As the Joker Venom surged toward him, Steve quickly raised the gas mask and strapped it to his face. But even though his reaction was fast, it wasn’t fast enough; he still breathed in a small amount.
"Ha... ha..."
This wasn’t so diluted version. It was pure, concentrated laughing gas, potent enough to kill an ordinary person with just a whiff.
But Steve wasn’t ordinary. He may not have strange powers like so other heroes, but his body had been pushed to the peak of human ability. With sheer strength and iron will, he fought off the gas’s effects and didn’t laugh.
Mostly because he didn’t dare to.
Once soone started laughing after breathing this in, they usually couldn’t stop. Sotis, they couldn’t even close their mouth again.
"Oh? So it’s not Bat. We have a new guest!"
While Steve was still resisting the effects of the gas, Joker appeared from the thick fog, smiling wide as ever. Pale skin. That twisted grin. He stood in the dense gas without a care. Only he could manage sothing like that.
"A... Alfred..."
Hearing that na, Joker blinked, visibly surprised. Then, with a soft, eerie chuckle, he tilted his head.
No one had called him Alfred since he beca the Joker. Maybe Steve was the only one who still would.
"You should catch your breath. I’ll be waiting for you in the arena."
With that, the clown casually walked away, leaving Steve alone to fight off the effects of the gas.
In the end, the amount he inhaled wasn’t much. With his exceptional willpower and peak physical strength, he managed to endure it. The influence of the gas gradually weakened, and he regained his ability to move.
Just as he was about to go after Joker, he realized the man hadn’t left him entirely alone. He’d called for one of his n to stay behind and wait.
"Captain Arica, huh? That’s a big na. But here, nas don’t an much. The boss is waiting. Co with ."
To the rest of the country, Steve Rogers was a symbol, a living legend. But here in Gotham, he was just another face in the crowd.
"Alright."
Led by the thug, Steve entered the base’s arena. When they arrived, a brutal, no-rules brawl was underway.
On one side of the ring was a towering man over two ters tall with a hulking fra, a specially enhanced enforcer from the Joker Gang. On the other side was a man in a torn, designer suit, being ruthlessly beaten with no chance to fight back.
"What do you think you’re doing?!" Steve stepped forward and shouted. He had co to find the Joker, not to stand by and watch cruelty.
"You feel sorry for him, Captain Arica?" Joker said calmly, unbothered by the accusation.
"The truth is, that man ca to us first. He sought out the Joker Gang on his own, used our power to eliminate his rival at work, and earned himself a chance to be transferred to the company’s headquarters. But once that happened, he suddenly had a change of heart. He figured that as long as he made it to Chicago, he could shake off a little gang from Gotham like us. He never paid the commission he owed. You really feel bad for a guy like that?"
Obviously, the Joker Gang was in the wrong. After all, the entire group operated outside the law, thriving on chaos and violence. But the man being beaten in the ring wasn’t exactly innocent either.
So when it ca down to choosing between two evils, what would Steve do?
That was the question the clown truly wanted answered.
"Both he and your gang are in the wrong. End this pointless violence. Stop what you’re doing right now!"
Steve made his decision faster than the Joker expected.
It was clear: he wasn’t soone who could be swayed or trapped by a few clever words. He had his own sense of justice and acted according to it.
But his words didn’t impress the clown. Or his gang.
Joker remained silent, only watching the one-sided beating below with a smile on his face. One of his gang mbers shrugged and spoke.
"Anyone can talk big. I give all my paycheck to my mom every week, and I still work for a gang. If you’re really that capable, why don’t you get down there and stop it yourself? Use your fists to back up all that talk."
It was just ant to be a taunt. The thug didn’t actually believe anyone could defeat Joker’s chemically enhanced fighters.
But to Steve, that was all the permission he needed.
He had co to Gotham with the intention of gathering intel and opening communication, to the point where he had almost forgotten that being a super soldier was his first and foremost identity.
If he couldn’t stand by and had the power to stop it, then there was no reason to hesitate.
As such, he jumped down, punched through the iron fencing around the arena, then grabbed the edges with both hands and tore open a large gap.
"Oh!!! Let’s go!!!"
Steve had expected his impulsive action to provoke the Joker Gang into attacking, but clearly, he still didn’t understand this group well enough.
Instead of reacting with fury at being challenged on their turf, the surrounding mbers cheered when they saw him jump into the ring.
’Do these people really not care that this man owes them money?’
Originally, Steve had assud the man was being beaten because the gang was angry about unpaid debts. But now, it seed that had just been an excuse; a reason for them to enjoy violence and bloodshed.
Who was bleeding didn’t matter. Whether it was the man in the suit, Joker’s mutant enforcer, or even Steve himself, they only cared about the show.
’A bunch of lunatics... and yet... terrifying.’
Everyone called the Joker a complete maniac. But after dealing with the Joker Gang firsthand, Steve realized sothing: Joker might actually be the most rational one among them.
People thought the Joker Gang was just a group of crazed outlaws, but behind their madness was a strange order no other criminal group had. An order built entirely around Joker and his twisted rules.
For the first ti, Steve began to understand why Gotham was the way it was.
And finally, Joker moved.
He looked down at Steve in the ring and said, "So, you plan to stand up for this man?"
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