The Third Member

Oliver whipped around in alarm and fired an arrow.

Ding—the sound of an arrow striking something. Oliver had no time to think. He drew his bow again and fired. "Who the hell are you?"

Ding, ding.

This time, the powerful shot forced the enemy in the darkness to strike twice before stopping Green Arrow's attack.

"Wait." A figure stepped out. "We're not your enemies."

"You!" Oliver stared in shock, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. "Batman."

The newcomer wore a Bat-suit. He moved silently through the darkness, tall and powerfully built. Who else could it be but Batman?

From the moment he heard Oliver's warning, the cheat-enabled boy had spotted the killer and a fallen police officer in the opposite building. Before the killer could fire, he'd hurriedly shoved a table against the window to block it. Though the scene had been astounding, it was still within the bounds of human ability. Amid the chaos, the police couldn't tell who had thrown the table, allowing Aeo and Bruce to slip away while the latter was directing the crowd.

Right afterward, the two of them had spotted Oliver Queen—the rightful heir to Queen Consolidated, Star City's playboy billionaire—changing into costume and leaping between two buildings.

"Great," Aeo quipped. "Another billionaire neglecting his day job! Hey, Bruce, have you rich kids gone from feeling empty and chasing girls and partying at nightclubs to becoming superheroes and fighting crime for fun?"

Batman simply fired a sleeve dart with a high-altitude grappling line attached and followed Oliver.

"..."

Aeo shrugged and lifted both feet off the ground.

...,...

Back to the present.

Though Batman's arrival had left Oliver astonished and alarmed, he was a formidable hero who'd returned from a hellish island of torment. He immediately turned around, on guard.

"And the other one? Why don't you come out?"

Aeo thought for a moment, then stepped out. "We didn't mean to keep this from you. It's just..." The boy's gray eyes gleamed in the darkness. "You know how it is. We all need a mask."

"You!" Oliver was so shocked he could barely speak. "Aeo Zod!"

Aeo walked into the light. His expensive, masterfully tailored suit, which he hadn't changed out of, looked painfully out of place amid the wreckage.

"It's me." Aeo stopped three or four meters away from him.

"..."

Oliver glanced back at him, his expression complicated. "So, you're Bruce Wayne?"

Bruce paused slightly, then removed his cowl. "Yes. It's me!"

...,...

Inside a disused factory workshop.

Oliver, Bruce, and Aeo faced off, each wary of the others. Of course, it was Green Arrow versus Batman and the Son of Krypton.

After a while, Green Arrow spoke first. "All right. Since you already know I'm Oliver Queen and chose to meet me in person, I assume you have something you want from me?"

He gave a cold laugh. "I'd like to know why one of Gotham City's most famous crime fighters, the knight of the dark, Batman, and another man with terrifying abilities—whom I'll assume is still human—"

Aeo shrugged.

"—and another unknown superhero..." Perhaps it was Aeo's friendly manner that made Oliver's tone soften a little. "Tell me, what do you want with me?"

Aeo and Bruce exchanged a glance. At last, Bruce spoke. "Oliver, judging by the way you've fought crime in Star City, you're a man with a strong sense of justice, someone willing to stand up to evil. But have you ever considered that all of this is just a tiny fraction of the criminal world? The real threats to all of humanity are the infiltrators and terrorists hiding within our own ranks?"

"You mean...?" Green Arrow wasn't one to be intimidated. He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"...Do you know about S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Bruce revealed, to Oliver's surprise. "It's a multinational intelligence agency led by the Federation. Its original purpose was to gather and handle all extraterrestrial and paranormal incidents, and protect ordinary people's safety and civil liberties..."

"But we've recently discovered..." Aeo cut in, speaking with a mixture of truth and deception. "It seems they've been infiltrated by another force. Director Nick Fury has very limited control over their actual power..."

"This force is dangerous. Just to deal with me, they deployed F-22s—something only a nation could do..."

"Also, Bruce and I found out that this organization is most likely Hydra, from World War II. They weren't completely wiped out. Instead, they infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. After decades of growth, it's become impossible to tell which is S.H.I.E.L.D. and which is Hydra..."

"Their goal is to build a world that serves their interests completely! That's unacceptable to me, to Bruce, and to the entire world. World War II proved that better than anything..."

"So?" Oliver was reeling from these shocking revelations. "What exactly do you want?"

Aeo and Bruce exchanged a glance. Once again, it was the man who spoke first, inviting Oliver to join them.

"So, to fight this organization, we've decided to form another team—a group made up of many powerful people, to deter and strike at this terrorist organization. And you're the first superhero we're inviting... What do you say, Oliver Queen?"

Bruce's face glowed with wisdom.

"Will you join us?"

...,...

"I'm only human." Oliver Queen shook his head. His expression held both respect for the two men and a trace of dismissal.

"I fought the criminals in Star City because they and my father had failed this great city. I stood up to those men to atone for my father. I... am no hero."

He sighed.

"I caused the death of an innocent girl..." Green Arrow said sadly. "I was so arrogant, so proud of my debauchery and wild lifestyle, blindly chasing pleasure without any humility or self-control. But that incident taught me that, faced with nature and fear, humans are nothing more than tiny, powerless ants. Status, money, all of it is just fleeting..."

"After that, all I wanted was to return to Star City, to my family, to protect them and keep them safe, so they'd never be hurt again... I fight crime only to make up for the harm my father caused this city. I..."

"No."

Aeo cut him off. "I can tell you for certain: if you don't stop this organization, everything you care about will cease to exist!"

As Oliver and Bruce stared at him in shock, Aeo let slip a tiny spoiler. "Because this world is far more dangerous than you can imagine, Oliver Queen."

.