Chapter 2017: Knight's Horror Night (I)

The dark corridor was like a big mouth that was ready to eat people, and the darkness spread to an endless abyss.

With a click, the light in the room came on.

The edge of the light was extremely sharp, as if it had forcibly removed a piece of the dense darkness, but as the door slowly closed, the heavy shadow swallowed the light again with an unstoppable gesture.

A hand covered with black gauntlets loosened the door handle, and the dark figure once again propped his hands on the sink. When he opened his eyes, he saw in the mirror not the serious self, but a madman with green hair, pale face, and a big grin.

"Do you think this is an illusion caused by the fear gas? Batman, don't be so naive, you know that this has nothing to do with that idiot, I have never died."

And Batman just listened to him quietly.

The Joker in the mirror tapped the glass with his fingers, as if he really existed and could break through the barrier of the mirror and return to the real world at any time.

"I will always exist in your heart. You, me, or anyone else in Arkham Asylum are powerless to change this. Accept the reality, Batman."

The faucet was turned on. Batman took off his mask and leaned over to wash his face with cold water.

When he raised his hand, he felt a faint pain in his right arm. He turned his head and saw a cut on his right forearm in the hazy vision with water splashes. The wound was abnormally black. He knew it was the result of the infection of fear gas and blood.

"Scarecrow..."

The low voice echoed in the small space. When Batman looked at the mirror again, except for his slightly tired face, everything that had just appeared seemed like an illusion.

Dongdongdong.

The sound of the door being knocked was like a sudden heartbeat. Batman turned his head suddenly to look. The injured arm felt a faint pain due to the tight muscles.

"Are you okay, Batman?"

The voice was a little strange, at least not the childish voices he had often heard, with a hint of unfathomable rationality, but often naive and unexpected.

"It's me, Peter Parker. I saw the Batmobile parked outside the door, so I came to ask if you're okay."

"I'm fine."

The answer was not unexpected at all.

But the conversation ended unexpectedly, at least it was beyond Batman's expectations. The person outside the door left without even asking any more questions.

Batman, standing inside the door, took a deep breath, his eyes fell, and swept through the dark door crack. He didn't see another shadow there, so he knew that Peter had really left.

He came at an inopportune time. Batman thought that the situation had become worse. The Joker was not dead at all, and he had been trying to interfere with his brain in some way. The fear gas spread by the Scarecrow further created chaos in Gotham City. He was running out of time.

Batman finished his rest time and walked out. When he opened the door of the laboratory, he paused because his eyes were not used to the sudden light.

In the blur, he saw a figure standing in front of the laboratory table, busy, and he knew that there would be no one else here except Peter.

But Batman didn't care. He took out his communication equipment, answered a call and said, "Prophet, repeat the current situation in the city to me again. I need to know the extent of the chaos."

"It has deteriorated more than two hours ago when Scarecrow broadcast. Now the police are tracking a suspicious military vehicle. It passed through Chinatown in an abnormal posture and the police lost its trace."

"Gordon and I are fully deploying police officers, but we are always short of manpower. Batman, you responded to the lighting of the bat light later than expected. Are you in trouble?"

In addition to being intellectual, the female voice on the other side also has an unusual sense of power. This firm emotion can comfort anyone, even Batman.

Batman's thoughts, which had been slightly confused by the Joker in the mirror, returned to their normal state. He said to the communicator, "I'm fine, Barbara. The last group of criminals I dealt with were also affected by the fear gas. They caused a little injury to my arm, but it's not a problem. I'm just dealing with it."

"He's not dealing with it." A strange male voice sounded in Barbara's ears, causing Barbara, who was sitting in the dim police station office, to frown slightly.

"Is there anyone else next to you? Batman."

"Yes, I'm Peter Parker, Batman's new assistant. I've just been here for a short time, but I don't think we have time to greet each other. Please give me five minutes. I need to deal with Batman's wounds. You can take this opportunity to tell us what's happening in the city now."

Peter spoke very quickly, and neither Batman nor the prophet Barbara had a chance to interrupt. Barbara calmed down a little and thought that this was a good decision, because if she told Batman what to do now, Batman would definitely not spend time treating his wounds, but would go straight to his destination.

No one wanted Batman to do this, because everyone knew that this was destined to be a busy night, and the originally insignificant injury would worsen due to repeated neglect.

Peter snatched the communicator directly from Batman's hand. Batman tried to pinch the lower part of the communicator, but failed. Peter's hand strength was greater than he thought.

But Batman didn't insist anymore. Peter walked to the experimental table with the communicator, threw the small machine aside, and tapped the test tube in his hand with his finger.

