Chapter 11: The World's Greatest Detective
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Batman really wanted to roar.
Ever since arriving in this bizarre world and meeting this utterly strange Superman, he had been overcome by a sense of helplessness, as though everything he knew was about to be overturned.
And in fact, that was exactly what kept happening. Whether it was the claim that Superman and Batman were the World’s Finest duo, or Clark’s conviction that the two of them from another universe ought to be good friends, every single detail sent Batman reeling.
He did not want to keep dwelling on this matter. To reiterate, he had absolutely no desire to know why Superman had said “your Superman”!
However, just as Batman was about to say something, Clark reached out without hesitation, seized him by both shoulders, and abruptly hoisted him upward—
Whoosh!
Super-speed was simply too fast. By the time Batman realized what was happening, he was already standing inside a one-bedroom apartment, while Clark stood with his back to him, closing the window.
Batman: “…”
He had just been carried here by Superman, hadn’t he?
He absolutely had, hadn’t he?
Batman could scarcely believe it. Being carried in Superman’s arms when he had first arrived was one thing, but now—
That damned alien with no sense of personal boundaries!
And he had absolutely no desire to know why Superman seemed so practiced at flying while carrying Batman.
After closing the window, Clark thought for a moment, then drew the curtains before turning on the lights.
The moment the room brightened, Batman discovered that Clark had somehow used his super-speed to change into a set of loungewear.
This Clark had already possessed a subtly different air from the Superman of Batman’s universe, seeming gentler by comparison.
Now, with his hair falling naturally around his face, those old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and a set of loungewear on his body, he stood before Batman looking so much like an ordinary young man that Batman was momentarily stunned.
He looked far too much like an ordinary person—not the extraterrestrial god Batman feared, and had even contemplated destroying.
That realization sent faint ripples of pain through Batman’s heart.
He sensed his own resolve beginning to waver. If the god he had painstakingly resolved to kill was actually nothing more than a human being struggling to live, just like every other young person around him, then the determination forged from all his pain and hatred—
Would it not become a complete joke?
Moreover, with every second he spent in this world, Batman found himself doubting that determination more and more.
There were almost no people in the world capable of disguising themselves before Batman. He could tell that everything Clark was showing him now came from the heart.
Besides, he could not imagine why Superman, who possessed the power to move mountains and drain seas, would bother pretending to be ordinary in front of a human from another universe.
As turbulent emotions surged within Batman, Clark had already asked anxiously, “Batman, may I ask what you were doing before you came here? If Bruce was exchanged with you and sent to your side, would he be in danger?”
Bruce?!
The slight pain and confusion in Batman’s eyes vanished at once, replaced by a sharp, penetrating gaze.
What exactly was the relationship between this universe’s Batman and Superman? How long had they known each other?
It was unbelievable. This universe’s Batman was far too careless! How had he allowed Superman to learn his true identity?
Everything Batman did skirted the boundaries of the law, and he had antagonized far too many lunatics. The secret identity he fought so hard to conceal was the most important line of defense allowing him to maintain his precarious balance.
In theory, after Jason’s death, he should never have revealed that secret to anyone new.
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But why did the man standing before him know?
Damn it—he was even an alien!
Batman’s mind raced.
First, he answered the question that concerned Clark most. “I had already finished my patrol before I came here.” In other words, there was no danger.
Then, seeing Clark’s expression relax slightly, he asked abruptly, “Has General Zod ever come to Earth?”
His purpose was simple: to test how different this universe was from his own.
If this universe’s Batman had also witnessed the immense devastation inflicted on Earth by the aliens’ internal conflict during the Black Zero Event, how could he possibly not be wary of Superman?
“Huh?” Clark paused almost imperceptibly.
He had to thank his super-brain. In 0.1 seconds, he figured out who General Zod was; in another 0.1 seconds, he considered why Batman was asking about that particular villain; and in the final 0.1 seconds, he decided whether to tell the truth.
Come to think of it, in Bruce’s version of events, Superman had only been active on Earth for a year or two, hadn’t he? Then he had disappeared for more than thirty years and only returned within the past month. It was perfectly normal that he had never encountered many supervillains.
“No.”
Batman narrowed his eyes. His cold, mechanical voice grew even deeper and more menacing.
“You did not ask who General Zod was. You know who he is, but you have never met him.”
His tone was absolute. He had clearly already reached a conclusion, one that no amount of resistance from Clark would shake.
Clark: ?!
A chill ran through him. The little sense of ease he had felt because tonight’s plan had gone so smoothly vanished completely.
