A night passed, and Heisenberg, for a rare change, crawled out of bed a little past six.
He'd been so thoroughly annoyed the day before that he'd ended up sleeping in the afternoon.
When he got up, the ship wasn't as deserted as it usually was in the mornings.
Over in the southwest sector of the spacecraft, the Flash and Cyborg were already busy separating the Kryptonian living quarters Heisenberg had planned out.
The moment he spotted them, faint creases appeared on Heisenberg's forehead.
In his eyes, that Flash was no longer just ordinary Barry — the guy was basically a demon, all right!
With that thought, Heisenberg silently turned around and headed back toward his quarters.
What the hell had possessed him? Why had he brought a chatterbox into his perfectly smooth life just to clog it up?
But could he even escape?
"Mr. Heisenberg!!!"
He had barely turned around when the Flash's voice was already in his ear!
Before the kid could rattle on any further, Heisenberg drifted over to his side in a flash, glanced around the area, and got the first word in.
"How's sleeping at the base for a night? The environment's nothing fancy, but the plainer it is, the more comfortable the sleep, right?
Still, I really didn't expect you two to start work this early!
Had breakfast yet?
Didn't think so!
Barry, could you grab us something to eat? How about McDonald's — I'm partial to the one next to the TV station!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Heisenberg summoned the Paladin Eva and popped open her belly.
From her little tummy, he pulled out five bills and placed them into the utterly baffled Flash's hands.
"You're the fastest one among us. Go, go, go!!!"
Heisenberg grinned and clapped the Flash on the shoulder. The Flash, resigned, nodded.
"Fine, I was originally going to tell you all about what we got done working through the night, but it can wait till later.
Oh, by the way, this is the new guy Clark recruited, same as me. This is Victor.
Ugh, I'm rambling again. I'll go grab breakfast!"
A streak of lightning flashed, and Barry vanished.
Seeing this, Heisenberg finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He dusted off his hands and turned to the slightly nervous Cyborg standing beside him, gesturing toward a nearby chair.
"I'm Heisenberg. Nice to meet you, Victor!"
"Hello, Lord Sun God!"
Cyborg shook Heisenberg's hand gently.
The instant his metallic fingers touched Heisenberg's palm, he suddenly froze.
With a puzzled look, he asked,
"This... why am I not reacting to you?"
"Oh my God!!!"
Cyborg's words made Heisenberg yank his hand back as he stared at Victor with utter shock.
"What exactly are you thinking?! Why on earth would you expect to have a reaction to me?!?!
What the hell kind of fetish is that?!?!"
"No no no, you've got it all wrong!!!"
Cyborg's face was beyond awkward as he hurriedly waved his hands and kept explaining.
"I meant when I met Superman, my body instinctively started to resist. Superman's energy signature made my body sense extreme danger!
But why can't I feel your power at all? I was actually worried my body would automatically open fire on you!"
"Haha, you scared me to death! So that's what this is!!!"
After Victor's explanation, Heisenberg rubbed his temples; he really had been jumping at shadows thanks to that damn Flash.
He lowered his hand from his hair and explained gently to Cyborg.
"I don't know the details of your situation yet, but considering your reaction mechanism is somewhat similar to animal instincts...
your body either thinks I have no power at all, and so it's not worth resisting.
Or it thinks I'm so overwhelmingly strong that it can't even muster the will to resist!"
Having said that, Heisenberg chuckled and patted Cyborg's metal shoulder.
"I suspect it's the latter. What do you think?"
"It must be that your power exceeds anything I — anything this body of mine — can even imagine, sir!"
"Hah, you're a smooth talker. I noticed your movements earlier — they seemed a little uncoordinated.
You still haven't gotten full control over your abilities, right?"
"Correct, sir!"
"Alright then. I've got nothing much on my plate lately anyway. I'll open a passage beneath the ship later.
I'll teach you down there how to control your power, and while we're at it, we can carve out the underground structure for the future base!"
"Yes, teacher!"
Hearing that Heisenberg would personally instruct him, Cyborg's face lit up with visible excitement.
He dashed off to the side and came back with a pen and paper in hand.
Seeing this, Heisenberg frowned.
"What's this...?"
"Ah, teacher, I thought I should take notes on whatever you say. That should help me grasp your teachings faster.
And it should also help me get stronger quicker!"
"Uh..."
Staring at Cyborg, who was ready to jot down every word, Heisenberg fell silent for a moment.
This guy... he's seriously diligent!
"That works too!"
He patted Cyborg's shoulder again and said calmly,
"Though for people like us, our brains are our own treasure troves, and our memories can imprint every little thing that happens around us.
Still, writing it down has its benefits. Fast memorization and slow writing are ultimately different.
Writing makes you value the content itself more!"
"Exactly!"
Cyborg answered while immediately recording everything Heisenberg had just said.
Watching this, Heisenberg noncommittally headed for the exit of the current chamber.
He planned to lead Cyborg into the planned Justice League wing, starting to dig down from where the blueprint showed the underground elevator.
But he hadn't taken more than two steps before his eyes caught a blur...
"Bought them! I ordered loads of burgers according to my own taste — not sure if you'll like them.
So I took the staff's advice and got a bit of everything so everyone can pick what they want.
