章 2898: Chapter 2074: Knight's Horrifying Night (16)_1

Screech——

A sharp whistle of grinding brakes echoed as Poison Ivy, hers hand tightly gripping the steering wheel, braced herself with all her strength. She turned her head to look at Peter with a horrified expression and asked again.

"What did you say?"

The look on her face clearly displayed her current thoughts—Are you sober?

Peter turned to her and said: "I'm not crazy. We exit the city through another entrance and make a trip back to Brude Haven to ask Gordon where he put the Joker's ashes."

"I promise I can convince you of my plan before we reach our destination. This is indeed the best solution right now."

"I can't imagine how absurd your explanation will be." Poison Ivy heaved a sigh but still pressed on the accelerator. Her one hand rested on the steering wheel, the other leaned out of the window as she spoke: "We all know that this city belongs to Batman and the Joker. Anything related to them is so outlandishly insane, and no one wants to get involved."

"That's precisely the problem, ma'am." Peter's attitude was extremely serious. He continued: "Perhaps you think the Joker's death was a good thing. I think so too. He was a criminal whose guiltiness knew no bounds. He deserved any form of retribution."

"But death was not the best punishment. He even received his blessing through death, merging with Batman."

Poison Ivy looked at him somewhat puzzled. Peter sighed: "I guess it was the blood Joker had infused into Batman that affected him."

"Honestly, I don't know what complex disputes they have between them. All I know is that, if a fortress is unbreakable from the outside, anyone with any intellect, would think to attack it from the inside."

"I believe that all the previous plans about killing the Joker with the Titan Poison might have been orchestrated by the Joker himself. His goal was to defeat Batman from the inside."

Poison Ivy wrinkled her brows, bitting her lip for a moment before replying: "It's possible. Before you arrived, they have fought countless times, but neither has emerged victorious."

"Batman didn't kill the Joker, and the Joker barely managed to defeat Batman. Having witnessed several of their confrontations, I couldn't fully understand, but it was clear that the Joker would do anything to break Batman."

"He's on the verge of success, which's why we mustn't allow him to prevail."

"Do you really believe the Joker could destroy Batman from within?"

"No, I don't think he can. But he could potentially annihilate Gotham." Peter sighed: "From my observations, Batman's will is as strong as steel. Simple illusions can't beat him."

"But don't forget that while he's internally stimulated, he's also pressured externally. The issue of Scarecrow's fear gas hasn't been resolved, Penguin Man, Two-Face, and the Riddler are making their moves, Arkham Knight suddenly appears, and then there's me..."

With the files in his hand, Peter spoke solemnly: "The Joker laid his traps way earlier. If he really did kidnap Jason, his plan probably started then"

"Taking away Batman's child and poisoning himself to death to reincarnate within Batman. Then allowing Jason to return as Arkham Knight amid the chaos in Gotham."

"The agitation caused by illusions, the heartache of discovering his tortured child, guilt faced with the Arkham Knight, the pressing anxiety of having to solve an imminent disaster."

Peter turned his head, in resignation: "The professor was right, the Joker is indeed a master manipulator. It's hard to imagine anyone not making a mistake under the strain of such emotional pressure."

"Once Batman makes a mistake, it'll inevitably result in a domino effect. Many people will die in Gotham, the city will be destroyed, the Arkham Knight will die, Batman will suffer betrayal from everyone, and his reputation will be ruined. Tonight, this city will plunge into chaotic frenzy."

Peter's grip on the files tightened, he said: "In this plan, the Joker can make countless mistakes, but Batman can only afford to make one."

It seemed that Poison Ivy was starting to understand. She looked at Peter and said: "Honestly, I don't want the situation to evolve like this either. I haven't fully found a refuge for the plants yet. So, how do you want to solve this situation?"

"Frankly, from the moment when I started my plan without realizing Joker's, the situation was already irreparable."

Peter sighed somewhat frustratingly, knowing that it would be tough to score high marks at this point. However, as it was not yet time to hand in his paper, he had to strive to earn some partial credits.

"The doctor once told me that the best way to break a seamless plan is to do something unexpected by the person pulling the strings."

"Perhaps everything is within the Joker's expectations, be it the Arkham Knight's betrayal, the disaster kicked off by the Scarecrow, or my plan execution. But there is one thing he might not have predicted."

"Someone would resurrect him?" asked the Poison Ivy.

"Yes, nobody has a motive to do so. He was the most notorious criminal in the city, a sworn enemy of Batman. The bad guys would mock his early demise, the good guys would applaud his death."

"This created an unsolvable dilemma for Batman. He can't reveal to anyone that Joker is not dead, still living inside him. If he were to do so, he would only face two outcomes: those who do not believe in his claim cannot comprehend his situation, and those who believe would start to mistrust him."

