Chapter 3463: Research on Cats and Dogs (22)

The sunlight in Metropolis was exceptionally bright. As Kara's golden hair danced in the wind, it looked like a river of gold dust spread across the blue sky. With the rise and fall of her chest, sparks of red light erupted from her blue eyes.

"Zzzzt!" Red lasers shot out, carving a deep furrow into the road as they flew toward the red-and-blue figure opposite her. The lasers grazed the hem of the cape, missing the Injustice Superman by a hair's breadth.

Injustice Superman didn't show weakness, returning the favor with his own lasers. Kara, however, had already seized the opportunity to make a nimble climb and turn in mid-air, approaching him at high speed.

Injustice Superman seemed to have anticipated her intent; he surged forward in the air to shake her off, then turned back with a blast of freezing breath. Kara dodged to the side, but Injustice Superman struck first with a punch.

Kara raised her arms to block, but was still sent flying in mid-air. She didn't panic in the slightest; she first stabilized her posture, then surged upward violently.

She had already attracted Injustice Superman's attention, and her next step was to lead him as far away from the ground as possible. Although this wasn't the center of Metropolis, there were residential areas nearby. Ensuring their battle wouldn't cause civilian casualties was the first thing Kara had to do.

After climbing to a sufficient altitude, Kara stopped holding back. The massive sonic boom from her sprint roared across the Metropolis sky as she landed a solid punch squarely on Injustice Superman's face.

Injustice Superman was sent flying. Barry saw his chance; fine golden light like willow branches swaying in the wind suddenly erupted into an infinite black tide as he approached the target.

Injustice Superman had already sensed Barry's approach, but he was too fast—faster even than the super-brain's reaction time. The moment Barry's hand touched Injustice Superman's shoulder, the entire world stood still.

Kara's drifting hair, Injustice Superman's chaotic eyes, and Barry's focused expression all froze in that instant. At the point of contact between hand and shoulder, a pitch-black storm tide swept over them both.

Time began to rewind rapidly, returning to the moment before Injustice Superman flew toward them. Everything played out once more—the laser exchange, Kara's rapid ascent, the exchange of blows, the appearance of golden lightning, and a hand landing on Injustice Superman's shoulder...

Time began to rewind again.

In Kara's field of vision, she only saw a thin streak of golden light coming from afar. The moment the light in the sky was swallowed, Barry and Injustice Superman vanished together.

About a second later, the two reappeared on the ground. The difference was that Injustice Superman's figure had become somewhat translucent, and he remained frozen in his previous combat stance.

Kara slowly descended, looking at Barry. "What did you do to him?"

Barry shook his head. "He isn't here right now. He's trapped in a time loop I created with the Speed Force. What you see now is just a projection I pulled from countless points in time."

Kara didn't really understand the situation. But at this moment, Charles spoke up: "The brainwave sorting is complete. His brain is completely different from a human's; it will take about half an hour to reboot. Also, I discovered some anomalies in his memories."

"You looked into his memories?" Kara asked.

Charles adjusted his glasses and nodded. "It is a necessary process for sorting brainwaves. I also don't believe you have any memories worth keeping secret from me."

Barry knew who Charles was, so he hurriedly said, "Finding the culprit who disrupted this Superman's brainwaves is the priority."

Pamela remembered what Kara had said earlier. She walked over and said, "He flew over from downtown Metropolis; he must have been seen by many people. If the person behind this wants to ruin Superman's reputation, they will inevitably have the police and reporters find this place."

A flash of anxiety crossed Kara's eyes, but she quickly showed a thoughtful expression. Harley walked over from behind the car and said, "He's unconscious anyway. Let's drive him into Metropolis and find the Justice League; they'll definitely have a way."

"Taking an out-of-control Superman into the city is extremely dangerous," Kara frowned. "Once we can't control him, it will be a terrible disaster."

At this moment, Kara seemed to hear something. She turned her head toward the horizon, then hurriedly waved for everyone to get in the cars, saying, "A police convoy is coming this way. Get in the cars, let's leave here first."

Golden light flashed in Barry's eyes, and the real Injustice Superman was swapped back in. The group hurriedly lifted him into the bed of the pickup truck and drove off in the opposite direction.

Barry picked up his phone while driving. Before he could even dial, a familiar number appeared on the screen.

"Hello? Barry? Have you left Gotham yet?"

"Yes, and we've run into some trouble. We encountered a crazed Superman. Do you know who he is, Oliver?"

"You've already subdued him? Thank goodness. About 20 minutes ago, he broke out of the Luthor Corp safe house, destroyed two streets in Metropolis, and injured over a dozen people..."

"God," Barry sighed. "We have indeed controlled him. Charles says his brainwaves were interfered with. Do you know anything about this?"

