The Dawn Trail in the World of American Comics

Mason was unaware that the unfortunate Mr. Sandstorm had been caught red-handed by the Green Arrow who was staking out Gotham City. The young man was currently busy communicating with Kite Man.

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Assassin's League in Gotham, K Squad easily accomplished their original goal of looting the virus vaccine without any risk or pressure.

According to Kite Man, when he arrived at the warehouse of Wayne Industries' medical department, there was no one there.

Due to a power shortage, the entire warehouse was pitch black, and the originally tight surveillance system had also been taken offline.

If he hadn't promptly restarted the backup power in the warehouse, the vaccines that needed to be stored at low temperatures would probably have completely failed in the chaos of the night.

"First, store the vaccine in your bag and then keep a lookout from high above. Watch the outcome of the battle between Mr. Sandstorm and the Justice League, but don't get close or let them discover you. I'll rush back to meet up with you immediately."

Mason gave Charles a few instructions before cutting off the communication. He then turned to look at Nightwing, who had been thrown into the passenger seat of the second Batmobile.

He gave Catwoman an OK gesture, and Selina closed the car cabin and took the young master back to the Batcave first.

As for Mason himself, he released his beloved blue flying motorcycle and prepared to fly back to his cabin.

But just as the motorcycle started, a vine suddenly sprouted from the ground and grabbed Mason's handlebar, causing the young man to look surprised and glance at where the vine was coming from.

Unsurprisingly, he found Poison Ivy standing quietly in the shadows of the small woods outside Arkham Asylum.

She was gesturing for him to come over.

Considering Poison Ivy's "infamous reputation" in Gotham City, Mason loaded his critical hit cannon with cursed bullets before cautiously approaching the sweet yet vicious female villain.

"There's no need to be so cautious. If I had any ill intentions towards you, that vine just now would have been enough to release a lethal hormone poison," Poison Ivy said coldly.

This villainess, with her fiery red hair and strangely green skin that was not ugly but rather uniquely alluring, was very straightforward in her speech. And her tone was filled with a certain disdain for flesh and blood creatures.

This was also normal.

No matter which version of her villain story, she had become a special life form between flesh and blood and plants due to the malice of her fellow humans.

Her distrust of humans was not only due to her own tragedy but also due to the instinctive rejection caused by "species difference".

"It's precisely because I know you don't mean any harm that we can stand so close and talk," Mason replied, patting the gun in his hand. The special power brought by the cursed bullets was sensed by Poison Ivy, causing her to frown and step back a few paces.

Perhaps nature was warning her?

"Speak up, why are you waiting for me here?"

Because of the situation with Mr. Sandstorm still in the city, Mason didn't have much time to beat around the bush with this female villain. He did have plans to recruit Poison Ivy into K Squad.

But now was not the time.

She was different from Scarecrow.

Scarecrow was the kind of person who was very bad, but at least had some conscience.

On the other hand, Poison Ivy was a dangerous individual who was quite solitary and didn't care much about "human morality", and even didn't care much about human lives.

She was a legitimate "half-plant", and with her temperament, she had every reason to shout out slogans like "plant lives matter".

"Follow me."

The red-haired green lady turned and walked into the shadows behind her. Mason followed, and after a few steps, he smelled a strong stench of blood.

This made him frown.

After turning a few corners in the small woods, Mason saw four or five black-clad warriors lying dead on the ground. The sight was too gruesome to bear, each of them had died from having their skulls smashed with a blunt object.

This made Mason raise an eyebrow and look at Poison Ivy again.

The green lady waved her hand, and the overlapping leaves and vines in front of them parted, revealing Dr. Harley Quinzel, who was hiding inside, trembling with fear.

Her doctor's robe was nowhere to be found.

Her sportswear was covered in glaring bloodstains, and she was holding a broken baseball bat in her hand.

"This..."

Mason immediately understood what had happened.

Then he heard Poison Ivy say with strong regret:

"She asked me to bring her here, saying she wanted to see if her patients would be okay, but I should have left her in a safe place in the city.

I don't know what happened, but when I was sent back by that red freak and said goodbye to you, I came back to find her sitting among these corpses, crying.

She was terrified.

I strongly suspect that the Joker left some kind of trick on her, but she told me earlier that the symptoms of the Joker's hypnosis had been cured by you."

"The symptoms of hypnosis were indeed broken by the stimulant, but perhaps the Joker did more than just hypnotize her."

