Eyeball was, at first, just treated to the retreating bald form of Luthor as he stepped into a chamber filled with a long circle of small platforms; most of which had an object, or image, above them.

  “So. Lets start with the facts. No supposition, just the truth.”

  He stopped by a platform; the orange and black man walked by and stopped at the wall, leaning against it to watch the proceedings… as above the platform appeared an image of a teenage boy in a blue costume.

  “Thirty years ago, in Kansas, a teenage boy with superhuman powers started popping up. He’d cause some property damage like derailing a train, stop petty crimes like robbery or assault, and sometimes even something more serious like murder… and he appeared to be completely unstoppable. When he moved to Metropolis….”

  A new image snapped up; showing the powerfully built form of the man he’d seen in orbit.

  “He announced to the world who he was. Kal-El, an alien from Krypton, last member of his species. After he made this announcement…. More aliens showed up. Hostile. Friendly. And, tellingly… many more Kryptonians. Even what he claimed was a Kryptonian dog, and his cousin.”

  Images appeared of a team of soldiers; a squad of people in black body-armor of a strange, alien design.

  “General Zod and his people caused billions in damage and took thousands of lives before the Alien stopped them… and over the next twenty years, we would have numerous alien incursions. Sometimes from the same alien as before. And while numerous human lives were lost each time… the alien leadership, these other Kryptonians, always survived to be banished, imprisoned… conveniently somewhere we couldn’t see them.”

  Luthor glanced at Eyeball. “This is where we get into supposition. So tell me. If this General Zod showed up… not once, but three times… and he had the opportunity to kill him every time, but didn’t. Another alien… even stronger than Zod, did even more damage, named Darkseid. He invaded twice. Was allowed to leave alive, both times. Then we had Braniac, yet another alien. Twice … and the only one out of all these he actually killed was Braniac. What does that tell you?”

  Eyeball nodded thoughtfully. “...Were they all humanoid aliens?”

  “Based on what you’ve showed me, every single one of them would be among the closest to human you’ve ever seen. Darkseid’s biggest difference would be the sheer size of him; he’s over eight feet tall, but could still pass for a giant human in a costume. ”

  “...So most likely the whole lot of them are of this same shapeshifting Kryptonian species, or derivations thereof. And either this whole thing is a game between them…”

  “Or they’re just helping to increase the Alien’s popularity, while weakening humanity. I’ve run polls… and they scare the hell out of me… most people would actually be in favor of him ruling us, taking over for our governments. His popularity outmatches every political party in the most developed nations.”

  Luthor turned to Eyeball, crossing his arms. “There’s actually an ongoing campaign in Australia… that if Superman’s the one who keeps them safe, while their government sits on their hands… he should be in charge. Combining all this with the fact that there’s a supposedly half-Kryptonian child…. At least one…”

  Eyeball sighed. “...I can think of a variety of reasons. Its probably not actually a half-Kryptonian, but a full Kryptonian, part of some sort of long-term replacement, conquest, who knows. Unless they have some means of turning a human into one of their kind.”

  He nodded. “That’s… incredibly suspicious. But its not quite proof.”

  Luthor shrugged. “Well, there isn’t really any hard proof. A telepathic scan of the dying alien named Braniac seemed to indicate that there were thousands, even tens of thousands, more Kryptonians here on earth, waiting for their moment to emerge. Something about a place called Kandor, just that they weren’t as much of a threat as Superman. The way they keep all this advanced alien tech out of human hands and force us to struggle. If he left, we’d be helpless…. But if we’d had to deal with aliens ourselves from the beginning… we’d have a fleet. Alien weapons and armor. We make do as best we can… but thanks to his efforts… right now, we need him.”

  “....Not anymore. I’ve got an AI currently studying traffic here. If I find any real proof… like say that this Kandor thing was real… then I’ll just find a pretext to lure them back to their watchtower and take the whole group out at once.”

  “Well. If it comes down to that…. Give me a call. I’m sure some of them will escape… and you might just need some backup. While you’re on the way out….”

  He held up a small black box. “Kryptonite. Nullifies the benefits their race gets from yellow sunlight. You might need it.”

  “Well then. Is that all?”

  “The rest of the league? One of them is a human with that Darkseid fellow’s tech embedded in him. Another is a supposed Martian, despite Mars clearly being lifeless. An alien that looks like a human, but with wings. A man named Hal Jordan… a real human who was a former pilot… who supposedly joined some sort of Galactic Police agency.”

  “I’ll give you all of their files. I’ll send you everything I know about them. I’m sure you’ll draw the same conclusions I have.”

  ***

  “So. What do you think?” He glanced at Abby, the red-headed drone beside him. “Is he full of shit, or what?”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The armored helmet popped open, and the woman inside gave a firm nod. “I’ve been comparing Luthor’s files with published articles and videos from independent sources. DarkSied doesn’t just look like an oversized grey human with a facial deformity. Some of his elite troops also look like just regular humans. Braniac looked like a green-skinned human. There were several far less humanoid alien encounters, and the supposed ‘Galactic Police’ agency called the Green Lantern Corps is led by short blue-skinned humans, though they maintain a more varied cast of officers.”

  “...That’s… really, really, weird. Is it all bullshit? A trick being played on humans to make them think Superman being so human is normal?”

  “The only possibilities are either that, or a common ancestor. If this version of humanity once ruled the cosmos, or some other near-human race did, they could all be descended from it; like the Founders, only humans are one of the offshoots.”

