Chapter 14 Goodnight, Please Remember the Lesson
Falcone was indeed perceptive enough that when Thomas left the room unharmed, he knew that the other party would not let the matter rest.
He had prepared several squads of armed thugs and called in a few of his most loyal henchmen to accompany him, all in anticipation of the legendary Court of Owls' visit.
For safety reasons, Falcone didn't go to sleep, but instead spent the time playing cards with his loyal subordinates. Meanwhile, thugs were scattered throughout the manor. The guards outside were equipped with fixed heavy machine guns, while those inside used less lethal pistols and stun batons to prevent accidental friendly fire – a tactic that proved very effective in typical gang conflicts.
Clearly, bat-like infiltration hadn't yet taken hold in Gotham. People were still quite naive, unaware of the drawbacks of this dispersed defense, which kept the number of guards in each small group subtly within a range that could be eliminated by a single Fear Multishot.
It's normal. No one could have imagined that a few years later, a miracle like Batman, a 100% pure human, would appear in the world. He was able to defeat all the supervillains in Gotham City in one night while adhering to the principle of not killing.
However, Owl is not Batman after all. He has no intention of having any direct conflict with the guards, and his methods will be simpler and more brutal.
Night Owl switched the plane to stealth mode, detonated the windowed exterior wall of the manor's card room, dropped several smoke grenades, and used a grappling hook to accurately kidnap Falcone.
The Romans didn't even have time to utter Thomas Wayne's name before they vanished completely into the smoke.
Infiltrate? What does infiltrate mean?
No one saw his face inside the plane. If this doesn't count as infiltration, then what does?
Amidst the horrified gunfire of the thugs, Night Owl piloted his plane into the night sky.
It's rare to see such clear skies in Gotham tonight.
Moonlight shone into Night Owl's plane, allowing Falcone to see its internal structure.
It looked a full century more advanced than airplanes of its time.
Despite being tightly bound, Falcone didn't seem too flustered. He looked away from the buttons, calmly examined Night Owl, and then gave a victorious smile: "I did underestimate the power of the Court of Owls, but it seems my life is spared."
Falcone believed in the Court of Owls. Since this organization was composed of Gotham's elite, it must know its limits and would not easily harm him, who was also an upper-class person, just as it had not harmed Thomas.
It can only be said that he understands neither the Court of Owls nor Night Owl. In fact, the Court of Owls' ideology is very close to that of a slave society; their arrogance leads them to regard all those not in this organization as inferior. Night Owl's ideology, on the other hand, is more egalitarian and progressive. He regards all humans equally as the cancer of the world, completely disregarding the value of life, and is willing to kill anyone, including himself, to achieve his goals.
However, the Night Owl did not intend to kill the Romans that night.
“Indeed, I had no intention of killing you,” Night Owl said frankly. “Killing you would be much simpler; a single bomb would suffice.”
It's so complicated now, having to calculate the amount of explosives, choose a suitable location, and prepare professional equipment, wasting a whole night of the night.
Although this was done to save effort in the future, the presence of Falcone still greatly annoyed Night Owl.
"So, what does the person behind this want to do with me?" Falcone's tone relaxed considerably, clearly treating Night Owl as an ordinary driver or something.
In his imagination, he was a top figure in Gotham's public eye, and he was bound to reach some agreements with those behind the scenes.
"The one behind the scenes? Isn't that me?" Night Owl hovered the plane above an abandoned building, grabbed the rope binding Falcone, and jumped down, spreading his cape in mid-air as he glided downwards. Just before landing, he let go, allowing the Roman and Gotham's mother to exchange a friendly cheek kiss, then he landed silently on the ground like a nimble owl.
“Personally, I prefer to keep important things under my control.” Night Owl easily grabbed the Roman. “But this matter isn’t important enough for me to have complete control over it.”
This is an abandoned hospital. The corridors are dark and dilapidated, with a thick layer of dust on the floor; every step you take kicks up a half-meter-high cloud of dust.
Falcone choked and sneezed several times, while Night Owl wisely used the gas mask that came with the armor.
"This place is also my property. It was abandoned for a long time and occupied by a pseudo-scientist with a very low IQ who used it for human experiments. After I killed him, I deliberately left these things behind. Sure enough, his equipment was more useful than he was."
"What are you doing?" The Roman suddenly realized something was wrong and struggled.
But how easy is it to break free from an owl's talons? The owl easily subdued his struggling movements with just one hand, as easily as an owl catching a mouse.
"Why don't you think about it yourself?" Night Owl asked him gently, "You won't need such a complete brain in the future, so take advantage of this time to think more."
Even a fool could guess what he was going to do.
“You madman!” Falcone cursed, his rich vocabulary and creative word combinations fully demonstrating the vibrant and dynamic language system of a true Gothamite.
