570. Attacked Again!
The silence of the Batcave was suddenly shattered by a loud commotion.
Doctor Fate stumbled several steps back, crashing into the table behind him. The impact knocked over a cup on the desk before he finally ca to a stop.
He ripped off the Helt of Fate, gasping for air as if he had just erged from underwater. Sweat covered his forehead, and he looked completely drained, gripping the table for support, unable to recover for a long mont.
"Kent, are you alright?"
Bruce Wayne approached, offering a cup of hot tea, his voice deep and steady.
Taking the cup, Kent tried to calm his breathing while shaking his head slightly. "I'm fine… just ntally exhausted. This girl's mind has suffered severe trauma. Recovering her mories is far from easy."
"Did you fail?" Stephanie frowned, looking at Tula with concern.
"No, I didn't fail."
Doctor Fate forced a small smile, took a sip of tea, and continued, "It worked. I only managed to piece together a rough picture, but I obtained critical information. As for the rest of her mories, they will gradually return with ti."
"That's a relief! But… why isn't she waking up yet?" Stephanie moved closer to Tula, noticing she was still unconscious.
"Since I had to navigate through her ntal world, there will be so lingering effects. But don't worry—after a good rest, she'll be fine." Kent waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough of that for now," Bruce Wayne interjected, shifting the topic. His eyes locked onto Kent with a serious expression. "You said you discovered critical information. What exactly is it?"
Kent's smile faded. He took a deep breath and t Bruce's gaze before speaking.
"Atlantis has fallen. In Tula's mories, I saw their ruler defeated and killed in battle. It seems they couldn't withstand the enemy's assault. I suspect the Mother Box has already been taken by Steppenwolf."
"Steppenwolf?"
Bruce Wayne and Hippolyta both frowned simultaneously.
"My apologies, Your Majesty," Kent said in a quieter tone. "In order to learn the identity of our enemy, I read your mind while we spoke. That's how I saw the invader who attacked Themyscira and learned his na."
Reading soone's mind without permission was highly disrespectful—sothing most would resent. After all, in this world, everyone had secrets of their own.
However, Doctor Fate's telepathy wasn't flawless. If soone was fully focused, they could easily sense him intruding. It was only because Hippolyta had been overwheld with anxiety and distress that he had found an opening.
"Forget it. That's a minor issue," Hippolyta dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand. "Right now, we need to focus on Steppenwolf."
The room fell silent.
"The three Mother Boxes on Earth… The ones entrusted to Themyscira and Atlantis have both fallen into enemy hands. If we don't act quickly, once Steppenwolf claims the human race's Mother Box, we won't have any chance left."
Everyone understood Hippolyta's words.
The problem was, the human Mother Box had vanished centuries ago. In this vast world, with ti erasing all traces, how could they possibly find it in such a short period?
"Here's what we'll do," Kent suggested after so thought. "I'll reach out to Hourman and get the Justice Society heroes ready. If we all investigate together, we might find so leads."
"That's a good idea." Bruce Wayne nodded before sitting down at the computer. "I'll scan for global energy signatures using the satellite network. If the Mother Box is activated, it will definitely emit an energy surge."
"But with the Mother Box's level of technology, can your system even detect it?" Hippolyta asked.
"We can only try."
Bruce Wayne let out a faint sigh.
A golden light flashed, and Doctor Fate's figure slowly disappeared into the Ankh symbol, leaving the Batcave in silence once more. The only sound remaining was the rhythmic tapping of Batman's fingers on the keyboard.
Hippolyta stood beside him, her expression filled with concern. She desperately wanted to help, to contribute in so way, but this technology was completely foreign to her. All she could do was stand there anxiously, feeling powerless.
"Robin, take Tula to the manor and let her rest. It looks like she won't be waking up anyti soon," Batman said, still focused on his screen, not even glancing back.
"Oh… alright."
Stephanie nodded lightly. Her skills with computers were average at best, so staying here wouldn't be much help. Hearing Batman's instructions, she imdiately picked up the unconscious Tula.
Stephanie had been operating in Gotham as a vigilante for quite so ti. While her work was often dangerous, it always felt like "small-scale" conflicts.
