socalfunplaces Chapter 17 Finding Harley Quinn
Chapter 17 Finding Harley Quinn
Chapter 17 Finding Harley Quinn
"Jason Wood, the botanist, is a complete environmental terrorist. Compared to his actions, Ivy's (Poison Ivy) gardening hobby of turning living people into trees is like Harley Quinn's diaper—deadly, but harmless."
"..."
Chen Tao didn't notice Gordon's expression. His instincts as a super American comic book fan were activated, and he began to reveal the secrets of the two plant-based villains.
"The fundamental power of green for all things is mainly divided into the [Tree Council], which represents trees, and the [Queen of May], which represents vines."
"However, the instinct of vines is to attach and obey, so the May Queen, who obeys the Tree Council most of the time, is often overlooked. But this does not mean that they are without power."
"You should know that the spokesperson chosen by the [Tree Council] is the Swamp Monster. People like the Plant Master are just low-level agents who are just there to make up the numbers."
"But Poison Ivy is different. She is the representative of the [Queen of May], which means that in terms of the essence of power, she is on par with Swamp Monster and above low-level agents like Botanist—"
Gordon was stunned by the sudden deluge of a jumbled mess of settings. He opened his mouth, uttered a couple of silly "ahs" like an idiot, and then said:
"Batman, your intelligence is really... I almost didn't understand you—"
"What? You can't even understand such a simple concept? I've explained it so clearly, only a fool wouldn't understand."
Chen Tao complained, then took the stack of documents from his hand.
"Ha! I knew it!"
"To repay Mother Earth, the Plant Master will never do anything in vain. If he can't do it himself, he'll drag Poison Ivy along. It's perfect timing that Bane blew up the asylum, so we don't even need to break out of prison."
Gordon interjected:
"There's something else I need to tell you. I think this detailed dossier is something that those incompetent people who gave it to me couldn't possibly have written. But after I compared the contents with the information we have, I found that it was all true. In fact, many places were investigated very thoroughly, and we discovered many blind spots that even professionals hadn't noticed."
When asked about his area of expertise, Director Gordon adjusted his glasses.
"But this intelligence came at just the right time. Not only did it provide new evidence and clues, but the report also used several methods to demonstrate that only Batman could solve this serious problem. I was even forced to admit that much of what it said was correct—"
"I have to question the motives behind this." x2
The unanimous voices of Batman gave Gordon a sense of telepathy, as if he had returned to the days when he, Batman, and Harvey Dent formed the Iron Triangle, vowing to change the golden age of Gotham.
Although all these achievements and beauty were shattered into dust when Harvey Dent fell into becoming Two-Face... Damn, why am I thinking about this?
Gordon quickly put aside the sentiments of these middle-aged people and continued:
"Moreover, this information is too detailed, such as the characters' postures, the order of attacks, and even the escape methods, as detailed as if it were an accomplice."
"They might be accomplices," Chen Tao replied. "This attack was meticulously planned and thoroughly executed. I don't believe these two blockheads could suddenly become so professional. To be frank, this reads more like an attack plan than an investigation report."
"Furthermore, how come you didn't even notice that such a large, living tree, belonging to the Botanist, existed before?"
"You only figured out the details about the scientist who possessed such a terrifying biological weapon after he'd been kidnapped for several days?"
"Is the Gotham City Police Department's intelligence network really that bad?"
Chen Tao said, "Someone is deliberately deceiving you, just to expose the truth at the right time—"
Batman paused suddenly.
Then immediately after—
"I understand," Gordon said when he heard Batman say that.
"Oh? Shall we begin the deduction?" A glint of light flashed in Gordon's eyes.
No matter how many times, solving cases with the world's greatest detective, Batman, is an ultimate enjoyment.
Even as the Gotham City Police Commissioner, he remained a humble apprentice in the presence of a great detective like Batman.
Come on, Batman! Although he's middle-aged, Gordon still feels a surge of passion. His soul of deduction is burning brightly, yearning for a clash of wits, a feast of reasoning!
