At L'Eclair, a fine bistro in Metropolis

[jla_villains]

Merlyn sips his espresso and sighs contentedly. There aren't too many places in America where you can get really decent coffee, but this is one of them.

He looks around idly. Surely Superman won't be late. He's Superman after all.

Comments

[jla_villains]

He flickers into a studio apartment he keeps in Djakarta, and immediately picks up a secured comm.

Calculator, this is Merlyn. I need a 'port to the Crime Doctor. As soon as possible, please. Payment from the Caymans account.

[jla_villains]

Fifty thousand being routed. Stand by for teleport - I'm signaling the Doc that he's got incoming in two minutes. Can't do it faster. Mirror Master's not available at the moment and Faust can do it but he needs to set up the ritual.

Pause.

So I'm guessing the job went south, huh?

[jla_villains]

Somewhat. Superman was faster than anticipated - I laid down that network of bombs, all eighty, only told him about three-quarters of them, and he still made it just in time to save the target's life. Another two seconds would have made the difference.

He smiles nonetheless.

Good thing I warned Miss Reyes that payment would be half in advance, non-negotiable, no refund on case of failure...

[jla_villains]

Yeah, that's going rate for anything where Superman or Batman might be the opposition these days. Starting to see a lot of jobs demand that for Wonder Woman too. Can't fight inflation.

Faust? Okay, Merle, stand by for 'port on my mark... Mark.

[jla_villains]

And he disappears, leaving only a few drops of blood on the floor.