The aliens who were picked up by Superman at the beginning

Chapter 188 Two Losers

The gravity calibration lights of the watchtower cast long, cold white stripes on the alloy walls of the cell, where Lex Luthor sat cross-legged on the floor in the center of the cell.

Fingertips hovered in mid-air, as if holding an invisible pen.

There are only 72 hours left until the third hearing.

The files on the New York Doomsday Drop have long been nailed to a top-secret archive jointly sealed by the Justice League and the Wayne Enterprises.

Luther's supposedly foolproof backup plans were eliminated one by one.

The illicit funds hidden in Lexcorp's offshore accounts were frozen, the coordinates of the backup clones buried underground in the Metropolitan Area were located and destroyed, and even his heavily funded informants in the Department of Justice and the White House were uprooted after the crime syndicate incident.

The thugs of Earth-3 plunged the world into a state of tension, but the Justice League once again turned the tide. In a rare instance, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a provisional mandate, granting the League priority in dealing with all dangerous criminals.

Lobbying groups on Capitol Hill, covert pressure from established European tycoons, and powerful figures in the Middle East and East Asia—all the forces that should have paved the way for Loser were shattered by this unprecedented power of discourse.

His expensive legal team couldn't even get close to the dock connecting to the watchtower.

Communication was completely blocked, and visitation requests were permanently rejected on the grounds of "involving cross-dimensional security threats".

Those politicians and tycoons who were once respectful to Luther now tread carefully even when mentioning his name in public.

This was the first time Lex Luthor had truly experienced powerlessness.

He could see through people's hearts and at first he couldn't understand why he had ended up like this.

It wasn't until Batman visited him in prison a few times that Luthor vaguely guessed something.

It seems that I've been severely harmed because of some inexplicable actions by my counterpart from another universe.

Because during the first few times Batman met with him alone, his emotions seemed to be on the verge of spiraling out of control.

Luther boldly guessed that it was a strange kind of hatred.

However, he had not offended Batman in any specific way, and this hatred that came out of nowhere could not be reconciled by the logic of reality.

"There aren't many things that can make Batman lose control of his emotions."

Luther has not completely lost access to information from the outside world; he still retains a small number of human rights. At the very least, the Justice League has agreed to let him occasionally watch the news through the glass of his cell.

Considering the crime syndicate incident, the only answer Luther could think of was...

"Recently, there have been frequent interdimensional events. Could it be that my counterpart in another world did something terrible to Batman's family, so much so that he now seems to hate me even more than Superman?"

Luther had high-set eyebrows and deep-set eyes.

If that's the case, then he probably really doesn't have any solutions.

Superman was always helpless against him because Superman simply didn't understand the workings of capital in this world.

But Batman is different.

If, while he is already trapped in Turkish territory, the capital behind Batman launches a targeted attack against him, then even if Luthor had three heads and six arms, he would not be able to escape.

Over the past three months, he has visibly aged in the surveillance footage.

His temples were streaked with white, and the lines at the corners of his eyes were as deep as if carved by a knife. His once sharp, eagle-like eyes were now clouded with a layer of gray. He paced around his cell all night, his knuckles tapping repeatedly on the alloy floor, as if he were knocking on a door that did not exist.

Cyborg had reviewed his physiological data, which showed that his cortisol levels were more than three times higher than normal, his heart rate was consistently in the warning range, and his prefrontal cortex activity was abnormally disordered.

That was the anxiety of a genius at the end of his rope.

Until The Flash woke up.

The moment news of Barry Allen's awakening from the Speed ​​Force disorder spread throughout the Watchtower, Luther, who was smashing his lunchbox in his cell, suddenly froze.

Batman and Cyborg in the monitoring room noticed the unusual stillness at the same time.

The next second, all the anxiety vanished like an electric current being cut off.

Lex Luthor sat cross-legged again, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was only a deep, unfathomable calm in them.

That calm is more unsettling than rage.

In the days that followed, Luther stopped pacing, stopped cursing, and stopped trying to verbally provoke the new Firestorm Warden.

