American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

Batman has met his match.

The entire dark world of Gotham was shaken by this news. No one likes a meddling vigilante; the dark world doesn't, and neither does the official one.

But no one knows much about Batman. They have no way to find the righteous knight hidden in the darkness and eliminate him.

His strength is powerful enough, his equipment sophisticated enough. Since his appearance in Gotham, the underworld has had to pray before acting, praying they wouldn't be unlucky enough to encounter that black shadow running amok in the night.

There isn't a single gang member who hasn't tasted Batman's iron fist, from the gang bosses to the lowest thugs; Batman treats everyone equally.

And in terms of his style, Batman generally likes to take out the leaders.

Many bosses, after resisting in vain, have been dumped by Batman at the police station door.

In fact, those bosses don't care if they go to jail or not. They have plenty of money and connections. Even if they do go in, they can easily get acquitted and even bite Batman in return.

But this humiliating act of being tied up and dumped at the police station door easily leads to their social death in the underworld.

The only comforting thing is that Batman has helpfully subjected many underworld bosses to this kind of social death.

When it's not just you being humiliated, the so-called social death naturally diminishes. At the same time, they have united in a common hatred against Batman. As long as you hit Batman, we may not be friends, but I will definitely offer you some help.

But some bosses have already been in and out of jail twice, and Batman is still active, still a sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's head.

The dark world and some people in high places hate Batman to death, but they still can't do anything about him.

Just when most gangs had to accept Batman's existence and resign themselves to bad luck when they encountered him, news suddenly came that Batman had failed and been injured. This was beyond their imagination.

Many bosses immediately suspected the truth of the news. But after a video lasting an hour and a half circulated on a large scale, the entire dark world was stirred up.

The Scarecrow and his team, who orchestrated Batman's failure, instantly became Gotham's red-hot stars.

Many people wanted to join the Scarecrow's banner, and many underworld bosses extended offers of cooperation and recruitment.

In short, the Scarecrow's fame and status rose at an incredible speed, relying on stepping on Batman.

And after a period of time when Batman was completely silent, and no more unlucky people were dumped at the police station door, the people of the dark world began to celebrate like prisoners released from confinement.

Gotham returned to the liveliness and chaos it had before Batman appeared. Even as if to vent, this liveliness and chaos were even more intensified than before.

Gunfire, flames, chaos, fear.

Reappeared openly in this city. This unexpected scene made the Scarecrow almost cheer. His power became stronger and stronger as he absorbed more energy from the fear generated by this chaos.

Even more gratifying was that he easily gathered the materials he needed with his suddenly increased status. He recruited some collaborators and began to implement his fear plan!

First, manufacture instruments to collect energy.

Then, use the upgraded and modified fear toxin to plunge the entire city into periodic fear. By then, he will completely become the king of darkness, the unique master of this city!

He spreads fear, harvests fear, and enjoys fear.

……

Wayne Manor.

A robust man rang the doorbell.

"You are?" Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, an elegant old man with white hair, was cautiously staring at the visitor. "I don't remember my master having a friend like you."

"I may not have met Mr. Bruce Wayne, but I have had friendly exchanges with Batman," the man said softly.

Alfred's expression remained unchanged. "Sir, I don't want to hear your nonsense. If you don't explain your purpose and prove your identity, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Batman is Mr. Wayne, isn't he? Don't be nervous, I have no malice, I'm here to help him," the man said gently.

"I don't know what you're talking about. This joke isn't funny at all. I think you must leave, sir," Alfred shook his head, making a gesture to send him away.

"Is that really okay? I know what he's going through right now, and what's happening to him is, in some ways, related to me. Please don't doubt me, I really am here to help. At least, let me meet Mr. Wayne, or rather, let him decide for himself, okay?" The man's tone was still firm.

Alfred's eyes flickered. He couldn't feel malice from the man opposite him. Instead, he could sense that the other party was very sincere and trustworthy. This feeling was strange, because although he wasn't as extreme as Bruce Wayne, he, like his master, was still stingy with his trust.

"May I ask your name?" Alfred asked.

"Steve Rogers. The one he's been watching for a long time," the man revealed a bright smile on his face and gave his name.

……

"His emotions have been a little off lately. He seems to have returned to some time in the past. Weak and helpless," Alfred turned back, a friendly smile on his face. As he led Rogers to see his master, he whispered about Bruce's current state.

Rogers, as a listener, didn't speak until he saw Bruce Wayne, then he seemed to confirm something and sighed.

"Can I talk to him alone? Don't worry, I can solve the problem he's having, but we need to have a good talk," Rogers looked at the old butler beside him and asked.

The old butler first glanced at his silent master, and after receiving the other party's eye signal, he took two steps back, retreated to the door, and replied with his hand on the doorknob, "Of course."

After speaking, he didn't forget to close the door as he exited the room.

"The energy of fear," Rogers sat down in the seat opposite Wayne. Wayne's condition looked bad at the moment, wearing pajamas, his face with a strong sense of fatigue, his spirit was listless and his face haggard, but the other party's eyes and expression were still calm and peaceful. It was like a turbulent sea deep below, while the surface always remained calm and waveless.

"You know?" Bruce's eyeballs moved, and his whole person gained a bit of life.

