Chapter 36 Reversing the Heavenly Gang's Rules and Laws ( )
Everyone was stunned.
Thomas stared at Zuk expressionlessly, as if he were looking at a lump of raw meat.
Zuk, who was being stared at, reacted the most. He suddenly sprang to his feet, a move that was quite difficult considering he was currently bound tightly.
Batman adjusted his position, intending to stop Thomas if he made any unusual moves.
“No, no need, Thomas,” Dick said in a low voice. “Just let him stand trial in court.”
“I was just kidding.” Thomas smiled, though in the moonlight he looked even more like a deranged serial killer than before. “I still have work to do, and I don’t want to go to a mental hospital to recuperate for a while.”
“You really scared me, Thomas.” Dick breathed a sigh of relief, convinced that Thomas’s horrified expression was due to the darkness in the office. “So why don’t we turn on the lights? It’s too dark in here.”
But Batman clearly doesn't think so.
“...You better be joking. I’ll stop you from killing,” Batman said.
“I respect your choice, but you need to be prepared,” Thomas said, squatting down beside him. “We live in beautiful Garden State. Do you know how many death sentences have been handed down here in the last ten years?”
"have no idea."
"Zero cases, New Jersey effectively abolishes death penalty."
Batman answered the question for him.
“So no matter how hard the lawyer tries, he will at most be imprisoned for life, and there’s a possibility of parole,” Thomas continued. “I suggest you say what you have to say now, so you don’t have to go to the police station or prison to see that disgusting face.”
Dick hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "I have nothing to say to him."
“Then I’ll call the police.” Thomas walked to the landline. “You’re lucky. My whole family are model citizens.”
Zucker stared at him and sneered, "What kind of model citizen are you? Thomas Wayne and the Graysons died because of you."
Thomas hung up the phone and turned to look at him: "I didn't hear you clearly, could you repeat it?"
He seemed like a completely different person now, his sky-blue eyes vaguely focused on Zuk's face.
This unfamiliar feeling prompted Batman to take out his batarang again.
But Dick was oblivious to this, and instead loudly questioned Zucker.
Today's dramatic ups and downs seemed to have pushed Zuk's spirit to an extreme. He said to Dick in a frenzy, "You stupid kid, the one standing next to you is the real devil. He is the root of your family's misfortune."
“How come I didn’t know?” Thomas approached him. “What did I do?”
Is it a multiverse? Or is someone deliberately trying to cause trouble?
If anyone knows what happened on Earth-3... has the quantum bomb been exposed?
“You treacherous scoundrel,” Zuk glared at him. “You left us no way out. They all died because of you, you stupid brat!”
Thomas stopped in his tracks.
The word "implicate" should not be used to describe the Graysons of Earth 3.
If Zucker was referring to the Graysons from Earth 3, then the word he used would be premeditated murder.
Realizing his emotions were running high, Thomas immediately returned to "normal." After a moment's thought, he reluctantly picked out one thing from his pile of legal scumbags that would specifically offend the mob.
"You mean the transportation contract my company had recently?" Thomas asked uncertainly.
"You call that a transportation contract?" Zuk glared at him fiercely, as if he wanted to tear a piece of flesh from him. "That's protection money, you're worse than a gangster..."
"Don't tarnish my business with your gang's terminology, and this has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Harry's circus. You're just a coward making excuses for yourself," Thomas retorted. "First of all, let me state that I am a law-abiding businessman. Assisting the police in cracking down on gang smuggling routes is a citizen's duty. As for the transportation contract... it clearly states that it cannot be used for illegal activities. If I find out, I will naturally sue. Didn't you even hire a lawyer to take a look? Breach of contract means paying a penalty."
Batman: ...
I understand.
Based on legal knowledge and statements from all parties, the sequence of events should be as follows.
Thomas and the GCPD took down a number of gangs, making them mistakenly believe that they would be targeted by him if they did not cooperate, so they competed to cooperate with him.
Then, just when they thought the cooperation was secure, Thomas gathered a lot of evidence and pulled off a double-cross, making a profit from the breach of contract penalty.
This can be described as risking one's life to fight against the dark side of Gotham, without being violent or illegal at all, and there is nothing wrong with it.
“Secondly,” Thomas stepped on Zuk’s shoulder, “since you’ve dealt with me before and know I’m not someone to be trifled with, how dare you specifically target the circus I’m protecting? Who ordered it?”
Zuk seemed to want to speak, but Thomas stepped on his face: "Actually, I don't care if you have someone behind you or you made a stupid mistake. I'm too lazy to figure it out. I just need someone to take responsibility for this."
Zuk tried to move his foot away with his hands, but both his hands were badly injured.
He's not in mortal danger right now, Batman won't help, and Dick... it's good enough that Dick isn't helping Thomas beat him up.
“Finally,” Thomas said, exchanging a glance with Zucker, “do you feel safe now, you fool? I don’t need to do it myself to torture you. I have shares in a correctional company, and there will always be people who try to take credit for me, just like you who tried to provoke me.”
"Ahem." Batman coughed.
“It’s not illegal, and I don’t need to target him on purpose. Night Owl has already given him enough trouble,” Thomas put his foot down. “You’re hoping that Penguin and Night Owl can help you, but Penguin doesn’t dare to break ties with me at all, and you’ve offended Night Owl completely. He considers Claw and Reserve Claw as his property. It’s a miracle that you survived from him.”
"So now, unfortunately, you've offended both sides of Gotham completely, and you only have two paths left," Thomas said coldly. "Cherish your choice now. I'll pass, but some people don't care about the law."
Clearly, the two paths he mentioned were one a dead end and the other a dead end.
“The police will be here soon. You can choose for yourself,” Thomas calmly stated the facts. “It’s your choice anyway, but I hope whatever you choose won’t make a mess of my office.”
After saying that, he grabbed Dick and started to leave.
“Wait, is it alright to just leave him there?” Dick tugged at Thomas’s sleeve.
"It's alright, I've seen plenty of people like that. Even if he threatened the police with a knife, he wouldn't kill himself," Thomas replied casually, rubbing the soles of his shoes lightly on the carpet.
"What if he runs away? What if he really threatens the police with a knife?"
"Then he deserved to die a righteous death. Armed arrests can be carried out by shooting, and dying is more swift than a knife wound."
Batman: "Ahem."
Don't say these things to little children, Thomas.
Thomas turned around and looked at a dark figure in the office who hadn't followed him: "Aren't you leaving?"
The shadowy figure suddenly disappeared.
Okay, he's not leaving.
"Whatever, there's nothing in my office anyway." Thomas casually reminded Batman, "Dick, Alfred Bruce's home, I don't know what happened..."
-
Dick discovers that the manor seems to be hiding some secret.
Of course, this is not to say that any of Alfred, Bruce, or Thomas are villains (although Thomas seems a bit scary); they are all very kind to Dick.
However, it seems that each of the three of them has a secret...
First up is Bruce.
The night Zucker was arrested (yes, whether Thomas's speculation was correct or Batman did something, he didn't die), he wasn't at Wayne Manor.
According to Alfred's account, poor Bruce somehow decided to take a shortcut on his way home from get off work and got lost.
...
Who would believe such a reason?
This led Dick to suspect, based on extensive review and investigation, that Bruce might be...
Night Owl!
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Author's note: I wrote a little less today (feeling guilty).
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