Earth, Kryptonian ship. The light of the Bifrost blazed once more in this place.
As two streaks of rainbow light faded, Diana and Mera materialized inside the cabin.
Diana swept her gaze around the room and gave a satisfied nod. The Justice League had doubled in size—that was good.
No one had been wasting these past two days.
Thinking back on her own days at home—fighting, soaking in hot springs—Diana felt a twinge of relief that her teammates hadn't been slacking off like she had.
And Mera…
She cast a deep, thoughtful glance at Diana and at Lois, who was standing not far away.
How rare. Could a god's team truly have three women?
We women have finally risen!
With that thought, she walked gracefully toward Heisenberg and curtsied.
"It is an honor to meet you, Your Eminence!"
"Just call me Heisenberg."
Heisenberg answered casually, then flicked his right hand.
In the blink of an eye, every trace of moisture on Mera's body and on the floor vanished.
A warm breeze swept through Mera's wine-red hair, setting the long strands dancing in the air.
Beside her, young Flash instantly blushed and lowered his head.
Honestly, Barry was profoundly grateful that his suit was rigid armor.
If it had been a soft fabric…
Ahem…
Mera gently gathered her wind-tossed hair.
Then, with a casual wave of her hand, a small stream of water materialized in the air and began circling around her index finger.
Her slender fingertip pointed lightly at the back of her head. With a faint smile, she let the water flow around her hair in a single loop. In an instant it froze into ice, securing her hair firmly in place.
Once her hair was neatly tied, she narrowed her eyes slightly at Heisenberg and gave a smiling salute.
"Thank you."
"No need to be so formal. Come, have a seat."
As Heisenberg spoke, chairs drifted over to Mera and Diana. Once the two of them sat down, the chairs floated back to the round table.
And so, Heisenberg took the seat of honor, with Superman on his left and Batman on his right.
Thus began his happy life with one on each arm…
Ahem.
Heisenberg tapped a finger on the table and addressed the assembled group.
"Of the nine people present here, everyone except Lois is a full member of the Justice League—a first-phase member. At least for now, we have no plans to recruit anyone else.
Bruce, do you have any other candidates on your side?"
"You're right. I don't have any other names at the moment."
"OK!"
Having gotten Bruce's confirmation, Heisenberg nodded and continued.
"In that case, I think we should introduce ourselves. That is, if we don't all end up dying for Earth in the wars to come.
Because if we do survive… we're going to be spending a very, very long time together."
As soon as he finished, Heisenberg clapped his hands and then pointed at himself.
"Heisenberg, God of the Sun, Kryptonian Elder."
"Clark Kent… or Kal-El. Superman."
"Bruce Wayne. Batman."
"Diana Prince. Wonder Woman."
"Barry Allen, the Flash from Central City. But seriously, just call me by my name."
"Victor Stone. Also the teacher's disciple. Cyborg."
"Mera. Currently the princess of the Xebel Kingdom, one of the seven kingdoms of Atlantis."
"Arthur Curry. Uh… from Amnesty Bay—some call it Mercy Bay. That's where I'm from."
After Arthur finished speaking, he looked toward Lois, as though waiting for her to introduce herself.
But Lois said nothing.
Arthur found this deeply puzzling, and the way he stared at Lois made Superman a little uncomfortable.
"Ahem!"
Clark cleared his throat and introduced her softly.
"This is my partner, Lois. She's an ordinary person… just a tourist, really."
"Or you could say she's visiting family. I already recognize this granddaughter-in-law of mine. Ha!"
Heisenberg laughed and clapped Clark on the shoulder. His words made Lois, standing nearby, smile with happiness.
Good. With the approval of the great-grandfather, the last obstacle to securing Clark was gone for good.
Hearing what Clark and Heisenberg said, Arthur paused for a second.
His heavy beard quivered as his brain finally caught up.
"Oh, so you're that Lois. I was wondering who…"
"Let's leave it there."
Heisenberg cut Arthur's sudden realization short, which made Arthur flinch slightly.
As a son of the sea and a seasoned tough guy from Amnesty Bay, Arthur knew very well who he could mess with and who he couldn't.
Although…
Sometimes he would never have guessed that he had already provoked the most dangerous one of all—right down to the bone—ever since he'd beaten a certain man to a pulp!
…
Seeing that everyone had introduced themselves, Heisenberg raised his glass and offered a simple toast.
"No need to be formal. Drink while we talk. To the Justice League's first gathering—cheers!"
"Cheers!!!"
Everyone drank without exception and then waited for the conversation to continue. At that moment, Bruce spoke quietly to Heisenberg.
"Something just occurred to me—something important, Heisenberg. Isn't there a problem with our numbers?"
"Indeed."
Heisenberg nodded, then traced a circle on the table with his finger.
"With eight people, when we're divided on an issue, it's possible for opposing votes to end up exactly tied.
So…"
Heisenberg patted Bruce's arm.
"We'll take some time later to bring in one more member, so that the League's first phase has an odd number."
"Mm."
Bruce gave a heavy nod.
