Chapter 1016: Joker's Big Misfortune (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In the hospital room of Arkham Asylum, Brand held a chart, gazing at Schiller lying on the bed. He shook his head gently, sighed, when suddenly, a nurse rushed in.

"Doctor Brand! A lunatic burst in through the door, he said... he said his name is Jack! He said he needs treatment!"

Brand furrowed his brow, asking, "Jack? Is he the one with green hair and Joker makeup?"

"Correct, and he's completely drenched, shaking all the way in. The old nurse mentioned he's quite a handful. Would you like to see him personally?"

Turning his head, Brand glanced at Schiller on the bed, then placed the chart and pen down, saying to the nurse, "Lead the way."

Though he didn't really need the nurse's guidance. Just as Brand stepped out of the room, at the end of the corridor, he saw Joker Jack staggering towards him.

"Doctor! Doctor! We need help! Save me! I'm having severe hallucinations; I need medication! I must have it!" Jack pleaded desperately.

Brand raised a hand, halting Jack's approach, then said, "Listen, Jack, your primary doctor is Schiller. He's still unconscious. Though I could take over your treatment, I suggest you wait for a while..."

Jack stood there, stunned. He looked at Brand. "Schiller is really unconscious?"

Brand, puzzled, replied, "What do you mean by 'he's really unconscious'? You should've known that before coming here. Not many people are aware of it, and they shouldn't spread rumors..."

Jack collapsed to the ground, covering his face with his hands, and said in distress, "Do you know? Before I came here, a lunatic told me a story, a crazy story! Only a madman could fabricate such a tale!"

Facing a patient in the throes of madness, Brand remained patient. "Let's do this, come with me to the treatment room..."

As they walked, Brand continued, "But I must remind you, I'm not like Schiller. I'm a psychiatrist, I can prescribe medication but I don't have a license in psychotherapy. So, all I can do is listen to your story and prescribe some medication."

They arrived at the treatment room and sat facing each other. Joker sniffed hard and said, "Just now... just now! Batman stopped my car and asked for a ride..."

"He didn't have money for the fare; he still owed me a hundred dollars. So, he asked if he could pay with a story. I agreed. We're friends, aren't we?"

Brand nodded, signaling Jack to continue. Jack wiped his eyes and choked, "But this scumbag, he fooled me with a completely fictional crazy story, causing me hallucinations and delusions, doctor! You have to help me!"

"Oh, what crazy story did he tell?" Brand asked with interest.

"He actually said... he actually said..." Jack gritted his teeth. "He actually said he abandoned Gotham, ignoring the chaos here, because Schiller descended into hell. So, he followed him into hell, and he's trapped there, that's why he can't come back!"

"Erm..." Brand pondered for a moment, sensing something unusual about Jack. He spoke, "While that might sound insane to an ordinary patient, considering it's you... well, I should tell you, hell actually exists. I've been there."

With a bang, Jack slammed the table. "The point is not there! Whether it's hell, a high-rise building, or a dumpster, how could Batman jump down for someone else?! Especially for Schiller?!"

"Don't think I don't know, Batman's most suspicious and wary of is Schiller! He knows Schiller is a criminal!"

Jack took a deep breath, then sped up his speech, trembling, "Doctor, doctor, you may not know, but... among all of us criminals, we... we communicate..."

"We keep in touch through newspapers and letters. We all know each other's existence, and no one is unaware of Schiller Rodriguez!"

"In the beginning... in the beginning... it was him who founded a serial killer club! Correct, it was him, although I never joined his stupid and boring club because... Joker should have his own club!"

"My club should be in a magnificent hall..." Joker stretched out his hand, constantly waving his arms, saying, "It should be filled with balloons and confetti cannons. Whenever someone walks in, they'll be plastered with streamers! Hahaha!"

Brand cleared his throat softly. Jack paused for a moment, then said, "Sorry, I digressed. What I meant is..."

"Schiller!! He's the head of the criminals!!!" Jack suddenly shouted.

"The whole world knows this! Batman couldn't possibly not know! He actually jumped into hell for the criminal he hates the most?! Is he insane?!"

Jack stood still, blinked, took a deep breath, then looked at Brand again. "Oh, sorry, doctor, I misspoke. It's not me who needs treatment, it's Batman. Please, go save him!!"

"Uh, if what you said is part of this story, then I can only tell you, this isn't a story." Brand seemed to be not very adept at psychological treatment. He scratched his head, then said, "Although it might seem abrupt, I'm actually a sorcerer."

Finishing his words, he conjured a flame in his hand and looked up at Jack. "I know another sorcerer, her name is Zatanna. Earlier, she collapsed from overusing magic, and I just visited her. She told me everything."

"Another bastard sorcerer, Constantine, made a deal with All Things Green, who controls plants. You must have seen those huge blue cabbages on the road? That's his work."

"Schiller is allergic to blue cabbage. Therefore, he's very angry with Constantine's actions. To retaliate against Constantine, he killed himself, went to hell, and wanted to settle all his debts for Constantine."

"To settle debts, you must jump into hell. So, Zatanna watched Schiller jump into hell, and Batman followed..."

"To be honest, when she said this, even I found it hard to believe. I didn't know they had such a strong mentor-student relationship!"

Joker was completely stunned. If the version Batman told him earlier sounded like an attempt to break his psychological defenses, the one Brand just told was logically coherent, with many details, making it hard to believe it was made up.

"Sorry, doctor, I misspoke again. It seems I'm the one who's sick. I can't distinguish between reality and imagination anymore. Please, prescribe me some medication!" Jack stared at Brand firmly.

