Chapter 113 Gotham in Progress (Part 2) (Patreon)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

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The sewer in Gotham City has a long history, and no matter how many times the city has been reformed, it has never been affected. It is the darkest underground kingdom in Gotham. Basically, no Gotham citizen would come here for leisure. If the sewers in Marvel New York may still have some strange evil scientists and good neighbors, then the Gotham sewers in this period can be said to be dead silent, not even homeless people or beggars would venture down here because they have heard legends of people who disappeared mysteriously in the sewers.

But Catwoman is talented and daring. She can squeeze into any corner. To avoid Bruce's sight, she quickly sneaks into the sewer. Catwoman has a natural talent for this. She hasn't gone far when she discovers signs of someone's activity near the eastern reservoir. Initially, she was just curious and followed these traces to search continuously, but soon, her discoveries exceeded her expectations. Catwoman finds a huge meeting room in the sewer. Even though she knows it's risky, she quickly calls Bruce.

Falcone, Bruce, and Schiller arrive at the scene after receiving the news. The three of them stand in the huge meeting room, with Bruce looking up at the domed ceiling covered with ribbons and saying, "This is not something that gangs or thugs can build." Indeed, the ceiling here is over ten meters high, and the entire meeting room utilizes massive stone support structures. Not to mention the cleverness of the architectural design, just the scale of the project is not something that one or two people can accomplish.

Falcone stands at the front of the huge conference table, appearing somewhat silent. The Godfather's gaze slides along the table to the end, looking at Schiller who is deep in thought, and he asks, "You don't seem surprised either." "Neither do you," Schiller says.

The three of them are somewhat silent, and Bruce finally breaks the deadlock by speaking, "It seems that we have all guessed that there is a mysterious power manipulating Gotham in the dark, and this is the evidence." "We have all paid a painful price for this," says Falcone. "I know you haven't stopped questioning the death of your parents, and I, too..." The Godfather closes his eyes, seemingly lost in thought, and says, "My eldest son died in a similarly mysterious shooting, on a night many years ago, but I chose to remain silent until today."

"Do you think these people are the culprits?" Bruce taps the table, then looks at Schiller and says, "Professor, you should have no reason to investigate this matter, and on that day when you faced that killer, you called out his name."

"You better not be so hasty. Why do you think I investigated the serial murder cases worldwide?" Schiller says.

Bruce frowns and says, "Did you already know the secrets about the existence of this organization?"

"Not only that, but I also know more, but I cannot reveal it, and even if you knew, it probably wouldn't change anything," he said.

"What is it called?" Falcone asked.

"The Court of Owls, and their assassins are called Talons."

"That nursery rhyme..." Bruce suddenly remembered. In Gotham City, there had always been a creepy and terrifying nursery rhyme: "Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send The Talon for your head."

Falcone fell silent and didn't press further. Bruce wanted to ask more, but Schiller interrupted him and said, "What we need to think about now is why this organization suddenly withdrew from here? It doesn't seem like a good sign."

Schiller was really puzzled. How did the Court of Owls disappear overnight? In so many comic books, he had never seen any Court of Owls slip out of Gotham. Judging from the appearance of this conference room, it seemed like it had just been used not long ago, how did it disappear instantly?

"They might have just relocated their base?" Bruce mused.

"Then why did they suddenly need to relocate their base?" Falcone and Bruce both shook their heads. From the perspective of these three people, this behavior was indeed very strange. Nothing major had happened in Gotham recently, so why would this organization be in a hurry to move out?

Moreover, this meeting room was very secretive. If they had not moved too quickly and left traces, even if all the buildings on the surface of Gotham were rebuilt, this underground base would not be discovered.

"However, we have all confirmed now that such an organization exists, and Gotham's development to this day is not accidental," Falcone said.

"We must unite," Schiller said, knocking on the table.

"No matter what you think, I must warn you that this organization is even more terrifying than you imagine. It's not just manipulating Gotham, but also wants to manipulate the whole world. If we can't muster the power to resist it, Gotham and the entire world will be shrouded in the darkness of the Owl's wings."

"I will make them pay," Falcone said. "I have been waiting for this day for too long. Just because I haven't spoken doesn't mean I have forgotten. I'm just waiting for them to leave a feather, and today I finally got it."

"It seems like we all have a score to settle with the Court of Owls," Bruce said, hugging his arms. He couldn't be 100% sure that his parents' death was related to this mysterious organization, but he was sure that if this dark organization was controlling Gotham and turning it into what it is today, they must also be one of the culprits of his parents' death.

