What bad thoughts can Batman have?

Chapter 993 The Bat of Laughter's Hypnotic Instructions

The bottom line for the world's forgers is not low enough to allow them to jump ship and accept Papetua's help without any psychological burden.

Or perhaps all three sixth-dimensional deities were like this: if they could accept groveling and surrendering to their mother, Papetua, they would never have joined forces to report her in the first place.

Back when Perpetua ruled the entire DC multiverse at the height of his power, accumulating strength and aiming for the omnipotent universe, he betrayed them. Now that Perpetua is in this state of limbo, barely clinging to life, and fighting to the death, he surrenders again. Isn't that idiotic? The World Forgers wouldn't do something so foolish.

He knew very well that now that he was incapacitated, he might not be able to escape with his baby multiverse, but that was all he could do.

As the World Founders allowed themselves to be knocked down, the Batman Who Laughs also gained a brief moment of clarity.

He was astonished by the situation before him as a hypnotized high school girl in a pornographic book.

“Listen, Bat of the Laughing, I can help you escape.” Papetua was quick-witted; after finding that her son, the Worldmaker, wouldn’t listen, she immediately turned her attention to the Bat of the Laughing: “You can take the entire Baby Multiverse with you, leave this DC Multiverse, and never come back.”

Papetua looked at the Bat of Laughter, who was still detached, like a high school girl who couldn't accept that she had been defiled.

Immediately afterward, a deep-seated ferocity appeared on his laughing face, and he let out a laugh that sounded like a roar. He had realized that his trump card had been exposed. The huge blow made him almost laugh in a fit of rage.

The colossal phantom of the Manhattan Bat vanished behind the Laughing Bat. He wasn't without a chance to salvage the situation; he only needed to convince others that his power was insufficient to threaten them. But what about Doctor Manhattan? Would Doctor Manhattan fail to recognize his own power, which was of the same origin? After discovering that his power had already taken shape in the future beyond the current timeline, would Doctor Manhattan still leave behind power in the DC multiverse, as the Laughing Bat had predicted, to help him complete the Manhattan Bat?

Everything had become uncertain, and the Batman Who Laughs now had an almost irresistible urge to throw caution to the wind and unleash a hysterical rage.

But he couldn't. He could control himself.

Calm down, Bat of Laughter. Dr. Manhattan's thinking is different from ordinary people; he only wants to conduct experiments.

Even in such a dire situation, the Batman Who Laughs begins to think and weave new plans. Every Batman is like this; even after becoming a monster, they never give up.

As for Papetua... Papetua doesn't care about anything right now; all she wants is for the Batman Who Laughs to leave the DC multiverse and not become part of the attack on her.

In the reality of the hyper-time flow, a situation where multiple people are besieging Papetua has begun to gradually take shape.

With his strength slightly weakened, but able to recover immediately upon the return of the World Forger, the Ultimate Watcher, the Void Hand, and the help of Dr. Manhattan.

Papetua wasn't even sure if Dr. Manhattan would intervene at the last moment, so he had to conserve some strength for a counterattack. Otherwise, in his current weakened state, Papetua would be powerless against Dr. Manhattan. This was why Papetua hadn't dared to go all out; doing so would mean she would be helpless if Dr. Manhattan decided to attack.

Having tasted freedom, even the Mother of the Multiverse could no longer bear to return to the wall and wait for another opportunity.

Behind this mess lies the Laughing Bat, who may bear the destiny of the DC multiverse. Papetua had previously realized that the DC multiverse would not allow her, the failed creator goddess, to regain control of the entire multiverse. The general consciousness of the entire multiverse was unconsciously trying to make Papetua fail.

Even though the multiverse has been weakened countless times since the two most significant events—Earth 15 and the theft of 10 years by Dr. Manhattan—its power is still not to be underestimated.

Therefore, there must be immune cells, carrying out the destiny of the DC multiverse, throwing that punch at him, Papetua.

