Counting the Spoils, Rich Overnight!

The abandoned underground brewery smelled of damp dust and the cloying sweetness of fermented malt.

Dozens of gang members who had just thrown the west side into chaos gathered there, unable to sit still.

They still smelled of gunpowder and blood. Their faces showed the exhaustion of battle and deep uncertainty about the Future.

Their leader, a burly man named Iron Spike, paced back and forth.

They had carried out that insane plan and drawn away Penguin's main force. But what now?

Could their mysterious new boss and that crazy woman really make it out of the Iceberg Lounge alive?

Just as the tension became unbearable, the base's door swung open.

Link and Harley walked in.

Link was still dressed in black, his face expressionless, as though he had only stepped out for a stroll.

Harley hummed an off-key tune. A makeshift bandage wrapped her arm, but she moved with the lightness of a dancer.

Every eye snapped toward them.

"Boss..." Iron Spike hurried over, his voice dry. "How... did it go?"

Link did not answer.

He walked straight through the crowd to an old computer connected to a projector.

His fingers tapped the keyboard, entering a long, complicated password.

Everyone held their breath and stared at the mottled wall in front of him.

The projector lit up, casting a simple webpage onto the wall.

Union Bank of Switzerland. Anonymous account.

Then a number appeared.

Balance: $100,000,000.00

A one, followed by eight zeros.

One hundred million dollars.

The entire brewery fell deathly silent.

Iron Spike's mouth slowly opened until it looked wide enough to swallow a fist.

The outlaws behind him rubbed their eyes, convinced the bloody fight had left them seeing things.

The silence lasted three seconds.

Then the place erupted like a volcano.

"Oh—fuck!!!"

"What am I looking at? God! That's a hundred million!!"

"We did it! We actually did it!"

Their deafening cheers nearly tore the roof off the underground base.

They hugged each other wildly and pounded one another's chests. Some were so overwhelmed they burst into tears.

They were the dregs of Gotham, men who would risk their lives for a few hundred dollars in protection money. Most had never seen five figures in cash.

And now one hundred million dollars sat right there before their eyes.

It was more than money.

It was dignity. Hope. A New Life they had never even dared to dream of in the Past!

Harley hopped onto a table and basked in the celebration like a queen. She blew Link a kiss.

"See that, sweetie? That's your magic!"

Link watched the revelers, his face still expressionless.

Only when the cheering began to fade did he clap his hands.

Every eye turned to him again, filled with fervent adoration.

"This money isn't for drinking and partying."

Link did not raise his voice, yet everyone heard him clearly.

"It's our first bullet, aimed straight at the heart of old Gotham."

He stepped before the crowd, his gaze sweeping across their excited faces.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll use this money to do three things."

"First, upgrade your equipment. Throw away the junk you're carrying and get military-grade weapons, body armor, encrypted radios, and armored vehicles. I want every one of you armed to the teeth."

"Second, recruit. I don't want street punks. I want former soldiers, disillusioned hackers, fired cops. Anyone with a useful skill can join us, no matter who they used to be in the Past. We'll offer the best pay in Gotham."

"Third, build an intelligence network. Spread the money around. Buy cops, politicians' aides, and servants in the Falcone and Maroni Family. I want to know everything happening in every dark corner of Gotham City."

Link paused. There was something chillingly calm and matter-of-fact in his voice.

"Penguin is down, and he's left a gaping hole in Gotham's Underworld. Everyone else is thinking about how to carve up his corpse. We're going to replace him—and surpass him."

"What we're building isn't another gang."

"It's an empire."

"A New Order where we make the rules."

His words shook the men who had been reveling in their sudden fortune.

For the first time, they understood just how ambitious the man they followed was.

This went far beyond anything they had imagined a gang war could be.

After their brief shock came an even fiercer loyalty.

"I'll follow you to the death, Boss!" Iron Spike dropped to one knee, his shout hoarse.

"New Order! New Order!"

Everyone else knelt with him. The light in their eyes was no longer simple greed for money, but a sense that they were part of something grand.

Link nodded, satisfied.

He knew that only now did this group truly have a soul.

Harley jumped down from the table and came to Link's side. As she watched him lay out his vision to his men, her expression grew complicated.

She had seen Joker's madness and Batman's stubbornness.

But she had never met anyone like Link.

He had Joker's chaos, but far more purpose.

He had Batman's intelligence, but was far more ruthless.

He was neither simply a madman nor simply a hero.

He was a creator and a destroyer.

Standing amid Gotham's ruins, he smiled, ready to build a kingdom of his own with his own hands.

And she would be that kingdom's first and only queen.