Chapter 592: The Arrival of the Mad Cat! (Two)
Batman, accompanied by several cats, followed Croc-Cat deeper into the sewers. Before long, they reached the end of the sewer, where they could hear some loud music and screams.
The gloomy atmosphere of resistance that Batman and his group had expected was nowhere to be found. Instead, they stumbled upon a wild party inside a massive cavern used to store rainwater in the sewer.
Batman immediately spotted the Green Cat standing at the highest point of the makeshift stage, along with a red and blue cat by his side.
It was hard to imagine that, in this moment, several cats who were originally human could discern gender differences from the appearance of other cats. However, there was no doubt that the Green Cat was male, while the red and blue cat was female.
"Oh, look who's here? Bat Cat! Are you here to join my party willingly? Have you finally abandoned your foolish plan to rule Gotham and come to play with your best friend?" Green Cat's face was a bit sharper than the other cats, and when he smiled, his mouth full of sharp teeth looked peculiar and frightening.
"He's not Bat Cat," Croc-Cat began to explain, but Green Cat leaped from the stage with lightning speed, bumped into Croc-Cat, and walked over to face Batman. He stared at Batman with his purple vertical pupils and said, "Interesting... interesting... your scents are different..."
"The Bat Cat living in the High-rise building has a nauseating bird poop scent, and you..." Green Cat circled Batman, sniffing his fur. After a few circles, he came to stand in front of Batman and said, "Another Bat Cat? Are you his clone? No, you're not quite the same..."
"But regardless, let's welcome the newcomer to our party, the eternal rival and good friend of Joker Cat, and an unprecedented second Bat Cat!"
At that moment, the cat musicians on the makeshift stage, dressed in various rock outfits, started playing music with a tremendous roar. It startled a few cats, but Green Cat burst into laughter, saying, "Sorry, I forgot that cats are sensitive to noise. Is this your weakness?"
"Joker..." Batman extended his paw and approached Green Cat. Joker Cat leaned closer to him, even rubbing his chin against Batman's, saying, "Correct, you're much more interesting than that Bat Cat. I'm a member of the freaks you despise, Joker Cat!""Hey, darling, what are you saying to him? I don't want you to rub his whole body with that bird poop smell!"
"You! Bat-crazy lunatic! Stay away from my darling!" The red and blue cat walked over, her graceful steps.
Suddenly, she rushed forward, waving her paws and attacking Batman's ears. Batman agilely rolled to evade the attack. The red and blue cat stayed in place, licking her paws, and stared at Batman with icy eyes, saying, "Get lost, you stinky bat. Don't disturb my party!"
"Why did you bring him here?" Joker Cat turned and approached Croc-Cat. Croc-Cat explained, "You said we needed more manpower recently, and I thought these outsiders might have something in common with you..."
"You mean them?" Joker Cat sneered and said, "This one, the Bat Cat clone... this one, the kid from the Big Apple City... and this one, just out of the red-light district? You reek of filth, and you, in blue? I hate blue!"...
"What can they do? Defeat Bat Cat? Bring peace to this City? Or prevent him from emitting the stench he brought from the Batcave during his next speech?... Stop kidding! Even the most rotten comics wouldn't draw this plot!"
"Is it related to the murder near the bank yesterday?" Batman suddenly looked at Joker Cat and asked.
"You actually care about that? Boring! Let's continue the party! Watch this City eventually crumble under the order created by that Bat Cat... Before that, I want to have more drinks, laugh a bit more, and treat this as a dream..."
The red and blue cat approached and rubbed against Joker Cat, saying, "Yes, dear, sleep now, right in my arms. After you wake up, you won't have so many worries..."
With that, the two cats jumped back onto the stage. Croc-Cat swung his tail and walked over, saying, "Sorry, I don't know what got into him. We were planning how to deal with Bat Cat just yesterday, and now he's like this. But then again, Joker Cat is the craziest among us. No one knows what's going on in his mind..."
"Besides him, who else is there?" Batman asked.
