"That's right. The outer shell is forged from super alloy, with internal muscles and skeleton completely connected by mechanical nerves. This is Apokolips' basic combat unit. They've already started infiltrating here. War is coming faster than I expected." Thea looked at the parademon caged up, speaking with some concern.
"If we can study this thing's characteristics, then perhaps..." Batman was about to say something when Thea interrupted him.
"I've considered that problem before, but their original bodies aren't a single race."
"They're prisoners left behind from Darkseid's conquest of numerous planets—mechanically modified organisms. If you want to use some kind of special sonic wave or resonance to solve all enemies at once, I can only say it's extremely difficult, because they come from different races, even different species."
As Thea spoke, she pulled out a thick stack of materials and handed them to Batman. "This is all the data I've collected, along with dissection records. Take them for reference."
Watching Batman flip through the materials, his expression changed dramatically at one particular page. Thea felt immensely satisfied. Let you research anti-Thea armor! I'll keep you worried sick for three days!
She'd given Batman not only her own records and Metron's records, but also mixed in experimental records from Earth-Two's old Batman, Thomas Wayne.
Seeing the familiar handwriting, even someone as composed as Batman couldn't maintain his poker face. He tossed the parademon aside, repeatedly studying one page three times before quickly pulling it out and tucking it into his gauntlet.
Thea coughed twice, pretending not to notice his little move. "When you captured this grunt, there should have been a square box nearby. That's the Mother Box the New Gods use to travel to parallel timelines. If you want, you can visit these coordinates."
After speaking, she left the coordinates for Earth-Two. Whether Batman wanted to visit those familiar strangers was his own business.
After her small revenge, Thea prepared to head home when a woman in black walked in.
"Hey, Zatanna, long time no see! You two chat, I'll head out first." Thea glanced at this woman still wearing fishnets in the dead of winter. She seemed troubled. Rising to leave.
"Wait, I came looking for you. Where's Constantine? Where did you send him?"
Thea had a sudden realization—she was looking for her boyfriend! Though she suspected John Constantine had probably already fallen deep into trouble, she didn't hide it. She'd worked her heart out for the world's fate—this wasn't human trafficking. She felt no guilt whatsoever.
"Listen, you know this universe is about to face catastrophe?... To strengthen Earth's magical power, I had Constantine help me train mages." She told the story again.
This was one good thing about justice heroes—for the cause of justice, their tolerance was very high. Zatanna's displeasure instantly calmed. Perhaps in her heart, Constantine being a waste doing something beneficial for the world reflected well on her too.
Naturally, Zatanna proposed visiting the New World to observe and contribute to the just cause.
Sensing an impending dramatic confrontation, Batman, who enjoyed watching drama unfold, also came over. Perhaps he was also quite displeased with Constantine for stealing his childhood friend.
After shutting down the Batcave's anti-teleportation device, the three headed to the New World.
It must be said, Constantine truly was magic's golden child. When the three arrived, they didn't see any adult-rated scenes—the guy was sprawled on a lounge chair, sound asleep.
"Why are you so skinny? Wake up!" Zatanna went over and slap slap roughly woke him up with two hard slaps.
Wow, Thea looked over speechless. She'd gone to Oa, then to find Blue Lantern—back and forth maybe half a month—and Constantine had visibly lost a whole size since she'd last seen him.
That yellow trench coat had never fit him well, but now the clothes looked even more loose. His alcohol-and-sex-ravaged eyes were completely glazed. Zatanna called him for ages before he slowly came around.
The scene was rather pitiful. Thea covered her mouth, afraid she'd laugh out loud. Had this guy not "rested" these past two weeks? He'd sacrificed quite a bit for humanity's just cause! This tough guy who could joke around with both Heaven and Hell, who'd killed his way through seven times over, now looked on the verge of complete burnout!
Everyone present wasn't one or two years old—if they couldn't tell what was wrong with Constantine in this state, they'd have lived in vain.
"I heard you were teaching?" Zatanna's voice was cold enough to form frost.
Constantine, worthy of his title as a smooth-talking tough guy, stubbornly insisted he'd worked himself to exhaustion from excessive teaching duties.
"John, come watch my new dance!" His elaborate lie couldn't hold up for even three seconds before being spectacularly exposed. A woman who looked smoking hot—and actually was smoking hot—ran in.
She naturally didn't recognize Zatanna, but she knew both Batman standing rigid as a spear and Thea, the First Daughter.
"The government and superheroes coming to rescue us?" That thought came and went quickly, immediately dismissed. The government throwing them into this wilderness was common knowledge among them. Ordinary businessmen wouldn't cover up everything or sweep through Hollywood so thoroughly. Besides, having experienced extraordinary power, she might not even want to return to filming artistic movies indoors anymore.
"'John'? How intimate." Zatanna looked at this adult film star, her expression full of displeasure. But the woman truly had magical power within her, which shocked Zatanna immensely. Magic was far too precious. Even though her family was directly descended from Da Vinci and had continuously intermarried with several major magical families, less than one-fifth of their clan could awaken magical talent in modern times.
This adult film star clearly didn't look like someone who'd inherited power through bloodline.
Thea lightly patted her shoulder. "Come on, let's look at Constantine's teaching results together."
The group walked into the House of Mystery. It had been divided into several hundred rooms. The many students had long since abandoned their big star identities, training hard, afraid of being left behind.
They didn't know their futures were guaranteed with room, board, and job placement. They still thought according to modern social logic—in their view, this opportunity must be incredibly precious. If they didn't grasp it well, they'd regret it their whole lives.
What Thea and the others saw was everyone training so intensely they'd forgotten to eat or sleep, practically to the point of madness.
The adult film star led them into a room, removed her coat to reveal her work outfit, and whoosh started dancing around a pole.
The barely perceptible magical power began moving in a special rhythm with her vigorous dance. The room's air temperature started rising, accompanied by faint sounds.
Zatanna suppressed her displeasure and worked hard to identify the spell. "Confusion? Seems to also mix in some human charm, plus a slight morale boost effect. This spell is quite impressive! Is the learning threshold high?"
Constantine couldn't answer that question. Thea spoke up: "These were selected one in a hundred from practitioners. Their aptitude is the best."
Zatanna nodded. This new inheritance's threshold was still far lower than traditional mages, suitable for ordinary people. The drawback was also obvious—no advancement potential, and no self-protection abilities.
This was basically a stripped-down express version of a bard. Thea didn't expect them to speed-cast their way forward to fight parademons directly, nor did she expect them to master all eighteen weapons and musical instruments. Working from their existing professions, if they could help even a little, that counted as passing.