"What was going on?"
"I had no idea..."
"What on earth were they doing?"
A few days later, dumbstruck officers crowded around the second-floor windows of the East End Police Department. Just east of the school, the original six-story Commercial Building had vanished without a trace, replaced by an enormous foundation pit. More than thirty pieces of construction machinery worked at once, and the dull pounding of pile drivers could be heard even through the glass.
A prominent sign stood on the construction site: Wayne Enterprises Donation Project-East End Education Center (Under Construction).
"How tall were they making it?" Anna asked, squeezing up to the window.
"Twelve stories, according to the design. More than twice the height of the school's current main building." Nygma pulled up the planning documents he had just found. "Wayne Enterprises bought that Commercial Building the afternoon before yesterday. The demolition crew moved in at four yesterday morning. Construction permits, environmental assessments, urban planning approval... every document was sorted out within forty-eight hours."
"Money solving everything. The evils of capitalism... but I loved it."
Li Jie appeared at the stairwell, still holding an architectural rendering. The officers automatically cleared a path for him. He walked to the window and spread the rendering across the sill.
The drawing showed a strikingly modern twelve-story building, with a streamlined design combining glass curtain walls and dark gray metal framing. A transparent, domed Stargazing Observatory sat on the top floor. Huge, artistic lettering along the side of the building read:
WayneTech Institute of Technology and Humanities-Donated by Bruce Wayne
"Institute of Technology and Humanities?"
Harleen leaned closer to study the drawing. "Something this size could accommodate at least two thousand students... but we had fewer than fifty children. Wasn't this a little excessive?"
"Who cared?" Li Jie shrugged. "Someone was