When Worlds Collide

105) Baldy McBastard

A/N: hehe im back again! I am in the process of packing up my room to move into my apartment in a few weeks and fell asleep at like 8 pm yesterday from being tired ahahaha. 

A/N 2: Also!!!! Another massive shout out to @kkjustforreadsfor this beautiful fanart for Chapter 98!!!! I love it so much and please hype them up!!!! if any of you want to make art for or inspired by any of my books, please lmk and I will put them in a chapter <3

Nico woke up with a hiss of pain. Not only was his adrenaline gone, the myriad of injuries across his body burning, but because of the intense light surrounding him. The second he pealed his eyes open, he desperately wanted to close them again, even though the light was bright enough that it still felt blinding even though his eyelids. He tried to figure out where he was, but the light made it hard to even process what was happening on.

He tried to used his hands to feel for a surface among the blinding light, but he quickly realized he was secured to the surface behind him; his body unable to move.

He tried pulling his arms free, but the thick metal bands that kept his arms down here too tight to get out of, even if he dislocated his thumbs.

Don't panic, he told himself. What would Bruce do in this situation? He would... access his surroundings.

There were multiple metal bands securing him to the table including 3 on each arm, 4 on each leg, one across his hips, two across his chest, and one around his neck— all of which seem to be secured to the surface behind him.

It was hard to see in all the light, but Nico was pretty sure he was in one of those metal cases that they usually use for transporting metas— except they obviously made his to ensure that he couldn't shadow travel out.

Okay, so... I'm screwed. 

"Hello?" He called after a moment of hesitation. He didn't want to alert his captors that he was awake, however there was quite literally nothing else he could do while stuck in the light box. "Team!"

"GK!" Hazel's voice called back, heavily muffled. "Thank the gods you're okay."

Nico felt some relief at the sound of his sister's voice. "Gem, are you okay?"

"Okay is a strong word, but I'm fine enough. I'm trapped in some sort of light thing."

"Me too," Nico replied, pulling at the restraints only for them to tighten even more around him. "Are the others here?"

"I don't think so," Hazel said, her voice sounding worried. "I've been calling out every once in a while, but no one's answered. I thought I was completely alone until I heard you."

Nico didn't know what to do— something he was apparently making a habit out of. Sure he trained with the Bat, but if he was honest, it wasn't much. He was only a vigilante for like 3 months before he died and came back, which wasn't a whole lot of time to learn the art of escape. Not to mention that he had off gain/ on again terms with Bruce most of the time he had been back, so that didn't leave a whole lot of time to train together. He was more than capable in a fight or when sneaking around, but his escaping skills were apparently shit when he couldn't shadow travel his way out.

"We'll get out of here," Nico said, trying to reassure his sister, though his voice didn't sound as convincing as he hoped it would be.

"A touching sentiment," an enragingly familiar voice said. "but I think you'll fine escape futile."

Nico felt rage corse threw him like the fires of the Phlegethon. "Lex fucking Luthor, you conniving fucking snake!"

The man had the audacity to chuckle before the sounds of typing were heard and the wall of light in front of him split open. It was still far too bright to shadow travel anywhere, but at least now he could see the bald shitbag in front of him, along with a teen girl and a middle aged woman.

"Ghost King," Lex said with a stupid fucking smirk. "Or would you prefer I call you Prince Demosthenes— then again, Nico is your given name, so maybe I should just call you that."

Nico's eyes widened slightly at the revelation, but it quickly turned into a glare. "What the hell do you want with my team and I?"

"Oh I think it's pretty obvious," Lex said with an eye roll, stepping forward and gesturing for the young girl to step forward as well. "I couldn't have you out there, trying to make the public think that I am some sort of villain, dead set on stopping the Justice League."

"You are though," Hazel chimed in, still in her own enclosed light cell.

Lex shrugged. "Yes, but I can't allow the public to think  that. I needed all of you out of the picture, I didn't really care how, but this lovely young woman,-" he said, placing a hand on the shoulder of the girl. "-insisted that we take you alive."

The blonde girl glared at him, though Nico couldn't help but feel she looked vaguely familiar.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

The girl scoffed. "You will," she muttered, a strong Markovian accent clear in her voice.

Nico's eyes widened. "You're Markovian. You... You're Brion's sister— the one who was kidnapped by meta traffickers."

Her glare only increased, but she didn't say a thing.

Lex smiled. "You figured that out faster than I expected, but you do always seem to know it all. You see, Princess Tara over here has a bone to pick with you."

"You killed my mentor," she said, her words dripping with venom.

Nico looked at her in confusion, his brain immediately thinking of Bryce for some reason, before it clicked. "Slade."

The girl nodded. "He saved me. He protected  me and you  killed him."

Nico glared at the girl. "He wanted my people to become slaves. I couldn't allow him to put my people-"

"You mean demigods?" Lex questioned, a dark glint in his eyes.

Nico froze. "What?"

"Slade told me of his plan before he died," Tara said. "He told me about your people and how useful they were. I found his work after he died and I continued it."

Nico felt fear shoot through his body, his heartbeat spiking as he felt like he had entered a waking nightmare. "No... you can't. You can't do th-"

"We already have," Lex said with a smile. "You see, Tara brought me all of Slade's information about your people, and I not only recreated his control collars, but I advanced them."

Nico shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. "That's impossible. You can't use the material."

Lex reached into his pocket, pulling out what looking to be a more advanced version of Slade's celestial bronze collar. "Can't I?"

A/N: AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 

Vote. Comment. Tell me who you think Lex's parent/ancestor is gonna be (I am pretty set on what it'll be, but if you convince me otherwise, I'll tag you in the chapter I reveal it in<3)