American comics: Random transformations

“Shadows. Shadows everywhere.”

Batman's mind raced. What was ubiquitous and indispensable in Gotham, yet filled with shadows?

As he thought, his fists clenched. He wanted to wake up the Riddler again and beat him up.

… … … … … … … …

The Penguin hung up the phone. It was a signal from his henchman monitoring the Riddler.

“The Riddler has been caught by Batman. The plan can begin. Scarecrow, is your stuff ready?”

“Rest assured, the new fear toxin is ready!”

The voice was muffled and hoarse. The Scarecrow, behind his straw mask, looked extremely excited.

He was going to release fear toxin into the entire Gotham, and it was an upgraded version.

The new version, once inhaled, would allow him, the Scarecrow, to control the terrified citizens. The fear toxin would numb their pain, allowing them to charge fearlessly until their own deaths.

Even Batman wouldn't be able to stop it! As long as his fear toxin spread quickly enough, taking over Gotham would only be a matter of time.

“Good. Wait for my signal. I need to negotiate one last deal!”

The Penguin revealed a confident smile, as if everything was under control.

“What? At such a critical moment, you're still talking business?”

The Penguin's words annoyed the Scarecrow. He had worked hard all day to develop the new toxin, and it was about to undergo human testing, yet the Penguin wanted to run off?

“Alas~, should I say you're smart, or should I say you're stupid? Take this phone. Just wait for the message. Just watch this phone, and as soon as the phone rings, you can start your plan!”

As long as he knew the time, it would be easy. The Scarecrow rubbed his hands together excitedly.

“Okay, no problem. By the way, where do you plan to release the fear toxin first?”

The Penguin scratched his chin and said seriously, “The East End and the Diamond District. The East End has more ordinary citizens, and the Diamond District has more wealthy people. Prioritize these two areas, and the others can come later.”

… … … … … … … … …

After driving for fifteen minutes, the Penguin arrived in the Old District. He was going to go through the sewers to find those damned guys and have a good negotiation.

Chapter 74: The Toxin That Will Soon Permeate Gotham

“Oswald Cobblepot? I didn't expect you to come to our door.”

As soon as the Penguin entered the large area of the sewer, he heard an annoying voice.

He immediately raised his umbrella gun and aimed it at the source of the voice.

A Court member wearing a large, handmade suit and a white owl mask walked out from the shadows in the corner.

Behind him were ten fully armed Talon assassins.

They stared at the Penguin with cold eyes. As long as the leading Court member spoke, they would immediately step forward and tear the Penguin apart.

“I'm here to negotiate. Tell the Court to have a meeting, or I'll destroy Gotham!”

The Penguin gripped his umbrella tightly.

His tone was dangerous. The safety on his special umbrella had been disengaged, and he could fire at any time.

“Hahahaha, are you kidding me, Cobblepot? Have we driven you crazy? Hahahaha.”

The Court member laughed so hard that he trembled. This guy was crazy to dare come to the Court of Owls to cause trouble.

“Heh heh, you think those fools of yours can drive me crazy?”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang bang…

The Penguin opened fire directly. The small umbrella had the ammo capacity of a machine gun.

The Talons quickly stood in front of the Court member, using their bodies to block the bullets. The bullets entered their bodies but didn't penetrate, getting stuck inside.

“Haha, what's the use of bullets that can't even penetrate flesh? Useless struggle! Kill him!”

The Court member ordered the Talons triumphantly. From this day on, under his command, the Cobblepot family, one of Gotham's four richest, would disappear!

Just as the Talon assassins were about to rush forward, they suddenly fell to the ground one by one, their limbs twitching wildly, and then…

“Boom!”

The Talon assassins exploded directly, their internal organs and flesh splattering all over the Court member's face.

“What! You you you, how did you do that!”

The Court member was terrified. His confidence came from these Talons. Without the Talons, he was just an obese patient with no power to resist.

“Do you know why I didn't kill you?” The Penguin's umbrella pressed against the owl member's head. “Lead the way and call them all out. Then I'll spare you.”

Everyone in Gotham knew that once someone said "I'll let you go" or "I'll spare you," it basically meant they were dead.

“Don't kill me! As long as you let me go, I can give you the seven banks I own in Gotham's East End!”

The Penguin curled his lips in disdain. Did they really think he was a newbie? Robbing money from these old guys was harder than robbing a bank. They might say nice things, but they could turn around and send someone to kill you.

“I don't care. I just want to negotiate right now, understand?”

“Understand, understand, understand, don't shoot! I'll take you to the conference room!”

The two of them wandered around in the sewers, finally entering a wide cavern that had been modified by the Court of Owls and served as their conference room.

“You have a lot of conference rooms. It's different from the last time I came. But whatever, you, go contact them for me!”

The umbrella clicked, the sound of a gun being cocked.

“Okay, okay, don't shoot! I'll do as you say!”

The Court member quickly walked to the table in the middle and fiddled with something on the metal-buttoned platform.

Time passed, and this guy still hadn't done it? The Penguin impatiently fired a shot.

Bang!

“Ah! ! ! You!”

The Court member clutched his thigh, his eyes filled with terror. He was really scared this time. This Penguin really dared to attack!

