Marvel: The Sole Player

Accidents always happen so suddenly. Who would have thought that a man as cunning as Batman could be so clumsy?

Poison Ivy was stunned for a moment, and joy immediately blossomed on her face. "It seems even the heavens are on our side."

She waved her hand, and the vines wrapped around Darian immediately tightened, dragging him before her. Her eyes were full of the playfulness of someone who held victory in her grasp.

"Batman, you’ve finally fallen into my hands."

Darian’s expression remained unchanged, his tone firm: "Evil can never defeat justice."

Poison Ivy let out a cold snort. "Still acting tough even at this stage? I’d like to see how long your heart of justice can hold out!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she cupped Darian’s head and leaned in close.

Darian forcefully turned his face away, resisting extremely fiercely.

Poison Ivy licked her lips, her smile deepening. "The more you resist, the more excited I get."

She manipulated the vines to hold Darian’s head perfectly still and bit right into him.

Poison Ivy was a plant-person; she didn’t have bad breath. Instead, she carried a light floral fragrance.

But who was Darian?

A gentleman of unwavering virtue, he kept his mouth tightly shut, guarding his defenses strictly. He was prepared to die to protect his purity, leaving Poison Ivy able only to attack the outskirts.

Three seconds later, Poison Ivy let go, took a half-step back, and announced haughtily to Darian, "From now on, you are my slave. All my orders are imperial decrees, understood?"

"Pah, in your dreams!"

Darian spat fiercely, his gaze as sharp as ever, showing not the slightest sign of wavering.

"Eh?"

A look of surprise appeared on Poison Ivy’s face, which then turned into admiration. "As expected of Batman, your willpower is indeed strong. It seems once isn’t enough to break through your defenses."

"But well, since once didn’t work, we’ll do it twice. How long can you hold out?"

Ignoring Darian’s fierce resistance, she bit down again.

For a stronger effect, she deliberately prolonged it this time, continuing for a full ten-plus seconds before pulling away.

Poison Ivy wiped her lips, her tone full of determination. "Batman, become my slave and protect the plants with me."

Darian shook his head decisively. "No, I am an animal rights activist. I only eat vegetables."

Poison Ivy: "..."

What she hated most were animal rights activists—a bunch of people who didn’t eat meat and spent all day staring at green belts looking for a bite.

Are the lives of plants not lives too?

Without another word, Poison Ivy bit toward Darian again.

"Give up your resistance."

"No... impossible. I am irreconcilable with evil."

Darian’s voice began to falter, clearly no longer as firm as it was at the start.

Poison Ivy felt reassured; she could tell her ability was finally taking effect.

She believed that with just a little more effort, she could completely conquer his defenses.

"Still acting tough?"

Pressing her advantage, she stepped forward and cupped Darian’s face again. "Then I’ll kiss you until you’re obedient!"

Another deep kiss landed.

Half a minute later, Poison Ivy let go, slightly out of breath. "Are you obedient now?"

Darian’s eyes were stubborn. "My will is unshakable."

Mwah~!

"How about this time?"

"I... I will not yield..."

Then continue!

At this moment, Poison Ivy seemed to be locked in a contest with Darian. Like a woodpecker, she held his face and pecked at him relentlessly.

As the number of times increased, Darian’s head hung lower and lower, and his shoulders slumped. It looked as though his will had been almost entirely worn away.

Yet, that last bit of clarity remained fixed in his eyes like an unbreakable health bar, refusing to dissipate no matter what.

This instead completely triggered Poison Ivy’s competitive spirit.

She had already forgotten that she was female and preferred females. The more she bit, the more invested she became, and the longer she lasted, determined to squeeze every last bit of stock out of Darian.

Uh, that refers to his will.

After an unknown amount of time, Darian’s eyes gradually became vacant, and his pupils lost focus.

Poison Ivy felt the time had come. Ignoring her slightly swollen lips, she said to Darian, "You are my loyal slave. From now on, obey my commands."

Darian spoke slowly: "I... I..."

Poison Ivy was full of expectation. "That’s right, say you are my slave."

"I am..."

"Yes, say it!"

"I am Batman!"

Darian entered a cheat code, and the daze in his eyes instantly vanished.

At the same time, his willpower gauge, which had been nearly empty, instantly refilled. His eyes became even firmer than they were at the beginning.

Poison Ivy: "..."

Whether you’re cheating or not, you know it in your heart!

Poison Ivy was feeling a bit desperate.

