Chapter 19 Sub-adult, ha, such destructive power of a sub-adult...
Of course, Thomas didn't kill these court members himself; he was now powerless to do so. These past few days, Alfred had been so angry that he'd been following Thomas around all day, supervising the rebellious teenager's recovery.
These people all died of their own accord.jpg
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Thomas's initial plan was to take over Gotham City directly under the identity of Thomas Wayne.
However, a single dominant power will provoke strong resistance, while a two-way division will force the vast majority of people to choose sides. This is a lesson Thomas learned when he ruled Gotham on Earth III.
So now he's taken a roundabout approach, deliberately creating a conflict between the two identities.
Night Owl is responsible for maintaining order in Gotham at night, while Thomas rules Gotham during the day. These two identities are equally powerful yet absolutely opposed, and whoever wants to harm one will inevitably have to seek the support of the other.
Of course, Thomas had no intention of making the situation in Gotham resemble the US election; this was mainly to protect Bruce, who was determined to return.
Otherwise, if Bruce returns to Gotham with the ideal of changing the city, only to find that Wayne, through Thomas's efforts, has become an enemy of all of Gotham, that would be truly hellish.
At least with Thomas causing such a ruckus, Wayne will at most be at odds with half of Gotham.
The Owl Court is a crucial part of this bizarre plan that could only have been devised by someone with a split personality.
According to Thomas's initial plan, the Court of Owls would be "cleaned up" by him.
However, this would make it difficult to fully take over their power and command the brainwashed Claws. Moreover, forcefully controlling the Court of Owls would inevitably lead to the deaths of most of Gotham's elite overnight. Thomas, who was still alive at that time, would certainly be suspected, and would even inevitably expose his identity as Nite Owl.
Therefore, the best way for Thomas is to infiltrate the organization by disguising himself as someone from the future.
In any case, the Court of Owls was basically open to him unilaterally. Apart from things like evil gods and beliefs that required interrogating the Grand Judge to learn a thing or two, the rest of the things were exactly the same as his Court of Owls.
The plan went very smoothly, and everything was moving in the direction Thomas had hoped for.
Thomas certainly didn't expect to intimidate the Owl Court with a few words; nobody's a fool.
All he needed to do was convince the Court of Owls that they had two seriously destabilizing factors within their ranks: one was an internal traitor, and the other was a "future Supreme Court Justice" who would kill people without warning and against whom they had no way to retaliate.
What happened next didn't even require the Night Owl to do anything himself. All he needed to do was get a little closer to a few court members as "Thomas Wayne," or show extra protection for someone as the Night Owl, and they would start to suspect and attack each other... and eventually walk hand in hand toward their doom.
And Thomas? Throughout the entire process, he will only be a pitiful figure. In the eyes of others, he will be targeted by everyone in various ways, and his "friends" will die for various reasons...
So Thomas really didn't do anything last night; he was sleeping peacefully under Alfred's supervision when he died.
He simply picked a few Court of Owls members he didn't like before going to bed, sent them some cooperation invitations under their public identities, and when he woke up the next morning, they were dead.
Sure enough, people shrouded in the fear of death go mad, and the intricate web of interests and blood ties within Gotham's upper echelons only fuels their madness.
The next morning, Thomas was eating breakfast while reading the newspaper.
Most of the time, you can tell Alfred's mood from his breakfast. Today's breakfast is a cucumber sandwich, so Thomas decides to go along with Alfred.
The front page headline was Thomas's press conference yesterday, followed by the obituary of Mr. Vanafer, the unfortunate judge of the Owl Court, who police said was drained of his blood and dumped on his own floor.
Following that were the obituaries of two Gotham celebrities: one killed in a car accident, the other by jumping off a building. It seems these were the casualties of the Court of Owls' members in their panic.
Honestly, if circumstances allowed, Thomas would love to watch the live broadcast of the infighting in the Owl Court.
"Are you sure you want to go to work before your injury is fully healed, young master Thomas?"
“Of course,” Thomas replied casually. “I’ve only been gone for three days, and Wayne Enterprises is in complete chaos.”
“Then I regret to inform you,” Alfred said solemnly, “that Master Bruce and I have discussed your personal safety and have reached a consensus…”
Thomas had a bad feeling.
“From now on, I will drive you to and from get off work.” Alfred stood calmly behind Thomas.
“Wait, Alfred.” Thomas turned to look at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious,” Alfred said. “You’re still a minor.”
“The state court ruled that I was an adult, and I had my own income before I worked for Wayne Enterprises.”
“Yes, but that’s adulthood in the legal sense. But Bruce and I both agree that it’s irresponsible to let a teenager under eighteen go out on his own. And even if (Alfred emphasized the word) you’re just going to work every day, you should have heard some rumors that Gotham has gone completely mad lately.”
How could I not know? All the recent big commotion in Gotham has been linked to Thomas.
Alberto Falcone's bomb hasn't even exploded yet; if it does, Gotham will only become more chaotic.
"...Okay, thank you, Alfred."
This is probably a case of being trapped by one's own actions.
But according to Alfred's implication, Thomas would no longer need to be picked up and dropped off when he turned eighteen, and Thomas would soon be eighteen.
During this time, he could have easily flown the plane to Wayne Manor to pick him up at midnight, so Thomas did not protest.
“Oh, by the way,” Thomas finished the last bite of his cucumber sandwich and put down his newspaper, “I’m planning to hire a bodyguard, Alfred.”
"In my opinion, based on the number of times you've been injured this month, one might not be enough."
Thomas wanted to refute Alfred's words. He had only been injured twice this month, and both times he had injured himself. The cast on his leg was just a cast, not a fracture.
But thinking of the cucumber sandwiches, he still reluctantly said, "I also feel it's not enough. I'm planning to equip Wayne Group's security personnel with firearms recently. But we still need to hire bodyguards, and I need you to interview them for me. You know, I don't trust anyone else."
This statement seemed to please Alfred.
"I thought you were very confident in your ability to judge people?"
“Recently, some incidents have occurred, and I have realized that my understanding of human psychology is still insufficient. Otherwise, I would not have been attacked inside Wayne Enterprises.”
Honestly, Kryptonians are easier to understand; their stupidity is consistent. Human psychology is too changeable, and their stupidity is too unstable.
Thomas pressed his advantage: "Not everyone is a top-notch MI6 agent, Alfred. I'm sure you can pick the purest and most capable protector from a bunch of scheming bodyguards."
“I’m glad you’re taking your safety seriously,” Alfred nodded. “And I feel like you’re becoming more and more like a child your age lately.”
Thomas watched him warily.
Alfred, are you mocking me?
A note from the author:
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Q: Why didn't Bruce suggest that Alfred go to work with Thomas?
A: He didn't know Thomas was at work and thought he was attacked while attending a board meeting.
We'll talk about academic issues in a few chapters. Anyway, this owl seems like an honest, pitiful little thing, but he's actually quite rebellious...
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