The Pale Rider was in a room at Wayne Manor, frowning at a news article in the newspaper. After a while, he slapped the paper onto the table and said, "Gotham became an independent state so long ago. Who the hell is digging this up and making such a big deal out of it again?"
The headline on the newspaper read: "Congress Passes Gotham Second Referendum Bill by a Large Margin—Whether It Can Remain Independent Is Still Unknown?"
Batman's fingers lightly tapped against the tabletop, clearly deep in thought as well. After a moment, he looked up and asked, "Has all the energy been dealt with? When can we start building the magical defense network?"
"Not for a few more days." The Pale Rider shook his head. "We have to resolve this matter first."
"What do you think the referendum result will be?"
"No one wants to go back to how things were before. But the referendum will definitely pass—from the moment this bill was put into effect, Congress would never allow any chance of the referendum failing."
"What are you going to do?" Batman asked.
"I don't know. If we can't obtain the rights we deserve through political means, then we'll have to think of another way."
"Such as?"
"Magic." The Pale Rider sat down in the chair before the desk. "We just acquired a huge amount of energy. It could be used to build the magical defense network, but that won't solve our immediate problem. Perhaps we can use it to resolve Gotham's issue instead."
"But how can magic solve this?"
"Have you heard?" The Pale Rider rested both hands on the desk. "In one universe, Gotham flew directly off the ground and became physically independent. If it comes to that, we'll have no choice but to imitate