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Chapter 303: The Young Master is Strange
"Initiating identity verification."
"...Identification authenticated. Identity: Kara Zor-El. Codename: Supergirl. Welcome to Laboratory B-01."
The automatic door to Brainiac's second warship slid open, and Kara floated in, her feet lightly leaving the ground as her red cape fluttered behind her. She looked around curiously, her eyes constantly shifting between the thick wall panels that blocked her X-ray Vision.
After passing through another scan, Kara flew gracefully into the deepest part of the room, unable to resist saying, "Another huge warship. What does Orin Vale need so many warships for? Is he trying to start a universal arms dealership or something?! What the heck!"
Just as she said this, Kara involuntarily swallowed the rest of her words. Her entire body froze stiffly, and the end of her sentence came out completely different—
"What the heck!"
Her pupils contracted, her beautiful eyes clearly reflecting the sight in the room that would make one's SAN value plummet.
It was a super-prison that seemed to exist in some kind of folded space, its visual appearance twisted, seemingly involving some kind of spatial dimension technology.
And imprisoned within that bizarre prison, looking as if it had been reduced into some kind of planar structure, was none other than the massive, twisted entity of Fear. However, the terrifying body, which roiled like a smoke of burning golden flames, now looked as if it had been stretched and deformed. One eye was large and the other small, making it look somewhat like a comedic character.
Parallax.
Kara stared at the enormous creature, stunned for several seconds, before looking at Orin Vale with a strange expression.
"His pets are getting weirder and weirder," she muttered to herself.
Hearing this, Parallax's hackles were instantly raised. Its form in the flattened prison began to contort again, and it mumbled indistinctly, "You brat, who are you calling weird-looking!?
"Ah, no, before that—who are you calling a pet? I am the Incarnation of Fear! Once I recover my strength and break free from this cage, all of you will see... you will see..."
Parallax suddenly stopped mid-sentence, its abstract-art-like face stretching out in an instant.
Then, its tone abruptly changed: "...see that I can better devote myself to my mission and become part of a greater puzzle!"
Kara: "?"
Just a second ago, she thought it was about to deliver some classic villainous, arrogant declaration. She never expected it to change its tune halfway through the sentence and suddenly swear allegiance. That was something else.
Then, when she looked up and caught sight of Orin Vale floating down from mid-air, she instantly understood.
Oh, Mr. Orin is here.
"What brings you here?" Orin Vale asked as he flew down.
"Not really. We just had a meeting at the Watchtower next door, and I heard you got a new spaceship, so I came to take a look... By the way, this thing is so ugly. Where did you get something like this?" she asked, looking at Parallax curiously.
Parallax mumbled something, as if cursing, when it heard her call it ugly. But when their gazes turned to it, Parallax shuddered and immediately changed its tune. "You have a point. It is a bit ugly. I was already considering a makeover..."
Orin Vale was so amused he couldn't help but laugh.
*What, you want to get plastic surgery? Why does a Lantern entity need to look so good?*
*Is Parallax going to debut as an idol to save the Yellow Lantern Spectrum?*
Orin Vale casually pressed a switch. The prison cell was immediately sealed, and Parallax's image vanished behind a black barrier.
"Is this something like dimension technology? Some kind of low-dimensional prison?"
Having been exposed to his scientific environment for so long, Kara was developing a new curiosity for technology.
Orin Vale was very pleased with her exploratory spirit. "What do you think it's like?"
"I can't say for sure. It kind of reminds me of the Phantom Zone?"
The Phantom Zone was a domain discovered by Superman's father and the technological basis for Krypton's most advanced prison. Kara's spaceship had been stranded there before it came to Earth.
She had once seen a Phantom Zone projector. People hit directly by that device did indeed look as if they had been reduced to two dimensions, trapped within a flat plane.
"Clever. You're close, but that's not the answer," Orin Vale smiled. "I'm borrowing the principle of the Phantom Zone projector to develop a technique similar to Dimensional Reduction, suitable for sealing some dangerous individuals. Parallax is just assisting me with the initial debugging..."
