American comics: Starting in Arkham, a system-based Batman

Chapter 106 The Child Who Wants to Protect His Parents

"You picked it up so quickly?"

Zheng En was somewhat surprised. In the movie, Batman, even after two years in the industry, was still a rookie, not only throwing trash cans but also barging into the Iceberg Restaurant through the front door in front of everyone. Compared to him, the Batman here was growing up much faster.

But thinking back to the scarecrow, the court of owls, and the clowns who would pop up every now and then to make their presence known, Jung Eun realized that it wasn't incomprehensible; a calm sea couldn't produce an excellent sailor.

If the villains are already this strong, how can the good guys be interesting if they aren't strengthened?

Batman's night patrol routes and methods were slightly different from before. Zheng En couldn't figure out why, but he could feel that the efficiency had improved a lot.

Following the Batmobile into the Bat Cave, the elevator descended into the natural cave below. The scene inside was almost identical to what Jung Eun had seen before, except for the addition of some exercise equipment.

A pair of parallel bars had been added to the empty ground, and a boy in a vest was warming up on them, gripping the bars with both hands and suspending his body in mid-air. As the Batmobile slowly descended, he shifted his gaze and was about to greet Batman as he emerged from the vehicle when he saw Zheng En sitting cross-legged on the roof.

He stared in surprise, his hand slipping from the pole, and he almost fell.

"Hey, Dick, we meet again."

Zheng En greeted him naturally, and jumped off the roof of the car before Batman got out. "How's it going with Bruce?"

"Great, I really like it here!"

Dick got off the parallel bars as Jung Eun-chung approached, flashing a big smile. "How's it going over there? Did the guy dressed as an owl bother you?"

During his time at Wayne Manor, he did consider contacting the other party, but he didn't know how to bring it up. Later, after discovering Bruce's secret identity, his days became more fulfilling, and he forgot about it.

Now that I've finally met him in person, all the things I wanted to say before have come flooding back.

"Of course not."

Zheng En rubbed his head, while Batman, not participating in their conversation, walked past them expressionlessly.

Remembering what he had said before, Jung Eun couldn't help but glance at him sideways, her tone affected, "He's still just a child."

Batman remained silent, only walking towards the shower room embedded in the cave wall.

Dick, unaware of the previous events, thought Zheng En had misunderstood Batman and was standing up for him, so he was extremely anxious. "I volunteered! I begged Bruce to teach me the training!"

"I can't just be protected by you guys and do nothing." He didn't want to experience that feeling of helplessness anymore. He wanted to be like Jung Eun, like Batman, and have the ability to protect the people he wanted to protect.

After Zheng En left that day, his parents struggled with their emotions all night.

They knew exactly what was best for Dick, but knowing what to do and wanting to do it are two different things.

Entrusting the child you've raised since childhood to a complete stranger is an enormous challenge for anyone.

"And Dick is so young—" Mrs. Grayson sobbed.

Child abuse in foster families is a common phenomenon in American society. They saw even more of it as they traveled around with the circus.

Although the United States has many legal systems to protect children, such as requiring doctors to report injuries to their superiors and having relevant personnel investigate whether the parents have abused the child;

Parents must buy child safety seats for their children, or they will face fines or even have their children taken away; single parents who leave their children unattended at home while they are at work will be considered neglected if discovered—any of these situations can be investigated immediately upon being reported, without the need for evidence.

However, the United States is also the only country in the United Nations that has not signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Moreover, while a child can be taken away with just a report, getting them back is extremely difficult. Parents need to hire lawyers, collect various supporting documents, and seek third-party endorsements to prove their innocence in various ways.

Behind this seemingly child-protective system lies a huge, profitable industry. Parents can have their children taken away under various pretexts for the slightest mistake. The government promotes socialized childcare, and only those who pass a qualification review can auction off children from the government.

No one knows what this child will experience in the foster family afterward.

But some things are clear: the government will provide subsidies to families who adopt children, and the subsidies will be even greater if the child is disabled.

On illegal websites accessible through Google, information about adoptive families reselling children can be found everywhere.

Nonprofit organizations estimate that between 500,000 and 800,000 minors work on farms across the United States. In addition, many more work extensively in hazardous locations such as meat processing plants, food packaging plants, and construction sites, performing various high-risk tasks.

The Graysons didn't know much about it, but everyone knew that terrible things would happen to the child after leaving home.

If they hadn't personally experienced the attack by the claws, there would have been no way they would have allowed a stranger to become Dick's guardian.

Dick saw their struggle and reluctance, but he knew better than anyone that he had to leave.

No one knows if those assassins will come back. Zheng En saved them once, but what about next time? His parents are just ordinary acrobats; they can't protect him, and he can't protect them either.

Dick followed Bruce Wayne and when he looked back at his parents, he saw his father comforting his mother.

But he can't go back.

He really, really wanted to have the power of Jung Eun, to save his mother and defeat the enemy, but he just couldn't.

Wayne Manor was large and beautiful, with scenes he had only ever seen on television before. The old butler was kind, and Mr. Wayne was friendly, but he was a little unaccustomed to it.

He wasn't used to the people and things around him, even though everything here was fine.

Dick wanted to ask Bruce about Zheng En, but Bruce always gave vague answers. He knew Bruce must know something. He became more determined and wanted to catch Bruce and ask him more questions, but he couldn't find him no matter what he did.

Then he discovered that Bruce's room was empty.

The door wasn't closed properly, and Dick could see the blankets spread out on the bed through the crack. The next day at noon, Bruce came downstairs yawning.

This isn't right.

