Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 130: Ch.129 Two Person Plan

He knew that everyone was merely a character in a comic, and that the Batmen were the top cards in the hands of the editors, himself included.

If he killed all the Batmen with an absurd reason, then if the editors tried to resurrect them, they would need an exceptionally compelling story or a suitable reason; otherwise, it would become a massive "toxic point."

Resurrecting one Batman might be easy, but what about resurrecting all the Batmen from all the worlds at the same time? Other than a full reboot, there would be no other option.

He knew that DC Comics had just undergone a reboot, the New 52 Rebirth, and if they suddenly rebooted again, it would inevitably lead to a wave of fans canceling their subscriptions. No fans would mean no money, and no money would mean the company would go bankrupt. Sure, the company might get bought out, and the characters would be created by others again, but as long as he kept messing things up, forcing the world to reboot over and over, even the wealthiest corporations couldn\'t withstand the financial strain forever.

When that time comes, everyone will be free, and this was only the first step.

As for what would happen if the world rebooted and the editors didn\'t write him back in? He wasn\'t worried at all. When people know there\'s a Pandora\'s box but don\'t know what\'s inside, they will always open it.

He knew humanity\'s curiosity all too well.

The Robin Crows clumsily lifted him back onto his seat, where he calmed his breathing, wiped away the tears from laughing too hard, and stroked the massive control panel in front of him. This mainframe was called the Brother Eye, and he once had one just like it.

Yes, whatever the main universe\'s Bruce had, he once had as well.

The Batmobile, the butler, Wayne Enterprises, Catwoman, the Robins, the Justice League—he had it all.

Initially, he had merely been infected by the Joker\'s virus, not entirely beyond saving. If worst came to worst, he could have chosen to freeze himself; the Justice League had such equipment.

However, he chose a different path from the one Su Ming had seen in the comics. He gathered the Justice League and found their world\'s omnipotent wishing machine.

This was an incredibly powerful device, with origins completely unknown, but it could grant a person\'s every wish.

Some might say it was the Holy Grail of the DC Universe, but it actually looked more like a massive train engine. Not only did it require enormous amounts of electricity to operate, but it also made a deafening noise, like thunder cracking above the heads of everyone nearby.

This was a causality device: as long as the request was logically possible, it could fulfill it. But it would only grant one wish at a time, and then the machine would disappear, only to reappear in some corner of the universe centuries later.

Its setup was somewhat like the dragon balls in *Dragon Ball Z*.

Want to kill Darkseid? Just wish for it, and Darkseid would be erased. Want to rule the world? Then everyone would willingly submit to your rule.

The Batman Who Laughs wanted to use that machine to find a way to create an antidote, to save the Earth.

But what was this omnipotent wishing machine in the comic world, really? The one fulfilling the wish was not some world will or special energy; it was the editors and the artists.

The omnipotent wishing machine was actually a giant telegraph machine that conveyed wishes to the editors.

The Joker virus, suppressed in his mind, combined with Batman\'s lifelong curiosity and sense of responsibility, made the wishing machine his doorway when the editors were about to draw a thought bubble over his head. He saw everything beyond the wall.

And so he understood, and he immediately formulated his plan.

First, he followed the destiny that the editors had laid out for him, waiting for a variable, someone who wasn\'t controlled by the editors. That would be his chance.

The editors had him kill his own children, his friends, his loved ones, and destroy his own world.

He did it all, but did he truly go insane?

Why did his uniform\'s helmet cover his eyes? Because he couldn\'t let anyone see his inner thoughts. He was still maintaining a minimum level of sanity, far from being as crazy as the Joker. He could still feel pain.

Even though everything he had was fake, he still had feelings for them.

Let those office workers revel for a while; they think they\'ve written a good story. But now, the puppet they hold has its own plan, and it\'s just waiting for the theater\'s lights to go out or for the police to show up.

When that happens, the living puppet will turn the musical into a horror show.

Barbatos\' plan was incredibly foolish. Those people would never allow him to succeed. Only someone not under their control could accomplish certain things.

