Entrusting Great Responsibilities to This Man (Part 2)

Recently, the greatest lesson Bruce had learned was that there were only bad news and worse news in this world, and all misfortunes always came together.

Batman still chose to find Joker first. Obviously, that madman’s big surprises usually had plenty of surprise and no pleasure, and they were always shocking.

Sure enough, when Batman arrived, he found that Joker had set fire to the commercial street in central Gotham. The crowd was screaming and fleeing in all directions. More than a dozen cars doused in gasoline had been piled together, and debris from the explosion had shattered nearly every storefront window. Thick smoke billowed everywhere.

Standing on a rooftop, Batman narrowed his eyes as he searched for his target. Then another plume of black smoke rose in the distance. Batman turned and saw that it seemed to be the Slums in the East End.

Just then, the fire engines’ sirens sounded, and the firefighters arrived. They carried hoses to fight the blaze, cleared away the wreckage of the explosives, and searched the gaps in the burned buildings for trapped people.

Gotham’s Fire Department was not very efficient, but this was the busiest commercial street in the city center. Most of the shops here belonged to the Twelve Families, so they still had to come put out the fire.

In Batman’s assessment, the central commercial street was still a relatively open area, and the fire had started before the explosions. When the smoke first appeared, most people had already escaped, so the rescue effort would not be too difficult.

But the Slums were different. The buildings there were densely packed, with clutter everywhere. Once a fire started, the casualties could be severe. So after seeing the firefighters arrive at the commercial street, Batman headed for the East End.

The aftereffects of overexerting himself had not fully faded, and Batman’s headache was excruciating. He failed to notice that at the intersection at the end of the commercial street, a newly arrived reporter had happened to photograph his departing silhouette.

The fire in the East End Slums was extremely troublesome. The residences were packed too tightly together, there were no fire safety measures or access routes for fire engines, and many people were trapped in the flames. Batman had to put in considerable effort before resolving the situation there.

By the time he reached the police station, Gordon was already overwhelmed. When he saw Batman, it was as if he had seen a savior. "You finally came!"

"What exactly happened?" Batman’s voice was hoarse, as though it had been scorched by fire. Gordon had a great deal to say, but seeing Batman’s visibly pale face, he hesitated. "You look terrible. How about you go back and rest first?"

"It’s fine. Tell me what happened."

Gordon took a deep breath and led Batman to the morgue. He pulled a body from a refrigerated drawer, and when he lifted the white sheet covering it, the exposed face looked somewhat familiar to Batman. It was the head of the Lawrence family, one of the Twelve Families.

Old Lawrence’s hair was completely white, and he was somewhat overweight. There were wounds on his limbs and chest. Batman narrowed his eyes and examined him, but his attention was scattered, so he only asked Gordon, "What was the scene like?"

Gordon opened his mouth, paused, and seemed unsure how to describe it. He said, "This afternoon, Little Lawrence called the Director and said his father was dead."

"When I arrived, Lawrence was dead in his study. He was lying flat on the floor, his head facing the window and his arms spread apart, his whole body forming a cross. Long wedges had been driven into his limbs, chest, and head. The coroner determined that his heart had been pierced…"

"The murder weapon?"

"In the evidence room. If you want it, I can bring it over. Also, the coroner told me that anesthetic drugs were found in Old Lawrence’s body. He was probably anesthetized first, then nailed to death."

"Crucifixion…" Batman murmured.

Gordon had not heard clearly. "What? What crucifixion?"

"It’s a method used to execute Christians: crucifixion. Or upside-down crucifixion."

"The first Pope, Saint Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, died that way… Wait, Jesus? How many apostles did Jesus have?… Twelve… Twelve Families…"

Batman immediately said to Gordon, "Have your Sheriff contact the Twelve Families at once. This could be a serial murder case…"

Before he could finish, a young officer came thundering down the stairs and shouted at Gordon, "Sheriff, the younger brother of the Hock brothers is dead. His—"

The young officer swallowed and said, "His head was cut off. The Director has already gone over…"

Gordon covered his forehead and explained to Batman, "The Hock family is also one of the Twelve Families. Their leaders are two brothers. The older brother is the main leader, while the younger brother helps him manage the family…"

Batman covered Old Lawrence with the white sheet again, then said to Gordon, "Can we go to the scene now?"

"Uh, we can, but we have to wait. We need to avoid the Director, otherwise I can’t explain why I brought you in… You know, the Director has some… issues with your existence."

"Fine, I understand." As he spoke, Batman had already walked to the window. He said to Gordon, "You won’t clear the crime scene tonight, right? We’ll meet there at midnight. I have other things to do now…"

With that, Batman vanished. Gordon rubbed his temples, his whole face scrunched together as he asked the young officer, "Are you a believer?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Do you know the story of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles? Can you tell me about it?"

