Tradition

Tim Drake, the third Robin, sat in Batman's personal chair in front of the Batcomputer in the Batcave, wearing handcuffs and shackles with a scowl. He looked like a housewife who had just found out her husband was cheating.

"Alfred, Batman's been acting strange lately. Definitely, definitely acting strange."

He spoke in a strained, sarcastic tone, "Ignoring Batman's orders is practically a tradition for every Robin, so I'm sorry, dear Tim, but I'm afraid I'll have to lock you up."

The thought of Batman telling him to extend his hands, and him foolishly doing so, made Tim want to slap himself twice.

"Hahaha."

Alfred brought over a box of pastries. "Taking a break once in a while is also something a Robin should do. How about a sweet? Do you want toffee or chocolate?"

"I want both!"

Tim mumbled as he took the pastries and began to devour them. His voice was muffled because his mouth was stuffed with too much toffee.

"Mmmph... Thanks! But Alfred, seriously, I think something might really be wrong with Bruce."

He swallowed a large mouthful of pastry.

"Maybe it's mind control, maybe it's a magical soul swap, maybe it's another one of Mad Hatter's schemes—but I beat him for two hours, and he wouldn't say.

In fact, whoever is living in Batman's body right now, at least... I don't think he's Bruce at all."

The young Robin placed the empty plate on the table, his expression gradually becoming serious.

"I have to say, he's the most brilliant actor I've ever seen. Even Basil Karlo (Clayface's real name, a shapeshifting villain) would be stunned by him."

Tim paused and continued, "However, even such a great actor can't imitate something he knows nothing about. His understanding of Batman is flawed—Bruce is just a human, Alfred."

"No matter how terrifying Bruce appears to outsiders, he's still human. We all know he's just human. But he's portraying Batman as a god! A god walking among men!"

"His presence, his demeanor, and most importantly, his aura—I've seen Bruce angry more than once, but this imposter is a hundred times scarier than the original. Just one look from him makes my heart stop!"

He said irritably, "I've secretly used over 40 methods in the past three days to verify his true identity: iris scans, fingerprints, DNA tests, bio-AI logical analysis, gait analysis... But no matter how I verify it, he's still the same Bruce Wayne!"

He looked at Alfred very seriously, "And yet? He hires mercenaries to help him take down those Arkham lunatics, and he deliberately goes off on his own without Robin. Of course, 'abandoning Robin to act alone' is also a consistent Batman style, but this is different."

His gaze deepened, "And those retirement ramblings... He's definitely not Bruce. We should probably capture him and interrogate him with a crowbar and whip to find out where the real Bruce went."

"This is too terrifying."

Chen Tao maintained Batman's condescending, superior posture, his heart pounding.

But fortunately, the fake Batman scared away the real Bane. This hurdle had been overcome.

The situation was exactly as he had predicted. Bane wasn't a pure brute but a cunning hunter.

He wouldn't engage Batman head-on until he was sure Batman was exhausted. In the original history, he waited for over three months, letting Batman capture the lunatics he released from Arkham one by one. After confirming Batman was completely worn out, he even broke into his house to ambush him. Such a cautious Bane would never initiate the final duel here.

Chen Tao still had time—before his facade of strength was completely exposed.

Chen Tao climbed down from the pile of garbage and walked towards Deathshot and the others.

[Warning! Anchoring item "Captain Boomerang's Broken Javelin" detected.]

[...Anchoring item "Slipknot's Broken Beloved Lasso."]

[...Anchoring item "Tattooed Man's Severed Hand."]

Chen Tao stopped, looking at the silver-white descriptive text popping up on his retina, and fell into thought.

What does this mean? I'm asking you. What does this mean?

Why am I able to pick up anchoring items when my teammates die tragically?

This is outrageous.

Could it be that I, the great Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, Gotham's protector, the world's greatest detective, the renowned Batman, can only make a living by looting my teammates' corpses from now on?

Looking at his teammates' remains, Chen Tao felt a pang of sadness and a melancholic, poetic sentiment welled up in his heart.

No! Absolutely not!

A superhero must have integrity!

I would rather die than loot my teammates' bodies!

"..."

Half a second later, Chen Tao tearfully looted the bodies.

Never mind, Batman hitting his teammates is an old tradition of the Justice League anyway, a few more won't hurt.

[Captain Boomerang's Broken Javelin: Gante Braun won multiple gold medals in the Olympics with it. Although her head is gone now, the remaining materials are just enough to make a flagpole.]

["This javelin is my wife!"]

Chen Tao then realized that Captain Boomerang didn't just not have a mansion, but his wife was a javelin. He should have known. How could someone like Boomerang have a wife? The villains in the DC universe all have some kind of mental issues.

[Slipknot's Broken Beloved Lasso: Christopher Weiss suspected everything, but was confident only in his ropes. In his lonely late nights, he even... himself with the rope. Whenever he tied someone up, the corner of his mouth would twitch slightly, and a confident smile would appear on his face.]

["Oh, ah, oh, oh, woo woo woo—the lasso responded to me... I firmly believe in its judgment."]

This one is a real heavyweight.

Chen Tao decided he would never hire such perverts again. Especially since this one had gotten himself killed.

[Tattooed Man's Severed Hand: John Oakes was once an ordinary sailor until he was imprisoned for brawling. In prison, he met the first-generation Tattooed Man, Abel Tarrant. He still kept the anchor tattoo from his sailor days on his arm, a memento of his youthful years.]

["It's really slippery, I'm telling you, the deck is super slippery!"]

[Crisis Energy Units Converted: 10]

Chen Tao was speechless. Three weaklings had only converted 10 units of crisis energy for him in total. The three of them combined converted the same amount as the Ventriloquist had before.

But then again, how was this crisis energy calculated? Any one of these three could fight the Ventriloquist to a standstill, so why only convert this little?

[Warning! None of the three anchor objects currently held have been targeted at Batman! Randomly matching three weak, low-level Batmen for you...]

[Matched: Bat-Baby]

[Consume 1 unit of crisis energy to synchronize?]

Chen Tao noticed that unlike the Bat-Monster Truck before, this matched Batman had a line of small, silver-white text underneath:

[A Batman from a dying Dark Multiverse transferred his memories into an infant, thus gaining an infant's body. Later, due to his head being too heavy, he accidentally fell down the stairs and died while trying to stand upright.]

[Danger Level: Unranked]

Chen Tao's face immediately darkened. What was the use of becoming a baby with a head too heavy for its body? Would villains go easy on him just because he was cute and acted charming?

He really hoped not!

[Immediate synchronization abandoned. Data saved. You can synchronize this Batman at any time by consuming one unit of crisis energy.]

[Re-matching...] Success.

[Matched: Bat-Billionaire]

[A Batman from a Dark Multiverse bought the entire Gotham City, turning it into his medieval serfdom manor, and was then killed by Superman as a villain.]

"..."

Chen Tao was too tired to complain. Superman actually killed people? What kind of cruel and twisted world was this?

Not synchronizing!

[Re-matching...] Success.

[Matched: Mayor-Bat]

[A Bruce Wayne from a Dark Multiverse did not become Batman but instead became the mayor of Gotham City. He was assassinated, and his head was mounted on a gargoyle on Wayne Tower as a warning to people not to oppose the mob.]

"..."

Another useless ability. Chen Tao sighed, then cast his gaze towards the three heavily injured individuals lying on the ground.

Stare~