Who Wants Steak?

"Why do I have to come along too?"

Raven, who had originally wanted to quietly slip back into the shadows upon seeing everything settle down, was instead caught by the shoulder and hoisted up by Shane as he leaped down from the sky.

"How long has it been since you had a proper meal? This is a rare opportunity to freeload off a rich guy."

Shane whispered to the uncomfortable Rachel.

"Let go! Anyone who gets too close to me brings misfortune!"

Rachel struggled a bit, even attempting to escape using magic, but Shane easily batted away those wisps of Magic smoke with a few slaps—smoke that ordinary flesh and blood should never have been able to touch.

"So you'd rather choose alienation and loneliness—but weren't you originally here on Earth to find warriors capable of helping you fight your father?"

Shane lowered his voice, glancing at the three figures walking ahead.

Green Lantern had already doused his glow, otherwise, a ball of Green Light walking down the streets of Gotham's night would still have been a bit too eye-catching.

Batman was asking Nightwing some questions, seemingly related to some details of the time Nightwing and Shane had spent together over the past three days.

Rachel closed her eyes in annoyance, took back her magic, and stubbornly retorted.

"But after observing these past few days, I feel like there are simply no warriors on Earth capable of fighting 'Him'."

There was no helping it; she simply couldn't break free. Now, any mystical-side energies like magic or witchcraft that encountered Shane's body were forced to manifest only physical-level effects.

And yet Shane possessed a physique far surpassing ordinary humans.

"Then why do you keep wandering around on Earth? Besides wronging yourself, you can't achieve your goal at all."

Possessing worldly experience far beyond his age, and having touched Raven's soul and a portion of her memories, Shane directly pierced through the girl's awkward pretense.

Rachel stopped speaking, whether out of anger or speechlessness, and glared with deadpan eyes as Shane half-kidnapped her forward.

Batman still hadn't brought Shane to that Batcave hidden beneath Wayne Manor.

Instead, it was another of the sly rabbit's three burrows.

Hidden inside a sewer entrance on the edge of a cliff.

Shane, who had missed out on touring the comic-book holy site, let out a covert sigh, then released his grip on Raven's arm and walked frankly into the center of the dim hall, which felt like a three-way tribunal.

Batman, who had safely stowed away the Yellow Lantern ring, looked at Shane, while Nightwing announced he was going to go rustle up some food and disappeared down a certain passage.

Only Green Lantern took advantage of an unobserved dark corner to scan the nooks and crannies of this Batcave with his ring.

He tried to find other special materials in this Batcave that he knew nothing about.

"Your body should have undergone some changes?"

Batman said in a low voice.

Although it was phrased as a question, it somehow carried a confirming tone.

Shane nodded frankly and cast an amused look at Green Lantern, who, upon noticing the gaze, hurriedly straightened up and whistled as if he had done nothing at all.

"That tingling sensation is still there even now, and I'm very certain the source is on Green Lantern."

Several more gazes locked onto Hal Jordan.

Hal Jordan instinctively covered his ring, then swung his hand behind him to hide it, as if that could suppress the leakage of emotional spectrum energy.

"Why is everyone looking at me? The archives on Oa have never recorded a case where the emotional spectrum could directly catalyze the evolutionary physical constitution of a species."

After offering this explanation, Hal Jordan seemed to convince himself on the spot, and his posture grew righteous and open once more.

"Kid, are you really from that Strum planet or whatever? Or did you just pop over from another universe?"

"It's Viltrum."

Shane casually corrected Hal's mistake, then nodded, a trace of worry clouding his expression.

"As for the question of whether I might be from another universe, I thought so at first too."

Shane gestured toward Raven, who was likewise huddled in a dark corner.

"I grew up on Viltrum, and our civilization conquered hundreds of surrounding life-bearing planets, yet we never saw any magicians."

"But ever since coming to Earth, there are simply too many magicians here—that doesn't fit the Worbakant Law. Judging by the density of magicians on Earth, even if you spread it out across the entire galaxy for calculation, with all the civilizations Viltrum has conquered, we should have at least run into a few."

This bullshit law was something Shane had made up on the spot, but he figured Batman was so well-read in his lore that he ought to know similar professional terminology on Earth.

Sure enough, Batman accepted Shane's explanation.

"There's a similar Drake Equation on Earth, but it can likewise be applied to the probability algorithm for the emergence of super-powered individuals or magicians within an intelligent civilization."

"Yes, so after seeing so many magic users, I once thought I might have come to a new universe."

A shadow crossed Shane's brow.

"But that Yellow Lantern ring, it called me Zhent Thragg from the Virgo Supercluster."

"If it's a different universe, what right does it have to recognize my origins and my true name?"

Everyone once again turned their gaze toward Hal Jordan. Only he was a member of the Lantern Corps, and no one present understood the Power Ring's selection mechanism better than he did.

Hal Jordan didn't stand on ceremony either, clearing his throat with a cough as he made a fist and swaggered out of the shadows.

"The true name thing is unquestionable. Any name you've used on Earth, even if any Lantern Corps member is at the far end of the universe, they can retrieve it—this is based on, based on, I remember it's based on the application of some underlying cosmic logic."

Batman quietly watched Hal, who was exposed for his lack of studiousness in the Green Lantern Corps, show his awkwardness, and promptly followed up with a question.

"And the Virgo Supercluster?"

Only then did Hal's attitude turn serious and earnest again.

After all, this involved a terrifying warlike civilization, and the species of this civilization could even evolve with the aid of the emotional spectrum, yet an individual of that kind was standing right before him.

"That place is sixty million light-years away from us and not in my jurisdiction, but I've already submitted a request to my colleague responsible for that sector. However, scanning an entire galaxy cluster in detail is time-consuming and laborious, and the task might take several years."

Hal Jordan tapped his ring.

"What I can answer for now is that, at least in Oa's database, there is no planet called Viltrum in the Virgo Supercluster."

Batman looked back at Shane.

"We will still maintain our vigilance regarding Viltrum for now. Right now, we need to figure out other matters."

Shane nodded in understanding.

"I know, test my evolved bodily structure, right? You've already gotten all my data from Mr. Bruce Wayne?"

Green Lantern silently glanced sideways at Batman.

Batman's expression was utterly nonchalant, and he admitted it straight out.

"Yes, Bruce should have told you that he has some cooperation with the Justice League, so it wasn't difficult for me to get data from him."

Hal Jordan raised his head, gazed up at the ceiling of the Batcave, and gave a couple of shudders.

Shane glanced at him.

"Does this Green Lantern gentleman need to use the restroom?"

Batman simply pointed Green Lantern in the direction of a restroom, and the latter offered heavy-toned thanks before walking away slowly.

Meanwhile, Shane followed Batman in the opposite direction.

Nightwing walked back into the hall holding a plate of steaming-hot food, looked around, and saw no one else except for Raven standing silently in the dark corner.

"Uh, I've got some freshly warmed steak here, does anyone want some?"