mtl008 Chapter 3775 Rapid Pursuit (2)
Chapter 3775 Rapid Pursuit (2)
Chapter 3775 Rapid Pursuit (Twenty)
The main universe's Batman paused, a slightly puzzled look on his face, and said, "Elliott? He's not even Batman."
"Who said that?" Schiller walked over again, put his laughing head down, and didn't even glance at him, as if he thought Schiller couldn't see or hear anything.
"You mean he wore the Batman suit before? But frankly, he doesn't look like Batman in any way."
"But he did wear the Batsuit and considered himself Batman. Although I don't know why he thought so, he should be considered a rookie Batman. Moreover, he was in good health, in his prime, died a normal death, and was in a very good condition."
“I think we have a better option,” the main universe Batman said. “Don’t forget, our goal is to provoke a fight between the two Batmen Who Laugh, so we can’t let them be too far apart.”
"Do you really think there's a big difference between Elliott's body and the original Batman Who Laughs' body?" Schiller sat down as well and said, "Although Elliott didn't receive any professional training, the Batman Who Laughs wasn't that strong either, especially in terms of physical attributes; he was as skinny as an old goat. It wouldn't be right to give the old Batman Who Laughs a body that's too strong, would it?"
“That makes sense.” Batman nodded, looking convinced by Schiller. “But Elliott was a celebrity, and he died right before the election, so the police will definitely be interested. We need to take the body to the police station, and we can switch him out when the funeral is being held and the burial is being prepared.”
"Okay, and while you're at it, could you also help me with my identity issue?"
"Special Agent?"
“Yes. You’ll need to find a safe place to store this head too,” Schiller said, tapping the table.
"I thought you were going to take him away."
"Do not."
"why?"
"difficult to handle."
After Schiller left, Batman, as if he didn't even realize the Laughing Maniac was still alive, picked up the head and examined it from head to toe, as if he were looking at some kind of experimental subject.
After a while, he summoned someone and said to them, "Take me to Wayne Corporation's laboratory."
Batman took the laughing head to the lab, put it in a random glass jar, and then left.
The moment he left, the Laughing Bat opened his eyes, but the corners of his mouth, which had been laughing wildly, turned down sharply, revealing just how angry he was.
Back in the office, Schiller was indeed waiting there again. Batman sized him up, confirming he was an agent, and said, "What's wrong? Did you suddenly change your minds?"
“No.” Schiller briefly explained to him that the Batman Who Laughs might take over a body. Batman thought for a moment and said, “I understand. You deliberately let the Batman Who Laughs know that we plan to create two of him and then have them fight. He definitely won’t find a good body for his new self; he’d rather be as weak as possible so that he can kill this imposter as soon as he’s resurrected.”
“That’s it.” Schiller laughed and said, “He won’t transfer the Laughing Egg, which might exist in the Silent Batman, to another Batman’s body, or even to yours. Perhaps he’s not satisfied with this Batman’s body in this universe either, and he’ll try to transfer the egg to a particularly weak Batman. We need to give him such a Batman.”
"A particularly weak Batman?" The main universe's Batman frowned and said, "I really can't think of any Batman who's particularly weak; he's definitely much stronger than Elliott. And does it have to be Batman?"
"Perhaps not, but The Laughing One might not be content with simply throwing the egg into just anyone's body. You can tell from some of his actions that neither laying the egg nor moving it is easy. He won't act rashly without a satisfactory target."
"Whom do you want him to transfer the egg into?"
“Let’s not talk about that now.” Schiller skipped over the topic and said, “Do you think this Batman who’s just a head now would willingly let us resurrect him using Elliott’s body?”
“Of course not, I think he’s about to explode with rage.” Batman chuckled, sat down, and said, “Even though it’s just a head left, his teeth are grinding like crazy, didn’t you hear it?”
"Of course he wouldn't be happy, but not because Elliott isn't Batman, but because the Maniac himself turned him into a fake who imitates you. How could he possibly want to be a fake?"
"No wonder you mentioned the 'bat suit,' it seems you were trying to provoke him. But now he's just a head, what can he do?"
"Don't forget, he also has that eye patch."
Batman paused his tapping on the table and said, "I know that eyepatch can read minds, but does it have other abilities?"
"Guess how he got Elliott to be Batman?"
“I almost forgot about that,” Batman said. “Elliott has never heard of Batman. He’s actually terrified of death and shouldn’t be walking the streets in a bodysuit. That’s too unusual; it probably isn’t his true nature. And does that eye patch have the ability to alter memories?”
“That’s right,” Schiller nodded.
“This is a bit troublesome,” Batman said, frowning slightly. “How does it compare to that professor who’s good at reading minds?”
