The Batmobile carrying Dick returned first, followed closely by the Travel Minibus the raiding team had switched to. Qin Wei and Royce arrived last, belatedly.
Royce stepped into the Factory and tripped over the tripwire Oswald had just set, snapping it.
"Damn it, Ben, you should be glad I haven't connected the bomb at the other end yet!"
"You're the one who should be glad! Otherwise, you'd have blown us all sky-high. Who'd fight Deathstroke then?" Royce muttered, crouching to retie the wire before tossing a cigarette into his mouth.
"Huh? Where's my lighter?"
In a corner, Qin Wei pulled off his armor and inspected his shoulder injuries in Selina's makeup mirror. New wounds had joined the old ones before they could heal, and the bruises covering him made him look like an apple battered by hail.
At that moment, he desperately missed the medicinal liniment from his hometown.
Selina grabbed a few ice packs from Little Penguin's portable refrigerator. When they touched his shoulders, Qin Wei shuddered all over.
"Feeling any better?"
"Just about ready to ascend to heaven."
He slowly leaned back until he was resting fully against the chair. Compared with the pain in his body, his mental exhaustion was the real torment.
Battered by one wave of events after another, Qin Wei felt like Prometheus, bound to a boulder on a cliff while a giant eagle pecked at his heart every day.
The difference was that Prometheus had brought fire to humanity before suffering his torture. But what about him? Never mind bringing fire to Gotham-even the road ahead of him was shrouded in darkness.
But Qin Wei knew he was about to part that murky sea and reach the dawn within his grasp.
Before that, however, he would face the deepest darkness.
Slade Wilson-as long