mtl008 Chapter 3912 The Nameless Bat (82)
Chapter 3912 The Nameless Bat (82)
Chapter 3912 The Nameless Bat (Eighty-two)
“What? Go to your place to tutor students? No, I'm afraid that's impossible. I have a ton of problems to deal with here… You know that, of course. Before Batman was away, those lunatics at Arkham Asylum were quiet and didn't cause any trouble. But now that Batman is back, they're all excited. I'm helping Commissioner Gordon investigate the Riddler case, so I don't have time to go to other universes. I'll have to send Barry instead…”
Schiller put down the phone and sighed. He turned his head slightly to look at the torrential rain outside the office window. Eight hours had passed since the hurricane hit Gotham in the main universe, and the main universe's Batman had successfully returned to Gotham with a large amount of energy, but things were far from over.
This hurricane was exceptionally powerful, with rainfall in just 12 hours nearly breaking records. Gotham's Upper and Lower Towns were completely flooded, and no one, rich or poor, escaped the fate of watching the sea from their homes.
Moreover, the disasters caused by the storm went far beyond these. Many dilapidated houses collapsed, power poles and trees were blown down, and some cars were even blown away. In short, it was chaos, and everyone was in a state of panic.
About two hours ago, the Gotham Police Department's lighting suddenly went out. Power was restored half an hour later, but a body floated out of the flooded underground parking garage. Unfortunately, this person was another informant the Penguin had just recruited.
A riddle was carved into the chest of the corpse, but because the body had been submerged in water for quite some time, the words were no longer legible. The forensic department and the medical examiner were at a loss, so Gordon had no choice but to summon his Pride, still lingering in the main universe, with a mindset no different from praying to a god.
Schiller had just examined the body and hadn't even reached any conclusions when the agent called, asking him to teach in the Arkham Batman universe. But Schiller had no intention of leaving the main universe, because it was obvious that the appearance of this body wasn't the end, but the beginning.
Just as Schiller was pondering the condition of the body, a commotion suddenly arose downstairs. Schiller went to the top of the stairs and looked down, where he saw two young police officers speaking anxiously to Gordon downstairs.
Schiller went downstairs, and Gordon, seeing him approach, sighed and said, "Wayne Hospital has lost power. I just hope there won't be another body like that..."
"The hospital has a power outage?" Schiller frowned slightly. "Don't they have backup power?"
"The backup power supply failed. As early as four hours after the hurricane made landfall, 80% of the upper town was already without power. Places like hospitals have been able to hold on until now because they have backup power, but it looks like they can't hold on much longer."
Gordon appeared deeply worried, but his subordinates soon brought more bad news: another body had floated out of the hospital's underground parking lot. The victim was a surgeon, and it was unclear who he worked for or why he was murdered. This was clearly another serial killer case.
But now is clearly not a good time to investigate. The police station office is also a pretty good spot for a sea view. Schiller stood on the second floor and looked out; the water had completely submerged the first floor and was threatening to submerge the second floor as well.
Suddenly, a sound came from the rooftop, as if a helicopter had landed. Soon, Tim, the Red Robin, dressed in his Robin outfit but blown around by the wind so badly he was unrecognizable, hurriedly ran down, shaking his head vigorously like a dog with water on its head, and shouted to Gordon, "We need to restore power to the hospital first; the patients on the operating table can't wait!"
“Of course, I’d like to,” Gordon said. “But there’s a massive power outage in the upper town, and all the roads are flooded. Where are we going to find a power source? And how are we going to get the circuits back on?”
“We’ll have to get electricity from the Batcave,” Red Robin sighed. “The Batcave is underground, but it’s definitely not flooded. We need to run an electric wire from there to power essential facilities, otherwise a lot of people will die for no reason.”
Does Batman know about this?
“He can’t afford to worry about that right now. The first base of the magical defense network was built in Gotham City, and he’s busy with that. Plus, the signals there are all blocked, so we can’t get in touch with him. But the patient really can’t wait.”
Gordon hesitated for a moment before saying, "If you have a way, then do it."
“Wait a minute,” Schiller began. “I don’t think I need to remind you, but this could very well be a conspiracy by cyber life. Batman’s defenses over the Batcave are very robust, and he has been unable to infiltrate it. He had places like the police station and the hospital lose power to force you to run a power line out of the Batcave, so he could take advantage of the situation and gain control of the large-scale weapons inside.”
Red Robin opened his mouth, then said, "Of course I've considered that possibility, but I believe Batman would make the same decision. The patients waiting to be saved in the hospital are innocent, and we can't just watch them die like that."
“Okay, there’s one more question,” Schiller said, “the ‘Final Laugh’ system.”
Red Robin immediately became wary. Schiller shook his head and said, "You don't need to ask me how I know; just assume I can read minds. If Batman puts the control system for this thing in the Batcave, and the electronic lifeforms that have hacked into the Batcave gain control of this powerful weapon and use it to destroy Gotham, what do you plan to do?"
