Bruce Wayne is dead.
This was not even shocking news, nor was Little Bruce's death in any way remarkable. Starving, he had dragged his broken body trying to escape, but was discovered before he even reached the factory gate. One of the guards threw him to the ground, he hit his head, and instantly lost consciousness.
In his few attempts at reincarnation, Little Bruce didn't even manage to survive for half a day, either being directly reborn in a flaming scene, or waking up barely clinging to life, not even able to move. He could only endure a few agonizing hours before dying once again.
This was his eleventh rebirth. When he woke up again, Little Bruce found himself writhing in excruciating pain, bouts of a vile smell penetrating his nostrils, making him want to vomit.
He lay there on the bed, feeling as if he'd been taken apart... Wait, there was a bed?
With great effort, Little Bruce turned his head to see a filthy mattress next to him. Suddenly, an enticing scent wafted over, forcing his eyes wide open to look next to him. He saw the steam rising from a bowl with cracked edges.
Hunger drove him to summon the last bit of his energy to sit up, but he failed. That is until a pair of hands lifted his injured arm, allowing Little Bruce to lean back against the head of the bed.
Looking up, he saw a plain-looking boy stirring a bowl of soup with a large spoon. Little Bruce swallowed hard, but he found his throat too dry to speak.
The bowl of soup was handed to him.
Little Bruce stared hungrily at the bowl, a look he found embarrassing on his own face. Once the boy had removed the spoon, Little Bruce lifted the bowl to his lips and took a large gulp of the hot soup.
The taste wasn't good—it was sweet, salty, and gummy—but it was hot, and there was a layer of oil floating on top. Little Bruce had never drunk soup straight from a bowl before, but after his first gulp, he guzzled down the entire bowl as if he were a starving ghost. He let out a content sigh from deep within his throat.
Setting down the bowl, Little Bruce noticed the boy in front of him watching with a focused gaze. There was no hint of curiosity in his eyes, but an instinctive concentration, almost neurotic.
"Tha... thank you." Little Bruce tried to get the words out, without much success. Luckily, the boy seemed to understand his mouth movement, nodded, and then turned to leave.
"Wait, where are you going?" Little Bruce wanted to say this, but all that came out was a series of muffled, uneven groans. He coughed heavily twice, realizing there was blood in the sputum he had coughed up.
The boy turned around and asked him, "How many times have you been reborn?"
Little Bruce instantly froze. He stared at the boy in front of him with a mixture of surprise and caution. He was about to speak when the other person said, "Each reincarnation consumes some of your soul energy. Although you don't feel anything now, once your consciousness returns to your body, the used soul energy will be deducted."
Little Bruce had a bad premonition. So he, using only lip movements, asked, "What happens when it reaches zero?"
"You die."
Still watching him with that focused gaze, the boy said, "This competition is fairer than you think. Everyone, including us who planned it all, is in the game and abiding by the same rules. Once the soul energy runs out, one dies for good in the dream."
Little Bruce had many questions, but he knew he only had one last chance to ask. So, he tried very hard to voice out, "… What ... counts as…winning?"
"Surviving."
After the boy left, Little Bruce laid back on the bed thinking he was safe for now. He desperately needed some time to digest things.
Lacking further information, Little Bruce chose to trust the truth in the boy's words. Thus, he deduced that the boy and others like him were the ones who had created this illusion for everyone on Apocalypse Star. Or perhaps it was not an illusion but, as he said, a realistic dream.
Everyone, including the participants, became children of Gotham city. When they died for various reasons, they inherited another body and continued the struggle for survival.
But reincarnation wasn't without a price. The masterminds behind the scenes magically deducted their soul energy. And soul energy, as it was name implied, was likely an element that shouldn't be completely depleted.
Little Bruce made a fist in thought. He had already died ten times. How much soul energy had he lost? Would he die? Or would he become incredibly weak the moment his consciousness returned?
Although death was terrifying, neither option was much better. Little Bruce had not forgotten that his body was in the midst of a great battle against Darkseid on Apocalypse Star.
If everyone else returned and he was left incredibly weak while Darkseid, bouncing with life, wouldn't that turn the tide of the battle against him?
Little Bruce had another thought then. That boy earlier had said it was a fair competition. That possibly hinted that, no matter how much power one had in their original bodies, it would be useless here.
Little Bruce felt a little suffocated. He had only recently gained great power and was on the brink of a great war against the evil alien emperor, only to revert back to square one. He was once again the powerless little human boy that he was.
But if Darkseid also couldn't use any special powers, could there be any way for him to kill Darkseid multiple times in this world? Keep having him resurrect, thus using up his soul energy until he dies?
