As it's been ntioned before, within the laws of Gotham, there is one that stands above all others. It can be stated that it is the standard that rules them all, that is, Batman is above all laws.
In Gotham, Batman and everything he creates have the highest possible priority, above all else.
The liquid storage device constructed by Victor is incredibly durable. He had considered the safety long ago. Soone might question why he did not encase the device in the first tal, and instead used transparent glass. Isn't this the neglect of safety for the sake of aesthetics?
However, that layer of transparent glass is actually far more robust than any steel. It is an extrely firm material that Victor developed based on dense ice, tougher and more resilient than diamonds. Even when thin, it is not brittle and has an excellent seal. It is not as easily destroyed.
But once its opponent becos a Batman dart personally crafted by Batman, it becos as delicate as glass.
Victor had thought of all possibilities, yet it never crossed his mind that Batman might attack the device using a Batman dart. He had even anticipated the possibility of a nuclear attack, hence the material is resistant to high temperatures, shock, and radiation, but it's not resistant to Batman darts.
Everything Batman creates is ant to counter all things in Gotham. So, the mont the Batman dart touched this sturdy material, it shattered.
It wasn't a problem that the container had shattered,or the liquid inside was sprayed out. But there is another law in Gotham: a villain's backstory will never go to waste. If sothing is destined to happen, it will definitely happen.
In Mr. Freeze's backstory, Victor beca Mr. Freeze when the cooling gas leaked due to a power outage. This ti, in the sa lab owned by Victor, with another leak of cooling material, unsurprisingly, yet another Mr. Freeze was born.
Or perhaps, more than just one.
The one transford by this material is Thomas, who fits all the criteria to beco Mr. Freeze. He inherited perfectly the backstory of Mr. Freeze, albeit with so strange twists.
The only exception was Lex.
Previously, Lex had encountered the genuine Professor Shearer who was about to leave tropolis. Back then, Professor Shearer discovered that Lex had been administered with an overdose of tranquilizers, which severely affected his growth and organ functions.
Perhaps out of sympathy, Shearer gave Lex a certain quantity of Dionysus Factor, completing the process.
As Lex received a small dose, the enhancent was not significant. It only mildly accelerated his recovery rate and provided him with night vision abilities.
Interestingly enough, Alberto, who had accidentally fallen into a pool full of Dionysus Factor, didn't turn into a superhero with a Deadpool-like recovery capability. It seed like the self-recovery effect brought about by the Dionysus Factor isn't as powerful as they perceived.
However, the Dionysus Factor failed to manifest its potential, not because Lex and Alberto were unable to absorb it, but because, besides its pharmacological and pathological effects, the Dionysus Factor appeared to evoke a mystical force that would only activate in a specific person. That person was the Joker.
If one wasn't the Joker, even with the Dionysus Factor, the enhancent they would receive would be minimal. They wouldn't be able to recover swiftly from a serious injury inflicted by Batman, as the Joker would be able to.
However, Lex's situation harmonized with the Joker's backstory.
Don't forget that one of the Joker's origin stories involved falling into a chemical pool. While Lex didn't exactly fall, he was entirely engulfed by chemical reagents, producing the sa effect.
And this accident was directly caused by Batman. As such, it aligns with the Red Hood's backstory. Just like that, Lex beca another chosen one by Batman.
One can see the birth process of Gotham Villains as a cooking process. Add an elent to another, then stir-fry them in the pot. Voila, there is a villain.
Sotis, a dish only needs one elent. Take Mr. Freeze for example. Just add "leakage of cryogenic lab materials", and there you have it.
But a dish nad Joker needs two elents. Firstly, throw in the main elent: "chosen by Batman", and choose from other elents like "breadcrumbs in a chemical pool","Dionysus Factor","inherently psychotic", etc.
Take one main ingredient and one side ingredient, and there you have it: a dish nad Joker. Now, Lex not only added the main ingredient, but also two side ingredients, which were the "fell into the chemical pool" backstory and "Dionysus Factor". So, it's unsurprising that another Joker was born.
At the sa ti, Lex aligned with the backstory of Mr. Freeze. The chemical pool that Joker had fallen into in the original backstory only dyed his face and hair but didn't bring any other effects. However, the pool that Victor had created, the one that Lex had fallen into, could create a Mr. Freeze.