This feeling was like spending hours painstakingly grinding a boss down to its last drop of health, only for the boss to suddenly go berserk, its health and status instantly maxing out, rendering all your efforts moot.

"I don’t believe this!"

Poison Ivy gritted her teeth, suddenly grabbed Darian’s head, and bit down hard.

This time she didn’t pull away but maintained a continuous output, intending to empty Darian’s willpower gauge in one go, giving him no chance to enter a cheat code.

Under Poison Ivy’s relentless assault, the defense Darian had been struggling to maintain was also breached. Poison Ivy took the opportunity to drive straight in, stirring things up within his defenses, frantically disrupting Darian’s ton... will.

Darian was powerless to resist and could only endure passively. Tears of humiliation involuntarily slid from the corners of his eyes.

The bitterness and pain were something only he understood.

Harley stood to the side, watching the pair biting each other with abandon. She suddenly felt like a third wheel, wanting to say something but not wanting to interrupt, just like an impotent husband.

The good news was that she was now an even better match for Joker and Poison Ivy, because all three of them shared the same color scheme.

The bad news was that the same person had cuckolded her.

After an unknown amount of time, Poison Ivy finally had to let go of Darian due to a lack of oxygen, panting heavily.

She looked at the man before her who still retained a final shred of reason and cursed exasperatedly, "Damn it, why hasn’t it succeeded yet?"

Harley couldn’t help but speak up: "Even saliva transmission doesn’t work?"

Poison Ivy shook her head and said while panting, "Batman’s willpower is too strong. Even saliva transmission is difficult to control him. Unless there’s a more efficient transmission route."

Harley tilted her head. "Airborne transmission was tried, saliva transmission was tried, and neither worked. How else can it be transmitted?"

At that moment, a groggy Darian suddenly spoke: "Actually, there’s an even more effective transmission route—transmission through vigorous exercise."

A transmission route through vigorous exercise?

As two native-born Americans with naturally open minds, Harley and Poison Ivy thought of that answer almost simultaneously, and their expressions became subtle at the same time.

It was indeed a way; many viruses were transmitted like that.

For example, AIDS, syphilis, warts, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes—you have to take care of yourself, don’t go to bars often, just find a job, seriously.

By the same token, Poison Ivy’s toxins could play a greater role through this method.

"Wait a minute!"

Poison Ivy suddenly snapped back to her senses and stared at Darian in disbelief. "How are you fine?"

With Darian’s energetic appearance, there wasn’t a trace of the difficult resistance from just now.

"Uh..."

Darian realized he had been too hasty; his mouth had run ahead of his brain, and he had accidentally exposed himself.

Since he couldn’t keep up the act, he simply stopped pretending.

"Because I’m Batman! Your little tricks don’t work on me at all!"

Darian had long seen Poison Ivy’s abilities in comic books. Before he made his move, he had put on the Dummy Ring in advance. All mental control targeted at the brain was immune to him.

As for why he was still so sharp while wearing the Dummy Ring, one could only say the ’big head’ didn’t affect the thinking of the ’little head’.

Poison Ivy said blankly, "But you clearly were affected just now, and you kissed me so..."

...

Darian interrupted her righteously: "I was giving you a chance to turn over a new leaf. For the sake of justice, I was willing to feed the demon with my own body, sacrificing myself to awaken a person with a conscience. Who knew you would be so obstinate? It was a complete waste of my saliva. I am very disappointed in you."

He had indeed wasted a lot of saliva, and Poison Ivy hadn’t wasted any less.

At this point, how could Poison Ivy not understand that she had been played and that someone had taken advantage of her for so long for nothing?

Her green face turned red with anger, and she cursed through gritted teeth, "I never thought you’d be this kind of Batman. You pervert!"

Darian didn’t deign to explain.

As Batman, he acted only to have a clear conscience; justice lies in the hearts of the people.

Even if Batman had to bear a few more insults for it, what did it matter?

Bang!

Darian suddenly exerted force, and the vines trapping him snapped and burst.

At the same time, he threw out several Batarangs imbued with fire magic. The surrounding plants instantly caught fire, and the tongues of flame spread in all directions at extreme speed.

Without his restraints, Darian moved and charged straight for Poison Ivy.

Because the distance was so short, Poison Ivy had no room to react and was punched into unconsciousness by Darian in an instant.

Just then, Darian heard an extremely faint sound behind him.

