Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 497 Old Scars
Are a butcher's oaths and vows reliable?

Marvin T. Muke wasn't quite sure, but looking into the guy's serious eyes, he realized that the Butcher was serious this time.

“I have believed you many times, Butcher. The reason I quit before was because I really wanted to do something good, something within my power, something tangible and visible.”

"For example, coming to the juvenile detention center to discipline those gang brats."

"For example, to help errant teenagers to turn back from the wrong path."

Marvin told him, "This time, you'd better not do what you did before."

"Hey, listen, I haven't heard from Franky in a long time, probably several years. I don't know where that guy went—I'm here because I trust you, will you help me?"

"When has the butcher ever truly trusted anyone?"

Marvin sighed, "Let's go. Since we're dealing with those bastards, Walter, I'll go with you."

The butcher's face immediately broke into a gleeful smile.

Fifteen minutes later, at Frankie's factory.

"Are you kidding me! Are you kidding me!"

Marvin angrily grabbed Franky by the collar, raising a muscular fist high. He knew that the Butcher could be shameless and inhuman at times, but he never expected that the other party would be so despicable. He had only been recruited for less than half an hour, and the Butcher had already tricked him for the first time.

"I told you, I'm not teaming up with this French bastard!"

Franky immediately retorted, "I'm more American than you, you racist bastard!"

Old friends meeting again, their eyes blazing with fury. Marvin brandished his fist, while Franky pulled out a knife. The two were so tense from the moment they met that the Butcher had to grab them by the collars to prevent a real fight.

"So what exactly is going on?"

Ma Zhaodi stood to the side, watching the three of them mingling together: "Didn't you say you were looking for an old friend? Why does this scene not look like a reunion of old friends?"

"This is a long story. It's an old matter, but you found some clues, so you brought it up again."

"Old stories? Why don't you tell Mallory about that?"

Marvin, a burly Black man, stared intently into Frankie's eyes: "Go tell them that this is all in the past."

Franky's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "This isn't my fault!"

"Okay, I still don't understand what you're saying."

Ma Zhaodi decided to quickly end this convoluted and confusing tug-of-war: "But in any case, the lamplighter must have played an important role in your dispute—do you still want to know his information?"

"Lamplighter?"

Upon hearing the name, Marvin reacted very similarly to Frankie, who had heard Ma Zhaodi talk about the Lamplighter that morning, both showing a complex and regretful expression on their faces.

The butcher, however, did not show such an expression. Upon hearing the name, he only revealed anger and murderous intent. Ma Zhaodi was unsure if he had ever truly regretted anything, but he was certain that the butcher had some childhood trauma or psychological shadow in his life.

In other words, this person is not mentally stable.

"The Lamplighter? Where did you hear about him?"

Marvin, no longer caring about Franky, strode towards Ma Zhaodi: "That bastard dares to show his face now? Have you seen him?"

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't worry yet."

Ma Zhaodi placed the blue test tube in his hand on the test tube rack next to him and extended his hand: "My name is Ma Zhaodi, you can call me Lao Ma, I'm one of your new teammates." Ma Wen looked at Ma Zhaodi and hesitated for a few seconds, but his temper was not as bastard as Butcher's. Although he was anxious for news of the Lamplighter, Ma Zhaodi's attitude was not bad, and he did seem to be a teammate.

“His name is Mother’s Milk,” the butcher said, trying to smooth things over for Marvin. “You can call him MM.”

"?"

Ma Zhaodi and the silly cat looked at Ma Wen together, while the little cat, Dou Dou, had a big question mark in its eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Meow?"

"My mom named me 'Breast Milk,' do you have any objections?"

Breast Milk rolled its eyes at Marvin T. Muke. Anyway, Marvin T. Muke's initials are also MM. It's just that the Butcher and Franky had always called him Breast Milk, and it had become a habit.

"Okay, breast milk."

Ma Zhaodi waved his hand and said, "Please sit down first. I don't know much about your situation, so I'll just give you a brief overview of what I know."

"Yesterday, I visited a branch of a Vought subsidiary in Pennsylvania. It was a mental hospital, housing a group of insane superhumans: teleporters, shrinkers, those who spray stomach acid, those who unleash shockwaves, those who use telekinesis, and even a brave bull."

The mother frowned: "What brave cow?"

"Don't ask, we still need to eat later."

Ma Zhaodi cleared his throat: "In short, the Lamplighter works as a caregiver in that mental hospital, while Storm is the person in charge there."

"Where is that place?"

"Why is Vought International gathering a bunch of crazy superhumans?"

"I'm going to kill that bastard!"

"Intelligence sharing is mutual."

Ma Zhaodi took out his phone: "Here are the things I photographed in that mental hospital, including several important documents and patient surveillance footage. Now, I have a question—why do you hate the lamplighters so much?"

This question caused Butcher, Franky, and Breastfeeding to fall silent for a moment. They looked at each other and finally Butcher spoke.

“That was eight years ago. Eight years ago, we were teammates in a small team—a team formed by Colonel Grace Mallory.”

"All my skills, including shooting, infiltration, and intelligence gathering, were trained by her. She had me assemble a secret investigation team to fight against Walter, which is the Boys."

“We were doing very well, quite well—we got a lot of dirt on the Lamplighter and used it to blackmail him into revealing the dirty and sordid things inside Vought. After all, you know, the weakness of superheroes is their social identity, and nobody likes going from being a revered star to a universally hated criminal.”

"We went too far. Mallory warned us back then that we shouldn't push a wounded beast to the brink—"

Franky continued the Butcher's words: "But we didn't listen."

"To prevent the lamplighter from resorting to desperate measures, Mallory sent that bastard Frankie to follow him, and then that scoundrel disappeared for a full half hour, half an hour!"

The mother repeated the phrase, and the anger she had initially directed at Franky gradually turned into a sense of loss and sadness.

"In half an hour, Colonel Mallory's grandson and granddaughter were burned to death in their own bed."

(End of this chapter)