Chapter 2027

A glimmer of light gradually appeared before his eyes, slowly expanding into a hazy halo. After his eyelids fluttered open and shut several times, a familiar face appeared within Batman's field of vision.

Hearing the familiar sounds of equipment operating and the faint, intermittent dripping of water, Batman finally regained his senses.

"... Dick?" His voice was too dry.

The young man before him removed his mask and leaned down, bringing his face very close to Batman's. Batman turned his head away, and Nightwing shook his head, saying, "I'm grateful you still remember my name, Batman. How are you feeling?"

"What happened to me?"

"A cataclysmic explosion at a chemical plant," Nightwing said while tidying up the medical supplies on the tray. "It's a miracle you're still alive."

"Why are you here?"

"I imagine you didn't want me to come back to help, but the fact is, if I don't stop the riots in Cat Getan City, Blüdhaven won't have many peaceful days left either."

"How did you find me?"

"Drop the questions, Mr. Batman. You aren't in a state to talk too much right now. Drink some water first."

Nightwing poured some water for Batman and helped him sit up. Batman looked down and saw that the clothing over his abdomen was soaked in blood; it appeared that some shrapnel from the exploded building had lacerated his abdominal cavity.

"There's a very strange phenomenon," Nightwing said, touching his own lips. "Did you inject yourself with some kind of strange serum?"

"What is it?"

"Calling it a miracle isn't an exaggeration. You should have been injured far worse than this. And haven't you noticed? Your wounds are healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. I didn't even have time to debride them."

Batman looked down at his wounds again, and only then did he realize with a start that they didn't hurt at all.

"I... where is Alfred?"

"He'll be here shortly. I originally intended to dress your wounds to look a bit better so as not to frighten him, but it seems that won't be necessary now. Come on, put on the monitoring equipment, and then I have to go do my job."

"Where are you going?"

"Tim just called me to say that you and Oracle had gone missing. At the time I received that call, I witnessed the explosion. I knew it had to be related to the two of you."

"But I only found you at the explosion site, not Barbara. I suspect she most likely went to find her father."

Batman slowly closed his eyes and said, "Find her, protect her. Go."

He didn't know how long his consciousness had been submerged, but a familiar aroma awakened Batman. In his dream, he saw a plate of fluffy pancakes—the kind he ate most often—and when he woke up, he discovered the source of the aroma was placed on the nursing table beside his hospital bed.

"Eat something, Master." Alfred was tidying up items to the side.

Batman looked down again and was surprised to find that the wound on his abdomen had already healed to the point where only a faint scar remained. After hesitating for a long while, he finally spoke:

"I think I might have a problem, Alfred."

"What is it?"

After a pause, Batman said, "I was infected by a certain virus, and then I was affected by a toxic gas."

Batman looked down at his wound and said, "The previous host of this virus had such astonishing healing abilities, so I feel this might be a sign of deterioration. I don't know how much longer it will be before the virus takes control of my brain."

"Don't worry too much," Alfred said, handing the food to Batman. "At the very least, we are all still here. We can always do something, can't we?"

Batman devoured the food almost ravenously and gulped down two cups of hot tea. By this time, he was even able to sit up from the hospital bed and walk successfully.

"You're right, Alfred. I have things I must do, and I must do them now."

"Stay safe, Master."

When that dark shadow landed on the rooftop again, the rain had eased significantly, but without the sound of the rain, Cat Getan City was now terrifyingly quiet.

Batman had just checked the people who had collapsed on the street; they had all been knocked unconscious by an unknown toxin. It didn't look like fear gas, but Scarecrow must know what was going on.

Batman took a deep breath. He intended to turn on his tracking device to see where the satellite radiation peak was, but a certain restless emotion rose in his heart—an indescribable, intense desire urged him to board the Batmobile at top speed and race off in one direction.

Beep—beep—beep—

When the alarm sounded, Scarecrow turned his head abruptly and pulled back the curtain. He saw the Batmobile approaching at high speed.

"What's going on? That explosion didn't hurt him? How did he catch up so quickly?"

"You, and you, stay behind to cover the retreat. Everyone else, come with me. Hurry! We must find that fool Stagg quickly and then restart my Cloudburst plan. Move!"

Arkham Knight, who was standing by the door with his arms crossed, snorted and said, "Coward."

