I, V, Gotham Legend

But now even Gordon could see that this guy was guilty, but he didn't chase him to ask anything.

In fact, he had a guess since the first time he saw Batman, but it was so exaggerated that even he himself couldn't believe it.

but……

"The embodiment of Gotham's rage against evil..." Gordon curled up the corners of his mouth rarely as he watched Valerie disappear into the background at the stairs.

He didn't believe the legend, but he found it interesting.

Let's just leave it at that.

...

Valerie escaped from the hospital, patting her plump chest with lingering fear.

I was so scared. I wasn't this nervous even when I almost fell to my death in the Royal Hotel...

Valerie decided to speak less and keep her mouth shut in the future - at least until she received a commission from Batman.

Come to think of it, that guy seemed to be looking for me again tonight.

Valerie looked at the sky. It was still about three or four hours before dark, and Batman didn't take action immediately at night.

Batman is only part of a double life, and he also has to participate in various high-society social activities as Bruce Wayne.

Since she still had a lot of free time, Valerie planned to walk around and find a location for her secret base.

……

The chairman of Gotham Corporation and great philanthropist Phils Boyle hurriedly pushed open the door of the freezing laboratory.

Seeing the boss suddenly come in, the two scientists who were still working put down what they were doing.

"Is there still that liquid?" Boyle asked the two people in the room.

The blond young man looked at his slovenly dressed black-haired colleague, but the black-haired scientist said nothing.

The blond boy sighed and had to answer his boss' question himself: "The robbers stole the last two tubes. We don't have a drop left."

"Two tubes? We only extracted three tubes in total!" Boyle blushed.

The stolen green liquid was a spring Boyle accidentally discovered underneath the Tower of Miracles. It was clearly liquid metal, but this thing was like a fairyland and could even heal amputations.

Spring water deteriorates very quickly. Once it leaves the underground environment and comes to the surface, it will quickly lose its effectiveness and may even be harmful to humans.

Boyle used the most advanced extraction technology to obtain three tubes of usable spring water.

Originally, he wanted to make this thing into a high-end health product, but after using up a whole tube of spring water, he discovered that this thing contained a large amount of energy and looked like a pollution-free energy source.

This thing deteriorates very quickly and cannot be used as a clean energy source, but that doesn't stop Boyle from hyping it up.

Just when Boyle became famous with this thing, a group of unknown people suddenly appeared and forcibly occupied the spring.

Boyle didn't take it seriously at first, but soon the government, which had agreed to let him develop the Tower of Miracles, broke the agreement with him. The workers in charge of the excavation died mysteriously one after another, and his company inexplicably had a lot of financial loopholes.

Fortunately, just when he was overwhelmed by a bunch of sudden things, Gotham's richest man, that big idiot Wayne, actually wanted to hold a fundraising event for him.

But before he could be happy for long, his company was suddenly robbed. The hateful robber got the news of the spring water from somewhere and stole the only two remaining tubes.

There is no new spring water to be obtained, and the clean energy issue was just hype in the first place. Now we can only find a way out for the company.

Boyle took a deep breath and then let it out slowly to calm himself.

"Go back to your previous research and it's best to invent it before the failure of clean energy is exposed." Boyle ordered the two scientists.

"I understand!" The blond guy nodded desperately, but the black-haired scientist remained silent.

Seeing this guy's indifference, Boyle felt his anger rising to the top of his heart: "Especially you! Victor! I asked you to develop weapons according to my instructions, so do it well! Don't let me see you tamper with company property like last time!"

The black-haired scientist, Victor Fries, just nodded blankly.

Boyle snorted in dissatisfaction and left the laboratory. He still had to accept interviews from the reporters surrounding him outside.

……

It was completely dark, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds as usual.

In front of a mountain on the outskirts of Gotham, Valerie looked at the top of the mountain and exhaled a puff of white mist.

"What are you looking at?"

Batman's voice suddenly sounded, startling Valerie.

No. 20. Guess

Valerie turned around and saw Batman standing behind her, holding a familiar green question mark trophy in his hand.

"You scared me, why are you here?" Valerie asked in surprise.

Although they had agreed to meet in the evening, they had not yet informed each other of the meeting place, so it was really just a chance encounter here.

Batman waved the trophy in his hand to Valerie. "The Riddler has challenged me. He has hundreds of these hidden in Gotham."

"Is this a key item?" Valerie looked at the green question mark.

"The Riddler hid clues to his secret location in these toys."

"You're still playing his game." Valerie found it amusing.

"The Riddler is smarter than we thought. It will take some time to track him down, and these trophies contain the privacy of Gotham citizens."

As he spoke, Batman broke the trophy and dug out a chip from it.

"You mean to say that this guy has put these things containing the privacy of Gotham citizens all over Gotham?" Valerie realized the seriousness of the matter.

"If you have any clues, you can tell me something." Batman put the chip into his belt.

"This..." Valerie narrowed her eyes. She remembered that she had hidden some of them as well. "You can go to the museum to see them."

Batman looked at Valerie's face and stared into her eyes, as if asking how she knew that.

"I'm smarter than you think..." Valerie looked away guiltily.

"Have you hidden for Nygma?" Batman saw through it at a glance.

