Chapter 244 Hollywood Black and White Movies (Part 1)

Early in the morning, in the office of Arkham Sanatorium, Schiller put down the book in his hand. Peter, who was carrying a schoolbag, stood at the door and knocked on the door. Schiller looked up and said, "Come in."

"Doctor, I'm back." Peter seemed very excited. After he came in, he took off the schoolbag on his shoulder, opened the zipper and began to search in the bag. After searching for a long time, he exclaimed, "Oh, here it is!"

As he said, he took a box out of the schoolbag. It was a square transparent box, which contained an old-fashioned videotape, the kind used on a hand-cranked projector.

Peter handed the videotape to Schiller, scratched his head, and said a little embarrassedly, "I think you will like this."

Schiller took the videotape with a smile and said, "Compared to the gift, I am more curious about how your trip to Hollywood was this time?"

Peter showed a weird expression, his two eyebrows were one high and one low to form a step, and his eyes were one big and one small, which made Schiller see the most common funny expression of Spider-Man in the comics.

Peter sighed and said, "This is a long story."

While unpacking the old videotape, Schiller said, "Don't worry, we can talk while watching old movies."

Peter looked at the unpacked old videotape and said, "This thing is an antique. Modern projectors should not be able to use this kind of videotape, right?"

"You should know who has a projector that can play this thing..."

The light in the early morning began to become brighter and brighter, passing through the morning and noon, and came to the drowsy afternoon.

With a "click", Steve bent down and turned the bracket of the old projector over, and then pointed to the window.

Stark walked to the window with a curse and drew the curtains. Schiller sat on one side of the sofa and clinked glasses with Connors on the single sofa next to him. Natasha lowered her head and fiddled with a souvenir in the shape of a small golden man.

"I say, besides this antique, who else would like to use this broken machine to play this antique movie?"

After Stark said this, everyone in the room looked up and stared at him. Stark was stunned for a moment and said, "Isn't it possible that I am the only one who doesn't want to watch it?"

"Please, if I have this time, why don't I create some new achievements for human civilization?"

While Stark was muttering to himself, he sat down on the sofa. Steve, who was standing behind the sofa, turned the button of the projector. As the black and white image was projected onto the wall in front of him, Steve also came over and sat on the sofa.

Accompanied by the brisk jazz music in the movies of the last century, in Schiller's vision, the objects in the room began to fade, the surface of the fabric sofa became smooth little by little, and the luster of the leather sofa spread from one corner until it covered the entire sofa.

The bracket of the table lamp was raised, and the retro patterns on the glass lampshade climbed up like vines, and the old wood grain spread on the alloy window frame. The sunlight shining in from the window became dim from dazzling. The moment the sun fell below the horizon, a "dong dong" knock on the door sounded.

Bruce was standing outside the door. Schiller put down the pen in his hand, stood up, looked at him and said, "Is your Hollywood trip over?"

Bruce pursed his lips, his expression looked a little strange, Schiller said, "What's wrong? Selina feels uncomfortable?"

"She adapts very well." Bruce's tone was a little low, but revealed a hint of complexity.

"Then it seems that you are not adapting?"

Bruce didn't say anything, took out a beautifully packaged wooden box from the bag in his hand, handed it to Schiller and said, "...souvenir, professor."

Schiller took the box, saw the old videotape inside, and said, "How do you know there is an old projector in my manor?...Oh, forget it, this question is a bit stupid."

With a "click", Harvey twisted the projector bracket and pointed the head at the wall. Victor put down the wine glass and leaned on the backrest of the soft leather sofa. Gordon was lighting a cigar for Schiller, and then he picked up a cigar and lit it himself, exhaling a puff of smoke.

Bruce squinted his eyes on the sofa nearby, looking a little sleepy, like a bat taking a nap in a cave.

As the button of the projector was turned, the movie screen was projected on the wall, and the cheerful tune of the orchestra began to become low. After the percussion and drums were added, the wind whistled in the roar of the sports car engine.

"Wow!" Selena got out of the seat belt and stretched her upper body out of the convertible door. Bruce, who was driving, quickly pulled her back and sighed.

This was the 30th time he sighed on this road. Selina put her arm on the car door, tilted her head back and chewed bubble gum. She blew a bubble and turned to Bruce and said, "To be honest, I was really shocked when you took off your mask. You turned out to be Wayne."

"I thought you had guessed it a long time ago."

"I know you are rich, but I didn't expect you to be so rich." Selina put her fingers on her temples and chewed bubble gum while saying, "But you said you would take me to Hollywood and let me make a movie. Isn't this a bit too ridiculous?"

Selena pretended to be relaxed and said, "I also went to the cinema to watch movies before. I think I look similar to the female stars in those shots, but..."

