After Gordon and Batman leave the underground of the chapel, both of them appear a bit silent. After all, the place they have just been bury dozens of lives in a short month.
Gotham is a dark city, but when the seamy side is nakedly presented to people, only those with strong willpower can digest the impact of this deep darkness.
Batman and Gordon, now have countless emotions surging in their hearts. The first case handled by the young Batman, this seemingly endless evil, and the darkness without light stand before him. He suddenly is conscious of that, as Schiller said, he may not have been fully prepared yet.
Powerful force is only a means to survive here. But to save this city, strength alone is far from enough.
As he ponders, Batman turns a corner and notices Schiller standing on the second floor again, holding an umbrella. Below the balcony is the place where the beggar used to stay.
Batman feels a sense of absurdity again. This damn criminal who killed dozens of innocent lives, how dare he still stand here? Why are there people in this world who can be indifferent to fresh lives? Even cruel enough to kill them without hesitation.
Batman's depress turned into irritation. Under the gaze of Gordon, he leaps onto the balcony more than two meters high from the street.
"Your judgment is coming, damn murderer," Batman snaps.
"Do you have the evidence you want?" Schiller asks.
"Of course, and this evidence is enough to prosecute you," Batman says.
Schiller suddenly laughs, with an extremely light tone: "How ridiculous, you are still thinking about judging me. Gotham City's police department should really award you an Outstanding Citizen Medal. You are truly a great policeman."
"If you had such a conscientious policeman when your parents died, who found the evidence left by the murderers and judged them, wouldn't that be great? That's what you're thinking, right?"
"You don't trust the police, you don't trust the court, but you still go looking for evidence, trying to judge me with the correctness of the judiciary. Don't you think you're paradoxical?"
"If you want to prove that I violated the law, Batman, so did you . If I am to be brought to justice, so are you. You are using illegal actions to prove that a criminal is a criminal, aren't you?"
Schiller raises his voice, his tone lilting: "You think you have the ability to take revenge on criminals with your own means. But in the end, you are still an ordinary person tamed by this ordered society. You are still talking about evidence and demanding a trial."
"If you can't get rid of them, can't get rid of the shackles imposed on you by the society, and can't erase the concepts of law and judicial procedures in your mind, you will never be able to achieve the justice you want."
"Bruce..." Schiller looks into his eyes and utters:
"The law is not justice, but you are."
"Gotham's law did not save your parents, just like it did not save the dozens of missing people. If you still have any meaningless illusions about it, you will never become the Batman."
Schiller can clearly see Batman's arm trembling. His hand holding the bat drat is already full of tendons, and his whole body is trembling. Obviously, he becomes extremely angry.
Schiller's words are too sharp. He reveals the biggest contradiction of the young Batman.
Gotham's law did not save his parents, but the Batman who claims revenge still adheres to the principles of order.
"Do you want me to enforce my own justice?" Batman questions. He then raises a gun and points it at Schiller's forehead.
Batman does have a gun, of course. In Gotham City, you can't survive without such deadly weapons, let alone talk about enforcing justice.
Schiller remains calm. He continues, "You haven't answered my question. Have you found the evidence you wanted? What is it?"
"Next to the crate in the basement of the chapel, there is a stain left by you. It contains soil and leaves, North AmElektran red spruce leaves that can only be found in Gotham University."
"And what does that prove?" Schiller asks further.
"It proves that you are the killer," Batman snaps.
"Is that so? I appears out of nowhere on the streets of the Morrison District, dresses suspiciously and acts strangely. And you find leaves from Gotham University at the crime scene, suggesting that the killer may be someone from the university. So, I must be the killer. What flawless reasoning," Schiller sarcasms.
Batman faces with his unrepentant , unashamed expression and his casual tone. His rage has truly reached its peak at this point. Just as he is about to pull the trigger, Gordon runs over, shouting, "Stop! Drop the gun!"
Batman is interrupted for a moment. Schiller throws a USB drive on the ground between them and says, "Absolute evidence? The killer has been to Gotham University, and I am a professor there. That is absolute enough."
