Batman had taken exactly ten minutes to unravel the mystery of the chains wrapped around the iceberg and used his Bat-equipment to project a pattern in midair.
"Hal, channel your Green Lantern energy into the chains, then run it according to the sequence in this pattern. Start here, gather the energy at this node, don't turn when you go this way, and make sure the power output remains steady the entire time..."
Batman had expected Hal to ask a few questions, but instead, he said nothing and immediately began following Batman's instructions. As he worked, he looked at Batman and said, "You must be wondering why I'm being so obedient, but judging from your behavior, you're even sicker than the Bruce from our universe."
"And the most important thing I learned from him and his professor was that when a super-genius lunatic tells you to do something, you'd better listen, because it works, and it keeps him from going crazy."
Batman began wondering exactly what kind of insanity that teacher and student had inflicted on the people before them.
Once they started working together, Batman realized that the young Justice League members of this universe were almost too easy to communicate with—and far too obedient.
All the excuses and explanations he had prepared for Justice League members in the past were completely unnecessary. No one here demanded an explanation. They all had the same attitude: yes, yes, sure, sure, we'll do it right away.
Obviously, someone had gone spectacularly insane before, making them deeply understand that genius fantasies needed no explanation.
For once, Batman did not investigate the reason further. Hal was a little disappointed. He shrugged and said, "I was all ready to tell you some outrageous stories about those two. Clark always gets there first. It should've been