Chapter 345: Avengers VS Justice League
DC Parallel Universe, Gotham City, The Gilded Finch Restaurant
A waiter, carrying a silver tray, carefully presented a Filet Mignon, personally cooked by a Michelin-starred chef, before Penguin.
Penguin tucked a napkin into his collar and slowly cut the steak before him with a knife and fork, chewing the medium-rare tender beef tenderloin, savoring the smooth texture of the rich sauce between his lips and teeth. A bite of beef, a sip of red wine. The warm fat in the tender meat lessened the bitterness of the red wine, while the tannins in the red wine, in turn, reduced the greasy taste of the steak. They complemented each other, leaving a lingering fragrance in his mouth.
Just as Penguin was enjoying his delicious meal, the mobile phone placed on the table vibrated, interrupting his dinner. Penguin glanced at the caller ID with some displeasure and picked up the phone.
"Leader, something's happened. All the Subordinates we sent to capture Harley Quinn are dead!" The voice on the phone was slightly nervous.
"All dead?! Did another Influence interfere?"
Penguin picked up a napkin and wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth, his face instantly turning gloomy.
He knew that crazy woman Harley Quinn had excellent skill, so the Subordinates he sent were all top-notch, most of them Federation veterans.
With so many elite Gunmen all dead, Penguin's first reaction was that someone else had interfered and saved the crazy woman.
And in Gotham City, there were only a few people with that motive.
A certain Joker with a perpetual grin instantly appeared in Penguin's mind.
"Leader, the Police Station arrived early. The Corpses and nearby Surveillance Footage are all in their hands, but we caught a resident from nearby!"
On the other side of the phone, in a high-rise apartment building opposite Rose Apartment, within a dark alley nearby, several tough guys held down a white man with glasses dressed in a suit. The tough guy holding the mobile phone pressed a handgun against his waist and nudged him.
He handed the mobile phone to the Man with Glasses.
"Mr. Cobblepot has some questions for you. Answer honestly if you don't want to die!"
"Okay! Okay!" The Man with Glasses was a sales consultant for an Insurance Company, living in the high-rise apartment building opposite Rose Apartment.
As an insurance salesman, the Company had no strict rules. Employees didn't have to stay in the Company; as long as they met their performance targets, no one would care even if they just lay at home sleeping all day!
Because he had an appointment with a big client at noon, he was preparing some data at home. Unexpectedly, when he pulled back the curtains, he saw that horrifying scene.
With the mindset of "less trouble is better," the Man with Glasses chose not to go down and get involved when he saw the Police Officers arrive.
Instead, he tidied himself up and prepared to meet his client. After all, even after experiencing something as exciting as a gunfight, he still had to eat.
Gunfights happened dozens of times a day in Gotham, but a big client was something he might not encounter for months.
Unexpectedly, as he walked out of the first-floor elevator with his briefcase, the elevator door opened, and he was met by several cold-faced tough guys, all holding guns, who surrounded him.
Sensing something was wrong, he immediately threw the briefcase in his hand aside, raised his hands high, and skillfully said to the men:
"The money is in the bag, don't shoot, I can give you all the money!"
Who would have thought these robbers didn't want money? The bald strong man leading them suddenly kicked him hard in the stomach and dragged him into this secluded alley.
He thought he was going to be shot, but unexpectedly, these people asked him if he had seen the gunfight that just happened at the entrance of Rose Apartment. After hearing his affirmative answer,
They actually told him to describe it to Penguin! Penguin, that was Penguin!
"Mr. Cobblepot, h-hello!" The Man with Glasses tremblingly took the mobile phone. As a resident of Gotham City, he naturally knew of Penguin's ferocious reputation. He was so scared his voice was trembling.
"You saw the gunfight this morning. Describe the scene you saw to me in detail!!"
Listening to the casual voice on the other end of the phone, the Man with Glasses didn't dare to slack off in the slightest and immediately recounted everything he had seen in full detail.
The white man with glasses had also peeked from the balcony out of curiosity after hearing the gunfire. He saw Harley Quinn rushing out of the stairwell, being focus-fired by that group of Gunmen with rocket launchers and rifles, and Harley Quinn counterattacking using the skull.
