| Metropolis - November 1
Jason sat in the back of Joseph's G-Wagon while Sebas Tian drove and Joseph rode shotgun.
Beside him, Cass sat quietly with her school bag on her lap, staring out the window with a distinctly annoyed expression.
Why?
Because school was starting again.
Sure, the Hour of Chaos and Superman's death had happened less than a month ago, but just like after the Appellaxian invasion, the world kept moving forward. Life didn't stop for tragedy.
Which meant Joseph had enrolled Jason in the same elementary school Cass attended.
Cass would clearly rather be at home hogging the TV or working on one of the elaborate jigsaw puzzles she somehow enjoyed solving instead of returning to what she clearly considered a learning prison.
Jason could understand that feeling.
Still, he felt something else too—nervous excitement.
A new school. New faces. A new chance to make friends in a place where no one knew him as the gutter rat street kid from Gotham.
No one here knew that version of him.
The G-Wagon rolled to a stop in front of the elementary school.
Cass hopped out first and immediately started walking toward the entrance.
Jason climbed out after her.
"Bye, guys!" Joseph called from the open window.
"Bye!" Jason replied.
Cass didn't turn around. She just lifted one hand in a casual wave and kept walking.
Jason quickly followed her. He had no idea where anything was in this place yet.
**
Joseph smiled as he watched the kids head toward the building.
The day before, when they had arrived at the Fortress of Solitude, Joseph had been barred from entering because he wasn't Kryptonian. Match, however, had been tentatively granted access since he carried the DNA of the Fortress's former owner.
Of course, Joseph could have had Nova hack the Fortress and grant him administrative access. They had already entered it through the Mirror Dimension and analyzed all of its technology. But Joseph decided it was better to let Match have a moment of his own—to explore his Kryptonian heritage and figure out his place on Earth by walking through the remnants of Clark's life.
Clark had shown Superboy the Fortress and even given him a Kryptonian name. It only seemed fair that Match be given the same opportunity by Kelex, the Kryptonian AI that maintained Superman's Fortress of Solitude.
After dropping off his brother, Joseph had returned home and, a few hours later, escorted the kids on their way to school.
Cass looked as nonchalant as ever, but Joseph knew she was secretly excited to see her friend Sharon again. Jason, meanwhile, was clearly thrilled about his first real day of school away from Gotham.
It was good to see his family happy.
It was good to see children with tragic pasts simply being kids.
Growing up normally.
Joseph intended to keep it that way.
Anyone who tried to take more of their innocence away would discover very quickly just how unforgiving he could be.
"Sebas," Joseph said calmly, leaning back in his seat, "drive me to the location of those two rats."
**
Joseph stepped into the remote underground chamber.
Bloodsport and Deadshot sat tied to metal chairs, stripped of their gear, blindfolded, and restrained. Klarion sat nearby, casually dissecting a rat while keeping watch.
The two men reacted immediately to Joseph's presence, tilting their heads toward the sound of his footsteps.
Joseph already knew who had sent them.
The Court of Owls.
One of many powerful secret societies quietly operating around the world.
Until now, Joseph hadn't bothered with them. They simply hadn't ranked high enough on his list of priorities.
But they had come after his family.
Now it was personal.
Samantha Vanaver—secretly the Grandmaster of the Court of Owls—had the audacity to target his children while inviting him to her Halloween party to blackmail him?
Then Samantha Vanaver would cease to exist.
"Remove their blindfolds," Joseph ordered.
Sebas lifted Deadshot's blindfold with practiced efficiency.
Klarion, meanwhile, sliced Bloodsport's blindfold apart with a sharp Nth-metal claw—'accidentally' grazing his cheek in the process. Bloodsport flinched as a thin line of blood appeared.
Klarion and his sadistic sense of humor.
"If it isn't Luthor Jr. himself," Deadshot said once his vision cleared. "If I'd known you had such impressive—"
"Can you get your hellspawn cat off me?" Bloodsport interrupted, more than a little shaken.
"Klarion, stop it," Joseph said.
The cat obediently backed away—though not before 'accidentally' smacking Bloodsport across the face with its tail.
Joseph sighed and walked forward, placing one hand on each man's neck.
Both of them felt a sharp sting.
"What just entered your bodies are nanite explosives," Joseph said calmly.
The idea had come from Amanda Waller's secret plans for a program called Task Force X.
Of course, they were also nanotech mind-control systems—but the two mercenaries didn't need to know that.
"From now on," Joseph continued, "you both work for me."
Bloodsport's expression darkened. "If you think you can just threaten—"
"Tyla DuBois."
Bloodsport froze.
Joseph then turned to Deadshot.
"Zoe Lawton."
Deadshot's jaw tightened instantly.
"You both want your daughters to grow up safe and healthy, don't you?" Joseph said softly. "I can make sure of that if you obey me. Or I can detonate the charges in your heads."
His smile vanished.
"The only reason you're receiving this much mercy is because you didn't intend to harm my children. You were meant to scare them. You do not want to know what I would have done otherwise."
