American comics: Starting in Arkham, a system-based Batman

Chapter 115 Bricking the Joker into the Wall

"Gods?"

When Batman continued, the Joker's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no, little Batman, what nonsense are you talking about?"

He pressed his face close to Batman's, bending over at an incredible angle, "Let your dear old friend, your deadliest nemesis, Mr. Joker, see this."

He moved closer to Batman's face, his nose even poking the other's face, "Is there something wrong with your brain?"

"Strange, he doesn't have a fever." The Joker muttered to himself, then, seeing Batman glaring at him, he suddenly sat up straight, springing up like a spring. "That was just a metaphor."

"This world is certainly not a dream, but—this story is as fragile as a dream."

It's started again.

Batman didn't want to listen to the Joker's nonsense anymore, but the Joker showed no sign of stopping. Instead, he became excited as if he had an audience and began to perform on his own.

What is the most important thing in a story?

He stopped pushing the transport vehicle and circled around Batman, tiptoeing like a ballerina, before pointing at him and saying, "Hero."

"The villains," he said, pointing to himself, "the story only has meaning because of us."

He wanted to continue, but seeing Batman's indifferent expression dampened his enthusiasm.

"That's so boring."

The Joker curled his lip, abandoned Batman who was strapped to the transport vehicle, and walked straight ahead.

Batman had no idea where he was; he could only tell from his surroundings that it was a cave. The cave was vast and interconnected, with stalactites hanging overhead and thick stalactite columns standing throughout, resembling sticky saliva from open giant teeth.

It was very dark around us. Even though my eyes had adjusted to the brightness, I could only see a small area nearby. Looking further into the distance, all I could see was pitch black, like thick ink.

He tried his best to look up and see in the direction the clown was walking, trying to figure out what the other was doing.

The clown was walking in the same direction as his toes, which meant that the other party was originally planning to send him there.

In the distance, a pool of green water suddenly appeared on the ground of the cave.

The clown stopped in front of the pool, took out a vial of reagent from inside his suit, and poured it out.

The dark green medicine dissolved into the pool, quickly fading into a lighter shade of green.

"Alright! All the necessary conditions are in place." He smiled and met Batman's gaze. "Now we just need to wait for our little Bat to enter."

The Joker chuckled and pushed Batman toward the pool right in his sight.

What did you just do?

Batman questioned, his fingers, bound by restraints, slowly cutting the straps with a blade. His movements were stealthy, taking place in the Joker's blind spot.

After waking up, he tried to escape, distracting the clown with conversation at the right time, and then taking out a hidden blade from the seam of his glove.

The restraints were made of good quality and were very tough, but finding the right point of leverage and cutting them in the right way was not a difficult task for Batman.

He studied escape techniques while traveling to various countries to learn from masters, and he is good at escaping from various desperate situations. Even if the Joker ties him up, it is only a matter of time before he escapes.

The clown, oblivious to his actions, continued humming a cheerful tune, "It's a good thing that will free you from this world."

"This time, after waking up, I will truly be able to see a new world."

His tone was thick and slick, and Batman, without batting an eye, continued, "What is this so-called new world you're talking about?"

"Hmm—good question."

The clown fell into deep thought, but before he could figure it out, his attention was completely drawn to the pool. "Never mind, that's not important."

He exerted force with his arm and pushed the transfer vehicle forward sharply.

In an instant, Batman sprang up.

Even before the Joker exerted his strength, he noticed the opponent's movements, and the restraints between his wrists snapped after repeated friction.

His fingers, now free, didn't pause. He hooked the waistband's buckle with his other hand and yanked it open. His thigh muscles tightened inward with a sudden burst of strength, and as he bent over, the blade in his hand shot out. With a powerful pull, the straps on his legs snapped and came undone.

Batman seized the opportunity to grab the back of the transport vehicle, using the momentum to kick the Joker in the stomach, and released his grip at the same time.

As the transport vehicle was propelled into the pool by inertia, he had already flipped his palms and pulled his legs back, jumping to the open space to the side.

Caught off guard by the sudden kick, the Joker stumbled back several steps, forced to bend over and clutch his stomach. When he looked up at Batman, the relaxed smile on his face vanished completely.

