As a thunderclap rang out on the horizon, a stormy night was about to descend. Heavy black clouds pressed in, turning the distant sky into an airtight gray wall. Palm trees swayed ceaselessly, and the air was thick with dampness.
"The Pale Rider believed that these people had been using Batman all along," Bruce said. "In fact, they were also using supervillains, exploiting the conflicts between the two of them, because no insurance policy would cover losses caused by that kind of fight."
"Tell me more."
"A supervillain caused an explosion. Batman destroyed the buildings in an entire district while trying to catch him, and those people took the opportunity to buy up the land cheaply..."
"This feels strangely familiar," Schiller murmured. "What?"
"No, nothing."
"They manipulated land prices this way. Whenever they wanted housing prices in an area to crash, they used supervillains to lure Batman there and create the illusion that the neighborhood had terrible public safety. Naturally, they could then buy it up at a low price."
"If they wanted to threaten a company's stock price, they had Batman make a few rounds through its factories. If they wanted to stop an event from taking place, they had Gordon light the Bat-Lamp early."
After thinking for a moment, Schiller said, "Does Batman himself know about this?"
"I know what you're worried about. Logically speaking, Batman shouldn't be so easily deceived, but I think he was more powerless than unaware. Even if he knew what the people behind him were doing, could he simply stop catching supervillains?"
Schiller nodded. That was indeed the logic of it. Batman probably understood as well that if the other side wanted to use him to achieve their goals, then if he refused to act, no one else would catch the villains. The