bacchusnovels Chapter 134 The Essence of Black
Chapter 134 The Essence of Black
Chapter 134 The Essence of Black
The Bat Family is in a separate room in the Metropolis underground base, where Alfred is busy making a video call.
"What? Continue working with Robin... Master Tim, if I may be so bold, I'm afraid I have to tell you, there are no longer any Bat-family affairs in Gotham that require your involvement... Haven't you seen the news?"
While talking to Tim, Alfred glanced at the surveillance camera next to him.
The surveillance footage shows the combat training area of this underground base.
The mud-faced man, dressed in a Robin uniform, was huffing and puffing as he lifted dumbbells, then jumped to the side and started doing hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar.
—I really don't understand why a big lump of mud is necessary for building abs.
But he was a clay-faced man, and a dedicated actor would train Robin in everything he needed to learn.
Alfred saw that the other person had started training his gluteus maximus.
He shouted things like, "I'm the Robin with the fullest buttocks!" as he bent down, and then...
Ok……
Then his two buttocks grew larger like inflating balloons, spreading like a peacock's tail feathers behind him, and then began to clamp ten spring-loaded arm strength bars at the same time.
With his training, his abdominal muscles immediately began to show on his buttocks.
The ventriloquist stood to the side dressed as a maid, holding snacks in his hands.
This is the outfit Harley wore before (this maid outfit appeared in Chapter 102). She stopped wearing it, so the ventriloquist...
Alfred shook his head, no longer paying attention to the surveillance footage, and turned back to continue his perfunctory conversation with Tim Drake, the third Robin:
"Bruce almost single-handedly ended crime in Gotham... What, you're saying that's Superman? Impossible, absolutely impossible."
Tim, on the other side of the screen, looked like his intelligence had been insulted.
Alfred soothed him:
"Even if I disobeyed Bruce's orders and gave you access to the Batcave, so what? You still wouldn't have a job. So just go back to school. Haven't you been studying peacefully for three months already? Kids should act like kids, stop thinking about fighting crime all the time."
"Have you done the test? Did you get an A+? Have you previewed tomorrow's lessons? How do you manage to sleep at your age?"
"Oh... you've finished everything."
Alfred was immediately refuted, so the quick-witted old butler said:
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
This time, the third Robin on the other side of the screen was speechless.
He choked for a moment, then blurted out urgently:
"You promised me that after the Gotham crime ban is lifted in three months, you would let me return to Robin's job if needed!"
"If there were a need," Alfred emphasized, "it's clear that there isn't now."
"Aa ...
Tim, on the other side of the screen, went into a frenzy and then asked, "Please." Alfred simply watched the other person perform quietly.
"I just don't understand how Harley Quinn could have been spending money like water in the biggest nightclubs in the metropolis for three months, dancing until her calves cramped up every day."
Killer Croc, still on parole, became a director at the film studio by using money, and Deadshot simply settled down in the Metropolis and even got a new girlfriend. Why can everyone else go to the Metropolis but I can't?
Alfred glanced sideways at the surveillance camera next to him.
There's also Mudface, who dresses up as Robin every day and acts as your hero, and Arnold, the new ventriloquist maid of the Bat-Family—ever since she picked up the maid outfit Harley Quinn casually threw away, her self-perception has changed.
In short, it's no longer a dog.
Oh, and there's Poison Ivy, who does experiments every day. She even moved to the top floor of Wayne Investments' office building to conduct her experiments, where there are glass windows, making it almost like being outdoors.
Through photosynthesis, Poison Ivy can save time by skipping meals.
Lucius was busy dissecting half of Doomsday's body; everyone had been quite busy lately.
"Alfred, are you listening to me?"
Alfred quickly continued to paint a rosy picture:
"As for you, your future as Robin is very bright..."
"Young people should have more..."
"I'll let you have it in six months..."
"Going to school? Isn't going to school Robin's job?"
"Don't aim too high..."
After much persuasion, Alfred finally hung up on Tim.
The old butler wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
Generally speaking, disobeying Batman's orders is a traditional skill of all the Robins. Tim was able to stay at Gotham's school for so long not only because he was the most obedient Robin in history, but also because Alfred's ability to make empty promises played a significant role.
Of course, there's also the fact that Superman single-handedly shattered the entire Gotham crime saga.
The mud-faced man was still diligently working on his gluteus maximus.
Alfred turned his head and saw that the access control showed his Bruce had returned. He immediately pressed the button on the keypad to open the door for him.
A few minutes later.
"How did the negotiations with Blake go, Mr. Bruce?"
Alfred placed the tray he was carrying on the table next to Chen Tao, on which was still Alfred's secret recipe chicken sandwich.
Chen Tao picked it up and took a bite.
Alfred felt a jolt in his heart, and the familiar frown appeared once again on Bruce's forehead.
"This is terrible." Chen Tao placed the chicken sandwich on the table.
He crossed his arms, his gaze deep and unfathomable: "I was slightly mistaken about Blake before."
"Could you elaborate?"
Alfred said.
"I knew Blake was a villain all along, but unfortunately, I didn't know why he was a villain."
He turned to Alfred: "I bet he has absolutely no intention of following the restrictions Amanda set for him."
Chen Tao couldn't help but recall his previous conversation with Blake.
……
……
……
"We have a basis for cooperation, Batman."
Blake stood on the round rooftop, gazing into the distance.
A tile was lifted off by his telekinesis and floated and flew in front of him, as playful as a nimble fish.
"Famine in the distance, relentless war, natural disasters, man-made calamities, gambling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, prostitution, idiots who rob and kill, government lackeys, despicable swindlers—from the very beginning of human history, these evils have permeated our history, and they still exist today."
