Reborn as Batman’s Little Brother

Chapter 53: Memories and A Man Out of Time

A full week had passed since the death of Darkseid.

At this moment, Lucas finally woke up from his deep slumber.

Lucas groaned as he attempted to stand up. He was about to reach his head to massage his forehead when he felt something was holding him down.

Looking down, he saw a familiar crazy girl hugging his arm while drooling on it.

“...Harley?”

At first, Lucas was confused. But then remembered what had happened just before he passed out.

Right...Darkseid is dead.

At the moment of Darkseid’s death, Lucas felt completely exhausted. However, there was another reason why he passed out back then.

At that time, Lucas felt a surge of unknown power filling him up. The power was too great and ultimately made him lose consciousness in the process of absorbing it.

Having remembered that power, Lucas held out his hand and closed it into a fist.

“This power...the Omega Energy?”

Was it because Darkseid is now gone, the Omega Energy had been transferred to him instead? But he already had this before when he was synchronized with Darkseid’s character before…

Suddenly, Lucas remembered something.

Now that Darkseid was dead...is the synchronization still valid!?

“Status!”

[Level: 15 (900/1500)]

[Characters: ]

• Superman (Clark Kent/Kal-El) : 100%
• Wonder Woman (Diana): 100%
• Mera (Y’Mera Xebella Challa): 100%
• Darkseid: 200%
• Blackfire (Komand’r): 100%
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): 90%
• Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz): 50%
• Flash (Barry Allen): 87%
• Raven (Rachel Roth): 100%
• Ares: 100%
• None
• None
• None
• None
• None

“...”

Seeing his status, Lucas was left in shock.

He had actually jumped 5 levels in one go! And more importantly...what the heck does 200% synchronization rate mean!?

“Urg!”

Lucas felt his head throb in pain once again and suddenly, images appeared in his mind.

These are...memories?

Of who?

Lucas’ eyes opened wide as he stared at a certain name in his status.

“Is it...Darkseid’s?”

As he watched the memories in his mind, he fell into deep silence.

After some time, he sighed and slumped back in his bed.

“So that’s why…”

Just now, in Darkseid’s memories, he saw the battle that took place 5 years ago on Earth.

Darkseid had said that he had only sent his avatar back then...and it was true.

5 years ago, when Lucas pushed his avatar out of Earth, Darkseid was actually prepared to personally go and retaliate. However, someone had arrived at his doorsteps.

Lucas recognized this person.

“Anti...Monitor…”

Lucas felt his headache at the thought of this name.

Because of Anti-Monitor arriving back then, the two of them fought and injured one another. As such, Darkseid could only recuperate during this period of time...and he was still in his weakened form when he had fought him just now as well.

Lucas sighed.

“Should I say we got lucky…?”

Lucas scratched his head.

Whether it was the worry of having Darkseid’s memories affect him or the fact that the Anti-Monitor might be out to get them soon...Lucas decided to...

“Ahh, whatever! One thing at a time!”

Procrastinate!

At this moment, the door opened and revealed a beautiful dark-skinned woman with long black hair.

“Ah, you’re finally awake!”

“Komand’r? How long have I been asleep?”

“A week.”

“That long huh…”

Lucas sighed and Blackfire smiled wryly as she sat on the side of the bed. She looked at Harley who was still sleeping and spoke.

“This one has been beside you all the time, you know?”

“...Seriously? She’s been drooling at me for a week!?”

“Hahaha! That’s right!”

“...I need to take a bath!”

Lucas quickly pulled Harley away and tossed her to the bed while standing up.

Even after all that she was still asleep.

“Uuu...cupcake...hehehehe~”

“...”

Lucas’ face twitched.

Blackfire chuckled and led Lucas to the bathroom.

As the two of them share a bath together, Lucas asked.

“Where’re the others?”

“Hm? Oh, there seems to be something going on on your planet so they had to leave immediately. That crazy one stayed behind.”

Hearing that, Lucas frowned.

Something happened? Well, I guess something would indeed happen if the Justice League suddenly went off somewhere...which was why I opted to leave alone in the first place.

“Seriously...can’t I take a break? If something’s happening, I need to go there as well and make sure nothing bad happens.”

“Must you go?”

“What do you mean?”

Blackfire hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

“You are our King...can’t you just stay here?”

“...I can’t. There are still people I need to protect back on my planet.”

“But…”

Lucas smiled.

“Don’t worry. My powers had grown even more now. Even if I can’t teleport here directly, I can fly super fast and be here in a few moments. Also…”

Lucas tapped on Blackfire’s forehead.

‘Since I’ve granted a power to you, you are also my Apostle. As long as you think of me in your heart, you can talk to me.’

‘Like...this?’

Lucas heard Blackfire’s voice in his mind and nodded.

“Yep. I can hear you.”

‘Lucas!’

“Yes, yes. I can hear you.”

‘Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!’

“...”

Lucas froze.

...Maybe it was a mistake to tell her about this…

As if knowing what Lucas was thinking, Blackfire chuckled and stuck out her tongue with a wink.

This damn tease!

Lucas snorted coldly and pushed Blackfire to the corner.

“Ah!”

“Let’s see you tease me now!”

“W-wait! I was wrong! Ahhh!”

For a while, cries and moans could be heard from within the bathroom.

…

Earth.

As Lucas was busy doing something to a certain alien queen, the rest of the Justice League had managed to return to the Watchtower.

