Clark had restrained himself. Jude knew this because he was still upright and his ribs were not making any unusual sounds. With his intermediate physical enhancement back at full capacity, the impact registered closer to an enthusiastic friend underestimating their own strength rather than structural failure. An ordinary person would have yelped. Someone less durable might have needed a hospital. For Jude, the pressure was manageable. Survivable.
"What is all this about?" he asked, stepping back. "I was talking about Batman and Superman."
"I know, I know." Clark straightened, rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks slightly flushed. "It is just... I am from Metropolis. Everyone there loves Superman. I am a big fan." He looked down for a second. "So when someone says something fair about him, I react."
"Right," Jude said. "Normal fan behavior. Very normal."
Clark opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. His gaze drifted past Jude, his eyes unfocusing. His head tilted a fraction of an inch to the side, his posture stiffening.
"I have to go." He blinked, snapping back to the present, and stepped away. "It is getting late. I need to get back to Metropolis. It was good to meet you both."
"You have known me for a while," Bruce said. "Today is our first official meeting, Mr. Kent." He offered a brief nod. "A pleasure."
"Likewise," Jude said.
Clark offered a brief, open smile before turning and walking out of the cemetery.
Bruce watched him go, his eyes tracking Clark's path without blinking.
"You know him," he said. The tone left no room for a question mark.
"Do I?" Jude asked. "What do you think?"
"I think there are a number of things you have not mentioned to me."
"First," Jude said, "you never asked. Second, I have not deliberately hidden anything. Third, and this is the important one, you could have found out on your own whenever you felt like it."
Silence settled over the grove. Somewhere in the branches above, a bird chattered loudly.
"When did you learn Superman's real identity?"
"A while ago."
"You know the Flash's identity as well."
"I did not spend all that time in a parallel Central City for nothing. The Flash and I have history."
"And you learned Superman's identity through the same channel."
"You could say that."
Bruce held his gaze for a long moment. He turned on his heel and walked toward the cemetery gates. He did not look back. He did not say goodbye.
Jude stood alone in the grove.
Never again, he thought. Not one more container of snacks. Not for any of you. Gordon threw me out, Harvey grunted at me for ten minutes, and Bruce just interrogated me and left. Seven dollars of ingredients, gone.
He was still cataloging his grievances as he reached the gate, swung a leg over the Harley parked at the curb, and started the engine.
"Is this your original universe?" Satsuki's voice came through the earpiece without preamble. The cadence was even, carrying the slight hesitation that meant she had been processing the question for a while before speaking.
"Why do you ask?" Jude steered the bike into the street.
"The two universes do not seem that different on paper. Both have a Flash. Both have Central City, Star City, and a Green Arrow. But Gotham City only exists here. There is no equivalent in the other universe."
"That is not necessarily a bad thing." Jude kept his eyes fixed on the road. The Gotham night was damp, bathed in the orange glow of the streetlights, smelling faintly of diesel and ambition. "A universe with Gotham is built for a certain scale of crisis. It is part of the matching mechanism."
"Mm." A brief pause followed. "Are you not curious why Clark left in such a hurry?"
"Something came up in Metropolis. Probably an unexpected event. He will handle it. This universe runs relatively clean."
"You guessed correctly." Satsuki's audio feed clipped, a subtle digital stutter that betrayed her amusement. "A giant chimpanzee has appeared in Metropolis. It is currently swinging between skyscrapers on the newly rebuilt skyline. Multiple people have already uploaded footage."
Jude straightened his grip on the handlebars. "There is a King Kong in this universe?"
"His name is not King Kong. His name is Toto. I found an archived report from the Metropolitan Museum. He was originally a circus chimpanzee. He was sent up on a space satellite, which passed through the collision path of two meteors. The meteors were primarily composed of uranium and a uranium-kryptonite mixture. Toto absorbed the radiation. He has been this size since re-entry."
Titano, Jude thought. That is Titano the Super-Ape. They just named him Toto.
"I cannot believe they made that character so casually," he said. "A circus chimp, a satellite, some space rocks, and you are done. Villain created. Did nobody file any paperwork?"
"He is currently on the roof of the Daily Planet building," Satsuki continued, "holding Lois Lane and shouting."
A live feed popped onto the bike's dashboard display. It was helicopter footage, shot from a high angle, the heavy thrum of rotor blades vibrating through the audio. The image centered on an enormous chimpanzee with glowing green eyes. One massive hand was wrapped carefully around a small human figure on the roof of a skyscraper.
"This is exactly King Kong," Jude said, tapping the edge of the screen. "This is King Kong with extra steps. Copyright lawyers should be mobilizing right now." He squinted at the display. "Why does Lois have to be the one in its hand? Is every giant monster in this universe contractually obligated to find Lois Lane specifically?"
"The archived report was written by Lois. She covered Toto's original circus career. She was kind to him before the mutation."
Jude opened his mouth, then closed it. "Okay," he said. "Okay, that is actually almost touching."
A red-and-blue blur streaked across the screen. Superman was approaching fast. Jude leaned forward over the handlebars. This was the moment where someone flew at full speed into a giant mutant ape. By any reasonable calculation, the impact should end the encounter in under two seconds. The only question was how much of the roof would survive the collateral damage.
"I missed the jacket," Jude muttered. "Classic scene, completely missed."
The glow in Toto's eyes flared brilliant green.
Two narrow beams swept across Superman's trajectory. He dropped out of the sky instantly. His momentum broke, his limbs going slack as he plummeted downward, all traces of flight gone.
"Kryptonite vision," Jude said. He weighed the situation, calculating whether to redirect Satsuki toward Metropolis. Toto's beams were functionally identical to kryptonite radiation. The meteors had supplied the exact chemical mixture. That made this a problem requiring outside intervention.
A rough, distorted voice crackled through the tinny audio feed.
"Lois! He's a good man! I'll protect him!"
Superman struggled on the screen, fighting to arrest his fall and regain altitude. Toto bared his teeth, his posture defensive.
"You bad man! Don't hit me!"
Jude slowly lowered his hand from the dashboard.
"It is fine," he said. "It is completely fine. Nobody is in danger."
"The newly rebuilt high-rises are mostly unoccupied," Satsuki confirmed. "Interior construction has not finished. There are no civilians inside."
"So what we have," Jude said, settling back into his seat, "is a well-intentioned giant chimpanzee with kryptonite vision trying to protect a reporter it is emotionally attached to. Meanwhile, Superman is attempting to resolve the situation without escalating it, on top of an empty building." He kept his eyes on the feed. "We have been given a free movie. We are going to watch the free movie."
"The buildings were just rebuilt," Satsuki noted. "They are going to be demolished again."
"The buildings," Jude said, "are the only casualties. I can live with that."