Chapter 1718: S: The Apocalypse Event (21)

"You're saying Harley and the others managed to hijack an entire alien fleet?!!" Red Hood shouted in shock, his eyes wide.

"Yes. They are entering the solar system at high speed. However, according to them, they have only secured the flagship. There are still a large number of guards on the escort ships that need us to help clear out."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get ready!" Red Hood immediately moved to grab his weapons, but Red Robin stopped him. He looked at Tim and said, "You just said this fleet has dozens of ships, and Harley is asking us to eliminate every living thing on board in a very short time. It's going to be hard for just us to pull that off, right?"

"Then what do you suggest..."

"We will jump into the solar system in three seconds and arrive above Earth in two minutes. The channel to Viman has been dead for over ten minutes. It won't be long before the commanders on the escort ships react. We must take them all out at once, otherwise, they might choose to destroy their ships and go down with us!"

Spider-Man looked up from the complex control panel at Harley and asked, "Did you call for backup? Are you sure they can take them all down in one go?"

Before Harley could answer, Little Bruce tightened the control lever and shouted, "Hold on tight, preparing for jump!"

After a slight tremor, the familiar space environment appeared. The sun looked so intimate at this moment. Helen, who had successfully returned to the cabin before the jump, let out a sigh of relief and said, "Good thing we made it. Did we just jump to Jupiter?"

"Yes. We'll be at Earth in about a minute. Wait... what is that?"

Little Bruce looked at a dark shadow appearing outside the floor-to-ceiling window. Judging by its shape, it didn't look much like a spaceship; it looked more like... a floating island?

"Why is that thing getting closer and closer?" Spider-Man shouted, looking at the data on the panel. "My god, is that a city? What on earth are they trying to do?!"

"The backup is here. Grab your gear, get ready to board!!!" Harley shouted excitedly.

With an almost identical face and an almost identical crazed smile, Harley Quinn stood in the control room of Arkham Asylum, looking at the pattern on the screen and shouting, "Everyone hold on tight! I'm going to ram into the joint shield. Get ready for boarding!!!"

The massive, unidentified flying object, resembling a floating island, pulled back a short distance in an exaggerated charging posture. The dark energy on the defensive shield grew increasingly dense. With a loud boom, the joint shield, which had been mostly deactivated, was smashed open, and Cat Getan landed right in the center of the joint fleet.

Next came the crowd-pleasing boarding battle. Compared to the spaceships, this city wasn't very large, but what it carried was the key. The super-powered villains in Arkham Asylum, who had been itching for a fight, were like sewage bursting from a pipe, splashing all over the officers of the joint fleet.

The first to jump down was Clayface. He didn't care about the vacuum of space at all; he turned into a puddle of sludge, stuck to the surface of an escort ship, and flowed in through a gap like water.

The sludge that dripped into the escort ship's corridor gradually gathered into a giant monster. A guard patrolling there froze for a second before letting out a scream: "What the hell is this? Hey?! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"

That was the last sound he ever made. After Clayface solidified his form, endless sludge poured into the corridor like a tsunami, instantly swallowing all the guards. After the sludge receded, only a pile of armor that couldn't be digested remained. Clayface solidified again, spat on the ground, and said, "Aliens? The taste is terrible!"

On another escort ship, the Dollmaker was manipulating his puppets, fighting two guards with extremely agile movements. However, the puppets were made of human limbs and held human weapons, which couldn't penetrate the guards' armor. Moreover, more and more guards were swarming toward them.

But the Dollmaker wasn't in a hurry. After a while, a short man in a green top hat jumped down. He pressed a button on the device in his hand, and after a faint buzzing sound, a brainwashing light flashed. The guards instantly froze.

"The brainwaves of these aliens are a bit different from human frequencies. It took some time to adjust the machine."

The Dollmaker had already stepped forward to inspect them. He used a puppet to knock down a guard, and the Mad Hatter controlled the guard to take off his own armor. The puppet stabbed the guard in the abdomen with a knife, and the Dollmaker nodded: "No problem, the material is usable. After stitching them up, they can put the armor back on. Once everyone on this ship is turned into a puppet, the other ships will be cleared soon."

Mr. Freeze arrived at a troop transport ship. This ship was packed with about a hundred Parademons. He checked the bottles and jars placed in the warehouse and roughly understood what kind of technology this was.

A few minutes later, Mr. Freeze, Professor Phosphorus, Poison Ivy, Professor Pyg, and a series of highly educated talents gathered together.

Poison Ivy picked up one of the small jars. She could see various modified creatures squeezed tightly inside, and from the labels, she could tell that each one was a single unit of a Parademon.

"Modification technology combining technology and biology," Professor Pyg said, looking at some mechanical circuits in the jar. "Not very refined, but I guess they have a way to mass-produce them."

"Are they all captured aliens?" Mr. Freeze continued to check the jars on the shelf. "How do they control this group of monsters? Don't tell me they don't distinguish between friend and foe."

"Mind control or brainwashing modification, I suppose." Professor Phosphorus, glowing green, chuckled and said, "Find Hugo, or if that doesn't work, the little guy."

"They use this stuff to conquer the universe? Isn't it a bit too sloppy?" Poison Ivy frowned, looking at the things in the jars, and said, "Monsters subject to mind control are destined to have low IQs. These mechanical devices are clearly forcibly attached. The individual strength must be quite mediocre."

