"How did everything end up like this?"
Spider-Man sits in the spaceship's cabin, scratching his head as he watches the Apocalypse Star's core drawing closer. He mumbles, "If this were a comic, wouldn't we just secretly infiltrate, challenge the supervillains on this planet one by one, and then win against the ultimate boss to return home victorious? Who the heck is the villain now?!"
Damian waves a hand dismissively, saying, "What era are you living in, still hoping to be the hero who defeats the Demon King? Nowadays, it's fashionable for the hero to reach the Demon King's palace only to find that you yourself are the Demon King, just like us."
Spider-Man sighs deeply, "That's why I'm asking how things got to this point?! How did Bruce suddenly become a black tentacle monster? And why is Helen a monster larger than a star?"
"Keep out of Batman and Joker's affairs," Harley admonishes, curling her lip in distaste.
"So what should we do now?" Spider-Man asks, visibly lost. He originally believed they were here to combat evil aliens invading Earth, but it appears the evil aliens are them. Do they have to use their spaceship to invade other planets now?
Although Spider-Man's morality is almost limited to humans, or at least humanoid beings, those machine-transformed Type Demons look nothing like humans. Hence, when Spider-Man saw Little Bruce using an illusion to make Rashina kill her comrades, he didn't feel anything. But the idea of becoming an invader of other planets made him feel awkward.
At this point, Constantine lights a cigarette, looking a bit haggard, "Do you think Gotham just up and flew away for no reason? Even if they took to the skies to avoid the imminent danger of an alien invasion, the Apocalypse Star should take responsibility, right?"
Constantine exhales a smoke ring, patting Spider-Man's shoulder, "You can't expect these inhumane aliens to understand their mistakes and feel remorse. Sometimes you have to inflict some violence on these criminals. What we're doing is no different from what you're doing in Gotham."
Spider-Man's eyes widen slightly, he resolutely nods, "Yes, we are here to subject those criminals, who invaded Earth, to justice. They should apologize for their evil invasion and compensate for our losses."
"And they must guarantee not to attack any other planets," Constantine says, leaning back on the chair behind Spider-Man, "Moreover, in the future, we have to ensure they actively maintain cosmic peace, assist weak and underdeveloped civilizations, and together build a harmonious interstellar society."
Spider-Man nods enthusiastically, lighting up like a beacon. He jumps up from his chair, rubbing his wrists, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go convince them!"
As he turns around, Constantine's mouth twitches into a small smile. Harley, standing by the window, looks at the approaching core, and frowns, "Bruce just sent me the information about Apocalypse Star from Rashina's memory, but there's nothing particularly important. They may have been brainwashed. A portion of their memory is invisible."
Harley walks back to the table, hops onto a stool, and since there's no pen and paper, uses dark energy to write on the table. She says while writing, "Currently, Apocalypse Star under Darkseid's rule is a theocracy, with the state and church as one. However, Darkseid is not the emperor and religious leader, he's the god himself."
"Darkseid doesn't govern Apocalypse Star directly, playing more of the god and emperor's role. In contrast, all tedious affairs are handled by the State Lord and Pope, who are called Desaad. He's the controversial figure under Darkseid's command, holding the power in his hands."
"Simultaneously, Desaad is also the top scientist under Darkseid. The endless Type Demons surging out from sonic channels, their modifications were his doing. He's also skilled in controlling others' spirits and creating illusions, a pure sadist and psychopath."
"Desaad should be working in Darkseid's palace or Apocalypse Star's Science Center. His job's specifics are unclear, but Bruce assumes that he's probably upgrading equipment for the army that Darkseid is gathering."
"Sharing the title of scientist with him is Doctor Chaos, who can control the minds of the entire planet's residents. But Doctor Chaos isn't currently on Apocalypse Star. As Darkseid is calling for a massive army deployment, Doctor Chaos is capturing more prisoners in the surrounding galaxy, filling the vacancies due to logistical personnel mobilization."
"Another one to keep an eye on is Kindly Granny. While not much is recorded about her fighting abilities, she is the person Rashina fears the most. Kindly Granny trained Darkseid's bodyguard unit, called the Revenge Goddess Team, and Rashina is a member."
"Kalibak is Darkseid's eldest son, but according to Rashina, Darkseid does not like this son. He's not treated as a prince but is a member of the Dark Elites. However, he's only the second-strongest warrior under Darkseid."
"The strongest is Mantis, but Rashina doesn't know his specific abilities. Apart from him, there is the Savage Wolf we've seen before. He's Darkseid's strongest military commander, but it seems even Darkseid does not trust him."
