"I think we can't rashly assume that Batman still has the strength to fight back. From the brainwaves I've read, his condition isn't great. Even if he does have a plan, we should strive harder, shouldn't we?"
As soon as Charles spoke, all the Robins looked at him. Charles almost had a halo behind his head at this point, and the Robins fell for it.
Nightwing nodded and said, "That's right. We can't always think of Batman as an omnipotent being, expecting him to do something to turn the tide. We need to rely on ourselves."
Charles nodded satisfied, actually relieved. He said this not because he was teaching the Robins but because he had to find a way to help Bruce cover up this situation.
Otherwise, if the Robins thought of him as the classic Batman, expecting him to miraculously avoid something like the Omega Ray, and to suddenly appear with crucial clues right at the moment the Robins' rescue plan was halfway, when in fact he had no intention of escaping by himself, that would completely expose the reality.
Charles glanced at Tim again. The Robins of the Prime Universe were actually easier to deceive because they spent a lot of time with Batman, and as a result, couldn't see the forest for the trees. But those in this universe were different, with a more objective view, which made it easier to give away the truth.
"Is Batman in a really bad state?" Tim furrowed his brow. He didn't doubt it because Professor X's reputation in the multiverse was indeed excellent, with no negative reviews online. When he spoke, everyone had to give him face. So, Tim only thought that Batman might have already lost consciousness, with little chance of counter-attacking.
"His spirit body is trapped," Charles said, "The situation inside is strange, and Batman might not be able to handle it well on his own. We need to be cautious too."
Harley crossed her arms and said, "Since the intelligent butler on the terminal can send us signals, it should naturally also be able to tell us what's really going on with Batman. At least in the real world, the intelligent butler should know."
"Brainiac," Tim shouted, "What's going on with Batman?"
"I'd love to directly send you his first-person perspective recording, but as I can't judge whether any of it contains anything that could cause you spiritual pollution, I have to use another method," Brainiac said, methodically. "From my observation, he entered a room that was originally the central chamber of the water purifier and saw something resembling a heart, then fainted."
"What about Polaris?" Harley pursued further, "If Batman followed the clues to find the central chamber, then how did Polaris break in? Where did she get the clues?"
"She found the lair of a group of weirdos who looked like cultists," Brainiac said. "She attacked them but inadvertently triggered the ritual that was underway, so she was teleported to the central chamber, facing the pollution, which also caused her to faint."
Everyone pondered. Tim snapped his fingers and said, "Connect me to the Arkham Knight."
In fact, this game didn't originally have a long-distance communication system, and it certainly didn't have chat groups, so team members had to talk face-to-face if they wanted to chat. However, Charles can completely act as a multi-faced contact person, being a chat server by himself, making long-distance communication perfectly feasible.
Seeing the situation, Brainiac realized it was meaningless to forcefully cut off communication. After joining the game himself, he opened up the permissions for remote communication, allowing anyone who wanted to talk to simply use the terminal to make a call, or he could help them make the call.
Brainiac connected to the Arkham Knight. The other party was slightly panting, possibly running, or just finished strenuous exercise. Tim said worriedly, "What's wrong with you?"
"Those people are pursuing me..." Arkham Knight said, taking a deep breath, "Lorna couldn't kill them, or rather, some of them revived after dying, and now they're chasing me..."
"And Professor Xavier..."
"Their brains might also be contaminated," Arkham Knight tried to explain why he didn't seek Charles' help, "Connecting to their brainwaves rashly might mean falling into a trap. Besides, if we mess up their brains, we'd never know the truth about the East District."
He took a few more breaths and said, "You don't have to worry about me, I have my own countermeasures. When they revived, I took photos of the ritual site, take a look yourselves."
After saying this, the photos were sent to their terminal. Just as they were about to click, Red Robin shouted, "Wait!"
Everyone looked at him. Red Robin said, "Remember our guess at the start of the game?"
Damian was taken aback, then said, "You mean something might be disguising as players? But it was Brainiac who connected us..."
"He only connected us to the terminal," Red Robin said calmly, "The terminal is no different than a phone, once you've called, you don't know who's behind the phone, do you?"
"Can the terminal be taken off?" Nightwing frowned at his wrist. He hadn't really noticed this before.
"Of course you can," Red Robin said, "After all, this is a virtual world created by Brainiac. He can completely let us call up the system panel with just a thought, instead of having to provide a physical object. Since there is a physical object, it must be able to be taken off."
Nightwing took a closer look at the terminal that looked like a watch. Although it was tightly clamped together, when he touched the strap with his fingers, he could feel a slight protrusion. After picking at it, he managed to open it.
