mtl008 Chapter 4377 The Justice League Assembles (25)
Chapter 4377 The Justice League Assembles (25)
Chapter 4377 Justice League: Assemble (Twenty-Five)
Diana strode across the still very damp bushes and into a tall tent. All the wounded lay there, pale-faced, occasionally letting out a painful groan. Diana's brow never relaxed.
“Your Highness, the casualty figures have been tallied,” a female warrior said as she approached. “All the seriously wounded have been rescued, but we still have four dead and more than sixty wounded.”
Diana sighed. Don't let the number fool you; the entire Amazon doesn't have a large population, and even with a general mobilization, the military force is still small. They possess special abilities, and non-combat casualties are generally rare—this is the biggest loss of life in the Amazon in a century.
“Go and report to the Queen,” Diana said. “It was my fault for not guarding Paradise Island properly. I will go and apologize to her in person.”
"This is not your fault, Your Highness. Those Atlanteans were too despicable..."
Diana shook her head and said, "It's not entirely Atlanteans. I think someone is stirring things up. I've already had someone investigate, and we'll have the results soon."
Diana stayed at the hospital for a while, and soon after, a phone call came in. Bruce's voice came through the phone: "Just as you guessed, Diana. The operation involving that illegitimate son named Arthur was leaked from a US official intelligence agency. It seems the Coast Guard and Om were cooperating."
"Damn it! What exactly are these intelligence agencies keeping secret? How can anyone get information from them?"
“While their secrecy is certainly not very good, this time is probably different,” Bruce said. “I suspect they did it on purpose.”
Diana frowned. Bruce continued, "The situation in the United States is very tense right now. In general, the ruling party, which has a large majority of votes, does not agree to a new election, while the opposition party wants to use the issue of moving the Capitol to the Metropolitan Government to invalidate the electoral process and thus call a new election. I think you understand."
Diana didn't realize it at first, but she quickly figured it out: the ruling party had already won the election and was a sure thing for re-election, but something went wrong during the vote count—the Capitol Building was moved, so the opposition party seized on this and insisted on a revote to turn the tide.
At this point, the ruling party certainly doesn't want to cause any more trouble. After all, although the parliament building was moved, it was moved intact, without affecting the members of parliament or interfering with the vote counting machines. Therefore, the demands to deny legitimacy are unlikely to be accepted, or at least the reasons are insufficient.
However, if something else goes wrong at this time, such as the metropolitan area being flooded or a tsunami being triggered, then the opposition party's argument will be even stronger—the votes have been flooded, so why can't there be a new election?
Therefore, the ruling party certainly doesn't want Aom to carry out any tsunami plan. Their biggest wish right now is for the election results to be finalized peacefully, so they need to find a way to prevent Aom from attacking the United States in the short term.
So they deliberately leaked intelligence, diverting the trouble to Orm by revealing Arthur's actions and information about the Golden Trident, causing him to target the Amazon. Ultimately, Orm was forced by competitive pressure to abandon the Tsunami Plan and instead attack the Amazon.
Diana stood up, took a deep breath, clenched her fists tightly, and then "whoosh," she flew up and headed straight for the Amazon airport.
After disembarking from the Metropolitan Airport, Diana disregarded the shocked gazes of the crowd and flew straight out of the airport from the exit, heading towards the Metropolitan Central Plaza like a missile.
Just as she flew to the vicinity of the Capitol, she saw a familiar figure—Arthur, carrying a golden trident, angrily marching towards the Capitol.
So she stopped and flew to Arthur's side. The two looked at each other, and Diana said, "What a coincidence, you're here too."
"Yeah, you didn't find out too..."
They both let out a cold laugh, more like laughing in anger. As they walked towards the Capitol Building, their phones rang one after the other, but both voices carried the same message:
"Hello, this is the Sky Eye Association. What's your decision?"
And the response he received was a unanimous roar:
"roll!!!!!!!"
The two men slammed down the phone angrily and rushed into the Capitol Building almost simultaneously, landing in the very center of the rotunda. Coincidentally, the members of Congress were still debating whether to hold a revote and were stunned to see two "supermen" fly in.
"Silence!" Arthur shouted. "Why did you start the war between Atlantis and the Amazons?!"
"You damned bastards!" Diana stepped forward as well. "What good does it do you to stir up trouble in the world?!"
Both men reeked of an overwhelming stench of blood and murderous intent, and the councilors, adept at reading people, quickly realized that these two were up to no good, and that things could become very complicated if they weren't given a satisfactory explanation.
So they started whispering among their colleagues. But they weren't discussing whether they had done it or not; they were discussing who had done it.
