amaotonovel Chapter 3887 The Nameless Bat (57)
Chapter 3887 The Nameless Bat (57)
Chapter 3887 The Nameless Bat (Fifty-Seven)
"Have you heard about the Cyber Batman?" The main universe Batman messaged Arkham Batman via Battlegrounds. "He should be in your universe too, right? Has he caused any trouble?"
“I’m not sure right now, I don’t have time for that,” Arkham Batman replied. “I’m busy building Earth’s magical defense network. You know, it’s tough keeping it from those Asians, so I’m negotiating a partnership with them. And I can’t even find a quiet place in India to build a temple…”
"You're progressing so fast?" The main universe Batman seemed a little surprised. He then replied, "It seems there are advantages to being president. At least there's no need to worry about the Federation."
“That guy did cause some trouble,” Arkham Batman replied. “But don’t forget, we learned before that the Earth’s Magic Defense Network has the ability to monitor energy fluctuations and radio waves. Once that thing is set up, no electronic life form will be able to hide.”
“My biggest fear is that he might interfere with the construction,” the main universe Batman replied. “Before the magical defense network is truly in place, he’ll still have plenty of opportunities to act. Aren’t you taking any precautions at all?”
"Of course not. I built a building in Gotham that completely shields it from all radio waves, allowing only magical energy fluctuations. It seems he can't hack into magical energy and can access the internet one-way through magic. Barbara Gordon is trying to use the magical network to track it down, mainly to find its true form. I don't think it's in my universe, but possibly in yours."
The main universe's Batman didn't rush to deny it. Having dealt with so many Batmen, he realized his own universe might be somewhat special. Both its geographical location and cosmic attributes were unique, as if all universes revolved around it. If that was the case, that guy might very well be using it as a central base for invading the multiverse—even without a physical body, there should at least be a root server or something.
Unfortunately, the cleanup work on Oa is extremely important, especially the safe transfer of those energies back. The main universe's Batman can't afford to be distracted by any murder case right now.
Fortunately, Barbara from her own universe has also caught that guy by the tail. To reduce the risk of being discovered, he shouldn't be too arrogant lately. Gordon and the Penguin are managing to keep the situation under control for now, and if things get really bad, there's always Dr. Schiller.
With that thought in mind, the main universe's Batman turned his attention back to Oa. Soon, Green Lantern returned with good news—Ganter was right. At the planet's center was an engine that compressed enormous amounts of energy, and this energy was undetectable to the Lanterns, using the same technology as the Lamp Furnaces and Lamp Rings. Given enough Furnaces, or even just enough Lamp Rings, they could extract this energy and bring it back.
“Well done, Hal,” said the main universe Batman. “Green Lantern Headquarters should have quite a few furnaces, right? Or do you have any activated lamp rings? Bring them all over, and we’ll extract the energy and put them back. I’ll have to trouble you to make a few more trips over the next few days.”
“No, no trouble at all.” Green Lantern seemed very excited. He said, “You have no idea how much energy that is, my God! That’s enough for all the Green Lanterns in the army to go all out for several months!”
He suddenly paused, then pressed his lips tightly together, a hint of sadness in his voice. "If... if only the fourth squad had had more energy back then..."
The main universe's Batman stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "This isn't your fault, Hal. The Guardians of the Universe would rather put all that energy into building weapons at the center of the planet than give you any more. They have to take responsibility for all of this."
Green Lantern took a deep breath, nodded, and said, "I'm not sure if the Flash can get in. I'll have him come with me to try; it'll be faster with him there."
The main universe's Batman watched him walk away, then turned and went back to his office. He needed to contact Darkseid and ask him to stall for time until Darkseid had exhausted his energy before the final battle.
Green Lantern arrived at the Flash's door and knocked. The door opened quickly. The Flash, with his mouth full of potato chips, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it was Green Lantern.
“You scared me to death! I thought Batman had come.” He quickly opened the door and said, “Are you alright? Sorry, Hal. They were afraid I would tell you, so they kept it from me. Otherwise, I would have told you about their plans beforehand.”
“It’s alright,” Green Lantern smiled at him and said, “Batman has a new mission. We need to go to the center of Oa and retrieve the energy that those damned Guardians of the Universe have intercepted. Can you take me there?”
“Uh, sorry, it seems not.” The Flash shook his head and said, “I can’t fly; I have to be grounded. I can travel through space by using the Speed Force to run to the nearest green light portal, run through the portal, and then run through another portal until I reach my destination. That’s how I came to see you last time. I’m afraid I can’t just run into the center of a planet out of thin air.”
"This is a bit troublesome. The energy fluctuations inside are too strong, so the Green Lantern portal can't be set up. Relying solely on flying is not only slow, but also makes us easy to be detected," Green Lantern said, scratching his head.
The Flash rolled his eyes and said, "I have another idea—we'll go find the Flash from another universe."
"But aren't all speed powers the same? If you can't do it, why would he?"
