as a disgraced failure.

"How generous of you, but I am afraid the Reach Empire must refuse," Diplomat decided and I couldn't tell if he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, or he was just digging his heels in. Either way, the result didn't change.

"A real shame, that is," I remarked as the battle was waged. The Reach had millions of drones at the start of the conversation, but by the end of it they had hundreds of thousands. Each fallen drone put more pressure on those that were left. The losses I suffered were absolutely disgusting but they didn't matter. Disposable drones really were the future of warfare, it seemed. The last holdouts were fallback positions that the Reach dug into, each one positioned around one of their super seismic manipulators. "How about a surrender?"

The Reach were being contained, but I knew that Diplomat wouldn't accept a loss so easily. He was firmly outside of my ability to see. Despite his attempts to hide, the raw processing ability of the Warworld was narrowing down exactly where he was.

"The Reach has never surrendered in its history, nor shall it start now. You-" Diplomat began, and the call had finally gone on long enough for me to trace his call. I knew exactly where he was. The information was instantly forwarded to Oracle while I got an eye on the ship that was currently underneath the arctic sheet of the South Pole. It wasn't a Reach ship so my broad scan didn't pick up on it. Clever. Not enough to save him, but clever.

Tifa gave them access to my teleportation network and the heroes appeared inside of the ship. Diplomat ended the call there, not letting me hear his panic or his imminent defeat. Though, with Pod's connection being boosted by the Warworld, he made relatively quick work of the security feeds.

I saw the Team sprinting down the halls, the Reach guards doing their damnedest to slow them, but they weren't a match for Superboy, who just rolled over them like they weren't there. Miss Martian was blasting ahead, phasing through the walls as she searched for Diplomat while other members of the Team seemed to be securing a number of objectives -- like the mainframe, engines, and Diplomat.

The former because there was a major purge of evidence happening as safety protocols to cover the Reach's tracks were implemented. The data deleted started at the highly secret stuff and twenty down. I could have stopped it if I wanted, but it was more convenient for me to let it go. The evidence that I put on Lex's systems would be enough to convince most, and the lack of evidence in Reach computers would be a sign that it had been destroyed.

Much to my amusement, Diplomat seemed to treat the argument with another Reach alien -- a Scientist -- with far greater concern.

"The Scarabs are tools to be used! I used it! What more do you want from me?!" Diplomat shouted and I was reminded of a married couple arguing.

"Listening to those that try to avert your folly would be a nice start," the female scientist responded, her tone snide as she sniped at him, turning her nose up at his growing anger. "I told you that Earth was filled with unpredictable variables and the Scarabs were our best defense. Instead, you just had to kill a few humans because they slighted you and now we shall all pay for it."

"You will watch your tone when speaking to me," Diplomat growled a warning.

"Or you shall what?" The scientist shot back, unafraid.

Whatever Diplomat was about to threaten, he never got a chance to say it before Superboy came flying through the bulkhead door after pushing it aside. As soon as he did, more members of the Team poured in and I ended the viewing of the transmission. I had what I wanted -- confirmation that Diplomat was done for. Killing him would be nice, but it could have some unforeseen consequences with the Reach Empire. So, better safe than sorry in this case.

Taking in a deep breath, I gave the order for the drones to return to the Warworld. The battle for Earth had been a brief one, but it was done. The Reach drones were either deactivated or destroyed. The Sentinels, the heroes, and my black-ops teams secured the seismic manipulators.

The victory wasn't as clean as I would have liked, but this was still a solid win for me. For the first time, I had to get directly involved in the conflict.

"Glad that's over with," I muttered, standing up before I reached into my pocket to take out a blank card. "You did good, Warworld, but it's time for you to go," I told it, dropping the card into the ground.

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. I wasn't sure where my size limit was exactly, but I'm guessing it was less than several times the Earth's mass. Completely fair, I guess. It just meant I had to do this without the training wheels. With that thought in mind, I brought forth the card and unsealed Duality, the single most powerful thing I had ever created.

Kneeling down, I pressed the barrel of Duality into the floor of the Warworld. There was a light tap as metal brushed against metal.

Then I began to pull.

It would be a lie to say that I really understood what I was doing, but the idea had been there since Dr. Fate informed me that the cards were just training wheels. A practice tool. Meaning that my ability to combine things was all me, not the cards. Yet, for the most part, I was content to keep the training wheels on. I knew the cards. I was used to them. They were easy and convenient. Seemed like I was just making work for myself by trying to break away from them during a time when I was either dealing with a global crisis or already had way too much work to do.

That being said, I was regretting that mentality at the moment. It really felt like I had decided my first race was going to be a triathlon.

Still, I pulled at the Warworld. At first, nothing happened. The cards were automatic. I never really felt a drain or tug of any kind when I was using them, so I didn't have a chakra or spirit energy equivalent to feel out. Instead, I… wanted it to happen. I willed it to happen. I refused to let it not happen.

It was only then that the metallic floor of the Warworld began to flow up into the barrel of Duality. For a moment, it almost looked like I had stuck my gun in gray gum or something, but I was emboldened by the success. I grit my teeth and demanded that the Warworld combine with my gun. The response was sluggish at first, but the room began to give away as more and more and more of the Warworld was being fed into Duality. In seconds, I was left free floating, kept only in place by the thin pillar of liquid metal that seemed to continuously flow into my gun while the Warworld began to unravel like a ball of yarn.

I didn't feel physically exerted, but the longer the combination went on, the more tired I felt. First, it felt like I could just use a nap. Then like I pulled an all-nighter. Then another all-nighter. Then a third. I think it was only the fact that I was a workaholic that was able to keep my eyes open and not pass out. Even still, I was forced to focus on keeping my eyes open rather than keeping progress of how much of the Warworld was left.

The entire process felt like it only lasted a few minutes at most and entirely too long all the same. With heavy eyelids I barely noticed as the last threads of the Warworld flowed into Duality. The gun didn't seem outwardly different, but I could feel its power radiating against the palm of my hand, as if I were holding onto a red hot coal. I gave it a look over and I wasn't at all surprised that when I slapped a card onto it, the weapon refused to be sealed away. It was beyond my card's ability to handle.

"You'll do," I told Duality, tucking it away in a holster at my vest as I leaned my head back. I had been so focused on combining the Warworld and Duality that I completely failed to notice that I was floating in space. My barrier was protecting me, and I had a self perpetuating oxygen supply, so I wasn't in any danger. The biggest danger was me getting bored while waiting for the spaceship that would pick me up.

The battle was won. The Earth was still in one piece. All of my enemies were either dead, arrested, or in hiding. By any metric, I pulled an absolute victory from certain defeat. All that was left was to sweep up at the retrial that would be incoming, and use my influence to completely tear down anyone who opposed me.

The Justice League would be returning to a very different world, I decided.

Before all that, though…

I think it was time to take a well deserved nap.