## Chapter 15: National Guard
Chen Tao flew across rooftops, turning his legs into wheels when he encountered smooth surfaces and reverting to his human form when he needed to leap across gaps. Bain, even with all his might, couldn’t keep up.
Fight? Fight my ass! Could I even win? I’m just going to run.
His speed hit seventy miles per hour, his mood carefree and light. Bain, rockets, everything – eat my exhaust fumes!
“Bain, are you not going to keep chasing him?”
A pale man, nicknamed “Zombie,” carried a rocket launcher, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, his face bruised and battered. He had been so focused on chasing Chen Tao that he’d gotten separated from Bain and ended up on the receiving end of a dinosaur’s punch.
How dare he hinder my escape!
If Bain hadn’t intervened, he would probably be in the intensive care unit now.
Damn! He’d never seen anyone run this fast… or, well, any dinosaur. He’d never seen anything quite so inexplicable.
The expressions on the faces of Bain’s other two underlings, Cave Dweller and Birdman, mirrored Zombie’s – they were all sporting a sour frown. Not only were they unable to catch Chen Tao, they kept getting shot at by Deathstroke. This was just too much. They were relieved when they finally heard Bain say that he wouldn’t be giving chase anymore.
Bain stood quietly in the middle of the street, gazing up at the rooftops where Batman had vanished, like a boy embracing the cool evening breeze under a summer night sky teeming with fireflies.
“Cave Dweller, the situation has changed.”
His subordinate, Cave Dweller, wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Understood, Bain. I will immediately submit a comprehensive report on Batman’s weakened state and his unknown abilities.”
“No, that’s not necessary. We are going to initiate a new plan. But we need time. We need to keep Batman busy so he won’t be able to bother us.”
Bain’s voice was low, yet his tone gradually grew higher, like a wild animal catching the scent of prey, or a siren lulling her lover.
“Batman fled because he didn’t feel confident of winning against me, and coincidentally, I don’t either. I wanted to test his strength, but he wouldn’t give me the chance – he’s more cautious than I thought.”
He leaped, flying like a comet between buildings. Police sirens wailed in the distance, their cries like the mournful murmur of the Israelites during the parting of the Red Sea.
“The tactics of war must change… everyone, go get ready. Maintain radio contact.”
“Also, don’t get into a conflict with the police. We don’t want to damage the streets. After all, this will be my city one day.”
Meanwhile…
Thud.
After a half-hour of sprinting at breakneck speed, Deathstroke, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, and the Ventriloquist found themselves dumped in a back alley. The fight and chase that had just taken place felt like a dream.
“Hmm…”
Head, empty.
Thoughts, frozen.
“I don’t remember Batman doing any of this,” Harley Quinn said in a daze.
“Obviously, that guy spent a long time debating between becoming Batman or Dinosaurman back in the day,” Deathstroke ground his blood-stained teeth, cracking a morbid joke.
“So, we’re just left here, huh?” Killer Croc shouted. “Where’s the employer? Where’s Batman? Where’s my money?!”
Deathstroke wasn’t paying attention to Killer Croc’s shouting. He was genuinely thinking about declining future assignments for the first time in his life.
Look at what he had encountered – Bane, Batman, and this super-powered being called Tattoo Man. A few years ago, no matter how big the trouble was, he would have jumped at the chance if the money was right. But things were different now. He had a daughter.
When Bain was pressing his hand against his throat, he had thought, not once but many times, what would happen to his daughter if he were gone?
The answer was, nothing would happen.
Zoe had foster parents. When his death came, his daughter might feel a bit sad… but ultimately, she would forget him.
His existence would vanish into the clear sky like hyacinths, remembered by no one, mourned by no one, not even alive in anyone’s memory. A ghost, a illusion, like Captain Boomerang, Livewire, or Tattoo Man.
This was simply unacceptable to Floyd Lawton.
Deathstroke knew he was scum, a supervillain. His love for his daughter could never be selfless or devoted, his love was a venomous possessiveness, ugly yet heartfelt.
He wanted to watch his daughter grow up!
He wanted to live with his daughter forever!
He wanted to see his daughter get married and have a family!
He wanted to witness every important moment in his daughter’s life!
He wanted to die in a hospital bed, surrounded by his daughter’s cries!
That was Floyd Lawton, the cowardly and pathetic heart’s desire!
Therefore, even if he were viewed as a coward and a fool, the mercenary known as Deathstroke had to live, timidly.
He turned to the Ventriloquist, who was still searching for his lost glasses on the ground. “Enough, Arnold. Tell your employer that I’m out.”
…
…
…
Ding!
The elevator door opened.
Chen Tao rode the elevator to the top floor of the GCPD. A female civilian clerk looked like she’d seen a ghost, her file folder clattering to the floor.
Chen Tao kept a straight face, calmly bending into the stairwell beside the elevator and heading to the rooftop.
Damn it, why is this grappling hook so hard to use.jpg
Commissioner Gordon was waiting for him on the rooftop.
“I turned on the bat-signal, I turned it off… hey, I turned it back on, I turned it off again…”
Chen Tao crept up behind him.
“Gordon.”
“Whoa – I wasn’t playing!”
“Hmm…”
Chen Tao said, “So, you called me in a hurry, what is it?”
Gordon sighed. “There are crazy people all over the streets, the situation is spiraling out of control.”
That goes without saying.
Chen Tao’s eyes narrowed beneath the mask, waiting for Gordon to continue.
“I know you’ve done a lot. You brought back the Mad Hatter, and Zas…”
“Get to the point.”
“Alright.” Gordon sighed, as if he’d made up his mind. “The mayor has decided to deploy the National Guard. It’s dangerous, but I can’t stop him.”
The National Guard is an independent military force under the authority of the state government, the only regular army allowed to operate within the United States.
The mayor’s decision meant they had completely lost faith in the situation in Gotham.
Chen Tao’s reaction was:
Awesome!
Hopefully the National Guard will come charging in with four to five hundred thousand troops, crush Bane into a meat patty, then directly apply a dimensional reduction attack, wiping out all the Gotham villains in one fell swoop, sending them all to the electric chair. Then Batman, Bruce Wayne, could retire and settle down as a wealthy playboy.
Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose. “But these guys don’t understand Gotham. They’re using the same approach for dealing with ordinary criminals to deal with Gotham’s madmen. It’s bound to go wrong… but our idiot mayor is just using this as another political stunt.
“I’m worried about that, but the bigger problem is, they’ve included you in their target list, dead or alive.”
“So you’re asking me to not get involved in the National Guard’s cleanup of Bane and Gotham?”
Yes!
Chen Tao rejoiced internally.
“That’s right.” Gordon looked solemn. “I’ll do my best to keep the army from causing too much damage, but you really can’t show up and trigger these politicians’ sensitive nerves. I know this isn’t fair to you…”
Oh, not at all.
Chen Tao maintained a serious expression on the surface, but Gordon interpreted that solemnity in another way.
“Alright, alright, Bats, you can keep participating in the Bane case – damn, it’s like you wouldn’t do it if I said no.”
“No, you got it all wrong.”
Chen Tao immediately stopped his train of thought. “I really won’t get invol……”
“Beep beep beep…”
But at that moment, the sound of the Bat-Communicator interrupted their conversation.
Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter