I, V, Gotham Legend

The clown's body moved across the church, finally knocking over two chairs and falling to the ground.

"This is not funny at all..." The Joker got up from the ground, took out a pistol from his arms and pointed it at Batman.

But Batman reacted faster. He threw the batarang, which flew in an arc and hit the Joker's hand, causing him to let go and the pistol fell to the ground.

Batman rushed to the Joker and punched him twice in the face, then grabbed the Joker and threw him backwards.

The Joker once again leaps across the entire church and crashes into the window.

The church window with religious stories painted on it was broken, and glass fragments scattered all over the ground. The clown fell heavily among the fragments.

“…How many times do I have to tell you before you understand…” The clown grabbed two dagger-like fragments from the ground and stood up angrily, “We are the same kind!”

Batman has rushed in front of the Joker, and the Joker is waving the bloody fragments in his hands at Batman.

Batman easily dodged the debris, swung his cape, and slapped the Joker in the face.

The clown was dizzy and disoriented after being hit.

Then, Batman's angry iron fists poured out.

NO54. Impulsive

Fists rained down, pounding the clown's pale face madly.

Every punch contains Batman's anger, and every punch is filled with hatred for the Joker.

The wind howled outside the window, the biting cold wind poured in through the broken glass, it seemed like snowing again, and the sound of fists hitting flesh was like thunder before a blizzard.

"Dong dong dong dong!"

Batman poured his anger into the Joker's face, and he could even hear the subtle sound of bones rubbing against each other.

"Bang!" After the last heavy punch, the clown rolled twice before falling to the ground.

"That's why you do these things, right? You like it. You need it!" The clown rolled over and laughed sharply.

Batman grabbed the Joker's collar again and threw him to the ground like a pancake.

The clown was lying on the ground, his pale skin was bruised and swollen, almost unrecognizable, but he seemed to be fine.

"Puhu...Puhu...Come on, I'll beat you until your fist bleeds...I've killed...so many people today. You know, there's only one way to stop me..."

The clown struggled to get up from the ground, trying to force a smile on his swollen face: "Kill me!"

Batman reached out, lifted the Joker's body like a weightlifter, and then slammed it to the ground.

"Puhoho! Puhahahahahaha!"

The pain made the clown laugh even more happily.

Batman wanted to punch him again, but then he felt a familiar dizziness.

He realized that the effect of the drug Valerie had injected him with had worn off.

Batman has used up two tubes of medicine, one for Alfred and one for Gordon. Now, Batman can only rely on his own perseverance to hold on.

Get rid of this bastard first!

Batman felt the familiar dizziness and forced himself to concentrate. He grabbed the Joker by the collar.

I should have killed him...

Batman heard auditory hallucinations. He didn't expect the neurotoxin to take effect so quickly.

There was no one around, and this was not the voice of anyone Batman knew. He knew that this was his own voice.

[He is the root of all evil tonight!]

[Even more disgusting than the murderer who killed my parents!]

No, I have no right to do that. Even if I kill a murderer here, the number of murderers in the world will not decrease.

[Is it really because of the so-called ‘powerlessness’? ]

Batman knew that he was not communicating with anyone, he was now confronting the demons deep within himself.

The neurotoxins made him remove his psychological defenses, even his defenses against himself, and made him completely discard the whitewashing of his own behavior and face his true inner self.

[You just don't want to admit that deep down you are no different from these criminals.]

Batman clenched his fists.

His vision became blurry, and he seemed to see the headless body splattered with blood on the roller coaster again;

He seemed to be standing on the ruins of the bank again, looking helplessly at the suffocated employees on the ground;

There was also Sheriff Gordon, who was shot in the chest on the overpass and nearly died in the line of duty;

and a weakened Alfred amid the rubble.

My, deep down...

Batman's hands grasped the Joker's slender neck, gradually applying force.

I'm going to kill him.

No, I want to torture him.

Just like what he did to others, he tied him to the electric chair, pierced his body with silver needles, pulled out his bones, peeled off his skin, and made him want to live but not die...

Finally, kill him.

Batman tightened his grip on the Joker's neck. Just a slight twist and everything would be over. He just needed to crush the fragile bones.

The clown felt it was getting harder and harder to breathe. The feeling of suffocation made his eyes dazed. He seemed to have returned to the day at the chemical plant when he was still wearing a red hood and everything he saw was red.

The bat monster in front of him coincided with that day. He could no longer remember what happened at that time, but this monster was deeply engraved in his mind.

“Uhuhuhu…hehe…hahahahaha!”

