"I've already checked the scene. That kind of condition can't possibly be considered 'alive,' right?"
Joey casually placed Superman's corpse into the red-sunlight containment cell in Sector E. On the way back, he used his super senses to scan the entire base, but didn't detect any remaining signs of life.
Unless what Starfire meant by Thanagarian wasn't Hawkgirl—the one in the hall whose wings had already been torn off.
To Joey's eyes, she was just like the Flash nearby: split in half, upper and lower body separated, blood spraying everywhere. Not only was there no breathing or heartbeat, even brain activity had long since ceased.
"No, not there. Over here."
The Watchtower and its surroundings were already buried under thick layers of rock and soil. Aside from someone like Joey who could see through matter, no one could perceive anything at all.
Starfire clearly wasn't using her eyes—she was sensing emotions.
Pushing her perception to a more sensitive level, she grabbed Joey's head and forcibly turned it in another direction. The twist produced a metallic ringing sound.
"...Are you really not just trying to snap my neck right now?"
"Sorry. I'm still not used to this," Starfire quickly apologized in a gentle tone.
There were still good Kryptonians. Regardless of intent, he had saved her life.
The treatment from Dr. Thomas had re-stabilized her fading consciousness, and the gradually strengthening stellar radiation had allowed her to gather emotional energy to pull herself back from the brink of death.
And after recovering, her physical abilities had inexplicably increased dramatically—still rising even now. As a result, aside from Joey, she didn't dare let anyone touch her.
Although still not on Kryptonian level, for humans it had already reached the stage where even a brush could injure or kill.
Kryptonians had a biological force field that automatically adjusted force interactions with others to prevent accidental harm. Starfire, however, had to rely entirely on control.
Joey had already begun adjusting his own output level the moment she nearly dragged him into the floor with the tug—but clearly it still wasn't enough. It needed further tuning upward.
Following Starfire's direction, Joey saw a lost relic outside the space structure: a one-handed spiked mace that once belonged to Hawkgirl.
To him, it looked like an ordinary hammer with no energy signature—but that itself was proof it was anything but ordinary.
Hawkgirl's mace was made of Nth metal, the same material as Doctor Fate's helmet.
Joey physically carved a path toward the weapon and, for safety, decided that the only true steel-bodied member of the group should retrieve it.
"Cyborg, send your drone."
This Nth-metal weapon seemed to anchor its owner's soul, allowing later wielders to inherit memories along with the artifact. In a sense, it was almost like reincarnation.
Joey just wasn't sure whose reincarnation it would be.
"Not sure? Really? I respect the dead, but that doesn't mean I want to suddenly become someone's next life!"
Cyborg panicked and almost dropped the weapon, nearly tossing it back into the dirt.
"Relax. Reincarnation doesn't work like that. It would require another version of herself—and besides, you're not even a flesh-and-blood body right now."
Joey thought Cyborg was being unnecessarily anxious.
"Don't forget your real body is still on the surface doing rescue work with Billy. What's standing here is just a drone proxy—a metal shell. What are you afraid of?"
Cyborg, remotely controlling the unit and processing in parallel across multiple threads, had to admit Joey had a point.
"...You... do have a point..."
At that moment, the drone's voice began to break up intermittently.
"Cyborg?"
Joey realized his explanation might not have been as solid as he thought. The drone's processor, signal receiver, and audio output were all intact. There was no interference in the electromagnetic signal.
So what was causing the anomaly?
"Superman, get away from the drone's line of sight!"
Batman was the first to realize what was happening and warned him—but it was already too late.
A flash of lightning erupted from the hammer, engulfing the entire mechanical body. Then, with overwhelming force, the mace swung straight toward Joey's head.
Nth metal amplified Cyborg's makeshift drone body to an unimaginable degree, to the point where even Joey—standing right beside it—almost couldn't evade in time.
The spiked end of the mace barely grazed past Joey's nose. But the weapon didn't just deal physical damage—the crackling lightning exploded in chained bursts and sent Joey flying backward.
The originally cramped underground tunnel was now blown open into a massive space by the lightning that erupted past Joey's body. Even the buried Watchtower ring structure on the other side was faintly visible.
Shit—Joey cursed inwardly. He really was a genius for ideas.
Sending Cyborg—who was technically just a hollow remote-controlled drone—to retrieve a weapon had seemed fine at first glance. Thinking about it carefully, it still kind of worked. Even Batman hadn't objected.