"Assisting," Kara said with a half-smile. "I'm guessing it's not exactly voluntary, right?"
Orin Vale thought for a moment. "It's hard to say... it's been quite cooperative."
Parallax: *Are you sure about that? Do I have a fucking choice BUT to cooperate?*
"But your meeting ended pretty quickly today," Orin Vale said. "No 'Batman moment'?"
"Ah, that's what I wanted to tell you... It's strange. The three of them were all absent," Kara said.
"Who?"
"Kal, Diana, and Batman. All three of them bailed." Kara thought for a moment. "Actually, The Flash wasn't there today either, but he requested leave in advance, saying he was busy fighting some bad guy called Captain Cold.
"Green Lantern wasn't there either. He said yesterday that he was going to Oa and wouldn't be back for two days... It's just strange that the three of them were absent together without requesting leave or giving a reason..."
Orin Vale frowned slightly.
It wasn't a huge deal. The nature of the Justice League's work meant that accidents were always bound to happen. It wouldn't be surprising for any member to lose contact at any time. Usually, they would be back online in three to five days, having perhaps resolved some potential crisis in a place unknown to anyone else.
But for the Trinity to go missing together...
It inexplicably had the feel of a world-ending crisis.
"Orin Vale? What's wrong?" Kara asked carefully.
She felt that Orin Vale's expression was a little off.
"No, it's nothing... Hold on, I need to take this call."
A call happened to come in right at that moment. Surprisingly, it was Alfred.
"What is it? Did the Bat run away from home again?" Orin Vale answered the call.
When Batman was in Deherein, Orin Vale had done a bit of role-playing, giving the criminals of Gotham a little Bat-shock and adding a touch of mythical color to Batman's urban legend.
Afterward, he had also given Alfred his new contact information. He could even see The Butler Knight's daily social media updates now.
"Not this time, the Young Master is still here..."
Alfred's face appeared on the projection in front of him, but the old man looked very tired and somewhat hesitant.
"Perhaps I'm just overthinking things, but as you know, anyone who works with the Young Master for a long time is prone to overthinking..."
"What have you noticed that's abnormal?" Orin Vale asked.
"No, quite the opposite. My Young Master has become too normal," Alfred said gravely. "Almost like a normal person."
Orin Vale: "?"
*Is that any way to talk about your own young master?*
But he wasn't wrong. After all, everyone knew Batman wasn't mentally sound...
"This is going to sound strange, but he actually went to work yesterday!" Alfred said with a bizarre expression.
Orin Vale pondered for a moment.
*Isn't it possible that normal people are supposed to go to work every day...*
"Alright, I understand what you mean," Orin Vale nodded. "But even for... him, going to work occasionally isn't that strange, is it?"
"Perhaps. But there's something even stranger. Bruce Wayne was invited to a banquet last night. Normally, he would be absent, but this time, he actually went." Alfred's expression was peculiar. "And he brought a beautiful lady back for the night."
"What's so strange about that?" Kara poked her little head out from behind him. "I stay over at Mr. Orin's place every night, don't I?"
"Uh... that's different. Go on, shoo."
"Fine, shoo me away. As if that'll stop me from listening in." Kara puffed out her chest proudly. "Super Hearing, remember?"
Orin Vale ignored her.
He continued speaking to Alfred, "I think I understand what you're worried about. But this shouldn't be a situation worthy of sounding an alarm, right? I mean, while we all know Bruce Wayne is just a mask for him, he needs to maintain his disguise, doesn't he?
"To the outside world, he's just a rich playboy. Sometimes he deliberately plays this role for others to see..."
"That's what I was about to say, and it's my biggest concern at the moment."
Alfred lowered his voice. On the screen, the old man glanced left and right, as if confirming no one was around, before leaning closer to the camera and speaking solemnly.
"I suspect that the Young Master... may not remember that he's Batman."
Orin Vale: "?"
Kara: "?"
