Chapter 3: An Endangered World
"Smack!"
There was a crisp sound not far away, maybe the cable was blown off by the wind, or it could be that the rain short-circuited the substation, and the Wayne Group light box above their heads suddenly burst out with a cluster of sparks and a wisp of green smoke and went out.
The smoke was quickly dispersed by the rain and disappeared, and the two of them just raised their heads and looked at the darkened billboard, but did not say anything.
The surroundings became dim, and except for the cigarette butts of the cigars of the two men, they were still shining brightly.
Su Ming thought for a moment and decided to speak first: "I'm from a parallel world, what's the situation in Gotham now?" ”
The other party is also a death knell, and this news can tell her that she will not spread or betray the information when it is not available in the operation.
It's like Batman has collected information on the weaknesses of all the superheroes on Earth in case they turn black, so that he can solve them immediately.
This news is a kind of strategic reserve, Su Ming can use this news to prove his sincerity, and he doesn't have to worry about future troubles in a short time.
With no one paying her to kill herself, it's safe to keep it secret with her.
Knell and Batman know each other's true identities, but given their respective principles, Batman will not attack Knell when he has not committed a crime, and some things will not appear without evidence even if he knows that Knell did it.
As it happens, Knell has always worked cleanly.
And Death Knell will not attack Batman's true identity, Bruce Wayne, because the Wayne Group is too rich, and Bruce's life is also very valuable, there are not tens of billions, Death Knell still decided to keep Bruce's head on his neck, maybe he can withdraw it one day?
Like the Joker, he actually knows Batman's true identity, but he just wants to play with the bat, not the boring billionaire.
However, this does not prevent him from kidnapping the people around Bruce, from the butler Afu to Bruce's girlfriends, all of whom have been kidnapped by the Joker and forced Batman to come out and play games with him.
There are also a whole bunch of villains who know Batman's identity, including Black Mask, Silence, Bane, etc., just because the symbol of Gotham City is Batman, and only by defeating Batman can he prove that he rules Gotham, and defeating Bruce, who is not dressed as a bat, can only say that he has defeated a playboy rich man......
The death knell is attached to the existence of the dark side of this society, so he must also protect the existence of this society.
Whether it's someone who wants to destroy the planet, or someone who doesn't play by the rules of darkness, it's the enemy of the death knell.
In the comics, every time an alien boss invades the earth, it will cause chaos, and then there will be bandits who take the opportunity to rob a bank or jewelry store or something, and even ordinary people will go to the roadside store to move a TV set home, anyway, don't do it in vain, superheroes are busy.
But among these people who take the opportunity to make trouble for superheroes, there will never be a death knell, and there are even many times when the death knell helps the heroes solve the alien and otherworldly invaders, participates in the settlement of the world crisis, and confiscates a penny.
However, when the crisis passes and the world is safe, Deathstroke will continue his mercenary business, and any superhero standing in the way is one word,!
"Well, I guessed that you're pretty good, but I've never heard of you as the number one person."
Cindy was holding a cigarette, and the sound of the rain didn't make her voice come far, but Su Ming heard it clearly.
"You've seen people from parallel worlds before?"
He asked her, and the two stood side by side, both looking at the shadow of the bat in the distance, twisting on the dark clouds.
"A poor man, wearing a cloth hood like a bank robber and using an old-fashioned firearm, he is very old and in deterioration, but he has come to kill......."
Cindy said indifferently, even if she said pitiful, but there was no expression on her face.
"Did he say why he came into this world? And how did you leave? ”
Su Ming also wanted to leave, although the previous days were very boring, but ...... At least in the original world, his homeland, the society is peaceful and stable, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and he can find a safe place to rest.
There won't be an alien invasion one day, and there's no supervillain thing that is beyond common sense.
