Chapter 2436: The Battle for the Cape (Part 1)

"President Bruce Wei En assassinated—the most shocking large-scale terrorist attack in American history! Stay tuned for our detailed analysis..."

"At approximately 2:30 AM yesterday, the United States Capitol was hit by a terrorist attack. President Bruce Wei En, who was working at the time, has unfortunately passed away. The Congressional spokesperson stated that this is an act of terror that cannot be tolerated and is absolutely horrific."

"The Daily Planet reports exclusively that corpses dressed in spandex have been appearing frequently on streets across the East Coast. Their identities have been confirmed as local street-level heroes. The cause of death remains unknown."

From the giant screens lighting up bustling commercial streets to the flickering televisions in shop windows, countless news reports repeated the same terrifying and tragic news: the best president they had ever had, Bruce Wei En, had died in an unspeakable terrorist attack.

Click. Jason pressed the remote, and the television screen switched to another program, but the news ticker at the bottom continued to broadcast the news of the president's assassination.

The Robins from Schiller's universe stood before the television, watching the news with grim expressions. Before Bruce left for his journey into the Dark Multiverse, he had specifically entrusted the Robins from his side to the Batman of the Arkham world. They had been staying there for some time now.

During this period, they hadn't interacted much with the Batman of this universe, because the Batman of the Arkham Knight universe had become president and had been rated as the best president in American history within just a few months.

Achieving such results was certainly not easy, so the Batman of the Arkham Knight universe had been very busy lately. Apart from the few words the Robins exchanged with him when they first arrived, there had been no further communication.

On the contrary, the Nightwing, Red Robin, Barbara, and even the Arkham Knight Jason of this universe got along well with them. Although the Robins didn't understand why none of these people lived at Wei En Manor, they still gathered often to eat, chat, or maintain their equipment.

Bruce's Robins had their own gear now, as they had grown up. Dick was in high school, while Jason and Tim had both entered middle school. Although Bruce hadn't really taught them any combat techniques or tactical thinking, he had indeed provided them with a pile of strange equipment.

This included, but was not limited to, a miniature version of the Arc Reactor Bruce had cobbled together, a nano-folding arm guard he drove, a staff from Kamar-Taj, a small freeze gun capable of encasing people in dense ice, a small Darkseid near-Earth defense ship, a pile of functional yellow and green power rings, and feathers dropped by Michael and Uriel.

What? You ask about equipment with the "Bat" title? Let's just say the only Bat-gear Bruce possessed himself were that suit of armor meant only for display and a few Batarangs.

The Robins had just finished watching the Secretary of Defense's analysis of the terrorist attack when the phone on the coffee table rang.

"Hello, this is Barbara. I am at the Clock Tower base communicating with you. I will soon patch in the other three lines. Their respective codenames are Nightwing, Arkham Knight, and Robin. Please refer to me as Oracle."

"Hello, ma'am, but I don't think there's any need for us to hide our names. I believe this communication line is secure," Dick said.

"I'm trying to build a firewall using AI," Tim said, typing rapidly on his computer. "However, I'm not a very professional hacker. This is an AI Bruce previously used to calculate Cat Getan's urban renovation plans. Its specialty is calculation, not security, but it should be enough."

"Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Drake."

"Just call me Tim, Oracle. I believe you've collected all the news regarding the president's assassination. Could you briefly summarize the important details?"

"Certainly," Barbara said from the other end of the comms. "I suspect you are all gathering your gear. They are also on their way; I just received a message through the Doomsday system that we will have many powerful helpers joining us."

"Before you are ready, I will gather all information from all sources and distill it. I haven't finished yet, and there are no clues regarding the truth, but I can tell you what happened in the meantime."

"At 2:32 AM yesterday, a major explosion occurred on the second floor of the U. S. Capitol. A film crew was shooting a promotional video for the upcoming Independence Day commemoration, so they captured the explosion. Based on the footage, the detonation point appears to be in the hallway on the right, where the President's office is located."

"Within three hours of the explosion, all systems were broadcasting messages to pacify public panic. At 6:00 AM this morning, the U. S. Congress and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a joint death notice, officially announcing to the world that the current President of the United States, Bruce Wei En, is dead."

