Chapter 20 The Prelude to War is a Deception Everywhere
Kelvin Ross, an unmodified Claw, was both lucky and unlucky to be chosen by that ridiculously powerful Owl Monster (who would have thought that one day it would be Claw calling someone an Owl Monster) to apply for a job as Thomas Wayne's bodyguard.
What kind of crazy idea is this? What's the point of having a bodyguard? According to that guy, Kelvin can't just kill Wayne... so what's the point of having a Claw as a bodyguard? Claw's specialty is assassination, not intelligence gathering.
"Stop your murderous intent and stop frowning," the strange man said. "You'll never get into Wayne Corporation like this."
"Anyone with eyes should be able to tell at a glance that I am dangerous."
"That's not something I should be thinking about. Do I have to teach you even something as simple as how to lie?"
Kelvin took a deep breath, desperately reminding himself to show respect to the madman before him: "The training of Claws demands honesty and loyalty..."
"What are you worried about? I've looked at all the applicants' files, and your fake file is the best one." The strange man interrupted him. "Isn't it simpler to hide your murderous intent? I didn't even ask you to kill Wayne."
The owl was unusually patient today, perhaps because he really needed a claw to help with some dirty work, so he actually tried to teach Kelvin how to hide himself: "It's simple, you can really help Wayne wholeheartedly, use this job as your springboard, your springboard to get out of here."
He smiled as he dissected the claws before him: "You hate us, you hate your identity, you hate your job..."
"I didn't want to memorize it..."
"Really? You're even lying to yourself?"
Kelvin opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to defend himself, but he couldn't refute it.
Since his thoughts have already been seen through, what's the point of lying anymore?
Betrayal is a cardinal sin for Claw, and these words could very well be a trap; he might be killed in the next second.
Kelvin tried to make his voice sound as natural as possible, at least not revealing his ridiculous emotional fluctuations: "So what exactly is my task?"
"Wait for the right moment. If I don't give you any other orders, you'd better be a good bodyguard and don't let Wayne die. In fact, you don't need to worry about what I order you to do until we find a way to kill him peacefully. In the meantime, you are free to try to use Wayne's power to fight against the Court of Owls."
"Aren't you worried that I'll betray you?"
"Excuse my bluntness, but what can you do?" The man shifted his posture. "You don't know my base coordinates, my weaknesses, my identity, or my social connections... You pose no threat to me, sir. And you can guess what Wayne will do to you once you reveal your Claws identity?"
Why should I go?
“It seems my words just now gave you the wrong impression, the impression that I have a very good temper. Now I’ll have to put it another way that you can understand,” the strange man said. “You are all still alive only because I still need you. If this doesn’t work, I will either get rid of you or send you to be sacrificed.”
This is a perfect threat.
Coincidentally, Kelvin really didn't want to die.
So the next day, he sat in the Wayne Group's lounge with a bunch of job seekers with ulterior motives.
...That madman was absolutely right. Among this group, Kelvin had one of the cleanest records. He recognized at least two of these fugitives.
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Thomas asked Alfred to help recruit people, mainly to test whether Claw could hide his identity well. He himself felt everyone he met wasn't hiding their true identity well enough, making it impossible to judge whether Claw was hiding it effectively in front of others.
He didn't want to be forced to reveal his identity to everyone just because he was a tool.
However, Claws here is indeed a very useful tool. Thomas can easily control him from both sides, and he can also be used to handle some tasks that neither Thomas nor Night Owl can handle.
Therefore, Thomas went to great lengths to command Claws as the chairman of Wayne Enterprises. He hired a group of assassins, mercenaries, and fugitives to kill him, and had these outlaws apply for his bodyguard positions, all to ensure Alfred had no choice but to hire them.
This process was really interesting. Thomas never expected to run into an old acquaintance among the mercenaries, Slade Joseph Wilson, who was always at odds with the crime syndicate. It seems that he is quite down on his luck on this earth and has to make money as a mercenary.
Thomas had initially considered hiring the guy as a bodyguard. However, considering that Slade was considered a good person on Earth III, he figured he was likely a bad person here, and hiring him carelessly might lead to him being betrayed. So Thomas abandoned the idea and simply gave him some money to cause trouble for Luther in Metropolis.
Anyway, Thomas has money, and he's happy to spend money to watch the spectacle.
In short, Thomas had a lot of fun, but Alfred didn't seem to be in a good mood.
As soon as he entered the chairman's office, he glanced at Thomas's workspace before finally fixing his gaze on the freezer filled with Coca-Cola.
“Young Master Thomas, don’t you think this excellent piece of Pop Art doesn’t match your elegant office? Or is this freezer something Andy Warhol created himself?” (1)
“I chose this myself. Obviously, this style doesn’t suit my office. I’ll get a built-in refrigerator in a couple of days.” Thomas was determined to act like a well-behaved, normal person in front of Alfred. He didn’t want to be told he was “like a peer” again.
"Do you really need a Coke?"
"Cola is safe; it's completely sealed and not easily poisoned."
"Mineral water is also safe."
Alfred's expression remained unchanged, but Thomas could guess what he was thinking.
