Chapter 2234: The Battle of Twin Cities! (65)_1

Nick paced back and forth in front of the table like an enraged bull. Opposite him stood Coulson, Hill, and even Grant Ward. The latter had now become one of their own given the horrific battle he had just experienced.

It's not like Hydra had lost all its ideals; while most of them were just looking for a place to fit in, who wouldn't want a chance to succeed on their own merits?

But reality delivered a brutal blow; fighting the Court of Owls yielded spoils, but battling the extraterrestrial troops from the Apocalypse Star came at the cost of bloodshed.

Before they could even register what was happening, the more ambitious Hydra leaders from Europe had thrown them into combat. They suddenly realized they were still cannon fodder, but by then it was too late.

Still, at that moment, they managed to convince themselves that it was okay; the cities were sealed off, they couldn't escape, and fighting was for their own survival now. After all, these monsters wouldn't give them a chance to surrender.

But as the saying goes, one incompetent leader could lead to the death of thousands of soldiers. If these Germans knew how to wage war, how did the Little Mustache meet such a tragic end?

The German faction of Hydra, including the Red Skull, was Little Mustache's personal troops. They were closer to the Gestapo than a formal military force, without the proficiency to wage a proper war.

Their battle acumen was proven rather low, evident from their back and forth exchanges with the private militarized Court of Owls of an entire city, despite having German equipment and acting under S.H.I.E.L.D's official mandate, and even striking first.

One could be evil or foolish, but being both was detrimental. After the alien troops arrived, knowing they couldn't win, it would have been wise for them to retreat or return to S.H.I.E.L.D's fold.

But their greed for extraterrestrial weaponry and the prospect of broader territories got the better of them, and they began sacrificing their agents in the name of Helada's loyalty.

Grant Ward was among them; he was a typical Hydra agent, brainwashed into loyalty, self-monitoring others around him to maintain their devotion.

They were sent into battle without a clear understanding of their enemies. Unfortunately, devotion and fanaticism were useless in this war. The alien forces, unlike human soldiers, were ugly, horrifying, and endless, making all the sacrifices seem futile.

The morale of Ward's squadron lasted no more than three minutes before they were brutally slaughtered. Those who ordered them into battle could have coordinated their retreat, but chose not to, because they didn't care about these cannon fodders.

Any remaining loyalty would vanish in the face of such horrific realities. The first thing Ward did after surviving was to seek out Nick Fury.

At this point, the indulgence of the S.H.I.E.L.D. director was inevitable. Ward didn't expect Fury to be more than just another Hydra agent, but he thought Fury should not be on the same side as the foolish Germans. He assumed that the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be far better than those malicious and foolish NAZI remnants.

Nick was indeed furious now. He had tacitly allowed the Hydra leaders to come, thinking it wiser to seize the whole cake first before discussing its division. Yet he didn't expect a larger piece of the cake to drop from the sky, leaving everyone dazed and confused.

Despite all this, the pitiful performance of these foolish Germans had exceeded his expectations. A back-and-forth battle with the Court of Owls was one thing; at that time, they had ample opportunity to bite off every piece of flesh from this plump chicken. However, the addition of an alien army made things different.

The long-distanced Hydra leaders, due to their stupidity and selfishness, had wasted most of their strategic opportunities, leaving Nick with more mess to clean up.

The Queens District had been turned into a botched battleground, but fortunately, they still hadn't entirely taken control over areas across the river. Nick leaned over the table and pointed at a spot on the map, "Set up the defense first in the Bronx. Doesn't matter about the foolish Owls anymore. We need to hold off the aliens on the opposite bank of the river, or else we'll lose all strategic advantages."

Hill frowned at the numerous red spots on the map and shook her head, "I think this alien invasion is different from the previous ones. They have a purpose."

"What are they looking for, I wonder?" Nick pondered.

Behind them, through the conference room's large window, a thick column of black smoke suddenly rose against the skyline, transforming into a giant black whirlwind, and quickly darkening the nearby sky.

Nick abruptly turned around, and they all rushed to the window. His eyes widened in shock at the darkness that was swiftly spreading.

"What the hell is that?!!!"

"Nick, Nick!" Natasha's furious shouts came over the communicator, "Have you seen that?! What the hell is that?!!"

Nick gripped the communicator tightly, staring unblinkingly at the distant darkness, "I don't know, but we need to find out what it is. Hopefully, it's not another group of aliens."

