บท 123: Hashtag #123
Gotham's Diamond District
The Iceberg Lounge
As he sat behind his desk, going over the details of his most recently purchased flower shop, The Penguin grinned at how perfectly it fit as a front to launder money and distribute his illegal product.
Now with Waller and Black Mask out of the picture, he was free to focus on doing what he did best; making money and running a crime ring without worry.
However, his smile stiffened as he raised his head and noticed a tall figure standing over him, casting a towering shadow. The Penguin sighed as he raised his head and locked eyes with two glowing white orbs.
"You sure took your sweet time. I thought you'd be here much sooner..." The Penguin said, regaining his smile as he peered into the white eyes of the man standing before his office, staring him down.
"Is the caped crusader finally losing his touch, perhaps?" The mob boss asked, chuckling as he looked Batman up and down, seemingly in a good mood as he let go of the paper in his hand and reached for another.
"I know Wraith tracked down Waller through your fighting ring..." Batman blankly said, cutting right through The Penguin's bullshit and getting straight to the point.
"What's your end game? What's your relationship with Amanda Waller?" Batman said, smacking the desk and slapping away whatever unsuspecting office appliances were lying on top before The Penguin could reach them.
"Fighting ring? What do you take me for, a mob boss? I'm a simple, honest businessman," The Penguin replied, barely holding back a flinch at the caped crusader's display, knowing full well the latter wasn't above using violence to get answers.
"But let's say I was involved in this accident for argument's sake..." The Mob boss said, resisting the urge to summon his bodyguards when he noticed Batman's dwindling patience.
"I'd be a victim, believe it or not. A mere puppet, forced to dance for the puppeteer, or be thrown away to rot in a dark cardboard box..." he quickly added, sighing as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Only for another puppet in the theatre to break free and cut its strings loose without it even knowing..." The Penguin concluded, helplessly spreading his arms apart and letting them fall to his sides.
"I'll take your word for it, but this isn't over, Cobblepot," Batman said, and as if on cue the door to the Penguin's office opened as Orca burst into the room, causing the mob boss to look away from the caped crusader.
"I heard a noise, boss. Is everything okay?" Orca said, surveying the office with a pair of sharp eyes and finding no trace of anyone other than the Penguin himself.
"Nothing is wrong, my dear. In fact, I might even dare say it's all going swimmingly," The Penguin said, grinning as he calmly picked up the office supplies from the ground and resumed working.
...
The Batcave
"So... you've been in contact with Wraith more than any of us... what do you think he's up to, Dick?" Barbra asked, taking off her mask to let her mane or red hair breathe after a long night of patrolling the city.
"Not as much as I'd liked. The kid reminded me of Jason first; the same anger and attitude..." Nightwing replied, thoughtfully humming as he leaned on the supercomputer.
"He didn't strike me as the sort of pull this kind of thing... not with how concerned he seemed with protecting his secret identity..." he added, shaking his head.
"Bruce was always the one with the eye for reading people. You'd have to ask him when he gets back..." Nightwing went on, gesturing to the side.
"Either way, I don't think Bruce would like whatever the kid is doing. You know he can be," he concluded as he moved away from the supercomputer to let Barbra work.
"That's where you're wrong, Dick," Batman's gruff voice sounded from the side, accompanied by the sound of deliberate footsteps echoing all over the Batcave.
"Amanda has crossed the line countless times, yet I could never do anything about her because of my position in the League," the caped crusader said as he stopped beside Nightwing.
"We've all known about her but were helpless to do anything. She is working under the unofficial blessing of the government..." Batman went on, briefly turning to see what Barbra was working on before shifting his focus back to Nightwing.
"The Justice League was necessary to defend the planet against powerful extraterrestrial threats, but it put too many restrictions on how we do things," the caped crusader concluded. Although his expression was blank, Dick knew his mentor was holding back a sigh.
"Was...?" Nightwing asked, immediately catching on to his mentor's peculiar wording and hard-to-read tone, to which Barbra froze and stopped working for a second before she gathered her bearings and resumed.
