Norman Osborn's forehead failed to successfully strike the hard corner of the morgue slab. Batman had seized his clothes, his grip like iron tongs, rendering Norman Osborn immobile.
"You won't allow me to die?" Norman Osborn looked at Batman, shivering. "That's right, I can't die easily. That would be irresponsible toward the crimes I committed."
Batman still said not a word, only staring coldly at Norman Osborn with those white-glowing eyes.
Norman Osborn didn't keep begging for death. As a human being, Norman Osborn didn't want to be looked down upon by this monster, Batman, for a "performance" of being bent on dying.
He shivered, his exhaled breath turned into wisps of white steam by the morgue's low temperature:
"These are the victims' names, right? I... I want to memorize all their names, I..."
Batman finally spoke, interrupting what Norman Osborn was about to say:
"Fifty homeless people, thirty-seven with no relatives or friends, seven married with children, six with living parents."
"Your son Harry Osborn's best friend, Peter Parker, has already provided full compassionate pensions for them."
Norman Osborn was stunned:
"Peter?"
As an entrepreneur, Norman Osborn had indeed thought about surviving and using Oscorp's funds to make up for his mistakes.
But he never imagined Peter Parker would step in and do all this for him first.
In fact, ever since Batman returned from New Mexico and instructed CEO Alice at the Parker Building to establish all-encompassing charitable organizations and full-coverage insurance agencies, Alice had executed Batman's plan swiftly.
The first thing done after establishment was to provide medical reimbursement for the gangsters and criminals who had been beaten by Batman.
Naturally, this included those killed by Norman Osborn. Batman, also in his identity as Peter Parker, did everything he could to help those who were still alive.
For Batman, who possessed widely applied memory fiber technology, Dr. Otto's infinite energy, and Professor Connors' prosthetic limbs which hadn't been popularized yet, money wasn't a problem.
Although strictly speaking, Batman had only completed initial capital accumulation—going from zero to one—and Parker Industries hadn't become a true multinational conglomerate yet.
But compared to commercial operations that cost tens or hundreds of millions, the very small portion of money Batman took out was enough to raise the living standards of those traumatized people by a whole tier.
At least those poor souls wouldn't have to worry about where their next meal was coming from.
"Peter... he's always been a good kid." Norman Osborn covered his face and sat on the ground again, his voice muffled behind his fingertips.
Back when Oscorp was in an uproar over the underground laboratory scandal and everyone shunned the Osborn family, only Peter Parker was willing to go to Osborn Manor to comfort Harry Osborn.
But because of this, the guilt in Norman Osborn's heart almost reached its peak, and his self-blame nearly suffocated him.
Although he didn't know how Peter Parker, a kind-hearted but poor kid, accomplished these things, it only highlighted how cruel the former Norman Osborn had been.
"I don't know what else I can do. Batman, tell me what to do, okay?" Norman Osborn asked Batman for help.
He believed Batman wouldn't drag him to revisit his crimes for no reason. Was it just to make him regret, to awaken his conscience?
"I need you to return to Oscorp." Batman's voice was low and deep. "I need you to enter politics and become the Governor of New York as an independent candidate."
"What?!"
Norman Osborn couldn't dream up a reason why a sinner with blood on his hands like him would be given a mission by Batman to become the Governor of New York State.
He couldn't even begin to understand why Batman would do this, and a question quickly surfaced:
"There is no precedent in history for a murderer becoming a U.S. governor, even if this is a country where anything is possible."
Batman shook his head slightly:
"It is precisely because anything is possible in this country that I need you to do this."
A murderer becoming the Governor of New York? It sounded like a complete fantasy.
But for Batman, who had witnessed the U.S. government attempting to level all of Gotham City with a nuclear bomb, it wasn't impossible.
"I will handle your crimes. I know that even if you are scrubbed clean legally, you remain stained morally."
"But exactly because of that, you need to put in a thousand times more effort than a normal party candidate to run for governor as an independent."
Batman's voice was flat, but to Norman Osborn's ears, it was like a thunderclap out of a clear sky.
It sounded simple, but in practice, it was completely impossible to achieve.
"This is merely the goal for your future efforts, not a task you must complete within a deadline," Batman said. "I even allow you to fail."
Even after Norman Osborn was dumped on the street and left to stumble his way back to Oscorp in a daze, he hadn't recovered from the series of events.
Batman paid him no further attention, simply syncing the limiter fixed to Norman Osborn's calf—specifically the anklet's positioning and wiretapping signals—to the Arkham Batmobile.
Batman wasn't a madman.
He didn't actually want Norman Osborn to become the Governor of New York.
Batman was simply using this impossible objective to guide Norman Osborn toward a complete positive transformation.
"History of violent crime," "severe mental illness," and "status as an independent candidate"—with these three prerequisites combined, if Norman Osborn wanted to work toward running for governor, he would have to face his crimes directly, apologize publicly, and devote his life to aiding victims' families and anti-violence charities.
This was just the most basic step, because the public wouldn't ignore what he had done just because of his introspection.
But this was Batman's plan: a plan that couldn't be achieved, but the process of which would guide Norman Osborn in every aspect.
Even if Norman ultimately failed to become governor, throughout this process, in order to pass every psychiatric evaluation and public scrutiny, he would have to learn to permanently control his mental state and prevent the Green Goblin's resurgence.
His acts of atonement and grassroots political work would objectively help many people. He would be forced to study complex laws, public policies, and community affairs, using his intelligence for construction rather than destruction.
Perhaps many years later, Norman Osborn might become a social activist or policy advocate respected by some, but that would still be light-years away from becoming the Governor of New York.
And this was exactly what Batman wanted to see: using a seemingly unreachable but directionally correct goal to regulate his entire life.
This was a Batman plan that had completely transcended everyone's conventional thinking.
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