Chapter 240: Gotham And The Speedster’s Arrival
Batman is really scary.
Much scarier than Superman.
Especially after the 【Superhero Popularity Center】 rose, after Green Arrow tirelessly made Batman’s reputation even more victimized based on the fabrication that Ian initially provided, it became even more so.
The fact that Batman can stop children from crying is no longer limited to families of “ordinary citizens” in Gotham. The female homeowner heard Batman’s whisper and was directly scared into completely losing control.
The ground was wet.
In addition to the original smell of human excrement, it also carried the scent of Virus HIV human immunodeficiency virus, as well as syph, HPV, HSV, NG, CA, and other viral microorganisms.
Ordinary people can’t smell it.
But Superman and Batman are not ordinary people. Superman has a super nose, and Batman has tech gadgets researched from studying Superman’s nose using his own technology and methods.
“…”
“The real deal… biochemical host…”
To be honest, it’s hard for any villain to force Batman to retreat repeatedly with an expression of shock and uncertainty, even showing a bit of wariness on his face. The female homeowner in front of him rarely became that exception.
The female homeowner is the kind that even Poison Ivy would call heavenly poison. The fact that she could force Batman to retreat a few steps shows that this woman with no superpowers at all might even have bragging rights in front of superpowered villains. Of course, for her herself, she seems unaware that she has gained some kind of glory.
“Don’t come over! You can’t come in! This is my private territory! This is illegal trespassing! I’m suing you! Suing you for infringing on my personal rights, privacy rights, and right to residential peace!”
“Superman! Come save me! You alien monster, you must come save me! And you bat monster! Don’t think that being a half-orc means you can do whatever you want!”
When it comes to pulling aggro.
The female homeowner is clearly one of the best on the entire Earth.
Batman’s veins bulged.
His already bad mood became even more irritated.
“Maybe I should sew your mouth shut first.”
Batman activated something on his belt, but instead of pulling out sewing supplies, he took out a bottle of sedative that could make someone have continuous nightmares and even customize nightmares for others.
He knows very well how to torment others’ spirits and obtain the information he wants through legal means. As for Batman’s actions, Superman, who was standing outside at the moment, turned a blind eye.
Cry for help?
Where is there any cry for help?
Superman claims he didn’t hear anyone crying for help nearby at all.
After all, he is already middle-aged.
Superman Clark has now learned how to be a bit flexible, like right now, he has activated a flexible application of his super hearing.
Just like in many recording studios that can specifically eliminate a selected sound, anyway, if anyone asks, Superman has the final say on his super hearing.
It’s not that he has lost his mercy.
But he has truly been disgusted by the big environment of zzzq’s America.
And Batman is not really using torture. Inside the house, the thick wooden door isolated the sounds from inside and out, but Superman’s enhanced hearing could still clearly capture the brief and suppressed struggling sounds from inside, as well as the faint hum of some high-frequency sonic instrument starting up.
Then there was dead silence.
He chose to pretend he couldn’t hear it and focused all his attention outside the house.
Superman knows that Bruce will use his own way to make that extremely selfish female homeowner, who tried to shift fatal danger onto others, receive the “punishment” she deserves and pay the price for the information.
Now, the children’s whereabouts are more important.
His gaze turned to Constantine, who was busy on the roadside. This exorcist was squatting on the ground, using chalk made from what looked like charred bone to add the final runes to a complex magic array surrounding the Weeping Angel statue. The magic array emitted a faint blue light, forming an invisible barrier that firmly imprisoned the ferocious statue in its pouncing pose in place, unable to move even a fraction without being watched.
Weeping Angels might be an unsolvable disaster in most worlds.
However.
In the DC universe, there are too many high-dimensional lives after all, and super-mode things emerge endlessly, so correspondingly, there are some countermeasures for such lives.
“So.” Superman spoke, his voice already very steady, “Our children were just temporarily sent to the past, right? They… are still alive?”
Normally, Constantine hates being disturbed while concentrating on casting spells, especially by laymen asking basic questions. But at this moment, facing this God of Man who had just been furious with star-busting power, he had to suppress all his impatience and force a somewhat stiff smile on his face.
“Superman, Great One, in response to your question, theoretically… yes. As long as they didn’t die in the past due to accidents.” Constantine rarely has to force a business smile.
He even gave Clark a lift in a sedan chair, which is actually another form of moral coercion, but it’s a bit more clever than the woman inside the house.
While checking the stability of the magic array, he explained, “Within a certain time, at least as long as the Weeping Angel can still draw nutrients from them, they are relatively ‘safe’.”
After Constantine finished speaking, he saw the puzzled look on Superman’s face and knew that this big shot who doesn’t talk science or metaphysics has limited knowledge of “metaphysics”.
So, he had to continue patiently explaining: “It’s like humans eating animal flesh and blood, except Weeping Angels like this monster don’t eat flesh directly. They ‘eat’ time—more precisely, the ‘potential life energy’ that your children were supposed to spend on their original timeline.”
