"What exactly did you want to discuss?"
Mario showed no surprise that Batman knew his real identity. After all, both he and the Ghost Rider had appeared at the same time, spoken to him at the same party. He'd never bothered disguising his voice.
He lifted his glass and drained it in one smooth motion, then poured himself another. His gaze locked onto Batman's white lenses.
"I want to work with you."
Mario couldn't help but laugh. "You want to cooperate with me?"
He swirled the whiskey in his glass. "Looks like you haven't found a way to deal with me yet. Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here so calmly, talking about partnerships."
Batman's silence spoke volumes. Over the past two weeks, he'd been gathering everything he could on Mario, or rather, on the Ghost Rider. His conclusion? Without specialized countermeasures, he had no viable strategy against this opponent. Unless he could identify a weakness. But recent events in Gotham meant he couldn't afford to wait for the perfect moment.
Mario traced his finger along the rim of his glass, then asked, "What is it you really want? A stable, prosperous Gotham? Fear from the criminals who plague these streets? Or maybe you just enjoy the power trip of standing above everyone else?"
"I don't stand above anyone." Batman's intense gaze never wavered from Mario.
But Mario didn't flinch. He tapped the table with one finger.
"I'll give you credit, you've saved countless lives over the years. You've stopped Gotham from tearing itself apart more times than most people know. But after more than a decade, what's changed? Criminals keep crawling out of the woodwork. Law-abiding citizens still lock their doors at night and pray they'll see morning."
He disagreed with Batman's no-kill philosophy. He could never be Batman, but he respected someone with principles who stuck to them, even when it would be easier not to.
Unlike himself, with his flexible moral framework.
"You have no right to judge those people. If you cross that line, then you're no different from..."
Batman stopped mid-sentence. His eyes had caught sight of what Mario pulled from his inventory, a police badge. Official GCPD issue, complete with the Ghost Rider's flaming skull photo and full credentials. Seeing the smug grin spreading across Mario's face, he wanted to throw a Batarang at that infuriatingly cocky expression.
"The U.S. Supreme Court rulings are very clear on this," Mario said. "If a suspect uses lethal weapons while committing a crime, police may reasonably employ lethal force to eliminate that threat."
He gestured toward the bar's demolished door. "You saw the situation. I merely looked inside to assess the scene, and they refused to comply with lawful orders. Then they opened fire with weapons of mass lethality, openly resisting a law enforcement officer. So I had no choice but to use proportional force to protect my own safety and the public welfare."
He pulled out a second badge, this one bearing his human face. "Commissioner Gordon personally approved my credentials. Everything's completely above board."
He pocketed both badges, then lifted his glass and tapped it against the untouched one sitting in front of Batman.
"Which means, technically speaking, I could arrest you right now for assault, destruction of property, vigilantism, and whatever else I feel like adding to the list. All perfectly legal."
Damn it.
Looking at Mario's expression, Batman finally understood what made this opponent different from everyone else he'd faced. This man was exceptionally skilled at positioning himself on the moral and legal high ground.
No matter how righteous Batman's actions were, officially, he was still a criminal.
"Gordon's transformation... you did that to him?"
Mario nodded and leaned back. "I'm just passing through this city. Fighting criminals is nothing more than a way to kill time while I wait for someone. You're just passing through too. If I were you, I'd be funneling resources into the GCPD and give them the ability to stand up to these monsters instead of facing down psychopaths with service pistols and prayers."
He looked Bruce up and down. "Your heart is full of darkness, you know that?"
He stood, dismissing the Ghost Rider transformation in a flash of blue flame. His normal human appearance returned. "I've got more rats to hunt in the shadows. As for cooperation, if you can stomach how I operate, we might have something to discuss."
He headed for the exit without waiting for a response. When Bruce was ready, he'd come looking.
---
Not long after leaving the bar, a figure appeared in Mario's path.
From a distance, that unmistakable shock of green hair was impossible to miss.
What is this, a convention? Batman and the Joker both making house calls?
The man's lips were blood-red but unscarred, his smile revealing a mouthful of metal teeth. His skin was pale, impossibly, corpse-pale. Mario was pretty sure even a three-day-old body wouldn't look that bloodless.
The Joker stood directly in his path, blocking the sidewalk.
"Waiting for me?"
"Yes. You're a very interesting person, Mr. Argento."
Mario nodded slightly. He'd always found the Joker fascinating from a distance. Though honestly, he preferred Harley Quinn.
"I'm curious about something. What exactly gave you the confidence to stand in front of me?"
He cocked his head, studying the green-haired maniac. "Laughing gas? Or are you that mentally unstable?"
"I came to deliver a message." The Joker's smile never wavered. "Stay away from Batman. He's my toy."
"Oh. You're jealous."
Before the Joker could respond, Mario's hand shot out and closed around his throat. One sharp twist, and the body went limp. Green gas immediately began hissing from the corpse's clothing.
Mario took a deep breath of it, analyzing the chemical composition with his enhanced senses.
"That's it?"
Given DC's typical bullshit, he wasn't taking chances. He pulled out a bucket of lava from his inventory and poured it across the pavement. The Joker's body hit the molten rock with a hiss, flesh and bone vaporizing instantly.
