Chapter 2471: The Odd and Mysterious Bat Family (14)

Batman was discussing the issue of Superman with Doomsday Batman, but soon it was time for Doomsday Batman to start his night shift, so they parted ways quickly. However, after Doomsday Batman left, Batman picked up a phone and said a few words.

"Are you sure they've found the exact location? Good, I know now, so maybe it's tonight."

As usual, Doomsday Batman arrived a bit early at a construction site near the beach. He usually hid in a corner of a room on the first floor of the unfinished building to avoid frightening the workers.

Doomsday Batman had planned to rest there for a while to gather enough energy for his work later. As usual, he closed his eyes slightly. Though his body relaxed, his brain remained highly alert.

But gradually his mind began to blank out, drowsiness took over his psychic battlefield, and his eyelids grew heavier.

Not far from this building, on another unfinished building, a bald man wearing a white coat and sunglasses was operating a machine.

"Look what I've caught, my precious, there's actually a mutated Batman here." The man squinted his eyes, adjusted the equipment, and said.

Then he took out his mobile phone from his pocket, found the number at the top of his call history, dialed it back, and said, "There is indeed a monster, but this guy is too strong, I can't handle him... Okay, for the sake of money, but I can't ensure he'll be captured alive."

"No, no, it's not about the money, I know you need leverage to sue Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, but this thing is beyond your imagination, it's already good enough to deal with him, at most I can take a photo for you."

Batman put down the listening device he was holding, he looked up at the figure of the bald man that appeared on the screen monitor in front of him, Hugo Strange.

Nightwing stood beside him, his expression a bit strange, as he had just heard from Batman the most... unscrupulous plan he had ever heard in his life from Batman.

Simply put, in order not to let the hordes of messy Batmen get together and cause chaos in Wayne Manor, Batman had decided to let his number one fan group, Arkham Band, make a show of love and passion.

And don't bother with Batman gadgets and souvenirs anymore, just give each of the big fans a genuine, color-altered, full-body articulable Batman life-size figure to play with.

While there was a lull in equipment adjustment, Nightwing stealthily glanced at Batman and muttered quietly, "Actually, we could also..."

"Batman! Batman!!!"

Suddenly, a red hotheaded alarm clock burst in and made its way up to Batman, with Red Robin following closely trying to stop him.

Batman looked at Red Hood calmly. Red Hood opened his mouth but failed to speak, and his momentum weakened in an instant. Damian, following at the back with his arms folded, said, "I told you, he always sides with outsiders."

"You're too much." All Red Hood managed to squeeze out was this line, and then he added, "You've got to leave us the Batmonster Vehicle; we've already told him we're going to get him a new tire."

"So keep just this one," Batman said, "and not in the Manor, you can take it to your base."

"But the Tyrannosaurus Rex also..." Damian immediately raised his voice.

Batman squinted his eyes, and Damian's voice immediately dropped 8 degrees, "Alright, but I don't think there's anybody in this city that's a match for the Bat Tyrant Dragon, so if you don't find one, you'll have to leave it to me."

Then the Robins looked up at the screen, and Red Robin immediately noticed the machine that Strange was holding; he leaned in a little, stared at it for a bit, and said, "What is that? It looks like some kind of signal transmitter."

"A brainwave hypnosis device," Batman said, "The latest version he's researched, but it's still roughly 200 years behind the true latest version."

"But he still hypnotized him," Red Robin said as he looked at the drowsy Doomsday Batman.

"That's because he lacks proficiency in this area," Batman shook his head and said, "His physical strength is so colossal that it caused him to neglect the training of his mental strength, but Doomsday's ability is to evolve infinitely, so perhaps it will be much better after this."

With nothing better to do, the Robins settled down in front of the screen after Alfred brought some biscuits, jam, cheese, and tea; they placed a table and arranged a few chairs to enjoy the show.

As Strange continued operating the machine, Doomsday Batman began to grow still, breathing evenly, as if he were slipping into some dream.

However, Strange didn't get careless; he adjusted the hypnosis frequency, and Doomsday Batman's breathing became hurried again, as if he saw something, running quickly towards a direction along the beach.

Soon, the massive creature arrived in front of Arkham Asylum. Strange's car quickly stopped at the entrance, the headlights flashed, illuminating the slightly bewildered expression of Doomsday Batman.

Strange then led Doomsday Batman to the basement of Arkham Asylum where the space was ample enough to accommodate such a gargantuan creature.

