Chapter 435: Iron Man and Batman of a Parallel World
In a makeshift base within New York's sewers…
Allen and the Doctor looked utterly confused under the watchful eyes of a group of teenagers.
But Allen soon realized something truly shocking.
Iron Man's daughter, Hawkeye's daughter, Batman's son, Superman's son…
The next generation of both the Justice League and the Avengers had gathered together.
In particular, both of Clark's children were members of the Human Alliance. Notably, Superman's second son, Jonathan, was present with his boyfriend.
Yes, Allen had seen it right—Superman's son hadn't escaped the reach of political correctness.
There wasn't much internal conflict among them; their common enemy was the Cybermen.
"Mister Lumic's corporation has been secretly abducting the homeless and has already assembled a full Cyberman army. What you did earlier was extremely dangerous," Morgan explained.
Perhaps it was fate—this group of second-generation heroes had all suffered at the hands of the Lumic Corporation, and now they'd banded together to fight for all humanity.
"How many of you are there?" the Doctor asked.
"We're scattered across the globe—already in the thousands," Damian explained.
Unfortunately, humanity had become too reliant on Lumic Corp's smart tech to believe any sort of conspiracy theory.
What's worse, the internet was already under Lumic's control, cutting off every channel through which they could spread the truth.
It was a hopeless battle, like throwing eggs at a stone.
Ordinary human bodies could never stand a chance against the metal exoskeletons of Cybermen.
Besides, conventional firearms couldn't harm them—only heavy weaponry stood a chance.
But there was one thing to keep in mind: Cybermen were entirely mechanical. They could always be returned to the factory and rebuilt.
So the only solution… was to take out the source.
"Don't be afraid, kids."
Allen drew the weapon he always carried and said, "Uncle Allen's got your backs."
"…"
Still, the attention of the group fell mostly on the Doctor.
After a physical scan revealed he was an alien—and after confiscating his sonic screwdriver—they'd found technology they couldn't begin to comprehend.
"We can't waste any more time. We must eliminate the root of the problem—we've waited and prepared long enough."
With full confidence, the Doctor declared, "Just let me find the source, and I can end it all. I guarantee it as a Time Lord."
"…"
But the teens just stared at him blankly.
Time Lord? What the heck was that?
While the Doctor was off putting on a mysterious air, Allen leaned in beside Morgan with a sleazy grin and solemnly suggested, "Morgan, want to try a breast-enhancement potion? It's a wicked brew developed by a Goblin Mage. Makes you swell up to a Z-cup temporarily. Downside is, after a day, it goes back to normal."
Truly diabolical.
A cruel little glimpse of false hope.
"No thanks," Morgan replied coolly, calm as a battle-hardened veteran.
Indeed, she was as flat as a board.
"You've grown up—totally not cute anymore," Allen muttered with a dismissive pout.
"…Can I have one?"
Hmm?!
Allen turned in shock to see a slightly bashful Jonathan.
After all, Superman's second son was canonically gay—it made perfect sense he'd want to give his boyfriend a "different experience."
While everyone else was working out the plan, Allen, bored as ever, decided to take the initiative.
"I'm heading out."
With that, he stepped through a portal and returned to the front gates of Lumic Corp.
What he saw next defied logic, leaving even him a bit stunned.
Magic?
Science?
Whatever it was, the security guards at the building's entrance immediately registered him as an intruder.
"Don't move! Hands up!"
Hearing the warning, Allen vanished in a flash and struck first.
Within moments, the bulky guards lay sprawled across the ground.
The receptionist cowered beneath her desk, trembling in fear.
"Hey, sweetheart, open the elevator for me—send it straight to the security office. Thanks." Allen struck what he believed to be a suave pose.
"O-okay…"
No minimum-wage worker was about to risk their life for a paycheck.
She scanned her ID and unlocked the elevator.
"Thanks."
Just before the doors closed, Allen blew her a kiss.
The elevator shot upward.
[Ding!]
The doors opened—
—and rows of fully-converted Cybermen stood waiting.
"Conversion detected. Execute deletion protocol."
Their electronic monotone sounded oddly cute, almost like they were pretending to be harmless.
But their clumsy appearance masked a lethal core.
Cybermen were designed to continuously self-upgrade, correcting any weaknesses over time.
Smack!
[Defeated a first-generation Cyberman. +150 XP]
Allen swatted one with a flyswatter, and it exploded in mid-air.
