Chapter 1243: Headliner, Undercurrents, and Repeated Warnings
The two women only had half an hour to eat and chat; they still had to go back and work overtime.
But they would only work until the afternoon at most, or they might really die of exhaustion.
Generally speaking, the situation was neither good nor bad.
The situation in New York had been rather chaotic, but not to the point that a major riot broke out.
It had to be said that the obsession with smartphones had really reduced the urge for many to go out and cause trouble on the streets.
Batman was in the headlines, and Black Cat successfully ranked in the top five news headlines.
Selina had been too preoccupied with beating up hooligans and bigshots before, but the fear she struck in the hearts of gangs and thugs was no less compared with Batman.
When she saved ordinary people, however, she rarely revealed herself and was hardly photographed.
After all, she wasn’t like some gremlin who was addicted to acting; she wasn’t interested in something like increasing her popularity.
However, there were a lot of photos and videos of her killing undead and protecting people.
The moment these appeared online, they exploded, and Black Cat became a hot topic.
Unlike the empty speculation about Batman’s “suspected girlfriend,” Sheerah, there was clear evidence that Black Cat was indeed with Batman; at the very least, she was a close partner.
Also, she was the first female superhero, and had inherited Batman’s style — she liked to save people and didn’t like to kill people; at most, she broke some bones.
Even her armor matched Batman’s, and they had similar appearances.
Many hoodlums who had been beaten up even a.s.serted that it was both Batman and Black Cat who put them in the hospital.
Luke had nothing to say about this enthusiasm.
Many people were happy to be the bad guy in order to become hot news; if they couldn’t be famous, they could be infamous.
This news made everyone curious about Black Cat.
After all, it was no longer fun to hype up Batman CP. Now there was a ready-made target, and the CP turned into a “love triangle” – it would be a waste not to hype this up.
While the media and the public focused mostly on the Batman and Black Cat CP, agencies were conversely increasing their vigilance.
Because Batman was getting stronger and stronger.
This strength didn’t come from himself alone, but also from his unusual relations.h.i.+p with Iron Man and his loyal partner, Black Cat.
Batman, who was strong in terms of himself, his partner, and his ally, was no longer as harmless as when he first appeared.
It had now become common knowledge that Batman didn’t do anything bad; even most criminals and scoundrels acknowledged this. However, it wasn’t only those who went to prison who were scoundrels.
There were few bigshots in any line of work who were clean; what if they ran into Batman one day?
In particular, certain secret agencies had dirty hands; if Batman found out, their members wouldn’t be able to escape their bones being crushed to powder.
Batman had now become a threat to them.
For a time, the multifaceted system collected a huge amount of intelligence on potential enemies.
These people basically used their phones and the Internet to contact external forces, and it was clear that they were wary of or even hostile toward Batman.
Many intelligence agencies and departments had appeared in New York.
They searched everywhere for leads and tried everything to dig out Batman.
On the other hand, s.h.i.+ELD didn’t get involved.
That was because most of their attention was focused on another less well-known but more terrifying target — a mysterious man in a black-and-white skeleton mask and armor.
Compared with Batman and Black Cat, who followed the “no killing” rule, this mysterious person who was completely unexpected and unrestrained was more dangerous.
According to the intelligence shared by RIPD, this mysterious black-and-white figure had killed almost a thousand undead in a matter of minutes, and the undead hadn’t been able to fight back.
After RIPD divulged the information, it also requested that s.h.i.+ELD share any leads they found on this person.
It was clear that RIPD wasn’t looking for him just because he was good at killing undead.
RIPD were professional at cleaning up the undead. No matter how good the mysterious black-and-white man was, it couldn’t compare with RIPD, which had a lot of people.
But there was no way for s.h.i.+ELD to ask. There was no way to meet the RIPD higher-ups in person. At most, they just called, coolly said a few words over the phone, and then hung up.
So, s.h.i.+ELD had some guesses, but didn’t get much information from RIPD.
The real intelligence… was actually secondhand.
Phil had gotten the video which Luke had handed over to NYPD. It was also the only HD video of the mysterious black-and-white man, including a full view of him killing dozens of mercenaries.
After watching the video, Phil quickly took it away, along with Luke’s original copy. He also had NYPD sign NDAs.
Killing more than 200 mercenaries on his own made him very dangerous.
When he saw Luke yell at the man to surrender, Phil almost cursed. Are you an idiot? If you run into someone like that, why can’t you pretend you didn’t see him? NYPD doesn’t pay you that much! Why would you sell your life for them?
The veteran agent who was cursing in his heart didn’t consider how s.h.i.+ELD also wasn’t paying him much.
What he didn’t know was that someone who looked like a detective on the surface was actually… a show biz bigshot who loved putting on a show.
Even though he was so busy that his hairline receded by another 0.5mm, Phil still took the time to personally get Luke to sign an NDA, and specifically warn him not to get involved in this sort of dangerous matter.
One had to be cautious when it came to dealing with people with superpowers.
Luke was lost for words. I was the one who said that to you! Now you’re actually returning it double to me!
But just like how Phil couldn’t react badly to Batman’s warning, Luke couldn’t express his dissatisfaction with the two reminders he had gotten from Phil. In the end, he could only mumble in acknowledgment once or twice to get it over with.
The days that followed were quiet… as if.
The chaos caused by the undead made the NYPD commissioner nervous once more.
He had to make the police work overtime even if he had to sh.e.l.l out overtime pay for it.
But many people were already laughing inwardly.
The commissioner really had bad luck, to encounter something as bizarre as undead wreaking havoc. There was no precedent, so he could only become a scapegoat.
Most of the time, it wasn’t because a person had done something wrong, but because he happened to be the most suitable candidate.
Dustin had already privately told Luke and Selina that Deputy Commissioner Brad was working hard and had a good chance of being promoted.
Luke could only chuckle at that. In the end, for Dustin’s sake, he obliquely reminded him not to think too highly of Brad taking the top spot.
The appearance of superheroes and supervillains would only give the NYPD higher-ups more and more headaches.
Dustin, however, was very calm. He simply said, “Do you think anyone can resist fighting for that seat?”
Luke had nothing to say.
Birds would die for food and humans would die for fortune; for many people, power was no less tempting than wealth.