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

……

Lucian said apologetically, "I'm not the Joker... I'm the heir." He recalled the name on the Joker's tombstone and continued:

"Mr. Valeska told me before he died that there would be a..." He pondered, considering the adjective: "Hmm... Mr. Mystique would come to me, and I could seek help from him."

"...Wow." The Riddler said again: "Wow."

He paced back and forth. "Hey, damn it, you gotta tell me where his grave is."

"I created and crafted the riddles and traps just for him... I have to go to his grave."

The Riddler took off his suit, turned it inside out, and put on the green lining on the outside, which was covered with question marks. He then took off his hat and turned it inside out, revealing another green lining and large, eye-catching white question marks.

"...I'll help you? Boy, even though you're a clown, we all know that the next generation is always weak... Ha! How could I possibly help you?"

“Unless…unless…” The Riddler narrowed his eyes and moved closer to Lucian: “Let’s guess a riddle.”

“There are two characters on stage: a villain with a big laugh and a hero with a mask.

This is a tragedy that will never reach a second act.

Guess what—how much are the tickets worth?

The villain is the Joker, the hero is Batman, and the first act is a Gotham that cannot be saved.

So what are the tickets?

"Martha and Thomas, am I right?" Lucian shook his head slightly. "But your riddle is outdated."

"The villain and the hero should switch places, and the tragedy should enter its second act."

"A laughing hero, a masked villain, a play entering its second act, and most importantly, tickets."

Lucien stared into the Riddler's eyes. "The current price is... a bat."

The Riddler is a smart man. He is one of the few super villains who can compete with Batman in intelligence. Therefore, he can easily understand Lucian's metaphor:

Batman becomes the Joker.

Riddler:?

……

The Joker pursues chaos and lack of rules, while the Riddler pursues the mutual constraints of rules.

The Joker wants to prove that the world is meaningless, while the Riddler longs to become meaning itself.

Perhaps the two of them could defeat Batman by working together, but their conflicts will always keep them from working against each other.

But perhaps, this is the only person who can help Lucian now.

……

"Okay, let's discuss the possibility of cooperation." The Riddler sat on the sofa, his chin resting on his hands, and slowly added: "And the feasibility."

Lucian sat down across from him, struck a match and lit a cigarette: "I can tell you about him."

"anything else?"

"No more." Lucian explained, watching the Riddler look around. "This is the legacy Mr. Valeska left behind."

"Come on, Valeska? I bet you call him Bug behind your back," the Riddler said. "So killing the Jokers wasn't under your control either."

Lucien nodded.

The Riddler scoffed, "I knew it. Useless second generation."

Lucien didn't argue, but offered a suggestion: "I know a way that will definitely draw him out... or anger him."

"Oh?"

"You know, Batman is Bruce Wayne."

"Should we attack Wayne or kidnap Alfred?" The Riddler scoffed, "This is just pointless advice."

"No, I mean, that expired ticket—his parents." Lucien said calmly, "We can open their graves and dig up their bones."

The Riddler yelped, then yelped again, then remained silent for a moment. "That's good advice."

Then he skipped the topic: "So do you have any ideas about restraining him or catching him?"

"My suggestion is to have Superman go into outer space and kill him with a heat ray." Lucian sighed regretfully, "But I think you, like the Joker, don't want him to die."

The Riddler finally gave up discussing anything with Lucien and just asked him to tell him everything he knew.

Lucian really talked about it, from the time travel to the present, from Lego to the dark multiverse, from the bond between Batman and Gotham to the Joker's affairs, breaking the Riddler's fourth wall.

Under the current circumstances, it is not a wise choice to keep any information, not to mention that Lucian also wants to know what kind of ideas this so-called intelligent villain has.

The Riddler listened to him, a little dazed, and sat there for a long while, until Lucian finished two cigarettes, hummed and chuckled, and uttered a riddle:

"One is named B and the other is named J. They're the positive and negative poles of a magnet. Guess what—what am I supposed to do to save you? Batman?

