[Location: Bluevilla Mall]

Selina and Diana reached Bluevilla Mall. It was a huge abandoned mall with no security guards or cameras. There wasn't even a light source inside the building, making them wonder how anyone could stay there without being noticed. The place seemed creepy. Selina activated night vision mode in her visor. Diana followed her quietly as they entered the building. They carefully scanned the place and tried to make out any movements.

A sudden movement caught their attention, making them stop walking forward and look ahead.

"What was that?" Diana whispered while Selina kept looking around cautiously.

"Just a big rat..." Selina sighed softly seeing the rodent run away.

They resumed walking ahead again and went to the second floor.

"What in the freaking world?!" Selina was stunned.

Suddenly the mall lit up like a Christmas tree as all lights turned on at once startling both Selina and Diana. "What the hell?!" Diana looked around and saw they were surrounded by fifty or more masked men. They were all dead and were hanging on almost invisible threads. In short, they were like mannequins, nonliving objects. Selina scanned them and saw there weren't any bones or organs inside these people. Only machines. There weren't any life signatures. She scanned the entire mall, but except for those machines, there wasn't anyone.

"This is some sick stuff..." Diana muttered seeing the horrifying scene.

Suddenly music started playing loudly from somewhere unknown startling Diana and Selina. It was an old song from 'Alice in Wonderland' movie. Selina recognized the tune, Alice's Theme Song - Alice In Wonderland (Instrumental Cover). She had seen the movie many times when she was younger.

Diana took out her sword and took a fighting stance, seeing all those mannequin-like bodies dancing along to the tune of the song, "Careful." She warned Selina seeing one of them walk close toward them slowly. It looked creepy as hell.

"Oh, fuck it," Selina aimed her right hand toward the hoards of dolls surrounding them and fired multiple mini-missiles, destroying the entire floor within a blink of an eye. "We need to go to Bruce. There isn't anyone here. It was a decoy." Just then, she received a call from Ivy. "Ivy?! What happened?" Selina asked anxiously.

"The first point was a decoy. Arrow, Alice, and I are heading your way," Ivy responded.

"Our second point was also a decoy. If I am not wrong then Lex must be waiting for Bruce with all his calvaries," Selina replied as he checked Bruce's tracker. It was going outside the Metropolis at a very high speed, "Let's follow Bruce's signal."

"Alright, we will meet there..."Ivy responded before cutting the call.

Selina contacted Bruce, "Bruce, our points were decoys. We believe Lex must be waiting for you with all his men."

"Yeah, I know. Saw Mad Hatter entering the Lex Corps. You and Diana get him," Bruce responded over the comms as he flew through the sky, following Lex's private jet from a distance.

Selina and Diana nodded before flying through the sky at top speed.

Meanwhile, Bruce called Ivy, "Stay in Gotham with Arrow and Alice. We can't leave the city unprotected. With all these decoys, I got a bad feeling."

"Got it..." Ivy responded before cutting the call.

***

Bruce continued following Lex's private jet silently as it landed on an island near Metropolis. He descended upon the island silently and activated his cloaking mode. As expected, Lex and all his elite soldiers just got out and headed toward the inner part of the island. Bruce followed them stealthily. After traveling for a few minutes, he came across a massive facility. Lex and his men entered it. Bruce flew above the facility and started scanning the entire structure. He found three underground floors below the facility. All floors were heavily guarded. There were advanced security systems installed all over the place.

'You have outdone yourself, Luthor.' Bruce thought as he analyzed the schematics of the facility. 'Laser weapons, toxic chemicals, trap door, automated turrets, heat-seeking missiles... Fuck! It's like a freaking fortress.' He smirked because if it's tech, there isn't anything he and Jarvis couldn't hack. It would take just a few minutes to turn this fortress into his own playground and Luthor who thought he would be safe in here would be completely trapped like a rat.

He hacked into the security system and listened to their talks. He could see the live footage from inside the base on his screen. His brows arched as he saw Scarecrow among his allies. 'Ah! A new ally. Interesting. Let's hear what you freaks are plotting."

"You think, Batman will show up tonight?" Mercy questioned in a serious tone while observing the facility's plans on a monitor.

"That's the whole point!" Lex declared confidently, "Tonight we will hunt the Bat and put an end to him, once and for all. Keep your eyes peeled on the screen."

"Sit down, relax... Drink some whiskey," Scarecrow chilled his shoulders making Lex annoyed, "What? The moment you become all tensed and restless is the time when Batman shows up... And..." He snapped his fingers as if to say it's going to happen. "Baam! Dead, just like that. But don't worry. Even if he reaches this place, it'll be the end of the Dark Knight... forever. This base will be his grave."

Lex smiled in relief. "Confidence is good, overconfidence is bad."

"Just like how overconfident you were just before your company went bankrupt in a single day. I am curious, with Lex Corps down, what are you going to do next? Bake bread?" Scarecrow's voice was calm, but mocking, "Your dreams, money, connections... Gone, just like that. Next thing you know you'll be standing on the corner of the road in rags with a little tin cup..."

Lex stood up angrily, "If you want to chew food with that mouth of yours tomorrow, I suggest you keep your mouth shut!"

"Ah! Too scary, boss..." Jonathan hummed, taking a sip of wine. "Or is the billionaire scared about becoming an average, normal Joe because deep inside he is an inferior person? Well, as long as I get paid, I'm good..."

Outside, Bruce used his nanobots to scan the entire island while listening to their conversation. He found the logo of H.I.V.E.S. all over the facility and guessed it was H.I.V.E who provided this hidden island for him. 'Well, that explains all these cutting-edge weapons and security.' He then hacked into the main server and planted a bug after copying everything to a secure server. Now, he will always keep track of the activities of these scumbags, and if he's lucky he might even discover H.I.V.E.S' headquarters.

'Well, time to start the party,' Bruce sat behind the boulder. He turned the weapon system against the allies and swarmed the screen with fake alerts. He wanted to get the party started.

"Boss! Alert! We are being attacked," An angry-looking mercenary informed Luthor. "Intruders have entered the west entrance. We got twenty men dead!" The sound of gunfire and explosions swept over the island. The automated turrets were attacking Lex's men. Mercy tried to take the control back, but she was logged out of the system. It was a freaking slaughter outside. All the soldiers and guards were going crazy. They didn't know what to do.

"Boss! The south entrance is under attack too!"

"Damn it! What's happening?" Lex shouted in anger as he tried to call for reinforcements, but the comms weren't working.

"And here he is..." Scarecrow pulled on his mask, "You know... it's hard to predict the future, but one thing is sure... he's coming... Bats are nocturnal creatures, after all..." He flooded the room with green gas, restricting Bruce's vision, outside.

"What are you doing?" Lex shouted in anger as he covered his face with his shirt.

"Don't worry, the game has just begun, my friend..." Scarecrow's voice echoed through the base as he disappeared from the room. By the time the gas had cleared, he was nowhere to be found.

"Damn it!" Lex punched the wall in anger. "Close off the emergency gates. Form a circle around the main building. Lock down the entire perimeter. Destroy the turrets. And find the bat!"

"Boss, we can't!" One of the mercenaries informed, "Our men are dying like flies. The security system is too advanced. We don't even know where the enemy is! If this continues, all the men on the island will be dead."

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Next Ch: 102: Showdown pt2

Ch: 103: Case closed

Ch: 104: Barry Allen pt1 [Speedsters] 

Ch: 105: Barry Allen pt2 [Who is faster?]