American comics: What kind of evil intentions could Batman have?

Chapter 2 Treating Ventriloquists

Chapter 2 Treating Ventriloquists

The ventriloquist sat down against the wall.

He held a gun in his hand, like a helpless prisoner waiting for the door to be slowly pushed open.

Judging by his appearance alone, no one would guess that this balding white man in his fifties or sixties was actually a renowned ventriloquist in the underworld. To be honest, his trembling appearance didn't make him seem like a dangerous person at all.

The hostages nearby trembled like quails.

They were all employees of the Evidence Bureau. One guard lay panting on the ground, half of his body stained with blood.

He tried to resist, but before he could even draw his gun, he was shot through the back of his hand by the ventriloquist.

"Oh, Mr. Socks..." A white wool sock was put on the ventriloquist's left hand; it was a substitute personality he created when he couldn't find his own doll, Scarface.

Is it really right to hurt others like this?

He spoke hesitantly and cautiously to his left hand:

"Look, he's bleeding."

"Enough, Mr. Ventriloquist, you're far too cowardly."

His mouth was tightly shut, but the sound came from his stomach. His hand, covered by a sock, controlled the sock to open and close, as if the sock was talking, which was indescribably eerie and unsettling.

"What an idiot! Without hostages, what are we going to offer in exchange for Scarface?"

The sock in his left hand swayed warily beside him, like a venomous snake brimming with aggression: "There's a time and place for kindness. This bastard got himself shot. As long as they cooperate obediently, I won't hurt them, right?"

"But, but..."

"Shut up! Stop wasting your energy on this nonsense. Batman might walk in at any moment..."

The ventriloquist began to sob softly, but dared not refute Mr. Socks. Instead, he tearfully apologized to the injured guard.

"I'm so sorry..."

Boom boom boom!

A loud knocking interrupted his voice.

The ventriloquist immediately pointed his gun at the hostage, his voice switching to Mr. Stocking's tone—deep, dark, and filled with manic savagery, like a beast whose territory had been invaded: "I told you, if you dare to come in, I'll shoot it all the way through..."

"Knock knock, this is Batman."

Arnold's hair stood on end. He knew that voice all too well; it was definitely Batman—but something was off today.

As everyone knows, Batman never goes through the front door and never knocks.

Mr. Stocking tensed every muscle in his body, lay prone on the ground, raised his gun, and prepared to attack. If Batman dared to enter, bullets would lick him in the fire of his breath—

"Open the door quickly, let Daddy Bat come and nourish you with his sweet, righteous milk!"

"???"

The ramblings that came out of the usually serious Batman's mouth caused the ventriloquist's brain to freeze for a moment, which also allowed Chen Tao to avoid being attacked as he pushed open the door.

"Batman, you..." After a brief moment of distraction, the ventriloquist quickly recovered.

But the opportunity is fleeting, my friend.

"Scarface!"

The puppet blocked his gun barrel, making his finger feel as if it were embedded in a metal rod, preventing him from pulling the trigger.

"Bastard, let me go right now!"

In an instant, a completely new voice rang out. If Mr. Socks' voice before was at most that of a frenzied thug, then this new voice was like the embodiment of darkness—the embodiment of the ventriloquist's inner darkness!

The endless malice almost turned into ink and dripped onto the ground.

The ventriloquist rose from the ground. The timid, cowardly old man who had been before was gone. He straightened his chest, bulged his latissimus dorsi muscles, as if a demon had taken over his short body.

His mouth was tightly shut, and the sock in his left hand opened and closed, the sound vibrating and echoing in the small space:

"Give us back Mr. Scarface—"

"No, don't do that. I've already spoken to Batman."

The ventriloquist froze abruptly.

The sound came from Scarface's body.

Chen Tao kept his mouth tightly shut. "So you're the only one who can do ventriloquism?"

As an actor, imitating others is a basic skill, which of course includes voice.

The ventriloquist should have shot him in the head the moment they met, but he failed.

So, next up is his home turf.

He never even considered treating ventriloquists through normal means.