Beside them, Diana considered this and said softly,
"Yesterday I went back to my homeland. Themyscira does indeed hold many records related to Darkseid. Since they're all carved in stone, I wasn't able to bring them back.
Now that we're all here, we could consider taking a trip to the island.
My mother would be very happy to welcome you all."
"In a moment. First, let me share with everyone the original purpose behind forming this League."
With that, Heisenberg began to explain the Darkseid problem to the group. As they all came to understand, Victor suddenly looked startled.
He thought for a moment, then said quietly,
"Teacher… the Mother Box you mentioned—I think I actually have one in my possession."
"The fact that you volunteered that yourself… very good. It shows you're already thinking from our shared perspective."
Hearing Cyborg's words, Heisenberg smiled with satisfaction.
He pointed toward Diana and Mera.
"The ancient war. The Amazons, the Atlanteans, and humanity each held one of the three Mother Boxes.
And those boxes became the proof that the three peoples once stood together through life and death.
Now, all three of those Mother Boxes are already within our team!
Themyscira holds the Amazon Mother Box.
Mera, which kingdom in Atlantis possesses your Mother Box?"
Heisenberg asked. Across from him, Mera quickly answered.
"In the Kingdom of Xebel—my kingdom."
"In that case, why not gather all the Mother Boxes into our hands? If we stored them all here inside the ship, wouldn't they be much safer?" Clark asked.
At Clark's words, Heisenberg thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"First of all, you can only produce the Unity when all three Mother Boxes are together; one alone is useless. That means we don't need to clutch every single Mother Box in our hands—just holding firmly onto one is enough.
Secondly, both the Amazons and the Atlanteans have built their own traditions around the Mother Boxes.
Of course we have the power to take the boxes from them. But we also have a duty to respect the traditions and principles of the races our teammates belong to."
Heisenberg said this with a smile, and as he finished, he glanced toward Diana and Mera, nodding gently.
Feeling Heisenberg's respect, Mera and Diana both smiled. But Diana's smile was bold and valiant, while Mera's was unusually gentle.
Not far away, however, Arthur shook his head in irritation.
"The hell with that. We might as well just take the damn things and be done with it. Who knows whether those bastards in Atlantis will screw it up!"
"You…!"
Mera froze for a second, then glared daggers at Arthur.
"Atlantis has guarded that Mother Box for twenty-eight thousand years! And besides, you're an Atlantean yourself—you have no right to dismiss Atlantis's sacrifices!"
"Hah! So is abandoning your son and just walking away also an Atlantean tradition? If those damn traditions of yours are that heartless, then to hell with them!"
Arthur's contempt was written all over his face. Being abandoned by his mother was probably the deepest pain both he and his father had ever suffered…
Hearing Arthur's words, Heisenberg gave a faint smile.
"Let them continue to keep their Mother Boxes. These boxes aren't just bait we can use against Darkseid—they're also the traps that will force him to move.
Of course, Victor, we'll be taking the Mother Box you currently hold into our possession.
I trust both Atlantis and Themyscira. It's not that they necessarily have the strength to defend the boxes, but at the very least, they really are guarding them—unlike humans, who were busy studying theirs."
As he finished, Heisenberg asked casually,
"Tell me the exact location of that Mother Box you possess."
"Yes, teacher. The Mother Box is in the storage room of my apartment!"
"OK."
Heisenberg nodded, then turned his head in the direction of Victor's home.
A moment later, he flipped his right hand. A thin beam of Bifrost light flickered into existence in his palm.
Under the astonished stares of everyone present, a pure-black cube floated gently down and landed in Heisenberg's hand. He then set it on the table with a soft thud.
After a brief silence, Barry asked out of curiosity,
"So this ordinary-looking cube is the Mother Box you were talking about? It doesn't look powerful at all."
"Oh, that's only because I haven't activated it."
Heisenberg replied, then lightly tapped the surface of the Mother Box with his index finger.
The instant his divine power made contact, ripples like flowing water spread across its surface.
"A single Mother Box, on its own, has only a few functions: reshaping matter, converting living beings into Parademons, and opening Boom Tubes.
Matter transmutation is essentially the same as our Kryptonian gravity-particle technology—the particles that constantly reshape everything inside this ship to serve us.
The table and chairs you see now are all shaped by those particles.
As for converting beings into Parademons, that's a type of infection and transformation akin to a biological virus.
And the Boom Tubes… those are a method of teleportation comparable to the Bifrost."
At that, Heisenberg withdrew his divine power, and the stirring Mother Box instantly returned to its dormant state.
"If all three Mother Boxes were to fuse together, they would produce the Unity—the power of the Trinity.
Under that force, not only would the Earth's entire environment be fundamentally altered… even we…"
Heisenberg looked around at everyone, his gaze traveling slowly across each face.
Then he shook his head softly.
"Among us, I am the only one capable of surviving that power.
Clark, I'm absolutely certain that even you, as you are now, are still nowhere near being able to withstand it."
Heisenberg was, of course, certain—because in the movies, Clark had been reduced to dust in an instant by the Mother Boxes' power.
This was no exaggeration.
/-\
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