The smoking skull, that stinking Bat also appeared at the scene and had a conflict with Harley Quinn! After listening to the Man with Glasses on the mobile phone, Penguin fell into deep thought, trying to sort out the relationships. The Joker didn't appear; it was actually that crazy woman Harley Quinn who repelled that Bat.
When did this crazy woman get such strong strength?
On the other side, the Man with Glasses looked at the bald strong man beside him for help!
The bald strong man took the mobile phone from the Man with Glasses, not daring to hang up either, and held the mobile phone to his face, waiting for his Leader's instructions.
"Clean up the scene. Next time, call me at a time that's not mealtime. I don't like being disturbed while eating."
"...Yes, Leader, I understand." The bald strong man said carefully, "I'll be sure to pay attention next time."
Penguin placed the mobile phone aside, looked at the steak on the tray that had gotten cold, and called over a waiter to replace it with a new one.
"Ah, what is that, careful bang bang bang..."
Just as Penguin picked up the knife and fork in his hand to cut the steak the waiter had just brought, a burst of noisy sounds suddenly came from the mobile phone placed beside his table.
Listening to the faintly transmitted gunfire from the mobile phone, Penguin, quick-witted and nimble-handed, picked up the mobile phone and held it to his ear:
"Doug, what happened on your end?"
"Are you looking for this bald strong man gentleman? He can't talk anymore, you know!"
Listening to the crazy woman's voice on the phone, Penguin's voice instantly turned cold: "Harley Quinn, it's you!"
"That's right," a burst of applause came from the phone: "I'll send the prize over to you, fat Penguin, just wait for me obediently!"
Along with the sound of the mobile phone being thrown to the ground, a dial tone came from the mobile phone. Crash, bang! Penguin stood up and directly flipped over the table in front of him, along with the steak on it.
"Leader!" Several Bodyguards quickly approached Penguin, bowing and carefully looking up at their Leader.
"Gather Subordinates, tell them to bring guns to the Manor. Tell all the Gangs, big and small, in Gotham City to send all their people onto the streets. I'm offering a two million US Dollars bounty for Harley Quinn! Dead or alive!"
After venting his rage, Penguin picked up the umbrella beside him, put on his hat, and pursed his lips as he instructed his Subordinates. The chill in his words was almost palpable.
"Leader, won't this enrage the Joker!?" A black bodyguard carefully said to Penguin.
"Hmm? You're afraid of the Joker!" Penguin raised his umbrella and pointed the tip at his chest. The black bodyguard's body instantly trembled. Just as he opened his mouth to defend himself, the next moment, black smoke from being burned by high-pressure electric current rose from his body.
"Isn't it funny? As my Bodyguard, he's afraid of the Joker, but not of me!"
Penguin didn't even look at the Bodyguards whose heads were almost in their pockets. His gaze turned to the trembling waiters and Diners in the Restaurant. He took off his black top hat, bowed slightly to the crowd in apology, and walked out of the Restaurant without looking back, leaning on his umbrella.
Several Bodyguards quickly followed. One Bodyguard remained in place, skillfully lifted the Corpse on the ground, and also followed them out.
The Police Officers who were securing the scene at Rose Apartment heard the gunfire from across the street. They all became alert and ran behind cover, pulling out their handguns.
"What's going on? Where is that gunfire coming from!?"
In the high-rise apartment building where Harley Quinn lived, Director Gordon was having a headache looking at the large quantity of weapons the Police Officers had searched out from the crazy woman's home. This included two rifles, six handguns of various models, a full cardboard box of magazines, thirty military-issue hand grenades, and they even found a modified Barrett heavy sniper rifle in a hidden compartment in the wardrobe.
"Fuck, did she modify this to fight tanks?"
Gordon couldn't help but complain as he looked at the Barrett's gun barrel, which was thicker than his fist.
It wasn't until a subordinate detective found several thick alloy bullets in a metal can, looking at the Chibi Batman engraved on the long and narrow sniper rifle warhead,
That he understood who this sniper rifle was prepared for by the crazy woman.
Director Gordon waved his hand, signaling his subordinate detectives to carry away the modified Barrett and send it to the Police Station's evidence room.
