"This is the situation, Mrs. Wayne, I'm very sorry..."
Peter's voice was intermittently coming from the hospital room, Martha seemed to be speaking forcefully to the doctor about something.
Batman stood just outside the hospital room, knowing that it was Batman from another universe who currently lay there.
According to the previous investigation, Batman understood that this was another novice Bruce Wayne, who should be about the same age as Shiller's students, but without any professional training. The first act of the Joker's plan had completely caught him off guard.
But Batman didn't expect his defense to be so drastically shattered. Just now, he overheard the doctor in the room saying that this Bruce Wayne was likely suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and urgently needed treatment.
Now Thomas and Martha had even more on their plate, but the person who was going to take the brunt was Batman.
"Bruce Wayne!" Thomas, his face grim, closed the door to the hospital room. The moment he was called by his full name, Batman knew he was in for it, but he could only follow Thomas to another room, since Martha was right behind him, watching.
"Listen, Bruce, I've expressed countless times that I don't want you to become Batman. Yes, that's what I think. The occupation is both dangerous and meaningless."
"Don't be in a rush to refute me. Answer me one question first, why didn't you take more extreme measures to restrain the madman named Joker? You've let another version of yourself get hurt."
Martha sighed lightly, stepped forward, gently stroked Batman's resolute face, and said: "I don't know if every Bruce in every universe has suffered our departure tragedy, but at least I consider them my children, different stages of you. I don't want them to get hurt."
"The consequences are much more serious than I imagined." Martha's eyes became a bit sad as she said, "If you tell me you're unable to do it, I won't force you. If it puts you in danger, don't demand so much of yourself with such harsh responsibility."
Batman could tell that Martha also wanted him to give up. She was worried that Batman would also be hurt by the Joker while Batman was contemplating another issue.
He had originally thought that Bruce, like him, didn't want to stop the dog-eat-dog situation in Gotham, so he returned to Wayne Manor to pass the time. But now he had realized that maybe the kid had come at him.
What's the point of all this -- being a better father, a better son, or now bringing up Bruce who had been driven mad by Joker? To show off that you're doing better?
When this thought crossed Batman's mind, he found it somewhat incredible because this speculation seemed too immature, as if a girl dropped a piece of eraser from the table and it just happened to fall at your feet, and you speculated that she liked you.
Bruce hadn't come to deliberately cause trouble. Batman only vaguely sensed something was amiss. There wasn't enough evidence, so he decided to observe a while longer.
After Thomas and Martha returned to the hospital room, Bruce followed them in. Then Batman, standing outside, heard him say.
"...Why can't I handle it? I'm going to make that madman regret it! I'll make him understand the price of his crimes!"
"What? Danger? What danger? Ask Damian if you don't believe me. I often play cards with the Joker in our universe. He can't even cheat successfully."
"...No, he's a truck driver, he has a real job, he doesn't have time to play cards all day, Gotham has become the logistics distribution center for the East Coast, truck drivers are almost worked to death..."
A few seconds later, Thomas's roar came: "Bruce! Come here!"
Batman knew his name was being called again, so he had to walk in, and Thomas looked at him and asked, "What does this Joker do?"
"What?"
"What's the Joker's profession?"
"He's a clown."
"I know he's a clown! But can he earn his living by sending you to the hospital? What does he do to earn money?!"
Batman really wanted to say, it's usually me who sends him to the hospital, but he knew he couldn't say that. After thinking for a bit, he answered, "…He robs banks."
"So you're saying he's a robber?"
"Sometimes he's also a thief."
"Why don't you let him do something regular?! Like being a truck driver or working in a circus or something."
Batman's mouth fell open. If Joker really could do something legitimate, he wouldn't be Joker. But if you want Joker not to be Joker, then he has to do something legitimate. But if Joker does something legitimate, he won't be…
Batman chose to keep silent.
He walked out, before leaving he glanced at Bruce with a touch of confusion, could it be that the situation of the Joker in his universe was deliberately leaked by Batman?
"You're no better." Thomas's roar continued, "As a Wayne, you actually owe a truck driver 100 dollars and you still haven't paid him back. Do you know how mortified I was when he came to our house?!"
Batman's departing footsteps halted, he decided to listen.
"I was wrong."
"Thomas, don't speak to him like that, do you remember he is still on medication? The side effects of the drugs are severe enough, his physical disability even keeps him from tying knots properly. You can't push my child like this."
Batman turned around and left.
"Bruce!!!"
Thomas's roar came again. Batman had to return to the hospital room once more. Thomas waved his somewhat trembling hand behind his back and said, "Go. Get the hospital admission procedures for the one lying in bed. Get the reexamination procedures for the one standing. Make a mental health appointment for yourself. Go, now!!!"
