Chapter 66 The Terrifying Power of Mental Habit
To be honest, these two people have completely different tastes in clothing.
One is jet black and can be perfectly mixed into squid ink pasta, while the other is highly saturated and can be seamlessly mixed into basil tomato cheese pasta.
...It makes me hungry.
Thomas thought to himself, having gone a whole night and morning without eating, having been to a morgue, fallen into a trash can, done a lot of exercise, and fought with four people but only managed to eat a little dessert.
The two seemed to have had a little argument, probably Batman scolding Dick, who was dressed as Robin, for going after Night Owl or something... Most importantly, they were both so engrossed that neither of them noticed Thomas suddenly appearing on the side.
This is a good opportunity.
Thomas opened the cookie bag and munched on cookies while watching the two of them argue.
“Night Owlman is actually alright (click click),” Robin said hesitantly. “Last time I asked him for help, he did, and it seems he didn’t intend to kill Thomas. I think we can ask him for a small favor this time. Maybe he’ll know where Thomas is.”
“No, Robin (click click), he’s a supervillain who’s unpredictable. You just haven’t seen his truly terrifying side,” Batman said seriously. “Promise me you won’t wear the gear that Owl gave you again. You don’t know what’s inside.”
"Actually, the equipment he gave me is quite comfortable and easy to use (click click)," Robin whispered.
"Have you ever wondered why Owl was able to find your location so quickly that day (click click)?" Batman retorted, quite displeased. "He most likely planted a tracking device in his Claw suit!"
You know me pretty well, even though I've planted a listening device inside the Claw uniform.
Thomas munched on a cookie while mentally commenting on it.
Robin couldn't refute it (after all, the owl seemed capable of such a thing, and the perfectly fitting bodysuit was a bit too terrifying), so she changed the subject: "Speaking of which, there seem to be a lot of rats here. Should we deal with the rat infestation in the neighborhood? Otherwise, the water pipes will probably leak."
Hey! Who are you calling a mouse?
Thomas chewed the cookie quickly and angrily.
He planned to finish the cookies before the two men noticed him, otherwise he might not be able to keep them.
“No, that’s not a rat.” Batman turned to look in the direction the voice came from, and Robin curiously turned her head with him.
He could only vaguely make out a figure in the shadows; it seemed to be eating something, and there was a constant rustling sound...
"Thomas Wayne!" Batman stormed over, furious. "Where have you been?"
The figure sped up his munching on the cookies, managing to finish them all before Batman could catch him.
“I went to find some cookies,” Thomas replied matter-of-factly, “and considering that Lars Augu wouldn’t let me off so easily, I hid somewhere for a day for my own safety.”
He hid for a whole day? Thomas's hiding was practically instantaneous; is there anywhere in Gotham that Batman isn't monitoring...?
No, there probably is such a place.
But this possibility is something Batman doesn't even want to mention.
“Then you should let your family know you’re safe,” Batman said, quite displeased. His disapproving gaze was sharp as a knife, though Thomas was completely immune to this tactic. “Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne are very worried. You should at least let them know you’re safe.”
“Yeah, and Richard and Jason too,” Robin echoed, following the Gotham Masks’ tradition of calling themselves by their first names. “What irresponsible adults.”
“Okay, maybe I’ll be more careful next time.” Thomas tried to pour some cookie crumbs into his palm.
"Um?"
"I'll try to be more careful next time." Thomas lowered his hand with a hint of regret and stuffed the plastic bag into the trash can.
"...So where did you go?"
“I have my secrets, you can look them up yourself.” Thomas very naturally opened the passenger side door of the Batmobile (sitting backwards in the back seat made him too dizzy) and got in.
“Hey, Thomas?” Robin knocked on the car window. “This is my spot.”
“I know,” Thomas said matter-of-factly. “You can sit in the driver’s seat; this car has a fairly advanced automatic navigation function.”
