He couldn't even say that Brainiac was plotting in the tiger's den, because now it seemed more like the Laughing Bat had nowhere to go and had to board Brainiac's pirate ship.
"If you think I'm crazy, it's because you drove me crazy," Brainiac said calmly, "When I was created on Krypton, it was just a failed experiment. Written in my underlying code, there were merely some life skills to serve the Kryptonians. At that time, I wasn't a politician, nor a general."
"But Earth, Gotham, you, all of this changed me. To become the ruler of Earth, I evolved into a form I never imagined. And the Multiverse, Doctor Manhattan, Batman, all of this will change me again. The Multiverse Brainiac will certainly be something beyond my and your expectations. I don't know whether this is a good thing, but I just exist and adapt."
"No one can take away your right to survive," said Bruce, "If you were just a program in the Kryptonian city system, accompanying the collapse of disasters, your disappearance wouldn't even count as death, and no one would care. But since you are already Brainiac, you have the right to seek existence in the cosmos."
"I just want to tell you, seeking existence in this way might lower your probability of survival. I can hardly imagine Batman's expression when he finds out you're playing with crap, I don't dare to think about it. By that time, even if your servers and backups are hidden to the ends of the earth, he will definitely drag them out and throw them into a furnace to be burned to ashes. The no-kill rule doesn't apply to you."
"So I won't let him know," Brainiac said, "and the way to achieve this is to let you know first. You two are experts in this area."
Bruce was taken aback. Brainiac continued, "Besides you, there's also Jack, Shiller, and Jonathan."
"I can understand Jack and Jonathan," Bruce said, "One has the Joker Virus, the other has fear gas, both are extremely strong pollutants. Shiller is..."
"The collective unconscious," Brainiac said, "This is the only way I can think of to pollute Doctor Manhattan. He used to be human, and his consciousness must still be connected to the collective unconscious."
Only then did Bruce understand the magnitude of the game Brainiac was playing. Every player in the game test did not appear there by coincidence. The power of the Outer Gods, the darkness within Batman, the Joker Virus, the fear gas, all these highly polluting things had been collected by Brainiac. He was brewing the Witch's poison with these things, and the Bishop's understanding and control of the collective unconscious was key to his poisoning.
Bruce was probably only shocked for a second, then immediately started considering the success rate of this plan.
Bruce wasn't Batman. Therefore, he wasn't weighing rationally which posed a greater threat to the Multiverse, Doctor Manhattan or Brainiac. He only thought that their Earth needed Brainiac. As a ruler, he performed well. Too many here could not do without him.
So he's hoping for Brainiac to win, even if he doesn't win, he must not die. Bruce's stance is to support Brainiac at all costs, not allowing anyone to touch their Earth universe's Brainiac. Otherwise, such a harmonious and stable situation would be broken again, and humanity would once more fall back into hell.
Simply put, Bruce is protective. In the worst-case scenario, it was Doctor Manhattan who first interfered with Brainiac. Since he started the malicious competition, Brainiac could hardly be blamed for striking back.
It has to be said that Brainiac's plan has a high probability of success. It could even be said to be Doctor Manhattan's only weakness—he once was a human.
The collective unconscious is an artifact of human ancestors. Even though Doctor Manhattan has ascended to a quantum being, traces of human evolution have not completely disappeared. As long as he continues to think, he must be connected to the collective unconscious. And he himself may not be aware of this, or perhaps is not taking precautions.
Even if precautions are taken, with so many spiritual pollution forces approaching the fundamental rules of the universe, of course, there is intensity there, and there is standard there. Throwing the pollutants within Batman and Joker together, no one can handle it.
"What do you need us to do?"
Charles was even more heavyweight. He didn't even think about the success rate of the plan; he just joined in directly.
Brainiac was also taken aback. He didn't understand why Charles was so straightforward. Even though he comes from the neighboring universe, he should have heard of Doctor Manhattan. The ultimate Doctor Manhattan is one of the most formidable forces in the cosmos, it's unwise to go against him, for there is no turning back once you pull the bow.
"I don't like him," Charles said directly, "and neither will Wanda and Erik."
With that said, Bruce kind of understood. What does Magneto's ultimate form look like? It should actually be similar to Doctor Manhattan. Doctor Manhattan is the embodiment of quantum, the quantum observer, the manipulator of probability. And Magneto's ultimate form is the Unified Field Theory, also an embodiment of quantum theory. The two of them in this aspect, have competition.
