Ethan kept playing with the Mother Box in his hand. As he did so, everything around him seemed to be on fast-forward, yet no one paid him any attention, and he himself ignored this phenomenon.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally stopped. The Mother Box in his hand also turned into points of light and slowly entered Ethan's body.
At this point, everything around him returned to normal, and Ethan let out a long sigh.
He did not get up and leave. Instead, he asked the waiter for a glass of iced lemon tea and sat there sipping it, looking into the distance ahead as if something interesting was happening there. In reality, there was nothing but ordinary people coming and going.
He knew several acquaintances would appear soon. He even had the leisure to order an extra pastry to eat with his lemon tea while he waited.
Just as he took the last sip of lemon tea and set the glass down, several figures appeared one after another in the spot he had been watching.
Wonder Woman Diana, The Flash Barry Allen, Cyborg... what was this guy's name again? After thinking for a moment, he remembered his real name was Victor Stone, Aquaman Arthur Curry, Mera the Sea Queen, and Superman Clark Kent.
These few stood in a line not far in front of Ethan. Their exaggerated appearances immediately attracted intense gawking from the surrounding crowd.
At this time, only Superman, Clark Kent, was widely known among this group. The names of the others had not spread yet. Aquaman Arthur Curry had some recognition in a certain region and was already the second most famous person in the group.
"The Justice League?"
Ethan stood up, then casually put down a few dollars.
Although he had seen through many things, this was a personal habit he did not plan to change.
"Batman Bruce Wayne is here too, isn't he? Aren't you going to come out and say hello?"
"..."
The people opposite him were momentarily stunned. They had not expected this person to know so much about them. It was incredible. They did not really know each other well, and many of them were meeting for the first time, the most typical being The Flash, Barry.
But the person in front of them seemed to know them very well, not only knowing that there was a Batman among them but also knowing Batman's true identity.
"Just who are you?"
Superman Clark Kent had long wanted to use his abilities to see through Ethan but found that his powers could not penetrate him at all, not even his clothes. It felt like he was just an ordinary person, which made Clark a little uncomfortable.
"My name is Ethan. You could say I'm a passerby."
For this world, he was indeed a passerby. He was just passing through, merely picking up a few things along the way.
Diana looked very dissatisfied with Ethan's answer. Her eyebrows were already furrowed.
The others also shifted their gazes to Diana because this was inconsistent with what they had heard from her.
"What is your relationship with Steppenwolf?"
"Steppenwolf?"
Facing Diana's question, Ethan's face was full of disdain. That contempt was so strong even a blind person could sense it.
"He's not worthy of having any relationship with me."
The few looked at each other, slightly surprised by the unexpected answer.
"Then why did you steal the Mother Box?"
Mera was very concerned about Ethan taking the Mother Box from her. This was an issue she absolutely could not ignore, and everyone else also stared at Ethan, wanting to know his purpose in taking the Mother Box.
"I need to use the power of the Mother Box to accomplish something."
"What thing?"
"Go home."
"Huh?" Aquaman Arthur, who had not spoken until now, had a look that said, I can't believe you're this kind of person. "You can't even find your own home?"
Ethan shook his finger.
"It's not what you think. I know how to go home, but there's a problem, and to solve that problem, I must use the power of the Mother Box."
"Sounds... not very credible."
They could not understand why someone would need the Mother Box just to go home. They already knew how terrifying the power contained within the Mother Box was, so they deeply doubted that Ethan was just making up excuses to fool them.
"I know you won't believe me, so I didn't expect you to believe what I say."
"Then why are you saying this?"
"Simply stating a fact!"
Ethan's gaze kept moving among the group, finally lingering on Cyborg for a moment, which made Cyborg very nervous.
Because unlike the story Ethan knew, the third Mother Box in this world was not being kept by Cyborg's father. It had transformed into Cyborg himself.
In other words, judging by the situation when he previously obtained a Mother Box, absorbed the power and rules contained within it, and then the Mother Box disappeared, Cyborg was certainly going to die.
The moment Ethan's gaze fell on him, Cyborg's "body" reacted first. Feeling the danger, the part-machine body immediately launched an attack. Even though Diana and Clark next to him immediately told him to calm down, they could not stop Cyborg's arm from turning into an energy cannon and firing at Ethan.
