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The Prime Universe's Gotham ultimately returned to the skies above its original location, simply because, after a series of landscape transformations, construction of the new houses on the ground was about to begin. As the largest investors in Gotham's real estate, Martha and Thomas had to come back in person to oversee it.
However, they couldn't leave their home and the new house unattended since the children were also present, so they simply brought the entire Sky Island Gotham back with them.
In fact, it was also because the resources on Sky Island Gotham were ultimately limited. The citizens needed food, water, and electricity. Although Batman had prepared enough supplies for the entire city to last a year—clean water sources and backup power—and they had indeed come in handy, the extended duration had almost depleted these resources.
Batman was not happy to hear this news, because he knew that even if his city had returned to its rightful place, his life was unlikely to return to its usual pace, since he was currently waiting for a public bus home, accompanied by a bunch of bizarre-looking Batmen.
That's right, the partially developed ground now had a transportation route opened up to the air, and the Robins had used the Batmobile as the core power unit to construct a terrestrial-aerial connector bus. Batman should have been happy about the creativity this entailed, but he simply couldn't afford to think about it at the moment. All he could think about was how to explain to Martha and Thomas the devils and monsters that were following him.
Indeed, Thomas and Martha were not particularly fond of Batman's vigilante life, but they didn't have a negative attitude towards Batman, it was more of a sense of helplessness, like, since you've chosen this path, what else can we say?
Batman was very accustomed to this attitude. He was fully aware of his actions and, even setting aside the father-son power struggle, the fact that his dangerous line of work kept his parents worried, and his stubbornness in not changing despite numerous pleas, did not make him a good son.
But Batman thought to himself, even if I'm not a competent family member, I'm at least a human being. And over the years, I've insisted on being human, and even if it doesn't seem like it, I'm still biologically human.
But the bunch following him could hardly be called human, which was somewhat rude to say. They were at best vaguely anthropomorphic. Either they had chosen not to be human anymore, or they had tried to but hadn't managed to remain so. Regardless of the reason, Martha and Thomas would probably find it hard to accept them.
Maybe I should just call Bruce, Batman thought. Only his brain could come up with a plausible excuse to bamboozle Martha and Thomas in such situations.
Unfortunately, Bruce was currently away on business and had sent a message to everyone saying he couldn't take calls at the moment, leaving Batman with no choice but to resignedly lead the group of devils and monsters onto the bus.
Luckily for him, Nightwing was driving. He showed only a hint of surprise and even courteously greeted the least Batman-like beings among them: the Bat Tyrant Dragon and the Batmonster Vehicle. What comforted Batman the most was Nightwing's complete lack of inappropriate curiosity— as if he had just seen a few normal Batmen.
Such a polite kid, Batman thought. Even though Nightwing was far from being a child, considering that there were now three generations in the family, he should probably remain a child for a few more years.
This bus wasn't open to the public yet, so it wasn't crowded, and ignoring Batman's worries, the group of odd Batmen were all excited. Even the Mechanical Batman, whose emotional module was still loading, asked Batman repeatedly about Martha and Thomas's situation.
Batman remained silent. All the other Batmen thought he didn't want to spoil their surprise, but only Batman knew he wasn't unwilling to speak—he just didn't know what to say.
In the past week, Thomas had sent him the financial report for the quarter and he hadn't read it. He also hadn't responded to messages from the real estate investment consultant. That bald man had probably gone to Thomas to complain again. In short, now was definitely not a good time to open private communication channels.
These thoughts hovered in Batman's mind, making him reflect once again on how Joker had hit the nail on the head. Ever since Joker uttered that phrase, Batman had been trapped in the embarrassing situation of not having washed his clothes, not having done the dishes, not having taken the meat out to defrost, all the while his parents were only two minutes away from coming home—a real curse of a jinx.
Batman couldn't figure out where Thomas and Martha got so many tasks; even the characters Red Hood and Red Robin fought every day in their video games didn't have as much to do as they did. It was as if not keeping every member of the family busy every moment of the day meant their time was wasted.
Now, if the Batman Family were to add so many new members, and each one had to have something to do under Martha and Thomas's arrangements, then Wayne Manor and the Batcave would become even more chaotic.
Alfred would be very pleased, Batman sighed in his heart thinking, that was the only good news.
These thoughts quickly flitted through his mind as the train soon arrived at the station. Everyone started to gather their belongings to disembark, with Batman standing at the end of the line and Batwoman being the second to last.
