In the not-too-distant future, a girl riding a horse against traffic in the city would become a topic of discussion on the internet.

But for now, the girl herself was only focused on getting to Bane.

The Bane she sought had once caused great chaos in Gotham City. Oracle had briefed Vivi on his abilities: a master of combat and tactics, whose body was enhanced by some kind of venom that made him immensely powerful. Even more frightening was that he could inject more of the venom to go into a berserk state, further amplifying his combat prowess. He carried the venom canisters on his back, giving him control over when and how much to inject.

“However, after Batman locked him up in Arkham, that venom was also confiscated,” Oracle had explained. “It’s unlikely Bane would find it so quickly on his own. I suspect someone’s behind tonight’s chaos.”

“What about Robin?”

“He lured Bane into the warehouse,” Oracle replied, her calm voice hiding a simmering anger. “These people slaughtered the guards at Arkham as they fled, then took control of the facility and trapped Batman underground. Both the GCPD and I have been trying to break in and rescue him, but Bane is blocking the entrance—he’s the gatekeeper.”

Was that why Robin was risking everything to lure Bane away? To give Batman a chance, Robin had made himself the bait. But Bane wasn’t a fool. Before Robin could trap him, Bane caught on, and now both of them were trapped together.

Along the way, police set up checkpoints to stop civilians from entering Arkham Island and keep the prisoners contained. If the situation spiralled out of control, Vivi would eventually have to give the order to blow up the bridge connecting to Arkham Island.

Using her [Master of Slacking Off] title,’ she casually rode her horse past the police’s surveillance zone and reached the combat zone.

She spotted Gotham City Police Commissioner Gordon and Winston on the scene, a rare collaboration between the GCPD and SWAT. However, all they could do was command their men to capture fleeing prisoners and try to infiltrate Arkham, which had been taken over by the inmates. As for the fight between Robin and Bane, they had carved out their own battlefield.

“Vivi?” Tim, who hadn’t spoken much earlier, breathed heavily through the comms. “Are you here?”

“Yeah.” Vivi hadn’t revealed herself. “I should have handed you the hammer earlier.”

But she hadn’t anticipated that someone would lock themselves in with the enemy—without explosives or the ability to respawn, unlike her.

She took out the hammer, twirled it in her hand, and tugged on the reins, preparing for a charge—

But Tim interrupted, coughing, “Wait…”

Huh?

The tremors from their battle had exposed much of the wall’s framework, but an invisible barrier kept the fight and its destruction contained within.

Vivi changed direction and slipped into the midst of the highly alert SWAT team, who had their guns trained on both fighters. She could clearly see what was happening inside—

Bane, over two meters tall, had Robin pinned against the wall by his throat. The boy’s mask was shattered, and blood trickled from his forehead down to his chin, then dripped onto his chest.

There was no light in the warehouse, but through a special player’s view, Vivi could see the shattered rubble and the bloodstains on the wall.

Robin’s cape was torn, his grappling hook gun lay discarded to the side, and the hook itself was tangled mid-air, forming a large, mocking knot.

He gritted his teeth, panting heavily, as Bane’s voice came through the comms, “I will break the little bird’s wings right here. I won’t break your back—that blow I’ll save for Batman.”

“Hah… hah…” Robin’s voice was broken and uneven, “Then I’m afraid you… won’t get the chance…”

He gasped as Bane tightened his grip.

“Vivi…” Oracle’s voice urged her.

“No, Vivi!” That was Robin speaking.

Her horse hesitated, just like its rider. Vivi wasn’t sure whether she should shatter that invisible wall.

But in the next second, Tim kicked Bane away, though most of his strength was spent, only managing to push the man back two steps.

Tim fired the grappling hook again, his other arm still functional. The hook wrapped around the mid-air knot, and his body was pulled upward. To Bane, it looked like the boy was merely buying himself a few extra seconds to catch his breath.

Compared to the old Batman, the young bird was still too inexperienced. Bane hadn’t even injected any venom into himself for this fight.

It was the wall that was causing him more trouble than Robin.

He wasn’t in a hurry to chase after him.

—And that decision cost him his opportunity.

Tim grabbed the knot formed by his left-hand grappling hook—the warehouse was vast, with no other wall to separate him from Bane. Then, a glint of metal flashed in the boy’s palm.

He drove a nail into the centre of the knot.

Then, he fell awkwardly to the ground, rolling twice.

Bane froze, suddenly realizing something, and lunged toward the boy—

He crashed into an invisible, tilted wall.

Upon closer inspection, this wall was formed by the “fork” created by the grappling hook.

Tim pushed himself up off the ground, “Vivi, where are you? I’ve got it.”

“I’m watching you,” the girl’s voice was filled with surprise, “How did you do that?”

Tim smiled slightly, wiping the blood off his chin, and walked toward the warehouse door, back to Bane. “You can break this wall in front of me… he won’t be able to get out.”

Vivi revealed herself, ignoring the startled gasps from the special forces, and broke through the wall as Tim had instructed.

Tim called the Batwing, and the two of them boarded the aircraft—he needed to tend to his wounds first.

[Bane has been trapped in the warehouse by Robin. Without another hammer, he can’t escape. You’ve trapped Bane.]

