The night wind in Gotham is so cold that it almost freezes tears. When someone cries, all the light they see becomes hazy and dreamlike, like a sad, romantic poem.
Dick, sitting on the edge of the building, feels the cold wind blowing on the tears on his face, almost freezing his skin. Then, he heard unusual footsteps from behind him, firm but heavy.
Turning his head, Dick saw a dark and slender figure. He instinctively shivered, but within a second, he realized it wasn't the Batman he knew.
Normally, facing a strong stranger would make him nervous, but once he realized this, Dick felt relieved. He'd rather face an enemy than face Bruce now.
"You shouldn't be here." A voice deeper than Bruce's resonated once more.
Dick turned around and sat back on the edge of the building. He sniffed and said, "I don't know you. Why do you care where I should be?"
"He never taught you not to expose your back to a stranger." Although the strange figure commented, he didn't seem to have any intention of attacking. He slowly walked over and stood beside Dick.
"He didn't teach me a lot of things, and I don't need his lessons." Dick rested his hands on the eaves as he spoke.
"He is not a good father." The strange Batman began, "Batman always disappoints everyone."
"I am the one who disappointed him." Dick calmly gazed at the thousands of lights shining beneath the building. He took a deep breath, "I know I upset him, disappointed him, and made him feel sad."
"I don't know why I'm driven to do this." Dick shook his head, "I don't know why, when facing him, my negative emotions are so overwhelming, like a sea."
"I'm afraid he thinks I'm stupid, but then I think he should have realized earlier that I'm stupider than others. I'm afraid he'll discover that I lag behind others, yet I think he must have known that for a long time."
"I'm afraid he'll lose his patience, but I want to know how he'll treat me when that happens. I know making him angry will upset him, but I can't help wanting to see him lose control, become extremely embarrassed, and unable to maintain his composed façade."
Dick covered his face with his hands, his voice sounding as if it were obscured by a veil of fog, "I want to make him happy, but I feel secretly pleased when he's unhappy. I must be the worst kid in the world."
"This is not your fault." The strange Batman began, "In choosing between his career and family, he made a wrong choice and never thought of correcting it. He deserves what he got."
The strange Batman turned to look at Dick, whose red-rimmed eyes, after being blown by the cold wind, were as delicate and fragile as ice.
"I can't find an answer." Dick shook his head softly, "I have no explanation for my inexplicable malicious thoughts, my uncontrollable actions that provoke him, and my unreasonable and rude behavior."
After saying this, he turned his head to look at the strange Batman standing next to him and asked, "Who are you?"
This time, the strange Batman did not answer with "I am Batman." He looked back at Dick, reached out to his mask's edge, and took it off.
As Dick expected, it was not Bruce. What surprised him was that the man in front of him looked very similar to Bruce.
Except he appeared older and more exhausted.
"Do you have time to hear a story?" The strange man asked in a tone that implied a knowing answer. He squatted down on the edge of the building, looking out at the city.
"In my world, Gotham is also real. However, after the gunshot echoing with crime, Bruce Wayne died. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne survived."
"But perhaps, at that time, we also died. We just hadn't been buried yet, leaving a bit of room for imagination in this tragic world."
"Martha couldn't accept her son's death. She went insane, slashing her mouth into a forever smiling jester. And me, seeking revenge and aiming to eradicate criminals, I became the Dark Knight of Gotham, I became Batman."
"For several years, I rushed around every corner of Gotham, fighting against never-ending crimes, fighting against perpetual darkness, without stopping, without any respite."
"Those days consumed all my joy, causing my beautiful memories to blur. I became the most unhappy person in the entire city. Martha wanted to make me smile a little; her method was to slice open my mouth."
"I couldn't let her do that. I tried hard to resist her, to resist my once beloved wife."
"I thought such days would last forever until I learned one day that Flash Barry could run super-fast, reverse time, and change the past. So, I sought him, wanting Bruce to survive."
"Barry is a kind person. He agreed to my proposal. I excitedly found Martha, telling her our son was coming back soon, and everything would be back on track."
"But later, Martha and I found out that if we died that day, then Bruce would become Batman and repeat this dark and tragic fate. Martha went even crazier, she couldn't laugh anymore, and so, she died."
Dick listened quietly, as if actually hearing a story. When he turned to look at the man next to him, he saw no sign of sadness on his face, only his familiar numbness and fatigue.