(end of chapter)
"Initiating identity verification."
"...Identification authenticated. Identity: Kara Zor-El. Codename: Supergirl. Welcome to Laboratory B-01."
The automatic door to Brainiac's second warship slid open, and Kara floated in, her feet lightly leaving the ground as her red cape fluttered behind her. She looked around curiously, her eyes constantly shifting between the thick wall panels that blocked her X-ray Vision.
After passing through another scan, Kara flew gracefully into the deepest part of the room, unable to resist saying, "Another huge warship. What does Orin Vale need so many warships for? Is he trying to start a universal arms dealership or something?! What the heck!"
Just as she said this, Kara involuntarily swallowed the rest of her words. Her entire body froze stiffly, and the end of her sentence came out completely different—
"What the heck!"
Her pupils contracted, her beautiful eyes clearly reflecting the sight in the room that would make one's SAN value plummet.
It was a super-prison that seemed to exist in some kind of folded space, its visual appearance twisted, seemingly involving some kind of spatial dimension technology.
And imprisoned within that bizarre prison, looking as if it had been reduced into some kind of planar structure, was none other than the massive, twisted entity of Fear. However, the terrifying body, which roiled like a smoke of burning golden flames, now looked as if it had been stretched and deformed. One eye was large and the other small, making it look somewhat like a comedic character.
Parallax.
Kara stared at the enormous creature, stunned for several seconds, before looking at Orin Vale with a strange expression.
"His pets are getting weirder and weirder," she muttered to herself.
Hearing this, Parallax's hackles were instantly raised. Its form in the flattened prison began to contort again, and it mumbled indistinctly, "You brat, who are you calling weird-looking!?
"Ah, no, before that—who are you calling a pet? I am the Incarnation of Fear! Once I recover my strength and break free from this cage, all of you will see... you will see..."
Parallax suddenly stopped mid-sentence, its abstract-art-like face stretching out in an instant.
Then, its tone abruptly changed: "...see that I can better devote myself to my mission and become part of a greater puzzle!"
Kara: "?"
Just a second ago, she thought it was about to deliver some classic villainous, arrogant declaration. She never expected it to change its tune halfway through the sentence and suddenly swear allegiance. That was something else.
Then, when she looked up and caught sight of Orin Vale floating down from mid-air, she instantly understood.
Oh, Mr. Orin is here.
"What brings you here?" Orin Vale asked as he flew down.
"Not really. We just had a meeting at the Watchtower next door, and I heard you got a new spaceship, so I came to take a look... By the way, this thing is so ugly. Where did you get something like this?" she asked, looking at Parallax curiously.
Parallax mumbled something, as if cursing, when it heard her call it ugly. But when their gazes turned to it, Parallax shuddered and immediately changed its tune. "You have a point. It is a bit ugly. I was already considering a makeover..."
Orin Vale was so amused he couldn't help but laugh.
*What, you want to get plastic surgery? Why does a Lantern entity need to look so good?*
*Is Parallax going to debut as an idol to save the Yellow Lantern Spectrum?*
Orin Vale casually pressed a switch. The prison cell was immediately sealed, and Parallax's image vanished behind a black barrier.
"Is this something like dimension technology? Some kind of low-dimensional prison?"
Having been exposed to his scientific environment for so long, Kara was developing a new curiosity for technology.
Orin Vale was very pleased with her exploratory spirit. "What do you think it's like?"
"I can't say for sure. It kind of reminds me of the Phantom Zone?"
The Phantom Zone was a domain discovered by Superman's father and the technological basis for Krypton's most advanced prison. Kara's spaceship had been stranded there before it came to Earth.
She had once seen a Phantom Zone projector. People hit directly by that device did indeed look as if they had been reduced to two dimensions, trapped within a flat plane.
"Clever. You're close, but that's not the answer," Orin Vale smiled. "I'm borrowing the principle of the Phantom Zone projector to develop a technique similar to Dimensional Reduction, suitable for sealing some dangerous individuals. Parallax is just assisting me with the initial debugging..."
