"Wait, Lothar, where are you going?"
"To get the Mother Boxes back."
Mera, having retreated under Lothar's stern gaze, finally moved aside.
Superman Clark was dead, and Darkseid was nowhere to be found. Even though Lothar's body had just been "revived" by the nutrient fluid Mera provided, in his opinion, retrieving the three Mother Boxes embedded in the Apokoliptian portal wasn't a problem. They represented his hope of returning home.
"Wait, Lothar, I have a question for you."
"Just one question."
Mera bit her lip, asking the question that had been buried in her heart since she ascended as the Queen of the Seas.
"You approached me initially, it wasn't because of the Mother Boxes, was it?"
Mera didn't know what Lothar wanted the Mother Boxes for, but she knew this question had been weighing on her for a long time. Ever since Lothar suddenly appeared and ruined her coronation, this question had been stuck in her mind. A series of subsequent events had prevented Mera from ever having the chance to ask it.
Now, the opportunity had arrived. All obstacles were gone. She had ample time and a perfect chance to ask this question. She knew asking it now was ill-timed, even a bit self-defeating, but she followed her heart and asked.
Lothar's unconscious utterance of "Hela" earlier was the most important reason for her decision, bar none.
"..." Lothar stopped, turning his head, glancing at Mera behind him out of the corner of his eye.
"No."
After a long pause, the words that left Lothar's mouth brought a smile to Mera's face.
"It was precisely because of the Mother Boxes."
Mera's smile instantly stiffened: "What did you say?"
"Woz said you were the guardian of the Mother Boxes." Lothar lightly tipped his toes, flying towards Gotham without looking back.
Mera stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Lothar's cold, departing back.
Barry Allen, feeling like he'd just witnessed a relationship crumble, stood in the ruins behind Mera, scratching his head, every stance feeling awkward.
Barry Allen had, of course, clearly seen Mera's feelings for Lothar over the past three days, but this outcome was something Barry Allen had never anticipated. Shouldn't they have embraced and cried, then lived happily ever after? That's how it always played out on TV.
And that "Hela" Lothar had mentioned earlier, Barry Allen had heard Bruce Wayne say that she was a Norse goddess who supposedly died in Ragnarök.
In this day and age, Hela's grave weeds were probably a lush green prairie by now. Why was Lothar still thinking of her? Just because Hela was the Goddess of Death? Mera, the Queen of the Seas, wasn't bad either.
"Um, Mera, I think—"
"No need to comfort me, Barry. I've actually had an answer to this in my heart for a long time; I just wanted to confirm it with him."
Mera, having composed herself, turned around. The Golden Trident, which had been stuck to one side, returned to her hand at her summons. She had already prepared herself for this. Long ago. And Lothar's previous answer also gave Mera another piece of information, another piece of information that made her happy.
"Let's go. First, let's shatter that Apokoliptian portal. After Lothar takes down all three Mother Boxes."
Mera didn't know where Darkseid had gone, but she knew that as long as the Apokoliptian portal was destroyed, the Apokoliptian forces wreaking havoc across the world would no longer receive reinforcements.
The weapons Bruce Wayne left behind were enough to help the remaining humans annihilate those terrifying Parademons. Especially with Barry Allen, the Flash, still alive.
"Understood."
Seeing that Mera herself said she was fine, Barry Allen had nothing more to say and followed Mera onto the water current express.
Meanwhile, in mid-air.
A miniature version of the blue robotic cat sat on the edge of the bracelet that had returned to Lothar's wrist.
"You shouldn't have said that, Your Highness."
Woz scratched its head, looking troubled. When Mera asked that question, Woz had actually provided Lothar with the answer, but to its surprise, Lothar didn't follow its given answer this time.
"All of this between Mera and me, you arranged it, didn't you, Woz?"
Whoosh!
Lothar's words made Woz, who was dangling its short legs on the bracelet, instantly straighten up, stammering a denial: "No... no."
Woz still clung to its last shred of stubbornness.
"Alright, it was me." Under Lothar's death stare, the overwhelmed Woz meekly lowered its head and admitted its mistake.
"Why did you do it?"
Lothar asked, his face cold.
"You needed comfort, Your Highness." The exposed Woz confessed truthfully.
The plan to return home by opening a multiverse portal with the Mother Boxes had a possibility of failure. For Lothar's psychological well-being, Woz had to plan ahead to ensure there was someone in this world who could heal Lothar's emotional wounds if the plan failed.
Mera was that person. Otherwise, given Lothar's personality, if the plan failed, he could easily get stuck in a rut and never recover.
"Don't do such superfluous things in the future. I won't like anyone." Lothar snorted, flying directly towards the Apokoliptian portal above Gotham.
"Then why did you call Hela's name while you were unconscious...? And when Mera asked you earlier, why did you remain silent for a while...?"
Shrinking its seemingly non-existent neck, the mini robotic cat Woz muttered softly. In Woz's opinion, based on its understanding of Lothar, if he truly felt nothing for Mera deep down, he wouldn't have hesitated so long before answering her question. And he wouldn't have expressed disappointment in Mera when helping her retrieve the Golden Trident earlier.
The fact that Lothar could even say that implied that he had already compared Mera to some woman he knew in his heart. And among the women Lothar knew who were independent and didn't rely on others, and were still alive, there were only Hela and Proxima Midnight.
"What did you say?" Lothar flew to the ancient bronze Apokoliptian portal, raising an eyebrow and asking.
"No! Nothing, Your Highness Lothar!"
Woz stood at attention, then zipped back into the bracelet's spatial pocket.
"Lothar!"
"One last question!"
"What do you want the Mother Boxes for?!"
"Answer me, please!"
On the ground, Mera, holding the Golden Trident, looked up and shouted loudly.
"...To go home."
"I should have told you, I'm going back."
"Going back to kill Odin, and destroy Asgard."
Lothar glanced at the woman on the ground, then averted his gaze. Using the method Woz displayed on the light screen, he dismantled the three Mother Boxes from the Apokoliptian portal one by one.
"Environmental scan complete. No dangerous energy sources detected."
"Adjusting Mother Box energy output."
"Mother Box energy output adjustment complete. Calibrating original universe coordinates."
"Universe coordinates calibrated, Your Highness. Please use your energy to ignite the three Mother Boxes." Woz, now focused on its task, unfurled eight mechanical arms from its back, constantly calibrating the three Mother Boxes in front of Lothar.
"Oh? So, you're from that universe, are you?"
Suddenly, a hoarse, deep voice came from behind the Apokoliptian portal. Lothar's face instantly changed!
What?!
Darkseid!
When?!
"It truly is a nice place. I'm curious, how many more like you are there in that place, who could be useful to me?"
BOOM!!!
A pillar of light, spanning between heaven and earth, suddenly struck Lothar from the sky. Its speed was so great that even Woz couldn't react. Its eight mechanical arms instantly shattered, and its round body tumbled to the ground.
A figure with a dominating aura slowly emerged from the pillar of light. The three Mother Boxes spun around before him... The brutal multiversal conqueror, the incredibly powerful Lord of Apokolips—Darkseid!
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