As it turns out, aside from being a giant psychiatric hospital, Gotham is also a giant haunted house. No Gothamite ever needs to venture to amusement parks for haunted house experiences, they're doomed to be underwhelming compared to what's in their own backyard.
As a Kryptonian, Clark doesn't cope well with places devoid of sunlight. Upon entering the haunted house, he felt a certain creepiness. As the track car penetrated further into the darkness, he submerged more into the deep, sinister atmosphere.
Diana, being of the God Clan, obviously isn't afraid of ghosts. However, she was intrigued by the mechanically made spirit props, beautifully decorated scenes, and ever-changing lights in the Ghost Mansion.
But Bruce, well, he was just plain bored.
Firstly, Gothamites are quite used to dimly lit places. After all, the UV index in Gotham is only about half of that in other cities before the sun rises. Occasionally, even walking down the street at noon feels gloomy let alone in the early morning and at dusk. So, Bruce's eyes immediately adapted to the dim atmosphere of the Ghost Mansion.
No need to mention the dark atmosphere. Enter any building at night in Gotham, the ambiance is much more ominous and terror-evoking than here.
As for the beautifully decorated scenes, Bruce thought they lacked taste. Many of the furnishings in Wayne Manor were brought over by the first batch of European nobles who migrated to the Americas. They are indeed ancient. Plus, Wayne Manor is so big and Alfred also had to look after Bruce. So either hiring someone to clean and keeeping track of it all became a bit too much, and something always fell through the cracks.
Things like an old clock making strange noises in the night due to aging, creaky cupboard doors from missing lubrication, Gothic candlesticks flickering due to changed wax types, and curtains forming strange shapes after being dampened and dried, all these were pretty much standard in Wayne Manor. Bruce had grown up in such an atmosphere.
As for the mechanical props disguised as ghosts or causing ruckus, they were even less interesting. Bruce didn't even need to look twice to precisely analyze the mechanical structure behind it all.
Bruce almost fell asleep on the track car. He thought this ride would end just like this, but just when the train was about to reach the endpoint, Bruce suddenly felt a push on his left arm.
Bruce was sitting on the far left on the train. There was nobody beside him, so he turned to look at Diana and Clark on his right.
"Did either of you just push me?" Bruce asked.
Clark and Diana, who were in conversation, paused before answering in unison, "Push you? Why would we do that?"
Clark noticed Bruce pressing his left arm and quickly suggested, "Could it be that your arm brushed against some prop while the train was moving?"
He rushed over to roll up Bruce's sleeve and found no injuries, not even a mark. So Clark said with a cheerful tone, "You must have scared yourself. In such a dark environment, it's natural to feel as if something is watching you from all sides."
"Have you been taking your medication regularly?" Diana asked, then she looked around and added, "I don't sense anything strange near us, at least there are definitely no ghosts."
Bruce frowned—he was sure what he felt just now wasn't an illusion. Something had definitely touched his arm.
The hustle and bustle of the crowd heading towards the exit grew as the clock ticked closer to noon. The sun got more brutal, but fortunately, the breeze had blown away the few clouds that could block the sunlight. The cool mist brought by the wind from the lake eased people's discomfort, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief and seek delicious food.
The two sides of the Ghost Mansion had impressively tall trees planted for the occasion. A gust of wind shook down some of the soft leaves, which fluttered far away from their branches.
A man redirected his attention from the trajectory of spinning leaves to the stage. He exasperatedly started talking to the thin air, "Venom, you can't do this. The safety manual clearly says that it's dangerous to stick your arms out of the ride!"
"And why did your tentacle curve? You didn't touch the other passengers in the car, did you? You'll scare them!"
Inside Eddie's mind, Venom let out an evil laugh, "You didn't see that guy's face, he looked as if he had eaten dog feces, hahaha. He totally deserved it!"
As Eddie was about to continue speaking, he noticed a familiar figure walking past him with two other people. Eddie's eyes widened as he recognized that this was a contestant he had met in his last game.
"What happened? Venom, who is he? Any grudge between you two? That day you saw him and wanted to punch him. How did he offend you?"
After contemplating, Eddie asked, "And why didn't you either have a fight with him or swear at him? How does nudging him with a tentacle while on a haunted house ride count?"
With a disdainful snort, Venom replied, "It doesn't matter who he is. Just remember that he's the most superstitious person in the world."
"Hahaha, he will definitely keep thinking about this until the end of the vacation, until he returns to his world, until he gets home, until the end of time, and even the collapse of the universe..."