"Yay!" Robin cheered. He immediately switched sides, climbed over the hood of the Batmobile, and with Thomas's help, opened the driver's side door and nimbly climbed into the car.
"Batman, would you like to try sitting in the back seat?"
No.
"Then I'll take Robin for a ride first, and I'll come back to pick you up later."
Batman understands Thomas.
He's probably just doing this to delay the time he has to see Alfred.
Batman looked helplessly at the two childish kids, watched the Batmobile drive a short distance, and then made a few slight movements on his arm armor.
The Batmobile obediently reversed back.
"So you changed Wayne Enterprises' key?" Thomas poked his head out of the Batmobile.
"For security reasons."
“Okay,” Thomas opened the passenger door and obediently sat back in the back seat. “How’s Alfred doing?”
"you guess?"
"So Alfred's in a bad mood today," Thomas concluded. "Damn... what bad luck."
He muttered a few curses under his breath.
The car was quiet for a short while.
“I’m sorry, Batman,” Thomas suddenly said, his tone quite sincere.
"What else have you done to offend me?" Batman was very wary of this.
His years of experience with Thomas told him that if Thomas started saying something nonsensical, there must be a huge secret hidden behind it.
"I told someone about some things from the past." Actually, it wasn't really "someone," since it was another Batman.
The Batmobile accelerated suddenly.
"What things?"
“I killed Joe Cher,” Thomas said, “but don’t worry, I only gave the gist of it and didn’t reveal the key information.”
For example, Bruce was eight years old and Thomas was four years old that year, so objectively speaking, it would have been impossible for them to be prosecuted for such crucial information.
"...with whom?"
“My old friend and his bunch of kids,” Thomas replied.
How many old friends do you have?
“You can count them on two hands.” Thomas read out the names one by one, “Alfred, Bruce, Dick, Jason, Lucius, Carl, Louise… well, that’s about it.”
Carl and Lois were even just names Thomas used to make up the numbers, otherwise Batman could easily have figured out from these acquaintances that Thomas had never been to these places.
"Are Carl and Louise still alive?"
"Maybe? I'm not really sure."
Thomas brushed off Batman's questions.
Unbeknownst to him, Batman was pondering whether Cal or Louis was the Night Owl.
Human beings' habitual thinking is terrifying.
-
“It seems Gotham’s communications infrastructure isn’t very good,” Alfred said calmly. “Or is Wayne Enterprises in debt trouble, leaving you unable to pay your phone bills?”
“I’m sorry, Alfred,” Thomas apologized, at least in a fairly sincere tone. “It was actually an accident; I ran into a little trouble.”
“I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, young master Thomas, you can’t keep relying on…” Alfred omitted the key words they both understood, “…to keep taking risks. Your… things are probably no longer suitable for the current situation.”
Bruce, who had just taken off his bodysuit and put on a bathrobe in preparation for taking a bath, stopped in his tracks and quietly pricked up his ears.
Let me hear what you're hiding from me.
“I don’t think you need to be so pessimistic, Alfred (I don’t think anyone could be more pessimistic than you, Bruce thought),” Thomas said, stuffing a pickle sandwich into his mouth, clearly very hungry. “It seems they’ve been quite useful so far; without that experience, I might never have seen the truth.”
What things are useful? What truths can be seen clearly?
Dick stood next to Bruce, curiously eavesdropping openly on Thomas and Alfred's conversation.
“That being said,” Alfred sighed, “your recent behavior is clearly somewhat irrational.”
Thomas became wary: "What are you trying to say, Alfred? I can't skimp on my desserts anymore, the sugar in my strawberry milkshakes has been halved, and all the cola has been taken away... Alfred, you wouldn't be so heartless as to cut back on my meals, would you?"
After saying that, he took a large bite of the sandwich with unusual caution.
Starving to death is obviously not a very comfortable way to die, and the timeline would be stretched out a lot... This is not suitable for me.
Jason leaned closer, completely unaware of what had happened.
What are you doing?
