Chapter 105: The Battle between the Justice League and Shao Zheng (Two in One)
This is a highway leading to downtown Washington, extending southwest along the Potomac River. There are several national parks, business centers and schools evenly distributed along the way. The buildings are generally not high, and the high-altitude vision is excellent. Two planes do not have to worry about hitting buildings when flying at high speed in the sky.
Due to the interference of the signal from Green Lantern's plane, the Batplane's positioning of Bruce was temporarily ineffective. Robin, who was driving the plane, tried to bypass the blockade of the former American pilot several times but failed, and only received a smug eyebrow raise from the other party.
Damian narrowed his eyes, took the communicator and tracker from the console and put them in his arms, opened the door of the Batplane, took a long jump and rolled forward, jumped over Green Lantern's plane, and landed on the ground in a few slow steps and disappeared.
“…”
Robin: "J, you fly the plane."
"On what grounds?"
Robin pointed at himself and said, "Detective." Then he pointed downwards and said, "Find Batman."
He made way, followed Damian closely, opened his sail and slid to the ground.
The Arsenal and Starfire were in charge of intercepting the green-lighted spaceship. Nightwing looked at Red Hood who was forced to take over the driving job: "I'll go first. You know I'm going to the police station for internship during the holidays. This is a good opportunity to train myself."
He fished out a parachute from under the chair and disappeared before he could finish his words.
Jason: “…”
Barbara, who was sitting in the back seat fiddling with her computer, said: "In a general family, the eldest and the youngest child are always favored. As for Tim, he is Robin."
"..." Let's restart this universe where Robin doesn't work in chronological order.
**
Harrison Beadle has been working in the town along this highway for ten years. He is a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, handsome appearance and warm personality. He is very popular in this town where most young people go to big cities for development. His father, Old Beadle, works in the only bank in the town, and he himself runs a small burger shop.
Every weekend when students are on vacation, there are always more customers in the fast food restaurant. On weekdays, there is less population movement and not much human resources are needed, so Harrison specially chooses to hire temporary helpers during busy times and pays them by the hour. The employment contract is not very formal and cannot withstand investigation, but it is very convenient and saves trouble, which is enough for this small place.
Today, Harrison put up a sign recruiting temporary workers as usual. After a while, a black-haired young man came over, looked at the job board, turned around and asked, "Are you looking for odd jobs?"
Harrison looked critically at this man who was as handsome as himself and said, "No, but I haven't seen you before. Are you from this town?"
"I'm on a road trip to Washington, and my car broke down. I need some money now." The man summarized the situation in a few words. "It's good that I don't have any requirements. I can go to work now."
"Okay, I was going to ask Joe to help, but since you're willing to come and work... Rosen! Call that guy and tell him to go out on a date with his girlfriend. He doesn't need to come for a while." Harrison threw an apron to the young man, "Come here and sign up. What's your name?"
"Matches Malone."
"What is it? Matches?" Harrison thought he had misheard. "Is there anyone called that?"
"You can just call me Malone." The young man actively helped him deliver the recruitment board to the kitchen, and took the contract from Harrison's hand, signing his name on it. "We are more casual in naming."
"Uh, excuse me, where are you from?"
"Brother Tan."
“…”
Harrison looked at him with something strange in his eyes.
"Don't look at me like that, boss. I'm a law-abiding citizen. Not all people in Gotan are criminals."
That's true, Harrison thought. Even if he was a criminal, why would he come to this remote town to apply for a temporary job? Is he because his burgers are delicious?
Thinking of this, he relaxed and called several other shop assistants to come over and clear the tables and chairs in preparation for welcoming customers.
As mentioned before, Malone is a handsome young man who is rare to see. He is also very talkative, and he moves quickly but never stops talking. It didn't take long for the store employees to know where he went to college, what he likes to eat, where he has traveled before, what hobbies he has in his spare time, etc. He blended into this relatively exclusive town like a flash, especially the store employee Mary, whose eyes sparkled every time she heard about Malone's travel experiences - Harrison knew that she had always wanted to go to a big city, but she stayed to work because her family had no money - the two chatted enthusiastically, as if they had known each other for several years.
Harrison said nothing, but he felt sad in his heart. Mary used to have the best relationship with him, but today the girl didn't even look at him.
