5. Lies Become Reality

"As I said just now, Thomas... my Thomas was a terrible father."

Bruce did not notice the expression of increasing shock and heartbreak on the man opposite him; he continued to weave his story in a slightly dry tone.

"He was always so busy that he had little time for me. Once I reached the right age, he sent me off to a private boarding school."

"I suppose less contact was for the best for both of us."

Such blunt words caused Thomas to reveal that mixture of sorrow and guilt once again. This was perhaps the common failing of good men—feeling guilty for things they had never done.

He took a deep breath, slightly regretting that he had picked at the scars of his child's counterpart, and decided to switch to a topic that concerned him just as much.

"I heard you say earlier that your father has been searching for... Superman?"

He saw Bruce jolt, the expression on his face growing more sullen, as if a sore spot had been touched.

In truth, it was indeed a sore spot.

Because Bruce’s mind was practically in an uproar, and even with three of them putting their heads together, they had failed to smooth over that particular statement.

Clark had completely given up on patching the lie.

[Bruce, why on earth did you have to add that bit about Superman? Now what? How are we supposed to explain why Thomas would be looking for Superman before he even exists?]

Bruce suppressed the irritation in his heart.

[There’s no other way. I’ll just make something up; I need to get this guy out of here first.]

[? No, Bruce, don't just mess around! Don't go randomly adding settings for Superman!]

[Don't worry. Once he's gone, we can properly think about what kind of persona Superman should have. In any case, nothing said right now counts; let's just get past this hurdle first.]

Bruce adjusted his emotions, specifically by recalling every instance in his life that had made him angry with Clark, and successfully ignited a genuine fire of resentment toward Clark—aka Superman—in his eyes.

"Yes, Superman. How could I forget Superman?"

He crossed his arms, his tone dripping with enough sarcasm for anyone to hear.

"Thomas said that Superman is the best of us all. He is hope, the Son of Tomorrow, the one who will lead humanity toward a better future."

"So, he poured almost all of his energy into the cause of finding Superman, while Martha and I could only wait at home for his triumphant return—oh, why are you looking at me like that? Of course we supported him, after all, everyone loves Superman."

Bruce pulled at the corner of his mouth and shrugged, yet the slight furrows between his brows seemed to scream his disdain for this "Son of Tomorrow" who had stolen his father’s heart.

However, he was actually frowning because Clark was emitting a sharp, piercing screech inside his head.

[What kind of nonsense is this? I told you, I'm playing Superman! Superman! Don't just project Captain America onto me!]

Superman is a small-town boy who grew up in Kansas, not some old popsicle frozen for seventy years! The characterization is completely ruined!

Bruce couldn't be bothered to respond.

He licked his slightly dry lips. Seeing that Thomas appeared stunned by such an information-heavy outburst and was quietly digesting it, he let out a sigh of relief while simultaneously complaining about why the ten minutes weren't up yet.

Alfred, meanwhile, dutifully performed his role as a butler, pouring a cup of tea for Bruce.

Bruce took the cup and, out of reflex, thanked him politely, much as he would to a waiter at a restaurant.

"Thank you."

When he looked up, he saw the look of renewed shock on Thomas's face.

?

What was wrong? Were people in the Wayne family not supposed to be polite?

Bruce found the situation baffling.

Thomas, however, was not having a pleasant time. As the chairman of Wayne Enterprises, though he was devoted to surgery and uninterested in business, he had passively learned many skills in reading people.

For instance, right now, if what he felt before was merely a vague sense of unease, he was now almost certain:

Alfred, his most loyal butler and friend, the man who had watched little Bruce grow up, was incredibly distant from Bruce in this parallel world!

Good heavens, they didn't look like family members supporting one another at all; they looked as if they had just met!

A profound sadness struck Thomas’s heart at that moment, leaving him unable to speak.

How could things be this way?

If Bruce’s relationship with his father was poor, and his relationship with his mother seemed hardly worth mentioning, and even the butler who should have watched him grow up was so estranged from him... then in what kind of loneliness did his parallel-world self grow up?

Thomas parted his lips, just about to say something, when a bright white light flashed before his eyes, and suddenly, he could see nothing.

The scene was familiar, much like the one he had encountered when he arrived.

As expected, when the whiteness faded and his vision returned to normal, he was back in the Batcave.

It was the raw, natural Batcave of his own world, lacking the sophisticated artificial designs of the parallel world. It looked dirty and messy, yet it made him feel an intense sense of nostalgia.

He stood there for a few seconds, then, as if suddenly snapped back to reality, he ran frantically upward, all the way to the manor, and wrapped his arms tightly around his Martha and little Bruce.

Thomas Wayne had no secrets from his family, but this time, he did not want to share his strange journey through the parallel universe.

It was not a pleasant story, and he firmly believed he would never let that world become his future.

Joking aside, he was the best father in little Bruce’s heart—how could he ever turn into that person?!

However, whenever the image of the grown-up Bruce’s sullen, lonely expression flashed before his eyes, along with the cold and ironic words he used when mentioning his father, he still felt an irrepressible sadness.

Out of a sentiment he could not fully grasp, he wrote everything down. After hesitating for a long time, he buried this letter, along with the box, deep underground.

He did not bury it near the manor, but beside the lakeside villa designed by the architect Martha loved.

Perhaps, once his Bruce had grown up healthy and happy, he would take his beloved family with him to dig up the box and proudly tell them that their family was the happiest of a billion possibilities.

However, Thomas did not know at that moment that in a billion possibilities, he would fall in that alleyway, never to have that chance.

***

[Finally, we got rid of that guy!]

Clark voiced the sentiments of everyone on the mental channel.

If it weren't for the fact that Bruce couldn't afford to break character even when there were no outsiders, he probably would have slumped onto the sofa by now.

He was exhausted. During the few minutes he had been sparring with Thomas, his heart had grown so weary that he didn't even want to look back at the foolish things he had said.

After wallowing in his mental exhaustion for a minute, Bruce braced himself.

[World Consciousness just said that because we haven't launched the main storyline for so long, the space-time barrier has grown thin, which is why Thomas from that parallel universe accidentally slipped through. We’d better get the script written quickly, otherwise, there will likely be more of these random intruders.]

Acting was already a hassle; if he had to deal with more strange counterparts barging in, he didn't dare imagine how messy the final plot would become.

Using the permissions granted by World Consciousness, Bruce tentatively set up a script system on the mental channel, where both he and Clark had the authority to add settings and plot points.

However, the script collection, which should have been a blank slate, sprouted a long paragraph of text the moment it appeared.

[You remember to give me a simple character profile, don't do what you just did—wait, what is that?!]

Clark had intended to monitor the birth of his character profile from start to finish, but upon seeing the bizarre text, he was so startled that he began to float in the Fortress of Solitude.

Bruce nearly fell off the sofa as well.

Because, within the settings collection belonging to Superman and Batman, strings of golden, glowing characters had already been branded in!

[Batman: Bruce Wayne, has a poor relationship with his father, Thomas. The cause is an inability to tolerate his father’s neglect and his father’s fanatical obsession with finding Superman...

Superman: Clark Kent (?), suspected to have known Thomas over 30 years ago, age unknown...

Warning, warning: Superman’s identity settings are about to become contradictory. Director, please immediately add a logic chain to make Superman’s settings consistent!]

Bruce: "..."

Clark: "...Bruce!"

The novice Superman, far away in the Arctic, flew out of the Fortress of Solitude in grief and indignation, trying to calm himself... but that was a joke—he couldn't calm down at all!

"Tell me, what are we supposed to do now?!"