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

A young and hoarse voice came from the intercom high up.

Batman tried to distinguish for a moment in the tinnitus, and realized that it was his third son. He forced his consciousness out of the hallucination and looked up in the direction where the sound came from.

"The council ordered Gotham to be locked down, and now it's in chaos..."

"we need you."

Red Robin's tone was light, but the words themselves revealed a kind of attachment and trust.

Batman didn't move. In fact, he only heard his own name, followed by a loud ringing in his ears. He just stared at the intercom, his eyes unchanged. "Take me as a prisoner, Red Robin."

Red Robin looked at the drastically changed Batman through the camera, was silent for a moment, hung up the call, turned around and shrugged at Red Hood:

"See, I told you that the emotional card is useless."

The Red Hood held his helmet and looked at Batman's real-time monitoring, a little puzzled: "It shouldn't be like this, I didn't do this before."

"That's different." Red Robin sighed, "Your father is him, but he has no father."

Red Hood turned to look at him instantly. "Did you get all the coffee?"

"It doesn't matter. He can't hear you anyway." Red Robin took a sip of coffee.

His eyes were dark and bloodshot.

"..." Red Hood patted Red Robin's shoulder: "Go to sleep, I'll stay here for a while."

Red Robin didn't refuse. He thanked her and fell onto the duty bed next to him. He fell asleep in a short while.

Red Hood: Emm.

"It's been a long time since you last slept..." Looking at Red Robin's combat uniform that he didn't even take off, Red Hood didn't have any thoughts of brotherly love, so he just found a blanket and threw it on him.

His eyes fell on the Batcomputer again.

External road blockades, internal crowd riots, the latest research on parallel universes, analysis of the components of nitrous oxide and the Joker virus... each split screen shows how busy today is.

Red Hood's eyes fell on the two pieces representing Lucien and Batman.

One is harmonious coexistence with great pleasure.

One is the unbearable temptation of hallucination.

Through the latest analysis, they found that not only did Batman's external image change, but he also suffered from severe hallucinations and tinnitus.

A few days ago, they were unable to exchange information smoothly and have a complete conversation.

but……

Red Hood tapped his fingers against his hood, thinking.

But in this case, the Joker virus seems to only make Batman lose his sanity and ability to move permanently.

Is that right?

Red Hood can still remember how shocked he was when he learned that Batman had injected the family of three with laughing gas.

How could something that forcibly altered its host's personality and behavior not long ago become so gentle?

Will the effectiveness decrease over time?

Or was it a combination of hypnotic gas or mood stabilizers?

Red Hood frowned and simulated multiple scenarios on the Batcomputer, controlling the variables for evolution.

If not, it might mean the worst.

……

The light belonging to the Batcomputer flickered, emitting a cold blue light.

"Hi……"

Nightwing was a little surprised to see Red Hood when he came in, but when he saw the sleeping Red Robin, he smiled again: "I was thinking of taking his place when I got back. Thank you for your hard work, Jason."

Red Hood remained noncommittal: "I saw Lucien had a cell phone, did you give it to him?"

"…What's the problem?"

“The brand was wrong.”

Nightwing was given an iPhone, but there is an unspoken rule in Hollywood that villains cannot use iPhones.

Nightwing took a moment to react: "...You think he has ulterior motives?"

"I thought you would trust him the most, after all, you killed the Joker."

Red Hood was once killed by the Joker and also tried to kill him several times. Logically, his feelings for Lucian should be the most complicated.

The blue light of the screen shone into his green eyes. "I don't want to discuss this kind of issue... This is just the most basic caution, nothing more."

Nightwing looked at him and saw the shadow of Batman in him like a vision.

Chapter 21 Our Enemy

Caution is a person's advantage, a way to protect oneself, a skill in dealing with life, and a preparation based on a foreseeable and terrible future.

And what about the object of caution?

He sat in a chair, one hand resting his chin, the other holding his phone to watch videos, and occasionally talking to his own dedicated AI and external brain, his expression relaxed and casual:

"The only comics I remember about Luthor being president were 'Superman: President Luthor' and 'Superman and Batman: Public Enemies'."

