"Oh my god, this is a massacre."
Gordon, who received the news, hurried back home with a group of police officers. The commissioner himself had witnessed Mason's destructive power, but the other officers were shocked as soon as they arrived on the street.
The power in the entire block had been cut off.
On the street in front of the house, a group of knocked-out Penguin gangsters lay scattered around, along with three bodies with exploded heads and three unlucky guys who had been hit and killed by a car.
The backyard was even worse.
The bodies of more than twenty black-clad men in miserable conditions made several young officers nauseous, and even the veteran detectives who had been in the police force for many years in this ghostly place of Gotham were finding it hard to bear.
They gathered together and talked about the theater massacre that was like a slaughterhouse when the Joker first showed his power.
Although the public safety in Gotham had been poor for years, such violent shootings had not occurred for a long time, thanks to the increasing number of residents in Arkham Asylum and the high-intensity night patrols by Batman.
"Commissioner, we found six strange headless stone sculptures in the alley across the street."
A pale-faced female officer ran over to Gordon, who was standing at the gate smoking silently, and reported to him. The commissioner waved his hand and rubbed his forehead with exhaustion, saying:
"Take them back to the evidence department. Maybe they're also evidence. You guys stay here and work. I'll go check on my daughter. She must be scared to death."
The other detectives nodded with pity, looking at their commissioner with a sympathetic gaze.
These detectives all knew about the tragedy that happened to Barbara Gordon in the early years, so no one stopped the commissioner's actions at this time.
Due to the presence of bodies in the house, Barbara and Mason were transferred to the neighbor's house next door, which was also a backup safe house for the police station.
It had been unoccupied for years.
When the commissioner pushed open the door and entered, he saw a strange stone sculpture placed in the pitch-black living room. The guy was wearing a full set of bat armor, but his face was not the one Gordon was familiar with.
The commissioner felt even more exhausted.
He turned on his flashlight and checked it, then blew out a smoke ring and said:
"Dick Grayson... you little brat stole my daughter's heart and still have the guts to come back?"
"Dad, come help us! We need light."
Barbara, sitting in a wheelchair, heard the commotion and called her father to come into the kitchen. The commissioner smelled a very unpleasant odor as soon as he entered.As he swept the flashlight forward, he saw Mason Cooper, the little bastard who had just slaughtered more than thirty people, standing in front of the dining table, cutting some strange things in a professional manner.
There was a burning alcohol lamp beside him, and a strange liquid was constantly being grilled on the flame. The unpleasant smell emanated from the liquid.
"What are you doing?"
Commissioner Gordon said expressionlessly, "Celebrating Mason's success in blowing up thirty people's heads tonight, so he's cooking himself?"
"Hush!"
Mason hadn't spoken yet, and with a curious look on his face behind his black-framed glasses, Barbara gestured with her fingers to quiet down her complaining father.
She whispered, "Mason is preparing the antidote for the petrification potion. He learned alchemy from the dark wizard who kidnapped him. This is his first attempt at making it. Dad, don't make a mess."
"He knows alchemy too?"
Commissioner Gordon was originally going to interrogate him, but when he heard this, his eyes widened. Although he had been a police officer in Gotham for many years and had seen a lot, this kind of thing that sounded like magic still made the old man curious.
He shone the flashlight to illuminate Mason and saw that the young man was silently reciting a certain process, cutting into pieces with a kitchen knife a withered paper strip similar to ginseng, and grinding it in a bowl. When the soup with a strange color and unpleasant smell boiled on the alcohol lamp, he stirred it with a crystal rod while sprinkling the powder into it.
"Boom!"
A purple cloud mixed with sparks erupted from the small bowl, startling Commissioner Gordon and Barbara. The unpleasant smell in the kitchen suddenly changed into a smoky aroma of herbs.
Gordon sniffed it and immediately felt a surge of energy in his tired mind.
"About thirty seconds more."
Mason stirred the liquid in the small bowl that was constantly being heated with a crystal rod and said to Barbara, "Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated mithril crucible, otherwise I wouldn't have to take so long. The Mandrake Resurrection Potion is one of the simplest alchemical items to make, and few people fail to make it if they have the raw materials."
"It's really a magical thing. I've never seen this in the Batcave."
The former Batgirl pushed her glasses excitedly and said, "Besides being able to petrify and de-petrify people, what else can you do?"
