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Chapter 282: Countering Myself?
"So, after you went in, you went to that... place that was like some kind of hell?"
A while later, at the HISHE Coffee Shop, Barry looked at him with a strange expression.
"More or less," Orin Vale nodded. "To be precise, it was another dimension, the place where a powerful demon from another dimension resides. But yes, it was pretty much like hell.
"Trigon killed his own mother as an infant, conquered his own planet in less than a year, destroyed that planet at the age of six, and by thirty, he had conquered millions of worlds."
"Hahaha, that's hilarious. For a second there, I thought you were serious," Barry laughed.
Orin Vale stared at him with a deadpan expression.
"Oh, wait... you're serious?" Barry raised his eyebrows.
Although the other members of the Justice League didn't say anything, the looks on their faces were ones of utter disbelief.
What kind of brainless, grimdark power fantasy plot was this?
"So you and that... Trigon... fought?" Superman asked.
"How'd it go? Did you kick his ass?" Green Lantern said excitedly.
"It wasn't that easy. This was more of a probe, really. I was only facing one of the countless fragments Trigon had released, and he was only facing a temporary clone of mine.
"I took out that fragment, but that doesn't mean much. The main takeaway from this trip was that I observed his combat method and collected some data.
"But it also convinced me that we're not ready to face the demon's True Body yet."
"Not even you?" Diana was a little surprised.
"Maybe in the future, but not now."
Barry glanced at Hal. "He's not joking, is he?"
"Who knows." Hal shrugged, crossing his arms. "But when you hear this guy say there's something even he can't handle? It does sound a lot like a joke."
"I'm not invincible, Lantern," Orin Vale said calmly. "I'm not some kind of god. I can do many things, and maybe I'll be able to do more in the future. But even so, there will always be things I can't do."
Superman nodded. "We're all the same. People always think I'm omnipotent, but I'm just a guy trying to help as best I can. We all are."
"This guy called Trigon," Batman, who had been silent, spoke up gruffly. "If even you can't stop him, then if he does come..."
Typical Batman thinking. He had only heard the name Trigon for the first time today, but he was probably already formulating a contingency plan for him in his head.
"Don't worry. I agree we need a contingency plan for this, but it won't be easy for him to come over," Orin Vale said.
"Besides, there's Raven—oh, you know, the young Mage who often comes to the shop, you've all met her. She's Trigon's daughter... alright, it's a bit complicated. I'll put together a document and upload it to the Watchtower database later. You can look through it yourselves if you're interested."
"What's a Watchtower?" Hal asked.
Orin Vale then realized that the Justice League's Watchtower probably hadn't been launched yet. He glanced at Batman, who was also narrowing his eyes at him.
Clearly, the Old Bat already had plans for the Watchtower, but he hadn't told anyone yet. His expression was as if he were questioning how Orin Vale knew about it.
"It's something like a satellite. You'll have to ask him for the details," Orin Vale said, gesturing toward Batman.
Hal crossed his arms and laughed. "Ha, what? Don't tell me you have your own satellite?"
Batman remained expressionless.
"Wait..." Hal's smile gradually faded. "You don't actually have a satellite, do you?"
Batman was still expressionless.
But in the current atmosphere, it was as if he were asking, "What? You mean you don't have a satellite?"
"I..."
Hal, who couldn't even afford his rent, felt his entire worldview shatter as he stared at Batman in utter amazement.
"Just who are you?"
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately waved his hand to stop him. "Wait, don't answer that. I know..."
"I'm Batman," Batman said in a deep voice.
Hal sighed. Barry jabbed him in the kidney with his elbow. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"
"Besides," Superman patted his shoulder and said with a chuckle, "what makes you think he only has *one* satellite?"
Hal: "???"
The former pilot looked at Batman in shock, sizing up his teammate from head to toe.
It was as if he were meeting him for the very first time.
In that moment, he came to a profound realization.
We are not the same.
"All in all, today went pretty smoothly, didn't it?"
Kara said with a laugh, holding Stryker in her arms and petting him.
"We foiled those cultists' plans, kept our undercover identities, and took care of a few demons... Oh, right, we even got a commendation. Okay, I know this is serious and we have to treat it as such, but I can't help but think this is pretty fun... Can someone remind me what the next step was again?"
"'Infiltrate A.R.G.U.S. under the arrangements of the Blood Cultists,'" Batman said flatly. "I don't trust A.R.G.U.S. I've wanted to monitor their operations for a long time. This is an opportunity."
