He's Back

Watching one of his men transform into a Deinonychus, even Ra's al Ghul was astonished. He could not help becoming interested in the Mutagen held by the Foot Clan.

Nor had the Deinonychus gone berserk and begun attacking at random. It seemed Ra's al Ghul had been right—his subordinates all possessed firm wills. They were the fanatical sort, making them perfectly suited for mutation.

Shredder studied the Deinonychus with great interest. "Looks like he got lucky and picked a rare one."

"To be honest, even I don't know which animal each vial corresponds to. It might be very powerful, or it might be weak. But no matter how weak it is, it will still surpass their original strength."

As Shredder spoke, the Deinonychus ran to one side and slashed at an iron barrel with its foreclaws, instantly cutting it into fragments. The sharpness of its claws was obvious.

Ra's al Ghul nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Inject more people. Use them to deal with the Bat Family, so they don't get in our way."

Shredder glanced at Stockman Fly, who immediately understood and led a group of men away. Before long, hundreds of mutated monsters would be rampaging across Gotham City.

"Now, tell me how you intend to destroy Gotham City."

This time, Shredder took out a glass cylinder as thick and long as an arm, filled with green liquid.

"As you can see, once this is loaded into the spray device, nothing will be able to stop it anymore, no matter who it is!"

Ra's al Ghul's voice was low, but he could not conceal his excitement. "Excellent. Then tonight will be the time to act!"

Unexpectedly, Shredder interrupted him.

"Tonight won't work. This spray device was newly developed, and it was damaged during the theft. Baxter needs a day to repair and study it, so the plan will begin tomorrow at dawn!"

Ra's al Ghul showed no displeasure. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back and looked toward the distant sky. "At dawn, the time of destruction. And after destruction, this city will welcome sunlight and rebirth. I like your plan. I will wait here quietly for its arrival."

On a suburban highway outside Gotham City, a convertible sports car sped along with two people inside. One had green hair, a purple suit, and bright red lips painted on his face.

The other was no less flamboyant, though her twin ponytails made her look rather cute.

"Mr. J, when are we getting married?"

The Joker smacked his forehead helplessly. "Oh, Harley, I've told you many times. Now isn't the time. We can get married after I defeat Batman."

Harley immediately pouted. "Then when will that be? That Bat always ruins our plans, and we always fail in the end."

"Hahaha, that's the fun of it, isn't it? If Batman were too weak, I wouldn't be interested in playing with him."

"But why don't we join forces with Two-Face, Riddler, and the others? That would make it much more likely for us to defeat Batman."

The Joker immediately shot her a glare. "Why would I team up with those idiot morons? Batman can only be defeated by me alone. No one else can join in!"

At that, Harley's pout deepened. "Not even me?"

Of course not. I left Gotham City these past few days partly because I didn't want to get involved in those idiots' mess, and partly because I wanted to ditch you.

Unfortunately, Harley Quinn was like a stubborn bandage. Once she stuck to him, there was no shaking her off, no matter what method the Joker tried.

He had abandoned her in the woods, pushed her into a pool, and even sold her off. Yet Harley always managed to find him again, clamoring about getting married. In the end, the Joker could only helplessly bring her back to Gotham. This woman still gave him the same headache as before.

Though he was annoyed inside, the Joker still comforted her on the surface. "Of course you can. You're Harley Quinn, my Harley. I'm willing to share this honor with you."

Harley was so delighted that both her ponytails perked up.

"Mr. J, you're so good to me! I love you to death!"

As she spoke, she threw her arms around the Joker. Caught off guard, he lost his grip on the steering wheel, and the car instantly crashed into a tree by the roadside. White smoke puffed from the hood.

"Hehe..."

Harley gave an embarrassed smile as the Joker stood there with his hands on his hips, glaring at her.

"Mr. J, where are we going next?"

"Back to Gotham. To my favorite place, where I was born—Ace Chemical Factory. I have a plan."

Harley immediately saluted. "Harley Quinn will always be by your side!"

Meanwhile, beneath Wayne Manor, in the Batcave.

Jude and Bruce first went to check on Damian. Bebop's sudden blow had knocked last night's dinner right out of the boy.

Fortunately, he had trained since childhood, and his physique far exceeded that of an ordinary person. He had managed to withstand it and suffered only minor injuries.

"Damian, do you need to rest?" Bruce asked.

Damian tilted his head up and retorted, "Do I look that weak to you? It's just a minor injury. I was careless, that's all. It won't happen again next time."

Once he was sure Damian was fine, Bruce said, "There's a mission I need you to carry out."

"What is it?"

"Go to the outskirts and bring Firefly and Poison Ivy here. Jude and I need to find the Foot Clan's location as soon as possible. They can only trust you."

"Alright. I'll go right away."

After Damian left, Bruce immediately contacted James Gordon and informed him of the seriousness of the situation.

Commissioner Gordon was also taken aback and said he would deploy the entire police force to search. At the same time, both sides began pulling up Gotham's surveillance footage. If the League of Assassins was involved in this conspiracy, a large number of people would certainly have entered Gotham, which could serve as a lead for the search.

In the Batcave, everyone except Jude gathered to analyze the situation, while Jude drank on the side and modified his equipment.

The Batcave's equipment might not compare to a full laboratory, but it was still extremely sophisticated. Since he had nothing better to do, he might as well make use of someone else's resources at hand.

"Mr. Herbert, do you have any suggestions?" Batgirl Stephanie asked.

"My suggestion is Ace Chemical Factory. Treat it as a key location to investigate."

"Ace Chemical Factory? But that place has been abandoned for a long time. The equipment there can't even be used anymore. Can you explain why?"

That's how it went in the original plot. What am I supposed to say?

But the current situation had already completely diverged from the plot. For instance, the Ninja Turtles had not come to help, and the Joker had yet to appear. Whether the enemy would still choose Ace Chemical Factory was impossible to say.

"No reason. It's my intuition. But let me remind you—among those who escaped from Arkham was the Joker, yet he still hasn't appeared. Don't you find that strange?"

"Mr. Herbert, we have considered the Joker as well. But we clearly can't spare the attention for him right now. Dealing with the Foot Clan is the priority."

"I've roughly marked all the places where they could be hiding, but there are too many. We don't have enough people."

"Do as you like. I've already given you my warning. If something goes wrong with the Joker, don't come looking to settle the score with me."

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