Lord Superman is now a bit confused.
Because Bruce is angry.
Of course, it's not that Batman never gets angry. However, Batman has a very unique way of expressing his emotions, and under ordinary circumstances, no one can tell if he's angry or happy because he always has a straight face.
But Bruce's emotions are clearly expressed. He throws away what he has in hand, he turns around and walks back to the city, and he doesn't say a word to Lord Superman who's following him.
It's not until he sees Wonder Woman that he raises his voice: "I'm really fed up! Why can't you just leave him here and run to my place to watch me? He scared off all my fish!"
"I just wanted to make sure you were safe..."
"You know full well that's not what you're doing." Bruce turns back, angrily gazing at Lord Superman's face: "Are you disappointed that you didn't see a criminal fish in the lake? Or were you hoping to see a criminal person, like me maybe?"
"I didn't..."
"You know best if you did or didn't! From the moment we met in the projection room, you revealed your true thoughts. You think I'm a worthless scoundrel, right?"
Bruce walks up to Lord Superman and stares directly into his eyes, which have begun to glow red, and says: "I know you've killed all the criminals on Earth, Clark, so you better kill me quickly. Otherwise, I'm bound to kill something to prove just how prescient you are?!"
"And I only worry that even if I'm locked up in jail, someone's still going to flit to my window and ask me which style of pacifier to choose for the day!"
Lord Superman was tongue-tied again.
Wonder Woman came up to mediate, only to have Bruce abruptly turn back to her: "Don't play mediator! You've been wavering for a long time, haven't you? Do you think you bear no responsibility for anyone's poor relations?"
"Do you think your slippery diplomacy skills, your supposed priceless 'legacy', are so that everyone can be as old as you?"
"If you're even so stupid as to not find a bucket of water during a fire, then shut up! No one wants to know every single detail of your earth-shattering idea to use wood to fight the fire!"
With a "slam," Bruce stormed out.
Wonder Woman and Lord Superman looked at each other.
Lord Superman was so upset by Bruce's remarks that his chest was heaving, and even uncontrollable frost was rising from his nostrils! Wonder Woman was also quite upset, as she had not been so angry for many years.
And both of them realized a very serious problem they are now facing.
They always claimed that Batman has a very unique way of expressing emotions and that no one could understand him. They had always claimed that the main reason for their lack of strife was Batman's overly restrained emotions.
But now, if Batman's emotions weren't restrained, and they could really argue, could they really argue with him?
Batman is a world-class genius in every aspect. His thinking speed, logical rigor, and language organization are all top-notch. If he applies these skills to arguing, can anyone really out-argue him?
And if he applies his talents to insulting others, could anyone really out-insult him?
It seems that no one can.
Batman insulting people seems like an incredible thing. But upon careful consideration, this is actually quite terrifying.
If the most intelligent person in the world, with the most knowledge and technical skills, and the most solid reasoning and insight into people's hearts, starts disparaging others without distinction, how many people will not be taken aback?
At least, Lord Superman and Wonder Woman were somewhat taken aback.
But it's not their fault; they had become accustomed to Batman's extremely introverted emotions and hard-to-understand communication style. Over time, de-escalation, a basic emotional defense that most people should have, was lost due to too many years of pure rational communication.
Simply put, the people they meet, the things they participate in, and the friends they make over the years are basically good people who can mostly discuss issues on their own merits.
Even when opinions differ, after rational dialogue confirms this, they typically choose to understand each other, or at minimum reserve their disagreement. Even if they point out the other's errors, they are presenting facts and reasoning.
But Bruce is just pouring out his emotions. He isn't explaining anything, denying anything, or proving anything. Instead, it's a very straightforward personal attack.
Humans are emotional beings who can sense the emotions of fellow beings. Although Wonder Woman and Superman are not humans in the narrow sense, they are sentient beings with human characteristics and can be emotionally affected.
Being complimented makes one happy, and being scolded makes one angry. These are unavoidable emotional fluctuations. And if someone scolds you at a time when you think you haven't done anything wrong and that the other person is just being unreasonable, but you can't retort or win the argument, you'll toss and turn into the wee hours of the morning, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, your pillow clenched in frustration, sighing, "Why couldn't I win the argument?"
That's where Lord Superman and Wonder Woman are right now.
They no longer have the mood to fix the car or join the game. Each retired to their room to stew in their anger.
