2205 Side Story: Fantasy Journey
Luke spread his hands. âSince a collective is mindless, why let other people lead them to deal with us?â
Victor was lost for words. A moment later, he asked, âHow do I do that?â
His mind raced, but he couldnât immediately come up with a plan.
Luke chuckled. âItâs very simple. You have to be the most outspoken and influential one, or at least, one of them.â
Victorâs face twitched. Wouldnât that be cursing himself?
Luke ignored his hesitation. âAlso, you can keep it up until a more obvious âwaveâ rises upâŠâ
Victor couldnât help but add, âAnd fire back?â
Luke chuckled. âNo, go a little more crazy.â
Victor: âWhat?â
Luke said, âUse a clearer, simpler, and more provocative slogan; the collective will subconsciously follow it. At that time, whatever slightly more outrageous standpoint you take, those people will follow.â
Of course, Victor got this â in theory. He had never tried it in practice.
Victor: âŠYouâre asking me to lead these people into a trap!
It was a very simple idea. Even though many people were aware of it, it was always effective.
The main point was that a person had to be capable enough to obtain the âright to speakâ in a group.
This wasnât hard for Victor, who could stay tuned in to the Internet countless times more than Gold Nugget.
He didnât question the ethics of this behavior. He wasnât as tolerant as Superman, who wouldnât curse back.
He just considered the possibility of implementing this strategy. âWhat about the people? At a certain point in time, Iâll definitely have to appear in person, and this plan requires me to have multiple IDs.â
Luke said, âIâll give you a list. These people are PR professionals who work for me. Use their identities. Theyâll show up later.â
Victor was hugely relieved.
Getting things done online was just a matter of taking the time to do it.
He didnât have the professional ability to interact with people in real life, and he was a bad actor.
Just like that, Luke and Victor worked together to perfect this âProject Shadow.â Victor was the one who came up with the name â he said it was cooler.
Luke went along with it. In any case, any name he came up with wouldnât be nice.
A week later, Master Wayne called them out of the lab.
Barry wasnât at work for once. He followed Luke in his car to a desolate area on the outskirts of Gotham.
The car stopped in front of an abandoned manor. Barry got out with a few cupcakes in hand, and asked Luke, âWhere are we?â
Luke pointed at Victor with a smile; the youngsters should get along more.
Victor was a super database and just needed to have a look in his head. âDecades ago, this place belonged to the Wayne family.â
Barry exclaimed, âSeriously? He threw away such a big house just like that?â
He was right.
Unlike the manor that Luke had bought, which was basically intact, this was a pile of ruins.
Everything was in shambles. There was no maintenance at all; it was even possible that people might have had a rummage around for junk to sell off.
Apart from trash or things that were hard to move, there was basically nothing inside. It was just an empty shelf, and perfect for a horror movie just as it was.
After a brief hesitation, Victor said in a low voice, âAfter Bruceâs parents were killed, this place was abandoned.â
Barry spat out a lot of cake icing. Then, he said awkwardly, âFine, letâs not talk about that.â
Two cars arrived while they were talking and stopped behind Lukeâs car.
Master Wayne got out of the Lamborghini. âYouâre here? What are you talking about?â
Barry subconsciously replied, âAh, nothing.â
There was suspicion in Master Wayneâs eyes, but he didnât pursue the matter.
Barry was a good kid and didnât have any bad intentions; he didnât need to act as high and mighty as Luke.
Diana got out of her car as well. Everybody exchanged greetings before they followed Master Wayne into the manor.
After entering the main building and passing through a âliving roomâ that was more than ten meters long, Master Wayne pushed open two dusty doors.
A hall covered in dust and spiderwebs appeared in front of him.
However, the hall was ten meters high and 40 meters long. The white Roman pillars on both sides and the huge broken chandelier that had fallen at an angle was enough to give everyone an idea of how magnificent this place had once been.
Anticipation appeared on Master Wayneâs face as he gestured. âPut a round table and seven chairs here in the futureâŠâ
Diana interrupted him politely. âWe can add more seats.â
Master Wayne turned around and looked at her and the others. He nodded. âYes, there has to be more.â
The others more or less understood what they were saying.
They werenât unfamiliar with the Knights of the Round Table.
Round tables meant equality.
Master Wayne was paranoid and wanted to control things, but he definitely wouldnât act like everyone had to listen to him â at most, he would just carry out more of the plan behind the scenes.
Diana, on the other hand, made it clear that this wasnât an insular circle, and that they had to recruit other like-minded superheroes.
Compared with the verbal agreement they had come to do during the incident with Steppenwolf, the round table and chairs here were an âofficial contract.â
This was also because nobody had chickened out during the battle with Steppenwolf, so everyone had acknowledged each other.
...
By doing this, Master Wayne was formalizing the Justice League.
Luke was in favor, and Diana had no objections. That was three votes from the oldies â Superman wouldnât have any objections.
Among the newbies, Arthur wasnât around, but Barry and Victor didnât object.
That was basically unanimous approval.
For a moment, Master Wayne was full of ambition.
Having teammates was really different from fighting alone.
Although he would still be highly vigilant against them, that was his nature.
Compared with the people the CEO of Wayne Industries had interacted with, the people from the Justice League were trustworthy enough.
âŠ
They didnât tarry in this rundown manor for long. After taking a look at the future âconference hallâ for ten minutes, they retreated.
But before they left, Luke approached Diana with a smile. âWhat youâre wearing today is beautiful.â
...
Diana looked at her dark red dress and the plunging neckline with a smile. âThank you.â
Luke asked, âSo, will you do me the honor of having lunch with me?â
Dianaâs eyes flickered. âYouâre really good with your words.â
Luke said, âBruce used them before. I learned from him.â
Walking not far away, Master Wayne suddenly felt his ears itch, as if a pesky mosquito was buzzing around him.