HCB Chapter 33 Laughing Gas
Chapter 33 Laughing Gas
Chapter 33 Laughing Gas
The National Guard's operations command center.
Mayor Caro sat in his seat in horror.
"scarecrow--"
The clown looked at the scarecrow with a mixture of surprise and delight: "What a strange surprise!"
The scarecrow silently floated down from the windowsill. It was tall and thin, like a walking bamboo pole, but surprisingly agile.
"I'm offended, Joker, with a master available..."
"But they went to seek out amateur players in the kingdom of fear."
"Ah, yes, it's you, Master, of course," the clown replied, opening his palms with an expression like that of a jubilant little boy, gleaming with innocent malice.
"But I think maybe I can control Cornelius Strickland, hmm?"
(Note: This refers to the supervillain cannibal, who first appeared in Detective Comics issue #592.)
"You're so wrong, what a terrible choice, you clown."
The scarecrow's voice sounded somewhat shrill under the respirator:
"This makes me very angry. In fact, I really want to give you a dose of my fear..."
"Then give it a try, Scarecrow, I'm sure I'll find it a lot of fun—hahahahahahahaha~"
The scarecrow stared silently at the clown, and this heart-stopping standoff (only Mayor Caro felt that way) lasted for about 10 seconds.
Mayor Caro collapsed in his seat, unable to utter a single word.
The scarecrow said:
"I want to replace Scott—but this time it has to be an equal partnership…no one controlling anyone else."
With a creak, the door was pushed open.
Cornelius Strickland, the "Ogre," pushed open the door and walked in.
"Damn it! Scarecrow!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Stellar!" the Joker greeted him like a middle school girl, saying, "Where's Captain Steve, whom I asked you to kidnap?"
"Here it is." The ogre pulled out a large red object from behind his back, along with a bunch of other red, messy things, and began to devour them in front of the clown without a care in the world.
He mumbled indistinctly while eating his snacks and desserts:
"That captain, his adrenaline is really good... um, a delicious, bubbly stress hormone, perfectly fulfilling all the natural ingredients needed for an organic fear stew..."
"No, you idiot!" the clown cried out in despair, clutching his scalp. "You illiterate fool, you should have kidnapped him, not killed him!"
He lowered his head and slapped his ears twice: "Fuck you, you bastard! I shouldn't have used Scott, he's too unpredictable. After all, you're a madman! Hahahaha! Okay, me too! Madmen should be with madmen—who told me to choose him as my collaborator?"
The clown asked again:
"No one else saw you kill Steve, right?"
"Ugh... Of course not!" The ogre swallowed a mouthful of food and mumbled, "I hypnotized the soldiers at the door when I went in. Now nobody knows that Smith is dead. Even if he is dead, our plans will not be affected."
"Fine, fine." The clown sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Let's just do it this way. You've already done it."
He scratched his head in a frantic manner and said, "I'm so thirsty! Steker, pass me that glass of water on the table behind you."
So the clown took the water from the ogre, took a big gulp, and hissed.
After being ignored for quite some time, the scarecrow finally couldn't help but speak:
"So, Joker, my union with you..."
With a snap, the clown smashed the glass on the table, and half a second later, he shoved all the shards into the ogre's throat.
"Ha! Ha...you...you..."
The ogre didn't even have time to react. He struggled to pull out a blade from his pocket, but as soon as he stood up, he fell backward to the ground in vain.
The clown strode forward, snatched his dagger from the ogre's chest, and straddled the ogre's convulsing body, swinging it repeatedly: "Fuck you, you useless thing, trash! Trash!"
The blood stained the food that the cannibal had just chewed, making it look as tender and delicious as a rare steak.
Only after all the red juices in the ogre's body had been squeezed dry did the clown discard the dagger and elegantly wipe the red spots splattered on his face with his sleeve.
"Well then," he said, making a disgusting knightly gesture of respect, "Scarecrow, my dearest friend, it's time to show your true skills."
The scarecrow paused for a moment, then strode over the ogre's lifeless corpse on the ground with his long, thin legs, walked up to the mayor, and without a word, sprayed a cloud of mist into Mayor Carlo's face with his skull-shaped sprayer.
"No! Impossible! This can't be true!"
Mayor Caro's eyes widened, his eyeballs bulging with red veins from the chemical irritation.
"One...it must be a nightmare...no, it can't be real!"
"Ah, but we really are real, Mr. Mayor, incredibly real."
The clown sneered, "If the guards at your door could still speak for you, they could testify for us!"
"No, no, it's poisonous!"
"What's poisonous, Mr. Mayor? What did you see? What is your greatest fear?"
"Spider? Snake?"
"Spoiled sushi?"
"No, no!" Under the influence of the fear toxin, Mayor Carlo trembled all over, like a helpless baby.
"Snakes...snakes are...venomous!"
The scarecrow approached Mayor Caro's eyes. Mayor Caro was horrified to see two venomous snakes emerge from his eye sockets, while the scarecrow remained unfazed, as if he hadn't seen the snakes at all.
He heard the scarecrow's whisper in his ear:
"Snakes, Mayor. Pythons, venomous snakes. Their rapidly flicking forked tongues pierce the throbbing flesh of your throat, licking it, just to swiftly pierce... with those hooked... hollow..."
"Fangs!"
"Please... I beg you, what exactly do you want to do?"
"Well, Mayor Carlo—" the Joker said, "it's time to use your influence! Dance lightly under the fiber optic lights and make this dark city kneel!"
He laughed wildly, like a mischievous child revealing the answer to a riddle. The despair, anger, fear, and ultimately helplessness on the faces of others were his greatest reward!
"Besides sending all 2 men to the battlefield, I have a special nitrous oxide gift for Bane—a small act of revenge for stealing Batman's affections!"
……
……
……
Completely overwhelmed, utterly battered, and possibly with a broken rib added to the mix.
I am almost completely exhausted. I have never felt so haggard and so bad.
But I'm not dead yet.
Bain lowered his head, looking at the growing number of enemies advancing towards him.
"Venom input... maximum power."
"start up."
(End of this chapter)