Dick discovered this and was determined to uncover it.

When Bruce returned to the room through the hidden door, he lay under the bed watching until the other person fell asleep. Only then did he emerge from under the bed and open the hidden door.

Behind the hidden door is the elevator, which takes you directly to the bottom.

The moment the elevator doors opened, Dick was stunned by what he saw.

The seemingly endless cave was inlaid with all sorts of impressive high-tech devices. The surrounding environment was very bright, and he could see the things inside, but he could only recognize a huge hard object and a dinosaur sculpture. He couldn't even name many of the items.

The extremely impactful scene shocked his vision. Dick felt like Alice had plunged down the rabbit hole, dizzy and disoriented.

He was mesmerized by the sound of bats flapping their wings overhead, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Bruce's identity.

During his time living in Gotham, he had heard about Batman's exploits. But compared to others, he believed in him to a greater degree.

After all, he had seen people who could fly and assassins dressed like owls, so it wasn't surprising to see someone dressed as a bat fighting criminals.

But Dick never imagined he would witness the legendary Bat Cave under such circumstances.

Is the Bat Cave located just below Wayne Manor?

Who could have imagined this?

That Batman—

"Have you seen enough?" A shadow loomed over his head, and Dick whirled around to see Bruce in his pajamas, staring at him silently, his expression unreadable.

"So, you—you—" Dick stared, pointing at Bruce, then at the futuristic Batcave, "you're Batman?"

Bruce Wayne, a frivolous playboy, a good-for-nothing with only a pretty face—he'd heard that kind of talk a lot from others at school. Because he was new, the existing cliques in the class ostracized him, and Bruce was also maliciously attacked along with them.

The students in these elite private schools generally come from privileged backgrounds. Even young Bruce himself was mocked as an orphan, let alone Dick, who used to live in a circus.

Based on the perceptions of those around him and Bruce's behavior, even though it was Zheng En who asked Bruce to take him in, Dick never imagined that the other person would be someone similar to Zheng En.

"I thought you were an investor in some kind of human experimentation—" After all, Jung Eun didn't use any props when she could fly or heal others, at least that's how it appeared to outsiders.

Given the fine traditions of the American government, including the use of American soldiers to test chemical weapons, the spraying of bacteria on civilians, and the long-term experiments on groups such as prisoners, the mentally ill, orphans, and ethnic minorities, the public's perception has long been fixed.

Dick covered his mouth after only uttering half a sentence, but Bruce didn't care. "You shouldn't have come down."

Having shed his facade, his expression hardened, taking on a cold and unapproachable air.

"But I'm already down."

After spending time together, Dick felt much more at ease around Bruce. Even in this situation, he could firmly express his thoughts: "You can't just not tell me anything. I'm the one being targeted."

"I know you're protecting me, and I'm grateful to you." He softened his tone. "Especially you, Bruce, you've given me a new place to go."

"But you can't protect me forever."

Bruce paused for a moment, then said, "I'll take care of them."

"How long will that take?" Dick asked. Even as a ten-year-old, he knew that destroying an organization was no easy task. "Will I have to stay in Wayne Manor in fear all this time, living a life of going back and forth between school and the manor?"

Bruce frowned.

I want to be like you.

Dick pleaded, "I want the power to protect myself and others. You may not know, but if it weren't for Jung Eun, my mother would be dead, and my father wouldn't be any better off."

Bruce looked at him quietly, and the other man's blue eyes, so similar to his own, reflected his face. In a daze, he seemed to see that young child.

The child who knelt in the alley and wailed loudly.

He choked up.

"I want to protect them, please."

The face overlapped with the youthful face in front of him, and Bruce could hardly tell who was speaking.

Is he the child who failed to protect his parents in the past, or the child who wants to protect his parents now?

He remained silent for a long time, so long that Dick almost gave up and decided to try again next time.

"it is good."

In the silent bat cave, the word struck Dick with a resounding impact.

"Yay!"

He jumped for joy, and seeing his jubilant expression, Bruce's expression softened. He hadn't wanted to agree, but the child looked so much like him, and more importantly, there was still a chance to change things.

He had just agreed to Dick's request when he recalled his conversation with Jung Eun.

Thinking about what the other person had said, he silently made a note of it in his mind: training is possible, but Robin is not.

Dick had no idea what was going on in Bruce's mind; he only knew that he could become stronger and protect others.

"But before that, I always thought Batman also had special abilities."

Because the first person Dick encountered was Jung Eun, he felt that Batman must have some unique skills. "Everyone says that Batman comes and goes without a trace, has superhuman strength, and can turn into a bat or black mist, so no one can find his trail."

"Hahahahahahahahaha." Jung Eun laughed wildly. "And then? And then?"

"I thought at least a few of them were true, so I asked Bruce directly."

As Dick was reflecting, Bruce happened to come down the stairs and overheard everything.

Bruce:

He didn't really want to recall what happened that day.

"It turns out he really was just an ordinary person. He couldn't fly, he couldn't heal his wounds, he couldn't turn into a bat or black mist, and he didn't have any superpowers."

Bruce denied Dick's question, but Dick didn't believe him. He observed Bruce for a long time before finally confirming that the other man was just an ordinary person.

"This is really too much!"

He clenched his fist, his teeth chattering, "—This is so exciting!"

Dick's lips curled into a wide smile, his whole being radiating suppressed excitement. "Can you imagine? An ordinary person with no special abilities, relying solely on his wisdom and strength, fighting criminals in the streets and alleys of Gotham every night."

His eyes shone like stars. "If Bruce can do it, then can't I?"