Though it seems to be slamming him more with
fears than anything else. And if he's been involved in fighting Scarecrow before... He's felt
fear.
Tapping on my-.
I'm swallowing the capsule before I really think of anything, and I know Bruce isn't going to be happy about that. Alexander said he's got some sort of cybernetic implant to stop him feeling the Anti-Life, and that's basically what Mr. Atom uses. But between Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy…
So many Gotham Freaks with a taste or talent for the
chemical. Of
course Batman made countermeasures.
Bruce came up with
a pharmaceutical solution.
And it kicks in real quick. Funny thing is, it's not even illegal, just really unhealthy if you take it more than about once a month. But just like that, the buildings aren't trying to grab me or trap me, and the shadows are just shadows or at worst hiding places, rather than pits of evil and doom. The people around me aren't madmen with guns-.
Ooooh, the 'tripping balls' font. Been a while since we saw that. Kind of like
Willpower in a pill, then?
Okay, Gotham, but not more than normal.
Gotta love those post-hypnotic suggestions!
Hey, it's not the
craziest thing Batman has done in the name of preparedness.
Mistress is smiling at me. And with-. Okay, I'm high, but she doesn't exactly look like an Apostle of Darkseid. She's gotten a fitted suit from somewhere, but other than that, Karon Chase still looks like Karon Chase.
Except the dark glowing pits she has instead of eyes.
Oh,
eerie. Weird eyes is always a good signal that things are
not right.
And Holly being basically stuck to her side like she's on a boat in a storm and Karon's the other thing keeping her from going overboard.
"You mind turning the doom and gloom down a little?"
Ah, good to know she's taking care of her girl through all this. And to have it stated outright in-universe. No needing to dance around the issue now.
"Doom and-? Oh!"
She actually smiles, somehow, and-. Meadows and fluffy bunnies and it's a good job Wayne Pharmaceuticals isn't in the legal highs market. Tap tap, antidote, down the hatch! And don't make any major life choices or financial decision for the next couple of minutes.
I like that while the counter-agent is fast-acting, the counter-counteragent isn't. Just in case you
need that hyper-sanity for a bit longer.
Artemis stop cringing quite so bad, and… I didn't even spot Match leave.
"You forgot?"
Hopefully he just retreated to stay out of range, rather than in an Anti-Life-driven fit of madness...
"I don't feel it. To me, what you saw is-."
Normal, yeah, yeah, I heard it from your lowlies.
And humans are surprisingly adaptable. If we have to endure something long enough, it quickly becomes
normal.
"That fact that it's normal doesn't mean that it's not terrible."
Canis grins.
Right,
him. Best to save the punitive punishment for after you negotiate with the local warlord.
"Is it not a marvellous duality! Despite the Anti-Life, she retains a degree of her personality! I cannot imagine Great Darkseid ever saying anything like that-"
I don't-.
Canis, please. Save the fanboyism for later?
"-like it's a bad thing!"
"You didn't grow up in Gotham, did you Robin?"
Kind of makes me wonder what Jason Todd will be like as a Robin if it happens here... Imagine the kid that
could survive all that's happened in this universe...
...Wait, is
that why you adapted so well, Karon?
She uses her right hand to stroke Holly's hair, while her left gestures to the buildings around us.
And I'm not in the meadow any more.
So either the counter-agent is wearing off, or she's amping up the gloom a little to make a point.
"This isn't a dark fantasy or a tearing away of the veil. This is Gotham, as most people lived it. From the mobs to the supervillains, nothing really got better. The way it manifested changed… But so what?"
You mean you always felt like this?
She kind of has a point. Batman may have cleaned up organised crime, but the Freaks that rose in his wake... It's hard to deny that they're
worse.
"It was always lurking in the background. It's not new for me."
"But Holly's…" Oh, coming down. The streets still look worse than they really are-. At least, worse than I hope they really are. But now I've had a chance to get into the right headspace, it's something I can cope with. Just about. "Still with you. What does that-? I mean, do you still love her?"
And honestly, I would be worried about her state of mind after being saturated with Anti-Life for over a month straight.
"I like to think so. But I don't know. Everything feels so different, now. But I will protect her anyway."
"But-. Why?"
Why not?
"Because if nothing matters, why not protect the one I decided to protect? The one thing that nearly makes me feel something rather than nothing? Why not do the thing that I decided to do?"
"And the evacuations?"
Ah, I think I understand how she's handling the Anti-Life now. Her
love let her adapt, to overrule, to
dominate, in order to keep what she loves safe. Even buried under all of that Anti-Life, that love lets her keep
focused.
"The illusion is beautiful. I was happier. Why not let them believe for a little longer?"
Okay, that's… Good. Most city bosses are pretty contemptuous of everyone not like them.
As noted, the sort of people who would rise into that position would naturally be aligned that way. The Anti-Life would practically
select for it...
"But do you see how it emphasises the hopelessness!"
And Canis is… Really too happy about this.
At least he's not 'happy' about it.
I don't think any of us want to picture
that Canis.
But the thing is…
"Yeah. I can."
And doesn't that just depress you
more?
And he smiles, not because he's being… A dick, but because that makes him genuinely happy.
"I will pray to the Source for your enlightenment to continue."
...Please don't.
"I don't need that kind of enlightenment. Karon, what do you know about Bruno Mannheim?"
"I know him. In my dreams the truth wears his face. He will take this world and crush it as we cheer."
With six billion voices...
"He's coming here. Do you know why?"
"Me. I don't fit in. The Anti-Life in me is a counterpoint to the themes he is impressing on the soul of humanity."
A discordant note in his symphony of suffering, his song of subjugation...
"So… Why doesn't he just send his killed robot after you? Or, y'know, his army?"
Canis looks at me like I've said something stupid-.
Because of the laws of Narrative Combat. Something most non-New Gods can't even
perceive.
"Because it's not artistic enough? Seriously?"
"Its how our power works, Robin! How the might of our souls clash and wrestle for dominance! This is no contest of peasants thrashing one another with pig-sticks! Did you think I invested myself in art for mere aestheticism?"
...Wait. Wait. Canis makes art... As a
weapon for his form of Narrative Combat?
Yes, Canis, we all thought you were just weird about painting. That's literally-.
Oh no. I'm going to have to get Zatanna to go over every piece of art he's made since he got here, just so I can be sure he's not doing something to us.
Good grief. It's an
insidious idea, isn't it?
"So he's coming here to fight you?"
"To demonstrate to superiority of his outlook."
And be seen crushing the discordance under his boot. Because using an underling to do it would not have the same impact, the same
meaningfulness to it.
"Like a..?" Artemis looks like she's mostly recovered. "Like a debate?"
"Conducted with our souls."
...Oh god, it's going to be Godspeech everywhere, isn't it?
Mobile users, be
ready!
"And what happens if you win?"
"I will control Mannheim's perspective. His Justified. In effect, the world."
I nod. "Then we need to do some practice sessions."
Oh,
boy. That's going to be
trippy.