The Batman Who Laughs was following his own script, waiting for an opportunity.

He spoke the lines of the play, using his insane thoughts to mask his true intentions. No one noticed anything wrong with him.

He waited, and when the Red Death lost contact, he realized the story had completely slipped out of the writers\' control, and this made him ecstatic.

But he hid his excitement behind a facade of madness, covering up the deaths of those few, even fooling Barbatos.

He knew someone was wantonly killing Batmen. Even though they were a few crazed Batmen, they were originally meant to be Justice League villains, originally slated to die at the hands of the Justice League.

He noticed that, for some reason, it was as if the editors had all gone on strike. This world seemed like it had no master, and he could freely think and do whatever he wanted.

Unfortunately, despite gaining freedom, it was still false. He decided to resist to the end.

Indeed, there are some characters in American superhero comics who can break the fourth wall and recognize the real world, but their numbers are few.

The typical examples are Deadpool and Gwenpool over at Marvel—one is utterly crazy, and the other is a dimension-hopper.

As viewers from China, we\'ve known about a character who could break the fourth wall for a long time: the Mask from the American company Dark Horse Comics. The green-faced man in the yellow suit loved to interact with the audience.

Dark Horse Comics, being the third largest comic company in America, was also the first to enter the Chinese market. Their comic-adapted movies were on TV in every household long before Marvel made its comeback.

People might not know the company\'s name, but they certainly know the characters it created.

Jim Carrey\'s *The Mask*, Sylvester Stallone\'s *Judge Dredd*, Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis in *Sin City*.

In addition, *Tarzan*, *Alien*, *Predator*, *Hellboy*, *300*, and *R.I.P.D.* are all properties of Dark Horse Comics.

In the DC Universe, there are quite a few characters who can break the fourth wall. Early versions of Superman could do it—he could wink at the readers or even talk directly to them in the comics.

After Silver Age Superman was cut, there was Supreme Superman, Bat-Mite, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Ambush Bug—they could all more or less sense what was happening beyond the wall. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk were even beings from the fifth dimension who could erase other characters and stories from a higher level.

Besides these, there is another popular character now: Harley Quinn from the main universe. She\'s able to break the fourth wall because she\'s crazy enough and has psychoanalyzed herself, hearing the discussions about her character and storyline in the editorial office.

After she broke up with the Joker, Harley fell into a state of confusion and emptiness, constantly talking to herself. These behaviors made her even crazier, and after some time, she discovered she could hear a strange inner voice.

That voice was actually the thoughts of anyone reading the comic, whether editor, artist, or reader.

Now, in the main universe, she can actively communicate with editors and artists. For example, she can ask the editor-in-chief to choose her favorite artist to draw her, and when planning stories, to include more handsome male supporting characters with six-packs and abs.

She particularly liked Steve who drew Zatanna\'s series. Of course, DC\'s star artist Jim Lee was great too, but he was too busy drawing Superman and Batman.

She also liked a few Marvel artists and once had a nightmare of being hunted by the second Black Widow, where she got shot in the stomach and felt excruciating pain. But in reality, it was just because she had eaten six hot dogs the night before.

Charlie, the artist for *The Walking Dead*, was also pretty good, but unfortunately, DC\'s editorial team could only find the artist for *The Powerpuff Girls*. She wasn\'t sure if that style suited her.

In terms of breaking the fourth wall, her ability is even stronger than Deadpool\'s. With this power, she can see ghosts in the comic world because she knows the artist drew the ghost there.

She can talk to anything with a mind because the editors would write the animal\'s thoughts in speech bubbles above its head.

She can enter other people\'s dreams to play because they\'re all in the same comic; she just needs to flip a few panels.

She can visit the real world just by walking out the door, and even take someone else with her. She attends San Diego Comic-Con every year and

once sneaked into Marvel\'s booth to find Stan Lee, chatting and joking with big shots from both the anime world and Hollywood.

In the Metal event, she was very interested in the Batman Who Laughs, finding the combination of Batman and the Joker fascinating. She voluntarily walked into a trap, wanting to get closer to the Batman Who Laughs.

