American comics: Today’s big news Chapter 022

The edge of the Batarang was not sharp, not intended for lethal force.

Conners held the constantly flashing red Batarang, spinning it between his fingers, and smiled, saying:

“I’m clueless about computers, but even if I hacked into it, you’d definitely notice.”

With that, he tossed the Batarang to Batman, who caught it with one hand.

This was a Bat-tracker he had specifically placed in Conners’ house when Conners wasn’t home during the day.

His opening the stadium’s surveillance wasn’t accidental either; it was this tracker that sent him Conners’ location. Witnessing the “Flying Graysons” accident was purely coincidental.

On Conners’ side, due to the Spider-Sense, he had already discovered the tracker’s existence.

Because he always had to go around “eating melons” (gossiping/watching drama), he would inevitably encounter situations where he couldn’t prove himself. He didn’t destroy the tracker; instead, he carried it with him.

And now, it was clearly this tracker’s turn to play its part.

Bruce Wayne caught the tracker, and the guns extending from various corners of the room all retracted.

Just as Conners had anticipated this scene before coming, Bruce Wayne had also checked the signal sent by the tracker before Conners arrived.

The scene of numerous guns earlier was merely a precautionary measure. Now that the misunderstanding was cleared, there was naturally no need for such tension.

Moreover, Bruce Wayne was eager to know the news of “world destruction” that Conners spoke of.

“Is the destruction you mentioned related to that Superman in Metropolis?” Bruce Wayne and Conners entered the Batcave together. After a few casual remarks along the way, the topic officially shifted to Conners’ purpose for coming.

“Huh?” Conners didn’t react immediately. He was talking about news from the Marvel next door; what did that have to do with Superman?

He quickly looked at the computer screen in the Batcave, where a page titled “Superman’s Ability Analysis” was quickly closed by Bruce Wayne. He then understood what the ‘old master’ was talking about.

Apparently, the omnipotent Superman, Clark, who could go anywhere, was considered an imaginary enemy by Batman, who had not yet interacted with him at this time.

“He’s a good guy. Whether world destruction is related to him is uncertain. I came to tell you this news and see if we can prevent it in advance,” Conners said.

“You know him?” Batman asked, pointing at Superman’s photo on the computer.

“How would I know him…” Conners sighed helplessly. If he knew Superman, he would be rushing over to “eat melons” like crazy right now. After all, the “melon-eating” system seemed to be related to the strength of the “melon producer”; the stronger the strength, the better the reward.

Logically speaking, the stronger a person is, the greater the impact of their every action. Similarly, if two people fight, ordinary people, superheroes, and Superman represent three different tiers of rewards.

“I don’t know much. Doctor Fate has prophetic abilities. Can you find him?” Conners got to the point.

“Who is Doctor Fate…” Bruce Wayne had never even heard that name.

“Omen? Lilith Clay?”

“…” Batman was silent.

“Zatanna?”

“…”

“The Flash, Barry?”

“I know that one!” Bruce Wayne let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone he knew.

At the same time, a question arose in his mind: why did this Conners know so much? Where did such a person come from?

Conners also breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Batman in this world hadn’t yet interacted with “The Flash” Barry; that would require finding him first:

“That makes things easier. Although Barry doesn’t have prophetic abilities, he can go to the future for us and see when the danger will arrive.”

“…”

Batman had always been the one leading others by the nose. This was the first time he had been so thoroughly arranged by someone else. He was momentarily depressed and then, in front of Conners, pulled out his phone:

“Barry? I need your help.”

The call hadn’t even ended when, the next moment, a man wrapped entirely in a red bodysuit appeared before Conners.

“Long time no see, Barry,” Conners said, looking at Barry, who looked much like his TV counterpart, feeling a great fondness and greeting him proactively.

“…Hi?” Barry looked at Conners quizzically. “Have we met somewhere before?”

“Not really, I’ve just coveted your super speed for a long time,” Conners confessed, scaring Barry into shrinking back.

Bruce Wayne watched the two people chatting before he could even introduce them. He didn’t give them a chance to continue and forcefully interjected:

“Barry, I need you to take a look at our… no, take a look at the future of this world.”

“I’m always going back to the past; running towards the future is a first,” Barry said, having taken off his cowl, then putting it back on. He then vanished.

Normally, Barry’s disappearance and appearance were instantaneous; those with poor eyesight might not even notice he had vanished.

But this time, he strangely did not reappear for a long time.

One minute, two minutes.

Ten minutes.

It wasn’t until nearly fifteen minutes later that Barry reappeared, sitting on the ground, his eyes vacant.

“Barry!” Batman rushed forward to help him up. The Flash, Barry, was like a puppet, letting himself be manipulated, as if he had lost the ability to think.

It wasn’t until Conners and Bruce Wayne put their heads together, staring at Barry and calling out to him, that Barry seemed to come back to his senses, but his expression remained blank, his eyes dull, and he murmured:

“We have no future…”

One sentence made the two men freeze on the spot. What did “no future” mean?

…

With the efforts of Conners and Bruce, Barry finally recovered, becoming the sunny and cheerful young man he was again, returning to Central City.

Bruce Wayne fell silent, and Conners also bid his farewells at the appropriate time.

On the Marvel side, it was just world destruction. On the DC side, there was no future at all, which caught Conners somewhat off guard.

Both sides were currently on the same Earth; it was highly likely that they were in a relationship where one flourished, and the other suffered.

However, since he was here, he would make the best of it. All he had to do now was keep “eating melons,” eating big melons, to constantly strengthen himself and become strong enough to deal with whatever situations might arise.

Tonight in Gotham City, Batman did not appear, but the Batwing soared in the sky, and the Batmobile traversed the streets and alleys, deterring anyone in Gotham from making rash moves.

However, there was one exception: Conners walked swaggeringly down the streets of Gotham. Having been hungry all day, he was looking for a restaurant to fill his stomach—Batman had not invited him to dinner.

—And the supercar he had borrowed from Alfred had been stolen.

Then, he was stopped by a red-haired female spy.

“Screech—”

A piercing sound of tires rubbing against the pavement rang in Conners’ ears. The stolen supercar stopped in front of him with an exceptionally cool drift. “Black Widow” Natasha rolled down the window, looking at him with a smile:

“Need a ride?”

Conners looked at Natasha and smiled too:

“You’ve come at the wrong time.”

With that, the car was stuck by a large amount of webbing from above and flew into the sky.

Not only was “Black Widow” Natasha looking for him, but “Silk” Cindy Moon, who had been “hungry” all day yesterday, was also looking for him. Coincidentally, the two met.

Thus, history repeated itself, only this time Conners wasn’t in the car.