"That won't be necessary," Orin Vale said after a moment of thought.
"To be honest, I'm already in A.R.G.U.S. You might not believe this, but right at this very moment, I'm in a meeting inside A.R.G.U.S. The leadership is commending my brilliant performance in the Battle of Deherein..."
The members of the Justice League: "?"
At the same time he was shooting the breeze with the Justice League in the coffee shop, Orin Vale's High-Speed Afterimage, the legendary Captain, Agent Mike Williams, was sitting upright in an A.R.G.U.S. conference room, accepting a commendation from his superiors with a stern, unsmiling face.
He then had the opportunity to go on stage and give a short acceptance speech. The special agents and other employees in the audience looked at him as if he were a hero.
After a series of inspiring speeches, as a colonel personally pinned a specially-issued emblem onto Agent Mike Williams' chest, he thought he saw a girl from logistics in the audience who was so moved she started crying...
On second thought, it made sense. He and the Justice League had carried the entire Battle of Deherein, while A.R.G.U.S. had basically been taking a beating the whole time. In the later stages, even Amanda Waller had been chased out of the command center by an elite squad dispatched by Steppenwolf, forced to flee.
For such a large organization, throughout the entire battle, the only team that actually had any significant damage output and accomplished something tangible was the one led by Captain Williams. It was good for the organization's morale to put some resources into publicizing and packaging him.
But what Orin Vale hadn't expected was that afterward, the head of A.R.G.U.S., the portly Amanda Waller, would personally summon him.
"You violated orders, but you made the right decision."
Amanda Waller sat behind her desk, her fingers interlaced, and said solemnly.
"You played a crucial role in the battle. You've proven your ability, and that has convinced me that I can entrust you with more."
"I am willing to serve the Organization." Michael stood ramrod straight.
He'd said the same thing to the Blood Cultists.
"Good. As you know, after the Battle of Deherein, those so-called superheroes have gathered together. They're dangerous, and many of them are outsiders. But the public trusts them, and many people now revere them as deities.
"They call themselves the 'Justice League.'
"But power like that needs oversight. We need to ensure we know them inside and out—of course, for now, we must at least maintain a gentle approach on the surface. We need to officially offer to provide the Justice League with all the necessary technological and material support.
"To do that, we'll need a liaison to the Justice League."
Orin Vale understood. In the original work, a similar relationship existed when the Justice League was formed. However, in that version, Wonder Woman only arrived in the human world in modern times, and Steve Trevor, who led her away from the Amazons, was also a modern man and an A.R.G.U.S. agent. Therefore, Steve served as the liaison.
However, in this world, Steve had been a veteran from a century ago and was long since buried. With the change in the timeline, this duty now fell on the shoulders of Agent Mike Williams, the heroic A.R.G.U.S. agent whose reputation was at an all-time high.
Orin Vale was amused. He could tell that this "liaison" role was more than it seemed. He would simultaneously be serving as the undercover agent A.R.G.U.S. was planting inside the Justice League.
An undercover agent again.
He was so many layers deep in undercover identities that he was starting to lose track himself. He'd gone undercover in A.R.G.U.S., then undercover in the Blood Cult, dragged the Justice League to go undercover in the Blood Cult, was sent back undercover into A.R.G.U.S. by the Blood Cult along with the Justice League, and now was being sent undercover into the Justice League by A.R.G.U.S....
Honestly, Orin Vale could never have imagined at the start that things would turn out this way...
Of course, he still had to make a token show of refusal. Orin Vale feigned hesitation. "This is a very important mission, ma'am. I'm not sure if I'm capable..."
"Of course you are. You've proven that ability more than once."
Amanda Waller smiled mysteriously and pushed a folder stamped "Top Secret" across the desk.
"In fact, my expectations for you go beyond that. There is an even more important project, a more critical mission, that I want to give to you."
Orin Vale took the folder, frowning slightly. "This is?"
"As you know, the Justice League is only part of the problem. There is another, more powerful, and to us, far more unknown, entity on this planet that we must guard against. And now, I want you to join this project."
Orin Vale had a faint premonition.
He opened the folder and took out a stack of top-secret archives.
The conspicuous title was printed right on the front cover.
Preliminary Anti-Ultraman Strategy Initiative
Orin Vale: "..."
He had to admit, back when he had casually created an A.R.G.U.S. pseudonym, he had never, ever expected something like this.
Countering myself?
