novelraw Chapter 243 Monsters
Chapter 243 Monsters
Meanwhile, in the mansion above the Batcave, Bruce and Dick are about to bring Zack, still in handcuffs, into the study.
Damian followed silently. After seeing the room they chose, his anger burned even more. He was very dissatisfied with such a comfortable "interrogation" environment.
"Study, are you two serious? Why don't you let Ah Fu pour him a cup of tea?!"
"Good advice, Master Damian." Dick made a fairly standard British accent, and winked at Damian, "If Ah Fu was here, he would definitely say that."
Dick's attempts to liven things up certainly didn't work, and Damian was unimpressed, "I'm being sarcastic, Grayson!"
Bruce asked Dick to lead Zach into the study, and stayed outside. He reached out to stop his son, and said in a low voice, "Damian, let me ask you, can a handcuff bind you?"
"Of course not!" Damian choked.
"Similarly, a handcuff can't tie him down." Bruce explained patiently, "So, he chose to come back with Jason and stay here."
"When you were ten years old, when you came back from resurrection, you went to the deep sea alone in the middle of the night to find Arthur Curry. With his help, you let go of all the deformed clones made by Thalia. They were carefully selected by you. I got freedom and safety on an isolated island." Bruce recalled the story nine years ago, "You said to Arthur at that time that they were family."
"You said—they're you, and you're them." *Bruce continued whispering to Damian, "Deep down in your heart, you don't want to hurt Zack."
"...They are not as evil as him." Damian pointed to the study room irritably.
"One of the clones that Thalia made back then even killed you with his own hands." Bruce frowned, Damian's death was one of the memories he least wanted to bring up, "In the study, that one hasn't hurt anyone yet. Human Zack, do you think he's more evil than the clone that killed you?"
"He hurt Harry." Damian still defended.
"We don't know the specific situation yet. Judging from Zach's frankness in his words and deeds, I choose to believe him."
"Why can you... treat him so calmly?" Damian asked the doubts that had been lingering in his mind today.
Is father's attitude towards Zac a normal attitude towards a cloned monster?
But... Damian's heart trembled for a moment, what right did he have to accuse others of being monsters?
"Mother is a monster, she specializes in making monsters, and I am actually... one of the monsters." Damian closed his eyes and whispered.
They were all born in artificial wombs, and grew up in killing training for the purpose of conquering the world. In their ears, those brainwashers who regard human life as nothing, he and Zach, and those deformed fetuses who gained freedom on isolated islands, Actually there is no difference.
Just look at Zack, he's become something that mothers can mass-produce, of high quality, and that's right.
He is not surprised that his future mother will even create an elite army composed of his clones; even his grandfather, who has been eyeing the young body all the time, can finally be resurrected with the body of a clone. *When the time comes...what will Harry think of him?What would these families... think of him?
Bruce looked at his son who was a little taller than himself, but at the moment was as fragile as the ten-year-old boy back then.
"My attitude towards Zach is the same as the belief I have always insisted on." Bruce held Damian's shoulder, "You are my son, you are not a monster, so neither is Zach."
Damian was silent for a moment, it's too embarrassing, he's 19 years old... he forced himself to calm down, and then nodded.
"Okay, the study is the study..."
****************
Zach told Bruce about his experience with Harley in that cave, how she defeated the dark wizard, and how she saved him.
And... Afterwards, how he got so hot-headed that he took her away who was still in a coma without authorization.
"Halley needs better medical conditions, I can't give her." Zach said: "I was going to take her here directly today. However, we ran into the Red Hood halfway."
Bruce and Dick listened carefully, asking questions now and then.
"It's like this as soon as she wakes up? Can't even remember her own name?"
Zach nodded.
"The second week, she seemed to start to have vague memories," Zach added, "for example, she mentioned that she was always hungry when she was a child, and you didn't starve her, right... During the half month with me, she was always hungry. They all eat a lot and are unhealthy."
Damian had noticed just now that Halle had indeed put on a little weight - it just made her cuter.
"Also, she mentioned that she wears men's clothing." Zach stared at Damian when he said this, looking at Damian inexplicably.
"So, she's starting to think about things from before she was eight years old?" Dick asked.
"...I don't know about that," Zach frowned and shook his head, "I don't even know the details of her life before she was 8 years old."
"How did you escape our investigation?" Damian interjected.
"We are in the secret base of the Assassin League in Gotham, abandoned, so it may not be on your intelligence map."
"So, you kept her locked up..." Damian said through gritted teeth. She was locked in a closed environment covered with lead for 24 hours, so no matter how many times or how slowly Superman flew around the earth, he couldn't hear her heartbeat.
"You act like you care about her, yet you keep restricting her freedom?!"
"This is exactly what I did wrong, I shouldn't..." Zach whispered.
Damian jumped up from the sofa, and was firmly held down by Dick, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed.
"Why are you stopping me!" Damian turned to Dick and shouted, "I'm going to punch that hypocritical face!"
"I'm glad you finally get to see from Zach how annoying some of the looks on your face are," Dick said half-jokingly.
Damian still stared at everyone angrily.
"Dick, take Damian out of the study," Bruce instructed, and at the same time said to Damian: "Since you have no self-control, you can't continue to participate in this conversation."
"Father, no..." Damian protested.
"Take him away, Dick. Give him a tranquilizer if necessary."
Seeing his father's serious expression, Damian could only calm down reluctantly and let Dick pull him away.
"Come on, you giant who didn't know what to eat," Dick patted Damian on the back and led him out of the study, "You need a good night's sleep."
When Damian was about to leave the study, Zach suddenly spoke——
"Harry and I, we didn't do anything, Damian Wayne. I assure you with my character." He said to Damian's back.
