"Alfred, I never thought you were so sharp." Bruce genuinely praised, saying, "It's indeed the Avenger of Batman."
"Batman always wanted to have revenge for his parents because someone killed his parents. He hoped that the murderer would repent and be judged by law. So when Anakin came to avenge Batman, should he also surrender and face his trials?"
"If he doesn't do so, why should the murderer who killed his parents back then escape legal sanctions? If he does, how would Anakin, who was manipulated by the Joker, give him a chance to go on trial?"
Alfred felt shivers down his spine. He suddenly understood that this was an insolvable set-up for Batman.
Parents were just relatives, Anakin watched Bruce apparently kill him. Although that was not the case, Bruce thought it was, but still chose to let go.
And indeed, Anakin did warn Mr. and Mrs. Wayne back then. He was not the mean type of journalist that Bruce believed who only chased fame and fortune. This meant Bruce betrayed Anakin twice, and the last caused his very death. Was not this reason enough for revenge?
"What are you planning to do?" Alfred's eyebrows were furrowed tightly.
"Although the Joker is not noble, he usually won't use such cheap tricks in this game like drug control or forceful psychic manipulation. So if that's the case, the plan he meticulously designed to simultaneously crush Anakin and Batman's attitudes would all crumble."
Bruce took the freshly made sandwich from Alfred, adjusted the toothpick on top, and then spoke.
"But Anakin would be hard to brainwash. The manipulation of him must be incomplete and exploitable."
Alfred handed Bruce a cup of hot tea, nodded and said, "Perhaps we can search for this madman all the time, find the place where he kidnapped Anakin, and rescue him as quickly as possible. This way everything still can be saved."
Bruce shook his head and said, "If the Joker wants to hide someone, no one can find him. Obviously, he won't let the person go easily before achieving what he wants."
"Then what to do?"
Bruce revealed a mysterious smile.
"You didn't bring me Kingpin's body, so I'm not going to pay." In Penguin Mayor's manor office, he rests his hands on the umbrella and says, "You might say Kingpin was caught by S.H.I.E.L.D., and rescuing him from S.H.I.E.L.D. is not part of your assignment, but I've never heard of a mercenary who demands a price raise because they weren't quick enough and the mission difficulty increased as a result."
Deathstroke is seated steadily opposite him, smoking with half of his face mask lifted, and says, "You have to understand the current situation, Mayor. Even if I complete the task for you at the original price, do you think S.H.I.E.L.D. would be that stupid?"
"Do they think a mercenary will break into the S.H.I.E.L.D. building without anyone instructing them and rescue an important criminal?"
Penguin Mayor cursed in his heart, blaming the previous Mayor for being foolish enough to hook up with Kingpin in the end. If he lets Deathstroke storm into S.H.I.E.L.D. now, S.H.I.E.L.D. would definitely think he sent Deathstroke to save Kingpin.
For heaven's sake, he just wanted to kill Kingpin. But once he breaks into S.H.I.E.L.D., he can't clear his name.
"Sneak in." Penguin Man said, "I will make some noise to attract the attention of those agents. You sneak in and kill the man. I don't need any evidence."
Deathstroke frowned slightly. He always felt that the current Mayor was somewhat different from before. He had prepared himself to be sworn at or even kicked out.
Unfortunately, he missed out on the chance to betray Penguin Man to S.H.I.E.L.D. to make double earnings.
Nevertheless, Deathstroke stood up without saying anything. He walked out, indicated by his actions that he agreed to Penguin Man's plan, but he wasn't gone for long when another uninvited guest broke in.
"Batman?!" Penguin Man exclaimed.
Then he sighed with relief as he realized the Batman in front of him was not the one he was familiar with, but the novice Batman of this universe who just debuted not long ago.
"Finally remembered to put on your mask, rookie?" Penguin Man sneered, turned and walked towards the sofa, saying, "I saw today's news. The Joker really had fun with you. Why do you come to me?"
Penguin Man didn't want to lose his temper, fearing that he would lower his intelligence if he argued with this Batman.
"I have no idea, he said he wanted to play a game with me." To his surprise, Batman sat opposite of Penguin Man. Penguin Man was stunned to watch Batman take out a revolver.
Batman leaned forward, pushed the revolver into the middle of the coffee table and looked up at Penguin Man, "Russian roulette, who goes first?"
Penguin Man hesitated, but then showed a treacherous smile, squinting at Batman, "Someone has been advising you, right? The other you? That's sort of interesting."
"But if you want to gamble with me, you must have some decent stakes. How much do you think it's worth for me to gamble with my life?"
"All of the shares I hold in Wayne Enterprises."
Penguin Man's eyes were bloodshot.
Then he closed his eyes, striving to suppress the twitch in his face, then scoffed and said, "Don't think you can trick me, boy. You tampered with the gun."
"You can use your gun."
Penguin Man became suspicious, but then Batman said, "But my goal is to arrest you and let the law sanction you, so we'll aim at the right chest instead of the head, which will severely injure but not kill."
Penguin Man evidently believed his words because all Batmans in the world were the same, possessing a naive compassion.
