To verify his theory, Sebastian deliberately started a small disturbance on the street. He was arrested and taken to the police station. The result shocked the officers and terrified him—the police database had no record of him whatsoever.
He provided additional information, asking the police to search for his parents. The result was the sa. His parents existed, but they had no record of him as their child. At least, not in police records.
Finding soone with absolutely no docuntation in modern society was quite unusual. Many officers gathered to observe. Sebastian recognized several of them, but none recognized him. His heart grew increasingly desolate. He acted insane at the station for two days, leaving behind what might beco an urban legend about a ti traveler, before being transferred to Star City Psychiatric Hospital.
This minor incident beca water-cooler gossip at the Star City Police Departnt. Before long, word reached Thea's ears. She rely smiled. Who could imagine this man had once planned to run for mayor? No one rembered him. In everyone's mory, Sebastian Blood didn't exist. Everything he'd said or done—except for Thea and himself—no one knew this person's past. All traces of his existence had been erased from the source by reality-warping power.
The cost was a week of headaches and dizziness for Thea. Erasing just one ordinary person had made her miserable. This technique, which she'd nad the Erasure Eye, couldn't be used lightly again—at least not in the current stage.
Star City returned to tranquility. No one rembered any Sebastian. Several outstanding individuals vying to inherit Star City's mayorship had already begun covert negotiations and exchanges. Star City's prosperous economy and stable security ant they could reap impressive achievents without doing much. No one could resist that temptation.
Naturally, Star City's prosperity bred cri. After the Brick gang's self-destruction, a new criminal codenad "Count Vertigo" rose in Star City. He manufactured massive quantities of hallucinogens and flooded the market, causing the city's cri rate to spike noticeably within a single week.
When Felicity invited Thea out for coffee, she only briefly ntioned it before dropping the subject. With Green Arrow's team now so well-equipped, a small-ti Vertigo wasn't worth discussing.
"How's Sara doing these days? She seems much tougher than I rember," Thea had to remark.
The day she'd gone to find Green Arrow, she'd been startled. The shooting club had gained two more female mbers. Laurel's sister Sara Lance had finally returned to Star City, and with her ca the Demon's Head's younger daughter, Nyssa al Ghul.
Talia's iron-fisted rule had driven Nyssa and Sara into hiding abroad for two years. Yes, these two ladies had that kind of "intimate" relationship. Missing her sister and father, with nowhere else to go, Sara had brought Nyssa back to Star City.
Because of Thea's intervention in the past and with future-Sara's participation, this tiline's Sara had never encountered Oliver on Lian Yu. When they t, they fought fiercely for quite a while before realizing they'd once been jogging partners.
In their confusion, old feelings seed to rekindle between them. This enraged the Demon's Head's daughter: "You can't steal Sara from !"
Their emotional entanglents were beyond complicated—chaos didn't begin to describe it. Compared to their intricate relationships, Count Vertigo was rely a minor nuisance.
As an outsider, Thea found it ssy. As an insider, Oliver found it even more chaotic. The siblings occasionally chatted about it, but ultimately they'd have to resolve it themselves.
---
That day's purification of the Leviathan had increased atmospheric magical content. Combined with Central City's particle accelerator explosion, mysterious substances in the air were rapidly multiplying. Thea could sense abnormal turbulence beneath the calm surface. Bad things could happen at any mont.
On a peaceful afternoon, as Thea finished her day's work and prepared to go ho, an urgent phone call interrupted her plans.
"Get to Gotham quick—Superman's gone mad!" The caller was Barbara Gordon. The other end sounded like a demolition site, thunderous crashes echoing continuously. Without ti to think, Thea donned her Godkiller armor and, consequences be damned, flew straight toward Gotham at full speed.
Under her maximum velocity, Gotham appeared before her eyes in monts. Half a city block lay in ruins. Ordinary citizens fled desperately while street gangs seized the opportunity to loot. Police helicopters and news choppers filled the air—the forr maintaining order, the latter fearlessly broadcasting breaking news.
But the most eye-catching sight was Superman himself, intermittently airborne in his blue suit and red cape, his eyes blood-red.
On the ground, constantly engaging him in combat, was Batman wearing armor that looked like a bulky robotic suit. The heavy armor provided trendous defensive capability, and various high-tech equipnt gave it formidable offensive power as well.
But caught off-guard with zero preparation, even wearing this anti-Superman armor, Batman was being thoroughly beaten.
What was happening? Just days ago, he'd been worried about Lois. Superman couldn't have turned dark this quickly, could he?
Seeing Batman about to collapse, Thea had no ti for questions. She flew down and intercepted Superman's killing blow.
The overwhelming force sent her flying over ten ters. Superman was simultaneously knocked back two ters. In pure strength, they still had a gap, but not a large one.
"What's going on? Can soone explain?" Thea drew the Godkiller sword, its brilliant radiance clashing with Superman.
"His chest—sothing there is controlling him," Batman's damaged armor distorted his voice.
Only then did Thea look at Superman's chest. His suit had always concealed any details, but now she could see sothing was wrong.
Beneath the fabric, a dark purple plant had attached itself. Four tentacle-like appendages continuously drained his life force while the plant's main body emitted sound waves similar to ntal attacks. Through so peculiar resonance, it affected Superman's brain.
Black rcy. Thea recognized it imdiately—she'd encountered this parasitic plant before while helping Poison Ivy catalog exotic specins.
Seeing it was one thing—dealing with it was another. The plant itself had no combat capability, but through long evolution, it possessed a damned symbiotic defense system. If forcibly removed, Superman's survival rate was less than one in ten thousand.
How had Supergirl resolved it in the original tiline? Thea dealt with Superman's attacks while trying to rember.
The broken plant could hardly completely control a Kryptonian. Different life levels—like ants unable to control humans—it couldn't fully control Superman either. At least not completely.
This relieved Thea. This kind of externally-induced darkness was much easier to handle than Superman subjectively turning evil.
A fully rational Superman who held back would be formidable. A Superman who abandoned all moral restraints would be catastrophic. But this puppet version, controlled by an alien parasite, couldn't even access a fraction of his true power.
The only regret was that the plant's control over Superman made him immune to many ntal control spells. This left Thea only able to fight him with her great sword. The situation was temporarily deadlocked.
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