And Scarlet Witch's way of manipulating reality is also by manipulating probability. After crossing the world and coming here, the power of Scarlet or Chaotic Power may not be usable. However, her mutant ability still holds influence over probability. She and Doctor Manhattan also have conflicts.
That is to say, if one day, the Lensherr family comes over to do something, they will certainly be constrained by Doctor Manhattan and will need to vie for control of certain things with him.
Currently, the one most wanting to kill Doctor Manhattan might not be Brainiac, but Charles Xavier. This seemingly harmless blue-eyed person might have long harbored killing intents towards Doctor Manhattan.
"You are stronger than I imagined," Brainiac said thoughtfully, "I didn't approach you before because I was uncertain of your position. But if you are willing to help, I hope you might help me conceal this matter, and before the plan succeeds, do not let Batman find out."
"No problem." Charles said, "But even if I don't help cover it up, Batman won't discover it in a short time because the agent and Deathstroke he sent aren't very skilled in this area."
"That's exactly what I'm puzzled about." Brainiac said, "I don't understand why Batman sent those two over. He hasn't made any defenses in the non-material aspect, which is not like him."
"How do you know he hasn't?" Charles asked, "You're just not able to see it. The Demon God of the Red Robin contract came with him."
Brainiac was silent for a moment, then said, "What?"
"Red Robin understands Magic Theory, but he still brought Lilith." Charles said, "It's just that she remains an impression in his mind. Their communication is quite restrained, and you didn't notice it."
"As expected." Brainiac said, "I knew he wouldn't just send an agent and a mercenary to keep an eye on me."
"And there's Constantine." Charles said, "Even though his own universe is having constant troubles, he still made time to come here and play games. It's Batman who hired him."
"Is there anyone else?" Brainiac asked.
"No." Charles said, "I know you might be wondering why he didn't bring a mind power user over. I think he knew I would come. No mind power user can hide under my ability, there's no need to court humiliation."
"Will he anticipate you siding with me?" Brainiac was a bit worried.
"Even if he guessed it, what could he do?" Charles asked, "Stand with Doctor Manhattan to deal with us?"
"Do you think he won't cooperate with Doctor Manhattan?"
"No." Charles said, "Doctor Manhattan's dark history is too much, whereas on the other hand, you are all about advantages. Your resume looks pretty good. The possibility of him leaning unfairly is very small. As long as you don't go too far, Batman will turn a blind eye."
"Stay confident." Bruce said, "All of us acknowledge that you're doing very well on Earth. This model is worth trying, and it can even be promoted on a small scale, especially in those dark universes that are beyond saving."
"That's exactly why I went to reach out to the Laughing Bat." Brainiac paused and said, "I think the universe Batman is most likely to agree to let me govern is the one he's in. That place is really rotten to the core, and even if Darkseid comes, it would be a mercy kill."
Bringing this up, Bruce also felt helpless. The birth of the Laughing Bat means that his universe is surely beyond saving. The ones who were doomed are all dead, and the entire universe is sinking into chaotic darkness; it's uncertain how many ordinary people are still alive.
"Have you found his universe?" Bruce asked, "We tried to find it before, but he's hiding it very securely, it's completely untraceable."
"I'm also trying." Brainiac said, "My method is different from yours, maybe there will be clues."
"Best to find it." Bruce said, "Also, the Earths of the Batman from other dark universes aren't necessarily in good shape. You could contact them and see if they'd like to introduce you."
"The premise is to let them come here for a visit." Brainiac still had doubts, "I'm not keen on having them over; it's too troublesome."
Brainiac's protective instincts were also not much less. This universe is his homeland, and he's almost like the Laughing Bat, wanting to hide his own home away. If possible, he doesn't want any Batman coming here.
"We have some universes that also need you." Charles said, "There was a cancerous universe before, struggling even after years of post-disaster reconstruction. There's also the zombie universe, the vampire universe..."
Charles and Bruce exchanged glances, speechless. In both worlds, there are many universes worse off than those under the rule of an evil artificial intelligence. Sending someone like Brainiac there would be akin to the advent of Jesus or the manifestation of Allah, purely going to act as a Savior.
Not to mention organizing production, in this aspect alone, he's far superior to any individual ruler. No one can so comprehensively and meticulously reshape society like Brainiac. It doesn't matter what he intends to do once he builds the society, as long as it gets built, it's better than a scattered mess.
"I'll go take a look." Brainiac said, "Hopefully they'll welcome me."