Chapter 33 The Bomb That Was So Close as Brothers Triggered a Misfire
Although he appears normal on the outside, Night Owl has indeed reached his limit; he can no longer tolerate a righteous Dick who is the complete opposite of the Claws he remembers.
He had had enough of his disobedient family members. Rather than waiting for them to defy his orders, he decided to nip any signs of resistance in the bud.
What's the big deal? It's not like I haven't killed my own brother before.
Fate is hard to defy. Even if I don't lift a finger, those who deserve to die will still die, and those who are on my side will still be my enemies. Rather than letting him suffer at the hands of the Joker, I'd rather do it myself. At least I know exactly what methods can reduce the pain.
The smile on Night Owl's face grew even gentler, and he pressed the gleaming knife against Dick's shoulder.
If you are destined not to sink/fall with me, then there is no need for you to exist.
"Dick, are you hesitating?" Night Owl asked softly, gripping the knife. "Or are you preparing yourself mentally?"
Wouldn't it be painful to have your throat slit? It would be quite unpleasant to choke on blood.
Unfortunately, I didn't bring my gun today. A gun can quickly destroy the brain... so there won't be any pain.
Dick remained silent, taking deep breaths as if trying to calm himself.
“Forget it, you’re still a kid.” Night Owl put away the knife on his shoulder. “Do you need me to demonstrate how to do it? If you’re scared, I’ll just do it for you.”
Night Owl approached Zuk, who was tied to the turntable, and tossed the knife in his hand, seemingly considering where to strike.
"Wait a minute!" Dick stopped him. "I'll do it myself."
“Of course.” Night Owl could tell Dick was trying to stall for time, but he didn’t stop him. “What do you want to do?”
Let me see how you deal with the murderer who killed your parents.
Night Owl would never allow Dick to let Zucker off easily. Zucker was also the culprit who killed Dick's parents. Was Night Owl, who was willing to give him everything, really inferior to a villain he had only met once?
“I…I want him to fall from a great height too,” Dick said. “I want him to experience that feeling.”
This was the solution he came up with after thinking hard for a long time.
When he was kidnapped and brought here, he shouted for a long time but received no response. There should be no one around. The road was long and straight with many right angles and no obstacles or bumps. It was highly likely that they were not in the wild but inside a man-made building. Based on these two points, Dick boldly deduced that they were underground.
If that's the case, then he could use that excuse to kill Zucker and ask Night Owl to take them to a higher place. Once outside, he would have a chance to figure out his location, ask for help, or simply slip away.
“Great idea,” Night Owl praised. “There’s an owl statue there, enough to kill him by falling on it.”
"Is there a higher place?"
"How tall do you need?" Night Owl countered. "Let me think if there's a suitable place."
"It should be at least ten meters..." Dick said hesitantly.
"That statue is enough."
His confident tone made Dick somewhat doubt his own reasoning. Were they really underground? Could these strange people really dig that deep?
The owl turned to the claws and said, "Want to come with us? If not, stay and eat cake. It's made with animal cream, and you'll be stuffed if you don't eat it soon."
Nobody paid any attention to the cake, and no one believed that Night Owl had suddenly decided to be a good guy.
They were all experienced assassins, and it was clear that Night Owl was truly intent on killing, which made his gentleness at this moment seem like end-of-life care.
“Alright, then we’ll have to make this quick. We should definitely listen to the professionals. Fondant would be better for this kind of large decorative cake,” Night Owl said, seemingly regretfully. “I heard the chef at Iceberg Club is quite good, so I specially commissioned Penguin to make one.”
Dick swallowed hard.
What the hell? Is the fate of a human life less important than whether the cream melts or not?
Night Owl seemed to think that pushing a large wheel was a waste of time, so he took all the throwing knives from Claw's body and precisely cut all the ropes binding Zuk.
Night Owl wanted to see Dick torture him himself, so he spared Zuk from physical pain, allowing him to retain his will to resist. With all his might, he drew a knife from beside him and lunged at Dick.
After listening for a while, he concluded that Night Owl probably cared a lot about this little Grayson kid. Kidnapping him might give him a chance to live, but if he obeyed, he would only face death.
His plan was barely feasible, but unfortunately, Night Owl was standing right behind Dick.
The owl easily seized the blade in Zuk's hand and squeezed the poor little piece of metal to one side.
“Some mercy is completely unnecessary, Dick. You want to spare his life, but he'll kill you at the first opportunity.” Night Owl released the knife, then grabbed Zuk’s wrist, twisted and swung him to the ground.
The sound was crisp, and it seemed that Zuk had lost an arm.
This was even with Night Owl holding back; he didn't even manage to twist Zuk's arm off.
“You don’t need to force yourself. I’m not forcing you to kill Zuk,” Night Owl said. “Tell me your true thoughts. I really want to know what you’re thinking. I really don’t understand why anyone would have such a heavy psychological burden about killing. We will all die. Killing is just shortening the path a person has to take.”
So tell me quickly, so I can decide how many people should die here tonight.
How about modifying it into its complete form and preserving it? That way it wouldn't be too painful, and we wouldn't have to worry about that damn Joker.
He turned his back and casually walked to the roulette wheel, fiddling with a small knife with his fingers. The knife flicked, making a slight metallic vibration that was especially noticeable in the quiet room.
