Chapter 92 An Empty Home for One

Of course, no matter how you look at it, these two are unlikely to listen to the Penguin.

The owl even deliberately threw its boomerang in the direction of the penguin, cutting through the iron railing the penguin was leaning against.

The penguin immediately shut his mouth and quickly evacuated from the Iceberg Restaurant.

Although the Penguin didn't know why Batman and Owl suddenly became enemies (at least a few days ago they were walking together quite intimately, and Batman wouldn't even care if Owl said he wanted to destroy the world), he knew that their battle was definitely not something he could interfere with.

Of course, the best outcome would be for Batman and Owl to both suffer heavy losses, while the Penguin would finish them off and successfully take over Gotham.

The boomerang spun once and returned to the owl's hand.

“I already know your true identity and purpose,” Batman said, searching for an opportunity to defeat Night Owl, trying to observe Night Owl’s expression. “Don’t continue…”

“No, you don’t know,” Night Owl interrupted him. “You know nothing, Batman.”

If Batman really knew that Nite Owl was Thomas Wayne Jr., he definitely wouldn't be so calm right now.

"Where did I go wrong?" Batman threw another smoke bomb, and the smoke once again enveloped the parking lot.

Owl flung the incoming bomb away with his cape and continued, "You're wrong from the very beginning, Batman. You're completely wrong, and you won't believe me no matter what I say, so there's no point in me explaining."

“No, I did nothing wrong,” Batman said deliberately, trying to get Owl to say more. “Your methods of concealing your identity are rather clumsy.”

Of course, this is also to distract Night Owl during the battle, since Night Owl is still wearing his power armor and it would be difficult to defeat him using conventional methods.

"Do you think I can't see you're trying to trick me?" Night Owl still didn't retaliate. "Don't use the same methods you use on ordinary criminals on me, Batman. I know you."

Several bat darts flew through the thick smoke. Night Owl reached out and swung them away, only to have his arm firmly gripped by a grappling hook that followed.

The grappling hook's rope gradually tightened, pulling Night Owl forward two steps.

Batman uses the grappling hook to fly towards Night Owl, adjusts his posture, and attempts to deliver a flying kick to Night Owl's chin.

But he kicked at nothing; Night Owl used his boomerang to cut the grappling hook's rope and dodged to the side.

Batman adjusted his landing posture again, twisted his body to face Night Owl again, and after landing, he once again launched a flying kick at Night Owl's neck.

“It’s no use. I’ve emphasized it so many times, but you’ve never remembered. I’ve known you for over forty years… I know every single one of your moves, Batman.” Night Owl blocked Batman’s attack. “Stop running away from reality. Think about it, who else around you is more suspicious and more likely to want to destroy the world?”

Batman didn't speak, but instead raised his cape and attacked.

Night Owl stepped back, easily dodging Batman's heavy cape, and kicked away several bombs that Batman had thrown on the ground under the cover of the cape's attack: "Think about it again, I've ruled Gotham for so many years, always holding the technology of quantum bombs, yet only this year have I decided to destroy the world?"

"That proves nothing. You could have been provoked," Batman replied coldly. "So you're saying that someone else created the quantum bomb?"

“Anyway, you won’t believe me no matter what I say,” Night Owl grabbed Batman’s arm, flung him away, and then pulled out his grappling hook. “Now I have nothing to say to you.”

Batman rolled to dissipate the force and looked up at the night sky.

The owl opened its cape in mid-air, swept through the thick clouds, and then disappeared into the skyscrapers of Gotham.

Batman gritted his teeth and solemnly opened the communication.

“Good evening, Master Bruce,” Alfred’s voice rang out. “Have you caught an owl? I’ve heard that owl feathers can be used to write.”

“Obviously I didn’t,” Batman replied. “Did Robin go back?”

"Not yet, Mr. Bruce, the Batmobile is still on its way."

“Very well, Penny One, you go upstairs now…” Batman casually came up with a nickname for Thomas, knowing Alfred would understand who he was talking about. “Go check the bedroom of the most rebellious guy, see if he’s in bed, I have something to ask him.”

“I guess you’re talking about young Thomas,” footsteps came from Alfred’s side. “What made you suddenly suspect that young Thomas wasn’t asleep and wasn’t in his own bed?”

“For many reasons,” Batman explained, “just in case, I can’t ignore any suspicious points.”

“Yes, Master Bruce,” Alfred said quickly. “I don’t care. You just need to figure out how to explain it to Master Thomas. If there’s no reasonable explanation, I think Master Thomas, whom I forcibly woke up at midnight, will probably do something rather unusual.”

“…I know,” Batman thought for a moment, “Please, Penny, if he’s really sleeping well in bed, could you take a day off from the sugar reduction plan, just for my sake?”

Is this enough?

"Maybe."