Mason took out a bottle of sedative from his pocket, put the hand cannon on his waist, and slowly walked forward. He stared at Dr. Harley, who was sitting there crying silently, and said softly:

"Harley? Do you remember me? I'm Mason, the alchemist who helped you."

"Mason?"

Dr. Harley lifted her head, her tear-swollen eyes looking at Mason as she tried to muster a smile. But her blood-stained face combined with that strange smile made Poison Ivy behind Mason take a sharp breath.

This behavior pattern couldn't be said to be exactly the same as Zhou Kuo'er's, but it could also be said to be a classic replica.

"This... wasn't me... I... I don't know what happened here..."She quickly saw the body under Mason's feet and shivered, lowering her head and covering her face, saying in a hoarse voice:

"Mr. J is dead, and I feel relieved. I saw through the telescope that you blew his brains out. No one can hurt me anymore. I feel safe now.

I think it's time to say goodbye to my past life and start a new one. I remember someone told me before that to start a new life, I should change my old name.

So I gave myself a new name...

I think I should call myself Harley Quinn?"

"You can call yourself whatever you want, that's your freedom, miss."

Mason approached her and handed her the sedative in his hand, whispering:

"But you're a doctor, you know? Your current situation is terrible. You should drink this medicine and let your friend Ivy take you to a comfortable place to sleep.

Don't worry about all these messy things anymore, do you understand what I mean?

Arkham Asylum is finished, you lost your job. You should take some time to rest and relax, and then find a new place to send your resume and work.

Do you need me to introduce a cool clinic to you?"

"I don't know, I don't know if I'm suitable to continue in this profession, or if I should give up my failed medical career and try to become a professional gymnast."

Harley, with bloodstains on her face, took the sedative handed by Mason without even looking at it, and tilted her head back to drink it. This showed that even after some drastic changes in her mental state, she still trusted Mason very much.

The sedative quickly took effect, and Harley's condition visibly improved.

She stopped trembling.

Her voice no longer suddenly became sharp, and her uncontrollable emotions improved a lot.

It seemed that her original consciousness was slowly returning.

Under the gaze of Mason and Poison Ivy, she glanced at the broken baseball bat tightly held in her hand, threw it away fiercely, and then pounced on Ivy, who held her in her arms.

"It's okay, nothing will happen. It's all over, be good, it's all over."

Poison Ivy, who was usually cold and indifferent to others, appeared patient and gentle when dealing with Harley. She gently patted Harley's back while quietly flicking her fingers.

Several carnivorous vines crawled out from the woods, rolled up the body under Mason's feet, and dragged it into the depths of the woods.

Even the grass on the ground moved, digging up and renewing the soil. In just a few seconds, a gruesome murder scene was completely restored to its normal appearance.

"I've become a monster, Ivy."

Harley sobbed in Poison Ivy's arms and said:

"I remember it very clearly. Just when I thought I could finally get rid of Mr. J's lingering spirit, I fell into the trap he had woven for me a long time ago.

It was a malicious psychological suggestion hidden beneath the appearance of hypnosis.

I was supposed to be professional.

I was supposed to see through this conspiracy, but I was too eager to understand the peculiar psychology of the Joker. I made a mistake that a professional psychiatrist should never make.

I'm sorry, Mason.

I couldn't tell you all this. The Joker made me forget all this, maybe I wanted to forget that boring past myself... I did something terrible.

A terrible mistake."

"It's okay, things have already turned out this way."

Mason also sighed.

He remembered the conversation he had with the Joker in the ward of Arkham Asylum at the beginning of tonight's chaos.

When he heard Zhou Kuo'er say that the game with Harley Quinn's will as the stake was not over yet, he should have realized this.

That villain would never simply reveal his conspiracy and tricks. He always worked in a series of interconnected actions.

Hmm, this kind of whimsical thinking might be worth learning.

"Take her away."

Mason adjusted his mood and said to Poison Ivy:

"Don't go to the Iceberg Lounge for now. The superheroes are intercepting the bad guys there. You can go to Dr. Leslie's clinic near Crime Alley.

She's my boss.

She also has some knowledge of psychology. Harley can receive treatment there for a while. My shop is just across from the clinic.

After everything is over, I will go see her."

"And Avi's medicine!"

Harley wiped the bloodstains off her face and turned her head to remind Mason:

"Avi's condition is much worse than mine. Only that magical potion can suppress her mania."

"I will send it over as soon as possible."

The young man waved his hand and looked at the dark night sky before dawn, saying:

"How about we go together? My motorcycle can carry both of you."

"Using a motorcycle to pick up girls? Are you a stupid sixteen-year-old boy?"

