Victor Stone had resigned himself to the fact that he was completely alone in the world. He had comrades, but they were completely organic. He had people he'd consider calling 'friend', but they were organic as well. They had secret identities. They...
Author's Note: Sorry about the delay. I've been super busy with essays and work 😰 This is a bit of a filler chapter but whatever, I hope you like it anyway 😂
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"So let me get this straight. As the new generation of heroes grew, the crime rate started to drop exponentially. After a few years, every villain had been either locked up or killed. Then the younger heroes started fighting amongst themselves." Harper tapped her fingers against the armrest of her wheelchair with growing unease. She had exited the Atlas mech a while ago, and it now stood next to her in the small hangar. It was the only suit that Harper recognised. Apparently the others had been scrapped for Lara's projects. "All because they were bored? There has to be more to it than that..."
Lara fidgeted with her fingers and analysed the giant chassis for any scratches. "Th-They grew up with a lot of power, and no one to oppose them. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. They...never learnt to appreciate their abilities and the impact they could have, only to exploit them. I suppose it could be a form of rebellion too. They were automatically associated with the legends of their parents. I'm sure it's not an easy thing to live up to."
Harper chewed on her bottom lip. She supposed that made sense...she had certainly believed more obscure concepts. They had grown up in a world in which, as soon as they were born, they were expected to follow in their parents' footsteps. When all crime was practically abolished, they had no other purpose in life...and so they used their abilities fight against one another; with the cities of Earth suffering as the battlefield. In some ways, they were victims of an ideal or expectation that was unreachable.
"Why isn't anyone stopping this...?" Harper asked in absolute disbelief that such young supers had been allowed to conduct themselves in that way for so long, and without any repercussions.
"They've tried." Lara brushed off a few remaining grains of dirt from the mech. "Some of them have anyway, but there's nothing they can do. The younger supers don't listen, and they'd escape from any prison they could try and lock them into. People are scared that incarcerating them might make things worse."
"I doubt that it could get much worse than this... How can the Justice League just let this continue?"
"W-Well..." Lara murmured, as if every word was a chore. "Most of the original JL members left after Superman's trial. The team never recovered from it. Without a leader the Justice League is in a state of limbo; disorganised and uncertain."
"So...if Superman came back then-"
"He won't. Dad's already tried. If he comes back he's going directly against the public's wishes, and without his wife or daughter he's lost any motivation to do so."
Harper frowned. "Then we'll just need to convince the others to rejoin the Justice League instead."
"W-Wait...'we'...th-there's no we!" Lara, finally starting to find some small degree of confidence, spoke up. "If I go with you mom's definitely going to notice..."
