[Zhongyingmei] The clown is actually me

"I have a tail behind me." Jason held Barbara in one hand, and switched on the communicator.

Jack heard the words and immediately retrieved the surveillance video.The person following Jason was very fast, and the camera only captured a vague shadow, but he quickly recognized him through the color matching: "Death knell. He is about 150 meters away from your eight o'clock direction,? Try to get rid of it he."

"Death knell worked for that Arkham knight? I don't know how much he charged for this order." Jason curled his lips,? He has always been very disdainful of this kind of mercenary who is paid enough to be a dog. .

No, the death knell of this world and the Arkham Knight are master-student relationships.

Jason used the rope hook gun to slide between the tall buildings,? He kept turning and accelerating, trying to throw off the death knell,? But he couldn't do it.After all, Deathstroke is the strongest mercenary in the DC world view. As long as the money is in place, the business ability is not enough. In addition, Gotham in this world has expanded. The biggest change is the city of Arkham in the center of Gotham. .Although Jason could still find his way under Jack's logistics command and Algernon's scouting, he had lost the advantage of being familiar with the terrain.To make matters worse,? He was still holding an adult in his hand, and couldn't shake off the tail for a while: "Jack, I can't run fast with Barbara,? Deathstroke will catch up with me sooner or later. I have to find a place Hide Barbara,? distract Deathstroke,? let Batman pick her up."

Jack immediately called up the nearby map: "There is a canning factory within 200 meters from the direction of four o'clock, where people can hide. Where is Barbara, why is there no movement?"

"Arkham Knight injected anesthesia gas into the inside of the bell tower first,? She passed out." Jason said, "No problem, I can contact Batman myself without Barbara,? No matter how bad it is, Nightwing and the others OK."

Jack nodded, suddenly a prompt box popped up on the screen, and the warning red light flickered.He slid the mouse, glanced at the string of characters, stopped smiling, and said solemnly: "Someone is trying to locate me."

"Is it located?" Jason's heart tightened.

"No. The other party's hacker level is very good. He only saw the anonymous signal I sent to the oracle. He tried his best to find the springboard of the Nordic server I used." Jack said: "But I have to transfer, Gotham City can still use the public ip now There are not many places, and it will be troublesome if the other party conducts a blanket search."

"Where do we meet?"

Jack pondered for a while: "As for the canning factory just mentioned, I've seen the map, there is a computer room there, and there are working generators. I will bypass Batman and the others."

"it is good."

Jack packed up the computer and sundries, and stuffed them into the aluminum alloy box prepared in advance.Immediately afterwards, he put on a black raincoat, pulled down the hood to cover his face, pushed open the door, and quickly walked through the fire exit without surveillance cameras. Then, relying on the map he saw on the computer, he bypassed the surveillance area and walked through After a few long streets, he came to the food processing factory he had agreed with Jason.In order to avoid being discovered, he climbed into the factory from the fence of the residential area, climbed directly to the sixth floor where the computer room was located, and then jumped into the corridor through the window.

"Jack, are you here?" Jason heard the movement, walked out of the information room, and made a quiet gesture to Jack: "Barbara hasn't woken up yet, I hid her in the nap room on the fourth floor, Batman should be on his way. Deathstroke is still out looking for me, I have to lure him away."

"It won't be a problem, will it?"

"Probably not, you can just hide on the sixth floor." Jason contacted Batman through the oracle's communicator, and told him clearly that Barbara was hidden on the fourth floor. Time and effort searched the entire factory.Jack just needs to keep a low profile.He opened the window, stepped on the gargoyle sculpture outside, paused for a moment, then turned to Jack and said, "Also, there seems to be instant porridge in the factory warehouse. You should at least eat something."

Jack nodded slowly.Jason seemed relieved, and slid down the gargoyle.

He took out the computer again and connected it to the network interface in the information room. At this moment, he suddenly heard some human voices from the wind, and footsteps echoed in the empty processing plant.Alarm bells were ringing in Jack's heart, and he knew someone was approaching.He quickly shut down the computer, put on his raincoat again, tore off the black gauze to cover his face, and moved silently to the factory corridor.

This factory has been in operation for more than 20 years. The equipment is old and has been rebuilt several times to become intricate.The vents are covered with spider webs, pipes of various thicknesses are like tangled blood vessels, and the iron surface is covered with brown-red rust.The center of the whole factory is a huge square shaft, from which one can directly see the skylight on the top floor.Because of the closure, all kinds of sounds will be amplified. Jack hides in the blind corner of his field of vision and peeks down, praying in his heart that it is just a group of thugs who came to search, but the sky fails, and a figure he least wants to see enters him eyelids.

The other party was wearing a black battle suit, with a fully enclosed mask, and the iconic blue indicator light on the goggles, which flickered on and off regularly with the rise and fall of breathing.It's not the same as Jason's battle suit. His battle armor gives off a slightly messy look, which makes Jack feel a little familiar.In the next moment, he understood that this sense of familiarity came from Batman, and the Arkham Knight's suit was almost the same as Batman's in terms of standard.

Arkham Knight!

