With that, he tossed his pen onto the desk. Hugo's face montarily froze, but he quickly regained his smile, saying, "Ok then, if you don't want to follow the process, your dormitory is n's Dormitory Building 2, Room 201. Take the key and start your college life."
Bruce didn't say a word. He grabbed the key and walked out. After he left, Hugo let out a sigh of relief and said, "I thought there'd be so thrilling story about Shiller encountering Batman. Isn't it just a random encounter in school?"
"It seems that at that ti, Shiller was just an ordinary receptionist for new students registration. How could Batman have been guard against him under such circumstance?"
"What's going on here?" Victor, who was sitting in the audience, turned his head to look at Shiller. anwhile, Cobblepot and Evans in the front row were all ears, eager to hear Shiller's explanation.
"If all I did was to let Hugo invade Batman's dream and have them fight, wouldn't that be just another brawl? What's the point in that?"
"So, what did you do?" asked Victor.
Shiller lowered his gaze. As the room's light shone on his face, it failed to illuminate the shadow beneath his brows. The pair of eyes, always shrouded in the shadow, were a foggy grey under the diffused light.
"What Hugo stepped into was not Batman's conscious mind but his unconscious mind where his mories are stored. Of course, I couldn't possibly bypass Batman's conscious to lead Hugo into the unconscious mind. However, I could opt for a detour."
"I went from my unconscious mind into the Kingdom of Dreams beneath my consciousness, arrived beneath Batman's dream, then ascended from the Kingdom of Dreams. That way, I could reach Batman's unconscious mind directly from the bottom."
"I am grateful to our projectionist." Shiller turned to look at Morpheus,"He allowed to take the detour. Of course, this is not smuggling. I inford Batman in advance that there would be a test."
"Also, I am grateful to a friend of ours, Mr. Jack here, sound asleep." Shiller looked at Jack sitting in the front row, "To prevent Batman's consciousness from noticing soone ssing with his mories, codian Jack is doing his utmost to perform in the dreams of conscious Batman."
"Maybe he's also enjoying it, judging by his expression," Shiller teased.
Following Shiller's words, Victor looked at Jack in front of him. Because they weren't sitting directly behind each other, Victor could see sleeping Jack was grinning sweetly, seemingly having a great deal of fun.
"In addition, I'd like to thank soone known as Hugo Strange. He once told he wanted to play a role similar to mine. So, I gave him this opportunity," Shiller continued.
"In Batman's unconscious, I found all his mories about , which was where Hugo invaded. And within these mories, he took over my existence and beca Batman's ntor."
Victor shook his head, without saying another word. It's not clear who he was showing respect for with his silence, but Shiller continued, "Bruce in his mory isn't aware that this is a test, so he will just act following his own personality traits. I didn't control or influence him. So, Hugo was facing the purest Batman, with no external interference."
"Well, he might be in trouble then," Victor concluded. Shiller turned his head to Victor, "You seem to have a special understanding of Batman..."
"He's a fairly complicated person. No offense, but you two are similar. From my understanding of you, I can guess what kind of person he is."
Shiller smiled but didn't respond. He turned his head back to the stage to continue watching.
At this mont, the room's scene gradually faded away. Everything was once again swallowed up by the dark void of space. The starlight gathered to form a whirlpool. This ti, cold and damp flagstones fell one by one, and bricks built walls, the shadow of buildings faintly visible in the distance.
The previously quiet room was filled with the sound of rain. On the stage, it began to drizzle. Everyone present could feel the dampness hitting their faces and the distinctive chemical sll hidden in Gotham's rain.
Cobblepot sniffled. Familiar with the scent as a Gothamite born and bred, he had spent countless rainy nights running around. Damp, cold, pungent; impossible to avoid.
In the alleyway, Hugo who had just entered this mory scene seed a little confused, not understanding why he was suddenly in a rainy night in Gotham.
Suddenly, the sound of two sharp whistles ca. Hugo didn't react in ti. He didn't have Spider-sense or an umbrella. Thus, he was defenseless when two Bat tags flew at him.
The dark and sharp dart stopped 30 centiters away from him, and a man dressed in a bat suit showed up at the alley entrance.
"Batman?" Hugo squinted his eyes. The man across, Batman, was taken aback. He rembered his na was not yet known. How did his college professor, who suddenly appeared in a rainy Gotham night, know?
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