The feeling of suffocation made the Joker feel that death was approaching, but he was trying his best to laugh out loud.

[Kill him! There won't be any problem, he's just a scumbag!]

Batman's eyes became cloudy. He gripped the Joker's neck tightly and turned a deaf ear to the madman's crazy laughter.

[It's a pity for this guy to die!]

Just a little longer, just a little longer, and this scumbag would suffocate to death like those poor bank clerks.

Batman's eyes were cloudy and the Joker's eyes were distracted.

The wind was raging outside the window, and the branches were creaking, as if there were ferocious beasts lurking.

Batman loosened his grip.

The clown's body slid down, his back against the cross, his body instinctively taking deep breaths.

"Why? Bats..."

Before the Joker could say anything, Batman reached out and held his head, smashing it hard on the cross.

"Clap!"

The cross fell to the ground, and the noisy madman finally quieted down.

Batman stood up with the help of the chair. The world was still spinning in his eyes, but it was not as bad as before.

Batman knew very well, since he chose to go out for experience nine years ago, that there was a beast lurking deep in his heart, ready to drag him into the abyss of sin at any time.

That is why he had to set fundamental principles for himself as a protective fence separating him from the abyss.

Once he crosses this red line, he will sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire, killing will become commonplace, empathy and compassion will be forgotten, and he may even lose his respect for life.

Then gradually transform into the person he has always been fighting against, someone more terrifying than the murderer of his parents, and become the kind of person the Joker wants him to be.

By then, there will be no turning back.

Batman stood there for a while. This time the discomfort from the poison was not as strong as before. It was just a slight dizziness, not as bad as being hit on the head with a baseball bat.

Get out of here, someone will come to clean up later.

"If it was my man, I would have killed him."

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from behind Batman. Batman turned around and saw it was Commissioner Gordon.

"...This city shouldn't be like this." Batman picked up the pistol that the Joker dropped from the ground and handed it to Gordon.

"..."

Gordon looked at the gun in his hand in silence.

"You know what? My daughter said you're a hero..."

The sheriff looked hesitant, as if he was making a decision. Then, his eyes became firm again and he pointed his gun at Batman: "But I still want to arrest you."

Batman didn't say anything, and the two of them stood in a stalemate.

"Zizi... Zizi calling Gordon, BF2 area has been cleared, how are you doing?"

The police radio suddenly sounded, and the voice of Gordon's old partner Bullock was heard.

Gordon lowered his head and replied to the radio: "I am in the church now. I have subdued the clown."

"Oh my God! You subdued him! How did you do it!" Brock's voice was full of shock.

"I……"

Gordon looked up, only to find that Batman, who was supposed to be standing in front of him confronting him, was gone.

All around was a mess and a clown lying on the ground. A howling wind blew into the room through the broken window.

Gordon was silent. He slowly lit a cigarette and blew out a smoke ring with melancholy.

"I have help."

55. Negotiation

null

NO1. Arkham Asylum

Blackgate Prison was attacked twice in one night! Even the police chief died there!

This incident was reported in the news throughout Gotham and even the entire United States.

On TV, Vickiville interviewed Gotham City's recently popular Congressman Quincy Sharp about this matter.

"I believe that the existence of Blackgate Prison is to isolate the criminals in Gotham and protect the interests of taxpayers. When this fortress built with expensive tax money cannot withstand aggression, we should consider more appropriate management methods."

Congressman Quincy's words were so official that the listeners felt sleepy.

"You think Blackgate prison is unreasonable?"

"What I mean is that super criminals like the Joker or Clayface are obviously not something that can be handled by just one prison. We should build a whole new institution - or some old institution - to manage these lunatics and help them recover."

"You mean... Arkham Asylum?"

"That's right. Just like everyone has their own expertise, as long as we reopen this mental hospital, we will have the means to manage these mentally ill criminals..."

Congressman Sharp was talking a lot on TV, but Valerie thought he was just talking nonsense.

If you really want to deal with these criminals, you should change the law and shoot them all.

Valerie opened a cupboard, thinking angrily.

A day had passed since the Blackgate Prison incident. After that, Valerie returned to the middleman's bar, stayed overnight, and slept until noon.

This afternoon, a guy named Edward Nygma came to find a middleman and wanted to hire mercenaries to hide some green question mark-shaped trophies in the museum cabinets.

It felt like just an ordinary prank that wouldn't have much impact on society, so Valerie, who had just woken up, took on the task directly.

He arrived at the museum, sneaked into the security room, hacked the museum's security protocol with a USB, and then stuffed the green object into an empty display window.

To hide