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. The kitchen efficiency was unprecedentedly high. Harrison came around four or five times and couldn't find any fault. He could only accept the sad fact with disappointment that Mary was going to date a poor boy from outside.
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.
這在哥譚很常見，但在這座遠離都市的小鎮很不常見。
鎮上的人基本互相認識，店員們都有些慌張，紛紛探出頭打聽發生了什麽事。幾分鐘後羅森匆匆走回來對哈裏森道：“有一夥路過的罪犯打算搶劫銀行，他們綁架了你的父親老比德爾！”
哈裏森俊美的面孔瞬間毫無血色。
“怎麽回事！”他蹦了起來，慌張地問，“在什麽地方？！我得去看看！”
他風一樣沖了出去，馬龍不熟悉小鎮的結構，只得跟在他後面，瑪麗在身後喊：“你去幹什麽？！回來！”
“我看看他們是否需要幫忙，別再等我了親愛的，你值得更好的！”
瑪麗呆呆地看着兩個青年眨眼功夫消失在視野當中，手裏還拿着那瓶剛買到的百利甜。
羅森幹咳一聲湊上來：“要來喝兩杯嗎？這酒多少錢，我請客。”
另一頭，哈裏森和馬龍已經來到了搶銀行的現場。
這是間不大的銀行，工作人員和安保都有限，且這輩子都沒見過什麽大場面，以至于敵人一沖就徹底潰散，只能戰戰兢兢地躲在角落裏用驚恐的目光看着罪犯們。
“爸爸！！”哈裏森發出一聲凄厲的尖叫，頓時吸引了劫匪的注意。馬龍跟在他後面沒來得及攔住，痛苦地單手掩面。
然後他舉起雙手主動擋在已經理性蒸發的哈裏森前面，對提着槍虎視眈眈的危險分子說道：“我們只是路過。”
“廢物。”一個劫匪罵道，“你們怎麽讓這兩人進來的？”
“能出什麽事。”同夥不屑道，“這屁大點地方，救援趕到前我們早就撤走了。”
“別廢話，把這兩個倒黴蛋綁起來和銀行裏的家夥關到一起，然後繼續尋找老大要拿的東西。”劫匪轉頭對馬龍和哈裏森露出猙獰的笑容，後者被吓得瑟瑟發抖，“路過也不行，看到了不該看的東西，聽到了不該聽的內容，要怪就怪自己運氣不好吧。”
“就是。”之前嚣張的同夥繼續嚣張，“這是華盛頓附近，可沒有蝙蝠俠來幫你們了！”
馬龍：“……”
他堅強地擠出微笑，問道：“你們是哥譚人？給哪位工作？我也是哥譚來的。”
“對對對。”哈裏森瘋狂點頭，宛如抓住了救命稻草，希冀道，“你們認不認識？認識的話就放了我和我爸爸吧嗚嗚嗚。”
劫匪大笑：“我們的老大是企鵝人，小子，你又是哪根蔥？”
他走過來，往兩人的腹部分別錘了一拳，吼道：“帶走！”
進到銀行內部，有提槍看守人質的匪徒，和到處尋找着企鵝人收藏品的罪犯。工作人員包括老比德爾都縮在大廳中央，哈裏森一進到裏面就絕望地倒了下去：“我要死了。企鵝人聽上去還有點可愛，但是我要死了。”
“你離死還遠。”馬龍糾正他。
“好兄弟。”哈裏森十分感動，“抱歉連累了你，我沒想到你願意跟我一起來。”
“我只是……算了，你能稍微安靜點嗎？”
哈裏森環顧四周，發現槍口都對準了自己。他閉嘴了。
馬龍正皺眉思考，看上去一點都不慌亂，他的鎮定給了哈裏森很大信心，雖然不知道為什麽。
就在這時馬龍口袋裏響起電話鈴聲，在緊繃的環境中宛若雷霆炸響，不少人都吓得哆嗦起來。
鈴聲在劫匪中引起騷動，一人持槍喝道：“把你的手機拿出來！放到地上！”
馬龍老老實實地掏出手機，餘光瞥見來電顯示，表情微愕。
“戈登局長？”
劫匪走過來點了接通和外放。
“Jesus，我真的打通了！”老局長的聲音從電話另一側傳來，“我在你們公司官網上顯示的董事長個人信息裏看到了你的電話號碼，但我以為這只是個幌子……等等，我聽到你那邊傳來了槍響，發生了什麽？需要出動警車嗎？”