Bruce stood on one side of the long table, with Falcone and Schiller standing at the two ends. In the meeting room of Dark, only the slowly swaying last words of Falcone were heard: "To avenge them, I am willing to form an alliance with you. But this alliance must be secretive enough. Any member who joins must be approved by other members, and our goal is only one."

Bruce continued his words: "To break all attempts to manipulate Gotham by mysterious forces..."

"...and bring new order to this city," Schiller said.

Back on the ground, the three didn't say anything. There were no written documents for this covenant, not even any clear rules. But all three knew that this secret meeting in the Gotham underworld determined the fate of the city's future.

Soon, the trustworthy detective Gordon and lawyer Harvey also joined this covenant, and the initial version of the "Gotham Secret Society" was born.

This is an even more mysterious organization than the Court of Owls. It has no goals or agenda, and no one uses the organization's identity to make contact. They only maintain their surface social identity, and only produce a little more tacit understanding when doing certain things. The ultimate goal of this organization is only one: if Gotham is born in chaos, then let it always be free and chaotic. Anyone who wants to manipulate it will eventually fail. After confirming the movements of the Court of Owls, Schiller abandoned his scruples and began to prepare for the first reconstruction of Gotham, and the first thing he had to do was to come up with a perfect city planning plan for Gotham."Of course, Schiller himself doesn't have knowledge in this area, but it doesn't matter, he has a very handy cheat code."

"Stark, use your genius brain to come up with a solution!"

In the laboratory of Stark Tower in Marvel New York, Schiller hands over a box of blueprints to Stark. Stark looks puzzled and says after flipping through two pages, "What is this? City planning maps? Why are you giving this to me?"

"Now I need a perfect city planning proposal for this City, and you better hurry, I need it urgently."

Stark looks at the blueprints and then at Schiller, and the two of them stare at each other. Stark says, "Why do you think I can do city planning?"

"You may not know now, but you can learn. After all, you're always learning, so why not today?"

"Even if you can't learn, J.A.R.V.I.S can. He's a super artificial intelligence, so planning a city should be a piece of cake, right?"

Stark opens his mouth, profanities almost coming out, but he looks down at the blueprints and says, "You want me to do city planning for such a huge city all by myself?"

"Well," Schiller says, "there's actually another super genius like you who has come up with the first version of the plan. But, you know, his supercomputer doesn't have enough computing power, so I had to come to you for some technical support."

Stark didn't listen to anything else. He only heard the part "a super genius like you", and he was about to retort, but Schiller threw another set of blueprints at him. Stark stared at them in disbelief.

"Hold on." Stark lowered his head and flipped through some documents from the box, then started comparing them on the spot. He pulled out more blueprints as he looked and said, "Is this an exam question? This City doesn't actually exist in the world, it's just something you made up. What's the point of this?"

"The point is to see which one of you two is more genius."

"I'll say it again, there is absolutely no one in this world smarter than Stark." Stark pointed a finger and said, "If you think there is, it must be your illusion. I'll prove it to you now."

As he spoke, he began to write and draw on the map with a pen. "Alright, I admit he's a genius. His understanding of the logistics system is unique and it looks perfect..."

"But it's definitely not the best. I have a better idea here. Look at this. The problem lies in this central roundabout. You must think that this roundabout is very important...

Once it comes to this issue, Stark becomes very serious and extremely organized. He says, "I admit that the guy you're talking about is strong. He doesn't even seem to rely on computer tools and his manual calculations have almost reached the human limit.

But he lacks a bit of creativity. Like I said, his vision is a bit outdated. The city doesn't necessarily have to be flat, it can also be three-dimensional.

A three-dimensional city, that's right, a three-dimensional city. I know this concept has been proposed for many years, and no city has successfully implemented it. But suppose, I mean suppose, the city you gave me really exists in this world, then a three-dimensional city would be the perfect solution!"

Stark's tone is quite decisive. He says, "Look at the structure of this city... look here! This is the prototype. What's it called? Living Hell? How can someone name a block like this?

Never mind, that's not important. What's important is that this spontaneously formed ecosystem is almost close to the concept of a three-dimensional city. This is actually part of the standard answer, and this model is very suitable for the current situation of the city, especially considering there is also a harbor. Look at this person's plan, he uses the central roundabout as the main hub, and the idea is not wrong, but as I said, he lacks creativity.

The central roundabout can be completely spherical, not circular.

Let's move our vision away from the 2D plane, which is already outdated and too rigid. Now, Stark is here to tell you what a real genius is..."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, without ads and support the work.]

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 114 Gotham in Progress (Part 3)