"I don't need a mental check-up..."
"God." Martha quickly came over to cover Batman's mouth and gently patted his arm, "Don't upset your dad any more. The family doctor said his blood pressure is really bad. Please go, Bruce, do it for me."
Martha pushed Batman out the door. After she closed the door, she lowered her voice and whispered to Batman, "In this period, we need to care for your other self. Pay more attention to the company. The children are grown up now. They can help you, especially Damian, he's talented in this area."
"Look after the production, manage the funds carefully. You understand, just go."
Batman watched as Martha returned to the ward. He turned to leave and had only gone a few steps when he noticed a figure following behind him.
Batman stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Bruce, who was standing behind him with his arms crossed. Bruce looked at him, laughed softly, stepped forward, and, looking Batman in the eyes, said,
"People often say that blood ties are the closest ties. You think so too, right? You're complacent about your relationship with them, thinking they're your parents and only yours."
Batman narrowed his eyes.
"The sense of security you have in this relationship..." Bruce's lips peeled back over his teeth, then turned into a faint malicious grin, "from now on will seem somewhat unrealistic. Bruce Wayne isn't just you. As for who their parents are, it depends on one's abilities."
Batman's mouth sank at the corners.
It was deliberate, he realized, Batman now knew who Bruce was aiming at.
"You should get your check-up."
Batman turned and left. He could feel Bruce's eyes lingering on him, the aggressiveness almost burning a hole in his clothes.
Childishly incredible, what did he think this was, a custody battle?
Meaningless.
Batman returned to the Wayne Enterprises building, he needed to check the latest financial report. Even if Mr. and Mrs. Wayne were back, and Thomas was still in charge of Wayne Enterprises, Batman had to be sure that there were no anomalies in the operations.
Most troubling to him was an untraceable fund that was heading towards Mexico. During the time he was still on Earth, he had been so busy focusing on the cosmic war that he had no time to investigate what was happening in Mexico. Now, with Gotham island having flown away from Earth entirely, it was impossible to investigate anything in Mexico anymore.
But Batman could still deduce what Thomas had been up to recently through the direction of the fund.
Several small amounts of money had been distributed to unknown Mexican accounts, and some funds had flowed into military accounts or accounts that were clearly from the Black Glove.
According to historical financial traces in the Mexican accounts, they had previously purchased arms from Wayne Enterprises. In other words, Thomas was giving money to certain Mexicans for them to buy their arms from Wayne Enterprises. What was he doing?
Wait, arms, why would Mexicans buy arms? There's no war going on over there.
Batman had a gut feeling. He immediately returned through the portal beneath Sky Island to his own universe, where the front-page headline of the international news reported that a democratic revolution had broken out in Mexico, with the Democratic Alliance Army taking on the Guadalajara government forces.
Batman slapped his forehead.
Thomas had started dealing in arms. First give them money, let them buy their own arms, and then sell even more arms after instigating a war. And he still had the cheek to criticize him for being Batman?!
But Batman instinctively felt something was off. Thomas was a businessman, true, but he knew his father wasn't the type to be a ruthless arms dealer, otherwise he wouldn't have been shot with a black gun back then.
As the investigation deepened, Batman found a personal account of Thomas's in Wayne Enterprises' computer, a separate folder used to record certain things.
Batman found a picture in there.
The picture showed a bustling city skyline, with skyscrapers jostling for space, roads filled with traffic, winding overpasses and the central roundabout, all gleaming under the sun.
It was Gotham.
Batman almost immediately remembered the incomparable shock he felt when he saw Bruce through Shiller's Tower of Thought, and the Gotham that Bruce was in, bathed in sunlight.
Thomas had been there, experienced it.
In this folder, Batman found more pictures, most of which were drafts that seemed to be plans for city renovation.
Batman could remember all the details in this city, so he knew that the buildings drawn in these drafts did not belong to his Gotham, therefore they were surely from the Gotham where Bruce was.
Further down, Batman could clearly see that the modified drafts had become street blocks of his Gotham, with some methods used to modify previous buildings awkwardly applied to the buildings familiar to Batman.
Thomas wasn't an architectural master, and his drawing skills, which he learned as a child, were far from professional, but Batman could see his utmost efforts in these drafts.
Among them was a draft of the Wayne building in Batman's Gotham, surrounded by buildings unfamiliar to Batman, obviously from Thomas's imagination, and above them, the only one painted with a base color, a blue sky studded with white clouds.
Now Batman knew what Thomas was planning to do with all the money he was making from selling arms and real estate, exhausting himself to the point of having blood pressure issues.
The custody fight was really meaningless, Batman thought, turning around.
But the Joker was right, it was time to go all out and see what Shiller's outstanding graduate would truly be worth.