The time was a bit earlier, probably when Arkham Batman had just been discharged from the hospital. His first stop after leaving the campus hospital was not the classroom or the library, but the activity room of the magic mechanical club.
As soon as he pushed the door open, he startled Stark. Stark put down the wrench he was using to repair the mecha, sized him up, and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Not for now." Arkham Batman strode to the workbench and took the successful experimental gemstone off the bench.
"What are you doing?!" Stark hurried over to stop him, "That thing hasn't been tested yet. You can't just take it off, if it explodes it'll be trouble!"
"It's already exploded." Arkham Batman said.
"What?"
"Otherwise, why would I have stayed at the campus hospital for so many days?"
"Wasn't it said that there was an elemental riot in the Magic Forest?"
"No."
Arkham Batman's tone was very cold. Although Stark was curious about what happened, his intuition told him he should stay away from this person.
Even though this guy is also Batman, he seems to be completely different from the Primary Universe Batman. On the surface, Arkham Batman looks colder, but Stark can feel that Arkham Batman is the one with greater emotional fluctuations. At least now, he looks very angry.
Arkham Batman removed all the gemstones on the workbench in one go. Stark wanted to dissuade him but didn't dare, so he tried hard to change the topic and said, "Didn't you say you wanted to try the mecha last time? I've almost got the model adjusted..."
"Not necessary," Arkham Batman said, "Can you get me a car?"
"I can, sure, but what model do you want? Recently, Stark Group's floating car has been selling pretty well..."
"Floating car?"
"Yes, but it's not using magic, just some simple physics principles. The first batch just hit the market and is selling quite well. If you want it, I can give you one."
A day later, Arkham Batman looked at the Stark-brand floating car parked in the middle of the activity room and uttered a single word expressionlessly, "Ugly."
Stark was instantly flustered and indignant. Arkham Batman had already lifted the hood. Stark hurried to stop him and said, "What are you doing?! Don't mess with it, careful not to break the power system..."
"You said you were giving me this car. Are you taking it back now?"
"Stark would never take it back!" Stark raised his voice and shouted, then continued earnestly, "You can't just modify this car. If there's a problem with the suspension system, you might fall from mid-air. I'm considering your safety."
Arkham Batman bent down to inspect the engine, then stood up and said, "If you genuinely care about my safety, help me modify this car."
"What are you going to do with this car?"
"I'm just used to having a handy ride. Never mind, it's not a big deal if you don't join in, I can handle it alone." After saying this, he picked up the wrench Stark had put down.
"Wait, wait, wait! If it explodes, Steven won't let me off the hook. I'll help you with it."
Another day passed, and Stark looked at the pitch-black, low-chassis, land tank in the classroom that resembled a metal bat with a complex expression.
"You're sure this thing looks good?" Looking at the wrench in Arkham Batman's hand, Stark was relatively restrained and didn't show "disgust" on his face.
"That's not important." Arkham Batman extended his hand to Stark and said, "Give it to me."
"What?"
"Your magic core."
"When did I say I'd give you my magic core?!"
"Just now." Arkham Batman raised the wrench in his hand.
Stark reluctantly took the magic core from the side of the mecha and said, "Can't you be a bit more subtle?"
"I don't have time," Arkham Batman said.
Hearing this, Stark felt a bit nervous. He asked, "What's going on exactly? I've always been clueless about matters of the magic realm. What's happening outside?"
Arkham Batman answered very concisely, "Someone is courting death."
After saying this, he inserted the magic core into the modified Batmobile's engine. He sat in the car, ignited it, and along with the familiar engine roar, the entire vehicle emitted a Magic Glow.
"Hiss..." Stark sucked in a breath of cold air and said, "Isn't this output too high? This engine power is enough to drive 30 mechas. What are you going to do with it?"
"Crash into people." Arkham Batman was equally concise.
Stark was momentarily speechless, hesitating before saying, "I won't ask who you're crashing into, most likely they deserve it. But I must remind you, the higher the output, the faster the energy consumption. This thing won't last long."
"No problem. Someone will take me back."
Arkham Batman got out of the car and tossed a small object onto the workbench. Stark glanced over and saw it seemed to be a ring. He leaned closer to inspect it and said, "Isn't this the mage's suspension ring? What are you doing with it?"
"Have you ever heard of directional blasting?"
"Uh... Vaguely.
