socalfunplaces Chapter 88 Halloween Carnival
Chapter 88 Halloween Carnival
Chapter 88 Halloween Carnival (Part 2)
Barbara could only watch Gordon leave.
As the car drove out of the street, Gordon could see in the rearview mirror that the figure standing at the doorway was getting smaller and smaller, more and more blurry, and after turning the corner, he could see nothing at all.
He stepped on the gas, and the car headed toward the Gotham Police Department.
The station was filled with officers rushing around. Chief Luo was furious. He had already been heavily criticized because of what happened some time ago, and now this big incident was undoubtedly a slap in the face.
The Scarecrow Gang, who hijacked the TV station, disappeared after making their criminal declaration. When the police arrived, they found only poisoned and deranged staff members at the scene.
And this is just the beginning.
"Three people have gone berserk on Berlin Street in the Diamond District, several people have lost control in Cathedral Square, and there are people with guns over at Grant Park—" Brock said as he walked, "The whole of Gotham is in complete chaos now. Everyone in the bureau, whether they're on duty or not, has to be mobilized."
Gordon quickly followed, and as soon as they returned to the police station, they got back into the police car and drove off to the scene of the incident.
There are far too many people who have been poisoned by the fear gas.
Thanks to the Halloween atmosphere, countless people ate candy, and riots broke out all over Gotham. Police officers were constantly on the move throughout the city. The crazy and out-of-control people were the first to be subdued and sent to the hospital for treatment, but later, all the hospitals were full of people.
Gordon could only take the people back to the police station, as did the other officers. The square cages in the lobby held people with their hands and feet bound, but even though they could only lie on the ground, they would wriggle and try to attack those around them.
Gordon, who had dealt with several conflicts in a row, pinched his nose. Even he couldn't help but feel tired from such intense running around.
He took out his phone to ask about Barbara's family situation, but as soon as the screen lit up, a dozen or so call records filled the screen, with new calls coming in at the top.
It's Barbara, it's all Barbara.
Gordon's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly answered the phone. A sobbing voice came from the other end, "James—I can't find little Barbara, I can't find little Barbara anywhere—"
His wife was crying, "Our child—she's so young, I...I can't bear to think about it—"
"It's okay, we'll find Barbara, we definitely will."
Gordon regretted not unblocking his phone from Do Not Disturb earlier. He couldn't imagine how helpless Barbara must have felt during this time. "I'm going back now."
"I'll go too." Brock, his partner, listened to the whole thing.
When Gordon returned home, a police car was already parked in front of his house. Barbara stood at the door, a policewoman carefully supporting her.
Seeing Gordon get out of the police car, Barbara rushed down the steps and pounced on him. Gordon patted her back gently, and the officer in charge saluted, "Detective Gordon."
He reported from the side, "We found the children in a nearby park. Except for Barbara, all the other children have been found."
"Any clues?" Gordon asked.
The officer shook his head. "The children who were with us were poisoned by the fear gas. They are in a very unstable mental state and we can't get any information out of them. They have all been sent to the hospital for observation and treatment."
"Our people have expanded the search area, but there's still no news."
Gordon took a deep breath. "Keep looking."
He helped Barbara back to the house, instructed the policewoman to take good care of his wife, and then joined the other police officers in searching for little Barbara's whereabouts.
But they couldn't find anything.
In desperation, he had no choice but to try his luck and made a phone call for help.
"—I know this sounds absurd, but," Gordon swallowed, "I think Scarecrow was the headmaster of Arkham before, and since you were able to get evidence from him, you might know some things I don't."
"Where do you think the Scarecrow is?" Gordon asked without much hope.
For a moment, Zheng En didn't know what to say.
His silence was an answer in itself, and Gordon understood. "Sorry to bother you." He changed the subject, "Could you get in touch with Batman?"
Gore reads what the Scarecrow said on television; he was provoking Batman.
Perhaps the fact that he almost got caught by Batman earlier made the other party feel ashamed. This type of person often seeks revenge, and any action will inevitably leave clues. He wants to follow the clues to find Scarecrow, but he doesn't have a way to contact Batman directly.
