Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

"What? How could Lucius Fox... Okay, I got it. I'll be there right away."

Shiller hung up the phone, glanced out of the window, then quickly went downstairs and got into his car. Before driving, he sent a message to Jason: "Something happened to Fox, Batman will leave, I'll wait for you in the backstreet of Wayne Hospital."

Shiller drove to the street behind Wayne Hospital. Jason arrived a bit later but recognized Shiller's car, opened the door, and sat inside, his eyes piercingly fixed on Shiller.

"My guess was right. They went after Alfred first and now they're after Fox."

Shiller put up a hand to stop him, then said, "It's not that simple. Fox may have been involved in the previous arms smuggling case."

"What?"

"I mean, Batman made a deal with Penguin Man to get you back from his clutches. Penguin Man asked Batman to take care of a few people. But among these people are some involved in a previous arms smuggling case."

"Batman handed the job to Fox. And just at this time, something happened to Fox. He won't think it's someone targeting him but will feel that Penguin Man set him up."

Jason's expression froze for several seconds before he clarified the relationships. He looked at Shiller and said, "Do you think this is a coincidence?"

"It's more likely that the other party took advantage of the situation," Shiller said. "Fox is Batman's most capable ally, he could even have a greater impact than Alfred. The other party surely has wanted to make a move on him for a while."

"It's just that Fox is more skilled, and they've never succeeded until now. This time, he got himself involved in a dangerous affair. They took the opportunity to strike fast and achieved a good effect."

"Then we can't use this incident to expose them, can we?"

Shiller glanced at him and said, "Expose them with what? Alfred's death? Or Fox's injury?"

"It's obviously related. I've already investigated some clues..."

"Can you forget about Batman for a few days?" Shiller straightforwardly said, "I don't have time to play these little family games with you. I helped you for my own purposes, so your primary goal now is to help me, not to orbit around Batman. He's not that important."

Jason stared blankly at him.

Shiller sighed and said, "The current situation won't stop if Batman's missing. Whether he knows the truth or not doesn't matter. If he wants to go crazy, let him be, I don't care."

After speaking, Shiller took out a few small capsules from his clothing and said, "Swallow these. I'll take you back to Wayne Manor."

Jason looked at the capsules warily. Shiller turned to him and said, "I'm not negotiating with you. If you don't take them, I guarantee you won't be able to do what you want."

In the end, Jason didn't take them. Shiller put the capsules away, drove back to Arkham Asylum, and lifted some restrictions on a room. He shouted into the room's intercom: "Bruce, if you're not dead, come over."

Bruce appeared quickly in the office. He was in good spirits, yawning lackadaisically as he came in, poured himself a cup of water, and sipped leisurely.

Shiller was annoyed just looking at him and said bluntly, "Go blow up Wayne Hospital."

Bruce spat out a mouthful of water.

"Why blow up Wayne Hospital?"

"Don't ask too many questions," Shiller said, somewhat irritable. "Just tell me if you're going or not."

"Alright, I'll go. If I don't, you'll find someone else anyway. Might as well be me." Bruce stretched and said, "How explosive are we talking? Sky-high?"

"No need, just collapse the building, try not to hurt people."

"No wonder you came to me and not Joker." Bruce snapped his fingers and said, "Leave it to me."

Before long, a loud explosion was heard in the skies over Gotham. Almost everyone turned to look in that direction.

One of the landmark buildings in Gotham City Center, Wayne Hospital, collapsed in a thunderous crash. People screamed and ran outside.

Jason, who was about to enter the hospital to continue his investigation, was stunned. Batgirl and Nightwing, who also just got the clue and were ready to investigate, were stunned too.

Jason now understood what Shiller meant by "you won't be able to do what you want."

With the hospital gone, where could he investigate the clues?

Batman, on the other hand, rescued the comatose Lucius Fox from the collapsing building. He too was bewildered, not understanding why his own hospital suddenly exploded.

Jason clenched his fists. Dodging the crowd, he picked up the phone and called the number, then said, "Did you do this? You madman! You've ruined everything!"

"I left the capsules on your bedside table," came the indifferent and merciless voice from the other end of the phone.

Jason knew he had no other choice.

He returned to Wayne Manor only slightly faster than Batman. Listening to the footsteps in the hallway, Jason threw the two capsules into his mouth.

When Batman pushed open the door, he only saw Jason fainting on the bed. He rushed over and shook Jason, who was unresponsive. He immediately called Dr. Tompkins.

Dr. Tompkins rushed over but could not diagnose the reason for the unconsciousness after a thorough examination.

The successive incidents with Fox and Jason made her recall Jason's previous speculation.

But Batman blamed it all on Penguin Man.

Because Fox's accident happened while dealing with people that Penguin Man had asked him to handle. And during the rescue, the hospital was bombed, and upon his return, Jason had an accident too. All these events were connected to Penguin Man.

Batman picked up the phone, furiously roaring. But Penguin Man, who had just finished a call with Shiller, confidently said:

"I don't know what happened with Fox, but it's true, I did make Jason faint. Batman, I had to consider the possibility that you would default on our deal. So, I made some small preparations in advance."

