[Comprehensive British and American] Family Matters

"Beware of the court of owls, always watch your travels. Peep Gotham from the shadows, hide in the attic with low walls. He is at home, and he is also in the bed and bed. Don't mention his name, the claws will You have found it."

Jason inspected the owl armor he found while singing nursery rhymes that almost every kid in Gotham could catch on to.

"What's this?" Damian turned over and jumped down from the stairs in a formal suit, and walked to Jason's side to look at the small nails spread out on the table.

Picking up a small flying knife and placing it under the instrument to scan the relief on the handle of the knife, Jason looked at the screen and adjusted the handle of the knife under the lens while answering Damian's question: "This is what I found the day I went to investigate the sewer. Mystical armor."

"Tt, I didn't ask this." Damian was speechless, crossing his arms with some dissatisfaction, waiting for Jason to focus on him, "Of course I know it's a set of armor, I mean you just sang that song."

"Song?" Jason was stunned for a moment, recalling what unpopular song he sang, and then remembered that Damian had never heard the local nursery rhyme, "Oh! It's a nursery rhyme from Gotham, adults use it to scare It is used by children. For example, when children behave badly, adults will scare them with words like 'If you are not good, the claws will come and take you away'."

"It's just a non-existent story. If there really were an owl court and sharp claws, my father must have discovered them long ago." Damian picked up a small knife and frowned at the exquisite owl relief on it.

"That's not necessarily the case. Horror nursery rhymes often have something behind them." After scanning the first knife, Jason reached out to Damian to pass the knife in his hand, and put it on the machine for scanning, "Have you heard "" Lizzie Burton with an ax?"

Seeing Damian shaking his head, Jason sang slowly and deliberately in a low voice: "Liz Burton took an ax and chopped her father forty times, and when she realized what she had done, she chopped her mother 41 Down."

"So?" Damian wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Are you trying to say that there really was a woman named Liz Burton who hacked her parents to death with an ax?"

Jason simply hummed, and continued to scan and compare the knife found along with the armor: "It's in Massachusetts, but there were a total of 29 cuts, nineteen on the stepmother's head, and ten on the father's head." Head. The haunted house at that time has remained and turned into a hotel. Do you want to go on a horror trip? I can also help us find two professionals to go together, which is right to buy insurance."

"Even if this is a real event, it does not prove the existence of the Court of Owls." Damian sat on the chair in front of the Batcomputer, and assumed a sitting posture that Jason jokingly called "the president is here." "As long as there is Batman in the legend of Gotham enough."

"It's a good thing to have confidence in the old man, but... I'm afraid I'll disappoint you." After scanning the last knife, Jason ordered the computer to start comparing all the scanned samples, "These weapons with owl embossments, they are custom-made It’s—mass-produced, it’s not some owl-obsessed guy slowly carving it out in a workshop. And then this mask…”

Jason put on the mask that exaggeratedly imitated the face of an owl. Even in the dark bat cave, he could still see the bats deep in the cave clearly through the goggles: "This is a night vision goggle. Although it is a very old design, it still maintains full function until now, this is not a casual civilian product grade, Bruce, don't bully other bats."

The AI ​​Brussy brought back from Star Lord's universe finally recovered its function after some emergency repairs. Now it is connected to the bat computer and mixed in the bat group in the Batcave to act as a mobile monitor.

It's just that Jason found that Brucey seemed to have developed a strange hobby among this group of bats, always kicking and hitting other bats.Although zoologists have found that bats can communicate with each other through calls, Jason can't figure out why Brucey and other bats can be noisy.

"So the owner of this set of equipment not only has a complete set of exquisite weapons, but also night vision goggles." Damian tried to search for information about the Owl Court on the bat computer, but at first glance, all the information that appeared were unnutritive. Internet rumors.

Jason put down his goggles, remembering that he hadn't asked Damian why he came down dressed like a little president.

"It was Pennyworth who asked me to come to you." Damian pointed upstairs, "Your celebration banquet."

When it came to the celebration banquet, Jason was still confused at first, unable to think of any achievements he could celebrate.It took a long time to realize that this was the day when Bruce was going to announce a series of large-scale construction plans that Wayne Enterprises was about to promote to influential political and business celebrities throughout Gotham.

"This is not 'my' celebration banquet, okay?" Jason pinched the back of his neck, put the checked knives back into their original protective cases one by one and put them aside, "This is the old man's banquet, we It’s all just to show off your face.”

"Tt, when will father hold a special banquet for the group's plan?" Damian's fingers tapped on the keyboard for a while, and the screen of the bat computer popped up. En attended and hosted dinners and public events.

