American comics: Today’s big news Chapter 020

The Batmobile, engulfed in flames, crashed in the pre-dawn darkness.

Batman’s spine was snapped by Bane’s knee strike, then he was lifted and thrown to the ground.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

A series of Batarangs shot towards Bane, but his bulging muscles ignored these weak, powerless projectiles. He walked step by step towards Batman, looking down at him and speaking:

“Dramatic trinkets and sleight of hand can only fool inexperienced outsiders.”

“But we are not ordinary people, are we, Bruce Wayne?”

Saying this, Bane turned his head to look at Connors, who had approached. His voice, muffled by his mask, was thick and resonant:

“It’s rare for someone in Gotham to show their true face.”

Bane had reached Batman, and raised one foot high:

“If you’re here to help him, then you’d better watch closely, because you’ll end up the same way.”

Connors nodded honestly:

“Awesome.”

Bane didn’t understand, but that didn’t stop him from stomping down forcefully.

If that foot landed squarely, Batman, with his broken spine, would surely die.

At the critical moment, a grappling hook shot out, pulling Batman away from under Bane’s foot. But Bane also used the force of his stomp to leap up.

He was clearly a mountain of muscle, yet his agility seemed to be maxed out. He jumped directly from a high place towards where the grappling hook was attached.

“Need help, press 1.”

Connors’ voice rang in Batman’s ear. Just as he wondered what that meant, Connors had already acted.

The grappling hook was originally attached to a nearby rock, but now the rock inexplicably changed position, and Batman also changed direction with it.

Bane’s leap missed. When he tried to continue, he found his feet sinking into a quagmire.

Where did a quagmire come from by the lake? This question flashed through his mind. Then he hunched over, moving on all fours like a beast, charging towards Batman.

But the rock changed position again, causing Bane to frown and stop. Then a pair of crimson eyes fixed on Connors:

“I said, dramatic…”

“Alright, alright, I know, I know.” Connors spoke in a tone as if coaxing a child, then continued his setup—a grandmaster-level trick.

All his life, Bane had been treated like a demon by others. This was the first time anyone had spoken to him in such a tone. An inexplicable rage flared in his heart, and he decided to kill this interfering guy first.

Watching Batman and him hide behind the car they had driven over in, Bane strode forward, grabbing the muscle car’s chassis with one hand and flipping it over.

However, to his surprise, there was no sign of Connors or Batman in front of him.

“Your sleight of hand is truly excellent,” Bane praised sincerely, then raised the muscle car with both hands again.

After he frantically plowed the surrounding ground, he still found no trace of the two, as if they had vanished into thin air.

The once flat ground was now so soft it could practically be used for planting vegetables, and the muscle car was torn to pieces.

Bane was breathing heavily. He even jumped into the lake and thrashed around, but there was no one hidden in the water, as if they had evaporated into thin air.

“Dude, if you don’t leave, I’m going to be exposed…”

Connors helplessly watched Bane, who seemed intent on digging three feet deep to find him, and thought to himself.

He had initially hidden with Batman behind the muscle car. When Bane flipped the car, they began to move towards the burning Batmobile.

Until now, he and Batman had remained hidden behind the burning flames of the Batmobile, using his “Grandmaster of Tricks” ability to keep Bane from seeing them.

But as time passed, the flames of the Batmobile grew weaker and weaker. Soon, they would no longer be able to conceal him.

Fortunately, Bane finally lost patience. He left, then suddenly returned, and after several more attempts to find no one, he finally departed for good.

At this point, the flames of the Batmobile were also almost at the point of extinction.

“Your car isn’t very fire-resistant. Next time, I suggest changing to a more durable material, like oak,” Connors said to the weak Batman.

Master Wayne gave him a weak glance and pressed a button.

The lake water churned, and a sloped lift platform broke through layers of mud, emerging from the water. The cover blocking the entrance automatically opened.

“…”

Batman didn’t speak, but Connors understood his intention. He lifted Batman onto his shoulders and walked towards the entrance.

In the Batcave, Alfred the butler, seeing the two men descend from the lift platform, already knew what had happened outside and quickly pushed a stretcher over.

Soon, the fully automatic operating table in the Batcave began its work. Alfred the butler smiled at Connors and extended a hand:

“Master Patterson, would you like a bathrobe and a cigarette prepared for you?”

“…Hey.”

Upon hearing this, Connors knew that the white-haired but robust old butler was joking with him. He shook the butler’s hand.

The previous few times, after he finished his business, he would light a post-coital cigarette half-naked, often staring wide-eyed at Batman.

As the man behind Batman, Alfred the butler must have known about these things for a long time.

“I came to see him about a problem I need to solve – don’t worry, I’m not here to fight him,” Connors explained his purpose. “But running into Bane was truly unexpected. It seems that the immediate problem to solve is the issue of a Batman substitute.”

Gotham City could go one night without Batman, but not several consecutive days, otherwise, the troublemakers would surely cause problems.

Alfred the butler knew this, and Connors, having read the comics, naturally knew it too.

“Let’s arrange it when he wakes up, Master Patterson. Please rest for a while in the drawing-room,” Alfred the butler said, extending his hand to lead the way.

“No need… I’ve noticed there seems to be a toxin in his body,” Connors refused the butler’s kind offer, speaking words that immediately put the butler on alert.

Master Wayne’s body contained spores, imbued with the aura of the Green… Did he go to find Poison Ivy, but was attacked by her?

Connors looked at Bruce Wayne, motionless on the operating table. With a thought, countless sickly green spores flew out of Bruce’s mouth and nose, into Connors’ hand, then turned grayish-white, completely inert.

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that this man might take advantage of the situation to cause trouble, but now it seemed he had been overly suspicious.

Time quickly passed. Thanks to his powerful physique, Bruce Wayne awoke at nine in the morning. His first words to Connors were:

“How did you do that?”

He still remembered the series of incredible actions Connors performed after he appeared.

Want to learn? I’ll teach you… Connors laughed and changed the subject:

“More than that, I think you need to worry about Gotham’s successor problem, right?”

“I’ll give you one day to solve this problem, then tonight I’ll discuss another problem with you, about the destruction of the world.”

After speaking, Connors turned and left Wayne Manor. Before leaving, he borrowed a car from Alfred the butler to avoid walking.

He had waited half a day just to say that one sentence to Master Wayne. Next, he had another matter to attend to:

After asking the celebrity singer Xue Xi if he could live off her, her condition was that Connors must clear the waterway one more time, and accompany her to watch today’s circus performance.

Clearing the waterway was already finished before he left, only the circus performance remained.

There wasn’t much to see at the circus, and Connors wasn’t interested, but the circus’s name was not simple: “The Flying Graysons.”

According to the general development of the comic plot, even if it had deviated, perhaps when he returned tonight, he would bring a son back for Master Wayne.