American comic book: My Father is Superman, am I just an NPC?

Chapter 244 How did Batman die?

Inside the bedroom of Devil's Manor, which is forever filled with the scent of sulfur and ancient parchment scrolls.

The air seemed to have frozen into solid ice.

Ian Kent, the nominal owner of the manor, was now like a kitten being held by the scruff of its neck, firmly controlled by his god-like father, Clark Kent.

Ian's mind raced as he considered how to skillfully justify his illegal act of "borrowing" from Ultraman Tiga to convert light energy into dark energy. He even prepared several arguments to try and package this "light gathering" behavior as a necessary and innovative energy application research.

however.

“Wells certainly can’t do that… but I can!” All thoughts were torn apart by a sudden, teeth-grinding red lightning bolt.

Zila——!
The crimson light was like a wound tearing through space, and a figure dressed in a contrasting lightning suit suddenly appeared in the center of the hall. The buzzing sound from the high-speed vibrations masked all other subtle noises.

He steadied himself, and his signature voice, filled with endless malice and mockery, emanated through the mask, each syllable seemingly carrying the stinging pain of electricity.

Even after he appeared, Reverse-Flash's face was still shaking violently. He could stop the Flash, but he might not be able to stop the Superman who had undergone a strange transformation and improved far beyond what was recorded in history.

So he also made additional disguises, using the characteristics of a "shapeshifter" to create a new face for himself.

"To be honest, I was surprised. The stench of demons here is really pungent. It doesn't seem like a place where those hypocritical Justice League guys would gather."

His tone remained sarcastic.

It's infuriating.

Ian felt his father's hand on the back of his neck tighten suddenly. He didn't have time to pretend to be in pain and immediately struggled a few times like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, trying to make excuses.

"Slander! This is blatant slander! Uncles and aunts, you must see clearly! This is just a manor with a 'devilish flavor'! Themed decoration! Understand? Just like a themed restaurant! It is essentially a healthy, environmentally friendly, and legal building that absolutely conforms to the core values ​​of the Justice League!"

Ian didn't want his estate to be demolished.

"..."

Aquaman, Diana, and the others didn't dare to dismantle it, fearing Ian would hold a grudge. So, they turned their attention to the only superhero present who had the right to offend Ian.

"you shut up."

Clark looked very embarrassed, and his deep voice carried an undeniable authority, instantly making Ian swallow all his subsequent excuses.

Then, Superman's gaze, like two searchlights, sharply pierced the uninvited guest.

“Reverse Lightning, Elberd Swann. You may have escaped once, but you might not be able to escape a second time. It seems the lesson from last time hasn’t taught you to behave.”

Clark took a step forward, his imposing aura like a mountain collapsing. To everyone's surprise, Reverse-Flash, who had just been speaking sarcastically, actually took a half step back, his rapidly vibrating figure freezing for a moment, as if a fear originating from his very life instinct had been awakened.

However, he quickly steadied himself, his voice behind the mask lowered, carrying a rare sense of helplessness, as he patiently admitted defeat.

"I am not your enemy, at least not today." He made it clear that he was not there to fight, but he still tried his best to stand up straight, even though he was losing face.

"hehe."

Aquaman chuckled.

“We prefer a permanent solution, ensuring you can never be an enemy again.” Diana stepped forward, the Lasso of Truth gleaming golden in her hand. Though the Sword of Hephaestus remained unsheathed, its killing intent was palpable. As an Amazonian princess, she knew all too well that mercy to some enemies was cruelty to herself.

Ian, who was being carried by his dad, suddenly became excited, as if he saw an opportunity to show his "heroic spirit". He twisted and shouted, "Yes, yes, yes! Count me in! I want to do my part too! I'm a superhero too! After it's all over, I mean after everything is settled, can I have Reverse-Flash's leg?"

"I'm still missing quite a few Christmas reindeer!"

He was eager to try.

His eyes were filled with longing for the "deer".

"????"

He just finished speaking.

Barry Allen, who was originally on guard, almost reflexively darted away from Ian a few steps.

The superhero's face was filled with vigilance and a hint of worry.

“That’s a reindeer, not a elk. Oh well, you didn’t really want to raise deer anyway.” He knew all too well what Ian meant by “elk”—it was the Black Lightning’s legs that Ian had somehow dismantled during the last incident! Heaven knows how many more of these bizarre plans this kid had in his head.

“You shouldn’t have come, Swann.”

Change the subject.

The Flash, Barry, turned his gaze to Reverse-Flash, his tone complex, containing both wariness of his nemesis and a subtle, almost imperceptible connection to the bearer of the other side of the Speed ​​Force.

