Chapter 376 - 376: Mockumentary

"Hmm? Joker gas?"

A thought immediately flashed through Batman's mind.

There's only one person in all of Gotham who uses this stuff…

"Does that mean…"

"The Joker is already here?"

Batman immediately became more vigilant.

Although the Joker had escaped from Arkham Asylum after the Bane incident, he hadn't shown himself since.

And the specially formulated Joker gas he used was particularly insidious.

Simply inhaling it could cause a victim to laugh themselves to death.

Batman frowned and activated the gas mask built into his armor before continuing forward.

Soon, he discovered a huge, grotesque piece of Joker graffiti covering one of the walls.

Beside it, several enormous words had been scrawled:

COME TO MY STUDIO!

"Hmph. Stupid little trick."

Batman snorted and followed the directions.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the studio, he saw the Joker sitting in the center of the stage.

His gun was already prepared.

Beside him lay a motionless figure with its head hanging down.

"Hahaha! Little Bat! I never expected to see you here. What a wonderful surprise!"

The Joker's sinister laughter echoed throughout the studio.

"What do you want, Joker?"

Batman clenched his teeth and slowly advanced toward Gotham City's walking cancer.

"Why, what else?"

The Joker grinned.

"I came here to take Karl's life!"

He kicked the motionless captive lying beside him.

"But when I reached this guy's office, I overheard him talking on the phone. Someone had apparently told him that Batman was on his way, so he'd already ordered his people to prepare for the Bat!"

Batman didn't bother arguing.

His movements were hardly a secret to Gotham's police.

Nor had he made any effort to conceal his return tonight.

By now, practically the entire criminal underworld knew that the Dark Knight had returned to Gotham.

There was nothing strange about Karl knowing that he was coming.

"When I overheard Karl calling in his people, I thought it was terribly boring."

The Joker gave a cruel grin.

"We finally have a rare opportunity for everyone to have some fun. Why ruin it?"

"So I went inside and helped this nervous fellow calm down with an iron bar and a dagger while I waited for you to arrive!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Batman stared at the scene before him with a frown.

Finally, he spoke.

"The game is over, Joker."

"The person you kidnapped isn't even Karl."

"And stop trying to use him as part of your act."

With that, Batman threw a punch in the Joker's direction.

He showed absolutely no concern that the hostage might be killed.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's not right!"

The Joker cried out in despair.

"According to the script, you're supposed to stand over there, carefully wait for an opening, throw your Batarang, and heroically rescue the hostage!"

He grabbed the bound figure from the floor and held it across his body in the classic human-shield pose, using it to block any attempted rescue.

Batman didn't care.

A Batarang immediately flew from his hand.

He showed no hesitation whatsoever about whether it might hit the hostage.

Realizing Batman was completely serious, the Joker yelped and jumped aside.

The Batarang struck the hostage directly.

Crash!

The figure immediately broke apart, pieces scattering across the floor.

It was nothing more than a mannequin used by the studio.

"Damn it!"

The Joker cursed under his breath.

"You people have absolutely no sense of humor! Would it kill you to play along with me for once?"

"The biosensors in my helmet detected no signs of life from the object you were holding."

Batman continued approaching him.

"And besides…"

"That bastard Karl isn't someone you could capture that easily."

The Joker frowned unhappily.

"I really hate people like you who cheat with high-tech toys."

"But luckily…"

"I prepared a backup plan!"

With a wave of his hand, several small aircraft loaded with explosives suddenly shot out and raced toward Batman.

The miniature suicide attack planes accomplished absolutely nothing.

Batman raised one hand.

Several Batarangs launched outward in rapid succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The flying toys were smashed into fragments before they could even reach him.

"I already told you."

Batman's voice was icy.

"The game is over, Joker."

Yet instead of becoming nervous as Batman gained the upper hand, the Joker merely adopted an amused expression.

"Ooooh…"

"Very interesting armor."

"It looks much stronger than your old suit."

The Joker tilted his head.

"But I'm curious…"

"Does that thing have a flight system?"

Before Batman could fully process the question—

BOOM!

The floor beneath his feet suddenly collapsed.

Batman plunged straight into the hole below.

"Hahahahaha!"

The Joker burst into delighted laughter.

"See? Cartoon logic really is the best!"

"No matter how clever the rabbit is, sooner or later it still makes a fool of itself and falls into the trap!"

Trapped below, Bruce Wayne struggled to adjust the machinery surrounding his body.

The Joker had been right about one thing.

This armor hadn't undergone proper testing.

Naturally, it had never been equipped with a flight system.

Worse, the massive mechanical suit brought his total weight close to a ton.

His grapnel system simply couldn't pull that kind of weight.

For the moment, he was effectively immobilized.

"Looks like you can't get out of this one, Little Bat!"

The Joker hummed an indistinct tune as he picked up a container of gasoline and poured it directly into the pit.

Then he grinned triumphantly.

"Time to die and come back with a brand-new identity!"

The Joker narrowed his eyes.

"Hahaha! I knew this would be enough to draw you out!"

At that moment, Karl was sitting comfortably in one of the studio seats.

No one knew exactly when he had appeared, but the expression on his face was remarkably cheerful.

"Hey, I don't particularly care if he stays down there."

Karl sighed in relief.

"But if you actually burn him alive, our next program might get flooded with complaints from parent groups saying we went way too far!"

"A program?"

The Joker's expression turned cold.

"What are you talking about?"

"Actually…"

Karl smiled.

"Everything that's happened since the moment you walked into this building has been recorded by our cameras."

"We're going to edit all of it into a video and let the people of Gotham City enjoy the show."

"Thanks for giving my new television program such valuable material!"

Karl spread his hands.

"After all, this is the real Joker."

"That's the kind of footage money simply can't buy!"

A trace of alarm flashed through the Joker's eyes.

He asked in a strange voice,

"Huh?"

"Wait…"

"You recorded everything we just did?"

"Of course!"

Karl shrugged indifferently.

Then, apparently deciding that the Joker still wasn't irritated enough, he continued,

"Oh, and the wonderful fight between the two of you will eventually be broadcast and circulated across all of Gotham City's major media platforms."

"I'm sure the audience will love it!"

As he listened, the Joker's grin grew wider and increasingly vicious.

He slowly hid both hands behind his back while calmly sliding several metal playing cards from his sleeves.

They might have looked like ordinary cards, but their edges were frighteningly sharp—more than enough to slice through metal.

"Oh?"

"You really want to put us on television?"

The Joker smiled without moving from where he stood.

"How thoughtful of you."

"If I'd known, I would've put on some makeup first!"

Behind his back, another weapon was already waiting in his hand.

He was ready to strike at any moment.

(End of Chapter)

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