"Dad?! Dad?!"
Barbara called out desperately, but only suffocating silence answered her.
Her hand slowly fell away from the phone as the call disconnected.
At that moment, countless memories of her father flooded her mind.
She suddenly realized how deeply James Gordon had become woven into her life.
The thought of losing him felt like a knife twisting in her chest.
Breathing became difficult.
The pale yellow light inside the room illuminated drifting particles of dust, making them seem suspended in time.
Outside the window, Gotham lay beneath a blanket of darkness.
From Barbara's vantage point, the city looked both prosperous and desolate, familiar yet strangely distant.
Looking at the city she had always known, Barbara felt her nose sting.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
"Who are you?"
Batman's voice suddenly emerged from the communicator.
He had detected an unfamiliar signal on the channel.
His tone carried immediate suspicion.
"Don't worry. I have no hostile intentions at the moment."
Lex Luthor's voice answered slowly.
He glanced toward Gordon's motionless figure lying nearby and tightened his grip on the communicator.
This time, Lex was telling the truth.
After witnessing Gordon's actions, something inside him had shifted.
Lex Luthor had always possessed a brilliant mind.
Few people on Earth could rival his intelligence.
Yet the man speaking now was not the ruthless industrialist many expected him to become.
This Lex still valued friendship.
A trace of idealism remained within him.
He had not completely surrendered himself to darkness.
There were moments when he abandoned cold calculations and acted according to emotion.
That contradiction was precisely why Adrian had always considered Lex such a complicated man.
"Is that so?" Batman replied. "Then tell me your name, and perhaps I'll believe you."
Lex remained silent.
His body ached from Gordon's torture.
Every movement sent pain through his muscles.
After dragging himself to a nearby chair, he finally sat down and caught his breath.
He quickly wrapped a few makeshift bandages around his wounds.
Only then did he respond.
"That's not important."
Batman stood silently on the other end of the communication line.
His expression never changed.
The grief he had experienced earlier was already buried beneath layers of discipline and focus.
Now he was analyzing.
Observing.
Calculating.
"You're Lex Luthor, aren't you?"
It sounded like a question.
It wasn't.
Batman already knew.
Lex was unsurprised.
In his eyes, identifying him was exactly the kind of thing Batman would do.
The Dark Knight's terrifying intellect had always fascinated him.
An obsession with truth.
An obsession with justice.
An obsession that drove him to wage endless war against crime in Gotham and against Adrian's growing influence.
Although they had never truly worked together, Lex felt he understood Batman surprisingly well.
"I could deny it," Lex said, forcing a relaxed tone. "But I don't see the point."
"What do you want?"
Batman's voice remained level.
"To celebrate your victory?"
He knew Lex stood alongside Adrian.
Courtesy was unnecessary.
"Of course not."
Lex let out a tired laugh.
"I'm not that unethical."
He shifted slightly, suppressing a wave of pain.
"I only want to remind you of something."
"You can't stop him."
Batman's response came immediately.
"Can't stop him?"
His voice remained low and steady.
"If you're here to warn me, you're wasting your time. We both know where we stand."
"Your position," Batman continued, "is supporting a world ruled by an alien. A world where humanity becomes little more than specimens in a bottle, trapped and controlled. A world where human freedom is stripped away."
Lex chuckled softly.
"My position?"
He leaned back against the chair.
"To be honest, I've never spent much time thinking about my position."
"But I do believe this world needs to change."
His breathing remained strained, yet every word came clearly.
"You oppose Adrian while deliberately ignoring everything he has done."
"Pollution, environmental destruction, failing infrastructure, corruption. Adrian has solved countless problems humanity created for itself."
"Absolute power creates absolute order."
"No one dares deceive him."
"He sees everything."
"He can sit in an office and know what is happening thousands of miles away."
The more he spoke, the stronger his conviction became.
"You know what Adrian's future looks like."
"No wars."
"Peace."
