Batman Green Lantern looked contentedly at the infinite darkness where almost all the green lights had gone out, except for the faint glow on his chest. He had long known that this move of his would be the nemesis of all Green Lanterns.
But just then, he suddenly saw a yellow light shining in the distant darkness.
More precisely, it looked like a pair of yellow vertical pupils that were currently visible with a blinking on and off, neither fierce nor cruel, but rather with a childlike innocence and curiosity.
The Green Lantern Batman immediately flew toward the source of the yellow light.
"What's going on?" Aisha, who had become the Parallax entity, asked in confusion while running with Barry and Halley, "Has this guy never seen a Yellow Lantern Demon? Doesn't he know that yellow light is the Green Lantern's kryptonite?"
"I suspect he's never been out of Earth." Halley held tightly onto one of Aisha's spines, her long hair blowing behind her, and said, "Most Batmen have the same tragedy; he probably got the Green Lantern Ring back then."
"And then, as expected, for the next few decades, he was likely immersed in fighting crime, hardly having time to glance at the cosmos."
"Wouldn't the Lantern Corps come looking for him?"
"Earth is quite remote. Maybe one or two came at first and he took them down. You saw what happened just now, he can extinguish Lantern rings, leaving no evidence. I guess after enough people died, the Lantern Corps realized something was wrong and sent a force to investigate."
"Where should we lead him?" Barry asked again.
"Out of the city first," Halley said, patting one of Aisha's horns, "Although it seems there aren't many people left in Gotham City, it's still better to find an open area first."
"Let me make it clear first," Aisha said, "I am a Lantern Beast, not a Lamp hero. I need to merge with a host to unleash my full power. This Green Lantern Batman might be weak, but he won't be easy to deal with."
"Can't you merge with both of us?" Halley frowned slightly and asked.
"Well, I could, but the two of you aren't exactly the sources of fear, so the power would be limited."
"The best candidate wouldn't happen to be..."
"Of course, it's Batman," Aisha said, "The more traditional, the better, or at least someone who can instill fear in others."
Halley rolled her eyes in realization and then said to Barry, "You and Aisha keep that guy behind us busy. I'll sneak off for a bit and be right back."
"What for?"
"To find a Batman as the host, of course."
Aisha kept running forward with Barry, occasionally turning back and spitting out a large mass of Yellow Torch Energy to block the advancing Green Lantern Batman. This was quite effective because the Yellow Torch Energy indeed was the Green Lantern's kryptonite.
In theory, fear is the most primal and instinctive emotion of the human race, the emotion most capable of shattering a human's willpower, giving it a tactical advantage against the Green Lantern that signifies willpower.
From a practical viewpoint, originally the Little Blue People defended against Green Lanterns by painting their houses yellow. As creators of the Lantern Corps, their choice to do this proves its effectiveness.
The pursuing Green Lantern Batman, who had clearly never encountered such a situation, found all his energy dissipating upon contact with the mysterious yellow light, as fragile as melting snow.
This only made him more determined to catch up, convinced that nothing in this universe could stop him; he needed to figure out who the other was.
Because his entire attention was focused on the huge yellow figure running ahead, he failed to notice a small black shadow that had already jumped down. After Halley disembarked, she found a deserted area and began drawing an array on the ground.
After a while, a huge Magic Array lit up, and a portal suddenly appeared with a pitch-black figure stepping out.
"Long time no see, Bruce, and you guys, uh, what are those two tentacles called again? Tita and Ande?"
"Ted and Anta," Little Bruce replied, "Why do you always summon me when that damn investigator tries to barge into my house?"
"Got an emergency here," Halley said with a smile, greeting the tentacles behind Little Bruce. After a few years, the two of them had grown from children into teenagers.
Because he gained the power of Nyarlathotep, Little Bruce's demeanor is different from most Batmen. He appears pale, hollow, and carries a certain melancholy.
"I heard that guy Jerome is pretty powerful," Halley said with a carefree smirk, "Never thought you would be chased down by an insurance investigator like this."
"He did indeed chase down something useful," Little Bruce replied, retracting his tentacles to land, and said, "Some things have occurred before they actually happened."
Halley raised an eyebrow, giving Little Bruce an up-and-down look, then said, "So, you're saying you were targeted by an Evil God even before we met you?"
Little Bruce pursed his lips and walked forward, saying as he went, "Alfred said that one night he saw a restless shadow standing beside my bed, much earlier than when we met you all."
"Can I be honest?" Halley walked beside him and said, "When I met you, you were kind of over-the-top aggressive. That's not how most Batmen behave."
"I didn't feel anything unusual," Little Bruce looked up at the overcast sky, "But Jerome found an old priest who had retired, a contemporary of my parents."
"The Father said that Martha Wayne had come to him to pray while she was pregnant. She was very anxious, repeating her devotion to God over and over. The old priest thought maybe she was troubled by heresy for a while, but I think it might not have been heresy, but an Evil God."
