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Chapter 159: Gotham Avengers (2)

Last night, as the sky had just darkened, Batman stood on the rooftop of the large church bell tower in Gotham, gazing at the dark alley beneath his feet.

Gotham's rain, the umbrellas from the Vicin Umbrella Shop, the Owl Court, gunshots in the dark alleys, and scattered pearl necklaces...

Batman closed his eyes, and all the events began to connect in his mind. However, there were still many unclear details that he needed to investigate and explore.

In the end, he focused on the hitman, Louis.

From the rooftop of the church bell tower, a shadow leaped down like a real bat. He passed through countless dark alleys and, in the flickering light and shadow, landed on the window of a building's attic.

Looking down through the skylight, the aged Louis slumped in his chair, completely unable to move. He could only barely survive on the garbage piled up around him.

When Batman entered the room, Louis had no reaction. He was blind and deaf, completely unaware of the uninvited guest.

Unfortunately, Batman found no clues on Louis. He was too old, suffering from dementia and severe illness. He probably wouldn't live for another month. Batman couldn't possibly get any information from such a person. The attic had long been turned into a garbage dump, with nothing useful to be found.

Batman changed his target and went to the Edward family's old mansion.

The Edward family was once one of the four great families in the East District, on par with the Copperpot family. However, they didn't decline like the Copperpot family, mainly because they had a pier. With the pier as a guarantee, their risk resistance was much higher than the other families.

Nevertheless, they couldn't escape The Godfather's retribution. Old Edward was dead, and young Edward's whereabouts were unknown after being taken by The Godfather. The entire mansion was now taken over by the Falcone family. However, Falcone didn't pay much attention to the place, so Batman encountered almost no resistance when entering the mansion.

Inside the old Edward mansion, it was pitch dark with no light. But this didn't stop Batman. After a thorough search, he finally found what he was looking for – an umbrella with a Vicin emblem.

In the office of Arkham Mental Hospital, Batman placed two parts on the table and pointed at them, saying to Schiller, "Look here, the same burn marks. The damage to your umbrella was no accident."

Schiller squinted his eyes and realized Batman was right. The damage to both parts was identical – the threads were burned.

Logically, umbrellas are not firearms or shells. Even if Gotham had small-scale wars every day, the chance of an umbrella being on the battlefield was almost zero. Therefore, the most likely way for an umbrella to be damaged would be a broken rib, loose parts, or detachment.

But it was impossible for a small part of the umbrella rib to be burned, causing the entire umbrella to break.

Since Schiller didn't know much about this area, when one of the umbrella ribs broke in half, he thought it was just a common umbrella damage, with the connecting part being the issue.

But now that he thought about it, although Gotham rained every day, it wasn't often windy. The force on the connecting parts of the umbrella ribs wasn't that great, but they still broke completely.

Now, the truth was in front of him. Umbrellas produced by the same umbrella maker, with the same part damaged in the same way, could only mean one thing – everything was premeditated.

"The Court of Owls is even more evil than we imagined," Batman's voice was very low as he said, "They didn't intend to leave any survivors. Every person in Gotham, whether they bought an umbrella or not, would ultimately face the same fate..."

"You must have also thought of another fact," Schiller looked into Batman's eyes and said, "Old Edward's umbrella broke, so they went crazy. No one can say that their hiring of killers was not caused by their madness."

Batman remained silent. From the moment he got the umbrella, he had thought about this issue. Schiller continued to speak to him, "Obviously, you have a new target, but this target is also about revenge, right?"

"Why chase only one person when you can make them all pay?" Batman muttered quietly.

"So, you plan to team up with Evans and Copperpot to investigate?"

"It's them who want to team up with me."

"I can understand you and Copperpot..." Gordon looked at Batman and said, "After all, both of you might have lost family members. But what about Evans? What reason does young Falcone have to get involved in this?"

"According to him, the death of his older brother, Alberto Falcone, is closely related to the Court of Owls."

Hearing this, Gordon was stunned. He recalled and said, "Alberto Falcone? That name sounds familiar. I think I heard Harvey mention it..."

Then he shook his head and said, "It seems that everyone avoids mentioning The Godfather's eldest son. Brock only mentioned it to me once, and when I asked him about it, he didn't answer."

"Brock told me that it's a name The Godfather doesn't want to bring up. Perhaps for this reason, no one else dares to mention him."

"Thinking about it, it is indeed strange," Gordon said with some confusion, "Ten years ago, the Falcone family was even more powerful than it is now. The heir at that time should have been better protected, and no one would dare to touch him..."

"Except for the Court of Owls."

"What do you plan to do?" asked Gordon.

