The dark clouds rolled continuously, a stormy atmosphere enshrouded the entirety of Gotham City, and the city was enveloped in darkness, a stark contrast to what Batman usually witnessed.
In the past, even in the dead of night, this city was brightly lit, sin ran rampant day and night, people driven by desire, committing all kinds of madness, only to be swallowed by the darkness, becoming nourishment for even more darkness.
But today was different.
If it were purely from a sensory standpoint, it was deathly silent, the entire city seemed dead.
No vehicles, no pedestrians on the streets, nothing at all, everything was so quiet.
The chimneys no longer spewed thick smoke into the cloud layer, and no gunshots echoed on the streets, whether criminals or those who hadn't yet committed crimes, seemed to have fled this place.
Batman stood atop the Dripping Stone Beast of Wayne Tower's top floor, the night wind raising his cloak high, as he engaged in communication with Alfred.
"Young Master Bruce, our intelligence is too limited, we cannot determine how many of your old friends have escaped from Arkham."
At this moment, Alfred was in the Bat Cave, operating Brother Eye, eliminating names from the list one by one.
Arkham had received several investments from the Wayne Group, the criminals were too many, requiring constant expansion and upgrade. But because of this, all procedures and documents were managed by the computer, all those precise instruments were ruined in the flood.
Upon returning to Gotham, Batman listed a name based on his memory, handing it to Alfred to compare it with those he might find in the city.
Yes, he was prepared early on, by remotely controlling the Bat Flying Vehicle, he could swiftly redeploy cameras in Gotham.
Those miniature cameras weren't cheap, networked intelligently, powered by their own energy, each tiny thumbtack-sized piece cost thousands of US Dollars.
And he had prepared tens of thousands of them.
His flying vehicle was weaponized, generally used to destroy villain vehicles or structures, but at this moment, as long as he replaced the bullets with cameras of the same caliber, he could fire them through the barrel, fixing them into hidden spots of key buildings.
While he was working in the Hall of Justice, Alfred had long been engaged in this task, now only a small section of the city remained before the surveillance network could be activated.
At this moment Batman was observing and waiting, because the Joker seemed dormant, perhaps anticipating Batman's countermeasures, intentionally giving him time to setup?
After all, the joke must be seen by Batman to have value, right?
Even knowing Joker seemed to have formed a villain army, Batman still responded calmly to Alfred as before.
"Since I caught them once, I can send them back to Arkham tonight."
"Then you might need to figure out how to stop the sunrise." Alfred immediately quipped: "It's three in the morning now, and there are initially estimated to be over a hundred patients who escaped from Arkham, not counting the convicts from Black Gate Prison."
"I know."
"Many of your old friends are also Joker's old friends, I guess he has prepared an unprecedented drama for us." Alfred joked even against the Joker harshly.
"... He's waiting for me to be ready."
"Yes, with actors warming up for the audience, it's made me nervous."
Alfred hit keys one by one, linking to new cameras, a line of code after another typed out by him.
Expressionless, Batman stood up, he seemed to see a familiar figure in the distance: "Report as soon as networking is complete, attempt to contact the Bat Clan, I see an acquaintance here."
"Understood, Young Master Bruce."
Under the deep nightfall, Batman leapt from the rooftop, his black cloak spread into a Bat Wing shape, speeding towards the small black shadow in the distant sky.
By the style of flight, it wasn't a Human Bat, the flapping frequency seemed slower, as if the body was lighter.
The Bat Hook paired with the gliding cloak, Batman moved swiftly through the city, but still was a bit slower compared to that self-flying monster.
However, as the distance closed, Batman had recognized the identity through the body shape analysis on his eyepiece, it was the Antlion Butterfly.
For Gotham, many might not immediately associate this name with anyone, but in fact, many people know his former codename.
He used to be Killer Moth.
Being defeated time and time again by Batman, as a high-tech thief, Killer Moth felt shattered inside, no matter how hard he trained, or how he upgraded his more advanced moth armor, Batman continually thwarted his plans.
Luckily, he had decent connections, often when the mad bosses from Arkham broke out, they would take him along for the ride, so he might be the person who spent the least time getting treatment among all the mentally ill.
But despite gaining freedom, he considered himself only a second-line villain, and always failing left him feeling stifled.
He grew more and more frustrated, and the more frustrated he got, the more he thought, eventually succeeding in shutting himself out.
Thanks to his good social network, before planning his suicide he received a piece of news, someone told him: "Since you're not planning on living anymore, why not trade your soul with a Demon King? Enhance your power and defeat Batman for once?"
Killer Moth thought, that made perfect sense.
As an art thief, he was wealthy, he soon found a Warlock willing to work for hire, who linked him up with the Demon King Neilong.
For Neilong, it was just regular business, a demon, after all, trading in souls was its job. As for what the mortal planned to do with the power exchanged, what did that matter to him?
So Neilong, as an other-dimensional Demon King, generously transformed Killer Moth, through Hell Energy mutation, significantly enhancing his powers.
Originally just a small thief relying on armor abilities, after mutation he became a real monster, possessing all the powers one could think of for any superpowered creature, along with corrosive bodily fluids and a 'Butterfly Sense' akin to the neighboring Spider Hero.
Of course, a Demon's contract isn't easy to sign, Neilong played a little trick, taking Killer Moth's soul in advance, now the one roaming around the world was merely his demonized physique.
Calling himself Antlion Butterfly, he liked to refer to himself in the third person, and his diet consisted solely of human flesh and blood, a monster hunting at night within the city.
The last time Batman caught him, the process wasn't too hard, using the moth's phototaxis to set a trap was enough.
But upon capture, what to do was the troublesome part. In theory, demons can be slain, but this monster's body was Killer Moth's, he was a human.
Even Batman didn't know exactly how to deal with it, eventually just holding him in Arkham for now.
This time it seemed he had also escaped, after all, the flood posed no threat to someone who could fly.
Batman also knew, anyone could recruit Antlion Butterfly because what he wanted as a reward was merely human flesh, something Joker could easily provide.