"Are you saying that Nyarlathotep chose you back when you were still an embryo?"
"The problem is, it might not be him."
Harley seemed even more confused, but she still said, "We agreed that if you were in trouble, we'd come to your aid, but this time you need to help us first."
"It seems you've encountered some trouble that you can't resolve," Little Bruce sniffed and said, "There's a strange scent permeating this universe, decay, rot, decline…"
"If you're referring to the Green Lantern energy, indeed, unfortunately, the Batman of this universe got ahold of the Green Lantern Ring and broke the rules of the ring, and he has fallen with the Green Lantern energy."
"There's more to it." Little Bruce shook his head and said, "I mean the origin of the cosmos itself, it's completely different from our own, its root is unimaginably dark."
He turned his head to look at Harley and asked, "What do you need my help with?"
"The thing is, Aisha… oh, Parallax needs a host, preferably someone who can instill fear…"
Harley roughly explained their plan, which wasn't much of a plan, really. It was basically to take advantage of Aisha's rule of trumping Green Lantern energy and find her a host, then go straight forward and knock this Batman out.
After listening to the series of plans, Little Bruce said with a bit of disbelief, "You plan to use this against Batman? Do you believe that he must have at least two hundred contingency plans to counter Parallax?"
"Really? Can you think of two hundred contingency plans right now?"
Little Bruce was stunned, and Harley snorted coldly, "Consider it a favor you owe me, let's go."
On their way to the battlefield, Little Bruce brooded the entire time, and then they saw a figure in midair emitting a gray-green glow, grappling with a giant Yellow Beast. All the Green Lantern energy dissipated upon contact with the Yellow Light.
Conversely, the Yellow Beast, covered in spikes, took a bite that snapped off one of the green wings, nearly reaching the arm of the green figure.
Watching the scene, Little Bruce quickly realized something wasn't right. How come this Green Lantern, with Bruce Wayne's face, had only three moves on repeat?
The first move was to soar high then dash down, striking the target with a fist glowing with green energy; the second move was to release Green Lantern energy from the palm to bind the opponent; and the third move was to summon a horde of monsters to attack the enemy.
The problem was, these moves relied entirely on energy, whether fists, ropes, or monsters, everything was energy-based. However, it was clear to see that the Yellow Beast could dissolve all Green Lantern energy, rendering energy attacks useless against it.
But Little Bruce just watched helplessly as the guy cycled through the same set of moves five or six times and looked set to continue doing so.
He could not help but press his forehead and said, "Are you sure he's Batman? Not some shape-shifter that can take Batman's form?"
"I'm positive he is Batman, but I presume he must have gained this power at a young age and there was no one to guide him on how to use it. So he has been fumbling around, following his instincts, and this is what he's come up with," Harley replied.
"But no matter what, this is too…" Little Bruce ultimately didn't say the word 'stupid' out loud, but he knew anyone would see this way of fighting was dumb, rigid, and inflexible.
Then he suddenly remembered what Harley had said to him, "You owe me one," and Little Bruce broke out in a cold sweat.
He absolutely couldn't become like that. Little Bruce abruptly realized that at the beginning when he first received Nya's power, he only wanted to control it, to harness it for his own use.
But years passed, and he had hardly studied the power, instead, using it to react to situations, to turn the tide in Gotham, to maintain a fragile order.
He faced too many troubles, so he always used these as excuses, thinking he'd first use the power to resolve issues, and now he had become like a true Evil God, on one hand using his power to transform the city, and on the other, hiding from those who were investigating.
No, that's not right, thought Little Bruce. He was Batman, not some progeny of an Evil God. If he were without this power, he would be nothing. So what could he do once stripped of this power that wasn't his own?
"Aisha is also an energy entity. When she takes you as a host and possesses you, she needs to partially devour the power within you, making the two of you stronger when combined," said Harley, looking at him. "But that will weaken you, much more than you are now."
"Come on," Little Bruce took a deep breath and said. "It would be great if she could eat it all."
Harley immediately yelled towards there, and Barry, who had been hiding behind Aisha, sprinted into action instantly.
With a roar from Aisha, three orbs of energy forced Green Lantern Batman to the ground, and the moment Barry touched him, he was engulfed in Divine Speed.
Aisha shrank rapidly, transforming into a beam of sunlight that entered Little Bruce's body, causing Little Bruce to emit a painful moan as Aisha began devouring the energy within him. The entwined energies caused excruciating pain like his innards were being torn apart.
But soon, a huge surge of energy erupted, and yellow lasers shot from Little Bruce's opened eyes. He rose into the air, and the moment Barry released Green Lantern Batman, Little Bruce punched him in the jaw.
Boom!
Everyone watched in disbelief as Green Lantern Batman lay on the ground. Harley clicked her tongue and said, "There probably isn't a more inept Batman in the world than him, right?"
Aisha paused and said, "Actually, there is."
Everyone looked at her in unison, and Aisha shook her head, "But the scariest isn't stupidity, but being both bad and stupid."