"He said that a criminal syndicate called the 'Syndicate' had killed his children, and that he had managed to follow them as they traveled through the world, trying to find an opportunity to kill the enemy...... Unfortunately, it didn't work out in the end. Our world, ruled by the Amazon Council, is highly centralized and represents faster reaction times and greater power, and the invaders of parallel worlds are quickly driven away. They returned to their own world, closed the space-time gate, and the old man naturally went back. ”
"Was it the Justice League that repelled them? Wait, do you have a Justice League in your world? ”
Su Ming thought for a moment, but decided to ask this question, because before he crossed over, DC had just updated the new DC Universe event - "Metal", if there was no Justice League, it meant that this was the dark multiverse, a reflection of the light multiverse.
They are universes made of dark matter, like the heads and tails of a coin, but because of the nature of the world, everything that happens here is darker than ordinary DC parallel universes.
If this is Earth 11, then there will be no big deal, and the environment in which you live will be much more relaxed, as long as you don't provoke the Amazon Council and the female version of the Justice League, you can make money comfortably.
But if the earth is minus 11, then the trouble is big, this is a world where there are no other superheroes, only Batgirl and countless villains.
At the same time, it is a world on the verge of extinction, in the future, the whole world will be flooded because of the war between Batwoman and Atlantis, and the only survivor is Batgirl, who has transformed herself.
The cause of the incident was actually because of bats.
Atlantis and the Amazon had a land and sea war, for the hegemony of this world, Briss gathered intelligence and believed that this was caused by the excessive ambition of the sea queen Arthur, she is an anti-government careerist, but also a potential threat, so she dispatched to capture the sea queen and imprison Arkham.
The Atlanteans raided the waters near Paradise Island under the guise of peace talks, and Briss took the opportunity to hunt down the Sea Queen.
However, during the fight between the two, Briss, who was unfamiliar with underwater combat, accidentally killed her, and the Atlanteans chose to retaliate afterwards, immediately causing a tsunami through unknown means, completely destroying Gotham.
Gotham is gone, all of Briss's relatives and friends are dead, she takes revenge in a frenzy, and makes a special transformation of her body, becoming a demon with water-related superpowers such as underwater breathing, manipulating seawater, and swimming at high speed, and renames it - Drown!
In the comics, she wins the final war by controlling her infinite replicable liquid monster pet 'Dead Water'.
Unfortunately, at that time, the disasters caused by the years of fighting made no other life on the earth, and she made a bat lamp by herself, shining from the bottom of the sea to the sea, which was the last light of the minus 11 on this earth......
Batwoman Briss Vayne is the daughter of destiny in this world, and the only person destined to survive.
No, actually, on the day Gotham was submerged, Batwoman died, and it was no longer her who survived, but the terrible supervillain who drowned.
After destroying the world, she will follow the persuasion of the Laughing Bat to join the Dark Knights and travel to the multiverse of light to destroy many worlds.
"What Justice League? It doesn't sound like a rock band with a name. Cindy smiled disdainfully: "It's annoying enough to have an Amazon council on your head, what idol group do you want to set up?" ”
Su Ming smiled bitterly, in fact, he was just lucky.
Now he is in Gotham, the city that should have been the first to be submerged, even if he is far more physically fit than ordinary people now, but when all the land is gone, the sky is forever obscured by dark clouds, and there is no food, fresh water, and sunshine, even he will not survive.
It's time to act, find a way to get out of this world as soon as possible, or find a way to keep it, Earth Negative 11 is not a place for a leisurely vacation, but the front line of the war.
"Then I only hope that this world has not developed to that point in time......" Su Ming thought to himself, if the time did not come, there should still be room for struggle, so he flicked the ashes of his cigarette and asked Cindy again.
"Can you tell us why you're here? The roof of Wayne Tower. ”
Cindy flicked the cigar in her hand in the same motion, revealing a strange expression: "A mission." ”
"Mind sharing the mission?" Su Ming's heart moved.
"You should understand, right? I'm a death knell and don't like to work with others. ”
Cindy picked up her cigar and wiped the rain from her hair, the W letter of the Wayne Group was obviously not so tightly covered, if it was the M of the Golden Arches, maybe it would be better for the two of them to stand underneath.
