The Silhouette and The Forge 
Chapter 63

Wonder Woman, without an ounce of hesitation, charged right at me. Three of the Hoplites, as I have come to call them, blocked her attempt. A metal ringing reverberated across the chamber, the shield was dented but still intact. Three spears swung out as Wonder Woman was forced back when one came far too close to her face.

She slid back, wiping her face, only to see blood on her hand. “You should have let me handle her,” Raina said, not liking the fact that I was right about what she would do when she saw the derpy-looking faces of the machines. When what would happen was discussed, she wanted to fight Wonder Woman. 

Thankfully she acquiesced to my way of doing things. Didn’t need her getting crushed by someone much stronger than her because she wanted to fight them. “Some other time, White Rabbit. So… what do you think of my tribute to you?”

My hand waved towards the various identical faces. Wonder Woman’s hands tightened as electricity threatened to pour out of her at any moment. The others looked baffled at what was even happening right now. They all questioned what was with the machine's faces and why Diana was even more furious than she was a moment ago.

“Glad to see you love the design. You helped make them when I used the mold you left in the console of my boat!” My voice sounded giddy as I wiggled my hand in front of her face.

Then it hit the others that the machines had such stupid-looking identical faces that were based on Wonder Woman. “You have a death wish. Because those faces are ridiculous.” Hal cut the silence with the tact of a child having zero clue about what not to speak about amongst other people.

Wonder Woman’s head snapped towards him, and whatever else he was about to say died in his throat when leveled with the mother of all glares. Wearing a sheepish expression, he raised his hands.

Superman stepped forward unconcerned about the assembled army or Raina. “Regardless of what face they have, your machines are getting-” His words were cut off when a white and black form rushed past the Hoplites and slammed into Superman.

The figure skidded to a stop with some of the heroes looking towards Superman while others, like Batman, glared at me. 

“Most impressive. I half expected you to fold under that blow.” A calm, clinical voice spoke aloud.

Smith stood before Superman, his hand adjusting his tie as if he hadn’t just managed to blitz one of the strongest beings on Earth and push him back. 

Superman had a stern expression as he stared at Smith. “You are?” He stepped closer towards him, cape billowing heroically.

"Smith," He said back to him with what almost sounded like a hint of happiness. “Agent Smith.”

Smith matched Superman’s attempt at aura farming when the two walked towards one another before they both picked up speed, slamming into each other with enough power to generate earthquakes. The two went blow for blow with the other heroes looking divided on what to do.

They were until Batman broke the silence. “Superman can handle it, we need to apprehend Silhouette and deal with the last of his machines.”

Whatever hesitation they had faded away, instead replaced with an iron will to face what lay before them without batting an eye. Until the other shoe dropped. “You guys remember when I told you to leave Gotham, don’t you?”

They paused as I turned to Raina, who just chuckled and knew what I was referring to. The horde of agents they witnessed looking down at them in the aftermath of Klarion's rampage. So where were they? 

Coming through various openings that the other machines had come through, they stared down the Justice League like an angry hive of bureaucracy and alphabet agencies men ready to show them why you don’t mess with spies and agents of the government. 

“Boys, show our hero friends a good time. And remember, no killing or crippling them… maybe Flash, since he seems to heal back from such things.”

“What?! Why me!” He said, not liking the sound of that.

“Why not you? You tried to sucker punch me!” I exclaimed back like it should be obvious.

“You broke my kneecaps!" Like that would be an acceptable defense when he could heal back the damage.

“You attacked me,” I said, crossing my arms and turning away from him, the trench coat made from my body swishing.

“You're a villain, what was I supposed to do?” Flash was getting more exasperated the longer this went on.

“You were supposed to notify the authorities and let the police do their job like a good, upstanding citizen.” I couldn’t help the cheek that entered into my tone. Flash and the heroes gave me unimpressed looks.

“Pfffft.” Then Raina started to cackle at the byplay. 

