bacchusnovels Chapter 189 Am I Chen Tao or Batman?
Chapter 189 Am I Chen Tao or Batman?
Chapter 189 Am I Chen Tao... or Batman?
boom!
Victor Stone was slightly dazed.
Eh?
He blinked.
Then he reached up and wiped his face, seeing the monster's head explode as it had been choking his father, green Parademonic blood spraying all over his face like it was free.
His father fell to the ground along with the monster.
"Cough...cough...Victor! I'm alright."
Dr. Silas Stone coughed as he got up from the ground, but stumbled and sat down again due to the pain.
He clutched his throat, which was red and swollen from being choked.
Victor, still shaken, hugged his father.
"I'm sorry, child, cough cough... I'm so sorry. But I want you to know that this is the world, this dangerous world."
Dr. Stone coughed as he spoke, "You call this kind of thing a monster? I deal with monsters like this every day, and there are many secret projects that the government can't tell you about."
He paused, somewhat at a loss for words:
"I'm sorry I didn't want you to play rugby, and I'm sorry I missed your rugby game, but you should know, son, that we don't live in a time of peace. The situation we face now is no different from that of 1914 and 1939."
"I...I just wanted to protect you, when facing this monster..."
He turned his head and looked at Batman, who was hovering and flying towards him with red eyes, and the burly man wrapped in lightning.
Like a child suddenly gaining power, he punched a monster that had almost killed him, sending it flying backward like a spinning top, and then cheered, "Yay!"
"I know, I know, Father, I'm sorry."
Victor kept his head down.
The dozens of Parademons that flew out of the portal were quickly slaughtered by Shazam and Chen Tao within a few dozen seconds.
The Parademon that tried to escape through the door with the Mother Box was shot down by Chen Tao's red heat ray before it even reached the doorway.
Chen Tao lifted the mother box with one hand and placed it on the ground.
Good day, Dr. Stone.
Then he turned his head and nodded slightly to Victor Stone.
Silas Stone got up from the ground. He dusted himself off, his gaze sweeping over the Parademons strewn across the battlefield:
"Batman, I..."
"Thank you, Batman, thank you for saving us."
Dr. Stone glanced sideways at his son, who had excitedly interrupted him and already thanked him on his behalf, and then continued:
"Alright, it seems my son has already thanked you for me. So, Batman, about..."
Chen Tao maintained his expressionless face, quietly pondering how to persuade Amanda Waller and the others not to forcibly hold onto the Mother Box once they arrived.
Perhaps the current Parademon invasion is an opportunity...
So he spoke up, saying, "I..."
hum!
The mother box in his hand suddenly trembled.
"Whoa!" Shazam exclaimed from the side, "What the hell? Is he going to explode?"
The people around were so frightened that they took two steps back.
hum!
The mother box trembled again, and countless blue and red energies emerged on the smooth metal cube, creating a fine undulation.
"I think he might reopen the portal, Batman, throw it out now." Dr. Stone slowly backed away, then turned and shouted to his lab assistant, "Track his location!"
hum!
Even without Dr. Stone's explanation, Chen Tao could see the changes in the mother box.
He threw the mother box away, while Victor shielded his father and stepped back.
Chen Tao stared intently at the creation from Apokolips.
On the metal cube, the dark red energy seemed to be trying to break through the suppression of the azure energy. Tiny bolts of lightning constantly flickered and disappeared.
hum!
hum!
hum!
The mother box trembled incessantly, and the sound was less like the trembling and more like something growling softly through the metal.
"The fight isn't over yet, is it?" Shazam walked up to Chen Tao, clenching his fists, eager to try again.
Glah!
The constantly trembling metal suddenly flipped over.
Chen Tao had no interest in answering Shazam's question. He floated up and stared intently at the trembling metal block.
What could be coming out of it...?
Steppenwolf? Darkseid might just descend upon us.
How could that be? Chen Tao shook his head violently. If it were that easy, Darkseid would have already arrived when the portal opened.
He could only send out a certain number of Parademons to try and take the Mother Box away; there must be something still restricting him.
Chen Tao stared at the blue energy in the mother box; it was dwindling.
"Don't you have an emergency safe room? Go back right now..."
