As Viktor carried Aquaman along and was about to break through the atmosphere, Aquaman's face turned pale, and he instinctively clutched his trident tighter.
Viktor couldn't help finding it funny.
"Your body is tougher than the reefs on the seabed. Surely a fall from this height wouldn't actually kill you?"
Aquaman let out a disgruntled snort.
He lost his earlier cheerfulness up in the sky, deliberately keeping his gaze away from the ocean rapidly shrinking far below.
He clutched the trident even tighter and warned through gritted teeth.
"Once we're out of the atmosphere, pick up the speed a bit. Holding your breath in space is really uncomfortable."
Viktor grinned, looked up at the sky, and suddenly sped up. They shot straight through the white clouds.
After a short moment of icy cold, the vast glittering expanse of space opened up before them.
Not long after, they saw a huge satellite station made of special dark blue-bck metal, shaped like an eagle with wings spread, and wrapped in a honeycomb-like energy shield.
As the two of them rapidly closed in, a wide metal walkway slowly slid out from a big hexagon-shaped entrance that glowed soft blue.
Since he'd already been here once before, Viktor approached the walkway with practiced ease and then gently set Aquaman down.
Aquaman immediately gestured with his hand, then ran straight into the Watchtower's entrance.
Viktor nded on the entrance as well but didn't rush inside. He paused this time and deliberately looked back at Earth.
The light refracted outside the atmosphere, and the half-globe visible in his field of vision seemed to give off a soft, milky luminescence.
Unfortunately, Rachel wouldn't get to see it this time.
She didn't really like going to pces full of strangers, and a pce like the Mount of Olympus was somewhere her presence might cause far greater problems.
Rachel's demonic aura likely wouldn't be able to stay hidden from the gods.
After staring quietly for a few seconds, Viktor finally stepped into the Watchtower with a faint sense of awe.
It seemed that most of the main members of the Justice League were already there.
In the conference room, Superman and Hawkman sat upright in their seats.
Batman and Cyborg stood beside an intelligent computer console. Green Lantern leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, and when he saw Viktor come in, even nodded in greeting.
And somewhere not far from Viktor, a bright red butt end was swaying back and forth. He took a couple of steps to the side before he could finally see whose red butt it was.
Shazam was pressed up against the conference room's outer window, hands cupped over his eyes like binocurs.
He kept clicking his tongue in amazement at the starry sky outside while his butt swayed back and forth the whole time.
'Where did Aquaman go?'
Just as Viktor was starting to feel like something was missing, a crackling sound suddenly came from directly behind him.
A figure in gold-and-red armor stumbled two steps and appeared behind him.
"Whoa! First of all I did not mean to be te, I was literally in the bathroom at Central City Police Department when I got the alert, but then two seconds before that I suddenly remembered that this morning Iris asked me to prepare a special gift for her because her birthday is coming up, so I ran to Tennessee because Iris mentioned during our st picnic that there's this particur thing in Tennessee... and then the alert came through, but on the highway I saw this... and finally I remembered the Watchtower is in space, so I called Batman's channel again and he told me there's a transporter in Gotham that can recognize my identity and send me here!"
After The Fsh finished talking really fast in a long line of words, the other members of the Justice League didn't react at all. They seemed so used to it that none of them even turned their heads.
However, Viktor, who was hearing him for the first time, barely turned around, his brain trying to process everything.
It took him a while to understand even half of what The Fsh had just said.
Seeing Viktor completely frozen with a bnk, crashed expression, Superman sighed and reminded him:
"Next time the Fsh starts talking, learn to filter for useful information. The st time he did that same thing to me dumped tens of thousands of words in my ear in a few hundredths of a second. I didn't have time to ramp up my super-brain at full capacity at the time, and even I got all mixed up for a few seconds too."
At this point, the Fsh finally noticed Vikto's existence.
He turned his head, tossed out a quick introduction, and then stared at everyone else with a horrified look.
"Hi... Why is there a kid in the Watchtower?!"
The moment he said that, Shazam's butt visibly stiffened.
He tilted his head just a tiny bit to gnce over, caught a glimpse of Viktor, and realized the Fsh wasn't talking about him. He coughed, straightened up, and walked back to his seat as if nothing had happened.
Green Lantern walked over and threw an arm around the Fsh's shoulders.
