Superman set a cup of coffee in front of Batman, interrupting his thoughts. Batman glanced at Superman, then sank back into his reverie. Superman smiled helplessly.
"I was thinking... Clark, have you ever considered rebuilding Krypton?"
"Why ask that all of a sudden?" Superman looked at him.
"I'm merely suggesting a possibility." Batman rubbed his fingers along the coffee cup. "You've used the Central Codex too. Perhaps we could try Krypton's methods to help you reproduce your people..."
"Bruce, I don't know what you mean by that. If you want me to emphasize once more that 'you are my family,' I'd be happy to..."
"No, I'm serious." Batman said, "I'm not discussing questions like whether you identify as human or Kryptonian. I mean, why don't we revive Krypton?"
"God, I really should record that and play it on a loop on the giant screen at Luthor Corp headquarters. Then he'd probably move to another building."
Batman reached out and placed a hand on Superman's shoulder. "There's no downside for us, is there?"
"But there's no benefit either," Superman said. "What good does it do you to spend so much manpower and resources helping aliens revive a planet unimaginably far away?"
"If I help you, you'll help me. Won't you?"
Superman opened his mouth, then said, "If it's the children, they might thank you. Maybe those fanatics who desperately want to revive Krypton would thank you too."
Batman slowly turned away again, holding the coffee cup in both hands as he fell into thought. After a long while, he said, "I used to wonder about something."
"Wonder about what?"
"Why do you think China helps Africa?"
The change in topic was so abrupt that Superman did not react at first. He looked at Batman in confusion.
"What I mean is, we