American comics: What kind of evil intentions could Batman have?

Chapter 1046 Batman: The Dragon and Perpetua's Relationship

Chapter 1046 Batman: The Dragon and Perpetua's Relationship

Papetua's sudden change in attitude left Chen Tao somewhat bewildered.

He instinctively felt a sense of unease towards the unknown, because from his perspective, he neither knew how Perpetual had fallen behind in his battle with Dr. Manhattan, nor how the entire Dark Knights had been recruited by Perpetual, only to be ultimately confirmed as having failed.

Naturally, he could not understand Papetua's anxiety, nor could he comprehend the terrifying future that Papetua saw.

"You once received the power of Barbatos and the Anti-Monitor, didn't you?" he heard Papetua whisper. "Those powers reshaped you, making you the stronger person you are now. You are still hijacking the Anti-Monitor's persona, stealing his energy. You don't shy away from accepting help from others, so why not use my power?"

"Stop, you're confusing me."

Chen Tao asked, "Why?"

"To protect this world."

Papetua said, "If I could, I would never want you to be my spokesperson, but in reality, we have no other choice."

Papetua paused, and finally decided to be open and honest.

"It seems I'm not entirely unable to guess your thoughts. Strictly speaking, we are indeed enemies. Your attempt to use Dr. Manhattan to suppress me is understandable, but I must remind you how dangerous Dr. Manhattan is. You think you can control him, but Dr. Manhattan far surpasses your imagination—and mine as well."

Chen Tao frowned. Papetua was connecting their minds, and he didn't know what kind of information Papetua wanted to present to him, so he subconsciously blocked it.

"Please, this is very simple information, don't be so wary," Papetua said.

Ok.

Chen Tao accepted the other party's advice, and then he experienced the images that Papetua had transmitted back to him.

A pair of eyes, the eyes of Dr. Manhattan.

Terrifying and indifferent, cold and ruthless, devoid of any human emotion.

Even Perpetua didn't have such a terrifying gaze. Even though Chen Tao knew that Perpetua was intimidating him, implanting the idea of ​​just how dangerous Dr. Manhattan was into him, he was still frightened by Dr. Manhattan's eyes. This is the most instinctive rejection of an emotional being towards a terrifyingly rational being, and Perpetua exploited this.

She said, "I admit that Dr. Manhattan's behavior does not seem illogical, and you are not the only one who can draw patterns from his so-called experiments, but I must point out that you relied too much on your own predictions about Dr. Manhattan's behavior, and ultimately ended up in a situation where you were trying to negotiate with a tiger."

Papetua spoke very tactfully, and Chen Tao began to wonder what Dr. Manhattan had done to force the vicious and dictatorial Mother of the Multiverse to this point where she was speaking so politely.

He didn't rush to answer, but continued to listen to Papetua.

"I'm just presenting you with a possible opportunity, a backup plan. I know you have a plan and ways to deal with Dr. Manhattan, and I'm not stupid enough to think that a few words will make you give up using Dr. Manhattan—but what if things get out of control?"

Papetua said, "You must admit that you must borrow my power to fight a desperate battle, and I also need the support of the DC multiverse's destiny to fight to the death."

"————"

Chen Tao had to admit that Papetua might be a vicious mother, but when she was cornered, she could still say things that were hard to refuse.

Admittedly, there might be a trap in Papetua's words. She might try to use her power to influence Chen Tao, just as she has influenced countless characters in the past, such as the Anti-Monitor and Parallax Morhal, to create crises in the DC multiverse and generate crisis energy for herself to break the seal of the Origin Wall.

However, Chen Tao could also confirm that Papetua was indeed under pressure from Dr. Manhattan at this time.

Under such pressure, her urgent need for an ally is understandable, but from another perspective—

Papetua's display of such importance to the DC multiverse is very likely an attempt to conceal his true purpose.

You see, it's not that Chen Tao is just assuming everyone is thinking the dark side; there's another possibility entirely:

For example, despite being suppressed by Doctor Manhattan, Perpetua has devised a completely new plan. This could involve guiding Doctor Manhattan into a direct collision with the entire DC multiverse, causing both to shatter. Perpetua could then completely discard the DC multiverse's reality flowing through time, causing everyone to die in immense agony. She could then extract a massive amount of crisis energy from this, activating the crisis power of the entire multiverse to kill the severely wounded Doctor Manhattan, absorbing all of his Manhattan power. Following this, she could then use the Möbius Chair or other artifacts to channel all this energy into her own body.

Chen Tao's imagination about how to be born had never been so developed at this moment. He didn't fall into fixed problem-solving patterns. Papetua's previous attempt to preserve the DC multiverse was indeed true, because she needed the DC multiverse to help him fight against the Origin Hands who might come to demand justice. But now the situation had changed. If Dr. Manhattan's death could provide him with more energy, then damage to the DC multiverse itself seemed less unacceptable.

So, for Papetua right now, her constant talk about protecting the DC multiverse is like a gambler saying he wants to protect his capital at the gambling table. But if there were an opportunity to go all in, gamble on the death of Dr. Manhattan, and then completely absorb his quantum link power, would Papetua be tempted?

That's hard to say. If Papetua possessed such all-in wisdom, he could have single-handedly manipulated the situation and fooled everyone.

But no matter how you look at it—

What do I need to give in order to gain your support?

Chen Tao inquired.

He knew that Papetua would never simply come over and say, "I want to support you, but you have to share the destiny of the DC multiverse with me at the crucial moment!" It was a joke. To gain the other's power, one would inevitably have to pay a corresponding price.

"In the most extreme moments, I need you to help me regain the power I've lost; I need to find the totality."