"This was supposed to be just a game between us."

His face darkened, and countless eyes flickered in the pitch-black cave behind him.

The sharp, long claws attached to the back of his hand gleamed coldly. Batman dodged the first claw's attack, but the second one followed closely behind. By the time he noticed it, the blade had already pierced his abdomen from behind.

The primary purpose of the bat suit is bulletproof protection, while its protection against sharp and blunt weapons is relatively limited, and its claws are exceptionally well-equipped.

Batman couldn't dodge it and had to take the hit head-on.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw sharp claws coming from above, raising a long knife and stabbing down suddenly.

"boom""

The upper rock strata were suddenly split open, and large chunks of sharp, cone-shaped stalactites fell abruptly. The claws did not change their movements, and small pieces of rock fragments and fine dust filled the air.

Looking beyond the claws, through the white goggles, Batman could see the person falling along with the dust.

"Crazy Diamonds!"

Seeing that Batman was about to be attacked again, Zheng En had no choice but to put aside his original concerns about the stability of the rock formation.

With his shout, a pink and blue humanoid stand emerged from his body. In seven seconds, it repelled the claws that were unable to change their trajectory in mid-air due to their attack. In fifteen seconds, after several punches, the rock layer that had been torn open instantly recovered, and the stalactites and broken rocks that had been thrown out all returned to their proper positions.

Twenty-three seconds later, the blood that had splattered from the pierced internal organs and skin flowed back, and the cells, tissues, and organs all returned to their original state. The bat then disappeared through the pierced hole, as if nothing had ever happened.

Batman didn't know exactly what had happened, but he knew it was Zheng En's ability.

Without wasting any more words, Jung Eun said, "Take it!"

After throwing the blue freeze gun towards Batman, he rushed straight at the Joker, saying, "I've heard so much about you, but I'm not happy to see you."

This was the first time he had ever seen the Joker in person.

Although I had seen what the other person looked like in the video of the Bat Cave beforehand, I still felt an involuntary sense of urgency when I saw them in person.

This sense of urgency prompted him to intensify his offensive against the Joker.

"Oh dear, I almost forgot about you!"

The clown narrowly dodged Jung Eun's straight punch, then exaggeratedly clutched his head, "Oh dear! I was so busy playing with the little bat that I almost forgot about you."

Dodging the darts Batman hurled at him, he grinned and met Jung Eun's gaze. "How was your fun that day? Did you have any fun? Were you surprised?"

Dark green pupils stared intently at his face, and Jung Eun suddenly felt as if he were being watched by a snake.

"Very happy"

After being angered by the clown, he calmed down instead.

After learning that Batman had been taken away that day, he realized that the gangster deal at the port and the claws that appeared at the villa were just bait to separate him from Batman.

Hahahahahaha.

The clown laughed happily, "Me too! Two places, two choices. I didn't know which of you I would run into. It's so great that I happened to run into the little bat."

Jung Eun was not surprised by the information he revealed in his words.

Since the other party was able to inexplicably learn of Dick's existence, they could also obtain information about him.

"Why go through all that trouble? Just tell me a location, and Batman and I will come find you." Jung Eun closed the distance and threw another punch. "Like this."

The punch was dodged as expected, but the distance was close enough that the opponent was unknowingly within the range of Crazy Diamond.

You only get one chance.

Zheng En wasn't sure if his shooting range had been figured out. The claws he had encountered were either dragged back to Wayne Manor and thrown into the freezer, or were still sitting in Falcone as decorations.

He doesn't intend to get his money back yet; he plans to deal with the important matters first.

The Joker shouldn't know the limitations of his abilities, but there are just too many strange aspects to the opponent.

When Jung Eun came down, he had just demonstrated some of Crazy Diamond's abilities. He didn't dare to take any risks, so he didn't use his Stand immediately when dealing with the Joker.

He had sparred with Batman a few times, and in terms of physical skills alone, he was absolutely no match for Batman. The situation changed somewhat after the use of a stunt double, but after many encounters, Batman was able to evade Crazy Diamond's attacks with inexplicable intuition and senses.

Zheng En dared not underestimate the clown, and her goal was also to deliver a fatal blow.