  Eyeball nodded as the shuttle lifted into the air. “....We need to get a sample of one of these aliens that looks humanoid. We can study the genes, and figure out the truth. Any good ideas on how?”

  The redhead closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. “Affirmative. This ‘Justice League’ maintains a museum in Metropolis, funded by the primary financial supporter of the league; a billionaire named Bruce Wayne. Included among its relics is a broken weapon with which a metahuman injured the Kryptonian known as ‘General Zod’ during his third incursion. There is a tiny but visible blood stain on the object in images posted on social media.”

  “...Well then. We should check it out. In the meantime…” He looked at the black box. “Whatever this is. Split it. Study half of it and see if the ship can project a shield of the same radiation. I’ll keep the other half on me, just in case. Check it for trackers, too.” He handed the box to abby.

  “And checkout this Bruce Wayne character. If he’s funding them, he might be part of things, or an alien himself.”

  ***

  The museum’s security was surprisingly sophisticated; no apparent guards, but cameras everywhere, and he could detect that, if he touched the exhibits, he would almost immediately be teleported into a holding cell of some sort…

  Which was a neat trick. Whatever it was, it was just about impossible to dodge.

  He was wearing a fairly normal outfit; jeans, a long-sleeved jacket with a ‘Spartans’ logo on it; the local NFL team, apparently, though there had apparently also been a short-lived NBA team by the same name; and had a skin-tone glove over his cybernetic arm as he walked into the museum, and started a slow course through it.

  The entrance was mostly related to Superman; Metropolis’s Hometown Hero, apparently. Snapshots of him saving people from rooftops. Fighting giant robots. A handful of tiny Ascension drones were slowly scattering through the museum, emerging from an extradimensional space as he looked it all over.

  The broken weapon of some sort of strange winged alien called a Parademon was on display, amidst a panorama showing the second invasion of the alien Darkseid; as Jason studied the image, it was pretty clear… he might be an alien, but he looked like Almasi from back home had decided to turn into some sort of rock… and had an adult Butch’s height.

  Five fingers. The right proportions for a large, adult, human male. Considering his name sounded like ‘Dark Side’, he should check to see whether this particular charade was unveiled before or after Star Wars.

  ~Sample has been retrieved. The alarm system has multiple states, and detected something wrong with the weapon. The weapon has been teleported away from the museum, and security is en route.~

  Jason gave a slow nod… and popped his earpiece out, slipping it into the extradimensional space. The drone would likely just work its way out of the building on its own, and rejoin Ascension; before making its way out of orbit.

  There were no alarms. Nothing significant going on. And when he entered the next room, showing a display of the ‘Green Lantern’ hero, at first he thought there was another image of the ‘Superman’ here… until it stepped up closer, and he could see that, unlike most of the things here, his railgun would bounce right off of the man.

  The man approached… and stopped a few feet from him. A few civilians were staring at him in awe, though a security guard had entered the room, and was quietly ushering them away as Superman stared at Jason.

  “So. Mister Bennet. I noticed that someone tampered with Excalibur. And you happen to be inside the museum when it happens. Would that be a coincidence?”

  Jason smiled. “I can tell you, honestly, I’m not here to steal that weapon, or any other. Just trying to learn more about you and your friends. See whether or not you’re on the side of the angels.”

  He frowned. “....I may not have a lasso, but either you’re telling the truth, or you have exceptional control. I noticed you visited Luthor. What did he tell you?”

  “That the Alien couldn’t be trusted. Was planning to make humans reliant on himself, and set himself up as a ruler… and was already well on the way, with his Justice League and other such teams slowly reaching a point where the various global militaries were irrelevant. If you left, and we were invaded again, we’d be doomed… but that if you’d never been here, by now we would be ready.”

  “...You know, that almost sound’s like Batman’s line of thinking. He didn’t trust me either, at first. It took a long time before he did… but once he did, he became one of my closest friends. You’re carrying a couple of things I can’t see through. Mind if I ask what they are?”

  See through? Ahh. The man could see through anything, except lead apparently. “A gift from Luthor, and something I brought from my own reality.”

  Superman sighed. “Look. Luthor’s arguments might be compelling. But I promise you… I’m a good, decent man, who just wants to help as much as possible. We’ve already used the lasso of truth on you, so I can trust you’re not some sort of alien conqueror. You could be an asset, if you wanted to be. What would it take to convince you I’m exactly what I say I am?”

  “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Is the young man, Super-boy, really your son? Half-Kryptonian, half-human?”

  “Well, yes, of course.”

  Jason stared at him for a moment. The only thing he could possibly do to actually take him out would be the same extradimensional space trick he’d pulled on the Emperor. Unless this Kryptonite thing really worked. Any mention of it seemed to have been carefully scrubbed from the internet. And the odds of a genuine alien being genetically compatible with a human? The man just had to be lying.

  Fortunately, he had his sample. “...Tell you what. I’m either going to be an enemy of yours, or an ally. I’m going to conduct some research. See as much of the truth as I can. This visit here is part of that. In… we’ll say a week. I’ll know for certain, one way or another. I can meet you back on your watch-tower, and I can either talk about joining you, or we can fight to the death.”

  He zeroes in on the alien’s face. “Sound good to you?”

  The alien studied him for a moment. “...You realize you can’t actually defeat us, right?”

  “If you’re the bad guys here, I’ll have to try.”