"It's over, it's over, we're definitely too late."
But then, Batman was a little confused.
Whose voice is this? Superman's?
Is this sothing Superman would say?
The mbers of the Justice League in the room also froze in surprise. Diana shouted at Clark, "Did you just say that line?"
"Uh, sorry, I got it wrong... but it's not my fault. The Supern in Battleworld can't go three sentences without talking about Batman!"
Clark was about to say sothing more when Diana let out a scream and angrily pointed at the small dog with steel teeth bouncing on the floor, "Why does it have the Fire God's enchantnt on it?! No wonder it broke through my divine power defenses!"
"Because it's modified with parts from a shredder!" Bruce responded smugly.
"You actually used the divine artifact I gave you to fight against !"
"That's not your line, is it?! Isn't that what the professor used to keep talking about..."
When Batman entered, he saw this scene—the flyers were huddling on the ceiling, and the non-flyers were either standing on the table or on the sofa. On the empty floor, a piece of tal the size of a human hand with sharp teeth was baring its fangs nacingly.
Batman wasn't good at handling ambushes, even if he was facing a toothed cellphone.
Half a minute later, Batman and Lex were standing side by side on the table. The two exchanged glances and then simultaneously looked towards the phone on the ground.
Bruce, floating in mid-air, said, "Looks like I need to enhance its jumping ability. Lex, do you have any high-pressure springs in your lab..."
"Get out of my manor with you and your phone! Imdiately! Now!!!"
Ten minutes later, Superman, who had flown over from Gotham after the fight, t Batman and the three thrown-out Justice League founders at the gate of Luthor Manor.
"How did it go?" Batman asked Superman.
"He got away," Superman shook his head and then looked curiously at the three behind him.
"Alright, we've parted ways with Lex Luthor once again," Bruce said, spreading his hands. "Evil scientist, turns out they're unreliable."
"And you still have the nerve to call soone else an evil scientist?" Diana, binding the biting cellphone with the Lasso of Truth, looked incredulously at Bruce.
"He kicked out the core mbers of the Justice League at such a crucial mont, how is that not evil?"
"Obviously, the three of us together don't count as the core mbers of the Justice League," Clark shrugged. "What's next, your place or mine? Diana?"
"My place is bigger than both of yours combined," Diana finally wrapped up the phone, left a bit of the lasso to hang the phone like a teor hamr, and carried it in her hand.
"So..." Superman's gaze lingered between them before making a horizontal gesture with his fingers, "You got kicked out by the others?"
"Mainly him," Diana pointed at Bruce with her thumb, "and we followed him out of concern for tropolis... or him getting into trouble."
"We got so new intel from Gotham, and it might be related to Martian people. I think we should..."
Before Batman finished his sentence, Clark turned him around to face Luthor Manor and said, "Intel sharing should be done with the Justice League."
"Aren't you part of the Justice League?"
"Whoever's working is the Justice League," Clark pointed inside the manor. "It's obvious the ones slaving away in the office aren't us. You've got the wrong person."
With that, Clark grabbed Bruce and Diana and flew off. Until they disappeared from Batman's sight, he finally realized sothing.
He followed them out of the manor to talk about what happened in Gotham, not realizing the three of them had no interest in listening.
"Should we go after them?" Superman asked.
Batman thought for a mont and shook his head, "Forget it, those three seem unreliable. Let's find Lex instead."
They returned to the estate and found Lex in the office. He was watching a report from Gotham TV Station, which showcased Superman's fight with Big Beard from multiple angles. Data appeared on another screen, and Lex seed to be calculating sothing.
Lex wasn't alone in the office. There were also another Superman and Batman, known as Injustice Superman and Injustice Batman.
"This should be a Martian," Injustice Batman spoke first, "but he can't be the Martian Manhunter. I know Ron, he isn't this weak."
"I think so too," Batman walked up and said, "We can be certain this is a Martian. Excluding the Martian Manhunter, the most likely candidate is his brother, Malafax."
"This guy has a grudge against the Martian Manhunter. After destroying Mars, he traveled to Earth to hunt down his brother, collaborating with so evil beings to invade Earth."
"I don't think he's the main attacker, just a scout. But even so, he's still a tough opponent. The Martian's psychic ability and voidification ability make it nearly impossible for us to capture him."
Lex raised a hand to stop Batman. Batman thought Lex didn't agree with him, but then Lex picked up his phone and said, "Everyone, co over, it's ti for a eting."
