"He's a smart boy, isn't he?"
The annoying voice laced with laughter echoed again, Batman saw the Joker emerged behind Peter's chair, holding his face with his hand, and said, "I like him. He made the right choice—to abandon Batman, and even to betray him."
"What a wise and great decision. Even after he closely observed you and had joined the Batman Family, he still didn't change his choice, you know he is not stupid. He is too smart."
"He recognises you. Yes, you, Batman. You can't give anyone a proper ending—the real way to usher Gotham into a bright future is by annihilating you."
"You know, I'm telling the truth, like the warning of a close friend, and you still can't let go of that bit of mercy, which has turned you from a real hero into a coward."
"Don't run away anymore, Batman. Listen to how Judah betrayed Jesus. Do these people really need salvation? Do they truly deserve to be saved?"
In a split second, Batman found himself back in that dark little cabin, hearing Jason's call once again.
"Batman, where are you? Why aren't you here to save me? ... Batman, have you forgotten me? Has someone replaced me?"
"It hurts...I'm in so much pain… Nobody would save me, nobody would save us. Batman, you knew it all along, but you didn't care, you only cared about your long-term plan."
"Those killed by criminals, those violated by criminals, you never care about the pain every wandering soul on Gotham's dark streets goes through before they die. You forgive every criminal for them, but do you have the right to do so?"
"For us to have a tomorrow, we have to live through tonight. Perhaps your work will improve Gotham... but we can't wait anymore, I can't wait."
The faces of Jason and Peter gradually melded together. After extreme fear, there was extreme anger. Batman found his hand gripping a sharp object.
It's a sharp Batman dart.
"No... no..."
His own voice became weaker, another voice echoed, "No ... wake up ... wake up, human! Wake up! Don't attack ..."
This unfamiliar voice made Batman start, and for a fleeting moment, he recovered his senses.
The only thing he did in that instance was to press the button on his belt and unlatch the locks on Nightwing and Peter's seats.
"Go..."
Subsequently, his consciousness sank into the boundless darkness. Amidst the endless fall, the only thing Batman could hear was the Joker's raucous laughter.
The moment Peter was released, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, finding himself unable to muster any strength to stand up.
Confused, Nightwing quickly helped him up, but Peter, as if going crazy, pushed him away and stumbled towards the exit of the Batcave.
The rain in Gotham was getting heavier, and it was the darkest moment before dawn.
The cold rainwater made Peter slightly sober. As the adrenaline wore off, he stood under a tree, adjusting his body condition.
When he returned to the Batcave, Nightwing had already left. Batman was nowhere to be found. Peter opened the door to the Batcave Jail and released Poison Ivy.
Noticing that Peter was not in a good state, Poison Ivy didn't ask any questions. She just looked at Peter's pale face and said, "I think you have learned your lesson now, boy. I told you before, Batman is not as simple as he seems."
"If I told you he could easily eradicate all the crime in this city, you might find it incredible. But he really can. The only reason he doesn't is because he wants to save everyone."
"He can't accept the fact that there are naturally bad and mad people in this world. He believes he can find a way to truly save everyone here. He believes that one day it will happen."
"It's hard to say who is crazier between Batman and supervillains. All I can tell you is, if you are not crazy enough, you should just leave. This is a battle between madmen."
As Peter knelt on the ground, his heart felt like a ticking bomb, the rhythm of its beating was irregular and seemed hallucinatory—he couldn't discern it clearly.
What was causing him to gradually lose his self-perception was the incessantly pounding Spider-sense which he had already grown accustomed to because it had been reverberating for too long.
The hand Peter was supporting himself on the ground with gradually clenched tighter. Poison Ivy's words were like the last piece of a puzzle, finally giving him a mysterious inspiration beyond the clues he had rationally thought of.
"Death has never been the best revenge..."
Poison Ivy took a step forward, her hands cupping Peter's face, and leant closer to his lips, trying to discern what he was muttering.
"Death has never been the best revenge, but I have a way to turn it into a blessing..."
Under the slightly fearful gaze of Poison Ivy, Peter's eyes began to shine, flashing a strange and insane light.
"Damn it." Poison Ivy tossed Peter's head aside, as if he were dangerous garbage. After cursing, she said, "I told you, you should have left earlier. This city would drive anyone mad. You're affected."
Yet, Peter altered his previously stiff posture. With a fierce jump, he sprang to his feet and strode towards the entrance of the Batcave.
