Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4419 - 3507: Research on Cats and Dogs (18)

The office door was knocked on. Shiller looked up from his computer and found Barry poking his head inside.

"Professor, I'd like to request a few days off. But I couldn't find Professor Hall; could I trouble you to inform him for me?"

"Are you heading to Metropolis?" Shiller seemed to have anticipated this. He put aside the documents in his hand and said, "Your Fundamentals of Criminal Investigations course still has two lessons left for you to complete in-class points. Are you planning to attend them ahead of time or after you return?"

"I'll deal with them after I come back." Barry stepped into the classroom and said, "If I were to attend classes in other grades now, I might not make it in time."

"Is it that urgent? The situation over there has already become that dire?"

"Not exactly. It's just that I really don't want to go to football training anymore." Barry sighed and said, "Having to run so slow on purpose—it's torture for me. I'd rather fight aliens than train."

Shiller nodded and said, "Alright, go ahead. I'll inform Professor Hall. Are you running there directly, or driving?"

"Pamela and the others are going too; they'll give me a ride."

"She's going as well? She said last week she was going to publish her paper, but she hasn't finished writing it yet. Victor has been chasing her about it for days."

"That, I'm not sure about." Barry shook his head and said, "I guess she might have run out of ideas."

"She mentioned earlier that her new batch of plants was coming along quite well. How did she end up running out of ideas?"

"I don't know the details, but I heard that the newly grown batch of plants made a big mess in the lab again."

Shiller sighed and said, "Then let her head to Metropolis. Our principal can't stomach another hefty damage bill."

As the two were chatting, the office door was knocked on again. Barry went over to open it and found a tall blonde girl standing outside.

"Hello, I'm Kara Danvers from the Journalism department. Is Professor Shiller in? I'm here to get some edits on my news draft."

Barry quickly invited her in and pulled out a chair for her. Kara gave him a smile and said, "Thank you."

"Uh, no problem," Barry scratched his head awkwardly.

Shiller sat across from Kara, took the news draft from her hand, and said to Barry while reading, "Once you're in Metropolis, focus. Don't get distracted. If you have to fight, control your strength—don't cause too much commotion."

"Don't worry, Professor. I will." Barry nodded and said, "Oliver probably won't let me do any direct fighting. I'll likely just be running errands. The primary fighter this time will definitely be Clark. Kryptonians need to handle their own affairs."

At hearing a familiar term, Kara's heart fluttered, but she was also a bit doubtful—had she misheard? How would her university professor and classmates know about Krypton?

Shiller noticed Kara's unusual expression. He remembered that the older version of Kara knew she was Kryptonian since she was born earlier than Clark. When Krypton was destroyed, she was already old enough to have memories. Though her time in the Phantom Zone made her appear younger than Clark physically, she actually knew more about what happened back then.

Kara clearly wasn't one to hesitate unnecessarily. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she leaned forward slightly, saying, "Just now, I think I heard you mention... uh, Krypton?"

Barry didn't mind her knowing. Since Shiller openly mentioned Metropolis, it meant there was no need to keep this from the girl. So, he nodded and said:

"It seems confirmed that there's a Kryptonian ship lingering at the edge of the Solar System. Whoever is piloting the ship isn't friendly towards Earth, and they might be planning an invasion of Metropolis. The superheroes over there are scrambling for reinforcements, and I have to head over too..."

"A Kryptonian ship? That's impossible—Krypton was destroyed ages ago..." Kara said aloud, then realized she might have accidentally revealed too much. She opened her mouth but refrained from disclosing her true identity, only asking, "You say you're going to help—are you also a superhero?"

Barry glanced at Shiller, seeing no reaction, then nodded and said, "Yes, you've probably seen me on TV. I'm The Flash."

"Oh my god, you're The Flash?!" Kara was genuinely shocked. She instinctively took a step back and looked Barry up and down, realizing that, physically, he did resemble The Flash.

"That's right, you've probably seen me. I've stopped several major traffic accidents—though it's not such a big deal."

Hearing Kara's sincere praise, Barry felt bashful but still smiled and said, "That's just a small effort—nothing too impressive. But it seems you've heard of Krypton?"

"Oh, yes, I've heard of it," Kara said by way of an awkward excuse. She added, "If I had superpowers, could I go over to help too?"

"You want to go to Metropolis?" Barry asked curiously, "But now probably isn't the best time..."

"I know it might be dangerous, but I think I could contribute something," Kara quickly said. "Plus, I'm pretty capable—I won't drag you guys down."

"No, what I was saying was—semester finals are coming up soon. Have you completed enough credits? It could be difficult to graduate if you don't have enough."

Kara sighed in relief and said, "I've been training with the cheerleading squad, and we get 4 credits per semester. If we win an award, we can earn an extra 2 credits. I should have more than enough."

"Alright then." Barry nodded and said, "We're not planning to use a teleportation portal; instead, we're driving straight to Metropolis. We've prepared two cars. Meet us at Gate 2 by the sculpture in the square at 3 p.m. today if you want to come."

Kara nodded hastily and said, "I will definitely be there on time."

