Chapter 111 Dawn Knight
In a wide and somewhat dim room, damp water droplets condensed on the stone walls, hundreds of candles were fixed on the walls at different heights, and huge ribbons hung down from the towering ceiling supports, leaving intertwined shadows on the ground.
A huge conference table was placed in the center of the room. At this time, several masked people were sitting on both sides of the round table, watching the picture on a screen.
This is the meeting room of the Court of Owls.
The Court of Owls is a mysterious organization in DC comics. It has been active in Gotham since the early days of its existence. In some comic versions, it is described as an organization maintained by the founders of Gotham City or their descendants, and is the dark king of Gotham City.
Of course, there are more comic versions that have designed more conspiracies for this organization, such as the fact that the Court of Owls in Gotham City actually belongs to the world-class Council of Owls, and the Council of Owls is an organization under the command of the dark god Barbatos.
But no matter what, this organization has existed in Gotham for a long time and has been secretly controlling the city.
The members of the Court of Owls only gather together because of the conspiracy plan about Gotham City, and this time is no exception.
Of course, this was their original purpose, but the situation is different now, or in other words, when they saw a huge black monster jumping out of the monitoring equipment on the claw belt, the nature of the whole story has completely changed.
And the speed and impact of this change are really beyond everyone's expectations.
During the period when Gotham City changed, the Court of Owls was not completely unconcerned, but the problem is that any organization of parliamentary nature needs to go through a series of discussion meetings and members' statements when deciding on something. The Court of Owls is no exception. For Gotham's recent changes, they need to investigate, collect evidence, analyze, and then vote.
Yes, this damn evil organization is damn rigorous, and its case handling efficiency is much better than that of the Gotham Police Department.
But in short, after a period of reaction, the Court of Owls finally found out from the clues that Gotham was the mastermind behind this change.
The Court of Owls is not actually worried about this change in Gotham, because the city is not actually developing in a better direction, and no one wants to save the city from the root. On the contrary, it has brought huge benefits to the city, which is actually in the interests of the Court of Owls.
What they cannot accept is that someone in a darker place can manipulate and influence the city more accurately than them. Once such a person appears, the Court of Owls must eliminate them.
So, Claw found his target, that is, the seemingly ordinary university professor, Schiller Rodriguez.
Originally, everything went smoothly, and the Court of Owls also thought that they would still nip one opponent after another in the bud as before, but all this began to change from the appearance of the black monster.
It is not surprising that the Court of Owls would install monitoring equipment on Claws. They were originally a conspiracy organization that monitored the entire city, but they never expected that the next big drama would directly shatter everyone's three views and fundamentally change the purpose of this meeting.
At this time, Schiller, who was still entangled with Venom Bat, also felt a little tricky. The battle between symbiotes was not like what he had seen in the movie, where two giant monsters beat each other.
As a factor creature, the battle between symbiotes is more likely to occur at the microscopic level, that is, devouring each other's symbiote factors, which is like a one-on-one duel turned into a legion war.
Schiller is not incapable of fighting this kind of battle, but he is facing a crazy dark bat. Venom Bat doesn't care how much symbiote factor he will lose, but just attacks madly, trying to bite more from Gray Fog.
There is no way to talk about tactics with such a crazy enemy, and defense will only make you lose more, so Schiller has to start a crazy attack, and the two symbiotes begin to devour each other without fear.
There was no fire or sound in this kind of battle. Everything seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious and silent atmosphere. Tangible things began to gradually become invisible in this crazy mutual devouring. The pulling of mucus and mist made it look more like a battle between light and shadow. Under the silent appearance, there were screams, chaos and crazy battles that ordinary people could not see.
The Court of Owls were not ordinary people. They did have some dark powers that ordinary people did not have.
Therefore, when facing this silent and noisy battle, the Court of Owls, who had never seen creatures like symbiotes, could only understand it as a higher-level mystical manifestation within their own worldview.
This battle that took place at an invisible level made it easier for them to associate it with the source of some dark forces. Unlike ordinary people, the Court of Owls could realize that this world was not as simple and peaceful as it seemed. They knew that there were more great and dark forces that were spying on everything in the universe.
