Death is not the end of everything.
Joey, the old Bat, and even The Flash all believed that.
As long as there was even a sliver of hope, they would fight for it at any cost. This world, forever teetering on the edge of destruction, existed because of that very belief.
The Flash had recklessly brought his mother back to life, throwing consequences aside. As a result, the age of heroes never came to be, the Justice League was lost, and the world nearly perished in a third world war.
And now, the old Bat was about to do something even more extreme.
He was going to bring Barry Allen back to life.
The so-called Lazarus Pit might sound unfamiliar to those who don't know religious lore, but for those who do, its function is almost obvious just from the name.
This pool could resurrect the dead. Anyone who soaked in it once could return to the world of the living.
As for the side effects?
The old Bat didn't give a damn.
No side effect could compare to what was coming in a week—the arrival of the Kryptonian fleet. He had already seen what just two Kryptonians could do on Earth. Thousands of militarized Kryptonians? There would be nothing capable of stopping them.
The Flash had once said he could go back in time and fix everything. The old Bat decided to believe him one more time.
People often say lightning doesn't strike the same place twice.
But the old Bat clearly had a different opinion.
For example, in about an hour, Barry Allen might very well get struck by lightning twice.
The Lazarus Pit had originally been discovered within a mysterious organization in the Middle East. But Thomas didn't need to travel that far, nor did he need to deal with the so-called Demon's Head(Ra's al Ghul).
Because not long ago, deep beneath Gotham, a pool had been discovered—one whose properties perfectly matched every record and legend of the Lazarus Pit.
Soon, he would bring the Flash back to life.
And then, Barry would reshape the entire universe according to his will.
---
From high above, Joey looked down, taking in the entire Earth at a glance. But something about his vision felt different.
There was one thing Doctor Fate hadn't lied about—the magic on Earth was indeed returning.
Beyond the Atlanteans and the Amazons, he even spotted Swamp Thing in a barren region of East Africa, expanding his body and restoring greenery to the land.
Just as Joey was about to go ask whether Swamp Thing would be willing to help fight the Kryptonians, a furious roar came from above:
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
A wave of pure green willpower energy crashed down from the sky. Its intensity and brilliance were so overwhelming that, for a brief moment, the entire night sky over the southeastern hemisphere seemed to glow green.
Joey could have dodged—but to avoid adding another massive rift to East Africa, he chose to take it head-on.
Now he understood why Clark Kent liked to tank attacks with his face.
In this universe, there really weren't many things that could harm a Kryptonian body of steel—and Starfire's willpower constructs definitely weren't among them.
"Who approved your recruitment into the Green Lantern Corps, Starfire? Don't you think someone as unhinged as you belongs in the Red Lantern Corps instead?"
The moment he heard the voice, Joey knew—it was that same madwoman again: Starfire.
Somehow, she had tracked him all the way to Earth, and just like before, she attacked on sight.
Joey didn't even bother taking her ring this time. He simply started counting down in his head.
Green light swirled around Starfire as she shaped her will into a razor-sharp arrow, becoming one with it as she shot toward Joey.
He sidestepped her first strike with ease—the sonic boom didn't even ruffle his hair.
Starfire came to an abrupt stop, retracting the green energy into her body before forming a long blade, twisting midair and charging at Joey again.
Before the blade could even touch Joey, it began to disintegrate on its own—along with the green energy shield surrounding Starfire.
This was the brilliance of the Guardians who created the power rings—they never truly trusted their Green Lanterns.
At the very least, they never trusted them enough to hand over one of the most powerful weapons in the universe without restrictions. The Green Lantern rings always came with limitations.
First, they cannot be used for lethal force based on subjective intent. This limitation can be overcome with immense willpower—like Starfire now, driven by vengeance.
Second, the ring requires energy to function. Once its power is depleted, or if the Guardians remotely revoke authorization, the ring immediately becomes nothing more than scrap metal.
Which is exactly what happened to Starfire—now falling freely through the air.
Her descent didn't last long. After the initial panic, she quickly remembered that her race could fly. She stabilized herself midair.
Tamaranian physiology grants them immense strength under sunlight, somewhat similar to Kryptonians. But unlike the inherently warlike Kryptonians, Tamaranians are deeply emotional beings. Their actions are driven more by emotion than logic.
They are far more capable of love than hatred. On Tamaran, words like 'murder,' 'war,' and 'slaughter' had, for centuries, existed only in dictionaries.
But in the face of genocide, love had long vanished from Starfire's heart.
Now, she only wanted one thing—to personally kill a Kryptonian, just to ease the torment inside her.
Starting from her fiery orange hair, flames engulfed her entire body. Emerald energy blasts, matching the color of her eyes, erupted outward in all directions. She swore to settle everything here and now with this bastard of the House of El.
High above, Joey exhaled softly—and froze Starfire along with her blazing flames.
Then, accelerating in a straight line, he appeared before her frozen form and threw a simple punch.
"Have you had enough?"
With the shattering of ice, Starfire plummeted to the ground, coughing up blood.
What shattered along with the ice was also her pride.
After more than a year of training with the Green Lantern Corps, she thought she had at least gained a sliver of hope for revenge.
But reality proved otherwise.
Her vengeance was nothing more than a reflection in water—untouchable. She couldn't even defeat a single isolated Kryptonian, let alone avenge her entire race.
"Guh… just kill me!"
Starfire knew full well the fate that awaited those who resisted Kryptonians. She was simply one of the last to arrive at that end.
"Why the hell would I kill you?! This world, that old bastard, the Kryptonians, and you—you're all insane!"
While he was running around trying to save Earth, everyone else seemed determined to make things harder for him.
At this moment, Joey felt one thing—regret.
Not regret for punching Starfire.
But regret for not punching her a few more times.
And also regret that when Thomas Wayne had been spewing nonsense at him earlier, he hadn't just slapped him on the spot.
Wait.
Joey suddenly realized something.
What's the point of regret?
He could just go back and slap him now.
With that thought, Joey turned his gaze toward Gotham City.
And the moment he looked—
He immediately shot toward Gotham at the fastest speed he could manage within the atmosphere.
That seemingly dying old bat had really played him well—pretending to wait for death while secretly pulling off something massive right under Joey's nose.
Joey had thought that after dealing with the Amazon–Atlantis war, preparing for Kryptonian conquest, anticipating Apokolips' invasion, and learning about the Green Lantern disaster in the Tamaran system…
He had seen it all.
He thought nothing on Earth could shock him anymore.
Until he saw what was happening beneath Gotham's underground caverns—
"…What the fuck."
This… was something he had never seen before.