"You...you are smarter than I thought..." Miss V learned Batman's words.

Batman stopped talking and just stared at Valerie in silence. The feeling of accountability made her feel very pressured.

"I'm just doing the job for money." Valerie felt that she couldn't lose in terms of momentum, so she glared back, "By the way, where's my salary?"

Batman wanted to skip this topic as he did before, but Valerie's unable to hide her thoughts just now made him suddenly have a guess.

"V, where are you from?"

"Ah? Why are you asking me this suddenly?" Valerie asked in surprise.

"..."

Batman suspects that Valerie is not from this world, just like the Superman in Metropolis, but may be an alien or something.

In this way, it can be explained that Valerie has no identity, no account, and has a body that has been modified and has miraculous healing drugs.

Batman tried to test the treatment drug that Valerie gave him a few days ago, but he got a result that he couldn't understand at all. He only knew that this thing was very safe.

This is incredible. There are not many things in this world that Batman can admit that he doesn't understand. It's as if the healing medicine has some conceptual added bonus.

"Are you an alien?" Batman decided to ask directly.

Valerie rolled her eyes at the bat speechlessly: "Of course not, I was born and raised on Earth."

Although Valerie might lie, Batman felt that he should be able to tell if she was lying, and based on the information Batman collected, Valerie was very accustomed to life on Earth.

Unless she grew up on Earth like Superman, but if that's the case, we're back to the original problem.

Growing up on Earth means you must have traces of life there, just like Batman had already discovered Superman’s true identity.

But Valerie really seemed to have no life at all.

"Money is not a problem." Batman decided to start with the aliens when he returned. He was going to risk his detective career and he must personally find out who V is.

A raging fire burned in Batman's heart.

"You say that again. If you don't give me the money, I will come to your house to collect it." Valerie decided that tonight was the last day of grace.

Batman decided to skip the subject and looked out at the barren hills around him. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for a place to live, this place is obviously not suitable." Valerie curled her lips.

Valerie originally wanted to hollow out the mountain in front of her and build her own new secret base inside, but Batman could actually find such a remote place, so she decided to give up this location.

"Since we've met here, it's time to get down to business." Batman just nodded, "This is a job for hire, money is not a problem."

"It would be enough if you could give me the money earlier." Valerie pouted: "Shall we go find the scarecrow first?"

Batman nodded, and then he saw Valerie snap her fingers.

Then, a black, windowless sports car suddenly slid up to Valerie.

Where are you coming from?

Batman was slightly shocked. He had searched the surrounding area for the Riddler trophy before, and had no impression of having seen this car before.

Valerie waved at the sports car named The Sword in the Stone, and the black doors floated out and spun upwards.

"Want to get in the car?" Valerie waved to Batman.

Batman didn't say anything, but he took the initiative to walk towards the passenger seat.

He had also built a Batmobile, but it was destroyed by Bane the night before.

The inside of the car was the same as what was seen from the outside, there were no windows, and the place where the window should be was closed metal.

Valerie got in the driver's seat, closed the door and started the engine.

It was as if I was awakened, and the ripples on the closed metal walls in front of me and around me made up the outside environment.

Batman was a little shocked, but he didn't show it.

But Valerie was very proud: "You haven't seen it~"

Batman said nothing, but he remembered the idea.

"Fasten your seat belts, destination is the insane asylum." Valerie gave a casual reminder and stepped on the accelerator.

……

Although it is also on an isolated island, unlike Blackgate Prison, Arkham Asylum has a bridge directly connected to the city of Gotham.

The Asylum Project is used to detain the most dangerous mentally ill criminals. If a situation similar to the fall of Blackgate occurs, it will be more convenient for the police to send reinforcements.

But this also made it easier for outsiders to sneak in. After letting the security guards guarding the bridge fall into a sweet sleep, Valerie and Batman successfully crossed the bridge.

The asylum had not yet been rebuilt and only some areas were in normal use. Valerie parked her car in a secluded place outside the asylum.

"Do we need to reconfirm the plan?" Valerie looked at Batman.

Batman shook his head.

On the way here, Valerie told Batman all the information she knew.

For some reason, Batman didn't ask her how she knew this.

Quincy Sharp invited many famous psychiatrists from other cities, but neither of them could confirm which doctor was the straw man.

Fortunately, they don’t necessarily have to go find the scarecrow themselves.

21. Communication

Doctor Klein carried the box into a consultation room and sat down opposite the person inside.

He was a fat, bald man with a circle of Roman numerals tattooed on his forehead and a tightly wrapped orange hospital gown.

“Julian Dale, nicknamed Calendar Man, right?” Klein sat in front of Calendar Man and opened the file in his hand.

As the chief physician, Klein was not responsible for conducting medical consultations, but Miss Quinzel, who was originally in charge of this part, took a leave of absence today.

Klein also had some things he wanted to do, so he took over the consulting doctor's job.

"Do you want to be friends with me too, Doctor?" Calendar Man looked at him with disdain.

“No… that… I mean… uh…” Klein had already prepared a full speech before he came in, but when the conversation actually started, he couldn’t help but get nervous.

Damn it, I should be the one taking the initiative.