Not having to make eye contact with the owl seemed to greatly relieve Dick's psychological pressure. He breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively offered his opinion: "I really can't figure out what's so special about me..."
He shut his mouth again.
Night Owl pulled out the nearest knife and toyed with it in his hand. He lightly rubbed the blade with his sharp gauntlet, the slight scraping sound of metal almost deafening in the present moment: "Don't be afraid, continue."
“...It’s not worth your concern.” Dick was fully prepared. “I think it’s all very ordinary, so there’s only one possibility: you want to use me against Thomas.”
The scraping sound of metal stopped.
Night Owl realized that he might not really understand what children were thinking. What did this have to do with killing Zuk? Did Dick still want to stall for time at this point?
Why should we care about the life or death of a thug?
“So I will not obey any of your orders,” Dick announced warily.
Carving patterns on wisdom teeth? No way! You can't even come up with a good excuse to fool a child.
Given the various stories of Thomas and Night Owl's antagonism... it's likely that this group kidnapped him specifically to target Thomas, intending to deceive him into becoming a spy through various means.
In his mind, this sentence would probably mean a complete breakdown in relations, but he didn't expect that Night Owl didn't seem very angry. Instead, he squatted down and stared at him.
"Have you made up your mind?" Night Owl asked him.
"Yes."
“You know, Claws are essentially assassins,” Night Owl seemed a little puzzled. “If we kill you here, the people outside won’t even be able to confirm whether you’re alive or dead.”
"Know."
“Aren’t you afraid of death?” Night Owl met his gaze. “Most humans consider sacrificing for others a noble virtue, but death is just death, it has no meaning. Young people are particularly susceptible to being controlled by black-and-white moral concepts. Before we continue our conversation, I must make sure that your choice at this moment is not due to the discipline of social concepts, but entirely from your own personal will.”
“I’m sure, that’s what I think.” Dick closed his eyes.
“You need to know that no one here will subject you to social or non-social moral judgment,” Night Owl continued. “And the idea that your heart will be tormented by morality is utter nonsense. Deceiving yourself is a human survival instinct. In order to survive, people will eventually give their actions absolute legitimacy, or simply blur those memories—even so, would you be willing to die for it?”
"willing."
"Thomas himself doesn't need your protection. Your actions may have no effect on anything, and they are meaningless in any way."
"I don't care about these things."
"Okay, I understand."
Night Owl stood up and took some plates and a cake knife from the lower level of the cake trailer.
Dick nervously swallowed again.
What is he going to do? Is he going to kill me with a cake knife...?
The owl began cutting the cake.
?
"How big of a cake do you want?" Night Owl asked him. "Is this big enough?"
Is this some kind of last meal before death...?
Seeing that he didn't speak, Night Owl casually cut a piece of cake, held the plate, and explained to him, "I said, Zuk is a gift for you. What you do with the gift is up to you, don't feel pressured. If you don't need me to cut the cake, I'll be leaving. After you finish your cake, just take this child to Wayne Tower."
Before leaving, he specifically emphasized: "Don't take off your mask to eat cake in front of Dick, unless any of you want to be harassed by Wayne Enterprises people during the holidays."
Then he took the cake and left.
What remains are a bunch of claws overloaded with information, Dick questioning the mental state of Gothamites, a fancy decorated cake with a missing corner that's about to melt, and Zuk with a missing hand.
"What do we do now?" a claw asked Kelvin.
Kelvin cursed Night Owl countless times in his mind, and after thinking it over for a while, he finally came to a conclusion: "Let's eat the cake first."
Night Owl's insistence on finishing the cake first must have had its reasons; otherwise, he would have definitely told them to send the children first, and whether they wanted the cake or not was up to them.
Clearly, his long years of working life had toughened him up, and the Night Owl really needed him to buy time.
-
Night Owl throws the cake into Gotham's underground cavern, then quickly alters the surveillance footage while simultaneously sending a message to Alfred.
“Don’t worry, Alfred, I’ve found Dick now. He’s safe and sound. Once the deal is done, they’ll send him to Wayne Tower.”
Alfred will surely pass this message on to Batman.
"Who is this person?" Alfred replied quickly.
“From the Penguins,” Night Owl replied. “Don’t worry, the Penguins won’t dare to break ties with me. Dick will be fine, but I couldn’t get any information about Bruce out of him no matter what I did.”
"...Young Master Bruce is alright, he was rescued."
"Which righteous man?"
"Batman has contacted me and wants to speak with you directly."
"good."
He turned on his location services, and as he expected, Batman was led to the Penguin by the false information he had left behind.
Ordering the cake from Penguin was definitely the right choice.
It's a pity that this trick can only be used once; Batman probably won't fall for it again.
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Author's note: I've discovered a new and adorable aspect of the Evil Cuckoo Chicken today.
Owls' eyes are not spherical; they are fixed in their sockets and cannot move, so they can only see by turning their necks.
The mask of Night Owl clearly restricts his field of vision (most versions have a protruding metal ring around his eyes), so he can't rely on his peripheral vision to see things and has to turn his head. In the two Earth Crisis episodes, he does indeed politely turn his neck to make eye contact with whoever he is talking to.
The Evil Cuckoo Chicken is truly amazing the more you taste it; it surprisingly captures the essence of an owl in many ways.
Actually, I liked owls even before I knew about night owls (eye movement). Now, my affection for night owls and owls is skyrocketing.
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