"Dr Wayne, actually, you don't need to take part in ... this rescue operation."
Barry lowered his voice, bent down and walked into the dark sewer.
He was going to sneak into the secret military base with Luke tonight to rescue Superman.
But Batman, unsurprisingly, found out about what they were doing.
According to the other party, it was when the Flash finished saying, 'Oh, I have to catch some Zs after working so hard today'.
Batman could easily tell that this was a lie through his artificial tone, guilty expression and the way he was avoiding eyes.
Then, he silently sat in the hall, waiting for Barry, who had changed into his battle clothes, and Luke to come out and catch them in the act.
The scene at that time was quite embarrassing.
Luke was very calm. He didn't want to deceive Batman or avoid his sight.
As long as they could reverse the Flashpoint world and successfully rewrite history...
Thomas Wayne wouldn't have much problem with anything else.
But Barry was still too young and thin-skinned.
After he was caught, he couldn't wait to hide from the embarrassment.
His thinking was probably like a high school student who was going to sneak out for a party in the middle of the night but got caught by his parents.
Mainly highlighting an embarrassment!
"Do you think that taking me with you would drag you down or hinder you?"
Thomas Wayne grunted coldly and asked a deadly question.
"Not at all. Well, I mean, if Cyborg finds out, it may affect your ... friendship."
Barry stammered and explained.
No matter which Batman he faced, he would always be at a disadvantage.
In fact, except for Superman, no one in the Justice League liked to face Gotham's Dark Knight alone.
Because of his hoarse voice and serious tone, it was hard not to think of him as someone interrogating a prisoner.
"You think too much. My friendship with Cyborg is probably similar to that of Penguin and me."
Thomas Wayne said.
Barry's mouth twitched. He feared that if Cyborg heard this, he might storm off angrily.
Sure enough, at any time and space, Cyborg was just someone 'useful'.
"Turn from here to the second fork in the road. There is a secret entrance."
Thomas Wayne's face looked expressionless, as he was with most people.
After all, you can't expect a middle-aged man who lost his son and had a lunatic as a wife to be enthusiastic and sunny about people.
"How do you know?"
As usual, Barry acted as a shocked passerby.
"In the name of searching for Metropolis's super-criminals, I asked Cyborg to retrieve the structure diagram of the sewers and then downloaded the blueprints of 'Project Superman's base, while he wasn't paying attention."
Thomas Wayne, in a bland tone, described his astonishing actions.
In fact, it wasn't easy to bypass Cyborg's computer brain and complete the above actions.
"By the way, Cyborg has been away to Australia for diplomatic peace talks with Themyscira and Atlantis."
He added.
Barry's expression was even more shocking.
Cyborg had been sent away in advance? Didn't that mean Batman had already predicted their rescue plan?
'It's really too mysterious. '
The Flash thought silently.
However, because of this, the Justice League trusted Batman, who always gave people a sense of security that 'everything is within his plan'.
"This is a multi-story facility located underground with signs of renovation."
Luke walked behind. His Super Vision could see the secret base.
Only when he scanned some important places his view was blocked by lead walls.
The group of three walked along the secret entrance to a firm and thick alloy door.
"I think, Dr Wayne, you must have gotten the password, right?"
Luke looked at Batman. This was an alloy door with sophisticated iris recognition and encrypted numbers.
If he was alone, his Heat Vision could melt it.
Then directly break into the secret base and push it all the way through.
But now, with the Flash and Batman being here, he was too lazy to do it himself.
"Indeed. I not only got the password from Cyborg but also 'borrowed' the iris identification."
They saw Thomas Wayne place something similar to a contact lens in his eye. He then entered the password and the iris scan.
Click!
The door opened.
The secret base, located under Metropolis, appeared in front of them.
"At this late hour, only minimum personnel should be working. If Barry can tear down the security cameras in the corridor and knock the guards out, we can get in without getting noticed."
Luke did his homework in advance. It was 3:30 in the early hours of the morning.
In this base, in addition to the late workers that continued to work overtime, those high-level people had already left.
"No problem, I'll take care of it."
Barry patted his chest, then turned into a red streak and disappeared.
When he came back again, all the cameras in the corridor outside were disassembled into parts, and the guards were bound and thrown into a corner.
"Done."
In Batman's awareness, only a moment had passed.
