Chapter 147 Can we beat him up now?
"Batman is real!?"
Barry Allen, dressed in his classic red-and-gold suit and an open-faced mask, widened his eyes in utter astonishment.
Some time had passed since the gorilla invasion of Central City, and DC Comics' famous red-clad speedster, The Flash, had begun to make appearances on the streets of Central City. A local reporter, Iris West, was the first to call this elusive hero "The Flash" in one of her articles, and the name gradually caught on.
And right now, the rookie Flash, summoned by Orin Vale, was staring at Batman with eyes full of amazement.
"Heavens, I always thought he was just an urban legend in Gotham... You know, like the Court of Owls or something." Barry was thrilled. "Batman is actually real."
Batman remained expressionless, glancing sideways at Orin Vale.
His look seemed to say, *Seriously, this kid?*
"He's young, but he has great potential." Orin Vale paused before adding, "And he's incredibly fast."
"Fast is a very general term. I've recently started to discover that I'm not just fast," Barry launched into a monologue. "Ever since you helped me understand this ability last time, I've been researching it. Now I've found that I can actually access some kind of special energy field, which can affect the flow of time as I perceive it in a certain way..."
He then shut his mouth when he noticed Batman's icy gaze again.
"Oh, right. Business first, chat later."
The Flash smiled awkwardly, then, as something else came to mind, he cast an inquisitive look at Batman.
"What are your superpowers, by the way? Super Strength? Flight? Invisibility? I even saw some people online say you suck blood, haha, that's definitely not true, right?"
Batman still ignored him. Orin Vale patted him on the shoulder. "He's super rich."
Barry: "?"
If Barry didn't understand what that sentence meant at that moment, he began to get it when they arrived at a Bat Safe House that Batman had set up in Central City.
After passing through an underground pipeline system, a hidden door on the wall opened, revealing a large alloy gate stamped with the Bat symbol before them.
"Cooool~ It's just like 'Men in Black'," Barry couldn't help but say. "Wait a minute, you operate in Gotham, but you have a facility like this under Central City..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but the second half was probably something along the lines of, *just how rich do you have to be?*
In fact, this was just part of a plan of Batman's that was still in its embryonic stage. Although Wayne Enterprises had branches all over the world, he had currently only set up strongholds in a few cities with a high frequency of metahuman incidents, including Metropolis and Central City, to facilitate future research, observation, and the development of countermeasures for these metahumans.
Batman still said nothing, merely walking to the door to initiate the identification process.
"Please enter the password," said the artificial intelligence.
"Penny One," Batman said.
His butler, Alfred, had the surname Pennyworth. It was clear there was a connection to Batman's password.
"I thought the password would be 'Iron Man is lame'," Orin Vale joked.
The one in *The LEGO Batman Movie* actually was that password.
As the group walked through the door, the lights inside the stronghold turned on automatically. The computers booted up, and a giant Bat symbol was displayed across several monitors.
The Old Master's temporary facility also stored plenty of equipment, including extra Digital Masks. As usual, they were a product of Wayne Enterprises' versatile Lucius Fox, capable of changing the wearer's appearance to anything by adjusting the parameters.
After adjusting the parameters to match the facial structure, Barry put on the mask and quickly simulated the appearance of the third Deacon.
With the test successful and the Face-Morphing parameters recorded, Barry was still exclaiming over this piece of black technology.
"This mask is awesome! I can turn into anyone!"
Barry started to play with the Face-Morphing game with great curiosity.
"Even a woman. I look just like Emma Watson right now!"
He then changed his face again, becoming a tough-looking bald man, his voice deepening.
"Look, I'm Vin Diesel. Call me 'Family-Man'."
The next moment, he transformed into a handsome Gotham playboy.
"I'm Bruce Wayne. I drive a different car every day. If I repeat one within a month, it's a loss..."
Just as he was having fun, he turned his head to see Batman standing behind him at some point, his cold expression enough to send a chill down one's spine.
"Oh, hey, Batman."
A sort of survival instinct made Barry immediately deactivate the Digital Mask and flash a sheepish grin.
"I was just... uh... familiarizing myself with the equipment, you know."
Orin Vale stood to the side, looking like he wanted to say something, but ultimately decided to stay quiet.
Once he joins the Justice League and finds out who Batman is, he'll definitely regret today...
The three-man team set out again, arriving at the agreed-upon rendezvous point.
The Bishop from Central City who was supposed to meet them was quite punctual, appearing almost exactly on time.
There was a difference in the attire of the Bishops and the Deacons. Although it was also predominantly black, the robe felt somewhat more ornate, with golden patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs.
He also wore a hood, but naturally, Orin Vale saw right through it. Beneath the hood was a man with a tall frame, relatively pale skin, black eyes like a pitch-black lake, and thin lips that seemed frozen solid.
After Orin Vale provided technical assistance, they all now had a radiation signal similar to Trigon's Mark on them. The Bishop sensed the mark and confirmed it was correct. Without asking many questions, he silently turned and led them away.
"What's the plan? What do we do?" Barry asked nervously on the team's voice channel. "The bad guy's here. Do we go now? Do we take him down?"
To facilitate communication, Orin Vale had created a telepathic chatroom for this temporary three-man team—an intracranial team voice channel, allowing them to communicate with just their thoughts.
"No."
Batman's voice rang out. Strangely, even his telepathic communication gave off a grim, hoarse, and cold feeling.
"We need to know their stronghold, their objective."
Orin Vale also said, "Exactly. The Blood Cultists are gathering Deacons from various branches, so they must be plotting something. We need this guy to lead the way for us."
"Ooh, got it."
The three reached a consensus and decided to let him go for now.
But then they saw the Bishop walking in front of them suddenly stop.
Figures began to emerge from the surrounding darkness.
Silhouettes in black robes, some carrying scythes, others holding crossbows, completely surrounded them.
"New plan."
The Bishop who had been leading them turned around, the corner of his mouth hooking into a cold and evil sneer as he eyed the three with ill intent.
"I've long found you Gotham bumpkins to be an eyesore, dragging your feet on everything and never getting things straight. I didn't expect the Organization to send me to be the contact today. What a coincidence.
"Feel honored. Your God-given power will be mine to use, and your souls will become my sustenance! Jie jie jie..."
The three who had just decided to let him go a second ago: "..."
After a moment of contemplation, Barry couldn't help but ask hesitantly.
"Uh... guys? Should we be beating him up now?"
(end of chapter)