UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - August 22nd
1:30AM
The pale room lit up more and more with every person that entered it, until the whole room was bathed in a bright, radiant light.
An apt description for those who entered.
Around the large, blinding white, oval table sat all the members of the Light, their fingers tapping with impatience and their attendants staring at each other competitively.
"Why are we HERE for?!" Klarion demanded as he stood up from the table's far end. "Don't we have those stupid communicators for this?!"
Queen Bee's irritated gaze shifted to Klarion, who wasn't fazed at all.
"Be quiet, child." she spat. "Savage isn't here, so that means he was the one who called the meeting. Save your tantrums for him!"
Klarion turned to her, his mouth curling with contempt.
"Shut it, woman!!" he practically screeched. "Who died and made you Queen of this place?!"
Before Queen Bee's attendant, Psimon could gather his energy, she scoffed and stood up, slamming her heavily tanned palms onto the table.
"I am a Queen you idiot!!"
"Enough." a stern voice ordered.
They all looked towards the dark hallway with bewilderment. The voice was younger than them all, but the it's abruptness and the authority dripping from it silenced them all in a heartbeat.
And then he stepped into the room, the Mimic they had all heard so much about, twirling a cane like he was a character on a musical.
"Forgive me for the belated introductions." the boy made a curt bow. "My name is Desmond..."
Klarion, still holding a grudge, immediately scowled as soon as his eyes fell onto Desmond's pale face.
"YOU!!" he growled.
Desmond smiled at him, completely disregarding his hatred.
"Hello Klarion!" he said almost happily. "Miss me?"
Klarion looked like he was about to bolt up and run across the table to punch Desmond, but Teekl meowed from his lap.
"You're right, Teekl..." he grumbled. "He's not worth it..."
Desmond, still twirling his cane, looked towards Queen Bee, who was still showing signs of rage.
"I trust my lady can find her seat?" he asked.
And with a venomous scowl, she did just that.
Desmond smiled and put his cane against the table, and clapped his hands together.
"Now that you've all had a chance to talk with me, I'd like to start..."
He looked towards Ra's and Luthor, who sat to his right with content smiles.
"First of all, Savage and I send our deepest thanks for your assistance with the Mimic Contingency, gentlemen."
He smirked at Luthor.
"Thanks to those Shields of yours, Superboy is probably costing the US government several million dollars in aircraft damages. I'm sure you'll be called upon to fix it all for a hefty sum?"
Then turned to Ra's.
"And your assassins locator skills were beyond accurate, Ra's. Couldn't have taken down the Hawk couple without you..."
Ra's inclined his head with respect.
"And with that," Desmond said to everyone. "There are now four Justice League members dead."
"Tres bien..." the Brain said from next to Luthor. "Have you made plans in your 'Mimic Contingency' for everyone else?"
Desmond smiled and sat down on his chair, but put one leg onto the table.
"All ready ahead of you..." he answered. "Plans have been made for every last one of the heroes and, time permitting, they should all be dead within the next month."
Luthor, the Brain and Ra's murmured in agreement, but Queen Bee still looked unimpressed.
"That's a bold statement boy..." she said to him.
Everyone looked at her, including Desmond, who tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table.
"Bold?" Desmond asked. "I've run the calculations and diagnostics. I've even made plans for what to do if the whole League should attack me at once."
"Come running back here with your tail between your legs?" Queen Bee scoffed.
Klarion snickered as Desmond's expression became more annoyed. He didn't show it explicitly, but his face was blank, like he was trying to supress an outburst of anger.
"I'm simply here to get what I want done." Desmond told her firmly. "If that means breaking a few heroes here and bossing some super villains around there, it doesn't matter."
Queen Bee folded her arms, her venomous gaze intensifying.
"You seek to order us around?" she snapped. "You're nothing but a pretentious child."
Desmond scoffed.
"And you're nothing but a pathetic, tyrannical despot. Yet here we are..."
Queen Bee dug her nails into her arm and was about to stand up, but Psimon put a pale, reassuring hand on her shoulder in protest.
"What my Queen means to say, Mr Desmond, is that she simply believes there should be more of a hierarchy to this illustrious group..."
Desmond shrugged.
"Yeah, there is." he chuckled. "Vandal Savage, me, the other members, this cane next to me, the mud under my shoes, the dust under my fingernails and then her."
Queen Bee stood up and roared in rage.