But... without lighting, the military camouflage wide-leg pants and the blue paint on the chest are really a deadly color scheme...

Stop, now is not the time to dwell on this.Wearing a clown's skin, being discovered by the Arkham Knight is over!

All kinds of tortures flashed through Jack's mind, as he moved silently to the stairs, he thought about the current situation.He should not have been photographed by the surveillance camera. Even if the anonymous information sent to the oracle is exposed, it is impossible for Arkham Knight to know the existence of Jack, so it is unlikely that he came for him, but it is possible to meet here. It is no coincidence.Gotham is so big, and as soon as Barbara arrived on her front foot, he followed her on her back foot, so all possible answers are that Barbara has a small transmitter on her body.

Do not care.thought Jack.

Arkham Knight is not a crazy murderer, he will not hurt Barbara, at most he will kidnap her to embarrass Batman.Although Arkham Knight was created by the clown, what does the clown in this world have to do with him? Every time he cooperates with the Bat family, he has to do logistics, and it’s fine if he doesn’t get paid for his hard work. Now his life is in danger.Just let his father and son harm each other, and it's not his turn to worry about the Bat family's affairs.

The right way is to quickly carry the bucket and run.

He silently touched the elevator shaft, ready to climb to the top floor along the emergency stairs inside the elevator shaft, and then left quietly.He switched on the communicator while walking, ready to contact Jason and ask him to come to the top floor to meet him if he has the ability.

A burst of loud voices interrupted his thoughts, he hesitated for a while, and still lay down behind the railing and looked down.It was Batman—the Batman who seemed to have received Jason's message, crashing headlong into Arkham Knight's vision.Compared with the Batman he is familiar with, the Batman in this world seems to be stronger. His shoulders are wider, his muscles are thicker, and the color of his battle suit is closer to gray-black. There are knives all over his thighs, waist and arms. and the white marks left by the bullets.

Batman lay panting on the ground, suppressed by several exoskeleton-wearing militiamen, Arkham Knight pulled out a forearm-long thing shaped like an enlarged and weird bottle opener from behind, and slammed Pry at Batman's side.Jack swore he heard a crisp, snapping sound, but didn't know if it was the soft armor or the ribs.The half of Batman's face not covered by the mask showed a painful expression, and then he curled up, holding his ribs tightly.

"It's not over yet, and tonight I want you to pay for what you've done. Your arrogance and hypocrisy knocked me into the abyss, and you left me and those lunatics to rot, just because What I have done is not in line with your wishes." Arkham Knight said viciously, pulling out a sharp long knife from behind, "You will never be the vigilante that Gotham City needs, I can do better than you !"

Jack's heart tightened when he saw it. Could it be that Arkham Knight is really going to kill someone?

He should believe in Jason's feelings for Batman, and believe that Jason is reluctant to become an Arkham Knight.But after thinking about it, in the game, Jason killed Batman in all kinds of ways, and even drove an excavator to chase Batman. With a filial appearance, this confidence can't be lifted at all.

Like a reincarnation of fate, he once again stood in front of the window of the corridor, watching Batman carry Harley out at the end of the corridor.Only this time, he has split into two people.

Another Jack stood beside him again. He was wearing a white robe like a saint's son and a crown made of thorns on his head. The sharp thorns pierced deeply into the skin of his forehead, and bright red blood gushed out along dripping down cheeks and neck.Jack could feel the cold death in him, like a standing pale corpse wrapped in a shroud of cold mist.Amidst the sound of blood flowing, the flow of time seemed to slow down.

Jack didn't look at him, but said, "Why do you appear instead of the clown? Is there a time when I can't see hallucinations?"

"I've always existed, you'll only hear my voice when the clown disappears. I'm your highly idealized self, your high moral sense stripped and isolated." The other Jack said softly.

"Sociopaths can also have a sense of morality, which sounds ridiculous."

"So I'm bleeding." The other Jack smiled pale, almost transparent.He pointed to his forehead, which was dripping with blood, gushing out and dripping down continuously.

Of course Jack understands the symbolism of this bloodshed. Unlike others, his moral sense is not derived from social norms and ethics, and he has never been spurred by guilt.All noble choices come only from self-injury, and maintaining moral appearance by making self-painful means is essentially a kind of self-mutilation, self-abuse and distorted narcissism.Just as good deeds bring satisfaction, hunger and pain intoxicated him, so it must have been the case when the Son was crucified.He doesn't care about the cross he bears, nor does he care about his own life or death.For death is not an end, an annihilation, but a silence, a emptiness of utter non-existence.

Today, he has no idea what he wants, whether he wants to go back to being an ordinary person and live a new life that is meaningless to society, or whether he wants to use death as a decisive way to break up with the clown.Or maybe neither.He lit a cigarette and looked straight ahead: "Take self-destruction as noble, and then enjoy yourself with some pain and loneliness. Only messiahs and psychopaths will do this kind of thing."

"But you want to do it. You would rather die in the ACE chemical plant and be soaked in the waste liquid pool forever."

Jack took a deep breath: "This messai has nothing to do with it, it's just...depression."