Fatten Them Up Before the Slaughter

He hadn't seen a Sin Buster, but he had seen a criminal umbrella!

Bruce knew perfectly well about the petty schemes Catwoman Selina had been pulling. The entire Gotham City underworld knew about them, so there was no reason he wouldn't.

Not to mention that, as Gotham City's number one super idol, his fans told him everything they knew. At the slightest disturbance in the club, he, the group owner of that pack of dogs, knew all about it.

Even just through the informants Butler Man had planted in the fan club, he could receive firsthand intelligence in real time about every major and minor event.

At the same time, Bruce had deduced that Russell knew nothing about it, at least not before tonight.

The reason was simple. Russell wanted money. By taking on the idle position of an American government consultant, he could earn an extremely considerable advance just by selling intelligence.

The criminals' jewelry and accessories, meanwhile, were illicit goods of unknown origin. They couldn't be sold and could only be kept at home for personal enjoyment.

That wasn't Russell's style. He couldn't use them to show off, and if word got out, it would hurt his image.

Bruce had left it alone because the gang members who paid protection fees had become much more law-abiding than before, greatly easing Gotham's public security burden.

So not only had he not stopped it, he had secretly fanned the flames, increasing the crackdown and arresting those who hadn't paid up, setting examples of those who had successfully clung to life.

Invisibly, this had helped swell Selina's little treasury—no, Gotham's stable public security.

By the end of it all, Selina got sparkling jewelry, Bruce got stable public security in Gotham, and Russell got the criminals' support.

The three sides each got