Who will you save?

"So, little Bat~~ have you made up your mind yet?"

Joker urged him on with a wide grin.

"You'd better decide quickly. Those people can't wait much longer~~~"

Batman angrily punched Joker twice more, but he knew it accomplished nothing beyond venting his anger and buying time.

Joker had never feared pain, and even death could not frighten him. Breaking his limbs and shattering his bones would only make him spend a few extra days laid up in Arkham.

Joker cared neither about other people's lives nor his own. His only pleasure in life was creating chaos and panic, and "playing games" with his darling little Bat.

He believed that "all it takes is one bad day to turn even the most rational person into a madman." To prove his point, he exploited every weakness in human nature he could find, forcing people to abandon their principles or kill one another.

The person Joker most wanted to "conquer," or rather, use to prove his point, was Batman.

"Is it really such a hard decision, little Bat?"

Joker spat out the blood Batman had beaten from him, his trademark maniacal grin still plastered across his face.

"If you ask me, why struggle? We're clearly the same. You and I are two sides of the same coin, more alike than anyone else in the world. We're like twins born to the same mother in Gotham, each the other's shadow."

For once, Joker sounded almost serious, but his words sent a chill down the spine.

"Why hide your true self behind a mask~~ why shoulder the expectations of all those people who mean nothing to you, and play Batman~~~ you're another me. I know what I truly want~~~"

Ignoring Batman's hand around his throat, Joker twisted and struggled to get as close as possible to his darling little Bat.

"Order? Stability? No~~~ what I want... is madness! Ahahahahaha, hehehehe..."

"Lunatic!"

Batman gritted his teeth.

Joker was waiting.

Waiting for the bomb countdown to run low enough to force Batman to choose.

Batman was waiting, too.

Waiting for Robin and Red Robin to deal with the incidents elsewhere as quickly as possible, waiting for the latest intelligence from Oracle, Barbara, and Penny One, Alfred, waiting for the Gotham police to locate the hostages...

As time ticked away, Joker's grin grew wider and wider, while Batman's heart slowly sank.

Nothing but bad news came over the comms.

Robin had been surrounded by Harley Quinn and members of the Joker Gang, with Scarecrow sowing chaos nearby; Red Robin had been intercepted by Mad Hatter and could not break away; Oracle had located some of the bombs and contacted the bomb disposal experts dispatched by the police, but disarming them one by one would take time; Penny One was remotely operating thermal imaging equipment and other devices in an attempt to find the hostages inside the building, but had found nothing.

Even Red Hood, who had heard the news and wanted to help, had been tied up by Killer Croc, Clayface, and the others.

In a one-on-one fight, Red Hood was confident that neither Killer Croc nor Clayface was a match for him now. Unfortunately, they refused to engage him head-on for long. Whenever he showed any sign of breaking away from the fight and leaving, the two joined forces to block him. They were maddening, and he could not shake them off.

"Time's running out~~"

Joker's tone grew increasingly jaunty, almost singsong.

"Time's running out for what?"

A sudden third voice shattered the balance between them, fragile as a strand of hair.

Joker's expression immediately soured. He had gone to such great lengths and enlisted so many people to create chaos precisely because he did not want anyone interrupting his private date with his darling little Bat. How had someone slipped through the net? What were those idiots doing?!

Beneath his mask, Batman's expression was little better.

Although she had disguised her voice, he recognized her at once-the Little Merfolk Alfred had mentioned earlier, who had swum off in a huff.

Batman had mixed feelings about her finding her way here at a time like this. Would Miaomiao's arrival be a blessing or a disaster for their side?

He did not doubt that Miaomiao had the strength to tear apart the Batsuit with her bare hands, and he was even somewhat relieved that she had come to help now. Still, he could not help worrying. The girl had lived beneath the sea since childhood and had never dealt with the complexities of humanity. She was innocent, while the man in his grip was a master at manipulating people.

It was not that Batman distrusted Miaomiao. Joker simply had far too much history.

Harley Quinn, the woman intercepting Robin, had once been a young, talented psychiatrist named Harleen Frances Quinzel. She had encountered Joker while serving as a criminal psychology consultant at Arkham Asylum. Before long, the woman who had originally intended to treat him fell under his spell and became obsessively infatuated with him. Not only had she used her position to help Joker escape Arkham, but she had also gone to the extreme of jumping into a vat of acidic chemicals to prove her love for him.

Now, the baseball-bat-wielding Harley Quinn had become Gotham's queen of crime.

The king, naturally, was Joker, Jack.

There had been countless incidents like that. Even a trained professional like Harley Quinn had fallen under Joker's influence and completely abandoned her independent judgment. Batman dared not imagine what the immensely powerful Little Merfolk, whose mind was like a blank slate, might become if Joker corrupted her.

Batman never wanted to see that happen.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

With neither of them paying her any attention, the straightforward Miaomiao grew a little impatient. She had come to help Bruce, but judging by the situation... did Bruce not need her help after all? Hadn't he already grabbed that ugly guy by the throat and lifted him up?

But why was that ugly guy grinning so wildly, even creepily, while Bruce looked so unhappy?

"Why are you smiling? You're so ugly."

Joker automatically ignored the "so ugly" assessment and instead looked the newcomer up and down with curious, malice-filled eyes-

The girl was young, perfectly in keeping with Batman's habit of "employing child labor," but her outfit had absolutely nothing in common with the Bat-family.

What respectable person went out at night in Gotham wearing a little gauzy dress so thin it was almost see-through? People had already accused Batman of having twisted tastes and abusing his child sidekick because the first Robin wore those little green scaled shorts all year round!

"Hehe, Batman, is this your new Batgirl? She doesn't look very 'batty' at all. More like a sickeningly sweet little cupcake~~~"

"Don't get any ideas about her." Batman hoisted Joker higher as he warned him, "Don't even think about it. I won't let you hurt anyone around me again!"

"Okay, okay~~~" Joker raised both hands high, seemingly compliant, then changed the subject with an "offhand" reminder. "So, have you decided, little Bat~~~ who will you save? Or rather..."

Joker's eyes practically shone-

"Who will you let die?"