"But the quantity is sufficient." Professor Pyg looked at the dense jars in a warehouse and said, "A single unit of modified monsters has at least ten thousand creatures. There are probably hundreds of millions of monsters here, and the ones staying on the ships are probably just a tiny fraction. There must be more at the base camp."

"They really are willing to spend the money. Call someone over to move these monsters back first and see if they can be recycled."

Dozens of escort ships sounded like a lot, but when averaged out among the lunatics in Cat Getan, every warship could be assigned two famous villains.

Viman's rank under Darkseid wasn't high, and his subordinates were even lower-level officers. Steppenwolf wasn't there, so the guards couldn't form a defensive line and were quickly defeated one by one, without even having time to report to headquarters.

"Steppenwolf went to find Batman?" The Riddler asked Harley and the others after Mr. Freeze and his group returned to the control room.

Harley didn't mind his urgent tone. She had long since realized that in Cat Getan, there were only Batman's fanatical fans and even more radical fanatical fans. Hearing that their idol was in trouble, how could these lunatics sit idly by?

Poison Ivy also quickened her pace, pushed the Riddler aside, and asked Harley, "Who is Steppenwolf? Is he very strong?"

Harley wasn't entirely sure, but at this moment, two words appeared on the Necronomicon: "Very strong."

Harley didn't take it too seriously, but Helen's pupils shrank. She knew that behind the Necronomicon was Schiller. If Schiller evaluated someone as very strong, then even Batman might be in danger. So, she immediately said:

"We have to help Batman!"

The situation on Earth was indeed grim. Steppenwolf had already clashed with the unformed Super Seven.

Objectively speaking, Steppenwolf's abilities were quite traditional. He was a New God, so super strength, super speed, super durability, etc., were all basic abilities. He held a giant axe. His highlight achievement in the movie was holding off the entire Justice League by himself.

Although the Justice League members were greatly weakened in the movie due to budget issues, the Justice League in the main universe hadn't even formed yet. Cyborg only appeared after Darkseid's invasion, and he was nowhere to be seen. Aquaman wasn't good at land combat and could only play a support role. Superman and Wonder Woman, the two main combatants, hadn't practiced together and their coordination was very raw. Hal had to guard the base and keep an eye on Darkseid's movements.

The only reassuring thing was that Batman had disappeared at the right time. Steppenwolf, who came for him, couldn't even find a shadow.

With a "bang," the smoke cleared. Wonder Woman stood up, staring intently at the figure wearing a horned helmet and holding a giant axe. They were currently above the Cat Getan labyrinth. Fortunately, there was nothing here, so Superman could go all out.

A red cape swept past Steppenwolf's back. Cold light flashed in his eyes, and he slashed his electric axe backward. Superman blocked it with one arm and then swung his fist toward the side of his face.

Steppenwolf dodged, but Wonder Woman followed up, punching him twice in the back, followed by a waist-hug back-throw. Steppenwolf flew out, hooked a discarded vehicle with his electric axe in mid-air, and landed steadily with a backflip.

The reason they had been fighting until now was that none of them could break the others' defenses. Steppenwolf's tactics were very smart; he always focused on Wonder Woman and didn't take Superman's moves at all. If Superman attacked, he would dodge, and if he couldn't dodge, he would lean toward Wonder Woman. At this moment, Superman and Diana had no chemistry, and Superman didn't dare to bet on whether Diana could dodge his attacks, so he fought with restraint and didn't dare to use his full strength.

Superman wasn't without a temper. After fighting for a long time without landing a hit, just as he flew into the air to give Steppenwolf a heavy blow, a dark figure walked out from the shadow of a building.

"Stop, Steppenwolf. I know you don't want to fight." Batman walked out of the shadows. Steppenwolf turned his head, and Wonder Woman seized the opportunity to land a punch.

Steppenwolf was knocked back but landed steadily. He snorted coldly and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his palm. Batman took a steady step forward, but Superman blocked his path.

Batman shook his head slightly at Superman and walked around him to face Steppenwolf. "You don't want Darkseid to recruit me, and you don't want Viman to recruit me, because you and Viman don't belong to the same faction. Once he becomes stronger, you will have even less of a foothold."

Steppenwolf just looked at Batman coldly.

"But you don't dare to kill me either, because Darkseid wants me alive. He covets something on me, and he covets the wisdom I have to obtain it. So you pretended to come to kill me, but you actually came to warn me not to fall into Viman's trap."

"If I'm not mistaken, he wanted to kidnap my blood relatives to force me to surrender, but his plan has already failed."

"Steppenwolf, I know you and Darkseid's relationship is also..."

"Shut up, Batman!" Steppenwolf raised his giant axe and pointed it at Batman. "If you want me to show you mercy, you have to show me your strength. I want to see what you have that made Darkseid issue the first order to capture you alive..."

Suddenly, Steppenwolf's expression changed, and the strong wind rising from the ground made Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman look back.

A massive fleet emerged from the layers of clouds in the sunset, descending upon Earth with irresistible power.

Gasps, screams, panic. Batman clenched his fists tightly.

"What's going on?! Hal?! How could there be a fleet..."

"I don't know!! They were still at the edge of the galaxy before..."

"... Viman is here!" Steppenwolf stepped forward, then turned to look at Batman. "If you can leave, you'd better go. He might want to kill you."

"It's too late!!!"

Superman saw a mass of energy compressed to the extreme gathering at the cannon muzzle. He and Wonder Woman instantly stood in front of Batman, ready to face the impact.

The next second, the massive cannon muzzle turned and aimed directly at... Steppenwolf???