The Star of the Show

"Does it feel like there's less gunfire coming from the other side?" one officer asked. "You don't think they've slipped around behind us, do you?"

"No."

"I thought I heard something downstairs, but I locked the door before I came up."

"Wait, how could they get downstairs?"

"Open the door! It's Captain Harvey!" Harvey Bullock ran to the second floor and crawled behind cover, carefully surveying the scene ahead.

Then he saw a huge cabinet move and "swallow" a gunman.

"What the hell was that?" Harvey Bullock blinked hard. Had he inhaled something strange inside the Chemical Plant and started hallucinating?

"I told you that cabinet moved!" The other officers noticed it too, and the remaining gunmen finally realized something was wrong.

Roland burst out of the cabinet and charged the remaining gunmen.

They sprayed bullets at him, muzzle flashes blazing. Roland rolled clear, and the bullets struck sparks across the floor.

"Hey!" Roland hoisted a heavy lab bench and hurled it forward, knocking one gunman unconscious.

That brought him closer to the others.

With Roland's abilities, the saying that fists were faster than guns within seven steps was no empty boast.

He crossed the distance in a single Living Step from Bajiquan, appearing right in front of the gunmen. Then his fists and feet rained down.

Groins, eyes, waists, knees, ankles... Roland struck places that hurt like hell without being fatal, subduing every last gunman.

"Thank you, Father Roland." Once the gunmen were down, Harvey Bullock emerged from cover and shook Roland's hand.

"It's nothing. I was in the area," Roland said.

After a few pleasantries, Harvey Bullock took a closer look at the men Roland had knocked down. "Hold on... These look like Maroni Family men."

"You know them?"

"Yeah. That's Amedeo Maroni, that's Luca Gallinari, Daniel Maroni... Damn, these are key men in the Maroni Family. They sent all of them here?" Harvey Bullock said in surprise.

"Wasn't this Joker's setup? How did the Mob get involved?" Roland felt something was off.

"No problem. I'll find out soon enough." Harvey Bullock gave a genial smile, dragged one gunman aside, and used the Great Memory Restoration Technique on him.

For Gotham City police officers, dealing with all sorts of criminals was part of the daily routine. Coercing confessions was a skill they couldn't afford not to know.

As one of Gotham City's notorious "bad cops," Harvey Bullock knew the routine by heart. After a few screams and Italian curses, the gunman told him everything he knew.

As soon as Harvey Bullock heard his confession, he gathered his team and rushed straight to the Police Department.

"Joker secretly stole the Fear Toxin they were storing here, then staged the fire as an accident?" Roland felt a chill. Joker with Fear Toxin seemed far more dangerous than Scarecrow himself.

When Batman learned what had happened, he took it even harder than Roland. He didn't go beat up Falcone that night. Instead, he searched for Joker by every means he had, but found nothing.

"Where the hell could he have gone..." Batman sat on a rooftop, deep in thought, when a familiar dark figure slipped through the rear window of a jewelry store. She was petite but agile.

"Selina..." Batman sighed, leaped from the rooftop, and fired a rope that bound the burglar's slender figure inside the store.

"Well... What a delightful surprise." Catwoman smiled at Batman. "I wonder, did we really run into each other by chance, or have you been secretly following me?"

"Just a coincidence," Batman said flatly. "Someone else has been giving me a headache..."

"Bringing up someone else in front of such a charming lady isn't very nice." Catwoman twisted into an impossible-looking pose, slipped free of the rope, and drove her toe toward Batman's chin.

"You're right. I should pay more attention." Batman caught her foot, taken aback that she had escaped.

"All right. If you're this distracted, I can't be bothered to play." Catwoman pulled her foot back, waved at Batman, and fled.

Batman didn't pursue her. He fell silent, lost in thought.

The next day.

In Gotham City's Sewers.

Roland walked through the tunnels, his Golden Eyes shining like flashlights. Kamaitachi swept ahead, and before long, he found a homeless child.

"Father Roland, what are you doing down in the sewers?" The child often ate at the church and knew Roland, but was startled to see him here.

"I'm visiting family," Roland said. "Your King Killer Croc is a relative of mine."

"Uh... Really?"

"Of course. Look at my eyes." Roland pointed to his Golden Eyes. "Aren't they just like his?"

"They really are..." The child studied the golden pupils, which looked a little like Killer Croc's, and nodded. "Then I'll take you to see His Majesty."

A few minutes later.

"Since when do I have relatives?" Killer Croc was baffled. His mother had died giving birth to him, his father had abandoned him, and his aunt had raised him.

But his aunt had mistreated him because of his condition, and Killer Croc had bitten her to death long ago when he could take no more.

Is some con artist trying to pull one over on me? He's got nerve.

"Hey, Waylon!" Roland pulled the door open and walked in.

"...Don't tell me you're the relative who came to see me." Killer Croc froze and stared at Roland's eyes. "What happened to your eyes? Did you do that just to be like me?"

"Do I look that bored?" Roland shook his head. "It's a special ability of mine."

"Fine. What do you want?"

"I want you to put on a show with me."

"Not interested. I've got a big plan in the works," Killer Croc said, shaking his head.

"Don't decide yet. Hear me out first."

"What are you offering? I don't need money."

"Not money. You'd play a top Gotham City villain who captures Batman with ease, humiliates him, then publicly executes him," Roland said. "Oh, and Batman will be playing himself."

"I'm in. When do we start?"