The dream was over.
However, upon waking, the people in the room found themselves not on the Apocalypse Star, but inside Gotham City, specifically in Arkham Asylum. The villains of Gotham lined up in a row, eyes unblinkingly fixed on the few people lying on the floor of the hall.
The first to wake was Spiderman. He slapped his head, shook it hard, and spoke in a hoarse voice, "What happened? It seemed like I saw a spaceship."
Harley rubbed her neck and shoulders, and after a few chest expansion exercises, she said, "If I remember correctly, wasn't there a spaceship aiming its muzzle at us in the end? What kind of script is this? Has Dreamworld's Darkseid already reached the Apocalypse Star?"
As Damian got up with a dazed look on his face, Little Bruce had already started searching for that familiar figure. Sure enough, Batman was sitting in a nearby chair, adjusting the bat devices on his body.
Noticing Little Bruce's gaze, Batman spoke in a low, gravelly voice, "You are not mistaken. That was Darkseid and his spaceship."
"I don't understand!" Little Bruce raised his voice, "What happened to the fair competition? We all started as Gotham orphans. Darkseid managed to build a spaceship in just a few months. Isn't that outrageous?"
"Am I awake? Was it really all just a dream?" Damian murmured dizzily; suddenly, he froze. Then, from the corner of his eye, he stole a glance at Batman.
If he remembered correctly, the last moment he was held by Batman, was it his illusion? Or was it real…
Damian felt a little apprehensive. He kept telling himself that it was only a dream. After all, he'd been held by the young Batman before - it wasn't something to fuss about.
Harley squinted her eyes. She looked around and sure enough, she spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. So she dashed over, grabbed Harley Quinn, looked up at her, and said, "Go ask your little pudding what's going on. I bet he knows."
Harley Quinn blew a few whistles at the sky, then began to study the pattern on the handle of her hammer. Harley's gaze grew more and more hostile. Looking at the knife swinging behind her, Harley Quinn sighed, "Alright, I don't know much, but if you want to hear what I know, I'll tell you."
Immediately, the few who had just awoken cast their eyes on her. Harley Quinn twirled her braided hair and opened her mouth, "Actually, before I took you to Arkham Asylum, Joker came to see me. Oh, I mean, Joker from our world, my cookie."
"And you said you didn't know where he went?" Harley raised her voice, obviously displeased.
"I truly do not know what he wants to do." Harley Quinn looked rather wronged. She pouted and said, "He only told me that he planned on making a big move and asked for my help."
"What did he want your help with?"
"He said he and the other two Jokers would drag people on an alien planet to the dreamland. He wanted me to take the lunatics and Robins from Arkham Asylum to collect the valuable things on that planet."
Harley gazed wide-eyed at Harley Quinn, who extended her arms in feigned innocence, "Just before you entered the dream, Joker gave me a signal. So, I led these lunatics from Gotham to the Apocalypse Star. I'm not exactly sure of the details, but the goods have been moved."
"But what's with Darkseid?" Harley was scratching her head in confusion. What Harley Quinn had said was obviously part of the Joker's plan, which only made her more curious about the plan as a whole.
Just then, the door of the hall was pushed open, with Joker, the center of everyone's conversation, standing on the other side.
Of course, it was still the Prime Universe Joker. He sauntered in with his hands behind his back. Then, with a leap, he landed in front of Batman, grinning cheerfully at him, "How was it? Did I do well?"
Batman, dismissing him, stood up from his chair and turned to the lunatics of Arkham Asylum, "Let's take Gotham back first, but don't land. We still need to deal with all the stuff we brought back from the Apocalypse Star."
"Wait a second." Spiderman suddenly realized something. He ran to the window, looked outside, and then a fearful and angry roar echoed throughout the city.
"Why is Gotham floating in the sky?!!"
Inside Wayne Manor, Shiller walked out of the guest room. Bruce had at some point returned to his seat on the couch. Constantine looked up at a majestic Shiller descending the stairs and shrugged, "It's time for the puzzle to be solved."
As if suddenly awakened, Jack jerked upright from the couch, smacked his lips, and gulped down the drink in front of him, the ice in it having long since melted.
Shiller sat down on the sofa. After Harvey filled his cup with wine, Shiller picked up the glass and lightly clink it against Harvey's, then he began to recount his plan.
"This isn't entirely my plan but the Joker's." With his first sentence, Shiller managed to shock everyone. All eyes turned to Jack, but he just rolled his eyes and said, "Not me. Another one."
"It was when my Joker persona had not yet fully merged with me." After taking a sip of the wine, Shiller looked at everyone's stunned faces, "So why are you all so surprised? Didn't I say before that this plan started a long time ago?"
"A bit too early." Gordon commented.
"When Jack trespassed in my Thought Palace, my Joker persona had not yet merged with me, but in fact, he was a part of arrogance, possessing some of my characteristics, especially tolerance."
