The next day
Barbara Gordon was sleeping peacefully when her phone set the alarm off. She stretched her arm and yawn. She got out of her bed and grabbed her phone.
"Hey, Oracle, how much time do I have before school?"
'You have approximately 39 minutes before the first bell," her phone replied as she got to the bathroom and brush her teeth. Once she finished brushing, she changed her pajamas to her usual casual attire.
She headed downstairs where Jim Gordon was cooking breakfast.
"Morning ,Dad!"
"Oh, good morning, Barbara. Did you have a good night sleep?" He asked.
"Yeah I did. The medicine you gave me for the injuries helps me," she replied, and pointed to a patch on her cheek.
"Well, I'm glad that it's working well." Jim got his coffee and set plates of bacon, sausage, and eggs on the table. "I still can't believe that Metallo caused it and for you and your friends to get hurt."
"I'm sorry Dad if I made you worried." Barbara apologized to him.
"No, it's not your fault, pumpkin pants. At least the Superhero Girls and Superman did their best to stop him, but I'm truly grateful for the new hero who came just in time to save the day."
"Yeah," Barbara said, remembering the battle against Metallo and Zero-One came in and save the day. But she couldn't help feeling scared of Metallo's new power and his transformation into a Kamen Rider.
After finishing her meal, she got her backpack and headed out.
"Okay, Dad, I'm heading out!"
"Okay, be careful Pumpkin Pants! Love you!" Jim said.
"Love you too!"
Barbara was walking towards the street to the school as she noticed a lot of headlines of Kamen Rider Zero-One were posted on from billboards, to buses, and in the newspapers. Even the news on the radio plays out:
'In other news, the Metropolis Convention Center was closed down due to the attack of Metallo that both Superman and the Superhero Girls fought against him. Then a new hero appeared and defeated Metallo, calling himself, Kamen Rider Zero-One. Could this new hero actually replace Superman and become Metropolis' newest beloved hero?'
'Never thought I would hear someone would say that. I would be surprised if he actually did replace him.' Barbara thought, and came to the entrance where her friends are waiting for her. While Diana, Karen, and Jessica wave at her, Kara was talking on the phone while Zee was reading the school newspaper. In addition, they also had respective patches and bandages from the battle against Metallo.
"So I'm guessing that Zero-One is getting huge popularity around Metropolis more than Superman and.....us." Barbara lower her head at the last part of her sentence.
"I'm afraid so, Babs," Jessica said. "A lot of people were very thankful for him since most of them were at the convention."
"But didn't he say that he's not interested in being famous?" Babara asked and Diana nodded.
"He was very honest at heart. But the World of Men sometimes worshiped someone new that also save the day too. Though I'm surprised the next day, they would do so immediately," Diana said.
Before Barbara can speak, Kara spoke out, annoyed "And I said no, Clark!! If you got a problem with the new guy, then just man up and stop acting like a spoiled brat!!"
With a press of the button, she ended her call and she sighed in annoyance, pinching her nose.
"What's going on, Kara?" Barbara asked.
"Ugh, Superman wants me to help him get his fame back after Metropolis was hooked on Zero-One. And I told him no, 50 times already after I did that attempt once," Kara said.
"But aren't you jealous of Zero-One getting the spotlight?" Jessica asked.
"Sort of, but I'm not going to make the same mistake again twice," Kara said and they gave a smile. "Besides, he's probably gonna get the credit if I help him."
The three sighed at their powerhouse friend's response. At least she learned that lesson....sort of.
Zee grunted and threw the newspaper away in the trash.
"What's got you so ticked?" Kara asked.
"It's just, we did the hard work of fighting Metallo and Zero-One just appeared out of nowhere. This is the second time we're getting beaten by villains and he had to come out of nowhere to save us like we're damsels in distress," Zee complained.
"Most of us put our effort, even for Zero-One. Beside, having him defeating Catwoman and her crew, Metallo has a new belt and cartridge that changed everything and throw us off," Jessica said. "Speaking of which, any idea where did he got that belt?"
Most of them shook their head, but Barbara got into a think expression, remembering something that Metallo said when connecting to it.
