American Comics: Today's Big News

Chapter 21 The Birth of Nightwing

"Where's the car?"

"It exploded."

In the two-door supercar, Connors awkwardly spoke to Xuexi under her questioning gaze.

"It seems you're just like those Avengers, frequently destroying your own vehicles," Xuexi suddenly realized.

However, she quickly dropped the topic, as a mere muscle car was nothing to a big star like her.

Looking at the interior of the supercar, she seemed quite knowledgeable, tapping on the buttons in a series of gestures while saying:

"Did you know? This car's shock absorption is fantastic..."

After he finished speaking, the car window became completely opaque.

With nearly an hour to go before the circus performance, the luxury car without any emblem began to vibrate slightly and rhythmically in the underground parking lot.

……

"Applause for the exciting performance that's about to begin! Taking the stage is the owner and manager of the world-renowned Grayson Circus—"

"The Graysons in Flight!"

Xuexi's concert stage has been transformed into a circus stage. As the spotlight shines, two agile figures fall from a height with the help of ropes, performing one breathtaking performance after another.

Because the spotlight was always focused on the flying Grayson family, no one noticed that below the stage, seeds were sprouting, growing, and thriving.

These changes in the plants are naturally related to Connors.

He was sitting with Xuexi in the audience below the stage, unnoticed by anyone.

After a series of warm-up acts, the Graysons, who were dancing on stage, were about to begin their official performance, and their eight-year-old son, Dick Grayson, was about to take the stage as well.

Just as Dick Grayson was about to be tied up and go on stage to dance with his parents, a barely audible "ripping" sound rang out.

The aerial rope, which had been clearly inspected and confirmed to be secure in front of the lampstand, suddenly snapped at this moment, and the Graysons, who were in the air, immediately plummeted downwards.

This is ten meters above the ground; if you fall, there is only one outcome: you will die instantly.

"No--"

Eight-year-old Dick Grayson gasped and screamed.

Meanwhile, inside the stadium, countless spectators let out various gasps of surprise. The famous "Flying Graysons" family in Gotham City has always been known for their spectacular performances and has never had any safety incidents.

But then, just at that moment, something happened!

Connors sat next to Sheryl, his eyes fixed intently on the performance on stage. The instant he saw the Graysons fall, a large number of plants spread wildly, bursting out from under the stage and quickly forming a large net to catch them.

However, Connors only possesses 1% of the "Green of All Things," which allows him to control plant growth, but he cannot completely disregard common sense like Poison Ivy.

In other words, no matter what form the plants controlled by Connors take, they are still relatively fragile in nature.

Knowing this characteristic, he deliberately scattered a large number of seeds around the stage, hoping to achieve a qualitative change through quantitative change.

But an accident happened quickly. While the Graysons were still in the air and before they fell into the plant net, the broken rope, due to its elasticity, lashed the net at an odd angle.

Snapped!

Its speed was so fast that it even produced a sonic boom at the end of the rope.

As a result, a large hole appeared in the middle of the large net that Connors used to control the growth of the plants.

Oops!

Connors felt a pang of anxiety. Was he still unable to save the couple and change the family's fate?

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, he still couldn't help but sigh as he watched helplessly as the two people who were following the trajectory of fate could not live because of him.

Two loud bangs rang out, and the Graysons died instantly, splattering blood all over the faces of the audience sitting in the front row.

Some screamed, some vomited, and some ran away.

Chaos erupted inside the stadium. Only Dick Grayson stood there, looking blankly at the two corpses below, before frantically rushing down the steps.

The corpses that others feared were his parents. He threw himself onto the corpses, desperately trying to imagine the two people who were forever asleep.

"It seems that to change this established history, we need greater strength," Connors muttered to himself with some regret.

Fortunately, he quickly adjusted his mindset and walked step by step from the audience to Dick Grayson's side.

Before he could speak, a staff member rushed over from backstage and handed him a phone:

"Sir, this is Bruce Wayne calling."

On the other end of the phone, Batman was still lying on the operating table, but in front of him was a monitor showing the surveillance footage from the stadium that was originally used for concerts but had now been converted into a circus performance.

"I've seen what happened," Bruce Wayne said on the other end of the phone. "Please bring him to me. I want to adopt him."

[Today's Gossip: The Man Who Laughs (Ongoing) - The Birth of Nightwing]

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……

Inside Wayne Manor, Connors and Lord Wayne, who stood on the floor as if nothing had happened, stared at each other.

This silent atmosphere didn't suit Connors' personality, so he took the initiative to break it:

"Weren't you gay?"

Bruce Wayne looked at Connors expressionlessly:

"You really want to see me lying in a hospital bed, on the verge of death?"

Connors didn't respond. He was very curious about how Batman, who had been undergoing surgery that morning, could be standing perfectly fine in front of him in just half a day.

Seeing that Batman refused to speak, he simply went around to Bruce Wayne's back and saw that it was an exoskeleton-like frame supporting him.

Judging from the number on the stent, this is clearly not the first stent. It might even be something Batman made in advance to deal with situations where his bones break.

Bruce Wayne turned around, not wanting Connors to continue staring at his back, and said:

"I watched the stadium's surveillance footage. You scattered seeds around the stage before the performance even started, as if you had foreseen the Graysons' tragedy."

This couldn't be hidden from the other party, and Connors didn't even try to hide it, so he nodded and admitted it directly.

"So, what you said before you left this morning, even if I don't want to believe it, I have no choice but to believe it now..."

Connors continued to nod, and then he saw Bruce Wayne take a step back.

Immediately, a series of loud clattering sounds erupted in the room, which had been just a reception room, as hundreds of guns of various shapes and sizes were aimed at Connors from all angles.

"So, to make me believe the lie about the end of the world, you have to kill other innocent people, right?"

"You seem to have a strong sense of counter-surveillance. You even put on a full performance, creating the impression that you tried to salvage the situation but failed."

"Surrender, Mr. Connors."

Bruce Wayne suddenly produced a rocket launcher from somewhere:

"You might be able to dodge ordinary bullets, but how are you supposed to avoid widespread damage in such a confined room?"

Being pointed at by so many guns—at least a hundred at the same time—even with his master-level tricks, Connors couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

"As expected of the master, but..."

As if he had anticipated this, Connors laughed and, halfway through his sentence, pulled a batarang with a constantly flashing red light from his pocket.