"My God, what's going on?" Stark's eyes widened as he stared at the screen, then he tapped his communicator and said, "Ultron, Ultron, what's wrong with you? Are you broken?"
Ultron didn't answer, but at this time, the group of Batmans on the screen finally broke the ice. They chose this moment to open their mouths to discuss.
"I think since our target isn't them, we just need to divert their attention. I suggest we split into two squads, one to engage them in battle and draw them away, while the other goes after the other personalities."
The other Batmans agreed with this, and the Batman from the Prime Universe said, "Then the members of the team responsible for fighting not only need to be able to fight but also to run, ideally capable of holding them off for a long time, while the other team must have control measures to capture the other personalities as quickly as possible."
At last it came back to their own abilities, unexpectedly it was Little Bruce who stood up first and said, "I think I can join the pursuit team. I have many tentacles, and I can inundate an area all at once, controlling all the people within that area."
The other Batmans couldn't help but glance sidelong at this. The Batman from the Prime Universe pondered for a moment before saying, "If this were before, I would definitely have to ask whether those tentacles are indeed fully controllable. But now is not the time to discuss this issue, yet I do hope that the personalities sent to X-League Headquarters come out unharmed and are able to leave there intact."
Little Bruce understood the underlying meaning in Batman's words. Knowing now that these personalities were endowed with immense energy, there was a possibility that someone might secretly tamper with them to steal energy.
"I can assure that," Little Bruce said. "No one can muzzle the personalities. If I tampered with them, Moira would know instantly, and she wouldn't allow such a thing to happen."
"We're all responsible for the fight," Doomsday Batman declared, and another who was part of the 'we' he mentioned was the Batman wearing an armor helmet. Both of them were power-type characters, lacking wide-range control abilities, but their combat strength was still decent.
"I can feel my progression," Doomsday Batman stated. "My spikes are becoming increasingly harder, and I think they're forming an armor to counteract the personalities' reality-altering powers. It might not be long before it's finished."
This was good news for the team, but for the Batman of the Prime Universe, it meant more to consider. This guy didn't look like a good person, and even less so from his makeup.
His direct confrontation with these powerful personalities, and thus becoming increasingly stronger due to his unique evolved abilities, meant that he might bring even greater disasters in the future.
"I am lucid," Doomsday Batman insisted. "Helen can vouch for that. The Doomsday Virus inside me is from her, and she is quite special."
Batman turned to look at Helen, who had grown quite a bit and was beginning to look like a young woman. She crossed her arms and said, "I'm not just any Doomsday. At least, I didn't grow up in your gloomy universe. The sunshine here is good."
The Prime Universe's Batman didn't know much about this young girl, but he knew she was Stark's daughter. He was inclined to trust Stark's character, especially believing that Stark would be a good father, so he nodded in agreement to her statement.
"I'll join the pursuit team," Lightning Batman volunteered. "I can transport captured personalities at the fastest speed, avoiding any accidents on the way."
The Prime Universe's Batman then looked at him, sizing up Lightning Batman before saying, "I heard Barry on the way, discussing with... what was that inside you? Another Barry?"
"It's The Flash," Lightning Batman confirmed without hiding it. "I didn't just steal The Flash's abilities, I absorbed his soul. Now his soul resides inside me, just like so many personalities live within David."
Batman frowned, unable to accept the idea of someone killing a member of the Justice League. However, he could empathize—if he were to kill The Flash, he wouldn't have left his soul behind. That Batman must have shown mercy in a fleeting moment.
"I will pay for my crimes," Lightning Batman declared. "But that must wait until all of this is over."
"No, I won't go to jail with you!" Barry wailed in his mind. "And you can't make me live in a robot's body. That would deprive me of so much pleasure. It would be inhumane!"
"Shut up, Barry."
"Then I...," Green Lantern Batman began, but Aisha glared at him and interrupted, "You're not going anywhere. Stay here and compile information, check the reports."
"But I need to..."
"I agree with Aisha," the Prime Universe's Batman stated. "Even if you don't stay, you wouldn't be able to do anything. The power of the Emotional Spectrum is very special; it can't be replenished with any other energy."
Green Lantern Batman clenched his fists, puzzled as to how the Batman of the Prime Universe saw through his ruse. In fact, he was the one who had intended to steal energy from those personalities. But now that he was discovered, and there was a good chance stolen energy would be useless, he had no choice but to let it go. Grudgingly, Green Lantern Batman huffed and said no more.
"I'll join the combat team," Batwoman said. "That man on fire is quite troublesome, and the Trident of Poseidon should be able to hinder him to some extent."