Batman Dragon has been trying to reinforce this inevitable destiny. After seeing how Batman Dragon used the first Lantern to create three timelines that went back to the past, Batman Dragon further laid a foundation in the hypertime flow for this inevitable but still unseen future, which can be connected at any time.

The original Lantern's journey back in time and his subsequent death are now connected to the punch he threw in the time-traveling future, like a fork pinning that punch to the future of the time-traveling future.

Everything is gradually getting ready.

At first, Papetua thought that Batman Dragon intended to force the first Lantern to throw this punch. Although the other party was not a sixth-dimensional god, he was a key figure who could shake Earth-15, so it was indeed appropriate for him to bear this punch.

Although theoretically, the stronger the punch, the better, it seems that the power of the first Lantern Man, plus the combined attack of the others, is enough.

But later, Papetua discovered that the original Lantern seemed to be increasingly serving as nothing more than a hindrance in Batman: Dragon's camp.

So later, Papetoa thought that Batman Dragon intended to take matters into his own hands and would throw the punch himself, no matter the cost, especially since he had become the de facto controller of the Ultimate Monitor. But Batman Dragon still did not do so.

Later, Perpetua even considered that Batman Dragon might use the Void Hand, carrying the DC multiverse, to attack him. Perpetua was startled by this absurd idea, but the other party still didn't do it. Perpetua felt that Batman Dragon was toying with him in different ways, using a knife that hadn't been used yet to deliberately provoke him into thinking he would do something, but then easily let him go.

...Of course, Papetua knew that whoever threw that punch wouldn't fare well, because they weren't the center of the DC multiverse, nor were they Superman, the embodiment of miracles.

Swinging a fist capable of crushing Papetua comes at a price, and only the center of the world can do so without paying that price.

Hey, did anyone think that Papetua was most afraid of Superman throwing this punch?

No, quite the opposite, Papetua wanted Superman to throw that punch.

She is the mother of the multiverse, and the rule that superheroes always win doesn't apply to her, because that's what she set up in the first place—she designed this foundation so that heroes could always defeat villains to generate crisis power.

Superman's psychic bursts of power are incredibly strong, but in the main universe, Superman is ultimately just a Kryptonian, not a sixth-dimensional god or an Outer God like the Void Hand.

It's much easier to shake Superman's existence than anyone else's, understand? Just because he's the center of the world doesn't mean he's immune to the overwriting of time. Papetua can use time travel to change that punch.

No matter what damage the punch caused her, it could be altered through the Hypertime Flow, and Superman knew nothing about Hypertime Flow overwriting. This understanding of power at the DC multiverse level is not something that can be solved by simply instilling memories.

If it were Batman Dragon, he would have become Barbatos's follower long ago, had come into contact with the power to alter history, and had even invented the Outer Timeline, a method of applying time travel. When he wielded the power of destiny, Perpetua would not be able to alter it so easily.
Or perhaps it is the Void Hand, an Outer God who also wields the power of storytelling. It would be extremely difficult for Perpetua to easily distort his history. When he holds the mandate of the DC multiverse, upholds the will of the DC multiverse, and annihilates the evil goddess Perpetua, it would be even more of a pipe dream for Perpetua to try to distort this matter.

If all else fails, even the original Lantern Man, who has traversed countless times through time-traveling history, is better than Superman. No matter how powerful a punch is, it's meaningless if Perpetua can erase events.

Furthermore, the concept of "Superman at the center of the world" is now fragmented.

The essence of N52 Superman, P Superman, and his personality—these three elements combined make up the complete Superman of the main universe.

The status is easy to determine. As long as the essence and P-Superman are fused together, the status will automatically descend upon the fused body. It may not be difficult for Batman and Dragon to piece together, but as mentioned before, simply piecing together a Superman is meaningless.

And put them together? Putting them together takes time. Do you think Papetua, who can twist the flow of time at will, would let you put the three together properly?

