When Diana was pulling him away, Su Ming turned his head and signaled to Deadshot, indicating for him to stay with the Suicide Squad in Diana's palace and not wander around. Something else would happen soon.
The two of them started their competition outside the palace by picking a random large rock.
Of course, in terms of raw strength, Diana was stronger than Su Ming. However, after losing in arm-wrestling, Su Ming won a round in archery against Diana.
Su Ming only needed a witness, and to ensure Diana survived, dragging things out seemed like a good plan. He had already decided they should compete in every Olympic event.
As the War God of Olympus, how could she not compete in all the Olympic events? That excuse made it impossible for Diana to refuse.
"But why does she keep flexing her muscles while casually asking me questions? Could this actually be some Amazonian seduction strategy?"
Su Ming started a long jump competition with Diana while silently pondering. He wanted a seduction attempt that didn't involve muscles and sweat!
But Su Ming was definitely winning the overall contest; he still had math and physics Olympiad competitions up his sleeve.
A few minutes earlier, Batman had returned to his room. Here, Superman and Barry had just about finished assembling two flying crafts capable of freely shrinking.
"That was exhausting..." Barry sat on the side, eating pizza with his hair in a mess. "Bruce, what's your next plan?"
Batman silently walked past the two, while Hawkgirl stepped out of the shadows behind him. Bruce, with a poker face, examined the flying crafts to ensure all the functions were operational.
"I'll be entering Clark's body."
"Cough, cough..." Barry nearly choked on his pizza, feeling that he must have overworked himself to the point of hearing Batman's coming-out announcement.
But seeing that even Hawkgirl had widened her eyes in shock, tongue out in surprise, Barry knew he hadn't misheard.
Batman had declared he was going to enter Superman's body...
Barry didn't know how to react. Should he oppose it? Or clap in approval?
J'onn materialized from the air, slowly descending to the ground. "I don't know what's going on here, but Bruce, Clark has a wife and a child..."
The Martian Manhunter had a lot of self-control; he wouldn't read a teammate's mind without permission, but he had almost done so just now.
J'onn diplomatically voiced his opposition—he didn't mind men being with men, but breaking up someone's family was not something a superhero would do.
Superman patted his forehead. He knew what Batman was planning, but the phrasing was really problematic: "This part should be erased from the surveillance footage and added to the League's list of forbidden topics."
This mysterious list did exist and contained a great deal of embarrassing hero history.
Like Batman's breakups, Barry's times lost in the Speed Force, Aquaman being overthrown by his wife, and fights between Superman and Batman—basically anything they didn't want to bring up again.
Batman seemed unaware, continuing to explain his plan.
"I will pilot the shrunken craft into Clark's body, secure his brain, and eliminate the mutated cells."
Barry shook his head. "Let me do it. I built these crafts, and the Hall of Justice still needs you."
"No. Your Speed Force is unstable recently. I don't want you to end up in the Speed Force dimension. And we can't be certain if the white dwarf radiation will affect your body."
Batman immediately rejected Barry's request.
To enter the Totality's protective barrier, a tremendous amount of power was needed. Only four members of the Justice League were capable—Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.
However, due to the mutagen, the host needed to constantly destroy mutated cells to stay rational and alert, which meant the vessel had to have regenerative abilities.
This only applied to Superman and Martian Manhunter.
Inspired by Deathstroke, Batman thought of shrinking a craft using a white dwarf star device and entering his teammate's body to physically intercept mutated cells at the brain.
Once inside the Totality's barrier, all means of external communication would be cut off, including J'onn's telepathic abilities.
As the tactical leader, Batman had to be inside to observe and decide what to do. He intended to pilot one of the two crafts.
The other, he decided, would be piloted by Hawkgirl. Barry had the Speed Force, Cyborg had the Mother Box, Diana and Arthur had divine power—all unreliable. Only Hawkgirl, Kendra, was a normal person, aside from her high-tech wings, just like Batman.
With Batman's permission, J'onn read his thoughts and explained to the others. Barry and the rest understood.
Barry didn't find anything particularly wrong with it but felt like they had forgotten something. But, wasn't it Batman's job to think about these things?
Meanwhile, in Star City, hundreds of kilometers away from Washington D.C., a lonely man sat in his underground safe house, entirely in green, holding a daisy.
Mumbling to himself, he pulled at the petals.
"The League forgot me... The League didn't forget me... Didn't forget..."
Suddenly, he shivered, looking at the ceiling after plucking the last petal, sighing deeply.
"So, they really did forget about me after all."
Batman still had one more task: when they were out in action, they couldn't leave Deathstroke in the Hall of Justice. He was a ticking time bomb.
"The otherworldly Deathstroke is with us."
"Yes, he's currently..." J'onn checked telepathically. "Wrestling with Diana."
"Wait, is the wrestling in air quotes or not?" Hawkgirl raised an eyebrow, accustomed to making crude jokes after being reincarnated so many times.