Penguin Man waved his hand, and a bodyguard in a suit and leather shoes immediately brought over a more exquisite revolver. Penguin Man loaded a bullet in front of Batman and rapidly spun the cylinder.
He also pushed the gun to the center of the coffee table, saying, "Prove your courage to me, Batman. You go first."
Without hesitation, Batman picked up the gun and aimed at his right chest, pressing the muzzle tightly against the surface of his bodysuit.
Bang!
Blood gushed out, and Batman's chest was pierced by a hole.
Penguin Man was stunned. He stood up abruptly, rushed to Batman and found that the wound was not false, the bullet really went through his chest.
Batman fell onto the sofa, with his bodily functions dropping rapidly and death swiftly approaching.
Penguin Man's terrified roar echoed in the Mayor's residence.
"Ambulance!! Call an ambulance!!!"
As Penguin Man shouted, the Mayor's residence staff immediately rushed in, but Emperor Penguin had already locked the door and winked at Penguin Man.
Penguin Man slapped his forehead, he understood what Emperor Penguin meant, if the man could not survive the rescue or if the rescue was not necessarily successful, it would be better to get rid of the body early and pretend that this never happened, at least he could extricate himself.
But what kind of person would attempt to dispose of Batman's body? Even if Batman is a rookie, this is an impossible task.
Apart from Batman being Batman, he's also Bruce Wayne. Even if many people want Bruce Wayne dead, if he really dies, the following investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Congress, S.H.I.E.L.D., or similar organizations, would be taken very seriously.
Capitalists will not allow their family's conglomerate to be easily stolen. If killing the parents and then the child could so easily take their place, then everyone could be in danger.
They would pay unimaginable costs to eliminate such security threats. Even if there was a slight suspicion, they would instantly make enemies of the entire upper-class society.
Penguin Man made a fierce face and shouted violently, "Call an ambulance, don't touch him! Don't touch him! You lot of fools!!"
The residence staff in front of him wanted to lift a man who had been shot in the chest. Some even wanted to put him on the ground by grabbing his legs.
With all his strength, Penguin Man ran up and shooed everyone away. At this moment, he found the advantage of keeping his Mob's system intact. A group of men in security uniform, who were apparently Mob members, quickly arrived.
They were experienced in handling gunshot wounds and quickly took over from the previous staff. Before long, the ambulance arrived, and Batman was soon placed on a stretcher and sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Penguin Man tasked Emperor Penguin, "Always keep an eye on him. If you can't get into the operating room, bribe a nurse or all of them if necessary. Absolutely don't let anyone pull any tricks. Under any circumstances, Bruce Wayne must live."
Emperor Penguin nodded and left. A few people sighed in place before remembering to get the revolver.
Penguin Man thought, someone must have set me up, the conspiracy might be like this:
They told this naive guy to risk his life in finding the Mayor – they had already bribed the Mayor's people and replaced a revolver, the bullet would definitely not hit him.
Maybe they showed Bruce some technology, convincing him that he was absolutely safe to play this game by cheating. And Bruce believed them.
In reality, the gun had been tampered with, but it turned from being absolutely safe to being absolutely dangerous. The bullet would definitely hit Bruce Wayne.
There were two benefits to doing this. Firstly, they could remove the nominal owner of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne, who could usurp power within Wayne Enterprises.
Secondly, they could blame the murder on the Mayor and at the same time, make Penguin Man, the Mayor, preoccupied and unable to prepare for the next election. Then they could seize the opportunity to elect their own candidate.
No wonder, Penguin Man thought, when Batman first came in, he saw a kind of confidence in Batman. From the previous analysis of Batman's actions, he wasn't a very confident person, or rather, most of his confidence was feigned.
But that confidence and arrogance earlier was natural, even making Penguin Man think that their universe's Batman had already arrived and was guiding the rookie Batman in the background.
No one expected that this utterly naive Batman was actually just deceived and had a blind confidence that he would win. This move was a bluff.
What bothered Penguin Man was that he had also been fooled, thinking that Batman had his own rhythm and was playing games with the villains again.
This was an example of empiricism being harmful. The Batman he was familiar with was indeed fond of doing this, but this was a new Batman who was frustratingly naive. He didn't have the ability to design games or complete games on his own.
With a somber face, Penguin Man thought that he should learn from his mistake. Next time, he must remember that this guy doesn't have any complicated plots to decipher, guessing in the simplest direction is correct.
Then he discovered that Batman might be even more naive than he thought, because Penguin Man didn't find any mechanism on the revolver in his hand.
The revolver in Penguin Man's hand was the one he had given to Batman, which meant it was Penguin Man's gun.
The barrel was intact, the cylinder part was very smooth, and the firing mark was clearly visible. This gave Penguin Man a terrible guess - could it be that Batman was simply unlucky?
Here it is necessary to introduce the basic nature of Russian roulette, which is to put a bullet into a six-shot revolver. Of course, you could also put two or three, but that would significantly increase the risk.
Spin the cylinder and pull the trigger. The random bullet will be fired. If there are no bullets, the game is won, and the next person continues firing. Those who flinch or die lose.