Just as the two detectives were lifting the Barrett, several scattered gunshots suddenly rang out downstairs.
Compared to the other Police Officers who were frantically seeking cover, Gordon sharply heard that the gunfire was coming from across Rose Apartment. He drew the service weapon from his waist and rushed directly to the apartment balcony, raising his gun and aiming downstairs.
Downstairs, the detectives securing the scene were hiding behind police car cover, not daring to move. Not one dared to step forward and investigate the situation.
"Jim, take your men and follow me! Sarah, protect the scene!"
After issuing his order, Gordon, along with several fully armed detectives, left the room and hurried downstairs by elevator.
In another downward elevator, two detectives transporting evidence were holding the Barrett heavy sniper rifle, which was taller than a person.
"Do you think this kind of modified Barrett is something a normal person can use? I think its recoil could probably break the User's arm!"
The strong and sturdy black police officer tried holding the Barrett sniper rifle with both hands and estimated its weight. The heavy feeling made him grimace and sigh.
"We can't use it, but that doesn't mean those perverts can't!" The white detective wearing a police cap muttered indifferently with his hands in his pockets: "Gotham City might lack other things, but it certainly doesn't lack perverts!"
Thump! Before the white detective finished speaking, a sound of a heavy object falling suddenly came from the top of the elevator.
What is that? The two subconsciously looked up, only to see a large hole had appeared on the top of the elevator car at some point. Near the entrance of the hole, they could faintly see two round things gnawing on the metal car wall like they were eating cereal.
"What?"
The two detectives looked at each other in disbelief and both reached for the handguns on their waists.
"Hello!"
At this moment, a head peered out from the large hole on top of the car. In their surprised and panicked gaze, Harley Quinn leapt down.
Bang bang!
Harley Quinn clapped her hands, not even looking at the two detectives who had collapsed inside the car. She first bent down and found several rounds of specialized bullets for the modified Barrett from the boxes in the elevator.
When the elevator stopped on the first floor, she casually shouldered the Barrett heavy sniper rifle leaning against a corner of the elevator, stepped on the hand of the detective wearing the police cap, and walked out of the elevator.
"Hiss!"
It wasn't until Harley Quinn's figure disappeared that the white detective wearing the police cap dared to grimace and suck in cold air.
"Neil! Should we get up and notify Director Gordon!"
"Are you crazy! Didn't you see that large caliber sniper rifle? We're knocked out now, don't move. Wait until someone finds us before waking up. I don't want to be shot into two pieces!" The black detective, whose face was pressed tightly against the elevator ground, didn't move, playing the role of a Corpse, "Good idea!"
In an alley near the high-rise apartment building opposite Rose Apartment, Director Gordon, who had arrived at the scene with a group of Police Officers, was stunned by the tragic scene before him.
Five or six Corpses lay scattered on the ground. Four of the Corpses, like those found at Rose Apartment, had all their blood sucked dry and had become mummies.
As for the remaining one, it was faintly discernible that it was a bald man, the reason being that his entire head had been smashed to a pulp.
"You! Hands up! Put your hands where I can see them!" Soon, several Police Officers wearing heavy bulletproof vests and bulletproof helmets noticed a survivor trembling on the ground.
"Don't kill me, please don't kill me, I don't know anything!"
The Man with Glasses raised his hands, constantly pleading. A detective, under the cover of his companions, cautiously stepped forward, pulled out a shiny silver pair of handcuffs from his lower back, and handcuffed the Man with Glasses' hands behind his back.
"We are Police Officers from the Gotham City Police Department! Tell me what happened here?!"
The Man with Glasses looked at the fully armed Police Officers before him, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes. However, his gaze swept over the fallen mobile phone beside him, and his eyes filled with fear: "I don't know anything, don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
Facing the violently struggling Man with Glasses, several Police Officers quickly stepped forward and held him down. A Police Officer quickly took out a taser and gave him a hard jolt. With a sizzling sound, he finally calmed down.
Gordon followed the gaze of the Man with Glasses just now, walked to the side, and picked up the mobile phone with the cracked screen.
