In a spacious and somewhat dark room, moist water droplets condensed on the stone walls. Hundreds of candles were fixed on the walls at random heights. Huge ribbons hung from the towering ceiling supports.
Leaves intertwining shadows on the ground.
A huge long conference table was placed in the center of the room. At this time, several people wearing masks were sitting on both sides of the round table, watching the picture on a screen.
This is the meeting room of the Court of Owls.
The Court of Owls is a mysterious organization in DC comics. It has been operating in Gotham since the early days of its existence. In some comic versions, it is described as being maintained by the founders of Gotham City or their descendants.
The organization is the dark king of Gotham City.
Of course, there are more comic versions that design more conspiracies for this organization. For example, the Owl Court in Gotham City actually belongs to the world-class Owl Council, and the Owl Council is an organization under the command of the Dark God Barbatos.
But no matter what, this organization has existed in Gotham for a long time and has been secretly controlling the city.
The members of the Court of Owls only come together because of conspiracy plans related to Gotham City, and this time is no exception.
Of course, this was their original purpose, but the situation was different at this time, or in other words, when they saw a huge black monster jumping out from the monitoring equipment on the claw belt, the nature of the entire story changed.
A complete change.
And the speed and impact of this change really exceeded everyone's expectations.
During the period of changes in Gotham City, the Court of Owls was not completely unconcerned, but the problem was that when any parliamentary organization decided on a certain matter, it needed to go through a series of discussion meetings and member statements.
, the Court of Owls is no exception. For the recent changes in Gotham, they need to investigate, collect evidence, analyze, and then vote.
Yes, this damn evil organization is damn rigorous, and its efficiency in handling cases is much better than the Gotham Police Department.
But in short, after a period of reaction, the Court of Owls finally found out from clues that Gotham was behind this change.
The Court of Owls is not actually worried about this change in Gotham, because the city is not actually developing in a better direction, and no one wants to save the city from its roots. On the contrary, it has brought new benefits to the city.
There are huge benefits, which is actually in the interest of the Court of Owls.
What they cannot accept is that there are people in darker places who control and influence the city more accurately than they do. Once such people appear, the Court of Owls must eliminate them.
Therefore, Talon found his target, that is, the seemingly ordinary university professor, Schiller Rodriguez.
Originally, everything was going smoothly, and the Court of Owls felt that they would still nip one opponent in the bud as before, but everything started to change with the appearance of that black monster.
It’s not surprising that the Court of Owls would install surveillance equipment on Talon. They were originally a conspiracy organization that monitored the entire city, but they never imagined that the next drama would directly shatter everyone’s perspective.
, and the purpose of this meeting has fundamentally changed.
At this time, Schiller, who was still entangled with the Venom Bat, also felt a little troubled. The battle between the symbiotes was not like what he had seen in the movies, which was two giant monsters beating each other.
As a kind of factor creature, the battle between symbionts occurs more at the microscopic level, that is, they devour each other's symbiote factors. This is like changing from a one-on-one duel to a legion war.
It's not that Schiller doesn't know how to fight this kind of battle, but he is facing an already crazy dark bat. The venom bat doesn't care at all how much symbiote factors it will lose. It just attacks crazily, trying to bite more from Gray Fog.
many.
There was no way to talk about tactics against such a crazy enemy, and defense would only bring more losses to oneself, so Schiller had no choice but to start a crazy attack, and the two symbiotes began to devour each other without fear.
There is no fire or sound in this kind of battle. Everything seems to be shrouded in a mysterious and silent atmosphere. Tangible things begin to gradually become invisible in this crazy devouring of each other. The pull of mucus and mist makes everything seem...
It is more like a battle between light and shadow, and under the silent appearance, there are screams, chaos and a crazy battle that cannot be seen directly by ordinary people.
The Court of Owls are not ordinary people. They do possess certain dark powers that ordinary people do not have.
Therefore, when faced with this silent and noisy battle, the Court of Owls, which had never seen a symbiote, could only understand it as a higher-level manifestation of mysticism within its own worldview.
This kind of battle that takes place on the invisible level makes it easier for them to think of the source of certain dark forces. Unlike ordinary people, the Court of Owls can realize that the world is not as simple and peaceful as it seems. They know that there is something more.