As for sides, besides meat, I got a full two hundred onion rings. I figure there's nobody who can say no to that kind of treat, right?
I love snacking on those when I'm watching movies at my base — my base in Central City, I mean. This base doesn't have any movies yet.
By the way, boss, you ever think about installing a theater in the base? We've definitely got enough room..."
"Uh..."
Heisenberg and Cyborg both stared at the Flash in mutual shock. Heisenberg hesitated, mentally recalling the time that had just passed.
After a moment, he asked the Flash quietly,
"You've only been gone for one minute and twenty-two seconds, right?"
"Exactly. I was mainly worried you'd get impatient. Trust me, I totally understand that feeling when you first wake up and just want to eat something right away.
Because I get that way all the time!
So to keep you from waiting, I borrowed the McDonald's kitchen and cooked everything myself. The staff were really understanding about it — after all, we've got world-saving stuff to rush off and deal with, right?
And after I finished cooking, they even gave me a little freebie. Look, a golden M sticker. It's pretty useless, but I thought sticking it on our logistics officer would be really cute!"
No sooner had he said it than the Flash had the food sorted and placed on a table that particles had just assembled.
Then in an instant, he peeled off the sticker's backing and, before Eva could react at all, slapped it onto her little head.
"Ta-da!"
The next second, the Flash hoisted Eva up and presented her to Heisenberg.
"See? Isn't she way cuter now?"
"Uh..."
Heisenberg hadn't even had time to reply to the Flash's question before the Eva in the Flash's arms announced in her mechanical voice,
"Alert: My core has been assaulted by an adhesive metallic object. Require cleansing!"
With that, Eva raised her right arm — which looked something like a penguin flipper — and fired an energy cannon straight at her own head.
A moment later, the Flash, dumbstruck, set Eva down. Her once pristine white head was now charred pitch-black.
Sparks flickering all over her body as if she were on the verge of breaking down, Eva continued coolly in that mechanical tone,
"Cleansing complete..."
As her voice trailed off, the poor little robot collapsed...
Smack!
Smack!
Cyborg and Heisenberg simultaneously clapped their hands over their foreheads. What the hell...
What the actual hell...
After a long pause, Heisenberg waved his hand in defeat, and his bio-field instantly disassembled Eva into a heap of parts.
Beside him, Cyborg murmured,
"Teacher, my core is indicating I can carry out repairs on her. Should I take over?"
"No need. I can do it. They were created by my former subordinates.
I didn't lead their development, but basic repairs aren't a problem!"
As he spoke, Heisenberg used his field to continuously adjust Eva's central control system. In mere seconds, Eva was restored to her original state.
After putting Eva down, Heisenberg smiled wryly and walked over to the dejected Barry.
"It's fine. Let's just eat breakfast together."
"Uh, all right!"
Barry nodded and obediently sat down.
The three of them had been eating for less than five minutes when the ship's dome opened once again.
This time, it was Clark and Lois.
That's right — Clark had actually brought his girlfriend along.
As the two landed, Lois waved naturally at Heisenberg.
"Good morning, Grandpa! I pestered Clark for ages before he agreed to bring me to meet you. I brought you breakfast — fried eggs and steak I made myself!"
"Haha, that's wonderful. Come on over and sit down."
Heisenberg smiled and waved, and a chair immediately slid over next to Lois.
Lois settled into it shyly, and the chair carried her right to the dining table.
Meanwhile, Clark was pulling lunchboxes out of the large bag on his back and laying them out on the table.
Heisenberg glanced over — it was tomahawk steak, and it was grilled to absolute perfection.
He couldn't help but give an approving thumbs-up.
"The luckiest thing that ever happened to Clark was having you, isn't that right, Lois?"
"No way. Having him come into my life was the luckiest thing for me, Grandpa!"
Lois jumped in to answer, then accepted the bottle of beer Clark handed her.
"I brought some beer, too. I know it's a bit early in the morning, but I figured you'd like it, Grandpa!"
"Absolutely!"
Heisenberg took the beer without hesitation, his field popping the cap off with a bang.
After handing a bottle to everyone, Heisenberg smiled and clinked his bottle against theirs.
"To an ordinary — but exceptionally lovely — morning!" he said.
But just as he finished, Clark across the table cut in with a grin,
"And to Great-Grandpa for actually waking up at six o'clock!"
"Ha?!" This was Heisenberg.
"What?" This was Lois.
"Does Teacher usually wake up really late?" This was Victor.
Everyone muttered among themselves as they took a sip of beer, then ate and chatted.
In the midst of it, Clark looked at Cyborg and asked quietly,
"You're calling Great-Grandpa 'Teacher'...?"
"Yes. Mr. Heisenberg has decided to teach me how to become a better version of myself. I figured it was only right to call him Teacher!"
"I see. Well, you're pretty lucky. Oh, right."
Clark pulled Lois closer and introduced her softly.
"I haven't introduced you yet. This is Cyborg — Victor Stone. And that's the Flash from Central City — Barry Allen!"
At Clark's introduction, Cyborg nodded naturally at Lois.
As for the Flash...
He just blushed and gave an incredibly shy smile.
Watching this, it suddenly hit Heisenberg!
Had the Flash just now not said a single word?
So the secret to shutting the Flash up... was simply to have a few more women in the group.
This virgin was ridiculously shy!!!
/-\
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