hotmtlnovel Chapter 3873 The Nameless Bat (43)
Chapter 3873 The Nameless Bat (43)
Chapter 3873 The Nameless Bat (Forty-Three)
Before the Arkham Knight could react, Schiller shoved him through the door and closed it behind him. The Arkham Knight staggered back a step, and before he could even speak, a pistol was pointed at his forehead.
The Arkham Knight slowly raised his hands.
“Don’t you think something’s wrong with this?” he swallowed hard. “Shouldn’t you be saying something like, ‘I think we can talk’? Aren’t you the best at communication?”
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.” Schiller held up his gun, looking at him expressionlessly. “My specialty is physical communication.”
Schiller stepped forward, and the Knight of Arkham stepped back. “Wait,” he said, “calm down, I really think we can talk.”
"What's the point? Now that I've found you, and you failed to subdue me the moment you saw me, the next course of action will simply be 'I say, you do.' What's there for us to talk about?"
“How could you do this?” The Arkham Knight’s tone sounded somewhat aggrieved. “I’d even be willing to talk to you. Do you know how much fear I overcame?”
"Stop talking nonsense, Mr. Todd. I need your cooperation now."
"Okay, just tell me what you want to do, but I..."
boom!
Half an hour later, a series of loud footsteps echoed down the stairs in front of the operating room at Gotham University Medical School. Leading the way were two armed bodyguards, followed by a security team advisor in a suit, then the secretary, and finally President Bruce Wayne, dressed in a suit and tie.
"What happened?" Batman Arkham asked the attending physician as he walked down the corridor, looking at him as the surgeon emerged from the operating room. "How is my adopted son?"
“He is not in mortal danger. In my experience, this shot was very tricky. Although it was very close to the hip joint, it did not damage any important nerves. It’s just that because of the sensitive location, removing the bullet will be extremely difficult. We need to have a joint consultation, and then have the best surgeon perform the operation.”
Arkham Batman frowned. He turned to his security advisor and asked, "Who did this?"
The other person pursed their lips, leaned close to Arkham Batman's ear, and whispered a name. Arkham Batman's eyes widened instantly, then slowly narrowed again.
“I will sign a warrant,” Batman Arkham’s voice was unreadable. “Immediately arrest former FBI agent Schiller Rodriguez.”
The security advisor nodded to him. The secretary behind him immediately jotted down the request and then turned and left. In less than two hours, arrest warrants bearing Schiller's image were delivered to the desks of the heads of various law enforcement agencies.
In the operating room, the Arkham Knight, sitting on the edge of the bed eating a takeout hamburger, said somewhat indistinctly to Schiller, who was leaning against the window, "So you made me pretend to be sick to lure him out, just so he would put a warrant for your arrest? What are you after?"
“I’m curious too,” the attending physician said, leaning against another wall with his hands in the pockets of his white coat. “You’ve brought up my history of illegally selling hospital painkillers, making me deceive the president, just to make myself universally condemned?”
“I don’t have time to explain to you.” Schiller wiped his scope. “All you need to know is that the agents and Batman aren’t after me. To be precise, it’s not just me.”
"You mean the cyber life form you mentioned?" Arkham Knight looked at Schiller. He remembered the bullet that had grazed his ear back in the base.
As the gunshot rang out, the Arkham Knight instinctively flinched, then tried to seize Schiller's gun during the brief pause in his movement. But in that instant, Schiller withdrew his arm, ducked to avoid the strike, and then slammed an elbow into the Arkham Knight's shoulder. The Arkham Knight's body lurched to the right, and Schiller followed up with a whip kick, knocking him to the ground. Before the Arkham Knight could regain his footing, he was once again held at gunpoint.
"Good heavens, your physical communication skills aren't bad. If you came here just to beat me up, you can leave now."
“I need your help, Jason. Don’t look at me like that; this is already me begging. Otherwise, that bullet would have grazed your hip joint and gotten stuck right in the middle of the most important nerve in your lower back. Even the best surgeon in the world would have needed more than ten hours to remove it.”
"Then tell me what you want!" the Arkham Knight roared at him. "You barged in, pointed a gun at me, beat me up, and now you say you're begging me? Give me the answer!!!"
"The one who sabotaged Amazon's diplomatic relations with the United States, spread rumors about the president, killed the head of Wayne Enterprises' security information department, and kidnapped Barbara is the same person behind it all. We can't find him because he doesn't exist."
"what?"
"He's not human, but an electronic life form that exists only in the network. And he's coming for me."
“Electronic life?!” The Arkham Knight was initially surprised, but soon seemed to understand.
"You know something, don't you?"
"Batman called me aside at the medical center and asked me to stay near Brother Eye's servers for the next few days and report any unusual activity. I don't really understand the necessity of doing that. But if the cyber life form you're talking about is a very skilled hacker, then it makes sense."
"He didn't ask you to protect this place. If I'm not mistaken, he probably set some kind of trap here to lure electronic life into it. But he's got one thing wrong."
"what?"
"He thought the mastermind was after him. So he used a magical defense network to build a secure fortress, thinking that as long as he set up his plans there, they wouldn't be discovered. But the mastermind was after me."
"How did you know?" the Arkham Knight asked instinctively, but after glancing at Schiller's expression, he remained silent.