Many great and dark forces are peeping at everything in the universe.
The shapes of Venom Bat and Gray Mist Schiller are too easy to think of some extradimensional demons.
The huge black bat carries a frightening dark power. Even through the screen, you can see the huge black tide pouring out of Batman's dark side. Just looking at it makes people feel like they are being strangled.
, feeling suffocated and frightened.
As for Schiller, the huge sun rising from the gray fog looks like a black hole that swallows everything. Those weird and bizarre fog patterns add a sense of sacredness full of religious rituals to the weirdness and absurdity.
It's so solemn that it's hard not to think of something.
The infinite possibilities unleashed by the unique race of symbiotes make the changes between these two people not seem like a sudden change at all.
In fact, the judgment of the Court of Owls is correct. The symbiote race itself was born out of a cosmic demon god, and the two currently fighting are both leaders in the symbiote race.
If possible, please allow Schiller to solemnly introduce a special enthusiastic netizen to the Court of Owls——
The Ancient of the Seventh Universe, the Satan of the Universe, the Lord of the Abyss, the Emperor in Black, the Master of the Black Corruption Blade, the Beheader of the Celestials, the Stepfather of God-Slayer Gal, Thor's God Friend, Thanos's Headache
The ultimate nightmare of the three cosmic empires - Gnar, the symbiote god.
Okay, although the story of Gnar told before sounds a bit uninteresting, in fact, the demon god who forged the all-black death sword is still at a high level among the demon gods in the Marvel universe, and his record is also ranked high.
No., although his special descendant cannot be regarded as an independent universe demon, at least it can be regarded as a direct relative.
You know, in this era, most of the famous villains have not yet fully debuted, let alone those demons who transcend the earth level, but the battle between these two people is like suddenly skipping countless power levels and directly
Change the level of combat from a neighborhood brawl to a cosmic event.
Can this Court of Owls stop crackling?
As a result, the topic of this meeting changed from whether to interfere with Gotham to whether to evacuate Gotham.
After all, they were unaware of this change, and they didn't even know why Batman, whom they were closely monitoring, suddenly became like this. They also didn't know what the outcome of this kind of battle would be? The entire Gotham was
Destruction? The entire earth is destroyed?
But at least, they are sure of one thing. It is best not to do anything before they understand why Batman and this professor suddenly jumped from ordinary people living on the ground to a cosmic level monster.
Any drastic action.
Moreover, what made them even more worried was that the changes between these two people were too sudden, without any warning, and the Court of Owls did not find that the city was invaded by any mysterious force.
If these demons were organized and had infected many people in Gotham, then who knows how many such people there would be in Gotham City?
What if they spread out their claws and poked and exploded, then Gotham City would be filled with a bunch of cosmic demons, and they would have nothing to do with their owls!
If everyone in Gotham had this fighting ability, there would be no chance for Owl to run home and cry on Barbatos' lap.
Schiller originally brought Venom to DC because he had seen in the comics where Venom filled up the aging bones and nervous system of his host Eddie. He thought that maybe Venom could use the same method to replace Mr. Freeze.
He asked his wife to treat him, but before he could do so, Venom actually tried to kill himself and ran to Batman.
Batman can't be parasitic on anything. You're a Marvel guy from a foreign country, and you want to come to Gotham to beg for food?
Just as he was thinking this, Schiller discovered that the offensive on the opposite side seemed to have weakened, and the gray mist circled a building again. Schiller retracted his figure, stood on the edge of the highest building roof, and looked down.
The black bat made of mucus suddenly began to fly crookedly, as if it was fighting with itself and was being pulled by an invisible force.
In Black Bat's mind, another battle became increasingly fierce.
Wave after wave of black tides are overwhelming, and Bruce's consciousness of personality is like a lonely boat in the storm, teetering on the edge.
Even Bruce himself had never thought that his dark side could be so terrifying.
Joining forces with him to fight against the enemy is the miserable consciousness of Venom. He still has not figured out why he has stirred up a hornet's nest again.
Once again barely resisting the wash of a wave of black tide, Bruce said to Venom: "Don't you call yourself an alien creature?!!! Why are the wills of you alien creatures so fragile?!!!"
Venom is almost pissed off. Is that because my will is weak? Why do you humans like to create so many storms in your mind?