"I want to stay here! From now on, Arkham Asylum is my home! No one can make me leave!"

After that, Jack turned and walked, rushing into the corridor, shouting, "Nurse! Nurse! Prepare an empty hospital room for me!"

"What? Which gang am I from? Well... I'm... uh... I'm actually, you know the Truck Drivers Union? Ah, yes, correct, I'm from the Truck Drivers Union. Please prepare a hospital room for me, thank you!"

Sitting in his office, Brand shook his head, saying, "I hope he doesn't really stay here too long. I've already promised Alberto to reserve two more rooms for his men..."

As Batman finished telling the story, Joker kicked him off the truck. Batman landed gracefully, but his posture without a car was quite awkward.

Fortunately, they weren't far from his destination, Rodriguez Manor. Soon, Batman arrived at the Manor, while Merkel was still laboring to clear the blue cabbage from the garden.

Seeing Batman, Merkel warmly greeted him, then asked, "How is Mr. Schiller? I'm going to see him later, but I need to deal with the trouble in the Manor first, or..."

Merkel shook his head. Batman glanced at the garden and found most of the blue cabbage had been cleared, except for the largest one.

"I'm here to get something." Batman looked into Merkel's eyes. "You should know, Schiller has a special wine that can send people into dreams. I need this wine to enter Schiller's Temple of Thought and call him out."

Merkel looked puzzled, but before he could ask, Batman continued, "Schiller's current coma is likely because the personality that once controlled his body doesn't want to resurface, and the other personalities can't surface either. With no one in control, his body naturally remains unconscious."

"I need to talk to that personality and convince him to come back to control the body. Otherwise, Schiller will remain in this coma indefinitely."

Merkel hesitated for a moment, then said, "The most important rule of being a butler is never to allow others to touch the master's personal belongings. However, if what you said is true, we can make an exception."

"Well, the blue cabbage here is troublesome. For Mr. Schiller's future mental health, I need to quickly remove them. I probably won't have time for the next three hours. You better go quickly!"

After speaking, Merkel picked up the gardening shovel and started to remove the largest cabbage. Batman turned around skillfully and went upstairs to open the door, starting to search in Schiller's study.

Finding the bottle of wine wasn't difficult; it was on the shelf in the study. However, Schiller had previously used this method to trap Constantine, who tried to steal the wine. This bottle couldn't be touched directly; otherwise, one would immediately fall asleep.

Although Batman's goal was to enter Schiller's dream, he didn't want to do it here. If he awakened Schiller inadvertently, Schiller could return at lightning speed and trap Batman who just emerged from the dream.

Batman had anticipated that the conversation ahead wouldn't go smoothly. If he were trapped here, it could greatly enhance Schiller's resume with dramatic flair.

To safely take the bottle of wine, Batman had to solve the 48 puzzles in the room. While Batman was busy solving puzzles, in the Batcave, Lex and Clark, who were watching the monitoring equipment, noticed something unusual.

Clark pointed at one of the screens, saying, "Where is this? Oh my God, who is that? Professor Schiller has been kidnapped!"

Lex, who was debugging the equipment, immediately turned his head, looking at the screen pointed out by Clark, then widened his eyes. He noticed that Schiller, who was in a coma, was tied up with ropes, suspended in mid-air.

Beneath his feet was a damaged ground and glowing pool water. Lex stared closely and saw a huge cross and a suffering Jesus statue behind Schiller. The rope suspending him crossed the beams of the cathedral, with the other end tied around Jesus' neck.

"Gotham Cathedral!" Lex said gravely. "Quickly, call Batman and ask him to come over immediately. Professor Schiller has been kidnapped!"

"Call him for what? I'm flying over right now!" Clark was about to leave, but Lex grabbed him, saying, "Can you use your brain? Do you know who the other party is? Do you know what the pool water under Professor Schiller's feet does? What if it's a radiation source? If you get contaminated, the entire Gotham City will face destruction!"

Clark paused in his movements. He felt Lex's reasoning was valid. Neither of them knew the truth about the madness affecting the citizens of Gotham. Therefore, in their view, such an incident might indicate the appearance of the perpetrator behind the pollution source.

They had almost no understanding of the toxin that could drive people insane. They couldn't say for sure if Clark would get contaminated. If he did go mad, no one would be able to stop him.

Clark was anxious and immediately called Batman. However, Batman didn't appear on the monitoring screen; instead, he had arrived in the Batcave. Clark watched his figure anxiously and said, "Why are you here? Go save Professor quickly!"

"I'm here to save Professor," Batman said coldly. As he entered the Batcave, lights turned on one by one, all devices began to operate, and the mechanical humming filled the air, illuminating the Batcave instantly.

Standing in front of the largest control panel, Batman picked up the communication device that was emitting a beep. Joker's voice came from the other end.

"Batman, do you really think you can shake me? Of course, you can't! All of this is just my plan, hahaha!"

Standing beneath the statue of Jesus, Joker held the phone, glanced up at Schiller suspended in mid-air, and said, "I pretended to be insane, came to Arkham Asylum, deceived that difficult-to-deal-with attending doctor, and brought your good Professor here!"

"Do you think he's invincible? Do you think he can turn into the Grey Mist, and no one can hurt him? Unfortunately, if he falls into the pool, no one can save him. This crazy virus will infect everything, including the grey mist!"

"Batman, this time, you can't save him!"

Just as Joker said this, Batman's emotionless, cold voice came from the phone:

"Missile launch silo preheating, targeting Gotham Cathedral, preparing to launch!"

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1017: Joker's Misfortune (Part 2)