Chapter 57: Acting Alone
Batman has been following the car, and if his guess is correct, the car's destination should be where the two-faced man is located.
Because he exposes his whereabouts during the day to avoid being discovered, Batman's tracking encounters a lot of obstacles compared to the night. He followed the whereabouts of the lost car several times, but fortunately, there were dense surveillance cameras in the vicinity to provide him with great convenience.
"Head, the black bat has its eye on us"
"Dump him!"
"No way, he's Batman"
"It's daytime to get rid of him, and the fact that he didn't use a bat machine or a batmobile means that he doesn't want us to find out, so he pretends not to know and dumps him"
“......... Listen to you"
The black van weaved back and forth on the labyrinthine city roads, sometimes west and sometimes east, and Batman stood on the roof of a tall building staring at the black van that looked like a headless fly, squinting his eyes.
"Seems to have dumped him"
I didn't see the black shadow in the rear mirror a few times, and I happily reported it.
“... Just in case I go around twice and then turn back that"
"Good"
Getting rid of Batman made the minions who drove the car excited, and even the car drove much brisker. The black van left the city along the road and drove into an upscale villa area on the outskirts of the city, all the way into a white building.
"How's it going?"
"What about people?!!
The two-faced man's unique dual voice roared harshly as the group entered the room.
"The mayor is still giving speeches, and we are still waiting for the opportunity"
"Of course I know, he's still speaking"
"But I've waited until I'm getting impatient and let them find a way to create an incident and get this guy out early!!"
The two-faced man stared at the television that was broadcasting the mayor's speech, his right hand gently tossing the ancient coin, and there was a faint hint of impatience on either face.
This made his subordinates swallow unconsciously, for fear that the next second this madman would bring out a machine gun and finish them all out.
"I'll get them to act right away"
gave a look to the guy next to him, and then shifted the conversation to Batman.
"Head, our actions were discovered by the bat, and he kept tracking us on the way back, but we got rid of it"
“.... Dumped? ”
"Idiot! Why do you guys want to come back."
"You can't get rid of him"
"Get out of here and watch me immediately!"
"He's not sure he's here"
"You useless !!"
As soon as the two-faced man's voice fell, the sound of the glass window shattering, and a black shadow broke through the window from the outside.
The two-faced man's subordinates were all nervously pointing guns at the comer, but the two-faced man said coldly with a look of anticipation:
"I guessed you'd find it here"
"What a haunted trash!"
Batman didn't care in the slightest about the two-faced man's provocation, and asked in a low, hoarse, cold voice:
"What is your purpose in kidnapping the mayor?"
Two-Face is a truly crazy guy who can't control his personality, but when he can, he becomes an ally of the cops and Batman, and for Batman he is a friend or foe.
No matter which personality of the two-faced person is dominant, it can't change that his purpose is just money. At least on the surface, that's all there is to it.
Most of the two-faced man's criminal record is bank robbery, followed by arms trafficking, drugs, and then kidnapping for ransom, in short, his behavior is very similar to Black Mask, so there are many transactions with Black Mask. No matter how you look at it, he has only one purpose - money.
This is very much in line with people's perception of normal criminals.
The two-faced psychiatrist's explanation for this is that the human personality always includes both good and evil, but Howl's good side is too strong to suppress his own evil side when he is rational, so this separated personality is the combination of desire and malice that Harvey himself usually represses. Naturally, the money that Harvey disdained the most when he was awake became the main purpose of this personality made of sin.
What Batman can't figure out is why Harvey kidnapped the mayor, this fat man who looks kind is actually related to Harvey... Harvey used to be very similar.
But he is much more sophisticated and tactful than the young and vigorous Harvey, so he avoids a lot of contradictions.
If you try to kidnap him for ransom, I am afraid it will be very difficult, and the mayor's family will not be able to pay the price offered by the two-faced man; And the cost of paying this money by the treasury needs to go through various procedures, and it is impossible for the two-faced person to have the patience to wait for the results.