As a public figure, Bruce Wayne has attended many social occasions ranging from formal banquets to small opening ceremonies as a guest. Many times, Jason wondered why he had so many absurd excuses to explain the scars on his body. Is there any reason no one doubts that Bruce Wayne is Batman (except Tim).

The big dinner party shown on the bat computer is just the tip of the iceberg, but none of the themes are related to Wayne Enterprises' investment or the disclosure of large-scale plans. Those things are always left to Lucius and the public relations department.Most of the dinners hosted by Bruce himself were to raise money for the Martha Wayne Charitable Foundation, and most of them were timed after major events in the city, in order to help ordinary citizens who were hit hard by the events.

"Father will hold today's banquet because you proposed this plan." On this point, Damian fully supports his father's approach. In Damian's view, those who have committed crimes must be punished, and those who have meritorious deeds must be punished. Nature needs to be rewarded.Jason proposed a plan for the long-term development of Gotham—beneficial to his father's city. Even though the plan was finally implemented in the name of Wayne Enterprises, everyone should know that the initiator was Bruce Wayne's second son, When the city enjoys the convenience brought by these constructions in the future, it needs to know that they can live such a life, and they must thank Jason.

Not to mention that Damian and the rest of the room had seen firsthand how much effort Jason had put into the project, not just the past engineering surveys, but how to please the directors of Wayne Enterprises, the cost, the gain. Taking advantage of these numbers, Jason stayed up for several nights and kept revising his calculations, looking for parameters that are more reliable and trustworthy to the directors.

Even Damian himself couldn't stand Jason's life-burning work mode, so he took the initiative to ask Drake, the most hated person, to organize the day's presentation slides and manuscripts, and even the directors might propose All the questions were simulated, in order for Jason to have a perfect proposal.

"Anyway, you have to attend. Pennyworth will be very disappointed if you don't." Damian jumped off the chair, straightened his flawless bow tie, and stepped back on the stairs in a gentlemanly manner. The mansion upstairs.

Jason looked at his half-way owl survey, then at the news photo on the Bat computer, Bruce smiling at the camera in his crisp tailored suit.

"It's better for Tibbo to help me occupy the golden rest area." Jason complained in a low voice, trotting up the stairs and back to the mansion, preparing to stuff himself into a suit for the night when the handshake was cramped.

***

No matter how much Jason hated this pretentious social occasion, he had to admit that among the many banquets, the dinner hosted by Bruce Wayne was the least goose bumps.

"It's because of the guests." Dick said, "When Bruce selects guests, he will invite those who really want to contribute to the city. Of course, not everyone is sincere to Mingyue. Everyone will be a little selfish, but it is much better than those banquets that are purely for fame."

Just when he was about to tell Dick that he had misused the phrase "I'm turning my heart to the bright moon", Bruce, as the host of the banquet, went to the center of the venue to speak.

Alfred launched the model of Gotham City that Jason used to explain the plan to Bruce before, but this model has obviously been improved, instead of simply lying flat, there is an extra transparent block underneath, making the model look like is suspended on the table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming here despite your busy schedule. It is my honor to witness our beloved city, its tomorrow, and its future with all of you present today."

The appearance of Bruce giving a speech in front of the guests was so different from Batman who beat criminals in the middle of the night that Jason couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to put other people in Bruce's place.

Ah Fu... well, Ah Fu is always Ah Fu no matter where he puts it, skip it.

Dickie Bird, he was quite decent when he was a police officer, and he looked like a reliable police uncle, but if he spoke on the podium...it seems that the night wing mode is more suitable, Dickie Bird That face plus that ass will only make the aunts in the audience want to move around, it's unqualified.

Tibao, I have to say that Tibao looks like a professional elite without opening his mouth in a suit.However, the Red Robin at night is not taking a relaxed and playful route, but a serious and professional young hero. Basically, there is not much difference in peacetime, and the contrast is not up to standard and unqualified.

Damian... the one over there who is being pinched by his aunt must be a fake Damian!Just relying on this acting skill of pretending to be a cute child, it is completely comparable to the old man's social personality and Batman personality!Passed!Sure enough, the next generation of Batman is you, Rice.

Bruce on the stage suddenly stretched out his hand towards the crowd, and everyone looked towards Jason following his gesture: "...But I have to admit, if it wasn't for my son, Jason, I'm afraid I wouldn't be like this Courage to push for such a big plan. It was Jason who came to me and told me he wanted this city to be better, not just economically growing numbers, but from what's buried under our feet, underground we can't see , update Gotham’s public construction, and allow more citizens to improve their quality of life.”

