Chapter 85 Reducing Obstacles
“It seems your men need more reconnaissance training,” Batman said, looking at Lars Augu.
"That might have to wait until their next life," Thomas thought.
However, Thomas Jr. did not reveal to Batman that he had actually fought his way here.
In fact, to prevent his knife from becoming dull, he would kill one person and then replace it with a new one. He even threw away his blood-stained coat, so he looked quite clean now, and you couldn't tell what he had been doing along the way.
Overall, he was able to get through so easily thanks to Lars Augu, who was primarily focused on defending against Batman rather than Thomas Jr.
However, this is not Lars Augu's fault. If you only look at Thomas himself and not at Night Owl, it would be hard for anyone to guess that this rich guy who hired a bunch of bodyguards was so good at martial arts that he could even fight his way out of the League of Assassins' stronghold.
"Where are the others?" Batman asked.
"I sent him away." Thomas stood idly at the door, knife in hand.
He couldn't kill so many people in front of these children. Killing just two might fool them, but killing more would be a different story.
“To be specific, Mr. Bruce,” Alfred’s voice rang out, “they were taken away using the Batmobile’s autopilot mode.”
“…Keep an eye on them,” Batman said, putting his hand on his belt. “Don’t let them touch those buttons.”
“It seems a bit too difficult,” Thomas said, leaning against the doorframe. “Kids this age are often like hammers.”
Batman glanced at him.
"When I see a button or something that's raised, I want to press it twice."
Their familiar conversation seemed to completely ignore Lars Augu, who was standing in the middle of the room.
He simply swung his knife at Thomas, who seemed easier to break through.
"So you're planning to start with me?" Thomas easily dodged without swinging his knife, as if he were just a lucky guy skilled in stealth and evasion. "Actually, I just wanted to discuss something with you."
"What?"
“Personally, I think we can keep to ourselves instead of fighting each other,” Thomas said rather wearily. “Gotham doesn’t belong to you, and it’s good for all of us if the League of Assassins leaves.”
“Looks like you’re still as arrogant as ever.” Lars Augu crouched down to strike Thomas’s leg, but Batman grabbed his hand with a rope.
“Thank you,” Thomas nodded to Batman, then darted to the window. “Arrogance is a psychological state and behavior that overestimates one’s own worth while belittling or devaluing others, and I don’t consider myself to have ever overestimated my own worth… well, at least not all these years.”
The fact that life is worthless is beyond doubt; everyone's life is the same, including his own.
“Get out of here, Thomas,” Batman interrupted him quietly, gesturing to Thomas Jr. about his plan.
He will drop a second smoke grenade as the bat wings arrive, and Thomas will only need to crawl into the plane to leave safely...
“Wait, I haven’t finished speaking yet.” Thomas continued, under Batman’s rather displeased gaze, “I have more important things to do, sir. Fighting will only reduce efficiency.”
Batman nudged Thomas with his elbow.
Get to the point or get on with it; stop wasting time.
The Assassin's Guild reinforcements might arrive soon.
“Okay,” Thomas Jr. readily got back to the point, “If you cause trouble in Gotham again, I’ll blow up your headquarters… You’ve lived this long, you should be able to tell that I really will do it.”
Batman looked at Thomas with a stern face.
"Do you think you can get close to the League of Assassins?" Ras Augu retorted.
"You don't understand the power of technology."
Even if he were on the antipodal point of the Assassin Brotherhood, he could still blow up their headquarters (although the antipodal point of the Assassin Brotherhood is most likely in the sea), which is the convenience brought by modern technology.
The problem is that the accuracy is insufficient; it would directly destroy the entire Earth.
But that's not something Thomas should be thinking about.
“Ha, a madman who’s courting his own destruction.” Ras Augu gripped his knife tighter.
"By the way, don't even think about killing me here." Thomas threw the knife in his hand to the ground instead. "First of all, Batman is here, he certainly won't just stand by and watch you kill me; secondly, you yourself are in Gotham right now, and you don't seem to have a large amount of high-purity Lazarus around you... Do you know how I survived the Court of Owls?"
He stepped forward, opened his arms to Lars Augu to show that he posed no threat, and said with a hint of mockery in his voice, "I have prepared enough bombs to destroy this city underground. If my heart stops beating, this entire city and everyone in it will be my victims."
You are lying.
“You can try it. It’ll be quick, just one stab.” Little Thomas moved closer, and Lars Augu was absolutely certain that he wasn’t wearing any protective gear and could be easily killed with a single stab. “It’s the simplest and fastest way. You can easily tell if I’m telling the truth.”
“Detective,” Lars Augu said, looking at Batman behind Thomas Jr., “this is your blood relative, a madman who wants to destroy everything, a complete lunatic.”
