"Where am I?"

A few minutes later, Dick Grayson woke up groggily and opened his eyes. He then looked around cautiously, as befitting a retired Robin, and saw that he was thousands of meters above ground level. He instinctively shrank his neck when he saw the almost burning Wayne Tower, especially the burning bat symbol, which made Nightwing, with a bat-shaped mask that only covered his eyes, show an expression of anger.

"Why are you so angry when it's Wayne Tower that's on fire and not the Batcave?"

Mason, who was driving the flying motorcycle, said in a low voice, causing Grayson to snap back to reality. He chuckled and said, "Because Bruce Wayne is Batman's friend, they have always..."

"Because Bruce Wayne is Batman!"

Mason yawned and casually revealed the truth, shocking Grayson almost to the point of jumping out of the car. Then he heard the malicious young man say slowly, "I personally picked him up from the trash can the day before yesterday. Do you want to know what happened to Batman? It's simple, he was attacked. Although the cause and effect are not very clear, I can guess that it was a targeted action against him, and everything you see now is the aftermath of that action. The League of Assassins is really afraid of him, so they only dared to take such a large-scale action after confirming that Batman would not interfere."

"So that's how it is?"

Nightwing calmed down and said, "Then everything makes sense. Where are you going now? We should go to Gordon's house first to contact Barbara and gather the others. This situation has already exceeded the limits of solo fighting."

"The problem is here, Grayson. We can't go find Barbara."

Mason, driving the flying motorcycle, turned a few circles in the air and flew towards the Iceberg Lounge. He whispered to Nightwing, "I thought you would be more perceptive. When you heard that Batman was attacked, you should have guessed the second layer of meaning I wanted to express... There is a traitor among you!"

"That's impossible!"

Nightwing immediately refuted, "The Bat Family has no traitors! We have no secrets! We will always..."

His voice gradually lowered.

Obviously, reason was prevailing.

Mason glanced at him and had no intention of revealing his dark speculation. Instead, he accelerated and flew over the congested streets below.

On a flyover near the light rail below the two riding motorcycles, two groups of people were shooting at each other from both ends of the street. Several rolling vehicles were on fire, and there were crowds of screaming people seeking refuge everywhere.

Even in Gotham, known for its "simple folk," the citizens were having a hard time maintaining their composure in the face of such explosive situations.

What's more, a group of prisoners riding motorcycles were running back and forth on the streets, shouting and firing at the crowd of refugees. These guys were still wearing prison uniforms and holding weapons that they didn't know where they got them from, and they were freely shooting at the crowd of refugees.

This chaos was not only happening in front of Mason's eyes. Looking around, there were similar fires rising all over Gotham, as well as the piercing sound of gunshots across the night sky.

"I want to confess something to you, Grayson."

As they approached the Iceberg Lounge, Mason said softly, "In the past, I did some 'bad things,' but now it seems to be a fortunate mistake. It is impossible for you to do what you want to do in Gotham without heavy equipment, even if you are a legitimate superhero. Considering that the Batcave may have been taken over, and I trust your skills, so I want to get some additional equipment for you. When you are ready, we will go find Batman. But please don't ask me where I got them from, OK?"

"Okay."

Nightwing, who was pondering a terrifying question, nodded.

Soon, the flying motorcycle approached Glacier Avenue, but the scene that came into Mason's view furrowed his brow.

The rooftop of the Iceberg Lounge was set on fire.

A large group of bastards occupied the entrance of the bar, patrolling with guns. After the explosion on the third floor, the row of spacious floor-to-ceiling windows was almost completely shattered.

Mason took out his phone and dialed a number, but no one answered.

Did something happen to Kite Man?

That was Mason's first thought.

Those who dared to touch my people must have eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard!

That was his second thought as the captain of the K Squad.

"It's time to buckle up!"

Mason threw the stealth suit to Nightwing and said coldly. Before Grayson could react, the flying motorcycle suddenly accelerated and charged into the third floor covered in broken glass.

The few low-level thugs who were still smoking by the broken window hadn't reacted yet when they were knocked out by the motorcycle coming at them head-on.