An empty circle appeared around Jason at some point, Tim, Dick, and Damian all backed away to the two sides, standing in the first row of guests and smiling at him, Tim holding a mobile phone Probably in the process of recording, while giving him a thumbs up.Dick clasped his hands across his chest, his nose twitching, and he looked like he was about to cry.Damian looked like he was about to pick up a megaphone and announce to everyone, "Kneel down!"

As if his cheeks were on fire, Jason could only maintain the smile he had practiced with biting a bamboo stick before, and nodded to many guests: "It's nothing... I just... well, Gotham is not a benevolent city, She gives people living in it all kinds of trials, and I have personally experienced some of them, hehe."

Most of the guests knew how Jason came to Wayne's house, which had been big news in the past.They couldn't help but show understanding and a little sympathy in their eyes.

"But if Gotham can't take pity on her children, why can't we warm each other? The job opportunities brought by the renovation project will hopefully reduce the unemployment rate in the city which is currently as high as 5%." Jason recalled his childhood, everyone Look down on crime alley origin, think they are criminals and the reservists of the police.He'd seen young people in Crime Lane looking for a decent job to help their families, but many of the proprietors were dismissed as soon as they heard they were from Crime Lane--they were afraid they'd hired a thief in.

In the end, those young people either went to run errands for the gang to "deliver" or simply sold their bodies for money.

"From a reliable and clean water source, to a stable circuit that won't trip electricity in cold winters, and allows the heating to work normally. Then comes the transportation construction, which drives the new development of the old urban area." He still remembers that there is a big demand for heating every winter During the increase, the first power outages are always in impoverished areas like theirs. The elderly and young children contract pneumonia at every turn and suffer in the cold winter.

"We can't change Gotham's past. Some scars have been caused, and they may never heal beautifully. But the city's tomorrow is what we can work hard for. What is the impression of Gotham in your mind? Have you ever imagined that you want to live in What kind of city? Now is our chance to transform our Gotham city into the ideal city in your hearts.”

Jason shut up, realizing that he had talked a little too much, that he wasn't prepared to speak at the banquet.What Bruce said before was that he would introduce it to the guests at the banquet as his idea. Wayne Enterprises just supported and enlarged the entire plan. At most, he only needed to wave and smile with everyone.

All the guests looked at him quietly, including Bruce, his eyes were wide open as if he didn't know what happened.Even Vicki Weir, the sharpest female reporter of the Gotham Daily, stood there as if she had been electrocuted.

Then someone started applauding from nowhere.

The applause spread as if it was contagious, and even Bruce stood next to the city model and applauded vigorously.

Jason didn't know how Tim dragged him to their exclusive little corner to rest. Dick was like a proud old mother who saw her son become president, blowing her nose loudly with a handkerchief, her eyes were red, The babble is always: "Little wing, you have grown up, oh, why did you grow up so fast, little wing!" Such nonsensical words.

Even Da Chao was wearing his rustic suit with thick-rimmed glasses, with a press card hanging on his chest, and a recording pen in his hand, standing in front of Jason with a smile and asking him if he wanted to make an appointment for an exclusive interview.

Bruce was being dragged by Vicki Weil and was talking to another guest. Jason remembered that the other party was a candidate for the next mayor, who seemed to be named Lincoln.Which means Jason is on his own with "Reporter Clark Kent" and his country sunshine boy smile.

"Do we have to do this, Clark?" If the person in front of him was Superman, Jason would definitely be able to slap him in the face with a kryptonite to get him out of the way, but he couldn't fight with the little reporter Kent in front of all the guests. Shot... Well, I kind of understand why Bruce would rather face Superman than face a little reporter with thick-rimmed glasses.

Clark put away his reporter tools in a very considerate manner, reached out and recruited another teenager who looked like him, put his hands on the opponent's shoulders and pushed him towards the brothers of the Bat family: "I have never had a chance to introduce to you. You guys, this is my son, Connor. Connor, this is what I told you..."

Jason couldn't hear Clark's introduction, he felt a thunder ringing in his ears.

"Superman's Connor" - Superman + Son = Superboy.

Is that you?In the future, Tibao will be given to the abducted wild man!

When Connor Kent stretched out his hand anxiously in front of him to shake hands with Jason, he immediately took Connor's hand with both hands and shook it vigorously, and let the most enthusiastic smile appear on his face: "Ah Isn’t it Connor? It’s better to be famous than to meet. You and your father are so similar, they are printed from the same mold!”

The wild man stared at Jason's hands for a long time, then raised his head and stared at Jason's face again.

...Wait, why did you suddenly turn away from the flushed cheeks?

Jason felt as if something was getting out of hand.