"How are they reporting the perpetrator?"

"They only emphasize that they will arrest the perpetrator as soon as possible, but they haven't mentioned their identity at all, not even a guess. Both Nightwing and I believe this is extremely abnormal."

"That's terrible news," Jason said while zipping up his jacket. "But I think we'll soon be hearing even worse news."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Dick said to him. "I don't believe Batman is truly dead. This might be part of his plan."

"Also," Barbara's voice came through again, crackling with static, "in the footage shot by the film crew, Superman's figure appears behind the exploding Capitol. In the few seconds of video, you can see him flying toward the Capitol at top speed, but he fell."

"I processed the image and magnified it about 60 times. I discovered a tiny glowing object, like a sharp sword, striking Superman in the chest."

"Just that one hit?"

"Just that one hit," Barbara confirmed. "Superman appeared to be in great pain and fell almost immediately. During the fall, he still tried to fly toward the Capitol, but failed."

"Where is he now?"

"No one knows," Barbara's tone deepened. "He is missing, but we can confirm he is still alive. When Superman came to Cat Getan, Batman monitored his physical condition. His incredibly powerful body is almost indestructible."

Jason's sense of foreboding grew stronger. "The body is indestructible, but what about the soul?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about that," Barbara could only say. "But if you have any theories, you can tell us."

"This might be another piece of bad news."

"We've never been afraid of bad news," another voice appeared on the channel. It was clearly Nightwing from the Arkham Knight universe.

"Well, if this terrorist attack is targeting Batman, then I think the situation is still controllable, as it could be an accident caused by his political rivals or some extremists."

"But the news reports say that many superheroes have died one after another, and Superman has been attacked and is currently missing. So we can infer that the target is all the superheroes in this universe."

"There are too many superheroes. Their philosophies, areas of operation, and the people they've befriended or offended are all completely different. Who would target them all indiscriminately?"

This question left the channel silent for a moment, but Robin soon joined in. "Even the craziest criminal in Cat Getan wouldn't target every hero in a city indiscriminately. If someone has done this, it means they hate superheroes immensely and are incredibly evil."

"A single explosion isn't enough to kill Batman," a deep voice sounded on the channel, clearly the Arkham Knight. "Even if he wasn't wearing his Bat-armor and had no gear, after becoming president, he set up defensive measures in all the areas he frequently visits. That's not something an ordinary explosion can break."

"You're right, kid. This explosion wasn't ordinary," a shrill voice suddenly interrupted. "Batman wasn't defeated by this explosion, but by something even more evil."

Every member of the Bat-family was stunned. Barbara raised her voice. "Who are you? How did you join our channel?"

"The firewall is fine," Tim said immediately. "This guy seems to have been here the whole time. He even joined before we did."

"Who exactly are you?" Dick asked. "And what is your relationship with Batman?"

"I certainly arrived before you did," the voice said. "But that's not important. Batman is in big trouble. He's not dead yet, but he's dying."

Everyone stood up. Nightwing's voice was filled with deep concern. "Where are you? How do you know all this?"

"You certainly know where I am. Not long ago, every one of you hugged me."

Everyone on the channel fell silent for another second, until Barbara suddenly exclaimed, "Jason! Your big doll!!"

Footsteps and rustling sounds immediately came from the Arkham Knight's communication channel, clearly him rummaging for something.

"Aha! Congratulations on finding me!" the shrill voice came through the Arkham Knight's channel again, sounding muffled due to the distance.

Soon, they heard a bang, as if something had been thrown heavily to the ground, followed by a clatter, and a cry of pain and cursing from the Arkham Knight.

"Jason, Jason, are you okay?" Barbara asked repeatedly.

After about a minute, the Arkham Knight returned to the channel, panting. "I caught him. This damn thing—I don't know how to describe it. It's like a Bat-doll that's gained sentience!"

"I was just trying to hide inside the Bat-doll so you'd hug me, but I'm not a doll myself. My name is Bat-Mite, nice to meet you all!" ===== CHAPTER 2437 =====