Chapter 411: Allen Smacks Bruce Around
In the past, New York had always been a bustling metropolis.
But now, the city was deathly silent.
Not long ago, a sudden cataclysm plunged all of America into a state of panic.
The fallen heroes they once admired and worshipped had, for some unknown reason, risen from their graves. Like demons resurrected from Hell, they slaughtered civilians with ruthless abandon.
Frank the Punisher was the first to alert S.H.I.E.L.D., allowing the information to reach the surviving heroes without delay.
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Eye of Providence both responded immediately upon assessing the crisis level, disregarding official suppression and openly informing the public of the truth.
But the actual results were deeply disheartening.
Despite the warnings spread via television and the internet, a large number of people chose not to believe it, stubbornly remaining in the cities.
Clearly, after years of conspiracy theories and blind trust in the government, they were caught completely off guard—like walking straight into a boomerang strike.
The surviving heroes were simply not enough to respond to a nationwide catastrophe—especially since the Black Lantern zombies were overwhelmingly powerful.
"Mommy…"
On a desolate street, a little girl hugged her pink bunny plush toy, timidly stepping outside in search of her family.
The entire city had collapsed.
The first wave of civilians who realized the danger had driven out to the wilderness.
But those unwilling to believe or unable to abandon their assets failed to evacuate in time.
As a result, anyone who wanted to survive had to go out and scavenge for food.
And more and more people never came back once they did.
The little girl wandered aimlessly down the street, fear and hunger gnawing at her young heart.
Plop!
Suddenly, a perfectly wrapped Snickers bar dropped right in front of her.
Unable to resist her hunger, she bent down to pick it up, nervously scanning her surroundings to see who had given it to her.
She looked around but saw no one. Hunger overpowered caution.
She tore the wrapper open with her teeth, revealing the chocolate-covered treat.
She took a big bite without hesitation.
A rush of sweetness filled her mouth, briefly satisfying her.
Thud!
Just as she was enjoying the candy bar, a dull thud echoed behind her.
"Ah…"
She whipped around—and saw a horrifying sight.
A disheveled head, eyes lifeless and vacant, stared straight at her.
Worse yet, she recognized the face: it was her mother, the one who had gone out and never returned.
Squelch!
Her scream was abruptly cut short.
She looked down with difficulty and saw a bloody hand protruding from her chest, gripping a freshly beating heart.
Clark, now transformed into a Black Lantern zombie, gazed at the emotionally charged meal with satisfaction.
He withdrew his hand and stuffed the still-beating heart into his mouth, chewing with a disturbingly contented expression.
Similar scenes of slaughter were unfolding not only across New York but throughout the entire country.
…
Star City.
S.T.A.R. Labs.
Allen looked up, noting the shattered glass at the front entrance, and stroked his chin. "The Black Lantern crisis escalated so fast. America collapsed this quickly?"
In just a few short days, the world already looked like it was at the end.
"Finding the Mother Box is the priority."
Before coming to S.T.A.R. Labs, Allen had paid a visit to Atlantis—only to find that Steppenwolf had beaten him to it.
With a flyswatter stuck in his collar, he strode confidently into the lab.
He glanced at the sign by the door and confirmed the research lab was on the third floor.
He took the elevator up without issue.
The place was eerily empty—no sign of human life.
"Who's there!?"
At the sound of a faint noise, Allen drew his flyswatter and spotted a dying Black scientist lying at the end of the corridor.
"This is so unscientific. A Black guy doing science? Not exactly convincing," Allen muttered with a jab of sarcasm, casually casting a healing light to stabilize the man—though not fully healing him, since they were strangers.
"Old man, I'm looking for a metal box that contains incredibly terrifying energy."
As the scientist regained some strength, Allen asked bluntly.
"You mean the Mother Box?"
The man sighed. "You're too late. Some non-human creature showed up out of nowhere, wounded me, and took the Mother Box."
"Then what are you doing?" Allen asked curiously.
"I was working on a weapon to fight the zombies. Trying to stop the end of the world."
In just a few days, the death toll had become incalculable. These eternally ravenous monsters seemed intent on devouring all of humanity.
Smack!
