In the very place where Bruce Wayne was born and raised, the place where the seed of The Batman was planted, this place was now the center of a fight for the soul of that man. Between two versions of him, one clinging to sanity and using mental fortitude that was without peer to stay himself, and the other laughing madly in the hilarity of the madness and chaos he had caused.
Gotham was in shatters and being pulled apart by The Batman Who Laughs schemes. Plots and plans that came to this final moment. To prove once and for all who the true Batman was, the final evolution of that concept. Countless lives ruined for this unholy crusade but The Dark Knight of Gotham, even teetering on the edge as he was, was ready to stand up to the darkest version of himself.
"You can feel the collapse now brother with the toxin almost making your blood mine. Now that you're becoming me I will tell you how to become the bat that Gotham needs." The Batman Who Laughs said before dodging a kick from Batman. They were of equal match in nearly every way now. Before when they had fought, Bruce had been fighting himself but with the randomness and insanity of the Joker. Now, with the Joker toxin in his own veins, he was keeping pace.
The two shades of the same crusader fought in a paradoxical dance, with highly skilled and coordinated and yet seemingly random moves out of nowhere being thrown in. Two masters of every method of bodily harm men could learn and yet their fight could be seen as a street brawl with just more fancy moves being used. And that was more true than either would like to admit. Both sides were on the edge of both victory and defeat. And both were so close that it pushed them to decide this fated duel that much harder.
"Shut up monster!" Batman yelled as his body succumbed further to the Joker toxin in his blood. He didn't know how he was going to cure himself. Not with the amount of time he had left. But… he never even thought passed winning this fight and ending the threat of his twisted twin. For once The Batman did not have a plan for something. That's how far this monster had pushed him. The only thing he had was a hope… and a slim one at that.
"I know it's hard now but don't worry, when the toxin turns your blood into my blood you will finally see the truth of how to finally win. So before you realize how to always win I will tell you as a gift, because without your fear of what you would become if Joker pushed you too far I wouldn't exist and not experienced the amazing feeling of achieving true happiness." The Batman Who Laughs throws Batman to the ground near an old tree. The Batman from Earth Negative Twenty Two was enjoying himself. Villains always got to monologue, and why? Because it was fun to gloat and savor the moment of victory. It was almost as good as the victory itself. But he would not end up as some two bit villain, no-no-no. He was The Batman Who Laughs, he was better than them.
Meanwhile, The Batman of which so many in the multiverse was echoed by was on the ground catching his breath as his foe walked over agonizingly slowly. But that was good. The slower he was and the more he played with his food the more that Bruce's hope turned to a real chance.
"His speed is making this difficult and forcing me to exert more energy to keep up with him. I am almost out of healthy blood cells and if the Dark Multiverse portal does not bring the young Bruce Wayne soon then the toxin will overrun my blood cells." Batman gripped the dirt tightly in his hand as he pulled himself back up. These old grounds had seen better days but he knew them by heart. He was by the old tree with a bat colony. Good, the oldest allies he had since donning the cowl would be an ironic card to play against his own twisted reflection. "The Batman Who Laughs wants to beat or incapacitate me long enough to explain what his version of a bat is, and if I stop to listen to his explanation he will realize that I am stalling for time until the portal opens. Though if I strike then back off for a short time and repeat this process I can get more time while taking advantage of the fact that he doesn't know my plan."
The crusader of justice rolled back, avoiding the batarangs thrown by The Batman Who Laughs. Landing at the trunk of the tree, now would be the time to enter the next phase of the fight. With a kick, he knocked the nearly rotted tree to both get some space and to summon the bat colony. While the tree collapsed from the kick, Batman got to his feet while avoiding an incoming uppercut from his fiendish counterpart. In seconds the two were exchanging blows but the continued effects of the Joker toxin in Bruce's blood finally slowed him down by a fraction of a second long enough to give the monster his moment.
As the tree came down The Batman Who Laughs tackled his Light Multiverse brother and brought out his syringe and thrusted it towards Batman's chest to complete his scheme. Bruce caught the arms of the monster and the two began the struggle that would decide everything. The Batman Who Laughs madly pushed down, this would make everything clear to the Prime Batman and finally make his work complete. But The Dark Knight of Gotham fought back, with every last drop of resistance he had to stop the incoming needle that hovered over his chest.