Remembering the Talon assassins who had exploded after being shot, he was scared to death.

The Penguin urged impatiently:

“Hurry up, or the next shot will blow your head off!”

“Okay! Don't shoot, I'll do it!”

This time the speed obviously increased, and the Court members pressed a few large buttons.

Didi Didi, click.

Special screens popped up on the side of the conference table.

The Court of Owls members used projection to start an online meeting.

"Cobblepot? You actually dare to come!"

A member who had cooperated with the Penguin was furious and stared at the Penguin because the Penguin's sudden disappearance caused him to lose a large sum of money. He couldn't wait to come to this underground conference room now and kill the Penguin himself.

The Penguin ignored him, looked around, and five of the twenty-odd screens were still dark.

"There are still five missing, but it doesn't matter. I'm here to negotiate with you to restore my rightful position in Gotham, otherwise I will destroy Gotham."

"Just you? Hahahahaha, that's the funniest joke I've heard today!"

"Hahaha, it seems that our people have driven you crazy, otherwise you wouldn't come here to give us a ridiculous clown show..."

The people in the videos all wore masks. One of them sounded older and said seriously:

"Impossible, you abandoned your own identity, and you still dare to shamelessly ask for it! Don't even think about it..."

"Hahahaha..."

Mockery and ridicule, they are high above and don't care about the Penguin at all, a small character who can be supported at any time in their eyes.

The Penguin's umbrella was held tightly and then loosened. Finally, he seemed to have figured it out. He knew that communication with these people required more forceful means.

He took out his phone from his suit pocket and pressed it, and the ringtone started ringing.

The phone ringtone made these Court of Owls members who were mocking the Penguin stop and wanted to see what tricks the Penguin would play.

"Hello? Penguin! Can we start?"

"It can start, let Gotham feel fear!" The Penguin had a smile on his face, but under the background of his hooked nose, this smile seemed unusually hideous.

"Ah hahahaha... good! I will let the citizens of Gotham know that I am the true King of Fear! Not some big bat! He is not worthy! Hahahaha..."

The phone hung up, and the conference room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The Penguin saw that they were still watching, so he kindly reminded them:

"Everyone, I think... you have about five minutes to escape.

Then, hehe, get ready to enjoy the fear! The new type of fear gas, you should like it."

"Cobblepot, you can't do this! Gotham will be in chaos! You won't have a good end!"

"Fack you, Cobblepot! Damn lame Penguin!!!"

"If something happens to Gotham, you won't benefit either... Stop it!!!"

The Penguin pretended not to hear, he walked to the nearest chair and sat down, and then narrated to himself:

"After I became the boss of Gotham, Batman taught me a very disgusting thing.

That is: the more you want to be the boss, the more you have to follow the rules.

Otherwise, the chaos of not following the rules will break the existing balance. Chaos does not bring benefits, only the order born from chaos can.

Every time there is chaos in Gotham, I will help the old bat collect information, because only when the old bat solves the problem can I make money faster.

You are the same. This time I just want to show you what the consequences are of provoking me, the Penguin. I have been following the rules of the game, but your greed forces me to oppose you.

Things like today are just the beginning. Since you don't agree, then I will always oppose you until you admit defeat!"

The screens of the video conference closed one by one. Few people heard the Penguin's last words, and those who heard them just snorted in disdain.

The Penguin turned his head and looked at the guide: "Very interesting, isn't it?

They have been high above for too long, so they can't see how powerful the people below are. They always think I'm easy to bully, but they don't know how powerful my network is."

The Court of Owls member just smiled awkwardly, and then was shot in the head by the Penguin holding an umbrella.

................

Three huge airships are floating over Gotham's East End and Diamond District.

Airships usually fly in the sky, but these three are twice as big as usual.

Tanks filled with fear gas were dropped from the airships one by one.

After the gas tanks exploded on the ground, the black-green gas quickly spread, covering a very wide area.

This strange color immediately caused panic. Gotham citizens, who had just been terrorized by the Joker not long ago, naturally could not forget this strange green gas and absolutely did not want to inhale it.

The streets were full of people scurrying around, forced by the poisonous gas...

"These two areas have been deployed, let's go to other areas! Today I will plunge the entire Gotham into fear! Hahahahahaha..."

...

Batman and the GCPD received the news almost simultaneously, and the rescue operation began immediately!

Harvey Bullock directed his colleagues: "Quick, quick, quick! Gas masks, oxygen cylinders, flamethrowers, and disposable masks! Let's go, let's go save people!"

...Inside the Batcave.

Batman, who had just returned, encountered this incident and felt a headache. Won't these lunatics stop one after another?

He strode onto his Batplane and rushed towards those airships.

Alfred looked at Garfield: "Mr. Garfield, it's your turn to help. I think this shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

Garfield had just finished eating and was in a very good mood. He transformed into a long-winged seagull, using the Qi in his body as fuel for evolution, and performed an in-situ evolution.

Intense white light enveloped his whole body, the slender beak turned into a super big mouth, and his body became several times larger. The evolved Big-Mouthed Seagull appeared.

"I'm going to help, don't worry, butler, these are all small things to me!"