Chapter 2039: A Night of Knightly Terror (18)

Peter told his guess to Poison Ivy and Gordon. Gordon hesitated for a moment and said: "I don't know much about magic and such, but I do know Batman has a few partners who know magic, such as Ms. Prince who came to Cat Getan before."

"It's definitely too late to go to Metropolis now." Poison Ivy shook her head and said: "Not to mention that Cat Getan Airport is paralyzed, Metropolis has never welcomed Gothamites; we can only pray for our own luck."

After sighing, she thought for a moment and said: "What I use isn't considered orthodox magic, but more like divine power; there are some supervillains who know magic in Arkham Asylum, but they have always been elusive and hard to find."

"Then what about other superheroes who know magic?"

Peter touched his chin and said: "If I had known, I would have copied Batman's address book; I'm afraid we have to go back to Cat Getan again."

"Batman is looking for you!" Poison Ivy emphasized her tone and said: "You also said that this was Batman's original plan, and your actions have completely disrupted the situation; you know what the consequences will be if you are caught by Batman!"

"No, you're wrong; if he discovers what I'm doing, he will definitely discover that there is no conflict between us at all; I haven't harmed anyone, and we now need each other's help."

"You don't want to go back to find him, do you?!"

"That is exactly my intention."

Before Batman could chase Peter out of Cat Getan, a new round of riots broke out in Cat Getan City; for no other reason than that the Scarecrow and the Penguin were fighting.

While tracking Peter in the Batmobile, Batman received news from Nightwing that the Scarecrow, leading his remaining subordinates, and the Penguin's last remaining gang thugs were fighting on the Stagg Group airship on Founder's Island.

Nightwing heard gunfire on his way to the Zhong Lou and knew he had to notify Batman.

Batman operated the Batmobile all the way to Founder's Island, saw the Stagg Group airship from afar, and switched his channel to Stagg's monitoring equipment.

"Crane! You were the one who broke the agreement first!" The Penguin's furious voice appeared on the monitoring channel, "Don't think I don't know, you directed that kid named Peter Parker to get the evidence of my deal with the military from Black Mask; you wanted to use this to threaten me from the start!"

"Don't talk nonsense, Oswald! You sent the military to bomb Cat Getan, you ruined my plan, you destroyed everything!!!" The Scarecrow's hysterical shouting came out.

"Now you want to take Stagg away again; do you think I will let you succeed?! You calculated it long ago; this is all you prying Stagg to betray me! You damned despicable villain!"

Batman's hand on the steering wheel paused; he didn't quite understand what the two sides meant.

He certainly knew that the Penguin and the Scarecrow had a cooperative relationship to some extent, and he also knew that this group of supervillains didn't value loyalty at all and would sooner or later fall out.

But now it seemed there was more to this.

After Batman reacted, he almost immediately reconnected to the Bat-system, monitoring everyone he could monitor.

This included not only the Arkham Knight walking on the streets and the occasionally appearing Scarecrow, but also Nightwing and Peter Parker in the Batcave, as well as all their bases, whether they were staying briefly or long-term.

The most secret Nightwing base in Blüdhaven, which Peter Parker was heading to, did not escape Batman's eyes; Batman almost immediately understood that Peter had other intentions.

He had a contingency plan for everyone, and Peter was no exception; the Spider-Sense was a troublesome thing, but not completely impossible to deal with; as long as he prepared early, it wouldn't be hard to control him.

But there were too many unexpected things tonight; perhaps the Joker virus and fear toxin had indeed had some influence; Peter Parker had run away, and the original plan couldn't be executed; he had to think about what to do next.

But first, he had to deal with the Scarecrow and the Penguin; Batman operated the Batmobile all the way toward the airship.

Discovering that Batman was no longer chasing Peter Parker, the Arkham Knight behind him stopped at the edge of the rooftop and turned around; he intended to catch Peter Parker himself.