“Strictly speaking, I’m not crazy,” Night Owl defended himself good-naturedly. “Obviously, I have a strong ability to take care of myself, I don’t have any mental illness, and I can take responsibility for my actions. At most, I can only be considered an antisocial personality.”
"If you mess with me, the Wayne family won't get away with it either!" Falcone threatened him anxiously. "I've already told my most loyal subordinates that if anything happens to me, they should target the Wayne family with all their might, even if it means fighting to the death to kill those two brothers!"
"So you really intend to harm my brother?" Night Owl was good at grasping the key points. "You have no manners at all. You don't even understand the principle of not harming your family. I despise you."
"Are you Bruce?" the Roman shouted. "I've already sent men to Wayne Manor to kill Thomas. You'd better release me now."
“Oh right, you all thought Bruce was the older brother.” Night Owl suddenly realized. “You guessed wrong. I’m Thomas Wayne. Bruce is still out of town.”
The Romans struggled even more fiercely.
Q: Why would a masked stranger kidnap you and carelessly reveal his identity?
A: He is confident that you will never reveal any information about him to anyone in your life.
Seeing his frantic writhing, Night Owl realized this wasn't Earth 3. On Earth 3, Night Owl had no need to deliberately hide his identity; after all, he was all alone when he first became Night Owl, at most worrying about whether someone would dig up the Wayne family's graves.
The people of Gotham on Earth III would also tacitly pretend not to know that he was Thomas. If the identities of Nite Owl and Thomas were combined, it would be an absolute nightmare. The people of Gotham would rather deceive themselves than see Nite Owl during the day, thus maintaining a delicate balance between them.
But that won't work in this world; there's an extra Bruce here.
Be careful next time, after all, the Romans probably won't be able to speak in the future.
"Don't be afraid, it's a well-established minor surgery that has been widely used to treat mental illnesses," the owl reassured the Roman. "Besides, thinking is the root of human suffering. On the bright side, you won't suffer as much in the future."
I wasn't in pain at all!
The two finally reached the vicinity of the operating room, which was probably the cleanest place in the entire hospital.
The owl professionally cleaned and disinfected its armor.
The Roman was still making a last-ditch effort, shouting, "If anything happens to me, my men will kill your brother! They're already at Wayne Manor..."
It was clear that Falcone was on the verge of collapse—he had actually believed the nonsense that Night Owl had casually uttered out of contempt and laziness.
"Do you think I'm a fool?" Night Owl's preparation of equipment didn't pause for a moment. "Your subordinates can't possibly go to Wayne Manor immediately. You were kidnapped with the intention of cooperating with me. Under these circumstances, you certainly can't act rashly and offend potential partners, especially since you yourself are still in my hands. And Thomas, in your eyes, is familiar with this plan and has most likely already left Wayne Manor. Your most likely plan is to have your subordinates take action against the Wayne Group after they haven't received any news from you for a period of time, and this period won't be short."
The power-saving mode only saves emotional intelligence, not intellectual intelligence. The high intelligence of bats is entirely a passive skill; even the most heretical of the bat species, the Night Owl, possesses a top-tier brilliant mind.
"Tomorrow morning..."
“Tomorrow morning, your loyal subordinates won’t have the energy to avenge you.” Night Owl approached him. “I knew you would only tell your most loyal men this. In a little while, I just need to send you to the men you personally selected, and they’ll be busy.”
Even if someone were to seek revenge for the Romans, it wouldn't matter; the Night Owl could easily leak the fact that the Romans had lost a bit of their brains. If news of Falcone's mental breakdown were to break, Thomas wouldn't be the one to suffer.
“They will help me cover up the news of your incident. With my help, they can probably keep it from those guys who want to replace you for about half a month, which will be just enough to clear me of suspicion.”
Anyway, Night Owl's requirements aren't high; he just needs to keep Bruce, who's out of town, in check. He can silence everyone else.
Alfred… Alfred will turn a blind eye. Think about it: on one side is young Thomas, whose life is threatened by evil forces; on the other side are the wicked Romans. Which will he choose? Is there even a need to choose?
He picked up the anesthetic: "Have you eaten dinner? Never mind, it's not a big deal if I die. If it really comes down to it, I'll just go back and take care of those guys."
To Night Owl, there was essentially no difference between a mentally challenged Roman and a dead Roman. It was just that making the Roman mentally challenged would make it easier for him to cover this up with Bruce.
"Anyway, goodnight, Mr. Falcone," the Night Owl said calmly. "I'm here to prove to you that I have absolutely no value. If you have a next life, I hope you'll remember not to lay a hand on other people's families."
A note from the author:
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Oh, right, there's one more warning: Although this story has a happy ending, Thomas and Bruce will never agree on their values. Both of them are very self-reliant and not easily influenced or assimilated.
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My hand got caught in the newly installed smart door at home. I used several popsicles to cool it down. I'm shivering and freezing. How am I supposed to play Arkham Knight tomorrow?
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