"Now Luthor isn't president, just a candidate... Could it be that this world is the preface to these two comics?"

"Perhaps, after all, without you—my dear savior—the world is finished."

The Joker was smoking nearby. He also liked cigarettes, although Lucian didn't understand what a hallucinating person could feel when smoking hallucinatory cigarettes.

Thinking this way, he also asked this question.

"Just a habit, just like you..."

Lucien understood what the clown hadn't said: Just like you, he has forgotten his past but still hasn't forgotten to smoke.

The Joker seems to be thinking:

"But the world isn't over yet... We don't know what will happen to the world after Batman destroys it. Maybe there will be a drowning plot."

The Joker doesn't necessarily seem to be thinking either.

In the worldview of the drowned ghosts, the original male characters have become female, and the original female characters have become male.

"...It's impossible for everyone to change their gender." Lucian retained basic rationality.

"What? Are you obsessed with your gender?" The clown looked up at him in surprise.

"I've been a plug for so many years, I don't want to be a power strip."

"Stop it, kid." The clown's Adam's apple rolled and he let out a short laugh: "You haven't even had the experience of being a plug."

……

Lucian opened his mouth, wanting to say something in rebuttal, but looking at his poor memory, he closed it.

The video scrolled down to show the killing of the Joker Gang, so the topic naturally changed:

"Does killing the Joker Gang have anything to do with you?"

"How can it not be related? He formed the gang by killing the Joker."

"...I don't really want to hear your jokes. I can tell jokes, too."

"It's different, baby. The core of the joke is tragedy." The clown laughed: "I'm actually glad you don't have a sense of humor."

The Joker has a very high emotional intelligence, or perhaps these superheroes or super villains all have high emotional intelligence—provided they want to.

Lucien looked up at the clown. This was the first time he got rid of his stereotype of the clown and ignored the paint on his face.

The clown was very quiet, with his eyes lowered. The gray smoke drifting from his fingertips obscured the sneer in his green eyes. He looked as ordinary as an actor in full makeup.

But when Lucian looked closely, he couldn't see his face or bones clearly, as if there was a layer of fog that prevented him from seeing what was underneath the camouflage.

"What are you looking at?"

The quiet actor raised his eyes and looked straight at him, and now there was a certain danger in his eyes.

"I can't see what you look like." Lucian was very frank.

The Joker dropped the cigarette in his hand, leaned back slightly, and began to change his actions.

"Heath Ledger." He took out a playing card from behind and covered one of his eyes, lowering his head slightly.

"Jared Leto." He put a hand to his mouth, the smile pattern on it replacing the expression on his face.

"Joaquin Phoenix." He stood up and performed a dance in a relaxed and free manner.

"Cameron Monaghan." He put a pistol against his chin, tilted his head to look at Lucian, and said softly and gently:

"Whose face do you want to bring in, dear?"

Some things, even if they are dead, even if they are just illusions formed with oneself as the carrier, even if they are calm and non-aggressive.

Lucian still felt a sense of threat as he looked at this man made up of hallucinations.

He stared at the clown in silence, and asked the same question again with emotion:

"Tell me...how did I kill you then?"

"It's fate." The clown gave a different answer: "I also hope to be killed by you."

“…That’s truly a bad fate.”

"My dear, do you think everyone is as lucky as you? Not only did you have a famous scene where you killed a clown, but you also hatched a personality called the Joker inside you and they lived in peace?"

"Your personality has not been altered, your actions are sincere, and your values ​​are perfectly preserved."

"Even though I'm only influencing you with words, not your nature, you should know that the Lazarus Pool itself is a place where good and evil are reversed, and you still retain the most basic concept of good and evil." He sighed with emotion:

"How much I love you."

Lucian had no way to refute it, but he also had doubts: "Why me?"

"As for your connection with Batman...you are each other's enemies, not us."

The clown laughed as he listened: "It sounds just like the words of the heroine in a love story confirming her feelings."