Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Gotham nights are particularly bleak and deserted, with not a single ghostly shadow on the streets, and the streets near Wayne Manor are even more so, with bare trees that had just shed their leaves casting multiple shadows on the ground under different lights, making it the most lively scene on the street.

A black limousine stops at the manor's main gate, shiny leather shoes stepping on fallen leaves, making a dry, crackling sound. A gaunt figure stands in front of the Gothic-patterned metal gate, exuding an air as if he could single-handedly hold off thousands.

Inside the manor, the once brightly lit scene is no more. In the vast living room, only two lamps are lit. Batman, who has just finished bathing and is drying his hair with a towel, stands under one lamp, the water droplets in his hair catching light from another.

Ding Dong!

When he hears the doorbell, Batman feels as if from another lifetime, imagining the elderly figure at the door, complaining, "Who would visit at this hour?"

But no, there isn't such a person anymore.

Batman hastily wipes his hair a couple more times and tosses the towel aside. He opens the door himself, the cold wind from the courtyard giving him a shiver, but he feels even colder when he sees who is standing at his doorstep.

Batman walks to the front door and faces the pale knight through the ornately patterned metal gate.

"Why are you here?"

The pale knight doesn't answer, just scrutinizing Batman, looking like he no longer wants to play the role of Bruce Wayne, or perhaps he's too exhausted to continue.

Since the death of his old housekeeper Alfred, he has turned into a true lone ghost. The pale knight really starts to doubt whether he should've refused Nike's request to join the anti-terror squad, as Batman wished. After all, Joker had taken away his first child, and he did not want to take away a second one.

Feeling a faint guilt inside, the pale knight finds it even harder to speak, but considering the events transpiring within the city government, he steels himself to talk.

"Batman, I need your help, I..."

"All-powerful pale knight also needs my help?" Batman's response is almost cutting.

The pale knight doesn't care about his attitude. He simply says, "Then let me rephrase, Gotham needs your help."

Batman remains silent.

"I've already apologized to you for falsely accusing you without knowing your real identity. I know an apology doesn't mean you have to forgive me, but considering my intentions were also for Gotham, you can at least give me a chance to talk."

The pale knight lowers himself as much as possible, knowing Batman cannot withstand any provocation. Having experienced the pain of collapse himself, he does not wish to impose such agony on anyone else; it would be the cruelest thing in the world.

He steps forward, grabbing the railing of the door, then continues, "I sought help from my friends who showed me hope for improving the situation, but this requires your cooperation, though it demanding no sacrifices from you, we just..."

Click! The door opens. Batman says nothing and turns back towards the interior of the manor. The pale knight stands outside, watching his back, feeling a desolate void inside.

If he can't lift a bird to allow it to fly freely, he definitely shouldn't be one of the fingers breaking its wings. Sadly, when the bird cries in pain from losing its loved ones, he had already done so, and he had been the harshest.

Who hasn't, full of hope, wanted to be a pure hero?

The pale knight takes a deep breath, suppressing his sentimentality, strides into the manor, then gets startled by the darkness.

Instinctively, he reaches for the light switch, then remembers Shiller's reminder that mentally unstable people fear light stimulation. He should indeed pay more attention to such details.

The pale knight withdraws his hand, concentrating to adjust his eyes to the dark. He cautiously moves to the sofa and feels his way down to sit.

Batman picks up the towel to start drying his hair again. He sits silently on the opposite couch and after a long while finally speaks, "Harley is out of danger now, but she needs rest."

"Alright, I know. I don't have time to see her… I didn't come here to talk about that."

The pale knight pauses, unsure if Batman's silence means he should continue speaking or if it's just resistance to communication. Out of caution, he continues more gently, "What I'm about to say might be shocking, and it's okay if you don't agree." He adds in his mind, "If you don't agree, that Shiller will surely find a way to make you agree."

"And from that moment, I shall pray that nature has nothing to do with nuclear power plants, Amen."

"In about two days, the city government will face the largest strike in its history; all departments will be shut down, and the entire city administration system will come to a halt. And in about two weeks, Gotham City Government will enter bankruptcy proceedings."

Seeing Batman's visibly stiff movements, the pale knight sighs internally, thinking, mentally ill individuals really shouldn't be provoked.

"What are you trying to do?" After perhaps some thirty seconds, Batman finally asks.

"It's not my idea," the pale knight tries not to seem like he's shirking responsibility, "A friend of mine calls this 'starting from scratch.'"

