MARVEL/DC: DOCTOR IN THE MULTIVERSE

"Does it hurt?"

Leonard Snart flexed his jaw.

"No."

A brief pause.

"Actually..."

His expression became strange.

"It itches."

"Inside the arm."

"A really weird itch."

Lynn didn't even look up from the surgical field.

"Normal."

"The nerve pathways are reconnecting."

"Signal transmission is being restored."

"Your brain is receiving sensory feedback from tissues that were effectively dead a few minutes ago."

He adjusted the instrument in his hand.

"Try not to scratch it."

Snart snorted.

"Easy for you to say."

The remainder of the procedure proceeded quickly.

Under the guidance of the All-Seeing Eye, every trace of residual Speed Force contamination was removed from the severed surfaces.

The preserved arm was thawed.

Muscle tissue restored.

Bone structure aligned.

Blood vessels reconnected.

Nerves fused one by one with microscopic precision.

The process would have been impossible for any conventional surgeon.

For Lynn, it was routine.

The final suture was completed.

He stepped back.

"Move your fingers."

Snart stared at the hand.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the index finger twitched.

The middle finger followed.

Then the ring finger.

Then the little finger.

His breathing became slightly uneven.

A rare expression crossed his face.

Relief.

For a career criminal who relied on specialized equipment, losing an arm wasn't merely an inconvenience.

It was the end of everything.

"Done."

Lynn removed his gloves.

"Return in two weeks."

"I'll remove the stitches."

"No heavy lifting."

"No intensive use of the shoulder."

"And absolutely no handling cold guns."

Snart immediately frowned.

"How am I supposed to work?"

"That's your problem."

The Rogue leader slowly flexed his restored hand.

His expression alternated between gratitude and financial agony.

The arm was back.

The eighty thousand dollars were gone.

And so was a portion of his technological privacy.

Neither fact made him happy.

With his left hand, he pulled the cold gun from inside his coat.

The iconic weapon landed on the examination table.

"You said one scan."

Lynn picked up the weapon.

The All-Seeing Eye completed its analysis in less than a third of a second.

Power source.

Cryogenic energy conversion pathways.

Containment architecture.

Heat-exchange systems.

Temperature-control mechanisms.

Every component was mapped and recorded.

Comic-book science at its finest.

The weapon was actually more sophisticated than many military prototypes.

Not surprising.

Leonard Snart wasn't a scientist on the level of Lex Luthor, but over the years he and the Rogues had refined their technology far beyond what most people realized.

Lynn placed the weapon back down.

"Done."

Snart immediately reclaimed it.

The cold gun vanished back inside the coat.

He stood.

Walked toward the door.

Then paused.

"Doctor."

"Hm?"

"If I lose another arm someday..."

Lynn looked up.

"Do I get a discount?"

"No."

Snart sighed.

"The price doubles."

The corners of Snart's mouth twitched.

Then he left.

...

Gotham City.

The Batcave.

Cold blue lighting illuminated the vast underground chamber.

The distant roar of subterranean water echoed through the cave.

Several bats glided silently through the darkness overhead.

Bruce Wayne stood before the Batcomputer.

His back faced the visitor.

"Six hours of flight time."

Bruce didn't turn around.

"You came all the way to Gotham just to admire my cave?"

A familiar voice answered.

"It is a very nice cave."

Tony Stark leaned casually against the elevator platform.

A cup of espresso rested in his hand.

"But the lighting is awful."

He glanced upward.

"Have you considered skylights?"

Bruce remained expressionless.

"It's a Batcave."

Tony nodded seriously.

"Right."

"Darkness."

"Mood."

"Trauma."

"I understand."

Neither billionaire smiled.

The conversation sounded casual.

The atmosphere was not.

Tony walked toward the central console.

His eyes swept across the data displayed on the giant screens.

Lynn's profile.

Alpha-Zero assessments.

Battle analyses.

Contingency planning flowcharts.

He wasn't surprised.

Because he was doing exactly the same thing.

"You didn't invite me here for coffee."

Tony set down his cup.

Bruce finally turned around.

"No."

In his hand was a small lead-lined container.

