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Chapter 40: Walking into the Trap, Two-Face's Judgment
Strad Pharmaceutical Company. Robin was monitoring the area intently.
"Finally came out. They worked really late today."
A group of people walked out of the main gate. One of them was R&D Director Horry, who was on Two-Face's kill list.
As Robin watched, Horry went to the parking lot and drove his car away. Robin immediately pursued.
Horry's car drove on the road, while Robin traveled between rooftops using his grappling gun.
"Hm?"
After tracking for a distance, Robin sensed something wrong.
"Since just now, that car seems to have been following Horry the whole time."
He shifted his gaze to a black van about fifty meters behind Horry.
"The windows are heavily tinted; I can't see how many people are inside."
Robin continued tracking while observing the van behind Horry.
"Robin!"
Suddenly, Oracle's notification came through his earpiece.
"Two-Face made his move! Location is the highway in the Old District!"
"What? Then the car following Horry is..."
Robin was startled. He looked down at the van.
Just then, the black van that had been following Horry—looking suspicious no matter how you looked at it—suddenly accelerated, overtook Horry, and forced him to a stop.
Several masked men holding weapons got out of the van and surrounded Horry's car.
"Oracle, I've got a situation here too. Talk later!"
In the urgency of the moment, Robin hurriedly jumped from the roof, firing his grappling line to swing toward the two vehicles.
Bang!
A masked man smashed Horry's car window. Horry shrank inside the car, asking in terror:
"Who... who are you? What do you want?"
"What do we want? Your life, of course! Mr. Horry, you are a sinner. Our boss sentenced you to death today!"
The masked man pulled a pistol from his jacket and pressed it to Horry's forehead.
"Ah! What the—?"
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a sharp pain shot through his wrist, forcing him to drop the gun uncontrollably.
Looking down, he saw a pitch-black bat-shaped dart embedded in his wrist, the sharp blade penetrating to the other side.
"Who's there? Come out!"
Seeing this, the other masked men instantly knew someone had come to crash the party.
The next second, Robin landed in front of them, holding a bo staff.
"Sorry, I apply to revoke your boss's sentence."
On the other side, inside the Clock Tower, Oracle's expression turned solemn upon hearing Robin's words. She immediately pulled up the surveillance record from Robin's location and indeed saw the masked men intercepting Horry.
Not only that, but besides the initial highway incident and Robin's location, the other five targets had also been attacked.
Two were killed immediately. The rest were being protected by the GCPD, and firefights were underway.
"The worst-case scenario happened. I didn't expect Two-Face to try and take out everyone at once. He rarely did this before."
Oracle quickly marked all the incident locations on the map. She intended to tell Robin the locations of the other attacks and the fastest routes once he dealt with his enemies.
But after doing all this, looking at the shape formed by connecting the seven points on the map, Oracle revealed a shocked expression.
What appeared before her eyes was a capital letter "R".
In an instant, Oracle understood everything.
"Two-Face's true target isn't those seven people, but Robin!"
"Bad. This is a trap. Everyone appearing now is bait!"
She hurriedly tried to contact Robin to warn him to be careful.
However, in that instant, her connection with Robin was suddenly cut off!
"No! Robin's signal is jammed!"
Meanwhile, on the street where Horry was attacked.
Robin knocked down the last masked man.
"Oracle, I'm done here. Tell me where the nearest attack site is... Hello? Oracle, why aren't you talking? Why is the connection cut?"
He pressed the communicator in his ear, trying to contact Oracle, but no sound came through.
Robin instantly felt something was wrong.
"Oracle couldn't have been compromised, right? Does Two-Face know she's hiding in the secret room at the top of the Clock Tower?"
Although Oracle had mastered wheelchair-fu after her paralysis and her combat ability wasn't weak—she could handle three to five big guys—she was disabled, after all. It was hard to say what the result would be against Two-Face's subordinates.
Thinking of this, Robin immediately went to a masked man, waking him up with two punches.