Mr. Stocking sensed danger and shouted an order for Arnold to fire.

"Don't shoot. I've spoken to Batman. You're a good guy. You were forced to do bad things by me, weren't you?"

"No, no, those weren't my words, Scarface! I want you to shoot! Shoot!"

"That's right, listen to Scarface, fire—"

"No, I'm ordering you as Scarface: you must obey Batman—"

"Stop—"

The four voices mingled together, with Chen Tao's ventriloquism and the ventriloquist's ventriloquism fiercely vying for dominance over the scarred puppet.

This is the ventriloquist's most fatal weakness: the split personality breeds suspicion. Ventriloquism tricks are no challenge for Chen Tao. He imitates the enemy's behavior patterns, alternating between the imitation of the scarred face's voice and the real scarred face's voice, completely confusing the ventriloquist.

Amidst the heated argument, Chen Tao opened his satchel with his other hand, revealing it filled with hand puppets (a type of toy where you can put your hand inside to control the puppet's movements), all sorts of different kinds. Arnold's gaze was drawn to him, and he subconsciously asked:

"What does this mean?"

Chen Tao suddenly stretched out his hand.

"Damn it!"

In the blink of an eye, the ventriloquist's gun barrel was pointed at Chen Tao's chin like a spring.

But it was too late; the scarred doll's voice gave the ventriloquist a completely opposite command almost simultaneously.

So by the time the ventriloquist had sorted out his muddled thoughts, the socks were already in Chen Tao's hands.

The weapons have been removed.

?

"No! Mr. Socks!" the ventriloquist screamed.

"What do you want to do to Mr. Stocking?"

Without the help of the sock personality, he reverted to being an ordinary old man.

Chen Tao ignored him and kicked the poor old man into a corner: "Now you're safe, get out."

"Eeya—"

The hostages looked at each other, then screamed in unison and scrambled away. Even the guard who had just been lying dead on the ground got up on his own, screaming and showing off his injured hand as he ran faster than a rabbit.

"..."

Chen Tao maintained his bat-like expressionless face until the hall was empty. Then, Chen Tao walked up to the ventriloquist, expressionlessly picked up the smelly sock, and then, right in front of the ventriloquist... tore it to shreds.

"No!!!!"

The ventriloquist lunged at the wreckage of the sock as if his parents had died: "Waaaaah! No! Socks! How can I live without you—Socks! Socks, take me with you, take me with you, Socks—"

But before he could even finish crying, Chen Tao grabbed him from the ground and slapped him twice across the face: "Stop crying, look, what's this?"

"Scarface!"

Just as Arnold was about to pounce, with a snap, Chen Tao twisted the scarred puppet into a pretzel right in front of him, and then stomped it to pieces on the ground.

"Aaaaaaaaahh ...

"Get up!" Chen Tao pulled the old man, who was about to start wailing again, up from the ground and beat him with both hands until he saw stars, forcefully suppressing his impending illness.

After forcibly distracting him physically, Chen Tao tossed him onto a shoulder bag filled with plush toys: "Stop thinking about the old ones, try something new. There are dozens here, pick whatever you like!"

The ventriloquist was stunned by the personality correction punch; his eyes were vacant, and he had not yet recovered from the blow of losing two personalities in succession.

He absentmindedly grabbed a toy, and the next second, a new sound came from his stomach...

Due to an extremely severe form of dissociative identity disorder, ventriloquists have a tendency to create malevolent alternate personalities. Essentially, these alternate personalities are all "protectors," used to safeguard the cowardly main personality, "Arnold."

However, in just a few short seconds, both of his protective personalities were violently destroyed by Chen Tao.

Therefore, at this time, he was in a period of extreme fear and lacked a protector personality.

Under normal circumstances, a ventriloquist will unconsciously seek out an object, personify it, and then wear it on their hand, creating a new personality to protect themselves, just like how they previously created the evil personality "Mr. Socks" using an ordinary wool sock.

But... what would happen if you suddenly gave him dozens of toys?

Ugh, is this Chapter 2?

(End of this chapter)