As expected, she was caught. The Batman Who Laughs noticed her uniqueness and couldn\'t let her ruin his plan, so she\'s still hanging on the Tuning Fork.

Harley didn\'t mind. She already knew the ending from the editors. The Justice League would save everyone in the end, and she just wanted to explore the nightmare.

She had nothing to lose and could experience a brand-new nightmare—what could be better?

Harley was thrilled.

However, if she could break the fourth wall and confirm it again, she would realize she couldn\'t reach anything anymore.

Because Su Ming\'s arrival, as a dimension-hopper, triggered a chain reaction of butterfly effects that led the Batman Who Laughs to make completely different choices, taking the world out of the editors\' control. Everything had changed.

Barry guided Su Ming through the ruined streets. Su Ming had become reliant on "Speed Force Transport"—Barry. Even though Superman\'s flying speed was fast, it wasn\'t as comfortable as being wrapped in the Speed Force.

Gotham, already chaotic and in disarray, was now half in ruins. The Court of Owls had mixed amber gold into many buildings during the city\'s construction, and those buildings had been turned into Challenger Mountain by Barbatos.

Now, it was impossible to turn Challenger Mountain back into skyscrapers. Bruce probably needed a new disaster recovery plan.

But that was fine. Green Arrow had rebuilt Star City, Hal Jordan had rebuilt Coast City, and Batman had rebuilt Gotham more than once or twice. This was his city, and he was happy to take responsibility for it.

"How much did Bruce spend the last time he rebuilt Gotham?"

Su Ming glanced at the damaged shops along the street, where televisions had fallen off the shelves but were still broadcasting Gotham TV news.

It was probably a recorded broadcast; the timing was off. That reporter was likely following the Gotham Resistance, and Green Arrow was nowhere to be seen on the battlefield earlier, meaning he had perfectly missed his chance to be in the spotlight again.

Pitiful, perfectly missing the action.

Barry glanced at the surrounding scenery out of the corner of his eye. What had once been the bustling city center now looked like a slum.

"He never said, but it\'s rumored to be less than we\'d imagine. Cyborg once said that Wayne Enterprises actually makes a profit during Gotham\'s reconstruction through land swaps and government loans."

That made sense. If someone survived such a catastrophe in the city center, their first thought after the chaos would be to move to the countryside and never live in the big city again.

The houses of the deceased would have lawyers seeking out heirs, and who would want to live in a crime scene just after a disaster? Naturally, they\'d sell the property for cash.

So for a long time, Gotham\'s property prices would probably hit rock bottom. Wayne Enterprises could buy up the land and real estate, renovate it, and after a peaceful period, people with short memories would be willing to buy and rent again.

"Heartless capitalist."

Su Ming smiled and shook his head, no longer looking at the cracked roads and the charred corpses on them. He began to prepare his plan.

First, upon arriving at the Batcave, he needed to prevent the two brains from connecting, ensuring his own safety.

Next, he would see if Diana was there. If possible, he would join forces with her to increase their combat power. Then, they could form a melee strike team with a tank, a speedster, and a professional warrior.

Finally, he needed to drag the Joker out of Bruce\'s house. He couldn\'t let the clown just watch the show. Either the Joker would help, or he\'d have to leave—having one lunatic in the same place at the same time was enough.

He ran through the plan twice in his mind, finding no major flaws. The other details, like avoiding traps or ambushes, could be dealt with as they arose.

This problem was like putting an elephant in a refrigerator—Su Ming preferred three-step plans.

He shared the plan with Barry, who would move quickly while Su Ming kept the Batman Who Laughs occupied.

In the comics, the Batman Who Laughs was considered the weakest of the Nightmare Batmen. Although he might have acquired some of Bruce\'s gadgets, Su Ming was confident.

He had countermeasures for everyone he knew, and his plans were far more thorough than Batman\'s.

However, Su Ming still didn\'t know what kind of Batman Who Laughs the butterfly effect had created.