Batman nodded. Among these people, Batwoman was the least corrupted after leaving the dark universe for some time, her condition had improved significantly, and she almost passed for a normal Batman.
"Pursuit team," Mechanical Batman said succinctly. "I have detection equipment that can scan a wide area for personalities."
What worried the Prime Universe's Batman the most at the moment was actually this Mechanical Batman, who seemed to have lost a large part of his humanity, becoming cold and stiff.
So Batman said, "My individual combat capability is not strong, so I'll also join the pursuit team, and all the others go to the combat team."
The others looked at each other. After all, there were not many here who weren't Batmen; White Can had left to maintain the facilities inside the base, leaving Barry, Aisha, Helen, Harley—four kids—and one Doctor Strange.
Fortunately, these were not weaklings. Combined with Batman, holding off those three dangerous personalities was not an issue, while White Can stayed in the base as a reserve. In case any other personalities broke out, he could provide support.
They then started to formulate the battle plan. In truth, there wasn't much to discuss. Simply put, the combat team would provoke those personalities, fight, and run while making sure their routes differed from the pursuit team's.
No matter how strong these personalities were, they were still just one person, and they were not omniscient and omnipotent. Their ability to alter reality was due to their power, not their stature. They could not fully grasp what happened in another space in reality. Therefore, when they focused on dealing with one side, the other could move out.
The other side would take advantage of the heated battle to quickly search for scattered personalities within the city, control them, and take them to the X-League Headquarters, where Moira would give them a session of ideological reeducation. Simply put, if they couldn't be loyal, into the pot they went.
After establishing a battle plan, the Batmen promptly set in motion, and in the Shining Alliance Base, the lengthy torment finally ended.
Stark collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted. Strange covered his eyes. Loki had used magic to create a water bubble and began to administer eye drops to himself.
"I was wrong, I shouldn't have looked," Stark said weakly. "This must be Ultron's revenge on us."
A few minutes ago, when they were still unaware of what was happening, the Batmen began their discussion in all capital letters, in a wide array of red text against a black background with numerous warped fonts.
The members of the Luminous Alliance didn't know what was going on, but they didn't rush to know what the Batmen's plan was. Stark, especially anxious, simply stood up and got close to the screen in a vain attempt to make out what exactly was written in the dialogue boxes.
But the thing was, whenever the Batmen discussed tactics, it was long-winded, entirely against their usual silent and reticent style. The speech bubbles were so huge that they ended up covering the Batmen's faces.
The distinction between black and red hues was small to begin with, and brightness and chroma couldn't be widely differentiated. Searching for red letters against a black background was like searching for dung in dung.
The fact that all of the English letters were in uppercase didn't ease the situation either, as even native English speakers from English-speaking countries struggle with uppercase reading impairment. Unless it was a commonly used store sign word, reading all uppercase letters could hamper understanding.
To make matters worse, the uppercase fonts were thin, and none were properly aligned. Some were jittery, others were tilted and leaning on each other, some seemed ready to jump out of the dialogue box, and a few, to emphasize their importance, even had a ring of fuzzy edges. Merely glancing at it was enough to cause an painful sensation like stepping on glass.
The people in the Shining Alliance Base were grateful that at least the words spoken by Batman were logical. Despite the excessive content, given the substance, they still managed to be concise and clear in their logic.
The discussion didn't last long, just a few minutes, with the dialogue boxes covering most of the facial expressions, so there was no need to guess their real thoughts.
"I can hardly imagine what a disaster it would be to have someone verbose, unable to get to the point, full of lunatic fantasies and rambling nonsense in their office," Strange said. "I might really not be able to resist punching him."
"Wait, I just asked Shiller why he hated that man he was chasing and fighting in that universe," Stark said, slapping his forehead. "Don't tell me that guy is exactly like this?!"
"Hiss..." Loki inhaled sharply. "I think we should seriously check the security of cross-universe transport. If he comes to our side, do we have to endure dialogue boxes like these every day?"
"I'm going to contact Nick right away to see if there have been any anomalies with the portals recently," Strange said, standing up. "The time flow at the Time Management Bureau also needs investigating, to see if any oddly shaped individuals have passed through lately."
"If there really is such a person in this world, I suggest we keep him out of our universe," Professor X said. "Because if it really comes down to a confrontation, I absolutely refuse to read his mind."
"I won't speak half a word to him," Stark said. "I've never stood so firmly by Shiller's side as I do today. I'd rather deal with another vast plan than staunchly resist this kind of shit-like artistic taste contaminating my eyes."