The forms of Venom Bat and Gray Mist Schiller are too easy to associate with some demons beyond dimensions.
The huge black bat carries a terrifying dark power. Even through the screen, you can see the huge black tide that surges from Batman's dark side. Just one look makes people feel suffocated and terrified as if they were strangled by the neck.
And Schiller, the huge sun rising from the gray mist looks like a black hole that swallows everything. Those weird and bizarre mist patterns add a solemnity full of religious rituals in the weirdness and absurdity. It is really hard not to associate with something.
The infinite possibilities of the unique race of symbiotes make the changes of these two people look like nothing sudden.
In fact, the judgment of the Court of Owls is not wrong. The symbiote race itself is derived from a cosmic demon, and the two currently fighting are both the best in the symbiote race.
If possible, please allow Schiller to solemnly introduce a special and enthusiastic netizen to the Court of Owls -
The oldest of the seventh universe, the Satan of the universe, the Lord of the Abyss, the Emperor in Black, the Master of the Blackest Decayed Blade, the Beheader of the Celestial Gods, the stepfather of the God Butcher Gol, the God-friend of Thor, the headache generator of Thanos, the ultimate nightmare of the three cosmic empires - the God of Symbiotes, Knull.
Well, although the story of Knull mentioned before sounds a bit boring, in fact, this demon who forged the all-black death sword is still at a high level among the demons in the Marvel Universe, and his record is also ranked. Although his special descendants are not independent cosmic demons, they are at least direct relatives.
You know, in this era, most of the villains with names have not yet made their debut, let alone those demons who transcend the earth level, but the battle between these two people seems to have suddenly skipped countless power levels and directly changed the level of the battle from a street fight to a major cosmic event.
Can the Court of Owls not be shocked?
Therefore, the theme of this meeting changed from whether to interfere with Gotham to whether to evacuate Gotham.
After all, they were unaware of this change, and they didn't even know why the Batman they were closely monitoring suddenly became like this. They also didn't know what the result of this battle would be? The whole Gotham was destroyed? The whole earth was destroyed?
But at least, they were sure of one thing. Before they figured out why Batman and the professor suddenly jumped from ordinary people living on the ground to a cosmic-level big devil, it would be better not to make any drastic moves.
Moreover, what made them even more worried was that the changes in these two people were too sudden. There was no sign, and the Court of Owls did not find that the city was invaded by any mysterious force.
If these demons were organized and had infected many people in Gotham long ago, then who knew how many more such people there would be in Gotham City?
What if they spread their claws and poked one and exploded one, poked one and exploded one, then Gotham City would be filled with a bunch of cosmic demons, and they, the owls, would still have a fart to play with!
If every citizen of Gotham had this fighting power, Owl would not even have the chance to run home and cry while hugging Barbatos' thigh.
Schiller originally brought Venom to DC because he had seen in comics that Venom filled the aging bones and nervous system of his host Eddie. He thought that perhaps Venom could use the same method to treat Mr. Freeze's wife, but before he could do so, Venom actually ran to Batman on his own.
Batman can't parasitize anything. You, a Marvel outsider, want to come to our Gotham to beg for food?
Just thinking about this, Schiller found that the offensive from the opposite side seemed to have weakened. The gray mist bypassed a building again. Schiller condensed his body, stood on the edge of the highest building roof, and looked down.
The black bat made of mucus suddenly began to fly crookedly, as if it was fighting with itself and being dragged by an invisible force.
In the mind of the black bat, another battle became more and more intense.
Wave after wave of black tides covered the sky, and Bruce's personality consciousness was like a lone boat in a storm, swaying.
Even Bruce himself had never thought that his dark side would be so terrible.
Joining forces with him to fight the enemy was the miserable consciousness of Venom. He still didn't understand why he had poked a hornet's nest again.
Reluctantly resisting the scouring of a wave of black tides again, Bruce said to Venom: "Don't you call yourself an alien creature?!!! Why are the wills of you alien creatures so fragile?!!!"
