"With my help..." Before he could finish, Bane had already walked around to the back of the tank. Pointing at the deep half-palm print embedded in the armor beside the tank's obviously replaced entrance hatch, he said, "This looks like one of the tanks from the National Guard batch I smashed with my bare hands."
"How could that be?" Penguin's eyes widened, causing his monocle to fall from its socket. "I'm the honest and reliable Penguin. How could I possibly take advantage of the chaos and pick up someone else's equipment to sell?"
The muscle-bound freak said nothing.
"All right, all right." Under the other man's glare, Penguin raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I did pick up that equipment, but I repaired all of it. It was very simple. All I had to do was replace a few armor components..."
Bane said nothing.
The tanks he had wrecked had been badly damaged. Even if Penguin had scavenged the equipment, the fact that he had managed to repair it in such a short time was proof of his ability.
The transaction proceeded pleasantly as Bane's men carried away the batch of weapons Penguin had brought.
"By the way, Bane, there's something I need to tell you."
Penguin puffed away at his cigar, then put his monocle back into its socket.
"Did you know that one of my nuclear bombs was stolen recently?"
"Nuclear weapons?" Bane's figure paused.
He immediately said, "Damn it, you actually possess something that dangerous?"
Penguin narrowed his eyes slightly.
The gesture was highly intimidating. Even though he was an ugly little thing less than five feet tall, short and fat with a hooked nose, the sight of him squinting while smoking still made one's hair stand on end.
"You didn't know my nuclear weapon was stolen?"