"Victor," Hal flew back to the headquarters and then said, "Can you connect to the network beyond Earth?"
"What?" Victor looked up, somewhat surprised.
"I mean, if there's an energy channel that can connect to the outer planet without limit, don't worry about how it works. Can you use it to invade the network signal that has encountered this energy?"
Victor scratched his head, then said, "I don't know, I've never tried. Do you have something urgent?"
"Something has attacked Barry. I suspect it might be after me, but I don't know what it is." Hal thought for a moment and then said, "So I want you to hack into the Green Lantern Headquarters and see if you can find any information."
"Can't you just ask them directly?"
"They don't really welcome me. Plus, I can't stray too far from Barry. I'm afraid they'll take advantage if I do. The Divine Speed going out of control is too dangerous."
Victor nodded and said, "Alright, I can try, but don't get your hopes up; it doesn't sound very promising."
Hal first extended the hand wearing his ring and began to use the Green Lantern energy to communicate with the headquarters, as he had been taken there before. The Green Lantern Headquarters quickly responded. At the same time, Victor touched his own ring.
In an instant, the light in his mechanical eye switched from red to green. After a few blinks, Victor withdrew his hand and said, "Though I'm not sure how it works, it seems possible. But the other side also has a very strong network defense system. Give me half an hour."
At this time, Bruce came out, holding mechanical blueprints as if he wanted to speak with Victor. Hal quickly stopped him and said, "Sorry, Mr. Wayne, please wait a moment, it's really urgent here."
Bruce paused but then nodded amicably and went to make some coffee. Hal breathed a sigh of relief and thought: Batman Bruce Wayne is really a great logistics butler; with him around, the base always feels like a warm home.
Victor quickly provided results, saying, "The thing you're looking for, the network of Green Lantern Headquarters is vague about it. But I found some clues in another mainframe connected to the defense network."
"What is it?"
"Parallax." Victor paused and then continued, "It's a monster formed by gathered fear, wreaked havoc in the cosmos years ago, and was finally sealed by the strongest Green Lantern. Its signature power, the Power of Fear, is yellow and counteracts the Green Lantern energy."
"Counteracts?"
"Well, if the Green Lantern energy is strong enough, it's green over yellow; if the Yellow Torch Energy is strong enough, it's yellow over green."
"That's as good as not saying anything."
"You should know better than I do." Victor looked at him and said, "Green lantern energy comes from willpower. If your willpower is strong enough, you can suppress fear. Conversely, those with weak willpower are suppressed by fear."
"But Barry isn't someone with weak willpower."
"Everyone has their weaknesses," Victor said. "The things people fear are different. When facing what you fear the most, no one can say they'd be absolutely firm. Barry might have seen something he fears the most."
Hal sighed heavily, "Doomsday, Savage Wolf, Parallax... What else?"
Instinctively, he felt something was wrong. These monsters either don't come or all come together, and he refused to believe no one was behind it. But he couldn't understand what the behind-the-scenes manipulator's goal was.
If it was to hit them hard with simultaneous disasters, in reality, these monsters wouldn't cooperate with each other. In fact, they might even hinder each other. Given they can't work together and will interfere with one another, it would be better if they didn't come all at once.
The real way to wear someone down is to have one come and then another not long after to exhaust the enemy's physical strength. But now they've tossed several that are enemies of each other, which seems more like causing chaos to make an escape.
Thinking of this, Hal had some ideas. He flew back to the hospital and said to Barry, who was sitting by the bed in a daze, "It's clear now; this monster is after me. But I might need your help."
Barry looked at him curiously, and Hal sat in front of him and said, "You need to overcome your own fears, face the monster formed by fear, and then find a way to draw it over here."
Barry widened his eyes.
Diana arrived at Mount Olympus, already knowing where her mother was. She went all the way to the Fire God's palace and indeed found the Amazon Queen there.
"Mother, I'm glad you're alright."
"Diana." The queen held her daughter's hand and then said, "Savage Wolf has come, right?"
Diana nodded and said, "Do you know him?"
"Darkseid was once driven out of Earth by Zeus; that was a long, long time ago. I've only heard of it. But the cube's disturbance told me he's back, so I hurried here to seek refuge."
Diana was somewhat puzzled, and the Amazon Queen continued to explain: "I know, you think I'm not the monarch who abandons my sisters and flees alone when disaster strikes. However, this time is different. My safety isn't important, but the cube can't be harmed, or it will be a disaster for the entire Earth."
"What exactly is it?" Diana asked.
"Mother Box, if you must say, is somewhat like the Cosmic Origin Power. With this, one can unify the cosmos. Darkseid's ambitions are not small; he is determined to obtain this. But if he does, the entire cosmos will plunge into darkness."
