Chapter 2185: Battle of the Two Cities! (Part 63)

After Martha left, Bruce looked up at the window on the second floor. The moment Batman's gaze met his, Bruce revealed a smile.

Batman pulled the curtains, sat back in his recliner, and continued to read his Sherlock Holmes. He was at the exciting part of "A Study in Scarlet," where Holmes was studying the two small pills, one of which was poisonous and the other not, and his method of testing was to feed them to a puppy.

Thank goodness there were no animal protection laws in that era, Batman thought aimlessly. Otherwise, Holmes would have had to use humans for experiments, because there was still no human protection organization to date, but this was instead an important reason for human technological progress.

This kind of thought often appeared in Batman's mind. It sounded like a hellish joke with a strange train of thought, but Batman knew that this was some sound leaked by his other side constantly hitting the cage.

He knew better than anyone, just as Bruce said, that the boundary between him and those lunatics wasn't clear enough, or rather, there was no boundary at all, and it couldn't even be said to be two sides of the same coin; they were completely identical.

To some extent, the death of the Waynes saved Batman, completely cutting off the possibility of him growing up to be a self-willed psychopath under affluent conditions. The flame of revenge overwhelmed those crazy parts, pushing him completely to the opposite side of criminals, which allowed him to become a Dark Knight.

For the sake of revenge, Batman completely suppressed the negative body that coexisted with extremely high intelligence with his extremely strong willpower, but that thing was Batman himself to begin with. The blockade wasn't absolute, so Batman could often hear some sounds or feel some thoughts and emotions influenced by the negative body, usually some black humor with bloody colors.

After reading for a while longer, Batman put down the book, took a nap in the recliner, and then got up and set off for the laboratory.

In the Batcave's laboratory, Batman found the Robins' research on that shield, or rather, it couldn't be called research, just preliminary collection of some data, so he began to use this data to study the nature of the shield itself.

He possessed one more important clue than the Robins, which was that he knew this thing was Apokoliptian technology, and when they went to Apokolips before, the Robins had moved back quite a few things, but Batman had always kept them in the warehouse without enabling them.

Now, as long as he studied that thing, he should be able to find clues to crack the shield. Batman wasn't trying to crack the shield; he just needed a method.

After Batman began his research, the Robins returned to the Batcave one after another, acting as experimental assistants as usual. They were mainly interested in that pile of Apokoliptian equipment. Ever since they moved it back, Batman had locked it in the warehouse, and they hadn't even had a chance to touch it.

"I'm going to find the Clark of this world." Bruce said to Batman on the communicator: "He should have ideas on how to crack this shield. I think he has the ability to realize his ideas. I want to go talk to him, or maybe find Barry."

The Robins all pricked up their ears to listen. Bruce continued on the phone: "Although I'm not sure what state he is in in this universe, I think as long as he can run, he can definitely bring us into the shield."

"I have no opinion." Batman shook his head and said: "But you'd better carefully evaluate the level of the Batman and Joker of this universe. Speed Force isn't always useful either."

After speaking, he hung up the communication, and then saw the three Robins looking at him with expectant eyes. It wasn't expectation that he would take out that pile of Apokoliptian equipment for them to study—they weren't actually that interested in those things. After all, except for Batman, no one here could understand the structure of that pile of things; they were just idle and had nothing to do.

But now they were clearly more interested in other things. The solution proposed by the younger Batman was clearly more exciting and adventurous.

Compared to squatting in the laboratory using technological capabilities to crack the shield, they wanted to see Superman's laser eyes directly blow it up, or a golden lightning bolt directly bring them in, watching the dumbfounded expressions of those aliens.

"You are not allowed to go." Batman shook his head and said: "Stay here and help me dismantle the equipment."

"Ouch!" Red Hood let out a wail first, but this didn't change Batman's mind. He closed the Batcave door, and no one could go out. The other two had to disperse, hoping they could finish their work quickly, and then go down to take a look.

They were busy for about half an hour, and Batman received Bruce's communication again.

"I found Clark, but the Bruce Wei En of this universe is doing too poorly. He didn't recognize me at all, and he doesn't intend to cooperate with me. He thinks he has a way to break the aliens' blockade and kill them all."

"But the good news is, I saw a part of the aliens' shield spreading into the sea, circling a not-so-small sea area. I think this should be within Arthur's responsibility, but if I want to go into the sea, I need a Bat-suit."

"I'll send it to him." Red Robin was the first to propose: "I remember you have a Bat-armor with full underwater functions kept upstairs."

"Come and get it yourself." Batman said ruthlessly.

Red Robin and Jason looked at each other and made a face. As a result, when Bruce came over, he was actually injured.

"To see Clark, I had to get close enough to the shield." Bruce shrugged, looked at the wound on his arm, and said: "That thing has an automatic defense function. It fired a laser cannon at my side. I dodged a bit slowly, and this happened."

"God, you're just as incompetent as the one lying in the hospital." Red Hood sighed: "Of course that thing would have an automatic defense function. How could it just be a shield?"

"Your hospitalization procedures don't need to be handled separately." Batman said without turning his head while operating the instrument: "I'll have Alfred drive to pick you up to the hospital."

"This is just a small injury, nothing big. Just bandage it up. Besides, I won't get close to there again." Bruce spread his hands and said: "But if you could have a suit of armor with better waterproof functions, that would be even better."

"This isn't a good idea." Nightwing advised: "Even the most perfect armor is hard to avoid the risk of getting injured underwater, and no one knows who the Aquaman of this universe is. If he attacks you, it would be too dangerous."