He turned his head and saw Harley holding a baseball bat, creeping up behind him on tiptoe without a sound. Her hands were raised high, about to swing down with all her might.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

Harley’s movement froze mid-air, her arms holding the baseball bat stuck halfway. The smile on her face instantly switched to a bright, harmless look.

"Batman, do you think this baseball bat of mine looks good?"

"Not as good as my fist."

Darian shattered the baseball bat with a punch, the remaining force hitting Harley’s face and sending her into an infant-like sleep on the spot.

Next, he used a steel cable to tie Poison Ivy and Harley, that pair of ill-fated lovers, face-to-face.

Of course, he didn’t forget Mr. Freeze and Firefly over there. Firefly was also tied up securely.

Only when it came to Mr. Freeze did a slight accident occur...

Mr. Freeze had a special constitution and had to stay in a low-temperature environment to survive. Darian’s punch earlier had smashed his cryogenic life-support device, causing him to suffer severe hypothermia. His health began to drop rapidly, and it looked like he wasn’t going to make it.

But this wasn’t a difficult problem for Darian.

He crouched down, grabbed the collar of the weak Mr. Freeze, and delivered a few crisp, efficient slaps.

Mr. Freeze’s head swung from side to side from the slaps, yet every spot Darian slapped instantly emitted a burst of cold air.

[Equipment: freeze ring (Attacks can add a certain ice effect)]

After a few ice palms, instead of pain appearing on Mr. Freeze’s face, he showed a look of pleasure.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think he had some special fetish.

Darian pulled out the freeze gun he had confiscated from the other man and gave Mr. Freeze a burst of fire.

Amidst the surging cold air, Mr. Freeze was frozen into a human popsicle, crystal clear, his expression fixed in that state of mysterious pleasure.

[Objective: Have Batman arrest the fugitive supervillains (5/7)]

The mission progress bar jumped past the halfway mark, with two fugitive targets remaining.

One of them was Batman’s old rival, Joker.

Darian didn’t stay long. After sending the coordinates to the Gotham City Police Department, he immediately headed toward the next target area according to the mission guide.

Over Gotham Bay at night, a salty, fishy sea breeze blew.

Not far from the coast, there was an unfinished building.

Darian landed on top of a crane opposite the building and checked the mini-map. He found the building densely packed with red dots, clearly a trap prepared in advance, waiting for his arrival.

Although the lighting in the building was dim, it didn’t affect Darian’s vision.

He could clearly see that on every floor of the building, there were armed personnel wearing Joker masks walking back and forth. Some floors even had simple fortifications set up.

It was obvious the entire building was filled with members of the Joker Gang, at least several dozen of them.

"Let us hunt those who have fallen into darkness."

Darian’s figure gradually merged into the dark shadows, his low voice dissipating into the night.

Meanwhile, inside the unfinished building, Joker Gang members were patrolling according to orders.

The building had twenty floors in total. The main structure was finished, but the inner and outer walls weren’t completed yet, with exposed rebar and scaffolding everywhere.

A draft blew in from the empty window frames, making the plastic sheeting on the ground rattle.

A Joker Gang member had just rounded a concrete pillar when a black tentacle suddenly shot out from the shadows, covering his mouth.

He didn’t even have time to make a sound before he was dragged into the shadows of the corner, his gun clattering to the floor.

Nearby Joker Gang members heard the noise and immediately came over to check, only to see the gun lying on the ground.

He looked around but didn’t see anyone else.

"Strange, where’s the guy?"

This Joker Gang member felt a hint of something wrong and suddenly looked up at the ceiling.

He saw a giant bat hidden in the corner, two reflective eyes staring fixedly at him, its mouth slowly splitting into a grin.

"Hello there."

"Aaaah—!"

Soon, other Joker Gang members noticed something was wrong.

A Joker Gang Captain turned on the radio on his shoulder and said in the channel, "I feel like our numbers are getting smaller."

Another member agreed: "I think so too. I haven’t seen Jack at all. It’s like he disappeared. Do you think it’s possible..."

Before he could finish, his voice suddenly vanished.

The Joker Gang Captain said in surprise, "Possible what? Just say it."

A Joker Gang member suddenly cried out, "I saw it! Raymond suddenly disappeared right in front of me! There’s something—"

Another Joker Gang member’s voice came through: "Shit, Raymond and Duffy seem to have been dragged away by a black shadow! Come save—"

"Ghost! There’s a ghost here! Help—"

The voices of several Joker Gang members suddenly cut off.

At that moment, the Joker Gang members left in the channel felt a chill run down their spines.

Is this a damn horror movie!?

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