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Chapter 226: No Looking Back
"So, that's it?"
Kara followed behind Orin Vale like a curious child, pestering him to recount the story of what happened on Mars.
"They just obediently went back and promised never to return?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Orin Vale glanced at Kara's expression, which seemed to find it all a bit hard to believe, and shrugged. "It wasn't that much trouble. They were quite reasonable. Besides, I'm sure that even if they were given the chance, they wouldn't want to come back to the Solar System."
Kara imagined the dumbfounded expressions on the aliens' faces after witnessing Orin Vale's earth-shattering, unscientific combat prowess. They must have been scrambling over each other to escape the Solar System, not even looking back if their own fathers were left behind.
If it were her, she would probably be left with psychological trauma too, and would never come back, not even if it killed her.
As expected, being the one with the bigger fist was a good thing. As they say, caliber is justice. When you point a cannon at the head of the opposing representative during negotiations, anyone will become reasonable.
"Ha, that's great, problem solved." Maxima seized the opportunity to happily approach Orin Vale. "Why don't we celebrate tonight? Just the two of us—"
Orin Vale nonchalantly sidestepped, deftly dodging her lunge. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Eh?" Maxima tilted her head, feigning deep thought, but her expression only grew more bewildered, as if she truly couldn't recall anything.
Orin Vale reminded her, "The Manhunters are dealt with, and their alliance has collapsed, but those were all my problems. Your planet is still in the middle of a coup d'état. Your throne has been usurped, and you don't even know what's happened to your father. Are you sure you're not going back to check?"
Maxima's mouth fell open, and she stood stunned for two seconds.
Then she slapped her forehead.
"I... I completely forgot..."
Orin Vale and Kara: "..."
How could you forget something like that?
He recalled how in *Superman: The Animated Series*, Maxima, already a Queen, was overthrown. The charge the usurper leveled against her was that her head was so full of men she completely ignored her own government and people. Looking at it now, that accusation wasn't entirely baseless...
And so, reluctantly, Maxima finally had to leave.
"Oh, right, take this." Orin Vale suddenly called out just before she departed.
Maxima's eyes lit up, and she turned back in pleasant surprise. "You really shouldn't have, being so formal. There's no need for gifts... what's this?"
She took the piece of paper Orin Vale handed her, her face blank.
Opening it, she saw a list of clearly itemized charges: accommodation fees, food expenses, the broken wall, the smashed controller...
Maxima: "..."
Maxima left.
Given how capable she was in a fight, she likely wouldn't be at a disadvantage upon her return. The Princess was to Almerac what Superman was to Earth; the entire Royal Guard combined couldn't beat her. As for whether she could reclaim the throne, that was another matter. After all, she was only good at fighting.
But in any case, that was now an internal affair of their civilization. According to the conventions of the Land of Light, it no longer had anything to do with Orin Vale.
Besides, he had other problems to deal with now.
From what the Penguin revealed last time, it seemed Intergang was about to make a move in Gotham. Moreover, through the mole he had previously planted within A.R.G.U.S., Orin Vale noticed that the organization had also deployed personnel to Gotham. He didn't know if the two were connected.
But it made sense when he thought about it. High-tech weapons from outer space were appearing flagrantly in the hands of street criminals. Although A.R.G.U.S. was rather incompetent, it was still an organization for defense against aliens, which, to round it off, made them the equivalent of the Earth Defense Force in the Ultraman Universe.
The current situation was akin to an alien streaking naked down the main street at three in the morning. If they were blind enough to miss even this, then A.R.G.U.S. might as well just dig a hole and bury itself.
Once upon a time, the Showa Earth Defense Force could destroy planets with missiles and take on god-like beings with firecrackers, even producing the arrogant, iconic moment of thinking, "These bumpkins from space definitely don't know we're on Earth." In comparison, the Defense Force Orin Vale ended up with here was practically made of paper. Their external combat record was zero-to-five, and they were only good at annoying the Justice League.
So, the Justice League in the comics constantly had to fight all sorts of powerful beings out in space, only to come home and deal with idiot teammates. Compared to A.R.G.U.S., even Marvel's Snake S.H.I.E.L.D. looked like a model teammate.
That night, Commissioner Gordon brought some new intelligence.
"There's a new move from Metropolis's Intergang."
Gordon used the Bat-Signal as a medium to perform his ultimate skill, the Great Summoning Technique, to call "Batman" over, getting straight to the point.