“不，現在是假期，我在哥譚之外遇到一點小狀況——”
不等馬龍說完，旁聽他們對話的劫匪快步走過來，槍口瞄準額頭兇惡地問道：“你在和誰講話？！”
“只是我的朋友。”
“胡說八道！我聽見他說派警車了！”
戈登：“呃，但我只管哥譚，不負責你們。”
劫匪表情微裂：“你是哥譚警局的人？”
旁邊人悄悄說道：“我覺得這個聲音像戈登局長。”
“……”
你媽的，為什麽？
這裏不是華盛頓嗎？
他是什麽想的，也是這麽問出口的。
面前的青年沒有回答他，答話的另有其人——門外忽然響起了一陣噼裏啪啦重物倒地的聲音，與此同時馬龍在哈裏森震驚的目光中猛然擡腿上踢加上橫掃，瞬間繳械三把熱武器。
緊接着他掏出口袋裏的蝙蝠镖，精準堵住了遠處幾個準備攻擊的犯罪分子的槍口。
“砰——”
他們的武器一塊爆炸了。
還清醒的罪犯發出不弱于之前哈裏森聲音分貝的尖叫聲：“是蝙蝠俠！！怎麽回事！我出了幻覺嗎？！這是華盛頓！但我卻看見了蝙蝠俠！”
戈登的電話還沒挂，局長說：“看來你們已經不是運氣不好的程度了，要不要試着轉行。”
“不僅有蝙蝠俠，還有羅賓。”
走進門的提姆插話。
“外面的都解決了，我還以為你會躲到最後也不會暴露呢。”
“沒必要。”‘火柴馬龍’簡練道。
這說法讓羅賓眨眨眼，用力壓制罪犯的動作重了幾分，頓時響起此起彼伏的哀嚎聲。
“為什麽這麽說？達米安還在氣頭上。”
他說得對。
達米安已經快要爆炸了。
去他媽的火柴馬龍。
去他媽的快餐店薯條有害健康。
他這輩子都不會再吃薯條了！！！
“我很抱歉，”男人擡起頭，因為帶了美瞳而顯示出深褐色的眼睛直視着羅賓、達米安、還有他們身後緊跟着趕過來的幾個孩子，“只是，我覺得我們都需要一段時間來接受某些事。”
阿爾弗雷德的聲音從耳機裏傳來：“這不是您連夜逃跑去鄉下小鎮打工的理由，老爺。以防萬一的說明，我并不是在誇獎您勤儉持家，雖然您能學會一門可能這輩子都不會用到第二次的新技能很令人欣慰。”
蝙蝠俠發出嘆息。
“我并不需要保護，坐标宇宙發生的一切是虛假的，你們不能用它來拟定我的過去。”
“即使它的發展似乎嚴絲合縫？”
“……我更情願稱之為巧合。”
他不想承認的态度過于明顯。那些未說出口的、仿佛至死永無寧日的負擔，在不為人所知的時刻埋藏于靈魂深處，如若沒有‘巧合’堆壘，他人再也沒有機會知曉。
像個都市傳說，需要時它在，不需要的時候人們也不知道它是何時又怎麽消失不見的。
甚至于，阿爾弗雷德回想起那個因一人的死亡而輝煌盛大的夜晚，确如英國文學家格雷厄姆·格林在作品中寫的那樣——‘他覺得當時他是到達了幸福的頂點：黑暗中，只身一人，周圍只有嘈雜的雨聲，沒有愛，也沒有憐憫。’
“或許我們都需要互相妥協，”他放柔聲音，“這才是家人應該做的。”
“你說得對。”
蝙蝠俠出乎意料地贊成了老管家的話，“我願意做出點補償。”
他将手裏的賬單遞給孩子們：“一只大丹犬……我不确定你們是否有興趣養它。”
羅賓睜大了眼睛，結結巴巴地問：“你用、你用你炸薯條的錢買到的？”
“算是勞動所得。幸好鎮子裏物價不高，又恰巧有農場主家的狗生了孩子。”
年輕人們都呆在原地變成了雕塑，半天說不出話來。
直到蝙蝠俠問道：“你們不想現在去見見它？我們還要花時間登記領養，路上可以為它想個名字。”
圍觀了一場不見硝煙的戰場的戈登：“了不起。”
阿爾弗雷德：“老爺一向如此。希望諸位能盡早到家，我還能為辛苦賺錢的主人準備一份營養健康的晚餐。”
聯系戈登局長和當地警局進行罪犯交接，人質早就被放走了，蝙蝠家成員陸續走到建築外的夜空下。
‘火柴馬龍’在最後一位，轉頭對哈裏森說道：“我覺得你更應該關注羅森，而不是把我當成情敵。”
哈裏森：“我，我，不是，你……”
蝙蝠俠不再理會他了。
男人将手搭在了自己兒子的肩膀上。
“我大概能知道你在想什麽。”
他低聲說道。
達米安梗着脖子冷冷道：“你在說什麽？”
“你覺得我不信任你，所以既不讓你參加夜間活動，也不告訴你另一個世界塔利亞身上發生的事。”
“……”
“但其實如果我沒有付出信任，達米安，我那時不會有勇氣赴死。”