Her tone became a little hesitant again: "Okay, I admit that I am just a girl born in the slums. I have never seen any big scenes since I was born. If there are so many cameras facing me, I might be trembling with fear."

"I just want to find you something to do." Bruce turned the steering wheel, turned a corner, and said, "As long as you don't steal anything, no one will question your status on the set, because the whole movie is invested by me..."

Selena first glanced at the scenery that was quickly receding outside the car window, and then blinked her eyes. She looked at Bruce and said, "You're so nice to me."

Bruce's hand on the steering wheel froze for a moment. Selina noticed his reaction and deliberately leaned towards him, saying, "You get nervous? That's really strange."

"Even if I haven't experienced the life of a rich man like you, I know that you should have a lot of female companions. Do you feel the same way when facing them?"

Bruce turned his head away to avoid Selina who was sticking to him. He slowed down and said, "We're in Hollywood... look over there."

Following Bruce's line of sight, Selina saw a row of huge white letters appear on the green hillside in the distance - "HOLLYWOOD".

At this time, behind the letters, the sun was slowly sinking into the horizon, and the clouds in the sky were changing rapidly, sinking into the night and coming to dawn. When the morning light came through the letters, Peter put a blanket on Gwen beside him and pointed at the row of letters and said, "Look, we are here."

Gwen's smiling face was particularly bright in the morning light, and Peter was almost stunned. Seeing Peter's dull expression, Gwen laughed and said, "Do you know how red your face is?"

Peter turned his head unnaturally, then rubbed his face with his hands, and then lifted the hair on his forehead with both hands, looking directly at the morning light and the white letters on the hillside.

"I heard that this was originally a billboard built by a real estate developer to promote his house."

"But now, the copyright of this thing should belong to the Los Angeles City Government." Gwen stroked her long hair and said, "The reason why I want to travel to Hollywood is because I saw this billboard in a movie when I was a child. At that time, I fantasized about changing it to my own name."

"You want to make your name so big and put it on the hillside?" Peter looked at Gwen with wide eyes, as if he didn't know her.

Gwen laughed so hard that she was out of breath. She patted Peter's shoulder with one hand and said, "I was like this when I was a child. My father was very supportive of me. He made a few white letters with cardboard and put them on my windowsill. I was so happy. Seriously, don't you want to?"

Gwen put one hand on Peter's shoulder and stretched out the other hand with five fingers, pointing at the billboard and said, "People can see your name as soon as they drive through this lane. Many people will stop to take pictures like us..."

"Wait!" Peter turned around and said, "Speaking of parking...is it not allowed to park here???"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several traffic police in uniform coming over from the other side and driving away tourists who parked here. Gwen grabbed Peter and said, "Get in the car! I don't want to pay a fine!"

The two hurriedly opened the car door and got in the car. Peter started the car and stepped on the accelerator. He heard the screams of the slow person behind him who was fined. The two looked at each other and smiled brightly.

The car looked very small on the long road. At the end of the sky, the light was blocked by clouds and dimmed. With a "pop", a ticket was posted on the side of the convertible.

Bruce put one hand outside the car door, holding a stack of dollars in one hand and a cigarette in the other hand. Selena took the cigarette out of her mouth and leaned over to light it for Bruce.

The traffic policeman squeezed the extra generous dollars in his hand and smiled at Bruce, saying, "You can watch as long as you want, sir, I wish you a pleasant journey."

Bruce didn't even look at him, but held the cigarette in one hand and looked directly at the smoke and the sunset in the sky. He said, "Now you can watch as long as you want."

Selena pushed open the car door, walked to the side of the road, stretched, yawned again, and faced the light of dusk. She squinted her eyes and said, "I never thought that there would be such a day when I could stay in the same place with the protagonists in those movies..."

A coat was thrown out of the car and fell on Selena. She turned back. Looking at Bruce who was still sitting in the driver's seat, she said, "You are good in every way, especially you are rich..."

Selina turned around, propped up the car door with her arm, leaned her upper body back into the car, and said, "But I always feel that the Bruce Wayne I saw in the newspaper is not like this. They say you have a lot of bad friends, like to fool around, and are a playboy. All women are attracted to you..."

"But why do I feel that you can't let go at all, always nervous, and..." Selina opened the car door and sat back in, then stuck to Bruce, and blew into his ear with a smile and said, "...and a little shy?"

Seeing Bruce's instantly stiff neck, Selina blinked and said, "You are such a mystery. I think you are more like a ball of yarn than a bat, my sir."

"Isn't that just right?" Bruce looked back at her. His blue eyes were clearer than the sky on the west coast when he looked at Selina.

"You happen to be a cat, my lady."