Mad Laugh hurried away.
But he still arrived a step too late, when he rushed back to his base, he found nothing but a mess and King Robin, half dead.
At first glance, Mad Laugh could tell that a monumental battle had taken place here, one that had worn the very essence of the world thin.
Unsurprisingly, the two parties involved in the fight were likely King Robin and the real Bruce.
It seemed as though King Robin had been defending the base while Bruce was on the offensive, but the only question was, why would Bruce attack this place? How did he find it?
Mad Laugh picked up the half-dead King Robin, only to discover that the body he was using now wasn't the original one, but that of a crazy Robin being manipulated, his mind having taken over this body.
Mad Laugh woke King Robin, unsure if he was mistaken, but he thought he saw a hint of grievance on King Robin's face.
Mad Laugh felt that King Robin was not the one who should be feeling aggrieved right now.
Still, he managed to get the full story from King Robin, which in a nutshell was — guard your property safely, beware of telecommunication fraud.
While Shiller was leading the Arkham criminals in the play directed by Mad Laugh, jumping here and there, Bruce wasn't idle either.
In fact, he was rather at ease, discussing corporate culture with King Robin, talking about Barbados's entrepreneurial principles and his own journey of starting a business, and also enlightening King Robin about the history of the cosmos he had learned from Barbados.
However, it wasn't long before Shiller sent him a message, and Bruce, without much thought, accidentally mentioned the contamination incident caused by Mad Laugh before.
Of course, at the time, they didn't know it was Mad Laugh's contaminant; they simply knew that several Batmans had been corrupted by a mysterious substance, their minds corroded.
Upon hearing this, King Robin immediately suspected it was Mad Laugh's doing; to show his sincerity towards his new job, he told Bruce that Mad Laugh had tried to throw him into a pool to brainwash him, but fortunately, he had swallowed a pill and wasn't completely brainwashed.
But at that moment, Bruce appeared concerned, saying to King Robin, "But didn't you still fall into that pool? Are you absolutely certain there are no lingering effects?"
"Besides, even if you didn't feel any effects before, that might just be because your soul was still inside your body. Now that your soul has left, who knows what issues might arise?"
This made King Robin worried as well; ultimately, his soul had been out of his body for too long, and his physical form was still unaccounted for. If something really went wrong, he would regret it too late.
Thus, Bruce suggested that they should find a way to send him back, and since King Robin was currently residing in Bruce's mind, what could he say? If you're willing to send me, then go ahead.
Bruce then physically traveled to the Arkham Universe where King Robin's body was located and made his way to Wayne Tower, following King Robin's directions, only to find King Robin's mind obliterated.
King Robin was almost infuriated to death, convinced that it was Jason's doing, but after Bruce examined it, they both realized something was off because the blood spattered from the brain didn't seem like a normal substance.
Upon closer inspection, King Robin recognized that this substance looked eerily similar to, or was a concentrated version of, the liquid from Mad Laugh's pool.
There wasn't much else he didn't know by then, as he was sure he had been duped by Mad Laugh.
However, the problem facing him now was that his original body was no longer usable, and it's not as if any body would do. Where should he stay now? He couldn't stay inside Bruce's mind forever, could he?
King Robin did suspect for a moment that this was Bruce's scheme to kidnap his psyche, especially since he still had no idea how he got there. But Bruce promptly and generously offered, "Whatever body you say will work, I'll go find one for you. Consider it a welcoming benefit for a new employee."
After some thought, King Robin decided he still needed a Robin's body, similar in age and physique, as it would be easier to adapt to.
But the Robins in this universe were not suitable, as they were too old, and more importantly, they were sane and steadfast in their wills. To send King Robin's psyche into one of them would be like delivering takeaway.
After much consideration, King Robin set his sights on the crazy Robins he had brought along, but the batch he had with him was not ideal as they were a batch of modified beings of poor quality. To speak of quality, it had to be those crazy Robins developed by Mad Laugh afterwards.
King Robin knew that Mad Laugh had never stopped modifying the Robins, and the quality got better with each batch. The latest batch was still in their stasis chambers, and he just had to manage to grab a body while Mad Laugh was away.
What? Would this expose the location of Mad Laugh's base? Isn't that just perfect? After all, now that he was a spirit, hiding in Bruce's body, even if Mad Laugh returned and they collided head-on, it would be their fight, not his concern.
Rather, King Robin was looking forward to Mad Laugh's return, hoping they would fight to mutual destruction, while he watched the fun from behind the scenes.
As for whether Bruce could defeat Mad Laugh, King Robin seriously considered it. He found Bruce to be extraordinary; his mind space was vast, radiating a mysterious light, suggesting immense power.
