Michael took about a second to look at the splendid resume of Batman who had appeared before him, then together with Lucifer, they each took him under an arm and ushered him out of the Sanctuary. After tossing him on the ground, they retreated a few meters as if dealing with hazardous waste.
Sitting up from the ground, Bruce looked up at them, saying, "Isn't it said that all angels in Heaven are brothers and sisters? Is this how you treat your siblings?"
Michael was still immersed in the thought process of Batman he had just caught a glimpse of. After a while, he set his gaze on Bruce's face, incredulously asking, "You turn a stronger being into Joker, then you will become stronger. Then you go on to turn an even stronger being into Joker, and again..."
"Aren't you a bit..." Michael took a deep breath, but his moral bottom line wouldn't let him utter certain insulting words, even though he believed it to be the truth. He opted for a gentler way to put it: "Don't you think your thought process is a bit too broad?"
"But I succeeded, didn't I?" Bruce sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes on his own hands, saying, "Cain is the son of Adam and Eve, his bloodline being the most sacred in this world. And Lilith also bestowed her blood upon him, making his bloodline even purer and more noble than other Saint Heirs'."
"I guessed that after he was turned into the Joker, I would somehow obtain a status corresponding to his. But I didn't expect it to take this form. However, this proves that my theory was correct, and that I can indeed enhance myself in this way."
Lucifer and Michael exchanged looks, understanding the message each other's gaze conveyed — "Damn, he figured it out."
"Listen, Bruce," Lucifer raised a hand to say, "This isn't exactly a success. Gabriel isn't as strong as us, so we can still..."
"Then why didn't you throw me out the moment you discovered me?"
Michael gaped, looked towards Lucifer, and in a quieter and somewhat uncertain voice, asked, "Can we throw him out? Can't we really?"
Lucifer looked left and right, then lowered his voice further to say: "You know as well as I do that even though we're supposedly Omniscient and Omnipotent, we cannot alter world rules associated with Batman, not even God himself may necessarily be able to."
"Batman is a ticking time bomb. Not just improper handling, even if you only slightly touch the case you risk the chance for the bomb to explode. Do you think I don't know that most casualties in Heaven these years aren't from fighting with demons, but from their involvement in Batman's related events where they died an utterly death?"
Michael glanced at Batman who was sitting there and said anxiously, "But we aren't touching him. He's the one that came in here on his own, can't we try to drive him out?"
"Haven't you seen his interpersonal relationships?" Lucifer glared at Michael, saying, "Haven't you noticed that there's been an angel on the list who has never appeared in Heaven?"
Michael paused and knit his brows in confusion. A gamut of emotions ran across his face in the following dozen seconds.
Having seen the timeline, Michael grabbed Lucifer's arm and said sincerely, "Letting Bruce Wayne stay as an angel in Heaven is quite fine indeed. I think he is stronger than you."
"I also think so. He will surely become a key pillar of Heaven's Defenders in the future."
The two constantly bickering and disagreeable Archangels finally came to a surprising agreement on one issue. When their hands clasped together, they were on the brink of tears.
After a while, Michael walked over to Bruce, helped him up from the ground, cleared his throat and said: "Since you've already figured out this much, I'll not hide it from you. Angels are actually World Managers created by God, and Archangels are Senior Managers."
"Normally, all Archangels have the privileges of Super Managers, same goes for Gabriel, but we seldom use this privilege, because the world is more complex than you can imagine."
Michael led Bruce towards the river and explained: "Gabriel giving you his wings means you have inherited his Holy Light, his strength as well as his angelic identity and indeed obtained a status similar to Cain."
"But I'd advise you not to conduct that plan of yours again. Above there are only Managers left. If you drive them crazy and let them use the structural pattern of the world recklessly, there will be more than couple of cosmos destroyed. You should understand how serious this is."
After some contemplation, Bruce nodded, and turned to ask Michael, "What is the structure of the world?"
Michael stopped in his tracks, seeming somewhat troubled on his face. It seemed difficult to explain it to a carbon-based life form. So he simply drew a spherical shape in the air and said, "This is the whole world. There are many cosmos within it. Above each cosmos, there's a Heaven, and below, a Hell."
"Wait, isn't there one Heaven for each cosmos?"
"Yes, and also no. Heaven and Hell overlap in every cosmos. So, although you're now in Heaven, you have not left our cosmos. The same goes for Hell."
Bruce nodded, and asked another question: "If I have inherited Gabriel's power, why haven't I felt that I'm omnipotent and omniscient?"