Chapter 46 The Joker and Batman

The so-called positive and negative poles of a magnet are Batman and the Joker.

In Gotham of the DC universe, if one of Batman and the Joker exists, the other will also exist, just like a magnet.

As for the Batman Who Laughs, the one that cannot be distinguished as the Joker or Batman is in a demagnetized state.

The Riddler's theory is...

"The answer is—you, my dear clown." The Riddler pointed at Lucian and smiled:

"Maybe we don't even need to deal with him...we need to deal with you."

"You have to accept the Joker's identity, and... the more chaotic and evil you are, the more normal he will become, and the easier it will be to cure..."

Let the magnet be divided into positive and negative poles again.

……

Lucien listened and gradually understood what he meant.

The Riddler is using the rules between the Joker and Batman to allow Batman to be Batman again.

Although it is a bit outrageous, it does make some sense.

Lucian followed this line of thought and immediately discovered a problem that he had not noticed before:

Doesn't the Joker know what the so-called Killing Clown Gang is?

Perhaps he deliberately made Lucian the spiritual leader to aggravate the "evil" in him.

But the Joker might have been stubborn about the idea of ​​Lucien "voluntarily" becoming a Joker... In short, he didn't tell Lucien anything.

"So what are your plans next?" Lucian looked at the Riddler.

"Plan?" The Riddler smiled. "What could have one plan after another, an infinite number of plans?"

Then he answered himself: "It's Batman."

"But what are you...you're a clown." He tilted his head and asked, "What's your plan?"

The Joker is chaotic and arbitrary.

In other words.

"Am I going to play a pleasure criminal next? Am I going to play a fun person?" Lucian's words were rejected by the Riddler.

He shook the question mark cane he took out from his arms: "No, you are..." The Riddler suddenly reacted, and his tone was a little unbelievable: "You don't have some strange principle of not killing, do you?"

“…Uh.” Lucian had indeed never killed anyone.

The Riddler looked surprised. "I really should commemorate this scene... The Joker doesn't kill people, but Batman does. What kind of fucking world is this?!"

Lucian tried to struggle: "I don't have a principle of not killing... I just haven't killed anyone."

"So?" the Riddler chuckled. "What difference does it make, little lamb?"

"Could it be that the difference is... that you have a basic sense of good and evil? Or are you expecting legal sanctions? Don't be naive."

"Have you not yet understood the true nature of this world? Laziness, depravity, greed, tyranny, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, punishing the good and promoting the evil. How can there be salvation?"

……

Being in the dark multiverse, especially facing the laughter.

Lucian should learn to sacrifice some people in exchange for victory.

But it's like the trolley problem—do you want to crush one person, five people, or the entire trolley?

This is the most difficult decision for conscientious superheroes.

……

Lucian pulled out a gun from the side, took out a few magazines and put them in his pocket, then asked the Riddler: "Do you have any bombs? That would be more efficient."

Unfortunately, he not only has no memory, but also no conscience.

The Riddler looked at his calm expression, slapped his forehead and laughed: "Haha! I knew it! A man who can talk about digging graves! A man who can tell Superman to kill Batman!"

"Kid! Kid!" He patted Lucien's shoulder heavily: "You are the second generation clown! You are hope!"

……

Batman looks at this city with rational thinking, and he tries to restrain these people with the law.

Lucian hasn't been as self-disciplined as Batman these days, nor has he seen much of Gotham's outrageousness.

But when he abandoned his morals, followed the trend, and sank with the city.

He still thinks that the person who invented the clown is a genius.

……

"What an idiot, saying kill the clown, kill the clown, the fucking clown is still alive."

The gang members were complaining when the one watching at the door suddenly shouted:

"It's Lucian. Welcome!"

The people in the room changed their expressions instantly, and happily arranged the tables and chairs and lit cigarettes.

"No need to bother." Lucian took the cigarette and took a deep drag. He said to the person next to him, "Is everyone here?"