"Hmm? You can't control me." Reverse-Flash's Adam's apple visibly bobbed beneath his mask as he swallowed, revealing that his inner tension was genuine.

The main reason is that Superman put a lot of pressure on him.

"Of course you can seize me right now, imprison me, or even... kill me. With your current abilities, you might actually be able to do it. But without me, I guarantee... you cannot travel through time, cannot stop all these changes, and cannot restore the world to its original state."

His voice carried a sense of resolute determination, like burning one's bridges.

His gaze pierced through the mask, locking firmly on Superman. "Look outside, Superman. Use your super eyesight to take a good look at those churches and Capitol Hill!"

There was no other way; even though he felt guilty, Reverse Lightning had to bite the bullet and speak.

"Hmm?" Clark frowned, turned his head as instructed, and gazed through the thick stone walls of the manor to the distant city skyline. The next moment, his expression became extremely complex, shifting from confusion to shock, and then to an indescribable solemnity, as if he had witnessed something that would overturn his understanding of the world.

No one knows what Clark saw.

Everyone just knows.

The invincible Superman's lips twitched, his body trembling, but in the end he said nothing.

"Clark, what happened?"

Diana noticed his unusual behavior and immediately pressed him for an explanation.

Aquaman Arthur also cast an inquiring glance.

Clark slowly turned his head, shook his head, and said in a low voice, "...It's nothing."

That being said, the aura that was originally like a drawn sword around him had clearly subsided considerably, replaced by a cautious weighing of options.

“Based on the countless evil deeds you have committed, Swan, we cannot trust you.”

Superman stared at Reverse-Flash, his tone still firm, but his words themselves were a concession and a test, leaving room for maneuver.

"You can only trust me!" Reverse-Flash tried to regain some control, raising his voice with his usual arrogance, "Only I have the understanding of the Speed ​​Force, of timelines..."

“No, that’s not right.” Barry suddenly interrupted him, a knowing glint in his blue eyes. He stared intently at Reverse-Flash, as if trying to pierce through the vibrating shell to see his true nature. “I understand… If this era has been altered into a mess, then the future you were born into… will certainly be even more unrecognizable.”

"It's even... gone, right? Swan."

"You're not helping us now, you're racing against your own demise! You have to fix all of this before the effects of the time paradox completely engulf you and erase any trace of your existence!" That's why he's called the Flash; he truly understands the nature of his nemesis.

“Yes, yes, that’s it! Uncle Barry stole my words.” Ian, who had been listening nearby, had his eyes shining and immediately raised his still-functioning hand, trying to join the “intellectual contest”: “Actually… I thought of this situation a long time ago! I’m still the smartest person in the world…”

Before he could finish speaking, Superman covered his mouth. Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to his self-aggrandizement. All eyes were focused on Reverse-Flash.

Waiting for Reverse Lightning's reply.

Reverse Flash fell silent. The rapidly vibrating yellow figure seemed to freeze for a moment. He didn't admit it directly, but the silence itself was the best answer. He avoided Barry's question and instead said in a somber tone, "You're the same. The shifting of timelines is like a plague; no one can escape it."

"Batman... Bruce Wayne, that man is the best warning you can see. Isn't his current state enough to wake you up?"

The mere mention of Bruce Wayne, as if he had vanished from the face of the earth, no longer existing, completely disappeared from the world, cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

The Flash, Barry, remained noncommittal; he was more concerned with practical matters.

"Enough of this, Swan. Even if we believe your intentions for now, how do you plan to take us through time? Time has been sealed off, you said it yourself."

The Flash also wanted to figure out why.

It seems Reverse Flash isn't planning to explain in detail.

“Not ‘you’.” Reverse-Flash shook his head, his crimson gaze sweeping over every Alliance leader present. Finally, his electric finger pointed precisely at Ian, who was still being held by Superman: “Only him. Only this kid has even the slightest chance of going back in time and changing all of this.”

“Me?” Ian was stunned. He had roughly figured out the cause and effect—Jonathan, Jordan, and Damian were sent back to the past by the Crying Angel, causing a world upheaval. But he still didn’t quite understand why Batman’s previous hints and Reverse-Flash’s current designation made him so certain that he was the key.

"why me?"

We can't judge people by their looks in this situation.

perhaps.

Will I be able to prove myself forever in the future, locking away all time?
Ian had this guess in his mind.

A constant stream of ingenious ideas.

Superman, however, astutely grasped the key detail in Reverse-Flash's words, his brow furrowing and his tone becoming even more serious: "Just a 'chance'?"