He heard Batman lower his head and begin to "deduce":
"I get it! Bane isn't confident he can beat me, so they're planning to launch another scheme to defeat me. But they need time, so they need to give me something to do so I don't have time to keep up with their group."
"This report must have been written by Bane's henchman, the Caveman. He might have even orchestrated the whole thing. And the Botanist and Poison Ivy's purpose is quite obvious. Using biological weapons? That's too low-level. They captured the botanist alive; they must be trying to green the entire Earth!"
"I get it! The Plant Master must have wanted to replicate the Swamp Monster's birth process on everyone on Earth, turning everyone on the planet into walking trees. But his plan must have gone wrong, causing him to temporarily transform others, only to turn them into pus and blood soon afterward—"
"That's why they need scientists!"
"It's obvious they're currently plotting their wicked mission in the massacre swamp outside Gotham!"
"So that's how it is! I'm gradually understanding everything! No one understands villains better than me!"
"?"
Gordon was starting to have doubts. He opened his mouth, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
We're looking at the same document?
How did you come to this conclusion?
What is the basis for this? What is the reason?
"Obvious"?
The reason, of course, is that Chen Tao had read the original comic.
Throughout the decades-long comic book history of the character Botanist, every time he appears, it's with "My Mother Earth!" followed by his infatuation with the planet, and then the things he does are always pretty much the same: getting beaten up by Poison Ivy, getting beaten up by Swamp Monster...
Any story that touches on the green of all things will inevitably drag out the botanical master Jack Wood to be ridiculed, since he was a walking tree, so it would be hard for him to die.
Once you see his behavior pattern enough, you can almost memorize it.
However, Chen Tao soon realized that he couldn't explain why he knew so much.
So he could only make up a story: "Human intuition is a trait that cannot be learned, and it is also my most effective weapon."
Don't ask, just go by intuition.
Gordon listened, a deep respect rising within him. "Finally, you're not acting anymore? I knew it! Those incredible deductions Batman used to perform were beyond the comprehension of a normal person. I always thought it was magic, but you always lied to me, saying it was just deduction!"
After thinking about it for a while, Chen Tao realized that this matter had great potential.
Even if Bane didn't try to stall him, Batman would never fight Bane right now. From Bane's perspective, Batman seems incredibly powerful and skilled, and now he's even revealed a transformation ability that they hadn't discovered during their initial intelligence work, making him seem like an invincible opponent.
But only Chen Tao knew that he was currently a complete weakling. The green dinosaur might have some fighting ability, but Bane was a true martial arts master. After using Titan Venom, his maximum strength would exceed 90 tons, and if he were willing to give up his brain and intelligence, that number would become 120.
So Bane doesn't want to fight Batman right now, and neither does Chen Tao. Chen Tao hasn't even considered fighting Bane personally. If money can solve the problem, why bother with him?
Bane's plan to use Botanist and Poison Ivy to hinder him was exactly what Chen Tao wanted. A superpowered individual like Poison Ivy, a rare find among Gotham villains, was naturally already on Chen Tao's list of allies.
As a die-hard comic book fan, Chen Tao dared to say that even Ivy, who knew nothing about Poison Ivy, knew more about her than he did, and that Bane's actions were practically handing him a free help.
But now the problem arises.
The Slaughter Swamp is so vast, where exactly are Poison Ivy and the Botanist?
This time, Chen Tao was truly at a loss. He was just a comic book reader, not some fortune teller like Wei Banxian who set up a stall at the intersection of Gotham Road.
His ability to deduce the villain's general plan of action is already based on his massive reading volume of comics; it's impossible for him to deduce more detailed points.
But Chen Tao knew that someone knew, and he murmured:
"I have a plan, I'm sure of it, I have a damn good plan!"
"We need Harley Quinn, the former Harley Quinn, the humanoid navigator of Gotham City's villains, possessing a special weapon that greatly increases damage against the Joker, and Poison Ivy's best friend and ultimate nemesis. Only she can find her!"
And he also happened to know how to find Harley Quinn.
(End of this chapter)