"This isn't an ordinary kid. He comes from a very mysterious pnet…"
The two drifted off to the side and began whispering to each other.
Viktor suddenly shook himself awake, and his brain just finished processing Superman's helpful reminder.
After rubbing his head, Viktor patted his forehead and asked, "Thanks for the tip. By the way, where'd Aquaman go? Didn't he come in ahead of me?"
Batman's voice sounded ft and calm.
"The bathroom. He went to throw up."
After seeing Aquaman finally returned to his seat and quietly wiping the water off his face as he did, Batman turned around and took his pce at the head of the conference table.
"Based on the clues Queen Hippolyta provided, what we know so far is that the kidnapper is most likely the God of War, Ares. However, there's a high chance that Zeus is behind this because Ares alone wouldn't be able to take Wonder Woman away without anyone noticing."
Viktor scanned the room quickly and saw that Cyborg, Green Lantern, and the Fsh were all standing.
He simply slipped his hands into his pockets and stood quietly in the same spot, listening carefully to Batman.
Batman raised a finger and tapped the tabletop lightly.
The screen behind him dispyed an image with a piece of parchment covered in a line of golden writing on it.
It was clear the person who took the picture wasn't used to electronic devices because the angle was a little crooked.
"This parchment was left behind along with the God Killer at the st known location of Wonder Woman's disappearance. Queen Hippolyta helped us transte the text. It's written in Ancient Greek."
Cyborg picked up the thread, confirming what Batman had said.
"I cross-referenced the nguage database. The content of this parchment matches Queen Hippolyta's transtion almost exactly. It says Zeus is outraged by the thief who stole the Golden Apple and demands that the thief come alone to the divine realm to face punishment, or Zeus's wrath will once again descend upon the mortal world."
A brief silence fell over the room.
Superman looked visibly worried, and the others also had solemn expressions.
Shazam was the only one who was a bit less serious and turned around to look at Viktor.
"This is the kid who stole the Golden Apple?"
Before Viktor could respond, Shazam spread his hands toward everyone in the conference room, his face full of pity and righteous resolve.
"Guys, we can't possibly let a kid go to the divine realm alone. I have a pn, which is that we should find the entrance to the divine realm, and we all charge in together and rescue Wonder Woman!"
They didn't take Shazam seriously, but Green Lantern started nodding thoughtfully.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the moment his mouth opened, The Fsh moved so fast that no one could see it, and elbowed Green Lantern in the side.
Green Lantern made two strangled sounds, lost his breath, and couldn't get a word out.
Cyborg's electronic eye flickered with blue light for a few seconds before he picked up Shazam's point.
"We don't have enough information on the Gods of Olympus right now. We can't act that rashly."
"The only one we have any clear historical record on is Ares, but Wonder Woman has said that the Ares in the divine realm isn't the same as the Ares in the mortal world."
Superman's blue eyes were filled with worry.
"I once asked Wonder Woman about it when we were talking. She told me that even I might not be able to gain the upper hand against Zeus. Zeus, unlike the other gods of Olympus, is the King of the Gods. He possesses a power that is far beyond all the other gods."
Aquaman finally catching his breath, looked straight at Batman. Aside from expining the situation at the beginning, he hadn't spoken since.
"I get the feeling you already have a pn, right?"
Batman spoke in a hoarse voice, and his calm tone was like dropping a thunderbolt into the room.
"Viktor will enter the divine realm alone. We'll be ready to provide support at any time."
The words barely nded before several people in the room erupted in objection.
Aquaman looked utterly shocked, and Shazam outright jumped to his feet.
"You're sending this kid to storm the divine realm by himself? Batman, he's just a kid!"
Then Shazam went over to Superman, who was deep in thought, and started shaking him.
He immediately grabbed Superman's arm that had been sitting beside him, head bowed in thought, and shook him.
"You can't possibly agree with this insane idea, right?! What's gotten to Batman today?!"
Hawkman shot Shazam a look of disdain and turned to face Batman instead.
"See? They never even read the reports you send them."
After hearing Hawkman's words, the Fsh frowned, and his figure flickered, and then his face went pale, as all the blood had drained out of him.
He stared at Viktor in disbelief.
Viktor, on the other hand, raised one hand.
'This might be the time to fight and push my limits there. Moreover, I still owe her for her teaching and training.'
"I don't have a problem with it. I just don't know how to get to the entrance of the divine realm."
