Justice League

Meanwhile, the two were still arguing, neither willing to back down, when Eiffel gave two short beeps and reminded them, "Sorry, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Stark is online. He's asking where you are."

After Aeo had raced off at full speed, Stark lost track of him. He had no choice but to fly back to Wayne Tower, only to find he'd made the trip for nothing. With no other options, he had to ask Bruce to help find out where Aeo was.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., call Bruce for me. Tell him I lost track of Aeo, and ask if he knows where he is now."

After urgently alerting Stark to go rescue Son of Krypton, the old man finally remembered he'd completely forgotten about Tony. He couldn't help but press the communicator against his earlobe. "Hey, Tony, it's all right. Zod's back with me. Yes, we'll be back at Wayne Tower soon."

Then he turned to the still-indignant boy and carefully chose his words. "Listen, Aeo, I don't object to you investigating what happened and getting to the bottom of it. I just hope your anger won't spill over onto too many innocent civilians. You know, the soldiers were only following orders..."

Aeo scoffed. "When they pick up rifles, they should understand they won't be facing flowers and milk, but iron and blood, fire and death. They can't just shrug it off by saying they were following orders!"

"Listen, Bruce." Aeo cut off what Bruce was about to say, a glint flashing in his eyes. "I don't want to be your enemy, but that doesn't mean I can't be. Don't push me..."

Bruce fell silent.

The atmosphere grew tense. Neither of them spoke; only the steady hum of the computer filled the room.

"Okay." After a long pause, Bruce broke the silence. "I'll help you investigate General Wicks."

He conceded a point. "Listen, even in war, you have to know who your enemies are. I don't think Director Fury and the others are likely to be behind this. If he'd really wanted to turn against you, he would have done it already. After the battle in Gotham City, he's still wary of you, but he won't use force against you again until he's sure he can win. So it can't be him."

"Besides, just as you said, S.H.I.E.L.D. can't be entirely uninvolved. It can't be a coincidence that they'd just left Tony's place, only for you to be attacked right afterward. There must be some connection they don't want anyone to know about. So the only possibility is that this organization has an informant inside S.H.I.E.L.D., and one with a fairly high rank. Otherwise, they couldn't know so much about you. Your importance must be among the highest-level secrets, so ordinary people definitely couldn't get access to it."

"..."

Just as you'd expect of Batman. His analysis was reasoned and convincing, and he'd even considered the possibility that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Aeo, who had been about to warn him, couldn't help falling silent.

"You think someone has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.?" At first, Aeo had only planned to secretly build up his strength and wait for the right moment to act. But after what had happened with Hydra, he finally understood that it was better to take the initiative than to keep getting beaten down. So he prompted Bruce, "Some other organization?"

"Exactly." Bruce nodded firmly. "Otherwise, how could your information have been exposed so quickly? I doubt even the military knows about you yet."

Aeo thought it over and slowly nodded.

"Then who would want to target you? Not S.H.I.E.L.D., not the military..." To show that he really was trying to help, Batman stepped forward and tapped a few keys on the keyboard.

"As far as I know, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded in the latter part of World War II. At first, it was just a loose organization focused on scientific research and arming soldiers with technology. It was established by Dr. Stark—yes, Tony's father—Dr. Pym, Agent Carter, and others. But in 1991, it was reorganized as the Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate, and Alexander Pierce was one of its directors at the time. In the new millennium, to deal with more complex international security issues, as well as paranormal and extraterrestrial events, it was renamed the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Nick Fury took over as director, and it's remained that way ever since..."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. gradually grew from a loose civilian organization into the behemoth it is today. Beyond the foresight of Dr. Howard, Dr. Pym, and the others, the real reason for its rapid growth was a highly classified operation signed by President Roosevelt after World War II..."

Aeo had to admit that Bruce might seem indifferent to everything, but behind the scenes, he'd clearly done a tremendous amount of preparation. He'd even dug up S.H.I.E.L.D.'s roots. That top-secret operation was Operation Paperclip. After World War II, President Roosevelt had allowed elite members and scientists from the Nazi Party and Hydra to "turn over a new leaf" and join S.H.I.E.L.D. That gave Hydra the chance to rise from the ashes.

Bruce clearly hadn't uncovered that part yet. He only said, "Given how classified the operation was, I still can't find out exactly what happened back then. But..."

A chilling light flashed in Bruce's eyes.

"Some top-secret documents from decades ago show that Captain America—that is, Captain Steven Rogers—and the Howling Commandos he led had a major enemy: a terrorist organization called Hydra..."

"Could that organization have survived after all? Or could some other terrorist group bent on destroying the world have appeared at some point? Once they learned where you came from, they might have seen it as a golden opportunity, and that's why they..."

"...That's why we can't rely on S.H.I.E.L.D. alone. We need a team! A team capable of standing up to S.H.I.E.L.D. and whatever organization might be behind it!" At last, Bruce voiced the idea he'd been planning for a long time.

"Only then can we truly save this country and the world if S.H.I.E.L.D.—or some other organization—ever gets out of control..."

"Zod, would you be willing to join this team?"

"..."

Aeo almost wanted to applaud Bruce and give him a thumbs-up. With so little information, he'd managed to guess nearly everything about Hydra and other sinister terrorist organizations. And that wasn't all—he was already putting his remarkable drive into building the Justice League. Though he hadn't named the team yet... He wanted to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra in check, curb their power and influence, and prevent them from threatening the public's safety and freedom...

Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. blowing up his house last time really shook him, Aeo thought to himself.

But...

Should I join or not?

Now that it had come down to it, Aeo hesitated.