What Bad Thoughts Can Batman Have 75

Chapter 75: City of Bats

It was a massacre.

With the passage of time, the arrogant Talon assassins were defeated by the combined forces of Gotham.

When the cold-wave wielding Mr. Freeze blasted out his last icy breath on the battlefield, everything ended… The fight gradually ceased.

The Talon assassins lay scattered everywhere, most of them torn in half like pieces of paper, discarded on the ground like broken toys.

Scarecrow tried to sneak away, but turned to face Batman’s chest. He heard the other say emotionlessly:

“Nuclear weapon, Clein.”

Snap!

Bane twisted the neck of the last Talon he could find, and Joker slowly walked over to him.

Bane didn’t continue his attack, but looked at Bruce Wayne with a playful gaze.

“What?”

Bruce Wayne lifted Scarecrow’s neck: “Don’t play dumb, Clein, you know, you stole the nuclear weapon from Corpopat.”

“Ha—Nuclear weapon, what are you talking about?” Scarecrow replied: “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Then, a look of enlightenment appeared in his eyes, the same as the Riddler: “Oh, I understand… So that’s why you went to such great lengths… Hahahahaha!”

He began to laugh maniacally, Joker bit his lip as he watched.

Penguin, who was standing nearby, felt his head spin.

“You… You…” He ran to Scarecrow, also tiptoeing, and grabbed his outer coat.

“Don’t joke with me, Clein! Did you really steal my nuke?”

He thought of a terrifying possibility.

There were only a few people who had both the motive and the ability to steal a nuclear weapon. If it wasn’t Scarecrow, it meant…

He remembered that his arms deal with Bane was tonight. Coincidentally, tonight. It was eerily coincidental.

He also remembered that a few days ago he had contacted Scarecrow to arrange the handover of Mayor Caro. Oh, but Scarecrow had kept delaying, and the date had been set by him, coincidentally tonight.

And Penguin’s men were supposed to be handing over the goods at about this time. If all the timing was so perfect, then it meant…

Penguin’s phone rang, and he answered with a sullen expression:

The other side of the phone was a cacophony of noise, gunshots and explosions ringing in his ears. Penguin heard his men shouting:

“Damn it, boss! They double-crossed us, took the arms and won’t pay!”

Penguin felt a surge of anger rise from his feet to his head.

He realized that Bane not only had stolen his nuke, but had also turned around and used the Penguin as a patsy to get a bunch of stuff and a suggestion from him. And today he was robbed again of a bunch of weapons and equipment!

Shearing the wool off a sheep, over and over?

“That’s right, I’m the one who stole that nuke.”

Bruce Wayne let go of Scarecrow.

Bane revealed the truth: “Where to begin?”

He turned to Lincoln March, the white-masked Court of Owls member who still stubbornly refused to disconnect the communication, even with the numerous bodies scattered across his computer screen.

The white-masked owl also noticed the other’s gaze: “Foolish, Bane. You will regret this day in the future.”

He hid in the sewers, like a king ruling over a garbage heap. But what Bane said next made him unable to maintain that posture.

“Gotham’s most expensive private residential area, worth $58 million, the top three floors belong to the famous Palvos Hotel. The head of the Palvos family… Joseph and his wife Maria also live there.”

The white-masked owl behind the screen finally stood up.

“How do you know my address and identity? I never… How dare you…”

It was the same old lines, over and over. Bruce Wayne was sick of hearing them.

Bane didn’t speak.

He just watched Lincoln March, looking at the shadow cast by his arm armor, sending a chill down one’s spine.

It was the look of someone looking at a dead man.

Then he blew gently.

Whoosh!

“Shameful traitor! You will…”

BOOM!

A violent explosion and flames instantly engulfed the video on the other side.

Bane calmly placed his finger on his earpiece: “Troglodyte… did you handle it?”

His earpiece came the other’s voice: “Completely dead, absolutely no problem, Bane.”

Bane shrugged.

“Impressive.” Bruce Wayne commented: “Everything was planned by you, right? Bane?”

“The Court of Owls provided you with Amber Gold for free, maybe they also provided you with a lot of money? And you in return killed their important people… You planned all this today.

I guess it’s not just that. You probably have a list of the real identities of other Court members, right? You’re going to kill them one by one, eliminate them all.”

No matter how many times he saw it, Bruce Wayne had to be amazed by Bane’s leverage plan, taking something for nothing.

“Oh… Penguin is even worse, you not only stole from him, but you double-crossed him. Scarecrow first worked for you for free, then became a scapegoat, drawing me into a fight to the death with him.”

“And you, calmly hid the nuclear weapon, and now that the Court of Owls and Scarecrow are gone, you can take it out at any time, threaten the whole city, even threaten the whole country, threaten me, and completely conquer Gotham…”

Bruce Wayne said: “Everything is going according to your plan, at this point, you must feel that most things are under your control, right?”

Bane was a little stiff.

At that moment, he was constantly replaying in his mind whether there were any flaws in his plan. He had calculated everything Batman should know. What had he missed?

“You calculated everything I could mobilize, Bane. Even on the plane, you were trying to hack into the Batplane, figuring out what Robin and I were talking about, right?”

“But…”

“The more cunning people are, the more often they fall into unexpected predicaments. The more complex the plan, and the more sophisticated the equipment, the more likely it is to be tripped up by an unexpected pebble…”

Bruce Wayne said: “All you need is someone who’s unexpected for you…”

“Whoosh!”

“Why have you never considered that at the same time you’re sending your men to double-cross Penguin, to murder the members of the Court of Owls according to the list, that the forces guarding the nuke will be gradually weakened?”

“Why do you think you can execute your plan while I’m doing nothing?”

Lincoln March lowered his arm silently, he walked to Bruce Wayne’s side.

Bane stared at him intently.

An unexpected presence, a person who appeared out of nowhere, he was clearly a member of the Court of Owls, how did he get mixed up with Batman?

“Is it possible that I’m letting you plan all this, just to find the place where you’re storing the nuke?”

Bane’s phone rang.

“…The enemy suddenly broke in, their target is the thing you told us to protect…”

“It can’t be stolen, that’s…” Bane said immediately.

“It’s been stolen…”

“Damn it!” Bane roared: “With your strength, how could you not stop them, I clearly left behind a lot of people…”

“It was the Talons, Bane. The Court of Owls’ Talons, they also used your Titan toxin, they’re all muscle! We couldn’t stop them!”

“So, the most important thing is, Bane…” Bruce Wayne said: “This is Batman’s city.”

He said in a low voice: “This is Batman’s turf.”

Finally finished writing. So sleepy.

(End of Chapter)

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