Injustice Batman never thought he'd someday look to the Superman standing before him with hope. At least for this moment, he hoped Superman could take him away.
Simply put, he wasn't particularly eager to meet Stalin.
Unfortunately, Injustice Superman seemed to have been provoked by something, his mental state not in the best shape. He stood there blankly, completely unresponsive, even with guns pointed at him, lost in his own world.
Injustice Batman could have fled, but he felt that if he left Injustice Superman here, things might spiral out of control even further. So, he ultimately decided to stay.
Yet, the reaction speed and professionalism of their opposition exceeded his expectations. As the flashlight beam swept across him, three groups of people simultaneously approached him from the front, rear, and right-rear, the cold barrels of their guns aimed straight at his head.
To avoid provoking a reaction, Injustice Batman raised his hands. When the assailants closed in to within two or three meters, Batman saw the distinctly Slavic features on their faces. He could now more or less confirm their identities in his mind.
But he confirmed a tad too early.
Just as the leader approached to about two meters away, Batman saw his fingers pulling the trigger. Swearing silently, Batman immediately dove down to dodge.
However, the anticipated gunshot never came. From the barrel emerged a glowing purple net, which shot out with a "whoosh," enveloping both Injustice Batman and Injustice Superman tightly.
When the net touched Injustice Superman, he instinctively raised an arm to resist, but the woven threads of the net instantly lit up, binding his upper body tightly. He struggled for a long while but failed to break free.
This made Injustice Batman realize that this object wasn't a product of conventional technology—at least not of this era's advancements. No material so fine could withstand the instantaneous pull of dozens of tons of force.
Something was off, very off.
While he pondered this, the opposition had already rushed over. They used the same threads to bind both him and Superman, and soon transported them to an underground safe house.
This time, however, there was no casual, college dorm room vibe to be felt. Clearly, these individuals were professionals. Their English carried heavy Russian accents, and they seemed not at all surprised by Batman's and Superman's presence.
But Batman was puzzled—why wasn't their focus on him? At any other time, this would be highly unusual. After all, a Bruce Wayne dressed in the Batman costume alongside a seemingly deranged Superman should have plenty of secrets worth uncovering. Why wouldn't Soviet intelligence officers be intrigued?
Indeed, Injustice Batman had already deduced that these individuals were none other than the infamous KGB.
He hadn't been in this world for long, but had already learned from the internet that the Soviet Union had not disbanded. Though surprising, this information wasn't wholly shocking. He had already seen through the Battleworld how the infinite universes of the multiverse could develop along diverging world lines. A butterfly's tiny flutter could completely change their circumstances.
But finding the KGB unexpectedly within the Luthor Group Building did manage to surprise Injustice Batman.
Now two possibilities emerged: either Lex Luthor was colluding with the Soviets, or Lex Luthor and Clark Kent were both colluding with the Soviets.
However, when Batman saw that familiar figure stepping into the safe house, he couldn't help but falter.
Oliver Queen, Green Arrow, one of the founding members of the Justice League, was now warmly chatting with the Soviet agents at the doorway in fluent Russian, referring to them as "comrades."
Injustice Batman began to wonder whether Lex Luthor had released some hallucinogenic drugs into this safe house.
When Oliver stepped into the room, Batman confirmed that none of this was an illusion. He spent about half his mental energy convincing himself to accept reality. He succeeded.
But what perplexed him even more was that Oliver's focus wasn't on him either. It was as though Oliver was simply visiting a zoo, casually surveying the two of them, before pulling out his phone to arrange other matters.
After finishing a series of arrangements, he finally seemed to remember the two living captives in the room, walked over to glance at them, and then told the others, "Release these two."
The special threads binding them were removed. Oliver nodded at Batman and spoke with surprising warmth, "There may have been a misunderstanding. Using such violent means to handle you was never our intention. We could have talked things through directly, but I have more pressing matters to attend to right now. You're free to leave here, or you can come upstairs with me and wait. Your choice."
Injustice Batman wanted to leave, of course. He had already fully grasped the absurdity of this universe, which meant the upcoming developments might not unfold as he expected. He needed to prepare early.
But if he left, Injustice Superman would undoubtedly follow. Injustice Superman was extremely unstable right now—throwing him into the streets of Metropolis would be no different than hurling a bomb into a crowd. Batman would never make such an irresponsible choice.
Sharing a space with the KGB wasn't ideal, but if they could keep Injustice Superman contained, leveraging their resources temporarily wouldn't hurt.
Besides, he was indeed curious about what role this peculiar Green Arrow played in this peculiar Justice League within this peculiar universe.