"Stable laws."
"Economic prosperity."
"Environmental recovery."
"People living better lives."
"The nation he governs will become the most prosperous and desirable country on Earth."
"One day, people across the entire world will be desperate to become part of it."
"Eventually, Earth itself will be unified."
"No borders."
"No international conflicts."
"No wars."
"Isn't that what humanity has always claimed to want?"
"Isn't that closer to Plato's ideal state than anything humanity has ever achieved?"
Lex paused to steady himself.
Then he asked quietly:
"So why are you convinced Adrian will inevitably become a tyrant?"
"Why do you assume he will betray the people he protects?"
The effort of speaking exhausted him.
He adjusted his position carefully to avoid aggravating his wounds.
The overhead light reflected off his bald head and stained suit.
After a moment of rest, he continued.
"Don't you find it ironic?"
"You keep fighting against the future."
"What exactly have you accomplished for humanity?"
"Admit it, Batman."
"You're resisting simply because you refuse to accept change."
Lex had seen the transformation with his own eyes.
Adrian had introduced technologies decades ahead of their time.
The world's greatest scientists worked under him.
Wonder Woman had ended conflicts throughout the Middle East and transformed barren regions into thriving landscapes.
Adrian had eradicated environmental damage on a massive scale.
His charitable organizations improved the lives of countless ordinary citizens.
Lex had witnessed it all.
In Metropolis, especially among the poor, Adrian had become something more than a leader.
Many viewed him as a savior.
Some even worshipped him.
The name Homelander had evolved into an ideal.
A symbol of hope.
A promise of a better tomorrow.
For those at the bottom of society, it represented everything they desired.
Lex looked through the window.
Metropolis glowed brilliantly beneath the night sky.
Towering skyscrapers stretched toward the heavens.
The city felt transformed.
Yet somehow unchanged.
"Batman," he said quietly, "are you really certain the future you imagine is better than a world united under Adrian?"
After speaking those final words, Lex fell silent.
His body and mind were reaching their limits.
He needed rest.
For a long moment, Batman said nothing.
Not because he lacked an answer.
Because Lex's argument carried weight.
Much of it was true.
Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Kara had shown him glimpses of the future.
A future filled with supervillains.
Alien invasions.
Endless disasters.
Wars still existed.
Human suffering still existed.
The future they described was not beautiful.
It was chaotic.
Dangerous.
Ordinary people lived in constant uncertainty.
Death could descend from the sky without warning.
Compared to that future, Gotham's present state was astonishing.
There had once been a time when ordinary citizens could safely enjoy the city after midnight.
They weren't being robbed.
Kidnapped.
Assaulted.
Murdered.
Gotham had become almost unrecognizable.
Even now, despite curfews and restrictions, public safety remained dramatically improved.
Compared to the Gotham Batman remembered, and the Gotham of the future, the current city resembled paradise.
Adrian had achieved what generations of the Wayne family could not.
Decades of philanthropy.
Law enforcement initiatives.
Political reform.
None of it had succeeded completely.
Yet Adrian had transformed Gotham within a few short years.
With funding.
Technology.
Political control.
And ruthless methods.
Crime had been crushed from every angle.
The accomplishment was undeniable.
Batman felt a complicated knot tighten within his chest.
Adrian's achievements were real.
History would remember them.
Blood and progress existed side by side.
But that did not make them right.
Batman tightened his grip on the cowl in his hand.
"This isn't how humanity should live."
His voice was low.
"He wants to be worshipped."
Adrian did not truly love humanity.
Batman believed that.
What Adrian desired was devotion.
Faith.
Admiration.
If people worshipped him, they would never challenge him.
Never oppose him.
Never stand in his way.
Adrian loved himself.
He loved those close to him.
But he did not love humanity as a whole.
That contradiction haunted Batman.
Heroes loved humanity.
Yet they failed to bring lasting peace.
Adrian brought peace.