"There's me, and some other freak cats similar to me... But I see you're not very interested in us. Maybe you'll get along better with the cats in charge of technology. Let's go; I'll take you to the laboratory."
"You have a laboratory too?" Victor took a few steps and reached Croc-Cat's side. Croc-Cat nodded and said, "Of course, where do you think all those equipment and instruments you saw came from? We developed them ourselves."
As they continued walking deeper into the sewers, passing through a long tunnel, they arrived in a spacious underground area. This was a typical laboratory, with the floor renovated in metal, and the ceiling and walls reinforced. Various lab tables were arranged in the center of the room.
Beyond the frontmost lab table, Victor suddenly froze as he saw what looked like a pet carrier inside an experimental chamber. Inside, a frozen cat lay motionless. 𝘙�
Suddenly, a series of footsteps echoed from the side of the lab table. A well-equipped, gray-blue cat wearing a helmet approached. Upon seeing a group of strangers, he took a cautious step back. Croc-Cat stepped forward and reassured him, "Don't be nervous, Freeze Cat. They've come to join us, and I'm showing them around the laboratory."
In a moment, the rest of Batman's team turned their attention to Victor. Victor hesitated for a moment, then turned his head and noticed the small cryogenic chamber. Freeze Cat, the heavily armed gray-blue cat, quickly approached Victor and greeted him.
Victor took a step back and said, "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, Freeze Cat. Uh... you probably can't understand, but the cat inside the cryogenic chamber is his wife. He's a bit sensitive. Did you notice the weapons on his back? That's the cryo-gun he developed. Quite impressive, isn't it?"
Victor stood frozen in place, then suddenly, he focused his gaze on the cryogenic chamber. In a low voice, he said, "...Why is she in this condition? Very weak breath, almost no response in her eyes, she..."
Then, he shifted his gaze to Freeze Cat and noticed that his condition was far from normal. His helmet contained thick ice crystals, and his body, limbs, and tail were all encased in mechanical armor, with cold air seeping through the seams.
Victor was reminded of Thomas, who had been immersed in dense cryogenic material. Being an expert in the field, Victor immediately understood what was happening.
He signaled Batman, and Batman turned, perking up his ears, carefully listening to the enormous music that had been playing in the space earlier.
This was an absurd world tinged with strangeness, where it seemed like every Gotham resident could find their doppelgänger as cats. The only difference was that the doppelgängers here were all cats, making the whole situation even stranger.
"Could you find us a place to rest?" Constantine asked Croc-Cat. "We've been pursued by those machines for quite some time, and it's taken a toll on our energy."
"Perhaps tomorrow, we can participate in your plan, but only if we get a good rest."
Croc-Cat nodded and led them to the dormitory area. It turned out to be quite comfortable, with individual rooms.
In reality, it was like cages in a pet hospital. Each of them chose a room and entered, finding a spacious place to sleep. They lay down, each in their own room, and began to rest.
After Croc-Cat left, the entire sewer space plunged into darkness. Suddenly, several pairs of eyes lit up, and the sound of unlocking doors echoed with a "clink." A few seconds later, several cats gathered together, and Victor spoke in a low voice, "Why is this Freeze Cat similar to me..."
"That Joker Cat should also be real," Batman said. "Could Jack have infiltrated this dream? No, the Joker Cat and Jack are a bit different. JokerJack's way of speaking and tone are not like that..."
Constantine sat down, and his tail tip swayed slightly as he said, "In a dream, anything is possible. I suggest you don't regard this dream as an innocent one. Just as the consciousness space and dreams are intertwined, this may be a place that exists within the collective consciousness space of cats, the reality of another group of cats..."
"But how could they correspond one-to-one with us?" This was the most puzzling part for Victor, and he said, "It's not possible for a cat to have entered my laboratory and then dreamt about me and my wife, is it?"
Constantine shook his head calmly and said, "Regarding that, I have no clue either. But I think we can explore it a bit."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Are you referring to the environment here?" Batman asked.
"No, I'm referring to the source of this dream. I want to see to what extent this dream has reached."
"What do you plan to do?" They all turned to Constantine.
"I plan to... summon a demon."
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