"Speak. Is your boss Two-Face? Where is he now? What is your real goal?"
"You think I'll betray my boss... Ow ow ow ow—"
After a burst of wailing.
"...No! Stop! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Robin let him go.
"Sullivan Island. Boss is on Sullivan Island."
The masked man gasped.
"Who are the targets of your attacks this time?" Robin continued to ask.
"Don't know. We're only responsible for our own targets."
The masked man paused, then added:
"But he said the ones we punish are just insignificant small fry. The true sinner will eventually be brought to his court for judgment."
Hearing this, Robin relaxed slightly. For Two-Face, if even Maroni's old party members were insignificant, then the "true sinner" undoubtedly referred to Batman, Oracle, and himself.
So even if Oracle had been taken, she likely wouldn't be killed immediately.
Robin knew Two-Face had an obsessive compulsion regarding courts. Anyone he deemed a sinner to be judged would go through a process before being executed.
Thus, he didn't doubt the masked man's words.
"Sullivan Island... judging from the time since I lost contact with Oracle, if I leave from here, I should be able to get there before she arrives."
Thinking this, Robin summoned the Batcycle and sped toward Sullivan Island at full throttle.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to tie the masked men together and instruct Horry to call the police.
In a dark room, Two-Face listened to the conversation between Robin and the masked man via a bug, smiling at the success of his conspiracy.
"The sinner is gradually stepping into the net. Soon, justice will be served—"
"My justice!"
Vroom—
On the highway from Gotham City to Sullivan, a red-and-black blur flashed by, leaving only a roaring boom.
"Did something just shoot past?"
A driver in a normal car stared dumbfounded at his rearview mirror.
But the shadow's speed was too fast; it vanished in the blink of an eye.
If not for the deafening roar that followed, he would have thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
There were usually few cars on this night road, so the driver had been relaxed, even drowsy. But after seeing that shadow, he became instantly alert, driving with full concentration, daring not to be careless.
"Just cross that bridge ahead, and I'll be at Sullivan Island."
Driving the Batcycle, Robin had gone full speed. He was about to arrive in just a few minutes.
Once on the bridge, he began to slow the Batcycle down to avoid alerting Two-Face and his men with too much noise.
"Very good. The sinner has jumped into the net. Time to close it."
Hidden in the shadows, Two-Face took out a walkie-talkie and spoke.
"We are in position, Boss."
"Do it."
"Hope Oracle hasn't been taken yet..."
Reaching the middle of the bridge, Robin was still worrying about Oracle's safety.
At that moment, without warning, an explosion rang out.
Boom!
The entire bridge shook violently, and Robin began to fall!
Yes, riding the Batcycle on the bridge, he was falling straight down!
Centered on Robin, a section of the bridge spanning over ten meters collapsed entirely.
And below the collapse, on the river that should have been empty, several speedboats had appeared out of nowhere!
"It's a trap!"
By now, how could Robin not understand he had been duped?
His reaction wasn't slow. Before falling to the river surface, he immediately pulled out his grappling gun, attempting to pull himself back up to the bridge.
Once he fell into the water, he would be in an extremely passive situation.
Robin wasn't Aquaman; fighting in water made it hard to unleash his full strength.
"Boss was right. You really would do that!"
Unfortunately, just as Robin fired the grappling hook, a figure suddenly appeared at the edge of the collapse, wielding an iron bar to knock Robin's hook away.
Sullivan Island was located in the middle of the Gotham River, not too far from the city. The river wasn't very deep, so the bridge structure was relatively small.
This meant the height from the bridge deck to the river surface was low. Falling from the bridge to the water took only two or three seconds.
In such a short time, firing a grappling hook before hitting the water was already an extremely limit-pushing maneuver. Yet, it was knocked down by Two-Face's pre-arranged subordinate.
Now, he had no chance to fire a second one.
Splash!
Robin fell into the water.