“Alright, for the sake of the whole family being able to have a safe and sound Christmas, I agree.” Alfred went upstairs and spoke to Batman in a whisper, “Young Master Thomas seems to be particularly looking forward to this Christmas. He even took out the calendar yesterday, which is quite unusual.”

Although there was a carpet, Alfred tiptoed to Thomas's bedroom door and gently knocked: "Young Master Thomas, are you asleep?"

No one answered.

“Young Master Thomas?” Alfred frowned and knocked again.

“Never mind all that, one penny,” Batman urged, “pry the door open.”

Alfred pulled a wire from his pocket and easily pried open Thomas's bedroom door.

There was no one inside.

“Whatever your suspicions,” Alfred said, removing his gloves and testing the temperature of the bed with his hand, “Young Master Thomas is definitely not in the bedroom, and he hasn’t been there for at least an hour.”

"I knew it." Batman took a deep breath.

“I should have known,” Alfred’s voice was no different than usual, but Batman could detect a hint of sadness in it. “How could anyone in this house be sleeping peacefully in bed… Oh, except for Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha, but I have to let them know.”

“No, wait,” Batman tried to stop Alfred. “I haven’t gone back yet, and it’s not appropriate for them to know about Thomas.”

“It’s alright, I assure you your identity will never be exposed,” Alfred told him. “In fact, Mr. Thomas asked about your whereabouts tonight, and I told him you went to help someone catch their mistress again.”

"...So why is it always about catching a mistress? Can't you just say I'm helping someone find their cat? At least that sounds more positive." Batman switched to a grappling hook gun. "I regret penny-one. I shouldn't have said that to get revenge on some of the most rebellious guys."

“That’s possible, but finding the cat doesn’t require strict information blocking. Even which neighborhood you went to can’t be revealed.” Alfred walked to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. “Mr. Thomas? Mrs. Martha?”

"Then you can say I'm investigating illegal transactions. Admit it, Penny One, you just want to see me make a fool of myself..."

The knocking on the door grew increasingly urgent on the other end of the line, then fell silent.

"What's wrong!" Batman had a bad feeling. "What happened?"

“They’re not here either.” Alfred took a deep breath.

Sure enough, a loud bang came from the communicator.

Alfred observed the arrangement of items in the room: "Please calm down, Master Bruce. The items in the room are arranged as usual, and there are no signs of struggle."

"How can I calm down..." Batman maneuvered his bat wings back to his location, trying to get back to Wayne Manor. "Any other clues?"

“I’m checking the surveillance footage, don’t worry, Master Bruce.” Alfred tried to calm Batman down. “Good news, Master Bruce, Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha haven’t been kidnapped.”

"Then what?"

“And then the bad news,” Alfred said cautiously, “is that I’m probably the only one left in Wayne Manor now.”

"...They've all left?"

“That’s right,” Alfred took another deep breath, “The first to leave were Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha. They used makeup and blind spots to escape the reporters’ entourage and leave Wayne Manor. Young Master Thomas saw this and temporarily requisitioned the modified stealth plane to follow them. Young Master Jason got up in the middle of the night and found that there wasn’t a single person in any of the bedrooms on the second floor, so he chose…”

"Jason isn't here either?" Batman asked in shock. "I can understand Thomas Jr., but how did Jason, a minor, get out of here?!"

“…Young Master Jason climbed over the wall to go next door,” Alfred slowly exhaled, “and Young Master Timothy from the Drake family next door was responsible for meeting him.”

There was silence on Batman's end.

“Oh, and some great news, Mr. Bruce, someone has returned.”

"Who?" Batman pressed immediately. "The rebellious brat... no, the least likely one, the youngest? Could he just be trying to get along with the kid next door..."

“No,” Alfred replied, “it was Master Dick, the Batmobile brought him back.”

Another silence followed.

“Calm down. If the surveillance footage is accurate, young Thomas is probably following behind Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha in his plane,” Alfred continued. “You should trust… well, you shouldn’t trust young Thomas’s survival skills, but at least trust his intelligence.”

“I suspect this place is cursed,” Batman said, a hint of anger in his voice. “Does it really mean we have to sneak out at night?”

“That’s right, Master Bruce,” Alfred untied Dick’s ropes, “I strongly demand that, starting today, all members of Wayne Manor be prohibited from leaving the main building after midnight.”

"I'm different, one penny."

“I don’t see anything different about you,” Alfred said, trying to find traces of the people on the surveillance footage. “Another piece of good news: Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha should be at one of Mr. Thomas’s properties.”

“Great, give me the coordinates,” Batman said, sitting in the batwing. “I’ll go now.”

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Author's note: This is still within òvó's plan, although this chapter is somewhat of an impromptu creation on his part.

I'm really curious. Even though it was a compromise for the sake of gameplay, it's really jarring to hear Alfred's projection calling him "Master Bruce" and Lucius's projection calling him "Mr. Wayne" while walking down the street...

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Help! A mosquito got into my mosquito net! I'm going to have a life-or-death battle with it tonight! [crying emoji]