“That’s right,” Thomas Jr. turned to Batman, nonchalantly exposing his vulnerable back to Lars Augu, “So how about trying to kill me before I destroy Gotham? I personally think you don’t need to feel any moral pressure. If you really can’t avoid the psychological pressure, I can say it’s removing life support…”
Batman, having had enough, tied Thomas up and carried him in his hand.
"Get out of Gotham immediately, I'll be watching you." Batman pulled out his grappling hook and shot it out the window.
He then jumped out of the window and disappeared into the Gotham night.
-
"Can you let me go now?"
Thomas Jr. sat next to Batman.
After Batman's rather uneasy reinforcement, he has now become a cocoon secured by an airplane seatbelt.
“Unless you explain everything that happened today,” Batman said, his mood sour. “I don’t even know how to explain your upbringing to Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha.”
"Do we have to be so careful to hide our identities even when it's just the two of us?"
"explain."
“Okay,” Thomas answered honestly, “I was lying just now. I didn’t plant enough bombs to destroy Gotham City underground. The heartbeat control bomb part was mainly used to deceive the Court of Owls and ensure my safety. The evidence is that I tried to leave this universe a few days ago, and not a single explosion occurred in Gotham that day.”
"Destroy the world?"
“That part was tailor-made for Lars Augu’s needs. He said last time that the League of Assassins was going to cleanse the whole world, and I thought that going along with him would better protect my life,” Thomas said, looking down at his toes to avoid direct eye contact with Batman. “But I think I overdid it?”
Are you sure you've faked it?
“Don’t try to test me like that, Batman. These little tricks obviously won’t work on me,” Thomas protested. “I just briefly relayed Nite Owl’s plan to him. Who would have thought that the two of them, who both want to destroy humanity, would have a disagreement? It seems that humanity is indeed something that will fight each other even if only two of them are left.”
Stop smearing humanity, Thomas. This is clearly not humanity's fault.
If only Alfred and I were left in the world, we could definitely live together harmoniously. The problem actually lies with Nite Owl and Lars Augu, not with all of humanity.
"You lie like this to everyone?"
“Of course, I survive on lies.” Thomas had untied himself at some point. “You can guess whether this is a lie or not.”
“A slightly modified version of the liar’s paradox, at least you won’t die even if you tell a truth or two.” Now, Batman’s tone was much calmer. “Can we have a proper talk, Tommy? No deliberate concealment, sophistry, logical traps, word games, selective statements, topic shifts… just a pure and honest conversation.”
“It’s very challenging. In my general experience, lying is just a bit of a hassle, but telling the truth always leads to irreversible consequences,” Thomas replied rationally. “But I can give it a try.”
"You... never mind."
They had arrived above Wayne Manor, and Thomas, lost in thought, casually pressed a button.
The canopy of the bat-wing-shaped cockpit popped open.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his arms towards the brightly lit Wayne Manor…
He was then grabbed by Batman and forced back into his chair.
The canopy was closed again.
“I believe that even a kid as young as Jason knows not to do such dangerous things.”
"The older children don't know."
"How old? A kid in his twenties?"
Actually, she's forty years old.
Isaiah Thomas still wasn't telling the truth.
Lying at most makes him seem insincere, while telling the truth makes him look completely insane.
-
Old Thomas was sitting in the hall of Wayne Manor, fiddling with the gun he had brought from his own universe.
Martha sat beside him, her head bowed, her handkerchief covering her mouth, obscuring her expression.
This afternoon, Thomas invited them to stay at his place for two days to avoid the crazy crowd.
Naturally, the Waynes had no reason to refuse the offer, so they boarded the stealth plane that Thomas had "used" and slightly modified, and arrived first at Thomas's... aesthetically questionable and visually unappealing mansion.
Thank goodness, there was a landline here. Alfred used this amazing modern device to successfully contact them and inform them that Thomas had mysteriously disappeared and that Bruce was contacting his friend Batman to search for Thomas's whereabouts.
So they returned to Wayne Manor, even bringing their own weapons, but without wearing uniforms.
“Mr. Thomas,” Alfred tried to persuade him gently, “I think we should trust Batman.”
Do something else, like comforting Mrs. Martha who is overly worried.
At least put the gun down first; I remember you seemed to hate guns.
Old Thomas paused for a moment while fiddling with his gun.
Believe in Batman?
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Author's note: National Day is coming soon! Happy National Day everyone!
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The fall sale started today, but there aren't any games I want to buy... and the games I'm interested in aren't at their lowest prices ever.
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The Justice League is so cute! Can we have a few more episodes? (rolls around) I want to write about the interactions between all the Justice League members, but I don't know how to write about normal people. (wailes)
Also, Ras Augu in TAS has blue eyes.
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