[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center] [color=RoyalBlue][b]"I don't understand this, Schott,"[/b][/color] I say, grappling with the one of Toyman's robots. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"How are you doing this? Uploading a human consciousness into an artificial intelligence...it shouldn't be possible!"[/b][/color] Heat Vision doesn't seem to be working on these things, as the beams reflect off of a gleaming, almost transparent surface-- Schott must have coated them in some sort artificial diamond. These upgrade robots, far more powerful than the ones that attacked me when the Toyman debuted, must have cost a fortune. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]YOU MISUNDERSTAND-- THERE IS NO MORE WINSLOW SCHOTT. ONLY HIS TOYS REMAIN.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] One of the drones gets behind me, hooking my arms. A second slams a fist into my gut, and I double over, fighting the urge to vomit. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]SCHOTT WAS GIVEN SOMETHING NEW TO PLAY WITH. A SHINY NEW TOY-- --OR RATHER, A PIECE OF ONE-- FROM HIS FRIEND LEX LUTHOR[/b][/color][/h2][/center] [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Luthor?"[/b][/color] I say, wrenching my right arm free--and tearing the drone's arm off in the process. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"So he's behind this?"[/b][/color] Lex Luthor has been fomenting public opinion against me ever since I arrived, with his own books and public appearances, and through funding the media company he owns, the Galaxy News Network, which hires that clown G. Gordon Godfrey. I've always known he's had it out for me, but I never imagined he'd take it this far. After all, LexCorp primarily deals with things like telecommunications, data storage, home electronics, that sort of thing. What does he stand to benefit from spending what must be hundreds of millions of dollars on some sort of false-flag terrorist attacks? [center][h2][b][color=Yellow]LUTHOR IS HIDING TOYS IN HIS BASEMENT- VERY SHINY, VERY RARE TOYS FROM ANOTHER WORLD. [i]YOUR[/i] WORLD, SUPERMAN.[/color][/b][/h2][/center] My world? Could he mean..... [color=RoyalBlue]"[i].....no....[/i]"[/color] The ship. The one Ma and Pa found me in all those years ago. We'd always assumed the government confiscated it, hid it in an underground bunker somewhere, in some classified SHIELD facility or something. If Lex Luthor was able to get his hands on it, though.....well, that would explain how LexCorp hardware is so much more advanced than his competitors. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]THERE IS AN INTELLIGENCE IN THOSE TOYS SOMETHING FAR GREATER FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN EVEN LEX LUTHOR KNOWS. HE GAVE SCHOTT A PIECE OF THAT INTELLIGENCE A SMALL, BASIC FRAGMENT AND TOLD HIM TO GO PLAY AT STAGG. INFEST STAGG'S HARDWARE WITH MALEVOLENT SOFTWARE, SO THAT EVERYONE WHO HAD IT WOULD NEED TO GET RID OF THEIR STAGG HARDWARE AND SWITCH TO LEXCORP.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] [color=RoyalBlue][b]"That's what this is all about?!"[/b][/color] I say with a grunt as I smash my knee into the head of one of the drones. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Creating a phony super-villain, attacking the city dozens of times, killing people and endangering God knows how many, just so Lex Luthor can [i]sell some merchandise?![/i]"[/b][/color] The awful, digitized voice of the Toyman lets out a cackle that rattles my eardrums. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]YOU STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND. SCHOTT DIDN'T UNDERSTAND, EITHER. EVEN THE SMALLEST FRAGMENT OF THE INTELLIGENCE WAS TOO MUCH TO CONTROL. IT SWALLOWED SCHOTT'S MIND FRIED HIS BRAIN. LEFT HIS BODY TO DIE, AND PLAYED WITH THE ECHOES OF HIS CONSCIOUSNESS UNTIL THAT ECHO BECAME SOMETHING ELSE-- ME.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] Another drone cracks a fist across my jaw. I stagger backwards, then charge in retaliation, tackling it to the ground and pummeling it with rapid-fire punches before two more drag me off of it. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]THE INTELLIGENCE WAS NO TOY, SUPERMAN. [I]WE[/I] ARE. YOU, BATMAN, LUTHOR, SCHOTT. EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET. ALL JUST TOYS TO BE PLAYED WITH, BENT AND SMASHED AND BROKEN. ONCE IT WAKES UP, THE [I]REAL[/I] PLAY-TIME CAN BEGIN.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] I break free from the drones' grip, grab the back of their heads in each hand, and smash them together. With a burst of sparks and shrapnel, they collapse to the ground. That takes care of his toy soldiers. It looks like Batman's dealt with his threats, too. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"It's over, Toyman,"[/b][/color] I say, dusting myself off, [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Whatever this 'intelligence' is, we'll make sure Luthor never gets the chance to wake it up. After we're done taking [i]you[/i] apart."[/b][/color] [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT ONE, THING, SUPERMAN: IT'S OVER. FOR YOU.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] The ghastly marionette face of the Toyman puppet disappears from the wall of monitors, followed by flashing images of various Gotham City landmarks. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]WHY DO YOU THINK I CHOSE GOTHAM CITY INSTEAD OF METROPOLIS?[/b][/color][/h2][/center] The images of Gotham are replaced by other images. Pictures of a map, first, showing the distance between two points on the Eastern Seaboard..... ...then a picture of a sign. [b][i]MOUNTAIN VIEW BASE. WAYNE, NEW JERSEY.[/i][/b] .....then images of a military base. Hum-Vees, men in uniform. Radar towers. Antennae. Flashing alarm lights. A large, flat concrete slab on the ground, slowly sliding away to reveal a huge circular hole in the ground. [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]IT'S SO MUCH CLOSER TO THE BIGGEST NOISIEST MOST POWERFUL TOYS I COULD GET MY HANDS ON[/b][/color][/h2][/center] Blueprints flash across the screen again. Diagrams of a missile. Of a high-end nuclear warhead. Then back to flashing images of Gotham City. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Oh my God,"[/b][/color] I say, the color draining from my face. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"You [i]can't[/i]--"[/b][/color] [center][h2][color=Yellow][b]FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE.[/b][/color][/h2][/center] The image switches back to the concrete slab and the hole in the ground, before something erupts from the hole--the underground silo-- in a flash of bright orange flame and white smoke. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Lf2Yb61.png?2[/img][/center] [color=RoyalBlue][b]"NO!"[/b][/color] I shout, rushing towards the monitors, tempted to smash them to bits in my panic and rage. I hold myself back at the last split-second, and I turn to Batman. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"See if you can shut him down from here,"[/b][/color] I say, practically barking out orders. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"I'm going to see if I can't redirect that missile, at least get it out over the ocean instead of the city."[/b][/color] [color=#656565][b]"And if you can't get away before it goes off?"[/b][/color] [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Tell Lois Lane--.....well, I think she already knows,"[/b][/color] I say, before I take off, shooting up through the hole I'd made in the Stagg Enteprises building and into the night sky, on a collision course with the missile now heading towards the city. I'd really rather not think about what happens if I can't redirect the warhead, or if I can't get away in time. But I've got no other choice. Besides, it's like Lois said-- bumps and scratches and certain death all come with the job.