"Lin! Bruce Wayne contacted me…"
Dam grabbed Lucas Kane by the arm and dragged him deep into a dense stretch of woodland just outside the university campus. The trees formed a thick barrier around them, muffling the sounds of the city beyond. Dam kept glancing nervously over his shoulder as if he expected someone to appear at any moment.
His voice came out hurried and tense.
"He noticed something strange about you. He thinks you're not normal!"
Lucas rolled his eyes and let out a quiet sigh of irritation. The complaint escaped him almost automatically.
At this point, after learning everything that had happened while he was gone, Lucas could only admit one uncomfortable truth.
One of his identities had almost certainly been exposed.
Before, he hadn't fully understood why Bruce Wayne had been so eager to help both him and Emily after what seemed like a random encounter. Now that he understood the entire chain of events, he could only shake his head helplessly.
Fortune and misfortune often walked hand in hand.
The entire situation had begun because Dam was worried that something terrible had happened to him.
And when people worried too much, they tended to act recklessly.
At first, neither Dam nor Emily had been able to find Lucas anywhere. Days passed without any news of him. The silence eventually became unbearable.
In desperation, Dam reported Lucas's disappearance to the police.
Of course, knowing how Gotham's police system worked, he never held much hope that they would actually find anything. Still, he couldn't simply sit around and do nothing.
Eventually, Dam turned to the most powerful person he knew in the entire city.
Or more accurately, the most powerful young man he knew.
Bruce Wayne.
Lucas couldn't even blame Dam for that decision. From Dam's perspective, Bruce Wayne was the richest and most influential person he had ever encountered. If someone like Bruce Wayne couldn't help, then who could?
Given that logic, it made perfect sense for Dam to seek him out.
Unfortunately, that exact decision was also the reason Lucas now suspected that his identity might have been exposed.
Dam didn't know the truth.
But Lucas did.
Bruce Wayne was Batman.
A man with extraordinary intelligence, elite combat skills, cutting-edge technology, and nearly limitless financial resources. Few people on Earth possessed the ability to connect scattered clues the way Bruce Wayne could.
After all, this was the same man who, with sufficient preparation, had once managed to defeat even Superman.
So Lucas found it completely unsurprising that Bruce might have analyzed Dam's report and concluded that Lucas was somehow connected to the Judgment Council.
Of course, Bruce probably wasn't completely certain yet.
The timeline of Lucas's disappearance did match the period when the Judgment Council had suddenly vanished from Gotham. However, unless Bruce was willing to believe that a mysterious global organization was connected to an otherwise unknown college student, the theory would still feel far-fetched.
Lucas's past behavior also worked in his favor.
On Wall Street and in the surrounding neighborhoods, plenty of people knew Lucas as someone who occasionally stepped in to punish criminals. That reputation alone could easily create confusion for anyone trying to piece together the truth.
In the end, everything still depended on what Bruce Wayne intended to say.
Lucas glanced at Dam, but he didn't reveal any of the thoughts running through his mind.
Instead, he simply asked, "What exactly did Bruce say?"
Dam scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"He asked me something strange," he admitted. "He wanted to know if I'd ever heard of the Judgment Council… and whether there was any way to join it."
"…."
Lucas fell silent.
Dam stared at him curiously.
At that moment, Lucas's expression had become unusually strange. There was even a faint hint of admiration in his eyes.
"Well…" Dam began uncertainly.
But before he could continue, Lucas suddenly turned his body and looked toward the dense forest behind them.
His voice was calm.
"Maybe it would be better if you asked me face to face."
Lucas's gaze settled on the trees.
"Don't you think so, Mr. Bruce?"
"What? Bruce is here?"
Dam's reaction was immediate. His mind worked quickly, and he understood the implication almost instantly. A chill ran down his spine as he slowly turned to look behind Lucas.
The forest fell quiet.
Then came the soft rustling of leaves.
Branches parted gently as someone stepped forward from the shadows.
A young man wearing a neatly pressed suit emerged from the trees. His face was handsome and composed, his posture relaxed yet confident.
Bruce Wayne.
A faint smile rested on his lips as he walked toward them with slow, measured steps. His sharp eyes studied Lucas carefully.
