Laughing American comics, I am becoming more and more like a clown

"what?"

"The Joker's spine is with Luthor." Superman's expression was a little serious: "Luthor has started research on it."

During the autopsy of the Joker, the Bat Family discovered that his spine had been missing during his lifetime, replaced by a crudely installed mechanical device.

Logically speaking, regardless of the purpose of this injury, the huge pain is enough to kill a person. After body/fluid analysis, it was found that the Joker relied on injecting large amounts of venom into his body to forcibly increase his ability to move and suppress pain.

But this is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution. There is even a possibility that even if the Joker is still alive, the withdrawal reaction from the lack of venom supply or the infection of the wound will lead to his death.

Unless he gets a gentler biological spine and soaks it in electrum or the Lazarus Pool.

"The Joker's spine contains the Dionysus factor. Although this factor won't be triggered until life-threatening, that element can give a person super strong recovery abilities and near-immortality."

When Superman's external brain Batman is unable to function, he finally thinks of his own super brain and shows an incredible logical ability and wisdom:

"That reminds me of Batman's current healing abilities... maybe there's a bit of Dionysus in whatever infected him."

"Little D told me that the Pool of Lazarus was stolen by the Joker and the source was blown up. That thing is a low-quality version of the Dionysus factor." Nightwing said.

Right.

After Luthor deprived the Joker of his spine, he had a premonition of his own death, so he kept a suicide note close to himself and used the Water of Lazarus to fuse nitrous oxide to create the Joker virus.

This is also good news. At least he won't be like a headless fly and give random treatment without knowing Batman's condition.

"The Dionysian factor itself does not have the property of causing madness."

“But the Pool of Lazarus does.”

Lei Xiaogu, once a good man, became a bad man because of this thing.

So we need to conduct research on the Pool of Lazarus.

"Now we need the help of a child of destiny who can withstand the pollution of the Lazarus Pool." Nightwing said to the Red Hood in the chat channel with a smile:

"How about it, Child of Destiny?"

Red Hood also entered it once, but was not contaminated.

"I don't think something that can't even contaminate me can affect the old man." Red Hood laughed sarcastically:

"You should go in a different direction: trigger the inner darkness, causing them to become crazy, cruel, and paranoid, and to merge into a clown-like personality. Their skin will turn white, their lips will turn red, and their hair and pupils will turn green. They will lose their minds and control themselves, and commit senseless violence and destruction... These are things that the Lazarus Pool cannot do."

"Just give it a try... maybe it will work.

Red Hood sneered and didn't continue to refute.

"So what do you think about killing the Joker?" Nightwing changed the subject.

"It's already difficult for us to suppress it, but the 'capitalists'... the Red Uprising, there will always be someone more anxious than us."

So who is the most anxious?

It is our beloved mayor.

"We need sanctions!" The mayor glanced at the people below, all with varying expressions. "We need to suppress this before the governor gets wind of it."

He became mayor with the support of the gangs. If he wants to serve until the end of his term as the gangs are declining, he needs to ensure that no major incidents occur in Gotham - the biggest incident is the red.

"Agree."

"Agree."

"Agree."

After the collapse of that behemoth, the oppressive feeling from it has not gone away. Its red color makes everyone shudder and feel paranoid.

...at least not on the surface.

----

But in fact, its development is far less drastic and less outrageous.

It is more of a massacre against the mentally ill and those who oppress them.

This is an obvious thing. How could a true red expose itself and shout slogans when it is outnumbered?

"Next, send a proposal to the governor to lock down Gotham."

Luther stood in front of the French window, looking at the dark clouds over Gotham in the distance, and waved to his assistant.

"Yes, Senator."

Batman has an emergency regarding a massive outbreak in Gotham - The Last Laugh.

When Gotham City faces a serious crisis, the system can be activated to turn Gotham City into a self-sufficient fortress, cutting off contact with the outside world and protecting the city from external disasters.

Having this system can also tolerate the outside world cutting off its connection with it, so that Gotham will not fall into an irreversible situation due to temporary sanctions.

Luther knew about this.

He narrowed his blue, but not-so-clear eyes slightly, and slowly raised a leisurely and happy smile.

He was in Metropolis, a bright place opposite to Gotham, where neon lights shone brightly and brilliantly, emitting a completely different brilliance from Gotham.

Chapter 17 We also need to talk about trust

"Come, let's eat together?"