If Harley recovers her memory in the future, she definitely doesn't want Damian to have any misunderstandings.
Damian's hand gripped the antique door frame for a few seconds, and Dick swore he heard the wood squeeze.
"I don't care...I just want her to come home." These were Damian's last words before leaving.
**************
After Damian and Dick left the study, Bruce and Zach had a private conversation about Harley.
The atmosphere of dialogue between the two was very peaceful and pragmatic.
Finally, Bruce began to think about Zach's personal safety.
Zac is not the clones that Damian once placed on the island. They are all deformed fetuses, without the IQ of normal humans, only basic animal instincts.So they can be suitable for a deserted island with no one.Zach, on the other hand, is a perfect clone. He has emotions and reason, and needs social relationships.
"Talia must still be looking for you," Bruce said.
"She's not looking for me," Zach shook his head. "She's hunting me. She won't put up with me and give me a chance—after all, I'm not...Damian himself."
"I will negotiate with Thalia." Bruce stroked his chin, thinking about the countermeasures, "When the negotiation is not completed, for your safety, I can only send you to the watchtower first—space is the only thing that the Assassin League has not yet completed." The place where I got my finger."
"You don't want to be locked in the mansion by me all the time, do you?" he asked Zach.
Zach shook his head.
"The watchtower will be a more suitable place for you. There are a lot of coordination tasks in space, which need to be done by people with technical skills. Let me make a bold guess, your education level should be similar to Damian's?"
"No, I'm not as smart as he is. I only studied science and engineering subjects that Mrs. Thalia thinks are 'useful'. She doesn't see me as a future heir." Zach said frankly: "Besides, I won't draw."
"Enough, do you think you can handle it, the watchtower job?" Bruce asked finally.
"I can do it." Zach nodded and said seriously: "Thank you, you are a good person, Mr. Wayne."
His son's face, thanking him politely, and calling him "Mr. Wayne"... Bruce thought it would take a while for him to fully adapt to this weird scene.
Alfred and Jason had left the Batcave by this time, and joined Bruce in the study.
Alfred hands Bruce a tablet with all the physicals Harley just completed.
The good news is that her body is generally healthy; the bad news is that it is in the same direction as Bruce's previous considerations-her head has unhealed trauma.
"Back then, after the battle with the clown, your brain was completely changed, so you lost your memory." Afu interpreted Harley's brain scan to Bruce.
"And Harry isn't like that?" Bruce asked.
"Harry, strictly speaking, has not died. The Dionysian factor she injected in advance has been repairing the trauma caused by the infrasound. However, according to my guess, the medicine may not be enough in the later stage... which caused her head Wounds are slow to heal."
"That's because...she gave me the rest." Zach explained to Ah Fu with a guilty expression.
"Then what should I do? You mean, as long as the wound on Harley's head can be healed, her memory can be restored?" Jason said, "That's not a problem. I can steal some water from Lazarus Pool for her."
"I can go with the Red Hood," Zach volunteered. "I'll lead the way."
Ah Fu shook his head and vetoed, "First, it's too risky; second, we can't guarantee that she will recover her memory after using the pool water,"
"I consulted Leslie, and she was not optimistic about it." Ah Fu continued: "Craniotomy is unnecessary. The last part of Harley's brain trauma has begun to improve under the body's self-healing ability. Even with unconventional means to speed up recovery, there is such a time gap that some memories may have been completely lost — or even all of them.”
"What does this mean?!" Jason asked loudly, "She will never remember?"
Ah Fu was silent for a while, "We can tell her..." He whispered, "Just like I told all the stories to Master Bruce back then."
"The result? I couldn't accept it at all at first..." Bruce objected, "It might not be a bad thing for her to start over. I don't support telling Harley everything."
***************
Regardless of Dick's obstruction, Damian rushed into the Batcave after leaving the study.
Halle was getting an infusion on the hospital bed, and Tim was packing up disposable blood vessels and other medical tools outside the medical room, and encrypted all the records.
"Can I have a look at her?" Damian strode over hurriedly.
Tim looked helplessly at Damian, then at Dick who spread his hands behind Damian, "If I say no, will it work?"
Damian shrugged and curled his lips, "Probably useless. But it's at least polite to ask you."
Before Tim had time to reach out to stop him, he walked into the medical room where the beds were.
Harry looked up with a momentary look of surprise, but she immediately saw the difference between Damian and Zach.
"Oh...you're not him." She murmured.
Harley's performance made Damian's blood surge up, who was already extremely exhausted and his self-control had declined.
"You want 'him'?" he couldn't help raising his voice, "not me?" and strode closer to Harry's hospital bed.
In Harry's view, this man with a terrifying face was tall and full of gloomy oppression.
"I..." She didn't understand what she did wrong to offend this man.Her hands that did not get needles had already grasped the armrest of the hospital bed, and her legs were curled up under the quilt, trying in vain to shrink into the bed.
Dick hurried into the medical room and grabbed Damian by the shoulders.
"Go back upstairs to your room, Damian, and go now. Or I'll give you a tranquilizer," he ordered gravely in a low voice.
The author has something to say:
*Rice let go of the clone, from New 52 Batman and Robin Volume 38, page 19, on that page, Dami comforts the shoulder of a huge deformed clone, saying "You are me, I am you." It hurts so much!
*Lei Xiaogu wants to use Damian's body to resurrect, which is also a setting in the comics; it is also in the animation of "Batman: Blood and Enmity".
*There's dog food in the back, babies.The main soul in the samurai sword has already been confessed in the previous conversation that he was killed by Raven Nen, and he spread his hands, and he doesn't plan to give Lao Fu any more roles.