[Zhongyingmei] The clown is actually me

"How about this title?" Jason asked.

Jack sat in front of the computer, and was silent for a while, as if he wanted to shake off the goosebumps on his body: "To be honest, I'm already past the age where I don't know the so-called cool title, and I don't want to wear colorful clothes. The tights were flying all over the city."

You used to have no shame in jumping around in yellow, green, and purple suits and painting your face like a colorful impression painting.Jason looked at Jack's dark curly hair and pale skin and cursed, but he didn't say it because Jack handed him a plate of freshly washed strawberries.

That's what it's good to be here with Jack,? Snacks are enough.Perhaps because he suffered from anorexia, Jack always prepared a pile of food as if he was afraid, but he still didn't eat much, and he didn't gain much weight,? The whole person still looked thin and thin.

Jason ate up the strawberries unceremoniously, and then said: "You were not asked to fight hand-to-hand with those lunatics,? It's good that you weren't held hostage by them. With your body, you can only do logistics. Work."

Jack snorted twice, but he didn't refute. With his current physical skills, it's no problem to bring down the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow and others. If he really wants to face Bane's death knell, Deathstroke and the like, it's probably just All that was left was to run away and call Batman for help.He's pretty good at hacking/gunning from a distance, but Batman sure won't allow such dastardly behavior.

Jack fell into deep thought. It never occurred to him that Batman took a fancy to his hacking skills. He actually had the idea of ​​adopting him for his own use.

Now he has tens of millions of deposits in his hand. He can eat, drink and have fun all his life.As a former super criminal, it is very dangerous to mix with Batman. Gotham is not a peaceful place. Who knows when an unexpected situation will be faced. It may not be able to bear it.

He picked up a tarot card. On the card, an old man in a white robe was holding a cane in one hand and a lantern in the other.In the darkness, there is only the warm yellow light from the lantern.He stared at the patterns on the Tarot cards, and then whispered for a while: "'Hermit'..."

"I'm starting to regret working for Wayne Enterprises," Jack said over the comm.

"Don't talk nonsense, tell me where the fireflies are." Jason said.

Jack is sitting in the refurbished clock tower, in front of several bright computer screens, all kinds of characters and prompt boxes on the screen are constantly beating and flashing, massive information flows from the Internet around the world, passing through Through this buzzing supercomputer, after systematic integration and calculation, it becomes a clear image, which is sent to the portable computers of all members of the Bat family who are operating in the middle of the night.Jack yawned, looked at the overhead view on the screen, and said: "The firefly is 9 meters away from you at 320 o'clock, and he is moving southwest at a speed of 45 km/h, passing the Gotham Central Art Museum in 3 minutes North Gate."

"You should call him 'Claw' instead of calling him by his first name. There is a risk of someone monitoring the wireless communication." Batman said in a calm voice.

"Okay, boss! I'm sorry that I just graduated from Arkham University. This is the first job I've found, and it's not going well."

"Don't hog the communication channel and talk nonsense."

"Of order, boss." Jack replied resentfully: "7 meters in the direction of 450 o'clock in front of you, the camera captured the trace of the double-faced man 20 seconds ago, but the second camera did not capture him passing by. Renwell Avenue."

Batman seldom spoke in such a serious tone before, probably because he and Jack were in a cooperative relationship rather than a subordinate relationship. Now "The Hermit" has officially become a member who works for him and is dispatched by him. Habits must be normalized.

Hermit.A hermit, a person without identity and name.

In order to prevent his former enemies from finding him, Batman has destroyed all his identity files, and all the documents that can prove his existence have been cancelled. Therefore, in this city where the clown has been declared dead for a long time, Jack seems to be living in seclusion. Some ghost in steel and concrete. The title of "Hermit" unexpectedly fits the current Jack very well.

Because Alfred had a broken tailbone and couldn't sit for a long time, Batman needed someone who could use the Batcomputer to help him remotely. There is no doubt that Tim could do the job, but let Tim It's not good for him to be bored in the Batcave all year round.So this job is taken over by Jack. In order to avoid unexpected situations, he and Alfred are usually on duty alternately when the entire Bat Family is dispatched. The work intensity is not heavy.

Jack sat in front of the computer and took a sip of coffee to refresh himself. If he was not mistaken, what he was doing was the work of Barbara on the original world line. Originally, Barbara would be interrupted by the clown and become an "oracle". But on this worldline, Barbara was alive and kicking, flying around Gotham, so he took over the work of God's Domain.

The oracle, the hermit.A sense of fateful correspondence.

Jack had foreseen the tragic future of his own 996, he sighed for not agreeing to Batman's request, and took another sip of coffee.

What Jack didn't expect was that the hermit's job was not as simple as just typing on the keyboard.

