Jason leaned in with interest and lowered his voice. "What do you mean?"
"If Darkseid really was behind this, then he should know his team's progress hasn't been going smoothly. If, while keeping an eye on Earth, he learned there was something here that he wanted even more, would he try to take it?"
"Not necessarily," Jason said. "That depends on how important it is to him. Otherwise, he might not be willing to expose Earth's power just to get his hands on it."
"We know what matters most to him. Darkseid in every universe wants the Anti-Life Equation. If we tell him there's a chance to obtain the Anti-Life Equation here, he'll be very likely to make a move. If he does, that proves it was him. After all, not many people understand the Anti-Life Equation so deeply. It couldn't be Batman, could it?"
Jason nodded. "That's a pretty good idea. But precisely because he knows so much about the Anti-Life Equation, it'll be hard to fool him. How do we make him believe we really have it?"
"We don't need to fool him, because the Anti-Life Equation is in our hands." Tim glanced at Pride's umbrella by the door. Jason looked at it too. The two exchanged a glance, then shouted in unison, "Professor—!!!"
"No." Pride did not even raise his eyes from the vegetables he was chopping. "You are not allowed to touch my umbrella."
"Oh, heavens, my dear Professor." Spinning like a ballet dancer, Tim drifted over to the kitchen island and sprawled across it. "We won't touch your umbrella. We just need the graffiti on it..."
"No." Pride refused flatly. Then he added, "If you have that much free time, go turn over the soil in the backyard."
Tim and Jason exchanged another look. Tim