Exposing the essence

"So, here we go. One mutated shark, one mutated shark, one mutated bottom half of a half-Joker," I thought aloud, looking at the performance. - One, two... Hmm, twelve persons of gangster appearance... Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, damn, that's fucking stupid! Did you see that? Did you see that?" I roughly lifted one of the moaning bandits, forcing him to look at the fluttering predator that was unable to breathe on dry land. - This is pure suicide! You could tell he was just sick of living since he went against me!

"Whatever you say, Mr. Joker," the man replied, wincing at the pain in his broken leg and constantly slipping his gaze to his more capable companions, who had no desire to intervene, glaring at me fearfully.

"Ha-ha-ha, you don't get it! It's retribution, Earth's help, karma, after all! One hundred percent!" I waved my free hand emotionally, showing the extent of my worries.

Gloomy Mouse is gonna blow my mind.

"This isn't the first idiot to die like this. Another one of your friends with the ear-to-ear grin lost his head! Uh," I snapped my teeth, "that's it. And you don't go near dangerous plants. Understand?

"Yes, sir.

"Ha-ha-ha, you're so boring," I looked around at the people standing nearby. - What the fuck are you looking at me for? Get out of here if you don't want to follow this idiot.

The bandits seemed to have been waiting for me to give them the go-ahead, as they immediately began to scatter.

"Take your friends with you! I shouted back at them, but they only sped up, quickly disappearing from sight.

"Ahem... That was awkward," I looked at the man in the tight outfit I continued to hold in my arms. - Okay, get some sleep.

A sharp jerk of the head, and the body collapsed, heading for the land of Morpheus.

*** An hour before a surprise feeding ***

"Sir, are you sure Ry... Ahem... Joker can handle this alone?" A polite voice came from the Batmobile's speakers as the hatch closed, cutting off the sounds of the street.

"I'm sure.

"But there's bound to be people waiting for him there. You literally sent him into a trap.

"Oracle, I didn't hold back a blow then," the man replied sternly.

"Oh...

"Exactly," the driver nodded, turning onto Capullo Street. - It took him less than eight seconds to catch his breath and jump to his feet instead of going to a hospital bed with a fracture. Ordinary people... Hmm, the Joker was certainly no match for him now.

"If that's so, you don't think he could go down a dark path again," said Alfred cautiously. - First Victor Zsasz, then Mr. Rejdel... You know very well my position on the first person, but it might seem too easy to go down that road.

"I looked around the greenhouse carefully. I don't know what happened to him again, but then he was really just trying to escape. A head bitten off by a plant is just an unbelievable coincidence," Batman sighed heavily. - As for Victor, there's a lot of subtlety in this case. You've seen the chest camera footage yourself. The glass couldn't have fallen on its own, but even if Jay did have something to do with it, it didn't kill anyone. Victor chose his own path, throwing himself at an armed SWAT team.

"Sir, shouldn't we turn on the comms for coordination?" the butler asked, watching through the cameras as his master's car parked near the abandoned movie theater.

"No. The virus has already infected all major base systems, so radio silence is the only thing that will help. Don't worry, I'll signal you when it's over.

The superhero opened the hatch of the transport and climbed out in one fell swoop, glimpsing at the faded sign that read: Panessa Cinema, standing near the gnarled fence.

Secretly sneaking into his own hideout was not something he liked too much, it had advanced security systems that had to be carefully bypassed. But, despite the difficulties, he was glad for this approach, because it meant that the building was not connected to the general network, which meant that no one could remotely access his supercomputer. Now that really could be a serious problem.

Fortunately, the movie theater was originally conceived as an autonomous base and was a kind of prison crossed with a rehabilitation center.

It was incredibly difficult to detect the hacking of the systems. A clear professional had acted, masterfully tampering with the signals sent to a separate server. But he had made a critical mistake, accidentally damaging the delivery robot. The machine was relatively stupid, with the most primitive processor, but at the same time it faithfully sent all logs, and only a complete idiot could not notice two failures, which magically disappeared from the memory of the device, and Batman was anyone but him. Then add two and two together, and he already knew the name of the main culprit of the commotion with a bunch of Joker copies.

"Henry Adams, why?" A stern voice broke the silence as the Dark Knight landed softly on the floor behind the classic high-backed office chair that faced the huge screen with the bat logo.

"Oh, Batman, I was expecting you a little late, but that'll do too.

The chair swiveled a hundred and eighty degrees, revealing a smiling old man sitting in it.

The former lyceum director looked nothing like his old self. The iris around the pupil had taken on a bright acidic hue, the dull hair had returned to its former rich green color, but the main thing was the expression on his face. The good-natured, slightly embarrassed smile had been replaced by a joyful grin that gave off a veneer of madness.

