Firestorm's new discovery caught the Justice League's attention.
Batman and Cyborg, with the help of Atom, who finally returned after being away for half a month at the Central City S.T.A.R labs, analyzed the Flash's current situation in detail once again.
After analyzing part of the Reverse Speed Force that Reverse-Flash had previously left behind in the Batcave, they finally reached a more detailed conclusion.
Cyborg explained:
"Part of his body's atomic nucleus structure is being affected by distortions in space and time, causing unusual vibrations."
"The atomic-level simple vibrations have been forcibly awakened, continuously fluctuating, and realigning on the microscopic scale at a frequency almost like spacetime itself trembling."
Shazam covered his face, somewhat bewildered, listening to Cyborg's final report results, feeling his brain would completely explode.
Looking around at the other people, Shazam discovered most of them hadn't raised any objections.
Green Arrow stood with his arms crossed in silence and calm.
Firestorm tilted his head to the side, seemingly quietly talking with some unknown existence, occasionally nodding.
Plastic Man, who everyone knew didn't understand any of this, sat in the corner just to lighten the mood, stretching his head into a long shape and tying it into a knot.
Superman stared sincerely at Batman and opened his mouth to ask.
"So, what does this mean?"
Shazam felt relieved and silently gave Superman a thumbs-up in his heart.
Batman explained in the most straightforward words.
"The Speed Force field is using some method to inject some kind of information into the Flash himself."
"So this is the reason he's been unconscious?"
Green Arrow finally spoke up.
Shazam bet this guy definitely didn't understand before either and was just pretending to look deep and mysterious.
To avoid looking so stupid, Shazam plans to add some questions of his own too.
But Plastic Man opened his mouth faster than him.
"Then when will he wake up?"
"When certain things that are supposed to exist return to our universe."
They turned their heads and saw a person in a fully covered red-and-blue suit of armor standing at the door.
Green Arrow's face is strange.
He almost thought someone had invaded the Watchtower and even instinctively reached for his bow.
"Atom, it's only been a few days—why did you change your suit?"
Superman looked him up and down, slightly raising an eyebrow, about to speak when Batman suddenly stepped on his foot under the table.
The armored person seemed somewhat embarrassed and waved his hand.
"Uh… I'm not Professor Palmer. I'm his student. After he came back, he took his suit back, so I made one for myself during this time."
After hearing that, everyone understood and nodded.
They knew already that Ray Palmer and his student take turns being the Atom.
They never really tried to hide it.
Strictly speaking, since Atom joined the Justice League, Ryan Choi's version of Atom has appeared before everyone more times than Dr. Palmer.
Dr. Ray Palmer himself wasn't very interested in being a hero. He preferred doing research and often disappeared to travel around the world.
He called it "business trips" and even managed to get a good amount of funding from the university where he worked.
"Oh, you're good, kid, especially getting yourself such cool equipment."
Shazam pretended to stroke his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Honestly, while most people only wear a mask or don't hide their identity at all, choosing a fully covered helmet like this is pretty unique.
Shazam pondered whether he should also get a suit like that someday.
Green Arrow, however, didn't get distracted by appearances and focused on what Atom had just said.
"What do you mean by that?"
Ryan's voice sounded a bit deeper through the helmet.
"After the research report on the Flash came out, Dr. Palmer uploaded a new program here at S.T.A.R. Lab used to find abnormal atomic structure points. We originally just wanted to verify what Firestorm said—whether the magic box Pandora claims to hold in her hands that we can't see really exists."
"But when the machine was activated, we made an astonishing discovery. Across all of New York, there were more than twenty similar atomic structure anomaly points. Some are particularly small, at most about the size of a key chain, while others are particularly huge, covering an area as big as the World Trade Center."
"Ah, forgot to mention—that machine's maximum scanning range can only cover New York."
They all fell silent at these words, while Batman, who had already received the latest report from S.T.A.R Lab, took over.
"If Pandora's magic box really exists, this means New York—and possibly even the whole world—there were many things that should exist, but we couldn't see."
"And the moment Flash fully woke up would likely be the day those things appeared in reality. So we needed to be prepared."
They fell silent.
This time, even Shazam understood the seriousness of the situation.
Pandora's magic box alone has them on high alert.
If so many more things suddenly appeared all over the world, it would probably cause even more chaos.
Looking at the various expressions on the Justice League members' faces, Superman cleared his throat.
He knew it was his turn to speak.
"We couldn't just let the Flash stay unconscious forever. He was our companion, and we wouldn't give up on any of our companions."
Superman's leadership had a strong influence.
After he spoke, the others, even the newer members of the Justice League, quietly nodded, no matter what they were thinking.
Atom lowered his head without making a sound.
Batman stared at him for a long while and said.
"Everyone else dismissed. I had something to discuss with the Atom alone."
The worried members stood up and left one after another.
Even the reluctant Shazam obediently left the Watchtower under Batman's disapproving gaze.
Superman stayed with crossed arms, curling up the corners of his mouth and stubbornly refusing to leave his seat.
In the end, only Batman, Superman, and the Atom remained in the conference room.
Batman ignored Superman, who stubbornly stayed, and looked at the Atom instead.
"You learned that technology from Dr. Ray Palmer, right?"
"Regarding Rhonda Pineda, who you previously reported as missing from S.T.A.R Lab, currently still no trace of her. There aren't many means on Earth that could hide from me…"
"Did she also have an Atom suit, or had she already… learned the related technology from Ray Palmer?"
Before the Atom could speak, Superman started laughing coldly and acted very differently than usual.
"Ah, I thought you were on vacation. Didn't someone previously say they'd never care about anything on Earth anymore?"
Superman stood up and started pacing around Atom.
"But these past few days, you clearly hadn't been idle. You even joined the S.T.A.R. lab and came here pretending to be the Atom."
Since Superman had said that, there was no point in continuing the disguise.
Viktor removed the helmet borrowed from Ryan Choi and let out a long breath.
"This full armor is really stuffy."
Superman stepped closer to Viktor, staring straight at him, about to say more...
Batman interrupted him first.
"The person who returned to Earth with you before wasn't him, and those words weren't said by him either."
Hearing this, Superman froze. His mocking expression turned into shock as he turned to stare at Batman.
"What did you say?!"
Batman, on the other hand, looked at Superman even more baffled.
"Didn't you feel something was off when you were with him?"
Viktor poked Superman in the side.
"Wow, I thought someone with a bio-field like you would be the first to notice that 'I' was acting strange."
Superman looked annoyed at being called out from both sides. He shrugged and went back to his seat.
Seeing the troublemaker finally settle down, Viktor seriously looked at Batman.
"Rachel… how was she?"
"She's safe. After I noticed something was wrong, I made arrangements. Your future self didn't change much in personality—so as long as that person was still there, he wouldn't act recklessly."
Viktor pressed his lips together, looking slightly uncomfortable, but ultimately, he still spoke.
"Thank you."
Superman, who had been annoyed, suddenly looked up at Viktor like he had seen a ghost.
"What happened to you?"
Viktor's expression became subtle.
There was no more forced politeness and only genuine sincerity.
"It was complicated… I had, in a way, said goodbye to my home planet. Now, Earth was my only home."
...
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