"The situation is still under investigation. Charles? You don't mean Charles Xavier, do you?"

"That's exactly who I mean. He's the help Professor Schiller found for us."

"That's a huge help," Oliver said. "A group of police is heading your way now. Don't worry, that's the advance unit Luthor sent to handle the scene and suppress the news. You don't need to worry about them; enter the city from the east entrance of the Metropolis outer ring highway."

"Understood. But in another half hour, Superman will wake up. You'd better have countermeasures for him."

"Of course, his Batman is here too. We'll discuss the rest when you arrive."

Having received Oliver's reply, Barry immediately messaged Pamela in the other car.

They had just reached the highway outside the city when they saw an overwhelming number of police cars and helicopters heading out of the city. Their convoy brushed past the outbound police cars, and no one discovered the culprit of the incident lying in the bed of their pickup truck.

"Superman broke out of the Luthor Corp safe house," Harley said. "It seems the person who did this also wants to drive a wedge between the Justice League and Luthor Corp."

"Oliver won't fall for it," Barry said, gripping the steering wheel. "It's a very simple logic. Metropolis is Luthor's turf; even if he wanted to let a crazed Superman out to ruin Superman's reputation, he wouldn't allow the other party to destroy two of his streets."

"I know, Oliver is very clear-headed in this regard. They are natural allies; it won't be that easy to break them apart. I'm just worried that if there's a problem within Luthor Corp, no matter what, the Justice League's subsequent operations can't be conducted there, which means we've lost our backing."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Barry continued. "Don't forget, the people standing behind those two aren't pushovers either. They should be close to finding the truth."

The two pickup trucks slowly drove into Metropolis. Just as they entered the city, Oliver's phone call came again:

"Don't go to Luthor Corp first; change course to Luthor Manor. We'll meet there."

Listening to the voice on the phone, Harley curled her lips and said, "Those Soviet guys are indeed efficient. They caught the tail so quickly. The person who did this probably didn't expect that the people stationed at Luthor Corp right now aren't ordinary KGB, but the backbone of the Eleventh Bureau."

Barry let out a long breath, turned the steering wheel, and drove toward Luthor's mountainside manor.

The manor was clearly under martial law, with a faint magical shield covering the sky above the building. The cars drove up the winding mountain road and finally stopped slowly in front of the main gate.

To Barry's surprise, Lex Luthor was standing at the gate to greet them personally. However, Barry felt he was mainly there to welcome Charles Xavier.

No one who had participated in Battleworld could have failed to hear the illustrious name of Professor X. Although Lex had expressed little interest in Battleworld, he still had to show sufficient respect for a figure with such a resounding reputation.

Barry and Harley were the first to get out of the car. Lex walked over and shook hands with Barry, then with Pamela and Kara.

"This is Professor Charles Xavier," Barry introduced.

There was nothing there. But Lex blinked, and he saw a blue-eyed young man wearing black-rimmed glasses appear before him.

Lex immediately realized what was going on, so he didn't attempt physical contact with Charles, but nodded at him and said, "Hello, Professor. I've long admired you."

Charles nodded back at him.

Lex led the group into the manor. By the time they arrived, the Justice League had basically gathered. In addition to the Justice League of this universe, the Injustice Batman was also among them.

Injustice Superman was carried in by Lex's men and placed on the sofa in the center of the hall. Injustice Batman walked over to check on him—it had been a long time since he had seen the Superman of his universe sleeping in such a relaxed posture.

He suddenly heard Lex's voice and turned to look. Lex seemed to be talking to someone beside him, but there was no one there.

"Alright, everyone, Professor Xavier says he discovered some issues in this Superman's memories. Let's listen to what he has to say."

Everyone focused their attention on the empty space beside Lex. Their expressions were as if they had truly heard something—Clark nodded frequently, Oliver was lost in thought, Diana frowned, and even Bruce finally stopped yawning and concentrated slightly.

Injustice Batman felt as if he had instantly become one of the ministers in "The Emperor's New Clothes" being questioned by the emperor.

"Is my new outfit beautiful?"

"Where is your new outfit?"

What exactly were they listening to?

Injustice Batman checked again. He truly heard nothing, saw nothing; there was definitely nothing there. It absolutely couldn't be a hallucination.

Just as Injustice Batman was about to stare a hole through that spot, Oliver finally noticed something was wrong.

He hurriedly walked over and said, "Apologies, Professor Xavier, let me interrupt for a moment. This is our new partner, Batman from another universe, and he comes from the same universe as this Superman. I think he also has the right to know the situation of his companion. Could you trouble yourself to repeat it?"

As soon as the words fell, Injustice Batman suddenly saw a figure in that empty space.

When those blue eyes looked straight at him, he suddenly began to suspect whether someone had been standing there all along.

(End of chapter)