What Bad Thoughts Can Batman Have 56

## Chapter 56: The Bat King

**[Warning! Warning! An anchored item has been detected: Joker’s crystal coffin.]**

**[Crisis energy converted: ∞]**

?

Bruce Wayne almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

**[Syncing: Bat of Madness!]**

**[Bat of Madness! Madness! Madness! Error! Error!]**

**[Initiating Emergency Shielding! Emergency Shielding!]**

After a series of dazzling silver-white text flickered across his retina, Bruce Wayne’s vision finally stabilized.

**[Crisis energy converted: 80]**

**[Current crisis energy unit: 164]**

**[Warning: Downloading targetable Batman file.]**

**[Broken Bat]**

**[Danger Level: C]**

**[In a dark multiverse, at the end of the Knightfall event, Batman failed to defeat his fallen disciple, Death Angel Jean-Paul. The mantle of Batman was usurped. Death Angel, renamed Saint Batman, unleashed a bloody reign of terror on Gotham.]**

**[Bruce Wayne was vivisected, vital organs preserved, forced to witness Death Angel’s atrocities for the next three decades.]**

**[After being rescued by Lady Shiva and Bane’s son, he was healed by nano-engineered micro-bat robots, becoming a cyborg. However, 30 years of torment shattered the once-just Dark Knight. Embracing the darkness, the Broken Bat killed Death Angel and all who stood against him, becoming Gotham’s new ruler.]**

**[Would you like to immediately consume 80 units of crisis energy to synchronize?]**

Bruce Wayne stroked his chin, his fingertips rubbing against the ass-like groove on Batman’s chin.

The Joker had given him 40 crisis energy units before, but he had used up 40 to synchronize. This time, he was given 80 units, and this new Batman required exactly 80. Unlike Bane, who had given him 103 units but only needed 59 to synchronize.

What was going on?

Bruce Wayne pondered for a moment before dismissing the question. Right now, the Riddler was the priority.

…

…

…

Then… now.

“You crossed the line, Batman.”

The Riddler was dumbfounded.

On the television, the clown’s meaty flesh was disgusting as it fell to the ground. He used his own eyes to confirm the truth.

“God, you crossed the line!”

The Riddler cried out, filled with both sadness and joy.

“I was wrong, I was so wrong, I thought I’d have to go to great lengths to force you to kill, I wasn’t even sure if I could do it—but then I suddenly realized, I didn’t need to do anything at all!”

“You never intended for the Joker to live. While I was grappling with the conventions, you’d already smashed him like glass on the ground—you, you were planning this!

Oh, I love you, I love you! You pugnacious, premeditated murderer!”

He laughed heartily, then took a deep breath, cutting off his laughter as if he were about to die.

“Batman, believe me, it’s about to begin, I’m familiar with this feeling, you’ll soon attract some new admirers.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Trust me, I thought the same thing. But you have no say in this.”

The Riddler dropped his gun decisively. “I surrender. And they…”

His eyes swept over the ventriloquist sitting silently and Killer Croc, who was using rope to tie up the Almond Eater.

“I was so stupid, I talked about breaking the mold, but I completely overlooked this possibility—the thugs I hired are almost all traitors!”

“The line was gone long ago, you already had these followers, didn’t you?”

“Employees.” Bruce Wayne corrected him, “I paid them.”

“You—paid them? Hahaha, Batman, I’m sorry, even though I’m the Riddler, and loud laughter isn’t usually the Riddler’s style, I still find it hilarious, haha, hahaha!”

The Riddler laughed in a melodramatic voice.

He slapped his thigh, pointing at Killer Croc, “Do you know how many employers have been eaten alive by Waylon Jones? The stupid ones who weren’t strong enough, the low-grade, unoriginal, uninspired criminal activities—

How many times has the beast devoured the fools who tried to manipulate him? He’s a beast, Batman, you really thought you could manipulate a wild animal with simple money? Do you know how many times he’s bitten his employers to death? Do you want me to tell you how many times he has eaten [both] people and goods?”

Bruce Wayne was sure that the Riddler’s “eat” was a pun. He looked at Killer Croc, who returned a bashful smile, innocent and harmless, like a puppy trying to please its owner. After witnessing Batman kill, he seemed more subservient than before.

“Ow!”

Almond Eater screamed, trying to resist. He was a mentally challenged, manic criminal, one of Arkham’s villains, hired by the Riddler to appear here. Then—

Killer Croc bit down on his shoulder, tearing off a large chunk. He chewed twice, then spat it onto the ground.

Almond Eater fainted from the pain.

“Then there’s the ventriloquist, you thought for all these years, no one in Gotham would think he was scary at all, just a schizophrenic with a puppet?”

“That’s blasphemous—,”

“Oh, my God, that’s not polite, Nigma, first—“

The ventriloquist’s words were swallowed back down his throat. He saw the Riddler’s eyes gleaming, as fierce and brutal as a spotted tiger.

He was a powerful criminal, no doubt. But face-to-face with the Riddler?

Not enough.

“Shut up.”

The baby Bat and the ventriloquist fell silent under the Riddler’s glare. They kept looking at Bruce Wayne, hoping that their master would stand up for them.

“Then there’s Arnold Wesker, he’d never been involved in any gangs before he went to Blackgate Penitentiary.

But he learned all the survival techniques of gangs without a teacher, becoming the biggest gang leader in Burnley District in just three months.

What kind of virtuous person do you think can tear away their own piece of the pie that has already been divided? Do you know how many gang leaders’ corpses Arnold Wesker has stepped on with his pink rabbit slippers? He’s a cold-blooded, ruthless madman.”

“No, I’m Batman’s dog. Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”

The ventriloquist seemed a little worried. He barked like a dog in the room, oblivious to everyone, desperately trying to prove his loyalty to his master, “I’m listening to Batman now, I know only listening to Batman can… sorry, sorry!”

“So do you understand now, Batman?”

“Everything’s gone back to where it can’t be returned. What was that overused phrase?”

Seeing that some people seem to be hung up on the Joker dying.

I’ll post a hidden [crossed out] explicit chapter as an Easter egg later. The Joker is such an important character, how could he just leave? And this Joker, I deliberately wrote him as a super-stalker of Batman, with no sense of oppression at all. How could I exploit the character’s potential like that?

(End of chapter)

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