Su Ming smiled, letting the two of them face each other, and their excellent eyesight could even see the reflection of himself in Cindy's eyes.
"I don't like it, but if my memory is correct, there have been a few times."
Although this memory actually came from the comics, and it was also the death knell of the Overworld, the corners of Cindy's mouth twitched, and Su Ming couldn't tell whether it was a smile or an expression.
"Okay, just this time, I'm a little clueless about this task, but you can only get a quarter, understand?"
"Money doesn't matter, intelligence is more important."
Su Ming picked up a cigarette and stretched out his right hand, it was just a joke, he actually knew that he couldn't stay here for too long, he appeared in the dark multiverse, and its existence meant that the big event had begun.
If you don't want to die, you have to go to the bright multiverse, the earth is missing a lot of things in minus 11, this is not the main plane, and some things can't be done here at all.
"Yes, that's what you said."
She finally laughed and reached out to take his hand, which he could feel as strong as both hands.
Without hesitation, she immediately began to talk about the task at hand.
"It's a search for someone, and I don't want to accept it, but I don't have a lot of work lately, and I happened to buy a yacht a few days ago......"
She let go of her hand and turned to face the city in the middle of the rainy night:
"So, this mission is from an old friend of mine......"
"Joker."
Su Ming also looked at this dark city, she must have come to Wayne Tower to find Batgirl, and Gotham's most obsessed with finding bats must also be the Joker.
"In your world she might be called a clown, but in our case she's called a jester, and of course we all know who she's talking about."
Cindy moved her neck and spat out a puff of smoke, and the white mist with the aroma of nicotine was dispersed in the rain:
"That's it, the bat has gone missing recently, so she feels very lonely, and she wants the bat to play with her."
"What new trick did she come up with? Wait a minute...... Maybe it's an old trick for my world. ”
Su Ming took a deep breath of his cigar, if there were some clues, he might have read the corresponding comics, but the earth was minus 11, and he was not sure.
"Hell knows, I'm not interested in her tricks at all, I just need to get the money. So the task is to find the bat, and then send her a message, telling her that Rigoletto is waiting for her in Arkham, and that there is big, big good news to tell her. ”
Cindy pressed the cigar out on the wall, and put the rest in the cigarette case.
"Excuse me?" Su Ming raised his eyebrows.
"Of course, her original words are 'great, great good news', we mercenaries, since we must convey the word accurately, this is the task."
Cindy shrugged and replied with a blank face:
"Seriously, I really don't want to work for Rigoletto, she's really crazy, I wonder what the hell this good news is, maybe there's a super-large yield nuclear warhead in Gotham."
Su Ming sighed, of course the clown's money is also money, but he has never described the task well.
Cindy put on her helmet and refastened the lock: "It's useless to think so much, it's better to think about where Briss Wayne went?" Before coming here, I had been to her house, the bat cave, the roof of the police station, and I couldn't find her, and now the company can be excluded. ”
"When she's a bat, she likes to look down on her city from the dripping stone beast on the top floor of the Wayne Building." Su Ming continued, and also put on his helmet.
"Yes, and then I found you, and obviously, it wasn't my luckiest day."
She picked up a short stick on the ground, threw it to Su Ming, and picked up her own.
Su Ming folded the long stick and inserted it into the restriction groove behind his back, and moved his neck to make sure that it would not affect his movement:
"Obviously, it's not mine, because I'm here for no reason. I'm obviously in my own world, doing my own thing, and then, whoosh! That's all I have to say. ”
"Well, you seem to be more unlucky than me, you can consider saving some money and then hire me to help you find a way back."
Cindy led the way downstairs, and she moved quickly.
"A good suggestion, but for now, I have to confirm what the Joker said, and if things really go the way I thought, we're all in big trouble."
Su Ming sighed and followed behind her.
