"Yes! The Batjet! Are you taking us to the Batcave?"
Right as Ben was urging Batman to hurry up and do something, a sleek, futuristic aircraft hovered into position above the three of them.
A grappling line shot out from the craft with pinpoint precision—snagging the unlucky guy whose genes Ben had "repaired," along with the armor still on his body.
Batman's voice was flat and decisive.
"I'm taking him—and that suit of armor—back for analysis. As for you two… leave my city. Now."
He fired another line to his aircraft without hesitation and moved to depart.
Whether it was the kid who could transform or the Green Lantern, neither of them belonged in Gotham. Staying here would do them no favors.
"Batman's getting away—open fire!"
A weary-looking police captain—clearly taking orders from a corrupt superior—gave the command with resignation.
Gunfire erupted.
In the storm of bullets, Batman lifted off in the Batjet, leaving only Hal and Ben staring at each other.
"My city?" Hal bristled. "Who does he think he is? I'm Green Lantern! The entire Earth falls under the sector I protect!"
Hal hated Batman's attitude—it reminded him of someone he'd rather not think about.
A man like Batman, if he ever fell… could become an even more terrifying Yellow Lantern than Sinestro.
While complaining, Hal raised a green-energy barrier around himself and Ben, sealing them off from stray bullets.
He could have just left. But he couldn't ignore the fact that Ben was walking around Earth with an unknown, impossibly advanced piece of tech on his wrist.
Ben, meanwhile, watched the Batjet shrink into the sky and sighed.
"He's not wrong. Gotham's basically half his property."
Hal blinked. Before becoming a Green Lantern, he'd just been a fighter pilot.
The idea that one man could own half a city—Gotham, one of the country's economic powerhouses—was beyond his imagination.
"Wait… so he's that rich?" Hal frowned. "Is he actually some immortal vampire or something?"
Ben grinned. "Technically, he's a different kind of vampire."
He shrugged, deadpan.
"We usually call it… a capitalist."
"WTF?"
Ben's answer made Hal feel like the universe had snapped. What kind of deranged ultra-capitalist spent nights roaming the streets in a bat suit playing vigilante?
If you were that generous, wouldn't it be easier to just donate money like a normal billionaire?
"So what you're saying is… he's just a regular guy with no superpowers."
"He does have a superpower," Ben corrected immediately, very serious.
Hal narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah?"
Ben held Hal's gaze like he was delivering a sacred truth.
"He's super rich."
"Oh, come on!"
Hal's mouth twitched into a smile in spite of himself—the kind you get when you're so done you can only laugh. Then his face snapped back into annoyance.
"That joke isn't funny."
Ben stopped messing around. Something clicked—an image from the director's cut of Justice League flashing in his mind. The enemy they'd fought might not match the movie perfectly, but the more he thought about it, the more certain he became.
A cold weight settled in his stomach.
"Crap—Darkseid. We're in trouble."
"Dark… what?" Hal didn't quite catch it, but he could feel Ben's mood spike into real tension.
"Darkseid," Ben said, voice tight. "That's the enemy's name. Ruler of Apokolips. One of the most terrifying, most powerful evil gods in the universe."
"And what we just fought? That thing was one of his bio-weapons—Parademons—made by transforming captives."
As a top-tier big bad—basically DC's heavyweight villain—Darkseid was one of the Justice League's strongest enemies.
And his most common troops were those monsters: Parademons.
They were made through Apokoliptian tech—taking other organic lifeforms and completely rewriting their genes and bodies into living weapons.
They were engineered, not naturally evolved—mindless, loyal only to Darkseid.
Which explained everything: why the Omnitrix couldn't record their DNA, and why it automatically triggered genetic repair when Ben made contact.
Ben looked at Hal.
"So… any interest in giving me a ride to Metropolis? I don't know the way."
With the Omnitrix's gene-repair function, Ben could deal with Parademons—even if there were almost endless numbers of them.
But beating Darkseid?
Not without Superman-level power—at least not until Ben unlocked the Omnitrix's true heavy hitters.
Hal scratched his head. "Why Metropolis?"
To be honest, he didn't want to go.
Even though he'd never officially fought the Kryptonian, ever since he finished Green Lantern Corps training and took charge of Sector 2814, the Guardians on Oa had drilled one rule into him:
Don't interfere with that Kryptonian's life.
Ben's eyes didn't leave him.
"Because if we face Darkseid without Superman's power… this world is on the brink."
Hal hesitated.
Then he exhaled. "Fine. Let's go."
Batman had already taken everything worth investigating. Hal still wasn't sure how much of Ben's story to believe—
—but one thing was undeniable:
The gear on that Parademon was not Earth technology.
Maybe talking to "that alien big guy" in Metropolis really would give them answers.
Green light surged.
Energy wrapped around the two of them and reshaped into an aircraft. Hal, remembering his old pilot days, carried Ben toward Metropolis—leaving Gotham's police standing there in stunned silence.
"Oh, come on!" the captain groaned, watching them vanish. "How am I supposed to write this report? The targets all flew away! The commissioner is going to kill me!"
He looked like he had a migraine.
Ever since Batman appeared and dismantled the Falcone family, Gotham had only gotten worse.
"Not our problem," a detective said, arriving late and patting his old friend's shoulder. "Leave it to Batman."
The captain brushed the hand away with a tired glare.
"Gordon. About time."
Then he muttered, "Even if you hate those corrupt bastards as much as I do, at least pretend you're trying. Don't show up late."
Gordon smiled faintly, unfazed.
"Got delayed on the way. Had to arrest a lunatic."
He tilted his head toward the street.
"He said the bag he stole got stolen from him—and then someone ambushed him and kicked him into a dumpster…"
"…"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 50)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 50)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 50)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 44)
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