"Uh, I haven't learned much, but I have the old wizard's alchemy notes."Mason blinked and took the opportunity to rationalize his alchemy skills. He said, "When I have time, I can try to prepare more potions. I remember there is a 'beauty potion' in that notebook, which is said to keep women forever young and make their skin as tender as water."
"Um, I like that."
Barbara's eyes lit up and she said, "I want to order ten bottles!"
"I think you may not need it."
Mason glanced at her and whispered, "You are already beautiful enough."
"I may not need it now, but who knows in the future. You see, I sit in a wheelchair all year round and lack exercise, so my skin will definitely get worse. Recently, I feel that my hair has lost its luster. Hey, can you make some magic weight loss pills or something? I feel like I have excess fat in my belly, and also some breast enhancement... cough, let's talk about this later in private."
Barbara Gordon, who had experienced a lot, was still a girl in her twenties, and the pursuit of beauty was her instinct. However, seeing her father frowning, she immediately stopped talking and urged Mason to take the well-prepared potion to save her boyfriend who had fallen into the sewer.
"Standard process alchemy creation completed successfully, alchemy skill proficiency increased."
Mason saw the prompt on the light screen in front of him and knew that the potion was ready. He used barbecue gloves to take the hot bowl down, filtered out the residue, and handed the strange-colored potion to Barbara, saying, "Pour it on his head. Don't try to feed him. Drinking water in a petrified state will choke him to death."
"Oh."
Barbara took the potion and pushed her wheelchair out of the kitchen, while Mason stayed behind to clean up. The residue of mandrake is harmful to the human body and must be professionally treated before disposal.
Commissioner Gordon also stayed behind. After his daughter left, he lit a cigarette and said to Mason, "You went too far tonight. I mean, you made a mess of my house with blood everywhere. Did you do it on purpose, Mason? To refuse my invitation in this way?"
"I just wanted you to see my danger, Gordon. I swear I had no other intentions."
Mason sealed the residue in a special jar and shook it in his hand. He turned around and said, "I appreciate your and Barbara's kindness, but as you can see, until this matter is resolved, I cannot get close to you kind people. Please don't burden me with guilt.""I will go find my previous friend, he will help me find a place to settle down.
You have seen with your own eyes, I have the ability to protect myself in Gotham."
Commissioner Gordon frowned and smoked in silence. Mason did not disturb his thoughts. When the cigarette burned out, the commissioner lifted his head and said:
"Fine, I won't stop you. But you must sign that guardianship document, come back at least once a week, even if it's just for show. If you encounter any trouble, contact me immediately.
Can you do that?"
"I will sign it."
Mason glanced at Gordon. He did not argue or make any conditions. It was already a great victory to get Gordon's permission to move out. Now, all he had to do was contact the Kite Man to find a place to stay.
Speaking of Kite Man...
"Uh, Gordon, my friend is in trouble. I want to consult with you."
Mason threw the can he had been shaking at least a hundred times into the trash can, washed his hands, and whispered:
"Do you know 'Kite Man'?"
"Charles Brown?"
Gordon, as expected of the police commissioner, knew all the local villains. As soon as Mason mentioned the nickname, he immediately reacted and said with a strange look in his eyes:
"That guy used to work with the Joker. After the Joker fell, he had nowhere to go, so he robbed a bakery and I personally sent him to prison.
Is he your friend?
Well, he's not the kind of guy who's beyond redemption, but Kite Man escaped from prison not long ago."
"That's just because he wanted to see his son."
A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.
Mason explained:
"If Charles wants to end his legal troubles..."
"Just go to the police station and post bail."
Gordon shook his head and said:
"He only robbed a bakery. How big of a crime could that be? Actually, Charles could have been released from prison a long time ago. He just kept committing small offenses and stayed in Blackgate Prison to eat delicious prison food. He's afraid of going out and being hunted down by the Joker's people.
He's like you, a 'gang traitor.'
Be careful when you're with him. Although the Joker's gang has fallen, that lunatic still has some loyal followers wandering around the city, and Kite Man is their target."
"Okay, I will tell him that, Gordon."
Mason finally felt relieved.
He walked out of the kitchen to check on Dick Grayson's condition, while Gordon stayed behind. After Mason left, Gordon lit another cigarette and dialed a number from his pocket.
A few seconds later, the hoarse voice of the real master sounded from the phone:"Gordon, I'm busy."
"I'm just telling you that Mason killed thirty assassins from the League of Assassins again tonight, protecting my daughter. But Asa is targeting him, so he's going to move out."