Wonder Woman’s gaze had not once been taken off the Hoplite army. She seethed at the faces, especially when it brought up the moment her face was smashed into my boat. 

“Enough of this!” She shot forward, moving to attack me, only to have the Hoplites intercept her, and this time she wasn’t disengaging.

Their spears, aimed for nonvital parts of her body, were evaded with only scratches to show for their effort. The sword that Wonder Woman had at her side was finally pulled free. She slashed for one spear only to face some resistance when she expected it to cut through the weapon effortlessly.

It was still able to slice partially through it. She managed to force it the rest of the way while she managed to keep from getting pinned by an army of spears wielded by robots with the most insulting and dumbest-looking faces possible. Just when she was about to punch a shield, thinking she could handle them since it wasn’t necronium, she had a rude awakening.

The shield had several panels open up, and then it began to vibrate before the air distorted. A sound like a rusty nail on a chalkboard, except it was intensified, greeted her before she was thrown back.

Flash disappeared along with Raina, and all I could see were the occasional red and white blurs when they clashed around us. Batman and Green Lantern wasted no time in trying to attack me. 

The hunters moved to engage Batman, but I waved them off. “Give Green Lantern a taste of our hospitality. A good serving of humble pie will help wake him up to the reality that he isn’t as good as he thinks he is, nor is he currently worthy of that ring.”

He opened his mouth to retort, his expression now made up of anger and resentment at my comment. I knew he was worthy of it, but I needed him to be like Wonder Woman. Angry enough to not be level-headed, but not to the point where they wanted to kill someone.

His words were silenced when a trio of agents appeared, forcing him away. Each of the League members was split away from the others like gazelles forced away from the herd by lions. 

I walked away nonchalantly waving a hand towards Batman and his friends giving their best. “You should be thankful I didn’t go lethal with them.”

A shadow grew over his face before he charged at me, moving faster courtesy of Jet. An overhead axe kick that sent a gust of wind was side-stepped. A jab was avoided by leaning my head out of the way and then grabbing his arm and throwing him over my shoulder.

“What did you hope to accomplish? Did you really think this was some place I stored trophies or some kind of evidence for my wrongdoings?” I waved around the place as he landed crouched.

He was calculating it all. I could see it in how he looked around, seeing the situation and how bad it was. “I hope to bring you to justice.” Several batarangs were tossed at me, and I grabbed each out of the air.

Walking slowly towards him and making a show of juggling the now neutralized electrical discharge batarangs in one hand. “What’s justice by this point?”

He had his guard up. A flick of my wrist sent all three flying for him. One sparked along his bladed vambrace, another grabbed out of the air, and the last simply leaned out of the way just in time to avoid it cutting his cheek. 

“Is it what some pencil pusher sitting in a cushy seat at a nice desk says it is?” I said charging him. 

We clash, blow after blow exchanged, and a spinning roundhouse kick is ducked. A countered leg sweep leaped over. A batarang went for my knee and was grabbed and crushed. Batman went on a dizzying display of acrobatics and martial arts, moving and twisting through the air, pushing himself to the limit of what a human could do and even beyond, with my drugs helping him.

Yet he knew I wasn’t even trying. I didn’t even take him seriously. Not when I proved that by evading or blocking several strikes, and each time I played it up, acting as if I would hit him. No such attack ever came. 

“Or is it what some cop on the street or a judge in the courtroom tells you?” A backhanded slap sent him tumbling back.

Another batarang was caught out of the air and neutralized of any electrical discharge. “C’mon, you can’t tell me that’s all you got…” My words trailed off. It was like someone was whispering things to me in the back of my mind. 

Yet I couldn’t fully make out what they were. But there was one thing I could make out of it even if the words were lost on me. The dark foreboding that came with the words, a dark messenger bringing ill tidings.

