American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

“Just a double cross. Clearly, they were doing some kind of illegal deal here, and then a conflict broke out. One side won, the other lost.

This kind of thing happens every day in this city. The only trouble is, the dead are from Rony's gang. The head of Rony's gang just put pressure on me through some congressman. It's really interesting, I'm a cop, and I have to work for a gang.”

Veteran police officer Jim Gordon looked at the crime scene and shook his head slightly. The only thing that interested him about the scene was that, judging from the reconstruction and analysis of the battle, the number of victors was extremely small, most likely a lone wolf. The weapon used was not a firearm, but some kind of strange melee weapon.

There were quite a few bullet casings and marks at the scene, all from the side of the deceased.

“Could it be that guy?”

A black figure, like a bat, always lurking in the dark, flashed through Gordon's mind.

……

Inside a detached house on the edge of the city, a truck that looked very old sputtered and stopped in front of the door.

A strong man got out of the car, then lifted the tarpaulin behind the truck. A ring on his hand flashed, overflowing with strands of light, covering the instruments and materials under the tarpaulin like flowing water. Then, as the man turned around, they floated in the air, defying the laws of physics, under the traction of the light, and were led by the man into the dark room.

There was no light in the house. Blocked by the thick curtains, not a single bit of light from outside could penetrate through the windows. When a person's vision suddenly steps into pitch-black darkness from a visible place, there will be a brief adjustment period like blindness.

However, the man seemed unaffected. He familiarly bypassed the messy items placed on the floor of the living room, and went to a coffee machine to grind his own coffee beans.

The pitch-black darkness seemed unable to affect him. After making his coffee, the man carefully circled around, bypassing the scattered items around him, stepped on the wooden stairs in the corner, went upstairs in the creaking sound, and entered a bedroom upstairs.

The room fell into a long silence again.

The man seemed to enjoy the silence of the darkness. The only sound in the entire space was the sound of him sipping coffee.

“You've been following me all this way just to stand on my balcony as a statue?” After an unknown amount of time, the man regretfully put down the empty coffee cup in his hand and scanned the direction of the balcony, which was covered by heavy curtains.

“I'm just observing what you want to do.” A slightly mechanical voice sounded outside the balcony, like a man's voice that had been adjusted so that the original tone could not be heard.

“Me? I just want to find a way home.” The man got up, pulled open the heavy curtains, opened the door to the balcony, and revealed a handsome face in the faint afterglow of the night. The hood on the man's head had been taken off at this moment.

“Lost one?” Standing outside the window like a statue was a man in a black suit with black skin on his back, looking like a humanoid bat costume.

“Batman? I've heard of you. Want to come in and sit down?” Captain Rogers stepped aside and invited.

“Okay.” Bruce Wayne, who had transformed into Batman, pondered for a moment and nodded. He was also very interested in this person who had recently become active in Gotham.

Unlike the Gothamites he was familiar with, the other party was keen on grabbing territory, recruiting people, selling various contraband to make money, and so on. The other party seemed to have a purpose, just to collect some precision instruments and materials that were generally not publicly available on the market.

Bruce Wayne once thought that this would be a tech-savvy criminal like Scarecrow or Mr. Freeze, but after observing him, he found that, like himself, he seemed to have a stubborn bottom line and habitually cracked down on criminals.

This once surprised Batman Wayne. Because he found it hard to imagine that in this already pitch-black city, there would still be such an alien.

The other party did not actively violate any laws. Even if he had conflicts with people, it was either because the other party attacked him first, or because the other party was doing something illegal and he stepped in to stop it.

Even if there were some minor flaws, in Wayne's eyes, who was used to seeing darkness, they were all models of morality. He even felt that such a person should not appear in a city like Gotham that had rotted to the core.

“Want a cup of coffee or hot water? Other than that, I don't have anything else to drink here.” Rogers gestured to him with an empty cup.

“I don't need it.” Wayne refused in a stiff tone.

“Then please sit down.” Rogers pulled over two chairs and placed them side by side. After sitting down first, he motioned for Wayne to take a seat.

“I've heard some things about you. Your behavior reminds me of one of my little buddies. He just came of age and gained extraordinary powers in an accident. I'm glad he didn't get lost in his own power, but like a lone wolf, he hid his identity and helped others in need, cracking down on criminals. In his spare time, he maintains the safety of his surrounding area and a city.” Rogers looked at Batman, who was sitting upright, and said with a hint of nostalgia.

“Superman?” Batman thought of the famous character in another city.

“No, no, no, not him. He's called Spider-Man. You see, one of you is an insect, and the other is a beast.” Rogers joked. But the Batman opposite him still exuded calmness and an icy aura that kept people away.

“Never heard of it.” Batman gave his answer succinctly.

“Okay, okay, since you're not interested in this topic, let's talk about business. What are you after me for? Do you want to have a fight with me and then throw me in front of the police station like the criminals you've captured before? To be honest, I might resist fiercely, because I don't have the money to pay my own ransom.” Rogers shook his head and suddenly felt a little bored. Because the emotional fluctuations brought about by Batman's superhero status also subsided.

“You've bought a lot of valuables in Gotham recently.” Wayne said.

“That's not my money. I came here penniless. I don't even have a normal job.” Speaking of this, Rogers' face was full of helplessness. He had never seen such a chaotic city. The criminals everywhere seemed to be the normal people in this city. People like him were like aliens among aliens!