When your mother of the multiverse dies?
So the Mother of the Multiverse had thought many times about who would be chosen to deliver the punch that would shatter the destiny of the DC multiverse, and how many allies would he attract to weaken him. In fact, no matter who delivered the punch, Papetua was confident that he could re-attack the tug-of-war in the hypertime flow.

The Void Hand, Batman's Dragon, and the First Lantern—unless Doctor Manhattan personally intervenes, who can subdue Perpetua in one fell swoop? No one. Perpetua has already established his power; you are all welcome to try, but Perpetua is full of confidence.

No one could stop her.

But now Papetua has discovered someone she didn't expect.

The Laughing Bat?

Perpetua recognized the Manhattan Bat behind him. The most authentic Doctor Manhattan power imaginable. What connection did the Bat Who Laughs have with Manhattan? Perpetua traced the timeline backward through time but found no trace of it.

Is the Batman Who Laughs so powerful that he can erase all his connections with the Manhattan Bat upstream in the timeline?
But that doesn't matter; Papetua no longer has the mind to delve deeper into the Bat of Laughter.

The Bat Who Laughs certainly has secrets worth exploring, but the timing isn't right.

"The Laughing Bat, I can..."

Papetua immediately sought to re-ally with the Batman Who Laughs, as she did not believe the Batman Who Laughs was genuinely interested in working for Batman Dragon.

If she can get back together with the Batman Who Laughs... she can completely overturn the Batman Cage's plans. Didn't you discover that the Batman Who Laughs seems to possess some strange power, and then intend to guide him to swing the Fist of Destiny? I'll just prevent the Batman Who Laughs from swinging that fist, and I'll just send him away. What else can you do?
Tell me, Batman: Dragon, did you make any preparations beforehand when faced with this situation?

The Bat of Laughter's heart was pounding wildly.

He knew his condition was extremely abnormal, and he had failed this time, needing Perpetua's help. Perpetua hadn't yet figured out what kind of power he possessed, and cooperating with him would reduce Perpetua's focus on the Manhattan Bat Force.

Just by planning to team up with Perpetua, the Batman Who Laughs had already come up with seven or eight different plans to reduce Perpetua's attention to him. Batman is a master strategist, and even when facing a multiverse mother like Perpetua, the Batman Who Laughs is confident that he can easily grasp her psychology and manipulate her like a fool.

The Batman Who Laughs could do it, he certainly could, just as he had originally planned to manipulate Lex Luthor in the main universe to guide Perpetual's actions.

So he nodded in agreement to cooperate with Papetua, and then...

The hypnosis was activated again, and the high school girl laughed wildly, once again falling into the hypnotic guidance.

He will begin his actions under hypnosis, but he will not know what he is doing.

He found himself getting out of bed and seeing the entire bat family surrounding him.

Sunlight streamed into the ward through the window. Maniac almost wanted to sit up in bed again, pull out the thin IV tubes inserted into his arm, and then find a knife to stab the bat family members next to him. But now he hesitated and dared not.

Reality had just proven to him that the targets of his attack were not the Bat Family he had imagined, but the World Forgers. If he were to launch another massacre against the Bat Family now, would that in reality represent an attack on Papetua? This was completely against his interests.

The scene of the complete annihilation of the entire bat family seemed like an illusion...

"Great, sir, you're finally awake. Last time you woke up, you went berserk and attacked us. How are you feeling now? The Laughter Virus has been largely cleared from your body. Are you still able to maintain your sanity?"

In other words, this is a continuous illusion. The fact that he beat up—no, that he massacred the bat family—is still remembered by these NPCs, but they have distorted his actions, changing the massacre into a beating.
This time, the hypnotized girl dared not open her mouth again.

Who knows if he was beating up an enemy, or if Batman: Dragon wanted him to do something?

But thinking of this, the Laughing Bat's face darkened—

Could making him hesitant to act again be part of Batman Dragon's plan?

(End of this chapter)