"Assisting," Kara said with a half-smile. "I'm guessing it's not exactly voluntary, right?"
Orin Vale thought for a moment. "It's hard to say... it's been quite cooperative."
Parallax: *Are you sure about that? Do I have a fucking choice BUT to cooperate?*
"But your meeting ended pretty quickly today," Orin Vale said. "No 'Batman moment'?"
"Ah, that's what I wanted to tell you... It's strange. The three of them were all absent," Kara said.
"Who?"
"Kal, Diana, and Batman. All three of them bailed." Kara thought for a moment. "Actually, The Flash wasn't there today either, but he requested leave in advance, saying he was busy fighting some bad guy called Captain Cold.
"Green Lantern wasn't there either. He said yesterday that he was going to Oa and wouldn't be back for two days... It's just strange that the three of them were absent together without requesting leave or giving a reason..."
Orin Vale frowned slightly.
It wasn't a huge deal. The nature of the Justice League's work meant that accidents were always bound to happen. It wouldn't be surprising for any member to lose contact at any time. Usually, they would be back online in three to five days, having perhaps resolved some potential crisis in a place unknown to anyone else.
But for the Trinity to go missing together...
It inexplicably had the feel of a world-ending crisis.
"Orin Vale? What's wrong?" Kara asked carefully.
She felt that Orin Vale's expression was a little off.
"No, it's nothing... Hold on, I need to take this call."
A call happened to come in right at that moment. Surprisingly, it was Alfred.
"What is it? Did the Bat run away from home again?" Orin Vale answered the call.
When Batman was in Deherein, Orin Vale had done a bit of role-playing, giving the criminals of Gotham a little Bat-shock and adding a touch of mythical color to Batman's urban legend.
Afterward, he had also given Alfred his new contact information. He could even see The Butler Knight's daily social media updates now.
"Not this time, the Young Master is still here..."
Alfred's face appeared on the projection in front of him, but the old man looked very tired and somewhat hesitant.
"Perhaps I'm just overthinking things, but as you know, anyone who works with the Young Master for a long time is prone to overthinking..."
"What have you noticed that's abnormal?" Orin Vale asked.
"No, quite the opposite. My Young Master has become too normal," Alfred said gravely. "Almost like a normal person."
Orin Vale: "?"
*Is that any way to talk about your own young master?*
But he wasn't wrong. After all, everyone knew Batman wasn't mentally sound...
"This is going to sound strange, but he actually went to work yesterday!" Alfred said with a bizarre expression.
Orin Vale pondered for a moment.
*Isn't it possible that normal people are supposed to go to work every day...*
"Alright, I understand what you mean," Orin Vale nodded. "But even for... him, going to work occasionally isn't that strange, is it?"
"Perhaps. But there's something even stranger. Bruce Wayne was invited to a banquet last night. Normally, he would be absent, but this time, he actually went." Alfred's expression was peculiar. "And he brought a beautiful lady back for the night."
"What's so strange about that?" Kara poked her little head out from behind him. "I stay over at Mr. Orin's place every night, don't I?"
"Uh... that's different. Go on, shoo."
"Fine, shoo me away. As if that'll stop me from listening in." Kara puffed out her chest proudly. "Super Hearing, remember?"
Orin Vale ignored her.
He continued speaking to Alfred, "I think I understand what you're worried about. But this shouldn't be a situation worthy of sounding an alarm, right? I mean, while we all know Bruce Wayne is just a mask for him, he needs to maintain his disguise, doesn't he?
"To the outside world, he's just a rich playboy. Sometimes he deliberately plays this role for others to see..."
"That's what I was about to say, and it's my biggest concern at the moment."
Alfred lowered his voice. On the screen, the old man glanced left and right, as if confirming no one was around, before leaning closer to the camera and speaking solemnly.
"I suspect that the Young Master... may not remember that he's Batman."
Orin Vale: "?"
Kara: "?"
(end of chapter)