When he rushed to the Batcave under the call of Batman, what he saw in front of him was a group of members of the Bat family who were staggering all over the place. He knew that the same drama as the Batcave was being staged in the entire Gotham hospital: the Penguin and the twins. The friction between face-to-face people became the fuse of the large-scale underground gang fight in Gotham City. The underworld struggle affected many ordinary people, and the wounded once again filled all the hospitals and clinics in the city. Like the Blackgate Prison riot, the Bat-Family came out in full force.

"No problem, the Gotham Police Department and the special forces are doing the finishing work." Alfred said while pushing a medical cart with blood-stained hands, and put gauze, scalpels, suture needles and The metal tray of the hemostat was handed over to Jack: "Please help them treat the wound, Mr. Napier, I'm afraid I can't do it alone."

"Will Mr. Wayne give me overtime pay?" Jack was expressionless, and after a simple aseptic treatment, he put on a mask, a white coat and latex gloves before sitting in front of Tim and performing a full leg on the right side of his arm. There is a ten centimeter wound to stop the bleeding.

"That's impossible, Jack. He won't admit that you are his friend, but when you asked him for salary, he was your friend." Jason said with a dark humor.

"I'm already thinking about how much the newspaper is willing to pay for the news that 'Batman is Bruce Wayne'." Jack sighed.

"Maybe they're more interested in 'the clown turned good.'"

"It's more reasonable to say that 'unscrupulous capitalists sell the rope that hanged themselves for profit, and even clowns are exploited for their surplus value'."

Jack sighed while talking, he should have lived an easier life, if he refused, Batman would not force him to do it, but why did he accept it?Accept the working hours from [-] am to [-] am every day, accept sitting in front of the supercomputer until your back hurts, and you have to come over to stitch the wounds of Batman and his children, and maybe help Batman in the future Bad family relationship, persuading his rebellious son to return to his father...

It's all labor-intensive, unfulfilling work that doesn't pay much.

Work hard.

"I'm so sorry." Jack sat on the top of the iron tower, his two long legs dangling in mid-air, "I didn't expect your work to be so tiring. You go to bed at six o'clock every morning and get up at eight o'clock. How can you survive until now? of?"

Batman crouched next to him, the draped black cloak and the hem of the jet-black dress were blown up by the wind, and the two of them stood side by side like two crows perched on the same wire. He said in Batman's characteristic deep voice, "I can For deep sleep, you only need to sleep for 4 hours a day. Want to quit?"

"It seems that I really should quit. I really passed the age of not sleeping for three days and two nights without sudden death, and I don't think it's cool to wear a title like 'prophet' or 'whatever'. To be honest... ..." Jack looked at the setting sun sinking deep into the mountains, and sighed deeply, "Yes, I want to help you, Bruce, although you don't necessarily need it."

"I understand your intentions, but you are not in good health. You haven't slept much during this time. Maybe I was wrong. You have to live your own life. There is no need to help."

Jack lit a cigarette, and in the curling smoke, his eyes gradually became dreamy and blurred, and there seemed to be a sea of ​​clouds surging in his golden eyes: "To be honest, if you hadn't been helping me all the time, I might have turned my face white." Going out and going crazy...I can't live this life without you. I'm grateful to you, if anyone saved Gotham City, it must be you."

"There is no need to say such things."

"Okay, I'm just complaining a few words. I will quit the hermit's job when I really can't do it anymore." Jack said, he took out his pockets, and took out two cans from the inside of his coat as if by magic. Coffee, throw it to Batman, "Will you drink coffee? There is no big deal today, after drinking it, I will go to work that Batman should do."

Batman took it silently, pulled the pull ring, took a sip, and said after a long time: "I used to think that it would be great if we were no longer Batman and the Joker. At that time, I had no hope, who Knew there was a future like this."

Jack smiled subconsciously, and patted Batman on the shoulder: "Actually, I never thought about it. You don't have to be humble. This future is created by you. It will definitely be better in the future."

The two looked at each other and then smiled, as if they had gone back to a long time ago, Batman put the brass bullet on the table in the reception room, the golden light was like sparks splashing from the depths of the darkness, and finally lit up The torch held high in the hand of the saint.The distant wind blows the two of them, gently tracing the outline of the entire city like a mother's arm, the uneven streets composed of low bungalows and high-rise buildings, the bright and smooth sea like silk in the distance, and the towering In the middle of the city, a tall tower pierced into the sky.

The coal dust that seems to never go away is floating in the air. Hundreds of years ago, the blood that was punctured by industry on this land is still flowing in the streets and alleys of this city.The plague called sin, which has spread since the town was founded, is still flowing in the dark veins of Gotham.

Until Jack saw Batman put the empty coffee can beside him, spread his cape, and jumped high, whether it was from the top down or the bottom up, Jack knew that he would see the same thing as everyone else, A black bat with outstretched wings, a totem hanging high above the city.When you see it, your heart will be filled with hope, because you know that there are still people fighting evil, and that as long as the belief in passing the torch is not extinguished, there is hope for all people to live.

This is Gotham.

Gotham is Batman.