"Oh my god, what's happening!" Seeing the unconscious Hal, Clark rushed over imdiately.
"We were ambushed by their robots during our retreat," Superman said, "Hal ran out of energy, got hit by the missile and passed out."
Clark sighed and said, "Quick, help him inside to rest."
Bruce complained from the side, "We've only been here for a while, and one is dead and another injured already..."
"Alright," Oliver walked up and said, "We originally ca to help. Getting injured in battle is always possible. Let's go see Hal first."
Clark and Bruce did not argue further, following Oliver to Hal's resting room.
Superman seized this opportunity to head underground. Seeing that the room originally holding Wonder Woman was already empty, he knew Wonder Woman must have escaped while the Green lantern energy was weak.
Just at this mont, Batman appeared at the end of the corridor. He looked at Superman and said, "You let her go."
Superman showed no guilt at being discovered, he simply nodded and said, "You know that group of people are up to no good."
"You didn't let her go just to prevent them, did you?"
"Since you know I'm guarding against you, you should be more self-aware." Superman stepped forward fearlessly, staring into Batman's eyes, "No matter what, I want to save Lois. You better negotiate well with them and not play any tricks."
"I'm actually curious," Batman spoke slowly, sounding not at all tense. He said, "If the resurrected Lois knows what you've done and sees the world we have now, what will she think?"
"Ti reversal will take us directly back to the past. Everything will return to its original state."
"You don't want to retain mories?"
Superman's expression collapsed instantly. He stared at Batman fiercely and said, "Why do you think I want to keep mories? Do you think all of this is a beautiful mory for ?!"
"I thought you enjoyed ruling Earth." Batman said, "You can forget all this without any burden, as if nothing happened. That's certainly nice. But I won't do that."
"Why?"
"You know this can't be treated as if it didn't happen. I'm not just referring to the events on Earth. During this ti, we've had contact with the outside world. If we just lose our mories like this, all this information would be lost."
"Is this really important?"
"Clark, you're not a child anymore. Don't use dreams to numb yourself. Today Brainiac invaded Earth, tomorrow it could be soone else. If we abandon all information beyond the cosmos, pretending to know nothing, who could we ask for help should invaders co again?"
"Who cares." Superman said, "I will go back to the past and then forget all this."
"But then you won't be a match for anymore." Batman looked at him and said, "I know you've ruled Earth and that one day you'll bring about such a disaster. What do you think I'll do to that mory-lost version of you?"
Superman's expression beca very unpleasant. He finally understood Batman's aning. He's going around in circles just to say: "If I choose not to forget, then you shouldn't either."
Superman was very angry, but he was helpless because he knows that Batman would definitely choose to keep his mory. And if he retains his mory while Superman forgets, the naive version of himself could never stand against Batman.
If the mory-intact Batman has witnessed his extre violent thods of ruling the Earth, he definitely won't feel at ease. He might even imprison the mory-lost Superman directly. He and Lois still wouldn't be able to live happily together.
"I can help you negotiate with them." Batman said, "But I will only ask them to return to the ti of Lois's death and bring her back then."
"No!!" Superman roared imdiately, "You can't do that!!"
"Why?"
"You..." Superman was montarily speechless.
"Why don't you want Lois to co to the present? You could still get married, have children, live happily together."
"You know it!"
"Know what?" Batman stepped forward again, looked at Superman and said, "Know that Lois actually doesn't want you to kill? Know that Lois doesn't want the world to beco like this? Or do I know—Lois would be very disappointed in you?"
Bam!
Superman punched Batman in the face. Of course, he controlled his strength. He didn't intend to kill Batman, he was just too angry.
Batman tilted his head, touched his cheek and said, "The fact that you dare not do it proves you know in your heart that all this is wrong."
"I'm not wrong!" Superman stared at him, slowly retreated a few steps, then said, "I'm not wrong, no one has the right to judge !"
After saying that, he flew out the window. Batman just quietly watched his back, wiping the blood off his mouth corner with the back of his hand.
In Hal's resting room, his face showed no signs of the previous unconscious pale look, instead, he lazily yawned, leaned against the cushion and said, "I've checked, Brainiac in this universe is ridiculously weak, even weaker than the one in our universe."
"The robots he made, I can dismantle with One Hand, and even his spaceship has no defense against Green Lantern. I could even deconstruct the whole spaceship directly."
