The next morning, Bruce and his luggage were thrown out of Wayne Manor. It was Thomas who did it in person, and even Alfred couldn't stop him. Fortunately, Thomas wasn't completely heartless. After he got into the car, he rolled down the window and looked at Bruce, who was standing by the road, and said,
"Your mother still owns an old house on Bris Street, a place she prepared before getting married. Don't come back before Aisha starts elementary school! Spending 1.5 billion dollars in a month... Seeing you gives me heartache!"
With that, he rolled the window up and the car took off, disappearing down the street. Bruce was still immersed in Thomas's last sentence, mumbling to himself like a fool, "1.5 billion dollars in a month..."
Bruce looked disdainfully at the baggage next to him, and walked off directly to the other side of the street, hailed a cab, and headed back to the Batcave.
When he arrived at his destination, his face hardened as he looked at the desolate scene. He stared into the rearview mirror, but after a while, he remembered something and took out the only cash left on him to pay the fare.
Before the real entrance of the Batcave, Bruce spoke the password again. This time, the door finally opened revealing the various equipment and weapons. Bruce hurriedly went in.
He went over the Batsuit, the Batman darts, the Bat Communication Device, and even a Batplane in the deepest part of the cave. Bruce tried each one. He walked to the front and picked up parts of a Batsuit, on the verge of changing into it.
But when he took off his heavy coat and began to put on the Batsuit, he discovered that the size was all wrong.
This model of the Batsuit was way too big, and not in the fat or thin sort of way. This Batsuit was obviously tailored for someone taller than him. The leg armor could not be buckled in the right place, which restricted the freedom of movement in his knees.
Fortunately, there was more than one Batsuit here. Bruce picked a more compact design, but when he tried it on, he realized it was too thin. He would have to lose at least 20 kilograms to fit into it.
Bruce looked at the row of Batsuits in front of him in silence. Then his gaze fell on the Batman darts in the cabinet. There was nothing wrong with the darts. The only problem was that they weren't good for use as weapons.
There was no precision guidance system on the Batman darts, meaning that Batman relies purely on skill to throw something that is totally aerodynamically unstable with almost a hundred percent accuracy.
Bruce picked up a Batman dart and tried to throw it, but before it left his hand, a "swish" sound was heard, and underneath his tiger's mouth was slashed.
He cursed under his breath, discarded the bloody Batman dart, and turned to look at the guns hanging on the walls.
Various strange-shaped guns were stored in the weapon cupboard. It looked as though they had just been dug out of the graves of aliens. Bruce opened the weapons cupboard and took out one. He then realized it was like the Batman darts; the gun itself was fine, it just didn't conform to ergonomics.
A normal human with only two hands could never hold the gun steady, with one hand on the trigger, and simultaneously press more than sixty buttons on the gun.
After throwing the gun aside, Bruce went to check the bizarre big machines. The machines were fine, buttons were new, parts were neat, but the problem was none of them could be turned on.
Each machine in the Batcave has an average of 200 buttons, none of which is labeled with its function. There were dozens of different jacks on each machine, countless wires on the ground, countless power hubs on the walls, and a variety of switches next to each jack and hub.
This was not the gem of human industrial civilization, but a corner abandoned amidst the evolution of modern machinery.
With all modern industrial equipment becoming as streamlined and smart as possible, Batman defiantly chose a completely opposite path, a primitive, natural view, an eco-friendly Batman punk industry style.
There were many rooms in the Batcave, Bruce went to check one by one, but there was nothing inside. He continued to go deeper, and finally saw the gigantic Batplane.
Just then, Bruce suddenly heard noises from the entrance of the Batcave. He turns cautiously, only to see Diana walking in. Upon seeing Bruce, Diana sighed and said, "I'm sorry, when your father lost his temper, Clark and I left first. I was afraid he would yell at us too. He looked upset."
"Clark and I agreed, you'll work with me during the day, and help him retake photos at night. However, the news being delayed by a day, he will definitely be scolded by his boss."
"Great that you're here." Diana said and then flew up. To Bruce's surprise, she flew into the Batplane, then cocked her head at Bruce and said, "Get on the plane, I'll take you to the base. We have lots of work waiting for us."
Just as Bruce was about to refuse, the Batplane was enveloped by a beam of light. His eyes widened slightly and, after a pause, he got on the plane and sat in the cockpit.
