Chapter 2438: The Battle for the Cape (Part 3)

"Cough, cough, greetings everyone. I am your new President. Forget that foolish name from just now—Bruce Wei En? How laughable. That is already a dead man; that name will only be carved onto a tombstone. I am your new King. Remember my name: I am King Robin!"

The person speaking on the screen was, in fact, not an adult at all. Judging by his physical form, he was younger than Jason and the others, looking exactly like an elementary school student.

His face was deathly pale, devoid of any blood, and he had no pupils. His eyes, drawn with thick black eyeliner, were blank voids emitting a faint glimmer. His mouth was stretched into an incredibly wide grin, and he wore a spiked crown atop his head. His uniform resembled Batman's, especially the utility belt, but the overall look was countless times more evil than Batman.

His sudden declaration left everyone stunned. In the clock tower, the group stared at the screen projected by Barbara. After a long silence, Jason pointed at the screen and said, "You mean to tell me that this thing is what nearly killed Batman?"

The others were also unsure, because firstly, he was a child—or at least a stunted adult—and secondly, the things he was doing were only things a child or a moron would do.

Any mature villain would not, after orchestrating a nationwide bombing and causing Bruce Wei En's social death, suddenly use the media to announce their identity and location.

That's right, the wallpaper behind him was the kind found in the Capitol building. Ever since the Bruce Wei En of this universe became President, they had all visited the Capitol. Barbara could even pinpoint the exact room he was in based on the tears in the wallpaper.

If you want to confront the whole world head-on, you should have jumped out from the start. You've already staged a sudden bombing, ambushed Batman, and released some fifth-dimensional imp to kill him—shouldn't you be hiding your location right now, stalling for time while the imp kills Batman? What is this about jumping out to be President? Is his chuunibyou acting up?

"Got him!" Barbara said, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "Tim, go pull the safety release, warm up the silo, and prepare to launch the missile!"

"Wait!" Dick stopped Barbara, saying, "There are so many reporters and hosts there! We can't harm the innocent."

"I know that, of course," Barbara said. "I'm launching a nanovirus missile with directional navigation. It's not to blow him up, but to attach the nanovirus to him so we can track his location at any time and have him lead us to Batman."

Tim and Robin both went over to help Barbara. Jason checked the Battleworld system library to see if he could find any Batman data matching this brat, but unfortunately, the Batmen who could participate in Battleworld were relatively normal; the bizarre ones hadn't come, so he couldn't find any information at all.

Although this strange fellow called himself King Robin, one could still vaguely see the features of Bruce Wei En in his face, so everyone suspected this was still a rare version of Batman.

If it were before, they would surely have been amazed to see such a Batman, but now that they knew this universe contained every kind of Batman—human, non-human, human-like, and non-human-like—there was nothing to be surprised about.

Soon, the controller in Barbara's hand beeped. The missile was ready. After she pressed the launch button, there was no earth-shattering scene; they only saw several red dots light up in the basement of the clock tower.

The child on the screen calling himself King Robin was still rambling on about his upcoming plans for rule. Summarized, he intended to kill all superheroes because they were outlaws no different from criminals, and then he would release all the criminals, letting them maintain order in the city in their own way.

He would personally descend upon Cat Getan to become the King of Cat Getan and reorganize the order there. He swore he would make America a greater nation, definitely better than the former President, and he would issue his own decrees—the first being that no one was allowed to defy him.

He kept on blathering, getting more and more excited, making all sorts of strange poses and expressions at the camera, completely unaware that a red dot on the skyline outside the window behind him was getting closer and closer.

Whoosh! Bang!

The smoke from the explosion shrouded the entire screen, but no screams followed. Suddenly, a large face pressed against the screen, roaring, "You bunch of lunatics!!! How dare you! How dare you ruin my coronation ceremony!!!"

"Is he trying to say 'inauguration'?" Tim asked, frowning with a hint of disdain.

"I guess if he knew the word 'oath,' he would have said it," Jason shrugged.

The cold light of the screen made Barbara's gaze even more focused. She typed rapidly and said, "The nanovirus is operational, but we can't detect the location signal for now. I suspect the defensive equipment Batman installed in the Capitol building cut off the signal. We have to go to Wei En Tower first to shut down the defensive equipment."

