The Devil's Proposal, Batman's Way of Thinking!

Dead silence.

In the finest conference room at Wayne Enterprises, even a pin dropping would have been heard.

The technology executives, veterans of the cutting edge who had seen every kind of vision for the future, had gone pale. It was as if everything they believed had been ground into the floor.

Predicting crime?

Manipulating people's thoughts by changing their environment?

This was no business proposal. It was the wildest forbidden experiment in sociology and psychology.

It was... the devil's proposal.

"That's impossible."

A gray-haired technology executive blurted out the objection, his voice dry.

"No model can predict human behavior with absolute accuracy. The complexity of the human mind... this violates the basic principles of science!"

Link did not even glance at him.

His gaze remained fixed on Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne.

"Science?" Link gave a soft laugh, with mockery plain in his voice.

"Has your 'science' stopped Gotham's crime rate from climbing year after year?"

"Has your 'science' made this city any safer?"

"No. It hasn't."

"All you've done is buy more expensive cameras to record bloodier crimes. Faster police cars to chase craftier criminals."

Link spread his hands, looking relaxed, though every word struck like a hammer.

"Your so-called order only cleans up after chaos. What I intend to do is deny chaos the chance to happen."

"Madman!" The executive's face flushed. "You're trying to play God!"

"God?" Link's smile widened. "No, I'm not God. I'm just a gardener who understands human nature... better than you do."

"When weeds appear in a garden, a clever gardener removes them while they're still seeds. He doesn't wait until they've spread everywhere before struggling to cut them down."

It was twisted reasoning, yet everyone in the room was left speechless.

Because they realized they could not completely refute his logic.

Lucius Fox's brows had drawn together in a deep furrow.

He adjusted his glasses. Behind the lenses, his eyes held a gravity they had never shown before.

This young man was far too dangerous.

His ideas were ten thousand times more dangerous than the technology he had shown them.

Just then, Bruce Wayne, who had remained silent while playing the spoiled playboy, spoke.

"Sounds like an expensive hobby."

His voice held a lazy drawl, as though this serious discussion bored him.

"Mr. Link, how do you plan to make money from this 'garden' of yours? You can't keep it running on passion alone."

The question sounded casual, like a businessman's instinctive concern about costs.

But Link knew this was the deadliest question of the day.

He turned, meeting Bruce Wayne's eyes for the first time.

His eyes still held a smile, but beneath it lay a cold, bottomless pool.

"Make money?"

Link smiled.

"When a city no longer has robberies, kidnappings, or murders."

"When every shop can stay open around the clock without fear, and every wealthy person can stroll outside late at night wearing an expensive watch."

"When every Wayne Enterprises investment no longer has to pay exorbitant insurance premiums for 'security risks.'"

He slowly rose and walked up to Bruce Wayne, leaning forward slightly.

Then he spoke softly, so only the two of them could hear:

"When that day comes, Mr. Wayne, a perfectly safe Gotham will itself be the greatest source of profit in the world."

"And as the provider of that 'safety,' I'll only need to take my small share of those profits. Say, ten percent of the city's tax revenue?"

The smile on Bruce Wayne's face finally stiffened.

He looked at the young, handsome face before him, a face alive with mad ambition.

At last, he understood. Link did not want a business contract.

He wanted to rule Gotham!

He did not want to become a crime lord. He wanted to use invisible means to become Gotham City's true "shadow council," above the mayor, the police, and even Wayne Enterprises.

He would sell "safety" to the entire city and collect protection money for it!

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Bruce Wayne's mind.

Link's logic, his way of thinking that sought to strike at the root of the problem...

It was startlingly close to some of Bruce's own thoughts as Batman about how to save Gotham at its source!

He, too, had wondered whether knowing a criminal's motives in advance could prevent tragedy.

He, too, had wondered whether changing Gotham's environment could leave crime with less room to grow.

But Bruce had limits.

He would never interfere with free will, much less replace chaos with an even greater tyranny.

Link, standing before him, had no limits!

He thought much like Bruce did, perhaps even more radically, but had not a shred of moral restraint.

He was... Batman without a cape or principles, turned wholly to darkness!

The hand Bruce Wayne had wrapped around his pen tightened until every knuckle went white.

At last, he understood. This man was not pure chaos like Joker, a greedy businessman like Penguin, or a peddler of fear like Scarecrow.

He was an entirely new kind of enemy, one Bruce had never encountered before.

A rival who intended to replace every existing order in Gotham with his own "order."