“I need Batman’s power, so you have to put on a show for me. Dr. Houston, who used to work at an FBI base, has a serious criminal record for stealing and selling painkillers from hospitals. He’s my informant and can fake your injury and emergency treatment. If you’re injured, Batman won’t just ignore you.”
“No,” Arkham Knight said instinctively. “Batman might have some psychological trauma regarding my injury… I mean, he might be a little traumatized. If he gets provoked, he might act a little… extreme.”
“If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have come to you.” Schiller’s words made the Knight of Arkham’s heart sink.
Schiller suddenly holstered his pistol. The Arkham Knight stood up. He didn't want to fight Schiller again. Although he also had a gun and a lot of advanced equipment, he simply couldn't figure out Schiller's tactics. Violence would only make him lose more initiative.
“I’ve known this since the day I became a secret agent. Everyone has a weakness. Only when a bullet hits the scar that hurts the most can someone be driven. Your scar isn’t mine, it’s Batman’s. And vice versa.”
The Arkham Knight's tactical-gloved hand tightened slightly as he said, "You want to use me to poke Batman? But I must warn you, angering him is not a good thing. You could pay an unimaginable price for it."
"That's my business, you don't need to worry about it. Even if he does something to me, wouldn't that be exactly what you want?"
Arkham Knight didn't seem expectant at all. He said, "I don't know which universe you're from, or what kind of illusion your Batman has given you. I must tell you, our universe's Batman is exceptionally ruthless and violent. If you're determined to provoke him, don't fall into his hands. Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble."
"Very good, it seems you're willing to cooperate. Come with me to Gotham University Medical Research Center."
Arkham Knight snapped out of his daze. He saw Schiller climb out the window and disappear into the night. He crumpled the empty hamburger wrapper into a ball, tossed it into the nearby trash can, stood up, stretched, and said, "I'm not really going to stay here for a dozen hours. I want to see what that so-called electronic life form is like..."
Before he could finish speaking, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. Dr. Houston had appeared behind him without his noticing, and a needle was stuck in his neck.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Todd. Agent Rodriguez instructed me to keep a close eye on you. You should get some sleep.”
The view before the Arkham Knight began to sway. He cursed under his breath, then slowly collapsed.
Schiller, carrying his briefcase, glanced around before getting into his car. Two security cameras on the street corner flashed red in the darkness. Less than two minutes after he drove off the street, an FBI convoy had cordoned off the area.
The black Chevrolet sped along. Schiller quickly saw two police cars following him in his rearview mirror. But he didn't accelerate immediately, maintaining a steady speed. He reached for the radio and turned the knob, soon hearing a radio announcement.
“Schiller Rodriguez! Please pull over immediately for inspection. Otherwise, we will charge you with resisting arrest…”
A crackling noise came from the radio, quickly replaced by Barbara's voice: "Schiller! What are you doing?! You hurt Jason?! Why???"
“I can’t explain it to you in detail right now.” Schiller said, glancing at the side mirrors as he steered the car. A car was already following from the right. They had reached the optimal PIT (Precision Road Intervention) position.
The police car swerved slightly, bumping into the rear of the black Chevrolet where Schiller was. Schiller counter-steered to stabilize the car and accelerated slightly forward.
He circled back into the city via the intercity highway; Gotham wasn't too congested at that time. He maneuvered the car, constantly changing lanes, and soon the sound of helicopters could be heard overhead.
But the helicopter arrived too late. Schiller turned and drove directly into the underground parking lot beneath the overpass. He grabbed his equipment and got out of the car. He turned on his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Intercept Batman's control of the cameras. Ms. Gordon. Don't let him find out where I am for now."
"Are you crazy?!" Barbara's angry voice came from the other end of the phone. "You injured Jason and you expect me to help you?"
"Batman will catch me eventually anyway. What's wrong with stalling me for a bit? Or do you think he can't handle me either, which is why you're not willing to help me?"
"Provocation won't work on me! I've already sent your coordinates to Batman. I advise you to surrender, Schiller. Considering you saved me once before, I must remind you that not resisting might mean less pain."
Upon hearing Barbara say that she had already sent her coordinates to Batman, Schiller stopped listening. He hung up the phone, glanced at the security camera in the underground parking lot, and strolled leisurely toward the exit.
He left the parking lot without incident, found a car nearby, easily picked the lock, got in, and drove towards the old town.
Five minutes later, Arkham Batman stood in the middle of the underground parking lot, looking around, but couldn't find the black Chevrolet with the fake license plates. He pressed the communicator and said, "Barbara, are you sure he's here?"
"Of course. I just saw him on the security camera! He went out through the east exit. Why don't you go look there?"
“East?” Arkham Batman pressed a device on his arm. A complete map of the underground parking garage appeared on the holographic projection. “This parking garage has only one exit, facing north.”
"How is that possible?!" Barbara exclaimed incredulously after hearing what Arkham Batman said. "Isn't it '223 Radvinden Avenue, Palm Tree Hotel underground parking lot'?"
Arkham Batman looked down at the coordinates Barbara had just sent him. It clearly showed "Underground parking lot of the Information Technology Building, 106 Radwinton Avenue".
Batman from Arkham immediately realized that the electronic ghost lurking in the network had just reappeared.