Chapter 2: The Rude Batman

Roland was digesting the knowledge flooding into his mind when, almost unconsciously, he recited a line in the dragon tongue.

Then the domain unfolded. Roland issued his command to the wind within it, and the wind, as though enslaved by him, caught every sound and delivered it to him.

The not-so-large domain blanketed the church, and every last thread of noise entered his mind. The long-abandoned church, silent for so long, suddenly came alive.

"So this is the Wind Cutter, hiss..." Roland was left dizzy by the tide of sound crashing over him. He hurriedly withdrew the power and wiped the sweat from his brow. "It is pretty draining. Like going for a run."

After a moment to recover, he grew accustomed to the strange sensation the ability brought, and soon he began to distinguish the messages carried by the wind.

"This is the table, this is the chair..." With his eyes closed, Roland groped his way around the objects nearby by relying on the sounds returned by the Wind Cutter. Though his hearing was still far from replacing his sight, his memory let him make out the general layout. "This should be a statue of Jesus..."

Roland suddenly opened his eyes.

"...Where's the statue of Jesus?"

There were clear prying marks where the statue had hung before. It had plainly been carried away.

"It was that kid just now. No wonder my goodwill value shot up so much..." Roland's face darkened as he hurried outside in pursuit. "What kind of good person steals a church statue?"

He had already learned something of the local customs, but stealing from a church was a bit much, wasn't it?

The moment he stepped out, Roland heard a commotion coming from not far away. In a place this remote, that was anything but normal, and it immediately put him on guard.

Dragon Speech: Wind Cutter, domain unleashed!

The Wind Cutters danced through the air, carrying the surrounding sounds back to Roland's ears.

"In that direction lives a hatter."

"In that direction lives a March Hare."

"Visit whichever one you like; they're both mad."

"Ah, that won't do."

"Everyone here is mad. I'm mad, and you're mad too."

"What in the world is this nonsense? Are they rehearsing lines out here?" The voices Roland heard were all reciting dialogue, and he could not help but be astonished. "Which production has such good taste, rehearsing in this godforsaken place?"

Still, from the voice, one of them was clearly the little boy who had just finished eating at the church. He had not only failed to run, but had somehow even blended in with the cast. Thinking of that, Roland cracked his knuckles and headed toward the sound.

"You know, dogs bark when they're angry and wag their tails when they're happy. But I bark when I'm happy and wag my tail when I'm angry. So, I'm a madman." Jason, dressed in a furry suit that would have sent certain enthusiasts into ecstasy and wearing a strange hat, recited his lines.

"Brat, I've finally found you." Roland rubbed his fists together. "So you've even mixed in with the actors. Whose prop did you steal?"

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" A dwarf in a green suit sprang in front of Roland. He too wore a bizarre hat, held a script in his hands, and had several staff members behind him. He looked like the one in charge here.

"You're the director here, right? That kid stole my stuff and is pretending to be an actor here to get away with it," Roland explained.

"He isn't pretending to be an actor. He's the Cheshire Cat!" the dwarf shot back. His tone was odd, rising and falling as if he were reciting lines himself. "And your hair needs a trim."

"Him? Playing the Cheshire Cat?" Roland pointed at Jason, looking utterly stunned. "Are your casting standards too low? I'd do better than him myself."

"You say you're the Cheshire Cat? That's as unbelievable as a sewing machine kissing a toad."

"You don't believe me?" Roland rolled up his sleeves. "At the very least, I'm better than this kid, aren't I?"

"Then prove it to me." The dwarf's face was full of disbelief.

"I am the heavy cruiser Cheshire, of the Royal Navy! However, until I met dear you, I was only a ship that existed in imagination. So this body of mine belongs entirely to you, dear!"

"What the hell kind of Cheshire is that?"

"What’s wrong with th—" Roland had only just begun to speak when he heard sirens, and they seemed to be drawing near.

"The Red Queen's hounds, the boring playing cards..." The dwarf director's expression changed as well. Cursing under his breath, he barked orders at the crowd, and the staff and actors under him drew the guns they were carrying and took cover.

Roland swallowed hard. Slow on the uptake though he might be, he could now see that something was very wrong. Frowning, he placed himself protectively in front of the others.

Soon a police car came into view, only to be riddled with bullets in Roland's horrified gaze.

"Gotham really is..." Roland crouched in a corner, watching a group of outrageously dressed actors who looked as though they were about to perform in a school play trade fire with a number of armed police officers. For the first time, he felt as if he were dreaming.

But as time passed, the well-trained police still gained the upper hand. Seeing this, the dwarf climbed into his car and prepared to leave.

Several of his men, Jason included, followed after him, while the others kept struggling against the police. They had little fighting power, but their will to fight was astonishingly high.

"Got you!" From a shadowy corner, Roland quietly伸 out a foot and tripped Jason, then clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into the darkness.

"Mmmph, mmmph..." Jason struggled.

"Stay still." Roland chopped the back of his head with a knife-hand strike, knocking him out cold, then hoisted him over his shoulder and carried him away.

Not long after Roland left, on the neighboring block where the actors and police were exchanging fire, a shadow descended and knocked down the fleeing actors one by one.

"Madhatter." A cold voice sounded by the dwarf's ear. A broad black cape blocked the lights behind him completely, and a powerful arm lifted him off the ground. "I have questions for you."

After a thorough interrogation, Batman obtained the answer he wanted from the raving Madhatter, then handed him over to the police.

"Batman, we've found most of the people the Madhatter hypnotized." Commissioner Gordon said to Batman in a dim corner. "Only one boy is still missing."

Batman said nothing and slipped away silently. Before long, the detective found some unusual traces at the scene of the firefight.

"Hey, could you at least tell me before you leave?" Commissioner Gordon hurried after him, protesting such rude behavior. "Well? Did you find anything?"

"The one who took him was a clergyman." Batman picked something up from the ground. "The boy was ambushed here, then knocked out and carried off."

"That's bad." Commissioner Gordon was beside himself. If a clergyman took away a little boy, did one even need to ask what would happen next? This was practically an unannounced inspection of the workplace waiting to happen.

"There's an abandoned church nearby." Batman set off at once to search for Jason, leaving Commissioner Gordon standing there, speechless in the cold wind.

"...Could you not at least say something before you leave?" Commissioner Gordon muttered at the departing bat-shaped figure.