It wasn't Malone's fault, and Harrison knew it, but he just didn't like him.
Now I'm the boss.
He thought to himself.
What's wrong with a boss ordering his employees around?
"Ma Long! Go to the kitchen and help!"
Normally new employees wouldn't work in the kitchen, but Mary was a waitress, so he could keep the two of them separate.
Malone had no objection. He walked into the kitchen with a brisk pace, tied his apron, and walked into the kitchen. There was no threshold to cooking food in a fast food restaurant. He quickly mastered the essence of frying French fries and stood by the frying pan and started working. Mary looked unhappy and kept looking back to see what the man was doing, but she didn't refute it.
Harrison's mood gradually improved.
After a while, the first customer of the evening came. He was a little boy who was only as tall as Harrison's waist. He was young but had a big temper. He looked at people with arrogance. It was obvious that he was a child from a big city. Mary smiled at him and asked him what he wanted to eat.
"A bag of chips." The boy seemed a little impatient. After throwing down the change, he looked around the restaurant twice, but didn't find the target. "Did you see a man about this tall, with black hair and blue eyes?"
"No." Mary lowered her head to place an order and said absentmindedly, "Dark-haired men are very common here. Malone has dark hair."
The boy asked, "Who is Malone?"
"My friend. Rosen? Help me get off work. I'm going to buy a bottle of Baileys next door."
"Don't you not drink?"
Mary: "Yeah, but I'm going to see Marlon tonight and he said he likes Baileys."
The waiter, Rosen, came over mumbling to himself and took over. Malone, who they had been talking about during the ordering process, put the freshly-cooked French fries into a bag and handed it to the boy. The boy noticed that he had brown eyes.
"Your meal is packed." The young man smiled. "Eating fast food all the time is not good for your health."
What does it have to do with you? Aren't you selling French fries?
The boy tiptoed to take the French fries, picked up one and put it in his mouth to chew it. He showed a disgusted expression but said nothing. He turned around and walked out of the store without looking back.
"He's so rude!" Mary said after he left. "His parents didn't fulfill their responsibility to educate him!"
"… This is due to many factors. He may just not be used to the taste here, and he is in a bad mood." Malone said, "But you are right. In any case, he does lack patience in socializing. His father will have the opportunity to educate him in the future."
Mary thought he was comforting her and she covered her mouth and laughed secretly.
Damian walked out of the store, holding down the headset with a gloomy expression. "We didn't find anyone here. Harrison's Burger Shop does recruit workers every weekend, but they tend to hire locals. The guy named Marlon works in the kitchen and is the boyfriend of the waitress at the front. He shouldn't be the one we are looking for."
"I tracked his bank card records. Any purchase would reveal his location. Bruce couldn't have left this town. He might have disguised himself. You can't limit the search to black hair, blue eyes, and male. These are the easiest features for disguise."
"You mean my father could have dressed like a woman, Robin?"
"…It's not impossible." Tim answered cautiously, "You have to open your mind."
Damian refused to imagine: "Marlon also drinks."
"That's not likely. This is just one of the candidates. Let's see what the next one is."
Busy time always passes quickly, for young people who are busy looking for people, and for Matchstick Malone as well. His Schrodinger cooking skills make him jump back and forth between frying the kitchen and feeding himself when he falls outside, but no matter what, frying French fries only requires putting in and taking out at a fixed time, which is really not a technical content, and a monkey can do it well after training.
He bought a pack of his own creations to taste, and found them tasteless. Not even Alfred himself could have made it better. Besides, the old butler refused junk food, and there was no extra food in their house for comparison. What on earth was Damian complaining about?
I can't figure it out.
In the blink of an eye, the sun had reached the western border. It was dinner time and more and more people came. Mr. Malone stood out with his excellent planning and coordination ability. Soon, the chefs frying hamburgers and fried chicken nuggets were all bowing down to his aprons.
At the end of the get off work day, Harrison handed a stack of money to Malone fiercely, as if he was about to say "I'll give you two million to leave Mary" in the next second.
He gave a fake smile and asked, "You did a great job, Marlon. Does this cover your trip back to Gotham?"
"Almost. I just ordered a gift and I have just the right amount of money." Malone replied, "I will..."
Before he finished speaking, sirens suddenly sounded outside the window.
