After saying goodbye to Gordon, Karl returned home with a message from Penguin.
There would be a meeting at the Iceberg Lounge that evening, and Karl still had plenty of matters within the organization to deal with before then.
"Forget about that for now, Jason. I remember you're pretty close with Dick over at Wayne Manor. What's been happening there lately?"
Karl deliberately asked despite already knowing the answer.
"What the hell is Bruce Wayne up to now?"
Jason shook his head.
"It's not just about his injuries. Rumors that Bruce Wayne is retiring are everywhere. Dick's place is surrounded by paparazzi all day, so there's no peace at all. I can't even go over there to hang out anymore!"
Hearing that, Karl suddenly realized where the problem lay.
According to the original storyline, Batman had been utterly defeated in his battle against Bane, his body almost broken in half.
Even so, with Gotham facing disaster, Bruce Wayne had refused to give up.
Knowing that Bane could seize control of Gotham if nobody stopped him, Bruce had risked his life to continue fighting. He trained his battered body back into fighting condition and ultimately became even stronger than before.
In the end, he defeated Bane and reclaimed Gotham City.
But the problem now was that the driving force that had pushed Batman to rise from that desperate situation had originally been Bane himself.
As long as Bane remained undefeated, Batman wouldn't have been able to rest even if continuing the fight killed him.
Naturally, he had been filled with fighting spirit.
But now Bane had already been dealt with.
On top of that, Harvey Dent, someone Batman trusted greatly, had become Police Commissioner.
The darkness that had once hung over Gotham had diminished, and Falcone's faction had been driven out.
It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that Gotham was currently in one of the best and most hopeful periods it had seen in years.
Even so, Karl couldn't imagine Batman simply walking away.
"Damn it. What Gotham really needs is an army of psychiatrists..."
Karl sighed helplessly.
"Forget it. The best psychiatrists in Gotham usually end up becoming lunatics themselves."
The situation was rather awkward.
Karl knew perfectly well who Batman really was, but he couldn't simply march into Wayne Manor, grab Bruce Wayne by the hands, and give him some long, heartfelt speech about pulling himself together and staying strong.
Besides, Karl and Gotham's richest man still had some very obvious disagreements between them.
Showing up to visit Bruce now would only make things more awkward.
Karl sighed and pulled a box from a drawer.
Inside were several shattered crystal fragments.
During his battle with Bane, these seemingly insignificant crystals had completely restrained Karl's magic and deprived him of the ability to cast spells.
Fortunately, Death Arrow had appeared at a critical moment and struck the crystals from a distance with an arrow.
That weakened their magic-suppressing effect, but it had also shattered the crystals into pieces.
"What a waste for treasures like these to have ended up in Felix Faust's hands."
Karl stared at them with a headache.
"And besides... how the hell am I supposed to use these things?"
Ever since he had removed the crystals from Bane's body, Karl had barely been able to make them work at all.
Perhaps they required some special spell to control them.
Without anyone who knew the proper method, however, the crystals behaved completely unpredictably.
Sometimes their power became strong enough to suppress magic across an area hundreds of meters wide.
At other times, they showed no supernatural properties whatsoever and looked like ordinary crystals.
Their previous owner, Bane, had apparently been corrupted by the power of these forbidden crystals.
The corruption had left him mentally deranged.
Every day, he would simply squint his eyes and leave his mouth hanging open, almost as if he had become an idiot.
Under normal circumstances, asking Constantine for advice would have been the obvious choice.
But after everything that happened with Harvey Dent, Karl had nearly severed his relationship with Constantine's group.
He would rather keep the forbidden artifact locked inside a box than risk revealing the existence of Jagger-Kang.
Otherwise, there was no telling what consequences might follow.
Thinking about Constantine reminded Karl of something else.
Constantine still had influence over Harvey.
If Karl simply left the situation alone, sooner or later something was bound to happen.
"I need someone who can steal information directly from Harvey..."
Karl thought for a moment.
"Come to think of it, don't I already know the perfect master thief for this job? Why not put her talents to good use this time?"
Jason glanced at Karl and deliberately replied in an even tone.
"Selina sleeps during the day. If you call and wake her up now, she'll track you down at home and whip you tonight."
Karl grimaced.
He suddenly remembered the days when he was still nothing more than an ordinary patrol officer and Catwoman had once tracked him down for a vicious fight.
Those three-inch high heels of hers had felt sharper than knife points.
She had nearly beaten him to death with them.
Fortunately, he'd had a cat on hand back then!
When night fell, Karl headed out and arrived at the Iceberg Lounge as agreed.
In fact, he arrived slightly ahead of schedule.
Oswald Cobblepot greeted him with a broad smile and personally welcomed him inside.
"Hahaha! Karl, old friend! I never would've expected you to become interested in the media business. That's certainly a surprise!"
Penguin's smile was radiant.
He looked nothing like the same man who had been plotting against Karl only a few days earlier.
"It's just a television station. What's so impressive about that?"
Karl casually returned the compliment.
"Compared with your casino business, I'm still nowhere near your level, old man."
Unexpectedly, Penguin stopped walking and vigorously shook his head.
Watching Penguin's reaction, Karl silently praised the man's shrewdness.
Penguin had clearly seen through part of his intentions.
In truth, this was one of the main reasons Karl wanted to buy the television station.
With a media outlet under his control, even if the compromising information Harvey possessed about him became public in the future, Karl would have ways to minimize the damage through publicity and control of the narrative.
"Don't just praise me. There are plenty of opportunities on your side too."
Karl calmly laid out the bait.
"I heard the gangster controlling that television station used to be a very senior member of Gotham's mob."
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]