"What do you think?" Shiller, standing by the table, asked.
"About what?" Shiller took a sip of wine, then put the glass on the table, making a crisp sound. He looked up at his other self standing by the table and said, "About that guy trying to run out again, but being fooled this time?"
"That's kind of funny..." Shiller stepped back, leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and said, "But what I'm more curious about is, he tirelessly climbs up, just for a chance to go out and play?"
No movements were made by the Shiller sitting in the chair, but he stood up.
The light focused on the wine glass, a bubble just risen from the bottom of the glass gently floated upwards, froze when it just touched the surface of the liquid, turning into a solid pearl.
As he took a step forward, the Joker maintained his frozen pose, retreating with the chair. The table slid to the left; the cabinet moved to the right. Just like a construction process being played in reverse, everything was pulled away, leaving only a vast white space.
Then, Shiller raised his head, a lamp lit up. The black floor crept out from under his feet. In a daze, he looked down below the railing of the deep well. The Shiller that had been standing next to him had already gone a few levels down.
"Do you know where I'm going?" Shiller asked.
"Are you not planning to go to the 300th floor to take the elevator?"
"You even guessed that, you know me quite well."
"Thank you, we're the same person after all."
Shiller quickened his pace, went downstairs shoulder to shoulder with his other self. They both held the railing, slowly heading downwards along the spiral staircase. The other Shiller said while walking, "Honestly, when will we switch? I want to stay in DC for a few days."
"Are you treating this as a vacation? Let alone anything else, are you sure you can handle all these mentally unstable people here?"
"You think this is you facing Peter Parker over in Marvel? I have never encountered anyone complaining about their job being too easy."
Shiller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't say that, there are a lot of headaches over there too, don't forget, there's still that whole family's problem in Asgard that is far from over."
After a long walk down, Shiller made a right turn, before him was a corridor with just one room. Knocking on the room door, a sound of his own voice came from inside, "Come in."
Two Shillers entered one after the other, then saw another self buried in a large pile of files. That Shiller, upon seeing them, put a stack of files aside and said to them, "Why did you two come together? Don't tell me there's something else to deal with."
"No, no, we just want to use the elevator."
Shiller held his forehead helplessly and said. "What's been going on lately? Why does everyone like to take the elevator?"
He continued with his complaints, "Everyone knows I'm busy, everyone comes to bother me. When I saw you two come in, I almost suffocated."
"Who asked you to be the 'ego'? You're also the Head Steward and the gatekeeper of the Thought Palace..."
"And also the elevator manager," Shiller grumpily added, then with a wave of his hand, they were transported to a somewhat narrow room, where a young boy was kneading some grey slime.
One of the Shillers walked up, squatted down, and ruffled the boy's hair, asking, "Do you know where that green-haired guy went?"
The boy silently shook his head, but the grey slime in his arms made a "Gurgling" sound. Shiller picked up the soft slime and gently touched what seemed to be its head, asking, "Grey mist, did you see him?"
The grey slime made two "squeaky" sounds. Shiller, holding it with both hands, moved it a bit away, sounding slightly puzzled, "What happened? After playing with the 'id' for so long, you can't even speak now?"
The grey slime was taken aback and said, "Oh, I can speak... it seems he went to a lower level, and he was with another man with green hair."
Shiller stuffed Grey Mist into the boy's arms, then ruffled his hair, standing up, he said to his other self, "It seems he is determined to run outside, unfortunately, he didn't succeed."
"Do we take the elevator or the stairs?"
"Of course the stairs, the big busy guy is getting annoyed with us."
Just as they stepped out the door and returned to the spiral staircase, a figure in a long trench coat, carrying an umbrella, came towards them. He looked up and saw the two others coming down, he asked, "Why are you two here? And together at that?"
"You should be the one to answer, how did you bring that guy in? Nearly let him enter the room?"
The Shiller with green hair sighed and said, "If he lived in there, I could go out and play. Unfortunately, it didn't succeed, he brought out a Joker Bruce, fought with me using my memories, and then ran away..."
One Shiller looked at the other and asked, "Has he always been trying to run out?"
"Exactly, didn't you know that? Oh, right, you were born later than me, so you don't know."
"When I first came into this world, the 'superego' created me, but the first night I went out, I turned into this guy..."
"Then he could only create another one, which is the current me, but this guy, abandoning the comfortable house, always wanting to run out..."