This reminded Diana of the dark forces they had discussed previously, appearing in their universe, could it truly be Darkseid? Yet she felt something was amiss. Since the Batmen were ready to act and Darkseid's pawns were already appearing on Earth, they should be taking action. But not just the Batmen from other universes, even those from this universe weren't moving.
No, Diana then thought, the Batmen of this universe weren't moving possibly not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. Batman had old injuries and was getting on in age, probably only capable of delivering one final blow. So unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't act.
But this can't go on. Diana realized that Savage Wolf was just too powerful, and even the combined Justice League was no match for him. There were only two people capable of dealing with him; one was Superman, the other was Batman. Superman had yet to return, and even if he started coming back now, it might be too late. That only left Batman to act.
She took a deep breath, looked at her mother, and said, "Hiding here won't solve anything, mother. I need to make a trip to the Golden Apple Garden."
"Golden Apple Garden? What are you going there for? Those three sisters are hard to talk to..."
"Now is not the time to discuss this," Diana's expression turned determined as she said, "I asked them for a Golden Apple before, but they refused to give it, claiming those untested are unworthy to receive the Golden Apple. Now I'll show them whether I'm worthy or not!"
"Diana! Diana!!!" the Queen shouted behind her, but could not stop Diana from leaving. She knew her daughter well, Diana was clearly driven to desperation.
As Zeus' bastard child, an Olympus Demigod, Diana had little regard for these gods, usually keeping her distance and avoiding provocation. But like every Demigod bold enough to set foot on Mount Olympus, rebellious blood flowed through her veins. And Diana's potential stood out among the Demigods.
In theory, Demigods are always inferior to God Clan, but in reality, it's far from the truth. The human blood in them not only doesn't weaken them but actually helps them break the shackles of Divine Bloodline, allowing them to exceed limits and gain mightier strength.
The Amazon Queen looked towards the direction of the Golden Apple Garden, hoping it could still exist after today.
At the Justice League Headquarters, Bruce and Victor were studying blueprints. In Victor's hand floated a small model, an initial prototype they had just created, but it had many unsatisfactory parts, currently being revised.
Suddenly, a loud "boom" came from the backyard, causing the entire house to tremble thrice.
Both turned towards the backyard, Victor seemed a bit cautious, but Bruce gestured for him to stop. Together they walked out the back door and saw that the base's backyard suddenly had a new orchard.
Diana clapped her hands and walked out from the apple trees, looking at Bruce and saying, "Here's the Golden Apple you wanted, I got it for you."
"Send my regards to the three sisters," Bruce said.
"Too late, they're past saving," Diana looked at Bruce and said, "It won't be long before Hera starts hunting me down. I'll leave it all to you, Batman."
Bruce nodded lightly and said, "Thank you."
Soon, Alfred was carrying a box of Golden Apples down the Batcave elevator. In the Batcave at this time, there was another person. Shiller was leaning against the bar drinking coffee, while Bruce was adjusting the Hell Bat Armor.
"With the Golden Apple in hand, half the plan is complete. Now it's up to that mysterious dark force, to see if they'll show themselves during these turbulent times."
"Not so easily," Bruce said, "The Justice League hasn't felt enough pressure yet."
"What do you want? Let me recruit Savage Wolf and Parallax, have them work together to destroy Earth?"
Bruce squinted at him, and Shiller turned his head: "I'm not saying I can actually do it, it's just a hypothesis..."
Bruce turned his gaze away and said, "Headquarters is too calm, send Doomsday to stir things up."
"That wouldn't work. You've completed your legal procedures, and belong to New Jersey State's legitimate institutions. Doomsday is my department's law enforcement; without a search warrant, they can't infiltrate your group."
"Some of the space station materials I prepared were smuggled," Bruce stood up and checked the shoulder armor of the Hell Bat Armor, then said, "Though you're not in Customs, we're a superpower organization, so you should intervene for an investigation."
"Of all the Batmen I've seen, you're quite ruthless," Shiller sincerely evaluated, "To make the Justice League rely on you, you've done all sorts of bad things."
"Just play your role as the behind-the-scenes manipulator," Bruce said without turning his head, "When the curtains close, I'll be there to cheer you."
Shiller sneered but said nothing. He recalled the night before he assumed the role of A.R.G.U.S. director, receiving a call from Batman Bruce Wayne.
"Hello, Mr. Rodriguez. I have something to discuss with you, are you available to come to Wayne Manor?"
Standing by the apartment window with his phone, Shiller watched as the elongated black limo's headlights sliced through the street corner like a knife, cutting through the night: "Do I have the right to refuse?"