The Death Knell

There are always stories that happen in fragments of time, just like Gotham always has its humble alleys.

Batman has always had many plans for his city, but the most important one is to make it a better city, a city without Batman, without fear and pain.

But unfortunately, reality does not allow this, just like changing a building on a drawing but not making it really change.

So Batman is still here.

But he did have the money to build buildings in the real Gotham City, many of them.

After retaking the city from Bain, Bruce increased investment in the education system.

He used money to open up the road to the state government, bought a large area of ​​unfinished buildings near the east coast, and built 'Wayne College' here. To put it bluntly, it is a super technical school.

Maybe after teenagers learn a skill here, they won't join any "street vitality groups" anymore?

No, Batman is not so naive. In his eyes, there are only criminals and suspicious people who have not committed crimes for the time being. The reason why he built the school is equally dark, because it can enhance his control over grassroots intelligence in the city.

For example, students in the auto repair class are likely to engage in the car theft industry after graduation. Their skills will definitely be better than those in Yeluzi, thereby gaining a larger market and status, allowing the criminal industry to involute themselves.

And because they are students from his own school, Batman will have all the information about these people through several years of observation, even how often they talk in their sleep, and even what color underwear they like.

He is a contradictory person, he has ideals in his heart, but he is always making other preparations.

Today, the city is still the same under the night. He still needs to find his old friends in the city and continue the game that he has played for many years.

The clown gave him a clue, which was not the photo of snowflakes in the email, but what he called "many people will die of happiness", commonly known as being killed by laughing gas.

In other words, the madman must have kidnapped many people, and transporting those people must require tools, so what Batman needs to investigate is where large-scale disappearances occurred and the unusual movement trajectories of freight vehicles.

There is wind and snow in the city, and not many people go out in this cold weather, so the movements of any large vehicles will become conspicuous.

"Batgirl, how many people has the Joker kidnapped?"

He had already locked onto the traces of the vehicles, and several trucks went to the reservoir in eastern Gotham at dusk, the area where underground drainage channels flowed into the sea.

Barbara is still in the city, but the weather is too cold, and she doesn't have the cold-resistant equipment that Batman got from the rogue gang, so she is currently in a base called the 'Clock Tower' , resumed his hacker job as the 'Oracle', and contacted Batman remotely.

But at this time, she seemed very hesitant to speak, as if she had doubts about the results of her investigation.

"Tell me the number. Don't worry about whether it is correct or not. I will judge." Batman's voice came again. In the dusty bell tower, even the white cloth covering the equipment was not lifted.

The Birds of Prey haven't been here for a long time, but the girl has been maintaining it since setting up the Gordon Fund.

"About 2,000 people, Batman." Barbara pushed up the glasses on her nose and typed on the keyboard quickly: "This is almost impossible. It is impossible for the Joker to take away so many people by himself and the female follower."

"Nothing is impossible, as long as these people take the initiative to follow him, then all he needs to do is send a group text message." Bat is the person who knows the clown best, and also knows how influential the madman is in the city: "Check this Clues, hack all communication providers, I'll have Brother Eye investigate the message boards on the network."

His gang of clowns, his followers of Chaos Theory, are always there.

When clowns are dormant, those lunatics will also take off their white masks with clown makeup and hide in society.

They could be the police, they could be taxi drivers, they could be anyone. The Joker taught them how to be crazy, and Harley taught them how to pretend to be normal.

Harley slapped her butt and quit, and said she would be a good girl, but the mess she left behind will probably be with Gotham forever.

Now that the Joker is back, his followers will once again put him on the throne, waiting for a new round of competition between him and Batman.

"I found it. These lunatics created hundreds of online forums for him." Barbara's hands were not only good at hitting people, but she was also very fast at typing on the keyboard. She even caught it before her brothers saw it: "But some of them have... In a strange statement, a user named 'Scary Ghost' called on clown fans to gather in a place, saying that he wanted everyone to huddle together to keep warm in the winter."

"A cold joke, this reminds me of Deathstroke, but this is the style of the Joker's new follower. According to the information provided by Luthor, she is called Punchline."

Batman calmly jumped into the Batmobile parked in the alley downstairs. He needed a tank equipped with non-lethal weapons to deal with the threat from the crowd.

"Luthor really betrayed the Joker. That bald man has never been trustworthy." Barbara complained. She had been paying attention to the trial of the century. When Luther was acquitted, she almost destroyed her family. The microwave bowl was smashed.

"I know, but Superman believes him."

Batman set up the autopilot, and then began to take out some small things from his belt to prepare some measures.

"Superman trusts everyone, because he is Superman." Batgirl complained helplessly, and even felt a little tired: "Because he is invulnerable, and his son is also invulnerable. Speaking of which, haven't you taken care of Robin's disappearance?"

The wind and snow could not cover the fast-moving Batmobile. The black heavy armored vehicle sprayed blue tail flames, leaving black tire marks on the street and the sound of drifting brakes from time to time.

"He went to find his mother, and Thalia and I were not happy about the kitten." Batman's voice was still steady, as if nothing would affect his mood: "Now Focused on our mission, the Joker's followers may be planning to immolate themselves en masse, but we cannot let them die."

"Okay, I understand, do you need me to go over and help you?" Barbara moved her neck, although her spine still hurts badly when she hears the clown's laughter today: "And don't say little Calling you a cat is simply too disgusting and inappropriate for you."

"" Batman was silent, indicating that the topic was over.

But Barbara suddenly sat up straight from her chair. She zoomed in on a segment of road surveillance. After observing it carefully, she brought the headset closer to her mouth again:

"Batman, there's a new situation. I saw Deathstroke coming to town, and he brought a few friends with him."

"Which death knell?"

"No cape, no pet, just the old one."