"I suppose I can allow that," Bruce says, in that same flat, too-serious tone he was using to describe the ground-down teeth of misery capitalism (even though it's not like he's an inherent socialist, he's more of an enforcement-oriented anarchist-egalitarian, which is a nightmare, yes, but a lesser one, ranked in a line of Ways Bruce Wayne Is A Nightmare). Most people would not be able to detect the humor.

The spy octopus probably had a name. If it did, Alfred didn't tell him, because Bruce can't remember it. Strange that he didn't ask; he's certain he was pretty young, when the story was relayed. But he'd been weird even then.

"You're a pet person." Shelby Kent. He remembers. And many other offhand references to fuzzy things in years past, some of them in little frames in Martha's house. Bruce is not a pet person; this is not a shock. "No goldfish in Metropolis?"