"Did you get the intelligence you wanted?"
Dane asked Batman. Catwoman hid behind him, not daring to speak.
Batman's deep voice replied: "I'm done asking. You may proceed."
Dane turned his gaze to Poison Ivy.
Poison Ivy swallowed, saying with difficulty: "I can explain."
Dane nodded, "I'll listen, but you have to do something for me."
He stretched out his finger and drew a circle on the ground; opposite the circle was another space.
Catwoman's eyes nearly popped out when she saw this.
Dane flicked his hand, tossing the unconscious Clark inside.
Then he pointed at Poison Ivy, and the steel ropes on her body automatically broke.
Batman subtly "tsk"ed, and Catwoman, who was closest to him, heard it and looked at him slyly.
Poison Ivy obediently walked up to Dane, lowered her head, and asked, "What do you want me to do?"
Catwoman secretly scoffed at her feigned reluctance.
That's not reluctance at all!
But Dane's expression remained unmoved, and he slowly said,
"From now on, you will help Clark with desensitization training. The moment he can completely break free from your control is the moment you gain your freedom."
Poison Ivy's spirits sank as if her life was filled with gloom.
Dane ignored her mood, grabbed her, and after greeting Batman, stepped through the circle.
After he left, the circle automatically contracted and closed.
"Are the friends you've made recently all so… special?" Catwoman asked blankly, watching Dane walk away with a flourish.
Batman just said coldly, "We are not friends!"
With that, he turned and left, and Catwoman quickly followed.
"Where are you going?"
"Killer Croc and Poison Ivy have both been questioned. The remaining clues now only lie with Deathstroke."
"But he's a mercenary, you can't catch him," Catwoman said.
"For Batman, yes."
Batman said, opening the communication device on his arm, "But for Bruce, it's easy."
The call connected, and the person on the other end was Alfred: "Master Wayne."
"Alfred, transfer 10 million U.S. dollars to Deathstroke's account right now."
"Tell him, if he's willing to meet at the clock tower next to Gotham Church, he'll get another 10 million!"
"Understood, Master Wayne."
Catwoman looked at Batman's actions and was almost dumbfounded. Is this the World of the rich?
She couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "Damn rich people!"
Selina didn't know that Bruce had once bought all the jewelry and antiques in Gotham to help her turn over a new leaf.
What she stole every night were actually things he had given her… Five minutes later, Alfred sent a message, indicating that the operation was complete.
In fact, they didn't care about this money at all, not only because they had too much wealth to care.
It was also because Deathstroke's bank account was opened at a bank under the Wayne Group, so they merely moved the 20 million from their left pocket to their right, incurring no actual loss.
After waiting for about another ten minutes, Alfred sent another message.
Deathstroke agreed to the deal, and he would go to the agreed location.
But he would only stay for five minutes; no waiting if late.
However, Deathstroke didn't say when he would go.
But Batman knew him; when it came to making money, Deathstroke was always serious and dedicated.
If he guessed correctly, Deathstroke was already on his way.
Without hesitation, Batman and Catwoman continued to rush through Gotham City.
And on the top floor of a tall building, about two kilometers from the botanical garden they had left, a man with his head wrapped in bandages was watching them leave through binoculars.
"Batman…"
He muttered to himself, sometimes with Abomination, sometimes with coldness, and also with a deeply hidden jealousy.
"Just wait, just wait, we'll meet again soon… Bruce…"
Batman suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and he sharply turned his head to look.
There seemed to be a Shadow in the distant tall building, yet also nothing at all.
He opened his long-range scope and found nothing.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing his unusual expression, Catwoman asked with concern.
He slowly shook his head: "Nothing, maybe I'm overthinking it…"
...Justice League Tower.
Dane put Poison Ivy down, changed into a set of casual clothes, and then stood with his arms crossed, staring at her.
"Tell me, what is it this time?"
Facing Dane, Poison Ivy dared not lie and recounted the whole story in detail.
A month ago, when Poison Ivy and Barbara returned to Gotham to form the Birds of Prey.
She suddenly received a threatening letter from a stranger, saying that her best friend in Gotham had been kidnapped!
Before Poison Ivy became Poison Ivy, she was just an ordinary person, and as an ordinary person, she naturally made friends.
Among them, her best friend was Harleen Quinzel, a female university student majoring in psychology at Gotham University.
After becoming Poison Ivy, she no longer associated with most of her former friends, but she still maintained a precious friendship with Harleen.
Because Harleen studied psychology, she didn't distance herself from Poison Ivy due to her change in appearance... instead, she found her better and more interesting than before.
This made her, who had just transformed into Poison Ivy at the time, become a confident and courageous person... Dane heard this, and his expression became a bit strange.
Harleen Quinzel?
He knew exactly who that was, the infamous Joker's girlfriend!
But the Joker was dead; every cell in his body had been burned to ashes by lightning, so Harley Quinn should not appear again, in theory.
Poison Ivy continued to narrate:
"To prevent him from lying to me, I demanded to meet Harleen at the time, and he agreed."
"You saw him?"
"Yes, I saw him."
"But he didn't reveal his true face; he completely wrapped his face in bandages."
"I could only tell that he was a man."
Dane looked at her strangely: "Your abilities don't work on him?"
"That's right, I don't understand why, but I did try, and it didn't work." Poison Ivy shook her head.
Even Superman fell victim to her hormone control, yet Hush could withstand it?
What kind of willpower would that take?
Poison Ivy was worried:
"And I also saw poor Harleen; her mind seemed to be starting to become abnormal, looking crazy."
"But when I talked to her, I felt that her linguistic logic was still very normal. I don't know how to describe this feeling."
"Like a little psycho?"
"Hey, you're not allowed to say that about her!" Poison Ivy protested with dissatisfaction, but then immediately changed the topic.
"But your description is very accurate; she's like a little psycho, on the verge of going crazy but not completely."
Has Harley Quinn still been born? No, she should still be in the process of transformation.
Dane quickly organized the known intelligence.
The bandaged man, he had some impression of him; he was the villain who appeared in "Batman: Hush."
However, in the Real World, this work has two versions.
One is the comic version, where Hush himself is Bruce's best childhood friend, Thomas Elliot.
He possesses extremely high criminal intelligence and, with his understanding of Bruce and Gotham's villains, manipulates Batman at will.
Even the Joker was outsmarted by him.
The other is the animated movie version, where Hush's identity is Riddler.
He was dying of a brain tumor and was reborn using the Lazarus Pit.
He designed a series of clever and complex plans, and his ultimate goal was to challenge Batman to a one-on-one fight… And what's even more inexplicable is that the Batman here couldn't even defeat Riddler…
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