Dick walked around the home of their target and said there was nothing to worry about.
"Maybe we should go to Arkham for a visit." He suggested eagerly, "Since Xiao Chou got us in, maybe he knows how to get out."
His idea actually made sense. But Moses knew that Xiao Chou was not in Arkham at all. If he did not deliberately leave clues, it would be difficult for other criminals to know his purpose. In addition, he knew very well that Dick did not want to catch Xiao Chou at all - this was not the real world, and no innocent people would be hurt if Xiao Chou was allowed to wander around outside. In this case, wouldn't it be better to let him not get any attention at all?
"Have you ever thought about it?" At this point, it doesn't matter whether to speak or not. Batman said slowly, "Since Xiao Chou asked us... ahem, mainly me, to come here to meet him, what is the purpose?"
The subject of this sentence is Xiao Chou in the real world.
He went to great lengths to kidnap Harvey Dent, but instead of causing trouble in Gotham, he went all the way to S.H.I.E.L.D. to lead Batman into a trap. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if he gained nothing?
Xiao Chou never entertains others, he only entertains himself. So Moses deduced that no matter what Joker wants to achieve, the key lies in Xiao Chou in another world.
"I don't know." Nightwing said worriedly, "I suspect he wanted you to die of pneumonia."
“…”
Moses gave up, thinking Dick was the one with the fever.
Xiao Chou didn't know where he was, but Catwoman came to him on her own.
"Oh my god." Catwoman has always lived in Gotan, so she is the only outsider with a physical body besides Batman. The tall woman walked to Moses with a cat-like step, with a strange and sympathetic expression on her face, "What's wrong with you recently? Every time I see you, you are more ferocious than the last time, just like a black cat I adopted some time ago. That little guy fights with the wild dogs in Gotan every day, and he won't let anyone touch him after he is injured."
She could see Dick and Dick could see her.
Nightwing suddenly cleared his throat and pointed his finger at his throat, signaling Catwoman to stop.
The cat girl glanced at him, which meant something like: Isn't he just mad at you?
Batman was in no mood to care about their eye-to-eye dispute, and asked coldly, "You, ahem, what did you find out?"
Perhaps because she was thinking of the cat, the cat girl was in a good mood. "I understand your attitude during your illness, but I'm here to help." She adjusted her eye mask and said with emotion, "Guess what I found out? We are quite famous in this temple, and many people think we are a couple."
"..." With a headache and a fishy-sweet taste gradually mixed with the itching in his throat, it rushed down his throat to his brain nerves. Moses restrained himself from rubbing his temples and said, "Let's get to the point."
"The point is that everyone says that we used to play tricks on each other that you never wanted to admit. But then..." She hesitated, trying to observe Batman's expression, but saw nothing, so she continued, "After Robin was killed by Chou, Batman became more and more withdrawn and cold, and then the rumor gradually became that you and I broke up."
The young man frowned quickly, then relaxed his brows before anyone noticed. Dick said, "So the legend goes that you dumped him or he dumped you?"
Catwoman: "Of course I dumped him."
Batman understood that they were trying to make something that they had no impression of having happened but was obviously not very pleasant seem calm.
But perhaps the pale joke only makes the tragedy seem more ridiculous.
Alfred in this world has not spoken for a long time. Perhaps in his eyes, this conversation itself is illogical. Moses wanted to laugh, but before he could laugh, he coughed. The butler is always right. He bent down and tried his best to endure. Even Batman should drink more hot water when he has a cold or fever, otherwise everyone will know that you have pneumonia.
"Catwoman." After finally keeping his voice down, he straightened up and looked into Catwoman's black eyes. "Since you have a good relationship with Red Hood, please do me another favor."
Under the eaves where they stood, several children were holding Christmas wreaths and running away happily under the light of colorful fairy lights. The sound of their crunching footsteps echoed on the crystal snow.
At this moment, Catwoman - Selina, didn't know what moved her.
