[Metropolis]
It was night.
Victor came downstairs from his apartment building wearing a hooded tracksuit.
Today, he had met with Bruce Wayne, who invited him to join an alliance.
The alliance had been formed to deal with enemies from Apokolips, but the target they would fight might also include the "Conqueror" who had stolen the Mother Box last time.
Bruce had also told him that Superman had already left Earth, which filled Victor with doubts about the future of this alliance.
So he said he needed time to think about it.
In truth, he did not really want to join any alliance.
Ever since handing the Mother Box over to Bruce for safekeeping, Victor had gradually come out of the shadows.
Although there was little chance he could return to his old life in his current state, he hoped to start over somewhere nobody knew him.
As for saving the world, the young man did not feel strongly about it.
"I'll turn him down in a few days."
Walking into the apartment building and reaching his door, Victor suddenly noticed that it was slightly open.
He immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Victor shook his left hand, and his arm instantly transformed into a white noise cannon.
The young man carefully pushed the door open. The room was dimly lit, the window was open, and wind was blowing in from outside.
"Something's wrong."
Victor soon spotted a pair of glasses on the floor and picked them up.
They belonged to his father, Silas Stone.
Victor immediately connected to the network and pulled nearby surveillance footage. In the end, he pieced together a scene.
In the footage, a winged humanoid monster had carried off his father, Dr. Silas.
"Damn it!"
Victor immediately flew out the window and into the sky, but he had no idea where the creature had gone.
At that moment, he saw a bat symbol shining in the sky above Gotham City in the distance.
A metal mask appeared over Victor's face. Every thruster activated, and he flew toward it.
On top of a building in Gotham, Victor saw a police commissioner who often worked with Batman, along with three other people.
Two men and one woman.
One of the men wore a red suit and a helmet.
The woman had short platinum-blonde hair and wore a red-and-blue combat suit. A stars-and-stripes cape hung behind her.
The last man was, naturally, Batman, Bruce Wayne.
Bruce had met Victor Stone today and had also found Barry Allen.
Earlier that evening, he saw the commissioner use the Bat-Signal to summon him, so he came over.
"What's going on, Commissioner?"
"People have disappeared. Several scientists."
"According to eyewitnesses, the thing that took them looked like this," The commissioner pulled out a sketch. It showed a winged figure.
Standing beside Bruce, Vera from another universe folded her arms and said, "Parademons."
"Those scientists must have come into contact with the Mother Box."
"Parademons can smell the Mother Box, so they took them."
Bruce glanced at her and asked, "Do you know how many people were taken?"
"Eight."
The commissioner had barely finished speaking.
Then a voice said, "It's nine now."
Clang!
The sound of metal hitting the ground startled Barry Allen. Beside him, a silver metal man had suddenly appeared.
"Cyborg" Victor glanced at the Flash before saying to Bruce, "They took my father."
"We'd better move quickly."
Vera lifted off the ground and floated into the air.
"I just tracked them with my powers. Those things are currently beneath Gotham Harbor, on Braxton Island, in the abandoned Metropolis tunnel project from 1929."
The commissioner froze for a moment, turned toward Gotham Harbor in the distance, then looked back.
"You really think..."
Before he could finish speaking, Batman and the others were already gone. Only Barry Allen, wearing his red suit, remained.
The Flash looked awkward.
"They just disappeared without even saying goodbye. That's pretty rude. Haha!"
Then electricity flashed across his body, and he vanished from the commissioner's sight as well.
———
[Braxton Island]
[Inside the Metropolis Tunnel Beneath Gotham Harbor]
Bruce bent down and picked up several work badges.
"Looks like we found the right place."
As Vera slowly descended, she shrugged, "Do you think I'd lie to you?"
"I'm just surprised by your abilities, ma'am. It's like you can predict the future," Bruce smiled.
Barry Allen pointed at Vera, "So you're a fortune teller? Tarot cards and crystal balls?"
Vera rolled her eyes, "I'm not a Gypsy."
At that moment, Victor said, "We're beneath a ventilation tower. I've found an area above us with signs of a lot of living activity. There's a staircase there. Let's go check it out."
After speaking, he flew upward.
Vera followed behind him.
Barry Allen looked at Batman as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
Bruce shook his head.
"You don't need to worry about me."
"Okay, sir."
The Flash immediately burst forward in a trail of electricity and reached the top of the ventilation tower first.
Bruce Wayne let out a sigh.
"I really wish I could fly."
He raised his grappling gun and fired it upward, then used it to pull himself up.
Soon they arrived outside a room. Looking through the doorway, they saw several people sitting on the floor inside.
A man was being held up by a metal monster.
The creature had a pair of large horns and wore metal armor covered in spike-like protrusions.
Huge straight steel spikes jutted from its back, shoulders, and arms.
It held a silver battle axe in one hand and the man in the other. A metal spider crawled across the man's face.
"Please, let us go. I still have children to take care of."
"Wrong answer, human."
The creature tightened its grip, and the sound of bones being crushed came from the man's neck.
It tossed the corpse aside and grabbed another human.
"You carry the scent of the Mother Box."
"Tell me where the Mother Box is!"
Outside the room, Vera frowned slightly.
"That's Steppenwolf. Strange. He looks a little different from the one I know."
Then she gritted her teeth.
"Correction!"
"It has to be a correction."
"It's all that arrogant guy's fault!"
Bruce glanced at her, not knowing what this "correction" was.
He lowered his voice, "Listen, we need a plan."
Victor did not hear what Bruce was saying.
He could not stop himself from walking inside.
Standing on the iron bridge, he saw his father.
Crouching in a corner, Silas Stone said, "Let them go."
"They don't know anything."
Steppenwolf looked toward the man.
"The scent on you is stronger. You've been in close contact with the Mother Box."
He dropped the human he was holding and lifted Silas into the air.
"Tell me where the Mother Box is, or die!"