And then there was the Joker…
With this thought, Little Bruce felt he had to get moving. Although the room seemed like a rare safe haven, without water and food, safety was irrelevant. He had to venture out in search of resources for survival.
Little Bruce struggled out of bed. Lowering his gaze, he saw his gunshot wound had been properly bandaged, lessening the smell of blood considerably. The hot food in his belly gave him energy, which he knew he must use to make some changes, and quickly so.
When the other Bruce woke up, he was instantly aware that he'd been outsmarted by his professor once again.
This brought to mind Bruce's original plan.
Having successfully exploited several glitches, Bruce naturally knew how to utilize the Batman-Joker Aggregation Principle. His arrangements for the Prime Universe were as follows:
Firstly, he recognized that Shiller couldn't enter the Prime Universe because Shiller's actions had led to a reboot of the Prime Universe. Gabriel added a protective shield to the Prime Universe, preventing Shiller from entering using normal methods - even The Flash couldn't help him get in.
However, if normal routes were blocked, unconventional ones could be used. This would necessitate the use of the first rule of the Batman-Joker Aggregation Principle: wherever Batman is, the Joker is sure to be.
Although Bruce was no longer Batman and Shiller wasn't completely the Joker, the Batman-Joker Aggregation Principle still applied when their adversarial relationship resurfaced.
Bruce had noticed this principle functioning like underlying code in the system, superseding rules set by any god. In other words, as long as Bruce, as Batman, went to the Prime Universe, Shiller, as Joker, would naturally be able to follow him there.
Bruce could use conventional methods to reach the Prime Universe, like having The Flash transport him. But why not adopt a trendier approach if it achieved multiple objectives?
And so, Bruce submitted a work proposal to Michael to revise and streamline the Sacred Power Rune System, thereby gaining the authority to modify the runes while also winning Michael's favor.
He tweaked the runes of Divine Power in Heaven, cutting off all calls and supplies from Constantines across the cosmos, including the ones in the Prime Universe.
Faced with an unreachable Heaven, the only option left for Constantine was to use the exhaustive method, continuously modifying his phone number to match Bruce's modifications in Heaven.
At this point, Bruce contacted Constantine. Posing as Gabriel, he struck a deal with Constantine; he would stop modifying the phone number so Constantine could reestablish contact with the other angels, and in return, Constantine had to summon him to Apocalypse Star in the Prime Universe.
Bruce had no intention of causing any mischief on Apocalypse Star. The main purpose was to get Shiller there.
Shiller had come up with the Batman-Joker Aggregation Principle, and Bruce, in turn, had come up with the 'Shiller principle'. It goes: whatever the version of Shiller, if he develops subjective initiative towards anything, it is bound to create a massive mess that blinds everyone.
Indeed, this principle was spot on. Only now, Bruce was the one left in the dark.
He had been duped once again.
On reflection, it did seem rather odd how all the different people turned up for the final battle on Apocalypse Star. It was more than a coincidence that the child, teenager, and adult Batmen converged at the same place at the same time. There had to be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Bruce reviewed the entire situation and identified the key points in the journey of all three Batmen.
Firstly, the child Batman was there because of him, but unexpectedly turned up with Nyarlathotep. Bruce had never been in touch with this Outer God - it all reeked of Shiller's doing.
Shiller very likely made a deal with Nyarlathotep, who lured the young Batman to Apocalypse Star. This made sense considering Little Bruce was utterly power-hungry at the time and easily fell for Nyarla's enticing promises, leading him to suggest the expedition to Apocalypse Star.
On the next front, the Prime Universe Batman, the situation was very clear. Harley, who possessed the Necronomicon and could communicate with Shiller in real-time, shamelessly duped Prime Universe Batman's son, Damian, onto the spaceship.
The Prime Universe Batman had heard rumors about Darkseid potentially kidnapping his family. When he found Damian missing, he naturally suspected Darkseid and rushed to Apocalypse Star to confront him.
As for him, Bruce sighed internally and added another rule to the Shiller principle -
When you've planned something involving Shiller, and it's going smoothly, it means Shiller hasn't messed with your plan for his amusement. Instead, he wants to use your plan for his larger entertainment.
And if "you" refers to a certain student whose entire psychology academic career only led to passing the final exam, then it's yet another test, with failure turning you into the biggest joke for Shiller.
As he processed this, Bruce suddenly realized, could the screen still be broadcasting regularly? Weren't the ones providing technical support to Harley and Robin clearly from another universe?
So, if he fails, will he be scolded by Shiller in front of two whole universes???
With this thought, Bruce darted to get food at lightning speed.