Chapter 2182: The Battle of the Twin Cities! (23)_1

"What the hell is going on?!"

Penguin Man started to roar again, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, the massive city outside of the window. He couldn't figure out why his city was always plagued with troubles. He had just dealt with the merged New York, only for a new Gotham to emerge.

Gordon sighed. He was already feeling numb. The more troubles, the more indifferent. Two cities had already merged, what did another one matter?

But Penguin Man couldn't accept this outcome. Because if the city floating above their heads fell, wouldn't his soon-to-be mayoral position be jeopardized?

"Find out what's going on," Penguin Man barked at Gordon. "Make sure it doesn't fall! Hurry!"

Gordon, helpless, had to leave the banquet early with Brock. After returning to the police station, they mobilized their forces and gathered in the central square, looking up at the massive object.

Clearly, the Gotham police lacked the ability to reach the massive city above. But Penguin Man had been driven to the verge of a nervous breakdown. He even brought a blimp, demanding his people and the police go up and negotiate with the other side.

Gordon had no choice but to comply because he knew his rashly-exposing-himself partner would be in jeopardy without him. If he didn't fulfill Penguin Man's wish, Brock would be the next target.

Resigned, Gordon agreed. But he refused to bring many people on board the blimp. In the end, only Gordon, Brock, and Emperor Penguin, Penguin Man's subordinate, boarded the blimp.

What they didn't know was that the lunatics in Arkham Asylum were racking their brains. They'd seen the Robins' accident unfold and could only blame the unruly youngsters for rushing in without precaution, denying them any fun.

Despite their complaints, they knew that if Batman had been in the plane, it wouldn't have been shot down. But they would have undoubtedly been beaten. Now that they couldn't rely on the Robins, they at least had a chance to come up with a plan for a safe landing.

They discussed using the lab, where supercriminal scientists were working for the Wayne and Kane families, to create a simple flying vehicle. Or, they could have the Man-Bat, a super criminal with the ability to fly, go down first to scout the way before having a wizard opens a portal and teleport them down.

These plans were either stopped by mutual distrust or the inability to find a suitable landing spot. At that moment, they saw a strange blimp slowly rise into the air and hover beside Sky Island.

Seeing this convenient lift, the lunatics at Arkham Asylum decided to act. There was an Arkham Asylum down there too, so they decided as a group to attack and just switch homes.

Before they set off, however, they needed to ascertain one thing. Was this a trap set by Batman? The convenient timing was too much of a coincidence. If the Batman on the ground planned to catch all of them at once, that would be disastrous.

Harley Quinn phoned her younger self. Harley on the other end was dealing with a bad situation and hastily spoke over a frenzy of noise.

"This city is chaos, but we haven't found Batman. We think he might not be here at all!"

"Blimp? What blimp? I don't know. I didn't see. If you want to come down, come down quickly. But don't come to the Brooklyn Area... Oh! Shit!"

The call gotended abruptly. Harley Quinn shrugged her shoulders and gave the others a reassuring look. The lunatics from Arkham Asylum set off en masse.

While Gordon and his team were observing the city through binoculars, they noticed two smoke grenades thrown onto their blimp. Gordon yelled, "Watch out for attacks, dodge! Dodge now!"

Unfortunately, the smoke grenades were filled with Scarecrow's fear gas, not regular gas. The moment the smoke spread, the three men on the blimp were hit.

Before disappearing, the last thing they saw was the Bat Light illuminating in the massive floating city under the round moon.

"Patients from Arkham Asylum have escaped! Repeat! Major crisis alert! Patients from Arkham Asylum have escaped..."

The lunatics who had successfully seized the reconnaissance blimp descended at full speed. They swept across the vast city above them in the dead of night and found an institution on an island to the north - their home and their first stronghold in this new city, Arkham Asylum.

The blimp landed at the edge of the island. They didn't rush into Arkham Asylum but sent someone to scout. The impatient Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, who excelled in wilderness combat, vaulted over the asylum walls under the cover of darkness.

Then they noticed something. It couldn't be said that the hospital had no security force but rather it was pitifully weak. The only light was the guardhouse at the entrance, and the guard was asleep.