"Barry has an enemy, he calls him Professor Zoom. He is also a fast runner and can cross the cosmos. Barry and I wanted to stop him from committing evil. At the last moment, he took me out of my universe."
"He said he would send me to a new universe to see how my own son was tormented by darkness."
"He succeeded. As a result, I came here, to a world where Bruce Wayne is Batman."
"In this world, I am already dead, killed along with Martha by the gunshot of a criminal ... yes, I am Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne."
"He should not have become Batman." Thomas's tone finally fluctuates, becoming even more solemn.
"The world doesn't need Batman, Gotham's Dark Knight won't change anything. He should return to Bruce's life, end the possible tragedies, be an ordinary person, or a good father."
As Thomas finishes speaking, his gaze falls on Dick's face. Dick pursed his lips, showing a hint of hesitation. After a moment of silence, he began to speak.
"Sometimes, I feel wronged. Bruce seems not to understand me at all. Maybe, my abilities are indeed not enough to get his attention."
"In the past, he may have had no choice. He needed an assistant and successor, and when he came across me, he took me in. But now, he's found better ones and should indeed focus on them, cultivate them, so he can have a better successor."
"As for me...," Dick tilted his head slightly, "I shouldn't stay here. I should return to Brude Haven and be a small-town boy."
"But the reason I haven't done so is that I'm not content. My parents simply didn't have the resources nor abilities to solve my grandfather's murder. They're just ordinary acrobats, and if someone were to point a gun at them, they wouldn't stand a chance."
"I want to follow Batman, learn from him and, after gaining strength, avenge my grandfather and protect my parents."
"In that case, why should I care whether Bruce places any significance on me? I can simply regard him as my teacher."
"So, I've also wondered if I've wanted too much. He's not my biological father, he has no obligation to raise me, I shouldn't anger him or cause him any trouble, and I have no right to run away whining like a baby when I make a mistake."
"Why do I act this way?" Dick softly asked himself.
"Because you love him," Thomas began, "You love him, so you want to know if he loves you as well... but he has disappointed you."
Thomas lowered his head to look at Dick and said, "Batman is looking to select an excellent assistant, but he doesn't realize that in his efforts to cultivate a successor, he's missing out on so much more."
"Missing out on the most precious things in the world, missing the love from others, and missing the fleeting love he once had in his mind for others, it will be a complete tragedy."
"The world's evils will never completely disappear because of one person. If someone makes this his goal, even forsaking any form of affection, then he is the biggest fool in the world."
Dick suddenly clenches his hand, his Adam's apple moves slightly, and he inhales deeply to say, "I hope he isn't lonely."
"But Batman is destined to be alone," Thomas sighs in the distance.
"Did you come to persuade me?" Dick turned his head and stared at his profile, asking, "You want me to convince him not to be Batman anymore?"
"You are intelligent."
A wave of irritation welled up in Dick's heart at the thought of being exploited. But then he suddenly realized that the person in front of him was Bruce's father, who understood Bruce better and had closer ties with Bruce than Dick had.
Dick stood up to walk back, saying as he walked, "I won't let you manipulate me into saying anything to Bruce. Our quarrel is our business and has nothing to do with you."
Thomas stood up and watched his retreating figure, saying in a deep voice, "Even if I don't manipulate you, one day you will understand these truths."
In the next moment, he fell towards the base of the high-rise building. Following him was a bat-like dart shining with cold light, narrowly missing his skin.
Thomas jumps off the high-rise building, sinking into the shadow by the stairs, then swings up with a grappling hook, starting to leap between roofs.
Another figure, almost identical to him, pursued from behind. However, Thomas' sprint was in the shadows, while the other Batman was leaping amidst the neon lights.
The two dark figures successively jumped onto the rooftop of the Wayne building. Thomas had already put on his face mask, and so, Batman, looking at this doppelganger of himself, felt a moment of unease.
"Who are you?"
"I am Batman."
After this statement, Thomas jumped off the building again. Batman didn't follow as he was shocked by a realisation in his mind and was unable to move for a moment.
The door unlatched with a "click". A cloaked figure appeared in the dim interrogation room. Thomas removed his mask and sat down at the table, facing a pair of grey eyes.
"Did you see the results?" The grey eyes blinked.
"You were right, I'm not a good father... and neither is he," Thomas replied.
"Do you want to stop him?"
"I must stop him, and you need to help me. This is for you as well, which is why I came to you, Professor Shearer, or should I say...Joker."