In the screeching sound of the brakes, the blue motorcycle made an emergency stop on the luxurious marble floor, and Mason, wearing a full gray battle suit, jumped off the bike.

Grayson wanted to follow, but was stopped.

With a light click, Mason pulled out the blast shotgun with an underbarrel grenade launcher.

Several flying engineering bombs were also released to form a swarm, flying silently into the hall under Mason's control.

He moved his neck a bit and said to Grayson, "Go to the office on the top floor and keep an eye on whatever dog is there! I'll be right there. Don't follow me, Grayson. What's going to happen next may not be in line with the Bat Family's code of conduct."

"Boom!"

The first explosion in the enclosed space occurred, and in the surging flames, a group of thugs cried and screamed.

Mason stepped on the broken glass shards and walked forward, taking out a bottle of petrification potion from his chest ammo belt. He threw it towards the ceiling in front of him, and when the enemies rushed out, he exploded the bottle, petrifying the dozen or so people in front of him.

Then, several deer bullets were shot, shattering the stone statues in their original places.

This brutal attack quickly reached its climax with one engineering bomb after another being detonated.

Nightwing twitched his eyes as he watched Mason suddenly become violent, but he didn't try to stop him because the person in front of him was not a member of the Bat Family. He didn't have to abide by Batman's no-killing theory.

Before leaving the office filled with flying bullets and echoing cries on the third floor, Nightwing, wearing the stealth suit, took a last look. He quickly rushed to the top floor through the stairwell.

"Falcone family?"

Mason squatted on the ground and looked at the thug he had just killed.

There was a bloody hat left by the opponent's hand, which was an obvious symbol of the mafia family, and only these "mafia aristocrats" would care about these meaningless decorations.

They probably wanted to improve their taste?

After figuring out who the enemy was, Mason's mood relaxed a bit.

Although Kite Man was at a disadvantage, he was still a member who had experienced two world explorations. He had killed dragons and zombies and had a great time with the legendary pirate. He wouldn't be killed by these ordinary thugs.

He planned to go upstairs to see who was commanding this operation to take over the bar, but the noise and explosions on the third floor quickly attracted the thugs below and above to come to support.

A few seconds later, as they rushed into the smoke-filled hall, the pre-arranged engineering bombs were detonated in unison.

The terrifying noise shook the entire building.

Gunshots echoed in the smoke and scorching air, and the gang members who didn't die in the explosion were shot.

Conservatively estimating, after tonight, the Falcone family would have to recruit a large number of people from the gang union.

"Beep"

A few minutes later, the golden elevator opened on the top floor.

Mason walked out of the elevator with a gun in hand, and in front of him were a group of fallen gang members.

At a glance, it was Nightwing's work.

Behind him, sitting in a chair, was a middle-aged man in a coma. He had a rose inserted in his chest, which was interrupted by Nightwing, breaking several ribs.

This guy looked like the leader.

"Maroni, the 'General' of the Falcone family."

As Mason approached, Nightwing turned around and said to him, "When I slaughtered those thugs, I asked him. He said Falcone had been in contact with the League of Assassins for a long time, and after Penguin's death, the mafia became the first choice for the League of Assassins. The League of Assassins promised to hand over control of Gotham to Falcone after tonight. But I suspect that the mafia boss has gone crazy. Who would want to rule a ruined city?"

"Even if we hand Maroni over to Two-Face, we won't get any help, right?"

Facing Mason's question, Nightwing nodded.

"Bang"

A decisive bullet flew out of the barrel.

It penetrated Maroni's temple, causing his entire head to explode, splattering blood everywhere, making the chair that was once decently placed extremely disgusting.

"There is a secret compartment by the wall, open it."

Mason said as he changed the curse bullets on his double-barreled pistol to gold ones. He said to the hesitating Nightwing before he could speak, "Unauthorized intruders in my home deserve this fate! You know, Grayson, I'm usually quite mild, but I have my limits. Gotham is also your home. It's where you were born and raised, and you have been working to make it better by following Batman for more than ten years. Now, there are a group of thugs who want to destroy your home. I'm curious how you will handle it?"

