Dong——Dong——Dong——
The dull chime echoed over the gloomy mansion, a flock of crows flapped their wings against the inky clouds before the moon, landing huddled on the deep brown, decayed roof.
In mid-conversation, Stark, Shiller, and Strange suddenly felt a chill creep over them, sparking shivers down their spines.
This was not normal. Besides Stark, neither Shiller nor Strange were easily frightened by ghosts. Nevertheless, they felt an indescribable chill gradually crawl up their backs from the cold ground under their feet, as if firm, cold hands had taken hold of their necks.
Shiller's gaze became blank for a moment before turning bleak. Strange's face darkened too, the twinkle of magic starting to glitter in his eyes.
Shiller buttoned the collar of his shirt under his sweater, tugged his trench coat tighter, and put his glasses in his pocket. Strange furrowed his brow at the sight of him, but considering the current situation, he held back his words.
The persistent and eerie atmosphere lingered in everyone's minds, like a type of emotional magic that could not be dispelled. A step forward led to mindless rage, and a step back yielded debilitating fear.
Right when the ambiance had turned spine-chilling, another figure flashed past the back of the queue at the entrance.
Shiller frowned slightly, lowered his voice, and called out, "Bruce, Bruce Wayne."
The figure paused, circled the entrance, and walked over. As expected, it was Bruce who hadn't left the amusement park. He paused as he sensed the tense atmosphere.
"What's wrong?" Bruce asked.
"The atmosphere in the park is being influenced. How do you feel about it?" Shiller asked.
Recognizing the look in Shiller's eyes, Bruce understood that a specific personality trait had surfaced. Therefore, he did not deviate from the topic or ask counter-questions. Instead, he answered directly, "I've indeed investigated a few things earlier. But... the atmosphere is being influenced?"
Bruce looked around, glanced up at the sky, then stepped on the ground beneath his feet before he said somewhat confusedly, "Where is it being influenced? What really should I be feeling?"
"Don't you feel the air here is exceptionally chilly?" Stark briskly rubbed his arms, shivering with cold. He was really feeling quite chilled.
Though he was fully dressed, with a thermo-regulating system in his battle armor, the icy sensation was persistently haunting him. What was even scarier was that the chill seemed to somehow permeate the completely sealed armor. No matter in what direction Stark turned, the cold wind always hit the back of his neck.
Shiller and Strange had similar experiences. The morbid personality trait was not used to utilizing the gray mist, so each time it surfaced, the gray mist went dormant.
But, this time, the gray mist hesitated before departing, saying, "I feel like something's not right. Something powerful enough to affect me is observing us. I think you should be careful."
Shiller was highly vigilant after hearing this, but Bruce seemed unaffected. Could this be due to him being a visitor from another universe?
"Yes, it is indeed quite cold and humid here, but the environment isn't much different from Wayne Manor." Bruce touched his shoulder with his other hand and said, "The light is dim, and the breeze is chilly. Still, it's weather as usual in Gotham. I'm pretty used to it."
Bruce looked up at the moon obscured by dark clouds, sighing, "What a beautiful sunny day it is."
In an instant, the two from the Marvel Universe began to have some disturbing notions about the environment in which Bruce lived.
Stark elbowed Shiller beside him and said, "You're right about the multiverse travel plan. I can't imagine what kind of city one must live in to call this kind of weather a sunny day."
Hardly had he finished his words when a gust of cold wind blew past them. Their hair and coats were blown about by the wind. Turning towards the wind direction, a spine-chilling sight met their eyes.
The phantoms in the Ghost Mansion had resurrected.
The resurrection of the phantoms was actually part of a program in the Ghost Mansion, initiated by the chime of the clock, just as it was happening now.
Phantom after phantom, shimmering with a cold light and ethereal fire, rose from the tombstones. The howls and wails of ghosts reverberated throughout the mansion. There were subtle sounds from beneath the ground, as if something was about to break through the soil.
Shiller paused, yelling, "Let's get out of here."
He sprinted towards the flagstone path of the queue area at his fastest pace, the others following closely behind. The moment they stepped into the queuing area, countless skeletal hands broke through the layer of soil, and skulls, zombies, and phantoms...
Lots of undead creatures crowded the mansion. Echoes of lament reverberated through the garden, with various ferocious monsters displaying their sharp teeth and claws, winged tree monsters, and gravestones cracking open to emit eerie laughter as they slowly moved in their direction.
"What the hell is going on?" Stark backpedaled a few steps, eyes locked onto the approaching creatures.
Upon closer observation, the creatures didn't appear very realistic. They more closely resembled four-to-five-foot-tall cartoon figures. However, the gloomy ambiance gave the impression that they were stuck in a terrifying calamity of the undead.
Even Strange, who had encountered countless monsters before, felt his hand gripping his magic wand turn pale. At this point, Shiller turned to him, obviously wanting him to try using magic.
Strange let out a sigh, focused his mind, and a golden circle appeared in his hand. A beam of light shot out instantly.