She had originally laughed off the rumors from all sorts of people. No matter how ambiguous she was, it was just a pretext to tease Batman, a little entertainment she had used to vent her resentment of being chased for several nights. But just now, for a moment, the thought flashed through Catwoman's mind that maybe in some parallel world, her relationship with Batman was really good. Not so distant, nor so stiff and polite.
The Batman in the parallel world is getting older, and because of the departure of his companions, he is gradually drifting away from the Catwoman here. They had a relaxed and happy past, and they don't know whether they will have a hopeful future.
What about the Batman she knew? Sometimes he looked young, and sometimes he looked like an old man who had seen a lot and was about to die. They had met not too late, but it seemed like they had missed a lot.
Cats love secrets.
Batman is the secret itself.
"I promise you," Selina said softly, "I will bring him to you in one piece."
She threw away the whip, hung on the snow-covered treetop, and disappeared lightly from the sight of the remaining two people.
"What's going on?" Dick watched her walk away, then turned back and said, "I've never had such an easy time chasing girls. She almost fell in love with you before you even opened your mouth."
"She likes puzzles, not me."
"Catwoman didn't chase the Whisperer. Bruce Wayne is loved by everyone, why can't Batman be loved by everyone?"
Moses was almost amused by him. Is this the same thing?
"You go find Red Hood too." He spoke faster between coughs. "We'll meet around here after the Christmas bells ring."
Dick's departure seemed to have taken away the last bit of warmth around him. When Moses first hooked the gargoyle with his claws, his fingers didn't hold the beam firmly, and he fell from the air unsteadily. He fell heavily into the muddy water on the shady side, and numb pain spread up from his spine, but this was not a big problem - he was still in a good mood to analyze it. Excluding the influence of high fever, this injury was no more than a child's knee injury when he fell down due to unsteady walking.
The coolness of the ground neutralized the heat in his body, and the man lay on the ground, not wanting to get up for the time being.
The butler's voice came: "Master." His tone was like he was comforting a child, with a nasal tone, "Master Dick is right, you should be more tolerant of Catwoman and yourself."
Moses belatedly asked him, "Did you hear Nightwing's voice?"
"I can't, sir. But I can imagine what he would say."
Before the housekeeper could finish his words, there was a sudden sound of tap dance-like footsteps at the end of the cobblestone road.
Moses' heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously turned off the communication channel as he stood up.
Half a second later, the Batmobile beside him burst into flames, like an overly expensive bonfire on Christmas Eve. The Batcape suddenly opened to block the impact, but it couldn't prevent its owner from being pushed several meters away and coming into close contact with the wall again.
A certain realization came to Moses' mind: this was the 'opportunity' he had been waiting for. The appearance of Xiao Chou would be a turning point in this virtual world. As long as things went on reasonably, he would be able to figure out what the Joker in the real world wanted to know, and - where that door was.
Therefore, although he could still stand up, he just slumped down and did not move due to the fatigue and pain in his body. Xiao Chou came over, grabbed his cloak, and walked forward humming a song as if dragging a sack.
"Catwoman broke into the police station's file room." After a while, Xiao Chou suddenly broke the silence, his mouth curled up strangely, "Do you know about this, Bat?"
The shadow behind him did not answer him, only the rustling sound of it rubbing against the snow.
"Huh, hahahahahaha, I guess you don't know that she searched through most of the archives, but only took away Two-Face's copy. Do you still remember him? In your hateful memory full of blood and fire, you didn't leave any room for your old friend?" He turned his head exaggeratedly and looked around, "No one can hear me talking, what a pity, then what's the point of me saying that Two-Face is Harvey Dent?"
The moonlight finally broke through the clouds and shone through the dead branches on the treetops. Moses felt that his cold was getting worse. His vision was blurry, but he actually saw a hint of deep red in between.
When I looked over again, I saw only yellow dead leaves trembling in the wind and huddled on the branches.
Could it be that I am really hallucinating? He tried to stay awake, and by the time he connected the name Two-Face, which sounded a bit unusual, with 'Harvey Dent', Xiao Chou had already continued to amuse himself.
