Chapter 1692: Prisoner of the Batcave (Part 3) (Patreon)

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Stark Industries’ equipment was, as always, reliable. With JARVIS assisting in custom configurations, the projections appeared on the screen with remarkable speed. Yet, what they displayed was far more disturbing than anyone present could have anticipated.

The main perspective seemed to be that of someone walking through a desolate, nightmarish mental hospital. The corridor lights flickered erratically, and the pitch-black night outside the windows added to the eerie atmosphere. Strange noises echoed from upstairs. As the view tilted slightly, a pale hand holding a large butcher knife came into sight.

How such a scene, which looked like a prelude to a murder, came to be projected was a story that began a few hours earlier during a heated argument.

Constantine had been herding the children out of the cramped basement room like a flock of ducks. The adjacent room was slightly larger, but even so, it quickly became evident that not everyone had Batman’s patience when it came to handling kids. While not everyone was as enthusiastic about surrounding themselves with children like Batman, neither were they as capable of managing them.

People often blamed Batman for communication breakdowns with Robin, assuming he should bear responsibility as the authoritative figure. However, teenagers are notoriously unstable and lack self-control; even to a professional psychologist, dealing with them is far more challenging than communicating with adult psychiatric patients.

“Bruce Wayne, why the hell did you summon that god? You stole my victory!” Harley screamed at Little Bruce. “I could’ve chopped that damn puppet master into a thousand pieces!”

“What do you know?” Little Bruce snorted coldly. “I did it to prevent them from succeeding. The knowledge in my head and that book belongs to me. How can I trust anyone else to keep it safe? So of course, I had to find a way to take the power and the book away.”

“But you should’ve let me kill that puppet master first! I was supposed to finish him off! That idiot—worse than a pile of rotting garbage! I would’ve chopped him into mincemeat!”

“Enough! Both of you!” Barry shouted hysterically. “What the hell are you even doing?! Why mess with all this mystical nonsense?! If you’d just stayed in line, we wouldn’t be here!”

Instantly, Harley and Little Bruce turned their gazes toward Barry. Harley crossed her arms, tapping her foot on the ground and narrowing her eyes. “Look who’s talking, you outsider. You made a pact with that puppet master yourself, and now you have the nerve to act like the good guy?”

“Barry, what’s going on? Why is the god who attacked the students inside you?” Little Bruce asked sternly, fighting back a headache.

“I was just trying to keep an eye on you all!” Barry shouted in frustration. “Besides, how was I supposed to know it was him...?”

“You seriously couldn’t smell the stench on him? Forget it. Get out of my way, and let me cut him down—I’m going to turn this tasteless fool into ground meat!” Harley lifted her knife and marched toward Barry. But before she could reach him, Little Bruce stepped in her path, blocking her. “How can we trust you’re any safer? Didn’t you also borrow power from some unknown entity? How do you know you’re not compromised?”

“The forbidden knowledge you’re researching is even more dangerous, isn’t it?” Harley retorted.

“That’s all part of the plan...” Little Bruce insisted.

“Oh, so your plan involved getting trapped in an unfamiliar space?” she shot back.

The three of them were soon caught in a circular argument. The same issue that had previously troubled Bruce, Clark, and Lex was now plaguing this trio—Barry and Little Bruce shared some moral similarities, but Little Bruce and Harley were both Gothamites, while Barry and Harley were united in their opposition to Little Bruce’s forbidden research.

All three were relatively young, with at least two of the boys not yet past puberty, which made their arguments especially shrill. And with two quick-witted, fast-talking debaters in the mix, Constantine soon felt like he was surrounded by a cacophony of a thousand quacking ducks.

“Stop it! Just stop arguing!” Constantine finally shouted.

“Mind your own business and get lost!” Harley snarled, baring her teeth at him. Constantine, undeterred, rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward—only for Harley to casually swipe her knife, leaving a deep gash on his arm. He yelped in pain.

“Aren’t you all arguing over magic? I think I can—”

“What do you know about magic?” Little Bruce gave him a sideways glance.

“At least you should try to unite—”

“Do you think I don’t want to?” Barry’s voice rose again. “It’s them who are impossible to reason with!”

In the end, none of them could outargue the others. Little Bruce finally waved them off with a huff. “I’m done wasting my time with you. I need to find the next door to return to my space. There’s still so much knowledge I need to research.”

With that, he climbed up the ladder out of the basement room. Harley, still seething, waved her knife in frustration. “That arrogant bastard! I don’t have time to play around. I need to go and slice something up!”

Before long, she too stormed out. Barry stamped his foot angrily. “Who wants to be stuck with these lunatics? I can find my own way back!”

After the three had departed, Constantine, Jason, and Tim let out a collective sigh and turned to look at Helen Stark, who wore an equally exasperated expression.