He remained seated cross-legged all day, his eyes half-open, his fingertips sketching in the air at a steady pace, sometimes pausing, sometimes spinning lightly, as if writing a formula in the air that only he could understand.

Without paper and pen, without a screen, without any external devices, relying solely on memory and thought, they are deducing something on a zero-material platform.

Cyborg tried to capture his brainwaves using a neural sensing algorithm, but all he got was a turbulent stream that was heavily encrypted.

Superman, using his X-ray vision to penetrate the damping alloy of the cage, only saw the chaotic and irregular trajectory of Luthor's fingertips, which was completely incomprehensible to his super brain.

"He's calculating."

Batman's deep voice echoed through the Alliance communications channel.

"Luther must have also gotten something from the Cosmic Patch event."

Beyond the geosynchronous orbit of the watchtower, the starlight is cold and desolate.

Inside the cell, Luther's lips slowly curled into a faint smile as his fingertips made the final stroke in the air.

The countdown to the third hearing is still ticking, but Lex Luthor no longer cares about the court's verdict.

"I want to talk to Batman."

Since a long time has passed since Flashpoint's invasion of the world, Batman has regained his composure in the face of Lex Luthor.

Upon hearing Luther's request, which was tinged with inexplicable confidence, Batman was about to get up when Superman grabbed his arm.

"Wait, although Luther doesn't have much time left before his final verdict, I know him. He'll seize any seemingly impossible opportunity to try and turn the tables. Any conversation we have with him now might be helpful to him!"

Batman looked at Superman silently, without immediately responding with words.

One second, two seconds.

It wasn't until Superman finally let go of Shane's arm.

"Your personality has changed, Clark."

Perhaps to emphasize the seriousness of the matter, Batman directly used Superman's real name.

"I understand you. Luther used to make things difficult for you, but you never did before. Since the patch incident, you've become more and more like a real, ordinary Earthling. Your emotions have started to show on the surface."

"Next time you speak, think carefully about whether it's your own will or influenced by memories from another cosmic patch."

Superman stood there stunned. The patch incident was one of the most important things the Justice League had been focusing on recently.

People who were supposed to be dead suddenly reappear, and buildings that were not completed in the past due to a single policy decision suddenly stand up.

His lonely fortress has gained a Kryptonian puppy with the same superpowers as him, and the strange dial handed over by the Plastic Man has text on it that Batman and Cyborg couldn't decipher even after a month of working together to analyze.

Many superheroes have even undergone some personality changes, such as him and Diana.

Batman, on the other hand, seems to remain unaffected, even managing to eliminate discrepancies in his memories while simultaneously handling various tasks, recording them as data for safekeeping.

According to Cyborg, Batman regularly tests his brain, which is why he can be like a supercomputer, so sensitive to thoughts that don't belong to him.

Superman lowered his head and began to seriously consider whether his earlier panic and Luthor's calmness were not due to his own will.

Batman had already reached Luthor's cell door. After pressing two buttons, the cell glass, which should have been fogged up, became clear and bright, and the shielded sound wave transmission was activated simultaneously.

To prevent Luthor from escaping while Superman and Batman were away from the watchtower and taking advantage of the opportunity to communicate with other superheroes on duty, they were on extremely tight security.

"It's a pleasure to see such a calm bat again."

Luther remained seated with his legs crossed, a faint smile playing on his lips as he looked at Batman.

Batman had already placed his finger above the button.

"Just empty talk?"

"Ah, no, a word of advice, after all, I also received a gift from another universe that should have existed."

Luther pointed to his temple.

"Remember, non-existent spacetime also loses the stable linear characteristics of time, and those people or matter that came into existence because of cosmic patches did not all come from the same time; they came in a specific order."

Batman frowned, his fingers still hovering, not striking down immediately.

Luther knew that Batman was drawn in by his words, thus giving him an extra chance to say something.

"You have only confiscated all my creations in this universe, but I have recently seen another version of myself that has displayed many equally fascinating ideas."

The clear glass was instantly fogged up, blocking both sight and sound once again. Luther's smile faded, and he let out a soft hum before lowering his head.

"You will soon be coming to beg me in person."

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