Chapter 1207: Lamb's Cry (28) (Patreon)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

The large amount of anesthetics brought a forced calmness, slowing down Bruce's breathing rate. He threw away the euphoric feelings that made him hallucinate and began to replay numerous scenes in his mind.

He had dreamed of having a perfect family life on countless nights, with Thomas, who was tall and steady, and Martha, who was gentle and beautiful, accompanying him and spending peaceful days together.

However, the scenes of Thomas in his dreams couldn't be reconciled with the Thomas he met today. They were too different.

What made Bruce feel contradictory was that the Batman Thomas he met had logical actions and behaviors that were completely consistent with his memories of his father. He didn't think it was possible to achieve this through plastic surgery or cloning.

More fragments, more details, and his brain, which was superior to ordinary people, began to work overtime, analyzing all the details within a few minutes.

In an instant, the fragments shattered like a mirror, and Bruce opened his eyes, feeling a bit dazed.

He finally understood where the contradictory feelings came from. This Thomas gave him a sense of strangeness, but also a sense of familiarity.

This familiarity didn't come from Thomas's face or figure. In fact, this Batman Thomas was much older and had a different physique than the one in his memories.

The original Thomas was a businessman, and although he would work out to maintain his dignified image, it was impossible for him to have the strong and fluid muscles of this Batman Thomas, nor did he have such a dark temperament.

Originally, such a big difference should have made him feel strange, but for some reason, Bruce felt that the expressions and words of this Batman were familiar.

Bruce thought for a while, then stood up from the sofa, and a severe pain attacked him again. He covered his chest and stood still, gasping for a while, before shouting to Alfred, "Alfred, what about the potted plant I brought back from hell?"

Alfred walked over, supporting Bruce, and said, "That little demon called Hexagon is always fighting with Aisha, so I sent it to Rodriguez Manor."

Hearing the familiar surname, Bruce's mouth corners clearly drooped, but he seemed to pretend not to hear, saying to Alfred, "Can you go get it back? I need it tonight."

Alfred nodded, and it wasn't difficult. It was just being fostered at Merkel's, and they only needed to drive over to pick it up.

After Alfred left, Bruce puckered his lips, looking uncomfortable. He supported himself on the railing and slowly walked to the basement, which was now his laboratory. Bat wasn't here, and the Bat suits were all stored in a nearby mountain cave.

After arriving at the laboratory, Bruce wanted to start the car bed to do something, but he found that his physical injuries were too severe. He could only lie on the operating panel, moving slightly every few minutes.

Bruce slowly got up, turned around, and sat down with his back against the lab table, breathing heavily and slowly.

Among the breathing sounds, a series of urgent footsteps suddenly intervened.

Just as Bruce's eyes were about to turn black, and he was about to take out the anesthetics to eat, he felt his arm being pulled.

In a daze, he heard an urgent call.

"Bruce Bruce Wake up quickly ... Bruce!"

Bruce felt a sense of anxiety, worrying that he would face a series of troubles after waking up.

His physical condition, which was close to the limit, made him want to escape, but his last bit of rationality told him that the voice calling him was very young, so he had to wake up.

Among the dark fog and dreamy light, Bruce saw Jason and Tim's faces, and he saw Dick standing far away at the laboratory door.

"I said he must have gotten into trouble!" Tim stretched out his hand and snatched the anesthetics from Bruce's hand. Jason took the medicine bottle and let out a surprised cry, "Good heavens, where did he get this good stuff?!"

Jason hurriedly put the medicine bottle into his pocket, and Tim looked at his actions with some doubt, asking, "What is this medicine?"

"This is regular anesthetics Not those second-hand rotten goods Even if you take it to the current Living Hell, you can sell it for $40-50, and for those drug addicts, they would give their lives for it."

Jason said while walking forward and flipping Bruce's eyelids, sighing, "He's taken too much anesthetics and is now in a state of consciousness dispersion. What's going on?"

Tim turned around and pulled Dick over, saying to Dick, "Didn't you see that his mental state is a bit abnormal? He must have encountered something last night."

"He... " Dick hesitated for a moment, but seeing Bruce's pale face leaning on the lab table, he still opened his mouth to say, "I had a fight with him that night and ran out. I met a strange person who claimed to be Batman, and I felt... "

"What did you feel?"

"He's more like Batman than Batman."

"Good heavens, don't joke around!" Tim patted Dick's back, saying, "Batman is right here."

"It must be some fake who hurt him!" Dick's tone suddenly became angry, and his unstable mental state made him look a bit frightened. Tim hurriedly comforted him.

Jason's expression was also angry. In fact, he was the one with the worst temper among the three. In Gotham, every child who had mixed on the streets had a violent temper. Jason immediately turned his head to Tim, saying, "You're good at cracking password locks, go to the warehouse and open the gun cabinet!"

"No, don't... come back..." Bruce shouted in a daze, "Help me, help me, Dick... Dick!"