Arkham Batman picked up the small ring again and turned it in front of his eyes, saying, "The principle of this thing is essentially equivalent to precise-controlled directional space blasting. So theoretically, as long as there are location coordinates and sufficient energy, it can tear open a hole in any dimension."
Stark unconsciously swallowed and asked, "So which dimension has this honor?"
"Currently unclear, I need to ask." Arkham Batman placed the suspension ring on the lab table.
Stark widened his eyes and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. He said, "You're not thinking about modifying that ring, are you? That's not possible! Steven said that the structure inside is very intricate, a stable construct achieved by the mages after thousands of years of iterations. You can't just destroy it; it could have unforeseeable consequences."
"Like?"
"A big explosion or something."
Arkham Batman didn't even lift his head. He said, "The most important explosion in this universe was the one that blew me up. As for the others..."
Though he didn't finish, Stark understood the implication. He wanted to stop him but knew he couldn't take on Arkham Batman, so he gave up.
Actually, Stark had never contacted Arkham Batman before. But he took Shiller's advice and wore his mecha even when entering the rec room. He had asked his mecha the probability of winning against Arkham Batman, and the mecha did not disappoint, decisively telling him it was zero.
Even if Stark didn't have the Mind Reading Technique, he could see that the brutal guy in front of him was on the verge of going berserk. If he weren't worried about how to explain to Strange, he'd have already flown back to New York by now.
Stark stood there watching him tinker for a long time. As a top scientist, he could more or less understand what Arkham Batman was doing. In fact, he didn't destroy the original intricate structure of the ring; he merely added a positioning and guide device.
This device would read Arkham Batman's brainwaves, intercept specific signals from them, and transmit them to the teleportation portal device. This way, it would allow the portal to open based on coordinates acquired from Arkham Batman's brain.
It sounded complicated, and it wasn't simple to carry out, but Arkham Batman moved so fast it was dizzying, as if he had envisioned all this in his mind and possibly simulated it countless times before.
Once everything was done, Arkham Batman walked away without looking back, leaving Stark full of questions.
"Wait, you geared up to attack another dimension, so why did you leave?"
Then he realized that when Arkham Batman said "currently unclear," he meant he still didn't know which dimension his enemy was in, presumably going to confirm now.
However, the magical school was closed off and had little contact with the outside world, not even an internet connection. And information about various dimensions of this universe is confidential to ordinary people. How on earth was he going to confirm which dimension his enemy was in?
After leaving the rec room, Arkham Batman immediately returned to his dorm, and at that moment, Primary Universe Batman happened to be in the library. Arkham Batman opened the internet and started browsing.
He quickly found an account and sent it a private message—"16:00, meet at the side gate of the main castle courtyard."
The sun started setting, but the glaring orange-red light didn't manage to illuminate the corner of the side gate porch. When JARVIS walked over, he saw a tall figure standing there and recognized him instantly.
"How clever." JARVIS said, "Purposely sent a message to my internet account in a school where there's no internet."
"You want to know how I did it." Arkham Batman said, "This isn't just my work. If you want to know, you can ask my roommate."
"What do you want?"
"Mephisto."
"What?"
"Mephisto is right here in this school. You know that, right?"
JARVIS was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, but he has the Supreme Magician's approval, here for legitimate business. Neither you nor I have the authority to expel him."
"I don't want to expel him." Arkham Batman shook his head but didn't elaborate on this issue. He simply said, "Does he have an account?"
"What do you mean?"
"Internet account. On any software."
JARVIS paused again, then said, "Yes, he does. Why do you need his account?"
"He can't always come to Earth every time he surfs the internet. How does he access Earth's internet from Hell?"
JARVIS fell silent again. After a long while, he said, "It's an established custom. The Holy Sanctuary wants business, so they provide the Demon Gods an opportunity to learn about Earth and their agents. Besides, their activity online is monitored."
"Monitored by whom?"
"...Me."
"How does Mephisto perform?"
"You can't expect a devil to follow human laws."
"That's because this universe doesn't have a Batman."
JARVIS stared silently at him.
"What do you use to monitor?"
"What?"
"Programs? Data?"
"Electronic signals."
"Send me the frequency bands."
"Provoking Mephisto isn't a wise choice." JARVIS used that distinctly mechanical level tone, trying to sound as if he was stating a reliable analytical conclusion, "In the Hell Dimension, no one can harm him. There, he's almost omnipotent."
"Well, here's the thing. I don't need almost—I'm omnipotent."