"Are you asking me why? It's simple. We want to create a new Joker, a much better Joker, heh-heh-heh, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! - With each passing second, Henry grew more and more enraged, revealing what lurked beneath the mask of a good citizen.

He jumped up abruptly, knocking over a chair.

"Joker-prime! He'll be perfect! He's gonna compete with you, but before he does, he's gonna kill that asshole, the First. You hear that, Strange?!" he spread his arms wide, shouting at the ceiling. - I'm the one who's going to carry out your plan, not that bastard. Yiaha-ha-ha-ha!" the man jumped up, his heels clicking deftly in the air.

Upon landing, Adams abruptly calmed down, as if this outburst of madness had never happened.

"I'll give this city what it deserves...

"Look," Bruce said soothingly. - I can help. What Strange has infected you with is a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but with a monstrous mutation due to the Titan he was able to get his hands on after the Arkham incident.

"Oh, you're such an idiot," Henry put his hand to his face and shook his head sadly, then looked at his companion with real sympathy. - You're desperate to see the good in people, and especially in villains. Do you really think Dr. Strange picked all of us for nothing? I still remember the taste of her sweet flesh," the madman licked his lips. - The drugs only helped to reveal our true potential, to show us the way," he pulled his watch out of his pocket, checking the time. - Hmm, they should be ready by now.

Ignoring the superhero, Hugo's former patient headed for the dashboard.

"At-ta-ta-ta, not so fast," Henry interrupted Batman's attempt to rush toward him, holding a revolver to his own temple. - Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, and this is really funny. Oh, now that all masks are off. Darling, I'm home!" sang the man cheerfully.

"Activating the hacking protocol," a synthesized female voice said emotionlessly from the speakers, and immediately the Joker's laughing face appeared on all the screens, and the white spotlights changed to purple.

The closed, sealed doors leading into the room opened, and the box chambers, whose glass had been darkened until then, let out laughing, chemically altered lunatics. Among them was one particular mutant, towering over his fellows by two heads and with bony growths all over his body.

"Batman is Jeff. Jeff is Batman. You two amuse yourselves while I take care of one important business, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" The mad old man laughed, and immediately the whole crowd rushed at the lone figure in the black cloak.

Batman was still recovering from his maze adventure, but unlike last time, when he had almost lost to the owls, he had his gadgets with him now.

Several small balls fall under his feet, releasing a dense black smoke that obstructed his view, a couple of electric batarangs are sent at the nearest crazies, causing them to slow down and then collapse to the metal floor in convulsions. The superhero threw the next opponents over himself, knocking out their joints and reducing their mobility. The chemically altered people were insensitive to pain, so this tactic was optimal.

"I'll tear it up!" Geoff roared and burst into the smoke, tossing aside his less diligent companions.

The batarang stabbed into his shoulder and the electric shock that followed only momentarily knocked the mutant off his stride. The Dark Knight had enough time to disarm another madman who had come close to him by throwing a bolas at him, put his power knuckles on his fists, and sharply shorten the distance with the monster by hitting him with a double to the body.

~Booh-booh~

The bone armor hidden beneath a thin layer of skin echoed muffledly.

A sharp powerful blow to the head, as if performed by a professional boxer, threatened Batman with at least a concussion, but the man still managed to deflect slightly, setting up a wristband with blades sticking out of it.

"R-a-a-a-a-ah!

The monster roared triumphantly as he saw the annoying freak in the bat suit fly back against the wall with his back against it.

"А?" Jeff looked puzzled at his blade-splintered fist, from which greenish blood was slowly oozing.

"Bastard!" His eyes lit up with rage, and he rushed to crush his disoriented assailant.

~Bam~

The mutant rammed his shoulder into the metal wall at full speed, exposing the power cables hidden behind it. Unfortunately for him, Gotham's protector was able to use his Bat Claw at the last moment, pulling himself out of harm's way and avoiding being reduced to a bag of broken bones.

Only this action pulled Gotham's defender out of the thinning smoke screen, which was gladly used by the rest of the opponents, with shrill laughter piled on the hero in a large crowd.

The battle was heated, but no matter how strong Batman was; no matter how great his skills were; no matter how strong his chi and the level of its control; he was still human. Yes, far beyond the bounds of reason, but still a man who, after a few sleepless nights, had gone to defend his hometown instead of getting a proper rest.

Despite his poorly healed wounds, he still managed to escape the encirclement once more, and even briefly incapacitated the main enemy, managing to break his leg at the knee, but the other enemies didn't let him taste victory. Insensitive to pain, they simply pounced on the man in the bat suit time after time, preventing him from leaving the room and using his gadgets normally, so obviously, after a while, one of them managed to rigidly fix the Dark Knight's arm, and then the rest of the green-haired freaks with chemical-infused facial muscles managed to drag the superhero down to the cold floor, beating him with whatever they could get their hands on and cheering themselves up with shrill screams.

