A Hollow in DC

Deep, under the mountains of the Antarctic within a dimly lit room only lit up by several screens was Vandal Savage holding court amongst his secret society.

"The loss of Galatea has set our plans with the Reach Empire back several months at least... That abomination that is masquerading as a hero has caused us significant losses with the complete destruction of Amazo not to mention its ability to apparently discern souls will blockade any plans to use clones or similar for infiltration for the League." A Lex Luthor's screen lit up as he spoke illuminating the scars crossing over Vandal Savage's face.

"Yes, that monster needs to be put in the dirt! He killed my Tinkle!" Klarion cried out as his kitten-sized new familiar meowed weakly.

Vandal Savage finally stepped into the central light within the room he was within drawing the arguing villains' conversations to an end.

"We have plans to use the League for our own ends... His strength will be turned to the Light in time and no matter if they are human or God nothing can resist the mental control of Staro. Besides with the League being so focused on containing Salem's chaos magic issues. That has allowed us to move forward with the plans to retrieve the Staro samples and incite unrest in the North Rhelasia and South Rhelasia regions." Vandal Savage spoke with Klarion huffing as he knew he wouldn't be able to dissuade their leader about breaking a high-value tool.

Another screen lit up with a rather beautiful woman lounging upon a throne appeared. Queen Bee was a slender, dark-skinned woman with dark blue eyes and long black hair, which she sports pulled back with a golden diadem on her forehead. She also wears golden stinger-shaped earrings and an armband on her right forearm. She dons a strapless gray mini-skirt dress with black pants and high-heel boots. Around her shoulders hangs a translucent pale blue veil.

"My part in acquiring Intergang weaponry has been accomplished with the weapons and munitions being sent to North Rhelasia to help the rebels combat the South Rhelasia region which is being propped up by our little Luthor's technology." The Queen of Bialya spoke lazily before her eyes sharpened as she stared at Vandal Savage. "Acquiring such things has cost my nation greatly Savage... Remember the deal we made." She practically ordered the immortal man who didn't even blink at the hostile tone Queen Bee took.

"Yes. Your desire to take Superboy and this new hero named Lorde as your personal thralls... I do not see an issue with it, once the Starro is firmly under our control and the league is collared they will be yours to do as you will." Savage said drily before he looked over to Ocean Master's screen.

And so, on the Light made deals in the shadows to take agency from the Justice League and even the rest of the universe was so great their plans for domination

-

Meanwhile practically as far as possible from the Light's Antarctica base within a massive, satellite that was hosting the Justice League, yet another meeting was taking place.

Batman stoically stood in front of a holographic map of Salem with several large red dots splattering across the map. "The losses for downtown Salem and the surrounding areas have been catastrophic as the reality-bending energies of Klarion's power have only just recently been cleared up after we called upon outside aid to deal with its excessive saturation of his power," Batman explained pointing at the red dots that were the hot zones of where Klarion's magic literally changed reality and the League literally had to treat the area like heavily irradiated soil and have the area's thrown through portals into space.

Not even Dr. Fate could clear up the mess after getting a new host. So, the League needed to take up extreme measures like throwing out tainted areas into space or other dimensions like the negative zone.

"How is that child, Lorde doing?" Wonder Woman asked pointedly to Batman who shifted at being pointed out as he moved from the holographic projector to sit back down in his seat while the rest of the League broke out into whispers about what had happened.

"I believe he was distraught at how he was unable to handle Klarion and the damages his battle caused and wanted to go out for training... And with no suitable mentors to be found within the league, I accepted his request for leave." Batman gruffly explained with the room going silent as Wonder Woman tapped her pristine nails atop the metal table in front of the League personnel.

But her taps were as loud as gunshots as the Amazonian woman gave Batman a gimlet eye.

"Knowing of that child's history as well as I do. You seriously allowed him to leave this dimension to go to Hell or possibly somewhere worse to find the so-called magical training that would allow him to fight someone even Lord Zeus of my own Pantheon would avoid?" Wonder Woman scolded with Batman not responding with even a flinch at how irate the woman sounded.

"As I said before... No one in the League can truly mentor Lorde and with no camera's being capable of tracking him. I decided the best option was to simply allow him to go. after I snuck both mundane and magical tracking methods into his food, water, and clothing so he could be retrieved no matter where he went, should he be lost." Batman explained with no shame as several members of the League all but facepalming at the paranoid methods Batman went through.

"Hmph... Actually, I was going to say this later, but I will say it now. I am formally putting in my recommendation for my protégé Wonder Girl to the younger team. She has been training in Themyscira under my guidance so she can better fit in the Men's World and while with Galatea being put into my care, Lorde will do well to give her a rivalry as my own student, so she doesn't slack off in combat training like you do Superman." Wonder Woman said pointedly to Superman who looked bashful.

Superman was a great many things but dedicated to keeping up a training regime wasn't one of them, which went against her militaristic Amazonian culture.

"Wonder Woman, Lorde is not suited to being your protege... You have little in common with him and." Before Batman could continue on Wonder Woman slapped the table in front of her creating a banging noise louder than most legal firearms with her super strength denting the metal table that was built to withstand the anger and frustration of League member outbursts.

"Batman I am going to become his mentor should he accept!" She practically ordered as Batman stilled at the woman's outburst.

Even as Wonder Woman cleared her throat to actually explain why she wanted Lorde as her own protégé the room went awkwardly silent as the Flash's whisper to Green Arrow was well heard by all especially those with super senses. "Hoh Momma I wish she would yell at me like that..."

All the ladies of the League gave the two men looks of disdain with Black Canary actually making her chair roll away from Green Arrow who she was sitting on the other side of with the Archer's head thumping onto the table in embarrassment as Flash likewise brushed his hand over his head in shame as everyone looked at them.

"Right... Anyway, I think it's best for me to become Lorde's mentor figure as frankly we are both melee fighters at heart and mostly because he needs ties to the League itself as not even our own protégés have been able to build up a decent psyche profile for him as they have their own missions with their mentors, so he is left all but alone in Mount Justice." Wonder Woman explained expertly moving past the earlier embarrassment.

"Do as you want then," Batman said before looking over to Green Arrow. "Now how is Speedy?" He asked with some care to his gruff tone as he obviously saw how Robin could have possibly been cloned as well.

The rest of the meeting consisted of Green Arrow spreading the good news that Speedy was well on his way to full recovery as well as Speedy's clone actually showing mental waves proving he may be coming out of his coma.

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