Moreover, there were more professional devices here; Strange attached several electrodes connected to a big machine with wires to Doomsday's head and started the device.

This was a brainwashing hypnosis device with much greater power, capable of quickly dissolving a person's willpower. It could implant new memories or magnify certain negative emotions, making someone violent and aggressive, even cold and ruthless.

Strange had a terrible and evil plan.

He had long learned of the resurrection of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne and previously, a competitor of Wayne and Kane Enterprises approached him, saying they wanted to stir up trouble on the land owned by Wayne Enterprises, but everyone sent there was scared off by a terrifying monster.

After observing for a while, Strange discovered that the monster was none other than a special Batman, and this gave him a brilliant idea – why not use Batman to take on Mr. and Mrs. Wayne?

Hugo was already itching to see the desolate expression on Batman's face after he would lose control and kill Mr. and Mrs. Wayne.

However, when it came to hypnotizing Batman, he couldn't be too impatient or too forceful, as it would be easily noticed that something was amiss. Hugo planned to use a gentler method: slowly guiding Batman, twisting his memory.

Hugo was a master of psychology, and he knew that to evoke Batman's hatred toward Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, he had to start with hatred itself.

"Batman, think about whom you despise the most right now?"

"Superman."

"...Hmm?"

This response obviously surprised Hugo. For Batman, that answer should typically be the Joker or a criminal. What was going on with Superman? Had they had a quarrel?

Then, in the following inquiry, Hugo discovered that it wasn't just a little quarrel. All of Batman's negative emotions were now directed toward Superman.

"Batman, think carefully, who has caused you the deepest hurt?"

"Superman."

"... And who is the enemy you detest the most?"

"Superman."

"You believe the most evil thing in the whole world is...?"

"Superman."

"You would choose to punish...?"

"Superman."

Hugo slapped his hand on the machine's control panel. Had it not been for the normal readings on all the monitors, he would have thought Batman was on autopilot.

The machine's control panel had many buttons to begin with, and with Hugo's slap, the machine immediately started to beep incessantly, signaling something had gone wrong. Whatever it was, the hypnosis suddenly spiraled out of control.

But Doomsday Batman didn't break free from the hypnosis. Instead, the out-of-control hypnosis sparked his emotions, and the resentment he had bottled up burst forth.

"The first time we met, Superman wasn't yet Superman. I came across that little reporter from Metropolis during a press conference; he was covering the news about the latest product line from Wayne Enterprises..."

"... And then, that night, I learned his real identity. I never imagined he was the superhero flying over Metropolis, and clearly, he hadn't guessed I was Batman."

"Our relationship gradually grew closer, but we occasionally argued because we were never sure of our standing in each other's hearts..."

"After that incident, the Justice League became more tightly-knit. Superman and I talked all night; we spoke about responsibility and the future. At that moment, I was thrilled because, in our vision, we clearly shared the same future."

"... That was exactly why I sensed something was off, but I didn't dwell on it. I should have been alerted to these anomalies from that moment on. No matter what, I never expected him to deceive me."

"... Since then, things got out of control. He completely changed as a person. I began to lose sight of who he really was, and I started questioning if it had all been a lie from the start."

During the intervals of adjusting the machine, Hugo listened to the entire story of how Batman and Superman went from acquaintances, to confidants, to going their separate ways, becoming adversaries.

What can one say? If he were Batman, he'd respond with "Superman" to every question too. Is this some superhero version of a broken record?

Fortunately, the machine was quickly readjusted, and the hypnosis got back on track. Starting with the focal point of hatred, Hugo intended to redirect the biggest object of Batman's loathing toward Mr. and Mrs. Wayne.

Then, he realized he had underestimated the bond between Batman and Superman.

Any hypnosis, memory modification, or similar processes failed as soon as Superman was involved; they just wouldn't proceed.

The specific process was like Hugo telling Batman, "No, your enemy isn't Superman, it's..."

As soon as he said that much, Batman instantly resisted, "How could my enemy not be Superman? We met somewhere at the beginning, how he joined the Justice League after, how we fought side by side, and then how he betrayed me..."

Hugo gave up on that modification and instead went with, "While Superman is your enemy, you also have other enemies."

Then Batman responded, "Although I have other enemies, my greatest enemy is still Superman, because after he betrayed me, not only did he show no remorse, but he also destroyed an entire city and watched indifferently as I suffered..."