A new friend

Gotham had plenty of places that could serve an "educational" purpose, but Lynn wasn't very familiar with any of them. As for Arkham...

That wasn't really convenient. A graduate couldn't bring a newcomer back to school as a homecoming gift.

So, after thinking it over, Lynn decided to take this fellow to Gotham's Underground Labyrinth.

It had been a long time since he'd last been back. The weather must have warmed up a little, because Lynn spotted plenty of grass at the entrance he and Old Bat had used. The little blades pushed through the hard ground, struggling to grow where almost no sunlight reached.

"Too bad they still won't get to live out their lives in peace.

Here come the crows~"

After shooing away the annoying crows, Lynn jumped straight into the passage with Poison Gas Guy.

Along the way, Lynn saw plenty of horrifying things: stark white bones, the remains of Talons the crows had eaten halfway through and left behind.

"Stop shaking. I said, stop shaking!"

Lynn had the nerves to withstand sights like these, but he didn't seem to understand just how deeply a dark, gloomy cave littered with mutilated corpses could shock a normal person.

Especially when those things' bones didn't even look human. Their skulls actually had upturned horns!

And so, after barely a dozen yards, the fellow Lynn was supporting couldn't take another step. Of course, Lynn had the strength to keep holding him up for hundreds or even thousands of yards, but with him vomiting and having diarrhea, piss and shit pouring out together, the sight was downright offensive. And the smell was a bit too... well.

"Sit here and wait for me. I'll be right back."

Lynn set his buddy Andrew down and prepared to go a little farther on his own, to reminisce by the photo wall or something.

"Don't, don't go... please... don't leave me alone..."

"Hm? Hahahaha, you're a funny guy."

Looking at Andrew tugging on his trouser leg, Lynn chuckled and crouched down, holding one arm across his chest and propping his chin on the other hand. "Could it be that you want to come have a look with me?"

Andrew gave a violent shudder, closed his eyes in despair, and withdrew his hand.

Boring.

Lynn stood up and strolled deeper into the labyrinth with his hands behind his back.

"When they built this labyrinth, they didn't even think to put in emergency exits or safety signs. What if someone gets lost down here? Which way was it again...

Whatever."

Taking out his meteor hammer, Lynn swung it and smashed the wall beside him.

"Hey! My teacher was right. A straight line is the shortest route!"

After breaking through a wall, Lynn indeed spotted that familiar wall covered in photographs.

"Let me admire my... huh?"

Not much time had passed since Lynn's last visit to steal the Dionysus factor. He remembered it clearly.

Back then, he had taken one of the two unflattering Batman photos and replaced it with one of himself, throwing in a portrait of Darkseid as a bonus.

The photo wall was densely packed with rows of pictures, and those three had been at the very bottom.

Old Bat, Lynn, Darkseid.

But now, those three pictures were gone.

Nothing remained.

With a slight frown, his chin raised and his eyelids lowered, Lynn put his hands in his jacket pockets and slowly approached the wall, one step at a time.

There were fine, closely spaced marks left by slashes from a sharp weapon.

He reached out and touched them. The stone no longer crumbled, so the marks must have been there for quite some time.

Lynn stood still and calmly thought it over.

After a long while, he laughed. "Ha! Good thing I kept a spare."

Taking out the unflattering photo of Old Bat from his private collection, Lynn hung it back on the wall.

He retrieved a camera from his Spatial Bag, raised it, and took a selfie at a forty-five-degree angle, holding up a peace sign.

The camera soon spat out the photo. The lighting was dim, so the result wasn't particularly good. Lynn's cap brim hid part of his eyes, while light and shadow blurred the rest. The unusual angle and his exaggerated grin made his face look especially old in the picture, with deep smile lines and cold white teeth.

"Not bad..."

Lynn waved the photo around, then pressed it onto the wall too.

He slipped both hands back into his pockets and was about to turn away when something suddenly seemed to occur to him. He turned back, used a small knife to carve a rectangle the size of a picture frame beside his photo, and carved a sentence inside it.

"I saved this spot for you. You're welcome."

There was basically no need to check the level below.

Back when Lynn had found the next level in search of the Dionysus factor and discovered that spring, he had emptied it of every last bit of the Dionysus factor with the ruthless determination of someone wiping out an entire family, root and branch.

Forget the water—Lynn had even dug out some of the mud and stones at the bottom of the pool. He had literally dug three feet into the ground.

If someone could still receive some "heaven-sent blessing" under those circumstances, Lynn had nothing left to argue about.

As for investigating who had visited the Underground Labyrinth, that seemed like a pointless question.

After all, since he had taken those three pictures, they were bound to cross paths again.

Whether they would be enemies or friends... that was still hard to say.

"Still, I should tell Old Bat about this. I need to warn him that his destined partner might have just arrived.

Ho! I can't wait for life in Gotham from now on. The good days are still ahead~! Hahahaha!"

Taking out his personal flying machine, Lynn rode his balloon out of there.

"What did you say you saw in the Underground Labyrinth? Photos? What necessary connection does any of this have to photos?"

Bruce Wayne just wasn't as popular as Old Bat, because he really talked too much without his cowl on.

"Oh, relax~ It wasn't just yours. My photo didn't have a beauty filter either. So what? We're buddies..."

"Lynn, you know I'm asking you something serious. Could you act normal, please?"

"Ahem, fine. Hmm... where should I start? Basically, I found something good down there and took it. Then I went back today, discovered someone else had been there, and found that they'd taken the pictures of you, me, and Darkseid. It's that simple."

Bruce Wayne furrowed his brows again. "You didn't tell me who this Darkseid was."

"I didn't?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Really."

"He's a farmer. That's not important. What matters is..."

Whenever Lynn actually became serious, Bruce Wayne always felt he'd rather have him acting crazy.

"Bruce, I'm warning you as a friend. The guy who came out of that place might be someone like me.

The difference is, I like to play, but I'm afraid of dying.

That guy would rather use people who are afraid of dying as his playthings."

Lynn stood up and patted the slightly puzzled Bruce on the shoulder. "Trust me. He might be the most troublesome guy you'll ever meet."

"The most troublesome guy I've ever met is you."

"How could you say that! Do you even have a conscience!"

"You're asking me? What about the man you took away yesterday! Did you kill him, or did you dump him somewhere!"

"I shouldn't have come today! I should've let that guy with the big red lips come deal with you!"

"Lynn, I've put up with you long enough!"

"Fight me! Fight me! Fight me!"

"Master Bruce! Mr. Lynn!"

Alfred's timely arrival stopped the impotent barking of the two cowards, who did nothing but shout.

"Mr. Lynn, your phone has been ringing for quite some time."

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Alfred."

Without the slightest change in expression, Lynn took out his phone.

"Well now, Alfred, remember how I told you I wanted to introduce you to a new friend?"

The call on Lynn's phone was from Jonathan Kent.