Silence filled the room.
Finally, Deadshot spoke.
"What do we have to do?"
"Implant one of these into your former employer—Samantha Vanaver."
Both men's eyes widened.
They hadn't known who their client actually was.
"It's the same nanotechnology embedded in your bodies," Joseph continued. Unlike the two in front of him, she won't be retaining much of her independence.
Where Deadshot and Bloodsport would remain largely themselves, Samantha would become his puppet.
"I'm going to take control of the Court of Owls," Joseph said evenly. "And I'll use their resources to to dismantle every other secret society operating on this planet."
The room grew colder.
"Only I get to control the world."
Deadshot and Bloodsport exchanged a long look.
Finally, Bloodsport exhaled slowly.
"Yeah," he muttered, equal parts nervous, resigned, and impressed.
"You really are Luthor's kid."
**
| Metropolis - November 1
Jason sat alone at a lunch table, defeated.
His perfectly planned introduction in front of the class had been ruined by a voice crack that made everyone laugh at him.
After that embarrassment, he'd barely had time to recover. He had to focus on catching up with the curriculum since school had started in September and he had joined two months late. Metropolis schools were also better funded than Gotham's, which meant the material moved faster.
There hadn't been much time left to repair his image.
On top of that, he was awkward.
Stealing? Fighting? Surviving on the streets? He could do those things just fine.
Making friends was another story.
Maybe he could convince Joseph to let him transfer schools and start over.
"Todd."
Jason looked up as a kid sat down beside him with a lunch tray.
"You're from Gotham, ain't you?" the kid asked.
He was white, with long blond hair framing his face.
Jason immediately grew defensive.
"Yeah. What's it to you?"
The kid smirked.
"Heh. Knew it from your accent. From now on we're opps. I rep the Southside. Suicide Slum."
Jason blinked.
Suicide Slum was a rough neighborhood in Metropolis known for its high crime rates. It was a run-down area where people who couldn't afford the city's apartments and penthouses ended up living. Property values were low, corruption was common, and gangs ran a lot of the streets.
Jason knew about it because some of the few people who managed to escape Gotham eventually moved there.
He'd even thought about running away from Gotham to Suicide Slum a few times himself.
But the kid in front of him didn't look or sound like someone from there.
He looked suburban.
And the accent was fake.
Jason immediately lost respect for him.
He hated kids who glorified gang life when they'd never actually lived it.
"You're not really about that life," Jason said flatly. "Stop it. It's embarrassing."
The kid frowned.
"Two twos, you're buggin. What you know about the Slum? I'm bout whatever, cuh."
He stood up like he was ready to fight.
Jason physically cringed.
Now people were staring because the kid had stood up and started throwing a terrible boxing stance.
"Yo, stop," Jason muttered, embarrassed.
"Stand on it, crodie. What you sayin'?" the kid said louder.
A few nearby kids started going "ooooh."
Within seconds, a small crowd formed around them. Apparently the first day back from Halloween needed entertainment.
Jason felt irritation rising in his chest.
He'd promised himself he wouldn't go back to his old habits.
But this kid was seriously asking for it.
Jason was just about to stand when the crowd suddenly parted like the Red Sea.
The cause?
Cassandra.
She walked calmly through the gap, a brown-haired girl trailing a step behind her.
Jason blinked.
What had Cass done to make everyone move out of her way like that?
She was walking through the cafeteria like she was the Carmine Falcone of this school.
The blond kid immediately straightened up the moment she approached. Then he lowered his head, almost afraid to meet her eyes.
"Eddie," Cassandra said calmly. "Are you causing trouble again?"
Eddie flinched.
He lifted his head, closed his eyes, and suddenly began speaking loudly.
"Sorry, the Nothing, the Mist, the One Who Is All, the—"
"I told you my name is Cass," she interrupted. "What are you doing with Jason?"
Jason raised an eyebrow. He was very curious how she'd earned titles like that.
"Oh, I was just befriending my new classmate, Boss Cassandra!" Eddie said quickly.
"Stop shouting," Cass replied flatly. "Anyway, if you're friends, that's fine. Bye, Jason."
Just like that, she turned and left with her friend as quietly as she'd arrived.
The crowd immediately dispersed.
Jason sat there for a moment.
Eddie looked at him with a completely different expression now.
"You know Boss Cassandra?" he asked, dropping the fake street persona entirely.
"She's… kinda like my sister?" Jason said, unsure how else to describe it. "What'd she do to get treated like the godfather around here?"
Eddie leaned closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
"She united all the grades by beating the strongest bullies," he said. "Then she conquered the surrounding elementary schools too."
Jason blinked.
"Rumor says she's the daughter of a family of assassins."
Jason almost dismissed it immediately.
But the more he thought about it, the less ridiculous it sounded.
The way she could sneak up on him without making a sound.
The way she moved like a ghost.
And the feats Eddie continued describing sounded straight out of some over-the-top high school manhwa.
Jason slowly leaned back in his chair.
Yeah.
Cass might actually be some kind of ninja.