radiothebook Chapter 346 This world will never let you down
Chapter 346 This world will never let you down
Chapter 346 This World Will Never Let You Down (Bonus Chapter)
"good."
Damian felt his father stroking his head, his eyes gleaming with a purple light, and he trembled all over.
The moment Chen Tao appeared, he first cut open his own chest, then took out a magic scroll that he had prepared beforehand and tore it open.
Immediately afterwards, a magical shield appeared outside the Titan Tower, completely isolating the entire area from Maxwell Lord's perception.
Then he turned his head and looked at Damian.
"Father……"
"Shh..."
"Don't say any more."
He heard his father make a shushing gesture.
"I know, Damian." Chen Tao looked at young Robin. He sighed.
It must have been tough for Damian.
Fighting Maxiveld was not originally his responsibility. He was only 6 years old, and although his mother had trained him to be a qualified assassin, it was of little use against a telepathic user of Maxiveld's caliber.
Damian trembled. Perhaps at first, due to the nature of Lord's abilities, he took the other's orders as his own heartfelt thoughts, but now that Batman appeared in front of him and he felt the arrangements he had made, Damian immediately realized that this was not what he wanted to do.
However, even though he tried very hard to resist Maxwell Lord's control, he still couldn't escape this pre-ordained control.
"Father……"
Clang!
Chen Tao, controlling his mud-faced clone, quickly made a move, flicking away Damian's dagger that was about to pierce his palm. How could this kid be so ruthless? He planned to stab himself the moment he realized he couldn't control himself.
"Father...electric...electric shock to me..."
Damian said haltingly, "Don't be reluctant."
Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle...
Then, the next second, he was electrocuted by Chen Tao and started convulsing.
"Oh, of course I wouldn't hesitate. I've already made preparations beforehand," Chen Tao said. He took back the stun gun he had just shoved into Damian's waistband with one hand, and with the other hand he pulled out another one and shoved it into Damian's forehead again.
He muttered to himself, "After all, this clone of mine is made up of Clayface and nanobots. If it were really teleported to the vicinity of a black hole, I wouldn't be able to save everyone."
As he spoke, he struck Damian twice more, causing the man to jump wildly like a corpse before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
"It's alright, it's a safe voltage... it won't kill anyone. But it can stop Lord's control."
Chen Tao looked at Damian, who was still twitching on the ground every now and then, and said, "You've worked hard."
Chen Tao acted without hesitation; he wasn't the kind of soap opera hero who agonized over "Oh, I can't bear it." Since preparations were already made, he simply executed the plan; there was nothing more to say.
Chen Tao glanced at the Teen Titans members lying haphazardly around him and his own Robin Killer Croc, then shrugged.
The situation is almost resolved now. Without Damian's control, these teenage Titans have virtually no ability to resist, and Killer Croc is even less capable.
Without Damian's control, the surrounding disc-like teleportation devices naturally wouldn't activate. Chen Tao picked one up and examined it carefully. It's true that Maxwell Lord really spared no expense; these things didn't have any on/off switches. They were completely controlled by reading brainwaves through a connection with the human brain.
Developing something like this isn't an easy task in itself. Hmm, not bad technology. I'll take it back; it's mine now.
Chen Tao snorted, then cut open the belly of his clone, intending to stuff the disc into his hollow abdominal cavity.
In short, it seems that the situation is now completely under control, right?
But... oh, of course... he certainly considered another possibility.
hum!
Just as Chen Tao was stuffing the disc into his stomach, he heard a loud noise coming from the side.
In an instant, all the discs emitted a blue glow, followed by a faint hum, as if activated by something. Chen Tao turned his head and saw Talia wearing a tight leather outfit, holding a katana from the Assassin's Guild, with light brown hair, swaying her voluptuous figure, walking in from the main entrance like a beautiful snake.
This looks like a classic look from the Golden Age, as iconic as Catwoman's cat headgear.
But at this moment, Chen Tao clearly saw that Talia's eyes were turning purple and her whole body was trembling. Like Damian, she was completely under Maxwell Lord's control.
"My love... I'm... sorry, I'm really... so sorry..."
Talia apologized, but one of her hands involuntarily rose up and pressed her middle and ring fingers against her temples.
Immediately afterwards, the disc-shaped device, which had also ceased functioning after Damian was knocked unconscious by the electric shock, began to vibrate along with Talia's movements. They were reactivated and began to fulfill their duties, which had been interrupted halfway through.
"My love..."
Talia was clearly lucid, unlike Maxwell Lord's actual state of mind when his superpowers were manifested.
She should have been like Damian before, with her perception completely distorted, to the point that she took Maxwell Lord's order to "destroy the entire Teen Titans" as her own heartfelt desire to "destroy the Teen Titans and prove herself to her father," and thus actually took action to hurt people.
Instead of becoming a mere puppet controlled by Maxwell Lord, it's clear that this isn't simply a matter of superpowers controlling him, but rather something else mixed in, such as... magic.
This mental distortion was incredibly powerful, even leading Damian to believe that he hacked into Batman's computer purely on his own abilities, not with Maxwell Lord's help, thus obtaining the plan to defeat the Teen Titans. Otherwise, even with Damian's hacking skills, even if he gained access to Batman's computer and obtained what he wanted, it probably wouldn't be enough to erase the traces of his intrusion.
However, this kind of mental distortion, though powerful, is not without its drawbacks. If it finds that the target's thoughts are too distorted from its usual thoughts, it will definitely alert the target. But this ability to forcibly control the body will not. Although Talia can now summon Chen Tao, she still cannot stop herself from constantly activating the teleportation magic circle.