Flashback
"Connection to MetsubouJinrai.net established....." Metallo muttered, having his eyes glowed red before changing back to normal.
End Flashback
"MetsubouJinrai.net.....where did I heard about that before.....?" Barbara muttered.
"Is there something wrong, Barbara Gordon?" Diana asked, snapping out of her thought.
"Well, I was thinking about when Metallo said something connection established to, but I need to research about it," Barbara said.
"All right, we'll meet at the cafeteria during lunch break. Hopefully, that will give you time for you to research on, Babs," Karen said and they headed inside for their school day.
Meanwhile, at the Metropolis Inn Suites
In the hotel room, Aruto was typing on his computer about Metallo. In the computer screen, various articles about Metallo's criminal activity appeared, and each crime was stopped by Superman or the Superhero Girls. He clicked one of the articles with a picture of two scientists next to Lex Luthor and a prototype robot.
"'The Corben Brothers, two aspiring robotic scientists, were hired by Lex Luthor to create a new state of the art A.I. synthetic android to rival against both Hiden Intelligence and Stark Industries in robotics. They created the first 'Hero-Type' robot, Metallo to be controlled by a human's conscious thought waves link to a helmet, the Kinetics,'" Aruto was reading the article. "But then, an accident that happened in the lab around June 2003 where there's a gas leak caused a fire. At that moment, the two brothers were declared dead and the 'Hero-Type' robot project was scrapped."
Aruto sighed, feeling guilty for the Corben Brothers' fate, and their dreams never made true.
"President Aruto," Izu called in, entering the room. "So far, most of the staff members of the Hiden Intelligence and the Metropolis Convention Center are in good condition. As of right now, tomorrow, you have a schedule of being a guest teacher for the Metropolis High School for their Robotic Programs."
"That's good," Aruto said.
"In addition, Metropolis' news about you have spread quickly, making you a famous hero more than the Superhero Girls and Superman."
"Whoa, really?!" Aruto was surprised but coughed a bit. "That's pretty cool, but I rather keep a low profile for now. I don't want to get attached to being famous and make things complicated."
Izu nodded then noticed what's on the computer "You are researching about Metallo?"
Aruto nodded "Yeah, after the battle, I need to know more about him." he sat down, showing the monitor to Izu. "Turns out, those two brothers were trying to compete against us and Stark Industries in robotics, but an accident has taken the lives of them, leaving their project scrapped. But I can't help wonder if there's more to it."
"More to it?" Izu tilted her head in confusion.
"I don't know, there's something I don't get is if Metallo was supposed to be scrapped after the incident, then how he came to be now?" Aruto said, trying to think a bit "Not to mention, how did Metallo get the Forceriser and the Zetsumerise Key?"
"A possible theory is that Metallo was scrapped, but was thrown into the ocean and was caught in the currents. It's likely that during the time before the event of the Daybreak Town Incident, one of the Hiden Intelligence or a resident found it and being used for unknown reasons. There's a possible chance that Metallo was hacked by The Ark during the Daybreak Town Incident, but was kept as a backup unit for events should MetsubouJinrai.net fall," Izu said.
"I see, but the way he sounded, I can't help if Metallo already reached Singularity or something else...." Aruto recalled to the battle as Metallo taunted him and expressed anger and hatred.
Aruto sighed and set his computer down, "Well, can't dwell it for now. Right now, we gotta make sure everything is set for Metropolis High. I hope if they like my jokes!!"
Izu nodded and they exited out of the hotel room.
At the school cafeteria
At their seats, Jessica, Diana, Karen, Kara, and Zee got their lunches and sat down. While they eating their meals, some of the students begin to whisper among each other from each side of the table.
"Zero-One is so awesome!"
"I know, his suit is simple but cool looking!"
"I wonder why Superman and the Superhero Girls were beaten so quickly?"
"Who knows, I'm just wondering if Zero-One will replace Superman and the Superhero Girls?"
After hearing that, Kara growled in anger "What?! They think that Zero-One will replace us and Superman?!"
"Calm down, Kara," Jessica said. "We're not going to be replaced. Beside, those are just rumors. They're not going to happen."
Kara sighed and cross her arms "I guess."
