Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4552 - 3634: Edge of Tomorrow (43)

Through Brainiac, Shiller watched everything that happened at the abandoned factory. The whole process was both laughable and lamentable.

The most reliable character in this whole mess turned out to be Joker Jack.

He executed Harley's plan perfectly. Although some actions in the middle achieved overly good results, they didn't stray far from the main goal. Moreover, he was cautious enough to stay behind, almost rescuing Harley.

When the Joker becomes as reliable as Batman, naturally, Batman becomes as comical as the Joker.

These two Batmans went along, but didn't accomplish anything except adding confusion with their suspicion-ridden minds. Although Pamela and Victor were partly to blame for stirring things up, their actions indeed resembled those of a comic act.

Shiller couldn't determine if it was due to the "Batman Joker Law," or if these two Batmans were inherently weak, or if Amanda was simply dragging them down. In any case, the plot careened into a less serious direction.

Shiller felt that upon learning that Congress intended to transfer Amanda, Batman would be extremely grateful for Congress's wisdom. Unfortunately, Amanda is very stubborn and won't just give up.

Sure enough, upon receiving the news, Amanda was livid, slamming the table and sweeping everything off it.

"No, I'm not going to some bullshit Washington!" Amanda said, "They can forget about making me let go of New Jersey State!!!"

Injustice Batman frowned. He recognized Amanda's folly in this move, but with her temper flaring, Amanda wouldn't heed his advice.

After Amanda left, Injustice Batman said to Batman, "I think we chose the wrong person. This universe's Amanda may not be as evil, but she is certainly more stubborn."

"It's possibly because she has tasted victory," Batman analyzed, "Regardless, she managed to form the Federation Shield, having autonomy over an organization. This gave her a misplaced confidence in her abilities, making her more stubborn. Not predicting this was indeed our oversight."

"Have you noticed Congress acted a bit too quickly?" Injustice Batman rested an arm on the table, pondering, "Amanda just woke up, and Congress's call had already arrived. This means they hadn't missed a thing that happened at the factory."

"Are you suggesting there's a mole on the team?"

"Working for Congress doesn't really count as a mole," Injustice Batman shook his head, "It can only be considered a product of political struggle. But this is troublesome for us."

"This squad is not as useful as we envisioned, incomparable to the Justice League. If Amanda refuses to leave, I think we could choose to leave and work independently."

As the two Batmans discussed, Amanda had already come up with a solution. She wasn't entirely oblivious to her situation, she was just very headstrong, convinced she could force her way through.

"Inform all members of the X Task Force!" Amanda said, "We need to hold a meeting!"

The members trickled into the meeting room in small groups. The slightly injured Deadshot and Witch were there, but the more recently injured Katana and TDK were still resting, so the personnel count remained unchanged.

"Congress wants me to return, but I won't grant them that wish," Amanda said, "And I want you to understand something: if I don't get the congressmen's support, the funding will go up in smoke."

Pamela and Victor's eyes widened. She slammed the table and said, "How can this be!"

"It's precisely to prevent them from being so reckless that I called you here," Amanda sighed, "We have to show them what we're capable of."

"They're unhappy with your control over state police," Pamela had long seen through everything, he said, "They see you as a ravager with nothing, not realizing the kind of power you hold. This is because the squad's previous performances were inadequate."

"Yes," Amanda nodded, affirming that perspective, as her thoughts aligned that way too.

It's as though Congress felt Amanda only wielded a small knife yet dared to arrogantly demand authority. The reason they thought Amanda was essentially wielding a small knife was due to the Federation Shield never achieving anything noteworthy.

The X Task Force's performance wasn't great, even the havoc they caused wasn't big enough to make Congress take them seriously.

The Justice League is a hard act to follow. Back when they dealt with aliens, they certainly made quite the commotion, evacuating all of Metropolis and engaging in fights near the Sun.

Compared to them, Amanda's team seemed trivial. If the Justice League is a machine gun, then what Amanda holds is naturally like a knife.

But if Amanda were holding an RPG, Congress would certainly not dare to deal with her in such a manner.

Or rather, the congressmen wouldn't need to deal with her this way, because with such force, Amanda's value would rise. They could easily eliminate one person internally to bring Amanda in.

Lex Luther did just this. Once he gained control over Metropolis, he became enormously valuable. Even when everyone knew he was in collusion, they would still kick someone else out to make room for him.

Amanda intends to take this path. As long as she demonstrates strong enough force, Congress can't order her around carelessly.