Buzzing...
A series of soft humming sounds rang out, and a large amount of blue light lit up from the area around the entire Titan Tower. Outside the magical shield that Chen Tao had used to isolate Maxwell Lord's senses, a new magical shield also rose up, completely blocking all the escape routes for everyone inside.
This is the trap Maxwell Lord prepared for Batman, a deadly scheme with no chance of survival. Even if Batman manages to escape the black hole using his superpowers, he could never save all the members of Titan Tower. And this impossible effort would consume a great deal of Batman's time, allowing Maxwell Lord to calmly carry out all his plans.
"My love!!!"
As the protective shield fully rose, Talia seemed to regain her senses. She let out a scream and then lunged at Chen Tao and Damian, yelling, "What have I done?!"
"It's alright, it's alright," Chen Tao said with a smile. "I'll take care of everything."
"I...I...I remember everything, I was..."
"Ah, no need to mention it again." Talia was taken aback. She saw that Batman was holding her delicate hand. Batman's large hand grasped her hand, which had become somewhat rough from years of wielding a sword, but was still fair and delicate, just like the time when they held hands under the moon many years ago.
"You can always look to me. Look at me, Talia. Everything will be alright."
Talia heard Batman say, "When I show up here, you'll know nothing will happen. Everything will be alright."
A bitter smile played on Talia's lips. She pulled away from Batman's grasp: "I'm the one who led you to your death."
"Everything will be alright," he heard Batman say. "Don't you trust me at all?"
Then he muttered to himself, "Sigh, it's always like this. Everyone needs me. But anyway, things..."
Talia saw the sadness in Batman's eyes and couldn't bear to hear what he was about to say.
"It feels so familiar..." he said, feigning nonchalance.
Talia blinked.
Every glance and smile from him reminded her of the person she once loved, but she knew... it was definitely not him.
But it was him, Bruce Wayne, and their son, Damian Wayne. And he, Talia, was foolish enough to lead everyone to their deaths.
She should have realized all this; for so many years, Talia had genuinely believed she could be Batman's equal. This was the pride of the daughter of Rashomon; even as Batman's villain, she was one of the few who could fight him to a standstill.
If it were Batman, even without superpowers, he wouldn't be controlled by Maxwell Lord and would never kill anyone.
But Talia Augu failed; she was manipulated like a puppet, leading to her current predicament.
But she can still fix it all.
"I can save all of this."
Talia declared confidently, "I can do it, because I am Talia Augu!"
"Wh...what?"
She saw a look of confusion in the eyes of the one she loved.
Talia clutched her head: "If Maxwell Lord can control these devices through my mind, then I can too... my mind can too... open it up for me!!!"
Talia roared, then her voice turned into a scream. The entire Titan Tower trembled, shaking violently in anticipation of the impending teleportation.
The previously impenetrable magical shield suddenly opened a gap, allowing outside air to rush in violently. Talia didn't give Batman a chance to speak; she screamed with all her might, urging the magical artifacts created by the technological constructs to unleash a magical shockwave that blasted the astonished Batman and Damian out of the magical shield!
"My love..." In that final second, Talia and Batman locked eyes.
She saw her own image reflected in the other person's pupils.
"Keep moving forward... my love. Your story won't end here."
In that instant of eye contact that felt like an eternity, countless scenes flashed before Talia's eyes.
The man standing atop the dripping beast surveyed the entire world.
He confronts his father, and countless monsters. But no matter what he becomes...
"My dear, this world will never let you down..."
Never.
hum!
"I did it! I did it!"
The ground trembled even more violently, and Talia suddenly collapsed to the ground, trembling all over and breathing heavily.
After she lost control of the discs, excruciating pain swept through her entire body. But despite this…
"I did it! I got them out!"
She slumped to the ground, staring at the blue light emanating from it.
"A black hole..." She looked at the Teen Titans members lying haphazardly on the ground beside her.
At this point, she calmed down.
"It might not feel so bad to have a whole bunch of superheroes die with me."
she thinks.
Amidst the violent tremors, the teleportation magic circle finally reached its energy limit. Then, with a deafening roar, the entire Titantoposphere vanished into thin air.
With a loud crash, they fell to the ground. Talia opened her eyes and saw that the ground was all brownish-yellow sand.
Immediately afterward, a completely bewildered Atos appeared before Talia.
The other person was two or three meters tall, wearing a cooking apron, and using the red light ring to float in mid-air. He flew in through the window of the Titan Tower and looked at Talia, whose eyes were wide open.
"???"
"Where's Batman?" he asked. "Didn't Batman say he'd locate me here with a magic circle to teleport me to the edge of the black hole so I could take care of the wounded inside? My healing magic circle, food, and beds were all prepared. Where is he now?"
"oh!!!"
Athocitas poked his head out, and the Lord of the Red Lantern slapped his forehead: "Look at my eyes! Isn't the wounded right here?"
He flew to the Titans lying haphazardly in front of them. They were still unconscious, completely unaware that they had traveled thousands of miles from Earth directly to the Red Lantern Legion's lair.
Atos carefully lifted each unconscious fellow with his enormous hands. When it was Beast Boy's turn, even while unconscious, he instinctively transformed into a mammoth, startling Atos.
The massive Red Lantern rattled his menacing fangs: "What kind of monster is this?"
Despite muttering to himself, he still led everyone, including the dazed Talia, to the Red Lantern Legion's newly built headquarters.
Welcome to Ismot!
Then he pulled out a large bowl of strange-looking insects: "This is the meal I prepared for you!"
(End of this chapter)