"Yes, how much you must have wished that, when your parents died, there was someone like you now, who could give the killer a clean shot because there is absolute evidence," Schiller whispers.
"Don't mention my parents..." Batman's voice trembles. "You criminal."
"You have thought of many similarities," Schiller articulates.
"But your anger has blinded you to more, more differences."
"For example, I have never had any education in chemistry and biology. Involved in countless serial murder investigations.,my counterintelligence awareness is not so poor that I can't clean up my footprints. And more importantly..."
Schiller looks at the USB drive and says, "I have more absolute evidence than yours."
Because of Gordon's interruption, Batman's anger has slightly diminished. With his sanity restores, he feels sweat soaking through his shirt in such a damp and freezing day.
Cautiously, Batman picks up the USB drive and plugs it into the mini computer on his arm. A projection pops up.
At that moment, Gordon also runs onto the balcony. He sees in the video a person in a plaid shirt standing surreptitiously on an air conditioner unit outside a house, inserting a hose through a window. The figures inside the house, who has been standing or sitting, all collapse. After the person jumps down from the air conditioner unit, he walks into a corridor. Not long after, he drags two large boxes onto a cart, pushes it away, and all the figures inside the house disappear.
This is the inspiration Batman gives to Schiller. Jonathan is truly lacking in counterintelligence awareness, and Schiller is standing in the corridor of the building opposite, taking photos without noticing.
But it is understandable. No one will come out for a stroll in Gotham in the middle of the night, especially in such a slum. One wrong step and their life could be gone.
Suddenly, Gordon shouts, "Ah, I see!"
"I remember when registering missing persons' addresses, the lower-floor tenants are affected more. Almost all the victims has balconies..." Gordon gabbles.
Then he turns to Batman and Schiller, angrily saying to Batman, "I misjudged you. Were you just about to shoot? Do you know you nearly killed someone?!"
Batman silently stares at the projection on his arm. Anybody, except blindness, could find that the figure in the video has a completely different build from Schiller.
Although Schiller doesn't fight or exercise, he is still quite tall. Slightly shorter and thinner than Batman, his height still closes to 6.2 feet . The person in the video, at most, is 5.6 and weighs less than 132 pounds.
"Professor Jonathan is a good person, that's what you think, right? Because he doesn't check homework, treats you well, and won't fail you in any subjects. But I am the opposite. I am a troublesome professor, always finding faults in assignments, giving exams when there's nothing else to do, and threatening all students with the possibility of failing."
"So, it's obvious that I am the killer and he is not. After all, how could someone so weak, silent, skinny, and small like him be a serial killer?"
"ENOUGH," Batman squeezes, his voice trembling.
He recalls the scene when facing the beggar. He could still see the stain left against the wall by the beggar, surrounded by a strong sense of guilt and shame.
And Gordon's words adds fuel to the fire. He snarls, "I don't care who you are, dressing up in tight and causing trouble in the city. But you almost killed a good man. What grievances do you have with each other? If you have personal grudges, sort it out yourselves and don't interfere when the police are investigating the case."
"Aren't Gotham City's police busy enough? Do you want me to arrest you on the spot for murder?" Gordon growls.
Days of overtime have made him irritable, and he impatiently says, "the guy in tight, give me the USB drive. I need to take it back for records... Sir, please come with me. You seem to know who the killer is, and we need clues..."
After a moment of silence, Batman silently extends his arm and hands the USB drive to Gordon.
He realizes that his triumphant debut has only caused trouble. He believes that Schiller, the assumed criminal, has actually helped a great deal by providing the most crucial evidence.
Schiller doesn't speak anymore, and Batman roots still. Outside, the streets starts to rain endlessly again.
Just as he is about to leave with Gordon, he hears Batman behind him say, "...I'm sorry, Professor."
Schiller's steps pauses, and he feels somewhat incredulous. What did Batman just say???
Did he apologize???
