Kapitel 56: 26 HRS- FLASHBACK
[26 hrs before the car show]
After diffusing the bombs, Bruce felt something was off. Everything was going too easy, almost unnaturally easy. It was as if someone wanted him and everyone to think that they won the day and eliminated the enemy. Everything indicated that the trouble was over.
'Things went too easy...' Bruce called Selina as he made his way back to his research warehouse.
"Hello, Bruce? What is it?" Selina asked him with concern as she was watching the news on her laptop about the chain explosions around the industrial district.
"Sending you the address. Sneak out and meet me there," He sent the coordinates of his research lab, "It's time..."
"On my way..." She replied after a brief pause.
The lab was close to Wayne Manor, just a fifteen-minute walk. She slipped up from her bed, put on some clothes, and rushed there, getting to the place in no time.
Bruce was already waiting there, drinking a cup of coffee near his computer, running some codes.
"Wow! What the...? Is this?" Selina's eyes widened as she saw the armor standing not far away.
"You like it?" He asked casually, pointing at his creation, "This is the Mark II Armor. Fully functional, fully combat ready. Took me and Fox several sleepless nights but worth every minute."
Selina walked closer and touched the armor carefully. It was huge and quite scary-looking. Although she helped him build it, she never thought it would look like this in the end.
"So..." She turned around to face him
"So, Black Mask is dead and I took down his entire empire. You must have seen the news by now. Problem is — it's not over. Something doesn't feel right..." Bruce sipped on his coffee.
"What do you mean?" She crossed her hands on her chest.
"The bombs were too easy to disarm... The info on the warehouses was too easy to get and someone assassinated Black Mask before I could get the name of the main villain... Everything feels staged," He explained briefly.
Selina frowned, "Do you think someone wants to eliminate Black Mask and his gang so that they can use him as a distraction? You know, like gang takeover and all..."
Bruce shrugged, "Possible... Maybe... Probably... I don't know... This smells fishy for sure... That's why I need help. They should be here any minute now. Let's wait..."
Selina went behind Bruce's chair and put her chin on his head, looking at the screen, "What are you doing?"
"Running some codes to make a new tech. We don't have much time left," He entered some commands and opened several windows with complicated codes and algorithms.
She didn't understand much of that gibberish but she still read the text lines out loud, "Realistic holographic projections... Image manipulation software... Disguise modulator... What is that?"
He smirked, "Something brilliant, Kitty Cat... Something brilliant."
She rolled her eyes, "You and your ego..."
"And here I was planning to give you that armor, sad... Guess I'll keep it for myself," He teased her.
Selina vaulted over him. He extended his hands. Her hands on his, her face before him. She is upside down─ she smiled seductively, "You wouldn't do that... Would you?"
Bruce leaned closer and kissed her lips, "Would I?"
She giggled, "You wouldn't..."
"Kiss me..." He whispered.
She obeyed and kissed him again in that awkward upside-down position. Their kiss was short and sweet.
Their intimate moment was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Selina jumped down acrobatically and walked toward the door. She looked at the small screen next to the entrance and saw Thomas and Fox standing outside.
"Open the door, Selina..." Bruce told her as he typed something on his keyboard.
She pressed a button and the metal doors slid aside, letting them in.
"You sneaked out, huh?" Thomas looked at Selina, "It seems that son of mine really needs some help from us."
"Yup, looks like it," She replied as she closed the door.
Fox walked over to Bruce and looked at the screen, "It seems you have already started working on our project, Bruce."
"Of course, we don't have much time," He saved the progress and closed all the windows on his computer, "Alright. Let's talk business..."
Selina sat down on the sofa nearby and listened to their conversation while Bruce briefed Thomas and Fox about his theory and suspicions. But her eyes went toward the place the armor was supposed to be. It wasn't there anymore. She looked at Bruce wanting to ask him about it, but he gave her a slight nod.
'Ah, he is hiding it from dad,' She thought.
"So, you think there's more to Black Mask's attacks than meets the eye?" Thomas rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "You think someone manipulated Black Mask and his gang to attack us and destroyed his entire organization afterwards so that they can step into the power vacuum?"
Bruce shrugged, "Like I said — I don't know... Could be... Possibly... Probability... Something doesn't smell right... There's someone bigger pulling the strings behind the scenes."
"Any ideas on who might be the mastermind?" Fox asked him curiously.
"Nope. They shot him dead before he could tell me," Bruce shook his head.
"Wait! How the hell did you meet Black Mask? And did you go alone? Weren't you with Fox?" Thomas frowned slightly.
Fox coughed awkwardly, "Umm..."
Selina snorted while Bruce ignored them completely.
