Chapter 69 Skilled at Asking for Help and Torturing Others
"How come you're alright?" The scarecrow tried to distract Thomas, looking for an opportunity to escape.
"Of course, it's because my armor is more airtight." Thomas easily picked up the scarecrow and slammed it onto the lab table.
What else can I rely on? My indomitable will to destroy the earth to withstand the toxic gas of fear?
Do I have such a thing?
An unknown night owl thought that after a certain plan failed, he didn't even intend to try to recuperate in other universes and make a comeback, but instead abandoned everything and sought death.
“To be honest, I don’t have time for you right now,” Nite Owl said, walking past him and lifting Batman up instead, “but I’m a little curious how long your antidote will last.”
Another group of claws burst in and firmly took control of the scarecrow.
“Let him stay here until I get back,” Night Owl ordered. “Keep track of how long it takes him to go crazy.”
"No! Wait!" The scarecrow struggled against the claws. "This poison gas formula is different from the previous ones. Only I have the antidote..."
“No need,” said the Night Owl. “I know someone more honest and helpful than you, with considerable knowledge of chemistry and a medical background.”
-
Gotham had a rare peaceful night.
The night patrol ended quickly. All the named supervillains stayed obediently in Arkham Asylum, while the few supervillains who hadn't yet entered Arkham Asylum were quietly recuperating from their injuries.
The surveillance cameras did not detect any crimes, not even a single thief stealing a wallet.
That's right, even in Gotham, thanks to the efforts of vigilantes, there are always a few calm nights throughout the year.
It seems tonight will be one of them.
“So, do you have any plans to go to bed early tonight, Bruce?” Alfred stood behind Batman. “Or perhaps invite a few Justice League colleagues over for a get-together? Well, to be honest, I’ve given up on getting you into bed before midnight.”
“I can’t get too comfortable with my biological clock, and I have a strange feeling that I can’t sleep yet, just in case,” Batman said. “Could you get me some coffee, Alfred?”
“Yes, Master Bruce.” Alfred turned around.
Batman glanced back warily to make sure Alfred was out of sight, then cautiously spun around in his chair.
“Well, if you were still a little kid, I would stop you from spinning the chair,” Alfred suddenly turned around, “but it seems you don’t need to worry about that now.”
"So you're not planning to give me a Christmas present this year, Alfred?" Batman asked seriously.
"That depends on how well you behave. As far as I know, only well-behaved children can..."
“Batman,” Oracle’s communication suddenly came through, interrupting the conversation between Batman and Alfred, “Two visitors from the multiverse have suddenly appeared in the Diamond District, and they’re… well, acquaintances.”
She then projected the surveillance footage onto the bat computer.
In the video, Thomas Wayne Jr., who had just impressed Batman a couple of days ago, is seen holding a black figure and waving at the monitor.
Some thugs noticed him and the Batman he was supporting, and, emboldened by who-knows-where, pulled out knives—
Then he was taken down by Thomas in a few moves, and his hand was stabbed through by their own knife.
Batman's lips drooped.
"Gotham's rare night of complete peace" has vanished.
“They are two very familiar gentlemen,” Alfred commented, “especially the one in black.”
Batman zoomed in on the surveillance images.
"Alfred, how old do you think he is?"
"If we take you as a benchmark, I would guess he is around twenty-five years old, but there may be some error."
"And the Justice League just happened to observe that Night Owls do exist in that world," Batman said thoughtfully.
-
“It’s nice to meet you, Bruce,” Thomas said politely. “Could you help yourself? You’re a bit heavy.”
"...What's your purpose in coming to Gotham?" Batman cautiously accepted his multiverse counterpart.
They even tied people up.
"They've been accidentally poisoned by a new type of fear toxin, and they're somewhat delirious. We don't have the antidote," Thomas explained.
“The Batcave does have a neutralizing agent,” Batman said, “but why did you come looking for me?”
“It’s obvious, because you’re a good person, a righteous, morally upright person who wouldn’t stand by and watch someone die.” Thomas skillfully sat in the passenger seat of the Batmobile, watching Batman secure Batman to the back seat. “In any case, cooperating with you is more reliable than getting the antidote from Scarecrow.”
Well, that is indeed one reason.
But the act of seeking help from the multiverse in the face of a little bit of Scarecrow gas is definitely not a decision that a normal Batman would make.
Batman cautiously observed Thomas Jr. and noticed that he was looking out the window with his head turned to the side, so his expression could not be seen.
Are you looking at the street scene of Gotham?
“Hey! So he just said last time he didn’t want to see people from the multiverse,” an angry voice came through the intercom, “and then he came back on his own, didn’t he?”
"It seems our guest is rather impolite? How should I treat him, Master Bruce?"
“Be on high alert,” Batman deliberately let Thomas hear, “We must be prepared to face malice.”
Isaiah Thomas didn't even turn his head.
This level of probing was completely useless against him.
In fact, every time Batman meets him, unless there is an emergency, he always tests him a bit, from his outlook on life, worldview, and values to which fast food restaurant in Gotham City is the best, trying to reconstruct the life of the Night Owl from the smallest details and find the true identity hidden under his mask.
How did he get infected?
“Your batsuit is not very effective,” Thomas said. “The gas penetrated the batsuit and entered the body through the skin.”
Where's the scarecrow?
"I was also poisoned by some gas, but I have absolutely no time to care about it right now."