With a bang, the flower beds in the garden burst, dirt flying all over. The surrounding skeletons exploded upon impact, but before everyone could sigh in relief, the skeletal structures warily reassembled. The headless skeleton, swaying left and right, reached out and picked up its head that had rolled aside and reattached it to its body.
This scene would obviously only occur in a comedic animated movie, which left everyone speechless. As they say, the toughest enemies to handle in this world are those from comedic cartoons.
Family movies indeed don't feature overly frightening or bloody scenes. However, that doesn't mean dealing with villains in such movies is any less difficult than handling monsters or killers from horror movies.
Monsters and killers in horror movies may indeed be difficult to deal with, but they can't stop superheroes. Even if the powers of the rules prevent superheroes from defeating or killing them, escaping is always possible.
However, the villains in family cartoons are not the same. Aside from stopping you in all sorts of absurd ways, your escape attempts would certainly be riddled with unexpected incidents. Now, someone could slip and fall because of a waxed floor being overly smooth, dancing a clumsy tap dance before hitting the ground.
To avoid such a scenario, Shiller stopped Stark in his tracks, who was planning to fly off and attack with his hand cannon.
Obviously, such modern weaponry wouldn't be effective in a situation created by a cartoon. More likely, the cannon would misfire, giving Stark a face full of smoke, or perhaps his armor would just disassemble, turning into fireworks while Stark falls on his butt and sees stars.
Strange's magic may be a bit more effective, given that it surpassed the usual norms. Though his aim has been off, in line with the cartoon's narrative, it allowed the skull to amusingly find its head, not too out of character.
However, if he were to attack using his wand, it'd be too much like a real wizard, akin to something out of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. It'd likely be heavily restricted by the rules.
Moreover, the trio presently are all affected by the ambiance. Stark's the most affected, becoming somewhat angry and aggressive. Strange, due to his dual cultivations of the mind, is slightly better but still can't figure out the full extent of the situation.
Shiller's morbid personality traits are very much in line with his original characteristics as a loner. Communicating through a barrier, they have a weak perception and response to emotions. In this instance, this barrier has become a shield allowing him to filter most of the atmosphere's effects.
As for Bruce, due to his years living in Gotham, his senses to dark and depressing atmospheres have been blunted. The ambiance within the Ghost Mansion is affecting him, but only slightly.
Consequently, the primary forces in the battle fall on the shoulders of Shiller and Bruce. The damning part is, they are both quite serious.
Shiller's morbid personality gives him a lower perception of the atmosphere, implying his response to upbeat moods is also weak. Expecting him to engage in family comedy isn't realistic. He can indeed do bloody comedy like Joker's, but it wouldn't pass Disney's standards.
As for Bruce, as Batman, can he even be associated with the term 'family-friendly'?
Bruce's condition has indeed improved a little, but as mentioned before, he's inherently not a lively person, and while he has a fraction of humor cells, they are mostly dark humor. There are instances where even the Batman family, who admire him the most, can't hold up to his level of joking.
From this perspective, this situation seems unsolvable, further proving DC is indeed too dark and fails to understand Disney's humor and joyfulness.
While Shiller was considering his options, a sudden bang sounded from the front yard followed by splattered dirt. A shadow rose behind the big tree, then a roar was heard.
"Coward! Didn't I say we'd go on three?! You can even climb up those high buildings in the Zombie Universe, yet now you're afraid to jump?!"
"Are they the same thing?!" A man's voice replied: "I told you this amusement park isn't right. If we'd returned to the hotel earlier, you'd be dreaming of chocolate balls by now!"
"I don't dream, you moron... Wait, what's that? Am I seeing things? Why is that tree moving?"
"How can a tree move?! Venom, stop changing the subject..."
"I didn't... Ah!!!!!"
Bang!
The trio in the queue looked down to see Venom, who was struck and sent flying like a baseball by the tree man's thick arm, drawing a smooth parabola in the air before landing heavily on the ground.
"Who hit me? Who did it?!" Venom, who had gotten up, roared with his fanged mouth wide open.
At this moment, Shiller suddenly realized that the Venom movie was also rated PG-13.
Though it's the same rating as Iron Man, Captain America, and other superheroes, he's not a true hero, barely passing as an anti-hero, and is a non-human monster with an appearance that could easily frighten children. Yet, he managed to get such a rating.
What does this suggest? It indicates that as long as Venom tones down a bit, he could completely be suitable for families.
Just then, Venom located the culprit who'd thrown him and let out a deafening roar, preparing to pounce on the tree man right away.
Then another bang was heard as Venom's forehead hit the top lintel of the entrance gate, causing him to fall heavily to the ground again with three stars and two birds spiraling around his head.
"Beep-"
Venom swore, but his profanity was mysteriously muted by a force, too quickly for Shiller to prevent it.
The next second, a mysterious light radiated from all the monsters in the park and they grew to twice their size.
Now everyone knows the rule of this game. Any action not fitting the style of family-friendly cartoons will result in the monsters being strengthened. At this point, they have to seriously question, why are they so serious?