19. A Narrow Escape

Only after Bruce performed a maneuver as swift and fierce as a tiger, pinning the blame squarely on himself, did Clark’s super-brain finally come online.

He realized his primary task now was to cooperate with Bruce to prevent the others from forcibly taking Kara and Doomsday, while simultaneously coming up with a plausible excuse to dispel the suspicions of the three individuals before them.

After that, they just had to hold out until some unreliable world consciousness hauled them away.

Praise Batman! Bruce was truly incredible; he had managed to clarify the situation and initiate a plan so quickly!

With renewed resolve, Clark stepped forward, shielding Bruce from the scrutiny and shock directed his way.

"Actually, I was aware of this," he said, struggling to recall the standard, sunshine-and-integrity expression Superman wore when saving lives or kittens, trying his best to appear reliable. "I mean, Bruce bringing Kara and Doomsday to Earth was done with my consent."

At this, the stunned gazes shifted toward him.

Clark felt a flicker of nervous impulse to shift his feet, but he restrained himself, marveling once again at the acting skills Bruce had been forced to hone. Fortunately, once the first lie was out, the rest flowed much more smoothly.

"In fact, we had all the safety protocols in place to ensure no harm would come to Earth—as you saw, even when Doomsday broke free earlier, we neutralized it quickly without any disastrous consequences."

As these words left his lips, Bruce could only lower his head slightly to hide the twitching of his mouth.

*Idiot Clark.*

He already had a vague premonition of the storm that was about to break.

"No disastrous consequences?" As Batman sneered, even Superman frowned, clearly unable to agree with such a statement.

It must be said that when Superman’s face, as handsome as an ancient Greek sculpture, turned serious, it was quite intimidating. Clark, for instance, didn't dare to make a peep, forced to listen to the other man’s stern lecture.

"Superman—assuming you are also Superman—tell me, by what right do you arrogantly presume that you can protect the Earth when Doomsday loses control? What guarantee do you have? Especially when the very thing containing Doomsday might fail?"

To Superman’s interrogation, Kara had plenty to say: Did they know anything about high-dimensional technology? If she hadn't ended up in this damn parallel universe, there wouldn't have been an accident at all, would there?

Unfortunately, she could only play the part of a quivering quail, lacking the moral standing to argue back.

Clark opened his impossibly blue eyes wide, looking like a giant, adorable retriever that had told its first lie only to be caught at the speed of light, his dejection palpable.

Bruce, while pondering how to salvage the script, cast him a glance, finding a bitter sort of amusement in the moment. Well, at least seeing this fool look so adorable made the trip worthwhile.

Batman watched them with a thoughtful expression and suddenly interjected, "You are lying, for the sake of... Batman?"

He sounded incredulous, his tone awkward as he spoke the name. It felt like the second time that night he’d had the urge to remark on how much Superman seemed to trust Batman. His mind drifted back to the brief intersection with the other world. He had judged that the Batman and Superman there were long-time friends and partners, and had spent several minutes in shock at the disparity between parallel worlds.

But just as he had finally accepted the scientifically baseless fact that "if I want to kill Superman, there must be a mirror world where I am close to him," reality had dealt him another blow.

Was this pair of Batman and Superman who had just crashed into their world also close? So close that Superman was willing to step forward and take the fall for him? To become Batman’s accomplice?

Batman felt shocked, even panicked, by the self-evident fact he had deduced.

He couldn't fathom it. How could anyone *want* to be Batman’s accomplice? Shouldn't normal people be like Superman and himself—misunderstanding and loathing each other upon their first meeting, leading to violence?

This was the second Superman he’d encountered who inexplicably trusted Batman! Statistically speaking, that was 2/3. Was it only their world that was strange? Was it an immutable truth across all universes that Superman would always trust Batman?

Batman felt his train of thought being severely compromised.

He forced himself to calm down, setting aside the abnormal trust between the Superman and Batman before him, and pointed out the error of the dejected Superman across from him.

"Your relationship with your Batman seems close, but you shouldn't have done this. You trust him too much."

"Do you know why he brought Kara and Doomsday to Earth while keeping you in the dark? Do you know about the curse of the Last Knight of the House of El that Kara mentioned?"

Clark, who hadn't read many comics and certainly hadn't caught up on the annuals, felt like a humble fan of the ship: "...Ah?"

