"If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done."
- Thomas Jefferson
...
The prison truck had turned into a self-destructing truck since it was full of explosives.
It exploded instantly as it rammed into the Blackgate Penitentiary gate.
The powerful explosion destroyed the gate of Blackgate Penitentiary, tearing it into pieces and sending flames soaring into the sky.
When the blast happened, it killed several guards inside and outside the gate. Their screams were cut off before they could do anything.
"Oooh, oooh, oooh..."
The explosion at the gate triggered alarms and woke up the entire Blackgate Penitentiary.
"Intruders! Intruders!"
A lot of well-trained prison guards grabbed their weapons and ran as fast as they could to the prison gate.
However, just as most of the guards were concentrating around the gate, another explosion sounded from the opposite direction.
From the sound and slight tremors in the ground, it seemed that this explosion was even stronger than the one at the gate.
....
Meanwhile, deep inside the cells of Blackgate Penitentiary
A lot of prisoners raised their heads, their eyes shining with excitement. The explosion outside was loud enough for even the imprisoned prisoners to hear.
Blackgate Penitentiary had been attacked, and it seemed to be quite a large-scale assault!
Over the years, there had been many escapes and help from Blackgate Prison, and it was filled with criminals who couldn't be controlled.
However, there had never been an attack on Blackgate of this strength before.
Boom!
At that moment, a loud noise came from near the prison cells.
The powerful impact of the explosion caused a huge hole in the cells' walls, shattering them.
A man wearing a black skull mask and a sharp suit walked in from the outside.
Behind him stood a dozen or so henchmen, all wearing masks of various shapes.
"You audacious thugs, the scum with no morals, and the most disgusting person in Blackgate Penitentiary, listen up. I am the Black Mask..."
...
Batman usually doesn't do things he would regret.
He always considers the worst possible scenarios and prepares thoroughly to minimize risks.
But anyone cannot foresee every possibility.
Today, the unexpected happened.
Batman never imagined that Roman Sionis, whom he thought he knew so well, would experience such a massive change.
As he gazed at the Blackgate Penitentiary engulfed in flames before him, Batman couldn't help but clench his fist.
About half an hour ago, Roman Sionis... no, he now called himself Black Mask.
He didn't know where he gathered over a dozen followers, but he managed to get a bunch of weapons and explosives.
Then he launched an attack on Blackgate Penitentiary and set free all the prisoners inside.
No one was expecting the actions of the Black Mask, including Batman.
In the past, Batman knew that Roman Sionis probably had major mental problems and that Roman was behind the dangerous cosmetics made by Janus Cosmetics.
However, he never thought Roman would turn into Black Mask and do something so crazy.
At first, he thought that Roman's most likely move would be to work with the Penguin, since Roman was openly hostile towards him and the numerous deals they had.
So it makes sense that Roman should have gone to the Penguin for safety after losing his friends.
Batman had intended to follow this lead and discover more secrets about the Penguin.
However, Black Mask's sudden appearance collided with all of Batman's plans.
It wasn't clear what the Black Mask had done with the over a thousand prisoners who had been taken from Blackgate Prison.
He might have recruited them, or there could be something worse.
If these thousands of dangerous criminals were let loose to roam all over Gotham, the destruction would be unimaginable.
Batman would not allow this to happen.
"Penny One! Robin! Batgirl!"
Batman issued a warning to his three members of the Bat family and an order that must be obeyed.
"Do not do anything else from now on. Stay focused on keeping an eye on the different areas of Gotham! We won't stop until we find every Blackgate prisoner!"
Batman knew that this night would be a long one.
On the other side, a huge group of people hidden at a Gotham dockyard were led by the Black Mask.
There were hundreds of them.
In fact, a large crowd should have been very noticeable and easily found.
But for some reason, they were able to avoid most of the surveillance cameras, which made it impossible to really track them.
These several hundred people under Black Mask's command had just been released from Blackgate Penitentiary, and they were now all wearing masks.
The Black Mask recently told the prisoners of Blackgate that he would make things difficult for Wayne Enterprises and made them an offer to join his cause.
The majority of prisoners in Blackgate Prison aren't like the patients in Arkham Asylum. This is true both in terms of their mental illness and the people they hate.
The super criminals in Arkham usually prioritize Batman as their number one target of hatred.
The criminals hated Batman immediately, even if they were already angry at other enemies when they first started committing crimes.
However, most of the inmates in Blackgate Penitentiary primarily felt fear towards Batman.
They weren't going to fight Batman, and even if Batman caught them, they would probably curse at him, but they couldn't get revenge on Batman.
Their biggest resentment is towards the wealthy people in Gotham. When Black Mask tried to get them to join him, a lot of them chose to do so.
One of the smaller groups decided not to join Black Mask and disappeared somewhere in the chaos.
The Black Mask doesn't care about Batman's hunt and is only focused on one thing, it was killing Bruce Wayne and destroying Wayne Enterprises tonight.
...
On the other side, the Gotham FBI Office
There was a figure that moved through the ventilation ducts without making any noise.
'I thought the security in FBI facilities would be very tight. I didn't expect such big ventilation ducts, and they didn't even set any traps inside. What a pleasant surprise!'
Dean thought oddly to himself.
It could be said that the ventilation ducts in this FBI field office were the largest he had ever seen, and his size made him feel quite comfortable crawling inside.
He had heard that Wayne Enterprises' team had helped in building this branch office. He couldn't understand why they designed it this way.
Dean had no idea what day it was, but on the same night that Black Mask launched an attack on Blackgate Penitentiary, he also began his plan to infiltrate the FBI.
It was just an amazing coincidence—almost too unbelievable.
...
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