Where would this cunning kid go now? Leaving Cat Getan City was probably just a diversion; after a little thought, the Arkham Knight locked onto his target.

The Arkham Knight was very clear that the disappearance of Barbara, Gordon, and Robin was not a coincidence; this was probably part of Peter Parker's revenge plan; the best target for revenge against Batman was naturally the Bat-family.

Then there was only one member of the Bat-family left.

The Arkham Knight returned to his base; he clearly also had his own monitoring system, with the focus of monitoring being Batman and the members of the Bat-family.

Relying on monitoring and his own deduction, the Arkham Knight decided to head to the Zhong Lou; he knew what kind of person Nightwing was; among all the missing people, he would probably choose to save Barbara first.

To save Barbara, one must return to the Zhong Lou to look for clues; Nightwing was probably there now.

Ten minutes later, the Arkham Knight arrived at the Zhong Lou, but only a mess was left there.

The Arkham Knight found a thin thread at the edge of the collapsed table; it was Peter Parker again; he was one step ahead of him again.

Nightwing was also missing.

The Arkham Knight clenched his fists, stood in place, took a deep breath, and then slammed his fist onto the table with a bang.

The emotion surrounding him now was no longer anger, but a deep sense of powerlessness—what exactly was Batman doing? How could he tolerate such betrayal?!

Lamenting his misfortune and angry at his lack of resolve, the Arkham Knight stood in place, wanting to find clues from his own chaotic memories, but his extremely unstable mental state simply couldn't support rational thinking.

No clues, no leads; he didn't know how all this happened, or how it would end.

The past and reality began to overlap, while the future remained confused and unclear.

Finally, this sense of powerlessness and bewilderment crushed him. After the rush of hot blood cooled down, the root of his anger finally revealed its true face—fear.

The Arkham Knight's body began to tremble uncontrollably. He had to brace himself against the table with one hand, struggling to regulate his breathing and heartbeat, but that panic still swallowed him whole.

He began to tilt, began to collapse, crawling on the table and knocking everything over, then sliding powerlessly to the ground.

"Batman... Batman... where are you?... Batman..."

The Arkham Knight, who had almost completely lost his mind, didn't notice that a small tentacle of red slime had pressed the button on his arm's communication equipment, and even thoughtfully adjusted the channel.

"Batman... where are you..."

When Jason's voice came from the communicator, Batman thought he was having another hallucination.

No, it wasn't a hallucination!

Batman realized with a start; he looked at his communicator in shock, even playing the recording in vain—it really wasn't a hallucination!

"Jason... Jason... Jason Todd!!!"

Batman began to roar; the Joker's phantom appeared again, but in an instant, the sound of Jason coming from the communicator interrupted all hallucinations.

"I'm here... Batman..."

The Arkham Knight lying on the ground had red in his eyes again; the slime surged constantly; the parasite, which could see all his memories, conveyed his true thoughts in his voice.

"I'm in pain, I'm scared, I'm not special to you, so you won't come to save me..."

"No... no, Jason, Jason, I'm looking for you, I've been looking for you, tell me where you are now!!"

"No matter how much I once trusted you, and how much you once disappointed me, I will trust you again, and think of you first in my most critical moment, Batman..."

The Arkham Knight's eyes slowly closed, and his consciousness sank into darkness again, which was a rare good night's sleep for him, without pain, only peace.

When he woke up again, he saw the familiar bars of the Batcave prison, and at the same time, noisy arguing came to his ears.

"I really didn't think you were such a coward who dares to do but not admit it, Crane; ha, are you happy now?! We've all been caught here by Batman! Are you happy now?"

"Oswald, you idiot, I really can't imagine how your stupid brain made such a wrong choice! You've made us all sitting ducks!"

"It was clearly you who started..."

"Shut up!" The Arkham Knight roared, clutching his head: "You two idiots, shut your mouths!"