Of course, I don't really mean for him to die right now.

Using the Crazy Diamond requires close-quarters combat, and if he actually killed the Joker, there's a 99% chance he'd be poisoned by the Joker's gas. He doesn't want to become something like the Laughing Demon.

Therefore, what he needs to do is Angelo Rock.

In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Crazy Diamond, after being defeated, the serial killer Angelo's body was mixed with and repaired by the rock, becoming the famous tourist attraction Angelo Rock.

The things Jung Eun did to the Claws were inspired by this.

When he wasn't familiar with the skills, he mixed a claw with a tree trunk, and then simply made minor adjustments to the claws' bodies to prevent them from healing and moving.

But such extra mercy is unnecessary when dealing with the Joker.

"I still prefer playing with you guys alone."

The clown shrugged, and before he could finish speaking, Crazy Diamond's fist landed on his face.

A speed of 300 kilometers per hour translates to 50-60 punches per second. The frenzied, diamond-like barrage of blows sent the clown flying against the cave wall.

The force was enough to knock someone unconscious, but Jung Eun wasn't reassured; he wanted to brick the clown into the wall.

But what he saw inside the other person's body changed his mind.

"What's inside your heart?!"

Jung Eun grabbed the Joker by the collar and questioned him, revealing that the act of bricking the Joker into the wall had only completed the waist and lower body. While disassembling and reassembling the Joker's body, he noticed a chip-like object on the Joker's heart.

The monocle's X-ray vision ability could only see through the human body when he needed to use it. He hadn't thought about seeing through the Joker's body before, so he hadn't discovered this ability.

Upon discovering this, he immediately changed his mind and left the other person with their normal upper body.

"Oh, don't worry about it, it's just a trivial little thing."

Despite being a prisoner and having his body altered into a bizarre form, the Joker managed to maintain a nonchalant demeanor. Jung Eun could tell that he genuinely didn't care.

"I just installed a heartbeat monitoring device on myself."

The clown grinned, "The moment my heart stops, this place will blast to smithereens—and of course, the people who lived up there will go with us. How lively!"

"You agree, don't you?" His speech slowed, and tiny red dots were faintly visible on the inside of his gums.

Before Jung Eun even realized what it was, she instinctively activated Crazy Diamond.

We can't let the clown get away with it!

The towering stunt double appeared instantly, but it was too late.

The red dot stopped flashing just before the fist struck his face.

A buzzing sound appeared in my ears and then stopped.

The explosion engulfed Zheng En in an instant.

Burning, painful, crimson light swept before his eyes and then seemed to vanish into ashes, engulfed by white light. Before Zheng En could recall anything from this similar experience, the pain from the explosion on his skin, muscles, bones, and internal organs washed over his brain.

The burned skin felt a stinging pain just from being exposed to the air; the eardrums were torn apart and all I could hear was a dull buzzing sound; every breath felt like being scraped by a blade; my internal organs felt like they were being squeezed; the dull pain was so intense that it almost seemed to overflow from between my bones.

It hurts so much.

Jung Eun couldn't even summon Crazy Diamond; the Stand is a manifestation of mental power, and right now he can't even concentrate.

Even with the physique of the Killer Crocodile, he still suffered greatly from the high-intensity bombs at close range.

He was unlucky; the place where he interrogated the Joker happened to be planted with a large number of bombs. As soon as the Joker committed suicide, his heart stopped beating, and the bombs exploded.

The violent shockwave blasted him six or seven meters away, and from where he was standing, those six or seven meters were right in the vicinity of the pool.

Zheng En opened his eyes from the excruciating pain, and the water in his field of vision was filtered through a light green hue.

He hadn't regained consciousness yet; his eyes were open, but he just stared blankly upwards. Pebbles kept falling and hitting the pool, but he didn't flinch when hit. The destruction and self-healing within his body were happening simultaneously, and he couldn't spare the attention to respond to the outside world.

Her body plummeted like a falling stone, Jung Eun's short hair floated in the water, and her vision was blurred.

In the dim light, it seemed as if someone's figure was swimming toward him.

The figure was dark, but it inexplicably made people feel at ease.