(end of chapter)
"So, after you went in, you went to that... place that was like some kind of hell?"
A while later, at the HISHE Coffee Shop, Barry looked at him with a strange expression.
"More or less," Orin Vale nodded. "To be precise, it was another dimension, the place where a powerful demon from another dimension resides. But yes, it was pretty much like hell.
"Trigon killed his own mother as an infant, conquered his own planet in less than a year, destroyed that planet at the age of six, and by thirty, he had conquered millions of worlds."
"Hahaha, that's hilarious. For a second there, I thought you were serious," Barry laughed.
Orin Vale stared at him with a deadpan expression.
"Oh, wait... you're serious?" Barry raised his eyebrows.
Although the other members of the Justice League didn't say anything, the looks on their faces were ones of utter disbelief.
What kind of brainless, grimdark power fantasy plot was this?
"So you and that... Trigon... fought?" Superman asked.
"How'd it go? Did you kick his ass?" Green Lantern said excitedly.
"It wasn't that easy. This was more of a probe, really. I was only facing one of the countless fragments Trigon had released, and he was only facing a temporary clone of mine.
"I took out that fragment, but that doesn't mean much. The main takeaway from this trip was that I observed his combat method and collected some data.
"But it also convinced me that we're not ready to face the demon's True Body yet."
"Not even you?" Diana was a little surprised.
"Maybe in the future, but not now."
Barry glanced at Hal. "He's not joking, is he?"
"Who knows." Hal shrugged, crossing his arms. "But when you hear this guy say there's something even he can't handle? It does sound a lot like a joke."
"I'm not invincible, Lantern," Orin Vale said calmly. "I'm not some kind of god. I can do many things, and maybe I'll be able to do more in the future. But even so, there will always be things I can't do."
Superman nodded. "We're all the same. People always think I'm omnipotent, but I'm just a guy trying to help as best I can. We all are."
"This guy called Trigon," Batman, who had been silent, spoke up gruffly. "If even you can't stop him, then if he does come..."
Typical Batman thinking. He had only heard the name Trigon for the first time today, but he was probably already formulating a contingency plan for him in his head.
"Don't worry. I agree we need a contingency plan for this, but it won't be easy for him to come over," Orin Vale said.
"Besides, there's Raven—oh, you know, the young Mage who often comes to the shop, you've all met her. She's Trigon's daughter... alright, it's a bit complicated. I'll put together a document and upload it to the Watchtower database later. You can look through it yourselves if you're interested."
"What's a Watchtower?" Hal asked.
Orin Vale then realized that the Justice League's Watchtower probably hadn't been launched yet. He glanced at Batman, who was also narrowing his eyes at him.
Clearly, the Old Bat already had plans for the Watchtower, but he hadn't told anyone yet. His expression was as if he were questioning how Orin Vale knew about it.
"It's something like a satellite. You'll have to ask him for the details," Orin Vale said, gesturing toward Batman.
Hal crossed his arms and laughed. "Ha, what? Don't tell me you have your own satellite?"
Batman remained expressionless.
"Wait..." Hal's smile gradually faded. "You don't actually have a satellite, do you?"
Batman was still expressionless.
But in the current atmosphere, it was as if he were asking, "What? You mean you don't have a satellite?"
"I..."
Hal, who couldn't even afford his rent, felt his entire worldview shatter as he stared at Batman in utter amazement.
"Just who are you?"
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately waved his hand to stop him. "Wait, don't answer that. I know..."
"I'm Batman," Batman said in a deep voice.
Hal sighed. Barry jabbed him in the kidney with his elbow. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"
"Besides," Superman patted his shoulder and said with a chuckle, "what makes you think he only has *one* satellite?"
Hal: "???"
The former pilot looked at Batman in shock, sizing up his teammate from head to toe.
It was as if he were meeting him for the very first time.
In that moment, he came to a profound realization.
We are not the same.
"All in all, today went pretty smoothly, didn't it?"
Kara said with a laugh, holding Stryker in her arms and petting him.
"We foiled those cultists' plans, kept our undercover identities, and took care of a few demons... Oh, right, we even got a commendation. Okay, I know this is serious and we have to treat it as such, but I can't help but think this is pretty fun... Can someone remind me what the next step was again?"
"'Infiltrate A.R.G.U.S. under the arrangements of the Blood Cultists,'" Batman said flatly. "I don't trust A.R.G.U.S. I've wanted to monitor their operations for a long time. This is an opportunity."
