American Comics: The Force Awakens

34.8

In August, today is a good day for meetings.

There are many people gathered in Falconi's huge and dark office. Even though it is August, they are still dressed in suits of old Italian thugs, which makes them look even hotter.

"Death!" Carmine slapped his desk and shouted, "I want that little bank rat Daniel to die."

"I warned you, Falcone." Maloney stood by the door, puffing. "Since Richard Daniel resigned, no bank in Gotham has wanted to deal with us. My family alone—"

"Shut up, Maloney," Carmine interrupted. "If you can't help solve the problem, then you're part of the problem."

Everyone knew that the Falconi and Maloney families were enemies, or, as they put it, petty internal feuds.

But according to the tradition passed down from Italy, they still hypocritically sit together for a meeting, toast together, discuss common troubles, and then, perhaps, engage in blackmail after the meeting.

"Come on, Carmine. Now we don't have a bank to launder our money, we're stuck in the throat." advised Carla, Johnny's mother and Alberto's aunt. "Everyone is worried about our future."

But everyone present knew that once Falconi suffered, this obese woman would definitely be the first to add insult to injury.

Alberto stood silently by the window, watching with cold eyes.

"Father, maybe I have-" He still wanted to make some effort.

"Alberto, please, we're talking business." He was interrupted. "In fact, you shouldn't even be here right now. It's not good for the reputation of your new career."

"Kara, where is my nephew now? He has been honeymooning in Italy for almost two months." Carmine continued to order, "Call Johnny back. He has a new life."

Alberto reached into his arms to take out the tobacco, but what he encountered was the pistol that had been kept by his side.

Looks like it's about time.

............

Iceberg Club, viewing area.

Penguin and Mr. Freeze stood side by side, the guards around them dismissed.

"I've always wanted to ask you where you got these penguins." Victor asked. “Would this benefit your image building?”

"Ah, you know, smuggling, black market, blah blah blah." Oswald replied, "Anyway, as long as you have money, you can always get what you want. After all, this is America."

"As for image, I think you know very well that unlike you regulars in Arkham, I am a serious businessman." He continued.

"But I know one thing. For those brainless idiots, deliberately appearing to have some quirks will be a good deterrent to those subordinates."

"The Romans don't care about this. He will fail quickly without my intervention," he concluded. "Because he only cares about business, tradition, and rationality."

"And the city has changed. It doesn't need this backward garbage."

The two stood in silence for a while, and Mr. Freeze continued: "I'm here to provide you with information about the court."

"Ah, so you found them and came back alive, congratulations." Penguin replied. "So, you got what you wanted."

"Maybe, I'm still working on it," he replied. "Underneath Gotham, in the middle of those sewers, they have a maze."

"Their maze was destroyed, and no one was inside. Our team...is quite talented in destruction." Mr. Freeze recounted. "As far as I know, all their claws were buried in their sleep." Under the stone.”

"That doesn't make sense, we all know these claws are immortal." Penguin asked, grabbing the handle of the umbrella he was holding. "Besides, you haven't found out the identity of their owner."

"Yes, that's right." Mr. Freeze replied, "But you should know how much effort it would take to secretly send people to repair the maze, dig out the buried claws, and then wait for them to be resurrected. Covering the eyes of others is a serious matter for a serious investigation. People are not very useful, especially in this city, when the bird's claws are broken."

"So, if you have any ideas, hurry up." He concluded, "Judging from the results of my experiments, it won't take too long for the claws to revive."

Penguin took off his monocle and wiped it. "Victor, you have caused a big trouble for me."

"In the words of my new friend." Mr. Freeze turned and headed for the exit. "It's a win-win."

............

In the dilapidated owl underground maze, it was time for a gathering again. People in white masks gathered together. They were of different ages, and there were even children among them.

Like any organization with a large number of people, once the number of people with the right to speak exceeds a certain number, the organization's meeting venue will be no different from a vegetable market. Everyone will speak out for their own interests, no matter how trivial it is.

Even for those who obstructed the execution court trial, they had to discuss different ways to die, which made the person responsible for the execution have a big claw.

But today, they were all silent.

The originally ancient and exquisite maze was leaking everywhere, with dust, stone chips, and debris scattered everywhere.

"What happened here?" someone murmured. "How could it become like this?"

"Could it be the cause of the earthquake?" someone speculated, and then he denied this absurd statement.

"Obviously, the holy place of the court has been invaded." Joseph held his wife Maria's hand tightly and said in a deep voice, "Someone discovered this place and then destroyed it."

"The Claw's slumber has collapsed," someone shouted.

The crowd was in a commotion. Without the claws, it was like a bird without its claws.

Those well-dressed distinguished guests put on masks, formed organizations, and weaved conspiracies, thinking they could control everything behind the scenes.But something went wrong now, and their performance was disappointing enough.

"Do we need to report to Parliament?" someone asked. "Someone found us."

These idiots, don’t they know that once they are exposed, they will be the first to die?

The court is just a branch of the Parliament. Even if it is in Gotham and has a special status, it is still a branch.

The true purpose of the Owl Council must not be revealed, and any risk factors will be directly eliminated.

"Don't be nervous, everyone." He said aloud. "We all know that the Talons are immortal, they are just buried and asleep now."

"As long as we can get hands to dig them out, and wait for a while, the claws will return to the forest." He comforted everyone.

"So what should we do now?"

"Keep it secret, gentlemen, you don't want the priest to judge us." His words caused everyone to fall silent again, as if he had mentioned the devil.

"For safety reasons, we will no longer have large gatherings until Talon returns to the battlefield."

"And after Talon is revived, our eyes and ears will identify those who know the secret and deal with them."