The Batmobile was in flames, crashing into the pre-dawn darkness. Batman's back was broken by Bane's knee, and then he was lifted and thrown to the ground.
Swish, swish, swish!
A series of bat darts shot toward Bane, but his bulging muscles simply ignored these weak projectiles. He walked step by step toward Batman and said condescendingly, "Dramatic gadgets and sleight of hand can only deceive outsiders who've never seen the world. But we aren't ordinary people, are we, Bruce Wayne?"
As he spoke, Bane turned his head to look at Connors, who was approaching, his voice muffled by the mask: "It's rare to have a guy in Gotham who shows his true face."
Bane stood in front of Batman and raised one foot high: "If you're here to help him, then you'll have to watch carefully, because you'll end up the same way."
Connors nodded honestly: "Awesome."
Bane didn't understand, but that didn't stop him from stomping hard. If this kick landed firmly on its target, Batman, with his back broken, would be dead.
At the critical moment, a grappling hook shot out and pulled Batman away from under Bane's foot, but Bane also leaped with the force of his step.
He was clearly a mountain of flesh, but his agility seemed to be at its maximum, jumping directly from a high place to where the hook was attached.
"Brace yourself." Connors's voice sounded in Batman's ear. Just as he was wondering what this meant, Connors had already acted.
The grappling hook was originally secured to a stone not far away, but now the stone inexplicably changed its position, and Batman changed direction as well.
Bane's jump missed, and when he tried to continue, he found his feet stuck in the mud. Where did the quagmire by the lake come from? This doubt flashed through his mind, and then he bent down, using all four limbs, and charged toward Batman like a beast.
But the stone changed its position again, causing Bane to stop with a frown. He then looked at Connors with scarlet eyes: "I said…"
"Okay, okay, I get it, I get it," Connors said in a coaxing tone, then continued with his arrangement—the arrangement of a master-level minor trick.
Bane had always been treated like a devil since he was a child. This was the first time anyone had spoken to him in such a tone.
He became furious and prepared to kill this bothersome man. Seeing that Batman and Connors were hiding behind the car that had just arrived, Bane strode forward, grabbed the muscle car's chassis with one hand, and flipped it over.
However, to his surprise, there was no sign of Connors or Batman in front of him.
"Your sleight of hand is quite good," Bane praised sincerely, then raised the muscle car with both hands again. After he frantically plowed the surrounding ground, he still couldn't find the two people, as if they had vanished into thin air.
The once flat ground was now so soft it could grow vegetables, and the muscle car was torn to pieces.
Bane was panting heavily. He even jumped into the lake and thrashed about, but there was no one hiding in the water. It was as if they had evaporated.
"Dude, if you don't leave now, I'm going to be exposed…" Connors said to himself helplessly, looking at Bane, who seemed eager to dig deep into the ground to find him.
He had initially hidden behind the muscle car with Batman, and when Bane lifted the car, he began to move toward the burning Batmobile. Until now, he and Batman had been hiding behind the flames of the Batmobile, using his "Master of Minor Tricks" powers to keep Bane from seeing them.
But as time passed, the flames burning in the Batmobile grew weaker, and soon it would no longer be able to cover him completely.
Fortunately, Bane finally lost his patience, left, and then unexpectedly returned. After not seeing anyone for several more attempts, he finally left for good. At this point, the flames in the Batmobile were almost extinguished.
"Your car isn't fire-resistant. Next time, I suggest you switch to a fire-resistant material, such as oak," Connors said to the powerless Batman.
Bruce Wayne glanced at him feebly and pressed a button. The lake surface surged, and a sloped lifting platform broke through layers of silt, emerging from the water's depths. The lid blocking the water inlet opened automatically.
"…"
Batman said nothing. Connors understood his intention, carried him on his back, and walked toward the entrance.
In the Batcave, Butler Alfred looked at the two coming down from the lift platform. He already knew what had happened outside, so he quickly pushed a stretcher over.
Soon, the fully automatic operating table in the Batcave began to work. Butler Alfred smiled at Connors and extended a hand: "Master Patterson, do you need a bathrobe and cigarettes prepared for you?"
"…Hey." When Connors heard this, he knew this old butler, with his white hair and tough demeanor, was joking with him, so he shook his hand. The first few times he finished his "work," he'd lit a cigarette half-naked and glared at Batman. As the man behind Batman, Butler Alfred must have known these things for a long time.
"I came to him because I have a problem to solve—don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight," Connors explained his purpose. "But running into Bane was an accident. It seems what we need to solve in the short term is the problem of Batman's replacement."
Gotham City could do without Batman for one night, but not for several days in a row, otherwise those restless elements would definitely cause trouble. Alfred knew this, and Connors, who had read the comics, naturally knew it as well.
"Let's make arrangements after he wakes up. Master Patterson, please go to the living room and rest for a while," Butler Alfred said, extending his hand to lead the way.
"No need… I found there seemed to be toxins in his body." Connors rejected the butler's kindness and said something that immediately put Alfred on alert.
There are spores in Bruce's body, which contain the green breath of all things… Did he go to find Poison Ivy and get attacked by her?
Connors looked at Bruce Wayne lying motionless on the operating table. With a thought, countless pale green spores flew out of Batman's mouth and nose, into Connors's hands, then turned gray and white, becoming completely inert. Alfred felt relieved when he saw this.
He had worried that this man would take advantage of the opportunity to do something malicious, but now it seemed he had been too suspicious.
Time passed quickly. Thanks to his strong physical fitness, Bruce Wayne woke up at nine o'clock in the morning. The first thing he said to Connors was: "How did you do it?" He still remembered the series of incredible operations after Connors appeared.
Connors laughed and changed the subject: "Compared to this, I think you need to worry more about the issue of Gotham's successor, right?"
"I'll give you a day to solve this problem, and then in the evening, I'll discuss another issue with you about the destruction of the world." After that, Connors turned and left Wayne Manor. Before leaving, he asked Alfred to borrow a car instead of walking.
He had waited a long time just to say this to Bruce Wayne. Next, he had another thing to do: after proposing to Seol Hee that he wanted to be her gigolo, she agreed on the condition that Connors must "dredge the waterway" once more and accompany her to watch today's circus performance. The "dredging of the channel" was completed before leaving, and only the circus performance remained.
There was nothing inherently interesting about the circus, and Connors wasn't particularly interested, but the name of the circus wasn't simple: "Flying Graysons." Although the story was veering off course, it was generally in line with the development of the comic's plot.
Maybe when he comes again tonight, he'll bring a son back for Bruce.
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