Welding Dog Knight

Gotham.

Dizzy Earl, dressed in a British-style trench coat, impeccably attired, and holding a walking stick, walked the streets of the Little Saint Pliss District.

Although this wasn't Gotham's worst or poorest neighborhood, it was far from developed or orderly. Normally, Dizzy Earl would never come to such a slum filled with rudeness and vulgarity, but the client for this mission had requested...

Beep—Beep beep—

Dizzy Earl paused, looking at the driver next to him who was yelling curses.

"Fuck you! Are you deaf?"

The agitated driver honked again, an ear-splitting sound. Seeing that Dizzy Earl didn't react at all, he actually pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at him.

"Hurry up and move, do you want dozens of transparent holes in your body?"

This was a typical case of road rage. Dizzy Earl frowned. He hadn't expected that even people with road rage could openly drive on the streets in this city, and even get a driver's license.

"Damn it, if you don't move now, I'll—"

Woooooom—

In an instant, an intangible, formless wave swept through the driver's mind. The driver's head dropped, and with a plop, an eyeball jumped out of its socket and fell to the ground.

Amidst the shrill screams and the long blare of the horn as his head hit it, Dizzy Earl bowed slightly, performing a standard English courtesy, then turned gracefully and walked towards a dilapidated apartment by the roadside.

"Let me check the address... Number 52. It's correct."

He turned past the exposed concrete steps and the peeling red handrail, arriving at the door of room 401, and then reached out his hand.

Knock knock knock—

"Come in."

"Hoo!"

Dizzy Earl exclaimed in surprise as soon as he entered the room.

From the outside, it looked no different from any ordinary apartment near the slums, even the door looked like it was made of wood. But as soon as he stepped inside, it was a completely different world.

Behind the disguised wooden door was a completely airtight metal alloy door, the kind that effectively controls air pressure.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of metal plates, coated with explosion-proof paint on the outside and anti-corrosion paint on the inside.

This was a completely professional-grade blast-proof room. Even if the entire building collapsed, this room would remain intact.

Various weapons were piled in the corners of the room: grenades, rocket launchers, even multiple sticks of dynamite.

On the other side of the room was a table, with four people sitting around it.

Dizzy Earl recognized two of them: the infamous Deathshot, whose marksmanship was as renowned as his foul temper; and Ms. Vick, a British mercenary, who possessed deadly killing skills matching her alluring appearance.

The remaining two were unfamiliar, both wearing masks: the younger woman seemed relatively normal, wearing a smiling cat mask and carrying a long sword at her waist. Dizzy Earl guessed she was another assassin-type mercenary. The other one was a bit peculiar.

He was sitting in a corner, wearing a welding mask, the kind with a transparent, anti-glare visor used by welders.

He had a pair of gas cylinders strapped to his back, a welding torch in his hand, and wore a light gray tight-fitting suit with suspenders, and a pair of long rubber boots.

Judging by this alone, he looked like an ordinary welding worker.

But what drew attention was that he was tightly gripping the corpse of a dog in his left hand.

It was just a normal dog, looked like a Golden Retriever, but only the upper half. Someone had cut the dog in half with something, and taken the top half.

The dog seemed to have died not long ago, still quite fresh. Half of its internal organs were dangling out. Dizzy Earl felt his stomach churn just by looking at it.

And the man's left hand was plunged directly into the dog's hindquarters, not caring about the blood dripping down his arm.

"You..."

"Hello, my name is Welding Dog, it's a pleasure to meet you, new friend! I just arrived too."

Welding Dog spoke... wait, it wasn't the person speaking, it was the dog.

???

It was truly the dog speaking. The dead dog in Welding Dog's left hand suddenly lifted its head, and its lifeless dog face actually wore a slightly cheerful smile.

"Are you also hired for the mission?"

This bizarre and terrifying scene truly stunned Dizzy Earl, but he wasn't exactly a normal human, so he quickly regained his noble composure.

"Indeed, sir, it's an honor to be working with you."

He forced himself not to stare at the dead dog in the other man's hand and walked over to Ms. Vick, performing a hand kiss: "Beautiful lady, your beauty shines as brightly as the stars in the heavens."

"Count Dizzy, old friend." Ms. Vick was a slender woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore an eyepatch and a red and gold tight-fitting suit, but her shoulders and half of her ** were exposed.

"You..."

"Enough, can't your elegant noble games stop for a moment?"

Deathshot, who had been treated as air the entire time, tapped the table impatiently: "Since everyone is here, let's hear what bizarre mission our benefactor wants to assign us."

He gestured to Cheshire Cat, and the taciturn masked cat took a tape recorder from a pile of grenades nearby.

"Ha, darling, am I seeing things, a tape recorder?" Ms. Vick said.

Deathshot ignored her. He pressed a button on the tape recorder, raised the antenna, and fiddled with it for a while. Then he said, "The client requested that we turn on the radio after everyone arrived. Be quiet, just wait. I assume you're all here for the money, and so am I."

And so, the four waited in silence. Soon, amidst a rustling sound, a voice finally came through:

"Zzzzt... can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, employer," Deathshot replied. "What do you need us to do this time? Are we apprehending the arsonist Firefly, or some other criminal popping out of a dark corner, our righteous employer?"

"Neither."

Deathshot heard the employer's voice become somewhat hoarse due to the radio interference. He had already checked; this recorder was essentially a giant walkie-talkie. Did this mean the employer was nearby?

"I've assigned you a leader. You must obey his commands completely. Especially you, Dizzy Earl."

Dizzy Earl was somewhat dismissive.

Although he knew he wasn't the only one on this mission, he had never considered cooperating well with others.

He was a lone wolf, a solitary wolf. The only reason he was completing the same mission as others this time was for the money. Did they expect him to take orders from someone else?

Who did this leader think he was, Batman?