Batman was unaccustomed to this. He was unaccustomed to this at all.
In Gotham, accidents often signified the birth of a super-criminal. A life already terrible would be utterly crushed by "one bad day," or a happy life would be shattered, turning victims into victimizers.
But here in New York, Dr. Octavius was willing to embrace his dreams to make amends. Professor Connors, even after transforming into the Lizard, didn't forget to save lives. And then there was Morbius and the others...
Now, add Max Dillon to the list—yet another individual who possessed power but didn't abuse it.
Batman felt an impulse now. He wanted nothing more than to place New York and Gotham side-by-side and study them meticulously, to figure out exactly what had gone wrong.
Was it that the people of New York were generally kinder, making them less likely to turn to crime, and even if they did, they could find their way back?
Or was it the social structure, the judicial system, or even the soil that bred this power?
Batman knew that there was an exit from Hell beneath Gotham, that there were massive amounts of evil curses, and that the corpses of Old Gods were buried there.
But these things would never become Batman's excuse. He had always strived to save Gotham, knowing that those external factors were merely one of the reasons Gotham's citizens turned into criminals more easily.
However, while New York's police force was more popular and its judicial system wasn't as rotten as Gotham's, the bottom-tier population of this international metropolis wasn't much happier than the people of Gotham.
It had been two months since Batman had crossed over. He knew New York's various problems were no fewer than Gotham's: homelessness, drug abuse, racial issues, immigration, poverty...
Yet, the probability of those who gained powers turning into criminals was far lower than in Gotham.
"Is it survivor bias? Or is it simply that, so far, these people have all been highly educated scientists and engineers?" Batman asked himself.
There was no immediate answer to this question. Batman looked at Max Dillon's smiling face. He knew a case like Max Dillon's would be unlikely to occur in Gotham.
But precisely because of this, Batman had to return to Gotham at all costs—struggling back to save that place.
Batman always believed Gotham was worth saving.
"Batman?" Tony Stark's voice rang out. "Did I shock you?"
Sparks of golden electricity flickered at Max Dillon's fingertips.
"He looked like he was spacing out from lack of sleep. I can control a micro-current to give you a refreshing jolt."
Tony nodded.
"I tried it. It works pretty well."
Saying this, Tony Stark tilted his head, letting Max Dillon zap him.
Zap!
The electric light flashed, and Tony immediately jumped aside, grimacing.
"Hiss~ See? I told you it works well."
Batman ignored Tony Stark. He composed himself and asked Max Dillon, "I wonder if it would be convenient for me to visit your home."
"You're welcome anytime," Max Dillon said with a smile.
"Then I have to go put on the Mark IV," Tony said. "Don't forget, I've always interacted with your family as Iron Man."
Max Dillon didn't refuse anyone. He watched cheerfully as the floor split open, and the Iron Man suit-up platform rotated up from the ground. The mechanical arms assembled the Mark IV armor onto Tony's body, piece by piece.
"Before I got married, I actually had a very bad temper. This had to do with my father abandoning my mother when I was eight."
On the sofa in Max Dillon's home, he sat in the middle. On his left was his African-American wife, and on his right was a little girl with a dark face.
Opposite the family was a table, and behind the table was another sofa where Batman and Tony Stark occupied half the space each.
They listened quietly to Max Dillon's story.
"Although we were abandoned, my mother loved me exceptionally to make up for the fatherly love I lost... looking back now, it was practically spoiling me."
"Growing up, I got into countless fights, beating people bloody—those white gorillas... I don't mean you two."
"If my temper had been better, many fights wouldn't have happened at all. But I didn't think that way back then. I just wanted to vent my emotions freely."
While Max Dillon told his story, his wife watched him gently the whole time. His daughter hugged Max Dillon's arm, playing with a spark of electricity so weak the numbness could barely be felt.
Max Dillon stroked his daughter's head while looking at his wife.
"It was like that until I met my wife, Norma. In that moment, I suddenly realized my violent fists and anger were never about hurting others. I was just screaming at the world: 'Look at me!'"
"And Norma, you were the first person who really saw me without me needing to scream. You didn't see the prickly Max Dillon, but the eight-year-old boy beneath the thorns who was afraid of being abandoned again."
"And you saved me from those thorns."
Norma smiled shyly and leaned her head on Max Dillon's shoulder.
Batman looked away from Max Dillon and looked at Tony Stark.
Naturally, no expression could be seen on the metal faceplate of Tony Stark in the Mark IV, but at that moment, Tony happened to look at Batman too.
"Batman, looks like we should get out of here quickly. The couple seems to have business to attend to."
Batman could imagine that beneath the metal mask, Tony was winking at him.
The two stood up simultaneously to bid farewell to Max Dillon.
A few minutes later, on the edge of the Empire State Building's rooftop, Batman and Tony Stark in the Mark IV stood side by side.
"Talk. Start from when you first made contact with Max Dillon," Batman said.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., bring up the footage of the first time I met Max Dillon. Play it at 5x speed," Tony Stark said.
"As you wish, Sir," the J.A.R.V.I.S. AI replied.
As the voice faded, a blue projection beamed out from the right eye of Tony Stark's metal mask.
Batman watched the whole process in silence, stopping only when the image froze on a third-person view of Tony and Max Dillon facing off in Stark Tower.
At that time, Tony had already taken off his suit. The footage was obviously captured by surveillance equipment inside Stark Tower, so it wasn't the first-person perspective from the beginning.
"Finished watching? What do you want to ask?" Tony asked.
Whoosh!
Venom Robin popped up from below at an angle almost perpendicular to the Empire State Building and sat down by Batman's feet.
Robin hadn't gone to Max Dillon's house as a guest. He had been guarding outside the whole time, and only now chased Batman to the Empire State Building.
"Individual cases cannot provide me with a reference," Batman shook his head, offering no explanation for why he asked to see the footage.
Venom Robin tilted his head. Tony Stark didn't know, but Robin, who possessed part of Batman's memories, knew clearly.
Batman was trying to find a way to completely save Gotham from the process of Max Dillon not becoming a super-criminal.
But evidently, Batman hadn't found it.
After a moment of silence, amidst the howling wind atop the Empire State Building, Batman said:
"Tony, I need to borrow Max Dillon from you for a while."
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