Penguin's Frightful Night

Penguin returned to his office.

His meticulously styled hair, which had cost him a fortune, and his gold-rimmed monocle were undamaged. He was only covered in a bit of dust, with a few splatters of fresh blood on his face, which he quickly and subtly wiped away.

He slowly sat back down in his office chair.

His female secretary pushed the door open and hurried into the room. Her high heels discreetly quieted as they touched the floor.

She quietly walked behind Penguin and gently massaged his shoulders.

"So... Boss?"

She asked, "What did the Joker... want to tell you?"

She had initially intended to say, "What did the Joker want you to do?" but her survival instincts quickly stopped her.

"The usual, Mave," Penguin said, rubbing his temples. "Another game involving Batman, you know the drill: hostages, bombs, who to save."

"The amusement park on the outskirts, or that Ace Chemical Factory. Who knows? The Joker always buys some rundown place. I have to say, it's all so unoriginal. I bet there might even be piranhas there, but this time the hostage might be someone important."

Penguin sighed and picked up his half-finished milk drink. "Mayor Carlo, you know. Just a few hours ago, I received intel that he was proudly leading 20,000 National Guardsmen. And then? He just lost control of himself right in front of me."

He said sarcastically, "Like a dog."

"But even if Carlo is a dog, he's still the mayor," Mave said. "Batman will have his hands full again."

Penguin didn't say anything, implicitly agreeing.

He grumbled, "Damn Joker, always finding an excuse to go on a killing spree whenever he visits someone's place!"

But the anger quickly vanished from Penguin's face. The lives of his fallen henchmen were equally worthless to him.

He said:

"Go and dispose of the bodies of those useless fools the Joker killed in the restaurant. Wipe up the blood thoroughly. I don't want any customers complaining about red on the floor when the restaurant opens tomorrow."

"Yes."

After his secretary left, Penguin finally relaxed.

To compensate for the shock he'd experienced today, he decided to have another 5... no, 10 cookies.

But just as he stood up to go find the cookies, the gentle expression vanished from his face.

The reason for its disappearance was:

Someone was breathing behind him.

Just a simple inhale and exhale.

Penguin could even hear the air hissing as it flowed past his ear.

This sudden intimidation made his heart clench. He instinctively took a deep breath, then forgot he was still drinking milk.

Cough, cough, cough!

He sprayed milk out of his nose loudly and then abruptly stood up. He knew who was behind him—

In Gotham, only one person could skillfully employ such a level of intimidation.

Penguin said, "Enough, Crane. Whatever you've come here to say, scaring me with your theatrics won't change the outcome of our conversation."

"Well, well, well, after all these years, still as sharp as ever, Cobblepot."

Penguin turned around, but no one was there. He turned his head back to the front and saw a tall, skinny man, like a bamboo pole, suddenly appear on a chair in his office.

Penguin casually wiped off the milk, putting on a familiar expression.

"Crane, my old friend, I thought you were as loyal to the Joker as I saw you."

"This is just a temporary partnership, Cobblepot. I don't know when you started enjoying empty talk."

"Ha, does the Joker know you abandoned him and came back alone?"

Scarecrow stared intently into Penguin's eyes.

"The Joker and I are merely cooperating, Cobblepot. As long as our interests don't align, this fragile alliance can be broken at any moment."

"Yes, you're right. I understand completely."

Seeing that Penguin's threat had dissipated, Scarecrow got straight to the point: "I'm here about Bane."

He said, "He's a truly terrifying individual, and we both can see that he's been the mastermind behind everything that's been happening recently."

"I don't doubt Batman can stop him, but I think this is a good time to end it all—if we can unite all of Arkham."

Penguin struggled for a long time to prevent the milk from spraying out of his nostrils again because of this plan.

He said perfunctorily, "As a friend, Crane, I believe trying to intimidate any of our colleagues will only backfire."

"And it's already difficult enough to keep these lunatics in line. You're just adding fuel to the fire by leading them into something big?"

"So then what? We just stand by and watch Batman defeat Bane? Let Batman once again do everything he can to control all of Gotham?"

Penguin tutted.

"Then you should be prepared for the job you've given yourself: stopping everyone."

"Bane, Batman, and those disobedient colleagues—you can try to take them all down single-handedly and achieve your ambitions."

Penguin said:

"If you just want a piece of territory in Gotham, I can give you one anytime. But you want the inmates of Arkham to listen to you? What do you plan to use to control them?"

Penguin said, "Rely on money, loyalty, or pity? Or the belief in seizing or defending this city, fighting for this city?"

Penguin shook his head.

"My ancestor, Nathan Cobblepot, protected Gotham during the Civil War. People like him, who had nothing, would never cry like a woman when fighting for their city."

"But unfortunately, such integrity only exists in books, and fleeing is the nature of Arkham's inmates. You're completely insane, just like the Joker, you idiot in a Halloween costume."

"External force," said Scarecrow, who had been silent. "External force. Otherwise, why do you think I'm hanging out with the Joker?"

Chen Tao silently withdrew his attention from the Alfred Protocol.

The transformation abilities granted by the protocol didn't need to be realized immediately; he had plenty of time to study them slowly.

"We should go back," he said to everyone present.

"..."

"So when do I become your subordinate?" Poison Ivy asked, looking at Ventriloquist, then at Cheshire Cat, and then at Deathshot, who was helping Harley Quinn up from the ground.

She kicked him away: "Get lost, only I can help Harley!"

"This is why you're leaving with us," Chen Tao said.

Then, he ignored everyone else and dialed Alfred's communicator.

Three minutes later, he and Alfred were sitting in the seats of an invisible plane.

"Alfred, help me contact Lucius," he said.

Bane's infected Laughing Gas and his twisted smile made Chen Tao feel the presence of someone... something he had envisioned before... it must be put on the manufacturing schedule, as well as the plan to continue recovering usable combat power--

He would have many things to do and many plans to advance next.