Chapter 2197: Battle of Two Cities! (Sixty-One)
Batman is having his longest day yet.
Later that day, Batman finished the work of Wayne Group as quickly as possible. His rigorous character allowed him to investigate all the business conditions of the past three months and adjust many details, so despite efficiency It was full, and it was already late at night when it ended.
There was a light left for him in Wayne Manor, but when he entered the hall of the manor, he saw something he had never seen before.
If Batman had to describe this scene, his artistic talent, which is no less than human, would describe it as "lively remains" and "warm remains."
The fire in the fireplace has gradually extinguished, and the blackened charcoal has lost its remaining red color. The ashes are rising along the flue, and are amplified by the weak firelight into a fluttering shadow that is reflected on the sofa, like a group of people floating and rising in the dim light of the deep sea. jellyfish.
There were obvious dents left on the fabric sofa. This was a detail that Batman's instinctive detective vision stuffed into his mind. Then he saw several familiar figures sitting around the fireplace. They were his Robins, Damian, a couple of the younger kids, and Bruce sitting on the couch across from the fireplace.
In the dim light of the fire, they leaned forward and looked at the pictures on the coffee table. When Batman walked over, he saw the hands of several fair and slender young people, or the hands of slightly immature children, writing on a piece of white paper. Write and draw.
Now that everyone has left, there is only the drawing paper placed on the coffee table. The densely drawn football formation patterns tell the story of the lively discussion that took place here about an hour ago.
The bone china cup and saucer were placed separately, and there were traces of water flowing down from the warm water on it. When drinking water, you must be in a hurry, wanting to quickly pour the water down your throat, and then open your mouth to say the next sentence.
The fine biscuit crumbs spread along the edge of the coffee table and onto the ground. While eating, I looked at it. Of course, I also used my hands with the crumbs to pull the drawing paper and push the people around me.
There were many footprints left in front of the coffee table. The body was always leaning forward, listening carefully, and having heated discussions. There were also two young men crowded on a sofa and twisting around, just to be able to see what they had drawn from the best angle. tactical formation.
It was silent here at this time, but Batman could be surrounded by the excitement in his imagination, just like every time before dawn, he walked back to the Batcave in the deepest darkness and saw the birds living in their nests all night long. traces.
But it was usually fragmentary, like scattered flames, but this time someone had gathered them together, and the crackle of the wood was deafening to Batman's imagination.
"They are very happy." Alfred's voice appeared behind Batman. He brought Batman a cup of hot tea and said: "I didn't go to bed until eleven o'clock. No one can convince anyone, so tomorrow Plan to hold a simulated ball game on the garden lawn.”
Batman's fingers paused as he took the teacup. He lowered his eyes, blew on the tea, and asked, "Are there enough of them?"
"Of course it wasn't enough, but Dick decided to call his classmates. He made several friends at the summer camp where he went to high school, as well as classmates who took ballet classes together."
"In the garden?"
"Yes, the lawn on the east side. I will get up early tomorrow morning to clean it up. Master Thomas said they will come back tomorrow morning and we will still have breakfast together."
"It's a good thing, Alfred."
Batman nodded, with an inexplicable expression on his face. Even Alfred, who knew him best, couldn't say that he often saw Batman's expression like this.
Or something close to...envy?
Alfred knew best when Batman would take off that serious coat. He had seen a slightly tired Batman return at dawn more than once, throwing himself away like a normal human being. Go into the sofa, drink hot tea, and observe everything in the Batcave.
Alfred knew he wasn't looking at the equipment or furniture, or even at the amazing collection of objects in the Batcave, as if bats' sound waves, which humans couldn't perceive, allowed him to see things humans couldn't.
Perhaps in Batman's eyes, time may not be continuous. His amazing powers of observation allow him to see every detail of the Robins' activities in the Batcave, and his brain, which is completely beyond the scope of human beings, can He turned all traces into real scenes and reproduced them around him.
In this way, he seemed to be immersed in the excitement, shuttled among the birds, squeezed through a group of fluffy feathers, shiny and smooth young beaks, and slept until dawn.
But if another younger self is added to this fantasy, Batman will inevitably be surprised to find that he can still dig out a little bit of humanity from the cracks in the hard rock wall he created. He feels a Wonderful jealousy.
