"Hello? Oliver? Kara and I have collected all the fragments we could find. We're transporting them to Mars with Green Lantern."
Pamela spoke into the communicator. At this moment, countless vines behind her wrapped the collected wreckage and fragments into a giant sphere, making her and Kara's figures seem even smaller.
The surrounding Green Lanterns were using green energy to stabilize the wreckage, preventing secondary disintegration or explosion. Several people were dragging a large pile of wreckage towards Mars.
"Okay, I got it. I'll be right back."
Pamela, after hearing something on the phone, hung up the communicator and turned to Kara, saying, "Oliver needs me for something, I have to go back. He asked me to tell you to go find Clark and Diana after finishing here. Clark will tell you what to do then."
"Got it," Kara nodded, gripping the vines in her hand tighter and flying faster towards Mars.
Pamela then hurried back to Earth at the fastest speed. Her figure disappeared into the empty cosmos and then emerged like a new seedling from the soil of the flowerbed around the Luther Group.
Back in the office, Pamela let out a long sigh, clearly exhausted by the task. Instead of seeing Oliver in the conference room, she first met Hal.
"Pamela, can you give me some of that Kryptonite you made that can pierce the skin of Kryptonians?"
"You mean the cactus thorns? My stock is limited, but I can cultivate some more. What do you need them for?"
"I need to find a way to deal with that guy," Hal said without hiding. He sat at the conference table, hands on the surface, and said, "There's still too little information about him now."
"That's exactly why we can't act recklessly," Pamela said.
"But if we do that, all the pressure will fall on Oliver, who is in charge," Hal said. "If we can gather more information about him, it would lighten Oliver's load."
"I don't think it's a good idea," Pamela sat across from Hal, looking very calm. "If he's planning something, he'll show himself sooner or later. It's not too late to collect more information then. If you provoke him now, not only will you be in danger, but if you draw his attention to Earth, things will get much more complicated."
"Someone has to take the first step," Hal said. "If we wait for him to show himself, he'll have all the initiative. If he doesn't appear, we'll remain on high alert. He can drag this out until Earth encounters problems of its own."
Pamela lightly licked her dry lips. Hal pointed his hand, and a cup of water appeared in front of Pamela. She picked it up and gulped it down, then took a deep breath and said, "Thanks."
From Pamela's perspective, Hal made a valid point.
The opponent was just one person. As the saying goes, a barefoot person is not afraid of someone wearing shoes. Krypton had already been destroyed, and he was so strong, almost without any weaknesses.
The Justice League, however, was different. Although the superheroes in the Justice League had no significant weaknesses, the Justice League represented Earth, which was full of vulnerabilities.
Even if that guy didn't use military force to attack Earth, just defending like this, eventually, people would become unruly.
After all, the economic situation wasn't good. This emergency defense strategy of keeping everyone at home could only last a month or two at most. Any longer, and the livelihood of ordinary people would become a problem.
So dragging it out was not to their advantage. If the opponent was also a highly intelligent being, he would easily realize this. He didn't need to do much, just remain hidden, and it would be enough to drag Earth to the brink of collapse.
Realizing this, Pamela no longer argued. She thought for a moment and said, "I'll get the materials from the lab for you. But you should still discuss it with Oliver and avoid reckless action."
"Got it," Hal said. "I'm scouting the enemy, not going to die. I won't act rashly without being fully prepared."
Pamela turned and left. Hal sat at the table, pondering. Soon, a golden light flashed before him, and Barry appeared on the chair next to him.
"Hal, you called for me?"
Hal turned his head and said, "I'm planning to go back to the wreckage on Mercury and see if I can find that guy."
Barry's features tightened. He pursed his lips and said, "Do you have to go? You know how dangerous it is there; he might be waiting for you."
"That's exactly why I need to go. We have to confront him at least once to determine what to do next."
Hal interlocked his fingers, tracing the lines on his palm with one finger, then said, "We need to know whether he's sane, how strong he is, his favored methods of attack, and whether he has any weaknesses."
Barry hesitated and said, "He attacked Mercury, possibly not just because Mercury was in the way, but also to remind us that he's here.
"To find him, we'll have to send someone there. At that moment, he could give us another scare. That means the first person to go will undoubtedly be in great danger. Are you sure you've made up your mind?"
"Right now, that's not what I'm thinking about," Hal shook his head. "I'm pondering whether to involve you at all."