"My friend is going through a rough patch," Injustice Batman said. "I suggest you let him stay here and assign someone to monitor him. I'll accompany you upstairs, and I promise not to cause trouble."
Oliver glanced at Injustice Superman—who might as well have "lost soul" written across his face—and his unstable state was obvious at a glance.
"Fine. If you can persuade him to stay, I'll have someone keep an eye on him. But if he insists on leaving, we won't stop him."
"No," Injustice Batman said. "You can't allow him to enter the city. He might wreak havoc."
"Until he causes havoc, we can't assume he's a criminal and lock him up. If he's your friend, you should be able to convince him. I'll wait for you at the door."
After Oliver and his team left, the safe house was left with only Batman and Superman.
Locking eyes with Superman's unwavering gaze, Batman began seriously recalling the things Superman had said to him.
Something about heaven, something about Lois—all of it sounded like madness. But the circumstances they were now experiencing felt like a mad dream themselves, so perhaps those things held some truth that demanded to be taken seriously.
"Listen, Clark. I'll take your current attitude as regret for what you've done in the past. I can't claim I'm entirely without guilt either. I believe if there's a chance to make things right, we'll both give it our all. Am I right?"
Superman stared at him blankly for several seconds before nodding slowly.
"Good. I believe you're telling the truth—that heaven truly exists. But since you failed to find Lois there, it means this matter isn't so simple. I need to find the real solution to fix this. Wait here for me, okay?"
Superman nodded again.
Finally reassured, Batman turned and left the room to seek out Oliver. But what he didn't see was the complex look Superman gave to his departing figure.
Even now, Superman was still willing to believe in Batman; even now, Batman was still willing to believe in Superman. So perhaps it was time for them to consider how they'd ended up at this point of silence between them.
Batman followed Oliver upstairs. The sky had just begun to lighten. Standing on the upper floors of the Luthor Group Building and looking out at the early morning glimpses of Metropolis was, all things considered, a rather novel experience.
What was even more novel was seeing a group of sleep-deprived Justice League members yawning endlessly as they gathered.
On the right side of the conference table, Diana had her head buried in the table, mumbling, "Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until morning? God, I've only slept for two hours..."
"My situation's different," a disheveled Arthur murmured, eyes barely open. "I just fell asleep ten minutes ago and got woken by a phone call. Am I dreaming right now?"
"At least you got to sleep," Hal said. "I was inspecting Mercury Base—I was almost there—then Oliver called and said he'd arrived. I had to turn around and come back."
Clark was practically dragging Bruce inside. Bruce collapsed into a chair, crossed his arms, leaned back, and immediately fell asleep again.
Lex walked in looking slightly haggard, not even dressed formally. He'd clearly thrown on a hoodie in a rush.
"What's going on? I thought you weren't arriving until this morning?" he asked Oliver.
"There weren't supposed to be any nighttime flights, but I refreshed the website for a while and snagged a ticket. Alright, let's skip this. Those still half-asleep, go wash your faces and prepare for the meeting."
Diana headed to the restroom to freshen up, Clark brewed coffee for everyone, Lex stepped outside on his phone arranging things, and Hal was already back in communication with the Green Lantern Corps, squeezing in a quick nap between exchanges.
Bruce? Bruce hadn't woken at all, nor did anyone bother to wake him. He shifted from leaning back to resting his head on the table. On her way back, Diana thoughtfully draped a jacket over him.
Oliver sat down at the table and began, "I've tentatively communicated with a few contacts. It looks like there may be aliens descending on America. That's right, descending. They're not currently defining this as an invasion..."
The early morning haze seemed to slow everyone's thoughts. Diana, looking somewhat dazed, asked Oliver, "Why?"
With patience, Oliver explained, "The alien ship's descent may be witnessed globally, but the battles occurring within Metropolis might not leak out as much. The Luthor Group has ways to suppress this incident."
"To avoid mass panic, they're going to frame it as a mere alien spacecraft crash—an unlucky extraterrestrial clumsily landing on Earth without causing significant casualties."
"That's the external narrative, but internally?" Clark asked. "Are we really letting them come here? I think engaging them in the outer Solar System would be a better option."
"That might be difficult," Hal chimed in. "If it's as you've speculated—a Kryptonian ship—then our extraterrestrial defense systems would struggle to be effective. Their level of technology is simply too advanced."
"Not even the Green Lantern Corps?"
"Not enough personnel," Hal sighed. "Even though Earth is my home planet, I can't bend the rules to mobilize an entire corps here. It'd attract too much attention. And with just a handful of Green Lanterns, we can't completely seal off the Solar System."
"Alright, looks like Earth is where the fight has to be," Clark nodded. "So our only remaining task is to draft a battle plan for Metropolis. Let's get started."