What Bad Thoughts Can Batman Have 91

## Chapter 91: Seeker of Death

“No more—”

“Games.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just as it sounds, Bat.”

Joker seemed a bit dazed…

He looked like he was dreaming.

“No kidnapping, no 2-choice scenarios, let me guess… You thought I’d kidnap Robin?”

“You thought the place Robin just walked into was a trap?”

He chuckled mockingly.

“I anticipated the worst-case scenario and made all the necessary preparations.”

Bruce said.

Deathstroke, Catwoman, and Killer Croc’s voices came through his earpiece:

“Batman? There’s nothing here, no Joker’s men, no sudden traps. This isn’t what you expected.”

“I know, old tricks.” Joker sat on the ground dejectedly, leaning against Bane who was kneeling and laughing silently.

“I guess that Robin who went in must have been Clayface in disguise. After what happened, you won’t let those kids get hurt again…”

He lamented, “Just like you don’t like me anymore.”

Joker looked up, his normally manic face was surprisingly calm, giving an eerie sense of sincerity: “So we’re not playing games anymore, Batman.”

“No giant laughing gas balloons, no bouncing dinosaurs, freaks and circuses, no roses, beautiful fireworks, and birthday parties.”

He said, “It’s simple now, Metropolis is destroyed, tens of millions are dead, and you’ll kill me… you’ll do it without hesitation.”

Bruce pressed his earpiece forcefully: “Everyone—”

But Lucius’s voice sounded faster: “Detected dozens of missiles launched from Gotham City!!!”

Sweat broke out on his face: “They’re distributed across different locations in Gotham!”

He jumped directly from his seat, flung himself in front of the computer, and roared into the communication.

“Poison Ivy, tell me their trajectories!”

On the other side of Gotham, Poison Ivy with her red hair flowing, was sitting under a huge hemispherical machine.

This was technology from the Mad Hatter, Tetch, a mind projection device that could read the smallest and most distal signals from the human brain’s neurons, and then convert them into visual information.

“I’m checking! Don’t rush me, I need time!”

On the other side, Lucius looked up at the small lights rising from different corners of the city on the computer screen.

“You’d better hurry!”

He said, “Our detectors can only determine approximate trajectories. We need more detailed data – the deviation shouldn’t be more than a centimeter, the more accurate the better, no gaps should be missed.”

He opened the transparent cover of a red button on the nearby table and placed his hand on it: “Hurry, Poison Ivy! I need the most precise numbers before launching all the interceptor missiles!”

“Shut up, I’m checking!”

Poison Ivy roared back, “Give me silence!”

Lucius saw the dozens of missiles on the screen drop slightly. The interference devices they’d set up in the city were working…

But no one dared to bet that the real nuclear warhead, mixed among those dozens of missiles, happened to be one of the ones that dropped.

He suppressed his anxiety.

Although Batman had already told him that if there was a worst-case scenario, it would definitely happen. Though he had mentally prepared himself for this before the incident, he still felt his hand shaking.

He grabbed his wrist with his other hand forcefully, stopping the trembling.

This hand would be needed to press the button later, it can’t shake, can’t shake…

He said into the communication, “Batman! Take the jammer I prepared for you, if the missiles aren’t completely intercepted—”

“No!”

Joker pounced, hugging Bruce’s leg: “Don’t do this, Bat!”

He yelled loudly, laughing sadly: “Don’t leave! I’ve given you so much! Kill me now, if I can die in your hands, it’s the most beautiful thing, the best ending for me!”

For a moment, Bruce did want to chop off Joker’s head with a knife.

It should be quick, just condense a blade and make a light scrape –

But he forcibly resisted the urge.

Not because of the no-killing rule, but he was afraid that if he directly and brutally killed Joker, and accidentally inhaled some of Joker’s poison and turned into the Batman Who Laughs, that would be a problem – who knows what Joker had hidden in his body?

To kill him, he’d have to stuff him into the pulverizer Lucius invented and kill him.

As for hesitation… there was none. Neither Riddler’s dark restraint theory, nor Joker’s bad day, nor Batman’s original slippery slope theory could bind him.

Bruce knew he was not crazy, and he would never become some kind of limitless scum or tyrant just because he killed Joker. Joker was not special, he had never been special…

He had already murdered him once.

“Get off!”

He kicked Joker in the face: “You stinking garbage, psycho, you’re so disgusting, stay away from me, get off!”

“No—please, let it end like this!”

Joker begged loudly: “I’m the most special one, they all said you killed—”

His voice stopped abruptly, swallowing the unspoken words back down, Bruce felt a slight stir in his heart.

Joker continued as if nothing had happened:

“It’s not fair, we’ve been together for so long, I should be the first person you want to kill! I should be the one to make you fall! Not anyone else, I’m jealous!”

“The first batch of missiles have been located!” Lucius in the earpiece looked at the red-dot-marked highlights on the computer screen and punched the red button forcefully.

“Launch!”

“Batman!” He said, “You’ve got to be ready to fly out and intercept any possible omissions—”

“I know!”

Bruce kicked Joker in the face again: “Get out of here, you disgusting—”

“No, I’m not disgusting, I’m your favorite—”

Bruce lost his patience.

Silver particles shimmered, followed by Bane Bat’s thick fist.

He clenched his hand, and a green color spread on his arm. The monstrous strength and claws from the Bat-Dragon combined with Bane Bat, in one blow, sent Joker flying backwards, crashing to the ground like a cockroach.

Bruce controlled his strength as much as possible to avoid killing him.

Joker’s attitude confirmed some of his guesses, but now was not the time to think about them.

Often, the simpler and more brutal plans are the most effective. If Joker was still planning some kind of kidnapping Robin trick, Bruce would be able to deal with it, because he could anticipate it –

But directly launching…

This was a direct test of Bruce’s early preparations, insufficient preparation would lead to immediate failure!

“I’ll be right there.” He turned his head and said to Lucius in the communication: “I’ll be there soon—”

“Bat—man!”

Bruce turned his head, Joker trembling all over, crawled up from the ground, pieces of massive muscles burst through his clothes, exposing his pale body with red skin holes to the air.

Bruce’s face sank: “Titan Toxin.”

“I’m your favorite jester, after all—”

“Sorry, Lucius, I might need three minutes.”

Bruce said, “Just three minutes.”

…

…

…

Meanwhile, in the Batcave.

Riddler, Edward Nigma, was locked in a transparent cell by himself. He held a stack of files in his hands, sat in the corner, seeming to be forgotten by the whole world.

But soon he stood up and walked to the tempered glass of the cell.

“My word.” He said.

“It’s you, Joker.”

(End of Chapter)

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