Rain hammered the roof as densely as strands of ice-cold dragon's beard noodles, gathering into winding trails of water across the black bodywork.
The Cherokee hid in the shadows of the woods near the massive drawbridge leading to Blackgate Island. Through the rain-blurred windows, they could clearly make out Blackgate Penitentiary at the other end. It was a gigantic stone fortress built on an isolated island, now lit by flickering muzzle flashes and the occasional exploding fireball.
"They're fighting... I remember that drawbridge can be raised, right?" Wilson shifted his ass in the seat and asked irritably, "Are these guys that fucking confident?"
Li Jie also watched the drawbridge from afar. It should have been raised high, yet its massive steel deck remained firmly in place between the island and the mainland, letting Black Mask's convoy drive straight across.
"They didn't raise the bridge... Fuck, there's probably someone on the inside."
This was no coincidence. As one of Gotham's highest-security prisons, Blackgate Penitentiary had the retractable drawbridge as its first line of defense. Regulations required it to be raised and inspected every two weeks.
Regulations, huh...
He suddenly felt less certain of his own judgment. Weren't regulations as good as nonexistent in Gotham?
A fierce firefight had already broken out at the prison's main entrance. With their superior firepower, particularly the light machine guns mounted on several modified vehicles, Black Mask's men had pinned down the SWAT officers trying to establish a defensive line at the gate. Explosions rang out one after another, flames soaring skyward. Clearly, Black Mask's men were using explosives.
"Rifle grenades! Rifle grenades!"
"FUCK! Where did these guys get M249s?"
Wilson watched eagerly from inside the car until a far more violent explosion thundered out. Even at this distance, both men felt a slight tremor. The