2220 Side Story: Fantasy Journey 61

After a brief silence, Master Wayne explained, "… You know the barb on a fish hook, right?"

Victor said, "Yes."

Master Wayne said, "The Joker's plan is the fish hook. Even if the fish can struggle and break free, it's at the price of its flesh being ripped open; it's impossible for it to escape unharmed."

As he spoke, he looked around at Gotham. "Does it look like I'm in that bad a state right now?"

Victor said, "Got it. I'll increase surveillance of important locations in Gotham right away."

Master Wayne nodded and raised his fists. Sensing that his youthful body was still full of energy, he looked at the thugs who were slowly retreating.

He smiled. "There's nothing to be gained from beating you up, but… it won't take much effort anyway."

The thugs here were far more of a threat to the safety of ordinary people than the looters.

The people who ran away would spread the word that Batman had beaten up hundreds of thugs, so Master Wayne felt that he could make use of this trash.

A few minutes later, more than 400 criminals and thugs lay scattered all over the streets.

These unlucky b*stards finally had a breather when Victor reported in with news. "Bruce, something isn't right at Arkham. The drones are showing that the patrol guards inside are gone."

Old Master Wayne's heart jumped. He threw out his grappling hook and jumped onto the invisible Batplane that was waiting here.

He jumped into the plane. Even before it fully closed, the plane made a sharp turn and flew toward the outskirts of Gotham.

But Master Wayne and Victor stopped before they got to Arkham Asylum.

Before the drones that were facing in Arkham's direction left, they caught a lot of chaos, and a few faces at the scene were especially clear.

Master Wayne immediately understood what the Joker was up to tonight. This guy had drawn his attention away in order to let out a bunch of his 'old acquaintances' from Arkham.

Worst of all, these old acquaintances weren't empty-handed.

In front of a buffed-up Master Wayne, they wouldn't fall any slower than the hundreds of street thugs if they were empty-handed.

But all these guys were actually wearing their usual gear and holding weapons.

Master Wayne hadn't been stupid enough to leave these things in Arkham. They should have been in confidential police storage.

It was also for this reason that Master Wayne had immediately recognized them.

At first glance, he saw Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Zsasz, Clayface, Professor Pyg, and Solomon Grundy.

But Master Wayne didn't need to think to know that there were even more 'old acquaintances' hiding somewhere plotting something big.

These guys here were good at fighting and killing, but they weren't smart enough.

Most of the 'old acquaintances' whom Master Wayne had thrown into Arkham were better at plots and machinations, like Bane, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, the Mad Hatter… Hm, and also that dumbass Riddler.

And those were just the worst ones – those who didn't make the ranks, but who had ruthless methods, flashed on the drone feed every now and then.

The A.I. surveillance program noted them, marked them, and started tracking them.

It didn't matter if it lost track of them, but if it didn't? Master Wayne would just cripple each one he saw.

Although these guys could still slowly recover after being crippled, they would be obedient for a year or so before that.

He wouldn't kill them. Master Wayne would never kill anyone in his life.

He had already crossed too many bottom lines. If he crossed even this last one, he was afraid that he would become the next Joker.

Besides, he now had a new, ruthless teammate.

That guy had done a lot of sneaky things, and several high-ranking gang members in Gotham had gone missing one after another.

Master Wayne only gave a few warnings before he stopped pursuing the matter.

He didn't kill people himself, but he couldn't ask his teammates not to.

Take Diana, for example. She had joined the battlefield in World War I. Even if 1,000 Germans hadn't died at her hands, there had to be at least 800.

What right did a 'youngster' like Master Wayne have to request that the princess refrain from killing?

At that moment, Barry's voice rang out feebly over the comms. "Well, I'm in Gotham. What should I do now?"

Master Wayne was delighted when he heard Barry. "Let's meet up, and we'll work to rescue people."

Barry: "No problem."

With Barry, this 'super rescuer,' Master Wayne was no longer afraid of those supervillains grabbing people to use against him.

Once Knight is here, I can go all out, he couldn't help but murmur inwardly.

Compared with Barry, who specialized in saving people, and Victor, who was far better at tech support than actual combat, Luke, who had no shortcomings in all aspects, could completely be the second focal point.

If something happened to Master Wayne, Luke could directly replace him as the commander and become the main focal point.

This was really important in a battle against supervillains — who the hell knew how many strange tricks those lunatics who had been sitting around for a long time had prepared for Master Wayne.

…

While Master Wayne was scanning the 'illustrious' members of Arkham, Luke silently looked away from him.

Then… he wrapped his ragged denim jacket around him and waved the half-meter-long iron pipe in his hand as he shouted, "Charge! Charge!"

Around him, there were similar cries. "Loot the place! There's a phone store over there!"

"And the latest tablet."

"I want a f*cking X model game console."

At this last shout, a surprised Luke turned in the direction of a certain nerd, and saw a half-naked Black Widow figurine in a bizarre pose inside a semi-transparent travel bag.

Em, Sister Widow's leg to height ratio didn't seem right? Also, her assets stood out too much.

They were a little too exaggerated.

What was even more outrageous was that this guy who was shouting about stealing a game console was actually wearing a Black Widow mask.

Luke almost hit him in the face with the pipe he was holding. How dare he dishonor a beautiful agent like that?

As for the people with him who were wearing Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and Spiderman masks… Forget it. In any case, these people didn't rely on looks to make a living.

With complicated feelings, he followed these fake 'old teammates' into the mall.

Not far from the entrance on the first floor was a brand phone store which also sold tablets and game consoles.

This was one of the few high-end stores in Gotham, so it had all the goods.

Because of this reputation, it finally attracted disaster tonight.

A swarm of people poured in and reached for anything they were interested in.

Just as the 'shopping spree' was about to start, the bright lights in the mall suddenly turned dim, and a faint green light enveloped the crowd on the first floor.