Barry left to pack his luggage. Shiller looked at Kara's news draft. As expected, it was excellent—no wonder she'd go on to be the renowned assistant to a world-famous villain. The draft was polished, on par with Clark Kent's who had been working for years.

Handing the draft back to Kara, he said, "I think there's no problem with it. Are you planning to publish it at Gotham's newspaper agency?"

"Yes, Professor. It would add value to my resume. But if you disapprove, I won't publish it."

"You can publish it, but I recommend taking it to Metropolis."

"Why?"

"The newspapers in Gotham willing to publish my interviews are very few." Shiller said, "The major outlets likely wouldn't accept your draft. If you go for smaller papers, it wouldn't add much value to your resume."

Kara seemed puzzled but didn't press any further. She nodded and said, "Alright, I'll try to submit it in Metropolis."

"If you're going to Metropolis, will it interfere with your training schedule?" Shiller asked.

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"It might delay a few days," Kara said, "But my skill level is sufficient to win the gold award. Missing a few days shouldn't be a problem. I'm just a little worried my teammates might slack off. Could you talk to our coach and ask him to tighten their fitness training a bit?"

Shiller smiled and said, "Perhaps you're demanding too much of them, Miss. Not everyone can possess Kryptonian-level stamina."

Kara froze slightly, clutching the paper tighter. She was about to say something when Shiller shook his head and said, "Don't worry. Earth isn't just home to one Kryptonian. I know another one—and he happens to work in your field."

"Who is he?" Kara asked curiously but was not overly eager since she didn't feel much of a connection to Krypton and preferred life as a regular Earthling.

"Clark Kent. You've probably heard his name."

"Oh my gosh." Kara exclaimed, "You mean that famous reporter Kent? I've read his coverage of Gotham's music festival—it was excellent. He's a Kryptonian?!"

"Indeed. And I've heard his Kryptonian name is Carl Ai'er. You two might even be relatives."

This shocked Kara deeply. She stood up and said, "You're saying he's an Ai'er? Really? Ai'er?!"

"If I recall the pronunciation correctly," Shiller replied.

Kara's mouth parted slightly as she clutched her documents tightly. A fellow planetary native was one thing; an actual relative was another. She murmured, "He really is my relative. Could my brother have come too? No, wait. He should be my younger brother..."

"Apologies, Professor," Kara said abruptly, "I think I better get back to pack my things. We'll talk next time."

With that, she bolted out as though her chair were ablaze.

Shiller watched her retreating figure, shaking his head helplessly. Now might not be the best time to reveal her Kryptonian identity to Clark, especially given Kara's unexplained whereabouts during her time in the Phantom Zone—a detail already suspicious enough.

This universe's Justice League certainly wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. They had the time and resources to investigate the finer details that Justice Leagues in other universes overlooked, nitpicking every danger and eliminating threats in their infancy.

Shiller continued browsing through emails, and soon the door to his office was knocked on yet again. In walked a familiar face: Jonathan Crane, swaggering as usual.

"Long time no see, Professor Rodriguez!" he said loudly.

Shiller didn't even look at him, continuing to mark his emails as read and unpack the attachments in his inbox.

Jonathan didn't stand on ceremony, plopping himself down opposite Shiller. "To celebrate my return to Gotham University, I've prepared a banquet. Care to honor me with your presence, Professor Rodriguez?"

"Ah, so, you've finally decided to unleash your true culinary skills—to poison me?" Shiller quipped dryly.

"You've got me all wrong," Jonathan protested.

"Of course. You're probably planning to poison all the professors."

"Don't joke around. It's all James Gordon's fault, that miserable excuse for a human. I now have 170 years of back property taxes to pay! Believe me, there's nobody more invested in Gotham University's prosperity than I am."

"Has your lab been secured?" Shiller asked briefly.

"Just finalized. I picked the room furthest north on the third floor of the laboratory building."

"Good to know. I'll make sure to steer clear of it whenever I'm near the lab building."

Jonathan rolled his eyes, saying, "I'm serious. Are you coming to the dinner tonight?"

Shiller glanced at the sheer number of unread emails, did some mental calculations, and said, "Barring anything unexpected, I should be able to make it. Who have you invited?"

"Mostly professors, especially the senior ones."

"Ah, so your scheme to poison them has evolved."

"Haha. Well, who told them to offer no support when I was being expelled back then? But don't worry, the poison won't kill anyone. The worst they'll get is a couple of days of nightmares..."

Shiller reached for his cell phone. Jonathan quickly asked, "What are you doing? Giving them a heads-up?"

"No, just checking—a student needs something." Shiller glanced at Bruce's incoming message, stood up, and said, "You had better send Victor a detailed list of the spiked dishes. If he ends up having nightmares too, he'll absolutely freeze you in the square and display you for public ridicule."

With that, he left the office. Sitting on a chair in the lounge area, Shiller closed his eyes briefly and went back to the High Tower.

He rode the elevator down and navigated through the corridor on the eleventh floor until he arrived in front of a door. Knocking gently, he said:

"Charles, are you there? I need your assistance with something."