Scarecrow glared at him coldly but did not retort, because this plan was supposed to have Scarecrow holding the hostages to pin down Batman while Arkham Knight went to find Stagg.

But the hostages had escaped from his grasp. Without the hostages, Scarecrow didn't dare face a potentially crazed Batman head-on, so he could only demand that Arkham Knight stay behind, and then they would go find Stagg together.

Fortunately, Stagg Enterprises was not far away. Scarecrow snorted as he and his men boarded the military vehicle. The men he left behind were enough to cause Batman some trouble; it wouldn't be this easy to catch up to him next time.

Then, less than ten minutes later, Scarecrow was found again.

After sacrificing another four or five men to pin down Batman, Scarecrow began to transfer to the next safehouse. This safehouse was none other than the Chinatown loft that had once held Poison Ivy.

And he had stayed here for less than ten minutes before the Batmobile appeared at the end of the street again.

Scarecrow was on the verge of a breakdown. He didn't know how Batman managed to pinpoint his location so quickly and charge over regardless of everything else.

Meanwhile, Peter returned to the Batcave and released the three FBI agents from the Batcave prison.

"Hello, I am Peter Parker. I apologize; the greeting process was a bit thrilling, but we had to do it this way."

"Greeting process?!" the helicopter pilot raised his voice. "You mean letting a lunatic driving a flying car and wearing spandex fire cannons at us?!"

"I said it was a necessary procedure. If you hadn't been captured by him, you wouldn't have been able to see me."

"My God! Everyone here is crazy!"

"Stop the chatter. Take this to Ms. Waller. Your aircraft should be in the rear hangar. Leave now."

The three agents looked at each other, then looked at the items Peter handed over, discovering they really were the military vehicle's identification equipment and coding.

They nodded at Peter and walked quickly out the door. On the way to the helicopter landing site, Peter said to them, "The fact is that someone misappropriated military equipment, but the military isn't stupid. They have likely already discovered it."

"As long as the military high command isn't stupid, they will never allow this matter to be made public, so you had better be careful."

The agents nodded at Peter. As the helicopter rotors began to spin, Peter stood on the ground and waved at them.

Then, he returned to the Batcomputer at top speed to call Oracle Barbara. After discovering there was no answer, Peter beckoned to Poison Ivy and said, "We have to go to Oracle's base to use her system."

Poison Ivy was already too lazy to ask what he was doing. In any case, following Peter was the only choice now; otherwise, if she were caught alone by Batman, she would certainly suffer. With Peter there, if they were caught together, she might be able to escape while Peter was getting beaten up.

Peter operated the Batcomputer to crack a portion of the Oracle system's satellite information, pinpointing the location of the Zhong Lou. The two drove there at top speed.

After arriving at the Zhong Lou, Peter did not choose to hack the security door again; instead, he pried the door open with his bare hands.

Passing through the gap in the security door, Peter discovered there were no signs of destruction inside. Clearly, Barbara had left on her own. Judging from that previous phone call, she should have gone to save her father.

Peter started the computer, successfully entered the Oracle system, and began searching for phone numbers inside.

Very quickly, he locked onto a number. After the call connected, a steady male voice came from the other end.

"Hello, I am Peter Parker. You don't need to know who I am, but I have some bad news to tell you now."

"You should have already heard about the accident that occurred in Cat Getan City. Unfortunately, the terrorist Scarecrow has stolen the military equipment's access rights and is currently driving military vehicles and using military satellites to parade through Cat Getan City."

"Yes, Cat Getan City's power has been cut off, and no one can get the news out. But unfortunately, that pervasive FBI sent armed helicopters to land in Cat Getan."

"Batman provided them with the identification equipment and unique coding carried by the military vehicles, and perhaps more. The agents have already taken off. In one hour, Amanda Waller will have the evidence."

"Don't think about killing them to silence them. As long as that equipment is still in the hands of the terrorists in Cat Getan, Waller can send people to retrieve the evidence at any time. You know how stubborn and paranoid she is."

"If you have any countermeasures, you had better execute them before the aircraft lands. I can only provide this much of a hint. Goodbye."

The call ended, and Peter let out a long breath.

"I find I understand you less and less," Poison Ivy said.

Unexpectedly, Peter's expression finally turned serious, as if his plan had only just truly begun.