Allen reflexively smacked the flyswatter in his hand.
The golden lightning faded, and The Flash—Barry—appeared with a sheepish expression.
Yup, the guy known as the "Reset Button" had shown up.
However, in this universe, Barry didn't know Allen.
"Sorry 'bout that."
Allen awkwardly lowered the flyswatter, though red welts now crisscrossed Barry's face.
His enhanced senses, like a sixth sense, had told him someone was approaching—so he instinctively struck.
As everyone knew, other than running fast, The Flash wasn't much use in combat.
"You're alive?"
"No, I'm the male lead of a novel."
"…"
Well, as long as he wasn't a Black Lantern zombie.
Barry had witnessed the disaster spreading at terrifying speed. He had no hope of saving everyone.
Worse, many of the zombies were former allies who knew his weaknesses. He barely escaped with his life.
"Dr. Silas, I've come to evacuate you."
Barry picked up the injured scientist, not giving him a chance to refuse.
The government was gathering the last remaining experts in various fields in hopes of developing a countermeasure.
After all, when the army entered the city, they were nearly wiped out within a day.
Regular humans and conventional weapons were useless—more like offering up fresh food to the zombies.
"He's Cyborg's father, isn't he?"
Allen suddenly remembered: the DC version of Iron Man was a Black guy—clearly a product of political correctness.
Hard to praise without exaggerating.
"Yes."
Barry looked at Allen and invited him, "We're heading to a safe zone. Want to come?"
"Sure."
"What are you doing?"
Barry turned to see Allen clinging to his back like an octopus.
Allen replied seriously, "Catching a ride."
"…"
With The Flash present, there was no reason for Allen to run on foot.
But there was no way he could catch up once Barry entered the Speed Force.
In under a minute, the three had arrived at a hidden underground shelter.
There they found an elite force—but every face was filled with fear.
"Victor."
Dr. Silas, now weak, spotted his half-cybernetic son working multiple computers to coordinate with survivors across the globe.
"Father, I'm busy," Victor replied without even turning around.
On the flickering monitors, Allen saw that not just America, but many other nations had fallen into the same chaos.
"Any progress?" Barry asked casually, though his expression was grim.
After all, the Black Lantern army was primarily made up of former superheroes and victims of past crises.
A tragic outcome seemed inevitable.
"The Avengers are gathering their forces. Our Green Lantern has gone to Oa to request reinforcements. With luck, we'll survive this."
Cyborg's tone lacked conviction.
This crisis threatened the very existence of humanity.
There were fewer and fewer heroes left who could protect it.
At this point, only Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk remained from the Avengers. From the Justice League, only Flash, Green Lantern, and Cyborg.
None of them could defeat even a single Black Lantern zombie alone.
"I've got a question."
Allen raised his hand. "Was this shelter built with any Justice League involvement?"
"Bruce designed it," Barry said bluntly.
"…"
Allen's eyes widened, then he froze for a second. "We need to leave. Now."
He raised his hand and opened a portal.
Boom boom boom…
At that moment, the alloy gate of the shelter started taking heavy hits.
Black Lantern rings could read the memories of corpses.
And Bruce was already one of them.
They were hiding in a shelter—essentially waiting to die.
Time was running out. Allen lifted his hands, summoning multiple portals and teleporting everyone out of the shelter in an instant.
Boom…
"Food flavored by fear is the tastiest."
Black Lantern Bruce charged into the shelter with a twisted grin. "So many snacks, all for me. What a blessing."
Clearly, the Black Lantern wanted the feast all to himself.
Smack!
From around the corner, a flyswatter struck him square in the face.
A perfect hit that left Bruce stunned.
Smack smack smack…
Ten free pulls on your first login!
His already pale face was now deeply imprinted with a crisscross pattern from the flyswatter.
Allen, satisfied, bolted immediately.
Leaving Bruce frozen in place, completely dumbfounded.
"Who?"
"Who the hell was that!?"
"ARGHHHH!!"
Enraged, Bruce's black blood boiled like scalding water.
He hadn't even gotten a bite before getting ambushed. Anyone would explode in anger.
