As everyone anticipated, it was indeed Batman who cut off the power source, causing all mechanisms of all stages to stop.
Previously, when they entered the Central Energy Room, they wanted to do this. However, that energy center had a very tight protective shield, basically just a big metal block. The stage designer didn't know who it was guarding against, leaving no room for operation at all.
Now, of course, it's clear who it was guarding against. Unfortunately, it didn't guard against anything at all.
At the time, Batman didn't choose to act because there was still a chance to clear the stages normally. Batman is the type of person who sacrifices without hesitation when it's him doing it, because that's most efficient; but if he can no longer afford to sacrifice and has to let others do it, he might temporarily abandon his orderly ways and use his wisdom to achieve opportunistically.
Now, Batman can no longer participate in the normal clearance process; who needs to sacrifice during it no longer concerns him. In this situation, he won't care about the normal clearance process; instead, he'll go straight to the core, securing the most important part first.
After confirming the replica basically lacked magic elements, no matter what mechanism you designed, without electricity, it's all powerless. So just cut off the electricity, and the puzzle is solved.
Of course, he also considered whether directly cutting off power might cause some dangerous mechanisms to fall. But Batman had already discovered that the previous stages' mechanical engineering level was decent. He doesn't care about artistry or philosophical thinking; he just knows the designer's professional skills were indeed good. Power-off braking is one of the basics of mechanical engineering safety rules; if this isn't done well, then even Batman would give a bad review.
And after coming to Bruce and Arrogance's room and having a conversation with them, Batman knew he couldn't rely on them. Regardless of how many times they might have hurt each other pulling one another out of the fire pit, just tell if they came out or not. It's unlikely they'd push each other into the fire pit; Arrogance's teaching ethics wouldn't allow it.
They are unlikely to complete this stage, and people outside might get stuck because they don't complete it. So Batman returned to the Central Energy Control Room, starting to deal with the big iron shell.
Actually, it wasn't hard because he had already seen that the stage's designer had gone to the extreme in cutting corners. The visible parts were meticulously crafted, and the invisible parts were all sloppy, even lazy to render textures, with a few employee passages glitching out.
In this situation, ground level might be heavily guarded, but underground is not necessarily. And coincidentally, the Cultist's room was just below the energy center.
Batman returned to the Cultist's room, directing Superman to dig upwards. Sure enough, the floor was just a thin layer, and the protective shield wasn't embedded deep; it was easily pierced through.
"What next?" Superman looked at the hole overhead.
"You go and check," Batman said, "Never mind, you go up first, then pull me up. If there's an operations panel, I'll pull the switch; if not, you smash everything."
Greed in the monitoring room panicked hearing this. This stage isn't a one-time thing; others will play after you're done. Smashing ordinary props is okay, but the energy center is expensive. Its compatibility has been adjusted by administrators from two Great Worlds, redoing it would be very troublesome.
"Deathstroke, Deathstroke!" Greed shouted, "Quick, stop them!"
Deathstroke was resting in the lounge, and hearing someone call, he immediately went. He didn't ask specifics, just got up and went. Following Greed's direction, he came to the Cultist's room. Seeing the big hole in the ceiling, he cursed: "God, who's so unscrupulous?"
He climbed up through the hole, in dim light seeing two figures. Batman had already confirmed there was no operations panel on the energy center, and Superman was about to start smashing.
"Stop!" Deathstroke hurriedly shouted, "Don't smash!"
But when he circled the machinery and saw who the two people were in front of him, he instantly froze.
Deathstroke stared at Batman and Superman, Batman and Superman stared at Deathstroke. For a moment, they were all wide-eyed, small-eyed at each other. Deathstroke took a step back, grinned, and said, "Never mind, you guys take your time smashing, I'm leaving first."
"Deathstroke!!!" Greed screamed in the communication channel, "What are you doing? You should hit them!!"
"Are you crazy or am I crazy? You want me to hit Batman and Superman?!" Even Deathstroke cursed in the communication channel, "How much do I earn? You want me to do this?!"
"They're not from your Universe…"
"But they definitely know the Primary Universe Batman." Deathstroke's mind worked fast, "If those two turn around and report me, how can I get jobs from Primary Universe Batman?"
"Also, aren't you a bit too optimistic? Why do you think I can take on these two?"
"Superman doesn't have superpowers anymore!"
"Then let me ask you, did Batman ever have superpowers?"
Greed was speechless. Deathstroke said, "Mercenaries always do as much as they're paid. I might give you a slight discount on that Agent's behalf, but you can't pay me bicycle money and expect me to go to the Moon. This request can't be fulfilled!"
"Well, at least try to stall them." Greed said, "Just don't let them smash the center."