Batman pulled out something with his movements under the cape concealing his arm. Feeling the weapon, I realized he had subtly applied an explosive adhesive to the weapon. I had failed to notice it because of how familiar it felt compared to my new body when I let go of all control.

Without hesitation, the weapon was tossed high into the air just when Batman pulled the trigger. The throwing weapon was shattered into pieces, sending shrapnel everywhere, followed by a wave of energy in a small radius with fire erupting out briefly. Metal fragments bounced off of me, sending sparks up where they met my transformed outer layer.

“Wow! Bravo. A round of applause, didn’t think you had it in you to go that far.” I clapped my hands, hiding my questions as to what it was that tipped me off. It was similar to how it felt when the machines and equipment would show me ideas on how to improve them and make them better. The latter I had simply believed to be a case of me getting into a flow state.

Something I think Batman noticed. “You're a metahuman with enhanced physical capabilities. If anything, it shows you don’t know everything about me… or the others.”

Just as he said this, the other heroes started hitting harder and faster. The Hoplites were getting sent skidding back, and the circle around Wonder Woman grew wider. She slowly and methodically pushed them back, evading the waves of sound from their shields.

Superman was giving Smith a far better fight than he had expected. Even with the other hunters helping their brother, Superman was hitting harder with each punch, making the air crack like thunder, and each blow sent them flying back. Not that they didn’t give Superman an easy time, their blows managed to scuff him up, but that was about all they managed. Then again, it wasn’t that different from what Superman did with Smith and the others.

Not that I expected anything more unless they went all out. If that happened, everyone was at risk. Green Lantern, in comparison, was struggling under the onslaught. Any construct he made was torn to fragments by the high-frequency sonic emitters added onto the upgraded hunter's bodies. It was a toned-down attempt at recreating Shocker's iconic weapons from Marvel.

The emitters couldn’t do much when it came to range compared to the directed sound attacks the Hoplites’ shields used. They could do it indirectly if a material was used as a medium and it was durable enough to withstand the vibrations long enough for the vibrations to reach their target. Hal tried going on the offensive using his cartoonish constructs only for them to be either evaded or just destroyed. He was entirely on the defensive, gritting his teeth in frustration at what he was up against. 

The Flash had met his match when Raina kept pace with him. He was still faster, but not by such a large margin that she couldn’t keep up. Like Hal, he remained on the defensive after what I could only assume was him trying to go on the offensive to end up learning Raina was just built different. The only sign of the two was the clash of red against white when they periodically slowed down enough for me to see them.

The others were currently occupied outside by the rest of my hunters, keeping them from moving too quickly to back the others up. 

I tilted my head before moving past his defenses and giving him yet another backhanded slap that sent him flying. “No. I never acted like I did. Though… I have to give Daniel this, he was spot on with comparing you to Pyramid Head. You truly are a hulking agent of vengeance.”

Batman paused while getting up before his fists tightened at the comparison. “Seriously, that boy had you pegged on what you are. No justice. Only punishment for the guilty regardless of whether they truly deserve it.” I let out a low whistle, needling him any way I could.

It was working. “You know nothing.” He growled out. He tossed a smoke pellet, obscuring himself from me, yet he couldn’t hide. I paused after walking in to get him when a machine slammed into where I was.

“You will go no further,” J’onn said solemnly as he stared at me without even a single twitch in his face. Kind of creepy. Then again, I shouldn’t talk about that when I could pull a Blob reenactment when it was devouring everyone. 

“Oh? Is that so?” A foot stepped in and out, doing erratic movements. “I’m still moving further!” 

Martian Manhunter wasn’t playing any games when he grabbed my body with a telekinetic grip, freezing me on the spot. Or so he thought.

“Good work, J’onn. Keep him there and don’t let him go.” Batman said, having managed to sneak to his side.

Clapping could be heard behind my form, getting both of their attention, making their eyes narrow. They see another Silhouette step out, applauding their efforts. “Sneaky.” The figure said, looking me in the face. “You almost managed to catch an illusion. Did you truly think it would be that easy?”

