Chapter 1463: The bird returns (eight)_1

After the New 52 in the Prime Universe of DC comics, many origin stories of the Robins were rewritten. For instance, the part of Nightwing's history where he formed the Teen Titans was erased. He was introduced already as Nightwing, with his backstory being that he was adopted and taught by Wayne from a young age, without any detailed explanation of what led him to become an independent hero or how he returned afterwards.

The same goes for the Red Hood. When he first appeared in the New 52 of the Prime Universe, he was already Red Hood. Barbara's history as Oracle wasn't erased, but the storyline about her being paralyzed changed to her already having successfully undergone surgery and being able to walk again. Both Orphan and Spoiler, former Batgirls, returned to their independent identities, no longer having such a close connection to Batman.

No matter how their origin stories change, the Batman Family's awful academic backgrounds in the Prime Universe remain consistent. Nightwing, at least in his solo run, attended Hudson University. Although he was expelled after a few issues, in the New 52, his education is akin to fetal education. The rest are even worse, with Barbara the only one faring a bit better.

The most successful member of the Batman Family is Batwing Luke Fox, son of the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. A product of elite education, he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with degrees in business and engineering.

Given the Robins' life histories, this situation is somewhat understandable. If the first decade or so of your life is spent narrowly escaping death, there wouldn't be much time left for schooling.

But that doesn't mean this situation is acceptable, especially to Thomas Wayne, who wouldn't approve of anything less than a traditional elite education.

In Thomas's era, the education he had scoped upon shouldn't be called an elite one, but rather an old-world aristocratic one, which is simply defined as learning as much as possible until you nearly break down.

In addition to basic subjects like language arts and mathematics, etiquette classes were of paramount importance. Artistic talents were indispensable, and art appreciation was a required course. Sports such as horse riding and archery couldn't be neglected. Ideally, one should be fluent in eight languages by the age of four, complete a global journey at six years old, be a successful entrepreneur by eight, and be on par with Monet and Chopin by ten, all before making waves at the top of the human pyramid before the age of fifteen.

Of course, this is an ideal state, but the final results were somewhat reduced due to personal limitations. Thomas wasn't a diligent student when he was young, always wanting to skip school to play, so he just managed to scrape through his courses.

Even so, he is multilingual, graduated from Princeton University Medical School, holds three master's degrees and a surgeon's license, and served as a field doctor. After inheriting the family fortune, he had extensive connections and if it weren't for the loss of his son, which led to his downfall, he definitely would have lived up to the title of a noble heir.

After Thomas arrived, in Bruce's universe, he had made a lot of compromises in his heart. His death was early in this universe and Bruce was traumatized and received a less comprehensive education, but it was understandable.

But on the other hand, although Bruce's education of the children had some flaws, overall there weren't any major problems. From Thomas's critical perspective, it simply lacked a bit of the underlying richness that the Wayne Family should have had.

But that didn't matter, thought Thomas. After all, hadn't he arrived? It wasn't too late to start cultivating their interests now. Each child had their own unique strengths: Dick had a talent for dancing, Jason was physically strong, Tim was smart and meticulous, and Aisha had great athletic ability and aggressiveness. Wasn't the future progress of the Wayne Family within reach?

For these reasons, Thomas turned a blind eye to Bruce's current idleness. If he couldn't rely on his son, he could rely on his grandchildren, and it would still be the same round up.

When one sees hope, one finds endless motivation. Thomas was elatedly planning to accumulate more resources for the Wayne Family when Nightwing from another universe delivered a blow.

So, the situation in this universe was already considered good?!

The moment this thought crossed Thomas's mind, he felt a spasm in his heart and his breathing became rapid.

"Master, your tea," Alfred reminded promptly.

Thomas, clutching his chest, drank a few mouthfuls of tea and slumped, gasping for breath for half a minute before finally catching it.

As Nightwing was about to open his mouth, Thomas gestured for him to shut up with a shaking finger. Then, straightening himself, he looked into Nightwing's eyes and asked.

"So you're saying that in your universe, Batman not only is Batman himself, but also adopts a lot of children with the intention of training them to become Batmans, as well? And as a result, he doesn't let them go to school, instead training them in combat and rope skills, leading them to end up without regular jobs?"

"My regular job is fighting crime!"

"Why don't you become a cop then?!"

"Is being a cop so important?"

"Is being Batman's sidekick so important?"

Nightwing couldn't answer. If he truly thought that being Batman's sidekick was important, then why did he choose to become Nightwing? But if he didn't think it was important, then why did he return to Batman's side? This was a question that had been troubling him for a long time, and it was a question that had always troubled the members of the Batman Family — who exactly were they?