"But he did not anticipate you." The grip of Poison Ivy on the steering wheel steadied, indicating that she had accepted this explanation. She asked, "If Joker comes back to life, there will be two scenarios. Either the original Joker will leave Batman's body and become himself again, or a new Joker will arise. What do you think will happen?"

"Regardless of which, Joker's plan to overcome Batman from within will be disrupted, and thus his advantage of being the initiator will be lost." Peter's expression remained grave. He said, "I know we shouldn't revive a criminal with blood-stained hands, but if there has to be a Joker in this world, it absolutely can't be Batman, otherwise, the whole world will be destroyed."

Spider Man of the past would certainly never consider reviving any criminal, but if the days spent observing Batman and the events just occurred taught Peter anything, it's that Batman is the strongest human in this world.

However, this was clearly a dilemma. If he did not find a way to separate Joker from Batman, once Joker was reborn inside Batman, he could not even begin to imagine the catastrophe that would befall upon the world when such a powerful superhero goes insane.

Poison Ivy seemed to have sensed Peter's distress. Her hand holding the steering wheel paused momentarily, but she then said, "That's how this city works, kid."

"One immediate problem and one future problem, which should we choose? No matter the choice, we will suffer. That's how most people's lives go."

The vehicle once again entered the underground cold storage at Brude Haven. Poison Ivy woke Gordon up with a vine, and he was surprised to see Peter."

However, he didn't know who attacked him at that moment, and assumed Peter had come to save him. Despite Peter persuading him to stay, he initially disagreed but upon seeing Barbara who was still unconscious next to him, he eventually refrained from impulsively returning to Gotham."

After explaining the intent of their visit to Gordon, his hesitant expression was very apparent. Peter, noticing this, told him, "We're running out of time, chief. You know Batman can't screw up. He's our last hope."

A somewhat aging Gordon leaned against the wall, sat down with his hand on his knee. He looked up at the ceiling, sighed deeply and said, "In truth, I also disapprove of what Batman is doing. I am not sure if it's the Joker virus within him wreaking havoc."

"What's wrong with him?" Poison Ivy asked curiously.

"He's not the only one infected with the Joker virus." Gordon shook his head, "Just a few days before Scarecrow announced the destruction of Gotham, I found a base that he used to detain those infected by the Joker virus. There were at least five patients there, all showing symptoms of Joker virus infection."

Peter frowned deeply, he had certainly not expected that the Joker virus was contagious.

"I have no intention of slandering Batman, but I truly don't understand why he would do such a thing." Gordon dropped his eyes as he spoke, "I tried to persuade him but he told me he wanted to cure everyone, which doesn't make any sense."

"This indeed doesn't seem like an action a superhero would take. If he truly wanted to cure them, he should have at least attempted treatment. If he was worried about causing harm, he should have handed them over to the police, rather than confining them illegally."

Gordon knew there were far better ways to handle these Joker virus infections, Batman could utilize Mr. Freeze's technology to freeze them until a cure for the virus was found, or he could just put them into the Bat sleep pods to induce a sleep state.

"Instead, he confines them inside a base, allowing them to suffer while they are conscious. This only causes their condition to worsen the longer it drags on."

"Why on earth would Batman do that?"

Peter posed his own question, and Gordon, who had a much better understanding of both Joker and Batman, hypothesised.

"Joker couldn't have known out of the blue that his blood was infective. There must have been some experiments prior to this, and these five individuals were his test subjects."

"But even if the infection spreads to common people, that doesn't prove it can infect Batman. Batman is special, and there's no way Joker could accurately predict the success of the infection before actually executing the plan."

"If the infection did succeed, then it wouldn't matter if he dies. But if it failed, he clearly couldn't accept the reality of dying without defeating Batman."

Peter suddenly realized, "So the five individuals were actually Joker's backup plan. In case his plan to infect Batman fails, one of them would become the Joker."

"Which means Joker knew there could only be one Joker from the start." Poison Ivy caught on immediately, "He would eventually resurrect in someone's body, and Batman would be the best host."

"Yet, Batman chose to keep them and even leave them be." Peter frowned, "He doesn't cure them and doesn't take preventive measures."

Peter abruptly realized, Batman surely understood Joker better than him and could not be unaware of Joker's plan, so could it be that this base detaining the infected was one of his countermeasures?

Wait a minute, was Batman thinking the same as him? Did he keep these people infected with the Joker virus with the intention of reviving Joker, to prevent Joker from infecting him from the inside out?

Peter gained sudden insight, tonight it was his stage, but ultimately it was the stage of Batman and Joker.

He thought he was weaving the net, but never saw the intricate web already spun by Batman and Joker, the turbulent undercurrents of their battles had surged deep beneath the surface long before he had laid the first line.

So the question now is, what exactly are Batman and Joker's plans? When did they start setting it up, and how did they set it up?

コメント 0のコメント

投票

ギフトを贈る

Load failed, please RETRY