[You and Robin have defeated Boss 2: Bane.]

[You’ve received a reward: Venom-Infused Vines.]

[Your vines have undergone an upgrade. They can grow thicker and stronger, lasting for 5 seconds before returning to normal. However, using the venom requires a 30-second cooldown. If you force their use during this cooldown, the vines will not regenerate.]

It was all Robin’s doing, but Vivi, who just watched him take the hits, still received the reward.

“Just got the idea from Black Mask,” Tim winced as he treated the wound on his side, talking as he worked. “After seeing six nails create a space, I thought maybe that space could be picked up by an aircraft and flown away. I started wondering… ow, hurts a bit… wondering how exactly the nails worked.”

“It’s like,” he smiled, “explaining magic through science.”

“Once I got your nails, I had a chance to experiment. You said there had to be a wall or some surface as a carrier. I found that it wasn’t just about having a wall, but rather, something of the same material that could define the cut plane’s size. Then, using the nail, I could make that plane indestructible.”

Vivi nodded; he was right. Even if the wall was destroyed, the plane outlined by the nail remained intact and unbreakable.

“So I figured,” Tim continued, “two intersecting lines could define a finite space.”

That’s how he used the grappling gun’s two ropes to define a plane, creating a new surface within the already enclosed space, trapping Bane inside.

This surprised Vivi immensely.

She hadn’t expected an NPC to defeat a boss without her intervention, even coming up with new ways to use items. It seemed she truly had mastered the art of slacking off. Then again, with NPCs as intelligent as they were, Gotham had always been under their protection before she arrived.

“Bane’s really tough to deal with,” Tim added, noticing Vivi’s gaze lingering on his wound. “It was thanks to the nail that we reduced his destructive power and dealt with him faster than usual.”

But if Batman had been here, with the nail in hand, he’d probably have done an even better job… Tim thought.

He snapped out of his thoughts to find a hammer in front of him.

“I forgot to give you this,” Vivi sighed, “I should’ve handed it to you.”

With Tim’s intelligence, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt so badly if he’d had it. There would’ve been more options to manoeuvre.

“Hmm…” Tim stared at the hammer, perhaps thinking of their earlier conversation about Mr. C. This time, he asked directly, “Won’t Mr. C be upset?”

Vivi couldn’t help but tease, “How do you all see him anyway?” Was Mr. C really that strict, like a wicked stepmother from a fairy tale, with Vivi as the Cinderella under his command?

“I’ve got more,” she said, referring to the in-game currency shop where items like this could be bought, “I can give you one, no problem.”

With that, Tim accepted it, but his sharp eyes noticed a hint of green peeking out from under Vivi’s scarf. “Wait! What’s that?”

Vines emerged, greeting him, and Vivi explained, “You could say I absorbed some of Poison Ivy’s power after defeating her, but I can’t use it for long.”

The vines wiggled as if in response to her words.

Tim sighed. “Oracle, have you located the Joker yet?”

“Not yet, I’m still searching,” Oracle replied, “I’m also trying to contact Batman, but he hasn’t responded.”

Tim had nearly finished treating his wound. After donning his new gear, he frowned, “Bane hinted that Batman is trapped in the lowest level of Arkham. I think we should go check it out.”

The Batwing hovered above Arkham, and through the window, Vivi saw the fiery destruction below. Some of the buildings had exposed steel frames, while others still emitted thick smoke. Whatever explosives had been used to destroy the place, neither the storm nor the firefighting efforts had fully put out the flames.

“But Batman told us to find the Joker. If Joker’s out in the city causing chaos, it’ll be disastrous.”

Tim frowned, clearly torn.

Vivi opened the map, switching between aboveground and underground views, but still couldn’t locate the Joker.

By her calculations, defeating the first two bosses should trigger the appearance of the third. Something wasn’t right; she must not have met a prerequisite condition yet, preventing the third boss from activating.

She looked down and suddenly said, “Could the Joker still be in Arkham?”

Even if he’d already left, rescuing Batman would strengthen their team.

Oracle replied, “The Joker escaped after injuring the guards and took off with Harley Quinn in a stolen police plane. This was caught on surveillance. I’ve also noticed the Joker gang moving through the city, so it’s unlikely he’s still in Arkham… but, it’s the Joker.”

“Who knows what the Joker will do? Or what he’s thinking?”

“—Only Batman knows,” Oracle said, “I support you both in rescuing Batman.”

Even though that man didn’t like the idea of being “rescued.”

[You have received a side quest: Rescue Batman]

[You’ve lost contact with Batman, and you choose to rescue your teammate… Given the Joker’s obsession with Batman, perhaps once you’ve rescued him, you’ll know where to find the Joker. Who knows, he might even show up on his own?]

[Quest reward: Unknown]

The system prompt finally appeared. Vivi and Tim exchanged a glance, and she pointed downward, then gestured toward her vines.

Tim smirked, and the next second, the bottom hatch of the Batwing opened, and the two of them were dropped out—

Tim’s grappling gun fired, hooking onto the building’s spire.

Vivi’s vines shot out, wrapping around a beam, and she kicked through the glass, swinging into the middle of Arkham’s central building.

Tim shrugged. “Hmm… Looks like she’s in more of a hurry than I am.”

He quickly followed suit.