Chapter 55 Batman's Wariness

Finally, after staying silent for a good while, Kara gradually calmed down.

She silently went to sit in a corner, like an abandoned doll. It was hard to imagine this was the same girl who had just released an aura capable of suppressing everyone present. Kara just kept her head lowered, seemingly lost in thought.

Glancing at Kara hiding in the shadows, Austin quickly retracted his gaze.

Austin did not intend to comfort or help her. It wasn't that he was hard-hearted, but he understood Kara's condition was a psychological illness that couldn't be cured with just a few words. Plus, he didn't have that ability either.

There were many psychological illnesses, but they could be broadly categorized into two types. One required the understanding of others, clarification, and copious venting and medication. The other was a pure illness that could not be treated through communication, only controlled via medication.

Kara belonged to the latter. Unfortunately, there were no medications on Earth that could control Kryptonians. So for her mental issues to be cured, she could only reconcile with herself and walk out from the stubborn corner of her heart.

For now, it was best to just let her be by herself quietly. As for later matters, they could be dealt with after General Zod was taken care of.

After a pause, Austin took out the backpack containing the extraterrestrial stones that had an analogous effect to Kryptonite. Seeing the confused looks from everyone, Austin explained,

"Kryptonians have different physiques from humans. Our weapons can't effectively harm them. To take them down, we can only use their own weapons, or these - mineral substances carrying red sun radiation."

Hearing this, everyone walked over to meticulously inspect these rocks that looked identical to normal ones.

As a weapons master, old Bruce Wayne quickly understood the function of these rocks from Austin's words. He picked up a stone to observe it carefully, finding they looked quite ordinary to the naked eye without anything special. More testing would be needed to ascertain their specifics.

"They just look like ordinary rocks," Young Barry Allen said after inspecting them for a while without seeing anything special.

"The rocks are indeed ordinary rocks, but the key lies in the radiation they carry," old Batman answered him. "Although I don't know what this red sun is, if its radiation can truly affect Kryptonians, then I may be able to make some nice gadgets with these."

"Oh, I see. So these rocks are the Kryptonians' 'silver bullets'. As long as the rocks are made into bullets or imprinted on bullets, they can inflict effective damage, right?"

"You could understand it that way, but their applications are far from that simple," Austin smiled at Barry Allen, then looked towards old Bruce Wayne.

"Bruce, Kryptonians have formidable combat power and are very fast. Bullets would have difficulty hitting them. If they can't be hit, then these things are no different from junk."

As expected of someone standing at the pinnacle of humanity, Bruce Wayne, who was adept at facing all kinds of enemies, was versatile. He was also extremely skilled with all kinds of weapons. So after learning about the Kryptonians, he quickly grasped Austin's implication.

Glancing at the black umbrella behind Austin, old Bruce smiled slightly. "You mean for me to find a way to incorporate these stone fragments into the Fear Toxin's gas to exert the effects of the gas while also restricting the Kryptonians' abilities, right?"

"That's right. I did a small experiment with Kara earlier. The results prove these rocks' radiation can greatly weaken the Kryptonians' physiques, including strength, power, speed, reflexes, and so on. Although it won't reduce them to ordinary people, at least they won't be invulnerable anymore."

"How much more of these rocks do you have left?" old Bruce Wayne asked.

"As much as you need," Austin casually replied.

Hearing this, Batman immediately lifted his head to look straight at Austin, while Austin also did not flinch, calmly meeting his gaze.

Although Bruce Wayne had come to believe Austin and the others, to be honest, he still maintained the highest vigilance in his heart. As Gotham City's guardian and the only superhero in this world currently, Batman was not used to teaming up with others and had never seen such a "grand occasion" before.

It must be known, previously, he had basically just faced a bunch of lunatics. Even if a few transcended ordinary humans, he could still resolve those criminals with his own abilities.

But after seeing Austin's group, led by the Flash, who could freely traverse timelines and even the multiverse, old Batman's psyche felt immense pressure.

Austin's group was currently standing on Earth's side, but the world was so big with countless multiverses. If a few lunatics also controlled such abilities, could he protect this world?

Thus, after Austin entered Wayne Manor, Bruce began all kinds of covert monitoring, psychological assessments, and countermeasures against them.

Barry Allen didn't have so many twists and turns in his mind. He had always trusted Batman deeply, even if this world's Batman wasn't the one he was familiar with. So very smoothly, by examining the two Barry Allens' bodies, Bruce Wayne already gained some understanding of the Speed Force.

However, for Austin's abilities and his companion Pietro, Bruce Wayne had yet to find a good opportunity to test them. For example Pietro - according to him, his powers came from the mutant gene, meaning humans who obtained superpowers through mutation. But Batman had never heard of such a thing.

After being rejected several times when trying to help Pietro get examined, Bruce Wayne also gave up on the idea of researching Pietro's blood cells, because he still held some wariness against Austin.

This was not only because Austin was currently an ally. If they discovered his intentions, it could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

It was also because these two people's backgrounds were very mysterious. For instance, Bruce Wayne had extracted from Pietro the universe he was born in - a parallel world full of despair.

But Austin's origins were completely unknown. Even Pietro couldn't explain anything about it.

It was as if Pietro was merely a companion Austin brought over from another universe. And this was also why old Batman was wary of Austin.

Austin had not brought anything on this trip, with even the backpack belonging to Bruce originally. So the origins of these rocks were very thought-provoking.

Austin also noticed Bruce Wayne's wariness against him, which was very normal. Batman was extremely distrustful of anyone.

In the comics, because the Justice League members possessed great power, Batman worried they might threaten humanity's safety someday. He even recorded all their weaknesses, except for Green Arrow's, just in case they became hostile and he needed a way to control them.

Austin also noticed Bruce Wayne's wariness against him, which was very normal. Batman was extremely distrustful of anyone.

In the comics, because the Justice League members possessed great power, Batman worried they might threaten humanity's safety someday. He even recorded all their weaknesses, except for Green Arrow's, just in case they became hostile and he needed a way to control them.

Upon this, Austin helplessly sighed. He really didn't expect that the first issue facing cooperation with these "superheroes" would be a crisis of trust.

So Austin folded his arms and said to old Bruce Wayne,

(End of The Chapter)...To be continued.

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