Chapter 2492: Cape Contest (11)

King Robin arrived earlier than anyone had imagined.

When darkness fell, the lights of Gotham were not as bright as before. The internal lighting of the glass curtain walls had almost completely dimmed, and the neon lights, like withering flowers, were sparsely lit. The city shed its glamorous coat, leaving behind a dark core.

A massive airship slowly appeared beneath the cloud-filled night sky, its hull bristling with numerous spikes, and on it was painted a gigantic smiling face.

The deafening broadcast that could be heard throughout boomed from above, and King Robin's shrill voice rang out.

"Gothamites, your King has come to fulfill this grand covenant. Now that Bruce Wayne is dead, I shall be the new King of Gotham!"

"All of you must obey me, heed my commands, and never dare to dissent against me, I..."

King Robin's voice grew fainter as he retracted his outstretched arms and slowly walked toward the edge of the flying vessel, leaning out to peek below.

There was no terrified fleeing, no expressions of cluelessness, no anger, screaming, bleeding, or chaos... only dead silence.

King Robin's eyes widened as he took a deep breath, barreled back onto the ship, and let out a frustrated screech, then two crazed Robins came rushing out.

They too were childlike, appearing to be just over ten years old, but they were extremely thin and hunchbacked, with pale faces and that same bizarre makeup, grinning maniacally. They jumped around on the spot, nodding towards King Robin, resembling some strange subterranean creatures.

"Go check the monitors, see what's happened to this city, where have all the people gone, why is no one here to welcome the grand arrival of the King?"

"What if I just shot him when he stuck his head out, what would happen then?" A man lay on the rooftop of a building opposite, wearing a jacket, a silver-white mask with only one red aiming device over one eye, adjusting his sniper rifle.

Next to him, Harley Quinn was also lying on the ground, propping her chin with her hands, saying, "That would be too boring. Other than proving he's stupid, it wouldn't show off your supreme shooting skills. If he died like that, people would only curse you as a bastard who kills kids, and your fame as Deathstroke wouldn't last."

"Makes sense," Deathstroke adjusted his gun mount and said, "But I really don't know who would be dumb enough to choose an airship as a mode of transportation when arriving in a strange city for the first time and stick their head out twice in less than three minutes."

"I can tell you're itching to shoot, but we have to wait a bit longer, we need to follow the script," Harley Quinn giggled.

King Robin himself rushed into the surveillance room aboard the airship, but the monitors that had been scattered about all indicated that the city had become a dead city, with almost no human activity.

The only footage captured with human presence showed people lying there motionless, as if they were dead.

"What's going on?! What the hell is happening?!" King Robin shouted wildly, "Land! Land quickly!!"

The crazed Robins went to control the airship, and King Robin, still unwilling to believe it, stretched his neck to look down. Suddenly, he heard a faint whoosh, and a bullet whizzed past his scalp, piercing directly into the most vulnerable lower half of the airship's envelope.

Pfft!

A small hole leaked from the airship's envelope, and King Robin turned around only to be sprayed in the face with the escaping air.

"Plug it up quickly!" King Robin waved at his subordinates, and the Robins hurriedly brought a ladder to seal the gap.

The shooter, Deathstroke, appeared surprised as he said, "It really is one of those primitive airships, eh? What was he thinking?"

"Stop thinking, let's go," Harley Quinn urged, pulling him downstairs, "Even if he's dumb, he should have seen you by now."

Indeed, King Robin looked around on the airship, but he didn't seem to possess the ability to deduce the shooter's location from the direction of the bullet. However, he began rummaging through his belt and soon pulled out a strangely shaped gun.

He picked up the bullet that had fallen to the ship's floor, loaded it into the gun, and fired. The bullet began to turn corners in search of its owner.

Deathstroke and Harley Quinn had just run downstairs, preparing to change positions, when whoosh, a bullet came flying at them from an extremely bizarre angle.

Deathstroke tackled Harley Quinn to the ground, and when she got up, she found that the bullet had made a sudden stop in midair and turned 180 degrees to shoot back at them.

"What a nuisance," Harley Quinn swung her hammer, and with a bang, the bullet was sent back.

"Let's hurry, we need to take care of that airship quickly, people on the ground are getting anxious, and we can't fail now."

Deathstroke and Harley Quinn climbed another tall building. Soon, they shot at the airship again, followed by a second and third shot. The poor vessel was soon riddled with bullet holes, leaking air from all sides, and began to plummet down shakily.

But King Robin had jumped down before the airship fell, his face twisted with fury as he searched for the audacious attacker of his airship. But just as he landed, a manhole cover burst open with a bang, thrown high into the air, traced a beautiful parabola, and then clanged onto the ground.

"Roar!!!"

A massive shadow roared as it leaped from the sewer, thumped onto the ground, and once the dust had settled, King Robin saw densely packed scales covering its body.

"Hmph, Killer Croc?" King Robin sneered dismissively, "You think you can stop my grand quest..."

