Was it a curse or contamination?
Even though Alex had saved this parallel branch of the DC cinematic universe before, it still couldn't escape its fate of being rebooted after all this time.
From the current developments, the Flashpoint One universe was clearly on a countdown to life or death.
Without external intervention, the Justice Society's superheroes alone would struggle to resist Darkseid's threat.
When that moment came, that universe would follow the same path as the DC cinematic universe—The Flash, Barry Allen, would enter the Speed Force and reboot the entire timeline, bypassing Darkseid's invasion of Earth.
Thinking of this, Alex let out a helpless sigh.
"So that's the situation. Alex, think of something," Tony Stark leaned back on the sofa, looking utterly relaxed, as if this whole matter wasn't his problem.
Before Alex could respond, Billy sat up straight, unable to hold back.
"What's there to think about? It's Darkseid! If anyone's taking the fight to Apokolips, I, Billy, am absolutely in!"
"Oh? And who was it just now that said they'd never get involved in this kind of thing again?" Alex shot Billy a glance.
"This is different, okay?" Billy frowned, speaking seriously. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to another version of myself. I have to help."
Hearing this, Alex nodded silently before turning to Tony with a small sigh and a smile. "And you? What do you say?"
"Of course, I'll follow your orders. After all, I work under you," Tony replied smoothly, not falling for the trap.
"Oh really? If that's the case, then technically, Pietro is the captain—you should be taking orders from him." Alex shot him a meaningful look.
Tony, however, simply grinned as if he hadn't noticed. "Then I'll just carry out our captain's orders. You sure about that?"
Rolling his eyes, Alex waved a hand. "I'm sure. Happy now? Just don't screw things up."
"Heh, of course not." Tony patted his chest confidently, then couldn't help but ask, "Alex, you really don't plan to check things out yourself?"
Hearing this, Alex could only shake his head helplessly and sigh.
"I want to, but I can't leave right now. The Wasteland's magic is returning, and I have a pile of things to deal with. Plus, I have no idea when the Watcher will contact me. If I go there, they won't be able to find me."
After all, they were talking about crossing between two completely different multiversal realities. Even if the Watcher wanted to, they had no way to bridge such a gap to contact Alex.
"That's fair." Tony nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly remembered something. "Wait, I haven't even asked—did you really manage to bring back the magical dimensions?"
"Well, that's… complicated." Alex rubbed his temples.
"My original plan was to link the physical realm with the quantum dimension to locate the banished magical realms. But what I didn't expect was that they had already been destroyed—by Peregrine Child and the Three Matrons."
"Peregrine Child and the Three Matrons? Who are they?" Tony asked, curious. This was the first time he had heard these names.
"You can think of Peregrine Child as the Galactus of the magical dimensions, and the Three Matrons as its three Silver Surfers. In short, big trouble," Alex explained as simply as possible.
Hearing this, Tony's eyes widened, and any lingering tipsiness vanished instantly.
"Galactus and Silver Surfer? Alex, you're joking, right? You're telling me there was a hidden cosmic-level threat lurking in the Wasteland universe all this time, and we never noticed?"
"Peregrine Child was likely hiding at the fringes of the magical dimensions. We couldn't even find the banished magical dimensions before, right? The moment we do see it, that means it's already absorbed enough energy to be unstoppable."
"And? Did you take it down?" Tony asked urgently.
This was no small matter. As a overseer of the Wasteland universe, they had just uncovered a massive ticking time bomb that had been right under their noses without them realizing.
If Alex hadn't found it this time, and if Peregrine Child had been allowed to grow unchecked, the Wasteland universe would have been doomed. And if Alex had been absent for whatever reason, they would have had to rely entirely on the Ultimate Eraser to fix things.
"Relax, Stark. Peregrine Child is already cosmic fireworks now," Billy interjected, pointing at Lightbringer. "He lit the fire."
Lightbringer simply smiled without saying a word.
What could he even say? It wasn't like he did it willingly—Alex had forced him into it.
Tony turned to Lightbringer with newfound respect. "Nice. Very nice. We need more fresh blood like you."
"Flattering," Lightbringer replied dryly, forcing a smile.
In reality, he had barely done anything—just lit the fire. After that, he got blown to pieces, and it was Alex who painstakingly put him back together again. So, he didn't feel particularly heroic.
