Hearing Eden's warning, I quickly whispered the situation to Zatanna. Then, the lights flickered as I teleported us to the rooftop, swapping our places with robots.
I surveyed the rooftop and saw two men in clown masks sneaking toward the control panels, either to cut the communication of the building or take control of it.
I nodded to Zatanna and pointed at the man on the left.
Bending my knees, I jumped high into the air and glided toward them while Zatanna turned invisible.
I landed behind my target, grabbed him by the back of his head, and slammed it into the ground. I didn't hit him too hard to avoid knocking him out, but I did break his nose, and a few teeth flew out.
"peelS(Sleep)," while Zatanna cast a sleeping spell on the other man.
She's definitely not Gotham material.
Grabbing the man by the hair, I yanked him up and threw him against the parapet.
"AHHH," he screamed in pain as his back hit the wall.
As I approached him, he slowly lifted his head and whimpered, blood still flowing from his broken nose.
It took him a moment to realize what had happened, and when he did, his eyes widened in fear. He opened his mouth to scream, but I grabbed his neck before he could.
"Who do you work for!?" I demanded, holding him over the edge. He clung tightly to my arm, terrified I would let him fall.
"O-Oh g-go-god, I-I'll t-talk, plea-plase don't k-kill me," he pleaded with a stutter before his eyes shifted beside me.
"HELP ME, PLEASE, HE'S GONE—*agkh*," he yelled for help, but I squeezed his neck harder to silence him. I glanced to the side and saw only Zatanna, no one else.
He probably thought that since Zatanna looked normal and she was a woman, she'd be kind enough to help him.
In response to his pleas for help, Zatanna turned away from him and looked at me, making the man lose his last straw of hope.
"He's turning blue," she said, pointing at the thug.
I turned my head and saw the thug's face, now nearly purple, with his eyes rolled back.
I relaxed my grip, allowing him to breathe, and after he took a few breaths, I asked again.
"Who do you work for!?"
"Joker, I work for Joker. I'll tell you everything, just please don't hurt me," he said quickly, scared I might choke him again or let him fall.
Finally, he is making his debut. I've been waiting for this moment for months.
"You already did." I knocked him out with a punch, completely shattering his jaw and condemning him to feed through a straw for the rest of his life before I tossed him aside.
{Sir, intruders are about to enter the building.}
I looked down and activated detective mode to find Joker's henchmen.
20 out of 50 were in the party hall. 10 were holding the staff hostage in the kitchen, and the remaining 20 were scattered across the floor, making patrols.
"Invitations have been sent, Z. It's time for us to show up," I said as I patted Zatanna's ass.
"Eek!" Not expecting me to do something like that suddenly, she yelped in surprise, glaring at me with a pout that made her look even cuter, like an angry little bunny.
I wanted to squeeze those cheeks of hers, the ones on her face, not the backside, but I decided to wait since we had more important things to do.
"Don't try to act angry; I know you liked it," I said with a chuckle while patting her head as I pressed on my gauntlet to show a hologram of the party floor's layout.
"20 in the party hall, 10 in the kitchen with the hostages, and the rest patrolling. You save the hostages, and I'll take care of the patrols and the ones in the party hall." After I told her my plan, she raised an eyebrow and gave me a questioning look.
"Why are you handling most of them? I can clear the kitchen in a minute and then join you at the party hall so we can take them down together," she suggested.
I just shook my head. "You don't have a mask, and technically we're already at the party. If you show up now, it'll cause a lot of confusion and questions, which could lead some 'curious' people to dig deep to try to find out my identity, creating a headache for me."
That wasn't the real reason, though; the real reason was that I wanted my first showdown with Joker all by myself, without others interfering. After all, it's our first time together; it needs to be special.
Zatanna didn't respond but gave me a look that said, 'Stop the cap.'
She isn't an idiot, so she knows I'm just making excuses.
"I'm just trying to keep you safe," I said, trying to calm her as I wrapped my arms around her from behind.
She didn't say anything but leaned against me for a moment, enjoying my affection.
"Let's handle this and go home. It's getting late, and I don't want Dad to be mad," she said, pulling away from the hug.
{Sir, intruders are about to enter the party hall in 5 seconds.}
Hearing Eden's warning, I connected with the Bruce Wayne robot, and at the same time, I led Zatanna to where the entrance was.
Thanks to my super-duper advanced brain with a four-digit IQ, I can split my consciousness into multiple bodies without any issues. So far, my record is 7, but I'm sure the number will go up the more I practice.
***
The moment I connected to the Bruce Wayne robot, the doors to the party hall burst open, shocking the guests inside. 15 armed men in masks stormed in, followed by a group of 5 holding vests with bombs attached to them.
The armed men rushed towards the guards inside to subdue them, and they did easily since there weren't many guards to begin with, while the ones with the vests headed straight for the guests.
It took a moment for the guests to grasp what was happening. Panic set in as they screamed and ran around wildly like headless chickens until the armed men fired warning shots into the ceiling, forcing them to freeze, and then they pointed their guns at them as they slowly pushed guests into one corner while the bomb-vested men approached to strap the vests onto some of them.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" While all of this was happening, suddenly a laughter echoed beyond the door, and then a really skinny man in a purple suit with green hair and clown makeup walked in. He strolled inside with a nonchalant walk, his arms swinging at his sides.
[Joker]
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he announced his arrival loudly with a dramatic bow.
"I'm Joker, the clown of this delightful gathering, and I'm not happy," he said, looking expectantly at the crowd. But fear silenced them all.
"Isn't anyone going to ask why? How rude," Joker remarked as he strolled closer to the hostages, making them tremble with each step, dread falling on all of them, frail ones already passed out from fear.
