The battle in Paris City was going smoothly, with the plan to dodge the brunt of the attack being very suitable for the current situation. Although Batman, who was part of the fighting group, was being chased all over the city in a frantic escape and could be said to be completely overpowered, unable to fight head-on, and struggling even to flee, the capture group had already seized a few hundred personalities. Moira had them suspended above the machine's furnace.
The White Can dispatched drones from its airborne base to deliver monitoring devices to where the machine was located. As the number of personalities gathered increased, the machine sensibly detected brainwave fluctuations that were different from before.
This proved that the plan could very well be effective. David's consciousness had not completely vanished but was hiding within all the personalities alongside the divided energy. If a sufficient number of personalities were gathered, it was possible to awaken him. Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
But things were not going so smoothly for the Luminous Alliance. The filthy thing inside the time stream was difficult to capture by conventional means, and after deducing that it might be the scheme of some backstage manipulator, they also did not dare to act recklessly.
Originally, they could have sought out some more powerful entities to make a deal with and let them do the capturing—for instance, Stark could have contacted Death Spider-Man, having been to the Temple of Eternity before. If this thing was indeed proven to be highly dangerous, asking for help from these gods would have been quite normal.
But the problem lay in what could happen if this guy really was a backup embryo sent by some powerful entity from the other side. What would be the manner of the embryo's landing? Contact? Or might it parasitize after being eliminated?
Since they had no clue who the opponents were or how powerful they might be, sending a powerful entity and getting it parasitized instead would only make things more troublesome. Thus, they ultimately decided to send a portion of Kang's clones and employees of the Time Management Bureau to do the capture.
Kang's clones were infinite and not valuable, and as long as they were under the supervision of the prime body, they could be destroyed immediately, even if parasitized. The employees of the Time Management Bureau were no longer time criminals but many clones, using the cloning technology that created Riley. They were equipped with the standard gear of the Time Management Bureau, which was basically also considered infinite.
This approach resembled the Exhaustion Method. If they could find the trace of the monster, they could instantly form an encirclement. As for how to deal with it, they should find a strategy after a few encirclements.
However, just then, the Time Management Bureau brought more news: something else was within the time stream.
This thing was much stranger than the monster. The monitoring staff searched back and forth without being able to see its form, yet every monitoring device insisted there was something there, leaving the staff utterly confused.
In the end, both Nick and Stark were alarmed. One went to watch the monitoring devices and the other to adjust the equipment. The two busied themselves for a long time but still could not find what that thing was.
Even Stark had already gone into his Iron Demon God Form and took a direct look at the time stream, yet he still saw nothing.
Although this entity lingered in the time stream, it did not show any harm, so everyone was hesitant to attack it directly. Ultimately, it was Loki who proposed a method.
"I've looked at the profiles of David's personalities you provided earlier. One of them is called the Prophet, right? A blue-skinned woman who claims to know the answer to every question in this world but can only be asked three questions at a time. Can't we find a way to ask her?"
Although this method was strange, it seemed feasible, especially since Moira, the boss of the X-Alliance, was on their side. Moreover, it was apparent to everyone that although Moira verbally insisted on destroying the personalities to mend the heavens with their energy, she still very much wanted to see David. After all, she was David's mother in fantasy, and she also considered David to be her son.
In the end, Stark relayed the message to the White Can through Ultron, who disguised himself as Jarvis to prevent direct retribution from the White Can on the spot. The White Can then communicated this message to Moira through the dispatched drones.
Moira found the Prophet, but the Prophet stated that the questions had to be asked by a person, not a machine. In the end, they decided to let the Prime Universe's Batman ask.
Batman's strength was not outstanding among the group of demons and monsters, and his role in battle was not very effective. It would be better to make full use of his advantage in wisdom, especially since that entity came from their universe, and Batman should bear some responsibility.
After learning about the situation, Batman formulated three questions and then went to the Prophet's residence.
The blue-skinned female personality was floating in mid-air. Before Batman could ask, the Prophet spoke, "I was David's elementary school teacher, and he was also my favorite student. After I died from liver cancer, he absorbed my soul, bringing me here."
"I hope you can help him. He is not a madman, but a good kid who treasures his friends. I am sorry for all the destruction caused by the uncontrollable personalities, but if David is still there, I think we have a chance to make amends."
Batman nodded slightly, without commenting further. He simply said, "My friends have run into a little trouble. They need to know the true identity of an unobservable entity."