“我還記得你當初給雙面人頂罪時的盛況。”他咯咯地仰頭笑道，“‘節日殺手’，很多年前的事情了，有印象嗎？那個自诩正義到處屠殺黑幫的劊子手，到最後你和戈登也沒下定決心将他和可憐的丹特檢察官聯系起來。誰讓你和他是朋友呢？誰讓你們是哥譚的鐵三角呢？哈哈哈哈哈，但是災難就像我臉上的笑一樣永不缺席！丹特在法庭上被潑了一臉硫酸，變成雙面——雙面，對稱，這稱呼可真有趣。但小醜還是比他更完美，怎麽說，小蝙蝠？你覺得我的臉是不是要比他英俊多了？這都拜你所賜，我永遠記着這個。”
周圍的房子越來越少，景色越來越荒涼，他們像是在走向深淵。
“然後他們就把罪名推給了你。”小醜的聲音漸漸低了下去，近乎耳語，“丹特還是哥譚市的‘黃金小子’，為正義犧牲的英雄，你呢？蝙蝠俠？啊……時間過得太快了，轉眼間你都快要變老了，還記得自己當初滿懷希望時是怎麽想的嗎？什麽将你變成現在這樣，哥譚，還是你自己？”
他在試圖激起我的憤怒或是怨恨。摩西冷靜地想。但是對小醜來說很不幸，聽他對話的蝙蝠俠根本沒這段記憶。
“我想不通貓女為什麽要偷哈維·丹特的檔案，難道她發現了什麽小醜不知道的事情？算了，這也不重要，你看，貓女扔下了你，我也沒帶着哈莉，現在只有我們兩個。來聊聊天吧蝙蝠，你非得讓我演獨角戲？我本來不想開口，可是連小醜都不講話的話，難道要全世界都跟着沉默嗎？”
他用力一拽，将蝙蝠俠連人帶鬥篷扔到了面前的雪堆裏。
渾圓的月亮再次探出頭來，清冷的光輝平等地照耀着蝙蝠俠與他的對手。周圍石碑林立，荒草叢生——這是片墳墓。
“我讨厭你這副表情，好像什麽都不在意，但我們都知道那不是真的。”小醜蹲在摩西身前不遠的位置，打量着靠坐在墓碑上的男人，“既然如此，我來講點可以讓人開懷大笑的事情。平安夜嘛，讓我想想……唔，傑森·托德怎麽樣？這是個好名字。哈哈哈哈哈！總能激起你的談興了吧蝙蝠？”
躲在十幾米外——主要是為了避開蝙蝠俠視線的紅頭罩差點從樹上掉下來。
“小心點。”貓女輕輕說道，她懷裏還揣着那本據說是從警局檔案室偷出來的雙面人資料，眼神很淩厲，“你永遠不該小看蝙蝠的，就算他在因為炎症而發高燒。”
夜翼帶着難以啓齒的表情，用氣聲說：“我們為什麽非要偷聽，而不是先把蝙蝠俠救出來？”
“你覺得他會任由小醜動作？現在出去說不定會破壞蝙蝠的計劃。再說，他們還沒打起來呢。”
至于剛才對這項活動還不怎麽情願的紅頭罩，則在聽到小醜吐出那個名字之後迅速倒戈了：“噓。”
夜翼：“……”
“冷靜點，孩子。”貓女的手心搭在他的肩膀上，“我們都很擔心他，但是。”她磨了磨牙齒，品味心中這份不甘，“你了解他，知道他是什麽樣的人。我聽說托爾斯泰有句話，怎麽說的來着？‘這種人會覺得別人仿佛老是故意來碰他疼痛的地方’……”
她頓住了，接下去的人竟是傑森：“‘其所以會有這樣的感覺，無非是因為只有疼痛的地方才能感到別人在碰他。’”迎着夜翼驚愕的目光，少年冷哼了一聲，“托爾斯泰的《複活》，我前兩天才看過。貓女說得對，這是我們搞清楚狀況的唯一機會，不然你覺得他會對你講實話？”
有些傷口只有大白于天日才有機會愈合。
而公墓中的兩個人還在對峙。
時間拖得太晚了。
假設夜翼和貓女找到了紅頭罩，回到他們約定的地方，就會發現失去蹤影的蝙蝠俠和一臺報廢的蝙蝠車。如果他們觀察能力再強點，還會發現斷裂的房檐、泥水中的摔打痕跡之類的。再那之後有八成可能，驚慌失措的一群人會跟着小醜拖出來的雪痕追到墓地中。
而對自己目前的外在狀況，和小醜即将說出來的某些扭曲言論會造成的後果，摩西心裏還是有點數的。
事急從權，蝙蝠俠不覺得自己有問題，但在可能由好意爆發的各種争論與指責到來之前，還應當盡快解決。
“你的目的。”一直沉默着青年終于開口，喉嚨幹澀沙啞，都不用刻意改變嗓音就聽不出原聲了。
小醜興奮地睜大了眼睛：“啊哈，我就知道！因為他嗎？你如今像個死人一樣，就在我弄死了那只羅賓鳥之後？太無趣啦，我的目的還能是什麽呢，蝙蝠。”他嬉笑着，推開身邊的棺椁蓋，邀功似的拍了拍木質邊緣，“不是你殺了我，就是我殺了你。不然我們可就得永遠這麽糾纏下去……”
樹梢上，紅頭罩的呼吸聲又一次變得急促許多。貓女沉思地看了他一眼，沒多說什麽。夜翼則聯想到這個世界蝙蝠洞中多出來的那件紅披風。
傑森其實有點茫然。他懷疑自己聽岔了，然而再次分析了下小醜話中的前後邏輯，還是覺得沒理解錯。
那個被阿卡姆囚徒們飯後閑談着的、蝙蝠俠履歷上一道刻骨的傷痕，是他自己。
紅頭罩考慮過很多人選，将蝙蝠俠經過的地方在腦子裏篩查了個遍，唯獨沒考慮過這條。
因為，怎麽可能？