Batman quickly left and arrived at the main hall where the Black Canary, Batgirl, Robin, Lena, and a silver figure were waiting.

The silver figure had a humanoid figure but his whole body was covered in a sort of metallic silver material except for his hands and feet which were colored red.

“What’s the situation.”

“That.”

Lena pointed to the screen which displayed the news.

On the news, a certain bald-headed billionaire was being interviewed while smiling. Beside him was another person who had scars on his face and looked quite buff.

Batman frowned when he saw this.

“Lex?”

Batman looked back at Lena who shook her head, signaling that she also don’t know what’s happening.

Turning back on the news, they all listened.

“Everyone. As you all know, criminal activities are on the rise as of late and the Justice League isn't there to handle them. I don’t know where they are right now, but over a week has passed already since then. We can only think of the worst right now...but there’s no time to lose hope! We cannot simply give up! That’s why, along with my partnership with Mr. Savage here, we have created multiple drones capable of fighting crime.”

The screen changed and showed dozens...no, hundreds...thousands of robots flying in the skies.

The scene changed again and showed the robots dealing with the criminals with ease, earning the praise of everyone.

The screen once again returned to Lex and Savage shaking hands.

“Do not fear. In time, everyone will see the Light.”

Lena sighed and turned the news off.

Superman frowned and asked.

“I thought Lex is…”

“Dead?”

Suddenly, another person appeared before them. It was Lex Luthor.

“You bastard! What was all that about!?”

Green Lantern charged forward and grabbed Lex by the collar.

“Gh-! Calm down, Hal! That’s not me!”

“Huh?”

Batman stepped in.

“Hal, put him down. The news earlier was LIVE. So unless he could be in two places at the same time…”

“Eh?”

Green Lantern finally noticed the situation seemed off so he awkwardly put Lex down.

Lex sighed and explained.

“As I was saying. That wasn’t me. As for that thing about me being killed by Lucas...that was all to lure the Injustice League. And now...it seems they had taken the bait.”

Robin spoke up as well.

“When you all were gone, the remaining Leaguers and my team had been busy keeping Earth safe. However, there were simply too many crimes happening at the same time and we couldn’t stop them all.”

“It seems this ‘Lex Luthor’, as well as the Injustice League, became complacent with you guys not appearing...and then this happened.”

Black Canary continued the explanation.

Green Arrow asked.

“Do we know who this other Lex is? Is it a shapeshifter?”

“What else could it be?”

Black Canary rolled her eyes as she answered coldly.

Green Arrow could only chuckle bitterly. As expected, she hated him now…

“Umm...can someone tell me who this guy is first?”

Flash raised his hand awkwardly and pointed at the silver figure that was standing among them for a while now.

The silver figure raised a brow and grinned.

He saluted and answered.

“Captain Nathaniel Cristopher Adam. At your service!”

“...Like I said, WHO!?”

Flash still didn’t understand.

The silver figure just shrugged.

“Don’t ask me. One second I was in the middle of some experiment in 1968. Then I woke up looking like this. I still can’t believe it’s already the year 2020...and we’re in outer space!”

“...”

Flash was ever more confused now.

Batman sighed and explained.

“Captain Adam here was the result of an experiment gone wrong...well, more or less. He was involved in an experiment regarding the testing of an alien ship in the past. To test its durability, they fired a nuclear bomb on it while he was inside.”

“That’s insane!”

“Right. The explosion had decimated the ship along with him to dust...at least, that’s what the reports say. However, an accident occurred and he was somehow fused with the alien metal resulting in his current appearance. The resulting energy from the nuclear blast, coupled with some unknown alien energy of the ship, enabled Captain Adam to leap through time...where he returned in the Ice Age and since then, had been in a cryostasis sleep.”

By now, Flash, and the rest listening had their jaws dropped to the ground.

Captain Adam also scratched his head and was still unable to get his head around the idea of time travel…

At this time, Lex continued the story.

“Batman and I found him a few years back and was shocked to see him still alive. After some further testing, we had theorized that he has the power that can rival that of Superman...maybe even more. As such, we were cautious and didn’t plan to wake him up unless absolutely necessary.”

Batman nodded.

“Since the majority of the Justice League are off-world, I asked Lex to wake him up in case something bad happens to us…”

“Well, good thing nothing bad happened to you guys. Cause I’m still clueless about how to use my powers, much less use it to stop bad guys.”

Captain Adam sighed and looked at his reflection from the windows.

Hawkman turned to Batman and asked.

“So...in the end, can he be trusted?”

“Lex and I had already investigated his background in the past. Though he was branded a criminal in the past, after some investigation, we were able to tell that he had been framed. His records are also clean. As for whether we can trust him or not...that remains to be seen.”

“Wow, I don’t know whether to feel thankful or insulted…”

Captain Adam muttered when he heard Batman speak.

Flash laughed and patted his shoulder.

“You’ll get used to it, new guy. Don’t mind Batman, he’s like that to everyone except his little bro.”

Green Lantern also started to get friendly immediately.

“Hmm, you need a codename now too. How about...Silverman? Silver Surfer? Wait, that’s taken isn’t it?”

“Ohh! How about Mercury. That’s cool, right?”

Flash also joined in and started to suggest some names.

Suddenly, Batman spoke again.

“Stop bothering Captain Atom and focus on the issue at hand.”

“...”

“...”

What the...in the end, Batman already named him!?