Lucien looked up and saw a strange guy in tights with a perky butt pushing the door open.

It's Nightwing.

"What's for dinner?" He looked at the tray: fried cod, roast beef, vegetable salad, and black tea.

"It's quite rich." Lucien said with some surprise, "But I thought the drinks would be milk or coffee."

Nightwing took out his portion: "Mine is milk."

"I thought milk wasn't something everyone liked, so I'll give you black tea instead... If you like it, I'll be happy to give you my share."

Lucian looked at the glass of white liquid without feeling any aversion. "Although I'm not sure if I like it, I can try..."

He took it and took a sip, surprisingly finding it good: "Well, I guess I like dairy products."

The Bat Family doesn't like drinks like milk, and Nightwing was very happy that he had a cup of black tea. Both the host and the guests were happy and the atmosphere was harmonious.

"The wound on your face... is almost healing." After eating for a while, Nightwing looked at the wound on the lower half of Lucian's face corroded by sulfuric acid.

Lucien felt around, but didn't feel any exposed gums. He sighed, "The Joker virus isn't all bad. It's definitely going to be very profitable in the beauty industry."

"But come to think of it, why can't the wound on the Joker's face heal?" Lucian turned to look at the clown illusion with its lip torn apart.

Nightwing took a bite of steak and swallowed it before saying, "The Dionysus factor cannot be triggered until life is in danger."

"Isn't this the Dionysus factor?"

"Of course not. Yours is the Lazarus Pool."

"Why is it the Lazarus Pool?" Lucian didn't quite understand. "Isn't this something from the Middle Eastern Assassin's League? Why is it in the Joker virus?"

"You can ask your hallucinations."

Lucien looked at his hallucination.

"I don't know either." The clown blinked and said innocently, "My memories come from you, how would I know?"

"What about you before?"

"It's just reasoning, dear. Everything has its own clues, but you just don't care."

"So what can you deduce this time?"

"The Dionysus factor will make me immortal, and if I am killed by you, it means that I no longer have this thing..." The clown chuckled.

"Losing my spine would make me very vulnerable to death. I might prepare Bane Venom to maintain my mobility, and then go look for the Lazarus Pool... The Lazarus Pool is a low-quality version of the Dionysus Factor. I might purify it and use it on the Joker virus."

"Although it may cause some distortion in your hearts and a shift in your ways from good to evil, it's harmless."

Nightwing quietly watched Lucian talking to the air, his expression stable and his eyes calm, revealing a casual sense of security.

Even if the Joker had a human personality, would his attack power be so low? Shouldn't he have seized control of the body? Shouldn't he have been spouting nonsense and using evasive language?

This made him a little confused.

This is too pure and kind.

As Lucian nodded in understanding, Nightwing was curious about what he knew and asked.

Lucien sipped the milk and repeated the clown's hallucination words without hiding anything.

At this time, the clown laughed in his ear and whispered:

"You see, he's observing you, he's still questioning you, he doesn't trust you."

Lucien turned his head to look at the clown. He couldn't see his face, but he saw his green curly hair that glowed faintly in the light.

His own hair has also turned green, and since it was shorter at first, the semi-long look now makes him look more like a non-mainstream person than the Joker.

This made him think.

Perhaps it’s not just in the beauty field, the Joker virus is also likely to be a favorable competitor in the hair care field – it can greenwash without damaging the hair quality.

"What's wrong?" Nightwing noticed his gaze and asked.

Lucian came back to his senses, smiled, and said casually: "The Joker said you don't trust me."

...Silence.

Is this something that can be said openly?

Nightwing also fell silent.

"Um, what I mean is..." Lucian was about to ease the awkwardness when Nightwing put down his knife and fork and looked at him seriously: "Maybe I should tell you more clearly."

Seeing his formal attitude, Lucien raised the milk twice, then put it down, sat upright and listened to him.

"Perhaps your trust in us begins with your identity as a time traveler, but this kind of trust is like a castle in the air. I think we need something more specific to indicate our relationship so that we can gain mutual trust."

Lucien thought of the Joker's words: "Smart people don't need trust to work together... We have a tacit understanding between us, but you don't, my dear." He said, "We need to talk about trust."

Lucien felt a lump in his heart.

Nightwing noticed the change in his expression and asked with concern. After receiving the answer of "Nothing", he continued:

"Out of rigor and prudence, we will not fully trust what you say."