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"There is a newspaper archive room in the basement. Go there and have a look," Connors said, having known all this for a long time.
Batman glanced at him, clearly awkward about this kind of behavior where everything was being arranged for him. But he was a detective at this point, not just a hero, and he took the lead towards the basement entrance Connors was referring to.
The stairs down were narrow and long, and the lights on the stairs seemed to be broken, plunging them into a musty darkness. The air was stale, thick with the smell of decay and old paper. The group walked for nearly a minute before reaching the bottom, where, unexpectedly, there was no so-called underground archive room, but a solid wall.
"After this wall, you can find the answer," Connors said, once again playing the riddler.
"Superman" Clark, whose super-vision had already seen the scene behind the wall, didn't say a word. He simply punched the wall down.
Behind the wall was a small underground space. It opened up into a vast darkness. It wasn't until they walked to the open spot that "Batman" and "Green Lantern" Hal discovered it was a subway station. It had long since been abandoned. Gravel and twisted steel bars were everywhere, and the subway cars were twisted and deformed, with thick layers of rust covering them.
"An earthquake?" Hal subconsciously asked. The headache he'd gotten from using his "electromagnetic scan" earlier made him subconsciously hesitant to use the ability again.
"Not an earthquake. A war," Batman said, his voice low. He was gathering and analyzing the information around him with great speed. He had lost contact with his butler, Alfred, after coming to Seaside City, but this level of analysis didn't require his help.
"Superman" Clark picked up a damp and broken newspaper from the ground. "You're right. See the date here."
The time shown on the date was exactly when "Green Lantern" Hal remembered that the Justice Society had gone on hiatus in his comics.
"You mean… this is the death date of the Justice Society?" Hal was not stupid and quickly understood what the time meant.
"You guys probably didn't see it just now! The Green Guardian just flew in the air and caught the Music Meister…" The Justice Society mascot, "Ray Thompson," was dancing with excitement.
"The Flash" Barry complained, "Are there only those two police officers in your entire city?"
Accompanied by the sound of talking and laughing, the Justice Society members returned to the estate after completely destroying the Injustice Society's plan to steal from the bank. The time-traveling heroes—Connors, Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern—were sitting at the table where the JSA had been.
"You missed the Justice Society performance just now," Barry said, high-fiving the mascot, Thompson, and speaking to Connors and the others.
"Green Lantern" Hal Jordan, however, was not soft-hearted, even if the Justice Society had been his childhood idol. Perhaps it was because they were his childhood idols that he spoke without mercy at this time. "They're not the Justice Society."
Barry was dazed. "Why?"
The mascot, Thompson, had an even more disbelieving expression on his face. "Why do you say that?"
The leader of the Justice Society, Johnny Quick, took a step forward, his face serious. "This charge is serious, young man. Please explain it clearly."
"No, it should be you who needs to explain." Hal wrapped the newspaper in his green light, causing it to float up to Johnny.
"'Justice Society Dies in War,'" Johnny read the words in the newspaper, his voice hesitant.
"It must be fake! A prank! A disgusting joke!" Mascot Thompson, who, like Hal once was, regarded the Justice Society as his idols, was the first to come forward and retort.
"Too bad, this is no joke. The real Johnny Quick, Atom Smasher, Black Siren, Catman, and the Green Guardian… they are all dead. I have seen their graves." There was not a smile on Hal's face.
"The Flash" Barry quietly moved his steps closer to Connors. "Catwoman" Selina and "Black Siren," the two newfound sisters, took a step back at the same time, as if they had no intention of interfering in this matter.
"He's not serious, is he?" "Catman" whispered to himself.
Johnny Quick rubbed his temples. Anyone who was living well would have a headache if others said they were already dead. "I don't know. It sounds incredible, but…"
Ring-ring-ring—
The phone rang out, anachronistically. Johnny Quick hurried over to pick it up. "Hello?"
At the other end of the phone, the officer was hugging his head and huddling under his desk as a giant mechanical monster rocked past his window. "Justice Society, we need assistance! A monster is destroying the main street! You guys have to hurry!"
"We'll be right there, Officer. Don't worry," Johnny Quick comforted in a safe tone. He hung up, and without a word, all the members of the Justice Society headed for the outside of the manor—except "Black Siren." A green barrier blocked their way. "Green Lantern" Hal Jordan's ring was shining.
