"Cough cough, hello, I am your new President. Forget that stupid name just mentioned, Bruce Wayne? Ridiculous, that guy's already dead. That name will only be engraved on a tombstone, while I am your new King. Remember my name, I'm called King Robin!"
The one speaking on the screen wasn't actually an adult at all. By the looks of his body, he was younger than Jason and the others—seemingly just an elementary school student.
His face was deathly pale without a hint of color and pupil-less, with his eyes surrounded by thick black eyeliner staring blankly, emitting a faint glow. His mouth was stretched into an excessively wide grin, and he wore a spiky crown on his head. The uniform he donned was somewhat reminiscent of Batman's, especially the belt, but overall it was many times more malevolent than Batman.
His sudden proclamation left everyone dumbfounded. Inside the Bell Tower, several people stared at the screen Barbara had projected for a good while before Jason pointed at it and asked, "You mean to say that the thing that almost killed Batman is this brat?"
The others were also unsure because firstly, he was a child, or at least an adult with stunted development, and secondly, the things he did were what only a child or a fool would do.
Any mature-minded villain wouldn't likely make a huge explosion that brings national attention, cause Bruce Wayne's social death, and then suddenly use the media to announce his identity and location.
Yes, the wallpaper behind him was that of the Capitol Building. Ever since this universe's Bruce Wayne became President, they had all visited the Capitol Building, and Barbara could pinpoint the room he was currently in from the damaged wallpaper.
If you're going to confront the whole world head-on, you might as well come out from the start. You've orchestrated a sudden explosion, ambushed Batman, and even released a Fifth-dimensional Imp to kill him, so shouldn't you be now concealing your location and buying time for the Imp to finish off Batman? What's this about becoming President, having a bout of Chuunibyou?
"Got him!" Barbara rapidly manipulated the computer and declared, "Tim, go pull the safety switches, preheat the launch well, prepare to fire the missile!"
"Wait!" Dick called out to Barbara, saying, "There are still so many reporters and hosts around, right? We can't harm the innocent."
"Of course, I know that," Barbara said. "The missile I'm launching carries a directional nanovirus bomb. It's not meant to kill him but to attach the nanovirus to him, so we can track his whereabouts and he can lead us to Batman."
Tim and Robin both went over to assist Barbara, while Jason was checking the stolen System database, trying to find any Batman data matching this bratty kid. Regrettably, Batmen eligible for Battleworld were relatively normal, and none of the bizarre ones had come, so there was no information to be found.
Although this odd character claimed to be King Robin, from what they could discern in his features, there was still a vague resemblance to Bruce Wayne, which led Central China to suspect that he was still a rare version of Batman.
In the past, the sight of such a Batman would've surely amazed them, but now that they knew this universe contained all sorts of Batmen—human or not, resembling humans or not—they were no longer surprised by such oddities.
Soon, a beeping sound came from the controller in Barbara's hand, the missile was ready. She pressed the launch button, and there was no dramatic spectacle. They only saw several red dots light up from beneath the Bell Tower.
That kid onscreen, who claimed to be King Robin, was still droning on about his ruling plans, which mainly boiled down to him killing all the superheroes because they were lawbreakers, no different from criminals. Then, he would free all the criminals, letting them maintain the order of a city in their way.
As for himself, he would descend upon Gotham, become the King of Gotham, and re-establish order there. He swore he would make America even greater, certainly do better than the previous President, and would enact his own laws, the first of which was to never allow anyone to defy him.
He kept babbling on and on, growing more excited as he spoke and making all sorts of bizarre poses and expressions for the camera, completely oblivious to the red dot approaching closer and closer against the skyline outside the window behind him.
Whoosh! Bang!
The screen was engulfed in a cloud of smoke from the explosion, but there were no screams of agony. Suddenly, a large face pressed against the screen, bellowing, "You lunatics!!! How dare you! How dare you destroy my coronation!!!"
"Did he mean to say inauguration?" Tim said with a frown and a disgusted tone.
"I guess if he knew the word 'swearing-in,' he would've said it," Jason shrugged.
The cold light of the screen made Barbara's gaze even more focused as she tapped away on the keyboard, saying, "The nanovirus is active, but currently, no location signals can be detected. I suspect the protection devices Batman has stationed at the Capitol Building are blocking the signals. We need to head to Wayne Tower to deactivate the defense systems first."
