## Chapter 48: Conning
Old Wayne Tower.
As the elevator door dinged open, Bruce Wayne stepped onto the 14th floor and saw Lincoln March standing there, like a silent, elegant statue.
“Bruce, I was just thinking about how grateful I am that you came to meet me. I can imagine how busy you must be these days.”
“Not too busy to meet with Lincoln March, the ‘next Mayor of Gotham City’ –”
“That’s what the gossip is saying these days?”
“Sort of.” Bruce smiled at him. “But I don’t doubt the gossip’s truth. I’ve been reading about you. A self-made financial tycoon turned philanthropist.”
“You’re quite the story, and it’s a perfect one.”
Lincoln March felt that Bruce’s tone when he said “perfect” seemed to imply something else, but looking at those sincere eyes, he felt it was probably just his own misconception.
“You’ve done good things. You’ve funded the Boys’ Home and opened after-school reading programs.”
Bruce pulled out a check and scribbled on it.
“So, what do you think? Does this number look satisfactory?”
“Bruce, I’m not here to ask you for money, but don’t get me wrong – every penny is worth appreciating.”
Lincoln March said, “Damn it, Mayor Caro has about 10 credit lines operating all day, and the source of funding, to put it kindly, is problematic.”
“If you want public support, I’m afraid I can’t give you that.”
“I don’t need public support either. What I really want is just your vote.”
Bruce just watched Lincoln March perform his act.
His expression was sincere.
Tsk. Since you like playing so much, then why not play along?
“My vote. You came all this way just for one vote, Lincoln.”
“Yes, but what you’re doing right now is also my belief, Bruce. The Gotham Reconstruction Plan is a good thing. Frankly, I see you as a friend.”
“Cynics would say you saw an opportunity.”
“Yes, cynics would also say that you launched the New Gotham plan essentially for your company’s image, because it’s a publicly held project and serves a private purpose, blah blah blah.”
“That’s what the gossip is saying these days?”
“Sort of, maybe they’re right. I should be going, I’ll leave the check on the table.”
“Bruce, you know, I also lost my parents in my childhood.”
Bruce paused.
Here comes the meat. Classic parent opening.
No matter what, when you want to deceive Batman, first bring up a topic that he doesn’t understand.
“Strange, isn’t it? Only details remember details, I can barely recall my mother’s face. But I remember that – remember it vividly.
The brooch she wore on that day of the accident. The ceramic brooch I made for her at school, small, heart-shaped, completely crooked, one side bigger than the other, but she pinned it on her charming skirt, my ugly little brooch.
I don’t remember the drunk driver who hit us.
I don’t remember how the accident happened… But I remember when the paramedics carried me away, I saw the brooch lying on the ground, intact, no breaks, no cracks, just lying on the road, I just wished someone would pick it up.”
“After that night, I lost everything I had, and for a long time, I was in complete despair, I hated the world.”
“But later I got scholarships, funding that allowed me to study at City College, this city saved me, Bruce, Gotham saved me.”
“When you were alone, this city gave you purpose. I bet it gave you that too.”
“I see you, I see an ally, a true ally. You know that there aren’t many allies in this city, and they’re far apart, especially now.”
Bruce smiled.
“Mr. March…”
“I’ve always believed that the best way to understand a city is to be grounded.”
He turned around, stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, stretched his body, and looked out at the twinkling lights of the city in the night sky in the distance.
“Feel the cracks in the sidewalk beneath your feet…”
An unspeakable aura enveloped Lincoln March. He didn’t know what was happening, he just felt –
Just seeing Bruce Wayne standing there with a glass of wine in his hand, made him… a little breathless.
“The strangely bright silence on the snow-covered parking lot…”
“The sparks flying from the elevated train as it rumbles past from Third Street…”
“The ticking of the late-night traffic lights…”
“But do you know what’s most interesting?”
He saw Bruce Wayne turn around, the light from behind him shining into the room, making half his face disappear in the shadows.
“Everything in Gotham is so obvious on the surface, but if you try to understand Gotham from a deeper level, you’ll spend your entire life… yet still know nothing about it.”
“Isn’t that right, Mr. March?”
“Gotham has an underground cave.”
Lincoln March didn’t know why the conversation suddenly took a turn here.
“Just one, actually, this one and only one is in Kane County, just below the Willow Creek Children’s Aid Center. Many years ago, it was an affiliate hospital of Gotham for the treatment of mental and neurological disorders in children, it was still in operation until 18 years ago.”
Lincoln March’s face changed bit by bit. This was a secret that only he and the Court knew about. They had hidden it well all these years, how did Batman get this information?
Of course, he read it in the comics.
Bruce watched him with a serious look, secretly amused.
He continued,
“I had a brother, Thomas Wayne II, Mr. March…”
Bruce spoke, secretly observing Lincoln March.
He was secretly amused, he continued, telling a story that had been modified by the time traveler:
“When I was three, my mother was pregnant with him, we were in an accident, I don’t remember the accident, but there are records. He was my brother, a premature baby, with congenital defects.”
Lincoln March felt his heart beating faster.
What Bruce Wayne knew far exceeded his expectations, which meant… his previous assumptions about the other man had to be overturned.
“The records at Gotham Mercy Hospital show that my brother, little Thomas Wayne, was forcibly born under emergency conditions. He got a name, quickly put on life support – but the doctors said he had severe neurological damage. It was so severe, he was likely to become a permanent vegetable, to survive the initial trauma.”
“He survived.”
“My parents secretly took him to Willow Creek to be treated. They always felt that the accident was not ordinary. To protect the little baby, to prevent possible behind-the-scenes people from harming him, they sent him to Willow Creek.”
Bruce stared at Lincoln March’s face: “My parents loved my brother. But what no one expected was –”
“A half month later, the little baby disappeared.”
Bruce said, “My parents kept looking for him until they died, and I’ve been searching for him all these years.”
Lincoln March’s hand was shaking.
“But we couldn’t find him at all.”
“Tell me, March, where could that child be?”
(End of chapter)
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