"SHUT UP, YOU IMPERTINENT BRAT!!!!"
She spun around and looked at Psimon.
"Psimon!!" she ordered. "NOW!!"
Psimon smiled evilly and looked Desmond in the eye, the dome on his head glowing with a light, pink energy.
"What are you-"
And at that moment, Desmond's eyes went wide in terror and his mouth shut.
Both him and Psimon stood perfectly still, locked in Psimon's mental landscape.
"BEE!!" Ra's yelled. "What are you doing to him?!"
Queen Bee smiled smugly at Ra's.
"Teaching this child manners. In a few minutes, Psimon will have him screaming and begging for mercy..."
Psimon looked down at Desmond.
"Ah!" Queen Bee chuckled. "He's done with the boy already!"
But something was wrong.
In a few seconds, Psimon's eyes went wide as he reached for his head and began screaming with fear, the most horrible, despaired screams anyone in the room had heard.
Queen Bee's smug smile quickly turned into one of shock and fear as Desmond stood up, his smile becoming colder and darker as he took several steps towards her.
He lifted a foot and kicked the crying Psimon aside and looked her in the eye.
"Now that was a pretty stupid move, wasn't it?" he whispered to her with cold, sadistic eyes. "You've gone and risked your servant for nothing..."
Sweat began to form on Bee's tanned brow, her body trembling as if Desmond were made of ice.
"Kneel." he ordered angrily. "Acknowledge me as your superior..."
Queen Bee scowled at him.
"Never..."
Desmond returned her scowl with even angrier eyes.
"Kneel..." he repeated. "Or I'll tear your precious servant apart from the inside out."
Psimon's screams became more deranged and frightened a he clawed at the metallic floor below him.
"HELP ME!!!" he screamed, almost pathetically.
Queen Bee swallowed and without a second thought, she promptly fell onto one knee, looking down at the carpet in embarrassment.
Psimon stopped screaming and fell to the floor on his back, with slow, steady streams of blood coming from his eyes and nose.
"Good girl." Desmond smiled.
But before Queen Bee could get back up, Desmond backhanded her across her face with the end of his cane, making her cry and out and fall to the floor with a bloodied cheek.
She lifted herself up, but Desmond slammed his foot onto her chest, making her gasp for air.
"Now you listen to me, you stuck-up bitch..." Desmond sneered. "You might be Queen in that godforsaken wasteland you call a country, but here, you are nothing more than my pawn...A useless puppet who can't even make a single movement without my instruction. Are we clear?"
Queen Bee had never been more terrified of anyone in her life, not even of Vandal Savage. The angry, cold-hearted aura that was exuding from Desmond made her want to scream in fear, but the dry heaviness in her throat made it impossible to make a sound.
She concurred a small, frightened nod.
Desmond looked at everyone else.
"The same goes for the rest of you." he said sternly. "I don't care how rich you are, influential you are or even how powerful you are. You cross me or interfere with my plans..."
He put more weight on his foot, making Bee gasp even louder.
"...And I will kill you all without a second thought..."
The Light members swallowed with fear.
Desmond gave Bee one more cold and warning glance before lifting his foot off her and straightening the collar on his costume.
"This meeting is adjourned." he ordered. "And if you'll excuse me, I have a Justice League to destroy..."
And as he walked out, Bee crawled along the floor to Psimon, who had just woken up.
"Psimon!" she whispered anxiously. "Are you OK?"
Psimon panted with fear and shook his head while he looked up at the ceiling.
"No my Queen..." he whispered. "Inside his mind...It was terrifying..."
She stroked a thin, assuring hand over the dome on his head.
"I have read the minds of warlords, murderers and super villains alike..." he muttered. "But...that boy...I have never seen so much rage...so much darkness...so much evil...in a subconscious before..."
He looked at all the Light members, who shared Psimon's fear.
"It was so terrifying..."
They all knew, at that moment, the Justice League was truly doomed. No-one, hero or villain, could stand against such an evil will...
Desmond breaks the Light's influence?!
Is even the combined influence and power of the Light not enough to control Desmond?!
Just how dark is the evil motivating Desmond's fight against the League?!
Can ANYONE hope to fight it?! Or is resistance completely futile?
Find out in the next chapter! :D
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And be sure to keep an eye on your notifications, because you will NOT want to miss the next chapter, which will see Desmond pitted against three of the League's strongest members!! :D
- Kai-Shiro :D