The two were among the few who were witnessing this, with the others currently preoccupied with their fights. The only one I could be certain saw and heard this was Superman. Let it never be said that Kryptonians are bullshit with how powerful their senses are.

“He’s bluffing.” Was all Batman got to say before he and J’onn were charged by me. The gun came out, and Martian Manhunter tensed, keeping his distance, fully prepared to dodge, trying to use his telekinesis. His concentration slackened on me enough for me to finally escape his grasp. The genjutsu punched Batman, getting a grunt out of him from the pain.

However, he hadn’t failed to notice that any damage his suit should have taken wasn’t there. Not even a scuff mark. The two stared at me while I cackled. “You almost had me, but thankfully I left a fail-safe in your heads should something like that happen.”

Batman had a series of complex emotions that even I could see, even with the suit covering nearly every part of him. Martian Manhunter stood straighter at my comment.

A crack followed by a boom had me look over to see Smith sliding across the floor before rising up, smoothing out his suit, and dusting it off. He looked towards the flying form of Superman, who looked like he meant business. Couldn’t blame him, when you encounter an advanced android that could hang with you when you're both holding back, it was something to be taken seriously, especially when Superman could decimate entire countries if he wanted to.

So if Smith and his brothers were making you work for a win, then they are a greater threat. Too bad for him, I had others who were itching for a fight against him. “Smith, one of your younger brothers is ready to step in. If you don’t mind?” 

Smith continued to stare up at Superman, fixated on him. He slowly nodded. “They can.” He remained by my side, eyeing the others who were now wary. 

Martian Manhunter didn’t show any outward sign of concern, but I knew he was willing to fight Smith, and it wouldn’t be easy. Superman looked at me before looking around, trying to find who I was talking about, before his eyes widened before flying to the side, avoiding a dark brown figure that nearly slammed into him.

The figure stood tall, looking up towards Superman. The figure was muscular with a dark brown carapace that glistened in the chamber, twin antennas stood up on its head with big bulbous eyes. The figure had nearly black, insect-like wings that folded back into its back seamlessly, hiding what lay beneath.

I used my improved knowledge in genetics combined with my knowledge of Dr. Gero to create a superpowered cockroach. It also coincidentally shared some traits with the mutant roaches from Terra Formars. Unlike the previous androids, it was purely organic, sent through constant simulations like everything else. Even gave it a heavily modified strain of Extremis that Dore had but amped up.

Out of all the things I could have based its genetic template on, I chose a roach because of its capability to survive against so many things while having a rapid growth cycle. At least the roach I based it on, being the German roach, is capable of growing a new generation in one to two months.

That growth cycle made them ideal for a potential army I could develop on short notice while being absurdly durable, surviving most environments, and capable of fighting things above its weight class. The growth cycle had been modified to help it grow in as little as a week while tapering off once at the highest physical point it would reach in its life cycle, effectively giving it near eternal youth.

It smiled up at Superman with happiness that looked disturbing on its face. “Meet Project Maximum Parasyte.” 

“… is that a man-sized cockroach?” Superman looked disturbed by what he saw.

Parasyte didn’t even hesitate, immediately leaping up towards Superman, who fired heat vision at him. Instead of doing any real damage, he pushed through it like the blade of a snowplow against snow. The beam split upon contact, with traces of it disappearing into Parasyte's skin.

Superman, instead of letting him grab him, punched him square in the face, sending him flying back, before turning to see a black leather dress shoe slamming into his face. Superman was launched back, followed by the crack of the air.

I watched the hunters work in tandem with Maximum Parasyte. Superman was realizing quickly that Parasyte was getting stronger as he was beginning to hit harder the more Superman struck him. Each attempt at a grab was a trick to make him believe he needed to grab him for an extended period to get anything.