Barry smiled and said, "Don't joke around. If you're going, I have to go. Otherwise, how will you escape from him?"
"That's exactly my hesitation," Hal said. "If you go, you'll be in danger too. From the intelligence provided by the professor, he can manipulate time. Even Divine Speed may not be safe."
Barry sighed softly and said, "My Speed Force has never been safe. I'm used to it. It would be much easier if I could drag him into the Speed Force."
"But that's very difficult. If he can appear at every point in time simultaneously, pulling him into the Speed Force might create countless copies of him. That would spell trouble for the entire cosmos."
"That might actually be good," Barry laughed again, "In that case, those powerful entities wouldn't stand idly by."
Hal turned and stared at Barry. Barry smiled back at him. After a long while, Hal silently turned his head away. He thought: People who spend time with the Professor all behave the same way. They seem perfectly fine ordinarily, but in critical moments, they go crazier than anyone else.
But he had to admit, the ultimate contingency plan of the Justice League for this incident was to escalate matters significantly. This was also what they did best.
Whether it was directly opening the Heaven's Gate to let Barbados in or using the Speed Force to duplicate Hai'er, it would bring doom to the entire cosmos.
At that point, neither the Little Blue People nor any other high-level civilizations could stand idly by. Even those entities beyond dimensions would have to intervene.
"Now is not the time to consider these," Hal said, "We need to find a way to solve it ourselves first."
"Of course, solving it ourselves would be the best. But if your life is in danger..."
"Danger is certain, but not necessarily life-threatening," Hal rubbed the Green Lantern Ring on his hand and said, "If you run into trouble, I still have one last contingency plan."
"What is it?"
Hal shook his head without speaking. Barry had no choice but to look at him and say, "If you've made up your mind, I won't oppose it. Just tell me how you want to do it."
Hal sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat complicated. He had called Barry over, hoping Barry would persuade him not to go.
He figured if Barry persuaded him, he could agree and secretly go alone later.
This way, if something went wrong and Oliver held him responsible, Barry would only have been deceived and wouldn't be blamed.
"You want to secretly go by yourself," Barry said, "But my scores in criminology and psychology are quite good. You can't fool me."
"I don't think you need to go," Hal said, "What if he really manages to break into the Speed Force? I might have to save you."
"No matter what you say, I will keep an eye on you." Hal stood up, then turned to the empty space aside and said, "Professor Xavier, I think you can follow him. This should give him a higher chance of success."
With that, Barry left. Hal clenched his fist slightly: This kid was quite lovely when he was little, but he's getting more and more unreasonable as he grows up.
Then he remembered something and looked at Charles beside him and said, "If you can interfere with Superman's brainwaves, can you..."
"No," Charles answered him bluntly, "If my actual body were here, then I might forcibly control him. But I'm just a brainwave, without such powerful strength."
"Not even interference?"
"I don't know if it's possible. But if I act, there's only one chance," Charles continued, "Without acting, I can guarantee he doesn't discover my existence. But if I expose myself proactively, there's a high chance I'll be erased directly, and he'll be on guard. It will be almost impossible to launch another mental attack."
Hal rubbed his fingers, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
They already knew Charles's psychic ability was strong. If even he wasn't confident, it indicated Hai'er's power might be stronger.
If Charles hid in the shadows for a surprise attack, even if successful, if it wasn't a one-hit kill, Charles would be erased, and Hai'er would become more vigilant. This might render subsequent mental attacks ineffective.
This meant that psychic ability users like Martian Manhunter and Lilith from the Heavenly Sign would no longer be effective.
Rather than that, it might be better to keep Charles hidden for defensive purposes, similar to how he helped block celestial observations for them before.
"There is another scenario," Charles said, "If his emotions are very clearly externalized, I can detect them. You can take me along; I might be of some help."
Hal recalled Oliver telling him about the Injustice Batman's hypothesis: Hai'er showing up here wasn't a coincidence; he might have been provoked by someone.
If they could sense emotions of anger or sadness when in close contact with him, that would confirm this hypothesis, which could be beneficial.
Besides, Charles was just a brainwave, not really in any life-threatening danger. Hal nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Professor Xavier."
"If you truly can't handle it, you can find a way to bring my actual body here," Charles said, "But even with my actual body, we might still need the Cerebro to have guaranteed success. That thing is not easy to transport; you should prepare early."
"That will be our final measure," Hal said, "I promise you that if all else fails, we'll seek help from other universes."