"Was," Batman briefly confirmed, clearly not intent on elaborating. His two proteges knew the caped crusader well enough to realize they won't be getting any answers, prompting them to drop the subject.
"I paid Cobblepot a visit, and it's as I suspected. Waller coerced him into organizing the tournament so she can have more recruits," the caped crusader remarked, blatantly changing the subject.
"We can't directly interfere in the case because the justice department doesn't want us or any cape near it, but we have to keep an eye on Wraith..." Batman concluded, crossing his arms.
"I thought you said you didn't mind letting the kid go after Waller," Nightwing asked, raising an eyebrow as he pointed out the contradiction in his mentor's words.
"I don't," Batman briefly replied as he uncrossed his arms. "However, Wraith might have an alternative motive, and until we find out what that is, we can't let him off our sights," he added, shaking his head.
"I've noticed several of Gotham's villains, Riddler, Calculator, and Mothman, performing random acts that are indirectly helping Wraith.." Batman went on as he stepped forward towards the supercomputer.
Barbra understood his intention and moved away, watching as the caped crusader brought up the three villains' profiles and the recent crimes, which Batman suspected were their handiwork.
"The police have discovered seven dead bodies of unknown origins with no public records, likely soldiers or servicemen, judging by their physiques and scar sets," Batman went on as he magnified Mothman's profile and victims post mortem reports.
"Those people are likely to be connected to Waller, and the way they died match The Mothman's MO," he continued as he zoomed in on the injuries that were their cause of death and matched them with Mothamn's confirmed victims.
"Dick, you and Jason are on this one. Fill him in when he comes back, and find Mothman as soon as possible," Batman instructed as he turned to Dick, and the latter nodded.
"As for you, Barbra..." the caped crusader said as he turned to face Batgirl, patiently waiting for her instructions. "There are countless social media accounts dedicated to riling up the public against Waller by releasing information from unreliable sources," he added as he brought up many posts from multiple accounts that seemed legitimate but were, in fact, fake.
"This sounds like something the Calculator would do. I want you to investigate and keep me updated," he concluded, stepping away from the computer, to which Barbra immediately went to work.
"What about you, Bruce?" Nightwing asked after waiting for Batman to finish giving out instructions, clearly curious about what his mentor planned to do meanwhile.
"Riddler has been visiting villains and gangs all over Gotham. Everyone he's visited has been lying low ever since..." Batman explained. "I'll track him down and see what he's up to..."
...
Gotham's 52nd precinct.
"Y'all pro-modern-slavery-people should be ashamed of yourselves. If a 17-year-old kid can forgive and forget, then why can't grown-ass men and women who never met a supervillain in their life do the same?"
#FUCK_WALLER
"I respect what Wraith is trying to do. Heck, I even know people he saved from muggers and rapists. But Waller hasn't done anything wrong. Those scumbags deserve much worst."
#JUSTICE_DONE_RIGHT
I couldn't help but chuckle at the hashtags as I browsed through my phone to pass the time while waiting inside the police station. Social media was currently a shit storm of controversy, so much so that I didn't even need to fan the flames anymore.
There were people calling Waller every vulgarity known to man, while others supported what she was doing. A minority even went after me and called me names I never knew existed, but for everyone one of those, there will be ten defending me, even amongst Waller supporters.
My plan was working, and even people who disagreed with me didn't come after me personally except for a few, even if they criticized my actions, while I could not say the same about Waller.
Even Waller's supporters weren't supporting her personally, but her actions and plan, and very few people rose to defend her whenever someone talked shit about her. They only defended the idea of using supervillains the way Waller did.
In the end, it didn't matter much; it was all smoke and mirrors to buy time until I got solid, condemning evidence, and any publicity, negative or positive, would help me kick-start my company once the shit show was over.
"It's time... everyone is outside waiting for you..." Deborah said as she approached me, prompting me to raise my head and smile at her as I put away my phone.
Deborah has been surprisingly tactful towards my sudden unmasking and would only give me weird looks occasionally. She clearly had something to say but didn't for some reason, and I was content to leave it that way.
"Let's get a move on then. Can't have those reporters going skittish..."
...
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