At this point, the group previously hiding in the shelter had been relocated to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Allen, of course, couldn't send them to Themyscira.
After all, men were forbidden on the island.
Though Allen's gender was… flexible.
"This place isn't safe. Some Black Lanterns can smell living humans," Cyborg warned.
He'd gathered plenty of data on the zombies and summarized their abilities.
"Where else can we go?" Barry asked grimly.
With Bruce now a Black Lantern, he could likely locate all hidden shelters—like walking food pantries.
"Chernobyl."
Everyone turned to look at Allen.
This complete stranger had mastered magic, catching them all off guard.
After saving them earlier, they had instinctively begun to rely on him.
"Why there?" Cyborg asked.
The site of humanity's most infamous nuclear accident, it had become a forbidden zone filled with radiation and biological mutations.
Even after decades, it remained dangerously contaminated.
"First we deal with Steppenwolf. Then the Black Death Emperor."
Allen's words made little sense to them.
Steppenwolf and the Black Death Emperor weren't even on their radar.
After all, Steppenwolf had never invaded Earth before, and the creator of the Black Lantern rings—Black Death Emperor—was making his first appearance.
"Show me Chernobyl's imagery. I'll open a portal."
Allen's words, as always, were abrupt and confusing.
Cyborg projected the location.
Once Allen saw the exact layout, the portal was ready.
The group rushed toward the no-man's-land without hesitation.
In truth, Allen had avoided fighting the Black Lantern zombies to keep their bodies intact—possibly for future resurrection.
But Steppenwolf was bound to make a move in Chernobyl, summoning the Parademons and aiming to retrieve the remaining Mother Boxes.
Although the one in Allen's possession was gone, if he brought back the Tenth Metal, Apokolips could still forge a new one.
…
In the last century, this had been a key industrial city of the Red Empire.
One incident had turned it into a human dead zone.
The city's buildings were a silent monument to its former glory.
In a dilapidated nuclear power plant…
Steppenwolf held up a Mother Box, gently stroking its surface as if triggering some kind of mechanism.
The Mother Box, originally a sacred relic of Apokolips, looked like an ordinary metallic cube—but it concealed countless technologies far beyond human comprehension.
In an instant, it absorbed the ambient radiation and rapidly crystallized into irregular black shards.
Like a monstrous tree bursting from the earth, it grew at a terrifying pace.
The black crystal spread outward, quickly forming a dome with dark red energy veins pulsating across its surface.
Then, Steppenwolf inserted a second Mother Box into the crystalline pillar, triggering a second wave of expansion.
Bzzzz…
When it all ended—
The crystal column released a wave of energy, activating some sort of mechanism.
In that moment, the dome pierced the fabric of space, establishing a link between Earth and Apokolips.
Tens of thousands of Parademons rained down like a storm.
"At all costs, find this person."
As he spoke, Steppenwolf transmitted Allen's image to every Parademon via telepathy.
In the tech of Apokolips, mental fields had achieved remarkable development.
Though Steppenwolf's silver-and-white armor looked flashy, it was actually embedded with black tech far beyond anything human civilization could match.
"Looking for me?"
A sudden voice rang out.
Steppenwolf turned toward the source—only to see the one person he wanted to rip to shreds.
Since the enemy had the nerve to show up alone, there was no need to waste time searching.
With Cyborg having pulled up the power plant's visuals, Allen didn't have to do any extra work.
"Hand over the Mother Box," Steppenwolf said coldly.
"Dame."
Allen, holding a flyswatter behind his back, said sternly, "I haven't had my fun with this new weapon yet. You can't have it."
"…"
Was this guy even speaking a language?
Who the hell wanted your damn flyswatter?
"Kill him," Steppenwolf growled, now thoroughly convinced he was being mocked.
The Parademons—grotesque and devil-like—weren't just clad in armor; their backs were outfitted with cicada-like wings, allowing them to engage in both ground and aerial combat.
PAK! PAK! PAK!
Odo…
Ada…
Aiya…
…
[Parademon killed. EXP +420]
[Parademon killed. EXP +420]
[Parademon killed. EXP +420]
…
And yet, Allen kept swinging his flyswatter, slapping the approaching Parademons to death.