Hearing Bruce call his name, Dick instinctively walked over. Bruce was like he had completely lost consciousness, only shouting instinctively, "Dick, press the third button on the right... the design drawings are in the drawer."

Dick turned around and opened the drawer, but after flipping through the design diagrams inside, he said, "There's no new design here, it's all just ordinary Bat suit equipment."

Jason and Tim also walked over, and during the silence, the three of them studied it for a bit. Finally, Jason said, "He might need new Bat suit equipment, but those things are all in the cave right now, so he wants to make a new set."

"Why didn't he go get it?... Oh, he can't drive now." Dick suddenly realized.

"Dick, you stay here and take care of Bruce, Tim and I will go get the equipment. Remember, don't let him take any more medicine, drug addiction is no good." Jason said, and then hastily dragged Tim away.

Dick sat beside Bruce and started crying again. He didn't know if Bruce could hear him, but he still muttered to himself, "I'm really sorry, I didn't know that guy was trying to hurt you that day."

"In fact, I should have realized it earlier, he was trying to use me, I should have known he wasn't kind-hearted. But I was too angry at the time, I felt like you were intentionally blaming me."

"Dick... Dick..." Bruce, whose consciousness was blurry, called out Dick's name, making a buzzing sound like a mosquito. Dick couldn't make out what he was saying, so he leaned in closer.

At this point, Bruce was completely lacking in rational thinking, and the large amount of painkillers had left him with only his instincts. So, he stretched out his arm and hugged Dick into his embrace.

Dick's eyes widened in shock, feeling Bruce's tight hug, with his powerful arms squeezing his chest.

He was like a sponge, and after being subjected to such pressure, his love and tears poured out like a waterfall.

Dick started wailing, like a newborn baby, and he didn't know if he saw tears in Bruce's eyes too. He was filled with sadness, resentment, and more, but he didn't know what emotion it was, and could only express it through crying.

Until Dick started crying in Bruce's arms, the fragments of their time together replayed in his mind, and Bruce realized that behind the transfer of paternal authority was a mirror image of father and son.

Bruce felt that Thomas was so stubborn, authoritarian, and old-fashioned, like a piece of wood that couldn't be communicated with. But perhaps at some point, Dick had also seen him in the same way.

Thomas didn't understand anything and made judgments on his own, using violent means to force Bruce to accept his views. But when Bruce dealt with Dick, he wasn't much different.

He seemed to have taken out the patience to communicate well, but in fact, he didn't understand Dick at all, didn't know why he was like that, and didn't know what he wanted. He interpreted all of this as nonsense.

Many people, when they were children, felt that their parents were stubborn and unreasonable, and would say to themselves, "When I become a parent, I'll definitely not become like that."

But if they could really do that, there wouldn't be so many twisted and painful family relationships in the world.

When people are in a low position, they idealize themselves, thinking that with their own willpower, even if they're in a high position, they can still remain pure.

But when they're really in a high position, they think, "Human nature can't withstand temptation, I'm just doing it for myself, what's wrong with that?"

The father-son relationship is the same.

When you're a son, you want a father who understands and communicates.

When you're a father, you think, "I've given him so much, I'm so busy, I bear so much pressure, can't the son understand me?"

Human nature is fundamentally unable to understand each other, and never learns from history. Paternal authority is the concentrated embodiment of these two points.

So, the transfer of paternal authority has been repeated countless times, and when it falls on each person's head, it's still extremely painful, and no one can escape.

And this pain didn't bring Bruce any growth, but made him realize that he couldn't avoid human weakness, but it made him feel fortunate that everyone was like that.

Then, he realized that the way to deal with the contradictions in the transfer of paternal authority wasn't to let the other person go, but to let himself go.

As long as you don't idealize yourself as a perfect person with absolute correctness, strong willpower, and self-control, you won't feel like you can do better than others, and you can deal with it, bringing pressure as a father and resistance as a son.

As a father, the path I point out isn't perfect, so you can listen or not, as you please. As a son, my plan for my life isn't perfect either, so I still need others' opinions.

Only by giving up the unreasonable self-aggrandizement and self-idealization that comes from human nature can we have the space to take a step back, and this space can accommodate love and understanding.

Of course, there's another possibility, Bruce thought, sitting on the ground. If I take a step back, the other person might take advantage of it, what should I do then?

At this time, Bruce thought again, what's the difference between paternal authority and authoritarianism?

A father and son have a physiological blood connection, but in reality, this is imperceptible. The so-called "blood is thicker than water" refers more to emotional connections. The difference between paternal authority and authoritarianism lies in love.

And the essence of love isn't to push people forward, but to make them considerate and retreat.

Once there's no love, this relationship becomes a thorough exploitation and oppression.

And when facing innocent exploitation and oppression, what should be done, Bruce knew, he had already learned this lesson.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

Next Chapter>>Chapter 1208: Lamb's Cry (29)