Standing under the sun, Bruce yawned, smoothed the wrinkles on his shirt sleeve, and said, "Oh well, it probably was a prop branch that hit me. Let's go buy some balloons."
As the shadows of the three slowly passed, a voice came from the other end of the street.
"I am certain that it was not a mechanical prop! Are you questioning my mechanical engineering skills?" Stark shouted at Steve, "The flexibility it displayed is not something these stiff haunted house props have. It's utterly... utterly..."
A leaf spun in the air and gently stuck to Stark's shoulder. Stark visibly stiffened at the sight.
Steve picked the leaf and held it out to Stark, saying, "You're just scaring yourself. It's just a leaf."
"But what I saw in the haunted house, that tentacle, it was definitely not a prop. It could have been...an octopus ghost, I don't know. The lighting in there was too dim, I couldn't see clearly."
As Steve continued walking, Stark followed him, gesticulating wildly as he described what he had seen.
"That thing emerged from the second row, from the shadows beside the seats. It gradually formed into a tentacle in mid-air and then touched the passenger in front."
"That thing was damn flexible, bending in the air. I swear it wasn't some Easter egg set on the seat!"
Steve, hearing this description, felt a sense of familiarity. Consequently, he said, "Flexible, squishy tentacles? Could what you saw have been a symbiont?"
"But why would there be..."
Stark choked off in realization. There indeed would be.
Most symbionts from Klinter Star had already arrived on Earth and were currently awaiting work at S.H.I.E.L.D. A few have gone to the Andromeda Galaxy and are cooperating with the mutants, and the rest intended to parasitize the agents.
The group of young agents Nick brought along had already accepted training in cooperating with the symbionts, with some of them having formally assumed their duties. Their cooperation had been rather harmonious.
Just as he thought of this, they heard a burst of fearful screams from behind. The instincts of the two superheroes made them instantly turn their heads, listening to the crowd erupting in excitement,
"Oh, my God, this is so cool! Did you guys see that? Those prop tentacles were actually fighting! It's like we're on the scene of a giant octopus fight!"
"I touched them, and they're soft and a bit sticky, completely different from those metal statues outside. The upgrades to this venue are fantastic!"
"Mom! Mom! I want to go again; I want to shake hands with those tentacles. They'll shake hands with me, right?"
Stark and Steve then watched as Nick led a group of young agents out of the exit, clearly just having finished a round on the amusement rides, with placid smiles across everyone's face.
The recently balloon-bought Bruce stopped in his tracks, as he noticed the squirming little tentacle on the shoulder of one agent. That thing was the same species as the black muddy blob he had encountered before.
Playing ghost in a haunted house?
A bold idea suddenly came to Bruce.
So Stark and Steve, who were still hanging around the balloon booth, heard the following from the tourists who wandered by after another round had ended.
"Did you guys see? that actor playing the bat was amazing. He swooshed down from the rooftop. It was so thrilling; he literally zoomed past right over my head!"
"Honey, do you think his bat-shaped cape is merchandise too? Maybe we could buy it at the clothing store on Main Street, U.S.A. Come on; let's go check it out."
"Where is he? Aren't actors supposed to interact with us? I have to get a picture with him, don't think I didn't notice his handsome chin."
Stark slowly narrowed his eyes.
Standing again at the entrance of the haunted house, Steve looked at Stark and said, "You don't necessarily have to beat everyone at everything, do you?"
"And besides, my weapon is a shield; my uniform is emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes, and you wear a suit of metal armor that's harder than any statue in there. how do you plan on dressing as a ghost and scare people?"
Stark's eyes darted – he had an idea. "Let's eat something first."
Neither of them opted for the famously iconic castle restaurant, but rather chose to seat themselves in a fast-food joint in Liberty Square.
Steve was actually quite against Stark's this choice, because he knew Stark liked fast food. However, the fast food he liked was custom-made, clean fast food. He was probably unlikely to appreciate genuine American fast food.
Stark excitedly shoots in an order for two double cheeseburgers, two large portions of fries, a large box of onion rings, two strawberry cinnamon pies and half a plate of white and red sauce. Then he fills two large cups up with coke from the drinks machine.
The two of them sat down in the restaurant, and Stark excitedly unpacked his burger, saying, "I am kinda hungry, and I haven't eaten real fast food in such a long time. Let's have a feast and steal the thunder here."
Having said that, he took a bite.
The very next second, he spat it back out.