A meow and a dog

"...I heard that someone here has seen Batman recently... His whereabouts have become more mysterious, almost like a ghost..." Under the night of Gotham, Two people standing on the street corner with tense expressions shrunk in the darkness, staring at the people passing by on the street with greedy and fearful eyes—very common, another typical example of Gotham thieves, if Director Gordon stood here, maybe I will sigh the probability of such expressions increasing after Batman appears.But it's a pity that there are only two low-level robbers standing here, so the topic of emotion can only be the pistol they hid in their pockets—or the even more surreptitious Gotham Knights.

"Don't worry about him." The robber named Jack was very dissatisfied with his cowardly accomplice, causing his tone to burst into flames like an old-fashioned powder gun, except that he often looked around But it turns out he wasn't as relaxed as he said—although this gesture has been very common among some people in Gotham recently, "Did you forget the news from yesterday? Batman must have been taken by the Joker—hey, you are who--"

Dick, who fell from the sky, stepped on the two robbers mercilessly and knocked them unconscious with a short stick. The excited look receded from his face like the tide, and gradually turned into a cautious and pitiful expression, "...Bro, Bruce, did I do something wrong?"

Bruce Batman Wayne glared at his adopted son and heir indifferently, and he didn't know whether it was disappointment or helplessness in his tone, "You should have waited for them to take action before acting, Robin." get evidence.

"But at least it won't frighten a lady." Dick muttered in disbelief. "You won't praise me anyway."

Batman didn't respond to Robin's complaints—or before Dick did, he was already tying up the gangster with a rope.Bruce sighed in his heart, but on the surface, he was still silently waiting for Dick to finish his work, hoping that his inexplicable restlessness since this morning would return to calm—of course, it was definitely not that Alfred didn’t give He prepares breakfast and cookies - even ignores his sake all day.

"The latest game console, I guess?"

"Master Bruce will be very sad to hear that, Master Dick. Because the Batcomputer program has to turn its attention to 'Robin vs. Clown'(*1) again. But no, Master Dick." Alfred Seriously - but even then it was hard to miss the irony, but Dick, who was forced to endure Bruce's venomous tongue all day without a break, was used to it.

Dick was still trying to break through the butler's line of defense, and finally even obediently promised that the night watch would end early, but Alfred didn't take out the things hidden behind his hands as Dick thought.Instead, he held Dick's shoulders in a worried and unusual way, "Although I don't want to give this to you, Master Dick...but I think both Gotham and you will need it."

"...Alfred, I thought I could continue to be Robin for a while?" Dick said reluctantly as he took over the black cloak.He understood Alfred's painstaking efforts, but wearing a bat suit was inexplicably awkward.

Bruce was a little hesitant when he stepped into Alfred's room. After all, the butler didn't invite him in, but because of Alfred's strange behavior today, Bruce felt that the other party should forgive him—probably.

Alfred's room has maintained his usual style. Of course, he will not be negligent in tidying up Bruce's room for many years - just look at the neat and rigorous classification and coding on the bookshelf. It's gone—but that doesn't explain why Alfred keeps a stack of yesterday's papers until today, or why he keeps a photo album nearby.

Bruce walked over as quietly as he could, not that he usually walked lightly, but that something about stalking the butler had brought a part of him to life.Although he knew that there would be no secrets on it, for the Wayne family, this was undoubtedly a greater move than facing the clown-this included stealing a small cookie.

Oh no, he was wrong.Bruce thought blankly, if he knew that the headline in the newspaper was "Batman is dead, the clown is the real murderer", he would definitely not rush to it.It's ridiculous, isn't it?He himself is still standing here.

Bruce glances over to another news headline ("Batman is Dead, Who Will Take the Cape") and decides to take it as a joke, which might give Bruce a playboy reputation.Bruce thought so, but the creak of the door as it was violently opened told him that he couldn't do it at this time, because Robin rushed in hurriedly - maybe he read it wrong - and took the Throwing something to Bruce, he pretended to be calm and said, "Alfred gave this to me."

After the robin finished speaking, he sneaked a glance at Bruce's face, and was about to slip away when he was grabbed back by the other party. This grabbing was not very impressive, because after all, the latter only said "stop", but please I believe that for Robin, this sentence is definitely a hundred times more powerful than the clown's bomb. "Um, Bruce, what's the matter?" Dick smiled flatteringly, trying to get away with it.