The Flash smiled at him as if he had never moved.
"If all your superheroes in that time and space have such ... strange and powerful abilities, how did Bruce join in?"
Thomas Wayne expressed his doubts.
Did it mean that his son wasn't a normal human being?
"Well, it's very complicated."
Barry didn't know how to answer for a while.
Because Batman was indeed the only normal human being in the Justice League.
Superman was the Son of Krypton, Wonder Woman was a demigod, The Flash had Speed Force, the Green Lantern had the Emotional Spectrum, and Aquaman was a mixed-race Atlantean ...
Only Batman relied on brains and ... technology?
"Your son has the ability to make money, Dr Wayne, thanks to the family estate you left behind."
Luke replied with a smile.
Batman told everyone with his own actions that if there was an enemy that kryptonite couldn't solve, then they just needed more kryptonite.
Bruce Wayne was much more effective in executing his plan than Iron Man's anti-useless factors plan.
By relying on kryptonite and Hellbat armour, he was able to fight against terrible enemies like Superman and Darkseid.
"That's really ... delightful."
Thomas Wayne smiled happily when he thought that Bruce was a superhero fighting criminals by throwing Wayne family's money at problems.
'That's how rich people do it!'
The group of three crossed the corridor and went deep into the secret base.
When they met any guards along the way, the Flash could solve it quickly.
Although Barry couldn't kill or fight, he had a knack for tying people up.
"This is Subject Two."
Batman walked into a huge room with the contents of the Kryptonian ship inside.
One of them looked like the skeleton of a dog-like creature, marked with the words 'Subject Two'.
In addition, there were some grotesque biological skeletons soaked in formalin, which were presumably defective products made from Superman's blood.
"Probably Superman's pet dog."
Luke's eyes flashed. Superman had a dog named 'Krypto' -- although no one knew why Krypton had dogs, it fell to the earth with Clark Kent.
The ridiculous thing was, because of the radiation of the yellow sun, this Kryptonian dog had acquired abilities similar to those of Superman.
Flight, strength, speed and Heat Vision- all available.
If you use it as a standard of combat power, then without any equipment, Batman probably couldn't even beat a dog.
Further on, Luke saw the Kryptonian spaceship that carried Superman to Earth.
The metal casing was disassembled, and various huge parts were suspended on a steel frame.
Most of the cutting-edge technology in this secret base must have come from the military's interpretation of Kryptonian technology.
"This is the 'meteorite'?"
Thomas Wayne glanced at it. He was deeply impressed by the spaceship.
At that time, it landed in Metropolis, killing over 30,000 people and instantly making headlines.
The official explanation was first a falling meteor but later changed to an explosion by a terrorist group.
"Yes, it should have landed on a farm in Kansas or a collective farm in the Soviet Union."
Luke hinted at the Red Son, but the others didn't get it. They were focused on the Kryptonian ship.
After a while, they moved on and finally arrived at the entrance of the giant bunker-like cell.
On a rough estimate, the door alone was hundreds of centimetres thick. Even with artillery bombardment, it was difficult to breach.
Batman entered the password again and opened the heavy metal gates.
"This is what you call the most powerful creature on the planet?"
The interior of the bunker was empty, with red radiation everywhere, as if simulating some kind of ecological environment.
In the innermost corner, there was a thin figure curled up like a dry tree branch.
"How did this happen?"
Seeing that, Barry's voice trembled a little.
He didn't think that Clark's situation would be this miserable.
"Look at his skin, so pale. He probably had never seen the sun before."
Luke walked over, held out his hand and said, "Don't be nervous. Everything will be okay, Kal-El."
The other man's eyes were filled with fear, like a young animal in a cage.
He didn't have a name, only 'Subject One', a nominative.
"We are your friends, and we came to save you."
Luke pulled Superman up from the corner, and the guy had a hard time even standing up.
The needle holes on his arms were dense, so he was probably used by the military as a guinea pig, drawing blood every day.
Living in the simulated red solar radiation environment, he was no different from ordinary people.
"Friends?"
Skinny Superman hesitated to say this word.
Growing up, he only faced doctors, scientists and generals.
'Friend' was a very strange word.
"Yes, he is your friend. He is your friend's father, and I--"
Luke smiled and showed an honest and trustworthy smile.
"--am your long-lost cousin. "
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