"I think we can summarize a few rules," Dick said as he walked. "First, we cannot stay in one place for too long in the dense fog, otherwise those eyes will co for us. Although it's unclear what happens after being watched by those eyes, I'm sure it's nothing good, so it's best not to stay in the sa spot for too long."
"Secondly, the actions we take within the fog will remain even after it dissipates and won't be reset, so every decision must be made with caution."
"Also, the space within the fog is chaotic, and the symbol of a door seems to play a significant role. It's very possible that opening a door could lead to a completely new space, so we must be careful when opening doors."
"Lastly, there might be different flows of ti within the fog. Changes to the past could very likely affect the future, but these outcos can coexist. Therefore, before deciding to alter the tiline, we must consider the potential consequences for the future."
Dick and the Nightwing from the primary universe were walking on the streets of Gotham. They believed that even if the Nightwing from the Arkham universe lost his sanity montarily and wanted to chase after the figure in the depths of the fog, he would surely rember his original purpose and head towards the eting point. Therefore, even without their car, they could make the trek on foot.
"Is there anything else to add?" Dick asked the primary universe's Nightwing, who seed to have just realized sothing. He paused for a mont, then shook his head and said, "I was actually thinking about Batman. Everyone thinks that after Batman disappeared, he must have returned to Gotham. If he's here in Gotham now, how would he deal with this fog?"
Dick imdiately thought of the shocking bloodstains Red Hood had seen at the Capitol Building, which were Batman's blood. Batman would not shed so much blood just for a disguise, which ant his condition was indeed not good.
How should a severely injured person move within the fog? Would he be caught by those eyes? Or would he recklessly fall into an uncontrollable trap?
They all began to worry, more concerned about Batman's situation at that mont than their own. They no longer discussed this issue and instead started to think about what Batman and the others might have encountered.
The other two groups of Robins and the Batman from the primary universe, who was now active in the Gotham underground, encountered roughly the sa things. However, the patterns were more evident on Robin's side, while Batman's experiences were completely head-scratching and chaotic.
The mont the fog invaded, Batman put on his gas mask, but the sewer he was exploring kept stretching ahead, and Batman rembered that this sewer was definitely not that long.
No matter if he walked forward or backward, the sewer seed utterly endless, with a door in the middle of a branch that couldn't be opened. Every ti Batman passed the door, it would change its appearance as if there were different worlds behind it.
After walking a few tis, Batman realized that he was trapped in a loop. Walking a certain distance along the infinite sewer, he would return to the starting point, aning he had beco like a hamster in its wheel.
Naturally, Batman also noticed the thing about seeing eyes in various reflective surfaces if he stayed too long in one area. His boldness differed from the Robins as he did not succumb to the fear the eyes provoked. Instead, he waited almost until the last second because he wanted to see what the eyes intended to do.
When the final second ca, Batman saw himself in his field of vision. He felt he had beco the eyes with many shattered views, becoming the thing that stared at himself, watching as he ran desperately like an ant in an endless cycle of rebirth.
In countless pasts, presents, and futures, his figure appeared within sight, until Batman could no longer tolerate the overwhelming amount of information, and he stopped probing into these vast eyes.
He saw this as a form of ntal attack because once the human race sees their often deed mysterious and unknowable future clearly visible in the eyes of another entity, all their choices are manipulated. Their belief in masterfully controlling their fate and striving for a beautiful future against the odds is still only a choice made by a higher power. Their hopes and convictions could collapse in an instant.
Batman was unfazed because he understood that in everyday life it's the sa, only not as obvious, and humans are always good at deceiving themselves. Batman had realized the truths of the world more than others, understanding his destiny clearer, so while he was still shocked, he was not afraid.
King Robin was not so. The word that would best describe his psychological state all along was "protagonist."
He had always believed and acted as if he was the master of his destiny. Thomas and Martha were always controlling him, preventing him from using his thods to explore the world, which included, but was not limited to, killing animals or conducting little experints and destructions.
But they had no right. King Robin had always thought this way. He was free and noble, and those that died or were destroyed for him were rely the necessary price for his journey of exploration. For them to endure death and destruction was an honor.
