Without the gas mask getting in the way, his field of vision opened up. Though Gotham's gloomy sky cast only specks of dappled light through the tangled branches and leaves, it was still a hundred times better than looking through that damned fishbowl.
His eyes stayed fixed on the lanky figure stumbling ahead in a shabby coat. He also spotted James Gordon, wearing a wool coat, running even farther ahead.
"Jim! Where's your mask?!" Li Jie shouted as he sprinted, his voice echoing between the trees.
Gordon didn't look back, only turned his face slightly, his voice scattered by the wind rushing past him. "Gave it to Hansen! He's still a rookie..."
Li Jie swept his gaze around and, sure enough, spotted two officers from Central Headquarters dozens of yards away, bent over with their hands on their knees and gasping for breath. Their gas masks made them look like two dying deep-sea creatures.
That fucking bleeding heart!
Li Jie cursed inwardly. Gordon's sense of justice and responsibility were beyond reproach, but his disregard for his own safety was nothing but a liability at a time like this.
He could only pick up speed again. Several times, he nearly slipped on the fallen leaves and slick moss underfoot, but his enhanced core strength always let him stumble back into balance.
The woods grew denser, branches and leaves clawing at their clothes like countless ghostly hands. Gordon's figure flickered between the trunks ahead, while farther still, Jonathan Crane sprinted like a startled elk, his movements almost frenzied as he occasionally glanced back in terror.
The panting and footsteps around them gradually faded. The officers from the West District and Central Headquarters might have been competent at chasing criminals through city streets and alleys, but in this wild, difficult terrain, where the