Schiller can't believe it and turns around. Batman stays in the shadows, the only beam of light casting on his masked face. He tightly purses his lips, making Schiller feel ridiculous.
He is Batman, after all.
Because he is Batman.
And Batman is always right.
Batman never apologizes to anyone.
Faced of all doubts, he will only says, "Because I am Batman."
Schiller has seen too many dark sides of Batman in the comics, like preparing to fight Superman with Kryptonite or having plans to deal with every member of the Justice League. It's believed that he doesn't trust anyone, not even himself.
To be fair, when the editors created this character in the comic, these dark aspects make him more charming and leave a deeper impression on the readers.
But this also creates a prejudice in Schiller towards Batman.
He thinks Batman should be like that, as in the comics. Batman never apologizes because he doesn't think he's wrong, and he believes that the measures taken against his friends are necessary.
The prejudice on Batman roots in Schiller's mind. However, Batman does apologize when he truly realizes he is wrong. He still feels regret and guilt.
Schiller indeed wants to teach the young Batman some lessons, such as not harboring prejudice, not judging people by their appearances, not letting anger cloud his eyes, and maintaining independent thinking.
But Schiller is suddenly aware of that he isn't so qualified to teach Batman not to harbor prejudice because he himself has an indelible stereotype of this character. He hopes Bruce can become the Batman in his mind, and the sooner the better.
But now it seem that this story is not about a wise and knowledgeable professor and his young and impulsive student; it is a typical Pride and Prejudice.
Batman, with an absolute pride towards his own reasoning, believes that Schiller must be the killer. When he harbors preconceived prejudice, combined with evidence that happens to support his bias, he almost shot Schiller.
But Schiller also has a prejudice towards Batman, thinking that he should be like the Batman in the comics., the dark hero who is mature and cautious.
Neither of them laughs the last laugh. They are like two sides of the same coin.
Now Batman seems to have learned this lesson, realizing that he is not all-knowing and all-powerful.
His reasoning can also be confined by prejudice, leading to great fallacies. And his impulses under this arrogance appear even more deadly.
He gazes the wound on Schiller's neck, the mark he left with his bat drat before. At that time, he assumed Schiller was the criminal and threatened him as if he were dealing with a criminal. Although he doesn't shoot today, as Gordon says, the wound is deep, and it will probably leave a scar.
Batman feels guilty and very afraid.
He thinks that the law cannot correctly judge every criminal, and that is not a reason for him to indiscriminately judge others with his arrogance.
In a situation where he cannot guarantee that he is 100% right, any impulsive act of violence can leave the innocent or even a good person with an indelible scar.
He is relieved that no innocent person has paid the price with their life.
Batman stands in the shadows, considering that he must forever eliminate this possibility. So, he decides that he will never kill anyone, even when facing the most heinous criminals.
If any innocent person were to die by his hands, he would become a more despicable criminal than the one who killed his parents.
Because the criminals who killed his parents perhaps did it for money or revenge, causing destruction is two lives.
But if Batman were to kill innocents indiscriminately, then this city would truly be without hope.
In comics,Batman's no killing rule might exist at first.
Schiller doesn't explore he root,only regarding it as an annoying setting.For example,facing with those irritating criminals and the mad who break prison and make waves again and again,why batman cannot kill them?The thought pops many times when reads it.
Beyond his exception,it's Schiller that let the young batman insist the principle not to kill anyone.
Because he is batman,the the last hope in Gotham.If he were overwhelmed by guilt for innocents who died because of him, this city would also be doomed.
By chance coincidence,even though Schiller help the batman build up his own spiritual pillar,he happens to complete one of Batman's settings——the no kill rule.
Schiller will never predict he couldn't help but regret his interference countless times in the future.
When Batman matures completely, Schiller will always shout in his heart, why couldn't Batman just snap his fingers and kill those damned criminals, so that they wouldn't keep appearing before him, disrupting his peaceful life again and again!
And everything,all originates from today, all of which he asks for it.