Chapter 109 hadn't even finished before it started...
“One penny?” Night Owl tilted his head. “Don’t tell me he’s here to arrest me too.”
“No, not really. Penny is currently in charge of logistics,” Dick said, getting into position. “But he asked me to pass you a message.”
"What?" Night Owl blocked Batman's punch, kicked him back, and said in a flippant and slightly sarcastic tone, "Are you trying to mock my indecisive behavior as something a teenage person would do to get attention with quirky acts?"
“No, no, no, how could that be?” Dick was shocked by what the Night Owl said. He couldn’t accept that the usually calm but somewhat childish Thomas had become like this. “How could Penny One say such a thing?”
He said it all, Night Owl thought.
Although, according to the moral standards of this world and Alfred's emotional intelligence, he would never have specifically asked Dick to mock the Night Owl at this time.
“He told me to tell you, ‘I said, if you make another reckless mistake, I’ll tell your secret to the other family members.’” Dick muttered. “As soon as Penny told us you had another life, we immediately thought of Night Owl. Even if you’re not Night Owl, you’re at least connected to him, and Night Owl has to go back to the Court of Owls no matter what he wants to do right now.”
"So we've come up with this plan for now, with me acting as the informant in the Court of Owls, gathering intelligence and waiting for the birds to come out," Dick said proudly. "We'll use some little excuses to lure you away from the claws, and then we'll catch you."
He seized the opportunity to rush into the battlefield between the two, but was separated by Batman.
"What's going on, Batman?"
“What you should be doing right now is getting out of here as quickly as possible,” Batman said in a low voice, dodging Owl’s kick. “Don’t treat him like that naive kid you know. He’s the most dangerous person in Gotham City right now…”
“An owl?” Dick remained standing in place. “Seriously, Batman, didn’t he always avoid you and never have any conflicts before…wow.”
The owl leaped up and landed heavily on the ground, sending stone fragments flying and smashing the exquisite marble tiles of the Owl Court to pieces.
Fortunately, Batman reacted quickly, otherwise he would have been seriously injured by the blow.
“You really should listen to me, Dick. At least for now, I don’t really want to snap your neck,” Night Owl paused, smiling at him, but his voice was malicious. “All I know are killing techniques; I can’t guarantee your safety at all.”
“And you haven’t had any proper training yet,” Batman said, using his cape to shield Dick from the flying rocks. “Get out of here, that’s an order.”
“Okay,” Dick stepped back, “then good luck to you guys.”
-
The person who was in the way finally left.
“So you did see through it, Batman,” Owl said, waving his cape to deflect the incoming batarangs. “You saw through something as trivial as me accidentally having a little murderous intent towards you.”
"...Finally couldn't keep up the act anymore?" Batman smashed the light hanging on the ceiling and threw a smoke bomb to cover his figure.
"I just said that. Don't you have any lines to say?" Night Owl dodged Batman's sneak attack, grabbed his arm, and flung him away. "So what do you want to do, Batman? Just kill me?"
“No,” Batman spread his cape, landed lightly, dodged the punch that followed, and then swiftly retaliated, “I want to beat you up and then tie you up and take you back.”
“Arrogance, Batman. Has anyone ever told you that you are really, really arrogant?” Night Owl grabbed Batman’s wrist and slammed him against the wall of the corridor. “You’re the most… well, the second most arrogant person I’ve ever met.”
“You’re not much better off than me,” Batman interjected. “You can’t sleep if anyone ranks higher than you.”
“No, it’s not the same. You always arrogantly think you can save others, even change them,” Night Owl slowly approached Batman, reaching out to lift him up. “It’s ridiculous, this condescending attitude… Okay, back to the point—”
"I have thirty more years of combat experience than you, and I possess more powerful equipment. What gives you the illusion that you can defeat me and capture me?"
"Who knows, maybe it's you who gave me this confidence." Batman sprayed the gel bomb in his hand onto Nite Owl's power armor, forcing Nite Owl to shake him off.
“Do you think I would show mercy?” Night Owl gave a dangerous smile. “Didn’t Penny tell you the most important thing? I personally killed Bruce Wayne.”
“He told me privately a few hours ago that no one else knows about this yet,” Batman said, controlling the gel bomb to explode and using the blast to retreat, “but that’s not what I was talking about.”
“So what significant advantages do you have over me, Batman?” Owl lowered his arm and stepped out of the smoke from the gel bomb, his armor completely undamaged. “The kind that lets you beat me?”
“I guess my diet is healthier than yours,” Batman said, pulling out his grappling hook and grabbing at the gaps in the Night Owl armor. “At least it’s more nutritionally balanced.”
“Who would believe that?” Night Owl grabbed the grappling hook’s rope, trying to pull Batman over. “Penny has been secretly giving you extra treats quite often. I even saw him give you my milkshake a month ago…”
"You still have the mind to care about this at a time like this?" Batman took the opportunity to pull out another grappling hook gun, and shot the other grappling hook towards the end of the corridor, then connected them together.
“Because nothing in this world is worth caring about,” the owl said swiftly, cutting the rope. “So you want to force me out?”
“I’d rather have a proper talk with you,” Batman said, looking for another opportunity to attack. “Obviously you won’t agree.”
“Don’t try to provoke me. I don’t think exchanging ideas with you will yield any good results,” Night Owl stopped what he was doing. “You will never understand me, just as I will never understand you… We can’t communicate. It’s a fight to the death between us.”
