The whole thing started with a barbecue.
When Red Hood and Red Robin arrived, Bruce and Jack had already finished eating, they didn't get to join them in the meal.
However, it was quite shocking that Batman and Joker were eating barbecue together, so Red Robin and Red Hood decided to investigate the matter together.
They knew it was pointless to go straight to Batman with their questions, and approaching the Joker would lead to similar results, so Red Robin suggested they speak to Gordon instead.
In their opinion, Chief Gordon was a trustworthy good man in any universe. Even though he was at the barbecue that day too, they figured there must be more to the story. It seemed best to approach the situation from that angle.
Barbara happened to be living with Gordon at the time, so they reached out to Barbara, and came to Gordon's office to inquire about what happened between Batman and Joker.
Gordon was infuriated at the mention of the subject because it reminded him of his rare royal flush, hindering his rhythm. It was the biggest card play he had ever encountered, with no precedent and likely no successor, and the Joker had ruined it all.
In the process of explaining all of this to Red Robin and Red Hood, the relatively young Gordon couldn't help but vent his frustrations.
Red Hood took it in stride, but the detective instincts of Red Robin kicked in. He instinctively asked Gordon for the details, and Gordon, who was also puzzled, joined them in probing the matter.
At the time of the event, Jack had enough cards to form four of a kind, but Gordon was one card short of a royal flush. Without discussing the details, the key point was that both needed a spade J, which Jack stole from Gordon.
Furious, Gordon cuffed the Joker on sight and even took him to the station. However, he later released him as his primary reason for doing so was his inability to find the spade J on Joker.
Despite the fact that even if he had found the card, he couldn't have done much to Joker, card thievery was not considered an illegal act anywhere, not even in Gotham. Even if Gordon had found another excuse to bring Jack to court, the prison was already full.
Red Robin, being a detective, insisted it was impossible. Gordon saw him stealing the card, and then saw him hiding the card on his person. He immediately cuffed him and didn't notice anything strange while escorting him back to the police station. How could they not find the evidence?
Gordon, Barbara, Red Hood, and Red Robin deliberated throughout the night. They reevaluated the scene and process of the play, and even asked Bruce for the surveillance footage of that street, but they could never ascertain the hiding place of the card by Jack.
While Red Robin was persistent and patient, Red Hood was not. He preferred to beat the culprit and force them to confess, so he went looking for Joker.
Red Hood never learns from his past, Batman knew it was necessary to be courteous before being aggressive, but Jack was the first to attack. Did he expect Jack would tell him anything after that?
Not only did Jack not inform him, but he also twisted right and wrong in his Joker-esque manner, stating that their original speculation was pointless because the poker game was wrong from the beginning.
Gordon's hand was never going to build a royal flush, and the spade J was supposed to be his. Someone was trying to steal his card, and that's why he hid the card.
Could Red Hood let that kind of manipulative talk fly? He immediately called over the others, and they began to go over the game from scratch together.
However, something seemed off as they revisited the gameplay. Red Hood and Red Robin then learned that the winner of the hand wasn't Gordon or Jack, but Bruce. Issues emerged in many aspects of the game, but the largest problem didn't involve Gordon or Jack—it was on Bruce.
Red Hood steadfastly adhered to the notion that it must have been Joker Jack's false reporting of information that led to errors in the replay, resulting in this situation. Red Robin withheld his judgment.
Despite their debate, they still faced a major conundrum—where did the spade J end up? Sadly, before they could figure it out, they returned to their respective universes.
All encounters are reunions after a long absence, but some reunions make your blood pressure surge. The Red Hood, being an impulsive character with a history of comebacks, became even angrier at the thought of the undiscoverable evidence, particularly when facing a Joker who was always slippery.
"You insisted that the card Gordon dealt in the third round was a heart K, but it was obviously a mistake on your part, yet you refused to admit it," he retorted.
"What do you mean I made a mistake?" Jack raised his voice, "This is why I'm saying he couldn't have assembled a royal flush in the first place, but my four of a kind was right in front of us. He framed me, claiming I stole his spade J because he was afraid that I would win after forming a hand. Why don't you understand?!"
"But your hole cards were clearly a heart 3 and a diamand 2, such small cards, why would you consider placing large bets? That means you intended to steal a card from the beginning!"
"Have you ever played Texas Hold'em? I didn't know what my hole cards were! If I wanted to steal a card, why didn't I call when I was the small blind instead of folding?!"
Jack stretched his neck and shouted, then pointed at Red Robin and said, "Let him tell you, how low are the odds of a royal flush? How can Gordon dare to bet big and raise in the first two rounds? That shows he is the one who intended to steal cards!"