“.... It's none of your business!! Batman !! ”
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Jason sat sullenly on the roof with binoculars and continued to monitor the underneath the tree, several people still standing under the tree and seemingly doing nothing.
"Strange? Why are there two people missing? 1、2、3、4、5......”
Holding the binoculars, I checked again that the number of people was indeed two people less. Originally, there were seven people standing under the tree, not including the one who walked away, of course.
"Where's the damn run?"
The telescope's field of view radiated towards the center of the stage, and Jason carefully identified the faces in the crowd one by one.
"Two-Faced is going to attack the mayor? Assassinate? Or kidnapping? ”
Jason pondered the question, and the two different ways would depend on how the other person acted.
"If it's a kidnapping, there must be a car."
Jason stood up to make sure he could see a little higher, and see which intersection in the neighborhood had the conditions to escape, close to the stage, and unguarded by police.
"Found it~"
Through the gap between the two buildings, which could barely be called an alley, Jason saw a fancy van parked at the entrance of the alley opposite.
"It looks like a kidnapping, it's like a two-faced thing"
Pulling out his hook and claw, Jason replaced it with a roof that would make it easier to take action against an "alley", and crouched down.
The mayor's speech is coming to an end, and then the official deliberately arranged a link between the mayor and the people, the people can ask questions to the mayor in this link, and reporters can also, because they have to interact with the people, at this time, the security work of the police is the weakest, except for the two policemen who follow the mayor, the rest of the police will stay away from the mayor, Jason feels that if at this time, the two-faced people don't do it, then the kidnapping case can basically come to an end.
"Oh, it's time to get moving"
Jason saw through the telescope the five guys who were standing under the tree lazily, and he got into a problem when he started to act.
"Oops, notify Batman?"
God knows how far Batman is from here now, not to mention that the crowd that started the commotion didn't give Jason more options.
"Mr. Mayor, what benefits can this project bring to the people?"
"As I said earlier, the benefits of this project are not short-term, in the long term it will provide almost 100,000 jobs for the whole of Gotham City"
"May I ask you, Mr. Mayor, how are the 100,000 jobs determined?"
"The project itself will not provide so many jobs, but the additional industries related to the project can provide so many jobs."
"Mr. Mayor, can I take a picture with you?"
"Oh, my little beauty, of course you can"
The chubby mayor picked up the little girl and joined her in the camera's flash.
"Mr. Mayor, please shake my hand"
"Of course"
Without hesitation, he shook a hand that came out of the crowd, and then went back to answer the other people's questions.
"Ahh
Jason could see clearly from a high vantage point, whether intentionally or not, as the mayor slowly moved through the crowd towards the "best" alleyway.
"There's no way, Batman must be in time now"
Rummaging through the contents of his belt, he made a plan and found a remote spot and lowered it from the roof to the ground with a hook and lock, thinking about the best spot he had just found.
I don't know who threw a cannon in the crowd and caused a riot in the crowd, and when the police noticed something strange and tried to protect the mayor to leave, they found that the dense and panicked crowd squeezed the small mayor farther and farther away.
The police hurriedly approached the mayor against the crowd that had left in a panic, and at the same time they spotted the guys who were also approaching the mayor against the crowd. The guys had an advantageous position, approaching the mayor before the police, and then a gunshot erupted into an even larger riot in the crowd.
Mr. Mayor, nicknamed the Albino Penguin by Jason, could only face the black muzzle when he found himself surrounded by a few ill-intentioned people:
"Mr. Winster, we have a please, please come with us."
The police who finally arrived hurriedly evacuated the nearby crowd and besieged the guy who was trying to kidnap the mayor.
"Don't move!"
A tall man dressed in red, while pointing a pistol directly at the mayor's head to warn the surrounding police, dragged the mayor towards the alley surrounded by several accomplices.