“Swan, you mean you’re not entirely sure either? This is just a gamble?” He wasn’t just worried about Jonathan and Jordan, and Damian, whom he could worry about or not.

Similarly, the old father was also afraid that something might happen to Ian. Of course, if nothing happened, the old father would be even more worried, but the reason for his worry would be different.

"if not?"

Reverse-Flash let out a short, hoarse laugh, tinged with an almost speechless honesty: "That's right, it's gambling. I've been researching for a long time how to break the lock after it's been locked down, and all I've found so far are some leaders and some theoretical possibilities. If you have anyone to blame for this situation, it's yourselves."

"Time and time again, playing with time."

"It's even more unacceptable to let a bunch of ignorant brats come into contact with that kind of weird thing from outer space that completely defies our laws of physics!"

As he spoke, he pointed to a safe in the corner of the hall, covered in heavy material and complex runes—a container Batman had personally set up to seal the Weeping Angel, the cause of all the disaster. Reverse-Flash was clearly aware of such extraterrestrial intruders, his tone filled with undisguised apprehension and disgust.

“You’re right.” Clark fell silent, a deep sense of guilt and self-reproach crossing his face. As a father and as the leader of the alliance, he did indeed bear an undeniable responsibility.

“It’s not entirely your fault, Clark.” Aquaman Arthur patted him on the shoulder, trying to comfort him, though his voice was equally heavy.

Upon seeing this, Ian immediately tried to extricate himself from the situation.

"It's definitely not my fault!"

He looked at The Flash.

"This time it really wasn't me, I already told you it was that statue."

The Flash jumped up and down on the spot.

"It does not matter."

Ian gave an irrelevant answer, then turned to look at Reverse-Flash.

"So... Huang Shanshan, how do you plan to send me back? Do you need me to strike a pose?" He guessed that the other party had technological means, such as a time machine originally used to return to the future.

I am eager to try.

only.

Ian's expression, as if he were heading to an adventure summer camp, made Clark's heart clench even tighter. Send his eccentric and unconventional youngest son back to the past?

God knows he might make things worse!

This is the biggest concern.

However, with Batman's condition currently unknown and the timeline continuing to deteriorate, Reverse-Flash's words, while not entirely trustworthy, seem to be the only visible way out.

"Hey."

Superman's super brain encountered a bottleneck in his thinking, mainly because he had lost his external brain and it seemed somewhat insufficient. He could only stare intently at Reverse-Flash, while simultaneously maximizing his super hearing, trying to capture the true thoughts revealed in Reverse-Flash's heartbeat, blood flow, and even the slightest muscle fiber tremors.

of course.

The ability to eavesdrop on thoughts is also activated.

Beneath Reverse-Flash's mask, a twisted, sinister smile seemed to curve at the corner of his mouth. He leaned forward slightly, his voice low.
But it exploded in Ian's ears like a thunderclap.

“It’s simple, kid.”

"I will make you... a speedster."

The words are astonishing.

It's inside the Devil's Manor.

Meanwhile, tense negotiations and standoffs unfold around the issue of time travel.

At the other end of the timeline.

At the very point when all the mistakes had just begun... the story had only just begun, when the three of them had just been sent to the past by the weeping angel.

"Pfft!"

"Ouch!"

"What the hell!"

The sounds of three underage children, their cries of pain and embarrassment mingling with the splashing of mud, echoed in a dark, damp back alley.

Jonathan Kent, Jordan Kent, and Damian Wayne landed heavily on a cold, dirty ground in a very inelegant, but standard, "face-first" manner.

The torrential rain poured down mercilessly.

There is a lot of water on the ground.

So, unsurprisingly, they were soaked to the bone. The rain, carrying a biting chill, washed away the sticky grime that already clung to their bodies, grime that seemed to have come from nowhere.

"Bah! Bah!"

Jordan was the first to struggle to his feet, spitting out the muddy water in his mouth, his face filled with bewilderment and discomfort. "Where the hell am I?! Weren't we just dealing with that stone statue?"

Jonathan grimaced as he stood up, rubbing his sore arm. He looked around and, by the dim light of the streetlights and neon signs of the shops in the distance, he could see his surroundings clearly—narrow alleyways, mottled brick walls covered with paper advertisements that had long been soaked by rain, and trash cans overturned, emitting a foul stench.

The sound of car engines coming from the street sounded dull and old, and the shop signs in the distance also exuded a strong sense of age.

“I don’t know… but it’s definitely not our metropolis, maybe it’s not even from the same era.” Jonathan’s voice carried a hint of unease.

