Gotham Avengers (Part 1)

In his office at Arkham Asylum, Gordon stood with his hands on his hips, watching Schiller fiddling with his umbrella.

Schiller removed the entire canopy, leaving only the ribs. He bent down, removed the handle, and then gave one of the ribs a hard tug.

The umbrella rib snapped with a "crack," and the middle part flew off with a "whoosh." Gordon yelled in pain and covered the left side of his face. Schiller straightened up and looked at him, saying helplessly, "I told you not to watch me fix things. I have no background in mechanics or engineering, so accidental injuries are inevitable."

Gordon covered his face as he stood up, pulled the part out from between his fingers and handed it to him, then said, "I told you, you definitely couldn't fix this thing. It looks common, but it's actually very complicated."

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Schiller down, continuing to fiddle with the umbrella stand, then looked up at the window and said to Gordon, "Are all you cops this idle?"

"I'm addressing the problem at its root." Gordon crossed his arms and looked at Schiller. "I've discovered a pattern: as long as we keep an eye on you, no more troublesome work will come our way."

Before Schiller could refute, Gordon continued, "So, the secret meeting you invited me to last time was set up to fight against that mysterious organization that Cobblepot mentioned poisoning Gotham's rainwater?"

"That wasn't an invitation. The moment you learned that fact, you were already part of it, and you had no choice but to join, because even if you didn't fight them, they would definitely come after you."

Gordon frowned deeply and said, "Are those supernatural forces real? Like... magic, witchcraft, or something like that?"

Do you believe in God?

"Of course..."

"If God exists, why can't magic and witchcraft exist?"

Gordon opened his mouth. He thought Schiller made sense, but he wasn't a very devout believer; he was more of a casual believer. Therefore, he had no concept of those mystical things.

Schiller twisted the umbrella handle, and it fell off. Gordon heard him curse, then pick up the handle and throw it away.

Gordon couldn't stand his amateurish repairmanship any longer. He walked over, picked up the handle, and said, "How about this? If you give me a detailed introduction to the organization, I'll find you someone who can fix this thing. How about that?"

"Don't joke around. Gotham's the One umbrella maker is dead. People from other cities, even if they know how to do it, wouldn't dare come to Gotham. I can't possibly go all the way to Metropolis to repair an umbrella, can I?"

"Actually, even if you go to the Metropolis, it might be faster than fixing it yourself." Gordon and Schiller both looked down at the umbrella that had been dismantled into pieces.

Schiller had to admit that Gordon was right; he had absolutely no talent for this and was just messing around. He should have realized from Stark's lab that he could only tighten light bulbs.

"Where are you planning to find someone who can repair umbrellas?"

"I can't find anyone who can repair umbrellas, but I do know someone who can modify Green Lantern."

As Gordon picked up the phone and dialed, he said to Schiller, "Remember that kid who messed up the Green Lantern circuits on Traffic Civilization Day last time?"

"Oh, I vaguely remember that. He made only the rightmost intersection out of the four intersections passable without obstruction, and then a shootout broke out there..."

Gordon picked up the phone and said, "Hey? Go to the East End and bring that Little Rascal over. I need to talk to him."

Not long after he hung up the phone, a young police officer walked in carrying a boy who looked to be thirteen or fourteen. The boy was being grabbed by the back of his collar and was cursing under his breath, but as soon as he saw Gordon, he suddenly wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.

Gordon patted him on the back to make him come over, and then said, "This is Little Rascal, a Genius Kid who can do electrical work, he can do wiring, and he's even invented some mechanical devices himself."

"What's your name?" Schiller asked him.

"I don't have a name, people just call me Little Rascal."

Although Gordon was considered to have a good image and civilized manners among Gotham's police officers, his long-term work on the front lines had also given him a tough and ruthless air. In contrast, Schiller, the refined university professor, had a much better appearance. The Little Rascal quickly ran behind Schiller and made a face at Gordon.

Gordon explained helplessly, "This little guy is the culprit who tampered with the Green Lantern wiring at the central roundabout. He was hired by a gang leader on the streets of Deli, and in order to make the gang's trucks go faster, he pried open the Green Lantern casing in the middle of the night and changed the wiring inside..."

"He wasn't a native of Gotham either; he came from the countryside of Bludhaven. His parents were both dead, and his uncle, an electrician, brought him to Gotham to work and earn money. However, his uncle wasn't in good health and passed away from illness a few months after arriving in Gotham, leaving him all alone."

"This kid's clever." Gordon looked at the Little Rascal with admiration.

"He actually survived in Gotham all by himself, and he's doing very well. Thanks to the electrician skills he learned from his uncle, several mob bosses treat him like royalty. If it weren't for my influence, I wouldn't have been able to get him to come."

Schiller glanced back at the Little Rascal, a white boy with messy red curly hair and glasses.