"Are you really not considering getting a girlfriend?" her tone lightened, clearly happy about the prospect of seeing Martha and Thomas, even finding the time to tease about his personal life.
"I know that in many universes, my girlfriend is Catwoman. I really want to know what they were thinking, I don't think I would ever... with a thief..."
"Ha, if they didn't find it useful, would other Batmen have a relationship with a thief? Love doesn't follow logic," she said.
Batman shook his head and said, "They can't set a precedent for me, I think I..."
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"Oh my God, you're finally back," the Robins, who had been waiting at the station, came to greet him. But it wasn't unexpected that Batman's response was cut short, not by the Robins, but by the Arkham Band on the other side, also holding up a banner to welcome Batman.
And next to them stood Gordon.
"Don't look at me like that, Batman, like I'm a dog who's just taken a tumble into a mud puddle," Gordon said somewhat displeased, "Let me reintroduce everyone to you—this is the chemical consultant for Loden Group, Scarecrow; this is the Kane family's psychiatrist, Hugo; and this is the head of security for Prolan Company, Killer Croc, as well as the image spokesperson for Jia Kai Le Realty, Catwoman..."
What really left Batman speechless was the last person Gordon pointed to.
Perhaps because it wasn't a workday for criminals, this bunch of criminals didn't wear their uniforms; some wore symbolic masks, and some didn't bother with masks at all, like Catwoman.
She was a pale-skinned woman, dressed in a simple hoodie and jeans, her hair tied back in a high ponytail. If one were to describe her, the words would probably be beautiful, sexy, and hot.
Then Batman employed his highly esteemed detective skills to perfectly understand Catwoman's beauty, sexiness, and hotness. After thinking it over with the world's smartest brain, he accurately analyzed Catwoman's beauty, sexiness, and hotness.
"Hmph, men," Batwoman strode out of the station, not sparing Batman another glance.
Gordon came over helplessly and explained, "After the war, this city really doesn't have the conditions for these people to commit crimes anymore. To continue their criminal careers, they first have to help rebuild the city. So now, most of them are working as consultants in large companies and gangster families."
"Oddly enough, they have much more motivation to rejuvenate this city than others. In no time, they've become key employees in various companies. When word got out that they were collectively coming to the station to welcome you, all their bosses have been calling me month after month, insisting that I must come and keep an eye on them."
"Of course, not to prevent them from hurting you, but to prevent you from hurting them. I'd advise you not to do that— if they all ended up in the hospital, our city's GDP might drop by 60% this year, and Thomas and Martha would go crazy."
"Of course, the situation with the Robins is still okay; without any criminals to fight, they've recently been obsessed with constructing transport networks in the sky and on land, inventing dozens of devices. After testing, a few of them are usable, and we plan to start by setting up the supply routes."
"Speaking of which, I thought you would be coming back alone. I didn't expect you to bring so many companions and luggage. What's with these two giant dinosaurs? I say, isn't your love for dinosaurs a bit too deep, Batman... Batman? Batman, are you listening?"
Batman wasn't listening at all.
The Arkham team came up to greet him, which couldn't exactly be described as a greeting—more like another way of American bullying, to reproach Batman for his long absence.
"Isn't this our busy Batman?" Harley Quinn was the first to approach, resting her hammer on her shoulder and placing her hands on either end of it: "If you didn't come back, my dear little pudding would have been at home clutching a pillow and crying."
"Heh heh, probably because there's nothing worth this great hero's attention in the city," Scarecrow said nastily, "The city's destruction doesn't mean anything to him; after all, he's never considered this place his home."
Normally, this would hit a sore spot for Batman. Everyone in the Arkham Band knew this, and usually, at this point, Batman's gaze would become sharper than a knife, and he'd say in that deep voice, "Scarecrow, you have at least 300 criminal records of deploying large-scale gas bombs in the city—are you saying this place is your home?"
Yes, Batman usually didn't argue with them, but he didn't forget to maintain his dignity and wouldn't let anyone provoke him without consequence.
But Batman was unusually quiet today.
Everyone sensed the strange atmosphere.
"I've heard a lot about you, Catwoman," Batman said. "I hear that Jia Kai Le Realty has built two new properties on the east side of Gotham's new district, and their latest branch has just opened there. Are you the spokesperson for the branch?"
With a whoosh, everyone dispersed, with most of them muttering like Harley Quinn, almost forgetting Batman was also a man, "What a bore!"
"Wait, what's that over there? Don't tell me all of those are Batman... Oh-ho! Come over here! Look at this! There are so many brand-new Batmen here!"
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