"I'll find a way to get him to come ashore." Bruce said: "Set a negotiation location at the port of Metropolis. After such a big thing happened, they should contribute some effort, which can also be considered as preparation for the formation of the Justice League in the future."

Red Robin opened his mouth. He actually wanted to say that judging by the level of the Batman of this universe, it wasn't very necessary to form a Justice League, because a Justice League without a brain wasn't as good as Superman and Wonder Woman fighting alone.

Then he heard Bruce say: "The Batman of this universe might be a bit worse, but I've had this time too. Everyone is like this when they first debut. Just practice more."

"Besides, even if his level isn't good, he won't give up being Batman. It's better to form the Justice League early. He spends money on logistics, and others protect him and Cat Getan's safety. It can be considered a win-win."

Several people felt what he said made sense. Nightwing was still a bit worried and said: "Negotiating with Aquaman isn't that simple. Are you going alone?"

"Of course he can't." Red Hood immediately proposed, "We'll accompany you. I bet he wouldn't dare do anything."

Red Robin turned to look at Batman. Batman knew that at this point, he could only agree.

Because he knew very well that if he didn't agree, Bruce would dare to die in front of Arthur on the spot, and then the Robins and the Waynes would discover that he had killed another Batman. Now, who was the one excluding dissidents?

Batman swept his eyes over the three of them. They immediately became nervous and shrank. Finally, he nodded, but the warning gaze contained within made the three of them unable to be happy at all.

Bruce left with the three Robins. Batman's expression remained mysterious and unpredictable, showing no joy or anger, nor half a bit of frustration.

To go to the ground, one must take the Batwing, but the small Batwing couldn't seat four people. Red Robin said: "Let Jason fly the plane, Dick can just help you bandage, I can't help much, I'll go by myself."

This arrangement had no problems. All three Robins could fly the plane, but in terms of piloting skills, Jason was indeed the best, Tim was second, and Dick always knew where the medical kit on the Bat-equipment was.

The three boarded the plane first, while Red Robin followed behind in a separate fighter jet. They slowly drove toward Metropolis, but Metropolis was very close to the new city, so the plane was getting closer and closer to the shield.

"Be careful." Bruce exhorted: "This thing has a defense function. Once it detects something approaching from the outside, it will fire a laser cannon. The speed is very fast, and the power is also very great."

"Oh! God!!!"

Red Robin's shout came from the communicator. The people in the other plane immediately became nervous. Red Hood connected to the communication and shouted over there: "What's wrong? What's wrong?! Tim?!!"

"An unknown electromagnetic signal interfered with the plane's operation!" Red Robin's voice came intermittently from the channel, "They discovered... interference... zzz... out of control... zzz—!"

The speaking voice immediately turned into an extremely sharp noise. Red Hood immediately operated the plane to turn around, but it was already too late. He watched helplessly as the plane behind got closer and closer to the shield.

Bruce widened his eyes and shouted: "Stop it quickly! Once it touches the shield, it will be shot down!"

Without him saying it, Red Hood also manipulated the plane to dive rapidly, wanting to use a collision to make Red Robin's plane move further away from the shield. Even if it was a forced landing or a crash, it was better than being hit by a laser cannon.

But Red Robin's plane was completely out of control, as if manipulated by something, crashing straight into the shield. Before it even fully crashed, an extremely dazzling laser hit it, and with a "zz", it shot through the wing of the Batwing.

The plane spun and fell down. At the same time, everyone on the plane saw a group of aliens coming toward this side. They were clearly premeditated.

Bruce immediately associated it with the fact that Darkseid was accustomed to using kidnapping. If he wanted to threaten Batman, fighting in Cat Getan City wasn't the most efficient method. He had never thought of letting the Robins go.

The plane Bruce was on landed steadily. The three rushed out immediately, but only saw the wreckage of the Batwing at the place where the plane crashed. The aliens and Red Robin had disappeared.

Bruce estimated the distance from here to the shield and said: "They won't go back that fast. We have to catch up with them."

But very unfortunately, this was just a forest, and the aliens didn't leave any traces here. Red Hood decided decisively: "You guys chase forward, I'll fly the plane to the sky to see if I can find their tracks."

So he turned back, while Bruce and Nightwing chased forward. They saw some traces left by the aliens in front, but the traces showed that they had split into two paths. It was very likely that one path was taking Red Robin back, and the other was going elsewhere to look for them.

They each tracked one path. Bruce guessed that the aliens couldn't pass through the shield at will, and they should also have designated doors, so he searched around the shield while keeping a distance from it.

The traces disappeared in the woodland in front of the shield. Bruce continued to walk forward and found that the front was a canyon, and the shield extended to the bottom of the canyon. That was very likely the entrance.

Bruce stood on the edge of the canyon and looked down. He was carefully searching for traces of the aliens' presence.

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared behind him. With a "bang," he felt himself completely weightless. A heavy figure hugged him and fell straight down the cliff.

Bang!!!

Bruce fell heavily to the ground, dust and startled birds rising at the same time.

This cliff was very high, and that person had landed on top of him. He felt that at least two of his ribs were broken, his arm was also broken, and a thick smell of blood surged up from his throat.

Before he could let out a breath, a needle was stuck into his neck. Between blurred vision, Bruce saw a pair of familiar boots.

It was Red Robin.

"Sorry, Bruce, but you can't treat Batman like this. I have to save him... only I can save him..."

In the laboratory, fingers covered in black gauntlets gently pressed the button. The black box in the crashed Batwing emitted a wisp of blue smoke and was completely destroyed.

Yes, lunatic, antisocial personality, psychological sadist... but lived twenty years longer. ===== CHAPTER 2186 =====