Chapter 309: Memories of Mercury (59)

After the Magical twins left with Cassandra, Bruce and Oliver, who had been arguing, immediately stopped. Oliver sighed and sat back down in his seat, while Bruce stood in place and yawned.

He looked down at his phone briefly, while Clark turned to look out the window; it seemed like they were all waiting for something.

"Is the meeting over?" Diana asked as she turned her head, "I have a class this afternoon."

"I'm afraid you won't need to go," Bruce said, obviously too lazy to pretend anymore, "Perhaps you should explain what's been happening on Mercury lately."

"What do you mean?" Wonder Woman frowned, "Do you think I am responsible for this?"

"We think there's something wrong with you," Oliver said bluntly, "To be precise, you've been influenced by Hecate."

"What a joke!" Diana said incredulously, "You don't seriously think I'm under her control, do you?"

"It's much more sophisticated than control," Bruce said with a smile, "You're still you, Wonder Woman Diana, only some subtle things have changed."

"You are talking nonsense," Diana shook her head and looked at the others as if they were insane.

"In that case, we also hope to place you under tighter surveillance," Bruce said, "After all, if you're not influenced, it will prove your innocence."

"I will not tolerate such baseless slander!" Diana stood up and slapped the table, "It's you who are being influenced! You're causing the Justice League to splinter!"

"There is no splintering," Bruce's tone grew colder as he stood up, "We will always stand together."

Diana stared hard at Bruce, "You've bewitched them!"

Then she turned to look at Clark, but Clark's fearless gaze met hers – his clear and steadfast eyes seemed to see right to the bottom of one's soul.

"I haven't done anything! You have to believe me," Diana's voice rose, "Even if there's evidence, it could be forged; it's very likely to be Hecate's strategy to divide us!"

"Don't forget, I possess one-fifth of Hecate's power, and what she wants most now is to leave me isolated and vulnerable so she can strike at me and take back her power. If you really believe her, it will lead to a real disaster!"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Bruce emphasized again, "As I said, we will always stand together."

Diana looked at Bruce, speechless, as if she could no longer tolerate his nonsense.

Her face turned cold as she stared at Bruce, "I don't know what you're talking about, Bruce. We may have tolerated your insanity all this time, but you've gone too far this time!"

Then she added, "If you have any evidence, present it. I won't admit to your groundless accusations! Nor will I allow you to disrupt the unity of the Justice League!"

"Are you threatening me?" Bruce asked defiantly, "You remind me that if you use force, Mercury Base, the Sun, and even the entire Solar System could be in jeopardy."

Before Diana could speak, Bruce tapped the table and said, "But do you think I'd be unprepared?"

As he finished speaking, everything in the surrounding scene turned a shimmering green, and outside the large windows, the glow of red flame particles made the green cape even more vivid.

Hal Jordan and his Supreme Green Lanterns descended, the light of the Sun making way for the Jade Light, and the entire world turned a luminous emerald.

Inside Mercury Base, the lifelike surfaces of all objects rapidly faded, and in the end, the whole planet became a massive green cage, with all members of the Justice League trapped inside.

Bruce spread his hands and said, "That's how it is."

"How can you do this to me?!" Diana looked disappointed and sad, turning to Hal, "You're dividing the Justice League! Stop doing things that hurt friends and please foes."

"You got it wrong, he's not doing this just to you, he's doing it to all of us," Bruce said with an unconcerned smile, "This cage is not just yours; it's for all of us."

Diana stood frozen as Bruce said, "Actually, I don't have any evidence, I simply suggested something everyone could agree on."

Bruce sat down again, tapping the table lightly and saying, "Hecate might have methods to manipulate others, and these methods are very secretive, almost impossible to detect. This means any of us could be under her control, without us even knowing it."

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"However, no matter how sinister the method is, there are two people who are completely immune to her control: one is Shiller, and the other is Ion Hal."

"Let's not mention whether the Magic Power of Hecate can fully suppress the core power of the Emotional Spectrum of the cosmos; Hal possesses the most extraordinary willpower in the universe, he is not one to be easily manipulated."

"If that's the case, why don't we have him lock us all up?" Bruce shrugged and said, "That way, no matter who among us is controlled, it won't affect the safety of Earth."

He looked into Diana's eyes and said, "Apart from the person controlled by Hecate, none of us is in a hurry to do anything, so whoever becomes impatient and wants to leave first will naturally be the mole."

"What about Mercury, then? What about the safety of Mercury?" Diana said, "What if Hecate decides to attack Mercury at this time..."

