"Go to hell!"
Joey directly let go of the helmet, swung his leg, and kicked it. The Fate helmet floating in the vacuum of space was sent flying into the depths of the universe at nearly light speed:
"What a fucking waste of my time!"
This person—or rather, these two people—who came to find him had done nothing except waste his precious ten minutes.
Everything Doctor Fate said could basically be categorized as nonsense. Yes, he could perceive destiny—but who knew whether anything coming out of his mouth was true or false?
As for claims like 'you are Kal-El of Krypton in this world'—Krypton was already destroyed, so what was the point of saying that now?
And as for 'this world is in danger'—did that even need to be said? Even in the so-called 'peaceful and orderly' Prime Earth, the Justice League could practically get wiped out every week, let alone this chaotic Flashpoint universe.
What did catch Joey's attention, however, was Raven's mention of San Francisco, 1906.
Given the circumstances at the time, what she said was very likely the key to bringing his adoptive parents back.
In the distance, the golden helmet, still sliding at light speed, suddenly curved back—its velocity even surpassing the speed of light.
"Are you some kind of cursed object from a horror movie that can't be thrown away?"
Joey looked at the helmet of fate as it returned like stubborn gum stuck to his shoe, and a surge of anger rose within him. He grabbed the helmet and prepared to crush it with both hands.
If fully unleashed, Doctor Fate's power could rival the entire multiverse—but accepting that power meant becoming a puppet of the Lord of Order, Nabu.
The helmet was forged from Nth Metal. This material, created on the planet Nth, could even harm Kryptonians—but even so, it was not unbreakable against brute force capable of crushing worlds.
The helmet emitted a strained groan under pressure. Without a host, Nabu's power within it was severely limited—it could not resist Superman in this state.
"Stop!"
In order to preserve the existence of Order and Fate in this universe, Nabu had no choice but to reveal information it had extracted from Raven's memories:
"The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was caused by the aftermath of Raven's battle with her father, Trigon. This 'event' became a fixed point in the multiverse."
"Even in the barren universe where you grew up, this event still exists—and in the future, you will use it to deceive 'Death.' I can help you find a way to reach that timeline right now!"
Hearing this reminder from the helmet, Joey finally recalled what happened in 1906 San Francisco—a famous earthquake in human history.
Although it registered above magnitude 8, due to the city's population density at the time, the earthquake itself did not cause catastrophic destruction.
However, the fires ignited afterward spread throughout the city. Residents were unable to control the blaze, and it eventually engulfed the entire city, causing unimaginable casualties.
But what did any of this have to do with Raven? She hadn't even been born in that era.
Then Joey reconsidered—someone like Raven, capable of freely traversing worlds, likely existed beyond time and space. Appearing at any point in any universe wouldn't be strange.
So it must have been that Raven's battle with her father triggered the earthquake, and the uncontrollable fires were clearly hellfire leaking out—by that logic, Raven was basically a walking catastrophe.
As for the helmet's mention of 'deceiving Death,' although it was phrased vaguely, Joey knew exactly when someone would need to do something like that.
"I understand."
Joey muttered to himself as he increased the force on the helmet.
The information the Fate helmet gave him was valuable—but it still wouldn't stop him from crushing it to dust.
He had decided: the Lord of Order Nabu was too dangerous and should not exist beside him in this universe.
Cracks of gold began spreading across the helmet under Superman's grip. Nabu had assumed this man, whose destiny was so chaotic and unpredictable, would easily accept cooperation—after all, no one could resist the temptation of controlling fate.
It had not expected him to destroy it without hesitation. Inside the helmet, there were secrets of the universe—including Krypton's mysteries!
The golden cracks deepened. The voice of Lord of Order Nabu inside Joey's mind became increasingly incoherent:
"I'm telling you—you don't even—you don't understand what I'm telling you—you don't, you don't know, do you? You don't, you don't understand anything you're doing right now, you—do you even know what you're—what are you even—?!"
Joey knew he would eventually learn the truth—once he found a way back to that previous universe, he could simply ask Raven, who still existed there.
The Raven he saw earlier… based on her words and behavior, she was very likely Raven's future self from that world.
With a massive magical explosion, the Fate helmet finally shattered into countless fragments. Joey gathered them in his hand and flew toward Earth.
Even now, Joey still didn't understand why Doctor Fate had come to show himself in front of him—but since he was already here and refused to leave, then it was better for him to shut up.
As for asking the helmet about the fate of this world—it wasn't even worth considering.
Joey understood better than anyone that this universe's destiny was already doomed. There was no need to ask a Doctor Fate about it.
If one wanted to fight destiny, the first requirement was simple: you cannot let fate be both referee and screenwriter.
Joey believed he could rewrite destiny with his own power.
---
Kara Zor-El was inside the Fortress of Solitude, examining the two crystals Joey had failed to finish reading that night.
These crystals did not contain corrupted data, as she had told him—they had been deliberately erased by her.
Because she was not yet sure whether Kal-El was ready… or if he ever would be.
"How much time is left?"
Kara turned to the central AI system that was transmitting coordinates. On its display, a countdown had already begun:
Local planetary cycle: 06 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone was knocking on the Fortress door.
"Who is it?!"
Kara erased the data traces from the processor and looked warily outside—but there was nothing in sight.
The idea of a door in the Fortress of Solitude had actually been Joey's suggestion. Only two Kryptonians had access to it—him and Kara. Normally, they would just fly in directly. Who would even use a door?
A red cape stirred up a gust of wind. Kara shot out from an upper opening of the Fortress and arrived at the entrance in an instant, reaching the place where the knocking had come from.
There was indeed no one there.
But with her sharp vision, she noticed a card placed face-down on the ice. Even her X-ray vision could not see through the back of it.
A female voice echoed beside her ear:
"This is a tarot card. It is the relic of a deceased friend. She asked me to deliver it to the one who can stand against destiny—the Child of Tomorrow."
Kara turned toward the direction of the voice and tried to grab the speaker—but found nothing but empty space. It felt as if the voice itself had been an illusion.
"Fine, I'll be direct—"
The mysterious woman hiding in magic lost her patience. It was only a gift for the hero who had saved the magical world—why create conflict?
Her voice echoed again in Kara's ear:
"namrepuS ot drac torat taht eviG (Give that tarot card to Superman)."
Hearing the sentence reversed in order, Kara's eyes went blank. She unconsciously picked up the card from the ground.
This was a Major Arcana tarot card. The moment she picked it up, the image on the card shifted—changing from The Fool upright into the Death card reversed.