"I know what you're thinking, but unfortunately, their competition fully complies with athletic regulations, and they're currently tied," J'onn replied expressionlessly to Hawkgirl.
"Tch." Hawkgirl huffed in disappointment. She had planned on spying on Diana.
Batman ignored those comments, turning to Barry. "You have a better relationship with Deathstroke, so another task will be assigned to you."
"What?" Barry was always clueless before a mission. Whatever Batman knew, unless absolutely necessary, he never told his teammates.
"When the Totality fell to Earth, J'onn detected several unexplorable mysterious areas. Use that as an excuse to hire Deathstroke, and you all investigate one of them."
"What about the Suicide Squad?" Clark asked. He wasn't particularly against the Suicide Squad; quite the opposite, he thought they were on a path to redemption.
"They can stay here. Cyborg and Mister Terrific can manage the team." Batman answered as he moved towards the craft, getting into the cockpit and starting the radiation engine, shrinking the craft, while his voice continued on the telepathic link: "It's Deathstroke that I can't trust."
Barry sighed. He didn't know why Bruce had such a problem with Deathstroke—after all, they wouldn't have beaten Barbatos without him.
But at least their relationship seemed to be improving. Bruce was willing to pay now, and he got to go on another mission with Deathstroke. He missed that feeling of effortlessly winning while only needing to run errands.
Besides, Deathstroke wasn't as secretive as Batman. His plans were clear, and his jokes were funnier.
Martian Manhunter used an injector to suck Batman's small craft into it, injecting it into Clark's skin, while Bruce began moving towards Superman's brain via his blood vessels and lymph nodes.
"Barry, bring Wonder Woman and Aquaman. This time, the destination is underwater."
J'onn raised his hand to his temple, sending the coordinates to Barry's brain, while Clark took another injector to absorb Hawkgirl's craft, preparing to inject J'onn.
"Got it, I'll set out with them now."
With a flash of lightning, Barry vanished.
Meanwhile, at Diana's residence, outside the temple, the building materials previously piled up had been turned to rubble from all the competitions. Due to their wrestling match, both Su Ming and Diana were now lying side by side on the ground, panting.
After intense physical activity, lying on the cool ground was quite pleasant.
Su Ming wasn't actually tired. With X-metal providing endless energy, how could he be exhausted? He was just pretending.
Diana, on the other hand, was genuinely tired. She thought she had figured out Deathstroke's strength, and she wasn't good at playing mind games, which tired her out even more.
"You went to see my brother?" Diana suddenly asked, both of them looking up at the dark cave ceiling.
Su Ming knew she had many brothers, but now she was talking about Hephaestus. "Yeah, I asked him to upgrade my weapon."
"He always makes me things I can't use," Diana smiled and shook her head, trying to catch her breath. "He once made me a giant spiked mace and a double-bladed axe... How could I carry those around?"
"You probably have the best relationship with him out of everyone on Olympus."
"And with my sister, Athena. But she's always mysterious and rarely appears in the mortal world." Diana gave a bitter smile and sat up. "Honestly, I don't want to be a god. I just want to be Diana of Themyscira. Do you understand?"
Of course, Su Ming understood. She had no love for Zeus, didn't want to be queen, and while her mother, Hippolyta, was alive, she had a home. Now, she only had the Justice League.
He stood up, re-equipping himself, strapping his sword and rifle to his back. "I get it. You just want to be a pure warrior, like me."
Diana laughed and gave him a light push. "I'm still Wonder Woman of the Justice League, and a warrior is someone born to protect. You're no longer pure because you fight for money."
"Not just for money. It's to get stronger, to be able to fight till the end, to go further."
"Sigh, Slade, about what happened last time..." Diana dusted off her arm and stood up to put her gear back on. "I should thank you."
Su Ming put on his helmet and drew the Godslayer, transforming it into dual blades. "Haha, at least you know how to be grateful, unlike Bruce."
Diana rolled her eyes, drawing her sword and shield to spar with Su Ming. "He's just bad at expressing himself."
"Haha, trying to make me laugh while sword-fighting? You've gotten sneaky." Su Ming deflected her attack with one blade, swinging the other toward her waist. "Even he knows he's messed up. He's prepared plans for if he loses control. Are you trying to make me laugh to death to win?"
Diana blocked Su Ming's strike with her shield, her face flushing at his words. She wasn't going to use such an unsportsmanlike tactic.
"No, sigh, I don't even know what to say... En garde!"
Su Ming laughed inwardly. Diana was still like this—quicker to fight than to think. Since that's the case, let's keep sparring.
Though, with the commotion just now, someone from the Justice League would probably come to check on them soon.
On the small training field, sparks flew as their blades clashed, their glowing armor briefly lighting up the dim area, revealing black-and-yellow and gold-and-red armors.