Before Chen Tao could finish speaking, he saw the Mother Box reopen amidst a violent explosion of light and sound, transforming back into a portal. The next moment, countless Parademons poured out of it!
"For Darkseid!"
"drink!"
Shazam took the lead and went to meet them.
His lightning instantly pierced through the bodies of more than a dozen Parademons. The lightning, as if electrocuted, connected between the monsters' bodies, then electrocuted them, causing them to fall from the sky like charred flies. But the next moment, even more Parademons swarmed forward, completely enveloping him like a Parademon dumpling.
Chen Tao immediately pressed his hand on his communication device.
"Batman is calling Nightwing, can you hear me?"
This location was originally provided to him by Nightwing, so why didn't he participate in this operation?
Chen Tao brought Shazam over on a whim, and it was clear that he had prepared other contingency plans to deal with some possibilities.
For example, if the negotiations fail, he might have to resort to force to seize the Mother Box, thus turning against the government and having to fight the Metal Man. In the end, he would have Nightwing and the Suicide Squad, who were lying in ambush outside, pull out their pre-prepared super electromagnetic interference measures and beat the Metal Man and those mech giants into idiots.
Or perhaps they could have the mud-faced man, who was lying in wait next to the president, take him, his son who was still in kindergarten, and their nanny hostage, forcing them to sit down and negotiate...
Haha, but this kind of contingency plan is basically something with a very low probability of happening. He's just being prepared.
In short, he had prepared contingency plans in advance. Although the sudden appearance of the Parademons was not in the plan, he was still able to mobilize enough combat power to wipe out all of them in one fell swoop.
"Batman is calling Nightwing, we need support..."
"Roger that, Batman. What should we do?"
Chen Tao heard Dick Grayson's voice through his earpiece. He knew that as long as he gave the order, the other party would bring the entire Suicide Squad, including Deadshot, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, and other powerful members, into the laboratory. Unless Steppenwolf or Darkseid arrived in person, it would only be a close encounter with some danger.
"For... Darkseid!"
Chen Tao turned his head and saw a phantom figure clad in heavy metal armor and sporting two horns, attempting to enter the scene through the portal. However, an invisible membrane seemed to be blocking his way. He tried several times but failed to squeeze through, and could only roar in frustration, "Attack! Attack!"
More Parademons poured out of the portal as if they were free, filling the entire spacious laboratory to the brim. Shazam, who had just unleashed his lightning to break free from the horde of Parademons, was once again engulfed. He cried out in despair:
"Again? I haven't even struck a pose yet!"
Chen Tao immediately spoke to Nightwing and the others.
"You all need to do it right now..."
and many more.
Chen Tao looked at the future Cyborg in his casual clothes and his doctor father, and suddenly his head buzzed.
He recalled the origin of Cyborg in the comics.
Shouldn't Victor Stone have lost an arm and a leg due to the Mother Box explosion, been left near death, and then had his father use Apokolips technology to transform him into the cyborg Cyborg?
Chen Tao held the mother box in his hand, lost in thought.
Did his arrival inadvertently trigger some kind of butterfly effect, preventing Cyborg from being successfully created?
Chen Tao frowned immediately.
But there was no time to think about it. He subconsciously tossed the mother box in his hand to Dr. Stone. More and more Parademons pounced on him. Chen Tao shot out a heat vision from his eyes and pierced through the body of a Parademon in one go.
The other person struggled on the ground for a couple of moments, then jumped up again.
Chen Tao fired another shot, scorching his head.
While Bulletbat's abilities are also those of a Kryptonian, they are undoubtedly far weaker than those of a true Superman.
Chen Tao had already turned the heat vision up to the maximum power. If it were Superman, this Parademon, along with everything behind it, would have been melted by now.
He brandished the tattered bat's blade, slicing through another attacking Parademon, then turned and roared at Shazam, "Protect the Mother Box!"
"Batman, do you need us to go directly..." Nightwing's voice came through the headset.
"Wait a minute."
Chen Tao replied to them in a low voice.
He and Shazam protected Stone and his son as they fought their way back towards the laboratory, where there were heavy enough iron gates and enough equipment to stop the Parademons, and...
That's enough to turn Victor Stone into Cyborg, just like in the original storyline.
If he doesn't interfere.
Damn it, what am I thinking?