Jason hid in the dark and watched the people enter the alley, they walked in a hurry, if it dragged too long, the police would block the end of the alley, but the "alley" was too narrow, the mayor's fat size prevented them from passing together, and they had to adjust their methods and walk into the alley one by one.
"Almost"
Jason watched as everyone entered the alley and went into action.
"What the hell do you want?"
The mayor tried to remain calm, inquiring about the other party's purpose.
"Let's talk about this kind of thing when you see us."
"Who are your heads?"
“... This kind of thing is not something you can ask now, don't give me any ideas, hurry up! You fat pig."
The hand around the mayor's neck used a little force to shatter the mayor's desire to procrastinate.
"What's that?"
Something fell from above, attracting the attention of several people, and before anyone could see clearly, the thing that fell on the ground suddenly spewed out a thick gas.
The gas quickly spread down the narrow alley, obscuring everyone's view.
"Oops!"
"Didn't that guy go after the boss?"
"Hah, who are you looking for?"
Suddenly, in the unseen environment, the voice of a teenager who had not finished changing his voice was heard.
"Damn, it's his henchman"
The mayor choked on the smoke and could not open his eyes, except for the sound of a fight accompanied by a few wails.
I don't know who fired a shot, and the man with a gun to his head cursed angrily:
"Do you want to kill ourselves and find that little ghost?"
In the confusion, the mayor sensed that someone had grabbed his hand and pulled him in one direction and ran in one direction.
After leaving the smoke, the mayor realized that the hand holding him was a boy who looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old, and that his signature clothes and mask were enough to indicate his identity.
"Okay, it's safe here"
Jason glanced at the frightened mayor, pulled out his hook and shot at the nearby wall, flying away from the place like a Robin bird like his name.
"Oh my god, it's Robin!"
....................................................
"Hey! Our big star! ”
In the evening, Dick inexplicably ran over again, holding a newspaper and smiling and putting his arms around Jason's neck as he spoke.
"Huh?"
When it came out of Dick's mouth, it wasn't something that made Jason so happy.
"Look"
Dick unfolded the newspaper in his hand and showed him the photograph that took up almost two-thirds of the page.
"Oh... Awful"
The moment he read the newspaper headline, Jason regretted it. The title "Wonder Boy Saves the Mayor" is written in huge font, and it is impossible to ignore his content. His photo occupies two-thirds of the page, and from the point of view it must have been taken when he left.
"Jason"
Bruce's voice came from the computer, and Jason shrunk his neck.
"Don't worry, we're always pictured, you know the paparazzi are everywhere"
Dick comforted Jason.
"But I didn't get this close."
Jason grumbled in a low voice, Dick said of course he knew that he had seen a lot of pictures of Batman and Robin in the newspapers before, but most of them had been taken from a distance, and he had taken pictures of them so clearly from such a close distance... Jason felt that his short career as Robin could come to an end.
Walking up to Bruce, he squinted his eyes and peeked at Bruce's expression, and was surprised to find the corners of Bruce's mouth slightly raised.
"Master Bruce, if you pretend, Master Jason is going to cry"
Alfred unceremoniously pierced Bruce's deliberately disguised serious face.
In the end, Bruce gave up pretending to be serious, reached out and rubbed Jason's head and said:
"Well done"
Then he got up and walked towards the elevator to Wayne Manor, and said:
"There's a dinner party tonight, you want to come with me"
“... Can you teach me how to tie a bow tie? ”
Jason, who finally reacted, happily pounced and hung on Bruce's back.
"Let Ah Fu teach you that his bow tie is certified by the British Crown. Also, down Jason"
"No, no"
Looking at the backs of the two people leaving, the corners of Dick's mouth twitched and said:
"Hey! This kid has learned to cheat, and Bruce spoils him too much."
This shows that it is a good thing that Master Jason is no longer looking at himself as an outsider. Also, Master Dick's dinner tonight is also for you."
"Huh? Can I not go? ”
"No, the other party invited the Wayne family"
“... Oh... All right! ”