I quickly changed into a magician's costume and stuffed my pockets with all the necessary gadgets, I jumped out of the room and immediately braked, as if hitting a wall, as I noticed my reflection in one of the mirrors in the corridor.
Magic is temporarily unavailable because of the scrap in his belly (at least, I really hope it's temporary), so we can forget about illusions for now. The question is, how does the image of a noble Knight of the Moonlight relate to the gorgeous scars that create a kind of creepy smile? Then it's easier to disguise yourself as the Joker, wearing a familiar and incredibly comfortable stylish purple three-piece suit and applying white makeup with red lipstick on your face. Ha ha ha ha, the Joker is cosplaying as the Joker to hide his true identity! Wonderful!
Seven minutes later, the mirror reflected some crazy psychopath with green hair, which I had purposely made a little brighter with the help of a color-changing potion (it was much easier to transmit an impulse with a thought image than to create even the most primitive spell). On her dead-pale face is a gorgeous smile almost from ear to ear, emphasized by red lipstick. I hope Harley isn't too offended that I used her makeup bag.
The spatial ribbons had taken their proper place on the inside of his many pockets, storing all the necessities, including his pistol and, of course, napalm grenades, the heavy cane resting pleasantly on his arm, giving him confidence. Ha ha ha ha, lips stretching into a smile against his will, bringing on the creepiness. It's just a perfect fit. Now I just have to make sure that Bats doesn't accidentally mistake me for another one of Hugo's escaped patients.
Before I left, I stopped by my faithful assistant to check on her condition. The blond cutie seemed to have recovered from the effects of the nerve agent, and was just sleeping. At first I wanted to wake her up to go after the mysterious boss who had sent Rezhdel. But, after brief deliberation, I decided to let her get some proper rest and recuperation by asking Abby to keep an eye on the house for a while. Without the security systems, the mansion was vulnerable to intruders (though it was only nominally protected before), so the dryad's ability to sense the plants around her would come in handy.
"I'm ready," I informed Gloomy Mouse, who was fiddling with the reel Cliff had brought in.
The superhero straightened up, giving me a challenging stare.
"Huh, there's a little problem," I fluffed my green hair awkwardly. - The nerve gas made my magic stop working properly, and I can't cast a normal illusion to cover my scars, so I had to take the path of least resistance. Hell, the city's full of Jokers and their "clones" now, so I don't think anyone's going to pay much attention to another one.
"That's even better. You can get within striking distance if you don't hesitate. Follow me," he waved his cloak and headed toward his car, parked at the south side of the estate fence.
As the superhero and I made our way to his four-wheeled transportation, he briefly enlightened me as to his hunches. I don't know how the Greatest Detective's brain works, but Mouse was able to connect the locksmith tool used by the fucking clowns in Blackport during the first pogroms, the oceanarium that was closed for repairs, and the traces of sea salt he'd just discovered on the ropes used by Hugo's former patient. I suspect there were other leads, but Gotham's chief defender was in no hurry to share them with me.
Swinging over the fence, our small team of only two people approached the parked Batmobile. Before disabling the alarm and unlocking the hatch, Bruce slowed down a bit and with some fright removed his mask, dismantling his scowling face.
"By the way, I almost forgot," he said, his perception blurring for a moment.
A second later I was sitting on the ground, trying in vain to breathe in the life-giving air after a powerful blow to the sun from my elbow.
"Huh... Ha... H... What the fuck?" I jumped to my feet and pointed the barrel of my revolver at the forehead of the calmly standing superhero, who had put his eared mask back on his head.
"That's for Selina," he replied grimly, making no attempt to move out of the line of fire.
Yeah, and come to think of it, I wouldn't like it if some leftist character spanked Harley or Babs, either. I gave the latex-clad man a hard stare and put my weapon away.
"I'd give you at least a punch in the jaw for something like that.
"As soon as my face heals, I'll definitely take your advice," my companion replied seriously, opening the hatch of the Batmobile through the computer built into the wristband. - Sit down.
"What about that asshole's transportation? I don't think he walked to the estate.
"I've already looked at everything. The gray sedan was formerly owned by Carlos Leder. Four hours ago, he was found dead outside his apartment. Someone gave him a Mafia-style Sicilian tie with a metal playing card with a joker symbol on it.
"Hmm... Can I keep this car? It's just that Grundy lost me and Harley a nice van," I asked, taking the passenger seat and buckling my seatbelt.
"Do what you want," he replied, shrugging indifferently, "I'm not your babysitter.
"Huh, then who is it?
