The Night Owl asked very directly, without circling around at all. However, given his current state, being direct is normal. After all, everyone knows he is holding his breath, wanting to compete with the Prime Universe Batman.
Now that the Prime Universe Batman has achieved such great results, he is certainly anxious and eager to make his own achievements. Naturally, he wants to participate in the upcoming combat task. It's something everyone knows and isn't considered abnormal.
Moreover, the Night Owl knows that the Prime Universe Batman cannot refuse and must let him participate. Because this guy has always been trying to win over the other Evil Batmen. His philosophy is to save who must be saved, striving to unite everyone, and being just and fair, unaffected by personal likes and dislikes.
Since he set up this persona, he naturally has to do it perfectly. So, even if he verbally scolds the Night Owl, when it comes to the real deal, he must give the Night Owl a chance to make a contribution. Otherwise, people would easily see it as deliberate discrimination. In that case, other Evil Batmen wouldn't dare to come and seek refuge, and other Justice Batmen might also think the Prime Universe Batman is not fair enough.
So, the Night Owl seized the opportunity before the Batmen left, deliberately rushing up to ask like this, intending to morally manipulate. You, Prime Universe Batman, don't you want to be a saint? Then if you disagree with my combat request, it means you're taking petty revenge.
The Prime Universe Batman pondered for a moment, then said, "There is indeed a combat task coming up, but I think your abilities might not be suitable..."
"Whether my abilities are suitable or not, you have to explain what the combat task is first. Otherwise, how would you know I'm not suitable?"
"Of course, because I understand..."
"Then tell me, where have I been recently? How much do you know about that universe? What new abilities did I acquire in that universe?"
The Prime Universe Batman frowned. The Night Owl said somewhat smugly, "You don't know, so you can't judge my abilities by the old standards. You tell me what the combat task is. If it's really unsuitable, do you think I'd go seek death?"
"Alright," the Prime Universe Batman, as if unable to argue, said, "We have found the location of the Soul Gem, but that place is indeed a bit dangerous, and there might be enemies. We are organizing a combat team to search for it..."
"I'll be the leader," the Night Owl said, "You should know I wouldn't take on this task unless I was confident."
"But, the gem tends to have magical attributes. Your performance in the magical school wasn't great, and I haven't heard of any standout achievements..."
"Then you probably don't know that with just one curse, I knocked out the Super霸 of our universe..."
The Prime Universe Batman frowned, seeming to be deep in thought. The Night Owl continued, "Moreover, the gem isn't going anywhere. If I fail, you can just send someone else."
"I can let you try," the Prime Universe Batman said, "but we must have an agreement. If you dare violate it, I will order the termination of the combat action."
"Don't worry," the Night Owl said, "this is my first combat task, I will definitely do my best. But you also need to assign me some competent people. If there are any laggards interfering with my actions..."
"There won't be," the Prime Universe Batman said, "Firstly, the combat team must be united and absolutely cannot have internal conflicts..."
Although he said it was an agreement, the Prime Universe Batman meticulously set out several points, wanting to remind about every detail. The Night Owl was beyond impatient, but he still stuck around to listen to the end.
"I've already sent the coordinates of the mission target to the spacecraft in advance. You can check them once you're on board," the Prime Universe Batman said.
A gleam flashed in the Night Owl's eyes, but he calmly nodded and walked toward the equipment storage, looking quite determined to prepare for battle.
After leaving the meeting room, the previous Arkham Batman slowed down a bit and stayed behind to walk shoulder to shoulder with the Prime Universe Batman. He said softly, "I warned you, recently there are mysterious magical fluctuations around him. Why did you still..."
"The coordinates I gave are fake," the Prime Universe Batman said, "Everyone knows the conflict between the Night Owl and me; the other side won't miss this chance. So, we'll just play along, as we're just looking for something to distract them with."
"How do you know the Night Owl will definitely cooperate with the other side?"
"Before Bruce goes, maybe not. After Bruce goes, he will definitely collaborate with them. You know how irritating that guy is."
"No wonder you sent him to comfort the Night Owl," the Arkham Batman clicked his tongue, "At the time, I thought you were trying to use Bruce's youthful image to remind the Night Owl of his brother, so he would be moved."
"Do you really think he misses his brother so much?" the Prime Universe Batman chuckled coldly, "People like him always love themselves the most. If he could do it all over again, even knowing it would lead to a deadly misunderstanding, he would still act. Between his brother living and his parents dying, he would always choose the latter. Constantly seeking replacements is also to satisfy himself. To truly love someone is to make them strong, not to trap them in the role of a perpetually needing protection weakling."
The Arkham Batman said no more. They walked on in silence. After a while, the Prime Universe Batman added, "Although we can use the Night Owl to distract the other side, they are already on the brink of desperation and will not easily back down. They still have a lot of power yet to be used. Everything else can be discussed, but those trapped Supermen, we must rescue them."