"You mean arrogance? He'll have me tell you he doesn't have mind-reading abilities."
"I'm talking about the one from the next universe," Batman said somewhat helplessly. "His name is Charles Xavier, I think."
"That's a far cry from it," Schiller said dismissively, waving his hand dismissively. "Even if all the Batmen in the multiverse wore that eyepatch, they still couldn't handle Professor X. No matter how strong an ordinary person's mental strength is, they can't fight against this kind of natural anomaly. Just think of him as a god in the mental world."
"But it's enough for ordinary people."
"Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. You need to keep a close eye on the group these next few days and see if anyone is behaving strangely. The Maniac Laugh might be using the brainwashing function of the blindfold to control ordinary people to do things for him. He might be trying to get himself a better body."
Who is his target?
“I don’t know, nobody knows how arrogant he can get,” Schiller said, shaking his head. “Anyway, you keep a close eye on him. I’m going back to that universe with the president to bring the other people over and retrieve the equipment for storing and transferring their brains.”
Batman nodded. Schiller left quickly. Batman accessed the surveillance footage on his computer, observing the lab through the cameras. It wasn't a secret lab; employees occasionally came and went from the entrance.
A short while later, an employee wearing a name tag walked somewhat blankly toward the front door of the lab. Batman narrowed his eyes; it seemed Schiller's prediction was correct, and he burst into uncontrollable laughter.
The employee staggered in and came out a short while later, but he didn't take the glass jar containing the laughing head. He just walked towards the end of the corridor and disappeared.
Batman thought for a moment, went to the lounge to change into his Batsuit, and chased after the employee in the direction he had left.
Batman races through the Gotham night, relentlessly pursuing the controlled employees. He also continues to ponder:
Now, the Man of Laughter is reduced to a single head, leaving him with two paths: either find the Broken Bat's universe's technology for freely swapping heads, like the real Broken Bat, and place his brain inside another person's body, then use that body to function. This would fundamentally prevent Schiller's plan to create two Man of Laughter; or he could go with the flow and, while Schiller is carrying out his plan to create two Man of Laughter, place the Egg of Laughter into a particularly weak body, so that upon his resurrection, he could utterly defeat his opponent.
Whichever path he chooses, Laughing must leave immediately, because he is genuinely terrified of being placed into Elliott's body. Laughing is incredibly ambitious; he would never tolerate being placed in such an ordinary body. If he still had legs, he would definitely carry a train and run through the night, fearing that if he hesitated even a moment, he would wake up as Elliott.
Fear can cloud judgment. He didn't think about the groundwork or preparations needed before the brain transplant; he had no time to calculate those things. He just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
However, perhaps because his feet were off the ground and his intelligence had taken over, he knew that ordinary employees couldn't escape while carrying such a thing, so his control over ordinary people this time was probably to find reinforcements.
Batman silently followed the Wayne Enterprises employees, driving to another street not far from the company. This street also had many well-known corporate buildings. The car stopped in front of one of the buildings, and Batman looked up – “Gotham Redline Defense Group.”
“Jason Todd?” Batman muttered to himself. “Why would the Batman Who Laughs be looking for him?”
Batman knew that the president of Red Line Defense was his counterpart in the cosmic Red Hood universe. That's why he found it so unbelievable: Jason Todd becoming president was almost as bizarre as having Tim Drake perform acrobatics.
He even took a picture of the company gate so he could show it to Jason in his own universe when he got back.
Batman stood guard at the entrance for a while. Sure enough, not long after, Jason left the company building in a luxury car, heading straight for Wayne Enterprises.
To Batman's surprise, Talia arrived almost simultaneously. Unsure if Talia was there to see him, Batman returned to his office, removed his Batsuit, changed into a suit, and sat at his desk looking at documents, pretending to be overwhelmed with work.
Soon, there was a knock on the office door. Batman cleared his throat and said, "Come in."
Talia entered with an air of elegance. Even though it was the early hours of the morning, she was dressed in a beautiful gown, with exquisite makeup and a richly scented perfume.
She gracefully walked over to Batman and sat down, staring intently at his handsome face. She propped her chin up with her fingers and said, "I knew it, my choice was right. But you're a little too impatient, handsome."
Batman's hand paused slightly. Could it be that the Laughing had someone use his account to send flirtatious text messages to Talia?
Batman remained calm and said, "I called you here because I have serious business to discuss. We need to talk about the election..."
Talia didn't seem too disappointed. She placed her bag on the table and said, "The Assassin's Guild will do everything in its power to help you, but we also expect to be compensated accordingly. Your biggest adversary right now is March, who is supported by the Court of Owls. I'm looking for an opportunity to kill him."