Poison Ivy sneered and rolled her eyes.

Then a few minutes later, she was forced to put on a safety helmet and sit in the sidecar of the flying motorcycle, staring dumbfounded as Mason rode this thing into the sky. She couldn't help but want to give herself two slaps.

You know he's a mysterious alchemist, why would you look at this mysterious guy with common sense?

"Also, I'm seventeen this year."

Mason saw Poison Ivy's strange expression and whispered with his flying goggles on.

Behind him, Harley Quinn, also wearing a helmet, hugged the waist of the young man ten years younger than her, curiously looking at the night view hundreds of meters below, while marveling at the small gadgets Mason took out."Mason, why does your shop only open at night? Is there some unique rule in your line of work? Like a legend that says you can only do business at night or else you'll attract misfortune?"

"There's nothing like that."

The young man answered honestly:

"It's just that I'm the only one in the shop, and I have to work at Dr. Leslie's clinic during the day. I definitely can't manage the shop then... Wait, why are you asking?"

"Can I work for you?"

Dr. Harley pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, the left lens of which was cracked, and said softly:

"If it's not too much trouble. After all, I'm scared to go out and work in my current condition. Before I recover, I can do some odd jobs in your shop.

After I recover, I'll move out.

That is, if there's a day when I do recover..."

"Eh"

Mason thought for a moment, then said:

"Sure, your medical background could come in handy, and Ivy can live in the shop with you. It'll be convenient for her to get treatment."

"What about you?"

The helmeted Poison Ivy suddenly asked:

"Where do you plan to sleep?"

"I can temporarily stay at the Iceberg Lounge. Charles has plenty of rooms there."

Mason snorted and said:

"Don't think of me as dirty-minded like others, Ivy. You two are my patients now."

"Great! No more sleeping on the streets."

Dr. Harley cheered in a sharp voice that made one's heart tremble, then covered her mouth under Poison Ivy's strange gaze and said softly:

"What I mean is, thank you for taking us in, Mason. You're a good man."

"You say I'm a good man, and I'm happy."

Mason shook his head and muttered:

"But I'm not happy about having to go back to the Iceberg Lounge, which I hate, because of you two. By the way, Ivy, have you and Selina ever had any stories?

I noticed the way you looked at her when you left.

Of course, if it's inconvenient to talk about, never mind. I'm just asking casually."

"There's nothing I can't talk about."

Sitting in the car with a silly safety helmet on, Poison Ivy leaned back expressionlessly and said calmly:

"She had a hard time after she ran away from her wedding with Batman and developed a drinking problem. I was also having a bad time then.

We lived together for a while.

We supported each other to get out of the mire of life. Later, when Batboy was besieged by the villains in the city, she left me and ran to that annoying man.

She didn't even leave a goodbye letter.

Does this past satisfy your gossiping mind, Mason? Do you need me to tell you some private details about my relationship with Selina?"

"That's enough, no need to say more."

Mason, feeling amazed at how "colorful" Selina's private life was, didn't ask for more details.

He accelerated in the air towards Gotham City at dawn.

Meanwhile, Batman, who was examining the remnants of the shattered sandstorm with his companions in the city, also received a bolt from the blue.

The master turned around and walked quickly to the shadow in the corner under the strange gaze of Green Arrow and Flash. He pressed the communicator on the bat ear of his helmet.

It seemed as if the thing had suddenly broken.

He said to the other end of the communicator:

"Wait! Alfred, I didn't hear clearly what you just said, it might be signal interference. Say it again. You're too busy taking care of who to help me monitor the whole city?

Who is my who?"

"Your son, Master Wayne."

The old butler Afuo answered leisurely:

"I've already bathed Damian and arranged your childhood room for him. I'm now preparing suitable pajamas for him. Just five minutes ago, the DNA test results came out.

I used seven different instruments and cross-verified the results.

He is your child, the next head of the Wayne family.

If it's convenient for you, you should immediately drop the boring things in the city and come back.

Damian might wake up in another hour. I think it would be better if his father could be with him when he wakes up."

Alfred paused, then said softly:

"This is also what Miss Selina thinks. She says she can accept Damian's existence and doesn't resist continuing to date a single father with a child.

But she wants to have a serious and solemn talk with you about emotional fidelity.

Do I need to prepare a candlelight dinner for the two of you in advance?

This is a very serious issue.

After all, whether the parents' feelings are harmonious or not will have a great impact on a teenager.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Master Wayne?

Oh, no, Master Wayne, are you listening?"