Though Congress wants her back, it's not impossible to delay. After all, she's just been injured and could claim she's not in a condition to move; it's unlikely they'd send someone to seize her.

During this time, the X Task Force can cause a big commotion. As long as they can showcase a high enough level, no one can speak loudly to Amanda.

Amanda shared her vision, looked around, and asked, "What do you all think?"

"I agree," Pamela said, "Of course, it's definitely not for funding or anything, mainly to give those old geezers a piece of our mind."

Victor nodded and said, "That's right, we need to show them our strength."

The two Batmans at the end of the table really wanted to ask, "What kind of strength do you have?" But seeing Amanda's unpleasant expression, they chose to keep their mouths shut.

Actually, Pamela, who's working two jobs, was thinking simply: Why are we here? For the money, of course. Not to mention Amanda's salary, they also want Congress funding.

To get the funding, they naturally need to show some value, like drawing a big picture. Unfortunately, Amanda hadn't painted it well before they came. But it's okay, as long as they can get the funding, they can paint as big a picture as needed.

"If this goes well, I'll negotiate with Congress afterward to increase the Federation Shield funding. No matter how much it increases, I'll give you 80%!"

Pamela's eyes lit up instantly. Amanda may not be smart, but he's certainly not stingy. Perhaps he knows that big rewards bring bold warriors. The atmosphere in the conference room became lively.

At this moment, Harley was in the lab, injecting a "nano bomb." Of course, it wasn't a nano bomb, just saline solution. The needle didn't even go all the way in, and more than half of the saline solution leaked out.

After the injection, Harley touched her wet neck, unhappily muttered a few words, but then stood up like a madman, shook her head, and twisted her ankles.

Everyone regrouped in the screening room. At this time, a construction site appeared on the screen. Amanda stood in front of the screen, pointing at the building on it and said, "Brainiac Center—I believe you've heard about it."

"It's an insult to the human race. To oppose Brainiac, we must cut down the flag he erected on the ground. So, the Brainiac Center is our target."

"It just started construction, but informants said he seems to be using technology not belonging to Earth. We found traces of robots around. This stuff might be from Brainiac's homeland."

Upon hearing this, the two Batmans became focused. Having been involved in previous events, they knew where Brainiac's homeland was. Superman is currently handling matters on Krypton.

But the planet is too deep, and even former natives may not fully understand it. So Superman doesn't have time to deal with Earth matters for now.

However, with Superman around, Brainiac shouldn't be able to bring anything from Krypton to Earth. What's the deal with the robots?

"No," Batman immediately realized, "It might not have been directly brought from Krypton. Brainiac has the technology, and he can definitely make it on Earth."

It has been quite a few days since Brainiac's invasion. Although large-scale equipment can't be made, making some robots for construction isn't difficult.

But the problem is that the robots use Krypton technology, which could be hard to handle.

Batman shared his views. Amanda nodded and said, "You're right. Alien robots are indeed challenging to deal with. Moreover, we discovered clear patrol signs around the construction site, which proves they might have made not only construction robots but also ones specifically for security and combat."

"To boost human prestige, we must quickly destroy this evil building and absolutely can't let it be completed. Meanwhile, I need you to showcase the X Task Force's strong power in this battle!"

Mentioning this, Batman fell silent again. He really didn't want to go.

"There's one more thing," Amanda said, "The Joker isn't very aware, but if that professor is already working for Brainiac, he will certainly fortify defenses at the Brainiac Center, and even set traps specifically targeting you. This will be quite dangerous."

Now, it's not only Batman who fell silent, Pamela and the others also stopped speaking. Even if Shiller is opposing them just to unite funding scams, confronting Shiller still sent chills down their spines.

Suddenly, it felt like "maybe this money isn't necessary to earn."

But Amanda clearly didn't give them a chance to back out. With a wave, he said, "Act tonight; by tomorrow morning, I want news of the Brainiac Center being destroyed by the powerful X Task Force. Get ready to set off!"

After leaving the conference room, Pamela deliberately lagged a step behind, waited beside Victor to walk alongside him, and said, "What should we do now?"

"Don't worry, Shiller won't kill you, right?"

"He probably won't kill me," Pamela, obviously unsure, said, "Shiller plus Brainiac, I don't even know how they will defend that building. Are we really going to directly charge in?"

"You think he has no precautions against Brainiac? Shiller certainly can't go all out, likely all bark and no bite..."

That night, Pamela crouched behind the fence outside the building, looking at the layers of robots inside, and said:

"But... isn't this bark a bit too loud?!"