Batman aboard the Batplane discovered that the situation was very tricky. The entire city was swarming with monsters, and the High Tower called Sauron's Eye was monitoring every single person here at all times. As soon as the Batplane appeared, it took a hit.
Zzzt—
As the High Tower was charging up, Batman had already tried to dodge, but unfortunately, Sauron's Eye anticipated his anticipation. The Batplane took a sharp turn, yet the laser was retracted, only to boom and hit the Batplane's tail a second later.
Tim picked up the laser gun he had found earlier and aimed, but it didn't have enough range. He could only manage to take down two bizarre pterosaurs. Dick climbed onto the outside of the Batplane, kicking off several Aliens that were trying to latch on.
Batman focused on controlling the plane, but sadly he couldn't save the doomed Batplane from gradually crashing down. Emitting smoke, the massive aircraft plunged, its parachute lazily drifting down, with Batman holding Tim with his left hand and Dick with his right, landing steadily on the ground.
"Ha! Good thing I had the foresight!" Batman said proudly, but as soon as he turned his head, he was met with the dark muzzle of a gun pressed against his forehead.
Joker showed him a crazy smile.
"Gotcha, Batman."
"Hey, listen, you damn criminal," Batman said, raising his hands, "now's not the time for infighting. Do you really want to watch our city get destroyed?"
"Of course, I could... hey, wait, did you just say 'our city'?" Joker said, narrowing his eyes and grinning after a moment of surprise.
Within that short second, everything Shiller had told Batman flashed through his mind. He immediately lowered his arms, looked into the Joker's eyes, and said, "Yes, isn't this city ours? I maintain order, you create chaos. This stage belongs to us both."
"You..."
Batman took a step forward and said, "Have you noticed your hand shaking a bit, can't even hold a gun steady? Before you worry about me and this city, you might want to check on your own condition first. I think it might... not be too good."
Joker was stunned. He stared blankly at Batman, and after putting down the gun, he stood there somewhat dazed and said, "You mean I should care about myself? Really? Are you saying that???"
"I'm just surprised, your dark circles seem much heavier than before, and your voice is very hoarse. What's been happening to you lately?"
"You... you..." Joker's wide mouth began to tremble, tears building up in his eyes as he almost shrieked, "You care about me?!"
Then he sprang from the spot, spinning on his toes several times, as if performing a solo ballet, then furiously smashed his gun on the ground, scattering parts everywhere. He followed by pulling his own hair almost ripping chunks from his scalp.
"Batman cares about me! Did you see that? Batman is concerned about me!! He must want me to die early! Because I'm the person he hates the most!!!"
"Uh... if you want to take it that way... "
The inmates of Arkham gathered around, watching the two of them. Suddenly, Joker stopped.
He twisted his hands together in front of him, cocked his head to one side, peering at Batman with one eye while fidgeting with his hands and shuffling his feet, stomping in place, and then a bright light shone on him, turning him into a bashful cauliflower.
"I... I hate you too," Joker said with a choke.
"Oh—!!!!"
Loud cheers erupted as all the lunatics around them started clapping, cheering continuously.
"So, what's the next step?" Tim said in a hushed voice, looking around, "Are we going to take Batman by the hand over to Joker?"
"Stop messing around, this isn't a church," Dick immediately refused, then said, "If anything, they should be bringing Joker to us."
"You can't be serious? You're really supporting..."
Before he could finish, there was a bang. Batman dropped two smoke bombs and once again took to the air with the two others, their figures swiftly appearing on a rooftop, with Joker's loud curses carrying from the streets below.
As criminals climbed up the building like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, approaching them, Batman sighed. He took one last look at the damaged Batplane and, without turning back, led the two away.
"What do we do next?" Dick asked.
"We need a new plane to get close to that Eye. Let's go find Gordon and Barbara first. They can at least find us the materials."
It wasn't long before the trio arrived at Gordon's office. The Gordons were discussing something. Batman leaped onto the balcony, but without rushing in, he took that one slow step. It allowed him to overhear the conversation between the Gordons.
"There's no time, Barbara. I'm afraid I must go now. With such heavy casualties and without enough Life Factor, there's no way for them to recover."
"No, Dad, it's too soon. If you leave now, Batman will get suspicious. If he finds a way to stop the others, then the whole plan will be ruined."
"He isn't that kind of person..."
"Yes, he probably doesn't want to stop them, but instead jump with them. That just puts us back in a vicious cycle... And besides, if he also jumps, then I'll be the only one left behind. I can't accept that."