He turned on the mobile phone and tried to unlock it. Unexpectedly, the mobile phone didn't have a password lock set. He opened the call history, and a call record from a few minutes ago appeared at the top.
Gordon thought for a moment and directly dialed that phone number!
After a few seconds of waiting, the phone on the other end quickly connected.
Gordon held the mobile phone to his ear and didn't say a word. The phone on the other end was also silent.
After a period of quiet mutual waiting, Penguin finally couldn't help but speak: "Harley Quinn!"
"Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot!"
In the back seat of the extended bulletproof car, Penguin, who was heading towards his Manor, took the mobile phone away from his ear, looking at the screen with some doubt, listening to the somewhat familiar man's voice on the other end.
"Who are you?" Penguin rarely heard anyone call him by his full name anymore. Since he became a Councillor of this City, people usually respectfully addressed him as Mr. Cobblepot.
Of course, behind his back, his enemies called him Penguin.
"Gordon!?" Penguin said.
"It's me, Director Gordon. The people who died on Rose Street Block today were your people. I think you need to come to the Police Station!"
"My people? Director Gordon, you must have some misunderstanding. I don't understand what you're saying. If there's something, you'd best contact my lawyer first!"
After speaking, Penguin directly hung up the phone.
When Gordon dialed back again, the phone only gave the prompt tone: "The user you dialed is currently on a call."
"Harley Quinn and Penguin!" Gordon looked at the mobile phone in his hand, a faint bad feeling rising in his heart. After several months of calm, Gotham City was probably about to stir up trouble again!
"Take the Corpses back to the Police Station!" Gordon left the Deputy Director to direct the scene and hurriedly drove a police car towards his secret warehouse.
At this time, for the stability of Gotham City, our Director Gordon was about to use his unique move!
Meanwhile, an intense combat was underway at Wayne Manor.
The two sides participating in the battle were Aquaman and The Flash from the Justice League, and Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Iron Man from the Avengers!
Since Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg had gone to retrieve the Mother Box he had hidden, the only people remaining on duty at Wayne Manor were Aquaman, The Flash, and Constantine.
In terms of numbers, the Avengers clearly held an absolute advantage. Iron Man and the others saw this point and planned to take advantage of Batman and the others' absence to rescue Star-Lord and the Ant-Man equipment.
Rescuing Star-Lord wasn't very difficult. After being got drunk, he was directly thrown into a Restroom in the Batcave. When Black Widow found him, he was sleeping soundly, hugging a pillow.
However, something went wrong when Iron Man was searching for Star-Lord's Ant-Man Suit. Bruce Wayne had set up double protection in the device where the Ant-Man Suit was placed. In addition to electronic protection, he also used the mechanism technique he had learned from Ra's al Ghul to set up a physical trigger alarm.
Iron Man quickly cracked the electronic protection device using Friday. Unexpectedly, just as he reached out and touched the Ant-Man Suit, a thread thinner than a hair, attached to the back of the Suit, broke after a slight touch, directly triggering the alarm.
Instantly, alarm sounds rang out everywhere. Alloy steel plates dropped down at all four exits of the Batcave, locking the few people inside the Batcave.
Originally, this was nothing. The few could completely shrink down, enter the Quantum Tunnel, and return to their own Universe. But the alarm sound startled The Flash and Aquaman, who had remained in the Batcave.
Thus, Captain America and Tony Stark faced off against Aquaman Arthur!
And Hawkeye and Black Widow teamed up against The Flash.
As for Iron Man, he was busy cracking the protective device that had closed because the mechanism was triggered, wanting to get the Ant-Man Suit inside as soon as possible, put it on Star-Lord, and take him out of this Universe.
Swish!
Arthur swung the trident in his hand. The trident, faintly carrying light blue water waves, stabbed directly towards Captain America's face.
Captain America raised his shield with his left hand, blocking Arthur's strike. At the same time, he lowered his body and moved closer, closing in on Arthur, trying his best to negate the advantage of Arthur's long weapon, wanting to engage in close combat.
Facing Captain America, who dared to close in only holding a shield, Arthur directly released the trident in his hand and assumed a boxing stance, smashing a punch towards Captain America.