Clearly, the original material used was still of Earth-grade—nowhere near the durability of cosmic tech.
The rest of the Cybermen raised their arms and fired energy blasts.
"I'm the wind itself—nobody can target me!"
Allen tumbled, rolled, leapt, all with eyes wide open…
Crash!
Total carnage. The Cybermen were reduced to heaps of scrap metal.
——
[Character]: Allen (8/10)
[Class]: Lv. 8 Taoist
[Skills]:
Healing Technique Lv. 0: Grants a healing light that restores 0.3% of target's health every 5 seconds. Duration and effect scale with skill level.
Curse Technique Lv. 0: Places a random curse (purple, red, blue) on a target—corresponding to defense, HP, or mana drain. Multiple curses can stack. Duration and effect scale with skill level.
Spirit Combat Technique Lv. 0: Increases spiritual strength, defense, and recovery by 3%. Improves with level.
Soul Talisman Technique Lv. 0: Channels spiritual energy into talismans for offense or advanced awakening skills. Power scales with level.
Summon Skeleton Lv. 0: Summons a skeleton warrior to assist in battle.
[Location]: Battle of Time
——
Allen pointed his finger.
A talisman shot forth, and a skeleton warrior descended from what looked like another dimension.
It was a thin, pure-white skeleton wielding a firewood-chopping axe—comically weak and almost pitiful.
"Isn't this a little redundant?"
Allen muttered, "I already have necromancer skills that let me summon undead—and those even grow stronger."
The only difference? Summoning the undead required a corpse. Summoning a skeleton did not.
"Wait… that's not quite it."
Allen checked the skeleton's stats—turns out, its power was based on 10% of his own.
So it was more like an angel-summon type skill.
"With all these summoning abilities, I'm getting summon-fatigue."
The angel summon could call five at once—no idea what the skeleton could do later on.
Right then, a new squad of Cybermen arrived.
Their metallic armor clanged as they moved.
Seeing this, Allen sheathed his weapon behind his neck and raised his hands like mock pistols.
Biu!
A talisman shot out from his fingertip, hitting the frontmost Cyberman.
Boom!
A flash of flame—and down it went.
"One-shot kill. Man, I'm awesome."
It made sense: while Cybermen's exteriors were impervious to physical or energy-based attacks, they were completely vulnerable to soul-based damage.
After all, how much resistance could a human brain really offer?
With Allen's current spiritual strength, even Professor X would drop dead from a single psychic intrusion.
Ducking a laser, Allen countered with another soul talisman.
The skeleton charged forward, jaw gaping in a silent scream, axe raised.
ZAP!
A laser disintegrated it into a pile of bones.
"Ugh… Skeleton baby's too soft. I really need a greatsword bodyguard."
In under a minute, the Cybermen were cleared out.
Allen arrived at the surveillance room and stared at the wall of monitors.
His eyes narrowed.
——
"Bruce, for the sake of humanity, let me go first."
"Alright, Tony. I'll load the standalone protocol for you."
Two scruffy middle-aged men exchanged a look and nodded seriously, placing their trust in each other.
Tony pulled back a curtain, revealing rows of mechanical components.
He stripped off his coat and stepped onto the assembly platform.
"Buddy, I feel like I've done this countless times before. It's strangely calming."
Tony looked at Bruce, who was busily inputting code.
"I get that too—like I was born to build exosuits," Bruce replied without looking up.
"Seriously? Iron Man, Batman?"
A new voice rang out suddenly.
Allen, clearly entertained, watched the two familiar faces tinkering with armor and muttered, "Man, this hack author's out of ideas. Ripping off the first Iron Man movie now."
In the film, a doomed scientist helped with the code.
"Who are you!?"
Both men jumped.
Tony was locked into the assembly station, but Bruce quickly raised a makeshift energy weapon.
"Relax. I'm an ally," Allen said, putting on a serious face. "Morgan and Damian sent me to rescue you."
Bruce lowered his weapon with a sigh. "They still haven't given up."
"For the kids, we can't fail. Otherwise, it'd disgrace the wives we lost," Tony said sorrowfully.
"Alright, Nephew Stark. Batsy. Save the drama. I just came from the security room—Cybermen are closing in."
Allen had scanned all the surveillance feeds—no sign of the mastermind, but to his surprise, he'd found his two old friends.
