After Batman and Nightwing had completely left, Rhonda Pineda, who had been hiding outside the laboratory building, pressed against the corner wall and finally relaxed a little.
She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her lab coat pocket, put one in her mouth, and tapped the hidden earpiece in her ear.
As she lit the cigarette, she spoke quickly:
"Atomica calling Ultraman."
After a moment, a commanding voice came through the earpiece.
"What is it?"
Rhonda took a deep drag on the cigarette. Her bright red lips trembled slightly as she exhaled a cloud of white smoke.
"I'm requesting to change the upcoming mission to infiltrate the Justice League."
The earpiece fell silent for a moment, then that commanding voice sounded again.
"You'd better give me a reason that can convince me. You know it isn't easy to find a suitable world to invade, and we do not have much time."
Atomica looked up at the night sky, her gaze still carrying some lingering fear.
"This world has many details different from what we originally expected."
In another universe, Ultraman frowned upon hearing this and looked toward Owlman beside him, who was staring intently at the supercomputer.
Owlman didn't respond to Ultraman's questioning gaze, only lowered his head and explained flatly.
"That is normal. The data I entered was based on my research into parallel universes, using a reverse analysis of the key data from our world."
"But something strange happened. I could not find a world that perfectly matched what we expected. I only found one that was about 99.9% similar after the reverse analysis."
Even if Owlman had mentioned this beforehand, Ultraman wouldn't have cared at all then.
But at this moment, Ultraman was very angry. Atomica was playing undercover in another world, and he couldn't punish her.
He very simply vented his rage toward Owlman.
"What did you say?!"
Ultraman walked behind Owlman with a dark expression and placed a hand on his shoulder.
The force in his hand slowly increased, and the sound of cracking bones came from Owlman's shoulder under the pressure.
However, Owlman only gritted his teeth and endured it.
At this time, no one dared to defy Ultraman.
Owlman forcibly endured the pain and continued speaking.
"And I don't know why, but after Atomica went over there, the similarity index of that world kept dropping."
"Now it's only at ninety-eight percent."
Ultraman showed a cruel and twisted smile. He lowered his head until it was close to Owlman's helmet.
"I don't care about any of that. I only need to know one thing—this world you found, and now you are telling me that our plan to send Atomica there has failed, right?"
Owlman let out a muffled groan.
The armor on his shoulder was crushed out of shape by Ultraman's grip, and even the flesh underneath was badly damaged.
Owlman was forcing himself to endure the pain, and cold sweat was pouring down his body.
However, Atomica's next words almost immediately saved Owlman's life.
"The proposal to reject the previous mission doesn't mean it completely failed. I just discovered some anomalies in this world."
Atomica recalled Batman's gaze staring at her just now, and her whole body shuddered again.
"Perhaps these anomalies are what make that world different from ours."
Ultraman loosened his grip a little, and his face briefly became calm again. He put his hands behind his back and stepped away from Owlman.
"I've said it—apart from the news of failure, which I cannot accept, I don't care about anything else."
Seeing Ultraman leave his research area, Owlman gasped, raised his hand to his belt, and activated the built-in painkiller injector in his armor.
As the pain faded for the moment, Owlman finally replied to Atomica:
"So your proposal to change the mission means you want to first observe those anomalies you discovered?"
"...Not exactly."
Owlman frowned.
"Then what do you mean?"
"The first anomaly is the reverse counterpart to you here, called Batman. I thought he should be an ordinary person like you, but tonight I saw he could actually fly."
Owlman didn't seem too concerned.
"Since this is a world chosen through reverse data analysis, it's normal for many things there to be completely opposite from our world. I am an ordinary person while my reverse counterpart is a superhuman. That is normal."
"No! If it were just that, I wouldn't consider it an anomaly, but that Batman is different from you!"
Atomica seemed embarrassed by how frightened she had been earlier, and her voice sounded angry and flustered.
"It's not completely opposite, but even worse. That Batman's eyes and presence are far more terrifying than Ultraman!"
That immediately left even Owlman speechless.
He, of course, knew clearly how cruel he was in the city he ruled. Ultraman was even more the villain among villains, the worst of the worst.
However, what did it mean that his reverse counterpart looked more terrifying than himself, and even more than Ultraman?
After thinking for a long time, Owlman could only reach one conclusion.
"Perhaps what you saw wasn't my reverse counterpart. After all, you haven't truly joined them yet. Even people who are supposedly good should still have secrets they need to hide."
After a while, Owlman asked a new question.
"What about the vessel that can be used as a passage? Have you found any clues?"
"I manipulated this world's Atom, my reverse counterpart. He's a research fanatic who set out a week ago on a path to find vessel clues."
The two briefly exchanged some more information, and in the end, Owlman gave Atomica an idea.
"After reverse transcription, the difference between it and our world has now reached two percent. Perhaps you can first go find the people or things that are truly unusual, watch them, and bring the data back to me."
Atomica nodded.
"Although I haven't joined the Justice League yet, I think I may have noticed someone who can truly be called an abnormal presence."
"There's a person who mingles around the Justice League, the Batcave, and even quietly appears near Superwoman, Ultraman, Sea King, and other confirmed reverse counterparts."
Atomica tried to describe this person as an even bigger threat.
After all, Atomica had just been terrified by Batman.
If Owlman asked her to monitor Batman, regardless of whether that Batman was real or fake, Atomica couldn't muster the courage.
"It is like he is both part of this world and separate from it at the same time, but I cannot find any reverse counterpart of him in our world."
"He should be that anomaly!"
Owlman knew Atomica might have exaggerated some things, but the truth was probably not too far from what she said.
He acknowledged Atomica's contribution and finally gave his orders.
"Then go find him!"
"Monitor him!"
"If there's an opportunity, kill him in advance before he becomes a problem!"
...
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