Constantine tried to describe it in a more understandable way, “Imagine, every life from birth to death has a preset ‘timeline’ containing huge energy. The Weeping Angel throws the prey back to the past, which is equivalent to forcibly ‘cutting’ the prey off from that main line.”
“Putting the prey on an earlier ‘branch’.”
He pointed to the imprisoned statue: “Then, they attach to that ‘cut’ spacetime connection like parasites, drawing the ‘time paradox energy’ and ‘wasted potential life energy’ produced by the prey existing in that past spacetime when it shouldn’t, to sustain their own existence and reproduction.”
“The longer the prey lives in the past spacetime, the more ‘extra’ time energy it produces, the fuller they ‘eat’. So, they usually don’t send the prey to a certain-death time point, as that would cut off the energy source. They prefer to send the prey to a past spacetime where they can struggle to survive, live long enough, but can’t easily return to the present, so they can maximize the ‘harvest’ of food.”
Although this explanation still carried heavy metaphysical color, Superman finally somewhat understood and grasped some key points: the children were just “time traveled”.
That statue is like a parasite, living off the extra life energy the children produce in the past; as long as the statue is still “feeding”, the children are temporarily not in life danger there.
“Just like capitalists raising cattle and horses, as long as the cattle and horses are still useful, there won’t be a catastrophic end.” Superman has clearly been heavily influenced by Ian’s 【everything can be capitalized theory】.
Clearing his thoughts.
This made his always tense nerves relax a big sigh for the time being.
After all, for the Justice League, which often handles various universe-level crises, and himself, time travel is not unfamiliar.
Except for The Flash.
Actually, the Hall of Justice stores time travel devices, and they have dealt with chaos caused by time travel multiple times. As long as the person is alive, there is hope to rescue them.
Moreover, thinking carefully, Jordan has already awakened as a Kryptonian; although Jonathan doesn’t seem very prominent usually, he is after all the “God”-chosen skin suit.
The two definitely don’t lack life-saving means. As long as they weren’t thrown to some dangerous time point like a star explosion or universe reboot, with Jonathan and Jordan’s self-preservation abilities, survival shouldn’t be a problem. What he worries about now is whether the children will disrupt history out of ignorance.
As for Damian… well, compared to his two super-spec sons, he is indeed an “ordinary person”, which might be why Batman is more anxious than Superman.
Of course.
The “ordinary” here is relative. In terms of combat skills, survival ability, and resilient will, Damian himself is a well-trained battle machine.
His adaptability is probably stronger than many superpowered beings.
Batman is just overly concerned.
Understanding this, Superman looked back at the house. Batman seemed to have finished his “work” and was picking up the female homeowner, who was tightly bound with restraint straps and seemed to have fallen into a coma. He then withdrew his gaze and looked again at Constantine, who had completed the magic array and was wiping sweat from his forehead.
“Constantine, can you pinpoint what time the children were sent to?” Superman asked, which was the most critical question at the moment.
Constantine pulled out a new cigarette and lit it.
He took a deep drag, and in the swirling smoke, his expression was not relaxed.
“I’ll try.”
Constantine actually didn’t dare to assure, “This thing’s spacetime delivery is random, and it involves high-dimensional operations. I only know about Weeping Angels as a species; I’ve never formally dealt with this race before, so I can only try to track its residual spacetime fluctuations with tracing magic.”
On the empty silent street, only the street lamps cast dim yellow halos. Constantine began to chant ancient and awkward incantations in a low voice, his hands tracing mysterious trajectories in the air. A strange aura of sulfur and old books enveloped him, and the light of the magic array at his feet flickered erratically.
In the visible and audible realm beyond ordinary people.
The imprisoned Weeping Angel seemed to sense some spying and provocation. Inside its stone body, a mental roar full of resentment and anger that ordinary people couldn’t capture was emanating!
This sound was as ear-piercing as scraping glass, acting directly on the soul level.
Superman could “hear” it.
His powerful super hearing could not only capture physical sound waves but also perceive this kind of mental sharp noise.
“This creature’s voice even carries some contamination.” Superman frowned slightly but didn’t disturb Constantine, just quietly waiting for the spell’s result.
At that moment.
The house door was pushed open, and Batman walked out from inside. His expression was as serious as ever, even colder than usual. He was carrying the female homeowner, who was tied up like a dumpling and had lost consciousness, and casually threw her into the back seat of the Batmobile, which had silently slid to the roadside like a black ghost.
“Destination: Arkham Asylum. Maximum security containment.”
Batman gave a low command to the car AI.
“Command confirmed. Transport initiated.” The Batmobile emitted a cold electronic sound, then started silently, blending into the night and quickly driving away toward Gotham.
Superman looked at the direction the Batmobile disappeared, then at the woman Bruce threw into Arkham, as if realizing something, and couldn’t help but speak.
“Gotham migrant workers?”
His tone carried an indescribable complexity.
