Batman and Batwoman are looking for Bruce's location, and they know that the key to all this may still lie with Batman in this universe.
It's actually not difficult to find Bruce. Although the female police officer refused to reveal more, considering Gordon's personality, the community where they live is not too far from the police station, and considering their financial situation, there is no choice.
There are not many communities left.
Batman and Batwoman have basically searched all around, and now there are only two target communities left. They plan to go to one of them, but when they are walking on the road, the surrounding space suddenly changes.
To be precise, the entire dreamland had changed. Suddenly, the surrounding space and time began to change rapidly, making the two of them feel like they were at the center of a storm.
Shrubs turned green and yellow, yellow and green again, leaves grew and withered, flowers bloomed and withered, street signs began to become old and decayed, and the road surface began to become bumpy.
Batman lowered his head and saw the hands of the watch on his arm rotating rapidly, and in the end he could almost only see the afterimage.
"Time is moving forward!!!" Batwoman shouted.
Suddenly, the storm stopped.
What appeared in front of them was still the familiar street, but the scenery had changed greatly. Some of the original storefronts were still there, and some were moved away. The ones left behind had become a bit shabby, and the ground had just been painted.
The zebra crossings have also become mottled, the trees have grown taller, and the style of posters on the walls has jumped an era.
When Batman looked at his watch, he realized that 20 years had passed.
"What's going on?" Batwoman frowned and looked around and said, "Time skipped, who can control it... Oh, this is a dream."
Both of them realized that it was not that someone really manipulated the time of the universe, but that dreams were just like this, or rather, the common time montage in movies was actually inspired by dreams.
No one will go through all the details of ten years in a dream. Most of them will arrive ten years later in one jump, or simply ten years later and ten years ago.
As the protagonist of the dream, if he does not realize that he is dreaming, or deliberately regards this place as the real world, then he will not think there is anything wrong with this jump, and they will think that ten years have really passed.
"The creator of the dream fast forwarded twenty years." Batman said: "What was his purpose in doing this? What did he want to do?"
Batcat and Little Krypton followed Crocodile Cat and kept searching in the sewers. Soon they deduced more clues by following the traces of the previous half of the footprints. Combined with the witness testimony of Crocodile Cat, they began to approach a certain target location.
.
After turning a bend in the sewer, I finally saw a glimmer of light at the end. Batcat approached cautiously, only to find that it was the crack of an open door.
He poked his head over and took a look, and found that the room was dark, with only the back of a seated person and a screen playing.
Batcat recognized that the back figure seemed to be a certain Batman. He crept in along the crack in the door, squatted behind the chair and looked at the screen.
A videotape of a certain family seemed to be playing on the screen. It was a very happy family of three, mom, dad, and a little daughter.
"Hey, Gwen, where's Annie's hat? I remembered to bring it. Where did you put it?"
"Maybe it's in the picnic basket." The gentle and beautiful lady turned around to dig through her bag and said, "Anyway, it's definitely not here with me. Maybe you can look in the trunk of the car."
"We have to convince her to wear it, otherwise she will get sunburned again. Okay, I'll go to the car and have a look."
The man walked towards the car, and a figure with white hair on the sideburns walked out of the driver's seat, stuffed the bag into the man's arms and said: "Peter, you are still so careless, you almost forgot this bag in the entrance hall.
If it weren't for your aunt, no one would be wearing a hat today."
The man called Peter smiled sheepishly and said, "Thank you, uncle. Where is aunt?"
"When she was halfway there, she said she forgot to bring the honey seasoning, which is a secret ingredient necessary for Parker's barbecue, so she turned around and went back to get it. She arrived soon. Where is Mr. Todd?"
"He'll be here soon... Oh, is that his car? I'll pick him up." Peter walked quickly towards the other end of the lawn.
The person who stepped out of the car was Jason, who was already middle-aged. Peter was much younger than him, but both of them were obviously middle-aged.
Another lady got out of the passenger seat of the car, and two half-year-old children jumped out of the back seat of the car. One was probably in junior high school, and the other was still young.
"Oh! Polly and Reed!" Peter stepped forward and hugged them one by one, holding one by the other and saying, "Let's go, Mr. Todd and Miss Todd. Anne has been waiting for you for a long time and is clamoring to be with you."
You play with blocks together."
The Batcat in front of the screen almost immediately recognized the Peter as Peter Parker, and the one called Todd was Jason Todd.
Batcat walked around the chair and jumped onto the armrest. He saw Arkham Batman sitting in the chair with tears streaming down his face.
The scars on Jason's face have disappeared, and it can be seen that he is older than Batman on the screen. He is old but not weak, his face is red and full of energy.
What's more important is that his eyes are very calm. The angry storm that often blew up in his eyes when he was a boy has long subsided, and the turbulent waves have calmed down, appearing peaceful, stable and happy.
"Jason..." Arkham Batman muttered his name, and even when Batcat jumped on him, he didn't react.