Gordon took a deep breath and patted Barbara on the shoulder, "I don't approve of you and Batman, but if you two can rely on each other, then that's also... Batman?!"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Batman walked into the office, asking, "Where are you off to, Gordon?"
"Well... I was going to buy some doughnuts." Gordon stepped back two paces before saying, "Barbara insisted on going with me, she's been so clingy since she was a child. Since you're here, then I'll go by myself. You and Batman have a good chat, I..."
Gordon had just taken a step to run out when Tim and Dick burst through the front door and shut it, trapping him and his daughter inside the room with the three of them.
"Tell me what is really going on," Batman said sternly. "Tell me what you and the others are hiding from me."
Barbara and Gordon exchanged a helpless look, clearly contemplating their next move, but unfortunately, Batman's arrival was too sudden and they were obviously not going to get away with a simple excuse this time.
As Gordon opened his mouth to say something, the television screen on the wall started to flicker for a few moments, the news channel disappeared, and on screen appeared another face—almost identical to Batman's, but with red light shimmering in its eyes.
"As you can see, I am Batman, but not the same fool as the one you know. I come from a more prosperous and bountiful cosmos, and in order to contribute bricks and mortar to my universe, I must borrow a little raw material from you."
The camera shifted abruptly, and Batman took a sudden step forward as he saw on the screen Superman trapped in the Kryptonite Prison and Wonder Woman hanging suspended.
Wonder Woman shouted at the camera, "It's all a conspiracy! Batman, that resource recovery plan is actually his... it's fake! All fake... mmm! Mmm!!"
Wonder Woman's mouth was covered with a flying egg, silencing her. Meanwhile, Superman in the Kryptonite Prison was tapping on the green crystal, saying, "Sorry! Batman! We shouldn't have kept this from you! But we were also deceived, it isn't about a Life Factor shortage, it's poisoning, the goal is..."
"See? Your dear friends are in my hands." The red-eyed Batman came back into frame, saying, "They need you. If you can't come to save them, then who will?"
"What exactly do you want?!" Batman turned to the camera and said, "Let them go, stop your conspiracy!"
"You've lost quite a few people, haven't you?" The other Batman wasn't speaking to Batman, but seemed to be looking at Gordon as he said, "You no longer have enough Life Factor to repair the scattered limbs, and if you don't assemble them back quickly, your consciousness will soon dissipate."
Suddenly, the camera cut, and Batman saw the dim factory room shimmering with a sickly green light, a group of people hanging over a huge chemical vat, all of them his comrades from the Justice League.
"It was I who released the monsters from the Phantom Prison." The voice of Batman on the screen, low and resonant, continued, "It was to create casualties and exhaust the already scarce Life Factor."
"And then, Batman..." his voice seemed to echo through the factory, bouncing off the walls and stirring layers of malevolent reverberation, "it seems you've got a choice to make."
"Is it to watch all the Life Factor be exhausted and die together, or to toss your beloved friends into the chemical vat to replenish the source of strength and save more people?"
With a fizz, the screen went blank. Batman punched the wall, took a deep breath, and then learned another fact from the Gordons that left him feeling utterly defeated.
He had thought he would join his friends in the resource recovery program, but in truth, they had never intended to take him with them but to leave him behind, alone in this world.
What truly saddened Batman wasn't that they wanted to abandon him, but that they had never understood him. They didn't realize how much he feared loneliness, something that hurt him more than death itself, but that was their plan.
Barbara stepped forward and put her hand on Batman's shoulder, "I was also the one left behind, but we all did it so that we could have a future. Don't hate them."
"Batman doesn't hate anyone," he said, flinging his cape aside as he walked out the door.
Barbara and Gordon watched his retreating figure, sighing in unison. Barbara then began to question, "What did Superman mean? What did he mean the recovery plan was a conspiracy? Is there something we don't know?"
"Impossible," Gordon said. "The document was personally handed to me by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, the plan can't have any issues."
"Do you know where they got the truth from in the first place?" Barbara voiced her long-held doubt, saying, "According to you, Mr. Wayne discovered the existence of the Life Factor through chemical analysis, but is that analysis accurate? Is there any other evidence to prove it?"
Gordon also fell silent, they dared not think about what it would mean if there was something wrong with the plan after everything they had already sacrificed.
As the Batmobile tore down the road under attack from monsters, it finally stopped in front of the chemical factory. Batman got out of the vehicle and saw the dark, elongated figure on the rooftop of the factory.