He scanned the group until his eyes fell on one woman. As he stared at her, the color drained from her face, and she began to tremble like a leaf in the wind.
She looked to her partner, an old man, for help, but he turned away while pushing the woman away. Seeing that her partner was ignoring her, desperate, she glanced at the other hostages, with a plea in her eyes, hoping for help, but they all averted their gazes. Feeling hopeless, she lost her strength and sank to the ground, tears welling in her eyes.
One of Joker's henchmen quickly seized the woman and brought her to him.
"Can you guess why I am upset?" Joker asked as he yanked her hair, lifting her up as she let out an ear-piercing scream, which didn't seem to bother him. If anything, he looked delighted by her fear.
Taking a knife from his pocket, he put the knife on her lips.
"Shhhh, no need to scream; you'll hurt your throat," Joker said, dragging the knife from her lips to her throat, leaving a cut that bled.
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" he added before suddenly licking the blood from her face.
"P-Please, I-I don't w-want to d-d-die," the woman whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I don't want to kill you either, sweetheart. I'm just here for fun. This is a party, and no party is complete without a clown, right?" He asked with an iconic big-ass smile before suddenly slashing her throat.
Her eyes widened as she clutched her throat with both hands, blood gushing out. She fell to the floor, a pool of blood forming beneath her as she looked at Joker with a questioning look in her eyes, as if to ask why.
In response, Joker put his hand to his mouth, his eyes wide open, feigning surprise. "Oops, my hand slipped, HAHAHAHA!" he cackled, laughing maniacally.
One of his henchmen approached him while he was laughing, standing by his side and waiting for him to finish.
After Joker laughed to his heart's content, he signaled for his henchman to speak.
"Boss, we finished putting on the vests," the henchman reported, and Joker clapped his hands in excitement.
"Perfect timing! I'm sure our honored guest should be here soon," he said, then bent down and plunged his knife into the female hostage's back, who was still choking on her own blood.
"Hold on to that for me, darling, I'm hungry." he said, giving her arm a light pat before turning to the food on the table.
But as if remembering something, he stopped midway and turned to look over the hostages, his eyes traveling over the crowd before he pointed at a man.
The man he pointed at fell to his knees and began to beg.
"Please don't kill me! I'll give you anything! I don't want to die!" he pleaded, clasping his hands together.
"Where's big ol' Brucie?" Joker asked him.
The man looked puzzled at first, but another hostage elbowed him and whispered.
"Bruce Wayne, he's talking about Bruce Wayne."
"There!" Hearing the other hostage, the man didn't waste a second and loudly answered while pointing his finger at me, fearing that Joker would kill him for wasting his time.
"Brucie, you big oaf, what are you doing there, hiding?" Joker said with a big smile on his face as he walked toward me, "You are the size of a house; you can't hide even if you wanted to, silly."
While the hostages scrambled to get out of his way, avoiding him like the plague, it kind of looked like Moses parting the Red Sea.
Standing in front of me, Joker put a curious look on his face as he examined me up and down, his hand on his chin.
He looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Hmmm, you remind me of someone special." After a moment, he added, "Yeah, now that I get a good look at you, you kind of do."
"How much?" I asked.
Joker raised an eyebrow, looking at me curiously.
Then he burst into laughter. "HAHAHAHA! I don't want your money, Brucie. I don't need your money," he said, spinning around and pulling a revolver from out of nowhere, maybe from his ass.
"Money is boring," he said, aiming the gun at me.
Although I didn't show any emotion on my face, I made sure to look a bit pale and have some sweat on my forehead. I wanted Joker and others to believe I was genuinely scared and my calm act was nothing but a facade.
Others weren't as calm as me, as most of the women began to scream.
And Zatanna's robot, who had been silent the whole time with a horrified face, suddenly clung to my arm, tears in its eyes, begging the Joker not to shoot me. Of course, it was controlled by AI, not Zatanna, because while she is smart, she isn't smart enough to control two consciousnesses at the same time.
"Every man wants something. If it's not money, what do you want? Just tell me, and I can get it for you. No need for all this," I said, but the Joker just shook his head and giggled.
"I crave chaos, Bruce, and you, my boy, are a bomb made out of pure chaos," Joker said as he opened his arms, gesturing around us.
"Look at what happened just because I aimed a gun at you. Now imagine what would happen if I killed you, how beautiful Gotham would be in flames, all the riots, destruction. Just thinking about it makes me laugh," the Joker said with a giggle, pointing his gun at me once more.
"You are wrong, clown. Gotham isn't what it used to be. My death won't bring you the pleasure you seek."
"Want to test that? HAHAHAHAHAHA!" he shouted, bursting into wild laughter as he squeezed the trigger of the gun.
"MR. WAYNE, GET DOWN!" Suddenly, I heard a shout as a blur passed in front of me at the same time Joker's gun went off.
BANG
Looking to my left, I saw one of the guards lying on the floor, passed out with smoke coming out of his chest.
The fuck...anyways.
I just had a real life-and-death situation; I should probably drop the calm look and act a little scared now, since I'm just a really young, smart, rich kid, not some seasoned war veteran.
It's showtime.
With color drained from my face, I drop to my knees, supporting myself with my hands on the ground while breathing heavily, cold sweat dripping down my face.
Slightly lifting my head up, I looked at Joker, my eyes wide, filled with fear, while Joker had a huge smile and a satisfied look on his face.
"HAHAHAHAHA, it seems today isn't your day, Bruce. Maybe next time," he said as he patted me on the back, then turned away and began to walk toward the food stand.