The ultimate survival in the conscious world, right???
Venom is really aggrieved. When he first debuted, the first host he met was Deadpool.
Deadpool's brain is as if it has been stirred by thousands of revolutions of an egg beater. He can grow everywhere in his body, but not in his brain.
Venom is like butterfly swimming in a cesspit. Although Deadpool's brain is not very dangerous, it is disgusting, very disgusting.
Venom was driven a little crazy by him, and he finally stayed on ordinary people for a while, but he couldn't resist the temptation and ran to Stark.
Stark's mind is no longer chaotic, but in this damn rotten man's mind there are on average more than 3,000 thunderstorms, tornadoes, and sandstorms every day, so much so that he doesn't even recognize it, and Venom's head is almost torn open.
When Venom was knocked out of Stark's body, I felt so lucky to have escaped death.
Then, he was locked in a jar and starved for a long time, and finally found an opportunity to run out. Venom was still happy, because as soon as he entered Bruce's body, he found that he seemed to be a rich second generation with a good brain, and his brain seemed to be very good.
It's not as fast as Stark's. Instead, his mind is full of irrelevant data such as ward beds and prison rooms.
Venom, who was full of longing for a happy life, thought he had happily crawled into an egg. Just as he was drooling over the yolk and about to swallow it in one gulp, the egg hatched with a click and a Tyrannosaurus rex hatched. Venom's head almost fell.
bitten off.
Venom can know from his genetic information that the universe is so big, and humans are not the only race. Why is he so unlucky? How come he just happened to fall on the earth?
How can humans be so outrageous? If one day, he can also compile the gene library of symbionts, he must tell all his compatriots: Stay away from humans, safety first, and find a host that is not standardized, and the symbionts will cry.
But grievances are grievances, complaints are complaints, and the battle still has to be fought. Venom said to Bruce: "I can stimulate your emotions. You must have an extreme emotion now to suppress this dark emotion."
Thanks to Stark, Venom's logic system comes from this genius cursed by knowledge. His current thinking is very clear, even clearer than Bruce. After all, Bruce is a fan of the authorities, but Venom knows very well that he wants to defeat this kind of person who comes from
For the dark emotions on the dark side, Bruce must inspire enough positive emotions.
"Then why are you standing still? Let's get started." Bruce said.
"The problem is that I can't find your positive emotions!!!!!!"
Venom yelled: "Where did you hide them?! Come up and dig them out!!! That's our life-saving straw!!!"
Venom was knocked back by the black tide again. He collapsed and said, "What on earth is there to hide?! You stupid humans!!!"
Bruce opened his mouth. He didn't know how to answer Venom's question. It sounded ridiculous, but even an alien creature that could spy on people's hearts couldn't find his positive emotions.
"You have to hurry up!" Venom's tone was very similar to Stark at this time, and it was obvious that this genius had a great influence on him.
"There seems to be some other power in your dark emotions. Once it breaks out, your hometown, the city we are staying in now, will definitely be completely destroyed! Nothing will be left!"
Bruce pursed his lips, once again dodging the attack of dark consciousness.
Destroy Gotham? This may sound crazy, but it is so reasonable. This crazy city should have been destroyed long ago. What is there to miss here?
Alfred's face appeared in his mind. He recalled the expression on the old butler's face when he was sitting in front of the hospital bed. He also recalled the words he hummed while wiping the old telephone alone in the dark living room.
Pleasant tunes.
This did not surprise Bruce. If there is only one person in this city that he feels attached to, it must be his butler Alfred. If there is the only place where he feels attached to
, that is Wayne Manor with Alfred here.
Soon, his memory began to become hazy, as if he had returned to Wayne Manor. He opened a door like any other morning.
But what surprised him was that behind this door was the dark rainy alley of Gotham. Detective Gordon called him the weirdo in tights for the first time. They worked together to investigate and track the case, and then the detective in a trench coat and the man in a cape
Bat, on the roof of the Gotham Police Station, they were talking about justice and the future of this city.
When the night was already deep, Batman turned around and left. When he returned to the manor, under the flickering dim candlelight, an old friend was already waiting for him. Batman and Harvey were sitting on the sofa. They talked about many things, as if they had
There were endless topics to talk about, like a mentor and a helpful friend. Bruce was already confused about the principles he talked about, but the tacit understanding between the exchanges was still very clear.
