"The program is ready, Batman."
Steel from the Main World walked over to Batman. At this moment, Bruce, wearing his silver battle armor, stood on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the current state of Gotham, where the high winds were whipping his cape up high.
Gotham City was filled with smoke and flames, with explosions and skirmishes occurring occasionally, presenting an apocalyptic scene. Faintly, cries and screams could be heard, as some people were taking advantage of the chaos to loot.
They had to allocate some personnel to maintain order, not only in Gotham City but in every city in the United States.
Besides that, they needed to rescue people, take the heroes down from the Tuning Fork, and other cities had Dark Towers where citizens needed rescuing too.
Firefighting, clearing roads, rescuing people trapped under collapsed buildings, minimizing civilian losses, all needed to be done by someone.
For example, the Mars Hunter was long gone. He should have already gone out to save people. Knowing his character, he would probably also rescue animals in zoos, as well as stray cats and dogs on the streets...
In addition, there were follow-up tasks on the battlefield, like keeping the captured villains under control, arranging the corpses of comrades, caring for injured heroes, and repairing the Qiongji to send others home.
More importantly, they needed to elevate the Main World Earth 0 back to its original position and repair the fractures in the Blood Domain.
There were a lot of things to do, and even though there were many superheroes, each task still felt understaffed to him.
With a tug of his cape, Bruce turned around. At present, Barbatos had been imprisoned, and the sinking of the Main World had been interrupted, but having Earth 0 stuck in the Blood Domain was still dangerous.
Looking at Steel's red mechanical eye, Bruce's tone was very calm. After all, the big storms had passed; now it was just some finishing work.
"Then let's proceed according to the original plan. The Otherworldly Deathstroke told me that by using the resonance of X Metal to connect everyone's minds, Earth 0 can return to its original position."
Steel projected several screens in front of him, conducting a quick search.
"But, Bruce, we have no information about him at all, he..."
"Now he and we are in the same boat; this can't be fake, execute the plan." Bruce said calmly, taking out a small bottle from behind him, which contained a drop of X Metal he had requested from Su Ming to awaken Steel.
He hadn't returned it to Su Ming, nor did Su Ming ask for it back.
Smart people often don't need much communication; Su Ming knew what Bruce would do with it, and Bruce didn't have to explain.
Steel had a very poor impression of Deathstroke; he used to roll with the Teen Titans.
Eating, sleeping, fighting Titans—that was Deathstroke's routine.
Though Deathstroke's daughter and son were friends with the Teen Titans, this Otherworldly Deathstroke was not the Deathstroke they knew.
Yet Steel still felt uneasy. He merely had been transformed into a half-human, half-machine; he was not a robot. He too needed to eat and drink, sleep and rest, and of course, he was also susceptible to emotional influence.
His feelings toward Deathstroke were mixed with hatred and fear. Not to mention, once when Deathstroke went after the Teen Titans, he even infiltrated his home and altered his microwave.
Just as he planned to watch a late-night football match, heat up some pizza in the microwave, and drink a bit of soda, he got electrocuted and turned into a big light bulb.
Deathstroke bypassed the fuses in his home with wiring, making him endure a night of intense electrical shock until his entire person was charred.
His internal mechanical parts were 99% destroyed, and the system completely crashed. If not for the Mother Box safeguarding his human part, he would surely have died.
Much less was said of his teammates getting beaten till miserable by Deathstroke each time. Although, for various reasons, Deathstroke didn't kill them, being heavily injured each time was inevitable.
He would cause explosions in the city, drawing Starfire to investigate, only for Deathstroke to ambush midway, hitting her with a special sniper rifle designed for aliens from four kilometers away with tranquilizer bullets.
Starfire's flight speed was only slightly slower than Superman's, yet her defense was quite ordinary. One crash from such a height resulted in severe injuries, keeping her in the hospital for over a month.
Beast Boy chased Deathstroke, who deliberately lured him into turning into a mouse, crawling through a mouse hole, and then immediately captured him with a strong Promethium-made container, preventing him from reverting to his original form, forcing him to be a mouse for several days, starving him to near death by the time he was rescued.
Originally, the Magical Girl Raven restrained Deathstroke relatively well, but then Deathstroke somehow acquired some N Metal to recast his Holy Statue Armor, rendering Raven completely useless, without any magic to wield.
Every one of the Teen Titans gritted their teeth at the mention of Deathstroke, but Deathstroke faced any of them as if dealing with sons, easily. They, as a teenage team, were no match for a Tactical Master.
Especially Nightwing and Damian, because of their relation to Batman, Deathstroke always 'cared' for them specially, ensuring that severe injuries didn't lead to unconsciousness and hospitalizing them rather than letting them heal at home.
Of course, Slade had a black history too. In the comics, each time he would fail at the last moment, sometimes unable to defeat Nightwing for various reasons, but he always managed an escape.
Su Ming is not the Main World's Slade. If the Teen Titans dared to cause trouble, given his current capability and intelligence, he would surely capture them all and demand ransom from Batman.
The strangest part was that Deathstroke repeatedly thrashed Nightwing and Damian, but Batman never retaliated against Slade. If there were no conflicting missions, the two would often meet in harmony.
What kind of father is this? Someone beats your sons into the hospital, and you send them homemade cookies by your own butler?
"Bruce, why would you trust him? You know that mercenaries are not trustworthy."
Steel sighed. Although currently, it was indeed the only solution, being young, he couldn't help but complain a bit.
Bruce walked straight toward the Tuning Fork, maintaining his decision.
"No, Victor, he's the most trustworthy person before settling the bill. If I'm right, he will certainly present a very detailed account, charging by items... After getting paid, he'll probably go on vacation in Hawaii—he loves the sea... Then buy a small plane or yacht, and won't take on any work for about three months."
"God..." Steel tapped the side of his own head, yet he no longer had ears: "My audio device must be broken for you to believe in someone, especially someone like Deathstroke?"
Bruce didn't mind. After all, Steel was technically a friend of the Robins, entirely a big kid, much younger than Barry.
Batman was once young too, and could understand his thoughts. One Deathstroke had already given them a rough time; now another one appeared, making him naturally feel fear.
Actually, Bruce also knew that although Damian and Nightwing suffered when facing Deathstroke, as long as no one paid, their lives were secure.
He regarded Damian and the Robins as his sons. His Wayne Enterprises would need them to take over one day. Each of their future bounty prices would likely be in the billions of U.S. dollars. Deathstroke wouldn't kill a target worth so much in the future.
Not to mention Bruce was getting older, now already in his forties. If the kids couldn't grow up quickly, then who would take over the Batman mantle in the future?
Since Deathstroke was willing to act as a free sparring partner, it was certainly a good thing. If Nightwing and the others needed to grow, they must understand that no one else can be trusted and relied on; they can only depend on themselves.
To be a superhero, especially the next Batman, they must go through these hardships.
The grudges with Deathstroke, especially this Otherworldly Deathstroke, had nothing to do with it, and Bruce distinguished clearly.
Moreover, Steel was wrong about one point: Batman didn't trust anyone; this Otherworldly Deathstroke just had a temporarily lower degree of suspicion.
"Right now, he, Barry, and Diana are not here; they should be chasing the Laughing Bat, and we should just do our jobs."
"Okay, okay, Uncle Bat is always right."
Steel held his head, responding perfunctorily. He still couldn't comprehend Batman; was this the generation gap?