"Things on our side haven't been resolved yet."
"But Seaside City needs us," Johnny Quick said helplessly.
Batman, who had remained silent until this point, seemed to make a final inference after the phone rang. "You guys haven't gotten it yet? The libraries are all blank books, the ice cream trucks never stop, and this sprawling city has fewer than two hundred people and just two cops."
Connors added, "And whenever someone gets too close to the truth, a danger appears that requires all members of theJustice Society to be dispatched. Child," he looked at Ray, "you really didn't stop me. Very good."
The kid didn't say a word, he just clenched his fists.
Johnny Quick asked, "What truth?"
"Superman" Clark stood up, worried that the words he would say next would be unacceptable to them and that they would make an excessive move. "The truth is that you are in an illusion, or a dream. A living memory of Seaside City's destruction forty years ago, where the Justice Society died for the city."
"Green Lantern" Hal summarized, "That's why in our world, the Justice Society stopped publishing comics." It was a comic that only Hal had seen in his childhood and had long since stopped.
"Whenever someone approaches the truth, there's a sudden obstruction… If what you say is true, then who created this illusion?" Johnny Quick stood still, thinking hard.
"I suggest asking Ray Thompson," the blonde beauty, "Black Siren," said.
"Why?" The rest of the Justice Society was confused. The mascot, Ray Thompson, even retreated. "Why me?"
But he couldn'auto retreat. "Green Lantern" Hal grabbed his shoulder. "Because you are the root of everything." The ability brought by the green light ring, "electromagnetic scanning," was used without reservation, making the lines of Hal's uniform sparkle, and the green light ring became as bright as day.
Ray Thompson fell to the ground. Soon his head swelled and shattered, regrouping and turning into the monster-like appearance of the tumor that Connors had seen in his "Athena's Vision."
"You ruined everything! You ruined it!" The original mascot, the kid brother, had turned into a monster with bulging eyeballs and blood vessels beating on the tumor. He hit "Green Lantern" Hal with an invisible attack, causing Hal to fly out on the spot.
At that moment, the roof of the estate was overturned, and the metal monster that the officer had mentioned on the phone appeared. The members of the Justice Society did not care much and immediately set out to meet the enemy. After gritting her teeth, "Black Siren" followed her comrades in the attack.
"The Flash" Barry immediately wanted to go over and help but was stopped by Batman. "Don't go. That's just an illusion. Thompson is the root."
Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, and The Flash faced Thompson, while Connors moved a chair and sat next to them. "I won't meddle."
"Seaside City had ended once, and I gave it another chance. This is the world I control. No matter whether you interfere or not, the ending will not change," Thompson, who had turned into a monster, said in a ghastly, horrifying voice.
"…But in the end, you just revealed everything," Connors said, slightly speechless.
"Really?" Thompson extended his hand, which had only four fingers, and waved two of them at Batman. The master flew out upside down and was buried in the falling rubble. Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash also took action immediately but were unable to resist the monster Thompson's suspected dual mental and material attacks and fell one after the other.
Connors remained unmoved in his chair, not even intending to save them. Someone else saved them.
Outside the manor, Johnny Quick saw the scene where Batman and the others were defeated one after another and immediately came to help. But the Green Guardian stopped him, looked toward the beautiful Seaside City, and said, "Wait. If what they say is true, defeating Thompson could destroy this reality. And everything in it."
"Including us," "Black Siren" added.
As superheroes, they knew the beauty of life, and that's why they had protected the city. But the price of protection these days might be one's own life. The members of the Justice Society fell silent until "Green Lantern" Hal was caught in the air by the monster Thompson, who held a grudge.
Johnny Quick, as the leader of the Justice Society, no longer hesitated. "If we died once to save this city, then we can die again." After saying that, he rushed out first. Atom Smasher, Catman, Black Siren, and the Green Guardian followed.
Inside the manor, the monster Thompson clenched his fist so hard that "Green Lantern" Hal kept screaming in pain. Thompson gnashed his teeth. "Without you, Seaside City would always be in the good old days! You'd regret ruining it all!"
But immediately afterward, the monster Thompson was punched away by Johnny Quick. All of the Justice Society stood in front of the monster. Atom Smasher stood in front, as the man raised his fists, which shone with lightning.
"In Seaside City, crime comes with a price."
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