"I'll help you find the Total Assembly and then completely remove you from the wall? That's impossible." Chen Tao refused decisively. The Total Assembly was the missing piece of the puzzle for Perpetua's power. Agreeing to this condition would be tantamount to promising Perpetua that he would help him evolve into the Perpetua of the late-stage, peak period of Dark Night Death Metal in the comics he had seen in his previous life—the world-destroying mother goddess who directly destroyed the Hypertime Stream and suppressed the entire DC multiverse. Chen Tao's suspicion and wariness of Dr. Manhattan did not mean that he was going to unleash another tiger, okay?

"Only if you feel it's necessary when the situation gets out of control," Papetua added. "What situation is necessary for you? I will absolutely not interfere. This is a promise in the true sense of the word. I only need your commitment now that if that day ever comes, you must make the right choice."

Papetua was very sincere; he didn't even need Chen Tao to do anything, just a promise, which was completely empty talk.

joke.

Is Chen Tao some kind of masochist?

To create an even bigger crisis in order to solve the current one, Chen Tao has learned his lesson and is determined not to do something so foolish again. He's done what he did on Earth-15 once; creating a fully-fledged Perpetua in the DC multiverse as its overlord is something he would never do, no matter how dire the situation. He'd rather die right in front of Dr. Manhattan than let Perpetua bite into the entire universe.

So strictly speaking, he obtained Papetua's help entirely by relying on a blank check, and at least for now, he has made a profit from this deal.

That's enough. As for what happens next—we'll talk about that later.

"Batman's Dragon, Batman's Dragon??"

Chen Tao severed the connection between his consciousness and Papetua. Then he came to his senses and saw the Pharaoh and the second Rorschach standing in front of him.

"Everything is ready."

The Pharaoh still had those pink, pointed ears sticking up on his head, making him look somewhat comical. He was wearing his own clothes, but not his spare battle attire; rather, they were clothes that Rorschach had stolen from some unfortunate bandit in another timeline. Gone were his classic cloak and glittering gold robes; the Pharaoh only had his headband from his heroic days. The outfit looked rather incongruous, but he didn't care at all.

He clutched a green lantern in his hand, its green light illuminating his excited face. It was Alan Scott's lantern; Doctor Manhattan had interfered with the DC multiverse by altering its fate. A moved lantern, a dead superhero—this triggered a chain reaction, preventing Superman from revealing his superpowers and directly leading to the deaths of New 52's parents. Beside him, the second Rorschach supported the self-proclaimed Johnny Thunder, who was actually a five-dimensional being named Thunder Sprite.

Why are you supporting him? He looks like he's about to die, but once he regains his power and remembers that he is a five-dimensional being, he will be able to manipulate reality at will.

While Chen Tao was thinking this, he still spoke to the little fairy, Thunderbolt Johnny, with considerable politeness.

"Please, Mr. Johnny. Pharaoh—may I call you Witt? Would you mind handing over the lantern you're carrying to—uh, Mr. Johnny?"

Chen Tao was too embarrassed to directly tell him that he wasn't Johnny at all, but rather the Thunder Elf. Since the other person still perceived himself as Johnny, he decided to let him continue playing the role of that old man who had stepped out of history. When the time came, Johnny would awaken on his own, and there was no point in forcibly shattering the illusion.

But the Pharaoh had no place for Johnny; his eyes were fixed on Batman and the dragon.

"We need to have a good talk, about Batman: The Dragon, but before that—" the Pharaoh said, "we need to go back and get the puppets and the mime before we can summon Dr. Manhattan."

The Pharaoh couldn't help but utter his verbal tic again, and his eyes lit up with blue light.

0

The marionette and her husband, a pantomime, are locked inside the hollow of the spaceship.

"Ugh, so boring, it's so hot," she said listlessly.

Her husband made a gesture of pretending to drink, which amused his wife.

"Yes, yes, I can have one too."

silence.

Then the puppet suddenly asked, "Did you bring your lock-picking tool, my dear?"

Then she saw her husband, holding a non-existent lock pick, with a smile on his face.

A smile appeared on her face.

Ten minutes later, they stepped out of the spaceship.

The pantomime artist reached out and took the hand of the marionette.

"It's all written on Witt's face. He has no idea where we are. Jersey, is that even possible?"

The woman walked down the street cursing and swearing, and then she and her husband accidentally wandered into an abandoned circus.

"We shouldn't have joined this freak show before he revealed where our son is. Now, who knows where we are or what we're doing—"

The two of them wandered aimlessly through the circus.

"Exactly, darling, Witt is really like a blind man leading a blind horse. I mean, even if we find Dr. Manhattan, so what? What can we say?"

"Oh, just kill us then. I'm not pregnant anymore!"

The pantomime remained silent, while the marionette rambled on and on, cursing: "That idiot is still wearing Rorschach's hood, pretending to be Rorschach. He's completely out of his mind. But who is he anyway? Why did he follow us? Does anyone really want to be the next Rorschach? And Witt, oh, the famous Pharaoh, right? He doesn't tell us anything, all he wants is to be some kind of savior. This whole mess is his fault, like he's playing a joke on us. He even said we're the key to dealing with Dr. Manhattan?"

He gestured briefly to correct his wife's statement.

"Okay, okay, the key is communicating with Dr. Manhattan, not defeating him, and that's not what I meant."

The marionette muttered, "Where was I? This is like a joke on the two of us, and it's not funny at all."

The two of them walked through a huge pile of garbage and arrived at the top of the circus building, looking out at the brightly lit Gotham City in the distance.

"And this place isn't Jersey either."

The marionette said, "Come on, my love, let's go over there and have a drink."