"Aren't you going to do something?" Polaris asked.
Most of Polaris' impression of Batman came from Arkham Knight. And the Batman in Arkham Knight is one of the strongest among all Batmen. So Polaris' impression of Batman is basically every stereotype rolled into one. Like Batman always has a backup plan, Batman is really powerful and great at fighting, Batman always has a way out…
The Batman stuck here with her in front of her, judging by his looks and vibe, did seem to fit the bill. But he'd been pinned here for so long and she hadn't seen him make any moves. Even if he hadn't prepared anything in advance, this much time should be enough for Batman to figure out how to escape, right?
Still, Polaris knew Batman was just a normal human and his physical strength might not be that great, so she said, "If you think of something, let me know. Maybe I can give it a try."
But then Polaris remembered she currently didn't have any Superpower, so she asked again, "Do you know why I lost my Mutant Ability?"
Bruce honestly found her a bit annoying now. Mainly because she kept asking things he had no way to answer. It's not like he had some grand plan when he came here. Now that he was trapped, his solution was also to wait for someone to fish him out. If she insisted he come up with a Batman-style self‑rescue plan, he couldn't exactly say he planned to roll out of the way of an Omega Ray, could he?
"Our Spirit Bodies are trapped." In order to keep up the persona, Bruce still said, "Right now we're in the Psychic_Battlefield. Naturally, you can't use your Mutant Ability."
Polaris suddenly understood and said, "But why didn't Professor protect our spirits?"
Bruce didn't know what to say either. These Mutants seemed to have gotten used to Professor X standing by their side every single moment. And most of the time, Professor X could actually manage that. It made them overly reliant on the help of mind power users.
"I admit I rushed in like this because I figured no spiritual pollution could affect me." Polaris shook her head. "Didn't expect this thing to be pretty strong, but it's fine, Professor will definitely make it pay."
Bruce's originally irritated mood slowly calmed down. He seemed to see another version of himself. When people have something to rely on, they unconsciously become reckless and unrestrained. Polaris is like that, and so is he.
The reason he could choose not to be Batman, not chase perfection in everything, even barrel around the Multiverse, was because he had Professor Shearer, the Justice League, and even Brainiac. He knew that as long as something went wrong, his friends would definitely help him sort it out.
Maybe the fact that he thought, "I'll swing by and check out the water purifier," also came from that mindset. Even if he walked straight into a trap, so what? The Professor would have a way, the Robins would have a way, Gordon would have a way. Someone would get him out.
When people have a retreat, they relax their vigilance, lose some of their defensive mindset, and sometimes do stupid things. He and Polaris were both like that.
So he wasn't really in any position to blame Polaris for being reckless. Whatever the reason, the fact that the two of them met here meant they were about equally careless. Neither was more noble than the other.
After he'd worked that out, Bruce felt a bit like talking again. But he still had to stay somewhat reserved, couldn't show too strong a desire to vent, because Batman doesn't have that kind of thing.
"I did think through a few solutions." Bruce immersed himself in playing Batman's calm rationality, his tone as steady as possible, with a hint of reassurance. "But none of them really fit right now. Maybe we need to wait for a better opportunity."
"Makes sense." Polaris said. "If our Spirit Bodies really are trapped, then if we struggle too hard and trigger this thing into attacking, we're completely doomed."
She sighed again and said, "But your adopted sons will definitely save you. They're all pretty smart, they should be able to find us soon. And Professor will come too."
"You can try." Bruce suddenly said, "Professor X must have left something inside your Spirit Body. Even if it's been cut off for a while, as long as you want to, you should be able to reconnect."
Polaris frowned. She felt Batman had a point, but she was a bit worried. Mainly that her actions might interfere with Charles. For example, it might make Charles misunderstand that things on their side were already out of ammo and desperate, so he'd take some less than rational measures. That was what she didn't want to see.
"Better not." Polaris said. "I'm afraid of provoking the Monster, and I'm afraid Professor might make the wrong call."
Then she looked at Batman again: "Didn't you do anything to protect your own Spirit Body?"
"It's exactly because I'm worried my methods might trigger an overreaction that I hoped you'd try something gentler." Bruce was just spinning words now. Sometimes you can make use of those Batman stereotypes. Like now, he claimed he was afraid his methods would be too effective and cause a Rebound, so he wanted Polaris to try instead—totally reasonable. And Polaris bought it.
"Too bad I still don't dare." Polaris said. "I really do want to help you out, but I know my own level of mental stability; I'm not that far from checking into a Psychiatric Hospital. You're actually the safer bet."
Bruce once again had no idea what to say. He should be thinking about what Batman would do in this situation—but the problem is, Batman would never get stuck here in the first place!