Everyone stood up, ready to go, but Barbara waved her hand and said, "Leave a portion here to monitor the nanovirus operation, and the others go meet our reinforcements. Robin and I will go to Wei En Tower."

"We'll stay here," Nightwing said, looking at the Arkham Knight. "The reinforcements should be more familiar with them, and it will be safer if they come back together."

"I said we don't need help," the Arkham Knight emphasized.

Just as Nightwing wanted to correct him, Barbara suddenly let out a puzzled "Huh?" Soon, she pressed a button on her communicator, and a familiar voice came through.

"Is this Barbara Gordon? I am Batman, but not the one you are familiar with. I come from another universe. I originally wanted to ask your Batman for a favor."

"I'm very sorry, but he..."

"He is in big trouble. I am currently in the Cat Getan underground. I found traces of a portal. The monster that invaded here might have come from here."

"Then what should we do? Can you close the portal?"

"This thing isn't activated right now, but I suspect they closed the portal themselves so they could reactivate it when needed. In its closed state, I don't see any possibility of destroying it."

"What do they want to send over?"

"Perhaps an army, perhaps more monsters, but that is not important. You must find your Batman. I found traces of some companions in the underground here. I think this might be Poison Ivy's handiwork. I am preparing to go find her. We'll talk later."

With a click, the communication was cut off. Barbara looked at the screen helplessly and said, "Now I can confirm he is Batman. They always only say half of what they mean."

"That's already pretty good. You wouldn't want to hear a Batman ramble on and state the details of all his plans to you." Jason picked up his gear again, and they drove the Batmobile toward the location agreed upon in the Battleworld system.

To accommodate some large equipment—or more accurately, large Batmen—they had set up the portal in the suburbs. When the three young Robins arrived at the agreed-upon location and saw that pile of bizarre things, they were all stunned.

"No time to be surprised." The main universe Nightwing reached out to close Jason's jaw and said, "Tell us immediately, what is going on? We need to start preparing the battle plan."

All the Robins joined the same communication channel, discussing the plan while working on their tasks. In fact, the matter wasn't complicated; their goals were mainly a few.

First, save Batman; second, save Superman; finally, save all the superheroes. The overall goal was to drag out that brat on the screen and the mastermind behind him.

The reason Superman was listed separately was that it was known Batman hadn't been able to beat this brat and the fifth-dimensional imp in his hands. So, if they wanted to stall them and let Robin crack the secret to expelling the fifth-dimensional imp, they needed a sufficiently powerful fighter.

The main universe Robin group brought a Superman, but that was completely insufficient because that brat might have other weapons in his hands, and Superman, as the strongest combatant on the surface, had to be saved if he could be saved—provided he was still salvageable.

However, what the young Robins did not expect was that Shiler had also come, and as soon as Shiler saw them, he told them his purpose: "You want the truth, I want the King of Robins."

On the way back, Jason still couldn't help but ask: "Why? Professor, is there something special about this guy?"

"He is quite ill."

"Huh?"

"Literally. He is a born sociopathic serial killer. I have been researching whether sociopathic personality is related to organic brain lesions. If you cannot capture him alive, bring me his brain."

The young Robins all shivered in unison; the meaning of these words was actually: if you cannot catch him, I will do it myself.

Tim immediately made a gesture to Shiler and said: "Guaranteed to complete the mission, Professor, but the scene might be a bit chaotic. How about you go to Wei En Manor to have some tea first?"

"No, you should have already received the communication from the other Batman. I have to go find him now. I know what he intends to do, but some things still need to be confirmed."

Soon, the Batmobile, along with the pocket spaceship Jason was carrying, delivered everyone to Wei En Manor, where they planned to gather and redistribute tasks.

But Shiler got out of the car at the entrance; he had to go find the main universe Batman because, not long ago, Nick told him that there were records of a portal being activated on the DC main universe side, and those who passed through the portal, besides Batman, included the Joker.

It is not hard to speculate that they have already discovered the Batman Who Laughs, but Shiler cannot yet determine how they plan to deal with him. More importantly, Shiler must confirm to them that they are already aware of the danger posed by the Batman Who Laughs.

Although he always says the Batman Who Laughs is disgusting, disgust is only one of his characteristics. At least at the current power level, the Batman Who Laughs is an extremely powerful and difficult opponent. The main universe Batman and Joker may not necessarily be prepared to face him, and once they fail, the consequences will be devastating.