Venom was almost mad to death. Is it because of my fragile will? ? ? Why do you humans like to create so many storms in your mind? ?
Extreme survival in the world of consciousness, right? ? ?
Venom was really wronged. When he first debuted, the first host he met was Deadpool.
Deadpool's brain was just like being stirred by a whisk that turned thousands of times. Everything on his body could grow except his brain.
Venom is like the butterfly stroke in a cesspool, and while Deadpool’s brain isn’t particularly dangerous, it’s just disgusting, really disgusting.
Venom was a little crazy because of him. He finally stayed in the body of an ordinary person for a while, but he couldn't resist the temptation and ran to Stark.
Stark's mind was not confused, but this damn bastard had an average of more than 3,000 thunderstorms in his mind every day, and the tornado and sandstorm were so big that he couldn't recognize his mother. Venom almost opened his head.
When Venom was shaken out of Stark's body, he felt a sense of relief for escaping death.
Then, he was locked in the jar and starved for a long time. Finally, he found an opportunity to run out. Venom was still happy, because as soon as he entered Bruce's body, he found that this seemed to be a rich second-generation with a good brain, and his brain didn't seem to work as fast as Stark's. Instead, his mind was full of irrelevant data such as ward beds and prison rooms.
Venom, who was full of longing for a happy life, thought he had happily drilled into an egg. Just as he was drooling over the egg yolk and was about to swallow it, the egg hatched a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a click, and Venom's head was almost bitten off.
Venom knew from his genetic information that the universe is so big, and humans are not the only race. Why is he so unlucky? Why did he just fall on the earth? ?
How could humans be so outrageous? If one day he can also compile the gene library of the symbiont, he must tell all his compatriots: stay away from humans, safety first, and if you don't choose a host in a standard way, the symbiont will shed tears.
But no matter how aggrieved or complained, the battle still had to be fought. Venom said to Bruce: "I can stimulate your emotions. You must have an extreme emotion now to suppress this dark emotion."
Thanks to Stark, Venom's logic system comes from this genius cursed by knowledge. His thinking is very clear now, even clearer than Bruce's. After all, Bruce is confused by the authorities, but Venom knows very well that in order to defeat this dark emotion from the dark side, Bruce must stimulate enough positive emotions.
"Then what are you still standing there for? Let's get started." Bruce said.
"The problem is that I can't find your positive emotions!!!!!!"
Venom yelled: "Where did you hide them? Turn them out quickly!!! That's our lifeline!!!"
Venom was hit by the black tide again, and he said a little collapsed: "What on earth is there to hide here!!! You stupid humans!!!" "
Bruce opened his mouth. He didn't know how to answer Venom's question. It sounded ridiculous, but even an alien creature that could see into people's hearts couldn't find his positive emotions.
"You have to hurry!" Venom's tone was very similar to Stark's at this time. Obviously, this genius had a great influence on him.
"Your dark emotions seem to carry some other power. Once they are fully erupted, your hometown, which is the city we are in now, will definitely be completely destroyed! Nothing will be left!"
Bruce pursed his lips and once again avoided the attack of the dark consciousness.
Destroy Gotham? This may sound crazy, but it is so reasonable. This crazy city should have been destroyed long ago. What is there to miss here?
Alfred's face appeared in his mind. He remembered the expression of the old butler when he was sitting in front of the bed, and the pleasant tunes he hummed when he wiped the old phone alone in the dark living room.
This was not unexpected to Bruce. If he had only one person in this city who he was attached to, he would have been very happy. The person must be his butler Alfred. If there is only one place that he feels nostalgic for, it is Wayne Manor where Alfred is.
Soon. His memory began to become a little hazy, as if he had returned to Wayne Manor. He pushed open a door like every other morning.
But to his surprise, behind this door was the dark rain alley of Gotham. Detective Gordon called him the tights weirdo for the first time. They worked together to investigate and track down, and then the detective in the windbreaker and the bat in the cape, on the roof of the Gotham Police Department, they talked about justice and this... The future of the city.