It can be seen that if this game continues, one party will definitely die, but there is another outcome, that is, someone flinches and voluntarily gives up.
Penguin Man accepted the bet with this in mind. From the previous actions and attitudes of Batman, he was not a very courageous person, and his psychological quality was not that strong.
Some people can't execute a good plan, not because they can't come up with it, but because their psychological quality and action ability prevent them from carrying it out.
At that time, Penguin Man thought it was Batman from the main universe who had given this kind of idea to the rookie Batman, but he felt that Batman from the main universe might not know how naive the rookie Batman was. This was his loophole, and he could take advantage of it.
Penguin Man plans to demand an extra bullet when it's Batman's turn again. He is confident that he can use words and actions to put pressure on Batman, forcing him to exceed his emotional threshold, until he gives up out of fear.
When that happens, the situation will turn into Penguin Man holding a gun against Batman's head, forcing Batman to spill secrets before he can leave.
Penguin Man intends to give the Prime Universe Batman a small warning with this: my heart to defend my power and status is not weaker than your heart for justice; I will pay any price to keep it all.
But Penguin Man couldn't figure out how Batman's gun could be unharmed in his hands. Could the Prime Universe Batman really let this rookie gamble with it?
No, it's impossible. Batman is not that kind of person. If some plans would inevitably cause injuries, he would rather step up himself. All Batmen possess a kind of naive kindness.
But even if Batman hadn't tampered with the gun, it would have been a normal game of Russian Roulette. How did the first shot hit? This is a one in six chance, it simply doesn't make sense in terms of probability.
Could it be that the Batman of this universe is not only a rookie, but also incredibly unlucky?
Penguin Man instinctively felt something was wrong, but he soon received a call from Emperor Penguin. The doctor on the other end said a bunch of professional terms that Penguin Man didn't understand. All he could understand was that Batman's situation was very critical, the rescue was ongoing, and the expected rescue time was unpredictable.
Before Penguin Man could hang up, another call came in. He had to hang up first and let this incoming call through, and what he heard was Gordon's roar.
"Oswald Kolbott, what the hell are you doing?! The party leader Wood called and asked me to suppress the news of you killing Bruce Wayne. What did you do?!!!!"
Penguin Man was also stunned. How did this news reach the party leader? Barely half an hour had passed since Bruce Wayne fell, and the party leader is in Washington, how could he hear about it sooner than Gordon?
In a hurry, Penguin Man called over his assistant. The assistant's complexion changed several times, and finally, under Penguin Man's questioning, he spoke.
"Today at 4:00 p.m., there was a regional party interrogative meeting in the lobby downstairs regarding the next election. I notified you yesterday, but you said you wouldn't attend ..."
Penguin Man widened his eyes while the assistant went on flusteredly: "While the stretcher was being carried down, it just passed the entrance of the meeting venue..."
Penguin Man almost choked and leaned back a few steps, luckily his hand caught the back of his sofa chair. He asked his assistant: "How did they know it was Bruce Wayne?"
The assistant was taken aback, then cautiously replied: "Um, because none of them have prosopagnosia?"
"I mean, doesn't he wear a mask?!!!!"
"The doctor said his outfit was inhibiting his breathing." The assistant swallowed and whispered: "So, when the stretcher had just reached the hallway, the mask was taken off."
"Couldn't you..."
Penguin man wanted to say why did they not cover Bruce Wayne's face, but then he thought, if Bruce Wayne were covered with a white cloth and carried out of his office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would probably already have their guns pointed at his forehead.
Congress's indifference to Gotham has its limits. If the mayor publicly murders the richest man, and it's still ignored, then the Federation would be truly finished.
Penguin Man is well aware of this, he stomped his foot vigorously. He had just began to plan his next move when his assistant spoke again.
"In order to avoid inhibiting his breathing, the doctor took off his shirt directly. It just happened to be when the meeting ended. The party members all saw the wound on Bruce's chest, the gunshot wound was quite noticeable."
Penguin Man felt his vision darken, his phone rang again. Instinctively, he pressed the answer button, held the phone to his ear, and the party leader's roar was deafening in his ears.
After hanging up the phone, Penguin Man covered his eyes with one hand, his chest heaving like a bellows next to a blazing fire. After a while, he lifted his shaking arm and waved his hand at his assistant saying,
"Go, find the best doctor, we must... Never mind, get the car ready, I'm heading over now."
Penguin Man straightened his suit jacket, picked up the umbrella beside him, and walked briskly out of the office, with several security guards originating from the mob following him into the elevator.
With a ding, the elevator door opened, countless cameras heavily greeted Penguin Man.
"Mr. Mayor, why did you shoot Bruce Wayne? Do you do it to vent the anger of the frenzied public?"
"Mr. Kopot, some people say that your shooting of Bruce Wayne is an attempt to gain popularity for the election next month. What's your opinion? Is this the first step in the Democratic Party changing its campaign style in New Jersey State?"
"What do you think about the bill amendment proposal regarding the unrestricted self-defense rights of New Jersey State that Party leader Wood is proposing in Congress? Is your action a support for the bill amendment?"
"Mr. Mayor, how about Bruce..."
"Mr. Mayor..."