Getting Serious

Green.

Endless green.

Plant Master Jason Wood's eyes widened. He felt as though he had thrown himself onto a dew-covered meadow at dawn, with the fragrance of fresh grass singing beside his ears and beneath his nose.

Countless green patterns spread from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, intoxicating him until he nearly fainted, floating in bliss.

In a daze, he said, "Oh God... I never realized before."

Chen Tao's expression changed slightly.

Welding Dog charged forward. He was a taciturn hero whose method of punishing evil was welding dead dogs onto criminals' faces. But this time, he had encountered something far from ordinary.

Rumble!

As Welding Dog was blasted backward, a wooden dragon rose beneath Plant Master's feet alongside a massive plant crab, announcing to everyone that Plant Master had undergone a complete transformation in just three seconds.

Chen Tao frowned. Was he really going to have to step in?

"That thing you just ate... was it a yam?"

"A very special yam," Plant Master said.

He spread his hands. The wooden dragon beneath his feet flowed upward, raised its head, opened its jaws, and let out a silent roar at the crowd.

"They have certain special properties. I selected six tubers like these, peeled from Swamp Thing's corpse years ago—you know, you have to do it right after he dies."

Solemnly, he said, "I kept them all this time, waiting for a moment like this."

With a bang, Poison Ivy was struck by Harley and sent rolling down the small slope, landing right in front of their cabin. The worktable stood nearby, covered with finished ingredients.

"How did that line go again, Ivy? [I can do this all day.]"

Poison Ivy sighed.

"I don't have that much time."

She waved a hand, and in an instant, vines erupted from the ground and bound Harley's feet.

Poison Ivy turned around, picked up the bottles of ingredients from the table one by one, and placed them into her bag.

Behind her, Professor Goldbloom stood blankly in the background, his green eyes flickering.

"That's not fair!"

Harley Quinn said. She lay facedown on the ground, reaching both hands toward Poison Ivy and making muffled whining noises.

Poison Ivy ignored her.

"Are those the ingredients for the viruses, Ivy?"

"This is the antidote."

Poison Ivy answered, "It can save the world, no matter what."

"What does that mean? You haven't tested it, have you? And you don't plan to test it again."

Harley Quinn said, "Batman said that if you make even one mistake, you'll kill everyone on the whole planet, Pam. People, animals, plants—is that what you want?"

Poison Ivy fell silent for a moment.

"Even if I don't do this, Earth will be destroyed in some other way. We only need swamp water from Louisiana. Once we get it, we'll succeed."

She said, "I'm sorry, Harley. Sometimes, you have to go all in. Jason is right. The Green has no time left, and neither does The Red."

In the dark swamp, amid the shifting shadows of trees, the pale green-skinned woman said, "The forces of darkness are stirring, Harley. Swamp Thing is dead, and The Red has no agent capable of fully wielding its power. No one can stop them unless we try to..."

"So no matter what I do, you won't let this go, right?"

Harley Quinn sat half-upright on the ground, all traces of laughter gone from her face. "Fine. When this is all over, you just need to remember something."

"I gave you a chance."

"You're going to..."

Poison Ivy turned around. Before she could finish, she saw Harley Quinn remove her jester hat.

"No."

"That's right, darling." Harley Quinn slowly wiped away her exaggerated black smoky eye makeup.

"It's time to use my trump card."

"You promised me you would never—"

Harley Quinn wiped every last trace of makeup from her face.

Her eyes lowered, and she looked as mournful as a fawn that had lost its home. Then she opened those sea-blue eyes.

The world itself seemed to grow quiet, silent in the sorrow that followed Harley Quinn.

"Harley, I'm warning you—"

When the first tear gathered in those sea-blue eyes, it became the smallest lake in the world. Even a man forged from steel could not withstand such crying.

Harley Quinn bit her lower lip.

"I won't allow you to do this..."

Tears fell drop by drop.

"Ah, wuuuuuu..."

Poison Ivy threw away the virus ingredients in her hands.

She burst into tears and wrapped Harley Quinn in a hug. "Ah, wuuuuuu... I hate you so much. I really, really hate you."

Harley Quinn hugged her back and said through her tears, "Wuuu... This trick works every time."

She tried hard to force the tears back into her eyes, then blew at the hair hanging over her forehead.

"Shh!"

"The First Column has collapsed..."

"This monster isn't afraid of tanks at all!"

"Help, somebody help me! This guy lifted up my tank—he's about to throw me—"

BOOM!

Corpses were piled high, and blood flowed like a river.

"No! Help, help! Don't come any closer! What kind of monster are you? You're not even—"

Before the soldier could finish speaking, Bane grabbed him by the shoulder.

Bane exerted force without expression.

Splat!

Blood sprayed everywhere. The soldier was like a banana peeled open.

Exhausted, Bane tossed the mangled corpse aside.

He had slaughtered at least two thousand people already. From being full of vigor at the start, he had now become utterly drained.

"Monster! Monster!"

Bane vanished from the spot in an instant.

With a strength of ninety tons, he could easily overturn any tank. With his speed, he could casually catch even artillery shells. No one could withstand a single exchange with him.

But as he was about to kill everyone, the military finally lost its last remaining reservations.

When Bane threw the last broken corpse to the ground, he saw missiles flying in from the horizon like meteors falling to earth, dazzling and beautiful.

They were filled with deadly killing intent.

"God! That monster will die this time, right?"

Mayor Carlo no longer had his earlier confidence. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

Using missiles in the city was a world-shaking matter, but it was still better than having the National Guard suffer a crushing defeat and lose all face.

"Jim Gordon! Go reorganize the men immediately and have them keep bombarding the area with artillery shells! This guy simply can't be dealt with using conventional force!"

Mayor Carlo's hands were trembling.

Two thousand people. He had initially intended to capture Bane alive, so he had sent men to surround the block.

But all those people had actually been killed one by one by Bane alone!

What kind of monster was this? Bullets couldn't hurt him, and he caught artillery shells with his bare hands.

No one even managed to escape. They simply couldn't. The other side was bent on killing them all.

"Understood. Should we have Batman—"

"Don't mention that name in front of me, Gordon. We can handle all this. As long as we use artillery shells—" He spoke in a low voice, with a calm sort of hysteria. "We can deal with him using artillery shells!"

Jim Gordon left helplessly.

But before long.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Anyone here?"

There was a knock on the door.

Mayor Carlo opened it impatiently, then roared, "Didn't I tell you to go maintain—"

But it was not Gordon who entered.

Mayor Carlo stared in terror at the pale man with the twisted smile.

"Joker!"

"Guards! Guards!"

Mayor Carlo shouted for help, only to see the two corpses behind Joker, their faces both wearing twisted smiles.

He turned around and saw Scarecrow sitting by the window, making a gesture of greeting toward him.

"Good afternoon!"

Many thanks to boss 2049 for the 500 Qidian Coins tip!