Good heavens. Should he marvel that Batman truly deserved to be called the world’s greatest detective in the DC universe? In just a few brief sentences, he had nearly exposed everything.
Without exaggeration, this Batman from another universe had sounded a warning bell in his mind: never lower your guard in front of anyone except an actor!
Put plainly, the only reason they had managed to outmaneuver the ninth-level genius Lex Luthor was that they had exploited an information gap. They absolutely could not afford to be careless.
This was a disaster. He had exposed such a glaring flaw in front of Batman. Once Bruce returned and Clark told him what had happened, Bruce would definitely give him a thorough scolding.
The World Consciousness could no longer bear it and forced its way into his mind.
[Forget all that for now! Hurry up and figure out how to bluff your way past this Batman! If you slip up in front of him and he guesses that you learned about General Zod from a YouTube commentary video, I’ll have no choice but to kick you out of this world!]
[How do you even know I learned about General Zod from YouTube? Never mind—I’ll patch the script first!]
At that moment, Clark still naively believed that this Batman was like Thomas had been back then and would be leaving very soon.
All he had to do was fob him off for now. Perhaps the man would leave before Clark even finished making up an excuse. Naturally, there was no need to improvise an entire script on the spot as he had done with Bruce last time.
After thinking briefly, he soon came up with a plausible excuse.
“I came across the name General Zod while searching through records in the Fortress of Solitude.”
“He appears to have been a general of my home planet, Krypton. However, before Krypton was destroyed, he was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for treason by the council. It was a special prison discovered and established by my father, Jor-El.”
As he spoke, Clark’s blue eyes remained calmly fixed on Batman’s, as if silently encouraging him to continue asking questions. As if, no matter what Batman asked, Clark would do everything in his power to provide an honest answer.
Because he was Batman.
Although it was not the first time, Batman was still stunned by the trust this universe’s Superman placed in Batman.
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Clark’s words had sounded so much like an interrogation that Batman had prepared himself for Superman to lose control and for his eyes to glow red.
Yet, against all expectations, the other man had not only answered his questions with remarkable calm, but even seemed eager to explain every proper noun in full.
As though Superman held nothing back in front of Batman.
Complex emotions welled up in his heart.
Batman had never imagined that anyone besides Alfred and Lucius would trust him so completely.
Batman was not supposed to have any more attachments. A man who had become the embodiment of fear and night was destined to sever himself from the light, and that included every beautiful, intimate relationship in the world.
That was why he had lost his son and his soldiers, and why he had never had a lover or any companions beyond a few old friends.
He had thought himself long accustomed to this. Yet now, faced with the sincerity and trust filling Clark’s eyes, he was startled to discover a faint sense of envy toward the Batman of this universe rising from the depths of his heart.
The Batman lost in complicated emotions had no idea that Clark was thinking—
Oh my God, I actually get to give Batman an educational lecture. Hee hee hee.
Once he knew that his own Bruce was not in danger, he had relaxed.
The World Consciousness would retrieve his Bruce soon enough, and he could use this opportunity to admire and indulge in an alternate-universe version of his favorite person. It was simply wonderful!
The World Consciousness: helpless shrug.jpg
Several seconds passed before Batman spoke again. It was still the same mechanical voice, but its tone had clearly softened.
“How did you and Batman meet?”
Huh? Bruce and I have known each other since we were children.
I want to ask how you and your Superman met, too. Was it your first encounter on a cruise ship, or did Luthor and the Joker team up? Or was it the identity-swapping gimmick from New 52?
Please, tell me! This is really important to me!
Of course, Clark only dared to rant inwardly. He did not dare say any of it aloud.
He was just about to repeat the script Bruce had prepared when Batman suddenly said, “Do not try to deceive me by claiming that you only met today. I have already seen some reports from tonight. Your coordination was flawless. It looked far more like you had set a trap for Luthor long ago than like the two of you had decided to join forces on a whim.”
Clark: “…”
He frantically hammered at the World Consciousness in his mind.
[This is bad! He saw through our script! What are we going to do?]
[That is because you were never acting very convincingly in the first place.] The World Consciousness mocked him without mercy, then offered a suggestion.
[There is no choice. We can only patch the script. Change it so that the two of you have known each other in secret and kept in private contact for a long time. Our Luthor has more or less guessed that you were secretly working together anyway, so the setting needed to be changed in the first place. From now on, remember to play the roles accordingly.]
Clark was practically driven to madness.
Wait—why did they have to keep changing the script? If they kept revising the characters back and forth, what would happen if he mixed them up later?
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