"That guy is still the same, always so secretive. He makes one mess after another, and we're left to clean it up," Wonder Woman said, clearly irritated.
"Now's not the time to assign blame," Green Arrow responded, shaking his head. "At least Batman is finally taking action. Let's shift focus to the problem with the Flash."
As a hero without superpowers, Green Arrow understood Batman's behavior all too well. Without any enhanced abilities, heroes like them, those living in a world of gods and monsters had to rely solely on their technology, tactics, and planning. Their margin for error was slim.
It was no coincidence that in the comics, powerless heroes and villains were often portrayed as strategic masterminds. Without that tactical brilliance, stepping into this world would have been suicide.
Diana didn't press the issue further. Batman, after all, had no role in Flash's current situation. What mattered now was Grid, the rogue AI born from Cyborg's corrupted data, which was still wandering the Internet.
If the Grid's machine-based consciousness had any connection to Apokolips, the dark world that had previously tampered with Cyborg, then this problem could escalate far beyond what they could currently handle. If Grid somehow managed to reverse-engineer the Boom Tube technology of the Mother Box, it could potentially initiate a second Apokolips invasion.
Granted, the chances of that were slim. Grid didn't appear to have access to Apokolips tech, or it wouldn't have been so vulnerable earlier. Besides, Apokolips favored biologically enhanced warriors. Pure machine intelligence, like Grid, had no place in its hierarchy.
Right now, Luthor's AI creation, Brainiac, was their best hope. But even Brainiac was no match for Grid in terms of raw processing power. Batman's contingency plan was the only real countermeasure in development. They would have to wait and trust in it.
"Have we managed to locate the Flash yet?" Shin asked, crossing his arms. "With my current speed, tracking him down and subduing him won't be difficult."
"Well…" Green Arrow scratched his chin, looking uncertain. "You know that Grid still controls a significant portion of the Internet. Even if there are a few satellites still functioning, I doubt we're getting a reliable feed."
Shin frowned. "That complicates things. Even if the Flash isn't particularly destructive, the Speed Force is a wild variable. Who knows what they could achieve with it?"
In even the tamer film adaptations, the Speed Force had been shown to bend time. Reverse Flash was living proof of its temporal manipulation potential.
According to Shin's knowledge, Barry Allen's origin in this world involved the Reverse Flash. His mother had been murdered by a speedster. Even if Barry himself hadn't yet tapped into time travel, the potential existed.
Barry might not have reached light speed yet, but in the unpredictable world of DC comics, the potential wasn't measured in steps it was measured in plot twists. If Grid managed to build a device that enhanced Barry's speed enough to allow time travel or temporal manipulation, things could spiral out of control fast.
The rest of the League, unaware of these long-term risks, remained relatively calm. Diana, with her usual confidence, remarked, "Whatever the case, Barry can't be as dangerous as Clark was. Now that we've dealt with Superman, I think handling Flash should be much simpler."
Shin rolled his eyes but chose not to argue. Luthor, who had been silently observing the conversation, finally spoke up. "What's Superman's current status? Can you really fix his condition?"
Shin turned toward him, expression unreadable. "Relax. Clark's problem has already been handled."
As he spoke, black mist rose from his hand, and a visibly emaciated Superman appeared in front of the team.
"My god! What happened to him?!" Luthor exclaimed, more shocked than anyone else.
The Justice League looked over without a word.
"Don't worry. Clark's not dead," Shin reassured them. "All I did was strip away every last nanomachine from his body which meant pulling out some of his flesh and blood along with them. Just toss him into a solar orbit for a few days, and he'll be good as new."
"With the Kryptonian healing factor, he'll bounce back fast."
Luthor immediately jumped in. "Leave it to me! My company just completed a solar greenhouse facility. The recovery rate is far superior to Earth orbit!"
No one even acknowledged his offer.
Shin turned to Shazam instead. "Shazam, I need you to take Superman to low Earth orbit and hold position there. He's unconscious, vulnerable, and still a target. Grid or some other opportunist might try to strike while he's down. Low orbit isn't safe."
Luthor's face twisted in indignation. "What's that supposed to mean? Do you think I'd take advantage of his condition?"
Shin shot him a pointed look. "Wouldn't you?"
That shut Luthor up immediately.
Grumbling to himself, Luthor watched as Shazam lifted Superman into the sky. Despite being a kid at heart, Shazam followed instructions reliably and, more importantly, had the power to act on them.
Even if Luthor did try something underhanded, he'd never pull it off in time. Superman would fully recover within three to four days. It wasn't enough time for even Luthor to build a viable spaceborne threat.
Shazam's concerns were actually more focused on Grid. While Shin and the team had already disrupted most of the Brother Eye nanobots, Grid was still an unknown variable. There could be units that were fully immune to EMPs true nanomachine constructs capable of self-repair and modular evolution.
Those weren't just cannon fodder drones. They were the real threat, transformer-level machines capable of dynamic transformation and anti-EMP adaptation. While the rest of the world saw the Grid's defeat as a victory, Shazam and Shin understood it was far from over.
Nanotechnology combined with self-evolving AI was an existential threat. Without metahumans and superpowered defenders, Earth would've already been conquered by machines like Grid.
And the war was far from finished.
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