The energy blast hit Ethan squarely but did not cause him any harm. Ethan did not even blink, taking Cyborg's attack head-on.
"Victor, don't fight here!"
This was a downtown area, and there were many onlookers. Those pedestrians had already fallen into panic and started scattering as soon as Victor attacked.
Ethan looked at the noisy surroundings. In this situation, he could not fight to his heart's content, so he simply "helped" these people out. With a light snap of his fingers, the Justice heroes found that the surrounding pedestrians suddenly disappeared.
"This..."
They also noticed that Batman, Bruce Wayne, who had been hiding in the shadows, suddenly appeared next to them. Aquaman Arthur even asked in confusion, "How did you suddenly come out? Didn't you say you'd support us from the shadows?"
Batman did not answer. He was also a bit confused, not understanding what had happened. One second, he was hiding in the dark, contemplating and organizing the information revealed by this person called Ethan, and the next second, after a flash before his eyes, he was standing here.
He looked around. Although he was reluctant to believe the conclusion he had reached, it seemed to be the truth.
"We've been transferred to some other space."
Superman Clark was also looking around. He found that his eyes were no longer miraculous here. He could not even see through the surrounding buildings. He was certain this was definitely not the city they were originally in.
"A Mirror Dimension, like a reflection of the real world... Here, you don't have to worry about accidentally hurting ordinary people."
The heroes looked at Ethan in surprise. This was not something a villain would do. When did a big bad ever consider the lives of innocent civilians?
"Well, maybe we can talk this through? Maybe there are other solutions?"
That was how the Justice heroes were. When they found out the other party did not seem to be an utterly wicked villain, their first reaction was to avoid using force.
Normally, maybe the two sides would reach a consensus, but this time Cyborg attacked like he was going mad.
Ethan knew why. Precisely because he knew this fight was unavoidable, he had released the Mirror Dimension beforehand.
With his current strength, the Mirror Dimension he created was vast and solid. In any case, with the strength of the people in front of him, they should not hope to forcibly shatter this world.
Even if this Cyborg in front of him was transformed from a Mother Box, it would not work. After all, he only had the strength of the "original Mother Box," not an enhanced version.
Looking at the mechanical fist rushing toward him, Ethan tilted his head slightly, directly avoiding Cyborg's attack. He gathered a ball of purple light in his hand and lightly pressed it onto Cyborg.
Energy erupted, and Cyborg was directly blasted away.
"Victor, control yourself!"
"I can't! The Mother Box keeps telling me how dangerous this guy is. I absolutely cannot let the Mother Box fall into his hands."
As Cyborg answered Diana, his hands quickly changed and combined into a strange large cannon, firing a thick beam of energy.
Ethan twirled his finger and drew a circle. A golden circular portal appeared in front of him. The energy beam released by Cyborg went straight into the portal, then "reflected" back from another portal Ethan drew nearby.
Boom!
The massive explosion and shockwave forced several heroes to dodge. Then they noticed that the ground hit by the energy wave was completely undamaged.
"Victor, is your power that weak?"
It looked imposing, but it did not even damage the ordinary road. If Arthur had known that, he would not have jumped so high.
"It's not!"
After landing, Diana stomped her foot hard. Diana, who could easily stomp large pits into ordinary dirt and stone ground, could not leave a single mark on this surface.
"This world is too solid."
She held her sword in her right hand and her shield in her left. Although this battle had erupted somewhat strangely, as a warrior born and raised on Themyscira, Diana would not shy away from a fight.
"This is good too. I can go all out."
While Superman was still hesitating, Diana had already charged forward. No matter the situation, subduing the opponent first would be beneficial for subsequent negotiations.
She swung her sword at the enemy. To her surprise, the person named Ethan did not dodge. Instead, he extended his left hand toward the blade.
She did not even have time to consider whether to hold back some strength or change her move. The next second, she found her sword seemed to be fixed in place, unable to move even an inch no matter how hard she tried.
Looking at Ethan, who was holding her blade with just his index finger and thumb, Diana could hardly believe what she was seeing.
However, this was just the beginning. As Ethan squeezed with his two fingers, Diana's long sword immediately shattered into countless pieces. Even the hilt she held in her hand was not spared.
(To be continued.)