"Have you heard about the electronic Batman?" Primary Universe Batman messaged Arkham Batman via Battleworld communications. "He should have appeared in your universe too, right? Has he caused any trouble?"
"Not sure at the moment, I don't have the time to manage." Arkham Batman replied, "I'm busy building the Earth Magical Defense Network. You know, it's quite effortful to keep it hidden from those Asians, so I'm negotiating cooperation with them. Moreover, I can't even find a quiet place in India to build the Temple..."
"Your progress is that fast?" Primary Universe Batman seemed a bit surprised and continued to reply, "It looks like being a president has its perks, at least within the Federation, you don't have to worry."
"That guy indeed caused some trouble." Arkham Batman replied, "But don't forget what we've studied before, the Earth Magical Defense Network can monitor energy fluctuations and electromagnetic waves. Once this thing is built, no electronic life can escape."
"The fear is that he will disrupt the construction." Primary Universe Batman replied, "Before the Magical Defense Network is fully completed, he still has many opportunities to act. Aren't you going to do any preparation?"
"Of course not. I've built a structure in Gotham that completely shields any electromagnetic waves and only has magical energy fluctuations. Currently, it seems he can't invade magical energy and can only access the internet unidirectionally through magic. Barbara Gordon is trying to use the magic network to track his whereabouts, mainly to find his main body. I think it's not in my universe but possibly yours."
Primary Universe Batman did not rush to deny. After dealing with so many Batmen, he also realized that this universe he's in might be special. Both its geographical position and cosmic attributes are unique, as if all universes revolve around it. If that's the case, then that guy might very well use this place as a central base to invade the Multiverse—even if there's no main body, there should be some root server or something.
Unfortunately, the finishing touches on Oa Star are extremely important, especially transferring the energy back safely. Primary Universe Batman can't afford to be distracted by a murder case right now.
Fortunately, Barbara from this universe also caught that guy's tail. To reduce the risk of being discovered, the opponent probably won't be too arrogant lately. Gordon and Penguin Man can still stabilize the situation for now, and if things really don't work out, there's also Dr. Shiller.
Primary Universe Batman thought so and refocused his attention on Oa Star. Soon, Green Lantern brought back good news—Ganthet really was right. The center of this planet houses an engine compressed with vast energy, and these energies are unguarded before the lantern hero, using the same technology as Lantern Furnace and Lantern ring. As long as there are enough Lantern Furnaces, or even enough Lantern rings, the energy can be extracted and brought back.
"Well done, Hal." Primary Universe Batman said, "Green Lantern Headquarters should have quite a few Lantern Furnaces, right? Or any inactive Lantern rings? Bring them all here, we'll extract the energy and store them back. You'll have to make a few trips these days."
"No, it's no trouble." Green Lantern seemed quite excited and said, "You have no idea how much energy there is, my goodness! It's almost enough for the entire Green Lantern Corps to go all out for several months!"
Saying this, he suddenly froze, then pressed his lips tightly, looking somewhat sad. "If... if the fourth squad had a bit more energy back then..."
Primary Universe Batman stepped forward and patted his shoulder, saying: "It's not your fault, Hal. The Guardians of the Universe would rather put so much energy in the planet's center to make weapons than give you more. They must be responsible for all these sacrifices."
Green Lantern took a deep breath, nodded, and then said, "I'm not sure if The Flash can get in. I'll let him accompany me to try it once. If he's there, we'll be faster."
Primary Universe Batman saw him off and then turned back to his office. He needed to contact Darkseid, asking him to delay time as much as possible, until he emptied the energy, and then proceed to the final showdown.
Green Lantern reached the door of The Flash's room and knocked. The door was quickly opened. The Flash, with a mouth full of chips, relaxed upon discovering it was Green Lantern.
"Scared me, I thought Batman was here." He quickly opened the door and said, "Is your injury okay? Sorry, Hal. They were afraid I'd tell you, so they kept it from me, otherwise, I'd definitely have told you about their plan in advance."
"It's alright." Green Lantern smiled at him and said, "Batman has a new task again, we need to go to the center of Oa Star and retrieve the energy those damned Guardians of the Universe detained. Can you take me there?"
"Uhh, sorry, it seems I can't." The Flash shook his head and said, "I can't fly, I have to be grounded. I can traverse the universe by using Divine Speed to run to the nearest Green Lantern Teleportation Gate, go through the gate to continue running, and go through the gate again, eventually reaching the destination. Last time I went to see you, that's what I did. To run into the planet's center without grounding, it probably won't work."
"That complicates things, the energy fluctuations inside are too strong, the Green Lantern Teleportation Gate can't be set up. Purely relying on flying is not only slow but also easily spotted." Green Lantern scratched his head and said.
The Flash's eyes turned and said, "I have another way—we can find another universe's The Flash."
"But isn't Divine Speed the same? If you can't do it, how can he?"