Soon, he was walking through the lights of Gotham's high-rise buildings, hugging Catwoman and kissing her passionately, falling into a beautiful dream.
Those thrown gauze curtains, knocked over wine glasses, scattered wine, every tender and crazy night, those passionate kisses that dyed the cold body temperature of a bat, and those passionate kisses that made him feel extremely fascinated.
Lover, telling him stories about jewels and castles that Batman had never been interested in. In his memory, he listened very seriously, but in his opinion, Catwoman's eyes were more beautiful than the gems she had exhausted her vocabulary to describe.
Be brighter.
The rustle of the pen falling on the paper sounded, and Bruce seemed to have returned to an examination site. He looked at his classmates scratching their heads in the examination room, perhaps feeling amazed, or perhaps feeling helpless.
Then, he painted the wall with those people, watching the dark paint flow down the wall, spontaneously forming some mysterious patterns that he had never seen before, like the door of a time machine.
As he walked through the door, time shuttled forward at a rapid pace, advancing a little bit to the present in his dream-like memory, and then began to quickly go backwards, with all the people and objects returning to their original positions like a movie played in reverse, until he returned.
When he reached the place where a black sun rose, he heard a familiar voice saying to him: "Welcome to Gotham."
Venom watched as the conscious space began to tremble, and strong light came out of some broken cracks. He cursed secretly, and quickly began to thread needles and threads through Bruce's emotions, trying to guide these fragmented positive emotions together.
A little bit of light gradually rose, and then gathered into an even more dazzling ball of light.
The counterattack of the black tide became more violent, like black ink soaking the entire world. A black ocean began to spread in the consciousness space, and the raging waves covered the sky.
Bruce, who had been separated from the memory space, was floating in the sky above the black tide. Through the layers of black waves, he saw that in the deepest part of the black ocean, there lay a curled-up little boy. That was him.
It's Bruce Wayne.
Soon, Schiller saw the huge bat made of mucus falling to the ground. The mucus began to be slowly recovered, and then all retracted into Bruce's body.
Schiller jumped off the roof and stood in front of Bruce. Bruce got up from the ground, or in other words, it was venom that controlled his body now.
"How on earth did you escape?"
"You have to ask the woman who came to your house and stole the jar."
The woman who stole the jar? Schiller thought, there is only one female thief in Gotham who has this ability. Could it be Catwoman?
"I shouldn't have listened to Stark's nonsense," Schiller said: "He told me that his symbiote must live in a mansion worthy of being the richest man in the world, so he used his strange instruments to build one.
The diamond jar also promised me that this thing is both beautiful and practical."
"Then I still want to thank him."
In an instant, black mucus burst out again, but this time the venom turned into its original form, that is, a big mouth full of fangs and a bright red tongue.
"Then how the hell did you end up on Batman?"
"Don't you think it's too slow to communicate in a human way? Don't waste my time." Venom said.
"Your tone reminds me of a really annoying guy."
The venom branched off a tentacle of mucus, and the gray mist slowly dispersed into a cloud of mist. The moment the symbiote factors came into contact, the two sides exchanged countless information.
Gray fog said to Schiller in his mind: "...a woman with cat ears...just like that car...the necessary process of human reproduction...is not allowed to be seen...he can't understand it either..."
"Okay, I understand..." Schiller covered his forehead. He already knew what was going on. He said, "You don't need to tell me the details. Bruce deserves it."
Then Venom grinned with that big mouth and said: "You can't catch me anymore! Hahahahahaha! I'm free!! I'm going to eat everyone's brains here!! I..."
"I said before, before you think about eating, you may still have trouble to deal with..."
Just as Venom was about to answer him, he felt that his consciousness was suppressed again for a moment, and he yelled unwillingly: "No! Damn humans! Rotten people!!"
But in the end, the mucus returned to the body. Bruce shook his head and said, "Did it succeed? What on earth is going on?"
"You should ask the bastard inside you."
"That's not what I mean. He has already told me who he is and what he is going to do. What I mean is..." Bruce covered his head in pain and said, "Why did I lose control? Those terrible negative emotions are
What's going on? Why...where did that darkness come from?"
