"Are you alright, John?"
Peter walked over quickly, knelt down, and squatted in front of Mark, who was stunned and covered in blood.
"Dad?!"
Seeing Peter appear before him, Mark finally reacted, looking up at Peter's familiar face.
"I..."
He stared blankly at the corpses on the ground, then looked at the blood covering his hands.
A complex mix of panic, confusion, disappointment, and sadness enveloped him.
Although he had killed zombies before, it was a completely different feeling from killing humans.
This feeling made Mark feel breathless, as if he was trapped in a box sinking into the dark, cold Water.
"Dad, I... I didn't want to do that."
Mark's anger had long dissipated. Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, he turned his helpless gaze towards Peter.
"They killed that homeless child... I couldn't control my emotions..."
"I know, I know, John."
Peter took off his suit jacket and wiped the blood from Mark's face.
"Dad believes in you. It's alright, everything is over now."
"But, Dad..."
Peter interrupted Mark, "Look at me, John, look into my eyes. Do you trust Dad?"
"Yes, yes, I trust Dad."
"Mm-hmm, then trust what Dad says. Everything will be alright. Dad promises you."
After comforting Mark and stabilizing his emotions, Peter glanced at the corpses on the ground and then dialed Martian Manhunter's phone.
"Mr. Jones?"
Martian Manhunter's voice echoed in his mind: "Sir, you can actually hang up the phone now. We can communicate telepathically."
"I don't like people in my head, so let's stick to using the phone. Something happened with John over here. Can you come over?"
"Not at the moment. I've also run into a small problem here."
Martian Manhunter said, looking at Bruce, who was being pursued in the distance.
"Can you handle it?"
"Of course, it'll only take two minutes."
After hanging up the phone, he walked directly towards the jeep chasing Bruce.
Bruce was anxiously considering how to escape. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Martian Manhunter appear.
But when he saw that Martian Manhunter was walking straight towards the jeep, he was greatly alarmed and quickly shouted at him, "Danger, Mr. Jones, get out of the way!"
But Martian Manhunter acted as if he hadn't heard him, his steps not faltering in the slightest.
Just as Bruce thought Martian Manhunter was about to be hit, the jeep suddenly slammed on its brakes.
With a screeching sound, the jeep crashed into a roadside safety pole with a thud and flipped onto its side.
Martian Manhunter, who had perfectly shown off his abilities, took off his sunglasses and said to Bruce, who was staring dumbfounded from his stopped motorcycle, "It seems these guys still don't dare to hit me."
Bruce glanced at the overturned jeep, then looked at Martian Manhunter, who exuded a mystical aura, and his heart was in turmoil.
Just who exactly is Mr. Patrick?
Why is even a butler so extraordinary?
And this butler seems even more incredible than Alfred!
Two minutes later, Martian Manhunter, having dealt with Bruce's situation, arrived at the scene.
After entrusting the aftermath to Martian Manhunter, Peter left the scene with Mark.
After returning to the hotel and washing up, Mark was still somewhat dazed.
"Dad, am I the evil John?"
Peter shook his head, "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"
"'Escaping your sin, freeing your despair, the devil will take you away, without hesitation'—those are lyrics from 'Evil Polly.' I feel a bit like Polly."
After Mark's first rampage of killing, he fell into severe self-doubt.
He didn't have much aversion to Death and killing, but the guilt in his heart always lingered.
"No, you are not the evil John. You saved those orphans and stopped those bad people from harming others."
Peter had already understood what happened from Mark's simple recounting.
"So there's no need to feel guilty, John."
He stroked Mark's hair, "When facing things you've never experienced before, sometimes we have to make choices. Dad thinks you did the right thing at the time."
He added silently in his mind: even though this choice might lead to losing something.
Although Peter didn't want Mark to experience killing at such a young age, since it had already happened, he could only guide him.
Mark's eyelids fluttered, and he let out a breath.
"So, Dad, you won't think I'm the evil John, right?"
"Of course not."
Peter organized his thoughts, "It's like cancer. Sometimes, to save a life, you have to remove the lesion, take out an organ, or cut off a limb. These gunmen are malignant 'tumors,' tumors that deserve to be removed by a scalpel."
"Or... an axe?"
Hearing Mark's words, Peter's lips curved into a smile.
Being able to say that showed that the boy's mindset had largely recovered.
After talking to Mark for a few moments and telling him to go to bed early, Peter walked to the other room.
In the other room, Bruce was talking to Martian Manhunter.
When Bruce saw Peter appear, he stood up somewhat awkwardly.
He knew he had caused trouble today.
If Peter's butler hadn't arrived at the scene in time, he would probably have fallen into the hands of the mysterious organization.
And he had also caused the Death of a homeless child and almost got Mark caught.
At this moment, he still didn't know that Mark had killed all the assassins; he still thought Peter had arrived in time to rescue Mark.
"I... I'm very sorry, sir."
Bruce lowered his head and apologized to Peter.
"Today, Mr. Jones and I went to Gotham. And there, guess who we saw?"
Peter sat down and said to him with a calm expression:
"It was you. There's a Master Wayne at Wayne Manor, and you also said you are Bruce Wayne. So... can you tell me which one is real?"
Peter scrutinized him and said, "Remember what we said before? No more lies."
Under Peter's oppressive gaze, Bruce bit his lip. "Sorry, Mr. Patrick, I haven't told you because I didn't want to..."
Before he could finish, Peter interrupted him, "Is it because you wanted to solve it yourself, right?"
He roughly guessed that some mysterious organization in Gotham had pulled a switcheroo, replacing the real Bruce with a fake one.
Then, when they were about to imprison the real Bruce, something probably went wrong in the middle, allowing the real Bruce to escape to Metropolis, where he eventually met him.
"You used those homeless children to provide you with information, then you wanted to investigate the fake Bruce, or whatever organization was behind him. You thought you could solve everything, but you forgot you were just a child."
"An innocent orphan died because of it."
Peter spoke bluntly to this seemingly polite but rebellious Bruce, "He died because of you, because of your immaturity and arrogance, Bruce."
"No!"
Bruce's face flushed red, and he said to Peter in pain, "No! It's not like that! I have the ability to solve it! I didn't want that to happen!"
Martian Manhunter saw Bruce's pain and shook his head at Peter with some reluctance, "Peter?"
Peter pretended not to see it, "No, you can't, Bruce. You think you're hiding it well, but in reality, your heart is constantly regretting your incompetence. You—you're not as strong as you imagine!"