The Phantom of the Opera (Part Two)

"Although the process was complicated, it can be summarized as the Court of Owls doing nothing right."

"They fabricated this persona of yours, but didn't tell you the Truth, making you believe that you really are Falcone's son."

"But Falcone felt that his son had been replaced, and that you were a monster they had given him, so he hated you."

"Falcone has lost his son, and you have lost your father. It is indeed a tragedy."

"But there is the One innocent person in this story..."

Alberto lowered his eyes and said with a self-deprecating tone, "When Evans is lucid, I can see everything he sees and have his memories, but he can't see me, so he doesn't know anything. He still thinks he really has a brother and even misses him."

"If you really want to take revenge on Falcone, Evans will lose both his brother and his father. Although Falcone didn't treat you like a son, Evans truly treated you like brother."

Alberto remained silent.

He was a personality created out of thin air, a rootless drifter. Falcone felt he had usurped the throne, and the Court of Owls only used him as a tool to achieve its plans.

At his funeral, no one mourned his death. If this floating plant had only one root, only one person truly missed him after his death and created evidence that he had ever existed: his brother Evans.

Seeing that he was silent, Schiller turned his attention to Batman and said, "Even though your alliance is split in two, it doesn't matter. We can talk about something more cheerful. Guess how badly the Court of Owls is going to be in trouble?"

"That madman is planning to take on the court. What reason does he have to do so? And what ability does he have to do it?"

"Don't you understand yet? He's not like those crazy people you see on the street who go insane because of the rain; he's completely different."

"I don't think he can take on the Court of Owls alone."

"How about we make a bet? I bet the Court of Owls will be in big trouble."

With that, Schiller picked up the remote, turned the TV back on, played a boring TV series for a while, and then started the news report.

However, before the news anchor could even finish broadcasting a few news items, he suddenly showed a look of fear, and then with a "bang," a hole was punched in his head.

A burst of laughter followed, and the familiar figure reappeared on camera. His first words were. "Oh! I'm a criminal! I killed someone! What do I do now?"

"Batman! Arrest me! I know you're watching from somewhere. Come and capture this murderer..."

Batman, lying in his hospital bed, clenched his fists. He immediately tried to stand up, but then the Joker leaned close to the camera and said, "Are you clenching your fists? Are you trying to get up in a hurry to come and beat me up?"

"But you can't do that..." He limped back a few steps, then walked to the male host's body, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him in front of the camera.

"Look, this person is dead. He was shot by a pistol. I happen to have a pistol in my hand."

"But you can't arrest me, do you know why?"

"A bullet hit his head, and then I appeared in the shot, holding a pistol."

"But no one saw me fire the gun. I was just an innocent passerby who happened to be carrying a handgun with the right type of bullet and was passing by a body that had been killed by a handgun bullet."

"What are you going to do? Beat me up? Beat up an innocent passerby like me?"

"What?" The Joker turned his head and put his hand behind his ear as if listening.

"You're saying I just confessed to killing someone, that I just said I'm a criminal?"

"So what? I can still say I'm a frog, or a woman, or a stripper..."

The Joker twisted and turned in front of the camera, then blew a kiss to the screen.

"See? That's it. If you try to beat me up, I'll... sob..." The Joker started faking tears, pounding his chest and wailing. He said, "That way, the audience will see a pervert in a tight suit beating up a weak and pitiful passerby..."

"Oh, wait a minute." He suddenly paused, then scratched his head and said, "No, that's not what I came here for. Well, playing with bats is so much fun, I almost forgot about my business."

He then let out a series of Laughing Man, saying, "You know Gotham Grand Theater? You definitely do! I've prepared a huge, huge, huge surprise for you there!!!"

"Did you hear that? The Great Comedian Jack is now selling tickets! Tonight at midnight, $20 a ticket! And with your ticket stub you can get a bucket of brain popcorn!!"

As he spoke, he took a few steps back, tore a small piece of paper off the script on the host's table, and said, "Look, this is the ticket!"

Then, somewhat clumsily, he tore all the manuscripts apart, threw them into the air, and the scraps of paper fell like petals from a fairy's shower. He said, "Call here quickly to buy tickets! Now! If you're even a little late..."

A burst of laughter followed, and he said, "You're about to miss the greatest comedy performance in history!"

The screen went static again. Schiller, walked to the desk in the ward, and muttered to himself, "What's the TV station's phone number again?"

As he spoke, he flipped through his phone book, dialed, and after the call connected, he said, "Hello? Is this Jack, the comedic performance artist?... Oh, you're too modest. I think your performance just now truly deserves the title of 'artist'..."

"Yes, I'm here to buy tickets. Tonight at midnight, right? I need three tickets, uh... maybe four. I have a friend with a split personality, so he needs to buy two tickets. What? Buy three get one free? Because I'm the first one? That's great, Thank you."

"How do I collect the tickets? The TV station mailbox? Okay... I'll leave the money there..."

