Martin Variety in American Comics

Martin patted his stomach in satisfaction after eating two more heavily oiled and salted hot dogs.

His body, in its ordinary human state, always experienced a significant energy drain, requiring him to consume more food.

Perhaps it was because when he transformed into other identities, he no longer ate as much, or the method of intake was different from humans, so he needed this kind of stimulation.

“In the future, I should always carry some food with me; this kind of junk food is really not that good.”

From a nutritional standpoint, these things were no different from ordinary food. However, the crude raw material processing mechanisms and cooking techniques left these fast foods with nothing to recommend them except that they were hot.

Instead of eating these unappetizing fast foods every time, he might as well create a few more flavors of the high-calorie food specially developed from Cisco's tail and carry them with him.

With these miscellaneous thoughts, Martin left the school and, according to the information provided by Martian Manhunter, went to visit a former member of the Justice Society.

Although the name Blue Valley included the words "small town," it was actually a complete city, no less than a prefecture-level city in Dongda, just located in the mountains with very American characteristics, coupled with a special energy-saving system, resulting in it not looking like an industrialized city with that kind of efficiency and power, but rather a place suitable for retirement.

For Martin at the moment, the biggest problem with this city was the poor public transportation.

In short, the American-style community level was too high. Everyone was accustomed to moving within familiar areas, and even if something was lacking, they had acquaintances to help, so there was no need for public transportation support.

But this made things difficult for Martin, who could only walk on two legs.

Although he could run fast, the feeling of running on two legs was ultimately different from riding a bicycle or driving a car directly.

Walking and observing along the way, Martin roughly analyzed the characteristics that Blue Valley exhibited to the outside world—a typical pastoral town as imagined by Americans.

Besides the locals and wealthy outsiders, not many people would be able to enter this city.

Once the population expanded rapidly, this pastoral tranquility would be broken, transforming it into an industrialized or financialized city.

Just as the saying goes, everything in this world comes at a price.

Moreover, excellent politicians can always see these necessary costs, make choices between different paths, and be able to bear the historical responsibility behind these costs.

Instead of being like modern Western politicians, who are irresponsible and always think about shifting the costs onto the weak, infinitely evading the responsibilities they should bear.

A certain change occurred in Martin's mind. As he walked down the road, whenever he saw something, his thoughts would expand infinitely, extending to the various aspects of the social operation behind it.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with it. As the leader of a group, the mind had to operate in this way to be able to capture changes in society in a timely manner and thus gain an advantage.

Otherwise, even if it was just a step slower, the opponent might seize the opportunity and launch a fierce attack.

To say something that ordinary people don't like to hear, the difficulties they complain about in life are not because social competition is really that fierce, but often because they have been influenced by their surroundings from an early age, are accustomed to avoiding, and are accustomed to incompetence.

So, they worship the symbols in history books, fantasize about becoming such figures themselves, but are unwilling to exercise themselves, instead using slogans to fool some people who are more stupid or ignorant than them to die.

Then these bad seeds will use the blood of these innocent people to adorn the laurels they have boasted about, using this so-called "qualifications" to adorn their miserable lives.

For adults, this behavior of instigating some fools to die in order to gain benefits for themselves is just the most basic means.

It's not a matter of good or bad; after all, adults always have to be responsible for their actions, and it's inevitable to encounter this kind of thing in the market.

But as time passes, some old fogeys who are unwilling to withdraw from the stage of history deliberately push this method back to children who have not yet reached adulthood, selecting ruthless people from among them.

They use these children to make trouble and cause social events, and then sell these children out to exchange for more benefits.

Moreover, the traitors who surrendered toApokolips are doing a business that makes a huge profit in this way.

They sell humans on Earth toApokolips in exchange for a chance to survive, parasitizing human society and absorbing human vitality to replenish their aging bodies.

Even withoutApokolips, those traitorous old fogeys would still sell human interests to exchange for their own chance to survive.