“You mean we time-traveled?” Jordan strained to concentrate, activating his super hearing. Instantly, a cacophony of sounds flooded his mind, causing him to frown uncomfortably. “My God… what am I hearing? Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ is playing on the radio?”

"And...Wham! And so many songs that I've only ever heard on my dad's old record collection...This feels like...the 80s? Or the 90s?"

“Could it be some parallel universe?” Damian was the last to stand up. He moved relatively nimbly, but his face was equally grim, rain dripping from his short, shiny black hair. As he wrung out his soaked sleeves, he suggested a possibility, “Time travel or a jump between parallel universes is both possible.”

"so cool!"

The naturally born demon ball seemed to know nothing of fear.

“No matter where we are, Dad will definitely find a way to save us.” Jonathan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. As the relatively steady one among his brothers, he realized that panicking would not solve anything. “The most important thing right now is for us to figure out what has happened to us.”

"And the specific environment we are in now."

Jordan nodded in agreement, but then an even stronger feeling of discomfort washed over him. He tugged at the filthy T-shirt that clung tightly to his skin.

"I agree, but before that, we need to find a place to settle down. I'm about to faint from the smell of myself, and I really, really want to take a hot shower!"

Jordan's face showed an expression of extreme disgust.

“Yes, yes.” Damian nodded in deep agreement. He was a clean freak, and being in this sewage-filled alley, soaking wet and filthy, was worse than death for him. Even Jonathan, who was relatively less particular, felt like he had just been pulled out of a septic tank.

"Okay, let's find a place to stay first."

Jonathan agreed, then started rummaging through his pockets. "Let me see what I have. Uh, I only have fifty dollars in cash. Jordan, what about you? Did you bring any money?"

Jordan rummaged through his soaked pockets for a while, only managing to pull out a phone with a black screen due to water damage. He shook it helplessly: "I'm used to mobile payments."

“In modern society, with advanced technology, who would carry so much cash?” That’s not far from the truth. Jonathan sighed and pointed to the street outside the alley where the “Blockbuster” sign was flashing: “Do you think the hotels here look like they would accept Apple Pay?”

Blockbuster, a defunct DVD rental chain, is located on a street at night. The vehicles are obviously old-fashioned, the shops are decorated in a distinctive style, and the pedestrians are dressed in slightly outdated clothes. Everything points to a world that is unfamiliar to them, at least a decade or more ago.

“Being broke is nothing to a trained Gothamite,” Damian scoffed, a hint of wisdom beyond his years on his face.

Without hesitation, he rolled up his wet sleeves.

He pulled a thin wire from the hidden compartment of his tactical belt and scanned sharply at a rather old-looking Ford sedan parked on the side of the road outside the alley.

"Hey! I'm good at this! I'll keep watch for you!"

Jordan immediately perked up and eagerly moved closer. In moments of oppression and confusion, finding something to do, even something bad, can temporarily dispel inner unease.

"Are you crazy?! This is a crime!" Jonathan exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock, trying to stop the two lawless men.

“In Gotham, this is just a basic survival skill, very common.” Damian didn’t even turn his head, already squatting down next to the door of the Ford.

He skillfully probed the door lock with the wire.

“But this isn’t Gotham!” Jonathan was almost going crazy. He felt out of place between these two “normal” people.

Just as Jonathan was trying to physically stop them, suddenly—

"boom!!!"

A muffled but loud explosion came from several blocks away, and you could even feel the ground tremble slightly beneath your feet.

The three boys froze instantly.

"what happened?!"

Jordan suddenly stood up.

His exceptional hearing allowed him to perceive the sound of the explosion more clearly.

"Explosion! It's about... three blocks away from us!"

Jonathan instantly transformed into Armor Warrior, his transformation speed was extremely fast, and the Armor Warrior form also gave him extraordinary recognition abilities.

"Let me hear the details!" Jordan immediately focused his mind, activated his super hearing again, and precisely focused his hearing on the direction from which the explosion came.

He filtered out the sound of the rain.

And the sounds of music and noisy voices in the distance.

They are trying to capture any movement at the explosion site.

Then he heard terrified screams, the sound of falling debris, the crackling of flames, and... an incredibly heavy thud.

The sound of footsteps seemed to carry a metallic scraping sensation.

There's some kind of battle going on.

It also smells like kryptonite powder.

Before Jordan could even pinch his nose, a deep, husky, and cold voice, like an icy awl, pierced through countless noises and clearly drilled into Jordan's eardrums.

"Clark, tell me... do you bleed too?" the voice asked, with a chilling calm that seemed to come from hell.

(End of this chapter)