"Moreover, you're a complete buffoon. Do you recall how many times I've said, Gordon said he originally wanted to assemble Hearts into a royal straight flush because he had a heart K. So, what are the odds of him getting a Spades royal flush? Go read more if you're uneducated!"
"A truck driver like you dares to mock me for being uneducated?!"
"At least I graduated middle school!"
Red Hood was smoked with anger.
Without saying another word, he rolled up his sleeves, rushed up and grabbed Jack by the collar. Jack was immediately dragged out of the spectator stand.
Red Robin and Nightwing dashed forward to split the fight, with Peter shouting repeatedly: "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! What are you doing?! Let him go!"
Within the Batman Family, Jason was undoubtedly one of the strongest in physique. While Jack was not short, he leaned towards the lanky side, making it easy for Jason to manhandle him like a small chicken, unable to free himself.
Just as Red Hood was about to punch Jack, who he had pinned to the ground, Red Robin hastily rushed over and grabbed his hand. Nightwing wrestled Red Hood's arms, pulling him back, while Peter took advantage of the chaos and dragged Jack by the ankle to safety.
But like two dogs separated by a glass door, they were unable to physically fight, but that didn't stop their verbal jousting. One side called the other uncultured brats while the other retorted that they were cheating scumbags when it came to card games.
Ironically, both Jason and Jack were originally from the lower ranks of Gotham, and their usage of slang elevated their verbal combat to a whole new level with a barrage of unheard and unimaginable vulgarities, as if they were releasing a chart-topping platinum album.
"Stop."
Batman's deep voice usually had a deterrent effect, but that was typically in an empty castle or dark alley, not in the midst of a heated rap battle.
The not-so-loud voice faded helplessly in the sea of mixed sounds, forcing Batman to step out of the sideline.
He intended to knock out the Joker directly and put an end to the fight. He was past the age of arguing right and wrong with criminals – silencing them first was the best choice.
But the problem was that protecting Jack was Spider-Man.
"Hey, sir, please don't come over," Peter stared at Batman, "You are on their side, right? But fighting is not the answer, we should all calm down..."
Peter sidestepped a Batman dart imbued with electricity. He sighed, shook his head, and said, "You just want to fight, right? Just as well, it's been a while since I've stretched my muscles."
"Wait, you guys..."
Before Owen, who had just rushed down from the stage, could stop them, Peter had already thrown Batman across his shoulder.
As Batman landed, his eyes instantly hardened on Peter. As Peter swung upward with a Spider silk hook shot to the above beam, pulling a Spider-Man style flying kick, Batman narrowly avoided it by a flip.
Recalibrating his center of gravity, Batman threw two more Batman darts. But Peter, agile as ever, executed a smooth sidestep, landing perfectly on the back of a chair, and narrowly escaped the darts.
Batman narrowed his eyes. This young man was not easy to handle.
Still, Batman from Arkham Knight was among the top fighters across all Batmans, second only to the Batman in Hell's Battle Armor.
Within the second that Spider-Man landed, a grappling hook streaked past him like a ghostly claw. Peter instinctively dodged to the right, but the rope looped right with him, tightly entangling Peter.
Just as Batman was about to press the button for Electric Shock, he saw Peter flex his arm, shattering the rope. Then with a flash of red light, Peter rose to the air.
"Are you Clark Kent?" Batman even managed a dry joke.
"I'm Peter Parker."
With a whoosh, another grappling hook aimed at Peter, accompanied by three Batman darts blocking his path. But Peter glided through the steel frame of the ceiling smoothly.
Unyielding, Batman retracted his grappling hook upon missing his target and flung himself upward, sending dozens of Batman darts sparking in his wake.
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!
With a thud, a spotlight fell from the front of the stage, shattering upon impact. A steel frame snapped from the side with a crash and landed on the seats below, sending dozens of chairs flying.
Owen, shocked, gaped at the aerial battle. As he was about to reach out to pull the two back down, a swift elbow from Red Hood, still wrestling with Jack, sent him flying under the seats.
"STOP!!!"
Along with Owen's roar, everyone froze. One by one, Owen broke up the fights and threw people to their places, then looked around at his wrecked theater in despair and sighed.
As soon as the freeze was undone, everyone gasped for breath, but all of a sudden, Jack broke out in hysterical laughter.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha! You have been tricked again!"
As everyone's gaze shifted to him, Jack took a deep breath, glanced around, and asked.
"Have you guys thought about where Shiller could have gone?"