It definitely wasn't another group of aliens, as the black whirlwind quickly revealed its true nature. One after another black owl appeared, spreading their massive wings over the starry sky; their razor-sharp talons tearing apart every living thing they laid their eyes on.

More talons followed the Dark Owls. They seemed endless in number, as if all the killers crafted by the Court of Owls over the last three centuries had come to life and were fearlessly plunging into the city. The sky and earth churned with darkness, rivaling even the alien forces of the Apocalypse Star.

The armies from the Apocalypse Star quickly noticed this, but for those still dealing with the Joker's interrogation, this was not good news, because this madman was starting to go even crazier.

"It's them, it's them..." The Joker was muttering under his breath, his eyes bulging as if he was about to spit them out of their sockets. He was continually struggling in the interrogation chair, stamping his feet and lunging forward, attempting to headbutt the table in front of him.

Mechanical soldiers immediately went over to subdue him, but no one knew where this sudden burst of strength came from. Even with the restraint of two mechanical soldiers, he managed to topple the chair.

"This doesn't make sense." Doctor Apocalypse Star, standing in a separate compartment, said: "During the preparatory phase of the brainwave connection, we adjusted his brainwaves to the calmest level. He shouldn't have such a strong agitated response."

"Just tell me the solution." The interrogator was quickly losing patience.

"I'm afraid he might need something to calm him down."

The doctor immediately went out and started operating. They brought a syringe, filled it with a unique drug, and injected it into the Joker. However, it took three full syringes before the madman finally quieted down a bit.

Finally, the interrogator could prepare to probe into his mind. When the brainwave connector was attached, he saw nothing but a vast dark void.

The Joker's consciousness was not within his body, the interrogator realized that immediately. Then, he delved into the Joker's subconscious and discovered a hole there.

The interrogator had no choice but to speculate if the Joker could have gone to find Batman. Darkseid once revealed that there existed this unexplainable connection between them, and they always seemed to gravitate towards each other.

Their great king seemed very confident in this connection, he cared more about Joker's interrogation status than the progress of the investigation in New City. This put the interrogator under immense pressure, forcing him to link every action of the Joker's to Batman.

If he could trace Batman through the Joker's tracks, it would be perfect. Even if he couldn't, he could always withdraw and think of other methods.

The interrogator chose to leap in.

He had never experienced anything like this before. After a long period of unconsciousness, he found himself in a new world. Of course, he didn't know at that time this was the Dreamworld, he could only tell that the lunatic ran in such a hurry that he hardly had time to clear his tracks.

With special equipment, the interrogator had been tracking Joker through this fantastically confusing world, till he discovered that the trail ended beneath an exit. It seemed like the Joker had run out from there.

Could Batman be above? The interrogator didn't know, but he decided to climb up and check.

So where did the Joker run off to?

The answer was still the Owl. Above this hole was the psychic realm of the Pelican Priest. Joker had found the Owl.

But in truth, what he found was not the Owl itself, but the dark energy summoned by the Owl.

Joker came to New City to investigate something about his own confusion.

For quite a while, Joker could feel that some of his memories were unreliable, as if someone was manipulating everything, constantly resetting the clock to the same point.

From his own problem, Joker realized that Batman might be facing the same issue. They were always like two sides of the same coin, as if looking in a mirror.

Joker cared more about what happened to Batman than himself. After previous investigations, he surmised that a mysterious dark force was tempting Batman into darkness. If his connection with Batman was so intimate, then this force might be changing him too.

The Owl, yes, it was the Owl. Joker had long known about the existence of the Court of Owls. This wave of war merely dug them out from underground. But Joker's genius intuition told him that the Owls were not capable of manipulating Batman. They were merely pulling the strings of the puppet.

So where did the hand pulling the strings come from? Who was the one holding the salt shaker, turning Gotham's Batman and Joker into what they are now?

After the outbreak of the dark power in the city, Joker immediately realized that the puppeteer had slipped up. So, he feigned frenzy and excitement, using the sedative administered by the interrogator to enter the Dreamworld, and located the Owl through this dream realm.

The moment he entered the world of the Owl's psychic energy, he felt the arrival of something. In the psychic realm of the Pelican Priest, a gateway was opened and a colossal entity turned its attention here.

Merely a glance from this dark behemoth, without thinking, produced an urge in Joker to leap through the gate.

Then, in the boundless darkness, he saw a Giant Dragon lurking in the shadows.