He looked up toward a distant rooftop. Another green-haired figure stood there, identical to the one he'd just killed.
The red dot on his mini-map didn't lie.
He raised an eyebrow. He'd known the Joker wouldn't go down that easily, but the clown prince had picked the wrong person to fuck with.
Blink.
He disappeared from the street and materialized on the rooftop beside the second Joker. He leaned in close.
"I don't know if you're the real Joker, or if there's an army of you running around. But either way..." He drew his nano saber and drove it through the Joker's sternum. "Hide-and-seek has officially begun."
---
[SOULS: 1247/10000]
Mario glanced at the counter on his Ghost Rider medallion and sighed. "Gotham City really lives up to its reputation..."
Dawn was breaking over Gotham's skyline. He disposed of the latest corpse in his portable lava bucket, full-service cremation on demand. He did this partly to avoid complications, partly to lighten the GCPD's workload. If they had to collect bodies every single day, they'd never get anything else done. Besides, he wasn't Batman. He didn't want criminals to fear him in the shadows. He wanted them stupid enough to come pick fights, saving him the trouble of hunting all over Gotham's sprawling urban maze.
Reminds me of vampire hunting back in New York.
He summoned his motorcycle. The engine's growl echoed off surrounding buildings as he launched into the air, landing on the street below and accelerating toward his destination.
The fifteen-minute ride through Gotham's pre-dawn streets was peaceful. No muggers, gang violence, or psychopaths. Just a few "moving crews" he spotted loading suspiciously expensive electronics into unmarked vans.
Those weren't his problem. One call to the precinct would handle them.
By the time he reached Blackgate, full daylight had arrived. This wasn't his first visit, the guards recognized the motorcycle before he'd even dismounted.
The guard in the gatehouse immediately hit the alarm. Sirens wailed throughout the prison complex. Every guard sprang into action, herding recreation-yard inmates back to their cells. Once the prison was secured, the guards retreated to their offices to wait out whatever was about to happen.
Mario stood in a surveillance blind spot near the main gate.
Several minutes later, a group emerged. About a dozen men, all carrying small duffel bags with their released personal effects. Prison guards escorted them to the outer gate, then stepped back inside. The released inmates wore matching expressions. They chatted and joked as they walked toward freedom.
"Roller, drinks on me later," a heavily tattooed man said. "I got a business opportunity I want to run by you."
His companion grinned and readily agreed, then frowned. "Hey, aren't releases usually at noon? Why they processing people at different times now?"
The tattooed man shrugged. "Who cares? We're out of this shithole."
"True that."
They stepped through the final gate and stopped. The pickup area was completely empty.
"The fuck?" A heavyset man frowned. "Where's my crew? They knew I was getting out today."
That's when Mario stepped out from the shadows, his soul chain rattling against his skeletal frame.
"They probably don't have time to pick you up anymore."
Seven newly freed inmates went from confused to terrified in the span of a heartbeat.
"OH SHIT!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"
Mario had appeared too recently for most long-term inmates to know about him. And the reason nobody came to collect them was simple, their former associates were either dead or too scared to show their faces.
Gordon had been very specific about which inmates to release early. Every single one had multiple murders under their belt.
Mario didn't waste time on speeches. He flicked his wrist, sending the soul chain whipping toward the heaviest target, the obese man who'd been complaining. The flaming chain wrapped around him. He yanked hard, and the man flew through the air screaming.
"AAAHHH!"
Mario stopped the human projectile with one foot to the chest. The impact drove all air from the man's lungs.
"Penance Stare."
Blue hellfire erupted across the man's body. Agonized screams tore from his throat as the flames consumed him.
Rape, murder, children.
This one's done.
He tossed the burning body aside. The flames wouldn't stop until the soul was completely consumed.
The soul chain lashed out again, wrapping around another target. "Since the law can't judge you anymore, you'll accept mine."
The remaining six reacted in different ways. Some collapsed in terror. Others ran. A few rushed back toward the prison gate, pounding on the reinforced steel.
"LET ME BACK IN! I GOT INFO TO SHARE! OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!"
But the guards inside remained impassive. They hadn't seen anything. That was their story.
The tattooed man finally understood. "THEY'RE WORKING TOGETHER! THE COPS WANT US DEAD!"
He sprinted away from Mario as fast as his legs would carry him. The soul chain caught his ankle mid-stride and yanked him backward. Another flying inmate, another terrified scream.
"Penance Stare."
Three souls burning simultaneously this time. But before Mario could grab the remaining prisoners... VRRRROOOOMMMM.
A massive fuel tanker truck came barreling toward him at full speed, engine roaring. Through the windshield, he clearly saw the driver.
Green hair.
"Of course you're not dead."
He blinked out, reappearing fifty meters away. The tanker didn't slow. It plowed straight through the remaining inmates.
Bodies exploded under multiple tons of metal. The pavement painted itself red in an instant, human remains scattered across twenty meters of road.
SCREEEECH.
The tanker's brakes screamed. White smoke poured from the tires as it skidded to a halt. The Joker hopped down from the cab.
"HAHAHAHAHA! THREE FOR ONE! New personal record!"
He straightened his suit jacket and started walking toward Mario.