“Is that so?” Batman smiled provocatively at Night Owl. “But you haven’t really gone all out yet, Tommy.”
“If that’s what you expect,” Night Owl raised an arm and pointed at Batman, “well, I’ll go all out.”
The bomb was fired from the Night Owl's arm guard, destroying half of the corridor.
Batman immediately used his spare grappling hook to pull himself toward the exit.
"...So you're determined to lure me out of here and outside?" Night Owl stood calmly in place. "Let me guess, the Batmobile, the Batwings... or maybe my plane? A day is enough time for you to complete quite a few arrangements."
“That’s right,” Batman said, standing at the end of the corridor. “So, are you going to take the bait?”
The owl remained stationary, making no move.
“I’ve already said it, Batman, I’m planning to retire, at least for now, and I have no intention of wasting my energy on something completely meaningless,” he said in an unusually cold tone. “In fact, I temporarily abandoned my plan to destroy the world a day ago.”
"So you're planning to spend the rest of your life underground, living with a group of assassins who will try every means to kill you once they see your true identity?"
Batman approached Owl once again.
The owl made no move.
“Thomas,” Batman removed his helmet, trying to meet his gaze, “I’ve tried to ignore everything about you, to ignore how out of place you are in this world… but that doesn’t solve anything. I haven’t even tried to understand you, to understand your past.”
“I should have known long ago that you’ve been through a lot of painful things that have shaped you into who you are today,” Bruce moved a little closer, “and I overlooked that as well.”
He reached for Night Owl's helmet, but Night Owl raised his hand to block it.
"So you already know about the multiverse?"
"Yes, I already know."
“Alright, let me ask you a question, Bruce,” Night Owl lowered his hand, “No matter how hard you try, you can’t avoid failure, and no matter how meticulous your plan, there will always be unexpected events… Such a universe will always be born, it’s unavoidable, and human subjective actions are useless… When you know all this, how do you view the world?”
“It’s a matter of probability. The more I insist, the lower the probability of criminals committing evil, and the fewer worlds will be born and lead to tragedy. The more happy people there will be in the multiverse.” Bruce reached out again, and this time Night Owl didn’t move, letting him take off his mask.
“I have never been so arrogant as to think that I can change the world. In fact, even if only one person in the multiverse escapes tragedy because of my persistence, it is worth fighting for with my whole life, Thomas, which includes all of humanity.”
Human beings naturally include good people and bad people, acquaintances and strangers.
So naturally, this also includes a certain exceptionally evil supervillain, the guy who wants to destroy the world.
Two pairs of light blue eyes met.
"Really? So that's what you think." Thomas looked away and chuckled softly. "That's why we can never understand each other, you selfless masochists."
“And you, the one in all of Gotham who has the least right to talk about me,” Bruce quickly put on the Batman mask and threw another smoke bomb, this time to block the line of sight of the claws that were coming after the sound. “At least my actions have a rational basis and purpose, and I don’t do any unnecessary suicidal little things all the time.”
“Okay,” Thomas Jr. snatched his helmet back and put it on again, “then let’s make a bet, Batman, on who can outlive us.”
How do we bet?
“I’m temporarily abandoning my evil plan to destroy the world,” Night Owl’s voice held a hint of amusement, “until the day you die. I wonder, will you pray for my early demise for the safety of the Earth?”
-
"So you just rushed through it like that?" Jason sat on the sofa in shock, even though he had only heard Thomas's censored version of the story. "Such a big fuss, and you just finished after a few words?"
“Of course, obviously I’m easy to talk to,” Thomas replied matter-of-factly, ignoring Bruce’s disapproving look. “So I’m retired starting today. Because of our bet, Bruce decided to completely sideline me at Wayne Enterprises to ensure that even if he dies, I won’t have the power to destroy the world.”
“What a terrifying power struggle within a wealthy family,” Dick said as he came up from behind. “I thought you loved going to work, but I never imagined you'd make a bet like this just to avoid it, Thomas… You don’t really want to destroy this poor planet, do you?”
"Never mind those questions, the point is I'm officially retiring today," Thomas Jr. deliberately avoided answering the question. "I have plenty of time to spend at Wayne Manor..."
“No, you can’t,” Bruce interrupted him. “Given that you still have the intention to destroy the world and we don’t have enough evidence to put you in jail, Tommy, I plan to take responsibility for your supervision. You’re just not getting paid right now, and you’ll still have to work under my full supervision. You can enjoy ten more minutes of sunshine.”
"...You can just say you don't want to work, and I'll try my best to understand."
“Yes, I don’t really want to work,” Bruce admitted directly. “I just want to be a supervisor.”
“You look more evil than I do now, Bruce,” Thomas said, turning to look out the window at the sunny day in Gotham. “I’m starting to miss my supervillain persona.”
Don't even think about it.
...
The sky is very blue today.
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Author's Note: There might be a slightly heartwarming afterword? But it's important to have self-awareness. I now realize I can't write anything heartwarming, so I must prioritize updating a rather bizarre "what if" side story to soothe my mind. So tomorrow's story is actually an "what if" side story of an adult bat traveling through the planet and encountering a child òvó, plus a movie-watching scenario.
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There might be some minor changes to the main text later? I feel like there are some things that haven't been written out, which may not affect the overall plot, mainly the wording of some sentences, and there might be some expansions.
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In short, thank you all, my little angels! [sprinkling flowers]
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