Miles clearly couldn’t understand why they still had to go looking for that bat when he had already explained everything he had seen.
Yet Peter Parker still insisted on finding that intimidating-looking bat.
“Can we talk about not going after him?”
Following behind Peter Parker, Miles cautiously tried to persuade Spider-Man to change his mind.
If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, he genuinely didn’t want to see that bat again.
He just couldn’t shake the feeling that the bat wasn’t very friendly toward him.
“Miles, trust me. He’s actually a pretty easy guy to talk to.”
Peter Parker, on the other hand, didn’t think Wayne was unfriendly at all.
In his eyes, it was simply that Wayne wasn’t much of a talker.
If Wayne didn’t like talking, then Peter could just do a little more talking himself.
“But I swear, every time he looks at me, it’s like he’s filled with pure disgust.”
Just thinking about Wayne’s fierce glare made Miles shrink back a little.
Peter Parker, however, thought it was perfectly normal.
As far as he could remember, that bat looked at everyone with the same grim, world-weary expression.
Peter stopped walking, turned around, and gently patted Miles on the shoulder.
“Trust me. It’s not just you. He gives me that exact same look whenever he looks at me.”
After saying that, Peter didn’t waste another word.
He immediately sprinted off in the direction Wayne had disappeared.
“All right…”
Since his Spider-Man mentor had already put it that way, Miles could only agree.
That said, Peter’s speed now was simply too fast for someone who had only just gained spider powers to keep up with.
After running for a while, Wayne had already noticed the two little tails following behind him.
The skills inherited from Batman made it abundantly clear how to shake off their inexperienced pursuit.
The older one wasn’t bad at tracking.
The younger one, however, was riddled with openings.
He fired his grappling gun, and it instantly pulled him toward another location.
This time, however, Wayne’s movement was nothing like before.
Instead of moving at a relatively moderate pace, he shot away from his previous position with astonishing speed.
The sudden burst of acceleration clearly caught Peter Parker off guard.
He had been slowing down slightly to keep an eye on Miles while tracking Wayne.
He couldn’t worry about Miles anymore.
Only then could they deal with Miles’s situation.
Even though Peter reached the spot where Wayne should have landed as quickly as possible, there was no sign of him.
It was as though the guy had suddenly developed superpowers and could turn invisible.
Whoosh!
A Batarang whizzed past Peter’s ear and embedded itself in a nearby wall.
Had his spider-sense not remained completely silent, Peter might have thought that Batarang had been aimed straight at his throat.
“Using something like that as a greeting seems a bit unnecessary.”
Turning around, Peter spoke to the bat as he slowly emerged from the shadows.
“Why are you following me?”
Wayne’s words were, as always, concise.
He couldn’t understand why this guy insisted on tailing him.
“We might need your help.”
The caution Peter Parker displayed now was something Wayne had never seen in the movies.
After all, someone who dared to march straight into Kingpin’s headquarters after listening to a child’s explanation of everything shouldn’t have been this meticulous.
Of course, perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that this version of Peter Parker had always fought alone.
“I… I’m still not completely used to these abilities. I… think… you might have to slow down a little.”
Only then did Miles finally catch up to the two of them.
“This kid should’ve already explained everything to you.
“The two of you can handle it yourselves. I have my own plans, so it’s best if we don’t interfere with each other.”
As soon as Wayne finished speaking, he tossed down a smoke bomb.
No matter how extraordinary Spider-Man’s senses were, they couldn’t possibly surpass Superman’s.
By the time the smoke cleared, Wayne was already gone.
“Cough, cough, cough… Looks like you were right.”
Choking on the smoke, Miles weakly rested a hand on Peter Parker’s shoulder.
Only now was he completely convinced that Peter had been telling the truth.
That bat really treated everyone exactly the same.
Wayne had no interest in whatever Peter Parker and the others were planning to do.
If events followed the original storyline, nothing would go wrong.
They would eventually be led to the other Spider-People anyway.
Besides, if these Spider-Men never went to Kingpin’s privately funded research facility, wouldn’t that also mean Kingpin himself might not go there as he did in the original story?
No matter how he looked at it, Wayne felt that if he interfered with the plot and caused events to deviate from their intended course, it wouldn’t just create problems for the Spider-Men.
More importantly, it would throw a wrench into his own plans.
Wayne’s decision greatly pleased Thomas inside his mind.
In Thomas’s opinion, Wayne had made the absolutely correct choice.
Everything had to be based on completing his own plan first.
Only when doing so wouldn’t interfere with that plan could he consider helping others.
It was also the very reason Thomas had repeatedly turned down Cyborg’s invitations to serve as a consultant for the U.S. military.
At the time, all he wanted was to maintain order in Gotham.
Everything else meant nothing to him.
Before returning home, Wayne carefully searched the entire neighborhood to make sure none of Kingpin’s lookouts remained.
Although what he had done today was already a clear warning to them, it was always better to be cautious.
Perhaps both Kingpin and Tombstone had decided to leave this pitiful neighborhood alone.
There were no longer any lookouts constantly watching the Parkers’ house, nor were there any wandering homeless people serving as mobile surveillance.
Wayne landed lightly in the backyard of the house he had just bought, making no sound whatsoever, as though his body weighed nothing.
“Maybe I can finally get some proper sleep.”
After entering the house and neatly putting away all of his equipment, Wayne rolled his neck before walking into the bedroom.
The moment his head touched the pillow, he fell fast asleep.
Yet only two short hours later,
Wayne, lying in bed, opened his eyes once more.
“Mother fucker!”
Now Wayne finally understood how Batman managed to fight criminals all night while still functioning normally in social settings during the day.
He even had enough spare time to find a few ballerinas from touring ballet companies in the Far East and have long, profound discussions about the meaning of life with them.
With a sleep pattern where just two hours completely restored all of his energy, practically anyone could live like that.
The only one suffering was Wayne, who now had to get used to this new sleeping schedule.
As far as Wayne was concerned, sleeping naturally meant going to bed once and not waking until morning.
But outside, the sky was still dark.
(End of Chapter)