Chapter 404: Chapter 266: Where Will Dreams Go (Part 2)_1
Selina picked up her bag and got out of the car. She turned around and blew a kiss to Bruce and said, "Thank you, darling. I had a lot of fun. I've to go pack now, see you tomorrow afternoon!"
Bruce leaned over, extending one hand to open the car door for Selina. Understanding his gesture, she went back, leaned forward to step closer, and then hugged him, pecking his cheek.
Then she swiftly left. Bruce touched the spot on his cheek where Selina had just kissed him, sighed and found himself deeply infatuated.
If someone had told him a year ago, that he would spend several days driving aimlessly along the East Coast, he would have felt more miserable than being in prison. But love doesn't make sense. When Selina said she had fun, all of Bruce's guilty feelings about wasting time disappeared.
Of course, since the holiday had ended, he had to return to his routine life. Slowly, Bruce began his journey back to Wayne Manor. When nightfall completely arrived, he left the manor in the Batmobile, dressed in bat clothes, planning to continue perfecting his Batcave.
After so long, the Batcave was almost complete except for some light equipment. The Batmobile roared down the streets of Gotham at night. But just as he crossed an intersection, a dazzling light blinded him. He squinted towards the intersection to his right, where a giant truck was parked.
The strong light was the truck's high beam. The lights blinked once, and as they went out, Batman saw the terrifying smiling face of the truck's driver.
His instinct started screaming alarms. Batman stepped on the gas, but it was too late. By the time he hit the eject button, the massive truck was already in front of him. He rolled over twice when he landed, then stood up.
The heavy truck crashed into the Batmobile, throwing it up into the air. Debris flew out as it hit the ground. Then, the front of the truck exploded, and the flames danced in the darkness like fireworks.
"Welcome home, Batman, hahahahaha!!!"
A series of shrill laughs echoed through the night, and Batman squinted at the figure.
Just like a destined duel, they faced each other in the Gotham night. The man with the Joker's make-up didn't carry any weapons and seemed physically weak.
Yet Batman's heart was beating faster. His blood rushed to his brain, and he wasn't sure whether he was feeling fear or excitement.
"Did you enjoy your holiday, Batman?"
The Joker looked Batman in the eyes and spoke, a smile on his face as if awaiting a positive answer. But then, he quickly displayed a sad expression and said, "But I was not happy, Batman. Do you know what I've been through?!"
"I was captured by a crazy psychologist and taken to a hospital! Subjected to horrible dream experiments. I was thrown into a deep consciousness space and faced a horrific monster!!"
Suddenly, he stopped, turning to look at the wreckage of the exploded truck. He screamed, spread his eyelids with his fingers, then slid them down, expressing horror and exclaimed, "Oh my god, what do I see?!"
He rushed over and began desperately searching through the wreckage. Suddenly, he found a piece of tire that hadn't been completely burnt. He held it and said, "My dear tire, she's gone! During your absence, it was she who stayed with me..."
Batman just stood there watching Joker's performance, not saying a word, only the corner of his mouth turned down.
It started raining over Gotham, soon becoming torrential. Lightning streaked the sky as the rain drummed on the wreckage in the middle of the road, spreading the smell of burn far away.
At that moment, the Joker stood up. He stood in the rain, with no armor, no cape, no weapons, looking like a lean and pale lone ghost.
The rain began to wash away the makeup on his face, as though dissolving his skin. Yet, he still wore that crazy smile and said to Batman: "You think I'm a bother, a madman, don't you?"
"Always popping up from nowhere, creating a pile of troubles for you. Showcasing performances you neither like to see nor understand, saying absurd things you neither want to hear nor make sense of..."
"But, Batman, I'll make you understand..."
The smile on his face turned more and more deranged. Stripped of the bizarre absurdity, all's left was physical danger and madness.
He took a button out of his pocket, facing Batman, he said, "Have you ever made any important decisions in life? Decisions that could change one's life?"
"I have just made such a decision."
"I made a bet with someone, Batman..."
"I bet you won't let me down. So now..."
Through the pouring rain, the Joker looked directly at Batman and said: "...the game begins."
As he pressed the button, there was a loud boom. Batman turned his head to see a fierce fire rising in the city.
When the button landed, it splashed barely noticeable water. When the ripple settled, only the Joker's deranged face remained, as Batman had disappeared.
The next night, another freezing heavy rain. Accompanied by a sharp alarm, a huge Bat Light lit up the Gotham sky. Gordon, on the phone, said, "Get the negotiator up there quickly! What is that madman going to do??"
