Hostages? What hostages?" Donnie stopped what he was doing, turned around and looked at Bruce with a dangerous look, "What hostages did you say? What did you do to my people?"
"I have a hostage. You know that man..." Bruce said with difficulty. "Come back with me and I won't hurt him. Since you keep saying you don't trust Harvey, then prove it with facts. Rescue Harvey and let him prove to you and me! Who is wrong?"
"Bruce, I still underestimated the extent of your shamelessness..." Donny knocked Bruce to the ground again, his eyes becoming more and more dangerous.
In an instant, many faces flashed through Donnie's mind. Who could the hostage be? Klein, the old bartender, Blade, or even Anderson, who was in Arkham Prison...
"Come back with me, Donny, we must rescue Harvey first..." Bruce spat out a mouthful of blood and gasped.
Donny's expression was cold, yet with some difficult-to-conceal complexity: "You pinned your hopes of transforming Gotham on Harvey, yet you harbor great hostility towards me... Because he's a prosecutor? It's legal? But he's not that great. You'll regret it..."
The extreme personality of a two-faced person is no joke...
"You clearly have great strength, but you watched the weak people go to their deaths. You could have encouraged them, and then rushed to the front and defeated the Falken family with thundering force." Bruce said.
"Listen carefully, Bruce. I never owed the people of Gotham anything! On the contrary, I gave them the courage and opportunity to resist. The power unleashed by these impoverished people at once was enough to terrify all the gangs. I gave them opportunities and tangible hope, while all you've been doing for the past year or so is giving them visions, visions of heroes protecting them."
Downey gradually gave up his murderous intent. Bruce was a man of such stubbornness, yet sometimes foolishness, who relished the hard things he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have transformed into Batman and enforced justice the moment he returned to Gotham. But precisely because of this, he was sometimes even more infuriating.
He thought again of the "no killing" principle that Batman had followed for a period of time. He caught and released, released and caught, like a repetitive cycle. Batman himself was also wavering between light and darkness, living in contradiction.
"Going back? People like the Joker and Harvey are just small matters. I have more pressing matters to attend to. Go back, Bruce. I don't want to bother with you. I'll be back to Gotham soon after I finish what I'm doing." Donny stared at the endless night, unblinking. He could sense that the lurking undead were already stirring.
An owl danced in the sky, flapping its wings, and finally disappeared into the night, like a ghost that only appeared at night.
Bruce stared at Donnie for a long time.
Finally, he stood up in silence and left with the help of Alfred who arrived just in time. Bruce's expression was complicated, and Alfred's expression was even more complicated. Alfred looked at Bruce, then at Donnie, and opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by Bruce.
"Let's go, Alfred..." Bruce waved his hand.
"Okay, Master." Alfred, under Donnie's watchful eye, supported Bruce and walked away. After walking for a while, Alfred couldn't help but ask the old butler, "Master, are you really not going to tell Donnie that there aren't any hostages? That 'hostage' is actually you..."
"It doesn't matter anymore, I failed..." Bruce said hoarsely. This time his voice was not deliberate. He was really a little hoarse, and his voice revealed great fatigue.
In the darkness in the distance, numerous figures flashed, but neither Bruce nor Alfred noticed them at all. These people were extremely skilled at hiding, and the distance allowed them to hide well.
The group watched Bruce retreat with indifference, without making a single move. The Wayne family, good neighbors of the Court of Owls, would not hesitate to act until Bruce Wayne directly threatened the Court. Bruce was the only direct descendant of this generation of the Wayne family left. A rash killing of him would cause a major economic collapse for Gotham City. Most importantly, the Court of Owls was secretly planning something else; their methods would yield a more perfect outcome.
Because of Batman's existence, the darkness of Gotham City can be more closely centered around the court. The Owls and the Wayne family have been secretly fighting for hundreds of years, but every time the Owls have been victorious. Many members of the Wayne family have been assassinated and disguised as deaths in accidents.
"According to the court's order, kill Donnie at all costs!"
A figure gave an order, and a large number of lurking figures slowly walked out of the darkness, surrounding Tony from a distance to prevent him from escaping.
For hundreds of years, the owls either did not take action, or if they did, they had to succeed. In any case, the Court of Owls could not expose themselves. They were like terrible ghosts that devoured everything at night, spying on everything in Gotham.
After a long hiatus, the Court of Owls once again set out, directly targeting the infamous mutant Donny. Donny's actions seriously threatened the Court's position and were aimed at severing its influence at the root. This time, they were determined to destroy Donny with all their might.
After killing Donnie, the entire Court immediately went into hiding to avoid a violent counterattack from the mutant forces. Furthermore, they possessed Dionysus Factor technology, which could resurrect the dead. If they resurrected Donnie and transformed him into the Court's "claw," Donnie, who possessed at least the potential of a Level 4 mutant, would be able to shake the Court of Owls' rule with such a thug.
"Court of Owls, you've been involved in every major event in Gotham City over the past few hundred years. Even over a year ago, when the League of Shadows invaded Gotham, a group of assassins mysteriously disappeared and were murdered. It was all your doing, wasn't it? Beware the Court of Owls, they're always watching you. They watch Gotham from the shadows, hiding in the low walls and attics. They're with you in your homes, even in your beds. Never mention their name, or their sharp claws will find your head."
Optimus Prime stood up, and Donnie took out a thin breastplate from his body and slowly put it on. This was made from his vibranium brick, enough to protect the many organs in his chest during fierce battles.
"This children's song has been circulating in Gotham for hundreds of years. You bunch of silly birds are better at hiding than mice." Donny glanced at Arcee who was lying on the ground beside him without leaving a trace. In the end, he only summoned Optimus Prime to his side. The two figures, one big and one small, fought against countless court assassins in the dark night.
This group of killers has a fixed name, called "Claws".
The Owl Claws are dressed in the same black clothes with various cold weapons on them. Their headgear is made in the style of an owl, which is similar to Bruce's bat armor.
The leader, Sharp Claw, looked at the alert Donnie through thick black lenses with his cold eyes. This man was the target tonight.
"Mechanic Donnie, you have seriously shaken the stability of Gotham City. The court has decided to sentence you to death!"