Facing Arthur's punch, Captain America, who knew Arthur's strength from Barton, didn't take the punch head-on. Instead, he blocked it again with his Vibranium Shield.
"Clang!" Arthur's punch even made a sound from the sound-absorbing steel material shield, showing how fierce this punch was.
The next moment, Arthur's face instantly turned red.
"Hiss!" Accompanied by a painful sound of gritting teeth and sucking in air, Arthur put his right hand behind him and violently shook it. For the specific degree of pain, you can refer to the feeling of an ordinary person swinging with full force onto a steel plate.
Taking advantage of the moment Arthur shook his hand, Captain America slipped the shield onto his forearm and threw a series of small hooks at Arthur.
Bang bang bang—
Captain America's combat skills were remarkable, even when combining the Marvel and DC Comics Universes. He kept moving with small steps under his feet, punching repeatedly on Arthur's body and face.
Whenever Arthur wanted to counterattack, he could always rely on his exquisite combat skills to predict his attack in advance, and the shield in his left hand precisely blocked his fist.
For Arthur, although this guy's punches weren't very heavy, he couldn't stand the pain. Plus, this guy was annoying, jumping around like a monkey.
Arthur tried to counterattack multiple times, but this guy could always catch the gaps in his attacks and raise the shield in his hand to block.
He didn't know what material this guy's shield was made of; it was exceptionally hard. With his physique and strength, one punch could smash a reef several people tall by the seaside.
You should know that seaside reefs are constantly subjected to the impact of sea waves and are three points harder than steel. He punched repeatedly on this guy's shield, but not only did the shield not suffer any damage, the joints on the back of both his hands were already scraped raw.
The two exchanged punches until the end, and Aquaman Arthur actually became somewhat hesitant and didn't dare to attack. After all, no normal person would be willing to smash their hand against a piece of iron.
Relying on the hard Vibranium Shield and skilled close combat ability, Captain America directly held back Aquaman Arthur.
It could even be said that he was unilaterally beating this top-tier combatant of the Justice League, truly deserving the name "Fifty-Fifty".
On the other side, Hawkeye and Black Widow teamed up to fight The Flash. The Flash's Speed Force could be an almost BUG-like existence. In a high-speed state, he could even exceed the speed of light and reverse time.
If not for plot necessity and Barry Allen's personality, ordinary villains, and even the other few people in the Justice League except for Superman, might not even be the rival of this skinny nerd.
After all, while running at high speed, the space and all things from his perspective were almost all in a state of time stop. Facing the arrows shot at him by Hawkeye and the bullets shot at him by Black Widow, in a high-speed state, he just gently flicked the static arrows and bullets.
Their precise attacks deviated from his sides. Then he quickly came to their side and pushed them.
Hawkeye and Black Widow rolled into a heap.
From this point, it can be seen that Barry Allen's personality is relatively, hmm, kind. Otherwise, if he just picked up the arrows shot at him by Hawkeye and hit Hawkeye and Black Widow once each,
The Avengers could announce two members down.
People with kind personalities often suffer greatly!
Just as The Flash went around the two and was preparing to take down the guy wearing the flashy gold and red armor, he didn't notice that the two behind him, after exchanging glances, both tapped their wrists several times! "His speed is very fast!"
"Not just fast!"
"But it seems he doesn't have much combat experience!"
"So!"
"I thought of a method!"
"Hey!"
Hawkeye fell to the ground, but a look of successful scheming flashed across his face under his helmet.
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle—"
Barry's palms had just pressed on Hawkeye's back when he felt a surge of electric current directly attacked his palm along Hawkeye's armor. Feeling something was wrong, he wanted to pull back and retreat, but that electric current held him tightly.
The Flash's body instantly went numb and trembled! His whole body trembled from the electric shock, and his hair directly turned into an afro. Although the Speed Force inside his body immediately protected him from fatal injury, he could no longer enter the high-speed state.
"Sizzle!"
Before Barry Allen could react, the ruthless Black Widow quickly came up behind him and violently stabbed a taser flashing blue electric arc into his waist.
Thump! This time, The Flash was directly electrocuted unconscious on the ground.
(end of chapter)