Harley stormed away from the basement, still brimming with rage. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Gray mist quickly enveloped it, and the Book of the Dead reappeared. Harley glared at the black tome and said, “Are you still there? Those two have lost their minds. It looks like we’ll have to take action on our own.”

“You need to calm down,” a line of text appeared in the swirling gray maelstrom.

“I know,” Harley groaned, clutching her hair, her brows furrowed in anguish. “But I just can’t control it! I’m losing it!”

Currently, she was consumed by a frenzied excitement and a violent urge that had been stirred up within her. While it was easy to ignite this desire, quelling it was near impossible. So far, the only method Harley had found to deal with it was to actually kill something. Yet she didn’t want to waste her time committing murders and evading Batman’s pursuit.

The key issue was the latter—having already encountered this universe’s Batman, Harley knew all too well that Bruce Wayne here was not someone to mess with. One wrong move, and she’d be thrown into prison. And she still had important things to accomplish.

Harley seemed desperate to get an answer from the Book of the Dead, so she had to complete the tasks assigned by the book. This meant investigating Nyarlathotep, who had been manipulating Little Bruce. But now that the entire Space had shifted, all her clues had been wiped clean, forcing her to start her investigation from scratch. Where would she find the time for a murder plot?

In the end, Harleychoice returned to the stronghold she had set up with Female Joker before leaving this Space. Unsurprisingly, Female Joker was sprawled out on a pile of cash, sleeping soundly.

“Wake up, wake up, I’m back!” Harley let out a long sigh. Seeing Female Joker crack her eyelids open just a sliver before shutting them again, Harley said helplessly, “Mom, get out of bed! Your daughter’s returned from her adventure!”

Female Joker shot up instantly and hugged Harley tightly, stroking her hair repeatedly as she said, “Oh my God! You have no idea how worried I was while you were missing… Wait, did you go back to that Space’s Joker? I can feel your blood practically boiling—don’t tell me you smashed someone’s head to bits. He was watching you do it, wasn’t he?”

“Don’t bring that up.” Harley snapped in frustration. “I floored the gas pedal, but the tires got caught. I feel like I’m about to lose my mind.”

“Oooh, that sounds serious.” Female Joker pushed Harley back a bit, looking her over and said, “I can practically see your little brain frying. That’s not good. But while you were gone, something fun happened. Want to hear about it?”

Harley, looking exhausted, sat down on the pile of cash and replied half-heartedly, “Sure, but my brain’s a mess right now. I might not take it all in.”

“I guarantee you’ll be interested.” Female Joker gave a sly smile and said, “You should know the city’s been in total chaos lately, right? Guess who’s the angriest?”

Harley glanced at Female Joker, her quick mind instantly providing the answer. With a flicker of interest, she said, “Could it be the original group of super criminals?”

“That’s exactly who,” Female Joker giggled. “Especially those Batman tossed into Arkham Asylum. They’ve been planning a mass breakout. A few escape artists managed to get out—like that mud-faced guy. But guess what? He tried to dive into Midtown and almost got blasted into the Earth’s crust!”

Harley couldn’t help but chuckle, though it only made her feel more agitated. She quickly covered her mouth, making a pained grimace.

“The ones who escaped all got sent back, and the crazies in Arkham are losing their minds. They think the U.S. and China started a war.” Female Joker snickered.

“Now they’re organizing some kind of ‘united meeting,’ planning to take Gotham back from the gangs. They believe the city belongs to them and Batman—not to some lousy gangs. Hugo came to find me a few days ago, but his boring speeches made me lose interest, so I turned him down.”

Propping her chin on her hand, Female Joker continued, “Also, you should know, that FBI agent Amanda still hasn’t given up on Gotham. Using the city’s current sanctions as an excuse, she’s probably trying to rally Gotham’s villains. And those idiots in Arkham are planning to use her, so they’re hitting it off.”

“Boring, boring, boring!” Harley’s voice grew louder with each shout. She jumped down from the pile of cash, waving her arms. “Why do I keep running into these boring things lately?!”

“I was just thinking of infiltrating their little gathering to entertain myself,” Female Joker pulled Harley close and said, “I think the image of a single mother will definitely tug at the heartstrings of those benevolent crazies, don’t you think?”

“Whatever, I’ve got nothing better to do. Let’s go.”

As Harley and Female Joker were on their way to Arkham Asylum, Little Bruce, who had also just emerged from the basement, saw a nimble figure swinging down from above and landing smoothly in front of him. A voice full of energy rang out:

“God! It’s so late, why are you wandering the streets? Where are your parents? How could they be so irresponsible, letting such a young child roam the streets of a dangerous city for so long?! They could get charged and lose custody rights!”

“Come on, I’ll take you home. No, don’t worry, New York… Gotham’s friendly neighbor is here to help!”

Hahaha, here we go again!

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter =>Chapter 1693: Prisoner of the Batcave (Part 4)