"Speaking of which, I'm guessing even the school are fans of Zero-One," Zee said with envy as she see students wearing shirts, hats, necklace, every item that have Zero-One design on it. Some students are chatting about him and watching the news video about him.
"Yep, even Lois was love-struck about him," Jessica said.
"Wait, Lois has a crush on him?" Karen asked and Jessica nodded.
"Yep, she even got rid of photos of Superman on her office and place it with Zero-One on it," Jessica said, recalling as she entered in the office and replaced them in with ones with Zero-One.
"Wow, talking about a fast change," Kara commented.
"Speaking of which, where's Babs?" Zee asked.
"Guys!!" Babs' voice was heard and they turned and saw Babara rushing in with a laptop on her hand.
"Sorry for the wait, but I found something that might give us a clue," Barbara said and she typed in her laptop.
"So, what did you find?" Diana asked.
"After typing and researching on Japan's news, I found something about the belt that Metallo had." She turned to them and show a Japan article with photos of two men and a symbol.
"That belt belongs to these guys, the Metsubojinrai.net."
"Metsu-what now?" Kara asked.
"Metsubojinrai.net. They're cyber-terrorist that appeared in Japan and plans to destroy humanity by turning the Humagears into Magia," Barbara said.
"Terminate humanity?!" Diana was shocked at this. She never heard of villains willing to destroy humanity.
"And how would they turn the Humagears into this Magia?" Jessica asked.
"Here, look at this," Barbara said and she clicked on a video. To their shock, each of the Humagears appeared, but the only difference is the red eyes and another strange belt. It inserted different colored cartridges and press on the side. Red cords pierce the cartridge and the Humagear's 'human appearance' outer skin is destroyed and their outer faceplate fold away, revealing their mechanical skull. Then it opened its mouth and red tendrils were produced with sparks of energies enveloped it, turning it into a Magia. In addition, the Magia's tendrils impaled another Humagear and turning them into foot soldiers.
"By the beard of Zeus, this is horrible!" Diana was shocked at this.
"Those Humagears!" Karen was frightened at the transformation of them.
"In addition, it looks like Zero-One has fought them to restore peace between Humans and Humagears before he appears in Metropolis," Barbara said.
"So I'm guessing that's why we got beaten and Zero-One able to stop him," Kara muttered.
"But it still raised the question of how did Metallo get that belt from them?" Karen asked. The others were thinking about it. Just then, Zee pointed to the clock.
"Girls, we need to pack up for the next class," Zee said. "We can discuss this in our base."
The girls nodded and they packed up and finished their meals before exited out.
At Lexcorp
Metallo was pulling the tied up Lex Luthor to a building and set him down. He got to a computer and start typing.
"Ugh, Metallo, how?! I thought you were-"
"Turned to scrap by Zero-One? Ha! Fat chance!" Metallo said, still keeping his eyes on the computer "I just shed my skin to make a decoy."
Flashback
As Zero One in his Exciting Stag caught him in his vice grip finisher, unknown to everyone, a metallic liquid green alloy seeped out of Metallo before being crushed. After that, the metallic liquid green alloy begins taking shape into Metallo as cracked his neck and left the scene.
End Flashback
"Thanks to the Ark, I got an awesome ability to shed myself at a disadvantage against my opponents."
Lex, struggling from the tight rope that Metallo tied him with, said, "Look Roger, I get that you're mad for stealing your project and the death of your brother, but let me make it up to you! I can show that you're alive and telling the public that you actually created it!!"
"It's too late for that, Lex. You have taken everything away that my brother and I worked hard to create. And besides, you're good at lying to the public upon your facade, so I know better not to fall for your tricks," Metallo said as once he finished typing, the screen window opened up.
"However, I had to thank you for taking our prototype away. While you did steal for your benefit, you did however created a lower class version of it in hope that you will rival against Hiden Intelligence and Stark Industries."
Once the windows are open, a multitude of lights flashes, revealing a huge army of android robots lining up along with a factory that's now creating more of it.
"The Lexbots. The androids are the counterfeits of the Humagears. And what better way to make them better...." his body began to take shape into another version of him. "Is an upgrade. Just think of it as a free service for Metropolis' extinction."