Kara also gasped. She used her super-brain for a second and concluded: If the others took the legend of the Last Knight of the House of El and Batman’s "unprompted confession" as truth... then wouldn't that mean Batman brought Doomsday to Earth knowing it might kill Superman? *Batman v Superman 2.0?!*

Batman clearly verified something from his blank, unreactive expression and successfully misinterpreted the look of sheer terror on Kara’s face as "a cousin feeling guilty after being caught conspiring with an outsider to kill her cousin," and his mood grew heavier.

Quite rarely, his tone when speaking to Clark softened.

"If he intends to do something harmful to you or the Earth, you might be the only one who can stop him."

"You shouldn't trust him so much; you’ve lost even the most basic vigilance."

He had already realized that the three Supermen he had encountered so far all possessed an indescribable, rustic innocence. Even his own grumpy Superman, though he appeared to have a foul temper, revealed a tolerant heart willing to trust others the moment one got close to him. He had only briefly explained Lex Luthor’s conspiracy, without even defending himself against rumors that perhaps weren't even false, and Superman had trusted him, spending the whole night helping him.

Thinking of this, Batman cast a complex look at the Blue Scout beside him. He had a feeling that from this point on, it would be difficult for him to keep his guard up against Superman.

Clark didn't know that his image in Batman’s mind had become that of a gullible, simple-hearted boy, but he could hear the gravity in Batman’s advice and was momentarily speechless.

Batman was telling him not to trust Bruce too much. This world was truly magical.

In any case, he understood that he couldn't join Bruce’s script as an accomplice; his poor performance just now had clearly shown he was completely oblivious to the Doomsday affair.

Clark: *Lying flat.*

So, he would just honestly play the role of the big, dim-witted guy who trusted his partner too much. He’d leave the rest to their imaginations; he believed they could do it!

"You're right, I don't know every one of B’s plans. But we are partners, we are comrades, and I trust him."

Clark tilted his head slightly, his Kryptonian-blue eyes fixed solely on Bruce, and anyone could feel the unwavering trust within them.

...Even though Clark was only desperately signaling his childhood friend to pick up the script because he couldn't keep making things up.

But the others clearly didn't know the truth.

Even Wonder Woman cast a look of condemnation at Bruce.

"Even if our Amazonian warriors suspect a comrade, we would duel them openly, rather than orchestrating plans in the shadows that could harm them."

"You have betrayed his trust, other Batman."

Bruce: *Fine, fine, the pressure is back on me, is it?*

He pursed his lips, intending to speak, but another long-suppressed voice interrupted him.

"Why?"

Superman had clearly been holding back for a long time. Under the gaze of everyone, he looked at Bruce with eyes full of hurt, yet Batman had the illusion that he, too, had been scorched.

"Why would you secretly transport a monster capable of killing Superman? Is Superman truly so unworthy of trust?"

He could understand why his Batman was wary of him; after all, their first meeting hadn't been pleasant, and they had held bad impressions of each other long before that. But why would Batman still be wary of Superman in a world where they were already comrades?

Was he, burdened with alien blood, destined to never have trust on Earth?

"No, I trust Superman."

Bruce felt he had to offer an explanation. God, the hurt in Superman’s eyes was far too effective; he felt like a complete scoundrel.

"It's just..." Just what? *Damn it, he hadn't made it up yet!*

Suddenly, Bruce recalled the *BvS* summary Clark had briefly explained to him, and feeling as though he’d found a savior, he decided to steal the character motivation on the spot.

"It's just that Superman’s power is truly too great. If he were to lose control, the consequences would be unimaginable. I cannot stop thinking about that pessimistic possibility."

"However, all I need is a method of balance. Before Superman actually loses control, I would never truly harm him—I swear it on my life."

The furrow in Superman’s brow relaxed slightly. He was still a bit bothered, but it was an explanation he could accept.

Batman noticed this and was incredulous.

*God! Was Superman really this easy to appease?*

Then what had he been agonizing over? If he had just been honest with Superman earlier, wouldn't he have saved 18 months of detours?!

Regardless, Bruce and Clark had managed to provide an explanation that the other side could accept.

The moment the greatest suspicion of the key figures was dispelled, the long-overdue teleportation finally took effect, whisking them back to their own world.

When Bruce opened his eyes again, he was back in his bedroom.

He pulled the curtains with a facade of calm, only to collapse onto the bed the next second.

*So tired...* He suddenly felt that the next plot point could afford to be delayed a little...

Ah, right, what was the next plot again? The Gotham War? And then fast-forward to the Civil War? That didn't sound right. Was there a little spider-boy missing in the middle?

He pondered who could take on the role of the little spider-boy while letting his consciousness sink into the abyss, drifting off to sleep in a haze.