Bruce turned his head in my direction, crushing pathos.
"A man who will stop you if you go too far. I haven't forgotten about Zsasz. I don't know how you pulled it off right under the nose of the task force, but I'm pretty sure you're the one responsible for his death.
With the last word, Bats pressed the gas pedal to the floor, and with a rumbling roar, the car sped off, heading for the Entertainment Mile.
Such was the strange name of a coastal amusement park located in south Gotham. A quarter of a century ago, it was really cool there. On a huge territory, occupying the whole island, monthly organized various fairs and festivals. Well, why not, if it was there that a huge fairground was built, and this I do not mention a lot of other entertainment facilities. An amusement park, one of the biggest movie theaters in the city, two rather large casinos, a cool nightclub, a real circus, a zoo and, of course, an oceanarium, where we are going right now.
Unfortunately, the place was in serious decline, and of the operating establishments there were only a zoo and a medium-sized casino, where they could kill a lucky customer, and the Excelsior Motel was still in operation, but to stay there, you'd have to be a real badass, or in trouble with the law. They didn't give a damn about any kind of document check, as long as you paid for the room in advance and didn't disturb the other guests.
Outside the window glimpsed the bleak urban landscape of the evening city.
"Bats, why did you ask me to be your partner in crime in the first place?" I asked, distracted from the meditation I'd been doing, trying to ease the pain in my stomach. - It wasn't like you.
"We're not partners. I can't be in two places at once, so I need your help to cover all the criminals at once.
"Um... Okay, "non-partner," why don't you share our next course of action?
"The plan is simple. You sneak into the oceanarium, maybe even under the guise of Rejdel, and disarm everyone present," he said sternly, stopping the vehicle at the intersection of Wilson and Croft Streets.
"What about you?
"And I'll attack the spider in its lair while you divert all attention to yourself. Here," the man handed me a micro-earpiece and a relatively large single-lens monocle. - The principle is the same as with the glasses. Use communications only when absolutely necessary: the enemy are not idiots and can intercept conversations or calculate your location.
After dropping me off at a shabby phone booth that the locals clearly use as a restroom, Gloomy Mouse's car continued on its way.
As soon as the Batmobile was around the corner, lightning flashed high in the sky, illuminating the black clouds with a bright flash. A few seconds after that, there was a rumble of thunder, and then a light drizzle, forcing me to get off the road, heading toward the oceanarium.
Where my target was, I was perfectly aware of, but that didn't stop me from further verifying the information by strapping on a high-tech monocle with an elastic band attached to it and displaying a map of the area on a miniature screen.
I didn't think much about the constantly working connection before, talking to Alfred or the girls, although I couldn't say that my opponents were able to intercept the signal.
Obviously, Bats has the coolest encryption keys, but for every tricky nut, there's a screw with a thread. All the more reason to remember that I'm in one of the many variations of the DC Universe, which means there could be a couple thousand geniuses out there capable of hacking expensive toys. It's also a good thing that someone incredibly smart and charismatic has come up with the idea of using only aliases while on night duty. Although, I'll be honest, then I was more afraid that someone might inadvertently overhear the conversation, and then just put two and two together, figuring out the real identities. But, no matter how difficult it was to decipher the received signal, it was relatively easy to figure out where it was coming from, of course, if you had the right equipment, and then it would not be difficult to quickly find the intruder and give him a warm welcome.
Now I understand a little bit why in some of the movies and comics Bats was not very eager to keep in touch, using it only to coordinate allies and for occasional consultations with Alfred. In addition, this approach saves a lot of battery power, allowing the technology to be used for a longer period of time.
I didn't notice that I had reached my destination. The oceanarium was not only impressive in its size, but it was also remarkable for its unusual architecture. In some places, for example, in the high spire, around which were planted stone gargoyles, one for each side of the world, there were obvious elements of Gothic, but at the same time the building itself resembled some high-tech factory with elements of high-tech style. I guess I got this feeling because of the huge dull-green glass towers that grew out of the ledge on the second floor, or was it because of the large round windows that looked like portholes? In any case, the building was fascinating in its monumentality and unusual combination of glass, steel and concrete.
There were some difficulties in getting into the territory unnoticed, because one not very smart person (I won't point my finger at myself) didn't think to bring a raincoat, so instead of a quiet and unnoticed flight from the roof of the nearest building, I had to struggle with a cane, climbing up the steep and slippery wall from the rain. It was good that I had a good scanner screwed into my goggles, which picked out several active cameras and allowed me to avoid early detection.