Yet Batman questioned whether he truly loved the people he protected.
"Humanity should not be ruled by gods."
"Human beings deserve the right to shape their own future."
He rose slowly to his feet.
"The deification of reality is dangerous."
"When people stand before myths, they stop believing in themselves."
"They become dependent."
"Fearful."
"Passive."
"That is why myths must be examined."
"Questioned."
"Reduced to their true form."
"Only then can humanity believe in itself."
His gaze hardened.
Though separated by vast distance, it felt as though he were staring directly at Lex.
"And that future you describe?"
"It is beautiful."
"But beneath that beauty lies something deeply cruel."
After speaking, Batman lowered the cowl.
He acknowledged an uncomfortable truth.
The future he knew was harsher.
More dangerous.
But it was real.
Lex suddenly stiffened.
Batman's words struck directly at the deepest parts of his philosophy.
His eyes widened.
Without realizing it, he turned toward the darkness outside the window.
He wanted to see Batman.
To challenge him face-to-face.
Because a part of him understood exactly what Batman meant.
"So yes," Batman continued, "humanity may eventually unite."
"Maybe soon."
"Maybe centuries from now."
"But humanity does not need a god to rule it."
Leaning against the wall, he looked down at his scarred hands.
Humanity's future belonged to humanity.
Not to gods.
Not to kings.
Not to saviors.
A future built upon fear and dependence was not the future he wanted to protect.
Meanwhile, far beyond Earth, another crisis was unfolding.
"The energy of fear..."
"Parallax?"
In Coast City, after sending Mogo into space, Adrian's expression darkened.
He sensed a strange presence deep within the cosmos.
It carried traces of Hal Jordan's energy.
Yet it felt fundamentally different.
It was neither Green Lantern nor Yellow Lantern.
Adrian immediately thought of a terrifying possibility.
In several timelines, Hal Jordan had become Parallax.
Had it happened again?
Without hesitation, Adrian accelerated into space.
His speed instantly climbed to its maximum.
He flew directly toward the source of the disturbance.
He needed answers.
If Hal had truly merged with Parallax, the situation could become extremely dangerous.
Parallax was no ordinary enemy.
It was an ancient embodiment of fear.
A cosmic entity possessing immense power.
Willpower itself was one of the universe's greatest mysteries.
The Lantern Corps had demonstrated abilities that defied conventional understanding.
Among all willpower-based powers, some could reshape reality itself.
Even Adrian doubted he could fully comprehend how such forces operated.
"If Hal has become Parallax," Adrian murmured, "things may start moving beyond my control."
His eyes narrowed.
He accelerated further.
He already suspected the truth.
Hal's fear had likely consumed him after the destruction of Coast City.
His journey to Oa and his attempt to seize the Central Power Battery may have been manipulated from the very beginning.
Parallax had likely been waiting.
Watching.
Influencing.
Corrupting.
Unlike Ion, which empowered its host while preserving their identity, Parallax dominated its hosts completely.
It seized control.
It transformed them.
Parallax was a cosmic predator that fed upon fear itself.
An entity powerful enough to plunge entire civilizations into chaos.
Yet Adrian was not intimidated.
Fear alone could not defeat him.
His soul was connected to something far darker.
The horrors lurking within the Dark Multiverse.
The unspeakable entities he had glimpsed.
The terror emanating from those beings eclipsed ordinary fear.
Parallax could challenge him physically.
But mentally?
Spiritually?
That was another matter.
Still, Adrian remained cautious.
Parallax combined fear-based abilities with overwhelming physical power.
Even he could not predict the outcome of such a confrontation.
"Parallax..."
Adrian repeated the name thoughtfully.
The pieces were beginning to fit together.
Then his gaze sharpened.
Far ahead, he finally saw a figure racing through the darkness of space.
Hal Jordan.
The distance between them vanished rapidly.
The two streaked toward one another at unimaginable speed.
Their encounter was only moments away.