“Mm.” Batman walked to his side, looking at the direction the Batmobile left, sighing helplessly, his voice carrying a sense of resigned fatigue.
“That makes sense.”
Superman’s response was concise and apt, fully expressing his “recognition” of Gotham’s pure folk customs.
“…” Batman sighed helplessly again upon hearing this; this time, he didn’t even have the energy to retort. After all, facts speak louder than words.
Gotham’s quality remains as high as ever.
Of course.
Superman had no mood to continue teasing on this issue.
He composed himself, looked seriously at Batman, and said: “From this mage Constantine’s thoughts, this statue is not just one, but a race.”
Constantine had no defense against Superman’s new ability, so Superman could directly hear his thoughts, unlike Batman who took defensive measures the night he learned about it.
“A race, huh.”
Batman was not surprised by this. He nodded and said gravely: “When I just extracted her memory, I also saw fragmentary segments. What I’m worried about now is exactly this. If this kind of statue is a race with large numbers, and they become active on Earth sending large numbers of people back to the past…”
“Then, the time paradoxes and historical tampering effects produced could stack up, and it’s hard to guarantee our timeline won’t completely collapse, triggering unimaginable catastrophe.”
He paused, his tone becoming even more solemn.
Superman’s brows furrowed tightly as well.
“Where exactly did that woman bring these high-dimensional lives into Earth?” This was no longer ordinary crime; this was terrorism endangering the stability of the entire spacetime.
Batman shook his head helplessly: “There’s not much information I searched from her brain, and it’s very chaotic. The only thing certain is that she seems to have just bought this ‘artwork’ from a mysterious seller through some underground network, and that seller has sold more than one.”
“She initially just thought the statue was beautiful, then gradually discovered its eerie nature, and fearing backlash, thought of placing it on the roadside to shift the curse to unsuspecting passersby to escape herself.”
“Regarding that seller, I will use all resources to try to find him, but it will take time.” Batman knew there must be some conspiracy behind this.
Superman nodded upon hearing this. He knew once Bruce started tracking, he would dig out the mastermind even if he had to dig three feet deep. But now, there were more urgent matters.
“Now we need to find a way to bring the children back.” Superman said; this was their most instinctive demand as fathers.
Batman nodded in agreement: “I’m not worried about the children’s safety. With their abilities, as long as they weren’t thrown to the beginning of the universe or an apocalyptic battlefield, their survival chances are high.”
He had enough confidence in Jonathan and Jordan’s abilities, and Damian’s qualities.
Only.
“But I’m worried that the children in the past will cause some irreparable historical tampering—” He stopped, the words on the tip of his tongue swallowed back forcefully. He really wanted to say the children were all close to Ian, but feared saying it would make Ian, who might be eavesdropping somewhere, hold a grudge.
He guards against Ian.
Just like the whole world guards against Batman.
Sensing this.
Bruce put himself in others’ shoes.
So in the end, he didn’t say those words that could be seen as badmouthing.
However, how well does Superman know his comrade?
He instantly guessed what Bruce’s unspoken worry was. Involving his own most troublemaking youngest son, a trace of embarrassment flashed on Superman’s face, and he could only pretend he hadn’t guessed, turning his gaze back to Constantine, who was still muttering and trying to locate the time coordinates.
Superman avoided eye contact with Bruce.
And in this slightly awkward and anxious silence.
Whoosh—!
A golden bolt of lightning, like an aurora tearing through the night sky, streaked from the city direction at a speed impossible for the naked eye to capture!
The lightning stopped abruptly in front of Superman and Batman, the strong airflow making their capes flap wildly. Obviously, it was The Flash Barry Allen, who had received the message.
He arrived.
His arrival injected a bit of speed and hope into this heavy night.
After all, when it comes to “time” issues, who is a more suitable helper than this speedster who can surpass light speed and shuttle through spacetime?
“Guys, I heard…”
The Flash was just about to say something.
However.
He hadn’t had time to ask for details.
A sudden change occurred.
Perhaps the ceaseless Speed Force energy on him was too special, with deep ties to the essence of time; or perhaps his high-speed movement disturbed the fragile spacetime structure around.
In any case.
The Weeping Angel, firmly imprisoned by Constantine’s magic array, seemed to receive some strong stimulation, its hard stone-like body suddenly shaking violently!
Inside its ferocious stone body, the previously suppressed mental roar rose again, even penetrating the magic barrier, audible clearly to Superman and Batman! The blue light curtain of the magic array emitted an overburdened sizzle, flickering as if it would shatter at any moment!
“Damn it! It’s the speedster’s energy!”
Constantine’s face changed drastically, cursing as he hurriedly formed hand seals to reinforce the array, “This thing is too sensitive to time energy! Tell him to restrain his power quick!”
The Weeping Angel’s forward outstretched sharp stone fingers seemed to probe forward another inch amid the violent trembling! The light chains binding it emitted a teeth-gritting taut sound!
The Flash who had just arrived.
Seemed to have become the variable that broke the balance!