"They'll kill a lion with a crowd, yes, yes, yes, yes," Henry, who had been watching the cameras at the aquarium, sang merrily, briefly distracted when the sounds of battle behind him died down. - Don't worry, my friend, we won't kill you, for you must witness the rebirth of your greatest enemy! Hey, tie him up and secure the best seats!" he ordered the minions.

A couple minutes later, a battered Batman, with blood dripping down his chin, sat strapped to a chair in front of a huge screen showing images from multiple cameras inside and outside the building.

"Finally," the chief psychopath rejoiced as a figure in a purple suit appeared in one of the frames, walking through the central hallway. - Today you will witness... Wait, where is Arkham?" The old man asked himself in surprise. - Damn, that idiot had only one mission and everything he needed to complete it, but he managed to screw it up," the man muttered to himself, pulling out his smartphone.

A quick dialing, followed by a perky female voice.

"Unfortunately, the caller has lost his stupid head. Leave your exact coordinates with the answering machine for shipment two hundred after the beep. Beep.

"Cliff, more of your stupid jokes? Why the hell are you here without Arkham? Hmm..." Henry noticed that the figure on the screen didn't even think about picking up the phone; instead, it moved to the wall and slid silently along it like a shadow.

His eyes widened slightly at the realization.

""Lost his head, then?" - Adams repeated thoughtfully, savoring every word. - Quinn, I knew you were a crazy bitch, but not that crazy, ha-ha-ha!" laughed the old man.

"You'll pay for that bitch," the girl's voice was gone. - Pray to God I get to you first and break every bone in your body! Because if J.J. gets there first, you'll just die like a dog.

"I see..." Adams' green eyes followed the violet-clad silhouette that stopped in front of the central aquarium. - Still not Cliff," the image moved closer, revealing the sloppy makeup and fresh scars, "very much like the First, but still not him... Hmm...

"What are you babbling about?" An irritated voice came from the receiver.

"Ha-ha-ha, never mind," the older man dropped the call, dialing a new number. - Michael, you've got company, make yourself welcome.

A moment later, steel bulkheads fell all around the oceanarium building, cutting off escape routes, and recruited thugs in ridiculous outfits ran toward the intruder.

Henry watched the brief negotiations with interest, as well as the brief fight that ended on an unexpected note.

Batman cringed a little when the shark bit off the top half of Hugo's former patient, realizing that all this really looked like a ridiculous coincidence. The outburst of activity that followed only confirmed his guesses that Jay was shocked by this outcome or, on the contrary, happy that everything had worked out so well.

Having cut off the last remaining conscious bandit with a blow to the head, the green-haired man in the frame kicked the shark for some reason, then with the help of a cane opened its mouth, and then began to go through the pockets of the pulled corpse, occasionally chuckling.

"Adams scratched the top of his head thoughtfully with his revolver. - I thought we were going to get him back on track, but it looks like he hasn't gotten off it... Hmm, that makes a lot of sense to me now," his toxin-green eyes scrutinized the image on the screen.

Suddenly he turned around abruptly, staring at Batman with joy.

"Isn't that unexpected? The quiet, humble multimillionaire suddenly turned out to be a crazy bastard, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! He disguises himself at night and does his dark deeds, ha ha ha ha ha!" The old man rolled his legs in the air, laughing.

Bruce didn't even bat an eye, realizing that it wasn't about him, because he was a multi-billionaire.

"Ha-ha-ha, oh," the psycho wiped away his tears, "that was really unexpected. Ha-ha-ha. But something will be even more unexpected!!!

Without stopping to smile happily, Henry brought the barrel to his temple.

~Bah~

There was a deafening gunshot. The brains left the mad old man's skull, littering the floor and the dashboard with their debris.

The minions stared at their boss's corpse in silence, unsure of what they should do next.

"I'm in charge now!" Jeff thundered and, with a shuffle of his broken leg, climbed to the dais, tossing Adams' corpse from his chair. - Everybody listen to me. He was weak, I am strong. Together, we can defeat them all!

"And why are you in charge?" A thin shrill voice, which evokes associations with a knife scratching glass, interrupted the candidate's campaign speech. - Only muscles, but no brains.

"Exactly," echoed other shrill voices from the crowd of green-haired lunatics.

"Come here!" The mutant moved toward the voice of the troublemaker.

"Come on, guys!" One of the Joker's copies suddenly shrieked, and then fearlessly entered the battle, laughing happily.

In a couple of seconds the room turned into a real dump: everyone was fighting with everyone else, hoping to become the most important, and Batman was already sitting on the steam plant, slowly regaining control over the local systems.

"And Alfred said I'd never need ventriloquist skills," the superhero whispered quietly, surveying the carnage.