Peter put his jacket back on and said to Poison Ivy, "Hurry over and help. We need to relocate all the residents of Wei En Manor and a large area around it."

Poison Ivy looked bewildered.

Although she didn't know what Peter was going to do, Poison Ivy still helped as best she could. On one hand, the vines were very useful; more importantly, the people anesthetized by the plant toxins had no ability to resist, making them even easier to transport than inanimate objects.

Peter drove, and Poison Ivy, standing on the roof of the car, operated the vines to move every living thing out of every house and stuff them into the vehicles. They filled one vehicle after another, and even dug up the plants and moved them away.

In about forty minutes, the large manor district surrounding Wei En Manor had been completely cleared, leaving only the houses and the land.

Standing in an underground parking lot at least three miles away that was filled with trucks, Peter looked at Poison Ivy and said, "You stay here. No matter what you see, don't go out. I'll be back to rendezvous with you soon."

After saying this, Peter left. Poison Ivy always felt something was wrong. She walked to the edge of the underground parking lot and watched Peter disappear into the distance.

And just as she turned around, wanting to return underground, she saw several black dots appear on the gray horizon, flying toward Cat Getan while trailing thick smoke.

Those were dozens of missiles without any markings.

"I will end you with my own hands, Batman."

The neon lights of Chinatown reflected off Arkham Knight's black-gray metal armor, making him look like a warrior cloaked in boundless light, while Batman, opposite him, stood in the still-heavy rain and fog. A certain terrifying desire made him look like a demon from the past.

"Take off your mask," Batman said.

"Take off yours first. Don't you dare?"

"Where is Scarecrow?"

"You didn't come to..."

Batman could no longer hear Arkham Knight's voice. He saw the Joker's face in the reflection of the metal armor.

"You don't dare. Of course you don't dare, Batman," the Joker said to him with a laugh. "Didn't you see the scene after your identity was exposed in the images influenced by the fear gas? Or..."

Zzz—

Batman was startled awake. The moment the sharp sound rang out, the two of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at the horizon.

Missiles, more missiles, countless missiles, were flying toward this dark city, carrying the scent of destruction.

Batman's communicator rang.

"... Penguin! I intercepted Penguin's communication with the military! They want to destroy the evidence..."

Batman heard Peter's voice on the communicator, breathless and gradually growing weaker.

"They tracked me down through the intercepted signal and kidnapped me, but I escaped halfway. I am currently in the Batcave activating the anti-missile equipment. Give me the access rights... Batman..."

Batman pressed the button immediately, but then Peter's slightly pained voice came through.

"No... it's too late. There's no time to intercept them... I activated the decoy... the decoy in the Batcave..."

Batman froze for a moment, then shouted into the communicator, "No!! Peter! The navigation point for the decoy system is the Batcave! You can't..."

"I know... but this is likely the way with the least loss..."

"Peter! Don't!!... Peter!!!!"

Beep—beep—

The missiles passing overhead suddenly turned, concentrating and flying toward a single point.

BOOM!!!

Watching the mushroom cloud rising in the distance, Batman went completely rigid. He let his arms hang down and stood there, dazed.

Within his hazy, dark vision, the Joker appeared before him, grinning with his wide mouth.

"I told you, look, you've buried another child, one after another. How many more are there?"

The Joker's blood-red mouth became clearer and clearer, the figure already appearing substantial. Batman reached out to grab it, not noticing at all that he was already standing on the edge of the rooftop.

Or perhaps he actually had noticed, but he no longer cared—this night really should end.

"Batman, this is our destiny. Come, come..."

The Joker's whisper was like a final requiem. One step, then another step. There was no road left ahead.

Suddenly, the harsh alarm of the communicator rang out, and Batman was startled awake.

"Batman... Batman! I'm fine! Poison Ivy fished me out! But I'm sorry, your manor might be destroyed, and your Batcave too. Fortunately, the rich people around here seem to have run away long ago, so no one was hurt."

"Oh, Alfred, you're fine too! That's great. Batman, we all—beep!"

Batman hung up the communicator, turned, and slapped the Joker across the face.

Then he turned abruptly and stared at Arkham Knight, who was charging over.

Arkham Knight slammed on the brakes, then instinctively retreated two steps and held out his hands.

"No, you can't..."

Slap! Bang! Crack!

"Ugh!!!!!"