"There were several times, he intentionally drew the attention of a guy named Bruce, it wasn't until I took my position again that things got a bit better."
"I really don't understand you people from DC." The other Shiller shook his head.
"Have you finished talking? When you're done, get out of my way. I need to go up," the green-haired Shiller said.
"What are you going to do? The person you wanted to deceive has already left, so are you planning to chase after them?"
The green-haired Shiller said impatiently, "You don't think you can handle that lunatic outside on your own, do you? 'Superego' told me to go up and communicate with him..."
The two Shillers on the upper steps looked at each other. One asked the other, "This place should be where nobody can lie, right?"
"In theory, yes, but I'm not sure what's going on with this nutcase."
Just then, a voice sounded on the spiral staircase: "I told him to go. Stop chatting. The wine is almost finished."
"The wine is almost finished," Shiller shook the bottle, pouring the last bit of wine into his glass. Jack, opposite him, clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. "This is the wine I bought. The last bit should have been reserved for me."
"Enough with that, your disgusting gimmick messed up the floor I am staying on - a Bruce Wayne sporting a Joker's face... too repulsive," Shiller said with a grimace.
Jack retorted discontentedly, "Wasn't it you who first created such a concept in order to instill fear in me?"
"Trying to deceive me into your Thought Palace, and then taking the fall for you, hmph..." Jack gave a cold laugh.
Furthermore..." Jack puckered his lips, revealing a disdainful look,"...you couldn't even control his Thought Palace."
Shiller opposite him put on a forced smile, "Why don't you try it then?"
Jack stiffened, "No thanks; I've already given it a visit..."
He then looked at his own wine glass and laughed, "Building a 330-story building in his own Thought Palace, categorizing each floor by star ratings, reviews, 'membership level', graded permissions, and setting up thousands of traps on every single step..."
"He claimed he's a common man, Ha! That's the funniest joke I've heard recently."
Shiller sighed, "Can you imagine how I managed to climb up more than 190 floors? If it weren't for the elevator operator who gave me a backdoor, I'd still be struggling to climb the stairs."
"Speaking of that, do you know where my other parts are?" Jack asked.
"How should I know? I thought it was Evans, but since Batman did not select him, it can't be him. Could the remainder really be within Batman?"
Jack's face turned cold, "They'd better not be inside Batman. Otherwise, I'll chain Batman here, open his brain, and pull that damned bastard out."
"I haven't checked the ones that fell into the chemical pool or those from the circus yet, but I guess one of them might have emerged from those two scenarios. What's your plan if you find him? Going to kill him?"
Jack stared into Shiller's eyes, "If your situation wasn't so troublesome, I'd have killed you long ago."
"There's no need to. You won't kill me, and I can't do much. I still have over 100 floors to climb, and more than 200,000 stairs to ascend. By the time I reach the conscious floor, Batman might've already died of old age."
"But I might not be the most pitiful one," Shiller added with a hint of schadenfreude, "Imagine, what if some poor chap was conceived inside Batman?"
The corners of Jack's mouth slowly drooped while Shiller laughed, "Why so serious?"
"Why aren't you happy about having another self, who merges with the person you love the most? After all, that's you."
Jack replied unhappily, "Merge with Batman? Stop kidding, only people who dress as bats are the real freaks!"
"Alright, I should get back to climbing the stairs. You're on your own. Seriously, my home is quite spacious. Don't you want to stay over for a while?"
Jack rolled his eyes, downed the last drop of wine in his glass, and said nothing.
Shiller reclined on the chair's backrest and looked over at another Shiller who was folding his arms and watching. He waved his hand, "I think I can work a little longer. What do you think?"
"Superego told you to go back, otherwise you'll be kicked back down to the first floor."
"Alright, this is troublesome. See you later."
Shiller moved his chair forward a little and looked at the completely empty wine bottle. He said to Jack, "Thanks for the drink, but I must say, this cheap wine you bought is really hard to stomach."
Jack covered half of his face with one hand, while the other half displayed a slightly crazed smile. He asked, "What did you put in the wine?"
"What?"
"Don't play dumb... I can feel every cell in my brain boiling, and don't you feel it too?"
Shiller paused, then said, "Alright, but it's not poison; it's actually more wine..."
Shiller took out a small bottle and placed it in the middle of the table. Jack and Shiller's gaze fell on the tiny bottle. Shiller then pushed the bottle towards Jack, adding, "...and it's the best tasting wine in the world."