While they were cleaning up the battlefield, Batman told Shane outright that he might need to stay in this world a while longer.
Shane was not surprised. Superheroes were generally like that.
Dealing with Superman and the Superman Regime did not mean the problems had disappeared.
He could even tell that Batman very much wanted him to stay and help, too, though Batman was being far too oblique and awkward about that part.
Shane glanced at Zhou Zhanxie.
Since The Spectre and Trigon had been ruled out as suspects, Zhou had recently begun recalculating the source of the aura of Hell.
But Shane could already tell that Zhou alone would probably never uncover anything.
A "dark force" so mysterious that even Mr. Mxyzptlk could not communicate anything about it was far beyond Zhou's current ability to contend with.
Still, whether that aura had anything to do with this world becoming "distorted" was a possible starting point for an investigation.
So Shane gave an affirmative answer to Batman's faintly hopeful hint.
"I'm fine with that, but the work ahead shouldn't require us to stay here all the time. We'll still need to find time to go back and deal with some problems in our own universe."
Batman nodded, saying that a transit device capable of maintaining a stable connection between the two worlds was already under development. He specifically mentioned that the research approach Chronos had provided had been an enormous help in developing it.
"The other Batman has already approved Chronos's request to visit the Fortress of Solitude."
Shane looked a little blank. He stood there thinking for quite a while before finally remembering that he had promised Chronos that.
Fortunately, Rachel had reminded him at the time, and he had sent Chronos's idea to Batman in advance.
Otherwise, he