Night fell, but Bruce didn't rest in his room. He held a rather large flower pot and went to the corner of the manor garden.
What was surprising was that the pot held not flowers, but a raw mineral stone. Even more puzzling was the sight of Bruce holding the pot, squatting down, and starting to talk to the mineral.
"Just like we did in the mine before, once someone attacks the Shadow Ore, don't restrict it, let it fully explode."
"But that's very dangerous!" A voice emerged from the mineral, a pair of eyes appeared within the semi-transparent stone, rolling around, looking at Bruce, and saying, "Human bodies are fragile, a single assault could be deadly."
"Then can you control the Shadow Vine to imprison them, but don't hurt them, can you manage that?"
The eyes in the mineral blinked, affirming Bruce's question. After placing the flower pot down, Bruce walked back into the hall with some difficulty, just as Jason and Tim walked in.
Both of them carried heavy boxes, Tim lifted the box above his head, clomping towards Bruce, presenting it like treasure, "Look, we went to the Batcave and brought all your equipment!"
"Thank you, but I don't want to use it right now." Bruce shook his head.
Tim's eyes widened in surprise as he asked, "You don't want to use them? How will you protect yourself? You could get hurt."
Jason chimed in, "You were already badly injured. If you fight without your armor, one swipe of a knife could puncture your lung."
"Don't worry, I have a plan, no need to worry."
Bruce made sure both of them went up to their rooms, specifically instructing them to stay put. He asked Alfred to watch over Aisha, while he sat in the living room, wearing just a regular sweatshirt, awaiting the coming of the night without any armor or equipment.
Shortly after nightfall, Bruce, who was feeling quite tired, keenly heard some noise in the garden. He woke from his lethargy with a jolt and walked into the garden.
Bruce knew that Thomas would take this route. The weakest entrance point of all the manors in Gotham was the garden, a fact he himself had once exploited.
So, it didn't surprise him to see Batman Thomas in the corner of the garden, shrouded in darkness, darker than the night itself.
Bruce leaned against the wall of the manor. He felt loathsome. The air in the garden was cold and damp, his wounds were throbbing with pain, he hadn't recovered and had no equipment to keep him safe.
Bruce felt exposed just like a newborn baby, but it was a predicament of his own making.
"You heard about today's events." Thomas started the conversation.
"I know, it was your doing." Bruce leaned against the wall, desperately trying to stop himself from collapsing. In a husky voice, he said, "You deliberately hid, making me exhaust myself chasing shadows, intentionally stirred up Alberto and Roy's family feud, leaving me drained trying to mediate."
"Do you still not plan to repent?" Thomas asked, although it seemed less of a question and more of an affirmation, as if he was certain that Bruce would not change.
But what puzzled him was the lack of defiance in Bruce's eyes. As Bruce couldn't take it anymore, he slid down the wall till he was sitting on the ground.
Thomas frowned, unable to understand Bruce's behaviour. Displaying weakness to an enemy was not conducive to a confrontation.
"I think you have a point." Bruce slightly lowered his head and said in a hoarse whisper, "The mission of Batman has no meaning, I should have given up sooner, returned to being Bruce Wayne."
Thomas was stunned, but he quickly adjusted, becoming alert and said, "This is your strategy to stall."
"Your Batman instincts make you doubt everything." Bruce continued, "You think I'm lying just to lay a trap for you."
"I don't repent, you want me to repent, I repent, then you don't believe me again. Are you the crazy one or am I?"
As Bruce prattled on, it seemed he wasn't trying to convince Thomas, but rather himself. Because he was reminded of someone else.
When this person didn't act like a regular person, Bruce wanted him to be normal. But when he actually tried to be normal, Bruce didn't believe it.
All Bruce felt now was a ludicrous urge to laugh. He didn't believe in the mystical, yet at this moment all he could think was 'what goes around comes around'.
Using the last of his strength, Bruce managed to stand. He leaned against the wall and said, "I'll stop being Batman, I won't wear that suit again, and you should call Gordon now, tell him what you did today, then turn yourself in, go to prison."
Bruce noticed Thomas's fingertips starting to tremble. It wasn't anger, but rather frustration. So, almost on a whim, Bruce asked, "You're seeking personal revenge, right?"
"Because I defied you before, because I didn't follow your plans, because I rejected you, and now even when I've taken a step back, you still feel ashamed."
Despite his stoic expression, Thomas felt like Bruce wasn't addressing him, but rather speaking to himself.
As Thomas stepped forward to reach for Bruce, a Batman dart pinned his hand the moment before contact. Thomas immediately rolled to the side, alertness dialed up to the maximum.