"Alright... I will explain it later. Right now, we need a plan... Well, I got a plan to lure them out," He typed something on his keyboard and brought up a 3D holo-projection of Wayne Enterprise's car show venue, "Here... Take a look..."
After listening to Bruce's plan, Thomas and Fox agreed with him.
Thomas called every single person on the invitation list and changed the location and date of the show, except for the board members. He asked them to keep it a secret as their life might be in danger. This is the perfect time to weed out traitors and probably get rid of some board members. A perfect time to take control back.
Jarvis hacked into Wayne Enterprise's system and transferred all the shares held by the board members to Selina, Maggie, and Fox. With Thomas holding sixty-five percent, no one can oppose him anymore.
'This plan is nuts!' Selina thought as she listened to them.
"What about the paperwork and votes?" Thomas asked Bruce skeptically, "They will raise questions."
"Jarvis show us how the board members sold their shares and voted for Lucius Fox as the temporary CEO," Bruce commanded his AI assistant.
The holo-projections showed them how Jarvis forged the paperwork and manipulated the votes. Thomas and Fox were impressed.
"Oh, there's something more. Bring up the stock prices," Bruce ordered Jarvis.
Stock prices of Wayne Enterprise skyrocketed after Selina, Fox, and Maggie bought all the available shares on the market.
Thomas whistled, "Damn! I guess we own the company now... How did you pull this off, Bruce?"
Fox also wanted to know.
"Easy... Jarvis created fake buyers and purchased all the shares," He explained briefly, "Now, Wayne Enterprise's board members own nothing, which means no voting rights anymore. Also, Fox will assume a temporary CEO position. Dope, right?"
Thomas and Fox exchanged glances and nodded at Bruce approvingly.
"But where the hell did you get so much money to buy all those stocks?" Thomas arched his brows.
He smirked, "Obviously, from the board members." He brought the account details of the board members and showed them, "Every single penny owned by them now belongs to Wayne Enterprise. Jarvis took them for a ride."
Thomas burst into laughter, "Hahaha! You genius little devil! Hahaha! Serves them right!"
Fox joined Thomas in laughter, "Hahahah! Brilliant! Truly brilliant!"
Bruce smiled proudly, "You should thank Jarvis too... And, let's not forget about the holographic projections and disguise modulators."
"You made me and Maggie big shareholders of Wayne Enterprise?" Selina stared at Bruce incredulously, "For free? Why?"
"Do I need a reason?" Bruce shrugged, "And I know what you are going to say next. So, don't."
Thomas ruffled Selina's hair, "You are my family now, Selina. Of course, you deserve it. Maggie too."
"I... Thank you for trusting us," She blushed slightly.
Fox patted Bruce's back, "Good job, Bruce."
He smirked, "I know... I am awesome."
Selina rolled her eyes, "Egoist."
Thomas and Fox laughed again.
"Well, let's get on building the holographic projectors and disguise modulators," Fox suggested.
Bruce nodded, "Jarvis send the instructions. Let's get started."
They spent almost 24 hours preparing everything for the upcoming trap. Thomas canceled all his meetings and asked Elana to handle things in his absence. Selina, although she doesn't know much about tech stuff, still helped Bruce as much as she could during the testing process. Fox worked together with Jarvis to finish everything in time.
Thomas provided the material and resources required.
"Here you go, eat up," Selina prepared sandwiches and coffee for them, "Can't work on an empty stomach."
"Thank you," Thomas grabbed one sandwich and bit into it hungrily, "Hmmm! Delicious! Thanks!"
Fox also thanked her and ate his sandwich.
Bruce accepted the coffee mug from her and drank half of it in one gulp, "Hmmm! Perfect... Just the way I love it."
She smiled softly, "Glad you liked it."
Thomas and Fox finished their breakfast and continued working on the devices.
[6 hrs before the car show]
"Well, looks so real," Fox tested the holographic projection device.
Thomas looked at the illusion, "Indeed... Amazing."
"Things went easy thanks to the new projectors the R&D department developed recently," Bruce pointed out proudly. "Now to put things in place."
"Don't worry. I asked Elana to take care of things. She will bring an army of disguised VIPs to the show to fill up the venue. So, feel free to install them wherever you want," Thomas informed them.
Bruce nodded, "Cool... Jarvis show me the venue layout."
A 3D holo-projection of the venue appeared before him, "Jarvis highlights the locations where we should install these projectors."
Blue marks appeared on the projection showing them the positions.
Bruce handed Thomas and Fox the devices, "You guys install them. Selina and I will go home. Need to catch some quick sleep."
Selina and Bruce went back home since they didn't want their mom to get worried about them. Thomas and Fox stayed back at Bruce's lab to finish the preparations.
Meanwhile, Jarvis hacked into every possible CCTV camera installed around Gotham city and looped the recordings to prepare for the upcoming event.
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