Approximately the size of a jewelry box.

No markings.

No labels.

Nothing.

Bruce placed it on the console.

Then opened it.

Inside rested a small green crystal.

No larger than a fingernail.

A faint emerald glow illuminated the interior.

Tony's eyes narrowed instantly.

"Kryptonite."

Bruce nodded.

"Weapon-grade."

"Recovered from the World Engine impact zone after the Battle of Metropolis."

He looked at the crystal.

"The total quantity of refined weapon-grade Kryptonite on Earth is currently estimated at less than one kilogram."

Tony stared at it.

"This sample is among the purest."

Silence followed.

Then Tony looked up.

"You're building something aimed at Superman."

Bruce answered immediately.

"Not only Superman."

Tony understood.

Of course.

Alpha-Zero.

The masked man.

Bruce had already shared portions of his Metropolis analysis.

Flight.

Heat vision.

Physical power.

Durability.

The similarities to Kryptonian physiology were impossible to ignore.

"The probability remains high."

Bruce spoke calmly.

"If Kryptonite affects Superman, it will likely affect him as well."

Tony folded his arms.

"Likely."

He emphasized the word.

"Not guaranteed."

"No."

Bruce agreed.

"Nothing is."

Tony walked closer.

"What if it fails?"

"What if we throw Kryptonite at him and he doesn't even blink?"

"What then?"

Bruce was silent for several moments.

Then he activated another display.

A technical schematic appeared.

Tony immediately recognized it.

His expression changed.

"That's mine."

The title displayed:

HIGH-FREQUENCY OSCILLATION PENETRATION SYSTEM

One of the most advanced subsystems currently being developed for the Anti-God Armor.

Its purpose was simple.

By generating extreme-frequency mechanical oscillations, the system could bypass conventional energy barriers and transmit destructive force directly into a target's internal structure.

Tony had shown this design to nobody.

Nobody except—

"You hacked me."

Bruce remained calm.

"You sent partial files through a public encrypted relay."

Tony rubbed his forehead.

"I knew this conversation was coming."

"The core parameters were encrypted."

"I know."

Bruce nodded.

"Which is why you're here."

Tony sighed.

Not angry.

Not surprised.

Just resigned.

The world's greatest detective hacking him was practically a natural law.

The two men stared at each other.

"You want cooperation."

Tony stated it directly.

"We need cooperation."

Bruce corrected him.

"You can't build a complete solution alone."

"I can't either."

Tony glanced at the Kryptonite.

Then at the schematics.

Then at Alpha-Zero's file.

"And together?"

Bruce didn't hesitate.

"Our odds improve."

Tony laughed once.

"That's not exactly reassuring."

"No."

Bruce agreed.

"It isn't."

Tony stepped closer to the display.

Several red annotations covered the schematic.

Bruce's additions.

Weak points.

Stress points.

Optimization paths.

Tony immediately recognized the depth of understanding behind them.

This wasn't amateur analysis.

This was Batman.

"What else do you have?"

Bruce switched screens.

A familiar codename appeared.

TOWER OF BABEL

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"That's an old name."

"Updated project."

Bruce activated the file.

"The original Tower of Babel was designed around Justice League vulnerabilities."

"The new version only has one target."

The screen changed.

Alpha-Zero.

Combat footage.

Energy signatures.

Height estimates.

Power assessments.

Known abilities.

Superhuman strength.

Heat vision.

Kinetic absorption.

Electromagnetic control.

Teleportation.

Magical resistance.

The list continued.

Tony felt a headache forming.

"One person."

He stared at the screen.

"One person with powers stolen from half a dozen different categories."

"Every time we identify one weakness..."

He pointed at the list.

"He has ten more abilities compensating for it."

"Exactly."

Bruce folded his arms.

"Which is why a single attack won't work."

The screen displayed multiple interconnected vectors.

Several suppression methods.

Several attack paths.

Everything layered together.

"We need comprehensive suppression."

"Multi-dimensional."

"Simultaneous."

"Kryptonite weakens the Kryptonian component."

"High-frequency oscillations penetrate physical durability."

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