“Those people deserve to die!”

Martin arrived at Stripes's(星条: Stripes) door. The sun had completely risen, and the streets of the residential area had become active. Students were running around in pairs, and housewives were telling their children what to do at school.

There was no one at Stripes's(星条: Stripes) door, but the sound of parents urging their children to get up, wash, and eat could be heard inside the house.

Knock, knock, knock—

Although it was a bit impolite to visit early in the morning, Martin still stepped forward and knocked on the door of the house.

He wanted to dig out the secrets of Blue Valley as soon as possible, confirm whether it was entangled with Luthor, and whether it was a reserved area for those traitors.

The door opened, revealing the face of a middle-aged man, with a few white hairs and a beard just emerging on his chin.

Perhaps because of the morning, the other person looked a bit haggard, looking at Martin strangely, but his brain, which had not yet entered work mode, did not really react and did not know what to say.

“I'm Martin, a member of the Justice League. I believe someone has already talked to you about this.”

Martin did not directly call out the other person's code name. Superheroes always pay attention to privacy, especially at the other person's home. If his family does not know about the superhero thing, it would be embarrassing.

“Oh, I did receive a call from Ted (Wildcat's) yesterday. But I didn't expect the person who came to the door to be a teacher from Blue Valley High School.”

Although the Parker family had just moved back to Blue Valley, this former hero had obviously investigated the situation in his hometown and quickly recognized the man standing in front of him.

“Oh, I only became a teacher here today!”

Martin's words caused a series of question marks to appear above Parker's head. In his investigation, the other person had been working at Blue Valley High School for a long time. His work ability and morality were well known and highly praised.

“How is this possible? I believe everyone in town can recognize you and tell you about your positive impact on their children.”

“Alas, superpowers. You know, this world is always full of incredible superpowers, and I am just an ordinary one of them.”

Martin did not tell the fact that he would change identities every day, not because he did not trust him, but because he was worried about surveillance around him.

If this city really hid unspeakable secrets, the other party could not possibly not monitor a former member of the Justice Society.

Thinking about it, it was quite interesting. People in this world, whether superheroes or supervillains, seemed to have maxed out the eavesdropping skill.

People like Bruce, who threw more than a dozen micro-probes on his opponents as soon as they met, could only be considered moderately crazy.

What a more crazy degree is like is self-evident.

“I must be asleep, how can I keep you standing outside! Please come in quickly, I just hope you can hide the superhero thing. My wife and children don't know about my past; they need time to accept it.”

After Parker finished speaking, he opened the door and made a gesture of invitation.

Martin followed him in and did not find anything suspicious in the room.

Parker's son and stepdaughter were lying prone on the dining table eating breakfast, looking wilted, as if they had been drained of their energy.

Getting up early for school was already a torture. The siblings, who had not yet left school, were forcibly awakened from their beds by their parents in the morning, so it was normal to have such a reaction.

They were sleepy-eyed, mumbling indistinctly eating breakfast and did not notice that the person their father brought in was their teacher.

“Barbara, this is my friend. He came to me specifically for help today. We need to talk in the study. After you finish breakfast, send the children to school. I'll take care of the rest.”

Parker explained Martin's reason for coming to the door with a very general excuse. After receiving this affirmative answer, he walked downstairs.

Martin followed Parker into the basement and watched him press a red button. A steel plate popped out behind the basement wooden door and combined with the door.

This completely blocked the door to the basement!

Immediately, the entire basement began to change. The walls reversed and popped out, covering the entire basement. The basement instantly turned into a workshop full of machines. In addition to the prototypes, there were also shelves with various equipment that Parker had made for the Justice Society.

The superheroes of the Justice Society once used these machines to defeat their enemies.

But now familiar friends had disappeared, and Parker's excellent scientific research capabilities had also lost their stage to show.

Martin glanced over and realized that Pat had a lot of good things in his collection, and they were all genuine.