"It seems that you have discovered it." Schiller said: "The darkness hidden in your body is very terrifying. Although it has never been out of control before, once it is out of control, you may destroy everything."
"What the hell is that?"
"That's Batman, don't you know?"
"Batman? Then who am I? No... no... impossible!" Bruce covered his eyes and squatted down. He was half-kneeling on the ground, looking very painful. He said: "It's impossible... I am Batman...
…I am Batman…”
"You think you have become another you, but in fact, this is just an appearance."
Schiller's thoughts began to wander a little, and he began to gradually recall the Batman he knew in those comics, and his voice began to sound more and more illusive. He said: "Batman? You are a little different from him, indeed.
, he is not blindly pursuing darkness.”
"He is the ultimate darkness and the ultimate light. He controls this hopeless city with extreme darkness, and then uses light to prevent the destruction that this extreme darkness may bring."
This sounded more like Schiller's exclamation. Bruce's voice was full of exhaustion. He said: "I thought that I didn't need those. I was an avenger in the night. I didn't need anything that might shake my belief."
Useless emotions, I am not that ridiculous Bruce, that powerless, unable to save or change anything, little Bruce..."
It was also the first time that Schiller heard such an obvious tremor in his tone. Bruce's tone was almost trembling to the point that he could not finish the last complete word, or maybe he was unwilling to say it.
This was the first time he told what he had been avoiding - that night, the two gunshots, the two people lying in a pool of blood, and the helpless little boy named Bruce Wayne.
He originally thought that little Bruce was buried forever that night.
So when he realized that he was still just like that little boy, having undue fantasies about the world and about the happy memories of that night's movie, it was like all the hatred and hatred-driven behavior over the years
All efforts are like self-deception and escape.
Facing the little boy who lost his parents brought Schiller more intense emotional fluctuations than facing Batman. For the first time, he no longer gave advice like an indifferent bystander, but truly gave advice like advice.
: "...Even in Gotham, there is daytime."
Bruce's Adam's apple moved. He took a deep breath, as if he was suddenly injected with some life force. He stood up, trembling a little. The cold wind of Gotham night blew on his bat armor, causing no one to hear it.
Got the tremor.
He limped a little and slowly walked to the edge of the roof.
Standing there, he saw a glow appear on the skyline of Gotham City, and a thin golden line cut through the dense darkness like the beginning of heaven and earth.
Bruce has never seen the sunrise over Gotham.
He suddenly discovered that even in such a dark and gloomy city, the moment the sun rose, the light that cut through the darkness was still as brilliant as he had ever seen.
The darker it is, the more bright and shocking it appears.
Bruce closed his eyes and slowly closed the fingers of one hand, as if holding the light that cut through the darkness.
Soon, Bruce took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The glow of the sun was caught in his eyes, and the arc of light from the sky left a bright golden streak in his pupils.
No one knew that he had briefly seen the little boy lying under the black tide in his conscious space. It was not until he saw him that Bruce understood that he always regarded those happy memories as the reward for his painful life.
, and therefore, whenever he gets a little happiness, he always wants to repay it with ten times the pain.
He was so eager to avoid these happy memories, just as he instinctively avoided pain.
If he wants to become Batman, he has to accept not only the pain and darkness, but also the fact that he has always been that little boy, he has been looking forward to that movie, and has been yearning for those lights.
Just like that dark night many years ago, without the expectation of light, there will never be the desire to merge into the darkness.
"who I am?"
He whispered: "Who am I?"
The light of dawn would not answer him, but he already had the answer in his heart. He said: "I am Bruce Wayne..."
"I am Batman……"
His tone began to soften: "...I am, Batman."
A silent and heavy oath fell in his heart, like a heavy stone tablet, standing firm under the wash of the black tide.
From today on, there will only be one Batman in this dark city, Bruce Wayne, who is also Batman.
From today on, he will bear the dark authority from the crazy city of Gotham, and then hold a sharp blade as bright as dawn.
He will stand above this living hell. The cold wind cannot penetrate his armor and the fire cannot melt his heart.
He will not care about any standards and will not be afraid of any guilt. He will take the dawn as his boundary and the dawn as his signal. He will be in darkness, but his heart will be toward the light and he will always be toward the light.