In the past, when Gordon communicated with Batman, it was always the other party who came to him unilaterally. Gordon had considered installing a Bat-light on the roof of the Gotham Police Department, but Chief of Staff Law strongly opposed it.
Even though the other party helped the Gotham Police Department a lot and arrested many gangsters, in Chief Law's eyes, everything Batman did was just annoyance.
His position as director was inseparable from Falcone's support, and Batman was precisely arresting Falcone's henchmen.
The warrant for Batman's arrest has not been withdrawn to this day, and some police officers still regard him as an enemy. Gordon's dealings with Batman have always been kept in the shadows, but if he can no longer find Barbara, Gordon can't care about anything else.
Batman left Bat-Lights in many places in Gotham; turning them on allows you to summon someone and ask for help.
The Gotham Police Department broke quite a few Bat-lights, but Gordon secretly kept two. If he couldn't contact Batman, he planned to find a rooftop to turn on the lights.
As for what Director Luo will think, and whether he can keep his position, that's not something he needs to consider right now.
Fortunately, things haven't gotten to that point yet.
This time the answer was much easier. Zheng En handed the phone directly to Batman, "He's right next to me, just say what you want to say."
Gordon was taken aback, but that didn't matter. "Did the Scarecrow come looking for you?"
"not yet."
Batman's words were succinct: "I will find him."
When the call ended, Tongbian also found the Scarecrow's whereabouts.
The dozen or so windows were reduced to just four, which were different camera positions at the same location.
The square on the screen was bustling with people, as if the Scarecrow's remarks had no effect. GG was displayed on the huge electronic screen, with only a small window in the upper right corner displaying the news that had been temporarily released.
The host solemnly warned citizens to go home as soon as possible, as wanted criminals were poisoning Halloween candy. His serious expression contrasted sharply with the cheerful tone of the celebrities on GG. Men and women in various costumes strolled around the building, and the shops along the street were brightly lit.
Some people couldn't help but worry after seeing the news and wanted to go back as soon as possible, but their companions stopped them from saying anything.
"What are you afraid of? This is the Diamond District, not some mentally ill person like you can just wander into the East District."
The young man dressed as a vampire chuckled, "Besides, the Gotham Police Department is only ten kilometers away. Even if something really happens, they can get here in less than half an hour. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Exactly, you're dressed as a werewolf today, not a dog. How can you be so timid?"
"If you're scared, go back by yourself. Stop ruining our mood. Useless coward."
The others chimed in, and the ridiculed werewolf had no choice but to shut his mouth in embarrassment.
In a lavish restaurant not far away, a scarecrow in a private room took out a thick stack of banknotes from a suitcase.
He fiddled with the stack of banknotes, looked at the well-dressed gangsters across from him, and smiled at the henchmen standing behind them.
"Compared to what you've gained tonight, this amount of money is nothing."
Mario couldn't help but frown at the other person's pointed words.
"What do you mean by that?"
As the youngest son of a Roman and the heir to the Falcone family, Mario was treated with utmost respect wherever he went.
Internally, even senior members of the family had to give him a friendly face; externally, others were even more afraid of the Romans' power, and even Maroni, who had long wanted to bring down the Falcone family, had to put on a kind face.
He had never liked Scarecrow's crazy behavior. When Klein was the director of Arkham Asylum, he was alright; he acted like a research associate, only occasionally doing something neurotic.
But ever since the illegal human experimentation was exposed and Arkham was destroyed, Jonathan Klein seems to have revealed his true nature. He stopped pretending and dressed himself up as a scarecrow, demanding that others call him the scarecrow. He also talked nonsense all day long, constantly muttering things like "Batman" and "I am the master of manipulating fear" while conducting experiments.
Mario really thought he was a lunatic. If the other guy wasn't still useful, he would have shot him dead long ago and ended it all.
Seeing Mario's displeasure, the Scarecrow remained unperturbed. He tossed the banknotes back into the suitcase, leaned back, and crossed his legs.
