Chapter 61 Extremes and Conservatism: A single word is too much for them to agree on…
As Thomas observed the old man, Lars Augu was naturally also scrutinizing him.
Flirtatious, arrogant, rude, self-centered... completely different from his brother, the detective.
"You're Thomas Wayne?"
“Obviously I am. May I ask what you wanted to discuss with me here?” Thomas looked away from the old man and glanced around. “I really don’t understand why so many people like to stay in my abandoned hospital… Is the machine on you just there to prolong your life?”
A knife was held to his neck.
"How dare you disrespect Lars Augu!"
"Respect is something you have to earn yourself." Thomas easily disarmed the other man.
The people around him immediately drew their knives and pointed them at Thomas.
Thomas did not react to this.
Because he has teleportation abilities.
“Untimely arrogance is self-destruction.” Ras Augu looked down at him, while gesturing for the others to leave.
So what are you going to do?
“You and that detective,” Lars Augu said, “are hindering true justice.”
Me, side with Batman? He's a superhero, and I'm a supervillain.
And where is Batman unjust? I have never seen such a righteous person in the world. This is clearly a complete frame-up.
"So you know his real identity?"
“That’s not difficult. I control a huge organization. My people can easily find out which wealthy individuals are hoarding things that Batman might need.”
Thomas could almost imagine what Dick would say if he heard that, but unfortunately Dick couldn't hear it, and his headset had been confiscated.
“I noticed you’ve ruled out the possibility that I’m Batman,” Thomas continued, observing his surroundings, “although a large part of those things were collected by me for him.”
“Don’t try to stall for time.” Lars Augu stood up. “We all know you can’t be Batman.”
Okay, this is a showdown.
“Detective, I know you’re listening.” Lars Augu drew his sword. “The League of Assassins will crush any ant that stands in the way of judgment, but I’m willing to give you a chance. This civilization is decaying, and Gotham is the most conspicuous festering sore…”
Trial... boils...
This sales pitch sounds so familiar.
Thomas successfully connected the dots, put his hand in his pocket, squeezed the bugging device he always carried, then threw it on the ground and stomped on it. "So you want to wipe out humanity? This virus is part of your plan to exterminate humanity?"
“When the trees in the forest are rotting, burning them is the only way to go (1).” Lars Augu frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just eliminating contingencies. My brother obviously has no experience in destroying the world, and he obviously doesn’t understand the necessity of such actions. And it’s very clear that destroying humanity with a virus is far too inefficient,” Thomas said, looking down and repeatedly grinding the bugging device with his heel. “It’s also prone to failure.”
This was unexpected for Lars Augu, who thought that even if Thomas Wayne wasn't on Batman's side, he shouldn't have defected so quickly.
“Humans are like cancer cells…they will keep multiplying as long as there is any possibility,” Thomas continued. “And viruses are very easy for humans to develop antibodies, so there will always be a lot left over.”
"so?"
This is starting to sound increasingly strange.
“So we should use a more efficient method, sir,” Thomas said with a smile. “Do you know what the best way to eliminate diseased tissue is?”
"Operation."
“No, it’s about killing the person directly, cutting off all the nutrients they receive. That way, the diseased organs will die along with them, leaving no residue.” Thomas smiled as he looked at the old man.
Although they haven't been able to truly destroy the world in over seven hundred years, which may be due to some issues with their abilities, their awareness of this goal makes them far superior to others.
But people should keep up with the times, otherwise they won't even be efficient at destroying the world.
Lars Augu put down his knife.
"You are going to destroy the Earth."
“That’s right,” Thomas admitted. “It’s the simplest, most efficient, most direct, and most useful method to eradicate all evil in the world.”
"Interesting... What are you planning to do?"
"Completely destroy this planet."
Lars Augu frowned: "Even a nuclear bomb couldn't have that kind of power."
“Of course, but never let the creations of mediocre people stifle your imagination,” Thomas replied. “How can you possibly destroy the world with such weak tools? I know something that is perfectly capable of doing the job.”
"The quantum bomb that Night Owl was talking about?"
"It seems you have indeed reached an agreement with Elliott." Thomas's tone was somewhat cheerful. "That's right, it's this one. It has the power to easily destroy the Earth, making this planet, which carries countless sins, disappear completely from the universe."
Thomas did not speak of the primordial Earth and the multiverse; he did not yet fully trust Lars Augu.
“A very constructive suggestion, but there’s still one flaw.” Lars Augu picked up his knife again. “Without Earth, how can we rebuild civilization?”