"It's not surprising," Clark stood by the wall with his arms crossed, "The Superman and Batman of this universe aren't strong. Especially Superman, he feels really weak, maybe he hasn't had enough sunlight."
"They've called people from other universes to help before." Bruce seed to be checking so information about Battleworld, then said, "In the end, the Superman of this universe lost to those from other universes and was locked up. This indicates his level is definitely weaker than most Supern."
"That's fine, anyway, we're not interested in his combat skills." Oliver said, "Him being weaker is actually good."
"About Lois..." Clark hesitated to speak, but quickly fell silent again.
"Of course, I know you want to save her." Hal said, "After all, Lois is indeed a completely innocent victim. But I think you also know, even if we rescue her, it would be in vain if we don't resolve the conflict between Superman and Batman."
"So, in the end, we will rescue her, right?"
"I think Barry should have already marked the location." Bruce said, "Once the issue between Superman and Batman is resolved, we'll retrieve Lois."
"They're going to have a big argunt, him and Superman." Clark shook his head and said, "I understand Lois. In so ways, she's even more outraged by injustice than I am. If she knew I almost destroyed the world for her, she'd definitely dump ."
"But didn't this universe's Superman and Lois get married?"
"They could still get divorced." Clark sighed and said, "If Lois really goes for a divorce with Superman, that would be quite sothing."
"I heard tropolis was destroyed too." Hal said, "How about this, when we go to Brainiac's spaceship next ti, see if we can get that collection engine to let Barry take it back to the past to preserve tropolis and then place it in the present. Maybe that would lessen their conflict."
"Whether sothing of such mass can travel through ti is still uncertain. But I can let Barry try." Bruce said, "And that collection engine is also useful to us. It's good to get it."
"I'm starting to feel like we're running a marriage counseling service." Hal adjusted the pillow behind him and said, "Hope these people appreciate it."
On the other side, Superman found the runaway Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman urgently grabbed his arm and said: "Those people frad , I didn't kill anyone! You must believe ."
"So what if you killed? Are you going to preach so no-kill philosophy like Batman?"
Wonder Woman opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing. She looked at Superman and asked: "When can I go back?"
"No rush. Batman decided to go talk to the outsiders..."
"You still trust Batman?!"
"I don't trust him, but what choice do I have? Can you negotiate with them? You've seen how sly they are. But..." Superman paused and said, "We need to find a way to get sothing from Brainiac's spaceship."
"What is it?"
"Brainiac possesses technology that can control others ntally. I need the technology from his spaceship."
"When are we going?"
"We have to wait. Batman needs to prepare."
"Batman is going too?! Why? Can he be of any help?"
"Do you understand technology?"
"Uh..." Wonder Woman was montarily speechless.
"I don't understand it either." Superman said, "I don't even know in what form this technology exists. Is it a blueprint or a machine, or so coding? Without Batman, we can't comprehend how much scientific legacy Brainiac has."
"Aren't you wanting to use that thing to control Batman? If he finds out, won't he be on guard?"
Superman seed pained by Wonder Woman's stupidity and said: "Right now, our biggest problem isn't Batman! It's those damned outsiders and their ti-reversal technology! To negotiate with them, we need leverage..."
"But didn't we discuss earlier about finding a way to detain them..."
"I've received the latest information, the key to ti-reversal doesn't lie with these people. The crucial figure in their original universe isn't here, and it's difficult to coerce him. We can only talk."
"But if you send Batman to negotiate with them, he will definitely deceive you! He opposes you just to oppose you..."
"At least he's useful to ." Superman turned to her, coldly staring at Wonder Woman, "You better be too."
Then, he turned and left. Back at the base, Batman acted as if nothing had happened, nodded at him, and said: "I'm ready, when are we leaving?"
"Right now." Superman said, "Diana is coming with us. She's not very bright, but at least she can fight, and help us hold off a few robots."
"True. Can't leave her on Earth alone, otherwise she'd definitely go find those people to cause trouble." Batman rarely agreed with Superman.
After they left, Clark perked up his ears, then said: "They're gone, probably heading for the spaceship."
"Let's follow them. They'll definitely stir up so trouble on the spaceship, so we can take the chance to steal the collection engine." Hal stood up and said.
"Don't forget our plan." Bruce chuckled and said, "Prepare to take action."
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