"I'll try." Clearly, Deathstroke was in a tough spot.
After hanging up, he didn't plan to make a move, but intended to talk to them properly. Although Deathstroke was wearing an employee uniform and a hood, it was clearly unavoidable for Batman's sharp eyes.
"You're a mercenary?" Batman squinted and said, "Negotiating prices with your employer because you haven't reached an agreement?"
Deathstroke took a cold breath. How can he negotiate when the opposite side has seen through him?
"Looks like I guessed right," Batman said, "To be honest, I've got some money too. Whatever they pay you, I can double it."
Deathstroke couldn't help but take another look at Batman. Despite his current poor state, which could even be described as embarrassed, standing was the bare minimum he could do, his words were very convincing. This kind of being poor enough to only have money is very hard to fake.
Deathstroke actually didn't want to respond, because he still had some professional ethics. But then, it's Batman, who knows if there'll be a chance to take his job while crossing the universe in the future. Best not to make any absolute statements.
"Well, it's not entirely about the money."
"Then they've got something on you. I can help with that too," Batman said, "Is it the FBI or the CIA? I've got some friends in those agencies."
"Let's not talk about that," Deathstroke said, "I just want to remind you not to smash this thing; offending them won't end well."
"So it's valuable then? Or difficult to manufacture, making it rare. From its appearance, it doesn't seem like it's worth much craftsmanship-wise, meaning some of its materials must be hard to source..."
"Don't go giving him information," Greed couldn't help but say, "If you really can't stop him, then hurry and get out!"
"The problem now is can I really leave?" Deathstroke replied, "Do you see them letting me go?"
Superman was already standing at the opening where he came from. In a real fight, Deathstroke truly wasn't scared of a Superman without superpowers. But Batman's intimidation was too strong, who knows what secret weapons he might be hiding on Superman, touch one and it might blast him two leagues away.
Even knowing that in a dungeon it'll be impossible to make such things, Deathstroke still didn't dare gamble. Being able to discern who to provoke and who not to is a major reason he became the world's top mercenary. Cowardice isn't shameful, surviving is more important.
Of course, Batman is relatively reasonable. When he passed through Gotham and was harassed by Robin and fought back, Batman never took sides and intervened. Therefore, Deathstroke's impression of him was okay, and he was willing to cut him some slack.
"There's a switch below this thing," Deathstroke said as taught by Greed, "Put your hand below it and you can turn it off. Of course, I know you worry about traps, so I can operate it."
"Do you have weapons?"
"No," Deathstroke said. Of course, he was lying; he could pull out a heap of cold weapons from his pocket at any moment, but he dared not give weapons to Batman, otherwise, Batman might actually be fighting in the Netherworld.
"So you're planning to subdue us with bare fists?" Superman said incredulously.
"I'm not intending to make any moves on you; I'm truly here for negotiations." Deathstroke glanced at Greed's freshly written plot, "The company never intended for things to escalate, even going as far as to act against our investors. This game is completely lost; you can leave now. But it's best not to cause trouble here, it's not beneficial to anyone."
"Actually, there's a division within the company regarding whether such dangerous projects should continue. If you intend to completely stop this affair, perhaps your friends can come in handy."
Batman understood Deathstroke's hint. This was a suggestion not to flex their muscles in the level, but to get out smoothly, and then use societal forces to pressure the company to halt this cruel project.
"Alright," Batman said, "Turn off the power and open the door; I need to go meet up with other players."
Actually, Greed originally disagreed, because Batman's team shouldn't have cleared the level originally. But Deathstroke persuaded him, and Greed also recalled Batman's prior praises for the level, thinking that if Batman clears it perhaps he could give it an 8.0 rating, a good review surely won't be a loss.
"Fine." Deathstroke pretended to think, then agreed, walking forward and reaching under the glowing sphere. With a click, the sphere went out. Almost simultaneously, Greed pulled the switch for the lighting power. The entire chamber was now without energy.
The mechanism in the room stopped shortly after, and players each received their keys. But they weren't in a rush to leave, rather they waited. They thought Batman and Superman's group, or Shiller and Bruce's group, might come over.
They were right. The passage opened, Batman and Superman came in, followed by someone resembling an employee.
As soon as they stopped, Superman turned back and grabbed the employee by the neck, shouting, "Don't move! Get the door to the first-floor chamber open now!"
Everyone was stunned by this turn of events. They didn't understand why this mysterious company employee would follow Batman and Superman in, nor comprehend why Superman suddenly kidnapped him.
However, instead of Deathstroke fiercely resisting as expected, he seemingly just acted like a regular employee, symbolically struggling twice, then said, "No, don't kill me, I'll open the door for you."