"I've told you, my situation isn't exactly the same as David's," Shiller said with a hint of helplessness in his office. He turned, took a box of cookies from the drawer next to him, broke off a piece, point to the broken part and the crumbs that fell and said, "This is me."
He then pointed to several different cookies inside the box and said, "This is David."
"But David's personas also evolved from his different Memory Fragments," Charles said.
Shiller shook his head and said, "But they have evolved into complete personas, with their own character and memories, and they don't consider themselves part of a whole, let alone see themselves as the same kind. This is notably different from me."
"However, I do agree with you, because they come from the same person's memory and have received the same kind of energy, there must be similarities between them and surely the energy must contain traces of David."
"The quickest and most convenient method would be to directly reclaim their energies, and then single out the similarities, but you all believe that might go against David's wishes, so there may be another way."
"What is that?"
Thinking, Shiller said, "When David disintegrated, he divided his energy among his Memory Fragments; even in death, he didn't want his memories to vanish. This suggests David must have loved these memories, making it his obsession to keep them alive."
"Perhaps David wouldn't react if one or two personas were in danger, but if many personas faced the danger of annihilation, the David hidden within their consciousness would likely come together proactively to thwart this danger."
As if he had an epiphany, Charles said, "So instead of us looking for David, we should have David come to us?"
"Precisely," Shiller nodded and said, "You mentioned that Moira is building a machine capable of reclaiming all the personas' energies. I think that's a good idea. However, there's no need to actually put them into the machine; just simulate it. I think David would be willing to come out and talk to you."
Charles's face took on a peculiar expression as he said, "It sounds like something a kidnapper would do."
"To some extent, yes, but desperate times call for desperate measures," Shiller said with a shrug. "If you don't like it, then leave it to Batman. I have something else I'd like you to help me with."
"But Batman..."
"They are much more flexible than you because they are confident that no personas will truly be harmed with them around. As long as the process is under control, they don't mind being misunderstood."
Charles sighed and said, "After dealing with them, I've realized there's still so much I need to learn, especially about the diversity of the Human race. You wouldn't believe what I've seen in their minds."
"I can imagine," Shiller said. "But best not to look too much, be careful not to get on their radar."
"You said you needed my help with something. What is it?"
Before Shiller could speak, bang, the door was flung open, and Aisha hurried in, holding a piece of paper and shouting, "This is bad, this is really bad, Doctor, take a look at this, that guy has really..."
Shiller walked over, patted Aisha on the head to signal her to calm down. Aisha took a few breaths, downed a glass of water, and finally let out a breath before stuffing the paper into Shiller's arms.
Looking down, Shiller saw an egg drawn on the paper with a big mouth full of fangs laughing madly.
Shiller's actions paused for an instant, but he did not show much surprise. He sat back down, waved Aisha over, and as she hurriedly approached, he leaned in and asked, "Where did you see this?"
In a flurry, Aisha could hardly speak, only making sounds and gestures. Charles leaned in—he had of course seen what Aisha pulled out of the Green Lantern Ring. He explained the situation to Shiller.
Shiller nodded in understanding and placed the paper on the table. "In another cosmos, I mean the one where the Batmans dwell, there exists a rather Unique entity."
"Who?"
"A special Batman," Shiller sighed and said. "He's a combination of Batman and his arch-enemy."
"You mean Batman and the Joker?" Aisha displayed an awkward expression and said, "How did they combine? Is my mom the Joker in some universe?"
"Not that kind of combination," Shiller said, flicking Aisha's forehead lightly with a finger. "Batman killed the Joker and was infected by a Joker virus."
"Hiss..." Aisha gasped but quickly added, "I'll warn Uncle Jack to be careful."
Shiller ruffled her hair more firmly, "Let's get back to the real issue."
"Okay, is he strong?"
"Not just strong, but it's the special kind of strong. How should I put it? He anticipates everything."
"Ah?"
"He might even foresee this very conversation between you and me," Shiller said with a smile. "Perhaps one day, at an unexpected turning point, this special Batman might suddenly predict all that happened today."
"But... but..."
Charles and Aisha both expressed confusion, with Aisha saying, "This makes no sense, if he has no way of eavesdropping on our conversation right now, how could he know about it?"
"Maybe he started laying out his plan centuries ago, just to hear our conversation at this moment."
Confusion mounted on Aisha's face as she said, "But why?"
