Chapter 132: Ultraman Knocks
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
A hostage situation? In our shop?
Orin Vale's first reaction was that he had misheard.
After further confirming the authenticity of the news with Kara, Orin Vale couldn't help but feel speechless at Two-Face's rotten luck.
Seriously, there are hundreds, thousands of restaurants and cafes in all of Gotham. What were the odds that he'd pick our shop?
To paraphrase the TV series version of The Flash: Dude, if the next Olympics decides to add an award for the world's unluckiest person, you'd definitely be the Usain Bolt of bad luck.
Following Kara upstairs to take a look, he indeed found that the coffee shop on the ground floor had been taken over by Two-Face and his subordinates. Guarding the entrance were two henchmen with tattoos of an azure dragon and a white tiger, who looked tough but not very bright. Holding submachine guns, they stood guard at the door like a pair of door gods.
A gloomy man sat at a table by the window. If you only looked at his profile, he might seem like a brooding, handsome man at first glance, with fine features and an impeccable facial structure. But the other half of his face was a ghastly sight, enough to make one vomit up last night's dinner—a terrifying, bulging eyeball, burnt, blood-red muscles, and yellowed teeth visible through cracked lips. He looked like the kind of image from an old horror movie that would suddenly jump-scare you, leaving you sleepless all night.
Two-Face, Harvey Dent, an important early character in Batman's story. Originally a lawyer who pursued justice, his face was disfigured by acid during the Sal Maroni case. From then on, he developed a split personality, with good and evil personas, and became one of Batman's main adversaries.
The current situation was that Gordon was leading his men in pursuit of Two-Face. They had chased him to the nearby block, and Two-Face had ducked into this very shop. Fearing for the hostages, Gordon didn't dare to charge in and could only surround the place. Two-Face was set on waiting for Batman to show up for a real-life showdown, and he wouldn't make a move until Batman arrived, so he was waiting patiently.
However, the sky had already darkened by now, and the shop was empty of customers. So, to summarize: the only hostages Two-Face had after barging in were an Ultraman, a Kryptonian, a nine-thousand-year-old Shazam, a super-gorilla, and a cat that could lift an aircraft.
With a lineup like this, it was hard to tell who was kidnapping whom.
Orin Vale glanced at the armed goons deployed in the shop and Two-Face by the window, a little puzzled. "You guys haven't taken him down?"
He found it strange how Two-Face could be so leisurely sipping coffee in the face of such a lineup. It was no exaggeration to say that if you picked up the cat in this room, it could take them all down.
"We thought about it, but the Old Wizard said no," Kara shrugged.
"Don't worry, I've already handled it," the Old Wizard leaned in and said in a low voice. "I find this man with two faces quite interesting. His mind, so fractured, yet each part can maintain its own clear consciousness. I've seen cases of split personalities before, but never one as novel as this."
Orin Vale wasn't surprised. *Of course. You've never been to Gotham before. This place is full of extraordinary characters, you think that's just a saying?*
The essence of Two-Face's split personality is the opposition between his good and evil personas. His disfigurement and tragic experience gave birth to his hateful, evil persona, while the other half of his face represents Harvey's remaining good persona.
Often, when he faces a difficult choice and paranoidly decides to flip a coin to determine his actions and what's right or wrong, it's actually the process of good and evil impulses struggling within his heart.
Of course, ever since the Two-Face persona was born, the evil side has usually held the upper hand, with Harvey's persona being "offline" most of the time.
"I secretly cast a spell on one of his personas, enhancing the consciousness of his weaker persona," the Old Wizard said, stroking his beard. "I'm very curious to see what effects the personality conflict in such a peculiar mind will produce. I have a premonition that I might be able to gain new insights into some mental spells through this."
Orin Vale was a little surprised. Ever since the Old Wizard came to the shop, he had been obsessed with studying pots and stoves all day. It was rare for him to suddenly remember he was still a wizard and get back to his magical research.
Since he was in high spirits for once, Orin Vale let him be.
In any case, it didn't seem likely that this gang of robbers could hurt anyone in this shop...
Unless they hurt themselves.
Sure enough, perhaps because the spell was taking effect, Two-Face was now sitting in his seat, arguing fiercely.
The left half of his face was arguing with the right half.