The saying goes, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." Most of the councilors present have been doing this for three or four decades, and the things they've done are enough to be considered "a hundred ghosts walking at night." So now that two "ghosts" are knocking on their door, they can't even remember at what stage or under what circumstances they did these wrongdoings.
As for "not doing it"? That's even more impossible. Don't worry about where Atlantis and the Amazon actually are; as long as the phrase "started a war" is mentioned, they're practically involved. Since World War II, there hasn't been a single war, big or small, in the world that wasn't their involvement; if they truly weren't involved, they'd be questioning their own capabilities.
"Was it that time in the 1980s? I remember when the Amazonian queen visited the United States, we wanted the Iberians to raid the embassy?"
"No way, I think it was in the 1960s. Our president went on a visit to Europe, and the secret agents disguised themselves as Amazons and planted car bombs in Italy..."
"No, you're all wrong. It's the legacy of the arms embargo from the 1990s..."
A group of people whispered among themselves, ultimately failing to figure out who was responsible, but as the saying goes, "the more lice, the less it itch." One of the congressmen cleared his throat and said, "I am deeply saddened by the war that has taken place in your country. We sympathize with the Amazons and... uh, Atlanteans who have been affected by this disaster. But this is just the growing pains of normal changes in international relations. I believe the United States has both the responsibility and the capability to act as an absolutely impartial mediator to help you two stabilize the domestic situation as soon as possible. Let's start with your demands—are you representatives of the military government?"
Diana and Arthur exchanged a glance. Before they could speak, an older congressman said, “We support the Atlanteans and Amazons in their pursuit of their own democracy and resolutely oppose brutal dictatorship. All armed activities against dictatorship and for freedom should be supported. The United States is willing to support the democratic demands of the Amazonian and Atlantean people and can provide you with military assistance to a certain extent. Could you tell us about the situation in your country? This will help us determine whether to provide you with weapons support or directly send elite soldiers for surgical precision operations…”
“I believe the federal government’s policies toward this country are problematic,” another congressman stood up and said. “The dispute between Amazon and Atlantis is entirely due to the ruling party’s insufficient efforts in mediating international relations and its lack of active attention to the livelihoods and rights of people in small countries. The fact that such an incident occurred during the president’s term reflects the unfairness of his re-election.”
"I disagree. The ruling party has done nothing wrong in handling diplomatic relations with the Amazon and Atlantis. We have always supported the people of the free world in resisting dictatorship in their own way. All wars for democracy are just, and this is precisely a manifestation of diplomatic success."
"I think so too..."
"I object!"
"I object to your objection!"
"I object too!"
In fact, Diana and Arthur, now standing in the center of the hall, were somewhat bewildered. They had expected that when they came to question these councilors, the other party would try every means to explain or make excuses, or offer a perfunctory apology, or even verbally abuse them and try to take military action to drive them out.
To everyone's surprise, they didn't think that starting a war was wrong—they believed it was about upholding justice.
They didn't even know if Atlantis existed or where it was located. The war, they simply said, was caused by a dictator oppressing the people, and the people fighting for democracy with armed resistance.
All their strategies toward these war-torn countries are aimed at supporting the people's struggle for democracy. They don't see this as interference in other countries' internal affairs or instigating war; they see themselves as the embodiment of justice, only now debating which party is the most righteous.
But it must be admitted that their attitude left Diana and Arthur speechless for a moment.
The anticipated heated debates and back-and-forth exchanges never materialized—they didn't see war as wrong at all; they believed it was a necessary means to fight for democracy, and that sacrificing any number of lives was justified.
All the conversations seemed to be trapped in a box: whatever you said, they were right. If you said it wasn't a civil war, they would say that one country was more democratic, and the war was just to push the other country onto the path of democracy; if you said it was a land-sea war, they would tell you that one side was more democratic, and they were also helping the undemocratic side resist oppression; if you said it was a war between superpowered beings, they would say that one side's superpowered beings were more dictatorial; if you said both sides were dictatorial kingdoms, they would say that one side's people yearned for democracy, which was why the war broke out.
By instigating wars, they are helping the more democratic side escape the oppression of dictatorship and embark on the glorious path of American-style democracy. You say wars result in heavy casualties, they say the pursuit of democracy comes at a price; you say the US doesn't need to intervene, they say, "We are the leaders of the democratic world, we must intervene."
Clearly, they have evolved a perfectly closed-loop logic regarding igniting wars around the world. If you dare to refute any part of it, they will accuse you of being anti-democratic and a brutal dictator.
Arthur took a deep breath, his hand gripping the golden trident trembling slightly. At the same time, the sea in Metropolis began to rise against the tide.