如果沒有這次意外，他們幾近毫無交集。黑幫倉庫之中蝙蝠俠看着他的眼神依然停留在記憶裏，哥譚義警的舉動中流露出不明顯的拒絕和防備——傑森幾乎以為蝙蝠俠不喜歡他，如果不是夜翼說自己的搭檔一直在關注他安危的話。
少年的目光無意識地落在了貓女身上。一直以來都善于在各種事态間尋找平衡的女人沖他搖了搖頭，目光又帶着些許憐憫，不知道是對誰。
“《複活》。”她做了個口型，是剛才他們讨論過的小說标題。然後她看向了蝙蝠俠的位置。
傑森的心髒重重地跳動了幾下。
下方的小醜說道：“來做選擇題吧，蝙蝠。我知道怎麽讓死人複活，讓活人永生不死，現在你擁有了這樣的機會。”他站起來，居高臨下，嘴角鮮紅，眼下的畫痕和褶皺像是蜿蜒流淌下的淚水似的，“又或者，我将你埋進棺材。”
“蝙蝠俠不應該存在于這世上。想想我、哈維、羅賓、阿卡姆那一籮筐的罪犯，還有老掉牙的戈登局長和警局那張愚蠢的通緝令。”他說，“你留給人的只會是痛苦。”
“好吧，我知道這個選擇題簡單到沒眼看！所有人都會選擇第一條，簡直有失水準！來，蝙蝠俠，讓我看看你，你站在哪一邊？快點！我碑文都給你刻好了！”
小醜身邊擺着個墓碑，上面用淩亂的字體寫道：‘這躺着一只蝙蝠。他死的要多無聊有多無聊，而且根本沒人愛他’。
“第二條。”蝙蝠俠說。
“Okay！我就知道你選第——等等，什麽？”
然而這結果令他失望。
蝙蝠俠的目光太平和了。那些陰影仍然埋藏在他身上，好像融合成為了蝙蝠面具的一部分，可是沒人會覺得他不能走出來。
在弄清楚這點時，小醜臉上連油漆都映不出血色，他失去了那些浮誇的諷笑，變得面無表情。
“這不可能。”他撫摸着自己的面孔自言自語，“你今晚見到了誰？誰影響你了？你真的發燒出了幻覺，見到來自遠方和過去的幽魂，還将他們當成真實的一部分？你的希望就這麽廉價？！”他的情緒逐漸癫狂，聲音高亢，幾近咆哮，“我費盡心思才布置好現在的一切，如果你就這麽死了——”
‘砰——’
類似平底鍋和石頭碰撞的聲音突兀地響徹夜空，驚起幾只在樹叢間覓食的鳥雀。
一陣呼啦啦翅膀扇動的聲音過後，貓女手裏拎着從墓地管理員那“借”來的、并在剛剛和小醜後腦勺親切接觸的鐵鍬，跳到摩西身前——這時他已經攙着石碑站起來了——毫不心虛地說：“不好意思，搶了你的人頭。我看見你想要拿出蝙蝠镖來着，但是沒辦法，我忍不住，他廢話太多了。”
摩西拍開肩膀上的雪，指尖沒什麽知覺。他真覺得自己死了一回，為了弄清楚小醜的想法，蝙蝠俠犧牲太多。
“你們聽了多久。”
貓女：“五分鐘。”
紅頭罩：“十分鐘出頭，就聽見你們對話的尾巴，還沒聽懂。”
夜翼：“……紅頭罩說的靠譜一點。”
那就是差不多聽全了。
摩西嘆了口氣，兩個孩子肩膀一縮，貓女則氣勢洶洶地看着他。
“這個以後再說。”男人像是連做表情的力氣都欠俸，語調平平地說，“你們怎麽想？”
寂靜。
After a while, Dick asked tentatively, "Is Xiao Chou really not normal? I apologize for ever believing what he said."
"What?" Red Hood immediately began to laugh at him, "You're going to believe Chou? He can't say anything. I don't even want to hear it."
"...He wants Batman to become another villain. He said that either he kills Batman or Batman kills him, the actual result is the same - the Batman of this world will never appear again." Moses dragged the topic back with difficulty. Fortunately, he didn't cough much now. Maybe the physical cooling on a snowy night (?) worked. "But that's too difficult. He tried many times but to no avail, so he chose another option: to make people immortal. If this is true and not his imagination, it can't be without cost. The multiple-choice question just now is his purpose, either life or death. He deliberately led the latter to be full of malice, so normal people would choose the first one."