"I wish you a successful performance, Thank you, goodbye."

After he hung up the phone, he noticed that Batman and Alberto were both staring at him. Schiller shrugged and said, "Anyway, he's going to take on the Court of Owls. What reason do we have not to watch the show?"

"Besides, even though your Avengers have unfortunately split in two, shouldn't you at least have a farewell dinner?"

At 11 p. m., Schiller got out of his car at the theater entrance. Before he could even go inside, he spotted a familiar face. He walked up to him warmly, shook Gordon's hand, and said, "Detective Gordon, you're here too."

Gordon said irritably, "Even if Gotham is full of lunatics, this is just too crazy. Do you know how many 911 calls the Police Department has received in the last few hours?"

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"This lunatic made the people of Gotham call the police for help!" Gordon was so angry he laughed. He emphasized, "He fucking made these Gotham call the police for help!!!"

"That's a good thing, it means tonight will be the most normal night in Gotham."

"Normal?" Gordon paused, then heard Schiller say, "Detective, I know you don't approve of violence, but in Gotham the best way is to fight madness with madness."

As the two were talking, a limousine turned into the alley and stopped in front of the theater. The driver got out and opened the door, and Falcone stepped out. He saw Schiller and Gordon and walked towards them.

The Old Godfather adjusted his cufflinks and said in a casual tone, "Tickets are a bit hard to get, aren't they? When I called, he told me there were no tickets left. That's quite interesting."

"You haven't been rejected by anyone for many years, have you?"

"That's true, but he heard that I have some prestige in the gang and decided to give me some special treatment."

Then, Father Daniel got out of the car, made the sign of the cross, and said, "Thank you, Carmine, for bringing me my ticket. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to buy one."

Schiller said to the others, "You go in first, I have two friends waiting."

Except for Schiller, the others went inside first. After a while, the Batmobile slowly drove up. Batman got out of the car, and Evans followed behind him. Evans said happily, "Gotham hasn't had a show in a long time. Who's coming today? Do you have a program? Can I see it?"

"I bet he gave you a crash course on Europe theater history, modern opera history, and vocal techniques on the way," Schiller whispered to Batman as he walked over.

"Not only that, he even gave it a demonstration himself," Batman said with a stern face.

"How was your singing?"

"Alfred will like it."

"You mean he's too old-fashioned?"

Evans caught up just in time to hear Schiller's last words. "Hey! How can you say that? That's called following the classics. I've always thought those so-called new operas are blasphemous..."

The three of them walked into the theater together. Inside, they were greeted by a huge poster depicting a group of plucked owls hanging from a pot of boiling oil, with two hands below them holding a knife and a fork, seemingly preparing for a feast.

"Opera and painting?" Schiller murmured to himself, standing beneath the poster. "Is it the artistry hidden within one's personality? Or the yearning and fantasy of the lower classes for art?"

Schiller shook his head. He finally understood why Harley Quinn went mad in the original story. The Joker's insane personality is the best research material for any psychologist. When you come into contact with him, it's hard not to analyze and explore.

Schiller, holding a map of the theater, said, "My estate isn't far from here. My neighbor gave me a map earlier, so I looked at it... the ticket window... oh, this way, turn left."

Turning left along the poster, he found a ticket window on his right. There were indeed some popcorn buckets there, but they were clearly not from this old theater, since no one eats popcorn while watching an opera.

Was this confusion due to a lack of understanding of art within his own personality, or to the chaotic thinking brought about by that madness? Schiller couldn't help but start guessing the reason again.

He leaned forward and looked into the ticket booth. Suddenly, a mannequin sprang up from the floor and pounced straight in front of Schiller. Schiller looked the mannequin up and down and realized that it was an old doll left in the opera house warehouse, something that used to be used as a backdrop in stage plays, except that it now had a smiley face painted on its head.

Schiller reached out, pulled the doll over, and examined it closely. A little disappointed, he said, "Where are the lines? Why isn't that classic line there?"

Just as he was examining the doll, Evans took two buckets of popcorn out of the ticket window. He glanced at them and exclaimed in surprise, "Why are there wads of paper in the popcorn buckets? Where's the popcorn?"

Batman stood behind them, feeling out of place.

Evans handed Batman a bucket of crumpled paper and said, "This won't do, even if it's not real popcorn."

"Didn't you say the new opera was a desecration of the classics? Are you really planning to go to the opera with a bucket of popcorn?" Schiller turned to ask him.

"I just like eating popcorn. I can never buy popcorn when I go to the movies. My dad won't let me because there might be bombs hidden in it."

Batman opened his mouth, wanting to remind Evans that the bucket he was holding had a much higher chance of containing a bomb than a regular movie theater.

Schiller seemed to understand what Batman was trying to say, and he said, "How come you still don't get it? He wouldn't do such a boring prank. If it's not exciting enough, then it's better not to do it at all."