“You want to go home?” Batman pondered for a moment and suddenly asked.

“Yes, I desperately want to go home. Maybe you don't believe it, but if I go back late, there might be some chaos and trouble in my home.” Rogers said.

“I can provide you with transportation.” Batman looked at Rogers.

“You think the reason I want to go home is because I lack transportation?” Rogers smiled wryly: “I don't lack that. As for my going home, it's a complicated and troublesome matter that can't be explained in a few words.”

“Is that so? Where is your home?” Wayne pressed.

“Do you believe in the existence of the multiverse?” Rogers asked.

“Are you referring to the parallel universe theory that there are other universes outside the universe?” Wayne gave his answer based on his understanding.

“Almost.”

“Are you trying to say that you are from another universe?”

“Look at your expression, you don't believe it at all. But the fact is that. I don't want to make excuses to deceive you. As for whether you believe it or not, I don't really care.”

Rogers shrugged, looking at Batman's suspicious eyes.

“Then you are looking for these instruments and materials to prepare for your return home? What can they do?” Batman asked carefully.

“If a more popular analogy that people can understand is that it's an enlarged version of a signal device. It can allow my partners to locate my coordinates from the vast multiverse.” Rogers described with gestures.

“You want your universe to invade our universe?”

Wayne's words made Rogers feel a surge of powerlessness in his heart, “No, of course not! My partners are all superheroes, superheroes, do you understand? Just like you! They have their own bottom line. They will not invade your universe.”

“You mean, they'll pick you up and leave, and never come back?” Batman still had a suspicious look and tone.

Rogers opened his mouth. He wanted to say that was the case, but then the faces of Luke and Nick flashed through his mind. He could be sure of Stark and the others, but Luke and Nick's brains seemed a bit dangerous?

“You see, you can't guarantee it.” Wayne keenly grasped Rogers' hesitation and pointed it out coldly.

“Believe me, we are not bad people. Even if my partners come to this universe, they will definitely not harm you. I believe they will stay with the intention of communicating and helping.” Rogers had to emphasize under Wayne's pointing out.

“I hope you can temporarily stop your actions, at least after I determine that your behavior is not risky.” Batman stood up, as if to end the conversation, and demanded.

“How are you going to determine that there is no risk?” Rogers asked.

“I need to know the information, abilities, and weaknesses of your partners, etc. If you can honestly explain all of this, then after I am ready, you can continue your journey home.” Wayne gave his answer without hesitation.

“This really sounds like something another partner of mine would say. Like you, he always wants to solve everything, bear everything, and perfect everything on his own. He once always wanted to bring everything under his control. This is not going to work.” Rogers shook his head.

“But this is the only way I can feel at ease.” Wayne walked towards the balcony.

“Is there no other choice?” Facing Rogers' question, Batman, standing on the balcony, turned around and said.

“To be honest, I've always been pretty good at fighting.” As Rogers spoke, he saw Batman open his black cloak and jump off the balcony like a bat preying in the night. A black vehicle sped in from a distance, opening a sunroof-like door downstairs. Batman, who jumped off the balcony, happened to land in the position, and then the door closed again, the vehicle started, and quickly disappeared into the night.

“Looks like another troublesome character. But his heart…” Rogers looked at Batman who disappeared on the balcony and sighed softly. He understood Batman's choice, but in order to go home, it seemed that he had to confront him in the future.

During the conversation, Batman was observing him, and he was also observing the other party. The difference was that the other party relied on his eyes, psychological knowledge, and various precision instruments to observe him and determine the truth of his words. He used the ring to directly feel the other party's heart.

After being soaked in psychic energy for a long time, the ring on his hand had already shown signs of activation. The ring itself could transmit some strong emotions to him to remind and warn him.

In the ring's induction, Batman had both a strong mind that attracted the ring and complex emotions that pleased and disgusted the ring.

From the emotional information transmitted by the ring, Rogers could roughly judge a person's mental state and personality. The other party was undoubtedly an alternative candidate with the potential to control a custom ring. The joy that made his ring feel represented that the other party had a highly similar side to him, but at the same time, the disgust conveyed indicated that deep in the other party's body and mind, there was also a side that was opposite to the exposed personality.

This is a person whose personality may change drastically at any time. Just like schizophrenia, he will have two different personalities.

Under strong emotional control, the other party may always maintain the positive side unchanged, but due to some unexpected factors, the other party may also fall into bottomless darkness at any time.

Rogers stroked the ring on his finger, feeling slightly worried. This city was incompatible with him, and there was no way to replenish energy for the ring. If the instrument could not be manufactured, he would have to face an embarrassing situation in the future, that is, the ring would gradually consume its energy and fall into silence.

Even if the instrument was manufactured, Rogers would have to face the conflict between the darkness of the city's people's hearts and the energy attributes of his ring.

……

“Wow, this mask makes me feel particularly refreshed and full of energy today.” In a dark laboratory, a person wearing a scarecrow-like burlap mask stood in front of the window, looking at his reflection in the glass in surprise. He felt a steady stream of energy pouring into his body along the mask. A layer of red and yellow energy, like a liquid, poured down from the mask and covered him.

Wrapped in this red and yellow energy coat that gave people an uncomfortable feeling, Jonathan Crane only felt that the world in his eyes had changed. He saw all kinds of colors in the city, each representing an emotion or feeling.

And what he himself represents is fear!

PS: Thanks to the reward from the silent peak classmate.