Compared to the missions undertaken by Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Black Adam, or Shazam—where entire cities or even the world could be at stake—her encounters seed insignificant.
But this ti, for the first ti, Stephanie felt true danger closing in around her. And worse, in the face of such a massive crisis, she realized she was completely powerless. This unsettling feeling stirred sothing deep inside her.
As she watched the two young won leave the Batcave, Hippolyta withdrew her gaze and turned back to Batman. "Bruce, any leads? With your technology, can you pinpoint the Mother Box's location?"
"It's not that simple," Batman replied, his fingers still moving across the keys. "Like you said, the Mother Box's technology is far beyond anything on Earth. Pinpointing its exact location is going to be difficult. And honestly, if it were that easy, soone would've found it long ago."
Then, as if sothing suddenly clicked in his mind, Batman's head shot up.
"Wait a minute."
"What is it?" Hippolyta asked, puzzled.
"When we were exchanging intel earlier, you theorized that the Mother Box was activated by so external stimulus, which in turn summoned those enemies here, right?" Batman locked eyes with Hippolyta as he spoke.
"Yes." Hippolyta nodded. "For thousands of years, the Mother Boxes remained dormant, even after the Old Gods faded away. If there was ever an ideal ti to invade Earth, it would have been after the Old Gods disappeared—before heroes erged. Back then, Earth had no protectors."
She wasn't wrong.
Back when Alex and Pietro first arrived, the only hero left on Earth was a retired Batman. There were no defenders, no guardians. To Apokolips, Earth was nothing more than an unprotected world, ripe for the taking.
Now, with more and more heroes erging, even the legacy of the gods was slowly appearing in the human world. Summoning Steppenwolf at this ti would inevitably lead to a direct conflict with Earth's heroes.
For the forces of Apokolips, this would be a costly mistake.
Under these circumstances, the sudden activation of the Mother Box and Steppenwolf's arrival raised serious questions.
"You suspect that the human Mother Box has been activated?" Hippolyta quickly grasped Batman's aning and couldn't help but ask.
"Exactly. The Mother Box on Themyscira has remained dormant for centuries, so Steppenwolf's arrival likely has nothing to do with your people. And based on Kent's explanation, Atlantis was taken by surprise in a sudden attack.
If Atlantis's Mother Box had been activated, the Atlanteans would have been prepared. They wouldn't have been caught off guard, and their ruler certainly wouldn't have been slain so easily. That's why I suspect the real problem lies with the human Mother Box."
Batman stroked his chin, his expression grave.
It had been a long ti since the Justice Society was ford. If the human Mother Box had truly been activated, then with his and the Justice Society's intelligence networks, there should have been at least so hint of it.
But all this ti, not even the faintest whisper had surfaced. That troubled him deeply. If sothing existed in this world that even he couldn't detect, then the threat was far greater than they had anticipated.
"You truly know nothing about the Mother Boxes?"
"They're alien technology—far beyond anything we've encountered before. The Amazons inherited divine power, but not the knowledge to create godly artifacts. So no, I don't know much about them."
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Suddenly, a sharp and urgent alarm blared through the Batcave, cutting their conversation short.
Bruce Wayne quickly turned to the computer screen, where a flashing red bird symbol appeared. The sight of it made his expression darken instantly.
"What is it?" Hippolyta noticed his shift in deanor and asked quickly.
"It's Red Robin's ergency alert."
Bruce's face remained grim as he explained in rapid succession.
"I installed multiple safeguards in his suit. I gave him a communicator for ergencies, but in case he couldn't manually send a distress signal, I added a failsafe to his suit.
If his suit sustains severe damage or is exposed to an extre energy source, it automatically transmits an alert to ."
His fingers flew over the keyboard, and within seconds, a diagnostic report popped up. The screen displayed a digital schematic of Red Robin's suit—
Except now, the left shoulder and arm sections were flashing red, indicating significant damage.
"Damn it. His suit is compromised—he's in trouble."
Bruce clenched his jaw.
Just then, another monitor flickered to life, displaying an urgent news broadcast—
"BREAKING NEWS: S.T.A.R. Labs under alien attack! Nearby citizens are urged to evacuate imdiately!"
.....
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