When Shin arrived at the Batcave, there was already a new guest inside.
A young man was zipping around the cave, barely able to stand still—his curiosity on full display as he darted from one gadget to another, barely stopping for breath.
Shin raised an eyebrow.
"Who's this?" he asked, tossing the Scarecrow, still bound in a sack, onto the ground.
The young man immediately stopped in his tracks, turned around, and grinned.
"Barry! My name's Barry Allen!"
He stretched out his hand excitedly, shaking Shin's hand with enthusiasm.
"Hey, man! Are you part of the team too? What's your superpower?"
Shin barely had time to process before Barry continued without pause—
"My power is speed! Like, I really, really move fast! So fast, they call me The Flash!"
Shin smirked.
"Oh, right. The fastest man alive."
Barry beamed, nodding so fast it was almost a blur.
"Yeah! Well… actually… some people think Superman might be faster. But my speed has been increasing! When I first started, I could only run at about five times the speed of sound—but now, I can hit about three thousand times the speed of sound!"
Shin chuckled to himself.
"Kid, do you have any idea how dangerous it is to say that in front of Batman?"
Shin had long known that Barry Allen was one of the most good-natured heroes in the Justice League.
If the League had an equivalent to Spider-Man in the Avengers, it was The Flash—a young, idealistic hero who stood in stark contrast to the darker personalities of some of his teammates.
Unlike Spider-Man, though, Barry wasn't a wisecracking chatterbox with a split personality when masked.
No—his purity and naivety were genuine.
Among the three League members who upheld the no-kill rule, Batman had his reasons—his fragile psyche and obsessive control issues meant that once he started killing, he might never stop.
Superman, on the other hand, was simply too powerful—even the slightest misstep could cause planetary destruction, so he exercised extreme restraint.
But Barry?
Barry didn't kill simply because he couldn't bring himself to do it.
It wasn't that he was weak—he was brave, selfless, and always stood his ground in battle.
But the idea of taking a life was something he feared more than any battlefield or enemy.
In the DC multiverse, many versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern had turned dark—but The Flash?
It was almost unheard of.
In part, because he always ended up dying first.
He was sacrificed so often in major events that he never lived long enough to become a villain.
It was either Flashpoint, or he got erased in the Speed Force, or he died resetting time itself.
Well… maybe that was why he never had time to turn evil.
Still, Shin found himself liking Barry's personality—he was easy to get along with and far less exhausting than Batman.
After letting Barry talk himself breathless, Shin turned back to Batman and gestured toward the Scarecrow, still lying unconscious in the sack.
"The investigation is complete. You were right—these demons track fear. It looks like our emotional state might actually be the key to how they traverse space."
Batman folded his arms, waiting for more.
Shin continued.
"They were trying to capture Scarecrow. Most likely to use his fear toxin to spread terror on a massive scale."
"If they manage to do that," he added, "they could summon even more of these demons… or worse, they might bring Apokolips' forces directly to Earth."
Batman sighed, his face darkening.
"And what do we do about Scarecrow?"
There was a long silence.
Because that was the real question—where could they put Scarecrow so that the demons couldn't reach him?
"If the demons succeed in taking him," Shin said, "they'll convert him into one of their own."
Batman's eyes narrowed.
"They can… turn humans into parademons?"
Shin nodded.
"Not all of them," he clarified. "But some are specially modified—they retain their intelligence and abilities while gaining superhuman durability and strength."
Batman clenched his jaw.
"That means if they corrupt Scarecrow, they won't just be getting an ordinary parademon—they'll have someone who can weaponize fear itself."
For a moment, Batman said nothing.
Then, his voice took on a grim tone.
"I have an idea."
"Underneath the Batcave," Batman said slowly, "I have a cold storage facility. It's based on Mr. Freeze's technology—designed to cryogenically freeze living organisms into a state of hibernation."
"A frozen Scarecrow won't feel any emotion, which means… the demons won't be able to track him."
Shin smirked.
"That's… actually a pretty good idea."
Batman turned to Shin again.
"By the way, where's the Joker?"
Shin laughed.
"Oh, him? He said his work was done and went back to Arkham Asylum on his own."
Batman stared.
"...You're telling me he voluntarily walked back to prison?"
Shin shrugged.
Batman let out a slow breath.
For a moment, his mind wandered—
If Shin sprayed every Arkham inmate with that cursed spring water… would Arkham Asylum just become… a detective agency?
A place filled with reformed supervillains, all using their criminal genius for good?
…A Joker who escapes from prison, only to turn himself back in the moment someone pours cold water on him?
…His entire fan club, permanently neutralized by a water gun?
Batman shook his head quickly, forcing the thought away.
Even he had to admit—the Spring of the Drowned Good Man was… effective.
If it had permanently erased a person's true identity, Batman might have opposed it.
But since it was reversible and only suppressed their worst tendencies, he had no real argument against it.
Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Shin.
"Besides The Flash, have you found anyone else?"
"You must have a few other names on your list."
Batman's gaze hardened.
"I do."
"And we're going to need every single one of them."
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