"You took him away by yourself?" Batman asked casually.
“Yes,” Thomas said calmly, looking out the window, “I brought him out myself.”
"No!" Red Robin, a staunch believer that "there must be something wrong with the Earth where Thomas Wayne is," objected loudly. "The bat suit was penetrated by the fear gas, how come he's alright? I suspect this is a trap."
“Obviously, we all know that the neutralizing agent won’t last long. Its main function is to neutralize the effects of the fear gas, not to make people immune to it, and he was exposed to the fear gas just two days ago,” the Oracle added. “So we can rule out the possibility that the fear gas is ineffective against him.”
"So now we have to question whether this multiverse Bruce or Thomas is a pair of bastard rich guys?" the troublemaker interjected excitedly. "So our next opponent is... Batman from the multiverse? That sounds really weird, this seems like an unprecedented experience."
"Not necessarily," someone said on the intercom.
"Okay, so shouldn't we include Black Bat in the list of people who have experience fighting Batman?"
"Hey!" someone tried to recruit from the inside. "We have two members with Batman experience now, anyone else want to sign up?"
“Tsk, I thought I wasn’t the only one who noticed that each of us had been trained in fighting techniques by our fathers,” Robin interrupted them, “which of course included sparring.”
There was a lot of noise inside, while Batman continued to try to get information out of Isaiah Thomas.
How do you feel?
"No, my arms are just a little tired. I'm wearing the best airtight protective suit," Thomas told him. "I'm curious, Wayne Enterprises has so much advanced technology that can provide you with perfect armor in terms of defense and strength enhancement, so why do you always wear such a mediocre and ordinary uniform?"
Thomas has never been able to fully understand Batman as an individual, and this time is no exception.
“Well, it seems I can actually resonate with individuals in the multiverse, Master Bruce.” It was Alfred who spoke now, and the intercom immediately fell silent as soon as he spoke. “I think you should at least enhance the defensive capabilities of the Batsuit, in case something like what happened to another Master Bruce occurs.”
“I think he probably wanted to hone his abilities and avoid losing control of those powers,” Batman said. “If he couldn’t control those powers, it would cause destruction.”
“So that’s what you think,” Thomas said thoughtfully. “Well, it seems we really can’t understand each other.”
The Batmobile quickly arrived at the base that Thomas had visited last time.
That's right. Since the people in the car are from the multiverse, it's even less likely that Batman would bring them all to the Batcave.
“Looks like you’re being cautious.” Thomas quickly got out of the passenger seat and looked around. “Where’s the neutralizing agent you mentioned?”
Unlike the last time he visited this base, this time there were only two Batmen and a little Thomas, making the place seem rather deserted.
“I can’t be sure you have no ill intentions toward this universe.” Batman also got out of the car, but he didn’t immediately untie the restraints on Batman in the back seat. “The antidote will have to wait a while. I need to determine first which kind of fear gas he was poisoned with.”
The Scarecrow updates its Fear Gas faster than mobile phone manufacturers release new products, and there are even all sorts of inexplicable variants.
“Okay.” Thomas stood quite far away from him sensibly to avoid causing any unnecessary misunderstandings or conflicts.
Batman picks up a syringe, approaches the Batmobile, and attempts to draw blood from the Batman on another Earth.
But he was stopped by Thomas Jr., who then handed him a sealed glass container.
“This is a sample of the fear gas I collected. You can use this.” Thomas Jr. forcefully shoved the test tube into Batman’s hand.
...So if you have a sample, why did you bring Batman along?
-----------------------
Author's Note: Cup Noodles: Gradually building trust with the other members of the Justice League (although there are still a bunch of countermeasures), even appearing in a video call wearing his underwear (which seems to have a little bat print on it), and controlling himself to not wear high-performance armor unless there are special circumstances in order not to kill people.
òvó: Using high-performance armor against enemies, and being extremely vigilant against allies, who was this armor designed to withstand WW? Does Gotham have such a strongman? Who was this aircraft designed to make it impossible for even the Queen of the High Priestess to accurately pinpoint its location, forcing her to rely on area-of-effect attacks (it even withstood a lightning bombardment from three Syndicate members, only burning one button, and didn't even exit stealth mode after the button was burned out)? Does Gotham have such sharp eyes and ears and such high "magic power"? Every time they come to the Syndicate, they max out their stats, you idiot.
By the way, whenever I think of Batman's Bat Underpants, I immediately think of the Bat Cloth Bat meme ( ).
Batman changes out of his bodysuit and heads to the Iceberg Restaurant to perform a striptease for his plan.
When he took off his pants, he realized he hadn't changed his underwear.
From then on, the people of Gotham firmly believed that Bruce had a twisted love for Batman.
-
This chapter mostly refers to him as "Little Thomas," mainly because the God of the other universe has a stronger presence.
Speaking of the old man, hey! (points to the sky) I have a new idea for Flashpoint. It's probably a three-way battle between the old man, Martha's mother, and the CEO of Gotham City, with the CEO going straight to Flashpoint. In short, it's a three-way battle between the old man, Martha's mother, and the CEO of Gotham City, with the yandere and madman (not really). Another one is the lighthearted storyline where the CEO of Gotham City goes to Flashpoint with cup noodles.
Also, I feel like I'm still better suited to writing about crazy people... I feel like I've almost forgotten how to write about normal, outspoken people.
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