This is common in Gotha, but not in this small town far from the city.
The people in the town basically knew each other, and the shop assistants were a little panicked, sticking their heads out to ask what happened. A few minutes later, Rosen hurried back and said to Harrison, "A group of criminals passing by planned to rob the bank. They kidnapped your father, Old Beadle!"
Harrison's handsome face instantly lost all color.
"What's going on!" He jumped up and asked in panic, "Where is it?! I have to go check it out!"
He rushed out like the wind. Malone was not familiar with the structure of the town, so he had to follow him. Mary shouted from behind: "What are you doing?! Come back!"
"I'll see if they need any help. Don't wait for me, honey. You deserve better!"
Mary stared blankly at the two young men who disappeared from her sight in the blink of an eye, still holding the bottle of Baileys she had just bought in her hand.
Rosen coughed and came over: "Would you like to have a couple of drinks? How much is the wine? It's my treat."
On the other side, Harrison and Malone have arrived at the bank robbery scene.
This is a small bank with limited staff and security, and they have never seen any big scenes in their lives, so the enemy was completely dispersed as soon as they rushed in, and they could only hide in the corner tremblingly and look at the criminals with horror.
"Dad!!" Harrison screamed, attracting the robber's attention. Malone followed behind him and didn't have time to stop him, covering his face with one hand in pain.
Then he raised his hands to block Harrison, who had lost his rationality, and said to the dangerous man with a gun in hand, "We are just passing by."
"Damn it," one of the robbers cursed, "How did you let these two people in?"
"What could possibly happen?" the accomplice said disdainfully, "This is such a small place, we would have evacuated long before the rescue arrived."
"Don't waste your words. Tie up these two losers and lock them up with the guys in the bank, then continue looking for what the boss wants to take." The robber turned to Malone and Harrison and gave them a sly smile. The latter were so scared that they trembled. "It's no good just passing by. You saw things you shouldn't have seen and heard things you shouldn't have heard. You should blame your bad luck."
"That's right." The arrogant partner continued to be arrogant, "This is near Washington, but there is no Batman to help you!"
Ma Long: “…”
He forced a smile and asked, "Are you from Kota Kinabalu? Who do you work for? I am from Kota Kinabalu, too."
"Yes, yes, yes." Harrison nodded frantically, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and said hopefully, "Do you know each other? If you know each other, then let me and my dad go, wuwuwu."
The robber laughed: "Our boss is the penguin man, who are you, kid?"
He walked over, punched each of them in the abdomen, and shouted, "Take them away!"
Inside the bank, there were gangsters guarding hostages with guns, and criminals looking for Penguin Man's collections. The staff, including Old Beadle, huddled in the middle of the lobby. Harrison collapsed in despair as soon as he entered: "I'm going to die. Penguin Man sounds a little cute, but I'm going to die."
"You're far from dead," Malone corrected him.
"Good brother." Harrison was very moved. "I'm sorry to have caused you trouble. I didn't expect you to be willing to come with me."
"I just...never mind, could you please be quiet for a moment?"
Harrison looked around and saw that the guns were pointed at him. He shut up.
Malone was frowning in thought, not looking panicked at all. His calmness gave Harrison great confidence, although he didn't know why.
At this moment, the phone in Malone's pocket rang, which was like a thunderclap in the tense environment, and many people trembled with fear.
The ringing sound caused a commotion among the robbers. One of them shouted with a gun in hand: "Take out your cell phone! Put it on the ground!"
Ma Long obediently took out his cell phone, caught a glimpse of the caller ID with his eyes, and looked slightly surprised.
"Commissioner Gordon?"
The robber came over and pressed the button to connect and play.
"Jesus, I really got through!" The old chief's voice came from the other side of the phone. "I saw your phone number in the chairman's personal information displayed on your company's official website, but I thought it was just a cover... Wait, I heard gunshots from your end. What happened? Do you need to send a police car?"
"No, it's vacation time, and I had a little problem outside of Gothan—"
Before Malone could finish, the robber who had been eavesdropping on their conversation walked over quickly, pointed his gun at his forehead and asked fiercely, "Who are you talking to?!"
"Just my friend."
"Nonsense! I heard him say he sent a police car!"
