It seems this is Doctor Sophocles, Batman thought, younger than he had imagined and not looking much related to mysticism. He thought he would see an old man with a white beard wearing a mage's hat.
Batwoman gave Batman a look, wondering if they should wake him. Batman first touched the weapon at his waist, then gave a heavy cough.
To their surprise, the man didn't wake up. Batman and Batwoman had no choice but to approach him, and only when their shadows completely covered the light from the fireplace did the man on the lounge chair stir.
"How is he asleep again?" Strange looked at Shiller, leaning on the couch, somewhat puzzled, and said, "It's as if he is the one who has just performed a 50-hour surgery."
"Let's forget about him." Nick glanced at Shiller and said, "Now that the blueprint for the surveillance has been confirmed, think about how to get it in there. Until the specifics of those dangerous personalities are fully determined, you'd better not delve too deeply, and the mutants should exert some force."
The two Batmen waited a while, and the man in the lounge chair finally woke up completely, surprised to see two figures.
"Hello, Doctor Sophocles, we mean no harm."
"That doesn't sound very convincing." Sophocles replied.
The two Batmen were at a loss for words; after all, anyone who wakes up to find two strangely dressed individuals in their living room watching them sleep would find it hard to believe that they mean no harm.
"What's going on today?" Sophocles grumbled as he stood up and walked slowly to his desk, saying, "Has anything big happened recently? Why was there no sign on the star chart?"
"Doctor... Doctor! We've come to investigate something," Batman said, "do you know who Barbados is?"
Before Sophocles could reply, Batwoman looked at Batman first. She had already known that this strange Batman from another universe was hiding something from her, but she didn't expect him to mention such a precise name. It seemed he knew much more than she had thought.
"You're here to investigate Barbados?" Sophocles didn't look surprised and obviously had heard the name before. He said, "That's a bit strange, that name usually doesn't appear alone."
He had indeed come to the right place, Batman thought, as his investigation had indeed involved a few other mysterious entities.
"Can you tell me about them?"
"Many people think I have the truth and the answers here," Sophocles said, "but that's not quite the case. I can only point you in the right direction. The real answers have to be discovered by yourselves."
Batman didn't mind the cryptic way these mystics spoke; he seized on the essence and said, "Where is this path?"
"Earth." Sophocles placed his hands on the table and said, "The fact that you found this place means you've already been investigating these matters. Perhaps in the information you've gathered, you may have realized that whether it's the gods who claim to represent cosmic rules, the advanced yet brutal aliens, or the indescribable wonders of the cosmos, all of these have a unique interest in Earth."
Both Batmen frowned, clearly having paid attention to certain situations in the cosmos, especially the Prime Universe Batman who had previously experienced the invasion of the Apocalypse Star. He originally thought Darkseid came for the equation he held, but later, he realized Darkseid was wary of Earth.
However, whether from the perspective of astronomy or the Lantern Corps, Earth's position was quite remote, and the entire Solar System didn't contain any particularly precious resources, making the interest of these bizarre extraterrestrial creatures in Earth quite abnormal.
Batman suddenly understood what Doctor Sophocles meant. If the problem lay with Earth itself, then the planet they were standing on was not as simple as they had understood it to be, and Batman, after all, knew very little about Earth, at least in the realm of mysticism.
"That's exactly why we're here," Batwoman stood up, walked around and said, "Do you have anything you can tell us?"
"In fact, I think you can look it up yourselves, but not here. Go back to the normal timeline and visit the library at Oxford University. There you should find what you're looking for."
In the end, the two Batmen didn't get much more from Doctor Sophocles. Batman already had some ideas in his mind, so he and Batwoman went to the already closed Oxford University library in the dead of night.
Because America's history was so short, the historical documents they could access in Gotham were either replicas or transcriptions, and a large part was even modern fabrications based on contemporary guesses at history. So if one had to grade each of Batman's myriad abilities, history might be his weak spot.
Despite this, it did not mean that Batman was unsuited to study history. His memory far exceeded that of ordinary people and his exceptional concentration still endowed him with unparalleled talent in this area.
The two Batmen quickly found what they were looking for among the vast sea of historical documents and began to read attentively. Batwoman, while flipping through the thick tomes, said, "Do you really think we can find the answers in these histories? Do you think the ancient human race was not aware that we are destined for destruction?"
"Not only were they aware of it, they might even have tried to save us, only to fail," Batman said, still looking down at his book, "And you're being too pessimistic. This may be a disaster, but it doesn't mean our destruction is certain."
Batwoman looked up at him. The male Batman's demeanor was inherently sterner and more serious than hers, more profound, yet Batwoman saw a kind of hope in him; he was more vibrant than he appeared.
"I know you've lost very important people, twice," Batman said, "But you overestimate your capacity to endure, thinking that losing more doesn't matter much. The reality is far from it, and you'll only feel regret in that moment."
Batwoman pursed her lips and remained silent. She said, "Have you only lost once?"
"So far, yes, and I've brought them back," he confirmed.
Batwoman's eyes widened, but Batman remained as calm as ever, and said, "Or rather, they chose to come back to me."
"You mean Thomas and Martha..."
"I know what you're thinking. You might still have a chance to see them, but trust me, your expectations might be too idyllic."
"For example?"
Batman lifted his head and stared at Batwoman as if seeing her for the first time, scrutinizing her from head to toe, and said, "If you really must go, by all means, do not wear that outfit. That would infuriate Thomas, and some of his words might make you acutely aware of his disrespect for your former boyfriend."
Batwoman opened her mouth to speak, but she looked down at her clothes with a bit of confusion and asked, "What's wrong with my clothes?"
Batwoman's uniform was similar to Batman's, very tightly wrapped, but skin-tight, and perhaps a little too tight.
"There's nothing wrong with it per se," said Batman, as he continued to jot down key points from the book with his pen. After a pause, he added, "But it becomes a problem if you suddenly have a very troublesome little brother."