"I know what you've been doing in Crime Alley, Jason. Are you still fighting violence with violence?"
"It works, at least better than your method," Red Hood said dismissively.
But Batman said: "Perhaps in our Gotham, yes, but in this Gotham, your method isn't very effective."
"I don't think so," Red Hood said, somewhat unconvinced.
"In our Gotham and this Gotham, we face different opponents. Here, we are fighting against another kind of order."
Red Hood knew what he was talking about: "The Court of Owls."
Batman nodded: "It seems you are very clear. Yes, it's the Court of Owls. They control the public welfare here; you can see their shadow in government agencies like schools, hospitals, road administration, and municipal affairs."
"You can't kill all these people."
Red Hood frowned. He knew Batman was right; sometimes, his opponents were not those heinous criminals, but accomplices who, unable to resist, chose to blindly conform. They were part of this city's order.
And before destroying an order, a new order must be established and ready to replace it, otherwise, previous efforts would be in vain.
Was destroying the old order just to plunge Gotham into anarchy?
"But how will you do it? Does this city still have the strength to resist?"
"Yes," Batman whispered.
Red Hood raised an eyebrow and asked him: "Who? I've been here for days and haven't seen anyone resisting the Owls."
"Of course you haven't seen them, because they are hidden very deeply. They are the Joker Gang."
Red Hood made a gesture of picking his ear, then continued to ask: "My ear seemed to have a problem just now. Could you repeat that? What was it?"
"The Joker Gang. I know you heard me. I'm not joking."
Batman finally turned his head to face Red Hood: "Don't forget, many things here are the opposite of our World. So in this World, the Joker Gang is a resistance organization; they are the vanguard against the Court of Owls' tyranny."
"But I haven't seen any signs of their activity," Red Hood recalled, confirming he hadn't seen anyone from the Joker Gang.
"Their leader, Jester, was killed by Owlman not long ago, so they should be licking their wounds recently. They are hiding."
"And you found their hiding place, right?" Red Hood asked.
Batman nodded: "I just have some doubts whether they still have the courage to stand up and fight the Court of Owls."
Red Hood sneered and said: "As long as the Owls lose enough, as long as the Joker Gang's desire for revenge is strong enough, they will have that courage."
The public is always like this: they help whoever wins.
With that, Red Hood flipped and jumped off the cathedral, disappearing in a blink.
Only Batman remained, still overlooking Gotham... Central City.
Barry didn't know how, but ever since he met this World's Iris West that day, his mind had been preoccupied.
During his student days, he had indeed admired the Iris West of another World for a long time, but after graduation, he hadn't seen her for a very long time.
And to be precise, this World's Iris was somewhat different in personality from her counterpart in the other World.
Barry didn't know how to describe it; he felt that this Iris wasn't as assertive, as if... more understanding. He felt she seemed to understand him.
But he also worried that it was all just his illusion.
"Barry, what are you thinking about?"
Barry's attention was instantly drawn back to her. He said with some embarrassment: "I was thinking about where I should stay tonight."
He didn't know whether to call himself unlucky or what, but Barry only stayed in a motel for one day with the money he got from Dane before checking out due to a guilty conscience.
But his wallet was stolen the very day he left the motel. He was Flash, the fastest man in the World, yet he didn't even realize his wallet had been taken from his pocket.
When Barry arrived disconsolately at the place he had agreed to meet Iris, she said with certainty: "You must have been seen with cash on you at the time. Did you have a lot of cash?"
Barry recalled the stack of banknotes Dane had given him and said weakly: "Probably a lot, maybe tens of thousands of U.S. dollars..."
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