Standing beside Maxwell was a dignified-looking old man. However, this elder who usually prided himself on being descended from nobility had sweat covering his face. One hand gripped his cane while the liver-spotted hand showed bulging veins, revealing his inner tension.
"Can we really win? I've gambled my family's entire legacy on this."
"Relax. You saw Lord DeSaad's power yourself, didn't you? He personally promised that Earth would be ruled by your Morgan family afterward. You want zero risk? How is that possible?"
Maxwell's words were reassuring, but internally he felt nothing but contempt. These greedy old bastards pounced on any hint of profit like rabid dogs. They were humanity's disgrace.
His gaze lifted to the highest altitude where Thea was clashing head-on with Darkseid. I'll reach those heights too! For that goal, he'd abandon any notion of human honor. Earth? Not my concern!
His consoling words had almost no effect. The Lanterns—any one of them had superhero-level combat power. Moreover, with Blue Lanterns present, everyone's rings doubled in strength. Against a group of ordinary humans, even if they were elite forces the Morgan family had spent fortunes creating, they stood no chance.
The Morgan family's mechanized power armor was torn apart. Energy guns seemed like children's toys before Lantern constructs.
"I'll get reinforcements. This place is yours!" Seeing his armed forces mowed down like wheat, the old man panicked and tried to abandon Maxwell to buy himself time.
Unfortunately—BANG! A gunshot. The old man felt warm liquid flowing down his aged face, then collapsed headfirst, knowing nothing more.
"Heh heh, old dog. Even at death's door, you're still scheming." Maxwell holstered his gun and smiled as he pulled aside a nearby curtain, revealing a three-meter-tall (about 10 feet) crate standing there.
He rapidly input the code. An iron-blue, muscular man slowly emerged.
"Copy the abilities of those people in the sky. First, use Superman's powers to show these outsiders what Amazo can do. Hahahaha!" Seeing various 0s and 1s rapidly flickering in the blue-muscled man's eyes, Maxwell couldn't suppress his joy and laughed wildly.
"Start with this guy." He directed the muscle man to attack Hal Jordan, who was charging the hardest.
Hal didn't understand what was happening when a crude figure charged at him with irresistible speed.
"Who are you? A metahuman?" He showed no weakness, setting up a green barrier in front of himself. Based on experience, the barrier would block the enemy then wrap around them. He'd used this method to win against countless massive aliens.
Unfortunately, this time he faced someone exceptionally fierce—Amazo, possessing the legendary ability to copy any power just by looking. With Superman's full abilities copied but none of his weaknesses, Amazo charged like a wild boar toward Hal's shield.
The green light lasted less than half a second before an overwhelming force shattered it into powder. Amazo encountered almost no resistance, charging straight at Hal Jordan.
Now a battle-hardened veteran unlike the rookie of years past, Hal didn't panic. He conjured a giant fist that struck the ground, using the recoil to gain significant altitude and barely dodging Amazo's charge.
Before Hal could celebrate, he heard Carol Ferris shout, "Watch out!"
He didn't foolishly look back, but curled into a ball mid-air and rolled left.
"Ssssss!" Two deep red beams struck where he'd just been, flying far into the distance before dissipating.
"Kryptonian?" Hal had seen Superman and the Yellow Lantern-wearing Faora. He knew about Kryptonians—but didn't they say Kryptonians were extinct? Now how many had shown up? One, two, three, four...
Amazo didn't know his thoughts. Its mouth gathered massive energy and spewed freezing breath at Hal.
"Damn it! Big guy, check this out!" Hal dodged the freeze breath. His ring flared with brilliant green light, and an emerald greatsword materialized from nothing.
Simulating Kryptonite radiation—only a few Green Lanterns could accomplish this, requiring both strong willpower and precise construction ability. The seemingly carefree Hal Jordan had specifically trained this technique. By his estimate, perfect simulation was impossible, but he could manage about sixty or seventy percent.
Just as he waited to watch his opponent collapse in agony so he could swagger over and brag, the green light sword stabbed straight into Amazo's rock-like chest and—crack!—shattered into powder.
Hal was completely dumbfounded. "You're not Kryptonian? What the hell are you?"
Amazo didn't bother answering. Its massive arm swung down with a devastating punch.
Can't win! Hal Jordan could only retreat. Carol Ferris, who'd been watching him closely, rushed to provide support.
However, power rings had their limitations. In ordinary people's eyes they seemed incredibly formidable, but to true experts—like Thea, like Diana—they were merely adequate. Quantity couldn't influence the final battle outcome.
The two of them working together barely lasted a few exchanges before they couldn't hold out...
Saint Walker, Indigo-1, and Arkillo saw the crisis and joined the fight. Relying on five of the most outstanding Lanterns from their respective corps, they barely managed to resist Amazo.
Watching this scene on the rear display screen, Batman looked questioningly at Secretary Lane. "If I'm not mistaken, this is a product of the military's Amazo Project. The military obtained considerable data from me, but I remember the President ordered the Amazo development stopped."
Old Lane looked equally puzzled. "We stopped upon receiving orders. All preliminary data was sealed, and experimental data was destroyed."
Though he said this, his confidence wavered. The Pentagon wasn't his personal fiefdom. All political figures wanted to prevent the military from being monolithic, so various factions worked hard to plant their people inside.
He, the Defense Secretary, functioned more like a chief steward—a military spokesman. Too many people disobeyed orders and acted independently! Now, regardless of who'd secretly developed Amazo, it had become reality.
"Does it have any weaknesses?" Batman watched the screen as Amazo—essentially a Superman with no weaknesses—single-handedly beat a group of Lanterns until they cried for mercy. Feeling anxious, he asked.
Old Lane glanced at his several assistants. They looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.
"Amazo has no weaknesses. Its artificial cells can simulate any superhuman ability it observes, without the original's flaws. It's invincible..." One old man showed both excitement and regret—hard to imagine these two expressions appearing simultaneously on one face.