Mason opened a drawer and inserted various potions, engineering bombs, and accessories stored inside into his suitcase. At the same time, he took out several modified engineering bombs from his suitcase and said in a low voice, "You should continue to be in a daze here, or change into your titanium alloy concept Batman suit and go with me to meet Batman. I have some Batman combat accessories here for you to choose from. Pack up in five minutes, and I'll be waiting for you in the underground garage."

At this point, Mason emphasized, "To avoid you being surprised again, I have to tell you in advance that there is an unpainted prototype Batmobile parked there... Don't ask me where I got it from! Otherwise, I'll petrify you and throw you down here! And this!"

Mason took out four golden Batarangs that could be used as combat knives from his suitcase and handed them to Nightwing with great care.

He said, "These cursed metal weapons can quickly weaken enemies who are cut by them. I'll lend them to you. Remember! Don't let your blood touch them! Otherwise, when you are neither human nor ghost in the second half of your life, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Thanks."

Nightwing didn't refuse these "magical weapons." He watched as Mason turned and left, and said softly, "Although your style of doing things is far from ours, I have to admit that having someone like you as a helper in the current situation is reassuring. You didn't have to go this far for the Bat Family."

"Don't be silly, this is not for the Bat Family."

To read the uncut version, go to [pawread.com].

Mason walked out of the office full of corpses without looking back. He said, "I just hate those idiots who enter my new life without permission and show their malice without any disguise... Besides, don't forget, Grayson, I am also a local in Gotham. This city, which is rotten to the core, is undoubtedly a cesspool! But it's our cesspool. If we want to ruin it, we have to do it ourselves. No one else has the right to interfere."

Five minutes later, amid the low roar, an unpainted desert camouflage-style Batmobile rushed out of the underground garage of the Iceberg Lounge.

This land monster-like vehicle forcefully rammed into several cars left behind by the gang, and there were many positions on its shell that hadn't even been equipped with composite reactive armor and various combat modules.

Mainly because Mason had only obtained it for a short time and had too many things to do, he didn't even have time to make more modifications. He had just removed the positioning device hidden inside.

But its power system was intact.

This meant that Mason and Nightwing could cross the entire city in less than half an hour.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Mason kept observing Nightwing.

Even though the latter had already put on the very cool and mechanical titanium alloy concept Batman suit, the half of his face exposed under the battle helmet still showed a trace of unerasable worry.

During the process of driving the Batmobile like a land monster, crashing through the roadblocks on the chaotic and burning streets and dealing with the crazy troublemakers, Mason suddenly said to Nightwing, who had remained silent, "Are you worried about Barbara Gordon?"

"I... Well, I am indeed worried about my girlfriend."

Nightwing didn't try to act tough anymore, he said, "Look around, Mason. If your girlfriend was also in this city, wouldn't you be worried? Gordon's police station was one of the first places to be breached, and he has disappeared."

"I don't have a girlfriend, not even a female friend, so I'm sorry, I can't understand your feelings."

Mason shrugged and said, "But seeing you so absent-minded, it's a bit too difficult for you to do anything else. So the plan has changed! You go pick up Barbara Gordon, and I will send the meeting point to the independent system of the Batmobile through a secure communication. Don't use the Bat Network anymore. That thing is probably completely controlled by the League of Assassins now."

Mason reached out and placed his hand on Grayson's shoulder, saying in a deep voice, "You must bring Barbara Gordon back safely, understand?"

"What about you?"

Nightwing, still somewhat moved by the pure-hearted Mason, said softly, "Without the Batmobile, how can you cross the city? Look at this place, it's like doomsday."

"No, this place is far worse than doomsday, Grayson. Compared to the real doomsday, Gotham in its current state is as happy as a crazy amusement park. Look at that intersection ahead, let me off there. I have a flying motorcycle that is definitely faster than you. In fact, you have been dragging me down all the way. Have some self-awareness, Grayson. Lastly, I remind you, Barbara Gordon is really important. You must bring her back safely! Otherwise, you will regret it for the rest of your life."