A Place More Terrifying Than Gotham in Metropolis

Metropolis, Fifth Avenue, at a corner near the Havilin slums.

Moira Adams, wearing sunglasses and holding an umbrella, looked to either side before getting into a black Bentley sedan.

"Go to the Havilin slums."

Moira, who rarely smiled, spoke to the driver.

"But sir, your safety cannot be guaranteed in the slums at night, especially during these extraordinary times."

The bodyguard doubling as his driver said to Moira, "I think you need to consider this carefully."

Moira, over fifty and carrying himself with a distinctly British air in every gesture, removed his sunglasses. "If those things lurking in the shadows can scare me into hiding at home and trembling, then they've achieved their goal. You know, Andre, I'm not a fighter who goes down easily."

Moira was the head of Metropolis's New Fly Energy Group. As one of Metropolis's leading new energy companies by market value, New Fly Group stood at the forefront of solar power generation and nano-thermoelectric material power generation, and had a deep partnership with Star City's Queen Group.

"I know Lionel of the Luthor family was assassinated, but that was nothing more than a despicable act of terror. Those perpetrators want to frighten me, but I'm not some incompetent fool like Lionel. I heard he exiled his son, who fancied himself a Caesar. Unfortunately, his ability falls far short of his ambition."

Moira gazed out at the slums beyond the window and mocked Lex's father.

Several Bentley vehicles serving as escorts glided slowly behind them.

"As the richest and most prosperous city in America, this place is practically a different world from the glamorous Metropolis. Look at all this electronic waste. The massive amounts of PVC have turned this place into a living hell."

Looking at the slum streets outside, which were almost entirely buried in garbage, Moira sighed. "The people here walk atop heaps of trash, with no joy in life whatsoever. They can only rummage through garbage for food. Long-term chemical exposure has caused mutations in their bodies, creating horrifying mutants. The reverse side of Metropolis at the height of its prosperity is these utterly dark existences. This place is even more terrifying than Gotham!"

As he spoke, the black Bentley slid onto a street.

Moira even saw a "faceless man" on the street.

His entire face had been struck by a bullet, and years of consuming food contaminated with chemicals had deformed his bones, leaving the faceless man's features too horrific to behold.

"That is why, Andre, I decided to raze this place and build a thermoelectric power plant."

Moira displayed his "mercy." "If the slums disappear, then hell will disappear too. Don't you agree?"

Andre, focused on driving, had just been about to answer when a black shadow suddenly appeared in front of the car.

Andre immediately slammed on the brakes.

Crash!

At the same time, the car window shattered, and a silver streak shot toward him.

Andre only felt a warmth at his neck, followed by blood spurting from his throat.

With gurgling sounds coming from his mouth, he collapsed into his seat.

Through his blurred vision, he saw someone standing before him, dressed in a black uniform and wearing an owl-shaped hood.

Moira, sitting in the back seat, had yet to process the fact that his bodyguard had been killed in an instant when a smoke grenade was thrown into the car.

It was not an ordinary smoke grenade, but one that released a small amount of gray smoke.

"Cough, cough...!"

Coughing, Moira shoved open the car door and staggered out.

But dizziness struck him at once. After taking only two steps, he fell to the ground with a thud.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind, and looked around.

His bodyguards were fighting enemies dressed as owls.

But the agile, armed owl-men quickly forced the bodyguards onto the defensive.

The fighting bodyguards soon clutched their throats, coughed, and collapsed like he had, before the owl-men finished them off.

"Cough."

Moira clutched his throat and coughed up a mouthful of phlegm. His head grew heavier and heavier, as though a massive block of lead had been tied to it.

His vision gradually warped, and everything his eyes saw began to change.

He looked up toward the faceless man lurking near the street corner.

Only to find the hideous faceless man walking toward him!

His entire body radiated a dark, obscure glow. His limbs twisted and enlarged countless times over, while his terrifying faceless visage continuously collapsed and distorted.

It was as though a "black hole" had twisted itself into human form, radiating boundless terror and oppressive might.

"Ah! Oh God!"

Screaming in terror, he crawled backward as desperately as he could.

With a bang, he collided with someone's leg.

He looked up in utter panic and found a humanoid owl bathed in darkness.

The owl radiated overwhelming killing intent and terror. Black light flickered around it like ripples, and its eyes glowed orange-red, like the Grim Reaper descending in the night.

With his heart consumed by fear, the last of Moira's sanity finally broke. Convulsing, he collapsed to the ground.

At the same time.

The Owl Council.

The chairman presiding over the meeting had received word from his subordinates that "Moira had been eliminated."

"Another person on the 'cleansing plan list' is gone. The death knell has sounded, and the next notice for judging birds is about to begin! So, my owl members, tell me, who will be the next bird?"

The chairman asked the aristocratic men and women in the council.

"Lex Luthor!"

Everyone spoke Lex's name in unison.

The chairman nodded. "Lex Luthor has been chosen as the bird to be hunted by the owls. Then tomorrow night, the Grim Reaper shall descend upon his head. We must not let him follow in Lionel Luthor's footsteps and easily escape from the council's grasp again."

After announcing to the council members that Lex was the next target to be eliminated, the black-robed chairman continued, "In addition, production of the council's 'Black Light' must be accelerated."

"Black Light" was a poison used by the Owl Council that caused powerful hallucinations and irreversible brain damage. It made those poisoned feel terror and see the thing they feared, surrounded by light like a black hole.

It was a poison that the Owl Council had processed and modified based on Jonathan Crane's Fear Toxin, which circulated on the black market.

Because it contained venom developed by the Owl Council, it was even more potent than the original Fear Toxin.

Now that Jonathan Crane had been arrested, mass production of Black Light was gradually declining. Therefore, the chairman urged the owl members responsible for producing Black Light to speed up their research and drug production.

"And the most important matter is that Punisher who provoked the council—Homelander."

The chairman mentioned the final matter. "Continue investigating his identity. We cannot let him remain beyond the reach of the law. Once his identity is discovered, mobilize every force to eliminate him. For this, we may even use our trump card!"

Thanks to "Alam," "Naming Gives Me Headacheski," "Westward Sacrifices Youmu," and "Timid Contrarian Monarch Snake" for the rewards. A bow of thanks!

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