The young officer choked up, looking a little embarrassed. As though he had expected it, Gordon said, "All right. Everyone here says they’re believers, but not many know Jesus, much less his apostles. I’d better go look through the Bible myself…"

As Batman left, he activated the communicator on his wrist and asked, "How are things over there?"

Little Rascal’s voice came through. "Not bad. We’re trapped in a basement. It seems to be an abandoned wine cellar. They haven’t searched here yet, but you’d better come quickly. Jason is injured…"

Hearing that Jason was injured, Batman frowned. "Why didn’t you say so earlier? I thought things weren’t too serious over there…"

Little Rascal’s childish voice continued through the communicator. "Actually, it really isn’t too serious. He only sprained his ankle. We jumped down from a very high place. He jumped first and stepped on some junk below. He can’t move now, but he isn’t bleeding or in danger…"

"Tell me your location. I’m coming over right now."

About twenty minutes later, in a basement not far from Green Street in the East End, Batman secured Jason’s ankle while asking them, "What happened? I only told you to investigate. How did you end up being hunted?"

Perhaps to distract himself from the pain in his ankle, Jason began, "At first, we really were just investigating. A friend of mine and I found work selling cigarettes on Green Street. Everything went pretty smoothly at first. We got in touch with the small-time boss in charge of that block and his superior—the ‘dads and moms’ of these kids…"

"The children here call that man Legged Dad. He lives in a shack at the end of First Alley. You know, I’m pretty good at this kind of thing. At night, I’d climb onto the roof of his shack and eavesdrop on him…"

"That time, it seemed like someone sent by his superior had come over. I heard them mention the main leader. They said that the Twelve Families had been a little tense lately… something like that. Then they said the main leader wanted them to hurry up and raise funds. Basically, that was what they talked about…"

"But Legged Dad’s superior was too alert. I only shifted a little, and he noticed someone on the roof. I had to run immediately, but that superior was obviously a real gang member. He had bodyguards and shotguns with him. Luckily, I was a small target, so they didn’t hit me…"

Little Rascal continued, "Originally, I was only waiting for him at the street corner, but those people wouldn’t stop chasing him. The two of us could only run into the alleys. Luckily, there was an abandoned wine cellar here, or they would have caught us soon."

Jason said resentfully, "When I jumped down, I didn’t see there were boards and stuff underneath. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt so easily."

As Batman fitted him with a splint, Jason bit down on his fist and refused to make a sound. Batman glanced at him and said, "You did well. We’re going up now. Don’t come here again for a while."

Jason tried to stand with Little Rascal’s help, but Batman simply scooped him up. Jason struggled and said, "Put me down! Damn it!"

But his foot was already swollen. The moment he moved his leg, the pain in his ankle flared up. He let out a howl of pain, then bit his fist and fell silent.

After reaching the surface, Batman asked them, "Did those people chasing you see what you looked like?"

"I’m not sure, but they had flashlights. They probably saw Jason."

Batman carried Jason toward the car, put him in the back seat, and said, "You two will hide in my base for a couple of days. It has everything you need."

Ignoring Jason’s objections, he started the car and took Jason and Little Rascal to one of his temporary safehouses in the southern outskirts.

Batman’s base had everything one could need, leaving the two children wide-eyed, especially Jason.

At first, he had felt awkward about being carried around by Batman like a child. But after seeing the advanced equipment and abundant supplies, his eyes lit up. His initial reluctance vanished as he excitedly looked at and touched everything.

Little Rascal, however, turned to Batman and asked, "Was our information useful?"

Batman nodded. "At the very least, I know the main leader isn’t some street thug. He’s connected to the Twelve Families, and he may even be one of them."

"And just now, two high-ranking members of the Lawrence family and the Hock family, both among the Twelve Families, were murdered one after the other…"

"Also, Jason said he heard that superior urging them to raise funds for the main leader as quickly as possible. The main leader may know something…"

At this point, Batman told the two children, "Don’t go out for the next few days. It could be very unsafe outside."

After settling Jason and Little Rascal in, Batman returned to Wayne Manor, but he still could not rest. He pulled out the Bible and the Gospels and began looking up stories about the Twelve Apostles.

Few people knew the story of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles, but the story of Jesus and Judas was known by nearly every household. Judas was one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles.

After reading until late at night, Batman wrote down all the information. Then, dragging his utterly exhausted body upstairs, he went to sleep.

After an expanse of darkness, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself back at the entrance to Wayne Manor. In the alley outside stood four familiar figures.