For example, he saw the lamp furnace left by Alan Scott and sensed the presence of Green Lantern energy from it.

Although Hal was the first Earthling to join the Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern energy had arrived on Earth before him.

According to Queen Hippolyta, during the ancient war, there were Green Lanterns in the army that resistedApokolips. The other party unfortunately died on the battlefield.

After his ring returned to Oa, it should have been recovered by the Guardians and all information about the war betweenApokolips and Earth was purged.

Therefore, there are no related rumors in the Green Lantern Corps.

Thousands of years ago, another one fell in China during the Tang Dynasty, which caused a lot of disasters, but that guy was finally killed.

His lamp furnace came to the United States and eventually fell into the hands of a railroad worker, who was the Green Lantern of the Justice Society, Alan Scott.

Martin reached out to the lamp furnace, and the dim furnace immediately ignited with green light flames, which were filled with the energy of willpower, but were not as pure as the Green Lantern ring, but mixed with other energies, appearing somewhat chaotic.

“These are all old friends' things, you don't.”

Parker originally wanted to stop Martin from touching these collections, but when he saw the lamp furnace lighting up, his eyes instantly widened, as if he had seen something incredible.

“This lamp furnace is Scott's personal item. No one but him has ever been able to light it. How could you possibly awaken it?”

“Uh!”

Martin briefly explained the existence of the Green Lantern Corps: “Someone on Earth was chosen by the Green Lantern ring and became a member of the Green Lantern Corps. I am friends with him and understand Green Lantern energy, so I can awaken related items.”

The Green Lantern ring and the central energy system on Oa are just tools developed by the Guardians to make it easier for the Green Lanterns to use Green Lantern energy.

Martin can directly connect with Ion, so naturally he doesn't need the Green Lantern ring as an intermediary to transfer Green Lantern energy.

However, the intelligent system developed by the Guardians for the Green Lantern ring is indeed very useful. If the materials and basic science of Earth were not up to par, Martin would have wanted to directly move that system to Earth.

“I see, there is such a bizarre story behind Scott's lamp furnace. I'm afraid he himself doesn't know it!”

Parker's high spirits suddenly sank. He thought Martin knew the whereabouts of his old friend.

“Mr. Dugan, I only know that the Justice Society suddenly disappeared, but what exactly happened?”

Martin retracted his right hand, and the flames in the lamp furnace gradually dimmed.

“Of course, this has nothing to do with the matter I came to ask you for help with today. If it involves your sad past, just pretend I didn't say anything.”

“Hey, there's nothing to hide about these past events. I've told others more than once.”

Parker invited Martin to sit down and asked him to call him by his name.

“I don't know what happened on the day the Society disappeared. To the uninformed, that night was the Injustice Society attacking the Justice Society's headquarters, but I know that those bastards were no match for Scott and them.”

“When I arrived, the two sides were in the heat of battle. Although the Injustice Society had the advantage of the surprise attack, the Justice Society did not fall into a disadvantage. But at this time, a strong light suddenly appeared from nowhere, wrapping everything up.”

“When I woke up, Scott and the others had all disappeared. Only their equipment and uniforms were left in the ruins. But I don't remember anything.”

Parker spoke of the past again, his voice full of confusion, but more of unwillingness.

“I looked for them for ten years, almost all over the Earth, but there was no news. Maybe I will never see those comrades-in-arms again in this life!”

Martin was silent and didn't know what to say.

He didn't doubt the authenticity of Parker's account. Reality is often so bizarre that only those who have experienced it firsthand can feel this strangeness.

The reason why he didn't speak was because even the person involved didn't know what happened, so even if he wanted to help, he couldn't intervene.

“Okay, it seems I shouldn't have brought up this sad past. If you don't mind, let's talk about business!”

“It's okay. These things have been holding in in my heart for too long. Being able to confide in someone makes me feel a lot more comfortable.”