As soon as Thor stepped into the conference room, he heard Bruce's voice.
"We don't need these survivors."
The tone was even, the word choice was precise, and not a single word was superfluous.
A classic Batman- style statement—drop the conclusion first, then wait for others to refute it.
Thor paused, leaning against the doorframe, not in a hurry to go in.
The light screen on the conference table had been turned off, indicating that they had not only watched the presentation but also held a discussion.
Clark's chair moved back half a step.
" Bruce, they're survivors," Clark began, "Whatever mistakes the Justice League made in that universe—"
"What did you do wrong?" John Stewart's voice cut in from the side. The Green Lantern Ring was dim, indicating he was in a bad mood.
"To lead a full-scale frontal assault without any prior intelligence about the enemy is not a mistake, it's suicide! No one with basic military training would make such a decision."
Thor raised an eyebrow at the doorway.
Okay, Green Lantern is right.
He felt the same way when he watched Superman in that universe make decisions. "Why don't you at least send a scout to check things out first?!"
Wally leaned back in his chair, feet propped on the table, looking unusually serious.
"To put it bluntly, the way Earth was ravaged is 99% due to their Superman. Impulsive decisions, leading people to their deaths, and creating a completely unmanageable mess."
He paused after speaking, then added, "If I were the Flash from that universe, I'd probably want to strangle him."
Thor mentally gave Wally an extra point.
Diana stood up, making a great commotion that caused her chair to slide back half a foot.
"Foolish!" Her voice was sharp. "How could the me of that universe—she—allow such a thing to happen? As a warrior, she doesn't even have the most basic battlefield judgment? That's not courage, that's trampling on life!"
As Thor watched Diana rage, he thought to himself that this woman really didn't hold back when she was berating her parallel universe counterpart.
Clark did not defend his other self.
Thor noticed this.
Clark didn't even try to say anything like "maybe he had his reasons."
After watching that video, he knew perfectly well that the Superman from another universe was completely undeniable.
But Clark is Clark.
"But those survivors are innocent." He leaned forward. "No matter what mistakes the leaders made, those who followed them can't—"
" Clark," Bruce interrupted him.
The meeting room fell silent.
Bruce braced himself on the table, leaning slightly forward, his eyes beneath the mask fixed on Clark.
"Have you ever thought about what would happen after the Justice Lord incident? What if this world suddenly had a Superman, a Batman, or a Wonder Woman— "
He paused for a moment, "What will the public think?"
Clark closed his mouth.
Thor stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, his mind racing.
Justice Lord —that's an old scar on this universe.
In a parallel universe, the Justice League turned evil and became a dictator, nearly destroying Earth as well.
After that incident, the general public's acceptance of the concept of "another Superman " was about the same as accepting a nuclear bomb falling into their backyard.
Bruce's stab was well-placed; it wasn't that he didn't want to help, but rather that the social repercussions of helping would be uncontrollable.
"Vote," Bruce said.
The result was predictable: five to one.
Clark lowered his head, placed his hands on the table, and remained silent for several seconds.
That pose made him look less like Superman and more like a father being informed at a parent-teacher conference that his child's grades were bad.
He looked up at the doorway.
" Thor."
Thor straightened up from the doorframe and sauntered inside. "I heard you."
"Do you have a place to put them?" Clark's tone was pleading, though he tried to suppress it.
"Yes," Thor nodded casually. "My territory, Frost City, is being expanded and we're short-staffed."
Clark's shoulders relaxed, the tension finally released. "Then I'll leave it to you. Make sure they're settled."
"Definitely." Thor walked outside, took a couple of steps, then turned to look at Clark. "After all, having Superman around makes moving bricks incredibly easy."
Clark paused for a moment, his expression quite interesting; the gratitude hadn't completely faded, but confusion had already surfaced.
"Moving... bricks?"
Thor didn't explain, he just waved his hand.
How many tons of building materials can Superman move in a day?
What about Kara?
How would you rate Batman's urban planning skills?
Constantine... never mind, that guy's only worth the price of a doorman.
We need to get in touch with Emma Frost as soon as possible and get her to come up with a complete plan.
The points system is tiered, and the high-level redemption options are so competitive that people have to work incredibly hard to reach them.
Place the resurrected loved ones at the very top, and set the Contribution Points requirement to a position that inspires despair but doesn't lead to complete abandonment.
" Thor."
He had already reached the door, and had just stepped out.
The voice behind me was soft, dry, and devoid of warmth.
"Thanks."
It's Bruce.
Thor stopped.
Everyone else in the conference room looked at Bruce, their expressions varying.
Clark was clearly taken aback. In all the years he had known Bruce, he could count the number of times those two words had come out of his mouth on one hand.
Thor knew what he was talking about.
It wasn't for the survivors, nor for the vote just now.
They are the parents.
Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne were resurrected by Thor after the last incident.
For him, it was as easy as drinking water, but for Bruce Wayne—
That was the whole reason he lived for forty years.
Thor didn't turn around.
He leaned against the doorframe, tilted his head and thought for a moment, speaking as if he were discussing the weather.
"It's nothing."
"Anyway, even if you all get together, you can't make a complete set of parents."
His gaze swept over Clark — Krypton had exploded, and his biological parents were dead.
Glancing at Diana —a demigod, her mother on Themyscira, no father, practically molded from the earth—what kind of normal family is that?
The passage swept over John —a soldier's family, whose father had been killed in action.
Finally, it all came back to Bruce.
"Just take pity on you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he was already out the door.
The meeting room was silent for about five seconds.
Wally was the first to react. He opened his mouth, looked at Bruce, then at Clark, and whispered:
Did he just curse at all of us?