"What I mean is, you got excellent value for your money by hiring me." He tilted his head, gesturing for Mario to look outside. "Look how peaceful it is, business hasn't been affected at all. Those unfortunate places that got hit are in a terrible state—"
Seeing that he seemed eager to talk at length, Mario didn't want to waste any more time talking to him, so he decisively cut him off, "Take the money and get out of here. Go back to your factory in Brudhaven."
Because of Batman's presence, after hastily destroying Arkham, Falcone chose to build the new laboratory for Scarecrow in an abandoned factory in Broodhaven.
This approach allows for the use of existing facilities to reduce the burden of reconstruction without the risk of being discovered.
Because Falcone had limited trust in the Scarecrow, Mario was sent to supervise the reopening of the lab to ensure that the Scarecrow was working for them.
During this time, Mario did not return to Gotham. Although the two cities are close enough, he was afraid that Batman would find out something, so he could only stay in Broodhaven with Scarecrow.
Now that things have settled down and he's successfully returned to Gotham, he wants to throw the Scarecrow back.
Everything that needed to be done has been done, and the groundwork has been laid in Brudhaven. All that's left is to send a subordinate over to keep an eye on things. Mario, anyway, doesn't want to associate with the scarecrow anymore.
Moreover, it's inherently undignified to associate with such people.
Mario loosened his tie. Tonight's situation shouldn't have turned out this chaotic. The original plan wouldn't have involved so many ordinary citizens, nor would there have been any hijacking of the television station.
But by the time he realized it, it was too late; collaborating with such a madman was fraught with uncontrollable variables.
Scarecrow knew Mario looked down on him, and he didn't care about this fool who only had money and profit on his mind, but "You want me to leave Gotham?!" He suddenly stood up, slammed his hands on the table, and leaned forward towards Mario. "Are you kidding me?"
Chaos and fear, what meaning do they all have once they leave Gotham?
The scarecrow laughed, the smile beneath the mask almost perfectly matching the crack on the mask. The chilling laughter echoed in the private room. Even when several gangsters opposite him raised their pistols the moment he stood up, pointing the muzzles at his head, he laughed without a care.
"You think I did all this for money?"
His face loomed close to Mario's. "Vulgar! Ignorant! How could a fool like you understand how wonderful the aura of fear can be!"
As the scarecrow drew closer, Mario's breathing became more rapid. The withered yellow hood reflected in his eyes was no different from rotting flesh. The rough stitching and cracks looked like rotten fragments after being cut open with a knife. Countless maggots struggled to crawl out of his mouth, piercing his lips and cheeks, desperately stretching forward as if trying to crawl onto his face.
Maggots fell onto his face.
"Ughhhhhh!"
The last thread of reason that held him back snapped, and Mario could no longer control himself. He screamed, but no one could help him.
Fear filled the private room. The gangsters behind him, armed with guns, were already prostrate on the ground, some screaming and retreating in terror, others huddled on their knees, chanting from the Bible and begging for forgiveness.
Only the Scarecrow and his men remained standing in the entire compartment; the gas-filtering devices under their hoods were enough to make them ignore the threat of poison gas.
"Well, in terms of convenience, the Fear Type 1 is still the best. As long as you don't encounter a freak like Batman, most people will just kneel down and beg for mercy."
The scarecrow walked through the haphazardly piled-up people, stepping over even those lying on the ground without a second thought. "While Fear Type II can cause great chaos, those affected will indiscriminately attack everyone around them. It should not be used casually without certainty."
He walked out of the private room. "Oh, right, it's ready to use now."
At the end of the line, the scarecrow's subordinate raised the nozzle, and colorless and odorless gas filled the private room.
The people who had been lying or kneeling, and who had basically lost the ability to resist, stood up intermittently. As they propped themselves up, they touched the gun that had fallen to the ground.
A gunshot rang out from inside the private room.
The sound drew everyone's attention, and the scarecrow that walked out of the private room at that moment also attracted everyone's attention.
He basked in the horrified stares of the crowd as he opened his arms wide.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's enjoy this wonderful Halloween night together!"
The scarecrows behind him all raised their sprinklers.