I'm in an American comic book, and all my teammates are main characters and bosses.

Chapter 112 Father and Son, Mother and Son

Upon hearing Martha's words, a complex expression appeared on Thomas and Bruce's faces. Then, the father and son tacitly averted their gazes, remaining silent like statues.

But Martha didn't care about any of that—just as Alfred thought, compared to Thomas, it was Martha who gave Bruce the biggest headache. And the reason was simple: although Thomas was Bruce's father, even when they longed to see each other so much, when they met, they still expressed their love in the most traditional way, like a father and son, only using cold and clumsy tones.

Bruce knew this awkwardness, and he understood it. Similarly, they could use this method to express their respective ideas concisely and clearly. And afterwards, whether they parted ways or became enemies, neither of them would feel any psychological burden.

Just as Thomas said, all they were doing was fighting for a cloak.

A cloak that, in Gotham, forever shrouded in leaden clouds, is the only one capable of bearing all the moonlight and hope.

As Bruce said, they are just two leaves with similar circumstances on the World Tree of the multiverse, not a real father and son.

Even though they both yearn to heal the wounds in their hearts through each other and to draw strength from each other, a strength called love that sustains them, aside from hatred.

Based on this, Thomas could cripple Bruce without any qualms, simply to distance Bruce from the so-called "Batman" identity—after all, with Flashpoint Cyborg's preservation technology, restoring him to full health would be a simple matter of designing an engineered skeleton. And Bruce? He could also comfortably use his own methods to make Thomas realize that the master of this city is called Batman, and the Batman of this city can only be Bruce Wayne.

Then defeat him, lock him up in Wayne Manor, and force him to retire...

It seems that fathers and sons are always like this: they deeply miss and love each other, but they will never stop their inner confrontation until one of them is completely old.

But Maserati is different...

As a mother, Martha loved Bruce deeply. This intense expression of love left Bruce somewhat bewildered.

Just like now, with hurried footsteps, Martha came to Bruce's side, her pale green eyes suddenly gleaming with an intense light as she saw Bruce's eyes.

Simply put, it's like it came to life.

"Bruce! Oh! Bruce! It really is Bruce! You're back! Gotham has finally given you back to me! Waaah!!"

Holding Bruce's face in her hands, Martha's face was filled with undisguised joy and excitement. Tears welled up in her eyes, and one could clearly feel the thousand words that were swirling in Martha's heart. This made Bruce's reason tell him that he had to react immediately, otherwise not only would he lose his power, but his "war" with his father would also fall into a losing position.

But Bruce had only just opened his mouth, wanting to tell Martha, in the same way he had told Thomas, that he wasn't her biological son.

Before Bruce could speak, Martha burst into tears and hugged him tightly, crying out, "I love you! I love you, Bruce, Mommy loves you..."

"..."

Hearing Martha's cries, Bruce's reason once again told him that things couldn't go on like this; if things continued this way, Batman would surely be doomed...

Batman cannot let such things constrain his thinking.

But, feeling Martha embracing him, feeling that undisguised love and his once shattered heart, Bruce, even with the strength to easily shatter rocks, still couldn't push Martha away even a little.

No, I can't do this. I have to tell her that I'm not the Bruce she's looking for... I'm not the little Bruce who died in Crime Alley!

He gritted his teeth, but both Bruce's hard-earned physique and his extraordinary intelligence seemed to lose their original power in that instant.

"I missed you so much, Bruce. I dream about you every day, and in my dreams you call me 'Mommy' and run towards me... I've kept all of these! All your favorite toys, all your favorite foods. I collected so many... Now, you're finally back, you're finally back, waaaaah..."

"See? The best way to deal with this arrogant and tsundere is to be direct."

Watching this scene unfold, Ron excitedly retrieved a digital camera from the Infinity City and started recording—if he ever encountered another Batman, no matter how crazy or depraved they were, as long as it didn't turn into something like The Batman Who Laughs, a writer's nemesis, then this footage, once released, would be like the music box targeting Father Gascoigne, providing at least a dozen seconds of hard control right from the start.

Meanwhile, Barbara couldn't help but bite her nails, saying with some difficulty, "Oh my god, what is Batman going to do now? If he doesn't do something soon, I feel... I feel like Batman might..."

"We are about to fall into a complete disadvantage."

Todd, standing to the side, stared at the scene unfolding before him and spoke clearly:

"Batman is strong, but all of this is based on the premise that Batman has enough information. In a well-prepared battle, even if the enemy is Superman or Wonder Woman, I think the ultimate winner will be Batman. But now, the appearance of both Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Martha was too sudden."

"Even if Batman could use facts to convince Mr. Thomas of his identity, it would be useless against Mrs. Martha..."

As he said this, even Todd couldn't help but take a deep breath:

"In another world, he became Batman's father and his mother, who suffered a mental breakdown and turned into the Joker because of missing her child... I think even if it's a dream, Batman probably wouldn't want to wake up now."

"Besides, this is reality~" Ron, not one to shy away from stirring things up, said:

"In dreams, I can tell myself it's fake, and I can find ways to convince myself to enjoy it all without any burden. But unfortunately, it's a reality that's more terrifying than a dream."

"And all of this... was caused by The Flash, Barry!"

"Huh? Me?!" Barry was taken aback. He looked up and saw that everyone around him was looking at him with complicated expressions.

These gazes mainly came from the three boys—not out of hostility, nor out of disgust. In a sense, they actually filled a void in Bruce's heart. But how to put it…

Bruce's deceased parents returned to him in another way, and Thomas and Mrs. Martha also found their lost Bruce in another way. They all longed to reunite with each other, and they all sincerely hoped that the other would be better off...

It was supposed to be a good thing, but why, why did it end up like this?

(End of this chapter)