The robot is extremely predictable.
And the override doesn't work.
Heh. seems you're a little predictable too, Bruce.
"Mister Atom, I need to keep working."
"Incorrect. You are time expired. The quality of your work will decrease unacceptably for this point onward. I do not have the capacity to perform my regular tasks as well as yours."
And the last thing Bruce would accept is any kind of mistake on his part, wouldn't he?
The robot isn't capable of directly interfacing with other computer systems. Apparently it's a safety feature to prevent a virus infecting it. I suspect that it's a restriction its creator implemented to prevent him taking over every online computer in the world. We had to build a special voice command system to allow it to give commands to its robot drones fast enough to matter. It can give command to twenty different sets of drones simultaneously using different pitches, but it's only got one set of eyes.
Good foresight of the fellow, but such a pain in a situation like this.
And it has no social skills at all.
I step away from the computer and walk towards the medical-.
Pot, meet Kettle. Yes, you
are both rather similarly coloured, aren't you?
"I have removed your stimulants. You have reached the point of diminishing returns and would undergo a dangerous crash within four days plus/minus one day."
I can't stop working. The whole world-.
And a moment like that is exactly
why you need to rest, Bruce.
The robot's face vanishes from the monitor, and is replaced by… Bats. Bats hanging off zoo keepers who are stroking their heads.
"I chose the bat because it scared me as a child, not because I find them aesthetically appealing."
I mean, chiroptera
are kind of cute, in a
fugly kind of way?
"I understand. You hate yourself and so identify with an unappealing animal."
The bat pictures are replaced with pictures of puppies. Pet owners have proven to be slightly more resistant to the effects of Anti-Life than people who don't own pets, the animals buoying up their mood and giving them something to live for. The animals themselves aren't effected by Anti-Life, but just giving pets to people who don't have them doesn't work as they're too depressed to learn new skills or become emotionally attached to them.
...Somehow, I don't think 'Dogman' would have struck
quite the same kind of fear into the hearts of criminals.
"If you were human, I might think you were joking."
"Why did the Batman leave the cave, out of his office, up the stairs and then into the third room on the right?"
...Atom, you have a
lot to learn about humour...
I know he's right about needing to get some sleep, because I can feel myself starting to smile.
"Because that's where his bedroom is."
And I find it
amusing that he's not worrying that the super robot knows where he sleeps. That's how
exhausted he is.
"You are supposed to claim ignorance. That is the structure of the joke."
I check the time on my armour's integrated computer, and I'm sure that I can only confirm what it said because it lets me. Normally, the idea of someone -anyone- else having this degree of access to my systems would be completely unacceptable.
Needs must, and sometimes the paranoid control freak
needs to open up.
But we don't have a choice.
And I'm so tired.
See? Go, rest.
I walk towards the armoury and begin stripping off my armour. It's been over a week since I was in the field. It might be more efficient to stop wearing it entirely. I know perfectly well that even with J'onn and Hawkman sharing my strategic responsibilities that a lot of the time the most helpful thing I can do for the League is make sure that everyone else is in the position where they can do most good.
And there's always the slim risk of being attacked in the cave. Wouldn't help if you were only in a light spandex version of the suit because you weren't expecting it.
But I can't deny that it's galling that of all the League members it's my city that's been taken over. I had a file on Mistress before this started but there was nothing in her profile that suggested that she would respond this way to a situation like this. It's also galling how using the Anti-Life as a control system doesn't seem to produce materially worse results than preventing it from establishing itself.
So, she's working for the bad guys right now? Pity. Presumably soaked in Anti-life up to the tips of her very long hair...
Edit: Huh, Word of Zoat says no. Wonder who it is, then?
My wiki-fu is insufficient.
I don't bother dressing. Dick's out with the team, and Alfred is still under medical sedation. Talia is probably still out in the city… Somewhere. I was concerned that exposure to the Anti-Life might cause her to revert to some of the behaviours she developed before meeting me. I should have had more faith in her.
Her love for
you is stronger than her belief in her father's ways. Even with the Anti-Life whispering in her mind...
It's a short walk through the manor to my bedroom, and I can't help but notice how empty it feels. I judged Rick to be at high risk, so he's acting as a bodyguard for Batson. No Dick, no Alfred and no Talia. Only a few years ago I considered that normal and wouldn't have particularly cared if it never changed. Now, I feel their absence.
Maybe I was just fooling myself.
You can't carry on your crusade alone, after all. And a burden shared is a burden lightened.
I can still feel the presence of the Anti-Life. We destroyed both of Mannheim's attempts to build an Anti-Life transmitter inside Gotham, but it looks like having a sufficiently large number of people accepting it works just as well.
And that's not something we have a cure for.
Not
yet, anyway.
I take a quick shower to try and relax. When Mistress took control of the city she still had the sense to make sure that the utilities still work. The people who work there are exempt from her… Games. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to be interested into coming far enough out of the city to visit Wayne Manor. Playing along wouldn't bother me, but it would be a frustrating distraction.
No. It's not working.
Ah, Bruce... It says something that when told to relax, you
can't...
I have drugs that can knock me out when I need sleep. I developed them after Roxy Rocket dosed me with a stolen amphetamine derivative that made sleep impossible. But there are side effects, it's not as restful as natural sleep and there are problems with continual use.
Relaxation exercise, then.
And I can't see him allowing himself any kind of chemical-related
weakness at a time like this anyway.
I sit in the middle of my bedroom floor, hands on my knees and eyes closed.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Safe bet he wakes up flat on his face, drooling into the carpet...
Floating in a void.
Outside the void is chaos. Inside the void is nothing but my mind. Everything that is chaos is rising from my mind and joining the chaos outside of the void. Feel them float away and think of them no-.
...Kind of hard to meditate when you're
snoring, huh?
Ah, just the thing to help you relax. Though I have no doubt he's got
ludicrous amounts of stamina in the bedroom alongside everywhere else.
I'm face down on the floor, laying in a fetal position. There's drool on my cheek and on the carpet.
Mr. Atom was right.
Better on a nice soft carpet than in the keyboards of the batcomputer.
I push myself up, trying to assess how alert I am. It feel like I got about two hours, enough to function but nothing like enough to be fully recovered.
"Talia." She's in costume, minus the cowl and mask. No injuries that are immediately obvious. No outward sign that she's concealing one. "What time is it?"
And she wears it well. Rowwwr.
There's something about a woman in skin-tight suits...
"Seven in the morning."
The robot won't let me back into the cave for another three hours at the absolute minimum. And while I could function for a while as I am now, it wouldn't last. But I'm still sleepy enough that I should be able to rest normally. I stand, and walk towards our bed.
Aw, not going to ask her for some help getting to sleep?
I want to ask how the city is. But there isn't anything I can do immediately to undo everything that's wrong with it, and if there was an emergency she would have told me.
"Wake me in four hours."
It's a rare chance to sit back and see that yes, the world
will spin on even if you aren't there to keep it turning, Bruce.
I put my face into my pillow without looking at her face. She knows the situation, and she knows me. I-.
She puts something down on the pillow next to me. I turn my head slightly to look at-.
"From Doctor Mist. A Dream Catcher. It should ward off even the Anti-Life." I feel her gentle hands on my back. "Rest, Husband. The world will be here when you awake."
Dawww... And probably would work, too. Pity they can't make one big enough to encompass the entire world.