"He might really be able to." The Flash said somewhat sneakily, "All The Flashes know we have one oddball among us, sorry, that word's a bit disrespectful, I should say 'eccentric'. His Divine Speed is extraordinarily... I don't know how to describe it, maybe powerful and dangerous?"
"Wait, is it 'that' universe?"
"Which one are you talking about?"
"The one, 'Busywork Universe'. Uh, wait, that word's also a bit disrespectful... Anyway, it's the universe where the Justice League clocks out at 6:30. It's all over Battleworld."
"You've heard of it too?" The Flash said rather delightedly, "I'm friends with The Flash from that universe, we've helped each other before. Maybe he will be willing to help this time."
"But you have to keep it secret from Batman, he doesn't like people from that universe." Green Lantern hesitated a bit before saying, "Of course, after Superman in our universe tried to imitate Superman from that universe by using laser vision to bake cookies and exploded the base's kitchen, Wonder Woman probably doesn't like them either."
"Don't worry, he's in the Divine Speed. If you don't tell, I won't tell, who would know?" The Flash raised an eyebrow and said, "Wait a moment, I'll message him to come over right now."
Not long after, Green Lantern saw a golden flash and a younger-looking Barry Allen appeared in the room. He was even wearing a uniform, seemingly fresh off the job.
Green Lantern was taken aback upon seeing him, then looked him up and down before finally saying, "That outfit of yours..."
"I'm interning." Barry said, "If you guys weren't in such a hurry, I would have gone home to change."
"Wait, that's the FBI Academy uniform?!" The Flash exclaimed in surprise, "You're working as an agent???"
"Intern agent. And I'm not a field agent, I'm an intern in the Behavioral Science Department."
"Oh my God, the BAU from Criminal Minds?! Who are you, Spencer Reid?!" The Flash immediately started making a fuss.
Barry waved his hand helplessly and said, "You should watch less TV shows. My life isn't that exciting, before you called me over, I was sorting out a report on the vent sizes in Washington State from two months ago..."
"What do vents have to do with behavioral science?" Green Lantern couldn't help but ask.
"Because of a recent case, the culprit escaped through the vents. We need to study the effect of vent size on the culprit's choice of escape route. Currently, it appears that West Coast vents are more likely to be chosen because they're larger, while some East Coast vents are too narrow and outdated, so locals wouldn't choose those escape routes..."
"Sounds really intriguing." The Flash marveled, "It's just like forensic science coming to the same point."
"It's actually a joint investigation with the forensic science department. There are even more important investigative directions, but after all, I'm just an intern—other than interns, who would want to run to fifteen locations a day just to measure vent sizes on the ground?"
"Alright, you'll definitely be the most promising of the Flash team." The Flash gave him a thumbs up and said, "Once you become the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you must treat us to a meal."
Barry shook his head and chuckled, then said, "You said there's a place you can't get into, now let me give it a try."
"Don't you need to tread on solid ground?" Green Lantern asked.
"My Divine Speed is quite special. It's mostly dangerous, getting lost in it might directly shred you. But because its aggressiveness is strong enough, we can perform space cutting—we can slice out a crack here that'll lead straight to our destination."
"Sounds amazing, but how is safety guaranteed?" Green Lantern added, "I'm not doubting your ability, but there's a big energy-filled bomb at the destination, in case it explodes..."
"Then we'll return to the past, cut off that timeline, and start from scratch until we succeed."
"Wait." The Flash reached out his hand to stop and said, "Why does this sound familiar?"
"Not 'Flashpoint'. Or rather, I got my inspiration from the problems you created." Barry said lightly, as if unaware of the terrifying topic, "Your main problem was not cutting off those abandoned timelines in time, which caused mistakes to pile up on the timeline, ultimately triggering paradoxes and changing the future."
"But as long as we operate on a single timeline and cut off and destroy discarded possibilities after each end, and only loop within a very short time, Flashpoint paradoxes won't be triggered, it's completely safe. I've tried it many times."
"Then how do you destroy timelines?"
"Why did you try many times?"
Green Lantern and The Flash's inquiries rang out simultaneously. Though their concerns are obviously different, Barry patiently answered both.
"The dark energy within my Divine Speed can devour timelines. This dark energy comes from the cosmic origin, roughly from Barbados, meaning the discarded timeline gets eaten by Barbados."
"My experiment wasn't to resurrect parents—my parents are living quite well. But precisely because of this, I can't remember how many times I've forgotten to take out meat from the fridge to thaw before they come home. To avoid getting scolded, I can only jump back an hour to take out the meat to thaw, then destroy the timeline where it wasn't thawed. Of course, when Bruce found out, he always asked me to help him revoke moves during card games; and Clark, whenever he couldn't beat his brother during sparring, he'd come to find me..."
Green Lantern and The Flash exchanged glances. The Flash whispered to Green Lantern, "Batman has his reasons for not liking them."
"Yes, and this time I agree with Batman."