Batman Had His Own Ways

The scene fell deathly silent.

By then, Kara had managed to stop her Heat Vision, though only barely. Since she hadn't controlled her energy, her eyes felt scorched, and wisps of heat still rose from them.

Harley Quinn gulped down the air, while Poison Ivy Pamela stood stunned and instinctively backed away from Kara.

If that beam of light had hit her plants...

They would have been burned to ashes in an instant!

If even the two women who knew Kara were reacting this way, it went without saying that Black Mask's men were even more terrified.

They were scared out of their wits and immediately ran.

Some even wet themselves on the spot.

Was this even human?

Harley Quinn, now recovered, looked at Kara standing frozen in place, then shoved Black Mask aside.

Black Mask had turned to charcoal. At the slightest touch, he crumbled into ash.

The intense Solar Energy had dried him out completely.

Kryptonian Heat Vision drew on the energy of the sun, and its temperature could exceed that of the sun's core.

Kara had only just displayed her abilities, but because she hadn't controlled them, the heat had been incredibly intense.

Even the building in front of her had been "sliced" in two by Kara's Heat Vision, let alone a person.

Harley Quinn wasn't afraid of Kara in the slightest. She ran straight up to her.

"Kara, are you okay?"

She pulled Kara into her arms. Her mind worked in its own peculiar way, and she instead exclaimed excitedly, "What was that just now? Can you do it again?"

As far as Harley Quinn was concerned, Kara had done this to save her.

She was an absolute treasure!

With a power like that, who would dare bully her again? She could just "stare" them to death.

But Kara didn't answer. She was overwhelmed with fear.

The last time she had shown even a little of her strength, her classmates had treated her like a monster.

This time, she had revealed even more!

Now she understood why her Godfather had told her not to show off her strength.

This was more than she could handle at her age.

But fortunately, there were two adults here.

Harley Quinn could tell at once that Kara was blaming herself, so she hurried to reassure her. "Kara, listen. This isn't your fault, okay?"

"He was trying to hurt you. You were just defending yourself!"

"You don't need to blame yourself. It was self-defense!"

As she spoke, Harley frantically signaled to Poison Ivy Pamela.

Poison Ivy was terrified of Kara now, afraid Kara might just stare her to death too.

But she took a deep breath and came over anyway. "That's right, Kara. You did the right thing. What we need to do now is leave before someone gets here."

"Right, we have to go!"

Harley Quinn immediately took Kara by the hand.

Kara knew that too, so she finally nodded and left with the two women.

Her face was expressionless, her nerves stretched taut.

Harley Quinn stopped talking and whispered to Poison Ivy, "Ivy, did you see that? If Kara stays with us, who in Gotham would dare bully us?"

"Are you crazy? She's still a kid, and she clearly can't control her powers."

"I don't care. She's a Metahuman. I've never seen power like hers. Even all of Gotham together wouldn't be a match for her."

Up on the rooftop, Batman watched the three of them leave.

He had only just arrived. At first, he hadn't thought Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy could have done anything like this, until he saw Kara.

"Master, are you saying that alien girl did it?"

"That's what it looks like."

Batman spoke as he descended to the ground and used advanced technology to reconstruct the scene.

The technology was impressive. It could not only identify those involved but also recreate every movement.

"Black Mask had grabbed Harley Quinn and seemed to be trying to strangle her. Then Kara lost control."

"Powerful energy shot from her eyes."

"Why her eyes?" Alfred asked, puzzled.

"Because her eyes were still red, and they were radiating heat."

Batman reasoned, "That means her body is tougher than an ordinary person's—stronger than anyone we've ever seen. That's the only way she could withstand such intense energy without her eyes being affected."

"If everyone on the planet she came from was as powerful as she is..."

"Then the whole Universe would be their colony," Alfred finished.

"Earth is fine for now, and she's the only one here. There's no need to worry about things we can't know, Master."

Batman didn't say more about that. "I suspect this isn't the extent of her abilities. What else can she do?"

Just then, Batman remembered his conversation with Li Ang on the rooftop.

She will become their god.

He hadn't understood it before. He'd assumed Kara was just a little stronger than most.

But now... he understood, at least a little.

Still, did humanity need a god above it all?

"Master, the police will be here soon."

"I know. I'll make them all 'keep quiet.'"

Batman looked around. Black Mask's men were scattered everywhere, but their tracks were easy for him to spot.

He immediately followed the trail to find Black Mask's men and "talk" to them.

Part of that talk involved telling them not to spread what had happened.

They had seen nothing and knew nothing.

As for how he would manage that?

Batman had his own ways.

Not long after Batman left, the Gotham Police Department finally arrived.

Commissioner Gordon looked at the scene and felt numb.

He had never seen anything like it.

Some unknown force had sliced the buildings ahead in two—and there was more than one.

If it hadn't stopped there and gone up into the sky, would all of Gotham have been split in two?

It seemed the other party had at least held back.

"What happened here?"

He immediately questioned his officers.

But they all shook their heads.

"There are no cameras nearby. There's a camera on another street, and it picked up Black Mask's men."

"Find them!" Commissioner Gordon ordered at once.

Just then, he saw a crowd of civilians arriving.

There were plenty of people in America who loved to gawk. They all wanted to find out what had happened as soon as possible.

There were reporters, too.

With no other choice, he had to handle their questions.

Then he spotted Li Ang in the crowd.

Commissioner Gordon's thoughts stirred.

Could this have something to do with him?

An officer came over. "Commissioner, we found Black Mask's men."

"Where are they?"

"Unconscious, and..."

"And what?"

"They seem to have mental problems. I suspect they inhaled Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. They're all ordinary people, so they may have a hard time coming around."

James Gordon heard this and immediately started turning it over in his mind.

Scarecrow wasn't the only one who had Fear Toxin...

What is he trying to do? What secret is he keeping from us?