"What's the matter? Is it tough to deal with?" Batwoman stepped forward.
She glanced at the data and then paused, a look on her face that could only be described as a mix of bemusent and frustration.
"It's afraid of water?" Batwoman pointed to one of the chemical formulas, "Just use water to break down the key component of the poison into harmless rare gases."
"And we just so happen to have the perfect weapon at hand," Batman said, looking at the gun Batwoman was carrying.
It was a weapon that seed to be made in the sa style as the modified machines in Batwoman's Batcave, obviously intended by Batman for use against Atlantis.
This contraption could synthesize water from the air, summoning a large volu of water in a short ti, and could release compressed streams of water, turning it into water cannons, water missiles, and other various water-based weapons.
In seas already abounding with water, it could use kinetic energy to shape the water into various forms, such as powerful fists, huge waves, or even an army to confront the vast forces of Atlantis. They had nad this gun the Trident of Poseidon.
Batwoman hoisted the gun onto her shoulder, gently tapped a button on the side, and imdiately, a circular water shield enveloped her and Batman as they walked toward the depths of the spore cloud.
"I think we should be careful. It's possible that not everything in the dense fog is an enemy. It's best not to harm the innocent," Batman said.
"Though you always seem indecisive, this ti I think you're right. This cosmos is too strange; we can't judge friends or foes by conventional wisdom."
Batman was naturally cautious, but all that caution ended when he saw the figure in the depths of the toxic fog.
"Joker??!!"
The two exclaid in unison.
On reflex, Batwoman pulled the trigger, and a water bullet shot toward the toxic plant life.
At that mont, the toxic plant was putting down the already unconscious Charles, unaware of the attack from behind, and was a step too slow to react. The water cannon hit and tore off one of his arms.
The enraged toxic plant turned around, its vines erupting violently. As the branches filled the sky, Batman spoke with a hint of surprise, "Poison Ivy? Joker? A Poison Ivy Joker???"
Batwoman, clearly not as taken aback and seemingly more sensitive to Joker than Batman, activated another form of the Trident of Poseidon. The gun unfolded into armor that clamped onto her forearm, with a whirlpool-like cannon at the forefront.
Batwoman leaped high, dodging the invasive plants. Bang bang, two water bullets, one after the other, took out the plant's guard. Then she hopped left and right along the surrounding vines, like a nimble bird, quickly closing in on the toxic plant's main body.
As she landed, she saw another dark figure already standing next to her. Batwoman looked up at Batman and said, "Not bad."
"Neither are you."
Whoosh whoosh, two grapple hooks latched onto either side of the toxic plant. Batwoman fired a shot from the cannon at the plant's head, and bang, it tilted to one side as if struck by a heavy hook punch.
Seizing the opportunity, Batman pressed down hard, driving the grapple gun deep into the plant's side, then yanked fiercely, toppling the large plant body.
"Water!" Batman shouted.
Batwoman imdiately activated the Trident of Poseidon, and this ti, in addition to the water shield that enveloped them, the water ford a solid, round prison, trapping the toxic plant inside.
The poisonous spore cloud began to dissipate.
At that mont, the two of them noticed Charles lying on the ground. Batwoman walked over and, after a quick examination, said, "He seems to have been poisoned into unconsciousness."
"Pour so water on him," Batman suggested.
Batwoman didn't hesitate, conjuring a cold water sphere and smashing it onto Charles, then force-fed him a ton of water. It almost choked him to death before he finally woke up.
Charles patted his head, still feeling groggy. The sight of the two dark figures in front of him gave him quite a start.
"How are you feeling?" Batwoman asked.
It wasn't that they were too trusting, but theoretically, anyone the Joker took captive was bound to be a good person.
"I'm okay," Charles said with a bit of difficulty.
"You don't look too good," Batman remarked, scrutinizing him, "What's your na?"
"Charles," ca the reply, and after a pause, as if feeling no need to hide his identity here, he added, "Charles Xavier."
Batman's eyes widened montarily, but he didn't let any emotion show. "Then do you know who just kidnapped you?" he asked.
After pondering for a mont, Charles replied, "The situation is too complicated. If you really want to know, let's find sowhere to talk in detail."
They soon found a nearby café. Paris had no shortage of cafés, and the toxic spore cloud wasn't just sothing they steered clear of. It seed others were loathe to approach the area as well, providing them a rare quiet spot.
"So that's how it is," Charles said after giving a brief explanation, "That person is one of his personas. We call him the toxic plant, but they also said, while naming him, that 'Plant Joker' sounded a bit ominous. I don't know why it's ominous."
