Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 107: Ch.106 Seeking the Way

The Batman Who Laughs played with them for a while, as if none of these matters were of any concern to him. Leading the way, he walked confidently toward Barbatos, humming a cheerful tune.

A few minutes later, he arrived beneath the Cosmic Tuning Fork. Here, Cyborg was restrained upside-down on a surgical table. The Murder Machine immediately resumed his previous work, trying to use mental stimulation to separate the Mother Box from Cyborg's body.

Once they had the Mother Box, he would be able to use Boom Tubes to travel through the universe at will. He would also gain massive computational abilities, which would exponentially increase the Tuning Fork's operational speed, dragging the world into darkness even faster.

The Drowned showed no interest in these technological gadgets. He quietly moved to the side, sitting on a pile of corpses, spitting out a mouthful of dirty water and playing with it in his hands.

The Aquaman of the prime universe had already been defeated by him and was now hanging from the Tuning Fork not far away.

All the ordinary citizens of the city were hung on the Dark Spire. As for the so-called superheroes, since they had stronger wills and could provide more energy, they were directly placed on the Tuning Fork.

Because the Cosmic Tuning Fork resembled a golden tree with countless branches, Su Ming referred to the process of heroes being hung on it as "climbing the tree."

"Laughing Bat, what have you found?"

Barbatos' gaze shifted toward them. Under his enormous black cloak lay darkness; only his glowing purple eyes and gaping mouth were visible as he coiled around the Tuning Fork, channeling dark energy.

"Hee hee hee, my great master, everything is proceeding according to plan. Although we've lost a few useless ones, the world is still in our grasp. Ha ha ha!" The Batman Who Laughs spread his arms wide and politely bowed to Barbatos.

"It better be. I've noticed an increase in the magical forces opposing me. Take some men and resolve this issue. The bugs are hiding in the Dreaming; I've been informed of their location."

Barbatos' voice boomed like thunder, echoing across the high mountain peak. Everyone trapped in their nightmares couldn't help but show expressions of fear.

"Yes, my master. I will offer all worlds to you, ha ha ha."

The Batman Who Laughs turned and descended the mountain, calling the Drowned and the Ravager to him with a wave. Then he whistled, and the well-fed Robins rushed over, offering their chains to him.

"Good, good. Let's go. Now, how shall we play this game... hee hee."

Grabbing the chains, he led them through the newly opened portal.

Meanwhile, Su Ming and his group had crossed the Bering Strait and arrived in Siberia. They were now in an endless, deserted wilderness, surrounded by vast stretches of coniferous forests and tundra, devoid of human life.

Not that there was no wildlife—he had detected traces of bears and rabbits passing through this area in just an instant.

From the animal tracks, he could determine the size and time of the creatures' passage. From the footprints, he could gauge the weight and direction of their movements. From the remnants of chewed grass, he could calculate the wear on their teeth and thus their age.

But this time, they weren't here to hunt.

"Our actions have definitely been noticed by the Dark Knights. It's no longer possible to defeat them individually. We need to activate Plan B: regroup with Batman and Superman, find the X-Metal, and confront the enemy head-on."

Su Ming leaned against a massive pine tree, picking up a pine cone from the ground and tossing it in his hand. This was a Siberian larch, a common tree in this region. Its defining feature was its towering height, much taller and thinner than the typical landscape pines found in China, easily over ten meters high.

Watching Diana and Barry examine Hal's injuries, he calmly laid out his plan to them.

"Hal is severely injured. He needs immediate treatment and time to recover."

Diana gently felt Hal's bones and immediately realized that if this level of injury were on a regular person, they'd be dead. The fact that Hal could still speak coherently was purely due to his immense willpower.

"Too bad we don't know where the Teen Titans are. If we could find Wally, he could heal Hal's injuries quickly."

Barry pulled down his hood, breathing heavily as he looked at Hal, who was lying on the ground, coughing up blood. He knew Hal was completely out of commission.

Even though the Dawnbreaker was critically wounded, they had still lost one member.