But in practice, it had turned into exactly the kind of disaster unfolding right now.
This should have been a fantasy-style story about retrieving a legendary artifact and resurrecting fallen heroes.
Instead, it had completely turned into sci-fi horror.
Even Blade Runner wouldn't dare film their show like this.
The robot's vocal unit overloaded as it pushed its output to the maximum, broadcasting Hawkgirl's voice across the entire underground cavern in a screaming roar:
"You animal! I'll kill you!!!"
There was no way Cyborg—the calm, rational man—could ever scream something this hysterical.
So whoever was inside the machine was obvious.
When someone regains consciousness after losing it during torture by a former ally, what would they do upon seeing that person's face?
The first thing Hawkgirl saw upon waking was the face of her killer, and she instinctively launched a barrage of attacks. The mace in her hands swung with lethal force, putting everyone in danger.
And the response came immediately—from Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Starfire.
From Batman's perspective, their response made sense. A rampaging, high-destruction combatant was attacking indiscriminately underground—subduing her was the best option.
But Godkiller sword, the Trident of Poseidon, and Tamaranean energy blasts?
This was his lost comrade. Remembering how she died last time, Batman couldn't allow them to attack without restraint.
"Stop! Her mind hasn't come back yet!"
As Hawkgirl's consciousness inside the mechanical body was about to be shattered by the barrage of attacks, he was forced to act.
Batman didn't understand how Hawkgirl's reincarnation worked, but if that machine body truly contained her, then destroying it meant killing her again.
Two explosive batarangs temporarily deflected Diana and Aquaman's weapons. A concentrated neurodisruptor gas capsule caused Starfire to burst into uncontrollable laughter, disrupting her focus and dispersing the energy she was about to unleash.
Although somewhat underhanded, Batman's utility belt sometimes contained tools designed specifically for quickly disabling allies.
Wonder Woman and Aquaman were nearly flawless combatants—warriors with almost no weaknesses. They only needed to unleash their strength.
But Starfire's destructive power came with a more volatile mental state, which required more careful handling.
Batman then fired dual grappling hooks, pinning the rampaging machine body against the rock wall just as it attempted to take off again for another clash with Joey.
Ignoring all risk, he stepped forward himself, trying to reach Hawkgirl's consciousness beneath the chaos:
"Hawkgirl, stop!"
Boom!
With a thunderous impact, Joey—who had just recovered from being nearly electrocuted into paralysis—ripped himself free from the upper rock layer and dove down, slamming the machine body to the ground and shoving Batman out of the way just before he could be hit by the hammer.
Enduring the searing pain caused by the Nth-metal weapon's lightning, Joey pinned the machine firmly in place.
"Look at me! I'm not the Superman you know!"
After the initial frenzy subsided, Hawkgirl finally began to regain clarity.
"You're... not him. I'm sorry... but... my heartbeat? My voice? What is happening to me?"
She could already feel something was wrong with her body and tried to look around, but Batman, who had just been thrown back, rushed in and covered her 'eyes' with his cape.
"Don't look yet, Hawkgirl."
This was the truly horrifying part of sci-fi horror.
To Joey and the others, this was science fiction.
But to Hawkgirl herself, it was pure terror—waking up inside a mechanical body.
"She's yours for now, Batman. We're going to handle the other matter."
After confirming she would not rampage again, Joey released his hold.
"Let go of me!!"
He dragged the furious Starfire—who was about to punch Batman square in the face—and led the others away from the scene, giving Batman and his fallen teammate some privacy.
Their superhero team had barely formed before already descending into internal conflict multiple times—and now they were even forming new grudges on top of that.
Wonderful. Truly wonderful.
Joey could only grit his teeth internally and reflect on how 'amazing' this universe was.
The four of them headed off to collect and properly gather the remaining corpses inside and around the Watchtower, so that Hawkgirl would not be further traumatized when she inevitably had to face reality.
Joey believed that with the Watchtower's technology, he or the Bat would likely—probably—maybe be able to fix Hawkgirl's body situation soon.
But for now, convincing her to accept the fact that she had been resurrected into a mechanical shell was going to be a problem.
Whatever.
Using his super vision, Joey guided the group in collecting the bodies one by one, ensuring the fallen heroes would not be left carelessly beneath the ruins.
As for Hawkgirl's situation—it was no longer his problem.
Even though the idea had been his in the first place.
But people had to learn to shift responsibility sometimes.
Like right now.
This was Batman's problem.