When it was late at night, Batman turned and left. When he returned to the manor, an old friend was already waiting for him in the dim candlelight. Batman and Harvey sat on the sofa. They talked about many things, as if there were endless topics to talk about. They talked like good teachers and helpful friends. Bruce was already confused about the principles he talked about, but the tacit understanding between the communication was still very clear.
Soon, he shuttled through the lights of Gotham's high-rise buildings, hugged and kissed Catwoman, and fell into a beautiful dream.
Those dancing gauze curtains, knocked over wine glasses, scattered The wine that fell, every gentle and crazy night, the kisses that made a bat's cold body temperature stained with passion, the passionate lover who made him feel extremely fascinated, telling him stories about jewelry and castles that Batman would never be interested in. In his memory, he listened very seriously, but in his opinion, Catwoman's eyes were brighter than the gems she used all the words to describe.
The rustling sound of the pen falling on the paper sounded, and Bruce seemed to be back to an examination scene. He looked at his classmates scratching their heads in the examination room, perhaps feeling amazed, or perhaps feeling helpless.
Then, he painted murals with those people, watching the black paint flow down the wall, spontaneously forming some mysterious patterns he had never seen before, like the door of a time machine.
He walked through this door, and time flew forward, advancing little by little in his dreamlike memory to the present, and then began to rapidly retreat, all people and objects returned to their original positions like a reversed movie, until they returned to the place where a black sun rose, and he heard a familiar voice say to him: "Welcome to Gotham."
Venom watched the consciousness space begin to tremble, and some broken cracks revealed strong light. He cursed secretly and quickly began to thread the needle in Bruce's emotions, trying to guide these fragmented positive emotions together.
A little bit of light gradually rose, and then gathered into a more dazzling ball of light.
The counterattack of the black tide was more violent, like black ink that soaked the entire world. A black ocean began to spread in the consciousness space, and the surging waves covered the sky.
Bruce, who had been pulled out of the memory space, floated above the black tide. Through the layers of black waves, he saw that in the deepest part of this black ocean, there was a curled up little boy. That was him, Bruce Wayne.
Soon, Schiller saw the huge bat made of mucus, falling to the ground headfirst. The mucus began to slowly recycle and then all retracted into Bruce's body.
Schiller jumped off the roof and stood in front of Bruce. Bruce climbed up from the ground, or rather, it was the venom that controlled his body now.
"How did you get out?"
"You have to ask that woman who ran to your house and stole the jar."
The woman who stole the jar? Schiller thought, there is only one female thief in Gotham who has this ability, could it be Catwoman?
"I shouldn't have believed Stark's lies." Schiller said, "He told me that his symbiote must live in a mansion worthy of the world's richest man, so he used his strange instruments to make a diamond jar and assured me that it was both beautiful and practical."
"Then I have to thank him."
In an instant, the black mucus burst out again, but this time Venom turned into its original form, that is, a big mouth full of fangs and a bright red tongue.
"Then how did you get to Batman?"
"Don't you think it's too slow to communicate in a human way? Don't waste my time." Venom said.
"Your tone reminds me of a very annoying guy."
Venom separated a mucus tentacle, and the gray mist slowly dispersed a cloud of mist. The moment the symbiote factor came into contact, the two sides exchanged countless information.
Gray Mist said to Schiller in his mind: "...a woman with cat ears...just like that car...a necessary process for human reproduction...if he is not allowed to see...he will not understand..."
"Okay, I know..." Schiller covered his forehead. He already knew what was going on. He said: "Don't tell me the details. Bruce deserved it."
Then Venom grinned with his big mouth and said: "You can't catch me anymore! Hahahahaha! I'm free!! I'm going to eat the brains of everyone here!! I..."
"I said before that before considering eating, Before that, you may have trouble to deal with..."
Venom was about to answer him when he felt his consciousness was suppressed again. He yelled unwillingly: "No! Damn human! Damn man! !"
But in the end, the mucus returned to the body. Bruce shook his head and said: "Did it succeed? What's going on?"
"You should ask the good-for-nothing in your body."