"I hope you're not talking about some cold kitchen-related joke."

Batman's attitude isn't good, but the pale knight completely understands him. If one had spent so much effort and money to save a city, only to be hated by over 80% of its citizens and even sent to prison, his attitude when facing the instigators would likely be the same.

The pale knight shakes his head slightly, "Whether the city government operates smoothly has no direct connection to my success in improving this city, but after the government shutdown, I will need a secure place to continue my work."

"You could rent a house."

"Sorry, but I can't afford it." The pale knight lowered his eyelids and said, "You might not believe it, but after my investigation, I am the poorest person in the entire city government. I only have 2100 dollars left in my account now, which is not enough to afford the rent for any house."

"Do you expect me to provide you with a place to stay?"

"I know you have many secret bases, but I'm not considering those places, as they could be put to greater use, instead of being exposed in my hands."

"So, are you trying to borrow money?"

"Whether I have 2000 dollars or 20 million, it's the same, because even 20 million won't solve the problem, not even 200 million; you still have some money, but whether this money is ultimately yours depends on the actions I take next."

"What on earth are you trying to do?" Batman was getting impatient.

The pale knight pursed his lips tightly; he was always a person who disliked beating around the bush, and if he made such a big roundabout, it was because what he really wanted to say was difficult to express.

"I hope to use Wayne Manor as my next office." The pale knight decided on the lesser of two pains.

"What?" Batman clearly doubted his own hearing.

But it didn't matter, the pale knight thought, because he also thought he had heard wrong when he first heard this sentence.

He swallowed and said: "I hope to office in Wayne Manor."

Batman remained silent, his hair untouched.

"Have you not been taking your medications on time?" Batman asked.

"Not bad." The pale knight gave a bitter smile and said, "The only good news is that Joker wouldn't say this sentence to you."

Batman was speechless.

"Are you saying you developed a new madness?"

It was now the pale knight's turn to have nothing to say.

"I'm sorry, but this is part of our plan. I hope to turn Wayne Manor into my next office location."

"So what about me?"

"I don't mean to drive you away. You can also stay; I'm not planning to hide anything from you. But if you really find it bothersome, then you can leave."

Batman was silent again, the situation seeming to reach a stage where not even half a joke could be cracked.

"Why would you think I'd agree?" After a long silence, Batman finally asked, and it also seemed like he was just making conversation.

"Do you want to hear the truth?" The pale knight's fingers continuously rubbed his knees, knowing he was making a tremendous effort to not make it seem like a burglary.

Batman nodded.

"We are not seeking your consent." The pale knight swallowed again, then said, "If you have checked the surveillance cameras set up in the city government, you would see someone who looks almost exactly like you entering my office, that's another universe's Batman, now goes by the name Neway."

"So? Do you think he can replace me?" Batman's tone became sharper, and he said, "Are you framing me to replace me with another Batman?"

"No." The pale knight did not defend himself this time, he simply said: "I just can't stop him from spewing nonsense using your face, you probably don't want to see yourself getting into rap, right?"

Batman's silence turned eerie.

"I absolutely do not mean to threaten you, but he really could do it. Also, your advanced face and fingerprint recognition systems can't stop him, he has already got a set of your bat suit. If you don't want to see Batman at Arkham Asylum making merry with lunatics on the news, you better seriously consider my proposal."

Seeing Batman not responding, the pale knight could only say, "In his universe, Alfred is still alive."

Batman's hand instantly tightened.

"Exactly as you imagined, people in our two universes look and behave the same, it's just that the Alfred of his universe is happier, free from diseases and solitude, his biggest trouble right now is that Wayne Family's little princess refuses to go to school properly."

Batman slowly closed his eyes, as if by doing so he could see the old housekeeper from another world, and the pale knight also started to feel sad, but he knew it wasn't the time to express his grief.

"Looking across thousands of parallel universes, our Gotham is not special in any way; it is very ordinary and small, yet it was once entrusted with many hopes by people like us, hopes that have been disappointed for too long that everyone has given up on the idea of making a final effort."

"I don't accept that if we're not special, we have to resign to mediocrity, let alone collude with it, which is wrong in any universe's logic."

"Even if it's a dying struggle, someone has to do it, we have implemented all the methods and done everything we could think of, since the situation still hasn't improved, we can only hope this absurd path brings some changes."

"If it doesn't work, at least we end up being quixotic heroes like Don Quixote—not orthodox lunatics like Joker."