At eight o 'clock in the morning, Bruce Wayne, dressed in a formal suit, walked into the Batcave in the dock area with Afo accompanying him.
"To be honest, I hated this place in the beginning."
Afo rambled like an ordinary old man. He looked at the space that had been moved and chuckled.
"This place is a little too humid for an old man. I even prefer the place under the manor. At least it has central air conditioning."
"From today onwards, we may not have to live like this anymore. We will all settle down."
Bruce reached out and touched the secret compartment with nostalgia. He pressed it gently and the ground cracked open. An empty stand popped out. There were originally two Batsuits on it. One was "borrowed" by Saber, and the other was brought back to Wayne Building.
"This is where we changed the whole city for the better."
Afo picked up the documents on the table, opened the specially made incinerator, and threw everything into it. No one could see the ashes.
"Do we have to burn these things too?"
Alfred picked up some documents and said to Bruce, "These are some of the information about the previous upgrades of the Batsuits. I think it's better if we keep them."
"Burn them, Afo."
Bruce muttered to himself, "Only by burning the past can we live a better life."
Alfred shrugged. "Well, as you wish. I'll tell them. They might arrest me and accuse me of being your accomplice."
"No, no, no, Afo."
Bruce chuckled softly. "I'll tell them that everything was planned by you. I'm just an accomplice … Afo?"
No one answered. Bruce turned around and saw Afo and the young man standing beside him. He was wearing a black trench coat and holding a sheathed straight blade.
Saber Hawk!
"Hey, you're really amazing. You were able to discover my hiding place for the past few days …"
Saber helped Afo pat away the ashes on his body. He reached out and took the documents from Afo's hands. He asked without raising his head as he read through them.
"What? Do you want to fight me? I can let you change your clothes first. Your suit looks quite expensive. "
"Have you been hiding here for the past few days?"
Bruce was not very angry. Rachel had told him what Saber had done. He still believed that Saber had good intentions towards them.
"Yeah, it's too difficult to find a place to monitor the outside in Gotham without being discovered. Since you haven't been here for the past few days, I'll just sleep here. You don't mind, right?"
Seiber placed the document on the table and lifted his head to look at Bruce as though he was meeting an old friend. However, the coldness in his eyes couldn't escape Bruce's eyes. Then, Seiber heard Seiber say, "You're right.
"I heard that you're scared of Joker. Are you going to surrender?"
Bruce pursed his lips and did not speak. He knew how vicious Saber's mouth was. Saber continued to ask.
"Surrendering can be exchanged for life, right?"
"Yes."
Bruce nodded. Saber's eyes flashed with a hint of mockery.
"Can it be exchanged for dignity?"
"Can it make that madman kneel on the ground and let him hear the wails of the dead buried underground?"
Saber walked over slowly and looked into Bruce's eyes.
"There was a time when I thought that this city would change. I thought that one day, it would rise from the ashes in your hands. I know you have a plan, and I know what you want to do."
"But that's not a reason for you to sacrifice the name Batman. Compared to Bruce Wayne, Batman is my friend. He's my opponent, not you."
"Do you know what I would do if I were in your shoes?"
Saber reached out and tapped Bruce's chest. "You have to show that you don't want anything. You have to show that you don't care about anything. A person who doesn't care about anything has no weakness."
"Joker wants you to see that in a critical moment, the people you protect who claim to be civilized will kill each other without hesitation. He succeeded. The people you protect will raise their swords and target you first. They will feel threatened, and they will eat you. The drowning people who don't know how to save themselves are not worth saving. Their madness will drag the savior into the water with them."
"If it were me, I would let him kill them. If he didn't kill them fast and ruthlessly enough, I would help him."
Saber spread his hands like a man who embraced the world. "Joker can eat you because you are too kind, Bruce. You want to save everyone, but you can't put fangs on your kindness. You want to let those who abandoned you know that they will bleed when they touch you!"
Bruce looked at Saber and said calmly.
"I'm not you, and I won't be you."
"That's why you took off your mask like a stray dog. You thought you won, but you lost. Batman is dead, and Gotham's last pillar has collapsed."
Saber turned around and hugged Afo, who had a complicated expression, as a farewell. He picked up the document in his hand and shrugged at Bruce.
"Everything in Gotham taught me one thing. Either you die a hero, or you live to see yourself become a villain. I'm not a hero, and I won't die. Good luck, Bruce."
At 9 am, at the venue of the press conference at Gotham City Hall, all the celebrities of Gotham, the representatives of the citizens, and the media were gathered there. The venue could only fit 400 people, but 600 of them managed to squeeze in. There were even more waiting at the entrance of the City Hall.