Red Robin shook his head and said, "No one can control that thing except Batman, not even cyber life. Besides, Batman set a long activation delay for the 'Final Smile' system. It's not something that can destroy the world immediately by pressing a button; it's enough to hold out until Batman comes back."
"Where is Alfred?"
“I’ve already taken the old butler away,” Red Robin said. “He’s with the Drake family now and won’t be in any danger for the time being.”
Schiller nodded, saying nothing more. Red Robin said to Gordon, "I've prepared the plan and materials, but I'm short-handed. You'll have to lend me a few people to come with me on the helicopter..."
Although Gordon was also short-handed and overwhelmed with work, restoring power to the hospital was indeed crucial. So he selected a few reliable people and sent them with Red Robin.
"What do you think?" Gordon asked Schiller.
“They’ll likely fail, so you’d better have a backup plan.” Schiller paused before continuing, “The cybernetic lifeform will definitely want to infiltrate the Batcave, which is why it cut off the hospital’s power, forcing Red Robin to make this choice. But once it successfully infiltrates the Batcave, it will be even less likely to restore power to the hospital, because that way the Robins will be busy trying to restore power, giving it time to crack and control the weapons in the Batcave. What they’re doing now is destined to be futile.”
This wasn't a difficult thing to understand, and Gordon certainly understood it. The problem was that the electronic life form was too powerful. Even if it weren't that powerful, a pulled-over power line wasn't something that was difficult to destroy, and it couldn't establish a more stable power transmission system in the midst of a storm. It was destined to lose both its efforts and its resources.
However, this was something that had to be done, because the Robins had always believed that "doing something is better than doing nothing." Even if it might lead to bad results, at least there was a glimmer of hope, otherwise there really would be no way to restore power to the hospital.
“It sounds like you have a plan,” Gordon said, looking at Schiller. “If you do, it’s best to implement it as soon as possible. I heard there’s a seven-year-old child among those undergoing surgery at the hospital, and I don’t want to see any more innocent people die.”
"At this point, getting power from elsewhere is definitely not an option. In any case, electronic life forms have ways to cut off the power, so we have to find a way to restore the hospital's power from within."
"You mean repairing the hospital's generator? But they should have already tried. If the power hasn't been restored by now, it means the generator is probably very difficult to repair."
“Then build another generator,” Schiller said, “and preferably a fast, clean, and efficient one.”
"what do you mean……"
Do you have The Flash's phone number?
Gordon took a deep breath and said, "Yes, there is. You want to convert the Speed Force into electricity? Is that really possible? Even if it were, wouldn't you need a conversion device?"
“Of course we need it, but Batman happens to have one.” Schiller tapped the ground lightly with the tip of his umbrella. “There should be a running wheel in the Batcave. Tim can just grab it while he’s at it.”
"What? A running wheel?" Gordon asked, somewhat surprised, while fumbling for the Flash's phone. "You mean that hamster pedal thing? Why would Batman make a running wheel... Oh God, it's not what I'm thinking, is it?"
"It's exactly what you think. He originally planned to have the Flash use that wheel to generate the Speed Force, but then he had a better option, so it wasn't used. But since Batman was able to create it, it must be useful. Now it's perfect for generating electricity for the hospital."
Gordon immediately realized he had a chance. He quickly called the Flash, and whether Batman had anticipated it or it was just a coincidence, the Flash wasn't with Batman building the pillars of the magical defense network, and happened to be on Earth. Gordon made the call, and the Flash came immediately, now waiting at the entrance to Gotham's intercity highway.
Then Gordon called Red Robin again. Red Robin successfully found the giant running wheel in the Batcave's warehouse and, together with several police officers, loaded it onto the Bat Transporter and successfully transported it to the hospital.
Now, only the final step remains: putting the Flash, this "hamster," into the running wheel. But this is actually the hardest step, because the Flash can't run in the water, so Gordon has to find a way to get him to the city and then to the hospital.
It's easy to imagine that electronic life would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen; the journey would be fraught with danger and countless hardships.
The good news is that all the roads in Gotham are flooded, making it impossible to drive. The only option is by boat, but aside from the docks, there aren't any proper speedboats. The Gotham Police Department only has two rowboats older than Gordon himself, and a few small paddleboards—that's all the transportation the officers have.
Because it was so outdated, there was virtually no room for electronic intrusion. They could simply glide across slowly and bring the person back, but the speed was too slow and would inevitably delay the patient.
Gordon racked his brains for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution. As he paced anxiously, he saw Schiller standing by the window making a phone call, and Gordon slowly walked over.
Before long, he saw a truck coming from the end of the road, seemingly unaffected by the water that could submerge a floor-high building—if the driver wasn't a green-haired, smiling boy, he would be the perfect savior.