Chapter 123: Man-Bat

Do you always want to live hiding behind the mask you put up for the sake of others? You're you, and there's nothing wrong with that.

- Ymir (Attack on Titan)

...

In a large iron cage, Francine Langstrom looked exhausted with no visible injuries. She had been sitting on the ground in a daze.

When Batman burst through the door, the loud noise startled Francine.

She quickly stood up from the ground and grabbed onto the iron bars of the cage, looking towards the door with a mixture of fear and pity in her eyes.

But when she saw Batman and Robin's faces, a sense of relief washed over her.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Langstrom?"

Robin asked with concern, looking at Francine trapped in the cage.

He approached and expertly picked the lock of the cage.

"Thank you,"

Francine spoke gratefully as she walked out of the cage.

"Where is your husband, Kirk Langstrom? Did he lock you up here?"

Batman asked as he approached.

"...You're here to arrest Kirk, right? Well, I guess it makes sense. His current state must have drawn attention."

Francine replied after a moment of silence.

With these words, Francine practically confirmed Kirk's identity.

"So, is it really Kirk Langstrom who's been attacking humans as the bat-like creature in Gotham recently?"

Robin found it hard to believe, even though he had mentally prepared himself for it.

It was quite critical to think that just a serum could turn a normal person into a monster, even in Gotham.

The most typical mutants in Gotham currently are Poison Ivy, Clayface, Mr. Freeze, and Solomon Grundy.

If we were to include the Demon's Head of the League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul, then he would also be an example character.

The above-mentioned people all have a common feature.

Their physical mutations were rare events that were difficult to replicate.

Mr. Freeze's mutation was even negative, as he needed to be in a low-temperature environment to survive, and he had no additional special abilities.

As for Ra's al Ghul's extraordinary physique, it was possible to copy it through the Lazarus Pit, but he pretty much had all of that water.

Only two or three top-tier people inside the entire League of Assassins had the privilege of taking a dip before their deaths, while the rest could only dream of it.

However, Kirk Langstrom's serum was different. It was a carefully developed product that he had spent many years working on. He must have confirmed that it was stable enough for him to dare to use it on himself.

After all, he was only deaf, not missing any limbs, and there was no company pressuring him to produce a finished product.

If he ran out of funds, he could just change careers; it wasn't an extremely urgent situation.

In other words, the birth of the Bat Monster was highly likely to be a stable event, or at the very least, a high-probability event!

Considering the worst-case scenario, the "Bat Monsters" might be able to be mass-produced!

This is a very frightening possibility.

"Although I've been locked up here and cut off from the outside world, I know that my husband must have done something terrible out there. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. But I want to say..."

At this point, Francine hesitated a bit but ultimately continued speaking.

"My husband...he's not a monster! He's just...not in his right mind."

"In the past few weeks, Kirk attacked six people—two dead, three serious injuries, and one minor injury."

Batman said it expressionlessly.

"I'm not trying to justify Kirk's actions. I just want you to know that he didn't do those things willingly."

Francine sighed.

"Just about a week ago, Kirk finally created that serum. I told him to be cautious when using it, but he was confident that nothing would go wrong and injected the serum directly."

She began to explain the process of the birth of the "Bat Monster" to Batman and Robin.

"At first, the serum worked normally. His hearing impairment was indeed cured, and he was able to hear my voice for the first time since we got married. However, just when we thought everything was going to be fine, Kirk suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable."

"He turned into a...human-sized bat-like creature, perhaps due to the influence of bat DNA. His physical traits and behaviors began to resemble those of bats, liking darkness, hanging upside down on the ceiling, and having an uncontrollable bloodlust."

Francine spoke with a distressed expression.

"Sometimes he is very sober; sometimes he falls into an insane rage, destroying things out of control. There isn't even a single piece of furniture left here because Kirk destroyed everything. During his madness, he calls himself 'Man-Bat.'"

"Man-Bat? That sounds like the reverse of Batman."

Robin muttered the name quietly to himself and glanced at Batman.

"Kirk locked me up in this cage to prevent me from getting hurt when he lost control."

Francine continued.

"I see, he's been struggling between his humanity and his animal instincts. No wonder there are so many claw marks in Robinson Park's woods. Those could be Kirk releasing his bloodlust. Perhaps he was seen in a wild state and attacked someone for the first time."

Robin rubbed his chin as he spoke.

"After killing someone, Kirk's animal instincts consumed his humanity. It got harder for him to control himself, and he started attacking people more often.

Batman interjected. "Mrs. Langstrom, do you know where your husband's serum is? Is there any related research material here?"

"No, there's nothing left here. Everything was moved to his lab. The location of the lab is..."

Flap!

Flap!

Just as Francine was about to reveal the location of the laboratory, the sound of flapping wings suddenly came from outside the house.

"Oh no, Kirk's back!"

Francine's face paled, and she instinctively turned to Batman and Robin.

"You need to leave quickly, or it will be dangerous later..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she stopped herself because she realized that the two people in front of her were vigilantes.

"Don't worry, if your husband goes crazy, we'll handle him. Don't forget, we are the dynamic duo of Gotham."

Robin patted his chest and smiled confidently.

"Robin!"

At this moment, Batman whispered.

Robin immediately adjusted his expression and followed Batman outside.

As they walked halfway, a huge dark figure with wings walked in, carrying a bag in his hand.

"Francine, I brought dinner. It's your favorite cheese pizza. Uh... I was going to pay, but you know it's not good for me to go inside and order... Why is the door broken?"

Slam!

The pizza fell to the ground.

"Why are you two in my house?"

Looking at the two unexpected visitors in his home, Kirk Langstrom's expression turned from surprise to anger.

...

patreon.com/Sothisq

You can find up to 20 advance chapters at my patreon.