Snowing_Melody
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Chapter 8 Gotham Heritage Program
🕑 Added 2025-10-12 11:20:50 +0000 UTC"Joker, Riddler, it's time to end this. Harley Quinn—why are you here?"
"That's what you should say!" Harley Quinn imitated Batman's gravelly tone right back at him.
Batman glanced at Harley, who was still dripping from the cold water she'd just been awakened with. But instead of paying him any more attention, she shouted to the camera.
"Hey, is this thing still rolling? I'm going to announce something—Harley Quinn and the Joker no longer have a relationship! We have completely parted ways!~"
Batman was here to deal with the Joker, not to be a melon-eater. He was stunned for a moment when he heard this.
Then, with two sharp thwips, two spherical hoods descended, covering both Batman and Harley Quinn and lifting them into mid-air.
"Let's guess, what's cold and hot, will devour you when drunk, what…" The Riddler pinched the brim of his top hat, speaking at high speed as he approached the two captives hanging in the air.
It was a pity that before he could finish speaking, Harley Quinn and Batman spoke at the same time:
"Acid."
The Riddler was stunned. "I haven't finished speaking yet, what…"
"That's acid," Harley Quinn interrupted.
"Exactly," Batman endorsed Harley's point.
The Riddler reluctantly nodded. "Okay, okay, acid… So now, I'm going to throw you guys into the acid pool."
With that, he pressed the button on the crutch in his hand. Along with a mechanical sound, the ground beneath Harley Quinn and Batman split apart, revealing two pools filled with bubbling acid.
"Wait, this is different from what we agreed…" the Joker said with some surprise. "Our plan is to lock up only Batman and let me put the laughing gas into the reservoir."
"Yes, but that's just your plan. Rest assured, though," the Riddler said to the clown.
The cameras at this point were still pointed at them, and live footage was being shown on stations all across Gotham City.
BANG!
The henchman standing behind the camera was shot down by the Joker, who then pointed his gun at another person standing next to him.
"You go. Point the camera at them," he ordered, referring to Batman and Harley Quinn hanging in the air.
"You made a big mistake, Riddler," Harley shouted, "because when my man finds out, he will definitely rush in!"
The Joker laughed so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist. "Are you talking about me? Don't worry, it's still the same this time, 'only death can completely separate us,' hahahaha—"
"No." Harley Quinn's voice lowered. She hoped Connors would show up at this moment, but it had been so long, and he still wasn't there yet.
Maybe I shouldn't have left without saying goodbye and come here alone… With Connors here, there would definitely be a way.
Harley Quinn had followed Connors yesterday and saw firsthand how he had left his mark in the Williams Medical Center, which had already been bombed and surrounded. Even as Connors wrote behind the Joker's verse, Harley Quinn had seen it clearly from the side. And he had already sent the keyword "reservoir" to Batman in an anonymous mailbox yesterday when no one knew about the Joker's plan. After that, it was fulfilled by the Joker today; his plan was indeed exactly the same as Connors had speculated.
In Harley Quinn's mind, the image of Connors had completely overshadowed the previous Joker. Alas, today Harley had been too confident, thinking she could defeat the Joker by herself, never expecting the Riddler to be acting together with him here.
Now hanging in the air, she could only find a way to save herself. She lowered her head for a moment and changed into a pitiful expression.
"Mr. J, you're gonna save me, right? Let the Riddler burn this little bat alive and let me out!"
The Joker ignored her. The Riddler was not accosted. And Batman, in the hood on the side, did not speak, though she could hear him tinkering with something.
The Riddler's voice gradually rose at this point. "How about we play a little game? One lives, the other dies, and the one who loses falls in the acid and burns alive." He gestured grandly. "Trust our Mr. Clown to make a perfect choice, right?"
The Joker nodded repeatedly from the side, looking at Batman and Harley Quinn in the air. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, it seems to be a very simple choice, but, Harley… HAHAHAHA—"
He burst into laughter as he spoke, laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe, and then the corners of his mouth almost grinned to the base of his ears. "But, little Harley, I couldn't have let this question-mark bastard take the credit for killing Batman, right?"
He pointed his gun at the Riddler.
"Put Batman down! Put this bitch down!"
The acid pool underneath Batman was closed. Before the Riddler could even control the hood to open, Batman freed himself. He chased after the Riddler, and the Joker fled in another direction, off to fulfill his prophecy: kill Judge Thomas Lake and the rich man, Bruce Wayne.
Poor Harley Quinn was left in place like this. Even if this time, instead of coming for the Joker, she had wanted to defeat him to prove herself, she was only abandoned once again.
Watching the cover that had enclosed her open, she began a free fall toward the acid pool below. Harley Quinn quickly took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly.
At the moment when her body was about to fall into it, Connors arrived belatedly and caught her, stopping her fall.
"Red! I knew you'd come!" Harley Quinn realized that she had not fallen into the cold and scorching acid, but had been lifted up by an embrace. She opened her eyes to see Connors, exclaiming with joy from the bottom of her heart.
"Shh!" Connors made a silent gesture. "Come on. Let me show you the excitement."
The Riddler had just run not far when he was restrained by weeds that snaked up from the ground, stumbling him flat before he ate a solid fist from Batman.
I have to chase the clown quickly, Batman thought. He wants to kill Judge Thomas. I must not let him succeed… Hm?
Above where the Riddler fell, Judge Thomas Lake was being strapped up with vines, particularly at the head, in the shape of a giant ball. If it weren't for the size and badge on his body, as well as the constant curses coming from within the vines, Batman would never have judged that this was indeed Judge Thomas Lake. He even suspected who was playing a prank.
Judge Thomas Lake looks like this, but I don't need to worry about him being killed by the clown… Is Poison Ivy helping me? Or some other guy who can manipulate plants?
Batman pondered for a moment, then quickly pursued the Joker in the direction of his escape. He was not in the least afraid of getting lost, for on the route of the clown's escape, arrows made of plants guided him all the way, as if navigating.
Running towards the reservoir, the clown at this point turned his head and watched as the weeds behind him continued to grow into the appearance of arrows. Even if they were blown up with bombs, other plants soon filled them up.
By the time he ran to the location where the reservoir was being poisoned, Batman had already been waiting there, greeting him with a punch the size of a sandbag.
Not far from Batman and the Joker, Connors seriously explained to a dizzy Harley Quinn:
"'Only death can completely separate us.' That sentence the Joker said was not to you, but to Batman."
"Haven't you noticed that every time the Joker says this to you, Batman is either there or he gets there pretty quickly?"
"Okay," he said, settling in. "Let's enjoy the traditional Gotham show: Batman vs. the Joker."