The Arkham Batman nodded, clearly agreeing on this point. He said, "Honestly, I didn't expect you to wait this long to rescue them. Is it because they are Supermen?"
"Exactly. If it were anyone else trapped, I would have rescued them immediately, because others would never forgive me otherwise. But Superman will think I have more important things to do and be relieved that I didn't come to save them. So I must complete the plan I previously laid out; otherwise, even if I rescue him, letting him know that rescuing him delayed my significant matters, he will..." like a dog that's just received an injection, look at me like that."
Arkham Batman seemed amused by this metaphor, but after thinking about it, he found it quite fitting, and couldn't help but repeat, "A dog after being injected... actually, I've never seen a dog get injected, but I can totally imagine it."
"This task still has to be entrusted to you," said Prime Universe Batman, "but I'll assign you an assistant. He has extensive research in this area and should be able to help. Who are you planning to go with this time?"
"Agents, of course. That black-haired Constantine is not bad either, very efficient. Just these. Too many people can be inconvenient."
Prime Universe Batman nodded and said, "The place you're going to this time is quite special. I'll have that assistant pick you up in the evening."
In the evening, Arkham Batman was in his room, organizing his gear. This mission was going to be very dangerous, because the one who captured Superman was Charles, whose body they had previously destroyed and was severely injured. The opponent will not give up easily.
As far as he knew, the Dream Realm on the Marvel side is completely different from their homeland, not as powerful. If one must say, it's an independent dimension made up of Dream Power, with no intercommunication between individual universes and no dream god as powerful as theirs.
But this also meant that it would be more chaotic. Having an arm-wrestling match with Professor X in the psychic battlefield sounded almost like a fantasy tale. But Charles was not at full strength now, so it might be worth a try.
At nine o'clock, Arkham Batman suddenly heard a loud noise. When he turned around, the wall of his room was directly knocked down, and the cab of a giant truck, emitting a faint glow, poked into the room. From his seat, Joker Jack gave him a big grin.
Arkham Batman helplessly closed his eyes, hoping he was seeing an illusion. If he'd known the assistant Prime Universe Batman found was him, this job should have been handed over to Night Owl to do.
But it was too late to back out now. Arkham Batman sighed and said, "Open the back door of the truck, I need to drive the Batmobile on."
The other party didn't say much and opened the door. Only when Arkham Batman circled to the back of the truck did he find that he was no longer at the base, and outside the room was a void. He summoned the Batmobile and drove it into the truck's carriage.
He sat in the back row of the truck cab, and the two of them drove in silence until they reached Shiller's room. Shiller had already prepared his gear and was waiting there. As soon as he got on the truck, he said, "This might be a bit tricky. A crucial Doctor Strange wasn't captured."
"Who?"
"Dream Power Doctor Strange. You could consider him half a dream god, with the other half being Professor X, and now the two of them have joined forces. The difficulty is roughly equivalent to punching Lucifer."
"Doesn't sound too hard," Jack said, "Bruce can slap Lucifer into the Holy Spring three times a week."
"Only to get kicked into Lake Eden by Lucifer, right?" Shiller rolled his eyes slightly and said, "We almost killed Charles this time, he definitely won't let us off easy."
By this time, the truck had arrived in front of Constantine, who was still wearing a trench coat and carrying a suitcase, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. As he got on the truck, he offered one to Jack, and the two sat there puffing smoke. Shiller took one and held it in his mouth unlit, while Arkham Batman turned to look out the window.
The drive was smooth, with no surprises. They drove through a blank white space most of the time, with signs gradually appearing along the way. No one knew how Jack navigated, but the scenery got denser.
Then a road suddenly appeared. Jack slowed down a bit and frowned slightly.
"What's wrong?" Arkham Batman asked.
"Looks like someone's welcoming us," Jack said. "Care to come out and talk?"
"It's me." A figure appeared in the middle of the road. It was Dream Power Doctor Strange. He said, "I know what you're here for, but this isn't the place for a fight. The Dream Dimension here is rather fragile, and Superman has already caused a lot of damage by making a commotion. If you do it again, I'll be homeless."
"What do you propose then?"
"Not all disputes need to be resolved with force, and I'm not saying we need negotiations, either. How about changing the rules and using Dreamworld's gameplay instead?"
"Dreamworld's gameplay?" Arkham Batman asked. "How do you intend to do that?"
"Four of you versus three of us, each with a nightmare scenario. When you enter a nightmare, the protagonist of the nightmare will recreate the scenes from that year, and the teammates will be responsible for rescuing him, while the opponents will interfere. Whoever rescues the protagonist the fastest wins."
"Sounds kind of interesting," Jack laughed and said. "If we win, will you release the person? If you win, what do you want?"
"The whereabouts of the Soul Gem," Dream Power Doctor Strange said. "Even with the address, you can't be faster than us. By then, it'll be up to whoever can get there first, so you're not losing anything."
Jack looked at Arkham Batman, who pondered for a moment and then slowly nodded.