"Fasten your seatbelt, you don't need to operate it, I'll fly," she said.
About half an hour later, Diana was helping a severely airsick Bruce into the base, his eyes dreamily catching a glimpse of the blue Earth floating outside the base's window.
"Where are we?" Bruce asked breathlessly. He felt as if his brain was scrambled by Diana's aggressive driving skills.
"The base," Diana spread her hands, "Our outpost for setting up Earth's protective shield and your research station. Hal has already moved all those experimental equipments you said you can't conveniently set up on Earth here. But, you have to first complete the task we agreed upon."
Bruce leaned against the wall and coughed twice. After taking a deep breath, he followed Diana into the lab. Diana brought a pile of documents and placed them in front of him.
When Bruce's gaze settled on the documents, a second later, he couldn't help but shout, "What is this?!!!"
"The design of the Earth's protective shield." Diana was leaning on her head, playing with the computer on the side, and without turning her head, said, "Hal has almost finished the first part, hurry up and complete the second part, then we can start construction."
"Why..." Bruce seemed to have burnt his tongue, his speech was slightly unclear, but he still tried to suppress the excitement in his tone and said, "What I mean is, I still don't understand this project."
"Of course, you don't. You're too preoccupied with Shiller", Diana, still not looking back, typed and said, "We must make a protective shield for Earth to protect our cosmos."
"Creating a protective shield for Earth is to protect the cosmos?"
"Otherwise, what? Would it be to protect the Earth?" Diana still kept typing and said, "Of course, in some ways, protecting Earth is also protecting the cosmos, and a protective shield can solve both these issues, stop asking and get on with your work."
"I...."
Bruce looked dazedly at the design in front of him. It was a design, but there was no image, only data, but there were no numbers, just a group of indescribable symbols dancing hand in hand.
Suddenly, a figure glowing green appeared. Dusty Hal sat next to the table, took a gulp of water, and looked at Bruce and said, "You're here? How is the second part going?"
"I don't know, but can you tell me what this is?" Bruce pointed at a word on the design and asked. It was easy to see that its style was different from other symbols. Bruce didn't remember humans having such a mathematical symbol.
"Oh, isn't this the symbol of the Emotional Spectrum you designed? You wanted to explain it to me, but I wasn't paying attention at all. But you didn't mind, saying that you understood it was enough. Speed it up, and we can go for a coffee."
After saying that, Hal started to doze off at the table. Bruce started to go through the documents. After a while, he couldn't take it anymore. He threw all the papers up and hit the table hard, saying, "Why do I have to do this?!! Why would Batman do this?!!"
"Shouldn't he be fighting hooligans with his equipment worth millions of dollars, then using Wayne Enterprises' endless funds to enjoy life? Shouldn't he be making Gotham better?!"
"Bruce!" Diana called.
"I'm not Bruce!" Bruce yelled.
"I know, but listen to me....."
Bruce froze, his face twisted for a moment. Just as he was about to say "You're all playing me," Diana shrugged her shoulders casually and said, "Bruce is just a code name. Maybe you're not Bruce, but either way, you guys are all Batman."
"Any Batman can do this job. Stop dawdling. Finish up quickly and leave. You have to help Clark catch up with his photos tonight."
Hal also waved his hand and said, "Mate, I don't care which world's Batman you are, anyway, you guys are all super geniuses. Those blueprints in your hand, weren't they made by Batman in about an hour? Trust me, as long as this thing is built, it'll benefit us all."
Bruce instinctively looked down at the stack of documents on his hands, his face filled with anger and embarrassment. But Diana wore an expression of curiosity, "So, you don't actually have the talents like the other Batmen?"
Hal stood up and said, "Well, we've only met two Batmen. One younger, one older, they've relayed and finished the first part."
"But we can't just assume that each Batman has such a high IQ because of this." Hal shook his head and said, "You know, we don't have enough samples, it's also possible that you don't understand these."
Diana sighed helplessly and said, "Alright, alright, seems like our work will be delayed again."
She jumped off from her bar stool and walked to Bruce, patting him on the cheek.
"Fortunately, you got a handsome face. Let's go, I'll take you home. Those girls who have been waiting for you at the observation deck are still expecting you to show up on time," she said.