Shiller sighed lightly and said, "I was chosen by Batman, and part of arrogance was polluted into Joker. Arrogance and his now Joker persona were both very unhappy about this and were seeking ways to fight back."
"Wait a second." Constantine picked up on what Shiller was implying, and he stared at him and said, "Are you saying that you and Bruce tortured each other for four years, and you're not even considering it a retaliatory strike against Batman?"
Shiller shook his head, "The retaliation is not against Batman, but rather against the rule that Batman's gaze can turn someone into the Joker."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, seemingly speechless. Gordon pondered, "So, is this for you to exact revenge on the world?"
"That's largely correct." Shiller took another sip of his drink, then continued, "You all should know that I've drawn some patterns between Batman and Joker, these are the underlying rules of this world, and I'm currently applying these rules to formulate my plan."
"It's like proposing a mathematical conjecture, proving it to be true, and then applying that formula to solve a problem. However, this conjecture is superficial, I believe there should be a corresponding conjecture that delves deeper into the essence of this world."
"I have a headache." Constantine held his forehead and said, "Just tell us what you've done already."
"In order to make a stand against the world rule that casually pollutes my character and to propose more innovative conjectures, I entered into a deal with the Joker personality. We combined into one, becoming complete arrogance, and then put the whole plan into action."
"The plan is as follows: first of all, to prevent constraints from the real world from affecting my plan, and to prevent causing too much disturbance that would affect the Earth, we need a pure experimental environment; the Kingdom of Dreams is the best choice."
"Oh, we're getting to the part where I come in." Constantine grumbled.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to target you." Shiller shook his head, "I didn't expect Morpheus to grant the powers of the dream god to a scoundrel who wanted to sleep with him the first time they met. Consider yourself an unexpected bonus."
Constantine clutched his chest, his face a mixture of pain and joy, seemingly fluctuating between the two emotions.
"We understand how you managed to gain control of the Dreamworld." Zatanna interjected, "You gave a part of your soul to Constantine, naturally obtaining the powers he had. We can skip this part."
"Thank you, miss." Shiller nodded, then continued, "As I was seizing the reins of the Kingdom of Dreams, Jack was also carrying out his work within the Dream world."
"The Sleep Demons who manage the Kingdom of Dreams and other Dreamworld dwellers all thought Jack was just causing aimless trouble. They thought Jack was a loud alarm clock I threw into the Kingdom of Dreams, but in reality, Jack was able to locate our universe's collection of dream realities amidst all the chaos."
"The dreams within the Kingdom of Dreams are like a cluster of bubbles. Dreams from the same universe, from the same region, all exist together in clusters. It's not easy to find them, Jack had to spend some time, but it was all worth it."
"What do you mean?"
"Extract the useful parts from the dreams of beings in our universe and merge them together, and you get the Dreamworld you just saw."
"That's why it felt so real." Barbara enlightened, "If the whole world was built by Jack, I didn't expect him to have such detailed knowledge about rural areas in Mexico."
"Rather than saying he constructed it, it's more accurate to say he fused it." Shiller continued to explain, "He just extracted and combined factors from people's dreams around the world that related to the real world. Since those memories are real, the dream naturally seems very realistic."
Bruce turned to look at Jack, who flashed him a grin, "I didn't lie after all. 'I didn't just build Gotham' could mean that I built other places as well, or that I did other things apart from building, right?"
Bruce used his wine glass to hide his mouth.
"What was the purpose of all this?" Barbara continued her questioning, her gaze sweeping between Shiller and Jack, "I can't say I understand the Joker well, but I do know this: when two people are both ardently following the same idol, they aren't likely to collaborate in the name of friendship."
"Naturally, it's because the conjectures I want to explore also interest the other Jokers." Shiller smiled and said, "Passion is the greatest motivation, isn't it?"
"But just having a venue isn't enough, this experiment requires subjects. There were only two Jokers when Jack and I teamed up, so we needed a third."
"Fortuitously, I found myself in the Prime Universe..." Shiller turned to look at Bruce, who was studying the pattern on the ceiling.
"The Joker in the Prime Universe is quite decent. Though there was a bit of a hiccup that prevented my primary self from going to the Prime Universe, the testing ground is in the Dream Universe, so it doesn't really affect anything."
"On the eve of the Apocalypse Star invasion in the Prime Universe, I connected with the Joker of the Prime Universe through dreams. I explained my conjecture to him and asked if he would collaborate with me to complete the plan. Given his interest in my proposal, he joined our research team. And so, we had our three Jokers."
"I still don't get what you guys are up to." Constantine wore a puzzled expression, "Why don't you first explain what this conjecture of yours is?"
Everyone else focused their attention on Shiller, interested in the conjecture that had captivated the other two Jokers.
Shiller, who gladly obliged, nodded and said,
"If Batman's gaze can create a Joker, then can the Joker's gaze create a Batman?"