An indescribable emotion spread through the crowd. They were silent, anxious, and uneasy. Some of them were cursing the people around them, calling them cowards and traitors, but most of them chose to remain silent.
Harvey Dent stood at the corner of the podium with a calm expression. Mayor Nestor and the rest arrived late and sat in the first row. Bruce Wayne sat in the second row, and there were many other businessmen. They greeted each other and everyone was waiting.
Today, Batman would reveal his identity to face Joker's unbridled challenge. The tragedy of a person with a bottom line was that they would often be manipulated by those without a bottom line and forced to do things they shouldn't do.
The clock on the wall pointed to nine o 'clock. Harvey took a deep breath and strode to the front of the podium.
"Today, we will be announcing a piece of sad news …"
As soon as Harvey's voice fell, a person dressed as a reporter shouted loudly.
"Let Batman come out! Enough people have died in this city! "
His speech resonated with many people. They raised their hands and shouted all sorts of slogans. Harvey raised his voice.
"Yes, today, Batman will come out and reveal his identity to this city. But as a citizen of this city, I don't think this is redemption."
He looked at the people in front of him and his stern gaze silenced them. Harvey suddenly felt that the people sitting there were laughable. Did they really think that the Joker would let them go if they handed over their protector, Batman?
In the face of a mad dog, any weakness would make them even more unscrupulous.
He sighed.
"From my point of view, Batman is breaking the law. I really want him to turn himself in, but that's not the reason we're doing this. We're afraid. We were happy to see Batman clean up the criminals for us …"
"But the situation is much worse than before, and he didn't do it!"
Another man in a suit stood up and said loudly, "People die every day for a ridiculous reason. This city doesn't need a hero who is above the law!"
Just as he finished speaking, another voice that was hidden in the crowd rang out.
"Yes, it's all because of Batman that people like Joker appear! There has never been such evil in this city before! "
Harvey couldn't be bothered to argue with them. There were plenty of pompous people everywhere. Once a knife was pressed against their necks, they would reveal their cowardly nature. He rested his hands on the podium and said, "Let's go.
"Yes … I don't deny it. The order is terrible now, but I think everyone sitting here knows that the night before dawn is always the darkest. I promise you, dawn is coming … One day, Batman will apologize to us for breaking the law, but it will be to us, not to that madman!"
Harvey's roar reverberated throughout the conference hall.
"I still believe that this city will return to its original path, and not let darkness and evil rule it. I know that this city will not bow to evil, and our people will not hand over their hero to that villain …"
"He's not a hero! He's just a paranoid maniac who wears a mask and uses his own view of good and evil to try to be above everyone else. Gotham doesn't need such a hero, it needs someone who upholds the law and justice. It's Harvey, it's you! Not Batman! "
This voice made Harvey's last words of persuasion go up in smoke. The crowd, which had just calmed down, was stirred up again. Those who were scared out of their wits began to support this statement, while those who supported Batman began to quarrel with them. The scene was chaotic.
"Okay, okay! Stop! "
A mocking smile appeared on Harvey's face. He had seen the ugliness of human nature today. He raised his hand and shouted.
"Okay, now, let's arrest Batman. He's sitting among us!"
His words made everyone stop what they were doing and start to look at everyone around them. Bruce was about to stand up and welcome the arrival of the crowd, but the next moment, Harvey walked out of the podium and stood beside the two police officers with his hands outstretched.
"I am … Batman."
Bruce was stunned, Mayor Nestor was stunned, Afo was stunned, and everyone else was stunned. In fact, everyone watching the live broadcast in Gotham was stunned.
Even Saber, who was eating in the Golden Arch Cafeteria, was stunned.
"This is really …"
Saber put down the drumstick in his hand and looked at the scene on the television with his sunglasses. He tried to find an adjective to describe Harvey Dent's actions, but no words came out. In the end, he shook his head.
"This guy is really reckless!"
"What's going on? Why would Harvey do this? "
Rachel, who was watching the live broadcast, stood up from the sofa. She looked at Lucius beside her, not knowing what to do. The latter also took off his sunglasses.
After a few seconds, Lucius said, "Harvey Dent must have sensed something from Bruce's words. He didn't want Batman to be exposed, so he chose to be the target so that Batman could move freely. He's checkmated the Joker, and now the Joker has to act. Even if he feels that something is wrong, he has to do it …"
"He used his own method to force the madman into a corner … This young man is really something!"
"But Harvey will be in absolute danger …"
Rachel was a little anxious as she rummaged through her bag. Finally, she found her phone and pressed the dial button.
"Saber, please protect Harvey. He shouldn't have done this."
"Hmm … This is an interesting person. He's sacrificing himself to save himself. Alright, I agree."
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