Anton returned to New York and enjoyed a few relatively easy days before receiving a meeting request from Jim.
The latter wanted to discuss the next television series.
Filming for The Flash TV series had entered its final stage. Jim wanted to reassign the production team to the next project, namely Smallville. At the same time, he was preparing to begin production on Batman v Superman.
Ever since the Cyborg movie was released, DC had no longer been short on funds.
Since its founding, every project the company had undertaken had been profitable. DC had long since escaped the financial difficulties of its early days. Now, even running multiple projects simultaneously posed no pressure at all.
Even so, Jim still intended to allocate part of the investment to outside capital, using it for benefit exchanges and facilitating future promotional resources.
Anton had no interest in these matters.
Though he was the boss, the company's concrete work was handled by Jim and his small assistant Betty. He was only responsible for major directional decisions and for controlling the content of the works.
After confirming the future direction, Jim took his leave.
Browning, once a top screenwriter and now head of DC's writing department, came looking for him.
To Anton's surprise, Browning came because of the "DC section under the Daily Bugle."
Previously, in a meeting, the company had proposed splitting the Daily Bugle's fiction section into a standalone website, gathering novels, comics, audiobooks, and other entertainment content. In other words, a "Qidian-style site within the Marvel world."
With the support of writers, comic artists, and other creators recruited by DC, this section already had extremely high traffic and popularity.
After all, superheroes like Batman, Cyborg, and Green Arrow—figures active in the real world—had now become immensely famous, no less than Hollywood stars.
Browning volunteered himself, hoping to become the head of this "Qidian."
Anton thought for a moment, neither refusing nor agreeing, and told Browning to prepare and bring it up at the next company meeting.
If no one objected then, the appointment would proceed.
After briefly handling company affairs, Anton went upstairs to check on the Daily Bugle's recent work.
But he hadn't expected that, the moment he met Eddie, he would hear shocking news.
"Electro, Max Dillon, has disappeared from prison!"
Eddie said seriously, "New York Police Commissioner George Stacy just called me. He knows we clashed with Max at the expo before, and he's worried Max might retaliate against us, so he told us to stay alert and watch out for possible attacks."
"The ones who should be careful aren't us."
Anton waved it off, unconcerned, but asked curiously, "How did Electro suddenly disappear from prison?"
"George said there was an insider at the prison. NYPD is investigating."
Eddie added, "Oh, and he asked me to contact Batman. If necessary, they'll request Batman's help."
"George is actually asking Batman for help? Is it that serious already?"
Anton was surprised.
In his impression, George Stacy had always been very capable.
Unless it was something extremely tricky that the NYPD couldn't handle, he wouldn't proactively seek Batman's assistance.
Moreover, the four little turtles were now serving in the NYPD as a special task force—and even as New York's mascots. Their abilities were not to be underestimated.
What puzzled Anton was that it was only Electro who had disappeared. Even if someone was behind it, could the turtles not uncover the mastermind?
"Because… Electro isn't the only one who escaped."
Eddie stroked his chin.
As he spoke, he pulled up a New York map on the office projector and shrugged. "Before I called George, I already got a major scoop… A prison in the New York suburbs experienced a huge riot. The prison's systems malfunctioned, and there was a large-scale breakout. If I'm not mistaken, Electro was held in that prison."
"That really is big news. Looks like New York's crime rate is about to spike again," Anton said in realization.
"George asked us to hold off on publishing the story for a day, to give them some time and avoid widespread panic," Eddie said. "After all, that prison is right on the edge of the city. If inmates flood into New York, it could cause chaos."
"Handle it however you see fit."
Anton still didn't take it to heart.
Things like this could be big or small. Usually, many escapees weren't particularly dangerous.
Americans had guns anyway—at worst, they'd shoot each other.
As for truly dangerous criminals like Electro and other terrorists, that would be up to the NYPD.
The NYPD might look useless, always just cleaning up after incidents, but in truth, the department itself wasn't weak. Now with the Ninja Turtles assisting, as long as public opinion was controlled and panic avoided, the situation could be minimized.
After finishing the conversation with Eddie, Anton looked at the sky outside the window and left the Daily Bugle.
When he got home from work, his cheap old man, John Jameson, was reading the newspaper.
Since finishing his work, John had entered a vacation state, but he didn't go anywhere—just went out for runs and workouts at fixed times and spent the rest of his time at home.
However, from what the old man said, John was considering resigning.
Being an astronaut had once been his dream, but after achieving it, he seemed to have lost his drive. Now he had ideas about running a company.
In other words, before long, John might join Wayne Enterprises with the old man to develop the family business.
"Finished work?"
"Yeah. Where's the old man?"
Anton looked around and noticed the oldest member of the family was missing.
John shrugged. "Tonight the old man went to Washington with Harry Osborn from Osborn Corp. Apparently Wayne Enterprises' cooperation with the military has been finalized, and they're attending a military banquet…"
Ring, ring, ring!
A phone call interrupted their conversation.
Anton took out his phone, looking slightly surprised at the caller ID, and answered.
"Coulson?" he said helplessly. "Don't tell me you're calling to ask for help again."
"No. I'm calling to apologize."
Coulson sounded serious.
"What happened?"
Anton frowned, sensing something off in Coulson's tone.
"Kingpin escaped."
Coulson said gravely, "We searched repeatedly. On the island called Purgatory, Kingpin is gone… Someone disabled the surveillance we installed and rescued him!"
"That's surprising. S.H.I.E.L.D. makes mistakes like this too?" Anton said calmly.
Although Kingpin had escaped, it wasn't a big deal.
Kingpin was just a mob boss. Though once hailed as the crime emperor, after his arrest his territory had long been carved up by other forces, with the biggest beneficiary being the High Table, his former partner. Even if he returned, Anton didn't care much.
What truly surprised Anton was that S.H.I.E.L.D. had made such a major blunder, letting a mere Kingpin escape.
That was very unlike the S.H.I.E.L.D. he knew.
"There are major problems within S.H.I.E.L.D.," Coulson said. "I think you and Batman understand this better than we do. Regarding Kingpin's escape, please convey our apologies to Batman. We're doing everything we can to fix this… According to our latest intelligence, Kingpin has likely returned to New York. He will definitely seek revenge on Batman. Given your relationship with him, be careful."
"So you know who rescued him?" Anton asked.
"Just a guess."
Coulson said, "The force hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to know we're alert. And from current indications, their target is… Batman!"
Beep, beep—
After the brief exchange, Anton hung up, frowning slightly.
Coulson's call had revealed a lot.
Most crucially, the force hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to have set its sights on Batman.
"In that case…"
Anton narrowed his eyes, suddenly thinking of what Eddie had told him earlier—about the large-scale prison break in the New York suburbs and Electro's disappearance.
"Hydra is making its move…"
-----------------------
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