"Sorry, this should be the influence of my arrival," Rogers said apologetically. He raised his right hand, and a ring worn on his right index finger suddenly flashed a faint light, and then a golden energy, like the light spilling from a lamp, shone towards Bruce Wayne opposite him.

Wayne's expression first froze, and his body subconsciously wanted to dodge, but because of his physical fatigue and the abruptness of the light, he was directly enveloped in the light emanating from the ring.

An exhilarating energy suddenly poured into his body along with the light, comforting and relieving his long-tormented spirit and emotions.

"He was like you, with light spilling out, impossible to avoid. It stirs up the things you fear most in your heart and constantly magnifies them. Under that emotion called fear, I have no combat power at all. It turned me into a cowardly person. If I hadn't escaped, I might have knelt on the ground shivering," Wayne's voice was hoarse and dry, but his eyes were still bright, calmly looking at Rogers sitting across from him.

"Mind power, or emotional energy. It is an energy closely related to life, created by a friend in my universe. The more this energy accumulates, the more incredible power it has," Rogers knew very well what Wayne wanted to know, and he didn't intend to hide it: "At the same time, this power has a strong erosion and infectiousness for users and living beings. To master them, you must have an extremely powerful and tenacious will, otherwise you will be affected and assimilated by it, and become a slave to the emotions it belongs to."

"How can it be destroyed?" Wayne asked coldly.

"It can't be destroyed," Rogers said helplessly. "To explain it in the words of its creator, it cannot be destroyed after it is born. Even if you destroy all living beings, it will only temporarily limit its growth. But it will eventually be revived with the cycle of life and the universe. The one in this world is certainly not yet grown to that level, but it has already regarded your world, the lives on this planet, as a breeding ground for nutrients. Can you destroy all life on this planet? Can you destroy this planet?"

"Did you release it?"

"I didn't want to release it. But obviously, it has its own logic of operation. I am only a user of a part of it, not a creator who sets rules for it. I have no idea that it has such changes in another universe. Like other lives, in a strange place, it wants to save itself and reproduce. I'm sorry that I became the initial seed," Rogers said with an apologetic look.

"In your world, is there no way to restrain it?" Wayne frowned. He was not willing to easily trust a person, but there was always a power in the other person that made him believe. He believed that this was also a kind of emotional energy's use and influence. Even if he had strong doubts, he still couldn't resist this subtle infection. He could only maintain his calmness, not let it infect and worsen, and give Rogers the same trust as his old butler Alfred in a short period of time.

"There is a way to filter and use it. Its creator will make some filtering devices to remove the emotional toxins inside this energy, making it pure. The purified energy is only a kind of universal energy, which does not have a high degree of erosion on people's spirit and consciousness. Of course, relatively speaking, its quality will also be greatly weakened after purification," Rogers explained.

"Then this filtering device..." Wayne said, and then he saw the embarrassed smile on Rogers' face, and he immediately realized something and closed his mouth.

Rogers rubbed his hands embarrassedly: "This is a technology only mastered by its creator. He has only authorized a group of mages to share this technology. I am not a researcher, and I never thought that one day I would face this situation."

"I understand," Wayne nodded in understanding. "What about the Scarecrow? Why can he use this power? Didn't its creator put a lock on it or something, allowing anyone to use it?"

"This, as far as I know, there is a lock. In our place, you must obtain authorization, that is, a person bound with this ring, to use this energy," Rogers raised his right hand with the ring, thought for a moment, and guessed: "But this may be another world. After losing the control of the data dimension, its rule priority has changed.

As for the Scarecrow who can use the power of fear, he should have been regarded as a symbiotic carrier by the power of fear. According to its creator, energy will automatically track down the nearest life whose mental fluctuations are most compatible with it, just like a child will look for his favorite toy."

"In other words, there will be a second, third, or even more Scarecrows appearing, right?" Wayne's tone became low.

"I don't want to hit you or deceive you, and I can't do that. If nothing unexpected happens, things may be worse than you think. The atmosphere in this city is too suitable for the birth of some negative emotions, and these negative emotions have a strong infectiousness. They will cross-infect and combine together, eventually forming a huge energy source that gathers all negative emotions.

They will favor people who fit their frequency fluctuations, and these people, if nothing unexpected happens, will be villains and criminals. Under the infection and erosion of negative emotions, they will often become worse and more stubborn and difficult to reverse. Can you imagine how bad that situation is?"

"You have really brought a huge trouble to this world." Even with Wayne's mental toughness, he couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth when he thought of that terrible scene.

"Is there no solution?" Wayne asked.

"That may require its creator to completely solve it. If you ask me, my suggestion is to try your best to reverse the atmosphere of this city before it spreads and becomes a complete body. Transforming it into a city with more positive emotions is much less difficult than eliminating this energy. You'd better make a plan, be aggressive, it's okay. I don't know how much time is left for you.

Finally, there is one more bad news I must tell you," Rogers hesitated a little.

"What could be worse than the news you said?" Wayne raised his eyebrows.

"I think there is still something for you personally," Rogers shrugged: "Aren't you curious how I know your identity? That's right, just like you thought, the ring led me to you. It remembered your emotional frequency. Similarly, if I can do this, I can't guarantee that others can't do this. As long as the other party studies it a little more, this skill is not difficult to develop. You know who I'm talking about."

PS: Thanks to the reward from classmate Jingde Feng.