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in his office, looking at the rooftop not far away. A lone figure stood there, but on the side of the building, many ropes were hanging with people tied on them.
The television was showing the Joker's terrified face in the rain. He hugged the camera, saying, "Do you know? Just yesterday, I asked all the homeless people in the underground passages of Gotham's twelve main streets who they hated the most? I asked them who they thought was responsible for their now destitute life…"
"Many people complained to me about all sorts of things. Their bosses fired them, their landlords evicted them, convenience stores and restaurants didn't provide them with free food, yes, yes, all sorts of things like that..."
"And I! Hero Jack! I weep for their miserable fate, so, hahahahaha!!" The Joker let out a string of mad laughter, saying, "I've brought their enemy here!"
He took a deep breath, shrugged his shoulders, held the camera with one hand, pointed to the edge of the roof with the other, and shouted, "See! Homeless people! Your enemy is going... going to die!"
"Hahahahaha!!"
In the camera's view, Joker walked to the edge of the roof in the pouring rain, then took out a dagger, placed it on the rope that was holding a man who appeared to be an elite office worker.
He looked up to see the Joker's mad laugh and the dagger pointing at the rope which held him, he shouted in despair, "No!! Don't!! I'll fall, and I'll die!!"
"Oh, hero...yes, I am a hero. I give the condemned an opportunity to speak their last words. Do you have anything to say?"
"Please, let me go! Please, don't do this... don't do this to me. I don't want to die!!"
The employee kept begging. His spirit had completely collapsed and he couldn't even speak a complete sentence anymore.
This made the Joker feel bored, so he swung the dagger and cut the rope. The employee fell from the 30-plus-floor building and smashed into the ground, becoming a pile of flesh.
The police and negotiators on the ground didn't have time to react. The ropes and people were falling like dense rain. Those standing on the ground could only see their desperate expressions just before their death.
Not long after the Bat Light went on, a second figure appeared on the rooftop. It was Batman.
As expected, a black figure stood across from the Joker.
It's unclear what they said to each other, but the two started fighting. The world was filled with the sound of rain and thunder.
The fight between the two was more like a mime show, a not-so-exciting, even somewhat comic, duel had begun.
In the end, the Joker was knocked to the ground, restrained by the arms, but Batman's shoulder had been slashed. Blood was washed down by the rain.
Lying on the ground, the Joker was still laughing. He said, "Batman, you won. But do you think this is what everyone wants to see?"
"Even if you're a hero to everyone else left in Gotham, you're absolutely not to those homeless people. Because they were about to watch their enemy fall from a high building, smash into a pulp, and suffer a more miserable end than them!"
"You can never become a hero, hahahaha! The innocent people you save could be someone others dream of killing. Do you think they might hate you? Hahahaha!!"
After the Joker was taken away, Batman walked alone through the streets, got into the car, started the engine, and drove into the endless dark rainy night of Gotham.
He was not shaken by the insane speech. He was just too exhausted.
He didn't choose to go directly back to Wayne Manor. Instead, he drove to the Batcave, treated his wounds as usual—first with a spray, then a bandage, and after that, got rid of all his blood-stained clothes, put on a new set, and then drove back to Wayne Manor.
Wayne Manor was still brightly lit. Alfred stood at the door to greet him. Seeing his somewhat pale face, Alfred said to him, "Master, you need a hot drink. How about a cup of hot chocolate?"
"Thank you, Alfred."
He didn't reject the offer, but just walked over and sat down beside the sofa. When Alfred brought the hot chocolate, he instinctively tried to reach for it with his usual hand, but it pulled at his wound. His movement paused for a moment, then he quickly switched to use his other hand to hold the cup.
Yet, he knew that Alfred had noticed. Even though his butler said nothing, he escorted him upstairs to his bedroom as usual.
A deep exhaustion surrounded him. Faces washed, he stood in front of the washroom's vanity and glanced in the mirror. In there, his face was pale and expressionless, but somehow, that mad laugh appeared in his heart, then surfaced in his eyes, and reflected in the mirror. He seemed to see himself laugh.
He shook his head, suppressing those chaotic thoughts, then left the washroom.
His fingers stopped on the table lamp switch. However, hesitated for a moment, he didn't press it. Thus, he lay on the bed without turning off the light and gradually fell asleep in his exhaustion.
The slight sound of his breathing echoed in the room as the night got darker and the rain heavier.
The room was filled with soft light, be it beds, walls or carpets, all reflecting a thin halo. Darkness seemed to have nowhere to hide.
Then, as a bolt of lightning passed by, from the darkest corner under the bed, a scarlet mouth slowly revealed a mad smile.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone