Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 630 Marathon B Rooftop

Although Ma Zhaodi was having a great time making a joke when he shouted "Since you're here, don't run away!" at the fireflies who were running away with their heads in their hands, he realized after chasing them for three blocks that he had probably celebrated too soon.

"Old Ma, it seems our tank can't catch up with him."

Jason scratched his head, looking at the fireflies speeding through the sky, each two sparks trailing two long black plumes of smoke, their speed almost matching that of the Batmobile at full speed.

"Who would have thought that guy could fly like that?"

Ma Zhaodi's eye twitched involuntarily. He hadn't expected Firefly's flight device to be so ridiculously fast. Back in the Laughing Mystery War universe, this guy's speed wasn't nearly this outrageous. He wondered if it had been enhanced in the Arkham universe, or if its spacecraft had undergone too many iterations over the years.

Since the trails of black smoke lingered for a long time, it was virtually impossible to lose him, but catching up with him was also extremely difficult. Even with Ma Zhaodi's driving skills, it was unlikely that he could catch up with Firefly in this tank.

The distance between the two is gradually widening, thanks to the firefly's speed advantage. If he were running on the ground, this gap could potentially be bridged by his masterful driving skills, but he is flying in the sky now—the straight path in the air is naturally much shorter than the path on a city street on the ground.

"Damn, it flies like a firestorm, but its actual speed is so much faster than a firestorm—was the firestorm in Barry's universe weakened too much? Is the firestorm in the comics really that weak?"

As Ma Zhaodi chased after it, he mentally complained. Seeing the fiery meteor in the sky flying further and further away and getting smaller and smaller, he subconsciously glanced at the remaining battery power of the drone tank.

"Let's stop chasing. If we keep chasing, we might not even be able to get the tank out of Gotham City's Firefly area. Heh, Marathon B is really out of control."

Did you encounter fireflies?

Barbara suddenly chimed in on the communication channel: "Send me his location and movements, and I'll pass it on to Batman. He'll handle it when he has time."

"Batman is going to be exhausted tonight," Ma Zhaodi commented. "He has to find out what Scarecrow is up to, take down an entire thug mercenary army, capture Poison Ivy and bring her back to jail, and now he has to catch Fireflies. Luckily, the evacuation process is automated, otherwise Batman would better pray to God that he has a clone ability."

"Where have we even gotten this far?"

Barbara was unimpressed, as if she had seen this kind of thing many times before: "There are plenty of similar things. The Arkham Asylum riots more than two years ago, I saw your report. In exchange, I'll tell you about Firefly. From what you just said to him, you seem to know his identity, but not his past—is this something you found in your universe?"

"It's something I found in another universe—I didn't call him by the wrong name, did I?"

"Yes, you got it right. His name is Garfield Lynn. He's an orphan, both his parents died—he was a problem child from a young age. He loves fire, or rather, he's obsessed with fire."

"After he grew up, he became a pyrotechnics special effects expert for movies—and worked at Panisha Studios. I'm not sure if your Gotham Garfield had that profession, but he was at Panisha probably because that's where he became a criminal and started his criminal career."

"Where does it start?"

"He was unemployed and on the verge of bankruptcy, as you can see, which, like most criminals, became one of the major incentives for him to commit crimes, although Garfield was more talented."

“In the beginning, he set fires all over Gotham City and became a serial arsonist, from which he derived satisfaction.”

“Does Gotham need another arsonist?” Ma Zhaodi raised an eyebrow. He recalled that in his universe, there was a little Karami who had set fire to the Red Dragon restaurant where he used to work. At the time, he didn’t know the man’s name, only that the manager had taken him away and disposed of him. But now, thinking about it, this detail was rather chilling.

He asked instinctively, "Isn't this considered a minor crime in Gotham?"

“That’s right. So at the beginning, the Gotham police couldn’t handle him because there were more murderers in Gotham.”

"and then?"

"Then...then one day, he went to the ACE Chemical Plant and set it on fire. The arson went wrong, the chemical plant exploded, and he was doused with gasoline, suffering burns to ninety percent of his skin." "Oh, I remember now."

Ma Zhaodi sighed. He thought of Garfield, whose flight armor had been ripped off by Man-Bat during the previous battle of the Laughing Mystery. His body was covered in burn marks, and his appearance was terrifying and extremely ferocious.

"It's a miracle that this person survived and didn't die from an infected wound."

"That's what the doctor said too, but we later realized that it would have been better to let him die in his hospital bed—it was after this incident that he designed a combat suit for himself equipped with a military-grade flamethrower and jetpack, and became the supervillain Firefly."

"He was taken care of by Batman?"

"Batman has dealt with all of Gotham's supervillains."

"No wonder he held a grudge. Now, instigated by the scarecrow, he ran out to retaliate."

"Hmm—I got your location. Okay, now get Jason out of town, and hurry up."

Barbara paused for a moment when Jason's name was mentioned: "By the way, what's Jason's full name? Is he your brother?"

"He is one of the children I helped, and now he is a teacher at the Gotham Orphanage Technical School."

“My name is Jason Todd,” Jason interjected. “That’s my name. Old Ma is one of my best friends.”

Barbara remained silent.

"How can you say 'one of'?" Ma Zhaodi retorted. "Who else is there?"

“And that big oaf Solomon, and everyone else,” Jason replied. “Well, Mr. Bruce could be included, too.”

“Bruce is no good,” Ma Zhaodi warned. “Be careful of him; he likes to kidnap little boys.”

"Ha, I'll definitely tell Mr. Bruce when I get back, and tell him that's how you described him—he said you're his good friend."

"I'm lucky to have been his friend and survived to this day.

Jason didn't notice that the entire communication channel had fallen silent; neither Barbara nor the two Batmen uttered a sound.

Meanwhile, Arkham Batman finally drove the Batmobile back to the Gotham Police Department's underground parking garage.

"Who taught you to drive?" Poison Ivy, who had just gotten out of the car, gave him a sharp retort: ​​"I almost flew off my feet."

Batman from Arkham ignored her and simply led her towards the police station.

"Poison Ivy?" When Sergeant Gordon, who was extremely busy, saw the two walk into the police station, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"At least tonight there's one less thing to worry about."

(End of this chapter)