2201 Side Story: Fantasy Journey 42
Luke didn't know that Master Wayne's paranoia was acting up again, but he wouldn't care even if he did.
That was Master Wayne's normal routine.
Besides, Luke wasn't Superman, and didn't have high expectations of himself.
He wasn't Master Wayne either, and didn't have such a strong sense of unease.
Controlling public opinion was a little underhanded, but it was only for self-protection.
Whatever 'gods' disdained to do, he could do.
What 'people' didn't have time to do, he had time to do.
The DC superheroes either couldn't be bothered, didn't have time, or didn't have the money or resources to do their 'branding.' It was better to leave it to him.
There was a backup of this 'operation plan' in the armor's A.I. program, which could be adjusted for use here.
In any case, human nature was essentially the same, whether it was in the Marvel or DC universe.
The key to this operation wasn't gimmicks or flattery, but practical applications of human psychology.
It was the reason why people got deja vu when PR handled things when popular celebrities got into trouble.
That was because most of them were 'products' that followed a certain operating model.
There was a method to carrying out an operation, just like there was a method to handling a crisis. Moreover, this also focused on human psychology, especially social psychology. To be precise, it was the practical application of group psychology.
As long as the operation went well, it wouldn't be hard to blind the public.
Speaking of which, establishing this 'genuine' Justice League in this DC universe was a lot easier than what Luke had done back home.
Superman, who was practically invincible in all of the universe, could amply protect himself.
Although Master Wayne possibly had a plan to take down Superman, it would take time.
Then, there was Diana, the 'rose among the thorns.'
She could fight and defend at the same time. She had no shortcomings in terms of brains, EQ, and mental fortitude, and she also had a charming personality.
Almost all men would kneel when they saw her, and at least half of the women.
There wasn't much to say about Master Wayne; he was already close to turning GCPD into his own company. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was a famous hero who was an indispensable part of the team's overall image.
As for the rest… well, it was best for them to clean up a bit.
It didn't have anything to do with appearances; it was that they had too little experience and lacked the foundation to be a 'team titan.'
For example, when Superman descended lightly from the sky like a god, or when Master Wayne's cape fluttered when he stood on a rooftop, or when the battle goddess was poised for battle with her sword and shield raised, they had an 'aura' around them.
No one at a lower level would dare question them.
On the other hand, thinking about how Arthur chuckled stupidly, or how Barry rolled his eyes and scratched his head, or how Victor… Well, forget that, people would doubt he was human.
Onlookers would just harass them even more.
The three bigshots were great 'faces' for the team. If this were a Korean idol group, they would be the lead singer, the one with good looks, and the dancer; they would meet more than 80% of expectations.
Given the ready-made resources in this team, it would be much easier for Luke to put things in motion compared with back home.
As his plan progressed, the chances of the team members being screwed over by someone else would drop.
In a few years, even if someone really could kill a superhero, including Superman, Luke would be able to put the deceased on a pedestal as a martyr.
The enemy, on the other hand, would be sent into a cesspit and would never be able to make a comeback.
At that time, it wouldn't be a matter of who wanted to deal with the Justice League, but who the Justice League wanted to deal with.
More importantly, with this 'team image,' Luke wouldn't have to worry too much about future operations.
As long as it wasn't on too big a scale, he would be able to do some things.
It was human nature to balance things out when big mistakes were made.
As long as he did a lot of good deeds, any small mistakes he made when 'fighting crime' would be nothing.
Luke's thoughts raced as he looked at his new teammates with a smile.
His teammates, on the other hand, were still enjoying the thrill of victory and the satisfaction of saving people, and didn't expect a certain person to already be putting together their 'character settings.'
…
Luke took on the task of the post-battle cleanup, and Master Wayne supervised.
As for the others… Well, they took Master Wayne's Batplane back.
The main thing was that every bit of Steppenwolf's 'remains' and 'legacy' had to be collected, and not a single trace could be left behind.
Only after Luke studied them would he destroy them.
It was impossible to destroy them right away. Luke didn't trust ordinary methods at all.
Who knew, Steppenwolf could be reborn on another planet with a resurrection spell.
So, he took Steppenwolf's head as his spoils of war and threw it into his inventory as test material.
The Mother Boxes were dealt with as per the old arrangements.
Arthur returned to the underwater Atlantean shrine with one Mother Box, while Diana returned to Paradise Island with another. She also took with her Steppenwolf's two-horned helmet to comfort the heroic spirits of the Amazon warriors whom he had killed.
At Luke's suggestion, mankind's box was left in Master Wayne's safekeeping.
That was because when he first came into contact with a Mother Box, the system had warned him that this item might draw the attention of an unknown existence, so he wouldn't store it in his inventory.
Clearly, this thing had a similar attribute to an Infinity Stone back home.
For example, the shadow of the Vishanti's Ancient One loomed behind the Eye of Agamotto, and the Power Stone had long been used as a weapon by the gods, while the Dark Elves with the Aether were the worst.
From what Steppenwolf had said, it sounded like the Mother Boxes belonged to a 'higher family' to begin with, and Steppenwolf, this idiot, was a godson of this 'higher family.'
By the time the Russian government arrived, only the 'flower town' and the remains of the Parademons were left at the scene.
There were too many of the Parademons, and after running numerous tests which showed that they posed no risks, Luke left them to the authorities.
After the aid foundation was established, the first contribution should be toward this incident.
After all, it was the Justice League who had turned this 100,000-strong Parademons to dust; it made sense to reimburse the authorities' 'cleaning fee.'
…
Two days later, the triumph of victory faded.
Barry remained at the base, working with Luke to improve his suit.
It was troublesome.
He couldn't use just anything in battle. Otherwise, there was no need to besiege Steppenwolf together in order to kill him — it would take less than 0.001 seconds for Barry to ram Diana's longsword into Steppenwolf's neck.
He had already tested the material for this suit many times.
The suit which Luke had designed for Pietro wasn't much stronger. It couldn't compare with the standard team armor at all.
A power source and weapons were secondary; the most important thing was that the suit's defense wasn't up to standard.
If Barry could retain his original mobility while wearing the nanosuit, he wouldn't have been crippled by a stray bullet.
From this, it could be seen that what he lacked most was protection.
Luke's demands weren't high; it was enough as long as the suit could block ordinary attacks and Barry wasn't at risk when the battle became slightly more intense.
This didn't match Luke's usual "safety first" principle.
Just as Barry put on a crude test suit made from new synthetic materials and was about to run, Luke received a message on his phone.
