After Martha left, Bruce looked up at the window on the second floor. The moment his gaze met Batman's, Bruce cracked a smile.
Batman, on the other hand, drew the curtains closed and resumed reading his Sherlock Holmes book, engrossed in the thrilling part of 'A Study in Scarlet'. Holmes was at a point where he was studying two small pills, one poison and the other harmless. His method of testing was to feed them to a dog.
Thank goodness for the absence of animal protection laws in that era, Batman thought absent-mindedly. Otherwise, Holmes would have had to experiment on humans, given the lack of human rights organizations even today. Ironically, this was a critical factor in the advancement of human technology.
This type of thought often surfaced in Batman's mind, sounding like a darkly humorous joke with a curious twist. But Batman knew that these were the echoes from the other side of him, persistently rattling the cage.
He knew better than anyone, just as Bruce had said, the line separating him from the crazed was not clearly defined, if there was a line at all. It wasn't two sides of the same coin situation, rather they were entirely consistent.
In some sense, the death of the Waynes had saved Batman, completely severing any chance he had of becoming an uncontrollable psychopath under favourable circumstances. The flames of vengeance overwhelmed the crazy part of him, pushing him to stand completely against criminals and become the Dark Knight.
For revenge, Batman had suppressed the negative entity that coexisted with his high intelligence, using his extraordinary willpower. But since that entity was part of Batman, the suppression was never absolute. That's why Batman would occasionally hear some noise, or sense some thoughts and feelings influenced by that negative entity, often downwards-dipping dark humor.
After reading for a while longer, Batman put down the book and took a short nap on the recliner. Afterwards, he got up and headed to the laboratory.
In the Batcave's lab, Batman found the preliminary research that Robin and others had done on that shield. It wasn't much of a research, rather they had merely gathered some basic information. Using which, he begun to study the nature of the shield.
He had a more significant clue than the Robins did, knowing that the device was Apokoliptian technology. During their last visit to the Apocalypse Star, the Robins had brought back many things which Batman had since dumped in the warehouse.
All he had to do now was examine that stuff and he should be able to find a clue to disable the shield. Not that Batman wanted to disable the shield, he just needed to know the how-to.
Once Batman had begun his research, the Robins trickled back into the Batcave, as usual, to play lab assistants. They were really keen on that pile of Apokoliptian equipment. Ever since that stuff was brought back, Batman had locked it in the warehouse and they hadn't even had a chance to touch them.
"I am going to look for this world's Clark," Bruce said to Batman over the communicator. "He should have an idea about how to crack the shield. I believe he has the capability to implement his proposals. I'd like to talk to him, or maybe I should find Barry instead."
The Robins perked their ears to listen. Bruce came back on the line, "I'm not sure what state he's in in this universe, but I think if he can run, he will definitely carry us into the shield."
"I have no objections," Batman shook his head and answered, "but you'd best assess the capabilities of this universe's Batman and Joker. The speed force is not always useful."
After ending the call, Batman turned to see the three Robins looking at him with expectant eyes. Not because they wanted him to bring out the Apokoliptian equipment for research, they weren't that interested. They had nothing to do but they also knew they couldn't decipher what that stuff was. They just wanted to bide their time.
But now something more interesting came up. The younger Batman's solution was more exciting, and riskier.
Instead of solving the problem of the shield in the lab with science, they were more interested in seeing Superman's beam directly shattering the shield, or a golden flash of light taking them directly in and leaving those aliens dumbfounded.
"No, you're not going," Batman shook his head and said. "Stick around and help me disassemble the equipment."
"Oh!" The Red Hood was the first to groan in disappointment, but this did not change Batman's mind. He locked the door to the Batcave, preventing them from leaving. The others just split up hoping that they can get over with this quickly and move on to the next thing.
About half an hour into their task, Batman received a call from Bruce.
"I've found Clark, but this world's Bruce Wayne is terrible. He didn't recognize me and he isn't planning on collaborating with me on this. He believes he can break the alien's blockade and vanquish them all by himself."
"But the good news is that I saw that a portion of the alien's shield extended into the sea, covering a considerable area. I think that should fall under Arthur's responsibility. But if I have to go underwater, I need a batsuit."
"I can take it over to him," The Red Robin was the first to propose, "I remember you have a full-functioning underwater Bat Armor upstairs."
"You can come and pick it up yourself," said Batman, indifferent.