Chapter 62: The Little Penguin
Dense clouds gathered in Gotham's sky, and a fine, pattering rain poured down. The streetlights, softened and blurred by the rain, cast hazy halos onto the street.
Gotham on a rainy night carried an extra sense of oppressive weight, like giants of darkness gathering silently in every corner of the city. The silhouettes of the skyscrapers were blurred in the rain, with only specks of light managing to pierce through the windows. Hanging on the stairs at street corners and the walls of alleys were dying neon signboards, their faint, colorful lights lending the rainy night a sense of profound gloom.
Oswald Cobblepot was a short, plump fellow. Born with deformities, his appearance was strikingly similar to a penguin, earning him the moniker "The Penguin."
In the future, he would become one of Batman's main villains. After the major crime lords of Gotham's "Pre-Batman Era" fell one after another, he would rise to become the city's new underground emperor in the "Post-Batman Era."
But unlike a lunatic like the Joker, who purely brought slaughter and chaos, The Penguin, while also a ruthless crime boss who committed all manner of evil, also indisputably brought a sense of order to Gotham. He even collaborated with Batman on some occasions to fight against more deranged criminals.
Of course, that was all in the future. For now, the emperors of the old era had not yet fallen, and naturally, The Penguin had yet to rise. In this era, Cobblepot was merely a pawn under Maroni, having struggled for years to barely secure the position of a casino underboss.
At night, Cobblepot was in his casino office with his legs crossed, smoking a cigar and blowing smoke rings, feeling as blissful as an immortal. Suddenly, with a loud CLANG, the skylight shattered. Batman descended, cape spread wide, and landed directly on his desk.
"What the hell!?"
Cobblepot jumped in shock, hastily trying to draw his gun to retaliate. But with a single swipe of his hand, Batman sent the firearm flying and roughly hauled him out of his chair.
"There's a new player in Gotham," Batman demanded in a low voice. "An assassin, codename 'Deadshot.' He was here earlier. What did you talk about?"
This era's Old Master was still a newcomer, and his fan club was just as inexperienced. Interacting with Batman for the first time, the rookie Cobblepot was so terrified his legs nearly gave out. He stammered, "Mis-Mr. Batman, I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Don't lie to me."
As he spoke, Batman slammed him onto the floor, leaving him completely dazed and disoriented.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by a woman's voice.
"Honey, are you in there?"
"I'm coming in~"
Then came the sound of the door being pushed open.
A hot, blonde woman with long legs appeared from behind the door. She wore a hip-hugging skirt so short it might as well have been a belt, and she swayed her hips as she entered.
Cobblepot quickly turned to look, only to find that Batman, who had just been on the desk, had vanished like a ghost.
He's still here!
For some reason, Cobblepot had a strong premonition.
That Bat monster was still in this room!
The woman coiled herself around him like a water snake. Cobblepot instantly bristled like a startled cat and quickly dodged away.
The blonde woman looked at him strangely.
"Honey, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm... not really up for it today, Maggie," Cobblepot stammered. "Maybe we should just... call it a night..."
"Oh."
The blonde glanced toward his lower half, her expression immediately turning to one of sympathy.
"Sorry, I didn't even notice. You poor little thing... Oh my! How did you get hurt? Did you get into a fight?"
She reached out to touch the bloody mark on Cobblepot's forehead from where he had been slammed earlier.
Cobblepot quickly dodged her hand, stammering, "It's... it's nothing. I'm fine."
"That's true," Maggie laughed. "With your methods, anyone who dared to lay a hand on you is probably feeding the fish in Gotham Harbor by now..."
Cobblepot jumped in fright, feeling as if he could sense the cold, chilling gaze of a certain cunning old bat from somewhere in the darkness. He quickly clamped a hand over Maggie's mouth. "D-don't spout nonsense! I'm a legitimate businessman! Things like murder and arson, destroying evidence, or sinking people in Gotham Harbor with cement shoes... I would never dare do any of that..."
"Huh?"
Maggie was completely bewildered, staring at him as if he were an idiot.
What was this nonsense?
The Penguin, a law-abiding citizen?
Don't be ridiculous. That was as believable as the president claiming to love peace.
A shadow figure appeared soundlessly.
*Thwack.*
A clean, decisive chop. Maggie's vision went black, and she collapsed.
Batman stood silently behind her.
Meeting Batman's cold gaze, Cobblepot shrank back.
"I... I remember now. I think there was something like that. Because you kept ruining the boss's business time and again, the boss specially hired a professional assassin from out of town to deal with you. I arranged his lodging. The address is XXX..."
Having gotten the information he needed, Batman didn't linger. He raised his grappling hook gun and fired it with a *thwip* toward the shattered skylight.
Before leaving, he turned to look at Cobblepot.
"I'll be seeing you again."
With that, he was gone.
"Goddamn Bat!"
Cobblepot muttered. He glanced at the unconscious Maggie and, in a fit of pique, gave her a couple of hard pinches to vent his frustration.
The pinches roused Maggie, and she slowly regained consciousness.
"Huh? What happened... Ouch! That hurts!"
Maggie tilted her head, rubbing her neck in a daze.
"Why is my neck so sore?"
"You probably just slept on it wrong," Cobblepot said dismissively.
She paused for a moment. "Weren't we... just attacked?"
"No, absolutely impossible."
Cobblepot grunted, not wanting to bring up the embarrassing incident.
"Who do you think I am? Who in this place would dare attack me?"
Maggie said strangely, "Then why is your skylight shattered?"
"...For ventilation," Cobblepot said through gritted teeth.
Maggie looked at the rain pouring in from the shattered window, splashing onto the desk, her expression growing even more strange.
Her look toward The Penguin seemed to ask, *This is your idea of ventilation?*
Cobblepot continued to grit his teeth. "It's romantic!"
A look of realization dawned on Maggie's face, and she gave a bashful smile. "Oh, honey, you really know how to..."
BOOM!!!
With a deafening roar, an entire wall was blasted open from the outside. Rubble came tumbling down as the impact kicked up a cloud of dust. Maggie screamed and dove behind Cobblepot.
Cobblepot was furious. "This is my territory! Who dares to mess with me here—"
Then he saw a red-and-silver suit of armor step through the smoke, advancing slowly with the whir of machinery. A brilliant azure radiance pulsed on its chest.
Cobblepot's eyes widened in an instant.
Wait a minute, could this be the one that's been all over the online media lately?
His mind quickly replayed the heaven-defying scene of the Giant of Light pushing back a tsunami with his bare hands.
Cobblepot sucked in a cold breath. The rage instantly vanished from his face, replaced by a smile more enthusiastic than one he would use to greet his own father.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
Orin Vale wasted no words. He flipped his hand over, and a beam of light from his palm projected the title of a post from the Gotham Underground Forum.
"Ah, this matter?" Cobblepot remembered. "That was indeed one of my men. David. I asked him about it, but he seemed to have been quite drunk at the time and couldn't remember clearly..."
"I just need an address," Orin Vale interrupted.
"Oh, the address," Cobblepot said. "It was at the corner of Nineteenth Street. They were leaving a bar, heading back toward the casino. That's where they encountered the woman."
"Alright, thank you."
Orin Vale marked the address, thanked him politely, then ignited his thrusters and shot into the air. With a loud *BANG*, another hole appeared in the rooftop.
Rain poured down from the hole, splashing everywhere.
Cobblepot and Maggie looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
(end of chapter)