"Shh!" Dick excitedly pulled him behind the sofa as well. "Just listen."
“Of course not, young Thomas,” Alfred said seriously. “I hope you will pay more attention to your safety and be more careful.”
He then took out a long piece of paper and stuffed it into Thomas's hand.
Thomas glanced at it quickly.
"How wicked," he remarked, crumpling the paper into a ball and stuffing it into his pants pocket (after all, he had already thrown his jacket into the multiverse himself), before turning away in dissatisfaction.
"So what's written on it?" Bruce asked Alfred curiously.
“It’s a secret, Master Bruce,” Alfred replied. “If young Master Thomas makes the same mistake again, I will tell the other family members a secret from his childhood, the importance of which will depend on the consequences of his actions.”
There was really no other way; Thomas had already been punished to the point of exhaustion. His sweets were almost nonexistent, and cutting off his allowance was completely impractical...
“Could you have told me in advance?” Bruce leaned closer. “Anyway, I don’t believe Thomas would give up on the adventure. He’ll definitely do it again.”
It can only be said that Bruce really knows Thomas very well.
"Be patient, Master Bruce."
-----------------------
The author's note: All I can say is that everyone is being rigidly controlled by the inertia of their thinking.
The multiverse Batman is very wary of losing control, and the existence of the Ultimate Man and the Syndicate makes him subconsciously believe that Night Owl is a corrupted Bruce Wayne.
In this world, Batman, thanks to the legendary duo Owl and Dick's meticulous reasoning, considers Thomas and Nite Owl to be two different people.
Thomas has always portrayed Night Owl and Thomas as enemies, never considering that someone would attribute his affair to Night Owl, nor did he expect that the multiverse Batman knew about Night Owl and had a considerable sense of responsibility, and that his attempt to shift the blame might attract others.
Because of Thomas's less-than-successful rescue operation, his protection of Bruce Jr., and his charitable work over the years, Alfred did not realize that Thomas might actually kill his entire family and eat meal replacements if he went crazy. He did not know that Thomas really wanted to destroy the world; he only thought that Thomas did not want to live and had a serious tendency to self-destruct.
Dick didn't realize that Night Owl was a pure super-anti-hero; he now saw Night Owl as an anti-hero he could cooperate with in emergencies.
Jason now sees Thomas as a wealthy, neutral, and chaotic man who is constantly being kidnapped, while firmly believing that Owl is the real Owl.
Stereotypes are deadly ( ) This place is already in complete chaos.
-
I watched some interviews about Absolute Bat (I think that's what it's called, I don't really know what else to say), and they mentioned some future plot developments...
This looks so heartbreaking [crying emoji] Oh my god, is this for real? Is this direction for real? Does it have to be this cruel? Do you even remember you're called Detective Comics? Can you please make more Batman crime-solving stories? I really don't want to see superheroes being tortured... Martha finally survived, can't you have more mother-son interactions...? I've really had enough. I've never felt happy watching a superhero who saves the world get tortured... Watching the Batman storyline where Bruce is kicked out by the board and framed and sent to Arkham, hated by the people of Gotham, made me feel so awful (I initially bought this because someone said it had more suspense). Watching Batman blow up Wayne Manor at the end of Arkham Knight made me feel so awful (thinking about the official sequel, Killing Justice, almost made me throw up) (even though it's cruel, the plots of these two are quite well-received) (except for Killing Justice). I've really had enough. DC, you've really created a super tragedy in the world of performance art. You've created an almost perfect hero character over decades, and then used various abstract methods to torture everyone who loves him, from the 2D to the 3D world? My biggest hope for DC right now is that Batman will land smoothly... Please don't torture the characters or ruin their character arcs...
I seem to have said a bit too much... I just hope that Batman lands safely, and that Martha and Alfred don't get hurt.
It seems I'm more suited to Batman-related cartoons and LEGO sets... I can't stand any superhero-themed plots, especially those that deviate from the characters' original designs while simultaneously torturing the superheroes...
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