The Primary Universe Batman stared at him silently. As a shadowy and cunning DC person, how could he not understand this twisted relationship? It's just that Erik's calmness in articulating it reveals a kind of madness that's different from their world, a serene kind of madness.
Or rather, people in this universe all have this kind of feeling. They take some incredibly insane things for granted.
DC sometimes feels dark and oppressive because there's too much undercurrent lurking beneath its surface, hidden within the lines and every movement, providing plenty of room for interpretation, as if hinting at something, yet always feeling like it's an overthinking.
This sense of uncertainty adds a lot of mystery to the plot, with a Gothic mysterious atmosphere, as if everything and everyone is shrouded in lead grey and cool blue, like the damp relic left by the last rain before winter.
On the Marvel side, the impression is vibrant, vivid, with all sorts of conflicts laid out in the open. Everyone is straightforward; when things are good, they are as close as brothers, and when bad, they wish to beat each other up. Many stories lay out the strengths and weaknesses of superheroes for readers to savor.
Yet at the same time, these stories aren't entirely relaxing to read. Initially, they may be exciting, but upon reflection, something seems off, leading to the realization: it was all wrong from the start.
This leads each side to their own brand of abnormality. The abnormality of DC's heroes seems more apparent; however, Marvel's heroes seem more normal, perhaps because the world as their backdrop is more abnormal.
The Primary Universe Batman could clearly sense that the people in the Central Universe are used to abnormality. Whether it's using Earth as a bumper car or agreeing to turn their homes into a battleground—these are insane ideas that Batman would never agree to, not a thousand times over, not even with a knife to his throat, yet here, no one objects.
For his twisted relationship with his old friend and enemy, entangled over many years, Magneto was also indifferent. He didn't feel pain or pleasure, nor was he numb. He truly felt there was nothing wrong with it.
The Primary Universe Batman really wanted to ask him: is it because of the high consultation fees, you'd all rather stay this way than see a psychiatrist?
But he also knew that this was not the main point. Now he was more curious about the so-called four Omega-level mutant children.
"Franklin is the youngest among them," Erik told Batman without reservation, "His father is a scientist, and his mother is his assistant. Then there's Thomas Rogers; his father is Captain America, and his mother is a SHIELD Agent. Billy and his brother are my grandsons, their mother the Scarlet Witch, their father an electronic lifeform."
"What abilities do they have?"
"Hard to say," Erik thought about it and said, "To someone like you, an ordinary human, each of them could be called a God."
"Be specific," the Primary Universe Batman persisted.
"Franklin has all the superpowers you can think of, but I believe the strongest is his ability to create universes at will. The Apocalypse Domain you rely on now, he could whip up seven or eight of those over breakfast. Thomas can directly control dark matter—yes, the dark matter that makes up most of the universe's mass. You're a scientist; you should understand better than me the significance of this ability."
"As for Billy and his brother, we still haven't quite figured them out. It seems one can stimulate emotions, and the other can eliminate them. They are the reason I can't sleep well. Every time they cry, Wanda and I have to hurry to stop them, or else all of New York would cry till the next morning."
Erik sighed deeply, shook his head, and said, "Without Wanda around now, it's hard to keep an eye on all four of them. Oh, I forgot to mention, Wanda is pregnant again, and it's said that the baby will inherit her mother's power of Scarlet. Then we'll have five Omega-level mutants."
The Primary Universe Batman saw a deep resignation on Erik's face. But he actually had no real sense of what Erik was talking about.
Because these abilities are set to be too powerful, precisely beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Just the act of creating a universe—even in Lucifer's cosmic construction science class, this was never heard of—Lucifer doesn't even have that capability. Now you tell him a child of a few years old has this power and can do it effortlessly, without any cost, is this reasonable?
And about dark matter, let's put it this way: the entire cosmos is made of dark matter; if you can manipulate dark matter, doesn't that mean you can manipulate anything?
And emotions, which are inherently abstract concepts—nobody knows where they originate or where they go; they are the most potent evidence of the existence of God. Being able to control emotions, how is that different from God?
These abilities are too ethereal and intangible, more so even than Magneto and Professor X's abilities. This makes it so that Batman can only understand them theoretically, not practically.
The Primary Universe Batman originally came to ask for some intelligence, intending to inquire about Professor X, because Charles had caused them significant losses. But now it seems this isn't the climax of the battle, just the bugle call.
Just when the Primary Universe Batman was pondering this question, he suddenly felt something was off—why did the sky seem to have darkened a bit?
The Primary Universe Batman paused in the corridor, looking out the window at the sky. The light source of Apocalypse Star comes from the outer Shield, the entire Apocalypse Domain is not dark but always has a faint light.