It took less than five minutes for everyone to gather. This was the first eting where the local Justice League and the two outside teams participated together.
The conference table was full, but sothing still felt missing.
What could be missing? Batman thought. The core mbers of this universe's Justice League didn't show up. Taking Batman's usual seat was Oliver, with Lex on the left in Wonder Woman's seat and Hal on the right in Superman's seat. On the left were Pala, Kara, Harley Woman, and on the right were Barry and Arthur.
"Wait a bit longer, a few more friends haven't arrived," Oliver glanced at his phone and said.
Batman originally thought they were planning to call back the three core mbers, but two minutes later, it was Zatanna and Constantine who showed up in the eting room.
"We made it," Zatanna let out a sigh of relief. "Didn't expect such traffic in tropolis. Thought we'd be late, but luckily we weren't."
The two sat down at the table. Zatanna joined the won, and Constantine sat next to Arthur.
The two teams of Supern and Batn sat at the back, a few seats away from the others.
Oliver turned on the microphone, blew on it, and said, "Alright, let's start."
"Although I don't want to be too formal, we should still welco the four superheroes who traveled across the cosmos to support us..."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone started clapping warmly. The enthusiastic applause echoed through the eting room, making the Batn and Supern, especially the Batn, feel extrely uncomfortable.
Are you holding a shareholders' eting here?
The Batn were indeed not used to being welcod. Batn were never well-received in any universe. Wherever Batn were, people guarded against them like thieves.
Entering other universes as Battleworld players was always tricky. The natives would never completely let their guard down, always balancing between defense and utilization.
Even in Battleworld's base, each Batman still watched their backs like prey, staying on full alert every second. A single glance could convey a hundred anings, a single action analyzed a thousand ways. It was the norm.
There were indeed so who would show goodwill, but it was limited to listening seriously or cooperating a bit.
This was the first ti they were greeted so earnestly.
After the applause, Oliver continued, "The main goal of this eting is to compile and analyze the intelligence we have on the enemy. Everyone should feel free to speak their mind."
"I have two requests: first, when analyzing aliens, don't pull our allies into it. Although they may be from the sa planet, we should judge by character and ideals, not birthplace."
"Second, after soone finishes speaking, give a clear signal to end, and only then can others interject. Even if there are objections, wait until they're done speaking."
"Alright, let's begin."
Oliver first looked to his left. Lex organized his docunts and lightly tapped the microphone before reading, "I have reviewed and compiled all suspicious activity from tropolis road surveillance over the last week and found 123 points of concern. Of these, 47 are suspected of being related to alien invasion."
"I sent people to investigate the residents of these 47 places and collected 32 abnormal sighting reports. The experts from Luther Group analyzed them and identified 12 confird anomalies. They are..."
If there was one downside to this eting process, it was that it made people drowsy.
Batman swore he was trying his best to listen, but the data just wouldn't stick. When Lex finished speaking, Superman next to him had already dozed off.
Next was Hal on the right. He also had several reports in hand and began to read:
"According to the investigation by the extraterrestrial defense force, besides the earliest discovered trace of the alien spaceship fuel residue, six more suspicious flight residues have been found. They are located in the Kuiper Belt (1132, 531, 62)..."
By the ti Hal finished, Superman was already peacefully asleep.
When it was Pala's turn, there was a change. Pala adjusted her glasses and said, "I didn't conduct external investigations. This week, I mainly focused on advancing the Kryptonite plant cultivation project initiated by Mr. Luther. Here are the results."
"The prickly pear cactus in water culture No. 1 showed no significant changes after three days of soaking and catalyzing with reagent No. 2..."
Batman now understood why the core mbers of this universe's Justice League didn't attend these etings. But it was too late to leave, so they had to stay.
It's not that the information was useless. The Injustice Batman across the table listened intently, clearly noting every piece of data ntioned.
But the problem was, all data were inherently dull because they had to be reported objectively, without subjective embellishnts or artistic touches. This ant it only engaged the rational part of the brain.
Just like studying math, it depleted ntal and physical energy quickly. And most importantly, the lack of dopamine stimulation made people sleepy. Anyone would feel drowsy.
But Batman felt this wasn't the main reason for his drowsiness. The main reason was that these guys took over the work that usually fell to him. With nothing left for him to do, he was, understandably, bored out of his mind and drowsy.
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