Therefore, Lex, who possesses two backstories and can present as two distinct characters, beca an unprecedented, triplicate villain—The Freeze Joker Luther.
By this mont, the blue liquid was completely absorbed by the two individuals near the liquid storage device. As the liquid diminished, the true forms of the two individuals had gradually revealed.
Thomas was the first to regain consciousness. After standing in stunned silence for a mont, he started to scream in agony.
It was as if he had been tossed into a frying pan, constantly curling up his body and frantically scratching his skin. Visibly, smoke began to rise from his body; it looked as if he was on fire.
It was not surprising as his biggest weakness in the original comic was that Mr. Freeze had to wear low-temperature armour, without which he would die if the room temperature exceeded zero degrees.
If Victor had been the victim of such an incident, he could have quickly figured out what was going on and found the fastest way to preserve his life. He was the world's greatest cryogenic scientist, and this was his ho base.
But for Thomas, it was different. He was a university student with a major unrelated to physics or chemistry. Although he perford better than Bruce, he was only at the level of an ordinary university student. He was not at all involved in cryogenics and this was his first ti in the lab, so there was nothing he could use here.
He had no idea what was going on; his low-temperature-modified cells were already starting to die. Just then, Batman walked over, grabbed Thomas, and threw him into the fluid storage device that still had so blue liquid left.
Batman was obviously more adept than Thomas, and he had imdiately spotted the problem. Indeed, after Thomas was soaked in the remaining blue liquid, he stopped screaming and lay there staring blankly at the ceiling.
Ultimately, Mr. Freeze's strength lay in his technical skills, not in his own body. The cryogenic modifications he received were actually a burden.
If you only get this low-temperature modification, you're worse off than ordinary people. Thomas was in this situation now. Without this blue liquid, he couldn't survive at all.
Batman dismissed Thomas's hateful gaze, turned his head and looked toward another figure standing in the shadows of the room. The ensuing laughter sent a chill down his spine.
Now, Lex's skin was even paler than before. When he looked up, Batman saw a familiar manic smile on his face.
The reason Lex wasn't afraid of room temperature and didn't almost self-ignite like Thomas was because the Dionysus Factor in his body was fully at work. The competition between this cryogenic modification and his self-healing power even intensified his abilities.
Taking advantage of the mont Batman was in shock from the smile, Lex extended a hand, and a cold mist drifted towards Batman. In just a second, a thin layer of ice ford on the outside of the Bat Suit.
Batman rapidly retreated. When he steadied his stance upon landing, his breath visibly turned into white fog. By this point, the temperature in the room had dropped to near freezing.
The blue liquid that Lex had absorbed into his body did not completely transform his cells because the Dionysus Factor in his body was constantly healing his cells. Therefore, this cryogenic liquid was stored in Lex's body, becoming a source of strength for him.
In simple terms, Lex had turned into a well-fueled freeze gun, and it worked regardless of weapon type restriction and could change into various forms of freeze.
The technical skills of Mr. Freeze, the madness of Joker, coupled with the wisdom of Luther, Batman took a deep breath; he knew a tough battle was imminent.
At that mont, in a room at Gotham Central Hospital, Professor Shearer was sitting at the bedside, and Gordon stood on the opposite side. The third victim, a girl who had been stabbed several tis, was lying on the bed. According to Shearer's information, her na was Anjiele.
Gordon's eyes widened in shock as he asked, "Are you saying that nobody wanted to kill you, you stabbed yourself?? You..." He paused, then said, "Anjiele, I know Gotham is a dangerous place. There are many people here who might wish to kill you. Maybe they threatened you, forcing you to conceal the truth. But you should trust the professor and ."
"Tell us the truth, and we'll bring the culprit to justice. You're safe..."
Anjielle, pale-faced, shook her head with a sowhat vacant expression. "No," she said. "I'm telling the truth. The one who wants to kill is myself. I may have gone crazy."
"What exactly happened?" asked Shearer. Unlike Gordon, he didn't refute Anjiele, as he noticed that Anjiele's ntal state wasn't good.
Her face was pale not just because she had lost a lot of blood from being stabbed, judging from her skin, her complexion had been poor for so ti.
Anjiele closed her eyes and said in a very weak voice, "About a few days ago, I had a strange feeling. Whenever I saw my close friend Berenna, I had this... this...."
She looked agonized and managed to say with a sob:
"I... had the urge to kill her."
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