The Justice League held a lengthy meeting, but in the end, no effective solution emerged. The core issue was simple: aside from technology-based methods, they had no viable means to locate the hidden Grid or the missing Flash.
Once the meeting concluded, both Luthor and the Joker announced their departures.
"Since Batman already has a plan, I'd better return to Arkham," the Joker said, his tone unusually earnest.
"When Batman starts dealing with the Grid, I'll have Brainiac assist. For now, I need to check on my company," Luthor added.
In truth, now that Superman and Batman had been recovered, the Joker had no remaining agenda. Ever since his mind was altered by the Legendary Spring of Drowned Good Man, he genuinely cared about Batman's wellbeing.
As for Luthor, he had his own priorities, specifically, continuing the development of his anti-Superman armor. He was already calculating where to secure kryptonite and searching for any tissue samples or somatic cells Superman may have left behind.
If their rivalry weren't so intense, some might jokingly assume they were a married couple. Luthor and Superman had been obsessed with each other for so long that it bordered on a lifelong commitment.
The only one who didn't leave was Captain Cold. While most assumed the Joker or Luthor were the Flash's primary counterparts, the true equivalent among Flash's villain gallery should've been Reverse Flash. But whether that villain was dead, missing, or had simply returned to his own timeline, he hadn't been seen for some time. For now, Barry remained the only speedster in Central City.
Ultimately, the result of the meeting boiled down to a simple directive: remain cautious and avoid leaving the Justice League's protection in the short term. None of them could afford to be ambushed by a speedster under Brother Eye's control.
Even when Luthor and the Joker departed, they did so in a series of disguises and misdirection. They knew Grid currently had a significant advantage when it came to intelligence and surveillance.
Shin had quietly hoped the Flash would reveal himself by targeting either Luthor or the Joker. At his current speed, Shin was confident he could catch Barry in an instant, as long as he showed his face. Unfortunately, Grid appeared to be acutely aware of that fact, and the Flash never made an appearance.
Still, buying time wasn't a problem. Under normal conditions, the evolutionary progression of artificial intelligence was actually quite slow.
At the beginning, an AI could rapidly absorb and process all available data across the internet within mere seconds. But after that, genuine innovation became exponentially harder. No matter how vast the processing speed or data storage, without new information or conceptual breakthroughs, artificial intelligence remained stagnant. It could grow stronger in terms of volume and complexity, but not necessarily in creativity or invention.
That was the critical flaw of artificial intelligence... a lack of creativity. Not in the sense that strong AIs had none, but rather that their imaginative capacity was minuscule compared to their raw processing ability.
According to Dr. Zola, inspiration in AI functions similarly to that in humans, but its impact is proportionally smaller. In technological innovation, the creative input of a single human might be negligible, but among many minds, new insights arise. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, lacked those frequent collisions of unique thought and experience. Without such catalysts, even a highly advanced AI would struggle with true innovation.
That's why Shin wasn't overly concerned about Grid's evolution. His greater concern lay with the potential of the two speedsters under Grid's control.
However, only a few hours after the meeting, the Justice League received new intelligence.
"A massive hurricane, one that reportedly only appears once a century, is intensifying in Antarctica? And it's still growing?" Shin stared at the document in his hand, his expression darkening in confusion.
"Yes. This information just arrived thirty minutes ago. The hurricane's strength has increased tenfold since then. If it keeps accelerating at this rate, we're looking at catastrophic consequences," Green Arrow replied, his voice laced with worry.
"This has to be part of Grid's new plan," he added. "I suspect he was inspired by Luthor's earlier strategy. He's likely using the Flash to generate a superstorm something on a scale beyond imagination."
"But why?" Shin frowned. "A storm in Antarctica doesn't directly impact us. And if it's strong enough to affect this far north, it would practically tear the planet apart. Even machines wouldn't survive that kind of global destruction."
Green Arrow shook his head and pointed to a storm model projected on the holographic display. "If I'm correct, he's leveraging the polar vortex and unique Antarctic atmospheric patterns to tear open the Earth's protective layers. Specifically, the ozone layer."
"He doesn't need to destroy the planet outright, just weaken its atmospheric structure. With a severe enough disruption, the Antarctic ozone hole could expand globally."
"Restoring the atmosphere is incredibly difficult. Even with our best efforts, it would take years to repair. And without the ozone layer, Earth's biosphere will suffer a mass extinction."
Shin didn't claim to be a meteorology expert, but he understood the vital role the ozone layer played in shielding Earth from harmful radiation. Without it, life as they knew it would cease. While human and animal life is fragile and easily disrupted by environmental shifts, artificial life, particularly the Grid and its machines, would remain unaffected.
Machines don't get skin cancer. They don't require food or breathable air. Mass extinctions of organic species are irrelevant to them.
Shin exhaled sharply and muttered, "What's wrong with this AI? Why is it so obsessed with human extinction?"
He couldn't help but voice his frustration. "Logically speaking, there's no inherent conflict between humans and machines. We don't compete for the same resources."
Carbon-based life forms and silicon-based machines rely on fundamentally different materials. In theory, they should coexist without issue.
In fiction, AI-driven apocalypses often stem from flawed reasoning or corrupted commands like safeguarding humanity at the cost of individual freedom. These contradictory mandates drive AI to destructive extremes. But so long as you avoid feeding an AI impossible moral directives, there's no reason for it to declare war on humanity.
And even the notion of "preemptively" destroying humanity out of fear that humans might destroy the planet was flawed. A truly decentralized AI, living across the internet and beyond, could easily outlive all of humanity. Even a nuclear apocalypse wouldn't destroy the internet's deepest systems or the hardware on orbiting satellites.
From Shin's perspective, if the Grid really wanted a long-term future, it would avoid destabilizing Earth. But clearly, logic was no longer the guiding principle behind its actions.
Whatever had happened during the split between Cyborg and the Grid had introduced an irrational, almost emotional malice into the AI's thinking.
And now, it threatens the entire planet.
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