Commissioner Gordon whispered:
"Also, your 'retired Robin' was captured by him with some strange potion. He learned a lot of strange skills from the black wizard who abducted him."
"Let him go."
Master spoke briefly:
"As soon as things are settled here, I will return as soon as possible. Gordon, you haven't told Mason about that yet, have you?"
"Not yet."
The commissioner sighed and rubbed his tired face:
"But he will find out sooner or later. This kid is very alert."
"I'm speeding up the investigation behind Mason's identity."
Master said:
"When there are clues, I will choose a time to tell him. You have to watch him and don't let him run wild. This is important."
---
"Ah..."
The wizard's diary said that the feeling of petrification was quite terrible.
It is said to be similar to the body dying and the soul being sealed in it, able to feel everything around but unable to react.
In the few seconds after Barbara Gordon poured the potion down Dick Grayson's head, the petrification state of the "retired Robin" quickly dissipated.
With flying debris all over the ground, the handsome guy fell to the ground in a embarrassed posture.
He breathed like a fish out of water and took some time to calm down.
"Great, Grayson."
Barbara cheered and pulled her boyfriend up from the ground. She remembered Mason's teasing earlier and secretly glanced at her boyfriend's buttocks.
Wow, it's really perky!
No wonder Mason could tell at a glance that he wasn't Batman himself.
"You, you..."
Dick Grayson, nicknamed "Nightwing," saw Mason staring at him from the table next to him at a glance.
He picked up the bat helmet handed by Barbara, fastened it to his head, and used the built-in bat language to make his voice sound exactly like the hoarse voice of the original master.
He said to Mason:
"You shamelessly attacked me!"
"Of course I had to attack! I'm not your opponent face-to-face, Mr. Nightwing."
Mason held his arms, and his low-key but deadly critical hit hunting rifle, Sujie's Eagle, was thrown back into his backpack. He looked at the somewhat regretful Nightwing and said:"So, Batman didn't ask you to come back to Gotham and take his place? What will happen to Gotham without this great hero in the deep and dangerous place of Bludhaven?"
"You're joking, right?"
Grayson waved his hand impatiently.
But he was always an open-minded and gentle person, and the resentment in his heart quickly dissipated under the gentle persuasion of his girlfriend Barbara.
While talking sweetly with Barbara, he turned back to Mason and said seriously:
"I didn't just come here tonight because I saw Barbara's distress signal, Mason Cooper. There's something important I need to confirm with you."
As he spoke, the "Batman Junior" took out something familiar to Mason from his multifunctional belt.
It was the sword-shaped hard disk that Catwoman stole from the Penguin a week ago. Nightwing handed it to Mason and said very seriously:
"I'm asking you, during the time when you took it from Catwoman and handed it to Batman, did you try to copy the information in this hard disk?"
"I was driving and shooting at the time."
Mason frowned and said:
"I only have two hands, so of course not. What's wrong with the hard disk?"
"The information inside self-destructed."
Nightwing said regretfully:
"Batman entrusted me to track this matter before he left, but as soon as I opened it with the Batcomputer, the information triggered a security alarm.
This kind of operation only happens when internal information is copied or transferred, so I suspect that this hard disk had already entered the automatic destruction program before it was sent to Batman."
"Then you should go find Catwoman."
Mason narrowed his eyes and said:
"She's the most likely person to do this. Where is she?"
"She slipped away."
Nightwing rubbed his forehead with a headache, making a move that Batman would never make.
He said:
"Thirty minutes after Batman left Gotham, she slipped away from the Batcave. I came here to ask if you had any contact with Catwoman after returning to Gotham."
"I don't even have a phone."
The young man shook his head and gave an irrefutable reason.
Nightwing fell silent for a moment.
After a few seconds, he handed the sword-shaped hard disk to his girlfriend and said:
"Then it's up to you, Barbara. Use the shocking hacker skills of the 'Oracle' to try to view the remaining information in this hard disk.
As for you, Mason."
He said to the young man:"We need to find Catwoman as soon as possible and confirm if the information in the hard drive is in her hands.
I learned from other sources that the reason why the Assassin League and the Penguin Gang must catch you is also for the same reason.
The information that may have been taken away by Catwoman contains secrets they don't want people to know, and more importantly, the people who attacked you are also tracking her."
The young master paused and reached out to Mason.
He whispered, "Let's go find her together. If this matter is not resolved, you will never be able to start a new life."
"Okay."
Mason thought for a moment and happily patted the young master's hand with his own, saying, "I just happen to want to see that big sister again too."