"Listen closely, I want that batch of military supplies involved in the arms smuggling case. That is the very reason I had you confront those people. Until I get the goods, your little treasure will remain comatose in bed. You figure it out!"

With a thud, Batman threw his phone down. He covered his face with his hands, sank down slowly against the wall by the window.

After a while, he dialed Nightwing's phone.

"Dick, I need you to do me a favor with the GTO. I know James has resigned, so now you're in charge. Promise me, don't let him find out about this, okay?"

Nightwing hung up and turned to Batgirl, "Batman wants me to take some people to check the warehouse on the west side of the docks. Do you know where that is?"

Batgirl paused to recall, then said, "Isn't that Passa Military Industry's warehouse? The one that manufactures Hawk Style 16 armored vehicles?"

Nightwing took a deep breath and said, "Batman is planning to raid Passa Military Industry's place?! Has he lost his mind?"

Batgirl thought it through for a moment before responding, "Something's happened to Lucius Fox, and Batman's having you do this. That means there must be a direct link to Passa Military Industry. Let's go have a look first."

Nightwing led his team and quickly surrounded the western warehouses. Ordinary people on the ground floor were no match for the factory security, but the factory guards were no match for the well-trained and fully armed GTO. They were disarmed without much resistance.

Having seen Gordon in action, Nightwing thought that at this point, the other side should send someone over for negotiations. But he waited and waited and no one came. He had no choice but to call Batman for further instructions.

Batman didn't answer him directly, just told him to wait a bit longer. After about another half hour, two cargo ships arrived at the dock. In full view of the GTO, a group of people entered the factory and started moving out goods.

Nightwing didn't know whether to intercept or let them go. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as they moved the goods away.

The two ships transported the cargo from North Port to South Port. Waiting at South Port for a long time was Penguin Man, who showed a sullen smile upon seeing the fresh batch of military equipment.

"Got it. Warehouse No. 16 at the backstreet of South Port. Payment upon delivery."

Shiller showed up soon after, but he didn't come alone. Gordon was shocked as he gazed at the boxes of weapons and equipment, almost unable to walk.

"Where did you get so much new military hardware?!"

Gordon knew his stuff. This wasn't civilian-grade weaponry; there were parts for armored vehicles, plenty of anti-tank arms, trench equipment, and heavy weapons.

More importantly, these items were unused, still in their packaging, obviously intercepted while they were being transported to the warehouse.

"Did you rob the National Guard?!" he exclaimed.

"It wasn't us who robbed them," Shiller said. "Remember the recent maritime arms smuggling case? It's that batch."

Gordon's eyes widened even further. "That batch was in Gotham?! Who's responsible?"

"Passa Military Industry."

"Aren't they the sellers?!"

"Double-crossing," Shiller succinctly explained, and then offered, "We have a history, so I'll give you a good deal. How about it?"

"What would I even do with this stuff?"

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

Gordon couldn't actually be sure. He looked covetously at the trench equipment. Having such resources would not only fend off criminals and hitmen hired by the elite, but even a professional army wouldn't break through their defenses anytime soon. The Lower city area would be much safer.

"But I don't have the money..."

"Think again," Shiller said. "Think carefully."

Gordon paused, then realized what he was implying, "Are you referring to the GTO funds? But I've already resigned."

"You resigned from your position as Gotham Police Department's Commissioner, but the GTO was established as a special unit independent of the police System. You are still their supreme commander."

"But under what guise would I buy it?" Gordon asked.

Shiller counted off on his fingers for him: "The public order in Gotham is deteriorating again, we don't need to discuss why. As an anti-terrorism armed force, you naturally need more professional equipment to handle these security issues."

"After buying this equipment, you'll find you need a lot of manpower to deploy it, and you're severely understaffed. So you can recruit some temporary workers to help you deploy these equipments."

"Since most terrorist attacks occur in the Lower city area, it's best to recruit and deploy locally there.

"This area is plagued by frequent terrorist attacks, and the work environment is too dangerous, so everyone gets fifty thousand dollars a day as danger pay. Start with recruiting twenty thousand people for the first phase of the work."

Gordon was speechless.

"Wait a minute," said Gordon, recalling something, "How did you get your hands on the goods? You didn't raid Passa Military Industry's place, did you?"

"I told you it wasn't us who raided them," Shiller shrugged.

Right after he finished speaking, Gordon's phone rang. Answering it, a furious voice blasted from the other side:

"James Gordon, have you lost your damn mind to surround my warehouse??!!"

Before Gordon could respond, Shiller coughed once and said, "Give him a ten percent of the manpower expenses."

"Just ten percent?" Gordon whispered, covering the phone.

"Think again," Shiller said without even lifting an eyelid.

Gordon did the math quickly, twenty thousand people with fifty thousand dollars each, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands... that's a freaking billion a day!

"At most, I'll give you five percent, Gavin. Not a cent more. You damn dirty hyena!"