"Did you find the wrong person…?"
In the comics, every time Cindy Moon, also known as Silk, met Spider-Man, they both lost control of their instinctive urges. But this was Gotham, and Connors was not Spider-Man; he merely possessed Spider-Sense.
Now, not only had Cindy Moon appeared, but she had also given him an upside-down kiss. Besides being shocked, he had no other reaction. Cindy, however, closed her eyes, and her breathing quickened.
Connors had sharp eyes and could see the curves in Silk's red, white, and black uniform. After struggling fiercely for a while, he found the spider silk shot from Cindy's fingertips was incredibly tough. He could not break it.
"Since I cannot resist, I will just have to enjoy it…" Connors sighed and let "Spider" Cindy's hands explore.
"If this is a world where Marvel and DC merge, then I will have to think carefully," Connors mused.
"Most of Gotham City's villains rely on strategy and skills to commit crimes. Individuals like Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and Bane are rare. For now, I do not need to worry about encountering opponents too powerful to defeat here. I can regard this as a novice village and develop for a while."
"But the problem now is that we already have Harley Quinn. What should we do with Cindy Moon, who just appeared?"
On the roof of a tall building, Connors lay in a suspended hammock made of spider silk, with Cindy Moon nestled in his arms like a small bird.
However, just as quickly as she appeared, she left. Cindy Moon rapidly climbed from beside him, spraying a large amount of spider silk from one fingertip, wrapping her impressive figure within it.
With her other hand, she tied her removed battle suit with spider silk, then swiftly left without looking back.
Before Connors could even react, Cindy had vanished into the tall building.
By the time he put on his clothes, his Spider-Sense, which had failed him in front of Silk Moon, returned. He finally detected Harley Quinn climbing the stairs.
"Did you not catch that mysterious guy?" Harley Quinn asked blankly, looking at the spider silk hammock behind Connors.
"No," Connors said confidently. He did not catch the other person; he was the one caught.
"It doesn't matter," Harley Quinn produced a baseball bat from somewhere and swung it in the air. "I already found information about the Joker…"
Was the Joker going to start causing trouble? Connors perked up. He thought the Joker would be quiet for a while after escaping, but he did not expect him to act so soon.
"Do you know what he is going to do?"
Harley Quinn did not answer but handed him a newspaper. The newspaper had a large headline:
"Patients from Arkham Asylum Escape En Masse!"
The list below included the Joker, the Riddler, Bane, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy…
There was no such plot in the comics. Connors frowned. He was not worried about how much trouble these people would cause. With Batman around, he could simply watch.
But if all these villains escape, he might not be able to handle all the "gossip."
"You said there is information about the Joker; what is it about?" Connors asked.
Harley Quinn pulled a walkie-talkie from the back of her shorts, pressed the button, and an intermittent voice emerged:
"…It's okay, Captain, it's just an idiot photographer who wanted to take a headline picture…"
"Cuff him and send him to the city. This is no joke."
After two brief sentences, only laughter came from the other end of the walkie-talkie:
"It seems all your efforts are in vain, hehehe… hahahaha!… Gordon… hahaha! Help hahaha!"
Connors' first reaction was to wonder who was so happy calling for help on the walkie-talkie. His second reaction was, if this was information about the Joker, as Harley Quinn claimed, then the conclusion was clear.
—Nitrous oxide!
Based on the relevant plot vaguely remembered in his mind, Connors and Harley Quinn asked for directions, then ran quickly to the location on the rooftops.
Williams Medical Center.
This place had been bombed with explosives. A large hole marred the wall, and bullet casings, guns, and corpses lay on the ground.
"These guards were killed by the explosion's shockwave. Before the rest of the guards rushed out of the office, he showered bullets here with a machine gun…"
"We learned from the survivors that the murderer was likely this Joker."
"He kicked open the intensive care unit door and threw out a bunch of loaded weapons as gifts for joining his new fan club."
"…"
Batman, in his battle suit, listened to the sole survivor's description. Even with the upper half of his face covered by his mask, his expression grew increasingly grim.
"By the way… Batman, I think you should see this," Gordon said, walking toward another part of the medical center. Batman followed closely. They stood together against a wall.
A bloody mop lay next to the wall. The words on the wall were clearly written with it:
"One person after another, death is not far away. Fallen city, follow me to the underworld."
Gordon and Batman stood side by side, their eyes shifting from the blood-written poem to the small words written next to it with a marker:
"—This was done by the Joker."
An arrow pointed to the poem. The handwriting was extremely neat and in a completely different style from the bloody poem.
"Who wrote this?" Batman pointed at the line of small words.
"It appeared suddenly, and no one knows who wrote it… Maybe it's a prank?" Captain Gordon guessed.
Batman said nothing. Whether it was a prank or the Joker's accomplice, he would do everything to catch him.
"Now it is not just those guys in Arkham who need to be captured; the fugitives from Williams Medical Center also need to be caught…"
Before Gordon finished his sentence, Batman disappeared. From then until dusk and almost dawn, Batman traversed every corner of Gotham City. Before dawn, he only caught six accomplices who had escaped Williams Medical Center.
In Wayne Tower, Alfred held the clothes Bruce Wayne had just removed:
"Can you get some sleep first, Master Wayne?"
"Not today, Alfred; I have many things to do," Bruce Wayne said, walking toward the elevator.
"If that is the case, I suggest you rest for at least ten minutes before dealing with this matter tonight… Additionally, someone sent an anonymous email tonight about your opponent, the Joker."
Bruce stopped.
"There are only two words in the email: 'laughing gas' and 'reservoir'."
With his Spider-Sense, Connors easily avoided others' sight. He wrote a line of small words under the Joker's poem as a prank, then sent the email to Batman using an anonymous address created by Harley Quinn.
He definitely wanted to get involved in the "gossip" about Batman and the Joker, but he did not plan to get too deeply involved.
He did not want to wait until Batman dealt with the Joker and then find him.
With the two words, "laughing gas" and "reservoir," he believed someone as intelligent as Batman would understand the subsequent development of this matter.
The Joker gave Batman a headache, but Connors had his own matters to handle.
—After being tied up by "Spider" Cindy Moon during the day, Harley Quinn tied him up at night.