The last scene he saw before hitting the water was a masked man on one of the speedboats throwing a wire sparking with electricity into the river...
Unknown time later.
Robin woke from his coma, the numbness and pain in his body not yet fully faded.
It was very dark; he couldn't see anything clearly.
He could only feel that he was strapped to a chair. Fortunately, the tactile sensation around his eyes told him his mask was still on his face.
His identity hadn't been exposed—at least not yet.
Whoosh—
Just then, a candle flame appeared in front of Robin.
"Gentlemen, the court session may begin. Please light your candles."
Two-Face approached Robin holding a candle, speaking solemnly.
Whoosh—Whoosh—Whoosh—
As his voice fell, dozens of candles were lit simultaneously, illuminating the absurdly dark room.
Only then did Robin know exactly where he was.
"Two-Face really set up a court, and I'm the defendant?"
Directly opposite and to the side of Robin were rows of tables. Two-Face stood in front of the table opposite him, while twelve trembling people sat at the side tables.
"Twelve people. He even got a jury. Looking at their expressions, they were probably kidnapped. Poor things... though so am I."
"No need to look; there must be a judge behind me."
Robin observed the environment, thinking to himself.
"There are electric lights on the ceiling, but they are lighting candles, meaning this is a place where the power system is completely abandoned. The room is large; although the floor is covered in dust, I can see it's anti-corrosion material. Doesn't look like a warehouse... more like some kind of research institute or chemical workshop..."
Thinking of this, Robin's heart stirred.
"I think I know where this is. I didn't expect Two-Face to be hiding here. No wonder we couldn't find a trace of him anywhere."
Suddenly, Two-Face looked behind Robin, shouting with a dissatisfied face.
"Your Honor, what are you dazing off for? Strike the gavel and announce the court is in session!"
Okay, there really was a judge. From Two-Face's attitude, this judge was likely a poor soul too.
Thud!
A dull sound rang out as the judge clumsily struck the gavel.
"Struck... struck it. Let's begin."
Once the judge announced the session open, Two-Face entered his role immediately.
"Gentlemen of the jury, I am the prosecutor. And he, this masked fellow, is a criminal! His crimes are too numerous to record; he must receive the judgment of justice!"
Under Robin's weird gaze, Two-Face passionately accused him of a list of crimes.
And of these listed crimes, Robin didn't understand a single one.
"...Did you hear clearly? Everyone, this person not only commits many evils himself but is also an accomplice to an even more evil criminal! I strongly demand he be sentenced to death!"
"If the charge holds, I will carry out the execution personally—"
Before Two-Face finished, Robin suddenly interrupted: "Uh, can I apply for a defense attorney?"
"Overruled!"
This sentence instantly enraged Two-Face. He pointed at Robin emotionally, objecting.
"Then... surely I can defend myself?"
"You are openly in contempt of court discipline! The evidence of your crimes is conclusive; there is no defense!"
While Two-Face was immersed in his drama of judging a sinner in court, inside ACE Chemicals, one of Two-Face's subordinates happened to patrol to the staircase on the third floor.
The floors above had collapsed completely, blocking the stairs to the fourth floor. However, at the top of the rubble was an imperceptible small hole that led directly to the floor above.
The subordinate looked around, then made a climbing motion. His agility was extraordinary; he scrambled up the hole in a few moves without making a sound.
But when he climbed up, someone was already there.
"You must be that Phantom Thief Kid."
A woman wearing a cat-eared cowl, with curves perfectly highlighted by a black tight leather suit, looked at him and said.
"Catwoman."
A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes. "I didn't expect to meet a senior here."
He grabbed his collar, spun around, and transformed into the mysterious, dashing white-clad phantom thief.
"I'm curious. How did you see through my disguise?"
"The answer is simple. I didn't see through it, and I didn't need to."
Catwoman smiled faintly.
"This is the most hidden route to sneak into Two-Face's cosplay stage, and the one least likely to be discovered. Knowing that was enough."
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