"Damian and Nightwing should be running a guerrilla operation with Green Arrow in Gotham's sewers. Raven is probably on Blackhawk Island. The rest of the Teen Titans have all been hung on Barbatos' black-glowing Christmas tree."

Su Ming immediately answered Barry's question. Although the story had already changed due to his interference, and the information he had from the comics might not be accurate anymore, the heroes hung on the Tuning Fork wouldn't just fall off by themselves.

This event was another rough ride for Green Arrow. The Justice League had an unofficial member beyond the seven main heroes, and that was Green Arrow.

In the Post-Crisis era, he was an original member of the Justice League, but in the New 52 era, he became more of a fringe character. This was mainly because, as a regular human, he didn't have a fitting role within the League.

He wasn't as smart as Batman, as powerful as Superman, and he couldn't kill like Wonder Woman. As a mascot, he was less effective than Barry. His situation was quite pitiful.

So, during the New 52, the editors moved Cyborg, who used to play a support role in the Teen Titans, to the Justice League, abandoning Green Arrow. Despite being an older character, he was now forced to play hide-and-seek in Gotham with Damian, Nightwing, and a few other kids.

Sinestro pointed his ring at Hal, enveloping both of them in a yellow glow, lifting them off the ground.

"I'll take him off Earth for treatment. You handle the rest."

"Goodbye, Hal. Get well soon!" Su Ming raised his hand and waved, but his gesture only drew a lifeless gaze from Hal.

Sinestro was efficient. Once he made a decision, he followed through. He soared into the sky with Hal and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Barry rubbed his face and looked at Su Ming and Diana, his expression complicated: "Will Hal be okay? Will Sinestro take him back to Oa? But that's the headquarters of the Green Lanterns. Those little blue aliens hate the Yellow Lanterns."

Su Ming tugged at the hole in his chest armor: "Oa? No chance. Sinestro will never go back there to do something good. He'll probably take Hal to the Anti-Matter Universe, to Qward, the home of the Yellow Lantern Corps."

Now Diana and Barry didn't know what to say. They could only hope Hal had some luck.

But Su Ming knew Sinestro was extremely proud. Hal was one of the few people he respected. Sinestro wanted to see Hal yield to his power and the strength of fear, and he would never allow anyone else to kill Hal.

With Hal now gravely injured, Sinestro would definitely save him.

Although he would undoubtedly mock and try to persuade Hal, it would just be the same old rhetoric about how great the Yellow Lanterns were and how useless the Green Lanterns were. Hal had long since become immune to it.

Su Ming glanced in the direction they had disappeared, adjusted his gear, and took a quick look at the dazed Diana. Indeed, that armor looked better on its original owner. The previous Wonder Man had been quite an eyesore.

"???" Diana was completely confused. Why was Deathstroke looking at her with such a strange expression? And why had Barry been acting so weird recently, as if he couldn't even look at her?

But Su Ming quickly averted his gaze and turned back to Barry: "Take us to Blackhawk Island right away. We're running out of time."

"Uh, aren't we going to save Aquaman?"

Barry noticed a squirrel hopping above their heads, gnawing on something.

"It's too late. He's probably already 'climbed the tree.'"

Su Ming had already reached his conclusion. By the time they reached Coastal City, Hal had almost been taken away. Aquaman, facing the Drowned's army of Dead Water, wouldn't be in a much better situation than Hal, surrounded by nightmares.

Diana brushed her hair back with her hand, crossed her arms, and listened to Su Ming: "So what's on Blackhawk Island? Barry already told me about the N-Metal. It has limited use and can't deal with Barbatos. I can't think of anything else of value there."

"Do you really think what the Blackhawk Squadron showed you was everything? Haven't you learned anything from Bruce?" Su Ming raised his hand and gestured for Barry to start running, intending to explain along the way: "Everyone thinks the Blackhawk Squadron is a heroic team, but do you know who they really serve?"

Seeing that Diana wasn't objecting, Barry hoisted both of them and entered the Speed Force.