It’s why the name for the project was chosen, and I said it aloud. Superman would associate him with his own villain, Parasite. The difference between the two is that Maximum Parasyte could absorb just about any form of energy and use it to empower itself. Any damage it received would be immediately healed by both its own amped-up healing factor and the modified Extremis. 

There were limits to how much it could absorb before its body began to tear itself apart both from the energy stored and its body using such power that tore itself apart, but that’s why the healing factor and Extremis were introduced.

“Now where were we? Oh yes! So who says what justice is?” I said, hand flying through hand signs while my other hand fires shells at Martian Manhunter, who flew around doing his best not to get hit.

Batman tried closing the distance with a hit of Jet and his grappling hook in his hand. The grapple was fired with me stepping to the side and bending over, avoiding the attempt to trap me in it. 

Tilting my head, the final hand sign finished before a jutsu replicating the second Hokage's pressurized water attack fired out. It didn’t have the power the original had, but it was still enough to be a threat. Batman himself managed to narrowly avoid the water jet before he fired another segment out of his grapple hook.

Like before, it was evaded. Batman did his best, he remained on the defensive even when he got aggressive, never overextending. Yet I still managed to make him grunt and force him to realize how powerless he was.

When I was about to use a genjutsu to take him out of the fight because it had gotten boring, a robotic head with Diana’s derpy face on it bounced off the floor between us. Wonder Woman had managed to take one’s head off while she looked worse for wear. Numerous cuts that had red coating her body. Yet the various Hoplites had dents and cuts in their chassis or weapons, none were unscathed.

Everyone battled and fought for their lives before a rumble brought it all to an end. The white stone substance the engineers had cooked up cracked in places when it shouldn’t have. A deep groaning, followed by a whisper that only Wonder Woman and I could hear.

“You have my permission. Use your divine gifts.” 

It sounded calm, yet regal, and authoritative. Wonder Woman had a smile that grew when she looked from the Hoplites to me. 

I threw my head back and just laughed. “Joke's on you, I expected this. Go on." My hand waved lazily. “Show us what you got… if you're woman enough.”

I tacked on a lazy insult, not even bothering to look at her as she fumed at the dismissal while I stared at Batman. He was tense, knowing that I wouldn’t have done this if I weren’t confident in winning. He would be wrong about where my confidence was placed. It was more about surviving and proving I am a big enough villain to the Light while gathering data on Wonder Woman’s newfound godhood so I can cross-reference it with the studies done on the trident.

In the time it would take a man to blink, lightning poured out of Wonder Woman, the injuries she had sustained steamed before sealing shut like they were never there in the first place. Her hair was wild, whipping about like she was going over a hundred on a highway with the windows down. 

The bolts that poured out of her occasionally snapped out and sent Hoplites flying back, shattered and melted down, despite being enchanted with the Goron's methods of handling extreme heat. Even the outfits that had been woven by me with magic in them couldn’t help.

Yet if my face wasn’t morphed into a gas mask, I would be smiling like a madman. She blitzed the army of Hoplites, tearing into them with a fervent zealotry. They were wearing an embarrassing facial expression of what might have been the worst day of her life.

“Justice is what any good person who knows right from wrong, can understand context and nuance, and above all else, can reflect and grow as a person from their mistakes to rise above themselves for the greater good to help everyone else by seeing the evil in the world,” Batman said, making my head snap to him.

We remained there staring one another down for a brief moment before he received a solemn clap from me. “Well spoken. Couldn’t have put it any better myself.”

Batman straightened up, standing tall as his injuries faded away, with any sign of pain he was in now gone. Good to see he was putting those stimpacks to use. A sound of rustling had me leap back to avoid a man slamming into the floor. He waved his hand, his mouth formed into a grimace as a hiss escaped his lips. 

"Yeesh, shouldn’t have done that. I don’t think it’s broken.” He said, thinking we were concerned he injured himself. 