The Prophet's eyes gleamed, evidently ready. She said, "You can ask me three questions, and I can assure you that the answers to these three questions will be accurate and true."
"What is the name of the unobservable entity that the Luminous Alliance in this universe is searching for, an entity that exists deep within the time stream?"
The Prophet fell silent for a long time, her eyes growing brighter and brighter until light shot out from them. She almost screamed the name—"Franklin!"
With a whoosh, the light in her eyes went out completely. The Prophet looked at Batman and said, "He saw me, he's coming!"
Batman froze, then swiftly turned around to see a point of light appearing behind him. A figure emerged from the light, and it wasn't until its form became fully visible in front of Batman that he realized it was a boy.
It's not exactly accurate to call him a boy, he appeared to be around the same age as Harley and Barry, a middle school-aged teenager, except he had dazzling blonde hair and eyes that were even bluer than Batman's.
He floated in midair, seeming to wear no clothes, but the light covered most of his body, making him look very sacred. Batman, however, did not let his guard down, squinting his eyes as he stared at him and asked in his usual tone, "Who are you?"
"Franklin," came a slightly hoarse voice from within the light, a common teenager's voice going through the change of puberty.
"Who is Franklin?"
"I come from the future," he said. "I am here on someone's request to remind you that you can release the time abilities within David's personality, enter the time stream, and kill the Godspeed Reaper."
Batman was inwardly surprised but showed nothing, while the Luminous Alliance's base erupted into chaos.
"Who is he? Why does he know these things?" Strange asked. "Especially, why does he know about the Godspeed Reaper, and what does it all have to do with him?"
Stark, however, had a strange expression on his face. Everyone looked at him, and after a long pause, Stark said, "In fact, during the last few upgrades, I took a peek at Reed Richards, but don't get me wrong, it's definitely not to compare our future achievements or anything, I was just worried he might cause major chaos."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Iron Man," Loki said with dismissive praise. "The very paragon of justice among all superheroes. Tell us, what's the deal with Reed Richards?"
"Many universes' Reeds married Susan, uh, Susan is… well, anyway, they had a son named Franklin Richards, and this child is incredibly powerful, far beyond what one could imagine."
"Are you saying this boy is our universe's Franklin?"
"I'm afraid so, but it doesn't make sense," Stark said with some confusion. "Reed and Susan aren't together now, let alone married with children, and the two of them don't seem likely to spark any romance, so how did this…"
"None of that matters now," Strange said. "What powers does this Franklin have? Why would he know what we are currently experiencing?"
"He can travel through time, and he can also foresee the future… don't look at me like that, I told you he's strong."
"He said he was entrusted by someone, but who? Reed?" Strange frowned deeply, seemingly somewhat repulsed by the ability to foresee the future.
Stark shook his head to indicate he didn't know either.
Franklin landed on the ground and quickly turned into a boy wearing a normal cartoon-patterned T-shirt. He said to Batman, "The personalities are David's most cherished friends. If you use their lives to threaten him, David would only be provoked, leading to even more extreme actions."
White Can, in the base, stared at the instruments when suddenly his face changed, and picking up the walkie-talkie, he said into it, "No, Moira, don't gather them together, put them down quickly, their fear is morphing into something else, and it's going to be terrifying…"
"Moira, Moira." White Can's voice came from above. "The psychic space is getting more and more unstable. What's happening over there?"
Moira immediately lowered the tied-up personalities from above, but it was already too late. The powerful ripples emanated from the center, and Moira was flung out, crashing heavily to the ground.
A pair of eyes flickered in and out of visibility within the energy waves, filled with anger and resentment. In the center of the fading ripples, unstable energy was gathering into a large figure, like a monster slowly rising from the water.
Suddenly, a glowing figure appeared above it, and Franklin suddenly shouted, "David, do you remember me? I'm Franklin!"
The figure paused abruptly, and Franklin continued to shout, "Remember that summer camp? I was late, and you pleaded for me with the instructor. Later, when the instructor wanted to harm Diana and you, I used the tree branches to save you!"
The huge figure was stiff for a long time until it slowly dissipated, returning to the calmness of the water surface, while another smaller figure emerged.
"How come you're here, Franklin?" the voice of another teenager spoke.
"I'm sorry, I lied to you, David. I wasn't really a camper that summer. I joined the camp to find you, which is why I was late."
"I didn't want to show any extraordinary abilities in front of you; I just wanted to make friends. So, I didn't peek into the future and didn't know the instructor would dare to do such a thing, leading to an accident. I'm sorry."