It was just that, he didn't know if it was his illusion, he felt the light dimmed slightly, almost as if the whole star was running out of power, similar to a cloudy day on Earth. Were Gotham's clouds still chasing me?
It turns out he was overthinking; this time, it wasn't clouds but dark matter.
"Batman, you need to see this," the Martian Manhunter's voice echoed in the mind of the Primary Universe Batman.
The Primary Universe Batman hurriedly headed in that direction, and they came to the monitoring laboratory of the command center at their base. This place was primarily for monitoring the cosmic environmental changes outside Apocalypse Star.
Then the Primary Universe Batman saw a series of numbers rapidly changing on the central screen—showing the cosmic coordinates.
The Primary Universe Batman was momentarily speechless. He froze for a moment, then said, "Has the monitor malfunctioned again?"
"I'm afraid not this time," the Martian Manhunter said, standing by the table, "Apocalypse Star is moving, and its speed is increasing."
"Batman!!!" Darkseid's roar echoed upstairs. By the time the Primary Universe Batman looked up, he had already appeared at the doorway.
"Are you controlling the Apocalypse Domain's movement?" the Primary Universe Batman asked.
"Of course not. I can only control things within the Apocalypse Domain, but not move the entire domain. Otherwise, why wouldn't I drive the Apocalypse Star to chase Earth?"
The Primary Universe Batman was momentarily speechless. He said, "So what's happening now? Why did the Apocalypse Star suddenly move?"
"That's what I came to ask you."
The Primary Universe Batman immediately recalled what Erik had once disclosed to him about Captain America's son, Thomas Rogers' mutant ability.
"Did the dark matter readings change?" he turned to ask.
Martian Manhunter immediately started checking the data, then said, "We haven't specifically monitored dark matter data, but some instruments have this function. Let me see... Oh, indeed. Dark matter is showing abnormal behavior. What on earth is going on?"
The Primary Universe Batman didn't answer right away. He simply said, "Is there a way to control it?"
"If we had a way to control it, we wouldn't need the Apocalypse Domain," Martian Manhunter said honestly, "Dark matter accounts for 85% of the total mass of the universe. If we could control dark matter, the entire universe would be our domain."
"What if someone else can control it?"
The laboratory fell into silence. And silence was the best answer—if our opponents could control dark matter, it would be akin to us going against the universe itself. What could be stronger than the universe itself? Might as well go home, clean up, and sleep early.
"You mean, someone can control dark matter and then move the Apocalypse Star by manipulating dark matter?" Darkseid asked.
The Primary Universe Batman nodded.
"Incredible," Darkseid said.
Although Darkseid is a New God, he is actually a very powerful scientist—after all, the ships on the Apocalypse Star didn't just appear out of thin air; they were all invented and created by himself. He certainly understood what this meant.
The opponent is likely squeezing dark matter, pushing the Apocalypse Star out of a certain area. And because this extrusion is continuous, it appears as if the Apocalypse Star is rapidly speeding through the cosmos.
Now the question is: Why are they doing this?
The Apocalypse Domain is not Earth. Earth is quite small; as long as you pay a little attention to the road, you won't hit anything. But with a celestial body the size of the Apocalypse Domain, avoiding collisions is the hard part.
This is their own universe, controlling such a large object to rampage through, really believing the cosmic population is too dense, and planning to launch a universe-wide Ragnarök?
Darkseid, though confident in the Apocalypse Domain's Shield—most things in the universe shouldn't break through it; the opponent probably knows this too, otherwise, they would have attacked directly long ago. So consuming the Shield or the like is also unlikely. What is this all about then?
Darkseid turned his head and found the Primary Universe Batman looking at his phone.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'm surfing the web," the Primary Universe Batman paused before adding, "Checking when Captain America had a child in this universe."
"What?"
"Great, about six months ago," the Primary Universe Batman took a deep breath, "What do you think a roughly six-month-old human child would want to do with his marbles?"
Darkseid seemed a bit puzzled.
"From the current movement route, if we continue on a straight path, the final destination should be the capital of the Kree Empire," Martian Manhunter said, staring at the screen.
"Kree Empire?" The Primary Universe Batman frowned.
"Wait! We detect an unidentified object ahead, very small but with significant mass-energy changes... Damn, about to crash!"
Just as Martian Manhunter finished speaking, the entire main star of Apocalypse shook violently. Through the monitoring equipment, the Primary Universe Batman saw the sturdy Shield of the Apocalypse Domain instantly disintegrate like powder when encountered with an extremely small, almost negligible black dot. The enormous kinetic energy of the entire domain was neutralized, and that small black dot crashed into the Shield, landing right on top of the Apocalypse Main Star.
In everyone's minds, a still-childlike voice resounded: "Little Rogers, you damned brat! I'm going to have Aunt Wanda spank your bottom!!!"