Everyone's demeanor became grave. Under what circumstances would someone snatch a terminal?
"Why do you think the Arkham Knight isn't real?" Pamela asked, "I've seen him a few times too, and his tone doesn't sound flawed."
"But his actions are the biggest flaw," Red Robin said, "The spiritual pollution here can leave both Batman and Professor Xavier helpless. Yet after filming the heretic's ritual site, he chose to send us images. Even Brainiac doesn't dare to do that!"
Everyone suddenly understood and remembered that Brainiac clearly has Batman's first-person video footage but doesn't dare to send it because he is artificial intelligence and couldn't judge whether the video might contain elements that could transmit pollution. Hence he would choose to describe it after watching it.
However, the Arkham Knight chose to send them images. How could he be sure there's no forbidden information in the images that might spread pollution?
Mind you, they already suffered losses from the Drowned. This kind of monster with spiritual pollution doesn't follow any logic, one look and they would be hit hard. How could the Arkham Knight be so reckless as to directly dare to send image data to them?
The Arkham Knight is not like those eternally young, eternally careless mutants. Not to mention he's not young, his experiences make it impossible for him to be such a reckless fool. In an environment with spiritual pollution, sending images directly is still too abstract.
"Brainiac, convert the images to text," Red Robin said, "Just roughly describe the situation. If there is information like text or patterns, just mark it, don't describe it in detail."
The intelligent butler quickly completed the task, and Brainiac said, "In a dim sewer chamber, a group of people in black robes are forming a circle, there's a blood-red array on the ground. With the top of the image's central axis towards the north, north of the array is a dead owl, and to the west is..."
Brainiac began diligently describing. Everyone listened but couldn't make sense of it. Only Red Robin showed a knowing expression. He said, "This looks like some kind of nurturing array. What are they planning to do?"
Red Hood raised an eyebrow at him. Indeed, Red Robin wasn't taking Lilith for nothing. He was actually able to see what the ritual array was for. However, some present did not know that Red Robin also understood magic, so Pamela asked, "How do you know? Shouldn't you ask Constantine?"
"You can ask him too," Red Robin didn't refuse, he said, "It's just that I don't quite trust people who aren't present right now."
Red Robin made a fair point. In the current situation, using the terminal isn't secure. Although a contact can be made with Charles, if the person is in a place with spiritual pollution, it cannot be easily approached.
"What's wrong with the Arkham Knight anyway?" Harley said, "We need to find a way to contact him. His situation might be more precarious than Batman's."
Everyone agreed on this point. In their impression, rescuing Batman later shouldn't lead to his death. But the Arkham Knight is not so certain. This guy is truly unlucky; he's the rare case in the multiverse where luck is even worse than Batman's.
As the saying goes, if his luck were a bit better, he wouldn't be the only Jason Todd in the multiverse to be caught and imprisoned by the Joker, lacking even the opportunity to soak in the pool.
Charles started pondering. Although he hadn't yet used his psychic ability to investigate anyone, he knows Polaris well. Lorna and the Arkham Knight being mixed together, the relationship between them might not be that simple.
On the surface, Scarlet Witch and Polaris, these two sisters, have completely different personalities. Wanda is always gentle and accommodating, while Lorna is somewhat rebellious and has a bad temper. But Charles knows very well that the underlying personality of these two sisters is entirely the same. Or rather, the Lensherr family's personality is all the same.
This type of people, for things they don't care about, they just don't care at all, won't listen, won't watch, won't bother, absolutely won't spend an extra ounce of effort. But if someone dares touch a person they care about, they won't even care if the world is going to collapse, they will make sure that person pays the price. The famous "No More Mutants" is the best testament.
Just because neither Polaris nor Magneto has destroyed the world for such reasons doesn't mean they don't think that way, it's purely because they haven't been pushed as far as Scarlet Witch. Otherwise, such major events would definitely not be just a single occurrence.
While the Robins were still discussing who to rescue first, Charles lowered his eyelids. In his mind, he said, "Brainiac, tell Lorna that Arkham Knight was attacked, he lost his terminal, and now his life is unknown."
"I can't do that," Brainiac said, "Their spirit bodies are currently trapped; the intelligent butler has no way to communicate with their spirits."
"Then how did Bruce send the location information?" Charles pointedly questioned, "I don't believe he was truly prepared, setting it up before being attacked. Probably only after being trapped did you help send him it, right?"
Without waiting for Brainiac to answer, Charles said, "You better think it over. If Arkham Knight dies because of your failure to fulfill your obligation to inform, I can't guarantee that Polaris won't do something to you—her mutant ability is very similar to Erik's."