Two cape-wearing men strolled ahead while two small figures slowly followed behind.
"Did you encounter some unbeatable enemy?" Batman really couldn't figure out Superman's purpose for coming. Surely he wasn't trying to promote Earth martial arts?
"Yeah, Thea came to see me earlier. She said Earth has been targeted by a supervillain."
Batman's face was grave and expressionless. Superman continued. "She's in a really low mood right now. The enemy is unimaginably strong." Thinking about the other world's Batman dying, he held back from mentioning it.
"Understood. I'll train you as quickly as possible." Batman stated calmly while leading the way, a faint, satisfied smile at the corner of his mouth.
Superman's expression was a bit pained, but for the sake of improving his combat power, he forced a smile.
Little did he know this was the beginning of a nightmare. Batman led him into a room filled with red-sun radiation.
"Feel it? Your powers are suppressed here. Time is precious—let's begin!" As soon as Batman finished speaking, he punched him right in the face.
...
In the far corner of the room, two kids sat five meters apart, occasionally hearing screams from inside, along with instructions like "Plant your feet, keep your body straight" and "One fist forward, one back—don't throw all your body weight into it."
Damian naturally knew who Superman was, but still tilted his chin up arrogantly and asked casually, "Is that big guy in there your dad?"
Having grown up away from his parents and lived alone in a strange environment for ten years, little Jonathan was no pushover. Fear of strangers was just a manifestation of high alertness.
Facing Damian's provocation, he returned fire. "Is that dark guy your dad? Does he have any superpowers?"
"You—!" Damian was momentarily speechless, like an angry little lion. He shot back, "You have superpowers, right? Dare to compete with me?"
Little Jonathan gave him a look reserved for fools. In the wilderness, meaningless battles were the stupidest thing. He didn't understand Thea and Superman's earlier fight—they were just so powerful, stronger than all the warriors combined from his previous world. He didn't dare mock them.
With a sense of intellectual superiority, little Jonathan glanced smugly at Damian, then deliberately turned his head away.
This timeline's Damian had been trained by Thea for two years and spent over a year with Raven. Dealing with these two kind-faced but black-hearted people for so long had rubbed off on him.
Seeing little Jonathan wouldn't fight, but instead was surveying the Batcave's high-tech equipment, he immediately judged this guy was a country bumpkin.
"Broadband oscillation device." When little Jonathan looked at a black device, Damian introduced it with great satisfaction.
"Batwing..."
"Satellite navigation system."
"Anti-radiation-lined armor."
Damian was like a competent tour guide, constantly introducing his family's various high-tech equipment.
While introducing, he mentally looked down on little Jonathan. This guy looked sharp but had seen nothing? What backwoods did this wild man crawl out of?
His guess was actually pretty accurate. Little Jonathan had drifted to a post-nuclear-war-like world. If Krypto, searching for Kryptonian traces, hadn't found him immediately, he might not have survived.
Rich life experience but severely lacking knowledge and perspective—that world had no systematic technology reserves, just patchwork products that looked far inferior to Batcave weapons.
The two half-grown children gradually warmed to each other. Little Jonathan looked at a nearly three-meter-tall black suit of armor in the distance and asked curiously, "What's that?" This thing had similarities to some armor he'd seen in the wasteland world, just with more profound craftsmanship and intimidating appearance.
"Uh..." Damian hesitated but still spoke. "My father named it the Anti-Thea Armor."
The name Thea wasn't entirely unfamiliar to little Jonathan—his parents had introduced her earlier, and his current clothes and cape were her gifts.
But little Jonathan's deeper impression was of her punch creating a sand sea thousands of meters wide. Respect the strong, remember their names—this was an iron law of wasteland survival. Little Jonathan's mindset hadn't shifted to peacetime yet.
His thoughts raced. His gaze flicked to Damian. "The Thea you're talking about is a blonde with green eyes, right? You're enemies?"
Damian was surprised. This bumpkin had also met Big Sister Thea? With a strange expression, he countered, "How could we be? Big Sister Thea is like my real sister."
Little Jonathan's face was full of confusion, completely puzzled. Even not understanding this world, this dark armor clearly wasn't sending friendly signals.
His little brain couldn't figure out the relationship between his family and these two groups. Were they enemies or friends? Or were these two families enemies while his was neutral? Little Jonathan pondered with his worldview for ages without sorting it out.
But that didn't stop him from gathering information. Little Jonathan said carefully, "That pretty sister seems really powerful. My dad couldn't beat her. Your armor..."
Damian knew he was being provoked, but a kid's desire to show off made him leak some of his dad's secrets.
"Ha! Big Sister is very powerful, but our armor isn't weak either. See the probes on both sides of the armor's head? They have high-speed targeting systems ten thousand times faster than human reflexes, with supercomputer ballistic simulation and modeling calculations—ninety percent hit rate."
"The entire armor is made from minerals collected from Pluto, reforged with special techniques adding rare metals. Its hardness exceeds Earth's current super-alloys by one hundred fifty times."
"The armor's left wrist has a black hole generator installed. Using all the armor's energy, it creates a black hole lasting thirty seconds that can absorb all light."
"And..." Damian kept spouting terms Jonathan couldn't understand, earning looks of incomprehension and awe. The two kids passed the afternoon in idle chatter.
The training room door finally opened. Superman emerged beaten black and blue. Little Jonathan was about to help him when Superman's face magically returned to normal.
"The feeling of having power again is so good..." Superman looked back at the little red room with lingering fear. Even from outside, the red glow was painful to see.
Little Jonathan glanced around and whispered, "Dad, I'll tell you a secret."