The lights at Happy Valley Amusement Park flashed nonstop, red, yellow, green, and blue.
They hung from the half-collapsed archway, from the steel frame of the half-broken Ferris wheel, and around the faded necks of the carousel horses.
Chen Mo lay behind the half-collapsed observation deck, his fingers gripping the cold, damp planks.
He had already prepared a few wisecracks.
Something like, "This place looks like a horror movie with an inadequate budget," or, "The Gotham tourism board really should consider giving every tourist a trauma subsidy."
But he could not get them out.
Below him, there was nothing but laughter.
The people tied to the carousel laughed.
The people tied to the ticket booth railings laughed.
The people hanging beneath the roofs of the game stalls laughed.
Even those who should long since have stopped laughing had been arranged in seats by Joker, thick red curves painted on their faces, the corners of their mouths fixed in an upward shape.
With every rotation of the lights, those faces brightened and darkened like a row of broken dolls.
Chen Mo felt as though something had blocked his throat.
Batman crouched beside him, his cape pressed into the shadows, his whole body almost blending into the night.
His gaze did not linger on the bodies or the people forced to laugh. Instead, it swept over every rope, every mechanical arm, every speaker, every gift box that might conceal explosives.
Without needing to discuss it, neither of them paid any attention to Joker's welcome speech.
"Don't move. Find the control source first."
Chen Mo did not answer right away.
He had spotted someone.
To the right of the carousel, near the cotton candy stand, a woman was tied to a chair Joker had painted pink. Her hair was disheveled, and a smile