"Are we going to get caught by Batman?"
Staring at the gloomy, dimly lit street ahead, the burly man couldn't help swallowing.
"Relax. We're robbing the Joker, a supervillain. That's basically the same thing Batman does."
Lynn put away the rocket launcher and looked ahead.
It was already evening. Sunlight filtered through the dark clouds, leaving a lingering streak of crimson on the horizon.
The alley was cramped and damp, lined with old iron doors stained white with mildew. Clothes hanging on the rooftops swayed in the breeze.
A few puddles dotted the ground, with one or two blackened cigarette butts floating in them.
Tires rolled through the puddles, crushing the cigarette butts and sending dirty water flying.
The Joker Gang had already broken through the police cordon. Several cars fled down the streets amid a hail of gunfire.
Lynn followed Columbus's rule for discovering a new continent-if I see it, I've discovered it, and that makes it mine.
He stole a car off the street at gunpoint.
The moment he got behind the wheel, Lynn floored the accelerator.
"In a way, robbing the Joker makes us superheroes too."
"I... is that how it works?"
Sitting in the back seat, the burly man heard Lynn's explanation and felt his brain struggling to keep up.
Would a superhero steal someone else's car?
"Even if Batman catches you, just shout, 'Martha is my mom!' I guarantee he won't hit you."
Lynn took a corner with the wheels in the drainage gutter as he spoke to the burly man behind him.
Really?
The burly man couldn't shake the feeling that something about this was dubious.
Then his gaze happened to pass over the speedometer.
"Motherfucker, how about slowing down first?"
The engine roared as the number on the speedometer shot straight past 200.
"Relax. This place is even crazier than Los Santos and Night City. No cop can catch us."
Lynn jerked the wheel, slid elegantly around the corner, and charged toward the police cars ahead.
"Could you watch the road and hit the brakes while you're saying that?"
The burly man swallowed and glanced at the speedometer, which had already passed 250.
He was genuinely terrified.
He'd only come out to rob someone. How had he ended up with a lunatic like this?
"I told you not to worry. I'm a veteran Horizon player. I've driven everywhere, from the United Kingdom to Mexico to Mount Akina."
As he spoke, Lynn shifted up another gear and stomped on the accelerator.
"We're only doing two hundred and change. This isn't even my limit."
Watching the police cars draw ever closer, the burly man felt that his seat belt was no longer enough to keep him safe.
"Brother, I've got a son in rehab and a wife in a hospital bed. Please, I'm begging you, slow down."
He was on the verge of tears.
"Tch, you called me brother. What else is there to say?"
Lynn jerked the wheel, turned into an alley, and raced toward the Joker's marker on the system map.
"I'll bluff the Joker and piss off Batman. You handle the robbery and stuff the money into the sack."
"Dinosaur War God, we've both got bright futures ahead of us."
"My name isn't Dinosaur War God," the burly man said meekly. "It's Willis Todd."
Lynn glanced at the system map and saw that the Joker's group had stopped moving.
He cranked the wheel and sent the Mustang charging in their direction.
"Willis Todd..." Lynn murmured.
Why did that surname sound so familiar?
Todd...
It suddenly clicked, and Lynn asked, "Wait, is your son's name Jason?"
Willis clutched the seat belt beside him. Lynn's question left him stunned.
"How do you know my son's name?"
Holy crap, it really is Jason Todd?
"I don't just know who your son is. I know your home address, how many people are in your family, your wife, and what's happened in your household."
Willis: ???
Holy shit, doxxed?!
"I'm going to find that goddamn bastard!"
Inside an abandoned factory in the East End, the Joker snarled.
"Mr. J, I don't understand. You didn't care at all when Riddler robbed you last time, but now..."
Harley Quinn couldn't understand the Joker's reaction. He had been so magnanimous about getting robbed last time, so why was he now...
"Because Batman was there," the Joker answered.
Harley Quinn: "..."
Isn't your relationship with Batman a little too... you know?
"Boss, Batman's here!"
The same familiar voice, the same familiar routine.
Even Batman, who had just arrived at the abandoned factory, froze when he heard that voice.
Let alone the Joker and Harley Quinn, who had been robbed.
A Mustang roared into the abandoned factory with unstoppable force.
"Holy shit! You've got the fucking nerve to come back?!" The Joker flew into a rage.
He stood, and the Joker Gang members around him raised their guns, aiming at the Mustang that had just burst in.
"Open fire!" the Joker roared, immediately pulling the trigger.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!
Bullets pounded the car's body as though ammunition cost nothing, throwing up showers of sparks.
Inside the car.
Watching the scene outside, Willis trembled, his face deathly pale. He wished he could curl his entire body into a corner.
A lunatic. This guy was an absolute fucking lunatic!
What sane person drove into someone's fucking headquarters to rob them?
Leaning against the driver's seat, Lynn spotted Batman up on a roof beam at a glance.
Sure enough, wherever Joker-boy went, Bat-boy was there too.
You two really were a pair of star-crossed lovers.
"Wait! I've brought dirt on Batman!"
Dirt on Batman?
The Joker's expression shifted.
He hurriedly waved for his men to stop shooting. "Cease fire! All of you, cease fire!"
Beside him, Harley Quinn glanced at the Joker out of the corner of her eye, her face full of resentment.
She knew it. The person the Joker loved wasn't her at all. It was Batman.
"What dirt on Batman?" the Joker asked.
"Batman is actually the leader of Gotham's biggest gang-
"-the Bat Gang! I've got photos of him selling his ass!"
"..."
The Joker froze. So did Batman, hanging from the ceiling.
Not a single member of the Joker Gang had expected the man before them to say something like that.
"Whoa! Hearing something like that makes this worth the price of admission, even if I die!"
"Wait, Batman has a gang, and he used to sell his ass? How come I've never heard about any of this?"
"..."
Seeing the Joker, Batman, and the others freeze, Lynn smiled inwardly.
Everyone knew Batman was Gotham's heartthrob.
From eighty-year-old grannies to three-year-old children, everyone loved Batman.
As for Batman's gang and his ass-selling exploits, those were things Gotham's criminals couldn't have dreamed of.
Especially the Joker. This stuff was far more tempting to him than the money in Gotham Bank.
"But the question is, where's your proof?"
The Joker did want to know what was going on with Batman's gang and the whole selling-his-ass business.
But the man before him merely claimed to have photos of Batman selling his ass. He didn't even know who Batman was.
Surely he couldn't just Photoshop some random picture and claim it was Batman?
Did someone in Gotham really have the nerve to openly bullshit me, the Joker?
Batman was thinking the same thing.
That guy must have Photoshopped a few pictures somewhere and planned to use them to fool the Joker.
At that thought, Batman mentally shook his head.
He had fought the Joker many times. No one in Gotham understood the Joker better than Batman did.
If this guy thought that was enough to fool the Joker, he was sorely mistaken.
"Do you really think I'll take your word for it that Batman is Gotham's biggest gang boss, and that he even used to sell his ass?"
Gun in hand, the Joker walked toward Lynn as he spoke.
Seeing this, Lynn sighed, unbuckled his seat belt, and got out of the car.
As he walked, he slipped his right hand into his pocket.
The Joker narrowed his eyes, a dangerous look creeping onto his face.
He knew what that gesture meant.
"Instead of running away, you're coming closer to me?"
He had never seen anyone so brazen in Gotham.
Not only had this man stolen the Joker's money right in front of Batman, he had dared to storm the Joker Gang's headquarters alone.
And now, with dozens of Joker Gang guns trained on him, he was walking toward the Joker with his hand in his pocket.
Where on earth... did this guy get his nerve?