Batman refused flatly and even moved to get up at once.
William grabbed his cape.
"Hear me out. I'll keep him in line for a while, and you can give him a few warnings or something. If we work together, he won't cause too much trouble."
"Absolutely not!"
Batman's tone was like solid metal, leaving William no room to negotiate.
That was hardly surprising. To him, this amounted to condoning crime.
"Easy, my friend. Listen. Gotham is like a vast primeval jungle, and you're the hunter prowling through it, searching for a man-eating leopard..."
William's analogy caught Batman's interest. Suddenly, he wanted to hear what came next.
"Now you've got your prey in your sights. You pull the trigger, and the leopard falls from the treetops. But instead of skinning it and pulling its fangs, you just chop off its head and roar threats into the depths of the jungle."
"You naively think the beasts will sheathe their claws and fangs after hearing your threats. But they don't understand human speech. Once you leave, they feast on the leopard's corpse, and its nutrients nourish another man-eating beast. Maybe a caracal, maybe a brown bear."
"The next time you enter the jungle, the same tired story plays out again."
Batman fell silent, still as a statue.
He wanted to argue, but the fact was that after his violent crackdown on the Maroni Family a year ago, Falcone had come roaring back as the Roman.
William had hit the nail on the head.
"All right. Now there's a honey badger in front of you. It might not be that strong, and it's curled up in a hollow tree seeking shelter. But it has an advantage: it understands human speech, and it can help you dispose of the leopard's remains. If you want