"What's wrong with you? Batman." Batcat shook its claws in front of his eyes and crawled along his arms to his shoulders.
Arkham Batman didn't answer. He kept looking at the scene on the screen intently and even greedily, looking at Jason's happy smile between his wife and children.
Batcat frowned deeply, he could feel that something was very wrong, and then he heard Arkham Batman whisper: "Yes, this is the life he should live, this is...
…”
"Why are you crazy?!" Batcat interrupted him and said, "You can't be blinded by hallucinations so easily, can you? You are Batman."
"This is not a hallucination!!!"
Arkham Batman suddenly roared, startling Batcat.
Batcat was stunned for a moment, then stepped on his shoulder and said: "You should know that it is not difficult to make similar movies, right? I can understand that you want to find a spiritual sustenance, but this is unavoidable..."
Arkham Batman squeezed the armrest deeply, closed his eyes and said in a trembling tone: "Jason is a good boy. If I didn't pick him up back then, he would definitely be able to live such a life. He is very smart.
, very capable and strong, of course he can..."
"Instead of...instead of..."
Arkham Batman's voice gradually weakened. It was because he was not good at expressing his emotions in words.
"Do I have the authority to be a judge?" Arkham Batman repeated Spider-Man's words, "Let a child suffer in exchange for the safety of another group of people. Who am I to make such a decision?"
"No, wait a minute!" Batcat shouted: "Wake up!! You are Batman, why are you crazy?!"
"I'm not crazy! You are crazy!" Arkham Batman started roaring again, "What's wrong with letting him live like this?! This is what he deserves! This is what I, this society and this world owe
his!"
"But none of this is true!" Batcat raised his voice and said, "This is the dream world, this..."
"As long as you can't wake up, it's not a dream!"
Arkham Batman stood up from his chair, he picked up Batcat, looked at him with bright eyes and said: "I know who sent me here, I'm not dizzy, I'm not crazy, and I'm not crazy.
Instead of being trapped here, he told me he could make me see what Jason Todd really wanted... and he did it!"
Batcat whined and bit Arkham Batman's hand, jumped down suddenly while he was in pain, and stood in the distance watching Arkham Batman warily.
Although he is a cat, he is also Batman. How could he not understand that someone had bewitched Arkham Batman, and to be precise, he had taken advantage of his psychic vulnerability with great precision.
Even if Jason says he doesn't mind, even if Jason says it's nothing, how could Batman really let go? How could he shamelessly think that as long as the victim forgives, all this can be erased?
What's more, it's impossible for victims to forgive. Batman himself has never forgiven criminals.
Of course they have to look forward and move forward, but the scariest thing about such trauma is that you clearly know that no matter how broad the road ahead is, your past will continue to rot until one day this rot will catch up with you.
, until your future is wiped out.
Batman couldn't allow this to happen. He believed that allowing Jason to continue in this state was nothing more than repeating the same mistakes. He had to find a new way for Jason. There had to be a new way.
It was best to go against him and stay as far away from him as possible, because he knew that the path he was taking now was not what his heart wanted, but more like a terminal illness that was hopeless.
The person who put him here made a bet with him. He said that of course Jason would have a bright future. As long as he looked here, he would definitely see what he wanted to see.
Yes, he did see it. It turns out that the end of this road is at the starting point. If Jason hadn't been picked up by him, if Jason hadn't been a superhero, he would have lived such a happy life.
Batman knows Jason can do it because he is so smart and strong. He was able to thrive on the streets of Gotham at a young age. Not to mention becoming rich, he at least married a wife and had children. He would definitely have no problem living an ordinary life for the rest of his life.
.
How could he be unwilling? Batman thought, in the days when he was wandering on the streets, this was probably Jason's biggest expectation, right? It was his own intervention that provided him with a target that could not be called a target, and Ichijou himself also
A dead end.
"There is still a chance to save it, there is still a chance to save it." Arkham Batman murmured to himself: "He chose this path, and he also thinks it is good, so that's it... that's it..."
He stumbled and tried to walk out the door, but was quickly stopped by Little Krypton. Little Krypton yelled at him. Batcat ran out as fast as he could, chasing after Arkham Batman and shouting.
"Please wake up! If that is really Jason, he is also bewitched. This is not true!!!"
Arkham Batman's footsteps suddenly stopped. He turned his head and glared at Batcat fiercely and said: "So you think he should be a superhero regardless of everything, sacrifice himself, and uphold justice. He will never deserve such peace and happiness."
day, right?!"
"But he is not a rich man, nor a super genius. He is just an orphan living on the streets of Gotham. He suffered from poverty and hunger when he was young, and was unfortunately kidnapped and tortured by brutal criminals. Why on earth would he do this?
Pay more?!”
"He is sick, his spirit has collapsed, he has no ability to be a hero..." Arkham Batman's tone was trembling to the point of breaking, and his voice gradually disappeared into the silent and dark sewer.