He had barely finished speaking when another burly silhouette emerged from the street corner. It wasn't until he approached that King Robin could make out the densely packed tubes strapped to his back. He frowned and said, "Bane, huh? Now this is getting interesting. Is this the welcome party you've prepared for me?"

Just then, another figure appeared at the other end of the street. His black and yellow armor signifying his identity, King Robin uttered his name, "Deathstroke..."

Enemies were now slowly surrounding him from the front, left, and right, but King Robin didn't panic. He laughed heartily to the sky, "Yes, that's right, give me a warm welcome, hahahaha!!!"

The next second, his laughter ceased abruptly as another massive figure descended from the sky. Its body covered in spikes resembled undulating mountains, and its sharp, grotesque face revealed flashing fangs when it roared. First curling up like a slumbering Giant Dragon, it then leapt up, chest unfurling, and the roar's shockwave toppled the buildings before it.

Though smaller in size, Killer Croc roared and charged at him, but the giant beast casually swatted him aside. Deathstroke leaped into action, using Killer Croc's shoulders and the walls of nearby buildings to make consecutive jumps, landing two shots on the monster's spine.

Bane stood by, unmoving, but his fists were already swollen red, blood in his veins seemingly ready to burst. Finally seizing the moment when the creature turned, he landed a punch on its right shoulder.

The immense creature roared in pain and bent forward, grabbing Bane and hurling him away—bam! Bane sent King Robin and the surrounding buildings flying with him.

"Wait! Wait!" King Robin crawled out from under Bane's body and shouted, "Stop! Don't fight! I am the king of Gotham!! You can't do this here…"

Deathstroke performed a Hawk Rolling and landed nimbly, then shot out his grapnel to swing onto the roof of a nearby low-rise, avoiding the creature's massive fists. Killer Croc flipped backward, his bulky form surprisingly agile as he dodged another blow from the monster.

King Robin, busy with his declarations, didn't dodge a single one, first brushed by the creature's massive fist and blown away with the asphalt road, and then kicked directly in the stomach by another powerful blow.

"You damn..."

"Batman." The low voice of Deathstroke seemed to make the clouds hang even lower. King Robin, who was about to finish his curse, instantly realized who was being addressed. Batman? Was he calling for him? Surely not himself???

"I am not..."

"I never thought the day would come when I would stand against Batman in such a manner," Bane said, standing up and letting out a long, muddy breath, looking up at the giant monster, "Truly sad, Batman. I had not expected the former Dark Knight to choose to go along with the darkness."

"You all understand nothing." The monster growled deeply, "It is the world that has betrayed me!"

"Hold on a minute!" King Robin jumped up and shouted, "What are you talking about? How could you possibly be Batman?! What on Earth are you all fighting for?!"

"No one listened to him."

"You don't deserve the name Batman," Bane said while loosening his shoulders, "Then let us settle this today."

Immediately after, several more figures pounced into the fray, clashing with the creature.

King Robin's face was full of confusion throughout. Usually, he wouldn't waste so much time talking with these people—anyone causing trouble before him would simply be killed. But... Batman? He would have to wait and see and understand what was happening first.

It wasn't that he was afraid of Batman, but his visit to this place had a purpose. The Batman trapped by the Fifth-dimensional Imp possessed an exceptionally strong will and stubbornly refused to yield. Now, another monster calling itself Batman had appeared and was fighting alongside the criminals of Gotham. What was going on?

Well, he had to collect some information to report back. Thinking this, King Robin turned on his recording device, capturing the entire battle and providing his own commentary, "This guy is some unknown species of Batman. I don't know why he's gotten so big. Currently, his abilities seem to be limited to just brute strength, which is surprisingly significant. If you need a big guy who only knows how to brute force his way through, he wouldn't be a bad choice."

After he finished the recording, King Robin thought for a moment and left a surveillance device in place, knowing that the annoying man who liked to give orders would certainly want the full footage of the fight. It was better not to intervene rashly and to look elsewhere for the reason why the Gothamites were immobilized.

Oh, and another thing about Batman. King Robin remembered; he needed to monitor the situation with the Fifth-dimensional Imp as well.

In a secret chamber beneath Gotham, constructed by Batman, Arkham Knight, who was helping Robin to dismantle the protective gear, suddenly staggered.

Clang! The wrench in his hand dropped to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked.

Grimacing in pain and holding his head, Arkham Knight was assailed by several fleeting images: a familiar man whose skin on his back was torn open, a wound from the right shoulder to the left waist bleeding profusely, the pain almost obliterating his consciousness.

"Save... save him... save..."

He received terribly chaotic signals, unable to make out any complete words. More images of injury followed, wounds being opened and then healing, reopening until the vision settled on a pair of deep, bright eyes, still shining like stars.

"Hah..." Arkham Knight took a deep breath and, when he regained consciousness, he saw the ceiling of the Wayne Manor bedroom with Barbara, Robin, and Nightwing all looking down at him concernedly, Alfred standing a bit further away.

"Batman... Batman is in danger!"