"Erm..." Michael awkwardly uttered an interjection, before explaining, "Not all angels are managers, yet all managers are angels. Despite you obtaining Gabriel's power, you did not gain his position. Your lifeforms are different..."
"You need God's approval," Lucifer stated outright. "If anyone who becomes an angel can immediately become a manager, things would have gone chaotic long ago. God foresaw this situation, only a few fixed beings would have the right to modify the world. These rights can't be transferred nor altered, so naturally, you are not included."
"Then what's the meaning in being an angel?"
"You'd better not." Lucifer rolled his eyes and said, Michael sighed and said, "You're just an angel, not a manager, so you're as powerless as those newborn angels."
"But even the power of an angel can enable you to do many things."
"Like what?"
"Like no one could beat you up anymore."
"I don't need the power of an angel for no one to be able to beat me."
Michael was left speechless, he thought for a moment, then said, "If you are willing to take on some of the responsibilities of an angel, there is a benefit: you can travel between universes."
Bruce slightly narrowed his eyes, Lucifer sighed and said, "This is just theoretical. While you now possess the power of an angel, you are essentially still human. Whether your body and spirit can withstand traversing the cosmos is unknown."
"Alright, judging by the looks of you, you plan to try it. But we must set some rules." Lucifer stopped, looked at Bruce and said, "Otherwise, I won't let you run wild, you can't test your trendy ideas in other worlds."
"You sound like an old antique."
Lucifer was choked again, Michael looked at his expression with schadenfreude, but still said to Bruce, "Lucifer's concern is not without reason. You'd better listen to him, the cosmos is far more dangerous than you imagined."
"Alright, then you tell me."
"First." Lucifer stretched out one finger and said, "Apart from your own universe, you cannot stay with your professor Shiller in the same universe. No one can withstand the kind of turmoil you two create!"
Bruce scoffed, revealing an expression of a plot being uncovered, but after a moment, he nodded. Lucifer continued, "Second, ensure your own safety. Your world can't withstand your professor's turmoil either!"
Bruce nodded again, Lucifer continued, "Third, do not try to save your parents in any other world, that's impossible."
Michael furrowed his brow slightly, as if he didn't want Lucifer to be so blunt. However, to their surprise, Bruce agreed quite easily, even more readily than he accepted the first two conditions.
Yet, half an hour later, Bruce had arrived at the time point in the Flashpoint world where Martha was still alive.
Michael and Lucifer stood in heaven, watching the scene reflected in the Holy Spring's mirror. Michael turned to ask, "You know he won't obey, right? Just like you said, this Batman is too trendy."
"No Batman would ever give up this opportunity," Lucifer looked away and said, "Sometimes we get things too easily, and we don't understand how desperate people are who can't get what they want. That's something I've only recently come to understand."
"If you don't let him try, he'll still find ways to make trouble and create opportunities," Lucifer sighed deeply, exhaling slowly, "Might as well let him verify for himself, it won't succeed anyway, and once he tries multiple times, he'll naturally become hopeless."
"Moreover, this universe, born from a time-space distortion, is not as important as other main universes. If he stirs things up here, it won't have too severe consequences. So, let him try."
Michael cast his gaze onto the surface of the Holy Spring. By this time, Bruce had come to the front door of Wayne Manor, and inside, Thomas, who had just received the news that he was dead in another world and Bruce had become Batman, was in an extremely depressed mood.
Bruce wasn't wearing the bat suit, but he still wore a mask, looking like some kind of street gangster. Yet, the security measures set up by Thomas couldn't stop another Batman.
The Batman in the Flashpoint world not only used guns, but also was a heavy smoker and drinker. So when Bruce walked into the Wayne Manor, Thomas was already drunk.
Thomas, having received the terrible news, didn't have much will to live. Bruce easily subdued him and then took him to the Wayne Hospital, finding an operating room to handle him.
Bruce first deeply anesthetized Thomas, making sure he wouldn't wake up during the process. Then he began to draw an Array on the floor of the operating room.
It was a special Array made with seven or eight types of blood and more than ten types of materials. The whole thing was blood red, and even before energy was infused, it caused dizziness just by looking at it.
After the Array was done, Bruce began to draw Thomas's blood bag by bag, until Thomas's loss of blood had reached a life-threatening level.
Thomas had already fallen into shock: his temperature plummeting, his complexion pale. If he wasn't treated within a minute, he would die.
Yet Bruce just stood in front of the operating table, holding the blood draw tube, staring in silence. His calming demeanor left the two angels by the Holy Spring shivering all over.