Joker's Choice
Harvey, who has already anticipated this, intends to continue. Because once he gives up at this time, it means that all previous efforts will be in vain.
Listening to Rachel, who was eagerly calling his name on the phone next to him, Harvey closed his eyes and shouted to encourage him.
"Aaaaa-!"
Immediately afterward, he took a deep breath and closed his mouth tightly. This is to prevent the acid from entering the body and causing more serious damage to the internal organs.
Soon, most of Harvey's body sank into the pool, and when half of his face was corroded by the acid, he grabbed the key with his already stiff and burned hands. The goal was achieved, and his whole body bounced out like a spring in an instant.
After a few laps, he lay on the floor and whimpered in pain. At this time, one of his arms seemed to be a bit shorter than before, bent and shrunk in front of his chest, the dark red flesh was exposed outside, like a skinless chicken.
The twisted and deformed hand clenched into a fist, and inside was the hard-won key. Half of the beautiful blonde hair was corroded, and the subsequent burning made half of the head appear charred black.
The eyeballs that survived with great difficulty hang in the middle of the empty eye sockets.
The flesh on the cheeks disappeared, leaving only a few thick tendons connected to the chin so that it would not be separated from the skull. The roots and gums were so brightly exposed, like a gnawing evil ghost.
On the left side of the body, from the forehead to the ferocious wound on the waist, the skin has long been corroded, and white bones are even exposed in some places. The acid remaining on it is still reacting with yellowing fine bubbles.
The heart-piercing pain made Harvey's nerves tremble. Bean-sized beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, touching the wound, and worsening the pain. But even so, he gritted his teeth, trying hard not to let himself cry out, and frequently let out a helpless cry.
Because, on the other end of the phone, his lover kept calling his name. But this call didn't last long and was forcibly hung up. Harvey's heart panicked instantly, and he immediately used his intact arm to support himself from the ground.
Then he staggered to the podium.
The last time he was on the podium, he was Gotham's unrivaled rising star.
Harvey pressed the center of gravity of his entire body on the table to prevent him from falling due to lack of strength, and then forcefully opened the few fingers that were inactive and extremely stiff. And took out the key, which was corroded to some extent by the acid, and inserted it into the keyhole with Rachel's name written on it.
"I'm sorry, Bruce."
It's not that Harvey didn't want to save Batman, but he had no energy.
The next second, he fell into a coma due to his injuries and fell directly beside the podium.
The unconscious Harvey didn't know that his choice didn't save his lover, and of course, it wasn't that graves lied. But someone chose him.
....
In the third room, the Joker, whose injuries had not yet healed, looked at a huge metal ball curiously. Now the reactor is in a half-open state, and there are circles of light strips all over the body. On the surface of the ball covered with rivets, there is a palm-sized display screen that is slowly flashing red light.
Below the display is a keyboard-like thing that can input numbers and letters. Bruce Wayne's fingerprints have been entered, just enter the password again, and this nuclear weapon that was transformed by graves will 'boom' and bring true peace to Gotham.
Among them, the transformation is very simple, just need to find a nuclear energy scientist who is greedy for life and fears death. And things like scientists are not rare things in Gotham or the DC universe.
What's more difficult is Bruce's fingerprints.
The last time graves fought with Batman, he wanted to learn a few stunts, but at the same time try to get his fingerprints. but It's turned out that Batman would wear gloves when going out.
graves, who failed, was not discouraged and quickly thought of another way.
As a disguise, Bruce often appeared in front of everyone in the image of a playboy, and many models and celebrities were his guests.
Coincidentally, graves also knew a famous lady, and the two had a close relationship.
Through her, let alone fingerprints, graves can get Batman's DNA.
Therefore, the reactor is now a nuclear bomb that can be detonated at any time. And the Joker was also keenly aware of this, and his intuition told him that the iron lump in front of him was very dangerous.
It seems that as long as some kind of password is entered, this thing that looks like a giant grenade will activate.
And on the wall behind him, a series of complicated passwords happened to be written.
Dragging his handicapped legs, the Joker turned around and limped to the wall, licked his lips, and said with great interest:
"Puzzle game, I like it!"
For the Joker, graves felt that he didn't need to give too much guidance, so he didn't prepare those messy things.
A string of numbers, and a bomb, are enough.
Because he always brings surprises to others. Just like now, anyone with a normal IQ would understand that the password needed to open the reactor is on the wall. But the Joker did the opposite.
After randomly pressing a few numbers on the keyboard, he left the reactor and went to study other things.
First, he stood by the wall and gripped the wall. Until the newly painted wall, subtracted a pit the size of a coin, and then left in anguish.
Then, standing in front of the code written in paint, he raved about how ugly the line was.
Annoyed, graves almost rushed in to beat him, but luckily he was stopped by Roman in the end. After wasting some time, Joker finally returned to the reactor.
Honestly, according to the password on the wall, he began to input one number at a time.
Just as he was entering the last number, he suddenly stopped.
"It's boring, it's not funny."
Then he grinned, lying directly on the cold floor, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
After a full ten minutes, he opened his eyes, stretched his waist, and slowly got up from the ground.
While yawning, he walked to the edge of the room. The gate in his room is different from other rooms. It is a password door. The conditions for opening it are the same as those of the reactor, just enter the password on the wall.
graves, who observed everything through the monitor, was not surprised by the Joker's choice.
Whether to open the reactor that can see the problem at a glance, or open the door that leads to nowhere, this is the choice he left to the Joker.
Perhaps not intending to die so inexplicably, the Joker chose the safer path.
But no matter which one he chooses, it will be a huge surprise for him.
Entering the well-known passwords one by one, the heavy gate slowly rose, and a brand new room appeared in front of the Joker.
As Bruce watched in horror in the other room, he showed a cruel smile. Facing the woman who was struggling on the hospital bed, he whispered: "Hello, beauty."