He certainly didn't seem like a child from the Gotham Slums. Although he looked young, he wasn't thin at all; in fact, he was much stronger Cobblepot. Moreover, he had a rosy complexion and bright, lively eyes, unlike the numb emotions of other children.

There aren't many kids in Gotham who wear glasses because they don't read or go to school here, so their eyes don't get strained. Also, few of their parents are nearsighted, and it's not hereditary. So, the image of Little Rascal seems out of place.

Schiller picked up the broken umbrella and handed it to the Little Rascal, saying, "If you fix it for me, I'll give you a super cool toolbox."

The Little Rascal took the umbrella, looked it over, and said with some surprise, "How come this umbrella is so badly damaged? You didn't take it to the battlefield, did you?"

Gordon said gleefully, "The last time I saw this umbrella, it wasn't this badly damaged; it's just that someone who didn't know how to fix it insisted on doing so..."

Schiller rolled his eyes, dragged a chair over and sat down, saying, "It's all Fish and Cobblepot's fault. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have to..."

"Wait a minute!" the Little Rascal suddenly exclaimed. "This umbrella is amazing! How come every part is different?"

Schiller stood up and said, "Wait a moment, I'll go get you the toolbox."

He walked to the door, called the nurse, said a few words, and after a while, the nurse came in with a toolbox.

Upon opening it, there were three or four layers of tool display shelves. The Little Rascal exclaimed, "This is so cool! I've always wanted a toolbox like this, but unfortunately, my uncle's toolbox is too small..."

"If you can fix this umbrella, then this toolbox is yours."

"Watch me." With that, the Little Rascal picked up the umbrella and quickly disassembled it. He worked there for a long time, while Schiller and Gordon watched him, but neither of them understood anything.

After a while, the Little Rascal stopped by the table, stroked his chin, and said with some difficulty, "This is a bit troublesome."

"This thing must have been handmade, right? You cast the parts, polished the components, and then assembled them, right?"

"Indeed, this is a custom-made handmade umbrella."

"Then why don't you go look for it..."

Seeing Schiller's face darken again, Gordon stepped forward, covered the Little Rascal's mouth, and said, "Don't ask about this anymore, just hurry up and fix it for him."

"But this umbrella is strange; I'm afraid only the person who made it can fix it." The Little Rascal shrugged and pointed to a small pile of parts, saying to Schiller, "Look, look here. There should have been six parts here, but there are only five now."

Then he picked up another broken part from the side and said, "This is the missing one. This screw looks like it's been burned; all the threads are destroyed."

"That's what caused one of the umbrella ribs to completely collapse, but to fix it, we have to find an exact match for the screw."

"Originally, I could have replaced the nut as well, but for some reason, the soldering pen doesn't work at all with this material..."

The Little Rascal said to Schiller, "I really want that toolbox. I've tried my best, but the materials the manufacturer used are too special. They're completely different from the products on the factory's assembly line. I can't handle them."

Schiller and Gordon exchanged a glance, clearly thinking about something else. Schiller asked the Little Rascal, "Are you sure only the umbrella maker who made this umbrella can fix it?"

"It's highly likely. I'm not bragging, but I knew how to screw screws into nuts before I could even walk."

He picked up a screw and showed it to Schiller, saying, "Look at the threads on this. You can see some traces of handcrafting, but more importantly, his design for the threads is very special. You simply can't screw it in with a standard screw."

"How about recasting one?"

"You can give it a try," the Little Rascal said, shaking his head. "But I don't think there's much hope. This fit is very peculiar. If the materials are not compatible, it might not be able to fit together."

Finally, Schiller gave the toolbox to the Little Rascal and said to him, "If you want, you can go to the vocational school in Living Hell and study there. There's a Gotham University Mechanical Engineering professor teaching there. With your talent, he'll be very surprised."

After the Little Rascal left, Schiller picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said, "Yes, it's me. Are you free to come over now? What? You're just about to come over? Okay..."

About 20 minutes later, Batman appeared in the office. Gordon, Schiller, and Batman sat around the table, looking at the umbrella.

"So you mean, this umbrella, which the Court of Owls ordered umbrella maker Wiggins to make, can only be repaired by them?"

Batman picked up one of the parts, squinted at it, and said nothing.

"Alright." Schiller tossed the handle he was holding onto the table, then looked Batman up and down and asked, "You spent a long time in Cobblepot and Evans's hospital room last night. What did you talk about?"

Batman, fiddling with the umbrella parts, said, "The three of us are planning to team up."

Gordon looked at him and asked, "Join forces? For what? To deal with that Court of Owls?"

"That's right, we're all interested in that mysterious organization, so we plan to investigate it from different angles."

"You said you were coming over today? What's up?"

"I was just here to discuss a problem, but now I have the answer." As he spoke, Batman took out another part, almost identical to the damaged one, and said, "I found this last night on another umbrella."

As Batman narrates, time rewinds to last night.