Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 224 Stud is a kind of wisdom

The bat-man summarized the reason why he became like this to Ma Zhaodi in one sentence.

"I messed up, it's that simple."

"That sounds like an understatement."

"That's not true, but this is the only way I can feel better about myself."

"Okay. So, you used the serum on yourself, and then found out it was faulty?"

"No, I knew from the beginning that it wasn't fully developed yet. I knew it had flaws. I had to do it. Some mistakes happened because of me, and I could only fix them by drinking the serum."

Ma Zhaodi shook his head: "But the price is too high. Just like this morning, you can't even speak a human word. You're like a wild beast that barely retains its sanity."

“Believe me, you haven’t seen my worst side yet,” the bat replied. “Ever since I drank the potion, my rationality has been constantly at odds with my animal instincts. I’m in a daze, rarely sober, and unable to maintain my senses.”

"You don't have red hair."

"In short, if you see me start to go berserk, try to stay away from me. In that state, my wildness completely takes over, and I can't distinguish friend from foe."

“You’re right.” Ma Zhaodi wholeheartedly agreed: “Don’t worry, I might not be very confident about other things, but when it comes to saving my life, I’m an expert among experts—but if that’s the case, you don’t need to be a bad guy at all. Just let Batman lock you up, and at least you won’t have to worry about hurting people, right?”

"No, I feel like I can't live without that drug anymore. It's addictive, and the addiction is very strong. Most importantly, if I don't help the Joker, my wife will be in danger. She's the love of my life, and I can't let her get hurt because of me."

“Well, that’s a real dilemma. If you help the Joker, you’ll continue being a villain; if you don’t, your wife will be in danger; the Riddler’s henchmen will only kill, so you can’t afford to lose either, right?”

"Yeah, supervillains are all murderers, huh? Wait a minute."

"Lonstrom, have you arrived at the designated location yet?"

The conversation was interrupted by Mr. Freeze's voice coming through the communicator. He warned, "If you don't have one, you'd better hurry. Time is running out, and the enemy forces are about to arrive."

“We’ve arrived, Frith,” Man-Bat replied. “I’m currently over the surrounding area, but I haven’t seen the troops you mentioned.”

“There definitely will be,” Mr. Freeze replied. “You should be able to detect an entire platoon, and then we’ll need your aerial support—oh, and is Thor’s control not activated yet?”

"No, there isn't," the bat replied truthfully.

"No!"

Ma Zhaodi only had time to let out a wail before falling silent.

Did you press that button?

“That’s right—listen, you freak biker, from now on you’ll follow Langstrom’s orders. If he doesn’t give you any orders, you can do whatever you want.”

"Yes." Hearing the mechanical and indifferent reply, Man-Bat thought that the Mad Hatter's hat was no different from witchcraft.

He flew down to the ground and put Ma Zhaodi down. His usual methods were bicycles and pistols, so even if he kept flying, he couldn't take advantage of his strengths.

"Wish us luck, my friend," the doctor thought to himself. "If we're lucky enough tonight, we might all have a chance to escape this helpless situation."

When he took to the sky again, he found that there was another figure in the sky.

He wore steel flight armor, and the eyes on his mask emitted a pale green glow like fireflies. He held a small flamethrower shaped like a pistol in his hand, and several incendiary and gasoline bombs were attached to the armor. On his back were a pair of insect-wing-shaped steel wings, which upon closer inspection could be seen to be a pair of biplane jetpacks.

Ma Zhaodi also looked up at the sky. It was obvious that the flamethrower and the flight armor were homemade by Garfield—if you had just said you had the ability, you wouldn't have needed to run over there.

“Garrfield Lynn,” Man-Bat whispered, “The people who came tonight surprised me. Mr. Freeze’s intelligence was wrong.”

“And there’s more to come, Lanstrom.” The armored Firefly flew through the air, its screech beneath its visor arrogant and unrestrained: “After tonight, you will not only lose Man-Bat, but also the Mad Hatter!”

Wait a minute, Ma Zhaodi thought to himself, who's going to make up for the missing part of the Mr. Freeze?
Meanwhile, their conversation continued in the sky.

“You’ve stretched the battle lines too thin, Garfield. You don’t have many men available on either side. If you fail, you’ll be utterly defeated.”

"But if we succeed, we can turn the tables and launch a counterattack!" Firefly sneered. "Didn't you already come forward? You even brought along the freakish biker. You still think you can beat me?"

What does "even" mean? Ma Zhaodi was indignant; this guy simply didn't know how to use conjunctions.

“It’s two against one, Garfield. I have the fighting instincts of a beast, and Saul is a sharpshooter. You’re just a former firefighter. What can you do?”

"Fool, you know nothing. I'm a pyrotechnics artist, not a firefighter—and you'll soon experience the taste of being burned alive!"

Fireworks special effects artist?
Ma Zhaodi frowned. What those gangsters said was indeed unreliable; he had almost gotten the origin of fireflies wrong.

However, given DC's approach to rebooting timelines and storylines, which is like playing with clay, who can be sure that the origin of a certain version of the firefly won't be a firefighter?

As he pondered, the bats and fireflies in the sky had already begun their battle. The giant bat suddenly swooped down on the insect-like steel armor. The serum had given Lanstrom sharp claws and terrifying muscle strength. This strike tore through the outer layer of the armor, sending blinding sparks flying, and sent him flying.

Firefly's armor was quite effective; although five sharp scratches and slight deformation appeared on his chest armor, he seemed unharmed. Using the high-pressure airflow from his wings, he quickly adjusted his position, flying backward while simultaneously drawing his flamethrower and pulling the trigger on the bat that was instinctively pursuing him.

Huhu——

In the pitch-black night sky, a bright, scorching stream of flames suddenly appeared, its fiery light blazing and reflected in the eyes of the pursuing bat. To Ma Zhaodi, this sudden, blinding light was merely enough to make him blink and frown, but to the bat, which possessed certain bat-like characteristics, it was a high-flash stun grenade.

"squeak!"

The intense light seemed to penetrate directly into the bat's brain, causing him to freeze in his tracks due to intense dizziness and discomfort. Moments later, the firefly's scorching flame swept over.

(End of this chapter)