In the past, this kind of excitement was only for him, because only he could see it, only he could imagine it, and only he could remember it.
Not even this group of birds. They regard every day they spend here as an ordinary day. There is no need to care about it, let alone remember it deeply, because they are the creators, and they have already created it at that moment. Own it.
But Batman only observed and collected it afterward, so he selected it very carefully, composed it repeatedly, and finally preserved it with extreme caution. He could not have it, because if he had joined it at that moment, the creators of such liveliness and warmth would have fled in panic and fear.
Batman understands the cause of this situation better than anyone else, because he chose to make himself a symbol of fear. Fear is an extreme emotion that can never be controlled freely. Either you can scare everyone, or you can Not one of them can be intimidated.
So he chose to stay away, observe, collect, reconstruct, and enjoy the lively and warm family atmosphere in a field that was more about psychiatry than social engineering. He thought this would be good for them all.
But now there's a bat that Batman can't even say is a bat, he looks exactly like a bird.
Even without disrespect, Batman can only say that this guy is more like Nightwing when he is not at odds with him. He just blends into the flock of birds, creating and enjoying the excitement with them.
He didn't even fly past like a thief, or squeeze in sneakily. He just spread his wings and swaggered into the bird's nest, making a noise bigger than a robin or even a cuckoo. Movement, like the singer who leads the birds to sing in fairy tales.
Batman looked up and saw Bruce standing quietly in front of the patio on the second floor, holding on to the railing with one hand and hanging the other hand by his side. Sorry, Batman could only think this way. If Bruce didn't smile, he would But he didn't immediately distinguish between Bruce and Nightwing.
Bruce smiled, but Batman thought he might as well not smile. Who could tell the difference between him and the Joker now?
"We had a great time chatting." Bruce leaned forward, folded his forearms to support the railing, and said to Batman with a smile: "We decided to play a game tomorrow morning, to be precise, after breakfast. Friendly match, I decided to name this the first Wayne Cup.”
"Of course there will be a Wayne to referee, we only need one, I think it's Thomas, what do you think?"
Batman looked up at him quietly, and after a while he said, "You are me. We all know what kind of person we are. Putting aside the tragedies that have been reversed in your life, do you think you can never show your flaws? ”
Bruce suppressed some of his smile. The moonlight coming from the long Gothic windows on both sides of the patio just fell on both sides of his body, like a pair of narrow spread wings.
"Sociopaths, manipulative tendencies, psychopaths, we all know that there is no fundamental difference between ourselves and that crazy person."
Bruce stretched out the index finger and thumb of one hand, making it look like a gun, then pointed his index finger at his head and said: "We are exactly the lunatics we hate. You choose to refine your will and wisdom into the roughest form." The iron chain locks those crazy parts tightly, as long as high functionality brings us the advantage.”
"And you chose to become one with them." Batman's deep voice echoed in the hall: "You accepted them and used them freely, just like those lunatics, who gained spiritual gains through unscrupulous means to attract others' attention, manipulate and abuse others. enjoy."
Batman looked directly into Bruce's eyes and said: "You are not really interested in football. In fact, you are disdainful of their crowds and enjoyment. What really makes you excited is to fight against me and take away something from me." This is the most typical manifestation of mental sadism.”
The smile on Bruce's face completely disappeared and he looked a little indifferent. He crossed his arms and wore slippers, kicking and walking down the second floor.
When his steps passed through the light cast by one window after another, he seemed to be walking down the stairs of heaven, sinking from light to darkness.
Until he stood in front of Batman, Batman saw himself with blood-colored pupils standing in this body through those blue eyes.
They were completely at one with each other, which was the worst news Batman had heard in a while.
It's not that the Joker and Batman become one, but Batman's own sanity and madness, indifference and excitement, darkness and light, imagination and logic, absurdity and reality - all of which constitute the tragedy and comedy of Batman's life. Completely one.
He is no longer a knight bound by creed, but a madman who accepts reality. He is no longer the embodiment of extreme emotions, but an ordinary person who is completely reconciled to himself.
It didn't take long for him to complete this change. Batman could see that this was not exactly the same Bruce he saw in Schiller's thinking tower. He should have been silent for a period of time and completed the spiritual transformation. integration and transformation.
Brilliant, that's all Batman can say.
But Bruce apparently had more fun than he imagined, because the next morning, he got up and made breakfast.