"A report from Detective Montoya earlier confirmed the discovery of a secret Intergang ferry in Gotham Harbor. A lot of people have come to Gotham. We've already contacted the Metropolis Police Department to verify their identities, and among them are several senior members of Intergang."
"The Penguin has already cut ties with Intergang," Orin Vale said in his deep Batman voice. "The intelligence is likely credible."
"But it looks like Intergang hasn't given up on their operation in Gotham," Gordon said, lighting a cigarette. "It seems whatever they want in Gotham, they haven't gotten it yet. And they're very determined.
However, we've found their suspected stronghold in Gotham. If you're interested, you could check it out. You might find something."
Orin Vale flipped through a couple of pages of the documents when he suddenly noticed the portly Detective Harvey Bullock occasionally glancing over at him.
One moment, his head was turned away as if looking elsewhere; the next, it would suddenly snap back, so fast it looked like he might fling his own head off.
Seeing that Batman was still there, he would pretend nothing had happened and turn away again, only to whip his head back with a *swish* a few seconds later.
Orin Vale: "..."
What was this? Red Light, Green Light?
Was he determined to see how Batman managed to vanish into thin air every time?
Orin Vale figured he couldn't let the man's expectations go to waste.
And so, the moment Harvey turned his head away one more time.
An electric current flared around "Batman's" body, and a burst of electric arc erupted.
Like a whirlwind piercing through space, the Dark Knight transformed into a blurry afterimage and swept off the rooftop.
This time, Harvey had turned away for less than a second before he abruptly looked back again. The portly detective's eyes went wide with shock as he saw that the spot where Batman had been standing just an instant ago was now empty.
He rubbed his eyes, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Th-this... how is this possible?"
He ran forward, looking left and right, confirming the fact that the man had vanished from the rooftop in less than a second.
Then he turned his head, looking at Gordon in shock. "Did you see that?"
Gordon was looking down, concentrating on the case files. He looked up at the question. "Hm? What's wrong?"
"He's gone, just like that, in a flash!" Harvey gestured with his thick fingers. "I just looked away for a second, really, just one second, and he was suddenly gone!"
"Oh."
Gordon's expression seemed to say, "What's so strange about that?" before he lowered his head and went back to his case files.
"But that's impossible! How did he do that?" Harvey persisted.
Gordon thought for a moment.
"Probably... because he's Batman."
Harvey: "..."
(end of chapter)
"So, that's it?"
Kara followed behind Orin Vale like a curious child, pestering him to recount the story of what happened on Mars.
"They just obediently went back and promised never to return?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Orin Vale glanced at Kara's expression, which seemed to find it all a bit hard to believe, and shrugged. "It wasn't that much trouble. They were quite reasonable. Besides, I'm sure that even if they were given the chance, they wouldn't want to come back to the Solar System."
Kara imagined the dumbfounded expressions on the aliens' faces after witnessing Orin Vale's earth-shattering, unscientific combat prowess. They must have been scrambling over each other to escape the Solar System, not even looking back if their own fathers were left behind.
If it were her, she would probably be left with psychological trauma too, and would never come back, not even if it killed her.
As expected, being the one with the bigger fist was a good thing. As they say, caliber is justice. When you point a cannon at the head of the opposing representative during negotiations, anyone will become reasonable.
"Ha, that's great, problem solved." Maxima seized the opportunity to happily approach Orin Vale. "Why don't we celebrate tonight? Just the two of us—"
Orin Vale nonchalantly sidestepped, deftly dodging her lunge. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Eh?" Maxima tilted her head, feigning deep thought, but her expression only grew more bewildered, as if she truly couldn't recall anything.
Orin Vale reminded her, "The Manhunters are dealt with, and their alliance has collapsed, but those were all my problems. Your planet is still in the middle of a coup d'état. Your throne has been usurped, and you don't even know what's happened to your father. Are you sure you're not going back to check?"
Maxima's mouth fell open, and she stood stunned for two seconds.
Then she slapped her forehead.
"I... I completely forgot..."
Orin Vale and Kara: "..."
How could you forget something like that?
He recalled how in *Superman: The Animated Series*, Maxima, already a Queen, was overthrown. The charge the usurper leveled against her was that her head was so full of men she completely ignored her own government and people. Looking at it now, that accusation wasn't entirely baseless...
And so, reluctantly, Maxima finally had to leave.
"Oh, right, take this." Orin Vale suddenly called out just before she departed.
Maxima's eyes lit up, and she turned back in pleasant surprise. "You really shouldn't have, being so formal. There's no need for gifts... what's this?"
She took the piece of paper Orin Vale handed her, her face blank.