This I hadn’t been expecting. Kirk Langstrom stood before me in a new and heavily improved superhero outfit. His first one looked like a poorly made do-it-yourself-style suit, and it was bad. 

This was sleeker and better designed for stealth, with only his mouth and lower jaw exposed while the suit was midnight black. He had a black visor that was similar to goggles. The suit was form-fitting, showing his body under it was in good shape.

"Well, well, well… The man! The myth!” I waved my hands around, doing a good impression of a showman. “The legend himself… Manbat. Color me surprised they managed to get your help.”

Manbat looked between Batman and me. “Is he always like this?”

“Only when he wants to get under your skin. Be careful, he is both physically dangerous and incredibly resourceful.”

“I figured as much if he is proving dangerous enough for the rest of the League to come here.” He said before leaning out of the way of a chakra thread that would have tased and incapacitated him.

It should have been invisible to the naked eye. Yet he somehow knew it was there. Batman was grabbed by Kirk in an impressive display of preternatural flexibility and acrobatics, avoiding the various threads to take one of the nicest men in Gotham out of this fight to avoid him getting hurt. 

Even knowing he was enhanced by his formula, Kirk moved far faster than I had anticipated. Even upping the speed of the threads had him playing hopscotch with them. Batman trusted Kirk enough to let him carry him through the field of invisible wires, landing a safe distance away from me. Some hunters looked ready to engage them, but I raised a hand.

“I think this has been enough for today. Until next time.” 

Before either of them could do anything, the lights shifted to a blood red as a siren began to wail. “Best of luck to you and the League in dealing with the weapon this old Cold War facility was used to store. It’ll be interesting seeing both you, your friends, and the public’s reaction to Liberty Prime.”

Kirk winced at the loud noise but looked ready to pursue me with Batman, but a massive rumble had everyone pause while I and what was left of my forces fled. Various doorways opened up with the League giving chase. I noted that Maximum Parasyte was still intact and managed to even give Superman a bruise on his cheek.

That’s my boy!

Parasyte left with several hunters, with my Hoplites remaining behind, now using my recorded voice lines, using a bastardized attempt at Wonder Woman’s voice, as she found a renewed vigor for her hatred of the robots to destroy them with flashes of neon blue and white lightning.

Her head snapped towards me before she appeared in front of me. “You’re not going-”

She was silenced when Raina appeared above her, axe kick slamming down. Instead of any sign of pain, a braced arm was held up casually, stopping the attack. Raina quickly appeared by my side, warily eyeing the lightning while her hair was poofed up into an afro.

I nodded approvingly. “We might have to do a disco night sometime in the future.” I couldn’t hide the chuckle while she looked at me before seeing her reflection in my gas mask lens. 

She snapped her head at Wonder Woman, who didn’t even give her the time of day. “You never mess with the hair,, you old hag.” 

Wonder Woman blinked, looking at Raina like she was questioning if she heard her correctly. “Ignore what she said, Wonder Woman, and you stay right there.” 

Superman flew over along with the others, who all looked like they just had a fight with a pitbull, and the dog did not take it easy on them. Flash’s suit was torn, and he had a black eye that was swelling up with blood dripping out of his nose. He stayed behind Superman, and if I didn’t know any better, it would almost seem like he was using him as a shield.

“On the contrary,” I said when the floor had opened up behind them, revealing a massive chamber that all but dwarfed the one we were in. A wince that was felt across my body happened with knowledge poured into it, but I hid it like always. It was just a little harder since my entire body felt it. 

Create something that could harm Superman +100
Manage to undermine Hal Jordan’s confidence and his willpower +50
Trick Batman and Martian Manhunter with a genjutsu +50

Perks gained: 
Chemist (Batman Beyond) (200CP)
You've learned how to create drugs, steroids, medicines, and even deadly toxins like nerve gas. Additionally, any chemical compounds you personally create can no longer kill you, however they can still cause unwanted side effects.