Thomas scoffed: "As long as civilization exists, evil will breed. For the sake of world purity, we should exterminate all humanity at its source."
"We will leave behind pure humanity."
"Pure?" Thomas frowned. "Anyone, no matter what kind, is capable of committing sins. Besides, human perception of morality is flexible; there will always be morally corrupt individuals in a group."
“I will clear the way for them.”
"So you want to live too? People like us, so deeply sinful, should be the first to be judged."
At this point, the two realized how different their views were from each other's.
“Tsk,” Thomas sneered, “Don’t you realize that death is the best end for all life? As long as a living organism is alive, it will suffer forever, forever trapped in this pathetic cycle…”
His response was a slashing blade.
“No one can truly escape suffering; endless desires forever plague us,” Thomas dodged Lars Augu’s attack. “Those who cannot survive crave survival, those who can survive pursue enjoyment and value… No one can truly be satisfied. This is our life trapped by genes, this is the pathetic nature of humanity, which manipulates us to obey our instincts, and our instincts are only for passing on those genes.”
While dodging Lars Augu's attacks, Thomas operated the makeshift quantum starter in his sleeve: "The existence of life is not a miracle, but a pathetic coincidence, like the complete works of Shakespeare accidentally printed out by a monkey using a printer... The existence of mankind has no meaning."
As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of purple light appeared, and Ras Augu only managed to cleave through a blur.
Thomas Wayne disappeared, vanished without a trace.
Just then, Batman burst in.
Where is Thomas Wayne?
Lars Augu didn't answer the question directly (in fact, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't know the answer), but instead looked at Batman meaningfully: "Your Wayne family really has a lot of talent."
There's actually a madman like Thomas Wayne.
Batman frowned.
“He’s gone,” Lars Augu said, “like a candle that’s been extinguished, vanished into the air here.”
“If anything happens to Thomas Wayne, I will make sure you stand trial, Lars Augu.” Batman threatened as he anxiously activated the detection device in his arm armor, trying to detect trace elements in the air that are present in the human body but not commonly found in the air.
“It was just a metaphor, Detective. It seems you really care about Thomas Wayne.” Lars Augu said thoughtfully. “Your weak sense of justice and love will only bring you greater disaster.”
His response was a batarang.
“You know yourself that Thomas Wayne is a dangerous guy.” Lars Augu dodged the batarang without a care. “Keeping him alive will only destroy everything you love, and now you have to choose between greatness and weakness.”
"Kill him, killing him is the best option."
-
Thomas had no idea what Lars Augu was saying to his brother, and he was idly strolling through the streets of Gotham.
This is a multiverse he carefully selected. This Gotham City is relatively peaceful, with smooth streets and a low crime rate, making it perfect for Citywolk... perfect for Thomas to walk to a hidden safe spot to reactivate the Quantum Activator and return to his Gotham City.
However, he clearly made a mistake; he didn't expect the Assassins' Guild to set up their base in an abandoned hospital, right next to the morgue.
This nearly resulted in Thomas being locked in the morgue.
...Such a simple device with drastically reduced performance and size should not be used too often.
Without a high-performance computer to calculate the landing point, it's inconvenient.
Thomas opened the morgue door without a care in the world and walked confidently out of the hospital, making others think he was a family member of the deceased or an insurance investigator.
Considering that he didn't have any devices that would make it easy to hack into the network, Thomas did not modify the hospital's surveillance footage.
Anyway, as long as he leaves quickly, it's probably not easy for Batman to monitor every morgue. Even if they discover something unusual, it would be difficult for them to go to Thomas's world to catch him.
Batman isn't that free. Thomas is well aware of the difficulty and workload of Batman's job, and it's difficult for Batman to devote a lot of energy to such strange, non-malicious events...
Thomas casually walked down an alley, still pondering how to appease Batman once he was safely home, and how to enjoy his dessert...
The wind whistled, and he ducked, narrowly avoiding a blow.
Having failed in her first attack, Red Robin adjusted her stance and continued to fight Thomas.
"They actually managed to dodge it." The troublemaker chimed in, "Sir, what's with you sneaking around the morgue like that?"
It seems he's run into some kind of case related to the morgue.
...How unlucky.
-----------------------
Author's note: 1. The line in "Batman: Endgame" should be something like, I realized I forgot to quote it after I finished writing it.
-
I'm reminded of that meme about shaking hands and then washing hands:
òvó: You also want to destroy human civilization?
Lei Xiaogu: That's right, I want to destroy human civilization and then establish a new order...
òvó: (wash hands)
Note: I have no problem with Lars Augu; this little skit is based on Thomas's character design.
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