But the target of this Batman dart was not his arm, but a strange flower pot behind Thomas. The sharp blade of the dart hit the ore. In an instant, countless Shadow Vine tentacles surged out.
A pair of eyes were faintly discernible amidst the vines. The vines slowed down their attack, but they still immediately wrapped around Thomas' body and pulled him back to the wall, securing him there.
Thomas glared fiercely at Bruce. Bruce paused for a moment to catch his breath and then stood up and said.
"I don't blame you at all, and I'm sure you are the real Thomas. Although you may not necessarily be the Thomas who has already died, perhaps you truly are my father because our thinking is so similar."
"When two people have a conflict, and they're confronting each other head-on, if the other party moves ahead, I must move ahead even further. But if the other party retreats, I doubt whether they're genuinely retreating. To verify this suspicion, I have to push even further until the other party has no room to retreat."
"And when the other party has nowhere to retreat and begins to fight back, I'll think that my suspicion was indeed correct, and then I'll resort to violence. After achieving victory, I continue to oppress the other party."
"But this kind of oppression has nothing to do with the initial conflict. It's just anger towards the other party's past acts of rebellion... It's private vengeance."
"I don't know if this is a genetic disease of the Wayne Family, or maybe a curse of Batman."
Before Thomas could speak, Bruce preempted him and asked, "You give me a familiar feeling, but it's not because you're Thomas. It's because your judgment of me always seems to have some basis beyond the facts... What did Shearer say to you?"
"He said Batman is destroying himself." Thomas said, after a pause.
"Indeed." Bruce, leaning on the wall, staggered towards the exit. As he walked, he said, "I'm not surprised that he duped you, but don't blame yourself. It's not a deception, it's just knowing the human heart intimately."
"He sensed that what you care about most is whether your son will repeat Batman's tragic fate."
"So, he created an unbearably tragic image of me to play on your anxieties, knowing you'd feel that change was urgent in your panic, disregarding the actual evidence. It's not that he knows you too well, but knows me too well."
"Where are you going?" Thomas watched Bruce's departing figure and called out to him.
Bruce paused, saying, "Perhaps... Hell."
In the dark and narrow prison corridor, Amanda led a group of security personnel quickly towards the staircase. Downstairs at the bottom, she saw Bruce waiting for her.
"Where is Shearer?" Bruce turned to Amanda and asked.
"The crime that occurred at the FBI base in Lavira County, Metropolitan Area, is allegedly the work of a mysterious organization called the 'Assassin's Union.' Talya Ogu, who had mysteriously disappeared days before, has become the prime suspect," Amanda folded her arms and looked at Bruce.
"The FBI found that Talya took unusual interest in you. They suspect a collusion between Wayne Enterprises and the Assassin's Union. Consequently, they commissioned me to investigate... you understand, they need balance."
"So, I maintain control over this prison. Although the employees want money, they want to stay alive even more."
"Mr. Wayne, Professor Shearer said he doesn't want to see you. Now, please leave."
"Where is he?" Bruce asked again.
In an instant, the sounds of guns cocking filled the air. The security personnel pointed their guns at Bruce. Amanda continued, "You'd better not have any dangerous ideas. Just yesterday, a band of KGB infiltrated the prison, almost causing a major ruckus."
"The FBI believed that the KGB probably wanted to rescue Shearer. This shows that Shearer knows significant secrets or is very valuable. Hence, they brought Shearer to the FBI Headquarters immediately."
"I don't know what they discussed, but eventually, they made an agreement. In critical situations, Shearer will use his abilities to serve the FBI while the FBI will absolve Shearer. That is to say, Shearer is no longer a prisoner."
Bruce made two steps forward but did not say anything. However, Amanda knew that he had repeated his question once again.
Amanda smirked condescendingly, but before she could speak, Bruce had rushed to her side quicker than a bolt of lightning and gripped her by the throat.
"Nobody move." Bruce shouted.
The guards wanted to turn their guns around, but seeing Amanda held hostage, they hesitated. The outcome wouldn't be good no matter which of the two they shot at, so they all halted their actions.
Amanda clenched her teeth, turned her head to look at Bruce, and said, "Any man with a shred of conscience would not barge around here after sending his teacher to prison!"
"Tell me, where is he?" Bruce tightened his hold around her neck.
Having trouble breathing, Amanda glared at Bruce but was ultimately forced to utter in disjointed phrases, "Interrogation Room... He asked me to tell you... that if you go to him... face the consequences..."
Bruce let go of Amanda. Amanda, holding her neck as she watched his receding figure, took several gasps before telling the nearby security personnel.
"Get the doctor, prepare for first aid... Forget it, prepare the helicopter. If these two lunatics want to die, let them not die here!"