A Feint Against the Iceberg Lounge!

Inside the underground distillery, the fear stirred by the million-dollar bounty spread through the air like invisible poison.

The fighting spirit Spike's men had only just gained from their new weapons was being crushed out of them.

Their gun hands trembled with nerves and greed.

Spike's heart sank.

He knew the crew he had cobbled together could tear itself apart at any moment.

He looked to Link for help, hoping his mysterious new boss would say something to steady the men.

But Link merely studied the map of Gotham spread before him.

His finger moved slowly across it, then came down hard on a district at the center of the map, surrounded by luxury restaurants and theaters.

He took a red marker and circled it.

Spike leaned in. When he saw the name, his blood ran cold.

The Iceberg Lounge.

"Boss... what are you saying?" Spike's voice was dry and unsteady. He wondered if he had read it wrong.

"I'm saying we take down Penguin's headquarters," Link said lightly, as though he were talking about buying milk at the corner store.

"You're crazy! You've lost your mind!"

Spike let out a startled yell, his heavy face twisting in shock. "That's the Iceberg Lounge! Penguin's palace! We couldn't break in with ten times as many men!"

His shouting drew everyone else's attention.

The moment they saw the target on the map, the distillery erupted.

"You've got to be kidding! Attack the Iceberg Lounge? That's suicide!"

"I'd rather trade fire with the cops than go near that place!"

"That's it. I signed up with a madman..."

Fear had been bad enough. Now despair was written across every face.

"Wow, sweetie, that joke isn't funny at all." Harley came over and licked her lips. For the first time, her bright blue eyes held no excitement, only a trace of gravity. "I love a wild party, but that place isn't a party. It's a funeral, and we'd be the ones in the coffins."

She knew better than anyone how terrifying the Iceberg Lounge was.

It had Penguin's finest guards, a military-grade security system bought on the black market, and, according to rumor, a small armory underground with enough firepower for a minor war.

"Who said we were going to break in?"

Link turned to face the fear and doubt on every face.

"What do you think Penguin fears most right now?"

He answered without waiting. "It isn't a few dozen of us, and it isn't the crates of weapons he lost. It's losing face. A small new outfit stole his shipment, killed his men, and escaped a citywide police manhunt. Now he can't hold his head up in front of Gotham's other bosses."

"So he's like a raging bull, throwing every resource he has into finding us. He wants to tear us apart in front of all Gotham to save face."

Link stepped up to Spike and looked him straight in the eye.

"And that gives us our best opportunity."

He picked up a black pen and marked several blocks on the west side of Gotham City with Xs.

"Spike, I have a job for you."

"Tonight, take your men to these places." Link pointed at the map. "Here's one of Penguin's smuggled-car chop shops. Here's a warehouse where he stores bootleg liquor. And here's a bar where several of his lieutenants like to meet."

"I don't want you fighting them head-on. I just want you to cause chaos. Burn a few cars, blow up a few oil drums, and make as much noise as you can. Make Penguin think you're trying to take back the East End and start an all-out war."

Spike's eyes lit up. He seemed to understand.

"A feint?"

"Exactly." Link nodded. "Once fires break out across the west side, they'll draw all of Penguin's attention. He'll send his best men over there because he can't afford another humiliation."

"And then the palace he thinks is untouchable will be left with its defenses at their weakest."

The fear on Spike's face and those of his men gradually gave way to dawning excitement.

The plan was still risky, but it was no longer suicide.

They knew these streets. Stirring up trouble in the alleys and slipping away was what they did best.

"Then... boss, what about you?" Spike asked.

A mysterious smile touched Link's lips.

He went to an empty table, picked up a piece of chalk, and, drawing on the Mastery of Traps and Mechanisms he had gained from the system and his perfect memory, rapidly sketched an extraordinarily detailed floor plan.

It showed the underground layout of the Iceberg Lounge.

"What do you think is the most valuable thing in the Iceberg Lounge? The expensive champagne? Or the sofa under Penguin's ass?"

Link used the chalk to draw a vast space at the deepest point of the plan.

"This. A massive, illegal underground money-laundering center."

"More than half the dirty money in Gotham's East End passes through here every day. There aren't piles of cash, just rows of servers and a network of electronic accounts. Penguin buried it thirty meters beneath the restaurant and equipped it with the most advanced security system. He thinks it's impregnable."

Harley came closer. The plan even showed the ventilation ducts and sewage system, and she stared at it with her mouth open.

"Oh my God. How do you... how do you know all this?"

"A capable king learns everything about his enemy before attacking." Link offered no further explanation. He pointed to a spot on the plan. "I'm not going to take over the restaurant or kill that squat little man."

"I'm going to blow this up."

"Once the accounts are emptied and the data destroyed, Penguin's financial empire will collapse in an instant. The gangs and organizations that keep their money with him will descend like sharks smelling blood and tear him apart."

"We won't even have to do it ourselves. He'll be finished."

Link's plan unfolded before them like a vast, mad vision.

Brilliant, bold, and aimed straight at the heart!

This was no street-gang shootout. This was a war fought on a strategic level!

Harley looked at Link, and that feverish, obsessive adoration flared in her eyes once more.

This man had not only the strength of a devil, but the mind of a god.

His madness was nothing like the Joker's aimless chaos.

It was a cool, deliberate madness capable of overturning the whole world and building a New Order in its place!

"I'm in!" Harley was the first to raise her hand, laughing so hard she shook. "Smash Penguin's piggy bank! I love it! I'm going to paint every one of his servers pink!"

Spike drew a deep breath. As he looked at Link, his last doubts vanished.

At last, he understood what kind of man he had chosen to follow.

He spun around and roared at his men, who were already itching to move.

"Did you all hear that?!"

"Tonight, we're giving Penguin the biggest fireworks show he's ever seen!"

"For the new king!"

"Roar!"

A deafening roar shook the underground distillery.

Fear and despair vanished, replaced by boundless fighting spirit, ready to unleash a storm upon the city!