The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics

The Illuminati didn't think much of Desmond. The main reason they recruited him was to see if the 'Titan Formula' he mentioned could replace Cobra Venom.

After all, the leaders of the Illuminati were all powerful figures. They wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. If there was a better alternative to their original plan, why not use it?

But as it turned out, while both the Titan Formula and Cobra Venom could enhance the host's physical abilities, the side effects of the Titan Formula were too severe.

The intelligence of test subjects injected with the Titan Formula would drastically decrease, instantly turning a sane adult into someone with intellectual disabilities.

Even those high-IQ criminals who prided themselves on their intelligence couldn't even count after being injected with the Titan Formula. It was more of a poison than an enhancement.

Desmond assured the Illuminati that he could solve the problem given time, but these important figures wouldn't waste time on him.

Fortunately, Desmond had some talent in genetics, so he was assigned to Cadmus Labs to oversee Project Kr, and to clone some metahumans for future use.

However, Desmond was clearly an ambitious guy, so he used Cadmus Labs' resources to conduct his own research. That's right, he was researching a Titan Formula without side effects, which was the formula he used when attacking Robin and the others.

That was the only successful formula. He had originally wanted to use it to turn his life around, but he ran into Young Justice, led by Yang Le.

It was then that Yang Le took all the internal data from Cadmus Labs. He wasn't interested at all when he saw the data on the perfect Titan Formula.

But upon learning about Dr. Desmond's situation, Yang Le had an idea. With this plan, he might be able to get close to the Illuminati.

So Yang Le deleted the perfect Titan Formula data and, as Impulse, re-entered data about an all-powerful metahuman—Weapon O.

Of course, there was nothing particularly important in this data. Yang Le imitated Desmond's tone and wrote a lab diary, describing the birth of Weapon O as a miracle that occurred by chance.

Desmond (Yang Le) didn't know why Weapon O was born, but he knew what a being capable of wielding so many superpowers could bring him.

But Desmond wasn't impatient. He concealed the birth of Weapon O because he knew the Illuminati looked down on mediocre talents with lucky breaks, so he wanted to wait until he understood it before reporting it.

In subsequent experiments, Desmond discovered that Weapon O had a strong compatibility with various superhuman genes. When it was first born, Weapon O only had three abilities, but after a period of experimentation, its abilities increased to six.

The strong gene compatibility was why the Illuminati valued Weapon O.

But unfortunately, Dr. Desmond was apprehended by the Justice League before he could figure it out, which led to not only Superboy but also Weapon O falling into the hands of the Justice League.

"Desmond is a useless failure," Ra's al Ghul cursed. Even he, who wasn't that knowledgeable about high technology, knew how much a being that could adapt to various genes could do.

Even with the simplest application, as long as they had a Weapon O, the Illuminati would be confident in creating countless Weapon Os. Then they wouldn't have to rely too much on their alien allies.

As long as they built an army of super-metahumans, they could counterattack the entire universe, let alone Earth, and let those alien hicks taste the power of Earthlings.

"I think we can temporarily increase the importance of Young Justice," Brainiac suggested directly.

"Everyone here is smart, so I don't need to remind you of the importance of Weapon O, right? If possible, we must get him into our hands first."

"Especially before the Justice League realizes his importance."

"Seconded." Lex Luthor's goal was this, so he naturally seconded Brainiac's proposal first.

"Seconded." Vandal Savage followed closely behind. To achieve his goals, he naturally had to hold all the advantageous resources in his hands.

The other members naturally had no objections and agreed to the proposal.

"I'll take care of this matter," Lex Luthor stood up. "I'll only be at ease if I personally handle matters related to Weapon O."

The leaders nodded. It was indeed more reassuring to leave this to one of them.

It seemed that Weapon O had left a deep impression on these self-proclaimed superior beings, which proved that Yang Le's goal had been achieved.

The Illuminati leaders communicated for a while before ending the meeting.

Lex Luthor turned off the communication and slumped into his office chair. He didn't dare to slack off in front of these allies, even though they belonged to the same organization.

They weren't the Justice League, who were dedicated to contributing. The Illuminati were a group of egoists. Luthor believed that as soon as he revealed a flaw, he would be eaten by his happily chatting allies.

Ocean Master was like that, revealing a weakness and being squeezed dry of his remaining value, then kicked away after being used up.

Rubbing his temples, Lex Luthor rested for a while before opening the drawer of his desk. In addition to some documents, there was a small box lying quietly.

This was something he had prepared for Superboy, a suppression device called a Shield. As long as the Shield was attached to the body, it could temporarily suppress the human genes in Superboy's body, allowing the Kryptonian genes to take over, thereby enhancing his combat power.

In simple terms, as long as he put on the Shield, Superboy could go from being half Kryptonian to a full Kryptonian.

This was originally a bargaining chip he planned to use to lure Superboy, but now it seemed that the target of the chip had to be changed.

Tapping his finger on the box containing the Shield, Lex Luthor thought for a moment about how to use this thing, and finally decided that he couldn't act rashly.

He didn't know what kind of person Weapon O was. Approaching him rashly would only expose himself from behind the scenes, and might ruin the goodwill he had accumulated during the Starro incident.

That wouldn't do. At least not for now. At least he still needed the support of the general public.

Let's put out some bait first.