Thomas and Martha were no exception. After growing tired of his parents' control, King Robin orchestrated a murder. In that alleyway after leaving the movie theater, he shot his own parents.
After the police arrived, he put on a perfect act, displaying all the emotions expected of a child whose parents had just been murdered by a criminal. Thus, he beca the innocent victim and ultimately got everything he desired.
Then he began to slaughter all the superheroes in his universe, just as he did in this one. The superheroes were no match for the gadgets he had created utilizing the reserves of Wayne Enterprises, and the entire process was so boring that it even bored him.
Until one day, the arrival of a madman with a pale face and an enormous mouth that nearly covered his entire face changed everything. This madman described the roots of cosmic nihilism to King Robin and invited him to join his team.
King Robin was filled with surprise and hope, but the first blow ca when he discovered that this madman was mass-converting Robins from various universes.
They were thrown into chemical baths, turning pale and hunched over, like creatures from a dungeon, and the altered Robins lacked self-awareness, sothing King Robin couldn't accept.
So he created a small pill that, if swallowed before the alteration, would allow him to retain his consciousness. Unfortunately, the madman acted too quickly, and King Robin was thrown into the chemical bath before he could swallow the pill.
In a rage, King Robin spat the pill into the chemical bath, ensuring that all Robins transford afterward would retain so degree of self-awareness, while the madman simply watched indifferently and told him that his actions were futile.
This was just a minor friction they had had before, and without a doubt, King Robin had been soundly defeated. He still had to serve this madman, traveling to universe after universe, gathering more information about Batman for him.
This was also why King Robin had chosen the Arkham Knight Universe. The self-proclaid Laughing Bat, who claid to be a combination of Batman and Joker, made it clear to King Robin. Find another hybrid, extract their secrets, and naturally, he would find the Laughing Bat's weakness.
However, regretfully, the plan against the Arkham Knight Universe Batman didn't go smoothly, and that wasn't the only setback. Just now, King Robin had experienced the most terrifying nightmare of his life.
When the fog rolled in, King Robin was prepared, but he didn't reach for a gas mask, believing that it would show fear of the mastermind behind the scenes. He resolved to fight head-on, regardless of the nature of the fog.
As he pushed open the door of his office, he found himself back in Wayne Manor, where everything was tedious and as mundane as usual.
The only difference was that Thomas and Martha now seed to have abandoned their comprehensive elitist education in favor of a ritocracy.
Their constant rhetoric was study, study, study. If you don't study, you dishonor your parents' hard work. If you don't study, you betray the vast legacy established by the Wayne Family ancestors. If you don't achieve good grades, you don't deserve to be Wayne Family's heir. If you can't outperform everyone else, you don't deserve anyone's attention.
Initially, King Robin felt nothing about this because he was always at the top of his class, and studying was never challenging for him; it required no effort whatsoever.
Since the mastermind behind the scenes wanted to play this ga, King Robin would certainly show him what a true genius looked like.
So, on the first day back at school, King Robin returned with perfect scores on all his tests, but Thomas and Martha simply comnted that although he had full marks, surely there were others in the school with the sa score; he had just done what was expected.
King Robin was infuriated, but the facts were indeed as such. After all, he was still in elentary school, and it was too easy to get perfect test scores there; of course, he was not the only one with full marks.
Therefore, in the following days, he poisoned the school's water fountain, causing many good students to have diarrhea during the exams, which left him as the only one with perfect scores.
Thomas and Martha then told him that it was rely good luck, and even though others didn't do well on the exams, their knowledge was still intact. They were sure to surpass him next ti.
How could King Robin simply accept this? From then on, he secured full marks in every subject in every exam, becoming the undisputed first in his grade. Yet, the comparison was then drawn to all the elentary schools in the entire community.
Aside from academic prowess, he had to wake up three hours earlier to learn musical instrunts, and after school, he studied dance, etiquette, and social skills, as well as self-taught middle school, high school, and college-level material.
To Robin, studying wasn't at all challenging; he managed all the courses with ease and even achieved results far better than expected.
What truly made it a nightmare were Thomas and Martha's attitudes. No matter what achievents King Robin accomplished, he never received even a diocre complint. All he ever got was "It was just a fluke" and "You'll have to do even better next ti."
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