The moment Gotham's old master asked the question,
Ian's first instinct was to pick up the phone and chew it to pieces.
Teeth were humanity's oldest and strongest built-in weapons. Even if they shattered, it would not matter to someone with self-healing. To Ian, cracking a few teeth every now and then could even save the family some money on teenage dentist visits.
"I'd advise against that."
The voice on the other end was low and hoarse.
"I built a tiny bomb into that phone. If it gets crushed too hard, it will release the smell of poop right inside your mouth."
The moment those words landed,
Ian froze.
"The smell of poop?!"
His eyes were full of shock.
It was obvious he was genuinely scared.
"You want to gamble on it? Maybe what I really put in there is the fragrance of blooming pear blossom."
The real Batman's voice stayed perfectly steady, but to Ian it sounded like a devil whispering in his ear.
Pear blossom itself was fine.
But pear-blossom-like fragrance?
Ian truly could not bring himself to bite down.
Even the gambling king of Metropolis had times when he dared not place a bet. Batman really was Batman. At that moment, Ian felt exactly like one of Gotham's villains, lost and shaken.
"The signal's kind of bad over here... hang on, let me move somewhere else."
Ian forced himself to act like he could not hear clearly, but the Batman on the other end seemed to have predicted that trick already.
"The communication satellite is directly above you. The place you're standing right now has the best signal on Earth."
It had to be said, Batman was much harder to deal with than Bruce.
"And if you were planning to argue that you're Metropolis Batman, not Gotham Batman, let me save you some time. Every variation of that title, along with all the obvious wordplay versions..."
"The copyrights all belong to me."
He really meant business.
Ian honestly felt like crying.
How had it only been twenty or thirty hours since they last met, and somehow now he felt completely cornered?
"I've always had a dream of being a hero. Honestly... I admired Batman before I was even born, and that's exactly why I got tempted and controlled by a demon."
Luckily, Ian also had a habit of preparing backup plans.
"A demon?"
A faint laugh came from the other end, like Bruce had just heard something amusing.
At that same moment, Ian quickly leaped back from the edge of the building to a section of roof where the reporters could not film him.
"The demon's right here. Can you see it? Does this phone have some creepy hidden camera made for spying on minors?"
He lifted his cape and aimed the front-facing camera at what had been hidden behind him.
There,
hanging off the back of Ian's waist,
was a gagged demon bull head.
It had also been covered in thick clown makeup, as if proving that Ian had his own Joker too.
And how was that not proof that Ian was Batman too?
...
Apparently Batman really was using the phone camera to watch.
He sank into a long silence.
A very long silence.
Ian could hear nothing but the heavy sound of breathing from the other end.
"Batman is a spirit. Carrying on the spirit of Batman starts with me, starts young. You can be Batman, I can be Batman, everyone can be Batman. There was never just one Batman in this world. Or rather, everyone is Batman."
The silence in the air made Ian feel awkward, so he chose to butter him up a little.
Unfortunately,
the breathing on the other end only got heavier.
A moment later,
"If that were true, I think the world would already be over."
Batman's tone was still amazingly stable as he gave his verdict on Ian's little speech. At this point he no longer wanted to discuss the Batman issue at all. That clown makeup on the bull head had nearly sent his blood pressure through the roof.
"Let's say, purely hypothetically, that I try one more excuse. If I said Green Arrow came to me in a dream and told me to do all this, would you be willing to pretend to believe me and go pick a fight with him?"
Ian was still trying hard to be the kind of kid who could argue his way out of anything.
Unexpectedly, Batman did not seem interested in holding him responsible for the impersonation.
"With great power comes great responsibility. For that line alone, I'll save your life. Get in the car."
His voice sounded faintly emotional as he made the suggestion.
"Save my life?"
Ian was still confused.
"Your dad will arrive at your location in three minutes. As for me, I've already done everything I can."
Batman's tone was very calm, but Ian's face instantly flushed red.
"Damn it! You've been stalling me for him!"
He exploded in frustration.
Now he was genuinely panicking.
After glancing around wildly, he chose not to get into the Batmobile. He still did not dare gamble on Batman's generosity, so he sprinted and jumped straight off the building.
In front of everyone's stunned eyes,
Ian performed a free fall.
"Ah! Where's his grappling hook?!"
"Oh my God! Batman jumped!"
"Film it! Batman Dies! That's a front-page headline!"
...
The reporters descended into chaos, every camera turning toward the falling figure.
But the expected tragedy never came.
After hitting the ground, the black-clad figure simply lay there without moving for a dozen seconds.
Just as the reporters were hesitating over whether they should move in and capture a rare photo of Batman flattened into Flatman, the black shape on the ground suddenly started crawling forward on all fours.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Every citizen of Metropolis watching felt like they had taken a direct hit to the soul.
A moment later,
one especially sharp reporter finally realized something.
"So this is where the title Batman comes from? Most bats do crawl in a twisted way like that after landing!"
That first moment of insight triggered a chain reaction of understanding among the other reporters and onlookers.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
Everyone decided it made perfect sense.
The flashes started going off again.
On live television, the black-clad figure crawled low like a bat for several yards, then abruptly sprang up and tore off into the distance at incredible speed.
A lot of viewers watching live probably saw that moment too.
And they understood.
"This is the real Batman!"
Recognition and praise always grow out of understanding.
She understood.
He understood.
They all understood.
And, at exactly the right moment, through pure coincidence and absurd good fortune, Ian's class change quest was completed because of it.
[Ding! Class change quest complete!]
[New class: Savage Tyrant recorded!]
[Obtained talent skill: Perfect Divinity!]
Successfully finishing the class change quest this smoothly should have been a reason to celebrate.
But Ian could not feel happy right now.
He did not even have time to check his new ability.
The reason was simple.
The reporters had already started shouting that Superman had appeared.
What they saw was Superman flying in the sky.
Only Ian knew it was just his dad chasing him from behind.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]