Chapter 177: Cause and Effect (Part 2) 

February 28, 2022

in Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

A A

1/5 chapter, enjoy.

   Good lord, stealing a nuclear bomb?! 

   Is this what a thief would say? 

   Gordon was too shocked to comment on Phantom Kid’s idea. 

   “Stop looking at me like that, you heard me right. The treasure I’m looking at this time is Bane’s nuclear bomb!” 

   Then, while Gordon was shocked, Mathison told him about the fake Gordon that he had seen in an underground tunnel. 

   And his beloved daughter has also returned to Gotham. 

   Obviously, he chose to tell him about his cooperation with Pamela. 

   “That is to say, the fake Gordon has been lurking in the GCPD crowd, and no one has noticed anything wrong with him. Obviously, his purpose is not the remnants of the GCPD.” 

   Mathison analyzed. 

   “There’s only one possibility I can think of, that the fake Gordon’s mission should be related to the Riddler’s riddle.” 

   “They’re waiting for someone who can solve all the puzzles, and they think there’s only one person who can. So, the person pretending to be you doesn’t mind letting me know what the riddle is about.” 

   “You mean Batman?” 

   Gordon asked in a low voice. 

   “That’s right, because even if someone does solve the riddle, they can’t get to the top of the Clock Tower. In their perspective, only Batman can break through Deadshot.” 

   Mathison nodded. 

   “Bane didn’t kill Batman, and that is because he didn’t know Batman, but the other criminals released from Arkham Asylum knew Batman.” 

   Gordon added that now his mind is starting to regain its clarity. 

   The criminals’ plans gradually came into their perspective. 

   “Including me, everyone firmly believes that Batman will come back, so they set this trap for Batman.” 

   “Batman will definitely look for the whereabouts of GCPD when he returns, and the person pretending to be me will play a key role at this time.” 

   “If Batman doesn’t see through his disguise, then Batman’s actions will be subject to Bain’s covert manipulation. If Batman saw through his disguise, then he would also be caught in the middle of a heavy siege.”

   Gordon gritted his teeth. 

   “I don’t think it’s that simple, because the person pretending to be you must know you very well, otherwise, even your old comrades won’t see your flaws.” 

   “Since this person dares to commit this, he probably has a certain degree of confidence that he can hide well from Batman.” 

   “So, can you think of a man who can mimic you very skillfully?” 

   Mathison asked Gordon. 

   “… Could it be him!” 

   Gordon suddenly thought of Hush, the weird criminal. 

   When he and Batman put Hush in Arkham Asylum, Hush kept shouting that he knew everything about Batman. 

   No one in the world knows Batman better than him. 

   Gordon could feel a deep obsession rooted in Hush’s mind. 

   This obsession is completely different from other patients in Arkham. 

   Yes, although Hush knew that Bruce was Batman, for some reason, he never revealed the secret. 

   Even Gordon didn’t know that the comrade he had always missed the most was actually Bruce Wayne. 

   The reason that Hush is keeping this secret is very strange. He is jealous of everything about Bruce, he wants to destroy Bruce, and he wants to inherit everything from Bruce. 

   Yes, he wanted to replace Bruce completely. 

   So he can’t let other people kill Bruce before him, in that case, he wouldn’t be able to become him. 

   What an inexplicable thought! 

   Well, no one of Arkham Asylum’s criminals could be understood. 

   In short, after locking their candidate, the two generated a plan consisting of Mathison pretending to be Batman to test the fake Gordon. 

   The plan was bound to be put into work, and Mathison took Gordon away from the Clock Tower. 

   Oh, by the way, when leaving the Clock Tower, Mathison also got a surprising revelation. 

   That is, when he climbed up the spire of the Clock Tower again, he accidentally caught a glimpse of the scene out of the corner of his eyes. 

   This scene made him figure out the Riddler’s third riddle in an instant. 

   “The more you cut me, the faster I grow. What am I?” 

   The correct answer is: a hole. 

   Why could the answer be that? 

   Because a hole is round. 

   At this moment, what caught Mathison’s eyes was Middle Island, which is surrounded by river water and looks like a hole from a high altitude… 

   At this point, the previous situation’s review was completed, and time turned back to midnight. 

   Hush that was choked by Mathison and trembling all over was not an ordinary person after all, and he calmed down in a very short time. 

   “It turns out that you have long known about the trap we set for Batman, so you played the power outage drama.” 

   Hush said coldly. 

   “You neither exposed me on the spot, nor took the riddle from me, but falsely claimed that you had found the location of the nuclear bomb.”

   “Indeed, I actually believed it when you showed up to me dressed as Batman and told me that you already knew where the nuclear bomb was hidden.” 

   “I admit that your ability to disguise is better than mine, Phantom Kid.” 

   He stared at Mathison silently, and there were flashes of cold light in his eyes. 

   “Thinking about it carefully, how could Batman, who didn’t get the content of the riddle, find the location of the nuclear bomb?” 

   “But the person who said it was Batman, so I believed you without thinking. After all, it’s normal for him to do things beyond our imagination.” 

   Speaking of which, he laughed silently and morbidly. 

   Mathison speculated that he might be laughing at how easily he was fooled and that Batman really left a huge shadow in the hearts of people from Arkham. 

   “Unfortunately, there are only two of you, and tricking me into this won’t affect the big picture.”

   Suddenly, Hush sneered at the two of them. 

   “How could I be unprepared against Batman?” 

   “Before I came here, I asked all of your subordinates to gather together. Maybe they didn’t know what was waiting for them. When all the living people of GCPD gather together, our ambush manpower will kill them all.”

   Although Hush was facing two people, and his weapon was shot down by Gordon, he was acting as if he was in control. 

   “Oh, by the way, dear Commissioner Gordon, your precious daughter is probably out of luck now, although I don’t know how she offended Deathstroke…” 

   Hearing this, blue veins pulsed on Gordon’s forehead.

   “You’ll regret it, Elliott!” 

   “Really? I hope so.” 

   He sneered silently. 

   He clapped his hands lightly, and then a group of black-dressed people suddenly poured out from nowhere, surrounding the three people. 

   Unexpectedly, when these people appeared, Gordon and Mathison not only did not panic but laughed together after looking at each other.