Viktor was startled, and a heavy sense of tiredness came over him.
He raised his hand and stopped Bruce from continuing.
He even pulled off Batman's helmet, turned off the voice modulator, and spoke in his normal voice.
"I don't want to hear anything except about those two people causing trouble behind the scenes. If any of you say anything unnecessary, I'll leave and hide whenever I want. Even if there were no humans left in this world, I could still live just fine."
It was okay when doing it once or twice, like earning some extra money to support his and Rachel's life.
But if they really wanted to treat him like a superhero and use him regularly, Viktor would never agree.
Viktor only got involved willingly because the Flash from the Flashpoint timeline was targeting him.
If there are other people causing trouble, what is the Justice League even for?
Reverse-Flash gave Bruce a mocking look and spread his hands.
He still had no intention of speaking.
Bruce glanced at the Batman helmet that Viktor casually tossed beside him and cleared his throat.
"Suit yourself. Then I'll just talk about Ares and Eris."
Viktor relaxed his expression and looked around the surroundings.
Bruce spoke lightly.
"Even gods can't eavesdrop here."
"Because you're Batman, right? I'm too lazy to ask anyway, so go ahead and speak."
Viktor imitated Reverse-Flash's posture, sat sideways on the edge of the hospital bed with his arms crossed, waiting for Bruce to speak.
The bed was wide enough anyway.
"Before I completely lost consciousness, I gave Shazam a list with information I've collected over the years about magicians—"
Viktor listened quietly and finally understood why, after he returned from Flashpoint, that troublemaker Shazam wasn't in the Batcave.
It turned out he had been sent out on a mission.
Bruce's main point was clear.
Due to the trust crisis incident, the Justice League, which already lacked magic-based superheroes, had almost been reduced to none.
Those who could originally barely be related to magic, like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Hawkman, and others, had all left.
Hawkman, in particular, looked like he had already arranged his next move beforehand. He actually joined an organization under the U.S. government.
It was said that this department was run by a woman named Amanda Waller.
Hearing this name from his past life, Viktor unconsciously twisted his mouth.
She was a woman who didn't know her place and was trying to help the U.S. government control all superpowered people.
Of course, she couldn't do anything to most superheroes, and she first set her sights on supervillains instead.
In the DC world from his previous life, the famous Suicide Squad franchise, which appeared in comics, animation, live-action movies, and video games, was created by Amanda Waller.
After arriving on Earth and discovering it was the DC world, Viktor had silently prayed that the woman wouldn't set her sights on him to cause trouble.
He definitely wouldn't put up with her, but killing his way through from Amanda to the U.S. government and then to the United Nations would, in the end, only make him an enemy of the whole world.
After his wandering thoughts came to an end, Bruce had also finished speaking.
In short, Bruce wanted to use this chance to see whether they could recruit a new group of superheroes, especially ones connected to magic, into the Justice League.
They could also establish defenses against the gods, especially Ares and Eris, since Zeus wasn't doing anything, and those two were causing trouble in the human world.
"With our current technology, it's still quite difficult to track Ares's and Eris's movements."
Bruce was helpless too.
Magic really wasn't his forte, but if a problem appeared right in front of him, he still had to find a way to deal with it.
That was why he had sent Shazam out on this mission.
Moreover, regarding the problem Viktor had mentioned earlier, which also existed with that girl Rachel, Bruce had been carrying it heavily in his heart all along.
He had too many things to think about every day.
Green Lantern was also acting unusually. This trip outside the universe had been gone for a very long time and still hadn't returned.
Bruce guessed he had probably run into something that even the Green Lantern Corps found difficult to handle.
After watching Bruce lower his head in silence, Viktor held his breath for a moment and finally picked up the helmet that had just been tossed down from the hospital bed.
As he placed it back on his head, Viktor patted the shoulder of this person who, while not particularly likable, was indeed a reliable man.
A real man was still worthy of respect.
"I know you're also worried about leaving Gotham City in other people's hands. This time, I'll cooperate with you and finish the act in front of the media—"
In the end, he still didn't mention compensation. After getting Shazam's contact information, Viktor flicked his cape and left the office.
After hearing the media downstairs erupt into noisy excitement again, Reverse Flash finally spoke.
"If he really cares about Earth, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing."
Reverse-Flash still clearly remembered what happened with Emperor Viktor.
He still didn't dare return to the future precisely because he wasn't clear whether interfering with the timeline could truly erase the possibility of Emperor Viktor existing.
Reverse-Flash would only feel safe going back home if his timeline record wristwatch clearly proved that Viktor's future had shifted to a completely different possibility.
But right now, it was still just a mess of unreadable code.
Moreover, Flash also mysteriously remained in a coma the whole time, recovering even more slowly than Bruce.
Normally, a speedster should not end up in this kind of situation, and Central City was still worried about how Flash had not woken up.
Even Captain Cold had kept the Rogues under control, and for several weeks in a row, they hadn't come out to cause trouble.
Reverse-Flash was almost choked by his own suppressed mockery.
Bruce's exhaustion was not without reason.
The second before he put on that helmet tonight, Bruce even wanted to give up.
Before Shazam brought back good news, the Justice League really didn't have many people to send out on missions.
Superman was also overwhelmed with work.
If Kara's arrival was a pleasant surprise before, then the arrival of the Flashpoint Superman was a real shock to him.
Superman had been busy dealing with the two Kryptonians who had just arrived on this Earth, one of whom was, in a certain sense, a skinnier version of himself.
Those who left had left, and some were too busy.
In the end, everything was shouldered by one mortal—Batman.
After Reverse-Flash left, Bruce lay in bed with his eyes closed for a while.
He then asked Oracle to help him contact someone and casually pulled out a voice modulator from under the bedside table, pressing it to his throat.
The call connected.
There was the sound of ocean waves, seagulls, and a series of noises from someone drinking a drink through a straw.
"Interesting. I didn't expect you to contact me."
The other person casually teased Batman.
Bruce lowered his voice.
"Deathstroke, I need you to go to Metropolis and break into a place to steal some information for me."
Deathstroke, wearing only beach shorts, lazily patted his belly.
"Tell me the payment first."
After Bruce quoted the price, Deathstroke finally sat up from the lounge chair with a grunt, stroking the gray beard around his mouth with his fingers.
"Metropolis? I'm guessing that bastard Luthor, right?"
...
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