"Oh, my God!!! Rhino, tiger, rabbit, turtle, hedgehog, cat, gorilla, lion, elephant, monkey, beetle, dinosaur, watermelon, banana, apple, blueberry, gray clothes, robot, cowboy, police officer, construction worker, nurse, doctor, Mr.!"
"Stop fighting!!!"
"Enough! Stop it!"
Nathan crouched leisurely on the side, watching as the Ventriloquist had one stuffed toy on each of his ten fingers and ten toes, all battling with one another. He had also placed a large pile of toys next to himself, all joining in this bizarre battle of personalities.
Nathan could even see wisps of smoke rising from the middle-aged, balding man's head. It was like watching a human soundbox, with countless voices roaring from within his small body, a chaotic mess of noise and conflict.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
The Ventriloquist let out a scream as the fight among the puppets spread to his own body. A bird puppet on one of his fingers seemed to have convinced the other finger puppets to form a fist, which promptly punched Arnold square in the eye.
"Help! Someone save me!"
Nathan shook his head in disbelief, an expression of utter contempt on his face.
As expected, completely insane—beyond saving.
In the original timeline, when the Ventriloquist broke into the Gotham Police Evidence Lockup, he was able to smoothly select a police officer puppet to form a new personality because Mr. Sock-sock, a stronger secondary persona, was still there to keep the chaos in check. But now, without Mr. Sock-sock, all the new personalities were equally weak, with none able to establish dominance.
With them all being evenly matched, it was like running dozens of viruses on the same computer.
"Owowowowowow..."
As time passed, the personalities continued to argue loudly, while the Ventriloquist's facial expression became increasingly unhinged. His eyes started rolling in different directions, drool slipped from his mouth, and he let out incoherent sounds like "Aba-aba" from deep within his throat.
"..."
It was almost time to move on to the next stage of the treatment. If the CPU in his brain overheated and shut down, that wouldn't be good. Nathan walked over to the pile of hand puppets and found one... a Batman plush toy.
This was a cartoonish, baby version of Batman, complete with a pacifier in its mouth, dressed in a black onesie, and wearing a cloth diaper. It even had a fabric utility belt sewn onto its waist. The toy looked silly and adorable, the kind of thing little girls would love.
Nathan had installed a wireless communication module inside the toy, allowing him to remotely control what it said, giving him even more control over the Ventriloquist.
"You'll do!"
Nathan marched over to the Ventriloquist, quickly pulling off all the puppets from his hands.
The Ventriloquist lunged forward, clutching at Nathan's leg, smearing his tears and snot all over Nathan's pants. "Oh my God, what are you going to do to Rhino, tiger, rabbit, turtle, hedgehog, cat..."
"Get lost!"
Nathan forcefully stripped the middle-aged balding man, leaving him stark naked, not even sparing him a pair of underwear. Then, he piled all the toys that had been taken off onto the floor in front of him.
He took out a lighter.
"No! No!"
The Ventriloquist struggled wildly, so Nathan pinned him under his arm and set fire to the pile of stuffed toys.
Whoosh!
The toys, made of highly flammable material, quickly went up in flames. Even the toys that hadn't been turned into alternate personalities weren't spared. Nathan threw the remaining toys from the duffel bag into the fire as well.
"No..."
Arnold collapsed onto the floor, completely helpless. He was now completely naked and couldn't even pull off a last-ditch attempt to create a new personality by putting a sock on his hand.
"Arnold? Arnold?"
No response. The Ventriloquist was like an oversized, bald baby, bawling and slapping himself on both cheeks. "Take me with you, take me with you!"
If Nathan hadn't stopped him, he might have thrown himself into the flames in despair.
Nathan was satisfied with his reaction. He pulled out a bottle of fear toxin and sprayed a large cloud onto the pathetic old man's face.
"Cough, cough, cough... Ahhhhhh!!!"
The Ventriloquist stopped crying, instead convulsing violently as if in the throes of a seizure.
"See that? No matter how many new friends you make, I'll kill them all. Mwahaha!"
Nathan leaned in close, grabbing the Ventriloquist by the throat and forcing him to look into his eyes.
The Ventriloquist let out a scream so loud that Nathan thought he might puke up his own vocal cords. Although Nathan couldn't tell exactly what the Ventriloquist was seeing, he assumed that in Arnold's eyes, the whole world must be burning.
Fire. The Batman he feared most. The terror of having no protector personalities left, mixed with the effects of the fear toxin, had created a stew of pure terror.
The flavor was just right.
"Only this—this Baby Batman plush—will be your one and only friend, as permitted by me." Nathan shoved the plush toy into his hands. "It will carry out my will and watch over you at all times to make sure you're listening to me."
"Don't you dare throw it away! Don't you dare be without it! It won't make you kill like Scarface did—it'll make you follow my orders! It won't hurt you! I won't hurt you! This is all for your own good!"
Nathan shouted directly into Arnold's face, the force of his words and spittle sending the Ventriloquist into psychological shock.
Holding the Baby Batman plush, a single tear rolled down Arnold's cheek.
Then... nothing.
Oh no, did I break him?
Worried, Nathan slapped him twice. "Say something! Come on, smile!"
The Ventriloquist remained silent, staring blankly.
"Arnold, don't be afraid. As long as you listen to Batman, you won't get hurt," came a deep voice—one that was completely different from Arnold's own, but vaguely similar to Batman's.
A smile spread across Nathan's face.
It worked.
"Remember, from now on, you're Batman's dog!"
"Woof!"
Huh? Something seems off. Oh well... not important.
Nathan's attention was diverted by the silver text flashing madly in his mind.
[Warning! Warning! Anchor item detected!]
[Item acquired: Ventriloquist's Tear of Persona Destruction]
[Description: A tear shed by the Ventriloquist after the complete collapse of his secondary personalities. It can only be obtained through a series of immoral acts. You might be able to use it to summon a Batman from a parallel universe.]
[However, can anything summoned by such unethical means be trusted?]
["Yes, you've obtained him, but your morality is lost."]
["Was it really worth it?"]
Nathan looked down at his hand, where Ventriloquist's tears were slowly evaporating.
[Tear converted into Crisis Energy Unit: 10]
[Synchronization with Batman's memories is now possible]
Nathan's heart raced. His hack was finally working?
[The Protocol has been activated... now fully operational. Scanning for a new Batman persona... Number assigned...]
[You are now designated as Batman #52]
[Alfred Protocol initialization complete]
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