When Hugo walked into the activity room, everyone could sense the oppressive atmosphere around him. The Riddler was the first to scream, Two-Face snorted, and the Joker lifted his eyelids, slamming a deck of cards onto the table.
"I guess our bald friend didn't bring good news." The Joker leaned back, arms folded, and said, "How long has Batman been missing? Must be two months, right? I'm starting to think he's abandoned us."
"Good news, he hasn't abandoned you," Hugo stepped forward and said.
"What's the bad news?" Clayface secretly ate a card while everyone was distracted, then asked.
"The bad news is he's very displeased with your performance. He sent a damn agent, pointed a gun at my head, telling me to urge you to do some real work."
"Did you not wake up?" The Joker looked at him and asked, "Did your hypnosis experiment fail again? Did you hypnotize yourself?"
The Joker now looked completely different from when he was causing trouble, not only was he less excited and crazy, but he also seemed listless, spoke clearly, and didn't even crack jokes. If not for his unique appearance, he would be unrecognizable in a crowd.
"I know it's ridiculous," Hugo seemed unsure how to start, "Batman has been busy for two or three months, which led to him being very unhappy when he found out we're all playing cards in the insane asylum, so he insists on finding work for us."
"You're crazy." Two-Face commented, "Us playing cards in the asylum, isn't that what Batman wants to see?"
"It was like that before, recently there might have been some small changes," Hugo pulled over a chair and sat down, saying, "Batman might be truly busy, which led to him being full of resentment. If we don't placate him now, he might really cut the asylum's funding. The activity building could be sold off and turned into a department store then."
"Oh, God." Killer Croc slammed the table and said, "No way, he can't do this to us. We're supervillains, damn it!"
"But we're also Gotham residents, not to mention mentally ill patients. This is the only place willing to take us in without charging rent. If the asylum closes, are you going to rent a $300-a-week house that leaks?"
"Here, we even get two meals and afternoon tea!" Hugo raised his hand, saying, "Look at this activity room, it has air conditioning, a pool table, cards, and the foosball set is brand new. Without these, you'd be like old men, listening to the radio and reading newspapers every day."
"No, no, no, absolutely not!" The Mad Hatter Teige was the first to jump up and say, "I still want to research my brainwashing device! Without research funds, how can I get back my Alice?"
"I can't rent a place," Killer Croc said, "No landlord will rent to me, they'll shoot me with a shotgun."
The others looked at the Joker, Two-Face couldn't help but ask, "What about you, Joker, didn't you used to stay in the Joker Gang territory? Why are you squeezing with us here?"
The Joker sighed long and hard and said, "That's a long story. Have you heard of the Robin Gang?"
"You mean those crazy teenagers?"
"That's right, my Joker Gang territory was taken by them. They kicked me and Harley out, and I didn't want to rent from those mobsters, so I had no choice but to come here. And you, lawyer, Gotham reverting to the Gangster era, aren't you supposed to be thriving?"
"Heh, take a look at whose names rule the gangster families now. One's Wayne, one's Kane. Batman's parents are vindictive, I've hurt their son before, how could they possibly hire me?"
The few exchanged glances, sighing together. The Riddler rubbed his nose and said, "But if we're not playing cards here, what else can we do? Go out and kill someone, then write riddles?"
"Don't dream about it," the Joker snorted coldly and said, "The streets are full of gangsters, the top are the wealthy, the bottom are the thugs. With your skinny arms and legs, who can you kill?"
"What now?" Harley lying on the table yawned and said, "The arms I got earlier were also confiscated. If Batman really kicks us out, we'll be homeless. Surely, he wouldn't be so ruthless, right?"
"Hard to say." Hugo grimaced and said, "The guy he sent is a tough one. You might have heard of Schiller Rodriguez."
The Joker raised an eyebrow and said, "You said he pointed a gun at your head? Is he younger than the usual Rodriguez we know?"
"Yes, probably a counterpart from another universe. That guy is truly fierce, I'm sure none of you have a way to deal with him."
"Who says so?" Clayface snorted slightly dissatisfied and said, "I can turn into Batman..."
Bam! Crash! Bam!
A sniper bullet penetrated the floor-to-ceiling window of the activity building, directly shattering Clayface into dust. By the time he painstakingly reassembled himself, Harley picked up the sniper bullet from the ground.
On the slim sniper bullet was a complete sentence engraved—"Now, immediately, get to work!"
Everyone scattered in a hurry.
"Pudding, I'll go with you." Harley giggled, clinging to the Joker. The Joker, however, pushed her away like she was the plague and said, "Stop clinging to me! I want to go alone!"
"You really have no sense of romance, falling for every pretty face. Are you planning to find that new Rodriguez as well? Batman would be heartbroken by your infidelity!"
The Joker glowered silently. Harley seemed bored too, she pulled out her phone and called Poison Ivy, then said, "Hello? Xiao Hong? Where are you? Batman's lined up some work for us, let's do it together. When the hurricane night comes, we can cuddle up at home and watch a movie..."