"The explosion of Peregrine Child scattered all of its magic energy across countless dimensional barriers, even breaking the boundary between reality and fantasy. The Wasteland universe is now undergoing a full-scale magical resurgence," Alex explained.
"Now that's interesting. I need to go experience this myself."
Saying that, Tony stood up, ready to head into the physical world of the Wasteland universe.
"Go ahead. Take Billy with you, too. I need to check in with Reed Richards and monitor whether the magical resurgence is causing any unforeseen changes in the Wasteland," Alex nodded.
"Got it. Oh, right—this is a gift from the Justice Society guys. They told me to bring it to you. Also, here's the time anchor communicator for the Flashpoint One universe. Drop it off with Reed for me."
As Tony spoke, he pulled a small device from his magical storage—along with three pitch-black metal boxes.
That small device wasn't just any communicator—it was the key to stabilizing the flow of time between the two universes. Reed Richards needed real-time monitoring of the Flashpoint One universe's temporal flow to synchronize it with their own.
But as for those three black metal boxes…
The moment Alex saw them, he froze.
"You brought the Mother Boxes back!?"
Having seen both the movies and comics, Alex was naturally familiar with the three cubes before him. These weren't just any artifacts—they were the pinnacle of Apokoliptian technology, small portable supercomputers with sentience.
The origin of the Mother Boxes had many versions, but most stories traced them back to the mysterious Element X. They possessed unparalleled power, and when united as a trinity, they could generate the fabled Unity—an energy so immense that Darkseid had built the Fourth World around it.
It could be said that the Mother Boxes represented the very peak of technological advancement. Even their creators couldn't fully harness all their abilities—there were aspects of their knowledge that even the New Gods of Apokolips couldn't comprehend.
These three Mother Boxes weren't just Apokoliptian artifacts; they were among the highest levels of technology in the entire DC universe.
"The Justice Society guys said keeping these things with them wasn't safe, and they couldn't decrypt the technology anyway. So, they figured they might as well use them as bargaining chips and hand them over to us," Tony Stark said with a shrug.
Then, he grinned. "These are priceless, you know. A fusion of technology and magic—I was thinking of studying them myself. If you don't want them, just let me keep them."
Hearing this, Alex sighed and shook his head helplessly. "Yeah, right. If it weren't for the fact that we're inside the House of Mystery, those three Mother Boxes would've exploded by now."
"Huh?" Tony Stark froze in shock upon hearing that.
"I've told you not to mess with things you don't understand. These Mother Boxes were created by Apokolips—you really think their creations wouldn't have a built-in self-destruct mechanism? They only serve their rightful owner unconditionally, and you're not their master.
Besides, their sensory capabilities are incredibly advanced. If they don't detect their master's presence in this world, they immediately trigger self-destruction. The only reason they haven't gone off is that the House of Mystery has a higher authority than the Mother Boxes. Otherwise, they'd have been scrap metal by now."
Alex nudged one of the Mother Boxes with his foot. Seeing no reaction from them, he quickly lost interest.
"I'll stash these in the storage room later. At the very least, they make for a decent collector's item."
"Alright."
Tony Stark was a bit disappointed, but he didn't argue. As one of the smartest people in the world, he was confident that even without the help of a Mother Box, he could still merge technology and magic.
After saying a quick goodbye to Alex, he motioned for Billy to follow him as he prepared to leave.
He had a lot on his plate after this trip—not only did he need to deliver the temporal anchor communicator to Reed, but he also had to make a supply run for Lex Luthor. The Wasteland needed resources now more than ever.
And on top of that, he had to track down the Bat-Family.
Just like the Justice Society had said—Gotham couldn't be without Batman.
But right now, the old Bruce Wayne was in critical condition, unconscious from severe injuries. Whether he would wake up was still uncertain, and neither technology nor magic could help. So, it was time to bring a true Batman back into the fold.
Tony was particularly looking forward to seeing the reactions of Red Robin Tim and the current Robin, Stephanie, when they laid eyes on the Wasteland's Batman.
No, wait—forget those two kids.
What really excited Tony was imagining the look on Batman's face when he heard there was a chance to return to Gotham City!
.....
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