Moreover, he could traverse the cosmos effortlessly, without any tools, just a flash of light and he was where he wanted to be — an ability not common to ordinary men, nor within the reach of an average Batman.
Confident in Bruce's ability to combat Mad Laugh, King Robin brought Bruce directly to Mad Laugh's base.
The body was quickly found, but transferring consciousness was more troublesome. King Robin guided Bruce to build a machine, intending to transfer his own consciousness into a new body using this machine.
However, when King Robin's consciousness entered the machine, he noticed something was amiss. The machine wasn't built entirely according to his instructions; it was mixed with Bruce's alterations.
As the consciousness transmission into the new body commenced, King Robin felt himself being read, and at that moment, Bruce brought over the old body, most importantly, dismantling the belt from the old body.
King Robin immediately realized what Bruce intended to do, but fortunately, he had also left a contingency in this machine, and transferred his body into the new one using an emergency mode much faster than normal.
And Bruce had already begun inputting the password into the belt.
Indeed, King Robin guessed that Bruce wanted his belt. The belt itself wasn't key, but it contained a plethora of crucial gadgets, amassed by King Robin over time—he absolutely wouldn't just hand it over.
Having reached the new body, King Robin immediately began to fight with Bruce. Of course, without those gadgets, he couldn't beat Bruce, but he had been prudent to have a special summoning device on the belt which would fly towards a particular frequency.
King Robin moved with utmost speed to the machine and activated the frequency, calling the belt to him. Then, with the gadgets in the belt, he fought until the sky darkened and the earth dimmed.
King Robin knew Bruce was strong, but he didn't realize how strong Bruce was. This guy was nothing like Batman. Which Batman could go anywhere, heaven and earth, and grew 140 pairs of wings?
Bruce unfurling his wings stunned King Robin. The sight was so shocking that, in the two seconds of his daze, he was floored by a punch from Bruce.
King Robin had almost used up all his gadgets, mainly because he couldn't have anticipated an Angel Batman coming to fight him, and without specialized gadgets, and not yet accustomed to the new body, he stood no chance at all.
In the end, King Robin was left with only one option—that was to use a new gadget he had never used before—Arkham Batman's cloak.
The cloak was actually made of ordinary material, but it had the complete Anti-Life Equation written on it. Due to the rush, King Robin hadn't figured out how to use the Anti-Life Equation, but he knew this cloak was extraordinary.
The only thing to do was to take a chance and pray the cloak would be useful.
The cloak was indeed useful, but Bruce's cloak was even more so. He took off his angelic cloak, and hey, Uriel appeared.
Just when the roar of "Bruce, why aren't you in your formal attire?!!" echoed, King Robin lost track of what happened afterwards.
All he knew was, one moment he closed his eyes and the next, upon opening them, he saw the Mad Laugh's gaping mouth. Belt, gadgets, cloak—gone.
Meanwhile, Shiller twirled his new umbrella in his hand, still black but with a string of strange equations written on it, still emitting a faint light.
And Arkham Batman and all the Robins on the scene looked at the umbrella, intrigued, wanting to speak but stopping themselves, over and over again.
"PhD application approved," Shiller said to Bruce with a nod. "Congratulations, go write your dissertation."
At the same time, Mad Laugh stood stunned on the spot.
He was completely frozen, utterly dumbfounded, until two seconds later, an extremely angry roar resounded in his own base—"Shiller!!!!!!!"
"Are you sure that guy got the punishment he deserved?" Prime Universe's Batman asked Shiller.
"What are American traditional media most afraid of?" Shiller suddenly asked an apparently irrelevant question.
"Most afraid of what?" Batman instinctively replied, "Rumors? Negative coverage? Television stations shutting down?"
"No, they're most afraid of being ignored," Shiller said. "All of America's traditional media, cultural outlets, politicians—they aren't afraid of attacks, not afraid of misunderstandings. What they fear most is indifference, and that fear is growing."
"Why?"
"Because it's no longer an era when a country's gates can be opened just with strong ships and powerful guns. People stop listening to them, and certain things simply cannot continue," Shiller said with a deep breath.
"So many geniuses, talents, heroes came together to stage an outstanding drama. But the purpose wasn't to fight you, nor even to fight your subordinates, but just to take a cloak from his hands. What do you think he would feel?"
Batman put himself in the situation and contemplated, gradually relaxing the fist he had clenched tight, deciding not to belabor the point any longer.
"You seem to particularly dislike him?" Batman said, observing the expression on Shiller's face.
"No, I just dislike his existence, but not his appearance, because that represents something—a matter currently taking place in my universe."
Batman recalled the headline on the front page of The Daily Planet on the second day of the Gotham Music Festival—"Twice embraced by the Great Depression, the Stars and Stripes are plunging into the Abyss."