"Oh? Is there anything else I don't know? She pushed open the door and walked down, smiling rather than smiling, her voice muffled in her helmet.
"It's not about the mission, it's about the world."
This seems to be a never-ending heavy rain, as well as the disappearance of Batman, in Su Ming's opinion, it is more like the beginning of the apocalyptic event, if he can, he still wants to live, then, he has to find the bat quickly.
"You know what I hate?" She turned her head and poked her finger in his chest: "I wish we could be honest with each other, I told you about my mission, and you are hiding something now. ”
"I can't say for sure yet, but I can tell you, but you can only listen, don't ask, because I can't explain how I know."
Su Ming gently flicked her fingers away, walked over her quickly, walked to the front, and while going downstairs, he gave her a general account of what was going to happen to Negative 11 on Earth.
The news stiffened her for a moment, but it quickly returned to normal, and she held her head and shook it.
"What are we going to do next?"
"Believe me?" Su Ming said that he was very pleased, he didn't want to explain that he learned this information from the comics, it sounded like crazy.
"That's because we are all mercenaries, if I were asked to travel across the world to spread such an exaggerated fake news, I wouldn't do it for any amount of money, our ability determines our position in the mercenary world, and top mercenaries don't do such boring things."
Cindy quickly overtook him and walked to the front: "Then the only possibility is that this is true, and our world is going to be destroyed."
Su Ming didn't understand a little, Rigoletto wanted to see the bat by name at this time, which showed that she knew something to some extent, and she should also know where the batgirl was, so why did she have to do more and hire Death Knell to find someone but not explain it?
"If you're willing to join me in stopping the destruction of the world, that's fine, and if not, then I'll go it alone."
If you want to stop the flood from flooding the earth, there are not many ways to choose, the most effective is to stop Briss from killing the Queen of the Sea, it is useless to find the Amazon Council, they are black households, they will not believe it. You can't find the Atlanteans, who hate all land creatures.
Behind this event, there is also a Batman who is infected by the blood of the Joker in the minus 22 of the Earth, the Laughing Bat, as the conductor, and the real mastermind behind it, the ultimate dragon of the dark multiverse, Barbatos.
They are the culprits of everything, and they are hiding somewhere, watching how things unfold.
"I won't participate in the self-help operation, right? I don't want to die, even though I don't know what kind of clown your world is, but our Rigoletto, a crazy real madman, was given a cassette tape, analyzed by instrument from more than ten minutes of all kinds of laughter and hysteria. ”
Cindy shook her head, stating the more specific situation.
"Rigoletto is in Arkham now, but she's completely insane, and now there's no one to see but bats."
"The good news seems is that the clown I know is exactly the same as your jesters, and it's worth a drink....... Since it doesn't work on her side, how about we go find her chick? ”
Su Ming changed his attention, if there was anyone who might know the whereabouts of the bat, then in addition to her, there were a few others.
For example, Catwoman, Talia of the League of Shadow Dancers, and Harley Harley.
Among these people, Catwoman is a completely stray cat, with no fixed home, and the devil knows where she is now.
As for Talya, the base of the Assassin League is in Nandarbat, far away.
Among these people, Harley is actually the best to find, although she is crazy enough, but in some cases, it is still clear from wrong.
Cindy was silent for a moment, "Okay, let's go find Harley, but she's not her girl, according to Harley, their relationship is called ......"
"Sister Tao?" Su Ming under the mask rolled his eyes.
"That's what you mean, right? Her exact words were little pumpkin and little pudding...... I've found that you're very talented when it comes to the language of madmen. ”
Although her voice was very hoarse with a mask, her tone sounded a little helpless.
Helplessness is normal, anyone who deals with clowns is either afraid or worshipped, and people like Death Knell are more helpless about clowns.
It just so happens that the Joker knows this, so he prefers other emotions from others, such as anger, such as curiosity, and of course, he is most happy to see others laugh.
He incites Batman's wrath in the comics, which looks like death to outsiders, but he just wants to see why Batman ......
So serious?