"Indeed," Catwoman said. "I was almost tempted by what he said. But Batman chose the second option, didn't he? If you were so desperate as to want to go along with the quagmire of Gotham, you would choose the first option, pretending that you didn't notice the trap hidden in it, and maybe even find some excuses like having more time to do justice."
But Batman didn't. What's even more ridiculous is that Xiao Chou thinks it was Nightwing and Red Hood who gave the Dark Knight hope to hold the bottom line.
Don't you understand and hear?
Moses: “Almost.”
He looked down at the open coffin at his feet and the scattered tombstones beside it: "I think this should be the way out we are looking for."
"How do we do this?"
Moses consulted the system for advice, then gestured, "It's not difficult. Just let me lie down."
As soon as he finished speaking, the two minors visibly showed their rejection.
"Can't we do it the normal way?" Red Hood muttered. "Like, we stand the coffin upright and Batman stands in it?"
"..." Moses glanced at him subtly. This was an idea he had never thought of before, but, "No, I've seen the photo from SHIELD, maybe it's related to this. The Batman in that photo was buried in the soil."
Catwoman made a disgusted expression: "Damn, don't tell me we have to bury you again."
The man said indifferently: "If necessary."
In a distant city, Christmas bells rang, one after another, like an endless dream.
The four people in the cemetery looked at each other in silence for a long while.
Then Dick picked up the shovel that Catwoman had thrown aside and laughed dryly: "This thing is not in vain, right? It ranks among the top three useful props tonight."