"As for Kant and Weiman... Dead men tell no tales. From Rashina's perspective, there's nothing noteworthy about their combat records."
"So what are we going to do now?" Spider-Man turned to her and asked.
"Bruce thinks we should gather the power of the Apocalypse star to fight the Joker together, and I agree. You would not want to know how powerful the Joker's destructive force is. The infamous Dark Elites under Darkseid's command are like innocent babies compared to him."
Spider-Man was taken aback for a moment, then asked in surprise: "Wait, so our goal going to the core of the Apocalypse star is to get reinforcements?"
"What else?" Harley asked, spreading her hands. "You're not seriously thinking of going alone to try to stop those two monsters, are you?"
Spider-Man felt a struggle in his heart, but ultimately decided to agree with Harley's idea. The Dark Elites, as far as Harley described, sound very outdated, merely consisting of extraterrestrial mad scientists and super-powered warriors with no notable narrative value, fitting perfectly into a children's cartoon.
However, Little Bruce and Helen are a bit more complex. Firstly, they are both children. Secondly, a boy and a girl; Helen has two dads, and they are Batman and the Joker. Little Bruce uses the power of the Dark God and the Outer God. Helen is an alien monster from another universe with unknown background. The level of trendiness of these two is beyond the word "new", more like "trendy".
Regardless of how he looked at it, Spider-Man thought letting Little Bruce and Helen continue like this might not just endanger one or two planets, but the entire cosmos. Comparatively, the villains on Apocalypse Star pose much less threat so they can be put aside for now. Cooperation, if needed, is not out of the question.
"So, who do you think we should look for first?" Constantine, extinguishing the cigarette in his hand, asked. He shook his head and said, "Because I really don't think these aliens are going to go along with our plan."
"Even if they don't want to cooperate, they'll have to." Harley sighed and said, "Darkseid won't take lightly to these two monsters running wild on his planet. In due time, you'll see the Dark Elites of the Apocalypse Star teaming up against these two bosses, and all we need to do is ensure the ones we bring along are all top-tier, and ensure the rookies stay out."
"Why's that? Wouldn't it be better to bring more people?"
Harley clenched her fist and pointed to the window with her thumb, and said, "Have you forgotten how Rashina just died? Little Bruce's abilities lean towards illusion techniques and psychic control. Helen is a perfected evolving creature. Not long from now, the battlefront would take place on the psychic level; those who are of a low-ranking level and have poor gear will just become minions of the bosses."
"More importantly, if those mad scientists don't know their own capabilities and insist on joining the battle, how are we going to fetch the technology we want in the end? What about the war reparations?"
Spider-Man slapped his head and said, "So we have to be their bodyguards?!"
"Of course, not everyone is qualified to participate in the war between Batman and Joker. We need to screen out those who can contribute, trashing the useless ones, and protect the ones that are useful to us, and this last bit is very important."
Harley looked out of the spaceship and said, "I have a premonition that this battle will be much larger than we have anticipated. The whole Apocalypse star might be destroyed. Protecting the valuable assets of Apocalypse Star is also protecting our assets, isn't it?"
"Isn't that an exaggeration?" Damian said, "No matter how big those monsters are, their destruction potency has a limit. The size of this planet is millions of times bigger than Earth. Talking about total annihilation seems a bit too premature."
"I support Harley." Constantine said. His faces appeared a little dark, but no one noticed probably because his face usually depicted tiredness and hardship. Reading any additional information from it proved challenging for a common man.
Only Harley shot him a glance as if in thought, but she didn't expose him. In fact, she had long seen that Constantine harbored ill intentions. His claim of coming to this alien planet to evade his debts was a lie that deceived nobody, but what perplexed Harley was that this weather-beaten eccentric mage didn't seem to have an intent of harming them; perhaps he had his own motives.
In the end, they reached consensus about what they wanted to achieve. In order to prevent the planet Apocalypse from falling into chaos in the upcoming turmoil, especially to prevent the precious Earth's inheritance and forthcoming war reparations from being damaged, they were to first get to the core to secure those invaluable resources and control those unrelated personnel who were not qualified to participate in Batman and Joker's fight.
At this time, Desaad, who had just emerged from Darkseid's palace, wore a gloomy expression. Just a few minutes ago, Darkseid had berated him with unprecedented anger and demanded him to investigate the cause of the current chaos on the Apocalypse star.
Desaad, filled with anger and gloominess, had just returned to his laboratory when he received another piece of bad news. The first port of the Apocalypse Star had disappeared.