"What are you trying to say to me, Dick?" Bruce said in a deliberately low voice, and as expected, he found his adopted son's expression twisted. "Or would you rather let it be discovered by me following your plan than tell me yourself?"

Dick had a "how did you know" look on his face - oh, that's not often.Bruce thought inappropriately in his heart, and he started to be a little curious about the truth—as long as it wasn't a gift from the clown or a police pursuit plan. "You know you can't hide it from me, Dick."

"...I think, uh, Bruce, I mean - oh, well, damn it - you got killed by the clown, Bruce, just yesterday." Overhead, not wanting Batman to see his expression.However, after he finished speaking, he realized that he was not the one who received the biggest shock. Dick glanced cautiously at Bruce, but the other party was not as furious or surprised as he thought, he just stood there, His face was calm, as if he had anticipated his own death—that was not impossible, after all, Batman had told him on the first day he became Robin to be prepared to die.

Dick bit his lower lip, throwing that distant and vague memory back into his mind.Decided to drink some of the coffee that Alfred accidentally made too much, and by the way, forget the breath-stopping scene he saw yesterday.

Bruce wasn't as calm as Dick thought, in fact, he didn't even realize it until after Dick had left—after all, hearing the news of his own death without warning would instinctively let the emotions that belonged to Bruce Wayne take precedence. The upper hand, and then it's the part where Batman controls his sanity.

It's a pity that the silence that belongs to Batman didn't last much time. If Bruce still had a moment to think about the current situation at this time, he should know that this was Alfred, his butler's room, but assuming he forgot before , It should be remembered now, because the old man had already stood in front of Bruce, bowed his head and picked up the cloak that Dick had thrown on the ground before.

Bruce didn't move, he watched as the old man stretched his hand straight up his calf, but he just didn't move - until the old man's hand was completely inside him - well, now he knew why Alfred kept ignoring him ——Picking up the ball of black cloth with a normal expression, and taking it through Bruce again, he unfolded it silently, revealing an incomplete bat logo that was even stained with red liquid.

"Aff?" Bruce called tentatively, but no one answered him.A subtle fear wrapped around his heart, as if he wanted to drag him to hell.He forced himself to calm down, not to look at the ferocious bat flying in the black cloth, but to look for evidence enough to prove his death, to find the answer that was true enough—for a moment, he thought he would not find it, Still, that momentary reluctance to believe must have been his emotions getting the better of him, because ironically, he had discovered the sad truth so easily.

That's on the headstone in the Wayne family cemetery:

Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne, Bruce Wayne.

The dead soul silently watched the raindrops pass through their bodies and sink into the soil. "Good night, Alfred," said the Lord of the Tombstones to his steward.The darkness and silence around him seemed to swallow him up, forcing him to stay away.

However, he who was supposed to let go of everything and ascend to heaven did not leave under the gaze of the blood-stained bat suit.It seemed that an iron chain had locked him deeply here.

Dick, who met Batman again the next day, knew it, Alfred, who always liked to make afternoon tea for two, knew it, Gordon, who started working with Batman again, knew it, and the Joker who killed the Dark Knight knew it too.

That's where Gotham locked his knights.

No one but Dick ever knew, maybe Bruce Wayne died in an avalanche or some other weird tabloid speculation, but in the end, Batman didn't leave.

Even with the most perfect smile carved on his face, blood flowed through every inch of Gotham that day.

The clown smiled wildly and whispered in his ear: Hey, little bat, welcome to my world.

The author has something to say:

(*1) In one issue of the official comics, there is a Robin playing a game about Nightwing-err, I don't know if I remember wrong or what, I seem to see that Robin is called Dick? (tangled face)

Cough, I'm finally going to take out the archived manuscript (worried face)...It means that the robin has been out for a long time...try to grind it out this weekend! (make a fist)

PS: There may be an update in the future, but please believe that it is the change made by the scumbag author who couldn't stand the poor layout of the previous volume. The specific update... most likely tomorrow, is a short story inspired by Because of a stalk in the twelve death questions written by myself-this time I will definitely HE!Because I finally have the conditions for HE~ Cough, spoilers are not allowed!