It looked like Batman wasn't in this city. They thought about this as they carefully sneaked in, because anyone would be scared walking a dark hospital corridor, then turning to see a grinning Joker face. It was a real-life horror story.

Because they had stayed at Arkham Hospital, they knew just how significant the patients around them were. If they disrupted their artistic process, they would be lucky to avoid becoming the next piece of art, let alone escape without a scratch.

Thin vines cautiously wriggled into the front door, confirming an empty lobby before the two of them slipped along the wall, climbing up the stairs and pushing open the doors to the wards and offices.

Room after room, the more they searched, the more confused they became. Like the nurses doing their rounds, after six floors, they had just one question in mind: where was everyone?

Had they come to the wrong place? Why was the Arkham Asylum so deserted at night? No autopsies, no maniacal laughter, no doctors holding scalpels, no nurses carrying iron shackles.

Where were all the usual night-time entertainments they had grown accustomed to?

Keep in mind that the world didn't just revolve around Batman. The lunatics he dumped into the Arkham Asylum entertained themselves when Batman wasn't around. They played deadly games, engaged in artistic pursuits, and conducted explosive evil experiments. These things happened routinely.

They had been inside the asylum for nearly an hour,heard no movement, and each room they searched was eerily quiet. Could it be that all the lunatics in this universe had perished along with Batman?

But no matter how uncertain they were, they knew that they needed to get out of there. They had been in there for too long, and the people waiting outside were getting impatient.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy had no choice but to return to the location of the airship. They informed the lunatics of their doubts, and even these usually lively psychopaths seemed baffled. They finally decided to investigate in person.

This wasn't just some sneaky infiltration anymore. They stormed into the hospital, restrained the few remaining doctors and nurses, and began an extensive search.

After nearly two hours of searching, everybody returned to the lobby with the same conclusion—this was as ordinary a mental institution as can be. No evil supercriminals, no fearsome lunatics, and most importantly, nobody who had seen Batman.

Releasing the collar of a terrified nurse, the Penguin said grimly, "What the hell is going on? He claims he hasn't seen Batman, how is that possible?"

Scarecrow was also in disbelief. He had subjected this person to the fear gas, and under its influence, that person should have been unable to lie.

But despite this, they couldn't get any information about Universe Batman from anyone's lips. Could it be that Batman anticipated this and altered everyone's memories?

Had they truly come upon the worst case scenario? Had Universe Batman become a tyrant, killing off the lunatics, or confining them in prisons instead of following the law and committing them to mental institutions?

"We're in big trouble," said Mr. Freeze, rubbing his brow. "I should have never come here with you all. The Kane family had already agreed to help me regain my professorship."

"Enough of that, we need to find Batman!!"

The most anxious among these lunatics was Hugo. As a psychiatrist, he knew lunatics couldn't just disappear, especially the heavyweights in Arkham Asylum. There was practically no cure for them.

If these patients were missing, it would mean they either had died or were imprisoned. There was no chance they were cured. So, if the asylum was empty, that would most likely mean that Batman killed them.

Just how terrifying a murderous Batman could be was self-evident, and everyone's mood turned gloomy.

Harley Quinn pushed up her imaginary glasses and said in a solemn tone, "Harley's call indicated that there was a war going on in the city, but Batman never showed. That is the biggest red flag. Batman wouldn't tolerate anyone wreaking havoc in his city."

"We need to find him," chimed in the Mad Hatter. "Only by finding Batman can we figure out what's going on in this city, and where we, in this universe, ended up."

In the end, everybody focused their gaze on the Joker. Surprisingly, the Joker appeared to be at a loss. He glanced around and announced, "No, this isn't Gotham, Batman is not here."

The others didn't understand Joker's meaning. All of a sudden, the Joker turned aggressive, stamping his feet and gnashing his teeth, "No Batman! Do you understand?! All I see is chaos and nothingness! He isn't here!"

Suddenly, the Joker regained his composure. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a gun, and walked out of the room. Harley Quinn shouted after him, "What are you doing?!"

"Finding this place's Joker. Asking him where Batman has gone."