"We have formed a temporary alliance to investigate this mysterious organization from different classes within Gotham."

Batman's tone finally changed slightly, revealing his helplessness: "When I started the investigation, I realized that they were hiding too deep. Even with my power, I couldn't find any useful clues after searching the entire Gotham City."

Schiller and Gordon both knew that he was referring to the power of Wayne Enterprises. With Wayne Enterprises' influence in Gotham, the fact that they couldn't find an organization showed how deeply the Court of Owls was hidden.

"So, I have to rely on the power of others," Batman explained, "Copperpot is a criminal, but if he kills members of the Court of Owls, I'm willing to temporarily join forces with him. He knows the underworld of Gotham very well, and perhaps some details are hidden in these dark corners."

"The Falcone family has ruled Gotham's underworld for so many years, and every gang member is their informant. Evans might be able to dig up different clues."

"When we find the target together, the alliance will end. I don't need anyone to help me with my revenge."

"So, what do you plan to call this alliance? Even if it's temporary, it should have a name, right?" Gordon asked Batman.

Batman paused for a moment, and Schiller suddenly had a bad feeling. Then he heard Batman say, "I plan to call it the Avengers..."

"Wait!" Schiller interrupted him, saying, "I suggest you reconsider. That name isn't very auspicious..."

Batman looked at Schiller, whose expression was strange. Batman hesitated for a moment and then said, "A name is just a code. I don't believe in superstitions..."

"But the last organization with that name didn't last long before it split in half."

"We're not a group to begin with. I have no intention of forming a team with them. This is just a temporary alliance. As for the name..." Batman, for once, dragged out his words, saying, "We all have a grudge against the Court of Owls, so we are all Avengers. What's wrong with calling it the Avengers Alliance?"

Batman saw Schiller reveal a complex expression he had never seen before. Then he heard Schiller mutter softly, "Those who don't listen to advice won't have a good outcome..."

At the same time, in the hospital room next to the office, Evans watched Copperpot fiddle with an umbrella.

"What are you doing?" Evans asked curiously, sitting on the edge of the bed. Copperpot didn't look up, just replied casually, "I'm making weapons."

"Weapons?" Evans was even more puzzled. He asked, "Using an umbrella as a weapon? Why not just use a gun?"

Copperpot didn't want to deal with him. He had had enough of Evans these past few days.

If Copperpot's experiences over the past few days were written as an article, the title should be "How to Get Along with Someone I Completely Disdain and Find Extremely Annoying."

Copperpot had already told Schiller that he didn't think highly of The Godfather's son, also known as Little Falcone, considering him a complete fool. But when this fool was transferred to the same hospital room as him, he found that Little Falcone was not only foolish but also very annoying.

Unlike Batman, Evans had a more lively personality and talked a lot. He wasn't actually sick, just hiding out in the hospital. He was in good spirits during his stay and didn't act like a patient at all. He would often grab Copperpot to chat with him when he had nothing to do.

In the beginning, Copperpot was willing to chat with Evans to obtain some information about the Falcone family. However, later on, Copperpot discovered that Evans would do anything but focus on serious matters.

Evans had a wide range of interests. He was proficient in the arts, skilled in painting, singing, and playing various musical instruments. His expertise lay in playing the violin and cello, with a high level of skill in both. Moreover, he was passionate about opera, able to sing, dance, and act, often practicing his vocals in the hospital room.

When it came to matters related to the family business, Copperpot considered Evans to be an idealistic fool.

After chatting with Evans for a few days, Copperpot gained nothing but some music theory knowledge that was useless in Gotham. As a result, he became reluctant to talk to Evans in the following days.

Evans stood up, walked over to Copperpot, and watched him work. After a while, he asked, "It seems like you can't modify this umbrella. Do you need any help?"

"No, I don't need any," Copperpot replied, forcefully pulling on the umbrella's frame. A component flew out, causing Evans to cover his face and cry out in pain. He shouted, "Hey! You did that on purpose, be careful!"

"Damn it..." Copperpot cursed and said, "There's something off about this umbrella."

He picked up the entire umbrella, examined it, and asked, "What material is this made of? Why are welding and cutting ineffective against it?"

Evans leaned in to touch the umbrella's frame and frowned, saying, "This doesn't seem to be made of steel or anything similar. It looks familiar, though..."

"Familiar?" Copperpot turned to look at him and asked, "Where have you seen this material before?"

Evans rubbed his chin, pondering as he spoke, "I can't remember clearly, but I'm sure I've seen it before. However, if you can't modify this metal, then you probably can't make weapons out of it either."

Copperpot didn't respond. He stared silently at the umbrella, seemingly deep in thought.