Blake pointed to Superman, who was still giving a speech below: "'You'll regret it if you don't know what you're doing next time.' Do you really think that's how you eradicate evil?"
Blake said:
"I grew up in sin. I know what sin looks like."
"I know what you've been doing in Gotham, and I like it. It would have been better if you hadn't sent all those filthy upper-class people to jail. But it's okay."
Seeing that Batman remained silent, Blake abruptly changed the subject.
He put his hands in his pockets and looked into the distance.
He said, "I remember when I awakened my superpowers. You know, that common teenage ailment, headaches, it felt like my body was fighting against me."
He smiled.
"But then, my sister Vera was nearly thrown in front of a speeding train and killed."
Blake made a booming motion on his head:
"Boom! Goodbye, headache. Hello, superpowers."
The tile, manipulated by telekinesis and constantly hovering in front of him, was instantly torn to dust by telekinesis.
"In that moment, I felt a kind of calling." He raised his hands: "A sense of responsibility, a clear destiny."
"You were born to eradicate the sins that humanity has suffered for tens of millions of years!"
He floated up and flew, circling around Batman who stood there silently.
"The world is broken, Batman. Humanity is incapable of eradicating its own evil. They are ignorant, superstitious, cowardly, and weak. And that is precisely why we exist; we are born to lead humanity and create a better world."
Then he finally heard Batman speak:
"You mean we should rule them?"
Blake flew over the other person's head:
"To be precise, it's not about domination; I prefer to call it purification."
He said:
"It's like cutting out rotten flesh, you know? You cut away the dirty, diseased parts and leave only the normal ones."
He spread his arms wide: "Let's reshape this world according to our will!"
"That's what domination is." Then he heard Batman say, "If an action looks like domination, and it is done in a way that constitutes domination, then it is domination."
Blake stared intently at him.
"All right."
He concluded, "This is indeed domination. But, Batman."
"I apologize for this boasting, but I must say that to ordinary people, the power of us superpowered individuals is no different from that of gods. The strong always rule over the weak, and only the inherently weak would find this cruel."
"We can do far more than the government can. We can eradicate evil, destroy villains, and show those cowardly governments what we are capable of."
"There will be no more finger-pointing, no more ridiculous democratic voting, no more ridiculous joint trials by the three judicial authorities, no more lawyers being acquitted—just the simple survival of the good and the death of the evil! Justice will be served, and evil will be purified!"
"This is our divinely bestowed ability, our divinely bestowed power, and our divinely bestowed duty. On the day I awakened, I realized that we came into this world with such power to accomplish some great work. We are born to complete the unfinished work of Jesus!"
"You put yourself above ordinary people, Blake. Who do you think you are?"
"Come on, Batman. Think about it, Brainiac, and that Superman you've allied with. Humanity needs guidance, but we can't entrust our fate to aliens. We must protect our planet from the gods of those other planets. And to protect our planet from a god, we must transform ourselves into..."
Then he saw Batman staring at him: "Nobody is a god."
They looked at each other again.
"And I hope you realize that the famous quote you just cited comes from Hitler."
Blake shook his head. He sighed.
"I am not a fascist. I am just pursuing justice."
Batman remained silent. Blake flew off the rooftop and hovered in mid-air.
"It seems our conversation has come to an end. We don't see eye to eye, and perhaps we're on different paths. But before we conclude, I still want to ask—"
"What is your superpower?"
Batman remained silent.
"Don't misunderstand, it's just that the abilities you've shown before were quite diverse, and I genuinely haven't fully grasped them."
"Are you a vampire or something? You can turn your body into fine sand, and then..."
Batman remained silent for a long time, and Blake finally realized something was wrong.
He used his mental abilities to scan the other person up and down.
Apart from the lump of iron in his brain, he's just an ordinary person with relatively well-developed muscles.
"But...but you fought the Kryptonians before..." Blake's mind was a little foggy: "You didn't...you relied entirely on Kryptonite?"
He suddenly realized: "You had Superman take your place in fighting crime in Gotham, that's why Batman was able to get there so quickly!"
"So, you're just an ordinary person dressed as a bat cosplayer?!"
"No, I still have the power to make money."
Then Blake heard Batman's muffled voice:
"I have money."
Then Blake saw the other person snap their fingers, and a futuristic, invisible bat-shaped aircraft appeared in the void not far from him.
Blake watched helplessly as the other person boarded the expensive-looking plane and sped away.
He was left standing there alone in the air, looking foolish.
……
"So, that's the result." Chen Tao breathed a sigh of relief.
"Blake's ideas are more dangerous than we think. A cyberbully, human racist, and new-age fascist has acquired superpowers that can take on a nuclear bomb."
We should prepare to deal with him—he's a real nuisance.
He was controlling the bat computer, and countless news headlines were appearing on it.
"Now Blake and his Allied Forces are killing criminals like chickens, which has garnered them a large following."
Chen Tao said in a low voice, "We need to plan ahead to deal with them."
He turned to Alfred and asked, "By the way, there's something else. Are you still tracking Bane?"
"Yes, Mr. Bruce," Alfred replied, "but to no avail. We still haven't found him. Our old adversary disappeared into the crowd after leaving Gotham with several Arkham villains he rescued. Red Hood, whom you asked me to keep a close eye on, also vanished with him. Bane must be up to something big, but we don't know what it is."
……
……
……
Let's shift our perspective to the other side.
Bane sat in a tavern, surrounded by all sorts of villains.
He squinted, watching an argument taking place in the center of the tavern.
(End of this chapter)