"Lucas," Bruce said calmly, stopping a few feet away. "Are you a member of the Judgment Council?"
Although he phrased it as a question, his tone sounded more like a statement.
Behind them, Dam's face turned bright red.
At that moment, he finally realized what had happened. His careless eagerness had accidentally created a situation that exposed Lucas to suspicion. He lowered his head slightly, both embarrassed and amazed by Bruce Wayne's terrifying deductive ability.
Lucas slowly raised his hands.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The quiet sound of applause echoed beneath the trees.
A smile appeared on Lucas's face as he stepped forward and extended his hand toward Bruce Wayne. Bruce accepted the gesture, and the two young men shook hands firmly.
"May I ask," Lucas said lightly, "why the famous representative of Wayne Enterprises is so interested in our Judgment Council?"
He spoke openly, showing no attempt to hide his connection to the organization.
Bruce's expression didn't change.
"I hope to cooperate with the council's Speakers," he replied.
"Oh?"
Lucas raised an eyebrow with clear interest.
Bruce glanced briefly at Dam.
"I should apologize," he said calmly. "I did take advantage of your friend here. To be honest, I wasn't completely certain about my suspicion."
"Uh… right…"
Dam shrank back slightly and looked at Lucas with obvious guilt.
Bruce then turned his attention back to Lucas.
"Before we continue," he said, "perhaps I should ask about your position within the Judgment Council."
Lucas answered immediately.
"I'm a member."
Bruce showed no disappointment.
Instead, he asked another question.
"Then is it possible for you to pass a message to one of the council's Speakers?"
Lucas's eyes flickered slightly before he nodded.
"I can deliver it to the War Knight."
"War Knight?"
Bruce's heart skipped a beat.
Just as he suspected.
The Blood God was not the only Speaker within the Judgment Council.
Bruce forced himself to remain calm even as excitement surged through his mind. If this information was accurate, then the organization was even more complex than he had imagined.
Interestingly, Bruce had never assumed that the mysterious Judge who first appeared in Gotham was also one of the council's Speakers.
The reason was simple.
Throughout every encounter, the Judge had never spoken a single word. Unlike the Blood God, he never announced his own title or identity.
Bruce steadied himself and asked another question.
"And who exactly is this War Knight?"
Lucas shrugged slightly.
"He hasn't arrived in Gotham yet."
Bruce nodded slowly.
So that meant a new figure was about to enter the city.
"The cooperation I'm proposing is simple," Bruce continued, his voice turning serious. "The Judgment Council shouldn't limit its activities to the East District alone. If we work together, I can provide advanced equipment and access to highly reliable intelligence networks."
His gaze remained steady.
"In return, your council must ensure that criminals throughout Gotham receive punishment. If that happens, the entire sky over this city may finally begin to change."
Lucas smiled faintly.
"I'll report your proposal to my superior."
Behind them, Dam could no longer contain his curiosity.
"Bruce," he blurted out, "how exactly did you figure all this out?"
He genuinely wanted to understand what mistake he had made.
Bruce tilted his head slightly.
"Let me ask you something first," he said calmly. "Is Catwoman also a member of the Judgment Council?"
Dam blinked.
"I don't know," he admitted honestly. "At least as far as I know, I'm currently the only person working under the War Knight."
Bruce chuckled softly.
"Then it seems I simply guessed correctly."
He looked at Dam and explained patiently.
"To be honest, I originally just wanted to help you. That's why I started investigating Lucas's background. During that investigation, I discovered something interesting."
Bruce glanced at Lucas.
"It appears he suddenly appeared in Gotham's East District without much history before that point. Naturally, that reminded me of another mysterious force that emerged around the same time."
He continued calmly.
"Then Catwoman publicly claimed she was a member of the Judgment Council. When I compared that information with Lucas's personal history, the connection became difficult to ignore."
Bruce folded his arms lightly.
"After all, punishing criminals seems to be something Lucas has done before. And in a district as large as the East End, aside from the mysterious Judgment Council…"
He smiled faintly.
"…the only two people who have openly shown themselves while dealing with criminals are you and him."
"…Ah!"
Dam slapped his own forehead as realization finally hit him.
Although the situation wasn't entirely his fault, he had definitely provided the crucial clue that allowed Bruce Wayne to piece everything together.
....
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