"That won't be necessary," Orin Vale said after a moment of thought.
"To be honest, I'm already in A.R.G.U.S. You might not believe this, but right at this very moment, I'm in a meeting inside A.R.G.U.S. The leadership is commending my brilliant performance in the Battle of Deherein..."
The members of the Justice League: "?"
At the same time he was shooting the breeze with the Justice League in the coffee shop, Orin Vale's High-Speed Afterimage, the legendary Captain, Agent Mike Williams, was sitting upright in an A.R.G.U.S. conference room, accepting a commendation from his superiors with a stern, unsmiling face.
He then had the opportunity to go on stage and give a short acceptance speech. The special agents and other employees in the audience looked at him as if he were a hero.
After a series of inspiring speeches, as a colonel personally pinned a specially-issued emblem onto Agent Mike Williams' chest, he thought he saw a girl from logistics in the audience who was so moved she started crying...
On second thought, it made sense. He and the Justice League had carried the entire Battle of Deherein, while A.R.G.U.S. had basically been taking a beating the whole time. In the later stages, even Amanda Waller had been chased out of the command center by an elite squad dispatched by Steppenwolf, forced to flee.
For such a large organization, throughout the entire battle, the only team that actually had any significant damage output and accomplished something tangible was the one led by Captain Williams. It was good for the organization's morale to put some resources into publicizing and packaging him.
But what Orin Vale hadn't expected was that afterward, the head of A.R.G.U.S., the portly Amanda Waller, would personally summon him.
"You violated orders, but you made the right decision."
Amanda Waller sat behind her desk, her fingers interlaced, and said solemnly.
"You played a crucial role in the battle. You've proven your ability, and that has convinced me that I can entrust you with more."
"I am willing to serve the Organization." Michael stood ramrod straight.
He'd said the same thing to the Blood Cultists.
"Good. As you know, after the Battle of Deherein, those so-called superheroes have gathered together. They're dangerous, and many of them are outsiders. But the public trusts them, and many people now revere them as deities.
"They call themselves the 'Justice League.'
"But power like that needs oversight. We need to ensure we know them inside and out—of course, for now, we must at least maintain a gentle approach on the surface. We need to officially offer to provide the Justice League with all the necessary technological and material support.
"To do that, we'll need a liaison to the Justice League."
Orin Vale understood. In the original work, a similar relationship existed when the Justice League was formed. However, in that version, Wonder Woman only arrived in the human world in modern times, and Steve Trevor, who led her away from the Amazons, was also a modern man and an A.R.G.U.S. agent. Therefore, Steve served as the liaison.
However, in this world, Steve had been a veteran from a century ago and was long since buried. With the change in the timeline, this duty now fell on the shoulders of Agent Mike Williams, the heroic A.R.G.U.S. agent whose reputation was at an all-time high.
Orin Vale was amused. He could tell that this "liaison" role was more than it seemed. He would simultaneously be serving as the undercover agent A.R.G.U.S. was planting inside the Justice League.
An undercover agent again.
He was so many layers deep in undercover identities that he was starting to lose track himself. He'd gone undercover in A.R.G.U.S., then undercover in the Blood Cult, dragged the Justice League to go undercover in the Blood Cult, was sent back undercover into A.R.G.U.S. by the Blood Cult along with the Justice League, and now was being sent undercover into the Justice League by A.R.G.U.S....
Honestly, Orin Vale could never have imagined at the start that things would turn out this way...
Of course, he still had to make a token show of refusal. Orin Vale feigned hesitation. "This is a very important mission, ma'am. I'm not sure if I'm capable..."
"Of course you are. You've proven that ability more than once."
Amanda Waller smiled mysteriously and pushed a folder stamped "Top Secret" across the desk.
"In fact, my expectations for you go beyond that. There is an even more important project, a more critical mission, that I want to give to you."
Orin Vale took the folder, frowning slightly. "This is?"
"As you know, the Justice League is only part of the problem. There is another, more powerful, and to us, far more unknown, entity on this planet that we must guard against. And now, I want you to join this project."
Orin Vale had a faint premonition.
He opened the folder and took out a stack of top-secret archives.
The conspicuous title was printed right on the front cover.
Preliminary Anti-Ultraman Strategy Initiative
Orin Vale: "..."
He had to admit, back when he had casually created an A.R.G.U.S. pseudonym, he had never, ever expected something like this.
Countering myself?
(end of chapter)