"You didn't lie to me. The city you live in is much worse than New York. I saw the water quality test report you put in the drawer. With all due respect, humans here can still walk on two legs. "It's such a rare gesture." "It's not that rare either." Batman's unique cold humor.

"Okay, this lady who is called a prophet, I won't say anything anymore. Please tell me what's going on here."

"You sound much more mature than your voice, Mr. Parker, please allow me to call you this. No matter which city you come from, coming here is not a good choice."

"As you can see, another disaster has occurred, and it's probably bigger than what you're used to seeing in the newspapers."

Barbara's voice had a faint electric sound, but it was still very smooth and calm. When it echoed in the slightly empty laboratory, it had an inexplicable divinity.

"Gotham Police Chief James Gordon personally attended the Joker's cremation ceremony. The super criminal leader who made the city terrified was still burned to ashes, but everything is far from over."

"Two hours ago, Scarecrow, who is also a super criminal, detonated the fear gas he lurked in the city and hacked into Gotham's public media to announce that the city would usher in his horrific revenge."

"The people are in panic, the police are at a loss, we have almost no clues, no one knows what we will experience this night, but there is no doubt that we need Batman."

"Very well, please continue, ma'am, I'm listening."

Peter broke off the iodophor cotton swab, sandwiched it between the two fingers of his right hand, then pressed the button of the shadowless flashlight with his other hand, illuminating Batman's wound, and carefully but quickly cleaned the edges of the wound.

"You can call me codename Prophet. This is more important than you think, because the super criminals in Arkham Asylum will monitor our communications at any time."

"About an hour ago, the vehicles transporting Gotham citizens left Gotham City, but I think you should understand that most of the citizens of this megacity cannot be evacuated, and those who left are mostly tourists and wealthy people."

"Half an hour ago, I observed through the Sky Eye system that a suspicious military vehicle disappeared after driving out of Chinatown. Its trajectory showed that it was unusual, but the Sky Eye system could not give me any more information."

"Now I need someone to investigate where the vehicle appeared and figure out why it appeared there and where it has gone now. I have uploaded the coordinates of the last location where the vehicle appeared to the Batcomputer. Please go back quickly. Attention Safety."

"The Prophet will be offline for the next twenty minutes, Batman. I know it's going to be a long night, but please hang in there as long as possible. Goodbye."

There was no more sound from the communicator, and Peter had already finished treating the small wound. Batman didn't feel any pain throughout the process.

When he put the armband back on, he glanced at Peter, but Peter went to pack the medical equipment, so he tied the armband tightly again and said, "I will track the suspicious vehicle next."

Before Batman could say the next sentence, Peter turned around and said, "Give me two minutes. I have three points to say. It won't delay the progress of your mission."

Batman paused slightly, but nodded.

"First of all, I just took a sample of the special substance on your wound. I need to stay here for sample analysis, but there are not enough samples now. If you can get more samples in the next operation, I am sure to crack this A mysterious substance called fear gas."

As soon as Batman opened his mouth, Peter interrupted him and said, "I know it sounds incredible, but I have experience with this, and you can't find anyone else who can do this job."

Batman didn't speak, and Peter continued: "Second, I need your permission to use the Batcomputer, but I don't have time to explain to you the detailed reasons now. You just need to answer yes or no."

Batman paused again, then nodded slowly, and then added: "I will give you basic permissions and permission to use the Sky Eye, but you'd better not disturb the prophet, she has more important things to do."

And Peter went on to say: "Finally, I hope you can keep the military vehicle intact as much as possible. Whether you leave it where it is or tow it back, I need that vehicle."

Batman frowned and looked at Peter. In the past, people who were looked at by him would take the initiative to explain the reason, but Peter took a deep breath, looked at Batman with a focused look and said, "I'm sorry. But I really don’t have time to explain.”

"Please believe me, I am more nervous than you are right now. I hope that what I have seen and learned can come in handy at this time. It must come in handy."

But what Batman saw in Peter's eyes against the light was not the sincerity in his tone, but an extremely terrifying storm.

When Peter looked away from Batman's leaving back, his attention returned to the spider-sense alarm that thundered in his ears.

At this time, an unexpected voice sounded in Peter's ears.

"Peter, are you okay? I'm Dr. Schiller. I'm watching you in the fighting world and testing our new spectator mode. How do you feel?"

Schiller's voice was almost drowned in the storm in Peter's mind.

Peter raised his head slightly and sighed softly, feeling the surging heat flow in his body from the overclocked Spider-Sense.

That made his vision covered with a layer of blood, as if his brain flew out of his body and his soul was hanging above his head, and everything became clearer and clearer.

"I feel good, doctor."