As to why they didn't go after Bruce, the key lies in the fact that, first, Bruce is too young, and they felt quite embarrassed to argue with Bruce in front of others. Second, neither of them could win an argument against Bruce when confronted individually. After all, you can't exactly kill him, can you?
In the end, when it was getting dark, there was a knock on Lord Superman's door. When he opened the door, it was Bruce.
Lord Superman snorted, thinking Bruce had come to apologize. Instead, Bruce knocked on the door frame energetically and said, "I'm hungry, where's your deer?"
Lord Superman stepped aside, allowing the light in the room to illuminate Bruce's face. He tried to find any residual anger or shame on his face, but he found nothing.
Bruce came over for a meal as if nothing had ever happened.
Lord Superman took a deep breath and said: "I thought you didn't want me watching you anymore?"
"But you scared off my fish earlier."
"You said you weren't fishing anyway."
"It's because you annoyed me that I quit!"
"So, it's my fault then?"
"What else could it be?"
Lord Superman began to breathe cold air again.
"You want to say you're busy, but you're not doing anything at all." Bruce leaned against the door frame with one hand and laughed, "Because the Batman you know only left you with a car to repair, and beyond that, you have no idea what to do."
"Don't look at me like that. You're not a bull behind a red cloth." Bruce cleaned his ears with his fingers, then continued, "Or maybe you're trying to figure out how to argue with me, and I would tell you not to waste your energy."
"And of course you're thinking about how to silence me." Bruce looked into Lord Superman's eyes and said: "But the fact is, that's impossible. Because I haven't taken my medicine and you can't argue with a madman."
Lord Superman was amused by him.
"Do you know how I dealt with the madmen in Gotham?" Lord Superman squinted and said: "I lobotomised them. That's the best way to handle madmen."
"I'm afraid my psychology professor wouldn't agree."
"But he's not here now."
"Yes, that's why I'm not taking any meds."
"Do you think that's your talisman?"
"But you won't dare to do anything because you need a Batman. If you harm me, you'll lose two Batmans, the one you knew, and me."
"What do you want in the end!"
"Get me some food, I'm hungry."
After ten minutes, Lord Superman tossed the deer he'd been carrying onto the bonfire that Bruce had started. He stood in place silently for a while before eventually using his heat vision to cook the deer.
"I thought you were just a bit rebellious, but you're actually insane." Lord Superman pursed his lips and said, "And you have an awful personality, completely shameless."
"Your insult is as bad as your hunting skills." Bruce tore off a deer leg and said, "I haven't even shown you 50% of my craziness. Trust me, you don't want to know."
Lord Superman sat down beside the deer, and asked, "Like what?"
"Like how the last steak dinner I had was with the Joker."
Lord Superman's eyes widened.
Bruce took a big bite out of the cooked deer, but spat it out because it tasted terrible - unsalted. He complained, "The roasted meat at the barbecue was much better than this."
"So, in that universe, you and Joker are friends?"
"To be precise, he's my creditor." Bruce ripped off a small strip of meat and chewed on it reluctantly as he said, "I owe him some money and still haven't paid it back."
"You need your meds. You're starting to babble."
"I think we could join a game later." Bruce looked up at the sky and said, "It'll help us understand each other better."
Lord Superman opened his mouth, not thinking that understanding this Batman would be a good thing.
Mostly because he finally realized that giving Batman a voice might not be a good idea, because he might talk, but not necessarily well; he might be articulate, but not necessarily kind.
And when Batman doesn't speak kindly, the effect is terrifying.
Lord Superman suddenly remembered how, whenever their plans went wrong, it was everyone's fault but Batman's, who usually remained silent, occasionally offering viable plans to boost morale.
If this mad Batman was in charge, not a single person in the Justice League could walk out that door with a smile on their face, they would probably return home and cry for at least three days.
Finding Batman to understand Batman's plan seemed to be a complete failure, but Lord Superman definitely couldn't just propose to terminate the plan, wouldn't it seem like he's afraid?
It's just a somewhat mad Batman, isn't it?
Not to mention that he isn't a real criminal, even if he were a truly brutal criminals, Lord Superman has seen plenty of them. So, there's no way he could be afraid of him, right?
Thinking this, Lord Superman stood up, lightly dusting off the pieces of deer skin from his hands, and said, "Once you're done eating, we'll head out for the game. Which category did you have in mind?"
But Bruce's answer surprised Lord Superman.
"Unity, we'll join the unity games."