"Where are you heading? Wait for me."
Poison Ivy clearly didn't want to stay alone in the Batcave, so in the end, she left with Peter.
Peter quickly opened the car door, sat back in the driver's seat of the truck, stepped on the gas, and the truck rushed out.
Poison Ivy was shaken by the sudden acceleration, let out a scream, Peter responded without turning his head, "Sorry, but I'm short on time. When you know what you're supposed to do, even a moment's delay is unbearable, right?"
Poison Ivy detected the excitement, even hyper-excitement, in Peter's tone, which made her swallow nervously.
Poison Ivy, having seen much of the world, knew very well where this level of excitement comes from, and what it often leads to.
Nonetheless, a little worried, she asked, "Where are we going? What are we going to do?"
"The Police Department. We're heading to the Gotham Police Department."
The puddle by the side of the road splashed up a huge wave, wetting the base of the electric pole, threatening to bring it down like a mast on a sinking ship.
Batman, standing on the rooftop, saw several Jokers advancing on him, but he just stood there, saying nothing.
"You think you can manipulate the fear in my heart, Joker, but that's exposing what you're really afraid of."
"There are a lot of eggs in the bat's nest. He feeds them diligently, protects them eagerly, and when they hatch, one departs, two disappear, three betray," Joker sings a familiar tune and says, "That was all because of me. You can only thank me."
"I locked one of your 'birds' up, plucked all his feathers, carved my name on his face, you should think about the pain he endured, all because of me! All because of me!"
Batman's clenched his fists slowly.
Suddenly, a metallic armor-clad figure appeared within his field of vision by the edge of the rooftop.
"Listen to me, old man, you've made the most stupid decision in the world," said the Arkham Knight, in a deep voice. "A cuckoo has infiltrated your bat nest, and you aren't its father."
"Peter Parker. I don't know where you found him, but all this was his doing. You better smarten up."
The Arkham Knight's voice startled Batman into comprehension; staring at his visor, he suddenly felt that their hearts and minds were connected.
"Remove your mask." Batman said, "Face me with your true features. Do you dare not?"
"It is you who do not dare. I just came to point out another stupid decision you made, as stupid as the last one."
With that, the Arkham Knight turned and jumped from the roof, but to his surprise, Batman did not pursue. He stood in the street, watching Batman's figure disappear into the distance.
He figured Batman might have noticed something strange about Peter Parker even later than him. He was probably off to confront that kid, and he had to be there, he had to see the look on Batman's face when the dire consequences of his foolish decisions became evident.
And so, one after the other, they rushed towards the Gotham Police Department.
Inside the Gotham Police Department, Poison Ivy stared blankly as Peter rummaged through the archives room, and asked, "What in the world are you looking for?"
"Do you know how the Joker died?"
Poison Ivy shook her head, then sighed and said, "That was another astonishing farce."
"Tell me about it."
"The story is long... alright, let me cut it short. It was all Joker's fault. He concocted this poison called... Titan Poison, probably intending to defeat Batman with it. Obviously he failed, and somehow, he ended up infected with the poison himself."
"By the time Batman threw him into Arkham Asylum, he was already poisoned. I'm immune to all toxins, so I don't know how powerful this poison is, but I looked at Joker through the observation window once when he was infected, and he was already weak by then."
"Anyway, Joker died eventually. Harley Quinn told me he died from the poison, but when I was caught by Scarecrow, he told me that Batman was also poisoned. Joker had infused his own infected blood into Batman's body."
"I thought so," Peter sighed, "I noticed a few times earlier in the surveillance footage that Batman had lost control, which didn't seem like symptoms of an attack of the fear gas."
"Found it." Peter picked up a file from the file cabinet, dusted the cover, and said, "This should be the detailed record of that incident."
With the file in hand, Peter did not linger. Together with Poison Ivy they left immediately, Batman arrived just a step too late.
On the way to their next destination, Poison Ivy was driving, Peter was in the passenger seat carefully reading through the file.
The details matched Poison Ivy's account. However, in the police records, in the end, Joker's body was left by Batman in front of Gotham Grand Theater, the site of their final battle.
A big fire cremated Joker's body, this infamously criminal offender finally turned into ashes.
The rain was getting heavier, wind-driven drops pounded on the body of the truck. It was like a crazed death metal symphony reaching its crescendo.
"What's next?"
"Revive the Joker."