Bats flew around the two, creating a cyclone of wings that only added to the strained focus of the fighters. Enough to where neither of them sensed a third person had come onto the scene. Caught completely off guard, someone tackled The Batman Who Laughs off Bruce, and in the whirlwind of bats, knocked him back and caused the syringe of Dark Multiverse serum to scatter off to the side. The bats cleared as both Batmen looked up to see the person they never thought would be here.
"I can't believe I have to tell this to you of all people. But I'm the only one allowed to drive him batty!" Joker screamed with an insane mix of laughter and guttural rage as he stood over Bruce in defiance of the Dark Multiverse's champion. Neither of The Batmen could believe that Joker of all people had come to interrupt their duel and to come on the side of the Prime Batman no less. The confusion of the moment however distracted them all from the small spark of energy that was now fluidly running through the air.
Seconds passed as no one moved. Until finally The Batman Who Laughs gave a small chuckle… that grew into one of the most insane bouts of laughter either Bruce or Joker had seen. And that was saying something. The Clown Prince of Crime frowned at this. It was insulting. He had always wanted to make The Batman laugh but never with a handicap. This imposter was named The Batman Who Laughs for Christ's sake. He wasn't his Batman and there was no victory in making this one laugh as he was supposed to do that anyway.
"Batty! Batty?! That's what you think I'm doing? Driving him insane! No! I'm showing him the truth!" The Batman Who Laughs lunged like a wild animal at the both of them. But the energy that had been building finally snapped. But not as what Bruce had expected, not a portal to bring a healthy version of himself here but instead a slit in space that opened like a sideways eye that quickly encompassed all three of them a good deal of the Wayne Manor grounds. Something had gone wrong… horribly wrong. And when the new and strange portal shut, it took all of them with it.
He had traveled via portals, boomtubes, and many other non-conventional means before but nothing could be compared to the feeling Bruce felt now. The closest he could say was flying, just flying towards something without control. But he also had the immediate knowledge that he was not alone, that the monster he could be and the Joker were with him. Like him, they didn't move or act but he knew they were with him. Then flashes of familiar faces stretched across his mind as The Dark Knight was pulled away from Earth.
At first they were very familiar, people he knew and foes he knew of. Then things changed after he felt like he passed through a membrane of existence. The Multiverse. That's what was happening, he was once again traveling through the various versions of reality. The mental sights of different versions of earth and the universe confirmed this. But Batman had traveled through the Multiverse before, and this did not feel like those times. For one thing… there was no sense of slowing down. The variations in realities grew greater and greater. And soon they only barely resembled what he knew. A terrible theory began to form in Bruce's mind. That the monster had discovered his plot and now was dragging him into the Dark Multiverse. That didn't happen though.
They suddenly stopped, Batman and the two others could move their bodies for a split moment as whatever was pulling them away crashed into something that made it stop. Immediately, honed reflexes sprung into action as everyone moved to attack each other but were swiftly stopped as they burst forward through whatever obstacle had stopped them. But just a second before Batman felt the unknowable vastness of what was to come… he felt something behind him. A figure, blurry and unseen reach out to him. Someone had tried to catch them but before he had the ability to even think about that he was pulled into this new place.
Now images played out in Bruce's mind that had no relevance. A man in green armor too angry to die fighting demonic beings. A silver haired girl running from biting cold and the galloping of hooves. A golden light fighting back against a sea of madness and insanity. A scarlet crown's shadow at the edge of a planet. These were things that he had never seen before or could possibly know of. More and more glimpses into events and people. But then once again and for the final time, they hit a stop. And like before for a brief second the three had control over their bodies. Each went for their foe once more only for a crash to shake the ground below them. An even faster sense of flight took over and the images that normally came were so blurred that they were unrecognizable.
Batman wondered when this would stop. But the answer to that came quicker than expected. With one last collision, the sense of unnatural flight ended with the feeling of hitting the ground suddenly.