I'm Working Solo Now

Christmas Eve, 11:30 p.m.

Gotham.

Six hours and thirty minutes remained until the Time-Space Gate opened.

The streets were completely deserted.

Aside from the occasional passing car, there were only drunken streetwalkers by the roadside and thugs wearing Santa hats.

A Christmas tree nearly two stories tall stood decorated with colorful bows and glittering ornaments.

Sadly, no one dared go out at this hour, much less make a wish beneath the tree.

Overhead, a moon as large as a tire seemed ready to crash straight down.

Li Zu tilted his head up and watched a peculiar aircraft cut across the moonlit sky... shaped like a bat.

The air was steeped in silence. A deep breath even carried the scent of blood.

The humanoid "thing" writhing in a distant corner made Li Zu turn his head and call out:

"Why not let him go? It's Christmas Eve. Maybe he's in a hurry to get home for dinner with his family~"

This bloody little episode had begun two minutes earlier, when a drunk had provoked two terrifying people.

Deathstroke held his long blade in a reverse grip, flicked the blood from it, sheathed it, and walked over to Li Zu.

It really had only been a brief episode. No one cared what happened to the "thing" afterward.

Deathstroke also looked up, his one-eyed gaze landing on the huge billboard ahead.

Gotham Merchants Bank, its doors tightly shut.

Apparently, even the owner had anticipated that some people would be short on cash during Christmas. To avoid trouble, they had closed early and had even cut power to the twenty-four-hour ATMs.

"This is the place?" Li Zu pinched his chin and asked curiously. "Gotham Merchants Bank is Black Mask's property?"

"Roman Sionis. He owns factories, banks..."

Even for a mercenary like Deathstroke, this was probably the first time he had encountered such a situation: helping his own employer rob a bank in order to pay the fee for hiring him.

Strangely enough, when Deathstroke heard the proposal, he had not felt like refusing.

Some subtle influence had gradually swayed him. Of course... Deathstroke found that strange now. Not accepting bad checks was one of his principles.

"Just one door?"

In the Flashpoint World, Li Zu had never had the chance to witness those legendary talents. They either wore another kind of "good guy" face, or Batman Thomas Wayne had slaughtered them all.

But he had heard a little about Gotham's talents.

Not even an entire building could stop Gotham's freaks, much less a single door.

"This door has an alarm system. If you force it open, not only will the alarm sound, but every defensive measure in the vault behind it will activate," Deathstroke said.

"Man, you really sound like a narrator~" Li Zu chuckled, as if deliberately playing along with the atmosphere created by the Christmas tree.

He walked straight to the security door and pressed a hand against the high-grade alloy door.

A dozen seconds later.

The China Merchants Bank entrance had become a plastic toy door, complete with a carefully designed Christmas-themed color scheme.

Li Zu easily pushed the door open, removed his red Santa hat, and flashed a grin. "Come in~"

Gotham Merchants Bank.

All surveillance had gone dead. Only the emergency exit signs in the corridors flickered green, barely illuminating the path ahead.

Buzz, buzz~

The sound of a car engine came from around the corner beyond the vault.

Li Zu held a "toy water gun" in his hand and leaned against the wall to peek around the corner.

Behind the vault, Black Mask's thugs were loading bags of cash into a car.

Roman Sionis, who had previously left Blackgate Penitentiary, stood among them.

He looked down at the watch on his left wrist while holding a pistol in his right. The muzzle spun aimlessly, and whoever it happened to point at could not help but shudder.

The two corpses in the corner made it clear what happened to anyone the gun pointed at.

Black Mask was robbing his own bank? That was quite an interesting discovery.

"Looks like we're late~"

Li Zu pulled back, shrugged at Deathstroke, and asked, "Do you have a plan?"

"..." Deathstroke silently watched Li Zu, waiting for him to continue.

They had not known each other long, but Deathstroke believed he understood Li Zu completely: a somewhat unhinged freak who liked to show off.

The best thing Li Zu could do was nothing.

After all, the purpose of this trip was money.

Sure enough, Li Zu scratched his neck with the little finger of his right hand and said, "I have a plan to get the money, but I have one condition. Take off his mask and give it to me... Of course, all the money is yours~"

"What?" Deathstroke immediately discarded his previous confidence.

He realized he did not understand Li Zu at all.

"I just think the face beneath that mask might be the one percent I need most." Li Zu's lips curled upward, his expression declaring that he absolutely had to have the mask!

"Mm-hmm~"

Deathstroke found he had no reason to refuse.

Black Mask's thugs were moving the cash.

Emptying an entire vault was hard work. The kind of hard work that left one drenched in sweat, yet willing to do it gladly!

"Are you working overtime on Christmas Eve too?"

A voice came from the corner. A man wearing a red Santa hat waved at them.

He was also holding a "toy water gun" in his left hand.

"Oh~!" Behind his mask, Black Mask Roman Sionis stared at Li Zu with interest.

"You took care of Batman?"

Black Mask had nearly forgotten the amusement he had encountered at Blackgate Penitentiary.

"We welcome you back. I put a two-million bounty on Batman's head, you know~" Black Mask's voice remained as vile as ever.

Li Zu slowly walked forward, aiming the "toy water gun" at the two nearest thugs.

"I'm working solo now!"

In an instant, the toy gun became a real gun. Fire burst from its muzzle, and the recoil made Li Zu's body shake continuously.

The bullets traced circles as they shot from the floor to the ceiling.

Unfortunately... not a single shot hit.

The toy gun suddenly becoming a real gun caught everyone off guard. Only Black Mask laughed in delighted surprise. "Hahahahaha!"

The moment Li Zu emptied his magazine, Black Mask's thugs seized the opportunity and rushed him.

Bang, bang.

Two gunshots came from the darkness, and the two thugs closest to Li Zu collapsed to the floor.

"Oh~?" Black Mask curiously raised his head, then abruptly swung his gun around.

Bang...

With a wet thud, the bullet entered flesh, and one Black Mask thug fell to the ground.

Black Mask was not alarmed in the slightest. He merely clicked his tongue and shook his head.

He quickly fired three shots in three different directions, and all three struck his own men.

It was impossible to tell whether he truly knew the hidden killer's location, or whether he had fired two extra shots just for amusement.

Yet the killing in the darkness had not ended.

Like startled birds, Black Mask's thugs turned their heads in every direction, searching for the hidden threat. But they fell one after another, not only to Deathstroke's gunfire from the shadows, but also to Black Mask's hand.

After more than half of Black Mask's thugs had been killed or wounded, Deathstroke dropped down beside Li Zu, gripping a long staff.

The staff was stained with blood.

"Wait."

Just as Deathstroke was about to lunge forward, Li Zu stopped him.

"I think we may have found the wrong person~" Li Zu glanced at Black Mask, then looked toward the woman in the corner.

A second earlier, Deathstroke's bullet had killed the thug covering the woman's mouth, freeing her at last and allowing that smile to appear on her face.

It was mechanical, heartfelt, horrifying, mad, sickly—

...a chaotic smile!

"Hahahahahaha!!!" She swayed as she climbed up from the floor, pointing at Li Zu and laughing wildly.

She clutched her stomach and laughed.

She laughed without restraint upon the path paved with corpses, blood, severed arms, and mangled limbs.

Thanks to "Ordinary Man ndm" for the 100 Qidian Coins tip, and thanks to "JOKERRISING" for the 100 Qidian Coins tip.

(End of Chapter)