It was a bit high to get to the top by cable, so I got in through the vent on the outside of the oceanarium, which, for once, corresponded to all the canons of American action movies, because it could easily fit two not too fat Bruce Willis. Following the intricacies of the downloaded map, in the end, I got out almost at the very entrance... Yeah... It would have been much easier just to enter through the front doors, instead of crawling through the steel gut.
The building was suspiciously quiet, except for the buzzing filtering and oxygenating the few aquariums, which, by the way, had to be turned off; the oceanarium had been closed for repairs for over five days now, and all its inhabitants were to be relocated elsewhere.
Taking off the monocle, I slid leisurely along the walls, scrutinizing my surroundings. At first glance, there was no sign of anyone living here or preparing a trap. Fish swam calmly in the largest central tank, lending a serene air.
Oh, fuck, I hadn't noticed the elephant. The water had a greenish tint to it, and instead of fish, there were some weird mutant piranhas with creepy smiles due to toxin poisoning. Suddenly, a large shadow flashed in the water column, and soon, scaring away the rest of the small fish, a big shark with a "Joker smile" swam up to the glass. Its lips were even lined with red, making the grin even creepier. Hmm, was it due to a mutation or did someone put it on purpose? Ha ha ha ha ha, if the second option, I'd really like to see the process.
~Fshuh-fshuh-fshuh-fshuh~
Suddenly the sealed doors slammed shut behind us, and immediately the stomping of many feet sounded ahead and from the side passageways, blocking the escape routes.
"Bats, looks like I've been spotted...
Great, someone's jamming the connection. Although, looking around the metal walls and ceiling, maybe it's just not a good place to make calls.
"Cliff?" A surprised voice sounded behind me. - Where the hell have you been? And where's Arkham? I wondered why I'd been sneaking around, trying to make a grand entrance. The boss wouldn't like that shit.
"That's the mystery boss I wanted to talk to you about," I turn around sharply, staring at Michael and a bunch of thugs acting as cheerleaders, judging by their festively decorated locksmith tools and red-and-black tight outfits.
Brrrrr... This has to be the most disgusting cosplay on my favorite. I wish Nicholson and Rejdel had taken a cue from the First. That's who seriously approached the topic of cosplaying the incomparable me, even managed to get an original costume by robbing a bank, and found a normal assistant. But it's weird, I was expecting Two-Face or Scarecrow.
"First?!" Michael exclaimed, taking a closer look at me under the light of the dim lamps.
"Ha-ha-ha, right on, my young friend!" I decided to play along by spreading my arms wide. - In person. Okay, we're getting a little distracted. What were you saying about the boss?
"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo," my companion laughed, pulling a regular revolver out of his jacket pocket. - It doesn't matter at all," a grim grin came to his face, "because corpses don't need information. Finish him!
~Bah~
Oh, fuck! I barely dodged the shot, darting to the side and scattering stun bombs in the process.
Where are the traditional heart-to-heart talks?! I was outraged, but that didn't stop me from caning the nearest disoriented criminals. I could duck under the arm of a criminal, breaking it sharply at the elbow, and then lowkick the next one in the leg, ensuring a closed fracture. Now that was dangerous. A new shot performed by pseudo-Joker almost left a hole in one of the thugs, but I decided to pull him out from under the bullet. However, in the process his hand and jaw were broken, but he was alive.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Attack all of you, it's boring!" I encouraged my opponents, who were a bit cowardly when they saw the rapid massacre of their comrades. And why should it not be, if in the first start I already have more than eighty points! And I don't care that my insides are still twisting from the pain, if you don't use magic, you can ignore this stuff.
"You morons!" roared the main clown, aiming at my silhouette. - He's only one, attack!
~Bah~
Another shot almost put an extra hole in me again. I'm getting sick of this asshole. We're having a noble brawl here, not a dirty gunfight! Two more bombs went off under my feet, blinding the nearest enemy, and I was closing the distance with the green-haired man.
Dodge a flaccid uppercut, kick the bastard under the breath, and then throw him over himself, stripping him of his firearm.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! That's better!" I deftly twirl the weapon on my finger, looking at my defeated foe, with thin streams of water pouring over his head from the perforated aquarium.
"Fuck!" I jumped back, noticing a dark shadow rapidly approaching from the green slime.
~Dzang~
The shark rammed through the glass at full speed, and after one time it stripped my enemy of half of his body.
"I summed it up grimly, looking at the predatory fish that had eaten Michael's top and the panicked criminals scattering on the floor. - Bats wouldn't believe me.