"Because he has a plan hundreds of years in the future that requires our conversation."
"But how would he have known back then?"
"He figured it out."
"What's the logic behind his calculation?"
"I don't know either," Shiller shook his head and said, "If there were logic to it, he wouldn't be so unique."
"But..." Aisha's eyebrows furrowed deeply, clearly showing her little brain was running at full speed, her CPU almost smoking from the effort.
"But he shouldn't be that old, right?" Charles interrupted swiftly, "He was born centuries ago? He could calculate as soon as he was born? Or is he actually a demigod of some sort?"
"He can travel through time," Shiller said, "When necessary, he can appear at any time and place, in any way he wishes to do whatever he desires."
"Is this Batman? Isn't this God?"
"It's usually God, except when he occasionally feels like he's Batman," Shiller replied.
"Is he our enemy?" A worried expression crept onto Aisha's face as she said, "How are we supposed to deal with such an enemy?"
Aisha looked up at Shiller but saw no sign of worry on his face. In fact, she vaguely felt that Shiller wanted to smile. Could she be mistaken?
Shiller waved the piece of paper at Aisha and said, "Do you know how you were born?"
"I have almost no memory of it," Aisha said, "Between being not human and becoming human, there's a clear demarcation. Like a normal human infant, I almost have no memories from the embryonic stage. I do have some memories of the Parallax, but it's more like instinct."
"Have you ever considered why Bruce was able to give birth to you? Where did your embryo come from? And why do you look so much like him? It can't possibly be that he was truly pregnant, right?"
Aisha was initially clueless, but as she finally understood what Shiller meant, her mouth dropped open in disbelief.
She pointed a finger at the paper, her eyes wide as she stared at Shiller; he nodded and said, "That's right, you hatched from this, because it came from another Batman, which is why you look almost exactly like Bruce."
"But... but..." Aisha was almost unable to accept this fact as she said, "But how could this thing have appeared inside Bruce?"
"Good question, I'd like to know too," Shiller's fingertips lightly tapped on the table, saying, "As far as I know, he should have no reason to leave these eggs, but since they've appeared, it proves that something has changed, and where this change comes from..."
Shiller didn't finish his sentence, because his speculation was actually based on comic book storylines.
In the comics, from the Mad Laugh's appearance to his exit, he had a smooth ride, never experiencing a setback. Most of his plans are aggressive, at one moment leading the Dark Knights to invade the cosmos, and the next going after the Overmonitor and the Anti-Monitor, seeking to destroy the Multiverse outright.
The fact that the members of the Dark Knights bore the touch of the Laughing bat wasn't beyond Shiller's expectations; because in the original comics, the background stories of these members were not heavily explored—it mainly focused on their battles after invading the Prime Universe.
But if you delve into their backgrounds, you can spot some anomalies. And if all this is part of the Mad Laugh's plan, it actually makes more sense. The Mad Laugh, after all, is also Batman, and if he were to choose members to invade the Prime Universe, he would certainly prefer those he had nurtured and crafted rather than picking a few at random.
Then the only thing left that is different from the original, that is not mentioned at all in the original, the Laughing Egg, becomes the biggest clue.
The egg appears to be some sort of contaminant, deeply embedded within certain Batmen or hidden around them, ready to contaminate them at any time.
But the Laughing Egg, unlike the special metal that seeks to contaminate Batwoman and other Batmen, is entirely different. If contamination was the goal, the Mad Laugh wouldn't need to create two different types of entities.
Moreover, the Laughing Egg is very unique. Aisha's birth alone shows that this thing is essentially a compressed package of a complete Batman; it would not be easy for anyone to create, and certainly, it wouldn't be necessary to go to such lengths just to contaminate.
Now considering where the Laughing Egg appeared, one was found inside Bruce, and another was discovered in the Green Lantern Batman's ring. No others have been found for the time being. So, what do Bruce and Green Lantern Batman have in common?
At first glance, the two seem worlds apart—Bruce is from the Light Universe, while the Green Lantern Batman is from the dark universe, even their personalities share no common ground, and their abilities differ vastly.
Yet Shiller realized that this was only his perspective from the present. If he were to consider the special viewpoint of the Mad Laugh at a particular moment in time, it was possible to categorize Green Lantern Batman and Bruce as similar.
So, the question circled back to the universe where Bruce resided. Shiller couldn't help but ponder whether the DC Universe he occupied was truly the Light Universe.