Chen Tao shook his head. It wasn't necessarily the time for Cyborg to be born yet. The most important thing was to get rid of these Parademons that looked like locusts.
He turned to Silas Stone and yelled, "Is there any way to shut down the Mother Box? You've been working on this for so long, or do you have any way to get me connected to it—"
Chen Tao narrowed his eyes.
At worst, he could activate [Brainiac]. As Brainiac's version of Batman, his computing power was almost identical to the real Brainiac. Although as an A-class Batman, he also couldn't maintain synchronization for long periods, but if it was just a matter of closing a portal...
Chen Tao sliced through a pounced Parademon with a backhand, then transformed half of his arm into a shield made of nanobots, continuously deflecting the incoming laser energy bullets.
"Together!"
He shouted at Shazam, who was fighting with dozens of Parademons. After receiving a response, he unleashed both heat vision and lightning, instantly clearing out a small area of Parademons, allowing them to successfully retreat into the safe house behind.
"squeak!"
As the massive gate slammed down, a Parademon was instantly severed from its body, leaving only its forequarters struggling and crawling on the ground, attempting to raise its gun to shoot Chen Tao and his group, before being struck by Shazam's lightning and turned into a green mosaic.
"I don't feel this disgusted when I kill bugs in World of Warcraft."
He said, "Today was so exciting! More exciting than playing games!"
Chen Tao wasn't in the mood to talk to the excited Billy.
He weighed the issue of the steel skeleton repeatedly in his mind.
If today is the day that led to Cyborg's birth, then wouldn't he be considered to have unintentionally changed the plot?
If the future Cyborg Victor Stone hadn't been near death during the Parademons invasion, his father wouldn't have equipped him with Apokolips technology, and he wouldn't have become that half-human, half-creature robot.
In that case, Chen Tao would be missing a teammate who could directly connect to the Mother Box!
Chen Tao always knew that he couldn't completely rely on the comic book plot to predict what was actually happening in the world before him, but he never intended to take the Mother Box away from Dr. Stone. He just wanted to study this dangerous thing together in advance.
He came specifically to connect to the master box and try to obtain some results from master box research.
This wouldn't have affected Cyborg's birth due to various accidents, just like in the original story. But the problem now is that the event that led to Cyborg's birth is probably already right in front of him!
Should we intervene?
If he saved Victor Stone's life, preventing him from suffering that accident and thus failing to become Cyborg, wouldn't that be reducing his own chances of winning?
"Batman, Batman?"
Chen Tao turned around abruptly and saw Shazam calling him repeatedly. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard Shazam calling him.
Billy pointed to the door:
"Those Parademons are knocking on the door, and I have a feeling that this piece of junk might not be able to hold on."
"To make a long story short, perhaps I can reopen a portal and send those monsters back."
Dr. Silas Stone's voice came from the side; he had been manipulating the mother box on the instrument next to him for a while.
"The new portal will create a huge suction force, enough to pull them all..."
He spoke very quickly, but then suddenly stopped.
"Then do it that way, Dad, the door's about to give way!"
Victor Stone shouted at his father, but Dr. Stone remained silent.
"Wait, Dr. Stone, I've looked at the data. If we do that..." His lab assistant glanced at the mother box placed in the center of the lab equipment, then at the data on the screen.
He wiped the sweat from his brow.
"To open that portal, someone has to drag the Mother Box into the center of those Parademons. But that means... that person will also be sucked directly into the portal!"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Once the question of "who should be the one to make the sacrifice" is raised, everyone falls silent.
Chen Tao silently stretched out his hand, and a small lump of clay figure's body tissue grew out of it.
He squinted.
In fact, no one needs to sacrifice themselves. He could easily create a puppet using nanobots and Clayface's body tissue, just like he did when he stalled for time against Luther.
but……
Will it create steel skeletons...?
Damn!
He shook his head.
What would Batman do?
What will Chen Tao do next?
Would Batman really witness someone about to be injured or crippled, and have the ability to help them but choose not to?
As for Chen Tao, can he really tolerate his chances of winning...?
He was still struggling with his decision when a voice came from beside him.
"I'll do it."
He turned his head and saw the future Steelbone, Victor Stone said in a deep voice.
I found a new boyfriend! (Shyly covering her butt)
Becoming the Supreme Will from Hunter x Hunter
(End of this chapter)