Batman’s Vigilance

In the end, after a long silence, Kara gradually calmed down.

She silently walked to a corner and sat down like an abandoned doll. It was hard to imagine that she was the same girl who had just unleashed an aura powerful enough to suppress everyone present. Kara merely lowered her head, lost in thought.

After glancing at Kara, who had hidden herself in the shadows, Zhang Ye quickly looked away.

Zhang Ye had no intention of comforting or helping her. It was not that he was cold-hearted; he simply understood that Kara’s condition was a psychological illness, not something that could be cured with a few words. Besides, he did not have that ability himself.

There were many kinds of psychological illnesses, but broadly speaking, they fell into two categories. One involved emotional troubles that required understanding, guidance, extensive conversation, and medication. The other was a genuine illness that could not be treated through communication and could only be controlled with drugs.

Kara belonged to the latter category. Unfortunately, Earth had no drugs capable of controlling Kryptonians. If she wanted to recover, she could only reconcile with herself and climb out of the mental dead end trapping her.

For now, it was better to let her stay quietly by herself. As for what came next, they could discuss it after dealing with General Zod.

After a brief pause, Zhang Ye took out the backpack containing alien stones that worked much like kryptonite. Seeing everyone look at him in confusion, he explained.

"Kryptonians have different physiques from humans. Our weapons cannot effectively harm them. To kill them, we either need to use their own weapons or this—a mineral carrying Red Sun radiation."

The others stepped closer and began carefully examining the little objects, which looked exactly like ordinary rocks.

As a weapons master, Old Bruce Wayne quickly understood the purpose of the stones from Zhang Ye’s explanation. He picked one up and inspected it closely, only to find that it looked completely ordinary to the naked eye. Its special properties would need further testing to confirm.

"This just looks like an ordinary rock." Little Barry Allen stared at it for a long time without figuring anything out.

"The rock itself is ordinary. The important part is the radiation it carries." Old Batman answered him. "I don’t know what a Red Sun is, but if its radiation can truly affect Kryptonians, I might be able to make some useful little toys with these."

"Oh, I get it. So these stones are Kryptonians’ ‘silver bullets,’ right? As long as we turn them into bullets or engrave them onto bullets, we can effectively hurt them."

"You can think of it that way, but their uses are far more extensive than that."

Zhang Ye smiled at Little Barry, then looked at Old Bruce Wayne. "Bruce, Kryptonians are powerful fighters, and they’re incredibly fast. Bullets would be difficult to land on them. If you can’t hit them, these things are no different from scrap."

Bruce Wayne was indeed among the small handful standing at the pinnacle of humanity. Skilled at facing all kinds of enemies, he was practically an all-rounder and was highly proficient with every kind of weapon. After learning about Kryptonians, he quickly understood Zhang Ye’s implication.

Old Bruce glanced at the Black Umbrella behind Zhang Ye and smiled faintly. "You want me to find a way to blend these stone fragments into the Fear Toxin gas, so we can make use of the gas while also limiting Kryptonians’ abilities."

"Yes. I just ran a small experiment on Kara. The results proved that the radiation from these stones can greatly weaken a Kryptonian’s physical capabilities, including their durability, strength, speed, reaction time, and more. It won’t turn them into ordinary people, but at least they won’t be invulnerable anymore."

"How many of these stones do you have?" Old Bruce Wayne asked.

"As many as you need," Zhang Ye replied casually.

At those words, Batman immediately raised his head and stared directly at Zhang Ye. Zhang Ye did not flinch, calmly meeting his gaze.

Although Bruce Wayne had already begun to trust Zhang Ye and the others, he still maintained the utmost vigilance. As Gotham City’s protector and currently the world’s only superhero, Batman was unaccustomed to teaming up with others and had never encountered such a grand situation.

Before this, he had mostly faced a group of lunatics. Even if a few had surpassed the limits of ordinary humans, he could still use his own abilities to deal with those criminals.

But after seeing Zhang Ye’s group, led by The Flash, who could freely travel through timelines and even the Multiverse, Old Batman felt considerable pressure.

Zhang Ye and the others were currently standing on Earth’s side, but the world was vast, and the Multiverse was countless. If a few lunatics also gained such abilities, would he still be able to protect this world?

That was why, after Zhang Ye and the others entered Wayne Castle, Bruce had secretly subjected them to all kinds of surveillance, psychological evaluations, and contingency planning.

Barry Allen did not have so many ulterior motives. He had always trusted Batman. Even though this world’s Batman was not the Batman he knew, Barry still followed his instructions without question. Thus, after conducting physical examinations on both Barry Allens, Bruce Wayne had gained a certain understanding of the Speed Force.

However, Bruce Wayne had never found a good opportunity to test Zhang Ye’s abilities or Pietro’s. Take Pietro, for example. According to him, his abilities came from mutant genes—humans gaining superpowers through mutation. But this was something Batman had never even heard of.

After several attempts to give Pietro a medical examination were refused, Bruce Wayne gave up on studying Pietro’s blood cells, because he still held some reservations about Zhang Ye.

It was not merely because Zhang Ye and the others were currently allies. If they discovered his intentions, it might cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

It was also because the origins of those two were extremely mysterious. Bruce Wayne had managed to draw out the universe Pietro came from: a parallel world filled with despair.

But Zhang Ye’s origins remained completely unknown. Even Pietro could not explain them clearly.

It was as though Pietro was merely a companion Zhang Ye had brought out of another universe. That was also why Old Batman remained somewhat wary of Zhang Ye.

Moreover, Zhang Ye had not brought anything with him on this trip, and even this backpack belonged to Bruce. That made the origins of these stones particularly intriguing.

Zhang Ye could also see Bruce Wayne’s wariness toward him. That was normal, since Batman was profoundly distrustful of everyone.

In the comics, because the members of the Justice League possessed immense power, Batman worried that they might one day threaten humanity’s safety. He had even recorded the weaknesses of every superhero except Green Arrow, just so he would have a way to restrain them should they ever turn against one another.

Zhang Ye sighed helplessly. He had never expected that the first problem he would face while working with these "superheroes" would be a crisis of trust.

So Zhang Ye crossed his arms and spoke to Old Bruce Wayne.

(Seeking suggestions for the protagonist’s title.)