"That's not what I mean. He has told me who he is and what he is going to do. What I mean is..." Bruce covered his head in pain and said: "Why am I out of control? What are the terrible negative emotions? Why is the darkness? "" It seems that you have discovered. "Schiller said:" The darkness in your body is terrible. Although it has never had control before, you may destroy everything. " No ... no ... "Bruce covered his eyes and squatted down. He knelt on the ground and seemed very painful. He said," I am not ... I am Batman ... I am Batman ... "" You think you have become another you, but in fact, this is just a look. In a Batman, his voice began to seem more and more vain. He said, "Batman? You are a bit different from him. Indeed, he is not blindly pursuing darkness." "He is the ultimate darkness, the ultimate light, and the ultimate darkness is in charge of this cities without medicine, and then the destruction of the extreme darkness may be blocked by light."
This sounded more like Schiller's sigh. Bruce's voice was full of fatigue. He said, "I thought I didn't need those. I am the Avenger in the dark. I don't need any useless emotions that may shake my beliefs. I am not that ridiculous Bruce, the powerless, unable to save and change anything, little Bruce..."
It was also the first time that Schiller heard such obvious tremors in his tone. Bruce's tone was almost shaking so much that he couldn't finish the last complete word. Or maybe he didn't want to say it.
This was the first time he said what he had been avoiding - that night, the two gunshots, the two people who fell in a pool of blood, and the powerless little boy named Bruce Wayne.
He thought that little Bruce was buried forever that night.
So when he realized that he still had the same illusions about this world and the pleasant memories of the movie that night as that little boy, it seemed that all the hatred and hatred-driven efforts over the years were like self-deceiving escapes.
Facing the little boy who lost his parents directly brought Schiller more intense emotional fluctuations than facing Batman. For the first time, he no longer gave advice like a detached spectator, but really said like an exhortation: "... Even in Gotham, there is daytime."
Bruce's Adam's apple moved, and he took a deep breath, as if he was suddenly injected with some vitality. He stood up, trembling a little. The cold wind of Gotham night blew on his bat armor, bringing a tremor that no one could hear.
He limped a little and slowly walked to the edge of the roof.
Standing there, he saw that a glow appeared on the skyline of Gotham City, and a thin golden line cut through the dense darkness like the creation of the world.
Bruce had never seen the sunrise in Gotham.
He suddenly discovered that even in such a dark and gloomy city, the light that cut through the darkness at the moment of the sun rising was still the most brilliant and brilliant he had never seen before.
The darker it is, the more shocking the light seems.
Bruce closed his eyes, and he slowly gathered the fingers of one hand, as if holding the light that cut through the darkness.
Soon, Bruce took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The sun's glow was contained in his eyes, and the light arc on the horizon left a bright golden streak in his pupils.
No one knew that he had briefly seen the little boy lying under the black tide in his consciousness space. It was not until he saw him that Bruce realized that he always regarded those happy memories as the first reward for his painful life. Therefore, whenever he got a little happiness, he always wanted to repay it with ten times the pain.
He was so eager to avoid these happy memories, just like instinctively avoiding pain.
He wanted to be Batman, and what he had to accept was not only these pains and darkness, but also that he had always been that little boy. He had been looking forward to that movie and yearning for those lights.
Just like that dark night many years ago, without the expectation of light, there would never be a desire to blend into the darkness.
"Who am I?"
He whispered, "Who am I?"
The light of dawn would not answer him, but he already had the answer in his heart. He said, "I am Bruce Wayne..."
"I am Batman..."
His tone began to become gentle: "...I am, Batman."
A silent and heavy oath fell in his heart, like a heavy stone tablet, standing firm under the scouring of the black tide.
From today on, there will only be one Batman in this dark city, Bruce Wayne, and also Batman.
From today on, he will bear the dark power from the crazy city of Gotham, and then hold the bright blade of dawn.
He will stand above this living hell, the cold wind cannot penetrate his armor, and the flames cannot melt his heart.
He will ignore any rules, fear no guilt, take dawn as the boundary, take dawn as the sign, be in the dark, and be in the light, and always be in the light.
Bruce thought, he will be the dawn of Gotham.
He will be - Batman.