Opening it, she saw a list of clearly itemized charges: accommodation fees, food expenses, the broken wall, the smashed controller...
Maxima: "..."
Maxima left.
Given how capable she was in a fight, she likely wouldn't be at a disadvantage upon her return. The Princess was to Almerac what Superman was to Earth; the entire Royal Guard combined couldn't beat her. As for whether she could reclaim the throne, that was another matter. After all, she was only good at fighting.
But in any case, that was now an internal affair of their civilization. According to the conventions of the Land of Light, it no longer had anything to do with Orin Vale.
Besides, he had other problems to deal with now.
From what the Penguin revealed last time, it seemed Intergang was about to make a move in Gotham. Moreover, through the mole he had previously planted within A.R.G.U.S., Orin Vale noticed that the organization had also deployed personnel to Gotham. He didn't know if the two were connected.
But it made sense when he thought about it. High-tech weapons from outer space were appearing flagrantly in the hands of street criminals. Although A.R.G.U.S. was rather incompetent, it was still an organization for defense against aliens, which, to round it off, made them the equivalent of the Earth Defense Force in the Ultraman Universe.
The current situation was akin to an alien streaking naked down the main street at three in the morning. If they were blind enough to miss even this, then A.R.G.U.S. might as well just dig a hole and bury itself.
Once upon a time, the Showa Earth Defense Force could destroy planets with missiles and take on god-like beings with firecrackers, even producing the arrogant, iconic moment of thinking, "These bumpkins from space definitely don't know we're on Earth." In comparison, the Defense Force Orin Vale ended up with here was practically made of paper. Their external combat record was zero-to-five, and they were only good at annoying the Justice League.
So, the Justice League in the comics constantly had to fight all sorts of powerful beings out in space, only to come home and deal with idiot teammates. Compared to A.R.G.U.S., even Marvel's Snake S.H.I.E.L.D. looked like a model teammate.
That night, Commissioner Gordon brought some new intelligence.
"There's a new move from Metropolis's Intergang."
Gordon used the Bat-Signal as a medium to perform his ultimate skill, the Great Summoning Technique, to call "Batman" over, getting straight to the point.
"A report from Detective Montoya earlier confirmed the discovery of a secret Intergang ferry in Gotham Harbor. A lot of people have come to Gotham. We've already contacted the Metropolis Police Department to verify their identities, and among them are several senior members of Intergang."
"The Penguin has already cut ties with Intergang," Orin Vale said in his deep Batman voice. "The intelligence is likely credible."
"But it looks like Intergang hasn't given up on their operation in Gotham," Gordon said, lighting a cigarette. "It seems whatever they want in Gotham, they haven't gotten it yet. And they're very determined.
However, we've found their suspected stronghold in Gotham. If you're interested, you could check it out. You might find something."
Orin Vale flipped through a couple of pages of the documents when he suddenly noticed the portly Detective Harvey Bullock occasionally glancing over at him.
One moment, his head was turned away as if looking elsewhere; the next, it would suddenly snap back, so fast it looked like he might fling his own head off.
Seeing that Batman was still there, he would pretend nothing had happened and turn away again, only to whip his head back with a *swish* a few seconds later.
Orin Vale: "..."
What was this? Red Light, Green Light?
Was he determined to see how Batman managed to vanish into thin air every time?
Orin Vale figured he couldn't let the man's expectations go to waste.
And so, the moment Harvey turned his head away one more time.
An electric current flared around "Batman's" body, and a burst of electric arc erupted.
Like a whirlwind piercing through space, the Dark Knight transformed into a blurry afterimage and swept off the rooftop.
This time, Harvey had turned away for less than a second before he abruptly looked back again. The portly detective's eyes went wide with shock as he saw that the spot where Batman had been standing just an instant ago was now empty.
He rubbed his eyes, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Th-this... how is this possible?"
He ran forward, looking left and right, confirming the fact that the man had vanished from the rooftop in less than a second.
Then he turned his head, looking at Gordon in shock. "Did you see that?"
Gordon was looking down, concentrating on the case files. He looked up at the question. "Hm? What's wrong?"
"He's gone, just like that, in a flash!" Harvey gestured with his thick fingers. "I just looked away for a second, really, just one second, and he was suddenly gone!"
"Oh."
Gordon's expression seemed to say, "What's so strange about that?" before he lowered his head and went back to his case files.
"But that's impossible! How did he do that?" Harvey persisted.
Gordon thought for a moment.
"Probably... because he's Batman."
Harvey: "..."
(end of chapter)