Tony and Bruce relaxed once they confirmed Allen was human and resumed working.
In this parallel world, the two were brilliant scientists and lifelong friends.
That's why Lumic had paid top dollar to bring them in for Cyberman tech development.
At first, the promise of mechanical immortality didn't seem suspicious.
After all, the rich feared death more than anything, and invested heavily in all kinds of eternal-life research.
Digital consciousness, mechanical bodies, anti-aging drugs, brain transplants… secret labs ran wild with ideas.
In America's elite circles, this wasn't even a secret anymore. The wealthy practically fought over who could invest first.
"Welcome immigrants" and "accepting illegal entrants" really just meant "disposable resources."
America was a paradise for the rich—and a hellscape for everyone else.
"Mark Armor. Hell Bat Armor."
Allen eyed the two incomplete suits. Their design resembled the heroes' iconic armors.
Of course, they lacked red-gold plating or the bat symbol.
Makes sense—these weren't actually Iron Man and Batman. Without Lumic's evil schemes, they might've lived peaceful lives.
Suddenly, the metal gate flickered red.
"They're here," Bruce said tensely. "They're cutting through the gate with thermal rays."
But with the upload stuck at just 1%, there was no guarantee Tony would gain control of the suit in time.
"Oh boy, more free XP."
Allen stepped through a portal and appeared outside the lab.
The Cybermen all turned to face him—except one, who continued cutting.
"Upgrade criteria not met. Defective specimen—delete."
They advanced, ready to strike.
"Who you calling defective? I was literally voted Most Handsome at Greenhill Rehabilitation Center!"
Allen was furious—deeply offended.
Calling him defective basically meant calling him ugly.
Sure, he could admit he wasn't that handsome—but ugly? Absolutely not.
WHAM!
He kicked the nearest Cyberman.
"OW—OWOWOW—"
A second later, he realized his mistake.
The Cyberman's armor was far too hard. Even with enhanced strength, he was still made of flesh—not some absurd fantasy protagonist who could tank nukes with his bare chest.
As for why the flyswatter could smash Cybermen? It was forged from rare-element metal.
"Damn it… using cheap tricks to injure my beautiful foot… none of you are getting away with this."
"…"
Are you even listening to yourself?
You're the one who tried to kick him—how is that our fault?
"Biu, biu, biu…"
She jabbed her finger through the air, and bursts of soul sigils shot out one after another.
Bang bang bang…
The Cybermen collapsed in rows like freshly cut wheat.
Their brain functions ground to a halt, naturally causing their systems to shut down.
After all, a human brain's operating mechanism is far more complex than anything artificial intelligence can match in processing speed.
Still, using brain-machine fusion to replace AI? That was some serious sci-fi tech.
Allen had only ever seen Dr. Zola upload his consciousness.
Then again, in the Doctor Who universe, illogical stuff was par for the course.
The Daleks—those pepper-pot-looking warmongers—rampaging through space was already wild enough.
But strictly speaking, the Dalek civilization completely outclassed the Cybermen.
A single Dalek could wipe out an entire Cyberman squad.
After all, Daleks were among the few civilizations that had mastered time-based technology. Their outer shells were protected by time locks, making them immune to 99.9% of physical and energy attacks.
"Now, who dares question my looks?"
Allen scoffed, shooting a contemptuous glance at the downed Cybermen.
Pfft!
The gate opened.
A sleek, gleaming humanoid mech strode out.
"All of them… you took them out?" Tony asked, incredulous.
Allen raised an eyebrow, proudly replying, "Isn't it obvious?"
"..."
Tony had been involved in developing the Cybermen's core components himself—he knew exactly how terrifying they were. And yet Allen had dismantled them with such ease, it made Tony question whether building mechs even made sense anymore.
Back at the lab—
Bruce was standing by, waiting for his mech's system to finish loading.
The two of them had taken entirely different design approaches.
Tony leaned toward long-range firepower, while Bruce favored agile close-quarters combat.
As a result, the Mark-series mech was equipped with a cannon that could one-shot a Cyberman, while the Hell Mech came fitted with a pair of blades sharp enough to slice through their outer shell.
"We need to move fast," Tony said. "Lumic could activate the full conversion process any minute. Once that happens, every factory around the world will go into overdrive, and the number of Cybermen will skyrocket…"
With their gear ready, Tony and Bruce laid out the plan they'd drafted earlier.