"I really don't think this is right." Harvey's normal half-face was filled with guilt. "You've dragged so many innocent people into this."
"Shut up, you sissy!" Two-Face's burnt half-face said viciously.
"But what if someone gets hurt?" Harvey said.
"Shut up!" Two-Face continued to roar.
Harvey: "I think what you're doing is wrong. Taking hostages is a cowardly act. If you really want to, you should face Batman in a fair fight and defeat him head-on. Only that would be a true victory."
Two-Face: "So you think you can beat him?"
Harvey: "Of course not. He's Batman, and I'm just a clerk. How could I possibly beat him?"
"Then what the hell are you yapping about?"
Growing agitated, he swung his left fist and—BAM!—punched himself in the right cheek.
Harvey cried out, "Hey! Can't we just talk this out without getting physical? This isn't civilized at all."
"Not only will I get physical, I'm gonna do it again!"
As Two-Face spoke, he landed another punch on Harvey's side of the face, making the corner of Harvey's mouth bleed.
Then, after a two-second pause, Two-Face cursed and continued, "Damn it, hitting you hurts me too..."
Orin Vale: "..."
He was beginning to understand why the Old Wizard had said it was already handled.
"Alright, well, I wish you success with your experiment," Orin Vale shrugged. "But I just found something I need to take care of, so I have to go out for a bit. You guys watch the shop."
"Go on, go on," the Old Wizard waved his hand dismissively.
Although the outside was crawling with police officers, Orin Vale's armor had a built-in stealth mode. Besides, his current speed was already fast enough to shake off any surveillance methods, so it was hardly a problem for him.
Two-Face was too busy fighting with himself to notice, but the two henchmen standing guard at the door saw Orin Vale's movement and immediately approached.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"The restroom." Orin Vale pointed casually at the bathroom.
"Hold it," one of the strong men said coldly. "Mr. Two-Face said you all have to stay put, and you can't go anywhere."
Orin Vale shrugged. "I wasn't asking."
The two burly men didn't see any movement at all, but they both felt a sharp pain in the bridge of their noses. Their vision went black, blood streamed from their noses, and they fell backward to the ground.
The henchman behind them was shocked. He hurried forward and threw open the bathroom door, only to find it completely empty, without a soul in sight.
The henchman rubbed his eyes.
*Was I seeing things?*
And so, the two strong men guarding the door, bruised and dejected, could only approach Two-Face. "Sorry, boss. He insisted on leaving... we couldn't stop him..."
At that moment, Two-Face's right hand was gripping his left arm, and his left hand was throttling his own throat. His entire face was red from the pressure, and it looked like he was locked in a life-or-death struggle with himself.
Hearing his henchmen's words, he managed to turn his head in the midst of his struggle, glaring viciously at the two of them with his hideous half-face.
"A bunch of useless fools!"
Orin Vale quickly flew away from Gotham, following the coordinates to the Moon.
Then, he spotted the target of his trip at a glance.
It looked like some kind of space station.
It had a massive, circular outer shell with a black coating that had a metallic sheen, reflecting the light of the sun. Its strange shape was composed of numerous circles of various sizes and at different heights, forming a peculiar structure that tapered upwards.
Orin Vale quickly landed at the main entrance. The entrance was a huge, circular gate that emitted a soft blue glow, as if some kind of energy were flowing through it. Their source could be traced back to the crystals at the terminals of the transmission pipe system surrounding the structure.
A typical Kryptonian crystal-driven design.
Orin Vale knew he had found the right place.
"I have preliminarily designed at least three infiltration plans for your reference, sir," Pal said, displaying the plans at the bottom of his field of vision.
Orin Vale swiped them away without even looking.
"That won't be necessary today, Pal. Today, we're going with Plan Four."
Orin Vale said as he walked up to the circular main entrance.
"What kind of plan is that, sir?"
"The plan is this: first, we knock. Then, we go in and take out everyone who sees us. As long as there's no one left who saw us by the end, it's a perfect infiltration. Don't you think?"
"That... makes a lot of sense," Pal was convinced.
"Right? I think so too."
So, Orin Vale stood before the gate and raised his fist.
"Knock knock, anybody home?"
BOOM!
His fist knocked on the gate.
And then the gate exploded.
(end of chapter)