Chapter 8: The Great Memory Erasure Technique

"Not a chance." Pamela smiled. "You two should just become fertilizer for my plants together."

"Oh, come on..." Roland said with a mournful expression.

Pamela, however, had no interest in him. Instead, she looked toward her former boss, Bruce, eager to savor the sight of his pathetic state before he met his end.

Roland continued to wriggle on the ground, eventually managing to bring his hands to his chest. In the next heartbeat, a cross-shaped blade flashed from its sheath. A single stroke of light cut through the vines restraining him.

"What!" Pamela’s pupils constricted. "What kind of knife is that?"

"As a member of the clergy, isn't it perfectly reasonable for me to carry a cross?" Roland grinned, lunging toward Pamela with the blade in hand.

Pamela retreated in haste, summoning a swarm of plants to surge toward him. Her hand-to-hand combat skills were abysmal, and seeing Roland’s aggressive momentum, she had no intention of engaging him head-on.

"Hey." Roland admitted his own combat skills were equally poor; his lunge had been a mere feint. His true target was the trapped Bruce. With one swift slash, he cut through Bruce’s restraints—accidentally tearing a hole in his expensive suit in the process—and handed him the knife. "You take it from here. I’m not a violent man by nature."

"Understood." The cross-blade glinted coldly in Bruce’s hand, precisely parrying the incoming vines. Within a few moments, Bruce had caught up to Pamela and knocked her unconscious.

[Goodwill +200]

"Impressive," Roland said, clapping his hands.

"Your blade." Bruce handed the knife back to Roland.

"What about her?" Roland fished a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and gestured toward Pamela.

"I’ve already called the police," Bruce replied.

"That works." Roland exhaled a smoke ring, watching the fireworks illuminating the distant sky—he wondered who was making a confession of love. "I never expected to spend Valentine’s Day with a man. This is truly terrible."

"I feel the same way," Bruce retorted. "It’s the first Valentine’s night I haven't spent in bed with a beautiful woman... Oh no!"

"What is it?" Roland was startled.

"Natalia. She was exposed to those roses, too... Where is she?" Bruce looked uncharacteristically panicked.

*...It’s rare to see this guy get rattled,* Roland thought, glancing at Bruce. It seemed the aftereffects of Pamela’s toxins were quite potent.

"It’s fine, I’ve heard her voice before. Let me help you find her." Roland closed his eyes and began to chant in the language of dragons.

Domain expansion.

Spirit Words: Kamaitachi!

The invisible weasels residing in Roland’s mind fluttered outward, capturing the surrounding sounds.

"Damn it, I hear her! Someone is trying to abduct her!" Roland’s eyes snapped open.

"What’s going on?"

"It’s that lunatic, the Mad Hatter. He thinks your girlfriend is Alice!" Roland sprinted in one direction. "Gotham City really is a gathering of the finest—to run into two dangerous maniacs in such a short distance."

Bruce dashed forward as well. They didn't have to travel far before they saw a short, dwarfish figure dragging a girl across the ground by her hair.

"I won't play along with your performance, you ugly madman!" Natalia clawed at the Mad Hatter’s arm, leaving trails of blood. "And I certainly won't betray Bruce!"

The Mad Hatter flew into a rage, yanking her hair and slamming her violently against the ground. This scene was exactly what Bruce witnessed as he arrived.

In the next instant, the cross-blade hanging from Roland’s chest was ripped away, flying dozens of yards to embed itself into the Mad Hatter’s palm.

Bruce’s eyes burned with fury. He rushed to the Hatter and delivered a punch to his face, shattering his front teeth and breaking his nose. Punch after punch, he battered the villain into unconsciousness, dragging him from one end of the street to the other within a minute.

"Doesn't this break your 'no-kill' rule?" Roland asked, taken aback by Bruce’s ferocity.

Fortunately, Bruce seemed to retain some semblance of reason, stopping once the Mad Hatter was critically injured.

"Natalia, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just some scrapes." Natalia was also stunned by Bruce’s intensity. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

"I didn't go that far. But he will be bedridden for several months," Bruce said.

While comforting Natalia and checking her injuries, the police arrived. Commissioner Gordon, who led the team, asked what had happened.

"That lunatic wanted to harm Ms. Natalia, then Batman dropped from the sky and beat him like this," Roland said, glancing at Bruce.

"Batman again!" Gordon cursed theatrically before ushering the three of them into a squad car.

Inside the car, with only the four of them present, Gordon turned to Bruce. "What is really going on?"

"Exactly as he said," Bruce replied.

"So, does he already know..."

"I imagine he recognized me the first time he met Bruce Wayne," Bruce said to Roland.

"What are you two talking about? I don't follow..." Roland began to play dumb.

"Stop acting," Bruce said calmly. "You could recognize Natalia’s voice; do you really mean to tell me you didn't recognize mine?"

"...You aren't going to pull a 'memory wipe' on me, are you?" Roland swallowed hard.

The car fell silent.

"Damn it, don't just stay silent!" Roland exclaimed. "I just saved your life and your girlfriend’s!"

"Knowing my identity carries danger," Bruce said coldly. "Someone might threaten you just to extract my real identity."

"Ha? If someone threatens me, I’ll just sell you out immediately."

"...You certainly are honest." Bruce rubbed his temples. "But beyond that, some might kill you simply to prevent you from 'spoiling' the secret."

"There are people like that?" Roland immediately thought of the person most deeply entangled with Batman. "Alright, fair enough. There really are."

"So, knowing my identity is not a good thing," Bruce sighed.

"That’s not really a problem. If I don't talk, who would know that I know who you are?" Roland said. "You should be more worried about whether Poison Ivy or the Mad Hatter might guess that you’re Batman."

"It’s fine. I used a little technique when striking their heads, which should cause them to lose their most recent memories."

"...Is that even reasonable?"

"Nothing is strange," Bruce replied. "It’s just practice makes perfect."

Gordon pulled the car over. "Get out. Take Natalia to get some rest. I need to go back and finish Valentine’s Day with Barbara... Getting called out in the middle of the holiday is absolutely miserable."

"...You’re all going back to celebrate, and I’m the only single guy here left to fend for myself?"