Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 314: Ch.313 Evolution War

Batman and Green Arrow were deep beneath Star City, locked in battle with a group of enemies in the pitch-black tunnels.

Bruce had donned the "Crusher" armor he had used against the Talons, sending a particularly grotesque humanoid creature flying with a single punch.

Behind him, Green Arrow was struggling a bit—this cramped and twisting battleground wasn\'t exactly conducive to using a bow.

"I should have gone with Diana to the equator, or with Barry to the Arctic. This place is awful," Green Arrow muttered, using an arrow as a dagger to stab a creature before tossing aside its furry corpse.

Batman ignored his complaints. Focused as always during missions, he used the armor\'s spotlight to scan the area after crushing another opponent\'s spine with a punch.

"Our enemies seem to be some kind of apemen, as if they\'ve lived underground for tens of thousands of years. Their upper limbs are highly developed, their bodies strong, and their armor appears to be some form of reinforced rock."

"Can you break through their armor?" J\'onn asked, crossing his legs as he floated in space, his gaze fixed on the blue planet below.

"J\'onn, I live in..."

"I live in a cave. I know rocks really well..." Barry\'s voice cut in from the icy Arctic, imitating Bruce\'s tone with a deep voice. "How did I do? Did I nail it?"

Unfortunately, the Arctic cold made his voice tremble a bit.

"Barry, that\'s not how I sound," Bruce replied without changing his expression, continuing his battle, though he had been planning to say exactly that.

"Sorry, sorry. Ahem, anyway, we\'ve made good progress in the Arctic. The rapid warming causing sublimation of the ice disrupts their electromagnetic devices. Mr. Terrific and Plastic Man agree that I can call this a victory for science."

Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, explaining the situation in the Arctic.

In space, J\'onn instinctively nodded before realizing his teammates couldn\'t see him. "Very good, Barry, keep it up. Diana, how are things at the equator?"

"These apemen have developed different evolutionary traits. The ones here are all shamans or witch doctors, using some form of magic. I\'m working with Swamp Thing to find their grimoire," Diana responded, decapitating a foe with her Godkiller sword. She showed no mercy; the world\'s safety allowed no compromise.

"I sense a dark presence on the island you\'re on—something like a burning black gem. Do you need my help?" J\'onn asked.

"No, help the others instead," Diana cleared her throat and deepened her voice. "Because... I\'m Wonder Woman. How did I do? Did I sound right?"

Bruce: "Diana."

"Ha, not bad at all," Aquaman\'s voice joined the mental network. He was battling a group of amphibious apemen deep underwater with his followers.

Due to the nature of the battlefield, the Justice League often couldn\'t assist in his fights. Since the Metal event, relations between Mera and him had soured further.

Barbatos\'s power had affected not just the surface but the oceans as well, with tides and underwater volcanoes causing significant casualties among the Atlanteans.

Mera believed Arthur had become too close to the Justice League. Instead of prioritizing the safety of Atlantis\'s people, he had gone to help the surface dwellers first.

This wasn\'t the act of a true king, so Mera had effectively staged a coup, taking control of Atlantis from Arthur.

Aquaman didn\'t mind. He now spent more time around the Hall of Justice or in various bars near Amnesty Bay. His only remaining allies were "Aqualad," "Dolphin," and his sea creatures.

Bruce also thought it was best to give Arthur some space. During a rescue, an alternate Su Ming had chosen to save J\'onn over Arthur, which had dealt a significant blow to Aquaman\'s self-esteem.

Now, whenever he got drunk, he would mutter to himself, "Where did I fall short? How am I not as good as the Martian?"

Su Ming had saved six other members of the Justice League, leaving only Aquaman behind in favor of the Martian Manhunter. As for Green Arrow, who had been completely ignored, even Arthur seemed to forget about him.

But now, Arthur had started to understand. J\'onn\'s mental network was incredibly useful, allowing seamless communication across the globe.

"The apemen here are trying to mix the toxic liquids of the underground sea into the seven oceans, changing Earth\'s waters," Arthur\'s trident struck down one apeman after another, their broken bodies sinking into the deep.

"Same here," said Hawkgirl, who was in the sky dealing with atmospheric threats alongside Adam Strange. "They\'re using some kind of gas to poison the atmosphere, though I haven\'t mastered Batman\'s speech style yet."

Hawkman was still in the hospital after being attacked by Su Ming and hit on the head with a Worldforger weapon by Superman. He remained comatose.

"The situation is becoming clear," J\'onn reasoned from space, piecing together the clues. "Someone placed these apemen in different \'pocket dimensions\' tens of thousands of years ago, pushing them to evolve in different directions. This sounds a lot like something done by Vandal Savage."

Superman and Cyborg were in Gotham City, at the final battleground of the Metal event—Challenger Mountain, where the cosmic tuning fork was still situated, too intricate to move easily.

They, too, were surrounded by heavily armed apemen. While the creatures appeared to have low intelligence, they still sought to exploit this advanced technology.

"I agree with you, J\'onn. This isn\'t an attack; it\'s an evolution war. These apemen want Earth," Clark said, uppercutting an apeman into the atmosphere before turning to face another war machine.

Cyborg, fighting alongside him, added, "Not on our watch."

Barry chuckled—he was almost done on his end, as the Speed Force always made things quicker. "You sound just like Batman. Why not try mimicking his voice? Use the Mother Box or something."

Cyborg\'s arm transformed into a cannon, blasting away a group of enemies. "Standing next to Superman? No thanks. Clark\'s got the voice down pat."

Barry stacked the unconscious apemen together and dusted off his hands. "Yeah, he nailed it. \'Do you bleed?\' That line—"

Batman and Superman said in unison, "Barry?"

"Uh, sorry, I shouldn\'t have brought that up. But it really was spot on," Barry mumbled, realizing he\'d made another slip.

"Well, if you ignore the content, the tone was pretty close," Cyborg chipped in, trying to smooth things over. No one liked remembering Superman and Batman\'s civil war. "If I wanted to mimic it, I could just edit together some of Batman\'s audio files."

"No, that wouldn\'t be good," Batman said flatly as he stomped an apeman into the ground, breaking all its bones.

J\'onn continued to hover in space, listening to the banter among his teammates, with his mental network keeping them closely connected.

They felt like one big family, bound by trust and unity.