But Bruce still had Batman's IQ, after all. He spoke directly in his head: "Brainiac, what's the situation? When's the rescue getting here?"
"Almost there." Brainiac replied to him. "Or you could try saving yourself? You're an Angel, at least, right?"
"You mean you want me to pull a Lucifer and crash your entire gaming platform?"
"You can't." Brainiac said, perfectly calm. "Batman has two people watching me. The second the game system glitches, they'll trace who did it. You won't be able to hide it then."
"Sly little AI." Bruce commented. Of course, he hadn't actually planned to crash the game. He went on, "Didn't you say you joined the game and became the smart Butler? Do something useful, then."
"You barged straight into the source of the pollution, the Outer God's lair. And you want a Butler AI to 'do something'?"
"By design, Electronic Life can't see Illusions, right? You're the natural enemy of Outer Gods, Brainiac." Bruce said. "Since I'm trapped in the Psychic_Battlefield, my body has to still be outside. You're in my terminal, you've got to do something, yeah?"
"Then you need to give a clear command." Brainiac's tone carried a bit of complaint. "You people seem to forget I'm artificial intelligence. You keep hoping I'll just 'figure things out' on my own. When you use your computer, do you only stare at the keyboard and daydream?"
Bruce was left speechless. He realized this evil AI, after being heavily damaged by Doctor Manhattan and coming back, hadn't gotten any dumber—he'd gotten more human. And therefore, less human.
"Send the location of my body to whoever's coming to rescue me," Bruce said. "Then warn them this place is extremely dangerous. If they don't have a perfect plan, they shouldn't come in. Especially, they must not look at that heart."
"Got it." Brainiac replied.
When the Robins of the Prime Universe received Brainiac's message, they were indeed racking their brains over Batman's exact position. Gotham's underground water system was extremely complicated, and the East District was the worst-hit area.
Brainiac had restored the East District's ecosystem very faithfully, which also meant the sewers were a tangled maze, full of all kinds of Monsters. Even though the Robins were loaded with firepower, clearing all the way through was still exhausting. Especially when they realized that after circling around forever, they'd basically just gone from level one to level two, while their coordinates hadn't moved at all.
"I'm done." Damian said. "How can this sewer be more complicated than the one in our cosmos? Are they trying to build an underground city down here?"
"I suspect Brainiac buffed the dungeon." Red Robin said. "Each area's final boss has to have some difficulty. If the thing trapping Batman really is a critical clue, then it obviously shouldn't be found that easily."
"This Batman is something else." Red hood sighed. "In such a short time he went straight to the core source. If he hadn't been ambushed, I bet he'd already have taken care of the East District's final boss by now."
The same figure flashed through all their minds—Arkham Batman. Almost every Robin had been stunned by his speedrun skills back in Battleworld. Basically, while they were still chopping their first tree, the other guy was already fighting the Ender Dragon.
"Tsk." Red hood let out a sound. "Maybe that Batman finally has a rival. Which of the two do you think is stronger?"
"Hard to say. I still feel that guy's stronger." Nightwing said. "That Batman is very likely the type who wouldn't get trapped. Or he'd choose not to investigate the source and just brute-force it. That might actually work, right?"
Just as he said that, Brainiac transmitted the intel. Nightwing opened his terminal, took one look, and his expression turned understanding. "Knew it, Batman left a backup move. The AI isn't affected by spiritual pollution, so he recorded the coordinates and the intel on the pollution source."
"So what do we do now?" Damian frowned. "Batman says it's really dangerous in there, and if we're not ready we must not go in. But we've got to go eventually, otherwise we can't fight the East District's boss."
"We're definitely not the only ones who got the coordinates. Why don't we head for them first? We're bound to run into others on the way. Worst case, we all regroup at the door. We'll figure something out."
Everyone agreed to this plan, and they rushed toward the target location. Everyone else who'd received the coordinates did the same, heading straight for the destination.
And as they approached the central purifier, they did, in fact, run into each other, and saw that every squad had sent people. Batman's pull was still too strong, as expected.
"Now what?" Pamela asked. "Is there any foolproof way to get Batman out without us getting hit by spiritual pollution?"
"We can only coordinate inside and out." Tim said. "I don't believe Batman has no ability to fight back at all. Professor Xavier, since you can tell he's trapped, you must be able to contact him. Get him to cooperate with us—maybe we can rip out the pollution source in one go."
Charles opened his mouth. He really wanted to say, 'You've thought this through beautifully. If the one inside were a normal Batman, this plan would be flawless.'
The problem is, the one inside is Bruce. You hand this kind of job to him, and you might as well just start worrying now!