"Indeed, not very auspicious," Batman said. "He is the biggest card in the deck."
"Can you introduce us to the other personalities?" Batwoman asked.
Charles began the narration, focusing mainly on the Soulstream Sect, his current area of concentration.
As Charles recounted the intelligence he had discovered about the main combat forces, the two Batmans furrowed their brows, and Batman revealed an extrely rare hesitation, saying, "How has your cosmos survived until now? Luck?"
"Absurd," Batwoman used the word again and said, "You sound like you've exaggerated their abilities by 10 tis. For instance, the Omniscient that you described, how could he possibly know the answers to all questions?"
"What if so questions simply have no answers?" asked Batwoman. "Like...like human emotions, for instance."
"That's intelligence we do not yet have," Charles admitted honestly. "Everything here is irrational, do you find my existence reasonable?"
"What kind of existence are you?"
"I am sorry for what happened to your loved one, Sylvester."
At that, Batwoman sprang to her feet.
Batman remained motionless while Charles sighed and said, "In fact, I've almost exhausted all my strength and energy, so I can only see the mories that are most vivid to you. If I were at my pri, lady, you would be completely transparent before ."
"I'm afraid it's more than that." Batman's tone did not waver in the slightest as he said, "The future you will beco stronger, and in the blink of an eye, you could rewrite the mories of all of mankind."
Batwoman's eyes widened as she looked at him.
Charles was also surprised by his calm deanor; any human being who knew their mories could be read and their thoughts rewritten should not be this composed.
"Amongst all my mories, there is a unique code known only to myself for each segnt, and each segnt's code is different. They correspond with another segnt to form a complete code, which in turn corresponds with other codes to form a complete encryption."
"Every week, I change the thod of decrypting these codes, store them in a safe using a physical thod, and then delete that part of my mory, including the knowledge that there are codes."
"If you've deleted them, how would you rember to continue encrypting your mories next week?"
Looking at Charles, who had asked the question, Batman said, "Because every week I consider the question, 'If soone like you appeared in the world, what should I do?'"
"Just by thinking about this question, I will take asures. In fact, the codes are only the asures for this week; I don't rember what I did before, and I'm not sure what I will do next week. "
"But I can still read your mories."
"There are no secrets in my mories," Batman said. "The knowledge I possess is the sa as everyone else's; it has been written in textbooks, cited in papers, and follows the immutable physical laws of this world. Anyone can explore them."
"My emotional life is unremarkable, and I don't think you'd want to spend your days watching teenagers fight over pocket money amounts and snack exemption rights."
"I've investigated many friends' private matters and know their weaknesses, but if you confront them with the contingencies I've prepared, they'll make you understand just who Batman really is."
Charles was left speechless.
"If you're willing to visit my Psychic_Battlefield, I hope it's in a friendlier manner," Batman said. "Perhaps we can sit down and discuss so topics more kindly and in depth, such as whether it was you who shaped the thoughts of ordinary people, or the thoughts of the ordinary people you often listen to that have shaped you?"
Charles was stunned.
In fact, he had recently felt an unprecedented weakness and pain, not to say he had never experienced pain before, but this ti it was exceptionally turbulent.
This pain gave Charles a sense of familiarity; when he had invaded the mind of that pitiful pregnant woman, he had felt the sa weakness and pain.
So were this weakness and pain his own, or did they belong to that pregnant woman?
Is he in pain now? Should he be in pain under the current circumstances? Should he be in pain at all? Or is it all just an afterimage of emotional resonance?
"It's hard for emotional beings to understand another's logic without resonating with their emotions," Batman said. "In fact, we resonate with emotions more easily than with logic."
"And yet we always say we can't empathize with others, which proves that conveying and receiving emotions is not the most efficient thod. Your ability allows you to empathize with others in the most efficient way, and when empathy reaches its peak, emotions rge into one, indistinguishable from each other."
Looking at Charles, Batman said, "The emotions, feelings, and even the thinking model you now possess may not be your own; they co from everyone whose mind you've read, and it is all those ordinary people who make up Charles Xavier."
"You think I am a collective of ordinary people?"
"I think he is too," Batman rose to his feet and looked up at the sky before saying, "Perhaps more people pay attention to the unique abilities of these personalities, but in my view, the reason they ca about is key."
"In the eyes of a madman, fire isn't wood set afla but ignited by a superpower user descending from the sky; a toxic substance might not be a chemical compound or a man-made product, but the dreadful presence of a being like Poison Ivy spreading it around."
"What we see is not just a ludicrous cosmos but the inner world of a patient suffering from painful ntal illness; each of his personalities has an origin, and to help him, we must find a way back for all of them."
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