I believe the entire planet was shocked by my short movie being mentioned on the news, so when the Justice League called me in for another trial, I just accepted with a glad heart.

"Grey Wizard, recognized."

"Wonder Woman, recognized."

"Orange, recognized."

"Supergirl, recognized."

The VI's artificial voice left the main hall of the Watchtower in silence. Now they had me here, but were unsure what to do.

Superman and Batman stood as judges, while the Martian Hunter and Green Lantern flanked them with sour faces. The hall was also filled with hundreds of JL heroes from all over the world.

"Grey Wizard, you murdered a man in cold blood." Batman began, pointing at the big screen.

"Absolutely not!" I answered with a serious tone, then waved a hand at the screen to print the new unwritten rules. "I enforced the rules. I also believe my demonstration of swift justice was impressive enough, that other criminals will consider the consequences, next time."

Wonder Woman coughed lightly. "I thought about this event for a day. When we called ourselves the Justice League, it was after a big alien invasion, where we killed many more. I didn't hear anyone blaming Grey Wizard of murder. Not even if he probably killed millions of the Imperium. "

Superman grabbed his chin in deep thought. "Are the cases equivalent?"

"They are worse than today. Back then we didn't have the rules, so I couldn't claim rule enforcement. Defense of Earth and certainly self-defense, exigent circumstances to act in saving the lives of others, and other legal jumbo. But the truth is, we were stronger than the Imperium, so we won. When the next invaders come, if they are stronger, then they will make new rules." I continued in a more relaxed voice.

Batman was a bit stumped, as he probably expected some sort of exigent plea, not a full rebuttal. "Grey Wizard, you claimed these rules will save lives."

"Give it time, Batman. Although I managed to imprint these rules into the minds of all people, there is still some cognitive dissonance. A few more examples, and the public will begin to admit that maybe, breaking the rules is bad for their health. The rules will save millions of lives, and many of our heroes too." I said with a gentle wave towards the audience.

"Kill one to scare a million?" Green Lantern asked in a doubtful voice.

"I could also zip around the Earth and simply exterminate all crime, but that wouldn't save lives. I'd be back in a few seconds..." I proposed in a careless tone.

"Please don't do that, Grey Wizard. Anyone here has the capacity to be a monster, and yet we choose not to be monsters. And don't send more gory images to the news. Rumors will work fine. Maybe even better." the Martian Hunter spoke next, sounding at odds with Batman.

I nodded and just walked at the side, and began setting up my new stand with miraculous gifts and various items to help heroes in their job, from fire-dispersal vambraces to capture nets and sleep darts.

Then I added a dozen amber inhalers, with a red cap on top. Green Lantern appeared at my side, and scanned the inhaler with his ring. "Safe to use, and a speed boost?" he asked me curious. The ring could even extrapolate the effect?

I looked at him, then smiled at his crazy ring that put all my tech to shame. "Take these three, Green Lantern: white, yellow and lastly amber. They build a symbiotic relation in that order."

Stolen story; please report.

Green Lantern did so, and then ran around testing his new and better body. Not even a hint of being in pain, but then again his Willpower was five times higher than mine.

"Thank you, Grey Wizard. See you around." he spoke in a distant voice, then walked away.

I think his ring detected something about me that made him nervous. Or it was simply me disassembling a human, while alive and screaming. Might be that as well.

Oh well. Machiavelli had it right. You don't need them to love you, only fear you.

"Come on guys! I worked a whole month to build these things for you!" Orange yelled at the nervous heroes standing at the side.

"You built this vambrace, Orange? Aren't you a flying brick?" Aquaman asked as he came closer.

"I have ice powers, fish-fucker. Not that you need fire-dampening under water." Orange threw back in a foul mood.

"No, but a net thrower would be useful. I could catch a mermaid and fuck her instead." Aquaman answered with a grin.

Orange grinned back and slapped his back, very lightly. Nothing important broke. "Keep trying, fish face. Maybe one day you'll be cool like me."

Aquaman laughed and grabbed his loot, and began inhaling my miracles in the right order. A minute later, he was slowly flying about, sometimes moving his body like a fish in water.

Another hero that could jump from a burning plane without a parachute now. And twice as fast and durable than before.

"We should get together for drinks one day, Orange. You may bring your wizard, but I'd rather not. I have cool moves too." Aquaman tried, only to get his feet frozen to the ground.

"Try those moves on a mermaid, dolphin boy. I'm a married woman." Orange said in a cheerful voice, then opened her palm to blast a Flamethrower spell at his frozen feet.

"You said Ice powers! Cheater." Aquaman yelled in outrage.

"This is a magic spell, scaly boy. I know hundreds of spells. This is why I'm so cool. Like ice." Orange explained politely, flicking several low-grade spells at the fleeing water boy.

"You're very brave, hitting on Grey Wizard's wife, Aquaman. But don't cry foul if he transmutes you into a fish." Diana advised the man as he was eyeing my Peach from a distance.

"Seahorse, with a saddle." I commented in a thoughtful voice.

Aquaman paled and waved his palms in surrender. "Don't get serious, Grey Wizard. I was just asking..."

I grinned under my holomask. "Batman, we need to talk." I said in a gentle voice, then walked away, while the Dark Knight followed me into our conference room.

"What do you want now, Grey Wizard?" he asked abruptly.

"You're making files on every hero. Names, address, relatives, powers and weakness. On a crappy computer without quantum encryption. Just the right tool for a villain to attack the Justice League." I pointed out in a sad voice.

"How do you know...magic." Batman said in a sour voice.

"And I also hacked your computer. Which brings me to the problem. You're not wearing my headband, which means everything you know can be read by any two-bit psionic, telepath or mind reader around. Hundreds of them, on this Earth. Several in that big room outside, several more in Gotham. And millions of them in the galaxy. Plus various suggestion drugs, spells and mind control abilities. " I spoke in a disappointed tone.

"..." Batman just glared at me in silence.

"Do you want me to turn you in a real bat? Clean up your act, Dark Knight. These are for you, Meta-human_cure vials. They mostly work on dark matter caused mutations, but you can tweak them a bit for other types of powers. This vambrace is from the League of Assassins, poison, sleep and blaster gun. I guess you can replace poison with this cure." I offered as a reward.

"I'll delete the files..." he grumbled a bit upset.

"I already did that. Good idea about blowing my head up, twice. Wouldn't work, but it will be fun if anyone tries. I'll know they read your files too." I added and placed a headband into his hands, then walked out.

"Wait! You know more." Batman asked as I was about to exit.

"Yes. I always do know something more." I admitted with a serious voice.

"How can I become immune to mind-control? I tried splitting my mind into a backup version, but it doesn't always work." Batman asked in a hopeful voice.

"Ah, you mean without a headband? There are cosmic entities out there who can help. Or you just need to increase your magic power and knowledge. You have a bit, just grow stronger." I explained and powered my Light of the Soul, filling the conference room with white-yellow light.

"You're stronger than Zatanna_Zatara ?" he asked in amazement.

"In power, for sure. As for skill...I'm only practicing magic for a few years. I have much to learn." I said with a modest voice, then walked away.