“He might actually be capable,” the Flash said somewhat furtively. “All the Flashes know that we have a freak among us—excuse me, that’s a bit of a rude word, I should say ‘oddball.’ His Speed Force is… I don’t know how to describe it, maybe powerful and dangerous?”
"Wait, could it be 'that' universe?"
"Which one are you talking about?"
"It's that one, 'Busy Universe'. Uh, wait, that's a bit impolite... Anyway, it's the universe where the Justice League clocks out at 6:30. It's all over the Battle World."
"You've heard about it too?" the Flash said, quite pleased. "I'm friends with the Flash from that universe, and we've helped each other before. Maybe he'll be willing to help this time too."
“But you have to keep it from Batman; he doesn’t like people from that universe.” Green Lantern hesitated for a moment before saying, “Of course, Wonder Woman probably doesn’t like them much either, after our universe’s Superman learned from that universe’s Superman and blew up the base’s kitchen with laser-based cookies.”
"Don't worry, he's inside the Speed Force. If you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know?" The Flash raised an eyebrow and said, "Wait a minute, I'll send him a message right now."
Not long after, Green Lantern saw a flash of gold, and a younger-looking Barry Allen appeared in the room. He was even wearing a uniform, as if he had just finished something.
Green Lantern paused for a moment when he saw him, then looked him up and down before finally saying, "Your clothes..."
“I’m doing an internship,” Barry said. “If you hadn’t said you were in a hurry, I would have gone home to change.”
"Wait, isn't that an FBI academy uniform?!" the Flash exclaimed in surprise. "You went to be a secret agent???"
"Trainee agent. And I'm not a field agent, but an intern in the Department of Behavioral Science."
“Oh my God, the BAU of Criminal Minds?! Who are you? Spencer Reid?!” The Flash immediately started yelling.
Barry waved his hand helplessly and said, "You should watch less TV dramas. My life isn't that exciting. Before you called me here, I was working on a survey report from two months ago on ventilation duct dimensions in Washington State..."
"What does ventilation duct have to do with behavioral science?" Green Lantern couldn't help but ask.
"Because of a recent case, the perpetrator escaped through a ventilation duct. We need to study the impact of ventilation duct size on the perpetrator's choice of escape route. Currently, it seems that ventilation ducts on the West Coast are more likely to be chosen due to their larger size, while some ventilation ducts on the East Coast are too narrow and dilapidated for locals to choose as escape routes..."
“That sounds amazing,” the Flash remarked. “It’s the same path as physical evidence science.”
"This is actually a joint investigation project with the Department of Forensic Science. There are some more important investigative directions, but I'm just an intern after all—who else but an intern would be willing to run to fifteen locations a day just to measure the dimensions of ventilation ducts on-site?"
“Okay, you’ll definitely be the most successful one in the Flash.” The Flash gave him a thumbs up and said, “When you become the head of the FBI, you have to treat us to dinner.”
Barry shook his head and chuckled, then said, "You said there was a place you couldn't get into, now let me try."
"Don't you need to be down-to-earth?" Green Lantern asked.
“My Speed Force is quite special. In most cases, it’s very dangerous; getting lost in it could result in being shredded. But because it’s so aggressive, it can directly cut through space—we can cut a rift here straight to our destination.”
"That sounds amazing, but how can we guarantee its safety?" Green Lantern added. "I'm not questioning your abilities, but there's a huge, high-energy bomb at the destination. What if it explodes..."
"Then let's go back in time, cut off that timeline, and start over from the beginning until we succeed."
"Wait a minute," the Flash said, raising his hand to stop him. "Why does this sound so familiar?"
“It’s not ‘Flashpoint.’ Or rather, I drew inspiration from the trouble you created.” Barry said casually, as if he had no idea what he was talking about. “Your main problem was that you didn’t cut out those abandoned timelines in time, which caused more and more errors to occur on the timelines and accumulate, eventually leading to paradoxes and changing the future.”
"But as long as we operate on a single timeline, and after each operation we remove and destroy any potentially obsolete components, and the cycle only lasts for a very short time, it will not trigger the flashpoint paradox and is completely safe. I have tried it many times."
"Then how will you destroy the timeline?"
Why do you try so many times?
Green Lantern and Flash asked their questions simultaneously. They were clearly concerned with different issues, but Barry patiently answered them both.
"The dark energy within my Speed Force can devour timelines. This dark energy comes from the darkness of the universe's origin, probably from Barbatos. In other words, the abandoned timelines were eaten by Barbatos."
"The reason I experimented wasn't to resurrect my parents—they're alive and well. But because of that, I've lost count of how many times I've forgotten to take the meat out of the freezer to thaw before they got home. To avoid getting yelled at, I had to jump back an hour, take the meat out to thaw, and then destroy the timeline where it wasn't thawed. Of course, Bruce always made me undo his moves when he was playing cards; and Clark, whenever he lost a game against his brother, he'd come to me..."
Green Lantern and Flash exchanged a glance. Flash whispered to Green Lantern, "There's a reason Batman doesn't like them."
"Yes, and this time I approve of Batman."
cricket chirping softly