"Madam, you need not worry yourself about that," Hal said, straightening his tie as he walked in, "The formidable warriors of the Green Lantern Corps will be responsible for the safety of the Solar System. I assure you, within my jurisdiction, no one will get away with wrongdoing."

Diana seemed unable to restrain herself any longer; she said, "Hal, you're going mad along with him, the Green Lantern Corps has to maintain cosmic security..."

"Isn't the Solar System part of the cosmos?" Hal remained unmoved as he walked to the head of the conference table, sat down, and said, "The Green Lantern Corps has determined that the resurrection of Hecate could pose a danger to the entire universe; the alert level in the Solar System has been raised to the highest. Now all actual controllers of the Lantern Corps are on standby outside the Solar System; let her dare to show up, and we'll show her what we're made of."

Diana opened her mouth slightly but couldn't actually say anything because Hal was entirely correct.

Unexpectedly, Hal continued, "I have reviewed the frequency and severity of disaster incidents in various Sectors over the past millennium and found that Earth is almost the source of all major incidents. Thus, the Guardians of the Universe have specially authorized the selection of more outstanding Lamp heroes from Earth to form a Guardian of the Galaxy, specifically to ensure the safety of the Milky Way."

"The personnel I've brought today will continue to stay within the Solar System during the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, ensuring that any significant safety issues are nipped in the bud and that cosmic terrorists like Hecate are killed in the cradle, solving the safety issues caused by frequent major incidents in the cosmos at their source."

Bruce, Clark, and Oliver stood in a row, applauding.

Sometimes officialdom can be annoying, but at other times, it serves the purpose of presenting an argument you can't refute after listening, just like now, who ever argues is simply ignoring cosmic security.

Of course, it wasn't just Hal being officious; what he said was indeed correct. 80% of major cosmic safety incidents erupted on Earth, and the most efficient way to maintain cosmic security was to monitor Earth closely, to suppress any major villains before they could stir up trouble.

One might ask, don't the Guardians of other universes know about this? Why don't they do the same?

This leads us to discuss the remaining 20% of major safety incidents caused by whom.

The Guardians of the Universe were never really created to guard the cosmos; they did everything but that. They formed the Lantern Corps not really hoping it would make the universe better, but to benefit themselves.

In most other universes, there is no group capable of countering the Guardians of the Universe, so the Guardians have been repeating the cycle of causing trouble, fleeing, and dragging the Corps out to clean up after them.

But the universe Shiller is in is different, by relentlessly drawing on Green Lantern energy over the years, the Emotional Spectrum is in jeopardy. Just a bit more depletion, and the consumed Emotional Spectrum could lead to an imbalance of cosmic forces that destroys the universe.

Hal has armed his own forces with these powers, and if the Little Blue People want to continue drawing on the power of the Emotional Spectrum to establish a force against him, it would be the final Domino in causing the universe to collapse, and neither the other powerful entities nor other Lantern Corps would allow this to happen.

Hal's excessive withdrawal of Green Lantern energy was wrong, but now that things have come to this, his feuding with them is not our concern, but he must not bring the universe down with him.

So now, at least within the Green Lantern Corps, Hal reigns supreme, and even the Little Blue People must show him some respect.

With power in hand, Hal rallied his forces and compiled data on the frequency of major safety incidents in various Sectors; he logically persuaded the other Lantern Corps to regard the Milky Way, where Earth is located, as an object of special prevention, addressing the cosmic security issues at their root.

This incident of the Magic Goddess's resurrection is just one of the pieces of evidence supporting Hal's argument. Diana saw a sly glint in Hal's eyes; he wasn't afraid of a showdown with the mole, on the contrary, he was waiting for Hecate's resurrection to show the other Lantern Corps and the Little Blue People the consequences of not keeping a close eye on Earth.

Perhaps, he also wanted to use Hecate to weaken the strength of other Lantern Corps, ensuring his Green Lantern Corps could secure the top position. By then, the Guardians of the Universe might not be able to completely restrain him, and all Lantern Corps would fall into his hands.

At this moment, Hal turned to Bruce and said, "You mentioned the other two faces of the Three-Phased Goddess would appear soon, where are they?"

"Don't rush." Bruce said with a smile, "The first face that takes action will soon be trapped, and then they will be forced to resolve the issue on a physical level, unable to stay hidden."

"Are you referring to 'Mother'?"

"Exactly." Bruce then turned to Diana and said, "Madam, why didn't you realize that Shiller was deliberately leading you to touch him?"

Diana was taken aback, suddenly recalling the scene of Shiller tilting his head back to reveal the Scales on his neck, which she had lightly touched with her hand.

"You were fooled so easily, sending your beloved mother on a road to ruin."

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