His vision finally gradually cleared; he looked to both sides and saw the Scarecrow locked on the left and the Penguin on the right.

Accompanied by a hissing exhaust sound, the gate opened; the moment a pitch-black figure walked in, the atmosphere became silent to the point of freezing.

"Don't you feel something is wrong?" The Scarecrow lowered his voice and said: "Black Mask wasn't killed by my people at all; at that time I was busy burying fear toxin; anyone with a brain knows the timeline doesn't match."

"I didn't send the military to bomb Cat Getan either; do you think I'm stupid? This is my home, my base; if I blow this place up, how am I supposed to do business and make money?"

The Scarecrow and the Penguin looked at each other, both realizing something was wrong; why did the two of them fight?

It was true that they each had their own ulterior motives and no friendship to speak of, but their previous plans had gone very smoothly, and there was no need to betray each other; even at the end, there was no crisis that required selling out the other to survive.

"Jason." Batman stood outside the Arkham Knight's cell door, looking at him and calling: "Take off your mask."

The Arkham Knight knelt on the ground, looking at him coldly, with no intention of moving.

"Let me see your face, Jason."

A long silence.

Then the Arkham Knight, as if giving up on himself, tore off his head armor, revealing his face.

There was a very obvious J-shaped scar on it.

Batman's lips pursed instantly; he knew that what he saw in his hallucinations was all real.

Jason turned his head to one side; he knew what Batman would say—he shouldn't have left without saying goodbye, shouldn't have disappeared without equipment or a communicator, shouldn't have gone to a dangerous area; he should have listened to the arrangements, stayed in the Batcave, and he wouldn't have been in danger.

"... I didn't find you."

Jason raised his head in shock, looking at Batman's expression in disbelief; he had never thought he could see such a complex expression on this man's face.

"I searched every area, every street, every room, every place you might go, as well as Metropolis, Blüdhaven... none of them had you."

Jason's fists clenched tightly, his body stiff as if he were using all his strength to support the muscles on his face, not letting them collapse.

"He hid me; he wouldn't let you find me."

"I am very sorry."

Jason raised his head in shock again, and then discovered that Batman was also using all his strength to support his facial muscles; both of them were as stiff as stone statues.

And Jason had never felt he was so much like Batman.

"No... wait!!!!"

The Scarecrow grabbed the prison bars and screamed.

"He is your Robin?!!!" The Scarecrow looked at Batman in disbelief and shouted: "Everything is your conspiracy?!!!"

"Wait a minute." The Penguin also reacted, "So Peter Parker is also... God!! He opened a hole in my chest and forced me to admit... Batman!!!!"

Just as the Scarecrow and the Penguin screamed at the same time, a figure landed behind Batman.

Peter Parker, wearing a spider suit, waved at Batman and said: "I am very sorry, but I need your help again, Batman."

Jason was also shocked.

How could Peter Parker, this traitor, come back to find Batman?! He doesn't want to deceive Batman to his face, does he?!

Wait, he is deceiving Batman, right?

At this moment, Jason finally realized—they weren't colluding, were they?!

After Jason was stunned for a moment, he looked at the Scarecrow on the left, the Penguin on the right, and himself in the middle.

Aren't the culprits of the fear toxin disaster all here?

He knew it! How could Batman be so easily deceived!

Jason roared in his heart, and then the three of them roared almost in unison.

"Batman! You despicable villain!!!"

At this time, a greedy and anxious voice sounded in Peter's ear: "Shift the blame! Shift the blame quickly! Peter!"

Peter was stunned for less than half a second, then zipped behind Batman, and pointed at him.

"That's right, Batman made me do it; it's all his brilliant strategy!"

At this moment, Peter fully recalled the fabrication techniques Dr. Schiller had taught him.

Without waiting for Batman to react, Peter immediately stepped forward and vividly recounted a version of Batman's evil plan that was embellished and chaotic. ===== CHAPTER 2040 =====