Chapter 377 - 377: A Special Way to Get Fired Up

Karl seemed to know exactly what the Joker was planning.

He picked up the remote control in his hand and lightly pressed a button.

Click.

Every light in the hall instantly went out.

Pitch-black darkness swallowed the entire room, immediately ruining the Joker's chance to attack.

"Don't worry. What I want is that completely raw, unscripted effect!"

Karl's voice echoed from every corner of the auditorium.

"Only something like this can give the audience a genuine sense of reality! You can't get that from some movie following a tired old script!"

His voice seemed to constantly shift positions, making it impossible for the Joker to pinpoint where Karl was and find an opportunity to attack.

In truth, Karl's entire argument was based on the found-footage formula—a deliberately deceptive filming technique designed to make fictional events feel real.

One of the most famous examples was an old horror film called The Blair Witch Project.

The movie was shot with handheld cameras in only eight days and cost roughly sixty thousand dollars to make, yet it ultimately became one of the defining examples of the found-footage genre, grossing nearly two hundred and fifty million dollars worldwide thanks to its extraordinary sense of realism.

Now Karl intended to follow the same principle with Batman and the Joker.

He had created an entire setup inside the television station, using cameras positioned everywhere to capture the fight between the two men.

That would give the footage the kind of authenticity normally possible only with a documentary.

There was only one problem.

Unlike a normal production, Karl had absolutely no intention of paying either of them for their image rights or their performances.

The Joker's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness.

Unfortunately for him, Karl attacked at that exact moment.

An elbow came out of the darkness, followed by a palm strike directly across his face and a powerful shove.

The Joker was sent stumbling several feet backward before slamming into the wall.

"Damn it!"

The Joker roared as he tried to get back up.

"Can't you show a little courtesy to a man wearing glasses?!"

But then strange sounds came from behind him.

Whirrr!

Several ropes suddenly shot out and twisted around his body.

In an instant, the Joker was tightly bound in place.

"Hm?"

The Joker looked mildly surprised.

"What's this supposed to be?"

"Some kind of circus trick?"

Karl said nothing.

He simply removed the gloves from his hands and tossed them aside.

The Joker was notoriously treacherous.

There was no telling whether he had smeared some kind of toxin across his face, so Karl had worn the gloves as a precaution before hitting him.

"Everyone has their little secrets, Jack."

Karl spoke almost kindly.

"You're still the same old guy who can't handle unexpected situations."

With that, Karl ignored the Joker, who was standing miserably bound in the corner, and turned toward the trap where Batman had fallen earlier.

With no one interfering anymore, Batman had managed to compensate for the lack of a propulsion system.

Using the mechanical arms of his armor, he was slowly dragging himself up from the pit step by step.

The whole process looked remarkably pathetic.

"Need some help?"

Karl asked with a strange smile.

He reached down toward Batman, who was still struggling along the edge of the pit, and even waved his hand directly in front of him.

Batman gave Karl an icy stare.

Then, without warning, he launched himself over the edge and threw a vicious punch straight at Karl's face.

Karl had obviously expected it.

He casually jumped backward and avoided the blow.

"Hey, hey, hey! Do you really have to be that violent?"

Karl grinned shamelessly.

"If it weren't for me, you'd already have been burned into charcoal down there!"

"This is how you treat the man who saved your life?"

"If you ever end up with a son who isn't really your son someday, you'd better watch that attitude!"

After climbing completely out of the pit, Batman stared furiously at Karl through clenched teeth.

"Why do you think I came all the way here to beat you up?!"

"Don't tell me you really don't know!"

Even someone as shameless as Karl felt slightly awkward after hearing that.

After all, nobody enjoyed discovering that someone else intended to turn Batman into a running joke.

And Karl's shamelessness had already reached a ridiculous level.

After publicly talking about using real people as material for his television projects without their permission, it was hardly surprising that the people involved might feel physically ill just listening to him.

"My name is not a prop for you to make money with."

Batman slowly walked toward Karl.

Anger burned in his eyes.

He looked genuinely furious.

The bound Joker immediately joined in.

"Exactly!"

"Look around Gotham! Nobody can possibly portray my sense of humor!"

The Joker grinned.

"How are you supposed to make a Batman television series without the Joker?"

"Come on, Bat!"

"Everyone's rooting for you!"

"Beat this bastard!"

Karl ignored him and carefully examined Batman's armor.

The more he looked, the more he realized that it didn't resemble any of the major suits he knew.

It didn't possess anything close to the overwhelming power of the Hellbat Armor.

It lacked the specialized capabilities of the Justice Buster.

It didn't have the versatility of the Insider Suit, either.

And judging from its power system and overall architecture, it carried traces of the heavy armored suit from The Dark Knight Returns—but the performance gap between the two was enormous.

Simply put, Bruce was wearing an extremely primitive experimental suit.

Both its power output and combat performance were terrible.

After thinking for a moment, Karl formed a plan.

He remained standing exactly where he was, seemingly waiting for Batman's incoming fist.

At the same time, however, he secretly activated his Psychic Power.

The silent force effortlessly slipped through the gaps in Batman's armor and reached the internal control systems.

Then—

Crackle!

The psychic force erupted.

In an instant, Corrosion spread through the suit's already unstable components.

Batman swung his fist, intending to teach Karl a lesson.

But just as he was getting into position—

Crack! Pop! Bzzzt!

A series of electrical noises suddenly erupted from his armor.

Immediately afterward, thick black smoke began pouring out.

Batman froze in place.

"What?!"

"The systems failed?"

Batman was shocked.

Lucius had specifically warned him that this experimental armor still had serious problems.

It hadn't even passed its safety tests.

Could the violent impact from his earlier fall have damaged something?

Seeing Batman's attack come to an abrupt halt, Karl certainly wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

He suddenly rushed forward.

Bang!

His fist slammed directly into Batman's chin.

At the same time, Karl cursed at him.

"What happened?"

"Why did you stop fighting?"

Karl's expression became sly and cold.

"Did you think you could do whatever you wanted just because you crawled inside a giant metal can?"

"You really thought hiding inside that tin shell would keep you safe?"

"You thought that way, Bane wouldn't be able to break your spine again?"

Those words immediately struck a nerve.

Bane's crushing attack had shattered Bruce's lumbar spine.

It had been the greatest defeat Batman had suffered since beginning his career.

And now Karl had deliberately dragged that old wound back into the open.

Batman had absolutely no reason not to be furious.

(End of Chapter)

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