Gordon: "Well, I'm responsible for Ge Tan, not you."
The robber's expression cracked slightly: "Are you from the Kotan Police Station?"
Someone next to him whispered, "I think that voice sounds like Commissioner Gordon."
“…”
Damn, why?
Isn't this Washington?
This is what he was thinking and that is what he asked.
The young man in front of him did not answer him. Someone else answered - there was a sudden crackling sound of heavy objects falling to the ground outside the door. At the same time, Malone suddenly raised his legs and kicked and swept horizontally in Harrison's shocked eyes, instantly disarming three hot weapons.
Then he took out the bat dart from his pocket and accurately blocked the muzzles of the guns of several criminals who were about to attack in the distance.
"Bang--"
Their weapons exploded.
The conscious criminal screamed at a volume no louder than Harrison's before: "It's Batman!! What's going on! Am I hallucinating?! This is Washington! But I saw Batman!"
Before Gordon hung up the phone, the director said, "It seems that your luck is not just bad anymore. Why don't you try to change your career?"
"Not only is there Batman, there's also Robin."
Tim, who walked in, interrupted.
"Everything outside has been resolved. I thought you would hide until the end and not be exposed."
"That's not necessary." Matchstick Malone said simply.
Robin blinked at this statement and pressed the criminal a little harder, causing wailing sounds to emanate one after another.
"Why do you say that? Damian is still angry."
He is right.
Damian is about to explode.
Fuck Matchstick Malone.
Going to a fucking fast food restaurant for fries is bad for your health.
He will never eat French fries again in his life!!!
"I'm sorry," the man raised his head, his dark brown eyes due to his cosmetic contact lenses looking directly at Robin, Damian, and the children who followed closely behind them, "It's just that I think we all need some time to accept certain things."
Alfred's voice came from the headset: "This is not a reason for you to run away overnight to work in a country town, sir. Just in case, I am not complimenting you on your hard work and thriftiness, although it is gratifying that you can learn a new skill that you may never use again in your life."
Batman sighed.
"I don't need protection. Everything that happened in the coordinate universe is false. You can't use it to define my past."
"Even though it seems to be going smoothly?"
"...I prefer to call it a coincidence."
His unwillingness to admit it was too obvious. Those unspoken burdens that seemed to never bring him peace until death were buried deep in his soul at unknown moments. If there were no "coincidences", others would never have the chance to know.
Like an urban legend, it is there when we need it, and when we don’t need it, people don’t know when and how it disappears.
Even when Alfred recalled the night that was so magnificent because of the death of one person, it was just as the British writer Graham Greene wrote in his work: "He felt that he had reached the pinnacle of happiness at that time: in the dark, alone, surrounded by only the noisy sound of rain, without love or mercy."
"Maybe we all need to compromise with each other," he softened his voice, "That's what family is supposed to do."
"You are right."
Batman unexpectedly agreed with the old butler, "I'm willing to make some compensation."
He handed the bill to the children: "A Great Dane... I'm not sure if you are interested in raising it."
Robin's eyes widened and he stammered, "You bought it with your French fry money?"
"It's my income from work. Luckily the prices in town are not high, and a farmer's dog happened to give birth to puppies."
The young people all stood there like statues, unable to speak for a long time.
Until Batman asked, "Don't you want to go see it now? We still have time to register it for adoption and we can come up with a name for it along the way."
Gordon, who watched a battle without the smoke of gunpowder, said: "Amazing."
Alfred: "My master always does this. I hope you all can get home as soon as possible, and I can prepare a nutritious and healthy dinner for your hard-earned master."
After contacting Commissioner Gordon and the local police station to hand over the criminals, the hostages had already been released, and the Bat Family members walked out of the building one after another under the night sky.
Matchstick Malone was the last one to go. He turned to Harrison and said, "I think you should pay more attention to Rosen instead of treating me as a rival."
Harrison: "I, I, am not, you..."
Batman ignored him.
The man put his hand on his son's shoulder.
"I think I know what you're thinking."
He whispered.
Damian stiffened his neck and said coldly: "What are you talking about?"
"You felt that I didn't trust you, so I didn't let you participate in the night activities, nor did I tell you what happened to Talia in the other world."
“…”
"But if I hadn't trusted you, Damian, I wouldn't have had the courage to die."
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