Everyone stood up, ready to head out, but Barbara waved her hand and said, "Leave some here to monitor the operation of the nanovirus. The rest will go meet our reinforcements. Robin and I will head to Wayne Tower together."
"The two of us will stay here," Nightwing said, gesturing to Arkham Knight. "The reinforcements should be more familiar with them, and it will be safer for them to come back together."
"I said we don't need any help," Arkham Knight stressed.
Just as Nightwing was about to correct him, Barbara suddenly let out a puzzled "Huh," and promptly pressed the communicator button. A familiar voice came from the other side.
"Is this Barbara Gordon? I'm Batman, but not the one you're familiar with. I come from another universe. I was hoping to get help from your Batman,"
"I'm sorry, but he..."
"He's got a big problem. Right now I'm in Gotham underground, and I've found traces of a portal. The monster that invaded here may have come through it."
"What should we do? Can you shut down the portal?"
"It's not active at the moment, but I suspect they've shut it down on purpose so they can reactivate it when needed. With it closed, I don't see a way to destroy it."
"What are they trying to transport here?"
"Maybe an army, maybe more monsters, but that's not important. You need to get your Batman back. I've found traces of some allies underground; I think Poison Ivy may be responsible. I'm going to find her. We'll be in touch later."
With a click, the communication was cut off. Barbara, feeling helpless, looked at the screen and said, "We can confirm he's Batman now, always only says half of what he means."
"That's already pretty good, you wouldn't want to hear a Batman going on and on, detailing every part of his plan to you," Jason said as he picked up his equipment again. They drove the Batmobile to the rendezvous point coordinated through the Doujie System.
In order to accommodate some large equipment, specifically a large Batman, they set up the portal in the suburbs. When the three young Robins arrived at the meeting place and saw the pile of odd-shaped objects, they were all stunned.
"No time for surprises," said the Primary Universe Nightwing as he pushed Jason's jaw shut, adding, "Now tell us, what's all this about? We need to start preparing our combat plan."
All the Robins joined the same communication channel, discussing the plan while doing their tasks at hand. The objectives weren't too complicated. Mainly, they had several targets.
First, rescue Batman, then Superman, and lastly, all the superheroes. The overall goal was to drag out that screen brat and the mastermind behind him.
Superman was singled out because it was known that Batman had never beaten this brat and the Fifth-dimensional Imp he had at hand; so, to hold them off and let Robin figure out the secret to expelling the Fifth-dimensional Imp, they needed a powerful enforcer.
The Primary Universe's Robin team brought a Superman, but that wasn't enough, because the brat might have other weapons, and as the strongest force on the surface, Superman had to be rescued if possible.
But what the young Robins didn't expect was that Shiller had come too. Shiller told them his purpose upon seeing them, "You want the truth, I want King Robin."
On the way back, Jason couldn't help asking, "Why? Professor, is there something special about this guy?"
"He's seriously ill."
"What?"
"Literally. He's a born antisocial personality serial killer. I've been studying whether antisocial personality is related to organic brain disease. If you can't capture him alive, then bring me his brain."
The young Robins shivered together, which meant that if they couldn't capture him, the professor would come in person.
Tim immediately gestured to Shiller, saying, "We'll complete the mission, Professor, although the scene may be chaotic. Maybe you should head to Wayne Manor for some tea first?"
"No, you've probably received another Batman's communication already, right? I need to find him now. I know what he plans to do, but there are some things I need to confirm."
Soon, the Batmobile and the pocket spaceship Jason brought delivered everyone to Wayne Manor, where they planned to regroup and reassign tasks.
But Shiller got out of the car at the front door; he needed to find the Primary Universe Batman because he had learned not long ago that there was a record of portals being activated on this side of the DC prime universe, and besides Batman, the Joker had crossed through them as well.
It wasn't hard to infer that they had discovered the Mad Laugh, but Shiller couldn't yet confirm their plan to deal with him. More importantly, Shiller had to make sure they understood the danger of the Mad Laugh.
Despite always saying how repulsive Mad Laugh was, repulsiveness was only one of his traits. At least at the current level of power, Mad Laugh was an incredibly powerful and formidable adversary. The Primary Universe's Batman and Joker might not be ready to face him, and a single mistake could lead to catastrophic consequences.