Hearing what she said, Hugo couldn't help but feel a bit envious. Though they usually regarded money as dirt, in crucial moments, money really works wonders. During the Gotham war, Harley made quite a bit flipping arms, bought her own place, and doesn't have to do Batman's tasks at all.
The others weren't so lucky. With Batman not in Gotham, they have no mood for messing around. But if they're kicked out of the asylum, they'll end up confronting those gangs, and they might not even stand a chance.
It's like I said, a return to the gangster era is a good thing for Gotham, especially the family-style gangster era, which values bloodlines and surnames. These madmen are all lone ghosts who can't fit into the current system, neither wealthy nor heavily armed, making it difficult to act as recklessly as before.
Living out there requires expenses, even renting a place is a huge challenge. These people look peculiar, and landlords generally wouldn't rent to such a big troublemaker. If they provoke a vendetta with the mob, it would be even harder to get by.
So, even if it's just to keep Arkham Asylum from going bankrupt, they have to go out and work. Though it's unclear what kind of madness Batman is up to, appeasing him first is essential if they want to live well and enjoy afternoon tea.
A group of eccentrically dressed madmen stopped in front of Arkham Asylum and looked at the gathering clouds on the coastline. Clayface scratched his head and said, "So, what should we do?"
"I don't know, Batman didn't say," Riddler replied, looking perplexed.
The rest could only turn to Joker. Joker was the one among them who knew Batman best. Batman had sent people to intimidate them but hadn't specified what job to do, so they could only speculate through Joker.
"The hurricane is making landfall," Joker said.
"But this isn't the first hurricane to make landfall; there've already been three this year, right? Is Batman really so short-handed, to this extent?"
"Of course not, so there must be something else." Joker leaned against the porch column, thinking, "There must be some disaster we don't know about happening quietly and it's very likely to cause chaos during the hurricane. That's why Batman called us out."
"Counting on us to save the day?"
"Counting on us to die first," Joker said, "Because if the hurricane and mysterious disaster destroy Gotham's existing order, we'll become the biggest unstable factor. So Batman needs us involved, to catch the attention of that mysterious disaster, maybe even clash with it, and draw mutual attention to each other. That way, his little birdies can focus on the rescue."
"You're suggesting this mysterious disaster is someone?" Two-Face asked, frowning.
"If it were just a person, they would have been thrown in here to stay with us long ago. Batman hasn't dealt with some lurking threat in Gotham, not because he doesn't have time, but because that guy is indeed hard to handle, and even Batman isn't confident about catching him."
"This gets interesting," Mad Hatter said in a sharp voice, "What could be more difficult for Batman to deal with than you, Joker?"
"I'd like to know too." Joker gazed at the distant cloud-covered horizon, slowly breaking into a smile.
Shiller stood on the rooftop of a building not far from the asylum, the pre-hurricane winds making the strap of his sniper rifle flap intensely. He watched as the madmen gradually left the asylum's perimeter, then picked up his gun and left the rooftop.
He descended as he stowed the sniper rifle into a case, quickly exiting the building through a side door, crossing a street whipped by wind, under a sky so heavy it seemed to drench the earth, he vaulted over a fence and returned to the asylum's parking lot.
He glanced around, walked up to one of the cars and opened the door, getting in the passenger seat without looking. Turning his head, he met the eyes of Joker, who was about to start the car.
"What are you up to?" Joker asked him.
"This car isn't yours," Shiller replied.
"But it's not yours either," Joker didn't deny it.
Shiller pulled a badge from his pocket, showing it to him: "FBI, illegal vehicle theft, you're under arrest."
Joker's eyes widened slowly: "This is entrapment!"
"You're supposed to be out looking for work, not stealing cars. Considering you're a mental patient, I won't arrest you. Get out, now!"
"I won't!"
Ten seconds later, Joker was hauled out of the car like a helpless sack. He staggered, then fell to the ground, shouting at Shiller: "I have no car! Then how am I supposed to leave here?!"
"Walk out." Shiller loaded his handgun, then said, "I'll follow behind you, don't think of stealing another car."
"What grudge do you have against me?!"
"I'm enforcing the law. Quit babbling, hurry up and leave."
Joker reluctantly tugged at the hem of his clothes, stepping towards the parking lot exit. Shiller didn't go to drive; instead, he followed behind him, holding his gun.
Joker had barely walked a few steps when a sharp braking sound came from the ramp at the parking lot entrance. Joker was still in disbelief when Shiller shot out the tire of the car approaching straight ahead. The car that had been heading directly this way spun due to the blowout and veered off in another direction.
Shiller aimed his gun at the car that crashed into the railing and shouted, "Get out of the car! On the ground!"
A middle-aged man with a big beard slowly exited the vehicle, raised his hands, and got down on the ground. Shiller continued to aim, asking, "What's going on?"
"Sorry, officer, I, I don't know. Maybe the ground is too wet and slippery!" The man's tone was very frightened, "I hit the brakes, but it did no good! I'm really sorry."
"Let's go," Shiller turned and said to Joker.