Based on Thomas's understanding of Alfred, he must be planning to distribute Thomas's iced cola to the company employees in a while, and then fill the freezer with bottled mineral water.
Okay, I'll just buy it tomorrow.
"Do I need to watch the surveillance footage every day to see if any employees are carrying suspicious dark-colored bottled liquids into the chairman's office?"
It seems Alfred knew what Thomas was planning, and Thomas narrowly lost this round.
The Coca-Cola issue has been temporarily resolved, but the bodyguard issue is the real headache.
Alfred picked up the resumes that Thomas had prepared in advance. These resumes contained the names of many famous heroes of Gotham, a veritable gathering of heroes.
"So are you sure you want to choose your bodyguard from here?" Alfred looked through the resumes one by one. "I don't recall you owning any private prisons."
He picked out a few resumes that were obviously fabricated and tossed them aside.
“I think it’s probably because I offended Falcone,” Thomas answered honestly, as if he hadn’t done anything behind the scenes. “A decent person who values their life probably wouldn’t dare to go against Falcone, so those who are willing to come for an interview are naturally desperate people.”
That being said, there are just too many talented and extraordinary people here.
After examining the resume for a long time, Alfred finally picked out Kelvin Ross's resume.
“I think interviewing just this one is enough,” Alfred said. “I specifically investigated last night, and this is the only gentleman who didn’t accept the mission to assassinate you. If you had informed me earlier, these dangerous individuals might not have been able to infiltrate Wayne Corporation.”
“Excellent, Alfred,” Thomas exclaimed, everything Alfred did seemed reasonable. “Should we notify the GCPD?”
"I think the GCPD probably doesn't have the ability to resolve this crisis without causing casualties among Wayne Enterprises' personnel. Those guys will grab hostages as soon as they see the police."
“I think so too.” Thomas nodded. “I plan to have the only gentleman who doesn’t want to kill me subdue the others.”
Are you serious?
“Of course I’m serious. I’ll help him deal with the others.” Thomas rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a small ball and a gas mask. “But I need a subordinate who will absolutely obey my orders and cannot reintegrate into Gotham’s underworld.”
"Anyway, he's going to be my bodyguard, and he's bound to offend those who want to kill me. So it doesn't really matter when he starts."
Alfred picked up the ball and saw the words on it.
"...Do you keep anesthetic gas in your desk every day?"
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Kelvin was the first one called in.
The person who notified him of the interview was an older gentleman, dressed in an old-fashioned and meticulous manner, with very proper speech and behavior. He seemed to be in good physical condition, and some details showed that he had received quite rigorous and professional training.
He cautiously pushed open the door and came face to face with Thomas Wayne, the madman who was supposedly planting bombs all over Gotham.
Those sky-blue eyes held utter indifference, as if Kelvin wasn't a living person, but some kind of insect.
Kelvin could see that Thomas Wayne was much like most of the members of the Court of Owls. They disregarded life and arrogantly dominated others.
This similarity disgusted him.
“Sir,” Thomas wasted no time. He had a lot of work to do today, including planting bombs near the Court of Owls tonight (these people were indeed afraid of death; in just two days, they had almost dismantled Night Owl’s work that had taken several days to complete). So he directly assigned Kelvin the task, “Congratulations, you are the only one in this group who doesn’t want to kill me, so you are on duty. Now, please put on your gas mask and take care of those assassins.”
In front of Alfred, Thomas barely showed a shred of humanity, adding, "Don't kill anyone, just keep him under control."
Kelvin didn't truly offend the Gotham underworld, nor did he lose the life of the assassin he personally hired.
It also did not cause the Wayne family's building to lose value.
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Claws are Claws; they easily took down all the assassins, though their methods were a bit too brutal.
Thomas seemed very satisfied with this, and he finalized the contract with Kelvin directly, without digging any traps in the contract just because the other party was a claw who had never been in the modern workplace.
This behavior is so low; treating employees like this for petty gains is just asking for trouble.
Anyway, if Kelvin really has ulterior motives, Night Owl can easily deal with him.
Alfred, however, had some concerns. This Mr. Ross was clearly out of touch with society, which didn't match his resume at all.
"Are you sure?" Alfred asked, raising his doubts. "Do you really need a dangerous individual hiding their identity as a bodyguard? Perhaps we could hire some out-of-towners at high salaries to handle your security, or do you remember that the Wayne family's butler also has ample security experience?"
“I remember, Alfred,” Thomas said, looking at Alfred, “but you have too much work.”
"And I don't have time to find any outsiders, Gotham is about to descend into chaos."
A note from the author:
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1. A pop artist who created a famous work featuring cola.
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British humor is so hard to write... I feel like no matter how I write it, it's not right. To cultivate this kind of humor, I'm rewatching YM/YPM (it's really good, I've watched it four or five times and I still want to watch it again).
A little angel mentioned the three US presidents, and when I looked it up, haha, Deathstroke, it was you!
The beginning might be drastically revised; the more I read my own writing, the weirder it gets, and it's a bit out of character (OOC). But not in the next couple of days; I'm having guests over and might have to take care of the kids [crying emoji].
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