American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 487 The Great Secret of the Rune Universe

Chapter 487 The Great Secret of the Rune Universe

As Batman disappeared into the rain, Rune asked Dr. Manhattan a question.

"By the way, why didn't you come directly to my universe to find me, instead of going through Sangu and going through several detours?"

For Dr. Manhattan, as long as he doesn't penetrate the Origin Wall to travel to the outer multiverse, let alone enter other DC universes, manipulating the timeline and changing someone's fate—even if that person is Superman—is a piece of cake.

If that's the case, why would Dr. Manhattan bother summoning himself through Sannomiya?

Dr. Manhattan's answer to this question was simple: "I cannot enter your universe. The timeline of that universe is fixed, and those who break certain boundaries are excluded."

A fixed timeline, and excluding Dr. Manhattan?

Rune nodded thoughtfully, feeling as if he had figured something out.

However, this barrier doesn't seem to be very effective; at least Sannomiya and the succubus can find themselves through dreams.

"Barry has been captured," Dr. Manhattan suddenly said. He had witnessed the entire process of Flash being drugged, and Rune remained calm upon hearing the news, clearly having expected it.

But out of curiosity, Rune still asked, "How was he captured?"

"It was the Mad Hatter, the Calendar Man, and the Riddler who did it. The Mad Hatter manipulated a blonde woman and put a long-sleeved glove covered in anesthetic and tiny spikes on it—"

Rune understood immediately; this must be a tool from the League of Assassins. It wouldn't be easy for an ordinary person to develop a tool that could pierce through the Flash's suit, and Gotham's local villains wouldn't bother with such a thankless task.

The Flash doesn't even come to Gotham that often, so why would they develop gadgets specifically for him? These Gotham villains aren't even Batman himself.

The Mad Hatter would indeed be a good match for The Flash. His real name is Jervis Teach, and he was bullied as a child because of his short stature.

Later, he fell in love with a girl named Alice. They had feelings for each other, but Teach discovered that he couldn't grow taller, so he took a growth-increasing drug.

Unfortunately, the drug was not yet fully developed, and the Mad Hatter himself was used as a test subject. Considering Gotham's average moral character, Rune had reason to suspect that the Mad Hatter was completely unaware that the drug was not yet fully developed, so it was no surprise that he went mad.

After going mad, Jervis lives in another world. He is completely convinced that he is the Mad Hatter from the book, but he is afraid that Wonderland will disappear, so he follows the instructions of the voice in his head, kidnaps some teenage blonde girls and brainwashes them into believing that they are Alice.

The Mad Hatter himself doesn't have any superpowers, but he invented a brainwave controller that can achieve hypnosis and mind control effects using only sound waves. This can certainly be used to trick superheroes, especially superheroes like The Flash.

It can only be said that the weaknesses of superheroes are still too obvious.

"I'll go help you out. Is there anything I should be careful about?"

Rune meant to ask whether his involvement would affect Dr. Manhattan's plans, to which Dr. Manhattan simply shook his head.

"As long as you don't stay in this universe forever, the changes during this time are easy to fix."

"Okay, okay, but there's nothing we can do about it, isn't there?" Rune shrugged. Well, he was complaining that he had been in the main universe for too long.

"The main universe is still too important. The clown and his companions might play a crucial role in that future catastrophe, and you certainly won't be around then—"

"It's also possible that this world will cease to exist," Dr. Manhattan corrected Rune's statement. "In the future I've seen, without you getting involved, there are only two possibilities: the universe disappears or Superman defeats me."

Rune was too lazy to pay attention to this guy, so he just replied perfunctorily, "Yes, yes, you're right, you're absolutely right."

However, in the original storyline, a third scenario actually occurred. With the help of other superheroes and some members of the Watchmen universe, Dr. Manhattan's human emotions were reawakened, he realized his mistakes, and soft-rebooted the world.

Rune was initially worried about this soft reboot, but Dr. Manhattan's mention that the timeline of his world had been fixed made him feel much more at ease.

After dealing with the cold, blue-haired bald man, Rune turned and went into the inner room, where the atmosphere in the small clinic was quite somber.

Although Batman was cured, his body was still not suitable for immediate combat. Catwoman and others probably tried to persuade Batman, but Bruce still chose to stick to his own opinion and turned back to Gotham City.

Alfred had already laid out his equipment in the small clinic, ready to provide Batman with technical support. Rune guessed that Batman probably already knew that The Flash had been captured.

As is well known, Batman likes to put listening devices and tracking devices on everyone.

He even implanted a Trojan program into Cyborg's body, so that if this young hero dared to rely on his youth and arrogance to try to sabotage Batman's plans, Bruce would show him what it means to be an experienced veteran.

It seems Batman isn't afraid of being sued for workplace bullying, right? After all, he has plenty of money and can hire lots of lawyers—

..

As for Rune, needless to say, he is a key target of attention. Fortunately, Rune has too much magic power in his body, and the nature of his magic power conflicts with electrical appliances. Once a spell is used, the tracker, an electrical appliance, is likely to malfunction.

Therefore, Rune guessed that he might have some isotopes or other tracers on him. As for tracking, Rune didn't care at all; it might even be his lifeline.

The current somber atmosphere is perfect for Rune to exploit. He's certainly willing to help these superheroes for free, but he won't pass up the opportunity to gain some benefits along the way.

Of course, money is out of the question; Rune has no shortage of money. But there's another thing Batman covets: his connections among the heroes of the main universe.

As the top universe in the DC multiverse, the heroes and villains here are much more powerful, so much so that many villains need to quietly accumulate power in other universes for many years before they can launch a counterattack against the main universe.

Sometimes, the main universe becomes the first victim of multiverse-level catastrophes, such as the Forsaken lurking outside the Origin Wall. Rune is tasked with containing the danger within the main universe and preventing it from spreading.

This requires Rune to have friends in the main universe who are willing to ask him for help.

Thinking about this, Rune felt a little worried.

He is indeed preparing defensive measures, but that doesn't mean the Forsaken are just wasting their time, especially since there are research talents among them like Luther and Tony Stark.

As for talents on the magic side, there will be no shortage of them.

In particular, some of the Forgotten Ones have experienced countless wars and have numerous accomplices from other universes under their command.

Can the main universes of Marvel and DC really withstand these Forgotten Ones?